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Several people are killed after a bus comes off a road and slides down an embankment into a river east of Düsseldorf, Germany. | Divers search scene of Germany bus crash
Five people have been killed and several wounded in a bus crash near the western German city of Duesseldorf.
About 15 people were on the bus, which was travelling a regular route when it came off the road and landed on its side at the edge of a river. The bus driver was among those killed. Some survivors managed to escape from the wreckage, but others were trapped inside, German media said. Diving crews searched the Wupper river for bodies. Police said the bus, which was travelling near the town of Radevormwald, gained speed on a downhill stretch, broke through a crash barrier and plunged 20m (65ft) to end up partly submerged. Firemen cut down several trees to clear room for a crane to lift the bus out of the water. "It sounded as though a house was collapsing," local resident Ferdinand Stock told the Associated Press news agency of the accident. | Road Crash | September 2009 | ['(BBC)', '(Taiwan News)', '(RIA Novosti)'] |
Bahraini security forces kill a 16–year–old boy during rioting in the city of Muharraq. | Police in Bahrain have claimed self-defence after a youth of 16 was killed during a riot but the opposition say he was kicked on the ground. The Gulf state's interior ministry said the youth had been among a crowd throwing petrol bombs at police on Friday night, in the Muharraq area.
But the Shia Muslim opposition party al-Wefaq said the boy had been the victim of a "barbaric" attack.
Protests against Bahrain's Sunni Muslim monarchy erupted last year.
The opposition say more than 45 people have been killed in demonstrations since June 2011, when the government lifted martial law.
The latest death came a day after prominent human rights activist Nabeel Rajab was jailed for three years for taking part in "illegal gatherings".
Friday also saw tension in Bahrain as Shia Muslims marked Jerusalem Day in support of Palestinians.
In a statement to Reuters news agency, the government said: "Terrorists launched petrol bombs at close range, forcing the police to take the necessary actions to defend themselves and innocent bystanders from the potentially lethal attack.
"Despite warning shots by the police the attack continued; so security personnel dealt with the case according to its legal authority."
Police say 700 officers have been injured in riots since martial law was lifted, Reuters reports. Wefaq said in a statement that Hussam al-Haddad had been "martyred after being brutally attacked".
According to the opposition Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, witnesses saw the security forces firing gunshot pellets at him before men in plainclothes kicked him repeatedly as he lay on the ground while police stood by. Graphic video was posted online of a pellet-riddled body, said to be that of Hussam al-Haddad, in a hospital room, surrounded by distraught relatives. The video could not be verified independently.
His funeral is said to have passed off peacefully on Saturday.
Shia Muslims, who make up the majority of Bahrain's population, have been pushing for greater rights, arguing that they have been marginalised.
The monarchy denies this and blames unrest on the influence of neighbouring Iran, the region's biggest Shia Muslim state. | Riot | August 2012 | ['(BBC)'] |
Luise Rainer, German–born American actress (The Great Ziegfeld, The Good Earth), Academy Award winner (1936, 1937), dies of pneumonia at the age of 104. | Actress Luise Rainer, who became the first winner of consecutive Oscars in the 1930s, has died at the age of 104.
The German-born star was named best actress in 1936 and 1937 - a feat achieved by only five actors in Academy Awards history to date.
Her achievement made her a force in the golden age of Hollywood cinema, but was also a curse, making her last major film in 1943.
She settled in London and made occasional appearances on film and TV.
Rainer appeared in US small screen series The Loveboat in 1984, while her last substantial film role came in 1998, playing opposite Michael Gambon and Dominic West in The Gambler.
The actress appeared in a number of German films before being talent-spotted by Hollywood studio MGM and making her debut in 1935.
Just a year later she scooped an Academy Award for her performance in The Great Ziegfeld, playing the legendary theatrical impresario's wife.
In one famous scene, her face was tear-stained as she congratulated her former husband on his marriage to another actress.
The following year, her portrayal of a Chinese peasant in The Good Earth won her a second statuette, at a time when Oscar winners were disclosed some time before the ceremony.
The actress told the BBC in 2003 the awards ceremony "was not as elaborate" as it is today.
Rainer later said that "nothing worse could have happened to me," explaining two awards meant the studio could "throw me into anything".
After clashing with MGM over a lack of artistic freedom and losing out to Ingrid Bergman in Ernest Hemingway's For Whom The Bell Tolls, she broke her contract with them.
"I was a machine, practically - a tool in a big, big factory, and I could not do anything. And so I left. I just went away. I fled. Yes, I fled," she later said in an interview.
Other actors to have collected consecutive acting awards are Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Jason Robards and Tom Hanks.
Rainer was married twice, and second husband Robert Knittel died in 1989 after their marriage of 44 years.
The couple had one daughter, Francesca Knittel-Bowyer, who said her mother had died from pneumonia at her London home.
"She was bigger than life and could charm the birds out of the trees," she said. "If you saw her, you'd never forget her.''
Oscar veteran's golden memories
| Famous Person - Death | December 2014 | ['(BBC)'] |
Rebel commander Igor Girkin confirms that Ukrainian government forces have recaptured control of the strategic town of Krasnyi Luch from pro-Russian insurgents, effectively closing in the Donetsk People's Republic rebellion. | Pro-Russian rebels in Ukraine's east have called for a ceasefire in Donetsk to avert a "humanitarian catastrophe".
Newly installed rebel political leader Aleksandr Zakharchenko made the call after other rebels said the army had taken a key city and encircled Donetsk.
Russia immediately renewed its offer to send a humanitarian mission, a day after Western powers warned against using such a mission to send troops.
An estimated 1,500 people have been killed in the four-month conflict.
Pro-Russian rebels stormed cities in the east and took over government buildings in April in a bid for independence.
But the government stepped up operations to retake rebel-held areas following the election of Petro Poroshenko as president in June.
Rebel commander Igor Girkin was quoted by Russian media as saying that Krasnyi Luch, which connects Donetsk city with Ukraine's Luhansk region, had been "captured".
Girkin, who is also known as Strelkov, said his men in the Donetsk region were "completely encircled".
Mr Zakharchenko later said in a statement on a rebel website: "We are prepared to stop firing to bar the spread of the scale of the humanitarian catastrophe."
Russia, widely accused of supporting the rebels' efforts, also called for an "urgent action to avert an impending humanitarian crisis".
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov made the request during a phone call with US counterpart John Kerry, a statement said.
"The minister urged support for Russia's initiative to deploy a humanitarian mission in the south-east in co-ordination with the relevant international structures," the foreign ministry statement said.
Mr Kerry apparently replied that such efforts were already being made by the Ukrainian government.
On Friday, the UK and US had warned Russia not to use a humanitarian mission as a pretext for sending its forces to help the rebels.
Meanwhile, reports from the city of Luhansk, second only to Donetsk in its importance to the rebels, suggest living conditions are dire.
The city council reported on its website (in Russian) on Saturday that the city of 425,000 people had been without electricity and power for a week. Parts of the city were still being bombarded and most shops were shut.
The Ukrainian government, which has not commented on rebel claims about the situation in the east, says 13 soldiers and one civilian were killed in fighting on Friday. | Armed Conflict | August 2014 | ['(BBC)'] |
Typhoon Hagupit hits Vietnam, the Philippines and southern China, killing at least eight. | The authorities in southern China have evacuated more than 100,000 people from their homes as Typhoon Hagupit hit.
The weather system killed at least eight people in the Philippines, and closed schools in Hong Kong.
As it headed towards Guangdong province in southern China, the area was put on the highest level alert.
Authorities in Vietnam prepared to evacuate residents of coastal areas as it appeared the typhoon was heading south.
Trees were uprooted and traffic disrupted in Hong Kong. Flash floods hit low-lying areas and dozens of people were injured.
Typhoon signals were lowered from Number 8 to Number 3 on Wednesday morning allowing businesses and schools to reopen.
Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play. Footage of the typhoon hitting China
The typhoon made landfall in Guangdong province, which neighbours Hong Kong, just after dawn on Wednesday, with winds of 172 km/h (106 mph), Xinhua news agency reported.
It is predicted to hit Guangxi province, west of Guangdong, and the island of Hainan.
More than 50,000 ships and fishing vessels were called back to port and torrential rain and widespread flooding is forecast in China.
Schools and kindergartens in southern China were ordered to close, and flights were likely to be cancelled or diverted, officials said.
Streets had emptied, and some shops and business were closed.
Landslide risks
The typhoon is expected bring heavy rain to Vietnam's north and could unleash major flooding, that country's weather centre reported.
The Vietnamese government warned that with floods came the risk of landslides in northern coastal and mountainous provinces.
Landslides and flooding in the Philippines continues to trap at least 14 goldminers underground.
Persistent rain and a shortage of oxygen tanks are hampering rescue efforts, officials said, as hopes fade of any survivors being found.
"We're doing our best to get to the trapped miners," said Mario Godio, mayor of a gold mining town in Benguet province in the northern Philippines.
Early this month, 20 people were killed and about two dozen were injured when monsoon rains loosened soil and buried a mining village in the southern Philippines, forcing officials to close down two villages.
Reports were emerging that another storm was gathering strength east of the Philippines and could follow a similar route to that of Typhoon Hagupit. | Hurricanes_Tornado_Storm_Blizzard | September 2008 | ['(BBC News)'] |
New pacts promoting trade, investment and education between China and Ireland are signed in Dublin. |
Mr Xi and the Taoiseach (Irish prime minister), Enda Kenny, witnessed the signing of agreements at Dublin Castle between government departments, state agencies, universities and companies.
"Ireland and China have much to offer each other in food and agriculture, in high technology research and in investment," said Mr Kenny.
Bilateral trade between the two countries was worth about 4.2bn euros (£3.5bn; $5.5bn) in 2010.
Although China accounts for just 2.5% of Irish merchandise exports and 1.9% of services, it is being targeted as a key growth area, Reuters news agency notes.
After flying into Shannon Airport in the west of the Republic on Saturday evening, Mr Xi visited the offices of Shannon Development business park and attended a traditional banquet at Bunratty Castle.
On Sunday, he was given a 40-minute tour of a family-run dairy farm at Sixmilebridge, Co Clare, before visiting the Cliffs of Moher.
He then travelled to Dublin for a demonstration at Croke Park of Irish field sports - hurling and Gaelic football.
The Chinese vice-president swung a hurling stick and kicked a football for the cameras. "He showed some admirable skills for his first time kicking on what is... a very holy turf for us," said Alan Milton, a spokesman at the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA).
Mr Xi was also due to see a special performance of the hit show Riverdance.
Dr Vincent Cunnane, Shannon Development's chief executive, said the trip would enhance good relations between Irish and Chinese businesses.
"China has a population of over 1.3 billion which represents 20% of the world's population," he said.
"The fact that the Chinese vice-president is spending almost three days in Ireland is a major boost for the country."
Mr Xi's visit is being closely followed by Chinese state media.
China's Ambassador to Ireland, Luo Linquan, described the two countries' ties as "an exemplar of how friendly co-existence can be maintained between two countries of different sizes and systems".
Answering written questions from the Irish Times, Mr Xi himself said Chinese people admired Irish people's "enterprising spirit and enormous contribution to development around the world".
But Noeleen Hartigan, programmes director of Amnesty International Ireland, said it was crucial the Irish government made clear the concerns of many Irish people about human rights abuses in China.
"Even in the midst of a recession we cannot let trade opportunities blind us to our responsibility to support courageous Chinese human rights activists risking their freedom and their lives every single day," she said.
| Sign Agreement | February 2012 | ['(BBC)', '(Financial Times)'] |
Nearly 300 migrant workers in Greece end a hunger strike after the government offered a deal over residence permits. | Nearly 300 migrant workers in Greece have ended a six-week hunger strike after the government offered a deal over residence permits. Details of the deal were not immediately available but it is believed the mainly North African protesters will get temporary permits.
More than 100 protesters had been taken to hospital and some were being treated for acute kidney failure.
Many of the hunger strikers had lived and worked in Greece for years.
Despite not achieving all their aims, the protesters - illegal immigrants and asylum seekers - are claiming victory over the government, our correspondent says.
They wanted the state to stop treating them like illegal immigrants and grant them permanent residence status as well as work permits.
The government now appears to have persuaded them to accept a compromise under which they will have temporary residence permits that will be automatically renewed every six months while individual cases are investigated.
Residence permits are necessary in Greece to receive social insurance payments, and because unemployment has risen steeply as a result of the economic crisis, the number of people requiring welfare has also increased.
The end of the hunger strike will do little to alter Greece's international reputation for dealing with asylum seekers, our correspondent says, as it rejects 99% of all claims.
Greece has become the main transit point for illegal migration into the European Union. In the first six months of 2010, it reported 45,000 illegal border crossings into its territory.
In an October 2010 report by UN special rapporteur Dr Manfred Novak, Greece's asylum system was described as "dysfunctional". Dr Novak said that many of Athens' police stations were being used as detention centres for migrants and although the Greek government wanted to improve the situation it lacked the funds to do so. Greece migrants taken to hospital | Government Policy Changes | March 2011 | ['(BBC)'] |
Chilean police detain 366 high school student protestors in Santiago, and use tear gas and water cannons to disperse their one day strike which called on the government to reform the education law, originally enacted under Augusto Pinochet. | Santiago de Chile - Students demonstrating for education reform were met by tear gas and water cannons in Chile's capital on Wednesday. The high school students were attempting to march towards an education ministry office but were blocked by police and threw rocks and bottle at them. At least 366 protestors were detained. The students called a one-day strike to demand reform for the education law created under the dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet and for more funds for education. After mass protests of up to 700,000 students in May and June President Michelle Bachelet's government met with the students and agreed to eliminate a fee for a college entrance exam and provide school meals to 200,000. The students are upset at the slow pace of the promised reforms. The high school students were attempting to march towards an education ministry office but were blocked by police and threw rocks and bottle at them. At least 366 protestors were detained. The students called a one-day strike to demand reform for the education law created under the dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet and for more funds for education. After mass protests of up to 700,000 students in May and June President Michelle Bachelet's government met with the students and agreed to eliminate a fee for a college entrance exam and provide school meals to 200,000. The students are upset at the slow pace of the promised reforms. | Protest_Online Condemnation | October 2006 | ['(Deutsche Presse–Agentur)'] |
The death toll of the Japanese Encephalitis outbreak in Uttar Pradesh has reached an official number of 650, with estimates of aid agencies about double this number. , , . | Japanese encephalitis toll climbs to 649 in India (AP) Updated: 2005-09-11 17:28
Nearly 650 people, mostly children, have died from an outbreak of Japanese encephalitis in northern India after 55 more people perished over the weekend, officials said Sunday, AP reported. Hospitals in India's largest state, Uttar Pradesh, were struggling to cope with the influx of patients suffering from the mosquito-borne disease. Another 87 people were hospitalized during the weekend, bringing the number of patients to more than 3,040, said O.P. Singh, the state's director general of health services. But the number of new infections has declined in recent days, Singh said. With 55 deaths since Friday night, the overall death toll reached 649. A newly born child suffering from Japanese Encephalitis lies at an emergency ward of a hospital in the northern Indian city of Allahabad September 11, 2005. [Reuters]No new deaths have been reported in neighboring Nepal, where the disease has killed 172 people since April. Some Nepali victims were being treated in India, officials said. Japanese encephalitis causes high fever and vomiting, and can sometimes lead to coma and death. Children are most susceptible to the disease, and many of the dead in the outbreak have been under age 15. The disease can be prevented by vaccinations, but state health authorities say they don't have enough money for an immunization program. The latest outbreak first struck in Gorakhpur, a town 250 kilometers (155 miles) southeast of Lucknow, the state's capital, and later spread to 24 of 70 state districts. Authorities expect the outbreak to ebb by the end of the monsoon season later this month.
| Disease Outbreaks | September 2005 | ['(BBC)', '(China Daily)', '(Washington Post)'] |
Fugitive Abdul Basit Usman dies in a clash in Mindanao. | Usman is the other target in the botched police Special Action Force (SAF) operation in Mamasapano, Maguindanao on January 25
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MANILA, Philippines (UPDATED) – Mission accomplished.
Most wanted Filipino bombmaker Abdul Basit Usman and several members of Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) were killed in a firefight Sunday noon, May 3, in the village of Mote in Guindulungan town of Maguindanao.
Malacañang confirmed the news Sunday night, saying it is awaiting the submission of the military's "after-operations report" on the incident.
"According to AFP field operatives, terror suspect Basit Usman was killed in a firefight in Guindulungan, Maguindanao at around noon [Sunday]," said Palace Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr.
Earlier Sunday, police and military situation reports obtained by Rappler stated that a Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) commander identified as "Barok" of the 118th Base Command shot Usman dead at 11:50 am on Sunday.
Usman was killed in the same area where Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) founder Ameril Umbra Kato sought refuge until he died of a heart attack last month. The BIFF is opposed to the peace talks between the government and the MILF. It is a breakaway group of the MILF, the largest Muslim rebel group in the southern Philippines.
Usman was the other target in the botched police Special Action Force (SAF) operation on January 25 in Mamasapano town in Maguindanao. He got away in the operation that killed Malaysian bombmaker Zulkifli bin hir or "Marwan" but also 44 elite cops, 17 MILF members, and 5 civilians. (READ: Abdul Basit Usman: The one that got away)
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In the aftermath of the tragedy, President Benigno Aquino III promised in a televised speech that the government will get Usman.
Known as the Mamasapano clash, the encounter became one of the worst security crises to hit the Aquino administration, and endangered the peace process between the Philippine government and the MILF after 17 years of negotiations.
Armed Forces chief General Gregorio Catapang Jr said the hunt for Usman has always been a joint effort with the MILF.
"We are putting closure to the Mamasapano incident. This will help in the peace effort," Catapang said. – with reports from Bea Cupin and Carmela Fonbuena/Rappler.com
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The 33 miners involved in the accident make telephone contact with their families for the first time in 3 weeks. | Miners who have been trapped underground in Chile for more than three weeks have had their first telephone contact with loved ones.
Families queued to use a special telephone cabin and were given one minute each to talk to the trapped men.
Psychologists have urged family members making the calls to sound optimistic.
The breakthrough came as Chile's mining minister insisted that the rescue shaft drilling - due to begin on Monday - was likely to take three to four months.
On Sunday reports from engineers working on a "plan B" option has suggested this could be cut by as much as half if an existing route down was adapted.
The telephone calls lent a new immediacy to communications with the miners. Until now only handwritten notes have been passed through the bore holes.
Officials are looking at several plans to rescue the 33 men, who have been stuck below ground since 5 August.
Workers are due on Monday to start drilling an escape shaft going about 700m (2,300ft) underground, which is likely to take 90 to 120 days to complete.
Health Minister Jaime Manalich said the men's spirits had been "strengthened" by the phone calls from their families.
He said that psychologists had asked family members making the calls "to be optimistic and to try not to break down with emotion".
One of the miners' wives, Carola Narvaez, said her husband, Raul, was in good spirits after her telephone conversation.
"I told him we were thinking of him and he should keep his chin up," Mrs Narvaez de Bustos told the BBC by phone. "He was talking non-stop and I found it difficult to get a word in," she joked.
The atmosphere among the wives and children at the mine head was "upbeat", Mrs Narvaez de Bustos added. Meanwhile, details have emerged of plans to send supplies down to the miners.
Men suffering severe skin irritation from the hot, wet conditions underground have been sent quick-dry clothing; others have been sent mats to sleep on to protect them from the damp ground.
The men have also been sent mp3 players to allow them to listen to music.
It was also revealed that a team of experts from Nasa in the US will be flown on Tuesday to the site at the San Jose gold and copper mine, near the city of Copiapo, some 725km (450 miles) north of Santiago.
The US space agency has extensive experience preparing astronauts for long spells in confined spaces on the International Space Station.
It had been reported that a "plan B" could allow the miners to be rescued in as little as 30 or 60 days.
But Mining Minister Laurence Goldborne said the three to four month estimate was "extremely clear".
"There are other technologies that have been studied but none of them has improved significantly this time. So we are keeping on track trying to study and we want to have a backup hole," he said.
As part of the original plan Chile has imported a special hydraulic bore to drill the escape shaft down to the miners.
The Strata 950 will drill a shaft down to the men, and a capsule can be lowered to rescue the men one by one.
On Friday, Mr Manalich said five of the trapped miners were showing signs of depression, and that psychologists would try to help them through an intercom system.
The miners were discovered on 22 August after the mine collapsed several weeks earlier.
On Thursday the men made a video for their families showing their living conditions in the shaft, which was broadcast on Chilean TV.
The men appeared to be in good spirits, despite their ordeal.
Many family members have camped out at the surface of the mine.
Some relatives have launched legal cases against government officials and the owners of the mine, which was reopened in 2008 after being closed because of an accident. | Mine Collapses | August 2010 | ['(BBC)'] |
More than 15 Taliban insurgents are killed as NATO and Afghan forces attempt to recapture the hundreds of prisoners who escaped following the Kandahar prison raid. | KABUL (Reuters) - U.S-led and Afghan forces killed more than 15 insurgents in a search for hundreds of prisoners, including Taliban, who broke out of jail after comrades blew up the gates, the U.S. military said on Sunday.
The jailbreak in the southern city of Kandahar after dark on Friday came as violence has been intensifying in Afghanistan despite the growing numbers of foreign troops supporting the government.
The U.S. military said coalition forces searching for prisoners used air strikes west of Rawonay, Kandahar province, on Saturday to destroy a farming compound after insurgents attacked with small-arms fire. More than 15 insurgents were killed.
A large cache of munitions and bomb-making material were discovered during the search and five suspects were taken into custody, it said.
It was not confirmed if those killed or detained had been prisoners from the Kandahar jail. Kandahar is the birth place and the main stronghold of the Taliban who were ousted from power in 2001.
“UNFORTUNATE”
Afghan President Hamid Karzai described the incident as “unfortunate” and said much more needed to be done to strengthen Afghan forces to stop such attacks.
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“There is all the more reason for us to work hard and to keep building Afghan institutions and intelligence and to be a lot more alert and steadfast in our resolve in confronting terrorism,” he told a news conference.
Afghan authorities have launched an investigation to find out if any government officials were involved in the “unprecedented” jailbreak which began when a suicide bomber drove a truck-bomb into the jail gate and blew it up.
Several dozen Taliban, armed with rocket-propelled grenades and rifles, then stormed the mud-built compound and freed the prisoners.
About 1,000 inmates were in the prison, including 400 Taliban, and nearly all of them escaped, said officials who declined to be identified. The government has confirmed that Taliban were among those who escaped but did not say how many.
A politician said 15 policemen were killed in the assault on the prison and subsequent clashes.
Some Taliban field commanders were among those who escaped, a politician from Kandahar said while a Taliban spokesman said all Taliban prisoners had reached “safe destinations”.
Separately, coalition forces killed several insurgents in ground and air strikes in the Garmser district of neighboring Helmand province on Saturday, the U.S. military said.
The operation was targeting a Taliban leader and a smuggler responsible for bringing weapons into the area. it said.
| Armed Conflict | June 2008 | ['(Reuters)'] |
Egyptian security forces clear a Cairo mosque after a long stand-off with the Muslim Brotherhood. , | Egypt's security forces have cleared a Cairo mosque after a long stand-off with Muslim Brotherhood supporters barricaded inside, state media says.
All the protesters have now been taken out of the mosque, and many have been arrested, security forces say.
The confrontation at the al-Fath mosque continued for most of Saturday - with exchanges of gunfire between security forces and protesters.
Meanwhile the interim PM has proposed legally dissolving the Brotherhood.
The group supports the ousted President Mohammed Morsi, and wants him to be reinstated.
Despite being closely allied to Mr Morsi's government, the Brotherhood has always technically been a banned organisation - it was officially dissolved by Egypt's military rulers in 1954 - but it recently registered itself as a non-governmental organisation.
If it was legally dissolved, its property and assets could be seized.
The Brotherhood has called for daily demonstrations since a crackdown on its protest camps in Cairo on Wednesday left hundreds of people dead. Further clashes on Friday killed at least another 173 people.
Demonstrators went out onto the streets of several Egyptian cities on Saturday night, in defiance of an overnight curfew.
Television pictures showed protesters in Egypt's second largest city, Alexandria, and in Helwan and Minya to the south of Cairo. Army tanks have also been seen near the coastal road in Alexandria. Egypt's interim Prime Minister Hazem Beblawi believes the recent protests are "terrorist acts", according to his spokesman, Sharif Shawqi.
Mr Shawqi told a televised news conference on Saturday that the Muslim Brotherhood's return to power was impossible.
The stand-off began overnight, when the al-Fath mosque - which was being used as a makeshift clinic for the injured and morgue for the dead from clashes on Friday - turned instead into what correspondents describe as a fortress.
Brotherhood members barricaded themselves inside, using anything at their disposal.
It turned into a scene of chaos. Tear gas was fired into the building, and security forces exchanged fire with at least one gunman in the minaret. Mohammed al-Zawahiri was detained at a checkpoint in Giza, near Cairo, because of his links to Mr Morsi, according to security officials. Al-Jazeera television called one woman inside the mosque on her mobile phone as the shooting began.
"Nobody here is safe, they are shooting inside the mosque," she said, with loud firing heard in the background.
Egyptian police have been bringing some Morsi supporters out of the building - leading some, dragging others - but are then having to protect them from angry mobs armed with bats and pieces of wood who are trying to attack them, correspondents say.
Many of the protesters have now been arrested. State TV is showing lines of detained people kneeling on the floor of the mosque with security forces around them.
The BBC's Bethany Bell in Cairo says the authorities want to secure all buildings to avoid a repeat of Muslim Brotherhood supporters forming more camps, as they did after Mr Morsi was ousted.
But away from the mosque, the rest of the capital remained mainly calm on Saturday, correspondents say - with shops and cafes open for business.
Separately, the Egyptian authorities say they have arrested the brother of al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri.
Mohammed al-Zawahiri was detained at a checkpoint in Giza, near Cairo, because of his links to Mr Morsi, according to security officials. Also on Saturday, the Muslim Brotherhood said on its Facebook page that Ammar Badie, the son of the movement's spiritual leader, General Guide Mohamed Badie, was one of those killed during protests on Friday.
The Brotherhood said that Ammar Badie, 38, had died of a bullet wound in Ramses Square on Friday.
The secretary-general of the Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party, Mohammed al-Beltagi, says his 17-year-old daughter, Asmaa, died in earlier protests.
Saturday's violence comes after days of unrest in Cairo and elsewhere in Egypt.
The escalation in tensions began on Wednesday, when armoured bulldozers moved into the two Cairo protest camps which had been occupied by pro-Morsi activists since he was ousted on 3 July.
The camps were eventually cleared, but not before at least 638 people were killed. Mobs later carried out reprisal attacks on government buildings and police stations as well as churches belonging to the country's Coptic Christian minority.
On Friday, hundreds of Muslim Brotherhood supporters gathered in Ramses Square for a "march of anger" about the bloodshed earlier in the week. Setback
| Organization Closed | August 2013 | ['(Reuters)', '(BBC)'] |
Kaja Kallas wins the support of the Riigikogu to become the new Prime Minister, the first woman to do so. | Seventy members of the Riigikogu voted in support of prime ministerial candidate Kaja Kallas (Reform) forming a government on Monday evening, giving her a mandate to do so.
Thirty members voted against Kallas and one member, Üllar Saaremäe (Isamaa), abstained. The members of the Social Democratic Party (SDE) voted in favor of the Reform-Center coalition.
On Monday afternoon, the leaders of the Reform and Center parties, Kallas and Jüri Ratas, signed the coalition agreement between their two parties to form the incoming government.
President Kersti Kaljulaid is scheduled to appoint the Kallas government to office at Kadriorg at 8:44 a.m. on Tuesday.
Kallas will then become prime minister. Her government will have seven female ministers, eight men and a majority of 59 seats in the Riigikogu. Both parties will have seven ministers each.
Ratas will remain as chairman of the Center Party and member of the Riigikogu but does not have a position in the government. He resigned two weeks ago after corruption allegations were made against the Center Party, which triggered the resignation of the government.
--
| Government Job change - Appoint_Inauguration | January 2021 | ['(ERR)'] |
Iran hangs 16 rebels in retaliation for 14 border guards being killed in clashes on its border with Pakistan. | "Sixteen rebels linked to groups hostile to the regime were hanged this morning in the prison of Zahedan in response to the death of border guards in Saravan," Mohammad Marzieh, the provincial attorney general of Sistan-Baluchistan province, was quoted as saying by Fars news agency.
The hangings were also reported by the Iranian Students News Agency (Isna).
At least 14 guards were killed in the ambush, reports now say, though 17 were previously reported to have died. A number were also wounded, reports said. | Armed Conflict | October 2013 | ['(BBC)'] |
Twentyeight children and three adults are stabbed at a nursery school in China. | Twenty-eight children and three adults have been injured by a man with a knife at a nursery school in eastern China, the third such attack in a month.
Officials said five children were taken to hospital in a critical condition after the incident in Jiangsu province. It follows a knife attack on Wednesday in the south of the country, in which 16 pupils and one teacher were injured. Earlier that day, a doctor convicted of stabbing eight children to death in Fujian province in March was executed. The alleged assailant in Jiangsu was named by police as Xu Yuyuan, a 47-year-old unemployed local man. Reports say he attacked the children at the Zhongzin pre-school in Taixing city as lessons began in the morning, stabbing a security guard who tried to stop him.
The spate of attacks in schools is unsettling for the Chinese. Earlier this month the education ministry urged educational institutions to upgrade their security - teaching children safety awareness and hiring security guards. But this school had a guard who, according to reports, was injured trying to protect the children. And there is little you can teach a class of four-year-olds that will help them when an armed man bursts into their classroom.
Some here are calling for more severe punishments for those who commit this kind of crime. Others suggest that not enough attention's paid to what they call "the voices of the weak". When that happens they say "they take revenge on society".
Police said Mr Xu, who was detained shortly afterwards, was carrying a 20cm (8in) knife, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported. "The gate-keeper, teachers, and students were attacked. The injured are receiving treatment in hospital. We don't have any reports of deaths yet," an official with the Taixing city government told AFP news agency. An official named Zhu told AFP the critically-injured children were now in a stable condition. Most of the injured children were reported to be four-year-olds from the same class. "The injured have been sent here one after another," an unnamed official at the Taixing No 1 People's hospital told the Associated Press news agency. "The doctors are now trying their best to save them." Security fears
China has witnessed several school attacks in recent years, most blamed on people with personal grudges or suffering from mental illness.
On Wednesday, at least 15 students and one teacher were injured in a knife attack at a primary school in southern Guangdong province. Chen Kangbing, 30, was a teacher at the school in Leizhou city but had been on sick leave since 2006, state media reported. He attempted to throw himself from the roof of the school before he was arrested, said the city's public security chief, Qin Zhucai. The same day, 42-year-old Zheng Minsheng was executed in eastern Fujian province for stabbing to death eight children in Nanping. Police said Zheng, who admitted to "intentionally killing" the children, had been upset about a failed relationship. He had appealed against the death sentence. The BBC's Chris Hogg in Shanghai says the attacks are unsettling in a country where such violent attacks are rare. Since a spate of attacks in 2004, many schools in China have employed professional guards but the latest incidents have led to public calls for increased security in schools. China Daily says the education ministry ordered all schools to upgrade their security facilities earlier this month and employ guards. Schools were also ordered to teach students about safety and ensure young children were escorted home, said the report. But such measures are expensive, says our correspondent, and in reality there is little that can be done to prevent such acts of violence. The incidents have also sparked a debate about the motives of the killers, with some suggesting that rapid social change and growing unemployment has led to an increase in psychiatric illnesses. | Armed Conflict | April 2010 | ['(BBC News)', '(China Daily)'] |
Two Algerian diplomatic staff who had been kidnapped by insurgents have been killed. | The announcement by the president's office came after a group claiming to be al-Qaeda in Iraq posted an internet message saying it had killed the pair.
Top envoy Ali Balarousi and colleague Azzedin Belkadi were seized by armed gunmen in the capital last Thursday. Their deaths follow the killing of Egypt's ambassador-designate, which insurgents say they carried out.
Officials say insurgents have launched attacks on diplomats to try to dissuade Arab countries from raising the level of their diplomatic representation. 'Monstrous act'
Algerian radio interrupted its programming to report the killings.
President Abdelaziz Bouteflika called it a monstrous act. "In the most cowardly fashion, the kidnappers have... carried out their vile threats," he said in a statement.
Earlier on Wednesday, a group claiming to be al-Qaeda in Iraq said it had killed the Algerians because of their government's support for the US.
"Iraq will not be safe for God's enemies. Haven't we warned you against allying yourselves with America," the group said.
The two Algerians had appeared in a video made public on Tuesday. An earlier internet posting from the group, which is thought to be led by Jordanian-born militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, warned that the two men would be killed after being tried in an "al-Qaeda court". | Famous Person - Death | July 2005 | ['(BBC News)'] |
Modern Family wins the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series tying with Frasier at most wins in that category with five each. | The 66th Primetime Emmy Awards are done and over. Like the largely paint-by-numbers ceremony, which offered exactly what you would expect of an Emmys ceremony (nothing more, nothing less), the awards were notable largely for how unsurprising they were.
If anything, the lack of surprise may have been the most surprising thing. After four seasons and four Outstanding Comedy awards, it felt like something was going to supplant “Modern Family.” After all, the voters couldn’t pick that show every year, could they? They could, it seems, as the show won for a record-tying fifth year (matching “Frasier” for the most wins in this category ever), beating the newer, more varied (if less sitcom-y) strains of “Louie” and “Orange Is The New Black.”
(AP)
“Breaking Bad” was the other big winner, taking home the award for Outstanding Drama, and writing for a drama series (for the third-to-last episode, considered by many fans and the show’s creator to be the series’ best installment). Three of its actors won as well (Bryan Cranston, Anna Gunn and Aaron Paul). Even if it felt, again, like there was little surprise here – “Breaking Bad,” Cranston, Gunn and Paul had all won before — it was also recognizing the show’s final run, giving Emmy voters one last chance to honor the series.
The lack of surprise also played in the acting categories. Like Cranston, all of the winners had at least two Emmy wins going into tonight, along with scores of nominations. Jim Parsons won again, taking home his fourth Emmy in five years. (That means Parsons has won this category as many times as — yes — Kelsey Grammer of “Frasier.”) Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Julianna Margulies were again named the best actresses in comedy and drama, respectively.
Meanwhile, “Sherlock: His Last Vow” won more awards tonight (three) than “True Detective” (one), “Game of Thrones” (zero), “Mad Men” (zero), “House of Cards” (zero) and “Orange is the New Black” (zero) combined. So did “Fargo,” the FX attempt at proving you could base a worthwhile television show on a great movie. Despite all of the buzz and excitement surrounding new shows like “True Detective” and “Orange is the New Black,” the Emmy voters ignored these newcomers in favor of crowning repeat winners in all of the major categories.
(AP)
In the last category of the night, “Breaking Bad” won its final Emmy, finishing off a rather solid sweep of major categories and fending off newcomers like “True Detective” and “House of Cards” as well as longtime competitors like “Mad Men.”
This was the show’s second trophy in the Outstanding Drama category, following its win last year. Both awards recognized the show’s final season, which was split in half; the trophy awarded Monday night was given out for the final run of episodes that aired last year.
The two Outstanding Drama trophies mean that “Breaking Bad” will match the total won by “The Sopranos,” while it trails recent stalwarts like “Mad Men” and “The West Wing” (which both won four consecutive times). “Mad Men” and “The West Wing” were both recognized during their initial seasons, while “Breaking Bad” — befitting its storyline — seemed to be a slower burn, recognized first for its acting before drawing praise for the overall quality at work.
The series capped its highly-lauded run with a string of Emmys on Monday night that included the top prize as well as awards for its three stars (Bryan Cranston, Anna Gunn and Aaron Paul) and one of its writers (Moira Walley-Beckett).
Complete winners list
(AP)
In a shocking upset that literally nobody could have predicted, “Modern Family” won its fifth Outstanding Comedy Emmy for the show’s fifth season. However, those “Frasier” fanatics among us (all of us, obviously) can enjoy this factoid: “Modern Family” has now tied “Frasier” with five wins in this category, more than any other shows. That’s right: “Modern Family” has more Outstanding Comedy Emmys than “Cheers,” “All in the Family,” “Seinfeld,” “Taxi,” “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” and “30 Rock.”
Complete winners list
(AP)
Cranston! Bryan Cranston picked up his fourth Emmy for playing Walter White, his first win in the category since 2010. “I can only say that I have gratitude for everything that has happened,” said Cranston, who won for the show’s final season.
He thanked Vince Gilligan, the show’s creator, for “the role of a lifetime,” before praising his costars as well as the show’s creator and crew.
Complete winners list
(AP)
Julianna Margulies won her third Emmy and her second for playing Alicia Florrick on the CBS drama. Marguilies, who also won a supporting Emmy nearly two decades ago for the first season of “ER,” praised her writers for pumping out 22 episodes a year (rather than the 13 episodes required by most cable dramas).
Christine Baranski may have been my favorite part of Julianna Margulies’ #Emmys speech http://t.co/pSx1Pr0Kjf #TheGoodWife
— Jarett Wieselman (@JarettSays) August 26, 2014
Complete winners list
(AP)
Moira Walley-Beckett won this category for her “Ozymandias” script. Walley-Beckett also won an Emmy last year as part of the team recognized when “Breaking Bad” won the top drama prize. This Emmy was for the antepenultimate episode of “Breaking Bad,” which was directed by Rian Johnson and was perhaps the show’s finest moment. This isn’t just a sentiment among some viewers, either; this opinion was voiced by “Breaking Bad” creator Vince Gilligan himself.
Complete winners list
(AP)
Anna Gunn just won her second Emmy for “Breaking Bad.” It took a while for Gunn to get the same recognition afforded to her costars Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul, but she has now won two of the last three Emmys in this category as she has been recognized for her increasingly demanding role on the show.
Complete winners list
(AP)
Television has become an increasingly cinematic genre, something personified by Cary Fukunaga’s run on “True Detective.” He helped shape a remarkably vivid show, one that appeared from start to finish to be a singular visual work.
Complete winners list
After the In Memoriam segment, Billy Crystal offered a very touching, emotional tribute to his close friend, Robin Williams, who died two weeks ago.
“He made us laugh, hard, every time we saw him,” Crystal said. He told a couple stories, including one time when he, Williams and Whoopi Goldberg went to Shea Stadium for a Comic Relief event. Williams wasn’t really a big baseball fan (his favorite team was “The San Franciscos”) but he got a kick out of pretending to be a baseball player from Russia.
Williams was also apparently a big presence at Crystal family functions — he bonded with older immigrant relatives “like he was one of the guys,” and make up stories about his past.
“As genius as he was on stage, he was the greatest friend you could ever imagine — supportive, protective loving,” Crystal said, his voice shaking. “It’s very hard to talk about him in the past because he was so present in all of our lives.”
“For almost 40 years, he was the brightest star in the comedy galaxy.”
Well said, @BillyCrystal. What a lovely tribute. #RIPRobinWilliams pic.twitter.com/cN9GbRtes9
— Us Weekly (@usweekly) August 26, 2014
Billy Crystal on Robin Williams: “He was the greatest friend you could ever imagine. Supportive, protective, loving.” http://t.co/uldAFLHpxi
— Washington Post (@washingtonpost) August 26, 2014
“My God, ‘Breaking Bad,’” said Aaron Paul, starting to get a bit emotional as he accepted his second Emmy for supporting actor in a drama series. The camera cut to co-star Bryan Cranston, who looked a little teary as well.
“There’s not a single day that goes by that I don’t miss running to work to work opposite of you, my friend,” Paul said.
Complete winners list
(AP)
We’re back to the big awards! Aaron Paul just won his third Emmy for “Breaking Bad,” a very well-deserved award for a talented actor on an excellent show, so there’s really nothing to joke about here.
Complete winners list
On the heels of Beyoncé’s powerful “FEMINISM” image at last night’s VMAs, we get “Modern Family” star Sofia Vergara forced to stand on a rotating platform — to give the audience a full view, of course — while TV academy president Bruce Rosenblum talked about the television industry.
This started immediately going around Twitter:
Last night vs. tonight #Emmys pic.twitter.com/Lk4fbj3GI4
— ArtsMic (@ArtsMic) August 26, 2014
His name is Stephen Colbert, but someone pronounced it Stephen Colbort, and these Emmys aren’t giving us a lot to work with, so let’s enjoy this moment:
DOH #Emmys2014 pic.twitter.com/Dvc8DNhIRh
— darth™ (@darth) August 26, 2014
[Complete winners list]
Gwen Stefani announced “The Col-bort Report” won the prize for outstanding variety series (beating “The Daily Show” once again!), so Jimmy Fallon took it upon himself to accept the award for Stephen Colbert.
Colbert whispered in his ear for the majority of the speech and Fallon gleefully repeated everything he said. Even a profanity that got bleeped by censors.
Eventually, Colbert took over and finished the speech. “It has been kind of fun to do the show for the last nine years,” he said.
Did Stephen Colbert just get Kanye’d by Jimmy Fallon? #emmys https://t.co/UmapNaPSP8
— People magazine (@peoplemag) August 26, 2014
(Getty Images)
“The Colbert Report” just won this category for the second consecutive time. Unfortunately, despite this, the show has been canceled and will end this year. It’s a tough break, but these things happen in the television industry.
Complete winners list
The Outstanding Directing for a Variety Special is a knock-down, drag-out brawl every year. This year’s winner, Glenn Weiss, accepted for the Tony Awards while also directing the Emmys, which means nobody could theoretically cut him off and he could talk for forever and nobody could stop him. Why would he stop talking? Just filibuster, Glenn. The stage is yours.
UPDATE: He stopped talking.
Complete winners list
Ryan Murphy of “The NormalHeart” accept the award for outstanding television movie at the 66th Primetime Emmy Awards (Photo by Vince Bucci/AP Images)
Think Ryan Murphy was seething as “The Normal Heart” lost everything to “Sherlock”? Either way, he delivered quite the grateful speech when the film — about the AIDS crisis in New York in the 1980s — won for outstanding television movie. Murphy gave props to Julia Roberts and Mark Ruffalo (“Erin Brockovich and the Incredible Hulk”) for ultimately putting enough star power behind the project to finally get it made.
He also encouraged all the young people watching to be like activist Larry Kramer, who wrote “The Normal Heart” play. Murphy dedicated the award to “artists who died of HIV/AIDS since 1981.”
Complete winners list
Kicking off her shoes the moment her name was called for outstanding writing for a variety special (HBO’s “Sarah Silverman: We are Miracles”), Sarah Silverman raced on stage and grabbed her trophy from Ricky Gervais. “This didn’t even occur to me,” Silverman said, adding that she wanted to thank her “Jews” at agency CAA.
She finished with the ultimately bizarre line, “We’re all just made of molecules and we’re hurling through space right now.” | Awards ceremony | August 2014 | ['(Washington Post)'] |
At least three people die, 27 are injured, and 26 people are missing, the majority of them in and around Jōsō city in Ibaraki Prefecture, as a result of floods and landslides in Japan after heavy rainfall caused by Tropical Storm Etau. | At least three people have died and dozens are missing after severe flooding that has devastated cities in north-east Japan.
Two women and a man were killed and at least 27 have been injured - eight seriously - according to the BBC.
It has reported that at least 26 people are missing, with the majority of them in and around Joso city in Ibaraki, 34 miles north-east of the country’s capital Tokyo, where the Kinugawa river burst through a flood barrier on Wednesday.
Hundreds of people are stranded, including several pensioners, in the aftermath of the flooding, caused by heavy rain in the wake of Typhoon Etau, which swept through the region earlier this week.
Houses have been ripped from their foundations and 100,000 people have been forced to flee their homes.
The Japan Meteorological Agency called it an “unprecedented” downpour.
Officials confirmed that a 63-year-old woman was killed when her house was hit by a landslide in Kanuma City in Tochigi, the BBC reports.
Another woman, aged 48, died after her car was swept away in Kurihara city in Miyagi.
A man also died after falling into a drain he was trying to clear in Nikko, Tochigi.
The country’s Meteorological Agency has issued fresh alerts for heavy rain, warning rivers in Tochigi, Ibaraki and Niigata could burst their banks today, with the possibility of landslides across eastern and north-eastern Japan.
J
| Hurricanes_Tornado_Storm_Blizzard | September 2015 | ['(Reuters)', '(The Independent-UK)'] |
The elections in Zimbabwe have proceeded with large queues seen at many polling stations. No violence has been reported, and Incumbent president Robert Mugabe of the ZANU–PF party has declared the elections to be free and fair. Opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai of the party MDC, disputes this, but still believes his party will win. The election has already been branded unfair by both the U.S. and the EU and their observers have been barred from monitoring the poll. Results are expected in two days. | Harare - Voters in Zimbabwe began casting ballots on Thursday as polls opened in the Southern African country for landmark elections that President Robert Mugabe hopes will tighten his ruling party's 25-year grip on power.
Under a drizzling rain, about 200 people stood in a queue at a polling station in Harare's oldest township of Mbare to cast their ballots in the parliamentary elections, Zimbabwe's sixth since independence.
"I wanted to be the first in the queue, to be served early," said Beauty Chigutiare. "We need change." "We want jobs, we want good houses," she said.
Some 5.7 million voters are eligible to vote in the elections that cap weeks of campaigning which have been surprisingly free of the bloodshed that marred previous votes in 2000 and 2002. Africa's last independence leader, Mugabe is vying for a two-thirds majority for his Zanu-PF party in the elections but civic groups and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) say a shock may be in store for the 81-year-old veteran leader.
"What were the elections about? About who should govern and who should not," Mugabe told a final rally in Harare attended by 3 000 supporters of his Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (Zanu-PF). MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai also predicted a big win for his party but urged reconciliation at a final campaign stop in the village of Biriwiri, near the border with Mozambique.
"We hope the outcome of the election will provide an opportunity for national reconciliation and hopefully Zanu-PF will not be arrogant," said Tsvangirai, 53, a former union leader. Whatever the outcome of the elections, Zimbabweans have been relieved by the lack of bloodshed in the campaign which analysts attribute to Mugabe's desire to regain legitimacy as a statesman after presiding over what the United States has dubbed one of the world's six "outposts of tyranny.'
The elections for 120 contested seats in parliament will be closely watched to determine whether Mugabe will adhere to regional guidelines on holding a free and fair vote that call for equal access to the media, freedom to hold rallies and the presence of international observers.
The United States on Tuesday said the vote "could be a turning point for Zimbabwe" due to the absence of violence. But the European Union, whose election observers have also been taken off the list of guests, called the vote "a sham" and a "pseudo-election", with Luxembourg's junior foreign minister Nicolas Schmidt saying this week that the Europeans were "worried and shocked" by the campaign.
Two groups of civic organisations - the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) and the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition - both released reports on the eve of the vote to say that it would not be democratic, citing the ongoing climate of fear and intimidation in Zimbabwe politics. | Government Job change - Election | March 2005 | ['(Bloomberg)', '(CNN)', '(News24)', '(Reuters)', '(BBC)'] |
The Welsh Labour Party says it expects to be in government by the end of next week, and may govern alone after winning 30 of the 60 Welsh Assembly seats in Thursday's election. | Labour say they expect to be in government in Cardiff Bay by the end of next week.
It is likely they will initially govern as a single party, rather than rush a deal with Plaid Cymru or the Liberal Democrats.
Labour AM Leighton Andrews said they would dictate the terms of any deal.
Welsh Lib Dem leader Kirsty Williams called for a "stable government" as the Tories announced Paul Davies as their new interim leader in the assembly.
Mr Andrews told BBC Wales Labour were the clear winners of the election, meaning they were in a position to take stock and decide the way forward.
"Labour is going to form the government in due course and what shape that government takes will be a matter for the first minister," he told BBC Radio Wales.
"I'm not ruling out going it alone and nor is the first minister - we need to look at what we can do as the Labour party in the short term and over the five year period now that we have the 30 seats." The newly-elected Plaid Cymru AM Simon Thomas said his party were still open to a repeat of the One Wales coalition with Labour, but they needed to learn the lessons of their disappointing election performance.
He added: "Labour are in a position where they dictate the way forward and I think it's important Plaid takes stock of that and we realise we're not in the position we hoped for in terms of trying to arrange an alternative government or a different way of doing the coalition.
"We are now the third party in Wales and we have to acknowledge that. "We have to look at what is being offered by Labour and look at ourselves and lick our wounds."
The Liberal Democrats are also discussing their next move this weekend. Retaining five out of six seats in Wales is being seen as a positive result given the UK political context.
Kirsty Williams said: "We want there to be a stable government over the next five years and we want to concentrate on the issues we've been campaigning on, how can we strengthen the Welsh economy, how can we improve education results for our children and how can we cut waiting times.
"Whether that's part of government or opposition these will continue to be the main thrust of the work of the Welsh Liberal Democrats."
Meanwhile, Welsh Conservatives will begin the process of electing a new leader on Wednesday, after Nick Bourne lost his seat, ironically because of the party's strong performance in Mid and West Wales.
Until that appointment is decided Preseli Pembrokeshire AM Paul Davies is their interim leader.
The new assembly is likely to meet for the first time next week. Once a new presiding officer and deputy have been elected, there will then be a vote to install a new first minister. The Conservatives, Plaid and Liberal Democrats are likely to abstain, meaning Carwyn Jones will be elected easily with Labour's votes.
Turnout at Thursday's election was down slightly on the 2007 figure, with 41.6% in the constituency count and 42.2% in the regional list count.
Meanwhile, the Welsh business sector called for "action" in forming a new assembly government.
Robert Lloyd Griffiths, director of the Institute of Directors in Wales, said the critical areas of infrastructure, skills and education needed to be addressed.
CBI Wales director David Rosser said the new government needed to forge a closer relationship with business than ever before because only the private sector could deliver economic growth for Wales. | Government Job change - Election | May 2011 | ['(BBC)'] |
Amid the imposed curfew, the Samoan government asks unvaccinated families to display a red flag or red cloth in front of their homes to warn others and to aid mass vaccination efforts as the death toll hits 60 and confirmed cases surpass 4,000. | Immunization is compulsory following a state of emergency imposed last month and officials have requested unvaccinated families identify themselves.
The Government of Samoa on Wednesday?asked families who had yet to receive a measles inoculation?to display a red cloth or flag outside their homes?to aid?mass vaccination?efforts, as authorities attempt?to stem?an?epidemic that has killed dozens of infants.
Official data put the current death toll from the outbreak at 60, with 52 of those who have perished?aged four or under.
Vaccinations in recent weeks have focused on children but authorities have now broadened its program to cover the entire Samoan population.
Masked children wait to get vaccinated at a health clinic in Apia, Samoa
The Samoan Government posted on its official Facebook page that it will be conducting a "door to door mass vaccination campaign on Thursday 5th and Friday 6th December, 2019, throughout the whole country."
The Pacific nation with a population of 200,000 will grind to a halt during these two days as non-essential government services close so public servants can assist in the vaccination process.
Authorities require assistance to know who has yet to receive the potentially life-saving injection. The social media post continued: "The public is hereby advised to tie a red cloth or red flag in front of their houses and near the road to indicate that family members have not been vaccinated. The red mark makes it easier for the teams to identify households for vaccinations."
Foreign aid given to Samoa?as global outbreaks increase
The sovereign state which consists of two islands?has been given?aid from far and wide?in its struggle against?the crisis. Australia, New Zealand, France, Britain, China, Norway, Japan, the United States and the UN?have all contributed to the cause.
Last week, the UN's?World Health Organization released an update on global measles cases, noting a spike in the number of cases confirmed.
The report said some 440,200 cases had been reported as of November 5, topping the 350,000 cases reported in 2018. The deadly illness, which can be easily prevented with vaccinations, is spreading around the world. | Disease Outbreaks | December 2019 | ['(Deutsche Welle)'] |
President Rodrigo Duterte admits in a speech to a group of businessmen that he "personally" killed suspected criminals when he served as Davao City's mayor. | Controversial leader – who has endorsed extrajudicial executions of drug offenders – says he killed to show police officers ‘if I can do it, why can’t you?’
Last modified on Tue 28 Nov 2017 09.30 GMT
Rodrigo Duterte has announced he personally killed suspected criminals when he was mayor of his home city of Davao in the Philippines, cruising the streets on a motorcycle and “looking for trouble”.
The country’s president made the comments in a speech late on Monday night as he discussed his campaign to eradicate illegal drugs, which has seen police and unknown assailants kill around 5,000 people since he became president on 30 June.
“In Davao I used to do it personally. Just to show to the guys [police officers] that if I can do it, why can’t you,” he was quoted as saying by AFP, talking of his two decades as mayor of the southern city of 1.5 million people. “And I’d go around in Davao with a motorcycle, with a big bike around, and I would just patrol the streets, looking for trouble also.
“I was really looking for a confrontation so I could kill.”
On Wednesday the justice secretary of the Philippines, Vitaliano Aguirre II, said Duterte often exaggerated his rhetoric to get a message across to criminals. “The president always resorts to hyperbole; he always exaggerates just to put his message across,” Aguirre told reporters.
The former mayor was nicknamed “Duterte Harry”, after the fictional and ruthless police inspector played by Clint Eastwood, for his support for vigilante death squads that killed hundreds of suspected criminals.
Duterte previously has both denied and acknowledged his involvement in the Davao death squads.
Since taking his bloody anti-crime campaign to the nation level, he has been criticised by the United States and United Nations, whose concerns have drawn only angry rebukes.
“If they say that I am afraid to stop because of the human rights and guys … including Obama, sorry, I am not about to do that,” Duterte said in English during his speech at the presidential palace this week.
Duterte has a better relationship with US president-elect Donald Trump, who he said had praised his war on drugs during a phone call this month. This was not confirmed by Trump’s team.
As president Duterte has publicly encouraged civilians to kill drug addicts and said he will not prosecute police for extrajudicial executions. But he has also said he and his security forces will not break the law.
In October Duterte compared himself to Adolf Hitler and said he would be “happy to slaughter” three million drug addicts. He later apologised for the Hitler reference but said he was “emphatic” about wanting to kill the millions of addicts.
Since his election, police have reported killing 2,086 people in anti-drug operations. More than 3,000 others have been killed in unexplained circumstances, according to official figures.
Often masked assailants break into homes and kill people who have been tagged as drug traffickers or drug users. Human rights groups have warned of a breakdown in the rule of law with police and hired assassins operating with impunity.
A report by the Guardian in October cited a senior officer in the police force who claimed he led one of 10 special operations teams, each with 16 members, tasked with killing suspected drug users, dealers and criminals.
The officer claimed the hit squads are composed of active police officers and that the murders are conducted in such a way as to make them appear to be perpetrated by “vigilantes” to deliberately obscure police involvement and preclude investigation.
The report was later denied by the chief of police. Duterte has insisted police are killing only in self-defence while gangsters are murdering the other victims.
But he has also said he will not allow any police officers to go to jail if they are found guilty of murder in prosecuting his war on crime. | Famous Person - Give a speech | December 2016 | ['(INQUIRER.net)', '(The Guardian)', '(NBC News)'] |
Sri Lanka unveils a new seaport in southern Hambantota which received a large amount of financial assistance from China. | HAMBANTOTA, Sri Lanka (Reuters) - Sri Lanka flooded a new port on Sunday, built with Chinese assistance as part of a $6 billion drive to rebuild the island nation’s infrastructure after a quarter century of war.
The Hambantota port, built at an estimated cost of $1.5 billion on the southern coast, will begin handling ships from November, officials said.
“This is part of making this country an emerging wonder of Asia,” President Mahinda Rajapaksa said after launching the port.
Hambantota is one of four ports being built or upgraded under Rajapaksa’s plan to renew the country’s $42 billion economy by returning it to its old and lucrative role as a trading hub.
Built to handle 2,500 ships annually in the first stage, the new port is located along the East-West shipping lane and is ultimately meant to challenge Singapore’s status as a regional shipping hub.
Sri Lanka now handles around 6,000 ships annually in its only port in Colombo on the western coast, which requires ships plying the East-West shipping lane to divert course.
Rajapaksa vowed to transform the island’s economy with a series of infrastructure projects, soon after crushing a 25-year insurgency by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam last year.
“It is not sea water that will fill this port but the future prosperity of our nation. From this port will emerge our true economic independence, ” he said in a speech.
China’s involvement in the building of the port had raised concerns in India, but analysts said Rajapaksa had successfully handled Indian pressure. Security analysts in India worry that the port was part of Beijing’s String of Pearls strategy to build a network of ports across the Indian Ocean.
Beijing has loaned over $425 million for the first phase of Hambantota project including the bunkering facility. Colombo is negotiating for a further $800 million loan for the second phase.
In addition to cargo handling, Hambantota will have a fully fledged bunkering facility and a tank farm project.
The port will operate 14 tanks with a total capacity of 80,000 MT. Eight tanks will be utilised for bunkering while six will be used for aviation fuel and LPG.
Except bunkering, all other activities including bulk cargo handling, storage facility, warehouses, transshipment have been opened for offshore investors.
(Editing by Ranga Sirilal and Sanjeev Miglani)
| Financial Aid | August 2010 | ['(BBC)', '(Reuters India)'] |
United States Senate election in Georgia, 2008: Voters in the U.S. state of Georgia go to the polls for a runoff election between incumbent Senator Saxby Chambliss of the Republican Party and Jim Martin of the Democratic Party. Chambliss is reelected, ending the Democratic Party's hopes of having 60 Senators to avoid a filibuster. , | DULUTH, Georgia (Reuters) - The state of Georgia voted in a run-off election for U.S. Senate on Tuesday that will help decide whether Democrats gain a big enough majority in the chamber to more easily pass their legislation agenda.
Incumbent Senator Saxby Chambliss reacts as Alaska Governor Sarah Palin addresses the crowd during a rally in Duluth, Georgia December 1, 2008.
Polls make incumbent Republican Sen. Saxby Chambliss a slight favorite to beat Jim Martin and block Democrats from holding 60 seats in the 100-seat Senate.
Such a majority would enable them to overcome procedural hurdles mounted against their legislative agenda by Republicans -- an advantage made more potent because Democrat Barack Obama won the presidential election on November 4.
Some 533,000 Georgians have already cast early ballots, but participation could fall short of the 3.7 million who voted in November’s Senate matchup. Local media reported moderate turnout throughout the morning.
Polls close at 7 p.m. EST (0000 GMT).
Chambliss beat Martin in their first battle in November but fell short of a simple majority needed to win the seat outright.
Democrats in November made gains around the country that gave them 58 Senate seats -- 56 held by Democrats and two by independents who caucus with the party -- as well as an expanded majority in the House of Representatives.
The remaining Senate seat in Minnesota is subject to a recount.
A southeastern state in the most conservative part of the country, Georgia backed Republican John McCain in the presidential election.
Presidential politics was never far from the agenda at an election rally held by Alaska governor and rising Republican star Sarah Palin on Monday on behalf of Chambliss in Georgia. Palin rose to national prominence as McCain’s running mate before he was defeated by Obama.
At a rally of several thousand in Duluth, Georgia, north of Atlanta, Palin received a cheer that dwarfed the one accorded to Chambliss a few minutes earlier. Several supporters said they hoped she runs for president in 2012.
Republicans needed to “walk the walk as well as talk the talk” and work toward returning the party to a “pro-working class, conservative cause” to revive its fortunes, Palin said.
Palin was applauded by the nearly all-white crowd when she defended gun ownership and criticized legal abortion, reflecting priorities of the Republican base.
Later, Martin, a former state legislator, held a rally on the steps of the state capitol in downtown Atlanta with hip-hop artist Ludacris and civil rights leaders. Former President Bill Clinton has also campaigned for Martin.
The election will turn on which party can get more voters to the polls as much as on the issues, said Alan Abramowitz, a professor of political science at Emory University in Atlanta.
“Georgia is still a Republican-leaning state. It will be difficult for the Democrats to reproduce that large African American turnout that we had in the first election,” he said. Democrats in November benefited from heavy black support of Obama, who will be the first black president.
In an ominous sign for Martin, blacks made up only 22 percent of those casting early ballots, according to figures released by the secretary of state’s office, far short of the 35 percent they comprised in the November election.
Abramowitz argued that the presence of Palin in Georgia could prove a double-edged sword.
“When you bring down a polarizing figure such as Sarah Palin it brings out the other side as much as your own base,” he said.
Additional reporting by Andy Sullivan in Washington; editing by David Wiessler | Government Job change - Election | December 2008 | ['(Reuters)', '(New York Times)'] |
Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya calls for the European Union to support protesters in her country as she is awarded the Sakharov Prize. | Former Belarus presidential candidate Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya is calling on the European Union to be braver in its support for democracy protesters in her country
BRUSSELS -- Former Belarus presidential candidate Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya urged the European Union to step up its support for embattled democracy protesters in her country, as she picked up the EU’s top human rights prize Wednesday on behalf of a group of opposition leaders.
“Without a free Belarus, Europe is not fully free either. We ask Europe and the whole world to stand with Belarus,” Tsikhanouskaya told lawmakers in Brussels as she collected the Sakharov Prize, which was awarded by the European Parliament to the Belarus opposition in October.
Holding aloft photographs of Belarusians who have rallied against authoritarian Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko, protesters who often been detained and beaten by security forces, she dedicated the award to them. At the same time, Tsikhanouskaya appealed to the 27-nation bloc to be braver in its actions.
“Standing for democracy and human rights is not interference, but it is duty of each self-respecting country,” she told EU lawmakers, speaking in English. “Your solidarity and your voice are important, but it is actions that matter.”
Mass protests have gripped Belarus since official results from the Aug. 9 presidential election gave Lukashenko a landslide victory over his popular rival, Tsikhanouskaya, and a sixth term in office. She and her supporters refused to recognize the result, saying the vote was riddled with fraud, and some poll workers came forward to detail how the election was rigged in their areas.
The EU also refuses to recognize the results and has imposed sanctions on Lukashenko and several of his associates.
Belarus authorities have cracked down hard on the largely peaceful demonstrations, the biggest of which attracted up to 200,000 people. Police have used stun grenades, tear gas and truncheons to disperse the rallies. Mass detentions have continued.
According to human rights advocates, more than 30,000 people have been detained since the protests began, and thousands were brutally beaten. Four people are reported to have died.
In a speech punctuated by applause, Tsikhanouskaya thanked EU lawmakers for the recognition implicit in the prize, named after Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov and created in 1988 to honor individuals or groups who defend human rights and fundamental freedoms.
“What is a better recognition that we are free thinkers? What is a better motivation for us to keep going? We are bound to win, and we will win,” she said.
European Parliament President David Sassoli paid tribute to the Belarus opposition, and said that the assembly wants to send a fact-finding mission to the country in the next few months, along with representatives from other EU institutions.
“We see your courage. We can see the courage of women. We see your suffering. We see the unspeakable abuses. We see the violence. Your aspiration and determination to live in a democratic country inspires us,” Sassoli said.
He told reporters that it's important for lawmakers to “be present on the ground, to have a better idea of the demands of the Belarus people.” | Awards ceremony | December 2020 | ['(ABC News)'] |
50 people are feared drowned and 100 are missing after a boat capsized in Sierra Leone | FREETOWN, Sierra Leone (Reuters) -- Around 50 people were feared drowned and more than 100 were missing after their boat capsized in heavy rain at the mouth of a river in Sierra Leone, police said on Friday.
A spokesman for a local boat owners' association said seven bodies had so far been recovered from the sea at the estuary of the Great Scarcies River, near Sierra Leone's northern border.
Police in the northern Kambia district estimated around 50 people had died based on accounts from the only two survivors found so far.
The boat, which was en route from the coastal capital Freetown to the riverside town of Rokupr, was believed to be carrying around 200 passengers when it ran into the choppy river waters, swollen by a week of torrential rains.
"Members of the Sierra Leone navy, backed by some members of the boat association, left in the early hours for the disaster scene to join local fishermen who have been searching since the tragedy took place," said the spokesman for the boat owners' association, Michael Asuman.
Authorities say that the heavy rains have washed away scores of homes in the hilly Freetown area over the last week, leaving more than 500 people on the streets.
Boating accidents are common during Sierr Leonea Leone's treacherous rainy season. Some 25 people drowned in July last year when a wave overturned their boat at the mouth of the Great Scarcies river. | Shipwreck | August 2007 | ['(Reuters via CNN)'] |
Israel's plans to hold an inquiry into its Gaza flotilla raid have been dismissed by Turkey and the Palestinians. | Israel's plans to hold an inquiry into its deadly raid on a convoy of Gaza-bound aid ships have been dismissed by Turkey and the Palestinians.
Turkey said Israel could not run an impartial probe into the deaths of nine Turkish activists during a 31 May raid.
And Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas said the inquiry would not meet demands made by the UN Security Council.
Meanwhile, Middle East peace envoy Tony Blair says he hopes Israel will allow more humanitarian items into Gaza.
Speaking to the BBC before briefing European Union foreign ministers, Mr Blair said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had agreed in principle to a "significant change" in the way the blockade was organised.
At the meeting, EU foreign affairs chief Cathy Ashton said the bloc was ready to send monitors to support the opening of border crossings as soon as they saw signs of movement from Israel.
Israel announced its plans to hold an inquiry - including two foreign observers - having earlier rejected a UN proposal for an international probe. The activists were killed when Israeli commandos stormed a flotilla of ships in international waters. The boats were heading to Gaza on a mission to deliver humanitarian aid, in defiance of Israel's blockade, when they were boarded.
In a statement released following an emergency session held after the raid on 31 May, the Security Council called for a "prompt, impartial, credible and transparent" investigation. The three-man panel will be led by former Israeli Supreme Court judge Yaakov Tirkel. The other members are Amos Horev, a retired major-general in the Israeli military and a former president of the Israel Institute of Technology, and Shabtai Rosen, a 93-year-old professor of international law.
The two foreign experts will take part in the hearings and subsequent discussions, but will not vote on the conclusions of the inquiry.
However, the premise of the inquiry was quickly criticised by Turkey and by Mr Abbas.
"We have no trust at all that Israel, a country that has carried out such an attack on a civilian convoy in international waters, will conduct an impartial investigation," said Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu. "To have a defendant acting simultaneously as both prosecutor and judge is not compatible with any principle of law." Mr Abbas, speaking in Paris, said the inquiry "does not correspond to what the Security Council asked for".
"Israel must lift the blockade," Mr Abbas said. "That is our principal and permanent demand."
In contrast, Washington welcomed the announcement of the inquiry, describing it as "an important step forward".
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has described Israel's blockade of Gaza as a clear violation of international humanitarian law.
In a statement, the ICRC described the situation in Gaza as dire, saying the only sustainable solution was a lifting of the blockade.
Last month's clashes came after six ships carrying campaigners and 10,000 tonnes of aid sailed from Cyprus in an attempt to break Israel's three-year blockade of the Hamas-run Gaza Strip.
Israel says its troops acted in self-defence when activists attacked commandos trying to board the main vessel in the flotilla. The campaigners say the soldiers opened fire without any provocation.
The proposal for an Israeli inquiry into the Gaza convoy raid was approved by the country's cabinet on Monday.
"The government decision will make it clear to the world that Israel is acting legally, responsibly, and with complete transparency," Mr Netanyahu told the cabinet, according to Haaretz newspaper.
The two foreign experts on the inquiry will be former Northern Ireland first minister and Nobel Peace Prize winner David Trimble and retired Canadian military prosecutor Ken Watkin.
Lord Trimble, the former Ulster Unionist leader, won the Nobel prize for his role in the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, which brought an end to the worst of the political violence in Northern Ireland. Since stepping aside from politics there, he has travelled to the Middle East to speak about conflict resolution.
Israeli government
WitnessGAZA flotilla updates
Free Gaza movement | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Investigate | June 2010 | ['(BBC)'] |
The UK Government unveils plans for the biggest shake up of the country's welfare system since the 1940s. | The biggest welfare shake-up since the 1940s will make going out to work pay and see benefit cuts for those who refuse to take jobs, ministers say.
Work Secretary Iain Duncan Smith plans to bring in a single Universal Credit to replace work-related benefits.
Claimants moving into work will keep more of their income than now, but face losing benefits if they refuse a job.
Labour said it backed moves to make work pay but warned about the possible lack of available jobs.
The new system will mostly be administered through the internet, with people expected to make claims online and check their payments like they would an online bank account - even though an estimated 1.5 million unemployed people do not currently have internet access, according to government figures. The DWP says a "minority" of cases will still be dealt with face-to-face.
Unveiling his white paper on welfare reform in the Commons, Mr Duncan Smith said the current system was hugely complex and costly to administer, vulnerable to fraud, and deterred people from finding a job or extending their hours. Mr Duncan Smith, who campaigned for root-and-branch welfare reform while in opposition, said millions of people had become "trapped" on benefits and long-term unemployment had become entrenched in communities where generations of families had not worked for years.
He proposes consolidating the existing 30 or more work-related benefits - including jobseeker's allowance, housing benefit, child tax credit, working tax credit, income support and employment support allowance - into a single universal payment.
There will be tougher penalties for people fit to work but unwilling to do so. A sliding scale of sanctions will see those refusing work on three occasions having their benefits taken away for three months. Those repeatedly convicted of benefit fraud could have their benefits stopped for three years.
Mr Duncan Smith insists no one will experience a reduction in the benefit money they receive as a result of the introduction of the Universal Credit.
Universal Credit claimants will receive a basic personal amount with additional sums for disability, caring costs, housing costs and children, with single people and couples getting different rates and, as now, the under 25s receiving less. Unlike now, people will not have to claim separately for different benefits.
The amount claimants receive will also be calculated closer to "real time", with adjustments potentially made monthly rather than annually. Mr Duncan Smith rejected newspaper reports that this part of the scheme would be scuppered by delays in linking up his department's IT systems with HM Revenue and Customs' PAYE system.
Setting out his proposals in the Commons, Mr Duncan told MPs he was determined to "ensure people will consistently and transparently be better off for each hour they work and for every pound they earn".
The new rules are likely to come into force for new claimants by 2013, with a target of migrating all recipients onto it in the first few years of the next Parliament after 2015.
Ministers want to make sure it pays to take jobs, so people will keep more of their benefits for longer when in work, with state support withdrawn in a less abrupt and more transparent way.
People coming off welfare into work would lose 65p of each pound they earn on top of their benefit - better than the current rate but 10% less generous than Mr Duncan Smith had been calling for when he was in opposition.
Mr Duncan Smith told MPs it still meant the poor would be better off "as they work through the hours" and the taper rate could always be varied by future governments.
Officials believe that up to two million people will be better off as a result of the changes, which will cost an estimated £2bn to implement over the next four years.
But not all benefits will be replaced by the Universal Credit - and the government has yet to decide the best way to pay for childcare under the new system.
Benefits that will be unaffected by the changes include Child Benefit, Disability Living Allowance and Contributory Jobseekers Allowance, which is paid for the first six months of being unemployed out of National Insurance contributions.
Disability charity Scope has expressed fears that changes requiring more disabled people to undertake some work, if they are able, could drive more disabled people into poverty. But Mr Duncan Smith said: "We are not in the business of punishing people who can't take work."
And he hit back at claims there were not enough jobs in the current economic climate for the plan to work, saying there were 450,000 vacancies "even as the country is coming out of recession".
Ahead of his Commons statement he told reporters during a visit to a centre for homeless men in North London that creating jobs was "vital" but tackling the culture of worklessness was more important, as the country could not afford for it to continue. "In prosperous times this dependency culture would be unsustainable but today it's a national crisis," said Mr Duncan Smith.
He said 70% of the four million new jobs created during one of the longest economic booms in history had gone to foreign workers, while 4.5 million British people continued a life on benefits.
"Businesses had to bring people in from overseas because our welfare system did not encourage or even assist people to take those jobs," said the minister.
He said the reforms would reduce the number of workless households by 300,000 and make work pay for 700,000 low earning employees.
Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, the Lib Dem Leader, has backed the reforms, calling them "the most radical overhaul of our welfare system since its inception".
Labour has said it will co-operate with the government where it is rewarding work but stressed there must be jobs for people to take up.
"If the government gets this right we will support them because, of course, we accept the underlying principle of simplifying the benefits system and providing real incentives to work," Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Douglas Alexander said.
"But the government will not get more people off benefits and into work without there being work available. We back real obligations for people receiving out of work benefits but these should be matched by guarantees of real work."
The Unite trade union warned the coalition's reforms would create "a US-style 'soup kitchen' culture".
"Already in America, we can see the social and human agonies caused when welfare is withdrawn at a time when dole queues are lengthening," said a spokesman.
| Government Policy Changes | November 2010 | ['(BBC)'] |
The International Monetary Fund warns of a global meltdown and offers to lend to countries if needed. | The world financial system is teetering on the "brink of systemic meltdown", the head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned in Washington.
Dominique Strauss-Kahn said rich nations had so far failed to restore confidence, but he endorsed a new action plan by the G7 group.
He also said the IMF was ready to lend to countries in dire need of capital.
The 15 eurozone leaders will meet in Paris later to try to establish a common approach to the markets crisis.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel said they would present a number of proposals at the summit to ease the credit freeze that has caused the collapse of several leading international banks.
But after meeting in Paris on Saturday, the two leaders said the summit would not result in a joint financial rescue fund for Europe, in the model of a $700bn rescue by the US government.
French Economy Minister Christine Lagarde said the eurozone leaders would discuss the possibility of guaranteeing interbank lending and put "meat" on the "skeleton" of a five-point plan by the G7 group of most industrialised nations to resolve the crisis.
Intensifying concerns
Mr Strauss-Kahn was speaking in Washington after talks with US President George W Bush, G7 finance ministers and the World Bank.
Earlier, G7 ministers had released the five-point plan to free up the flow of credit, back efforts by banks to raise money and revive the mortgage market.
Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play. George Bush says the US will lead the response to the crisis
"Intensifying solvency concerns about a number of the largest US-based and European financial institutions have pushed the global financial system to the brink of systemic meltdown," said Mr Strauss-Kahn.
He later told a news conference: "The first co-ordination between advanced countries and the rest of the world is now on track."
The IMF chief's strong words reflect a belief that the global financial crisis can be contained, says the BBC's economics correspondent Andrew Walker in Washington.
Mr Strauss-Kahn was joined at the White House by finance ministers from the US, Canada, France, Germany, Britain, Italy and Japan, as well as World Bank President Robert Zoellick.
Following talks with the economic leaders, Mr Bush also pledged co-ordinated action, saying it was serious global crisis which demanded a serious global response.
Panic selling
The meeting came a day after Asian, European and US markets continued to panic sell despite rate cuts and cash injections by central banks, amid widespread fears of a global recession.
Late on Friday, US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said the US planned to invest directly in banks for the first since the 1930s, following a similar UK programme of partial bank nationalisation.
The G7 had earlier not ruled out adopting another part of the British plan - to guarantee borrowing between banks - as they issued their plan in Washington.
The G7 also left the door open to further reductions in interest rates, which six central banks this week jointly cut by half a percentage point.
But our correspondent says there is some disappointment that the G7 plan lacks detail.
Ahead of the emergency summit of eurozone leaders, UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown will hold talks with Mr Sarkozy.
Chancellor Merkel said governments must "redirect the markets so they serve the people, and not ruin them".
The heads of the EU's four biggest economies - Britain, France, Germany and Italy - held a first crisis summit last week, but were split over the need for a common plan.
Analysts say another week of plunging stock markets has focused minds and the real test of this weekend's scramble by world leaders to shore up the international financial system will come once markets reopen again on Monday. | Financial Crisis | October 2008 | ['(BBC News)'] |
Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir says the country's recent tensions with Iran will not interfere with Syrian peace talks scheduled to begin in Geneva, Switzerland, later this month. | Saudi Arabia signaled on Tuesday that the breach in its relations with Iran would not affect talks on Syria, another round of which is scheduled in Geneva this month.
Riyadh and Tehran, which support opposing sides in the Syrian civil war, have attended previous talks on the conflict but there is concern that the new rift between the arch rivals could set back diplomatic efforts to bring peace to Syria.
Speaking after talks in Riyadh with U.N. special envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura, Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir was quoted as saying by the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA):
“The recent tensions that impacted the region negatively will not affect ... the operations that the United Nations carries out alongside the international community to achieve a political solution in Geneva soon.”
Saudi Arabia and some other Sunni Arab countries have broken all ties with Iran after protesters in Tehran stormed the Saudi embassy in protest over Riyadh’s execution of a Shi’ite Muslim cleric.
Restating the kingdom’s position on Syria, Jubeir said Riyadh sought a solution based on the Geneva 1 communique, a 2012 document setting out guidelines for a path to peace including a transitional governing authority, SPA said.
He reiterated that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad could have no role in the future of his country, SPA said.
Related Coverage
Syrian opposition leaders told de Mistura that Damascus must take confidence-building steps including a prisoner release and a halt to attacks on civilian areas before they will go to negotiations.
The United Nations has set a target date of Jan. 25 for the talks. But Damascus has dismissed a new opposition body formed to oversee negotiations, and the opposition wants to see confidence-building steps from President Bashar al-Assad, a demand that could complicate efforts to start talks.
De Mistura, speaking after he met the Syrian opposition in Riyadh, said there was a clear determination on the Saudi side that current regional tensions would not have a negative impact on the momentum of the talks and on the continuation of the political process in Geneva.
De Mistura did not characterize the position of the Syrian opposition at the meeting, but said: “We cannot afford to lose this momentum despite what is going on in the region.”
The opposition wants the government to lift blockades imposed on rebel-held areas, to release detainees and to stop dropping barrel bombs before they will attend the negotiations, officials said on Tuesday.
“The opposition’s position is unified,” one of them told Reuters, declining to be named because he is not an official spokesman for the opposition body.
Britain’s Special Representative for Syria on Tuesday urged the Damascus government to lift sieges as a step towards ending the nearly five-year-old conflict.
“Starving civilians is an inhuman tactic used by the Assad regime and their allies,” Gareth Bayley said in a statement, referring to a months-long blockade in the town of Madaya, near Damascus.
“Sieges must be lifted to save civilian lives and to bring Syria closer to peace ... This human tragedy underscores the need for an end to this conflict.”
The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has said many of Madaya’s 40,000 residents are starving.
| Diplomatic Talks _ Diplomatic_Negotiation_ Summit Meeting | January 2016 | ['(Reuters)', '(The Washington Post)'] |
U.S. President Donald Trump announces that Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen is leaving the administration. Customs and Border Protection commissioner Kevin McAleenan will serve in her stead until a new secretary is confirmed by Congress. | President Trump announced Sunday that Kirstjen Nielsen has resigned as secretary of homeland security, marking the exit of a second top immigration official in a matter of days as the White House continues to grapple with an influx of migrants on the southern border.
Replacing her on an acting basis will be Kevin McAleenan, the commissioner of Customs and Border Protection, Trump said Sunday. The announcement on Twitter came shortly after Trump and Nielsen met at the White House, according to two senior administration officials.
“Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen will be leaving her position, and I would like to thank her for her service,” Trump tweeted Sunday evening. “I am pleased to announce that Kevin McAleenan, the current U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner, will become Acting Secretary for @DHSgov. I have confidence that Kevin will do a great job!”
Read Kirstjen Nielsen’s resignation letter
The meeting between Trump and Nielsen was not disclosed on the president’s public schedule, and it came three days after the White House abruptly yanked the nomination of Ronald Vitiello, who had been picked as Trump’s director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The president later signaled that he wants the nation to go “in a tougher direction” on immigration.
In her resignation letter to Trump, Nielsen said it was the “right time for me to step aside,” despite what she described as “progress in reforming homeland security for a new age.”
“I hope that the next Secretary will have the support of Congress and the courts in fixing the laws which have impeded our ability to fully secure America’s borders and which have contributed to discord in our nation’s discourse,” Nielsen wrote in the two-page letter. “Our country — and the men and women of DHS — deserve to have all the tools and resources they need to execute the mission entrusted to them.”
In a tweet late Sunday, Nielsen said, “I have agreed to stay on as Secretary through Wednesday, April 10th to assist with an orderly transition and ensure that key DHS missions are not impacted.”
Two senior administration officials said that Nielsen had no intention of quitting when she went to the meeting Sunday with the president and that she was forced to step down. The announcement of her departure came shortly after the meeting.
Trump told aides last fall that he wanted to fire Nielsen, and he grew increasingly agitated as a large caravan of Central American migrants reached the U.S.-Mexico border near San Diego. She appeared to regain her footing after U.S. Border Patrol agents used tear gas to repel a large crowd attempting to break through a border fence — the kind of “tough” action Trump said he wanted in a DHS secretary.
Nielsen’s job security improved again after she helped persuade Mexican officials to agree to an experimental policy known as the Migrant Protection Protocols, which require asylum seekers to wait in Mexico while their cases work their way through the U.S. court system. That policy began in January.
Nielsen issued a memo last week ordering a rapid expansion of the program in an attempt to deter the record number of families who continue to arrive each month. Trump has alleged that those who are seeking asylum are scamming the United States and taking advantage of asylum laws to enter the country.
The president grew frustrated with Nielsen again early this year as the number of migrants rose and as she raised legal concerns about some of Trump’s more severe impulses, particularly when his demands clashed with U.S. immigration laws and federal court orders. Nielsen also disagreed with the White House’s decision to dump Vitiello, who had been on track for Senate confirmation in coming weeks.
Trump also was unhappy that Nielsen had been in London last week ahead of meetings with Group of 7 security officials in Paris, according to two people familiar with the matter. Nielsen returned early from Europe and was with Trump in California as he toured the border on Friday.
On Wednesday and Thursday, Nielsen convened calls with other Cabinet members and White House aides, asking them to help at the border and saying she would be giving specific requests to officials, aides said.
She said there would be daily calls — which surprised other Cabinet officials — and emphasized the need to make immediate progress.
White House officials said there was a conspicuous lack of praise for Nielsen at Friday’s roundtable, which presaged her professional demise.
Among those pushing the president to remove Nielsen was national security adviser John Bolton, who repeatedly told the president he did not think she was the right fit for the job, a senior administration official said.
Nielsen’s removal — and the withdrawal of Vitiello’s nomination — also show the growing sway of senior adviser Stephen Miller, who has privately derided other officials to the president for not being tough enough and who shares the president’s hard-line impulses. In a recent Oval Office meeting, Trump told advisers that Miller would be in charge of all immigration initiatives, White House aides said.
The housecleaning blindsided Democrats, who have intensified their criticism of Nielsen and her deputies, particularly after she and then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions decided to prosecute all adults crossing the border illegally, even though it meant separating parents from their children.
Democrats had no sympathy for Nielsen in her departure. House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson (Miss.) said Nielsen’s 16-month tenure was a “disaster from the start.”
“When even the most radical voices in the administration aren’t radical enough for President Trump, you know he’s completely lost touch with the American people,” said Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.).
Nielsen’s departure puts another key official in an acting position in Trump’s Cabinet. He has interim secretaries at the departments of Defense, Interior and Homeland Security, as well as an acting leader at the Office of Management and Budget.
An acting administrator will lead the Small Business Administration once Linda McMahon officially leaves her post Friday. Mick Mulvaney, the White House chief of staff, also serves in that role on an acting basis.
All the key firings and resignations from a turnover-heavy White House.
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, did not directly refer to Nielsen in a statement about her exit, but he emphasized that “we have a crisis at our southwest border.”
“We need steady, informed and effective leadership in the administration and in Congress to have any hope of fixing our out-of-control border security and immigration problems,” Johnson said Sunday evening.
Ken Cuccinelli II, a former Virginia attorney general, is under consideration as Nielsen’s permanent replacement and has been at the White House recently, according to two Republicans involved in the discussions who were not authorized to speak publicly.
Another potential nominee is Energy Secretary Rick Perry, the former Texas governor who is seen as the most likely to be easily confirmed. Kris Kobach, the former Kansas secretary of state and a prominent immigration hard-liner, has been floated in the past for the job but is more likely to be involved in the administration as an adviser not subject to Senate confirmation.
Many at DHS have expressed astonishment in recent months that Nielsen was able to hang on as long as she did. Her nomination to lead the mega-bureaucracy, with 240,000 employees and a $50 billion budget, was a surprise from the start.
Nielsen, 46, was a DHS staffer and adviser during the administration of George W. Bush. She left government and remade herself as a cybersecurity expert, then returned to DHS in early 2017 as chief of staff to John F. Kelly, Trump’s first homeland security secretary. As her doubters noted at the time, Nielsen had never run a large organization.
Tensions with the White House came almost immediately after her Senate confirmation in December 2017.
The president boasted that his election win and promises to crack down on illegal immigration had pushed border crossings to their lowest level in half a century. But when that trend reversed and illegal crossings began climbing again, Trump erupted at his DHS secretary, frustrated at the setback to his self-styled image as a border-wall-building hard-liner.
Trump began chastising Nielsen in front of other staff, and he berated her extensively during one particularly awkward Cabinet meeting last May that left White House aides squirming in their chairs, according to officials in attendance.
Nielsen remained in her role and worked to regain the president’s favor, especially during a combative news conference at the height of the administration’s “zero tolerance” policy that separated more than 2,500 migrant children from their parents.
McAleenan, a career CBP official who was confirmed as commissioner in 2017 by a wide margin, will now be responsible for the nation’s border security and immigration system, the Coast Guard, the Transportation Security Administration, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Secret Service. DHS is the third-largest Cabinet agency, after Veterans Affairs and the Defense Department.
McAleenan is generally well-liked by leaders in both parties and is viewed as a neutral, technocratic law enforcement official, rather than an immigration hawk. He has traveled to the border frequently in recent months to draw attention to the growing strains on U.S. agents and infrastructure, while also speaking directly with asylum-seeking families from Central America about their reasons for leaving home.
A Los Angeles native with a law degree from the University of Chicago, he is an expert in trade and regulatory affairs. McAleenan has never worked as a Border Patrol agent, but he rose to the upper ranks of U.S. Customs and Border Protection during Barack Obama’s administration, and he received a 2015 Presidential Rank Award, the country’s highest civil service prize.
McAleenan late last month was blunt about the situation on the U.S.-Mexico border, saying that the immigration enforcement system was at “the breaking point,” straining almost every aspect of U.S. operations there. Speaking in El Paso, McAleenan noted that crossings have been overwhelmed with hundreds of migrants seeking asylum daily, that Border Patrol stations have no room for detainees and that the immigration courts are backed up with hundreds of thousands of cases.
“That breaking point has arrived this week,” McAleenan said March 27, a day after the agency detained more than 4,100 migrants, the highest one-day total at the border in more than a decade.
U.S. has hit ‘breaking point’ at border amid immigration surge, Customs and Border Protection chief says
A DHS official said McAleenan is a well-timed pick to engage Democrats as the Trump administration clamors for more money for border enforcement. The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said McAleenan could engage Democrats “a lot more effectively” than Nielsen because of his deeper understanding of the issues unfolding on the border.
John Sandweg, a former acting director of ICE under Obama and a top aide to then-DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano, said McAleenan is a quality leader who will do “an incredible job.”
“McAleenan is a very smart guy and very competent. He’s enforcement-focused but not an ideological figure,” Sandweg said. “This administration likes tough-talking, sound-bite guys, and that’s not Kevin. He’s not a big loud talker, or the kind of guy who will say outrageous things to sound tough.”
Smugglers in Mexico have been using express buses to deliver Guatemalan migrant families to the U.S. border in a matter of days, making the journey faster, easier and safer.
McAleenan drew immediate criticism Sunday, with Ronald Newman, political director of the American Civil Liberties Union, saying he aided Nielsen in carrying out “a sad and shameful chapter in the agency’s history,” including efforts to build a “pointless” border wall and the separation of migrant families last year.
“He has been key in implementing Trump and Nielsen’s unconscionable policies and has overseen countless of Border Patrol’s abuses,” Newman said.
During the past week, Trump has grappled with a response to the surge of migrants at the border, most notably by threatening to close off the U.S.-Mexico border but backing off within days after pleas from business leaders and Republican lawmakers, warning that a border closure could be devastating to the economy.
Trump toured the border in Calexico, Calif., on Friday and spoke at a roundtable with border and immigration officials to make a case to the public and Congress for tougher enforcement policies. Nielsen joined him on that trip and appeared at the roundtable.
Apprehensions at the southern border soared in March, to nearly 100,000 arrests compared with 58,000 in January, according to the DHS. Much of the surge is attributable to Central American families who are seeking asylum in the United States.
Robert Costa and Damian Paletta contributed to this report.
| Government Job change - Resignation_Dismissal | April 2019 | ['(The Washington Post)'] |
Turkey announces two confirmed human cases of the avian influenza. | A 14-year-old boy who died last weekend was found to have the disease, despite earlier results indicating otherwise.
His sister died in eastern Turkey early on Thursday and a third sibling is in hospital with bird flu symptoms.
Although tests are still being carried out, a senior official from the World Health Organization says it is likely the boy had the deadly H5N1 strain.
Guenael Rodier, a special adviser on communicable diseases at the WHO, told the BBC that while he was not surprised by the case, it was a significant development.
"It shows a geographic extension of human cases and certainly increases altogether the overall likelihood that at some point this virus will adapt to humans," he said.
"So it's important this is going to be investigated, and a WHO team is on its way to the Far East and Turkey with nationals to investigate."
Mutant fears
The WHO has said that while the virus is spreading, the cases are not the start of a pandemic, as it was not passed between humans.
QUICK GUIDE
Bird flu
The Turkish Health Ministry says both teenagers who died tested positive for the H5N1 strain of the virus. A British laboratory is expected to confirm those results in the next few days.
At least 14 other people are being treated as suspect cases.
In the two years since bird flu was detected in Asia, around 70 people have died from the H5N1 strain. There are no confirmed cases however of human-to-human transmissions, and sufferers are believed to have contracted it from close contact with sick birds.
But health experts have expressed fears that it could mutate, becoming a virus that could spread among humans like common influenza.
Turkey reported its first cases of bird flu among poultry on 8 October, which were confirmed as the H5N1 strain. Thousands of birds were culled in and around Kiziksa, western Turkey, where the outbreak occurred. 'Don't panic'
The boy, named as Mehmet Ali Kocyigit, died on Sunday in the city of Van in eastern Turkey. His sister, Fatma, died in the early hours of Thursday.
This is not the start of the pandemic
Dr David NabarroWorld Health Organization
The family lived and worked on a poultry farm in the town of Dogubayezit, close to the border with Iran.
Health Minister Recep Akdag said the family kept infected birds in their home.
"There are two cases that have been confirmed as positive by the laboratory, said Mr Akdag. "Another case is suspected of being positive. We have a pandemic plan ready. There is no need to be too alarmist."
Murat Akova, of Ankara's Hacetepe University, said close contact with poultry was the likely cause of infection.
"People who have close contact with animals should receive special treatment but vaccination of the wider population is not necessary for now," he said.
Migration path
The agriculture ministry is conducting an emergency cull of poultry in the region, instructing farmers to take extra precautions. The health ministry says it has enough medicine in stock to cope. Dr David Nabarro of the WHO urged caution among millions fearful of a global pandemic.
"This is not the start of the pandemic. The pandemic starts when there is human to human transfer, confirmed and sustained," he said.
In Europe, the H5N1 strain was discovered in bird flocks in Turkey, Russia, Romania and Croatia, but had not previously spread to humans.
Turkey lies on the migration path of wild birds suspected of spreading the flu westwards from Asia. | Disease Outbreaks | January 2006 | ['(BBC)'] |
The two–day NATO summit in Newport, Wales, begins. Leaders agree to apply further sanctions on Russia. NATO sources claim that there are "several thousand" Russian troops inside Ukraine. | NATO leaders have agreed that Russia should face increased sanctions for its actions in eastern Ukraine.
US President Barack Obama, British Prime Minister David Cameron, French President Francois Hollande, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi sat down with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on the fringes of a summit in Wales today.
A White House statement said the leaders reiterated their condemnation of Russia's continued flagrant violation of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity.
It said they had agreed on the need for Russia to face increased costs for its actions.
NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen told the Kremlin to pull back Russian troops from Ukraine and to stop supporting rebels in eastern Ukraine.
"We call on Russia to end its illegal and self-declared annexation of Crimea," Mr Rasmussen said after a meeting with Mr Poroshenko at the NATO summit.
"We call on Russia to pull back its troops from Ukraine and to stop the flow of arms, fighters and funds to the separatists.
"We call on Russia to step back from confrontation and take the path of peace."
It was up to individual NATO members to decide whether to supply arms to Ukraine, Mr Rasmussen said.
"NATO as an alliance is not involved in delivery of equipment because we do not possess military capabilities," he said.
"These are possessed by individual allies, so such decisions are national decisions and we are not going to interfere with that.”
Meanwhile, President Poroshenko said a ceasefire plan aimed at ending a near five-month conflict in the east of the country would be signed tomorrow.
"Tomorrow in Minsk a document will be signed providing for the gradual introduction of the Ukrainian peace plan," he said.
"It is very important that the first element provides for a ceasefire."
Representatives of Kiev, Moscow, the separatist rebels and the pan-European security group the OSCE are due to meet in the Belarussian capital tomorrow.
However, Russia has several thousand combat troops and hundreds of tanks and armoured vehicles inside Ukraine, a NATO military officer has said.
NATO had previously said that "well over 1,000" Russian troops were operating inside Ukraine, marking a significant escalation of Moscow's military involvement in the country.
"We are still seeing several thousand Russian combat troops on the ground inside Ukraine, equipped with hundreds of tanks and armoured vehicles, so [there is] no substantial change in the disposition of Russian forces inside Ukraine," said the NATO officer, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Russian forces deployed near Ukraine's eastern border are "more lethal" than before and heavily armed with artillery and air defense weaponry, the Pentagon said today.
"The force that we see arrayed on the border is exceptionally capable, probably more capable, more lethal than anything that we've seen up until now," spokesman Colonel Steven Warren told reporters, saying there were more than 10,000 Russian troops in place.
Russia's foreign minister said Ukraine's drive to join NATO risks derailing progress made towards reaching a ceasefire and peace deal to end the conflict in the east of the country.
"Just when approaches are being explored to start resolving concrete problems between Kiev and the rebels, Kiev has called for ending its non-aligned status and beginning joining NATO," Sergei Lavrov was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies.
"This is an obvious attempt to derail efforts to start a dialogue on ensuring national security."
He added that Russia hoped that Kiev and the rebels would take on board a seven-point peace plan suggested by President Vladimir Putin when they meet tomorrow for talks in Minsk. | Diplomatic Talks _ Diplomatic_Negotiation_ Summit Meeting | September 2014 | ['(RTE)'] |
More than 80 people are missing after a migrant boat capsizes off the coast of Tunisia, according to the International Organization for Migration . | More than 80 people trying to reach Europe from Libya are feared dead after their boat capsized off the coast of Tunisia, according to the UN migration agency.
The boat sank on Wednesday off the port town of Zarzis and 82 of the migrants who had been onboard were missing, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said. Fishermen pulled four men from the sinking boat, said Lorena Lando, the agency’s head in Tunisia. One of the four died later in hospital.
A government source said the survivors, who were rescued nine miles (14.5km) off Zarzis, informed coastguards they had set out from Libya and that dozens had drowned.
Flavio Di Giacomo, a spokesman for the IOM, tweeted: “More updates are needed in order to confirm what happened and the actual number of missing.”
At least 65 people heading for Europe from Libya drowned last May when their boat capsized off Tunisia.
Libya’s western coast is a main departure point for African migrants hoping to reach Europe with the help of human traffickers, though numbers have dropped because of an Italian-led effort to disrupt smuggling networks and support the Libyan coastguard.
Although fighting in Libya has made the situation more difficult for those involved in people-trafficking rackets, international aid officials have warned it could also prompt Libyans to flee the country.
On Wednesday, an airstrike on a Libyan migrant detention centre killed at least 53 people. It was reported that guards shot at detainees trying to flee the attack. The UN and aid groups blamed the airstrike deaths in part on the EU’s policy of partnering with Libyan militias to prevent people from trying to cross the Mediterranean to reach Europe. | Shipwreck | July 2019 | ['(IOM)', '(The Guardian)'] |
A Buddhist monk is hacked to death in Bangladesh. | An elderly Buddhist monk has been hacked to death in a remote region of Bangladesh, officials said.
The body of Mong Shwe U Chak, 75, was found early Saturday in an isolated temple in a village 350 kilometers southeast of Dhaka, the capital.
Police say they do not know the motive for the killing of the monk, who lived alone.
The Daily Star, a Bangladeshi newspaper, reported "panic spread among the locals" following news of the slaying.
The monk's son told The Star his father "did not have any enmity with anyone in the area."
Jyotirmoy Barua, a human rights lawyer, told the French news agency AFP that U Chak had received anonymous death threats, "but nobody took it seriously."
Similar killings
U Chak's murder is the latest in a series of brutal killings of liberals, academics, bloggers, foreigners and religious minorities in Bangladesh that has spread deep fear in the country and raised worrying questions about whether the secular traditions of the moderate Muslim country are under threat from extremist Islamic groups.
Affiliates of Islamic State and al-Qaida have claimed responsibility for almost all the attacks, but the government says these groups have no presence in the country and points the finger at homegrown militant groups.
But with most of the killings unsolved, there are no clear pointers to those behind the increasingly bold attacks.
Some low-level militant operatives have been arrested, but police have made no headway in identifying those planning the attacks. Families of victims complain of slow and ineffective police investigations. | Famous Person - Death | May 2016 | ['(VOA News)', '(CNN)'] |
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan resigns from his post in order to dissolve the National Assembly and force early elections by the end of the year. | YEREVAN -- Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian says he is resigning from his post in order to dissolve parliament and force early elections.
Pashinian made the announcement on national television late on October 16, saying that the early vote was needed "to return the entire power to the people."
Pashinian has pushed for early parliamentary elections by the end of this year following his bloc's landslide victory in the mayoral race in the capital, Yerevan, last month in a bid to unseat his political opponents, who have maintained a majority in parliament.
A former opposition lawmaker, Pashinian took office in May after spearheading weeks of protests that forced his predecessor, Serzh Sarkisian of the Republican Party of Armenia (HKK), to resign.
The HHK-dominated parliament yielded to the popular demand of the protesters to back Pashinian’s candidacy for prime minister. After being elected to the post in May, Pashinian said his government would hold early parliamentary elections within a year.
Under the Armenian Constitution, snap elections can be called only if the prime minister resigns and the parliament fails to replace him or her with someone else within two weeks. Under the constitution, new elections then shall be held no earlier than in 30 days and no later than in 45 days -- approximately in the first half of December.
Pashinian said his government will "guarantee the free expression of the people’s will" in the general elections.
He also said that he will continue to perform his functions as prime minister until the vote is held, and expressed readiness to continue to lead the government should his political party gain a majority in the polls.
In remarks ahead of a government meeting on October 16, Pashinian said Armenia is entering "a new historical period" during which "it should complete the nonviolent velvet revolution that started in spring."
Arman Egoian, a spokesman for Pashinian, told RFE/RL on October 15 that the cabinet will hold an extraordinary session a day after Pashinian announced his resignation.
| Government Job change - Resignation_Dismissal | October 2018 | ['(RFE/RL)'] |
About 200 U.S. troops arrive in Moldova from Romania for planned military exercises with the Moldovan military which will last until May 20. | Moldova’s government says about 200 U.S. soldiers will arrive in Moldova on May 2 for military exercises scheduled to last for more than two weeks.
The Defense Ministry in Chisinau said the U.S. troops would arrive from Romania in dozens of armored vehicles.
About 165 Moldovan troops also are scheduled to take part in the exercises.
The U.S. Embassy in Chisinau said the May 3-20 training exercises would include basic demolition operations, medical treatment and evacuation, and field maintenance.
Moldova’s pro-Russian opposition says it will stage protests against the exercises.
Moldova joined NATO’s Partnership for Peace program in 1994.
Russia has had about 1,500 soldiers stationed in Moldova’s breakaway eastern region of Transdniester since a cease-fire deal brought an end to the separatist conflict there in 1992.
About 380 of those Russian soldiers are deployed under an international peacekeeping mandate while the rest are soldiers from Russia’s 14th Guards Army. | Military Exercise | May 2016 | ['(Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)'] |
Conflict in Iraq: Five Iraqi civilians, including three children, are shot dead by U.S. troops as they approached a checkpoint in Baquba. The minibus they were travelling in failed to stop as it approached a roadblock. | A US military spokesman said the minibus they were travelling in failed to stop as it approached a roadblock at about 0800 (0500 GMT).
Two men and three children were killed and two women and a child were wounded, Iraqi police said.
A US military spokesman put the toll at three dead and two wounded.
The family was travelling to a funeral at the time, witnesses said.
The roadblock had been set up to allow military vehicles to turn off a highway into the base.
"The Iraqi car wouldn't slow down and warning shots were fired," Maj Steven Warren told news agency AFP.
He said the vehicle did not stop and came under machine-gun fire.
Killed one by one
Ahmed Kamel al-Sawamara, a 22-year-old who was driving the car, said he had no time to react when shots began raining down.
"The soldiers started shooting at us from all over," he told reporters. "I slowed down and pulled off the road, but they continued firing. "I saw my family killed, one after the other, and then the car caught fire. I dragged their bodies out."
Since the US-led invasion in 2003, there have been repeated incidents in which American troops have fired on civilian vehicles.
Checkpoints and convoys are frequently targeted by insurgents and troops often put up signs in Arabic telling people to stay back or risk being shot.
The US military said it takes all possible measures to avoiding shooting innocent civilians.
Correspondents say Iraqis generally pull over to the side of the road when coalition forces approach. | Armed Conflict | November 2005 | ['(BBC)'] |
Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi condemns the unilateral American bombings inside Iraq, saying the U.S. strikes are a "violation of Iraqi sovereignty", and a "dangerous escalation that threatens the security of Iraq and the region." | The U.S. carried out military strikes on five sitesin Iraq and Syria thatwere linked to the Iranian-backed militia that was responsible for a rocket attack that killed an American contractor last week, a Pentagon spokesman said in a statement.
The "precision defensive strikes" targeted weapons depots and command centers belonging toKataeb Hezbollah, or Hezbollah Brigades, according to Defense Department spokesman Jonathan Hoffman.Three of the sites were in Iraq and two in Syria.
The Iraqi military'sJoint Operations Command said in a statement that three U.S. airstrikes hit the headquarters of the Kataeb Hezbollahs at the Iraq-Syria border, killing four fighters. A militia spokesman said the strikes left at least 19 of its members dead.
Hoffman saidKataeb Hezbollahwhich is separate from the Lebanese Hezbollahwas behind attacks on U.S. and coalition forces, including an attack Friday in which at least 30 rockets were fired atan Iraqi military base in Kirkuk. That attack leftan American contractor dead andfour U.S. service members, as well astwo Iraqi soldiers, wounded.
He said the U.S. strikes would limit the militia's ability to carry out future attacks on coalition forces.
"The U.S. and its coalition partners fully respect Iraqi sovereignty and support a strong and independent Iraq. The U.S., however, will not be deterred from exercising its right of self-defense," Hoffman said.
Hoffman said Defense Secretary Mark Esper and Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi who is serving in an interim role after resigning in November amid massive unrest and anti-government protests that left about 500 people dead "have shared with each other their commitment" to see theKataeb Hezbollah attacks "cease once and for all."
But on Sunday, Abdul-Mahdi condemned the strikes and said Esper called him just 30 minutes ahead of timeto tell him the U.S. was about to retaliate for Friday's rocket attack.
Abdul-Mahdi called the U.S. strikes a violation of Iraqi sovereignty and a "dangerous escalation that threatens the security of Iraq and the region."
The Pentagon saidKataeb Hezbollah "has a strong linkage to Iran's Quds Forcehas repeatedly received lethal aid and other support from Iran." The Quds Force is an elite part of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which President Donald Trump designated a foreign terrorist organization in April.
"Iran and their KH proxy forces must cease their attacks on U.S. and coalition forces, and respect Iraq's sovereignty, to prevent additional defensive actions by U.S. forces," Hoffman said. | Armed Conflict | December 2019 | ['(USA Today)'] |
The governments of China and North Korea both confirm that North Korea's supreme leader Kim Jong-un met with China's paramount leader Xi Jinping in Beijing during the past four days. China states that North Korea is "committed to denuclearization" and willing to hold a summit with the United States. | BEIJING/SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un pledged his commitment to denuclearization and to meet U.S. officials, China said on Wednesday after his meeting with President Xi Jinping, who promised China would uphold friendship with its isolated neighbour.
Can Kim tell North Korea he's giving up nuclear weapons
02:03
After two days of speculation, China and North Korea both confirmed that Kim had travelled to Beijing and met Xi during what China called an unofficial visit from Sunday to Wednesday.
The visit was Kim’s first known trip outside North Korea since he assumed power in 2011 and is believed by analysts to serve as preparation for upcoming summits with South Korea and the United States.
U.S. President Donald Trump wrote on Twitter he had received a message from Xi on Tuesday night that his meeting with Kim “went very well” and that Kim looked forward to meeting the U.S. president.
“Look forward to our meeting!” Trump wrote, while adding: “In the meantime, and unfortunately, maximum sanctions and pressure must be maintained at all cost!”
White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said the China-North Korea talks and Kim’s decision to travel outside his country were a “positive sign” the U.S.-led pressure campaign to force North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons has been working. “We’re going to be cautiously optimistic,” she told reporters.
“For years and through many administrations, everyone said that peace and the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula was not even a small possibility,” Trump tweeted on Wednesday. “Now there is a good chance that Kim Jong Un will do what is right for his people and for humanity.”
Earlier this month, Trump, who has exchanged bellicose threats with Kim in the past year, surprised the world by agreeing to meet the North Korean leader to discuss the crisis over Pyongyang’s development of nuclear weapons capable of hitting the United States.
North Korea’s official media has made no mention of Kim’s pledge to denuclearize or the anticipated meeting with Trump, which is planned for some time in May.
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China has traditionally been secretive North Korea’s closest ally but ties have been frayed by Kim’s nuclear weapons programme and Beijing’s backing of tough U.N. sanctions in response.
China’s Foreign Ministry cited Kim in a lengthy statement as telling Xi the situation on the Korean peninsula was starting to improve because North Korea had taken the initiative to ease tensions and put forward proposals for talks.
“It is our consistent stand to be committed to denuclearization on the peninsula, in accordance with the will of late President Kim Il Sung and late General Secretary Kim Jong Il,” Kim Jong Un said, according to the ministry.
North Korea was willing to talk with the United States and hold a summit between the countries, it quoted him as saying.
“The issue of denuclearization of the Korean peninsula can be resolved, if South Korea and the United States respond to our efforts with goodwill, create an atmosphere of peace and stability while taking progressive and synchronous measures for the realisation of peace,” Kim said.
‘NUCLEAR UMBRELLA’
Kim Jong Un’s predecessors, grandfather Kim Il Sung and father Kim Jong Il, both promised not to pursue nuclear weapons but secretly maintained programmes to develop them, culminating in the North’s first nuclear test in 2006 under Kim Jong Il.
North Korea has said in previous, failed talks aimed at dismantling its nuclear programme it could consider giving up its arsenal if the United States removed its troops from South Korea and withdrew its so-called nuclear umbrella of deterrence from South Korea and Japan.
Many analysts and former negotiators believe this still constitutes North Korea’s stance and remain deeply sceptical Kim is willing to give up the weapons his family has been developing for decades.
“Kim Jong Un has finally echoed the unconvincing line of his father that denuclearization is the ‘will’ of Kim Il Sung,” said Daniel Russel, who served as the top U.S. diplomat for Asia until last April.
“While that’s better than his outright rejection of denuclearization to date, it’s not very persuasive in light of his actions and his caveats about the need for the U.S. to first create the right ‘atmosphere’,” Russel said in an email.
Widely read Chinese state-run newspaper the Global Times said the Kim-Xi meeting proved naysayers wrong about Beijing-Pyongyang relations.
“China and North Korea maintaining their friendly relations provides a positive force for the whole region and promotes strategic stability in northeast Asia,” it said in an editorial.
Kim’s appearance in Beijing involved almost all the trappings of a state visit, complete with an honour guard and banquet at Beijing’s Great Hall of the People.
Kim and Xi also met at the Diaoyutai State Guest House, where Kim Il Sung planted a tree in 1959 that still stands.
State television showed pictures of the two men chatting and Kim’s wife, Ri Sol Ju, getting a warm welcome from Xi’s wife, Peng Liyuan.
Analysts said the meeting strengthened North Korea’s position ahead of any meeting with Trump by aligning Beijing and Pyongyang while reassuring China it was not being sidelined in any negotiations.
A top Chinese diplomat, Politburo member Yang Jiechi, will brief South Korean President Moon Jae-in about the Beijing talks in Seoul on Thursday, the South Korean presidency said.
North Korea’s official news agency said Kim told a banquet hosted by Xi that his visit was intended to “maintain our great friendship and continue and develop our bilateral ties at a time of rapid developments on the Korean peninsula”.
It said Xi had accepted an invitation “with pleasure” to visit North Korea.
China had largely sat on the sidelines as North Korea improved relations with South Korea recently, raising worries in Beijing that it was no longer a central player in the North Korean issue, reinforced by Trump’s announcement of his proposed meeting with Kim.
| Diplomatic Visit | March 2018 | ['(Reuters)'] |
Boko Haram militants reportedly raid the Cameroonian town of Fotokol in Cameroon's Far North Region with scores of people killed. , | Last updated on: February 04, 2015 10:22 AM
Hundreds of suspected Boko Haram fighters crossed over from the northeastern Nigerian town of Gambaru early Wednesday, clashing with Chadian and Cameroonian soldiers.
Witnesses say the Nigerian militants entered the town of Fotocol, on the Cameroon-Nigerian border, and attacked Chadian military positions. Heavy gunfire was reported in the area.
Chadian authorities said its soldiers repelled Boko Haram militants in Fotocol Tuesday and chased them into the Nigerian town of Gamburu. Chad's government on Wednesday claimed nine of its soldiers and more than 200 militants were killed.
There has been no independent confirmation of the casualty figures.
Cameroonian journalist Mal Moussa Ledou Blaise told VOA the Chadian army attacked after Boko Haram insurgents, disguised as civilians, shot at hundreds of people and killed three soldiers in Fotocol on the border with Nigeria.
Leading role for Chad
Chad has taken the lead role in a multinational effort to help Nigeria retake areas seized by Boko Haram for an envisioned Islamic state.
In a major offensive against Boko Haram, Nigerian and Chadian jets are bombing the Islamic extremists from northeastern Nigerian towns and villages, the Associated Press reported witnesses and officials as saying Wednesday.
Mal Moussa also said the insurgents have been attacking mostly Chadian military posts since crossing into Cameroon early Wednesday. He said Cameroonian soldiers have mobilized to help the Chadians fight the insurgents.
Cameroonian soldiers supported the Chadians from a distance but did not get into the Nigerian territory, Mal Moussa said. He said there was no shooting between the Cameroonians and Boko Haram fighters, though the Chadians exchanged heavy fire with the fighters.
Colonel Didier Badjeck, spokesman for Cameroon’s military, said its troops and those from Chad have been deployed to Fotocol to fight Boko Haram. He said they’d be able to engage and hold off the extremists until support arrives from a regional force of 7,500 troops. He predicted the force would create difficulties for the extremists.
Strategy on regional force The regional force was agreed upon at last week’s African Union summit. AU experts are expected to meet Thursday in Yaounde to draw up strategies on how it will operate. Chad, Cameroon, Niger and Benin have pledged to contribute troops to combat the militants, who are blamed for thousands of deaths since launching their insurgency in 2009.
Chad supported Cameroon after its president, Paul Biya, appealed for a coordinated international response to Boko Haram.
On Tuesday, Nigerian government spokesman Mike Omeri told VOA that Chad is operating under a bilateral protocol that allows it to pursue Boko Haram fighters into Nigerian territory.
Nigeria said Tuesday that the insurgents have lost control of nearly a dozen towns and cities across the northeast, including Gambaru.
Chad said its forces destroyed about 10 vehicles equipped with heavy weapons and 100 motorcycles during Tuesday's fighting. | Armed Conflict | February 2015 | ['(Voice of America)', '(CNN)'] |
A SpaceX Falcon 9 launches a cargo ship into orbit to re-supply the International Space Station. | A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket boosted a next-generation SpaceX cargo ship into orbit Sunday, the first in a new line of roomier, more capable Dragon capsules featuring many of the more advanced systems used by the company's Crew Dragon astronaut ferry ships.
Making the company's 21st supply run to the International Space Station — the first under a follow-on NASA contract — the new Cargo Dragon was loaded with more than 6,500 pounds of crew supplies, spare parts, science gear and other equipment, including a commercial airlock for on-board experiments.
Unlike the original Dragon cargo ship, which had to be captured by the space station's robot arm for berthing, the Dragon 2 is designed to fly itself all the way to docking at the same ports used by piloted Crew Dragon spacecraft. Unlike the crewed version, however, the cargo ship is not equipped with seats or an emergency abort system.
Running a day late because of bad weather, the long-awaited mission began at 11:17 a.m. EST when the Falcon 9's nine first stage Merlin 1D engines roared to life with a torrent of flame, pushing the 229-foot-tall rocket away from pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center.
It was the 24th Falcon 9 launch so far this year, the 101st since the rocket's debut in 2010, the 21st SpaceX ISS cargo launch and the first for a Dragon 2 capsule.
Accelerating on 1.7 million pounds of thrust, the rocket quickly arced away to the northeast, climbing directly into the plane of the space station's orbit — a requirement for spacecraft trying to catch up and dock with a target moving at nearly 5 miles per second.
Two-and-a-half minutes after liftoff, now well out of the thick lower atmosphere, the first stage, making its fourth flight, fell away and flew itself to a landing on a downrange SpaceX droneship. It was SpaceX's 68th successful booster recovery and its 47th at sea.
The Falcon 9's second stage, meanwhile, continued the climb to space, releasing the Dragon 2 capsule into the planned preliminary orbit 12 minutes after launch. If all goes well, the capsule will rendezvous with the station Monday, guiding itself in for a docking at the upper port of the forward Harmony module around 1:30 p.m.
The space station is equipped with eight docking ports, four used by Russian spacecraft and four on the forward end of the lab that are available for U.S. cargo and crew ships. Two of the U.S. ports are used by visiting cargo ships that need the station's robot arm to pull them in for berthing.
The other two U.S. ports, however, are equipped with docking mechanisms that can accommodate automated linkups by SpaceX crew and cargo Dragons and Boeing's CST-100 Starlink crew ferry ship. The Crew Dragon spacecraft that carried four astronauts to the station last month is docked at Harmony's forward-most port while the Dragon 2 cargo ship will carry out the first docking at the module's upper space-facing port.
SpaceX won NASA contacts valued at $3.04 billion for 20 space station resupply flights through 2020 using the original Dragon cargo ship design and contracts for an unspecified amount covering at least nine additional flights through 2024 using the Dragon 2 spacecraft. The capsule launched Sunday is the first of those.
SpaceX also holds a $2.6 billion NASA contract to build and launch the piloted Crew Dragon capsule to ferry astronauts to and from the space station. So far, three Crew Dragons, two with astronaut crews and one without, have docked at the station.
For its maiden flight, the Dragon 2 cargo ship's pressurized cabin was loaded with 803 pounds of crew supplies; 2,100 pounds of science gear; 265 pounds of spacewalk equipment; 698 pounds of vehicle hardware; 102 pounds of computer equipment; and 53 pounds of Russian hardware.
Stored in the capsule's unpressurized trunk section was a 2,400-pound airlock developed by Nanoracks, a company that facilitates flights by private industry, university and government-sponsored experiments. The airlock will be attached to the Tranquility module's far left port and periodically detached, exposing experiments inside and mounted on its exterior to the vacuum of space.
The station already features a Japanese experiment airlock, but the Nanoracks unit, known as the Bishop Airlock, is about five times larger, said project manager Brock Howe.
"There are a lot of different environments that the scientists can use, a lot of different volumes, a lot of different payload power and data capabilities on board the airlock that really will enhance their ability to do some really cool science," he said.
Other equipment on board the Dragon 2 includes parts for the lab's recently delivered female-friendly next generation toilet, gear for the station's water recycling system, a nitrogen tank for cabin repressurization and a rodent habitat with research specimens.
Among the experiments being delivered are two designed to study how microgravity affects heart and brain tissue and another called "BioAsteroid" that will probe the role microbes might play in future space mining operations.
"BioAsteroid is an experiment to study whether we can use micro organisms, bacteria or fungi, to extract economically interesting elements from asteroid material," said principal investigator Charles Cockell, professor of astrobiology at the University of Edinburgh.
"It's essentially what we would call a bio-mining experiment, and we hope to learn whether we can use microbes to extract things like rare earth elements and other elements that can be used to sustain a self sustaining human presence throughout the solar system."
| New achievements in aerospace | December 2020 | ['(CBS News)'] |
The News of the World alleges that a 4th cricketer from Pakistan is being probed by the International Cricket Council into the corruption allegations it broke last week. | Pakistan High Commissioner Wajid Shamsul Hasan says the three cricketers accused of spot-fixing should receive life bans from cricket if found guilty.
Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir are being probed by police and the International Cricket Council (ICC). "If the News of the World evidence is correct, then I would banish them from cricket," Hasan told BBC Radio 5 live. Later on Sunday batsman Yasir Hameed was questioned at the Pakistan High Commission over the betting scandal. In its latest revelations,
the News of the World claimed that Hameed spoke to the newspaper about other Pakistani cricketers' involvement in match-fixing. However, Hameed denied speaking to the tabloid, although the News of the World has since published a video interview with the Pakistan batsman. The News of the World also claims the ICC is investigating an unnamed fourth man over match-fixing claims - a more serious charge than the spot-fixing claims faced by Butt, Asif and Amir.
Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play. Spot betting involves gamblers staking their money on the minutiae of sporting encounters, such as whether the first ball of a cricket match will be a wide or a no-ball. An ICC spokesman said: "We are making no comment regarding the suggestion that the ICC is probing a fourth player. "We do not comment on ongoing investigations, we will not revealing any details about the charges [faced by Butt, Asif and Amir]," added the ICC spokesman after the News of the World reported that the three men were facing a total of 23 charges. The Metropolitan Police said it is not investigating a fourth player, while the Pakistan Cricket Board was not immediately available for comment ahead of Sunday's first Twenty20 international between England and Pakistan in Cardiff. Test skipper Butt and fast bowlers Asif and Amir have been suspended and charged by the ICC. Commissioner Hasan insisted the trio are "innocent until proven guilty". "That was my stance from day one and I still maintain it," he told 5 live's Sportsweek.
Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play. Pakistan team should have returned home - Lamb
"We questioned them and all my colleagues that talked to them said that, yes, apparently they are innocent. "But we're not police investigators - it's up to the police to find out if they're guilty." ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat has revealed that none of the trio have been interviewed by his organisation after police warned doing so could prejudice the criminal investigation. Lorgat also told BBC Radio 5 live's Sportsweek programme that ICC action would be "prompt and decisive". "If people are found guilty, the consequences will be severe," Lorgat added. "The maximum sentence is a life ban but I don't want to prejudge any guilt or any sanction. Lorgat admitted, however, that in 18-year-old Amir's case, age could be a mitigating factor, if he is found guilty. "If I'm giving my own personal view, age could come into account, But an independent tribunal will have to decide on that." In a separate development, the BBC understands that wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal has been contacted in writing by the ICC, though there is no suggestion that he is the fourth player and it is not in relation to incidents in the recent fourth Test at Lord's. During that match, Asif and Amir are alleged to have bowled three no-balls between them at pre-determined times to facilitate betting coups, a practice called spot-fixing, after agent Mazhar Majeed was reported to have accepted £150,000 from an undercover reporter from the News of the World,
who published the story on 28 August. BBC Sport understands that serial numbers on bank notes seized by the police after searching the cricketers' hotel rooms tally with those recorded by the tabloid
given to Majeed. Former Pakistan batsman Younis Ahmed insists greed could be the only possible motivation for any of his country's stars to become involved in corruption. He told BBC Radio 5 live: "I can tell you they are paid handsomely and they are all living well. They all drive four-by-fours, they have got their homes and they have invested money - they are not short of money, believe me. "Some of them are getting a bit greedy to make a quick buck." Younis said the reports had been greeted with anger in Pakistan, which has been ravaged in recent weeks by floods that have claimed many lives. "Pakistanis are totally furious and very disappointed by what they have read in the papers and the way this is being reported in the media," he added. "All the floods that Pakistan had - 16 million people without their homes, belongings, their livestock destroyed and their livelihoods at stake - this was the last thing they were expecting." Meanwhile, Croydon Athletic - the football club co-owned by Majeed, has announced that manager Tim O'Shea and his assistant Neil Smith have left with immediate effect. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Investigate | September 2010 | ['(ICC)', '(BBC)'] |
Burmese National League for Democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi meets for a second time with the ruling junta after her offer to lobby for nations to lift sanctions on the country. | - Detained pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi met a high-level official in Myanmar’s military-ruled government for a second time in a week following her offer to lobby the West to lift sanctions.
Activists from Myanmar chant slogans at a protest demanding the release of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi in front of the Myanmar Embassy in Seoul August 18, 2009. REUTERS/Choi Bu-Seok
A source in Myanmar’s Home Ministry said Suu Kyi held talks at a state guest house for 25 minutes with Labor Minister Aung Kyi, a go-between who has met the Nobel Peace Prize winner seven times in the last two years.
The two met on Saturday for the first time since January 2008, but neither Suu Kyi, detained for 14 of the last 20 years, nor the junta revealed what was discussed.
Suu Kyi’s lawyer, Nyan Win, had not been informed of the talks and said he was denied access to Suu Kyi to discuss her appeal to the Supreme Court over her 18-month sentence for a security breach while under house arrest in May.
“We hope to find out what was discussed when we meet again,” said Nyan Win, who is also a spokesman for Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party.
“It seems Aung Kyi is conveying messages between (junta leader) Than Shwe and Suu Kyi.”
Suu Kyi made a formal offer to the regime on September 25 to meet Western diplomats to discuss the impact of sanctions, which critics say have been ineffective and have hurt the Burmese people. She has said she is willing to work with the generals and use her influence to mediate with the West.
The United States held talks last week with representatives of the Myanmar government but emphasized that the lifting of sanctions would be a mistake because the regime has yet to improve its human rights record.
The talks came after Myanmar last month sent its prime minister to the U.N. General Assembly for the first time in 14 years, a move seen by analysts as part of a charm offensive to court international support for the polls.
Aung Zaw, editor of the Thailand-based Irrawaddy magazine, suggested the generals were using Suu Kyi for their own gain and warned not to expect any substantive change.
“When they’re pushed into a corner, they always have a card to play, and this time, it’s Aung San Suu Kyi,” he told Reuters.
“We hope something will come out of this. If it does, it will take a long time, but I really don’t think the regime will change.”
Suu Kyi was found guilty in August of breaking a law protecting the state from “subversive elements” when, while under house arrest, she allowed an American intruder to stay at her lakeside home for two nights.
The ruling sparked international outrage and was widely dismissed as a ploy to keep Suu Kyi out of next year’s elections, the first since 1990, when her National League for Democracy scored a landslide victory that the junta refused to recognize.
| Diplomatic Talks _ Diplomatic_Negotiation_ Summit Meeting | October 2009 | ['(Reuters)', '(Associated Press)', '(New Light of Myanmar)'] |
The Detroit Free Press reports, following this week's election, Hamtramck, Michigan, will apparently be the first city in the United States to be governed by Muslims, three of Bangladeshi descent and one Yemeni. Community leader Bill Meyer, who is not Muslim, said the influx of Muslims to Hamtramck has "helped bring stability, security and sobriety while lessening the amount of drugs and crime in the city." | Hamtramck residents have elected a Muslim majority to the city's six-member city council, symbolizing the demographic changes that have transformed the city once known for being a Polish Catholic enclave.
In Tuesday's election — with six candidates running for three seats — the top three vote-getters were Muslim, while the bottom three were non-Muslim. Two of the Muslim candidates, Anam Miah and Abu Musa, are incumbent city councilmen, while newcomer Saad Almasmari, the top vote-getter, also was elected. The seat of another Muslim incumbent councilman, Mohammed Hassan, was not up for re-election, and incumbent City Councilman Robert Zwolak came in fifth place.
Some believe the city is the first in the U.S. with a Muslim majority on its city council. Four of the six council members will be Muslim: three of them of Bangladeshi descent and one Yemeni.
• Wayne County voting results
• Oakland County voting results
• Macomb County voting results
• Outstate voting results
"Hamtramck has made history," said Hamtramck community leader Bill Meyer. "The election was far from close, with the three Muslim winners each gaining over 1,000 votes, while the other three candidates garnered less than 700 votes each."
Councilman Musa, who came in second place, told the Free Press that he will work to represent everyone in the city regardless of background.
"I'm a very good Muslim," said Musa, an immigrant from Bangladesh. "I try my best to pray five times (a day), but when I get elected, every single ethnic votes for me, not (only) the Muslim vote for me, but Christians, every single ethnic group, African-Americans, Polish. I'm a good friend of the Polish."
"I represent every single citizen in Hamtramck," he said. "I'm serving all city of Hamtramck."
Formerly known for its Polish population, Hamtramck is now about 24% Arab (mostly Yemeni); 19% African American; 15% Bangladeshi; 12% Polish; and 6% Yugoslavian (many Bosnian), according to U.S. Census figures.
The percentage of residents who are Muslim is unclear since the U.S. Census does not ask about religion. Estimates of the Muslim population range from one-third to more than one-half of city residents.
Almost all of the Yemeni Americans in Hamtramck are Muslim, while the growing Bangaldeshi-American community in Hamtramck has Muslims, Hindus, and Buddhists. The city has a Bangladeshi Hindu temple and Bangladeshi mosques.
On Friday, Gov. Rick Snyder attended the opening of Bangla Town, an area that will celebrate Bangladeshi-American culture in Hamtramck and bordering Detroit neighborhoods. About 41% of the city are immigrants, the highest percentage among cities in metro Detroit. Pope John Paul II, who was Polish, visited Hamtramck in 1987; a statue of him commemorating his visit is in a city park.
Three of the Muslims on Hamtramck's City Council are of Bangladeshi descent, while Almasmari is of Yemeni descent. The council's only other Arab-American Muslim in its history was Abdul Algazali, who died in February.
The issue of Islam has sometimes come up in recent years as the Muslim population grows. After contentious debate, the city allowed in 2004 the Muslim call to prayer to be broadcast publicly five times a day from mosques through loudspeakers.
The call to prayer has drawn complaints from residents who say it's loud and intrusive, waking them up early and bothering them. City Council candidate Susan Dunn, who came in fourth place, raised the issue during the campaign, prompting a response from Almasmari during a city council meeting last month.
"We all want to live peacefully and respectfully," he said to the council during the October meeting, according to a video he posted to his Facebook account. "Our special thing is ... the diversity in this town."
Almasmari said the call to prayer "is not as loud as (Dunn) thinks." Moreover, if "we are considering the call to prayer as noise," then so would "the loud music all night long while we are sleeping."
"We as Muslims respect our neighbors and we don't like to bother anybody," he said. "As the Prophet Mohammed said: he who believes in Allah and the last day, let him not harm his neighbors."
Meyer, who is not Muslim, said that Muslims in Hamtramck "have helped bring stability, security and sobriety while lessening the amount of drugs and crime in the city." | Government Job change - Election | November 2015 | ['(Detroit Free Press)', '(Christian Science Monitor)', '(New Civil Rights Movement)'] |
Voters in the American state of Kentucky go to the polls for a Democratic Party primary with Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders winning an equal number of delegates and Clinton winning the popular vote narrowly. , | Hopkinsville (United States) (AFP) - Presidential primaries in Oregon and Kentucky on Tuesday will give Hillary Clinton a chance to bolster her almost insurmountable delegate lead over Democratic rival Bernie Sanders, who has vowed to slog on despite long odds.
Sanders is gunning for victory in the Bluegrass State, building on his win last week in neighboring West Virginia as he battles to keep his long-shot nomination bid alive.
West Virginia and Kentucky are linked to coal, as is much of Appalachia -- the largely white, long-struggling eastern US region where many feel they have been given the cold shoulder in the lukewarm recovery from the 2007-2008 financial crisis.
The northwest state of Oregon on Tuesday also holds its Democratic and Republican primaries, where limited polling has indicated Clinton is ahead. Sanders, however, leads in Kentucky.
Clinton sees Kentucky as an opportunity to appeal to a demographic that has consistently snubbed her: working-class white men.
No Democratic presidential candidate has won in the state since 1980 except for her husband Bill Clinton.
On Sunday the former first lady appeared to indicate he would play a role in her administration if she were elected, promising to put him "in charge of revitalizing the economy."
And during a stop Monday at a diner in Paducah, a city in southwestern Kentucky, she reasserted that he would be her ally in office.
"I've already told my husband that if I'm so fortunate enough to be president and he will be the first gentleman, I'll expect him to go to work... to get incomes rising."
Sanders has also been investing time in Kentucky.
He was in Paducah on Sunday and Bowling Green Monday, holding much bigger rallies -- each more than 2,000 people.
- 'Risky and dangerous' -
The Clintons have struggled to contain the damage from comments Hillary made in March, when she said she expected to "put a lot of coal companies and coal miners out of business."
She made the comment during a speech on renewable energy but the soundbite stung many in Appalachia.
In Fort Mitchell at the weekend she emphasized her determination to help coal country, saying: "We can't and we must not walk away from them."
Clinton made three stops in Kentucky on Sunday and another four Monday.
"We've got to turn a lot of people out," she told diners in Paducah. "I'll tell you this, I'm not going to give up on Kentucky in November!"
Clinton shook hands, took selfies, offered hugs -- and even chatted with Trump supporters who vowed never to vote for her.
With the Democratic nomination in sight, Clinton is repositioning herself for a bruising general election campaign battle against Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee.
At a later rally in Hopkinsville, Kentucky's secretary of state and close Clinton friend Alison Lundergan Grimes made the succinct case for a steady hand over Trump's unpredictability and the Republican Party's reluctance to unite around their presumptive nominee.
"They have dysfunction. We have a candidate with a plan," Grimes said.
Clinton used the rally to pummel the "risky and dangerous" Trump, suggesting he is unqualified to handle tough foreign policy decisions.
"I think that we will have in this general election about as clear a contrast as you can imagine when it comes to this issue," she told a crowd of about 500, adding that Trump would be ineffective at the "boring" but important diplomacy that solves crises.
She pointed to her work in late 2012 in helping to defuse sky-high tensions between Israelis and Palestinians, in part by negotiating at length with Egypt's then-president Mohamed Morsi.
"Now ask yourself: how hard would it be for America's secretary of state to negotiate with a Muslim leader if someone running for president -- or heaven forbid were president -- was spending a lot of his time denigrating the religion of the people we had to deal with in a flashpoint region?" she said.
In a November face-off Trump appears destined to hold an advantage over Clinton, at least initially, with working-class whites.
Exit polls in several states have also shown Clinton losing the white male vote by substantial numbers to Sanders.
"She's not trustworthy," Jerry Armaigo, a 68-year-old retiree from the Navy, told AFP at the Paducah diner Clinton visited.
But he acknowledged Trump is not trustworthy either.
In November, "I will vote Republican," he said. "I don't want another four more years of Obama."
NSW Health officials are asking people to be 'especially vigilant' after Covid fragments were detected in sewage. | Government Job change - Election | May 2016 | ['(AFP via Yahoo! 7)', '(Courier-Journal)', '(CNN)'] |
Geraint Thomas of the United Kingdom wins the Tour de France. | Last updated on 29 July 201829 July 2018.From the section Cyclingcomments874
Geraint Thomas became the third Briton to win the Tour de France when he crossed the finish line in Paris.
The Team Sky rider, 32, follows Sir Bradley Wiggins in 2012 and four-time Tour champion Chris Froome as Britain celebrates a sixth win in seven years.
Alexander Kristoff won the final sprint finish on the Champs-Elysees as Thomas crossed the line arm-in-arm with Froome after three weeks of racing.
He beat Dutchman Tom Dumoulin by one minute 51 seconds, with Froome third.
The Welshman, who rode in support of Froome in each of his four wins, had built up that lead over the previous 20 stages and Tour convention dictates that the yellow jersey is not challenged on the final stage.
"When I rode on the Champs-Elysees for the first time in 2007, that was insane - just to finish the race and just to be a part of it," Thomas told ITV.
"To now be riding round winning it is just incredible. It's just a whirlwind. I seem to be floating around on cloud nine.
"Maybe when I'm 70, sat in a corner of a pub telling some 18-year-old what I used to be, it will sink in. It's incredible, the stuff of dreams."
Froome was heavy favourite to become the fifth rider to win a record-equalling fifth Tour de France title. He came into the race as defending champion and holder of all three Grand Tour titles, having won the Vuelta a Espana last September and the Giro d'Italia in May.
However, he was only cleared to race the week before the Tour started, after his anti-doping case was dropped by cycling's world governing body, the UCI.
The 33-year-old was under investigation after more than the permitted level of legal asthma drug salbutamol was found in his urine during his Vuelta victory.
But his hopes of matching Eddy Merckx's record of four consecutive Grand Tour victories were ended in the Pyrenees mountains in the final week as Thomas proved the strongest rider.
The final 116km stage began in Houilles, to the north-west of Paris, and the riders took a leisurely pace into the capital before embarking on eight laps of the city centre.
Team Sky led the peloton into Paris, having allowed France's Sylvain Chavanel to ride clear for one lap in his final Tour in recognition of his achievement of completing a record 18th race.
Six riders attacked off the front of the peloton and built an advantage of about 45 seconds, but they were eventually reeled in on the final lap, with 6km remaining.
World champion Peter Sagan's Bora-Hansgrohe team-mates did the bulk of the chasing, hoping to help the winner of the green points classification jersey to a first win in Paris, but Norwegian Kristoff outsprinted Frenchman Arnaud Demare and Germany's John Degenkolb after Yves Lampaert's late attack failed.
Thomas rode over the line a few seconds later, alongside Froome, the man he dethrones as champion.
Thomas' victory comes in his ninth Tour, one fewer than the record for most appearances before winning, held by 1980 winner Joop Zoetemelk of the Netherlands.
Thomas first rode in the Tour in 2007, when he finished 140th of the 141 finishers.
Like many British riders, he raced on both the track and the road in the early part of his career, winning two Olympic and three world team pursuit titles on the track between 2007 and 2012. His sacrifice in helping Froome win four Tours has meant Thomas' best finish before this year was 15th.
He has also been dogged by bad luck. He fractured his pelvis on stage one in 2013 but rode the remaining 20 stages to help Froome win; in 2015 he crashed head first into a telegraph pole; and in 2017 broke a collarbone on stage nine.
This year, he has ridden a near faultless race to cement his place among Britain's greatest cyclists.
Mark Cavendish, a former Team Sky and Great Britain team-mate of Thomas, said he was "so, so proud" of his achievement.
Asked if he ever thought Thomas could win a Grand Tour, Cavendish, who has won 30 Tour de France stages, told BBC Sport: "Recently, yes. But there is a definite hierarchy in Team Sky so I didn't know if he'd get the opportunity.
"If they (Team Sky) had said to Geraint 'right, now you've got to work for Froome' he'd have done it. That's the kind of guy he is. That's what is special about him and why he deserves the win. "He's the most loyal guy you'll ever meet. He's incredible. I love him. I'm so, so proud of him."
Peter Kennaugh, another former Team Sky and GB team-mate, added: "It's incomprehensible. It's 'G' and he's won the Tour de France. I can't imagine how he feels. I'm just so proud of him."
Ex-Team Sky team-mate Ben Swift, who shared a house with Thomas in Manchester, said: "It's amazing to see. We've grown up together, been at the British Academy together, lived together, so to see him do this is incredible."
Three-time world team pursuit world champion Dani Rowe said: "I did see him as a Tour winner. He's one of the most hard-working riders I've ever come across, so I think he deserves this more than anyone."
Former British cyclist Chris Boardman, who won three Tour stages and wore the yellow jersey, said: "He's the most popular winner for years. No disrespect to those who have gone before him but he's always laid it down for someone else and sacrificed himself for someone else."
Thomas went in to this year's race saying he was hoping to challenge team leader Froome.
He told BBC Sport: "The team have said with the way I've been riding they're confident to give me that role of a back-up guy and to race at least until the first rest day (after stage nine)."
He was second after stage nine and took hold of the race leader's yellow jersey on stage 11.
Mark Cavendish set out looking to make further inroads in Eddy Merckx's record of 34 Tour stage wins, but the Dimension Data rider was unable to add to his tally of 30. He missed out on the early sprint stages and was eliminated when he missed the time cut on the mountainous 11th stage.
Mitchelton-Scott rider Adam Yates won the young rider classification in 2016 and was tipped to go well this year, but dehydration in the Alps - he was dropped on the way to La Rosiere on stage 11 and again on the next stage to Alpe d'Huez - cost him dearly. To end a miserable Tour, he crashed while leading on stage 16 and finished third.
The third British rider in Team Sky's squad, Luke Rowe, finished 130th - almost four hours behind the winner - but his sacrifices to help compatriot Thomas win will live long in both their memories.
Three-time world champion Sagan romped away with the green points jersey, which rewards consistently high finishes on each stage. It is a joint record sixth victory in the classification for the Slovak, matching Germany's Erik Zabel.
Sagan won three stages and finished in the top 10 on nine others to amass 477 points, more than double Kristoff in second.
The polka dot 'king of the mountains' jersey was claimed by Julian Alaphilippe, who comfortably beat fellow Frenchman Warren Barguil.
Another home rider, Pierre Latour, won the white jersey awarded to the best young rider (under the age of 26).
Final standings: 1. Geraint Thomas (GB/Team Sky) 83hrs 17mins 13secs
2. Tom Dumoulin (Ned/Team Sunweb) +1min 51secs
3. Chris Froome (GB/Team Sky) +2mins 24secs
4. Primoz Roglic (Slo/Team LottoNL-Jumbo) +3mins 22secs
5. Steven Kruijswijk (Ned/Lotto NL-Jumbo) +6mins 8secs
6. Romain Bardet (Fra/AG2R La Mondiale) +6mins 57secs
7. Mikel Landa (Spa/Movistar) +7mins 37secs
8. Daniel Martin (Ire/UAE Team Emirates) +9mins 5secs
9. Ilnur Zakarin (Rus/Katusha-Alpecin) +12mins 37secs
10. Nairo Quintana (Col/Movistar Team) +14mins 18secs
Stage 21 result:
1. Alexander Kristoff (Nor/UAE Team Emirates) 2hrs 46mins 36secs
2. John Degenkolb (Ger/Trek-Segafredo) same time
3. Arnaud Demare (Fra/Groupama-FDJ)
4. Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor/Team Dimension Data)
5. Christophe Laporte (Fra/Cofidis)
6. Maximiliano Richeze (Arg/Quick-Step Floors)
7. Sonny Colbrelli (Ita/Bahrain-Merida)
8. Peter Sagan (Svk/Bora-Hansgrohe)
9. Andrea Pasqualon (Ita/Wanty-Groupe Gobert)
10. Jasper de Buyst (Bel/Lotto-Soudal)
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Road, track, BMX, mountain and many more - there are so many ways and reasons to start cycling.
Got a big cycling race coming up? Make sure you make the most of your warm-up with this 20-minute guide. | Sports Competition | July 2018 | ['(BBC)'] |
Italian emergency crews rescue 10 people, including four children, from 16½ feet of snow and wreckage from the luxury Hotel Rigopiano following yesterday's Gran Sasso mountain avalanche. Searchers find four bodies, while families of at least 16 people still missing wait for news. | But for the loved ones of at least 16 others believed still trapped in the doomed mountain resort, the agonizing wait to learn their relatives’ fate dragged on.
Cheers of “Bravo! Bravo!” rang out early Friday as the first survivors were pulled from the debris, boosting spirits two days after the massive snow slide buried some 30 people. Four children were among those found alive.
“Today is a day of hope. There’s a miracle under way,” declared Ilario Lacchetta, mayor of the tiny town of Farindola, where the hotel is located. The rescues buoyed spirits after four bodies were discovered earlier in the rubble of the luxury Hotel Rigopiano, 112 miles northeast of Rome, where the avalanche dumped 16½ feet of snow on top of the resort Wednesday. Relatives of the missing rushed from the rescue operations center in the mountains to the seaside hospital where the survivors were taken for treatment in hopes that their loved ones were among the lucky few to be found. First word of the survivors came around 11 a.m. when a boy wearing blue snow pants and a matching ski jacket emerged through a tunnel dug in the snow more than 42 hours after the avalanche struck. It was Gianfilippo Parete, the 8-year-old son of Giampiero Parete, a chef vacationing at the resort who was outside the hotel when the deluge of snow hit and first sounded the alarm by calling his boss. Emergency crews mussed the boy’s hair in celebration. “Bravo! Bravo!” they cheered. Next to emerge was the boy’s mother, Adriana Vranceanu, 43, wearing red snow pants and appearing alert as she told rescuers that her 6-year-old daughter, Ludovica, was still trapped inside. Mother and son were taken by stretcher to a helicopter for the ride out. They were then reunited with Parete at a hospital in the coastal town of Pescara, suffering from hypothermia and dehydration but otherwise in good health, hospital officials said. “They had heavy clothes,” said Dr. Tullio Spina, director of the hospital’s intensive care and anesthesia unit. “They had ski caps to cover themselves. They remained away from the snow and cold, they were always inside the structure. That’s why the hypothermia wasn’t severe.” Little Ludovica was rescued several hours later and upon emerging asked for cookies: Ringos, an Italian version of Oreos, said Quintino Marcella, the restaurant owner who rallied the rescue after getting the phone call from her father.
The Italian fire brigade tweeted a video showing children being pulled out alive. The tweet in Italian reads: “the moving moment when three small children were rescued.”
#HotelRigopiano il momento commovente del salvataggio dei tre bambini #USAR #vigilidelfuoco pic.twitter.com/FmmykZMUTh
Some 30 people were believed trapped inside the hotel in the Gran Sasso mountain range when the avalanche hit after days of winter storms that dumped nearly 10 feet of snow in some places. The region was also rocked by four earthquakes on Wednesday, though it was not clear if they set off the avalanche.
As the rescue work continued, relatives of the missing gathered anxiously at the Pescara hospital waiting for word of their loved ones. “I just hope that my niece and her boyfriend will make it out of there,” said Melissa Riccardo. “We came to see if she was here.” A few erupted in frustration at an evening news conference. “The only news I have has been from the internet. They haven’t given me anything direct,” said Domenico Angelozzi, awaiting news of his sister and brother-in-law. The number of survivors found and extracted evolved over the course of the day. Marco Bini, a member of a police squad participating in the rescue, said the team opened a hole in the hotel roof Thursday night but “heard nothing.” Still, the persisted, following a floor plan of the hotel until they found signs of life. Upon seeing their rescuers, the survivors “called them angels,” he said. “They weren’t in a lot of space” but it was enough to survive, an area probably protected by the snow, Bini told Italian state TV. Late Friday, civil protection chief Fabrizio Cari said a total of 10 people had been found alive: Five who had been extracted, including four children. Rescuers were working to remove the rest, he said. “A beautiful feeling. Wonderful. I can’t describe it!” marveled Simona Di Carlo, aunt of Edoardo Di Carlo, after hearing word that he was among the survivors. “But I would like to see him.” Rescue crews said one group of survivors was found in the hotel’s kitchen area in an air pocket that formed when reinforced cement walls partially resisted the avalanche’s violent power. “It’s probable that they realized the risk and took protective measures,” firefighter Giuseppe Romano said. Those being rescued were in remarkably good condition, rescue workers said. Titi Postiglione, operations chief of the civil protection agency, said survivors would help rescuers try to locate others trapped in the hotel. Prosecutors opened a manslaughter investigation into the tragedy and were looking into whether the avalanche threat was taken seriously enough, and whether the hotel should have been evacuated earlier given the heavy snowfall and forecasts. “That hotel, in that historic moment, should it have been open?” prosecutor Christina Tedeschini was quoted by the ANSA news agency as saying. “If the people wanted to leave, what prevented them from doing so?” Parete, the survivor who sounded the alarm, said the guests had all checked out and were waiting for the road to be cleared so they could evacuate. But the snowplow never arrived and the avalanche hit around 5:30 p.m. Wednesday. In addition, pleas for a rescue team initially went unheeded by Italian authorities. Marcella, Parete’s boss, said his call to the Pescara prefect’s office was rebuffed because the hotel had informed it a few hours earlier that all was OK there. He persisted with other emergency responders and eventually someone took his information seriously and mobilized the rescue some two hours later. Tedeschini said the delay was “a relevant theme that we will look into.” The operation has also been hampered by fears of triggering new avalanches and building collapses onto possible survivors trapped in the rubble. Workers have been clearing a 5.5-mile road to bring in heavier equipment, but the mountain road can handle only one-way traffic and is covered with snow and fallen trees and rocks.
Days of heavy snowfall had knocked out electricity and phone lines in many central Italian towns and hamlets, and the hotel phones went down early Wednesday, just as the first of the four powerful earthquakes struck.
The force of the massive snow slide collapsed one wing of the hotel and rotated another off its foundation, pushing it downhill.
An Alpine rescue team was the first to arrive at the hotel on cross-country skis after a seven-kilometer journey that took two hours. They found Parete and Fabio Salzetta, a hotel maintenance worker, in a car in the resort’s parking lot.
Parete was taken to a hospital while Salzetta stayed behind to help rescuers identify where guests might be buried and how crews could enter the buildings. | Hurricanes_Tornado_Storm_Blizzard | January 2017 | ['(CBS News)'] |
In a second round of voting, Tom Perez is elected Chair of the DNC with 235 votes. Perez names Congressman Keith Ellison Deputy Party Chair. | houses across the country, Democrats elected Tom Perez on Saturday to lead the Democratic National Committee and rebuild the party.
Perez, the former labor secretary in the Obama administration, won in a second round of voting and was considered the heavy favorite of the Democratic establishment. He earned 235 votes from the 447 DNC members — the voting bloc that decides the chairmanship.
"Team Tom means 'team,'" Perez said at the 2017 Winter DNC Meeting in Atlanta. "And as a team, we will work together."
Minnesota Congressman Keith Ellison, the preferred candidate of the Bernie Sanders wing of the party, came in second, earning 200 votes in the second round of votes.
Ellison said it was necessary to unite behind Perez for the party to move forward, and was appointed the party's deputy chairman.
"We don’t have the luxury, folks, to walk out of this room divided," Ellison said. "We don’t have that luxury, and I just want to say to you that it’s my honor to serve this party under Chairman Perez."
The other five candidates dropped out of the race before the second round of votes.
Mayor Pete Buttigeig of South Bend, Indiana, did not make it to the voting process, announcing during his nomination speech earlier Saturday that he would be exiting the race. Buttigeig, 35, built a national profile as an emerging dark horse in the race for the chairmanship with the backing of former DNC Chairman Howard Dean.
"It looks like I’m not going to be the next chair," Buttigeig said. “But whoever is, I am urging to do the things that must be done to be open to change, to look beyond Washington, to not treat the presidency like it’s the only office that matters, to pay attention to communities like ours in the heart of our country — not as an exotic species — but as your fellow Americans."
The former Naval intelligence officer campaigned on the idea that the aging Democratic Party needs to empower its millennial members.
The 447 members of the Democratic National Committee voted Saturday afternoon, gathering in a ballroom to cast their ballots for chair and other party officer positions. Half ballots were given to Democrats voting abroad.
Perez is taking over from Interim DNC Chair Donna Brazile, who stepped into the role after the resignation of Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz last summer.
"While it will be bittersweet for me to leave this job and this tremendous organization, I’m confident that the future of the Democratic Party will be in good hands with Tom Perez," Brazile said in a statement. "And I want to congratulate all of the candidates for a race well run.”
On the eve of Saturday's election, Perez forces were feeling confident as they told Democrats they had pulled ahead, buoyed by the late endorsement of Jaime Harrison, the chairman of the South Carolina Democratic Party, who quit the chairman’s race Thursday to endorse Perez.
"We’re going to be unified and we’re going to get this thing done on the first ballot,” Harrison had told supporters Friday night.
After the second round of votes brought Perez the victory, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders offered his endorsement to the newly elected chair but added that Perez would need to be forward-thinking as the Democrats' new leader.
It's imperative Tom understands that the same-old, same-old isn't working and that we must bring in working and young people in a new way.
President Barack Obama congratulated Perez in a statement, adding "I'm proud of all the candidates who ran, and who make this great party what it is."
"Over the past eight years, our party continued its track record of delivering on that promise: growing the economy, creating new jobs, keeping our people safe with a tough, smart foreign policy, and expanding the rights of our founding to every American including the right to quality, affordable health insurance," Obama said. "That's a legacy the Democratic Party will always carry forward.
"I know that Tom Perez will unite us under that banner of opportunity, and lay the groundwork for a new generation of Democratic leadership for this big, bold, inclusive, dynamic America we love so much."
The DNC's chief fundraiser, Henry Munoz, who is running unopposed for reelection as Finance Chairman, gave Perez a final boost late Friday with his endorsement after remaining neutral throughout the race.
After a four-month election, candidates in all camps spent the closing days saying whoever won the chair’s race need to heal the rift between the party’s establishment wing, represented by Perez, and anti-establishment side, which has rallied behind Ellison.
Congratulations to Tom Perez on his election as DNC Chair. I look forward to working w/ him to build a party that puts working people first.
Candidates campaigned up until the last minute, buttonholing undecided DNC members at a hotel bar after midnight and host parties with live bands and free food.
Ringers were flown in to give candidates a final boost with the dwindling number of voters still not aligned with either candidate.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio towered over DNC members as he pressed his case for Ellison. "Keith Ellison is a man of destiny," he told them. "This is not an optional situation. We need Keith Ellison."
Meanwhile, Valerie Jarrett, the longtime confidant of former president Obama, phoned DNC members to support Perez, while Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti reinforced Perez’ troops on the ground.
Alex Seitz-Wald is senior digital politics reporter for NBC News.
Phil McCausland is an NBC News reporter focused on health care and the social safety net. | Government Job change - Appoint_Inauguration | February 2017 | ['(NBC News)', '(The Washington Post)'] |
Mikheil Saakashvili is arrested again by the National Police of Ukraine. He was on the run since December 5. He has been leading anti-corruption rallies against Petro Poroshenko. | Former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili has been detained in Ukraine's capital Kiev, days after his supporters freed him from a police van.
Mr Saakashvili, who in 2015-16 served as regional governor in Ukraine under President Petro Poroshenko, has been leading anti-corruption rallies against his former ally. On Tuesday, he was dragged from his home in Kiev and arrested.
He has been calling for Mr Poroshenko's impeachment since his first arrest.
The authorities responded by giving him a deadline of 24 hours to hand himself in.
Mr Saakashvili is accused of receiving financing from a criminal group linked to ousted Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych.
His detention was part of an operation "to disrupt a plan of revenge of pro-Kremlin forces in Ukraine", Ukraine's Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko said on Tuesday.
Prosecutors released audio and video recordings which they say proved he had received hundreds of thousands of dollars from the criminal group.
Mr Saakashvili said the recordings were fake.
If found guilty, he could face up to five years in jail.
Mr Saakashvili also faces the threat of extradition to Georgia, where he is wanted on corruption charges. He says the accusations are politically motivated.
He was governor of the southern Odessa region for 18 months after being appointed by Mr Poroshenko in 2015. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Arrest | December 2017 | ['(RTL Nieuws)', '(BBC)'] |
In elections marred by boycotts and fraud allegations, Omar al–Bashir is re–elected president of Sudan despite facing war crimes charges and an international arrest warrant. | Omar al-Bashir's victory was widely expected after his most credible challengers pulled out of the race to protest alleged fraud.
It was unlikely to put to rest questions about his standing around the globe and among his opponents or ease Sudan's isolation. Al-Bashir cannot travel freely because he risks being arrested to face charges before the Hague-based International Criminal Court for war crimes committed in Sudan's western Darfur region.
Sudan's first multiparty presidential, parliamentary and local elections in 24 years were a key requirement of a 2005 peace deal that ended a 21-year civil war between the predominantly Arab and Muslim north and rebels in the Christian-animist south.
The fighting left 2 million people dead and many more displaced. The Darfur conflict, which began in 2003, is not related to that war.
The elections also opened the way for a 2011 referendum in which the south will decide whether it wants to secede.
International observers said this month's elections failed to meet international standards because of delays, intimidation and faulty lists, but they did not call for a repeat vote. Instead the observers recommended that lessons drawn from the process be applied to next year's referendum on southern independence.
Al-Bashir got 68% of more than 10 million valid ballots, according to Abel Alier, the head of Sudan's National Elections Commission.
The president appeared on television shortly after the results were announced to declare that "the success of these elections is in essence a success for the Sudanese people." He promised to reach out to all political forces in Sudan to form what he called a national partnership and vowed to make sure that the referendum takes place.
"You gave us your trust," he said. "I reaffirm I will go ahead with the southern referendum on time and complete the peace process in Darfur."
The president of the semiautonomous south, Silva Kiir, also kept his post, winning nearly 93% of the votes in the south. Kiir, who also heads southern Sudan's largest political party and is a junior partner in the national government, had also been expected to remain in control.
The results for local governors, the first to be held in Sudan, also came in Monday.
The five days of voting, which began April 11, were marred by allegations of fraud and boycotts and raised concerns of new unrest. Violence was reported in areas of the south.
Election results were delayed amid difficulties in counting and transporting ballots from around the vast country.
Al-Bashir, who came to power 21 years ago in a military coup, was charged by ICC prosecutors last year with war crimes and crimes against humanity for atrocities committed in Darfur. An estimated 300,000 people died of violence, disease and displacement during the fighting between government and rebel forces.
Al-Bashir was expected in neighboring Egypt on Tuesday, where he faces no threat of arrest. Most Arab and African nations do not recognize the ICC and its warrant for al-Bashir.
Ahmed Hussein, the spokesman for the Darfur rebel Justice and Equality Movement, said his group will not accept the election results and has been conferring with other opposition groups on the matter.
Many Darfurians boycotted the elections, specially those in refugee camps.
"Things in our country are not going according to what the people of Sudan wanted. This is going to lead to tension and chaos," Hussein said. "People are not going to accept al-Bashir for another five years."
Mariam Sadiq, a senior member of the Umma party, which had pulled out of the race, said the election results are "morally more corrupt" than the coup that brought al-Bashir to power and called the voting "a costly and ineffective experience." | Government Job change - Election | April 2010 | ['(USA Today)'] |
At least 281 people are killed and over 1,000 injured when a tsunami triggered by Krakatoa's eruption hits the coast near Indonesia's Sunda Strait. | At least 222 people have been killed and 843 injured after a tsunami hit coastal towns on Indonesia's Sunda Strait, government officials say.
There was no warning of the giant waves which struck at night, destroying hundreds of buildings, sweeping away cars and uprooting trees.
It is thought undersea landslides from the Anak Krakatau volcano caused them.
President Joko Widodo has expressed his sorrow for the victims and urged people to be patient.
Rescue efforts are being hampered by blocked roads but heavy lifting equipment is being transported to badly hit areas to help search for victims. The Sunda Strait, between the islands of Java and Sumatra, connects the Java Sea to the Indian Ocean.
The disaster management agency has warned people to stay away from the coastline due to fears of another tsunami.
Saturday's tsunami struck at about 21:30 local time (14:30 GMT), during a local holiday.
It hit several popular tourist destinations including the Tanjung Lesung beach resort in the west of Java island. Footage shared on social media showed a large wave crashing into a tent in the resort, in which popular Indonesian rock band Seventeen was performing. Members of the band were seen being swept away as the wave destroyed the stage.
In a tearful Instagram video, singer Riefian Fajarsyah said the band's bassist and road manager had died, and three other band members and his own wife were missing.
Red Cross official Kathy Mueller told the BBC: "There is debris littering the ground, crushed cars, crushed motorcycles, we're seeing buildings that are collapsed." It appears that the main road into Pandeglang has been badly damaged, making it difficult for rescuers to reach the area, she added.
Eyewitness Asep Perangkat said cars and containers had been dragged about 10 metres (32 feet). "Buildings on the edge of [Carita] beach were destroyed, trees and electricity poles fell to the ground," he told AFP news agency. Officials say more than 160 people were killed in Pandeglang - a popular tourist district on Java known for its beaches and national park. Meanwhile, 48 were reported dead in South Lampung on Sumatra, and deaths were also reported in Serang district and Tanggamus on Sumatra. Officials fear the death toll could rise further. So far, no foreign nationals have been reported dead, officials say.
By Jonathan Amos, BBC science correspondent
It is well known that volcanoes have the capacity to generate large waves. The mechanism as ever is the displacement of a large volume of water. Except, unlike in a classic earthquake-driven tsunami in which the seafloor will thrust up or down, it seems an eruption event set in motion some kind of slide. It is not clear at this stage whether part of the flank of the volcano has collapsed with material entering the sea and pushing water ahead of it, or if movement on the flank has triggered a rapid slump in sediment under the water surface. The latter at this stage appears to be the emerging consensus, but the effect is the same - the water column is disturbed and waves propagate outwards. Anak Krakatau has seen increased activity in recent months. Indonesia's geological agency says the volcano erupted for two minutes and 12 seconds on Friday, creating an ash cloud that rose 400 metres above the mountain. It recommended that no-one be allowed within 2km (1.2 miles) of the crater.
After the tsunami struck, there was confusion over what had actually happened, with Indonesian disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho initially reporting it as a tidal surge.
He later apologised for his mistake, saying there had been confusion because there was no earthquake.
High seas as a result of the full moon might have contributed to the strength of the waves, the disaster management agency said.
The proximity of the volcano to the coast gave authorities very little time to act, Professor David Rothery from The Open University told AFP news agency.
"Tsunami warning buoys are positioned to warn of tsunamis originated by earthquakes at underwater tectonic plate boundaries," he said. "Even if there had been such a buoy right next to Anak Krakatau, this is so close to the affected shorelines that warning time would have been minimal given the high speeds at which tsunami waves travel."
Adding to the anxiety on Sunday, a tsunami warning went off by mistake, causing widespread panic as people scrambled to reach shelters. A technical error is suspected. Indonesia is prone to tsunamis because it lies on the Ring of Fire - the line of frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions that circles virtually the entire Pacific rim.
In September, more than 2,000 people died when a powerful earthquake struck just off the central Indonesian island of Sulawesi, setting off a tsunami that engulfed the coastal city of Palu.
On 26 December 2004, a series of huge waves triggered by a powerful earthquake in the Indian Ocean killed about 228,000 people in 13 countries, mostly in Indonesia.
However, tsunamis caused by volcanic activity like this are less frequent.
Anak Krakatau (Child of Krakatau) is a new island that emerged in 1927 from Krakatoa volcano.
In August 1883, Krakatoa underwent one of the most violent volcanic eruptions in recorded history | Volcano Eruption | December 2018 | ['(BBC)', '(CNN)'] |
The Hong Kong Police Force warn protesters that they have until Thursday to leave their protest camp in Admiralty. | Hong Kong pro-democracy activists have until Thursday morning to leave a sprawling protest camp that's blocked traffic in the Chinese financial hub for more than two months before authorities clear it out, a lawyer said Tuesday.
Authorities are set to move in after a court order authorized the removal of barricades, tents and other obstructions from the Admiralty district, site of the protesters' main camp downtown, setting the stage for one last showdown with activists demanding greater democracy.
Workers will dismantle the protest camp starting at 9 a.m., said Paul Tse, a lawyer for the bus company that took out the injunction.
"What I would like to do now is to perhaps make a public plea to the students to stay away from the scene when there is plenty of time," he told reporters, adding the company wanted to give protesters enough time to pack their belongings and leave the site.
He said the court order, which was published in newspapers Tuesday, would be posted at the Admiralty site in the afternoon.
About 3,000 police officers would be deployed for the operation, the South China Morning Post newspaper reported, citing unidentified police sources.
The student-led protesters have been occupying streets for 73 days to press their demands for greater democracy.
Another protest site in the rough-and-tumble Mong Kok neighborhood was shut down late last month by authorities enforcing a separate court order. The aggressive police operation sparked several nights of violent clashes in the neighborhood's tight grid of streets, resulting in about 160 arrests.
The South China Morning Post said the third and smallest protest site, in the Causeway Bay district, is also expected to be dismantled Thursday, although it is not covered by any court order.
The semiautonomous Chinese city's Beijing-backed leader, Leung Chun-ying, said officers would use "minimum force" in assisting court workers to shut the site down. Earlier this week he said they were expected to encounter "fierce resistance."
Organizers said as many as 200,000 people joined the protests early on, but numbers have since dwindled and only dozens now remain at the Admiralty camp, next to city government headquarters.
Options are narrowing for the student protest leaders as the government maintains an apparent strategy of waiting them out.
The Hong Kong Federation of Students, one of the groups organizing the protests, said last week it's mulling a retreat but has not yet made a decision. The group had earlier led a failed bid to surround the headquarters complex that resulted in a night of violent clashes in a desperate last-minute push to pressure the government over Beijing's requirement to screen candidates in the inaugural 2017 election for the city's top leader.
Joshua Wong, a teenager who has become the protest movement's most prominent leader, abandoned a hunger strike on the weekend after nearly five days on doctor's orders. Of the four other members of his Scholarism group who had joined him, only one is still refusing food. | Protest_Online Condemnation | December 2014 | ['(AP via ABC News)'] |
Protesters clash with police in Turkey after a 15–year–old boy died from a head injury sustained during anti–government protests. | Fresh clashes between Turkish police and protesters have erupted in Istanbul and the capital, Ankara on Tuesday , after a 15-year-old boy died from a head injury sustained during anti-government protests last summer.
Berkin Elvan, then aged 14, was on his way to buy bread for his family when he got caught up in the street battles in Istanbul last June. He was hit in the head by a teargas cartridge fired by the police and had been in a coma ever since.
On Tuesday morning, police fired teargas to disperse protesters gathered outside the Istanbul hospital where Berkin died, after some people started throwing objects at an armoured police vehicle.
In Ankara, riot police used water cannon and teargas against a crowd of about 2,000 who blocked a highway to mourn the teenager's death and to contest continued police impunity. In several cities, there were sit-ins and silent protests.
According to doctors, Berkin's health had deteriorated gravely and his weight had dropped to 16kg (two and a half stone) in recent weeks.
Announcing his death on Twitter, Berkin's parents wrote: "To our people: We lost our son Berkin Elvan at 7am this morning. Condolences to us all." Gülsüm Elvan, the boy's mother, expressed her anger towards the Turkish government: "Not God took my son away, but [Prime Minister Recep] Tayyip Erdoğan," she said, according to the Turkish press.
President Abdullah Gül, who was the first senior politician to inquire after the teenager's health on Monday, publicly extended his condolences towards the family this morning.
"He was only 14 when the incident happened. I share the family's sorrow," Gül said.
Istanbul governor Hüseyin Avni Mutlu's expression of regret at the "loss" on Twitter was met with outrage on social media. "We did not 'lose' Berkin; you killed him," several people tweeted.
Throughout last June, hundreds of thousands took to the streets when an environmental protest aimed at saving an inner city park snowballed into a nationwide display of anger at Erdoğan's increasingly authoritarian stance.
The teenager's death raises the number of deaths from last summer's protests to seven, at least four directly resulting from police violence. Turkish police have been accused of using excessive force against the protesters in Istanbul's Gezi Park and in demonstrations that spread all over the country.
According to the Turkish Medical Association, about 8,000 people were injured as a result of the police's heavy-handed interventions: 104 sustained serious head injuries and 11 lost an eye, mostly after being hit by plastic bullets fired by the police.
Rights groups have repeatedly condemned the use of excessive police violence during the protests. A Human Rights Watch dispatch published on Tuesday stressed that the firing of teargas directly at protesters violated international legal standards.
"The case of Berkin Elvan has become a symbol for Turkey's record of police violence and impunity," said Emma Sinclair-Webb, a senior Turkey researcher for Human Rights Watch.
"The enormous outpouring of anger at these horrors is also due to the silence of the government on Berkin Elvan's death and on this issue in general." | Protest_Online Condemnation | March 2014 | ['(The Guardian)', '(Reuters)'] |
The Hubble Space Telescope observes the most distant supernova on record. | Astronomers have spotted the most distant massive star explosion of its kind, a supernova that could help scientists better understand the nature of the universe.
Using the Hubble Space Telescope, scientists recently caught sight of Supernova UDS10Wil (nicknamed SN Wilson) which exploded more than 10 billion years ago. It took more than 10 billion years for the light of this violent star explosion to reach Earth.
SN Wilson is known as a Type Ia supernova — a particular kind of star explosion that gives scientists a sense of how the universe has expanded over time.
"This new distance record holder opens a window into the early universe, offering important new insights into how these stars explode," research leader David Jones of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Md., said in a statement. "We can test theories about how reliable these detonations are for understanding the evolution of the universe and its expansion." [See Amazing Pictures of Supernovas]
SN Wilson is only four percent more distant than the last most distant supernova of its kind found by Hubble, NASA officials said in a statement. However, that is still 350 million years further back in time than any other previously found star explosion.
By understanding when massive stars began exploding, scientists can get a sense of how quickly the universe was seeded with the elements needed to create planets and other cosmic bodies.
"If supernovae were popcorn, the question is how long before they start popping?" Adam Riess, an astronomer at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Md., said in a statement. "You may have different theories about what is going on in the kernel. If you see when the first kernels popped and how often they popped, it tells you something important about the process of popping corn."
This work also might contribute to other work being done on what triggers these massive explosions, a question that has plagued astronomers since the discovery of Type Ia supernovas.
This discovery is also part of a three-year-initiative by the Hubble program to find the most distant supernovas. Scientists with the program hope to understand if the star explosions have changed in some way since the Big Bang birthed the universe 13.8 billion years ago.
The Hubble Space Telescope was launched in 1990. It is expected to continue functioning for the next five years or so, and its successor, the James Webb Space Telescope, is scheduled for launch in 2018.
The new findings will be published in an upcoming issue of "The Astrophysical Journal." | New achievements in aerospace | April 2013 | ['(Space.com)'] |
Over 200 people are airlifted to safety after wildfires break out at the Sierra National Forest. | SHAVER LAKE, CALIF. — Rescuers in military helicopters airlifted 207 people to safety after an explosive wildfire trapped them in a popular camping area in California’s Sierra National Forest, one of dozens of fires burning Sunday amid record-breaking temperatures that strained the state’s electrical grid and threatened power outages for millions.
The California Office of Emergency Services said Black Hawk and Chinook helicopters were used for the rescues that began late Saturday and continued into Sunday morning at Mammoth Pool Reservoir. At least two people were severely injured and 10 more suffered moderate injuries. Two campers refused rescue and stayed behind, the Madera County sheriff’s office said, and there was no immediate word on their fates.
A photo tweeted by the California National Guard showed more than 20 evacuees packed tightly inside one helicopter, some crouched on the floor clutching their belongings. In another photo taken on the ground from a helicopter cockpit, the densely wooded hills surrounding the aircraft were in flames.
The blaze dubbed the Creek Fire has charred more than 71 square miles of timber, and the 800 firefighters on the scene had yet to get any containment after two days of work on steep terrain in sweltering heat. Some homes and businesses have burned, but there was no official tabulation yet.
Other blazes broke out in Southern California and forced evacuations in San Diego and San Bernardino counties.
The Creek Fire churned southward from the reservoir through miles of dense forest and by Sunday afternoon threatened a marina and cabins along Shaver Lake, where Jack Machado helped friends remove propane tanks from the lodge Cottages at the Point. Sheriff’s deputies went through the town of several hundred residents to make sure people complied with evacuation orders.
“The lake is totally engulfed with smoke. You can’t hardly see in front of you,” Machado said. “The sky’s turning red. It looks like Mars out there.”
Temperatures in the fire zone were in the 90s, but that was cool compared to many parts of the state. Downtown Los Angeles reached 111 degrees and a record-shattering high of 121 degrees was recorded in the nearby Woodland Hills neighborhood of the San Fernando Valley.
It was the highest temperature ever recorded in Los Angeles County, according to the National Weather Service. The mark rivaled the high in California’s Death Valley, typically the hottest place in the country.
Meanwhile, downtown San Francisco set a record for the day with a high of 100, smashing the previous mark by 5 degrees.
“By our calculations, over 99% of California’s population is under an Excessive Heat Warning or Heat Advisory today,” the weather service in Sacramento tweeted Sunday afternoon.
The exceptionally high temperatures were driving the highest power use of the year, and transmission losses because of the wildfires have cut into supplies. Eric Schmitt of the California Independent System Operator that manages the state’s power grid said up to 3 million customers faced power outages if residents didn’t curtail their electricity usage.
Power usage was expected to peak at 6 p.m., and no significant outages had been reported by then. The city of Glendale near Los Angeles implemented a very small blackout that local authorities promised would last only an hour.
Pacific Gas & Electric, the state’s largest utility, warned customers that it might cut power starting Tuesday because of expected high winds and heat that could create even greater fire danger. Some of the state’s largest and deadliest fires in recent years have been sparked by downed power lines and other utility equipment.
The Creek Fire started Friday and by Saturday afternoon exploded in size, jumped the San Joaquin River and cut off the only road into the Mammoth Pool Campground, national forest spokesman Dan Tune said. At least 2,000 structures were threatened in the area about 290 miles north of Los Angeles. The cause of the fire hasn’t been determined.
While some campers were rescued by helicopters, others made a white-knuckle drive to safety. Juliana Park recorded video of flames on both sides of her car as she and others fled down a mountain road.
“A backpacking trip cut short by unforeseen thunder, ash rain, and having to drive through literal fire to evacuate #SierraNationalForest in time,” Park tweeted. “Grateful to the SNF ranger who led us down ... wish we got her name.”
The Mammoth Pool Reservoir is about 35 miles northeast of Fresno. It’s surrounded by thick pine forests and is a popular destination for boating and fishing. Bone-dry conditions and the hot weather fueled the flames once the fire started, and it grew rapidly.
Lindsey Abbott and her family were guided to safety by a stranger they followed down from their campsite near Whisky Falls.
“It was so hot, you could feel the flames going through the window,” she told ABC30 in Fresno.
Ashley Wagner was among those rescued, along with two relatives and a friend. They were trapped in Logan’s Meadow behind Wagner’s Store, a 63-year-old business run by her aunt that was destroyed.
“My family’s history just went up in flames,” Wagner told the station.
In Southern California, crews scrambled to douse several fires that popped up, including one that closed mountain roads in Angeles National Forest. The largest was a blaze in the foothills of Yucaipa east of Los Angeles that prompted evacuation orders for eastern portions of the city of 54,000 along with several mountain communities. The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, known as Cal Fire, said the fire scorched at least 4.7 square miles of brush and trees.
In eastern San Diego County, the Valley Fire broke out Saturday afternoon, and fire officials warned the blaze was burning at a “dangerous rate of speed.” By Sunday morning it had destroyed at least 10 structures after burning 6.25 square miles and prompting evacuations near the remote community of Alpine in the Cleveland National Forest. At least two of the lost structures were homes, ABC10 News in San Diego reported.
Cal Fire said 14,800 firefighters were battling 23 major fires in the state. California has seen 900 wildfires since Aug. 15, many of them started by an intense series of thousands of lightning strikes. The blazes have burned more than 1.5 million acres. There have been eight fire deaths and nearly 3,300 structures destroyed. | Fire | September 2020 | ['(The Chicago Tribune)'] |
Lesotho Prime Minister Tom Thabane rejects a deal between South African mediators and his coalition government asking him to resign amid accusations that he was involved in the murder of his exwife. | JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Lesotho Prime Minister Thomas Thabane has said he will not be told when to leave office, a national newspaper reported on Thursday, resisting efforts to defuse a political crisis with the offer of a “dignified retirement.”
The independent weekly Lesotho Times -- the most popular paper in the mountainous kingdom -- quoted Thabane as saying he would not be pushed out before he is ready, apparently rejecting a deal between South African mediators and his own coalition government that he would step down.
“People who I don’t report to (are) setting the time for my departure ... They have no right to do so,” it quoted him as saying.
Thabane, 80, has been under pressure to resign owing to a murder case in which he and his current wife are suspected of assassinating his previous wife. They both deny this.
Last Saturday Thabane ordered soldiers and armoured vehicles onto the streets of Maseru to restore order against what he said were “rogue national elements”, prompting neighbour South Africa to step in to try to defuse tensions.
Mediators said on Monday they had agreed with the government that Thabane would go into “a dignified, graceful and secure retirement,” immediately.
Thabane’s spokesman, Relebohile Moyeye, declined to comment on Thursday on what the prime minister’s plans were.
Thabane has previously said he will step down at the end of July, but several senior figures in his own party and in the opposition want him out immediately.
In the interview, the paper quoted him as saying that he wanted to “ensure that all the plans that we have in motion are implemented before I leave,” without detailing what those were.
Pro and anti-Thabane factions within the ruling ABC party are in conflict over his future, aggravating political tensions.
“We still wish that he could leave as soon as yesterday,” Montoeli Masoetsa, spokesman of Thabane’s ABC party, said.
Lesotho has experienced several coups since gaining independence from Britain in 1966, and its conflicts often suck in South Africa, whose central mountains encircle it and to which Lesotho supplies vital drinking water.
Gunmen shot and killed Thabane’s previous wife, Lipolelo, 58, on June 14, 2017, in a case that was never solved.
This year, police charged Thabane’s current wife, Maesaiah, with her murder, and also named Thabane himself -- though he has yet to be formally charged in court -- plunging Lesotho into its current crisis. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | April 2020 | ['(Reuters)'] |
Reports from Mauritania indicate that the Army has seized control of the government. State media is reportedly taken over by troops, signaling a military coup while President Ould Taya is out of the country attending the funeral of Saudi Arabia's King Fahd. | Military junta will rule Mauritania for no more than two years after ousting Maaouyia Ould Taya.
NOUAKCHOTT - Mauritanian President Maaouyia Ould Taya has been ousted and a military junta will rule in his place for no more than two years, a statement by the coup leadership said Wednesday.
"The military and the security forces have unanimously decided to put an end to the totalitarian practices of the regime from which our people have suffered so much in the last years," the statement quoted by the Mauritanian news agency said.
"These practices have put the country on a dangerous course. For this reason, the military and security forces have decided to put in place a Military Council for Justice and Democracy."
The unidentified coup leaders pledged to "establish favourable conditions for an open and transparent democratic system on which civil society and political players will be able to give their opinions freely."
"The military and security forces do not intend to hold power for longer than a period of two years, which is considered essential to prepare and establish true democratic institutions," the statement said.
Finally, the new ruling council pledged to respect all international treaties and conventions already ratified by Mauritania.
Earlier Wednesday, troops led by the presidential guard took over key buildings in Nouakchott, including the military headquarters, the state radio and television offices, the presidential palace and ministries.
They acted while Ould Taya was in Saudi Arabia for the funeral of King Fahd. He was later reported to have landed in Niamey, capital of Niger.
In June 2003 a bloody uprising failed to unseat Ould Taya, and was followed in August and September of last year by two more alleged coup attempts.
Ould Taya, who seized power himself in a bloodless coup in 1984, is a strong ally of the United States at the head of the northwest African country, which sits on an estimated one billion barrels of oil and 30 billion cubic meters of natural gas.
He was elected president first in 1992, again in 1997 and for a third time in November last year in an exercise condemned as a "masquerade" by the opposition.
His government recently cracked down on Islamist radicals, accusing them of links to terrorism and extremist groups in neighbouring Algeria.
In May the authoritative International Crisis Group said Nouakchott had seized on the US-led struggle against terrorism as a way to legitimize its denial of democratic rights.
In a follow-up to a March report that called Washington's militaristic approach to the terror challenge in northwest Africa "counterproductive", the Brussels-based think tank said the demonization of Islamists in mostly Muslim Mauritania could be a "very costly mistake".
In February a court condemned 84 convicted putschists and acquitted more than 100 other defendants, including former president Mohamed Khouna Ould Haidalla, ousted in 1984 by Ould Taya.
The 2003 coup attempt collapsed after a 36-hour gunbattle with loyalist soldiers at a military barracks near Nouakchott.
Its mastermind Saleh Ould Henenna, a former army major, told his trial that the country's deep racial and ethnic divisions were the impetus behind his bid to oust Ould Taya, who has ruled with an iron fist since 1984. He called for "a political act of salvation for the Mauritanian people."
Life sentences were imposed in absentia on Mohamed Ould Salek and Mohamed Ould Cheikhna, the founder of an exiled band of renegade military officers known since June 2003 as Knights of Change.
Mauritania is one of just three Arab countries with diplomatic links with Israel, and Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom was greeted by anti-Israel graffiti and protests when he visited in May.
Israel has expressed hope that Mauritania might serve as a "bridge" between it and the Arab world and encourage other Arab nations to begin diplomatic relations. | Regime Change | August 2005 | ['(Middle East Online)', '(BBC)', '(afrol News)'] |
Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak is found guilty by the Malaysian High Court and sentenced to 12 years' imprisonment and fined RM210 million (US$47 million). The High Court convicted Najib on all seven counts of abuse of power, money laundering and criminal breach of trust over misappropriating over RM42 million (US$ 10 million) from 1Malaysia Development Berhad's former subsidiary SRC International to his personal bank accounts. | KUALA LUMPUR, July 28 ― Datuk Seri Najib Razak has been found guilty by the High Court today for abuse of power and misappropriating over RM42 million from 1Malaysia Development Berhad’s (1MDB) former subsidiary SRC International Sdn Bhd.
In delivering his judgement to a packed courtroom, High Court judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali said Najib was complicit in the deposits of RM42 million from SRC International in his private account.
“In conclusion after considering all evidence in this trial, I find that the prosecution has successfully proven its case beyond reasonable doubt against the accused, I therefore find the accused guilty and convict the accused on all seven charges,” he said.
Also present in court for today's proceeding were Najib's children Datuk Mohd Nizar Najib, Riza Shahriz Abdul Aziz and Norashman Najib.
Najib's wife, Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor was not present.
Top Umno leaders were also seen in court to lend support including Umno president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi who also has a trial himself later today, and deputy president Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan.
The conviction could also mean an end to Najib's political career in Malaysia, as it jeopardises Najib's chances of participating in the next election and the disqualification as an elected representative.
The SRC International trial is one of five criminal trials that involved him.
Najib’s charges
Of the seven charges he was accused of, Najib is accused of committing three counts of criminal breach of trust over a total RM42 million of SRC International funds while entrusted with its control as the prime minister and finance minister then, and a separate charge of abusing the same positions for self-gratification of the same sum.
For the remaining three charges, he is accused of laundering RM42 million.
For abuse of power under Section 23 of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Act 2009, a person convicted faces a maximum of 20 years’ imprisonment and a minimum fine of RM10,000 or up to five times the sum or value of the bribe, whichever is higher.
Criminal breach of trust under Section 409 of the Penal Code carries a penalty of a minimum of two years’ and a maximum 20 years’ imprisonment, whipping and fine.
As for money laundering under Section 4 of the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001, the punishment is a maximum 15 years’ jail term and a fine of up to five times the amount of money laundered or RM5 million, whichever is higher.
Najib was fined RM210 million and will spend a total of 12 years in prison as the judge ordered the jail sentences to run concurrently after being convicted of all seven charges following proceedings that lasted almost 11 hours. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Sentence | July 2020 | ['[disambiguation needed]', '(Malay Mail)', '(BBC)', '(Channel News Asia)'] |
At least six people are killed and dozens injured in explosions at 15 locations in Liucheng County in China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. The explosives were reportedly concealed inside express delivery packages. Chinese officials have identified a suspect, but the motive is not yet known. , | HONG KONG, Sept. 30 (UPI) -- At least six people are dead and dozens injured after a series of explosions tore through the Chinese city of Liuzhou on Wednesday afternoon.
The blasts were first heard about 3:50 p.m., rocking the seat of Liucheng county in the southern province of Guangxi, the South China Morning Post reported. The bombs exploded across several sites, including a prison, a government office, a supermarket, a hospital and a local center for disease control, The Washington Post reported.
Update: 6 killed, dozens injured in parcel blasts in Liucheng county, #Guangxi. More reported at nearby Liuzhou city pic.twitter.com/eBGngiL5S7
Footage of the devastation showed partly collapsed buildings and injured people receiving treatment on the street. Eyewitnesses said they saw vehicles damaged on the road.
Xinhua and Chinese state media reported five victims died at the scene, and another died while being treated at a nearby hospital.
#UPDATE At least three killed, 13 injured in Wednesday's explosions in Liuzhou, Guangxi pic.twitter.com/1MTVjwUKcI
The explosives were reportedly concealed inside express delivery packages, and Chinese authorities warned the public against opening any parcels, according to local newspaper Nanguo Zaobao.
Authorities dispatched emergency rescue personnel to the affected areas. The Nanguo Zaobao reported blasts occurred at a total of 15 locations, including a shopping mall, a dormitory of animal husbandry and a vegetable market.
The Washington Post reported Chinese officials have identified a suspect, but the motive for the blasts is not yet known. | Armed Conflict | September 2015 | ['(South China Morning Post)', '(UPI)'] |
The Progressive Conservative Party of Doug Ford wins a sweeping victory, ending 15 years of Liberal Party rule in the province. The Liberal Party becomes a minority party for the first time since its foundation and later first provincial election, has losing official party status. | TORONTO (Reuters) - The Progressive Conservative Party, led by populist Doug Ford, is on track for a sweeping victory in Canada’s most populous province, Canadian networks projected on Thursday, as Ford declared the province is “open for business.”
Ford’s party will win the majority of seats in the province of Ontario’s legislature, ending 15 years of Liberal rule and giving him broad powers to pass legislation, the networks forecast.
“We have taken back Ontario. We have delivered a government that is for the people,” said Ford, promising economic growth and prosperity in a speech to supporters in Toronto.
“The party with the taxpayers’ money is over - it’s done.”
Ford, 53, is the brother of the late mayor of Toronto Rob Ford, who made international news in 2013 when he admitted to smoking crack cocaine.
Ford’s stronger than expected showing and the Liberals’ significant losses to the New Democrats may worry supporters of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s federal Liberal party, up for re-election in 2019.
CBC News projected the Progressive Conservative Party to win 76 out of the 124 seats in the province’s legislature, with the New Democrats in second place with 39 seats.
With about a third of Canada’s population of 36 million, Ontario is the country’s economic engine and home to its biggest city, Toronto. It has one of the largest sub-sovereign debts in the world, at nearly C$350 billion ($272 billion) in March.
“This election outcome addresses a number of key concerns in the business sector - a pause in minimum wage increases; a number of measures to address energy costs, most significantly scrapping the cap-and-trade program; and tax rate reductions,” said Robert Kavcic, senior economist at BMO Capital Markets.
Related Coverage
Blunt and combative with the media, Ford has drawn comparisons with U.S. President Donald Trump, although he has tried to appeal to voters in the immigrant communities that sway elections in many Toronto suburbs.
“I do think there’s a bit of spillover from populism in the United States that could have washed over the Ontario election,” said Jonathan Rose, a professor at Queen’s University.
“It’s hard to believe that someone who has never held office other than as a municipal councillor ... is elected to lead the largest economy in a G7 country,” he added.
The contest in Canada’s industrial and manufacturing heartland became a fight between Ford and the left-leaning New Democratic Party (NDP) after Liberal leader Kathleen Wynne, premier since 2013, dropped to a distant third in opinion polls.
Wynne, the first female premier and first openly gay premier the province has had, said she would resign as leader of the Liberal party.
While seen as generally business friendly, the PC party never released a fully costed platform, and promised to cut taxes and find some C$6 billion in efficiencies without eliminating jobs, leaving some bond investors uncertain that they will improve the province’s fiscal health. [L1N1SH1OE]
As Canadian media projected a Ford victory, investors were seeking details of his economic policies.
Both the centrist Liberal party and the left-leaning NDP campaigned on expanding social services, especially childcare and health coverage.
Ford, who served on Toronto’s city council when his brother was mayor, has spent much of his life running the family’s label business.
His campaign was hit with a series of controversies, including allegations from his brother’s widow that he mismanaged the family business and separate accusations that he interfered with a party nomination fight. Ford denied both allegations. | Government Job change - Election | June 2018 | ['(or third party)', '(Reuters)', '(CBC.ca)'] |
Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick agrees to a plea deal to charges of conspiracy to travel in interstate commerce in aid of unlawful activities and conspiracy to sponsor a dog in an animal fighting venture in Richmond, Virginia, United States. | However, a source close to the situation told ESPN's Kelly Naqi that prosecutors will recommend a sentence of 12 to 18 months.
The official said such a sentence would be more than what is
usually recommended for first-time offenders, reflecting the
government's attempt to show that animal abusers will receive more
than a slap on the wrist. U.S. District Judge Henry Hudson is not
bound by prosecutors' recommendations or the sentencing guidelines
and will have the final say.
Twenty-five days after he declared that he looked forward to
clearing his name, Vick said through defense lawyer Billy Martin
that he will plead guilty. A hearing is scheduled for Aug. 27.
"Mr. Vick has agreed to enter a plea of guilty to those charges
and to accept full responsibility for his actions and the mistakes
he has made," Martin said in a statement. "Michael wishes to
apologize again to everyone who has been hurt by this matter."
The NFL noted in a statement that the Atlanta Falcons
quarterback's admission wasn't in line with what he told
commissioner Roger Goodell shortly after being charged. League sources told ESPN's Chris Mortensen that Goodell likely will suspend Vick indefinitely and that a final decision on Vick's suspension will be made after his legal case is resolved.
"We totally condemn the conduct outlined in the charges, which
is inconsistent with what Michael Vick previously told both our
office and the Falcons," the NFL said.
The league, which barred Vick from training camp, said it has
asked the Falcons to withhold further action while the NFL's own
investigation wraps up.
"The commissioner has not decided on a specific timetable on Michael Vick's status," league spokesman Greg Aiello told The Associated Press on Tuesday.
The Falcons said they were "certainly troubled" by news of the
plea, but would withhold further comment in compliance with
Goodell's request. If the league suspends Vick, the Falcons could then seek to recoup part of his signing bonus of approximately $22 million, because if suspended, then Vick would be in default of his contract, team officials told ESPN's Sal Paolantonio.
The team already was prepared to eat Vick's $8.5 million salary
cap hit this season, though the NFL is expected to grant a roster
exemption.
Additionally, the Falcons would be liable for about $15 million on
next year's cap.
Gene Upshaw, executive director of the NFL Players Association,
said in a statement:
"We believe the criminal conduct to which Mr. Vick has pled
guilty today cannot be condoned under any circumstances. Speaking
personally, as I have previously stated, the practice of dogfighting is offensive and completely unacceptable. I can only hope | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | August 2007 | ['(ESPN.com)'] |
A third explosion within a week occurs at the Pike River Mine on the South Island of New Zealand, where 29 men are presumed dead. | There has been a third explosion at the Pike River coal mine in New Zealand, where 29 men are presumed dead underground.
The blast, which reportedly lasted for around 23 seconds, is said to have happened shortly after 3:30pm (local time) yesterday.
It comes just two days after a second violent explosion at the mine left no hope of survival for the men who had been trapped underground since last Friday.
A spokesman for the mine has been quoted as saying the blast was smaller than the previous two.
No-one was injured in the latest explosion, which was felt less than an hour after a minute's silence was held at the site to remember those killed.
Pike River Coal chairman John Dow says it will have no effect on the plans in place to recover the bodies.
"I've consistently said that this has been a potentially explosive environment from the beginning," he said.
"The fact that we've had two more explosions since the first one confirms the environment continues to remain unstable, but we've known that all along, so it won't make any difference.
"Obviously, the sooner we can get on and do this the better, but there are some processes that [we] have to go through - the evaluation of which technique we would use still has to be done.
"We have all of the equipment required for either of those choices on site.
"That won't be a decision made by Pike River staff. It will be made by other people, by the authorities, and that decision I imagine would be made shortly."
The rescue and recovery effort has been repeatedly hampered by poisonous gases and the threat of underground explosions.
Among those killed were two Australian men from Queensland - William Joynson, 49, and Joshua Ufer, 25.
The miners were declared dead on Wednesday afternoon after a second massive explosion tore through the underground tunnels.
Footage of the second mine explosion, which Mr Dow describes as "devastating", was shown during a Pike River Coal board meeting today.
Overnight a robot went 1.5 kilometres into the mine and observed the damage from the second blast.
Pike River chief executive Peter Whittall says the robot was blocked from going further into the mine by debris from the blast.
He says footage from the robot, in combination with accounts from the survivors of the original blast, indicate the second explosion was much more powerful.
"Given my humble opinion that it subjectively looked [like a] lot more violence, and the evidence around the portal and the shaft was such that it was and the video footage we've got would indicate that it was a much more violent blast," he said.
Mr Whittall has again said the levels of gas in the mine remain dangerous and it could take one to two weeks for the bodies of the miners to be recovered.
But he says a machine to help neutralise the poisonous gases in the mine has arrived from Australia and is on its way to the site.
Greymouth mayor Tony Kokshoorn says a national memorial service will be held in the town on Thursday.
He says it will be held at the race course which has a view of the Paparoa Range, where the Pike River mine is located, just outside the town.
More than 400 families and friends visited the site today to put up photos and grieve for their loved ones.
Pike River Coal says it will fully cooperate with all inquiries into the three explosions.
The company will also conduct its own internal investigation into what happened to cause the explosions. | Gas explosion | November 2010 | ['(ABC Australia)'] |
China pledges an investigation into the death of British businessman Neil Haywood, and the alleged role of former politician Bo Xilai and his wife. | China has promised a thorough investigation into a top politician linked to the death of a UK man.
In an editorial, state-run agency Xinhua said the probe into Bo Xilai and his wife over the death of Neil Heywood showed the Communist Party's commitment to the rule of law. The editorial came a day after Britain's prime minister raised the case with a visiting Chinese official.
It is one of several such pieces in state media in recent days.
Mr Heywood died on 15 November 2011 in the city of Chongqing, where Bo Xilai used to be the party chief. Mr Bo, now sacked from the post, is now being investigated for "serious discipline violations" and his wife Gu Kailai for "suspicion of homicide".
The Xinhua editorial said the party had made "a resolute decision to thoroughly investigate related events and release information in a timely manner". The move showed its "determination to safeguard the socialist rule of law, to investigate and handle every discipline violation and never tolerate corruption". "The investigation into Bo... serves as a declaration to all party members that no matter what position one holds, party members shall never place themselves over party discipline and the law," it concluded. In recent days, a series of articles casting the downfall of Bo Xilai as a simple case of legal wrong doing have appeared in state media, reports the BBC's Martin Patience. But the scandal - China's biggest in years - comes ahead of a leadership change in Beijing due to get under way in October. Some suspect that the party are using legal procedures as a pretext for a purge, our correspondent says. In political cases - such as this one - it is the Communist Party and not the courts that makes the decisions, our correspondent adds. Britain, meanwhile, has called on China to carry out a full investigation free of interference. Prime Minister David Cameron raised the case with Chinese politburo member Li Changchun on Tuesday when they met at Downing Street, offering "any necessary assistance" to help China investigate the death.
Chinese officials initially told British consular officials that Mr Heywood died of "excessive alcohol consumption". The UK government subsequently asked the Chinese authorities to reopen the investigation. Unconfirmed reports in China suggest the 41-year-old may have died from cyanide poisoning.
State media have reported that Bo Xilai's wife Gu Kailai and Zhang Xiaojun, an orderly at Mr Bo's home, have been arrested. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Investigate | April 2012 | ['(BBC)'] |
The Arab League summit is postponed. The meeting was put off indefinitely because of differences of opinion regarding ways to encourage reform in the region, including democratization. | A Tunisian foreign ministry spokesman said there had been "disagreements" at a preliminary meeting of Arab foreign ministers over issues to be discussed.
They included plans to relaunch a peace initiative to Israel, and proposals for reforms in the region.
Tunisia said it regretted postponing a summit "on which Arab and international opinion has pinned great hopes".
The BBC's Paul Wood in Tunis said Arab leaders had hoped to use the conference to relaunch a peace initiative with Israel, proposed two years ago.
But after the assassination of Hamas founder Sheikh Yassin by Israel last Monday, few wanted to talk peace with the Jewish state.
US pressure
Our correspondent says there is also a great deal of friction over plans for political reform in many Arab countries, which are coming under intense pressure from the United States to democratise.
Problems in reaching agreement on the summit agenda prompted some countries, such as Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, to send only low-level delegations, added our correspondent.
The killing of Sheikh Yassin put Arab League peace plans on hold
The Associated Press quoted diplomats as saying the summit was called off by Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
In a statement, the Tunisian foreign ministry acknowledged "the existence of difference of views" over issues "of great importance to the process of development, modernisation and reform in our Arab countries".
"Tunisia strongly regrets the postponement of this summit on which Arab and international opinion has pinned great hopes considering the delicate situation through which the Arab nation is going and the deadlock of the Palestinian issue after the recent tragic events".
Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa told reporters "no comment, no comment, no comment" as he left the meeting.
Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk al-Sharaa said: "We hope that the summit should have been convened. We regret it (the postponement). President Bashar Assad was on his
way."
Jordanian Foreign Minister Marwan Moasher called on Arab governments to decide quickly on a new date and place for the summit. | Diplomatic Talks _ Diplomatic_Negotiation_ Summit Meeting | March 2004 | ['(VOA)', '(BBC)'] |
Nine International Security Assistance Force soldiers are killed in a NATO helicopter crash in southern Afghanistan. | Editor's Note: If you know someone who has died while serving in Afghanistan or Iraq, you can share your tributes to the fallen through CNN's Home and Away project. Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) -- Nine U.S. service members in southern Afghanistan died in a helicopter crash in what is now the deadliest year for coalition and U.S. forces since the battle against the Taliban started nearly nine years ago.
The crash occurred in the Daychopan district of Zabul province, one of the several turbulent southern regions where coalition and Afghan troops have been battling the tenacious militant group for years.
"There are no reports of enemy fire at the time the air craft went down," NATO's International Security Assistance Force told CNN. ISAF is investigating the incident.
Two other service members, along with an Afghan National Army soldier and an American civilian, sustained injuries in the crash. They were taken to a NATO medical facility. ISAF did not release the nationalities of Tuesday's crash victims, but a Western defense source, speaking on the condition of anonymity, revealed the nationalities of the nine.
A CNN tally brings the number of coalition troop fatalities this year to 526, a number that includes 350 Americans. These numbers surpass the previous highs -- 516 coalition troop deaths, including 313 Americans in 2009, and there are more than three months left in the year.
The ISAF force includes troops from more than 40 countries and its largest contingent is American. Unpopularity with the long war in Afghanistan among Americans reached an all-time high in CNN polling in August, with 62 percent saying they oppose it. Moreover, confidence in the Afghan government is low. Seven in 10 Americans are not confident that Hamid Karzai's government can handle the situation there.
However, the United States is making a strong effort this year to fight the Taliban. U.S. President Barack Obama ordered the deployment of 30,000 extra U.S. forces to Afghanistan this year, increasing the total American troop commitment to almost 100,000, while at least 25 other countries pledged an additional 7,000 troops.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates recently said that now that the Iraq conflict is winding down, resources that were diverted to Iraq can be used in Afghanistan.
"Afghanistan became a second-tier priority for troops, equipment, and security and development assistance. Starting in 2003, the Taliban regrouped, refilled their ranks, re-constituted themselves in safe havens and re-entered Afghanistan. Violence began to increase significantly in 2005 and has grown worse ever since," he said.
"Today, for the first time in nine years, we now have the resources -- the troops and equipment, military and civilian -- needed for this fight," Gates said and the "full complement of surge forces" is only now being reached.
"The total international military commitment, when fully deployed, will reach approximately 150,000 -- more than three times the number when I became defense secretary going on four years ago -- including some 45,000 troops from our NATO allies and other partners. This dramatic increase in military capability is amplified by a tripling of deployed civilians and a substantial influx of trainers."
The Obama administration says it will begin withdrawing troops from Afghanistan in August 2011, depending on conditions on the ground. | Air crash | September 2010 | ['(AFP via National Post)', '(China Daily)', '(CNN)'] |
South Korea's defence minister–designate Kim Kwan–jin threatens North Korea with air strikes if the shelling of Yeonpyeong is repeated. The shelling was in response to South Korean naval exercises. | South Korea's defence minister-designate has promised a tougher response, including air strikes, if North Korea attacks again.
Kim Kwan-jin was responding to questions in parliament during his confirmation hearing.
North Korea shelled a Southern island near the two countries' disputed maritime border last week, killing four people and destroying many homes.
South Korea's spy chief has said another Northern attack was likely.
Tensions have soared in the region since the North Korean bombardment of Yeonpyeong island on 23 November. Two civilians and two South Korean marines were killed.
The shelling came after South Korean forces conducted exercises in the area.
"If North Korea provokes again, we will definitely use aircraft to attack North Korea," Mr Kim said when asked how he would respond to another attack.
He also criticised his predecessor, saying the military should not have ignored intelligence reports suggesting an attack from the North was likely.
Kim Tae-young was forced to resign just days after the bombardment of Yeonpyeong island, amid criticism that the military's response was too slow and too weak.
Kim Kwan-jin, a retired general and former head of South Korea's joint chiefs of staff, told his confirmation hearing that he would strengthen the military's rules of engagement, to give more power to the head of the military.
He said he would also give more leeway to commanders in the field to determine the level of response to attacks.
Korean broadcaster KBS said last week that more rigorous rules of engagement being proposed included return fire that was two to three times more powerful than any initial Northern fire.
The current rules call for a proportionate response with similar weapons and on a similar scale, to avoid escalation.
The North Korean bombardment produced images not seen since the Korean War 60 years ago, says the BBC's Lucy Williamson in Seoul.
The civilian casualties, bombed out buildings and a mass evacuation were all captured on the nightly news, she says, and the public pressure on the government to make changes is high.
Mr Kim said he did not think that North Korea was ready to launch a full-scale war because of the country's impoverished economy and the apparent transfer of power from leader Kim Jong-il to his third son, Kim Jong-un.
Many analysts have viewed the bombardment and other recent North Korean actions as an attempt to bolster the standing of Kim Jong-un in the eyes of the North's military.
In a sign that tensions on the divided peninsula may escalate further, South Korean military officials said live-ammunition artillery exercises would be held soon near the disputed western maritime border.
Joint South Korean-US military exercises that ended a few days ago provoked an angry response the North, with Pyongyang saying before they began that they would push the region to "the brink of war".
Once they began, Pyongyang warned: "We will deliver a brutal military blow on any provocation which violates our territorial waters," the North's state-controlled KCNA news agency said. The exercises were planned long before the shelling of Yeonpyeong, but South Korea and the US are planning more naval drills.
Meanwhile, South Korean officers are observing for the first time joint Japan-US military exercises.
The US has put pressure on China, North Korea's biggest ally, to moderate North Korea's behaviour.
China has refused to place blame for the crisis on either side, instead calling for a resumption of six-party talks aimed at ending North Korea's nuclear programme.
"Those who brandish weapons are seen to be justified," said Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu. | Diplomatic Talks _ Diplomatic_Negotiation_ Summit Meeting | December 2010 | ['(BBC)'] |
Six members of President Trump's Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS resign stating the administration doesn't have a strategy to address the epidemic, doesn't seek input from experts on HIV policy, supports legislation that would halt or reverse important gains made in the fight against this disease and would harm people living with HIV. | Follow NBC News Six members of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (PACHA) resigned in protest of the Trump administration, which they allege "has no strategy to address the on-going HIV/AIDS epidemic."
Scott Schoettes, Counsel and HIV Project Director at Lambda Legal, explained in a Newsweek op-ed Friday that he and five colleagues decided to leave their posts on the council for a number of reasons.
But their largest expressed gripe was that the Trump administration has not sought input from the council when formulating HIV policy.
Schoettes, who is HIV positive, added that the White House is also pushing legislation that would harm people with HIV and “reverse gains made in the fight against the disease.”
"The decision to resign from government service is not one that any of us take lightly," Schoettes wrote on behalf of his colleagues. "However, we cannot ignore the many signs that the Trump administration does not take the on-going epidemic or the needs of people living with HIV seriously."
Lucy Bradley-Springer, Gina Brown, Ulysses W. Burley III, Michelle Ogle and Grissel Granados are the five other members who resigned.
The White House and the Department of Health and Human Services did not immediately respond to multiple requests for comment.
Formed in 1995 by President Bill Clinton, PACHA was created to counsel the White House about the AIDS epidemic. President George W. Bush renewed its charter in 2001.
The board can carry as many as 25 members, but it sat at 18 before the six members resigned. Members include doctors, scientists, HIV advocates, faith leaders, academics, legal experts, health care providers and public health officials.
Members typically serve four-year terms.
Schoettes and his colleagues often contrasted President Donald Trump with Barack Obama, whom they called a much more attentive steward of the council and whose Affordable Care Act “benefited people living with HIV and supported efforts to combat the HIV/AIDS epidemic."
In the op-ed, they note that Trump removed the Office of National AIDS Policy website and has not appointed someone to lead the White House Office of National AIDS Policy, who held a seat on the Domestic Policy Council under Obama.
"Because we do not believe the Trump Administration is listening to — or cares — about the communities we serve as members of PACHA, we have decided it is time to step down," Schoettes wrote.
"We will be more effective from the outside," he added, "advocating for change and protesting policies that will hurt the health of the communities we serve and the country as a whole if this administration continues down the current path."
Phil McCausland is an NBC News reporter focused on health care and the social safety net. | Government Job change - Resignation_Dismissal | June 2017 | ['(NBC News)', '(The Independent)', '(Newsweek)'] |
U.S. Representative Matt Gaetz proposes a bill to eliminate the United States Environmental Protection Agency. | A House Republican is working on legislation that if passed would completely abolish the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Freshman Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) outlined his plan in a letter to colleagues obtain by The Hill and first reported by The Huffington Post.
“Today, the American people are drowning in rules and regulations promulgated by unelected bureaucrats; and the Environmental Protection Agency has become an extraordinary offender,” Gaetz wrote in the letter soliciting support from lawmakers.
“Our small businesses cannot afford to cover the costs associated with compliance, too often leading to closed doors and unemployed Americans,” he continued. “It is time to take back our legislative power from the EPA and abolish it permanently.”
It would be the first piece of legislation sponsored by Gaetz, who represents the tip of Florida’s panhandle and was previously a state lawmaker.
The EPA was created 46 years ago and has a budget of more than $8 billion. It is responsible for enforcing numerous landmark laws like the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act and the Superfund Act.
President Trump once said on the campaign trail that he wanted to abolish the EPA, but later expressed support for at least some of its functions.
His nominee to lead the EPA, Scott Pruitt, has said that he supports the agency’s existence, but it has gone too far under former President Barack ObamaBarack Hussein ObamaObama on Supreme Court ruling: 'The Affordable Care Act is here to stay' Appeals court affirms North Carolina's 20-week abortion ban is unconstitutional GOP senator: I want to make Biden a 'one-half-term president' MORE.
Gaetz did not specify which federal authority would be responsible for enforcing the laws that currently fall within the EPA’s jurisdiction, or if the laws would also be repealed. | Government Policy Changes | February 2017 | ['(The Hill)'] |
General Motors confirms it will close an Opel factory in Antwerp, Belgium, cutting 2,300 jobs. | General Motors (GM) has confirmed it will close a Belgian plant at its European arm Opel, cutting 2,300 jobs.
The CSC metalworkers' union said the carmaker had told staff it would shut down its factory in Antwerp. "It is the tough reality of the current business environment," Opel president Nick Reilly said. GM also said 8,300 jobs would be cut across Europe - less than it had previously estimated - with 4,000 to be lost in Germany alone. In November, GM had said that it would cut about 9,000 jobs in Europe, after cancelling its planned sale of Opel to Canadian car parts maker Magna. Reduce capacity
The company said it needs to cut Opel's capacity by 20%. "We have to take a plant out and unfortunately it is Antwerp," Mr Reilly said. In its November announcement, GM had said that as well as the Belgian job cuts, some 5,425 jobs in Germany and 900 from its Zaragoza plant in Spain would also go. In the UK, GM has cut 354 jobs at its Vauxhall plant in Luton, but has stated that there would be no cuts at its Ellesmere Port plant, which makes the Vauxhall Astra. GM has also failed to sell its Swedish car brand Saab and is starting to wind down the operation, though some buyers have still expressed interest in it. | Organization Closed | January 2010 | ['(BBC)'] |
A launch of the communication satellite GSAT–14 aboard the GSLV MK.II D5 marks the first successful flight of an Indian cryogenic engine. | GSLV D-5 takes off from Satish Dawan Space centre at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh on Sunday. Photo: S.R. Raghunathan
One of India’s most ambitious dreams became a reality on Sunday when its Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV-D5), powered by an indigenous cryogenic engine, effortlessly put the 1,982-kg GSAT-14 communication satellite into a perfect orbit after 17 minutes of flight.
The cryogenic engine built by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) fired for 12 of those 17 minutes.
The precision of the cryogenic upper stage was such that it put the GSAT-14 into an orbit with a perigee of 179 km, against the target of 180 km, and the apogee achieved was off by a mere 50 km for a target of 36,000 km.
The grand success caps 20 years of hard work by ISRO’s engineers, after being denied cryogenic technology under pressure from the U.S., suffering a heartbreaking failure with an indigenous cryogenic engine flight in April 2010 and having had to scrub its second attempt with an indigenous cryogenic engine in August 2013. “I am proud to say that ISRO has done it…,” ISRO Chairman K. Radhakrishnan announced.
The mission’s success means India now has the ability to put satellites weighing more than two tonnes in orbit, joining the elite club of the U.S., Russia, France, Japan and China who have mastered this perilous technology of using cryogenic propellants -- liquid oxygen at minus 183 degrees Celsius and liquid hydrogen at minus 253 degrees’ Celsius. | New achievements in aerospace | January 2014 | ['(The Hindu)'] |
500 homes near the airport in Mogadishu are demolished by Somali troops. | Somali security agents have demolished some 500 houses near the airport in the capital, Mogadishu, amid concerns they could be used as cover for an attack.
A BBC reporter says hundreds of people were sitting in the open in the Afisoyoni suburb, saying they had nowhere else to go. Mogadishu's mayor has said the makeshift homes could be used by militants from the al-Shabab group. The airport is one of the few areas run by the UN-backed government. Al-Shabab controls much of southern Somalia. The BBC's Mohammed Olad Hassan in Mogadishu says most Afisoyoni residents have already fled fighting in other parts of the city. The government says it will provide land for those whose homes have been destroyed. But our reporter says there is no evidence of this. He says the airport has come under attack several times in the past - but never from this suburb. Mayor Abdurisaq Mohamed Nor ordered the homes to be demolished earlier this week. About half of Mogadishu's residents have fled their homes after two decades of conflict. | Armed Conflict | March 2010 | ['(BBC)'] |
Thousands of people attend demonstrations in Mauritania calling for the resignation of President Mohamed Ould Abdelaziz. | Thousands of people in Mauritania have attended demonstrations in the capital calling for President Mohamed Ould Abdelaziz to resign.
The opposition groups held peaceful "decentralised" rallies in the nine districts of Nouakchott.
Organisers said they opposed "anti-democratic" policies of the government.
Mr Abdelaziz took power in the North African country in a coup in August 2008, after forcing out a democratically elected government.
An umbrella group representing nine different protest groups issued a joint call for the president to resign. "We demand that he leaves Mauritanians free to choose their own leaders at this difficult moment and reject all other alternatives," they said, in a statement quoted by AFP news agency.
The statement also accused the president of rigging elections held in 2009 which confirmed him in power and refusing to hold a serious national dialogue with opposition groups. AFP said the protesters had dispersed by nightfall.
There were occasional protests in Mauritania last year inspired by the Arab Spring uprisings across the region.
In April, demonstrators were tear-gassed by police during a "day of rage" against the government.
| Protest_Online Condemnation | April 2012 | ['(BBC)'] |
New Zealand police confirm that a bus carrying 27 Chinese tourists crashed in bad weather near Rotorua and left at least five dead and six injured. | Police said the bus rolled over on a road near Rotorua, a popular tourist destination on New Zealand's North Island.
Wednesday 4 September 2019 15:54, UK
Five Chinese tourists have died and six others have been injured in a bus crash near a popular tourist resort on New Zealand's North Island.
Police said 27 people were on board the vehicle when it rolled over on State Highway 5, about 20 minutes north of Rotorua, at around 11am local time on Wednesday.
Inspector Brent Crowe told a news conference the bus was travelling south towards the town, which is known for its geothermal activity including geysers and mud pools, as well as its Maori culture, when it lost control at a bend.
As a result it went on to the wrong side of the road, corrected and subsequently flipped on to its side.
No other vehicles were involved and the driver was not seriously injured.
Mr Crowe said the cause of the "tragic incident" was being investigated, with police looking into whether the bus was fitted with seat belts and if those on board were wearing them.
He said the road was reasonably hilly, had several bends and the weather was "unfavourable", with high winds, rain and fog.
"The serious crash team and also the commercial vehicle safety team are still at the scene and they'll be there for a period of time, seeking clues as to why this tragic event has occurred," he said.
"This is an absolute tragedy on Bay of Plenty roads, even more so by the fact that we have Chinese nationals, visitors to our country, who have been impacted in this way.
"This is a very traumatic event for all concerned."
Liang Zhi, a diplomat from the Chinese Embassy in Wellington, situated in the South Island, said the bus was carrying a driver, a tour guide and tourists from China.
He said Wu Xi, the Chinese ambassador in New Zealand, was on her way to Rotorua.
"Our embassy will make every effort to help the Chinese citizens who have died and been injured in the accident," he said.
Rescuers helped to free passengers who were said to have been trapped in the wreckage. Police said many were able to walk away from the scene.
Most of those on board are understood to have been from China's Sichuan province.
St John ambulance service said three passengers were airlifted to hospitals - one in a serious condition. Another three were taken by ambulance for treatment. | Road Crash | September 2019 | ['(Sky News)'] |
The National Assembly of Hungary passes a bill that undermines the functioning of the Central European University . Academics and academic institutions worldwide have expressed support for CEU. | Supporters have gathered at a Budapest university after MPs passed a bill which could force it out of Hungary.
The 199-seat parliament head earlier voted 123 to 38 in favour of the legislation, which places tough restrictions on foreign universities.
The main target is believed to be the Central European University (CEU) and its founder, George Soros.
It is the latest battle declared by the right-wing Prime Minister of Hungary, Viktor Orban, against liberalism.
But within hours of the legislation being passed, staff, students and supporters had surrounded CEU waving blue signs saying "veto" to show their support for the university.
CEU, meanwhile, has vowed to fight the bill.
The English-speaking university, which is still partly-funded by Hungarian-born Mr Soros, is ranked among the top 200 universities in the world in eight disciplines.
But Zoltan Balog, a government minister, told MPs on Tuesday it went "against Hungary's interests to host experiments, financially supported and evading democratic 'rules of the game' in the background, which aim at undermining the lawfully elected government or leadership".
Hungary's governing Fidesz party - officials from which have repeatedly referred to CEU as "the Soros university" - see it as a bastion of liberalism. The prime minister is a known critic of liberal NGOs which are partially funded by Mr Soros, 86, with whom he has a strained relationship.
This bill will effectively force CEU from Hungary - where it occupies prime real estate in the centre - as it requires foreign universities to have a campus both in the capital and their home countries.
CEU only has a campus in Budapest.
It also bans universities outside the EU from awarding Hungarian diplomas without an agreement between national governments - in this case, the US.
Despite this, a CEU spokesman has vowed to "maintain the integrity and continuity of its academic programmes... whatever the circumstances", adding : "This fight is not over. We will contest the constitutionality of this legislation and seek all available legal remedies." CEU Rector Michael Ignatieff has previously said the bill marks "the first time that a member of the European Union dared to legislate an attack on the academic freedom of a university".
Founded to "resuscitate and revive intellectual freedom" in parts of Europe that had endured the "horrific ideologies" of communism and fascism
Occupies a building that began as an aristocrat's palace before becoming state-owned offices for a planned socialist economy
Has 1,440 students - 335 from Hungary and the rest from 107 other countries
Presents itself as a champion of free speech, with links to universities in Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Georgia and Kazakhstan | Government Policy Changes | April 2017 | ['(CEU)', '(BBC)'] |
The Special Court for Sierra Leone issues the first–ever guilty verdicts by an international court related to the military use of children. | These were the first verdicts of Sierra Leone's UN-backed war crimes tribunal. Alex Tamba Brima, Brima Kamara and Santigie Borbor Kanu were senior members of an armed faction that toppled the government in 1997.
They were found guilty of 11 of the 14 charges, but acquitted of alleged sexual slavery and other inhuman acts. The men will be sentenced on 16 July.
The judges read out their verdicts before a packed courtroom in Sierra Leone's capital, Freetown. The three men face lengthy prison terms.
During the conflict tens of thousands were killed as the rebel forces raped and mutilated defenceless innocent civilians.
The US-based Human Rights Watch hailed the verdict as "the first time that an international court has issued a verdict on child recruitment". Important step
The three had pleaded not guilty to the 14 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity including murder, rape and the use of child soldiers.
The AFRC teamed up with the other rebels after 1997
They belonged to the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC), which formed an alliance with the notorious Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels.
As the rebel groups attempted to hold power they were allegedly backed by the former president of Liberia, Charles Taylor, in return for Sierra Leone's diamonds.
Following the end of the conflict five years ago, a UN-backed court was set up to try those people who bore the greatest responsibility for the atrocities committed.
Trying all those who committed crimes would have been an impossible task says the BBC's West Africa correspondent, Will Ross.
So many in Sierra Leone now live side-by-side with the very people they saw committing atrocities, he says.
The court has indicted 12 people, including Charles Taylor, although three of them have since died or are presumed to have died.
Mr Taylor is currently in The Hague, where his war crimes trial is due to resume next week. His case was moved there to avoid unrest in Sierra Leone and Liberia.
The head of the AFRC rebels was never apprehended but is presumed dead.
The most notorious rebel leader, the RUF's Foday Sankoh, died in custody while awaiting trial.
Another high profile figure, former Interior Minister Sam Hinga Norman, died after surgery with his verdict pending.
It may be slow and expensive but many view the court's work as an important step to help end impunity, our correspondent says. | Government Policy Changes | June 2007 | ['(BBC)'] |
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 becomes the fastest selling entertainment product of all time passing $1bn in sales in 16 days. | It took James Cameron just 17 days to take $1bn (£640m) at the box office with his 3D blue-skinned aliens in the film Avatar – but now he has been trumped by a very different set of virtual fighters.
The latest instalment of the video game series Call of Duty has become the fastest-selling entertainment product of all time, hitting $1bn in sales through retailers in just 16 days, seeing off the latest Harry Potter film – which took 17 days to hit the billion dollar mark in August – and leaving Cameron's other commercial triumph Titanic, which took three months to pass the billion-dollar mark, in the dust.
Activision Blizzard, based in California, said yesterday that the latest in its mega-selling franchise, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 had notched up $400m in sales within 24 hours of launching on 8 November.
"Call of Duty as an entertainment franchise has made an indelible mark on popular culture," said Bobby Kotick, the company's CEO. "Call of Duty is now amongst that rarified group of sustained franchises like Star Wars, Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings and the National Football League that attract or engage tens of millions of people every year or every new release."
Modern Warfare 3's 2010 predecessor, Call of Duty: Black Ops, did not reach the $1bn sales mark until almost two months after its launch.
Modern Warfare 3 depicts a war declared on the US and western Europe by Russian ultranationalists. The games – in which a player takes the part of a combatant in the conflict – received critical acclaim and made $775m in its first five days.
In its review, the Guardian said: "Even Hollywood couldn't afford this. Players pitch up to one bombed-out landmark after another, blowing up what isn't already destroyed before moving on in search of the villainous Vladimir Makarov. It's as ridiculous and exhilarating as ever … Essentially more of the same, then, but that's precisely what the developer set out to do – and what all those fans wanted."
But there were complaints from some gamers that the title did not innovate on previous instalments.
The sales figures of Modern Warfare 3 are not the only success story for this franchise. The game was released alongside a dedicated social gaming network entitled Call of Duty: Elite, which already boasts six million subscribers.
Activision reported last month that profits tripled year-on-year in the three months to the end of September – figures which exclude the Modern Warfare 3 sales figures. | Break historical records | December 2011 | ['(The Guardian)'] |
Taliban insurgents seize control of the strategic town of Sangin in the southern Helmand Province after a year-long battle with Afghan security forces. | The Taliban have captured the crucial south Afghan district of Sangin after a year-long battle, officials say.
Government forces say they have made a tactical retreat from the centre of Sangin.
A spokesman for Helmand's governor confirmed the district police and governor's headquarters were now in militant hands.
Almost a quarter of British troops killed during the UK's combat mission in Afghanistan died defending Sangin.
Hundreds of members of the Afghan security forces died there in recent fighting.
Separately, at least nine local policemen were killed in an "insider" attack in Kunduz in the north early on Thursday. A guard who officials say was linked to the Taliban reportedly gave access to insurgents at a security checkpoint located on the Kunduz-Kabul highway. The attackers took weapons and ammunition with them. The Taliban already control large chunks of Helmand but the fall of Sangin underlines the security challenge facing the Afghan government and its Western allies. Sangin's capture shows the Taliban's growing strength in the south and it has symbolic significance for the US and Nato, which lost more soldiers there than in any other district in Afghanistan.
Since security responsibility was handed from Nato-led troops to Afghan forces in 2013, hundreds of Afghan security forces have lost their lives defending the district. There are now two possibilities. Afghan troops, with the help of US special forces and aerial bombing, might try to recapture Sangin, following a pattern seen elsewhere.
Or the government will leave the city to the Taliban - as they have done with a few other districts in Helmand, a centre of the insurgency - and focus on defending the provincial capital, Lashkar Gah. Taliban spokesman Qari Yousuf Ahmadi said the insurgents had captured Sangin and "key outposts" overnight. Taliban forces had already surrounded the district headquarters.
A spokesman for the Afghan defence ministry said troops had been pulled back to their main garrison on the orders of the army chief of staff.
Reports say foreign forces have begun bombarding the area, which has been fiercely fought over for more than a decade. On the road to the crucial Kajaki dam, Sangin was the scene of heavy British and US military casualties before Nato combat forces left Afghanistan in 2014. Why is Sangin important? | Armed Conflict | March 2017 | ['(BBC)'] |
In road cycling, Ellen van Dijk won the women's time trial at the 2013 UCI Road World Championships. (Mail & Guardian) | Ellen van Dijk of the Netherlands dominated the women's time trial to win her second gold medal at this year's road cycling world championships on Tuesday in Florence, Italy.
The 26-year-old time trial specialist, who was the pre-race favorite, posted a time of 27 minutes, 48.18 seconds, beating Linda Villumsen of New Zealand by 24.10 seconds. Carmen Small of the United States was third, 28.74 seconds behind Van Dijk.
The powerful Van Dijk, who picked up gold in the team time trial on the opening day on Sunday, was one of the last to start. The 26-year-old led from start to finish along the 21.8km course.
Earlier, Igor Decraene of Belgium won the junior time trial, beating favorite Mathias Krigbaum of Denmark. | Sports Competition | September 2013 | [] |
Greek police shoot tear gas at protesters in Athens during an anti–government march. | Thousands of protesters take to the streets in Athens
Greek riot police have used tear gas to disperse angry protesters in Athens, during a march against government cuts to tackle the country's crippling debt.
Clashes erupted at the finance ministry and a state TV truck was petrol bombed. A tense stand-off continues, with protesters hurling bottles and rocks. Thousands of Greeks are taking part in May Day rallies called by trade unions and left-wing parties. The EU is demanding the austerity cuts in exchange for a huge bail-out deal. The rescue package is expected to amount to as much as 120bn euros (£100bn; $160bn) over three years. The full details of the bail-out are expected to be revealed on Sunday if the eurozone leaders finally sign off the deal, which is designed to prevent Greece from defaulting on its enormous debt obligations. 'Unpopular measures'
Angry protesters marched through Athens shouting: "Hands off our rights! IMF and EU Commission out!" Ericos Finalis, who was taking part in the march, described the planned government cutbacks as "the biggest attack on workers for centuries". Anarchists who were marching past saw that it was standing there and it is a symbol of the state and so they smashed the windows and somebody put a petrol bomb inside and set it on fire. The fire brigade is now here and has put out the flames, the riot police have chased off the anarchists and there is a terrible searing taste of tear gas in the air.
"They want to return us to the 19th Century - this is not going to be a battle but a war that will last for months or even years," he was quoted by AFP as saying. Another protester, Marina Yotis, told AFP: "Nobody knows what really is going to happen but people know that there is no other way than to come down into the streets and protest." During the protests, a prominent hotel was vandalised in the central Syntagma square. There were reports of similar scenes in the northern city of Thessaloniki as youths attacked banks and business premises with iron bars. There is huge public resistance to the wage cuts, tax rises and pension reductions that are expected to be implemented. Our correspondent says the unions hope that the rallies will demonstrate to the government, the eurozone, the IMF and the international markets, that they can mobilise enough "troops" to defeat the new austerity programme. Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou is expected to announce details of the cuts once the rescue package is approved. He says the loan is essential to save the country and protect its future, and has warned citizens to brace themselves for a period of hardship. He has said he will not weaken despite opposition and the political cost of the unpopular measures. | Protest_Online Condemnation | May 2010 | ['(BBC)', '(Sky News)', '(The Times)'] |
A nationwide strike takes place in India in protest at a recent rise in fuel prices. | (CNN) -- Strikes fueled by higher prices for gasoline, diesel and kerosene spread across sections of India on Monday, disrupting rail and port traffic in some areas.
Officials reported trains were largely empty in the Indian financial capital of Mumbai, where protests by Hindu nationalist opposition activists often bring the city to a halt.
Indian railway spokesman Anil Saxena said the eastern parts of the country were the hardest hit.
"Obstructions (by strikers) are more pronounced on the eastern side," Saxena said. He was referring to communist-ruled West Bengal state and neighboring Orissa and Bihar.
Truckers also joined the strike, parking their rigs and shutting down traffic that would normally carry goods in and out of the busy port.
Opposition parties called for the strikes after the government began implementing a roll back in fuel subsides by lifting state controls on gasoline and other fuels.
Demonstrations over fuel-price rises also took place in parts of New Delhi. Opposition protesters deflated tires of state-run buses in some neighborhoods. Private schools were closed Monday in the Indian capital.
Television footage showed police using bamboo canes to break up a violent protest in the northern Indian city of Lucknow.
Activists were also shown blocking a train in Patna in eastern India.
For the average Indian, the changes are having a real impact.
Usri Das Mahapatra's kitchen budget has soared the past year. Now, she fears the worst is yet to come.
The 46-year-old homemaker in Mumbai is bracing for a spike in her household expenses. An increase in fuel costs will create a ripple effect on the prices of food transported to her city from across India.
Her son, an undergraduate student, too is likely to be paying more for his commute. Traveling costs in the family car or spent eating out are already higher, she says.
Mahapatra, whose husband is an executive in a shipping company, is worried. "High inflation is hitting our savings. In a year, my kitchen expenses have almost doubled. This (fuel price) hike is unjustified," she said.
But planners say India's subsidies are too much for a nation that is facing a consolidated fiscal deficit of 8.4 percent.
As world leaders pledged fiscal tight-belting at the G-20 summit in Toronto, India said it has its plans in place to halve its deficit in three to four years. Ahead of the meeting, India removed subsidies that artificially kept cost of petrol lower than its market value -- as a result, the prices of gasoline and cooking fuel, like kerosene and kitchen gas, shot up.
"We have independently (prepared), even prior to the G-20 coming to this understanding (on consolidation), a roadmap which is designed to cut our fiscal deficit, Indian fiscal deficit, to half by 2013-14," said Ashok Chawla, the country's finance secretary.
On his way back from Canada, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh identified what he called "excessive populism" as a key area to deal with in India's financial management.
Broadly, the South Asian nation spends heavily on subsidizing fertilizers, food and fuel.
India has also launched a range of state-funded programs to help millions of its people still living in crippling poverty despite the country's rise as an economic powerhouse.
But officials are aware benefits reach target beneficiaries in a trickle because of rampant corruption and weak enforcement.
"A bottleneck and an impediment in bringing about the desired results, for which policies and schemes have been formulated and huge allocation of funds made, is weak implementation and corruption in the system," noted Indian President Pratibha Devisingh Patil in her national address on her country's 61st Republic Day this year.
India's subsidy bill is about 10 percent of its overall annual spending and about 1.72 percent of its GDP, said M. Govinda Rao, member of Singh's economic advisory council.
"When you can't expect revenues to rise very fast, it becomes important to reduce expenditure," said Rao, citing the country's targets for fiscal consolidation. "Our subsidy system is badly flawed."
Nonetheless, Singh's government, now in the second year of its second term in office, remains firm. "(O)ur people are wise enough to understand that excessive populism should not be allowed to derail the progress our country is making, and for which it is winning kudos internationally as well," the prime minister told reporters last week as criticism at home mounted over cutting fuel subsidies. | Strike | July 2010 | ['(Times of India)', '(CNN)', '(New York Times)'] |
The Indonesian Air Force will for the first time send 4 Sukhoi Su–27 jet fighters to participate in war games alongside Australian F/A–18 Hornets and U.S Fighter jets from the 27 July 2012 to 17 August 2012. | INDONESIA will send its front-line Sukhoi jet fighters to take part in Australia's largest air combat exercise this month, signalling a new era of enhanced defence co-operation between the two countries.
The Indonesian air force has not previously given the Australian Defence Force access to the Russian-made aircraft, which were built to compete with the fourth-generation jet fighters of the US.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard meets Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in Darwin earlier this month.Credit:Glenn Campbell
Four Sukhois will be in the Northern Territory for Exercise Pitch Black 2012, which will include mock combat with Australian F/A-18s in Australian and Indonesian airspace.
US jet fighters will participate in the exercise from July 27 to August 17, and will be commanded from Darwin and Tindal air bases.
Military analyst John Farrell said the decision to send the Sukhois to Australia would bring defence co-operation between the ADF and Indonesian military to a new level.
''Indonesia has never before been prepared to send its primary air defence asset to a foreign nation,'' said Mr Farrell, who publishes the Australian & NZ Defender Magazine.
''That fact they are sending them to Australia indicates that Canberra and Jakarta have looked up and seen much greater threats around them,'' he said, referring to China and India.
''The Sukhoi-27s are Indonesia's most secret air defence asset. This shows a lot of trust towards Australia, a decade after relations between the two defence forces were in deep freeze.''
It is also a vote of confidence in the defence relationship after Indonesia expressed concern over US marines operating from a joint facility in Darwin.
Indonesian air force spokesman Colonel Agung Sasongkojati confirmed to The Age the plan to send jets to Australia for Pitch Black.
Colonel Sasongkojati said the air force had needed to train its pilots on the aircraft before it could deploy them in the joint exercise.
Indonesia's air force has been on a buying spree recently. It already operates 10 Sukhoi-27s and four Sukhoi-30 MK2 jets, and recently announced a new order for six Sukhoi-30 MK2 fighters.
A joint communique issued after the July 3 meeting between Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Prime Minister Julia Gillard said that ''co-operation between Australian and Indonesian defence forces goes from strength to strength'' and encouraged senior defence officials in both countries to ''review existing security co-operation''.
Australia and Indonesia are negotiating to establish a defence co-operation arrangement.
Canberra's military ties with Jakarta have been strained over many years. Relations hit their lowest point in 1999, when Australian troops were sent to East Timor to quell violence by pro-Indonesian military militia groups.
But in recent years the military-to-military relationship warmed as Australia provided expertise to Indonesia's security forces to counter terrorist groups.
The decision to send the Sukhois to Australia is believed to have been approved by Dr Yudhoyono. | Military Exercise | July 2012 | ['(Sydney Morning Herald)'] |
A magnitude 7.0 earthquake hits Alaska, with the epicenter in Anchorage. Severe damage is reported. | Updated on: November 30, 2018 / 2:13 PM
/ CBS/AP
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Back-to-back earthquakes measuring 7.0 and 5.8 rocked buildings and buckled roads Friday morning in Anchorage, prompting people to run from their offices or take cover under desks and triggering a warning to residents in Kodiak to flee to higher ground for fear of a tsunami. The U.S. Geological Survey said the first and more powerful quake was centered about 7 miles north of Anchorage, Alaska's largest city.
Officials eventually canceled a tsunami warning for coastal areas of southern Alaska after the earthquake. Police in Alaska's Kodiak island community had told residents to head to higher ground after the tsunami alert was issued.
An Associated Press reporter saw cracks in a building. It was unclear whether there were injuries.
Photographs posted to social media sites showed damage that included collapsed ceiling tiles at an Anchorage high school and buckled roadway pavement in places.
Dramatic video and pictures of the quake's aftermath started to surface on social media.
Ceiling is falling down | Earthquakes | November 2018 | ['(USGS)', '(CBS News)'] |
Two roadside bombings in Iraq kill 11 people | Iraqi men carry the body of a victim of a suicide attack in the Dura area of south Baghdad on December 19, 2013. AFP PHOTO/RICK FINDLER
KIRKUK, Iraq: Bombings in Iraq, including two in a market and a third at a cemetery where victims of the earlier attack were to be buried, killed 14 people Friday, officials said.
In Tuz Khurmatu, 175 kilometers north of Baghdad, two bombs exploded in a livestock market, killing eight people and wounding 25.
As people gathered at a cemetery to bury the victims of the market blasts, another bomb went off, killing three people and wounding two.
Militants in Iraq often attack places where crowds of people gather, including markets, cafes and mosques, in an effort to cause maximum casualties.
A number of funerals have also been attacked this year.
Also Friday, a roadside bomb killed two civilians in the northern province of Kirkuk, while another blast in the city of Mosul, also in north Iraq, killed a policeman and wounded another.
Friday’s attacks came a day after three suicide bombers targeted Shiite pilgrims in Baghdad and south of the capital, killing at least 36 people, as militants shot dead a family of five west of the city.
Muhanad Mohammad, a journalist who worked for both foreign and Iraqi media, was among those killed in one of the suicide bombings Thursday.
He was the seventh journalist to be killed in Iraq in less than three months.
Violence has surged this year to levels not seen since 2008, when Iraq was just emerging from a brutal sectarian conflict. More people were killed in the first eight days of this month than in the whole of December last year.
And more than 6,600 people have been killed since the beginning of 2013, according to AFP figures based on security and medical sources.
KIRKUK, Iraq: Bombings in Iraq, including two in a market and a third at a cemetery where victims of the earlier attack were to be buried, killed 14 people Friday, officials said.
In Tuz Khurmatu, 175 kilometers north of Baghdad, two bombs exploded in a livestock market, killing eight people and wounding 25.
As people gathered at a cemetery to bury the victims of the market blasts, another bomb went off, killing three people and wounding two.
Militants in Iraq often attack places where crowds of people gather, including markets, cafes and mosques, in an effort to cause maximum casualties.
A number of funerals have also been attacked this year.
Also Friday, a roadside bomb killed two civilians in the northern province of Kirkuk, while another blast in the city of Mosul, also in north Iraq, killed a policeman and wounded another.
Friday’s attacks came a day after three suicide bombers targeted Shiite pilgrims in Baghdad and south of the capital, killing at least 36 people, as militants shot dead a family of five west of the city.
Muhanad Mohammad, a journalist who worked for both foreign and Iraqi media, was among those killed in one of the suicide bombings Thursday.
He was the seventh journalist to be killed in Iraq in less than three months.
Violence has surged this year to levels not seen since 2008, when Iraq was just emerging from a brutal sectarian conflict. More people were killed in the first eight days of this month than in the whole of December last year.
And more than 6,600 people have been killed since the beginning of 2013, according to AFP figures based on security and medical sources.
| Armed Conflict | December 2013 | ['(Daily Star)'] |
Marking the 50th consecutive day of protests, hundreds of thousands demonstrate throughout Venezuela against President Nicolás Maduro, with civil unrest growing despite the increasing number of casualties. | Venezuelans take to the streets, furious about shortages, rocketing inflation and human rights crackdowns, demanding President Maduro hold elections
Last modified on Sat 20 May 2017 23.41 BST
Masses of protesters with white shirts, homemade gas masks and flags draped around their shoulders shut down a main road in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, in a continuation of near-daily street protests.
Soldiers closed access to the centre of the city and officials closed at least 10 metro stations in anticipation of Saturday’s protest, which was part of demonstrations across the country by hundreds of thousands of people. The protests marked 50 days of protests against the government of President Nicolás Maduro, with unrest gaining momentum despite a rising death toll and chaotic scenes of night-time looting.
State security forces have consistently prevented protesters from reaching the city centre, home to the presidential palace, supreme court and electoral authority.
At least 46 people have been killed in the worst turmoil faced by Maduro since he won the presidency in 2013. Venezuelans from civilians to police have been killed, sometimes during increasingly frequent spates of looting or street melees. President Maduro, meanwhile, has been posting videos of himself driving with windows rolled down through various neighbourhoods at night as he talks about restoring peace to the country. On Friday night, he drove past a plaza in the eastern part of the city that has become the centre of the opposition movement and noted how quiet the streets were. “Look at how peaceful it is here. We’re defeating the barricade-builders and violence-bringers,” he said. | Protest_Online Condemnation | May 2017 | ['(The Guardian)'] |
Alek Minassian appears in court in Toronto charged with ten murders and thirteen attempted murders. | A van driver accused of killing 10 people in Toronto posted to Facebook minutes before the attack to praise a woman-hating mass shooter.
Alek Minassian - charged on Tuesday with 10 counts of murder and 13 counts of attempted murder - also referred to the misogynistic "incel" Reddit group.
Police say the 25-year-old intentionally drove a rental van into pedestrians on a busy pavement.
The suspect was arrested several streets away after a tense standoff with police.
The 10 dead and 14 wounded are "predominantly" women, ranging in age from their 20s to their 80s, police say.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said it was a "senseless attack and a horrific tragedy".
The suspect's Facebook post, which the social network has confirmed as real, praised Elliott Rodger, a 22-year-old from California who killed six people in a 2014 shooting rampage through Isla Vista, California, before turning the gun on himself. It read: "The Incel Rebellion has already begun! We will overthrow all the Chads and Stacys! All hail the Supreme Gentleman Elliot Rodger!"
The term "incel" refers to a now-banned group on the message site Reddit, used by Rodger, where young men discussed their lack of sexual activity, blaming women for the problem.
"Chads and Stacys" refers to attractive men and women who are perceived as better than or unavailable to "incels", which is short for "involuntary celibate".
He was brought to court on Tuesday to hear the charges against him. His head shaved and wearing a white jumpsuit, he held his hands behind his back, showing little emotion throughout.
He will remain in custody and return to court on 10 May for a bail hearing. He was ordered to make no contact with surviving victims. A man believed to be his relative sat in the front row of the courtroom and wept. Asked by reporters if he had anything to say, the man replied, "Sorry".
Yonge Street, where the attack took place, remained closed on Tuesday as police continued their investigation. While the authorities have not yet formally identified any of the dead, three have been named in the media.
Anne-Marie D'Amico worked for the US investment company Invesco, Canadian broadcaster CBC reports. The company's Canadian headquarters are on Yonge Street. The Jordanian embassy in Ottawa has told the BBC that one of its citizens was among the victims. Jordanian media named him as Munir Abdo Habib al-Najjar. He was reportedly in Canada to visit his son.
Toronto resident Dorothy Sewell, 80, has also been named by relatives as one of the victims.
Her grandson, Elwood Delaney, said she was the "best grandma anyone could have asked for".
The South Korean embassy in Canada confirmed to the BBC that two of its citizens were among the dead and another was critically ill. Their names have not been disclosed.
The 15 injured remain in hospitals throughout Toronto.
From the northern Toronto suburb of Richmond Hill, he was not previously known to the authorities. There "would appear to be no national security connections", public safety minister Ralph Goodale said.
He attended a school for students with special needs in north Toronto, former classmates say.
He would be seen walking around Thornlea Secondary School with his head down and hands clasped tightly together making meowing noises, Shereen Chami told Reuters news agency.
But she added that he had not been violent: "He wasn't a social person, but from what I remember he was absolutely harmless."
He went on to attend Seneca College in the North York area of Toronto, where the van incident took place, CBC reports. The Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) has also confirmed he was a member for two months in late 2017 before asking to be voluntarily released. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | April 2018 | ['(BBC)'] |
A flash flood near Payson, Arizona, leaves at least nine people dead and one person missing, according to the Gila County Sheriff's Office. | At least nine people from one family have been killed in flash floods after monsoon-like rains swept through a swimming hole in the US state of Arizona, local media say.
At least 40 rescuers are searching for a 27-year-old man whose wife perished.
More than 100 people were bathing in the area when the muddy floodwaters hit with almost no warning.
The flash flood struck at Cold Springs, near Payson, on Saturday, sweeping people down East Verde River.
Search and rescue crews have recovered the bodies of nine victims, some of whom were found up to two miles down the river.
Four others - a married couple and their two young children - were rescued by helicopter crews and treated for hypothermia.
Dozens were bathing in the Tonto National Forest, about 90m (145km) north of Phoenix, when the floodwaters hit following a torrential downpour upstream, said Sgt David Hornung from the Gila County sheriff's office.
"A large family group was down by the river recreating... It's a recreation area that a lot of people come up to - and the flash flood came through and washed 14 people away from the camp," Sgt Hornung said.
"I've been with the sheriff's office for 13 years and this is the most severe flooding incident we've ever seen," he added. Video footage posted on social media showed muddy floodwater gushing over rocks and through deep canyons.
The Payson Fire Department said that multiple forest fires in recent months had created piles of debris that burst down a creek, carrying ash-filled water through the swimming hole.
However, it had not been raining in the area where people were swimming.
Officials identified the dead on Monday. They named one of the victims as Maria Raya, 27, who died a day before her birthday along with her children - Emily, three, Mia, five, and Danial, seven. Her sister Maribel Raya, 24, and brother Javier Raya, 19, perished, they said, as well as Maribel's daughter Erica, two. Selia Garcia, 57, the mother of Maria, Maribel and Javier, also died, as did her grandson Jonathan Leon, 13.
All nine were from Phoenix, Arizona. Maria's husband Hector Miguel Garnica is yet to be located, and is feared to have died alongside his family.
His sister Carla Garnica, 22, was quoted as saying: "He has to be found. He's always said, 'I'm never leaving my children or my wife.' He has to complete his promise."
The Gila County Sheriff's Office said relatives of the missing family drove to the area to search for them into the early hours of Sunday. Maria Mandujano, a cousin of the Raya siblings, said the searchers waded through knee-deep water shouting her loved ones' names. They found one of the children's bodies amid the debris, she said. The National Weather Service has issued a flash flood alert for much of Arizona until Monday evening, with more storms expected in the middle of next week. | Floods | July 2017 | ['(BBC)'] |
Authorities charge New Mexico Secretary of State Dianna Duran with 64 counts including fraud, embezzlement, and money laundering. |
Secretary of State Dianna Duran during an interview in her office in Santa Fe on Tuesday, August 19, 2014. (Eddie Moore/Albuquerque Journal)
Copyright 2015 Albuquerque Journal
SANTA FE Secretary of State Dianna Duran was charged Friday in state District Court with fraud, embezzlement, money laundering and other crimes related to allegedly converting thousands of dollars in campaign contributions to her personal use in 2013 and 2014.
At the same time, it appears she was frequenting casinos across the state and withdrawing hundreds of thousands of dollars at them from accounts in her name.
Duran is a Republican in her second term; she was elected in 2010 and re-elected last year. The secretary of state, who oversees elections and campaign finance, has the role of state government ethics regulator.
The complaint says Duran violated “the ethical principles of public service” by converting intended campaign contributions to her own use.
Duran’s lawyer, Erlinda Johnson, issued a statement saying “we have identified some serious potential violations of law by the New Mexico Attorney General’s Office, in conducting the investigation.
“We hope this is not a politically motivated case and that the attorney general is not engaging in a selective prosecution of a political adversary. We ask the public to not jump to conclusions and we look forward to addressing the allegations in Court,” she said.
Preliminary hearing
Balderas’ office did not provide any information beyond what was in the filed documents.
“Our office will proceed transparently by way of preliminary hearing,” Balderas’ spokesman, James Hallinan, said in a statement. “Through that process, all facts supporting these allegations will be presented.”
The alleged crimes ranging from petty misdemeanors to third-degree felonies mainly occurred in 2013 and 2014.
They also include violations of campaign laws, tampering with public records, conspiracy and a Governmental Conduct Act violation, according to the complaint.
Republican Gov. Susana Martinez said she had spoken to Balderas about the charges.
“These allegations are deeply troubling and concerning, and all relevant state agencies have and will continue to assist the attorney general throughout the process,” she said. “It’s important that New Mexicans understand that no one is above the law and that every New Mexican is treated equally under our system.”
Confidential tip
According to the complaint, the AG’s office in July 2014 received a confidential tip that numerous cash deposits were made into Duran’s bank accounts that “appeared to be incongruent when compared to known sources of income.”
An investigation revealed a pattern of large amounts of cash and campaign contributions deposited into personal and campaign accounts, the subsequent transfer of funds between the accounts, and “large debits for cash expenditures” at casinos throughout the state, the complaint said.
According to the complaint, Duran withdrew a total of $147,641 in 2013 and $282,807 in 2014 at Buffalo Thunder Casino, Camel Rock Casino, Casino Apache, Inn of the Mountain Gods, Ohkay Casino, Ruidoso Downs, San Felipe Casino and Sandia Casino from her personal accounts.
The largest chunks of the withdrawals, totaling $95,700 in 2013 and $150,256 in 2014, were at Sandia Casino.
The complaint outlines more than a dozen alleged incidents of misappropriation and misreporting of campaign contributions.
In one instance, for example, a $500 check to her campaign from lobbying firm Shoats and Weaks Inc., given after the November 2014 election, was allegedly put into Duran’s personal checking account as part of a deposit to cover an overdrawn balance.
Some other examples from the complaint:
Officials at odds
There has been a rift in recent months between Duran and the Democratic attorney general over campaign finance reporting and enforcement.
The two formed a task force in February to study the issue. It met twice, and Balderas issued final recommendations on his own, including mandatory fines for violating the Campaign Reporting Act. He also said he was concerned about lack of enforcement in the Secretary of State’s office.
Duran, in turn, accused Balderas of filing three late campaign finance reports a few years ago. She was wrong about two of them which was blamed on a staffer and Balderas said the errors pointed up flaws in her office’s operation. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | August 2015 | ['(The Albuquerque Journal)'] |
Three plainclothes Chinese police officers beat up, bruise and concuss a provincial official's wife by accident; the police are punished, while the woman is hospitalised. | Chen Yulian, the wife of a local official in Wuhan, Hubei province, recuperates in a hospital ward after being beaten on June 23 by plain clothes officers who mistook her for a petitioner. Photo from online BBS
Official's wife seriously injured by police in case of mistaken identity BEIJING - The wife of a senior law enforcement official in Central China's Hubei province was seriously injured by plain clothes police officers who mistook her for a petitioner. Chen Yulian, 58, said she was beaten on June 23 by six unidentified men who rushed out of the gate of the provincial Party committee's office building when she was trying to call a high-ranking law enforcement official for permission to enter, according to a report by Guangdong-based Southern Metropolis Daily on Tuesday. Chen told the attackers that she is a family member of an official of the provincial Party committee and asked them why they hit her. Her question received no verbal response, but a stronger wave of fists rained down on her for more than 16 minutes, the report said. Half an hour later Chen was taken to a police office by car after the men who assaulted her had already walked away. When she requested medical treatment, a police officer scolded her, Chen said. She later made a call to her husband, Huang Shiming, a senior official with the provincial law enforcement authority, while he was outside his office. At about noon, she was released and rushed to the Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University. Hospital personnel diagnosed Chen as suffering from a cerebral concussion and many parenchymal contusions, as well as autonomic nervous system disorders. The attackers were later identified as plain clothes police officers from the Wuchang district sub-branch of the Wuhan city public security bureau. They had allegedly been dispatched to guard the provincial Party committee's office building and subdue those who want to stage a petition or demonstration in front of the building, the report said. At 5 pm that day, high-ranking police officers of Wuchang district came to the hospital to comfort her. "The incident is a total misunderstanding. Our police officers never realized they beat the wife of a senior leader," the Party chief of the district public security bureau was cited as saying by some people who were in the ward. His remarks ignited onlookers. "Does it mean the police are not supposed to beat leaders' wives, but that the ordinary people can be battered?" an unnamed visitor to the ward was quoted as saying. The six police officers have been put under confinement and the local police discipline authorities have launched an investigation into the case, a publicity officer with the Wuchang district police bureau, surnamed Fang, told China Daily. "This type of incident is a direct result of the authorities' connivance on the illegal measures of law enforcement officers to deal with petitioners," Zhou Ze, a Beijing-based lawyer who has long followed China's civil rights, told China Daily. "No matter if the victim is an official's wife or just an ordinary person, he or she has the legal right to claim the government's compensation," he added. Wang Yukai, a professor with the Chinese Academy of Governance, said the incident reflects some deep-rooted problems with the country's police authorities. "The local police authorities are exceptionally sensitive about the increasing petition issues and therefore they are exerting every measure to stop the petitioners from claiming their rights," he said. China Daily (China Daily 07/21/2010 page5) | Famous Person - Sick | July 2010 | ['(BBC)', '(China Daily)', '(The Daily Telegraph)', '(Reuters)', '(News24)'] |
NATO's Aegis Ashore Ballistic Missile Defense System becomes partly operational at Romania's Deveselu airbase, as U.S. Navy personnel takes control of the site after years of construction. Aegis Ashore facilities in Romania form part of NATO's European missile defence system, with another site under construction in Poland expected to become operational by 2018. The United States Ambassador to Romania Hans G. Klemm says that they have explained to the Russians on numerous occasions that the missile system is, "not directed at Russia, nor does it have the capability to threaten Russia." The head of Russia's Strategic Missile Troops, Colonel General Sergei Karakayev, has dismissed the purported effectiveness of the missile defense system, saying Moscow develops “brand new and effective means and techniques to penetrate any missile defense system”. , | Washington and Bucharest are expected to announce the pre-operational phase of the first ground-based Aegis Ashore anti-missile site at Deveselu airbase at an official ceremony Friday, according to Navy Times.
“That means all the major components of the missile defense system, including the missiles, are in place, and have been handed over to military commanders,” an unnamed Pentagon official was quoted by Reuters as saying.
However, according to US Navy spokesman Lt Cmdr Timothy Hawkins, the system cannot be formally called “operational” until spring 2016 as it needs to be fully integrated into NATO’s ballistic missile defense system, a move championed by Obama administration, Navy Times reports.
US AEGIS Ashore Anti-Missile base now fully Operational in Deveselu #Romaniahttp://t.co/tXp8P7rjbx#Russia#Ukrainepic.twitter.com/qqBRYS3BMN
The US Embassy in Romania said in a statement that the launch of the land-based Aegis site in this country is “Phase two” of setting up missile defense in Europe that will “expand coverage against short- and medium-range threats” by deployment of “a more capable SM-3 interceptor (the Block IB).”
The Deveselu airbase site is located south of Romanian capital Bucharest. It is a ground component of Aegis ballistic missile defense system which includes SPY-1 radar and vertical-launch SM-3 long-range interceptor missiles.
According to Navy Times, the Aegis site will be run 24/7 by three Navy crews rotating through six months at a time. Each shift will have an 11-person watch team, including fire control technicians, operations specialists, and cryptologic technicians with one watch officer overseeing them.
Good Morning #PERS41 from Naval Support Facility Deveselu ! Sunrise in Romania always delivers a great...
Earlier in December, the US successfully conducted its first intercept flight test in Hawaii, hitting a target representing a medium-range ballistic missile that was air-launched from a US Air Force C-17 aircraft. The test came weeks before the Aegis Ashore site at Deveselu came online.
Washington insists the European missile defense shield aims at safeguarding the continent from possible missile strikes by North Korea and Iran, emphasizing both countries have nuclear and strategic arms programs.
Moscow has repeatedly denounced those claims, pointing out that neither North Korean or Iranian missiles are able to reach Europe, while the US and NATO provided no written assurances the European missile defense is not aimed at Russia.
On Wednesday, the commander of Russia’s Strategic Missile Troops, Col. Gen. Sergey Karakaev told a press conference that the existing US missile shield cannot withstand a massive strike of Russian nuclear intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), saying Moscow develops “brand new and effective means and techniques to penetrate any missile defense system.”
Aegis Ashore facilities in Romania form part of the NATO European anti-missile system, with another site under construction in Poland expected to become operational by 2018. | Military Exercise | December 2015 | ['(AP via Yahoo News)', '(RT)'] |
Cholera is detected in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, for the first time since the post-earthquake outbreak began. | Five cases of cholera have been detected in Haiti's capital, Port-au-Prince, the UN says, amid an outbreak that has killed more than 200 people.
UN officials said the patients had been quickly diagnosed and isolated.
They became infected in the main outbreak zone - the Artibonite region - and then travelled to the capital where they developed symptoms, the UN said.
This meant Port-au-Prince was "not a new location of infection", the UN's humanitarian affairs agency said.
"The identification of the five cases in the capital, while worrying, also demonstrates that the reporting systems for epidemic management are functioning," said the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, or Ocha.
More than a million survivors of Haiti's devastating January earthquake are crowded into tent cities around Port-au-Prince with poor sanitary conditions and little access to clean drinking water.
Aid officials have described the prospect of cholera in the city as "awful".
Those in the camps are highly vulnerable to the intestinal infection, which is caused by bacteria transmitted through contaminated water or food. Cholera causes diarrhoea and vomiting leading to severe dehydration, and can kill quickly if left untreated through rehydration and antibiotics.
With 2,674 cases of the disease reported, health officials have been trying to contain the outbreak in Artibonite and Central Plateau.
They said they had stepped up disease prevention measures and surveillance at the tent camps, and sent medical teams north to treat those infected so they did not travel to the capital to seek help.
Ocha also said five cholera treatment centres were being built in the Port-au-Prince, most attached to hospitals or clinics.
"The hospitals in Port-au-Prince seem more prepared now for cholera to hit the area but the situation is far from under control," said Carel Padre.
"Everybody is worried about the disease reaching this dense city where there is a lack of sanitation and nowhere clean to cook or sleep," he told the BBC.
On Saturday, Ocha reported that the severity of the outbreak seems to be lessening in the southern Artibonite but its continued spread in the north of the region remained a concern.
"Although there is an increase in the number of confirmed cases, it is increasing at a slower pace than in previous days, which is a possible indication that some of the prevention and treatment measures are taking effect," Ocha said.
Meanwhile, officials confirmed that 194 people had died of cholera in Artibonite, and another 14 in Central Plateau.
The worst-hit areas were Saint-Marc, Grande Saline, L'Estere, Marchand Dessalines, Desdunes, Petite Riviere, Lachapelle, and St Michel de l'Attalaye, said the UN.
A number of cases have also been reported in the city of Gonaives, and towns closer to the capital, including Archaei, Limbe and Mirebalais.
Local hospitals have been overwhelmed. Aid workers said many patients at the St Nicholas hospital in Saint-Marc were being forced to lie outside in the car park in unhygienic conditions, hooked up to intravenous drips. The aid agency Medicins Sans Frontieres has set up a cordon around the hospital to control exit and entry to try to contain the spread of the outbreak.
Dr Jhonny Fequiere told the BBC that his hospital in Marchand Dessalines was also struggling to cope, and that he had seen dozens die.
"We are trying to take care of people, but we are running out of medicine and need additional medical care. We are giving everything we have but we need more to keep taking care of people," he said.
Some patients said they became ill after drinking water from a canal, but others said they were drinking only purified water. The Artibonite river, which irrigates central Haiti, is thought to be contaminated.
Haitian Health Minister Alex Larsen has urged people to wash their hands with soap, not eat raw vegetables, boil all food and drinking water, and avoid bathing in and drinking from rivers. There are enough antibiotics in Haiti to treat 100,000 cases of cholera and intravenous fluids to treat 30,000, according to the UN.
This is the first time in a century that cholera has struck Haiti.
| Disease Outbreaks | October 2010 | ['(BBC)', '(Al Jazeera)'] |
In last week's meeting between Indonesian president Joko Widodo and Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte, Widodo today says that Duterte allegedly said that he ' not interfere' in the execution of accused drug smuggler and Philippine national Mary Jane Veloso. However, today a Manila Bulletin article says that Manny Piñol, the Philippines Agriculture Secretary, states that Duterte actually asked for clemency for Veloso. | Indonesian President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo said on Monday that Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte had given the green light for the execution of Filipina death row inmate Mary Jane Veloso.
“President Duterte has given the go-ahead to proceed with the execution,” Jokowi was quoted as saying by Antara news agency in Serang, Banten.
According to Jokowi, the legal process will be followed up by Attorney General M. Prasetyo.
“I have explained to [Duterte] about Mary Jane’s situation and I told him that Mary Jane [has been found guilty] for carrying 2.6 kilograms of heroin. I also told him about the delay in the execution during the meeting,” Jokowi said.
Veloso was arrested at Adisucipto Airport in Yogyakarta in April 2010.
Veloso was excluded from the list of the third round of executions prepared by the Attorney General’s Office (AGO) in April, as legal procedures continue in a separate but related case in her country. Veloso was on the execution list last year but was granted a stay of execution because her alleged boss had been arrested in the Philippines, and the authorities there requested Indonesian assistance in pursuing the case.
| Diplomatic Talks _ Diplomatic_Negotiation_ Summit Meeting | September 2016 | ['(would)', '(Manila Bulletin)', '(Philippine Daily Inquirer)'] |
Israeli tanks enter the northern Gaza Strip; some fighting occurs killing one Palestinian and injuring two others in response to Palestinian militants who had detonated an explosive device targeting an army patrol along the border | Israeli tanks have entered the northern Gaza Strip, sparking fighting that killed one Palestinian and injured two.
AFP news agency reported that seven tanks had made a limited incursion 200m into Palestinian territory on Tuesday, sparking a shootout with militants.
Other reports suggested armoured vehicles and bulldozers were involved.
Hamas emergency services spokesman Adham Abu Salmiya said Amjad al-Zaanein, 23, had been killed by Israeli tank fire east of Beit Hanoun.
Local Palestinians said the casualties had been collecting stones to recycle into bricks when they came under fire.
Israel's military said it was responding to an attack by Palestinian militants who had detonated an explosive device targeting an army patrol along the border.
"A short while after the incident, soldiers identified two militants handling the device trigger system and consequently opened fire on them," a military spokeswoman was quoted as telling AFP. "A hit was confirmed."
Cross-border violence has escalated in recent weeks. Hamas, the Islamic militant group that rules the enclave, has appealed for calm, urging other militant factions to stop their attacks on Israel.
It is two years since a war in Gaza which left 1,300 Palestinians and 13 Israelis dead.
| Armed Conflict | January 2011 | ['(BBC)', '(Tehran Times)', '(The Jerusalem Post)'] |
Four Arab-Israeli taxi drivers are injured, two seriously, after they came under mortar and rocket attack at the Erez border crossing while waiting to transport critically injured Palestinians for treatment at Israeli hospitals. | Four Israelis were injured Sunday, two of them seriously, when a large rocket and mortar barrage hit the Erez crossing between Israel and the Gaza Strip.
The victims were Israeli-Arab taxi drivers, who were at the crossing to pick up wounded Gazans and bring them into Israel for medical treatment. The wounded were evacuated to Ashkelon’s Barzilai hospital.
An outraged Israeli-Arab Erez crossing official, who spoke to Army Radio from a secured area at the crossing during a subsequent rocket attack, lambasted Hamas for not caring about the well-being of the Palestinians in Gaza.
“This is an organization that cares about the [Palestinian] people? They’re shooting at the Palestinian terminal,” said the staffer. He stressed that, despite the rocket barrages, the crossing had not closed for emergency medical cases, and that two Gaza females were evacuated “20 minutes ago” via the crossing for life-saving surgery in Israel, and that other taxi-drivers were on hand, “as always,” to transport emergency patients.
Some 50 people were scheduled to use the Erez crossing Sunday, but Kamil Abu Rokan, the Director of the Crossings Point Authority of the Defense Ministry, and General Yoav Mordehai, the Coordinator of the Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), closed the crossing to all traffic except for life-saving cases after the barrage, the Defense Ministry said. | Armed Conflict | August 2014 | ['(Times of Israel)'] |
The United Nations warns that the Haitian cholera epidemic could get worse. | The United Nations has warned that the cholera epidemic in Haiti could affect many more people than previously believed. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said that health officials now estimated that 650,000 people could become infected over the next six months. He also said that the UN believed the number of deaths could be twice as high as the official figure of 1,800.
Mr Ban said there was an urgent need for more medical personnel.
Officials from the Pan-American and World Health Organisations estimate that an additional 350 doctors are needed on top of the 300 medical staff already committed by Cuba.
The UN secretary-general, who was speaking to the UN General Assembly in New York, said that while the death rate had decreased, it remained unacceptably high at 3.6%.
He also warned that because of the difficulties in reporting new cases and deaths in rural areas, actual figures could be double the official ones.
Mr Ban said that any social unrest in the country could hinder cholera victims from receiving life-saving treatment.
He appealed for calm even though he said that irregularities in Sunday's presidential and legislative elections in Haiti now seemed "more serious than initially thought".
Results from the election are not due to be announced until 7 December, but most observers said the election was grossly mismanaged with many instances of fraud triggering large street protests.
Mr Ban also urged international donors to deliver on the pledges they made, reminding them that only 20% of the $164m the UN had appealed for had been funded so far. United Nations | Disease Outbreaks | December 2010 | ['(BBC)'] |
Bishop of Bruges since 1984 Roger Joseph Vangheluwe admits sexually abusing a boy and resigns with immediate effect. | The bishop of the Belgian city of Bruges, Roger Vangheluwe, has resigned after admitting sexual abuse of a boy earlier in his career.
Bishop Vangheluwe, 73, said the abuse had happened when he was a simple priest and continued when he started as a bishop, a Vatican statement said. The Vatican said Pope Benedict XVI had accepted the resignation. The Catholic Church has come under severe pressure over child sexual abuse allegations emerging across the world. The BBC's David Willey, in Rome, says the Pope's acceptance of the bishop's resignation marks a new escalation in the scandal buffeting the Church. It is the first time that a senior churchman has admitted in person abusing a child, he says. "When I was not yet a bishop, and some time later, I abused a boy," Bishop Vangheluwe said in a letter that was read out at a press conference in Brussels. "This has marked the victim forever. The wound does not heal. Neither in me nor the victim." Bishop Vangheluwe added that he was "enormously sorry" and that he had repeatedly asked for forgiveness. He had been bishop of Bruges since 1984. 'Turning a page'
Belgium's Archbishop Andre-Joseph Leonard told the press conference in Brussels that the case would be "very saddening to the Belgian Catholic community". "We are aware of the crisis of confidence that this will engender for a number of people," he said. Belgium's Archbishop Andre-Joseph Leonard: ''This event will be painfully felt throughout the Belgian Catholic community''
But he said the resignation showed that the Belgian Catholic Church wanted to "resolutely turn a page on a very painful" topic. Bishop Vangheluwe's decision to quit comes after the announcement earlier this month that a German-born former Roman Catholic bishop in Norway, Georg Mueller, had resigned last year after admitting to committing sex abuse. This week there have been a series of resignations offered or accepted by bishops who were not accused of committing sex abuse. It was announced on Thursday that the German Bishop of Augsburg, who had been accused of beating children at a Catholic children's home in the 1970s and 1980s, had tendered his resignation. Bishop Walter Mixa had also been under pressure over allegations of financial irregularities at a children's school under his responsibility. This week the Pope also accepted the resignation of Bishop James Moriarty of Kildare in Ireland, who said he wanted to play a part in creating a "new beginning" following scandals there. Bishop Moriarty was one of several Irish bishops to resign after the Church was criticised over its handling of abuse cases. The Pope promised "action" over abuse against children by priests when he met victims during a visit to Malta last week. US lawsuit
In Germany, where recent allegations have caused widespread anger, Church representatives were among those participating in a round-table discussion on Friday about widespread abuse in schools and other institutions. The event, which aims to encourage justice for victims and prevention of future abuse, brought together about 60 people including politicians, lawyers, psychologists and representatives of teachers' organisations. "Whether it occurs in Church institutions, schools, or in familiar circles, there are conspiracies of silence everywhere," Christine Bergmann, the government commissioner who was chairing the session, was quoted as saying by German broadcaster Deutsche Welle. Meanwhile, the Vatican on Friday rejected a US lawsuit brought by a man who says he was the victim of the late Father Lawrence Murphy, accused of abuse at a school for deaf children in Milwaukee. Vatican lawyer Jeffrey Lena said the suit was "completely without merit" and rehashed "old theories already rejected by US courts". | Government Job change - Resignation_Dismissal | April 2010 | ['(BBC)', '(news.com.au)', '(Al Jazeera)'] |
The death toll in a landslide near a jade mine in northern Myanmar rises to about 100 people, with up to 200 others missing. Most of the victims were villagers digging for jade in a mountain of displaced earth. | YANGON, Myanmar — The death toll in a landslide near a jade mine in northern Myanmar rose to about 100 people, and up to 200 others remained missing, officials said Sunday.
Most of the victims were villagers digging for jade in a mountain of displaced earth, a witness and a community leader said.
The collapse occurred Saturday evening in the Kachin state community of Hpakant, said Brang Seng, a jade businessman, who watched as bodies were pulled from the debris and taken to a hospital morgue.
"People were crying," he said, adding that some lost loved ones when boulders and earth ripped down the slopes. "I'm hearing that more than 100 people died. In some cases, entire families were lost."
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Lamai Gum Ja, a community leader, said homes at the base of the mine dump had been flattened. An estimated 100 to 200 people were still missing, he said. Search and rescue teams combed through the rubble Sunday for survivors.
Kachin, around 600 miles northeast of Yangon, Myanmar's biggest city, is home to some of the world's highest-quality jade.
The industry generated an estimated $31 billion last year alone, with most of the wealth going to individuals and companies tied to Myanmar's former military rulers, according to Global Witness, a group that investigates misuse of resource revenues.
The jade industry's epicenter, Hpakant, remains desperately poor, with bumpy dirt roads, constant electricity blackouts, and sky-high heroin addiction rates.
In the last year, dozens of small-scale miners have been maimed or lost their lives picking through tailing dumps.
"Large companies, many of them owned by families of former generals, army companies, cronies, and drug lords, are making tens or hundreds of millions of dollars a year through their plunder of Hpakant," Mike Davis of Global Witness said. | Mudslides | November 2015 | ['(Reuters)', '(AP via Boston Globe)'] |
Hurricane Danielle strengthens to Category 4, becoming the first major hurricane of the 2010 Atlantic hurricane season. | (CNN) -- Hurricane Danielle, a Category 4 storm, will bring large waves to Bermuda and will likely cause rip currents along the East Coast of the United States, the National Hurricane Center said on Friday.
Maximum sustained winds were near 135 mph, with higher gusts, it said. A tropical storm watch was issued for Bermuda.
Even though the center of the storm is expected to pass well to the east of Bermuda on Saturday night, "large waves and dangerous surf conditions will affect Bermuda over the next few days," the center said.
It also indicated swells from Danielle will arrive on the East Coast of the United States on Saturday, and will likely cause dangerous rip currents through the weekend.
"A turn toward the north-northwest is expected by tonight followed by a turn toward the north on Saturday," the latest hurricane advisory said.
Friday evening, Danielle was about 410 miles southeast of Bermuda.
Traveling behind Danielle, also far from land, Tropical Storm Earl's winds swirled near 45 mph Friday evening, with higher gusts. The hurricane center forecast that Earl, which was moving toward the west, could become a hurricane by Sunday.
If so, Earl would be the third hurricane of the 2010 Atlantic season, following Danielle and Hurricane Alex.
Earl is expected to strengthen and will be closer to the United States and probably create larger waves, said CNN meteorologist Chad Myers.
Although it is not currently predicted to strike the United States, a move that way can't be ruled out over the next seven days, Myers said.
A tropical storm watch was in effect for the French islands of St. Martin and St. Barthelemy in the Caribbean.
Residents in the northern Leeward Islands, about 1,080 miles west of Earl, were urged to monitor Earl's progress.
Earl is expected to follow a path similar to Danielle's, although likely farther south and west, which could mean more of an impact on Bermuda.
A third weather system also is being watched. A low-pressure system 175 miles south of the Cape Verde Islands could become a tropical depression during the next couple of days, the Hurricane Center said. It added there is an 80 percent chance of this system becoming a tropical cyclone during the next 48 hours.
Alex was a Category 2 system that caused widespread damage and some deaths in northern Mexico after it made landfall on June 30 near the border between Mexico and Texas, according to the Mexican government news agency. | Hurricanes_Tornado_Storm_Blizzard | August 2010 | ['(MSNBC)', '(CNN)', '(CBC)'] |
Colombia's Constitutional Court votes in favor of same–sex marriage, in a 6–3 decision. | Colombia's highest court is paving the way for same-sex couples to marry in the conservative Roman Catholic nation.
Gay couples in Colombia were already allowed to form civil unions, with many benefits of marriage including inheritance, pensions and health benefits. But the symbolically important right to wed was something that so far has been denied.
On Thursday, the Constitutional Court took a giant step in settling the controversy, rejecting by a 6-3 vote a justice's opinion that would have prevented public notaries from registering the unions as marriages. In the coming weeks, a new ruling reflecting the majority opinion that such practice is discriminatory is expected to be approved, legalizing same-sex marriage.
"Love triumphed," said 25-year-old David Alonso, one of a few dozen LGBTI activists who gathered outside the court to celebrate the ruling. "This is a historical debt that is finally being settled."
Only a handful of nations in Latin America allow gay and lesbian couples to marry, including Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay.
Colombia's progressive court had already shown its willingness to expand the rights of same-sex couples when it ruled last year that gay couples can adopt children. In 2011, it also ordered congress to design rules to record civil unions between same-sex couples in a way that ensured they weren't discriminated against.
When congress failed to act, many public notaries began registering the civil unions as marriages while some rejected the term outright, giving rise to the dispute now at the court.
President Juan Manuel Santos' government supported activists in reaffirming the right to marry, taking on opposition from the powerful Catholic church and the country's independent Inspector General.
Congresswoman Angelica Lozano said that with the legal dispute near resolution Colombia's gay community must now focus on ending discrimination.
"Today we've won our constitutional rights, now we need to fight on the streets and inside people's homes," she said. | Government Policy Changes | April 2016 | ['(ABC News)', '(The Advocate)'] |
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