title stringlengths 1 7.43k | text stringlengths 111 32.3k | event_type stringlengths 4 57 | date stringlengths 8 14 ⌀ | metadata stringlengths 2 205 ⌀ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Cigna announces that it has terminated its merger with Anthem, a deal that was blocked by a U.S. federal judge last week. In addition, Cigna sues Anthem for the $1.85 billion reverse termination fee, and for more than $13 billion in additional damages. Anthem says Cigna has no right to terminate the merger, a deal which in January was extended to April 30, 2017. | Cigna said Tuesday in a lawsuit that it is looking to terminate its merger agreement with Anthem, and seeks a $1.85 billion break-up fee and additional damages exceeding $13 billion.
Cigna’s suit comes in the wake of a federal court’s decision blocking the planned $54 billion merger between the two insurers — a deal Cigna argues is effectively dead. “In light of the Court’s ruling, Cigna believes that the transaction cannot and will not achieve regulatory approval and that terminating the agreement is in the best interest of Cigna’s shareholders,” the Connecticut-based insurer said in a statement.
Cigna added it filed its suit in the Delaware Court of Chancery to seek a judgment that it “has lawfully terminated the merger agreement and that Anthem is not permitted to extend the termination date.”
Shares of Anthem closed down slightly at $163.32, while Cigna shares edged modestly higher to close at $146.68.
Anthem is the nation’s largest Blue Cross insurer, and Cigna claims that Anthem put the interests of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association ahead of their deal, and as a result Cigna shareholders lost out during the prolonged merger process.
Anthem and Cigna’s relationship has been contentious since they began having merger discussions early in 2015. During their antitrust review, attorneys from the Department of Justice introduced correspondence between the insurers accusing one another of not living up to their merger agreement.
The federal judge who ruled against the companies’ merger, noted that testimony by Cigna executives during their antitrust trial was at odds with Anthem’s arguments in the case, and called their clear animosity during the proceedings “the elephant in the courtroom.”
In response to Cigna’s suit, an Anthem spokeswoman said that their merger agreement remains in effect for another 2 ½ months.
“On January 18, 2017 Anthem extended its Merger Agreement with Cigna through April 30, 2017. Under the terms of the Merger Agreement, Cigna does not have a right to terminate the agreement,” said Anthem spokeswoman Bonnie Jacobs, in a statement. “Therefore, Cigna’s purported termination of the Merger Agreement is invalid. Anthem will continue to enforce its rights under the Merger Agreement and remains committed to closing the transaction.”
After last week’s ruling, Anthem said it would pursue an expedited appeal of the judge’s decision to block the merger.
The acrimonious break-up notice from Cigna came hours after Aetna and Humana agreed to mutually terminate their $34 billion merger agreement, after their deal was also blocked in federal court. Aetna has agreed to pay Humana the $1 billion break-up fee stipulated in their agreement, saying that after 19 months of trying to gain approval it was in the best interest for the two to move on. | Organization Merge | February 2017 | ['(Bloomberg)', '(CNBC)'] |
Shortly after his scheduled arrival at Yangon, it was reported that Ibrahim Gambari, the UN Secretary-General's special adviser on Burma, had arrived in Naypyidaw to talk with the junta leaders. | Security forces in Rangoon continue to conduct rampant searches on passers by particularly in downtown areas. Eyewitnesses said soldiers and riot police are targeting people with cameras and mobile phone to curb the flow of information.
" The current situation is that it is extremely difficult and dangerous to get anything out. Riot police are charging anyone who brings out a camera or a cell phone. There are also random searches of bags," an observer told Mizzima. 10:00 a.m
Security in Rangoon
Security has been stepped up in major road intersections and traffic points in Rangoon. As roads reopen, and normal traffic is back on the roads, soldiers and other security personnel remain positioned at traffic points. Military trucks are also seen patrolling the city.
"We could see people going in three or four groups. We have heard that people are determined to continue the protest today. It seems they will wait for the right time. They will look out for the right time and place. And if they get the chance, they will start again," a local resident told Mizzima.
" The numbers of Swan Arrshin members have gone up. These people are not familiar with the city and they are ragged, some don't even have sandals," he added.
However, in downtown Rangoon, security has been reduced compared to earlier days. Eyewitnesses told Mizzima that only in Sule, the heart of the city, security has been placed and the area has been cordoned-off with barbed wires.
(Burmese Standard Time) 4:15 p.m
Situation in Mogoke
Interview with a resident of Mogoke town, Mandalay division
Security
"Security has been tightened in Mogoke. We cannot even move around. Activities have almost come to a standstill. Soldiers and police are everywhere on street junctions and corners. At least two to three soldiers and policemen or in some places up to seven have been positioned."
Arrest
"The vehicle of Myat Saythana humanitarian assistance group that followed the protest march on September 28, was seized today at about 1 p.m. As the group's chairman evaded arrest, his father, who resides in Padamya (Ruby) ward, was arrested instead."
"Authorities came to look for U Hla Oo, chairman of the NLD Mogoke. But when they came to his house, family members told them that U Hla Oo had gone to Mandalay for medical checkup."
Banning of Assemblies
"Since September 28, about 12 military trucks have been making rounds of Mogoke town at night after 8 p.m. They have announced that nobody should come out of their houses and gathering of more than five people is prohibited."
3:30 p.m
Gambari in Muse, Shan State
UN special envoy, Ibrahim Gambari, who is in Burma for the third day, is reported to have left for Shan State in eastern Burma to survey developments in the border area and also witness the junta organized National Convention supported gatherings.
"We heard that Gambari is currently at the 105th mile border trade zone watching trade transactions. He will arrive in Muse soon. He has came to Lashio in a special flight and from there he came in a helicopter to 105th mile trade zone. He will go back to Lashio in northern Shan state and witness the junta-organized gathering of people in support of the National Convention," local residents said,
The 105th mile trade zone is located about seven miles west of the town on the Mandalay-Muse Highway.
2:00 p.m
Security tightened in Myingyan, Monks sent back
Security has been tightened in Myingyan town of Mandalay division and authorities have ordered monks to return to their native places.
"Security is tightened here, but so far there is no arrest of monks. Abbots in the monasteries are sending back their students to their native places. The abbot of the Zawthikah monasteries have sent back all students (young monks and novices). The monks are finding it difficult to return home. They are without Swan (food for monks) and money for their travel so young people in the locality are collecting money to donate to the monks. Now they have got about 500,000 kyat and with that the monks are returning to their native places," a local resident told Mizzima.
Most of the learning monks in Myingyan belong to Taungoo, Pyinmana and Laywai towns in Burma.
12:00 p.m
Situation in Mandalay
In Mandalay, Burma's second largest city where some students protested yesterday, eyewitnesses said people are seen in groups and another protest could be expected to begin at about 2 p.m. (local time).
Security has been increased on the 78th Street but it remains normal in other places including 35th and 34th Streets.
Authorities have assembled several members of the USDA and Swan Arrshin on a daily wage of 3000 kyat.
"They called people from the slums of Chan Aye Thar Zan Township last night. They were told to they will get a daily wage of 3000 kyat and would work for security. We believe the authorities will first deploy these people to crackdown on any protest," a local resident told Mizzima.
Monasteries continue to be guarded and in some monasteries several dozen armed soldiers are have been sent as reinforcements.
According to local residents, Regiment 11 has been brought into the city since yesterday.
Currently, military division 33, 22 and police are incharge of the security in Mandalay.
10:30 a.m
Authorities assemble people in Taung Dwingyi to support NC
"What happened was that members of the USDA were called for a meeting at the Ward Peace and Development Council office. And the members of USDA and WPDC went from door to door to calling on people to attend a gathering in support of the government's roadmap and National Convention. And those attending will be given 3000 Kyat but those not attending will be fined 10,000 kyat," a local resident of Taung Dwingyi told Mizzima.
2:30 p.m.
Protest in Cambodia
In solidarity with the protesters in Burma and for the restoration of peace in the country Burmese activists and supporters today staged a protest rally in front of the Burmese embassy in Cambodia's capital city of Phnom Penh, amidst tight restriction.
Over 30 Burmese along with supporters with placards with slogans like "Peace for Burma", began a peaceful protest this afternoon. Organizers said they will continue the rally throughout the week.
Hla Htay, one of the Burmese protesters told Mizzima, "We have planned to protest in front of the Burmese embassy all through this week."
Organized by the Cambodian Human Rights and Development Association (CHRDA), the protesters called fro peace in Burma.
"Here the situation is tight, authorities have restricted any kind of demonstration, so we have to hold silent protests," added Hla Htay. However, he said the protesters are determined to continue throughout the week.
Earlier on September 28, over 50 activists including five Burmese had staged a similar protest in front of the Burmese embassy in Phnom Penh.
1:45 p.m
Gambari yet to meet Than Shwe
UN Secretary-General's special adviser on Burma, Ibrahim Gambari, has extended his trip to Burma in order to have further talks with Burmese senior generals.
The UN envoy, on Sunday, met detained Burmese pro-democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi after having met several junta officials on Saturday in Naypyitaw.
According to the UN information Centre in Rangoon, the envoy continues to remain in Burma and there is no confirmation of his meeting with Burma's top two generals Senior General Than Shwe and Vice Senior General Maung Aye.
But a statement of the UNIC said the Nigerian diplomat looks forward to meeting Senior General Than Shwe before concluding his mission. Burma needs Strategy not Strategery, Is Power Mediation a solution? July 23, 2007 -American diplomat meeting three ministers representing the Burmese junta, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC). "Undoubtedly, the developments over the last few weeks in Myanmar have raised serious concerns in the international community and once again underscore the urgency to step up our efforts to find solutions to the challenges facing the country," the Secretary-General's Special Envoy for Myanmar, Ibrahim Gambari, briefed the Security Council in informal consultations on Sep, 20, 2007. | Diplomatic Talks _ Diplomatic_Negotiation_ Summit Meeting | September 2007 | ['(Mizzina News)'] |
Two persons were killed when a mini–lorry was hit by the Netravati Express, they were travelling at an unmanned level crossing at Panachuvadu near Punnapra, India. | Two persons were killed when a train rammed the mini-lorry in which they were travelling at an unmanned level crossing at Panachuvadu near Punnapra here on Monday.
The two were identified as Rafique and Ashiq, both natives of Palluruthy near Kochi. They were said to be on their way to the Punnapra seashore fish market when the accident occurred at around 1.15 p.m.. The mini-lorry was hit by the Netravati Express and the two occupants were killed on the spot, police said.
With the Panachuvadu level crossing now being a regular accident spot, the public that gathered there turned irate and attempted to stop trains that came following the departure of the Netravati Express. The police had to use mild force and arrest one person while attempting to disperse the crowd. The crowd, however, got only more furious with the arrest and dispersed only after Railway authorities — who reached the spot — assured a to post a temporary watchman at the crossing immediately and to install a gate by October 30.
In September 2009, an auto-rickshaw driver, Lawrence, from Punnapra, was killed at the same crossing when his auto-rickshaw was rammed by the Kochuveli-Amritsar Express. Lawrence was killed while he was on his way to pick up students from a nearby school. | Train collisions | October 2010 | ['(The Hindu)'] |
Two people are killed and 28 injured in an apartment–building fire in New York City's Chinatown. | NEW YORK, Feb. 24 (UPI) -- A couple died, 28 people were injured and 200 left homeless when fire raced through an apartment building Tuesday in New York's Chinatown, officials said.
Killed in the 3:45 am. four-alarm fire were Tony Wong, 30, and his girlfriend, Anna Luu, 33, the New York Daily News said. They were overcome by smoke in their second-floor apartment, the newspaper said.
Officials blamed the fire on a faulty extension cord in Wong's apartment.
Jacquelyn Gallo, 28, told the Daily News she "felt the heat of the fire and ... started to panic."
She said she forced her window open and climbed up the fire escape to the roof where about 15 people sought refuge. As the flames got closer, she and a few others jumped about 8 feet down onto a nearby structure.
"I thought I was going to die," she said.
Fire Department officials said three of those seriously injured jumped out windows to flee the fire, the New York Post reported. Four others were listed in critical condition in area hospitals.
"People were yelling and screaming from their fire escapes," witness Mary Liu told the Post. "They were crying for help. It was chaos."
Fire Chief of Operations Pat McNally said strong winds and bitter cold made battling the early morning fire "very difficult." | Fire | February 2009 | ['(UPI)'] |
Ban Ki–Moon is elected to be the eighth Secretary–General of the United Nations, to succeed Kofi Annan in January 2007. | The resolution, adopted unanimously, follows Mr Ban's nomination to succeed Kofi Annan by the UN Security Council.
Mr Annan is due to step down on 31 December after heading the UN for two five-year terms.
Mr Ban, 62, will be the first Asian to head the UN since Burma's U Thant, who held the post from 1961 to 1971.
The general assembly confirmed Mr Ban's appointment by acclamation - without a vote - on the basis of approval by all 192 members.
Priorities
Afterwards he told delegates he was "deeply honoured" and vowed to use his position to ensure that the organisation achieved more.
"The true measure of success for the UN is not how much we promise, but how much we deliver for those who need us most," Mr Ban said.
"The UN is needed now more than ever before," he added.
Mr Ban cited poverty, HIV/Aids, environmental degradation, protecting human rights and combating terrorism among his priorities.
He also mentioned reforms - a key demand of the US, the UN's biggest contributor - but hinted that he would lead the process at his own pace.
"We reform not to please others, but because we value what this organisation stands for," he said.
"We cannot change everything at once. But if we choose wisely, and work together transparently, flexibly and honestly, progress in a few areas will lead to progress in a few more." Mr Ban's appointment comes as the UN is trying to resolve the crisis over North Korea's nuclear programme.
He has played key roles in dealing with the standoff, both as South Korea's foreign minister and as its ambassador to the UN.
There was a broad consensus within the UN that the next secretary general should be Asian. Mr Annan congratulated his successor, hailing him as "a man with a truly global mind" with "exceptional qualifications".
One of six candidates for the post, Mr Ban came top of all four informal polls in the Security Council and his five rivals all quit the race. | Government Job change - Appoint_Inauguration | October 2006 | ['(BBC)'] |
A car bomb explodes near the Chinese embassy in Kyrgyzstan, killing the perpetrator and injuring three. | MOSCOW A suicide bomber blew himself up inside the Chinese Embassy’s compound in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan, on Tuesday morning, wounding three Kyrgyz staff members, according to local officials.
The attacker rammed the gates of the embassy with a Mitsubishi Delica that exploded about 160 feet into the compound. The driver died on the scene.
| Armed Conflict | August 2016 | ['(The New York Times)'] |
Cuban dissident Wilmar Villar dies after going on hunger strike. | HAVANA (AFP) - A jailed Cuban dissident has died after a 50-day hunger strike to protest his imprisonment by the Western Hemisphere's only one-party communist regime, rights activists told AFP. Wilmar Villar, 31, passed away on Thursday at 6.45pm (5.45am Singapore time) after protesting against a four-year sentence handed down in November, opposition activist Elizardo Sanchez told AFP. Mr Sanchez, who leads the banned but tolerated Cuban Committee for Human Rights and National Reconciliation, said Villar had spent several days in 'critical condition' at a hospital in the south-east of the Caribbean island. 'The Cuban government bears complete moral, political and legal responsibility for the death of Wilmar, because he was in the custody of the authorities,' Mr Sanchez said, calling it an 'avoidable death.' Cuban authorities have not commented on the case, but the official blogger Yohandry wrote that Villar died of 'multiple organ failure due to general sepsis,' a blood disease caused by a bacterial infection. Britain revokes licence of Iran's Press TV | Famous Person - Death | January 2012 | ['(Straits Times)'] |
The President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko claims that his forces have repelled an attack on the town of Marinka and captured 12 rebels including one Russian. | Ukraine's president says his forces have ousted pro-Russia rebels from the eastern town of Maryinka and captured 12 "saboteurs", including one Russian.
Petro Poroshenko's claim has not been independently confirmed.
Heavy fighting erupted on Wednesday in Maryinka and Krasnohorivka, west of rebel-held Donetsk. The opposing sides have accused each other of shattering February's Minsk ceasefire, requiring them to withdraw heavy weapons from the frontline.
The Donetsk rebel leader spoke of huge losses in the Ukrainian army.
Alexander Zakharchenko, leader of the self-styled "Donetsk People's Republic", said the Maryinka fighting had left about 400 Ukrainian troops dead and up to 1,000 wounded. "This was a counter-attack. If we had attacked, we would have captured Maryinka," he said on Friday. Quoted by Russia's RIA Novosti news agency, he said 15 rebel fighters had been killed and 30 wounded.
Ukrainian officials said three government soldiers and about 80 rebels were killed in the intense fighting.
Tanks and other heavy weapons were used in the clashes, despite the terms of the Minsk accord agreed in February demanding that both sides pull heavy weapons far back from the frontline.
President Poroshenko told a news conference on Friday that Russia had massed troops on the border and in rebel-held areas "in unprecedented numbers" - but Russia again denied that its military was involved in Ukraine. Mr Poroshenko said Ukraine has deployed 50,000 troops in the conflict zone to meet the threat. He also said he would not allow any Russian forces to transit Ukraine in order to reach the Russian army in Trans-Dniester. Pro-Russian separatists run the breakaway region on Ukraine's western border, which remains legally part of Moldova.
The White House said US President Barack Obama spoke with his Ukrainian counterpart on Friday about the violence in the east of the country. It said both leaders expressed their "deep concern" about fighting near Donetsk and urged rebels to respect the Minsk ceasefire. Their concern was echoed by Alexander Hug, deputy chief of the OSCE monitoring mission in Ukraine, who told the UN Security Council that there had been "a significant deterioration of the security situation".
"The violence witnessed in and around the town of Maryinka close to the [frontline] constitutes a new worrying development in the conflict in eastern Ukraine," he said. "Our assessment from the ground is that tension levels have increased and that ceasefire violations are becoming more frequent as well as more severe."
More than 6,400 people have been killed in eastern Ukraine since the conflict began in April 2014, when rebels seized large parts of two eastern regions, following Russia's annexation of the Crimea peninsula.
If there is a spike in fighting, like the battle in the town of Maryinka on Wednesday, then both sides know they cannot be seen as the aggressor, because they lose credibility and damage the negotiating position of their allies in either Moscow, or in European capitals.
Neither side wants to be seen as responsible for breaking the highly publicised, but so far unsuccessful, Minsk peace agreement. And bargaining power for either side will become ever more crucial because in three weeks the European Union will decide whether to renew sanctions against Russia. | Armed Conflict | June 2015 | ['(BBC)'] |
A 6.5 magnitude earthquake hits off shore of Taiwan near the capital city Taipei. | An aerial photograph shows part of Taiwan's capital Taipei, May 24, 2007. An earthquake of 6.5 magnitude rattled Taipei early on Friday, the U.S. Geological Survey and witnesses said. REUTERS/Claro Cortes IV
TAIPEI (Reuters) - Two strong tremors rattled Taiwan’s capital early on Friday, officials and witnesses said, but there were no immediate reports of serious damage or casualties.
The U.S. Geological Survey measured the magnitude of the first quake at 6.5 at 01:51 am local time. Taiwan’s Central Weather Bureau said a second tremor followed four minutes later with a magnitude of 5.7.
A Reuters journalist in Taipei said the quakes, which each lasted around 10-15 seconds, shook his building and knocked pictures off the walls.
Spokesmen for Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd, the world’s top contract chip manufacturer, and CPC, Taiwan’s top oil company, said they had not been informed of any disruptions or casualties.
The Central Weather Bureau put the epicenter of the first quake was 76 km (47 miles) southeast of the island nation and 27 km deep and the second one about 10 km farther away.
Taiwan’s disaster centre said they had no reports of casualties.
Earthquakes are common in Taiwan but do not often cause serious damage. The worst in recent years was in 1999, when at least 2,000 people died in a quake measuring 7.6 in central Taiwan.
| Earthquakes | September 2007 | ['(Reuters)', '(USGS)'] |
Pro-Russian rebels push forward with plans for a referendum on May 11th ignoring Putin's statement to delay the vote. | Pro-Russian activists in eastern Ukraine have decided to go ahead with an independence referendum on Sunday, despite a call from Russian President Vladimir Putin to postpone it. The move was announced by separatist leaders after consulting supporters. On Wednesday, Mr Putin called for a postponement to create the conditions necessary for dialogue.
Ukrainian authorities say they will disregard the results and that "anti-terror" operations will continue.
Millions of ballot papers have been prepared for the referendum.
The question put to voters is: "Do you support the act of proclamation of independent sovereignty for the Donetsk People's Republic?'' The decision to press ahead with the vote was announced by separatist leaders in the regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.
The leader in Donetsk, Denis Pushilin, said the decision had been unanimous.
"We just voice what the people want and demonstrate through their actions," he said.
A spokesman for the Kremlin said there was "little information" and that it needed to analyse the situation further.
The BBC's Steve Rosenberg in Moscow says Mr Putin may turn the separatists' decision to his advantage, claiming it is proof that Russia is not orchestrating events in eastern Ukraine - as claimed by the West.
Moscow has vowed to protect the rights of Ukraine's Russian-speaking population against what it calls an undemocratic government in Kiev. Ukrainian authorities have rejected activist demands for greater autonomy and troops have been battling to regain official buildings occupied by rebels in the east. The European Union weighed in on Thursday, warning that "such a vote could have no democratic legitimacy and would only further worsen the situation". The separatists' decision to hold the referendum comes as a Pew Research Center poll released on Thursday shows that a strong majority of Ukrainians want their country to remain unified, even in the largely Russian-speaking east.
In related developments on Thursday:
The US and the European Union have imposed sanctions against several Russian individuals and businesses and threatened wider measures if Moscow interferes further in eastern Ukraine.
Sunday's planned referendum was seen as a potential trigger for that.
Meanwhile Nato Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen says there is no sign of a Russian troop withdrawal from the Ukrainian border, which Mr Putin announced on Wednesday.
Unrest in the south and east of Ukraine has worsened since Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula in March.
That followed the ousting of Ukraine's pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych in February by pro-Western protesters.
| Government Job change - Election | May 2014 | ['(BBC)'] |
The US Olympic Committee chooses the city of Boston as the American bid city to host the 2024 Summer Olympics. | Boston, which stages a celebrated marathon and has a rich history of professional championships in basketball, football, baseball and hockey, will now swing for the fences in international sport as it seeks to host the 2024 Summer Olympics.
On Thursday, Boston was chosen as the American bid city over Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington by the board of directors of the United States Olympic Committee.
| Sports Competition | January 2015 | ['(The New York Times)'] |
A Category 4 severe tropical cyclone travels over the Whitsunday Islands and crosses the coast of Queensland, Australia, near the town of Airlie Beach. | Updated 28 Mar 2017, 5:34pmTue 28 Mar 2017, 5:34pm
Tropical Cyclone Debbie has been downgraded to a category three system, having made landfall along the north Queensland coastline near Airlie Beach earlier this afternoon as a slow-moving category four system.
One man has already been seriously injured in the storm, and emergency services fear more reports of damage, injury, and even deaths, are still to come.
The State Emergency Service has already received hundreds of calls for help, however it is still too dangerous for crews to venture outside.
The cyclone, currently 25 kilometres west of Proserpine, is producing destructive winds of 120 kilometres per hour and gusts up to 165kph.
It is forecast to move slowly south-west over the next 12 to 18 hours before curving to a more southerly track over inland Queensland.
At a media briefing this afternoon, Queensland Police Service Commissioner Ian Stewart said the man was badly hurt when a wall fell on him.
"We need to understand we are going to get lots of reports of damage and injury, if not death, and we need to be prepared for that," he said.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk warned residents in the path of the cyclone to continue to stay indoors, with strong winds expected to continue for several hours.
"Our emergency services personnel cannot go out onto the roads at the moment due to the dangerous conditions," she said.
"The eye of the storm is of course the most dangerous, those winds around there are escalating.
"We're going to see the impact of Cyclone Debbie for the next three to five days as it travels down the coast and these winds can even end up as a low-pressure system right along the coast of the south-east corner here."
The BOM said destructive winds could extend further north-west along the coast to Ayr and to adjacent inland areas, including Collinsville and Mount Coolon late today and into the evening, but were no longer expected in Townsville, Charters Towers, Mackay or Sarina.
Ergon Energy spokesman Brett Judge said more than 45,000 properties were without power with that number expected to rise.
"We have to get the all-clear from emergency authorities before sending crews out to assess the damage," he said.
He said hospitals, schools and emergency services would be given priority when work began.
He also urged residents to call Ergon if they saw powerlines down or problems with solar panels on roofs.
Debbie is expected to be downgraded to a category two system later tonight.
Earlier today, ABC reporter Jonathan Hair was sheltered in Airlie Beach when the cyclone's eye wall started to affect the area.
"It's really, really loud. That's the only way to describe it. I want to say it's terrifying just because you know what it is and you know how powerful it is and you know the winds are going upwards of 100kph to 200kph and slamming into your hotel room," he said.
"This is a fairly secure hotel, it's made of concrete. It was built recently, it's cyclone-rated, but at the same time, it's still blown gutters off roofs, doors off the side of the wall — it's blown ceiling fans off the ceiling.
"I haven't been outside because we're in lockdown, but we can see some yachts that have broken their mooring and run into each other down at the Port of Airlie Beach."
Sue from Proserpine told ABC Radio parts of their neighbour's roof had been flying off and smashing their windows.
"We've got three broken windows now so the rooms are totalled. We've got water coming down the hallway from those rooms," she said.
"The doors are shaking, the interior doors to those rooms ... we've got water coming down all inside the sliding windows, it's just gushing and I've been mopping and mopping and I'm running out of towels."
Sue said she was with her husband, but did not know if they were safe: "I'm in the safest place but that doesn't mean I'm safe. I'm in a very small bathroom."
Twitter:
Tweet: #QFES says paramedics are not attending call-outs in the Whitsunday, Bowen and Mackay regions due to danger posed by #CycloneDebbie
Mackay Regional Council Mayor Greg Williamson told ABC News 24 he was surprised to hear some people were surfing.
"It puts everybody else, the agencies, life at risk when you've got to go and rescue them," he said.
Long-time Hamilton Island resident and business owner Gail Harvey described the size of the cyclone and severity of the winds as "horrendous".
"My ears have been popping from time to time and my head has been quite heavy with the air pressure, so it's just a matter of being patient and riding it out and then the big clean-up," she said.
"I'm actually tucked away in my unit, which I have been for over 24 hours now … it's very protected. We've got a hill behind us which protects us from the south, and we face north-east, so a very protected little area of the island."
But Ms Harvey said she was worried about her water-sport business and their vessels in the water.
"We pulled out three or four of them and put them into sheltered area, but the bigger boats we stripped all the equipment and tied them down quite securely," she said.
Charlie, also on Hamilton Island, said the trees were blowing about wildly.
"It's just like freight trains coming through left and right," he said.
"The place is just shaking continuously."
The cyclone could take up to 18 hours to pass.
The BOM warned that between 150mm to 500mm of rain could fall today.
A flood warning has been issued for the Proserpine River, while a moderate flood warning is current for Bowen's Don River, and a minor to moderate flood levels are possible on the Pioneer River in Mackay.
Premier Palaszczuk said the tidal surge was expected to be less than two metres, which is on the low side of what the BOM had been predicting.
About 25,000 people were urged to evacuate from low-lying areas of Mackay on Monday night to avoid the storm surge and Ms Palaszczuk stood by that decision, saying it was important to err on the side of caution.
She is concerned about a second tidal impact later tonight.
"It's the largest evacuation that I can remember in this state, of some 25,000 people being asked to move," she said.
"But I would rather do that ... rather than put people's lives at risk."
| Hurricanes_Tornado_Storm_Blizzard | March 2017 | ['(ABC)'] |
A soldier opens fire in a military camp and a shopping center in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand, killing 29 people and injuring 58 others before being shot dead by police the next day. It is considered the deadliest mass shooting in the country's history. | Hundreds freed from Korat mall where suspect remains at large after killing spree that started in army camp
published :
9 Feb 2020 at 08:25
updated:
11 Feb 2020 at 20:40
writer: Online Reporters
NAKHON RATCHASIMA: A soldier who killed at least 20 people in an hours-long shooting rampage remained holed up inside a shopping mall on Sunday morning with an unknown number of people feared trapped inside, despite repeated attempts by armed police to flush the gunman out.
Volleys of gunfire rang out before dawn, hours after security services stormed the ground floor of the Terminal 21 mall in Muang district, where the gunman held out, armed with assault weapons stolen from the Surathampithak army barracks where he began his killing spree on Saturday afternoon.
As police entered the mall late Saturday night, scores of stunned and terrified shoppers fled a bloody rampage that the gunman had relayed via Facebook Live video before his account was shut down.
But it was unclear how many people remained inside the mall after police said they had “taken control” of the ground floor of the complex late Saturday.
An image from security video at Terminal 21 shows the attacker entering the shopping centre around 6pm Saturday.
Among the casualties was a police officer who took part in a raid around 3am in an attempt to force the gunman out, said Deputy Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, who was on the scene.
“He had been hit and unfortunately, he couldn’t make it,” said Mr Anutin.
Shocked evacuees recounted how a shopping day at the busy mall descended into horror as the gunman entered.
“It was like a dream. … I’m grateful I survived,” Sottiyanee Unchalee, 48, told AFP, explaining she hid in the washroom of a gym inside the mall as she heard the gunfire.
“I’m so sorry for those who died … (and) the people still trapped inside.”
Over 16 hours since the rampage began, authorities gave no fresh details on the movements of the attacker — a junior army officer identified as Sgt Maj Jakrapanth Thomma, 32.
But speculation mounted that the gunman may have retreated to a basement of the mall.
Automatic weapon fire rang out just before dawn as ambulances prepared to evacuate those wounded in the attack, the motives for which remain unclear. Local media reported that the attacker had been involved in a dispute with his superior officer, who was the first person to die.
As of Sunday morning, 31 people had been confirmed injured, with four seriously wounded, said Mr Anutin.
Crowds of people rushed to local hospitals to donate blood in response to health authorities’ request to help the injured.
The carnage began around 3.30pm Saturday when the soldier shot dead his commander and two others at the Surathampithak camp before stealing weapons and ammunition and fleeing in a stolen Humvee.
He fired at civilians along the route to Terminal 21, which was packed with shoppers celebrating the long weekend.
“The gunman used a machine gun and shot innocent victims resulting in many injured and dead,” said Pol Col Krissana Pattanacharoen, the police spokesman.
Defence Ministry spokesman Lt Gen Kongcheep Tantrawanit said late Saturday that 20 deaths had been confirmed.
Officers who stormed the building urged the gunman to surrender but they were met with angry shouts and more gunfire.
One exchange of gunfire at 3.30am on Sunday led to the death of a police officer and the injury of two colleagues. They were shot by an M60 machine gun.
Authorities said four more bodies were found on the ground floor, bringing the total number of deaths to 25. The toll was subsequently lowered to 20.
Local media showed video of the soldier getting out of a vehicle in front of the mall around 6pm Saturday and firing a series of shots, sending people running. Gunshots could be heard on the video.
The attacker then fired at a cooking gas cylinder, setting off an explosion and fire. Video clips showed people running away and cowering behind cars as thunderous shots rang out.
Troops from a special warfare unit were dispatched to the mall, where the attacker was said to be holding hostages on the fourth floor.
Police Crime Suppression Division commandos arrived from Bangkok by helicopter. Police also brought the man’s mother from Chaiyaphum province to Korat in hopes that she could persuade him to surrender.
The army commander, Gen Apirat Kongsompong, was also on the scene.
Around 8.30pm, it was reported that special forces troops were preparing to “engage” the shooter inside the shopping centre. But the immediate focus was on safely evacuating the hundreds of shoppers and workers who were still trapped inside.
Police said around 11.30pm that they had taken control of floors G, 1, 2 and 3 in the mall.
The attacker streamed his earlier activity at the mall on Facebook Live and posted a selfie showing him holding a rifle. “Tired, I can barely move my fingers,” he said on a video posted at 7.20pm.
The Facebook page was taken offline a few moments later. Facebook later confirmed that it had removed the account and would also take down “any other violating content related to this attack”.
“Our hearts go out to the victims, their families and the community affected by this tragedy in Thailand. There is no place on Facebook for people who commit this kind of atrocity, nor do we allow people to praise or support this attack,” a Facebook representative said in a statement.
Other text messages posted before the page was taken down included “Should I surrender?” and “Oh shit, I’ve got cramps in my hand.” An earlier post said, “Nobody can avoid death”, and another one read, “Being rich from taking advantage of others, do they think they can use money in hell?”
Lt Gen Thanya Kriatisarn, commander of the Second Army Region, identified the slain commander as Col Anantharot Krasae, 48. A 63-year-old woman was also killed at the camp, along with another soldier.
Suspected shooter Jakrapanth Thomma is shown on his Facebook page.
.
| Riot | February 2020 | ['(Bangkok Post)', '(USA Today)'] |
Hundreds of thousands of Algerians again rally, this week in heavy rain and cold weather, against President Abdelaziz Bouteflika demanding his immediate resignation. Bouteflika is fighting for his political survival in the face of unrelenting protests and the desertion of long-time allies. | ALGIERS (Reuters) - Hundreds of thousands of Algerians rallied on Friday to demand the immediate resignation of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who is fighting for his political survival in the face of unrelenting protests and the desertion of long-time allies.
The march remained largely peaceful with police using tear gas only in isolated cases such as to stop youth approaching the presidential palace, a Reuters reporter and state news agency APS said.
Despite heavy rain and cold weather, the turnout was as large as last Friday, as protesters carrying the national flag packed central Algiers, the scene of mass protests for a month.
“We stay here until the whole system goes,” said Mahmoud Timar, a 37-year old teacher.
Bouteflika, 82 and rarely seen in public since suffering a stroke five years ago, bowed to the protesters last week by reversing plans to stand in elections for a fifth term.
But he stopped short of quitting as head of state and said he would stay on until a new constitution is adopted. The move further enraged Algerians, and many of Bouteflika’s allies have turned against him.
“We are close to victory. The system is divided,” said restaurant owner Rachid Zemmir, 55.
There were also protests in other cities such as Serif, El Oued and Skikda, television footage showed.
Even if Bouteflika quits, it is not clear if the swelling protest movement can take on the opaque network of ruling party leaders, business tycoons and army generals long regarded as paramount.
These figures may be happy to see Bouteflika go but are likely to resist any major changes, as they have done before.
Bouteflika has a track record of outmaneuvering anyone perceived as a threat. First elected president in 1999, he wrested power from the secretive military-based establishment known as “le pouvoir” (the power).
In 2015, Bouteflika sacked powerful intelligence chief Mohamed Mediene, dubbed “Algeria’s God”. Last year he dismissed about a dozen top military officers.
In the most dramatic development in a month of demonstrations, Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Ahmed Gaed Salah threw the army’s weight behind the protesters on Wednesday, saying they had expressed “noble aims”.
That was a major setback for Bouteflika, who bolstered his position over the years with the help of the army, and oligarchs who funded his election campaigns.
“The people and the army are brothers,” protesters chanted on Friday. A man held up a FedEx box with a photograph of Bouteflika taped to it beside a Return to Sender stamp.
The military has been patiently watching the protests unfold.
The generals have intervened in the past at momentous times, including cancelling an election which Islamists were poised to win in 1992, triggering a civil war in which an estimated 200,000 people were killed.
Some members of the ruling National Liberation Front party, known by its French acronym FLN, have also sided with the protesters. But Algerians want to dismantle the entire moribund political system.
“FLN, go,” protesters chanted.
They held up a poster with photographs of the people they want to dethrone, including Bouteflika, his brother Said - widely believed to be running the country - and the newly appointed prime minister.
In the past, Bouteflika and his inner circle of fellow veterans of the 1954-1962 war to end French colonial rule, FLN officials and the military skilfully managed crises.
Algerians say Bouteflika, who joined the struggle against France in the 1950s at the age of 19, is out of touch and living in the past.
“The old guard has exploited the country’s wealth. The time has come for us to have our stake,” said hairdresser Mohamed Henni, 32, marching with his wife and children.
By nightfall most protesters had gone, after cleaning up the streets as they have done in previous weeks.
| Protest_Online Condemnation | March 2019 | ['(Reuters)'] |
A 23-year-old stabs and injures eight people in the Russian city of Surgut, before being killed by police. ISIL claims responsibility for the attack. | Earlier today, a 19-year-old local residentwith a knife attacked and injured 8 people in the center of Surgut. The attacker was alegedly carrying amoulage of suicide belt.19 August 2017
The attacker was eliminated while he resisted arrest. Russian security services are probing the incident that clearly looks as a terrorist attack.
UPDATE: Russian police have declared thatit doesnot view terrorism as a primary possible motive and is currently trying to verify a claim that the attacker suffered from a mental illness.
According to recent media reports, the attacker just attempted to use the ISIS bran to attract additional attention to his actions.
It should be noted that in Russia some criminal elements have used the ISIS brand in order to draw attention to his actions and to bluff opponents.
No doubts that a threat of possible terror attacks fueled by the ISIS ideology exists in the country. Recently, such attempts are mostly made by migrant workers from Central Asia. They likely use the ISIS ideology to protest against their low social status.
There is another difference between Russian and EU cities. In Russia, locals often make attempts to implement own measures against persons that pose a threat in public places. There have been multiple cases when Russianpassangers have used force in order to solve conflicts withbrawlers during air travels via the Russian airlines. | Armed Conflict | August 2017 | ['(South Front)', '(Reuters)'] |
5 police officials in Chiniot, Punjab, are detained after footage of them whipping people in their custody are broadcast across national television channels. | Footage of the whipping was broadcast on national TV channels. Footage from Express TV
Five police officials in the Pakistani province of Punjab have been arrested for publicly whipping robbery suspects in their custody.
The officials were arrested after footage of them whipping the suspects was broadcast on national TV channels. The four men had been arrested on suspicion of stealing rice. The incident highlights a common practice by Pakistani police, who have a long-standing reputation for brutality and torture. Human rights activists have condemned the incident.
"Such behaviour is unacceptable by any official of the force," said the head of the Punjab police, Inspector General Tariq Saleem Dogar. He was speaking after ordering the arrest of the policemen involved in the incident. Mr Dogar said he had also suspended the local chief of police and ordered an inquiry into the incident. The beating took place on 1 March in the central Punjab town of Chiniot. Locals journalists say the four accused had been arrested a few days earlier on suspicion of being involved in robbing a rice truck. On Monday, the men were taken into the courtyard of the police station where they were being held.
Two were then whipped with a thick leather strap with a flat end. The other two men were taken outside the premises of the station and whipped next to a road. The incident was a spectacle for locals, one of whom filmed it. The footage shows one policeman holding the legs of a victim, while another stands on his hands. A third uses the strap to maximum effect. During this time the other victim is made to watch and then is treated in a similar manner. Human rights activists in Pakistan have condemned the incident. Asma Jahangir, head of the influential Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, called it "barbaric" and demanded strong punishments for those involved. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | March 2010 | ['(BBC)', '(The News International)'] |
Malaysian police use tear gas and water cannon to disperse thousands of protesters gathered in Kuala Lumpur calling for free and fair elections. | KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — The police fired tear gas and water cannons on Saturday at thousands of protesters here calling for free and fair elections, in one of the largest rallies in Malaysia in recent years.
Nearly 400 people were arrested during the demonstration in central Kuala Lumpur organized by the Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections, a group of 84 organizations that is demanding an overhaul of the country’s election system before a national vote that is widely expected to be held in June.
| Protest_Online Condemnation | April 2012 | ['(The New York Times)', '(AFP via Google News)'] |
Government troops in Thailand continue operations to end antigovernment protests by red shirt protestors in the capital Bangkok. | . The BBC's Chris Hogg says the army has warned of 'live fire areas'
Thailand's PM Abhisit Vejjajiva has said troops will "push forward" with an operation to end an anti-government protest in the heart of Bangkok.
He said military intervention was the only way to end the protest. Clashes between troops and protesters killed six on Saturday, bringing the toll from three days of violence to 24. There have been running battles around the fortified camp where red-shirted protesters, who want the prime minister to resign, have been based since March. The rhetoric is becoming every more strident. The more radical leaders appear to have the upper hand now and are warning of further bloodshed if troops continue their operation to seal off the area.
A group of young men, most dressed in black, look out nervously from behind their barricade of bamboo staves and tyres.
There is a loud explosion a short distance away, and there is panic as protesters rush for cover. For now an area in the commercial centre of the Thai capital is a no-go zone.
In his first televised comments since the violence erupted on Thursday, Mr Abhisit said he was trying to restore normality to the city with minimal loss. "What the government and the security agencies are doing at the moment is necessary," he said. "We can't allow a situation where people set up armed groups and overthrow the government because they don't agree with it... We cannot retreat because what we're doing is for the good of the majority of the people." He said a minority of red-shirts opposed to dialogue were putting the stability of the country at risk. "We will not retreat," he said. Authorities earlier ruled out negotiations with the red-shirt faction, several thousand of whom remain in a camp barricaded by piles of bamboo, concrete blocks, razor-wire and burning tyres. Explosions and gunfire
Saturday saw a continuation of the sporadic skirmishes around the camp that have marked the past few days. Thick, black smoke curled into the air from piles of burning tyres as protesters threw petrol bombs and fireworks towards the army lines and soldiers responded with rubber bullets and in some cases, live rounds. Earlier in the day, troops designated areas of the Thai capital as "live firing zones" in a warning to protesters. The army says it is tightening its grip around the camp, which has taken over Rajprasong, a commercial district of high-end shops, hotels and embassies in central Bangkok, in order to starve it of reinforcements and supplies. Army spokesman Col Sansern Kaewkamnerd said about 5,000 protesters remained, down from twice that number a few days ago. He said more troops would be called to keep up the pressure and eliminate the protest base if necessary. "If the protesters will not end the situation, we will have to enter the encampment," he added. Residents were being asked at security checkpoints to produce identification showing they lived in the area. One of the protest leaders, Nattawut Saikua, told the encampment that help would be provided. "We have been contacted by leaders in several provinces that they will mobilise to help us pressure the government," Reuters news agency quoted him as saying.
There were reports on Saturday evening that about 2,000 anti-government protesters had gathered on a main road near the camp. Some 170 people have been injured since the latest violence broke out on Thursday, and 27 people have been sent to jail, each given six-month sentences. All the fatalities have been civilians. More than 50 people have been killed and at least 1,500 wounded in total since the protests began in mid-March, Thai officials have said. Despite claims by the Thai government that the situation was under control and its soldiers had only fired in self-defence, army snipers have been accused of targeting protesters, and footage from Bangkok on Saturday showed red-shirts dragging gunshot victims to safety. The violence escalated on Thursday after a renegade general who supports the protests was shot in the head by an unknown gunman. Gen Khattiya Sawasdipol, better known as Seh Daeng (Commander Red), is in a critical condition. Embassy advice
About a third of the city is now under emergency rule, but while there are pockets of fighting, life beyond the barricades seems to be going on as normal, correspondents say. The US embassy has stepped up its travel warnings, advising its citizens to stay away from Bangkok, and is offering to evacuate family members of diplomatic staff. The British Embassy, meanwhile, has warned there could be intense violence. The US has encouraged the two sides "to find a way to work peacefully through these differences", while UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has also urged restraint. Many of the protesters support former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a 2006 coup. They want Mr Abhisit to dissolve parliament and call fresh elections. He had offered polls in November - but the two sides failed to agree a deal because of divisions over who should be held accountable for a deadly crackdown on protests last month. Mr Thaksin has called on the government to withdraw troops and restart negotiations. . | Armed Conflict | May 2010 | ['(BBC)', '(Bangkok Post)', '[permanent dead link]'] |
A collision between a tour bus and a truck kills at least 19 and injures 22 in Saraburi, Thailand. | Nineteen people have been killed in a collision between a bus and a lorry in central Thailand, reports say.
At least 20 more people were injured in the incident, which took place in Saraburi province early on Tuesday. The double-decker tour bus - which was travelling from Bangkok to Roi Et in the north-east - burst into flames after the collision. It was not immediately known how many people were on board the bus. A police investigation is now under way.
All of those who died were on the bus, Thai newspaper The Nation said. The accident happened around 05:00 local time (22:00 GMT) when the lorry veered across the road and hit the bus, the Bangkok Post said. "The truck crossed from the opposite lane of traffic and hit the bus," said local police officer Lieutenant Colonel Assavathep Janthanari, according to AFP news agency.
Police have arrested the lorry driver, reports say. A pick-up truck behind the bus was also reportedly involved in the collision.
| Road Crash | July 2013 | ['(Bangkok Post)', '(BBC)'] |
The US National Transportation Safety Board criticizes Tesla over the carmaker's release of investigative information regarding the fatal crash of a Model X in California. | Federal investigators said Sunday they were “unhappy” that Tesla had released information related to a fatal crash involving one of its Model X vehicles late last month.
Tesla announced late Friday that the Tesla Model X had its semiautonomous “Autopilot” mode activated moments before it slammed into a highway barrier on U.S. 101 in California on March 23, killing driver Walter Huang, 38.
In the lead-up to the crash, shortly before 9:30 a.m., “Autopilot was engaged with the adaptive cruise control follow-distance set to minimum,” Tesla said in a blog post on its website.
Autopilot is a semiautonomous mode that can automatically change lanes and speeds based on conditions, along with maintaining the proper distance between cars and proper lane positioning. Tesla says drivers should remain attentive and keep their hands on the wheel at all times, with warning cues if they are not detected, so they do not become too dependent on the technology. Tesla indicated in its statement that Huang had not been following those steps, and it blamed the severity of the crash on a highway barrier known as a “crash attenuator” meant to insulate vehicles from the effects of a collision.
But the National Transportation Safety Board, which is investigating the crash, expressed concerns with Tesla’s preliminary explanation, pointing to the ongoing investigation.
“At this time the NTSB needs the assistance of Tesla to decode the data the vehicle recorded. In each of our investigations involving a Tesla vehicle, Tesla has been extremely cooperative on assisting with the vehicle data. However, the NTSB is unhappy with the release of investigative information by Tesla,” NTSB spokesman Chris O’Neil said Sunday.
The NTSB investigation was focused on the damaged collision barrier and the post-crash fire that complicated the response, according to the agency. But in the wake of revelations that Huang had previously complained about the Autopilot feature on his SUV, the NTSB said it was investigating “all aspects of this crash including the driver’s previous concerns about the autopilot.”
“We will work to determine the probable cause of the crash and our next update of information about our investigation will likely be when we publish a preliminary report, which generally occurs within a few weeks of completion of field work,” O’Neil said.
Huang’s relatives told San Francisco ABC affiliate KGO-TV that he had previously complained to the Tesla dealership about the vehicle swerving toward the median where the fatal crash occurred.
In its blog post, Tesla appeared to offer a defense for itself after the fiery wreck left the Model X — which sells for $70,000 — a crumpled shell; its front end was shredded, and the frame was charred. Tesla blamed the damaged crash attenuator, which it said had been “crushed in a prior accident without being replaced.”
The barrier serves as a buffer between vehicles and the concrete median. Investigators have previously said the attenuator, overseen by the California Department of Transportation, had been damaged in a previous incident and had not been reset.
Tesla asserts Autopilot ‘unequivocally makes the world safer’ — days after fiery, fatal crash
“We have never seen this level of damage to a Model X in any other crash,” Tesla said.
The company also questioned whether the driver had been paying attention, though it added: “None of this changes how devastating an event like this is or how much we feel for our customer’s family and friends. We are incredibly sorry for their loss.”
Tesla said Huang had not followed guidelines intended to ensure drivers are paying attention while the vehicle is in Autopilot mode.
NTSB investigating whether damaged crash barrier contributed to fiery fatal Tesla wreck
“The driver had received several visual and one audible hands-on warning earlier in the drive and the driver’s hands were not detected on the wheel for six seconds prior to the collision,” Tesla said. “The driver had about five seconds and 150 meters of unobstructed view of the concrete divider with the crushed crash attenuator, but the vehicle logs show that no action was taken.”
In a previous investigation into a fatal crash involving a Tesla operating in semiautonomous mode, the NTSB concluded that the driver killed in the 2016 crash with a tractor-trailer was overly reliant on the car’s Autopilot system. The system worked as intended, the safety panel said, but was not intended to replace the driver.
Tesla says vehicle in deadly crash was on Autopilot
The NTSB had not made any conclusions Sunday on the cause of the crash or whether Autopilot or driver inattentiveness had contributed.
Tesla declined to comment on the NTSB’s concerns about releasing information related to the investigation. It also issued a statement defending itself against claims Huang had complained about the functionality of the Autopilot feature.
“We’ve been doing a thorough search of our service records, and we cannot find anything suggesting that the customer ever complained to Tesla about the performance of Autopilot,” a Tesla spokeswoman said. “There was a concern raised once about navigation not working correctly, but Autopilot’s performance is unrelated to navigation.”
This post has been clarified to reflect that Tesla asks drivers to keep their hands on the steering wheel at all times.
| Road Crash | April 2018 | ['(The Washington Post)'] |
Myanmar security forces fire into a crowd of 275 Rakhine people detained during a search for Arakan Army members, killing six and wounding eight. The military claim that they were forced to shoot after some of the detainees attempted to seize their weapons, despite warning shots and verbal warnings. | YANGON (Reuters) - Myanmar security forces shot dead at least six people in the troubled western state of Rakhine on Thursday, after soldiers and police detained hundreds of people at a school, a military spokesman said.
The soldiers had rounded up about 275 people during a search for members of the rebel Arakan Army, said Brigadier General Zaw Min Tun from the military’s True News Information Team.
There were conflicting accounts of events leading up to the shooting, which took place in an area off-limits to reporters and most aid agencies.
Zaw Min Tun said some of the detainees attempted to seize weapons in the early hours of the morning, forcing security forces to fire into a crowd.
“We warned them verbally. Then we fired warning shots into the air to disperse the group but they didn’t move, so shots were fired,” he said.
The International Committee of the Red Cross and Myanmar Red Cross said in a statement they had transferred three “seriously injured patients” to hospital in the state capital of Sittwe, as well as two other “civilians” to a local hospital.
“The ICRC is concerned about increasing numbers of civilian casualties during the recent weeks, and urge all parties to the conflict to protect the civilian population in line with International Humanitarian Law,” said Stephan Sakalian, head of delegation in Myanmar for the ICRC.
Rakhine came to global attention after about 730,000 Rohingya Muslims crossed into Bangladesh fleeing a military crackdown in response to militant attacks in 2017. U.N. investigators have called for senior military officers to be prosecuted over allegations of mass killings, gang rapes and arson. The military denies widespread wrongdoing.
More recently, civilians have been caught up in clashes between the military and the Arakan Army, an insurgent group that recruits from the mainly Buddhist ethnic Rakhine population and is fighting for greater autonomy for the state.
Since November, the fighting has displaced nearly 33,000 people across a large part of central and northern Rakhine and part of neighbouring Chin state, according to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
The military has initiated legal action against two news organisations, accusing them of defamation for reports that detailed the alleged shooting of civilians by soldiers in March.
Zaw Min Tun told Reuters military and police searching the Rathedaung area’s Kyauk Tan village for suspected Arakan Army members found scores of people who were not registered with authorities as living there, so gathered those people in the school.
According to a preliminary investigation, he said, six people were killed after the alleged altercation at 2 a.m. on Thursday.
As well as those killed in the shooting, eight people had been brought to the hospital in nearby Zedi Pyin village with gunshots wounds, said Maung Soe Win, chairman of the Mayu Region Development Association, a local community group, who was at the hospital.
The injured people said they had been detained for two days when one villager with a mental health problem “got up, shouted and ran away in the middle of the night”, said Maung Soe Win.
“Then (security forces) shot the villagers continuously,” he told Reuters by phone.
Another military spokesman, Major General Tun Tun Nyi, said on Thursday afternoon the remaining villagers were still being held at the school and investigated for links to the Arakan Army.
| Riot | May 2019 | ['(Reuters)'] |
The first round of the 2018 NBA Playoffs begins. | The 2017-18 NBA regular season wrapped up with one last wild Wednesday that saw the West’s final playoff berth decided, Russell Westbrook rebound his way into even more history, and all eight first-round playoff series locked in on the campaign’s final day. (Lots of last-minute flights getting booked in the wee hours of the night, y’all.) [NBA Playoffs Bracket Challenge: $1M for the perfect bracket]
Here’s a quick guide to every first-round series, including records, seeds, and some brief notes on where everybody stands entering the start of Round 1 on Saturday. The Rockets have been the NBA’s best team since just about the starting gun this season, taking down the defending champion Warriors at Oracle Arena on opening night and never looking back. Daryl Morey’s big summertime swing to create a two-headed point-guard monster has worked brilliantly, with James Harden turning in a dominant season that’s likely to earn him the first Most Valuable Player trophy of his career and Chris Paul playing about as well as ever both alongside him and in his stead, ensuring that there’s always an All-NBA pilot at the controls of Mike D’Antoni’s offense. Houston boasts the NBA’s No. 1 offense and a sixth-ranked defense, led by shot-swatting Swiss center Clint Capela and some nasty defenders on the wing. They just lost an important one, veteran Luc Mbah a Moute, for at least the first round, but they’re still a heavy favorite to advance to the conference semis for the third time in four years. While Houston had its postseason ticket punched ages ago, the Wolves had to work overtime on the regular season’s final night to knock off the Denver Nuggets and earn their spot in the top eight. Minnesota’s been up-and-down for months, going 11-10 with a barely-positive point differential since the All-Star break. But the bulk of that iffy play came with All-Star swingman Jimmy Butler sidelined following surgery to repair a torn right meniscus suffered in the Wolves’ first post-All-Star affair. Butler’s back now, turning in three straight solid games to help push Minnesota over the finish line; when he’s been on the court this season, according to Ben Falk’s numbers at Cleaning the Glass, the Wolves have produced the kind of point differential you’d expect from a 62-win team. If Butler’s ready to serve as that sort of rising tide, and All-Star center Karl-Anthony Towns can wreak havoc inside and out against Capela and company, Minnesota might be able to trade baskets with the Rockets for a while. Whether a maddeningly somehow-bottom-10-ranked defense will be able to get enough stops to get serious, though, very much remains to be seen. It feels odd to say that a defending champ that just won 58 games and features four All-Stars feels shaky, but the Warriors really stumbled their way to the finish line this season. Golden State lost six of its last 10, capped by a 40-point pasting in Utah; that the late March/early April swoon came despite the presence of Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green lends credence to the belief that, no matter how much talent the Warriors accrue, everything Golden State is still revolves around Stephen Curry. With the two-time MVP unlikely to return from his MCL sprain before the end of the first round, the Warriors still enter the postseason as a title favorite, but they also feel as vulnerable as they have in the Steve Kerr era. Unfortunately for San Antonio, they’re not working at full strength, either. The Spurs have operated nearly all season long without their best player, two-time Defensive Player of the Year and top-three MVP finisher Kawhi Leonard, who’s been dealing since preseason with right quadriceps tendinopathy. Barring any super-long-con trickery, that’s expected to continue come Saturday. It hasn’t always been pretty without Kawhi making two-way magic, but the Spurs, as ever, have kept on keeping on. Gregg Popovich’s club has weathered the end of its 18-year 50-win season streak by extending its 21-year playoff streak behind tremendous play from big man LaMarcus Aldridge, a defense that has remained in the top five in points allowed per possession all year despite lacking its best perimeter stopper, a knack for taking care of home court that’s seen them go 33-8 at AT&T Center, and timely contributions from a deep bench led by 40-year-old legend Manu Ginobili and professional scorer Rudy Gay. Their reward for all that perseverance? A first-round date with KD, Klay and Draymond. Not the coolest gift, if you ask me.
Damian Lillard’s been just about as good as it gets at the guard position this year, bombing away and dishing and controlling the game at a career-best level to propel the Blazers to the top of the tier just below Houston and Golden State out West. A Portland club that has long relied on its offense to outscore opponents now packs a defense that can clamp down, ranking in the top 10 in defensive efficiency throughout the season. If C.J. McCollum, Jusuf Nurkic and Terry Stotts’ army of intriguing specialists can hold up their end of the bargain and keep things close, the Blazers feel awfully confident that they’ll come out on top when the game gets to Dame Time. A Pelicans team intended to be built around twin towers has instead wound up relying on a lone superstar to guide them, and man, has Anthony Davis ever delivered in the absence of injured partner DeMarcus Cousins. The Brow averaged nearly 31 points, 12 rebounds and five combined blocks and steals over the final 30 games of the season, utterly dominating opposing defenses from every part of the court, raining down terror from above the rim and helping fuel New Orleans’ rise to a top-five defensive efficiency mark after the All-Star break. He’s had help — the finally healthy Jrue Holiday has been fantastic, as have post-shave Nikola Mirotic and veteran point guard Rajon Rondo — and he’ll need more of it if he’s going to not only earn the first playoff victory of his career, but push New Orleans out of Round 1 for the first time in a decade.
The Jazz have been one of the year’s best stories, a team that looked dead in the water multiple times this season — including before it, after losing All-Star forward Gordon Hayward and starting point guard George Hill in free agency — only to go on an absolute tear after getting Defensive Player of the Year candidate Rudy Gobert back from a knee injury. Utah’s been one of the hottest teams in the NBA for three solid months, riding the league’s stingiest defense and the shot creation of Rookie of the Year hopeful Donovan Mitchell all the way from a possible lottery bid to the middle of the Western playoff pack. While the Jazz have been on a nearly uninterrupted roll since mid-January, the Thunder have been a team operating in fits and starts all season long. On their best nights, Russell Westbrook, Paul George, Carmelo Anthony, Steven Adams and company can lay waste to championship favorites. On their worse evenings, they can look like a team without a clear sense of what it wants to do and who it wants to be, struggling even against some of the league’s lesser lights. George bounced back from an ice-cold shooting stretch with a 40-point explosion in the season finale, during which Westbrook rebounded his way to averaging a triple-double for the second straight season. Both have shown the capacity to take over games, even in the playoffs, and Adams is just the sort of bruiser who’ll relish going toe-to-toe with Gobert inside. What kind of impact Anthony, who has largely struggled to make his presence felt has a lower-tier option, can make on the proceedings could go a long way toward determining the Thunder’s chances of advancing.
After a disappointing end to last season, the Raptors set about triggering a “culture reset” aimed at moving away from isolation-heavy offense and facilitating a more free-flowing, ball- and player-movement-heavy style. The results have been fantastic: Toronto’s owned one of the NBA’s best offenses despite All-Stars DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry each doing a little bit less, with coach Dwane Casey empowering a young, hungry second unit to step up and prove they deserve more shots, more opportunities and more minutes. The Raptors have ridden the more egalitarian approach to the best record in franchise history and home-court advantage throughout the Eastern playoffs; they believe they’re good enough to win it all, even if the rest of the NBA-watching world still needs some convincing. Their path to proving it will begin with a visit from the Wizards, who infamously swept a higher-seeded Toronto club out of the first round back in 2015. Alas: this time around, Paul Pierce works for ESPN. John Wall and Bradley Beal are still around, though, and as long as the Wizards have their All-Star backcourt intact along with frontcourt bully Markieff Morris and do-everything wings Otto Porter Jr. and Kelly Oubre Jr., they’ve got a puncher’s chance of taking it to anybody in the East. The problem with the Wizards, however, is that they can also look capable of laying an egg against just about anybody in the East. Sometimes, they can look both ways in the same night. They’ll need the coin to land on heads more often than not to stand a chance to toppling a heavily favored Toronto team.The Celtics went from Eastern Conference finals hopeful to The Team Everyone Wants to Play in the time it took to announce that All-Star point guard Kyrie Irving won’t be suiting up in the postseason. Led by All-Star center Al Horford, Boston will still defend with intensity, precision and activity, and has enough young talent — wings Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum, reserve guard Terry Rozier, among others — to produce something special on any given night. But they’ve had trouble scoring without Irving on the floor all season long, and those problems only figure to increase in the pressurized atmosphere of the postseason. The question, though, is whether or not the Bucks can capitalize on what’s arguably the most favorable upset opportunity on the board in Round 1. Giannis Antetokounmpo has been unbelievable all year, an MVP-caliber scorer, facilitator and defensive game-wrecker. There’s more talent alongside him than there was this time last year, too, with Khris Middleton and Jabari Parker both healthy and point guard Eric Bledsoe in tow. And yet, the Bucks have felt somewhat like a team underperforming its talent level all season long — a group with a transcendent, incandescent star at the top, but without a sound plan for maximizing his contributions or those of the roster around him. That doesn’t sound like a recipe for knocking off a well-drilled and disciplined Brad Stevens-led team. Then again, while all things might not quite be possible through Giannis, overwhelming a wounded Boston squad four times in seven games just might.
Two years ago, the Sixers were two years into Sam Hinkie’s hyper-aggressive, sink-to-the-bottom-themed, multi-year rebuilding plan, and all they had to show for it were 10 measly wins. Now, though … well, if you didn’t get the idea back then, you sure do now. Ben Simmons is a revelation, a skyscraper of a point guard who guards four positions expertly, devours whatever the defense gives him and stuffs the box score like no rookie since Magic Johnson. Dario Saric is everywhere Brett Brown needs him to be, all the time. Markelle Fultz is out of the wilderness and posting triple-doubles. The Sixers, shockingly, have barely missed a beat without All-Star center Joel Embiid, and enter the playoffs owning an NBA-best 16-game winning streak. They lock down, they hunt 3s in transition, they push the pace and they work you until you break. They’re the genuine article, and they were worth the wait. In the other corner: a Miami side built primarily at the other end of the lottery, in the second round and through free-agent signings that, be honest, led you to cock an eyebrow or two as you wondered what exactly Pat Riley thought he was constructing down in South Beach. The Heat are a perpetually hard-charging tough out that beats you with grinding defense, waves of wings, the playmaking of Goran Dragic, occasional interior dominance from Hassan Whiteside and more James Johnson than you ever realized you wanted or needed. They don’t have the top-end talent Philly can unleash with Simmons and Embiid, but Erik Spoelstra’s club won’t beat itself, and will take advantage of every Sixer misstep it can. In that respect, the Heat are a perfect opening test for Brett Brown’s young club, a kind of next-level professional proving ground. If Philly can calmly handle its business here and get Embiid back in time for Round 2 … well, let’s just say things could get awfully scary in the Eastern bracket.
It’s been a chaotic season for the Cavs — if we’re being honest, it’s felt like three or maybe four seasons, really — but it’s ended in a very familiar place. LeBron James is going to start a playoff series at home, looking at a bracket full of teams he doesn’t believe can stop him enough times to matter, and plotting a course to an eighth straight NBA Finals. The path there might be a bit bumpier than it’s been in years past. James and head coach Tyronn Lue are still working out the kinks on a roster that, save for holdovers like Kevin Love and J.R. Smith, was roundly shuffled up at the February trade deadline in hopes of ameliorating the damage done by the preseason trade that swapped a disgruntled Kyrie Irving for an injured Isaiah Thomas. A spate of late-season injuries have kept Cleveland from getting a long look at how all the pieces fit together. But there’s nobody in the basketball world better equipped at that particular act of on-the-fly problem-solving than James, who’s producing at an unprecedented level for a player in his 15th pro season, who ended the season on a rampage, and who looks poised to offer his annual late-spring/early-summer reminder that all of us who’d seriously consider others to be this league’s most valuable player are, on some level, kidding ourselves. Standing in James’ way: a Pacers team that nobody expected to be part of the East’s top eight when they traded away franchise player Paul George on the eve of free agency. But then, we didn’t know that Victor Oladipo was about to make the quantum leap from “pretty good player who hasn’t really put it all together yet” to “deserving All-Star, legitimate No. 1 scoring option and top perimeter defender, clutch monster and possible All-NBA guard.” (If we had known, we probably could’ve made a lot of money on that extremely specific future bet.) The Pacers don’t play fast, they don’t bomb away from deep, and they don’t have a whole lot of players most casual fans could pick out of a lineup. What they do have, though, are pieces that fit together — guys who move without the ball, get hands in passing lanes, get out in transition, and make you earn it. They’ve been one of the league’s best stories, and best-kept secrets, all year long, and they’re capable of ruining your day if you don’t take them seriously. Unfortunately for them, LeBron doesn’t tend to lose focus too often this time of year. | Sports Competition | April 2018 | ['(Yahoo! Sports)'] |
The United States government agrees to pay $3.4 billion to settle Cobell v. Salazar, a class–action lawsuit brought by Native American representatives who claimed that it has incorrectly accounted for Native American trust assets. |
08 December 2009
Elouise Cobell (L) is greeted by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar following announcement on settlement of Cobell's lawsuit at the Interior Department in Washington, 08 Dec 2009
"We are compelled to settle now by the sobering realization that our class grows smaller each year, each month, and every day as our elders die and are forever prevented from receiving their just compensation."
The U.S. government says it has settled a long-running lawsuit against the Department of the Interior for mismanagement of trust fund accounts held by hundreds of thousands of Native Americans. The settlement ends a 13-year legal battle to resolve a dispute that dates back to the late-1800s. The legal settlement will cost the U.S. government $3.4 billion.
The agreement ends the case brought by Native American tribes charging that the Interior Department had swindled hundreds of thousands of Indians out of royalties for leasing their lands to mining, timber and energy interests.
Announcement of the settlement came at a news conference here in Washington by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, who said it was time for the government to "right a past wrong".
"It is a historic day for the United States of America. It is a historic day for the first Americans of these United States," he said.
Under the terms of the agreement, more than $1.4 billion will be distributed to more than 300,000 Native Americans to compensate them for royalty claims. Another $2 billion will be used to buy back and consolidate tribal lands lost by previous generations.
The lead plaintiff in the suit filed in 1996 is Elouise Cobell, a member of the Blackfeet Indian tribe in the western state of Montana.
Cobell told the news conference that even though some plaintiffs wanted to hold out for more money from the government, it was time to bring the dispute to an end. "Yes, we could prolong our struggle and fight longer. But we are compelled to settle now by the sobering realization that our class [the number of plaintiffs] grows smaller each year, each month, and every day as our elders die and are forever prevented from receiving their just compensation," she said.
Cobell also said there was growing pressure to reach a settlement because so many Native Americans live in poverty.
"We also face the uncomfortable, but unavoidable, fact that a large number of our individual Indian money account holders currently exist in poverty," she said. "And the settlement can begin to address that extreme situation and provide some hope and a better quality of life for their remaining years," Cobell said.
The case dates back to 1887, when the government carved up Indian reservation lands into smaller parcels and allotted them to individual Indians.
It has been the Interior Department's responsibility to manage various activities on the land, including mineral mining, oil and gas drilling, and timber harvesting, and then pay the Indians royalties for those activities. But Cobell and the other plaintiffs charged that the Interior Department had mishandled the revenues for more than a century.
President Barack Obama issued a statement hailing the agreement as an important step toward reconciliation between Indian trust beneficiaries and the federal government. The agreement still must be approved by a federal court and by Congress, which must vote to allocate the money needed to fund the settlement.
| Government Policy Changes | December 2009 | ['(Los Angeles Times)', '(Xinhua)', '(Voice of America)'] |
The UNCTAD releases a report detailing the further deterioration of the occupied Palestinian territories's economic environment. | UNCTAD's annual report on Assistance to the Palestinian People released today warned that long-term prospects for economic development in the occupied Palestinian territory have worsened.
The report points to the continuing economic blockade of Gaza, and the increase in the number of mobility barriers to Palestinian people and goods in the West Bank, as well as the decline in donor support which will have serious socio-economic ramifications for the population. The report outlines continued severe poverty, and the chronic food insecurity affecting two of every three Palestinians in the occupied territory, but is most severe in Gaza. Also alarming, the report indicates, is the poverty level in East Jerusalem, estimated at 78 per cent, higher than rates in the West Bank and Gaza.
On food insecurity, the report points out that the agricultural sector's contribution to Palestinian GDP shrank from 12 per cent in 1995 to 5.5 per cent in 2011, while only 35 per cent of the irrigable land of the occupied Palestinian territory is actually irrigated, which costs the economy 110,000 jobs per year and 10 per cent of GDP. With fishing off the coast of Gaza restricted beyond 3 nautical miles from the coast, the Palestinian fishing industry has collapsed almost completely, the report says.
UNCTAD's mandate on work on Palestine was strengthened by member States at the UNCTAD XIII conference in Doha, Qatar in April of this year.
The consensus document -- the Doha Mandate -- asked UNCTAD to:
"Continue to assess the economic development prospects of the occupied Palestinian territory and examine obstacles to trade and development, and should strengthen its programme of assistance to the Palestinian people with adequate resources and effective operational activities, as part of the international community’s commitment to building an independent Palestinian State, and with a view to alleviating the adverse economic and social conditions imposed on the Palestinian people, in line with the Accra Accord."
The report is expected to be taken up in appropriate sessions of the UNCTAD Trade and Development Board which will be meeting from 17 to 28 September. | Financial Crisis | September 2012 | ['(AFP via MSN Philippines)', '[permanent dead link]', '(Reuters)', '(ReliefWeb)'] |
Colombia's military kills ten and captures eight Revolutionary Armed Forces members in Cundinamarca. | Colombian security forces have clashed with a Marxist rebel group and captured one of its most notorious kidnappers.
Soldiers fought Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) rebels in the central province of Cundinamarca, killing 10 and capturing another eight.
Among those taken was a leader known by the alias "El Negro Antonio", whom authorities have been seeking for well over a decade.
One soldier was killed in the combat and a kidnap victim rescued.
"El Negro Antonio" is a Farc guerrilla with 33 arrest warrants outstanding against him.
The operation took place in the mountain range of Sumapaz in Cundinamarca province.
It is a severe setback for the Farc, not just because of the number of rebels killed and captured, but because it hinders its plans to reopen a movement corridor into the capital, Bogota.
It was along this corridor that El Negro Antonio used to move kidnap victims out of Bogota and into the rebel-controlled lowland jungles.
Under their new leader Alfonso Cano, the Farc rebels have been seeking to retake the initiative snatched from them over the last five years by the US-backed military.
The rebels are seeking to bring their four-decade-old war back into the cities, particularly Bogota, where their attacks have far greater impact than in the countryside. | Armed Conflict | February 2009 | ['(BBC)'] |
Wen Jiabao delivers his New Year message in state newspapers. | BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao warned his people to keep a “sober mind” about the challenges ahead in the new year as the country welcomed the arrival of the Year of the Tiger with noisy celebrations on Saturday.
“In 2010, China will face a more complicated situation, both at home and abroad,” the state news agency Xinhua paraphrased Wen as saying, in remarks carried in major newspapers.
People must “keep a sober mind and an enhanced sense of anxiety about lagging behind,” the premier added.
Priority should be given to “persistence in taking economic development as the central task, forcefully promoting reform and opening up ... and doing a better job responding to the global financial crisis, in order to keep steady and relatively fast economic development.”
The government is trying to maintain a balance between the economic growth needed to create jobs for the country’s 1.3 billion people, and not letting the economy overheat and drive up the cost of basic goods and housing for residents.
China raised the level of reserves banks must hold for the second time this year on Friday, spooking financial markets on the eve of its New Year holiday by showing it was intent to curb lending and inflation.
China powered to 8.7 percent growth last year, by far the strongest of any major economy, driving demand for everything from Chilean copper to Australian iron ore.
“Shanghai house prices must fall, they cannot go higher, this year they must fall,” said Shanghai resident Ge Jieyou, 53. “We have a lot of corruption here, I don’t think that will change this year.”
Wen, who in previous years has spent the holiday with everyone from AIDS patients to survivors of 2008’s devastating Sichuan earthquake, this year visited a drought-struck part of the southern region of Guangxi, state television said.
President Hu Jintao, by contrast, first visited Taiwan investors in the coastal city of Zhangzhou in the southeastern province of Fujian, before going to an old revolutionary base further inland.
A lion dance troupe performs during a temple fair to celebrate upcoming Chinese New Year in Beijing February 12, 2010. The Chinese New Year begins on February 14th and according to the Lunar calendar will be the Year of the Tiger.
Taiwan businesses have invested billions of dollars in China since detente began between the two sides in the 1980s, lured by a common culture and language.
China and Taiwan have been ruled separately since a civil war ended with Communist victory in 1949.
Ties have improved further following the election of China-friendly Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou in 2008, who has signed a series of landmark trade and tourism deals with Beijing.
“We will try our best in everything that will benefit the Taiwan compatriots, and we will honor our words,” Hu told the Taiwan investors, according to Xinhua.
Beijing has directed its ire over Washington’s recent decision to sell weapons to Taiwan at the United States, rather than the self-ruled and democratic island, being keen not to damage warming relations and the eventual goal of reunification.
Taiwan and China are gearing up to sign a free trade deal, something Hu told his Taiwan audience would “bring win-win results.”
The year of the tiger is believed to bring with it mythical heroic powers, even if soothsayers say it is an inauspicious one for marriage. Still, the year is seen as being good for the economy.
Beijing and the commercial capital Shanghai reverberated with huge, ad hoc firework displays and the sound of firecrackers, whose smoke filled the streets.
Firecrackers are believed to scare off evil spirits and entice the god of wealth to people’s doorsteps once New Year’s Day arrives.
Celebrations will carry on into the early hours of Sunday, officially the first day of the Lunar New Year.
Additional reporting by Lucy Hornby, and Farah Master in Shanghai
| Famous Person - Give a speech | February 2010 | ['(Reuters)'] |
Over 100 people are killed in floods after Nigeria's two major rivers burst their banks. | More than 100 people have died in floods after Nigeria's two major rivers burst their banks, authorities say.
The National Emergency Management Agency (Nema) says heavy rains caused the Niger River and Benue River to overflow. It has resulted in a series of floods across the country over two weeks, with rural areas most vulnerable.
The government is urging residents along waterways to relocate to safe places.
Thousands of people have been displaced and vast swathes of farmlands have been destroyed by the floods in central and southern Nigeria, says the BBC's Is'haq Khalid in the capital, Abuja.
Worst hit is Niger State, where more than 40 people have died, Nema director Mustapha Yunusa Maihaja told the BBC.
Eleven other states have been affected - they are Kwara, Benue, Kogi, Adamawa, Taraba, Kebbi, Bayelsa, Edo, Anambra, Rivers and Delta.
Nigerian authorities are considering declaring a state of emergency, saying more floods could hit in the coming days and weeks as heavy rains continue. Nigeria faces flooding almost every year.
Analysts blame recurring flood disasters on lack of proper town planning, blocked waterways and poor drainage systems. | Floods | September 2018 | ['(BBC)'] |
IBM's Watson artificial intelligence program wins on the U.S. quiz show Jeopardy!, defeating Brad Rutter and Ken Jennings, the series' most successful contestants. Watson used Wikipedia, among other sources, as its knowledge base. | Upon the win of its supercomputer Watson, IBM announced plans to take the technology into the health-care field with speech-recognition company Nuance.
The final round in the epic man vs. machine battle that's been playing out on Jeopardy! all week was fought tonight. The winner: Watson, IBM's supercomputer, who soundly defeated flesh-and-blood opponents Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter, ending a three-night tournament and beginning a long period of social and technological commentators trying to figure out what it all meant. To mark the event, IBM held a viewing party this evening at popular New York ping-pong spot Spin NYC with some of the engineers who helped create the supercomputer. IBM also took the opportunity to announce a collaboration with speech-technology company Nuance to bring Watson like computing and analysis to the healthcare world. "We're moving beyond Jeopardy!" Dave Ferrucci, the principal engineer behind Watson, said at the event. "With the Watson technology, we're going to look at creating a commercial offering in the next 24 months that will help empower doctors to do higher quality decision making and diagnoses." Trebek opened the show by talking about what he learned over the past two days, remarking on Watson's propensity to wager seemingly random amounts on Daily Doubles and Final Jeopardy, and joking that Toronto is now a U.S. city, a reference to Watson's bizarre answer in the previoius night's final round. Watson pulled out to an early lead, though Jennings and Rutter soon responded. Jennings came from behind on the first round's Daily Double, pulling ahead to $7,200. Round Two saw Watson cement its lead, but it also revealed again the computer's tendency to bet strange totals on Daily Doubles, wagering just $367 at one point. By the end of the round, though, Watson led the trio with $23,440. With final Jeopardy, it was Jennings' last chance to win, since Rutter had fallen behind. His correct question of "Who is Bram Stoker" to an answer about 19th Century novelists was accompanied by a message: "I for one welcome our computer overlords." The message was prescient. Watson also had the correct answer, though, winning it the game with $77,973 total. At Spin NYC, the bar erupted into applause at the win. Ferrucci explained Watson's strange wagers: "They seem random to us mere mortals. What's actually going on there is that the team has trained on human betting patterns. It's considering its confidence. It's also considering where it is in the game, and how much more there is to go. It's a very complex calculation, with very precise results. We could have rounded it, but we figured just give the number." What IBM does think Watson is good for is data analysis and aiding decision making, which is why the company's approaching the health care field first. The technology has the ability to scan and analyze data from far more sources than a human ever could in a short period of time, potentially aiding doctors in diagnosing complex but urgent conditions. Going a step further, Ferrucci speculated that at least part of the technology might someday make its way into mobile devices, bringing Watson-like analysis directly to consumers. "It's so much better on mobile devices to answer succinctly. That could be very helpful. But ultimately it's more of a business intelligence kind of interaction." Despite the Jeopardy win and the promise of Watson, Ferrucci is careful to point out that his creation is still no substitute for human decision making. After all, when Watson gets a question wrong—as in the Toronto example—it gets it extremely wrong. "With Jeopardy! these are human questions written for humans, whereas all the computer has are words. It can't rely on human context to determine things. "I hope people stop and scratch their heads, and think about the limits of computation, and what does it mean to be intelligent," Ferrucci said. "When you deconstruct this, and look at the machine, is any part of this really understanding the question? No. We don't want computers in my opinion making value judgments about what it means to be human. Only humans can do that." PCMag.com is a leading authority on technology, delivering Labs-based, independent reviews of the latest products and services. Our expert industry analysis and practical solutions help you make better buying decisions and get more from technology.
© 1996-2021 Ziff Davis, LLC. PCMag Digital Group
PCMag, PCMag.com and PC Magazine are among the federally registered trademarks of Ziff Davis, LLC and may not be used by third parties without explicit permission. The display of third-party trademarks and trade names on this site does not necessarily indicate any affiliation or the endorsement of PCMag. If you click an affiliate link and buy a product or service, we may be paid a fee by that merchant. | Sports Competition | February 2011 | ['(PC Mag)', '(The Vancouver Sun)', '(NPR)', '(IBM)'] |
The trial of the lone surviving gunman involved in the 2008 Mumbai attacks, Ajmal Kasab, concludes. | The trial of the man alleged to be the sole surviving gunman in the 2008 Mumbai (Bombay) attacks has concluded, with a verdict expected in May.
Pakistani national Mohammad Ajmal Amir Qasab, 22, faces 86 charges, including waging war on India, murder and possessing explosives. In all, 610 witnesses testified during the case, which began last March. The November 2008 attacks left 174 people dead, including nine gunmen and soured ties between India and Pakistan. The defendant, who remained quiet throughout the proceedings, simply nodded as the judge told him he would pass judgement on 3 May. The judge will also give his verdict on two Indian men - Fahim Ansari and Sabahuddin Ahmed - who are accused of helping the gunmen plan the attacks. Pakistan arrests
Speaking outside the court, special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam said: "The trial has ended and the prosecution has presented the links between Kasab, [banned militant group] Lashkar-e-Taiba and the Pakistani army."
The prosecution are seeking the death penalty for Mr Qasab. He originally denied the charges against him but in July, in a dramatic outburst in court, he admitted his role and asked to be hanged. His plea was not accepted and the trial continued. In November, the main lawyer representing Mr Qasab - who was arrested on the first day of the attacks - was removed from the case. The judge said he was wasting time. After initial denials, Pakistan acknowledged that Mr Qasab was one of its citizens and that the attacks had been partially planned on its territory. Late last year, Pakistan charged seven people in connection with the attacks, including the suspected mastermind Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, who is alleged to head Lashkar-e-Taiba. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Sentence | March 2010 | ['(NDTV)', '(BBC)'] |
An airstrike carried out in north-west Yemen kills seven and injures eight others at a hospital. The airstrike occurred early when patients and staff members were arriving. | A charity has condemned an air strike near a hospital in rebel-held north-western Yemen that killed at least eight people, five of them children.
A missile hit a petrol station 50m (164ft) from the entrance of the Kitaf rural hospital on Tuesday morning, according to Save the Children.
The blast also injured eight people.
It was not clear who was behind the attack, but a Saudi-led coalition is carrying out air strikes in support of the government in Yemen's civil war.
The coalition insists it never deliberately targets civilians, but human rights groups have accused it of bombing markets, schools, hospitals and residential areas.
Tuesday was the fourth anniversary of the escalation of the civil war, which has killed thousands and pushed millions to the brink of starvation.
Save the Children says the petrol station in the area, which is 60km (40 miles) from the city of Saada, was struck by a missile at about 09:30 (06:30 GMT) on Tuesday, as many people were arriving at the nearby hospital.
An eight-year-old boy was the youngest person killed. Another boy aged 10, two boys aged 12, and one boy aged 14 also lost their lives.
One injured health worker, who was in the emergency room treating two young children when the strike happened, said: "All people were screaming and running out of the hospital. The structure of the hospital was totally damaged inside. Our colleague lost two children. They were burned. "I got injured in my head and I was bleeding. I ran away from the hospital with my colleague to a safe place but we found nothing that could help me stop the bleeding. It was the most difficult moment of my life."
Helle Thorning-Schmidt, the chief executive of Save the Children International, said she was "shocked and appalled by this outrageous attack" on a medical facility that the charity supported, and she demanded an urgent investigation.
"Innocent children and health workers have lost their lives in what appears to been an indiscriminate attack on a hospital in a densely populated civilian area. Attacks like these are a breach of international law," she added. This hospital was "de-conflicted", which means all the warring parties were made aware of its location and were obliged to avoid it by a radius of 100m.
Residents and the rebel Houthi movement blamed the Saudi-led coalition for the attack, and Save the Children noted that the only warring party with access to planes that can carry out air strikes is the coalition. The rebel-run health ministry condemned the "coalition's continued disregard for Yemeni lives" and said it had committed four war crimes in targeting the hospital.
There was no immediate comment from coalition officials.
Save the Children reported on Monday that at least 226 Yemeni children had been killed and 217 more injured in air raids carried out by the Saudi-led coalition in the past year.
Yemen has been devastated by a conflict that escalated in March 2015, when the Houthis seized control of much of the west of the country and forced President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi to flee abroad.
Alarmed by the rise of a group they saw as an Iranian proxy, the UAE, Saudi Arabia and seven other Arab states intervened in an attempt to restore the government.
The UN says at least 7,025 civilians have been killed and 11,140 injured in the fighting. Thousands more civilians have died from preventable causes, including malnutrition, disease and poor health.
About 80% of the population - 24 million people - need humanitarian assistance and protection.
About 20 million need help securing food, including almost 10 million who the UN says are just a step away from famine. Almost 240,000 of those people are facing "catastrophic levels of hunger".
Yemen has also struggled to deal with the largest cholera outbreak ever recorded, which has resulted in 1.49 million suspected cases and 2,960 related deaths.
Saudi blacklist call over Yemen attacks
| Armed Conflict | March 2019 | ['(BBC)', '(The Washington Post)'] |
Twice in the last seven days, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates have secretly teamed up to launch airstrikes against Islamist-allied militants battling for control of Tripoli according to senior American officials. | CAIRO Twice in the last seven days, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates have secretly launched airstrikes against Islamist-allied militias battling for control of Tripoli, Libya, four senior American officials said, in a major escalation of a regional power struggle set off by Arab Spring revolts.
The United States, the officials said, was caught by surprise: Egypt and the Emirates, both close allies and military partners, acted without informing Washington, leaving the Obama administration on the sidelines. Egyptian officials explicitly denied to American diplomats that their military played any role in the operation, the officials said, in what appeared a new blow to already strained relations between Washington and Cairo.
| Armed Conflict | August 2014 | ['(New York Times)'] |
Wadah Khanfar steps down as the head of the Al Jazeera news network, and is replaced by Sheikh Ahmad bin Jassim bin Mohammad Al Thani, a member of the Qatari royal family. | WADAH KHANFAR, seated behind a vast desk and surrounded by TV screens, deep leather sofas and a wall of global media awards, always cut an impressive figure in his director-general’s office at al-Jazeera headquarters in the Qatari capital, Doha.
But his career at the top of the most important news organisation in the Arab world ended yesterday when he was replaced by a member of the Qatari royal family. It was an abrupt and dramatic move at a time of unprecedented turmoil across the Middle East.
Khanfar, credited with revolutionising the Arab media landscape, said he was resigning after eight years that consolidated the satellite network’s reputation and his own highly influential position.
The new boss is Sheikh Ahmed bin Jassim al-Thani, a little-known executive at Qatargas and a member of the fabulously wealthy Gulf state’s ruling dynasty – pointing to a clear attempt to exercise greater control.
It is thought that Khanfar had become too independent a figure for the Qataris, and that he had come under pressure from them. Recently al-Jazeera has been accused of pulling its punches over the uprising in Bahrain, where Saudi Arabia dominates regional policy. Al-Jazeera’s Lebanon chief, Ghassan Bin Jiddo, resigned in April, apparently in disagreement over coverage of some of the revolts.
But Khanfar denied speculation that his departure was linked to outside pressure from the Qatar royal family, the US or anyone else. “I have spent eight years with the network. We have been talking in this part of the world about change, about presidents who stay for decades in their posts. I thought maybe it is good to give an example as well, while the network is at the peak of its performance. It’s the right moment,” he said.
The Palestinian-born journalist said his resignation had “nothing to do with any of the speculation” on Twitter and said he agreed “a couple of months ago” with al-Jazeera’s board to step down.
Describing the channel’s coverage this year as “amazing”, he added: “We have stood with the people and supported their freedom. I maintained the independence of the network . . . I think this will continue.”
“It’s seismic,” said one journalist on the AJ English channel. “We are all in shock. This was a guy who had had a meteoric rise and he was at the very top of his game.” Arab sources close to the Qatari government said the move had been planned six months ago.
Al-Jazeera, owned by the emir, broke the mould of Arabic media organisations that were bankrolled by, and subservient to, governments or censors when it was set up in 1996. Often technically brilliant and highly partisan, it has excelled during the Arab uprisings with the slogan – cleverly echoing the battle cry of past revolutionary struggles – “the coverage continues”.
Khanfar is a high-profile figure on the international conference circuit. Critics say his sympathy for the Muslim Brotherhood shows in often favourable coverage of Islamist movements.
But he rejected that criticism. Islamist groups played an important part in the uprisings and therefore featured, he said.
Not surprisingly, he has many enemies. The PLO was furious about the leak to al-Jazeera of documents exposing embarrassing details of its secret negotiations with Israel. Reactions to news of his departure included the acid comment by one pro-regime Syrian that he had been “exposed as a CIA asset”, referring to WikiLeaks documents that show him meeting US diplomats in Doha. Khanfar shrugged off these revelations, saying he met leaders, ministers and representatives of many countries.
His resignation letter was clearly written with a view to fixing his legacy as the man who made al-Jazeera: “Authoritarian regimes were terrified at the birth of this new institution and they quickly went on the offensive,” he wrote.
Asked what he was going to do now, he said: “I’m going to continue in the same spirit of al-Jazeera. I’m going to very soon announce something related to it, related to the media and the ethics and standards of the profession.” – ( Guardianservice) | Government Job change - Appoint_Inauguration | September 2011 | ['(Financial Times)', '(Irish Times)', '(Al Jazeera)'] |
Police in Zimbabwe arrest Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of the Movement for Democratic Change, the principal opposition party. | The lawyer for Zimbabwe's main opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai say police took him away in the middle of the night for questioning about a demonstration planned for later today.
"The police are saying they want to know what he is planning to do today," lawyer Alec Muchadehama told Reuters.
Mr Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) planned the march to press veteran President Robert Mugabe for a new constitution to guarantee parliamentary and presidential elections due in March are free and fair.
The MDC launched a legal challenge on Tuesday (local time) to a police ban on the march.
MDC secretary-general Tendai Biti told Reuters that Mr Tsvangirai was picked up from his home in a suburb of the capital Harare by plain-clothes officers.
"He was picked up at around 4am (local time) in respect of the intended demonstration. His mobile phone is now off and we are really worried," he said.
The lawyer says police also detained another MDC leader, Dennis Murira.
Mr Mugabe has been in power since independence from Britain in 1980.
Mr Tsvangirai was last arrested in March 2007 along with dozens of opposition officials ahead of another planned march. He says police beat him up in custody. They deny this.
Police had initially granted permission for the march, which the MDC called to protest against a crumbling economy blamed on government mismanagement as well as to press for a new constitution.
On Tuesday, Mr Muchadehama said the Harare Magistrates Court would hear an application today on overturning the ban, which police say was prompted by fears the demonstration would degenerate into violence and looting.
-Reuters
We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Australians and Traditional Custodians of the lands where we live, learn, and work.
This service may include material from Agence France-Presse (AFP), APTN, Reuters, AAP, CNN and the BBC World Service which is copyright and cannot be reproduced.
AEST = Australian Eastern Standard Time which is 10 hours ahead of GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Arrest | January 2008 | ['(ABC News Australia)'] |
Rainstorms in southern Haiti trigger floods and mudslides, resulting in at least 23 deaths with the capital Port–au–Prince worst affected. , | Updated | PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Heavy rain hammered southern Haiti for a seventh straight day Tuesday, triggering floods and mudslides and causing houses and shanties in the capital to collapse. The official death toll was 23 but could rise as remnants of the storm lingered.
By Thony Belizaire, AFP/Getty Images
Children make thier way to school through a flooded area in Port-au-Prince.
By Thony Belizaire, AFP/Getty Images
Children make thier way to school through a flooded area in Port-au-Prince.
Haitian authorities listed six people as missing.
Runoff from the rain sent rivers surging and flooded many homes as people scrambled to their rooftops. The slow-moving storm system also toppled trees and debris blocked streets throughout the capital.
At least 23 people were killed and more than a dozen injured, said Edgar Joseph, a spokesman for Haiti's Civil Protection Department. Most of the deaths were in Port-au-Prince and they included two who died over the weekend, he said.
Thirteen people died in Petionville, a hillside city southeast of downtown Port-au-Prince, Joseph said. In one incident, a concrete house slid down a ravine and crashed into several smaller homes.
A 53-year-old man, Jean Wildor Charutis, said his older sister and a niece died in the large house that crashed down the ravine. "There was so much rain it shook the house," he said as he and government rescue workers searched for survivors.
The storm system has saturated much of the Caribbean in recent days, with flooding reported in the neighboring Dominican Republic as well as in Jamaica, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Authorities reported two deaths in the Dominican Republic and one in Jamaica to the weather.
Civil defense authorities in the Dominican Republic said 25 homes were destroyed and more than 8,400 people were evacuated. The dead included a 13-year-old boy who was swept away and drowned while watching a river swell near Santo Domingo.
In Haiti, the week of pounding rain has deepened the misery for tens of thousands of people living in the tent-and-tarp settlements that sprung up after the January 2010 earthquake. Aid groups have warned that the wet weather could worsen a cholera outbreak that has killed more than 5,300 people since October.
Michel Davison, a coordinator for the International Desk of the U.S. National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, said satellite data indicate that rain drenched Haiti along the border with the Dominican Republic for at least six hours Monday night, dumping between four to six inches.
"That's a fairly intense rainfall amount," Davison said in a phone interview. "That's been happening now for five, seven days. The ground is so saturated at this point that it doesn't take much to produce floods."
Davison said Haiti will see more rain Wednesday, but should get a much-needed reprieve later the week.
Two children died and three others were injured in the Nazon neighborhood in Port-au-Prince after the wall of a home fell on them, according to the Civil Protection Department.
Meanwhile, hospitals saw an influx of patients.
Doctors at a hospital run by the Miami aid group Project Medishare treated at least 10 people for injuries, including a puncture wound, said Gabriele Denis, a hospital administrator. Aid group Doctors Without Borders treated at least 10 people, many of them injured when walls fell on them, said Sylvain Groulx, chief of mission for Doctors Without Borders.
Haiti's newly elected President Michel Martelly took to national television just before midnight to calm the nation as the storm was still passing over the city. "This message is to tell the population that I'm with you," the president said.
Martelly ordered government construction workers to show up to work early Tuesday to help remove debris.
Rains earlier this week prompted the government and international aid groups to evacuate dozens of families who live around the overflowing Lake Azuei. | Floods | June 2011 | ['(USA Today)', '(BBC News)'] |
Troops in Bishkek fire shots as protesters travel to support Urmat Baryktabasov, an opposition politician who arrived back in Kyrgyzstan from overseas. | Security forces in the Kyrgyz capital have fired shots in the air to disperse anti-government demonstrators. The protesters are supporters of politician and former presidential aspirant Urmat Baryktabasov. They were travelling to the capital by bus when they were stopped by the authorities outside the city. Earlier about 1,000 of Mr Baryktabasov's supporters marched across central Bishkek and demonstrated outside the parliament building. They denounced the interim authorities, who have run the country since leader Kurmanbek Bakiyev was ousted in violent protests in April.
The new government, led by interim President Roza Otunbayeva, has been working to stamp its authority on the impoverished Central Asian nation, which also saw deadly ethnic violence in June.
Kyrgyz authorities accuse Urmat Baryktabasov of trying to oust the previous government in a 2005 demonstration that turned violent. Mr Baryktabasov fled abroad but then returned to Kyrgyzstan after Mr Bakiyev was overthrown. Reports said that some of his supporters wanted a place for him in the government and an end to a police case against him. The stand-off occurred on the outskirts of Bishkek, where police had stopped several buses travelling to join the rally in the centre of the capital. The crowd dispersed after shots were fired into the air and tear gas was used, reports said. Appearing on national television, Kyrgyz Interior Minister Kubatbek Baibolov said that the situation was "under control and we will not allow a destabilisation". He promised tough measures against anyone who tried to seize power. Setback for EU in
Why residents of these paradise islands are furious
Why doesn't North Korea have enough food?
y
How the Delta variant took hold in the UK. VideoHow the Delta variant took hold in the UK | Protest_Online Condemnation | August 2010 | ['(BBC)', '(UPI)'] |
Further violent clashes break out in Tehran. | TEHRAN Iranian officials stepped up efforts to crush the remaining resistance to a disputed presidential election on Wednesday, as security forces overwhelmed a small group of protesters with brutal beatings, tear gas and gunshots in the air. Intelligence agents shut down an office of a defeated presidential candidate, saying it was a “headquarters for a psychological war.” The nation’s leadership cast anyone refusing to accept the results of the race as an enemy of the state. Analysts suggested that the unyielding response showed that Iran’s leaders, backed by the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, had lost patience and that Iran was now, more than ever, a state guided not by clerics of the revolution but by a powerful military and security apparatus. | Armed Conflict | June 2009 | ['(CNN)', '(The New York Times)'] |
Qatar orders its traders and shops to stop dealing in products imported from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Bahrain. | DUBAI (Reuters) - Qatar said it was banning products originating from the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Bahrain, almost a year after those states imposed an embargo on Doha, accusing it of supporting terrorism.
“Products originating from the blockading states, which as a result of the blockade cannot pass the Gulf Cooperation Council Customs Territory, have to undergo proper import inspections and customs procedures,” a government statement said late on Saturday.
“To protect the safety of consumers in the State of Qatar and to combat improper trafficking of goods, the government issued a directive to find new suppliers of the variety of goods impacted.”
The national Al Watan newspaper quoted a circular from the Ministry of Economy and Commerce telling traders and shops to stop dealing in products imported from the four countries. It said inspectors would monitor compliance with the policy.
The four states cut diplomatic and transport ties last June. Qatar, which had many of its imports trans-shipped from the UAE and received the bulk of its fresh food across the Saudi border, denied the accusations against it.
Imports into Qatar plunged about 40 percent from a year earlier in the initial weeks of the boycott, but they have since mostly returned to normal as Doha has found new sources of products in countries such as Turkey, and developed new shipping routes through places such as Oman. Qatar has also launched a drive to produce more things locally, including foods.
Since last June, some foods and other products from the embargo states have continued to find their way into Qatar through third countries.
A spokesman for Qatar’s government declined to give details but said any imports coming to the country must go through proper import inspections.
He was not immediately able to give the value of the goods affected by the new measures, and whether the ban would cover all products trans-shipped through the embargo states in addition to goods produced there.
Bahrain’s Foreign Minister Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmed al-Khalifa told Alsharq Alawsat newspaper on Sunday he saw no resolution to the diplomatic row in sight.
| Government Policy Changes | May 2018 | ['(Reuters)'] |
More than 1,500 people are injured when panic erupts among Juventus fans who are watching the 2017 UEFA Champions League Final on Piazza San Carlo in Turin, Italy. | A number of people have been injured after panic erupted among football fans who were watching the Champions League final at Piazza San Carlo square in the Italian city of Turin. Reports of an explosion are false. The incident happened at around 10:30 p.m. local time on Saturday when panic erupted at Piazza San Carlo square, though it was not immediately clear what had caused it. Reports of an explosion have been denied by officials.
Videos from the scene showed hundreds of people fleeing from the area amid fears of a possible terrorist attack. A number of people are being treated for injuries though there was no immediate word on the number of victims or the seriousness of their injuries.
Thousands of people had gathered at the square to watch the Champions League final on giant TV screens. The city of Turin is located in northwest Italy, about 125 kilometers (78 miles) southwest of Milan. | Riot | June 2017 | ['(BNO News)', '(AFP)'] |
Christine Lagarde announces that she will step down as managing director of the International Monetary Fund on 12 September 2019. | Christine Lagarde has said she will step down as managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
It comes ahead of a decision on her nomination to become head of the European Central Bank (ECB). Ms Lagarde said she would leave the IMF on 12 September.
"With greater clarity now on the process for my nomination as ECB president and the time it will take, I have made this decision in the best interest of the fund," she said.
"The executive board will now be taking the necessary steps to move forward with the process for selecting a new managing director."
The former French cabinet minister has been head of the IMF since 2011. If the European Council approves her ECB nomination, she will become the central bank's first ever female leader, responsible for the euro and the monetary policy of the eurozone.
Known as the "rock star" of international finance, Ms Lagarde, 63, began her career as a lawyer before moving into politics. She served in various ministerial posts under Nicolas Sarközy before being elected as the first female boss of the IMF - replacing Dominique Strauss Khan.
Who will take over at the IMF? The nominations will start coming in soon enough. But the selection raises once again an old sore in arrangements for the leadership of the IMF and the World Bank. There was a post-Second World War understanding - or carve-up if you prefer - that the top job at the IMF would go to a European, while an American would run the World Bank. Christine Lagarde continued that tradition. She was the IMF's fifth French managing director. The issue was last reopened earlier this year, when a vacancy suddenly arose at the top of the World Bank. President Trump's nominee, David Malpass got the job. There have been challenges to the established practice. When Ms Lagarde was selected, the Mexican central banker Agustin Carstens ran against her, and there were non-European nominations before that. It would not be a surprising if there were more this time. So far, however the post war deal has held up. Consistently ranked among the top 10 most powerful women globally, Ms Lagarde has helped to rebuild the IMF's credibility following Greece's 2010 bailout, which bent the fund's rules.
She also presided over the IMF's biggest bailout, a $57bn deal for Argentina last year that many credited with arresting emerging market turbulence.
Last year, she was reported to have said "no, no, no no, no no" when asked if she was interested in running the European Central Bank (ECB).
However, she later described receiving the nomination as "an honour".
The role is likely to test the silver-haired 63-year-old, who has admitted before that she lacks economic experience. Dark clouds are hovering over Italy's banking sector and the bloc is in the midst of a slowdown.
However, one former IMF official said her leadership of the fund meant she was "exceptionally qualified" to run the ECB. | Government Job change - Resignation_Dismissal | July 2019 | ['(BBC)'] |
Former U.S. President Barack Obama officially endorses his former Vice President Joe Biden, the presumptive nominee in the Democratic Party primaries. | In a video released on Tuesday, Mr. Obama endorsed his former vice president, saying the country needed a steady leader to combat the coronavirus pandemic.
I’m so proud to endorse Joe Biden for president of the United States. Choosing Joe to be my vice president was one of the best decisions I ever made. And he became a close friend, and I believe Joe has all the qualities we need in a president right now: He’s someone whose own life has taught him how to persevere, how to bounce back when you’ve been knocked down. Joe has the character and the experience to guide us through one of our darkest times, and heal us through a long recovery. And I know he’ll surround himself with good people — experts, scientists, military officials who actually know how to run the government, and care about doing a good job running the government. And know how to work with our allies, and who will always put the American people’s interests above their own. For those of us who love this country, and are willing to do our part to make sure it lives up to its highest ideals, now is the time to fight for what we believe in. So join us, join Joe. Keep taking care of yourself and your families and each other. Keep believing in the possibilities of a better world. And I will see you on the campaign trail as soon as I can.
‘See You on the Campaign Trail’: Obama Endorses Biden By Maggie Astor and Katie Glueck
Former President Barack Obama emerged from political hibernation on Tuesday to endorse Joseph R. Biden Jr. and urge the Democratic Party — including, explicitly, supporters of Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont — to unite behind its presumptive presidential nominee in the face of the coronavirus pandemic. | Government Job change - Election | April 2020 | ['(The New York Times)'] |
Jens Stoltenberg takes over as the Prime Minister of Norway after Kjell Magne Bondevik. In Stoltenberg's majority coalition government, ten ministers represent the PMs own party, the Norwegian Labour Party , five come from the Socialist Left Party , and four from the Centre Party . Nine of the nineteen ministers are women. | New Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg read off the list of new government ministers in front of the Royal Palace Monday morning.
Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg of the Labour Party emerged from the Royal Palace in Oslo after first delivering his list of government ministers to King Harald V. Many of the top positions already had been tipped in advance.
The two party leaders who formed the so-called "red-green" government coalition with Labour, for example, both took over powerful posts. Kristin Halvorsen of the Socialist Left is Norway's new finance minister, while Åslaug Haga of the Center Party, which champions the interests of farmers and Norway's outlying districts, is the new cabinet minister in charge of local governments.
The important position of Foreign Minister went to Jonas Gahr Støre, a longtime Labour Party member who held key posts in the governments of legendary Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland. Støre most recently has headed the Norwegian Red Cross.
Erik Solheim, former head of the Socialist Left and a good friend of Halvorsen, will make a comeback in government circles after being named head of the ministry in charge of foreign aid. Solheim most recently has been a UN envoy heavily involved in peace efforts in Sri Lanka.
Surprise appointments included Odd Roger Enoksen from the Center Party as Oil and Energy Minister, an important post in Norway. That spot had been widely expected to go to former Center Party head Marit Arnstad, who was the oil minister in an earlier coalition government. Arnstad, a single mother, reportedly declined the post just before the weekend, in order to spend more time with her young son.
Another surprise was the appointment of Anne-Grete Strøm-Erichsen, a former mayor of Bergen from the Labour Party, as Defense Minister. Helen Bjørnøy, an ordained minister who recently lost her bid to be new bishop of Oslo, will be Norway's new minister of the environment. Bjørnøy currently is secretary general of the charitable organization Kirkens Bymisjon. | Government Job change - Appoint_Inauguration | October 2005 | ['(Ap)', '(SV)', '(Sp)', '(Aftenposten)'] |
A suicide bombing at a church in the northeastern Nigerian city of Bauchi kills at least two people and wounds up to 48 others. | A suicide bomber has attacked a church in Bauchi, northern Nigeria, killing at least two people and injuring 48, according to the Red Cross. Police said the bomber's car was stopped at the gates of St John's Church where he detonated explosives packed inside the vehicle.
Bauchi has often been targeted by the Islamist Boko Haram group, which wants to impose Sharia law across Nigeria.
Sunday attacks on churches took place regularly earlier this year.
Doctors in Bauchi warned that many of the injuries were serious and the death toll could rise.
Speaking at a nearby hospital, Bauchi deputy police commissioner T. Stevens told journalists: "The situation has been brought under control. We have our men minding all areas." Attacks in central and northern Nigeria blamed on Boko Haram have killed some 1,400 people since 2010. On 16 September, Nigerian security forces said they killed Boko Haram's spokesman Abu Qaqa in a gun battle in the northern state of Kano.
However, the group has not confirmed his death. Meanwhile, the military in Yobe state imposed a 24-hour curfew on two cities as soldiers went door-to-door, searching for Boko Haram members.
"Residents of the two cities are to remain indoors until further notice to enable security personnel to fish out Boko Haram terrorists," a military spokesman told the AFP news agency.
| Armed Conflict | September 2012 | ['(BBC)'] |
A storm sweeps across Western Europe, killing at least 50 people and leaving a million homes without power. |
At least 50 people have been killed in storms that have lashed parts of Spain, Portugal and France, officials say.
Forty-five of the victims died in France, where many drowned or were hit by parts of buildings or falling trees. Winds of up to 140km/h (87mph) caused chaos as they moved from Portugal up through the Bay of Biscay. The storm system is moving north-eastwards and areas of France bordering Belgium and Germany are on alert for heavy rain and high winds. Power cuts
Worst affected have been the Vendee and Charente-Maritime regions on the western coast of France. Huge waves and strong gusts battered many coastal towns, spreading floods inland and destroying buildings. Residents took to their roofs in the Vendee region and police helicopters were in action attempting to locate and rescue them. At least a dozen people are said to be missing in France and 59 others injured. President Nicolas Sarkozy expressed his condolences to relatives of victims, and said that he would visit the stricken area on Monday. The French Prime Minister Francois Fillon said France would formally declare the storm a natural disaster, freeing up funds to help communities rebuild. He said that the priority now would be to make all the homeless people and those still threatened by rising waters safe. He added that flood prevention defences would be strengthened. "The government will, along with the local authorities, set up without delay a special plan to rebuild and strengthen the dykes, " he said. The storm system, named Xynthia, has put five of the 95 French departments on red alert - only the second such warning since a new emergency system was introduced in 2001. More than a million homes in France have lost electricity, from the Brittany peninsula in the west to the highlands of the Massif Central in the centre of the country. According to the AFP news agency, the French national power company EDF said half a million customers were still without power at nightfall on Sunday, and Mr Fillon said it would take several days to restore power everywhere. Transport hit
AFP reported that in Germany, a man was killed and his wife injured when a tree fell on their car in the Black Forest region. A female jogger in the western town of Bergheim, and a man in Belgium, were also killed by falling trees. Earlier on Sunday two Spanish men died when a tree crushed their car near Burgos. A Spanish woman was killed by a falling wall in Galicia, and a Portuguese boy was killed by a tree in Paredes. Rail services were severely affected in northern Spain and a number of trains in western France were delayed because of flooded tracks. Air France said 100 of its flights had been cancelled from Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris. Wind speeds hit 175km/h at the top of the Eiffel Tower, French radio reported. The French meteorological service said that shortly after 1700 local time (1600 GMT) the storm passed into Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands, and there were reports of high winds in the Swiss Alps. Spain's Canary Islands, particularly La Palma, Gran Canaria and Tenerife, were also hit by the storm, although there was no great damage. What are these? | Hurricanes_Tornado_Storm_Blizzard | February 2010 | ['(BBC)', '(Deutsche Welle)', '(euronews)', '(The Sydney Morning Herald)'] |
Over 19 flights are cancelled as a three–day strike at Lisbon Airport comes to an end. The strike was instigated when airport owner Vinci refused to unfreeze wages for the employees. | LISBON (Reuters) - A three-day strike by workers at Lisbon airport led to the cancellation of several flights this weekend, with more likely before the action ends on Sunday, the workers’ union and Portuguese airport authority said.
EasyJet EZJ.L, Brussels Airlines, Eurowings, Transavia France, and Wizz Air UK flights from and to Britain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Switzerland and Germany were canceled on Saturday and Sunday. SINTAC union spokesman Fernando Simoes said 19 flights had been canceled due to the strike, with seven redirected to Faro airport in the south of Portugal.
Portugal’s airport authority’s website showed more than 25 flights to and from the airport had been canceled.
A Lisbon airport spokesman declined to confirm the number of cancellations, but said a statement would likely be given at the end of the day.
Talks between SINTAC and Vinci Group-owned Portway, which employs workers at Lisbon, Porto, Faro and Funchal airports, broke down in December when the company said it would not unfreeze salaries.
It had committed to do so by November 2019 when the freeze was implemented in 2016.
Portway said in a statement on Sunday that it was ready to return to the negotiating table, with discussions already scheduled for January.
However, SINTAC spokesman Fernando Simoes told Reuters that the union plans to carry on with another strike by overtime and weekend workers from Jan. 1 to the end of March.
SINTAC said the company’s decision not to unfreeze salaries was intended to punish the union’s rejection of a revised work contract put forward by Portway in August.
“For three years workers have seen their career progression and salaries frozen for the sake of the company’s financial health,” they said on Friday.
Portway denied the allegations, Lusa reported on Friday, stating that they “scrupulously comply with regulations, including in relation to labor law”.
| Strike | December 2019 | ['(Reuters)'] |
Brazilian environmentalists and indigenous rights activists protest against the Belo Monte Dam in Brasilia. | (CNN) -- Environmentalists and indigenous-rights supporters gathered in the Brazilian capital Tuesday to protest a hydroelectric dam project that they say would be devastating to the Amazon region.
The demonstration, in front the congressional building in Brasilia, seeks to stop the construction of the Belo Monte dam, which they say would flood at least 400,000 hectares (nearly a million acres) of forest, displacing 40,000 indigenous people and other local residents, and destroying various species of wildlife and insects.
The construction of the controversial reservoir -- a $17 billion project -- was authorized in January by Brazil's Environmental Institute.
The contractors working on the dam, to be located on the Xingu River in Para state, have permission to clear 238 hectares of the forest, an area larger than Monaco.
The protesters want to give Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff a petition signed by half a million people from around the world who criticize the project.
The government argues that the hydroelectric dam, with a potential capacity of 11,000 megawatts, is needed to guarantee a supply of energy for a country that is growing economically.
Set for completion in 2015, Belo Monte would be the second-largest dam in the country, behind Tucurui. | Protest_Online Condemnation | February 2011 | ['(CNN)'] |
The trial of Indonesian Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir on terrorism charges begins in Jakarta. | This third trial of the aging cleric will resume on Monday, delayed by a technicality raised by the defence.
He is alleged to have helped set up and fund an Islamic militant training camp in Aceh, uncovered by police last year.
The 72-year-old has denied all links to any extremist activity - he maintains he is a spiritual, religious leader and that he has been unfairly accused. About 3,000 police were deployed at the court to watch hundreds of Mr Ba'asyir's supporters.
A 93-page indictment has been prepared by a team of 32 prosecutors for the trial of a man first jailed by former strongman President Suharto, in the 1980s for his advocacy of an Islamic state.
Despite the low-key start, the trial marks a new phase in Indonesia's concerted efforts against Islamist terrorism, at a time of rising religious tensions.
On Sunday a mob was allowed to attack a community of followers of the Ahmadiyah Muslim sect, killing at least three people; a day later another mob stormed a courthouse and burned two churches.
Mr Ba'asyir was arrested in West Java by anti-terror police last August, six months after the discovery by police of a militant camp in Aceh. Police say that Mr Ba'asyir played an active role in setting up the camp, appointing key people and receiving reports from radicals in the field.
The charges against the 72-year-old include "mobilising people for acts of terror", which carries the death sentence.
Officials believe this group had plans to launch a brazen attack on Indonesia, similar to the type of assault seen in Mumbai, India, in November 2008, when Islamist militants killed 166 people.
Mr Ba'asyir denies having any links to the Aceh camp, and says the allegations against him have been "engineered by America". This is the first time he has been linked to the planning or creation of a terror network. In the past he has been linked to extremism in a spiritual and moral capacity - charges he has consistently denied.
Mr Ba'asyir had previously served 26 months in jail before being cleared of involvement with Jemaah Islamiah (JI), the group behind the 2002 Bali attacks.
He was also imprisoned for conspiracy over the bombings, in which 202 people died. However, his conviction was overturned and he was released in 2006.
He has been accused of giving spiritual leadership to JI, which has links to al-Qaeda - a claim he denies.
Mr Ba'asyir is the leader of the hardline Islamist group Jemaah Ansharut Tauhid (JAT), which was created in 2008.
It was described in a report by the Brussels-based think tank, International Crisis Group (ICG) as an "above-ground organisation" that embraced individuals with known ties to fugitive radicals.
JAT has denied it has any connection to extremism and insists it is a legitimate Islamic organisation.
| Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | February 2011 | ['(AAP via The Age)', '(BBC)'] |
Flash floods sweep across central Europe and the Baltic states, killing at least 15 people - 5 Czechs, 4 Lithuanians, 3 Germans, 3 Poles -, whilst 3 Czechs are also missing. | Flash floods brought on by rains in central Europe and the Baltic have killed at least 15, officials say.
Rivers overflowed their banks, sending torrents of water through Bogatynia in south-west Poland and Goerlitz in eastern Germany.
The Neisse river, on the border with Poland, reached its highest recorded level in Goerlitz.
Three Poles, three Germans and five Czechs were killed, while further north in Lithuania four people were killed.
Three other Czechs were reported missing after the downpours on Saturday triggered the floods.
The army, police and fire services were using helicopters and boats to move people away from the flood zones and clear flood debris.
The heavy downpour caused Poland's Miedzianka river to overflow, flooding Bogatynia before swelling the Niesse river.
One woman drowned in Bogatynia while a 55-year-old firefighter was swept away when a dyke burst its banks.
Another woman drowned in the nearby town of Zgorzelec, across the Niesse from Goerlitz.
The Neisse reached its highest recorded level of 7.07 metres (23 feet).
"The flood wave hit the town in a few hours. We couldn't do anything to get ready for that," the mayor of Goerlitz, Michael Wieler, told German TV.
Police said 1,500 people evacuated their homes in Goerlitz as torrents of water rushed through the streets.
Further west, near Chemnitz, three Germans were found drowned in the flooded cellar of the building they lived in in Neukirchen, near the Czech border.
Police said they had been trying to carry furniture upstairs.
An additional five people drowned over the weekend in the Czech Republic where people were plucked by helicopter from the roofs of their homes in the towns of Chrastava and Frydlant.
As the storms moved north, four people were killed in Lithuania. Two campers died when a tree collapsed on their tent, local media reported.
The same region was hit by heavy flooding in May and June this year, killing nearly 30 people.
Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk has promised emergency aid payouts to help people affected by the floods.
| Floods | August 2010 | ['(BBC)', '(Deutsche Welle)', '(IOL)', '(Reuters Africa)', '(The Age)'] |
A bomb explodes in Omagh, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, killing one, hours after around 2,000 participants in a half marathon pass by. The incident evokes memories of the 1998 Omagh bombing, while taoiseach Enda Kenny accuses the perpetrators of "acting in defiance of the Irish people". | A 25-year-old police officer has been killed after a bomb exploded under his car in Omagh, County Tyrone.
The device exploded under the vehicle outside his home in Highfield Close, just before 1600 BST on Saturday.
Neighbours rushed to help him and some used fire extinguishers to put out the flames from the explosion. He died at the scene.
He was recently qualified and is the second policeman to be killed since the PSNI was formed out of the RUC in 2001.
Since 2007, dissident republicans have planted dozens of booby-trap bombs under the private cars of police officers. The bombs have failed to detonate, but two policemen lost their legs in attacks in May 2008 and January 2010.
On Saturday morning about 2,000 people, who were taking part in the Omagh half marathon, passed the nearby entrance to the estate just hours before the blast.
Politicians and party leaders from across Northern Ireland and the Republic have condemned the attack. As of yet there has been no claim of responsibility for his murder. Northern Ireland's First Minister, Peter Robinson, said he shared the outrage of the country.
"It was a young man who was bravely entering the police service, recognising that he was putting his life on the line.
"I have absolutely no doubt the overwhelming number of people in NI want to move on. It's only a few Neanderthal who want to go back.
"They will not drag us back to the past."
Prime Minister, David Cameron, said the officer had dedicated himself to serving the entire community of Northern Ireland.
"Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family and his friends. This is a terrible tragedy for all who knew him and served with him, and for a town that had already suffered so much," he said. "Those who carried out this wicked and cowardly crime will never succeed in dragging Northern Ireland back to a dark and bloody past. Their actions are rejected by the overwhelming majority of people right from all parts of the community. "I know that the Chief Constable of the PSNI will not rest until the perpetrators have been brought to justice. Secretary of State, Owen Paterson, said it had been "an evil act, carried out by enemies of the whole community".
"First and foremost my heartfelt thoughts and prayers are with the family, friends and colleagues of the young PSNI officer who was murdered.
"The people in all parts of Ireland and beyond want peace and those who carried out this atrocity are in the grip of an obscene delusion if they think that by murder they can defy their will".
Shadow Northern Ireland Secretary, Shaun Woodward, described it as "an evil and cowardly attack".
"These crimes are targeted on those who protect the community," he said.
"We all deeply mourn the brave young man whose life was taken by this savage crime.
"We all have a duty to stop those behind it from succeeding."
Sinn Fein president, Gerry Adams, said his party was determined that those responsible would not set back the progress of the peace and political process.
Ulster Unionist leader Tom Elliott said those behind the murder had one aim - to take Northern Ireland back to the dark days of the past.
"The deliberate targeting of a new recruit to the police by these criminals is utterly reprehensible," he said.
SDLP leader Margaret Ritchie said the policeman's killers were enemies of Ireland.
"This has not only stunned the people of Omagh, it has stunned the entire country," she said.
"This is not what the people want. They cannot be allowed to continue their campaign."
Prayers are being said at vigil masses throughout Omagh on Saturday night for the policeman. In March 2009, a police officer was shot dead as he answered a distress call in Craigavon, County Armagh.
Dissident republican group, the Continuity IRA, claimed responsibility for the attack. Constable Stephen Carroll, 48, was married and from Banbridge. He was murdered two days after the Real IRA shot dead two soldiers outside Massereene Barracks in Antrim. The Continuity IRA is one of a number of dissident republican paramilitary groups opposed to the peace process. They have carried out bomb and gun attacks on civilians and the security forces. There is believed to be cross-over and co-operation between the Continuity IRA and the larger Real IRA, which bombed Omagh in 1998.
The car bomb killed 29 people, including a woman pregnant with twins, and injured hundreds more. Reaction to policeman's murder
| Armed Conflict | April 2011 | ['(Republic of Ireland)', '(BBC)', '(The Guardian)', '(CBC News)'] |
New York Senator Hillary Clinton wins the Democratic primary with no delegates awarded. | (CNN) - Sen. Hillary Clinton will win Florida's Democratic presidential primary Tuesday, CNN projects - but no candidates campaigned there, and party sanctions have stripped the state of all of its convention delegates.
The projection is based on precincts reporting results, entrance polls and other statistical models - including the number of votes outstanding in areas where Clinton was expected to do well.
With 19 percent of precincts reporting, Clinton led her nearest rival, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, by a margin of 48 percent to 30 percent. Former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina trailed with 14 percent.
If Obama had of won it would have been a different story by his supporters. In Michigan they said his name was't on the ballot. Now what, his name was on the ballot. He ran ads and still lost. Anyone who believes no one has heard of him, GET REAL! He wasn't able to give a sermon, you know we all want to hear feel good stuff, we all want to know we can do anything. But after church, you face the real world. If, and thats a big if, he were to win the nomination his own words will be used against him, his book has a lot of ammunition.
By now, Hillary's problem is that she expected to have the nomination wrapped up. When she signed on to not campaign in Florida six months ago, Hillary thought that Florida wouldn't be a factor. With Obama running well against her, Hillary is getting scared. I see the results in Florida that 50% of the voters will never vote for her. With McCain winning tonight fairly, there is noway that Hillary could beat him with just the Democratic Base. Obama is the only Democrat that can get votes from both sides and Independents. Most importantly, unite Americans for change and hope to stop all this anger.
Obama 08
Everybody's vote should be counted, Hillary earned it, it was Florida voter's real voice without campaign, so Hillary should get delegates seated.
How many Obama posters here remember Election 2000, where Gore won the popular vote but Bush won the most delegates?
How many of you were outraged because the delegates counted for more than the voice of the people?
Now you have changed your mind about that, since it suits your candidate? Only because of this messed up political system do delegates count more than the popular vote. Since Florida has no delegates that will count, I guess the popular vote there means nothing? Those 1.5 million people who voted were just pissing in the wind? I swear, 99% of the Obama supporters here are so ill-educated, they just follow out of blind faith that this man who has been a US Senator for 3 years, 2 of which years he's been campaining for president, can lead this nation.
Even Lou Dobbs said last night, in the case of a national/foreign crisis, can a community organizer from inner-city Chicago lead us?
This is so funny, a political friend just told me that the blogs are also used by the candidates. The Clinton's have a team that responses to blogs as if they are the voters.
Is it not overwhelming to know that even in the United States a few Polictical want tobe's can disenfrancise an entire state from the selection process. Reminds me of a past vote where the courts decided who Florida really voted for, then there was Ohio, but we would get into that. Would it not be really neat to see an election or a primary held in this country where the voters actually were given a voice and listened to.
The selection process is already tainted. There was a time I supported Obama, then he decided he could not campaign as to who he really was and I saw him lowering himself to the level of his crowds rather than raising them to his level. Then came the political attacks, and yes, Obama started the attacks, but cried foul when the Clinton camp responded. And yes, Clinton eventually went on the attack, the feud between the two of them is not good for the party or the nation. Like it or not a unbeatable Democratic ticket one year ago would have been Clinton and Obama. Today the hope of a Clinton Obama ticket is dead. That ticket would have removed the very heart and soul from the Republican race. Now, they actually think they can retain the White House. If this inner party warfare contiunes and Obama and Clinton do not make peace and start working for the good of the nation we shall once again be seeing a Republican President and not because a majority of the voters want him.
John Edwards at this time maybe need to be considered as the party canidate, not because he has done so well in the primaries, but because he has not permitted him self to get into this play ground brawl and damage himself, the party or the nation in the process.
Hillarybill clinton is desperate she is willing to run against herself if it will get her momentum.We have to stop this dynasty from winning she is terrible
January 30, 2008 8:51 am ET
Your comment is awaiting moderation.
How many Obama posters here remember Election 2000, where Gore won the popular vote but Bush won the most delegates?
How many of you were outraged because the delegates counted for more than the voice of the people?
Now you have changed your mind about that, since it suits your candidate? Only because of this messed up political system do delegates count more than the popular vote. Since Florida has no delegates that will count, I guess the popular vote there means nothing? Those 1.5 million people who voted were just pissing in the wind? I swear, 99% of the Obama supporters here are so ill-educated, they just follow out of blind faith that this man who has been a US Senator for 3 years, 2 of which years he's been campaining for president, can lead this nation.
| Government Job change - Election | January 2008 | ['(CNN)'] |
Chinese human rights activist Hu Jia is released after serving a 3 1/2–year sentence, for "inciting to subvert state power." | Beijing (CNN) -- Prominent human rights activist Hu Jia, who was released over the weekend after serving a 3 1/2-year sentence, is promising his parents he will be "careful" in the future.
In a phone call to CNN affiliate iCable News in Hong Kong on Sunday, Hu said his parents had asked him to not clash with the system. "Once I saw my family, I understood how much I owe them, especially my parents, my wife and my kid. I realize I've done nothing for them. There is a Chinese saying that 'patriotism and filial piety don't go hand in hand,'" he said in the phone call.
"They told me to be a good citizen and don't clash with the system. This system is very brutal. It uses government's power to violate people's dignity. I can only tell my parents, I will be careful."
Chinese authorities released Hu on Sunday, days after freeing renowned dissident artist Ai Weiwei.
Hu, 37, denounced China's human rights record in a series of articles ahead of the 2008 Beijing Olympics and was later sentenced to 3.5 years in prison for "inciting to subvert state power." He also has been active on AIDS issues in China.
Ai, the conceptual artist turned government critic, was released Wednesday on bail after authorities detained him for nearly three months for tax evasion, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
On Sunday, police guarded entrances to Hu's apartment compound and patrolled surrounding streets. Zeng Jinyan, his wife, appeared unreachable via phone or the Internet.
Zeng told CNN Friday that authorities started 24-hour surveillance on her several days before Hu's expected return. In an interview last December, she predicted a virtual prisoner's life for the couple in their housing complex, called Freedom City.
"Hu Jia told me that he won't change, and police told him they may put him under house arrest in that case," she said. "I'm prepared for it."
"As long as there's no democracy or the rule of law in China, our situation won't change at all."
Last year's Nobel peace laureate Liu Xiaobo, also a rights activist, was convicted of the same crime as Hu. Liu is still serving an 11-year jail term.
Activists say the Chinese government, worried about potential uprisings inspired by the Arab Spring, has been increasingly tightening its grip on freedom of expression, targeting not only political dissidents but also intellectuals and artists.
In his phone call to iCable, Hu talked further about his parents and his responsibility toward them and others like them.
"My parents are very old. How many parents are like my parents? Others, too, are also in pain but not getting as much attention and help from you all as I did," he said. "These people are more isolated. I can only try my best to comfort my parents and comfort the others too." | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Release | June 2011 | ['(CNN)'] |
Fifteen former associates of Saddam Hussein, including his cousin Ali Hassan al–Majid, face a trial in the Supreme Iraqi Criminal Tribunal for their alleged role in suppressing a Shiite uprising in 1991. | The defendants are alleged to have helped suppress a Shia uprising after the 1991 Gulf War, in which tens of thousands are thought to have died.
In recent years, mass graves containing hundreds of bodies have been uncovered.
Those in the dock include the cousin of Saddam Hussein, Ali Hassan al-Majid, who is widely known as "Chemical Ali".
Majid has already been sentenced to death following an earlier trial for genocide against Iraq's Kurdish population in the so-called Anfal campaign of 1988.
Two more of the defendants in the latest trial - Sultan Hashim al-Tai, a former defence minister, and Hussein Rashid al-Tikriti, a former deputy chief of operations for the armed forces - were also sentenced to death for those killings.
Mass graves
Dressed in a cream robe and a white kuffiya shawl, Majid was among the first to enter the Iraqi High Tribunal in Baghdad's heavily-fortified Green Zone.
"I am the fighter Ali Hassan al-Majid," he replied when asked to identify himself by Judge Mohammed al-Oraibi al-Khalifa.
Once they had been seated, the 15 men were told they faced charges of crimes against humanity "for engaging in widespread or systematic attacks against a civilian population", offences punishable by death.
DEFENDANTS
Ali Hassan al-Majid
Sultan Hashim al-Tai
Hussein Rashid al-Tikriti
Abd Hamid Mahmoud al-Nasseri
Ibrahim Abdul Sattar al-Dahan
Walid Hamid Tawfik al-Nasseri
Iyad Fatiya al-Rawi
Sabawi Ibrahim al-Hassan
Abdul Ghafour Fulayih al-Ani
Ayad Taha Shihab al-Douri
Latif Maal Hamoud al-Sabawi
Qais Abdul Razzaq al-Adhami
Sabir Abdul Aziz al-Douri
Saadi Tuma Abbas al-Jabouri
Sufyan Maher al-Ghairiri
Profile: 'Chemical Ali'
Flashback: 1991 Iraq revolt
"The acts committed against the Iraqi people in 1991 by the security forces and by the defendants sitting were among one of the ugliest crimes ever committed against humanity in modern history," the chief prosecutor said in his opening remarks.
The prosecutor alleged that former President Saddam Hussein had ordered tanks and infantry troops withdrawn from Kuwait to attack Iraq's southern provinces when he realised he had lost control there. "The convict Saddam made rash judgements. Majid was authorised to demolish anything and kill anyone who came in the way of the forces," he said. He then accused the defendants of both ordering and carrying out cold-blooded executions while they directed Baghdad's military response to the uprising.
"The helicopters were bombing the cities and houses of people. Prisoners captured were killed," he said.
"Majid used to come to detention centres, tie the hands of the detainees and then shoot them dead with his weapon. The dead were then later buried in mass graves.
"Many mass graves have been found since the 2003 war ended. And we will find many more if we keep searching."
The first witness, 65-year-old former soldier Raybath Jabbar Risan, said troops from the elite Republic Guard had shelled his village in Basra province with artillery and mortars.
"My cousin was killed and nephew wounded. My brother's house was burned. I escaped with my family," he told the court.
"I worked in the army for 30 years and never imagined they would do this to me and my family."
The court expects to hear about 90 witnesses as well as audio tapes and written reports. US officials said there was little remaining evidence of the orders given, however, as Saddam Hussein ordered the destruction of records. Reprisals
The Shaaban Intifada (Uprising) started in March 1991 as defeated Iraqi troops fled back to southern Iraq after US-led forces took control of Kuwait.
In Saddam's killing fields
Galvanised by a message by US President George Bush to "take matters into their own hands", the Shia strongholds of Najaf and Karbala rose in revolt in an attempt to topple Saddam Hussein. Soon, thousands of rebel troops seized control of the city of Basra and 14 of Iraq's provinces, and advanced to within 60 miles of Baghdad.
But despite these early successes, the rebellion was swiftly crushed by government forces. Mass reprisals followed in which tens of thousands of people are believed to have died. Many Shia blame President Bush for the uprising's failure, as the US came to a ceasefire agreement that allowed forces loyal to Saddam to crush the rebellion by using helicopter gunships. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Sentence | August 2007 | ['(BBC)'] |
A boat with over 250 people on board capsizes in a storm off the coast of Sierra Leone, killing at least 8. | Reports monitored from the fishing community of Tombo have intimated that a passenger boat named “Tai Che’, capsized yesterday Wednesday 9th September 2009, along the country’s territorial waters.
The boat which was having onboard approximately 150 (One Hundred and Fifty) passengers, left a village called Shengay for Tombo in the early hours of Tuesday September 8, 2009. President Koroma regrets the accident
The boat is reported to have encountered a heavy storm in the middle of the high seas. According to reports, the boat could not stand the velocity of the water and therefore subsequently capsized.
Thirty two (32) passengers were rescued to land by a rapid rescue team comprising of personnel of the Sierra Leone Navy and local fishermen operating in the general area.
Navy rescue operators have so far recovered eight (8) corpses, whilst the remaining one hundred and ten (110) passengers were feared missing as at press time.
Meanwhile, it has been revealed that most of the passengers onboard the capsized boat were pupils and students returning from holidays and traders.
Eyewitnesses have attributed the accident to overloading. The boat was allegedly carrying three drums of palm oil and other assorted items including the 150 passengers.
The Harbour Master at the Tombo Wharf, Samuel Bangura, said the gravity of the accident could have been avoided if the crew had adhered to safety standards. Meanwhile, the Tombo community was yesterday full of relatives and friends of the passengers who stormed the wharf to enquire about their loved ones.
The Government of Sierra Leone has already issued a message of condolence to the families of those involved in the unprecedented disaster. | Shipwreck | September 2009 | ['(New York Times)', '(Awareness Times)', '(Al Jazeera)'] |
Georgia welcomes the ICC's investigation into alleged war crimes committed during the 2008 South Ossetia war, which will be the first inquiry by the ICC into possible abuses by Moscow and/or Georgia. | Georgia has welcomed a decision by the International Criminal Court (ICC) to open an investigation into alleged war crimes committed "in and around South Ossetia" during 2008, when Russia fought a brief war against Georgia over the breakaway region.
Georgian Justice Minister Tea Tsulukiani told a press conference in Tbilisi on January 28 that the ICC probe will be an opportunity for Georgia to prove that Moscow and its proxy separatist forces in South Ossetia "committed ethnic cleansing of Georgians" and were responsible for killing Georgian prisoners of war.
The investigation will be the first by the ICC to examine a conflict outside of Africa.
Georgia launched an offensive to reclaim South Ossetia on the night of August 7-8, 2008.
Mikheil Saakashvili, Georgian president at the time, said Tbilisi was provoked by Russia and the separatists.
Russia responded with a counteroffensive in which its forces routed the Georgian military and swept beyond South Ossetia, which Tbilisi has not controlled since 1990, and deep into Georgian territory before withdrawing. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Investigate | January 2016 | ['(Radio Free Europe)'] |
Gordon Park, convicted murderer in the Lady in the Lake trial, is found hanged in his prison cell in Garth prison, Lancashire, England, in an apparent suicide. | "Lady in the Lake" killer Gordon Park has died after being found unconscious in his prison cell on his 66th birthday.
Park was convicted of the murder of his wife Carol in 2005, nearly 30 years after he killed her and dumped her body in Coniston Water in the Lake District. He was found in his cell at HMP Garth, Leyland, Lancashire, on Monday. BBC Home Affairs correspondent Danny Shaw said it was thought a ligature was involved, and it was self inflicted. He said it appeared he could have taken his own life. The Prisons and Probation Ombudsman will be conducting an investigation into the death. Park's son, Jeremy, who campaigned to prove his father's innocence, said he was "devastated" by his father's death. He said: "We are all completely devastated and still believe his innocence 100%." A Prison Service spokesman said Park was found unconscious in his cell at 0800 GMT on Monday. He said: "Staff and paramedics attended but Mr Park was pronounced dead at 9.40am." Ice axe
Sources indicated that Park had not been assessed as at risk of committing suicide. Gordon Park, from Leece in Barrow, Cumbria, was jailed for life and told he must serve at least 15 years. During a 10-week trial at Manchester Crown Court, a jury heard that Park bludgeoned his wife to death with an ice axe and dumped her weighted body in Coniston Water in July 1976. He claimed she had vanished from their home to live with another man, before her body was found 21 years later by an amateur diver. Park always maintained his innocence and in 2008 lost a bid to challenge his conviction. Park had wanted to call fresh expert testimony relating to the geological evidence given at his trial. Mrs Park was dubbed the Lady in the Lake by detectives, after the Raymond Chandler crime novel of the same name. What are these? | Famous Person - Death | January 2010 | ['(BBC)'] |
Forty people are killed when a riverboat sinks in central Vietnam. | (CNN) -- At least 40 people died when a crowded river boat sank in central Vietnam Sunday -- on the eve of the Lunar New Year.
People stand around bodies of victims from the river boat accident.
The boat sank in the Gianh River as it was leaving a pier in the Quang Binh province, the state-run Vietnam News Agency said.
Among the 40 victims were many women and children, the agency said.
Witnesses told the daily newspaper Thanh Nien that passengers on the boat were headed to a market on the other side of the river to shop on the last day of the Year of the Rat. | Shipwreck | January 2009 | ['(CNN)'] |
A suspected gas explosion in Taraz, Kazakhstan, kills three people in an apartment block. | A suspected gas explosion in Kazakhstan’s southern city of Taraz has killed at least three people and partially destroyed an apartment building, authorities say.
Health and emergency officials in Taraz said the blast occurred in an apartment on the second floor in a five-story apartment block at around 6:20 a.m on February 27.
Three apartments from the first to the third floors were destroyed by the blast.
At least six people were injured, of whom three were in hospitals, and a total of 145 people were evacuated from the building, officials said.
According to preliminary assessments made by police, the explosion "was caused by misuse of natural-gas equipment." | Gas explosion | February 2019 | ['(RFERL)'] |
Hundreds of Egyptian students angered by an outbreak of food poisoning at Al–Azhar University that affected 479 students storm the offices of Ahmed el–Tayeb, the Grand Imam of Al–Azhar Mosque, a major venue for Sunni Muslim learning with which the university is affiliated. | A senior Egyptian health ministry official says nearly 500 students from Cairo's Al-Azhar university have been admitted to hospital with food poisoning.
The official, Khaled el-Khateib, said Tuesday that all 479 food poisoning cases came from the university's dormitories in the capital's Nasr City district. The poisonings occurred after a meal served at the dormitories on Monday.
Al-Azhar students plan a protest outside the university's offices later on Tuesday. On Monday, hundreds of students angered by the incident demonstrated outside the residence halls, blocking roads and chanting slogans against the university's management.
The university belongs to Al-Azhar mosque, the world's foremost seat of Sunni Muslim learning. Beside religious studies, the university awards degrees in sciences and humanities. | Mass Poisoning | April 2013 | ['(AP via ABC News)'] |
Heavy rains in Al Haouz Province, Morocco, trigger a landslide, resulting in the deaths of 15 people. | Authorities have so far recovered the bodies of 18 of the victims, including women and children.
Rabat - On the night of Wednesday July 24, in the region of El Haouz (a province in the region of Marrakesh-Safi), a vehicle transporting several people flipped on national road n° 7.
A section of a mountain located between the municipalities of Ijoukak and Asni collapsed on top of the vehicle which was traveling to Taliouine (212 kilometers south of Marrakech).
According to local sources, the passengers were from Casablanca and were heading to Taliouine to celebrate Eid El Adha with their families.
In a press release, the Ministry of the Interior reported that the landslide was due to heavy rainfall in the area a few days before the accident.
More than 6 hours after the accident, the emergency services are still active. Rescue teams are still on-site trying to extract victims’ bodies and find possible survivors.
Ali Tani, a councilor in the rural commune of Tizi N'Test (135 kilometers south-west of Marrakech), explains that Civil Protection officers have so far uncovered 18 bodies.
The authorities have opened an investigation into the incident under the supervision of the Prosecutor’s Office. The 18 bodies were taken to the morgue of Marrakech hospital.
| Mudslides | July 2019 | ['(The New York Times)', '(Morocco World News)'] |
Convicted British serial sex offender and paedophile Richard Huckle, who sexually abused dozens of children in Malaysia, is found stabbed to death in his cell at HM Prison Full Sutton. | A British man jailed for numerous sex crimes against Malaysian children has been found stabbed to death in prison.
Richard Huckle, 33, from Ashford, Kent, abused as many as 200 children. In 2016, he was given 22 life sentences after admitting 71 charges of sex abuse of children aged between six months and 12 years, between 2006 and 2014.
It is understood he was attacked on Sunday in his cell at Full Sutton Prison, near York, with what was described as a makeshift knife. Police were called shortly after 12:30pm and have launched an investigation into his death, which they are treating as suspicious.
Huckle's trial at the Old Bailey in 2016 heard that investigators who checked his computer found more than 20,000 indecent pictures and videos of his assaults.
These were shared with paedophiles worldwide through a hidden website on the so-called dark web.
Huckle, who worked as a freelance photographer, tried to make a business out of his abuse by crowd-funding the release of the images. He was compiling a paedophile's manual at the time of his arrest in 2014.
At the end of his trial, Judge Peter Rook said Huckle's sentence reflected the "public abhorrence" over his "campaign of rape".
He said: "It is very rare indeed that a judge has to sentence sexual offending by one person on such a scale as this."
Huckle was arrested at Gatwick Airport by National Crime Agency officials in December 2014, following a tip-off by Australian authorities.
He presented himself as a practising Christian and first visited Malaysia on a teaching gap year when he was 18 or 19. He went on to groom children while doing voluntary work.
In online posts, Huckle had bragged: "Impoverished kids are definitely much easier to seduce than middle-class Western kids."
Commenting on one of his victims, he boasted: "I'd hit the jackpot, a 3yo girl as loyal to me as my dog and nobody seemed to care."
Huckle's encrypted paedophile manual was found on his laptop ready for publication on the dark web. Last year, BBC Three produced a documentary about Huckle, which explored his proximity to children in Cambodia, India and the UK.
In it, retired police officer Jim Gamble, who used to lead child abuse investigations in Britain, called for a more extensive investigation into potential abuses in the UK. Full Sutton is a maximum security men's prison around 11 miles east of York that holds "some of the most difficult and dangerous criminals in the country", according to the Ministry of Justice website.
Paedophile Richard Huckle stabbed to death in jail
It has a total capacity of around 550, and holds only Category A prisoners, whose escape would be considered highly dangerous, and Category B prisoners, whose escape must be made "very difficult".
Last August one hundred officers were called when a prisoner went on a rampage, attacking staff and starting a fire.
Plans to build a Category C facility alongside the current facilities, making a 1,440-inmate "mega prison", have been opposed by Humberside Police, who fear it would increase violent crime within the jail and raise demands on the force. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | October 2019 | ['(BBC)'] |
Chinese foreign ministry says Australian–Chinese journalist Cheng Lei is detained in China on grounds of breaching the national security law and "suspected of carrying out illegal activities endangering China’s national security". | Australian news anchor Cheng Lei was arrested in Beijing on national security grounds last month, China’s foreign ministry spokesman has revealed, speaking just hours after two other Australian journalists arrived home after fleeing the country.
Cheng, a business journalist for the state broadcaster CGTN, was taken into secretive detention in mid-August, the Australian government revealed last week. Consular staff were able to visit Cheng by videolink but were not told why she had been detained.
On Tuesday afternoon, a spokesman for the foreign ministry, Zhao Lijian, told a daily press conference Cheng was “suspected of carrying out illegal activities endangering China’s national security”.
“This case is being handled according to law and Cheng’s legitimate rights and interests are fully guaranteed,” he said.
No further details were provided. Cheng was critical of the Chinese government in English posts on her Facebook page earlier this year, but there has been no indication the posts were linked to her detention. CGTN has since scrubbed all evidence of her employment from its websites.
Cheng is believed to be detained under “residential surveillance at a designated location”, a benignly termed form of solitary detention where she can be held for up to six months without access to a lawyer.
Just hours before Zhao’s press conference, Australia’s foreign affairs minister, Marise Payne, was still indicating Canberra had not been told why Cheng had been detained. Amid a deteriorating relationship between the countries, Payne is among a number of Australian ministers who have indicated they have been unable to get their Chinese counterparts on the phone.
Australia’s parliament passes new laws against foreign interference in domestic affairs, with former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull citing “disturbing reports about Chinese influence”.
Australia excludes Huawai and ZTE from the nation's 5G infrastructure. China blocks the Australian Broadcasting Corporation news site.
Australia is one of 22 countries at the UN to criticise Chinese mass detention of ethnic Uighurs.
Australia’s cyber intelligence agency declares that China was responsible for a cyber-attack on parliament’s computer network earlier in the year. Australian prime minister Scott Morrison calls on China to lose its "developing nation" economic status, which would end concessions that the world's second largest economy currently enjoys.
A war of words over the coronavirus develops after Morrison discusses launching an international review of China's handling of the crisis.
China announces new tariffs of up to 80% on Australian barley imports, and bans beef imports from four firms.
The Australian government is informed that Cheng Lei, an Australian citizen who works as a TV anchor for a Chinese state-controlled broadcaster, has been detained in Beijing. Cheng’s young children were being cared for in Melbourne by family members. In a further trade war escalation, China announces it is investigating whether Australian wine has been “dumped” into the Chinese market at artificially low prices, worrying producers it will be hit with tariffs.
Two Australian journalists are forced to flee China after being questioned by China’s ministry of state security.
Zhao also defended the questioning of Australian journalists Bill Birtles, from the ABC, and Mike Smith, from the Australian Financial Review. He said the questioning of the two journalists was “normal enforcement of law”.
Both journalists were visited by contingents of state security officers late at night and told they were persons of interest in an investigation into Cheng and that they were banned from leaving the country. They were requested to submit to questioning.
Birtles and Smith, who had already been warned by Australian authorities to consider leaving the country because of Cheng’s arrest, took shelter at diplomatic missions for five days while high-level negotiations had the travel bans lifted in return for interviews.
Birtles said on Tuesday he was asked primarily about his reporting, and not Cheng, and felt the episode was a case of harassing journalists.
Smith said the late-night visit by police to his home was “intimidating and unnecessary and highlights the pressure all foreign journalists are under in China right now”.
The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of China said the actions of the Chinese government amounted to “appalling intimidatory tactics that threaten and seek to curtail the work of foreign journalists based in China”.
Those remaining faced the threat of arbitrary detention for doing their work, circumstances which made remaining in China “untenable”, the club said.
“The effort to keep foreign journalists in China against their will marks a significant escalation of an ongoing, sustained Chinese government assault on media freedoms. The FCCC denounces this extraordinary erosion of media freedoms leading foreign journalists to fear that they could be targets of China’s hostage diplomacy.”
The United States said on Tuesday that it had been informed by China’s foreign ministry of unspecified tighter rules for foreign media. “These proposed actions will worsen the reporting environment in China, which is already suffering a dearth of open and independent media reporting,” State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus wrote on Twitter.
The action against Birtles and Smith is the latest move against foreign journalists by Beijing, following mass expulsions of journalists working for US titles earlier this year. There has been increased harassment and intimidation too, according to an annual report by the foreign correspondents’ club released this week.
The report said Chinese authorities were “using visas as weapons against the foreign press like never before” and that set the stage for further escalation.
Sophie McNeill, a researcher with Human Rights Watch Australia, is concerned for local staff who remain in China working for foreign organisations and other Australian citizens working for foreign news outlets.
“At the top of our concern is the fate of Chinese journalists who don’t have a foreign embassy they can turn to,” she told Sky News, adding that China was the leading jailer of journalists in the world, citing statistics from the Committee to Protect Journalists which found at least 48 were currently in jail.
Peter Greste, a spokesman for the Alliance for Journalists’ Freedom, said the treatment of Birtles and Smith appeared to be harassment to make a political point.
“Journalists should never be used as political pawns and hostages,” said Greste, who was detained in Egypt as a journalist for Al Jazeera between 2013 and 2015.
“Without Australian journalists operating freely in China, the Australian public has no independent eyes or ears reporting events inside our most important trading partner. That is bad for both Australia and China.”
Marcus Strom, president of Australia’s media union, the MEAA, said the midnight visits to the two correspondents were “appalling”.
“China’s continued intimidation and harassment of foreign journalists, including Australians, represents a dramatic low point for the foreign media’s relations with China,” he said. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Arrest | September 2020 | ['(The Guardian)'] |
Ousted President Viktor Yanukovich, whose whereabouts remained unknown before he turned up in Russia, issues a statement saying that he is still the legitimate president and "ready to fight to the end" to fulfill his deal with the opposition. | SEVASTOPOL, Ukraine — Armed men kept hold of the Crimea parliament as Russian jets streaked near the border and a newly created Ukraine government formed to try to end a crisis that threatens to split the country following the ouster of its president.
Ousted Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych surfaced Thursday in Russia after having vanished for days following his removal by the Kiev parliament Saturday. He said he was staying in a residence in Russia at the invitation of Moscow and insisted he is still the legitimately elected president of Ukraine, Interfax Ukraine reported.
"Regrettably, what is going on in (parliament) these days is not legitimate," Yanukovych said, according to Russia's RBK news organization.
In Kiev, a parliament that includes members of Yanukovych's party on Thursday chose Arseniy Yatsenyuk as Ukraine's new prime minister. His first move was to form a new government that can qualify for foreign aid from Europe and the United States.
He said Ukraine does not want a fight with Russia but that the country wouldn't accept the secession of the southern Crimea region. Crimea "has been and will be a part of Ukraine," said Yatsenyuk, 39, who served as economy minister and parliamentary speaker before Yanukovych took office in 2010.
The United States has offered $1 billion in loan guarantees to help Ukraine, but some Republicans called the offer "chicken feed" compared to the $15 billion that Russia has offered to get Ukraine to turn away from closer ties with the West.
"The USA should be doing a lot more to support the transition in Ukraine," and send a strong message to Russia to say out of Ukraine's affairs, said U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.
Graham said the U.S. military should hold exercises in NATO-member Poland, restart plans to build missile defense in Poland that Obama scrapped, and urge as many countries as possible to quickly recognize the new Ukrainian government.
"I would reestablish ourselves in the region," Graham said. "And I would tell the Russians if they disrupt this effort to get a democratic way forward in Ukraine, that sanctions of any and all kind would be on the table."
Russian intervention would cause "a fundamental change in our relationship," he said. "It would be an unacceptable act… a violation of a country's sovereign right to reorganize itself."
Russian fighter jets were put on combat alert and were patrolling the border as part of exercises ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin, said Russia's Defense Ministry. It didn't specify the areas where patrol missions were being conducted.
The Russian military also announced measures to tighten security at the headquarters of its Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol on the Crimean peninsula. The Russian Foreign Ministry said Thursday that it would "protect the interests" of the Russian-speaking population in Ukraine, according to Russian state-owned ITAR-Tass news agency. The ministry said Russia "will have a firm and uncompromising response to violations of the rights of compatriots by foreign states."
Reports Friday from the Interfax news agency said roughly 50 armed men in Russian-marked military uniforms seized an airport in the Crimean capital early Friday, but a later report datelined Moscow, quoted an airport representative as saying the men apologized and left when they learned no Ukrainian troops had landed.
The unnamed airport official said the airport was operating normally, Interfax said.
Ukrainian Acting President Olexandr Turchinov warned Russian military forces, such as those stationed in Sevastopol, to remain out of the country proper.
"Any movement of military servicemen with weapons outside this territory will be viewed as military aggression," Interfax quoted Turchinov as telling Ukraine's parliament Thursday.
The United States has warned such a move would be a "grave mistake" but did not say what if any repercussions there would be if Russia did so. NATO, the U.S.-European military alliance, said it considered Ukraine's future to be "key to Euro-Atlantic security" and told the new government in Kiev that it would back its "sovereignty, independence, territorial integrity."
"A sovereign, independent and stable Ukraine, firmly committed to democracy and the rule of law, is key to Euro-Atlantic security," it said in a statement.
Crimea's port city of Sevastopol has a majority of ethnic Russians and its history and economy are tied to the Black Sea fleet. On Wednesday, thousands of Russian flag-waving demonstrators cheered and applauded during a pro-Russia rally in which the Russian navy's Black Sea Fleet's choir provided entertainment, singing patriotic Russian songs that evoked the Red Army's triumph over fascism during World War II.
Elena Varinova of Sevastopol could barely contain her anger at what she sees as misinformation being broadcast by western media of events in Ukraine.
"Sevastopol is a city of Russian fame — it will defend itself," Varinova said as she stood beside idling buses that had brought in a fresh wave of Russian flag-toting protesters.
Then Vika Tsiganova, 51, a Russian singer who was popular in Soviet times, took the stage.
"This place is not for fascists," she said to wild applause. "They've tried to be here but it's not their place. Sevastopol is a city of Russian glory for the seamen."
Anger is simmering over a draft law proposed by the interim parliament that would strip the Russian language of its official status.
"We are Russians and we want to express ourselves in Russian," said businessman Mikhail Nichik, 37, who says he hails from a military family with long roots in Sevastopol. "I understand the Ukrainian language in general, but I am not able to express my thoughts clearly and articulate properly in Ukrainian."
There was no word on the identity of the 50 to 60 armed men who took over the parliament building during the night, raising the Russian flag over the building. Crimea has a level of autonomy, hence its own parliament, but is still part of Ukraine and has been since the nation declared independence from the now dissolved Soviet Union in 1991, an event Putin has described as a great tragedy for Russia.
Ukraine activated the country's police forces following the seizure of the regional parliament building in the Crimea.
Amid the protests in Kiev that led to the new government, the Crimea parliament proposed a referendum to determine whether it should secede. Crimea, which has many Russian-speaking citizens, proposed a referendum date of May 25, the same date set for new elections for all of Ukraine's lawmakers and office of president.
As a result of "the unconstitutional seizure of power in Ukraine by radical nationalists supported by armed gangs," Crimea's peace and order is "under threat," Oksana Korniychuk, the press secretary of the head of the parliament, said in a statement Thursday, according to Russia's RT television station.
The armed takeover followed a day of scuffles between rival factions of ethnic Crimean Tatars — many of whom support the interim government — and members of the Russian-speaking population who reject the caretaker government as an illegitimate coup.
Yanukovych said that it would be illegal for any forces to take action domestically against Crimea because it was not ordered by the president himself. He added in the statement that he would fight on until the agreement reached last week that ordered new elections in December — instead of May as parliament approved over the weekend — was fulfilled.
Russia's RBK reported Wednesday evening that Yanukovych was staying at the Barvikha sanatorium in Moscow, which is run by the presidential administration's property department. The spokesman for this department, Viktor Khrekov, said he has no information about this. | Famous Person - Give a speech | February 2014 | ['(USA Today)'] |
According to Afghan Police, eight of their forces have been killed by the Taliban at a checkpoint in Faryab Province. | At least eight Afghan security force members have been killed by the Taliban in the northwestern province of Faryab, a police spokesman said on February 3.
Spokesman Abdul Karim Youresh said the attackers killed four police officers and four members of a local defense force aiding police at a checkpoint in the Almar district during the night.
All of the victims belonged to one family.
Youresh said the Taliban carried out the attack with the help of one of the men posted at the security station. He said that the man was associated with the Taliban but had recently pretended to have left the militant group.
He said the man, a relative of the commander in charge of the station, had been allowed to join the security force after tribal elders gave guarantees on his behalf.
Meanwhile, Gul Agha Roohani, chief of police in eastern Nangarhar Province, said that 12 suspected Islamic State militants were killed when they attacked security posts in the district of Kot early on February 3. Roohani said one police officer was also killed. Separately, provincial Governor Mohammad Alias Wahdat said an unknown gunman fatally shot a cleric and his wife in eastern Paktyka Province on February 2 in the Yusof Khail district. | Armed Conflict | February 2017 | ['(Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)'] |
The United States formally revokes Hong Kong's special trade status; it is now seen as equivalent to mainland China. | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States began eliminating Hong Kong’s special status under U.S. law on Monday, halting defense exports and restricting the territory’s access to high technology products as China prepares new Hong Kong security legislation.
The Commerce Department said it was suspending “preferential treatment to Hong Kong over China, including the availability of export license exceptions,” adding that further actions to eliminate Hong Kong’s privileged status were being evaluated.
“We urge Beijing to immediately reverse course and fulfill the promises it has made to the people of Hong Kong and the world,” it said.
The U.S. moves come as the top decision-making body of China’s parliament deliberates a draft national security law for Hong Kong that pro-democracy activists fear will be used to eliminate dissent and tighten Beijing’s control.
The parliament’s standing committee has been widely expected to pass the bill into law before its current meeting ends on Tuesday.
“The Chinese Communist Party’s decision to eviscerate Hong Kong’s freedoms has forced the Trump administration to re-evaluate its policies toward the territory,” U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said.
He said effective Monday, Washington was ending exports of defense equipment to Hong Kong and would take steps to end export of dual-use technologies to the territory. Such technologies have commercial and military uses.
“The United States is forced to take this action to protect U.S. national security. We can no longer distinguish between the export of controlled items to Hong Kong or to mainland China,” Pompeo said.
Kurt Tong, a former U.S. consul general in Hong Kong, told Reuters the U.S. move would not cover a large amount of U.S.-Hong Kong trade as the territory was not a major manufacturing center and its economy was almost entirely services.
He also noted that “‘suspend’ is different from ‘terminate’ and is consistent with the conditionality implied.”
China’s Washington embassy did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Last month, U.S. President Donald Trump responded to China’s plans for the security law by saying he was initiating a process to eliminate the special economic treatment that has allowed Hong Kong to remain a global financial center since its handover by Britain in 1997.
Trump stopped short of calling for an immediate end to privileges, but said the moves would affect the full range of U.S. agreements with Hong Kong, from an extradition treaty to export controls on dual-use technologies and more “with few exceptions.”
The U.S. announcements come at a time of intensified U.S. rhetoric against Beijing as Trump campaigns for re-election. Opinion polls have shown voters increasingly embittered toward China, especially over the coronavirus, which began there.
Last week, Pompeo said Washington was imposing visa restrictions on current and former officials of China’s ruling Communist Party believed responsible for undermining Hong Kong’s autonomy.
Beijing responded on Monday by saying it would impose visa restrictions on U.S. individuals with “egregious conduct” on Hong Kong-related issues.
Analysts say completely ending Hong Kong’s special treatment could prove self-defeating for the United States, which has benefited from the territory’s business-friendly conditions.
According to the State Department, 85,000 U.S. citizens lived in Hong Kong in 2018 and more than 1,300 U.S. companies operate there, including nearly every major U.S. financial firm.
The territory is a major destination for U.S. legal and accounting services. In 2018 the largest U.S. bilateral trade-in-goods surplus was with Hong Kong at $31.1 billion.
In 2018, $432.7 million of goods were shipped to Hong Kong under Commerce Department exceptions, mostly relating to encryption, software and technology.
Last year, the State Department approved approximately $2.4 million worth of controlled defense articles and services to Hong Kong government authorities, of which approximately $1.4 million worth was shipped.
| Government Policy Changes | June 2020 | ['(Reuters)'] |
Six Afghan Red Cross workers are shot dead by suspected ISIL militants in the northern Jowzjan Province. Two other Red Cross workers are reportedly abducted. | Six Afghans working for the Red Cross have been killed by suspected Islamic State (IS) group gunmen in the province of Jowzjan, officials say.
The workers were shot in the Qush Tepa area, the provincial governor said.
Two others are unaccounted for, feared abducted by IS, he told the BBC. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) confirmed the deaths but said it did not know who was to blame.
The ICRC said it was putting its work in Afghanistan on temporary hold.
"We need to understand more clearly what happened," ICRC Director of Operations Dominik Stillhart said.
"But... this is one of the most critical humanitarian contexts and we will definitely do everything to continue our operations there."
IS has been in Afghanistan since 2015, claiming attacks in Kabul and the east. But there has been no immediate claim for the attack in Jowzjan.
The ICRC has had an uninterrupted presence in Afghanistan for 30 years and the organisation said in a tweet that it was "shocked and devastated" by the news. President Peter Maurer said it was a deliberate attack on his staff which "we condemn in the strongest possible terms".
The team which came under attack by "unknown armed men" comprised three drivers and five field officers, the statement said.
Government officials said the staff were transporting supplies including livestock materials to areas affected by recent deadly snowstorms when their convoy was attacked.
Jowzjan governor Lutfullah Azizi confirmed to the BBC that all six employees who were killed were Afghan.
The bodies of the six workers - many with close-range multiple gunshot wounds - were taken to the provincial capital Sheberghan and from there to Mazar-e-Sharif, officials say. A search has begun to find the two ICRC employees who have not been accounted for.
Provincial police chief Rahmatullah Turkistani said IS fighters were known to be active in the area where the attack took place and the ICRC had been warned about their presence.
Taliban militants have also targeted the Red Cross in the past - its office in Jalalabad was attacked in 2013.
IS announced it was expanding into Afghanistan in January 2015 and has secured footholds in parts of eastern Nangarhar province, on the border with Pakistan.
But Afghan troops and the Taliban have prevented them from moving permanently beyond that, observers say. Since mid-2016 the group appears to have switched tactics, launching a series of deadly attacks against Shia Muslims and others in Kabul and bombing a mosque in the northern province of Balkh, neighbouring Jowzjan, in October.
On Wednesday, IS said it had carried out an attack at the Supreme Court in Kabul a day earlier, killing at least 20 people.
| Armed Conflict | February 2017 | ['(BBC)'] |
At least two people are killed in the Ivory Coast after Ivorian forces open fire on protesters urging the resignation of President Laurent Gbagbo. | At least two people have died after Ivorian forces opened fire on protesters demanding President Laurent Gbagbo step down, witnesses said. Several others were injured in the confrontation, which took place in a neighbourhood loyal to Mr Gbagbo's rival, Alassane Ouattara, in Abidjan.
Mr Ouattara is widely recognised as the victor of presidential polls last year, but Mr Gbagbo refuses to cede power.
Tensions have been high in the West African nation since the elections.
Hundreds of youths gathered in the neighbourhood of Abobo before security forces opened fire and used tear gas in an effort to disperse them.
A resident told AFP news agency that forces had "fired into the crowd leaving people running for cover, but they chased them".
Another resident, 30-year-old Tieba Doumbia, said a tear gas grenade had also landed in a local market, forcing dozens of women to flee.
One of those killed was a woman who was hit by a stray bullet, witnesses and an official told Reuters news agency.
Protesters also raided the department store of a Lebanese businessmen who is seen as close to Mr Gbagbo.
The neighbourhood of Abobo has often been the scene of violent clashes between security forces and civilians.
At least 300 people have been killed in violence since the polls, mostly supporters of Mr Ouattara killed by pro-Gbagbo forces, the United Nations says.
November's presidential vote was supposed to reunify the world's largest cocoa producer, which has been divided between north and south since a conflict in 2002.
| Protest_Online Condemnation | February 2011 | ['(BBC)'] |
The China space industry plans to launch the world's first "artificial moon" into orbit by 2020 at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center to illuminate city streets after dark. | The night skies might soon have company: Chinese scientists are planning to launch an artificial moon into orbit by 2020 to illuminate city streets after dark.
Scientists are hoping to hang the man-made moon above the city of Chengdu, the capital of China’s southwestern Sichuan province, according to a report in Chinese state media. The imitation celestial body — essentially an illuminated satellite — will bear a reflective coating to cast sunlight back to Earth, where it will supplement streetlights at night.
Scientists estimated that it could be eight times more luminous than the actual, original moon. It will also orbit much closer to Earth; about 500 km (310 miles) away, compared to the moon’s 380,000 km (236,000 miles).
But the ambitious plan still wouldn’t “light up the entire night sky,” Wu Chunfeng, chief of the Tian Fu New Area Science Society, told China Daily. “Its expected brightness, in the eyes of humans, is around one-fifth of normal streetlights.”
Wu estimated that new moons could save the city of Chengdu around 1.2 billion yuan ($173 million) in electricity costs annually, and could even assist first responders during blackouts and natural disasters. If the project proves successful, it could be joined by three more additions to the night sky in 2022, he said.
But much more testing needs to be done, Wu said, to ensure the plan is viable and will not have a detrimental effect on the natural environment.
“We will only conduct our tests in an uninhabited desert, so our light beams will not interfere with any people or Earth-based space observation equipment,” he told the Daily.
China’s space goals are not unprecedented. In the 1990s, Russia experimented with using an orbital mirror to reflect sunlight on some of its sun-deprived northern cities, according to the New York Times. The project was abandoned in 1999 after the mirror failed to unfold and was incinerated in the atmosphere.
In January, American firm Rocket Lab launched an artificial star into space, the Times reported. But scientists criticized the “Humanity Star,” as the reflective mini-satellite was dubbed, for contributing to artificial light pollution and cluttering in Earth’s orbit. | New achievements in aerospace | October 2018 | ['(Straits Times)', '(Time)'] |
U.S. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein announces he will resign, effective May 11. | Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein — whose tumultuous two years as the No. 2 Justice Department official were marked by battles over the special-counsel probe of President Trump — submitted a resignation letter Monday indicating he will leave the job in two weeks.
Rosenstein’s departure had been expected since the beginning of the year, but the date was repeatedly pushed back as special counsel Robert S. Mueller III wound down his investigation and compiled a report detailing his findings.
‘I can land the plane’: How Rosenstein tried to mollify Trump, protect Mueller and save his job
Since his first days on the job, Rosenstein’s role in the Trump administration was controversial, from the firing of FBI Director James B. Comey in May 2017 to the conclusion by Rosenstein and Attorney General William P. Barr that there was not sufficient evidence for an obstruction-of-justice case against the president.
In his resignation letter to Trump, Rosenstein praised the president for his personal charm and policy goals. “As I submit my resignation effective on May 11, I am grateful to you for the opportunity to serve; for the courtesy and humor you often display in our personal conversations; and for the goals you set in your inaugural address: patriotism, unity, safety, education, and prosperity, because ‘a nation exists to serve its citizens,’ ” Rosenstein wrote.
He ended his letter with a sentence that asserted the Justice Department’s independence, before closing with a phrase from Trump’s campaign: “We keep the faith, we follow the rules, and we always put America first.”
The resignation letter was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.
The new attorney general praised Rosenstein’s long career in federal law enforcement.
“Over the course of his distinguished government career, he has navigated many challenging situations with strength, grace, and good humor,” Barr said in a statement. “Rod has been an invaluable partner to me during my return to the Department, and I have relied heavily on his leadership and judgment over the past several months.”
Earlier this year, Trump nominated Rosenstein’s replacement, Deputy Transportation Secretary Jeffrey Rosen, who still must be confirmed by the Senate. The Judiciary Committee said Monday it will consider Rosen’s nomination on Thursday, which means he could be confirmed by early May.
Rosenstein’s resignation letter comes days after The Washington Post reported that he had assured Trump in a call last year that he was on his team and that the special counsel’s investigation would treat the president fairly.
The September conversation, according to people familiar with it, followed an explosive New York Times report that Rosenstein had suggested wearing a wire to surreptitiously monitor the president, or using the 25th Amendment to oust him from office — reporting that Rosenstein disputes.
“I give the investigation credibility,” Rosenstein told Trump, according to an administration official with knowledge of what was said during the call. “I can land the plane.”
While it is difficult to interpret Rosenstein’s remarks, he was apparently trying to mollify Trump and save his own job, or at least his reputation.
“I can go. I’m ready to go. I can resign. But I don’t want to go out with a tweet,” the deputy attorney general said in a meeting with Trump’s chief of staff before the call, according to one person’s account. Trump routinely makes significant personnel announcements via Twitter.
In his resignation letter, Rosenstein extolled the Justice Department’s accomplishments during the Trump administration.
“We enforce the law without fear or favor because credible evidence is not partisan, and truth is not determined by opinion polls,” Rosenstein wrote. “We ignore fleeting distractions and focus our attention on the things that matter, because a republic that endures is not governed by the news cycle.”
Rosenstein fires back at critics
He also defended the department’s handling of the Russia probe, writing that the country “is safer, our elections are more secure, and our citizens are better informed about covert foreign influence efforts.” Rosenstein went on to cite the kinds of cases in which the president has expressed a personal interest. “We also pursued illegal leaks, investigated credible allegations of employee misconduct, and accommodated congressional oversight without compromising law enforcement interests,” he wrote.
Matthew Miller, a Justice Department spokesman in the Obama administration, said he found particularly odd the “over-the-top praise for the president who has spent his entire tenure attacking the Department of Justice. . . . When one of the most consistent themes of the president’s tenure has been attacking the career men and women at the Department of Justice, it’s just inappropriate for a deputy attorney general to heap all of this unalloyed praise on him.”
On Thursday, in one of his last public speeches as the deputy attorney general, Rosenstein lashed out at politicians and the media, denouncing what he called “mercenary critics who get paid to express passionate opinions about any topic, often with little or no information. . . . They make threats, spread fake stories and even attack your relatives.”
In recent weeks, Rosenstein has faced criticism for how the Justice Department released the findings of Mueller’s investigation. Rosenstein signed on to Barr’s conclusion — which went further than Mueller had been willing to go — that there was insufficient evidence to accuse Trump of obstructing justice, and he stood behind Barr when the attorney general repeatedly declared at a news conference that Mueller had concluded there was no collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.
Democrats and legal analysts have asserted that Barr was casting Mueller’s report in a way that was overly favorable to Trump, with public support from Rosenstein.
Rosenstein was long viewed as one of the last bastions insulating the Mueller probe from political interference. But Rosenstein’s role was always deeply controversial, since it was a memo he wrote criticizing Comey that formed the public justification for firing him as FBI director — a move that led Rosenstein, days later, to appoint Mueller as special counsel to carry on the Russia investigation.
| Government Job change - Resignation_Dismissal | April 2019 | ['(The Washington Post)'] |
Ghassan Hitto is elected as the Syrian National Coalition's provisional Prime Minister. He will be tasked with forming a government amid the Syrian civil war. | ISTANBUL (AP) — Syria's opposition coalition early Tuesday elected a little-known American-educated IT manager and Islamic activist to head an interim government to administer the areas seized by rebel forces from the forces of President Bashar Assad.
Ghassan Hitto received 35 votes out of 48 ballots cast by the opposition Syrian National Coalition's 63 active members during a meeting in Istanbul. The results were read aloud by coalition member Hisham Marwa to applause from a few dozen of his colleagues who had waited until after 1 a.m. to hear the results.
"I miss my wife and children and I look forward to seeing them soon," said Hitto, who has lived in the United States for decades and recently moved from Texas to Turkey to help coordinate aid to rebel-held areas.
When asked what his interim government's first priority would be, Hitto said he planned to give a speech later Tuesday outlining his plans.
Coalition members hope the new government will unite the rebels fighting Assad's forces on the ground and provide services to Syrians living in rebel-held areas, many of which have been battered by the country's civil war and suffer acute shortages of food, electricity and medical services.
But the new government faces huge challenges, starting with its ability to gain recognition from rebel factions on the ground.
As rebels have progressed in northern and eastern Syria, a patchwork of rebel groups and local councils have sought to fill the void left by the government's withdrawal by organizing security patrols, reopening bakeries and running courts and prisons. It is unclear if these groups, many of which have taken charge of their own towns, will accept an outside authority, especially if it is headed by someone who has spent decades abroad.
"How can a civilian come and tell these fighters on the ground, 'Drop your weapons. It's my turn to rule'?" asked Adib Shishakly, the coalition's representative to a group of Gulf nations known as the Gulf Cooperation Council, before the results were announced.
Hitto's election follows two failed attempts to form interim governments due to opposition infighting. Coalition members also say they received insufficient international support to allow them to project their authority to groups inside Syria. The new government could have the same problem.
"You have to find a way to cooperate with these groups and you can only rule by providing services, which requires funding," Shishakly said.
The council's creation of an interim government renders even more remote the chances of ending the war through negotiations with Assad's government — the preferred solution of the U.S. and other world powers.
The U.S. has been cool to the idea of a rebel government to rival Assad's and supports a peace plan put forward by the U.N. and the Arab League that calls for the formation of a transitional government that represents the regime and the opposition.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday reiterated his call for a political solution "while there is still time to prevent Syria's complete destruction."
On Monday, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry also said the Obama administration wants to leave the door open for a political solution. Regarding the rebels, he also said the U.S. would not "stand in the way of other countries that made a decision to provide arms, whether it's France or Britain or others."
French President Francois Hollande said last week that his country and Britain were pushing the European Union to lift its arms embargo on Syria so they can arm the rebels. Germany and other EU nations oppose the move, saying it will exacerbate the violence.
Coalition members in Istanbul rejected the idea of negotiating with the Syrian government before Assad leaves power.
"We've heard a lot about this 'peaceful solution,' but there are no positive, real steps from the regime," said Nizar Al Hrakey, a coalition member.
On Monday, the head of Syria's largest official rebel group, the Free Syrian Army, threw his weight behind the idea of an interim government.
"We consider it the only legal government in the country," Gen. Salim Idris told reporters in Istanbul.
However, Idris's authority within the country remains limited, with some of the most successful rebel groups on the ground rejecting his authority.
The Syrian government did not immediately comment on the Istanbul meeting. It blames the war on a foreign conspiracy to weaken Syria being carried out by terrorists on the ground.
Hitto did not receive a resounding mandate from the coalition, of which he is not a member. Of the group's 63 active members, only 48 voted. Four cast blank ballots and Hitto received 35 of the remaining votes.
Hitto was born in Damascus, the Syrian capital, in 1963, according to his official resume provided by the coalition. Little known in Syria, Hitto has lived in the United States for more than two decades, most recently in Texas. He has academic degrees from Purdue University in Indiana and Indiana Wesleyan University.
He worked for a number of different technology companies and helped run a Muslim private school called the Brighter Horizons Academy. He is also a founding member of the Muslim Legal Fund of America, which was founded to give legal aid to Muslims following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
He is married with four children.
Activist Ghassan Yassin, who watched the vote after traveling from the embattled city of Aleppo, said he saw "no reasons to be optimistic about the formation of an interim government."
He said he had only heard of Hitto recently and doubted his government would have the resources to make a difference.
"The question is not whether there is an interim government, but whether there will be any support for it," he said.
Syria's conflict began with political protests in March 2011, and has since spiraled into a civil war, with hundreds of rebel groups fighting Assad's forces across the country. The U.N. says more than 70,000 people have been killed and millions pushed from their homes by the violence.
Also on Monday, Assad's fighter jets struck targets near the town of Arsal, Lebanon, according to Lebanon's state-run National News Agency. The two countries share a porous border.
U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland confirmed that Syrian warplanes and helicopters had fired rockets into northern Lebanon, striking near Arsal.
"This constitutes a significant escalation in the violations of Lebanese sovereignty that the Syrian regime has been guilty of," Nuland said. "These kinds of violations of sovereignty are absolutely unacceptable.' | Government Job change - Appoint_Inauguration | March 2013 | ['(AP via USA Today)', '(Reuters)'] |
Russian Federation ambassador to the United Kingdom is summoned by the British Secretary of State William Hague. | Russia's upper house of parliament has approved President Putin's request for Russian forces to be used in Ukraine.
He had asked that Russian forces be used "until the normalisation of the political situation in the country".
Russia's Black Sea Fleet is based in the Ukrainian region of Crimea, where many ethnic Russians live.
Ukraine's acting President Olexander Turchynov said he had put the army on full alert but urged people to remain calm.
In a televised address, he asked Ukrainians to bridge divisions in the country and said they must not fall for provocations.
Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, who was standing next to Mr Turchynov, said he was "convinced" Russia would not intervene militarily "as this would be the beginning of war and the end of all relations".
There have been big pro-Russian rallies in several Ukrainian cities outside Crimea:
Russia's Vladimir Putin submitted the request for troops "in connection with the extraordinary situation in Ukraine and the threat to the lives of Russian citizens", the Kremlin said.
The upper house went into a special session almost immediately after Mr Putin made the request, and swiftly approved it.
Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin said, however, that this "does not mean that this right will be used quickly" to deploy troops.
The move has alarmed foreign leaders who were quick to express their concern.
UK Prime Minister David Cameron said "everyone must think carefully about their actions and work to lower, not escalate tensions".
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called for "an immediate restoration of calm and direct dialogue", whilst Nato's Anders Fogh Rasmussen tweeted: "Urgent need for de-escalation in Crimea".
US officials said Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel had spoken by telephone to his Russian counterpart Sergei Soigu.
The UN Security Council is holding an emergency session to discuss the crisis, and EU foreign ministers will meet on Monday.
The BBC's Richard Galpin in Moscow says it is potentially significant that Mr Putin's request was for deployment in Ukraine as a whole, and not specifically for flashpoints such as Crimea. Earlier, the lower house of parliament had urged the president to take whatever measures were necessary to "stabilise" the situation in Crimea.
During the upper house debate, one legislator accused US President Barack Obama of crossing "a red line" with his comments on Friday that there would be costs if Russia intervened militarily in Ukraine.
The upper house has recommended that the Russian ambassador to the US should be recalled, although the decision lies with Mr Putin.
President Putin's request follows days of military activity in Crimea during which unidentified armed men moved in to take over the regional parliament, state television and telecommunications hubs.
Soldiers from Russia's Black Sea Fleet, which is based in Crimea, are reported to be guarding some administrative buildings and military bases.
Amid the closure of airspace over Crimea's regional capital Simferopol on Friday evening, there were unconfirmed reports that Russian planes were flying in thousands of troops. Ukrainian Defence Minister Ihor Tenyukh said on Saturday there are now an extra 6,000 Russian troops in Crimea, alongside an additional 30 armoured vehicles. Under the agreement governing the presence of the fleet in Crimea, the Russians must co-ordinate all troop movements outside the fleet's base with the Ukrainian authorities beforehand.
The newly-elected pro-Moscow leader of Crimea, Sergiy Aksyonov, earlier said he had appealed to Mr Putin for help to ensure peace on the peninsula - a request which the Kremlin said it would "not leave unnoticed".
The interim government in Kiev does not recognise Mr Aksyonov and his government, and signed a decree on Saturday that their election at an emergency session of the regional parliament this week was illegal. | Diplomatic Talks _ Diplomatic_Negotiation_ Summit Meeting | March 2014 | ['(BBC)'] |
Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri resigns, citing assassination threats. | Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri has resigned, saying in a televised broadcast from Saudi Arabia that he feared for his life, while also fiercely criticising Iran.
He accused Iran of sowing "fear and destruction" in several countries, including Lebanon. Mr Hariri's father, former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri, was assassinated in 2005.
The Hariri family is close to Saudi Arabia, Iran's regional competitor.
Mr Hariri has been prime minister since December 2016, after previously holding the position between 2009 and 2011. "We are living in a climate similar to the atmosphere that prevailed before the assassination of martyr Rafik al-Hariri," he said in the broadcast from the Saudi capital Riyadh.
"I have sensed what is being plotted covertly to target my life." Mr Hariri also attacked the Iran-backed Shia movement Hezbollah, which wields considerable power in Lebanon.
Addressing "Iran and its followers" he said Lebanon would "cut off the hands that wickedly extend into it".
Iran said the resignation would create regional tensions and rejected Mr Hariri's accusations as "unfounded".
Mr Hariri has made several visits in the past few days to Saudi Arabia, whose leadership is strongly opposed to Iran. His announcement came a day after a meeting in Beirut with Ali Akbar Velayati, an advisor to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Kahmenei.
Taking up the prime minister's office last year, Mr Hariri promised a "new era for Lebanon" after two years of political deadlock.
The coalition government he led brought together almost all of the main political parties in Lebanon, including Hezbollah.
Rafik al-Hariri was killed by a bomb in 2005 in an attack widely blamed on Hezbollah.
By Martin Patience, BBC News, Beirut
The prime minister's resignation has opened up a chasm of uncertainty in Lebanon.
It's still not clear why he announced his decision in Saudi Arabia - an extraordinary move that left even his own MPs bewildered. But the move will be seen through the lens of the great Shia-Sunni divide that's fuelling much of the violence across the Middle East.
It's pitted the Sunni power, Saudi Arabia, against the Shia power, Iran - with both sides backing different players to wield influence.
In Lebanon, the Saudis support Mr Hariri while Iran backs the Shia movement, Hezbollah. In recent years, Lebanon has largely been spared the violence seen elsewhere in the region.
But with this stunning resignation, many Lebanese will now fear that their country is firmly in the crosshairs of the two regional superpowers. | Government Job change - Resignation_Dismissal | November 2017 | ['(BBC)'] |
Image taken by the Cassini spacecraft from Saturn orbit shows Venus shining like a bright beacon through Saturn’s rings. | The European Space Agency (ESA) is Europe’s gateway to space. Its mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world.
Discover our week through the lens
Find out more about space activities in our 22 Member States, and understand how ESA works together with their national agencies, institutions and organisations.
Exploring our Solar System and unlocking the secrets of the Universe
Monitoring space and protecting our planetary environment
Using space to benefit citizens and meet future challenges on Earth
Making space accessible and developing the technologies for the future
Watch Ariane 6's P120C booster hot firing at Europe's Spaceport in a final test before flight A distant world gleaming in sunlight, Venus shines like a bright beacon through Saturn’s rings in this image taken by the international Cassini spacecraft.
The image was taken last November when Cassini was placed in the shadow of Saturn. This allowed Cassini to look in the direction of the Sun and take a backlit image of the planet and its rings.
Peeking through the rings in this image is Earth’s ‘twin’ planet, Venus, just to the right of centre in the upper part of the image.
The view looks toward the unlit side of the rings from about 17º below the ring plane. The bright arc at the right of the image is the limb of Saturn. A portion of the rings is silhouetted against the face of Saturn, which itself is faintly illuminated by sunlight scattered off the rings.
Venus is, along with Mercury, Earth and Mars, one of the rocky terrestrial planets of the inner Solar System. Although it has a similar size, mass and rocky composition to Earth, Venus is far from a true twin.
Under a thick, choking atmosphere of carbon dioxide and sulphuric dioxide clouds the surface pressure is nearly 100 times greater than on Earth, not to mention the scorching 500ºC surface temperature – the hottest planetary surface in the Solar System.
But it is Venus’ permanent sulphur clouds that reflect plentiful sunlight, making it shine brightly in the night sky, even from a distant viewpoint in the outer Solar System.
The Cassini–Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, ESA and ASI, the Italian space agency. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, Washington. | New achievements in aerospace | March 2013 | ['(ESA)', '(NASA)'] |
Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan removes Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Shaikh in light of rising inflation and Shaikh's defeat in the recent Senate elections. Minister of Industries and Production Hammad Azhar is selected to replace him. | ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan removed his finance minister on Monday as part of a government shake-up aimed at bringing in policies to control “rising inflation”, the information minister.
The removal - the second of a finance minister in the 2-1/2 years of Khan’s tenure - comes amidst the restart of a $6 billion IMF bailout programme that had been suspended for one year over questions about fiscal and revenue reforms.
Cash-strapped Pakistan is also preparing to float Eurobonds worth around $2 billion to raise capital from international markets about two months before presenting a budget.
“There has been rising inflation, and the prime minister thinks that we need to bring in a fresh team which could devise pro-poor policies,” information minister Shibli Faraz told local Dunya News TV.
He said Hammad Azhar, the minister for industries and production, would replace Abdul Hafeez Shaikh.
The central bank on March 19 kept its policy rate at 7% for a 10th consecutive month to support economic recovery while keeping inflation expectations well-anchored and maintaining financial stability. It also revised higher its growth rate for the current fiscal year.
The South Asian nation recorded 8.7% CPI Y/Y in February.
Sheikh had lost a parliamentary election earlier this month that was mandatory for him to keep the office of the finance minister constitutionally. However he could have stayed in office until June 10, and it is not clear whether the decision to remove him was also a move to cover for the consequences of that election loss.
| Government Job change - Resignation_Dismissal | March 2021 | ['(Reuters)'] |
An overturned fuel tanker catches fire while dozens of people were attempting to siphon off fuel, killing seven people and injuring more than 40 others, near Pueblo Viejo, Magdalena in northern Colombia. | At least seven people have burned to death after an overturned petrol tanker exploded in northern Colombia, local police say.
More than 40 people were injured in the incident on the road near the town of Pueblo Viejo on the Caribbean coast, the police said.
Crowds had gathered around the tanker to try to siphon off fuel when the vehicle burst into flames.
The injured were taken to several hospitals in the area. Some of them have severe burns, and there are fears that the death toll will rise further.
Local officials said that some people ignored police warnings of the dangers.
Dozens dead in Tanzania fuel tanker blast
Dozens die in petrol tanker blast in Nigeria
| Road Crash | July 2020 | ['(BBC)'] |
The electoral commission of Niger declares that a second round of the presidential election will take place on February 21 after no candidate received a majority of the vote. The two candidates will be former minister Mohamed Bazoum, the leader of the ruling Nigerien Party for Democracy and Socialism, who won the first round with 39.33 percent of the votes, and former president Mahamane Ousmane, who won 16.99 percent of votes. | Ruling party candidate and former minister Mohamed Bazoum won the first round of Niger's presidential vote, the electoral commission announced on Saturday with a runoff set for next month.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI) said the close ally of outgoing President Mahamadou Issoufou garnered 39.33 percent of the votes at last weekend's election.
Bazoum will face former president Mahamane Ousmane, who won 16.99 percent, for the February 20 runoff in the West African country fighting a bloody jihadist insurgency.
Former prime ministers Seini Oumarou and Albade Abouba respectively came third and fourth with 8.95 percent and 7.07 percent of the ballots.
Turnout reached 69.67 percent or 5.2 million of the 7.4 million registered voters, CENI said.
The 60-year-old Bazoum, who has been both interior and foreign minister, campaigned on promises of improved security and education and had hoped to clinch victory in the first round.
Bazoum's ruling Nigerien Party for Democracy and Socialism (PNDS) is also leading in the legislative vote held at the same time with 80 of the 165 seats and five diaspora seats remaining to be decided.
The former French colony is also hoping to see a first peaceful handover between elected presidents.
However, insecurity overshadowed campaigning, with Niger battered by jihadists on its southwestern border with Mali as well as the southeastern frontier with Nigeria.
Five years of violence have cost hundreds of lives with many more displaced.
Issoufou, who was elected in 2011 after the country's last coup in 2010, is voluntarily stepping down after two five-year terms.
In a New Year radio address he hailed the election as "a new, successful page in our country's democratic history".
Niger has been unstable since gaining independence 60 years ago and is ranked the world's poorest country in the UN's Human Development Index. | Government Job change - Election | January 2021 | ['(AFP via Al-Ahram)'] |
The 14th annual summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation begins in New Delhi, India, and Afghanistan becomes its 8th member. | The annual summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation has opened in New Delhi, with leaders from India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka expressing frustration at SAARC's failure to achieve its central goal. VOA's Steve Herman reports from the conference site.
The summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, known as SAARC, began Tuesday, with a significant dose of self-criticism. Leader after leader chastised the group for accomplishing little of note in more than two decades of existence. Although the organization was set up to promote regional cooperation, intra-regional trade makes up less than five percent of the region's total gross domestic product.
Manmohan Singh at opening of SAARC summit in New Delhi, 3 Apr 2007Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the host, acknowledged that the organization is a talking shop that makes declarations, but achieves little of substance.
"We need SAARC to be an efficient instrument implementing what we member states seek," he said. "After several years of effort, the time has come to move SAARC from a declaratory phase to action and implementation." Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz says the member nations have been too involved in conflicts to think about regional cooperation. "The reason why we have been slow in catching up with the other regional organizations is evident," he said. "The political environment in South Asia has been impacted by disputes and trust deficits. We have remained mired in conflict management." Sri Lanka's president, Mahinda Rajapaksa, called for immediate action to help the rural poor, who make up a large percentage of the region's 1.4 billion people.
"We badly need to be action oriented rather than dependent on rhetoric," he said. "Merely saying good things about each other and ignoring the reality will take us nowhere." SAARC welcomed its eighth member on Tuesday, Afghanistan. Other member states include Bangladesh, Bhutan, the Maldives and Nepal. The eight countries comprise nearly one-quarter of the world's population, but account for only two percent of global GDP - and the majority of that economic activity takes place in just one country, India. | Diplomatic Talks _ Diplomatic_Negotiation_ Summit Meeting | April 2007 | ['(SAARC)', '(IHT)', '(VOA)', '(Hindu)'] |
In chess, Magnus Carlsen, the world number one from Norway, wins the 2013 Tata Steel Chess Tournament ahead of Levon Aronian and Viswanathan Anand. | Magnus Carlsen completed his victorious Tata Steel 2013 tournament with a draw against Anish Giri to record a final score of 10/13, equalling Garry Kasparov's record score in the 1999 competition.
2012 champion Lev Aronian finished second with 8½/13, with world champion Vishy Anand and Sergey Karjakin on 8/13.
The B Group winner was Arkadij Naiditsch with a score of 9/13, while the C Group title was taken by Sabino Brunello with an excellent score of 11/13.
Many thanks to the organisers in Wijk aan Zee for all their efforts; especially for their excellent interviews with the players, and also for their prompt daily reports after each round!
.Group A Final Standings
Final Round - Official website report
Magnus Carlsen has won the 75th Tata Steel Chess Tournament with a score of 10 out of 13, equalling Garry Kasparov's 1999 record win in Wijk aan Zee. In the final round of the tournament the world number one was a bit lucky his opponent Anish Giri allowed a drawing combination after reaching a nearly winning position. After 28.Qa3 Black would be in big trouble, but with 28.Qd6? White allows 28...Bxb3. However, Carlsen apparently was not satisfied with a draw and tested his luck one more time with 28...Ne8?!. Even though 29.Qa3 is still much better for White, Giri chose to force Carlsen to execute a drawing combination.
Giri's draw was enough to tie for first in the battle for best Dutchman as Loek van Wely had already gone down in flames against Sergey Karjakin. The Russian Grandmaster was well prepared for Van Wely's second Sicilian Dragon of the tournament, and when the latter embarked on a faulty plan with 22...a5? 23.Qh4 a4? the game came to an abrupt end with 24.Bxf7! and White soon won.
Battling for second place, last year's winner Levon Aronian was all set to make matters even worse for Fabiano Caruana, who had lost his last three games. Nevertheless, in the end Caruana rose to the occasion and managed to draw after 104 moves. Although his score of 8½ out of 13 would ordinarily suffice for first place, Aronian had to settle for the runner-up position.
Aronian did not, however, have to share second place with Viswanathan Anand. The World Champion suffered a painful defeat at the hands of Wang Hao. The Chinese Grandmaster reached a slightly better endgame out of the opening and went on to exploit the advantage of a bishop over a knight in exemplary manner.
Hou Yifan ended the tournament with a quick theoretical draw against Peter Leko. The former Women's World Champion started the tournament as bottom seed and had a rough start in the tournament. In the end, her fighting spirit and youthful energy prevailed and with a score of 5½ out of 13 she clearly exceeded expectations.
In order to avoid last place, Ivan Sokolov gave it his all one more time, but Erwin l'Ami kept his cool and held the draw.
Finally, Pentala Harikrishna tried to convert an extra pawn in an endgame against Hikaru Nakamura, but the American Grandmaster did not care for a third loss in a row and minimized the damage taking half the point.
The winner of Group B only emerged after six hours of play and 82 moves when Arkadij Naiditsch finally brought Sipke Ernst to his knees in a queen endgame.
B Group Winner Arkadij Naiditsch .
.
Tied for first, but losing the fight for the right to participate in Group A on tie-break is Richard Rapport, who tricked Predrag Nikolic in a complicated position..
B Group Runner-Up Richard Rapport
Group B Round 13 Results
.
Group B Final Standings
.
Group C was won by Sabino Brunello with the massive score of 11 (!) out of 13. Fernando Peralta had quickly drawn his black game against Alexaner Kovchan, giving Brunello the chance to take clear first by beating Miguoel Admiraal. | Sports Competition | January 2013 | ['(Tata Steel Chess)', '(ChessNews)', '(ChessBase)'] |
Ehud Barak, former Prime Minister of Israel, declares victory in a vote for the leadership of the Israeli Labor Party, with 51.5% of the vote compared to 47.5% for former security chief Ami Ayalon. | Former Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak has declared victory in a vote for Israel's Labour party leadership, completing a spectacular comeback set to rattle Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's Government. "Today I become Labour party's chairman instead of [Defence Minister] Amir Peretz," he announced from the podium in Labour's headquarters in Tel Aviv to the cheers of hundreds of party activists. Mr Barak has emerged as the winner with 51.5 percent of the vote against ex-security chief Ami Ayalon, who has received 47.5 per cent, with 75 per cent of the votes counted.
The remaining 1 per cent voted blank.
Mr Barak is Israel's most decorated soldier and has also served as defence and foreign minister.
The 65-year-old has announced his intention to replace outgoing party chairman Mr Peretz as Defence Minister in order to lead reforms in Israel's army following last year's war in Lebanon.
"The internal rivalry is over. Now we must each make an effort in his field," he said.
"I intend to put in all my knowledge in order to strengthen the defence establishment and the army and return Israel's deterrence."
Mr Peretz became the latest casualty of last summer's Lebanon war when he came in a distant third during a first round of voting on May 28. Mr Barak's election is also expected to lead to a wider reshuffle in Mr Olmert's Cabinet, where Labour is a key coalition partner.
Other than replacing Mr Peretz at the defence ministry, Labour also intends to ask for the finance portfolio currently held by Mr Olmert's Kadima party.
Further changes could take place if Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres, of Kadima, is elected Israel's new president in a parliamentary vote on Wednesday. Mr Barak has also vowed to pull Labour out of the Government unless the beleaguered Prime Minister steps down following scathing criticism of his handling of the war in Lebanon.
But behind the campaign slogans, Mr Barak appears more cautious.
He is aware that he may not be able to form a new majority and loath to face early elections that most surveys show the right-wing opposition Likud would win. | Government Job change - Election | June 2007 | ['(AFP via ABC News Australia)'] |
Jean–Pierre Bemba is acquitted of war crimes by the International Criminal Court appeals chamber. | THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — In a blow to prosecutors at the International Criminal Court and to victims of rape and murder in a conflict-ravaged African nation, appeals judges on Friday overturned the convictions of former Congolese Vice President Jean-Pierre Bemba for atrocities committed by his forces in Central African Republic.
The reversal delivered a serious setback to ICC prosecutors by scrapping all the convictions in the court’s first trial to focus largely on sexual violence and on command responsibility — the legal principle that a commanding officer can be held responsible for crimes committed by his or her troops or for failing to prevent or punish the crimes.
“We find it regrettable and troubling,” Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said. “And I can only regret that this ‘significant and unexplained departure’ from the court’s previous jurisprudence, as the dissenting judges described it, has taken place in the most serious case of sexual and gender-based violence that has been decided upon by this court to date.”
The ruling could have implications for possible future convictions of commanding officers in other conflicts.
Bemba’s lawyer, Peter Haynes, welcomed the decision.
“It’s not some acquittal on a technicality,” he said. “They went to the very heart of a commander’s culpability, namely his responsibility to ensure that when put in the knowledge of crimes he takes steps to investigate them and punish them.”
Bemba was the most senior suspect convicted by the global court and his 18-year sentence was the highest handed down in the court’s history.
Bemba, wearing a suit and tie, showed little emotion as Presiding Judge Christine Van den Wyngaert reversed his convictions. Bemba’s supporters in the packed public gallery were not so reserved; they cheered, whistled and hugged one another for so long that Van den Wyngaert threatened to halt proceedings if order was not restored.
The appeals chamber, in a 3-2 majority ruling, said the trial chamber “erred in its evaluation of Mr. Bemba’s motivation and the measures that he could have taken in light of the limitations he faced in investigating and prosecuting crimes as a remote commander sending troops to a foreign country.”
The appeals chamber also said Bemba was wrongly convicted for crimes that were not even included in the charges against him.
The two judges who disagreed wrote a dissenting opinion in which they said the acquittals were based on “an incorrect standard of appellate review,” the court said.
Bemba was found guilty in 2016 as a military commander of two counts of crimes against humanity and three counts of war crimes for a campaign of murder, rape and pillaging by his troops, known as the Movement for the Liberation of Congo, in 2002 and 2003.
He denied responsibility for the crimes. He was sentenced in 2016 to 18 years in prison.
Bemba has been in custody at the ICC for nearly a decade after authorities in Belgium arrested him there in 2008 and sent him to The Hague.
Van den Wyngaert said Bemba would not immediately be released because a separate panel of ICC judges is still considering what sentence he should be given in a conviction for interfering with witnesses in his trial. She urged that trial panel to quickly decide whether he should be set free.
The court scheduled a hearing for Tuesday to discuss the issue.
Haynes, the lawyer, was angry that Bemba was not released immediately.
“I think that is unacceptable. It is immoral and it may even be illegal,” he told reporters.
Bemba, a former Congolese senator and vice president, was the commander of the Movement for the Liberation of Congo when he was asked in 2002 and 2003 to send troops by President Ange-Felix Patasse in neighboring Central African Republic, or CAR.
At the time of his original conviction, judges said that women, girls and men were targeted by Bemba’s forces, often with multiple soldiers raping women and girls in front of family members. In one incident, a man’s wife was gang-raped and when he protested he, too, was raped at gunpoint.
Friday’s ruling does not mean those crimes did not take place, but that Bemba cannot be held criminally responsible for them.
Solomon Sacco, head of Amnesty International’s international justice team, said “the decision will be felt as a huge blow for the many victims of the ‘war against women’ waged in the Central African Republic through a horrifying campaign of rape and sexual violence.”
“5,229 survivors of Bemba’s atrocities participated in the ICC proceedings — for these brave individuals, as well as thousands of other victims in CAR, the pursuit of truth, justice and reparations will continue,” he said.
Sacco said the ICC prosecutor’s office and judicial authorities in CAR “must learn from this decision and redouble their efforts to investigate and prosecute alleged perpetrators of crimes under international law.”
Karine Bonneau of the International Federation for Human Rights slammed Friday’s decision.
“Twenty years after its creation, has the ICC just scuttled itself?” she said in a statement. “Delivering this judgment, it seems to say to the warlords: ‘As long as you are not on the scene, let your troops commit the worst crimes and the worst abominations, say that you have nothing to do with that and we will not condemn you.’”
It remains to be seen what Bemba will do once he is released. Haynes said he likely would join his family in Belgium.
Prominent Congolese opposition leader Felix Tshisekedi, speaking at an Atlantic Council event last month in Washington, said Bemba’s Movement for the Liberation of Congo was part of a new political alliance against President Joseph Kabila.
Frustration is rising in Congo against Kabila as the presidential election has been delayed since late 2016. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Sentence | June 2018 | ['(AP)'] |
Three Jundallah members who bombed a mosque in Zahedan, Iran, on May 28 are hanged. | TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran executed in public on Saturday three men convicted of involvement in a bomb attack on a mosque that killed 25 people, the official IRNA news agency reported.
Iran holds mosque funerals
01:16
The bombing in a crowded Shi’ite mosque on Thursday evening wounded more than 120 people in the southeastern city of Zahedan, two weeks before a presidential election in the Islamic Republic.
“Three people convicted of being involved in the recent terrorist bombing in Zahedan were hanged in public on Saturday morning,” IRNA said, adding that the executions took place near the mosque where the bombing took place.
A Sunni opposition group named Jundollah (God’s Soldiers), which Iran says is part of the Islamist al Qaeda network and backed by the United States, said it was behind the bombing, Saudi-owned Al Arabiya television said on Friday.
Ebrahim Hamidi, a local judiciary official, said the men were convicted after going through the normal judiciary process, adding that they were also involved in past “terrorist activities.”
“The bombing happened with the explosives these three convicted criminals brought to the country,” Hamidi said.
“They were convicted as ‘mohareb’ (one who wages war against God), ‘corrupt on the earth’ and acting against national security,” he said.
It was not possible to verify the claim of Jundollah, which says it fights for the rights of Iran’s minority Sunnis.
Thursday’s bombing was deadliest such incident in Iran since its 1980-88 war with Iraq. A blast in a mosque in the southern city of Shiraz killed 14 people in April last year but the country has otherwise been relatively peaceful.
Iran has in the past accused the United States of supporting Sunni rebels operating on its border with Pakistan. Tehran repeated the claim on Friday, saying the “terrorists were equipped by America.” Washington denied the allegation.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei condemned the bombing, saying “no one can doubt that the hands of ... some interfering powers and their spying services are bloodied by the blood of the innocent.”
He called on Iranians “to pay attention to the conspiracies of the enemies.”
Sistan-Baluchestan province, home to Iran’s mostly Sunni ethnic Baluchis, is the scene of frequent clashes between security forces and heavily armed drug smugglers and bandits.
Reporting by Hashem Kalantari; writing by Zahra Hosseinian; editing by Tim Pearce
| Armed Conflict | May 2009 | ['(Reuters)'] |
At least four people, including two police officers, are killed in a mass shooting in Fredericton, Canada. | Canadian police say a suspect is in custody after at least four people - two of them police officers - were killed in a shooting in the eastern city of Fredericton, New Brunswick.
The slain officers were identified as Sarah Burns and Robb Costello, but the civilians - a man and a woman - have not been named.
The officers were responding to reports of shots fired when they were killed, officials told media.
Police have not mentioned a motive.
"Protecting us today, they gave their lives," Fredericton mayor Mike O'Brien told the media during a press conference. "We will get through this together but now my thoughts turn to the families of the victims."
Burns, 43, leaves behind a husband and three children, while Costello, 45, is survived by his partner and four children.
Officials told reporters the officers had been responding to reports of shots fired when they found the two civilians on the ground. The suspect is in custody in hospital and being treated for "severe" injuries sustained during the incident, but he has not been named. The investigation into the shooting has been taken over by the RCMP, Canada's federal police force.
A local TV reporter said he had heard four gunshots just after 07:00 (11:00 GMT).
Nick Moore, a journalist from CTV Atlantic, posted video footage of the scene on Twitter, showing emergency vehicles outside a house. "Awful news coming out of Fredericton," Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tweeted. "My heart goes out to everyone affected by this morning's shooting. We're following the situation closely."
Fredericton is the capital of New Brunswick province and home to around 56,000 people.
It is rare in Canada for police officers to be killed in the line of duty. Between 1961 and 2009, a total of 133 police were killed, and just five in the province of New Brunswick. In 2014 24-year-old Justin Bourque shot five RCMP officers in the province, killing three. The shooting spree led to a 28-hour manhunt, and shocked the nation. In the aftermath, the RCMP was charged with labour-code violations alleging police officers had not been adequately armed and protected for the situation. Gun laws are more stringent in Canada than in the US, but the number of shootings has nonetheless risen in recent years. Does Canada have a gun problem?
| Riot | August 2018 | ['(BBC)'] |
An Indian Air Force Mi-17 transport helicopter crashes in the Budgam district of Jammu and Kashmir, killing all six IAF personnel onboard and a civilian on the ground. | Six Indian Air Force personnel were killed Wednesday morning when a Mi-17 transport helicopter in crashed in central Kashmir’s Budgam district. A civilian was also killed in the crash. The chopper crashed at around 10 am in an open field near Garend Kalaan village in Budgam, some 10 km from the Srinagar International Airport.
Villagers rushed to the area and made attempts to save those on board but could not as the helicopter was on fire. Soon police, army and air force personnel rushed to the spot. Additional deputy commissioner Budgam, Khurshid Ahmad Shah said that they have recovered seven dead bodies near the crash site of Mi-17.
“It was not clear how the chopper crashed. Seven persons have died of which six were IAF personnel on board the helicopter while one was a civilian of the village. There was no other collateral damage,” Shah said.
He said the civilian, Kifayat Ahmad Ganai, was by chance there when the chopper fell. “The chopper fell some 200 feet away from the nearby habitation,” he said.
Central Kashmir’s deputy inspector general (DIG) of police, V.K Birdi said they reached the spot immediately after hearing the sound and found that the chopper was in flames.
“The bodies were charred. Six of them were IAF personnel and one was a civilian. We have given the bodies to IAF and their identification will be done in due course,” he said.
On why the chopper crashed, Birdi said that it was a matter of investigation. “It will be premature to say anything. Circumstances of the incident are being inquired into,” Birdi said.
The administration said that the spot was cleared after debris was removed. “The Air Force took away the debris,” Shah said.
Owing to the curiosity hundreds of people gathered at the spot prompting the forces to use force to disperse them.
Locals said that they heard two blasts one after another. “We heard a loud bang in air when we saw the chopper and then another blast when it fell on ground,” said Liyaqat Mir, a resident of Budgam.
Another villager Nazir Wani said that they heard the blast in sky and saw the aircraft on fire.
“The pilot tried a lot to maneuver the aircraft out of the village area and into a field and we also rushed there to save the pilot. There was so much fire that we could not save him. Then again there were blasts and everybody ran for their lives,” Wani said.
Another local said that they picked up a dead body and threw water over it. “Many people tried to help till police reached the spot,” he said. | Air crash | February 2019 | ['(Hindustan Times)'] |
Niger is suspended by the Economic Community of West African States after its President Tandja Mamadou went ahead with a parliamentary election it had asked to be postponed over boycotts. | ABUJA, Oct 20 (Reuters) - West African leaders on Tuesday suspended Niger from the ECOWAS regional bloc and said they would not recognize the outcome of the country's parliamentary elections.
"The holding of the elections today in total disregard of the authority of ECOWAS heads of state and government is a clear move by the authorities in Niger to further entrench the constitutional illegality currently prevailing in the country," said a spokesman for Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua, who is the current ECOWAS chairman.
"The Republic of Niger is therefore suspended from ECOWAS until constitutional legality is reinstated." | Government Job change - Election | October 2009 | ['(ECOWAS)', '(BBC)', '(Reuters)'] |
Clashes break out between migrants and riot police at the Mòria camp on the Greek island of Lesbos after a policeman reportedly hit a minor. The violence occurred as a Greek migration minister was visiting the center. Several refugees/migrants are reported injured. | A riot broke out at a refugee camp on the Greek island of Lesbos on Tuesday, with police firing tear gas and reports that several refugees and migrants had been injured.
Black smoked billowed into the sky after refugees set fire to rubbish bins within the fenced camp near the village of Moria, a few miles from the island’s main port, Mytilini.
The trouble started in a wing of the camp where minors are held and then spread, Greek police said. "Riot police are conducting an operation in and out of the camp at the moment," a police spokesman told Reuters.
There were reports on social media that refugees had taken control of the camp, chanting “Freedom, freedom” over the public address system.
The clashes broke out after a Greek policeman reportedly slapped or hit a minor, refugees inside the camp said.
The violence took place during a visit to the camp by Yannis Mouzalas, the Greek migration minister, and a Dutch minister.
More than 4,000 refugees and migrants, including women and children, are kept in the camp, which is ringed by razor wire and guarded by Greek police and soldiers.
They are among more than 50,000 migrants and refugees who are stranded in Greece after its northern neighbour, Macedonia, closed its border in March, after similar action was taken by other Balkan countries.
Frustration has been growing for weeks, with violence breaking out on Aegean islands such as Lesbos and Chios and at Idomeni on the Greek border with Macedonia, where Macedonian police have fired rubber bullets and stun grenades at refugees trying to scale the frontier fence.
Under a deal struck between the EU and Turkey, refugees and migrants who arrived on the Greek islands after March 20 are to be deported back to Turkey. For each one deported, the EU has agreed to accept for resettlement a Syrian refugee living in Turkey.
Image sent to me by a refugee in Moria camp on Lesbos - riots after weeks of detention pic.twitter.com/gTqdj2Gkig
The deal is supposed to deter refugees from making the often deadly journey by boat from the Turkish coast to the islands of the eastern Aegean, but has been criticised as immoral and illegal by humanitarian organisations.
The pace of deportations has been extremely slow, but the operation resumed on Tuesday, when 49 migrants were taken by ferry from the Greek islands of Lesbos, Chios and Kos to Turkish ports. They were from Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Myanmar and none had requested asylum in Greece, a government official said.
Just over 340 people have so far been returned to Turkey under the accord, which was agreed with the EU in March after more than one million people fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East and elsewhere reached Europe last year. Greece has said authorities would start ruling on asylum applications in late April, but requests have been piling up and the process has been criticised as being too slow.
Giorgos Kyritsis, the government spokesman for the migration crisis, said Athens was "not cutting corners (and)... not delaying." "We're sticking to the legal procedure so that the asylum process is completed in the best possible way," he said.
Queen Rania of Jordan visited refugees and migrants on Lesbos on Monday, following in the footsteps of Pope Francis, who flew to the island for a one-day visit on April 16. The queen visited the Kara Tepe camp, where more than 800 refugees are living, many of them women and young children.
She said many refugees had "seen unspeakable horror and experienced unthinkable tragedy". "It is impossible to really understand the magnitude of the crisis until you come face to face with it," she told journalists after speaking with refugee women in the camp. "These people have gone from suffering to suffering and the one thing I keep hearing time and again is that if they had a choice they would be back in their homes; that this was a last resort."
The queen was invited by the International Rescue Committee, an aid agency which has installed showers, toilets, laundry facilities and lights at the camp, which lies a few miles from the much larger Moria facility. | Riot | April 2016 | ['(BBC)', '(The Telegraph)'] |
Voters in Albania go to the polls in an election important to the country's European Union candidacy, with both the ruling Socialist Party and the rival Democratic Party looking to gain a majority in the country's parliament. Voting is extended by one hour because of Eid al-Fitr celebrations and 39 °C (102 °F) degree temperatures. | Exit polls indicate Albania's ruling Socialists have likely secured a parliamentary majority in elections seen as key to the country’s future relationship with the European Union.
Citing exit polls, broadcaster Ora News on June 25 projected that Prime Minister Edi Rama's Socialists will win 45-49 percent of the vote, good enough for 71-75 seats in the 140-seat chamber.
The center-right Democrats of Lulzim Basha, an ardent admirer of U.S. President Donald Trump, are forecast to have won 30 percent of the vote.
An exit poll by Italy's IPR Marketing provided similar results.
Official results are expected on June 26.
If the projections hold, it will allow the 52-year-old, pro-Europe Rama to set the political agenda without the need for a coalition. His party was favored going into the vote, but experts were unsure if it would attain a majority.
A clear victory would allow Rama to rule without his current junior coalition partner, the Socialist Movement for Integration (LSI), which received about 19 percent of the vote.
Rama has become increasingly at odds with the LSI and its former leader, former Prime Minister Ilir Meta, who is now president-elect after being voted to the mostly ceremonial position by parliament.
Although the elections apparently went off smoothly, voter turnout was 44.9 percent, a record low for a general election in Albania.
In 2013, turnout was 52.7 percent, with some 1,750,000 people voting. Preliminary calculations indicate 1,514,851 out of a possible 3,452,260 voters turned out for the current election.
Because of the low turnout -- which some people blamed on the record-high temperatures and celebration of Eid al-Fitr, the end of Ramadan -- the election commission extended voting by an hour past the scheduled closing time.
The Socialists and Democrats were the leading parties looking to gain an outright majority in the parliament of the NATO-member, Muslim-majority country of 2.9 million people.
The Democrats had threatened to boycott the elections, demanding that Rama resign ahead of the vote to ensure a fair process.
The United States and the EU brokered a deal in May that overhauled election rules and allowed the opposition greater oversight over the process.
Rama is seeking his second term as prime minister. He described the vote, held in front of international observers, as a pivotal moment for the country and its hopes to join the EU.
Rama, who has voiced concerns about Russian influence in the country, has said he would like to complete EU ascension talks by the end of this year.
His rival, Basha, has also said he favors EU membership, calling it the "divine mission of the Democratic Party."
The country gained EU-candidate status in 2014, but movement has been slowed by a perceived lack of reforms, including those involved with the election process, and long-standing corruption.
While in power, the Socialists have improved tax collection and ruled under an improvement in economic growth -- 3.45 percent last year from less than 1 percent four years ago.
However, they were unable to fulfill promises to create 300,000 new jobs and provide free health care for everyone over 40 years of age.
The country has come under scrutiny for its massive levels of marijuana production, and it is a major transit route into Europe for cocaine and heroin.
Basha, 43, a former transport and interior minister, accuses Rama of ignoring Albania's problems and glossing them over with "facades and palm trees."
Both Rama and Basha previously served as mayors of the capital, Tirana.
| Government Job change - Election | June 2017 | ['(Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)', '(ABC News)'] |
Pretoria, the administrative capital of South Africa, experiences widespread looting and violent attacks by rioters focused on foreigners. Police are currently outnumbered and many businesses have been set on fire. The riots follow the death of a taxi driver reportedly shot by Nigerian drug dealers after they realized he had seen them complete a drug deal and had also seen their supplier. Bus services are suspended and authorities say the capital is currently unsafe. | Commuters using Metrobus services in Tshwane were left stranded on Wednesday after the city withdrew its services due to safety concerns. The suspension comes after bus drivers were intimidated on Tuesday by taxi operators.
The conflict began when taxi drivers fought with alleged drug dealers, which led to a driver being shot dead. Taxi drivers and alleged drug dealers scuffle leads to fatality in Tshwane CBD
Taxi drivers took to the streets, saying they are tired of drugs in the area. Ray White on the Xolani Gwala Show speaks to EWN reporter Bonga Dlulane and Tshwane Transport MMC Sheila Senkubuge. Dlulane says the situation in the capital is worse than it was on Wednesday morning.
What is happening here is nothing short of a war zone, firefighters are trying to put out fires in shops in the CBD. The situation is calm but tense at the moment.
It appears that the anger by taxi drivers is focused on foreign nationals as there are shops that have been looted and burnt down, he adds. Dlulane says the police are currently monitoring the situation.
When the police try to calm a situation on one part of the city, violence flares up in another area. When police fire rubber bullets, the crowds retaliate with stones.
Senkubuge says the situation is tense in the capital and she is waiting on law-enforcement agencies to give her feedback on whether arrests have been made.
We are meeting with law-enforcement agencies along with taxi association leaders to try and sort this matter out as speedily as possible.
She adds that even though the situation is handled, bus services will remain suspended. Listen below to the full conversation: The Money Show interviews RMB CEO James Formby about further action needed to address South Africa’s biggest economic challenges.
'We are immeasurably poorer as a country.' Bruce Whitfield shares tributes to the former Eskom chair who died on Wednesday.
Julius Malema slammed President Cyril Ramaphosa and the slow pace of the rollout, calling for government to incorporate the Russian Sputnik and Chinese Sinovac vaccines along with the Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson vaccines already being administered in South Africa.
Including people who know the plight of entrepreneurs as policy makers would help to cut red tape, says Allon Raiz (Raizcorp).
Former Statistician-General Dr Pali Lehohla examines what needs to be done to save SA's youth from 'serious injustice'.
Today a Youth-only political party launched its campaign for the October local government elections.
Julius Malema was speaking at the EFF June 16 commemoration outside the Uitsig High School in Centurion.
ANC members held a lunchtime picket, where they complained about the late payments of salaries and the non-payments by the party of their provident and unemployment insurance funds.
Employees at ANC headquarters, Luthuli House, as well as in provincial and regional offices have planned lunchtime pickets after months of salaries paid late. They have not even received payment for work done in May.
Political analyst Aubrey Matshiqi says what mattered then was that Mbeki was seen as the head of a conspiracy against Zuma.
Gauteng Provincial Government spokesperson Thabo Masebe says the doors for the oncology department are currently being installed and they are working block by block. Gauteng has recorded 7,502 new coronavirus infections in the previous reporting period.
Mandy Wiener speaks to Eyewitness News report Kevin Brandt on the briefing by the Health Department on Covid-19. It's understood that the shooting happened at Buyani Primary in Finetown on Friday morning.
The province is currently the epicentre of the Covid-19 third wave.
Arabile Gumede talks to Naptosa executive director Basil Manuel about the arrival of 300,000 vaccines for teachers.
The Health Department says 1,974,099 vaccines have been administered since the beginning of the vaccine rollout.
The Money Show's Bruce Whitfield interviews the CEO of Profmed Medical Scheme, Craig Comrie.
David van Wyk, Benchmarks Foundation chief researcher says the government needs to move away from the position that every problem in South Africa needs policing, this actually needs regulation and legislation.
Ray White speaks to Daily Maverick's investigative journalist Pieter-Louis Myburgh about their latest report on Digital Vibes. | Riot | August 2019 | ['(Radio 702)', '(ZimEye)'] |
According to the United Nations, as many as 96 families have been displaced by criminal gangs who are filling the vacuum left by FARC rebels in Colombia after the latter signed a peace deal with the government last year. | Families on Colombia's border with Venezuela have been displaced by criminal former paramilitary groups trying to fill the vacuum left by the departure of Farc rebels, the UN says. Officials said 96 families in the northern region of Norte de Santander had fled their homes.
Some crossed the border into Venezuela and others went to refuges in local Colombian towns, the UN said.
The government has denied any families have been forced across the border.
Foreign Minister Maria Angela Holguin was quoted by local media as saying there was "no certainty of any such displacement" although she conceded that there had been some internal displacement in the Norte de Santander area.
The UN said tension was high in the area and they feared more families could flee. According to the UN, various groups operate or have operated in the region: the Farc, Colombia's second largest guerrilla group, the ELN, and criminal and former paramilitary groups. Officials said people are fleeing because illegal armed groups are trying to take over the mining and cocaine trade which had provided the Farc with an income.
Norte de Santander has emerged as the country's main hub for coca cultivation. Last week peasant farmer organisations in the region around Catatumbo blocked the demobilisation of Farc units saying that their departure would leave them unprotected as the paramilitary groups gathered nearby. There have also been reports by local communities of an increased presence of criminal groups in at least three other departments: Antioquia, Uraba and Choco. The Farc - which signed a peace accord with the government last year - has largely left towns and rural areas it occupied and most of the fighters have gathered in 26 concentration zones under the watch of a multinational commission. The Colombian military is finding it difficult to take control in more isolated regions because of the problems of terrain and lack of access, the government's Peace and Reconciliation Foundation says.
The Farc is expected to hand over its arms by the end of May.
It has agreed to co-operate with investigations into drug trafficking and war crimes.
The armed conflict in Colombia has resulted in more than 220,000 deaths and 40,000 people missing over the past 50 years.
All sides have been accused of war crimes including massacres, torture and rape.
More than six million people have been displaced - the second highest number in the world after Syria.
| Sign Agreement | February 2017 | ['(BBC)'] |
A small plane crashes in a residential area of Riverside, California, killing at least three people, all of whom were passengers on the plane. No one on the ground was injured. | Three people were killed and two others injured when a small plane crashed and burst into flames in a residential area in California, officials said.
A married couple and three teenagers were on board the flight, which had just taken off from Riverside airport on Monday.
They were returning home to San Jose following a cheerleading event at the Disneyland theme park.
The identities of the victims have not been released. Residents of the two homes hit by the plane have been accounted for.
One of the teenagers, a girl, was thrown from the back seat of the light aircraft but suffered only minor injuries, Riverside fire chief Michael Moore said.
"Upon impact, the plane pretty much split apart, and luckily she was ejected," he said.
The girl managed to crawl to safety from the wreckage of the house and ask for help. She was later able to talk to firefighters about what had happened before she was taken to hospital, Mr Moore added.
One witness said that the plane's wings were "nearly perpendicular to the ground" moments before it "went into a nosedive" and crashed into the two homes, AP news agency reports. Firefighters pulled another passenger from one of the burning properties. The victim was unconscious and said to be in a San Bernardino hospital in critical condition.
Three bodies, all from the plane, were found in the wreckage of the aircraft and the homes.
The plane, which broke up on impact, was still burning several hours after the crash because of the fuel it was carrying.
Five killed in Melbourne plane crash
Two die as crash halts Australia Day event
Hardliner Raisi set to win Iran election
Vote-counting shows Ebrahim Raisi - Iran's top judge - has so far received 62% of the vote.
UN calls for end of arms sales to Myanmar
Tokyo Olympics: No fans is 'least risky' option
Asia's Covid stars struggle with exit strategies
Why residents of these paradise islands are furious
The Gurkha veterans fighting for Covid care. VideoThe Gurkha veterans fighting for Covid care
Troubled US teens left traumatised by tough love camps
Why doesn't North Korea have enough food?
Le Pen set for regional power with eye on presidency
How the Delta variant took hold in the UK. VideoHow the Delta variant took hold in the UK | Air crash | February 2017 | ['(BBC)'] |
Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, the United Nations special envoy for Yemen, says he welcomes the tentative truce that started at midnight Yemen time. The truce opens unhindered access for relief aid to all of Yemen. Peace talks are set to start later this month. | The United Nations special envoy for Yemen welcomed the start of a tentative truce in the country’s year-old conflict on Monday and said peace talks due to start later this month would require difficult compromises for all sides.
“Now is the time to step back from the brink,” Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed said in a statement following the start of the U.N.-backed cessation of hostilities at 2100 GMT on Sunday.
He said the truce terms included commitments for unhindered access for relief aid to all of Yemen, where the United Nations says hundreds of thousands of children face life-threatening malnutrition and millions lack health care or clean water.
“The progress made represents a real opportunity to rebuild a country that has suffered far too much violence for far too long. A positive outcome will require difficult compromises from all sides, courage and determination to reach an agreement.”
The conflict between the Yemeni government, backed by a Saudi-led Arab coalition, and its Houthi rebel foes has killed more than 6,200 people and triggered a humanitarian crisis in one of the Arab world’s poorest countries.
The halt in fighting precedes peace talks set to begin on April 18 in Kuwait under U.N. auspices.
Ould Cheikh Ahmed said a “de-escalation and coordination committee” of military representatives from both sides would work to make the truce hold.
He added that the Kuwait talks would focus on five main areas: withdrawal of militias and armed groups, the handover of heavy weapons to the state, interim security arrangements, the restoration of state institutions and the resumption of inclusive political dialogue, and creation of a special committee for prisoners and detainees.
The coalition said in a statement the truce would expire at 12 p.m. local of the day following the conclusion of consultations in Kuwait, unless the agreement was extended.The coalition began a military campaign a year ago with the aim of preventing Houthi rebels and forces loyal to Yemen’s ex-President Ali Abdullah Saleh from taking control of the country.
The conflict has caused a humanitarian disaster, aid groups say. Nearly half of Yemen’s 22 provinces are on the verge of famine, the U.N. World Food Programme said in March.
The UN Children’s Fund said late last month that basic services and infrastructure were “on the verge of total collapse,” noting attacks on schools, hospitals and the water and sanitation system. It said all sides had used child soldiers.
| Diplomatic Talks _ Diplomatic_Negotiation_ Summit Meeting | April 2016 | ['(Reuters)'] |
Vice–President of Colombia Angelino Garzón gets sick two days into his term. | BOGOTA, Aug 9 (Reuters) - Colombia’s new vice president, Angelino Garzon, underwent emergency coronary surgery on Monday following a heart attack just two days after taking office, health officials said.
Garzon, 64, a former union leader, was sworn in on Saturday as vice president by incoming President Juan Manuel Santos, who has promised to maintain a tough security approach and pro-business policies to create millions of jobs.
Local media reports said Garzon underwent quintuple by-pass surgery.
“The vice president is recovering in our intensive care unit,” said the Bogota clinic where Garzon had surgery after suffering from chest pains.
The clinic said in a statement that Garzon’s vitals were stable and his recovery depends on what happens over the next two days. Under Colombia’s constitution, the vice president replaces the president in times of temporary absence.
Santos succeeded Alvaro Uribe, whose eight years in office saw a successful offensive against leftist guerrillas and a deterioration in ties with the populist government of President Hugo Chavez in neighboring Venezuela. [ID:nN07219451]
Garzon was a long-time union representative and governor of Valle department under Uribe before being appointed Colombia’s representative to the United Nations in Geneva.
His experience as a union leader and a rights campaigner could be useful credentials in dealing with U.S. lawmakers as Colombia tries to secure a free trade deal with the United States. ( | Famous Person - Sick | August 2010 | ['(BBC)', '(AFP via France24)', '[permanent dead link]', '(Reuters)'] |
In Georgia, Vladimir Arutinian is convicted of the attempted assassination of U.S. President George W. Bush and terrorist charges and sentenced with life imprisonment. | Vladimir Arutyunian was found guilty on charges including terrorism, treason, attempted assassination and the killing of a police officer, the judge said.
The grenade landed 30m (100ft) from Mr Bush and the Georgian leader, who were standing behind bullet-proof glass.
It failed to go off because of a malfunction, said US officials.
The security scare marred Mr Bush's visit last May, which was aimed at showing support for President Mikhail Saakashvili's government, correspondents say.
I don't consider myself a terrorist, I'm just a human being
Vladimir Arutyunian
The presiding judge at the trial took four hours to read out the verdict, the BBC's Natalia Antelava reports from Tbilisi.
For the entire time, 27-year-old Arutyunian - guarded by five armed soldiers in masks - paced back and forth in a two-metre metal cage.
He stopped only when Judge David Dzhugeli said Arutyunian "was found guilty on eight charges from the criminal code and four of them demand the highest form of punishment".
'US puppet'
One of those charges related to the killing of a Georgian security officer during the operation to arrest Arutyunian in July.
The unemployed, single man was detained near the house he lived in with his mother in one of the poorest suburbs of Tbilisi.
Mr Bush was addressing tens of thousands of people at the time
Police said they found an entire arsenal of weapons in his apartment, including hand grenades similar to the one he tossed at the two presidents.
After his arrest, the suspect was shown on television admitting from his hospital bed that he had thrown the grenade.
He also said he hated Georgia's new government for being a puppet of the US and did not regret what he did.
Arutyunian refused to testify in the course of the trial. His lawyer Liza Japaridze said he would appeal, Reuters news agency reports.
As he was led from court, he was asked by one journalist if he considered himself a terrorist or an anti-globalist. "I don't consider myself a terrorist, I'm just a human being," he replied. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Sentence | January 2006 | ['(BBC)'] |
The FBI reaches out to Deborah Ramirez, the second woman to publicly accuse Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct, as part of the investigations into allegations against Kavanaugh. | The FBI has reached out to Deborah Ramirez, the second woman to accuse Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct, as part of the investigation into allegations against Kavanaugh, CBS News has confirmed. President Trump called for an FBI probe Friday, after it became clear that Republicans did not have the votes to confirm Kavanaugh without first conducting a one-week FBI investigation.
Ramirez's attorney, John Clune, released a statement Saturday afternoon confirming that the FBI had contacted her. "We can confirm the FBI has reached out to interview Ms. Ramirez and she has agreed to cooperate with their investigation. Out of respect for the integrity of the process, we will have no further comment at this time," Clune said in a statement.
A senior White House official told CBS News' Fin Gomez that the White House had expected the FBI to get in touch with Ramirez.
Ramirez has claimed that Kavanaugh exposed himself to her while they were both students at Yale University in the 1980s. In a story first reported by the New Yorker, Ramirez said the incident happened during a drinking game at a party. She claimed that while she was drunk, a male student pointed a plastic penis at her. Kavanaugh then allegedly put his penis in front of her face, and she accidentally touched it as she pushed him away.
Clune told "CBS This Morning" on Wednesday that Ramirez would be willing to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, the first woman to accuse Kavanaugh, testified before the committee on Thursday. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | September 2018 | ['(CBS News)'] |
Rioting at a police station in Hotan in the Xinjiang region of western China kills at least four people. | Several people have been killed in China's restive Xinjiang province in an attack on a police station.
At least eight hostages were held during the attack by "a mob" in the city of Hotan, state media said.
During a rescue operation two of the hostages, two security personnel and several attackers were killed. Xinjiang is the home to a largely ethnic Uighur population which feels increasingly pressured by Han Chinese migration and strict controls.
In 2009, deadly ethnic riots erupted in Xinjiang after tensions flared between the Muslim Uighur minority and the Han Chinese, in which nearly 200 people died. There have also been a number of explosions in Xinjiang in the past, which the government blames on Uighur separatists.
But Uighur activists and human rights groups accuse Beijing of using the issue to crack down on Uighur dissidents, who have complained that waves of Han Chinese migrants have marginalised the Uighur culture. The situation in Hotan is reported to be "under control".
| Riot | July 2011 | ['(BBC)', '(Times of India)', '(Xinhua)'] |
Hundreds of nude cyclists take to the street in Lima, Peru to protest unsafe road conditions. | Hundreds of scantily clad and nude cyclists took to the streets of Peru's capital, Lima, to call attention to safety conditions on the city's roads.
Campaigners say that thousands have been killed on the roads because of reckless driving.
Many of the cyclists painted slogans and signs on their bare skin.
Reports say the convoy cut off roads along an 11km (6.8 mile) route through the main thoroughfares of Lima.
"This is our body. With this, we go out in the streets. We don't have a car to protect us," event organiser Octavio Zegarra told the Associated Press news agency.
Between 300 and 500 cyclists are estimated to have taken part in the mobile protest.
Cyclists on the protest highlighted a number of complaints, such as not having a dedicated cycle lane.
"I have gone naked because it's the way to raise awareness of our rights for example the bicycle lanes that are never free, there are always taxis parked, police sleeping," protester Milagro Esquivel told the Reuters news agency. | Protest_Online Condemnation | March 2012 | ['(BBC)'] |
The police file criminal charges against overthrown de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi for illegally importing communications equipment and seek her custody until February 15 as part of investigations. | Police have sought democratically elected leader’s custody for two weeks after charges filed for illegally importing radios, a police document says.
Myanmar police have filed charges against overthrown leader Aung San Suu Kyi for illegally importing communications equipment and sought her custody until February 15 for investigations, according to a police document.
The Nobel laureate was overthrown and detained by Myanmar’s army on Monday, in a coup that cut short a transition to democracy in a takeover that has drawn condemnation from the United States and other Western countries. Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) won the November 9 election in a landslide but the military claimed it was marred by fraud and justified its seizure of power on those grounds. The electoral commission has said the vote was fair.
The police on Wednesday filed a request with a court detailing the accusations against 75-year-old Aung San Suu Kyi, claiming that walkie-talkie radios had been found in a search of her home in the capital, Naypyidaw. It said the radios were imported illegally and used without permission.
The document reviewed on Wednesday requested Aung San Suu Kyi’s detention “in order to question witnesses, request evidence and seek legal counsel after questioning the defendant”.
A separate document showed that the police had filed charges against overthrown President Win Myint for offences under the Disaster Management Law.
Reporting from Myanmar’s largest city of Yangon, Al Jazeera’s Ali Fowle said the country’s import-export act was “notoriously vague”.
“It could be anything from a fax machine to a walkie-talkie. It’s a notorious law because it was used under the former military regime all the time to imprison political prisoners,” said Fowle.
“There was a lot of criticism for the NLDfor not changing that law when they came to power because many of their members have been imprisoned under it,” she added.
There was no immediate comment from the police, the government and the court.
Later on Wednesday, United Nations spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the charges against Aung San Suu Kyi “just compound the undermining of the rule of law in Myanmar and the democratic process”.
“We continue to call for her immediate release and the president’s immediate release and all others who have been detained by the military in the last few days,” he told reporters.
Thomas MacManus, director of the International State Crime Initiative at the Queen Mary University of London, told Al Jazeera Aung San Suu Kyi was charged under a law that has been used in the past to target activists.
“It’s a very spurious charge … that is not based on the rule of law,” MacManus said.
“We didn’t have a fairly good rule of law before Monday and we certainly don’t have any now. These are trumped-up charges on behalf of the military as a way of somehow justifying her detention but there’s no justification.”
The NLD said earlier in a statement that its offices had been raided in several regions and urged authorities to stop what it called unlawful acts.
Meanwhile, the Group of Seven largest world economies condemned the coup and said the election result must be respected.
“We call upon the military to immediately end the state of emergency, restore power to the democratically-elected government, to release all those unjustly detained and to respect human rights and the rule of law,” the G7 said in a statement on Wednesday.
Aung San Suu Kyi endured about 15 years of house arrest between 1989 and 2010 as she led the country’s democracy movement. She remains hugely popular at home despite damage to her international reputation over the expulsion of Rohingya in 2017.
More than 700,000 Rohingya people were forced to flee to neighbouring Bangladesh in the wake of a brutal military crackdown in August 2017 that the UN said was executed with “genocidal intent”.
Meanwhile, opposition to the military government headed by army chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing has begun to emerge in Myanmar.
Staff at many government hospitals across the country of 54 million people stopped work or wore red ribbons as part of a civil disobedience campaign.
People in Yangon said they would show their opposition to the military coup by banging on pots and pans again on Wednesday night.
Tuesday’s sustained, nocturnal cacophony was the first public sign of protest against Monday’s power grab that reinstalled the generals in total control after a brief period of elective democracy.
People all over Yangon and other cities and towns across the country joined in, leaning out of doors, on balconies or just within their sitting rooms as part of a campaign of civil disobedience urged by Aung San Suu Kyi.
“It is likely to see more [civil disobedience] happening,” reported Fowle. “We’ve already seen government staff including hospital staff in Myanmar saying that they are not going to go to work, they refuse to work under the military.
“What they’re trying to show the military regime is that they are not willing to work for them,” she added.
Michael Vatikiotis, Asia director for the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, said, “It is clear that people are very angry.”
“The question is what is the strategy for any organised protest. and my guess would be that the NLD itself and potential protest leaders are probably hoping that they can lull the military into a fall sense of security after a matter of couple weeks or so and then begin the protests,” he told Al Jazeera.
“Coming out straight away would probably be a foolish act, but there is no doubt that this pot-banging … indicates the very high degree of public anger.”
Medical staff walk away as clatter of pots and pans and the honking of car horns are heard in protest against the coup.
The military has been the most powerful institution in Myanmar since the country’s independence from Britain in 1948.
Mixed reactions to coup among refugees in sprawling Bangladesh camps amid concerns over their repatriation to Myanmar.
Diplomats say discussions will continue with China and Russia asking for ‘more time’. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | February 2021 | ['(Al Jazeera)'] |
Italy's Court of Cassation overturns the acquittals of Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito in the murder of Meredith Kercher and orders a retrial. However, Knox, who returned home immediately upon release, is not expected to be there as the U.S. tends not to extradite its citizens to face legal action. | Updated 9.41am
ITALY’S HIGHEST COURT of appeal has overturned the acquittal of US student Amanda Knox and ordered a retrial over the murder of her British housemate in what prosecutors said was a drug-fuelled sex attack. Knox and her Italian former boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito – originally sentenced to 26 and 25 years in prison for killing and sexually assaulting Meredith Kercher in 2007– were acquitted on appeal in 2011 after four years in prison. Both now face a retrial in a Florence court after judges upheld a 2012 prosecution appeal against their acquittals. “It’s not been easy from the start. We have had to climb a mountain, but we draw great strength both from being innocent and from the fact the court’s ruling today is not a guilty verdict,” Sollecito’s lawyer Giulia Bongiorno said. “The retrial means the court has decided some details need to be reviewed. The battle continues,” she said. The judges were expected to rule on Monday, but unexpectedly sought more time for deliberations, pushing the decision back to Tuesday. The postponement of the ruling until this morning had sparked unease among lawyers representing the former lovers at the Rome court. Sollecito’s lawyer Giulia Bongiorno said beforehand that the delay was “rare… and hard to interpret.”
Prosecutors addressing the court on Monday said they were convinced the former lovers were guilty of murdering Kercher. They called for the judges to “make sure the final curtain does not drop on this shocking and dire crime.”
The defence argued that errors in DNA evidence had seen Knox and Sollecito wrongly accused from the start and called for their acquittal to be upheld. Knox and Sollecito could face a re-trial in Florence, though Knox will likely be tried in absentia. The Seattle student returned home immediately after her release and the United States does not normally extradite its citizens to face legal action. Carloa Dalla Vedova, the lawyer of Amanda Knox, talks to reporters in front of Italy’s Court of Cassation in Rome yesterday (AP Photo/Riccardo De Luca)
Kercher, 21, was found half-naked with her throat slashed in a pool of blood in her bedroom in the house that she shared with Knox in November 2007. A third person, Ivory Coast-born drifter Rudy Guede, who like the other two has always denied the murder, is the only person still in prison for the crime. Prosecutors had alleged that Kercher was killed in a drug-fuelled sex attack involving Knox, Sollecito and Guede. They had said that it was the American student who delivered the final blows while the other two held the victim down. But the appeals judge quashed the convictions of Knox and Sollecito in 2011, largely over the admissibility of DNA evidence. The judges said the murder remained “unsolved” because it must have been carried out by more than one person. Kercher’s family insists that 47 knife wounds on Meredith and the apparent use of two different knives in the attack meant that more than one killer was involved – which means that the second murderer is still at large. In her first interrogation following the murder, Knox said – without a lawyer or an interpreter present – that she was in the house at the time, and falsely identified the owner of a bar where she worked as a waitress as the killer. She later said that she was with Sollecito at his house all night and blamed her initial comments on exhaustion and police coercion. The supreme court is also set to rule today on Knox’s appeal against a slander conviction for having blamed the bar owner, who was held in a cell for two weeks based on her allegations. - © AFP, 2013
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
600px wide
<iframe width="600" height="460" frameborder="0" style="border:0px;" src="https://www.thejournal.ie/https://www.thejournal.ie/amanda-knox-meredith-kercher-trial-845209-Mar2013/?embedpost=845209&width=600&height=460" ></iframe>
400px wide
<iframe width="600" height="460" frameborder="0" style="border:0px;" src="https://www.thejournal.ie/https://www.thejournal.ie/amanda-knox-meredith-kercher-trial-845209-Mar2013/?embedpost=845209&width=400&height=460" ></iframe>
300px wide
<iframe width="600" height="460" frameborder="0" style="border:0px;" src="https://www.thejournal.ie/https://www.thejournal.ie/amanda-knox-meredith-kercher-trial-845209-Mar2013/?embedpost=845209&width=300&height=460" ></iframe>
Apart from the case itself, what I find shocking is that the USA does not extradite its citizens to other countries when they are found guilty of serious crimes, like they are above the law, but leans on other governments very heavily to get their hands on foreign nationals they want to try in court. A bit of extraordinary rendition is needed for Miss Knox so, what’s good for the Goose and all that. An American life is worth more and the same rules don’t apply to American citizens, because they’re the good guys fighting, in George Bush’s words, ‘the axis of evil’. Amazing to think all the fuss about Julian Assange possibly being extradited from Sweden with these double standards in place. There’s a huge difference between Knox & Assange. Knox has faced her charges and been released on appeal (America also has a double jeopardy rule in play here). Julian Assange refuses to even face charges against him he is obstructing justice and his victims deserve answers. I thought double jeopardy only applied when someone is convicted of a crime that they can’t be re convicted of the same crime no? I could be wrong though
The double jeopardy rule means you cannot be tried for the same crime twice essentially to prevent the case being tried over and over again until the desires outcome is reached. Just to clarify that, the double jeopardy rule is that you can’t be tried again once a decision has been reached. If you’re convicted, you can’t be prosecuted again. If you’re acquitted, you can’t be prosecuted again. You can be prosecuted again if the court fails to reach a decision (e.g. recently, the first Vicky Pryce trial), or in a few cases of the conviction being quashed on appeal. This pampered yank got away with murder. I have read all I could find on this case and all that I could conclude is that there is no way one could say anything was “beyond a reasonable doubt.”
Either your comment is appalling or you know something that no one else does. I’m reminded of being with a court official that I knew in a Dublin pub who claimed the Birmingham Six were guilty and then left, when minutes later one of them, Richard McIlkenny, walked in. I told him what the court official had just said and Richard wanted to challenge him (to put it mildly) but the court official had left. I’ll ask you the same. If you were face to face with someone who has been found innocent would you make those comments? I hope you’re never wrongly accused yourself. William don’t be so naive. Knox did it, the dogs on the streets of Italy know it. It was ridiculous she was released on appeal. Niall, as I understand it, in Italy the judges decided she was innocent and not the dogs in the street. The Italian police and prosecution couldn’t have made a bigger balls of the case if they tried, but then look at the culture of corruption and gross inefficiency that exists in Italy. The Italian prosecutor, Giuliano Mignini, original chief prosecutor in the Kercher case, also investigated the Monster of Florence case – where 16 people were shot dead between 1968 and 1985. Mignini decided in 2002 that the 1985 suicide of Dr. Francesco Narducci was murder and his death was connected to the Monster of Florence case. Mignini alleged that Dr. Narducci was a member of a Masonic Lodge and his “murder” was ordered by the secret society to cover up it’s involvement in the Monster of Florence murders. Mignini eventually charged 20 city officials and police officers with involvement, in a ludicrously complex conspiracy. Mignini undoing was journalist Mario Spezi, he accused Mignini of convicting innocent people (four innocent people were convicted and exonerated before the Masonic Lodge debacle). So Mignini had Spezi put under surveillance and arrested in 2006 for complicity in the homicides of the Monster of Florence case. Spezi was held for 23 days, 5 days without access to a lawyer. Only then was it decided that Mignini had gone too far. Mignini was put under review for abuse of office, for wire tapping only. Nothing has come of it, it’s unlikely anything ever will. On March 22, it was decided by the Supreme Court of Italy that Dr. Narducci died by suicide. So what do you think of Italian justice now? @Niall
Ahh the good old “dogs in the street know she did it” logic, as liberally applied to the Ian Bailey case here at home. After all, its so damned inconvenient to have to find actual evidence to prove someone guilty. @ William Grogan
More accurately the judges in Italy didn’t find her innocent – more so, they found the DNA evidence defective and thus she was released. @Biggins
No court on the planet ever finds anyone ‘innocent’ – they can only find ‘guilt not proven’…. Read the book, Knoks comes across as one cold fish.You couldn’t like her if you tried. But I wouldn’t like to say she murdered Merideth.The police made a lot of mistakes. There was another Italian boy charged too.Knoks came across as very sly in the book.Anyway I just feel sorry for Merideth’s family. I remember thinking that the papers were obsessed with Knoks and the victim or her family were rarely mentioned. Strange. What was the book called Helen ? I like to get a copy
Totally agree you nailed it on the head there
Errrr…
The book hasn’t actually been published yet…. Or are you referring to a different one? Not her book the book I am referring to is “Darkness Descending” total impartial account and how the police messed it up
Very very strange case…was there ever any others, apart from that Rudy (?) guy, who were suspects in this murder? The retrial doesn’t matter to Knox, she’ll never be made to leave the USA
True – but if she ever goes to any country in Europe, she can be possibly seized and held while an extradition warrant could be issued from Italian authorities. The real outcome is that she will never be able to just travel where she wants from now on – and her book tour that was due to start shorty, will now have to be postponed and further chapters added to her life script. What ever the outcome of this, I can’t see the US allowing the extradition of her to Italy.. I found her attempt to frame her former boss (who is african) to be a testament to her real character rather than the wilting flower protrayed in court. Dead right I followed the case and read snook on it and you nailed she was a dangerous bitch. As I’ve said elsewhere here, Gerry Conlon “framed” his innocent aunt as the bomb maker after being ill treated. So what does that tell us? Guilty as sin. How they can justify a retrial in this case is beyond me. Surely they messed up the first one enough, between tampered evidence, far fetched hypothesis of events, and ridiculous Catholic judgement of someone clearly being guilty of murder and sexual violence because she owned vibrators and enjoyed sex? In a modern and developed society such as Italy, their criminal justice system appears to be removed of any concept of human rights. Thankfully I believe America will never extradite Knox, but Sollecito will not be given the same support. How can they justify a retrial based on the initial trial, the appeal, the trial by media, and most of all, the distinct lack of evidence? This is becoming a human rights issue, IMO. One life is gone, yet the Italian courts present as having a vendetta against ‘Foxy Knoxy’ and appear determined to waste another two lives. And let us remember that Rudy Guede has already been convicted for the sexual assault and murder of Meredith Kircher. Clearly this version of events did not satiate their far fetched sexually disturbed version of events. This case is no longer about Meredith Kircher, it’s about Amanda Knox now. @ Maeve – It’s clearly not a cut and dry case. They pointed out the fact that Knox lied in her original statement in which she admitted being there during the murder and lying about who did it. Exhaustion is a pretty bad excuse in my opinion because if I ever found myself in the same situation I would only potentially lie about events if I was guilty. @Derek – Similar to how victims react following experiences of crime, it is impossible to determine how someone would behave in such a situation. Of more importance, however, is that we should not judge a case on how someone SHOULD behave. Lying or providing incorrect information is not, without any doubts, a sign of guilt. You provided personal opinion there and it is that level of personal opinion that was bound with the evidence of this case. Her personality and behaviour irrelevant of this case is what was on trial. Yes there are questions unanswered but that does not mean we will find the answers through Amanda Knox. Dear god. Why would she even say she was there only to change her story. Makes no sense. Blindly sticking up for this girl on nothing more than your instinct. And you’re blindly condemning her based on your opinion. A bit fo a witch hunt at this stage!! The evidence was ripped apart at the retrial and the Italian judges were the ones who said that the forensic evidence was all contaminated & unsafe (at best) and there was no other evidence against them. You can’t convict someone because they were cold and uncaring (whis was one of the arguments). If they did it, which I don’t believe they did, then the prosecution have failed to produce any evidence to prove it and I doubt they have managed to find some since, considering they destroyed all the forensics at the time with their incompetence. The whole trial was a farce and the Italians don’t want to lose face now! @ Maeve – I’m not saying she’s guilty and I know the mind can work in a funny way under extreme pressure. My point is – If she’s now sticking to the story that she was at her boyfriends all night. She deserves at the very least, to be probed heavily on her original statement. Unfortunately she has lied one way or another which makes whatever she’s now says less credible. Take the blinkers off. Merdith, not Knox, deserves sympathy. It was made clear that there were serious errors in the gathering of evidence and this is what made the case unstable and resulted in a successful appeal. If you have read over the case you will know that there is serious doubt cast over Knox there is obviously something which has resulted in a guilty finding and for these judges to find the need for a retrial. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Sentence | March 2013 | ['(The Journal)', '(The Guardian)', '(Al Jazeera)', '(CNN)'] |
Residents flee Mogadishu as warlords and Islamist militias battle for control of the Somali capital. The death toll in five days of fighting reaches 120. , | The alliance of warlords has accused the Islamists of indiscriminate shelling, designed to provoke fear among the civilian population. The fighting between the Islamists and a group of warlords has killed some 120 people, in the worst clashes for years.
Many Somalis accuse the US of backing the alliance of warlords.
The BBC's Mohammed Olad Hassan in Mogadishu says this belief is fuelling the violence.
A United Nations team says the Islamist alliance had gained ground since the fighting began last Sunday. Our reporter says several new parts of Mogadishu have come under attack, but the front line of the main battle has hardly moved from the northern suburbs where the fighting started.
Most of those killed in the fighting are civilians caught in cross-fire or hit by stray bullets or shells, he says. The rival groups used heavy artillery and mortar rounds, as the fighting raged overnight , with many buildings destroyed. "There is very heavy fighting here with huge shelling," Mogadishu resident Abdinasir Mohamed told the AFP news agency. "We don't know where to go, where is safe," said shopkeeper Maryan Ibrahim.
Arms embargo
United Nations envoy to Somalia Francois Fall told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme that the UN was trying to negotiate a ceasefire between the rivals groups.
SOMALIA'S THREE RIVAL GROUPS
Transitional government
Gets arms from: Ethiopia, Italy (Source: UN report)
Islamic courts
Gets arms from: Eritrea (Source: UN report)
Anti-terror alliance of warlords
Believed to get support from US
Q&A: Mogadishu fighting
The US has not confirmed or denied backing the warlords but says it would "work with responsible individuals... in fighting terror".
A report by a UN committee on Wednesday warned that an unnamed country is flouting the arms embargo on Somalia.
The UN Security Council rejected the committee's recommendations for targeted sanctions and tighter controls on the illegal flow of weapons into Somalia, where guns are openly sold in markets.
This is the second round of Mogadishu's most serious fighting in a decade. In March, clashes between the two sides killed at least 90 people. Lawless country
The militia linked to the Joint Islamic Courts have restored order to some parts of the city by providing justice under Sharia - Islamic law. Facts and figures about life in Somalia
At-a-glance
The alliance of warlords earlier this year created the Alliance for the Restoration of Peace and Counter-Terrorism. It accuses the Islamic Courts of sheltering foreign al-Qaeda leaders, while the Courts say the alliance is a pawn of the United States. Last week, Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf accused the US of funding the coalition of warlords. The US has an anti-terror task force based in nearby Djibouti. Somalia has not had an effective national authority for 15 years since the ousting of President Siad Barre in 1991. | Armed Conflict | May 2006 | ['(VoA)', '[permanent dead link]', '(BBC)'] |
The Chinese yuan reaches a record level against the US dollar. | China's currency has risen to a record high against the dollar, in a sign that Beijing intends to use the currency to fight inflation.
There were official reports that China should let its currency appreciate more quickly to head off inflationary pressures from soaring oil prices.
Oil prices are close to two-year highs and Beijing is concerned that energy-hungry China is importing inflation.
This has led to complaints among the population about rising prices.
On Tuesday, the yuan traded in a range from 6.5552 - a record high - to 6.5596. The currency ended at 6.5561 versus the dollar.
The currency has now risen about 4.1% since June 2010 and 0.2% so far this week.
China February inflation steady
China launches first property tax
Setback for EU in legal fight with AstraZeneca
But the drug-maker faces hefty fines if it fails to supply doses of Covid-19 vaccine over the summer. | Break historical records | March 2011 | ['(BBC)'] |
Typhoon Chanchu makes landfall twice in the Philippines. 23 people are killed and five remain missing after a boat capsizes in the stormy seas off Masbate island. , , , | MANILA (Reuters) - A typhoon whipped through the northwestern Philippines on Saturday, killing at least 24 people in stormy seas and leaving more than 10,000 people stranded as air and ferry services were suspended.
Most of those killed were from a boat that capsized off Masbate island in the south of the Luzon region, the Coast Guard said.
At least 21 people on the vessel, named the Mae Ann 5, were killed and 18 were rescued, Coast Guard spokesman Joseph Coyme told reporters in Manila.
A fisherman drowned while four others were rescued when their boat sank in rough seas off the coast of Negros Occidental province in the central Philippines, Coyme said.
In Batangas province, near Manila, a 36-year-old woman was killed when a fence swept by floods crashed into her hut, officials told local radio.
The National Disaster Coordinating Council said a boy was killed in Laguna province after he was pinned by a coconut tree toppled by Typhoon Chanchu.
Eight fishermen were also missing, the council said.
A two-day meeting of Southeast Asian trade ministers at the Boracay resort in the central Philippines was cancelled and moved to Manila, said Ramon Kabigting, director of the Bureau of International Trade Relations. The meeting was scheduled to begin on Monday.
Chanchu is slowly moving west but forecasters say it will continue to cause bad weather in the Philippines for another day or so.
Weather Web site www.tropicalstormrisk.com said the typhoon would strengthening to a category four storm, with five the maximum, in the next few days as it turns northwest towards Hong Kong.
"It's now in the South China Sea, with winds of 110 kph and gusts of 140 kph," Ludy Alviar, a meteorologist at the Philippine weather bureau, told Reuters.
Power has been cut in Boracay since Friday, forcing some resort owners to use generators, a Reuters reporter on the island said.
The disaster council said the local governments of northern Samar and Batangas City have declared a state of calamity in their areas to speed release of funds for relief operations.
The disaster council said about 28,000 people were either affected or displaced by Typhoon Chanchu.
Hundreds of families fled to evacuation centres as Chanchu, with gusts of up to 120 kph (75 mph), battered a wide area.
The council said 145 houses were destroyed and 1,124 partially damaged, mostly in the coconut-growing Bicol region.
There was no immediate report of damage to agriculture.
In Manila, winds toppled billboards and snapped tree branches, causing power outages in some parts of the city.
Some power suppliers were expected to resume services in Bicol later on Saturday after automatically shutting them down during the peak of the storm on Friday.
| Hurricanes_Tornado_Storm_Blizzard | May 2006 | ['(CNEWS)', '[permanent dead link]', '(CNN)', '(Reuters)', '(SwissInfo)'] |
Actress Mia Farrow gives evidence in the trial of former President of Liberia Charles Taylor before the United Nations Special Court for Sierra Leone. | Ex-Liberian President Charles Taylor gave Naomi Campbell diamonds after a 1997 dinner in South Africa, the supermodel's former agent Carole White has told Mr Taylor's war-crimes trial.
She said Mr Taylor had promised the model the diamonds during the meal.
The account contradicts evidence given by Ms Campbell, who said she did not know who had given her the gems.
Prosecutors say Mr Taylor traded with rebels in Sierra Leone, giving them weapons in return for diamonds. Tens of thousands of people died in interlinked conflicts in Sierra Leone and Liberia in the 1980s and 1990s. Mr Taylor denies 11 charges at the Special Court for Sierra Leone, sitting in The Hague, and he has denied having anything to do with the trade in so-called blood diamonds.
According to Ms White, Mr Taylor and Ms Campbell had been "mildly flirtatious" with each other at the 1997 dinner in South Africa, hosted by Nelson Mandela who was the country's president at the time.
Mr Taylor told the supermodel during dinner that he would send some men to give her diamonds, Ms White told the hearing.
"We were sitting around this lounge area at about 10 o'clock at night and we were waiting for these men to arrive," Ms White said.
"She was in communication with them by phone - most likely by text. Someone was informing her that the car was nearly there."
Ms White said Ms Campbell was "very excited" about the diamonds.
"The guys came in and they sat down in the lounge and we sat opposite them... they then took out a quite scruffy paper and they handed it to Miss Campbell and said 'these are the diamonds'," she said.
"She opened them and showed them to me. They were quite disappointing because they weren't shiny."
Earlier on Monday, US actress Mia Farrow, who was at the dinner, had also testified that Ms Campbell had been excited by the gift.
Last week, Ms Campbell told the hearing that two men had come into her room in the middle of the night and given her a pouch of stones, and that she did not know who had given her the gift.
She told the court she had given the stones to Jeremy Ractliffe of the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund the next morning because she wanted them to go to charity.
Mr Ractliffe has now handed the gems to police, and on Sunday they confirmed that the stones were real diamonds.
Mr Taylor, 62, was arrested in 2006 and his trial in opened in 2007.
The former warlord is accused of arming Sierra Leone's Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels during the 1991-2002 civil war - a charge he denies.
Prosecutors say that from his seat of power in Liberia, Mr Taylor also trained and commanded the rebels who murdered, raped and maimed Sierra Leone civilians, frequently hacking off their hands and legs.
The Sierra Leone war became notorious for the widespread use of child soldiers.
| Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | August 2010 | ['(The Daily Telegraph)', '(BBC)', '(The Independent)'] |
South Africa's Army enters KwaZuluNatal province to prevent violence during the upcoming general election. | The South African army has been called in to the eastern province of KwaZulu-Natal to prevent violence from flaring up over the elections next week.
The government made the decision to send troops and more police to the area after a house was burned to the ground. The ruling African National Congress blamed the opposition for violence they say has killed five since August 2008. But the Inkatha Freedom Party say police and the ANC are guilty of "terror tactics" and intimidation. "The IFP are on the warpath," ANC provincial secretary Senzo Mchumu told the BBC. He said a group of ANC campaigners were attacked on Thursday as they were going door-to-door in the small township of Lindelami, near the provincial capital Durban. A house was burned down, but no-one was hurt, he said. "The IFP are saying that the ANC are responsible for the violence but we cannot be. We called for the police to come, we cannot do that if we were responsible." 'Beating supporters'
IFP national organiser Albert Mncwango said the police and the ANC were colluding to suppress his party.
"The police are on the streets beating up our supporters and tearing off any IFP shirt they see," he told the BBC. He said the violence on Thursday was the result of a long-standing conflict between squatters and home-owners in the area, and had nothing to do with elections. The government has previously increased the number of police deployed to the region. Before a rally in the town of Nongoma in February, the ANC says its members were attacked and shot at. What are these? | Armed Conflict | April 2009 | ['(BBC)'] |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.