title stringlengths 1 7.43k | text stringlengths 111 32.3k | event_type stringlengths 4 57 | date stringlengths 8 14 ⌀ | metadata stringlengths 2 205 ⌀ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Abortion in Mexico: Mexico City's Legislative Assembly votes to legalise abortion on demand during the first trimester of pregnancy. | Lawmakers voted 46 to 19 in favour of the bill that will permit abortions of pregnancies in the first 12 weeks.
Mexico City previously allowed abortion only in cases of rape, if the woman's life was at risk or if there were signs of severe defects in the foetus.
Opponents of the abortion law have said they will challenge it in the courts.
Church concerns
The BBC's Duncan Kennedy, in Mexico City, says that for years groups wanting to increase the rights of women have campaigned for change while conservative forces in the Catholic Church and elsewhere have fought to keep the practice outlawed.
Mexico City is one of the most populous cities in the world, with 8.7 million of Mexico's population of 106 million people living there, according to UN figures from 2005.
The abortion vote split Mexico's population, which is 90% Catholic, and prompted a letter last week from Pope Benedict XVI urging Mexican bishops to oppose it.
Prior to the vote, riot police kept rival demonstrators apart as they hurled insults at each other outside the assembly building.
There are an estimated 200,000 illegal abortions in Mexico each year.
Of women who opt for illegal procedures, at least 1,500 women die during botched operations performed in unhygienic backstreet clinics.
Many victims of rape are denied access to legal abortion, a Human Rights Watch report said last year.
The Mexico City assembly has courted controversy in Mexico before: it recently voted to allow same-sex civil unions and is currently considering legalising euthanasia. | Government Policy Changes | April 2007 | ['(BBC)'] |
A fire at the Royal Marsden Hospital in London, England forces its evacuation. | The fire broke out at the Royal Marsden Hospital in Chelsea, west London, at 1320 GMT but is now under control.
Much of the roof was destroyed and a number of operating theatres were badly damaged by the blaze, which was tackled by up to 125 firefighters.
Two patients and two hospital employees were treated for the effects of breathing in smoke.
The hospital said two patients were having surgery at the time of the evacuation but were safely taken off their anaesthetic and ventilators and were recovering at a neighbouring hospital.
Royal Marsden NHS Trust chief executive Cally Palmer said the fire had broken out on the fourth floor of the building, close to where construction work had been taking place.
Ms Palmer said a "large proportion" of the hospital's five operating theatres and two wards had been badly affected, which had "compromised" its ability to perform operations.
"The most important thing is that all patients and staff have been evacuated safely, and our patients are being cared for in neighbouring hospitals by our specialist teams," she said.
Ms Palmer said she hoped that an area of the hospital would be available for access by 0800 GMT on Thursday.
About 800 staff and 79 patients, plus a similar number of out-patients, were moved to safety from the facility, which is a world-class specialist cancer hospital.
After the fire broke out several patients were laid on mattresses in a nearby street while others were led away wrapped in blankets.
Many were taken to St Paul's Church in Onslow Square while others were transferred to the Royal Brompton Hospital.
It's unbelievable what would happen if it burned down
Professor Ray Powles
Hospital is a world leaderIn pictures: hospital fire
Chelsea and Westminster Hospital treated the three casualties. The two hospital employees were later released while the patient remains in its accident and emergency department.
The London Fire Brigade (LFB) said crews would be at the hospital until the early hours of Thursday, when it hoped to hand back to the Royal Marsden for them to "carry out their business".
It said an investigation into the fire would begin immediately.
About 25 fire vehicles, ten ambulances and a hazardous area response team were sent to the scene after the alarm was raised on Wednesday afternoon.
Dr Aled Jones, a surgical doctor, was led out of the hospital during a break between operations.
"We did think it could have been a false alarm, but the message spread quickly around the hospital and we could smell the smoke," he told the BBC.
The staff were quite fantastic, and there was no fear whatsoever
Patient Jason Boas
Dr Jones added: "It was surreal. It didn't feel like it was really happening."
He said emergency procedures would go ahead under the hospital's contingency plans.
Professor Ray Powles, former head of haemato-oncology at the Royal Marsden, said the loss of the hospital would be a "huge step back" for cancer treatment.
He said: "It's unbelievable what would happen if it burned down. It would be a huge, huge step back for all the patients being treated there, and a huge, huge step back for cancer."
But he said valuable research material would not be lost as there was a second site in Sutton.
Both Fulham Road and Sydney Street were closed as staff and patients began emerging from the hospital while crowds gathered at the perimeter to watch the scene.
Patients in pub
Patient Jason Boas was awaiting treatment when the fire broke out.
He told the BBC: "All the patients and staff did not panic, and left in an orderly fashion. The staff were quite fantastic, and there was no fear whatsoever.
"We were evacuated and I had my cannula taken out in a local pub by one of the wonderful nurses. We were then sent home, and hopefully tomorrow I will go back to the hospital for treatment."
The Royal Marsden was the first hospital in the world dedicated to cancer treatment and research into the causes of the disease.
With its academic partner The Institute of Cancer Research, it forms the largest comprehensive cancer centre in Europe, seeing more than 40,000 patients from the UK and abroad each year.
London Mayor Ken Livingstone described the fire as "a terrible incident" and paid tribute to the staff and emergency services who got patients out.
"I began my working career at the Royal Marsden Hospital and experienced first hand the hard work that is done to tackle cancer," he added.
. | Fire | January 2008 | ['(BBC News)'] |
In what is seen as an increase in arrests of political activists, a court in Vietnam sentences a 29-year-old Facebook user to eight years in prison for making anti-government posts, including several criticizing communist leader Ho Chi Minh. The man was also sentenced to serve three years of house arrest after finishing his prison term. | HANOI (Reuters) - A court in Vietnam on Tuesday sentenced a man to eight years in prison after finding him guilty of uploading anti-state posts on his Facebook account, the security ministry said.
Despite sweeping economic reform and increasing openness to social change, Vietnam’s ruling Communist Party retains tight media censorship and tolerates little criticism.
Nguyen Quoc Duc Vuong, 29, was charged with “making, storing, spreading information, materials, items for the purpose of opposing the state” at a one-day trial in the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong, the Ministry of Public Security said in a news release.
Vuong was accused of livestreaming 110 hours of videos and writing 366 posts on his Facebook account to smear the image of Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam’s founding leader, and spread anti-state propaganda, the ministry said.
Reuters could not reach Vuong’s lawyer for comment.
Phil Robertson, Deputy Asia Director at Human Rights Watch, said Vuong’s sentencing was “outrageous and unacceptable”.
“Vietnam must recognise that expressing political views contrary to Communist Party line should not be a crime,” he said in an email statement.
The court will also place Vuong under three years of house arrest after serving his jail term, the ministry said.
Arrests of political activists in Vietnam have steadily increased since late last year as Vietnam gears up for a key Party congress in January 2021.
| Famous Person - Commit Crime - Sentence | July 2020 | ['(Reuters)'] |
Clashes occur between Thai and Cambodian forces near the Preah Vihear Temple. | Cambodian and Thai troops clashed for a fourth straight day, Phnom Penh said, as UN chief Ban Ki-moon called for "maximum restraint" in a border dispute that has claimed at least six lives.
The latest flare-up erupted during an operation by Thai soldiers to recover casualties from Sunday's heavy fighting, according to Cambodia, which accused Thailand of damaging an 11th-century temple at the centre of the hostilities.
"The firing has started for the fourth time," Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said on Monday, adding that one Cambodian soldier was killed overnight.
Thailand, however, played down the reports of fresh fighting on Monday, with a military source near the border describing the incident as a "misunderstanding", involving only small arms fire.
He said 13 Thai soldiers were injured on Sunday night, one seriously.
The renewed clashes shattered a brief ceasefire agreed on Saturday after the worst fighting between the two neighbours in years.
In New York, Ban's office said the UN chief was "deeply concerned" about the standoff.
"The secretary-general appeals to both sides to put in place an effective arrangement for cessation of hostilities and to exercise maximum restraint," it said.
Hun Sen has urged the United Nations Security Council to hold an urgent meeting about what he described as "Thailand's aggression", warning that regional stability was at risk.
Cambodia said on Sunday that the ancient Preah Vihear temple, which is surrounded by disputed territory, was damaged by Thai artillery fire, with one wing of the building "collapsed".
Ties between the neighbours have been strained since Preah Vihear was granted UN World Heritage status in July 2008. Thailand and Cambodia have each accused the other of starting the ongoing clashes.
"Thailand does not invade any country. We protect our sovereignty," Thai Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban told reporters.
"The army has reaffirmed that retaliation was conducted carefully and avoided the temple," he said.
Thousands of people fled their homes as villages were evacuated on both sides of the frontier after the fighting first erupted on Friday, and more people fled to safety as the fighting continued over the weekend.
About 15,000 people spent the night at 38 temporary shelters and 23 schools near the border were told to close from Monday to Wednesday, according to Somsak Suwansujarit, governor of Thailand's eastern border province Si Sa Ket.
Observers say the temple dispute has been used as a rallying point to stir nationalist sentiment in Thailand and Cambodia.
The World Court ruled in 1962 that Preah Vihear itself belonged to Cambodia, although its main entrance lies in Thailand and the 4.6-square-kilometre area around the temple is claimed by both sides.
Ban's statement did not address the request for an urgent meeting of the Security Council, but ended: "The United Nations remains at their disposal to assist in these peaceful efforts."
Cambodia said two of its soldiers and one civilian were killed on Friday, while Thailand said a villager on its side of the border also died. A Thai soldier was killed in a brief resumption of hostilities on Saturday.
The media in both countries have said the toll could be much higher, however.
Tensions have flared in recent weeks in the wake of the arrest of seven Thai nationals for illegal entry into Cambodia in late December.
Two of them were sentenced to lengthy jail terms for spying, in a case that has caused outrage among the nationalist Thais, who have held protests in Bangkok calling for Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva's resignation.
The foreign minister of Indonesia - the current chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations - was expected in Cambodia on Monday but Thailand has dismissed intervention by the regional bloc as "unnecessary". | Armed Conflict | February 2011 | ['(WA Today)'] |
Cameroon’s army, backed by a regional taskforce, has killed at least 100 members of the militant Islamist Boko Haram group and freed 900 people it had held hostage, the west African country’s defence ministry has said. Regional taskforce conducts sweep along border with Nigeria. , | Cameroon’s army, backed by a regional taskforce, has killed at least 100 members of the militant Islamist Boko Haram group and freed 900 people it had held hostage, the west African country’s defence ministry has said. Cameroon is part of an 8,700-strong regional group, also comprising troops from Chad, Niger, Nigeria and Benin, that aims to destroy Boko Haram, which, though based mainly in Nigeria, has become a major threat to wider regional security. An army spokesman, Col Didier Badjeck, said on Wednesday that troops had conducted a sweep operation between 26-28 November along Cameroon’s long border with its western neighbour, Nigeria. Both Badjeck and the defence ministry, which gave a brief statement on state television, cited the same figures of militant deaths and the number of people freed. Other military sources in Cameroon confirmed that a military operation had taken place, although one expressed surprise at its scale.
It was not immediately clear where the clashes with the militants had taken place or where Boko Haram’s captives had been held. It was also not known whether those freed included any of the 276 schoolgirls seized by the militants in their dormitories in Chibok, Nigeria last year. Cameroon has suffered regular cross-border attacks in its far north in recent weeks, including twin suicide blasts overnight that killed at least three people. Suicide bombings, often carried out by young women recruited by the militant group in Nigeria, have become almost daily occurrences in the region. | Armed Conflict | December 2015 | ['(The Guardian)', '(AFP via Yahoo)'] |
Quake survivors flee south from northern Japan describing the situation in their hometowns as "unimaginable." | Sakura, Japan (CNN) -- Residents of northern Japan streamed south from their earthquake-stricken hometowns Saturday, crowding stores in search of vital supplies as rescue teams worked north toward the historic quake's epicenter.
Roads and buildings showed cracks as far away as 200 kilometers (125 miles) from Sendai, the closest city to the epicenter. One man told CNN the scene in towns hit by the quake and the resulting tsunami was "unimaginable." Shoppers were polite but tense as they sought food, water and gasoline from stores, where shelves were quickly emptied and pumps soon ran dry. A slow, steady line of cars trickled south from the disaster zone as people either left the area or shuttled to the stores, many of which were without power and had broken glass scattered down the aisles. Japan's major highways, large sections of which are elevated, have been closed since the magnitude 8.9-quake struck off the northeastern coast Friday afternoon. Automobile traffic crawled on smaller, two-lane roads as power outages left the sleek, electric-powered "bullet trains" -- shining examples of Japan's advanced technology, usually capable of speeds nearing 200 mph -- sitting motionless on their tracks.
Closer to the heart of the disaster, collapsed phone lines and towers left communications spotty. Roads and airfields were washed out by the tsunami; rescue workers headed to the stricken region had to rely on helicopters.
Video from Sendai showed people trapped in the second floors of homes, waving sheets of white cloth in hopes of drawing rescue workers. Residents who have been able to call out reported gas and water were unavailable for a radius well beyond the city of about 1 million.
In Minamisoma, a city about 90 kilometers (56 miles) south of Sendai, all that was left of many structures were their foundations. Only concrete and steel buildings appeared to have withstood the wash. No people were visible in the streets of the town, whose population on Friday had been 70,000.
The quake and resulting tsunami left behind hundreds dead by early Saturday, and that number was expected to climb sharply.
Tokyo, about 370 kilometers (230 miles) from the epicenter, was spared major damage from the quake. But power outages and highway closures paralyzed the city as its transit network was shut down.
Commuters who usually pack the city's subways and suburban trains in the city of 13 million tried to flag down taxis, hitch rides or walk home. The roads leading out of Tokyo were clogged by traffic jams that trapped some drivers for up to six hours. | Earthquakes | March 2011 | ['(CNN)'] |
A bomb detonates at a Hezbollah building in Beirut, Lebanon killing 4 people and wounding 35. | BEIRUT (AP) A car bomb ripped through a Shiite neighborhood in south Beirut on Tuesday, killing four people and sending plumes of smoke over the area in the latest attack to target supporters of Lebanon's militant Hezbollah group.
It was the second bombing in the neighborhood of Haret Hreik this month amid a series of attacks that have shaken Lebanon in a spillover of Syria's civil war into its smaller neighbor. The violence has targeted both Sunnis and Shiites, and further stoked sectarian tensions that are already running high as each Lebanese community lines up with its brethren on opposing sides of the Syrian conflict.
Tuesday's explosion shattered shop windows and set cars ablaze on a crowded commercial street. Footage broadcast by the Hezbollah-owned al-Manar television station showed medics hauling a man on a stretcher out of the area as flames engulfed a building. Debris littered the pavement.
The Lebanese Red Cross, in a statement to the state-run National News Agency, said that along with the four killed, 35 people were wounded in the explosion.
A group known as the Nusra Front in Lebanon claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was in retaliation for Hezbollah's military support of President Bashar Assad's forces in Syria. The claim, which could not be independently verified, was posted on the group's Twitter account. Its name suggested ties to the al-Qaeda-linked Nusra Front in Syria, one of the most powerful rebel factions.
Lebanon's state media said a suicide car bomber was behind the attack. A security official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media, said the vehicle was stolen and packed with 20 kilograms (44 pounds) of explosives.
"There was a car beeping, and then it exploded," an unnamed eyewitness told the Voice of Lebanon radio station. "Then we saw people on the ground like every time."
Similar attacks have targeted Shiite areas in Lebanon in recent months, apparently the work of Syria-based Sunni rebels or militant Islamist groups fighting to topple Assad who have threatened to target Hezbollah strongholds in Lebanon in retaliation for intervening on behalf of his government in the conflict.
On Thursday, a car bomb struck the northeastern Shiite town of Hermel close to the Syrian border during rush hour, killing at least three people and wounding more than 20. And on Jan. 2, a bombing in Haret Hreik just meters (yards) from where Tuesday's attack occurred killed five people.
Another attack in November targeted the Iranian Embassy and killed at least 23 people. Iran is the chief patron of Hezbollah and an ally of Syria.
Lebanon's Sunni community has also been hit, most notably by a deadly double car bombing outside Sunni mosques in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli in August. A December car bombing in Beirut killed prominent Sunni politician Mohammed Chatah.
The attacks raise the specter of a sharply divided Lebanon being dragged further into the Syrian conflict.
Shortly after Tuesday's bombing, clashes broke out in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli, killing at least one person, said the security official. The city, with impoverished rival Sunni and Shiite areas, has seen frequent sectarian clashes linked to the war Syria that have killed dozens.
The latest fighting unraveled a tenuous truce in effect earlier in the morning, following clashes that broke out between the rival neighborhoods on Saturday. | Armed Conflict | January 2014 | ['(AP via USA Today)'] |
FIFA's Court of Arbitration for Sport denies presidential candidate Prince Ali bin Al Hussein of Jordan's request to postpone Friday's presidential election. Ali's request for transparent booths was rejected last week. | ZURICH (Reuters) - FIFA presidential candidate Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein of Jordan’s request for Friday’s election to be postponed because of an issue with the voting booths has been rejected by sport’s highest tribunal
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) said in a statement that it had rejected Ali’s request for provisional measures and that “the full order with grounds will be communicated in a few days.”
Ali, whose request for transparent booths was rejected last week by FIFA, is unhappy with the arrangements for a vote expected to set a new tone of transparency for an organisation mired in the past in secret dealings.
He wanted the transparent booths to ensure delegates do not photograph their ballot papers. This would prevent delegates coming under pressure to produce evidence of their vote to interested parties.
“I regret that the system let us down,” said Prince Ali, who had asked for the election to be postponed if the booths were not used.
“The only positive aspect of today’s ruling is it that the election will now go forward as planned, and the media will be closely watching for any evidence that anyone is photographing their ballot,” he said in a statement.
“It is now imperative that voters abide by the ban on mobile phones and cameras in the voting booth. I look forward to Friday’s vote and remain as committed as ever to the goal of reforming FIFA.” | Government Job change - Election | February 2016 | ['(Reuters)'] |
Two passenger trains collide in Pretoria, South Africa, killing at least four people and injuring at least 620 others. | Commuters remain trapped inside the carriages. 4 killed and more than 600 injured in South Africa train crash
Pretoria, South Africa -- Four people are dead and hundreds more were injured when two trains collided during the early morning rush hour commute in Pretoria, South Africa, Tuesday.
Hundreds of commuters remain trapped inside the carriages and emergency response officials say the number of fatalities might rise as the wreckage is being cleared.
Shawn Herbst, the media liaison officer of Netcare 911, a private emergency medical response company, told ABC News there were about 800 people on the two trains and more than 620 sustained minor to moderate injuries. One person was critically injured and airlifted to a local hospital.
Emergency workers from the City of Tshwane are helping to treat the wounded and free the trapped passengers.
The city's mayor, Solly Msimanga, sent his condolences to the victims' families via his official Twitter account.
Accident investigators are combing the scene for clues about the cause of the accident in a probe that is expected to last for several days. | Train collisions | January 2019 | ['(ABC News)'] |
In South Africa, 5.3 Richter scale earthquake collapses Hartebeestfontein gold mine south of Johannesburg and traps 40 miners undersground. One miner is killed and 23 injured. Medics and volunteer miners rescue them in a 12–hour rescue operation | The three were brought out of the mine on stretchers and covered in dirt, reports Reuters news agency. Earlier, thirty-three others were rescued.
Frantic efforts continue to save the missing miner, who has been located.
The earthquake, with a magnitude of five, struck on Wednesday, leaving 21 local families homeless.
"You can see the elation on their faces. It's a reward in itself," said Darren Vorkel, leader of one of the rescue teams that spent hours shifting rock to reach the men more than 2km below the surface in Stilfontein, some 155km south-west of Johannesburg. "There's a lot of broken rock, sporadic falls, it's very hot," he said after emerging from an overnight rescue operation.
This is most probably a mining-induced event... it is a gold mining area
Eldridge KgaswaneSeismologist
"There was shaking. It was very quick - maybe less than a minute," miner Tsebeletso Tseko told Reuters, showing cuts on his hands and arms. "By that time, I was covered with rocks. I felt afraid."
Mine owner DRDGold has some 3,200 miners in the area affected by the quake, most of whom were evacuated. South Africa's fourth largest gold producer has now resumed operations in some parts of the mine but the shaft where the accident happened remains closed.
Trigger
In the nearby towns of Stilfontein and Klerksdorp, 38 people suffered minor injuries and 21 families were left homeless after damage to the walls of two housing blocks, officials said. The shopping centre in Stilfontein was sealed off overnight by police to prevent an outbreak of looting, Reuters reports.
Many buildings showed minor damage, with cracks in walls and broken roof tiles.
Pupils at two schools were sent home after walls were damaged.
Large earthquakes are not common in South Africa and one seismologist said it could have been triggered by underground mining operations.
"This is most probably a mining-induced event... it is a gold mining area," said Council for Geoscience seismologist Eldridge Kgaswane. | Earthquakes | March 2005 | ['(IOL)', '(Reuters)', '(BBC)'] |
A car bombing in the center of the Somali capital, Mogadishu, kills at least 10 people and injures 20 others. | At least 10 people have been killed and 20 wounded in a suicide car bomb attack in the centre of Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, hospital workers have said. A BBC correspondent says the scene of the blast near the presidential palace is one of devastation, with body parts scattered across a wide area.
Officials said the target was the head of Mogadishu's intelligence services, Khalif Ahmed Ilig, who was injured.
The Islamist militant group al-Shabab has said it carried out the bombing.
Prime Minister Abdi Farah Shirdon said the attack was cowardly. Security had improved in Mogadishu since al-Shabab withdrew from the city in August 2011, following an offensive by African Union (AU) troops.
But this is one of the most deadly attacks in the coastal city since a new UN-backed Somali government was formed last year. Witnesses said a car carrying Mr Ilig and other security officials was travelling along Maka al Mukarram road, about 100m (330ft) from the presidential palace compound, when another vehicle filled with explosives drew up alongside.
But just as the bomb was detonated, a minibus drove between them, taking the force of the blast and leaving Mr Ilig with only minor injuries, they added.
"Most of the people who died were on board the minibus - civilians. This public vehicle coincidentally came between the government car and the car bomb when it was hit," senior police officer Abdiqadir Mohamud told the Reuters news agency.
The minibus was completely destroyed, and ambulances rushed the wounded to hospital, the BBC's Mohamed Moalimuu in Mogadishu reports.
Government troops fired a few shots into the air to disperse the large crowd which gathered at the scene, our correspondent adds. Friends and relatives could later be seen searching for their loved ones.
The huge explosion damaged nearby buildings, including a restaurant, but not the heavily-fortified presidential palace and the National Theatre, which is also close by.
Al-Shabab later acknowledged that the bomber had targeted Mr Ilig, whom it accused of co-operating with Western agencies. African Union and Somali government forces took control of Mogadishu after al-Shabab withdrew. However, bombings and assassinations have continued in the city. Pro-government forces have also seized control of most of the urban centres in southern and central Somalia from al-Shabab. The Islamist group still dominates many rural areas.
A new government backed by the UN came to power last September, tasked with ending more than 20 years of conflict in the country. | Armed Conflict | March 2013 | ['(BBC)'] |
2008 attack on Omdurman and Khartoum: Hundreds of Darfur rebels from the Justice and Equality Movement reach the outskirts of Khartoum and engage in clashes with the Sudanese military. | By MOHAMED OSMAN and SARAH EL DEEB 2 days ago KHARTOUM, Sudan (AP) Hundreds of Darfur rebels reached the outskirts of Sudan's capital and were clashing with security forces, a rebel leader said Saturday.
Sudan's army deployed on the streets of Khartoum, putting up checkpoints and imposing an overnight curfew. An Interior Ministry statement said the curfew was in effect while the government was "dealing with the infiltrators."
The clashes come after days of government warnings that the Justice and Equality Movement, one of Darfur's most effective rebel movements, was going to target Khartoum. Saturday's attack is the closest the rebels have ever gotten to the capital.
An Associated Press reporter in Khartoum said security forces ordered residents to clear the streets and armored vehicles were patrolling the capital. Bridges to Omdurman, Khartoum's twin city, have been cut by government forces.
In a statement, the military said that "elements" of JEM had infiltrated northern Omdurman.
"Your heroic forces are confronting them now," the statement said, urging citizens to come forth with information.
The statement said the Sudanese forces had stopped the main advance of the JEM forces in neighboring province Kordofan, but that a few had reached Khartoum.
JEM leader Abu Zumam, however, told The Associated Press by telephone that hundreds of his fighters had reached the Khartoum's twin city of Omdurman and engaged government forces. Gunfire could be heard in the background.
"We entered Omdurman by force," he said, adding that his army of some 700 vehicles planned to take over the state radio building in the city.
JEM once confined its activities to Darfur, where local ethnic African rebels took up arms against the Arab-dominated central government in 2003 complaining of discrimination.
In the last year however, JEM has widened its activities to include Kordofan, the vast province between the capital and Darfur.
More than 200,000 have died in Sudan's Darfur region and 2.5 million have fled to refugee camps since 2003. Sudan denies backing the janjaweed militia of Arab nomads accused of the worst atrocities in the conflict.
Sudan officially accused neighboring Chad of attacking a border area to provide cover for JEM's attacks against the capital.
The Sudanese army spokesman, Brigadier General Osman al-Agbash said Chadian forces on Friday attacked the border and were repelled with "heavy losses on the attacking Chadian forces," he said according to the official state news agency SUNA.
Relations between the two countries, which share a long arid border region home to numerous armed groups have long been strained.
Chad has accused Sudanese authorities of arming rebels who launched a failed assault February on the Chadian capital, N'Djamena. The rebels reached the gate of the presidential palace, but fled toward Sudan after Chad's army repelled them in fighting that left hundreds dead.
Sudan, meanwhile, has repeatedly accused Chad of supporting the rebellion in Darfur.
Though the two countries signed peace agreement in March promising to prevent armed groups from operating along each other's shared borders, the accusations have continued unabated. | Armed Conflict | May 2008 | ['(AP via Google News)'] |
The United States charges 2 married former nuclear contractors with trying to give away the country's nuclear secrets to Venezuela. | The US has charged a pair of former nuclear contractors with attempting to leak nuclear secrets to Venezuela.
The husband and wife team were arrested on Friday in New Mexico and accused of passing nuclear information to an FBI agent posing as a Venezuelan spy.
US citizens Pedro and Marjorie Mascheroni were contractors at Los Alamos National Laboratory, a centre of US nuclear research.
The US justice department did not accuse Venezuela of wrongdoing.
"The conduct alleged in this indictment is serious and should serve as a warning to anyone who would consider compromising our nation's nuclear secrets for profit," Assistant Attorney General David Kris said in a statement.
Mr Mascheroni, a 75-year-old native of Argentina, worked as a scientist at Los Alamos from 1979 until 1988, when he was fired after criticising US nuclear research funding priorities, according to court documents. Mrs Mascheroni was a technical writer and editor from 1981 to 2010, the justice department said.
The pair had access to nuclear secrets, including material on the design and manufacture of nuclear weapons, it said.
According to the justice department, in March 2008 Mr Mascheroni met an FBI agent posing as a Venezuelan intelligence operative named Luis Jimenez at a hotel in the US city of Santa Fe.
Mr Mascheroni allegedly said he could help Venezuela develop a nuclear bomb within 10 years and a nuclear energy programme, and described a potential "umbrella" deterrent strategy for the Latin American nation.
"Mascheroni told 'Jimenez' that after Venezuela conducted a test of its nuclear weapons, Venezuela could cause an explosion over New York that would result in an electromagnetic pulse that he contended would not kill anybody but would destroy all the electric power in New York," the federal indictment states.
Mr Mascheroni asked about obtaining Venezuelan citizenship and said he hoped to be paid $800,000 (512,000) for his services, the indictment states.
Soon after contact with the agent began, Mr Mascheroni informed his wife about the meeting, characterising it as a "secret".
In July 2009, Mrs Mascheroni helped her husband write and edit a document containing US nuclear secrets, which Mr Mascheroni then delivered to a "dead drop location" for collection by the purported Venezuelan agent, according to the indictment.
Mr Mascheroni was fired from Los Alamos in 1988 after criticising the US government's research funding priorities, according to a 1994 judgement in a lawsuit he filed challenging the dismissal. He argued the government should fund a laser project he was working on, rather than another.
He had refused orders to cease his complaints, was transferred to another division, had his security clearance revoked and was ultimately dismissed, the lawsuit stated.
| Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | September 2010 | ['(BBC)'] |
Brazilian federal government secretary of culture, Roberto Alvim, is dismissed after the broadcast of a video where he announces a new national prize on culture. In the video, Alvim seems to paraphrase a speech by Joseph Goebbels, Nazi Germany's Reichsminister of Propaganda. | Roberto Alvim set off a storm of outrage with comments about culture that were eerily reminiscent of Hitler’s propaganda chief
First published on Fri 17 Jan 2020 16.01 GMT
Brazil’s culture secretary, Roberto Alvim has been fired after he appeared to paraphrase the Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels in an online video to promote a national arts prize.
“Brazilian art in the next decade will be heroic and national,” said Alvim, to the music from Wagner’s Lohengrin, said to be Hitler’s favourite opera, with a portrait of the far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, and a Brazilian flag in the background.
“It will be endowed with a great capacity for emotional involvement and will be equally imperative, since it is deeply linked to the urgent aspirations of our people, or else it will be nothing,” he continued.
The words are strikingly similar to those Hitler’s minister reportedly said to a group of theatre managers and directors in 1933: “German art in the next decade will be heroic, steely but romantic, factual without sentimentality; it will be nationalistic with a great depth of feeling; it will be binding and it will unite, or it will cease to exist.”
On Facebook, Alvim merely classed the phrase as a “rhetorical coincidence”.
Since taking office last year, Bolsonaro has been repeatedly criticized by opponents for pushing a conservative Christian cultural agenda while cutting funding to arts and cinema projects.
Bolsonaro’s culture war allies have lashed out at what they call “cultural Marxism” and condemned everything from climate change to feminism.
The latest effort, launched in the video by culture secretary Alvim, comes in the form of a $20m reais ($4.8m) prize fund for theatre, opera, art and music exhibitions, with conservative and religious themes prioritized.
“Virtues of faith, loyalty, self-sacrifice and the fight against evil will be raised to the sacred territory of works of art,” said Alvim.
The video provoked widespread outrage across the political spectrum and calls for the secretary’s immediate dismissal.
“When culture becomes sick, the people become sick, too,” Alvim said in the video.
“The secretary of culture has crossed the line. It is unacceptable. The Brazilian government should urgently remove him from office,” tweeted Rodrigo Maia, lower house speaker of the rightwing Democrats party, who is third in line to the presidency.
On Friday afternoon, Bolsonaro tweeted that Alvim had been dismissed. “An unfortunate statement, though apologetic, made it untenable for him to stay on,” he said.
The night the video was recorded, Bolsonaro had said of Alvim: “Now we have a real secretary of culture.” Alvim, a born-again Christian, only took the job in November last year.
This article was amended on 20 January 2020 to remove an erroneous reference to Alvin having “suggest[ed] rock music encourages abortion and Satanism”. | Government Job change - Resignation_Dismissal | January 2020 | ['(The Guardian)'] |
Voters in Egypt go to the polls for a presidential election, 15 months after former president Hosni Mubarak was ousted in a revolution. | Polling stations have closed on the first of two days of Egypt's first free presidential election, 15 months after Hosni Mubarak was ousted.
Fifty million people are eligible to vote, and large queues formed at some polling stations.
The military council which assumed presidential power in February 2011 has promised a fair vote and civilian rule.
The election pits Islamists against secularists, and revolutionaries against Mubarak-era ministers.
But the BBC's Wyre Davies, in the second city of Alexandria, says that for many people the election is not about religious dogma or party politics, but about who can put food on the table.
The frontrunners are: Until a new constitution is approved it is unclear what powers the president will have, prompting fears of friction with a military which seems determined to retain its powerful position.
'Free choice'
Voting began at 08:00 (06:00 GMT), and throughout Wednesday long lines of voters were seen outside polling stations around the country. Polling hours were extended to cater for the queues and frustrated voters were seen banging on polling station doors which were closed at 21:30. Voting will resume for a second day on Thursday at 08:00.
The interior ministry estimated turnout at less than 25% in some areas, and around 40% on others.
Proceedings were largely peaceful on Wednesday, with the health ministry reporting just 13 injuries across the country, due to overcrowding at polling stations and high temperatures. NGOs and rights groups monitoring the elction reported some complaints. Egypt's National Council for Human Rights (NCHR), an organization aimed at promoting human rights in Egypt, told the BBC they received 50 complaints on electoral violations ranging from delay in opening voing booths, to campaigning for candidates outside polling stations during voting.
There was a heavy police and military presence outside the 13,000 polling sub-stations and BBC correspondents said the atmosphere was mostly calm, with people waiting patiently for their turn to vote. One police sergeant died after being shot during clashes between rival supporters in Rawdh al-Faraj on Tuesday evening, officials said.
"It's a very big day," one woman told the BBC earlier. "This is a real great moment for the Egyptians to change."
Another, when asked how long she had been waiting to vote, replied, with a laugh: "Thirty years."
Mr Mursi was originally the Muslim Brotherhood's reserve candidate, but he was thrust into the limelight after its first choice, Khairat al-Shater, was disqualified by the Higher Presidential Electoral Commission (HPEC) over an unresolved conviction. He told reporters: "Today the world is witnessing the birth of a new Egypt. I am proud and cherish my membership of this people. I assure them that tomorrow will be better than today and better than yesterday."
Rash of crime
A run-off vote is scheduled for 16 and 17 June if there is no outright winner.
The election is being hailed as a landmark for Egyptians, who have the opportunity to choose their leader for the first time in the country's 5,000-year recorded history.
The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (Scaf), worried about potential post-election unrest, has sought to reassure Egyptians that it will be the voters themselves who decide who will be the next president.
Its leader, Field Marshal Muhammad Hussein Tantawi, observed the election process at a number of polling stations.
The 15 months since Mr Mubarak was forced from power have been turbulent, with continued violent protests and a deteriorating economy.
Foreign direct investment has reversed from $6.4bn (£4bn) flowing into the country in 2010 to $500m leaving it last year. Tourism, a major revenue generator for Egypt, has also dropped by a third.
The new president will have to reform the police to deal with the rash of crime that followed the uprising.
As many as a third of voters are reported to be undecided about which candidate to choose.
The Arab Spring began in Tunisia last year when weeks of protests forced President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali from power, inspiring pro-democracy activists across the Arab world.
Mr Mubarak, who was in power for three decades, resigned on 11 February 2011 after 18 days of protests in Cairo and other cities.
He is on trial for his alleged role in the deaths of protesters, and a verdict in the case is due on 2 June. | Government Job change - Election | May 2012 | ['(BBC)'] |
In two separate incidents in the current U.S. heat wave involving two different vehicles, both in the Greater Indianapolis area, a baby girl dies in Greenfield, Indiana , and a toddler from Fishers, Indiana is left in critical condition after being left in overheated vehicles by their parent caretakers (the internal temperature in one was at 124° F (51° C); both have been charged with felony child neglect resulting in death. | A baby girl died and a toddler was in critical condition Saturday after they were left in separate vehicles in the Indianapolis area on a day in which the temperature hit 104 degrees, a record for the date.
Greenfield Police Chief John Jester said a 3-month-old girl was found in a car at 3:35 p.m., the Indianpolis Star reported. The girl was pronounced dead at a hospital.
Jester said the baby's father, Joshua Stryzanski, 18, was being held at the Hancock County jail on acharge of neglect of a dependent resulting in death, the Star reported.
Greenfield is a city of about 20,000 east of Indianapolis.
In the other incident, at about 3 p.m. police broke a window in a Ford Explorer to free a 16-month-old girl in the city of Fishers, northeast of Indianapolis, the Star reported. The child suffered a seizure before being taken to an Indianapolis hospital, a Fishers police spokesman told the Star.
Storms, sweltering heat move east
The temperature inside the SUV after the window was broken was 124 degrees, the Star reported, citing unnamed officials.
Fishers police said the child's mother, Meg Trueblood, 30, of Fishers, was charged preliminarily with felony neglect of a child, the Star reported.
The National Weather Service said the temperature in Indianapolis hit 104 degrees, breaking the record for July 7 of 101, set in 1936. The all-time high for the city is 106, set onJuly 14, 1936.
In the heat wave gripping the United States this week, at least 61 heat-related deaths have been reported, according to an NBC News count. That number does not include the baby's death. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | July 2012 | ['(in the east of the area)', '(in the northeast of the area)', '(MSNBC)'] |
After having been postponed once due to the COVID-19 pandemic, general elections are held in the Dominican Republic. The electorate can vote for the new members of the Senate and Chamber of Deputies as well as the country's next president. | Early results in the presidential election in the Dominican Republic give the opposition candidate, Luis Abinader, an unassailable lead.
His two main rivals have conceded defeat and the outgoing president has congratulated Mr Abinader on his win. His victory puts an end to 16 years in power of the centre-left Dominican Liberation Party (PLD).
Voter turnout was high despite the election being conducted during the coronavirus pandemic.
With about 60% of the votes counted, Luis Abinader of the Modern Revolutionary Party (PRM) had 53% of the votes.
In second place is the candidate for the Dominican Liberation Party, Gonzalo Castillo, with 37% of the votes. Mr Abinader needed to have more than 50% of the votes to stave off a second round of voting on 26 July.
While votes are still being counted, Mr Abinader's comfortable lead prompted both Mr Castillo and third-placed candidate Leonel Fernández to concede defeat. Mr Castillo said that the official count "shows that there is an irreversible trend and that from now on we have a president-elect... Our congratulations to Mr Luis Abinader".
Outgoing President Danilo Medina, who has served two consecutive terms and could therefore not run for a third, said that democracy in the Dominican Republic had "emerged stronger" from the election and wished his successor every success.
Mr Abinader said that "all Dominicans had won by voting for change".
Opinion polls had predicted a victory for Mr Abinader after an acrimonious split in the governing Dominican Liberation Party. Former President Leonel Fernández left the party, which had chosen Gonzalo Castillo as its presidential candidate, and ran for the presidency for the People's Force party.
He is currently in a distant third place with less than 9% of the vote.
Mr Abinader celebrated the early results with his supporters while urging them to await the official announcement from the electoral board. He appealed for unity, saying that he owed his victory to the Dominican people, who he said had "all won tonight".
It is the second time Mr Abinader, a US-educated economist, ran for the top job in the Caribbean nation.
In 2016 he lost to Danilo Medina in the second round. Some analysts think he benefitted from discontent among Dominicans with the way the government has handled the coronavirus pandemic. The election was postponed from its original date in May because of the outbreak.
The Dominican Republic is one of the worst-affected countries in the Caribbean, with more than 37,000 confirmed cases and almost 800 deaths, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.
Mr Abinader and his wife were among those who tested positive for coronavirus and he had to temporarily stop campaigning while he recovered. Local media reported that the election proceeded smoothly except for one incident in which a person was shot dead outside a polling station when an argument erupted between rival party supporters. One of the main challenges for Mr Abinader in his new job will be to revive the country's tourism industry which has been battered by the travel restrictions imposed to curb the spread of Covid-19.
His own family operates major tourism projects in the Dominican Republic.
| Government Job change - Election | July 2020 | ['(BBC)'] |
China and South Korea are to hold defence talks following tension on the Korean Peninsula. | South Korean and Chinese defence ministers are to meet in Beijing in February amid rising tension on the Korean peninsula, Seoul has said.
It provided no details of the talks, but the two sides are expected to discuss what Seoul describes as North Korea's hostile acts in recent months.
These include the deadly shelling of a South Korean border island. China, the North's only major ally, is facing mounting pressure to encourage Pyongyang to show more restraint.
On Sunday, defence officials said that South Korea's Defence Minister Kim Kwan-jin and his Chinese counterpart Liang Guanglie were organising talks in the Chinese capital in February, but added that details of the meeting agenda would be discussed later. However, South Korea's Yonhap news agency quoted a defence ministry official in Seoul as saying the two ministers would "discuss regional security issues like the North's attack on the Cheonan warship and bombing on Yeonpyeong island". The official - who was not named - was referring to the sinking of the vessel and deaths of 46 sailors in March, which Seoul has said was a torpedo attack by Pyongyang, and also the shelling of the Yeonpyeong island last month that left four South Koreans dead.
Pyongyang denies the South's claim that it sank the warship. It also says its shelling of the island was retaliation for a South Korean firing drill that dropped shells into North Korean territory.
Earlier this week, Seoul and Pyongyang again traded strong rhetoric. The North threatened a "sacred war" against the South, whose military had been holding live-fire drills near the border. In response, the South warned of a "powerful response" to any attack from the North.
On Friday, North Korea's state TV aired a programme in which North Korean soldiers boasted about the shelling of the South's island. One soldier, named as Kim Moon-chol, said: "Our eyes were full of fire right after we saw the enemy's shells being fired into our sacred waters".
Another soldier, Kim Kyong-su, boasted that Pyongyang's shelling showed "no mercy at all".
| Diplomatic Talks _ Diplomatic_Negotiation_ Summit Meeting | December 2010 | ['(China Daily)', '(BBC)'] |
Six Palestinians, including a 12-year-old, are killed by IDF fire in Gaza border clashes. | Boys aged 12 and 14 among dead, Gaza Health Ministry says ■ IDF: 20,000 Palestinians protest along the border, IAF struck northern Gaza
Only $1 for the first month when you buy an annual subscription
Seven Palestinians, including two boys age 12 and 14,were killed by Israeli military fire during clashes along the Gaza Strip's central and eastern sections of the border fence, the Gaza Health Ministry said on Friday.
The ministry identified the 12-year old as Yousef Abu Zarifa and said hewas shot in the head east of Khan Younis. The 14-year old, Mohammad Naif Al-Houm, sustained a bullet to the chest near Al-Bureij refugee camp, the ministry said. The other fatalities were identified as Iyad Khalil Ahmad Ashar, 18, Mohammad Ali Anshasi, 18,Muhammad Bassem Shchasa, 24, Mohammed Ashraf Al-Awadah, 26, andMohammad Walid Haniyeh, 33.
A total of 506 Palestinians were injured in the clashes, the ministry said, some 90 of whom by Israeli fire. Of those wounded, 210 have been evacuated to hospitals.
The Israeli army said it struck northern Gaza twice in response to grenades and explosives devices being thrown at soldiers stationed along the border fence, adding that one of the airstrikes targeted a Hamas outpost.
>> Opinion:Will Israel be forced to invade and reoccupy Gaza?
According to the IDF, Some 20,000 Palestinians demonstrated in various locations along the fence, with protesters burning tires and hurling grenades, explosive devices and stones at soldiers. The IDF said it responded with riot control measures in accordance with the open-fire policy.
The IDF added that a number of suspects managed to illegally cross the border into Israel before immediately turning back to Gaza. A firefighter and rescue worker said that Palestinians hurled incendiary balloons toward the border area, starting six fires.
Israeli defense officials believe that the chances of a military confrontation with Hamas have increased significantly in recent weeks. According to senior military officials, unless progress is made on reconciliation talks between the Palestinian Authority and Hamas, and an alternative to UNRWA's aid is found, it's only a matter of time before a conflict ensues.
The defense establishment’s view isn’t new. But recent moves by Hamas have strengthened its assessment that Hamas seeks a conflict with Israel, even if only a limited one.
Hamas recently resumed demonstrations along the Gaza border and set up special units to harass Israeli soldiers at night and during the early morning. These come on top of existing units for tactics such as incendiary balloons, tire burning and naval operations.
Hamas’ aims to foment clashes with the IDF throughout the week, rather than only on Friday afternoons, as used to be the case. Moreover, Israel has noticed that Hamas has begun making preparations for a confrontation; for example, it has held a home front defense exercise and continues to train its combat forces. | Armed Conflict | September 2018 | ['(Haaretz)'] |
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh and the husband of Queen Elizabeth II, dies at home in Windsor Castle aged 99. He was the longest-serving Royal Consort of the United Kingdom. | Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, has died at the age of 99, Buckingham Palace has announced.
“It is with deep sorrow that Her Majesty The Queen announces the death of her beloved husband, His Royal Highness Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh,” the palace said in a statement on Friday.
“His Royal Highness passed away peacefully this morning at Windsor Castle. The Royal Family join with people around the world in mourning his loss.”
Boris Johnson led tributes to Prince Philip, who was married to the Queen for 73 years, saying: “He helped to steer the royal family and the monarchy so that it remains an institution indisputably vital to the balance and happiness of our national life.”
Mourners gathered outside Windsor Castle and Buckingham Palace to lay flowers in tribute on Friday, while flags at the palace and all government buildings were lowered to half mast.
Gun salutes marking his death will take place across the UK and at sea on Saturday. Saluting batteries will fire 41 rounds at one round every minute from 12 noon in cities including London, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has announced.
All election campaigning across the UK has been suspended following the death. Parliament will be recalled from recess on Monday, a day earlier than scheduled, to allow for further tributes.
A period of mourning will see planned government announcements cancelled. The government is advising the public not to gather or leave flowers at royal residences, and to continue following lockdown rules.
An online book of condolence has been made available on the royal website for those who wish to send a personal message, while the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s website has been transformed into a memorial page.
Prince Philip will not have a state funeral nor lie in state for the public to pay their respects, the College of Arms announced, with arrangements revised to meet Covid restrictions. His body will rest at Windsor Castle ahead of a service at St George’s Chapel.
Philip at the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee
The Duke of Edinburgh officially retired from public duties in 2017, having spent more than seven decades supporting his wife as her consort in a role that defined his life.
His remarkable life spanned nearly a century of European history, starting with his birth as a member of the Greek royal family and ending as Britain’s longest-serving royal consort.
He married Elizabeth in 1947, playing a key role in modernising the monarchy in the post-war period after she became Queen in 1952 – becoming the one key figure she could turn to behind the walls of Buckingham Palace.
“He has, quite simply, been my strength and stay all these years,” the Queen said in a rare personal tribute to Philip made in a speech marking their 50th wedding anniversary in 1997.
The Queen and Prince Philip together in 2011
As a Greek prince, his early years were marked by upheaval after his family went into exile following a military coup in Greece which overthrew his uncle, King Constantine I.
His childhood lacked stability and he moved between relatives in France and Britain, eventually going to Gordonstoun School in Morayshire, Scotland.
The former naval officer admitted he found it hard to give up the military career he loved and take on the job as the monarch’s consort in 1952, for which there was no clear-cut constitutional role.
“There was no precedent. If I asked somebody ‘What do you expect me to do?’, they all looked blank – they had no idea, nobody had much idea,” he said in an interview to mark his 90th birthday.
The Queen and Prince Philip after the coronation of 1953
Philip spent four weeks in hospital earlier this year for treatment for an infection and to have a heart procedure, but returned to Windsor in early March.
Some royal watchers have argued that his absence from a frontline role in recent years due to his declining health has played a role in some of the monarchy’s recent travails, such as the crisis of Prince Harry and his wife Meghan, and their decision to give up royal roles.
In private, he was often regarded as the head of his family, but protocol obliged the man dubbed “the second handshake” to spend his public life literally one step behind his wife.
He took a typically irreverent view of his own retirement in 2017, telling a guest who said he was sorry he was standing down: “Well, I can’t stand up much longer.”
He was known to be an occasionally irascible figure, with a strong propensity to speak his mind, and become famed in the press for a series of gaffes made at official engagements.
He once warned a group of Scottish students in China that they would become “slitty-eyed”. During a visit to a Glasgow factory, he pointed to a fusebox of loose wires and said it looked like it had been installed by an “Indian”.
Some royal observers believe his propensity to speak his mind meant he provided much-needed, unvarnished advice to the Queen.
“The way that he survived in the British monarchy system was to be his own man, and that was a source of support to the Queen,” royal historian Robert Lacey said.
“All her life she was surrounded by men who said ‘yes ma’am’, and he was one man who always told her how it really was, or at least how he saw it.”
Prince Philip and the Queen in 2007
It was widely assumed that he was critical of Diana’s use of broadcast interviews, including one in which she accused Charles of infidelity. But letters between Philip and Diana released after her death showed that the older man was supportive of his daughter-in-law.
Philip’s final years were clouded by controversy in the royal family. His third child, Prince Andrew, was embroiled in scandal over his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein, a US financier who died in a New York prison in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
At the start of 2020, his grandson Harry and his wife Meghan Markle announced they were quitting royal duties and moving to North America to escape the media scrutiny that they found unbearable.
The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award will likely to be judged Philip’s greatest legacy. Aimed at both able-bodied and disabled youngsters, it became one of the best-known self-development schemes for 14 to 24-year-olds.
In 2013, celebrated the 500th Gold Award presentation ceremony, the duke joked with one group who told him of their hardships on their expedition: “You were meant to suffer, it’s good for the soul.”
The Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer, said the nation “has lost an extraordinary public servant”. “He will be remembered most of all for his extraordinary commitment and devotion to the Queen,” said the opposition leader.
“Their marriage has been a symbol of strength, stability and hope, even as the world around them changed – most recently during the pandemic. It was a partnership that inspired millions in Britain and beyond.”
Mourner adds flowers outside Buckingham Palace
Scotland’s first minister Nicola Sturgeon, Wales’ first minister Mark Drakeford and Northern Ireland’s first minister Arlene Foster all paid tribute to Prince Philip following the news of his death.
Among the world leaders paying tribute, US president Joe Biden said he sent his “deepest condolences” to the Queen, the royal family and all the British people.
“Over the course of his 99-year life, he saw our world change dramatically and repeatedly. From his service during the Second World War, to his 73 years alongside the Queen, and his entire life in the public eye, Prince Philip gladly dedicated himself to the people of the UK, the Commonwealth, and to his family.”
India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, hailed his sense of public service, while Australia’s prime minister, Scott Morrison, said Philip “embodied a generation that we will never see again”.
New Zealand’s prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, said her thoughts would be with the Queen at this “profoundly sad time”, and Canada’s prime minister, Justin Trudeau, described the Duke of Edinburgh as a “man of great purpose and conviction”.
The BBC has said planned programming had been suspending following the death, while ITV also announced changes to its schedules.
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
PA Wire
Philip at the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee
PA
The Queen and Prince Philip together in 2011
AP
The Queen and Prince Philip after the coronation of 1953
PA Wire
Prince Philip and the Queen in 2007
POOL/AFP via Getty Images
Mourner adds flowers outside Buckingham Palace
AFP via Getty Images
The Establishment want to us to revere this man, because the monarchy is so important to them. Most people (I'm sure) are mildly dis-interested - our lives are important.
Monarchy is a total anachronism and should be abolished as in most countries around the world...
Don't see your argument on this one at all.
And replace it with a presidency? How boring is that? Pablo with your forename and spelling inability,I guess you may be a Mexican , with much experience of drug fuelled career criminals
It is the job of the electorate, not the royal family, to tell the government what to do. We live in a democracy, not a dictatorship. Blame the government and those who voted for it. but unlike all those shiftless Drs and nurses, coppers and teachers he did a life of service and supported his wife from his humble homes with only a few hundred winter breaks to warmer climes in late model limos.He was unashamed to be a white supremacist and look down on inferior non Graeco Germans like teh Africans Welsh , Scots, Irish and English, a shining example Andrew must have learnt so much from such a pole model.
How long is this going to go on for? I turned to 6 Music for some normality but it's only playing sad music. What is this - North Korea? This country really needs to grow up. Only in Scotland poor things !
A job offer?
Fair enough , Phil had a "good inning's", He didn't quite make a "century" ,run out on the last over . . . For people wanting to show whatever feeling's they have towards Phil and the royals ,all well and good ,their perogative and I respect their viewpoint ! Don't necessarily agree with any of it, but who the hell am I .
But really the media circus surrounding this "passing", and time that is and will be given on TV , in the physical paper's any online news outlets, etc etc etc is just "overpowering" !
Well hopefully this means that a.Republic of Great Britain is not far off. I read some of Philips " witty " quotes in the Telegraph. He was rude, offensive, racist, sexist and arrogant. I met the news of his passing with a profound Meh. Time to lose the Monarch and the Aristocracy, and the House of Lords. Anachronisms all.
Labour are not in power
If being a republic means mimicking the US political system, then no thank you. Give me a constitutional monarchy any day. Perhaps you should try persuading the voters. They could put the left wing in power. He'll not get his telegram from the queen then. Perfect<He He!
I thought there’d be a bit of a reprieve after Newsnight and normal transmission would be resumed. Not a chance! Another blooming profile of HRH. I can’t stand any more, I don’t drink but I might decide to give it a go, if it’s going to be like this for much longer! Choice would be a fine thing. All BBC licence channels were blitzed for no good reason. Even the weather and news. But they have an appalling record of focusing single-issue news in recent years anyway. A confirmed insomniac, I managed to sleep through Newsnight " last night' after a few whiskeys
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today. | Famous Person - Death | April 2021 | ['(The Independent)'] |
The body of the first President of Afghanistan Mohammed Daoud Khan is identified, three decades after he died. | The body of first Afghan President Mohammad Daud Khan has been identified three decades after he was killed in a Communist coup, officials say.
The discovery was made by members of a government-appointed commission during excavation at a military base outside the capital, Kabul.
Daud Khan overthrew the last king of Afghanistan, Zahir Shah, in 1973.
His death five years later ushered in a decade of Soviet occupation followed by the rise of the Taleban.
The former president is to be given a special funeral ceremony by the government.
Teeth moulds
A spokesman for the Ministry of Health told the Associated Press news agency that the former president's body was among dozens discovered at two mass graves in the Pul-e-Charkhi area, east of Kabul, six months ago.
The spokesman said that Mr Khan and 17 family members and associates were executed inside the presidential palace in Kabul during a communist-inspired coup in 1978.
He said that teeth moulds were used to identify the late president's body but the determining factor was a small golden Koran that was found with his remains.
"This Koran was given to him as a gift by the king of Saudi Arabia when he went on a trip to the kingdom," the spokesman said.
Correspondents say that many Afghans see Mr Khan's murder as one of their country's darkest days, because it was followed by 10 years of Soviet occupation, civil war and the rise of the Taleban, who themselves were toppled by US-led troops in 2001.
It is estimated that about two million people have been killed since the 1978 coup and more than six million have fled the country.
Mr Khan is remembered for his efforts to counter the influence of Islamists and for establishing a republic. He introduced wide ranging reforms and towards the end of his life favoured relations with the West over the Soviet Union. | Famous Person - Death | December 2008 | ['(BBC)'] |
The Times reports their journalist, Bel Trew, had been expelled from Egypt shortly after her February 20 arrest. Trew had been given the option of a military trial or leaving the country. | Arrest and deportation of Bel Trew, a correspondent for the Times, is the latest incident in an unprecedented crackdown
Last modified on Mon 26 Mar 2018 15.02 BST
Egyptian authorities threatened a British journalist with a military trial and expelled her from the country with no stated cause, in advance of the country’s upcoming presidential election.
Bel Trew, a journalist with the Times, was arrested on 20 February while reporting in Shubra, a working-class neighbourhood of Cairo, and taken to a police station. Hours later, she was driven to Cairo international airport and forced to board a flight for London.
In an account published on Saturday by the Times, Trew wrote: “The charges were never revealed to me. [But] after seven hours of detention, I was threatened with a military trial, a legal process often used against terrorism suspects or dissidents.”
“Less than 24 hours after I was first detained, I was marched on to a plane with nothing but the clothes I was standing up in. The choice before me – stay for a military trial or leave – was no kind of choice,” she wrote.
The arrest and deportation of a foreign journalist is the latest incident in an already unprecedented crackdown on press freedom in Egypt. Foreign media workers have been subject to imprisonment or arrest in the past, but Trew’s expulsion has raised concerns about whether journalists are safe to report in Egypt ahead of the country’s upcoming presidential election on 26 March. In a statement, the Times said that it had withheld news of Trew’s deportation while investigating if she could return to the country. “The circumstances of her detention and the threats made against her were sufficiently outlandish to suggest that a mistake had been made, based on a misunderstanding. We have since been trying to ensure her safe return to Cairo, in time to cover the presidential election. It is now clear that the authorities have no intention of allowing her to return,” the newspaper said. “As far as the Cairo authorities are concerned, I am on a list of ‘undesirable people’ and if I attempt to return I will be re-arrested,” wrote Trew.
A spokeswoman for the British embassy in Cairo said that the motivation for Trew’s expulsion was still unknown. “We have provided support and raised our concerns at the highest levels. The foreign secretary has raised it directly with the Egyptian foreign minister. The Egyptian authorities have not shared any evidence of wrongdoing. We will continue to press them on this case,” she said. The Egyptian government did not respond to requests for comment. Trew, 33, moved to Cairo shortly before the 2011 uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak. Since the current president, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, came to power in a 2013 military coup, the climate for Egyptian and foreign media has grown increasingly repressive. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, 20 Egyptian journalists were behind bars as of December last year. Egypt is described as one of “the world’s biggest prisons for journalists”, by the press freedom group Reporters Without Borders, ranking 161 out of a total of 180 countries on their annual World Press Freedom Index. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Arrest | March 2018 | ['(AP)', '(The Guardian)'] |
In Nepal, former prime minister Girija Prasad Koirala is released from house arrest and demands the return to democracy. (Telegraph, India) | Girija Prasad Koirala said his National Congress party would continue peaceful protests against the seizure of power by King Gyanendra in February.
The three-time prime minister, who is in his 80s, was one of those put under house arrest after the takeover.
He was among some 250 people freed by the new authorities on Friday.
His release came three weeks after similar restrictions were lifted on Nepal's most recent Prime Minister, Sher Bahadur Deuba.
Human rights groups say several hundred people remain under arrest but the government has not given details.
Civil disobedience
Addressing his first news conference after being released, Mr Koirala demanded the restoration of fundamental rights and asked for the release of all those detained after the royal takeover.
Koirala leads the largest party in Nepal
He called for the creation of an all-party government to hold peace talks with Maoist rebels.
The king has justified his takeover by accusing the government of failing to tackle the Maoist armed rebellion.
He called on his party workers to join a "satyagraha" - a civil disobedience movement made popular by Mahatma Gandhi - to press king Gyanendra to give up his absolute powers. Mr Koirala said his party was committed to constitutional monarchy in the country despite the recent political upheavals.
However he hinted that things would not remain the same if the king continued to usurp people's fundamental rights.
The former prime minister said reinstating parliament was the only way of resolving the current political impasse. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Release | April 2005 | ['(New Kerala)', '(BBC)'] |
A remotely operated bomb killed 6 people traveling in southern Afghanistan in Tirin Kot, the capital of Afghanistan's Uruzgan province. | KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - Six NATO service members died yesterday in separate attacks across Afghanistan, including a suicide car bomb that targeted an international military convey as it crossed a bridge in the Taliban-dominated South, the coalition said.
Nine Afghan civilians also died in four bombings in the South, officials said.
The deaths came as American and Afghan forces worked to consolidate control over the former insurgent stronghold of Marja in the southern province of Helmand, where allied forces are waging the largest combined offensive of the eight-year-old war.
The suicide attacker waited in a taxi for the NATO convoy to cross the bridge between Kandahar and the airport, then detonated his explosives, sending a military vehicle into a ravine, said Inhamullah Khan, an Afghan army official at the site.
A NATO spokesman, Major Marcin Walczak, confirmed that one service member died. He did not provide the nationality or other details.
Four Afghan civilians died in the bridge attack, the Interior Ministry said. Three of them were in a car that had pulled over nearby to wait for the convoy to cross the bridge, which the military regularly sweeps for explosives, Khan said.
In western Afghanistan, two NATO troops died in a mortar or rocket attack, a military statement said, and another service member was killed by small arms fire in the South. One service member was killed by a roadside bomb in the South and another by rocket or mortar fire in the East. The statements gave no other details.
Another car bomb outside Kandahar city’s police headquarters killed a civilian employee and wounded nine police officers and six civilians yesterday, said Interior Ministry spokesman Zemerai Bashary.
Kandahar is the capital of the province of the same name that is considered the spiritual birthplace of the Taliban. It lies east of Helmand province, where thousands of US, NATO, and Afghan troops are conducting an offensive to wrest control of the town of Marja from insurgents.
Marja has long been controlled by the Taliban, and the assault is seen as the first step in a multimonth offensive that will eventually target insurgent strongholds around Kandahar city.
Advances by US and Afghan forces in and around Marja have been hampered by thousands of buried explosives left behind by the Taliban. A civilian car hit one of the roadside bombs yesterday as it entered the city limits of Lashkar Gah, the major town north of Marja.
The blast killed three people, including a 10-year-old boy, said Dawod Ahmedi, spokesman for the Helmand provincial governor.
Another roadside bomb killed two employees of a construction company who were riding in a company vehicle on a road north of Lashkar Gah district, an Interior Ministry statement said.
The two-week-old Marja offensive, involving thousands of American troops along with Afghan soldiers, is the largest combined assault since the 2001 US-led invasion to oust the Taliban’s hard-line Islamist regime.
The allied forces have cleared most of Marja and are working to secure the area, though NATO has warned there could be pockets of violence for weeks. | Armed Conflict | March 2010 | ['(CNN)', '(CBS)', '(AP)'] |
BBC executive Craig Oliver is chosen to replace Andy Coulson as British Prime Minister David Cameron's Director of Communications. | David Cameron yesterday marked a break with the era of Andy Coulson by appointing a senior BBC TV news editor with no links to the Murdoch empire as the new No 10 communications director.
Craig Oliver, who made his name revamping the News at Ten and who ran the BBC's general election coverage last year, will be paid £140,000 a year and will act as a political special adviser.
The recruitment of a senior BBC figure shows that Cameron and George Osborne, who met Oliver over the weekend, recognise that they need to place some distance between Downing Street and Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation.
Coulson announced his resignation on 21 January after concluding that the swirl of allegations about illegal phone hacking from his time as News of the World editor had made his job impossible. Coulson has always denied knowledge of any wrongdoing.
Downing Street said that No 10's relations with News Corp had nothing to with the decision to hire a BBC executive. One source said: "Craig was simply the best candidate."
Fears of offending the Murdoch empire were highlighted yesterday when Tom Baldwin, Oliver's Labour counterpart, asked members of the shadow cabinet to show restraint on phone hacking and not to attack one newspaper group "out of spite".
In an email sent on his behalf, which was leaked to the New Statesman, Baldwin also called on shadow ministers not to link allegations of phone hacking with questions about News Corp's bid to take control of BSkyB.
The email said: "On phone hacking … this is not just an issue about News International. Almost every media organisation in the country may end up becoming embroiled in these allegations … We must guard against anything which appears to be attacking a particular newspaper group out of spite."
Further evidence that hacking was used regularly by the News of the World emerged yesterday when new details of the case brought by Nicola Philips, the publicist who is suing the newspaper, were published. Philips alleges the tabloid obtained a story about an affair between actor Ralph Fiennes and a Romanian singer by hacking into her mobile phone.
Philips, who was then working for celebrity publicist Max Clifford, brokered a deal between the singer, Cornelia Crisan, and the Sunday Mirror and the Mail on Sunday, to sell her story for £35,000. She says the News of the World learned of the story by listening to her voicemail messages. The paper tracked down Crisan and published details of her relationship with Fiennes on the same day as its rival titles.
The recruitment of Oliver was Coulson's last act before he left Downing Street on Monday. Coulson telephoned Oliver towards the end of the last week and arranged for him to meet Cameron and Osborne over the weekend.
Cameron said: "I am very pleased that Craig Oliver is to become the new director of communications at 10 Downing Street. Craig has formidable experience as a broadcast journalist. He will do an excellent job in explaining and communicating the government's programme."
Oliver, who voted Conservative at the general election but is not a party member, said: "I'm delighted to be joining David Cameron and his team at such an exciting and challenging time. It's difficult to leave the BBC after a fascinating few years, but this is an opportunity I can't turn down."
Oliver, 41, has been the controller of English at BBC Global News since June 2010 and was the BBC's general election editor last year. He has also worked as editor of BBC News at Ten and News at Six.
From 2002 to 2006, he was the head of output at ITV News. Before that he was output editor at Channel 4 News and at ITV News. He was educated at a Scottish comprehensive and studied at the University of St Andrews. He is married to the BBC News presenter Joanna Gosling, with whom he has three young daughters.
Oliver came to Cameron's attention – via Coulson – in the runup to last year's general election. Coulson broke ground by bypassing the press and giving stories straight to News at Ten. | Government Job change - Appoint_Inauguration | February 2011 | ['(BBC)', '(The Guardian)'] |
A Filipino lawmaker proposes a bill banning Republican U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump from entering the Philippines after Trump compared Filipino legal immigrants to terrorists. , | MANILA, Philippines – Albay 2nd District Representative Joey Salceda filed a resolution seeking to ban Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump from entering the Philippines after he lumped the country among "terrorist nations."
Should it be passed, House Resolution Number 143 would order the Bureau of Immigration to "permanently refuse" Trump entry into the Philippines.
Trump said during an August 4 rally that immigrants coming from the Philippines and 8 other nations were arrested for conducting or threatening to carry out violent attacks, teaching bomb-making to recruits, and supporting terror groups.
"We are letting people come in from terrorist nations that shouldn't be allowed because you can't vet them... You have no idea who they are. This could be the great Trojan horse of all time. This is a practice that has to stop," said Trump, whose campaign is built on an anti-immigration platform.
In his resolution, Salceda said Trump "clearly generated impressions not conducive to public good and has shown disrespect or makes offensive utterances to the Filipino people."
He added that Trump has "no feasible basis" to justify that Filipinos come from a "terrorist nation" or that they will be a Trojan horse.
"This comes from a long line of pronouncements where he has demonstrated an unrepentantly negative, dysfunctionally nativist, aggressively adversarial attitude towards immigrants in the USA where he aspires to be the leader, and thus could be in a position to influence policies affecting 4 million population of Filipino descent, according to the US State Department, the second largest population of Asian Americans," said Salceda.
How did this story make you feel?
The lawmaker also described Trump's remarks as "largerly unprompted and undeserved" because he said the Republican candidate has been a beneficiary of Filipino hospitality through the Trump Tower at Century City joint property project in Makati.
According to Salceda, Trump's influence as the candidate of a major US political party can also be detrimental to Filipinos staying and working overseas.
"Because of his current stature as a candidate of a major political party for President of the most powerful country of the world, his remarks have had widespread dissemination, thus aggravating the shame it has already put Filipinos and Filipino Muslims, including Filipino migrants and overseas Filipino workers who this House and our society have recognized as modern heroes of our country," said Salceda.
Around 2.9 million Filipino immigrants and their children live in the US, according to data from the Migration Policy Institute in July 2014.
The Migration Policy Institute also said Filipinos comprise the 4th biggest number of immigrants to the US, next to those from Mexico, China, and India.
Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella and Communications Secretary Martin Andanar both questioned Trump's controversial remarks over the weekend. – Rappler.com
Did you see something broken?
This is older content that has been transitioned to our new look. In this transition some of our content might not look right. We are working hard to fix everything but if something doesn’t look right let us know
advertisement
Mara Cepeda writes about politics and women’s rights for Rappler. She covers the Senate and the Office of the Vice President. Got tips? Send her an email at mara.cepeda@rappler.com or shoot her a tweet @maracepeda. | Government Policy Changes | August 2016 | ['(The Washington Post)', '(Rappler)'] |
Sheikh Abu Hamza al–Masri was removed from his position as an agent of Finsbury Park mosque. BBC News Story | The cleric's dismissal was announced on Tuesday by the Charities Commission, which said its decision was based on Mr Abu Hamza's consistently inflammatory remarks.
He had recently been barred from preaching at the North London Central Mosque and he inflamed public opinion this week when he spoke out about the Columbia space shuttle disaster.
The action we have taken today enables the trustees of the North London Central Mosque to govern the charity so that it can do the important work for which it was originally established
Charities Commission
He said the crew had been punished with death by Allah because there was an Israeli - Ilan Ramon, an Indian-born Hindu - Kalpana Chawla, and Americans on board.
The Commission used its powers to remove Mr Abu Hamza in order to protect the charity and its future administration.
It took this step because the trustees of the charity had been prevented from governing the mosque properly by the activities of Mr Abu Hamza and his supporters. Disrepute
It also found that Mr Abu Hamza had used his position within the charity to make inappropriate political statements. It also believes Mr Abu Hamza had allowed other organisations to operate from the mosque and had brought the charity into disrepute. The Commission first suspended Abu Hamza on 23 April 2002. Since that date he has continued to operate within the charity. Chief Charity Commissioner John Stoker said: "The action we have taken today enables the trustees of the North London Central Mosque to govern the charity so that it can do the important work for which it was originally established."
Court order
The Commission has received representations from Mr Abu Hamza's solicitors, and says it has responded to these in full. Mr Abu Hamza's solicitor, Muddassar Arani, told BBC News 24 that the Commission's move "to oust him through the back door" was politically motivated. | Government Job change - Resignation_Dismissal | February 2003 | [] |
It is reported that Chinese police killed 18 members of the East Turkestan Islamic Movement organization and arrested 17 others in a raid in the Pamir Plateau on 5 January. ETIM members shot and killed one officer and wounded another. Police found 22 grenades and enough explosive material to make 1,500 more. | Song Hongli, director of the general office of the Xinjiang Public Security Bureau, said the raid occurred Friday at a training camp run by the East Turkestan Islamic Movement.
One police officer was killed and another was injured, Song said.
Police are searching for suspects who are believed to have escaped during the raid, Song said, but did not say how many.
Song said the camp was located in the Pamir Plateau, a sprawling high-altitude section of western Xinjiang near the borders of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Kyrgyzstan, but he did not give an exact location.
The East Turkestan Islamic Movement, or ETIM, has sought secession from China for Xinjiang.
A low-intensity rebellion has simmered in the mainly Muslim Xinjiang region for decades. Chinese authorities have said ETIM is one of the most violent groups, labeling it a terrorist organization and alleging that it has links to al-Qaeda. The United States has also put ETIM on a terrorist list.
Diplomats and foreign experts, however, are skeptical and say that many of the bombings and other violence linked to the group by China actually stem from personal disputes. | Armed Conflict | January 2007 | ['(Xinhua)', '(USA Today)', '(BBC)'] |
The Philippines says it won't have bilateral talks with China until the Chinese stop all provocations in the South China Sea. | MANILA -- China must cease all provocations in the South China Sea before the Philippines will agree to bilateral talks, Philippine Secretary of Foreign Affairs Perfecto Yasay said here during a two-day media forum that began Monday.
An international tribunal at The Hague awarded a sweeping victory to Manila in July over its challenge to Beijing's maritime claims in the South China Sea, but China has refused to abide by the ruling.
The Philippines "will respect the decision, and we urge China also to respect the decision," Yasay said, signaling the Manila will not agree to ignore the ruling in order to hold talks with China.
He urged the establishment of confidence-building measures before any negotiations begin. "We would like to see, as long as we agree to continue talking, [that] nobody will take any provocative actions," he said.
Yasay was especially adamant that China refrain from reclamation work on the Scarborough Shoal in order for any bilateral discussion to occur. He said the U.S. also considers that a line that should not be crossed.
As part of trust-building efforts, the Philippines hopes China will lift its current blockade on Filipino fishermen operating in waters around the shoal, he said.
"It is important for us to give China that opportunity to save face," Yasay said of bilateral talks. He stressed that the best way to do this was by bolstering the countries ties with regard to economy, trade, tourism and other fields.
"Our dispute with China in respect to the South China Sea is a very small aspect of our relationship," Yasay said. He said the Philippines can still foster and promote its relations with China, which would greatly contribute to global peace and stability.
The Hague tribunal ruled that China had no legal basis to build islands in the South China Sea or to block Filipino fishermen from the waters. Beijing refuses to respect the decision and continues to bar fishing operations near the Scarborough Shoal.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who took office at the end of June, is focused on securing fishing rights for Filipinos in the waters. He hopes bilateral talks with China will help break the current stalemate.
He is laying the groundwork for negotiations, such as sending former President Fidel Ramos as a special envoy to Hong Kong. Duterte said last week that bilateral talks could happen "within the year." | Diplomatic Talks _ Diplomatic_Negotiation_ Summit Meeting | August 2016 | ['(Nikkei Asian Review)'] |
A new study by scientists from 14 research institutions, that is published in the March 2016 Global Change Biology Journal, finds all U.S. forests are threatened by drought and climate change. | Even beyond the clear signs of drought in the West, forests from coast to coast in the United States are feeling the effects of climate change, as noted by a new study by individuals from 14 research institutions.
"While the effects have been most pronounced in the West, our analysis shows virtually all U.S. forests are now experiencing change and are vulnerable to future declines," James S. Clark, senior study author and Duke University's Nicholas Professor of Environmental Science said in a release. "Given the high degree of uncertainty in our understanding of how forest species and stands adapt to rapid change, it's going to be difficult to anticipate the type of forests that will be here in 20 to 40 years."
That's because increasing temperatures and uncertain levels of precipitation over the past 20 years have heightened drought severity across most of the continental 48 states, said Clark in the release.
The West is already seeing large-scale forest diebacks, infestation by bark beetles and wildfires--and several prediction models show that droughts will likely become more frequent, severe and lengthy across many of the states.
Climate may be changing more quickly than forest populations can move to new regions, too, according to growing evidence. As the weather becomes warmer and drier, tree populations, particularly those in Eastern woods, may fail to expand fast enough into easier habitats by dispersing seeds or through other natural methods, Clark said in a statement.
The study findings were recently published in the Early View online edition of the journal Global Change Biology. That report brings together conclusions from hundreds of studies and gives a summary of a report released earlier in February by several federal agencies and research programs.
"Prolonged drought affects wildfire risks, species distribution, forest biodiversity and productivity, and virtually all goods and services provided by forests, so there is a pressing need to know what is happening now, what might happen in the future and how we can manage for these changes," Clark said.
It's worth noting that forestry scientists and researchers currently have a pretty good idea of how individual trees are reacting to drought and climate change, Clark said in the statement. "But there's still uncertainty about what might happen at the species-wide or stand-wide levels, particularly in Eastern forests. These are the scales where we really need reliable predictions so forest managers can take steps now to help reduce large-scale problems."
For more great nature science stories and general news, please visit our sister site, Headlines and Global News (HNGN).
| Droughts | February 2016 | ['(Global Change Biology)', '(Eureka Alert)', '(Nature World News)'] |
Approximately 10,000 protesters march in Tbilisi and Batumi calling for early elections and the ouster of President Mikhail Saakashvili. | Sunday, 22 May 2011 Anti-government supporters gather during an opposition rally in the center of the Georgian capital. (Reuters photo)
By MUSTAPHA AJBAILI
Al Arabiya with Agencies
Thousands of Georgians, inspired by the popular uprisings sweeping the Arab world, took to the streets of the capital Tbilisi to demand the ouster of President Mikhail Saakashvili. They also called for early presidential and parliamentary elections. About 10,000 protesters from the National Assembly opposition alliance rallied in the capital Tbilisi and hundreds more in the Black Sea resort of Batumi, where police broke up protests, Agence-France Presse reported.
“We are fighting for democracy and against neo-Bolshevism,” opposition leader Nino Burjanadze, a former parliamentary speaker for the Saakashvili government, told AFP. “We demand Saakashvili resignation in order to hold democratic elections,” she said.
Speakers at the protest in Tbilisi accused President Saakashvili of authoritarianism, saying he had failed to tackle widespread poverty and had lost large parts of Georgian territory during the country’s disastrous war with Russia in 2008.
The rallies in the capital proceeded peacefully but police dispersed a parallel protest in Batumi after activists tried to force their way into a local television station, demanding live broadcasts of the demonstrations.
Tsira Abuladze, head of news at state television in the autonomous Adjara region on the Black Sea, told Reuters by telephone from Batumi that a crowd of up to 400 people had pushed at doors and threw stones at windows.
President Saakashvili eased out the Moscow-backed leader of Adjara in 2004, strengthening Tbilisi’s control over the region. But the regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, also supported by Moscow, remain beyond Tbilisi’s control.
Opponents accuse him of imposing autocratic rule on Georgia, a former Soviet republic that sits astride important road and rail links and energy transit routes from the Caspian to Western Europe.
Protesters led by former Mr. Saakashvili ally and parliament speaker Nino Burjanadze marched along Tbilisi’s main thoroughfare, blocking traffic, and then staged a rally at the central Freedom square, according to Reuters.
“We will fight to the end together with you. It is the final and decisive fight for all of us and we are not going to take any steps back,” Nino Burjanadze told the crowd.
Despite defeat in the war with Russia in 2008 and the crackdown in 2007, President Saakashvili has remained the country’s most powerful figure and many believe he could continue to dominate Georgian politics after his term ends in 2013. | Protest_Online Condemnation | May 2011 | ['(Al Arabiya)'] |
A 30yearold man is arrested and charged with making terroristic threats after he allegedly threatened to kill his father and his exgirlfriends, as well as blow up the Alice in Wonderland statue in Central Park. Explosive devices are discovered in his Upper West Side apartment. |
A mad-as-a-hatter Manhattan man was arrested for threatening to blow up Central Park’s Alice in Wonderland statue with a pipe bomb, according to cops and sources.
Would-be bomber Kevin Fallon, 30, went down the rabbit hole April 9, when he allegedly sent a text to friends and family announcing his intention to blow up the 1959 bronze statue depicting the Lewis Carroll tale’s famously fraught tea party,court documents show.
On Saturday, he allegedly sent loved ones including an ex-girlfriend and his father photos of a pipe bomb and rifle ammunition along with a chilling threat to “look both ways before you cross the street. This is going to hurt. None of you are safe. I am lethal,” according to court documents.
Another missive included a photo of an apparent pipe bomb with a wristwatch attached to it, and said “the alarm clock bomb is for real. When I give it to him it will be filled with powder and ready to detonate,” according to court records, which identify “him” only as one of the people he was texting with.
The NYPD conducted a wellness check on his Upper West Side apartment at his mom’s request on Saturday, finding “three pipe bombs,” rifle ammunition, and multiple knives that had been “taped together,” sources and court documents said.
Both the NYPD Emergency Services Unit and the Bomb Squad were called in and found that the bombs weren’t functional, sources said.
Later that day, Fallon was tracked to a hotel in the Theater District, where he was taken into custody by the New York/New Jersey Regional Fugitive Task Force, sources said.
He was arraigned Monday and his charges include making a terroristic threat and criminal possession of a weapon, according to court documents.
Fallon is being held on Rikers Island with a bail of $50,000. His next court date will be on July 13, public records show. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | April 2020 | ['(The New York Post)', '(Yahoo! News)'] |
Six police officers are shot, sustaining non-life threatening injuries, by a gunman in Philadelphia; a seventh officer is injured in a related automobile accident nearby. | An armed suspect accused of wounding six officers in north Philadelphia during a nearly eight-hour standoff surrendered early Thursday, officials said.
The gunfire began Wednesday afternoon as police tried to serve an arrest warrant, police said. Shortly after midnight, police spokesman Sgt. Eric Gripp tweeted that a suspect was in custody and that SWAT officers were clearing the house.
Police on the scene said that the suspect surrendered without incident. The suspect was taken to a hospital for treatment because police had used tear gas, The Associated Press reported.
"It's nothing short of a miracle that we don’t have multiple officers killed today," Philadelphia Police Commissioner Richard Ross Jr. said Wednesday night.
Police were serving the warrant at the house in the northern part of the city when a gunman opened fire. Two officers were trapped upstairs for hours before they were safely freed along with three civilians by SWAT officers, the police commissioner said.
In a press conference early Thursday, Ross said the suspect had prior arrests, but his office is not discussing the details of the charges at this time.
President Donald Trump in a tweet Thursday morning said the suspect "should never have been allowed to be on the streets" because of his "very dangerous criminal record."
Trump tweeted that the suspect, who was identified by an attorney as Maurice Hill, "looked like he was having a good time after his capture, and after wounding so many police."
"Long sentence must get much tougher on street crime!" the president wrote.
All of the officers who were shot had been released from the hospital by late Wednesday night. The city’s mayor said that one of those officers, who is the father of two boys, suffered a graze wound to his head and could have been killed.
The attorney, Shaka Johnson, said in an interview after the arrest that Hill called him Wednesday evening, said he was barricaded in the house and that he "wanted to try to figure out a way out without any further violence coming to anyone or himself."
"I could sense that he was panicking and trying to figure out, 'How do I get out of this situation alive?'" Johnson said.
Johnson said he arrived at the home and was allowed to wear body armor and approach the home with officers, so the suspect would know Johnson was there before surrendering.
"I just kept the conversation as light-hearted as it could be under the circumstances, and when appropriate I switched back to: ‘You’ve got to come out, man, and you have to put your phone down. You can’t come out with any weapons, you’ve got to put your hands up,’” Johnson said.
A large police presence responded to the shooting at about 4:30 p.m. in a residential area of the Nicetown neighborhood.
Ross said that officers were already inside and in the rear of the building when the gunman opened fire, forcing them to escape a barrage of bullets through windows and doors.
"This was a narcotics warrant that went awry almost immediately, and the officers came under fire," Ross said. He said officers were in different areas of the building to quickly secure it, and some became trapped upstairs.
Officers took cover behind cars and blocked off surrounding streets as they were fired upon. Police returned fire, Ross said. Just about every officer at the scene came under fire at some point, he said.
SWAT team members were able to stealthily extract the two trapped officers and others, and police don't believe the gunman was aware of the operation that freed them, Ross said.
Police have not said what kind of weapon or weapons the gunman was firing.
Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney said the suspect "was able to get these weapons, and a large magazine, a large amount of bullets." The mayor criticized federal and state governments for what he said was a lack of progress on gun control and an unwillingness to stand up to the National Rifle Association and others.
"So whether it’s our six officers that were shot or it's some 15-, 17-, 20-year-old kid on the streets of Philadelphia who gets shot with guns that shouldn’t be in people’s hands it's aggravating, it's saddening, and it's just something we need to do something about," Kenney said. "Our officers deserve to be protected, and they don't deserve to be shot at by a guy for hours with an unlimited supply of weapons and an unlimited supply of bullets."
A witness who lives close to the shooting told NBC Philadelphia that she heard a series of shots, what she said felt like 100, and could smell what seemed to be gunpowder as the shootout unfolded. The unidentified woman told NBC Philadelphia that it felt "like a war."
The nearby campus for Temple University's Health Sciences Center was placed on lockdown as the situation unfolded, and Police evacuated area residences and businesses.
Yvonne Thomas-Curry, owner of Precious Babies Learning Academy, told NBC Philadelphia about 80 children were evacuated from the nearby day care. She said the children, who range from 6 weeks to 10 years old, were safe and warned parents to stay away until the area was cleared.
"We’re all pretty much together, we’re not scattered," Thomas-Curry said. "They’re all together now so we can closely monitor them and keep them away from the windows."
Lockdown for HSC campus has been lifted. All populations must avoid the incident scene and remain south of Venango St. Allied Security and Temple Police will assist.
Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf said in a statement that he and his wife, Frances, "are deeply troubled by another mass shooting in our commonwealth."
"Tonight is another reminder of the selfless sacrifice of our law enforcement officers and first responders. We are praying for a peaceful resolution and the full recovery of all those injured," Wolf said in the statement. "We must remain committed to combating violence and getting dangerous weapons out of our communities."
Johnson, the attorney, said Hill will likely be charged with six counts of attempted murder, aggravated assault and other counts.
Johnson thanked the Philadelphia Police Department and all the other agencies for their patience during the standoff, and said he is glad Hill will get his day in court rather than having the incident end in violence.
"This was a community under siege, and I'm glad everybody is able to return back to their homes without any further incident," Johnson said.
Doha Madani is a breaking news reporter for NBC News. Pronouns: she/her.
Tom Winter is a New York-based correspondent covering crime, courts, terrorism and financial fraud on the East Coast for the NBC News Investigative Unit. | Armed Conflict | August 2019 | ['(CNN)', '(NBC News)'] |
The Hungarian newspaper Népszabadság shuts down after 60 years amid significant financial losses. | BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Around 2,000 Hungarians protested in Budapest on Saturday against the closure of the country’s leading leftist newspaper Nepszabadsag, saying press freedom was under threat.
Owner Mediaworks said on Saturday it had suspended the newspaper and its employees after the publication piled up significant losses despite cost cuts. It said it would revamp the organization.
But civil rights groups said the newspaper had been shut down because it had published stories critical of right-wing Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s government and called for the demonstration in front of the parliament building.
“Today one of the last opposition newspapers was simply silenced,” the civil rights groups said on Facebook.
The radical nationalist Jobbik opposition party blamed Orban for the closure, saying his Fidesz party wanted to control the entire Hungarian media.
“Sudden closure of Nepszabadsag sets a worrying precedent. I stand in solidarity with Hungarians protesting today,” European Parliament President Martin Schulz tweeted.
Fidesz said it regarded the closure as a “reasonable business decision” by the publisher.
Mediaworks, owned by Austrian firm Vienna Capital Partners, said it was working on a new business model for Nepszabadsag (People’s Freedom), which has been in publication since November 1956.
“In order to achieve and concentrate fully on this priority task, all operations of Nepszabadsag (including print and online) will as of today be suspended until the new form is decided and can be implemented,” it said on the paper’s website nol.hu.
Employees, who received letters on Saturday informing them of Mediawork’s decision, said the closure had come as a shock, and editor Andras Muranyi told ATV that talks with the company were under way.
“Our first thought is that this is a coup. We will soon come back with more,” Nepszabadsag said in an editorial on its Facebook page.
In its final edition on Saturday, the newspaper reported the latest in its articles on a minister in Orban’s government using a helicopter to fly to a wedding.
“I don’t usually attend demonstrations because my blood pressure goes up but now I felt I had to come.. It is a shameful thing that has been done here,” Erzsebet Kovacs, one of the demonstrators, said.
“The free media is being suffocated,” another demonstrator Tamas Waldmann said.
Some protesters burned copies of the pro-government daily Magyar Idok at the rally, website Index.hu reported.
Government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs said the government did not deal with developments in the media industry. “In Hungary press freedom is doing well,” he added.
| Organization Closed | October 2016 | ['(Reuters)'] |
Voters in Argentina go to the polls for a general election, with exit polls showing the President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner being reelected in a landslide. | Depending on who you speak to, Argentina is about to enter either a glorious era of people's rule or a dark chasm of authoritarianism. Cristina Kirchner, one half of the tandem that led Argentina out of economic chaos and back to growth, is heading for a landslide victory in Sunday's presidential election. A win would earn an unprecedented third term for a faction that has governed Argentina since 2003.
Critics and supporters agree that "Queen Cristina", as she is often referred to in the press, will emerge as the undisputed leader of a country where political opposition has for all practical purposes become absent.
"We are moving towards a single-party state with infinite re-elections," says Sylvina Walger, a journalist who recently published a bestselling and extremely critical biography of the president, entitled simply Cristina.
Kirchner, predicted to win around 55% in Sunday's first-round vote, is so ubiquitous here that she enjoys a first-name recognition comparable to that of Evita, or Eva Perón, the legendary wife of Juan Perón, who in 1946 founded the Peronist party that President Kirchner belongs to.
Like Evita, who died of cancer in 1952 at the age of 33, Kirchner's massive popularity is partly based on a verbal war against a privileged social class held to be guilty of thwarting the prosperity of workers. But, unlike Evita, whose official status never rose above First Lady, Kirchner went from being a senator during the presidency of her husband, Néstor, to becoming the first elected female president of Argentina in 2007.
"She is better at communicating with the people than her opponents," says Horacio Verbitsky, columnist for the pro-Kirchner daily Pagina/12, who meets the president regularly. "Néstor Kirchner used to say to me that she would prove even more capable than he had been, and he was right."
But not everyone is so convinced of her abilities. Rivals, such as the leftist candidate Hermes Binner of the Socialist Progressive Front, warn that the global financial crisis will start to tell on Argentina's economy before too long. And a startling US diplomatic cable released last year by WikiLeaks asked telling questions about the president's constitution and mental health.
"How is Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner managing her nerves and anxiety?" the cable asked. "How does stress affect her behaviour toward advisers and/or her decision-making? What steps does Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner or her advisers/handlers take in helping her deal with stress? Is she taking any medications?"
"Under what circumstances is she best able to handle stresses? How do Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner's emotions affect her decision-making and how does she calm down when distressed?"
Kirchner came into her own following the death of her husband of a sudden heart attack last year. An outpouring of public sympathy ended a sharp decline in her popularity in the polls. Generous social spending, a consumption boom and renewed economic growth have done the rest, making voters indifferent to the repeated charges of corruption and illegal enrichment by the Kirchners and their close associates. "People just don't want to know about it," says her biographer Walger.
Reports indicate that Kirchner, who has never felt much sympathy for Argentina's major newspapers, may seek to silence them completely once her mandate is renewed, in particular Clarin, a paper the forefront of investigations into the accumulated wealth of Kirchner officials and associates.
"There will be a war to the death against Clarin, which may not be a good newspaper but it represents what is left of freedom of the press today," says Walger.
Her administration is not averse to employing strong-arm tactics against opponents. Commerce Secretary Guillermo Moreno, one of the president's closest aides, last weekend led a group of Peronists and beat up a campaigner of the opposition PRO party who was distributing campaign leaflets on the streets of Vicente Lopez, a northern suburb of Buenos Aires.
"I demand that the president show she does not consent to such violent and authoritarian methods," demanded another presidential rival, Ricardo Alfonsin, son of Argentina's first post-junta president Raul Alfonsin.
But Kirchner, who does not give interviews to the press, remained silent. With her popularity so high, she has kept exposure to a minimum. She has not campaigned at all, speaking only through beautifully produced and emotionally charged television campaign ads under the slogan "Strength Argentina".
How long this strength will hold in the face of an international economic crisis that could put the brakes on Argentina's growth – based largely on the high price for Argentina's plentiful soy exports – will probably determine the fate of the new Kirchner period. Already there are cracks in the economic wall, mainly a hidden inflation that is changing old and deep-seated habits. Bovine meat consumption, in a country that once prided itself on producing top-grade beef, is falling: it dropped by 22% in the last two years, while the price of beef more than doubled.
In a speech on Wednesday night, Kirchner dismissed predictions of an economic downturn in her next term. "The world is at a complex moment, during which the icons who tried to convince us that we were doing wrong, that we had to change course, have fallen. Thank God we didn't change." For now, at least, it appears that the majority of Argentinians agree with her. | Government Job change - Election | October 2011 | ['(The Guardian)', '(Bloomberg via Business Week)'] |
According to PHIVOLCS, the epicenter of the earthquake is located 18 kilometres northeast of Castillejos, Zambales. PHIVOLCS originally records the earthquake, which is tectonic in origin, at magnitude 5.7, but later upgrades it to 6.1. | The earthquake, tectonic of origin, had its epicenter 18 kilometers northeast of Castillejos, Zambales at 5:11 p.m. according PHIVOLCS, which upgraded its magnitude to 6.1 after initially recording a magnitude 5.7 quake.
UPDATE: Magnitude 5.7 quake upgraded to Magnitude 6.1 | via @phivolcs_dost pic.twitter.com/dxFPdEIvIg
According to PHIVOLCS, 5.7 was the local magnitude intensity, with the 6.1 reading taking into account global data.
Intensity V was reported in San Felipe, Zambales; Malolos and Obando, Bulacan; Quezon City; Lipa, Batangas; Manila; Abucay, Bataan; Valenzuela City; and Magalang Pampanga.
The earthquake also affected the following areas:
Intensity III - Dasmarinas, Indang and Gen. Trias, Cavite; Lucban, Quezon; Muntinlupa City, Cabanatuan City; Palayan City; Gapan City; Santo Domingo and Talavera, Nueva Ecija
Intensity II - Baler, Aurora
PHIVOLCS Deputy Director Bart Bautista said at least 17 aftershocks have been recorded, with more possible over the week. The agency said it is not expecting major infrastructure damage but is still awaiting report from areas near the epicenter.
"Usually ang aftershocks, confined sila sa epicenter, kung saan malapit 'yun. Hindi sila lumalayo... sa Metro Manila ma-eexperience lang natin 'yung mga ground shaking," Bautista said in an interview on 24 Oras.
"Wag tayo mag-panic... hintayin natin na huminto 'yung ground shaking bago tayo lumabas," he added.
The 6.1 magnitude earthquake is not expected to generate a tsunami because its epicenter was on land.
"Para maka-generate tayo ng tsunami, dapat malaki 'yung magnitude natin, 6.5 pataas," Bautista said.
Officials from the Department of Science and Technology advised people to remain vigilant on Monday night for possible after-effects of the earthquake.
PHIVOLCS has not ruled out the possibility that this earthquake could be a precursor to a stronger one.
"Hindi natin pwedeng i-discount 'yung possibility na 'to, so kailangan ng masusing pag-iingat talaga especially kapag malapit tayo doon sa epicenter," Bautista said.
Metro Manila
Around the National Capital Region, workers flocked out of office towers and apartment buildings and into open spaces after feeling the effects of the quake.
IN PHOTOS, VIDEO: How people around Metro Manila reacted to the big earthquake
Operations of the LRT-1, LRT-2, and MRT-3 were suspended in the quake's aftermath, as were those of the Philippine National Railways. —JST, GMA News | Earthquakes | April 2019 | ['(11\xa0mi)', '(GMA News)'] |
Militants kill 24 soldiers and wound 29 others on an army patrol in northern Mali. Seventeen militants were also killed in the melee. 6 injured soldiers later die increasing the death toll to 42. | BAMAKO (Reuters) - Twenty-four Malian soldiers were killed and 29 wounded in an attack on an army patrol in northern Mali on Monday in which 17 militants were also killed, a spokesman for the army said.
The West African country is still reeling from an attack on an army post that killed 54 in early November - one of the deadliest strikes against its military in recent memory, which underscored the increasing reach and sophistication of armed jihadist groups active in the wider region.
The Malian patrol attacked on Monday was in Tabankort, Gao region, while on a joint operation with Niger against militants operating near the border.
“During this attack, Malian forces suffered 24 deaths, 29 wounded as well as equipment damage. On the enemy’s side, 17 were killed and a certain number captured,” army spokesman Diarran Kone said.
The authorities have not named the assailants or identified which group they belonged to. From strongholds in Mali, groups with al Qaeda and Islamic State links have been able to fan out across the Sahel, destabilizing parts of Niger and Burkina Faso.
Violence has surged this autumn with heavy military and civilian losses in Mali and Burkina Faso.
In addition to November’s bloodshed in Mali, 38 Malian soldiers were killed on Sept. 30 in coordinated attacks on two army bases in the center of the country, which has slipped from government control despite the presence of the French army and other international forces.
Meanwhile 39 people were killed in Burkina Faso on Nov. 6 when militants attacked a convoy carrying workers of Canadian gold mining company Semafo.
Reporting by Tiemoko Diallo; Additional reporting by Paul Lorgerie; Writing by Alessandra Prentice; Editing by Giles Elgood and Grant McCool
| Armed Conflict | November 2019 | ['(Reuters)', '(The New York Times)'] |
At the Walt Disney Company's Annual General Meeting, about 43% of Walt Disney stockholders, including several prominent pension funds, vote to oppose the re–election of Chairman and CEO Michael Eisner. The board of directors replaces him as Chairman with George J. Mitchell. | Follow us: NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - The board of Walt Disney Co. late Wednesday stripped CEO Michael Eisner of his role as chairman after about 43 percent of shareholders voted to oppose his re-election to the company's board.
The board opted to separate the positions of chairman and chief executive at a meeting that followed what was an often quarrelsome five-hour annual shareholder meeting in Philadelphia earlier in the day. It unanimously elected former U.S. Senator George Mitchell chairman.
Eisner will keep the CEO job and the board in its statement said it remained "unanimous in its support" of Disney's management team.
Eisner, appearing on Disney's own ABC network, told "Nightline" anchor Ted Koppel late Wednesday that he planned to stay as chief executive at least until his contract expires in 2006.
"My intention is definitely to serve (the CEO contract) out to its completion," Eisner said, adding the board had separated the roles of chief executive and chairman in response to shareholder demands.
The board also said Comcast's takeover proposal, which the cable company repeated Wednesday, would not be in the interest of Disney shareholders. But it also said it was open to looking at a "reasonable proposal."
Still, the turmoil in Disney's executive suite could play into Comcast's hands. "In order to make it clear to Comcast that they don't want to be taken over, Disney needs to get a strong competent manager in there quickly," said Bob Monks, principal with Lens Governance Advisors (LGA), a corporate activist law firm.
Comcast said late Wednesday that it would like to meet with Disney's board to discuss a friendly merger.
"Today's unprecedented withhold vote by Disney's shareholders sends a powerful message that Disney's board and management need to focus more on shareholder interests," said a Comcast spokeswoman. "Consistent with this focus, Disney's independent directors should immediately meet with Comcast so we can directly present our full and generous proposal and the benefits of the merger."
Earlier, Disney said about 1.8 billion shares, or nearly 87 percent of the total shares outstanding, were represented in the proxy vote. Nearly 772 million shares opposed Eisner's re-election to the board. Several prominent pension funds had announced publicly in recent days that they planned on withholding their votes for Eisner.
"This is without a doubt the most withholding of support for a CEO of a major company that I have ever seen. It's really an expression of dissatisfaction," said Kevin Calabrese, an analyst with Argus Research.
Following Wednesday's vote, California's Calpers, the nation's largest pension fund, called for Eisner to resign by the end of the year and urged Disney to split the role of chairman and CEO. Calpers owns more than 9.9 million shares of Disney. The pension fund had said it would withhold its vote for Eisner at Wednesday's meeting, but this is the first time Calpers has specifically called for Eisner's ouster.
"This discontent is too wide and way too deep in the marketplace, and it has led us to believe that Eisner should go and the board should get quickly to work on planning for an orderly transition," Sean Harrigan, president of the board of administration for Calpers, said in a written statement.
Disney had previously said it expected at least 30 percent of shareholders to oppose Eisner's re-election to the board. But Stanley Gold, one of two ex-board members who is seeking Eisner's ouster, accurately predicted at the beginning of Wednesday's meeting that more than 40 percent of shareholders would withhold their votes for Eisner.
"It is an unprecedented no-confidence vote in the annals of American business," Gold said.
LGA's Monks said that even if only a third of shareholders voted against Eisner, that would have been a clear enough signal to the board that change was necessary.
Calabrese at Argus Research said he doubts the board would seek to immediately replace Eisner as CEO because of Wednesday's vote. But he added that the backlash against Eisner could hasten his eventual departure from the company. "I expect the board to come out with a succession plan rather rapidly and possibly give us a date for when Eisner leaves," he said.
Calabrese said he would not be surprised if Eisner stepped down by early 2005.
Separately, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates, in a PBS interview with Charlie Rose Wednesday, said the software company won't make its own bid for Disney. "We're not part of the bid or anything," Gates said. "We're not going to be involved in it, because we're very focused on software."
Even before Wednesday's events, there had been growing speculation that Disney's board will need to make some management changes quickly to appease dissident shareholders.
"The public outcry following a large withhold vote in this age of corporate governance scrutiny may force the Disney board to act quickly after Wednesday's annual meeting," wrote Richard Greenfield, an analyst with Fulcrum Partners, in a research note this week.
There had been speculation before Wednesday night's announcement that Mitchell could be named chairman. Nearly 24 percent of voting shareholders opposed Mitchell's re-election to the board Wednesday.
But Paul Hodgson, senior associate at the Corporate Library, a research firm focusing on corporate governance issues, said before the announcement that Disney would need to name an independent outsider as chairman. He said pension funds would not be satisfied with Mitchell as chairman and added that nothing less than Eisner's departure would be needed in order to silence Gold and Disney.
Representatives for neither of them could be reached late Wednesday for comment on Eisner's ouster as chairman.
Eisner defended his company's performance at the meeting. He pointed to the company's strong fiscal first-quarter report last month as evidence that Disney's growth is back on track. He added that Disney expects to report a 30 percent increase in earnings in this fiscal year and double-digit earnings gains until 2007.
Eisner said he was pleased with Disney's performance in all its major units, including its ABC television network, which has struggled for the past few years.
Still, strong results in recent months have not been enough to silence many Disney critics. Gold outlined a list of problems he felt Eisner and the board have failed to address, including the continued ratings woes at ABC and the lack of a defined succession plan.
Gold also noted that the stock has underperfomed the broader market and several media rivals during the past decade. His comments were occasionally met with raucous applause from members of the audience.
In other news at the meeting, Eisner again defended the company's decision in January not to renew its distribution partnership with animation studio Pixar.
Disney (DIS: Research, Estimates) stock edged lower on the New York Stock Exchange.
The company's stock has surged nearly 15 percent so far this year, thanks in large part to Comcast's hostile takeover bid. During the meeting, Disney CFO Thomas Staggs disputed Comcast's claims it would be able to boost profit margins if it bought Disney.
--reuters contributed to this report
Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018
Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018
and/or its affiliates.
© 2020
Cable News Network. A WarnerMedia Company. All Rights Reserved.Terms
under which this service is provided to you. Privacy Policy.
Do Not Sell
Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018
Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 | Government Job change - Appoint_Inauguration | March 2004 | ['(CNN)', '(TheStreet)'] |
A bomb is discovered and defused aboard a Kish Air flight between Ahvaz and Tehran, Iran. | TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) -- Iranian security officials defused a bomb on a domestic flight en route to Tehran, the country's semi-official news agency said Sunday.
A crew member found the bomb in the plane's toilet Saturday night after the Kish Air flight took off from the western city of Ahvaz, the Fars news agency said.
The plane, with 131 people on board, was diverted back to Ahvaz where security officials defused the bomb, Fars said.
Ahvaz is in the oil-rich Khuzestan province, which has a sizable Arab population.
The Arabs have long complained that while the region provides a great deal of oil, it sees little of the money. They want greater representation in the central government and the regime to pay more attention to their needs. | Armed Conflict | May 2009 | ['(CNN)'] |
President Armen Sarksyan refuses an order from Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to dismiss the military's Chief of the General Staff Onik Gasparyan, saying parts of the decree were in violation of the constitution. More than 15,000 protest in the capital Yerevan calling for Pashinyan to resign. | Pressure on Armenia's prime minister has intensified after the country’s president rejected his order to dismiss the chief of the military general staff
YEREVAN, Armenia -- About 15,000 protesters calling for the resignation of Armenia’s prime minister marched through the capital Saturday as pressure on the leader intensified after the country's president rejected his order to dismiss the chief of the military general staff.
Protests against Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan arose in November after he signed a cease-fire ending a six-week war with Azerbaijan over the separatist territory of Nagorno-Karabakh. The agreement saw Armenia lose control of territories in Azerbaijan it had held for more than 25 years.
Top military officers this week joined in demanding Pashinyan’s resignation, a move that he called an attempted coup. He ordered the dismissal of the chief of the general staff, but the order was subject to approval by Armenia's largely ceremonial president.
President Armen Sarkissian sent the order back to Pashinyan on Saturday, saying he could not give approval because he considered parts of the decree to be in violation of the constitution. It was not immediately clear if Pashinyan would try to revise the order.
At the protest rally, opposition politician Naira Zograbyan, who once was a journalist at a newspaper owned by Pashinyan, denounced the prime minister.
“This is not a military coup. This is a revolution of thought, reason, love, which will win,” she said.
The political crisis is being watched closely, particularly in Russia and Turkey, which compete for influence in the South Caucasus region.
The South Caucasus has strategic importance as a bridge between Europe and Asia and major pipelines transporting Azerbaijani oil to the West pass through the region. | Protest_Online Condemnation | February 2021 | ['(ABC News)'] |
In rugby union, Ireland defeat New Zealand 40–29 in Chicago. The win is Ireland's first ever over the All Blacks in 29 matches and 111 years, and also ends the All Blacks' record–setting Test match winning streak at 18. (Press Association via ESPN ) | Ireland's class of 2016 stamped their names into the history books as Joe Schmidt's side dispatched New Zealand 40-29 in Chicago for their first win over the All Blacks in 111 years of trying.
Three days after the Chicago Cubs ended a 108-year drought to land baseball's World Series, Ireland lit up Soldier Field with their maiden win over the All Blacks at the 29th attempt.
New Zealand's record-breaking winning run was halted at 18 Tests in the Windy City, with Robbie Henshaw powering home for Ireland's fifth and decisive try. The last time the Leinster centre Henshaw was at Soldier Field he was dancing to superstar DJ Tiesto's tunes - this time he inked his name into Ireland's annals.
Jordi Murphy, CJ Stander, Conor Murray, Simon Zebo and Henshaw all crossed for Ireland, who had led 30-8 on 46 minutes before New Zealand fired back into the contest.
The All Blacks cut the deficit to 33-29, but, unlike in 2013 when Ireland surrendered a 22-7 lead in a 24-22 defeat, this time Schmidt's men held on.
George Moala, TJ Perenara, Ben Smith and debutant Scott Barrett all bagged tries for New Zealand, but Steve Hansen's back-to-back world champions were finally defeated - for the first time since August 2015.
Some five million people flocked to the Cubs' victory parade on Friday, and now the scores of Irish fans in town are fully able to join the party.
Ireland drew first blood thanks to Johnny Sexton's first-minute penalty, only for Moala to register a hugely controversial try on video review, with officials ignoring Kieran Read's clear high tackle on Stander.
New Zealand led 5-3 owing to Beauden Barrett's missed conversion, but were quickly reduced to 14 men for 10 minutes. Prop Joe Moody eventually was sent to the sin-bin for dangerously upending Henshaw at a ruck.
Ireland punted the penalty to the corner, and drove flanker Murphy home. Sexton's touchline conversion wrestled Ireland a 10-5 lead in the 11th minute. Ireland quickly doubled their try count, taking full advantage of another high tackle. Sexton's peerless line punt to the corner set up another five-metre lineout. Rob Kearney cut the line tidily in the 13 channel and Stander powered home for his side's second score.
Beauden Barrett's penalty left Ireland leading 15-8 after 20 minutes. Rob Kearney soared above Ben Smith to the restart after the penalty, and from that platform Ireland bagged further points. Sexton slotted his second penalty, to leave Ireland leading 18-8.
Ireland then lost try-scorer Murphy to a suspected serious knee injury, the Leinster star carted off on a stretcher after twisting his boot into the turf. Ireland had entirely bossed possession and territory in a hugely-impressive opening half-hour, and Murray scampered through for the third try. The Ireland nine had pilfered a bouncing ball after Sexton's bomb, then sold Aaron Smith a cute dummy around the fringes, to romp over the whitewash. Sexton's conversion put Ireland 25-8 to the good.
They held that lead until the break. Moody was lucky to escape with just a penalty for a high shot on Kearney after the restart, especially given his first-half yellow card. Ireland punished the error once more, though, with Zebo flying into the left corner after another fine driven lineout. Sexton's delayed flat pass gifted Munster wing Zebo a walk-in, further stunning the All Blacks. The Leinster playmaker missed the touchline conversion, but Ireland still led 30-8.
New Zealand had already hooked stand-in lock Jerome Kaino for rookie Scott Barrett, and Aaron Smith for TJ Perenara. And it was Perenara who raced in for New Zealand's second score, a try owing everything to hooker Dane Coles' superlative offload. Beauden Barrett's conversion cut Ireland's lead to 30-15. No sooner had New Zealand shifted Ben Smith to the right wing, though, than he dotted down acrobatically in the corner. Beauden Barrett slotted the touchline conversion, with Ireland's lead down to 30-22.
Owen Franks' obstruction gifted Ireland a kickable penalty from the restart, but with Sexton receiving treatment for cramp, up stepped scrum-half Murray to the tee. The Munster star slotted the three points with ease, edging Ireland's lead to 33-22. Sexton was then forced out through potential injury, leaving 20-year-old rookie Joey Carbery to make one of the highest-pressure debuts.
Scott Barrett marked his own debut with New Zealand's fourth try, wrong-footing Kearney, with his brother Beauden converting to cut Ireland's deficit to just four points. Ireland still led 33-29 with 15 minutes to play, but the omens amid the All Blacks' recovery only continued to grow. Try-scorer Moala slumped off with 10 minutes to play with a serious-looking shoulder problem, leaving New Zealand forced into a total re-jig. Hooker Codie Taylor, as the last replacement available, slotted in at blindside, with flanker Ardie Savea moving out to the wing.
Zebo cut loose and then punted deep, Ireland forcing Julian Savea to touch down for a five-metre scrum. From the scrum Henshaw powered home for Ireland's fifth try, converted by Carbery. That left Ireland leading 40-29 with three minutes to play. Carbery missed a late penalty shot, but, in a week already dripping with sporting history, Ireland still hung on to add their own twang to the tale. | Sports Competition | November 2016 | ['(UK)'] |
Azim Isabekov becomes Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan, replacing Felix Kulov. | BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan (AP) – Kyrgyzstan’s parliament approved a loyalist to the president as the Central Asian nation’s new prime minister Monday, ending two weeks of political wrangling that observers had feared could lead to new instability in the impoverished nation.
Lawmakers voted 57-4 for Agriculture Minister Azim Isabekov, widely seen as a President Kurmanbek Bakiyev loyalist. He was also previously Bakiyev’s deputy head of his administration.
| Government Job change - Appoint_Inauguration | January 2007 | ['(Kyiv Post)'] |
Washington Governor Jay Inslee announces he will join the Democratic Party primaries in 2020 and cites fighting climate change as a reason. , | SEATTLE — Jay Inslee, the governor of Washington and former member of Congress who has made climate change and the environment his signature issues, jumped into the crowded field of 2020 Democratic contenders for president on Friday.
Mr. Inslee, 68, has led the state during a powerful economic expansion since taking office as governor in 2013, especially in the Seattle area. | Government Job change - Election | March 2019 | ['(Time)', '(The New York Times)'] |
A hotel fire in the northern Iraqi city of Sulaimaniya kills at least 29 people and injures another 21. | Updated: Jul 17, 2010 02:01
BAGHDAD: A fire in a five-story hotel in northern Iraq killed 29 people, nearly half of whom were foreigners, in a harrowing blaze that forced several victims to jump to their deaths to escape the flames, officials and witnesses said Friday.
The fire in the Kurdish city of Sulaimaniyah began late Thursday night in the Soma Hotel and was sparked by an electrical short, said chief of police Brig. Gen. Najim-al-Din Qadir. Four women and four children were among the dead, he added.
At least 14 of the victims were foreigners, Qadir said.
Many foreigners have flocked for work and investment opportunities to Iraq's Kurdish oil-rich north, a region where the thriving economy contrasts sharply with other parts of a country ravaged by sectarian violence unleashed by the 2003 US-led invasion.
Witnesses described a terrifying scene of panicked guests frantically trying to escape the burning building that officials said lacked fire escapes, some flinging themselves from windows in desperation.
Marwan Assad, a Kurd with dual British citizenship, said he came to the hotel to visit two friends but never made it to their room. He said the fire broke out when he was on the third floor and smoke quickly enveloped the hallway, forcing him to stumble blindly in search of a way out.
"I saw an open door and a man lying dead in the room because he suffocated from the smoke," Assad said at Sulaimaniyah Emergency Hospital, where he was about to undergo surgery for breaks to both his legs. "I entered the room and threw myself from the window." Kameran Ahmed, who owns an electrical supply shop next to the hotel, said other people were also frantically trying to escape the blaze.
"I saw three people jump from their floor to escape the fire, but they were killed when they hit the ground," said Ahmed.
Firefighters could be seen working throughout the night to put out the fire in what was once a gleaming, modern building of mirrored-glass windows. The next morning, smoke darkened much of the building's facade, and many of the windows were smashed and broken.
Sulaimaniyah fire department head Brig. Yadgar Mohammed Mustafa said that the fire raged for almost five hours throughout the night. He said most of the victims succumbed to smoke inhalation, and the lack of fire escapes contributed to the high death toll.
The police chief said the dead included people from, Australia, South Africa, the UK, Lebanon, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Canada, Ecuador, Venezuela and China, with some working for foreign oil companies.
The general director of the AsiaCell mobile phone company, Farouq Mulla Mustafa, added that four of its engineers from the Philippines, Iraq, Sri Lanka and Cambodia were among the dead.
The top health official in Sulaimaniyah, Rekwt Mohammed, confirmed the toll, adding that one of the dead was a pregnant woman.
Hawri Hassan, the owner of the neighboring Hema Hotel, said the blaze in the Soma Hotel appeared to start in the second story, and quickly spread to the other floors. He said at least three people jumped from the fifth floor.
Hassan said the fire also spread to his hotel, but his employees were able to quickly extinguish it.
Sulaimaniyah, 160 miles (260 kilometers) northeast of Baghdad, is the commercial capital of Iraq's Kurdish autonomous region and the second largest city the Kurdish region.
The area is a thriving trade hub, with close links to Turkey and Iran. Kurdish officials have sought to cast their semiautonomous territory as a business-friendly haven in a country otherwise struggling with political and security woes.
Many Iraqis, desperate to get away from the heat and violence in the rest of the country, vacation in the Kurdish region in the summer.
A number of foreign oil companies operate in the Kurdish north, which sits atop about 40 percent of Iraq's total 115 billion barrels of proven crude oil reserves. | Fire | July 2010 | ['(Xinhua)', '(Aljazeera)', '(Arab News)'] |
Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan reveals he has cirrhosis of the liver. | NEW DELHI - MEGASTAR Amitabh Bachchan told fans he has liver cirrhosis caused by a blood transfusion in the 1980s. The 67-year-old said in his blog last Friday that 25 per cent of his liver has been destroyed due to a blood transfusion in 1982 after a filming mishap. 'Eight years ago, during the course of an MRI, they discovered that 25 per cent of my liver had been destroyed by it and that, after having done that, was now lying inactive. For the time being, that is.
'I was, therefore, technically or shall we say, in medical terminology, a patient by default, a patient who had developed cirrhosis of the liver, a condition that is normally associated with that of an alcoholic. 'So here I was, a non-alcoholic, a teetotaller, with an ailment that I imbibed through a blood transfusion from a donor.' The actor seriously injured his intestines during a fight scene for the movie Coolie, the Press Trust of India reported. | Famous Person - Sick | April 2010 | ['(BBC)', '(CBC)', '(The Straits Times)', '(The Times)'] |
Between 19 and 30 people are killed after a train crashes into a truck carrying farm labourers near the South African town of Malelane. | A train has hit a truck carrying farm workers at a railway crossing in South Africa, killing at least 19 people, officials say.
The crash took place in the north-eastern province of Mpumalanga.
Officials say the exact number of dead is difficult to determine as bodies are strewn all over the track.
Some 50 workers were said to be on the truck and the private ambulance company Netcare 911 said that 24 people had been taken to hospital.
"It would appear as if the truck driver may have crossed the railway line without having a proper look-out and as a result the train hit him and then pulled him for a kilometre to two kilometres," Thulani Sibuyi, head of Mpumalanga's community safety department, told the AFP news agency.
He feared the death toll could be as high as 30.
"The bodies are lying all over the scene, people torn apart," he said.
The train was carrying coal for export to Mozambique, Michael Asefovitz, a spokesman for Transnet - the country's main transporter of freight, told Reuters news agency. | Train collisions | July 2012 | ['(AFP via Google News)', '(BBC)'] |
The Obama administration agrees to an international limit on the use of hydrofluorocarbon gases in refrigeration and air conditioning. | More than 150 countries have reached a deal described as "monumental" to phase out gases that are making global warming worse. Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) are widely used in fridges, air conditioning and aerosol sprays. Delegates meeting in Rwanda accepted a complex amendment to the Montreal Protocol that will see richer countries cut back their HFC use from 2019.
But some critics say the compromise may have less impact than expected. US Secretary of State John Kerry, who helped forge the deal in a series of meetings in the Rwandan capital, said it was a major victory for the Earth. "It's a monumental step forward, that addresses the needs of individual nations but it will give us the opportunity to reduce the warming of the planet by an entire half a degree centigrade," he told BBC News.
The new agreement will see three separate pathways for different countries. Richer economies like the European Union, the US and others will start to limit their use of HFCs within a few years and make a cut of at least 10% from 2019.
Some developing countries like China, nations in Latin America and island states will freeze their use of HFCs from 2024.
Other developing countries, specifically India, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq and the Gulf states will not freeze their use until 2028. China, the world's largest producer of HFCs, will not actually start to cut their production or use until 2029.
India, will start even later, making its first 10% cut in use in 2032. "Absolutely it's a historic day," said Durwood Zaelke, from the Institute for Government and Sustainable Development (IGSD), a long time participant in the Montreal Protocol talks. "We came to get a half a degree of warming out of the system and we are going to walk away with about 90% from the Kigali amendment."
Certainly if the agreement is implemented in full it will make a big difference to global warming. Experts estimate it will remove the equivalent of about 70 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere by 2050. "HFCs posed an immediate threat to a safe climate due to their increasing use and high global warming potential, thousands of times more potent than carbon dioxide," said Christian Aid's Senior Policy Advisor, Benson Ireri.
"By agreeing to an early HFC phase down schedule, we've bought ourselves a bit more time to shift to a global low carbon economy and protect the world's most vulnerable people."
But some observers questioned the concessions made to India and China, suggesting they had weakened the overall impact. The target of cutting global warming by 0.5 degrees may not be realised. "They needed an agreement here as it's seen as an Obama legacy, so the US delegation has been pretty aggressive in making China and India get to an agreement," said Paula Tejon Carbajal from Greenpeace International.
"It's an incremental step towards 0.5 degrees but its not there yet, they say that the market will work to get us there, but we are not there yet."
The US Secretary of State believes that the science underpinning the deal is sound. He is confident that it will have a huge impact on warming. "I feel very positive about where we are, we ran all the numbers and everybody feels confident that the integrity of the substance of this is there," he told the BBC.
Supporters argue that this agreement in Kigali will build on the foundations laid by the Paris climate agreement, signed by over 190 countries last December, and which becomes operational early in November. They also point to the past history of the Montreal Protocol - over 100 fluorinated gases have been eliminated in the agreement's 30 year history. Once the regulation has been passed, industry rapidly develops alternatives. "The market is going to wash over India, and will sweep them along, they will make the transition a lot faster than the number they put up," said Durwood Zaelke.
"Phase-outs have always driven the market transition so the laggards will be moved along by the market."
There was a sense of quiet jubilation among delegates here when the deal was finally gavelled through in the early hours of Saturday morning. 'It's a big deal," one observer said, "but it could have been bigger."
| Government Policy Changes | October 2016 | ['(BBC)'] |
A 6.1 magnitude earthquake occurs near the Uzbekistan city of Fergana killing 13 people in Uzbekistan and one person in Tajikistan. | A powerful earthquake killed at least 14 people in a heavily populated valley in Central Asia early Wednesday, emergency officials said. Almost all the casualties were in Uzbekistan, where officials confirmed 13 deaths. The magnitude-6.1 quake, which was centered in Kyrgyzstan, hit shortly after midnight in a mountainous area some 20 miles from the eastern Uzbek city of Ferghana. No deaths were reported in Kyrgyzstan itself. In Tajikistan, the third country that shares the Ferghana Valley, one death was reported. | Earthquakes | July 2011 | ['(AP via The New York Times)'] |
It is confirmed runner Matt Campbell, a former MasterChef semifinalist, died in hospital after collapsing during yesterday's London Marathon. The race was the hottest since the annual event began. | He appeared on the BBC's MasterChef: The Professionals in December 2017, and had been running the race - the hottest on record - for his father who died 18 months ago. His social media posts said that it was his second marathon in a fortnight. The Kendal chef was running the race for The Brathay Trust in honour of his father Martin. Donations to his sponsorship fund have risen to more than £53,000 - far exceeding his original target of £2,500.
Read more on this and other Cumbria stories
On 8 April Mr Campbell completed the ASICS Greater Manchester Marathon. Round 2 ? - 2nd marathon in 2 weeks, first @manchestermarathon & now, @londonmarathon. I’m running in memory of my Father for @brathaychallenges, thank you so much for this opportunity ☺️ - Still a little off my fundraising target, if anyone could spare £1 the link is in my bio ?? - Good luck everyone! ?? #spiritoflondon #londonmarathon2018 #brathay #mattsoire #?
A post shared by Matt Campbell (@mattsoire) on Apr 21, 2018 at 11:17pm PDT
Helen Hokin, who was Mr Campbell's PR consultant, said: "He was a lovely, kind-hearted and down-to-earth man. I believe he was poised to become the next great innovator in British food.
"He was in the middle of a roadshow tour and he had such a way with inspiring young chefs. This is so sad."
Mr Campbell began his career working in Michelin-starred restaurants after finishing second in the BBC's Young Chef of the Year aged 20 in 2009.
According to his website he left the UK for the French Alps and worked in private villas and "award-winning luxury" ski chalets.
He returned to the UK, last year and entered MasterChef: The Professionals where he reached the semi-finals.
A spokeswoman for MasterChef said: "We are shocked and saddened to hear the news about Matt Campbell, one of our talented contestants from last year.
"It was a privilege to have him on the show. He will always be remembered for producing some of the most innovative and groundbreaking food that we saw on the series.
"From the whole MasterChef team, our sincere condolences and thoughts are with his family and friends."
Michelin-starred chef, and MasterChef: The Professionals judge Marcus Wareing, has also paid tribute:
According to his Justgiving page, he only completed his first ever marathon with his late father Martin and brother Josh in 2016.
Speaking of his father he said: "The past year and a half have been the toughest of my life but his spirit and energy live on in me.
"He was the most inspirational man in my life and was the one who said: 'go on, why don't you give it a go? I know you can do it' and entered me into my first marathon."
Food journalist Jay Rayner has tweeted his condolences:
Godfrey Owen, chief executive of the Brathay Trust paid tribute to Mr Campbell.
"He was a real creative chef and one of the things he was very keen on doing was sharing that knowledge with young chefs who wanted to get involved in the industry.
"He was such a great athlete and also a wonderful supporter of Brathay."
London Marathon hottest on record
Kipchoge wins London Marathon, Farah third
MasterChef winner 'working at Christmas'
MasterChef: The Professionals
Fire crews tackle blaze involving five terraced Carlisle homes
Festive lights to shine again in Maryport
England v Scotland in Euro 2020 - team news! | Famous Person - Death | April 2018 | ['(BBC)'] |
Archives from Hewlett-Packard founders William Hewlett and David Packard are among those destroyed by fires in a Santa Rosa neighborhood. | It was another victim of the wildfire that raged through Northern California’s wine country destroyed 6,800 homes and killed least 23 residents, reports The Press Democrat newspaper in Santa Rosa. | Fire | October 2017 | ['(Quartz)'] |
In Angola, at least 96 people have died of Marburg virus. (Link dead as of 03:13, 15 January 2007 ), | Luanda - An outbreak of haemorrhagic fever, that has claimed the lives of 96 people in northern Angola, was caused by the Marburg virus, Angola's deputy health minister said on Tuesday. The Marburg disease, a severe form of haemorrhagic fever in the same family as Ebola, was first recognised in 1967 and is indigenous to Africa, affecting both humans and primates. Angolan deputy health minister Joseph Van Dunem said results from 12 samples sent to the US Centres for Disease Control had detected the virus. "We have received the results," Van Dunem told a news conference. "We are dealing with the Marburg virus." | Disease Outbreaks | March 2005 | ['(ReliefWeb)', '(Reuters SA)', '(UTC)', '(News24)', '(CIDRAP)'] |
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe calls for closer international co-operation against a nuclear North Korea. | Japan's PM Shinzo Abe says his country cannot tolerate a nuclear-armed North Korea and wants closer international co-operation to stop such an outcome.
In a BBC interview, Mr Abe also defended his plans for Japan to develop a more assertive foreign policy. He made clear he believes North Korea poses a very grave threat to the world.
Mr Abe begins a trip to Europe in London where he is due to hold discussions with the British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
"If the North Koreans are to possess nuclear weapons that may lead to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction," he said.
"That could fundamentally undermine the non-proliferation regime, which may then lead to more problems regarding Iran for example." Mr Abe's visit to Europe is an opportunity for a prime minister who is just a few months into the job to start to build closer relationships with Western leaders. Japan cannot tolerate North Korea owning nuclear weapons nor the means to deliver them
Shinzo Abe
Transcript of interview
Political 'blue blood'
It comes as he presses ahead at home with plans to re-write the country's pacifist constitution, a move that is causing some concern. Mr Abe sought to reassure his critics, pointing out that Japan had upheld freedom and democracy for six decades, and saying he plans to discuss with Nato officials what the country can do to promote global peace and stability. Kidnap issue
Significantly, Mr Abe used the interview - at his offices near the National Diet building in Tokyo - to raise the issue of the abduction of foreign nationals by North Korea. It was his campaigning on this issue that helped to bring him to prominence in Japanese politics and he takes every opportunity he can to press the point. JAPAN'S MISSING
Snatched in the '70s and '80s
Used as cultural trainers for N Korean spies
Five allowed home in 2002
Five children now freed from N Korea
Eight said to be dead, others missing
Heartbreak over Japan's missing
"We believe that this abduction issue is a grave infringement of basic human rights," he said, insisting that "all countries around the world need to address it". He also said that according to testimonies provided by abductees, who were kidnapped by the North in the 1970's and 80's to train its spies, there are some Europeans. This has not been verified. North Korea returned five Japanese nationals in 2002 but claimed that others who had been abducted had died. After visiting London, Mr Abe will also make stops in Berlin, Paris and Brussels. There he will hold discussions with Nato leaders about closer co-operation between Japan and the alliance. "By deepening the partnership between Japan and Nato member countries we shall be able to address various problems, conflicts and also peace-building," the prime minister said. Japan is already working with Nato, supporting operations in Afghanistan for example. But Mr Abe insists that other nations have nothing to fear from a more assertive Japan. "I believe we will be able to gain the understanding as well as the confidence of the world regarding Japan's assertiveness" he said. | Diplomatic Talks _ Diplomatic_Negotiation_ Summit Meeting | January 2007 | ['(BBC News)'] |
The UN refugee agency reports at least 55 people have drowned after an overcrowded boat capsizes off the coast of Somalia on 18 December. | At least 55 people are believed to have drowned after a boat capsized off the coast of Somalia, the UN refugee agency says.
The UNHCR said the overcrowded boat ran into trouble soon after it left the port of Bosasso in north-east Somalia.
The boat - believed to be carrying Somalis and Ethiopians - had been on its way to Yemen.
The UN said it is the biggest loss of life in the Gulf of Aden since February 2011 when 57 Somali migrants drowned.
"Twenty-three bodies have been recovered. The 32 remaining passengers are presumed to have drowned," the UNHCR said.
It added that at least five people had survived the accident, which happened on Tuesday.
"Without doubt, the Gulf of Aden is now the deadliest route for people fleeing conflict, violence and human rights abuses in the Horn of Africa," said UNHCR Representative for Somalia, Bruno Geddo.
Tens of thousands of people from the Horn of Africa cross the Gulf every year.
The agency said that those making the perilous journey often used unseaworthy and overcrowded boats or fell prey to unscrupulous smugglers.
It said that 95 people had drowned or gone missing in the waters between Somalia and Yemen so far this year.
| Shipwreck | December 2012 | ['(Reuters)', '(BBC)', '(CNN)', '(Al Jazeera)'] |
A series of attacks across Iraq kills 22 Shiite pilgrims. | Iraqi Shiite Muslim pilgrims walk along the main highway that links the Iraqi capital Baghdad with the central shrine city of Karbala on December 19, 2013. AFP PHOTO/ALI AL-SAADI
BAGHDAD: Three suicide bombers detonated explosives belts among Shiite pilgrims in Iraq on Thursday, killing at least 36 people, while militants shot dead a family of five, officials said.The deadliest attack hit the Dura area of south Baghdad, where a bomber targeted pilgrims at a tent where they are served food and drinks on their way to the shrine city of Karbala, killing at least 20 people and wounding at least 40.Among those killed in the blast was Muhanad Mohammed, a journalist who had worked for both foreign and Iraqi media, one of his sons told AFP.He was the seventh journalist to be killed in the country in less than three months.Two more bombers targeted pilgrims in areas south of Baghdad -- one in Yusifiyah, killing eight people and wounding at least 32, and another in Latifiyah, killing at least eight people and wounding at least 18.At Yarmuk Hospital in Baghdad, wounded people were rushed in on gurneys for treatment. Those injured included children and an old woman whose face was covered in blood.One distraught man in the lobby of the surgery department repeatedly struck himself in the face with both hands, overcome with grief.In the street outside, empty wooden coffins sat on vehicles, while people cried and screamed over the loss of loved ones.Hundreds of thousands of people make pilgrimages to the city of Karbala, many of them on foot, during the 40 days after the annual commemoration marking the death of the Prophet Mohammed's grandson, known to Shiites as Imam Hussein.The 40th day, known as Arbaeen, falls on December 23 this year.Sunni militants, including those linked to Al-Qaeda, frequently target members of Iraq's Shiite majority, whom they consider to be apostates.The throngs of pilgrims on the roads make for an easy target, and they have been hit by a series of attacks in the past few days.On Wednesday, a suicide bomber targeted Shiite pilgrims in Khales, north of Baghdad, killing five people and wounding 10.The toll would likely have been higher were it not for the selfless actions of a policeman who embraced the bomber just before the attack, in an effort to shield others from the blast.On Tuesday, two attacks against pilgrims in and near Baghdad killed at least eight people, and on Monday two car bombs targeting pilgrims south of the capital killed at least 24.Also on Thursday, militants dressed in army uniforms attacked the house of an anti-Al-Qaeda militiaman in the Abu Ghraib area, west of Baghdad, killing him, his wife and their three children.The Sahwa militia are made up of Sunni Arabs who joined forces with the United States from late 2006, helping to bring about a significant reduction in violence.They are often targeted by Sunni militants, who consider them traitors.Violence in Iraq has surged this year to levels not seen since 2008, when the country was just emerging from a brutal sectarian conflict.More people were killed in the first eight days of this month than in all of December last year.And more than 6,550 people have been killed since the beginning of 2013, according to AFP figures based on security and medical sources.Analysts say that widespread discontent among Iraq's minority Sunni Arab community is a major factor fuelling the surge in unrest, while the civil war in neighbouring Syria, which has bolstered extremist groups, has also played a role.And though the government has made some concessions aimed at placating Sunni Arabs, including freeing prisoners and raising the salaries of Sahwa fighters, underlying issues remain unaddressed.
| Armed Conflict | December 2013 | ['(The Daily Star)'] |
The Crown Office asks Strathclyde Police to investigate Craig Whyte's takeover of Rangers Football Club in May last year. | A criminal investigation is to be launched into Craig Whyte's takeover of Rangers Football Club in May last year.
The Crown Office asked Strathclyde Police to probe the purchase and the club's subsequent financial management.
The investigation into alleged criminality follows a preliminary examination of information passed to police by administrators.
The club was bought by Mr Whyte in 2011 before going into administration in February this year. A Crown Office spokesman said: "The procurator fiscal for the west of Scotland will now work with Strathclyde Police to fully investigate the acquisition and financial management of Rangers Football Club and any related reports of alleged criminality during that process."
Mr Whyte bought Rangers from former owner Sir David Murray in May 2011 for £1, taking over his controlling 85% share holding.
The club then entered administration on 14 February over alleged non-payment of £9m in PAYE and VAT taxes.
It emerged that Mr Whyte was able to fund his takeover by selling future season tickets to Ticketus, leaving the investment firm a key player as administrators Duff and Phelps searched for new owners.
Duff And Phelps, nominated by Mr Whyte, have since negotiated a sale of the club's assets to a consortium led by Charles Green for £5.5m after creditors rejected an agreement which would have seen Rangers repay pennies in the pound for estimated debts of about £134m.
Rangers is now set to be wound up by HMRC's preferred liquidators BDO.
Meanwhile, a newco Rangers is set to have its application to become an SPL club rejected, after St Johnstone joined Aberdeen, Inverness Caledonian Thistle, Hibernian, Hearts and Dundee United in indicating they would refuse to back the move. The application is to be voted on on 4 July and requires an 8-4 majority.
During his time in control of the club it emerged Mr Whyte had been disqualified as a company director for a period of seven years prior to his involvement with Rangers.
Mr Whyte was also later hit with a lifetime ban from Scottish football by the Scottish Football Association and fined £200,000 for bringing the game into disrepute.
In a statement on the club's website, Malcolm Murray, who became Rangers chairman after the takeover by the Charles Green consortium, said: "The board's priority is to rebuild the club for the future and we are 100% focused on that task.
"We welcome any investigation that examines events at the club and will offer every assistance if required.
"The rank and file Rangers fans are blameless. Rightly, they want answers and for those responsible for the club's fate in recent times to be held to account. Hopefully this investigation will assist in this regard."
David Whitehouse, joint administrator, said: "We provided initial documentation to Strathclyde Police very shortly after our appointment as administrators on 14 February and have had a number of conversations with the police since then.
"Both in our role as administrators, and previously in our role as advisors, we have fulfilled all our obligations in keeping relevant authorities informed of any developments pertinent to their jurisdictions.
"As court appointed administrators, we will continue to provide our full assistance in the investigation process and welcome this development."
Teen arrested on Greenock street after allegedly being found with drugs and hammer
Yoker driver of dirt bike crash with young teenager disqualified from driving for two years
NHS workers praised for vaccine effort
Chivas Brothers: Pay deal averts threat of GMB strike action at Dumbarton site
Best restaurants in Dumbarton and the Vale: your top choices
Aldi announce plan to open new store in Gourock
Information about BBC links to other news sites
| Famous Person - Commit Crime - Investigate | June 2012 | ['(BBC)', '(The Guardian)'] |
Shots are fired at the German ambassador's residence in Athens, Greece; no casualties are reported. | Greek police say that a number of shots have been fired at the German ambassador's residence in Athens. No casualties were reported in the attack.
Police said shots were fired from a Kalashnikov assault rifle at the German ambassador's residence in the Athens district of Chalandri in the early hours of Monday morning.
A police spokesman said no one was injured in the attack, in which reportedly around 60 shots were fired. Four of the bullets were said to have lodged in the garden gate.
The residence's police guard did not use his weapon for fear of harming neighboring residents, press reports said.
Police said six people were briefly detained for questioning, but were released without charge.
Both Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras and the Minister of Public Order, Nikos Dendias, have spoken with German ambassador Wolfgang Dold by telephone following the incident.
Samaras also telephoned with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Greek government 'outraged'
A foreign ministry statement has been released, condemning the attack.
"The Greek government expresses its outrage and outright condemnation of today's cowardly terrorist action, which had the only apparent objective of (damaging) Greece's image abroad," the statement said.
No one has so far claimed responsibility for the attack, but many Greeks blame Germany for the economic hardship caused by austerity measures imposed to meet conditions for international loans to combat the country's debt crisis.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier has voiced concern at the incident, but said it would not hurt Germany's relationship with Greece.
"There is nothing at all that can justify an attack like this on a representative of our country," he said, adding that the perpetrators would not manage to "destroy the good relations between Germany and Greece and between Germans and Greeks."
Ambassador's thanks
In a statement, Dold thanked police for a "swift response," and also gave assurances that the incident would not affect German-Greek ties.
"To those responsible for this action, I state it will not affect the close and friendly relations between our two countries, and it will not reverse the country's economic recovery," he said.
Diplomatic facilities, banks and foreign companies are often targets for attacks in Greece, with police mostly blaming them on left-wing extremists or anarchists. In the main, no casualties are caused.
In 1999, the German ambassador's residence was the target of a terrorist assault in which an anti-tank weapon was used. The underground Marxist group Revolutionary Organization 17 November claimed responsibility for that attack, in which no one was hurt. | Armed Conflict | December 2013 | ['(Deutsche Welle)'] |
Protests over pay by police officers in Bolivia spread; a police building is ransacked while president Evo Morales offers concessions. | AFP - Looting broke out near Bolivia's presidential palace Friday as junior members of the police force angry over low wages joined a nationwide mutiny.
A crowd of some 200 officers, wearing civilian clothes and covering their faces, attacked the National Intelligence Directorate, smashing windows and pulling out furniture, documents, computers and even setting flags on fire.
The Directorate, which also houses the police disciplinary board, is located one block from the main square in La Paz, where the presidential palace is located.
"Mutiny, police mutiny!" chanted the protesters as they ransacked the office.
Some 20 police stations in the country's ten main cities, including La Paz and Cochabamba, have joined the uprising. On Thursday, protestors took over the headquarters of the country's riot police, as well as eight other police stations.
In an upscale La Paz neighborhood, roughly 300 protesters hurled rocks and shattered windows at national police headquarters. Police on duty outside the building offered no resistance.
The protesters, some of whom marched with their wives, also demanded the resignation of national police chief, Colonel Victor Maldonado.
They are demanding to negotiate directly with President Evo Morales, who was in the presidential palace under heavy military protection.
Interior Minister Carlos Romero, however, said in a statement that the government was willing to raise pay and engage in a "dialogue to find solutions."
Police currently earn an average of $195 a month, and want their lowest pay raised to $287 a month. Demands also include full pay upon retirement. | Protest_Online Condemnation | June 2012 | ['(BBC)', '(Latin American Herald Tribune)', '(France 24)'] |
Somalia's Transitional Federal Government collapses after Al–Shabaab captures Baidoa. | Somalia hasn't had a functioning government since 1991, but this week, the transitional government collapsed completely. A group of radical Islamist fighters overran the seat of government in the town of Baidoa and declared Shariah law. Somali government leaders are gathered in the neighboring country of Djibouti. If they want to return to Somalia, chances are they will have to fight their way in. The exiled leaders plan to choose a new president in the coming days, but Musa Jama, a Somali textile trader, says he's not optimistic. Musa was a supporter of the last president of the transitional government, Abdullahi Yusuf. Two years ago, Yusuf arrived in Somalia's capital city, Mogadishu, in triumph — courtesy of the Ethiopian army. The Ethiopians had broken an Islamist movement that briefly controlled Somalia's capital and much of southern Somalia. Today, nearly all of the government's territory is in the hands of an Islamist insurgent group called al-Shabab. The Ethiopians have pulled out. Yusuf is gone. Ali Said Omar, who directs the Center for Peace and Democracy in south-central Somalia, says he thinks all Somalis are waiting to see what will come out of Djibouti. "That's the only hope we have now," he says. "And, if that fails, it's like the Shabab will rule Somalia." A Growing Movement Ali says he left Mogadishu for good last year when he got caught in gunfire outside a mosque. If the insurgency has taught the world anything, he says, it's that Islamist leadership in Somalia is a sign of the times. After all, Somalia is a Muslim nation and there has been a popular Islamist movement toward a more conservative read of the Quran. Islamists credit themselves with getting the unpopular Ethiopian army to quit Somalia. That's probably why Somalia's internationally backed government is reinventing itself. In Djibouti, government leaders have nearly doubled the size of their parliament to include moderate Islamists. Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, a moderate, is now favored to become the next president. But Ali says it's unclear whether any moderate can lead all the disparate clans of Somalia. "Many things will depend on the first message that president releases. If it becomes a message of unity, a message of hope — like Obama did in America, you know — if it becomes like that message, then everybody will say, 'We need a government,'" Ali says. Many Groups At Odds And yet, muscling back into Somalia may prove impossible. The government has al-Shabab to contend with — a group the U.S. says has ties to al-Qaida. But al-Shabab reportedly has its own problems. There is said to be dissension in the ranks, as not all who fight say they are properly compensated. And Ali says there aren't enough Shabab fighters to govern all of Somalia. In most of the places it conquers, the militia leaves only a few people around to collect money from local businesses. Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, the United Nations special representative for Somalia, says the Shabab don't know how to live in peace. But he also says there are many other groups doing battle in Somalia. "The violence we have now in Somalia, what violence is it? Is it political? Is it religious? Is it business? Because the conflict has been so long it is very difficult to pin [down]," he said recently. What's more, there's no guarantee that any group will ever take the biggest prize of all: Mogadishu. Somalia's capital is dominated by powerful clans that have their own militias. Moderate Islamists also keep fighters there. And Mogadishu's big business owners, like those who run the nation's multimillion-dollar telecommunications and money transfer industries, employ hired guns. | Regime Change | January 2009 | ['(NPR)'] |
Eight people are killed and dozens are injured in southern Israel near the Egyptian border, after a string of terrorist attacks on a highway targeting two civilian buses and cars as well a military bus responding to the attacks. | JERUSALEM Armed attackers, described by the authorities as Gazans who had crossed into Israel from Egypt, carried out multiple deadly attacks near the popular Red Sea resort of Eilat on Thursday, prompting a fierce Israeli bombing raid on Gaza and threatening to escalate tensions there. Eight Israelis were killed and more than 30 were wounded in the attacks near Eilat, the most serious on Israel from Egyptian territory in decades. The attacks highlighted how the fallout from the Egyptian revolution lawlessness in the northern Sinai Peninsula and a softer line in Cairo toward Iran and the militant group Hamas had frayed ties with Israel. | Armed Conflict | August 2011 | ['(Ynetnews)', '(New York Times)'] |
A bomb blast in Karachi, Pakistan, kills at least 45 people in a predominately Shia Muslim area. | At least 45 people have been killed by a bomb explosion in the Pakistani city of Karachi, police say. The blast in the mainly Shia Muslim area of Abbas Town destroyed several buildings and set others on fire. Some reports spoke of a second explosion. No group has yet said it planted the bomb, which went off near a mosque as worshippers left evening prayers.
Pakistan's Shia minority are the target of frequent sectarian attacks from Sunni militant groups. The explosion sent a huge column of smoke into the sky above Karachi and caused a power cut in part of the city. Police are investigating whether it was a suicide attack.
Rescuers have been struggling to reach people trapped under the rubble. Residents have been using car headlights to help the search for survivors, local media reports said. Around 150 people were wounded by the explosion, officials said. "I was watching television when I heard an explosion and my flat was badly shaken," Karachi resident Mariam Bibi told Reuters news agency. "I saw people burning to death and crying with pain. I saw children lying in pools of their own blood and women running around shouting for their children and loved ones." she added. Rescue work was delayed as some residents fired guns into the air in anger at the carnage, reports say.
Pakistan's main political and religious leaders rushed to condemn the attack - the latest to target the Shia minority.
Nearly 200 people were killed in two separate bombings targeting the Shia community in the south-western city of Quetta in January and February.
Some relatives of the victims there initially refused to bury their dead in protest at what they said was the failure of the authorities to protect their community from attack. No group has yet admitted to carrying out the Karachi bombing, but correspondents say suspicion is likely to fall on Sunni militant groups. Groups such as Lashkar-e-Jhangvi regard Shia Muslims as heretics and have stepped up attacks in recent years. They are thought to have set several training camps for militants and police seizures have shown they have access to large quantities of weapons and explosives, the BBC's M Ilyas Khan in Islamabad says. Some activists called 2012 the worst year in living memory for attacks on Pakistan's Shia community.
But already this year bombings in the south-western of Quetta alone have killed nearly 200 people.
Last month Pakistan's Supreme Court called on the authorities to devise a strategy to protect Shia Muslims more effectively, given the increase in attacks. Karachi - Pakistan's biggest city and commercial capital - has a long history of violence. As well as a sectarian divide between Sunni and Shia, that city has also seen conflict between different ethnic communities - Pashtuns from north-west Pakistan, Mohajirs (immigrants from India following the Partition) and Sindhis | Armed Conflict | March 2013 | ['(BBC)', '(Reuters)'] |
Tropical Storm Harvey is expected to cross the coast of Belize with a tropical storm watch in place for Guatemala and parts of Honduras. | (CNN) -- A tropical storm formed in the Caribbean Friday and is expected to move across the coast of Belize Saturday afternoon or night.
Tropical Storm Harvey has maximum sustained winds of 50 mph, with higher gusts, according to the Miami-based National Hurricane Center.
The storm is forecast to strengthen somewhat before its center reaches Belize.
A tropical storm warning is in effect for the coast of Belize and for the Bay Islands of Honduras, which Harvey is predicted to pass near late Friday. A warning is also in effect for the southeastern coast of the Yucatan Peninsula, from Punta Gruesa south to Chetumal, in Mexico.
A tropical storm watch is in effect for the coast of Guatemala and for parts of the coast of Honduras.
A warning means that tropical storm conditions are expected within 36 hours, while a watch means that storm conditions are possible within 48 hours.
As of 8 p.m. ET, Harvey was about 130 miles east of Isla Roatan, Honduras, heading west at 9 mph.
The storm is predicted to dump 3 to 5 inches of rain across Honduras, Guatemala, Belize and the Yucatan Peninsula, with up to 8 inches possible in some places. A storm surge will raise water levels by as much as 1 to 3 feet above normal tide levels along the coast near and to the north of where Harvey makes landfall. | Hurricanes_Tornado_Storm_Blizzard | August 2011 | ['(CNN)', '(Alertnet)'] |
A bushfire in Victoria state has destroyed 116 homes. The 2200-hectare Jamieson Track blaze razed 98 homes in Wye River and 18 at Separation Creek. The fire stopped just 500 meters short of Kennett River. A dousing of rain on Saturday was unlikely to do much in the long term as this blaze could continue into January or February, says emergency management commissioner Craig Lapsley. No injuries are reported. | Fire authorities say a final figure of 116 homes have been destroyed by a bushfire that could burn all summer
First published on Fri 25 Dec 2015 19.58 GMT
The number of homes destroyed in the Wye River fire on Victoria’s Great Ocean Road on Christmas Day has risen to 116.
Country Fire Authority deputy incident controller Mark Gunning said 116 houses in Wye River and Separation Creek had been destroyed in the 2200-hectare blaze.
“That will probably be the final number, as we’ve just completed an extensive search,” Gunning said on Saturday evening.
The fire swept through bushland and began to advance toward the town of Lorne on Friday night.
And the emergency management commissioner, Craig Lapsley, said the blaze could continue burning until January or February. Even a dousing of rain on Saturday was unlikely to do much in the long term once the state began to dry out. “This fire doesn’t go away,” Lapsley said.
More than 300 firefighters spent the night fighting the fire after the town of Lorne was evacuated on Friday evening. Residents were told they could go home after an evacuation recommendation was lifted shortly after 9am on Saturday.
The nearby townships of Wye River, Separation Creek, Kennett River and Grey River were evacuated earlier on Friday afternoon. Emergency warnings remain in place for Wye River and Separation Creek, and both areas remained closed on Saturday afternoon.
“Power is out, though fallen domestic solar power lines remain a threat,” a Country Fire Authority notice said.
“There are a number of hazardous tress that have been burnt and are dangerous, and damage to septic systems can result in leaking sewerage and health hazards.”
Crews were also assessing the full extent of property damage in area.
Watch and act alerts were in place for Lorne, Allenvale, Kennett River and Grey River on Saturday.
Lapsley said on Saturday morning: “Obviously we are very pleased to see the emergency warning lifted for Lorne, and that means VicRoads and VicPol can now go about restoring roads so people can access all the way down the coast to Lorne.
“However, the roads from Lorne south will be closed for days until VicRoads and others, local government, do their assessments of the roads to ensure they are safe and until they are safe people won’t be able to access that area.
“Those people in Wye River and Separation Creek that have lost properties, we’ll do our best in the next 24 hours to get those people back in to have a look at the damage, the impact and destruction that this fire has caused.”
Lapsley said strong local winds on Friday had blown embers over control lines – something that had only been expected to happen on a much hotter, windier day – but the response was well planned. “That plan played out. It was actioned just before lunchtime on Christmas Day where the community were told to evacuate. And they did that in a very orderly way.
“We always say that primacy of life is the critical issue in the state particularly after the royal commission [into the] fires of 2009. That’s the direct result of why we haven’t lost life for what is a very intense fire yesterday … [people] walked away from the fire that had every potential to be a killer.”
Daniel Andrews, the state premier, said Victorians were “opening up their homes” and assisting people who had “not had a very good Christmas at all – people who are out of their homes, out of their areas and doing it tough at the moment. The very best comes out at the very worst of times.
“This is really a very challenging fire – but in the planning and the execution and indeed in terms of the outcomes, no person has been harmed. That’s something that we can be very proud of.
“It will be a very difficult few days, though, indeed many weeks, for those who have lost their homes, or at least have lost a premises. I can confirm that 35 houses are gone in Wye River, 18 are gone in Separation Creek. And the fire stopped just some 500 metres short of Kennett River. There would have been several more losses if it had kept going.”
Weather over the next few days has been predicted to be favourable for firefighting, with rain and lower temperatures.
The main firefront had not gone through Kennett River, but firefighters defending homes there had put out spot fires and no properties had been reported burnt.Holidaymakers were being advised on Saturday to stay away, and those away from their homes were told not to return yet.
The Great Ocean Road remained closed from Bellbrae to Skenes Creek on Saturday morning but was reopened between Torquay and Lorne.Community meetings were due to be held at lunchtime on Saturday at relief centres in Apollo Bay and Torquay.
Organisers of the Falls music festival, due to be held near Lorne from Monday, were due to meet fire authorities at noon on Saturday to discuss whether it could go ahead.
“The township of Lorne is now being evacuated, the Falls farm itself is safe from the path of the fires,” a statement on festival’s website said.
“We are working with the CFA, fire authorities and emergency services to stay across the current situation.”
The festival is scheduled to begin on Monday and run until New Year’s Day.
The Bureau of Meteorology predicted a top of 18C at Lorne on Boxing Day and up to 20mm of rain. | Fire | December 2015 | ['(Sky News)', '(BBC)', '(The Guardian)'] |
2014 Isla Vista killings: The suspected gunman in the May 23 spree killing in Santa Barbara, California, is named as Elliot Rodger. | A Hollywood film-maker believes his son carried out drive-by shootings that killed six people in California late on Friday, a family lawyer says.
Peter Rodger, who was a director on The Hunger Games, thinks the attacker was his 22-year-old son Elliot, the statement said.
The gunman died of bullet wounds after going on a rampage near Santa Barbara.
Police are investigating a video in which a man complains of rejection by women, threatening revenge. Authorities have not confirmed the identity of the gunman, or that of the young man seen in the YouTube video.
But Peter Rodger's lawyer, Alan Shifman, said on Saturday that the "family believes the child was the perpetrator". He said the son had Asperger's syndrome, had trouble making friends and had been receiving professional help. Mr Shifman added that the family had contacted police about "recent posts on YouTube" by Elliot "regarding suicide and the killing of people". The family is "devastated" and co-operating with police, he said. Ricardo Martinez, whose 20-year-old son Christopher was one of the victims, spoke of his grief.
"When will this insanity stop? ... Too many have died. We should say to ourselves 'Not one more'," he said.
Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown told reporters on Friday that police were treating the incident as "premeditated mass murder".
It occurred in the area of Isla Vista, near the University of California-Santa Barbara campus.
Witnesses described seeing a black BMW speeding through the streets, with shots being fired at people.
Police say they were alerted around 21:30 on Friday (04:30 GMT on Saturday). Six minutes later, the suspect and responding officers exchanged gunfire.
The suspect fled. But after a second exchange of fire with police, he eventually crashed into a parked vehicle.
He was found dead in his car with a bullet wound to the head. although police say it is not yet clear whether the wound was self-inflicted.
A semi-automatic handgun was recovered from the vehicle. Seven other people are in hospital, and being treated for bullet wounds.
The University of California-Santa Barbara said was "shocked and saddened'' by the shootings and that several of its students had been taken to hospital.
Santa Barbara shootings timeline, 23 May 21:27 local time: Shootings begin
21:33: Police exchange fire with gunman, who flees in his vehicle
Seconds later: More police exchange fire. Car crashes in Del Playa Drive, alleged gunman found dead As it happened: California shootings
California shootings 'premeditated'
'I ran away for my life' | Armed Conflict | May 2014 | ['(BBC)'] |
A man is arrested in connection to an alleged sports betting scam centered on the current Test match at Lord's Cricket Ground in London between England and Pakistan. | A man has been arrested in connection with an alleged cricket betting scam centred on the current Test match between Pakistan and England at Lord's.
The News of the World claims it gave 150,000 to a middleman for details about three no-balls which players later bowled at the times predicted.
Scotland Yard said a 35-year-old man was being held on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud bookmakers. England bowled out Pakistan on Sunday morning to win the match and series.
The News of the World alleges that Pakistani players were secretly paid to deliberately bowl no-balls during the match.
The allegations relate to three no-balls delivered by Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif on Thursday and Friday.
A no-ball occurs when a bowler oversteps the line behind which balls should be delivered.
The News of the World said members of its reporting team posed as businessmen and paid a middleman who told them exactly what would happen in the three separate incidents during play.
Pakistan team manager Yawar Saeed confirmed police officers had taken statements from four players.
He said: "Scotland Yard detectives visited the team hotel where they took statements from [captain] Salman Butt, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Asif and [wicketkeeper] Kamran Akmal."
Mr Saeed added that as far as he knew the planned one-day international series against England would go ahead as planned. Pakistan sports minister Ijaz Hussain Jakhrani told the Reuters news agency that any Pakistan player found guilty of match-fixing would be banned from playing for the national side for life.
Bill Akass, managing editor of the News of the World, said: "The idea that any activity during a game is prearranged for money undermines the integrity of an entire sport.
"I'm frankly astonished that this game is going ahead today."
BBC cricket commentator Phil Tufnell said everything about the current Test had been "brought into question".
A joint statement issued by the International Cricket Council (ICC), the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said that no player nor team officials had "been arrested in relation to this incident".
It added: "As this is now subject to a police investigation neither ICC, ECB, PCB nor the ground authority, the MCC, will make any further comment."
The statement said the ICC, ECB, PCB, along with the ICC Anti-Corruption and Security Unit, were assisting the police with their inquiries.
The BBC's Andy Swiss said the allegations involved "very minor, very small details within the match that might seem ridiculously trivial to a lot of people".
Our correspondent added: "That sort of information is worth a huge amount of money in the betting world where you can put bets on the tiniest details within a cricket game.
"This is a difficult situation for cricket and there are going to be some uncomfortable questions for the Pakistan team."
Betting on when no-balls happen in cricket, or how many are made, is a form of gambling called spot-betting.
This refers to betting on certain events taking place in a game, rather than the actual result.
Previous controversies
After taking 14 Pakistan wickets on Saturday, England took the final six wickets on Sunday morning to win the match by an innings and 225 runs.
This gave them a 3-1 victory in the four-match series of Tests, which are international matches played over up to five days.
England captain Andrew Strauss said the spot-fixing allegations against members of the Pakistan team had taken the gloss off England's series win.
"I don't think anyone wants to finish a Test series in this scenario," he told BBC Radio Five Live.
"It has taken the gloss off the series win which is very disappointing because we had some outstanding performances."
It is the second successive England-Pakistan Test series that has ended in controversy.
Four years ago, umpires Darrell Hair and Billy Doctrove ruled Pakistan had forfeited the fourth Test by failing to return to the field in time following the tea interval. The Pakistan team had been incensed about an earlier decision to penalise them five runs for alleged ball-tampering.
In July 2008, the ICC changed the result of the match from an England win by forfeit to a draw, but in February last year cricket's governing body made a U-turn and awarded a victory to England.
It is also the second time this year that the Pakistan team has found itself under investigation.
An inquiry was launched after they lost every international fixture on last winter's tour to Australia, resulting in four players being suspended by the PCB and three players fined.
Three of the bans were subsequently lifted, including indefinite bans on former captains Mohammad Yousuf and Younis Khan, and the fourth is currently subject to an appeal. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | August 2010 | ['(BBC)'] |
Israel agrees to pause its offensive on the Gaza Strip while negotiations continue for a broader ceasefire while Hamas violates the ceasefire. | Protesters threw fireworks and stones as Israeli security officers took up positions at the Qalandia checkpoint, between Jerusalem and the West Bank town of Ramallah. At least five Palestinians were killed in the clashes, according to Palestinian medical officials and local news reports.
The protests in the West Bank came on what Palestinians planned as a “day of rage” over the war in Gaza, where more than 800 Palestinians, most of them civilians, as well as 35 Israeli soldiers, have been killed since the war started July 8.
A street was littered with stones that were hurled during clashes the night before in front of an Israeli watch tower at the Qalandia checkpoint.
The contrails of a rocket fired at Israel were seen over Beit Lahiya, in the northern Gaza Strip. Several buildings have been hit and three civilians killed in Israel by rocket and mortar fire from Gaza.
Palestinian boys stood next to the rubble of an apartment building in Gaza City on Friday.
An Israeli soldier rode in an armored personnel carrier near the border with Gaza.
A wounded Israeli soldier was evacuated from Gaza for treatment in Beersheba, Israel.
In a funeral in Beit Lahiya, a man held up the body of a one-year-old child, Noha Mesleh, who was killed in explosions at a United Nations-run school in Bait Hanoun.
People wandered in the home of Salah Abu Hassanein, an Islamic Jihad spokesman, in the Rafah refugee camp in Gaza, which was hit in an Israeli airstrike. Mr. Abu Hassanein and his two sons, ages 15 and 12, were all killed.
Displaced Palestinians attended the Friday Prayer at Al Omari Mosque in Gaza City. As the last Friday of Ramadan, the day has special significance, and is known as Al Quds, or Jerusalem, Day.
Palestinians sheltered in a church in Gaza City. United Nations-run schools are filled with refugees from the fighting, so people are taking shelter in churches and mosques.
By Isabel Kershner and Michael R. Gordon
JERUSALEM Israel agreed to halt its military offensive in Gaza for 12 hours starting Saturday morning amid intense international efforts to seal a broader cease-fire deal and a new explosion of violence in the West Bank, where at least six Palestinians were killed during clashes with Israeli forces.
The announcement by the military came early Saturday, hours after Israel’s security cabinet rejected Secretary of State John Kerry’s proposal for a seven-day cease-fire in Gaza and further talks, according to a minister who attended the meeting.
The daily tally of rocket attacks, airstrikes and deaths in the conflict between Israel and Hamas. | Armed Conflict | July 2014 | ['(New York Times)'] |
At least ten people die after heavy rains trigger flash floods in Malaga, Almeria and Murcia, southern Spain. | At least 10 people have died after heavy rains triggered flash floods in southern Spain, officials have said.
The strength of the floods overturned cars, closed roads and railway lines, damaged bridges and homes, and forced hundreds to leave their properties.
The hardest hit areas were the provinces of Malaga and Almeria, and the Murcia region.
Further north in the town of Gandia, a tornado struck a temporary fairground, injuring 35 people, 15 seriously.
Across parts of southern Spain, the clean-up has begun. Until now, there had been very little rain this year across Spain, and the south was particularly dry after the summer. So much rain, in such a short space of time led to some of the worst flooding Spain has seen in years, says the BBC's Tom Burridge in Madrid.
At least 600 people had to be evacuated from their homes in the Andalucia region, which contains Malaga and Almeria, officials said.
Some 24.5 cm (9.6 in) of rain fell on Friday morning alone, according to Spain's weather agency.
A regional government spokesperson in Malaga told the AFP news agency the rains were decreasing and seemed to be shifting towards Granada and Almeria.
However, torrential rain and violent thunderstorms are predicted to continue in the south of the country over the weekend.
The deaths of five adults and a child have been confirmed:
A spokeswoman for the regional government of Andalucia told the BBC that a 52-year-old British woman was missing in Vera, Almeria.
"We had reports [on Friday] that a British woman and a Spanish man are missing," she said.
Caroline Zartash-Lloyd, who runs a small hotel in Alora, told BBC News that her neighbours had lost livestock, including pigs, hens, horses and donkeys, which could be seen floating in the flood waters.
Local people would be hit particularly hard, she suggested, because it was a poor part of Spain with unemployment of 30% and few people could afford insurance. "Cars were washed away and we lost a large bridge in Alora and another sizeable bridge in [the village of] El Valle de Abadeljais," she said.
"The farmland was completely washed away, just after the farmers had stopped ploughing. Thankfully they had not started seeding. Many people have been left without electricity or phone lines."
Ms Zartash-Lloyd praised the local authorities for their response to the crisis.
In the town of Gandia, further north along the coastline, a tornado swept through a temporary fairground on Friday evening, bringing down a ferris wheel.
The fairground, in the town's main square, was closed to the public at the time and all of the 35 people hurt were said to be fairground workers.
Several other rides were damaged and electricity was cut.
Severe storms batter Spain
Homes at risk as floods continue
Spain - Country profile | Floods | September 2012 | ['(BBC)'] |
An overloaded bus explodes a tyre and crashes near Bhanjyang, Nepal, killing at least two people and wounding dozens of others. A riot follows. | A bus crash in Nepal that killed at least two people and injured dozens of others has sparked a violent riot, with police firing tear gas at villagers who rallied together to demand better bus services.
The local bus was en route from Pharping, in the Dakshinkali municipality, to Kathmandu at 8:00am (local time) on Thursday when the front left tyre burst and the vehicle crashed in Bhanjyang.
The bus, which was more than 20 years old, was overloaded and did not have enough seats to cater for the 45 passengers, police said.
ABC News: Molly Schmidt
Police have identified the dead as Manju Basnet, 42, and Sunil Shrestha, 25, according to the Kathmandu Post.
Metropolitan Traffic Police Division spokesman Umesh Ranjitkar told the Post Ms Basnet and Mr Shrestha died on the way to Vayodha Hospital in Balkhu.
Hundreds of locals spent the day gathered near the wrecked bus, some attempting to block the road in protest, and calling on the local municipality to supply new buses.
ABC News: Molly Schmidt
This is the 21st century but we have a '90s bus and the people are unhappy," local Prashant Khatri said.
"The injured people's parents and relatives are demanding a new road committee, a new bus committee, and new buses."
The scene became violent at about 4:00pm when dozens of riot police from Kathmandu formed a human wall and marched into the villagers, attempting to force them away from the bus.
ABC News: Molly Schmidt
Some of the villagers pushed back and threw stones, while others retreated to their homes.
Shots echoed through the valley as police fired tear gas and hit the villagers with batons, with the commotion continuing until nightfall when the area fell silent.
Neydo Hotel overlooks the scene of the crash, and housekeeper Jyanti KC was one of many grieving the locals lost.
"The road is bad, the bus is old and there's too many people on the bus," she said.
"Manju Basnet was my relative. She was a good person with a good job and a nice face. | Road Crash | March 2018 | ['(ABC)'] |
Western Sydney Wanderers win the AFC Champions League, defeating Saudi Arabian club Al Hilal 1–0 on aggregate to became the first Australian club to win the tournament. | Western Sydney Wanderers on Sunday became the first A-League side to win the Asian Champions League after a scoreless draw against Saudi Arabian club Al-Hilal.
Played in front of a capacity, boisterous crowd at King Fahd Stadium, Tony Popovic's side withstood a procession of chances in the second leg of the final to complete a fairytale ride to the top of Asian football.
In just their third season of football, the Wanderers lifted the trophy 1-0 on aggregate after Tomi Juric's goal earned them a home win at Parramatta in the first leg last weekend.
"We were called a small club yesterday. Today we are the biggest in Asia," Popovic said.
"It is still a little surreal for me as a coach. I am sure it will hit home in the next few days when we reflect."
"I am just proud for these players and our club. The first time in the competition, to win it, I think in the future we will really understand how special this run has been," he added.
"We don't have the resources or the funds that some of these other teams have but we have something that money can't buy, the desire to win, the resilience to play for each other and do anything we can to win. No money can buy that."
While Western Sydney deserves great credit for their defensive resilience, it was hard to make a case to wave away two penalty decisions either side of half-time.
AFP: Fayez Nureldine
When Antony Golec stretched and found Nawaf Al-Abid rather than the ball, it seemed the roaring crowd would have their penalty.
But no whistle was forthcoming, incensing Al-Hilal boss Laurentiu Reghecampf.
Japanese referee Nishimura Yuichi again kept his whistle from his lips on the hour when Wanderers goalkeeper and tournament MVP Ante Covic clearly slid in on Salman Al Faraj.
The result felt like a robbery, but Covic and his defensive four stood tall to repel chance after chance.
AFP: Fayez Nureldine
GROUP STAGE
Wanderers 1-3 Ulsan HyundaiGuizhou Renfe 0-1 WanderersWanderers 1-0 Kawasaki FrontaleKawasaki Frontale 2-1 WanderersUlsan Hyundai 0-2 WanderersWanderers 5-0 Guizhou Renfe
ROUND OF 16 (Western Sydney progress on away goals)
First leg: Sanfrecce Hiroshima 3-1 WanderersSecond leg: Wanderers 2-0 Sanfreece Hiroshima
QUARTER-FINAL (Western Sydney progress on away goals)
First leg: Wanderers 1-0 Guangzhou EvergrandeSecond leg: Guangzhou Evergrande 2-1 Wanderers
SEMI-FINAL
First leg: FC Seoul 0-0 WanderersSecond leg: Wanderers 2-0 FC Seoul
FINAL
First leg: Wanderers 1-0 Al-HilalSecond leg: Al-Hilal 0-0 Wanderers
The match quickly settled into a predictable pattern of Al-Hilal possession and territory.
By design or otherwise, the Wanderers found themselves without and behind the ball, but they were tightly organised and able to prevent Al-Hilal from finding dangerous outlets.
Al-Hilal's best first-half opportunities came from free kicks and through sheer weight of numbers after the break.
When Al-Hilal's forwards, led by Brazilian Thiago Neves, did have opportunities, too often they failed to test the 39-year-old gloveman.
That changed in the final quarter hour with Al-Hilal streaming forward but finding Covic in unbeatable form.
In a vintage display, Covic's best came with five minutes remaining, denying substitute Yasser Al Qahtani's thunderous drive from ten metres with a stunning reflex save to turn it around the post.
"We had bad luck and we had many chances. We were the best team over the two games," Reghecampf told reporters.
"If you lose one game when you play bad, you can congratulate the other team, but when you play how we played and they play how they played, we feel very bad."
That the Wanderers were able to grind out a result was made more impressive by the ferocious environment.
Lasers continually shone in Covic's eyes, the crowd becoming more restless as the match wore on.
But Western Sydney held out, prevailing where the only other A-League team to make the ACL final, Adelaide United, could not.
The result is especially sweet for Popovic's side, denied in two A-League grand finals on their first two attempts.
On the last whistle, both the winners and defeated slumped on the ground, drained of all energy.
That quickly gave way to a release of frustration, with rivals involved in late fisticuffs.
AAP
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) | Sports Competition | November 2014 | ['(AAP via ABC News Australia)'] |
The Nigerian army bomb a suspected terrorist camp used by Boko Haram killing 18 members and capturing large amounts ammunition, guns and weapons. | Nigeria's military said it has killed 17 insurgents in an attack on two training camps belonging to the Boko Haram Islamist group.
One soldier was also killed in the firefight that broke out after they moved in on the camps, backed by helicopter gunships, the military said.
Spokesman Lt Col Sagir Musa said the "fortified" camps were in a forest and a game reserve in Borno State.
Boko Haram is seeking to establish an Islamic state in Nigeria.
The group has been blamed for the deaths of some 1,400 people in central and northern Nigeria since 2010. The military "conducted two special operations supported by Nigerian Airforce helicopter gunship[s] to dislodge Boko Haram training camps" in the Ruwa forest and the Sambisa Game Reserve, Lt Col Musa said in a statement.
"The camp was properly... fortified and had training facilities, an armoury, accommodation, a drug store, kitchen, vehicle holding area, latrine and water points," he said. | Armed Conflict | February 2013 | ['(BBC)', '(Premium Times)'] |
160 people are missing from a village on the Indonesian village of Betu Monga on Sumatra hit by a local tsunami after a 7.5 magnitude earthquake struck south of the Mentawai Islands. The earthquake leaves at least one person dead and damages 150 houses. (Today's Zaman) | JAKARTA (Reuters) - A tsunami that pounded remote islands in western Indonesia following an earthquake off the coast of Sumatra killed more than 100 people, officials said on Tuesday, and hundreds more were missing.
Debris is seen on Sipora island October 26, 2010 after a 7.5 magnitude quake hit 78 km (48 mi) west of South Pagai, one of the Mentawai islands, late on Monday. REUTERS/Handout/Special
The 7.5 magnitude quake hit 78 km west of South Pagai, one of the Mentawai islands, late on Monday. Local legislator Hendri Dori Satoko told Metro TV the latest toll was 108 dead and 502 missing.
Most buildings in the coastal village of Betu Monga were destroyed, said Hardimansyah, an official with the regional branch of the Department of Fisheries.
“Of the 200 people living in that village, only 40 have been found. 160 are still missing, mostly women and children,” he told Reuters by phone. “We have people reporting to the security post here that they could not hold on to their children, that they were swept away. A lot of people are crying.”
Hardimansyah, who has only one name, said 80 percent of the houses in the area were damaged and food supplies were low.
A tourist boat carrying between eight and 10 Australians has been out of radio contact since the quake, Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said in a statement.
The Macaronis surfing resort on North Pagai island was also hit. In an official press release, World Surfaris said Macaronis had “experienced a level of devastation that has rendered the resort inoperable.”
Related Coverage
A report posted on the Surfaid website by one of the aid organization’s staff members described a three-meter-high tsunami crashing through the resort and boats knocking together, then bursting into flames.
Guests and crew from one boat were washed into the jungle and took more than an hour to find their way back to the beach, the staff member, Tom Plummer, said.
“There was a lot of debris floating in the water, including bar stools and other pieces of furniture from Macaronis Resort,” he said.
Satoko, head of the regional government in the affected area, told Metro TV that some of the missing may have taken refuge on higher ground.
Local police on the Mentawai islands were searching for missing people and setting up emergency posts, said Ronald, a police officer at Sikakap district police station.
“We are predicting that people will need food supplies and shelter. The rain is coming down very hard, the wind is very strong,” he said.
Mudjiarto, the head of the disaster response unit at the Health Ministry, told Reuters that two bodies had been found near Sipora island and that several people were still missing.
In South Pagai island, waves penetrated about 600 meters into coastal villages, while in North Pagai island, waves reached to the roof of local houses, he said.
In December 2004, a tsunami caused by an earthquake of more than 9 magnitude off Sumatra killed more than 226,000 people. It was the deadliest tsunami on record.
Additional reporting by Michael Perry in Sydney; Editing by Andrew Marshall | Earthquakes | October 2010 | ['(Reuters)'] |
The United Nations warns that Bangladesh is on the verge of a humanitarian crisis, as severe flooding causes more than 350 deaths. Forty–one of the country's sixty–four districts are affected by the floods, and officials say 14 million people are either marooned or homeless; other estimates reach as high as 30 million. | The Bangladesh state news agency said the deaths were the result of drowning, disease and snakebite.
High tides in the Bay of Bengal are a major concern, says the UN World Food Programme, as they could stop flood waters flowing into the sea.
Officials say more than two-thirds of Bangladesh is inundated. Monsoon floods also continue to hit parts of India.
About 40% of the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka, is under water and in places the sewage system has failed, sending foetid water flowing into the streets. Conditions are getting worse every day. The water is rising and bringing in more filth
Dhaka resident Abu Kalam
Vast swathes of the country are under water, with roads and railways washed away and crops devastated - raising the prospect of food shortages if floods prevent a second sowing.
Another 58 deaths were reported on Monday.
The government is still refusing to call for international help saying its own relief efforts are enough, but several large NGOs have said it should now reconsider.
And a UN spokesman warned the worst may be yet to come, as rising tides in the Bay of Bengal in early August "would considerably limit the outflow of flood waters into the sea".
He said the WFP had made plans to distribute 3,000 tons of rice to flood victims.
Disease fears
Dozens of medical teams are working in Dhaka to ward off the threat of disease with the city's sewage system broken down.
ASIAN MONSOON
The word 'monsoon' comes from the Arabic for 'season'
Describes seasonal reversals of wind direction
From April heat builds over South Asia, creating low pressure areas
Brings moisture-rich south-west winds in from the ocean
BBC Weather: Asian monsoon
"Conditions are getting worse every day. The water is rising and bringing in more filth," Abu Kalam is quoted as saying by Reuters.
"We are living in an open sewer." The BBC's Roland Buerk in Dhaka says the poor are worst affected, as slum housing has been constructed in the capital's low-lying areas.
In some parts of the city, he says, boats are now the only way to get about. The floods have sown devastation in low-lying coastal regions of South Asia.
Receding waters in eastern India's Bihar state have revealed more than 100 drowned bodies, pushing the total toll from floods in the region above 1,000.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visited Bihar on Tuesday and toured four flood-affected districts.
He said he would send a federal team to Bihar next week to assess the damage caused by the floods after which more funds would be granted.
More than 100 people have also died in the north-east Indian state of Assam, after the Brahmaputra river burst its banks.
Millions of people have been badly affected and essential supplies are running low.
"There is an acute scarcity of baby food and over 500,000 babies affected during the floods are starving," Assam Health Minister Bhumidhar Burman said. | Floods | July 2004 | ['(BBC)'] |
Ugandan police arrest Stella Nyanzi, a prominent academic and vocal critic of President Yoweri Museveni, for inciting violence as she protested against lockdown measures taken by the government to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. | KAMPALA (Reuters) - Ugandan police on Monday arrested prominent academic Stella Nyanzi, a vocal critic of President Yoweri Museveni, for allegedly inciting violence as she protested against lockdown measures to curb the spread of the new coronavirus, police told Reuters.
The East African nation, with 284 cases and no deaths, has implemented one of Africa’s strictest lockdowns, closing businesses and schools, banning public gatherings and the use of private and public vehicles other than those of essential workers such as medical staff.
Author, university lecture and rights activist Nyanzi has in recent years earned a huge following on social media for her bold attacks on Museveni over his crackdown on political dissent and decades-long rule.
“We detained her for inciting violence. She is exploiting the COVID-19 situation to advance her political motives,” Police spokesman Patrick Onyango told Reuters.
Reuters was unable to reach either Nyanzi or her lawyer.
Nyanzi was arrested in Kampala as she and a small group of activists attempted to present to the prime minister a petition demanding the lifting of the lockdown and the distribution of free face masks to the population.
The petition also called for the release of thousands jailed for alleged violations of anti-coronavirus measures like a dusk-to-dawn curfew.
In August last year, a magistrate’s court convicted her on charges of cyber-harassment and sentenced her to 18 months in jail. She subsequently appealed her sentence and a judge in February quashed the ruling.
Some doctors and rights activists have criticised the strict lockdown measures, which they say have caused deaths of expectant mothers and patients with chronic diseases who struggled to find transportation to hospitals.
Reporting by Elias Biryabarema; Editing by Giulia Paravicini and Hugh Lawson
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
All quotes delayed a minimum of 15 minutes. See here for a complete list of exchanges and delays.
Exclusive: Fed’s Neel Kashkari opposes rate hikes at least through 2023 as the central bank becomes more hawkish | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Arrest | May 2020 | ['(Reuters)'] |
At least 25 soldiers are killed in a helicopter crash in Tajikistan, east of the capital Dushanbe. | A military helicopter has crashed in Tajikistan, killing at least 25 soldiers, military sources have said.
An official statement confirmed four of the deaths and said the helicopter crashed after hitting a powerline.
The Russian-built MI-8 went down in the Rasht Valley, about 200km (125 miles) east of the capital, Dushanbe.
The military has been engaged in an operation against Islamist militants in the region after 28 soldiers were killed in an ambush in September.
The al-Qaeda-linked Islamist Movement of Uzbekistan said it had carried out the attack.
The Rasht Valley region has been a stronghold of Islamist militants since the 1990s, when guerrillas fought the government of Emomali Rakhmon.
Tajikistan is the poorest of the states to emerge from the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.
The country shares a poorly-protected 1,300km (800 miles) border with Afghanistan, much of it crossing the rugged Pamir Mountains.
Tajikistan youth turn to radical Islam
Country profile: Tajikistan
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 | October 2010 | ['(BBC)', '(Xinhua)'] |
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of the United States predicts a near- or above-average hurricane season for 2018. |
NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center is forecasting a 75-percent chance that the 2018 Atlantic hurricane season will be near- or above-normal.
Forecasters predict a 35 percent chance of an above-normal season, a 40 percent chance of a near-normal season, and a 25 percent chance of a below-normal season for the upcoming hurricane season, which extends from June 1 to November 30.
“With the advances made in hardware and computing over the course of the last year, the ability of NOAA scientists to both predict the path of storms and warn Americans who may find themselves in harm’s way is unprecedented,” said Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross. “The devastating hurricane season of 2017 demonstrated the necessity for prompt and accurate hurricane forecasts.”
NOAA’s forecasters predict a 70-percent likelihood of 10 to 16 named storms (winds of 39 mph or higher), of which 5 to 9 could become hurricanes (winds of 74 mph or higher), including 1 to 4 major hurricanes (category 3, 4 or 5; with winds of 111 mph or higher). An average hurricane season produces 12 named storms, of which 6 become hurricanes, including 3 major hurricanes.
The possibility of a weak El Nino developing, along with near-average sea surface temperatures across the tropical Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea, are two of the factors driving this outlook. These factors are set upon a backdrop of atmospheric and oceanic conditions that are conducive to hurricane development and have been producing stronger Atlantic hurricane seasons since 1995.
“NOAA’s observational and modeling enhancements for the 2018 season put us on the path to deliver the world’s best regional and global weather models,” said Neil Jacobs, Ph.D., assistant secretary of commerce for environmental observation and prediction. “These upgrades are key to improving hurricane track and intensity forecasts, allowing NOAA to deliver the best science and service to the nation.”
NOAA’s suite of sophisticated technologies – from next-generation models and satellite data to new and improved forecast and graphical products – enable decision makers and the general public to take action before, during, and after hurricanes, helping to build a more “Weather-Ready Nation.” New tools available this year to assist in hurricane forecasts and communications include:
NOAA’s fleet of earth-observing satellites is more robust than ever with the successful launch of the GOES-17 satellite in March. This satellite, along with the GOES-16 satellite – now GOES-East – contribute to a comprehensive picture of weather throughout the Western Hemisphere, allowing forecasters to observe storms as they develop.
The new polar-orbiting satellite, NOAA-20, will join the NOAA/NASA Suomi NPP satellite and use a suite of sophisticated instruments to gather high-resolution data from around the globe to feed NOAA’s weather models, driving the 3-7 day weather forecast that is critical to preparedness and effective evacuations.
The National Weather Service will run a version of the Global Forecast System (called FV3 GFS) with a new dynamic core alongside the current GFS model – often referred to as the American model – during the 2018 season. This will mark the first dynamic core upgrade to NOAA's flagship weather model in more than 35 years, representing the first step in re-engineering NOAA’s models to provide the best possible science-based predictions for the nation.
NOAA’s hurricane-specific model – the Hurricane Weather Research and Forecast system – will be upgraded to offer greater resolution than ever before, increasing model resolution from 1.2 miles to 0.9 miles (2 km to 1.5 km) near the center of a storm. Additionally, the Hurricanes in a Multi-scale Ocean coupled Non-hydrostatic model was first implemented in 2017 and will undergo upgrades for the 2018 season to include greater resolution, new physics and coupling with ocean models.
NOAA’s National Hurricane Center will make the Arrival Time of Tropical-Storm-Force Winds graphics operational for this hurricane season. One graphic displays the “earliest reasonable” arrival time of tropical-storm-force winds, at which point further preparedness activities could be hindered. A second graphic displays the “most-likely” arrival time of tropical-storm-force winds.
"Preparing ahead of a disaster is the responsibility of all levels of government, the private sector and the public," said acting FEMA Deputy Administrator Daniel Kaniewski. "It only takes one storm to devastate a community so now is the time to prepare. Do you have adequate insurance, including flood insurance? Does your family have a communication and evacuation plan? Stay tuned to your local news and download the FEMA app to get alerts, and make sure you heed any warnings issued by local officials.”
In addition to the Atlantic hurricane season outlook, NOAA also issued seasonal hurricane outlooks for the eastern and central Pacific basins. An 80 percent chance of a near- or above-normal season is predicted for both the eastern and central Pacific regions. The eastern Pacific outlook calls for a 70-percent probability of 14 to 20 named storms, of which 7 to 12 are expected to become hurricanes, including 3 to 7 major hurricanes. The central Pacific outlook calls for a 70-percent probability of 3 to 6 tropical cyclones, which includes tropical depressions, tropical storms and hurricanes.
NOAA will update the 2018 Atlantic seasonal outlook in early August, just prior to the peak of the season. | Hurricanes_Tornado_Storm_Blizzard | May 2018 | ['(NOAA)'] |
A man arrested in the Philippines in July 2019 is indicted by federal prosecutors in New York for plotting to carry out a 9/11–style attack in the U.S. The suspect was allegedly directed by the terrorist organization al–Shabaab to attend a flight school in the Philippines and research how to hijack a commercial airliner. | Follow NBC News Federal prosecutors in New York have indicted a man who they say took direction from a “senior al-Shabab commander” and went to flight school in the Philippines so he could hijack a commercial airliner. They say the man also sought information “about the tallest building in a major U.S. city.”
The indictment, unsealed Wednesday, charges Cholo Abdi Abdullah with six counts which include multiple counts of providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization, conspiracy to commit aircraft piracy and conspiracy to kill U.S. citizens.
Prosecutors allege Abdi Abdullah attended a flight school from 2017 and 2019 in the Philippines and obtained training, “ultimately completing the tests necessary to obtain his pilot’s license.”
They say he also allegedly researched how he could hijack a commercial airliner and breach a cockpit door, and sought “information about the tallest building in a major U.S. city, and information about how to obtain a U.S. visa.”
The charging documents say that Abdi Abdullah has been in the custody of law enforcement authorities in the Philippines since July 1, 2019 and he is arriving in New York to face charges in the custody of the FBI and New York Police Department.
In federal court this afternoon Abdullah told the judge, “I plead not guilty to all the counts.”
He has been ordered detained pending trial and his attorney said they reserve the right to ask for bail in the future.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a statement that the al-Shabab commander who allegedly directed Abdi Abdullah was responsible for planning the 2019 Nairobi hotel attack which killed 21 people, including a U.S. citizen who survived the 9/11 attacks.
FBI Assistant Director William Sweeney said “he obtained a pilot’s license overseas, learning how to hijack an aircraft for the purpose of causing a mass-casualty incident within our borders.”
Acting U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss added, “this chilling callback to the horrific attacks of September 11, 2001, is a stark reminder that terrorist groups like al-Shabab remain committed to killing U.S. citizens and attacking the United States.”
More details are expected to be announced today by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.
Jonathan Dienst is a reporter for WNBC-TV in New York, leading its investigative reporting team and covering justice and law enforcement issues.
Tom Winter is a New York-based correspondent covering crime, courts, terrorism and financial fraud on the East Coast for the NBC News Investigative Unit. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Arrest | December 2020 | ['(NBC News)'] |
The government of the People's Republic of China issues emergency orders to stop a meningitis outbreak that has killed 16 people. | More meningitis cases, but no new deaths By Jiang Zhuqing and Liang Qiwen (China Daily) Updated: 2005-02-01 03:06
No new patients died of meningitis yesterday though a few more infectious cases were reported around the nation. Meanwhile, medical experts warned that Anhui Province, where the disease has led to the death of eight people, is facing short supplies of suitable vaccine. A?child is vaccinated against meningitis in Chuzhou, east China's Anhui province?January 30, 2005. [newsphoto]The disease of cerebro-spinal meningitis can be caused by 13 groups of bacteria. Of those A, B and C bacteria are the three major groups that are responsible for the present situation in China, Zhou Zhiping, a doctor with the army's 302 Hospital in Beijing said on Sunday. Previous vaccine injected by people was to prevent an outbreak of the meningitis caused by group A bacteria, Zhou said. Meanwhile, the ongoing outbreak of meningitis in Anhui, as well some other places, was caused by group C of meningitis diplococcus. Zhou told the Beijing News that his hospital has neither received a meningitis patient affected by group C bacteria, nor was it equipped with corresponding vaccine. Reports said there is only one pharmacy in China that could produce vaccine against group C bacteria and its production capacity is limited. Meanwhile, disease control departments in relevant regions have reacted immediately and efficiently to deal with the outbreak of the disease as well to curb the spread of possible panic, health officials said. Incomplete statistics indicated that less than 100 cases of cerebro-spinal meningitis were reported in Anhui, Jiangsu, Jilin and Guangdong provinces by the end of January, reports said. A total of 61 cases have been found in East China's Anhui, making it the largest victim of the outbreak, reports said. Wang Jianguo, vice-director of the Anhui Provincial Centre of Disease Control and Prevention, said continuous studies on the spread of group C bacteria as well its distribution are being conducted by medical researchers. "The situation of all the six patients affected by meningitis is stable after hospitalization in Tangyang Township," said Jiang Renjie, an official with the local disease control and prevention centre of Yancheng in Jiangsu Province. He said that the provincial disease control centre has allocated more than 50,000 doses of vaccine, mainly for children in the city of Yancheng. Only one man has contracted meningitis in Guangzhou, capital of South China's Guangdong, since December 2004, reports said. The patient has recovered and left hospital, said Tang Xiaoping, director of Guangzhou People's No 8 Hospital, a special hospital for infectious diseases. The patient, a 19-year-old migrant worker from South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, was affected by meningitis bacteria through his respiratory system when he was working, reports said. On December 31, he was sent into the Guangzhou People's No 8 Hospital for treatment and has left the hospital half a month ago after recovery, director Tang said.??
| Disease Outbreaks | February 2005 | ['(Xinhua)', '(ChinaDaily)', '(BBC)', '(Reuters AlertNet)'] |
Two trains collide in Andermatt railway station in the Canton of Uri, Switzerland, injuring around 30 people. | Around 30 people were injured on Monday in a train collision at a station in central Switzerland, police said.
None of the injuries are life-threatening, police for the Swiss canton of Uri said in a statement. The accident occurred in Andermatt, a town in the Swiss Alps popular among skiers.
The crash occurred at around 11:30 local time (0930 GMT) while the engine for a train was being moved to the front from the back.
Police said they were investigating the cause of the crash.
| Train collisions | September 2017 | ['(Reuters)'] |
A meeting is held in London on the issue of West Papuan independence. Independence leader Benny Wenda joined various humanitarians, parliamentarians and lawyers in urging the United Nations to secure a vote on the future status of the region, which is occupied by Indonesia. | Exclusive: Independence leader Benny Wenda joins parliamentarians, lawyers and humanitarians demanding UN supports referendum on territory’s fate
The United Nations must pass a resolution for an internationally supervised vote for independence in West Papua, global parliamentarians and independence advocates have said.
In a meeting in London on Tuesday, the West Papuan independence leader, Benny Wenda, will join parliamentarians, lawyers and humanitarians from the UK and the Pacific region to demand the United Nations pass a resolution for an independence referendum, in order to make up for its “mistake” in allowing Indonesia to take control almost 50 years ago.
West Papuans are the indigenous people of a region on the Western half of an island shared with Papua New Guinea. Formerly under Dutch colonisation, Indonesia took temporary control of West Papua under a UN–backed treaty in 1963. It later gained complete rule through a UN-sanctioned but discredited ballot in 1969, in which just a little over 1000 Indonesian-picked West Papuan leaders representatives cast votes under threat of violence.
Wenda said that vote, so called the “act of free choice”, was a betrayal of West Papuans and now was the time for the United Nations to set it right.
“We West Papuans call it the act of no choice,” Wenda told the Guardian. “The UN already made a mistake, they broke their own rule. That’s why the UN needs to correct it now.”
The Free West Papua movement hopes to see a UN resolution within two years to send international peacekeepers to protect West Papuans as they vote on independence.
“For 50 years Indonesia massacred my people, 500,000 people. We need international peacekeeping force in West Papua,” said Wenda.
“In maybe another 10 or 20 or 50 years time I think my people will become a minority. We need this as soon as possible.”
Joining Wenda at Tuesday’s announcement will be ʻAkilisi Pōhiva, the Tongan prime minister and first head of state to attend a Free West Papua meeting, Papua New Guinea governors Powes Parkop and Garry Juffa, and Vanuatu minister Ralph Regenvanu.
A message of support will be read on behalf of Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
Regenvanu told the Guardian his nation had always supported a free West Papua, and he called on others in the region, in particular Australia and New Zealand which currently back Indonesia’s sovereignty, to join them.
“They need to step up and recognise what’s happening on their doorstep,” he told the Guardian.
“I think the attitude of the governments of New Zealand and Australia is quite shameful when it comes to West Papua.”
Human Rights lawyer, Jennifer Robinson, noted both nations also supported Indonesian sovereignty over East Timor until “the very last moment”.
“It’s important we continue build strong civil society campaigns within Australia and New Zealand to put further pressure on the governments to do the right thing,” Robinson told the Guardian.
“It is of course unlawful as a matter of international law to recognise an unlawful situation, and Indonesia’s occupation of West Papua is unlawful because they did not respect international law in the process by which West Papua was incorporated into the state.”
The referendum called for on Tuesday is modelled on that held in the former Indonesian territory of Timor Leste in 1999. While the hope is West Papua would see similar success in gaining independence, there is fear it could also see the same human rights atrocities and widespread violence by Indonesian forces.
It’s estimated about one third of East Timor’s population was killed during Indonesian occupation and during the fighting which marred the independence vote despite the presence of peacekeepers.
Tuesday’s demand is the culmination of decades of campaigning and a recent surge in grassroots support for the Free West Papua movement and an increase in membership of the International Parliamentarians for West Papua (IPWP), which includes Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn among its cofounders.
“This conference is welcome recognition of the growing international support, notably in the Pacific, for the people of West Papua to be accorded their right, so long and wrongly denied, of self-determination,” Oxford East MP Andrew Smith, Chair and cofounder of the IPWP, said.
“Its denial is a stain on the record of the United Nations, which we must continue to campaign for the international community to put right.”
Lord Harries of Pentregarth, the former Bishop of Oxford, and also a cofounder of the group, described West Papua as “one of the great neglected scandals of our time”.
“At last however parliaments around the world are waking up to this and the visit of political leaders from the Pacific is a very welcome step towards getting proper UN recognition of the indigenous people of West Papua and their desire for self-determination.”
Despite verbally softening on West Papua’s autonomy and freedom, the Indonesian president Joko Widodo has largely failed to follow through. Under his rule, alleged abuses and violent attacks by military and police, including mass arrests and crackdowns on peaceful protests, have continued. In the last month alone more than 60 people have been arrested, Wenda said.
“This is everyday life in West Papua. Physically, mentally, Indonesia intimidates every day,” said Wenda.
Wenda, who famously escaped an Indonesian prison and fled to Papua New Guinea before seeking asylum in the UK, was coy about any role in a future West Papuan parliament.
“My people will decide on whoever they want to lead us independence, but my obligation now is to free West Papua,” he said.
… | Diplomatic Talks _ Diplomatic_Negotiation_ Summit Meeting | May 2016 | ['(The Guardian)'] |
Forty people are killed during a fiery road accident involving a bus in Kiwawa, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Thirty–one others are wounded and hospitalized. | KINSHASA, April 9 (Reuters) - About 40 passengers were burned alive when a bus overturned and caught fire in western Democratic Republic of Congo on Friday, an official said.
The accident occurred near the village of Kiwawa, a six-hour drive east of the capital Kinshasa, Kwilu province governor Willy Itshundala said.
"Almost nothing can be recovered," Itshundala told Reuters by telephone. "Out of 31 survivors, nine are seriously injured."
Videos shared on social media showed the vehicle on its side, its undercarriage burning and fruit spilled across the road. Reuters was not able to verify the footage.
| Fire | April 2021 | ['(Reuters)'] |
The New York Police Department evicts Occupy Wall Street protesters from Zuccotti Park. | New York mayor Michael Bloomberg says Occupy Wall Street protesters are free to return to a lower Manhattan park after they were kicked out in a surprise night-time raid, but they cannot sleep there. More than 70 people were arrested when police in riot gear removed hundreds of protesters from Zuccotti Park, where they had been camped out since September 17. The late-night crackdown at the birthplace of Occupy Wall Street, launched after similar evictions in other cities, signalled a tougher line by US authorities towards the protests against Wall Street and Washington elites.
Mr Bloomberg says he is not trying to stifle free speech but simply wants to ensure the safety of the city. "The First Amendment protects speech. It does not protect the use of tents and sleeping bags to take over a public space," he said. "Protesters have had two months to occupy the park with tents and sleeping bags. Now they will have to occupy the space with the power of their arguments."
The rapid police operation, launched at around 1:00am Tuesday (local time), drove most of the protesters out of the square within an hour, with many heeding orders to leave while others were shoved into police trucks.
Police cordoned off the area, while clean-up crews tore down tents and garbage trucks carted away piles of signs beneath a circling helicopter.
Around a dozen protesters held out for a few hours longer, but by 4:30am the square was completely clear, according to correspondents.
But Occupy Wall Street protesters say they will not be deterred by the action.
Spokesman Antoro Koristo has threatened further action. "This is just going to make the movement 10 times stronger. I don't know who's planning for them or who thought that it was a good idea but Zuccotti park was a little bit small for us, so Central Park is coming up. It's just a matter of when," he said. Small business owners in the area of Zuccotti Park had complained about the noise and unsanitary conditions in the camp, accusing the demonstrators of trashing their store bathrooms and driving away customers.
On Monday some merchants held their own protest - against the protesters.
Plans to temporarily clear the privately owned square so that it could be cleaned had been put on hold at the last minute one month ago in what the protesters hailed as a victory.
But on Tuesday the police appeared to have taken the demonstrators by surprise in the early morning raid and quickly overwhelmed them.
"I was dead asleep. Then I was like, oh man, there was cops kicking the tents and people yelling 'this is not a drill!'" said Mutsukai Iroppoi, 22.
Alden Bevington, 35, another protester, said he was also caught off guard.
"I was asleep. Then the lights came on. It was designed to freak people out, an overwhelming show of force. There was zero violence from what I saw."
The demonstrations against corporate greed have seen an eclectic group of mainly young people set up tent camps in city squares across the country in what some authorities have said is a threat to public health and safety.
The demonstrators accuse Washington of enabling the bankers that brought down the American economy in 2008 and have said they are inspired by the Arab Spring revolts that have convulsed the Middle East.
We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Australians and Traditional Custodians of the lands where we live, learn, and work.
.
| Protest_Online Condemnation | November 2011 | ['(ABC)'] |
There are clashes on the streets of Conakry after the second round of voting in the Guinean presidential election, due on 24 October, is deferred for the third time. | Guinea's much-delayed presidential run-off will not be held as planned on Sunday, Guinea's election chief says.
Gen Toumany Sangare, who took over at the electoral commission on Wednesday, did not announce another date.
Rival supporters of the two candidates clashed on the streets of the capital, Conakry, after the delay was announced. The UN warned that the long delay could raise the risk of instability, while the US said the poll was very important to Guinea's future.
The election is intended to be the first democratic poll in the West African country, after 52 years of authoritarian rule.
The military seized power in 2008, leading to two years of political upheaval.
The run-off vote was initially due to be held in July; this is the third time it has been postponed.
Supporters of the two candidates, Cellou Dalein Diallo and Alpha Conde, fought running battles in Conakry, and clashes were also reported in Kankan and Siguiri.
Witnesses quoted by Reuters news agency spoke of hearing gunfire as the security forces tackled protesters, but the situation was reported peaceful later in the day.
Gen Sangare, a Mali national, was appointed by the military leader after months of infighting and accusations of fraud at the electoral commission.
During Thursday's meetings at the commission, Gen Sangare discovered that neither the alpha-numeric voter cards nor the sealed voter envelopes had been distributed.
It was also revealed that computers meant for electronic vote-counting were stolen from the commission's premises earlier this week.
Meanwhile, agents and other temporary electoral staff have threatened to boycott the vote if salary arrears going back 11 months are not paid.
Gen Sangare also met interim Prime Minister Jean-Marie Dore, who urged the new electoral chief to tread carefully as he feared further violence.
On Friday, the UN and US both urged Guinea to set a new date as soon as possible.
The head of the United Nations Office for West Africa, Said Djinnit, told Reuters that a long delay could raise the risk of instability.
US State Department spokesman PJ Crowley said the poll was very important to Guinea's future, adding that Washington was "hopeful that the people of Guinea will avoid significant violence". The country has been tense since the first-round vote in June and the run-off has been delayed - once in July because of investigations into electoral fraud and again in September because of clashes between rival supporters.
Earlier this week, two supporters of leading candidate Cellou Dalein Diallo were killed as police opened fire on crowds who had been demanding the removal of the former election commission head.
Both presidential candidates have given their backing to Gen Sangare.
Meanwhile, diplomatic sources confirmed to the BBC that troops from neighbouring Sierra Leone have been deployed to patrol the area near their common border.
A former prime minister, Mr Diallo is seen as the favourite to win the run-off. He took 44% of the votes in the first round - and claims he was denied overall victory only by fraud.
Mr Conde, a veteran opposition leader, won 18% of the vote - although he claims he was cheated out of some 600,000 ballots.
Correspondents say the fierce tensions between the two candidates' supporters has its origins in rivalry between Guinea's two largest ethnic communities. Mr Diallo is a Peul, while Mr Conde is a Malinke.
Despite their economic dominance, a member of the Peul community has never been president. The Malinke are heavily represented in the ruling military junta.
The first round was seen as Guinea's first democratic vote since independence in 1958, raising hopes of an end to military and authoritarian rule in the mineral-rich country.
Guinea is the world's largest exporter of the aluminium ore bauxite. It also has important deposits of iron ore, but it remains one of the poorest countries in West Africa.
| Government Job change - Election | October 2010 | ['(BBC)'] |
The bodies of three kidnapped Israeli teenagers, including one with dual American citizenship, are found partially buried near Hebron on the West Bank. Shin Bet determined they were murdered shortly after being kidnapped, and is searching for two Hamas kidnappers and accomplices. | -- The bodies of three Israeli teenagers who were kidnapped in the West Bank earlier this month have been found north-west of the city of Hebron, Israeli officials confirmed today.
The discovery of the bodies drew a strong rebuke from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
"With heavy grief, this evening we found three bodies. All signs indicate that they are the bodies of our three abducted youths - Eyal Yifrach, Gilad Shaar and Naftali Frankel," Netanyahu said before the start of an emergency cabinet meeting.
"They were abducted and murdered in cold blood by human animals. On behalf of the entire Jewish people, I would like to tell the dear families - the mothers, fathers, grandmothers and grandfathers, and brothers and sisters - we are deeply saddened, the entire nation weeps with you. We will give the boys a proper burial."
Then the prime minister quoted Israeli poet Hayim Nahman Bialik. "'Vengeance for the blood of a small child, Satan has not yet created,'" he said. "[N]either has vengeance for the blood of three pure youths, who were on their way home to meet their parents, who will not see them anymore. Hamas is responsible - and Hamas will pay. May the memories of the three boys be blessed."
The Israeli Defense Forces said in a statement earlier today that the "bodies are currently going through forensic identification. The families of the abducted teens have been notified."
Hamas, the Palestinian militant group accused by Israel of taking the boys, has denied kidnapping the teens, though senior Israeli and Palestinian officials agree that the abductors were likely tied to -- or part of -- Hamas but operating without orders from the organization's leadership.
One of the teens, 16-year-old Naftali Frenkel, had dual U.S.-Israeli citizenship and his family is from Brooklyn, N.Y.
FBI Director James Comey said the agency launched an investigation into the kidnapping as soon they went missing, since one of them is an American citizen.
Israeli forces have conducted raids in the West Bank in the search for the teens and their kidnappers since they were abducted on June 12. Since the search started, more than 240 Palestinians have been arrested in the operation dubbed "Brother's Keeper," the army said.
Knesset sessions for tonight have been cancelled, according to Israeli media reports.
There are reports that Israeli soldiers have already been deployed in Hebron, and Israeli TV stations earlier showed pictures of soldiers searching through rubble and military vehicles moving through the village of Halhul, just north of Hebron.
At the end of a White House press briefing, Press Secretary Josh Earnest was asked about the report of the deaths, news of which broke in the middle of the briefing.
“We obviously condemn in the strongest possible term, violence that takes the lives of innocent civilians,” he said. “But I don’t want to react any further without having a chance to take a look at that report myself.”
The State Department briefing began about 20 minutes after news broke of the Israeli teenagers’ bodies being found.
Spokesperson Jen Psaki urged "continued security cooperation” between the Israelis and Palestinians, despite "the tragedy and the enormous pain on the ground as a result."
She would not speculate on how the U.S. interaction with the new Palestinian unity government might change in light of this news. | Armed Conflict | June 2014 | ['(ABC News America)', '(Jpost)'] |
Steve Bannon resigns as President Donald Trump's White House Chief Strategist. | BRIDGEWATER, N.J. — Stephen K. Bannon, the embattled chief strategist who helped President Trump win the 2016 election by embracing their shared nationalist impulses, departed the White House on Friday after a turbulent tenure shaping the fiery populism of the president’s first seven months in office.
Mr. Bannon’s exit, the latest in a string of high-profile West Wing shake-ups, came as Mr. Trump is under fire for saying that “both sides” were to blame for last week’s deadly violence in Charlottesville, Va. Critics accused the president of channeling Mr. Bannon when he equated white supremacists and neo-Nazis with the left-wing protesters who opposed them.
“White House Chief of Staff John Kelly and Steve Bannon have mutually agreed today would be Steve’s last day,” Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary, said in a statement. “We are grateful for his service and wish him the best.”
Mr. Bannon’s outsized influence on the president, captured in a February cover of Time magazine with the headline “The Great Manipulator,” was reflected in the response to his departure.
Conservatives groused that they lost a key advocate inside the White House and worried aloud that Mr. Trump would shift left, while cheers erupted on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange when headlines about Mr. Bannon’s ouster appeared. Both the Standard & Poor’s 500 stock index and the Dow Jones industrial average immediately rose, though they ended the day slightly down.
His removal is a victory for Mr. Kelly, a retired Marine Corps general whose mission is to impose discipline on White House personnel. A caustic presence in a chaotic West Wing, Mr. Bannon frequently clashed with other aides as they fought over trade, the war in Afghanistan, taxes, immigration and the role of government.
In an interview this week with The American Prospect, Mr. Bannon mocked his colleagues, including Gary D. Cohn, one of the president’s chief economic advisers, saying they were “wetting themselves” out of a fear of radically changing trade policy.
Mr. Trump had recently grown weary of Mr. Bannon, complaining to other advisers that he believed his chief strategist had been leaking information to reporters and was taking too much credit for the president’s successes. The situation had become untenable long before Friday, according to advisers close to Mr. Trump who had been urging the president to remove Mr. Bannon; in turn, people close to Mr. Bannon also were urging him to step down.
By Friday night, Mr. Bannon was already back at the far-right Breitbart News, chairing an editorial meeting at the organization he helped run before joining Mr. Trump’s campaign and where he can continue to advance his agenda.
Mr. Bannon can still wield influence from outside the West Wing. He believes he can use his perch at Breitbart — which has given a platform to the so-called alt-right, a loose collection of activists, some of whom espouse openly racist and anti-Semitic views — to publicly pressure the president.
And he may still play an insider’s role as a confidant for the president, offering advice and counsel, much like other former advisers who still frequently consult with Mr. Trump. Mr. Bannon had formed a philosophical alliance with Mr. Trump, and they shared an unlikely chemistry.
Mr. Bannon has indicated to people that he does not intend to harm Mr. Trump and he has promised to be somewhat reserved about other administration officials, including Jared Kushner, Mr. Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, and his wife, Ivanka Trump, the president’s daughter.
“In many ways I think I can be more effective fighting from the outside for the agenda President Trump ran on. And anyone who stands in our way, we will go to war with,” Mr. Bannon said on Friday.
But his former colleagues in the West Wing are uncertain how long that will last.
Joel Pollak, a Breitbart executive, tweeted after Mr. Bannon’s departure was made public a single word with a hashtag: “#WAR.” Mr. Bannon called reporters to suggest Mr. Pollak had gone too far, but he also acknowledged his own disappointment at departing the White House.
He told The Weekly Standard: “The Trump presidency that we fought for, and won, is over. We still have a huge movement, and we will make something of this Trump presidency. But that presidency is over. It’ll be something else. And there’ll be all kinds of fights, and there’ll be good days and bad days, but that presidency is over.”
Mr. Bannon later clarified to The New York Times that he did not mean the Trump agenda was over; instead, he said he was referring to his direct work with Mr. Trump, from the end of the campaign to the first stages of his presidency.
Some resigned, others were forced out or fired.
Still, allies of the president predicted that Mr. Bannon’s ouster would help Mr. Trump’s agenda.
“I think it’s going to be good for both Steve and for the president,” said Christopher Ruddy, the chief executive of Newsmax Media who has known the president for years.
“The president has a major hurdle in the fall, I think, in getting legislation passed,” Mr. Ruddy said. He cited several lawmakers who had told the White House “that they had a real problem with Steve because of Breitbart, and Breitbart’s been a thorn in the side for a lot of congressional Republicans.”
The president has struggled to overcome the dysfunction that has plagued his administration. Bitter feuds among aides were frequently showcased on cable news and in the pages of newspapers. Mr. Bannon was among those suspected of repeatedly leaking the details of internal White House debates.
“I’m going to nominate this White House for a Tony Award for the most drama, not the best drama but the most drama,” said Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who served as President Barack Obama’s first chief of staff. “I’ve lost track, eight months in, how many people have been fired? How many have left?”
Mr. Trump’s first year has been plagued by departures, including Anthony Scaramucci and Michael Dubke, both of whom served as communications director; Michael T. Flynn, the president’s first national security adviser; Sean Spicer, the press secretary; and Reince Priebus, who was chief of staff before Mr. Kelly.
The sense of chaos continued on Friday as Carl Icahn, a billionaire investor who was advising Mr. Trump on regulatory issues, announced he was stepping down from that role. And A.R. Bernard, a pastor on the president’s Evangelical Advisory Board, quit, citing a “deepening conflict in values between myself and the administration.”
By dismissing Mr. Bannon, the president loses the most visible avatar of the nationalist agenda that propelled him to victory. Contentious and difficult, Mr. Bannon was nonetheless a driving force behind the president’s most high-profile policies: imposing a ban on travelers from several majority-Muslim countries; shrinking the federal bureaucracy; shedding regulations; and rethinking trade policies by aggressively confronting China and other countries.
He was also an opponent of Mr. Cohn, a former official at Goldman Sachs, and Dina Powell, the deputy national security adviser who had also worked on Wall Street. Mr. Cohn is a registered Democrat, and both he and Ms. Powell have been denounced by conservative media outlets as being antithetical to Mr. Trump’s populist message.
Mr. Bannon had become increasingly critical of Mr. Trump, according to a person close to both men, complaining that the president lacked the political skills and discipline to avoid a succession of self-inflicted public relations disasters.
But ultimately, he viewed the president as losing sight of what propelled Mr. Trump to the White House. On one hand, Mr. Bannon told friends that Mr. Trump was a populist savant who had a deeper connection with the alienated white working class than any politician in the last half-century. But Mr. Bannon, a former naval officer, also saw the president as increasingly trapped by the generals he surrounded himself with, and moving toward an interventionist foreign policy.
Mr. Bannon complained bitterly about the president’s provocative and unscripted threats to North Korea and was especially concerned about a wider attempt to reassert American military power in the Western Hemisphere. He told his small circle of like-minded confidants in the West Wing that he feared the president would be talked into an intervention in Venezuela, where President Nicolás Maduro has been cracking down on the opposition amid a deteriorating economic and political situation.
Last week, Mr. Trump suggested that a military option was under consideration in Venezuela. Mr. Bannon told people close to him that the statement indicated the president is relying too heavily on advisers who want him to embark on “military adventures.”
Mr. Bannon frequently clashed with Mr. Kushner and others in the administration who sought a more traditional, globalist approach to the world’s problems. He also had a long-running feud with Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, the national security adviser.
There were different interpretations of how Mr. Bannon left his job, which had been long anticipated in Washington.
One White House official, who would not be named discussing the president’s thinking, said Mr. Trump has wanted to remove Mr. Bannon since he ousted Mr. Priebus three weeks ago. Since then, Mr. Kelly has been evaluating Mr. Bannon’s status, according to the official.
But a person close to Mr. Bannon insisted that the parting of ways was his idea, and that he had submitted his resignation to the president on Aug. 7, to be announced at the start of this week, timed to his one-year anniversary of working for Mr. Trump.
According to three people close to the discussions, Mr. Trump and Mr. Bannon agreed during the previous week that he would depart. But the violence in Charlottesville pushed Mr. Bannon closer to Mr. Trump; he encouraged the president to stand by his impulses in his response and, one of the three people said, sought to stay on longer.
That became untenable after the American Prospect interview, in which he mocked colleagues, though he later said he thought was off the record. In it, Mr. Bannon also contradicted Mr. Trump’s tough threats toward North Korea, saying “there’s no military solution here, they got us.” Privately, several White House officials said that Mr. Bannon appeared to be provoking Mr. Trump.
| Government Job change - Resignation_Dismissal | August 2017 | ['(ABC News)', '(NYT)'] |
Two bombs explode at the Southern Hotel in Pattani killing one person and injuring 30. | BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand’s military government said on Wednesday there was no connection between two bombings overnight that killed one person in the southern town of Pattani and a wave of deadly attacks on tourist spots this month.
Blast kills one, wounds 30 in southern Thailand
00:58
One Thai person was killed and 30 wounded when two bombs exploded late on Tuesday at a hotel in the deep-south town of Pattani, less than two weeks after a wave of bombings hit towns in seven provinces in the central south.
No group has claimed responsibility for the tourist-town bombings, which killed four and wounded dozens, including foreigners, but suspicion has centered on Muslim separatists based in the deep south of the predominantly Buddhist country.
Security experts say the ethnic Malay, Muslim insurgents have a record of coordinated bomb attacks, which they usually do not claim.
Defence Minister Prawit Wongsuwan, however, ruled out any link between the earlier attacks and the twin bombs in Pattani, which is near the Malaysian border and has for years been plagued by separatist violence, particularly since an intensification of the decades-old insurgency from 2004.
“I am sure that the incident in Pattani last night has nothing to do with the seven provinces attacks,” Prawit told reporters without elaborating.
Tourist towns in the central south have for years been spared any spill-over of violence from the deep south and analysts say the government is loath to blame the coordinated bombings this month on southern insurgents because of fear of damaging the tourist industry.
No arrests have been made in connection with the attacks in the tourist towns but warrants for three suspects have been issued. Authorities have given few details of the suspects.
Police said the first explosion in Pattani was in a carpark at the back of the hotel and caused no casualties. The second bomb at hotel’s front entrance appeared to have been in a stolen hospital pick-up truck.
The war between government troops and insurgents has killed more than 6,500 people in the three southern-most provinces of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat, over the past 12 years.
Talks between the government and a handful of shadowy insurgent groups began in 2013 under the civilian government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, but have stalled since the military overthrew her in 2014.
Prawit said the military government would not talk with separatists until there was peace.
Experts say the spate of attacks would appear to reflect frustration over the stalled negotiations.
“It’s possible that it is related to uncertainty about the peace talks,” said Srisompop Jitpiromsri, an expert on the conflict who runs the Pattani-based Deep South Watch, which monitors violence.
Rungrawee Chalermsripinyorat, an independent analyst who has written two books on the conflict, said the blasts this month were likely the work of the Barisan Revolusi Nasional (National Revolutionary Front, or BRN), which has carried out “similar patterns of attack” in the past.
“They could be sending a message to the government to take the peace dialogue more seriously,” she said.
Still, the military insists security in the south has improved. The number of soldiers in the south is due to be cut to about 60,000 from 70,000 in 2011, a military spokesman said.
There is deep distrust between Muslims and authorities in the region, which rights groups say is partly due to decades of government neglect and a culture of impunity among military officials operating there.
The three provinces soundly rejected a referendum this month on a new military-backed constitution, which passed convincingly in most of the rest of Thailand.
| Armed Conflict | August 2016 | ['(Reuters)'] |
The United States Senate confirms Timothy F. Geithner as Secretary of the Treasury. | WASHINGTON Timothy F. Geithner was sworn in as secretary of the Treasury on Monday evening, confirmed by a Senate majority that concluded that his experience in government and finance outweighed concerns about recent disclosures of some $34,000 in past tax delinquencies.
The vote was 60 to 34.
The tax controversy had delayed Mr. Geithner’s confirmation, keeping him from taking office right after Barack Obama’s inauguration last Tuesday as administration officials had hoped, given the economic emergency.
| Government Job change - Appoint_Inauguration | January 2009 | ['(The New York Times)'] |
Thousands of people protest in Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney, calling for the resignation or ouster of Prime Minister Scott Morrison, accusing him of negligence over the Australian bushfires. | Thousands of protesters have turned out in Melbourne and Sydney calling for PM Scott Morrison to be sacked and greater action on climate change. Thousands of protestors are marching around Australia as they call for greater action on climate change from Australian Prime minister Scott Morrison and his conservative government.
Protesters hold up signs at a rally in Sydney Picture: Matrix.Source:Matrix
Thousands of protesters have crowded into Australia’s capital cities and regional centres for a rally against Prime Minister Scott Morrison and to call for action on climate change.
The Sack ScoMo protests, organised by Uni Students for Climate Justice, were held in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne — where the rain did little to dampen the mood of the large crowd.
They went ahead despite calls from Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews and Victoria Police who expressed concern that police would need to be pulled away from bushfires to monitor the large crowds.
#SackScoMo protest, Melbourne. @newscomauHQ pic.twitter.com/nDj3olb5qw
Tees selling for $40 outside Melbourne's #SackScoMo protest going quickly, despite the rain. pic.twitter.com/YDkREsY9L6
Protesters in Sydney lampoon Scott Morrison for his Hawaiian holiday. Picture: Matrix.Source:Matrix
The protests outside the Sydney Town Hall. Picture: @MichaelM_ACT/TwitterSource:Twitter
A sea of umbrellas could be seen along the steps of Victoria’s State Library and protesters spilt across Swanston Street and towards Melbourne Central Station.
Some used megaphones to speak to small groups who sheltered from the rain. T-shirts, selling for $40 each, read F*** SCOMO.
Placards help by protesters read “We deserve more than your negligence”, “This is ecosystem collapse” and “We can’t breathe”.
Protesters told news.com.au they were pleased with the turnout.
“There are so many people here, despite the weather. It proves that people really care about the cause and are tired of waiting for action,” one young woman said.
In Sydney, thousands more gathered outside Sydney Town Hall to hear from speakers.
Massive climate rally at Sydney Town Hall. #SackScoMo #AustraliaFires #auspol pic.twitter.com/x0ikI9WE6X
Just some of the signs at the #SackScoMo #climatestrike in Sydney @abcsydney @ABC_NewsRadio pic.twitter.com/ISHcAytMdl
Whoops and cheers as Senator Mehreen Faruqi calls for a round of applause for all firefighters and volunteers battling the bushfires: @CentralNewsUTS #AustralianBushfireDisaster #nswbushfire #SackScoMo pic.twitter.com/3VRJo7Nflo
Can barely capture the whole crowd.Huge climate/bushfires/dump ScoMo protest outside Sydney town hall.Has shut down George and Park Street intersection. #SackScoMo #AustraliaFires pic.twitter.com/KYK12k7e94
People in Adelaide also took to the streets. Picture: @MarlenRonald/TwitterSource:Twitter
Crowds in Canberra. Picture: @mcanulty_mark/TwitterSource:Twitter
Organisers Uni Students for Climate Justice wrote on Facebook they want to “make the climate criminals pay” and “keep up the pressure”.
It comes as NSW authorities warn of a “long night” with almost a dozen fires flaring up across the state.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian said besides the two new fires, everything else was playing out as forecast with the hot and windy conditions on Friday. But she urged communities remain vigilant.
“In essence, we know it’s going to be a long and difficult night,” Ms Berejiklian said.
“We won’t know the extent of the impact of these fires until early tomorrow morning.”
| Protest_Online Condemnation | January 2020 | ['(News)'] |
The new government of Kyrgyzstan is sworn in with Prime Minister Sooronbay Jeenbekov taking the oath of office. | BISHKEK -- The new government of Kyrgyzstan, led by Prime Minister Sooronbai Jeenbekov, has taken the oath of office.
President Almazbek Atambaev attended the oath ceremony held in the parliament in Bishkek on April 28.
Lawmakers elected Jeenbekov as prime minister on April 13, two days after Prime Minister Temir Sariev resigned in the midst of a corruption scandal.
Jeenbekov's brother, Asylbek Jeenbekov, quit the post of parliament speaker after Sooronbai Jeenbekov was nominated to become Kyrgyzstan's prime minister.
On April 27, the Kyrgyz parliament elected Chynybai Tursunbekov, of the Social Democratic Party, as the parliament's new speaker in the second round of a secret ballot.
RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service is an award-winning, multimedia source of independent news and informed debate, covering major stories and underreported topics, including women, minority rights, high-level corruption, and religious radicalism. | Government Job change - Appoint_Inauguration | April 2016 | ['(Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)'] |
Abu Sayyaf militants ambush and kill 11 Philippine Army troops and wound 14 others in the southern Sulu Province, according to general officer Cirilito Sobejana. | MANILA (AFP) - Islamic State-linked (ISIS) militants killed 11 Philippine soldiers and wounded 14 others on Friday (April 17) in the group's deadliest attack in over a year, the military said.
The extremists belong to Abu Sayyaf - a group based in the southern Philippines that has engaged in bombings as well as kidnappings of Western tourists and missionaries for ransom since the early 1990s.
They also have ties to Islamic State in Iraq and Syria militants seeking to set up a caliphate in South-east Asia.
The attack occurred on a remote island in the country's south.
Regional military commander Lieutenant-General Cirilito Sobejana told reporters Abu Sayyaf carried out the attack, adding the soldiers were ambushed and had been pursuing security operations against the militants in Sulu province.
Most of the Philippines is under quarantine to stem the spread of coronavirus that has infected nearly 6,000 people and killed more than 380 nationwide.
Friday's attack is the deadliest involving Abu Sayyaf militants since two suicide bombers blew themselves up at the Catholic cathedral in Sulu province in January last year, killing 21 people.
The military have since mounted operations to free hostages held by Abu Sayyaf, including crew members of foreign cargo vessels abducted in Sulu waters.
An Abu Sayyaf faction took part in the May 2017 seizure by ISIS-linked gunmen of the southern Philippine city of Marawi.
Philippine troops recaptured the bombed out city after a five-month campaign that claimed more than a thousand lives. | Armed Conflict | April 2020 | ['(The Straights Times)'] |
The American death toll from Hurricane Ike rises to 8. | GALVESTON, Tex. Emergency officials struggled to carry out rescue efforts on Sunday after Hurricane Ike roared across a wide swath of Texas, deluging the city of Galveston and other coastal areas with a surge of water, leaving extensive damage across metropolitan Houston, and killing at least eight people.
Across the Gulf Coast, rescue workers scoured waterlogged neighborhoods and raced down streets that had turned to rivers, looking for some of the more than 140,000 Texans who refused orders to evacuate and were now stranded in flattened homes or inundated towns. Some had been rescued, but thousands more were waiting on emergency teams. State and federal officials said Hurricane Ike had claimed at least three lives on Galveston Island and forced them to conduct 1,948 rescues, including 394 by air. Over all, five people were killed in Texas, along with two people in Louisiana and one person in Arkansas, The Associated Press reported.
More than 500 National Guardsmen descended on southeast Texas on Sunday, and in Houston, where more than half of the city was without power, the Police Department announced a weeklong nighttime curfew, from 9 p.m. until 6 a.m. Advertisement
President Bush, a former governor of Texas, said Sunday that he would be traveling to the state on Tuesday to assess the storm’s aftermath and offer support to local officials. The first priority, he said, was restoring services and getting power up and running, which could take weeks. As of Sunday afternoon, at least 2.8 million Texans were without power.
“This is a tough storm, and it’s one that is going to require time for people to recover,” said Mr. Bush, who on Saturday issued a major disaster declaration for 29 counties in Texas. R. David Paulison, head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said it was too early to determine the full impact of the storm, and urged evacuees hoping to return to remain where they are for at least another day.
Advertisement
“We’re asking people just to be patient.” he said in an interview on CNN on Sunday. “Don’t be in a hurry. If you’re in a safe place, whether a shelter or hotel or motel, or staying with friends and family, just stay right there.”
At a news conference on Sunday, Gov. Rick Perry of Texas warned that people who attempted to return to Galveston and other areas that were hit hard would have no power, no water and no basic services. At least three bodies have been recovered during search and recovery missions in Galveston including one person who was found in a submerged vehicle, The Associated Press reported and crews are still working their way through devastated coastal areas. “If you are not on the island, do not make any attempt to try to come back onto the island until the local officials have told you that it is O.K..,” Mr. Perry said. “That is a very, very important piece of information that we want to drive home.”
With wind gusts approaching 100 miles per hour, Ike, a 600-mile-wide Category 2 hurricane, peeled sheets of steel off skyscrapers here, smashed bus shelters and blew out windows, sending shattered glass and debris across the nation’s fourth-largest city, with a population of 2.2 million.
The storm came ashore on Galveston Island, which in 1900 suffered one of the worst hurricanes to hit the United States. Winds covered the main highway with a layer of boats and debris, shutting it down. In Orange, Tex., near the Louisiana coast, the sea rose so rapidly that people were forced to flee to attics and roofs, and the city used trucks to rescue them, the local police said.
Yet officials expressed relief that the damage was not as catastrophic as federal and state officials had warned it would be.
Advertisement
“Fortunately the worst-case scenario did not occur,” Governor Perry said Saturday. “The good news is the surge was not as big as we thought it would be.”
Almost the entire metropolitan area lost power in the hurricane, and authorities said more than three million people were trying to manage in the dark. Utility officials say it could be weeks before power is restored throughout the region.
Ike was downgraded to a tropical depression by the National Hurricane Center on Sunday, but as it continued moving through the Midwest, it dumped half a foot of rain in parts of Missouri and Illinois.
In the Chicago area, four rivers were at or above flood stage, sending water pouring into streets, roads, and highways, and forcing some people to evacuate. About 350 homes in the Albany Park section of Chicago were damaged or flooded, and 40 people had to be evacuated by boat, John Brooks, the city’s fire commissioner, told The Associated Press. In Texas, the magnitude of the power loss and the flooding raised the possibility that some major oil refineries could take more than a week to reopen. As a result, gasoline prices jumped an average of 6 cents a gallon around the country. The Associated Press reported that a gallon of gas rose above $5 at a few stations in Tennessee and Alabama. In Texas, officials feared a gasoline shortage as oil refiners assessed the damage from Ike.
Still, crude oil prices edged below $100 a barrel in electronic trading Sunday, Bloomberg News reported, and gasoline futures prices declined on signs that the damage to refineries and offshore drilling platforms was not as severe as feared. Advertisement
Some officials at refining companies said early damage reports were encouraging because the center of the storm missed the refineries. The surge of water into Galveston’s shipping channel, an important depot for imported oil, was not as strong as many had feared, and officials hope to reopen it early in the week if no major obstacles are blocking shipping lanes.
The expectations at nightfall Friday that a virtual tsunami of 20-foot waves would crash directly into Galveston, a city of 57,000, were fortunately dashed after midnight when the eye of the hurricane hit shore. City officials estimated the seas rose about 12 feet, though some tide gauges showed a 15-foot rise, and federal officials said it would take time to determine the exact number.
Whatever the height of the surge, longtime residents of Galveston said the damage was still the worst they had seen.
More than two million people evacuated coastal areas of Texas and Louisiana before the storm struck. But the authorities estimated that more than 100,000 people throughout the region, including 20,000 in Galveston, had disregarded mandatory evacuation orders.
At least 100,000 homes were inundated by surging waters, while isolated fires broke out around the region when trees and flying objects fell on electrical transformers, causing sparks.
Advertisement
In Houston, only the downtown area and the medical center section had power as of Sunday morning.
“It’s going to be weeks before we get power to the last customers,” said Mike Rodgers, a spokesman for Entergy Texas, the primary electricity provider between Houston and the Louisiana border. Mr. Rodgers said damage to the electric grid was much more widespread than after Hurricane Rita, which hit the area in 2005.
Civic leaders asked residents to conserve water and call 911 only in life-or-death situations.
“We don’t know what we’re going to find,” said Mayor Lyda Ann Thomas of Galveston, according to The Houston Chronicle. “We hope we’ll find that the people who didn’t leave here are alive and well.”
Despite the devastating flooding in Galveston, experts said the storm surge had not been as severe as some predicted.
Hurricane Ike Batters Texas Benton McGee, a hydrologist with the United States Geological Survey, told The Associated Press that the surge at Galveston, where the storm made landfall, was about 11 feet. Forecasters had predicted a surge of up to 25 feet.
But Stacey Stewart, a senior hurricane analyst at the National Hurricane Center, defended the government’s predictions of a 15- to 20-foot surge and said it would take time to determine the exact rise in sea level.
“I wouldn’t go out and say that surge values weren’t as high as predicted,” he said. “We have received reports of 15 feet and the sea wall being topped.”
Advertisement
Mr. Stewart said a shift in the storm’s track to the north just before landfall might have kept the rise in sea levels on the lower side of what had been forecast.
Hurricane Ike's Aftermath The storm moved through the region more quickly than some previous hurricanes and tropical storms, limiting flooding. By early Saturday afternoon, the National Hurricane Center had downgraded Hurricane Ike to a tropical storm. The storm was downgraded further to a tropical depression early Sunday morning as it moved over Arkansas.
Mike Varela, chief of the Galveston Fire Department, said flooding was 8- to 10-feet deep in some areas of the city. “The low-lying neighborhoods are extremely flooded right now,” Chief Varela said.
Twenty-two men aboard a crippled freighter, which was adrift off the coast of Galveston when the hurricane hit, came through the storm safely, the Coast Guard said.
Initial reports from residential neighborhoods around Houston suggested that flooding and property damage were not as serious as some had feared early in the morning after hearing reports from downtown, where windows were shattered on skyscrapers and hotels.
At Reliant Park, in southwest Houston, the storm tore chunks from the retractable roof of the football stadium, the park’s president and general manager told The Associated Press. The game between the Texans and the Baltimore Ravens scheduled for Monday night would probably have to be postponed, he said. | Hurricanes_Tornado_Storm_Blizzard | September 2008 | ['(The New York Times)'] |
Hurricane Gonzalo hits Bermuda becoming the strongest storm to hit the island in a decade. , | Follow NBC News Hurricane Gonzalo gained strength Thursday as it churned toward Bermuda, packing Category 4 might with sustained winds of 145 miles per hour. Bermuda issued a hurricane watch for Gonzalo, which is expected to pass "perilously close" to the island on Friday afternoon, according to The Weather Channel. It said a rip current threat and elevated surf will hit the East Coast of the U.S. on Thursday. The storm was about 485 miles southwest of the tiny Atlantic island as of 11 a.m. ET, according to the National Hurricane Center.
The Hurricane Center said Gonzalo is expected to be a "dangerous" hurricane when it near Bermuda, warning Thursday that "preparations to protect life and property should be rushed to completion today." Gonzalo, the seventh named storm of the 2014 Atlantic hurricane season, formed as a tropical storm early Sunday afternoon and was upgraded to the season's sixth hurricane late Monday afternoon. It is the strongest Atlantic hurricane since Ophelia in 2011.
In the Pacific, Hawaii canceled all public schools for Friday on the Big Island and prepared to open shelters as it braces for the arrival of Tropical Storm Ana, which is expected to strengthen to a hurricane and could be felt as soon as Friday. Winds are projected to blow up to 70 mph.
#Gonzalo reached 110kt before exiting the tropics – strongest Atlantic hurricane *in the tropics* since #Igor 2010 pic.twitter.com/dko2CTh1o0 | Hurricanes_Tornado_Storm_Blizzard | October 2014 | ['(NBC News)', '(Reuters)'] |
Saudi Arabia announces the arrest of billionaire investor Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal, plus at least 10 other princes, four government ministers and tens of former ministers by Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman's newly formed anti-corruption agency. | LONDON — Saudi Arabia announced the arrest on Saturday night of the prominent billionaire investor Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, plus at least 10 other princes, four ministers and tens of former ministers.
The announcement of the arrests was made over Al Arabiya, the Saudi-owned satellite network whose broadcasts are officially approved. Prince Alwaleed’s arrest is sure to send shock waves both through the kingdom and the world’s major financial centers. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Arrest | November 2017 | ['(AFP via Yahoo!)', '(The New York Times)'] |
Cyclone Phailin: India's Odisha and Andhra Pradesh prepare for storm. | As many as 500,000 people in India have been evacuated as a massive cyclone sweeps through the Bay of Bengal towards the east coast. Cyclone Phailin, categorised as "very severe" by weather forecasters, is expected to hit Orissa and Andhra Pradesh states on Saturday evening.
The Meteorological Department has predicted the storm will bring winds of up to 220km/h (136mph).
A super-cyclone in 1999 killed more than 10,000 people in Orissa.
But officials say this time they are better prepared, the BBC's Sanjoy Majumder in Orissa reports.
The Meteorological Department said Cyclone Phailin was due to make landfall late on Saturday evening, Indian time. The centre of the storm was expected to hit the coast around the town of Gopalpur. Officials said Cyclone Phailin would bring a storm surge of at least 3m (10ft) that was likely to cause "extensive damage" to mud houses on the coast. "No-one will be allowed to stay in mud and thatched houses in the coastal areas,'' said Orissa's Disaster Management Minister Surya Narayan Patra.
The army is on standby in the two states for emergency and relief operations. Officials said helicopters and food packages were ready to be dropped in the storm-affected areas. Meanwhile, the US Navy's Joint Typhoon Warning Centre predicted that Phailin could produce gusts of up to 296km/h (184 mph), while the London-based Tropical Storm Risk classified Phailin as a Category Five storm - the most powerful. Fishermen have been asked not to venture out to sea.
Heavy rain and winds have already struck Orissa, where authorities have set up storm shelters for evacuees.
Janmejay Mohapatra, a resident of Orissa state capital Bhubaneswar, said it was too dangerous to go out now, as trees were down and debris was flying everywhere.
"Already the rain is very heavy and the wind is gusting at 100-120km an hour," he told the BBC. "The phone lines are down where I am and we have no electricity."
Minister Surya Narayan Patra said:"We are fighting against nature. We are better prepared this time, we learnt a lot from 1999."
India's eastern coast and Bangladesh are routinely hit by cyclonic storms between April and November which cause deaths and widespread damage to property.
In December 2011, Cyclone Thane hit the southern state of Tamil Nadu, killing dozens of people.
Animated guide: Hurricanes
Three India sailors' bodies found
Dozens dead as India hit by cyclone
| Hurricanes_Tornado_Storm_Blizzard | October 2013 | ['(BBC)'] |
Hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan people take to the streets to protest socio-economic and political situation of the country and to demand a better economic situation. Large competing anti-Maduro and anti-Guaidó rallies are held in Caracas. | CARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuela’s embattled president, Nicolás Maduro, faced challenges on multiple fronts Saturday, as massive anti-government rallies choked the streets, a top general defected and the opposition urged European powers to join the international alliance against him.
The dramatic events underscored the pressures mounting on Maduro. They also suggested the strategies ahead for opposition leader Juan Guaidó — an untested 35-year-old industrial engineer — as he tries to expand Maduro’s global isolation and appeals for the support of more Venezuelans.
Guaidó, who heads the opposition-controlled National Assembly, has won the backing of the United States and a host of other nations since declaring Maduro a usurper and himself interim president.
Across the nation, huge numbers of protesters — possibly hundreds of thousands — took to the streets.
The outpouring appeared to be one of the largest demonstrations ever against Maduro and the deep crises facing Venezuela under his leadership. Hyperinflation and shortages of food and medicines have fueled hunger, diseases and a historic outflow of migrants.
“We are marching because we can’t take this situation anymore,” said Carmen Sanchez, 42, who lives in the slum of Petare and joined a protest in Caracas that stretched for many city blocks and onto the balconies of buildings.
“We don’t have enough money for food. This government has to resign for Venezuela to be beautiful again, and I have faith Guaidó will bring us success,” she said.
The demonstrations alone were unlikely to cause Maduro to buckle. But opposition leaders also hope large-scale protests — in combination with international isolation and sanctions — will push Maduro to negotiate his exit or prod the military to force him out.
Maduro, however, was already hit by a blow from within: A senior figure in the armed forces broke publicly from the government. It marked the most serious act of dissent yet from the military brass, which has stood as Maduro’s main bulwark against the opposition.
In a video circulating on social media Saturday morning, an acting Venezuelan air force general, Francisco Yanez, denounced the “dictatorship” of Maduro and recognized opposition leader Guaidó’s claim as the nation’s legitimate interim leader.
“People of Venezuela, 90 percent of the armed forces are not with the dictator,” Yanez, in uniform, said in a video that he appeared to have filmed himself. “The transition to democracy is imminent.”
Venezuela’s crisis in 5 charts
The Twitter account of Venezuela’s air force, which consistently retweets Maduro and other government officials, released a photo of the video with the word “traitor” in red letters scrawled over Yanez’s face.
“We have to highlight that he has no command over troops and less so over air force units,” an air force tweet said. “He has no leadership at the air force and was only serving planning functions.”
For the opposition, the massive protests on Saturday marked a key step forward in its ability to sustain a social uprising against Maduro. The anointed successor of leftist Hugo Chávez, who died in 2013, Maduro was sworn in for a new six-year term last month following elections internationally derided as fraudulent.
Guaidó has invoked constitutional powers declaring himself the nation’s rightful interim leader, setting up a global power play that has seen Russia and Cuba back Maduro while a growing number of Western nations back Guaidó.
In an attempt to rally his side, Maduro brought supporters onto the streets for counterprotests, to mark 20 years of socialist rule.
Guaidó, speaking to the masses in a hoarse voice, appealed to “Chavistas” — those who have long supported Chávez.
“I want to send a message to the Chavista people,” Guaidó said. “You believed in a project, and now you’ve been disappointed.
“The military and the world take note,” he added. “There are many, many people filling the streets of Venezuela today. This movement is historic, and unstoppable.”
At the smaller pro-government rally, meanwhile, people in the crowd shouted, “Prison for Guaidó!” Maduro suggested that he still has moves to make.
“Everything at its right time,” he told supporters. “We know what we have to do in every moment. Justice sometimes takes time, but it comes.”
Maduro also called for new elections for the opposition-controlled National Assembly. Stripped of its power in 2017 by the government, the body has nevertheless continued to meet, and Guaidó’s constitutional claim as interim leader is based on his being the elected head of the chamber.
Although official media did not broadcast the protests, government forces appeared to be using relative restraint in crowd control, though some melees were reported among small groups of protesters and security forces. A video circulating on social media showed a national police officer in the city of Barquisimeto, about 220 miles west of Caracas, telling protesters that he would not use violence against them. One protester was shown hugging the guard.
Sanchez said recent raids by security forces in Petare have been terrifying. “Last week was horrible. They took kids from their homes. We were all threatened,” she said.
The pro-government demonstration in central Caracas had drawn about 300 people by 10:30 a.m. Dressed in red and carrying ruling party flags, they were marching toward the presidential palace.
“Our people, once again, overflowing this avenue,” Maduro said, addressing his supporters. “Those who accuse us of being a dictatorship must know that since the foundation of the revolution, we have become a profoundly free and democratic people. Venezuela will never have a dictatorship.”
On Saturday, Guaidó outlined a plan to ship humanitarian aid into the economically shattered country. He announced three staging areas, on Venezuela’s borders with Colombia and Brazil and on one nearby Caribbean island.
Maduro has resisted allowing in international aid, and Guaidó has hoped to use caravans of food to challenge the military and government’s will. U.S. national security adviser John Bolton tweeted that the United States would back the effort.
“It will be a dilemma for the officers,” Guaidó said. “You, generals, will decide.”
Trump’s sanctions hit Venezuela where it hurts: It’s oil.
The Trump administration has said no options are “off the table” as it seeks to pressure Maduro to resign. U.S. officials in the past week threw up new sanctions that effectively cut Maduro off from Venezuela’s most important foreign revenue stream: oil sales to the United States.
Maduro successfully rode out four months of protests in 2017 after an iron-fisted response left more than 100 dead. Since protests restarted two weeks ago, the government has unleashed another wave of repression that has left at least 35 dead and 850 detained.
The defection of Yanez, the air force general, suggested new cracks in the military hierarchy that has previously proclaimed steadfast loyalty to Maduro.
Antonio Rivero, a former Venezuelan general now living in exile in Miami, said that Yanez did not appear to command a large contingent of troops and that his strategy remained unclear — as did his current whereabouts.
“For now, I see him isolated. He doesn’t have a division behind him,” Rivero said.
On Jan. 21, a group of national guard soldiers took to the streets of a western Caracas slum and filmed themselves calling people to the streets. They had taken weapons from a military unit. But the small insurrection was quickly quashed, and 27 soldiers were jailed.
Maduro has called for dialogue with the opposition, saying he is willing to meet Guaidó “wherever, whenever, he wants.” But the opposition, which has engaged in fruitless roundtables with the government before, has seen the offer as a ruse to buy time.
| Protest_Online Condemnation | February 2019 | ['(The Washington Post)'] |
President of Brazil Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva takes his last tour of Africa as president. | Brazil is committed to help Africa build a future of stability and development, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has said. On his last African tour as president, he said Brazil could never repay its historic debt to the continent.
His successor would have a moral duty to increase trade and investment, he told West African leaders in Cape Verde Brazilian trade with Africa has quadrupled since Lula became president in 2002. The Brazilian leader has made improving links with Africa a vital part of his foreign policy, which emphasises "South-South" relations.
He has toured the continent at least ten times, visiting 25 different countries. Despite high popularity ratings at home, he is barred by the Brazilian constitution from a third consecutive term as president and must step down after elections in October.
"Today we are united for the future," President Lula told a summit of the West African regional grouping Ecowas in Santa Maria, Cape Verde. "Brazil - not just me - took a political decision to make a re-encounter with the African continent."
He said Brazil could never repay its "historic debt" to Africa - a reference to the millions of Brazilians who are descended from African slaves. "Brazil would not be what it is today without the participation of millions of Africans who helped build our country."
He said Brazil was determined to help eliminate hunger and poverty in Africa through trade, investment and the transfer of technology. "Whoever comes after me has the moral, political and ethical obligation to do much more."
President Pedro Pires of Cape Verde paid homage to Lula on behalf of Ecowas. "Brazil is a country that is respected and listened to, and its president is a great defender of Africa's interests. It should have a permanent seat on the UN Security Council," he said. Trade between Brazil and Africa has grown from $6bn (£4bn) to $24bn (£16bn) under President Lula. Brazilian companies have invested heavily in oil and mining, and have taken on big infrastructure projects. Lula has also promoted cooperation on agricultural development and bio fuels, and launched an international television station - TV Brasil Internacional - that broadcasts to African nations. Lula's final tour also takes in Equatorial Guinea, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia and South Africa. He will attend the Fifa World Cup final as leader of the host country for the 2014 tournament. He said he hoped Brazil would face an African team in the final in 2014 | Diplomatic Visit | July 2010 | ['(BBC)'] |
A 6.6 magnitude earthquake hits near Ternate, Indonesia, followed by a 7.2 magnitude quake near Hokkaido, Japan. | Two powerful earthquakes have struck the north-eastern Indonesian Moluccas islands and Japan's northern island of Hokkaido, triggering tsunami alerts.
The first, which had a magnitude of 6.6, occurred at 0902 (0002 GMT) about 120km (75 miles) north of the city of Ternate, the US Geological Survey said. A few minutes later, a 7.2-magnitude quake hit Hokkaido's coast, 220km (135 miles) east of the capital, Sapporo. There have so far been no reports of casualties from either country. The Japan Meteorological Agency has issued a warning for a 50cm (20-inch) tsunami along the eastern coast of Hokkaido and the north-eastern coast of the country's main island of Honshu. The warning was later cancelled. A tsunami alert issued immediately after the tremor in the Moluccas islands was lifted by Indonesia's meteorological agency when the feared wave never came. "I felt the shaking but it wasn't really strong," Ojihan Washab, a hospital worker in Ternate, told the AFP news agency afterwards. In Japan, emergency procedures were put into effect. "Many people have evacuated up on higher ground." Jan Chadzynski told the BBC. "My daughter is in elementary school here, all her school has been evacuated to the roof of the school." A tsunami forms when energy from an earthquake vertically jolts the seabed by several metres, displacing a huge volume of water. An earthquake off Indonesia triggered the 2004 Asian tsunami, which killed approximately 220,000 people across the Indian Ocean. Indonesia and Japan both lie on the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire, one of the world's most seismically active areas. | Earthquakes | September 2008 | ['(BBC News)'] |
Despite massive protests in recent days, Romania's government adopts an emergency ordinance to decriminalize some graft offences. | BUCHAREST (Reuters) - More than 250,000 Romanians demonstrated on Wednesday against a government decree decriminalizing some graft offences, seen as the biggest retreat on reforms since the country joined the European Union in 2007.
Clashes break out at massive Romanian protests
Romania’s top judicial watchdog, the Superior Magistrates’ Council (CSM), earlier in the day filed a constitutional court challenge to the decree unveiled by the new Social Democrat government of Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu.
The number of protesters rose to a new high in the evening, reaching 130,000 to 150,000 outside the cabinet building in Bucharest.
Another 100,000 to 150,000 were estimated by riot police to have joined similar rallies in 55 other towns and cities.
The rally in the capital subsided peacefully by 2200 GMT, but after people left the square, a group of about 300 soccer ultras came in and threw fireworks and stones at riot police. The police dispersed them with tear gas. Two policemen and two protesters were slightly hurt by stones, the emergency service said.
The decree that triggered the nationwide protests was approved by the cabinet on Tuesday evening.
“Repeal it, then leave,” protesters shouted. “Thieves, thieves.” Many waved Romanian national flags.
“Our chances are small but it is important to fight,” said Gabriela Constantin, a 36-year-old architect.
If enforced, as planned, within 10 days, the decree would, among other things, decriminalize abuse-of-power offences in which the sums involved are less than 200,000 lei ($48,000).
That would put an end to the current trial of Social Democrat party leader Liviu Dragnea, accused of using his political influence to secure state salaries for two people working at his party headquarters between 2006 and 2013.
Dozens of other political figures from all parties stand to benefit from the decree.
“I don’t understand what the protesters are upset about,” Dragnea told reporters on Tuesday.
Two opposition parties, the centrist Liberals and the Save Romania Union USR, filed a no-confidence motion on Wednesday against the government which has little chance of succeeding.
As parliament opened for its first regular session of the year, USR lawmakers paraded banners reading “Shame” and other opposition deputies shouted “Resignation” or “Thieves”.
The Romanian leu EURRON=D2 fell as much as 1.4 percent against the euro to 4.5540, marking a seven-month low, while longer-term yields rose 14 basis points.
Romania’s Social Democrats won back power in a December 2016 election, one year after protesters drove them from office in an outpouring of anger over a deadly fire at a nightclub that many blamed on corruption and impunity.
Anti-corruption prosecutors are currently investigating over 2,000 abuse-of-power cases.
President Klaus Iohannis took part in an emergency meeting of the CSM, telling reporters afterwards:
“The problem is that one cannot act the way the government did in a country with the rule of law, which Romania is and wants to remain.”
“The fight against corruption needs to be advanced, not undone,” European Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker and his deputy said in a statement. “We are following the latest developments in Romania with great concern.”
Six western countries including Germany and the United States issued a joint statement warning that the government’s move would undermine Romania’s international reputation and position in the EU and NATO.
The decree would apply to ongoing investigations and trials as well as new cases. Criminal negligence would no longer be an offence, and the definition of conflict of interest would be narrowed.
The government on Tuesday also approved a draft bill that would grant prison pardons. It says it would bring the criminal code in line with recent constitutional court rulings and ease prison overcrowding, claims disputed by many senior judicial figures.
| Government Policy Changes | January 2017 | ['(Reuters)'] |
A total of 113 people are known to have died, with 190 more passengers missing and presumed trapped inside the vessel. Seven crew members are detained for their failure to evacuate Sewol ferry. The reason for sinking is not yet clear. | The confirmed death toll from the South Korean ferry that capsized last week has reached 113, as divers recovered more bodies from the sunken hull. Rescuers searching for bodies have been able to take advantage of better weather on Tuesday, officials say, with more than 190 passengers still missing or presumed trapped inside the vessel. The ferry tipped over and sank within two hours, but it is not yet clear why. The crew have been criticised for allegedly failing to save passengers. Five have been charged with not fulfilling their duty to evacuate passengers safely, officials told the South Korean Yonhap news agency. At least six other crew members are reported to have been detained. As the ship listed passengers were told to remain in rooms and cabins, reports suggest, amid confusion on the bridge over whether to order them to abandon ship. The first distress call from the sinking ferry was made by a boy with a shaking voice, officials told Reuters. It reported that his plea for help was followed by about 20 other emergency calls from children on board the ship. A crew member quoted by local media said that attempts to launch lifeboats were unsuccessful because of the tilt of the ship. Only two of the vessel's 46 lifeboats were reported to have been deployed.
South Korean President Park Geun-hye on Monday condemned the conduct of some of the crew, calling it "akin to murder". The BBC's Jonathan Head in nearby Jindo island says that the rescue operation has now become something of a grim routine, with police boats regularly returning from the scene of the disaster with bodies recovered by military divers.
Our correspondent says that most of the families of those still missing have accepted that no more survivors will be found. A total of 174 passengers were rescued from the Sewol, which capsized as it sailed from Incheon in the north-west to the southern island of Jeju. But there were 476 people on board, including 339 children and teachers on a school trip. Many were trapped inside the ship as it listed to one side and then sank.
Divers have managed to reach many of the cabins in the hull of the upturned ferry, although they are still trying to get into the ship's restaurant, where they believe many of the passengers were trapped. They have also loaded an underwater robot at the port this morning, ready to help in the operation to bring the hull to the surface.
Rescue officials say they will keep searching with divers for another two days, but that the families of the victims have agreed that the salvage operation can begin after that. Investigations are focusing on whether the ferry took too sharp a turn - perhaps destabilising the vessel - before it started listing and whether an earlier evacuation order could have saved lives. Captain Lee Joon-seok was not on the bridge when the ferry began listing. It was being steered by a third mate who had never navigated the waters where the accident occurred, prosecutors say.
The captain and two other crew members have been charged with negligence of duty and violation of maritime law. Four more crew members were reported to have been detained on Monday and two on Tuesday.
There were up to 30 crew members on the stricken ship, reports say, and some seven of them are missing. | Shipwreck | April 2014 | ['(BBC)'] |
A passenger train runs into the rear of a freight train at Meerbusch, Germany. Forty-seven people are injured, three seriously. | More than 40 people have been injured in a train crash near the German city of Düsseldorf, emergency services say.
A passenger train collided with a freight train near the town of Meerbusch, in North Rhine-Westphalia, on Tuesday night.
Of 173 people on board, seven people were badly injured and one suffered serious injuries, the Meerbusch fire department said. Another 33 people had minor injuries and 132 were unhurt, it added.
The fire department's operation finished at around 02:20 (00:20 GMT).
All passengers had left the train in a rescue operation that at its peak involved 400 people, it said.
Casualty estimates escalated rapidly overnight from an early figure of about five people.
Rescue efforts were hindered by a broken cable which "posed a risk of electric shock to persons outside the train".
The accident occurred at about 19:30, according to a statement from Germany's state-owned railway group, Deutsche Bahn.
The train, operated by a subsidiary of Britain's National Express bus company, apparently collided with a stationary cargo train on the track.
A spokesman for the company told Germany's Bild newspaper that the driver had hit the emergency brake when he saw the other vehicle on the track. | Road Crash | December 2017 | ['(BBC)'] |
The European Union announces an aid package of €35 million ($40.6 million) for Venezuelans, both inside the country and for those displaced in neighbouring countries. | Vienna (AFP) - The EU announced a 35 million euro ($41mn) aid package on Friday to counter the effect of Venezuela's economic crisis, which has sparked one of the biggest exoduses in Latin American history.
"I can announce today that the European Union just adopted a package of humanitarian aid of 35 million euros to support Venezuelans both inside Venezuela but also in the neighbouring countries and the host communities," EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said after a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Vienna.
Mogherini said the money would go to activities "focusing in particular on nutrition, water, health and the support to the most vulnerable people".
Venezuela's economy has collapsed into chaos under President Nicolas Maduro since 2013, with falling oil prices leading to chronic shortages of food and medicine and hundreds of thousands of people fleeing the country.
"We're extremely worried for the humanitarian situation in the country but also the effect on the neighbouring countries that are receiving massive waves of Venezuelans in their territory," Mogherini said.
Some 1.6 million Venezuelans have fled the country since 2015 as four years of recession and hyperinflation the International Monetary Fund predicts will reach one million percent this year have left large swathes of the population in poverty.
Maduro has systematically sidelined the opposition as he tightens his grip over Venezuela, with the political turmoil worsening the country's ability to deal with its economic collapse.
"We decided to step up our diplomatic engagement together with the countries in the region" to encourage fresh dialogue, Mogherini added on Friday.
Earlier this year the EU condemned "irregularities" in Maduro's re-election, citing "major obstacles" to the participation of the opposition.
In June Venezuela's vice-president and 10 other officials were hit by EU sanctions over the conduct of the election as well as other human rights abuses, prompting Venezuela to accuse the EU of "aggression and meddling".
| Financial Aid | August 2018 | ['(Yahoo News)'] |
The Maldives Police Service arrests the country's opposition leader, Qasim Ibrahim, after his party's failed bid to impeach the Speaker of the People's Majlis. | (Reuters) - Maldives police arrested an opposition leader on accusations of plotting to overthrow the government, they said on Friday, days after the opposition failed in a bid to impeach the speaker of parliament.
Qasim Ibrahim, the leader of the Jumhooree Party and a former presidential candidate, was remanded for six days by a Male court. Denying the allegations, his lawyer said Qasim had acted lawfully.
The largely Muslim island chain with a population of 400,000 and a reputation as a tourist paradise has been mired in political unrest for years.
The impeachment motion against Speaker Abdulla Maseeh Mohamed, a close ally of President Abdulla Yameen, was defeated by 48 votes to zero in parliament after all opposition lawmakers walked out in protest at their colleagues’ expulsion from the chamber for unruly behavior.
A second impeachment vote, against the deputy speaker, is scheduled for Monday.
Police in their charge sheet said Qasim was arrested for allegedly of bribing and “undue influencing of parliament members and state security forces” in the impeachment vote against the speaker.
Police also cited “unlawful incitement to the removal, from office, of the legitimate government”.
Hussein Shameem, Qasim’s lawyer, said his client was an opposition whip and was by law entitled to try to convince lawmakers to vote a certain way.
“He has not used undue influence and no unlawful activities were done. He acted within the law,” Shameem told Reuters.
Qasim, a tourism tycoon who ran for the presidency in 2013, backed Yameen in the second round of the poll against former president Mohamed Nasheed. Yameen won by a slim margin.
After he and Yameen fell out, Qasim formed an opposition coalition along with former presidents Nasheed and Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, a half brother of Yameen.
The Maldives has been plagued by unrest since Nasheed, its first democratically elected leader, was ousted in disputed circumstances in 2012. He was later sentenced to 13 years in jail on terrorism charges after a widely criticized trial and now lives in exile.
Many potential challengers to Yameen in elections due in 2018 have been arrested for alleged security offences. The opposition alleges his administration is trying to cover up corruption including money laundering.
The government denies this and says it does not influence law enforcement.
Significant numbers of radicalized Maldives youths have enlisted to fight for Islamic State in the Middle East.
Reporting by Shihar Aneez and Ranga Sirilal; Editing by Nick Macfie and John Stonestreet
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
All quotes delayed a minimum of 15 minutes. See here for a complete list of exchanges and delays. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | April 2017 | ['(Reuters)'] |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.