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Cécile Aubry, French film star, writer and ex–wife of Moroccan prince Si Brahim El Glaoui, dies. | French film star Cecile Aubry, who also wrote the popular 1960s TV series Belle and Sebastian, has died aged 81.
Aubry, who had lung cancer, died near Paris, her family said.
After being signed up by 20th Century Fox aged 20, Aubry went on to star in films like Manon (1949) and The Black Rose (1950), alongside Orson Welles.
She later married a Moroccan prince, and started writing. Their son, Mehdi, played the lead role in Belle and Sebastian.
It was broadcast on French TV in the 1960s, before being picked up by BBC One and turned into a Japanese animated version in 1981 titled Meiken Jolie.
Set in the French Alps, the holiday classic recounts the adventures of an orphaned boy of six and a huge white dog that roams the mountains. Belle and Sebastian also gave its name to the Scottish indie pop band.
Cecile Aubry on IMDB
| Famous Person - Death | July 2010 | ['(BBC)'] |
Two generals of the Iraqi Army and three soldiers are killed and ten wounded when an Islamic State suicide bomber detonates in northern Ramadi. | An Iraqi army tank, purchased from the U.S. patrols in an eastern suburb of Ramadi, Anbar province, Iraq.
In a demoralizing blow to Iraq’s offensive against Islamic State, a suicide bomber from the militant group managed to kill two Iraqi army generals in a single strike on Thursday, according to military accounts.
The attack -- which also killed three other soldiers and injured 10 others, according to a military statement read on state television -- took place on the front lines north of Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province in western Iraq. Islamic State fighters seized Ramadi in mid-May after a protracted struggle.
The Sunni Muslim extremist group has captured about one-third of Iraqi territory, extending the “caliphate” it had already declared in parts of Syria. Iraq’s U.S.-trained army, plagued by disorganization and desertion, has struggled to regain towns and territory lost to Islamic State, despite a yearlong campaign of U.S.-led airstrikes against the group.
In addition to maintaining a grip on much of Anbar province, Islamic State fighters are seeking to seize the initiative elsewhere in Iraq, renewing a siege of Beiji, an important oil-refining center north of Baghdad.
Backed by allied tribesmen, the army has been moving toward Ramadi, which it is trying to wrest from Islamic State, together with Fallouja, another principal city in the province. The military said a suicide attacker drove a single bomb-laden vehicle into advancing forces.
“An explosive vehicle approached us, and we dealt with it, but the resulting explosion led to the deaths of the two army leaders,” said Brig. Gen. Yehia Rasoul, a Defense Ministry spokesman.
In its claim of responsibility, Islamic State said four explosives-rigged vehicles and six fighters were involved in the attack, and that one of the bombers was a German national. Its account could not be independently verified, but the group has many Western nationals among its ranks.
Iraqi military officials vowed the offensive would continue despite the high-level loss of life.
“We will not stop. ... We will continue to push ahead,” Defense Ministry spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Zubeidi declared on state TV, according to the Associated Press.
The slain senior commanders were identified as Brig. Gens. Abdel Rahman Abu Regheef and Safeen Abd Majeed. In keeping with Islamic practice, the two were buried the same day, with senior government officials in attendance at the funeral in Baghdad.
Meanwhile, another Islamic State suicide attacker struck in neighboring Syria, a monitoring group reported. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the bombing occurred outside the town of Marea, near the Turkish frontier. Islamic State fighters have already seized five villages in the area, activists said.
The U.S.-led military coalition, with new cooperation from Turkey, is seeking to create a buffer zone along the Syria-Turkish border free of Islamic State fighters. But the group has moved aggressively to seize territory in northern Aleppo province, near the envisaged safe zone.
Infighting among rebel groups with little in common but a desire to topple Syrian President Bashar Assad is also complicating the effort, as is Turkey’s campaign of airstrikes against Kurdish fighters in Turkey and northern Iraq. Kurdish forces have proven the most reliable ally in the ground fight against Islamic State.
| Armed Conflict | August 2015 | ['(The Los Angeles Times)'] |
A tornado in Brunswick County, North Carolina, kills three people and injures ten others. | At least three people are dead after a tornado tore through the southern part of North Carolina late Monday, the Brunswick County sheriff said in an early-morning news conference.
Sheriff John W. Ingram said early Tuesday that 10 people were also injured in a storm that featured “a lot of destruction” along Highway 17 between the North Carolina coastal communities of Sunset Beach and Ocean Isle Beach. The devastation has left many buildings destroyed and residents trapped in their homes, authorities said, though the full severity of the damage remains unclear. Trees and power lines were also reported down throughout the area.
“This is something unlike I’ve ever seen,” Ingram said to reporters. “It’s going to be a long recovery process.”
Ed Conrow, the emergency services director for Brunswick County, said in a news conference there are currently no missing people and that emergency responders will assess the area after securing gas leaks on Tuesday morning.
“That search is probably going to take several hours this morning and I expect to go into the afternoon tomorrow,” Conrow said.
Conrow added that most of the damage, as well as all of the injuries and fatalities, unfolded in Ocean Ridge Plantation, an “exclusive and luxurious golf and beach community.” Some of the homes in the community were ripped from their foundations, according to WWAY.
A tornado warning was issued shortly before midnight Tuesday in Brunswick County, which has a population of about 140,000 people. At midnight, a tornado was spotted in Honey Island, N.C., WWAY reported, close to 45 miles west of Wilmington. Shortly thereafter, the National Weather Service reported structural damage and power lines down along Highway 17 in Brunswick County.
“Avoid the area,” the agency tweeted.
The Wilmington Fire Department said that NC Emergency Management had deployed regional response teams to help with the recovery and search-and-rescue efforts.
Brunswick Electric Membership Corp., the county’s public utility, reported thousands of people without electricity as of early Tuesday.
Ingram asked anyone who isn’t a property owner or directly assisting those affected by the tornado to avoid the area as emergency responders work to clear the streets.
“This is a very, very tragic event for our community and our county,” Brunswick County Commissioner Randy Thompson said.
| Hurricanes_Tornado_Storm_Blizzard | February 2021 | ['(The Washington Post)'] |
A British hostage is released alive in Iraq following over two and a half years of captivity in Iraq and Iran. | British hostage Peter Moore has been released alive after more than two-and-a-half years in captivity in Iraq.
Foreign Secretary David Miliband said the IT consultant from Lincoln, who was captured in Baghdad in May 2007, was in good health and "absolutely delighted". His family said news of his release was "the best Christmas present ever" and "a big black cloud" had been lifted. Four bodyguards were seized with Mr Moore. Three were shot dead; the fourth is also thought to have been killed. The bodies of Jason Swindlehurst, from Skelmersdale, Lancashire, and Jason Creswell, of Glasgow, were returned to the UK in June 2009, followed by that of Alec MacLachlan, of Llanelli, Carmarthenshire, in September. Please turn on JavaScript. Fran and Pauline Sweeney said Mr Moore "sounded well and was cracking jokes"
Mr Miliband has called for the release of the body of the fourth guard - Alan McMenemy from Glasgow. Mr Miliband said Mr Moore, who had been released on Wednesday morning, was in the British Embassy in Baghdad and would be reunited with his family as soon as possible. Mr Moore's stepmother Pauline Sweeney told the BBC that hearing of his release was "the best Christmas present ever". "We spoke to him this morning. I just burst into tears and kept asking if it was true. He sounds really well, very upbeat, he's cracking jokes," she said. "He said when they came in to him this morning, he thought he was going out to a bullet in his head. The sudden and dramatic release of Peter Moore has not come entirely out of the blue. The Americans have only just handed over a key Shi'ite militant, Qais Al-Khaz'ali, to the Iraqi authorities after holding him since 2007. This is the man the kidnappers always wanted back. They made it clear from the outset they wanted to trade prisoners: Qais and a handful of other Shi'ite militants for the five Britons.
British government policy has always been not to make substantive demands to kidnappers.
The tragedy for most of the British hostages and their families is that Iraq's political reconciliation process has only now reached a point where Qais could be released without appearing to give in to those kidnappers' demands. "He had seen quite a few of the appeal broadcasts, which kept him going and made him realise there were people out there fighting for him and that he wasn't forgotten." The foreign secretary said he had had a "very moving" conversation with Mr Moore, who was "to put it mildly, absolutely delighted". He is undergoing medical checks. Mr Miliband said: "The joy and relief that will be felt by Peter's family will be mirrored by the continuing anguish of the family of Alan McMenemy. "We have believed for some time that he has been killed and his family have been told our view of his likely fate." The foreign secretary also told the BBC there were no concessions or deals made to secure Mr Moore's release. "This was an Iraqi-led process of political reconciliation in which an armed group has made vows to come within the political system and to renounce violence, and that's the foundation of Peter Moore's release," he said. . David Miliband: "I am pleased to confirm that Peter Moore has been released today"
Mr Moore had been working for US management consultancy Bearingpoint in Iraq. The other men were security contractors employed to guard him. The group was captured at the Iraqi Ministry of Finance by about 40 men disguised as Iraqi policemen. They were understood to belong to an obscure militia known as the Islamic Shia Resistance, which demanded the release of up to nine of their associates held in US military custody since early 2007. Several had already been handed to the Iraqi government and some had since been freed under the reconciliation process. 'Key' figure released
BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner said a senior Whitehall official had confirmed that Qais Al-Khaz'ali - the leader of the group that kidnapped the five Britons in Baghdad - was released "very recently" by the US to the Iraqi authorities. "The main person the abductors wanted back, I'm told, is out of US custody... and handed over to the Iraqis," he said. Qais Al-Khazaali had been suspected of involvement in the kidnapping and eventual killing of five US soldiers, Mr Gardner added. Prime Minister Gordon Brown said: "I am hugely relieved by the wonderful news that Peter has been freed.
"At this moment of celebration, we also remember the families of British hostages who have been killed in Iraq and elsewhere. "And we pledge to continue to do everything we can to bring British hostages back to their loved ones." Mr Moore's father Graeme, 60, from Wigston, Leicestershire, said he was "over the moon" at the news. He said: "We are so relieved and we just want to get him home, back now to his family and friends. "I'm breaking down, I'm just so overjoyed for the lad." His natural mother, Avril Sweeney, 54, from Thornton Cleveleys, Lancashire, said: "It's like a big black cloud has been hanging over me and it has lifted now. "I can smile again." Terry Waite, who himself was a former hostage, said he was absolutely delighted at Mr Moore's release. He added: "It is both a very happy time for Peter and his family and... while the other families will be delighted for him, there will be that tinge of sadness and one keeps them in mind at this point." | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Release | December 2009 | ['(BBC)', '(ABC News)', '(The Daily Telegraph)', '(Guardian)'] |
Eight people are dead after floods caused by thunderstorms and torrential rains affected Evia, Greece. Dozens of people have been evacuated from the area. | At least five people have been killed in flooding caused by thunderstorms and torrential rains on the Greek island of Evia.
Officials said victims included an eight-month-old baby and two people in their 80s. Rescuers found their bodies in houses in the village of Politika.
Search efforts are continuing for two other people reported missing.
The flooding has blocked roads and damaged houses on the island, north-east of Athens.
Officials said the baby died after floodwaters submerged a ground-floor flat. The parents were unharmed.
Hours earlier, a man and woman in their 80s were found unconscious in two separate houses. They were later pronounced dead in hospital, the fire service said. Two other unidentified bodies have been recovered by rescue workers. Dozens of people have been evacuated from affected areas, and rescue workers used bulldozers to lift some stranded residents to safety.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis expressed his "profound pain for the loss of lives".
He said he would visit the island - the country's second largest after Crete - on Monday.
Deputy Civil Protection Minister Nikos Hardalias earlier told reporters that his thoughts were with "the people who didn't make it".
"We are faced with phenomena that we haven't experienced before," he said.
Storm Thalia hit several regions of mainland Greece on Saturday, but the weather was improving on Sunday.
Local officials in Evia said two rivers had burst their banks and filled roads with mud.
Greece country profile
'We were stopped from boarding our Greece flight'
| Floods | August 2020 | ['(BBC)', '(Canberra Times)'] |
Record snowfall occurs over the United States killing at least eleven and leaving hundreds of thousands without power. | Snow, ice and freezing rain will strike states from Texas to New England through Tuesday, promising icy roads, power outages and general unpleasantness for much of the country.
Snowfall will begin early Sunday in West Virginia, move through the mid-Atlantic states and head for New York by Monday morning, the National Weather Service forecast. Freezing rain and sleet will follow from Tennessee into North and South Carolina before heading up the East Coast.
The poor weather in travel hubs including New York, Washington and Philadelphia are likely to cause flight delays that could ripple across the country and snarl traffic through the Monday morning commute.
"We're going to see a whole mix of precipitation, anywhere from snow at the onset across Pennsylvania, New Jersey and down to D.C., to sleet and freezing rain in the Shenandoah Valley," says AccuWeather meteorologist Danielle Knittle.
The newest round of wintry glop and gloom follows a freeze in Texas and the southern states on Friday that killed at least four people, caused massive traffic back-ups in the Lone Star State, disrupted thousands of flights and knocked out power to hundreds of thousands.
The treacherous conditions across much of the country dampened holiday festivities, too. In Carbondale, Ill., city officials rescheduled the annual Lights Fantastic Parade. In Nashville, organizers canceled the Christmas parade. Even St. Cloud, Minn., accustomed to frightful winter weather, called off its Santa Fun Run and Winter Nights and Lights Parade "due to dangerously cold temperatures" that were expected to dip below 0 degrees by late Saturday.
In Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia, officials began warning residents of a major ice storm likely to take shape Sunday, resulting in power outages and hazards on the roads. The forecast predicts one to two inches of snow, followed by freezing rain into Monday morning.
"Both Washington and New York City should see their first inch or two of snow of the season Sunday," AccuWeather meteorologist Alex Sosnowski said.
National Weather Service meteorologists in southwest Virginia warned of a "significant winter storm."
Knittle said more than a half-inch of ice buildup expected on I-81, western Virginia and central Maryland's main highway, could imperil travel.
Temperatures in Arkansas and parts of Texas remained below freezing Saturday, with another round of snow and freezing rain expected for Arkansas, southeast Oklahoma and north-central Texas into Sunday morning, the National Weather Service said. Snow there should end by midday, but freezing temperatures will remain in northern Oklahoma, northern Arkansas and northern New Mexico, the weather service said.
"Hopefully, we've made it through the worst of it," Keli Cain, spokeswoman for the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management said Saturday. The state opened shelters in southern Oklahoma after the storm toppled trees and knocked out power.
An ice storm hit the Dallas-Fort Worth area especially hard Friday, causing traffic accidents, power outages and airport delays.
Traffic on one highway near Denton County backed up for more than 10 hours overnight and the Texas Highway Patrol responded to more than 350 weather-related accidents, the Texas Department of Emergency Management said in a situation report Saturday. Police in Arlington, about 20 miles west of Dallas, reported one driver was killed when his car slammed into a truck. More than 139,000 people remained without power Saturday. Airlines cancelled more than 500 flights at the Dallas-Fort Worth airport, leaving more than 4,000 travelers stranded overnight.
The storm dumped a foot of snow and more in some areas of Illinois, with police scrambling to respond to dozens of accidents and forced scores of schools to remain closed.
The blast of cold air and freezing rain forced the shutdown of schools, businesses and government agencies in several states Friday.
Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe declared a statewide emergency, making it easier for crews to repair damage to trees and power lines. A state of emergency was also declared in the western and middle parts of Tennessee.
The storm is also delaying shipments of everything from Christmas presents to cooking grease: Wal-Mart had its truckers take extra goods to stores ahead of the storm, while Amazon and FedEx are notifying those waiting on packages that dangerous driving conditions are forcing delays.
Meanwhile, snow and difficult travel conditions were reported in parts of the West and the Rockies because of another winter storm.
Bone-chilling cold continued across the north-central U.S., with temperatures at or below zero across most of Montana, the Dakotas, Minnesota and Iowa. The temperature Friday morning in Great Falls, Mont., of 26 degrees below zero was colder than the 20 below zero reading at the South Pole in Antarctica, according to the National Weather Service.
While most of the country dealt with cold, wintry weather, parts of the Southeast and all of Florida continued to enjoy balmy conditions, with temperatures in the 70s and 80s under mostly clear skies. In North Carolina, record high temperatures were set in both Fayetteville (80 degrees) and Greensboro (76), the weather service reported. | Hurricanes_Tornado_Storm_Blizzard | December 2013 | ['(USA Today)'] |
The bodies of four Filipinos, an Austrian, and a Czech, all oil workers who were kidnapped and then murdered in Libya in 2015 by Islamic State terrorists, are found at a cemetery. | MANILA:The remains of four Filipino oil workers abducted and killed by Daesh in Libya have been located after a search lasting almost six years.
The discovery of the bodies in a Libyan cemetery will pave the way for their final journey back home to the Philippines, officials said.
“We found the gravesite of the four OFWs (overseas Filipino workers) kidnapped and killed by (Daesh) six years ago,” Elmer Cato, Philippine Embassy charge d’affaires and head of mission, told Arab News on Tuesday.
Philippine officials had been working with groups in Libya to locate and recover the remains of the four OFWs Donato Santiago, Gregorio Titan, Roladan Blaza, and Wilson Eligue after they, along with two co-workers from Austria and the Czech Republic, were abducted by Daesh militants who attacked the Ghani oilfield in southern Libya on March 6, 2015.
Santiago was from the city of Mandaluyong in Metro Manila, Titan and Blaza from Laguna, and Eligue from Bataan. The victims were employed by Austrian contractor Value Added Oilfield Services (VAOS).
Reports said that Daesh members had broken into the company compound, killing security guards, before kidnapping the foreign workers.
“On Monday five days before the sixth year of their disappearance we broke the news to their families in the Philippines that we had finally found them. They were buried in a cemetery in the eastern city of Derna,” Cato said.
Earlier, Cato had revealed that there had been no leads in the case until 2017 when authorities in Derna said that the abducted workers had been executed by retreating Daesh fighters. The news came after a video showing their execution was found on a laptop seized from the slain Daesh fighters in the coastal city of Derna.
However, the victims’ bodies could not be found.
A year later, in 2018, Cato said that the Philippines Embassy had been informed that the remains of the four Filipinos may have been among those recovered by the Libyan Red Crescent in various parts of Derna and later buried there.
But due to the unstable security situation in Libya, the embassy was unable to send a team to Derna to search for the OFWs. It was only in October last year that embassy officials were able to travel to Benghazi in the hope of locating the bodies.
On Monday, Cato and other embassy officials were taken by Libyan military authorities to the Dahr Ahmar Islamic Cemetery, 10 kilometers from Derna, where they said the four OFWs and their Austrian and Czech co-workers were buried.
The embassy interviewed Libyan Red Crescent volunteers who were part of the team that had retrieved and later buried the remains of the six, as well as another volunteer who oversees burials at the cemetery.
“The volunteers were convinced that the bodies they buried there belonged to the six kidnapped foreign oil workers,” an embassy statement said.
Cato added that the Office of Migrant Workers Affairs (OMWA) had been keeping the families of the four OFWs up to date with developments and was arranging for forensic experts to assist in identifying the remains and bring them home.
“Before I left for Tripoli in 2019, I met with the families of our four kababayan (countrymen) who had been waiting for four years for news about the fate of their loved ones. I promised them that I would do everything I could to find them.
“And when we did, with the help of Libyan authorities, I somehow felt relieved knowing that I did not bring those families down, that they will soon be able to find the closure they have been waiting for. After six long years, the families of our four kababayan will finally find closure. We are indebted to our Libyan friends for making this possible,” he said.
As of 2019, there were more than 2,000 Filipinos in Libya, although fighting between rival militias for control of Tripoli and the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has prompted some to return.
PEMBA, Mozambique: Several beheadings, including of teenagers, have been reported around the restive northern Mozambique town of Palma since it was attacked by militants in March, a charity and local sources said on Friday.
Palma and surrounding areas have been on tenterhooks since militants linked to Daesh launched a raid of unprecedented scale on the town, killing dozens and forcing tens of thousands to flee.
Many sought refuge in nearby Quitunda, a resettlement village next to a heavily guarded gas exploration site operated by French oil giant Total and abandoned days after the raid.
Several bouts of low-key violence have been reported since the militants retreated.
British charity Save the Children on Friday said it was “shocked and appalled” by news this week of two 15-year-old boys being beheaded in Palma on Sunday.
The teenagers were among a group of 15 adults who had left Quitunda in search of food, according to the independent news outlet Carta de Mocambique, which reported the incident.
Two adults were also killed, it added.
“We are appalled and disgusted at this senseless crime,” Save the Children Mozambique country director Chance Briggs said in a statement.
The insurgency is “having a continual, horrific, deadly impact on children,” he said.
“They are being killed, they are being abducted, they are being recruited for use by armed groups.”
One local source in the provincial capital Pemba said relatives in Quitunda had heard of “insurgents” beheading several people on Saturday.
Momade Bachir, who is regularly in touch with family members still stranded around Palma, told AFP that four residents were attacked after they left the town to pick manioc in surrounding fields.
Another three beheaded bodies were found near Pemba that evening, according to Bachir.
Finding food has been difficult since the March 24 attack on Palma and aid agencies have struggled to take in supplies due to security concerns.
The World Food Programme has warned that almost one million people, mostly displaced, faced severe hunger.
Insurgents have been wreaking havoc in Cabo Delgado since 2017.
The fighting has claimed more than 2,800 lives, half of them civilians, according to conflict data tracker ACLED, and displaced around 800,000.
.” | Armed Conflict | March 2021 | ['(Arab News)'] |
French police arrest three men and a 16–year–old girl found with bomb–making materials in a Montpellier flat. The female suspect had been spotted online saying she wanted to either leave for the Syria–Iraq conflict or mount an attack in France, and recorded a video in which she pledged allegiance to ISIL. | An "imminent" terror attack on French soil has been averted with the arrest of four suspects in Montpellier, Interior Minister Bruno Le Roux said.
Three men and a girl of 16 were found with bomb-making materials by anti-terrorist police in a raid on a flat in the southern city.
Home-made explosives similar to those used in the Paris attacks of November 2015 were discovered.
Reports suggest the girl had made jihadist declarations online.
Since the beginning of 2015, at least 230 people have been killed in jihadist attacks in France.
Last week, a soldier received minor injuries when a machete-wielding man tried to enter the Louvre museum in Paris. The man, a 29-year-old Egyptian named Abdullah Hamamy, was shot and critically injured. Photos from the scene in Montpellier show debris outside the door of the flat that police stormed on Friday morning.
Early reports suggested that one of the Montpellier detainees was a would-be suicide attacker. A local news site, M6 Info, said the four were planning to attack a tourist site in Paris but a police source told AFP news agency that investigators had not been able to establish the exact target. The suspects were arrested after buying acetone, a police source told AFP. Acetone is an ingredient used in the making of triacetone triperoxide (TATP), a high explosive. TATP, the same explosive used in bomb vests worn by militants in the Paris attacks, was found in the city along with the acetone, a judicial source said.
According to AFP, the female suspect had been spotted on social networks saying she wanted to leave for the Syria-Iraq conflict zone or mount an attack in France instead.
She recorded a video in which she pledged allegiance to so-called Islamic State (IS), M6 Info reports. Meanwhile, France's top constitutional court struck down a law which penalised those who consult jihadist websites.
The Constitutional Council found that the law infringed on people's freedom of communication unnecessarily.
Separately, prosecutors in Denmark charged a 16-year-old girl with attempted terrorism for allegedly planning to bomb two schools in and around Copenhagen, one of them Jewish.
The girl, a convert to Islam, was arrested in Kundby, near the capital, in January last year, and had been held in custody ever since.
Prosecutors believe she was trying to prepare TATP herself. She will go on trial in Holbaek in April.
A 25-year-old man arrested in the same case has been released without charge.
| Famous Person - Commit Crime - Arrest | February 2017 | ['(BBC)'] |
At least 40 people are killed and over 1,700 wounded when security forces violently clamp down on anti-government protestors in Iraq. | At least 40 people have died in Iraq during a fresh wave of anti-government protests that descended into violence.
Two of the dead were reportedly hit by tear gas canisters fired by security forces in the capital Baghdad.
Reports say half of the victims were killed while trying to storm the offices of militia groups and the government.
Protesters are demanding more jobs, better public services and an end to corruption.
About 2,000 people were wounded in protests across the country, AFP quoted a security source as saying.
Similar protests earlier this month were brutally put down by security forces, leaving nearly 150 people dead.
A government report has acknowledged that authorities used excessive force in quelling that unrest.
Ahead of the latest protests, Iraq's leading clerics and the United Nations issued calls for restraint.
A day earlier Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi, who took office a year ago on Friday, warned protesters that violence would not be tolerated.
He has promised a cabinet reshuffle and a package of reforms to address protesters' demands but many remain unconvinced.
Hundreds of protesters gathered in Baghdad's Tahrir Square on Friday morning.
When some tried to enter the Green Zone, where government buildings are based, security forces used tear gas to drive them back.
Police and medical sources told Reuters news agency that two demonstrators had died in Baghdad after being struck by tear gas canisters. Pictures from Baghdad show at least one person, apparently hit by a canister, lying motionless on the street.
Twelve died while setting fire to the headquarters of a paramilitary force in the southern city of Diwaniyah, security sources told AFP.
There is no official confirmation of the figures. The Iraqi interior ministry said 68 members of the security forces were injured across the country.
The government's handling of the protests this month has fuelled discontent across Iraq, with political leaders facing calls to resign.
"We're not hungry, we want dignity," shouted one marcher. Another said that Iraq's politicians had "monopolised all the resources".
Protesters have called on the Shia-led government to overhaul Iraq's sectarian political system, in which power is shared along religious and ethnic lines.
Elsewhere, as unrest spread through Iraq's southern cities:
The protests started in Baghdad on 1 October. Most of those taking part were young and unemployed.
After security forces used live ammunition against demonstrators, the unrest escalated and spread to other cities and towns.
A government committee that was tasked with investigating the violence said 149 civilians and eight security personnel had been killed in protests between 1 and 6 October.
The committee concluded that "officers and commanders lost control over their forces during the protests" and that this "caused chaos".
| Protest_Online Condemnation | October 2019 | ['(Al Jazeera)', '(BBC)'] |
The campaign period for the Philippine general election, 2010 begins. | President Gloria Arroyo is not allowed to run again in the vote on 10 May. Competition is intense between two opposition figures, with Mrs Arroyo's nominee and a former president lagging in the polls. Long proud of its democratic traditions, the Philippines has still failed to find a leader able to deliver peace and prosperity. For the wealthiest candidates, the political advertising has been going on for months. The violence that has been part of every Philippine election started early too - the mass killing of 57 people in the southern province of Maguindanao in November has set a grim tone. Election campaigns in the Philippines usually deliver showmanship, drama, personality clashes and genuine idealism. What they rarely offer is any cogent debate of ideas or contest of policies. This campaign is no exception. "It's going to be a very tight race," says political analyst, writer and journalist Marites Vitug. "Manny Villar is running a disciplined campaign and has enormous funds at his disposal - he could be our Thaksin, or our Berlusconi," she said, in reference to the wealthy former Thai and current Italian leaders. The wealthiest candidate, Mr Villar, claims an affinity with the poor, the vast voting majority. He was once a fish market seller and is now the biggest home-builder in the Philippines. Ruling class
Mr Villar is up against Benigno "NoyNoy" Aquino, son of the revered former President Cory Aquino. He enjoyed an early surge soon after her death last year, but is now neck-and-neck with Mr Villar. Lagging behind is Gilberto Teodoro, the current president's favourite, and the former movie star and former president Joseph "Erap" Estrada. Also in the race is the former Mayor of Olongapo Richard Gordon, someone known as a good manager. But as always in the Philippines, it will be the money, and the personalities, that count. "It will really take a lot of resources, and I'm not referring to money alone," said Ronald Holmes, of the political science department of Manila's De La Salle University and president of the survey group, Pulse Asia. Spending limits do exist, but an apparent lack of manpower has prevented the Commission on Elections (Comelec) from ever prosecuting anyone for over-spending. "The primary issues are the old issues of economic growth and the problem of poverty," said Mr Holmes. Alongside a widespread desire for cheaper commodity prices is the topic of corruption. There is little indication, however, that any of the current crop of candidates will make any more progress on that than the country's rich ruling class has managed in the past. | Government Job change - Election | February 2010 | ['(BBC)'] |
A Yemeni man, suspected to be an Al–Qaeda militant, is sentenced to death in Saudi Arabia for a November 11 terror attack against a group of Spanish theatre actors in Riyadh, wounding three of them. An accomplice is sentenced to 12 years of jail. | A court in Saudi Arabia has sentenced a Yemeni man to death for a knife attack on members of a Spanish theatre group performing in Riyadh, state TV says. An accomplice, whose nationality was not given, was jailed for 12 years.
At least three people were wounded in the attack on 11 November, which the authorities blamed on al-Qaeda.
It is believed to have been the first such incident since the Saudi government began easing restrictions on entertainment in the kingdom.
Last month's attack took place at King Abdullah Park, one of several venues hosting the two-month "Riyadh Season" entertainment festival.
A video posted on social media appeared to show a man wielding a knife rushing onto a stage and stabbing performers before being tackled by a security guard. Last week, Saudi state TV reported that the assailant had acted on the orders of a senior leader of the Yemen-based militant group al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). However, it has not claimed that it was behind the attack.
In a separate development on Sunday, Riyadh's police force said on Twitter that it had arrested 88 people on suspicion of sexual harassment.
No further details were given, but it came a week after several women alleged on social media that they had been harassed at the MDL Beast music festival in the capital earlier this month. Riyadh police also said that 120 men and women had been arrested for offending public morals, including by wearing "inappropriate clothes". The authorities require both men and women to "dress modestly" in public, avoiding tight-fitting clothing or clothes with profane language or images. A first-time violation is usually punished with a fine of 100 riyals ($27; £20). Hardliner Raisi set to be new Iran president
Vote-counting shows Ebrahim Raisi - Iran's top judge - has so far received 62% of the vote.
| Famous Person - Commit Crime - Sentence | December 2019 | ['(BBC)'] |
Authorities in Turkey arrest three academics on charges of "terrorist propaganda" after they called for an end to security operations in the country's Kurdish-majority southeast. | Turkish authorities have arrested three academics on charges of "terrorist propaganda" after they publicly read out a declaration calling for an end to security operations in the country's Kurdish-majority southeast.
Police also detained and questioned a British national at the courthouse that ordered the arrests. The government blames the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) for a car bombing in the capital, Ankara, on March 13 that killed 37 people. There has been no claim of responsibility for the attack. More than 2,000 academics signed a petition in January criticizing military action in the southeast, including round-the-clock curfews aimed at rooting out PKK militants who have barricaded themselves in residential areas in southeastern cities.
Hundreds of civilians, security forces, and rebels have been killed since the conflict with the PKK reignited in July in the worst violence Turkey has seen for 20 years.
The petition outraged President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who said the academics would pay a price for their "treachery.” | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Arrest | March 2016 | ['(Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)'] |
The Parliament of Catalonia votes and starts a "constituent" process towards independence from the Kingdom of Spain. The Senate of Spain votes to permit direct rule according to article 155 of the Spanish Constitution. | The Catalan regional parliament has voted to declare independence from Spain, while the Spanish parliament has approved direct rule over the region.
Catalan MPs easily approved the move amid an opposition boycott.
Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy had told senators direct rule was needed to return "law, democracy and stability" to Catalonia.
The crisis began earlier this month when Catalonia held a controversial referendum on independence.
The Catalan government said that of the 43% of potential voters who took part, 90% were in favour of independence. But Spain's Constitutional Court had ruled the vote illegal. A motion declaring independence was approved on Friday with 70 in favour, 10 against, and two abstentions in the 135-seat chamber.
The measure calls for the transfer of legal powers from Spain to an independent Catalonia.
But the Spanish Constitutional Court is likely to declare it illegal, while the US, UK, Germany and France all expressed support for Spanish unity.
European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker said the EU "doesn't need any more cracks, more splits".
Catalan President Carles Puigdemont has called for supporters to "maintain the momentum" in a peaceful manner.
Crowds have been celebrating the declaration of independence and Spanish flags have been removed from some regional government buildings in Catalonia.
The pro-independence crowd outside the parliament followed the session vote by vote. Some had their mobile phones on speaker, to allow listeners at the other end a taste of the atmosphere. The crowd met every Yes vote with a cheer - and every No with a boo. At the end, there was a huge cheer.
"We're finally free," a woman next to me said, as she began to cry. "We are oppressed here. We're fighting for our freedom."
But around the corner, away from the demonstration, views were different. "It's disastrous," said one man. "It's the result of an extended manipulation which does not reflect the will of the Catalan people."
Soon after the vote at the regional parliament, the Senate - Spain's upper house - made the unprecedented step of approving measures allowing the Spanish government to impose direct rule over Catalonia.
There were 214 votes in favour and 47 against.
Urging calm, Mr Rajoy said: "Spain is a serious country, it is a great nation and we are not prepared in any way to allow some people to liquidate our constitution."
He is holding a cabinet meeting to decide what measures to take.
It could include the firing of Catalan leaders, and the Spanish government taking control of the region's finances, police and publicly owned media. After the 1 October referendum, Mr Puigdemont signed a declaration of independence but delayed implementation to allow talks with the Spanish government.
A deadline set by Madrid for him to clarify his intentions came and went, prompting Mr Rajoy to announce plans to impose direct rule.
Catalonia is one of Spain's richest, most distinctive regions and enjoys a high degree of autonomy.
But many Catalans feel they pay more to Madrid than they get back, and there are historical grievances too, in particular Catalonia's treatment under the dictatorship of General Franco.
Catalans are divided on the question of independence - an opinion poll earlier this year said 41% were in favour and 49% were opposed to independence.
| Withdraw from an Organization | October 2017 | ['(BBC)', '(NPR)', '(Reuters)'] |
Conservative Party candidate Boris Johnson is elected as the Mayor of London replacing Ken Livingstone, capping huge gains by the Conservatives in local elections, which gave them a net gain of 256 council seats and a net gain of 12 city councils. | Boris Johnson has won the race to become the next mayor of London - ending Ken Livingstone's eight-year reign at City Hall.
The Conservative candidate won with 1,168,738 first and second preference votes, compared with Mr Livingstone's 1,028,966 on a record turnout of 45%.
He paid tribute to Mr Livingstone and appeared to offer him a possible role in his new administration.
Lib Dem Brian Paddick came third and the Greens' Sian Berry came fourth.
Mr Johnson is expected to stand down as MP for Henley, triggering a by-election.
'Exuberant nerve'
After signing his official declaration of office at City Hall, he urged people to help build upon the "very considerable achievements of the last mayor of London".
In his victory speech, he described Mr Livingstone as "a very considerable public servant".
He added: "You shaped the office of mayor. You gave it national prominence and when London was attacked on 7 July 2005 you spoke for London."
Mr Johnson also paid tribute to his "courage and the sheer exuberant nerve with which you stuck it to your enemies, especially in New Labour".
Mr Johnson told Mr Livingstone he hoped to "discover a way in which the mayoralty can continue to benefit from your transparent love of London".
He said he would work to earn the trust of those that had opposed him, or who had hesitated before voting for him. "I will work flat out to repay and to justify your confidence. We have a new team ready to go into City Hall. "Where there have been mistakes we will rectify them, where there are achievements we will build on them, where there are neglected opportunities we will seize on them."
Livingstone 'sorry' He promised to focus on crime by promoting 24-hour policing, transport, including promoting cycling, green spaces, affordable homes and getting value for money for taxpayers.
Mr Johnson's victory crowns the Conservative Party's May Day local election wins in England and Wales. He said he hoped it showed the party had changed "into a party that can be trusted after 30 years with the greatest, most cosmopolitan, multi-racial generous hearted city on earth".
Mr Livingstone's defeat ended what Gordon Brown called a "bad" day for Labour, in which it suffered its worst council results for 40 years.
Asked by the BBC what his views were on the poor Labour showing, Mr Johnson said: "The smart thing for Labour to do would be to quietly to remove Gordon Brown and install [Foreign Secretary David] Miliband, is my view, but I don't think they'll do it."
In his speech after the result was declared at City Hall, Mr Livingstone thanked the Labour Party for all its help with his campaign.
Ken Livingstone accepts electoral responsibility
"There is absolutely nothing that I could have asked from the Labour Party that it didn't throw into this election, from Gordon Brown right the way down to the newest recruit, handing out leaflets on very wet, cold days.
"I'm sorry I couldn't get an extra few points that would take us to victory and the fault for that is solely my own. You can't be mayor for eight years and then if you don't at third term say it was somebody else's fault. I accept that responsibility and I regret that I couldn't take you to victory."
However, Justice Secretary Jack Straw said Labour as a whole should shoulder the blame for Mr Livingstone's loss.
He told BBC News: "I disagree with Ken in one particular only, that we all share the responsibility for the defeat that he suffered yesterday."
Mr Straw admitted that the row over the 10p tax rate had left some voters "understandably very upset".
The government would get behind Londoners' decision at the polls, he added.
Conservative Party leader David Cameron praised Mr Johnson for a "serious and energetic campaign" and said his party was "winning the battle of ideas".
David Cameron celebrates as Johnson's win is announced
Liberal Democrat candidate Brian Paddick paid tribute to Ken Livingstone as "an amazing mayor" and indicated that he would not be interested in working with Mr Johnson. He said he would be talking to Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg about his future and what he could do for the party. | Government Job change - Appoint_Inauguration | May 2008 | ['(BBC News)'] |
Fianna Fáil performs strongly in the Irish general election, putting it in a strong position to retain government. (RTÉ) | As counting in the General Election comes to a close, Fianna Fáil has won 78 seats and is now seeking coalition partners to give Bertie Ahern a third term as Taoiseach.
Fine Gael finished with 51 seats, Labour took 20 seats, the Greens won six and Sinn Féin ended up with four.
A collapse in the Progressive Democrats' vote saw their seat total reduced to two, while Independent candidates took the remaining five seats.
That number represents a major reduction in the number of Independents, and is compounded by the spectacular the loss of the seat of the Socialist Party's Joe Higgins.
Moves towards the formation of the next Government have already begun - in an interview on RTÉ Radio today, the Taoiseach said Fianna Fáil had a 'lot of options' open to it, but that stability was number one on his agenda, and the biggest consideration when it came to forming a government.
That was a message hammered home by a succession of Fianna Fáil Ministers in media appearances today - stability, it seems, is the key.
The options include adding the two PD deputies and a number of Independents to the 78 Fianna Fáil seats to elect Mr Ahern when the Dáil resumes on the 14 June.
Another is to form a coalition with the six Green TDs, which numerically would be more stable, but might pose more policy challenges.
And then there is the possibility of a deal with Labour, which would give a very firm majority, but would cost more in terms of seats at the Cabinet table.
Young swing to FF, says Ahern
In the RTÉ interview, the Taoiseach declined to say whether he would approach the Labour Party to form a government.
He said Fianna Fáil had performed well in the general election because of an upsurge in support among young people, especially those under 25.
The Taoiseach also paid tribute to Michael McDowell, describing him as a tough and bright politician.
Mr McDowell retired from politics yesterday after he lost his seat in Dublin South-East.
General Secretary of the Progressive Democrats John Higgins has said his party's poor showing in the election highlighted the need for candidates to work 'on the ground'.
He also tipped Mary Harney to resume her leadership of the PDs, describing her as 'steadfast'.
Dissent in FG, Labour
Labour leader Pat Rabbitte has also suggested Ms Harney may retake control of the party following Mr McDowell's retirement from political life.
Meanwhile, Fine Gael Waterford TD John Deasy has criticised party leader Enda Kenny.
He said that the party needed 'an attitude change and a credible leader' after it failed to secure enough votes to form the next government with Labour.
The outgoing Dublin North-East Labour deputy, Tommy Broughan, has also criticised his party leader's election strategy.
He accused Fine Gael of cannibalising smaller parties, and said he never agreed with the agreement drawn up between the two parties in Mullingar in 2004. | Government Job change - Election | May 2007 | ['(AP via the Philadelphia Daily News)'] |
In China, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection places under investigation Tianjin mayor Huang Xingguo, who is also serving as acting Communist Party Secretary. | The mayor of the major northern port city of Tianjin is being investigated on suspicion of corruption, China’s ruling Communist party said on Saturday, the latest senior official to be caught up in a war on deep-seated graft.
Huang Xingguo, 61, was suspected of “serious discipline breaches”, the party’s central commission for discipline inspection said, using the party’s normal euphemism for corruption.
Huang, who is also Tianjin’s acting Communist party chief, became mayor in 2008.
Tianjin is an important port city about an hour’s drive from Beijing that has ambitions to become a financial hub for northern China.
It is one of four conurbations – along with Beijing, Shanghai and Chongqing – termed a municipality, giving it the same high status as a province.
In August last year, a series of massive explosions at a chemicals warehouse in Tianjin killed about 170 people, sparking anger nationwide that it had been built so close to residential areas.
Last month, the party announced it was investigating Yin Hailin, a long-time city planning official who became Tianjin’s deputy mayor in 2012, also on suspicion of corruption.
Dozens of senior people have been investigated or jailed since President Xi Jinping assumed power almost four years ago, vowing to go after corruption and warning, like others before, that the problem threatens the party’s grip on power.
Huang’s fall from grace appears to have come out of the blue.
On Saturday, the official Tianjin Daily covered his visit to a middle school on its front page and praised teachers for their work.
Critics have accused Xi of using the corruption campaign as a cover to root out political rivals, though he has denied this.
Last year, a Chinese court jailed former domestic security chief Zhou Yongkang for life for bribery, leaking state secrets and abuse of power.
He was the most senior Chinese official to be ensnared in a graft probe since the party swept to power in 1949. It was not possible to reach Huang for comment and unclear if he had retained a lawyer. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Investigate | September 2016 | ['(The Guardian)'] |
A Brazilian federal judge blocks the appointment of Lula as chief of staff, arguing that the appointment would derail a federal judicial investigation against him. The government said it would appeal against the decision. | A Brazilian judge has blocked the appointment of ex-President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva as chief of staff to his successor, Dilma Rousseff, shortly after he was sworn in.
The judge's injunction said there was a risk a federal investigation could be derailed if Lula was a minister.
In Brazil, cabinet members can only be investigated by the Supreme Court, not by federal courts.
Lula is under investigation in connection with a corruption scandal.
The government has appealed against the decision. Prosecutors filed charges against Lula last week accusing him of money laundering and fraud, which he has denied.
Brazilians get that sinking feeling as crisis deepens
Brazil tumbling like 'House of Cards'
Lula: Most hated and loved man in Brazil
Why is Lula caught up in scandal?
Lula's nomination as chief of staff has divided Brazilians.
Some said it was a move to shield him from prosecution while others welcomed his return to active politics.
Ahead of his swearing-in ceremony, groups of supporters and opponents of the government clashed outside the presidential palace. The ceremony itself was interrupted by a protester who cried "Shame!".
The protester was drowned out by supporters of the governing Workers' Party, who shouted pro-government slogans and Lula's name. During the ceremony, President Rousseff praised Lula, who she said was "not just a great politician, but a great friend and comrade of many battles".
"We've always stood side by side," she said. A visibly angry Ms Rousseff then criticised federal Judge Sergio Moro, who is leading the investigation into a massive corruption scandal at state-oil giant Petrobras. On Wednesday, Judge Moro made public a taped phone conversation between President Rousseff and Lula which has been interpreted by some to show that Lula was given the post of chief of staff to shield him from prosecution.
In the conversation, Ms Rousseff told Lula she would send him the official decree naming him as minister "just to use in case it's necessary".
President Rousseff said Judge Moro had violated the law and the constitution by releasing the tape and that she would order an investigation. President Rousseff herself is under considerable political pressure.
Rousseff facing a perfect storm
Her critics want to impeach her over allegations she manipulated Brazil's account books to hide a growing deficit.
On Thursday, members of the lower house of Congress approved the creation of a 65-member committee to look into the ongoing impeachment.
It will examine the issue over the next few weeks and make a recommendation on whether Ms Rousseff should or not be impeached. The final decision on her political future will be taken by the Senate. Analysts say she named Lula chief of staff so he could use his influence with members of Congress to convince them to vote against her impeachment. As more and more members of her Workers' Party are being investigated over corruption at Petrobras, she is also facing increased questions about what she may have known.
Ms Rousseff was head of the board at Petrobras from 2003 to 2010 and has always denied any wrongdoing. On Sunday, a record number of people took part in anti-government marches across Brazil.
An estimated three million people called for an end to corruption and for Ms Rousseff's impeachment. There have also been rallies in support of the government, but they have been smaller than those opposing the administration. The political upheaval comes at a time of economic problems, with Brazil going through its worst recession in more than three decades.
. | Government Job change - Appoint_Inauguration | March 2016 | ['(BBC)'] |
Moscow police detain five protesters after they attempted to deliver a petition to investigate the status of LGBT rights in Chechnya to the Prosecutor General of Russia. | Five gay rights activists have been detained in Moscow as they tried to deliver a petition to the office of Russia's prosecutor general.
Police said they were held because their action was unauthorised.
The activists said more than two million people had signed the petition to investigate alleged torture and detentions of gay people in the Russian region of Chechnya.
Chechen officials have denied that gay people even exist in the republic.
Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin backed an inquiry into the reported crackdown on gay people in Chechnya, in the North Caucasus.
Earlier this month German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged the Russian authorities to help protect gay rights.
On Thursday, four Russians and an Italian national were held as they tried to deliver a printout of the petition to the prosecutor general's office.
They also carried huge empty boxes, symbolising online signatures they had collected in protest against the alleged crackdown, a BBC Russian reporter says.
The petition was signed "by more than two million people around the world, more than the entire population of the Chechen republic," the Russian LGBT Network said.
It said they were demanding "an unbiased investigation of illegal detentions of hundreds of people in Chechnya because of their homosexuality".
Chechnya's strongman leader, Ramzan Kadyrov, said last week he was ready to co-operate with Russia's federal authorities on the issue. But Mr Kadyrov repeated recent assertions that there were no "people of non-traditional orientation" (a term sometimes used to describe LGBT people in Russia) in the predominantly Muslim republic.
Chechen officials also say the local police have not received any official complaints from alleged victims. Just a few weeks ago, "Ruslan" was with his wife and children in Chechnya. Now he's in a safe house for men fleeing detention and torture for being gay.
Reports of a campaign against gay men by Chechen security forces have been trickling through since early April when they first appeared in a Russian newspaper. Now some of the alleged victims are starting to speak out. "When they brought me in, I denied everything," says Ruslan - not his real name. Even now, he is frightened of being identified. Read more of his story
Homophobia is widespread in Chechnya. Last month, Natalia Poplevskaya of the Russian LGBT Network said there was "an organised campaign to detain gay men" in Chechnya.
Victims of the crackdown - who were either gay or just perceived to be gay - were being held at a detention centre near Argun, 20km (13 miles) from the city of Grozny, she said.
"Torture is going on with electric shocks, beatings with cables," she told the BBC, adding that three deaths had been reported. "All the people arrested are homosexual men or perceived as being gay."
A Chechen government spokesman, Alvi Karimov, denied the allegations. "You can't detain and repress people who simply don't exist in the republic," he said.
Homosexuality was decriminalised in the Russian Federation in 1993 but concern about homophobia remains high. In 2013, parliament passed a law imposing heavy fines for providing information about homosexuality to people under 18, sparking international controversy.
| Protest_Online Condemnation | May 2017 | ['(BBC)'] |
President of Mauritania Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz is shot. | Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Abdelaziz has been shot and wounded in what officials say was an accident.
He has undergone a successful operation on his arm and is travelling abroad soon for further treatment, they say. Earlier, Communications Minister Hamdi Ould Mahjoub said on national TV that a military patrol had mistakenly opened fire on the presidential convoy.
Initially, Mauritanian radio reported that Mr Abdelaziz had escaped an assassination attempt.
The minister said Mr Abdelaziz, 55, was injured in the arm and that his life was not in danger.
He was treated for a light injury at a military hospital in the capital, Nouakchott. "On his way back to Nouakchott, the presidential convoy was shot by a Mauritanian patrol as they did not recognise his convoy," Mr Mahjoub said.
"The Mauritanian people can be reassured, the president is fine... He got out of the vehicle unassisted upon arrival at the hospital, where he walked in without difficulty."
A medical source told AFP news agency that he had had a bullet removed, and that he would be flown to Paris to complete his treatment.
Reuters quoted a source as saying that Mr Abdelaziz had been shot in the abdomen and was in stable condition. The military hospital remains sealed off by security forces.
Hundreds of people gathered there to find out what they could about the president, reports BBC Arabic's Mohammad Taha, from Nouakchott.
President Abdelaziz came to power in a military coup in 2008 in the West African nation. He won presidential elections a year later held under an agreement with coup opponents. He is seen by the West as a bulwark against Islamists in the region, particularly in neighbouring Mali.
Mauritania launched a joint military operation with Mali last year against the bases of Islamist militants in Mali before a rebellion in that country this year split it in two and hardline Islamists occupied the the country's vast northern region. General wins Mauritania election
Thousands protest in Mauritania
| Armed Conflict | October 2012 | ['(BBC)', '(Al Jazeera)', '(Deutsche Welle)'] |
Hundreds of South Korean troops, tanks, helicopters and jet fighters gather 12 miles from the border with North Korea to stage one of South Korea's largest ever live fire military drills in a "show of force" before its neighbour. North Korea describes the exercises as "warmongering", and threatens a "sacred war". | South Korea has staged one of its largest-ever military drills amid highly tense relations with the North.
Tanks, helicopters, fighter planes and hundreds of troops took part in the excercise, about 20km (12 miles) from the heavily militarised land border.
Tension has been high since North Korea shelled the South's Yeonpyeong island last month, killing four South Koreans.
South Korean President Lee Myung-bak promised immediate retalation to any further Northern attack.
"I thought patience would bring peace to this land, but [the reality] was not so," he said in a statement, after visiting a military unit near the border to inspect defences.
"We can prevent [the North] from taking provocative acts through strong unity coupled with powerful response."
The North has branded Seoul's exercises "warmongering" but has not threatened the South with any retaliation.
The South Korean army acknowledged that the drill was aimed to display its full firepower. "Yes, it will be a show of force," one army officer told Associated Press news agency ahead of the exercise.
Thursday's drill was held at Pocheon, about 50km from central Seoul.
Exercises have been held at Pocheon before, but this was on an unprecedented scale, an army spokesman said.
Although the South has conducted 47 military drills this year, this is the largest winter live-fire exercise ever conducted on land.
It began about 45 minutes later than the scheduled start time of 1400 local time (0500 GMT) and lasted about 40 minutes, with 800 troops and more than 100 types of weapons deployed, including tanks, anti-tank missiles, helicopters and fighter jets.
Artillery rounds and rockets were fired, bombs dropped and hillsides erupted in smoke.
The BBC's Kevin Kim in Seoul says the exercise sounded dramatic but was more of a media event, showing the range of weaponry open to the South, with invited members of the public watching from a distance.
He says people in Seoul are carrying on as normal with tension reduced from earlier in the week.
When the North fired on Yeonpyeong last month it said it was in response to a live-fire drill by the South.
A statement by the North's official KCNA news agency said of the latest drills: "[South Korea] is trying to hide the provocative nature toward the North of the war exercises."
The South is simultaneously conducting four days of naval exercises. The North called those "fanatical drills for invasion".
But the comments have been far less strident than threats issued last week of retaliation over the South's impending military drills.
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said: "Exercises that have been announced well in advance, that are transparent, that are defensive in nature, should in no way engender a response from the North Koreans."
The BBC's Charles Scanlon says North Korea's leaders may now conclude that their artillery attack last month has served its purpose - South Korean generals are now matching their Northern rivals with hostile rhetoric, a dramatic change of mood in the South. The South's new, more aggressive stance, our correspondent adds, has given North Korea an opportunity to present itself as the injured party and a force for restraint. Already, both China and Russia have called on the South to defuse tensions and US officials too are privately expressing their concern.
South Korea and the US had already been conducting large-scale military exercises, following the apparent torpedoing of a South Korean warship by the North on 26 March, which killed 46 south Korean sailors.
Efforts to redirect the Korean issue back to the negotiating table have been unsuccessful.
China and the North say it is time to return to the six-nation talks about North Korea's nuclear programmes.
But the US, South Korea and Japan have said they will not return to such talks, which have previously involved rewards for the North if it cuts back on nuclear development.
North Korea walked out of the six-party talks in April 2009 and expelled UN nuclear inspectors from the country.
Setback for EU in legal fight with AstraZeneca
But the drug-maker faces hefty fines if it fails to supply doses of Covid-19 vaccine over the summer. | Military Exercise | December 2010 | ['(BBC)', '(CNN)', '(Al Jazeera)'] |
A bailout plan is submitted two hours before the midnight deadline. The plan would raise a retirement age to 67 and cut pensions by 15% for those retiring at 62. | Greece has submitted new bailout reform plans to an impatient eurozone in a last-ditch effort to save the country's collapsing economy and its fragile place in the single currency.
With the crisis reaching a climax that could have dire consequences for the global economy, the proposals from Athens landed yesterday in Brussels less than two hours before a midnight deadline.
Eurozone officials will now study the details of the plan - which creditors say must include pension and tax reforms - before a make-or-break summit of all 28 European leaders on Sunday.
"New Greek proposals received by Eurogroup president Jeroen Dijsselbloem. Important for (creditor) institutions to consider these in their assessment," said Michel Reijns, a spokesman for the head of the eurozone finance ministers.
The radical left government of Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras had spent the day huddling in Athens to produce a plan acceptable to its partners, especially sceptical Germany, in return for billions of euros in loans to keep the country afloat.
Details of the new plan were not immediately available. But there was growing pressure for the eurozone to ease Greece's crushing 320-billion-euro (USD 350-billion) debt burden as part of any plan.
EU President Donald Tusk said Greece's creditors must make a "realistic" proposal for managing the debt if Athens delivers a workable programme, echoing similar calls by the IMF and United States.
Greece's parliament is now set to vote on the reform plan today. Anti-bailout protesters gathered in central Athens last night.
Simply Save | Are the SEBI penalties against Franklin Templeton AMC enough? Lawyers of investors share their views | Government Policy Changes | July 2015 | ['(LA Times)', '(Money Control)'] |
Clashes in and around Tajikistan's capital Dushanbe kill at least 17 people. Government representatives blame the attacks against security forces on former Deputy Defense Minister Aduhalim Nazarzoda, who fought against government forces in the Tajikistan Civil War. | The interior ministry said nine policemen were killed in gun attacks in the town of Vahdat just outside Dushanbe, and at a central interior ministry building.
Officials blamed sacked Deputy Defence Minister Abdukhalim Nazarzoda, saying he was leading a "terrorist group".
They said 13 of the attackers were killed and 32 detained.
The US embassy said it had closed and warned that the clashes "may be precursors to other acts of violence".
In a statement given to a state-owned news agency, the interior ministry said that early on Friday morning an "organised criminal group" had launched armed attacks on Vahdat's internal affairs department and on the central government building in Dushanbe. "As a result, a large amount of weapons and ammunition were seized and taken away by that terrorist group," the statement said.
The statement added that "a group of terrorists" led by Gen Nazarzoda had fled towards the Romit Gorge area and that authorities were searching for him and his accomplices.
A later statement said Gen Nazarzoda was hiding in the Romit Gorge with "seven or eight followers".
The unrest is rare for Tajikistan and comes after recent renewed controversy over the role of Islam in public life in the country, which is majority Muslim but has had a secular political order since independence.
In recent years economic hardship has been seen as contributing to a renewed interest in Islam - including more radical forms - among young Tajiks.
Last week the justice ministry imposed a ban on the activities of the Islamic Revival Party, the only legal faith-based party in ex-Soviet Central Asia.
Gen Nazarzoda is a former member of the United Tajik Opposition (UTO), which fought government forces during the civil war in the 1990s and joined the cabinet after a peace agreement was signed in 1997. Correspondents say the latest attacks seem to suggest a growing conflict between the government of President Emomali Rakhmon and former UTO warlords.
Mr Rakhmon has been in power for two decades and was re-elected in 2013 with 83.6% of the vote.
International observers said the election was quiet and peaceful but "without a real choice".
Motives for violence murky
Tajikistan profile
I
| Armed Conflict | September 2015 | ['(BBC)'] |
The United Nations-backed Libyan Presidential Council arrives in Tripoli despite warnings by hardliners opposed to any unity government that they will attempt to keep them out of the city. | Members including new unity government PM designate Fayez al-Sarraj arrive by boat in face of opposition from hardliners
Last modified on Tue 19 Apr 2016 16.30 BST
Members of Libya’s presidential council have reached Tripoli, defying opposition attempts to keep them out of the city as they prepare the ground for a UN-backed unity government whose ministers they nominated. Seven members of the council, including Fayez al-Sarraj, its head and the new government’s prime minister designate, arrived by boat from Tunisia at Tripoli’s Abusita naval base amid tight security on Wednesday. A separate self-declared government, based in Tripoli, and armed groups that back it have warned the council and the unity government in recent days not to travel to the capital. Tripoli’s airspace was closed for several hours on Sunday and Monday, a move the council claimed was designed to prevent it from reaching Libya. The unity government emerged from a UN-mediated deal signed in December aimed at ending the country’s political impasse, resolving its armed conflict and tackling a growing threat from Islamic State. Western powers have recognised it as Libya’s sole legitimate government but it has faced continuing opposition from hardliners in both of divided Libya’s competing parliaments: the eastern House of Representatives and the rival General National Congress in Tripoli.
Since 2014 Libya has had two competing pairs of parliaments and governments, both backed by loose alliances of armed brigades. The government that has been in Tripoli was brought to power by armed factions that won a battle for control of the capital in 2014. Tripoli, home to many armed factions, has seen sporadic clashes in the past few days. Early on Wednesday, loud explosions followed by heavy gunfire were heard over the city. Before its arrival, the council said it had negotiated a security plan with police and military forces in Tripoli, and with some armed groups and has called for an immediate transfer of power, though both the Tripoli and eastern-based governments oppose this. | Diplomatic Visit | March 2016 | ['(The Guardian)'] |
A historic blizzard strikes Atlantic Canada, with St. John's in Newfoundland worst affected – over 30 inches of snow fell during the day, breaking the city's all-time daily snowfall record. 21,000 homes are without power and one person is missing. | Parts of Newfoundland were buried in feet of snow from a crippling blizzard Friday and Saturday, smashing an all-time calendar-day snowfall record in a storm-prone part of Atlantic Canada. St. John's Airport measured 76.2 centimeters - 30 inches - of snowfall Friday, their record snowiest single day dating to 1942, topping the previous record of 68.4 centimeters on April 5, 1999, according to Environment Canada. The epic snow and wind gusts up to 97 mph whipped snow into massive drifts, burying vehicles, blocking roads, garages and doors of homes and filling backyards. A 26-year-old man was reported missing in the blizzard conditions after he failed to return from a walk near his home in Conception Bay Friday afternoon.
A state of emergency was declared Friday in St. John's, which banned all but emergency travel and ordered businesses to close in the capital and largest city of Newfoundland and Labrador. Some 21,000 people were without power overnight, according to the Associated Press.
During the height of the storm, snowplow escorts were required for fire crews to reach emergency calls.
"We're getting roofs blowing off houses, people trapped in their cars - an assortment of everything, I'll say," Dean Foley, platoon chief of the St. John's Regional Fire Department told the CBC. Roads were so clogged with snow at least one resident was transported by snowmobile to the hospital. Some drifts were reported as high as 15 feet on Pitts Memorial Drive Saturday morning, according to the province's Department of Transportation and Works. A small avalanche in The Battery, a neighborhood on the rocky slopes of Signal Hill northeast of downtown St. John's, punched through the kitchen and living room of one home, prompting the brief evacuation of a few dozen homes Friday evening, the CBC reported. St. John's International Airport was shut down, with flight operations expected to be suspended until at least Sunday morning while crews worked to remove snow. Photos Saturday morning showed giant drifts in the airport's parking lots. NTV chief meteorologist and southeast Newfoundland resident Eddie Sheerr tweeted, "This is the worst winter storm I have ever seen. Period."
The system responsible for this historic Newfoundland blizzard moved off the coast of New England Thursday after dumping modest snow in upstate New York and northern New England.
The system then underwent a process known as bombogenesis where winds rapidly spreading apart at jet-stream level lead to a rapid intensification of the surface low. According to analyses from NOAA's Ocean Prediction Center, the central pressure of the storm bottomed out at 954 millibars before sunrise Saturday morning, a 54 millibar pressure plunge in 42 hours from when it was a relatively pedestrian low over southern Vermont Thursday morning. Atlantic Canada is no stranger to intense storms, which often plaster New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, then Newfoundland and Labrador after impacting the eastern U.S. The extremity of the snowfall in such a short period of time, coupled with the ferocity of winds, made this is a storm residents in southeast Newfoundland won't soon forget. The one-day snow total in St. John's was just shy of their average snowfall for an entire January - 88.7 centimeters.
| Hurricanes_Tornado_Storm_Blizzard | January 2020 | ['(76\xa0cm)', '(The Weather Channel)'] |
Rangers wins the Scottish Premiership, the top-flight league in Scottish football, for the first time since 2011 after their rivals Celtic failed to win against Dundee United. It is Rangers manager and former England captain Steven Gerrard's first trophy as a manager, and the win also denies Celtic a record 10th consecutive Premiership title. | Last updated on 7 March 20217 March 2021.From the section Rangers
Manager Steven Gerrard says "there is more to come" after Rangers were crowned champions of Scotland for the first time in 10 years.
Gerrard's side, who beat St Mirren 3-0 on Saturday, have a 20-point lead with six games remaining and have denied Celtic a 10th title in a row.
It is the former Liverpool and England captain's first trophy as a manager, in his third season at Ibrox.
"It is very difficult to put into words right now," the Rangers boss said.external-link
"I'm on a real, emotional high and it has been a journey that is not finished. "There is more to come and the next thing for me, when you win, it is always about what is next, and I am so proud of the players first and foremost - they are the most important people inside the club.
"But they are not as important as the supporters - they are what makes this club and it is for them and we have been down at times, really low at times, but this is an incredible high."
It is the earliest Scottish title win in chronological terms, and ends Celtic's bid for an unprecedented 10th successive crown.
Rangers have dropped just eight points in an unbeaten Scottish Premiership campaign so far, with their victory on Saturday their 28th win in 32 matches.
They have scored 77 goals and conceded just nine - only two of which have been at Ibrox.
The Glasgow club were in the bottom tier of Scottish football as recently as 2012 after their financial collapse, and returned to the top flight five years ago. Rangers' first game as champions will be the third Old Firm game of the campaign at Celtic Park on March 21.
BBC Scotland's chief sportswriter Tom English
When Gerrard took control as manager he didn't just have a team to rebuild, he had an entire club to fix. Recruitment and scouting and attitude - he had to strip it down and start again. For a rookie boss in the white heat of Glasgow football up against the red hot Brendan Rodgers it was an Everestian challenge, but Gerrard put the building blocks in place, slowly - too slowly for many - but surely. He got backed by his board, bought wisely and grew. Gerrard has turned a 39-point deficit on Celtic in the season before he arrived into a 20-point advantage. A difference of 59 points. This is nirvana stuff to every Rangers fan. Former Rangers player & manager Graeme Souness: "Delighted for Steven Gerrard and all his team. Celtic have had a period of dominance, which has been, I'll say, uncomfortable for us Rangers supporters. They thoroughly deserve it. They've been fantastic all season and I just wish I was in Glasgow right now."
Former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher: "They must have been terrified for years that record [nine straight titles] would have been beaten by Celtic. When Gerrard came in, that was the name of the game to stop Celtic achieving that. They've come a long way, but they'll be hoping the glory days are back."
Rangers captain James Tavernier: "There's no words that can describe it. I'm absolutely delighted for the club, the players, and especially the fans. To do it this year with everything surrounding this season, it's monumental."
Former Rangers captain Lee McCulloch: "It's been a little bit emotional; 10 years is a long time to wait. Every Rangers fan all around the world will be celebrating this tonight.
"The club hit rock bottom. It's been a slow climb back up but today is all about Steven Gerrard and his squad. The changes Steven has made, the leadership he's shown, the recruitment, on and off the pitch the club has been fantastic."
Former Rangers captain David Weir: "To wrap it up so early with such a points gap is a credit to the players and staff. The level of consistency has been incredible. Great credit to Steven Gerrard for the team he's built and the players for taking it on. To finally get the title back to Ibrox is a massive relief and a massive joy for everyone at the club."
Speaking to Rangers TV, midfielder Glen Kamara said: "It's a surreal moment. I don't even know how to feel right now. Everyone's just trying to live the moment just now. We'll just enjoy today."
Midfielder Joe Aribo on Rangers TV: "My aim was to come here and win trophies and titles, that's what we've done. I've achieved what I wanted to achieve, but obviously there's more to come."
And veteran forward Jermain Defoe told Rangers TV: "I've dedicated my whole career and my whole life for these kind of moments. I always knew it would happen at some point in my career."
Steve Clarke must repair his players' badly bruised morale after a masterclass in Scottish football angst, writes Tom English.
How Scotland's historic day of vibrant pageantry and football fever turned nightmarish at Hampden.
Watch all the angles of Patrik Schick's incredible half-way goal that helped the Czech Republic to a 2-0 win over Scotland at Hampden.
Declan Gallagher leads the charge on lifting the lid on the personalities inside the Scotland camp.
It started with Andy Considine's stag weekend, continued with the celebrations in Belgrade... now the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra gives us its take on Yes Sir, I Can Boogie.
Tile TVs, infinity pools and Call of Duty - BBC Scotland takes a look at Scotland's camp for this summer's Euros.
Recently retired Scottish hurdler Eilidh Doyle discusses her successful track and field career.
Undisputed light-welterweight world champion Josh Taylor tells BBC Scotland why wedding bells may come before his next super-fight. | Sports Competition | March 2021 | ['(BBC Sport)'] |
China and Japan have opened two days of closed–door negotiations in Beijing aimed at resolving a long–running dispute over natural gas drilling rights in a disputed area of the East China Sea | Kenichiro Sasae, director of the Asia and Oceania Bureau at Japan's Foreign Ministry, speaks to journalists as he arrives in BeijingChina and Japan have opened two days of closed-door negotiations in Beijing aimed at resolving a long-running dispute over natural gas drilling rights in the . Japan has demanded that China stop exploration in a disputed area of the East China Sea and disclose plans for its drilling projects. China refuses, claiming the area where it plans to drill is within its exclusive economic zone. Beijing last week protested Japanese plans to start awarding exploration rights to Japanese companies - bids that had been on hold for decades. Both countries say the disputed area is within their exclusive economic development zones. Japan has proposed that a maritime boundary be set at a midpoint between the countries, but China says the line of separation is farther east. Monday's negotiations come at a time when the two nations are locked in a wider dispute over Japan's militaristic past, making analysts pessimistic about the outcome.
Professor David Zweig directs the Center for China's Transnational Relations at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. "The environment is not very good for this meeting to be successful," said Professor Zweig. "Neither side wants to make compromises right now. There would be ways to work this out, but the Chinese are feeling that they cannot make any concessions to Japan on this issue until Japan makes a concession on the textbooks." Thousands of Chinese demonstrated against Japan in April as Beijing complained that some Japanese history textbooks glossed over atrocities committed by Japanese troops in China in the first half of the 20th century. Relations suffered further last week, when the Chinese vice prime minister abruptly called off a meeting in Tokyo with the Japanese prime minister after he defended his controversial visits to a Tokyo shrine where convicted war criminals are among those venerated. | Diplomatic Talks _ Diplomatic_Negotiation_ Summit Meeting | May 2005 | ['(VOA News)'] |
An armed Palestinian infiltrator and an Israeli soldier are killed during an exchange of fire along the Gaza border, and at least three militants are injured during an Israeli air strike on Gaza. | An Israeli soldier and a Palestinian have been killed during an exchange of fire along the Gaza border.
The Israeli army said that a Palestinian militant cut through the boundary fence and opened fire on Israeli troops, who then shot back killing him. Separately, at least three suspected militants were hurt in an Israeli air strike on Gaza. The suspects had fired a rocket into Israel, the army said.
According to Israeli media, the exchange of fire between the Palestinian and Israeli soldiers happened near the Kissufim crossing early on Friday.
Reports say there was heavy mist in the area making it easier to approach the fence undetected early on Friday. "A terrorist who was identified infiltrating Israel from the southern Gaza Strip opened fire at Israeli soldiers, who responded with fire. During the exchange of fire, the terrorist was killed," the Israeli army said in a statement.
It is not uncommon for the Israeli army to open fire on Palestinians who approach the fence. But it is rare for a Palestinian to break through and for an Israeli soldier to be killed in such an exchange, the BBC's Jon Donnison reports.
The Israeli military maintains an exclusion zone on the Gaza side of the boundary between Gaza and Israel, and troops regularly carry out military activity in the area and fire on Palestinians who approach the fence.
Residents of southern Israel, quoted by the Associated Press, said they heard gunfire in the early morning and heard Israeli helicopters circling in the air. They also said tank shells were fired into Gaza that set fire to fields.
Just hours later, Israel carried out an air strike on suspected militants travelling on a motorbike in southern Gaza. "Israeli aircraft targeted a terrorist squad that fired a rocket at Israeli soldiers," army said.
At least three suspects were injured, one of them seriously. They are believed to be members of the Popular Resistance Committee.
Sources in Gaza say Hamas, which runs the territory, is now making efforts to restore calm, the BBC's Jon Donnison in Ramallah reports.
Recently the movement has not usually been directly involved in firing rockets into Israel. But Israel says Hamas - as the ruling power - should be held responsible, our correspondent says. | Armed Conflict | June 2012 | ['(BBC)'] |
Suspected Allied Democratic Forces militants in North Kivu, DR Congo, kill at least 15 United Nations peacekeepers, mostly Tanzanian, and five Congolese soldiers, and wound 53 other people. An unknown number of the rebels are killed. Over 90 peacekeepers have been killed since the mission started in 1999. | António Guterres, UN secretary general, described the attack by an Islamist extremist group as a ‘war crime’
Last modified on Fri 8 Dec 2017 22.55 GMT
Heavily armed militants have killed at least 15 peacekeepers and five soldiers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in one of the worst attacks on United Nations personnel in recent memory.
More than 50 peacekeepers were left wounded after fighters from a local Islamist extremist group overran a remote base in the east of the vast central African country after hours of confused fighting late on Thursday.
Many casualties are in a critical condition and the death toll is expected to rise.
António Guterres, the UN secretary general, described the attack as the worst in the UN’s recent history and “a war crime”.
“Today is a very tragic day for the UN family … I condemn this attack unequivocally,” Guterres said.
The loss is the most serious suffered in a single day by the UN since 24 Pakistani soldiers were killed in an ambush in Somalia in 1993. Local officials said Congolese army troops stationed several miles from the base also sustained casualties when they attempted to come to the aid of the UN forces, but were ambushed and beaten back.
The UN mission in DRC said on Friday it was coordinating medical evacuations from the base, situated near a bridge on the river Semuliki, 25 miles (40km) north-east of the town of Beni.
Details have emerged of a well-coordinated and complex operation launched at dusk. The attackers, armed with mortars and rocket-propelled grenades, destroyed two armoured personnel carriers, an ambulance and a truck before withdrawing. UN attack helicopters have limited night vision equipment and remained grounded throughout the four-hour assault.
Most of the dead and wounded are believed to be from Tanzania, which has more than a thousand soldiers serving as peacekeepers in DRC. The base was home to the peacekeeping mission’s rapid intervention force, which has a rare mandate to go on the offensive.
The Tanzanian contingent is generally considered among the better armed and trained elements of the 21,000-strong UN force.
Rival militia groups still control swaths of mineral-rich eastern DRC, nearly a decade and a half after the official end of a 1998-2003 war that killed millions of people, mostly from hunger and disease.
The attack on the base has been blamed by the UN on the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a local group that adheres to a rigorous Islamist vision and has a history of violence.
Jason Stearns, director of the Congo Research Group at New York University, said: “The ADF is an Islamist armed group which imposes discipline based on a strict interpretation of the sharia and which is known to be extremely brutal. It is very likely the ADF were involved but also other groups ... The ADF have been in the area for 20 years and has deep links with all kinds of people.”
The ADF has launched a series of bloody attacks in recent months. UN forces and national Congolese troops have mounted operations against the group. A peacekeeper was shot and killed during a firefight in September.
At least 26 people were killed in an attack on civilians on motorbikes in October near Beni that was blamed on the group. Two peacekeepers were killed and several wounded in a separate attack.
The group, which is largely composed of converts, is not thought to have any significant links to other Islamist extremist organisations in Africa or the Middle East, though a video recently surfaced showing fighters apparently in DRC claiming allegiance to Islamic State.
A UN official said the attack represented a “serious escalation”.
The UN peacekeeping mission in Congo has recorded 93 deaths of military, police and civilian personnel. Established in 2010, it is the largest and most expensive in the world and is aimed at stabilising the restive east of the huge nation.
DRC is facing a grave humanitarian emergency, economic deterioration and worsening political instability.
“The scale of people fleeing violence is off the charts, outpacing Syria, Yemen and Iraq,” the Norwegian Refugee Council’s DRC director, Ulrika Blom, said this week.
President Joseph Kabila, in power since 2001, has ignored calls to step down after his second mandate expired almost a year ago and police have brutally crushed a series of protests. Under pressure from the US and others, Kabila has agreed to hold elections in 12 months, though many doubt his word.
“Kabila does not have any intention to leave power ... his strategy is to spread chaos across the country and then delay elections because he’ll claim there is too much violence,” said Félix Tshisekedi, a prominent opposition leader, in an interview with the Guardian this week.
The crisis has led to a breakdown in law and order, with a series of massive prison breaks and growing conflict between militias across the south and east of the country that has killed thousands and displaced millions.
The surge of ADF activity, which has been recruiting intensively in recent months, is part of this broader pattern, experts say.
“Armed groups are political animals ... They feel that something is going to happen elections, negotiations, whatever so are positioning themselves,” said Stearns.
Few observers see much cause for optimism.
“Congo is going to go pretty badly next year. The humanitarian crisis is up there with Yemen and Syria and the situation is degrading, the region is getting nervous and the overall situation will become more fractured and more violent,” said Stephanie Wolters, the head of a peace and security research programme at the Institute for Security Studies in Pretoria.
Maman Sidikou, the special representative of the UN secretary general in DRC, promised action “to ensure that the perpetrators are held accountable and brought to justice”. | Armed Conflict | December 2017 | ['(The Guardian)'] |
German Chancellor Angela Merkel announces a €50-billion economic stimulus package. | German Chancellor Angela Merkel has unveiled an economic stimulus package worth about 50bn euros ($67bn; £45bn) to kick-start Europe's largest economy.
The measures include investments in railways, roads and schools, as well as a number of tax relief initiatives.
It is aimed at helping the country during what some fear could be its worst recession since World War II.
An earlier 23bn-euro plan to stimulate the economy, passed last month, was derided for being too cautious.
"We will do everything possible to make sure Germany not only gets through this crisis but emerges stronger," Ms Merkel said.
Tax cuts
The agreement follows squabbles between the Social Democrats and Christian Democrats over how to shore up the German economy and prevent job losses.
"All in all, it is a package that will help get us through the financial crisis and secure jobs," said Christian Democrat parliamentary president Volker Kauder.
The new two-year stimulus package will include investment measures worth about 18bn euros for infrastructure projects.
The package includes:
But, says the BBC's Steve Rosenberg in Berlin, this package alone will not solve Germany's biggest problem at the moment: its falling exports.
Because of the global economic downturn, there is less demand abroad for German goods, such as cars and machine tools.
Germany is heavily reliant on exports, which saw their largest fall in November since reunification in 1990.
Last year, it unveiled a bail-out for businesses worth up to 500bn euros, but its use has been limited because of strict conditions attached to taking the money.
Meanwhile, figures released on Tuesday morning showed that German wholesale prices fell 3% in December from the previous month, and were down 3.3% on a year-on-year basis. | Financial Aid | January 2009 | ['(BBC News)'] |
Hawaii is expected to reopen tourism to the public and lift the statewide mandatory quarantine for travellers who test negative. However, visitors will be required to wear masks and go through temperature screenings. | Visitors to Hawaii can bypass the state's 14-day quarantine order, which has been extended to November 30, by participating in a pre-travel COVID-19 testing program beginning Thursday, effectively marking the return of tourism.
However, the next phase of the state's reopening remains somewhat uncertain as the program, which was originally scheduled to launch on August 1, has been delayed three times already.
Under the program, out-of-state travelers must present proof of a negative nucleic acid amplification test (NAAT) administered by one of Hawaii's trusted partners within 72 hours of their arrival in order to avoid two weeks in isolation. Visitors will upload the results to the state's online Safe Travels form and complete a health questionnaire within 24 hours of departure.
Those who choose not to undergo testing will still be required to quarantine for at least 14 days or face the possibility of fines and jail time.
Visitors to Hawaii should also anticipate temperature checks upon arrival at the airport. A handful of airlines are currently participating in the state's pre-travel testing program, with Hawaiian Airlines and several others even offering passengers convenient at-home testing options.
While travelers will only need a single test to bypass the quarantine requirement at the statewide level, a second test may be required depending on the island. For example, the Big Island will require an additional, rapid-results test for all passengers ages five and up upon arrival at the airport. "Kauai County has established a voluntary testing program on day three after arrival, and Maui County also established a voluntary post-arrival testing program. Hawaii Island will require an antigen test for all arriving trans-pacific travelers who are participating in the pre-travel testing program," Hawaii Gov. David Ige said via KHON2.
Hawaii is also expected to conduct random surveillance testing four days after arrival on at least 10 percent of visitors who have already been cleared via pre-travel tests. "As we open up, we're taking some risks. The pre-testing travel program will not screen out every visitor who could be positive. We’ve been told by the lieutenant governor it will screen out 80 percent, meaning 20 percent continue to come through that could be positive," Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell told The Honolulu Star-Advertiser.
"It has to be random, it can’t be voluntary...and you need to test about 10 percent, which will tell us how many people are getting through that are positive," Caldwell added. "Because if it’s a larger number, greater than 20 percent, then maybe we're not so ready."
With visitors now having the option to bypass quarantine, many of Hawaii's top hotels and resorts are planning to reopen with special incentives and remote working packages in the coming weeks. The Hyatt Regency Maui Resort and Spa and the Montage Kapalua Bay are among the notable properties scheduled to reopen to guests on Thursday.
For now, visitors will be limited in terms of island hopping, as doing so will still require quarantine in some cases while Hawaiian officials await improved testing. Maui and Kauai have agreed to the pre-travel testing program for inter-island travelers to avoid quarantine, KHON2 reports.
| Government Policy Changes | October 2020 | ['(CNN)', '(TravelPulse.com)'] |
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu says Russia and Syria will open humanitarian corridors to Aleppo, and will provide a way for rebel fighters to lay down their arms. | Updated on: July 28, 2016 / 6:04 AM
/ CBS/AP MOSCOW -- Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Thursday that the Russian and the Syrian governments would open humanitarian corridors and offer a way out of Aleppo for Islamic State of Iraq and Syra (ISIS) fighters wanting to lay down their arms.
Syria's President Bashar Assad offered amnesty to rebels who surrendered to authorities over the next three months. Assad's decree also said that those who freed their captives would be exempted from punishment if they turn themselves in within a month, according to Syrian state-run news agency SANA.
Shoigu said Moscow would send a top general and experts to Geneva at the request of U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to discuss the crisis surrounding the embattled Syrian city.
Syrian government forces and allied troops had tightened the noose on the main rebel enclave in the city of Aleppo, and humanitarian groups warned of a major catastrophe if the siege on the rebel-held parts of the city continued.
Shoigu said in televised comments Thursday that President Vladimir Putin had a "large-scale humanitarian operation" that would be launched outside Aleppo to "help civilians who were taken hostage by terrorists as well as fighters who wanted to lay down the arms." Shoigu mentioned three humanitarian corridors as well as food and first aid points outside the city.
On Wednesday, the Syrian army said it cut off the last supply route to east Aleppo and confirmed that the city was completely surrounded by Syrian forces, CBS News' Khaled Wassef reports. 250,000 to 300,000 people in rebel-held districts had been under siege for nearly 3 weeks. | Government Policy Changes | July 2016 | ['(CBS News)'] |
At least 51 people are reportedly killed in an attack on a shopping centre in Iraq's capital, Baghdad, and a car bombing outside an illegal casino in Miqdadiyah, east of Baghdad, with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant claiming responsibility for both attacks. , | BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Gunmen detonated suicide vests inside a shopping complex in Baghdad on Monday and a car bomb exploded nearby in an attack claimed by Islamic State that killed at least 18 people and wounded 40 others.
Two bombs later went off in the eastern town of Muqdadiya, killing at least 23 people and wounding another 51, security and medical sources said. Another blast in a southeastern Baghdad suburb killed seven more.
Islamic State militants controlling swathes of Iraq’s north and west claimed responsibility for the attacks in Muqdadiya and at the Baghdad mall, which it said had targeted a gathering of “rejectionists”, its derogatory term for Shi’ite Muslims.
The Iraqi government last month claimed victory against the hardline Sunni militants in the western city of Ramadi, and has slowly pushed them back in other areas.
A security official in Anbar province on Monday said ground advances backed by U.S.-led coalition air strikes killed about two dozen insurgents and pushed others out of areas near the government-held city of Haditha in Iraq’s northwest.
Monday’s bombings left the biggest death toll in three months. Interior Ministry spokesman Brigadier General Saad Maan blamed “this terrorist group after they suffered heavy losses by the security forces”, without naming Islamic State.
Seven people, including two policemen, were killed in the car bomb blast near the Jawaher mall in the predominantly Shi’ite district of Baghdad Jadida, police and medical sources said.
Five more people were shot dead by the gunmen storming the mall, and six others were killed when those same assailants detonated their explosive vests, the sources said.
“People started running into the shops to hide, but (the militants) followed them in and opened fire without mercy,” said Hani Fikrat Abdel Hussein, a shop-owner standing amid shattered glass and rubble at the site of the blasts.
Related Coverage
Police regained control of the shopping complex, in the east of the city, and a senior security official told state television there were no hostages, rejecting reports that people had been held.
“The security forces are at the scene and managed to recover the wounded. The situation is under control,” Maan added.
As well as the violence meted out by Islamic State, Iraq is also gripped by a sectarian conflict mostly between Shi’ites and Sunnis that has been exacerbated by the rise of the militant group.
At least seven people were killed when a suicide bomber driving a car attacked a commercial street in a southeastern Baghdad suburb on Monday, police and medical sources said.
The blast in the Sunni district of Nahrawan left more than 15 people wounded, the sources added.
Earlier in the day, three people were killed and eight others wounded when a car bomb claimed by Islamic State went off near a restaurant in Baquba, 65 km (40 miles) northeast of Baghdad, security and medical sources said.
Two bombs later exploded in an area frequented by Shi’ite militia fighters in the town of Muqdadiya, another 15 km (10 miles) further northeast, security sources said.
At least 23 people were killed and 51 wounded in those blasts. A bomber detonated his suicide vest inside a casino in the town. A car bomb parked outside then went off as medics and civilians gathered at the site of the first blast.
Security officials said they had imposed a curfew for all of Diyala province, where Muqdadiya and Baquba are located.
Parliamentary speaker Salim al-Jabouri, who is from Muqdadiya, said he was in contact with security and political leaders there and warned violence there aimed to “undermine efforts for civil peace”, state TV said in a news flash.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack in the Baghdad suburb.
| Armed Conflict | January 2016 | ['(BBC)', '(AAP via SBS)', '(Reuters)'] |
U.S. President George W. Bush signs the Unborn Victims of Violence Act, commonly known as Laci and Conner's Law, that states that an act of violence that leads to the death of a pregnant mother and her child can be counted as two offenses. |
For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
April 1, 2004
President Bush Signs Unborn Victims of Violence Act of 2004
Remarks by the President at Signing of the Unborn Victims of Violence Act of 2004
The East Room 2:57 P.M. EST
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you for coming. Thank you all. Please be
seated. Thanks for the warm welcome. (Laughter.) Welcome to the
people's house, the White House. I'm pleased that you all could be
here for the first bill signing ceremony of the year 2004.
The Unborn Victims of Violence Act provides that, under federal
law, any person who causes death or injury to a child in the womb shall
be charged with a separate offense, in addition to any charges relating
to the mother. (Applause.) As of today, the law of our nation will
acknowledge the plain fact that crimes of violence against a pregnant
woman often have two victims. (Applause.) And therefore, in those
cases, there are two offenses to be punished. Under this law, those
who direct violence toward a pregnant woman will answer for the full
extent of the harm they have done, and for all the crimes they have
committed.
I appreciate members of the United States Congress who have joined
us today. Majority Leader Bill Frist is with us from the Senate.
Thank you for coming. Majority Leader Tom DeLay of the House of
Representatives -- (applause.) Members from both political parties
have joined us. I appreciate the members on stage here, House bill
sponsor, Congresswoman Melissa Hart from Pennsylvania, is with us.
(Applause.) Senate sponsor, Senator Mike DeWine from Ohio, is with
us. (Applause.) And the Chairman of the Judiciary Committees, Senator
Orrin Hatch and Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner, are with us, as well.
(Applause.) Thank you all.
I appreciate those in attendance today from across the country who
have worked hard to get this bill passed. I also want to thank Sharon
Rocha and her husband, Ron Grantski, for joining us today. (Applause.)
This act of Congress addresses tragic losses such as Sharon and Ron
have known. They have laid to rest their daughter, Laci, a beautiful
young woman who was joyfully awaiting the arrival of a new son. They
have also laid to rest that child, a boy named Conner, who was waiting
to be born when his life, too, was taken. His little soul never saw
light, but he was loved, and he is remembered. (Applause.) And his
name is forever joined with that of his mom in this statute, which is
also known as Laci and Conner's Law. (Applause.) All who knew Laci
Peterson have mourned two deaths, and the law cannot look away and
pretend there was just one.
Each of these families on this stage has lost a child, or a
grandchild, or both. Carol and Buford Lyons, Tracy Marciniak-Seivers,
Stephanie Alberts, Cynthia Warner -- I thank you all for your courage
for coming today. (Applause.)
As these and the other families understand, any time an expectant
mother is a victim of violence, two lives are in the balance, each
deserving protection, and each deserving justice. If the crime is
murder and the unborn child's life ends, justice demands a full
accounting under the law.
Until today, the federal criminal code had been silent on the
injury or death of a child in cases of violence against a pregnant
woman. This omission in the law has led to clear injustices. The
death of an innocent unborn child has too often been treated as a
detail in one crime, but not a crime in itself. Police and prosecutors
had been to crime scenes and have shared the grief of families, but
have so often been unable to seek justice for the full offense. The
American people, as well, have learned of these cases, and they urged
action. The swift bipartisan passage of this bill through Congress
this year indicates a strong consensus that the suffering of two
victims can never equal only one offense.
The moral concern of humanity extends to those unborn children who
are harmed or killed in crimes against their mothers. And now, the
protection of federal law extends to those children, as well. With
this action, we widen the circle of compassion and inclusion in our
society, and we reaffirm that the United States of America is building
a culture of life. (Applause.)
It is now my honor to sign the Unborn Victims of Violence Act of
2004.
(The bill is signed.) (Applause.)
END 3:05 P.M. EST
| Government Policy Changes | April 2004 | ['(White House)', '(UPI)'] |
American Olympic gold-medal swimmer Klete Keller is charged with participating in the storming of the United States Capitol. | U.S. Olympic swimmer Klete Keller was charged Wednesday in connection with last week's deadly Capitol riot, court records show.
A criminal complaint filed in the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., showed Keller was charged with obstructing law enforcement, knowingly entering or remaining in a restricted building or grounds without lawful authority and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.
Videos appear to show the Olympic gold medalist inside the Capitol Rotunda on January 6 sporting a USA Olympics team jacket. As protesters clashed with police, law enforcement officers can be seen attempting multiple times to push back the crowd that included a man who appears to be Keller.SwimSwam, a news website that covers competitive swimming, first identified Keller as possibly being one of the members of a Trump-supporting mob that attacked the Capitol. The New York Times also spoke to unnamed former teammates and coaches who said he was part of the crowd.
Federal agents confirmed it was Keller in the videos in part by matching his Colorado driving license photo with the person seen in the footage, according to the criminal complaint signed by an FBI special agent Matthew R. Barofsky. Keller, who stands at 6 feet 6 inches tall, also stood out because he is one of the tallest people in the videos, the complaint noted.
Keller was part of the U.S. swim team at the 2000, 2004 and 2008 Olympics. Along with Michael Phelps, he was a member of the relay team that won the gold medal in the 4X200m freestyle in 2004 and 2008. The team also set a new world record in the same event at the FINA World Swimming Championships in Melbourne in 2007. Prior to law enforcement identifying Keller as a participant in the riot, the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee released a statement to CBS News on Tuesday condemning the actions last week.
"We support the right to peacefully protest and express values and viewpoints in a respectful and lawful manner that is what makes our democracy strong. Sadly, that is not what happened in this case," the committee said.
Keller has also resigned from real estate company Hoff & Leigh in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where he had been working as an independent contractor, according to a statement from the company.
"Hoff & Leigh supports the right of free speech and lawful protest but we cannot condone actions that violate the rule of law," the company said.
The riot led to five deaths, including a Capitol Police officer. House Democrats accused President Trump of inciting the assault on the Capitol and voted Wednesday to impeach him for the second time. Ten House Republicans also voted in favor of impeachment. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | January 2021 | ['(CBS News)'] |
Paolo and Vittorio Taviani's Caesar Must Die wins the Golden Bear at the 62nd Berlin International Film Festival. | The Italian docu-drama Caesar Must Die has won the Golden Bear prize at the Berlin Film Festival.
The film, directed by veteran brothers Paolo and Vittorio Taviani, follows a group of real-life convicts as they rehearse for a prison performance of Julius Caesar.
Critics said the fact that most of the cast were prisoners intensified the drama of Shakespeare's tragedy.
The film was among the favourites to win the prestigious award.
"We hope that when the film is released to the general public that cinemagoers will say to themselves or even those around them... that even a prisoner with a dreadful sentence, even a life sentence, is and remains a human being," Paolo Taviani, 80, said as he accepted the prize.
His brother Vittorio, 82, read out the names of the inmates who took part in the film.
The festival's judging panel was led by veteran British director Mike Leigh. However, the big winner was not wholly praised, with German website Der Spiegel calling it a "very conservative selection."
Trade newspaper, the Hollywood Reporter, called Caesar Must Die's victory "a major upset".
The winner of last year's Golden Bear, Iranian film A Separation, has since gone on to be nominated for best foreign language feature at next week's Oscars.
The runner-up award went to Just the Wind, a film inspired by a spree of gypsy killings in Hungary.
Best actress went to 14-year-old Rachel Mwanza from the Democratic Republic of Congo, for her first ever film role in War Witch. Danish performer Mikkel Boe Folsgaard, took home best actor for the costume drama A Royal Affair. The film also won best screenplay.
The best director award went to German filmmaker Christian Petzold for Barbara, about a woman plotting to escape communist East Germany.
Last week at the festival, Iron Lady star Meryl Streep accepted an award recognising her five-decade career.
| Awards ceremony | February 2012 | ['(BBC)'] |
Shas endorses Isaac Herzog from the Israeli Labor Party as the country's next prime minister. | Labor Party chairman Isaac Herzog received a surprising endorsement Tuesday from Shas party head Aryeh Deri, who announced that come Israel’s next elections, the ultra-Orthodox party would rally behind Herzog and back the opposition leader in his run for the premiership.
“Our mission is to bring down the government headed by Benjamin Netanyahu,” Deri said during a special opposition meeting outside the Knesset plenum. “Would that we crown you as prime minister.”
Shas and United Torah Judaism, Israel’s two ultra-Orthodox parties, have largely supported Likud-led coalitions for many years, but were kept out of the current government, which is about to pass legislation designed to increase ultra-Orthodox participation in military service.
Deri’s statements also came amid tension between the ruling coalition and opposition parties over the so-called Governance Bill, which, among other measures, raises the minimum threshold parties need to enter the Knesset.
The bill, sponsored by Yisrael Beytenu chair and Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman, was approved by a 67-0 vote Tuesday with no abstentions or opposition votes, as the voting was boycotted by opposition MKs, who claimed the bill deliberately targets minority parties. | Government Job change - Appoint_Inauguration | March 2014 | ['(Times of Israel)'] |
Actress Lindsay Lohan starts a 90–day sentence for breaking her parole for a 2007 conviction for drunk driving in California, United States. | US actress Lindsay Lohan has been taken into custody in Los Angeles to serve a jail sentence for probation violation.
The 24-year-old was handcuffed and sent to a women's prison south of the city after appearing before a court.
She is expected to serve less than the 90-day sentence imposed earlier this month because of jail overcrowding, and is likely to spend it in isolation.
Lohan, who was jailed after failing to attend alcohol education classes, will enter rehabilitation after her release.
Her probation was imposed in 2007 in relation to drunk driving and drug possession charges.
In ordering Lohan's remand, Judge Marsha Revel ordered TV cameras and photographers not to take pictures of the actress as she was taken away from the Beverly Hills courtroom.
"I don't know exactly how long the jail will keep her. I can only impose the sentence," said the judge.
Officials have said that Lohan's sentence could be just three weeks for good behaviour and also due to the strain on prison accommodation.
She will spend her sentence in a small cell in the Century Regional Detention Facility to the south of Los Angeles.
The all-women prison houses some 2,200 inmates.
Mobile phones and computers are prohibited at the jail, while Lohan will have to surrender all her jewellery and wear a standard orange jumpsuit. Lohan spent just 84 minutes of a sentence there two years ago for her 2007 drink-driving and drug possession offences.
| Famous Person - Commit Crime - Sentence | July 2010 | ['(The Australian)', '(BBC)', '(Reuters)', '(Sky News)'] |
The Alabama Ethics Commissionfinds there is probable cause that Governor Robert J. Bentley violated the state's ethics and campaign finance laws, and refers the case to Montgomery County District Attorney Daryl Bailey. | MONTOMGERY, Ala. After more than ninehours of testimony and deliberations Wednesday and over a year after the filing of the first complaint the Alabama Ethics Commissionfound "probable cause" that Gov. Robert Bentley violated the state's ethics and campaign finance laws.
The commission referred the charges to Montgomery County District Attorney Daryl Bailey. If indicted and convicted, Bentley could face up to 20 years in prison for each violation and a fine of up to $20,000 on each charge.
Bill Athanas, an attorney for the governor, called the vote disappointing, but saidBentley planned to fight.
"There is not a basis to find the governorviolated any law, much less the ethics act or the campaign finance act," Athanas said after the decision Wednesday. "The battle goes on."
The decision adds to Bentley's legal ordeal over allegations about his personal and professional relationship with formerstaffer Rebekah Caldwell Mason, charges that could lead to his removal from office. The House Judiciary Committee could begin impeachment hearings against Bentleynext week, and the committee's special counsel should file an investigative report on the governor by Friday. The Alabama attorney general's office is alsoinvestigating Bentley, though it's not clear if that probe relates to the Mason charges or another matter.
Bentley left the RSA Union building, where the hearing was taking place, early Wednesday evening. Athanas declined to say if he testified before the commission.
Reporters also saw potential witnesses in the building, including former Alabama Law Enforcement Agency Secretary Spencer Collier, who made the allegations against Bentley last year. Collier's charges formed the basis of a complaint State Auditor Jim Zeigler filed with the commission last year, though others followed.
"I have mixed emotions," said Zeigler, who was on a witness list but did not testify Wednesday. "Pleased that the governor is finally going to face accountability, but sad for the state of Alabama that we've had to go through this for the past year-and-a-half."
Under state law, the Alabama Ethics Commission acts as a grand jury when a public official faces accusations of breaking the state's ethics law. The commission cannot press chargesbut can find probable cause and refer cases to the Alabama attorney general or a district attorney usually the one in Montgomery County for prosecution. Testimony and deliberations take place in private, but votes are public.
Commissioners approved charges that Bentley improperly used public resources "to further his personal interest;" a charge that he improperly used campaign money to pay Mason's legal bills;accepted a campaign contribution outside the established time limits for doing so,and madea loan to his campaign outside those time limits.
The commission approved the vote on a series of 3-1 and 4-0 votes. Commissioner Butch Ellis abstained from the votes.
Athanas said he would seek a meeting with Bailey as soon as possible.
"It’s a finding of probable cause, which is one of the lowest legal standards we apply in these cases," he said."We certainly disagree there wasevidence to support aprobable cause finding.We definitely disagree there was enough evidence to support a finding beyond a cause of reasonable doubt."
Bailey said in a statement Wednesday he had not yet received the commission's findings.
"Once received, I will review and make a decision on how to proceed," he said.
The vote could buttress other investigations based on Collier's charges. After Bentley fired Collier in March 2016, accusing Collier of mismanagement and "possible misuse of state funds," Collier hit back with accusations that Bentley, whose wife divorced him in 2015 after 50 years of marriage,had an affair with Mason, his senior political adviser; used state resources to pursue it and tried to prevent Collier from signing an affidavit in the criminal investigation of then-House Speaker Mike Hubbard, R-Auburn.
Audio of Bentley making suggestive comments later surfaced. Bentley acknowledged making inappropriate remarks to Mason, but both denyhaving a sexual affairor misuse of state funds.
How the allegations of sexual impropriety affected the commission's decision is unknown.Before going into executive session, commission memberStewart Tankersley moved to include sex in a list of "things of value" that, if exchanged between politicians, lobbyists or those who employ them, violate the state ethics law. The motion failed. Commission member Charles Price, a retired Montgomery County Circuit Judge, said the Legislature had to make those determinations.
Collier's allegations formed the basis of the impeachment drive against Bentley in the House. But the initial ethics complaint came from an unexpected source.
A few days after the allegations and denials flew, Zeigler sent what he termed a “report” summarizing Collier’s accusations against the governor to the commission. The auditorcompiled four counts against Bentley, including Mason’s quasi-public role; Bentley using state property and resources to pursue an affair with Mason; Mason failing to register as a lobbyist despite receiving payments from an outside entity and Bentley and Mason trying to prevent Collier from signing an affidavit in the criminal investigation of then-House Speaker Mike Hubbard, R-Auburn.
The campaign finance chargesappeared to come from a complaint by Stacy Lee George, a former Republican gubernatorial candidate and corrections officer.The legal payments to Mason totaling $8,912 did not become public record until the governor's 2016 campaign finance reportwas filed earlier this year. Athanas at the time said changes to the state's campaign finance law allowed those payments.
George, who the commission sequestered like Zeigler as a possible witness, praised the committee's decision Wednesday night, and called for Bentley's impeachment by the Alabama House of Representatives.
"The state house members,105 of them up over there, they have to put up or shut up on Friday," he said, referring to the expected investigative report in the House Judiciary Committee.
Zeigler's filing last did nothing to help hisHulk Hogan-Rowdy Piperrelationship with Bentley. Zeigler had already clashed with Bentley over BP money used to refurbish the governor’s mansion on the Gulf Coast. The state auditor also claimed that Bentley forced him to sit in the balcony of the Old House Chamber during the 2016 State of the State address and that he “never met” Bentley in person, a claim that was disproven in photographsshared by the governor’s office.
Zeigler later ordered Bentley to testify to him about the allegations that he misused state resources. Bentleyignored the orderfrom the auditor, who has no powers of enforcement.
In a statement released by the Alabama Ethics Commission Wednesday evening, officials said investigators interviewed at least 45 witnesses in the investigation andanalyzed 33,000 documents.
"The staff of the Commission has worked tirelessly and thoroughly to investigate every complaint that we received," the statement said. "The evidence was reviewed and tested multiple times by career lawyers." | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | April 2017 | ['(USA Today)'] |
Narendra Modi is officially re–elected as the leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party and the National Democratic Alliance ahead of being sworn in as the Prime Minister of India. | 2.50 pm: NDA leaders, led by LK Advani, meet President Pranab Mukherjee to convey support to Narendra Modi-led government.
2.15 pm: Meanwhile, BSP supremo Mayawati dissolves all committees of her party following rout in Lok Sabha polls, party sources.
1.55 pm: Even though BJP got majority on its own, NDA allies will be as important as they would have been without clear majority, says Modi.
1.30 pm: Chandrababu Naidu, Parkash Singh Badal and Ram Vilas Paswan present at the NDA meet.
1.25 pm: NDA board meeting to elect Narendra Modi as leader of alliance begins.
READ FULL STORY: Modi elected leader of BJP Parliamentary Party
1.08 pm: This election result has increased people’s faith in democracy, says Narendra Modi.
1.03 pm: I am not doing any favour, only performing a duty; this victory is a result of struggle of five generations: Modi.
1.05 pm: When we meet again in 2019, I will present my report card again, says Modi.
1.02 pm: I am a very optimistic man; only optimistic man can bring optimism in the country, says Modi.
12.58 pm: Modi says, “couldn’t die for India, will live for this country.”
12.52 pm: I don’t believe UPA government did nothing; they did whatever they could and they deserve appreciation for whatever good they did, says Modi.
12.50 pm: Narendra Modi becomes emotional, breaks down while delivering speech, says BJP is his mother.
ALSO READ: Phase to phase, BJP’s 59-day final push
12. 48 pm: There is a new hope among people that this dispensation can fulfill their aspirations: Modi.
12.45 pm: After being elected as leader of BJP Parliamentary Party, Narendra Modi says he will work for country and not post.
12.42 pm: We are not here for any positions but for a responsiblity: Modi.
12.40 pm: On September 13 I was chosen PM candidate by party and I started on my campaign work from the 15th as a ‘karyakarta’: Modi.
12.39 pm: If Atal ji’s health permitted and he would have been present here, it would have been like the icing on the cake: Modi.
12.38 pm: Modi addresses newly-elected BJP MPs; thanks Advani and Rajnath for their blessings.
12.30 pm: Emotional Advani weeps as he praises Modi, says: “I am an emotional man. When I greeted Modi, I got tears in my eyes.”
12.08 pm: Sushma Swaraj, Nitin Gadkari, Murli Manohar Joshi and Venkaiah Nadu second Modi’s name proposed by Advani.
12.03 pm: L K Advani proposes name of “popular” and “famous” leader Narendra Modi for leader of BJP Parliamentary Party.
12.01 pm: Rajnath Singh says,”it is a historic moment for the BJP and in the history of Indian politics.”
11.55 am: BJP Parliamentary meeting begins; party President Rajnath Singh addresses newly-elected MPs.
11.50 am: Prime Minister-designate Narendra Modi reaches Parliament, set to be elected as the leader of BJP Parliamentary party.
11.30 am: BJP MPs start arriving in Parliament ahead of the meeting; Modi to reach shortly.
11. 11 am: 15-member NDA delegation to meet President Pranab Mukherjee this afternoon. READ MORE
FROM THE PRINT: ROLE REVERSAL
Their roles have now changed. Former Union home secretary R K Singh who won the Lok Sabha election from Bihar on a BJP ticket, visited RSS office at Keshav Kunj in Delhi and met Indresh Kumar among others. It is obvious that he wants his name recommended for a berth in the next government. Interestingly, he as the home secretary was monitoring the terror cases linked to the saffron brigade and in which Indresh Kumar was under scanner.
11.01 am: L K Advani to propose Narendra Modi’s name for leader of the BJP Parliamentary Party.
10.00 am: Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, BJP leaders Smriti Irani and Prakash Javadekar meet Narendra Modi.
Ahead of being called to form the government by the President, Narendra Modi is all set to be elected as leader of the BJP Parliamentary Party and the NDA grouping on Tuesday.
READ MORE: Rashtrapati Bhawan forecourt prepares for Modi’s swearing-in
Modi will meet President Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday after his election in the first formal step before he is sworn in as Prime Minister probably by the weekend.
The BJP Parliamentary party will meet today at the Central Hall of Parliament House to formally elect Shri @narendramodi as its leader.
— BJP (@BJP4India) May 20, 2014
| Government Job change - Appoint_Inauguration | May 2014 | ['(Indian Express)'] |
Facing impeachment over corruption charges, Governor John G. Rowland of Connecticut announces that he will resign, effective July 1. | Following are excerpts from a statement yesterday by Gov. John G. Rowland of Connecticut announcing his resignation effective July 1, as recorded by The New York Times. The full text is at nytimes.com/nyregion.
As you know, Patty and I have made a decision that we believe will not only affect our family but certainly will affect the state of Connecticut. The months leading to this decision have been difficult for all of us. I acknowledge that my poor judgment has brought us here.
| Government Job change - Resignation_Dismissal | June 2004 | ['(NYT)'] |
Members of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum gather in Beijing. | The leaders of China and Japan have met for formal talks after more than two years of severe tension over a territorial dispute.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and Japanese PM Shinzo Abe met on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (Apec) summit in Beijing.
Their first meeting included a public handshake with little sign of warmth. In a speech to Apec, President Obama has meanwhile announced big changes to visa arrangements with China.
Multiple entry short-term visas for businessmen and tourists will be extended to 10 years - up from one year. Those for students rise from one year to five. Mr Obama also stressed the importance of ties between China and the US, saying "the US welcomes the rise of a prosperous, peaceful and stable China." His comments come amid underlying tension between the US and China over Beijing's growing regional influence. After two years of Chinese animosity towards Japan's new prime minister, President Xi has finally relented. Today's face-to-face meeting with Shinzo Abe is important progress in relations between the world's second and third largest economies. But the underlying disagreements over territory and history remain as bitter as ever. And even Mr Xi's body language at today's meeting was calculatedly icy. During the handshake he did not smile or respond to Mr Abe's attempt at conversation. For all the fireworks and group photographs, this summit brings together neighbours with different worldviews at a difficult moment in history. How uninhabited islands soured China-Japan ties
Relations between China and Japan have long been soured by a row over islands in the East China Sea.
The uninhabited but strategically important islands, known as Diaoyu by China and Senkaku by Japan, are controlled by Japan but also claimed by China.
Tokyo's decision to purchase three of them from their private Japanese owner in September 2012 led to an escalation in a dispute that has rumbled quietly for years. The Chinese and Japanese leaders interacted awkwardly as they posed for an unsmiling photo after their talks. Mr Abe said the meeting - which came three days after the two sides agreed to work to prevent the territorial dispute from escalating - was "the first step for improving ties by returning to mutually beneficial relations based on common strategic interests".
He also said they had agreed to start preparations to establish a maritime crisis mechanism. There have been fears that a clash - accidental or otherwise - between Chinese and Japanese paramilitary vessels patrolling waters around the disputed islands could trigger a conflict.
Mr Xi told Mr Abe that China hoped Japan would follow a path of peaceful development and adopt prudent military and security policies.
Relations have also been hampered by what China sees as Japan's failure to adequately acknowledge its war-time conduct. Q&A: China-Japan islands row
Leaders from the 21 Apec member-nations are in Beijing for two days of talks. Apec, which includes 21 Pacific Rim nations, includes 40% of the world's population, with member countries accounting for about 44% of global trade and more than half of global economic output.
The summit takes place as China looks to underline its growing status as regional leader and economic giant. It is the biggest event hosted so far by Mr Xi, who took over the Chinese presidency in March 2013, and trade is one of the top priorities. | Diplomatic Talks _ Diplomatic_Negotiation_ Summit Meeting | November 2014 | ['(BBC)'] |
The Austrian Parliament passes a bill, partly aimed at tackling Islamist radicalism, that gives Muslims more legal security but bans foreign funding for mosques and imams. | The bill, which is partly aimed at tackling Islamist radicalism, gives Muslims more legal security but bans foreign funding for mosques and imams.
Austria's Integration Minister, Sebastian Kurz, defended the reforms but Muslim leaders say they fail to treat them equally.
The 1912 law made Islam an official religion in Austria.
It has been widely held up as a model for Europe in dealing with Islam.
The new measures, first proposed three years ago, include the protection of religious holidays and training for imams.
But Muslim groups say the ban on foreign funding is unfair as international support is still permitted for the Christian and Jewish faiths. They say the legalisation reflects a widespread mistrust of Muslims and some are planning to contest it in the constitutional court.
Mr Kurz told the BBC the reforms were a "milestone" for Austria and aimed to stop certain Muslim countries using financial means to exert "political influence".
"What we want is to reduce the political influence and control from abroad and we want to give Islam the chance to develop freely within our society and in line with our common European values," he said.
Mr Kurz also stressed the bill was not a reaction to recent attacks by Islamic extremists in France and Denmark.
Meanwhile the legislation has drawn wide reaction from Muslims across the world, with Turkey's head of religious affairs, Mehmet Gormez, adding his condemnation on Tuesday.
"Austria will go back 100 years in freedom with its Islam bill," Mr Gormez said, according to Turkey's state-funded Anadolu news agency.
Roughly half a million Muslims live in Austria today, around 6% of the population. Many of them have Turkish or Bosnian roots. The parliamentary vote in Austria came as the French government announced plans to improve dialogue with France's Muslim community.
French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said the government would increase consultations with Muslim leaders.
It would also double the number of university courses for imams - making them obligatory for Islamic chaplains in prisons and the armed forces - to ensure they are "faithful to the values of the Republic", he said. | Government Policy Changes | February 2015 | ['(BBC)'] |
Michel Cadot, the head of the Paris Police Prefecture, says that all the attackers are believed to be dead. | A Paris city hall official said four gunmen systematically slaughtered at least 87 young people attending a rock concert at the Bataclan music hall. Anti-terrorist commandos eventually launched an assault on the building. The gunmen detonated explosive belts and dozens of shocked survivors were rescued.
Some 40 more people were killed in five other attacks in the Paris region, the city hall official said, including an apparent double suicide bombing outside the national stadium, where Hollande and the German foreign minister were watching a friendly soccer international.
Some 200 people were injured. Paris public prosecutor François Molins said the death toll was at least 120.
His spokeswoman said eight assailants had also died, seven of whom had blown themselves up with explosive belts at various locations, while one had been shot dead by police.
Updated
at 6.02am GMT
14 Nov 2015
05:05
Claire Phipps
We are going to lead a war which will be pitiless. Because when terrorists are capable of committing such atrocities they must be certain that they are facing a determined France, a united France, a France that is together and does not let itself be moved, even if today we express infinite sorrow.
Updated
at 5.12am GMT
14 Nov 2015
05:01
This graphic pinpoints the six locations and the latest death tolls at each; these could, of course, change.
Two hundred people have been injured, 80 of them seriously.
Eight extremists dead following deadly #ParisAttacks – as many as 120 Parisians dead: https://t.co/k7NGIOWro9 pic.twitter.com/Z56qt6tg9Q
14 Nov 2015
04:54
This extraordinary clip via France’s iTélé appears to show a phone dented by a bullet – its owner, named here only as Sylvestre, claims it saved his life during the attack at the Stade de France:
Attentat au #StadeDeFrance > "C'est mon portable qui m'a sauvé", témoigne Sylvestre qui était aux abords du stade https://t.co/lIQq3R3OYs
14 Nov 2015
04:45
Here is the video Australian PM Malcolm Turnbull referred to – the French football fans who, as they were evacuated from the Stade de France, sang the national anthem:
14 Nov 2015
04:40
The world’s newspaper front pages have reacted with horror to the unfolding events in Paris: here is a selection from France and beyond.
14 Nov 2015
04:36
The Paris prosecutor’s office has confirmed that eight attackers are dead.
Prosecutor’s office spokeswoman Agnes Thibault-Lecuivre told Associated Press that the eighth attacker was killed by security forces when they raided a concert hall where the assailants had taken hostages.
She said it was possible that there are terrorists still at large.
14 Nov 2015
04:28
An update from the prosecutor’s office, which now says eight extremists are dead, seven of them in suicide bombings.
14 Nov 2015
04:27
Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull is speaking now.
He says the attack “appears to have all the hallmarks of a Daesh exercise”.
(Australia uses Daesh as its term for Islamic State.)
Turnbull lauded the French football fans who, as they were evacuated from the Stade de France, sang the national anthem:
Freedom stands up for itself … in the face of terrorism.
He went on:
What we know about the attack is very limited … what we know at the moment will undoubtedly change.
He said the terrorists kill in the name of god, but theirs is “the work of the devil”. | Famous Person - Death | November 2015 | ['(The Guardian)'] |
The Chicago Cubs defeat the Cleveland Indians 3 runs to 2 at Illinois' Wrigley Field in Game 5 of the 2016 World Series to avoid elimination and force a Game 6 with the series standing at 3 games to 2 in favor of the Cleveland Indians. It is the Cubs' first-ever win of a World Series game at the stadium since October 1945. | CHICAGO -- For two days, generations of Cubs fans have held their breath. If they couldn't see the team win its first championship since 1908 in Chicago, could the Cubs win at least one World Series game at Wrigley Field? Kris Bryant, Jon Lester and Aroldis Chapman obliged, and gave them reason to party on Sunday night.The Cubs extended the World Series beyond Halloween thanks to Chapman's trick -- scary heat and a career-best eight-out save -- Bryant's home run, which ignited a three-run fourth, and Lester's veteran moxy in a 3-2 victory over the Indians in Game 5. Cleveland's lead in the best-of-seven Series was trimmed to three games to two, and Game 6 will be Tuesday night at Progressive Field, which will get live baseball after hosting watch parties all weekend.• World Series Game 6: Tuesday, 7:30 p.m. ET air time | 8 ET game time on FOXTeams have rallied from a 3-1 deficit before, most recently the 1985 Royals. The Cubs can look to the '79 Pirates, the '68 Tigers, the '58 Yankees and the '25 Pirates for inspiration, too.:: Complete World Series coverage ::"I feel like we play our best with our backs up against the wall," Bryant said after the Cubs' first win in a World Series game at Wrigley Field since 1945. "We went out there today, took care of business. Hopefully we can get out there and win Game 6, because you never know what can happen in a Game 7."• Shop for World Series gear:Cubs | IndiansWrigleyville has been buzzing as the Cubs hosted their first World Series in 71 years. The Cubs got pumped up pregame as Anthony Rizzo ran around the clubhouse playing the theme from the movie "Rocky" and used it as his walk-up music for his first at-bat. Hey, whatever works."I wanted to get the crowd pumped and let them know we plan on going the distance," Rizzo said. "Hopefully, we're the last ones standing."Chicago has had no problems catching the ball, including a Spider-Man-esque wall-climbing grab by Jason Heyward to snare Trevor Bauer's foul popup down the right-field line. The Cubs have just had a tough time connecting against the Indians' pitchers, who came into the game with a 1.50 ERA in the previous four games. Bauer, who also lost Game 2 at Progressive Field, struck out seven, including five of the first 10 batters he faced, but the Cubs broke through for a three-spot in the fourth that saddled Bauer with the loss.With the exception of a 3-0 pitch that Ben Zobrist hit for a single two batters after Bryant's homer, "I located every single pitch that they hit exactly where I wanted them," Bauer said. "Sometimes, it doesn't work out for you. I got three of them to chase balls that were way out of the zone. Usually, those go in your favor. Clearly, not tonight."• Brief hiccup derails Bauer's otherwise solid start
Jose Ramirez gave the Tribe a 1-0 lead in the second, which must have seemed like 100-0. Cleveland entered the game 8-0 in the postseason when scoring first, but Lester settled in and gave the Cubs' bats a chance to do their thing.• Another strong October outing for Cubs' Lester
Bryant tied the game with a leadoff blast in the fourth, the seventh homer allowed by Cleveland in 13 postseason games. The Cubs then rattled off four hits in five at-bats, including an RBI infield single by Addison Russell that scored Rizzo and opened a 2-1 lead. David Ross, playing his last game at Wrigley Field before retiring after the season, added a sacrifice fly.• Bryant's jack could be Cubs' latest joltFrancisco Lindor's RBI single in the sixth pulled the Indians within 3-2, and then the managerial wheels started turning, as both Joe Maddon and Terry Francona went to their closers early. Maddon called on Chapman with one out and one on in the seventh, and the hard-throwing lefty escaped that jam, worked around a runner reaching third in the eighth and closed the victory with a perfect ninth.After Bryan Shaw retired the first batter in the bottom of the seventh inning, Francona inserted Cody Allen into the game. The Indians' closer worked a scoreless 1 2/3 innings to keep the Cubs from padding their lead, but the Tribe couldn't rally against Chapman.• Tribe gets top-notch relief without using Miller
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"We're trying to do anything to get on base and get something going," Indians first baseman Mike Napoli said. "He was going to be in there to the end -- that's what it looked like. We had an opportunity."Maddon gave Chapman a heads-up that he might call on him early."I told him, 'I'm ready, I'm ready to go,'" Chapman said. "Whatever he needs me to do or how long he needs me to pitch for, I'm ready for it."Throw Cub, throw: Chapman gets 8 outs
The loss was a rarity for Francona, who is now 11-2 in World Series games, but the Indians will resume the pursuit of their first championship since 1948 on Tuesday at Progressive Field."Sometimes you've got to respect what the other team can do, too," Francona said. "Sometimes they beat you. I didn't think we beat ourselves. I thought they beat us."• Tribe learns how it feels to be Miller'd
Lindor echoed his manager's reaction."They played better than us today," said the Tribe's shortstop. "I still believe that we can do it. We've got to play the game hard. We've got to outplay them. We've got to play better than them in order for us to win. Hopefully, we do that on Tuesday."• Bryant's homer followed by small ball in victory
MOMENTS THAT MATTEREDCalling on Chapman: Maddon turned to Chapman earlier than he has all postseason, handing the ball to the fireballer with one out and a runner on second in the seventh. After striking out Ramirez, Chapman hit Brandon Guyer with a 100-mph heater to put two runners aboard. With fans on their feet, nervously watching as Chicago's one-run lead was in jeopardy, Chapman induced an inning-ending groundout off the bat of Indians catcher Roberto Pérez. Chapman headed into the outing having stranded only three of seven inherited baserunners this postseason. He stranded one this time. Chapman then worked a scoreless eighth, in which Rajai Davis singled, stole two bases and was left standing at third, and a perfect ninth. The 2 2/3 innings were a career high."It's World Series time," Ross said. "Everybody has to do the best they can. This guy is one of the best closers in the game for a reason. Their guys had been pitching multiple innings, and it was nice to see Chappy kind of match them."• What a relief!
Finally: Five of the Cubs' first 10 batters struck out against Bauer, who took a 1-0 lead into the fourth. Bryant opened the inning with his second postseason home run, launching a 1-1 pitch into the left-field bleachers. Rizzo then doubled, moved up on Zobrist's single and scored on Russell's infield hit. One out later, Javier Báez reached on a bunt single to load the bases, and Ross followed with a sacrifice fly to left to give Chicago a 3-1 lead."I was just trying to put the ball in play," Ross said. "I choked up and took a two-strike approach and stayed up the middle as best I could to try to get that run in. The nerves were high. The heart rate was up. I was just trying to slow the moment down, and he gave me a ball that came back over the middle, and I was able to get it up in the air."• Bryant's home run ignites Cubs' rally
Tribe tests Lester: Two of Cleveland's top runners, Davis and Lindor, reached in the sixth and tried to toy with Lester, given his well-known issues with throwing to bases. After Davis singled, he stole second and then danced far off the bag during the next two at-bats. At one point, Davis had a secondary lead of 27 feet, per Statcast™. Lindor brought Davis home with an RBI single and then tried to steal his way into scoring position. After a secondary lead of 25 feet, Lindor sprinted for second, but he was thrown out with a quick catch-and-fire from Ross and a great tag by Baez. That ended the inning and preserved Chicago's 3-2 lead.
"He's pretty legit, man," said Lindor, when asked about Baez's tag. "Watching him do it all the times on the screen during the game, it's pretty cool watching him, how quick he can get that to the player. He got me. It's the second time he got to me."
Glovework: Ross and first baseman Rizzo combined on a unique catch in the second. With one out, Carlos Santana popped up toward Cleveland's dugout. Ross chased the ball to the dugout railing and made a play on the ball while reaching over a TV camera. He missed the catch, but he was able to tip the ball up as he grabbed the railing to avoid falling into the dugout. Rizzo juggled the carom and caught it for a 2-3 putout."I told Rizz it was like a tip drill in football," Ross said. "I set him up so he could be the hero."• Ross, Rizzo team up for jaw-dropping catch
Heyward's struggling bat had him out of the starting lineup the first three games of the Series, but his stellar defense has never wavered, and it was that asset that had him back in the fold in Games 4 and 5. He put that defense on display in the third, when Bauer popped up toward the seats in right-field foul territory. Heyward raced over, climbed the wall and reached back toward the field as the wind brought the ball back, making the catch as he held himself up by the front-row railing. Bauer applauded the Cubs' right fielder as he headed back to the dugout."It was a good catch. It was a good play," Bauer said. "I can respect people who play the game hard and go out there and make good plays."• Heyward made an amazing Spider-Man catch
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"I liked our at-bats tonight; guys continued to grind. I think the swing in momentum helps us out a little bit. I've never been so happy to go to Cleveland in my life. It's going to be a rocking atmosphere over there." -- Ross• Ross says farewell to Wrigley in style
"I wanted to win tonight. We'll evaluate when we get back to Cleveland, and we'll be ready to go. We've got to win one more game." -- Bauer, on heading home• Interviews:Maddon | Bryant, Russell | Chapman | FranconaSOUND SMART WITH YOUR FRIENDS
This is the 65th time the World Series has stood at 3-2. Of the previous 64 times, the team with the 3-2 lead has won Game 6 on 25 occasions (39.1 percent), and that has been the case in seven of the past 12 instances.• DYK: Lester's prowess at Wrigley lifts CubsWHAT'S NEXTIndians:Josh Tomlin was on the mound for Cleveland's clinching win in the American League Division Series, and the right-hander will get a chance to close out the World Series in Game 6 on Tuesday night at Progressive Field. In Game 3 of the Fall Classic, Tomlin silenced the Cubs over 4 2/3 innings, lowering his ERA to 1.76 in the postseason.• Tomlin can deliver Tribe clinch at home in G6Cubs:Jake Arrieta, who won Game 2, will make his fourth postseason start and second at Progressive Field on Tuesday night. Arrieta limited the Indians to one run on two hits over 5 2/3 innings, striking out six on Wednesday. He was 11-3 with a 3.59 ERA in 15 starts on the road this season.• Arrieta's turn to help keep Cubs' Series dream alive
Jordan Bastian has covered the Indians for MLB.com since 2011, and previously covered the Blue Jays from 2006-10. Read his blog, Major League Bastian, follow him on Twitter @MLBastian and listen to his podcast. Carrie Muskat has covered the Cubs since 1987, and for MLB.com since 2001. She writes a blog, Muskat Ramblings. You can follow her on Twitter @CarrieMuskat and listen to her podcast. June 18th, 2021 | Sports Competition | October 2016 | ['(MLB)'] |
Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov resigns as a result of Socialist-backed Rumen Radev winning the presidential election. | SOFIA (Reuters) - Bulgarian Prime Minister Boiko Borisov resigned on Monday after his center-right GERB party candidate lost Sunday’s presidential election to a political novice backed by the opposition Socialists who favors improved ties with Russia.
Bulgaria now almost certainly faces a parliamentary election in the spring but is likely to end up again with a fragmented assembly that will struggle to agree on a stable coalition capable of implementing vital reforms, political analysts said.
Rumen Radev, a former air force commander, won the largely ceremonial presidency on the back of voters’ impatience with Borisov’s failure to tackle corruption and raise living standards faster in the European Union’s poorest member state.
Partial official results showed Radev had won nearly 60 percent of the vote against 36 percent for GERB’s Tsetska Tsacheva, a parliamentary speaker seen as loyal to Borisov.
The outcome is also a rebuff for the EU, which Bulgaria joined in 2007, and a triumph for Moscow, Sofia’s historic ally, as it tries to reassert its influence in eastern Europe.
In the election campaign, Radev had argued that Bulgaria needs to be pragmatic in balancing the requirements of its EU and NATO memberships with the need to improve ties with Russia, the Black Sea nation’s communist-era overlord.
Radev also criticized the EU’s handling of the migrant crisis, which has lapped against Bulgaria’s southeastern border with Turkey and prompted Sofia to build a wall there.
Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated Radev on Monday and said his win would create an impetus for political dialogue and expanded cooperation, the Kremlin said.
“SUCCESS FOR RUSSIA”
“Many of the political parties - the Socialists, the nationalists and probably new populist leaders that are likely to emerge - will increase pro-Russia talk to win support,” said Kiril Avramov of New Bulgarian University.
“For a very long time NATO and the EU were closed topics. Now they are have become topics of debate and this is already a success for Russia.”
The Balkan nation of 7.2 million depends mostly on Moscow for its energy supplies and military kit, while Russian tourists are an important source of revenue. Bulgarians also share the Cyrillic alphabet and Orthodox Christianity with their giant neighbor across the Black Sea.
While the prime minister and government hold most power in Bulgaria, the president can help to shape public opinion, appoints ambassadors and can veto laws once.
Borisov, a charismatic, tough-talking former bodyguard with a black belt in karate, has long dominated Bulgarian politics and opinion polls suggest GERB will again emerge as the biggest party after an early parliamentary election.
“Despite Tsacheva’s defeat, GERB remains the strongest political force and it is the favorite to win the early elections,” said Parvan Simeonov, a political analyst with Gallup International in Sofia.
But as in 2014, when Borisov returned to power after toppling a Socialist-led government amid anti-graft protests, GERB may struggle to build a durable government.
Borisov has said he will not try to seek support to form a new government within the current parliament and the Socialists have also ruled out any such move.
The outgoing president, Rosen Plevneliev, will have to appoint a caretaker government until an early election is held unless a new cabinet can be formed by existing groupings. But under the Bulgarian constitution, Plevneliev would not be able to dissolve the current chamber.
Radev said he had agreed with the outgoing president on Monday to discuss the appointment of an interim government.
A pro-Russian candidate also won a presidential election on Sunday in ex-Soviet Moldova, which borders Bulgaria’s northern neighbor Romania. Moldova is not in the EU or NATO.
| Government Job change - Resignation_Dismissal | November 2016 | ['(Reuters)'] |
Dozens of chief executive officers of major U.S. technology, biotech, and financial companies urge North Carolina to repeal a new state law forcing transgender people to use rest-rooms and changing-rooms according to the gender on their birth-certificate. | RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) -- The Latest on a new law in North Carolina that critics have called discriminatory (all times local):
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Atlanta city leaders are asking the NBA to move the 2017 All-Star Game from Charlotte after North Carolina lawmakers passed legislation seen as limiting LGBT protections.
The City Council introduced a resolution Tuesday asking the NBA to move the game to Atlanta after North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory signed a law critics called discriminatory against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.
The North Carolina law prevents Charlotte and other local governments from approving LGBT protections at restaurants, hotels and stores.
Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority CEO Tom Murray said in a statement that officials are concerned about the legislation and continue hearing about potential event cancellations.
NBA spokesman Mike Bass said in a statement that the league is hopeful Charlotte and North Carolina can work through their differences long before the game.
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North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory says Attorney General Roy Cooper used a flawed legal argument in deciding not to defend a new law that limits how local governments can pass rules designed to protect LGBT citizens.
McCrory released a video late Tuesday that also explained further his decision to sign the law, now being criticized by dozens of corporate CEOs and the subject of a federal lawsuit.
Cooper said earlier Tuesday he wouldn't defend the law largely because it conflicts with anti-discrimination policies in his office and in another state department. The governor says the law didn't change the attorney general's internal policies and "is inventing conflict that simply doesn't exist." He urged Cooper to reconsider his decision.
McCrory says while the bill wasn't perfect, it provided privacy protections in public restrooms and locker rooms that people expect.
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The chief executives running dozens of big technology, biotech and financial companies are urging North Carolina officials to repeal a new state law preventing local governments from expanding protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.
The letter released Tuesday by gay rights advocates is signed by corporate chieftains including IBM CEO Virginia Rometty, Apple head Tim Cook and Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook.
The letter urges Gov. Pat McCrory and legislative leaders to repeal the law introduced and passed in a one-day special legislative session last week. The General Assembly meets again next month.
The law requires transgender people to use public bathrooms that match their birth certificates. The law also makes clear local measures can't expand anti-discrimination protections for sexual orientation or gender identity.
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A statewide organization that worked to get Charlotte's nondiscrimination ordinance overturned by the state legislature says hundreds of North Carolina businesses support the new state law but that some are afraid of retaliation if they make that support public.
In a press release Tuesday, the NC Values Coalition said bullying from the LGBT community has some business owners afraid for the well-being of their businesses and families if they speak out. The release did not offer any examples to back up that claim.
Spokeswoman Kami Mueller said that precedent has been set in other states for businesses owners to have reasonable fear if they speak in support of the state law.
The release did have the names of 17 businesses that were willing to be identified as supporting the new law.
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A top legislative Republican says North Carolina's Democratic attorney general should resign if he won't defend a far-reaching new state law that in part voids Charlotte's anti-discrimination ordinance.
Senate Leader Phil Berger said Tuesday that Attorney General Roy Cooper appears to be pandering to left-wing backers as he runs for governor against incumbent Republican Gov. Pat McCrory. Berger says Cooper's campaigning is making it impossible for him to fulfill his duties as attorney general.
Berger issued a statement after Cooper said he won't defend in court the new state law that prevents local governments from adopting anti-discrimination measures for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.
Cooper says in response to Berger's comments that he's doing his job and will keep doing it.
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North Carolina's Democratic attorney general is commending Georgia's Republican governor for vetoing a piece of legislation that critics have called discriminatory.
Attorney General Roy Cooper said at a news conference Tuesday that Gov. Nathan Deal "stepped up" on Monday when he rejected a "religious freedom" bill. Cooper said Deal recognized the negative economic impact it would have Georgia if he signed the legislation.
Many corporations have spoken out against the bill in Georgia and the new law in North Carolina. The North Carolina bill prevents Charlotte and other local governments from approving protections for LGBT people.
The Georgia bill was modeled on the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act. People claiming their religious freedoms are burdened could force state and local governments to prove a "compelling" interest in enforcing laws that conflict with their beliefs.
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11:05 a.m.
North Carolina's attorney general says he won't defend in court a new state law preventing Charlotte and other local governments from approving protections for LGBT citizens at restaurants, hotels and stores.
Democrat Roy Cooper made the announcement Tuesday, a day after gay rights advocates sued the state to seek to overturn the law. The federal lawsuit lists Cooper among the defendants because of his official position, but he opposes the law and wants it repealed.
The Republican-led legislature and GOP Gov. Pat McCrory approved the law last week. They say Charlotte went too far with a local ordinance allowing transgender people to use the restroom of their preference. The law also addresses bathroom use in schools and state agencies. | Government Policy Changes | March 2016 | ['(AP via WBT)'] |
Frankie Dettori wins his 200th group one race riding "Olympic Glory" at the Lockinge Stakes at Newbury, the first time that a Europe-based jockey achieves this milestone. | Frankie Dettori reached a career milestone here when landing the Lockinge Stakes aboard Olympic Glory, which he believes to be his 200th Group One success and unprecedented for a jockey based in Europe. He was authentically delighted but celebrated rather in the style of an ageing sportsman, eschewing his famous flying dismount in favour of a tender-looking slither down the colt's side.
Those who had raced from the grandstand to see his return to the winner's enclosure made their disappointment plain with a pantomime groan. The Italian said he was also "gutted" not to be fulfilling his usual crowd-pleasing duties but, having banged a foot in the stalls at Warwick recently, was partially in self-preservation mode.
Two hundred, in this case, is not just a number. This was Dettori's first British Group One since the Gold Cup at Royal Ascot in 2012, near the end of his days at Godolphin.
Since then, he has lost one of the best jobs in world racing, endured the humiliation of a worldwide drugs ban and returned last summer to find that good rides were hard to come by. He ended 2013 with a total of 16 winners in Britain and a broken bone in his foot that caused him to miss the winning ride in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe.
But crucially he had formed the alliance with the Qatari Sheikh Joaan that yielded this Lockinge success. At the moment, that owner can provide him with quality rather than quantity but more horses are being acquired all the time and Dettori is gradually building up his list of supporters once more. He may feel his 43 years after the race but he still looks very effective on the track.
Asked if it still meant as much to be winning big races, he replied: "It probably means more now. It's a new challenge, a new job. I must say, I didn't sleep the best last night, I was nervous. But it's natural.
"It looked to be complicated on paper but, in the end, it was straightforward." Both his parents were here to witness a moment of history that was clearly anticipated; Olympic Glory started a strong favourite at odds of 11-8.
The winning trainer, five years younger than his jockey, was Richard Hannon, who has made a superlative start to his first season since taking over from his father, having already won the 2,000 Guineas. But until this prize was in the bag, he said, "I don't think I've enjoyed a day's racing less. I was feeling a bit of pressure."
Hannon is not opposed to a clash between Olympic Glory and the other top-class miler in his yard, Toronado (also owned by Sheikh Joaan), though he hinted that it would probably not happen at Royal Ascot next month.
"You can't keep them apart for ever," he said. "They're two good horses. I see the lads in the yard arguing about who's best, so we may as well send them to the track and find out once and for all. We could do it at home but there's no prize money in it."
Ultimately, the owner will decide whether the pair ever meet and the trainer did not appear deeply invested in making it happen. "It's an interesting conversation but I won't lose much sleep over it because I couldn't care."
The Scoop6 bet rolled over for the 11th time on Saturday despite an extra £6.5m being staked. Punters can have another go next Saturday. | Sports Competition | May 2014 | ['(The Guardian)'] |
Scientists discover Dzharatitanis kingi, a Diplodocus–like dinosaur fossil, in Uzbekistan. It is the first dinosaur of its kind to be discovered in Asia. | A Diplodocus-like dinosaur is the first of its kind to be found in Asia, suggesting the landmass could have helped dinosaurs reach other regions and that this group was more widely distributed across the planet than previously thought.
Hans-Dieter Sues at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC, and his colleague Alexander Averianov at the Russian Academy of Sciences described the dinosaur from a fossil found in Uzbekistan. They named the dinosaur Dzharatitanis kingi after the Dzharakuduk region in which it was found, as well as in honour of deceased colleague Christopher King, who had contributed to the work.
The pair say it is a sauropod, the group of dinosaurs that includes Diplodocus, and more specifically a rebbachisaurid, meaning it lacks a certain ridge on its vertebrae seen in other sauropods. Rebbachisaurids had previously only been found in North Africa, parts of Europe and America.
Like other sauropods, Dzharatitanis would have had a long, slender neck and relatively small head with a very long tail. Since the pair only had the animal’s vertebrae to examine, it is impossible to tell the age at which it died and difficult to estimate how big it could have grown, but Sues believes it might have reached between 15 and 20 metres. It would have lived about 90 million years ago during the Cretaceous period.
“We find new dinosaurs all the time, but this particular dinosaur represents a group that we’ve not found any evidence for in central Asia before,” says Paul Barrett at the Natural History Museum in London. “So, it gives some new insight into how widely distributed this particular dinosaur group was.”
“We’re still trying to put together how animals got distributed during the Cretaceous period because Europe at the time was basically a series of large and small islands and then you have this sort of huge land mass of Asia in the east and that landmass was connected to North America,” says Sues. Asia may have been a central hub for dinosaurs to move all over the planet, he says. | New archeological discoveries | February 2021 | ['(New Scientist)'] |
Hundreds of people take part in a two–hour march, "For Equality", in Vilnius at Lithuania's first gay pride, with police shooting tear gas and arresting at least 12 people who threw stones and fireworks at marchers. | Police fired tear gas and arrested at least 12 people as opponents of Lithuania's first gay pride parade threw stones and fireworks at marchers.
Hundreds of people took part in the march in the capital, Vilnius. Holding rainbow flags and dancing to music, they paraded along a road near the city's Neris river. The event, originally allowed by the city council, was banned by a court on security concerns, but on Friday an appeals court overturned the ban. The ban was criticised by President Dalia Grybauskaite, some European governments, and the international rights watchdog Amnesty. 'Step towards tolerance'
Hundreds of police officers, some on horses, provided security and kept more than 1,000 demonstrators away from the marchers. Protesters carried crosses and signs, and shouted insults at march participants. Marchers included many foreigners, diplomats and members of the European Parliament. One of the organisers, Vytautas Valentinavicius, told the AFP news agency: "We've made a decisive step towards greater tolerance." Correspondents say that homosexuality is seen as taboo by many in Lithuania, a majority Roman Catholic country. Lithuania, an EU member since 2004, has repeatedly been criticised by rights groups for widespread intolerance toward sexual minorities. | Protest_Online Condemnation | May 2010 | ['(BBC)', '(The Washington Post)', '(iafrica.com)'] |
Forces from the Gulf Cooperation Councilincluding 1,000 Saudi troopsarrive in Bahrain amid continuing protests. | (CNN) -- Foreign troops arrived Monday in the strategically and financially important Persian Gulf kingdom of Bahrain after a month of citizen protests, the Bahraini government said.
Saudi Arabia, Bahrain's giant neighbor to the west, appears to have provided at least some of the troops, who arrived under the banner of the Gulf Cooperation Council.
In a statement, the government described the troops as "coalition forces" but did not say what countries were represented. Their mission was equally vague: "The GCC Peninsula Shield coalition forces arrived in the Kingdom of Bahrain today following recent events, to help protect the safety of citizens, residents and critical infrastructure," it said.
The Saudi state news agency said its government had responded to Bahrain's request for help in view of the importance of security there. According to the state news agency of the United Arab Emirates, southwest of Bahrain, it too "decided to send a security force to keep the peace in the Kingdom of Bahrain" at that country's request. Anwar Mohammed Gargash, the UAE minister for foreign affairs, described the move as part of his country's responsibility within the Gulf Cooperation Council to bring "security and stability to the region."
In Paris, after a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the foreign minister of the United Arab Emirates, Abdullah bin Zayed al Nahyan, told reporters that the Bahrain government asked the council to "look at ways to help them to defuse the tension in Bahrain." The U.A.E. is a member of the Gulf Coalition Council, and the minister said his country had sent approximately 500 police officers to Bahrain to assist.
It was not clear how many foreign security troops had entered Bahrain in total. Various parts of the Bahraini government referred CNN questions to other government offices on Monday.
A witness said dozens of armored vehicles and buses full of soldiers crossed Monday afternoon from Saudi Arabia into Bahrain afternoon via the causeway linking the two countries.
The Gulf Cooperation Council comprises six Gulf states -- Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Qatar -- and encourages cooperation among members in a number of areas, including the economy and security.
The Obama administration and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon voiced concerns about the arrival of foreign troops in Bahrain.
"We urge restraint, we urge non-violence in response to non-violent protesters, the respect for the universal rights of people in the region to gather peacefully, to voice their opinions, to have their grievances heard by their governments, and to have greater participation in the political process," said Obama administration spokesman Jay Carney.
A spokesperson for Ban echoed that sentiment.
"The Secretary-General is troubled by the growing violence in the Kingdom of Bahrain that has left many people injured over the past few days," said spokesperson Anne Siddall in a prepared statement. "He notes with concern that troops from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates under the auspices of the Gulf Cooperation Council have reportedly entered the territory of Bahrain today."
"The Secretary-General strongly believes that peaceful means should be adopted to ensure national unity and stability. He appeals to all concerned to exercise maximum restraint and to do everything possible to prevent the use of force and further violence," Siddall's statement read.
Read more about the U.S. and U.N. responses
The movement of forces came on the same day that protesters seized control of a key part of the capital city of Manama, a Human Rights Watch official said.
About 100 demonstrators blocked access to the Bahrain Financial Harbour with barricades such as trash cans and cinderblocks, in effect shutting down the commercial district, Faraz Sanei said.
There was no police presence, he added.
"What we are witnessing in Manama is no peaceful protest," Bahrain's Foreign Minister Khalid al-Khalifa said. "It's wanton, gangster-style takeover of people's lives," he said on Twitter.
A pro-government group of lawmakers was urging the king of Bahrain to impose martial law for three months in the wake of the protests.
The arrival of the troops followed a day of clashes between protesters and security forces that resulted in the hospitalization of more than 1,000 people, human rights activists said.
The protests were the latest in a series that has swept across the Arab world this year, toppling the leaders of Tunisia and Egypt, but it was not clear that any other country had taken the step of calling in foreign troops for help.
"Temporarily, it should calm the situation," said Simon Henderson, director of the Gulf and energy policy program at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. He noted that the Obama administration has been urging political dialogue but said Monday's move was not what the U.S. president meant.
"Sending in Saudi forces is hardly encouraging political dialogue," Henderson said. "The great danger is, it will actually worsen the situation by encouraging Iran to get involved. Not militarily, probably, but certainly diplomatically and rhetorically."
The underlying concern is that Iran, an overwhelmingly Shiite state, could seize the opportunity to meddle in Bahrain's internal affairs. Bahrain has a Shiite majority population, but its rulers are Sunni.
Saudi Arabia's eastern province is home not only to many of the country's rich oil fields but to its largest concentration of minority Shiite as well. In recent weeks, Shiite demonstrators there have protested the Saudi government, whose leaders are overwhelmingly Sunni.
The Saudi government would presumably be concerned that any uprising by Shiite Muslims in Bahrain could inspire the Shiite population in nearby Saudi Arabia to follow suit.
Protests on Sunday appeared to have been among the most violent since last month, when police tried to clear the capital's Pearl Roundabout, leaving seven people dead, according to demonstrators.
Most of Sunday's injured suffered gas-related injuries, including burns and breathing problems, according to Nabeel Rajab, president of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights. Doctors and nurses were among the injured. At least five people were in critical condition, and at least two people lost their eyes because of bullet injuries, he said.
The government denied accusations Sunday that unjustified force was used against protesters at the harbor, along a key highway and at Bahrain University.
Britain's Foreign Office warned Sunday against all travel to the Gulf kingdom until further notice, saying, "The risk of further outbreaks of violence has increased."
The nation's Independent Bloc of lawmakers called on Bahrain security forces to intervene to protect national security and stability, the Bahrain News Agency reported Sunday. The bloc is composed of the 22 pro-government members of the lower house of the legislature.
"Extremist movements are resorting to escalation and sectarian mobilization, which led to an unprecedented disruption of security and hostile sectarian polarization at health and educational institutions," the group said in a statement.
The members of parliament asked King Hamad to enforce a curfew and deploy security forces across the country.
During protests in the tiny island nation, moderates have been demanding a constitutional monarchy, and hardliners have called for the abolition of the royal family altogether. | Armed Conflict | March 2011 | ['(ABC News Australia)', '(CNN)', '(Daily India)'] |
Azeri duo Eldar & Nigar win the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest in Düsseldorf, North Rhine–Westphalia, with the song "Running Scared". (RTÉ) | After 25 crackling live performances at Dusseldorf's Esprit Arena, the votes are in: Azerbaijan leave Germany as victors of 2011's Eurovision after Ell and Nikki wowed European juries with "Running Scared."
The drama is over: Azerbaijan triumphs at Eurovision!
An estimated 125 million people worldwide tuned in to see duo Ell and Nikki crowned Eurovision winners at this year's festival with 221 points. Their romantic ballad "Running Scared" was mentioned by fans and critics as a potential winner although it was overshadowed in the run-up to the final by the flashy Jedward and Lenamania. Azerbaijan has only competed in Eurovision since 2008. This was the country's first win. Its highest previous placing came in 2009 when AySel and Arash reached the top three. The show got off to a sizzling start. After welcoming viewers to the programme, hosts Stefan Raab, Anke Engelke and Judith Rakers began a playful, acapella cover of Lena's winning 2010 track "Satellite" which erupted into a big band cover complete with Raab on electric guitar and then drums before being joined on stage by an army of dancing Lena clones. However, the real Lena appeared on stage to thunderous applause to sing lead vocals on the rock version of her track before kicking off her high heels and posing on the side of a double bass. The number wrapped up with a spectacular laser light show and indoor fireworks display kicking the three-hour TV marathon off in sparkling showbiz style. Production value
Host broadcaster ARD pulled out all the stops with some spectacular stage lighting and effects. French contender Amaury Vassilli's operatic performance was enhanced with an extremely realistic sunset backdrop with moving clouds while in contrast Lena Meyer-Landrut sang "Taken by a Stranger" on stage with silver-clad dancers with a harsh metallic backdrop and stark white spotlights. Such highly effective backdrops and lighting effects enhanced each performance and continued the theme of slick and credible at Eurovision as opposed to gaudy and over-the-top. There will undoubtedly be sadness in the German fan camp; expectations were high for Lena Meyer-Landrut after her surprise landslide victory last year with "Satellite." With an even more stripped-down track at this year's contest in the shape of "Taken by a Stranger," all eyes were on the 19-year-old singing sensation from Hanover. However she couldn't quite repeat the magic of her simplistic 2010 performance; Germany finished tenth. Despite Germany's disappointing performance, critics have credited Lena with inspiring a return to musical credibility at the contest with many tracks competing in this year's event - Switzerland's entry "In Love for a While" by Anna Rossinelli for example - being fashioned along similar, low-key lines. Italian runner-up Raphael Gualazzi came in second in the contest
Return in style
Italy, which always had a turbulent relationship with Eurovision, returned to the contest this year for the first time since 1997. The country backed out of participating several times over the years; its lengthy absence since the late 90s has still not been explained fully. This year's entrant, Raphael Gualazzi, represented his country with the slow-burn jazz number "Madness of Love" which came in at the very respectable second place. There was also disappointment for Germany's 2.5 million-strong Turkish population. "Live it Up" by rock band Yüksek Sadakat crashed out of the running after the first semi-final earlier in the week. Regardless of where they find themselves in the finals table, what all countries wish to avoid at all costs is the ignominy of gathering no votes at all, the infamous "nul points." Fortunately this year no one went home with zero votes although Switzerland limped in in last place with "In Love for a While" by Anna Rossinelli only scraping 19 points. Author: Gavin Blackburn Editor: Stuart Tiffen
Once it was a place for long-suffering fans of poorly made pop. Now the ESC is an amazing purview of European pop, and it's no tragedy that Lena only made it to 10th place. (15.05.2011)
It's surprising that in more than fifty years of delighting and horrifying TV audiences, an official history of Eurovision has never been written before. Step forward John Kennedy O’Connor who has done just that. (14.05.2011)
In this year's edition of Europe's most popular TV show, | Awards ceremony | May 2011 | ['(Deutsche Welle)', '(BBC)'] |
Norway experiences its first Catholic child abuse scandal as it becomes known that a bishop, Georg Müller, was forced to resign in 2009 because of sexual abuse of an altar boy in the early 1990s. | ROME — In May, the leader of central Norway’s small Roman Catholic population unexpectedly resigned with little explanation. The Vatican on Wednesday said why: He sexually abused a boy in the early 1990s.
It was the latest case to emerge in a clerical sexual abuse scandal that has been churning through Europe in recent months, putting the Vatican on the defensive and forcing bishops across the continent to confront the issue.
The bishop, Georg Mueller, 58, who left his diocese in June, has since undergone therapy and “no longer carries out pastoral activity,” according to a statement by the Rev. Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman. Reacting quickly to a Norwegian press report, Father Lombardi said that after the abuse came to the attention of church authorities in January 2009, it was handled “with rapidity” in a process overseen by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in Rome. Pope Benedict XVI accepted the bishop’s resignation “in a timely manner,” the spokesman said.
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The congregation, which oversees sexual abuse cases against priests, has been the subject of scrutiny for the way it has handled such cases.
Bishop Bernt Eidsvig, who took over the prelature, as it is formally called, in the central Norwegian city of Trondheim, the official seat of the Catholic Church in the country, said in a statement that the Norwegian Catholic Church was “shaken to its foundations” by the revelation. While the Vatican says that 3,000 priests have been reported in the past decade for accusations of abuse against them over the course of a half-century, Bishop Mueller is one of only a handful of bishops who have resigned in recent decades over abuse charges. The most prominent cleric was an Austrian cardinal, Hans Hermann Groer, who relinquished his duties in 1998. Other bishops have resigned over criticism of the way they handled accusations against priests.
In the case of Bishop Mueller, the victim, now an adult, made a complaint to a priest in Oslo, which was passed on to the apostolic nuncio in Sweden, Archbishop Emil Paul Tscherrig. When confronted with the complaint, Bishop Mueller admitted guilt, said Andreas Dingstad, a spokesman for the Catholic Church in Norway, which counts 150,000 practicing Catholics, although government figures put official membership at 57,000. Mr. Dingstad acknowledged that the church had kept silent about the true circumstances of Bishop Mueller’s resignation. Advertisement
“The official explanation was that the bishop had problems cooperating with others in the church, but that was only a part of the truth,” Mr. Dingstad said. “The reason for not coming out with everything was that the victim did not want that.”
On Wednesday, Adresseavisen, a daily newspaper in Trondheim, reported on the case, saying that the church had paid the victim $65,000 to $100,000 in compensation. Mr. Dingstad confirmed that a payment had been made, but said that he did not know how much it was. The Vatican said the case was not prosecuted by civil authorities because it was beyond the statute of limitations.
The newspaper also reported that four other child sexual abuse cases involving Norwegian priests had come to the attention of the church, dating from the 1950s and the 1980s. Mr. Dingstad said that two of the priests implicated had since died, and that he did not know the whereabouts or status of the others.
Numerous cases, most of them dating back decades, have been emerging in Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, Ireland, Switzerland and France in recent months. Bishop Mueller was ordained as a member of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, and was appointed bishop in Trondheim in 1997. A man reached by telephone at the order’s headquarters in Rome said the bishop’s whereabouts was not known, and then hung up. | Government Job change - Resignation_Dismissal | April 2010 | ['(The New York Times)', '(CNN)'] |
Russian President Vladimir Putin formally asks Russia's upper house of parliament to revoke the right that it earlier granted for Russian forces to intervene militarily in Ukraine in defense of Russian-speakers there. | MOSCOW, June 24 (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin asked Russia's upper house of parliament on Tuesday to revoke the right that it had granted for Russian forces to intervene militarily in Ukraine in defence of Russian-speakers there, Russian news agencies cited his spokesman as saying.
"The head of state has filed to the Federation Council a proposal to revoke the resolution ... on the use of Russia's armed forces on the territory of Ukraine," Interfax quoted Dmitry Peskov as saying. (Reporting by Alissa de Carbonnel; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
| Government Policy Changes | June 2014 | ['(Reuters)'] |
The death toll from the 2007 South Asian floods nears 1,100 in India while 120 people have died in Bangladesh and 84 in Nepal. Health officials have raised concerns about epidemics. | Fears are growing epidemics will strike the millions marooned or forced from their homes by South Asia's catastrophic floods, as the death toll hits around 300 and criticism of relief efforts spreads.
The last two weeks have seen some of the worst flooding in living memory affecting about 35 million people in the region, with around 10 million of them made homeless or left stranded.
In India's poor Bihar state, four air force helicopters dropped food, medicines and clothing to some of those affected.
"Each pilot is carrying out 12 sorties a day and they have reported huge devastation in central and north Bihar," Defence Ministry spokesman Ramesh Kumar Das said.
Marzio Babille, UNICEF's health chief in India who is coordinating UN work in Bihar, said aid agencies and authorities had to do more to prevent outbreaks of measles, gastroenteritis, dengue fever and other diseases, or "we will see many deaths".
He said 20 helicopters were needed in Bihar, where 87 people have died.
Hundreds of thousands are camped out on elevated highways, railway tracks and field embankments as deep floodwaters swirl around them.
Annual monsoon rains are a mixed blessing, vital for farmers but killing hundreds every year.
This year much of eastern India and two-thirds of Bangladesh have been inundated.
The Indian Government says more than 1,100 people have died in this year's monsoon, not including the latest casualties.
Mr Babille said in the 15 days to August 2, 90 centimetres of rain had fallen in Bihar's worst affected areas, compared to annual average rainfall of 1.3 metres.
UNICEF is mobilising doctors by land and boat and is immunising children against measles.
Those who were reached on Sunday showed their desperation.
"I have been dividing one small piece of bread among four of my children, and I have been starving and somehow surviving," a sobbing Siraj Ahmed told a local television reporter in Bihar.
In the eastern Indian state of Assam, where up to 3 million people took refuge in emergency camps or were cut off in their villages, receding waters and soaring temperatures fed concerns of disease outbreaks as villagers returned to their homes.
"We are really worried about the outbreak of an epidemic in Assam now," Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said, but locals said the state government was not doing enough.
"While we never expect a perfect government, the Chief Minister should have at least taken the trouble to visit the flood-affected areas," teacher Sanjiv Nath said by telephone.
In neighbouring Orissa and Uttar Pradesh 39 people have died since Saturday.
In Bangladesh, 120 people are now confirmed dead, with 39 more drowning or dying from fatal snakebites, a senior official at the government's flood monitoring cell said.
At least 37 others were missing, and officials are facing the same health worries as their counterparts in India.
Government head Fakhruddin Ahmed called on the country to unite behind efforts to help the victims.
"All of us, irrespective of (political) party, opinion, profession or religion, should come forward and unite behind coordinated efforts to tackle this grave situation," he said.
More than 20 million people in more than 40 of the country's 64 district were affected, while up to 300,000 had moved into relief camps or were living on raised highways and embankments.
Weather officials said the floods were receding in the north but the situation could worsen in central districts and in the capital, Dhaka.
The country's army-backed government has promised an all-out effort to save flood victims but relief efforts were inadequate, officials said.
Political parties have refused to participate, demanding the government end a ban on their activity.
In Nepal, a UN body said weeks of rains had triggered floods and landslides that had killed 84 people.
- Reuters
| Floods | August 2007 | ['(AFP via ABC News Australia)', '(Reuters via ABC News Australia)'] |
Boo Weekley wins the Crowne Plaza Invitational. | Boo Weekley claimed a maiden Crowne Plaza Invitational at Fort Worth after the American kept his cool to seal a one-shot victory ahead of Matt Kuchar.
Weekley was in contention for the win heading into the final round as a score of 66 on Saturday saw him finish tied for second, and on Sunday the 39-year-old hit the ball cleanly around the course to seal a deserved triumph with a four-under 66.
Weekley kicked off with a birdie on the first hole, and then made his second of the day in fine style, chipping a shot from 72 feet on the par-4 third to gain plenty of confidence.
A great tee shot on the eighth hole enabled Weekley to sink a birdie from three feet after two bogeys in the previous three holes.
The birdie on the eighth was one of three on the spin as Weekley impressed on the ninth and tenth holes, and then a 21-foot birdie on the par-3 13th put him on the verge of the victory as Kuchar required birdies to close the two-shot lead.
Weekley could have sealed the deal earlier on the 17th, but he failed to make birdie with the ball edging the rim. Kuchar on the same hole did not make birdie to stay in contention after almost putting from 20 feet, leaving Weekley to complete the victory on the 18th to a chorus of Boos around Colonial.
Last year's champion Zach Johnson had fired a final round of 66 to finish on 12-under and third in the standings well before Weekley and Kuchar signed off their rounds.
Johnson made five birdies in the day but a bogey on the 15th saw his slim hopes of retaining his title slip away. | Sports Competition | May 2013 | ['(ESPN)'] |
Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta signs a law outlawing cyber-espionage, cyber-bullying, and the "publication of false information." | NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta signed a new law on Wednesday that outlaws the abuse of people on social media but which critics say could be exploited to repress civil liberties.
Proponents of the law, including the legislators who pushed it through parliament, say the proliferation of social media has given rise to new crimes including online scams, which were not covered by previous laws.
New York-based media rights watchdog the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) warned last week however that the bill could criminalize free speech, “with journalists and bloggers likely to be among the first victims if it is signed into law”.
The law lays the ground for investigation and prosecution of computer and cybercrimes including cyber-harassment and “publication of false information”, a statement from the presidency said.
Violations to be penalized under the law include cyber-espionage, false publications, child pornography, computer-borne forgery, cyber-stalking and cyber-bullying among others, the statement said, without spelling out the penalties.
Offenders convicted for sharing “false” or “fictitious” information and propagating hate speech will be liable to a fine of 5 million shillings ($49,776.01) or sentenced to two years in jail, or both.
Lawmakers passed the bill last month despite protests from media practitioners and rights activists that its provisions could be used to stifle press freedoms.
Kenya joins other countries in the region that have passed laws that activists say will curtail free expression.
Earlier this month, Tanzanian bloggers and rights activists won a temporary court injunction against a government order to register online platforms that raised concerns about a crackdown on free speech. [L8N1SB3CZ]
In April, Uganda, another East African country acting to regulate internet use, announced plans to slap a new tax on social media users.
| Government Policy Changes | May 2018 | ['(Reuters)'] |
Peru suspends diplomatic relations with Libya, becoming the first nation to do so since the unrest, and calls on the United Nations Security Council to introduce a no-fly zone over Libyan airspace to stop Libyan Air Force aircraft attacking civilians | Peru says it has suspended diplomatic relations with Libya over the use of force against civilians there. It is the first country to take such a step since the anti-government protests erupted in Libya last week. Peruvian Foreign Minister Jose Antonio Garcia Belaunde said he hoped other Latin American countries would follow suit. Peru said the move was aimed at highlighting "the grave situation in Libya".
Peruvian President Alan Garcia condemned developments in Libya, saying that "Peru expresses its most energetic protest at the repression carried out by the Libyan dictatorship of Muammar Gaddafi against his people, who are demanding democratic reforms to change a government led by the same person for 40 years."
Mr Garcia said he would ask the United Nations Security Council to impose a no-fly zone over Libya, to prevent the use of fighter jets against the civilian population by the Libyan government. Meanwhile, Libya's traditional allies in the region, Cuba and Venezuela, have urged what they called imperialist states to stop interfering in Libya. The former Cuban leader Fidel Castro accused the United States of being ready to order an invasion of Libya.
On Monday, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro said he hoped the Libyan people would find "a way of solving their problems peacefully without the interference of imperialist states whose interests in the region had been affected".
| Government Policy Changes | February 2011 | ['(The Australian)', '(BBC)'] |
Voters head to the polls in second round elections in constituencies where no candidate won over 50 percent on October 9 with the Lithuanian Peasant and Greens Union winning a plurality of seats. , | VILNIUS (Reuters) - Lithuanians began voting on Sunday in an election run-off in the European Union member state with the center-right opposition likely to oust the current coalition which has failed to rejuvenate the country’s sluggish economy.
The opposition Homeland Union party and Lithuanian Peasants and Greens parties won 40 seats between them in the first round of the election and are projected to end up with 60 to 102 seats in the 141-member parliament after regional run-offs, data on the state election commission’s website showed.
“I think there is a 70 percent (probability) that we will be in opposition”, Social Democrat prime minister Algirdas Butkevicius told reporters after casting his vote on Sunday.
The opposition says it will boost foreign investment in the former Soviet republic and tackle emigration to wealthier parts of the European Union. Lithuania’s population has shrunk to 2.9 million from 3.3 million a decade ago.
The first round of the election determined around half the seats in parliament based on proportional representation. The second round, which elects the second half of the parliament, is a regional run-off between the top two candidates in regions where no candidate got above 50 percent of the vote.
The center-left Social Democrat party, which leads the current government, is on course to be the third largest party in the new parliament, paying the price for failing to breathe life into an economy that has struggled to catch up with the richer countries in Europe, analysts said.
The Lithuanian Peasants and Greens party, also-rans in past elections, has attracted large numbers of protest votes while the Homeland Union was ejected from power in the previous national election in 2012 after implementing unpopular austerity measures. | Government Job change - Election | October 2016 | ['(Reuters)', '(AP)'] |
General Electric says it plans to merge its oil and gas business with the large oilfield services provider Baker Hughes. This follows the demise of a merger plan between Baker Hughes and Halliburton. | (Reuters) - General Electric Co GE.N said on Monday it would merge its oil and gas business with Baker Hughes Inc BHI.N, creating the world's second-largest oilfield services provider as competition heats up to supply more-efficient products and services to the energy industry after several years of low crude prices.
The deal to create a company with $32 billion in annual revenue will combine GE’s strengths in making equipment long-prized by oil producers with Baker Hughes’s expertise in drilling and fracking new wells.
Shares of Baker Hughes were down nearly 7 percent, a drop that executives said likely was due to the deal’s complicated structure.
“This is a good deal for all of the investors,” said Lorenzo Simonelli, head of GE’s oil and gas business who will lead the new entity, to be called “Baker Hughes, a GE company.”
GE is already the world’s largest oilfield equipment maker, supplying blowout preventers, pumps and compressors used in exploration and production. GE also has invested heavily in large data processing services just as the oil industry eyes its potential to boost oil recovery.
Baker Hughes, by contrast, is seen as one of the world leaders in horizontal drilling, chemicals used to frack and other services key to oil production.
The new company will vault Baker Hughes's market share ahead of rival Halliburton Co HAL.N, which tried and failed to buy Baker until the deal collapsed last May, and also compete heavily with Schlumberger NV SLB.N, the world's largest oilfield service provider, for customers.
Simonelli called Baker CEO Martin Craighead after the Halliburton deal collapsed, seeking some kind of business combination, with negotiations evolving over time to Monday’s announcement.
“Neither Lorenzo (Simonelli) or I needed to do this. We both followed our fiduciary responsibility,” Craighead said in an interview.
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GE will own 62.5 percent of the new publicly-traded company. The deal is expected to close in mid-2017.
GE will have to pay $1.3 billion to Baker Hughes if the deal does collapse in what would be yet another windfall for Baker Hughes after Halliburton was forced to pay it $3.5 billion earlier this year when those companies’ merger collapsed.
For graphic on GE and Baker Huges merger click tmsnrt.rs/2e5Y3xa
“We don’t anticipate anything like what we’ve encountered before happening again,” Craighead said, stressing he expects the GE tie-up to be blessed by regulators.
GE and Baker Hughes will reach out to the Justice Department and European antitrust enforcers on Monday, according to a source close to the company. GE will argue to antitrust enforcers - who stopped the deal between Halliburton and Baker Hughes just months ago - that their deal is complementary, and that they are committed to any remedy needed to win approval, the source said.
A small part of GE’s business is selling equipment to Baker Hughes’ competitors and it will continue those sales, the source said.
All of GE’s oil and gas business, which generated roughly 14 percent of GE’s revenue last year, will go into the new company, leaving no energy units behind in its former parent, Simonelli said.
The “best performers” from the existing GE and Baker Hughes will form new management teams, he added, declining to comment on potential layoffs.
Analysts said there was little overlap between the businesses that would worry regulators.
“I don’t see any overlaps, significant overlaps,” said Tom Seng, a veteran of the energy business who teaches at the University of Tulsa.
The deal comes at a time when North American oil and gas producers are putting rigs back to work after a near-freeze in activity caused by a slump in oil prices that began mid-2014.
But the deal is predicated on a forecast for oil prices to rise to $60 per barrel by 2019, GE Chief Executive Jeff Immelt told investors Monday.
“This is a very compelling time for the deal,” Immelt said, noting he expects $1.6 billion in annual cost savings by 2020.
Global oil prices LCOc1 have risen by a third this year to near $50 a barrel.
Craighead, who will become vice chairman of the new company, echoed Immelt’s confidence.
“We see growth under any market environment,” Craighead said in an interview. “Our customers continue to spend massive amounts of money.”
The industrywide push for pumping more oil and natural gas at cheaper costs should only accelerate that trend, he said.
Activist investor Nelson Peltz, whose Trian Fund Management owns about 0.8 percent of GE as of June 30, told CNBC the new company would be able to go “nose-to-nose” with Schlumberger.
Shareholders of Baker Hughes, which had a market value of about $26 billion as of Friday, will get a special one-time cash dividend from GE of $17.50 per share - or $7.4 billion - after the deal closes.
The new company, to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange, will have dual headquarters in Houston and London.
Baker Hughes shares rose as much as 5 percent in morning trade before reversing course to trade down nearly 8 percent at $54.60. Shares of GE slipped 0.1 percent to $29.18.
Centerview Partners and Morgan Stanley are advising GE, while Shearman & Sterling is its legal adviser. Goldman Sachs & Co is Baker Hughes’s financial adviser, with Davis Polk acting as legal adviser.
Reporting by Ernest Scheyder in Houston, Swetha Gopinath and Ankit Ajmera in Bengaluru and Diane Bartz in Washington; Editing by Ted Kerr and Nick Zieminski
| Organization Merge | October 2016 | ['(Reuters)'] |
Afghan police admit they shot dead seven civilians, including two children, as they collected firewood in Spin Boldak, Kandahar, last Thursday. | Seven Afghan boys were shot dead on Saturday by police who mistook them for insurgents, a provincial police official said.
The boys were collecting firewood when police opened fire on them in the border town of Spin Boldak, southern Kandahar province, Abdul Raziq, police commander for the town, said.
The police had been detained and were being questioned, he said.
Spin Boldak has been an entry point for Pakistani insurgents who infiltrate Afghanistan to stage attacks against the government and international forces.
Last year, 2,400 Afghan civilians were killed in Taliban attacks and Afghan and NATO-led operations, according to the United Nations.
The killing of civilians is a sensitive issue and President Hamid Karzai has repeatedly warned that civilian deaths sap support for his administration and for the presence of some 115,000 foreign troops in the country. | Armed Conflict | February 2010 | ['(Reuters)', '(Press TV)', '(France24)'] |
"Anarchist" rioters smash windows, loot stores and burn vehicles, while some Canucks fans bring garbage bags to clean up the streets following the destruction; at least nine police officers and 150 residents are injured, including stabbing victims. | VANCOUVER - Almost 150 people required hospital treatment and close to 100 were arrested after rioters swept through downtown Vancouver following a Canucks loss to the Boston Bruins in the decisive Game 7 of the Stanley Cup final.
Vancouver Coastal Health spokeswoman Anna Marie D'Angelo said Thursday that three stabbing victims had been admitted and an unidentified man was in critical condition with head injuries after a fall from a viaduct.
She said most of the rioting victims were treated at St. Paul's Hospital, while about 40, including the stabbing cases and the head injury patient, were being treated at Vancouver General Hospital.
Rioting and looting left cars burned, stores in shambles and windows shattered over a roughly 10-block radius of the city's main shopping district.
View a collection of photos from the riots here.
Police Chief Jim Chu said nine officers were injured, including one who required 14 stitches after being hit with a thrown brick. Chu said some officers suffered bite marks. He said 15 cars were burned, including two police cars.
He called those who incited the riot "criminals and anarchists" and said officers identified some in the crowd as the same people who smashed windows and caused trouble through the same streets the day after the 2010 Winter Olympics opened in 2010.
"These were people who came equipped with masks, goggles and gasoline," he said. "They had a plan."
Chu said those who stood by and filmed and cheered also bear some responsibility.
Assistant Fire Chief Wade Pierlot said people had to be rescued from rooftops and bathrooms where they had hidden for safety. He said some people moved burning dumpsters away from buildings to prevent further damage.
In Boston, five men arrested during celebrations of the Bruins' win appeared in municipal court Thursday. Police said one man encouraged a crowd near TD Garden to turn on police and dared officers to arrest him. Authorities said when at first they didn't, he shouted obscenities, took off his shirt and threw his belt at the officers. He was arrested on charges including inciting a riot and disorderly conduct.
Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson said "organized hoodlums bent on creating chaos incited the riot" and noted the city proved with the 2010 Winter Olympics that it could hold peaceful gatherings. A local business leader estimated more than 50 businesses were damaged.
"They were here to make trouble and they succeeded," Robertson said.
City councillor Suzanne Anton said the rioting has shaken Vancouver and overshadowed the hockey team's playoff run.
"I would never have believed that Vancouver would be a city where there would be looting," Anton said. "I just feel such a profound sense of disappointment. We like to think we live in paradise here in Vancouver. It's hard to imagine here."
It was similar to the scene that erupted in the city in 1994 following the Canucks' Game 7 loss to the New York Rangers.
Anton said there was no loss of life or police brutality in this latest incident. She said dozens of volunteers patrolled the city's entertainment strip on Thursday, picking up debris and garbage.
One of the volunteers, Al Cyrenne, carried his broom downtown to clean up the damage.
"I'm all choked up," he said, as he surveyed broken windows and debris on a downtown street.
"I can't believe the scene. Just talking about it brings me to tears. I can't believe the people of Vancouver would do this. It's just a few idiots."
While police said it was mostly young thugs responsible for the mayhem overnight, an equally young crew turned up in jeans and rubber gloves, some with Canucks jerseys, all carrying plastic garbage bags.
Dozens of remorseful and dismayed commuters crowded around the smashed and plywood covered display windows at the flagship Bay store, a historical building that was the first focus of rampaging looters Wednesday night.
Someone had tacked a rough, hand-painted sign that read: "On behalf of my team and my city, I am sorry." People waited in line to sign it.
Across the street at London Drugs, the windows were also smashed.
Wynn Powell, the president and CEO of London Drugs, estimated the damage there at $1 million alone.
Powell, sounding angry, said the looting wasn't the random consequence of a mob mentality.
"The rioters attacked us for two hours before they got into the store. They were down attacking the stores of Vancouver to try to steal product."
TV footage showed a man being beaten after he tried to stop looters from smashing windows at the Hudson Bay department store.
Looters were seen grabbing T-shirts and anything else they could get their hands on. Young women were seen escaping with MAC cosmetics, with one carrying out part of a mannequin. The landmark building was filling with smoke as people, their faces covered in bandannas, continued the violence.
The looters turned their attention next on a Future Shop store a few blocks away, smashing windows and flooding up the stairs to the second-floor store, only to turn around quickly. One witness said police were at the top of the stairs.
Sears and Chapters stores were also looted, their glass fronts smashed. For many, the ugly chaos made the Cup loss an afterthought.
"What I've seen is a complete disgrace," said Beth Hope, 28, who is originally from England but has lived in Vancouver for two years. "I'm a Canucks fan, but my jersey's in my bag. I'm ashamed to be a fan right now."
NBA star Steve Nash, from nearby Victoria and the brother-in-law of Canucks forward Manny Malhotra, sent a Twitter message imploring the fans to stop the violence. "We're a great city and have a lot of class. Our team is great and our championship will come. Soon," Nash wrote.
Some seemed to revel in the rampage, recording the vandalism on cellphones and video cameras. A few congratulated those who tried to attack police, and others erupted with cheers every time something was damaged.
People look on during a riot in downtown Vancouver, Wednesday, June 15, 2011 following the Vancouver Canucks 4-0 loss to the Boston Bruins in game 7 of the Stanley Cup hockey final.
A woman lights her cigerette from a fire during a riot following Game 7 of the NHL Stanley Cup final in downtown Vancouver, B.C., on Wednesday, June 15, 2011.
A car burns outside The Bay department store during a riot in downtown Vancouver, B.C., Wednesday, June 15, 2011 following the Vancouver Canucks' 4-0 loss to the Boston Bruins in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup hockey final. | Riot | June 2011 | ['(The Globe and Mail)', '(The Vancouver Sun)', '(CP24)'] |
Kim Jong–un, the son of North Korean leader Kim Jong–il, is appointed to two party posts in a move seen as a gradual transfer of power. | The youngest son of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has been appointed to two key party posts, in a move widely seen as part of a gradual transfer of power.
Kim Jong-un was named vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission of the Workers' Party and was appointed to its central committee, state media said.
Kim Jong-il, thought to be in poor health, was re-elected as leader at the party's first congress for 30 years. The US said the significance of the promotions was not yet clear.
"I would suppose this is perhaps the ultimate reality show unfolding in North Korea, and we are simply watching this very closely," said state department spokesman PJ Crowley.
Chinese President Hu Jintao sent congratulations to Mr Kim on a successful party conference - but did not mention Kim Jong-un's promotion.
Mr Hu said China would "always handle, maintain and boost China-DPRK [North Korea] relations from a strategic height and a long-term perspective... despite the ups and downs of the international situation".
The US and China, the North's only real ally, have held regular talks with Pyongyang over its nuclear programme in recent years, and the UN has placed sanctions on the North over the issue.
Kim Jong-un is Kim Jong-il's third son and had already been identified as the most likely successor to the Communist dynasty started by his grandfather, Kim Il-sung, in 1948.
The BBC's John Sudworth in the South Korean capital Seoul says his rise is remarkable, even by the standards of one of the world's most totalitarian states.
He says there can now be little doubt that Swiss-educated Kim Jong-un, who is thought to be 27 years old, has been chosen to eventually take over from his ailing father.
Among the other promotions given to him at the current party conference, the younger Mr Kim was also given the rank of a four-star general.
The military, backed up by a standing army of 1.2 million troops, is said to run the country's political process through the National Defence Commission, chaired by Kim Jong-il.
The leader's sister and her husband were also given promotions, with analysts saying it is likely that they are being charged with helping to ease the transfer of power to Kim Jong-un.
The Workers' Party has been holding its first meeting since a 1980 congress when Kim Jong-il was promoted.
The 68-year-old leader, who has been in power since his father died in 1994, is said to have suffered a stroke two years ago.
Under his rule, the country's isolation from the outside world has become entrenched.
Mr Kim has built up a personality cult around his family, while North Korea's economy has all but ceased to function and its people suffer from frequent food shortages.
| Government Job change - Appoint_Inauguration | September 2010 | ['(BBC)', '(Chosun Ilbo)'] |
The Pakistan Armed Forces attacks two Pakistani Taliban positions near Peshawar, killing 5 militants. | Pakistani security forces have attacked Taliban positions in two operations near Peshawar, killing five fighters, the military says. The operation comes days after the Taliban stormed a Peshawar school, killing 141 people, mostly children.
Pakistan is on alert, with security stepped up at prisons following the execution of jailed militants.
There are fears that Taliban may attack prisons to free militants due to be executed.
Pakistan decided to lift a moratorium on executions in response to Tuesday's school attack. The first executions were carried out on Friday, among them a former soldier sentenced for attacking the army headquarters in 2009.
Pakistan has announced it will execute more militant prisoners in the next few days.
The UN Human Rights office in Pakistan appealed to the government to reinstate the moratorium, saying it would feed into a cycle of revenge.
Pakistan has ordered the military to help secure prisons to thwart any attempt by the Taliban to free prisoners.
Following the Peshawar attack the Pakistani military launched fresh offensives against the Taliban across the country.
Dozens of insurgents are reported to have been killed.
Officials also say they are aware of a plan by the Taliban to capture the children of army officers with a view to trading them for prisoners.
Meanwhile in neighbouring Afghanistan, Nato air strikes killed five militants near the Pakistan border, according to a statement on Saturday from the International Security Assistance Forces (Isaf). It added that Isaf commander Gen Campbell was invited to take part in high-level talks with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and Pakistan's army chief Gen Raheel Sharif.
Foreign combat troops are due to complete their withdrawal from Afghanistan at the end of the year.
| Armed Conflict | December 2014 | ['(BBC)'] |
The International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, says conduct by both Israel and Hamas may amount to war crimes and warns anybody violating international law may face prosecution. | The International Criminal Court’schief prosecutor warned on Sunday that actions taken by the Israeli army and by Hamas during the last two weeks’ protests at the Gaza border may constitute war crimes.
Fatou Bensouda noted that at least 27 Palestinians were killed and more than a thousand wounded, “as a result of shootings using live ammunition and rubber-bullets.” At the same time, she stressed that her office will prosecute any violence or incitement to violence carried out on territory under its jurisdiction, which could be seen as a warning to Hamas, the Gaza-ruling terrorist group Israel says is responsible for the protests around the so-called “March of Return” turning violent.
“Violence against civilians in a situation such as the one prevailing in Gaza could constitute crimes under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (‘ICC’ or ‘the Court’), as could the use of civilian presence for the purpose of shielding military activities,”her statement read.
While Palestinian organizers say their weekly marches are intended to be peaceful, Hamas is publicly backing the protests, and Israel argues that Hamas is encouraging its operatives to carry out offensive operations, including efforts to breach the border fence, bombings and shootings, under cover of the protests.
Hamas acknowledged that five Gazans killed on March 30 came from its ranks, and Israel has said that many more of those killed are members of Hamas and other terror groups. Hamas leaders, including its Gaza chief Yahya Sinwar, have publicly told protesters that the marches are aimed ultimately at erasing the border and liberating Palestine by which they mean eliminating Israel. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | April 2018 | ['(The Times of Israel)'] |
The Venezuelan government outlaws the commercial sale of guns and ammunition, the latest in a series of initiatives to improve security and cut crime. | Venezuela has brought a new gun law into effect which bans the commercial sale of firearms and ammunition. Until now, anyone with a gun permit could buy arms from a private company.
Under the new law, only the army, police and certain groups like security companies will be able to buy arms from the state-owned weapons manufacturer and importer.
The ban is the latest attempt by the government to improve security and cut crime ahead of elections in October
Venezuela saw more than 18,000 murders last year and the capital, Caracas, is thought to be one of the most dangerous cities in Latin America. The government has been running a gun amnesty in the run-up to the introduction of the new law to try to encourage people to give up their illegal arms without fear of consequences.
One member of the public in Caracas told the BBC: "They're killing people every day. This law is important but they need to do more, they're not doing enough now." Hugo Chavez's government says the ultimate aim is to disarm all civilians, but his opponents say the police and government may not have the capacity or the will to enforce the new law. Criminal violence is set to be a major issue in presidential elections later in the year.
Campaign group The Venezuela Violence Observatory said last year that violence has risen steadily since Mr Chavez took office in 1999.
Several Latin American countries have murder rates far higher than the global average of 6.9 murders per 100,000 people.
According to a recent United Nations report
, South America, Central America and the Caribbean have the highest rates of murder by firearms in the world. It found that over 70% of all homicides in South America are as a results of guns - in Western Europe, the figure was closer to 25%. | Government Policy Changes | June 2012 | ['(BBC)'] |
Russian authorities say that they foiled a plot by Siberian terrorists to attack a Victory Day march attended by President Vladimir Putin and visiting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Twenty suspects are detained. | MOSCOW — Russian intelligence foiled a terror attack on this week’s massive Victory Day memorial march in Moscow, a top Russian diplomat said on Friday.
About 1 million people marched through central Moscow on Wednesday in the annual Immortal Regiment rally, carrying pictures of family members killed in World War II. President Vladimir Putin and visiting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu joined the march on May 9, the day when Russia marks the end of the war.
Deputy Foreign Minister Oleg Syromolotov said in an interview with the Tass news agency on Friday that several terror groups in western Siberia had stockpiled weapons for the attack. Twenty people have been detained and 17 homes were searched as part of the investigation, he said.
The announcement came as Russia is gearing up to host the World Cup next month.
Russia’s top intelligence agency last month reported the arrests of men suspected to have links to the Islamic State group in Siberia and the Moscow region. The FSB agency said four members of the suspected IS “sleeper cell” were detained in the Moscow region after they traveled from Novy Urengoi, an oil town in western Siberia. The FSB said they plotted attacks in Moscow and were receiving orders from IS members in Syria via a messaging app. | Protest_Online Condemnation | May 2018 | ['(The Times of Israel)'] |
Burma's newly announced second law relating to the 2010 general election bars anyone with a criminal conviction from participating in a political party, effectively barring Aung San Suu Kyi. | YANGON - MYANMAR opposition icon Aung San Suu Kyi faces expulsion from her own party and is barred from standing in polls this year under the military junta's new election laws unveiled on Wednesday.
In a move swiftly branded 'disappointing and regrettable' by the United States, the regime said in a law printed for the first time in state newspapers that anyone serving a prison term cannot be a member of a political party. Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) - which won Myanmar's last elections in 1990 but was stopped from taking power by the junta - would in turn be abolished if it failed to obey the rules.
The Nobel Peace laureate was sentenced to three years' jail in August over an incident in which a US man swam to her lakeside home. Suu Kyi's sentence was commuted by junta supremo Than Shwe to 18 months under house arrest.
'I have noticed that we have to expel Daw Suu. Their attitude is clear in this law,' NLD spokesman Nyan Win told AFP, using a respectful form of address to refer to Suu Kyi. 'I was extremely surprised when I saw this, I did not think it would be so bad.'
The Political Parties Registration Act also gives the NLD just 60 days from Monday, when the law was enacted, to register as a party if it wants to take part in the elections, or else face dissolution. 'The NLD also needs to reply clearly but I cannot say how we will respond,' Mr Nyan Win said.
Critics have dismissed the polls, which Mr Than Shwe has promised to hold at a still unspecified date this year, as a sham aimed at legitimising the military's nearly five-decade grip on power. 'What I can say now is the law is meant to safeguard the constitution. It will be a very big problem for us as they asked us to obey a constitution that we cannot accept,' Mr Nyan Win added. -- AFP | Government Policy Changes | March 2010 | ['(Al Jazeera)', '(Straits Times)', '(CNN)'] |
Nigeria suspends flights to Saudi Arabia after hundreds of Nigerian women attending the Hajj pilgrimage in Mecca were deported for not traveling with a male escort. | Nigeria has suspended all Hajj flights to Saudi Arabia after the authorities there deported more than 170 women who had arrived without a male escort. About 1,000 Nigerian women intending to make the Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca have been detained since Sunday.
A Nigerian government delegation is going to Saudi Arabia to complain.
There has been an understanding in the past that Nigerian women are exempt from travelling with a male relative - a requirement for women on the Hajj.
Nigerian diplomats say the agreement between the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria and the Saudi authorities allows visas to be issued for Nigerian women going to Mecca as long as they are accompanied by Hajj committee officials.
BBC Nigeria correspondent Will Ross says it is not clear if this action was taken as part of an effort to clamp down on people entering Saudi Arabia illegally to work. Since Sunday, hundreds of Nigerian women - mainly aged between 25 and 35, according to Nigerian diplomats - have been stopped at the airports in Jeddah and Medina.
Bilkisu Nasidi, who travelled from the northern Nigerian city of Katsina, told the BBC that hundreds of women had been sleeping on the floor, did not have their belongings and were sharing four toilets at the King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah.
She said she was part of a group of 512 women being deported to five states in Nigeria on Thursday.
With many of them now facing deportation, she said the atmosphere at the airport was not good, and the women felt "victimised".
The main problem was that their surnames did not correspond with those of their husbands or male guardian on visa documentation, she said.
It is a common practice for Muslim women in Nigeria not to take their husband's name.
"Honestly both governments are to blame, ours and theirs. They're telling us that our government has been aware of what are the requirements for the visa application and granting our visas," she told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme
"We're not happy about the situation - other than the Hajj we would not be interested in coming back to Saudi Arabia but unfortunately it is the holy land to us Muslims and we will have to look beyond the treatment and come back." Nigeria's vice-president met the Saudi ambassador to Nigeria on Wednesday and gave him a 24-hour ultimatum for the situation to be resolved, the BBC's Chris Ewokor reports from the capital, Abuja.
The deportations have heightened concerns that the situation is threatening to develop into a diplomatic showdown, he says.
Nigeria's speaker of the House of Representatives is leading a government delegation - to include the foreign affairs minister - to Saudi Arabia in an attempt to resolve the situation.
| Government Policy Changes | September 2012 | ['(Al Jazeera)', '(BBC)'] |
Four people are killed and four conscripts are injured after a passenger train collides with an off-road military truck in Raseborg, Finland. | A collision between an off-road military lorry and a train in the southern coastal municipality of Raseborg, or Raasepori in Finnish, has taken four lives this Thursday morning. Seven people with lesser injuries were being treated in Raseborg.
Kerava emergency services announced shortly before 8 am that a crash had occurred at a level crossing, where a railway line crosses a road. Railway traffic monitor Reima Roisko has been in contact with the driver of the train and learned that the accident took place at the Leksavallintie intersection.
"A passenger train from Karis to Hanko collided with a vehicle at the level crossing. There were several people injured," he said. Police confirm that the vehicle was a military off-road lorry known in Finnish as a Masi. The vehicle and its occupants were from the Nyland Brigade, stationed in Dragsvik. It is the only unit of the Finnish Defence Forces where the instruction language is Swedish.
Defence Minister Jussi Niinistö spoke in a Yle radio interview at around 11 am. He said seatbelt use has been mandatory in the Finnish military since 2010. He confirmed that the conscripts in question were from the Nyland Brigade, and crisis assistance was being offered to the people affected.
Minister Niinistö also wrote on Twitter this morning that flags at Defence Forces locations around the country will be lowered to half-mast today to commemorate the crash victims. Prime Minister Juha Sipilä also tweeted his condolences.
The Railway Traffic Centre says the route has been shut down for the time being, with buses replacing the trains. Train operator VR says that the replacement buses will depart from the relevant railway stations, and will service the Karis-Ekenäs-Hanko route. | Train collisions | October 2017 | ['(three military conscripts and a train passenger)', '(Yle)'] |
The ratification of the Bangsamoro Organic Law is proclaimed paving the way for the creation of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in the Philippines. | BANGSAMORO PLEBISCITE. The ballot boxes containing election results from Isabela City, Basilan, are processed during the canvassing of Bangsamoro plebiscite results in Intramuros, Manila on January 25, 2019
Photo by Inoue Jaena/Rappler
The historic vote creates the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, a more powerful political entity that allows the Bangsamoro people a chance at genuine self-governance
MANILA, Philippines – Opening a new chapter in their history, the people of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) voted to ratify the law creating a new Bangsamoro region.
A majority of ARMM voters chose to approve the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) or Republic Act 11054 on Monday, January 21.
On Friday evening, January 25, the National Plebiscite Board of Canvassers (NPBOC) announced the official results of the plebiscite, saying the BOL was "deemed ratified."
The Comelec, sitting as the NPBOC, also proclaimed that Cotabato City "shall form part" of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), while the City of Isabela (in Basilan) "shall not form part" of the BARMM.
The results for the entire ARMM are as follows:
Here are the results for Cotabato City and Isabela City who were asked if they would want to join the BARMM:
Ratification means the creation of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao or BARMM. It will replace the ARMM, which has been called a “failed experiment” because of its dependence on the national government in Metro Manila and accusations of corruption and mismanagement.
ARMM is composed of 5 provinces: Basilan (excluding Isabela City), Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao (excluding Cotabato City), Sulu, and Tawi-Tawi.
The BARMM, meanwhile, will have more powers and will receive an annual unconditional budget allocation, some P60 billion to P70 billion, from the national government – making it more independent and reducing the need for regional officials to “beg” for funding from Manila.
It will also have a parliament, to be composed of representatives from the current ARMM provinces, additional territories that voted to join BARMM, and representatives for women, Christians, and indigenous peoples.
Expanded territory
The BARMM will also be at least one city larger than the ARMM. Cotabato City, the so-called “crown jewel” and main urban hub of the Bangsamoro region, voted to join the BARMM on Monday. (READ: How Cotabato was won)
Twice before, Cotabato City had refused to join ARMM – voting “no” in 1989 and again in 2001.
The hard-won victory of the BOL in the city, however, is being contested by its mayor, Cynthia Guiani Sayadi, the most powerful voice opposing the city’s inclusion in the BARMM.
HISTORIC VOTE. A Moro woman casts her vote in a polling precinct in Simuay Junction Central Elementary School in Simuay, Sultan Kudarat on January 21, 2019, day of the plebiscite for the Bangsamoro Organic Law.
Photo by Manman Dejeto
Cotabato City's vote, however, does not affect the ratification of the BOL as only a majority of ARMM votes are required for the law's approval.
Because of BOL's ratification, a second plebiscite will be held on February 6 in Lanao del Norte (except Iligan City) and 67 barangays in North Cotabato. Six municipalities in Lanao del Norte and 67 barangays in North Cotabato will be asked if they want to join the BARMM.
However, even if they say yes, their mother local government units will also have to agree to their joining the BARMM. This requirement was among the more contentious provisions in the BOL.
Sulu votes 'no'
Despite the BOL's landslide victory in most provinces in ARMM, island province Sulu voted against the BOL ratification.
Sulu Governor Abdusakur "Toto" Tan II has filed a petition before the Supreme Court to declare the BOL unconstitutional. He claims Sulu should be allowed to opt out of the BARMM by voting "no," instead of its votes being lumped together with the rest of ARMM.
He also asserted that the Bangsamoro Parliament to be created by the BOL violates the principle of separation of legislative and executive powers stated in the Constitution. The Bangsamoro law states that the chief minister and Cabinet of the Bangsamoro government will be chosen from members of the parliament.
Despite Sulu's "no" vote, it will still become part of BARMM because the BOL states all ARMM provinces votes are to be taken as one, instead of per province.
Hopes for peace
The BOL is a culmination of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front’s 40-year struggle for autonomy, including on-and-off talks with the government spanning the administration of 4 presidents.
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Finally, under the administraiton of Benigno Aquino III, the MILF signed the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB), which would lay the foundation for the BOL.
A previous version of the BOL, called the Bangsamoro Basic Law, was already being deliberated in Congress on Aquino’s last year in power when the Mamasapano massacre derailed its passage.
Duterte, Mindanao’s first president, resumed efforts with the MILF, this time involving one faction of rival group Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF). In July 2018, he signed the BOL.
Many Moros have pinned their hopes for peace in Mindanao on the BOL. Clashes between the MILF and government troops have claimed 120,000 lives. With its passage, the MILF will now have to fulfill its promise of decommissioning their 30,000 soldiers and firearms. | Government Policy Changes | January 2019 | ['(Rappler)'] |
Iraqi insurgency: A series of explosions occur in mainly Shia Muslim neighbourhoods of Baghdad and in the city of Nasiriyah, with at least 73 killed and 149 wounded. | At least 47 Palestinians also hurt by tear gas and rubber bullets near the town of Beita in the occupied West Bank. | Armed Conflict | January 2012 | ['(Al Jazeera)'] |
The United States Senate passes a large spending bill including $25 billion in taxpayer subsidised loans for automakers and the end of offshore drilling bans. | Automakers gained $25 billion in taxpayer-subsidized loans and oil companies won elimination of a long-standing ban on drilling off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts as the Senate passed a sprawling spending bill Saturday.
The 78-12 vote sent the $634 billion measure to President Bush, who was expected to sign it even though it spends more money and contains more pet projects than he would have liked.
The measure is needed to keep the government operating beyond the current budget year, which ends Tuesday. As a result, the legislation is one of the few bills this election year that simply must pass. Bush's signature would mean Congress could avoid a lame-duck session after the Nov. 4 election.
The Pentagon is in line for a record budget. In addition to $70 billion approved this summer for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Defense Department would receive $488 billion, a 6 percent increase. The spending bill also offers aid to victims of flooding in the Midwest and recent hurricanes across the Gulf Coast.
Such a huge bill usually would dominate the end-of-session agenda on Capitol Hill. But it went below the radar screen because attention focused on the congressional bailout of Wall Street.
The measure settles dozens of battles that have brewed for months between the Democrats who run Congress and the White House and its GOP allies.
The administration won approval of the defense budget. Democrats wrested concessions from the White House on $23 billion for disaster-ravaged states, a doubling of low-income heating subsidies, and smaller spending items such as $24 million more for food shipments to the elderly.
The loan package for automakers would reward them with $25 billion in below-market loans, costing taxpayers $7.5 billion to subsidize the retooling of plants and development of technologies to help U.S. carmakers to build cleaner, more fuel efficient cars. Companies would not have to begin repaying the loans for five years, drawing objections from Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., who predicted they would return for more help when the money is due.
Republicans made ending the coastal drilling ban a central campaign issue this summer as $4-plus per gallon gasoline stoked voter anger and turned public opinion in favor of more exploration.
The action does not mean drilling is imminent and still leaves the oil-rich eastern Gulf of Mexico off limits. But it could set the stage for the government to offer leases in some Atlantic federal waters as early as 2011.
Also in the bill is money to avert a shortfall in Pell college aid grants and solve problems in the Women, Infants and Children program delivering healthy foods to the poor.
In addition to the Pentagon's budget, there is $40 billion for the Homeland Security Department and $73 billion for veterans' programs and military base construction projects. Combined with the Defense Department's spending, that amounts to about 60 percent of the budget work Congress must pass each year.
Democrats came under criticism from the GOP for short-circuiting the normal process for a spending bill after it became clear that Republicans would force difficult votes on the drilling ban.
Democrats also wanted to avoid an election-year clash with Bush that would have played in his favor. They are willing to take their chances that Democrat Barack Obama will be elected president in November and permit increases for scores of programs squeezed by Bush each year.
Bush had threatened to veto bills that did not cut the number and cost of pet projects in half or cause agency operating budgets to exceed his request. Democrats ignored the edict as they drafted the plan and the White House has apparently backed down.
Taxpayers for Common Sense, a watchdog group, discovered 2,322 pet projects totaling $6.6 billion. That included 2,025 in the defense portion alone that cost a total of $4.9 billion. Critics of such "earmarks" promise to scrutinize them in coming weeks and months for links to lobbyists and campaign contributions. | Government Policy Changes | September 2008 | ['(AP via Google News)'] |
Islamist militias capture a special forces base in Benghazi. | A special forces base in the Libyan city of Benghazi has been seized by militias, fighters and officials say.
The site was captured by Islamist-led militias after days of fighting in the eastern city, officials said.
Meanwhile, Italy has offered to help extinguish a huge blaze that has engulfed the biggest fuel depot in the Libyan capital, Tripoli.
Libya has been gripped by instability since the 2011 uprising, with swathes of the country controlled by militias.
"We have withdrawn from the [Benghazi] army base after heavy shelling," Special Forces officer Fadel al-Hassi told reporters on Tuesday.
The fighters also confirmed in a statement that they had taken control of the base.
On Monday, officials said that at least 38 people had been killed in clashes between troops loyal to the Libyan government and Islamist fighters in Benghazi.
At least 97 people have also been killed in fighting between rival militias battling for control of Tripoli's main airport in the past week.
The government has blamed clashes between the armed groups for starting the fire at the Tripoli fuel depot, and preventing firefighters from putting out the blaze.
The depot is about 10km (six miles) from Tripoli on the road to the international airport.
The government has been unable to disarm the numerous armed groups controlling large parts of the country, which are behind Libya's worst violence since the 2011 uprising that toppled Col Muammar Gaddafi.
It has led some Western governments to urge their nationals to leave and withdraw foreign staff from their embassies in Tripoli.
| Armed Conflict | July 2014 | ['(BBC)'] |
An unknown perpetrator using an Apache helicopter fires upon a boat carrying Somali refugees off the coast of Yemen, killing at least 40 of them, injuring 35 more. , | DUBAI (Reuters) - Forty-two Somali refugees were killed when a helicopter gunship attacked their boat off Yemen on Thursday, the United Nations refugee agency said, and Somalia called on the Saudi-led coalition fighting in the country to investigate.
Mohamed al-Alay, a coastguard officer in the Houthi-controled Hodeidah area, said the refugees, carrying official UNHCR documents, were going to Sudan from Yemen when an Apache helicopter attacked near the strategic Bab al-Mandab strait.
The area is part of a broad front where forces loyal to Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, backed by a Saudi-led coalition of Arab states, are fighting the Iran-allied Houthi movement which controls most of north and western Yemen.
It was not immediately clear who carried out the attack.
The UNHCR said on its Twitter account that 42 refugees were reported dead and 39 wounded were being treated in hospitals. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) had earlier said 33 were dead, 29 wounded and other passengers were missing.
“We do not know who carried it out but survivors said they came under attack from another boat at 9 p.m., the crew used lights and shouted to signal this is a civilian boat,” ICRC spokeswoman Iolanda Jaquemet said.
“Nevertheless, it did not have any effect and a helicopter joined in the attack,” she said.
Somalia’s Foreign Affairs Minister Abdusalam Hadliye Omar expressed sorrow at what he described as a “horrific attack”.
“It is very sad to target a boat carrying Somali migrants near the coast of Hodeidah in Yemen,” he said in a statement. “We call on our partners in the Saudi-led coalition to investigate the raid.”
The Saudi-led coalition said it did not conduct any operations or have any engagement on Thursday in the Hodeidah area where the attack took place.
Coalition spokesman General Ahmed al-Asseri said Hodeidah remained under the control of the Houthis and the port continued to be used for “trafficking people, smuggling weapons and attacks against the line of communications in the Red Sea”.
“HEARTBREAKING SCENE”
Shabia Mantoo, the UNHCR spokeswoman in Yemen, said the vessel was carrying 140 people and trying to sail north out of Yemen when it was hit. She said many of the estimated 255,000 Somali refugees in Yemen are trying to leave because of the war.
“We are distressed by this incident and understand that refugees were traveling in a vessel off the coast of Hodeidah which was reportedly impacted during the course of hostilities,” she said.
A sailor who had been operating the boat, Ibrahim Ali Zeyad, said 80 refugees had been rescued.
“We just got information of a helicopter assault on a boat leaving Yemen, we believe for Sudan, full of Somalis,” International Organization for Migration (IOM) spokesman Joel Millman told a news briefing in Geneva, adding he was aware of 80 survivors being brought to hospitals in Hodeidah.
ICRC’s Eric Christopher Wyss said: “It was a heartbreaking scene. I saw many men, women and children either killed or horribly wounded.”
| Shipwreck | March 2017 | ['(Reuters)', '(AFP via MSN)'] |
Anti–austerity demonstrators take place at the ruling Labour Party's centenary conference with protesters using a coffin draped in the Irish tricolour. | There were rowdy scenes outside the Labour Party conference this afternoon as protesters broke through a Garda barrier to register their opposition to the household charge and austerity measures.
An estimated 1,000 opponents of the home tax from all over the State assembled in the centre of Galway at about 2pm to march to NUI Galway where the conference is taking place.
Left-wing TDs Richard Boyd Barrett and Joan Collins were among the crowd that marched through the city chanting slogans such as: “No way; we won’t pay” and carrying banners urging members of the public: “Don’t register, don’t pay.”
Placards were carried with pictures of Labour Party founder and 1916 martyr James Connolly and the message, “Shame on you, Labour working-class traitors”.
Participants came from as far afield as Crumlin, Kimmage, Walkinstown and Dun Laoghaire in Co Dublin; Falcarragh and Gortahork in Donegal; Wexford; North Leitrim and West Limerick.
A coffin draped with the Tricolour was carried by a group protesting that “Neutrality is dead”. Others were objecting to septic tank and water charges as well as education cuts and the EU fiscal treaty.
When the protesters arrived at the conference centre shortly after 3pm, the doors were immediately closed and only members of the news media were allowed out, with a Labour official stressing that this was at their own risk. Some of the afternoon sessions were postponed.
At 3.20pm a group of about 100 protesters broke through a barrier of gardaí and security personnel to enter the courtyard in front of the Bailey Allen Hall.
A sitdown was staged about ten metres from the front door. The tricolour-draped coffin seen at an earlier stage of the protest was now brought to the main entrance with a red Labour rose placed on top of it.
Slogans such as “Labour Party, we know you; You’re a f---ing Blueshirt too” and “The people united will never be defeated” were chanted by the protesters.
A copy of the conference agenda was burned amid chants of “Revolution, revolution.”
A second group of protesters, now numbering several hundred, broke through the police barrier at 3.32 pm. The force of 24 uniformed gardaí regrouped at the main entrance to the hall.
A teacher who was observing the protest remarked that it was about more than the household charge: “It’s the precarious existence of the youth of this country that has them angry.”
At 4pm, Garda reinforcements arrived in a van, to mock applause from the crowd. A placard proclaimed, “F--- the police” and another said: “Kenny and Gilmore are Angela’s asses [sic].”
Independent TD Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan, who was observing the clashes said: “The Labour Party are paying the price for the lies they told people at the general election.”
Commenting on the clashes between protesters and gardaí, he said: “It would be preferable if that didn’t happen: it wasn’t ideal, but people are annoyed.”
He added that Labour ministers Eamon Gilmore and Pat Rabbitte were “quite good” at protesting in their day.
There was some hostility towards the news media among protesters with reporters being challenged to show their credentials to prove that they were not members of the Garda Special Branch.
A camera operator from RTÉ Nuacht was injured in the melee and was taken to hospital as a precaution. The doors of the conference hall were re-opened and the protesters had left the immediate vicinity by 6pm. | Protest_Online Condemnation | April 2012 | ['(The Belfast Telegraph)', '(The Irish Times)', '(Irish Examiner)'] |
Police baton and tear gas people protesting on a highway in Dhaka, arresting dozens. | Police in Bangladesh broke up angry protesters blocking a main highway in the capital Dhaka, over a new law giving women equal property rights.
Dozens were arrested and injured as police used tear gas and batons.
Schools, businesses and offices across the country remained closed in a nationwide strike enforced by a group of Islamic parties.
Bangladesh has a secular legal system, but in matters relating to inheritance it follows Sharia law. Under Bangladeshi law a woman normally inherits half as much as her brother. But under the new rules, every child would inherit an equal amount. Protesters blocked a key road linking the capital, Dhaka, with the main port of Chittagong. Officials say around 100 protesters have been taken into custody.
"The protesters blocked the highway for sometime. The road has been cleared now," Mahbubur Rahman, a senior police officer told the BBC.
But Fazlul Huq Amini, who heads the Islamic Law Implementation Committee, said the strike was successful and "people spontaneously supported the protest".
Protesters, organised by the Islami Oiko Jote (Unity group), argue that the new proposals go against the Koran. The government says its new policy does not violate Islam and aims to give women greater rights in employment, inheritance and education. Our correspondent says the proposed law has been welcomed by women's rights groups. They say the policy has the support of the majority of people in the country.
Although the hardline religious parties do not have major political influence, their campaign to portray some of the government's policies as anti-Islamic could have an impact on rural areas of the country in the long term, according to our correspondent.
| Protest_Online Condemnation | April 2011 | ['(BBC)'] |
General David Petraeus expresses doubt during an interview on American television that the United States will be able to definitely begin withdrawing from Afghanistan in 2011. | The new commander of foreign forces in Afghanistan, Gen David Petraeus, says he will not be bound by a 2011 target date to start withdrawing US troops.
Speaking on NBC television, Gen Petraeus said he reserved the right to tell President Obama whether the pull-out date was too early.
He was speaking after US forces endured their deadliest month in July since the Afghan conflict began in 2001.
Gen Petraeus said the Afghan mission was tough and would remain so.
President Barack Obama set 2011 as a target date to begin withdrawing US forces from Afghanistan at the same time as he approved the deployment of 30,000 extra troops in December 2009.
"The president has been clear... this is the date when the process begins which is conditions-based," Gen Petraeus said.
"As conditions permit, we transition to our Afghan counterparts in the security forces and government, and that allows a responsible draw-down of our forces."
But Gen Petraeus said progress in Afghanistan only began this spring, when those troops arrived on the ground. The general took over command of international forces in Afghanistan last month.
His predecessor, Gen Stanley McChrystal, was sacked after he made disparaging remarks about the Obama administration in a magazine article.
Support for the war in Afghanistan is waning in the US and other troop-contributing countries as the death toll continues to rise.
In July 2010, 66 US soldiers were killed, the worst month for casualties since the war began in 2001.
The Netherlands ended its mission in Uruzgan in southern Afghanistan two weeks ago, while Canada is scheduled to pull out of Kandahar province next year.
That leaves the US and Britain to bear the brunt of military operations.
Gen Petraeus said that arresting al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden remained a primary goal. He described Bin Laden as an "iconic figure" for the insurgents, and his arrest was a "very important task".
The general, who oversaw the surge of US troops in Iraq, said reconciliation would require a dialogue with the Taliban and other insurgent groups.
"Ultimately we had to face the question in Iraq of, 'Will we sit down across the table with people who have our blood on their hands?' And the answer was yes. That was a decision that I had to make early on in the surge," he said.
Gen Petraeus also criticised the publication of 75,000 classified US documents by the website Wikileaks.
"In some cases, there are actual names of (Afghan) individuals with whom we have partnered in difficult missions in difficult places. And obviously, that is very reprehensible."
Wikileaks has said it will soon release a further 15,000 documents which it had initially held back because they were too sensitive.
But Gen Petraeus said Afghanistan had the potential to become a "new Silk Road", a crossroads for trade, especially in minerals.
"Afghanistan is blessed with the presence of what are... trillions of dollars' worth of minerals," Gen Petraeus said, adding that exploiting them would require the extractive technology, human capital and lines of communication to get the materials out of the country.
On Sunday, the Afghan government said a survey by Afghan and international experts had uncovered an oil field in the north of the country with an estimated 1.8 billion barrels.
Earlier this year, Afghanistan said its mineral wealth - including huge untapped reserves of oil, gas, gold and copper - could be worth as much as three trillion dollars.
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U.S. diplomats, amid growing international concern the violence could spiral into an ethnic conflict, push for peace talks in Burundi. The European Union advises non–essential staff to evacuate the Central African nation amid rising violence and an uptick in political rhetoric. The head of the opposition UPRONA group urges the United Nations to send peacekeepers quickly. Yesterday, the UN Security Council called on the Burundi Government to protect human rights and cooperate with regional African mediators to immediately convene “an inclusive and genuine inter–Burundian dialogue” to find a peaceful resolution of the crisis. | .
U.S. diplomats on Friday pushed for peace talks in Burundi, as the European Union advised non-essential staff to evacuate the central African nation amid an uptick in political rhetoric reminiscent of that preceding Rwanda’s 1994 genocide. Many fear the tensions are edging Burundi toward a return to out-and-out bloodshed, a decade after the country’s 12-year civil war came to an end.
Tom Perriello, the U.S. envoy to Africa’s Great Lakes region, was visiting nearby Uganda to consult with its president on how to restart Burundi negotiations, said Okello Oryem, Uganda’s deputy foreign minister. A regional bloc has nominated Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni to act as mediator in Burundi’s political crisis — sparked in April when President Pierre Nkurunziza announced he would seek a third term, which critics said violated a constitutional limit of two terms.
At least 240 people have been killed in the violent street protests and a government crackdown that witnesses say targeted opposition members in a series of killings. The capital, Bujumbura, has remained unstable — with gunfire and explosions frequently heard —after Nkurunziza’s eventual re-election in July. The United States and African Union condemned the elections as "not free or fair."
The EU said Friday that non-essential staff and their families from its Burundi delegation would be temporarily evacuated. An EU official told AFP that despite the pullout, the bloc’s mission in the central African country “will continue functioning normally.”
Belgium, the country’s former colonial ruler, said earlier in the day that it has also advised its non-essential staff to leave Burundi.
A prominent opposition politician in Burundi on Friday called on the United Nations to send a peacekeeping force to help cope with the surge in violence. A day earlier, the United Nations Security Council said it was looking for ways to boost its presence in the country. The council unanimously passed a resolution condemning the killings, and urged Burundi’s government to “immediately convene an inclusive and genuine inter-Burundian dialogue.”
Charles Nditije, head of Burundi’s opposition UPRONA group, said he welcomed the U.N. push for dialogue.
“We deplore, however, that they didn’t decide to deploy peace enforcement forces in the near future,” he said. “We also regret that they didn’t agree on sanctions.”
More than 200,000 Burundians have fled to neighboring countries since April, the U.N. said. Burundi ended a 12-year civil war between Hutu rebels and a Tutsi-led army in 2005, and the country has an ethnic divide similar to the one that led to neighboring Rwanad’a 1994 genocide in which 800,000 people — mainly Tutsis and moderate Hutus — were massacred.
Many Burundi observers said there has been an escalation of dangerous rhetoric not heard since then.
U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Samantha Power tweeted on Nov. 5 that Nkurunziza’s call for a security crackdown — along with dangerous words used by the Senate president, including “exterminate” and “pulverize” — risked greater violence.
On Nov. 2, Nkurunziza made a national broadcast promising insurgents amnesty if they disarmed within five days. He said that it was their “last call,” and that police were close to restoring calm but still had to destroy a “small group of killers” still at work, Jeune Afrique reported.
A day earlier, Senate President Reverien Ndikuriyo told his supporters, “If you hear the signal with an instruction that it must end, emotions and tears have no place,” Jeune Afrique reported. Ndikuriyo used the term “work” in his call, an expression that was used during the Rwandan genocide in 1994.
French historian Jean-Pierre Chretien, author of “Burundi 1972: At the Edge of Genocide,” said several recent speeches and statements by Burundi leaders “are indeed disturbing,” in an interview last week in Jeune Afrique.
“It is reminiscent of the themes of extremist propaganda in Rwanda in the 1990s,” Chretien said.
Unlike neighboring Rwanda, Burundi did not face the same issues of ethnic distinctions between Hutu and Tutsis at its independence, he said, but some of the tensions have spilled over from Rwanda.
“Waves of massacres or killings aimed against Hutu or Tutsi Burundians have often echoed Rwandan political tensions. But these crises are first linked to the contradictions of Burundi’s internal politics,” Chretien said.
“In the circles of power, there are leaders who want to deliberately stir the ‘ethnic’ spectrum.”
With wire services
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The East African nation requires sustained and resolute diplomacy
President Nkurunziza’s controversial bid for a third terms triggers more protests
The Central African nation's legacy of independent radio stations as a force for peace is being put to the test
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Sorry, your comment was not saved due to a technical problem. Please try again later or using a different browser. | Diplomatic Talks _ Diplomatic_Negotiation_ Summit Meeting | November 2015 | ['(Al Jazeera)', '(Reuters)', '(UN)'] |
An Irish judge sentences two 15-year-old boys to jail for the 2018 murder of 14-year-old Ana Kriégel in suburban Dublin. The boys were 13-years-old at the time they murdered her and are the youngest people convicted of murder in Ireland. They have not been named due to their age. One boy was sentenced to life in detention to be reviewed after twelve years—he was also sentenced to eight years for sexual assault to run concurrently with the murder sentence. The other boy was sentenced to 15 years in prison, but his sentence will be reviewed after eight years instead of twelve. Her parents said that "justice has been served for Ana", but about the sentences that "forever is not long enough". | The parents of teenager Ana Kriégel have said "justice has been served for Ana" but for them "forever is not long enough".
Geraldine and Patric Kriégel read a short statement outside the court after the sentencing of two boys convicted of murdering their daughter in May 2018.
Ms Kriégel thanked all the people who had given them support whom she said had kept them going.
Mr Kriégel said: "Justice has been served for Ana. The judge has decided on the sentence, that duty lies with him alone.
He said: "for our part, we can only say that forever is not long enough.
"Please remember Ana and keep her in your hearts somewhere."
Mr Justice Paul McDermott sentenced the boy referred to in court as Boy A to life in detention, his sentence will be reviewed in 12 years.
His co-accused, referred to as Boy B, was sentenced to 15 years for his part in the murder, with his sentence being reviewed after eight years.
The boys were just 13 years old when they killed the schoolgirl in a derelict house in Lucan in May 2018. The first boy also violently sexually assaulted her.
Read More:
Teenage boys sentenced for murder of Ana Kriégel
The murder of Ana Kriégel - how the case was solved
"We would like to express our extreme gratitude to Mark O'Neill and his team and An Garda Síochána who have put everything they had into finding those responsible for Ana's murder, Siobhan McIntyre, our liaison officer, for holding the family up through all of this pain, the legal team, the jury and the judge, the media for being so understanding, the victim support unit, our family, our friends and our neighbours," she said.
"And thank you to all of the wonderful people out there that supported us and kept us going."
Garda Superintendent John Gordon extended his sympathies to the Kriégel family and paid tribute to the dignity with which they conducted themselves during the trial.
"This is a difficult and complex case and we would like to acknowledge the support and help of the community at this time, without their help we wouldn't be in the place that we are today," he said.
"Justice has been served for Ana" but "forever is not long enough." Ana's parents speak outside court. ?@rtenews? pic.twitter.com/ZaVOKIVeq0 | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Sentence | November 2019 | ['(RTE News and Current Affairs)', '(RTE News and Current Affairs2)'] |
Kazakh Prime Minister Daniyal Akhmetov unexpectedly resigns without explanation. Deputy Prime Minister Karim Masimov, Akhmetov's longtime rival, is expected to replace him. | No reason was given for the resignation, which will force the whole Cabinet to step down.
The prime minister's office is much less powerful than the presidency, which Nursultan Nazarbayev has held since 1990.
Mr Nazarbayev has developed the country into an increasingly important supplier of oil and gas to the West.
But he has also been criticised for concentrating power in the hands of his family and for failing to deliver elections deemed free and fair. Mr Nazarbayev is expected to nominate a new prime minister on Wednesday. His nomination needs approval from both houses of parliament, which is also expected.
According to the BBC's Central Asia correspondent, Natalia Antelava, Mr Akhmetov's resignation has been the subject of speculation among political circles ever since several months ago President Nazarbayev openly criticised him for poor planning and overspending. But in common with most political developments in Kazakhstan, public debate played no part in his resignation and is not likely to be part of the aftermath. The president's absolute control over the government also means that whoever replaces Mr Akhmetov will not deviate from Mr Nazarbayev's investor-friendly free market economic policies, our correspondent says. Mr Akhmetov has been prime minister since 2003. | Government Job change - Resignation_Dismissal | January 2007 | ['(Bloomberg)', '(BBC)'] |
Chinese Communist Party general secretary Xi Jinping is expected to visit Pyongyang at the invitation of Korean Workers' Party chairman Kim Jong-un to attend the celebration of the 70th anniversary of North Korea's founding. | SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Chinese President Xi Jinping is set to visit Pyongyang next month at the invitation of North Korea leader Kim Jong Un to attend the celebrations of the 70th anniversary of North Korea’s founding, Singapore’s Straits Times newspaper reported.
It will be the Chinese leader’s first visit to the North Korean capital since he took power in 2012, and 13 years after the last visit by a Chinese President, when Xi’s predecessor Hu Jintao visited in 2005, the newspaper said on Saturday.
The Straits Times did not say where it obtained the information and the Chinese foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
North Korea’s celebrations are set to take place on Sept. 9 and the Straits Times said that Xi’s visit could still be subject to last-minute changes.
China is the reclusive country’s most important trading partner and Kim has visited China three times so far this year during which he has held talks with Xi on improving cooperation between the two countries and economic reforms.
The United States has stepped up sanctions on North Korea to pressure Pyongyang to give up its nuclear program. This week, the United States imposed sanctions on Chinese firms for exporting alcohol and cigarette products to North Korea in breach of those sanctions. | Diplomatic Visit | August 2018 | ['(Reuters)'] |
A rocket is launched from Kazakhstan carrying two British–built satellites designed to help monitor natural disasters. | A rocket has been launched from Kazakhstan carrying two British-built satellites which will help monitor natural disasters.
The UK-DMC2 and Deimos-1 spacecraft will join four platforms already in the sky that together form the Disaster Monitoring Constellation. The network obtains rapid pictures of areas struck by natural calamities - such as floods, earthquakes and fire. The imagery is used by governments and aid agencies to co-ordinate relief. The two satellites headed for orbit aboard a Dnepr rocket which was launched from Baikonur cosmodrome, Russia's Strategic Space Troops said. The Dnepr, a converted Soviet-era SS-18 intercontinental ballistic missile, was also carrying four other foreign satellites, including the United Arab Emirates' first space platform, known as DubaiSat-1. The UK-built satellites were launched onboard
a Dnepr rocket
"After a major disaster, the first thing you need to do is supply the relief workers with an up-to-date map," explained Philip Davies, from manufacturers Surrey Satellite Technology Limited (SSTL). "If there's been a big flood, there will be landslides, roads will have been washed away and bridges will be down. So you need a new map that shows you how to get around the area; and it's the satellite imagery that helps you do that." UK-DMC2, as the name suggests, is Britain's second contribution to the constellation. Deimos-1 is owned by a Spanish imaging company. The pair joins orbital assets that belong to Algeria, China and Nigeria (a Turkish satellite is no longer operational after finishing its mission). The spacecraft picture the Earth at resolutions between 4m and 32m, across an ultra-wide 600km-plus swath. When they fly over their home territories, the satellites acquire a range of data for domestic use - everything from urban planning to monitoring locust swarms.
But when the platforms fly across the rest of the globe, they gather imagery which is pooled and sold on to commercial users. Every so often, however, a major disaster will strike some part of the globe and the DMC constellation will be tasked with gathering emergency pictures as fast as possible. Recent deployments have included the Australian bushfires in February this year, and after the major cyclone that hit Burma in May 2008. "The biggest use of the DMC was after the Asian tsunami is 2004," said Mr Davies. "We used the fact that it's a constellation and can cover very wide swaths to image the entire Indian Ocean coastline. "Other satellites may have been able to deploy high resolutions at particular locations, but we were the only system that could cover the entire coastline at a reasonable resolution." The UK-DMC2 platform carries some improvements over the previous DMC satellites, including an enhanced camera sensor to deliver better ground resolution, and X-band transmitters that will enable the spacecraft to download data 10 times as fast as its orbital cousins. The 96kg, 60cm cube is also carrying a student experiment called Poise, which was developed by pupils at Shrewsbury School, in Shropshire. The experiment will measure variations in the ionosphere - the outermost layer of the atmosphere. These variations can affect the accuracy and safety of satellite navigation (sat-nav) systems. SSTL is famous for producing the very first spacecraft for Europe's forthcoming sat-nav system, Galileo. [email protected] | New achievements in aerospace | July 2009 | ['(BBC)'] |
A Hennepin County, Minnesota judge drops the third-degree murder charge against former Minneapolis Police officer Derek Chauvin, who was filmed kneeling on the neck of George Floyd for nearly nine minutes in May. He still faces second-degree murder and manslaughter charges. |
Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who was captured on cellphone video kneeling on Floyd's neck for several minutes, still faces a higher charge of second-degree murder.
Updated at 11:40 a.m. ET
A Minneapolis judge has dismissed the third-degree murder charge against Derek Chauvin, one of the four former police officers facing criminal charges in the May killing of George Floyd.
Chauvin, who was captured on cellphone video kneeling on Floyd's neck for several minutes, still faces a higher charge of second-degree murder. Chauvin's legal team filed a motion to have both charges dropped, but the latter was denied. The dismissal will be stayed for five days to allow state prosecutors to consider a pretrial appeal, according to court documents.
Three other former Minneapolis officers Thomas Lane, Tou Thao and Alexander Kueng face charges of aiding and abetting murder in the killing of Floyd. They also sought to have their complaints dismissed for lack of probable cause.
However, Hennepin County District Court Judge Peter Cahill denied each of their motions. The judge agreed with Chauvin's defense team that third-degree murder did not apply in this case. Cahill said prosecutors were only able to prove two of the three elements required for the charge: that Floyd died and that Chauvin caused Floyd's death.
But the final element of probable cause for third-degree murder involves proving that the defendant was putting people other than the victim at risk, Cahill said. Because Chauvin's actions were directed only at Floyd and could not have resulted in harm of anyone else, the judge said, "probable cause does not exist for the third-degree murder charge."
"Third-degree murder is an unusual, uncommon count that some defense attorneys have said didn't suit the Floyd case," the Star Tribute reported. "Some attorneys have said the charge best fits a situation such as a person randomly shooting into a moving train and killing someone."
Cahill is still considering whether to try all four former officers together, which was not included in the most recent court filings, according to the Star Tribune. The newspaper also noted that Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison's office has signaled it does not want to try the officers separately.
Earlier this month, Cahill issued an order changing the terms of Chauvin's bond, allowing him to leave the state because of "safety concerns."
Chauvin was released from jail after posting a $1 million bond. Law enforcement officials said 51 people were arrested at demonstrations following his release.
Floyd's death sparked protests worldwide calling for an end to police brutality and systemic racism. It also triggered days of protests in Minneapolis. Like Chauvin, the three other former officers involved in the Floyd killing have been released from jail on bond. Their trial is expected to start in March. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | October 2020 | ['(NPR)'] |
Islamic State captures the Syrian city of Tadmur from the Syrian Army with grave concerns held about the Palmyra site. | Islamic State (IS) militants in Syria have entered the Unesco World Heritage site of Palmyra after seizing the town next to the ancient ruins, reports say.
Unesco says its destruction would be "an enormous loss to humanity", but no damage has been reported there yet.
IS now controls the nearby airport, prison and intelligence HQ, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says.
The militants have previously demolished ancient sites in Iraq that pre-date Islam.
The BBC's Jim Muir in Beirut says acute international concern over Palmyra might actually spur the jihadists on to make destroying the site a priority.
The ancient ruins are situated in a strategically important area on the road between the Syrian capital, Damascus, and the contested eastern city of Deir al-Zour. Palmyra is also close to oil and gas fields.
Elsewhere in Syria, 40 rebels from Islamist factions were killed in Aleppo when government forces bombed a rebel headquarters, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
An activist who has family members in Palmyra told the BBC that his relatives wanted to flee but there was no way out. IS fighters were searching the city for Syrian army soldiers, he said, and residents were being warned via mosque loudspeakers not to hide them.
He also said the inhabitants were angry that Western media are focusing on the ancient ruins, and not the population.
"We still don't have accurate figures about how many civilians there are in Palmyra but there are plenty," he said.
"People think the West cares more about the civilisation than about the people who created or initiated this civilisation."
Tadmur, the Arabic name for the modern settlement next to Palmyra, would normally have a population of around 70,000, but it has recently been swollen by an influx of people displaced from other combat areas.
Syrian state media said pro-government forces had pulled out after "assuring the evacuation" of "most" of its inhabitants.
Talal Barazi, the Governor of Homs Province, which includes Palmyra, told the Associated Press that 1,300 people had fled the city over the past few days, and more were trying to leave.
Saving history from the jihadists
Rising out of the desert, the site contains the monumental ruins of a great city, which Unesco and others consider one of the most important cultural centres of the ancient world.
Dating back to the 1st and 2nd Century, when the region was under Roman rule, Palmyra is dominated by a grand, colonnaded street.
The Syrian Observatory reported that more than 100 pro-government troops were killed in overnight clashes around Palmyra.
A researcher from the monitoring group also told the BBC on Friday that IS now controls more than half of Syrian territory. However, the BBC's Arab Affairs Editor Sebastian Usher says this figure may give a false impression because there are large areas to the east under IS control that are not very significant strategically.
Many questions will now be asked in Damascus and Baghdad - and above all in Washington - about how the militants have managed to score major advances in both Iraq and Syria this week despite all the efforts to stop them.
IS was supposed to be on the defensive in Iraq, where the prime minister announced weeks ago the launching of a campaign to drive the militants out of Anbar province. Now he's lost its capital, Ramadi, just days before they took Palmyra in Syria.
The Western coalition's bombing campaign has clearly hurt IS where it could. But it could never compensate for ground forces which are not competent, equipped or motivated enough to stand firm and hit back.
Only the Kurds in the north of both countries (most recently in north-eastern Syria) have proven able to do that. IS threat to 'Venice of the Sands'
Your memories of Palmyra
Unesco's director-general, Irina Bokova, said any destruction to Palmyra would be "not just a war crime but... an enormous loss to humanity".
"It belongs to the whole of humanity and I think everyone today should be worried about what is happening," she said in a video statement.
Ms Bokova told the BBC that protecting sites like Palmyra had become a security imperative, as well as a cultural concern, because, she claimed, the militias were using trafficked artefacts to get funds:
"These are not some lovers of art," she said.
"This is part of the financing of extremism and it is absolutely imperative that we stop these channels of illicit trafficking."
Syria's head of antiquities, Maamoun Abdul Karim, said on Wednesday that hundreds of Palmyra's statues had been moved to safety but that large monuments could not be transferred.
"This is the entire world's battle," Mr Abdul Karim warned. Palmyra: Unesco World Heritage site | Armed Conflict | May 2015 | ['(The Hindu)', '(BBC)'] |
First Lieutenant Ehren Watada, 28, publicly refuses to go to Iraq, saying it would make him party to war crimes. | A US army officer who is refusing to fight in Iraq has said serving there would make him party to war crimes.
Supporters of First Lieutenant Ehren Watada, 28, say he is the first commissioned US army officer to publicly refuse to go to Iraq, while the Pentagon says he is among a number of officers and enlisted personnel who have applied for conscientious objector status.
Watada said: "The wholesale slaughter and mistreatment of the Iraqi people is not only a terrible moral injustice but a contradiction of the army's own law of land warfare. "My participation would make me party to war crimes." Watada was speaking at a news conference on Wednesday in the US town of Tacoma. He had been scheduled to be deployed to Iraq for his first tour later this month. Watada said his moral and legal obligations were to the US constitution and "not those who would issue unlawful orders".
In recent weeks, soldiers have been accused of killing 24 Iraqi civilians in the town of Haditha, raising concern's about the US army's behaviour in Iraq.
Paul Boyce, an army spokesman at the Pentagon, said Watada's case was being reviewed, adding it "is not the first case, nor is his case particularly unique".
| Famous Person - Give a speech | June 2006 | ['(Reuters)', '(Aljazeera)', '(ABC)', '(FOX)'] |
Spanish police raid Catalan government offices and arrest Catalan officials as part of the effort to halt a banned referendum on independence. Catalan President Carles Puigdemont says, "The Spanish state has by all rights intervened in Catalonia’s government and has established emergency rule." | MADRID/BARCELONA (Reuters) - Spanish police raided Catalan government offices and arrested officials on Wednesday to halt a banned referendum on independence, an action the regional president said meant Madrid had effectively taken over his administration.
Tens of thousands of protesters gathered outside the regional government offices in the center of Barcelona’s tourist district as well as in several Catalan cities, waving the red-and-yellow Catalan flag and chanting “Occupying forces out” and “Where is Europe?”.
“The Spanish state has by all rights intervened in Catalonia’s government and has established emergency rule,” Catalan President Carles Puigdemont said in a televised address.
“We condemn and reject the anti-democratic and totalitarian actions of the Spanish state,” he said, adding Catalans should turn out in force to vote in the Oct. 1 referendum on a split from Spain that Madrid has declared illegal.
State police arrested Catalonia’s junior economy minister Josep Maria Jove on Wednesday in their first raid of government offices in the region, Catalan government sources said. The raid targeted several regional government departments.
A dozen high-ranking local officials were arrested, La Vanguardia newspaper said. Police confirmed they were carrying out raids connected with the banned referendum, but did not give details. The Catalan government sources could not confirm the other arrests.
In several Barcelona districts, people banged on balconies railings and dumpsters while passing cars hooted noisily.
Among the protesters outside the government office in Barcelona, was Carlos, a 47-year-old taxi driver.
“We’re here so they know they can’t do whatever they want,” he said, as protesters bore banners reading “Democracy” and “Vote to be free”.
The FC Barcelona soccer club said in a statement: “FC Barcelona, in remaining faithful to its historic commitment to the defense of the nation, to democracy, to freedom of speech, and to self-determination, condemns any act that may impede the free exercise of these rights.”
Police efforts to stop the referendum have intensified in recent days as the wealthy northeastern region shows no signs of halting it.
Acting under court orders, police have raided printers, newspaper offices and private delivery companies in a search for campaign literature, instruction manuals for manning voting stations and ballot boxes.
The Civil Guard, a national police force, on Wednesday seized 10 million ballot papers, polling station displays as well as documents and forms to run the vote, including a list of voters under the headline “2017 Catalonia self-determination referendum”.
(For a graphic on Catalonia secession click tmsnrt.rs/2xw6JtO)
It had on Tuesday seized more than 45,000 envelopes packed in cardboard boxes that the Catalan government was ready to send to notify people about the referendum, while the first of hundreds of Catalan mayors appeared before the state prosecutor after they said they would back the referendum.
Spain’s finance ministry has taken over the region’s finances to prevent the use of public money to organize the vote.
But the central government must tread a fine line in enforcing the law in the region without seeming heavy-handed. Polls show a minority of Catalans, albeit more than 40 percent, support independence although a majority want a referendum on the issue.
Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said on Wednesday the operations in Catalonia were the result of legal rulings and were to ensure the rule of law.
He later called on Catalan leaders to cancel the vote.
“Don’t go ahead, you don’t have any legitimacy to do it. Go back to the law and democracy (...) This referendum is a chimera,” he said in a televised speech. Any action that broke the law would be met with a proportionate response, he added.
The Constitutional Court has suspended the vote after the central government challenged its legality. Spain’s central government says the referendum goes against the 1978 constitution which states Spain is indivisible.
Under Article 155 of the constitution, Madrid has the power to suspend the regional government’s authority to rule. It has yet to exercise this option as it seeks to block the vote through the courts.
Although markets have so far shrugged off the increasing tension, Spain’s top stock index underperformed regional European stock peers on Wednesday.
The IBEX fell more than 1 percent by late afternoon trading with financials the biggest drags. Euro zone stocks were off about 0.2 percent.
Additional reporting by Paul Day and Michael Cartine in London; Writing by Sonya Dowsett; Editing by Julien Toyer, Janet Lawrence and Andrew Heavens
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 | September 2017 | ['(Reuters)', '(The New York Times)'] |
France announces plans to deploy 10,000 troops to protect sensitive sites across the country beginning tonight. | France will have more than 10,000 soldiers mobilised on home soil in the wake of deadly terrorist attacks in Paris last week.
Seventeen people, including journalists and police, and three gunmen died in three days of violence that began with the shooting attack on the political weekly Charlie Hebdo.
The bloodshed ended with a hostage-taking at a Jewish deli in which four hostages were killed.
Police said the three gunmen involved in the attacks were part of the same Paris-based militant Islamist cell.
In response, defence minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said 10,000 soldiers would be mobilised to protect the country.
"We have decided ... to mobilise 10,000 men to protect sensitive sites in the whole country from [Tuesday] evening," he said.
"It is an internal operation that will mobilise almost as many men as we have in our overseas operations.
"The threats remain and we have to protect ourselves from them.
"This is the first time that our troops have been mobilised to such an extent on our own soil."
Interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve said 4,700 police officers would also be deployed at all 717 Jewish schools across the country.
Prime minister Manuel Valls said an estimated 1,400 people living in France had either joined the jihadist cause in Syria and Iraq or were planning to do so.
"There are 1,400 individuals who are involved in the departures for jihad, for terrorism, in Syria and in Iraq," he told BFMTV.
"There are close to 70 French citizens or residents in France who have died in Syria and Iraq in the ranks of the terrorists."
The latest government figures were a big jump from data in mid-December, when 1,200 people were said to have left or were seeking to leave to fight alongside jihadists. Meanwhile, Turkey has confirmed that Hayat Boumeddiene, the wanted partner of supermarket gunman Amedy Coulibaly, travelled through Turkey last week on her way to Syria.
Boumeddiene is suspected of having had a role in Coulibaly's attacks, which culminated in the bloody hostage-taking in a kosher supermarket after he had shot dead a policewoman close to a synagogue the day before.
Turkey did not arrest her because of a lack of timely intelligence from France, one Turkish security source said.
Hayat Boumeddiene is the mysterious 26-year-old being hunted by French security forces.
But comments from several Turkish security sources confirmed Boumeddiene was outside France when the killing spree began.
Foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told Anatolia news agency that Boumeddiene entered Turkey on January 2 from Madrid.
Mr Cavusoglu said the 26-year-old, who married gunman Coulibaly in an Islamic ceremony, then stayed at a hotel in Kadikoy on the Asian side of Istanbul and was accompanied by another person.
The Turkish security source said after arriving in Turkey, Boumeddiene was believed to have moved on to the south-eastern Turkish city of Sanliurfa and then to Syria.
Boumeddiene crossed into Syria on January 8, according to her phone records, Mr Cavusoglu said, without making clear if she travelled to Syria on her own.
Western countries have long accused Turkey of not doing enough to stem the flow of jihadists seeking to join Islamic State (IS) group fighters in neighbouring Syria.
But Ankara insists it has now stepped up frontier security and has repeatedly said the West also has a responsibility to share intelligence.
In any case, Mr Valls said Coulibaly likely received help from others and the hunt for those accomplices would continue.
US secretary of state John Kerry said he would travel to Paris this week to express solidarity with the victims of the attack.
In a security initiative, Mr Cazeneuve said European interior ministers had agreed to boost cooperation to thwart further militant attacks.
He called for the creation of a European database of airplane passenger names and said Europe should fight against abusive use of the internet to spread hate speech.
Pope Francis also responded to the attacks, slamming "deviant forms of religion" and blamed "a culture of rejection" for the breakdown of society and spawning of violence and death.
"People become enslaved, whether to the latest fads, or to power, money, or even deviant forms of religion," he said.
"We see painful evidence of this in the events reported daily in the news, not least the tragic slayings which took place in Paris a few days ago."
He pointed to "chilling repercussions" from conflicts in the Middle East and "the spread of fundamentalist terrorism in Syria and Iraq".
"This phenomenon is a consequence of the throwaway culture being applied to God," he said.
"Religious fundamentalism, even before it eliminates human beings by perpetrating horrendous killings, eliminates God himself, turning him into a mere ideological pretext."
Francis also touched on some of the possible social and cultural issues which may be driving the continent's disillusioned young to jihadism.
He pointed to "a model of globalisation which levels out differences and even discards cultures, cutting them off from those factors which shape each people's identity and constitute a legacy essential to their sound social development".
Reuters/AFP
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AEST = Australian Eastern Standard Time which is 10 hours ahead of GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) | Armed Conflict | January 2015 | ['(AFP/Reuters via ABC News Australia)'] |
A car bomb targeting a military official in Benghazi, Libya kills one and injures two. The official survives. | BENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) - A car bomb hit the convoy of the chief of staff of the eastern Libyan military outside Benghazi on Wednesday, killing one person and wounding at least two other people, though he himself survived, security and military officials said.
Abdel-Razeq Nathouri was traveling from Benghazi to his base in al-Marj, a small eastern town, when his convoy was hit some 20 km (12 miles) outside Benghazi.
Nathouri, in a video which his office said was recorded after he had returned to his base, said a plot to assassinate him had failed.
Nathouri is chief of staff to forces run by Khalifa Haftar, who has been receiving medical treatment in Paris, a French source said on Friday, confirming earlier reports from Libyan officials and media.
No more details have been provided on the treatment of Haftar, whose forces control much of eastern Libya -- home to some of the country’s biggest oilfields.
Haftar, a possible contender in national elections that could be held by the end of 2018, has built his reputation on delivering stability in Benghazi and beyond, promising to halt the anarchy that ensued after a NATO-backed uprising ended Muammar Gaddafi’s long rule nearly seven years ago.
Haftar launched his military campaign in Benghazi in May 2014 in response to a series of bombings and assassinations blamed on Islamist militants.
He declared victory in July but bombings hit two mosques this year in the port city.
Reporting by Ayman al-Warfalli; Writing by Ulf Laessing; Editing by Richard Balmforth
| Armed Conflict | April 2018 | ['(Reuters)'] |
In NASCAR, Daniel Suárez wins the season's final race in the second–tier Xfinity Series, the Ford EcoBoost 300, claiming the season title in the process. The Mexican becomes the first foreign driver ever to win a season championship in any of NASCAR's three U.S.–based national touring series. | Daniel Suarez won the Xfinity Series season finale and title at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Saturday, becoming the first foreign champion in a NASCAR national series.
The 24-year-old Mexican bested fellow championship contenders Elliott Sadler, Justin Allgaier and Erik Jones on a botched restart with three laps to go.
"It's very hard to put into words," Suarez said. "I'm speechless right now. I'm just very proud of everyone and thankful to have the family that I have, my mom, my dad. They gave me all the tools to be here right now. They put me in a car even when we didn't have the support or the racing background. They supported me, and right now we are just living a dream."
Suarez thanked fans and his native country in Spanish in victory lane. His win was the first of the weekend for Joe Gibbs Racing, which has two drivers -- Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards -- vying for the Sprint Cup championship Sunday.
"For us, after two years, to be where we are tonight is amazing," car owner Joe Gibbs said. "This is going to be a big deal for our sport. It's huge."
It was just Suarez's third career victory, but the most important for obvious reasons.
Claiming the title at Homestead-Miami Speedway made the accomplishment all the more memorable for Suarez.
"To win here in Homestead and to have a lot of fans and people from Latin America, Mexicans, [people from] all over Latin America, it's something great for me, Suarez said. "And on the side of that, I have my mom, my dad, my family from Houston, my friends from Mexico [and] my friend Coco over there that I used to race cars with him when I was 13 years old. A lot of friends were here.
"More than 30 people were here just to have fun with me, to enjoy this weekend, and what a better way to finish [than] this way. I'm just very proud of my team, very proud of everyone that has been helping me to be in this position, and it's still hard to believe this. It's still hard to believe this. But we worked hard, and this team really deserves these results."
Sadler, who gambled by taking two tires on the final pit stop, finished third in the race and second in the standings. The former Cup driver and sentimental favorite remained without a championship at any national level in a career spanning more than two decades.
"This is by far the hardest because I feel like this is the best team I've probably ever worked with," said Sadler, who drove with an interim crew chief because his usual one was suspended. "We felt like we could come in here and compete, and we made a great pit call there at the end to get some clean air."
Sadler asked Cole Whitt to give him the top lane on the restart, but Whitt declined.
Allgaier finished sixth and Jones ninth. Both got stuck behind Whitt, the leader, on the final restart, and when Whitt spun his worn-out tires, Allgaier and Jones fell way behind Suarez.
"It's really frustrating," Jones said. "I don't mean to bag on the guy so much, but it's like, 'Hey, we're up here racing for the championship.' And maybe we don't even win it if he pits and lets us move up, but at least we would have had a fair shot at it. I feel like we kind of got robbed of at least our chance to race for it. Yeah, it's just unfortunate. It just wasn't a great situation altogether."
The chaos definitely benefited Suarez, who passed Sadler low and pulled away from the field. Suarez led 133 of the 200 laps in the race.
Suarez was last year's top rookie in the second-tier series. He began racing karts in Mexico and moved to North Carolina as a teenager to pursue a career at NASCAR's national level. He had to teach himself English by watching cartoons on American television, and Suarez moved through NASCAR's Drive for Diversity program to land a job with JGR.
Suarez is the first D4D driver to win a championship.
Suarez has soared in his second season with Gibbs. As Jones struggled down the stretch, Suarez upped his performance. He won at Dover to move through the Round of 12 and was runner-up at Kentucky and third at Charlotte. Then, Suarez registered finishes of third (Kansas), fifth (Texas) and fifth (Phoenix) to set up his championship-clinching victory at Homestead while working with crew chief Scott Graves.
"I feel like Scott and I, we have come a long ways," Suarez said. "In the first half of the year, we were good, and in the second half of the year, we were great. That's something really good.
"I'm really looking forward for our future, but for now, I think I'm just very proud of the performance that Scott and the guys and Joe Gibbs Racing, they brought to this race. They brought my favorite car, and that's the car that I won Michigan with. That's just my baby, and we've got it here, and we won a championship."
The championship surely make him an even bigger star back home. On a return trip to Mexico with NASCAR officials last month, Suarez was celebrated as if he was Dale Earnhardt Jr.
After Suarez won in Homestead, Earnhardt Jr. congratulated the new champion via Twitter.
For Gibbs, it is his second driver championship in the Xfinity Series but first since Busch won in 2009. | Sports Competition | November 2016 | ['(ESPN)'] |
Two British police officers were assaulted with a sword while trying to arrest a man outside Buckingham Palace. | (Reuters) - A man who assaulted police officers with a four-foot sword outside Queen Elizabeth’s Buckingham Palace residence shouting “Allahu Akbar” (God is greatest) was being questioned by counter-terrorism police on Saturday.
Two unarmed officers suffered slight cuts as they detained the man, who drove at a police van on Friday evening, then took the sword from the front passenger foot-well of his car, London’s Metropolitan Police said.
It was too early to say what the man was planning to do, said Commander Dean Haydon, the head of the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command.
“We believe the man was acting alone and we are not looking for other suspects at this stage,” he said. “It is only right that we investigate this as a terrorist incident at this time.”
Europe has been on high alert following a string of militant attacks, including four this year in Britain which killed 36 people. The country’s threat level remains at severe, meaning an attack is highly likely.
No members of the royal family were present in the palace, which is a magnet for tourists in Britain’s capital in the peak August holiday weekend.
“I want to thank the officers who acted quickly and bravely to protect the public last night demonstrating the dedication and professionalism of our police,” Prime Minister Theresa May said in a message on Twitter.
The suspect was initially arrested on suspicion of grievous bodily harm and assault on police. He was then further arrested under Britain’s Terrorism Act.
Police said they were investigating a 26-year-old man from the Luton area, an ethnically diverse town 35 miles (55 km) north of London where police have carried out investigations linked to other militant attacks, including one earlier this year on London’s Westminster Bridge.
“My partner saw a sword (...) as well as a policeman with blood on him, looking like his hand or chest was injured. The police officer had it in his hand, walking away with it,” said an unnamed witness quoted by The Times newspaper, who said tourists were running away from the scene.
“Something happened before, which is why the people ran away. I’m not sure what this was. But people were already scared and I saw the policeman pull the man from the car” the witness said.
The suspect was treated at a London hospital for minor injuries, and there were no other reported injuries.
“This is a timely reminder that the threat from terrorism in the UK remains severe,” Haydon added. “The police, together with the security services, are doing everything we can to protect the public and we already have an enhanced policing plan over the Bank Holiday weekend to keep the public safe.”
| Armed Conflict | August 2017 | ['(Reuters)'] |
A train derails in Andhra Pradesh, India, killing 100. | Rescue workers have been searching for people trapped in carriages amid fears the death toll could rise further.
Initial reports suggest an irrigation tank burst, causing a bridge to collapse, derailing seven carriages.
The crash occurred early on Saturday south of Hyderabad, the state capital of Andhra Pradesh.
Heavy rains have killed more than 100 people in south India this week.
Holidaymakers
The Delta Express crashed near the town of Veligonda in Nalgonda district, about 30km (18 miles) south of Hyderabad.
Seven of the 14 coaches and the engine of the train were derailed and at least three coaches fell into the flood waters.
Divers from the air force and navy used blow torches to cut through the wreckage to free the scores of people still feared trapped. Some survivors were clinging to luggage racks and ceiling fans.
We were fast asleep, when there was a big bang and a thud. The next thing the train was under water
P Ramesh, survivor
Hundreds of passengers have been rescued so far but television pictures also showed bodies of men, women and children laid out on the banks.
After surveying the site of the crash, India's junior railway minister, R Velu, told a news conference in Hyderabad that "little could have been done to avoid the accident".
The BBC's Omer Farooq, who is at the scene, says many of the victims were holidaymakers travelling to celebrate Diwali, the festival of lights, which takes place on Tuesday.
Srinivas Rao and his cousin, Gangadhar, were travelling on the train with their parents and managed to escape.
"But we don't know what's happened to our parents," they told the BBC.
P Ramesh, a passenger who lost seven members of his family, including his wife and brother, told Associated Press: "We were fast asleep when there was a big bang and a thud. The next thing the train was under water.
"It was pitch dark and people were screaming."
| Train collisions | October 2005 | ['(BBC)'] |
Dual Boko Haram attacks in Maiduguri and Damaturu leave at least 77 dead, including 33 police, 6 soldiers, and 20 militants. | BAUCHI, Nigeria -- At least 77 people died in attacks by suspected Islamic extremists who struck two northeast Nigerian state capitals, health workers said Tuesday.
The deaths from Monday's attacks bring the toll to at least 247 people reported killed in a week of increasing violence from an Islamic uprising in the northeast of Africa's biggest oil producer.
Double suicide bombings at a bustling market in Maiduguri, capital of Borno state, killed at least 16 people, according to workers at two hospitals who spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to reporters. The bodies included those of the two young women who set off the explosions.
Two other young women blew themselves up at the same market last week, killing at least 70 people.
In Damaturu, the Yobe state capital, the corpses of 33 police officers, six soldiers and 20 members of the Boko Haram extremist group were brought to the hospital, according to a morgue worker, who also insisted on anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press.
The casualties indicate heavy fighting after scores of insurgents invaded the town before dawn Monday and fought for several hours. The heavy fighting prevented the attackers from taking the governor's office, which includes a military armory, said residents.
Several buildings were bombed and destroyed, including a rapid-response police base and several structures at the university and the hospital residential compound, said police.
Two doctors were killed and three abducted in the attack on their residential compound, reported the Hospital Management Board.
Yobe Gov. Ibrahim Gaidam praised security forces for doing "a great job," in a statement issued Tuesday by his office.
The insurgents were driven off in part by strafing and bombing by an Air Force fighter jet and a helicopter gunship, according to the Defense Ministry headquarters and witnesses.
Gaidam declared a 24-hour curfew in Damaturu as soldiers combed the town for any remaining insurgents. Damaturu is about 85 miles west of Maiduguri.
Thousands of people have been killed and 1.6 million driven from their homes in the 5-year-old insurgency by Boko Haram, the West African's nation's homegrown Islamic extremist group that is holding a couple dozen cities and towns along Nigeria's northeast border where it has declared an Islamic caliphate.
First published on December 2, 2014 / 1:28 PM
| Armed Conflict | December 2014 | ['(CBS)'] |
Warplanes of unidentified origin carry out airstrikes on ISIS camps in the Libyan city of Sirte. | Smoke rises after an airstrike hit Maitiga airport early Thursday morning, in Tripoli March 5, 2015. REUTERS/Hani Amara
BENGHAZI, Libya: Warplanes carried out airstrikes on the Libyan city of Sirte targeting areas controlled by fighters loyal to ISIS, a witness in the city said Tuesday.
There was no immediate report of casualties or damage from the strikes Monday. Forces from Libya's internationally recognized government have bombed Islamist militants in the past. But an official was not immediately available to comment on the Sirte attack.
ISIS has made Sirte its base in Libya, where fighting between two rival governments and their armed allies has allowed Islamist militants to gain ground in the chaos.
BENGHAZI, Libya: Warplanes carried out airstrikes on the Libyan city of Sirte targeting areas controlled by fighters loyal to ISIS, a witness in the city said Tuesday.
There was no immediate report of casualties or damage from the strikes Monday. Forces from Libya's internationally recognized government have bombed Islamist militants in the past. But an official was not immediately available to comment on the Sirte attack.
ISIS has made Sirte its base in Libya, where fighting between two rival governments and their armed allies has allowed Islamist militants to gain ground in the chaos.
| Armed Conflict | October 2015 | ['(The Daily Star)'] |
Indonesia deports an alleged people smuggler to Australia to face charges in connection to the death of 48 asylum seekers at Christmas Island last year. | An Australian man will face court in Perth charged with 89 people smuggling offences, many relating to last year's deadly Christmas Island boat disaster.
Iranian-born Ali Khorram Heydarkhani was arrested at Sydney airport on Thursday morning after being deported from Indonesia.
The alleged people smuggling mastermind - also known as Haydar Khani and Ali Hamid - later appeared in Sydney's Central Local Court, where a magistrate ordered his extradition to Western Australia.
The 40-year-old did not apply for bail and will face Perth Magistrates Court at a later date.
Heydarkhani - an Australian citizen since 2003 - is accused of smuggling four boatloads of asylum seekers into Australia, including the so-called SIEV 221.
At least 30 people - mostly from Iran and Iraq - died when that boat smashed against rocks and broke apart off Christmas Island's Rocky Point in appalling conditions on December 15.
A further 20 people are also believed to have died but their bodies were never recovered. Forty-two people survived.
Heydarkhani was detained by Indonesian authorities on January 25.
Indonesia was able to deport him, rather than extradite him, because he had overstayed his visa.
Thirty-five of the 89 charges, which carry maximum penalties of between 10 and 20 years' jail, relate to the SIEV 221 disaster.
Home Affairs Minister Brendan O'Connor said Heydarkhani's arrest was a warning to people smugglers.
"People have to understand that if they engage in the terrible crime of people smuggling, Australian law enforcement agencies and their police partners in the region will do everything they can to frustrate, prosecute and punish those who seek to make a profit by endangering the lives of others," he told reporters in Canberra.
"Those people who seek to lure, in some cases people who are desperate, into unseaworthy vessels where people's lives are at risk, where people perish, will be punished."
But Mr O'Connor later stressed Heydarkhani should be considered innocent until proven guilty: "These are allegations - they have to be proven in a court of law."
Prime Minister Julia Gillard congratulated police on the "significant arrest".
In Perth meanwhile, three alleged Indonesian people smugglers who survived the SIEV 221 disaster made a brief appearance in the Perth Magistrates Court.
Abdul Rasjid, 60, Hardi Hans, 22, and Supriyadi, 32, appeared via video link from Hakea prison charged with one count each of illegally bringing a group of non-citizens into Australia. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | May 2011 | ['(AAP via NineMSN)'] |
Following the summit, Barack Obama becomes the first sitting President of the United States to visit Hiroshima, the site of the first use of an atomic bomb by the U.S. during World War II. Obama calls for nations to reconsider the development of nuclear weapons and eventually eliminate them. | 10. (SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) 40-YEAR-OLD HIROSHIMA RESIDENT AND GRANDDAUGHTER OF VICTIM OF ATOMIC BOMBING, CHISE IGAWA, SAYING:
“His visit to Hiroshima means a lot because it’s a step forward from all the conciliatory rhetoric we have traded so far.”
2. (SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) 88-YEAR-OLD VICTIM OF ATOMIC BOMBING, AKIRA KONDO, SAYING:
“It would have been much better if U.S. Presidents could have made the visit earlier. It took 71 years; I think it could have happened earlier.”
14. (SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) 65-YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER OF VICTIM OF ATOMIC BOMBING, SAYOKO IWAMA, SAYING:
“People may have different opinions on that issue, but I think it has happened in the past and we’d better think about the future now to live in happiness.”
Hiroshima Residents on Obama’s Visit By Gardiner Harris
HIROSHIMA, Japan — President Obama laid a wreath at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial on Friday, telling an audience that included survivors of America’s atomic bombing in 1945 that technology as devastating as nuclear arms demands a “moral revolution.”
Thousands of Japanese lined the route of the presidential motorcade to the memorial in the hopes of glimpsing Mr. Obama, the first sitting American president to visit the most potent symbol of the dawning of the nuclear age. Many watched the ceremony on their cellphones.
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If you have a critical piece of feedback for us, you can always reach the newsroom via the Reader Center. | Diplomatic Visit | May 2016 | ['(CNN)', '(The Washington Post)', '(The New York Times)'] |
Voters in South Africa go to the polls to elect new members of the National Assembly and provincial legislatures. | JOHANNESBURG — Millions of South Africans cast ballots on Wednesday, voting for the first time since President Cyril Ramaphosa assumed power early last year with promises to renew both his corruption-ridden party and the beleaguered nation.
A quarter-century after the end of apartheid captured imaginations worldwide, Mr. Ramaphosa and his party, the African National Congress, faced an electorate increasingly disillusioned with the state of South Africa’s democracy. The vote is partly a referendum on Mr. Ramaphosa, whose personal popularity has consistently polled higher than his party’s.
| Government Job change - Election | May 2019 | ['(The New York Times)'] |
The British High Court rules that Islamist cleric Abu Hamza alMasri and four other suspected terrorists can be immediately extradited to the United States to face trial on charges of terrorism. | Five suspected terrorists including Abu Hamza al-Masri can be extradited to the US, ending a long legal battle, UK High Court judges have decided.
The court ruled Hamza, Babar Ahmad, Syed Talha Ahsan, Adel Abdul Bary and Khaled al-Fawwaz did not show "new and compelling" reasons to stay in the UK.
Their appeal came after the European Court of Human Rights backed successive UK courts in ruling for extradition.
The men have left Long Lartin prison in a police convoy. Three police 4x4s, two armoured vans and a blacked-out police people carrier arrived at the Worcestershire jail at 18:15 BST. A Home Office spokesman welcomed the decision and said it was "working to extradite these men as quickly as possible".
The BBC understands two US civilian jets - one of which is registered to the US Department of Justice - are on the tarmac at an air base in eastern England.
Judges Sir John Thomas and Mr Justice Ousley said in their ruling that there was an "overwhelming public interest in the functioning of the extradition system" and that there was "no appeal from our decision".
Of the long legal battle to send the men - whose extradition requests were submitted between 1998 and 2006 - to the US, Sir John told the court: "It is unacceptable that extradition proceedings should take more than a relatively short time, to be measured in months not years.
"It is not just to anyone that proceedings such as these should last between 14 and eight years."
There was no doubt each man had, over the years, "either taken or had the opportunity to take every conceivable point to prevent his extradition to the United States", he added.
The comments echoed those of James Eadie QC - representing the home secretary - who, during this week's hearing, argued the men's applications amounted to an abuse of process.
The judges' written ruling, read out in court, concluded that "each of the claimants' applications for permission to apply for judicial review or for a re-opening of the statutory appeals be dismissed".
The judges rejected a plea by Abu Hamza to delay his extradition so he could undergo an MRI brain scan which, his lawyers said, could show he was unfit to plead because of degenerative problems.
"The sooner he is put on trial the better," they said.
The 54-year-old, a former imam at Finsbury Park mosque, north London, was suffering from chronic sleep deprivation and depression as a result of eight years in prison, his lawyers added.
But during the hearing, Sir John observed there were "excellent medical facilities in the United States".
The BBC's Dominic Casciani, at the High Court, said the British government had got the result it had wanted to see for years on Abu Hamza, who the US first attempted to extradite in 2004.
His extradition was halted when the UK decided to try him on allegations relating to his sermons. He was convicted in 2006.
The judges also rejected appeals from Mr al-Fawwaz and Mr Bary, who are accused of being aides to Osama Bin Laden in London.
The US alleges they promoted violent jihad against the West and were involved in the 1998 US embassy bombings in East Africa, which killed more than 200 people.
The battle to stay in the UK is also over for Babar Ahmad and Talha Ahsan, who are accused of running pro-jihad website Azzam.com - which the US says was hosted there - and of helping terrorists.
In a statement prepared in prison before the verdict, Mr Ahmad said that, "By exposing the fallacy of the UK's extradition arrangements with the US, I leave with my head held high having won the moral victory."
Mr Ahmad's father, Ashfaq, said outside court he was appalled the British legal system had let him down "in a manner more befitting of a Third World country than one of the world's oldest democracies".
"We will never abandon our struggle for justice for Babar and the truth will eventually emerge of what will be forever remembered as a shameful chapter in the history of Britain," he added.
And Emma Norton, legal officer for human rights group Liberty, said that, as Mr Ahmad's alleged offences took place in the UK, "It beggars belief that he won't be tried here."
"Isn't British justice - so admired around the world - capable of dealing with crimes committed in the UK by its own citizens?" she added.
In a statement released by its embassy in London, the US said it was "pleased" the men were being extradited after "a lengthy process of litigation".
"The law enforcement relationship between the United States and United Kingdom is predicated on trust, respect, and the common goals of protecting our nations and eliminating safe havens for criminals, including terrorists," it added.
Lord Reid, who was home secretary in 2006 and 2007, meanwhile, said that like "the vast majority of people in this country" he had a sense of satisfaction "that justice, or at least this sense of the judicial process" had been complete.
He told BBC News "The propriety, the attention, the compassion, the legal approach that has been taken on this by the British stands in marked contrast to what was meted out to the victims of some of these alleged crimes."
But he urged the home secretary to look at the length of time the legal process took "because there is no doubt there has been a degree of frustration".
BBC legal correspondent Clive Coleman said the judges had thrown down the gauntlet for Parliament to look at judicial reviews - which can be used to re-open issues that have already been decided. One of the challenges was to stop suspects from storing up last-minute legal challenges that frustrated the courts and bewildered the public, he added.
| Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | October 2012 | ['(BBC)', '(CNN)'] |
China bans visits by United States military ships to Hong Kong and sanctions five U.S. NGOs, in response to the American Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act passed last week. | China said on Monday U.S. military ships and aircraft won’t be allowed to visit Hong Kong, and also announced sanctions against several U.S. non-government organisations for encouraging protesters to “engage in extremist, violent and criminal acts.”
The measures were announced by China’s Foreign Ministry in response to U.S. legislation passed last week supporting anti-government protesters. It said it had suspended taking requests for U.S. military visits indefinitely, and warned of further action to come.
“We urge the U.S. to correct the mistakes and stop interfering in our internal affairs. China will take further steps if necessary to uphold Hong Kong’s stability and prosperity and China’s sovereignty,” said ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said at a daily news briefing in Beijing.
China last week promised it would issue “firm counter measures” after U.S. President Donald Trump signed into law the “Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act,” which supports anti-government protesters in Hong Kong and threatens China with potential sanctions.
There are fears that the row over Hong Kong could impact efforts by Beijing and Washington to reach preliminary deal that could de-escalate a prolonged trade war between the two countries.
The U.S.-headquartered NGOs targeted by Beijing include the National Endowment for Democracy, the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs, the International Republican Institute, Human Rights Watch, and Freedom House.
“They shoulder some responsibility for the chaos in Hong Kong and they should be sanctioned and pay the price,” said Hua.
In more normal times, several U.S. naval ships visit Hong Kong annually, a rest-and-recreation tradition that dates back to the pre-1997 colonial era which Beijing allowed to continue after the handover from British to Chinese rule.
Visits have at times been refused amid broader tensions and two U.S. ships were denied access in August.
The USS Blue Ridge, the command ship of the Japanese-based Seventh Fleet, stopped in Hong Kong in April - the last ship to visit before mass protests broke out in June.
Foreign NGOs are already heavily restricted in China, and have previously received sharp rebukes for reporting on rights issues in the country including the mass detention of Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang. | Government Policy Changes | December 2019 | ['(CNBC)'] |
Glasgow Sheriff Court sentences HMP Barlinnie prison officer Brian Johnstone to three years imprisonment for repeatedly sexually assaulting two inmates in the showers and their cells between 2013 and 2016. | A prison officer who sexually assaulted two inmates at HMP Barlinnie in Glasgow has been jailed for three years.
Glasgow Sheriff Court heard Brian Johnstone, 60, from Greenock, repeatedly attacked the men in their cells.
The victims, aged 26 and 35, were also both assaulted by Johnstone in the showers. Sheriff Joseph Platt told him: "You betrayed the trust of the prison service and your fellow employees."
Johnstone had denied the charges but was convicted of sexually assaulting his first victim between December 2013 and March 2014 and the second from March until August 2016.
The younger of the two inmates, who was Johnstone's first victim, described a time when he assaulted him while he lay in bed, ill with food poisoning.
The 35-year-old victim, who was on remand at the time of the attacks and subsequently acquitted of the charge he faced, described the first incident of sexual assault when Johnstone came into his cell and "lunged" at him.
The man told the jury that Johnstone would come into his cell, before he was awake and touch him.
Johnstone claimed to have vague memories of the men and denied any sexual contact.
Defence lawyer John Scullion QC said Johnstone is a family man and had worked throughout his adult life.
He resigned from the prison service when he was convicted.
The sheriff also placed him on the sex offenders register.
| Famous Person - Commit Crime - Sentence | April 2018 | ['(BBC)'] |
Protests are held in Albania against the proposal to bring Syria's chemical weapons stockpile to be destroyed in the country. | Thousands of Albanians in the capital Tirana on Thursday demonstrated against the reported proposal for Syria’s chemical weapons stockpile to be destroyed in their country.
Chanting outside Parliament, the office of Prime Minister Edi Rama and the U.S. embassy, protesters expressed safety concerns and questioned whether the disposal would hurt tourism. Rama, who took office two months ago, said early this week that he discussed the possibility with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry but that no decision had yet been made.
“Our ‘Yes’ would be linked only to a plan and agreement that will make it clear to everyone that Albania will come out of this with its head held high, the richer for it and cleaner than it is today,” Rama said on Wednesday.
The Adriatic country, a member of NATO with 2.8 million people, was identified as a possible location in the Russia-U.S. deal to end Syria’s chemical weapons program by mid-2014 because it dismantled its own arsenal in 2004. The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, an international watchdog that recently won the Nobel Peace Prize for years of related work, is overseeing the process. | Protest_Online Condemnation | November 2013 | ['(TIME)', '(The Washington Post)', '(Reuters)'] |
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