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Jameis Winston, quarterback for the Florida State Seminoles, wins the 79th Heisman Trophy for the most outstanding player in college football. | NEW YORK – Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston won the 79th Heisman Trophy in a landslide Saturday night, becoming the second consecutive freshman to take home the award.
"I can't explain the feeling that I have inside right now," Winston said. "I'm so overwhelmed; it's just awesome."
Winston took college football by storm this season, lifting No. 1-ranked Florida State to its first BCS National Championship Game appearance since 2000. He put himself on the radar with a stunning performance in the Seminoles' opening victory at Pittsburgh and never stopped, finishing the season with 3,820 passing yards and 38 touchdowns against 10 interceptions. Winston completed 67.9 percent of his passes and led the nation in passing efficiency.
Winston won by the seventh-largest margin of any Heisman winner with 2,205 points, but 13 percent of voters left him off their ballots completely.
Alabama's AJ McCarron (704) was second, Northern Illinois' Jordan Lynch (558) was third and Boston College's Andre Williams (470) was fourth. Johnny Manziel (421) was fifth in the voting and Auburn's Tre Mason (404) finished sixth.
"That last commercial break was rough because there's so many great players around you and you always have that feel of doubt in your mind because you know anything can happen," Winston said of the anticipation leading up the announcement despite being considered the favorite.
A native of Hueytown, Ala., Winston was rated by several scouting services as nation's the No. 1 quarterback prospect, choosing Florida State over Alabama and Auburn. He sat out last season as a redshirt while E.J. Manuel quarterbacked the Seminoles to an ACC title and Orange Bowl victory.
"E.J. taught Jameis a lot, and he followed his footsteps a lot in how he prepared," Florida State coach Jimbo Fisher said. "I think that's the thing about Jameis, he didn't wait to play last year, he prepared to play last year and he learned how to watch film, what he's looking at.
"I can't explain and say enough how truly intelligent he is, how instinctive he is. The game makes sense to him. He wants to know why he's having success. If he throws a touchdown, he has to understand it so he can repeat it."
Winston is also an elite baseball prospect who played for Florida State last spring and plans to play again this year.
On Friday, he said he wanted to be better than Bo Jackson, the last legitimate two-sport star.
"I want to do both the rest of my life," Winston said. "That's my dream."
Fisher said he believes Winston playing baseball again this spring will help Winston deal with the Heisman aftermath and bubble of fame that Manziel often struggled with last year.
Winston's path to the Heisman Trophy was nearly derailed on Nov. 14 when a sexual battery complaint from last December resurfaced publicly. That prompted the State Attorney in Florida's 2nd judicial circuit to conduct an investigation, concluding Dec. 7 with the announcement that there was not enough evidence to file charges.
During his acceptance speech, Winston became emotional when talking about his parents, who had to watch the controversy unfold from afar.
"When I looked down, I saw my mom's and dad's eyes and they felt so proud," Winston said. "I haven't seen that look in their eye for a long time. It's not that I feel complete because we still have a national championship (to play for), but when you see your mom and dad and they've been struggling through this whole process, to see a smile on their face comforted me."
Winston is Florida State's third Heisman winner, joining fellow quarterbacks Charlie Ward in 1993 and Chris Weinke in 2000.
"When you watch someone work so hard for something and be so team-oriented it reinforces good things happen to the good guys," Fisher said. "The trials and tribulations and things he went through, he had to stay strong. It's the true mark of a man when you have your own individual issues and you never let them get in the way of us reaching our goals as a team." | Awards ceremony | December 2013 | ['(USA Today)'] |
New Zealand defeats England 33–12 in the final to win the 2018 men's Rugby World Cup Sevens. | The New Zealand men's sevens team have followed in the footsteps of their female counterparts, successfully defending their World Cup crown in San Francisco this afternoon.
NZ players celebrate winning the Sevens Rugby World Cup. Photo: PhotoSport
The Kiwi side have beaten England in the final at AT&T Park on Monday (NZ time), prevailing 33-12 in a re-match of the final at the previous World Cup in 2013.
New Zealand led 14-7 at halftime, before holding their nerve in a tense second spell to win the tournament for the third time.
The victory means New Zealand have won all four titles up for grabs at the past two Sevens World Cups.
On Sunday, the New Zealand women's team became the first to win back-to-back World Cup sevens titles with a commanding 29-0 victory over France in the final.
Earlier on Monday, New Zealand beat Fiji 22-17 in the semifinals.
New Zealand opened the scoring with a charging run from Joe Ravouvou but Fiji hit straight back with a converted try to take the lead just three minutes later.
Dylan Collier then dotted down in the right hand side corner to give New Zealand the lead once again at 10-7.
However, right on half-time Fiji scored a to give the Olympic Champions the lead going into the break.
Regan Ware got New Zealand back in front in the second half when he crossed the try line then the match was put beyond doubt with Ravouvou's second try to give the All Blacks Sevens a 10-point lead with two minutes remaining. | Sports Competition | July 2018 | ['(Radio New Zealand)'] |
Iraq's Police Service kills an Iraqi interpreter and injures at least three U.S. soldiers in Mosul. | One US soldier and an Iraqi interpreter have been killed and three soldiers wounded by gunfire from police in Iraq.
The shooting took place at a checkpoint under a bridge in the northern city of Mosul on Tuesday as coalition forces were touring the site.
Two policemen opened fire before fleeing by car.
The US military said the four soldiers were taken to hospital where one died of his wounds. An investigation is under way.
A second interpreter was also injured.
Initial reports from Iraqi sources said up to six US troops had been killed, although the US military said only that three were injured.
"The injured personnel were taken to the combat support hospital in Mosul. An investigation is ongoing to determine the cause and nature of the attack," a US military statement said.
Ambushed
A police intelligence source said the Americans were invited to lunch with Iraqi police at a checkpoint under a bridge, reports the BBC's Mike Sergeant in Baghdad.
He says when the soldiers arrived, the two policemen - a corporal and a private - opened fire on them, before making their escape.
Our correspondent says the shooting is not the first such incident, but it is the most serious of its kind for some time.
Last November, an Iraqi soldier killed two US soldiers before being shot dead in Mosul.
The latest shooting comes a day after three US soldiers and an interpreter were killed in fighting in the volatile Diyala province, north of Baghdad.
The incidents follow a recent decline in violence in Iraq. US President Barack Obama has vowed to withdraw US troops from the country within 16 months of taking office in January. | Armed Conflict | February 2009 | ['(BBC)'] |
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission accuses the state of Illinois of securities fraud by misleading investors about the health of the state's public pension fund. | For the second time in history, federal regulators have accused an American state of securities fraud, finding that Illinois misled investors about the condition of its public pension system from 2005 to 2009.
In announcing a settlement with the state on Monday, the Securities and Exchange Commission accused Illinois of claiming that it had been properly funding public workers’ retirement plans when it had not. In particular, it cited the period from 2005 to 2009, when Illinois also issued $2.2 billion in bonds.
| Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | March 2013 | ['(New York Times)'] |
Soyuz TMA–15 docks with the International Space Station. | Soyuz docks at the International Space Station
The International Space Station's crew has doubled after a Russian capsule carrying three astronauts docked at the orbiting outpost.
The Soyuz TMA-15 capsule carrying the astronauts docked with the ISS at 1334 BST (0834 EDT). The new crew members will spend a total of six months aboard the station, raising its crew complement to six for the first time. The astronauts opened the hatch at 1514 BST (1014 EDT). The current space station commander Gennady Padalka had to tug hard on the hatch before it opened, allowing Canadian Robert Thirsk through to greet him. Roman Romanenko, from Russia, Frank De Winne, from Belgium, and Canadian astronaut Mr Thirsk blasted off from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Wednesday morning. The current crew, consisting of Russian cosmonaut Mr Padalka, Nasa astronaut Michael Barratt and Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata, will not come straight home.
Instead, they will stay aboard the station until a new crew rotation in October. Simonetta di Pippo, the European Space Agency's director of human spaceflight, said: "We thank the three astronauts for their hard work." She added that it took "thousands of people around the world to reach this achievement. It's an international achievement". A primary objective of the mission will be to assess how well the six crew members live together in the confines of the space station. After four months, Mr De Winne will take over as commander of the ISS from Mr Padalka. This will mark the first time a European Space Agency astronaut has taken charge of a crew in orbit. The mission will also be the first occasion that all five ISS partner agencies are represented by crew members on the orbiting outpost. Nasa has also signed a deal with the Russian Space Agency worth $306m for crew transportation in 2012 and 2013. The agreement covers four launches aboard the three-person Soyuz capsules to rotate crews in the orbiting laboratory. What are these? | New achievements in aerospace | May 2009 | ['(BBC)'] |
Rescue efforts continue to save 34 people trapped in a mine after a rock collapse near Copiapó. | Rescue workers in Chile are trying to reach 34 miners who have been trapped underground at a copper mine in the country's north since Thursday night.
The miners were working at a depth of around 450m (1,475ft) at the San Esteban mine, near the city of Copiapo, when the rock above them collapsed. Nothing has been heard of them since the incident, but officials hope they have taken refuge in a nearby shelter.
Major mining accidents are uncommon in Chile, the world's top copper producer.
On Friday, local television stations broadcast footage of dozens of crying relatives waiting for news outside the mine, in the Atacama region.
"We hope they are all fine, but we are also angry because we have no information about our relatives," one woman said.
Officials said the roof of the main ramp down into mine was thought to have collapsed around 100m (328ft) above the miners' heads. Some 130 rescue workers are trying to reach them, but progress has been hampered because the main entrance is blocked.
"The ramp is not a possibility, it is completely collapsed. The solution is to go through the ventilation shaft," Labour Minister Camila Merino said. "We must work very carefully because if we create a new a collapse it will put rescuers at risk and harm the ability to get people out quickly", she added.
The BBC's Gideon Long in the capital, Santiago, says it was hoped that the miners have been able to reach a refuge, deep in the mine, where there are emergency supplies of oxygen, food and water.
"We pray to God that they are at the shelter," the superintendent of the Atacama region, Ximena Matas, told reporters.
But the emergency supplies will only last around 72 hours, making the rescue effort all the more urgent, our correspondent adds.
| Mine Collapses | August 2010 | ['(BBC)', '(Reuters via Mineweb)', '(Mining Weekly)'] |
Multiple mortars hit Mogadishu Airport, wounding at least six people. Al-Shabaab claims responsibility for the attack. | MOGADISHU (Reuters) - At least three mortar bombs were fired on Sunday at Mogadishu’s international airport, injuring at least six people in the compound where several embassies are located, a diplomatic source said.
The missions of the United Nations and African Union, as well as several embassies, are based inside the perimeter fence.
The Horn of Africa nation has been plagued by conflict since clan warlords overthrew a dictator in 1991. This was followed by fighting between rival clans and an Islamist insurgency.
Al Qaeda-aligned Al Shabaab, which seeks to topple the U.N.-backed government, often launches attacks in Mogadishu and across the country. It did not immediately claim responsibility for Sunday’s attack and could not be reached for comment.
The Somali government could also not be reached for comment.
Residents living near the airport told Reuters several mortar bombs were fired at the compound. The diplomatic source said six people were injured after three mortar bombs were fired.
“I am appalled by this blatant act of terrorism against our personnel...Thankfully, the majority of our staff is unhurt,” U.N. envoy James Swan said in a statement.
Al Shabaab has been trying for years to oust the central government and implement its strict version of Islamic law. It was driven out of the capital in 2011 but maintains a foothold in some regions including South West.
Reporting by Abdi Sheikh in Mogadishu and David Lewis in Nairobi; Writing by Giulia Paravicini in Nairobi; Writing by Frances Kerry and Edmund Blair; Editing by Frances Kerry
| Armed Conflict | October 2019 | ['(VOA News)', '(Reuters)'] |
Moqtada Sadr, the Shia cleric and leader, has announced that his Mahdi army has freed four hostages. | Members of Mr Sadr's Mehdi Army freed the four Arab hostages from "terrorist groups" holding them in Baghdad, an aide to the cleric said.
At least five Iraqis were reportedly killed in attacks, and the brother of a minister shot dead, on Friday.
Politicians are continuing tense talks to agree a draft constitution.
The issue of federalism and distribution of resources such as oil revenues are proving the most contentious issues.
A BBC correspondent in Baghdad says it is hard to see how a consensus will be achieved before Monday's deadline.
House raid
An aide of Mr Sadr, Sheikh Abdel Zahra Suwaidi, said in a sermon on Friday that the cleric's militia group had helped in the release of the hostages.
"Members of the Mehdi Army have freed some Arab and Iraqi hostages, kidnapped by terrorist groups who were planning to kill them in the coming hours," he was quoted as saying.
The freed men identified themselves to an Associated Press photographer as Syrian Hisham Salem, Lebanese Mustafa Abdul-Rassoul Hussein, dual Syrian-Lebanese citizen Atta Ibrahim and Iraqi Kurd Haji Alawi.
A spokesman for Mr Sadr, Amer Husseini, was quoted by AP as saying the men were freed on Thursday night during a raid on an apartment in the northern district of Shaab. He did not say what happened to the kidnappers or why the men had been seized in the first place.
In other violence, three Iraqi civilians and a soldier were killed in clashes between a US-Iraqi patrol and insurgents in Samarra, north of Baghdad, said Iraqi army sources.
Just north of Samarra, a civilian was killed and two others wounded when a roadside bomb exploded near their car.
In a southern district of Baghdad, the brother of Azhar Shaikhly, state minister for women affairs, was killed by gunmen, it was reported. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Release | August 2005 | ['(BBC)'] |
A Haitian police team and UN peacekeepers kill a prominent gang leader Grenn Sonnen and five of his supporters in a shootout. | Port-au-Prince, April 10, 2005 (AHP) - Another very well-known former soldier, Jean Anthony, alias Grenn Sonnen (ringing balls), was killed this Sunday in the suburb of Delmas, during an operation CIVPOL/PNH, an initiative from the interim government.
Grennn Sonnen who had been injured the day before during the operation where the self-proclaimed leader of demobilized soldiers Rémicinthe Ravix died, was reportedly killed without having time to shoot even once.
But spokesperson of the CIVPOL Daniel Moscaluck declared that Jean Anthony and 5 other former militaries who were with him died during a confrontation.
Grenn Sonnen who had declared a few months ago that he was in open conflict with the interim government and the national police for confiscation of his belongings, had finally taken sides with Ravix, a former supporter of the former opposition at the power since Aristide's departure on February 29, 2004.
Grenn Sonnen was accused of involvement in several murders, notably the murder at the end of last month in Delmas of 2 policemen and the chauffeur of a government executive. Strangely though, he was in favour with residents of this district who claimed he kept bandits from aggressing them.
A reward of 1 million gourdes (1$US=37, 75 gourdes) was offered for Grenn Sonnen and Ravix by the interim government.
For his part, Grenn Sonnen had always declared that the police would never be able to arrest him, but that he would rather die on the battlefield.
According to pro-governmental sources in Port-au-Prince, this intensification of forceful operations is part of the dispositions taken by the interim government and sectors of the international community to organize elections this year, no matter what.
Other sectors consider that these operations, in order to be fair and efficient, should affect all groups who own illegal arms: former soldiers, former rebels of the North, of Gonaves or of the Central Plateau as well as armed gangs claiming to be from Lavalas or from the former GNB opposition. | Armed Conflict | April 2005 | ['(Jean Anthony Rene)', '(Haiti Action Committee)', '(Reuters)'] |
A second major earthquake off the coast of Sumatra prompts tsunami warnings for Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia, Christmas Island and the Cocos Islands. | A second major earthquake measuring 7.6 off the coast of southern Sumatra in Indonesia has prompted a tsunami warning for Australia's Cocos and Christmas Islands.
Christmas Island could be affected by 9:15am WST and The Cocos Islands could be affected by 9:30am WST.
The Bureau of Meteorology is warning that beaches and harbours and low-lying areas at Cocos Islands could be affected by rising water levels
Residents are being urged to find a safe area they can move to if necessary.
The second quake was reportedly centred in an area just north of the first quake which hit the Sumatra region last night, measuring 8.2 on the Ritcher scale.
Tsunami warnings have also been issued for India and Sri Lanka.
| Earthquakes | September 2007 | ['(ABC News Australia)', '(Reuters)'] |
The United States Navy and South Korean Navy hold exercises in the waters west of the Korean Peninsula despite warnings from North Korea. | SEOUL — The U.S. and South Korea were set to begin naval exercises in the waters west of the Korean Peninsula on Sunday, a show of force that North Korea warned would bring the region to the "brink of war."
U.S. Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the U.S. is trying to prevent the tensions over North Korea's attack on a South Korean island on the disputed maritime border from escalating into a more significant confrontation.
"We're very focused on restraint and not letting this thing get out of control," Mullen told CNN in an interview scheduled for broadcast Sunday on Fareed Zakaria GPS and posted on the network's website. "Nobody wants this thing to turn into a conflict."
North Korea's shelling of Yeonpyeong, which killed four people and wounded 20 more, raised tensions that flared after an international inquiry concluded that North Korea torpedoed the South Korean warship Cheonan in March and more recently following North Korean claims of advances in its nuclear program.
The U.S. called the four days of naval drills, which include the aircraft carrier USS George Washington and four smaller warships, "defensive in nature" and said they were initially planned before the Tuesday shelling of Yeonpyeong.
The nuclear-powered carrier, which holds about 85 aircraft and is served by a crew of 6,500, was last in waters off the Korean Peninsula in July as part of drills after the Cheonan's sinking, which killed 46 sailors.
Kim Jong Il's regime warned that any infringement of North Korea's sovereignty would spark another attack.
"Escalated confrontation would lead to a war," a North Korean government agency in charge of relations with South Korea said in a statement on the state-run Korean Central News Agency. "Gone are the days when verbal warnings are served only."
Shipping was warned to avoid an area of the Yellow Sea parallel to China's northeastern city of Qingdao while gunnery exercises take place from Monday to Friday, according to the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. Qingdao lies about 615 kilometers west of Seoul.
China's Foreign Ministry warned against having the exercises in China's "exclusive economic zone" without its authorization, Xinhua News Agency reported.
The Pentagon reiterated that the U.S. military notified China of the planned exercise, as it has in the past.
President Barack Obama, along with Japan's Prime Minister Naoto Kan and South Korean President Lee Myung Bak, have called on China to use its influence to temper North Korea's actions. China is North Korea's main economic and political benefactor.
China has the most leverage with North Korea and "it's really important that Beijing lead here," Mullen said.
South Korea is considering reinstating North Korea as the "main enemy" in its defense guidelines, Yonhap News reported Saturday, citing a government official it didn't identify. The term may be restored in a Defense White Paper after North Korea's artillery attack, the Korean-language news agency said. | Military Exercise | November 2010 | ['(Bloomberg via Houston Chronicle)', '(Reuters)'] |
American film director Randall Miller pleads guilty to involuntary manslaughter and criminal trespassing and will spend two years in county jail and another eight on probation in regards to the February 20, 2014, death of camera assistant Sarah Jones by a freight train on a bridge over the Altamaha River in Wayne County, Georgia , during filming of a biopic about singer Gregg Allman called Midnight Rider. | The director of a biopic about singer Gregg Allman has pleaded guilty in a case involving a fatal train crash on the film's set last year.
Randall Miller admitted to involuntary manslaughter and criminal trespassing as part of a plea deal that saw charges dropped against his producer wife.
Camera assistant Sarah Jones died in the accident, which also injured six other crew members.
Miller will spend two years in county jail and another eight on probation.
The director, whose previous films include 2008's Bottle Shock, will also pay a $20,000 (£13,245) fine and do 360 hours of community service.
His trial had been due to start on Monday.
Jones was hit by a freight train on the first day of filming Midnight Rider - 20 February 2014 - in south east Georgia.
The 27-year-old was fatally struck after the crew placed a hospital bed on the railway tracks in Doctortown while filming a dream sequence.
The train, which was travelling at 55 mph, shattered the bed, sending a shower of debris that injured other crew members.
Jones, who had been setting up camera equipment, died instantly when she struck by the train's fuel tank and run over.
Filming was suspended in the aftermath of the accident, and actor William Hurt - who was due to play Allman - pulled out of the production.
Allman himself called for the project to be axed, saying it would be "wrong" for it to continue given "Sarah Jones' tragic death". | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Sentence | March 2015 | ['(six other crew members were also injured)', '(BBC)'] |
Josefa Iloilo appoints Commodore Frank Bainimarama, the leader of the December 2006 coup d'état, as Prime Minister of Fiji. | However, Cmdr Bainimarama on Thursday returned executive authority to President Ratu Josefa Iloilo. An interim government is to be appointed and is expected to be dominated by the military.
It will remain in power until elections. Mr Bainimarama said at a short swearing-in ceremony on Friday: "In all things, I will be a true and faithful prime minister."
Mr Qarase remains banished on an outlying island.
Council of Chiefs
In a national address on Thursday, Cmdr Bainimarama said he had returned "all executive authority" to Mr Iloilo.
FIJI TENSIONS TIMELINE
2000: Brief coup put down by army chief Bainimarama
July 2005: Bainimarama warns he will topple government if it pardons jailed coup plotters
May 2006: PM Laisenia Qarase wins re-election
31 Oct: Qarase tries - and fails - to replace Bainimarama
November: Qarase says he will change law offering clemency to coup plotters - Bainimarama warns of coup
5 Dec: Military declares coup
Fiji voices: Coup impact
Fears for future
History of coups
The move did not affect his control over the government, but still had important significance, correspondents say.
Cmdr Bainimarama did not explain why he made the decision but reports suggest he was trying to appease Fiji's powerful Council of Chiefs, which represent the country's indigenous majority. The council has been critical of the army's actions, and had objected to the treatment of Mr Iloilo, whom Council members first appointed seven years ago. Soon after he was reinstated, President Iloili made a nationwide address publicly supporting the coup, and saying that, given the circumstances, he would have taken the same actions as Cmdr Bainimarama.
"I fully endorse the actions of the commander and the Republic of Fiji Military Forces in acting in the interest of the nation and in upholding the constitution," he said.
The military had long accused Mr Qarase's administration of being corrupt, and adopting racist policies against the ethnic Indian minority.
Caretaker Prime Minister Jona Senilagakali, who was chosen by the army in the days after the coup, has resigned. | Government Job change - Appoint_Inauguration | January 2007 | ['(BBC)'] |
A tractor is hit by a train in central Romania, killing eight passengers in the tractor trailer. | Eight people were killed and one was severely injured on Saturday in an accident neat Chilieni, Covasna County. A tractor with trailer carrying 12 people was hit by a train. Upon impact, the people in the trailer were thrown 30 meters away. The vehicle was hit by a train going between Targu Mures and Brasov.
A spokesperson for the Covasna Police, Iulia Grigoras, told Mediafax Saturday afternoon that there were seven people killed in the accident. The injured woman who had goine into cardiac arrest could not be resuscitated, despite intervention teams’ efforts. Grigoras said the tractor driver, 78, failed to check for incoming trains, although the railway crossing was properly signaled.
Grigoras added that the driver was not injured in the accident. One of the injured people was taken by a SMURD helicopter to Targu Mures and another was to be taken to Sfantu Gheorghe Hospital by ambulance.
A total of eight people, six women and two men, were killed in the accident. Railway traffic was stopped in the area for several hours. | Road Crash | September 2012 | ['(Bucharest Herald)'] |
Finnish enduro rider and five–time world champion Mika Ahola dies from injuries sustained during training in Girona, Spain. | The world of motorcycling has been shocked by the news of the death of Finnish Enduro rider Mika Ahola.
Ahola, who reportedly died from injuries sustained during training in Girona, Spain, won five consecutive world Enduro championships from 2007 to 2011, across three different classes (E1, E2 and E3).
Ahola also won the prestigious International Six Days Enduro title on seven occasions as part of Team Finland - and also claimed three individual title at the event.
Ahola, 37, had announced his retirement from off-road racing on January 1st, saying: "I gave it my all, and even though the sport took a lot, it also rewarded me with more than I could have ever imagined when I first started.
"I have fulfilled my ambitions and I feel that it is time to move on and see what else the world has to offer."
Ahola rode for Husqvarna, TM and VOR before joining Honda for the last five years of his Enduro career.
| Famous Person - Death | January 2012 | ['(The Daily Mirror)'] |
A woman is arrested on suspicion of murder after five children die in a suspected arson fire in the English city of Derby. | A 38-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of murdering five children who died in a house fire in Derby.
The children, four boys and one girl aged between five and 10, were asleep upstairs when the fire began.
Their father, who was downstairs in the house in Victory Road, Allenton, made "valiant attempts" to save them.
A woman, 28, arrested elsewhere in the city earlier on Friday is still in police custody. She and the man, from Derby, are being questioned by police.
The children have been identified by police as 10-year-old Jade Philpott, John Philpott, nine, Jack Philpott, seven, Jessie Philpott, six, and Jayden Philpott, five.
Duwayne Philpott, aged 13, is being treated in hospital. The children's father, who is believed to have 17 children, was named locally as Mick Philpott.
Post-mortem tests are due to take place over the weekend.
Derbyshire Police said 13-year-old Duwayne remained in a critical condition with his parents by his bedside.
Two adults who suffered minor injuries and were treated at Royal Derby Hospital have not been formally identified.
Temporary Assistant Chief Constable of Derbyshire Police Steve Cotterill said: "There appears to have been some valiant attempts by the father to resuscitate his children.
"The parents were asleep downstairs when the fire started," he added.
Gavin Tomlinson, area manager for Derbyshire Fire and Rescue, said the parents had managed to get out of the house and were trying to get the children out when fire crews arrived.
"When we arrived, we had a rapidly developing fire on the ground floor of the property and the first floor was very heavily smoke-logged," he said.
"We believe it started on the ground floor but we haven't determined that at this moment in time.
"This is frustrating, traumatic and tragic for the family, for the residents and communities and for the firefighters as well who attended and dealt with it," he added.
Mr Philpott and his family were the subject of media scrutiny in 2006 when he asked the council for a larger house to accommodate his wife, girlfriend and 14 children.
In 2007, former Conservative MP Ann Widdecombe spent a week living with the family as part of an ITV documentary and he also appeared as a guest on the same channel's Jeremy Kyle Show.
All five of the children who died went to St George's Catholic Primary School in Littleover. In a statement, the school said: "We extend our deepest sympathies to the family and community at this sad time."
Neighbour Joe Peel said he was asleep when he was woken by his dog in the early hours.
He said: "I got up, I looked outside and it looked really foggy. I looked down the road and across the road one of the house's doors was just covered in flames.
"I grabbed my phone and started getting dressed as I was on the phone to the fire brigade. I ran out of the house, screaming to the neighbour to wake him up. "I heard his voice, I couldn't hear anything else and I couldn't get in because it was just flames and smoke. A couple of minutes later the fire brigade came down with the police.
"Two or three minutes later you could see the flames going up the stairs through the side window of the house. When the fire brigade came it was billowing smoke going up the road - it was absolutely horrible".
Daniel Walsh, who said he had been a friend of Mr Philpott for many years, visited the scene to lay flowers.
He said: "It's absolutely tragic. Any parent's worst nightmare.
"I didn't know his younger children. He had many children, as everybody knows, and he loved them all the same, no doubt. It's just a tragic loss."
Mr Cotterill said: "This is going to be a very lengthy and detailed investigation. We are keeping an open mind."
Anyone with information about the fire has been asked to contact Derbyshire Police.
| Fire | May 2012 | ['(BBC)'] |
NATO bombs Libyan oil facilities for the first time. | Nato forces have attacked Libya's oil facilities for the first time in this conflict in an attempt to starve Muammar Gaddafi's army of fuel, as rebels, following fierce clashes, moved to within 50 miles of the capital Tripoli.
The airstrikes on the complex at Brega, one of the countries' biggest petrochemical complexes and port for export, was designed, says Nato, to prevent regime troops from mounting attacks.
Control of Brega and the adjoining city of Ras Lanuf has changed hands several times in the course of the bitter civil war. It is now under the control of the regime, denying the opposition administration based in Benghazi a highly lucrative source of income.
The most senior British commander involved in the Libya operation, Rear Admiral Russ Harding, told The Independent: "This was not done lightly, we looked at the pattern of life on the ground, and we decided that the only ones benefiting from the fuel were the Gaddafi forces and not local people. And they were using that fuel to carry out attacks on civilians.
"There are commercial aspects to this. Brega and Ras Lanuf could provide a revenue stream for the TNC (Transitional National Council, the rebel administration). But that was not something in our consideration, the decision was taken solely to protect civilians."
Rear Admiral Harding stressed that only the refuelling facilities were being hit and not the oil tanks. Speaking at Nato HQ in Naples, he continued: "It is not the case that this will be affecting babies in incubators at Brega hospital. If the hospital in Brega is being used, it is being done by Gaddafi forces."
The bombing, however, could be seen as a risky strategy for Nato, which has insisted that its forces are avoiding targeting infrastructure. Oil storage terminals at Ras Lanuf were set alight during the early weeks of fighting following the February revolution, and since then there had been an attempt by all sides in the conflict to ensure that the facilities were not affected.
However, although more than 14,000 sorties since military action began had destroyed much of Muammar Gaddafi's armour and artillery, Admiral Harding said: "We have seen them use private cars, trucks, technicals [flatbed trucks with guns mounted at the back] sometimes hundreds at a time.
"By depriving Gaddafi of fuel we are depriving him of mobility. We have seen his forces drive deep down into the desert to pick up supplies, pick up ammunition."
Limiting fuel supplies would prevent the regime troops from carrying out attacks in the eastern front as well as moving to the west, where a rare co-ordinated attack by the rebels has brought their fighters close to Tripoli, with the most advanced in the village of Qawalish, south-east of the city and the mountain village of Kikla.
In the Libyan capital, the deputy foreign minister, Khaled Kaim, declared that Nato's increased bombings represented the "final phase" of the air campaign, aimed clearing a path for the rebels. He insisted that the push "will fail and it is the civilians who will pay the price".
| Riot | July 2011 | ['(The Independent)'] |
Thousands of people protest in Chile against the economic policies of the President Michelle Bachelet with 350 arrests made when they attempt to enter the grounds of the presidential palace. | Thousands of workers have marched in Santiago against the economic policies of President Michelle Bachelet, arguing for more social equality.
Billed as the first major demonstration since Ms Bachelet took office last year, it went peacefully until several thousand protesters approached the presidential palace, where demonstrations are banned.
Police used water cannons and tear gas to stop the demonstrators in their tracks, and in the clashes dozens of people were injured, including a Senator, two reporters, two police officers and Chilean poet Raul Zurita.
Police said they made 350 arrests.
Senator Alejandro Navarro, head bloody from a police baton, told reporters the Government had "made a mistake" by banning the protest from presidential grounds.
He says police have apologised for his injury.
The country's top union leader, Central Workers Union chief Arturo Martinez, says he organised the protest - which extended also to Valparaiso, Rancagua and Concepcion - as a challenge to Ms Bachelet.
He says the President is mishandling the economy and has failed to keep her campaign promise of shrinking Chile's gap between the haves and have-nots, which according to UN figures is the region's second largest behind Brazil.
Ms Bachelet, who went about her business as usual during the demonstration, told reporters that Chilean democracy "doesn't need violence or unrest".
| Protest_Online Condemnation | August 2007 | ['(AFP via ABC News Australia)'] |
In Egypt, thousands of demonstrators protest against the fifth term of president Hosni Mubarak despite of the ban on protests. There are conflicting reports on the number of protesters police has detained | Hundreds of protesters were prevented from reaching the parliament building in Cairo by thousands of riot police. A similar demonstration in Alexandria was called off after security forces sealed off all routes to the site. Cairo's security chief has warned that police will no longer tolerate rallies by the Kifaya ("Enough") group.
"If we are getting to the stage of getting used to violating [the rules], then the principle is that legal regulations must be implemented," Nabil Ezzabi said in an interview on Tuesday.
Street demonstrations are officially banned in Egypt by emergency laws enacted after President Anwar Sadat's assassination in 1981.
Kifaya activitists have staged a series of rallies in the past four months calling for constitutional reform and demanding that neither Mr Mubarak - who has ruled for 24 years - nor his son Gamal should stand in September elections. Dispersal warning
Gen Ezzabi was waiting for the Kifaya protesters on Wednesday as dozens of them headed towards the parliament building for a rally.
"I am the director of security, I order you to disperse in five minutes or else I'll take measures against you," he threatened. Layers of riot police were deployed around the parliament building in tight formations behind metal barriers.
A counter protest was staged in the centre of Alexandria
Demonstrators then headed towards the headquarters of the journalists' union in the centre of Cairo.
"The one who strikes the Egyptian people is not fit to rule Egypt," protesters chanted as they walked 2km (one mile) to the new location. "The one who bars demonstrators should face the fate of Sadat," another chant went.
George Ishak, a Kifaya leader, said the large deployment of security personnel had turned Cairo into "a military zone".
Witnesses in Alexandria said the police later allowed a pro-Mubarak rally to take place where they had prevented the opposition from gathering. Police said 20 people were detained in Alexandria and another two were held at a rally in the Nile Delta town of Mansoura. There were no arrests reported in Cairo.
Marchers in Mansoura claimed to have been set upon by pro-Mubarak thugs, although this has not been confirmed by police. | Protest_Online Condemnation | March 2005 | ['(Reuters AlertNet)', '(Al–Jazeera)', '(Reuters SA)', '(BBC)'] |
Two U.S. Troops are killed in an ambush by the Taliban in Wardak Province, Afghanistan. | TwoU.S. service members were killed in Afghanistan on Wednesday, the American-led NATO mission in Afghanistan said in a statement.
The identities of the soldiers were being withheld pending notification of next of kin. The statementdid not offer any details surrounding the circumstances of their deaths.
A spokesman for the Taliban, Zabihullah Mujahid, said the two service members were killed in an ambush in eastern Wardak Province, the New York Times reported.
The deaths occurred one day after an unannouncedvisit to Kabul, the Afghan capital,by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
Meanwhile, the U.S. isholding direct talks with the Taliban in Doha,the Qatari capital. The seventh round of the talksare scheduled to begin on Saturday.
"We've made clear to the Taliban that we're prepared to remove our forces. I want to be clear, we've not yet agreed on a timeline to do so," Pompeo told reporters during anunannounced stop in Afghanistan on Tuesday. The presence of troops in Afghanistan is "conditions-based, he said.
The Taliban refuse to talk directly with the Afghan government, which it considers a puppet of the U.S.
More than 2,400 U.S. service personnel have died in Afghanistan since the U.S.-led coalition invaded the country after the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the U.S. The coalition sought tocrushthe Taliban and hunt down al-QaedachiefOsama bin Laden.
The U.S. makes up the overwhelming majority of 14,000 coalition troops in Afghanistan. About100,000 troops were stationed there at the height of the war. | Armed Conflict | June 2019 | ['(USA Today)'] |
The Dalai Lama begins a visit to Taiwan, amid criticism from China. | TAOYUAN (Taiwan) - THE Dalai Lama denied any political agenda as he began what he described as a 'purely humanitarian' mission to comfort victims of Taiwan's worst storm, trying to calm fears that he would further anger China by verging into politics.
The Dalai Lama, who clasped his hands and smiled as he greeted Buddhist followers and supporters at the Taoyuan International Airport near Taipei on Sunday, said his visit would have no political overtone.
'I've visited different parts of the world, and I may have a political agenda there... (but) my visit here is purely for humanitarian concerns,' he said.
His arrival at a suburban Taipei train station was greeted by about 50 demonstrators waving Chinese flags and banners supporting unification with China and shouting 'Go home Dalai Lama, don't come here.' The demonstrators briefly scuffled with police.
'I'm here to oppose the Dalai Lama's visit,' 62-year-old protester Feng Tsai-chiao said. 'I want unification with China so I don't like him.'
China has long vilified the Dalai Lama for what it says are his attempts to fight for independence in Tibet. Beijing has said it 'resolutely opposes' the Taiwan visit 'in whatever form and capacity.' Wu Poh-hsiung, the chairman of Ma's Nationalist Party, said earlier on Sunday that his party has sought Beijing's understanding of the visit, but he did not give details or say whether China responded.
'We believe the Dalai Lama will have the wisdom to distinguish between religious empathy and political maneuvering,' Mr Wu told reporters. -- AP | Diplomatic Visit | August 2009 | ['(Al Jazeera)', '(Hindustan Times)', '(Straits Times)'] |
The United States charges and sanctions nine Iranians and the Iranian company Mabna Institute for hacking and attempting to hack hundreds of universities. | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States on Friday charged and sanctioned nine Iranians and an Iranian company for attempting to hack into hundreds of universities worldwide, dozens of firms and parts of the U.S. government, including its main energy regulator, on behalf of Tehran’s government.
The cyber attacks, beginning in at least 2013, pilfered more than 31 terabytes of academic data and intellectual property from 144 U.S. universities and 176 universities in 21 other countries, the U.S. Department of Justice said, describing the campaign as one of the largest state-sponsored hacks ever prosecuted.
The U.S. Treasury Department said it was placing sanctions on the nine people and the Mabna Institute, a company U.S. prosecutors characterized as designed to help Iranian research organizations steal information.
U.S. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said the nine Iranians were considered fugitives who may face extradition in more than 100 countries if they travel outside Iran.
Authorities “will aggressively investigate and prosecute hostile actors who attempt to profit from America’s ideas by infiltrating our computer systems and stealing intellectual property,” Rosenstein told a news conference.
The case “will disrupt the defendants’ hacking operations and deter similar crimes,” he added.
The hackers were not accused of being directly employed by Iran’s government. They were instead charged with criminal conduct waged primarily through the Mabna Institute on behalf of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the elite military force assigned to defend Iran’s Shi’ite theocracy from internal and external threats.
In Tehran, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi denounced the move as “provocative, illegitimate, and without any justifiable reason and another sign of the hostility of the (U.S.) ruling circles toward the Iranian nation”, state news agency IRNA said.
The targeting of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, or FERC, was a matter of special concern, U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman said, because it oversees the interstate regulation of energy and holds details of some of the country’s “most sensitive infrastructure.”
Hackers targeted email accounts of more than 100,000 professors worldwide, half in the United States, and compromised about 8,000, prosecutors said. Hackers also targeted the U.S. Labor Department, the United Nations and the computer systems of the U.S. states Hawaii and Indiana, prosecutors said.
Friday’s actions are part of an effort by senior cyber security officials at the White House and across the U.S. government to blame foreign countries for malicious hacks.
They were announced a day after U.S. President Donald Trump named John Bolton, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations who is deeply skeptical of the 2015 international nuclear accord with Iran, as his new national security adviser.
Trump himself has repeatedly cast doubt on the nuclear deal, in which the U.S. and other world powers eased sanctions in exchange for Tehran putting limits on its nuclear program.
The Department of Justice on Friday privately warned major internet infrastructure companies to expect attacks from Iran, an executive at one company who received the alert said.
The officials said the most likely retaliation would be denial of service attacks on websites, which are not destructive but disrupt commerce and communication.
Britain’s National Cyber Security Centre said on Twitter the Mabna Institute was “almost certainly responsible for cyber attacks targeting universities around the world.”
The sanctions and charges were the fourth time in the past few months the Trump administration has blamed a foreign government for major cyber attacks, a practice that was rare under the Obama administration.
Last week, the administration accused the Russian government of cyber attacks stretching back at least two years that targeted the U.S. power grid.
Washington imposed new sanctions on 19 Russians and five groups, including Moscow’s intelligence services, for meddling in the 2016 U.S. election and other cyber attacks.
Friday’s indictment in U.S. District Court in New York said the Iranian hackers did extensive background research of university professors before sending them “spearphishing” emails tailored to academic interests and scholarly publications.
The emails purported to be from professors at another university and indicated the sender had read an article written by them, prosecutors said.
The emails would then direct recipients to click on links to related articles directing them to a malicious internet domain that appeared similar to the victims’ actual university portal, where they would be prompted to enter their login credentials.
Once accounts were compromised, the hackers would steal reams of academic data and intellectual property related to science and technology, engineering, social sciences and medicine, the indictment said.
Stolen data was obtained to benefit Iran’s Revolutionary Guard and sold in Iran through the websites Megapaper and Gigapaper to universities there, prosecutors said.
‘PASSWORD SPRAYING’
Hackers targeted and compromised employee email accounts at 36 U.S.-based companies and 11 companies in countries including Britain, Germany and Italy, prosecutors said.
Victim companies in the United states included two media and entertainment companies, one law firm, 11 technology firms, and two bank and investment firms, among others. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | March 2018 | ['(Reuters)'] |
The Turkish government dismisses more than 4,400 public servants from their jobs in the latest purge within the country following a failed coup attempt last year. |
Last modified on Thu 7 Jan 2021 00.07 GMT
The Turkish government has dismissed more than 4,400 public employees, including hundreds of academics, in a fresh round of purges that have in the past elicited criticism from the country’s western allies.
The dismissals, which spanned the education ministry, gendarmerie, security services, as well as the ministries of the interior, economy and foreign affairs, came just hours after the first phone conversation between the US president, Donald Trump, and his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
After years of estrangement under Barack Obama over the White House’s refusal to forcefully remove Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad from power as well as Washington’s support for Kurdish paramilitaries, Ankara is hoping to rebuild its relationship with the US. Erdoğan’s office said he had wished Trump success in his presidency and that the two leaders “shared commitment to combating terrorism in all its forms”. Trump also praised Turkey’s contribution to the fight against Islamic State in Syria.
Turkish media reported that the new director of the CIA, Mike Pompeo, would travel to Turkey on his first official trip abroad as a result of the phone call, hinting at the closer relations Ankara and Washington are likely to enjoy after Obama’s departure.
Though the official statements were scant on details, Erdoğan is likely to have raised the contentious issue of American support for the Kurdish fighters in northern Syria, as well as the creation of safe zones for refugees and greater support from the US-led coalition in the Turkish campaign in al-Bab.
Turkish-backed Syrian rebels have cleared Isis from a stretch of territory spanning much of northern Syria west of the Euphrates, and have surrounded the city of al-Bab, the last major Isis stronghold in the province of Aleppo.
On Wednesday Syrian rebel forces supported by Turkish armed forces seized control of strategically important hills around al-Bab after operations overnight, Turkey’s military said. It said 58 Isis militants were killed in airstrikes, artillery fire and clashes as part of those operations.
The Turkish government has also demanded the extradition of Fethullah Gülen, a reclusive preacher living in Pennsylvania whose movement is widely believed in Turkey to have orchestrated a coup attempt last July that killed more than 200 people.
Turkey’s two-pronged crackdown since the failed coup has targeted alleged Gülenists and sympathisers in the judiciary, police, academia, media and civil service, as well as people accused of fomenting propaganda on behalf of the Kurdistan Workers’ party (PKK), a separatist group fighting an insurgency against the state.
But critics say the purges have turned into a witchhunt targeting the political opposition. Several opposition lawmakers including the two heads of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic party (HDP) have been arrested on terror propaganda charges. Some of those dismissed from universities are leftists who have little to do with the Gülen movement.
One of those dismissed in the last round of purges announced on Monday was İbrahim Kaboğlu, a prominent constitution professor who opposed the recently announced changes to the constitution.
As a result, in recent months Turkey has drifted away from its traditional allies in Nato, rebuilding bridges with Russia after months of estrangement last summer after the downing of a Russian jet in Turkish airspace.
In addition to lukewarm support offered by Europe and the US in the aftermath of the coup attempt, Ankara has faced criticism over the ruling party’s efforts to push through constitutional amendments in a spring referendum that would grant Erdoğan broader powers.
Policy disagreements on Syria have compounded the tensions, with Turkey repeatedly threatening to scrap an agreement that has curbed the influx of refugees into Europe and to hold a referendum on ending accession negotiations to the European Union. | Government Job change - Resignation_Dismissal | February 2017 | ['(The Guardian)'] |
A passenger train collides with a minibus near the Turkish city of Mersin resulting in at least nine deaths. | At least nine people have been killed after a passenger train crashed into a minibus carrying people to work in Turkey, local media say.
The accident happened at a level crossing near the Mediterranean port city of Mersin.
It appeared all the dead - and a further five people who were injured - had been aboard the bus, and that train passengers were not hurt.
Local media suggested the level crossing barrier may have been open.
Basri Guzeloglu, the local governor, said the cause of the accident would be investigated.
The minibus was carrying the workers to an industrial zone on the edge of Mersin when it was hit.
Video footage showed the destroyed minibus lying by the side of the railway line and emergency services trying to reach the victims.
| Train collisions | March 2014 | ['(BBC)'] |
According to exit polls, comedian Volodymyr Zelensky wins Ukraine's presidential run-off election over incumbent President Petro Poroshenko with more than 70 percent of the votes. Poroshenko concedes defeat. | With nearly all ballots counted in the run-off vote, Mr Zelensky had taken more than 73% with incumbent Petro Poroshenko trailing far behind on 24%.
"I will never let you down," Mr Zelensky told celebrating supporters. Russia says it wants him to show "sound judgement", "honesty" and "pragmatism" so that relations can improve. Russia backs separatists in eastern Ukraine.
The comments came from Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, in a Facebook post on Monday (in Russian).
He said he expected Mr Zelensky to "repeat familiar ideological formulas" that he used in the election campaign, adding: "I have no illusions on that score.
"At the same time, there is a chance to improve relations with our country."
Mr Poroshenko, who admitted defeat after the first exit polls were published, has said he will not be leaving politics.
He told voters that Mr Zelensky, 41, was too inexperienced to stand up to Russia effectively.
Mr Zelensky, a political novice, is best known for starring in a satirical television series Servant of the People, in which his character accidentally becomes Ukrainian president.
He told reporters he would "reboot" peace talks with the separatists fighting Ukrainian forces and volunteers in the east.
"I think that we will have personnel changes. In any case we will continue in the direction of the Minsk [peace] talks and head towards concluding a ceasefire," he said.
There are sporadic skirmishes and the situation also remains tense around Crimea, annexed from Ukraine by Russia in 2014. | Government Job change - Election | April 2019 | ['(Reuters)', '(BBC)', '(CBC)'] |
A preserved barracks in the Netherlands that was used by Nazi Germany to process Jews and others on their way to concentration camps, known to have been occupied at one point by Anne Frank, is destroyed by fire. | Fire has destroyed a barracks in the Netherlands where Anne Frank worked before her deportation to the Nazi German concentration camp where she died during World War II, local officials said.
The fire overnight Saturday "completely destroyed" the barracks at Westerbork, said Saskia Schaap, spokeswoman for the emergency services in nearby Groningen city.
During the war, Jews and Romas were kept there pending transfer to concentration camps.
It was at Westerbork that the author of "Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl" worked in the late summer of 1944 after her Jewish family -- who had been hiding from the Nazis for two years in Amsterdam -- was betrayed.
A museum dedicated to Frank -- who died in March 1945 at the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in Germany at the age of 15 -- had planned to take over the building later this year.
"It bore the number 57," Dirk Mulder, director of the Holocaust memorial at Westerbork, told AFP. "It was an industrial warehouse where batteries were dismantled. Anne Frank and her sister Margo worked there for about four weeks."
Since 1957 the barracks had been used as an agricultural warehouse.
Published in more than 70 languages since its discovery and first release in 1947, Anne Frank's diary remains one of the world's most-read books.
L'article a été envoyé par email avec succès
Fire has destroyed a barracks in the Netherlands where Anne Frank worked before her deportation to the Nazi German concentration camp where she died during World War II.
2007 AFP null
| Armed Conflict | July 2009 | ['(France 24)'] |
The death toll from the Indonesian tsunami climbs to 394 with 312 still missing. , | Bad weather is again obstructing efforts to get aid to the survivors of Monday's tsunami in Indonesia. Heavy rain and high tides are making it hard for boats to deliver supplies to the isolated Mentawai islands off the west coast of Sumatra. More than 400 people are confirmed dead, but many bodies have yet to be recovered from coastal areas and more than 300 people are still missing.
The tsunami was triggered by a 7.7-magnitude undersea earthquake.
Disaster-relief officials plan to start dropping aid by air, but reports say there are not enough helicopters to reach many of the devastated areas. The government has pledged millions of dollars for the relief effort, but aid agencies said people on the islands still urgently need food and shelter.
Meanwhile, an Indonesian government official has told the BBC the earthquake was so close to land that the early warning system in the area did not have a chance to send out an alert before the giant waves broke. The epicentre was 80km from the Mentawai islands. The government is now planning to install new earthquake detection equipment, said Kusuma Habir from the foreign ministry. Disaster official Ade Edward says the 3m (10ft) surge is likely to have carried many of the missing out to sea, or buried them in the sand.
As the scale of the tsunami disaster became clear on Thursday, Mr Edward painted a bleak picture of the chances of finding more survivors.
"Of those missing people, we think two-thirds of them are probably dead, either swept out to sea or buried in the sand," he told the AFP news agency.
"When we flew over the area yesterday, we saw many bodies. Heads and legs were sticking out of the sand; some of them were in the trees."
He estimated that a further 200 people may have been killed.
Indonesia's state-run news agency Antara reported that 468 houses had been completely destroyed by the wave.
Village chief Tasmin Saogo told the BBC's Indonesian service that the islanders had begun to bury their dead.
"In the village of Sadegugung, there aren't any body bags. In the end, we just lifted them and we buried 95 people today," he said.
"There are still many bodies lying about, underneath coconut trees and in other places."
Indonesia is also struggling with the devastation caused by this week's eruption of Mount Merapi in central Java, which killed more than 30 people.
The volcano erupted again on Friday, sending hot ash down its slopes, but no further casualties have been reported. Meanwhile, the party of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has been trying to defuse a growing political row over comments made by one of its senior members.
In comments translated on the Jakarta Globe website, House of Representatives Speaker Marzuki Ali suggested relocating people living next to the sea, adding: "Anyone who is afraid of waves shouldn't live near seashore."
Rival politicians criticised his statement as insensitive, and the party has apologised.
Earlier, Mr Yudhoyono cut short a trip to Vietnam to oversee the rescue effort, flying in a helicopter loaded with food and other basic necessities to the remote and otherwise inaccessible islands.
Indonesian officials said local residents had been given no indication of the coming wave, as a high-tech tsunami warning system installed in the wake of 2004's giant Indian Ocean tsunami was not working.
The vast Indonesian archipelago sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire, one of the world's most active areas for earthquakes and volcanoes.
More than 1,000 people were killed by an earthquake off Sumatra in September 2009.
In December 2004, a 9.1-magnitude quake off the coast of Aceh triggered a tsunami in the Indian Ocean that killed a quarter of a million people in 13 countries including Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and Thailand.
| Tsunamis | October 2010 | ['(BBC)', '(CNN)'] |
Former German chancellor, "architect of German reunification" and one of the authors of the European single currency Helmut Kohl is reported to be in a "critical condition" after surgery at a Heidelberg hospital. | Politician known as the architect of German reunification reported to be in intensive care after intestinal surgery following hip-replacement procedure
The former German chancellor Helmut Kohl is reported to be in a critical condition in the intensive-care unit of a German hospital.
Kohl, 85, who served as chancellor between 1982 and 1998 and is known as the architect of German reunification, was admitted to the Heidelberg’s university hospital in south-west Germany following an operation on his intestines, according to Spiegel Online.
Neither his office nor the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) has responded to requests by German media for information about his condition. The hospital said his family might release a statement.
Kohl was initially admitted to the orthopaedic clinic of the same hospital for hip-replacement surgery on 4 May. Following that operation, he told the tabloid Bild: “I want to get home as soon as possible.”
He subsequently underwent intestinal surgery and, according to Bunte magazine, was unconscious for a long period after the operation. He had been due to go to Bavaria at the weekend for post-surgery rehabilitation, the magazine added.
Kohl, who was also one of the authors of the European single currency, oversaw the reunification of East and West Germany in 1990, and served first as chancellor of the former West and then of a reunited country.
Angela Merkel is viewed as Kohl’s former protege, with him referring to her as his Mädchen or girl. But their relationship disintegrated after Kohl was forced to resign as head of the CDU after it was revealed he had received cash payments from unknown donors.
Kohl, who has used a wheelchair for several years, has been cared for by his second wife, 51-year-old Maike Kohl-Richter. | Famous Person - Sick | June 2015 | ['(Guardian)'] |
Police in Pakistan have detained about 200 suspected Islamist extremists in a series of raids on religious schools, mosques and other properties. | Most belong to banned militant groups and are wanted "in terrorist cases", Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao said.
The crackdown comes after London bombs killed at least 56. Three of the four bombers visited Pakistan last year, but it is not clear they met militants.
Pakistan's main Islamic opposition says dozens of its members have been held.
On Tuesday, British Prime Minister Tony Blair said he was anxious for Pakistan to crack down on extremist teaching in its Islamic schools.
Protests
One overnight raid was on a prominent Islamic school, or madrassa, in Islamabad.
The person arrested is not the al-Qaeda suspect... he is not the al-Qaeda man as reported by the media Pakistan Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed Madrassas rue terror link Musharraf's new crackdown Known as the Lal Masjid, the mosque and its adjacent religious school are known for supporting a banned extremist group, the BBC's Zaffar Abbas reports from Islamabad.
Armed police entered the school and took away two senior clerics and more than 15 students.
Hundreds of students protested before riot police dispersed them with tear gas. As well as raids in the capital, more than 80 people were rounded up in raids in three cities in Punjab province, security officials told the BBC. None of them have been formally charged.
In North-West Frontier Province, police detained 40 suspects, said to be members of banned militant groups. Thirty-five arrests were made in Sindh province, and another 35 in Balochistan, officials said. A senior security official told the BBC one of the main purposes of the raids was to find possible clues about the movements of two of the London bombers who travelled to Pakistan last year.
But Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed denied that among those detained was a British Muslim wanted in connection with the London bombings.
Gen Musharraf is expected to announce new measures
"The person arrested is not the al-Qaeda suspect... he is not the al-Qaeda man as reported by the media," he told the BBC.
Reports that a man "with direct links" to the London attacks had been held in Lahore could also not be confirmed.
Pakistan's Islamic opposition alliance challenged the official view that most detainees were militants.
It said its members had been rounded up across the country, and accused President Pervez Musharraf of acting under pressure from Tony Blair.
Speaking in London, where he was to lay a wreath for an Afghan killed in the bombings, Afghan President Hamid Karzai said those who commit terrorism in the name of Islam are not real Muslims.
He called on Pakistan to close down some madrassas, which he described as terrorist training camps rather than religious schools. Earlier crackdowns
The latest raids, in which Islamist publications have also been targeted, follow crackdowns launched in 2000 and 2002.
These proved to be effective for only a short time, as militant groups re-emerged with new names.
President Musharraf has said he will extend full support to Britain in the investigation into the London suicide attacks.
Pakistan has confirmed that three of the bombers, all Britons of Pakistani descent, visited the country in the last year. The family of one, Shehzad Tanweer, say he visited a madrassa.
Pakistan's ambassador to Britain, Maleeha Lodhi, told the BBC the bombers' motivation "appeared to be home-grown". | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Arrest | July 2005 | ['(BBC)'] |
In motorsport, the 2019 24 Hours of Daytona endurance race is won by the #10 Cadillac of Wayne Taylor Racing. Drivers Fernando Alonso, Jordan Taylor, Kamui Kobayashi, and Renger van der Zande are declared the winners after heavy rain forces the race to be halted for the final two hours. | Alonso and his teammates in the #10 Cadillac DPi-V.R, Renger van der Zande, Kamui Kobayashi and Jordan Taylor, were the prime beneficiaries of the worsening weather at the Florida circuit, which resulted in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season opener being red-flagged a second time with just under two hours to run.
Following more than 90 minutes of inactivity, It was finally decided to abandon the race after 23 hours and 50 minutes, with efforts to clear standing water from the track proving fruitless.
Shortly before the stoppage, two-time Formula 1 champion Alonso had taken the lead from the #31 Action Express Racing Cadillac of Felipe Nasr after the Brazilian ran wide at Turn 1.
That turned out to be the decisive move of the race, with ex-F1 racer Nasr, his new fulltime IMSA teammate Pipo Derani and Eric Curran being forced to settle for second.
Completing the podium was the #7 Acura ARX-05 of Helio Castroneves, Ricky Taylor and Alexander Rossi, which lacked the speed in the wet to challenge the leading Cadillacs in the final stages while IndyCar racer Rossi was at the wheel.
The arrival of rain overnight prompted an hour-long caution period, which was followed by the first red flag with a little more than seven hours left on the clock.
After an interruption of more than 90 minutes, racing resumed in a stop-start fashion as frequent caution periods were called amid various incidents in the treacherous conditions.
By this point, the race had boiled down to a contest between the WTR and #31 AXR Cadillacs and the two Penske-run Acuras, but the #6 car shared by Juan Pablo Montoya, Dane Cameron and Simon Pagenaud was ruled out of the fight with a loose oil pump belt in the 20th hour.
That promoted the CORE autosport Nissan DPi of Jon Bennett, Romain Dumas, Loic Duval and Colin Braun to fourth, although the #54 machine was four laps down on the leaders having suffered transmission problems shortly before half-distance.
A further three laps back in fifth place was the #85 JDC-Miller Motorsports Cadillac of Rubens Barrichello, Misha Goikhberg, Tristan Vautier and Devlin DeFrancesco.
Sixth place overall was the best of the LMP2 runners, the #18 DragonSpeed Oreca-Gibson of Roberto Gonzalez, Pastor Maldonado, Sebastian Saavedra and Ryan Cullen.
Saavedra appeared to have blown the #18 car’s chances when he suffered a heavy crash just before the red flags, but he was able to recover the stricken car to the pits to claim the win by four laps over the Performance Tech Oreca.
DragonSpeed’s other car, the #18 Oreca, had led the class for much of the race, but dropped out of contention when Henrik Hedman stopped out on track in the 22nd hour with a broken axle.
The #6 Acura ended up eighth and 17 laps down after its issues, ahead of the #5 Action Express Racing car of defending race winners of Joao Barbosa, Filipe Albuquerque and Christian Fittipaldi, who suffered a race to forget in his final Rolex 24 outing.
The Portuguese-speaking trio ended up ninth, 20 laps down, after a recurring issue with the rear lights that required a long trip behind the pitwall early on.
Mazda also suffered a double disaster with its pair of RT24-Ps, which both suffered reliability dramas within moments of each other before one-third distance.
The #77 car that Oliver Jarvis had qualified on pole dropped out with an engine failure, while the sister #55 car lost three laps with a fuel leak before finally bowing out after an incident involving a GT car in the early hours of the morning.
A closely-fought GT Le Mans contest was won by the #25 BMW M8 GTE of Connor De Phillippi, Philipp Eng, Colton Herta and last-minute addition Augusto Farfus.
Six of the nine cars in class were still on the lead lap when the two leaders collided during a chaotic restart at Turn 1, as Frederic Makowiecki’s Porsche rear-ended Joey Hand’s Ford, effectively ruling both out of the fight.
That handed the advantage to the Risi Competizione Ferrari, but James Calado was passed by Farfus’s BMW shortly before the red flags came out for a second time, relegating Calado and teammates Alessandro Pier Guidi, Miguel Molina and Davide Rigon to second.
A pitstop for the #67 Ford just before the red flags dropped Richard Westbrook, Scott Dixon and Ryan Briscoe from the class lead to third.
That became fourth after the race, as a penalty for pitting under yellow dropped it behind the #912 Porsche of Earl Bamber, Mathieu Jaminet and Laurens Vanthoor, which was delayed near the end when Bamber spun and kept becoming wedged on the banking. He had to drive the wrong way around the track before finding a place to spin-turn.
Corvette Racing endured a miserable race in what could be the final Daytona appearance for the current-gen C7.R, with Tommy Milner aquaplaning the #4 car into the tyre wall early in the morning and the #3 car losing eight laps after stopping on track with an electrical problem.
Alex Zanardi’s #24 BMW was also removed from contention when the steering column was damaged in the pits on Saturday evening, before Jesse Krohn suffered a puncture overnight, necessitating a long trip to the garage.
Grasser Racing defended its 2018 GT Daytona class triumph, as Rolf Ineichen, Mirko Bortolotti, Christian Engelhart and Rik Breukers emerged on top in a frantic race-long battle in the #11 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 thanks in part to a late surge by Engelhart.
The #29 Land Motorsport Audi R8 LMS survived multiple spins in the wet conditions late on to take second, while the final place on the podium went to the all-American-crewed #12 AIM Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3.
Luca Stolz threw away a potential win for the #33 Riley Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3 with a late spin that demoted the Wynn’s-liveried car to seventh in class.
912
Earl Bamber Laurens Vanthoor Mathieu Jaminet
Roger Penske on Rolex 24: “I’ve never seen a race like this”
Alonso hails WTR’s “perfect execution” to win Rolex 24
Can Mazda win this year’s IMSA Prototype championship? Undoubtedly. But it will be the culmination of an achingly hard struggle, after which the brand has decided to quit. David Malsher-Lopez tells the story of a bizarre blend of heartache and positivity.
The IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s decision to scrap its GT Le Mans class for 2022 raises the question of whether the FIA World Endurance Championship should phase out GTE cars. But it's a much harder decision than it appears on the surface.
After a 100-minute sprint race to whet the appetite, the 2021 IMSA SportsCar Championship gets underway properly this weekend. With plenty of significant changes during the winter, here are the key points you need to keep an eye on
Having gone over seven years without a race win through spells with McLaren, Renault and Haas, Kevin Magnussen's departure from Formula 1 for IMSA with big-hitters Chip Ganassi Racing could give him what he craves most - a chance of success
Oliver Gavin has stepped down from the full-time Corvette Racing line-up after a stellar career with the team spanning nearly 20 years. He looks back on a stint that encompassed, among other successes, five Le Mans 24 Hours victories.
Victory at last year's Spa 24 Hours meant Nick Tandy had completed the unofficial sextuple crown of the world's six biggest endurance races, becoming the first Briton to do so. Ahead of his fresh start with Corvette Racing, he explains how he did it…
The 2020 edition of the Florida sportscar classic is finally taking place this weekend, eight months after its traditional date in March. That meant there was plenty of time for Motorsport.com to pour over its previous 67 races and select the best.
The 2004 IndyCar champion and 2013 Indy 500 winner Tony Kanaan probably hasn’t yet driven his final IndyCar race, but we still asked him for the 10 most significant races of his career. He explained his choices to David Malsher-Lopez. | Sports Competition | January 2019 | ['(Motorsport.com)'] |
Corporal Bill Henry "Willie" Apiata of the Special Air Service of New Zealand is awarded the Victoria Cross for bravery under fire in Afghanistan in 2004. | A New Zealand soldier has been awarded the Victoria Cross for the first time since World War II.
Lance Corporal Willy Apiata was decorated for a life-saving act of bravery when his SAS unit came under attack in Afghanistan in 2004.
Lance Corporal Apiata's patrol came under attack from machine gun and grenade fire when it had taken cover for the night, setting two vehicles on fire, his citation notice said.
During the fight, Lance Corporal Apiata found himself isolated with two of his comrades, one of whom was badly wounded from shrapnel.
He carried his wounded comrade 70 metres to where the rest of his patrol had taken cover, despite being clearly visible by the light of the burning vehicles.
Prime Minister Helen Clark said his action epitomised the finest traditions of the New Zealand Defence Force.
"Corporal Apiata displayed stunning courage and selflessness, risking his life to save a colleague in a situation of extreme danger," she said.
Another three members of the SAS received other awards over the same incident, but their details were not released for operational security reasons.
The Victoria Cross is the highest award for valour for British and Commonwealth forces. | Awards ceremony | July 2007 | ['(ABC News Australia)'] |
The Scottish Parliament meets for the first time since the victory of the Scottish National Party in the recent general election. | Scotland's 129 MSPs have been sworn in, as the Scottish Parliament sat for the first time since the SNP's landslide victory in last week's election.
SNP backbencher Tricia Marwick was also elected by members to become Holyrood's new presiding officer.
Taking the oath, First Minister Alex Salmond swore allegiance to the Queen, but said his party's "primary loyalty was to the people of Scotland".
The SNP will form Scotland's first majority administration.
The Nationalists won 69 seats, giving them an overall majority.
Labour emerged with 37 seats, while the Conservatives were on 15, the Liberal Democrats won five seats and the Greens have two MSPs.
Independent MSP Margo Macdonald was also returned to parliament.
Ms Marwick, MSP for Mid Fife and Glenrothes, beat off competition from fellow SNP backbencher Christine Grahame and former Labour minister Hugh Henry to win the presiding officer job.
The swearing-in ceremony began with out-going presiding officer Alex Fergusson, who has returned as a Tory MSP, before the party leaders took the oath.
SNP leader Mr Salmond began his by stating: "The Scottish National Party's primary loyalty is to the people of Scotland, in line with the Scottish constitutional tradition of the sovereignty of the people."
A total of 46 MSPs are taking up seats in parliament for the first time, while 36 members are returning, having served continuously since the first election in 1999.
MSPs reflected their cultural backgrounds by taking oaths or affirmations in Urdu, Gaelic, Scots, Italian and Doric, as well as in English.
Left-wing Labour MSPs Neil Findlay and Elaine Smith swore in "under protest", pledging allegiance to the people as "citizens, not subjects".
SNP Education Secretary Mike Russell took the oath in English, Scots and Gaelic, while another Nationalist MSP, Maureen Watt, crossed her fingers while she was swearing in.
Dennis Robertson, the new MSP for Aberdeenshire West, was accompanied to the well of the Holyrood chamber to take the oath by his guide dog, named Q.
The newly-inducted compliment of members includes a brother and sister - the SNP's Fergus and Annabelle Ewing - husband-and-wife team Claire and Richard Baker, and father-and-daughter Michael and Siobhan McMahon, all Labour MSPs.
The Scottish Labour and Tory leaders, Iain Gray and Annabel Goldie, have both announced they are standing down from their jobs in the autumn, while the Lib Dems' Tavish Scott quit his party's leadership at the weekend with immediate effect.
The election for first minister - with SNP leader Alex Salmond the only realistic candidate - is taking place at a later date.
Holyrood was also being re-convened after the Earl of Wessex attended the Kirking of parliament on Tuesday night.
The traditional ecumenical service at Edinburgh's St Giles' Cathedral was also attended by MSPs, faith representatives and other guests.
It was led by The Very Rev Gilleasbuig Macmillan, who led the Kirking ceremonies after the 1999, 2003 and 2007 elections.
Meanwhile, SNP ministers have been continuing to press Westminster to give increased financial powers to Scotland. Mr Salmond has said Holyrood must be given more ''economic teeth'' in the Scotland Bill, currently going through Westminster.
The SNP wants greater borrowing powers, control over corporation tax and devolution of the Crown Estates.
Scottish Secretary Michael Moore is due to meet Alex Salmond in Edinburgh on Thursday.
| Government Job change - Election | May 2011 | ['(BBC)'] |
South Korea announces it will sign a military pact with Japan to encourage sharing of sensitive military intelligence. | SEOUL, South Korea — In a significant step toward overcoming lingering historical animosities with its former colonial master, the South Korean government has unexpectedly announced that it will sign a treaty with Japan on Friday to increase the sharing of classified military data on what analysts cite as two major common concerns: North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats and China’s growing military might. The announcement set off a political firestorm in South Korea, where resentment of Japan’s early 20th-century colonization remains entrenched and any sign of Japan’s growing military role is met with deep suspicion. The opposition accused President Lee Myung-bak of ignoring popular anti-Japanese sentiments in pressing ahead with the treaty, the first military pact between the two nations since the end of colonization in 1945. North Korea accused Mr. Lee’s government of “selling the nation out.” The accord, the General Security of Military Information Agreement, provides a legal framework for South Korea and Japan to share and protect classified and other confidential data. Cho Byung-jae, the spokesman of the South Korean Foreign Ministry, said the South Korean ambassador to Tokyo, Shin Kak-soo, and Japan’s foreign minister, Koichiro Gemba, plan to sign the treaty on Friday, after the Japanese cabinet’s approval.
The United States has been urging the two countries to strengthen military ties, so the three nations can deal more efficiently with threats from North Korea. It was well known that South Korea and Japan, which enjoy thriving economic ties and cultural exchanges, were negotiating the deal, but the opposition and other government critics here were caught off guard by Thursday’s announcement because earlier indications had been that historical hostilities would again delay a pact. The two remain locked in disputes over the ownership of a set of islets and over Tokyo’s rejection of talks on compensating “comfort women,” Koreans the Japanese military forced into sexual slavery during World War II.
Military cooperation between the two has lagged, although a cautious military rapprochement sped up after North Korea’s artillery bombardment of a South Korean island in 2010. China’s naval expansion has also prompted politicians in the two countries to call for closer military ties. In the past week, the United States, Japan and South Korea conducted a joint naval exercise in the seas south and west of the Korean Peninsula.
Officials here said the need for the allies to share data on bellicose and enigmatic North Korea has grown with the increased uncertainty after the death of its longtime ruler, Kim Jong-il, in December. Under the rule of his son Kim Jong-un, North Korea has vowed to bolster its production of nuclear weapons. It launched a rocket in April, and although it failed to put a satellite into orbit, Washington condemned the launching as a test of intercontinental ballistic missile technology.
The political opposition and several civic groups in South Korea warned that the new military cooperation deal would only intensify regional tensions and encourage Japan’s “militaristic ambition.” “When the Lee Myung-bak government started out, it was pro-American to the bone, and as it nears the end of its term, it is proving pro-Japanese to the bone,” said Park Yong-jin, spokesman of the main opposition Democratic United Party. Mindful of such a political offensive, Hwang Woo-yea, the head of the governing New Frontier Party, visited the disputed islets in the sea between South Korea and Japan on Thursday in a symbolic gesture reconfirming South Korea’s territorial claim.
“Every grain of sand here, every rock here, belongs to South Korea,” he told South Korean police officers guarding the islets. | Sign Agreement | June 2012 | ['(New York Times)'] |
Five sticks of dynamite are found in the Printemps department store on the Boulevard Haussmann in Paris. | Five sticks of explosives have been found and made safe in a top Paris department store, French police say.
The Printemps Haussmann store was evacuated and cordoned off, and police directed traffic away from the area.
French news agency AFP received a letter signed by a group calling itself the Afghan Revolutionary Front, warning of "several bombs" placed in the store.
President Nicolas Sarkozy urged caution in reacting to the incident. There was no detonator linked to the explosives.
"All we can do is to be prudent and moderate," Mr Sarkozy said at a news conference in the European Parliament.
"My belief has not changed since 2002 that vigilance in the face of terrorism is the only possible line to take."
The BBC's Hugh Schofield in Paris says the incident is a scary warning to the French people and a reminder that they are not immune to the scourge of terrorism, despite there being no significant attack on French soil for more than 10 years.
Unknown group
Officials said the explosives, planted in washrooms on several floors, were first located by sniffer dogs.
They consisted of old sticks of dynamite held together with a piece of cord, according to an officials quoted by news agency AFP.
"Based on what we know, it was not a device that was set to explode. We are going to carry out an investigation to find the perpetrators," AFP quoted Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie as saying at the scene.
One shopper told AFP the evacuation was calm and orderly.
The Afghan Revolutionary Front is a previously unknown group.
"If you do not send someone to intervene before Wednesday December 17, they will explode," said its letter, which was taken by police investigating the explosives.
"Send the message to your president that he must withdraw his troops from our country before the end of February 2009 or else we will take action in your capitalist department stores and this time, without warning."
France has about 2,600 troops serving with Nato in Afghanistan, after reinforcements were sent earlier this year.
In a video broadcast last November, a Taleban military leader, Faruq Akhun Zadeh, warned that "our reaction will be heard in Paris" if the troops were not withdrawn. | Armed Conflict | December 2008 | ['(BBC News)'] |
A United Nations Human Rights Council report based on 875 interviews recommends Min Aung Hlaing and five other generals in Myanmar be investigated and prosecuted for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes since the 1960s. | United Nations investigators said Monday top generals in Myanmar should be investigated and prosecuted for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.
Though another international human rights group, Fortify Rights, condemned the country's violence against the Rohingya as genocide last month, the new U.N. investigative report, based on 875 interviews, is considered the strongest condemnation from the United Nations of the violence so far.
The U.N. Human Rights Council's independent investigative report said that Myanmar's armed forces have failed to respect international humanitarian law since its counterinsurgency policy began in the 1960s with civilians being killed, entire villages being destroyed and displacement of hundreds of thousands.
The latest violence was sparked in August 2017, when a small number of Rohingya insurgents attacked police outposts, some with improvised explosive devices, killing 12 security officers.
"The security forces' response, starting within hours, was immediate, brutal and grossly disproportionate," the report said, with operations that "terrorized the entire Rohingya population."
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"As a result, nearly 725,000 Rohingya had fled to Bangladesh by mid-August 2018."
The Independent Fact Finding Mission said thousands of people have been killed or injured with a conservative estimate of up to 10,000 deaths with large-scale killings, gang rapes and arson attacks.
The inquiry said in one village alone in the Rakhine State, Min Gyi, "women and girls were taken to nearby houses, gang raped, then killed or severely injured.
"Houses were locked and set on fire. Few survived. In numerous other villages the number of casualties was also markedly high. Bodies were transported in military vehicles, burned and disposed of in mass graves."
"These policies and practices violate Myanmar's obligations under international law and amount to criminal conduct," it added. "They are also unwarranted; military necessity would never justify killing indiscriminately, gang raping women, assaulting children, and burning entire villages. The Tatmadaw's (Myanmar's armed forces') tactics are consistently and grossly disproportionate to actual security threats, especially in Rakhine State, but also in northern Myanmar."
The report said that generals carried out these crimes with "genocidal intent" and the commander in chief and five generals should be prosecuted in relation to recent events in the Rakhine State.
The independent investigators said that the Security Council should ensure accountability for the crimes under international law committed in Myanmar by referring the case to the International Criminal Court. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | August 2018 | ['(UPI)'] |
The Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Malta calls for an ambitious and legally binding outcome at the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference. | Valletta (AFP) - The Commonwealth on Saturday pledged itself towards an "ambitious", legally-binding outcome from the world climate change summit, saying it was "deeply concerned" about the disproportionate threat to its most vulnerable members.
Leaders from the 53-country family, which represents around a third of the world's population, produced a "message of Commonwealth ambition and determination" for the COP21 talks in Paris, which kick off Monday.
"We are committed to working towards an ambitious, equitable, inclusive, balanced, rules-based and durable outcome of COP21 that includes a legally-binding agreement," they said in a Statement on Climate Action, agreed at their summit in Malta.
"Such an outcome, joined and implemented by all parties, should put the global community on track towards low-emission and climate-resilient societies and economies."
Commonwealth leaders at the organisation's biennial gathering agreed the statement following a day of talks amongst themselves alone in a mediaeval coastal fortress.
Because its membership includes industrialised G7 powers like Britain and Canada, emerging giants like India and tiny island microstates such as the Maldives, agreement in the Commonwealth has historically boded well for deals being struck beyond its bounds.
Among the few things concluded at the flop 2009 Copenhagen global climate change summit were those things agreed beforehand by the Commonwealth.
-Debt for climate action swaps -
"We are deeply concerned by the threat posed by climate change, which continues to put at risk the economic, social, environmental and cultural well-being of our member states and citizens," the leaders' statement said.
"Many of our most vulnerable states and communities are already facing the adverse impacts of climate change."
It committed to hold the increase in global average temperature "below two or 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels".
The Commonwealth launched a Climate Finance Access Hub, a network aimed at smaller island states that want to get access to funds to mitigate against the effects of climate change.
"Access to finance, technology and capacity development are at the heart of the ability to respond to climate change adaptation and mitigation," said Mauritian Prime Minister Anerood Jugnauth, who announced its establishment.
The organisation has also come up with a debt swap for climate change action initiative, where developing countries could see their debt written down in return for undertaking projects on improving the environment.
Leaders held talks Saturday at a retreat session in Fort St Angelo, a bastion on Valletta's harbour controlled by the Sovereign Military Order of Malta and dating to the middle ages.
The retreat sessions feature just the leaders and the Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma: no advisers, press or other ministers are allowed in.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and French President Francois Hollande had been guests at the summit's special session on climate change Friday and said they were strongly encouraged by what they saw.
- Cameron links corruption, extremism -
Commonwealth leaders also discussed combating radicalisation and corruption, and coping with migration.
"We need to expose this extremism for what it is: a belief system that divides our communities and glorifies violence," British Prime Minister David Cameron said.
"We've committed to do more to counter extremist propaganda on the Internet and to share expertise on prevention."
He said he would host a conference in London in May on tackling corruption.
Extremism and corruption were linked, Cameron said, insisting malfeasance "can foment terrorism if people give up hope in a good and honest government providing the things they need".
Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, said terrorists were most scared of "well-educated young girls and boys -- especially girls -- and a prosperous economy".
"The Commonwealth's natural territory is working more on education and bringing the tools for economic development."
Sharma said leaders were concerned about the "scourge of terrorism", saying: "The phrase 'politics by murder' was used."
Queen Elizabeth II, the head of the Commonwealth since 1952, wrapped up her three-day state visit to Malta with a trip across the capital Valletta's Grand Harbour and a visit to the racecourse.
Commonwealth leaders agreed to hold their next summit in Britain in early 2018, meaning the 89-year-old, who has discontinued long-haul travel for the summits, should be attending in person once again.
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| Diplomatic Talks _ Diplomatic_Negotiation_ Summit Meeting | November 2015 | ['(AFP via Yahoo! News)'] |
Two men are arrested in the Netherlands after plans were uncovered to commit a jihadist attack with explosive belts and car bombs. | Two men were arrested in the Netherlands on Monday, accused of preparing to carry out a terrorist attack using at least one car bomb and bomb vests, the Public Prosecution Service (OM) revealed on Tuesday. The suspects were allegedly plotting to carry out an attack in the Netherlands by the end of the year.
Authorities said it was not yet clear what was targeted in the attack. Intelligence agency AIVD first found out about the men because the two "suspects intended to commit a jihadist attack. They wanted to make use of explosives, and to receive training for this purpose," the OM stated.
The men are aged 20 and 34. Both are from Zoetermeer, a Zuid-Holland city just east of The Hague. One of the two was taken into custody on a street in the Hague, while the other was captured at his home.
"No firearms or explosives were found on the suspects," the OM said. Their homes were searched following the arrests, which turned up a throwing ax, a dagger, a mobile phone and several SIM cards.
Undercover police were assigned to gather evidence against the men, after they became known to the AIVD. The AIVD tipped off Dutch police in early October, which prompted a criminal investigation. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Arrest | November 2019 | ['(NL Times)'] |
In horseracing, Monterosso wins the Dubai World Cup. | Last updated on 31 March 201231 March 2012.From the section Horse Racing
Monterosso has won the $10m (£6.3m) Dubai World Cup, the world's richest horse race.
The Godolphin-owned horse, ridden by Mickael Barzalona, finished third in 2011 but showed a burst of pace to move away from favourite So You Think, who started strongly alongside Transcend.
Sheikh Mohammed's Godolphin operation enjoyed a one-two as Capponi finished second, albeit a long way behind the five-year-old.
Planteur was third, half a length back.
"I couldn't believe when no one was coming after me," said Barzalona. "This is a dream. I have no words to describe what I feel right now."
Just as he did on winning the Derby aboard Pour Moi in June, the 20-year-old celebrated by standing upright in the irons.
"I just had to. I had no choice," added Barzalona.
Daddy Long Legs won the $2m (£1.25m) UAE Derby earlier on Saturday, with better-fancied stable companion Wrote third in the Group Two race at Meydan.
Colm O'Donoghue sent the Aidan O'Brien-trained Daddy Long Legs into the lead as the field turned for home after Helmet had set a scorching pace.
Ryan Moore followed him through on Wrote but could not close the gap and had to settle for third, with Yang Tse Kiang filling second spot.
Cirrus Des Aigles held off a late challenge from his main rival St Nicholas Abbey to win the $5m (£3.1m) Dubai Sheema Classic, while Cityscape took the $5m (£3.1m) Dubai Duty Free, setting a course record to beat Mutahadee and City Style by more than four lengths. | Sports Competition | March 2012 | ['(BBC)'] |
2011 Omani protests: A fourth day of protests take place, with security forces firing into the air in an attempt to disperse protesters. | Omani troops fired into the air near a northern port on Tuesday to clear a fourth day of protests by Omanis demanding jobs and political reforms, wounding one person in the town of Sohar, witnesses said."We were about 200 to 300 people on the road. The army started shooting in the air," one protester in Sohar said, declining to be named. "Many people ran. The man who was shot came to calm the army down."The crowd dispersed before regrouping again near the port, the witnesses said, and the troops pulled back.
The unrest in Sohar, Oman's main industrial centre, was a rare outbreak of discontent in the normally calm Gulf state ruled by Sultan Qaboos bin Said for four decades, and follows a wave of pro-democracy protests across the Arab world.The sultan, trying to calm tensions, on Sunday promised 50,000 jobs, unemployment benefits of $390 a month and to study widening the power of a quasi-parliamentary advisory council.In Sohar after the confrontation, traffic flowed freely into the port, which exports 160,000 barrels per day of refined oil products, despite the presence of around 150 protesters. Protesters had blocked the entrance to the port on Monday.Omani troops had been deployed in the city beforehand but until Tuesday had refrained from intervening to stop protests.At the nearby Globe Roundabout, centre of the Sohar protests that have drawn up to 2,000 people, five armored vehicles watched the square but no protesters could be seen.As many as six people were killed in Sohar on Sunday when police opened fire on stone-throwing demonstrators after failing to disperse them with batons and tear gas. A doctor and nurses at a state hospital said six people died but the health minister put the toll at one.The U.S. State Department said on Monday, the same day Sohar protests spread to the capital Muscat that Washington was encouraging restraint and dialogue in Oman.Protests were also reported on Tuesday in the southern port of Salalah and the northwestern oasis region of Buraimi, witnesses said.In Salalah some 200 people demonstrated outside the office of the governor of Dhofar province, demanding and increase in wages and benefits, while dozens of protesters staged a similar rally in Buraimi.Members of the Majlis Ash-Shura, or Consultative Council, and intellectuals were due to hold a sit-in later Tuesday afternoon in Muscat to demand the resignation of some ministers, one of the organizers told AFP.Amnesty urged Oman, which it said has "used excessive force", to rein in its security forces and order "an immediate independent investigation", in a statement Monday.
Sultan Qaboos, who exercises absolute power in a country where political parties are banned, gave more independence to the public prosecutor on Tuesday and ordered the creation of an independent consumer protection watchdog to monitor prices.The steps were the latest in a series of modest moves by Oman and came after Sultan Qaboos reshuffled his cabinet on Saturday, a week after a small protest in the capital Muscat gave the first hint that Arab discontent could reach the state."We see the two royal decrees as part of the new reforms ... Next we want him to consider an elected government and a constitution change," said Zakaria al-Mharmi, an intellectual who has been a prominent face in Muscat protests.Mostly wealthy Gulf Arab countries have pledged billions of dollars in state benefits and some offered modest reforms to appease their populations following popular unrest that toppled the leaders of Tunisia and Egypt and is threatening Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's grip on power.Protesters in Oman have stopped short of calling for a change of government, unlike in neighboring Yemen where protesters want the president to go and in fellow Gulf Arab state Bahrain where protesters want the prime minister sacked.Oman is a non-OPEC oil exporter which pumps around 850,000 bpd, and has strong military and political ties to Washington.Sultan Qaboos appoints the cabinet and in 1992 introduced an elected advisory Shura Council. Protesters have demanded the council be given legislative powers and on Sunday Qaboos ordered a committee to study increasing its authority.Oman guards with Iran the strategic Strait of Hormuz through which 40 percent of the world's oil supply passes and Muscat is a key Western ally in the region. | Protest_Online Condemnation | March 2011 | ['(Al Arabiya)'] |
Former Hurricane Eta, now a tropical depression, leaves more than 50 people dead in Guatemala after causing flooding and landslides. It is expected to regain strength and head to Cuba and the coast of Florida this weekend. | Tropical Storm Iota is expected to become a major Category 3 hurricane and bring dangerous storm surge, strong winds and heavy rainfall to Central America over the weekend and early next week, the NHC said.
Iota formed in the Caribbean on Friday afternoon, becoming the 30th storm of a record-breaking hurricane season, according to the National Hurricane Center. It grew from a tropical depression earlier Friday.
As of 4 a.m. Saturday, Iota was located 340 miles south-southeast of Kingston, Jamaica, with 40 mph winds. It was moving west-southwestward at a slow 5 mph.
“On the forecast track, Iota will move across the central Caribbean Sea during the next day or so, and approach the coasts of Nicaragua and northeastern Honduras on Monday,” forecasters said.
Iota poses no threat to Florida.
Iota is expected to produce 8 to 16 inches of rain, with isolated 20 inch totals, across portions of Honduras and northern Nicaragua, the NHC said.
As the storm reaches Central America, it’s expected to become a Category 3 hurricane with 120 mph winds. It would be the 13th hurricane of the season.
“Steady to rapid strengthening is likely over the weekend, and Iota is forecast to be a major hurricane when it approaches Central America,” forecasters said.
The earlier tropical depression tied 2005′s 31 tropical systems. The previous record for named storms was 29, also set in 2005, which was surpassed earlier this week with the formation of Tropical Storm Theta.
Meanwhile, the NHC stopped tracking the former Tropical Storm Eta, which wreaked havoc in south and west Florida this week.
Forecasters predict Eta to accelerate in speed and sprint northeast away from the U.S.
Farther east, Tropical Storm Theta is continuing its eastbound journey and is 540 miles southeast of the Azores. The storm has weakened to 40 mph maximum sustained winds and is moving at 8 mph with outward tropical-storm-force winds reaching up to 90 miles away from its center.
The NHC expects Theta to slow in forward speed and turn north over the weekend. The storm is expected to begin losing strength and become a remnant low by late Saturday. | Hurricanes_Tornado_Storm_Blizzard | November 2020 | ['(BBC)', '(Orlando Sentinel)'] |
President Obama gives a speech in support of the Arab Spring during which he states that the solution to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict must include Israel reverting its borders back to the pre-1967 borders. | President Obama has given his strongest support yet for the uprisings across the Middle East, saying he wants to use this "historic opportunity" to spread reform across the region. Mr Obama had a tough message for regimes like Libya, Syria and Bahrain but also controversially for Israel. He stressed the need for any future Palestinian state to be based on the borders before the 1967 war but that prompted an angry response from the Israeli Prime Minister who is due to visit the White House tomorrow.
Mr Obama has been speaking exclusively to the BBC as Mark Mardell reports. Obama sets out plans for Mid-East. | Famous Person - Give a speech | May 2011 | ['(BBC)'] |
Tens of thousands of protesters begin their anticorruption protests, "Million Voices Against Corruption, President Chen Must Go", against President Chen Shui–bian in Taipei, Taiwan. , | The protesters, many dressed in red to highlight their anger, gathered in the capital on what organisers describe as the first day of mass protests.
Mr Chen's popularity has plummeted amid scandals involving relatives and aides.
In one case, his son-in-law is facing charges - which he denies - of insider trading on the stock market.
Organisers say more that 200,000 people joined Saturday's rally outside the presidential offices in Taipei - but police put the number at 90,000.
The BBC's Caroline Gluck, at the scene, says it is a sea of red.
There are four big red balloons, representing righteousness, integrity, prosperity and honour.
Chen protests gain ground
In pictures: Taiwan protests
The protesters say these virtues have been lost in today's Taiwan, and Mr Chen should stand down. The movement is led by Shih Ming-teh, a veteran activist who spent more than 25 years in jail when Taiwan was under martial law. He says he is responding to a groundswell of public discontent.
Organisers say the protest is the first mass grassroots movement to remove a president that has not been organised by mainstream political parties.
However analysts say President Chen seems unlikely to stand down.
Last month he survived an unprecedented parliamentary attempt by the opposition Kuomintang to oust him.
The crisis began in May, when Mr Chen's son-in-law, Chao Chien-min, was detained on suspicion of insider trading. Mr Chen's wife was also accused of questionable dealings. The president has apologised for the actions of his son-in-law. | Protest_Online Condemnation | September 2006 | ['(Associated Press via Washington Post)', '(BBC)'] |
Voters in Venezuela go to the polls for a presidential election, with Hugo Chávez of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela and Henrique Capriles Radonski of the opposing Justice First party both competing for the presidency. | People in Venezuela have voted in what is predicted to be the country's most tightly contested presidential election in a decade.
Left-wing incumbent Hugo Chavez, first elected in 1998, is being challenged by opposition leader Henrique Capriles.
Mr Chavez wants to continue what he calls his socialist revolution while Mr Capriles has promised to restore economic growth.
Almost 19 million Venezuelans are eligible to vote in the election.
Turnout has been high and voting was extended beyond the official closing time of 18:00 (22:30 GMT) at some polling stations where big queues formed.
Mr Chavez - who is seeking a fourth term in office - was diagnosed with cancer last year but says he has now fully recovered.
As he cast his ballot in Caracas, Mr Chavez said the results of the elections should be respected.
"Let's support the results and let's support the people and let's support this democracy and the Venezuelan republic will continue on its path of growth," he said.
Mr Capriles also voted in Caracas, saying that no matter what the outcome, Mr Chavez was the first person he would call once the results were announced. A colourful and often controversial figure on the international stage, President Chavez, 58, has nationalised key sectors of the economy.
Venezuela is a major oil producer and high oil prices over the past decade have allowed his government to fund health-care, education programmes and social housing.
He says he needs another term to complete his "Bolivarian Revolution" towards socialism.
However, Mr Capriles, 40, and the opposition say the president's policies have led to bureaucracy, inefficiency and shortages.
They also accuse Mr Chavez of authoritarianism, and of suppressing the judiciary and silencing critics in the media.
BBC Mundo correspondents in the capital Caracas say Chavez loyalists have been using trumpets to sound a "wake-up" call for voters. Mr Capriles' supporters were also banging pots in the street in what they called their "goodbye song" for Mr Chavez, our correspondents say. Defence Minister Henry Rangel Silva said the armed forces had identified some groups planning to cause public disturbances but said violence was "unlikely", the state news agency AVN reported.
He also warned those who he said may be thinking of stirring up trouble that troops were on stand-by to quell any disturbances.
Queues formed early outside schools used as polling stations. Gerardo Montemarano, who was already waiting to vote when the polls opened, brought a chair with him. "I knew there was going to be a long queue," he told the BBC.
About 100,000 Venezuelans, including about 2,000 in the UK and the Republic of Ireland, are registered to vote at diplomatic outposts around the world. Hundreds of opposition supporters gathered outside the consulate in central London as expatriates cast their ballots. "I don't support this government," said voter Rebecca Anaya. "I am here because I cannot live in that country. The security situation is the worst thing in the world." Both candidates have been using social media to urge voters to cast their ballots. A week before the election, three opposition activists were killed during a campaign rally, while four people were injured in a shooting during a voting rehearsal in September.
From Saturday evening to Monday evening, the sale of alcohol has been banned and only the security forces will be allowed to carry arms. | Government Job change - Election | October 2012 | ['(BBC)'] |
Ahmad alFaqi is transferred to the International Criminal Court to face trial for the war crime of directing the destruction of cultural sites in Timbuktu, Mali when the city was under the control of Islamist groups in 2012. | A suspected Islamist charged with the war crime of destroying religious monuments in Timbuktu in Mali has arrived at the International Criminal Court in The Hague for trial. The ICC said Ahmad al-Mahdi al-Faqi, also known as Abu Tourab, had been surrendered to the court by Niger.
He is charged with the destruction of nine mausoleums and a mosque in the historic African city in 2012.
Islamists occupied the city until they were ousted by French forces in 2013.
In a statement on Saturday, the ICC said it was the first case to be brought before the court "concerning the destruction of buildings dedicated to religion and historical monuments".
It said Mr Faqi, who was born about 100km (60 miles) west of Timbuktu, was a member of Ansar Dine - an al-Qaeda-linked group that held much of northern Mali in 2012.
He is alleged to have been involved with the so-called Islamic Court of Timbuktu during the city's occupation, participating in executing the court's decision.
During their occupation, the militants vandalised and destroyed mosques and mausoleums, and burnt tens of thousands of ancient manuscripts.
The city - which is listed as a World Heritage Site by Unesco - was considered the centre of Islamic learning from the 13th to the 17th Centuries. At one time it counted nearly 200 schools and universities that attracted thousands of students from across the Muslim world.
The mausoleums were shrines to Timbuktu's founding fathers, who had been venerated as saints by most of the city's inhabitants.
But this practice is considered blasphemous by fundamentalists. Earlier this year, 14 mausoleums were rebuilt by local stone masons using traditional techniques. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | September 2015 | ['(BBC News)'] |
The Guardian Council announces it will randomly recount 10% of ballot boxes. | Tehran - Iran's Guardian Council is ready to recount up to 10 percent of the ballot boxes randomly in last week's presidential election, state television reported on Saturday.
"The Guardian Council is ready to recount randomly up to 10 percent of ballot boxes in last week's disputed presidential election," the council's spokesman Abbas Ali Kadkhodai was quoted as saying.
Whenever the examination and the recount is finished the council will announce its final decision, he added.
He also said that Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi still have time to express their opinions until Wednesday.
Only Iran's former Revolutionary Guards Chief Mohsen Rezaei attended a special meeting of the Guardians Council with presidential candidates on Saturday, the official IRNA news agency reported.
Iran's former Prime Minister Mir-Hossein Mousavi and former Parliament Speaker Mehdi Karroubi failed to attend the meeting without giving any reason.
The Spokesman of the Guardian Council Abbas-Ali Kadkhodaei said on Wednesday that candidates of Iran's recent presidential election were invited to its upcoming meeting session which is to be held within the next few days.
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has ordered Iran's Guardian Council, the top legislative body, to investigate the claims of "fraud" in the recent presidential election. | Government Job change - Election | June 2009 | ['(China Daily)', '(Sify)'] |
Kulsoom Nawaz Sharif, wife of ousted former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, defeats the opposition party's Yasmin Rashid in the by-election for Nawaz Sharif's National Assembly seat. Kulsoom, represented by her daughter and proxy Maryam, is being treated in London for cancer. | The wife of Pakistan's former prime minister who stepped down over a corruption inquiry has won a key seat in Lahore, unofficial results suggest.
Kulsoom Nawaz stood in place of her husband Nawaz Sharif, who was disqualified from office in July.
She won 61,254 votes, 14,188 more than her nearest rival, local media say.
The vote was seen by both the ruling PML-N party and the opposition as a referendum on the Supreme Court's decision to disqualify Mr Sharif.
Ms Nawaz is currently in London for cancer treatment. Her daughter, Maryam, spearheaded the campaign for the PML-N party in her absence. "This is not an ordinary victory," Maryam told party supporters after the unofficial results were declared. "You have defeated not only people who were in the field but also those who are invisible."
She said winning her father's former seat in the family's hometown showed that people had rejected the "unjust decision" to disqualify her father.
But, if the results are confirmed, the party's share of the vote in the key constituency has dropped by about 7%.
The Supreme Court barred Mr Sharif from office after an inquiry into the 2016 Panama Papers dump linked his children to offshore companies.
He has always denied the allegations, but the Supreme Court has dismissed petitions seeking a review of its decision. Media reports suggested a large turnout for the vote on Sunday, with long queues forming outside polling stations. The election was contested by all the major parties, as well as two new Islamist opposition parties.
PML-N faced a strong challenge from the PTI party led by cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan and the Pakistan People's Party of Bilawal Bhutto Zardari.
The by-election was also seen as a test of support for the Sharif family ahead of next year's general election. Maryam Nawaz, who does not hold political office but is a high-profile figure in Pakistan, alleged that several PML-N party workers had been threatened ahead of polling day. She took centre stage in the lead-up to the vote and during the campaign sought to portray it as the "people's verdict" on her father's disqualification. In a recent BBC interview she said the issue had "galvanised his supporters" and that public sentiment was "very positive". More than 320,000 voters took part in the poll, which for the first time in Pakistan's history was conducted using Biometric Voter Verification Machines in some the constituency's 220 polling stations, Dawn News reported.
| Government Job change - Election | September 2017 | ['(The Nation)', '(BBC)', '(Al Jazeera)'] |
Government planes bomb tribesmen opposed to President Ali Abdullah Saleh. | SANAA, Yemen, May 27 (UPI) -- The Yemeni air force Friday bombed tribesmen fighting to overthrow President Ali Abdullah Saleh, a high-level official said.
The military official, quoted anonymously, told CNN at least seven air force bombers were sent to Nehm province, northeast of the capital Sanaa, where the tribes had captured two bases from Saleh's Republican Guard.
"The guards attacked one of our villages for no reason," said Moqbel Najeeb, a local sheik. "We will not accept that and will fight back against anyone who tries to attack us."
Seven soldiers and five tribesmen were reported killed.
Meanwhile, fighting in the capital abated Friday as Saleh's emissaries negotiated with the Ahmar family, which has led the Hashid tribal confederation into joining the opposition. Saleh called off his weekly Friday rally and opposition protests diminished, The New York Times reported.
Sadiq al-Ahmar, the eldest of 10 brothers, spoke at an opposition rally Friday and confirmed the talks.
"We wanted our revolution to be peaceful but were forced to use the weapons," he said. "Now we would say we are ready for anything, peaceful or not peaceful." | Armed Conflict | May 2011 | ['(UPI)', '(BBC)'] |
21 nations, including the Presidents of Afghanistan, Russia and Syria, attending the Conference on Interaction and Confidence–Building Measures in Asia summit in Istanbul condemn Israel's deadly raid on the Gaza–bound aid flotilla, while Israel, the 22nd participant with a lower–level diplomat, disagrees. | Turkish President Abdullah Gul says all members of a regional summit except Israel have denounced last week's deadly Israeli commando raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla.Mr. Gul says representatives of 21 states meeting at the Asian regional summit in Istanbul spoke out against Israel's actions. Eight Turkish and one Turkish-American were killed in the Mediterranean raid. Israel, the 22nd nation at the Istanbul summit, blocked a joint declaration condemning the military operation against the aid convoy. Mr. Gul spoke in his role as the host of the international gathering. Israeli leaders say the troops involved in last week's predawn raid used deadly force after encountering resistance from people aboard the ships bound for Gaza. Israel contends that five of the nine people who were killed had links to Islamist extremist groups including Hamas and al-Qaida. The activists' convoy was trying to break an Israeli blockade and deliver aid directly to Hamas-ruled Gaza.Turkey and many other nations individually condemned Israel after last week's raid. On Sunday, Israel rejected a proposal from U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to create a multinational commission to investigate the raid saying it would carry out its own internal investigation. U.N. officials said Tuesday their understanding is that Israel is still considering whether to bring "an international element" into the investigation processIsraeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak told parliament the probe will seek to establish whether Israel's raid on the ship, and its Gaza blockade, are in keeping with international law. He said Israeli officials will draw conclusions on political and security-related matters. On Saturday, Israeli forces peacefully seized control of another aid ship trying to reach Gaza. | Diplomatic Talks _ Diplomatic_Negotiation_ Summit Meeting | June 2010 | ['(Aljazeera)', '(Voice of America)', '(Xinhua)'] |
A group of bandits attack a village in the Shinkafi local government area of Zamfara State, Nigeria, killing at least 34 civilians. The gunmen arrived on motorcycles and opened fire on civilians indiscriminately, later burning down homes. | BAUCHI, Nigeria (Reuters) - An armed gang killed at least 34 people in attacks on villages in northwest Nigeria, police said on Sunday, part of a wave of violence the government has blamed on bandits.
Hundreds of people have died in the northwest region this year, adding to security problems in a country already struggling with Islamist insurgencies in the northeast and a brutal conflict between farmers and herders in central states.
The armed gang came to unprotected villages in the northwestern state of Zamfara on Friday night, killing 34 people, said Muhammed Shehu, police spokesman for the state.
People from the village told Reuters the attackers escaped.
“We heard gunshots and saw people running for shelter, chased by men on motorbikes,” said Shehu Shinkafi.
“We immediately took cover in a house nearby, and after the bandits were done with their killing spree they moved to a nearby village,” he said, adding he counted 12 bodies in his village alone.
The gang left without any resistance as there were no security agents in the area, and it was only after the massacre that police arrived hours later, Shinkafi and two other witnesses said.
| Armed Conflict | June 2019 | ['(Reuters)'] |
Genzebe Dibaba of Ethiopia breaks the world record for women's 1,500 meters (4,900 feet) at the Herculis IAAF Diamond League event in Monaco running 3 minutes, 50.08 seconds. | Last updated on 17 July 201517 July 2015.From the section Athletics
Ethiopia's Genzebe Dibaba produced a stunning run in Friday's Monaco Diamond League meeting to set a 1500m world record of three minutes 50.08 seconds.
The 24-year-old took four seconds off her personal best to break Chinese athlete Yunxia Qu's record of 3:50.46, which had stood since September 1993.
Dibaba may not compete at the distance at next month's World Championships, having specialised in 5,000m recently.
"I'm very happy the time is so fast, very happy with this record," she said.
"Finally all of this preparation is paying off."
Dibaba, younger sister of three-time Olympic champion Tirunesh Dibaba, already held the 1500m indoor record, and broke three world bests in 15 days last year. But she is still waiting for her first major championship medal.
Her previous outdoor best had been set in Barcelona just last week, and was already the year's world-leading time.
"With the training I did in Barcelona, I knew I was going to break the record," Dibaba added, speaking through a translator.
Britain's Laura Muir finished fifth, breaking her own Scottish record in 3:58.66. Only 2004 Olympic champion Dame Kelly Holmes has run faster among Britons.
On a night of fast races, Asbel Kiprop's winning time in the men's 1500m was the fifth fastest ever.
The 26-year-old Kenyan won in a time of 3:26.69 seconds, making him the third fastest athlete over the distance.
Britain's Mo Farah ran within a tenth of a second of his personal best to finish fourth. | Break historical records | July 2015 | ['(BBC)'] |
A tourist boat sinks near the Indonesian island of Sumbawa, with at least 10 foreign tourists and 5 Indonesian crew members missing. | Two foreign tourists are still missing after a boat sank off the coast of eastern Indonesia on Saturday.
Twenty foreign tourists, an Indonesian guide and four crew were on board when the boat foundered near Sangeang Api, a volcanic island off Sumbawa.
Ten people were rescued initially and another 13, including all the crew, were found alive early on Monday. They are being treated in hospital for trauma and dehydration as a search continues for the remaining two people.
The Indonesian military has joined the search to find the two remaining tourists, a Dutch man and an Italian woman. Speedboats and a helicopter have been deployed, but authorities say rescue efforts are hampered by bad weather and high waves.
Officials said the incident took place when the boat, sailing from Lombok island to Komodo island, hit a wave that was 3m high and crashed into a reef. It sprung a leak and sank.
Rescue officials told agencies that the second group were found together by fishermen. Some of them were in a lifeboat while others were floating in their lifejackets. The survivors were now recovering in Sape city in Sumbawa, they said.
Survivors said that as the boat started sinking, some got into a lifeboat which could only take up to seven passengers. Others climbed onto the roof of the boat which had not yet completely sunk.
They eventually split into two groups when it became clear that there were not enough lifeboats nor communication tools to call for help.
One group decided to swim six to seven hours to reach Sangeang Api, while the others stayed with the lifeboat.
French survivor Bertrand Homassel was in the first group. He told AFP: "We were 5km (three miles) from the coast and there were many big waves separating us from the coast. People started to panic and everyone took the decision to swim to the closest island."
After spending the night on the island by eating leaves and drinking their own urine, that group was rescued by a passing boat on Sunday.
The other survivors who stayed with the lifeboat, who were rescued on Monday, were in the water for about 40 hours.
Dutchman Jan van Ommen said people took turns to spend time in the lifeboat and float in the water with their lifejackets. "So we had this system, and in the beginning it was not easy... but later on the system went on, and we changed and changed," Mr van Ommen told AFP.
The other tourists came from the UK, Germany, Spain, and New Zealand.
The UK Foreign Office says two British nationals were hospitalised following the incident.
The BBC's Alice Budisatrijo in Jakarta said the boat was on a three-day journey through some of Indonesia's most picturesque islands. Boats are the main form of transport in some parts of Indonesia, but accidents are common because of poor safety standards.
| Shipwreck | August 2014 | ['(BBC)'] |
China's State Councilor Dai Bingguo delivers a speech at the opening session of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change meeting in Tianjin before the U.N. climate summit in Mexico at year's end. | TIANJIN - Negotiators at a new round of UN climate talks, opening in North China's Tianjin municipality on Monday, are expected to pave the way for "concrete outcomes" at the year-end Cancun summit in Mexico, though no legally binding agreement is expected.
"A concrete outcome in Cancun is urgently needed," said Christiana Figueres, executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), at a press conference after the opening session.
"If you want a tangible outcome in December, now is the time to clarify what could constitute an achievable and politically balanced package for Cancun."
About 3,100 delegates from 177 parties under the UNFCCC and the Kyoto Protocol are attending the meeting on Oct 4-9.
They have two primary tasks. One is to narrow their differences and make a 70-page negotiating text under the UNFCCC "slimmer" to submit to the Cancun Conference scheduled for Nov 29-Dec 10 this year in Mexico.
Another task is to focus on a draft proposal and prepare a better document under the Kyoto Protocol for the Cancun Conference to facilitate agreement on more points under the Kyoto Protocol.
Three rounds of such talks have been held this year. The Tianjin gathering is the final meeting before the Cancun Conference and the first time that such a formal meeting of its kind has been convened in China.
However, there has been a broad agreement that countries would not pursue a legally binding agreement in Cancun, Figueres said.
"This year countries have realized that they can not build a tall building without putting in place the foundation for that building. Thus, the governments are focusing on the foundations of a regime."
They will identify what the "corner stones" for the foundations are and will be busy working for an agreement on each of the corner stones, she said.
At a Monday press conference, Artur Runge-Metzger, one of top negotiators of the Europe Union (EU), stressed a "filtering" of the 70-page negotiating text at the Tianjin meeting.
The EU would like to see negotiators reach a broad agreement at the Tianjin meeting on what issues can be achieved at Cancun and focus on these issues.
"What we can achieve in Cancun will only be a certain number of items that have already been in the negotiating text, which all the countries think can make sufficient progress to come to a decision," Metzger said. "As for the things not decided in Cancun, we will have to continue the negotiations."
The EU reaffirmed that it will contribute 2.4 billion euros annually from 2010 to 2012 as the bloc reiterated a quick capital injection was crucial for preparing for the implementation of the new climate change agreement.
"For the EU, multilateralism, within the UN framework, remains the core of finding global solutions for global perspective," said an EU statement distributed to the delegates.
Makase Nyaphisi, on behalf of the Least Developed Countries (LDC), said the need for adequate and accessible financial support has become more urgent in the face of continued adverse effects of climate change.
"It is not morally responsible to continue leaving the most vulnerable countries, particularly the LDCs, to overstretch their limited national resources towards addressing climate change related disasters at the expense of their social and economic developments," he said.
"We are looking forward to negotiations that would lead to creation of a new fund that will streamline the various funding sources and needs under the Convention", he said.
Negotiations on several key issues had not progressed as yet, including the future of Kyoto Protocol and the pledges put forward by the parties to slow down the growth of greenhouse gas emissions, Figueres said.
She cited the idea of "seeking commonalities while putting aside differences" raised by former Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai in 1955, saying that it is as pertinent now as it was then.
At the opening session, China's State Councilor Dai Bingguo said China will continue playing an active and constructive part in the climate talks.
Dai suggested the negotiations should stick to the basic framework of the UNFCCC and Kyoto Protocol and the mandate of the Bali Roadmap and follow the principle of "common but differentiated responsibilities."
The developed countries should set the targets to take the lead in reducing the greenhouse gases emissions and the arrangements should be made to provide adequate financial and technological support to developing countries, he said.
He also stressed China, as a country of 1.3 billion people with per capita GDP ranking about 100th in the world, faces the serious task of growing the economy and improving people's livelihood.
"At a stage of accelerated industrialization and urbanization, China's energy demand will see further reasonable growth. Therefore, we face significant constraints in controlling greenhouse gas emissions," he said.
Figueres expressed appreciation for China's efforts in hosting the meeting.
"We take it as a very symbolic gesture of China to support the inter-government process," she said.
China set an "impressive" target to reduce its carbon dioxide emission intensity by 40 to 45 percent by 2020 from 2005 levels and it has already introduced legislation to guarantee the pledge will be met, she said.
China joins other countries in agreeing to be flexible in order to reach compromises that are necessary for Cancun's success, she said. | Famous Person - Give a speech | October 2010 | ['(China Daily via Xinhua)', '(Al Jazeera)'] |
At least 64 people die in Nepal after heavy monsoonal rain triggers floods and landslides. | Dozens of people have died in Nepal as flash floods and landslides, caused by monsoon rains, have swept through villages.
Amateur video from Butwal in Nepal's Rupandehi District shows water pushing through flood defences.
Dozens dead in Nepal flooding. Video, 00:01:00Dozens dead in Nepal flooding
| Floods | July 2016 | ['(BBC)', '(Al Jazeera)'] |
Four Israel Defense Forces naval commandos are arrested by Israeli Military Police for suspected theft of laptops and cell phones from activists during May's Gaza flotilla raid. | At least four soldiers being detained on suspicion of stealing and selling laptops belonging to activists aboard the Mavi Marmara ship, Israeli media report.
Military Police arrested an Israel Defense Forces officer suspected of stealing laptop computers from activists aboard the Gaza-bound aid ship raided by Israeli commandos in May and selling them to other officers.
The officer allegedly sold the computers to a friend, who in turn sold them to friends of his. Three officers who are suspected of having bought the computers have also been detained for questioning.
The officer, who holds the rank of first lieutenant, allegedly stole between four and six computers from activists on the Mavi Marmara, which was trying to break the naval blockade on the Gaza Strip when Israel raided it, leaving nine Turkish activists dead.
Israel Navy commandos boarded six ships that made up the Gaza-bound flotilla on May 31, in an effort to prevent them from breaking through an Israeli marine blockade and reaching Gaza.
The naval commandos who boarded the sixth ship - the Mavi Marmara - were met with violence and nine Turkish activists were killed in the subsequent clashes.
News of the officers' arrests was first reported by Ynet, which quoted a high-ranking officer who said, "The investigation has just begun, but as it appears now it will prove embarrassing and shameful. These are soldiers who don't understand what their uniform represents."
Israel Radio reported that cellular phones were also stolen from the activists.
The IDF Spokesmans Office said the Military Police had opened an investigation, but said it remains unclear if the computers in question were indeed stolen from the Mavi Marmara activists.
In June, an Italian journalist who was detained by the IDF following the raid on the Gaza-bound flotilla says his credit card was used to purchase items after it was confiscated by the Israeli authorities. Automatic approval of subscriber comments. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | August 2010 | ['(Haaretz)'] |
The Sultan of Terengganu, Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin, is formally installed as the 13th Yang di–Pertuan Agong of Malaysia. , | Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin, 45, was sworn in to the post in December, as King Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin's five-year term as monarch ended.
The stock market is closed and civil servants are having the day off. Under Malaysia's rotational monarchy, the heads of each of the nine hereditary states occupy the throne for five years.
The king's role is largely ceremonial, with power in the hands of parliament and the prime minister. Malaysia is the only country in the world to have a rotating monarchy.
Malay pageantry
The king, known as Yang di-Pertuan Agong or He Who Is Made Lord, formally took office at a ceremony in the throne room of the national palace.
Sultan Mizan, pictured with Queen Nur, will rule for five years
The sultan is the former ruler of the oil-rich Terengganu state, which sent a royal court orchestra to play traditional music during the ceremony.
The king - dressed in a black ceremonial robe embroidered in gold and royal headdress - and his queen, Nur Zahirah, were seated on the thrones.
Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi proclaimed Sultan Mizan the 13th king, before an audience of the country's other sultans and government ministers.
Sultan Mizan was then presented with the royal long dagger - a symbol of power and authority - which the king drew and kissed.
He pledged to rule fairly, uphold the Islamic faith and ensure just government. A 21-gun salute followed.
Sultan Mizan is one of the youngest heads of state Malaysia has ever had - and he is already making changes, the BBC's Jonathan Kent in Kuala Lumpur says. Royal functions will now finish by 2230, so people can get to bed early.
The new king is known to enjoy sports more than parties, is a keen horseman and enjoys a round of golf, our correspondent adds. | Government Job change - Appoint_Inauguration | April 2007 | ['(The Star)', '(BBC)'] |
The British ambassador to Iran, Robert Macaire, is arrested during anti-government protests, after attending a vigil and then, according to BBC, getting his hair cut. According to Tasnim News Agency he was arrested "on suspicion of organising, provoking and directing radical actions". U.K. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab states the arrest is in "flagrant violation" of international law. More than an hour later, Macaire is released from custody. | Dominic Raab has warned Iran it risks becoming an international “pariah” after the British ambassador was arrested during anti-government protests in Tehran.
The foreign secretary said the detention of Rob Macaire, without any grounds or explanation, was a “flagrant violation” of international law. He said Tehran was at a crossroads, with the prospect of continuing political and economic isolation unless it engages diplomatically with the west.
Macaire was said to be “safe and well” in the British embassy after he was released after more than an hour in custody. His arrest came as a wave of anti-government demonstrations broke out across the country following the admission Iranian forces had accidentally brought down a Ukrainian airliner killing all 176 people on board.
It is understood that the ambassador had been attending what had been billed as a vigil for the victims of the crash at the Amir Kabir University. However the event quickly turned into an anti-government protest at which point he was said to have left.
According to Iran’s Tasnim news agency, as he tried to make his way back to the embassy he was one of the people arrested outside the university on suspicion of organising, provoking and directing radical actions. It is unclear who he was arrested by. In a statement, Raab said: “The arrest of our ambassador in Tehran without grounds or explanation is a flagrant violation of international law.
“The Iranian government is at a crossroads moment. It can continue its march towards pariah status with all the political and economic isolation that entails, or take steps to de-escalate tensions and engage in a diplomatic path forwards.”
The incident threatened to reignite tensions in the region just as they appeared to be easing.Raab’s intervention came after the Iranians admitted they had brought down the Ukrainian Airlines flight 752 shortly after takeoff, killing all 176 people on board, in a “disastrous mistake”.
The crash happened hours after Iran launched a series of ballistic missile strikes on US bases in Iraq in retaliation for the killing of its top commander, Gen Qassem Suleimani, by an American drone.
The missile strikes failed to cause any casualties and the US president, Donald Trump, indicated he would respond by tightening sanctions rather than with further military action. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | January 2020 | ['(The Guardian)'] |
American comedian Jonathan Winters dies at the age of 87 in Montecito, California. | Comedian Jonathan Winters, whose breakneck improvisations inspired Robin Williams, Jim Carrey and many others, has died at age 87.
Longtime family friend Joe Petro III says the Ohio native died Thursday evening at his Montecito, Calif., home of natural causes.
Winters was a master of improvisational comedy, with a grab bag of eccentric personalities and facial expressions. Characters such as the dirty old lady Maude Frickert were based on people Winters knew growing up in Ohio.
In the mid-1950s, The Jonathan Winters Show pioneered the then-new videotape technology on to do stunts like showing up as two characters on screen together.
He was introduced to millions of new fans in 1981 as the son of Williams’ goofball alien in the final season of ABC’s Mork and Mindy. | Famous Person - Death | April 2013 | ['(AP via Entertainment Weekly)'] |
In Tokyo, Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull says his country is “very disappointed” with Japan's decision to resume whaling, but this dispute should not be allowed to hurt the two countries' special strategic ties. Malcolm Turnbull, who replaced Tony Abbott in September, is on his first visit to Japan which will include talks with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzō Abe. | Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull expressed disappointment on Friday at Japan’s resumption of whaling in the Southern Ocean, but said the dispute over the hunt should not be allowed to hurt the two countries’ special strategic ties.
Japan’s whaling fleet set out for the Antarctic this month to resume a hunt for the mammals, ending a year-long hiatus following an International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling that Japan should stop. The resumption prompted criticism from Australia as well as Tokyo’s key ally, the United States.
“Australia is very disappointed that Japan has resumed whaling in the Southern Ocean this year,” Turnbull told a news conference in Tokyo near the start of a visit that will culminate with talks with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
“We recognize that is a point of difference of opinion but we will, as good friends should - we should be up-front and frank about our differences of opinion, put them on the table and deal with them, seek to resolve them,” Turnbull said.
But Turnbull, who faced domestic opposition pressure to speak out on whaling, said the row should not be allowed “to erode the good will and the rest of the relationship”.
Turnbull is on his first visit to Japan since replacing Tony Abbott, who had developed tight ties with Abe, in September.
He faces a balancing act between Australia’s largest trading partner and rising power, China, and its oldest regional ally and second-largest trading partner, Japan, with which it has been bolstering strategic relations.
In an interview with Japan’s Yomiuri newspaper published on Friday, Turnbull declined to comment on the outcome of competition for a contract to build a new fleet of Australian submarines.
A state-backed Japanese consortium led by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Kawasaki Heavy Industries is competing with Germany’s Thyssenkrupp and French state-controlled naval contractor DCNS.
“It is a competitive process, we are getting good progress on this from our officials, and we should let that process take its course,” the paper quoted Turnbull as saying.
| Diplomatic Talks _ Diplomatic_Negotiation_ Summit Meeting | December 2015 | ['(Reuters)', '(AP via The Washington Post)'] |
The alleged gunman in a fatal attack on Santa Cruz County deputies is also charged with last month's murder of a Federal Protective Service officer in Oakland, California. A second man is also charged as an accomplice. Both men had ties to the far-right boogaloo movement. | An Air Force sergeant who was arrested in the fatal ambush of a Santa Cruz County deputy was charged Tuesday in connection with the killing of a federal security officer during George Floyd protests in Oakland last month, authorities said.
Staff Sgt. Steven Carrillo, 32, was charged with murder and attempted murder in the killing of federal officer Dave Patrick Underwood, 53.
Underwood was one of two officers who were shot May 29 while guarding the Ronald V. Dellums Federal Building. The other officer was critically wounded in the drive-by attack. Both were members of Homeland Security's Federal Protective Service.
Authorities said Carrillo and a second man traveled to Oakland with the intent to kill police and believed the large demonstrations spurred by the death of Floyd in Minneapolis which they were not a part of would help them get away it.
"They came to Oakland to kill cops," said John Bennett, special agent in charge of the San Francisco division of the FBI.
Carrillo's alleged accomplice, Robert Justus, was also charged with murder and attempted murder.
The killing of Underwood set off a massive manhunt. Eight days later, officers showed up at Carrillo's home after they discovered an abandoned white van that belonged to him and contained ammunition, firearms and bomb-making equipment, authorities said.
Carrillo ambushed the officers, killing Santa Cruz County Sgt. Damon Gutzwiller and critically injuring another deputy, according to authorities.
Carrillo suffered a gunshot wound but managed to flee the scene on feet, authorities said. He carjacked a vehicle but was ultimately taken into custody, bleeding from his hip, authorities said.
He was charged with multiple offenses, including murder and attempted murder, in the attack on the Santa Cruz County officers.
Federal authorities said an AR-15 was recovered at the scene where Carrillo was arrested and linked to the Oakland federal courthouse shooting. The assault rifle used by Carrillo was privately made, had no markings and had a silencer attached to the barrel of the weapon, authorities said.
Investigators found inside Carrillo's vehicle a ballistic vest with a patch on it that featured an igloo and a Hawaiian-style print symbols associated with the far-right extremist "Boogaloo" movement, according to his federal complaint.
Carrillo, prior to his arrest, used his own blood to scrawl the word “boog” and “I became unreasonable” on the hood of the vehicle he carjacked, the complaint says. Both phrases are also associated with "Boogaloo," a term used by extremists to reference a violent uprising or impending civil war in the U.S., the complaint says.
Carrillo's lawyer Jeffrey Stotter said his client was a father of two who was "left deeply shaken" by his wife's death by suicide in 2018.
"At this point, all of these allegations are just that, accusations and allegations," Stotter said.
The complaint alleges Carrillo met Justus on Facebook, and that Justus gave him a ride to the rally in a white van.
According to the complaint, Carrillo wrote in a Facebook group on May 28 that the unrest is “on our coast now, this needs to be nationwide” and that “it’s a great opportunity to target the specialty soup bois."
In Boogaloo groups on Facebook and Reddit, “soup bois” is shorthand for government agencies that are abbreviated in acronyms like “alphabet soup" such as the FBI and ATF.
Online Boogaloo communities frequently post memes about targeting federal agencies in advance of another civil war.
In response to Carrillo’s message, the complaint alleges Justus wrote “let’s boogie,” another reference to the Boogaloo movement.
In Boogaloo Facebook groups, the complaint says, Carrillo was even more explicit about taking advantage of protests to stir up unrest and violence against police.
“Go to the riots and support our own cause. Show them the real targets. Use their anger to fuel our fire. Think outside the box. We have mobs of angry people to use to our advantage,” Carillo wrote in one Facebook group, according to the complaint.
Carrillo believed that the Boogaloo, or second civil war, was “kicking off now and if its not kicking off in your hood then start it,” according to the complaint.
Boogaloo groups are actively allowed on Facebook. Earlier this month, Facebook told NBC News it would stop recommending the groups in its recommendations algorithm, but the groups would be allowed on the site. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | June 2020 | ['(NBC News)'] |
Liu Xiang breaks the 50-metre backstroke swimming world record, setting it at 26.98 seconds, to win the women’s gold medal at the Asian Games. | JAKARTA (Reuters) - China’s Liu Xiang surprised even herself when she swam a world record time to win the women’s 50 metres backstroke at the Asian Games on Tuesday, storming home in 26.98 seconds to claim her first major title.
The 21-year-old’s time bettered the 27.06 seconds which her compatriot Zhao Jing swam in a bodysuit at the Rome world championships in 2009.
It was the first world record to fall in the Asian Games pool since Japan’s Kosuke Kitajima improved the 200m breaststroke mark in Busan in 2002.
“I didn’t see the result I only heard the words ‘world record’, I couldn’t believe it!,” Liu told reporters at the Jakarta pool.
“It was like a dream. I did not expect to do that! It’s not even my favourite event.”
Immediately dubbed ‘The Mermaid’ by the media back home, Liu was not going to let the fact that the event is not contested at the Olympic Games take the gloss off her achievement.
“I am just happy that I made a breakthrough,” she said.
“I don’t care whether it’s an Olympic event or not, all I care about is doing the best for myself.”
Liu, who won a bronze in the event at the 2015 world championships in Kazan, credited her recent training regime for her improvement.
“I improved my legwork over the last few months when we were training in the United States, and I think that made me better,” she said.
Former world champion and defending Asian Games champion Fu Yuanhui, who is on the comeback trail after a shoulder injury, finished second in 27.68 with Japan’s Natsumi Sakai claiming bronze in 27.91.
Fu, who became a social media sensation at the 2016 Rio Olympics due to her quirky personality, said she was delighted for her team mate.
“It’s a great thing that Liu kept the world record in Chinese hands,” said the Olympic 100m backstroke bronze medallist.
“My own performance was pretty much what I expected, I’m about 70 percent at the moment.”
Liu will race again in the 50m freestyle on Thursday and hopes to have more to celebrate then.
“Today I will not celebrate,” she said. “Maybe I will celebrate after I win a gold medal from 50m freestyle?”
| Break historical records | August 2018 | ['(ESPN)', '(Reuters India)'] |
The Islamic State reports commander Hassan Aboud has died of wounds sustained about two weeks ago in a battle near Aleppo, Syria. He was injured when a vehicle he was in struck a roadside bomb near Khanaser. | Hassan Aboud, a feared Islamic State commander and double amputee who led the jihadist group’s rank and file in a string of prominent battles in Syria, died Wednesday from wounds received in a battle near Aleppo roughly two weeks ago, a former aide and one of Mr. Aboud’s townspeople said.
Mr. Aboud, in his 30s, was admired by jihadists but despised by many Syrian rebels and activists, who accused him of betrayal and of organizing an assassination campaign against rebel leaders with whom he had collaborated before publicly defecting to the Islamic State in 2014.
Mr. Aboud, a former mason from Sarmin, a town on the flatlands of Idlib Province, was profiled in The New York Times last year.
He was wounded near Khanaser when a vehicle he was traveling in struck a roadside bomb, one of his former neighbors said. Khanaser, a town southeast of Aleppo, has been the scene of fighting between Syrian government forces and the Islamic State over control of the highway passing through the area.
His death was in many ways unsurprising — a reminder of the many perils facing the middle rank of the Islamic State, an organization fighting multiple foes on multiple fronts, under pressure from airstrikes from several nations and drawing funds from a range of criminal rackets that can attract treachery. The terrain it has held since 2014 has shrunk under this pressure.
There was no immediate indication he was killed by Russia or the United States.
His death ended a neatly predictable arc.
Mr. Aboud had been among the first Syrian rebels to organize bomb-making as the country slipped toward war in 2011, had lost both feet in a firing mishap with one of his workshops’ improvised rockets, and for nearly five years had a reputation of leading battles from the front. His behaviors predicted a short life.
Moreover, Mr. Aboud had once recorded himself singing calmly about killing his former rebel allies and townspeople and threatening to kill others — by name. With this chanting performance, known as a nasheed, he put himself squarely in the midst of lethal feuds in a vendetta-rich milieu.
His former townspeople said that he had first taken up arms in Anbar Province in Iraq early in the American occupation and that he had joined Al Qaeda there. He later returned to Syria and lived a seemingly quiet life as a mason and laborer until the Syrian uprising began in 2011.
After participating in a failed ambush against an army convoy in 2011, he formed a small fighting group, which swiftly grew into a large and hardened formation he called the Dawood Brigade.
At first the brigade avoided some of the characteristic behaviors of extreme jihadist formations, including the use of suicide bombers. By late 2013, however, one of its training videos showed instruction in such attacks.
Most of the brigade joined the Islamic State with Mr. Aboud in 2014, taking with them their weapons and a convoy of armored vehicles and tanks. | Famous Person - Death | March 2016 | ['(The New York Times)'] |
The New York Knicks fire head coach Mike Woodson. | NEW YORK (AP) — Mike Woodson was fired as coach the New York Knicks on Monday after his team fell from division champions to out of the playoffs in one season.
Phil Jackson, in his first big move since becoming team president in March, said in a statement "the time has come for change throughout the franchise."
The dismissal comes shortly after the Knicks completed a 37-45 season that began with their belief they were a serious contender.
Instead, they started poorly, making Woodson's job security practically a season-long distraction. A late surge wasn't good enough for a postseason spot or another year for Woodson.
Jackson has won an NBA-record 11 championships as a coach. He has repeatedly said he's not interested in returning to the bench, so he will have to hire someone before he turns his attention to the roster. The team said the coaching search begins immediately.
Jackson said he has a "tremendous amount of respect" for Woodson and the team "owes a great deal of gratitude" to him and his staff. Jackson called this an "extremely difficult" season and said "blame should not be put on one individual."
"But the time has come for change throughout the franchise as we start the journey to assess and build this team for next season and beyond," he added.
Woodson, a former Knicks first-round draft pick, was hired as an assistant coach before the 2011-12 season, then engineered an 18-6 finish after replacing Mike D'Antoni on an interim basis the following March to capture a playoff spot. Given a multiyear deal two months later, he then led them to a 54-28 record last season and the Knicks' first Atlantic Division championship since 1994.
New York then beat Boston in the playoffs, its first series victory since 2000, and general manager Steve Mills picked up next season's option year on Woodson's contract before this season began.
But the Knicks were saddled with some early injuries, including center Tyson Chandler's broken leg, and Madison Square Garden chairman James Dolan was already considering about replacing Woodson by December, when he met with Jackson at a holiday party and talked to him about coaching the team.
Carmelo Anthony praised his coach Thursday, but it was probably a clear sign Woodson wouldn't be back a few minutes later when Amare Stoudemire said the coach hadn't taken part in the exit meetings with players that Jackson and Mills held.
Woodson previously coached six seasons with the Atlanta Hawks, leading them to the playoffs in his final three seasons. He has a career record of 315-365.
| Government Job change - Resignation_Dismissal | April 2014 | ['(AP via Yahoo! News)'] |
UNESCO's executive board approves the "Occupied Palestine" resolution which reaffirms the cultural heritage of Palestine, especially East Jerusalem, and criticizes certain Israeli actions regarding the Palestinian territories. For the land in Jerusalem where the Al–Aqsa Mosque stands, the board uses only Islamic naming terms without also mentioning Jewish or Christian historical references. , , | The United Nations cultural agency has adopted a controversial resolution which makes no reference to Jewish ties to a key holy site in Jerusalem. Unesco's executive board approved the Arab-sponsored resolution, which repeatedly refers to only the Islamic name for a hilltop complex which is also the holiest site in Judaism.
The site is known to Jews as the Temple Mount and Haram al-Sharif to Muslims.
The resolution caused Israel to freeze co-operation with Unesco last week.
The stated aim of the text was "the safeguarding of the cultural heritage of Palestine and the distinctive character of East Jerusalem".
It criticises Israel's activities at holy places in Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank.
But it is how it refers to the sites which prompted Israel to act against the cultural body.
While acknowledging the "importance of the Old City of Jerusalem and its walls for the three monotheistic religions", the document refers to the sacred hilltop only by the name "al-Aqsa Mosque/al-Haram al-Sharif" (Noble Sanctuary).
It is the location of two Biblical Jewish temples and is flanked by the Western Wall, venerated by Jews as part of the original supporting wall of the temple compound.
Haram al-Sharif is also the place where Muslims believe the Prophet Muhammad ascended to Heaven, and is the third holiest site in Islam.
The draft refers to the precinct in front of the wall as "al-Buraq Plaza 'Western Wall Plaza'" - placing single quote marks only around "Western Wall", giving the name as it is known to Jews less weight than the one by which it is known to Muslims.
Unesco's executive board chairman Michael Worbs said on Friday he would have liked more time to work out a compromise.
He told Israeli television network Channel 10: "It's very exceptional what happened yesterday, and I'm sorry for that."
On Tuesday, Israel's Unesco ambassador, Carmel Shama Hacohen, accused the Palestinians of playing "games".
"This is the wrong place to solve problems between countries or people," he told AFP. But Palestine's deputy ambassador to Unesco, Mounir Anastas, welcomed the adoption of the resolution, saying he hoped it would put pressure on the Israeli authorities to "stop all their violations", particularly the excavation of sites in and around the Old City.
The resolution repeatedly denounced Israeli actions, including the use of force, imposition of restrictions on Muslim worshippers and archaeological work. Israel regards such criticism as politically motivated.
It led Israeli Education Minister Naftali Bennett to say Unesco was ignoring "thousands of years of Jewish ties to Jerusalem" and aiding "Islamist terror".
Unesco chief Irina Bokova also criticised the draft resolution, saying "different peoples worship the same places, sometimes under different names. The recognition, use of and respect for these names is paramount".
However, Mr Bennett said Ms Bokova's statement was insufficient. "Words are important, but they are not a replacement to the actions of the organisation she heads," he said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a Facebook post that Unesco had become a "theatre of the absurd" in taking "another delusional decision". "To say that Israel has no connection to the Temple Mount and the Western Wall is like saying that China has no connection to the Great Wall of China or that Egypt has no connection to the pyramids. By this absurd decision, Unesco has lost what little legitimacy it had left."
| Government Policy Changes | October 2016 | ['(AP)', '(BBC)', '(Haaretz)'] |
Hamas says it has reached a truce with the Israeli military following hostilities today along the Gaza-Israel border. There were no casualties. | Violence erupted along the Israel-Gaza border on Wednesday as Israeli forces and Palestinian militants exchanged fire and Israeli war jets bombed targets in the enclave, ruled by the Islamist Hamas group.
There were no immediate reports of casualties in the rare flare-up along the frontier, which has been largely quiet since a 2014 war.
The outbreak of violence coincided with work by the Israeli military to uncover tunnels being built by Gaza militants that Israel fears could be used to infiltrate its territory. The Palestinians fired mortar bombs at Israeli forces operating near the border fence, prompting fire from Israeli tanks and warplanes that bombed open areas in the northern and southern sectors of the Gaza Strip. “Our efforts to destroy the Hamas terror tunnel network, a grave violation of Israel’s sovereignty, will not cease or be deterred,” military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Peter Lerner said.The Hamas armed wing, Izz el-Deen Al-Qassam Brigades, said the raid was a violation of the 2014 ceasefire and demanded that Israel pull out its forces “immediately”.”The enemy must not make pretexts and must leave Gaza immediately, they should deal with their fears and concerns outside the separation line,” the group said in a statement.
A senior Hamas official in exile, Moussa Abu Marzouk, said calm along the Gaza-Israel border was being restored following intervention with the two sides on the part of Egypt, which brokered the truce that stopped the 2014 war.
“Contacts were made with Egyptian brothers, who sponsored the last ceasefire agreement. Their response was quick, serious, which helped restore things to where they were before,” Abu Marzouk in a post on his official Facebook page.
On Tuesday Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu inspected a large tunnel discovered in April on the Israeli side of the border. Israel said it had been dug by Hamas.
Israeli security sources say half a dozen classified anti-tunnel technologies have long been under development, though held up by funding problems that were partly alleviated by a U.S. research grant of $40 million this year.
Hamas leaders, while stressing they do not seek an imminent war, see tunnels as a strategic weapon in any armed confrontation with Israel and have vowed not to stop building them.
More than 2,100 Palestinians, mostly civilians, were killed during the 2014 Gaza conflict. Sixty-seven Israeli soldiers and six civilians in Israel were killed by rockets and attacks by Hamas and other militant groups.
| Sign Agreement | May 2016 | ['(The Jerusalem Post)', '(Reuters)'] |
In compliance with recent UN Security Council resolutons, President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda announces an end to security and military cooperation with North Korea. | SEOUL (Reuters) - Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni said his country would halt security and military cooperation with North Korea, a South Korean official said following a summit in Kampala between Museveni and South Korean President Park Geun-hye.
Uganda hosted 45 North Koreans providing police training as recently as December, according to a February report by a United Nations panel of experts. Another report by the panel last year said North Koreans trained Ugandan police on the use of AK-47s and pistols.
Isolated North Korea has come under growing diplomatic pressure in the aftermath of its January nuclear test and a space rocket launch in February, which led to a United Nations Security Council resolution in March tightening sanctions against Pyongyang.
“During the summit, Uganda’s President Museveni... said he had ordered (officials) to faithfully enforce the U.N. Security Council resolution including halting of its security, military and police cooperation with North Korea,” Jeong Yeon-guk, a spokesman for Park, told reporters in the Ugandan capital on Sunday, according to the presidential Blue House in Seoul.
Uganda abstained from voting on all nine U.N. General Assembly resolutions on North Korean human rights for which votes were counted since 2005, a record mirrored by countries including India, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Mali and Qatar.
| Government Policy Changes | May 2016 | ['(Reuters)'] |
18 people die in Brazil after contracting hospital "superbug" bacteria Klebsiella pneumoniae; which produces the enzyme carbapenemase , which renders most modern antibiotics ineffective. | They were infected with bacteria which produce the enzyme Klebsiella pneumoniae Carbapenemase (KPC), which renders most modern antibiotics ineffective.
It tends to infect hospitalised people whose immune system is already weakened, and those taking antibiotics.
Health officials say 183 people have been infected in Brasilia.
The number of those carrying the bacteria has risen sharply over the past three weeks, but a spokeswoman for the capital's health authority said the increase could be due to more rigorous testing.
A similar outbreak is being reported in hospitals in Chicago, in the United States.
Denise Cardo, an official with the Center for Disease Control in the US, said she had seen an increase in hospital infections in recent years.
"There is no need to panic, but there is a need for a call for action," she told the Associated Press news agency.
The bacteria were first identified in the United States in 1999 and studies suggest they kill 40% of the people they infect. Brazilian health authorities think that the indiscriminate use of antibiotics could have contributed to the spread of the bacteria.
They said they would bring in new regulations to prevent the sale of antibiotics without prescriptions.
| Disease Outbreaks | October 2010 | ['(KPC)', '(BBC)'] |
At least 40 Iraqis are killed and dozens injured in the town of Mahmoudiya south of Baghdad in an insurgent attack. | Mortars were fired into the open-air market before at least 20 gunmen opened fire on the panicking crowds.
Many women and children were among the casualties, while most of the victims were believed to be Shia Muslims.
The town, which has a mixed Shia and Sunni population, has been the scene of frequent bombings and shootings.
Local police sources in Mahmoudiya said the market was attacked with mortars, after which gunmen rampaged through it firing at shops and civilians.
They killed people who were eating their breakfast in restaurants and people going to work
Abu Ali al-MasoudiMahmoudiya council
Security officials in Baghdad said the explosions were caused by car bombs, but that account was contradicted by reports from the scene.
The Associated Press reported that three Iraqi soldiers had been killed at a checkpoint in the town prior to the attack on the market.
'Saddamists'
Correspondents say the attack sent shock waves through the town, with frantic relatives involved in tense confrontations with security forces at the local hospital.
The attack has sent shock waves through the town
"You are strong men only when you face us, but you let them do what they did to us," AP reported one local man shouting at the guards.
Speaking on Iraqi TV, Abu Ali al-Masoudi, head of Mahmoudiya's council, described the raid as a "Saddamist plot".
"They burned shops and the market and killed people who were eating their breakfast in restaurants and people going to work."
In Baghdad, MPs from Moqtadr Sadr's Islamist faction walked out of parliament, apparently suspecting the attack was targeting a Shia funeral procession.
Northern tensions
Late on Sunday, at least 23 people were killed in a suicide bomb attack in a cafe in the northern Iraqi town of Tuz Khurmatu, 170km north of Baghdad.
Police said the cafe was close to a Shia mosque in an area populated by Turkmen.
There are tensions between the Turkmen and Kurdish populations but the motive for the attack was unclear. In the past 24 hours, almost 100 Iraqi civilians have been killed in violence across the country. | Riot | July 2006 | ['(BBC)'] |
The United States Supreme Court weighs the case of a California constitutional amendment banning same–sex unions, passed after gay marriage became legal there. | The justices of the US Supreme Court have questioned the meaning of marriage and the government's role in defining it, as they weigh whether the state of California may ban same-sex nuptials.
Following Tuesday's arguments, the court could uphold the 2008 ban, narrowly overturn it, or invalidate all state same-sex marriage bans in the US.
The ban's defenders argued the issue should be decided by individual states.
Recent opinion polls have shown a rapid rise in support for same-sex marriage.
As arguments began on Tuesday, justices first discussed whether the organisation defending the ban, known as Proposition 8, had legal standing to bring the case to the high court.
Proposition 8 was approved by California voters in a referendum in November 2008, but the state government declined to defend it in federal courts.
If the justices rule that the ban's supporters have no such standing, they would invalidate only the California law while leaving same-sex marriage bans standing in dozens of other states. That is because lower courts have already overturned the ban.
The Supreme Court justices also discussed whether the ability to procreate was crucial to the legal definition of marriage.
"There are lots of people who get married who can't have children," Justice Stephen Breyer said after a lawyer in support of the ban, Charles Cooper, argued that procreation and child-rearing were fundamental to a state's interest in marriage. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg also brought up a previous Supreme Court case in which justices ruled prison inmates have a right to marry even though they may be prevented from procreating.
Justice Anthony Kennedy, often seen as a swing vote between the four conservative and four liberal justices, suggested that children of same-sex couples would suffer an "immediate legal injury" under the ban.
But he also said he feared the court would enter "uncharted waters".
"We have five years of information to pose against 2,000 years of history or more," he said.
Chief Justice Roberts said he was unsure prohibiting same-sex couples from marrying denied them rights, while Justice Sonia Sotomayor asked Mr Cooper what injury same-sex marriage would cause the ban's defenders.
Justice Samuel Alito appeared to sound a note of caution.
"You want us to step in and render a decision based on an assessment of the effects of this institution which is newer than cellphones or the internet?" he said. "I mean, we do not have the ability to see the future."
Supporters of same-sex marriage were in the majority outside the US high court as the morning began, says the BBC's Steve Kingstone. But then hundreds of Proposition 8's defenders turned up, accompanied by a band of kilted pipers, and there were arguments between the antagonists, our correspondent reports. On Wednesday, the Supreme Court will hear another case on same-sex marriage: a challenge to a federal law defining marriage as between a man and a woman only. The 1996 law, the Defense of Marriage Act, denies federal tax and other benefits to same-sex married couples.
Both cases are expected to be decided by June.
Currently, nine US states and Washington DC permit same-sex marriage. Twelve other states allow civil unions or domestic partnerships that provide varying degrees of state marriage benefits, but do not allow couples to marry.
Recent opinion polls have shown a rapid growth in public support for the issue, with most Americans now believing it should be legal.
The Supreme Court cases follow a flurry of declarations in support of gay marriage by high-profile figures, including last week by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Days earlier, Ohio's Rob Portman became the first Republican senator to back gay marriage.
And now three Democratic senators - Claire McCaskill of Missouri, Mark Warner of Virginia and Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia - have adopted the same stance.
.
| Government Policy Changes | March 2013 | ['(BBC)'] |
The US Senate confirms Ashton Carter as the 25th Secretary of Defense. | WASHINGTON — The Senate voted 93-5 Thursday to confirm Ashton Carter as Defense secretary, installing a long-time Pentagon insider at the top of the nation's war effort.
Carter, 60, succeeds Chuck Hagel who never really recovered from a bruising confirmation fight in 2013. Carter, by contrast, easily navigated his confirmation hearing and won unanimous support from the Armed Services Committee.
"Ash Carter served as a key leader of our national security team in the first years of my presidency, and with his overwhelming bipartisan confirmation by the Senate today, I'm proud to welcome him back as our next secretary of Defense," President Obama said in a statement.
A physicist by training, Carter has served under 11 Defense secretaries and most recently was the No. 2 official there. President Obama passed him over in favor of Hagel two years ago, but returned to him after Hagel offered his resignation under pressure in November.
Hagel was confirmed by a partisan 58-41 vote in 2013.
Senate approval for Carter was nearly a foregone conclusion after the chairman and ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, John McCain, R-Ariz., and Jack Reed, D-R.I., offered strong support for him prior to the vote.
"I think Dr. Carter will be a good secretary of Defense, who will always keep faith with our men and women in uniform and work tirelessly on their behalf and that of our national security," McCain said Thursday.
Carter, Reed said, "is the right leader at the right time" for the Defense Department.
Last week, Carter told the committee that he was open to reconsidering the pace of withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan, scheduled for the end of 2016, and that he was inclined to send lethal aid to Ukraine to help it defend its borders from Russian-backed separatists. Both stands could put him at odds with the White House.
McCain, however, questioned whether Carter could withstand "micromanagement" from the White House. Former Defense secretaries Leon Panetta and Robert Gates complained late last year of undue meddling by White House aides.
However, Gates, in a recent interview with USA TODAY, said Carter is well qualified to lead the Pentagon. Carter's relationship with Obama and White House officials will serve him well, Gates said.
"The difference is that Ash has served more than five years with this administration," Gates said. "So he knows this president; this president knows him. He knows all the players at multiple levels. They will be familiar to him, and he to them. That'll make a big difference in terms of working relationships." | Government Job change - Appoint_Inauguration | February 2015 | ['(USA Today)'] |
At least 20 people are killed and three more are wounded after a bus overturns after being hit by a truck in Asyut, Egypt. | Photos released by the governor’s office showed a burned-out bus with rescue teams looking for survivors.
A bus has overturned while trying to pass a truck on a highway in southern Egypt, causing a collision that killed at least 20 people and injured three others.
The bus was travelling from Cairo when it turned over and was hit by the truck on a road in the southern governorate of Assiut, 320km (199 miles) south of the capital Cairo, Assiut Governor Essam Saad said in a statement. Both vehicles caught fire.
Photos released by the governor’s office showed a burned-out bus with rescue teams looking for survivors. The victims were taken to nearby hospitals.
Thirty-six ambulances rushed to the scene, the health ministry said.
Traffic accidents kill thousands every year in Egypt, which has a poor transportation safety record. Crashes are mostly caused by speeding, bad roads, or poor enforcement of traffic laws.
Eighteen people were killed in March when a truck collided with a minibus in the Giza governorate. At least 20 people were killed and nearly 200 people wounded injured when two trains collided near Tahta, about four hours south of the capital, last month.
The country’s official statistics agency says about 10,000 road accidents took place in 2019, the most recent year for which statistics are available, killing more than 3,480 people. In 2018, there were 8,480 car accidents, causing 3,080 deaths | Road Crash | April 2021 | ['(Al Jazeera)'] |
According to the Israeli army, a Palestinian female suicide bomber was caught in the Erez Crossing, carrying explosives and a detonator in her underwear. Israeli media added that she planned to carry out a suicide bombing attack in the Soroka hospital, where she received medical treatment and was scheduled for a doctor's appointment The woman was identified as Wafa Samir Ibrahim Bass and said she was sent by the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades. The al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades decline to comment. , | Gaza resident Wafa Samir Ibraim Bas, 21 was carrying more than 10 kilograms (more than 22 pounds) of explosives and was picked up thanks to electronic anti-terror means utilized at the crossing.
Army officials said the woman surrendered only after attempting to detonate the charge at the crossing itself.
The woman was scheduled to arrive at Soroka hospital in the Southern town of Be’er Sheva for some tests Monday, and was hoping to take advantage of the medical appointment to carry out a suicide attack.
During her interrogation, the would-be bomber said she was sent by the Fatah’s al-Aqsa Brigades. The group sought to utilize the humanitarian permits issued to the woman and instructed her to carry out the attack at the hospital, she said.
Erez crossing reopens
Sappers later blew up the explosives in a controlled detonation and authorities later reopened the crossing.
IDF official Avi Levy told Ynet that despite the incident, the army is "making a distinction between terror groups who want to carry attacks and Palestinian civilians who want to make a living."
Explosives blown up in a controlled detonation
Meanwhile, security forces have foiled 45 terror plots involving women during the more than four years of the intifada, while eight attacks were carried out. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Arrest | June 2005 | ['(the army has not confirmed this.)', '(Haaretz NewsFlash)', '(Ynet)', '(BBC)', '(Al-Jazeera)'] |
Anti–disengagement protesters rally in Sderot. The organizers said the crowd numbered 50,000, but police estimated the figure between 10,000 and 15,000. Some 18,000 troops and 12,000 police are involved in preventing protesters from getting to the Gush Katif Israeli settlement on the Gaza Strip. , , | Settler leaders on Thursday decided to send a convoy of vehicles from the Negev town of Ofakim to the Gaza Strip in an attempt to enter the area illegally via dirt paths and side roads to protest the pullout. Settler leaders decided to send the convoy instead of holding a protest rally in Ofakim, followed by an attempted march on the Gaza settlement bloc of Gush Katif. They held a rally in the same town Wednesday night, after which police blocked the Gaza march.An army official told the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee on Thursday that an estimated 600-800 people had infiltrated the Strip in the last few days.
Settlers plan to continue sending people into the Strip next week as well, despite military orders closing off the area to non-resident Israelis.Only a few hundred right-wing activists and police officers remained in the Ofakim area Thursday afternoon, after most of the thousands of protesters who had been there the night before left the area. In the evening, Southern District commander Uri Bar-Lev ordered the remaining police officers to leave the Ofakim region. However, many police officers will continue to guard the roadblocks leading to Gush Katif in an attempt to prevent infiltrations.Police Commissioner Moshe Karadi said Thursday the Ofakim protest would continue to be legal only until 11 A.M. Friday. If protesters are still in the area at that point, he said, police will hold a meeting to discuss whether to evacuate them by force.Pullout protesters said they planned to take a break of several hours Friday and would spend the Sabbath in Ofakim. Organizers plan to call for pullout opponents to return to the town Saturday night and Sunday in order to renew protests and infiltration efforts.Some 200 protesters at the Kissufim crossing on the Gaza border clashed periodically Thursday morning with security forces and attempted to break through the crossing and head to Gush Katif. IDF officer: Infiltrators endangering their livesA senior Israel Defense Forces officer told Israel Radio on Thursday morning that the young pullout opponents attempting to enter Gaza illegally were endangering their lives.An infiltration warning near Nisanit overnight put all IDF forces in the area on high alert. Troops were called to the scene and, just before they opened fire, it became clear the infiltrators were pullout opponents and not Palestinian gunmen. Colonel Yossi Morali, commander of the IDF's northern Gaza brigade, told the radio he fears a disaster. He noted this was not the first incident of its kind. Morali said some of the infiltrators arrested in Nisanit overnight were 10- and 11-year-old children who did not understand what was going on. One of the children collapsed during the events. On Wednesday night, an IDF armored vehicle overturned while in pursuit of pullout opponents who were trying to enter the Gaza Strip via dirt roads. There were no casualties caused in the accident. Police Southern District Commander Major General Uri Bar-Lev told settler leaders and rabbis Wednesday night that they were not to go beyond Peduyim junction on the outskirts of Ofakim and approach the Gaza Strip. Thousands of protesters slept at the junction, Israel Radio reported, while police and army units encircled the area to ensure no infiltrators leave the site en-route to the Gaza Strip. After the IDF vehicle flipped overnight during a chase, Bar-Lev announced he would order dozens of buses to evacuate the protesters at sunup. Police say this is why the settlers agreed to go back to Ofakim. Early Thursday morning, many of the pullout opponents headed back to their base of operations at Ofakim. Yesha Council official Tzvi Bar-Hai told the protesters at Peduyim Junction that due to harsh conditions at the site, the rally organizers have decided to return to Ofakim and prepare to continue the demonstration. Shortly after 6 A.M., a settler rabbi at the junction called to the demonstraters using a loudspeaker, instructing them to wake up and make their way back to the Negev town. He said morning prayers would be held there, rather than on the road at Peduyim junction. | Protest_Online Condemnation | August 2005 | ['(INN)', '(BBC)', '(HaAretz)'] |
A crowd of over 500,000 gather in Washington DC, U.S., to advocate for women's rights and address the inauguration of Donald Trump | A day after the presidential inauguration of Donald Trump, millions nationwide and around the world marched in support of women’s rights. • Huge crowds converge on flagship Washington march. • Hundreds of thousands at Los Angeles march alone
• Did you march? Tell us why. • See the marches around the world. Fox News gives minimal coverage to women’s march and reinstates media divide
By Mary McNamara
The three main cable news networks may have been equal in their wall-to-wall coverage of Friday’s inauguration and its festivities, but during Saturday’s coverage of the Women’s March on Washington, the historical divide between Fox News and its compatriots was firmly reinstated. CNN, MSNBC and Fox News were all dinged by many viewers for choosing to open their Saturday morning coverage with footage of newly minted President Trump at the National Prayer Service rather than the estimated 500,000 marchers. But by midmorning, while CNN and MSNBC had turned their multi-screened attention to the throngs of protesters, Fox, which had drawn a tweet of praise from the president for its coverage of the inauguration, continued to do just that. Showing shots of the White House, Fox recapped the previous day’s events, discussed the swearing-in of the secretary of Defense and reported on the Trump family’s bowling in their new Pennsylvania Avenue home. As the day wore on and millions marched and rallied around the country, commentators at MSNBC and CNN repeatedly expressed surprise at the number of people involved and invited a wide range of conversation about what such an event could mean for the country. Read More
A look at some of the protests that changed U.S. history (and others that didn’t)
By Mark Z. Barabak
Like a great pink-capped wave, rolling from one edge of the country to the other, more than a million protesters marched through the streets of America on Saturday in an unprecedented show of discontent scarcely a day into the new Trump administration. From resort towns like Bend, Ore., to the skyscraper-lined streets of New York City, it was an outpouring that surely gladdened critics of President Trump and lifted the faint spirits of Democrats crushed by his upset victory. But once the protest signs come down and buoyant marchers tuck their “pussy hats” away in their closets, what remains is a stark reality facing the left-leaning throngs: a government in Washington run by the GOP and more than 30 state capitals where Republicans enjoy unchecked control. Politically, that is the kind of breakwater that can dash the strongest wave. Read More
How well did Los Angeles work during Saturday’s Women’s March? Our architecture critic’s report card
By Christopher Hawthorne
Any big political march is both a test of a city’s spatial limitations and an exercise in seeing and using that city in a new way. This may be especially true in Los Angeles, a city still trying to shake off an outdated reputation as a place without a significant pedestrian culture or vibrant public realm. The Los Angeles edition of Saturday’s women’s march was in that sense another sign of the city’s continuing effort to redefine, or at least recalibrate, its public-ness. What really struck me Saturday as I watched the march descend on Pershing Square and make its way to the foot of City Hall, was how certain spaces and corridors absorbed the unusual mass of humanity far better than others. The LAPD called it the largest gathering downtown since the immigration rights protests of 2006, attracting “hundreds of thousands” of people, according to multiple media reports. At several moments, bottlenecks of these masses suggested overtaxed spaces and an inadequate infrastructure (and maybe also imperfect planning for the march itself). Other times, the crowd moved easily from one block to the next. As I stood crowded in by a mass of marchers, it wasn’t difficult to think that ‘radical flatness' would be an improvement in handling crowds of this size. All morning, from what I could see, the marchers were jovial and relaxed, even when they seemed hopelessly stuck. My short-form report card reads this way: low to middling marks for Metro and Pershing Square, high ones for Grand Park. Read More
Bras hung from trees outside the Women’s March, and other forms of feminine protest
By Meredith Woerner
The trees were filled with bras outside the Women’s March on Washington. Behind the rally stage, branches were draped with brassiers, presumably from the participants in the march. “Enough is enough! Stop the war on women. Leave Medicare, Medicaid and Planned Parenthood alone!! !” read one sign. “Resist!” said another. Bras weren’t the only feminine intimate product used to send messages. Marchers wrote notes of protest on women’s sanitary pads that were affixed to a wall. Among the messages: “Women’s rights are human rights!” “My body, my choice!” “Nasty women fight orange trolls.” And with a drawing of a wire hanger, “Never again!” ‘With every drop of blood and every tear’: The artists who took to the streets for the L.A. women’s march
By Carolina A. Miranda
It is often artists who are a public voice of opposition. And artists need to bring that voice of opposition to this cause — with every drop of blood and every tear. Catherine Opie, artist
They began to gather just after 7 a.m. Saturday at the Good Luck Gallery, a small art space on Chung King Road in Los Angeles’ Chinatown. Owner Paige Wery, who showcases the work of outsider artists, threw open the doors in advance of the women’s march in Los Angeles to offer artists, friends and colleagues a base from which to attend the downtown action. She also offered hot coffee, a bathroom and a table full of art supplies — so that last-minute arrivals could produce protest posters. Paul Kopeikin, who runs Culver City’s Kopeikin Gallery, showed up with boxes of doughnuts and a fabric sign on his back that read “Not My President.”
“I think artists feel they belong to a group that is directly affected,” said Kopeikin, bearing a placard that reads “Unity!”
Read More----------------
Carolina A. Miranda has spent inauguration weekend following L.A.'s cultural institutions big and small to see how they are responding -- or not -- to the beginning of the Trump administration. Here are some of her other dispatches:
The Actors’ Gang joins theater world’s national call to create light for ‘dark times’
The L.A. artist who lip-synced Donald Trump’s inauguration speech as a clown
Artist R.H. Quaytman blocks public access to her MOCA painting in protest of Trump inauguration
A free comic offers artist ‘Resist!’-ance at the Hammer Museum
Artist Edgar Arceneaux on inauguration day at LACMA recalls Reagan’s inaugural gala
Abraham Lincoln was at the Women’s March on Washington. See who else was there
Huge crowds converge on the nation’s capital for Women’s March on Washington. Gloria Steinem on Women’s March participants: ‘I think I just had to wait for some of my friends to be born’
By Meredith Woerner
The Women’s March on Washington may have been filled with celebrities, singers and all sorts of Hollywood A-listers, but it was longtime feminist and writer Gloria Steinem who really revved up the crowd. Upon exiting the Women’s March after her keynote speech in which she emphasized that protest means more than hitting the “send” button, a crowd formed around Steinem. Mothers rushed up to introduce their daughters to her; protesters held out their signs for her autograph. Even California’s Wendy Carrillo seemed excited to tell Steinem that she she is a candidate to replace Xavier Becerra in the 34th Congressional District. “I’m running!” Carrillo exclaimed. We spoke with Steinem briefly and asked her to elaborate on the speech she gave during Saturday’s rally. “We’re doing it,” Steinem said. “Pressing send does not allow us to empathize with other people. ... If you hold a baby you’re flooded with empathy. If you see somebody in an accident you want to help them. I love books, but [empathy] doesn’t happen from a book. It doesn’t happen from a screen. It only happens when we’re together.” As for the day itself, Steinem appeared to be elated. “I think I just had to wait for some of my friends to be born,” she remarked. And as the day turned to dusk, a flock of fans from behind the police barricades still chanted, “Glor-i-a, Glor-i-a.” Watch Steinem’s speech below:
London women gathered at Trafalgar Square
By Christina Boyle
The atmosphere was jubilant at the London Women’s March as protesters walked through the capital loudly chanting “Build bridges not walls,” and “Stand united, we will never be divided.”
The signs held aloft against the election of President Donald Trump ranged from angry to comical. “We shall overcomb,” said one of them, with a handwritten drawing of the new White House resident’s unruly hair. The march began at the U.S. Embassy at about noon and wound its way to Trafalgar Square, where there was a rally and speeches. Traffic was diverted, and there was a heavy police presence but a deep sense of solidarity and sisterhood among those present -- which included a large number of men and children as well as women of all ages. “Things are really bad, we are really going backwards,” said Londoner Amy Woodrow Arai, 38, who attended with her mother, partner and 18-month-old son. “Thought this was going to be tough, but the atmosphere was really positive. It was so moving to see so many women there.”
London mayor Sadiq Khan attended, along with local politicians. Singer Lilly Allen was also among the crowds. Labor MP Harriet Harman said Trump’s victory caused real concerns that fundamental rights would regress. “This is a very important antidote to feeling passively disempowered and a sense that things are going to be pushed back,” she said. Temperatures hovered around freezing for much of the day with bright blue skies overhead. Organizers said up to 100,00 people attended, but police did not release official figures. The art of the satirical sign on display along the Mall
Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez captured these images of the people and placards along the Woman’s March route in Washington. Even in New York, hardly anybody ever saw a day like this
By Barbara Demick
New Yorkers were struggling to to remember when there might have been more people out on the streets than during Saturday’s woman’s march -- perhaps back in 1982, when there was a huge anti-nuclear protest, or during the marches against the Vietnam War, or more recently, after the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Organizers estimated the crowd Saturday at 250,000, about four times what had been expected, and some police officers said they thought it was larger. Women and men, girls and boys, more people than even jaded New Yorkers could imagine, gridlocked the streets and sidewalks from Dag Hammarskjöld Plaza near the United Nations, jamming 42nd Street and Fifth Avenue as they headed up to Trump Tower, the permanent residence of the newly inaugurated president. The soaring atrium of Grand Central Station was filled with balloons, signs and people in costume. “This was the Woodstock of your generation,’’ a 73-year-old retiree, John Molanphy, said while riding home on the subway in a hand-knitted pink hat. “I’d been to big demonstrations before in New York, but nothing like this.’’
The atmosphere was friendly. There was no sign of riot gear anywhere. Marchers waved at police and police often waved back. In front of Trump Tower, a march organizer balanced a loudspeaker on the roof of a police car to cheer on marchers while a police officer helped hold it in place. To a large extent, the march had the blessing of the city leadership under Democratic Mayor Bill de Blasio. “Look around you. We are together. We are united. We are always New York. Let’s march,’’ roared Chirline McCray, the mayor’s wife, who opened the rally at the beginning of the march. In addition to official power, there was plenty of star power: Rosie Perez, Whoopi Goldberg, Helen Mirren and Taylor Schilling of “Orange is the New Black.’’
Although Donald Trump is a native New Yorker, many in his hometown aren’t fans. “We hate him because we know him,’’ said Nadine Hoffman, a veteran activist. No surprise, since New York is one of the creative capitals of the country, the march turned into an outdoor art gallery of imaginative posters, many of them featuring cats (a reference to a video leaked during the campaign in which Trump referred to female anatomy), and others with coat hangers (a reference to fears that women will be forced to return to the days of illegal abortions.) A few samples of those that were clean enough for a family newspaper. “You can’t comb over corruption.”
@fakesign. Highly overrated. Just say Nyet. It appeared there were nearly as many men as women in the crowds. One man carried a sign that read, “I’m with her and her and her and her and her.”
Another carried a young baby in a backpack with an attached sign that read, “My papa is a feminist.”
Jesse Jackson photobombs Cher interview at Women’s March on Washington
By Meredith Woerner
Cher appeared at the Women’s March on Washington to lend her support to the movement sparked by the reaction to Donald Trump’s election. “I want to let people know that I’m here for them and I believe in this movement,” she said. “I want people to go away from here and join organizations and keep protesting.”
When asked how she as an artist will reflect the change she wants to see in America, she said, “I want to protest. I want to speak up. I want to lend my name. I want to do everything that’s possible that I can think of. I’m just so astonished that everybody came.”
At that point, an old friend of Cher’s stuck his head into the shot and joked that maybe he should open her next show. It was civil rights leader Jesse Jackson. “We’ve known each other forever,” Cher said with delight. When Jackson was asked how many Cher concerts he’d been to, he slyly said, “Since I was a kid.”
This brought out a big laugh from Cher, who hit Jackson on the chest and teased, “Since you were a kid!”
They both laughed together and then moved off into the crowd. See the full video below:
Cher and Jesse Jackson at the Women’s March on Washington. An organizer of 2006 immigration march speaks out: Today’s crowd is younger, more diverse
By Ruben Vives
Jorge Rodriguez, 64, has been involved in civil rights movements since he was a teenager. He participated in demonstrations to protest immigration raids and to call for amnesty for immigrants living in the country illegally during the 1970s and 80s. Rodriguez, who lives in South Pasadena, was also one of the organizers of the immigrant-rights protest of 2006 that drew an estimated 500,000 people. Glancing at the sea of people that stretched from First Street to Grand Avenue, Rodriguez said he noticed the crowd was younger. “It’s great,” he said. “The fact that there’s more women here is a testament of the resistance, and it’s not just women, but families.” Rodriguez said the crowd was also more diverse than the 2006 immigration march. “I knew it was going to be a big march because people are upset and they want to fight,” he said. “People won’t want their rights taken away.” Rodriguez is hoping that the march will inspire people to find ways to fight against injustice and hold elected officials accountable. “I have hope,” he said. “There’s a new generation that is stepping up to stop injustice.” The march in Washington is winding down
By Matt Pearce
Indigenous women were among the last to sing along Constitution Ave.
By Matt Pearce
The women’s march has seriously wound down. Several hundred demonstrators are still massed in front of the White House, but Constitution Ave. has finally been cleared. The final contingent to march on Constitution was an indigenous women’s group, Indigenous Women Rise, that sang while marching before coming to a stop in front of the White House and giving prayer. After giving each other hugs, the women melted away, and police vehicles began to drive through the street and urge stragglers to get back on the sidewalks. Las Vegas marcher says Trump made a bad bet against Obamacare
By David Montero
Amanda Grossi, a freelance translator, was in danger of losing her jobs because she couldn’t afford glasses. Then came the Affordable Care Act. Suddenly, seeing her work was within sight. | Protest_Online Condemnation | January 2017 | ['(The New York Times)', '(L.A. Times)'] |
Authorities in Myanmar and Bangladesh prepare for the arrival of Cyclone Mahasen, which has already killed at least seven people and displaced nearly 4,000 in Sri Lanka. | SITTWE, Myanmar (Reuters) - Authorities in Myanmar struggled on Wednesday to evacuate tens of thousands of people, most of them Rohingya Muslims, before a cyclone reaches camps in low-lying regions that have been their home since ethnic and religious unrest last year.
Cyclone Mahasen has already killed at least seven people and displaced 3,881 in Sri Lanka, its Disaster Management Center said on Tuesday.
The storm is moving north over the Bay of Bengal and is expected to reach land on Thursday, hitting north of Chittagong in Bangladesh.
The Myanmar government had planned to move 38,000 internally displaced people, most of them Rohingya Muslims, by Tuesday but many have refused to relocate from camps in Rakhine State in the west of the country, afraid of the authorities’ intentions.
At least 192 people were killed in June and October last year in violence between ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and Rohingya, who are denied citizenship by the government in Myanmar and considered by many Buddhists to be immigrants from Bangladesh.
At a camp near the sea by Hmanzi Junction on the outskirts of Sittwe, the capital of Rakhine State, several people told Reuters they would rather perish in the storm than evacuate.
“We arrived here last year because of the clashes between Rakhine and Muslims. I lost everything. Both my mother and my two young daughters died,” said Hla Maung, 38, a Muslim.
“If the cyclone hits here, I will pray to Allah. Everyone here wants to die in the storm because we lost everything last year.”
The U.N. Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, which is helping Myanmar’s government in Rakhine State, said the storm appeared to have weakened but could still threaten 8.2 million people in northeast India, Bangladesh and Myanmar.
There are up to 250,000 Rohingya living in southern Bangladesh, many of whom fled from Myanmar in the early 1990s complaining of abuses by the army.
The U.N. refugee agency said about 40,000 Rohingyas in Bangladesh were living in two unofficial sites and the government had given an assurance that everyone would get help.
Authorities in Bangladesh started moving people out of low-lying areas on the coast as the storm approached to within 800 km (500 miles). It was likely to intensify and bring a storm surge of up to 2.1 meters (seven feet), authorities said.
The port in the Bangladeshi city of Chittagong and the airport in Cox’s Bazar were closed on Wednesday.
The evacuations in Myanmar are seen as a test of the government’s willingness to help the Rohingya, an impoverished, long-persecuted people who bore the brunt of sectarian violence in Rakhine State and suffered before that during half a century of military rule.
Hla Maung and others had rejected efforts by the U.N. refugee agency on Tuesday to move them to a nearby army barracks. They were told early on Wednesday they could take shelter in a school, but many still refused to go.
Most of the people in the camp had lived in Thandawli, a village in the Sittwe region destroyed in last June’s violence.
About 140,000 people were displaced in June and a second wave of violence in October.
Even before the storm developed, the United Nations has said about 69,000, most of them Rohingya Muslims, were living in Rakhine State in accommodation at risk of flooding and other damage during the rainy season, which starts this month.
It warned last week there could be a humanitarian catastrophe if people were not evacuated.
One of a small convoy of boats carrying Rohingya Muslims capsized at around midnight on Monday after hitting rocks off Pauktaw in Rakhine State. Official media said 42 people had been rescued but 58 were missing. Some reports have said eight bodies were found.
Speaking at a coordination meeting for Cyclone Mahasen in Yangon on Tuesday, President Thein Sein urged officials to use the experience gained in 2008 after Cyclone Nargis killed up to 140,000 people in the Irrawaddy Delta, south of the main city, Yangon. He stressed the need to treat everyone equally.
“Security, safety, food and health care are crucial. And it’s very important to carry out relief work on humanitarian grounds for all regardless of race and religion,” official papers quoted him as saying.
Myanmar is a mainly Buddhist country but about 5 percent of its 60 million people are Muslims. They face a growing anti-Muslim campaign led by radical Buddhist monks and a Reuters Special Report found apartheid-like policies were segregating Muslims from Buddhists in Rakhine State.
| Hurricanes_Tornado_Storm_Blizzard | May 2013 | ['(Reuters)'] |
Typhoon Soudelor strengthens to the strongest storm of 2015; it is expected to be equivalent to a Category 3 or Category 4 hurricane when it hits Taiwan. | Super Typhoon Soudelor tore across the western Pacific Ocean yesterday with wind gusts of up to 220mph, according to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center. The typhoon was rated at a maximum category five.
On Sunday night and Monday morning, Soudelor devastated Saipan as it passed across the Northern Mariana Islands, AFP reported.
It flooded the island’s power plant and ripped the roofs of homes, forcing hundreds of residents to take refuge in shelters.
No deaths were reported but some people received treatment for cuts and wounds.
John Hirsh, executive director of the American Red Cross in Saipan, told Pacific Daily News: “I’ve seen multiple primary power poles down; I’ve seen cars flipped over the road; I’ve seen lots of torn roofs.”
Acting Governor of Saipan Ralph DLG Torres declared a “state of disaster and significant emergency”.
Soudelor became a super typhoon on Monday but was expected it to become more powerful on Tuesday, peaking at 150 knots.
The typhoon is expected to weaken by the time it reaches Japan, Taiwan and China later this week, NASA said.
Satellite pictures of the typhoon have been posted on social media:
| Hurricanes_Tornado_Storm_Blizzard | August 2015 | ['(Hanna)', '(The Independent)', '(Free District)'] |
Protesters of the police shooting of Keith Lamont Scott yesterday injure twelve Charlotte, North Carolina police officers. Riots continue into a second night with North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory declaring a state of emergency. | Twelve police officers have been injured during protests sparked by the police shooting of a black man in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Demonstrators destroyed marked police cars around the block of flats where the shooting took place, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department tweeted.
One officer was hit in the face with a rock, it said.
Earlier on Tuesday, Keith Lamont Scott, 43, was shot by a black officer and died in hospital.
Police say he was carrying a gun and posed an "imminent deadly threat", but relatives told local media he was not holding a weapon but a book.
"He didn't have no gun," a woman identifying herself as his sister told local television. "He wasn't messing with nobody."
Protesters outraged over the incident blocked streets and police used tear gas, local media reported.
Mayor Jennifer Roberts appealed for calm, and said the shooting of Keith Lamont Scott would be looked into.
"The community deserves answers and full investigation will ensue," she tweeted. "Will be reaching out to community leaders to work together."
The unrest came a day after police in the city of Tulsa, in Oklahoma, said a black man they had killed on Friday was unarmed.
Hundreds of people have been protesting outside police headquarters there.
Terence Crutcher was walking away with his hands in the air when he was shot by police, his family said. Video footage showed him walking with his arms raised to the door of his vehicle, but a lawyer for the officer who shot Mr Crutcher said he had ignored officers' commands. The footage at the moment of the shooting is not clear.
In Charlotte, officers had been looking for a different suspect at a block of flats when Mr Scott was killed, police spokesman Keith Trietley said.
They saw Mr Scott get out of a car carrying a gun before getting back in, he said. When the officers approached, Mr Scott got out of the car with the gun again and police opened fire after deeming him a threat.
He was not the suspect police were originally looking for, Mr Trietley confirmed.
Brentley Vinson, the officer who shot Mr Scott, has been placed on administrative leave as part of police protocol.
A woman claiming to be Mr Scott's daughter has contested the police department's account in a Facebook video, the Charlotte Observer reports.
She says Mr Scott was unarmed and reading while he was waiting for his son's school bus and was tasered before being shot four times.
She also said he was disabled. Police have not responded to the claims but say they recovered a gun at the scene.
Have you been at the protests or been witness to any of the events in Charlotte? You can email us at [email protected]. Please include a telephone number if you are happy to speak to a BBC journalist.
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Read the terms and conditions. 'Police didn't give my brother a chance'
Video shows police shooting in Tulsa
North Miami police shoot black therapist
Three police shot dead in Baton Rouge
Gunmen kill five US police at protest
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. | Riot | September 2016 | ['(BBC)', '(CNN)', '(Fox News)'] |
Iranian protesters mark the 30th anniversary of the takeover of the U.S. embassy in Tehran. There are also clashes between security forces and anti–government demonstrators. | BBC Iran media analyst Saeed Barzin comments on video appearing to show opposition supporters during protests in Tehran
Security forces have used batons and tear gas to disperse opposition supporters in the Iranian capital, Tehran, witnesses and state media say.
Unconfirmed reports said the authorities had also opened fire. Video footage and photos showed what appeared to be large crowds of opposition supporters being chased by security forces in riot gear. It came as an officially backed demonstration was held to mark 30 years since the seizure of the US embassy. Thousands were present at the anti-American rally, about 1.5km (1 mile) from where opposition supporters gathered in Haft-e Tir square. Other groups turned out in other parts of the capital to voice their opposition to the regime. 'Attacked'
Many of the opposition demonstrators wore green scarves or bands, which have been used in repeated protests since Iran's disputed presidential elections in June.
With all opposition protests banned in Iran, members of the opposition are using official government demonstrations to get their message across.
Last month, they hijacked the annual Quds Day protests, organised by the government in support of the Palestinians. There have been reports of protests at other public gatherings, such football matches.
The demonstrations have been met by an increasingly strong turnout from the police and the pro-government Basij militia. That has prevented the opposition from gathering together in any one major rally, as they managed to do immediately after the election.
The fact that the protests are continuing at all despite intense government pressure shows the depth of anger over the disputed presidential election and against the government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. If the protests continue, the government's next step may be to arrest key opposition leaders.
Opposition supporters say the elections were rigged to ensure the re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Riot police and pro-government militiamen had packed the streets in the centre of the capital on Wednesday, after reformist leaders had urged their supporters to attend peaceful rallies at the former US embassy. In November 1979, 52 US diplomats were taken hostage at the embassy and held for 444 days by Islamist students in support of the Iranian revolution. A well-known activist who was among the opposition supporters, Habibullah Payman, told the BBC's Persian service that he and others had been attacked. "[The Green movement] came in peace and with the usual slogan of supporting peace and asking for freedom," he said. "I saw no sign of violence or agitation in the crowd... Yet, they were attacked violently." Opposition supporters chanted "death to dictators", as small fires burned in the street. Security forces made a number of arrests, reports said. Obama statement
Iran's Irna news agency said protesters had attacked a bus, and that two policemen had been injured. It also reported that security forces had used tear gas in some parts of the city to disperse protesters.
Authorities have placed severe restrictions on foreign news organisations, making it difficult to verify reports. Iran's Revolutionary Guards had warned opposition groups not to stage demonstrations on the anniversary. Opposition leader and former presidential candidate Mehdi Karroubi briefly joined the protesters in Haft-e Tir square, according to a reformist website, Mowjcamp. Unconfirmed reports were circulating that police had surrounded the house of another reformist leader, Mir-Hossein Mousavi, to prevent him from joining any demonstration. Some arrests were made on Firdowsi Square, Mowjcamp reported. At least 30 protesters have been killed in clashes and thousands arrested since June's election. Some 200 opposition activists remain behind bars. Three have been sentenced to death. On Wednesday's anniversary of the seizure of the US embassy, US President Barack Obama released a statement in which he urged Iran to move beyond the "suspicion, mistrust and confrontation" that had prevailed between Iran and the US since then. "Iran must choose," the statement said. "We have heard for 30 years what the Iranian government is against; the question now is what kind of future it is for." | Protest_Online Condemnation | November 2009 | ['(Press TV)', '(Al Jazeera)', '(BBC)'] |
Southern California Edison announces it will permanently close its San Onofre nuclear power plant near San Diego. | Southern California Edison is shutting the remaining two reactors at San Onofre, citing high repair costs and an NRC ruling that the utility says would delay reactor restarts.
June 7, 2013
The San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS), a nuclear power plant set into the seaside bluffs in northern San Diego County, is closing after the high cost of repairs and a Nuclear Regulatory Commission board ruling prompted its owner, Southern California Edison, to pull the plug on the 45-year-old facility.
The announcement Friday that San Onofre’s two functioning reactors were being shut down brings to four the number of reactors that nuclear utilities have slated for closure since last November. Meanwhile, nuclear utilities have three new reactors on the drawing boards.
At least for now, "we're losing them faster than we're building them," quips David Lochbaum, a nuclear engineer by training who focuses on nuclear-energy issues at the Union of Concerned Scientists in Washington.
In February, Duke Energy announced it was shutting down the reactor at its Crystal River power station in Florida after workers discovered a crack in the containment dome. The crack was created during efforts to replace a critical component of the reactor system that transfers heat to water in order to generate steam for the plant's turbines.
In early May, the utility Dominion shuttered its single-reactor Kewaunee nuclear plant in Carleton, Wis., a casualty of cheaper sources of electricity and an inability to build additional reactors to take advantage of what the company called economies of scale.
"Nuclear economics is tenuous at best," Mr. Lochbaum says. "If you do everything right, you can make money at this. But if you stumble, there's a big price to pay, and not just from a Fukushima-type tragedy."
Financial setbacks can take their toll as well, he says, whether a setback comes from lost business or from hardware failures or human error that sets the stage for costly repairs.
In announcing San Onofre's closure Friday, Ted Craver, Southern California Edison's chairman and chief executive officer, noted that the station has been generating electricity for more than 40 years, "but we have concluded that the continuing uncertainty about when or if SONGS might return to service was not good for our customers, our investors, or the need to plan for our region's long-term electricity needs."
The utility first broke ground on SONGS in 1964. The plant initially hosted one nuclear reactor. Two more were added and came on line in 1983 and '84. Since then, the plant's first reactor was decomissioned, leaving units 2 and 3 to help power southern California's voracious demand for energy.
Both units sported relatively new sets of steam generators – components that along with the reactor sit inside a concrete containment building. The steam generator houses bundles of tubes through which high-pressure, superheated steam from the nuclear reactor flows. Pumps force water past the searingly hot tubes to produce the steam that drives the plant's generators.
In early January 2012, the utility took Unit 2 down for a routine refueling outage. At the end of the month, operators running Unit 3 detected a small leak in a steam generator tube that allowed radioactive steam to mix with the steam sent outside the containment building to the generators.
The utility shut down Unit 3 and began an exhaustive inspection of the steam generators for both reactors. The inspections revealed unexpected wear and tear on a significant proportion of the tubes.
The ultimate cause of the excessive damage to the tubes came from an attempt to make the tubes more resistant to cracking than were the tubes in the original designs, Lochbaum says. In the past, tubes have been subject to damage because they were too vulnerable to vibrations caused by instabilities in the superheated steam flowing through them. These instabilities cause the tightly packed tubes to vibrate and knock into one another.
The new tubes were stiffer. But tubes can vibrate in two directions, Lochbaum explains. The computer simulations designed to model the performance of the new design failed to take into account one of those two directions. The modelers assumed that the supports for the tubes that dampened one set of vibrations would dampen the other as well – which also happened to be the mode that inflicts the most damage.
Engineering studies indicated that the company could restart Unit 2, but it would have to run at 70 percent of its rated output, at least for the first five months, according to the company's statement. Lochbaum adds that the assessments also indicated that the plant would have to shut down every 15 months, rather than every 18, to perform the inspections needed to ensure tubes were not being damaged.
What looked to the utility to be a sensible $780 million investment in 2009 and '10 to extend the lifetime of the two reactors turned into an economic albatross, Lochbaum suggests.
In addition, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's Atomic Reactor Safety and Licensing Board recently ruled that prior to any reactor restart, groups that have opposed restarting SONGS were entitled to present their case against restart.
Southern California Edison's announcement noted that the additional delays this process would impose could last more than a year.
Opposition has been fueled by increased NRC scrutiny the plant reportedly has received in recent years over safety concerns. Meanwhile, in April, the ABC News affiliate in San Diego reported that an unnamed nuclear-safety engineer at the plant had come forward to highlight the danger from the defective steam-generator tubes.
Environmental groups that had opposed restart were quick to applaud the decision.
“Shutting down San Onofre is the right thing to do,” said Michelle Kinman, with Environment California, in a prepared statement. “Shutting down this nuclear plant will best protect public safety and the environment.”
The announcement also drew support from Sen. Barbara Boxer (D) of California.
"I am greatly relieved that the San Onofre nuclear plant will be closed permanently. This nuclear plant had a defective redesign and could no longer operate as intended. Modifications to the San Onofre nuclear plant were unsafe and posed a danger to the eight million people living within 50 miles of the plant," she said in a statement released Friday.
With SONGS not only down, but now out, California still has enough generating capacity to get it through the summer, according to the California Independent System Operator, a group that runs much of the state's electrical grid.
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The two SONGS reactors represent a combined generating capacity of about 2,200 megawatts. Over the past year, the state has added generating capacity of about 2,500 megawatts, with another 891 megawatt expected to have come on line between April and June, according to the group.
Still, managing the loads during the summer will remain challenging, the group says, especially if high-voltage lines fail due to a fire or some other event, some localized blackouts could occur. In addition, population growth in the L.A. basin could lead to "marginally more challenging" conditions than last summer in ensuring that Orange and San Diego Counties receive reliable service.
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Dear Reader,
About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:
“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”
If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.
But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.
The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.
We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”
| Organization Closed | June 2013 | ['(Christian Science Monitor)'] |
The number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 reaches more than one million worldwide. | In the UK, another 569 people have died after contracting the virus - bringing the total number of deaths to 2,921.
Friday 3 April 2020 13:24, UK
The coronavirus pandemic has reached a grim landmark, with more than one million cases confirmed worldwide.
Almost a quarter of that number (236,000) are people diagnosed with COVID-19 in the US, according to figures compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
Italy and Spain make up nearly another quarter between them (225,000), with China, Germany and the UK also having a high number of cases.
On Thursday, Spain's death toll rose above 10,000 after a record 950 people died overnight - but health officials are encouraged by a slowdown in daily increases in infections and deaths.
Spain has the world's second-highest number of deaths after Italy at 10,003 - but today's one-day toll is the highest for any country since the start of the pandemic.
Italy recorded 760 more deaths, and now has a total of almost 14,000 - the worst of any nation - but new infections continued to level off.
More than 10,000 medical personnel in the country have been infected, and 69 doctors have died.
COVID-19 - the respiratory illness that is caused by the coronavirus - originated in China late last year and, over the past four months, has spread to almost every country in the world.
In the UK, another 569 people have died after being diagnosed - meaning the total number is 2,921.
The number of deaths, tallied in the 24 hours up to 5pm on Wednesday, is Britain's largest daily increase so far.
The Department of Health said as of 9am on Thursday, 33,718 people had tested positive across the UK.
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Meanwhile, in the US, President Donald Trump has warned Americans to expect a "painful two weeks" as coronavirus deaths in the US peak - before suggesting people wear scarves as face masks in the fight against the virus.
The White House has projected between 100,000 and 240,000 people will die in the US from the pandemic, if social distancing guidelines are maintained.
Canada faces "a critical week" - Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said on Thursday, after the country saw the number of deaths rise to 161, from 105 yesterday, while it is reported the number of confirmed cases jumped to 11,131 from 9,017.
Canada's public health agency is particularly concerned by the spread of the coronavirus in seniors' residences, which are turning into hotspots in Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia - the three biggest provinces by population.
The Mayor of Toronto, John Tory, has said anyone caught walking within two meters (6ft) of another person in a public park in the city, or square, will be fined up to $5,000 (around 2,850), claiming the public has been warned many times.
He also said he does not want Toronto to become New York, which has been the epicentre of the outbreak in the US.
There is no proven vaccine for COVID-19, but pharmaceutical companies in various countries have joined the race for a vaccine.
The World Health Organisation said on Wednesday evening that 74 countries had also volunteered to take part in trials to find a cure for the virus. | Disease Outbreaks | April 2020 | ['(Sky News)'] |
German ex–Formula 1 champion Michael Schumacher is out of an induced coma and has left Grenoble Hospital in France for further rehabilitation. | Formula One champion Michael Schumacher is out of a coma and has left the French hospital where has been receiving treatment since his devastating ski accident in December, his spokeswoman said Monday.
In the surprise announcement, the retired racing star's spokeswoman, Sabine Kehm, said he had been transferred to a facility in Switzerland where he will continue his recovery.
Announced final retirement from racing in late 2012
"Michael has left the CHU Grenoble (hospital) to continue his long phase of rehabilitation. He is not in a coma anymore," Ms Kehm said.
"His family would like to explicitly thank all his treating doctors, nurses and therapists in Grenoble as well as the first aiders at the place of the accident, who did an excellent job in those first months."
The 45-year-old was transferred to a hospital in the Swiss city of Lausanne, hospital spokesman Darcy Christen later said, where the seven-time world champion will undergo further treatment.
"For the future we ask for understanding that his further rehabilitation will take place away from the public eye," Ms Kehm said.
No further information was released about Schumacher's condition, which has been kept under a tight lid since his accident in the French Alpine resort of Meribel on December 29.
He underwent two operations to remove life-threatening blood clots, before being placed into a medically induced coma.
His family announced at the end of January that drugs used to keep him in his deep sleep were being reduced with a view to bringing him back to consciousness, but few other details had filtered out since then.
Schumacher is well known for his love of adrenaline sports, and even after retiring from the high-risk world of racing, he kept pursuing other high-thrill hobbies as a pilot, an accomplished motorbike rider, parachutist, skier and mountain climber.
He survived a motorbike accident in Spain in 2009, during which he suffered head and neck injuries but was released from hospital after just five hours.
The accident on December 29 proved near fatal, but in several statements released to the media, his wife Corinna and two children said they remained confident that the man who defied death more than once on the track would pull through.
In Monday's statement, Ms Kehm said Schumacher's family wanted "to thank all the people who have sent Michael all the many good wishes". "We are sure it helped him."
| Famous Person - Sick | June 2014 | ['(ABC Australia)'] |
Heavy rain and strong winds from Michael are expected in the Carolinas, Georgia, and Virginia on Thursday. | Hurricane Michael became the most intense hurricane on record to strike the Florida Panhandle Wednesday, and among the most intense hurricanes to hit the U.S. The storm is far from over. Heavy rain and strong winds are forecast to sweep through the Southeast Thursday before exiting the Mid-Atlantic coast Friday morning. The storm made landfall early Wednesday afternoon in Mexico Beach, Fla., about 20 miles southeast of Panama City, as an extremely dangerous Category 4 hurricane. Eyewitness photos showed devastating damage in this area. Hurricane Michael news updates
At landfall, the storm’s 155 mph peak winds ranked fourth highest on record for a hurricane hitting the continental U.S. and the pressure ranked third lowest (the lower the pressure, the stronger the storm), below even Hurricane Andrew in 1992 and Katrina in 2005. As the storm crashed ashore, winds gusted as high as 130 mph along the coast from Panama City to Mexico Beach. The storm surge inundated Apalachicola in over seven feet of ocean water, a new record. Now the concern is Georgia, the Carolinas, southern Virginia and the southern half of the Delmarva Peninsula, where flooding rainfall is a growing threat. 11:15 p.m.: Michael likely to weaken to tropical storm overnight but possible flooding rain to spread over Carolinas
At 11 p.m., Michael’s peak winds had dropped to 75 mph and are expected to fall further overnight, which would downgrade it a tropical storm. While damaging winds, downed trees and power outages will remain an issue in south central Georgia overnight along with flooding rain, Michael will increasingly become a rainstorm as it moves into the Carolinas by dawn and eventually toward Southeast Virginia by late Thursday. Into Thursday, rain rather than wind will become the most pressing concern, as flash flooding could develop in the Carolinas, in some of the same areas still recovering from Hurricane Florence. Flash flood watches cover most of South Carolina, North Carolina, Southeast Virginia and the Delmarva Peninsula. Here’s a map of projected rainfall through Friday:
10:10 p.m.: Core of Michael progresses toward south central Georgia with ‘damaging winds still occurring’
Michael is barely holding onto hurricane status, as its peak winds have come down to 80 mph. The storm is 60 miles south-southwest of Macon, Georgia moving to the northeast at 17 mph. In its 10 p.m. update, the Hurricane Center headlined “damaging winds still occurring.”
Radar showed the storm’s rainbands have mostly departed Florida where winds are subsiding and water levels are receding. The heaviest downpours and strongest winds, associated with the storm’s core, were located between Albany and Macon, Georgia. Just after 8 p.m., Albany reported a wind gust to 81 mph. Moderate to heavy rainfall associated Michael extended well to the north of its core through the Atlanta area. Over the next several hours, rains should spread into Athens and Augusta
9:20 p.m.: Footage from Mexico Beach, Fla. shows structures ‘completely gone’
Chris Dolce, a digital meteorologist for The Weather Channel, found footage of before and after Hurricane Michael made landfall along a section of Mexico Beach. Houses that previously stood tall were nowhere to be found in the storm’s wake:
Prior to the storm, the National Weather Service had warned the storm surge could wash entire buildings away. This prediction appears to have been correct. 8:40 p.m.: ‘Hard to convey in words the scale of the catastrophe in Panama City’, says storm chaser
Hurricane storm chaser Josh Morgerman has chased the most intense hurricanes all over the world and is not prone to hyperbole. Here is his account of the situation in Panama City, via Twitter: “It’s hard to convey in words the scale of the catastrophe in Panama City. The whole city looks like a nuke was dropped on it. I’m literally shocked at the scale of the destruction.”
Mark Sudduth, another experienced storm chaser, tweeted similar thoughts: “Drove from Panama City almost to Mexico Beach and I can tell you this is the worst damage from wind that I have ever seen! Absolutely catastrophic! You will not believe your eyes when you see it.”
8:10 p.m.: Michael decreases to Category 1, but damaging winds battering southwest Georgia
Michael’s peak winds dropped to 90 mph as of the Hurricane Center’s 8 p.m. advisory but continued to general very strong winds in southwest Georgia as well as the northern Florida panhandle and southeast Alabama. In Albany, Ga., winds were recently sustained at 52 mph and gusted to 74 mph. The storm was centered 20 miles southwest of Albany, Ga. and was moving to the northeast at 17 mph. A model simulation shows the storm’s center, which contains its strongest winds, crossing Georgia overnight from the southwest to east central - arriving in South Carolina by around 6 a.m. Thursday. 7:15 p.m.: Michael became first Category 3 hurricane to strike Georgia since 1898
While Michael’s peak winds have now decreased to 100 mph, making it a Category 2 hurricane, it arrived in Georgia as a Category 3 last hour - the first storm that strong to hit the state since 1898. At 7 p.m., Michael was centered 35 miles west southwest of Albany, Ga., moving north-northeast at 13 mph. Over the last hour, the Hurricane Center clocked the following wind gusts:
Radar showed the storm’s core with heavy downpours and damaging winds affecting the area from around Dothan, Ala. to Albany, Ga. Moderate rain from Michael’s outer bands was even spreading into Atlanta. Over next couple of hours the core of the storm should head in the direction of Macon, Ga. which can expect rain and wind to increase. Over 450,000 power outages have been reported due to the storm in Florida, Georgia, and Alabama. 7:05 p.m.: Stunning satellite image shows Michael’s perilous journey across Florida Panhandle
6:10 p.m.: Tropical storm-force winds clocked in Alabama and Georgia
The center of Michael has moved into extreme southwest Georgia and radar showed the storm’s core stretches to the west toward Dothan, Alabama and to the northeast toward Albany, Ga. In the last hour, Dothan observed a wind gust to 62 mph and Albany to 51 mph. Extremely heavy rain was also affecting this zone with a flash flood warning in effect near the southeast Alabama and southwest Georgia border, including Dothan. In Florida, where the worst of the weather was beginning to ease (especially at the coast), nearly 300,000 power outages were reported. 5:50 p.m.: As rain exits Panama City and Mexico Beach, the extent of the devastation begins to emerge
Radar shows the bulk of the rain has now moved north of the region between Panama City and Port St. Joe, which bore the brunt of Michael Wednesday afternoon. “We have seen several building collapses in Panama City,” tweeted Marc Weinberg, a meteorologist at the scene. “The tree damage is incredible.”
Incoming photos are beginning to show the severity of the damage:
5:05 p.m.: Eye of Michael exiting Florida, still a Category 3 as it enters Georgia
More than three hours after making landfall, Michael is still packing sustained winds to 125 mph as it nears the Florida/Alabama/Georgia border. It continues to unleash violent gusts as it heads northeast at 16 mph. In the last hour, Tallahassee gusted to 69 mph and a gust to 74 mph was recorded closer to the coast. “Although steady weakening is expected as Michael moves over the southeast U.S. through Thursday morning, hurricane-force winds will continue to penetrate inland over the Florida Panhandle, southeastern Alabama, and southwestern Georgia through this evening,” the Hurricane Center said. Along the coast, the Hurricane Center said “water levels are beginning to recede in some locations" but it warned storm surge would continue to be a hazard. 4:30 p.m.: Remarkable NOAA satellite imagery shows lightning generated by Michael
4:05 p.m.: Storm remains potent as it heads toward southwest Georgia
Even as Michael moves farther inland, its continues to pack maximum sustained winds of up to 140 mph and has a well-defined eye. At 4 p.m., radar showed the eye of the storm about to pass over Interstate 10 in Florida’s Panhandle. It was centered about 55 miles west northwest of Tallahassee. Torrential rains and powerful winds extend well west and north of the center, expanding over southeast Alabama and into southwest Georgia. In the coming hours, conditions will begin to deteriorate over central and eastern Georgia. Over the past hour, the Hurricane Center compiled the following wind gust reports - mostly in the 60 to 100 mph range:
3:35 p.m.: Photos and videos reveal more severe damage from wind and storm surge
This footage from Mexico Beach, where Michael made landfall, is unbelievable. Homes are engulfed in ocean water, roofs have been sheared off and streets are rivers:
3:05 p.m.: Storm still producing wind gusts over 100 mph as eye moves inland
Michael is slowly weakening as it comes further ashore (maximum sustained winds have fallen to 150 mph) but the storm is still generating destructive winds. The Hurricane Center logged the following gusts over the last hour:
It warned residents not to be fooled by the lull in winds when the eye passed over inland portions of Bay and Calhoun counties in Florida’s Panhandle. “[H]azardous winds will increase very quickly as the eye passes!,” it said. The number of power outages in Florida was 270,000 and rising. 2:45 p.m.: Water level sets record in Apalachicola
As Michael’s winds pushed waters from the Gulf of Mexico into the coast, the observed water level in Apalachicola hit 7.63 feet, surpassing the previous record of 6.43 feet in July 2005. This means there was more than 7 feet of inundation above ground level. Video from the region shows the storm surge waters flooding roads:
2:20 p.m.: ‘Unbelievable damage’ reported in Panama City and nearby
The 130 mph winds which hit this region have taken a severe toll based on initial photos and video coming in:
This is a scene from Mexico Beach:
Here is some video which illustrate how violent the winds were:
2:15 p.m.: Extreme wind warning expanded inland over Florida Panhandle
The eye of Hurricane Michael has charged inland just to the east of Panama City. Even though the most extreme winds, with gusts up to 130 mph or so, were expected at the coast, destructive winds will spread over nearby inland areas and remain a threat for several more hours. An extreme wind warning is in effect for not only the zone from Panama City to Port Saint Joe along the coast but also in areas to the north and northwest:
For more details on this kind of extreme alert, see this related story: Rare ‘extreme wind warning’ posted for Hurricane Michael. Here’s what that means. 1:45 p.m.: Michael makes landfall in Mexico Beach, Fla., near Panama City, with 155 mph winds
The National Hurricane Center said Michael made landfall in Mexico Beach, Fla. with sustained winds of 155 mph, just 2 mph shy of Category 5 - around 1:30 p.m. The Hurricane Center said a wind gust of 130 mph was observed at Tyndall Air Force Base and a gust of 129 mph hit Panama City. Hurricane researcher Phil Klotzbach tweeted only three storms have hit the continental U.S. with stronger winds: the Labor Day hurricane of 1935 (185 mph winds), Camille in 1969 (175 mph winds) and Andrew in 1992 (165 mph winds). Michael also became the strongest landfalling U.S. hurricane during the month of October. 1:25 p.m.: Waters rising and winds gusting to nearly 130 mph as landfall is underway
Tyndall Air Force Base, near where Michael is currently coming ashore, recently posted a wind gust of 129 mph. Meanwhile, the storm surge in Apalachicola had reached around 7 feet, passing the previous record of 6.4 feet. Here’s a view of the wind and water in Panama City taken Wednesday morning, showing a house under construction collapsing:
1:05 p.m.: Michael’s pressure is lower than Hurricane Andrew’s and third lowest on record in U.S. The 1 p.m. report from the National Hurricane Center indicated Michael’s pressure had fallen to 919 millibars. The lower the pressure, the stronger the storm. This pressure - if unchanged at landfall - would be lower than Hurricane Andrew when it struck South Florida and Katrina when it struck southeast Louisiana. “Only two continental US hurricanes have made landfall with a lower pressure,” tweeted hurricane researcher Phil Klotzbach - the 1935 Labor Day hurricane (892 millibars) and Camille in 1969 (900 millibars). Based on its peak wind speed of 150 mph, it is the second strongest storm on record so far north, only trailing Camille, Klotzbach added. At 1 p.m., the storm’s center was just 15 miles west-southwest of Mexico Beach and 20 miles south of Panama City, meaning landfall is likely in the next hour or so. 12:50 p.m.: Wind gusts topping 100 mph as eyewall begins to come ashore
The eyewall, the most intense part of Hurricane Michael surrounding its calm eye, is coming ashore just to the east of Panama Beach. Two reports of wind gusts over 100 mph have coming in: a gust to 106 mph in Port St. Joe and 116 mph in Mexico Beach. 12:25 p.m.: Rare “extreme wind warning” issued for zone from Panama City to Apalachicola
The National Weather Service has issued its most severe wind alert for coastal areas in parts of Florida’s Panhandle and Big Bend. The “extreme wind warning” calls for destructive winds in excess of 130 mph as Michael’s eyewall roars ashore. “This is an extremely dangerous and life-threatening situation,” the Weather Service said. Apalachicola recently clocked a wind gust to 87 mph and winds are expected to keep increasing through mid-afternoon. The Weather Service advised those in the path of these winds to treat them like a tornado and to shelter in safe room. For more details on this kind of extreme alert, see this related story: Rare ‘extreme wind warning’ posted for Hurricane Michael. Here’s what that means. 12:05 p.m.: Weather Service director - ‘This is a worst case scenario’
Louis Uccellini, director of the National Weather Service, called for residents of the Florida Panhandle to “stay inside & survive” in a tweet just before noon, warning that Hurricane Michael’s imminent landfall is a “worst case scenario.”
The Hurricane Center’s noon advisory showed the storm just 40 miles southwest of Panama City. As the storm is moving north-northeast at 14 mph, landfall could occur within two to three hours. Winds and water levels continued increasing. Apalachicola recently recorded a gust to 76 mph. 11:45 a.m.: Michael is still strengthening: Winds up to 150 mph. At 11:30 a.m., the Hurricane Center sent out a special advisory indicating peak winds had increased to 150 mph, which is just 7 mph shy of Category 5. The storm’s pressure fell further, down to 923 millibars. (The lower the pressure, the stronger the storm.) If this pressure holds, it will rank as the third lowest on record at landfall in the state of Florida and sixth lowest to strike the U.S. coast. Along the Florida Panhandle, winds continued to ramp up as gusts hit 72 mph in Apalachicola. 11:35 a.m.: Alarm bells raised for central and east Georgia Because Michael has become so strong so fast, the National Weather Service issued a special advisory for central and eastern Georgia warning of a “potentially historical tropical event.”
It warned of hurricane-force winds and the potential for the downing of “hundreds to potentially thousands of trees.” It also said tornadoes were possible and rainfall of more than five inches, which could cause localized flash flooding. “With this being the tail end of Hurricane Season and with the long ordeal of Hurricane Florence for some, it can be easy to become complacent,” it cautioned. “This is not the storm to do that with! !”
11:10 a.m.: Core of Michael closing in on Florida Panhandle, life-threatening hazards ‘imminent'
In its 11 a.m. advisory, the Hurricane Center said life-threatening storm surge, hurricane-force winds and heavy rainfall were “imminent” along the coast of the Florida Panhandle. The storm was centered just 60 miles south-southwest of Panama City and headed north-northeast at 15 mph meaning landfall could occur within a three to four hours. Winds were gusting over 60 mph at Bald Point, Fla., which is to the east of Apalachicola. Tallahassee, to the north, had clocked a gust to 46 mph. These winds will rapidly increase over the next few hours, reaching hurricane-force. The storm surge in Apalachicola had already reached 6 feet, close to its record height of 6.4 feet, and waters were continuing to rise. The storm’s pressure had fallen to 928 millibars, lower than Hurricane Irma when it crossed the Florida Keys. Assuming pressure don’t rise before landfall, Michael’s will rank among the top 10 lowest on record for a landfalling storm in the United States. 10:35 a.m.: Tropical storm conditions spread over Florida Panhandle as storm’s pressure tanks
Tropical storm conditions swept over Florida’s Panhandle Wednesday morning and a wind gust of 58 was clocked at Apalachicola Regional Airport between 9 and 10 a.m. The Hurricane Center also reported water levels were rising quickly at the coast. Conditions over Florida’s Panhandle and Big Bend area are predicted to rapidly deteriorate over the coming hours. At 10 a.m., the storm’s center was just 65 miles south-southwest of Panama city, meaning the eyewall - most dangerous part of the storm with the strongest winds - could hit the coast by midday. The storm’s pressure had fallen to 931 millibars which would rank among the lowest on record for a hurricane hitting Florida. As Michael rapidly intensified Tuesday night and early Wednesday, forecasters on Twitter described feelings of sickness and dread. “Hurricanes that intensify overnight just before reaching land are the worst nightmare of forecasters and emergency managers,” tweeted Weather Underground’s Bob Henson. Both the Florida Panhandle, from Pensacola to Apalachicola, and the Big Bend area are forecast to be hardest hit. The storm surge was predicted to reach up to 14 feet potentially inundating more than 325 miles of coastline, including roads, homes and business. Population centers that could witness some of the most severe hurricane effects include Fort Walton Beach, Destin, Panama City Beach and Apalachicola. “#Michael will make new history for central Panhandle, Big Bend,” tweeted Rick Knabb, the Weather Channel’s hurricane expert. “Some of you could get water and wind worse than ever before.”
While the most severe hurricane conditions are expected along the coast, devastating hurricane effects are forecast to expand considerable distances inland. | Hurricanes_Tornado_Storm_Blizzard | October 2018 | ['(Washington Post)'] |
Voters in Cuba approve a new constitution which recognizes private and cooperative businesses, sets term limits for the president, creates the post of prime minister, introduces the presumption of innocence and habeas corpus to the justice system, and affirms an "irrevocable" socialist government. | 86.85% of voters ratified the document, but in an unprecedented display of ballot-box dissent, more than 700,000 people voted against it
Last modified on Tue 26 Feb 2019 00.32 GMT
Cubans have overwhelmingly ratified a new constitution that reaffirms that socialism on the island is “irrevocable” while also legalising modest economic reforms instituted over the last decade.
But in an unprecedented display of ballot-box dissent on the Communist-ruled island, more than 700,000 people voted “no” to the new founding document.
86.85% of those who voted answered “yes” to the question, “Do you ratify the new constitution of the Republic”. 9% of voters opposed ratification and 4.15% spoiled or left ballots blank. Turnout was 84.4%
The state had campaigned hard prior to the vote, casting a “yes” vote as an act of patriotism and a vote for the Revolution. TV, radio, posters, billboards and huge banners unfurled over public buildings urged the population to get out and vote. Even the electric ticker boards on buses chugging along Havana’s main thoroughfares read “I Vote Yes” (“Yo Voto Sí”).
But the state was met with a surprisingly forceful challenge from an unofficial campaign against the new constitution.
Evangelical churches concerned that the new constitution would create a pathway towards gay marriage hung banners reading “marriage: man + woman” from church walls, while religious activists daubed posters on lamp posts – a direct challenge to the state’s monopoly on public space.
Although pastors did not explicitly call for a “no” vote, analysts say the church campaign mobilised non-religious, socially conservative sectors of the population to vote against the new constitution.
And while state media gave no airtime or column inches to critical voices, #I’mVotingNo (#YoVotoNo) hashtags were trending on Facebook.
While older citizens said they voted to support the government, a younger generation of Cubans, particularly those living in the cities, are more daring.
Cuban journalist Mónica Rivero, 29, said: “I think the new constitution is too conservative. It crystallises the status quo rather than making changes.”
In Cuba’s last referendum on a constitution in 1976, during the Cold War, 98% of ballots voted “yes”.
Voting on the island is optional though strongly encouraged by the state and nosy neighbours. Cuba does not allow international observers to monitor its elections but citizens are allowed to watch the vote count at local polling stations.
The new constitution reaffirms the Communist Party as the only legitimate political party on the island, defines access to health and education as fundamental rights, and claims that humans can only “reach full dignity” through “socialism and communism”.
But there are also big changes. The new constitution introduces presidential term limits and enshrines the right to legal representation upon arrest.
The document also gives constitutional backing to cautious pro-market reforms carried out since 2011. Private property is recognised, the rights of multinationals investing with the state are strengthened, and the market is recognised as a fact of life.
Analysts estimate that one million Cubans now work in the private sector.
Emily Morris, an economist from University College London, said the new constitution might open the path to stronger labour rights for those working in the island’s non-state sector.
“Worker exploitation is already happening in the private sector,” she said. “But recognising private enterprise could be a step forward by facilitating improved regulation of relationships between employers and employees.” | Government Policy Changes | February 2019 | ['(Al Jazeera)', '(The Guardian)'] |
After the results of the last general election in Malawi were annulled by the country's Constitutional Court in February, new elections are held. | Voting was peaceful in Malawi as people took part in a re-run poll five months after President Peter Mutharika's disputed 2019 victory was annulled.
There were long queues in some places indicating a high level of enthusiasm, reports journalist Peter Jegwa in the capital, Lilongwe.
Mr Mutharika, who wants a second term, was up against Lazarus Chakwera, who heads an opposition coalition.
Evidence of vote tampering led to judges scrapping his May 2019 victory.
The country's judiciary has been widely praised for its robust response.
Malawi became the second African nation to annul a presidential election over irregularities, after Kenya in 2017.
The country had been bitterly divided in the run-up to Tuesday's re-run, the BBC's Emmanuel Igunza reports. Widespread anti-government protests and violence threatened to plunge Malawi into an even deeper crisis.
Speaking after he had voted in southern Malawi, Mr Mutharika alleged there had been violence in some opposition strongholds, the Reuters news agency reports.
"It is very sad. Our secretary general has been beaten up. Those causing the violence are desperate," it quotes the president as saying.
"How then will the election be credible?" he asked.
There has been no verification of these reports.
On casting his vote in the capital, Mr Chakwera said that he had "confidence in the electoral commission to do what is right".
"I believe that Malawians' quest for justice is actually being answered today. And I believe their rights will be respected," he added.
Speaking on the eve of the vote, the head of the electoral commission, Chifundo Kachale, told BBC Focus on Africa that he was confident that everything was ready despite the election date only being set a few weeks ago.
Whoever wins the election, will have to heal these deep divisions as well as tackle key electoral issues such as corruption, poverty and unemployment.
A re-run of the May 2019 election was ordered by Malawi's Constitutional Court in February after judges found widespread irregularities with the original ballot.
That election saw President Mutharika narrowly re-elected by less than 159,000 votes with a 38.6% share of the vote. Mr Chakwera came second with 35.4%.
Mr Chakwera and the candidate who came third argued that the election had not been fair.
Their complaints included allegations that vote tallying forms had been added up incorrectly and tampered with using correction fluid - known in Malawi by its brand name Tipp-Ex.
First electionon 21 May 2019
Mutharikasworn in on 27 May 2019
Thousands proteston 20 June 2019, complaining of fraud
Constitutional courtoverturns result on 3 February 2020 and orders re-run Court rejectsMutharika's appeal on 8 May 2020
Uncertainty around the result sparked months of tension and protests, which spilled over into clashes between opposition supporters and police across the country.
February's decision to annul the election led some to celebrate, but Mr Mutharika described it as a "serious subversion of justice" which marked the death of the country's democracy.
Last month, Malawi's former electoral commission chair Jane Ansah resigned following months of pressure by protesters who criticised her handling of the poll.
The new vote comes at a time of growing tension between the government and the country's courts. There have also been concerns over the logistics and safety of carrying out an election in the midst of the worldwide coronavirus pandemic.
The president and his Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) are in an alliance with another party, the United Democratic Front (UDF).
Candidate for the Democratic Progressive Party
Born 18 July 1940
Law professor taught in Ethiopia, Tanzania and USA
BrotherBingu was Mutharika was president, died in office in 2012
Arrested in 2013accused of plotting coup but never charged
Won 2014 electionafter beating incumbent Joyce Banda "If you give me another five-year term, this country will develop to the level of South Africa or Singapore, London, America or Canada," President Mutharika told a campaign rally in Lilongwe last week.
Mr Mutharika, a former law professor who taught in the US before becoming a cabinet minister, was first elected to Malawi's top office in 2014. Two years earlier his brother, Bingu wa Mutharika, died while serving as president. He faces competition from Mr Chakwera, a former cleric who heads up the opposition Malawi Congress Party (MCP).
Born in Lilongwe to a subsistence farmer, the philosophy and theology graduate has pledged to raise the national minimum wage among other changes.
Candidate for the Tonse Alliance
Born 5 April 1955
Studied theology in Malawi, South Africa and USA
Pastor and lecturer worked at the Assemblies of God School of Theology
Authored several books on religion including Reach the Nations
Ran for president in 2014 and came second
Mr Chakwera is leading a nine-party opposition coalition, the Tonse Alliance, and has the backing of former President Joyce Banda as well as the country's vice-president, Saulos Chilima, as his running mate.
Mr Chilima - who finished third in the 2019 vote - was once an ally of President Mutharika, but has since fallen out with him.
The vice-president has tried to reassure the public that the result will not see a repeat of the controversies of last time.
"Do not be discouraged; come out in large numbers to cast your vote. Your vote will be protected and no room for rigging," he said on a campaign visit last week. | Government Job change - Election | June 2020 | ['(BBC)'] |
Lee Myung-bak is sentenced to 15 years in jail and US$20 million in fines and forfeiture, on charges of bribery, embezzlement and abuse of power. All four living former Presidents of South Korea now have been convicted. | SEOUL, Oct 5 — A Seoul court today jailed former South Korean President Lee Myung-bak for 15 years for corruption, making him the latest in a string of high-profile political and business leaders ensnared by graft charges.
Lee, in office from 2008 to 2013, is the fourth former South Korean president to be jailed, with his successor Park Geun-hye imprisoned for her role in a separate corruption scandal that toppled her from power in early 2017 and also led to jail time for Samsung Group heir Jay Y. Lee.
Lee Myung-bak faced charges that he accepted around US$10 million (RM41.4 million) in illegal funds from institutions like Samsung and his own intelligence service, fuelling ongoing concerns over the cosy ties between government and business leaders.
The Seoul Central District Court found Lee guilty of embezzlement of about 24.6 billion won from a private auto parts maker headed by his brother, and accepting bribes from Samsung and others, fining Lee 13 billion won in addition to the jail sentence.
“Such actions from the president, the head of state and the leader of the executive branch, can be severely condemned as it does not stop at violating the fairness and integrity of the presidential office but undermines trust in the entire public office,” judge Chung Kye-sun said.
Lee, 76, has denied any wrongdoing, saying the investigation that led to the trial was politically motivated “revenge” by current President Moon Jae-in, who came to office vowing to clean house after the Park scandal and who has previously criticised Lee over an investigation into another former president, Roh Moo-hyun.
Moon served as Roh’s chief of staff, and the two liberal leaders had a close relationship before Roh committed suicide in 2009 after being questioned on corruption allegations during Lee’s presidency.
Lee was not in attendance at the verdict, which was televised live. Prosecutors had sought a 20-year sentence for Lee. — Reuters | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Sentence | October 2018 | ['(Reuters via Malay Mail)'] |
The Governor of Oregon John Kitzhaber resigns amid allegations his fiancee used taxpayer resources to aid her green–energy consulting business. Kate Brown moves up to Governor from being the Secretary of State. | SALEM, Ore. — Gov. John Kitzhaber, long regarded as a wily survivor of Oregon politics, resigned Friday amid a spiraling crisis that included a criminal investigation of the role that his fiancée played in his administration and crumbling support from his Democratic Party colleagues.
It was a steep and rapid fall for Mr. Kitzhaber, 67, a former emergency room doctor who won an unprecedented fourth term as governor in November. His resignation means that Kate Brown, the Oregon secretary of state and a fellow Democrat, will become governor, in accordance with the succession plan in the state Constitution.
Even during the recent election, Mr. Kitzhaber had been plagued by questions about his fiancée, Cylvia Hayes, with whom he lives in the governor’s mansion, and whether she had violated ethics rules or criminal laws in advising him about clean energy issues while serving as a consultant on the topic. Before November’s election and after, he repeatedly denied any wrongdoing by Ms. Hayes, 47, or his office, and pledged cooperation in the various inquiries, including one initiated this month by the state’s attorney general, Ellen Rosenblum, also a Democrat, which could result in criminal charges.
But in the last few days, some senior Democrats in the heavily Democratic state abandoned him and called for his resignation, piling on with some Republicans, who had criticized him as an ineffective leader even before the scandals. Ms. Brown, 54, the secretary of state, was among those who distanced herself, releasing a statement on Thursday describing what she said was a “bizarre” meeting she had had with Mr. Kitzhaber — saying that he had asked her to rush back to Oregon from a conference in Washington, D.C., this week to speak privately with him. But once in the meeting, Ms. Brown said, she found him confused or uncertain about why she had come.
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“This is clearly a bizarre and unprecedented situation,” Ms. Brown said in her statement. Mr. Kitzhaber, other Democrats said privately, had been close to resigning twice in the last few days before changing his mind. On Friday, he came to a final decision, avoiding the thick scrum of reporters and camera crews that had descended on the state capital and releasing an announcement that he would relinquish power on Wednesday.
“I am confident that I have not broken any laws nor taken any actions that were dishonest or dishonorable in their intent or outcome,” he said.
Ms. Brown, who practiced juvenile and family law before entering politics and then served in the state House and Senate, is regarded as a liberal — though that covers a wide range of positions in Oregon. She is married to a man, but will be the nation’s first openly bisexual governor, according to the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund. She described her experience coming out as a bisexual in a survey on Outhistory.org, saying, “I believe it was during my early 30s that I figured out who, or what, I am.”
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In a brief comment to reporters outside her office on Friday, Ms. Brown said the day’s events were “a truly sad day for the state of Oregon.” She added: “As you can imagine, between now and Wednesday, there is a lot of work to be done, so that’s what I’m going to go back and do.” Ms. Rosenblum, the attorney general, said in a statement that the governor’s resignation would not affect her investigation. Separately, the United States attorney’s office for Oregon issued subpoenas to the agency that maintains state records seeking email correspondence within the administration and correspondence with companies that did business with Ms. Hayes, The Associated Press reported. Mr. Kitzhaber first rose through the state Legislature before winning the governor’s office in 1994. He served two terms then, and subsequently made a comeback for a third term in 2010, becoming a signature presence for a generation of Oregonians — with an urban cowboy style of jeans, boots and a sport jacket with no tie that became a kind of personal brand.
The controversy surrounding Ms. Hayes began last fall when she confirmed a newspaper report that said she had married her third husband, an Ethiopian immigrant, for money in a sham marriage in 1997. She said she had been struggling financially and was paid about $5,000 to marry an 18-year-old man who wanted to stay in the United States. Separately, concerns have also been raised about whether Ms. Hayes used access to the governor for economic gain in consulting contracts for her company, 3EStrategies.
And with his opponents preparing to collect signatures for two recall petitions this summer, the attorney general’s looming investigation and, perhaps most crucially, a vacuum of support from the Democrats who control the Legislature, Mr. Kitzhaber decided he had had enough.
In the statement released by his office, Mr. Kitzhaber said he would be exonerated. “That is why I asked both the Ethics Commission and the Attorney General to take a full and comprehensive look at my actions — and I will continue to fully cooperate with those ongoing efforts,” he said. Advertisement
But he also took a vehement swipe at the media and at erstwhile allies who had not stuck by his side. “It is deeply troubling to me to realize that we have come to a place in the history of this great state of ours where a person can be charged, tried, convicted and sentenced by the media with no due process and no independent verification of the allegations involved,” Mr. Kitzhaber said. “But even more troubling — and on a very personal level as someone who has given 35 years of public service to Oregon — is that so many of my former allies in common cause have been willing to simply accept this judgment at its face value.”
Many state politicians, including some who only a day earlier had publicly urged the governor to resign, were effusive on Friday in their praise of his contributions as a public figure.
“He has been a distinguished leader,” said the speaker of the Oregon House of Representatives, Tina Kotek, who, along with the Senate president, issued a statement on Thursday asking the governor to quit. Ms. Kotek said the governor’s focus on health care for low-income residents would benefit the state for years to come. “I support his decision to resign, because it is the right decision for Oregonians,” Ms. Kotek said.
Other Democrats said they were excited by the prospect of a Kate Brown administration. Representative Tobias Read, who worked with Ms. Brown when she was in the Legislature, called her “creative” and “prepared for the job.” Asked whether he thought Ms. Brown might face criticism that she had helped push the governor out with her comments about his mental state, Mr. Read said he did not think so: “My sense is she’s doing her job as secretary of state,” he said.
The governor’s departure, he added, was making no one at the Capitol really happy. “It’s a sad thing, and I think everybody is just kind of coming to grips with it,” Mr. Read said.
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Due to technical difficulties, comments are unavailable. We’re working to fix the issue as soon as possible.
If you have a critical piece of feedback for us, you can always reach the newsroom via the Reader Center. | Government Job change - Resignation_Dismissal | February 2015 | ['(AP)', '(AP)', '(The New York Times)'] |
Rescue crews head to areas of the Philippines severely affected by Typhoon Bopha. At least 283 are now believed to have died as a result of the storm, with 339 injured, hundreds more missing and over 87,000 evacuated. | The death toll from a powerful storm battering the southern Philippines has risen to about 200, as rescue teams arrive in affected areas.
At least 156 people are known to have died in Compostela Valley province alone when Typhoon Bopha struck eastern Mindanao, local officials told the BBC.
Rescuers have reached most areas, but have had difficulty getting to some isolated communities. Many were evacuated ahead of the storm, now over the western island of Palawan.
The typhoon is expected to move out into the South China Sea on Thursday. Compostela Valley province was said to be the hardest-hit area. Neighbouring Davao Oriental province was also badly affected, with reports of about 50 people killed. In Andap village, in Compostela Valley, water and mud rushed down mountainous slopes to engulf a school and a village hall serving as evacuation centres. At least 43 people were killed there, with more reported missing and injured - including soldiers sent to help with evacuations. "The waters came so suddenly and unexpectedly, and the winds were so fierce - that compounded the loss of lives and livelihood," Compostela Valley Provincial Governor Arturo Uy told Reuters news agency.
He said water catchment basins for farms on top of the mountains had given way because of the torrential rains, sending down large volumes of water.
He added that the cost of damage to agriculture and infrastructure in Compostela Valley province could reach at least 4 billion pesos ($98m), with the typhoon destroying 70-80% of plantations - mostly bananas for export.
Julius Rebucas, whose mother and brother were caught in flash floods in Compostela Valley, said: "The last thing my mother said was 'I love you'. It's sad because I no longer have a family."
Davao Oriental Governor Corazon Malanyaon said roads to dozens of towns were impassable because of fallen trees and collapsed bridges, and getting into them was like "running an obstacle course". She said initial reports indicated that in one town, Cateel, 95% of the buildings had been damaged. Twenty-three people had drowned or were buried under fallen trees or buildings there, she said. Across the affected provinces, rescuers have also pulled out dozens of people from the mud, many of whom are now being treated in evacuation centres and hospitals. Most suffered facial wounds or limb injuries.
Dozens of domestic flights and ferry services in the central and south of the country were suspended, and schools and businesses were closed while the storm passed.
Bopha comes a year after Typhoon Washi killed more than 1,300 people in the southern Philippines.
The storm devastated the cities of Cagayan de Oro and Iligan on the island's north coast.
Many of those who died were sleeping as Typhoon Washi caused rivers to burst their banks, leading to landslides. Entire villages were washed away. . | Hurricanes_Tornado_Storm_Blizzard | December 2012 | ['(BBC)', '(Al Jazeera)', '(The Weather Channel)', '(New York Times)'] |
Ford announces that their current chief executive officer, Alan Mulally, will be retiring in July, and that their chief operating officer Mark Fields will be taking his place. | Ford chief executive Alan Mulally, who is widely credited with saving the US carmaker during the depths of the 2008-2009 recession, is retiring in July.
He will be replaced by chief operating officer Mark Fields, 53, who has been with Ford since 1989.
In a statement, the company said Mr Mulally, 68, will be remembered for engineering "one of the most successful business turnarounds in history".
Chairman Bill Ford said Mr Mulally had been a "hall of fame" chief executive.
The succession was widely expected: Mr Mulally had previously announced that he would retire at the end of this year.
Ford has posted a profit for nearly five consecutive years under his leadership, and it was the only one of the big three US carmakers that did not have to seek a bailout from the US government during the recession.
Mr Fields was named chief operating officer in December 2012.
Executive chairman Bill Ford told the BBC that Mr Mulally is a "hall of fame" chief executive.
"There are very few people that brought his skill set, his humility, and his humanity to the job," said Mr Ford.
Mr Mulally originally trained as an aeronautical engineer, and spent 36 years at Boeing, before he was approached by Bill Ford in 2006.
Mr Ford said he still remembered meeting Mr Mulally eight years ago.
"It was a fabulous first day - I look back at it now and realise we were finishing each other's sentences within an hour," he said, adding that Mr Mulally should be credited with changing Ford's culture to focus more on transparency and "dealing with reality".
However, he added that Mr Fields was more than up for the task of leading Ford.
Mr Fields, who was passed over for the job in 2006 when Mr Mulally was appointed chief executive, joined the company as a market research analyst in 1989.
In 2000, he was made chief executive of Mazda - in which Ford owned a stake at the time - and was later head of Ford's European division.
However, Mr Ford emphasized that it was as the head of Ford's North American division that Mr Fields really proved his mettle.
"He took on the hardest job at the company," said Mr Ford, noting that as a young leader there were some who thought he would not be up for the task.
However, "he emerged as a leader and gained the trust of his team".
Ford has planned the leadership succession for a number of years, Mr Mulally said, and he brought forward his retirement as "everything is in place" for a "very orderly" transition.
"We are absolutely fully confident we are absolutely ready," he said in a conference call announcing the transition.
Mr Mulally will not retain a place on the board after retirement.
Analysts say that one can expect "more of the same" with Mr Fields in charge.
"Ford has had a renaissance under [Mr] Mulally, but [Mr] Fields has been there the entire time and has been his partner in this vision," Edmunds.com senior analyst Jessica Caldwell told the BBC.
"Ford knew [Mr] Mulally was not going to stay on forever - by partnering him up with someone who was already in the organisation, and someone they thought could be a leader, that the best thing they could do," she said.
"I can't imagine a better scenario."
| Government Job change - Resignation_Dismissal | May 2014 | ['(BBC)'] |
Human rights activists, lawyers, labor rights groups and other advocates endorse Leni Robredo for vice president. | PEOPLE'S EMPOWERMENT. Human rights defenders and advocates say Leni Robredo understands their cause and will fight for it if elected vice president
Photo by Leni Robredo Media Bureau
'To champion her is to elevate our shared aspirations for gender equality, peace and sustainable development,' the group says
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MANILA, Philippines – "Laban namin ang laban ni Leni (Our fight is Leni's fight)," said a group of alternative lawyers, legal advocates, paralegals, and human rights defenders.
About 253 of them signed a statement supporting administration vice presidential candidate Leni Robredo and her platform of empowering the people at society's margins.
"Our endorsement of a true public servant like Leni is equal to our continuing commitment to the advocacy for programs and policies that empower communities through equal access to education, employment, food, land and other resources, and justice," they said.
"To champion her is to elevate our shared aspirations for gender equality, peace and sustainable development," they added.
Before she was a legislator, Robredo worked as a human rights lawyer and development worker.
While a lawyer, Robredo was part of the non-governmental legal group Sentro ng Alternatibong Lingap Panligal (Saligan), and handled the case for the Sumilao farmers as a volunteeer lawyer.
This, and her welcoming of the protesters in Naga in 2007, were part of the reasons behind the ongoing march of the Sumilao farmers. (READ: Sumilao farmers march again, this time for Leni Robredo)
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Her advocacy and work included empowering people in the marginal sectors. This later became part of her "inaangat ang nasa laylayan ng lipunan (raising those at society's margins)" platform.
"We make public our support for Leni not because she is one of us, but because she is one with the marginalized individuals and communities in their relentless advocacy for justice," the group said.
Condemning abuses
The group also took the opportunity to "condemn beliefs and behavior that contribute to promoting extrajudicial killings, gender-based violence, as well as discrimination against the poor and marginalized."
They urged Filipinos to "reject electoral candidates whose profiles defy and suppress our country’s democratic principles and practices."
But aside from engaging in the elections, they said they wanted justice, and emphasized the role civil society played in the fight against human rights abuses.
"We continue to demand accountability for the repeated cases of human rights violations and continuing plunder of public funds, from the years of the dictatorship until recent times," they added.
Like the group, Robredo has not minced words when speaking against human rights violations, both old and new.
She said she was saddened by presidential bet Rodrigo Duterte's actions towards women, saying it degraded women's dignity. The iron-clad leadership style also did not appeal to her, adding she favored a participatory, inclusive government.
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Robredo also hit past abuses, particularly during the Marcos regime. Her leading opponent in the race is the late dictator's son, Senator Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. She has said that Marcos' victory would make the Philippines the laughingstock of the world.
She also said that she was not in favor of allowing the elder Marcos to be buried in the Heroes' Cemetery because being laid to rest there "is something that's deserved" and only for those "who should be models of every Filipino."
The Philippine Army had earlier said that the Heroes' Cemetery is the final "resting place for Filipino soldiers, presidents, dignitaries, national artists/scientists/boy scouts, and thousands of soldiers who perished in the Second World War and Korean War."
Those who cannot be buried in the cemetery are those who were "dishonorably separated, reverted, or discharged from the service; and those who were convicted of an offense involving moral turpitude." This is the basis to deny the proposed Marcos which is being pushed by his family and promised by some candidates.
Robredo ranked low in earlier surveys but had inched her way as one of the leading contenders. She placed first in the April 14 TV5 Bilang Pilipino Mobile Survey conducted by Social Weather Stations (SWS), though with only a narrow lead over Marcos. – Bea Orante/Rappler.com
| Government Job change - Appoint_Inauguration | April 2016 | ['(Rappler)'] |
The Malaysian tanker MT Bunga Kelana 3 and a bulk carrier collide in the Singapore Strait, resulting in an estimated 2,000 tonnes of oil spilled. | CLEAN-UP efforts are in full swing, after an oil tanker collided with a bulk carrier off Singapore's south-eastern coast on Tuesday morning. The collision spilled 2,500 tonnes of crude oil into the sea, leading to a 4km by 1 km oil slick floating 6km from Changi East.
The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) said 20 craft from the Singapore, Malaysian authorities and oil-spill response companies were involved in the clean-up operation.
They are equipped with dispersants that break the oil slick into smaller globules to aid biodegrading.
Another 200 people are also on standby to help with the coastal clean-up, if the need arises.
Traffic in the Traffic Separation Scheme of the Singapore Strait - one of the world's busiest shipping routes - was not affected, MPA added in a statement.
Reuters reported that the spill, equivalent to less than 15,000 barrels, is smaller than the about 175,000 barrels of oil that has poured into the Gulf of Mexico since April 20's offshore explosion, which sank the Deepwater Horizon rig.
The worst oil spill to occur in Singapore waters since MPA's formation was in 1997, when the tanker Evoikos collided with the Orapin Global tanker. Up to 29,000 tonnes of heavy marine fuel oil leaked into the waters - over 10 times more than the current spill. | Shipwreck | May 2010 | ['(Reuters)', '(The Times)', '(Straits Times)'] |
German painter Tomma Abts wins the 2006 Turner Prize. | Abts, who has lived in London for 12 years, beat video artist Phil Collins, poster artist Mark Titchner and sculptor Rebecca Warren. The judges said the 38-year-old had produced "compelling images that reveal their complexity slowly over time".
Artist Yoko Ono presented the £25,000 prize at London's Tate Britain.
Abts, whose paintings always measure 48 x 38 cm (19 x 15 in), said it was "a real honour" to receive the prize. Abts begins her paintings with no notion of the end result
"I just started on that size a few years ago and it felt right for what I was doing. Ever since then I've been working in that size and it just feels right," she said.
She said she did not know what she would do with the prize money, adding: "I think it's nice but every artist in the prize deserved to win."
Abts starts work with no idea what she will create and allows the canvas to evolve as she paints.
"It's not that I am only interested in painting, I'm interested in all kinds of art, so I'm not a painter's painter forever," she told the BBC.
"I like any other art. I don't feel I'm representing all the painters here. I'm (just) an artist."
Judges included Tate galleries chairman Sir Nicholas Serota and newspaper writer Lynn Barber.
Live exhibit
This year's Turner show included the first "live" exhibit in its history, with Phil Collins setting up an office which houses staff from his TV production company. Phil Collins' exhibit features a working office of TV researchers
Collins' work also features a film of Turkish people discussing how their lives have been ruined by appearing on reality TV.
Sculptor Rebecca Warren's exhibits include displays of found objects, including bits of fluff, twigs, and a discarded cherry stone. Mark Titchner's entry features a computer-designed billboard with the slogan, "Tiny Masters Of The World Come Out".
Star artists
The Turner Prize, which began in 1984, is given to a British-based artist aged under 50 "for an outstanding exhibition or other presentation of their work". The prize made a star out of Damien Hirst, who won in 1995, as well as Tracey Emin who was nominated in 1999.
Work by this year's four nominated artists has been on display at the London gallery since October.
Last year's winner was Simon Starling, who dismantled a shed, made it into a boat, then turned it back into a shed again. | Awards ceremony | December 2006 | ['(BBC)'] |
64 people are killed in anti-government marches. , , | The toll on 25 January only includes those in Cairo and Giza, spokesman Hisham Abdel Hamid said.
Post-mortem examinations showed at least 58 of the deaths were caused by gunshot wounds and one by birdshot, Abdel Hamid added.
On Saturday, the third anniversary of the popular revolt that toppled autocrat Hosni Mubarak, deadly fighting erupted between police and supporters of deposed President Mohamed Morsi and some non-Islamist protesters in several parts of the country.
In east Cairo's Mattariya district alone, 26 were killed when police violently dispersed a demonstration by Morsi supporters.
An April 6 youth movement member was shot dead when police dispersed a downtown Cairo protest opposed to both the military and the Muslim Brothhood.
The violence highlights deepening polarisation since the army's ouster of Morsi in July after millions protested against his year-long rule.
On Friday, a string of bombings targeting police in Cairo and the neighbouring Giza governorate killed six people and injured dozens.
The recent spate of violence has raised fears that Egypt could see the re-emergence of an Islamist insurgency that battled with authorities in the 1990s. | Armed Conflict | January 2014 | ['(Al-Ahram)', '(Reuters)', '(BBC)'] |
A Nigerian hospital worker is arrested for possessing bags that contain more than 70 dead babies. | A man carrying bags containing more than 70 dead babies has been arrested in Nigeria. He was employed by the Lagos University Teaching Hospital to take the corpses to a cemetery.
The worker was allegedly trying to dump the corpses as he could not afford burial fees. A hospital spokesman said it was co-operating with police investigations into the incident.
A BBC correspondent in Lagos says many families are too devastated to deal with the dead babies and others cannot afford morgue fees, so abandon them outside hospitals. Hospitals hire contractors to bury the corpses. A police preliminary investigation also led to the arrest of some workers in the Department of Morbid and Anatomy at the teaching hospital, said Lagos state police public relations officer Frank Mba.
He also said that the suspect had not intended to use the bodies in any rituals. "We are sure that the suspect is neither a ritualist nor a murderer nor a trafficker. Other contending issues like corruption and abuse of office will be investigated," Mr Mba added. The hospital described the incident as an embarrassment to the organisation.
The BBC's Fidelis Mbah says there's been a state of shock and disbelief among people in Lagos who cannot believe that a hospital with the magnitude of Lagos University Teaching Hospital would allow a contactor to handle that many corpses without supervision from its staff.
| Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | July 2010 | ['(BBC)'] |
Georgia officials launch a investigation into former U.S. President Donald Trump for several phone calls made urging officials such as Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to overturn Joe Biden's win in the state. | The office of Georgia’s secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, has initiated a fact-finding inquiry into Donald Trump’s January phone call to Mr. Raffensperger pressuring him to “find” votes.
By Richard Fausset and Danny Hakim
ATLANTA — The office of Georgia’s secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, on Monday started an investigation into former President Donald J. Trump’s attempts to overturn the state’s election results, including a phone call he made to Mr. Raffensperger in which Mr. Trump pressured him to “find” enough votes to reverse his loss.
Such inquiries are “fact-finding and administrative in nature,” the secretary’s office said, and are a routine step when complaints are received about electoral matters. Findings are typically brought before the Republican-controlled state board of elections, which decides whether to refer them for prosecution to the state attorney general or another agency.
The move comes as Fani Willis, the Democratic district attorney of Fulton County, which encompasses much of Atlanta, is weighing whether to begin a criminal inquiry of her own. A spokesman for Ms. Willis declined to comment on Monday.
The January call was one of several attempts Mr. Trump made to try to persuade top Republican officials in the state to uncover instances of voting fraud that might change the outcome, despite the insistence of voting officials that there was no widespread fraud to be found. He also called Gov. Brian Kemp in early December and pressured him to call a special legislative session to overturn his election loss. Later that month, Mr. Trump called a state investigator and pressed the official to “find the fraud,” according to those with knowledge of the call.
“The Secretary of State’s office investigates complaints it receives,” Walter Jones, a spokesman for the office, said in a statement on Monday. “The investigations are fact-finding and administrative in nature. Any further legal efforts will be left to the Attorney General.” David Worley, the sole Democrat on the state elections board, said Monday that administrative inquiries by the secretary of state’s office could result in criminal charges. “Any investigation of a statutory violation is a potential criminal investigation depending on the statute involved,” he said, adding that in the case of Mr. Trump, “The complaint that was received involved a criminal violation.” Mr. Worley said that now that an inquiry had been started by the secretary of state’s office, he would not introduce a motion at Wednesday’s state board of election meeting, as he had originally planned to do, in an effort to refer the case to the Fulton County district attorney’s office.
Not long after the call to Mr. Raffensperger became public, several complaints were filed. One came from John F. Banzhaf III, a George Washington University law professor. Former prosecutors said Mr. Trump’s calls might run afoul of at least three state laws. One is criminal solicitation to commit election fraud, which can be either a felony or a misdemeanor; as a felony, it is punishable by at least a year in prison. There is also a related conspiracy charge, which can be prosecuted either as a misdemeanor or a felony. A third law, a misdemeanor offense, bars “intentional interference” with another person’s “performance of election duties.”
Jason Miller, a senior adviser to Mr. Trump, said in a statement: “There was nothing improper or untoward about a scheduled call between President Trump, Secretary Raffensperger and lawyers on both sides. If Mr. Raffensperger didn’t want to receive calls about the election, he shouldn’t have run for secretary of state.” Mr. Biden’s victory in Georgia was reaffirmed after election officials recertified the state’s presidential election results in three separate counts of the ballots: the initial election tally; a hand recount ordered by the state; and another recount, which was requested by Mr. Trump’s campaign and completed by machines. The results of the machine recount show Mr. Biden won with a lead of about 12,000 votes.
Mr. Biden was the first Democrat to win the presidential election in Georgia since 1992. Mr. Trump accused Mr. Kemp and Mr. Raffensperger, both Republicans, of not doing enough to help him overturn the result in the weeks after the election. Mr. Kemp and Mr. Raffensperger had each resisted numerous attacks from Mr. Trump, who called the governor “hapless” and called on the secretary of state to resign.
Maggie Haberman contributed reporting. Advertisement
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If you have a critical piece of feedback for us, you can always reach the newsroom via the Reader Center. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Investigate | February 2021 | ['(The New York Times)'] |
A court in Iran upholds the sentences of five Christian citizens who were charged with spreading Christianity and acting against national security by organizing and running house churches. | Iran has upheld the prison sentences of five Christian citizens who had been sentenced to a total of 50 years in prison, non-profit Christian watchdog Article 18 reported on Wednesday.
An Iranian appeals court recently upheld the sentences of Pastor Victor Bet-Tamraz and his wife Shamiram Issavi who were sentenced to 10 and five years in prison respectively, according to Article 18.
Last week, Issavi was officially summoned to report to Tehran’s notorious Evin prison within five days to begin her five-year prison sentence, but she managed to flee the country with her husband hours before she was due to begin her sentence, Article 18 reported.
Bet-Tamraz and Issavi, both in their sixties, were charged with spreading Christianity and acting against national security by organizing and running house churches.
Iran considers the spreading of the Christian faith a criminal act. Every year, dozens of Christian citizens and Christian converts are arrested and given long prison terms.
The couple’s current whereabouts are unknown, but they are “safe and well” and “determined to continue their legal battle against their combined 15-year prison sentence,” their daughter Dabrina told Article 18.
The appeals court has also upheld the prison sentences of three Christian converts. They are Hadi Asgari, Kavian Fallah-Mohammadi and Amin Afshar-Naderi. Asgari and Fallah-Mohammadi were each sentenced to 10 years in prison and Afshar-Naderi was sentenced to 15 years.
Bet-Tamraz, Fallah-Mohammadi and Afshar-Naderi were arrested at a Christmas celebration in 2014 and sentenced alongside Asgari in 2017. Issavi received her prison sentence half a year later, in January 2018.
Bet-Tamraz, Afshar-Naderi and Fallah-Mohammadi were at some point held in solitary confinement for 65 days, according to Article 18.
Iran’s constitution only recognizes followers of the three religions of Judaism, Zoroastrianism and Christianity as religious minorities, but neither this group of Iranians, nor even Sunni Muslims, can perform their rites with complete freedom.
Christians, Sunni Muslims, Jews, Baha’i’s, and others are frequently subject to harassment, detention, and even execution.
Iran has upheld the prison sentences of five Christian citizens who had been sentenced to a total of 50 years in prison, non-profit Christian watchdog Article 18 reported on Wednesday.
An Iranian appeals court recently upheld the sentences of Pastor Victor Bet-Tamraz and his wife Shamiram Issavi who were sentenced to 10 and five years in prison respectively, according to Article 18.
Last week, Issavi was officially summoned to report to Tehran’s notorious Evin prison within five days to begin her five-year prison sentence, but she managed to flee the country with her husband hours before she was due to begin her sentence, Article 18 reported.
Bet-Tamraz and Issavi, both in their sixties, were charged with spreading Christianity and acting against national security by organizing and running house churches.
Iran considers the spreading of the Christian faith a criminal act. Every year, dozens of Christian citizens and Christian converts are arrested and given long prison terms.
The couple’s current whereabouts are unknown, but they are “safe and well” and “determined to continue their legal battle against their combined 15-year prison sentence,” their daughter Dabrina told Article 18.
The appeals court has also upheld the prison sentences of three Christian converts. They are Hadi Asgari, Kavian Fallah-Mohammadi and Amin Afshar-Naderi. Asgari and Fallah-Mohammadi were each sentenced to 10 years in prison and Afshar-Naderi was sentenced to 15 years.
Bet-Tamraz, Fallah-Mohammadi and Afshar-Naderi were arrested at a Christmas celebration in 2014 and sentenced alongside Asgari in 2017. Issavi received her prison sentence half a year later, in January 2018.
Bet-Tamraz, Afshar-Naderi and Fallah-Mohammadi were at some point held in solitary confinement for 65 days, according to Article 18.
Iran’s constitution only recognizes followers of the three religions of Judaism, Zoroastrianism and Christianity as religious minorities, but neither this group of Iranians, nor even Sunni Muslims, can perform their rites with complete freedom.
Christians, Sunni Muslims, Jews, Baha’i’s, and others are frequently subject to harassment, detention, and even execution. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Sentence | August 2020 | ['(Al Arabiya)'] |
Rockets originating from the Egyptian-administrated Sinai Peninsula strike parts of southern Israel. | "Terrorists in theSinai Peninsulalaunched rockets into Israel Friday night," reports the Jerusalem Post. "The rockets fell near an Israeli village on the southern border, causing some damage, but no injuries."
TheIsraeli dailyHaaretzreports,"Rockets fired from direction of Egypt toward Eshkol Regional Council."
It appears no damage was reported in connection with the rocket fire from Egypt. Earlier today, the Egyptian prime minister visited Gaza to express solidarity with the Palestinians there.
This new front comes a day after a rocket landed near Tel Aviv and on the same day Israel's capital Jerusalem was the target of rocket fire. Those attacks were courtesy of Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
"After Tel Aviv metropolitan area, capital under fire too:An air raid siren was sounded in Jerusalem and surrounding communities early Friday evening. After residents reported hearing blast sounds, security forces confirmed that one rocket had landed in the Gush Etzion area near a Palestinian village," Ynet reports.
"There were no reports of injuries or damage.This was the first air raid siren sounded in the area since the IDFlaunched Operation Pillar of Defensein the Gaza Strip. Air raid sirens were sounded in southern communities throughout the day and a barrage of missiles hit the area."
| Armed Conflict | November 2012 | ['(Weekly Standard)'] |
The death toll of an explosion caused by a gas leak that devastated a block of flats in Magnitogorsk, Russia, rises to 39. Rescuers end their search efforts at the collapse site as there are no more missing people. | Thirty-nine people have been killed in an apartment building collapse this week in the industrial Russian city of Magnitogorsk as emergency workers wrapped up a search operation.
The casualty count has progressively increased since the 10-story building fell on Dec. 31 in what the authorities described as a gas explosion. In a separate incident the next day that was also attributed to gas, a minibus explosion on the same street killed three unidentified people. As of Thursday evening, rescuers have recovered 39 bodies from the rubble and said there were no more to be found. “The last body was retrieved half an hour ago. The search and rescue operation is complete,” Deputy Emergency Situations Minister Alexander Chupriyan was quoted as saying by the state-run TASS news agency.
The ministry said at least six children were among the victims. Another six people were found alive, including an infant whose rescue was described as a New Year’s “miracle.”
The governor of Chelyabinsk region, where Magnitogorsk is located 1,700 kilometers east of Moscow, pledged 1 million rubles ($14,400) to the relatives of each victim.
Meanwhile, speculation has swirled around the successive explosions of the Soviet-era apartment block on Monday followed by the minibus on Tuesday. Footage shared by local media showed the minibus engulfed in a blaze accompanied by the sound of either explosives or gunshots.
Russia’s Investigative Committee responded to the first wave of speculation with an assertion late Tuesday that no traces of explosives had been found at the site of the building’s explosion.
The regional news website znak.com wrote later that a lack of official statements since then has fueled “various rumors and theories in Magnitogorsk and throughout the country.”
“All the while, znak.com’s sources in the Russian FSB in Moscow confirm the theory that it was a terrorist attack,” the website reported Thursday, using the acronym for the Federal Security Service. | Gas explosion | January 2019 | ['(The Moscow Times)'] |
Iran denies attacks in southern Syria by Israel hit their installations. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition-aligned medium, claims the missiles killed one Iranian and two people from Hezbollah. | A top Revolutionary Guards commander on Sunday denied Israeli claims that Iranian targets were hit in an IDF airstrike in Syria, asserting that the Jewish state lacked the power to carry out such attacks.
However, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor appeared to contradict Iran’s denial, saying an Iranian combatant and two fighters for the Lebanese terror group Hezbollah were among the fatalities in the strike.
“The Israeli raids targeting Iranian and Hezbollah posts… in the southeast of Damascus killed at least three people two from Hezbollah and a third who was Iranian,” Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said.
Late Saturday night, the Israel Defense Forces made a rare announcement acknowledging it had carried out the attack in Syria against Iranian forces and Shiite militia members, who it said has been been working on a plan to fly explosives-laden “killer drones” into Israel.
In a statement issued just minutes after the Israeli army announced its attack, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailed the military’s “major operational effort” in thwarting the attack planned by “the Iranian Quds force and Shiite militias.” | Armed Conflict | August 2019 | ['(Times of Israel)'] |
U.S. missiles kill 24 suspected insurgents in North Waziristan, Pakistan, in the latest two of three strikes since an attempted car bombing in New York linked to the Taliban. The identities of most of those killed are not known. | They struck cars, homes and tents across a wide area in the Doga area, where insurgents have hideouts and training facilities, two intelligence officials said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. The identities of the people killed in the attack were not immediately known.
North Waziristan has been the target of nearly all of about 30 other American attacks this year. In recent months, it has become a new haven for militants who fled a Pakistani army offensive in their previous stronghold, neighboring South Waziristan.
The strike Tuesday was the third since Pakistani-American Faisal Shazad was arrested after allegedly abandoning a bomb-laden SUV in Times Square. He has reportedly told investigators that he received training in Waziristan and U.S. officials have said evidence showed the Pakistani Taliban played a role in the plot.
Pakistan officially protests the missile strikes on its territory as violations of its sovereignty, but it is believed to aid them. The U.S. rarely discusses the unmanned-drone-fired strikes, which are part of a covert CIA program.
U.S. claims that the Pakistani Taliban was behind the May 1 failed car bombing in Times Square add pressure on Pakistan's government to launch an army attack on the militant sanctuaries of North Waziristan.
Aside from U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's warning over the weekend of "severe consequences" if an attack on U.S. soil is traced back to Pakistan, most U.S. officials have been careful not to criticize Pakistan in their public comments since Shahzad was arrested.
The Pakistani Taliban, which has previously not conducted attacks on U.S. soil, has been the target of several Pakistani army offensives over the last two years in addition to being battered by scores of American missile strikes. They are allied to al-Qaeda, which has also found sanctuary in the northwest, and the Afghan Taliban just across the border.
The army has not moved into North Waziristan in part because powerful insurgent commanders there have generally not attacked targets in Pakistan. In recent months, however, fleeing fighters and commanders from the Pakistani Taliban, which have launched scores of bloody suicide attacks around the country since 2007, have moved there. | Armed Conflict | May 2010 | ['(Chicago Tribune)', '[permanent dead link]', '(USA Today)'] |
A magnitude 7.5 earthquake strikes near the Mentawai Islands, but tsunami warnings for western Sumatra proved unwarranted. , | The 7.5 magnitude quake near the Mentawi Islands at a depth of 14km (8 miles) triggered a tsunami watch, but officials later gave the all clear.
Indonesia's Meteorology and Geophysics Agency said the quake struck at 2142 (1442 GMT) and was felt in towns in Bengkulu and west Sumatra provinces.
There have so far been no reports of damage or casualties. Initial reports put the depth of the quake at 33km (20.5 miles), but this was later revised by the US Geological Survey.
The shallow depth of the earthquake prompted the US-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Center to issue a "watch" bulletin.
"There was shaking that went on for about three seconds or so," Indonesian disaster management agency spokesman Priyadi Kardono told AFP news agency.
"Residents panicked and ran to the hills but now they are starting to come down. There is no report of casualties or damage." Indonesia is regularly affected by earthquakes.
More than 1,000 people were killed by an earthquake off Sumatra in September 2009.
In June at least three powerful earthquakes struck the region, bringing down homes and leaving three people dead.
In December 2004, a 9.1-magnitude quake off the coast of Aceh triggered a tsunami in the Indian Ocean that killed a quarter of a million people in 13 countries including Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and Thailand.
Indonesia sits on the Pacific "Ring of Fire", one of the world's most active areas for earthquakes and volcanoes.
| Earthquakes | October 2010 | ['(BBC News)', '(News Limited)', '(Sina)'] |
Exit polls indicate Merkel has won a fourth term in power, and that Alternative for Germany will enter the Bundestag for the first time as the third largest party. | German Chancellor Angela Merkel has been re-elected for a fourth term while nationalists have made a historic surge in federal elections.
Her conservative CDU/CSU bloc has seen its worst result in almost 70 years but will remain the largest in parliament.
Its current coalition partner, the social democratic SPD, says it will go into opposition after historic losses.
The nationalist AfD has won its first seats and is set to be the third party, a result that sparked some protests.
Dozens of demonstrators gathered outside the right-wing, anti-Islam party's headquarters in Berlin on Sunday night, some with placards saying "Refugees are welcome".
Protests were also held in several other cities, including Frankfurt and Cologne.
While her alliance has remained the largest party, it is the worst result for the alliance between the Christian Democrat (CDU) and the Christian Social Union (CSU) since 1949, when national elections were held in Germany for the first time after World War Two.
Addressing supporters, Mrs Merkel, who has been in the job for 12 years, said she had hoped for a "better result".
She added that she would listen to the "concerns, worries and anxieties" of voters of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) in order to win them back.
Mrs Merkel also said her government would have to deal with economic and security issues as well as addressing the root causes of migration - one of the main reasons behind the AfD's result.
"Today we can say that we now have a mandate to assume responsibility and we're going to assume this responsibility calmly, talking with our partners of course."
A chaotic day for German politics: Jenny Hill, BBC News, Berlin
It has been a long and bruising election campaign. Angela Merkel may have won the election but it does not feel like much of a victory.
This election will go down in the history books for two reasons. Mrs Merkel may have won a fourth term but it is her worst-ever general election result. And right-wing nationalists are now part of the German establishment.
The result is a verdict, perhaps, on Mrs Merkel's decision to open Germany's doors to one million refugees.
What is the political norm in many other European countries was considered unthinkable in post-war Germany. Not any more.
Read more from Jenny
The Social Democrats (SPD) also had their worst election result since 1949. The party's loss of support while junior partner in government saw leader Martin Schulz declare the end of the "grand coalition" with Mrs Merkel's alliance, to cheers and applause.
"It's a difficult and bitter day for social democrats in Germany," Mr Schulz told supporters. "We haven't reached our objective."
He also vowed to prevent the AfD from being the main opposition party.
With the possibility of an alliance with the SPD rejected, Mrs Merkel's options are narrow, and the process of forming a new coalition could take months.
Six parties will be in the German parliament for the first time since the 1950s.
The most likely scenario is of a "Jamaica" coalition, so-called because of the colours of Jamaica's flag. It includes the black CDU/CSU, the yellow, business-friendly Free Democrats (FDP) - who are returning to parliament after a four-year hiatus - and the Greens.
It is not a marriage made in heaven, as the Greens want to phase out 20 coal-fired power plants and the FDP disagree, but it is the only formation that would guarantee enough seats in the new Bundestag, German broadcaster ZDF says.
All parties have rejected working with the AfD.
The party is expected to take 94 seats in the 709-seat federal parliament after capitalising on a backlash against Mrs Merkel's policy towards migrants and refugees, many of them from war-torn, mainly Muslim countries like Syria. Alternative for Germany was founded in 2013 as an anti-euro party but later turned its focus to immigration and Islam.
It called for a ban on minarets and declared Islam incompatible with German culture. Several of its candidates have been linked to far-right remarks.
Those hardline positions helped it to win seats in 13 of Germany's 16 state parliaments in the last few years.
Prominent AfD figure Frauke Petry said on Twitter (in German) that Germany had experienced an incomparable "political earthquake". The party's performance was better than forecast in opinion polls.
It performed particularly well in what was formerly East Germany, taking 21.5% of the vote as the second most popular party.
Beatrix von Storch, one of the party's leaders, told the BBC that the result would change the political system in Germany, giving "a voice" to the people she said were not represented in the last parliament.
"We'll start debates on migration, we'll start debates on Islam, we'll start debates on ever closer union."
AfD calls for stricter asylum rules to curb abuse of the system, including vetting of claims in countries of origin that are deemed "safe".
| Government Job change - Election | September 2017 | ['(BBC)'] |
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