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Former United Kingdom Labour Party MP Elliot Morley is jailed for 16 months for dishonestly claiming more than £30,000 in parliamentary expenses. | Former Labour minister Elliot Morley has been sentenced to 16 months in jail for dishonestly claiming more than £30,000 in parliamentary expenses.
He pleaded guilty last month to making excessive claims for mortgage costs from 2004 to 2007 and claiming for a mortgage that had been paid off.
Sentencing him, Mr Justice Saunders said he had "thrown away his good name and good character".
Morley, MP for Scunthorpe since 1987, stepped down at the general election.
As a former environment minister, he is the most senior politician to plead guilty to expenses fraud.
When the allegations against him first surfaced, he claimed it had been a genuine mistake and said he would prove that he was not guilty of deception. But the Crown Prosecution Service said Morley's behaviour had been "blatantly dishonest". Sentencing him, the judge Mr Justice Saunders said: "I am satisfied from the nature of the mortgage transactions and the correspondence that the excessive claims were made deliberately and are not explicable even in part by oversight."
The 58-year-old pleaded guilty to two charges of false accounting under the Theft Act. He claimed £15,200 in mortgage claims - when he was only entitled to £1,572 - and submitted claims for £16,800 towards a mortgage on a property near Scunthorpe - after it had been paid off.
He wrongly filled out a total of 40 forms relating to mortgage payments.
Mr Justice Saunders acknowledged that Morley had been "a positive force for good" during his time as a minister and had done "a great deal to promote the green agenda".
He described the case as "tragic for the defendant and his family" and said Morley had "thrown away his good name and good character".
He said he accepted the fraud in Morley's case was not as "sophisticated" as that of another former Labour MP, David Chaytor, and therefore, his sentence was slightly lower.
Chaytor was jailed for 18 months in jail in January for fraudulently claiming more than £20,000 in expenses by submitting bogus invoices for IT consultancy work and claiming rent he never paid.
A Labour Party spokesman said: "Elliot Morley had already been suspended from the Labour Party and following his custodial sentence he has now been excluded from the party."
Morley was the third former Labour MP to plead guilty to expenses fraud, along with Eric Illsley, who received a 12-month sentence, and Chaytor.
A fourth Labour MP, Jim Devine, was the only one to stand trial but was jailed for 16 months in March after being found guilty.
Lawyers for Devine have made a formal complaint to the governor of Belmarsh prison, where he is being held, because they argue he should be moved to a lower security insititution.
Gerald Shamash said his client's incarceration in Belmarsh - which houses high risk, Category A prisoners, - was "taking its toll", and as a low risk, Category D inmate he should have already been transferred.
In response, a Prison Service spokesman said: "Prisoners may be allocated to any prison in England and Wales according to the offence, sentence, security category and individual circumstances."
"When a prisoner is recategorised the Prison Service will allocate them to a suitable establishment as soon as there is space available."
| Famous Person - Commit Crime - Sentence | May 2011 | ['(BBC)'] |
SEBIN agents detain Juan Guaidó's deputy Edgar Zambrano, the Vice President of the opposition-held National Assembly, and are reported to have taken him to El Helicoide prison. He is the most high profile opposition politician arrested since the presidential crisis began in January. | The vice president of Venezuela's National Assembly, Edgar Zambrano, has been detained and towed to prison in his car. He was apprehended for alleged support of an uprising arranged by opposition leader Juan Guaido.
Venezuelan intelligence agents on Wednesday detained Edgar Zambrano, the deputy leader of the opposition-dominated National Assembly, for supporting an attempted uprising on April 30.
Zambrano, opposition leader and self-declared President Juan Guaido's deputy as National Assembly speaker, was detained by agents in Caracas for backing the failed April 30 military uprising against President Nicolas Maduro, which was orchestrated by Guaido.
"We warn the people of Venezuela and the international community: the regime has kidnapped the first vice president" of the National Assembly, Guaido wrote in a Twitter post. "They are trying to destroy the power representing all Venezuelans, but they will not achieve it."
The Constituent Assembly has said it would suspend the immunity of any lawmakers who backed the uprising, which sparked two days of clashes between security forces and protesters.
Attorney General Tarek William Saab says the clashes left six people dead. Dozens more were injured and more than 233 were arrested.
Party head Carlos Prosperi said security forces towed Zambrano's car away while the lawmaker still inside.
Zambrano's exact whereabouts were unknown, but he tweeted that at 6:35 p.m. (2235 UTC) he left his party's headquarters and his car was surrounded by intelligence officers.
He wrote that he refused to leave the vehicle, which was subsequently towed with him inside it to the Helicoide, a government building in Caracas used for holding prisoners.
Opposition lawmakers under investigation
In a separate case, Venezuela's Supreme Court indicted three more lawmakers for supporting Guaido's uprising.
The three lawmakers named as Freddy Superlano, Sergio Vergara and Juan Andres Mejia have been accused of high treason and conspiracy.
Their arrests come after acourt announced the indictment of seven others on Tuesday.
Guaido, who is recognized as Venezuela's interim president by more than 50 countries, was also stripped of his immunity on April 2.
In response to the first indictments on Tuesday, Guaido said in a speech that the government's "only response ... is to persecute, because they no longer govern, because they no longer have command." | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | May 2019 | ['(BBC)', '(Deutsche Welle)'] |
Poland's local veterinary authorities states that they will cull 930,000 hens in a farm in western Poland due to an H5N8 bird flu outbreak in the village of Wroniawy which was discovered yesterday. | Poland will cull over 900,000 hens in a farm in western Poland due to a bird flu outbreak which was discovered on Tuesday evening, state news agency PAP quoted local veterinary authorities as saying.
The H5N8 bird flu outbreak in the village of Wroniawy is the 33rd one in Poland this year, said PAP citing the Chief Veterinary Inspectorate data.
"It is a farm of 930,000 laying hens. ... A canal runs behind the farm, there are also fields nearby, with geese and other wild birds," PAP quoted local veterinary authorities as saying. It added that the cull will start on Thursday and may continue for up to six days.
Poland's Chief Veterinary Inspectorate and local veterinary services were not immediately available to comment.
Risk to humans from the disease is considered low, but past outbreaks among farm birds have required extensive slaughtering programmes to contain them.
| Disease Outbreaks | November 2020 | ['(NDTV)'] |
Ranil Wickremesinghe is sworn in as Prime Minister of Sri Lanka. | COLOMBO (Reuters) - Ranil Wickremesinghe was sworn in as Sri Lanka’s prime minister on Sunday, making a remarkable comeback weeks after being ousted by President Maithripala Sirisena under controversial circumstances.
Wickremesinghe’s reinstatement, which is expected to end a political crisis that began in late October when he was surprisingly sacked, is an embarrassment for the president.
Sirisena had replaced Wickremesinghe with former president Mahinda Rajapaksa following differences over policy matters and other issues. However, Rajapaksa failed to win a parliamentary majority and resigned on Saturday as a government shutdown loomed.
Sirisena had repeatedly said he would not reappoint Wickremesinghe as prime minister. But he had to change his stance to gain parliamentary approval for a temporary budget that is required by Jan. 1.
“It is a victory for Sri Lanka’s democratic institutions and the sovereignty of our citizens,” Wickremesinghe said in a tweet. “I thank everyone who stood firm in defending the constitution and ensuring the triumph of democracy.”
He later told his supporters at his official residence that he would ensure a “better economic situation, better standard of living” for Sri Lankans after first working to “normalize the country”.
The swearing-in ceremony was closed to the media and only a few lawmakers from Wickremesinghe’s coalition were present, an official in the president’s office told Reuters. The official did not want to be named.
Wickremesinghe, who has never completed a full term as prime minister, was appointed for the post for the fifth time.
The South Asian island country’s parliament had voted to cut the budget for Rajapaksa and his ministers after Sirisena refused to accept no-confidence votes against Rajapaksa, saying that due process was not followed.
Sri Lanka’s parliamentarians have already passed a confidence vote in Wickremesinghe as they sought his return as prime minister to defuse a constitutional crisis.
On Friday, Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court rejected Rajapaksa’s bid for an injunction against a lower court’s order that barred him and his Cabinet from performing their roles.
Many foreign countries refused to recognize Rajapaksa’s government. Credit rating agencies Fitch and Standard & Poor’s downgraded Sri Lanka, citing refinancing risks and an uncertain policy outlook.
Sirisena came to power in 2015 on a pledge to uphold democracy and stamp out corruption. However, his popularity has been hit by a crisis many say he triggered because of personal differences with Wickremesinghe.
Much of the conflict between the two men centered on a dispute over how much to accommodate Indian interests in the country versus Chinese, government officials and foreign diplomats told Reuters last month.
China has been investing heavily in the country though India is the traditional power in the region.
India welcomed the resolution of the political turmoil in Sri Lanka.
“This is a reflection of the maturity demonstrated by all political forces, and also of the resilience of Sri Lankan democracy and its institutions,” said Raveesh Kumar, spokesman for India’s Ministry of External Affairs.
“India remains committed to taking forward its people-oriented development projects in Sri Lanka. We are confident that India-Sri Lanka relations will continue to move on an upward trajectory.”
Additional reporting by Ranga Sirilal;Writing by Krishna N. Das; Editing by Paul Tait, Christian Schmollinger, William Maclean
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
| Government Job change - Appoint_Inauguration | December 2018 | ['(Reuters)'] |
A bomb explodes on the Rajdhani Express in Assam, India near Chungajan killing five passengers. | By WASBIR HUSSAIN 2 days ago GAUHATI, India (AP) A bomb tore through a moving train in India's remote northeast Thursday, killing five passengers and injuring four, an official said.
The New Delhi-bound super-fast Rajdhani Express started from the eastern town of Dibrugarh in Assam state and had just crossed a station near Chungajan, 168 miles east of state capital Gauhati, when the bomb exploded, Indian Railway spokesman T. Rabha told The Associated Press. It jolted passengers out of their sleep, he said.
"A car near the luggage car took the whole impact of the blast before dawn Thursday. Five passengers were killed and four others wounded," Rabha said.
No one claimed responsibility for the attack and authorities did not immediately blame any group. But several rebel groups are fighting for autonomy or independence in the region.
Those militants say the national government exploits the northeast's rich natural resources while doing little for the area's indigenous people, most of whom are ethnically closer to nearby Myanmar and China than to the rest of India.
"We suspect the bomb was planted inside the train from early examinations, but we cannot conclude for sure just now," said P. Saloi, a police superintendent.
After the blast, 31 passengers in the affected car were shifted to another car and the train resumed its journey.
The Rajdhani Express is a popular air-conditioned train connecting India's northeast with the capital. It has a capacity of 900 but it was not full at the time of the explosion, Rabha said. | Armed Conflict | December 2007 | ['(AP via Google News)'] |
Syrian sources claim that the true objective of the raid was a weapon research center northwest of Damascus and that two people were killed in the action. | The Syrian military says Israeli jets have carried out an air strike on its territory, but denied reports that lorries carrying weapons bound for Lebanon were hit.
It said in a statement that the target was a military research centre northwest of the capital Damascus.
Two people were killed and five injured in the attack, it said.
Lebanese security sources, Western diplomats and Syrian rebels say an arms convoy was hit near Lebanon's border.
The attack came as Israel voiced fears that Syrian missiles and chemical weapons could fall into the hands of militants such as Lebanon's Hezbollah.
On Thursday, Russia's foreign ministry expressed "grave concerns" over the alleged Israeli attacks.
"If this information is confirmed, then we are dealing with unprovoked strikes at targets on the territory of a sovereign state, which grossly violates the UN Charter and is unacceptable, whatever motives are used to justify it," the statement said.
BBC Middle East correspondent Wyre Davies says none of the reports can be verified, although some well-placed diplomats and military sources say they would not be surprised if Israel had acted, given the recent instability in Syria. Israel and the US have declined to comment on the incident.
The Lebanese military and internal security forces have not officially confirmed the reports, but say there has been increased activity by Israeli warplanes over Lebanon in the past week, and particularly in recent hours.
The army statement, quoted in Syria's official media, said: "Israeli fighter jets violated our airspace at dawn today and carried out a direct strike on a scientific research centre in charge of raising our level of resistance and self-defence."
The centre, in Jamraya, northwest of the capital Damascus, was damaged in the attack, along with an adjacent building and a car park, the statement said.
It said that "armed terrorist gangs", a term the government uses to describe rebel groups, had tried and failed repeatedly to capture the same facility in recent months.
The statement specifically denied reports that an arms convoy had been hit.
The Jerusalem Post said the description of the facility fitted that of Syria's Scientific Studies and Research Centre, believed to be the state organisation responsible for developing biological and chemical weapons.
Hours earlier, unnamed Lebanese security sources reported that Israeli warplanes had struck lorries carrying missiles towards the Lebanese border
The Associated Press quoted a US official as saying the lorries were carrying Russian-made SA-17 anti-aircraft missiles.
Correspondents say Israel fears that Lebanese Shia militant group Hezbollah could obtain anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles, thus strengthening its ability to respond to Israeli air strikes.
However, an attack on the Syrian side could cause a major diplomatic incident, they say, as Iran has said it will treat any Israeli attack on Syria as an attack on itself.
The attack came days after Israel moved its Iron Dome defence system to the north of the country.
Israel has also joined the US in expressing concern that Syria's presumed chemical weapons stockpile could be taken over by militant groups, although there is no evidence that the convoy was carrying such weapons.
Analysts say Israel believes Syria received a battery of SA-17s from Russia after an alleged Israeli air strike in 2007 that destroyed a Syrian nuclear reactor. | Armed Conflict | January 2013 | ['(BBC)'] |
Pennsylvania's Supreme Court upholds the previous court ruling that dismissed the case against Ted Cruz which challenged his eligibility to appear on the state's GOP primary ballot, and serve as president. | Texas Sen. Ted Cruz has won a case in Pennsylvania's highest court that had challenged his eligibility to appear on the state's GOP primary ballot and serve as president.
The state Supreme Court order Thursday upheld a lower-court judge's decision to dismiss the case.
A Pittsburgh resident and registered Republican voter, Carmon Elliott, had argued that Cruz isn't eligible to run for president or to appear on Pennsylvania's April 26 primary ballot because he was born in Canada.
Commonwealth Court Judge Dan Pellegrini ruled March 11 that common law precedent and statutory history maintain that an eligible candidate includes any person born to an American citizen, regardless of where.
Elliott had acknowledged that Cruz's mother was born in the United States and has been a U.S. citizen her whole life. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Sentence | March 2016 | ['(ABC News)'] |
France and Germany end talks with the United States to reform the World Health Organization, after the former two's respective health ministries expressed opposition to the attempt from the US at leading the talks, despite the US having decided to leave the organization. | France and Germany have quit talks on reforming the World Health Organization in frustration at attempts by the United States to lead the negotiations, despite its decision to leave the WHO, three officials told Reuters.
The move is a setback for President Donald Trump as Washington, which holds the rotating chair of the G7, had hoped to issue a common roadmap for a sweeping overhaul of the WHO in September, two months before the U.S. presidential election.
The United States gave the WHO a year’s notice in July that it is leaving the U.N. agency - which was created to improve health globally - after Trump accused it of being too close to China and having mishandled the coronavirus pandemic.
The WHO has dismissed his accusations. European governments have also criticised the WHO but do not go as far as the United States in their criticism, and the decision by Paris and Berlin to leave the talks follows tensions over what they say are Washington’s attempts to dominate the negotiations.
“Nobody wants to be dragged into a reform process and getting an outline for it from a country which itself just left the WHO,” a senior European official involved in the talks said.
The German and French health ministries confirmed to Reuters that the two countries were opposed to the United States leading the talks after announcing their intention to leave the organisation.
A spokesman for the Italian health ministry said that work on the reform document was still underway, adding however that Italy’s position was in line with Paris and Berlin.
Asked about the position of France and Germany, a senior Trump administration official said: “All members of the G7 explicitly supported the substance of the WHO reform ideas.”
“Notwithstanding, it is regrettable that Germany and France ultimately chose not to join the group in endorsing the roadmap,” he said.
A spokesman for the British government declined to comment on the latest developments but added that Britain supported the WHO and urged a reform of the body “to ensure it remains flexible and responsive”.
The talks on WHO reform began about four months ago. There have been nearly 20 teleconferences between health ministers from the Group of Seven industrialised nations, and dozens of meetings of diplomats and other officials.
A deal by the G7, which also includes Japan and Canada, would facilitate talks at the G20 and United Nations, where any changes would have to be agreed with China, Russia and other major governments not in the G7.
It is unclear whether a G7 summit in the United States, at which Trump hopes leaders will endorse the roadmap, will now go ahead in September as planned.
U.S. officials have not said what reforms Washington has sought. But an initial reform roadmap proposed by Washington was seen by many of its allies as too critical, with one European official involved in the negotiations describing it as “rude”.
Despite changes to the original text, Washington’s push remained unacceptable, mainly to Germany, sources familiar with the negotiations said.
FUNDING AND “POLITICIZED MANAGEMENT”
In the weeks before the collapse of the talks, negotiators had told Reuters positions were getting closer as Washington softened its approach and European negotiators started to see the reform process as a means to make the WHO more independent from political pressure..
European governments had also began to make sceptical remarks about the WHO in public, with Germany’s health minister urging the WHO to hasten a review of its handling of COVID-19..
In private, some Europeans have supported a tougher line, with some criticising WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and what they see as politicised management of the pandemic.
“Everybody has been critical of Tedros,” a negotiator from a European G7 country told Reuters.
A German government source said: “It must ... be ensured in future that the WHO can react neutrally and on the basis of facts to global health events.”
But European governments want to make the WHO stronger, better funded and more independent, whereas the U.S. withdrawal of funds is likely to weaken it - Washington is the single largest contributor, providing 15% of the budget.
Some Europeans see Trump’s criticism of the WHO as an attempt in the run-up to the U.S. election to distract attention from his handling of COVID-19, and Berlin’s ties with Washington have been strained by his decision in July to withdraw thousands of U.S. troops from Germany.
Plans to reform the WHO are unlikely to be definitively shelved, especially if Trump is defeated in the November election. European governments want Washington to remain a WHO member and a financial supporter, and they have shown an interest in boosting their own funding to the body.
| Diplomatic Talks _ Diplomatic_Negotiation_ Summit Meeting | August 2020 | ['(Reuters)'] |
The United Nations Security Council unanimously adopts Resolution 1747, imposing additional economic sanctions on the Islamic Republic of Iran for its ongoing nuclear programme. | UNITED NATIONS, March 24 -- The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously Saturday to approve a resolution that bans all Iranian arms exports and freezes some of the financial assets of 28 Iranian individuals and entities linked to Iran's military and nuclear agencies.
The 15 to 0 vote came one day after President Mahmoud Admadinejad canceled plans to travel to New York to confront the Security Council, leaving his foreign minister to speak in his place. It unfolded as 15 British sailors and marines seized by Iranian naval forces were transferred to Tehran, escalating diplomatic tensions between the two countries. (See story, A12)
The 15-nation panel imposed the latest sanctions in response to Iran's refusal to abide by repeated U.N. demands to stop its most sensitive nuclear activities, including the enrichment of uranium and the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel.
The council also threatened to impose new penalties on Tehran after 60 days if it fails to stop its nuclear activities and provide verifiable assurance that it is not secretly pursuing a nuclear weapon.
The measures adopted Saturday fell far short of the punishing trade, travel and military sanctions initially proposed by the United States and its European partners. But they insisted they were pleased with the outcome.
"We got more than we thought we were going to get" in this resolution, said R. Nicholas Burns, the U.S. undersecretary of state for political affairs. He also said that it criminalizes Iran's military support for extremists and exposes its political isolation. "If Iran has Qatar, a Gulf Arab state; and Indonesia, a Muslim state; and South Africa, a leading member of the nonaligned movement, voting for these sanctions, Iran is in trouble internationally."
Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki told the council after the vote that its action was "unlawful, unnecessary and unjustifiable" and that "pressure and intimidation" would not force Iran to abandon its right, under the 1970 Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty, to develop nuclear energy. He characterized those targeted by the sanctions as "heroes."
"Suspension is neither an option nor a solution," he said. "We realize now that we must be prepared to pay the price for our dignity and our independence."
After the vote, the council's five permanent members -- the United States, Russia, Britain, France and China -- issued a statement deploring Iran's "failure" to comply with U.N. resolutions but reiterated an offer to talk to Iran to resolve the nuclear standoff.
The resolution goes beyond Iran's nuclear program, targeting individuals and institutions that have been linked to Iran's widening military role in the Middle East.
For instance, the resolution imposes an asset freeze on several commanders of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, including Brig. Gen. Qasem Soleimani, commander of Iran's Quds force, which oversees Iran's support for foreign Islamic revolutionary movements -- including Hezbollah, Hamas and Iraqi Shiite militants.
The resolution's widening scope suggests that the United States and its allies are seeking to use the council as part of an effort to contain Iran, and some council members and observers were concerned that Western powers may be using the council to undercut the regime. "Is this aimed at preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, or is this regime change in another form?" asked Jean du Preez, director of the international organizations and nonproliferation program at the Monterey Institute of International Studies. | Sign Agreement | March 2007 | ['(Washington Post)'] |
Seven Russian defense contractors from the Wagner Group and 20 Mozambican soldiers are reportedly killed in attacks by Salafi jihadists in northern Mozambique. | Seven Russian Wagner Group mercenaries have been killed in two separate shooting incidents involving Islamic State-linked insurgents in Mozambique’s northern Cabo Delgado province this month, two Mozambique army sources told The Moscow Times.
In a previously unreported attack that took place on Oct. 10 in Cabo Delgado’s Macomia district, two Russian Wagner soldiers were shot dead after their group was ambushed by Islamist militant insurgents, a soldier with the Mozambique Defense Armed Forces (FADM) who witnessed the incident told The Moscow Times.
Five more Russian Wagner mercenaries were ambushed on Oct. 27 in Cabo Delgado’s Muidumbe district, a separate FADM source told The Moscow Times.
According to the second source, four of the Russians were shot dead at the scene of the attack, then beheaded, and the fifth was wounded and later died at the local Mueda District Hospital.
“The attackers first set up barricades along the road, and when the FADM vehicles arrived, they began firing and then beheaded the victims and burned the vehicle,” the source told The Moscow Times.
Russia’s Embassy in Maputo did not respond to requests for comments from The Moscow Times.
The Wagner Group is a Kremlin-linked private military contractor founded by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a businessman who has close contact with the Russian President Vladimir Putin and is often referred to as “Putin’s Chef” because of his catering business.
Both sources wished to remain anonymous. Their accounts match up with local Mozambique media reports that came out on Tuesday saying 20 soldiers from the Mozambique army were also killed in the ambush.
According to Piers Pigou, a senior Africa consultant at the International Crisis Group NGO, if confirmed, the recent incidents would be “psychological blow to both the Mozambique military and the Russian advisers.” As of 2017, Mozambique has stepped up its fight against the insurgents in the impoverished Muslim-majority Cabo Delgado, with mixed results.
“Having earlier this month boasted about successful operations against Cabo Delgado's militant insurgents, this attack suggests a paucity of intelligence about the group and its operational capacity to disrupt the government's counterinsurgency operations," Pigou said.
The accounts shed new light on Wagner’s activities in Mozambique. Earlier, the Times of London reported the arrival of 200 Russian Wagner mercenaries and three helicopters to help Mozambique’s government forces fight jihadists. On Oct. 8, two days after the reported death of another Russian Wagner soldier, the Kremlin denied that it had deployed any government troops in Mozambique.
Prigozhin is often seen as one of the main figures leading Russia’s push into Africa. Wagner has previously been sighted in Sudan and Central African Republic, according to CNN, where it cooperates with local authorities. On Wednesday, Facebook suspended three networks of Russian accounts linked to Prigozhin that had attempted to interfere in the domestic politics of eight African countries, including Mozambique.
Russia has been extremely secretive about the deaths of Russian soldiers linked to the Wagner group. Earlier this autumn, the Meduza news website reported that 10 to 35 Russian Wagner mercenaries died while fighting in Libya. Wagner has also been fighting in Syria alongside President Assad. In 2018, its mercenaries were reportedly involved in a four-hour battle with U.S. commandos which resulted in up to 300 Russian deaths. | Armed Conflict | October 2019 | ['(The Moscow Times)'] |
The Obama administration plans to lift sanctions against Myanmar. | President Obama meets with Myanmar's de facto leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday.
President Obama has announced that the U.S. is ready to lift economic sanctions against Myanmar in light of political reforms in the Southeast Asian nation.
It's going to happen "soon," Obama said, but he did not indicate a specific timeline during a joint news conference Wednesday at the White House with Myanmar's de facto leader, Aung San Suu Kyi.
Lifting sanctions "is the right thing to do in order to ensure that the people of Burma see the rewards from a new way of doing business, and a new government," Obama said. (The country is also known as Burma.)
The sanctions were imposed in 1997, and as NPR's Michele Kelemen explains, they were "originally put in place to isolate Myanmar's former military junta." The military, she says, "still controls much of the economy and retains great political power."
In 2012, the Obama administration began to ease some financial and investment sanctions following political reforms, according to the Treasury Department. But it "retained more targeted restrictions on military-owned companies and dozens of officials of the former ruling junta," as The Associated Press reports.
In March, the country elected its first civilian president in decades.
Obama and Suu Kyi said in a joint statement Wednesday that the U.S. will also give preferential trade status to Myanmar "in light of progress on a number of fronts, including strengthening protections for internationally recognized worker rights."
These changes are designed to create incentives for U.S. businesses and nonprofits to invest in the country, Obama said.
The president characterized the changes in Myanmar as a "remarkable social and political transformation" after decades of authoritarian rule.
Suu Kyi, the Nobel laureate who spent years under house arrest, is barred from running for president under the terms of the country's military-penned constitution. But as The Two-Way has reported, the winner of this year's election is one of her most trusted confidantes, and she considers herself to be "above the president."
Here's more from Obama on Myanmar's transition:
"When I was first elected, Daw Suu was still under house arrest. ... What we've seen over the last several years is a transition to elections, a representative legislature that still has significant constraints from the previous military government but is giving voice to the hopes and dreams of a new generation of Burmese people."
The U.S. remains "concerned about the outsized role the military plays in Myanmar, as well as the country's treatment of ethnic and religious minorities," as NPR's Scott Horsley tells our Newscast unit.
And Ben Rhodes, a top adviser to Obama, told Michele that the U.S. hoped to strike a delicate balance as it changed its policy on sanctions against Myanmar. "The question is, how do we balance the need to continue to demonstrate that this transition is not complete with the fact that we don't want to shut ourselves and responsible investment out of the country?" Rhodes says. | Government Policy Changes | September 2016 | ['(NPR)'] |
A Pamir Airways plane with 43 people on board crashes in Afghanistan between the cities of Kabul and Kunduz. | Kabul, May 17: The interior ministry of Afghanistan informed that the commercial passenger flight, which went missing in Afghanistan on Monday, May 17, crashed in northern part of the country.
The local Pamir Airways flight disappeared off the radar, on the way between the capital Kabul and Kunduz in the north of the country. It had 38 passengers and five crew members.
The model of the aircraft was not immediately clear, said the spokesman of the ministry. There were also some foreigners on board.
"We can confirm that a plane has crashed over the Salang mountains with 38 passengers and five crew members on board," the interior ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary informed the media. | Air crash | May 2010 | ['(AFP)', '(Oneindia.in)', '(Xinhua)'] |
At least 41 people are dead after an Argentine National Gendarmerie bus crashes near the city of Salta in north–west Argentina. , | At least 41 people, most of them police officers, have been killed after a bus fell off a bridge in north-west Argentina, officials say.
The bus was carrying at least 50 people, most of them members of Argentina's border police, when it came off the road and fell about 20m (65ft) into a riverbed.
Emergency workers are trying to free a number of trapped passengers.
They said that so far, six passengers had been rescued from the wreck.
The bus came off the road at about 02:00 local time (05:00 GMT) near the town of Rosario de la Frontera in Salta province, police officials said. It was one of three police buses travelling on national highway 34. A local police statement said there were indications that one of the bus's tyres had burst and caused the driver to lose control of the vehicle. Speaking at a public event, President Mauricio Macri, expressed his condolences. | Road Crash | December 2015 | ['(BBC)', '(AP via ABC News America)'] |
Senior envoys from North Korea and the United States hold rare talks on North Korea's nuclear programme in New York City. | A U.S. diplomat met on Saturday with North Korea’s second-ranking official involved in stalled six-country nuclear negotiations, a move that could be a step toward reconvening the talks.
Ri Gun, deputy director general of North Korea's American Affairs Bureau, enters the U.S. Mission to the United Nations in New York March 7, 2006. REUTERS/Seth Wenig
A State Department spokesman said North Korean Ambassador Ri Gun met in New York with Sung Kim, the State Department’s North Korea desk chief and a special envoy to the six party talks.
“DPRK ambassador Ri Gun has traveled to the U.S. on the invitation of U.S. private organizations,” State Department spokesman Noel Clay said in a statement. “During his visit, ambassador Sung Kim took the opportunity to meet with him in New York on October 24 to convey our position on denuclearization and the six party talks.”
Ri was granted permission to also attend meetings with private scholars in New York and San Diego over the next several days.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has called for direct talks between Washington and Pyongyang, but the United States has viewed the request with caution.
Obama administration officials have insisted that any bilateral contacts with North Korea result in the rapid resumption of the stalled six-country nuclear negotiations.
The six-party talks involve the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States but have been stalled since North Korea said six months ago it was quitting them. Pyongyang added to tension by conducting its second nuclear test in May.
Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell, the top U.S. diplomat for Asia, said last week that North Korea must show a commitment to the six-party framework and abide by pledges made in 2005 and 2007 to give up its nuclear weapons programs in exchange for economic aid and an end to diplomatic isolation.
But analysts have said Ri’s trip to United States for unofficial meetings could help set the stage for a resumption of formal nuclear talks.
He is expected to participate in the Northeast Asia Cooperation Dialogue, a forum sponsored by the University of California-San Diego that will bring together foreign ministry, defense officials and academics from China, Russia, North and South Korea, Japan and the United States to discuss regional security issues.
Clay said that ambassador Kim and U.S. principal deputy assistant secretary of defense Derek Mitchell will participate in the San Diego meetings, which start on Sunday. He said the level of U.S. participation in the unofficial “Track II” event is “the same as previous years.” | Diplomatic Talks _ Diplomatic_Negotiation_ Summit Meeting | October 2009 | ['(Channel News Asia)', '(Reuters)'] |
It is reported that former Chess World Champion Bobby Fischer was detained in Japan on July 13, 2004, and may face deportation due to competing in Yugoslavia in 1992. | Fischer, was stopped at Tokyo's Narita International Airport on Tuesday as he tried to go to the Philippines, an airport official said on condition of anonymity.
The Kyodo News agency said he was detained for allegedly using an invalid U.S. passport. Kyodo and the Asahi newspaper reported officials were preparing to deport him to the United States.
The U.S. Embassy in Tokyo said it knew Fischer had been detained but refused to comment further, citing privacy concerns.
Fischer became a Cold War hero in 1972 when he defeated Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union to become the first American world chess champion. But the chess prodigy, long know for his eccentric ways, stunned the chess world by refusing to play again, and had slipped mysteriously in and out of public view in the years since.
He forfeited the title in 1975, and resurfaced for a dramatic rematch against Spassky in Yugoslavia in 1992, beating him 10-5 to win $3.35 million.
U.S. authorities accused him of violating U.N. sanctions imposed against Yugoslavia by playing the match. The sanctions were imposed on Yugoslavia for provoking warfare in neighboring Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Fischer, indicted by a grand jury in 1992, managed to elude authorities and left a tantalizing trail that included radio broadcasts from the Philippines and sightings in Japan.
In radio interviews, he praised the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, saying America should be "wiped out," and described Jews as "thieving, lying bastards." His mother was Jewish.
Fischer, now 61 years old, became grandmaster at age 15. He announced that he had abandoned chess in 1996 and launched a new version, "Fischerandom," a computerized shuffler that randomly distributes chess pieces on the back row of the chess board at the start of each game.
Fischer claimed it would bring the fun back into the game and rid it of cheats.
photo credit and caption:
FILE --- Japanese immigration authorities have detained former world chess champion Bobby Fischer, shown at right in this 1970 file photo, an official said Friday July 16, 2004. Fischer, wanted in the United States for attending a 1992 chess match in Yugoslavia in violation of international sanctions, was stopped at Tokyo's Narita International Airport on Tuesday, an airport spokesman said on condition of anonymity. Officials were preparing to deport him to the United States, the Asahi Shimbun newspaper said Friday, citing unnamed sources. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | July 2004 | ['(ABC NEWS)', '(CNN)'] |
The Leader of the UK's Labour Party, Keir Starmer, sacks his Shadow Secretary of State for Education Rebecca Long–Bailey for sharing an article on social media that says American police were trained by Mossad to use the knee–on–neck restraint that killed George Floyd, which Israeli police say is false. | Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has sacked Rebecca Long-Bailey, saying she shared an article containing an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory.
Mrs Long-Bailey retweeted an interview with actor and Labour supporter Maxine Peake.
The shadow education secretary - who was beaten to the party leadership by Sir Keir - later said she had not meant to endorse all aspects of the article.
But Sir Keir said his "first priority" was tackling anti-Semitism.
The Labour leader said: "The sharing of that article was wrong… because the article contained anti-Semitic conspiracy theories and I have therefore stood Rebecca Long-Bailey down from the shadow cabinet. "I've made it my first priority to tackle anti-Semitism and rebuilding trust with the Jewish community is a number one priority for me."
A spokesman for the Labour leader added: "Anti-Semitism takes many different forms and it is important that we all are vigilant against it."
In the article, Ms Peake discussed the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
She said: "The tactics used by the police in America, kneeling on George Floyd's neck, that was learnt from seminars with Israeli secret services." The Independent article also quoted the Israeli police denying Ms Peake's claim saying: "There is no tactic or protocol that calls to put pressure on the neck or airway."
Later on Thursday, Ms Peake tweeted that she had been "inaccurate in my assumption of American police training and its sources".
She added: "I find racism and anti-Semitism abhorrent and I in no way wished, nor intended, to add fodder to any views of the contrary."
There are political consequences to Keir Starmer's sacking of Rebecca Long-Bailey.
On becoming leader, Sir Keir said he wanted to bring unity to the party where previously there have been factional fighting.
His decision may re-open divisions, with one former shadow minister on the party's left telling me that this was "a dangerous moment for the party" - with the new leader 'purging' those with whom he disagreed.
Others in the party note that Sir Keir has done quite a lot in a short space of time to install people close to him in key positions.
Leadership sources, though, insist the sacking was not part of some grand plan.
They say Mrs Long-Bailey had to go because she repeatedly refused to remove her retweet of Maxine Peake's article when asked to do so. And for Sir Keir, this is all about tackling the toxic perception of anti-Semitism in the Labour party ahead of a potentially damning report from the Equality and Human Rights Commission.
His allies say he promised actions not words to the Jewish community and he is following through. He wants to make sure that under his leadership he sends out a signal that those who are accused of anti-Semitism have no place at his top table.
The new shadow education secretary won't be announced today. Those formerly close to Jeremy Corbyn say that the appointee must come from the left of the party if Labour's leader is concerned about maintaining unity.
But he is proving that he won't duck difficult decisions.
The Jewish Labour Movement - which has led calls for a crackdown on anti-Semitism in Labour's ranks - welcomed Sir Keir's decision to sack Mrs Long-Bailey.
National chairman Mike Katz said: "We have consistently maintained that the pervasive culture of anti-Semitism, bullying and intimidation can only be tackled by strong and decisive leadership. "The culture of any organisation is determined by the values and behaviours of those who lead them."
And the Board of Deputies of British Jews President Marie Van der Zyl called Mrs Long-Bailey's initial response "pathetic" and thanked the Labour leader for his "swift action".
But Mrs Long-Bailey's allies on the left of the party have criticised the decision.
Former shadow chancellor John McDonnell, who supported her leadership bid, said: "Throughout discussion of anti-Semitism it's always been said criticism of practices of Israeli state is not anti-Semitic. "I don't believe therefore that this article is or Rebecca Long-Bailey should've been sacked. I stand in solidarity with her."
Unite general secretary Len McCluskey, whose union supported Mrs Long-Bailey in her leadership bid, said her sacking was "an unnecessary overreaction to a confected row".
"Unity is too important to be risked like this," he said.
The row erupted when Mrs Long-Bailey tweeted "Maxine Peake is an absolute diamond" with a link to the article on the Independent website.
The Salford and Eccles MP said she had retweeted the article because of Ms Peake's "significant achievements and because the thrust of her argument is to stay in the Labour Party" but she did not endorse "all aspects of it".
After she was sacked, Mrs Long-Bailey said she had issued a clarification of her retweet of the article "agreed in advance by the Labour Party Leader's Office".
She added that she was "subsequently instructed to take both this agreed clarification and my original retweet of Maxine Peake's interview down".
"I could not do this in good conscience without the issuing of a press statement of clarification. "I had asked to discuss these matters with Keir before agreeing what further action to take, but sadly he had already made his decision."
Mrs Long-Bailey became a Labour MP in 2015. She was a supporter of former leader Jeremy Corbyn and was quickly promoted to his frontbench team, serving as shadow chief secretary of the Treasury and later shadow business secretary.
Following Labour's defeat in the 2019 election, Mrs Long-Bailey entered the leadership contest to replace Mr Corbyn and was supported by many on the left of the party.
She came second in the contest securing 26.6% of the vote, while Sir Keir won 56.2%. | Government Job change - Resignation_Dismissal | June 2020 | ['(BBC)'] |
The United States vetoes a United Nations Security Council resolution aimed at stopping Israeli airstrikes against Gaza. UN SecretaryGeneral Ban Kimoon and the United Kingdom, European Union, Russia, France, and China all call for a ceasefire. | (CNN) -- International pressure is mounting on Israel and the Palestinians to halt violence in Gaza, with the United States, the United Nations, the European Union and other countries all calling for an immediate restoration of calm. Protesters knock down barriers near the Israeli Embassy during a demonstration in central London.
Angry protests also took place in several cities around the world on Sunday against Israel after its air strikes in Gaza killed at least 270 people and wounded hundreds more. In London, hundreds of demonstrators battled riot police in an attempt to enter the Israeli Embassy, according to media reports.
But neither side indicated they were ready to heed the calls for calm. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said the operation in Gaza "is liable to continue for some time, perhaps more than can be foreseen at the present time." Hamas, too, showed no signs of backing down, saying Israel had violated an Egyptian-brokered cease-fire intended to stem violence in the region. "We will stand up, we will defend our own people, we will defend our land and we will not give up," senior spokesman Osama Hamdan said. For a second day, black plumes of smoke rose above Gaza City as makeshift ambulances screamed down rubble-strewn streets, taking wounded Palestinians to hospitals already crowded with hundreds of patients wounded this weekend. More than 110 Hamas rockets have been launched into Israel by Hamas militants since Saturday morning, an Israel Defense Forces spokesman said. An Israeli man died when a rocket slammed into a home Saturday, IDF said. The U.S. ambassador to the U.N., Zalmay Khalilzad, supported Israel's contention that it was up to Hamas to stop the violence.
"Israel has the right to self defense and nothing in this press statement should be read as anything but that," Khalilzad said.
The United States has warned Israel, however, to avoid civilian casualties. Israeli leaders maintain they are attempting to do so.
White House Spokesman Gordon Johndroe "Hamas' continued rocket attacks into Israel must cease if the violence is to stop. Hamas must end its terrorist activities if it wishes to play a role in the future of the Palestinian people. The United States urges Israel to avoid civilian casualties as it targets Hamas in Gaza." Israel's ambassador to the U.N., Gabriela Shalev, responded that her country was only defending itself from Hamas rocket attacks. "The last days were so bad that we had to say, and did say, 'Enough is enough,' " Shalev said. "The only party to blame is the Hamas." Saeb Erakat, adviser to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, urged Israeli and Hamas leaders to enact another cease-fire.
"I believe this is the only way out. I don't think this problem can be solved through military means. Violence will breed more violence," he said Saturday.
The power base for Abbas' Fatah party is in the West Bank. The party is locked in a power struggle with Hamas, which won parliamentary elections in January 2006 and wrested Gaza from Fatah in violent clashes last year. Abbas, a U.S. ally, wields little influence in Gaza.
U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's office issued a statement saying he was deeply alarmed by the violence and bloodshed in Gaza and in southern Israel. "While recognizing Israel's security concerns regarding the continued firing of rockets from Gaza, he firmly reiterates Israel's obligation to uphold international humanitarian and human rights law and condemns excessive use of force leading to the killing and injuring of civilians. He condemns the ongoing rocket attacks by Palestinian militants and is deeply distressed that repeated calls on Hamas for these attacks to end have gone unheeded," a spokesman said.
The U.N. Security Council ended a four-hour emergency meeting Sunday with a call for an immediate halt to hostilities and a re-opening of border crossings to allow humanitarian supplies to reach Gaza.
The Palestinians' U.N. envoy said if Israel does not halt attacks within 48 hours, Arab delegations will demand stronger action from the Security Council.
UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband called on Sunday for an urgent ceasefire and immediate halt to all violence. "The deteriorating humanitarian situation is deeply disturbing. Prime Minister (Gordon Brown) has spoken to Prime Minister Olmert of Israel. As we made clear yesterday, Israel must abide by its humanitarian obligations. "The UK supports the prompt and sufficient delivery of food, fuel and medicine into the Gaza Strip. I have discussed this unfolding crisis with my counterparts in the region and beyond. iReport.com: Are you there?
"I have discussed with Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit his plans to convene a meeting of Arab League Foreign Ministers. This is an important opportunity for Arab leaders to make clear that the interests of the Palestinian people can only be secured through a viable Palestinian state existing alongside a secure Israel. We must renew our collective effort to achieve this goal in 2009."
Russia also urged both sides to refrain from violence. "Moscow believes it is necessary to immediately stop a large-scale military operation against Gaza Strip, which has already led to numerous casualties and sufferings of peaceful Palestinians," Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko said. "At the same time, we are urging the leadership of Hamas to stop missile strikes upon Israeli territory. We are sure that what needs to be done without delay now is stop military confrontation, restore a cease-fire, and rid peaceful civilians on both sides of terror and pain."
Jordan's King Abdullah II by contrast urged "Israeli aggression" that targets "innocent civilians including women and children" to end. "The establishment of an independent Palestinian state on the Palestinian national soil is a prerequisite to achieve security and stability," he said, adding that Israel will not get security and peace unless it ends what he called its "occupation."
Iran's supreme leader has declared Monday a "day of mourning" for Palestinians in Gaza, blaming the violence on "the bloodthirsty nature of the Zionists."
The state-run news agency IRNA said Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was urging all Muslim nations, as well as "freedom seekers," intellectuals and media "to fulfill their heavy duty in confronting the crimes of the 'Zionist vampires.'"
Iran has long openly supported Hamas, supplying it with weapons and training. Like Hamas, Iran's government does not recognize the existence of Israel. Hamas, the party in control of Gaza, is considered a terrorist organization by the United States.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was quoted by IRNA as saying Saturday night, "Zionists are at the end of the road both in theory and practice in all economic, political, military and cultural terms."
Some Iranian students and members of parliament held a demonstration in front of a United Nations building in Tehran, accusing U.N. member nations of being silent in the face of "crimes" against Palestinians.
Some demonstrators also condemned Egypt, which has tried to broker agreements between rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah, as well as between Palestinian leadership and Israel.
The European Union called for an immediate halt to violence. A statement issued by current EU president France said the bloc "condemns the disproportionate use of force" from both sides. The statement urged the "reopening of all checkpoints and the immediate resumption of fuel and humanitarian aid deliveries." The statement said "there is no military solution in Gaza" and urged a lasting truce. France's President Nicolas Sarkozy, in a separate statement, expressed "great concern" about the escalating violence by Israelis and Palestinians. In London, Palestinian families and supporters protested outside the Israeli Embassy and chanted in unison: "Five, six, seven, eight -- Israel is a terror state," according to the Press Association. Similar demonstrations were held in Paris, Istanbul and other cities.
Crush barriers were torn down and riot police were brought in to control the crowd of more than 500 people, PA reported. The crowds waved Palestinian flags and held placards, some of which read "holocaust in Gaza" and "no peace, no justice." One protester was Gamal Hamed, from Hammersmith, in west London, whose 23-year-old son lives in Gaza. The 68-year-old said: "Yesterday was the bloodiest day in my homeland's history. We will do what we can to make the world take notice." | Armed Conflict | December 2008 | ['(PressTV)', '(CNN)', '(Xinhua)'] |
Over 100 people are feared dead following heavy rains and flooding in northern Thailand. | At least 27 bodies have been found so far, according to government figures, but the death toll is expected to rise much higher.
Rescue teams in helicopters are trying to reach thousands of people still stranded in their homes.
The province of Uttaradit is the worst affected. Up to two metres (6.5 feet) of water is covering some streets.
Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra is scheduled to inspect the area on Wednesday.
Mr Thaksin resumed his official duties on Tuesday after a seven-week leave of absence due to the country's ongoing political problems.
Mudslides
The heavy flooding has come at the start of Thailand's rainy season, which is expected to last until October. But the three consecutive days of heavy rain that have hit this region are very unusual, leading to mudslides and rivers bursting their banks.
One of the worst hit areas was Lablae district in Uttaradit province.
Many of the victims are thought to have been swept away by the flood waters, or buried in the swirling mud.
More than 1,000 people have been evacuated from affected areas, while more than 75,000 have suffered damage to property, according to Interior Ministry estimates.
Rail services to northern Thailand have been suspended.
"The floods have inundated the rail lines in the north, and the water is still high. We have to wait until it recedes so we can repair the tracks," rail spokesman Monthskarn Srivilasa told the French news agency AFP. | Floods | May 2006 | ['(BBC)', '(Irrawaddy News)'] |
The election race ends with its final counting indicating a second-round between candidates Dilma Rousseff and Aécio Neves to be decided in poll by voters at the end of the month. | With 92 percent of the votes in Brazil's presidential election counted, incumbent Dilma Rousseff of the Workers Party is leading with 41 percent. She will almost definitely meet Aécio Neves of the Brazilian Party for Social Democracy in a second-round match-up. Neves has 34 percent. Brazilian Socialist Party candidate Marina Silva, who was until recently expected to face Rousseff in a second round, is out of the race, with 21 percent.
Brazil's voting technology has been a central feature of Sunday's elections -- and not always for the right reasons. New biometric voting systems being tried in different states caused problems when the fingerprint identification did not always work. There were long lines at polling stations in Brasília, the capital, and Niterói, near Rio de Janeiro, as a result.
Luiz Sampaio, 72, waited in line for an hour in Niteroí because machines were not working properly. It took numerous attempts before the machine recognized his fingerprints. "Each person took five to 10 minutes," he said. "Absurd." Like many, he finally cast his vote for Rousseff.
Dias Toffoli, the president of Brazil's Supreme Electoral Court, compared the situation to a motorist driving a new car for the first time, in comments made at a news conference Sunday and reported by the O Globo newspaper.
"If the elector has to wait five or 10 minutes, what we have to guarantee is that the elector votes," Toffoli said.
A craze among Brazilian voters to take "selfies" at voting machines has also dominated the day -- even though it is illegal. So much so that there is a Tumblr stream called #SelfieNaUrna.
Technology also ruined Election Day for Col. Marcos Cardoso de Brito in Maceió, in Alagoas state in the northeast of Brazil. After an altercation in the line to vote, Brito, a candidate for senate for the National Ecological Party, lost his patience and slapped Marta Celeste de Oliveira, 39, who was waiting to vote, according to news site G1.
The incident was recorded on a cellphone and the video quickly had 14,000 hits on YouTube. Brito was videotaped leaving the polling station in a tirade of abuse. It was not the kind of Election-Day selfie anyone would have wanted.
| Government Job change - Election | October 2014 | ['(The Washington post)'] |
A spokesman for the Taiwan Affairs Office of People's Republic of China says Taiwan is barred from observing this year’s World Health Assembly because current President Tsai Ing-wen has not endorsed the Beijing view that both sides belong to a single China under the One-China policy; the spokesman further said that the health of people in Taiwan is not being put at risk by Taiwan's inability to attend. | BEIJING (Reuters) - The Chinese government said on Wednesday that the health of people in Taiwan is not being put at risk by Taiwan’s inability to attend a U.N. health meeting this year as there is no barrier to technical or medical exchanges and aid.
Self-ruled Taiwan has accused Beijing of obstructing its efforts to attend the May 22-31 annual meeting in Geneva of the World Health Assembly, the decision-making body of the World Health Organization (WHO).
Ties between China and Taiwan have worsened since the election last year of Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen, of the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) who - unlike the island’s previous China-friendly administration - has not acknowledged the “one China” principle.
Taiwan says health should not be politicized and that leaving Taiwan out of dialogue puts the world’s health safety-net and health of people on the island at risk.
But the health of people in Taiwan and the island’s lack of attendance at the meeting are two different matters, An Fengshan, spokesman for China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, told a regular news briefing.
Taiwan’s information exchange channels with the WHO are smooth, Taiwan can attend technical WHO meetings and if needed WHO experts can visit the island, An said.
“These arrangements ensure that Taiwan can effectively and in a timely way deal with sudden public health issues whether on the island or internationally,” he added.
China views democratic Taiwan as a renegade province to be retaken with the use of force if necessary, and says other countries and international organizations should not recognize it or treat as a separate country.
Taiwan is not a member of the United Nations, which recognizes the “one China” policy centered on Beijing, and it never formally takes part in U.N. meetings. But it has in the past been given observer status at some conferences with Beijing’s acquiescence.
Taiwan is still sending a delegation to the meeting even though it does not have an invitation, warning China that attempts to exclude it could irreversibly damage ties.
The official China Daily, in a Wednesday editorial, said Taiwan’s delegation will likely try to “make a scene” to garner sympathy, but the real goal of Tsai’s government is clear.
“She is seeking to hijack public health in Taiwan to serve her political goal of winning de facto statehood recognition for the island,” it said. | Diplomatic Talks _ Diplomatic_Negotiation_ Summit Meeting | May 2017 | ['(Voice of America)', '(Reuters)'] |
Brazil sports minister George Hilton resigns and will be replaced on an interim basis by Ricardo Leyser, a senior official in the ministry. Leyser, 45, has worked in the sports ministry since 2003, and has been heavily involved with the Olympic Games, which will be held in Rio de Janeiro, August 5-21, 2016. | RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The resignation of sports minister, George Hilton, was announced in a statement by Brazil’s presidency late on Wednesday evening (March 30th). Ricardo Leyser, a senior official in the ministry, was named as his successor on an interim basis.
Rumors of Hilton’s resignation surfaced last week amid political maneuvering in the government. On March 23rd he switched from the Brazilian Republican Party (PRB) to the Pros (Republican Party of . . .
| Government Job change - Resignation_Dismissal | March 2016 | ['(The Rio Times)', '(insidethegames)'] |
A fire at Bashundhara City in Dhaka, Bangladesh, kills seven people and injures at least 30 others. | DHAKA, March 13 (Reuters) - A fire engulfed the top floors of Bangladesh's largest shopping mall on Friday, killing at least seven people and injuring dozens, police said, raising questions about the efficiency of safety procedures.
Fire fighters, police and other security forces took almost 10 hours to put out the blaze at the 21-storey Basundhara City Complex in Dhaka but found no one trapped inside.
Thick smoke rose over the building and flames could be seen on the upper floors, a witness said. Army helicopters rescued people from the roof of the building as members of the Rapid Action Battalion elite force and the army helped stop the blaze.
"The fire broke out on the top floor and soon engulfed the other floors," a fire brigade official said. Television pictures showed the blaze spreading through five or six upper floors.
The inferno has raised questions about the efficiency of fire fighters and whether the high-rise buildings followed required safety measures, said Tanzim Ahmed Sohel Taj, state minister for home affairs.
"We will look at these issues quickly after the current disaster has been tackled," the minister told reporters outside the Basundhara complex.
All the dead were Basundhara employees, one from its fire fighting unit and six were security guards, police told reporters.
"The firefighter died in a hospital where he was admitted with serious burn injuries," a police officer said.
Three of the guards were found dead in the lifts and three others were lying on the floors. Some of the bodies were badly charred, one rescuer said, adding that the death toll may go up.
At least 30 injured were treated at hospitals, doctors and witnesses said.
A Basundhara official said the exact death toll and the extent of damage would not be known until the debris was cleared.
The cause of the fire was not yet known.
| Fire | March 2009 | ['(Reuters)'] |
Early results show Myanmar's ruling National League for Democracy winning an absolute majority in the country's latest general election. The election is called unfair by the oppositional Union Solidarity and Development Party and is criticised by rights groups for alleged voter suppression and the political disenfranchisement of the Rohingya minority. | The party led Aung San Suu Kyi has said it plans to form a government of national unity after a poll still disupted by the opposition. It was the only second such vote since the end of military rule in 2011.
Myanmar's ruling National League for Democracy (NLD) party has won enough seats in parliament to form the next government, early results released on Friday showed.
The Aung San Suu Kyi-led,NLD won 346 seats, resulting in a majority of more than 50%.
Suu Kyi had already declared a landslide victory based on her party's own tallies, prompting street celebrations by supporters.
But official figures were still being returned five days after the ballot. It was only the second such election since the nation emerged from outright military rule in 2011.
"People clearly realised the need for the NLD to get enough votes to form a government on their own," NLD spokesman Myo Nyunt was quoted as saying by the AFP news agency.
He said this would help "minimise political conflict".
The NLD won by a similar margin in the last election in 2015, the first free vote since the end of military rule
The opposition Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) won just 25 seats of the seats that were up for grabs.
The party, which is backed by Myanmar's army, says the vote was neither free nor fair.
It wants the country's Union Election Commission (UEC) to step down and order a rerun.
Under the constitution, the government appoints all commission members.
But a quarter of parliamentary seats are reserved for the military under a controversial 2008 constitution drawn up during junta rule.
The constitution also gives the military control of three key ministries — home affairs, defense, and border affairs.
Aung San Suu Kyi, the daughter of Myanmar's assassinated founding father Aung San, returned to her home country in the late 1980s after studying and starting a family in England. She became a key figure in the 1988 uprisings against the country's military dictatorship. Her National League for Democracy (NLD) was victorious in 1990 elections, but the government refused to honor the vote.
Suu Kyi spent 15 of the 21 years between 1989 and 2010 under house arrest. After 1995, the rights advocate was barred from seeing her two sons and husband, Michael Aris, even after the latter was diagnosed with cancer. Aris, seen here displaying an honorary doctorate awarded to his wife, died in 1999.
Suu Kyi's determination to bring democracy and human rights to her country won her international renown, including the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize. She was so popular that in 2011 famous French director Luc Besson made a biopic of her life starring Malaysian actor Michelle Yeoh. Suu Kyi was often called the world's most famous political prisoner.
Decades of campaigning finally paid off, and in 2012 Suu Kyi was allowed to run in free elections. She won a seat in parliament as Myanmar began its transition away from military government. After general elections in 2015, she became the country's de facto civilian leader, although officially she held the post of foreign minister and state counselor — a role akin to prime minister.
Rohingya, a mostly Muslim ethnic group, had their citizenship revoked by Myanmar's Buddhist-majority government in 1982. Long persecuted, their plight intensified in 2016 when Myanmar's military began what it called "clearance" of illegal immigrants. Groups such as Human Rights Watch have described it as "ethnic cleansing." Thousands have died, and hundreds of thousands have fled their homes.
When she became state counselor in 2016, Suu Kyi set up a commission to investigate claims of atrocities against the Rohingya in Rakhine state. Suu Kyi accused the Rohingya of spreading "a huge iceberg of misinformation," and said she was concerned by the "terrorist threat" posed by extremists. Her stance sparked protests in Muslim-majority countries around the world. Due to her handling of the Rohingya crisis, Suu Kyi was stripped of various honors and lost much of her international support. The Nobel committee was forced to issue a statement saying that her peace prize could not be revoked. Fellow Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai called on Suu Kyi to "stop the violence." Suu Kyi said that outsiders could not grasp the complexities of the situation.
In 2020, Myanmar's ruling National League for Democracy party won the November 8 general election, with enough seats to form the next government. However, the military's proxy party, the Union Solidarity and Development party, claimed fraud and demanded a new election supervised by the military. With that came comments alluding to a possible coup. Supporters of the party also marched in protest.
Myanmar's civilian leader, along with several of her political allies, were detained in an early morning raid on February 1, 2021 led by the military. The move came amid escalating tensions between the civilian government and army, which had been in control for decades.The junta claimed electoral fraud, announced a yearlong state of emergency and named a former general as acting president.
Author: Elizabeth Schumacher Independent rights groups have criticized the disenfranchisement of the Muslim Rohingya ethnic minority and cancellation of the vote in certain areas.
The UEC said this was due to the dangers of ongoing combat between government forces and ethnic minority guerrillas.
Critics suggested certain areas were singled out for cancellation because they were certain to elect lawmakers from parties hostile to the current government.
Suu Kyi's international reputation has been hurt badly since she defended an army crackdown down on the Rohingyas that the UN described as ethnic cleansing.
The country now faces charges of genocide, but the Nobel Peace prize laureate remains widely revered within Myanmar.
London-based global human rights organization Amnesty International has stripped Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi of its Ambassador of Conscience Award. The cause is her apparent indifference to atrocities. | Government Job change - Election | November 2020 | ['(DW)'] |
Seven people have been injured following a series of explosions at a propane plant in the US town of Tavares in central Florida. , , | At least eight people were injured by a series of explosions at a gas plant in the US state of Florida, officials say.
They were working at the Blue Rhino propane plant in Tavares when the blasts began about 23:00 local time (03:00 GMT), blowing the roof off.
The explosions continued for about an hour and caused a large fire. The cause of the initial blast is not yet known. Fifteen workers were found safe after initially being feared missing, while two others managed to escape unhurt. Lake County Sheriff's Office spokesman John Harrell said the missing workers had merely "scattered" when the explosions began and had since been contacted by their managers and emergency crews.
People living within 0.5 miles (0.8km) of the plant have been evacuated, although Mr Harrell said emergency crews believed the fire had been contained and that there was no immediate danger to them.
Firefighters had to wait about four hours before they could approach the fire because conditions were so dangerous.
Four people are in critical condition across two area hospitals, but others injured drove themselves to hospital, Mr Harrell said.
Officials are investigating the blasts.
On Tuesday morning, Tavares Fire Chief Richard Keith told reporters investigators did not think it was an act of sabotage. "It was probably a human or equipment error," he was quoted by the Orlando Sentinel as saying.
The plant north-west of Orlando refilled propane tanks typically used for outdoor cooking. There were about 53,000 20-gallon (75-litre) tanks at the plant before the explosion.
About 4,000 to 5,000 tanks were refilled each night and were stacked on plastic pallets four or five high behind the filling station, former plant supervisor Don Ingram told a local broadcaster. | Riot | July 2013 | ['(Fox News)', '(BBC)', '(AP via Vancouver Post)'] |
A federal grand jury indicts a US Army soldier on charges of distributing explosives information as part of an alleged farright terror plot. | By Caroline Kelly and Katelyn Polantz, CNN
A federal grand jury formally indicted Army soldier Jarrett William Smith, who allegedly discussed bomb-making techniques and suggested targeting a news network that sources say is CNN, according to court documents filed Wednesday. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | September 2019 | ['(CNN)'] |
Mahinda Rajapaksa resigns as prime minister, effectively ending the constitutional crisis. | Mahinda Rajapaksa has resigned as Sri Lanka's prime minister, seven weeks after he was appointed in a surprise move that sparked a political crisis.
Mr Rajapaksa, Sri Lanka's former president, signed his resignation letter in a ceremony at his house. Former PM Ranil Wickremesinghe is expected to return to office on Sunday.
The resignation could bring to an end a nearly two-month-long power struggle that has dented confidence in Sri Lanka's stability.
"Since I have no intention of remaining as prime minister without a general election being held, and in order to not hamper the president in any way, I will resign from the position of prime minister and make way for the president to form a new government," Mr Rajapaksa said in his resignation statement.
In October, President Maithripala Sirisena sacked then prime minister Mr Wickremesinghe, replacing him with Mr Rajapaksa.
Harin Fernando, a spokesman for Mr Wickremesinghe's party, told the BBC: "The president has agreed to swear in Ranil Wickremesinghe as prime minister tomorrow at 10am."
He said this would end the political deadlock, remarking that the country and its economy had suffered "huge damage" since the crisis began 50 days ago.
On Thursday, the Supreme Court said Mr Sirisena had acted illegally in November by dissolving parliament and calling snap polls with nearly two years to go until elections were due.
Throughout the crisis, Mr Wickremesinghe has always maintained he is the rightful prime minister.
The crisis, which has provoked brawls in parliament and sparked large protests, has been closely watched by regional power India, as well as the US, China and the European Union.
Mr Rajapaksa, who dominated Sri Lankan politics for a decade until 2015, has an uneasy relationship with the West over the bloody end to the country's civil war in 2009, when thousands of civilians were killed. Both government forces and the Tamil Tiger separatist rebels are accused of grave human rights abuses and crimes.
On Wednesday, parliament passed a vote of confidence in Ranil Wickremesinghe as prime minister. His party and its allies have a simple majority in parliament - and have argued from the beginning that President Sirisena's actions were unconstitutional.
Mr Sirisena was once a party ally of Mr Rajapaksa, and served in his government.
But in 2015, he teamed up with Ranil Wickremesinghe to defeat him in an election and the pair went on to form a coalition government.
However the relationship between president and prime minister turned sour and Mr Sirisena in October turned on Mr Wickremesinghe, sacking him in favour of Mr Rajapaksa, his old ally-turned-rival-turned-ally.
He called Mr Wickremesinghe arrogant and linked him to a controversial central bank bond sale, which is alleged to have led to the loss of 11bn Sri Lankan rupees ($65m; £50m). The president also alleged that a cabinet minister was involved in a plot to kill him and that police had obstructed an investigation. | Government Job change - Resignation_Dismissal | December 2018 | ['(BBC)'] |
Matthew's death toll in Haiti rises to at least one thousand, with victims being buried in mass graves. An unknown number of people remain missing and authorities report that cholera is spreading in the hardest hit-areas in the country's southwest. | As the death toll from Hurricane Matthew in Haiti rises to 1,000 and cholera spreads in the devastated south-west, the nation has started to bury its dead in mass graves, an official says.
The powerful hurricane, the fiercest Caribbean storm in nearly a decade, slammed into Haiti on Tuesday (local time), bringing 233 kilometre-per-hour winds and torrential rains.
Numbers from local officials showed 1,000 people were killed by the storm in Haiti, the poorest country in the Americas.
The official death toll from the central civil protection agency is 336, a slower count because officials must visit each village to confirm the numbers.
Authorities had to start burying the dead in mass graves in Jeremie as the bodies were starting to decompose, said Kedner Frenel, the most senior central government official in the Grand'Anse region on Haiti's western peninsula.
Mr Frenel said 522 people died in Grand'Anse alone.
A tally of death reported by mayors from 15 of 18 municipalities in Sud Department on the south side of the peninsula showed 386 people there.
In the rest of the country, 92 people died, the same tally showed.
Mr Frenel said there was great concern about the cholera spreading, and that authorities were focused on getting water, food and medication to the thousands of people living in shelters.
Cholera causes severe diarrhea and can kill within hours if untreated. It is spread through contaminated water and has a short incubation period, which leads to rapid outbreaks.
Government teams fanned out across the hard-hit southwestern tip of the country over the weekend to repair treatment centres and reach the epicentre of one outbreak.
Despite the loss, survivors packed what remained of the city's churches on Sunday, many seated in pews under open sky because Matthew ripped away roofs and even walls of the sanctuaries.
At least one was so badly damaged that worshippers set up an altar and prayed outside.
Jameson Pierre, 22, saw at least one bright side of the devastation.
"There will be lots and lots of jobs since so many homes were knocked down. I've been working for the last three days straight," he said.
The first three of five cargo planes of humanitarian aid from the United States have arrived at the airport in the capital Port of Prince.
They were carrying 480 metric tons of relief supplies, including 20,000 hygiene kits, 18,000 sets of kitchen utensils for cooking, 40,000 blankets and 500 rolls of plastic sheeting.
| Hurricanes_Tornado_Storm_Blizzard | October 2016 | ['(AP/Reuters via ABC News Australia)'] |
In motor sport, the team of Timo Bernhard, Brendon Hartley and Mark Webber win the FIA World Endurance Championship. | (Reuters) - Former Formula One driver Mark Webber won the world endurance championship in Bahrain on Saturday with Porsche team mates Brendon Hartley and Timo Bernhard.
The Australian, who left Formula One at the end of 2013 after Red Bull team mate Sebastian Vettel had won a fourth successive championship, took the title after his number 17 Porsche finished fifth in the Six Hours of Bahrain.
The Australian-New Zealand-German trio, who had to make two unscheduled pitstops, prevailed by five points to became Porsche's first world sportscar champions since 1986.
The Bahrain season-ender was won by the number 18 Porsche of Switzerland's Neel Jani, Germany's Marc Lieb and Frenchman Romain Dumas -- a victory that ensured the title for the sister car by denying rivals Audi.
"We had a lot of problems and it was very stressful. We got the car home and we had enough points and enough wins to be world champions," said Webber.
| Sports Competition | November 2015 | ['(Reuters via Yahoo News Australia)'] |
Heidi Alexander, Gloria De Piero, Ian Murray, Lilian Greenwood, Lucy Powell, Kerry McCarthy, Seema Malhotra, Vernon Coaker, Charlie Falconer, Karl Turner and Chris Bryant resign en masse from the Labour Shadow Cabinet of Jeremy Corbyn in protest at Jeremy Corbyn's leadership over the EU referendum, and the firing of Hilary Benn. | Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has announced a new cabinet following a wave of resignations in protest at his leadership and amid calls to resign.
He lost 12 of his shadow cabinet on Sunday, another on Monday, and several shadow ministers. Most criticised his EU referendum campaign input.
Mr Corbyn said he regretted the walkouts but pledged to stand in any new leadership election.
Labour MPs are due to discuss a no confidence motion against Mr Corbyn. Many of the party's MPs have been critical of Mr Corbyn's leadership since his election in September, when he won a landslide victory despite starting the contest as a rank outsider.
The shadow cabinet shake-up sees Emily Thornberry - who on Sunday gave her backing to Mr Corbyn - moved from shadow defence secretary to shadow foreign secretary, replacing Hilary Benn who was sacked at the weekend.
Meanwhile, Diane Abbott - an ally of the Labour leader - has been promoted from shadow international development secretary to shadow health secretary, a position vacated by Heidi Alexander's resignation.
The new appointments include:
The latest frontbench resignations came on Monday, by shadow Welsh secretary Nia Griffiths, shadow foreign minister Diana Johnson, shadow civil society minister Anna Turley and shadow defence minister Toby Perkins,.
Wayne David, the shadow Cabinet Office, Scotland and justice minister, has also quit, along with shadow consumer affairs and science minister Yvonne Fovargue and shadow environment minister Alex Cunningham.
Several shadow ministerial aides have also stepped down, including Stephen Kinnock, Neil Coyle and Jess Phillips.
The motion of no confidence in Mr Corbyn was submitted by Labour MPs Dame Margaret Hodge and Ann Coffey, and a secret ballot could be held on Tuesday.
Mr Corbyn has said he would fight for his job, warning: "Those who want to change Labour's leadership will have to stand in a democratic election, in which I will be a candidate."
He also said he had been elected as leader with "an overwhelming mandate for a different kind of politics".
"I am not going to betray the trust of those who voted for me - or the millions of supporters across the country who need Labour to represent them," he added.
"Neither wing of the Tory government has an exit plan. Labour will now ensure that our reform agenda is at the heart of the negotiations that lie ahead.
"One clear message from last Thursday's vote is that millions of people feel shut out of a political and economic system that has let them down and scarred our country with grotesque levels of inequality." In other developments: The mass resignations were triggered by the sacking of shadow foreign secretary Hilary Benn, in the early hours of Sunday, after he told Mr Corbyn he had lost confidence in him.
Speaking on Sunday's Andrew Marr Show, Mr Benn - who has ruled out any Labour leadership bid - said Mr Corbyn was "a good and decent man but he is not a leader".
In a parting shot, Mr Bryant warned Mr Corbyn that he was in danger of going down in history as "the man who broke the Labour Party". In his resignation later, Mr Kinnock, parliamentary aide to shadow business secretary Angela Eagle, said he had reached the conclusion following the EU referendum result that Mr Corbyn was "no longer able to lead our party" and did not have "the requisite skills or experience" to steer Labour through the period ahead.
But shadow chancellor John McDonnell and shadow cabinet members Andy Burnham, Diane Abbott and Emily Thornberry have all rallied around Mr Corbyn.
Ms Thornberry told the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire programme that now was not the time for Labour to be "plunged in to turmoil".
"We have to hold our nerve and think very carefully for the sake of the country as to what happens next," she said, and called on the party to "stick behind" the leader.
Mr McDonnell told Sunday's Pienaar's Politics: "Jeremy is not going anywhere and will continue on."
Meanwhile, deputy Labour leader Tom Watson said he was "deeply disappointed" that Mr Benn had been sacked and "equally saddened" by the shadow cabinet resignations.
He said his focus was to "hold the Labour Party together in very turbulent times" and that he would meet Mr Corbyn on Monday to discuss the "way forward". Those who resigned from Labour's top team on Sunday were:
Karl Turner, the shadow attorney general who is not in the shadow cabinet but attends meeting, also quit.
A number of senior trade unionists on Labour's ruling national executive committee rallied in support of Mr Corbyn - including Unite leader Len McCluskey and Dave Ward of the Communication Workers Union.
And more than 200,000 people have signed an online petition backing the Labour leader, who was elected last September in a landslide victory.
The Labour Party campaigned for Remain during the referendum, which saw the UK voting to leave the EU by 52% to 48% on Thursday.
But Mr Corbyn - who has been a long-standing critic of the EU and who is regarded as the most Eurosceptic Labour leader in years - has been accused by some in his party of not making the case for the EU forcefully enough.
| Government Job change - Resignation_Dismissal | June 2016 | ['(BBC)'] |
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif meets with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry during P5+1 and Iran talks, the highest-level direct contact between the United States and Iran in six years. | UNITED NATIONS (AP) — U.S. and European diplomats welcomed a "significant shift" in Iran's attitude at talks on Thursday aimed at resolving the impasse over Tehran's disputed nuclear activities. Iran said it was eager to dispel the notion that it is trying to develop a nuclear weapon and to get international sanctions lifted as fast as possible.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif shook hands and sat next to each other at the meeting with five other world powers. Kerry leaned over to Zarif as the meeting was ending and said: "Shall we talk for a few minutes." They then had an unexpected one-on-one meeting.
It was the highest-level direct contact between the United States and Iran in six years.
Zarif said the meeting with the five permanent U.N. Security Council members and Germany agreed to fast-track negotiations. He said Iran hopes they can reach a deal within a year.
European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton also said the parties had agreed to "go forward with an ambitious timeframe."
They also agreed to hold a new round of substantive talks on Oct. 15-16 in Geneva.
"We agreed to jump-start the process so that we could move forward with a view to agreeing first on the parameters of the end game ... and move toward finalizing it hopefully within a year's time," Zarif said after the talks ended. "I thought I was too ambitious, bordering on naiveté. But I saw that some of my colleagues were even more ambitious and wanted to do it faster."
Kerry said he was struck by the "very different tone" from Iran. But, like his European colleagues, he stressed that a single meeting was not enough to assuage international concerns that Iran is seeking to develop nuclear weapons under cover of a civilian atomic energy program.
"Needless to say, one meeting and a change in tone, that was welcome, does not answer those questions," Kerry told reporters. "All of us were pleased that the foreign minister came today and that he did put some possibilities on the table."
He said they agree to continue the process and try to find concrete ways to answer the questions that people have about Iran's nuclear activities.
A senior U.S. official said that in the one-on-one meeting, aides from both sides chatted in a marked departure from past encounters, when the Iranians were tight-lipped. It was one of the signs of a new attitude, though what it means remains to be seen, said the official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.
The official also said Zarif presented a number of ideas — many that had come up before — but they were not particularly detailed. The Americans asked Zarif to come back at the Geneva round or earlier with some more detailed proposals.
At a separate forum across the city, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said this government is ready to work with the world powers and others "with a view to ensuring full transparency under international law surrounding our nuclear program."
"My government is prepared to leave no stone unturned in seeking for a mutually acceptable solution," Rouhani said.
Zarif said the end result would have to include "a total lifting" of the international sanctions that have devastated Iran's economy.
"We hope ... to make sure (there is) no concern that Iran's program is anything but peaceful," he said. "Now we have to see whether we can match our positive words with serious deeds so we can move forward."
British Foreign Secretary William Hague said there had been a "big improvement in the tone and spirit" from Iran compared with the previous government under Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said the meeting had taken place in a "completely different tone, atmosphere and spirit" than what the group was used to and that a "window of opportunity has opened" for a peaceful resolution of the situation. He too insisted that Iran's words would have to be matched by actions.
"Words are not enough," he said. "Actions and tangible results are what counts. The devil is in the detail, so it is now important that we have substantial and serious negotiations very soon."
Rouhani and Zarif, both in New York this week to attend the U.N. General Assembly, have said they are anxious to clinch an agreement quickly that could bring relief from sanctions that have slashed the country's vital oil exports, restricted its international bank transfers, devalued the currency and sent inflation surging.
Encouraged by signs that Rouhani will adopt a more moderate stance than Ahmadinejad, but skeptical that the country's all-powerful supreme leader will allow a change in course, President Barack Obama has directed Kerry to lead a new outreach and explore possibilities for resolving the long-standing dispute.
Rouhani has come across as a more moderate face of the hard-line clerical regime in Tehran and his pronouncements at the U.N. have raised guarded hopes that progress might be possible. But they have also served as a reminder that the path to that progress will not be quick or easy.
He has steadfastly maintained that any nuclear agreement must recognize Iran's right under international treaties to continue enriching uranium.
The U.S. and its allies have long demanded a halt to enrichment, fearing Tehran could secretly build nuclear warheads. They have imposed sanctions over Iran's refusal to halt enrichment. Uranium enriched to low levels can be used as fuel for nuclear energy but at higher levels, it can be used to make a nuclear weapon.
Rouhani also insisted that any deal be contingent on all other nations declaring their nuclear programs, too, are solely for peaceful purposes — alluding to the U.S. and Israel.
Those conditions underscored that there is still a large chasm to be bridged in negotiations.
Rouhani has made a series of appearances and speeches since arriving in New York and has held bilateral negotiations with France, Turkey and Japan among others.
On Thursday, he called for worldwide disarmament of nuclear weapons as "our highest priority."
Speaking at the first-ever meeting of a U.N. forum on nuclear disarmament on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement, an organization of mostly developing countries, Rouhani repeated the organization's long-standing demand that Israel join the international treaty banning the spread of nuclear weapons.
Israel, which has repeatedly accused Iran of aspiring to build a nuclear bomb, is the only Mideast state that has not signed the landmark 1979 Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Rouhani appears to be trying to tone down Ahmadinejad's caustic rhetoric against Israel — a point of friction in relations with the U.S. But Israel is not biting and reacted angrily to his latest remarks.
"Iran's new president is playing an old and familiar game by trying to deflect attention from Iran's nuclear weapons program," said Intelligence and International Affairs Minister Yuval Steinitz. "The problem of the NPT in the Middle East is not with those countries which have not signed the NPT, but countries like Iran, Iraq, Libya and Syria which have signed the treaty and brazenly violated it," he added.
"Unlike Iran, Israel has never threatened the destruction of another country," he said.
Iran watchers say Rouhani may have limited time to reach a settlement — possibly a year or less — before Khamenei decides negotiations are fruitless.
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| Diplomatic Talks _ Diplomatic_Negotiation_ Summit Meeting | September 2013 | ['(Yahoo! News)'] |
Exiled GAM leader, Bakhtiar Abdullah, visits the Indonesian special territory of Aceh for the first time in 25 years to see the peace process aimed at ending nearly three decades of conflict. | "I'm at a loss for words," said Mr Abdullah, as he stepped off his plane in Banda Aceh after flying from Sweden.
He is visiting for the first time in 25 years to see the process for himself.
Other leaders of the Free Aceh Movement (Gam) have declined to return to the tsunami-ravaged province, citing security concerns.
A landmark peace deal signed in August aims to end 30 years of fighting in the province and includes a commitment to helping Gam fighters reintegrate into society while the movement itself becomes a political party.
KEY POINTS OF THE ACCORD
Gam gives up all 840 of its weapons in four stages
Government matches that by withdrawing some 24,000 troops in four stages
Disarmament and withdrawal to be complete by 31 December
Government facilitates Aceh-based political parties Amnesty granted to Gam members
Truth and reconciliation commission established
Aceh monitoring mission set up by EU and Asean
The peace process, said Mr Abdullah, was running "smoothly... beyond expectations" but he planned to stay 60 days on the ground to monitor the situation.
Asked if he might stand in provincial elections, he was quoted by Reuters news agency as laughing off the question with the words "later, later".
Scores of monitors from the European Union and South-East Asia are currently covering the cease-fire in Aceh, under which Gam fighters are to disarm and government troops to withdraw partially.
Pieter Feith, who heads the Aceh Monitoring Mission, earlier this month urged exiled Gam leaders to return, saying they could play an important role in province.
Gam leaders Malik Mahmood, Zaini Abdullah and Gam founder Hasan di Tiro also live in exile in Sweden.
【标题：October_2005 Exiled GAM leader, Bakhtiar Abdullah, visits the Indonesian special territory of Aceh for the first time in 25 years to see the peace process aimed at ending nearly three decades of conflict. (BBC)】 | Diplomatic Visit | October 2005 | ['(BBC)'] |
Liberian football hero George Weah has been given the go–ahead to contest the country's presidency. Liberia's election commission dismissed a complaint that his French citizenship barred him from standing. | Mr Weah, 38, who is considered one of the favourites in the presidential race, welcomed the decision.
On Saturday the election commission published a list of 22 candidates cleared to run in the poll, which is due to take place in October.
Voters will be asked to choose a successor to the transitional president, Gyude Bryant, who took office in October 2003, succeeding Charles Taylor, after Liberia's 14-year civil war.
'Need peace'
Six of the original 28 applicants were rejected by the election commission.
But a complaint against Mr Weah, lodged by rivals, was thrown out.
The former soccer star, voted world footballer of the year in 1995, has been accused of adopting French citizenship while playing for Paris St Germain in 1993.
Earlier this month Mr Weah's political party, the Congress for Democratic Change, elected him to lead the party in the poll.
Liberia is still suffering the after effects of a 14-year civil war
"I am happy about the decision taken by the [commission] because those people who brought this case against me did not know what they were talking about," Mr Weah told Reuters news agency.
"But what we need here in Liberia is peace. We at the CDC are very happy with the ruling and we hope that they will continue their good work."
Election campaigning gets under way on Monday.
Among the others running for president are Ellen Sirleaf of the Unity Party, who opposed former Liberian strongman Charles Taylor in the 1997 vote, and Sekou Conneh, the head of the Lurd rebels who invaded Monrovia, leading Mr Taylor to flee into exile in August 2003.
In concurrent legislative elections 206 candidates are fighting for 30 Senate seats, and the 64 lower house seats are being contested by 503 hopefuls. | Government Job change - Election | August 2005 | ['(BBC)'] |
Two thousand people holding a peaceful demonstration in Donetsk for a united Ukraine are attacked with bats and teargas by pro-Russians. | A demonstration organized by pro-Ukrainian groups in this eastern city became violent when masked men attacked with bats and tear gas late Monday.
Dozens of men dressed in military fatigues and wielding baseball bats waded into the rally of some 2,000 people in Donetsk, heart of a separatist uprising against Kiev, according to Reuters. They lobbed fire-crackers and what appeared to be at least one stun grenade.
Some of the baseball bat-wielding militants were wearing "People's Republic of Donetsk" shirts. A few pro-Ukraine riot police chased them but most either froze or scattered. The chaos lasted about 10 minutes.
An NBC News team that got caught up in the melee also heard loud explosions and saw people with blood on their faces. A producer for NBC News partner ITN was hit in the back of the head with a brick and was sent to the hospital for evaluation.
Pro #Ukraine marchers tried to defend themselves by throwing fireworks and firecrackers at the assailants. Total chaos lasted some minutes.
A woman who said she was organizing medical care for the wounded said that five people suffered head injuries and were taken to the hospital, two more injured and not taken to the hospital and another five people were unaccounted for.
The rally, during which people chanted "Donetsk is Ukraine!" and waved the Ukrainian flag, dispersed after the violence.
Meanwhile, the mayor of Ukraine's second biggest city was shot in the back on Monday, the highest profile assassination attempt in eastern Ukraine since a standoff between Moscow and Kiev began two months ago.
Gennady Kernes underwent two hours of surgery after the attack in Kharkiv, one eastern city where police have managed to dislodge pro-Moscow rebels.
Surgeon Valery Boiko said his life would hang in the balance for the next few days.
Kernes, 54, went into politics after making his fortune in the gangster-ridden post-communist 1990s.
After protesters toppled pro-Moscow Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich in February, he supported calls for Kharkiv to become independent from Kiev's new, pro-European leaders. | Protest_Online Condemnation | April 2014 | ['(NBC)'] |
Five girl bombers attack the Nigerian city of Maiduguri with at least 14 people, including the girls, killed and 39 injured. | Five children, four girls and one boy, were behind a series of blasts in the north-eastern Nigerian city of Maiduguri on Thursday, sources say.
Fifteen people, including the bombers, died and more than 35 were injured in the attacks at a mosque and house of vigilante leader, they said.
More than 100 people died in similar attacks in the city two weeks ago.
Maiduguri is where Boko Haram Islamist militants were first based when they began their insurgency six years ago.
Some 17,000 people are said to have been killed in that time and attacks by the group have intensified since Muhammadu Buhari became president in May, vowing to defeat the insurgents.
The BBC's Abdullahi Kaura Abubakar in the capital, Abuja, says people were waiting for the final evening prayers when three suicide bombers struck the mosque.
The girl carrying the fourth bomb ran off into the nearby bush where her explosives detonated, killing her.
The vigilante leader was not at home when a suicide attacker struck his house, our reporter says.
Witnesses and security sources said the children were aged between nine and 15.
Earlier reports said all five of the bombers were girls.
Our correspondent says the attacks in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state, come as the military says it is winning the war against Boko Haram.
In June, the military's headquarters were moved to the city as President Buhari wanted to centralise operations against the militants.
This year, the security forces have reclaimed most of the territory captured by Boko Haram fighters and freed a number of people kidnapped by the militant group.
But the boosted regional multinational force - central to Mr Buhari's strategy in defeating the militants - has not yet started operations in earnest because of reported funding difficulties, our reporter says.
Mr Buhari has given his newly appointed security chiefs until mid-November to defeat the fighters, who now have ties with Islamic State group.
More than 200 schoolgirls kidnapped in April 2014 from the town of Chibok in Borno state have also yet to be found. | Armed Conflict | October 2015 | ['(BBC)'] |
North Korea's supreme leader Kim Jong-un says his country will soon conduct a nuclear warhead test and test launch ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads, according to North Korea's state media. | SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said his country would soon test a nuclear warhead and ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads, North Korea’s KCNA news agency reported on Tuesday, in what would be a direct violation of U.N. resolutions that have the backing of Pyongyang’s chief ally, China.
North Korea to test more nuclear bombs 'soon'
Kim made the comments as he supervised what KCNA said was a successful simulated test of atmospheric re-entry of a ballistic missile that measured the “thermodynamic structural stability of newly developed heat-resisting materials”.
“Declaring that a nuclear warhead explosion test and a test-fire of several kinds of ballistic rockets able to carry nuclear warheads will be conducted in a short time to further enhance the reliance of nuclear attack capability, he (Kim) instructed the relevant section to make prearrangement for them to the last detail,” the agency said.
South Korea’s defense ministry said there were no indications of activities at the North’s nuclear test site or its long-range rocket station, but that North Korea continued to maintain readiness to conduct nuclear tests.
The North Korean report comes amid heightened tension on the Korean peninsula after the announcement of new U.N. sanctions on North Korea and as South Korean and U.S. troops stage their largest ever annual joint military exercises.
South Korean President Park Geun-hye said North Korea would lead itself to self-destruction if it continued its confrontation with the international community.
Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook condemned the North Korean rhetoric, while questioning Pyongyang’s technological claims.
“We have not seen North Korea demonstrate capability to miniaturize a nuclear weapon, and again, put it on a ballistic missile,” he told a news briefing.
China, which has been North Korea’s main ally but backed the tougher U.N. sanctions, urged caution and called for all sides to avoid actions that would exacerbate tensions.
But in a sign of Beijing’s frustration with Pyongyang, China’s state news agency Xinhua said that the South Korean and Chinese foreign ministers had discussed the sanctions by telephone late on Monday and agreed on the importance of implementing them “in a complete and comprehensive manner”.
South Korea’s defense ministry said that despite the KCNA report, it did not believe North Korea had acquired the re-entry technology needed to prevent ballistic missiles burning up when they reenter the earth’s atmosphere.
In the apparent re-entry simulation, the official newspaper of North Korea’s ruling Workers’ Party showed pictures of a dome-shaped object placed under what appeared to be a rocket engine being blasted with flaming exhaust. In separate images, Kim observed the object described by KCNA as a warhead tip.
North Korea has issued belligerent statements almost daily since coming under a new U.N. sanctions resolution this month after it carried out its fourth nuclear test in January and launched a long-range rocket last month.
Nuclear proliferation expert Jeffrey Lewis of the California-based Middlebury Institute of International Studies said it would be a “terrible” worry if North Korea was seeking to emulate U.S. and Chinese tests in 1962 and 1966 respectively that launched ballistic missiles with live warheads.
“For now, though, it looks like a nuclear test and several missile tests in close succession,” he said.
Kim said last week his country had miniaturized a nuclear warhead.
North Korea also claims that its January nuclear test was of a hydrogen bomb, although most experts said the blast was too small for it to have been from a full-fledged hydrogen bomb.
North Korea rejects criticism of its nuclear and missile programmers, even from China, saying it has a sovereign right to defend itself from threats.
The U.N. Security Council resolution sharply expanded existing sanctions by requiring member states to inspect all cargo to and from North Korea and banning North Korea’s trade of coal when it is seen as funding its arms programs.
Additional reporting by Ju-min Park in Seoul, John Ruwitch in Shanghai, Megha Rajagopalan in Beijing and David Brunnstrom and Phil Stewart in Washington; Editing by Nick Macfie and James Dalgleish
| Famous Person - Give a speech | March 2016 | ['(Reuters)'] |
A heap of mining waste collapses at a jade mine in Kachin State, Myanmar, causing a landslide that kills at least 17 people. Six people are also left injured and an unknown number of people are missing. | BANGKOK (AP) — A landslide of a mound of mining waste killed at least 14 people Friday morning in northern Myanmar’s jade mining region, a local official said.
The accident near the Waikha mine also left six people injured and an unknown number believed missing, based on what local villagers reported, said Tu Mai, the administrator of Seng Tawng village in Kachin state’s Hpakant township. A search for them was continuing.
Hpakant, 950 kilometers (600 miles) north of Myanmar’s biggest city, Yangon, is the epicenter of the world’s biggest and most lucrative jade mining industry. Jade is normally mined by heavy equipment that generates huge mounds of waste soil, which easily causes landslides.
The industry generated about $31 billion in 2014 with most of the wealth going to individuals and companies tied to Myanmar’s former military rulers, according to Global Witness, a London-based group that investigate misuse of revenues from natural resources.
People often settle near the mounds to scavenge for jade in the precariously high piles of waste. Fatal accidents are not rare and more than 100 people were killed in a single landslide in November 2015.
Local activists said the profitability of jade mining industry led businesses and the government to neglect enforcing already very weak regulations in the industry.
“The government’s plans to tackle the problem in the jade mining region are not practical,” said Tsa Ji, a researcher and member of a local activist organization, the Kachin Development Networking Group. “The authorities have passed the laws without really understanding how the mining companies are destroying the environment on a large scale.”
Hpakant, the heart of the jade mining region, is also enmeshed in the armed conflict between the government and the ethnic rebels of the Kachin Independence Army, in which the military has been launching offensives against local armed groups to control territory holding the jade mines.
Researchers said the civilian government led by leader Aung San Suu Kyi has done little or nothing to find a practical solution to the problems, which include environment degradation as well as safety.
“Many jade mining companies do not follow rules and regulations on where or how to dump waste pile,” said Maw Htun Awng, a mining governance researcher. “Then there are no actual mechanisms to watch if these companies are following these rules and that’s why this is part of the cumulative impacts.” | Mine Collapses | May 2018 | ['(AP)', '(Channel News Asia)'] |
The Lebanese government passes a series of economic measures, such as slashing government wages and extending financial aid to poor families, in an attempt to placate protestors. | Lebanon's government has approved a package of economic reforms as it attempts to quell the biggest protests to sweep the country in over a decade.
Measures include steps to cut Lebanon's huge deficit, slashing politicians' salaries by half and giving financial help to families in poverty.
In a televised address, PM Saad Hariri said the protesters had been heard.
It comes as demonstrators took part in a fifth day of protests and widespread strikes. Hundreds of thousands of Lebanese have taken to the streets, angry at corruption and austerity measures.
The Lebanese economy is struggling with low growth and high debt, and a deteriorating infrastructure has made power cuts and piles of uncollected rubbish part of daily life.
The Lebanese cabinet passed the raft of measures at an emergency meeting on Monday. Mr Hariri had hinted at resigning if the package was not approved.
The prime minister appeared on television immediately afterwards, acknowledging protesters' grievances.
"These decisions are not designed as a trade-off," he said, "They are not to ask you to stop expressing your anger. That is your decision to make."
"Your movement is what led to these decisions that you see today," he added.
Meanwhile, protesters blocked main roads in central Beirut and held fresh demonstrations. Many schools, banks and universities were closed.
" Lebanon is getting ruined more and more, day after day because of all the politicians," Sara, a 17-year-old protester, told the BBC.
"That's why the Lebanese are standing hand in hand against the corruption and against the bad economical state. This revolution is the key to a better Lebanon."
The demonstrations began on Thursday, when a proposed $6 (£4.60) monthly tax on WhatsApp voice calls was announced. The tax was scrapped, but the unrest escalated and demonstrators turned their focus to wider grievances with the government, including widespread corruption, economic mismanagement and poor public services.
On Sunday, hundreds of thousands people gathered in in the capital and other cities for the biggest demonstrations seen in Lebanon since 2005.
Lebanon's economic situation has worsened in recent weeks, with the local currency losing value against the US dollar for the first time in two decades.
The Lebanese pound has been pegged at 1,500 to the dollar since 1997, but a shortage of dollars at local banks has led to the black market exchange rate rising to about 1,650.
Lebanon has one of the world's highest levels of public debt. At $86bn, it is equivalent to more than 150% of gross domestic product (GDP). The country's economy has also stagnated. Real GDP growth was only 0.2% in 2018 and is estimated to be -0.2% in 2019, according to the World Bank. Last year, international donors pledged $11bn of aid and loans to boost Lebanon's economy. In return, the government committed to implement reforms that would help reduce its debt.
| Financial Aid | October 2019 | ['(BBC News)'] |
Two earthquakes strike Gansu province, China, killing at least 89 people and injuring over 500. | Two powerful earthquakes have struck China's north-west Gansu province, killing at least 75 people and leaving more than 400 others injured. The first earthquake near Dingxi city had a magnitude of 5.98 and was shallow, with a depth of just 9.8 km (6 miles), the US Geological Survey said.
Just over an hour later, a magnitude 5.6 quake hit the same area, it added.
In 2008, an earthquake in Sichuan province left up to 90,000 people dead and millions homeless.
A factory worker in Minxian county told AFP that he felt "violent shaking" and "ran to the yard of the [factory] plant immediately".
"Our factory is only one floor. When I came to the yard, I saw an 18-storey building, the tallest in our county, shaking ferociously, especially the 18th floor," he said.
The area has been hit by 371 aftershocks, according to the Earthquake Administration of Gansu province.
Tremors were felt in the provincial capital, Lanzhou, and as far away as Xian, 400km (250 miles) to the east.
At least 5,600 houses in the province's Zhangxian county are seriously damaged and 380 have collapsed, while some areas suffered from power cuts or mobile communications being disrupted, the earthquake administration added.
"Many have been injured by collapsed houses," a doctor based in Minxian county was quoted by Reuters news agency as saying. "Many villagers have gone to local hospitals along the roads."
The earthquake has caused a direct economic loss of 198 million yuan ($32m; £21m), the Dingxi government said on its microblog.
Both the Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang had called Gansu province to express their concern for the victims and stress the importance of the rescue operations being conducted well, the Dingxi government added.
Crews of fire fighters and rescue dogs have already arrived at the scene, the BBC's Celia Hatton in Beijing reports.
The closer to the surface an earthquake strikes, the more damage it can cause, our correspondent adds.
The earthquake reportedly triggered a series of mudslides and landslides, making it difficult for rescuers to access some areas hit by the quake. The Gansu military police have deployed 500 soldiers, including 120 specialist rescuers, while 500 emergency tents and 2,000 quilts are also being transported to affected areas, Xinhua added.
Officials from the civil affairs, transportation and earthquake departments were also visiting local towns to assess the damage, a statement on the Dingxi party website said.
Rain is expected in the region later, leading to fears that this will make rescue efforts more difficult, or cause more landslides.
"Showery weather is expected tomorrow, and lighter rain the day after that. The rain may have an adverse effect on rescue efforts - please pay attention and be on guard!" the Dingxi government wrote on its microblog.
Residents in towns near the earthquake also reported feeling the tremors.
"You could see the chandeliers wobble and the windows vibrating and making noise, but there aren't any cracks in the walls," AP news agency quoted a clerk at Wuyang Hotel, about 40 km (25 miles) from the epicentre, as saying. "Shop assistants all poured out onto the streets when the shaking began," the clerk said. Questions linger after deadly Sichuan quake
China's Gansu hit by deadly quakes
China country profile
| Earthquakes | July 2013 | ['(CNN)', '(Reuters)', '(NBC News)', '(BBC)'] |
Passengers who were planning on visiting Bermuda are forced to change plans and go to Maine and Canada thanks to a threat of safety posed by Hurricane Florence. | WBZ News BOSTON (CBS) – Cruise passengers who had planned to sail to Bermuda will instead be visiting Bar Harbor and other locations up north thanks to Florence.
The hurricane-turned-tropical-storm has forced Norwegian Cruise Lines to alter its itinerary. The latest forecast shows Florence strengthening into a Category 3 hurricane and tracking just south of Bermuda next week.
“The safety and security of our guests and crew is always our top priority,” Norwegian Cruise Lines said in a statement. “Due to Hurricane Florence in the Eastern Atlantic, we have modified Norwegian Dawn’s itinerary.”
The Norwegian Dawn, departing from Boston on Friday, will skip Bermuda entirely. Instead, the ship will call in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Bar Harbor, Maine.
“Our on board team is prepared to ensure the best vacation experience possible given these weather related necessary changes,” the cruise line said. “We will continue to closely monitor the storm and provide additional updates as they become available.”
The news was a bitter pill for vacationers all decked out for sunshine. Most took the news in stride.
“We’ll make sunshine wherever we go,” one woman said. “I don’t care,” another woman said. “We’re on vacation. We’re all together and we’re going to have fun, make the best of it.”
Other passengers were disappointed, like Elaine and Keith Bornn who drove from Canada to Boston. “Seriously? But I’ve been to all these places,” said Keith. “We’ve been about five months planning it and it’s what, seven hours to drive down yesterday.”
They packed for Bermuda ?. Now they’re headed to Maine and Canada instead. Disappointing news for passengers on the Norwegian Dawn changing its itinerary to avoid potentially dangerous weather. #wbz pic.twitter.com/0rg6oBZhV5
— Christina Hager (@HagerWBZ) September 7, 2018
Royal Caribbean and Carnival Cruise Lines are telling passengers on social media that no decision has been made yet on trips to Bermuda, but they are actively monitoring the storm. | Hurricanes_Tornado_Storm_Blizzard | September 2018 | ['(CBS)'] |
Popular Saudi Shia Sheikh Nimr al–Nimr sentenced to death by Saudi court that tries terrorists and human rights activists. | A court in Saudi Arabia has sentenced the Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr Baqir al-Nimr to death, his family says.
Sheikh Nimr Baqir al-Nimr's brother said he was found guilty of seeking "foreign meddling" in the kingdom, "disobeying" its rulers and taking up arms against the security forces.
The cleric was a vocal supporter of the mass anti-government protests that erupted in Eastern Province in 2011.
His arrest two years ago, during which he was shot, triggered days of unrest.
Oil-rich Eastern Province is home to a Shia majority that has long complained of marginalisation at the hands of the Sunni royal family.
Protests began there in February 2011 after the start of the pro-democracy uprising in neighbouring Bahrain, which has a Shia majority and a Sunni royal family.
The Saudi authorities deny discriminating against Shia and blame Iran for stirring up discontent.
Sheikh Nimr's brother Mohammed said on Twitter that he had been sentenced to death by Riyadh's Specialised Criminal Court, which tries terrorism cases, on Wednesday morning.
A statement by the cleric's family described the verdict as "discretionary", saying the judge had the option of imposing a lighter sentence, according to the Associated Press. It also warned that the trial had been "political" and had set a "dangerous precedent for decades to come".
When Sheikh Nimr, who holds the rank of ayatollah, went on trial in March 2013 prosecutors called for his execution by "crucifixion", a punishment which in Saudi Arabia involves beheading followed by public display of the decapitated body. Human rights groups expressed concern at the time that he would not receive a fair trial. They also said he had still not been given access to adequate medical care for the gunshot wounds he received during his arrest in July 2012, something denied by the authorities.
Police shot Sheikh Nimr in the leg four times in disputed circumstances as they detained him after a car chase in Eastern Province's Qatif district. Officials said he rammed a security forces vehicle, leading to a gun battle. However, his family disputed the allegation that he resisted arrest and insisted that he did not own a weapon.
The cleric was held for eight months before being charged and reportedly spent the first four in an isolation cell at a prison hospital in Riyadh.
Activists and relatives say Sheikh Nimr, who has a wide following among Shia in Eastern Province and other states, supported only peaceful protests and eschewed all violent opposition to the government.
In 2011, he told the BBC that he supported "the roar of the word against authorities rather than weapons... the weapon of the word is stronger than bullets, because authorities will profit from a battle of weapons".
His arrest prompted days of protests in which three people were killed.
Human Rights Watch said more than 1,040 people had been arrested at Shia protests between February 2011 and August 2014. At least 240 are still believed to be in detention.
"I think the message that Saudis are saying is: 'We will arrest anybody. We don't care how high profile they are... nobody is above this. We don't have any tolerance. We don't have any flexibility,'" HRW Middle East researcher Adam Coogle told AP after Sheikh Nimr's sentencing. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Sentence | October 2014 | ['(BBC)'] |
Over 100 people are killed and around 1,500 injured in a violent crackdown against protesters in the Egyptian capital of Cairo. | Egyptian security forces and armed men in plain clothes killed scores of Muslim Brotherhood protesters on Saturday as the brutal and organised crackdown on the Islamist party and its supporters appeared to be gathering pace.
In what is the worst single mass killing in Egypt since the fall of president Hosni Mubarak two-and-a-half years ago, a Brotherhood spokesman said 66 of the party's supporters were shot and killed on the fringes of a sit-in at a Cairo mosque demanding the return of former president Mohamed Morsi, who was deposed on 3 July, and another 61 were "brain dead" on life-support machines. Government officials claim that the number of dead was 65, a death toll greater than the Republican Guards massacre on 8 July that saw 51 killed.
The deaths came as men in helmets and black police fatigues fired on crowds gathered before dawn on the fringes of a round-the-clock sit-in near a mosque in north-east Cairo, Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood movement said.
"They are not shooting to wound, they are shooting to kill," said Brotherhood spokesman Gehad el-Haddad. "The bullet wounds are in the head and chest."
The latest violence came amid the continuing sharp polarisation within Egyptian society that has made the country increasingly ungovernable. Elsewhere on Friday, eight people were reported killed in clashes in Alexandria.
The latest violence was condemned by members of the international community. The head of European Union foreign policy, Baroness Ashton, said she "deeply deplored" the latest deaths, while Britain's foreign secretary William Hague said: "Now is the time for dialogue, not confrontation. It is the responsibility of leaders on all sides to take steps to reduce tensions."
The dead and injured were ferried into a makeshift field hospital near the Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque, where the floor was slick with blood.
In a bizarre episode, most western journalists in the country were invited on a helicopter ride over Cairo's Tahrir Square an hour before the massacre began. After the killings, the ministry of the interior denied it had used live ammunition on demonstrators, despite eyewitness accounts from journalists, including BBC correspondents, who were present during the killings.
"There must have been an injury every minute," said Mosa'ab Elshamy, a photojournalist unaffiliated with the Brotherhood, who photographed the attack for half an hour at around 4am.
"I did not see any Morsi supporters with [firearms] at this point," he added. "I hid behind a tree, and all I saw were Morsi supporters throwing stones, or fireworks, or throwing teargas canisters."
The shootings occurred as the interior minister, Mohamed Ibrahim, said that Morsi – who has been held incommunicado at an army base for the last three weeks – was being moved to Torah prison, where Mubarak is also being held. He added, chillingly, that the pro-Morsi sit-ins in Cairo would be "God willing, soon … dealt with. With regards to the timing to disperse the protesters, there is complete co-ordination between us and the armed forces."
On Friday, civilian prosecutors announced they had launched an investigation into Morsi on charges of murder and conspiring with the Palestinian militant group Hamas. At the heart of the case are allegations that Morsi and the Brotherhood worked with Hamas to carry out an attack on a prison that succeeded in breaking Morsi and around 30 other members of the group out of detention during the 2011 uprising against Mubarak. The attack killed 14 inmates.
During the three weeks Morsi has spent in secret detention, he has been extensively interrogated by military intelligence officials about the inner workings of his presidency and of the Brotherhood. They have been seeking to prove that he committed crimes, including handing state secrets to the Islamist group. According to the Associated Press, briefed by unidentified military officials, Morsi has been moved three times under heavy guard and is currently in a facility outside Cairo.
The lethal assault on the Muslim Brotherhood's supporters came after national demonstrations called by the chief of the army, General Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, to give him backing to confront "violence" and "terrorism" – understood by many to be a thinly veiled code for a crackdown on the Brotherhood.
Although there is bitter dispute over how the violence began, and whether some of the Brotherhood supporters had weapons, most independent witnesses reported that most of the gunfire was being directed at those associated with the sit-in.
A leading figure in the Brotherhood, Mohamed el-Beltagy, has blamed the violence on Sisi's call for demonstrations on Friday.
"This is the mandate Sisi took last night to commit massacres and bloodshed against peaceful protesters denouncing the military coup," el-Beltagy said in a statement on his Facebook page.
On Saturday afternoon police released helicopter footage purporting to show Muslim Brotherhood members firing sporadically on police.
The clashes began after hundreds of Morsi supporters moved out of their encampment outside the Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque late on Friday and towards a bridge in central Cairo.
One group began to set up tents on an adjoining boulevard, where they were planning to stay for at least three days, said Mahmoud Zaqzouq, a Muslim Brotherhood spokesman. | Riot | July 2013 | ['(BBC)', '(The Guardian)'] |
Iranian State television reports that court spokesman Gholam–Hossein Mohseni–Eje'i clarified the Iranian–American reporter's verdict –– Washington Post's Jason Rezaian was convicted in a closed–door espionage trial that ended two months ago. Details remain unknown. Rezaian faced four charges; it's not clear whether he was convicted of all charges nor what sentence was imposed. Leila Ahsan, Rezaian’s lawyer, also had not received the verdict as of Sunday. Post executive editor Martin Baron says they will appeal. | Washington Post correspondent Jason Rezaian, imprisoned in Tehran for more than 14 months, has been convicted following an espionage trial that ended in August, Iranian media reported Monday. The verdict — belated and opaque — was strongly condemned by the journalist’s family and colleagues, as well as the U.S. government.
State-run TV and the Iranian Students’ News Agency both quoted Gholam Hossein Mohseni-Ejei, a spokesman for Tehran’s Revolutionary Court, as saying Rezaian, 39, had been found guilty. But Mohseni-Ejei offered no specifics on which charges were involved or whether a sentence had been imposed.
“He has been convicted, but I don’t have the verdict’s detail,” said Mohseni-Ejei, a hard-liner and former prosecutor who criticized Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif for shaking hands with President Obama during a chance encounter at the United Nations last month, comparing the gesture to consorting with the enemy.
Rezaian faced four charges — the most serious being espionage. The judge who heard the case is known for handing down harsh sentences, and Rezaian potentially faces a sentence of 10 to 20 years.
[Family, journalists react to the verdict] Rezaian and The Post have strongly denied the accusations, and the prosecution has drawn wide-ranging denunciations, including statements from the White House and press freedom groups.
Martin Baron, executive editor of The Post, called the guilty verdict “an outrageous injustice” and “contemptible.”
“Iran has behaved unconscionably throughout this case, but never more so than with this indefensible decision by a Revolutionary Court to convict an innocent journalist of serious crimes after a proceeding that unfolded in secret, with no evidence whatsoever of any wrongdoing,” he said in a statement.
[Full statement by The Post’s editor] Because there was no announcement of a sentence, the judgment led to speculation that Iran would press for a prisoner swap with the United States. In recent weeks, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has repeatedly floated the idea that the authorities in Tehran could free Rezaian and two other Iranian American prisoners if Washington reciprocated by releasing 19 Iranian citizens in U.S. custody for circumventing sanctions.
The Iranians have declined to say which prisoners they are referring to, but a number of Iranians and Iranian Americans have been convicted of attempting to circumvent U.S. economic sanctions and export controls on Iran. U.S. officials have declined to discuss any possible swap.
The state-run Islamic Republic of Iran News Network reported Monday that Rezaian was accused of “spying on Iran’s nuclear programs” and providing the U.S. government with information on people and companies skirting sanctions. “The information that Rezaian provided to the Americans resulted in many Iranian and international businessmen and companies being placed on America’s sanctions list,” the network reported on its Web site.
[A timeline of the Jason Rezaian case] Rezaian’s trial was held entirely behind closed doors, and his attorneys were barred from discussing the proceedings. The few details that have emerged have been in Iranian news reports.
Ali Rezaian said his younger brother, whose physical and mental health is deteriorating in Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison, knows that a verdict was announced but nothing more.
Rezaian’s wife, Yeganeh Salehi, and his mother went to court Monday with a defense lawyer seeking more information but came away empty-handed, he said.
“This follows an unconscionable pattern by Iranian authorities of silence, obfuscation, delay and a total lack of adherence to international and Iranian law,” he said.
The State Department described the process as “incomprehensible.”
“Regardless of whether there has been a conviction or not, we continue to call for the government of Iran to drop all charges against Jason and release him immediately,” said State Department spokesman John Kirby.
Born in Marin County, Calif., to an Iranian father and an American mother, Rezaian, a dual national, moved to Iran in 2008 and worked as a journalist for various publications, including the San Francisco Chronicle. He joined The Post in 2012 and wrote stories that he hoped would give readers a deeper and more nuanced view of Iran; one of the last before his arrest recounted the travails of the country’s fledgling baseball team.
[Video: What you need to know abut Jason Rezaian] Rezaian and his wife were arrested on July 22, 2014, when plainclothes police raided their apartment. Two Iranian American photojournalists were also arrested. The photographers were later released, and Salehi was freed on bail two months later. She still faces prosecution and is barred from working as a reporter for her employer, the National newspaper in the United Arab Emirates.
Many of the conditions of Rezaian’s detention violate Iran’s own laws and constitutional guarantees. He spent months in solitary confinement. He was also denied bail, a translator and, initially, legal representation.
Iran does not recognize dual nationality, and it barred any U.S. role in the case, including consular visits by diplomats representing U.S. interests.
During months of negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program, State Department officials repeatedly urged Iran to release Rezaian and two other imprisoned Americans, Saeed Abedini of Boise, Idaho, and Amir Hekmati of Flint, Mich. The talks were always on the sidelines, however, because negotiators did not want Iran to use them as a lever to extract concessions in the nuclear negotiations. The nuclear deal, which led Iran to accept limits on its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief, is as controversial in Tehran as it is in Washington. Relative moderates such as Rouhani want to open the country to more international trade. Hard-liners fear it will make Iran vulnerable to foreign influence and undermine the 1979 revolution.
Some analysts believe Rezaian became ensnared in this fierce domestic policy debate, with hard-liners who control the courts and the intelligence agencies seeking to undercut Rouhani before February elections.
“This is politicized justice at its worst,” said Hadi Ghaemi, executive director of the New York-based International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran.
Other analysts believe the verdict also telegraphs to Rouhani that his power is limited.
“I think it is all part of an effort to send a message to Rouhani that the nuclear deal is a one-off and that he will not be able to satisfy the demands of his supporters for a more liberal social order,” said Barbara Slavin, a fellow with the Atlantic Council who makes frequent trips to Iran. “In a way, Jason is a victim of the success of the nuclear talks.”
Outside Iran, few believe Rezaian was acting in any capacity other than as a journalist.
“The reason they have been very secretive about the case is they are using him as a pawn in a fight for the government,” said Omid Memarian, an Iranian journalist and a friend of Rezaian’s who is now living New York. “The hard-liners know the world has asked Rouhani to do something for Jason. He has to tell the world he cannot do anything. That undermines his authority. What kind of president cannot defend the rights of [his] citizens?”
Haleh Esfandiari, an Iranian scholar at the Washington-based Wilson Center, said that the announced verdict suggests the hard-liners who control the Revolutionary Court have concluded that no prisoner swap with the United States is likely.
“One has to bring a tremendous amount of pressure on the government of Iran now. Iran needs a face-saving solution,” said Esfandiari, who was arrested and detained in Iran in 2007 and accused of endangering national security. “That is the nature of the regime.”
Read more: Journalists and family of Jason Rezaian denounce guilty verdict Martin Baron on the Jason Rezaian conviction A timeline of Jason Rezaian’s detention and conviction in Iran Full coverage on Post correspondent Jason Rezaian | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Sentence | October 2015 | ['(The Washington Post)', '(Payvand.com)'] |
The Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities announces the discovery of eight mummies, 10 colorful sarcophagi, and numerous figurines in a 3,500–year–old tomb near the Valley of the Kings in Luxor. | Eight mummies, colourful coffins and more than 1000 funerary statues have been found at a tomb near the Valley of the Kings in Luxor in Egypt.
The artefacts, thought to be at least 3000 years old, were discovered in the tomb in the Draa Abul Nagaa necropolis nearby.
It belonged to a nobleman who worked as a judge.
"It was a surprise how much was being displayed inside", Egypt's antiquities minister Khaled el-Enany said.
Spokeswoman Nevine el-Aref said there was "evidence and traces that new mummies could be discovered in the future".
The coffins were well-preserved, painted in red, blue, black, green, and yellow.
The statues found among the relics were traditionally placed alongside the dead to help them in the afterlife.
A statement released by the ministry said the tomb was T-shaped, with "an open court leading into a rectangular hall, a corridor and an inner chamber".
The statues were found inside a 9m shaft. Another room that was found has not been excavated yet.
-BBC
Copyright © 2017, Radio New Zealand
The remains of a pyramid built about 3700 years ago have been discovered in Egypt, the antiquities ministry says.
The torso of a huge statue, possibly 3000 years old, has been removed from the ground in Egypt. | New archeological discoveries | April 2017 | ['(CNN)', '(Radio New Zealand)'] |
A shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, United States, leaves 28 people dead, including 20 children, 6 teachers, the shooter, and his mother. | NEWTOWN, Conn. — The gunman who killed 27 people, including 20 children, on Friday targeted a school to which he had no apparent connection — forcing his way in and spraying classrooms with a weapon designed to kill across a battlefield, authorities said.
On Saturday, law enforcement officials gave new details about the rampage of Adam Lanza, which ended with Lanza’s suicide. Their new narrative partially contradicted previous ones and made a baffling act seem more so. Lanza’s mother, for instance, was not a teacher at Sandy Hook Elementary, after all. She apparently was unemployed. So it was still a mystery why her 20-year-old son — after dressing in black, killing his mother and taking at least three guns from her collection — then drove the five miles to a school where he was a stranger.
The part of the story that remained grimly, awfully unchanged was what Lanza did when he got there. Authorities on Saturday released the names of those Lanza killed at the school, who ranged in age from 6 to 56. And the state’s medical examiner — speaking in sanitized, clinical terms — described the results of something deeply obscene: a semiautomatic rifle fired inside an elementary classroom.
“I’ve been at this for a third of a century. And my sensibilities may not be the average man’s. But this probably is the worst I have seen,” said H. Wayne Carver II. Carver described the children’s injuries, which he said ranged from at least two to 11 bullet wounds apiece. He had performed seven of the autopsies himself. A reporter asked what the children had been wearing. “They’re wearing cute kid stuff,” Carver said. “I mean, they’re first-graders.”
On Saturday, this small New England town and the country played out what is now a familiar ritual: the dumbstruck aftermath of a young gunman’s massacre. Word came that President Obama would arrive Sunday for an evening interfaith service, repeating his role from Fort Hood, Tex.; Aurora, Colo.; and Tucson, Ariz. He would again be chief mourner.
In Connecticut, people who had known Adam Lanza described him as odd, nervous and withdrawn, and they searched their memories for signs they’d missed. Memorials went up. Politicians talked — a little more forcefully this time — about how someone needed to be brave enough to talk about guns and gun control.
And, in Newtown, they started funeral preparations. This time, the ritual was for lives so new that it seemed impossible to speak of them in the past tense.
“He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time,” said Rabbi Shaul Praver of Adath Israel, who said that his congregation lost a first-grade boy. “His little body could not endure so many bullets like that.”
On Saturday, law enforcement officials said that Lanza had entered the school by force sometime after 9:30 a.m. Friday. Sandy Hook’s principal, Dawn Hochsprung, had recently installed a new security system in which the school doors were kept locked all day starting at 9:30. But Lanza had apparently shattered the glass in a window or door. Lanza was carrying at least three guns from a collection maintained by his mother, who friends said enjoyed target shooting. Lanza had two pistols, a Glock and a Sig Sauer. But he apparently chose a larger weapon, a .223-caliber Bushmaster rifle, for much of the killing. This rifle fires one bullet for every pull of the trigger, and the unusually high speed of its round was designed to produce significant internal damage. Authorities said Lanza fired dozens and dozens of times in a spree that lasted minutes. “All the wounds that I know of at this point were caused by the long weapon,” said Carver, the medical examiner. He said he saw multiple wounds on the bodies of those he examined, and based on his conversations with colleagues, “I believe everybody was hit more than once.” None of the victims likely survived very long after being hit, Carver said.
When police arrived, Lanza was dead. So were Hochsprung and five other adults. So were 18 children. Two more were pronounced dead later at a local hospital. Sixteen of the 20 children were just 6 years old. The other four were 7.
Later, when investigators went to the home that Lanza shared with his mother, Nancy Lanza was found dead there — the first victim of the killings and the last discovered. On Saturday, authorities said they had “very good evidence” regarding Adam Lanza’s motives. But they didn’t say what that evidence was, and law enforcement officials said they had not found anything like a suicide note.
“No words can truly express how heartbroken we are,” Adam Lanza’s father, Peter Lanza, said in a statement released Saturday. “We are in a state of disbelief and trying to find whatever answers we can. We too are asking why.”
Around the country, advocates for stronger gun-control laws said they hoped that the shock of this crime would start a debate that other mass shootings had not. Still, with so little known about Adam Lanza and the guns he used, it was difficult to say what sort of law, precisely, was needed to prevent another shooting like Friday’s.
“If having dozens of people gunned down in an elementary school doesn’t motivate Washington to do even the easy things they can do, it’s not clear what will,” said Mark Glaze, director of Mayors Against Illegal Guns, a group chaired by New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg (I) that represents 750 mayors across the country.
Politics will come later, once the country has become used to the idea that this actually happened. In Newtown on Saturday, the shooting still seemed to dwell in the realm of the unthinkable.
“The emotions of yesterday were just absolutely overwhelming,” Monsignor Robert Weiss of St. Rose of Lima Roman Catholic Church in Newtown said in an interview Saturday with NBC News. “I don’t know if the reality has really settled in yet.’’
Weiss had accompanied police when they notified parents that their children had been killed. They asked him questions that most likely will never have answers.
“What were the last moments of these people’s lives like? They were wondering, did the child even know what was happening? Were they afraid? Did they see something coming?” Weiss told NBC. “ . . . So these parents are left with those unanswered questions in addition to just why this had to happen — why to their child?’’
Elswehere in Newtown, 8-year-old Maleeha Ali, a third-grader at Sandy Hook who escaped unharmed, came with her father and mother to Treadwell Park near the school with a sign she had made honoring Vicki Soto, the first-grade teacher who reportedly died trying to protect her students from the gunman. Soto taught Maleeha when she was in first grade, and the two would exchange greetings every day, the girls’ parents said.
The sign called Soto “our hero.”
One parent who lost a child, Robbie Parker, spoke to reporters Saturday evening. He expressed sympathy for Lanza’s family, saying, “I can’t imagine how hard this experience must be for you.” Parker said that Emilie, the daughter he lost, was blond and blue-eyed and could light up a room. “All those who had the pleasure to meet her would agree that the world was better because she was in it,” Parker said. He recalled the last time he saw Emilie, on Friday morning as he headed to work. He had been teaching her Portuguese, and so their last conversation was in that language.
“She said that she loved me, and she gave me a kiss and I was out the door,” said Parker, whose family moved to Newtown eight months ago. “I’m so blessed to be her dad.”
Horwitz and Fahrenthold reported from Washington. Brady Dennis in Washington contributed to this report.
| Riot | December 2012 | ['(BBC)', '(Reuters)', '(CNN)', '(WABC)', '(The Boston Channel)', '(The Wall Street Journal)', '(The Washington Post)'] |
Ukrainian opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko is charged with misusing state funds while serving as Prime Minister. | The Ukrainian opposition leader, Yulia Tymoshenko, has been charged with misusing state funds while serving as prime minister, her spokeswoman says.
Ms Tymoshenko is suspected of misspending money Ukraine received from the selling of its carbon emission rights under the Kyoto protocol.
She has denied the allegations, saying she is being targeted for standing up to President Viktor Yanukovych.
Ms Tymoshenko lost the premiership in March following a no-confidence vote.
The motion was tabled in parliament a month after she lost narrowly to Mr Yanukovych in the presidential election run-off.
Ms Tymoshenko was one of the leaders of the 2004 "Orange Revolution", which saw Mr Yanukovich stripped of victory in the presidential election.
On Wednesday, the prosecutor-general's office said an investigation had been opened into Ms Tymoshenko's second term in office.
After being questioned, Ms Tymoshenko said the probe centred around the alleged misspending of 320m euros (270m; $425m) which the government received in 2009 for the sale of carbon credits.
In October, an audit of her cabinet's affairs ordered by the new government - which is allied to Mr Yanukovych - accused her of using the money to cover pension arrears when finances were stretched by the global financial crisis.
Under Kyoto Protocol rules, funds from the sale of carbon credits can only be used for tasks that aim to reduce emissions of pollutants.
Ms Tymoshenko denied the money had been spent on pensions and insisted it was still at the disposal of the environment ministry.
"The money allotted for the Kyoto Protocol was not being spent," she said. "We used funds from a single line item of the budget, one that had no purpose or designation."
She said the investigation against her was a witch-hunt, adding: "The terror against the opposition continues."
Ms Tymoshenko's office meanwhile claimed the president had told the prosecutor-general to "destroy" her Batkivshchina political party.
A number of other former officials in her government have been investigated, questioned and jailed since March. An investigation of Ms Tymoshenko's ally and former Interior Minister, Yuri Lutsenko, on accusations of abuse of office and theft is continuing.
The government has denied the allegations and said the probe is a legitimate attempt to uncover corruption by the previous administration.
| Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | December 2010 | ['(Ukrainian News Agency)', '(BBC)'] |
Lawmakers in Burma elect two out of three Vice Presidents, one of whom will become the President. | Lawmakers in Burma have elected two out of three vice-presidents - one of whom will go on to become the next president. The lower house chose Thein Sein, the prime minister in the outgoing military government and a trusted ally of top general Than Shwe. The upper house voted for Sai Mauk Kham, an ethnic Shan also from the military-backed USDP party. The USDP won a large majority in the 7 November polls. The elections, the first in the country for two decades, were part of what the Burmese junta said was a transfer from military to civilian rule. But they were widely criticised by Western nations and the Burmese pro-democracy opposition, and left the military firmly in control of the new parliament. A quarter of the seats in parliament are reserved for the military. They pick the third candidate - this name has not been formally confirmed but is believed to be Tin Aung Myint Oo, another Than Shwe ally. The president will be elected from the trio of vice-presidential picks, possibly on Friday. Thein Sein is seen as the most likely choice. Than Shwe, who has ruled Burma since 1992, appears not to be seeking the top job. It remains unclear what role he will play in the future. But analysts say the 77-year-old is unlikely to relinquish all power and is expected to either remain as head of the powerful military or take a significant behind-the-scenes political position.
The Aung San Suu Kyi-led National League for Democracy, which won the last elections in 1990 but was never allowed to take power, is not represented in parliament. It disbanded ahead of the 7 November election because of election laws that would have forced it to expel its leaders. | Government Job change - Election | February 2011 | ['(BBC)', '(One India)'] |
At least 50 people are killed in combat between Southern Sudan and militias in Malakal. | At least 50 people were killed in this week's clashes between the South Sudan's army and militias in the town of Malakal, UN officials say.
One UN official said 14 civilians and scores of combatants had been killed, while another put the figure at about 50 people altogether.
The army and a militia previously backed by Khartoum exchanged heavy gunfire in the volatile town.
Correspondents say tensions between north and south remain high.
A 21-year civil war ended in 2005 with a peace deal.
But the two sides remain in dispute about oil-rich areas along the border.
Under the deal, South Sudan enjoys considerable autonomy until a referendum is held in 2011 on whether or not the largely Christian and animist south should secede from the Muslim-dominated north.
'Provocations'
The Malakal fighting involved supporters of Gabriel Tang, who was backed by the north during the civil war and is now based in Khartoum.
"Provocations against Maj Gen Tang started immediately after his arrival at Malakal, a matter that had obliged him to take refuge with the joint forces, which are the forces that are officially responsible for protecting the people and properties in the town," Brigadier Osman Mohammed al-Aghbash told state media.
But southern Information Minister Gabriel Changson Chang said on Wednesday that the army was seeking to provoke a "new civil war" through the fighting.
Fighting between South Sudan's army and elements in the Tang militia killed 150 people in Malakal in 2006. | Armed Conflict | February 2009 | ['(BBC)'] |
A gunman attacks the University of Pécs in southern Hungary, killing one and injuring at least three people. | A pharmacology student fired shots inside a building of Pecs University in the south of Hungary just before noon on Thursday, killing a classmate and wounding another student, a male lab worker and a cleaning woman, local county police chief told the press from the site.
Police have arrested the attacker, a 23 year-old man, who gave himself up over the phone shortly after firing the shots with a handgun, Jozsef Dakos said.
He is said to have attended a lab class with 20 other students at the university's biophysics research institute, when he suddenly stood up and left the classroom, to return shortly with a 9mm Parabellum pistol and opening fire in the room.
The 19-year-old male student died on the spot, another 19-year-old male classmate is still in critical condition, while the condition of a 36-year-old man who worked in the lab and a 54-year-old woman, a member of the cleaning staff, have been stabilised.
The suspect has been a member of a local shooting club, and had a permit for the handgun. His motives are unknown, Dakos said.
A student from the same university on condition of anonymity described the attacker as a clever, introverted person who "had issues."
Justice Minister Tibor Draskovics, who held a briefing at the scene with the education minister in the afternoon, said that there were no suggestions that a terrorist act had been carried out, and that the student is likely to have had personal reasons for the attack, though there was no confirmation of suggestions that he had been under medical treatment.
Draskovics said that Hungary's laws on the possession of firearms had to be reviewed to see if any tightening is necessary.
Prime Minister Gordon Bajnai said the government would extend aid to the victim's family and the injured. He added that although there was no way to foresee what had happened, everything must be done to prevent similar tragedies in the future. Representatives of political parties sent their condolences as well. | Armed Conflict | November 2009 | ['(BBC)', '(Caboodle.hu)'] |
The United States Space Force successfully launches its X–37B robotic spacecraft on a classified mission from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station via an Atlas V rocket. Though little is known about the classified program, the spacecraft is expected to deploy a satellite into orbit, and test the "power–beaming technology". | The US Air Force has successfully launched its Atlas V rocket, carrying a X-37B space plane for a secretive mission.
The rocket launched on Sunday from Cape Canaveral, a day after bad weather halted plans for a Saturday launch. The aircraft, also known as an Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV), will deploy a satellite into orbit and also test power-beaming technology.
It is the plane's sixth mission in space. The launch was dedicated to front line workers and those affected by the pandemic. A message including the words "America Strong" was written on the rocket's payload fairing. X-37B is a classified programme and United Launch Alliance, which operates the Atlas rocket, was required to end its webcast earlier in the flight than it would normally do.
The Pentagon has revealed very few details about the reusable vehicle's missions and capabilities in the past, but Secretary of the Air Force, Barbara Barrett, said earlier this month: "This X-37B mission will host more experiments than any other prior mission."
It's known that one of the onboard experiments will test the effect of radiation on seeds and other materials. The X-37B programme started in 1999. The vehicle (the project has two) resembles a smaller version of the crewed space shuttles that were retired by the US space programme in 2011. It can glide back down through the atmosphere to land on a runway, just as the shuttle did. Built by Boeing, the plane uses solar panels for power in orbit, measures over 29ft (9m) long, has a wingspan of nearly 15ft and a weight of 11,000lbs (5,000kg).
The first plane flew in April 2010 and returned after an eight-month mission. The most recent mission ended in October 2019, after 780 days in orbit, bringing the X-37B programme's time in space to more than seven years.
The length of this latest mission is currently unclear. Mysterious US space plane returns
US spaceplane 'spying on China'
Hardliner Raisi set to win Iran election
Vote-counting shows Ebrahim Raisi - Iran's top judge - has so far received 62% of the vote.
| New achievements in aerospace | May 2020 | ['(BBC)'] |
Clothing manufacturer and retailer American Apparel files for bankruptcy. The company says that its 200+ retail stores will continue to operate without any interruptions. , | Nearly a year after the ouster of founder and CEO Dov Charney, American Apparel has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
This comes as little surprise to investors of the LA-based clothing retailer, who were warned in August that the company had "substantial doubt" it could remain in business and investors could incur big losses. In its latest quarter, the company reported a loss of $19.4 million.
By declaring bankruptcy, American Apparel plans to restructure its debt in the next six months. The company said it will be business as usual for its 200+ retail stores, which will continue to operate without any interruptions.
"This restructuring will enable American Apparel to become a stronger, more vibrant company," said CEO Paula Schneider
in a statement. "By improving our financial footing, we will be able to refocus our business efforts on the execution of our turnaround strategy."
In an attempt to shore up its finances, American Apparel will convert over $200 million in debt into equity stakes in the reorganized company. Lenders will also provide some $90 million in debtor-in-possession financing, plus $70 million in new financing.
The result will be a reduction in American Apparel's debt from $300 million to no more than $135 million, the company said.
The iconic brand, known for its raunchy ads, has been shuttering stores and laying off employees under a turnaround plan meant to cut costs and revive a steep drop in sales. The company hasn't left its drama with controversial former CEO Dov Charney behind yet, either. In recent months, the company has amassed huge legal bills from lawsuits with Charney, who was fired amid allegations involving sexual harassment and misuse of corporate funds.
American Apparel's stock, which has devolved into penny stock status amid the company's ongoing troubles, dropped another three cents on Monday and was trading at just nine cents per share.
| Organization Closed | October 2015 | ['(The New York Times)', '(Forbes)'] |
Search and rescue operations end after a crewman missing after a fire broke out aboard drillship MV Geo Technical in the South China Sea yesterday is found dead on the vessel. A gas leak discovered today was hampering the efforts. | The Maritime Executive On Wednesday, a rescue crew found the body of a crewmember who went missing in a fire aboard a Malaysian offshore survey ship earlier this week.
At 0300 hours Tuesday morning, a fire broke out on the survey vessel Geos off Kuala Baram, Sarawak. Local media report that an explosion in the ship's engine room sparked the blaze. 36 crewmembers were rescued unharmed, two others were injured in the fire and one was missing, according to the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA).
Multiple MMEA and commercial vessels began a surface search for the missing crewmember, identified Wednesday as Mohammad Saiful Ashnar, 31. Responders were not immediately able to search the interior of the Geos due to smoke, but on Wednesday afternoon they boarded the vessel and found Ashnar's body (images below). The search effort has been called off.
In a statement Tuesday, oil and gas company Petronas said that the Geos was conducting a geotechnical survey under contract, and was about 15 nm off the coast of Baram at the time of the incident. "Petronas has always placed the safety aspect of its employees and operating areas at the highest priority level," a company spokesman said.
The Geos is a 2009-built specialty offshore vessel designed for geotechnical survey drilling. She is flagged, owned and operated in Malaysia, and she has no record of port state control inspection deficiencies.
| Fire | April 2018 | ['(The Star)', '(The Maritime Executive)'] |
The New South Wales Police Force arrests 11 climate-change activists who attach themselves to coal-loading equipment at Carrington in Newcastle, New South Wales. | Police have made 11 arrests after climate change activists attached themselves to coal loading equipment at a Newcastle coal terminal this morning.
The activists, from a group called People for Climate Action Now, used chains and locks to fasten themselves by the neck to four coal reclaimers at the Carrington coal terminal.
This follows a similar action in Victoria yesterday, when protesters broke into the Loy Yang power station and locked themselves to coal conveyor belts, disrupting power generation for seven hours.
Police were called to the Carrington terminal at 8am today, after reports that eight protesters had jumped over a fence to enter the terminal, a police spokeswoman said.
"Several protesters chained themselves by the neck to a coal loader ... [and] a number of others have been arrested," she said.
A spokeswoman for the activists, Nicky Ison, said 20 activists entered the premises this morning but only five chained themselves to coal loading equipment.
All five were under the age of 23, and four were women, she said.
"They are locked on to the coal reclaimers, which take the coal from stockpiles and move it on to ships," Ms Ison said.
Those arrested included the five who were chained to the coal loaders, she said.
The activists were protesting against the "lack of action ... against climate change" by world leaders gathered for this week's Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation summit, she said.
Carrington coal terminal was targeted because it was one of the world's largest coal ports, she said.
"We are here to protest [against] the Bush and Howard climate change agenda, which will see no real action on climate change, no binding emissions target and will push a coal and nuclear agenda," she said.
Ms Ison said she was "definitely inspired" by yesterday's protests in Victoria but said the two protests were not "co-ordinated together".
Management at Port Waratah Coal Services, which operates the Carrington coal terminal, described the protest as "grossly irresponsible".
"We respect the right to protest, but also warn that trespassing at dangerous industrial sites presents obvious risks to the safety and lives of protesters, PWCS employees and police," PWCS general manager Graham Davidson said. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | September 2007 | ['(Sydney Morning Herald)'] |
The United States Department of Justice files an antitrust lawsuit against Google. | The US government has filed charges against Google, accusing the company of violating competition law to preserve its monopoly over internet searches and online advertising. The lawsuit marks the biggest challenge brought by US regulators against a major tech company in years.
It follows more than a year of investigation and comes as the biggest tech firms face intense scrutiny of their practices at home and abroad.
Google called the case "deeply flawed".
The company has maintained that its sector remains intensely competitive and that its practices put customers first.
"People use Google because they choose to - not because they're forced to or because they can't find alternatives," it said.
The charges, filed in federal court, were brought by the US Department of Justice and 11 other states. The lawsuit focuses on the billions of dollars Google pays each year to ensure its search engine is installed as the default option on browsers and devices such as mobile phones. Officials said those deals have helped secure Google's place as the "gatekeeper" to the internet, allowing it to own or control the distribution channels for about 80% of search queries in the US.
"Google has thus foreclosed competition for internet search," the lawsuit said. "General search engine competitors are denied vital distribution, scale, and product recognition - ensuring they have no real chance to challenge Google." It added: "Google is so dominant that 'Google' is not only a noun to identify the company and the Google search engine but also a verb that means to search the internet."
The suit said the deals have hurt the public by damaging search quality in terms of privacy and data protection, reducing choice and thwarting innovation. Sally Hubbard, who works for the Open Markets Institute, a Washington think tank that has long pushed for more aggressive action against big tech firms, said focusing on Google's search distribution deals was one of the easiest legal cases to make against the company.
On Twitter she said the lawsuit had "been so long coming but it's wonderful to see".
The case could be the first of many in the US that challenge the dominance of big tech firms and potentially lead to their break-up.
Other states have launched their own investigations, and said they may join the suit filed on Tuesday or file their own. Politicians in Congress have also called for action against Google and fellow tech firms Amazon, Facebook and Apple in an effort that has united Democrats and Republicans.
The decision to file the lawsuit just a few weeks before the US presidential election has raised questions about whether it was simply a move by the Trump administration to prove its willingness to challenge the influence of the sector if it gains a second term.
But officials said they had not rushed the investigation to ensure it was filed before the election - noting that for years, many advocates have said the government was moving too slowly on such issues.
"We're acting when the facts and the law warranted," deputy attorney general Jeffrey Rosen said, adding that the department's review of competition practices in the technology sector is continuing.
Google has faced similar claims in the European Union. It is already appealing against 8.2bn ($9.5bn; 7.3bn) in fines demanded by the European Commission which include:
Google parent Alphabet, which has a market value of more than $1tn, is expected to fight the allegations in the US as well. Its share price was little changed on Tuesday, despite the news.
Taking on a giant like Google will be one of biggest competition cases in decades. But the case - to decide if the California-based company abuses its market power - could last years.
European regulators have led the way in taking action against the tech giants. But this move by the US Department of Justice is a sign that the mood has turned against them at home too. The complaint says that two decades ago Google was a scrappy innovative start-up - but now it's the monopoly gatekeeper to the internet.
Google stands accused of using anti-competitive tactics to shut out rivals and extend that monopoly. Google says people use it because they choose to rather than being forced.
| Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | October 2020 | ['(BBC)'] |
International mining firm BHP Billiton signs an agreement with Brazilian authorities over criminal culpability and civil compensation liability over a mine site collapse that killed nineteen. The deal halts litigation for up to two years but does not confirm a final amount for a settlement. | RIO DE JANEIRO/MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Samarco [SAMNE.UL] and parent companies Vale SA and BHP Billiton Ltd have signed a deal with Brazilian authorities that settles a 20 billion reais ($5.30 billion) lawsuit related to a 2015 dam burst that killed 19 people, Vale and BHP said on Monday.
The agreement, signed by prosecutors from the federal government and the states of Minas Gerais and Espirito Santo, mandates improvements in governance for the Renova Foundation, created to help victims of the accident, Vale said.
In a separate statement, BHP said the agreement sets a two-year timeline to reach a settlement over a separate 155 billion reais lawsuit, which will remain suspended while the parties continue to negotiate. It did not give a timeline on licensing and when operations may resume.
“It’s good that it moves along closer to a resolution obviously, and potentially caps some of the risk around (the settlement), given the earlier numbers that had been put out there,” said portfolio manager Andy Forster of Sydney’s Argo Investments, which has holdings in BHP.
“But it’s still uncertain around what the size of the total settlement could actually be.”
Brazil’s worst environmental catastrophe happened when a dam designed to hold back mine waste burst, leaving a trail of destruction for hundreds of kilometers.
Part of the terms of the agreement announced on Monday include a greater role for affected people in the governing bodies of the Renova Foundation.
The deal marks a key milestone for beleaguered Samarco, but it still faces a hefty debt load and little clarity on when it might receive key permits to resume operations.
“The positive is we don’t have a big compensation number which was the market’s concern,” said analyst Glyn Lawcock at UBS in Sydney. “The negative is that we still don’t have a definitive outcome or a definitive amount, or a timeline for restart.”
Vale has said it expects the company to resume operations in 2018 or early next year, but has pushed back forecasts several times.
The mine still needs two permits to reopen, and the lack of a clear timeline makes it harder for the companies to renegotiate the debt load, sources have told Reuters.
“It seems that if everything goes well, and the plaintiffs feel the community are being compensated fairly and the land is being rehabilitated...then there could be no more increase in cash out the door for BHP and Vale,” said UBS analyst Lawcock.
“But if the plaintiffs feel that as they move forward two years and there’s still things to be done...then there may be more money to be spent, is our understanding.”
| Sign Agreement | June 2018 | ['(Reuters)'] |
The leaders of Palau, the Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, Kiribati, and the Marshall Islands will meet on Monday to discuss leaving the Pacific Islands Forum after Marshallese candidate Gerald Zackios was not chosen as Secretary–General. Palau had earlier announced that it was leaving the forum. | Micronesian leaders are to meet on Monday and agree a united response to the snub of their preferred candidate as Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) Secretary General.
Lionel Aingimea Photo: Nauru Government
They say the rejection of Marshall Islands' Gerald Zackios has led to division within the Pacific. PIF members voted in favour of former Cook Islands prime minister Henry Puna.
The Chair of the Micronesian Presidents' Summit, Lionel Aingimea of Nauru, has scheduled Monday's virtual meeting.
It follows last October's 'Mekreos Communique' where presidents of the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru and Palau insisted the Forum honour an unwritten gentleman's agreement to rotate the secretary general role by sub-region.
They were clear that it was Micronesia's turn.
The lack of support for their candidate leaves the Micronesian states to decide whether or not to remain in the Forum and to co-ordinate a united response to the vote.
In a separate diplomatic note advising Fiji of the closure of its Suva embassy, Palau also mentions it will be terminating its participation in the Pacific Islands Forum.
The note states that with no further participation in PIF, Palau cannot justify the expense of the Suva embassy which it says will close effective 28 February. | Diplomatic Talks _ Diplomatic_Negotiation_ Summit Meeting | February 2021 | ['(RNZ)'] |
Hamas says that on Tuesday night, three Palestinian police officers were killed and several wounded in two separate suicide attacks on police checkpoints. ISIL's affiliate in Gaza, the Sheikh Omar Hadid Brigade, are the suspected perpetrators. | Hamas is arresting suspected jihadist activists in Gaza, which the militant Islamist movement controls, after what a security source said were suicide bomb attacks on two police posts.
Three police officers were killed in the attacks, which are thought to have been carried out by extremists with links to the Islamic State (IS) group.
Gaza's interior ministry declared a state of emergency after the bombings.
Hamas leader Ismail Haniya vowed to hold those responsible to account.
The bombings would "not be able to undermine the stability and steadfastness of our people", he added.
According to reports from Gaza, two police officers were killed in Tuesday night's first attack, in which a motorcycle exploded as it approached a checkpoint.
A second, similar, attack less than an hour later killed another police officer. Israeli military sources immediately denied that they had launched any operations in Gaza and suspicion fell on Salafist jihadist factions, who have periodically challenged Hamas' authority in the Palestinian territory.
Hamas recently released several prisoners from detention, as a gesture of goodwill, including some members of militant groups affiliated with IS.
The BBC understands that at least one of the suspected bombers had been previously detained and was one of those recently released. The BBC's Wyre Davies in Jerusalem says these rare attacks are embarrassing for Hamas and could be interpreted as a renewed effort by Salafist jihadists to confront the group. Palestinian territories profile
| Armed Conflict | August 2019 | ['(BBC)'] |
President Barack Obama affirms that the US will attend the upcoming G–20 meeting, despite differences with the Russian government and the cancellation of bilateral talks between Obama and President Putin. | US President Barack Obama has cancelled a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin after Russia's decision to grant asylum to intelligence leaker Edward Snowden, the White House said.
But Mr Obama will still attend the G20 economic talks in St Petersburg.
A White House aide said Mr Snowden's asylum had deepened the pre-existing tension between the two countries.
The Kremlin said it was disappointed by the move and that the invitation to bilateral talks remained in force.
Mr Snowden, a former intelligence contractor, has admitted leaking information about US surveillance programmes to the media.
The decision to cancel the talks, announced during a trip by the president to Los Angeles, comes the morning after Mr Obama said he was "disappointed" with Russia's decision to offer Mr Snowden asylum for a year.
"We have reached the conclusion that there is not enough recent progress in our bilateral agenda with Russia to hold a US-Russia Summit," the White House said in a statement.
In addition to Russia's "disappointing decision" to grant Mr Snowden temporary asylum, the White House cited a lack of progress on issues ranging from missile defence to human rights.
"We believe it would be more constructive to postpone the summit until we have more results from our shared agenda," the White House said.
The decision to cancel the US-Russia summit comes the day after Mr Obama appeared on an evening chat show, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, in which he condemned a newly enacted anti-gay law in Russia.
"I have no patience for countries that try to treat gays or lesbians or transgender persons in ways that intimidate them or are harmful to them," Mr Obama said.
But the White House reaffirmed Mr Obama's commitment to attending a forthcoming round of G20 economic talks, which take place on 5-6 September in the Russian city of St Petersburg.
In the wake of the announcement, Mr Putin's foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov said it was clear the US had cancelled the meeting over the Snowden affair.
In a conference call on Wednesday, Mr Ushakov added the Kremlin was disappointed by the move and that the invitation for talks remained open.
"Russian representatives are ready to continue working together with American partners on all key issues on the bilateral and multilateral agenda," Mr Ushakov said.
Mr Obama and Mr Putin last met in June, on the sidelines of the G8 summit in Northern Ireland.
Mr Snowden, an American former National Security Agency (NSA) technical contractor and CIA worker, in June leaked to the Guardian and Washington Post newspapers documents and details relating to NSA programmes that gather data on telephone calls and emails.
Mr Snowden, 30, fled his home in Hawaii, where he worked at a small NSA installation, to Hong Kong, and subsequently to Russia. He faces espionage charges in the US. He spent about a month in a transit area of the Moscow airport as the US pressured other countries to deny him asylum. On 1 August, he left the airport after the Russian government said it would give him asylum there for a year. | Diplomatic Talks _ Diplomatic_Negotiation_ Summit Meeting | August 2013 | ['(BBC)'] |
An Argentine court initiates legal proceedings against former president Fernando de la Rúa for failing to prevent the deaths of five protesters during the December 2001 riots at the peak of the 19992002 economic crisis. | Fernando de la Rua fled the presidential palace shortly after the deaths as a severe economic, social and political crisis gripped the country. A judge accused him of failing to prevent the killing of the five.
He is said to have failed to use the tools available to him as head of state to prevent the bloodshed.
More than $6m of his assets have been frozen. The case will only go to trial if approved by a higher court. 'Breakthrough'
The deaths came during clashes between demonstrators and police in the capital, Buenos Aires. Argentina has staged a recovery since Mr de la Rua's presidency
Shortly afterwards, Mr de la Rua made a dramatic escape by helicopter from the presidential palace.
Argentina was at the time in the middle of a crisis which saw five presidents in the space of 10 days and the country default on its foreign debt. Thousands of people took to the streets as their savings were frozen, while riots and looting swept the country. More than half the population found themselves living below the poverty line and an estimated 30 people died during the clashes. A prosecution lawyer said they had been trying for five years to bring Mr de la Rua to court and the decision was a major breakthrough.
The former president's lawyers say the accusations are politically motivated, coming just five days before a presidential election in Argentina. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | October 2007 | ['(BBC)'] |
American singer Chris Brown and two associates are briefly detained in Paris after being accused of aggravated rape and drug offenses. | Follow NBC News PARIS Chris Brown was detained by police in Paris and accused of aggravated rape and drug offenses, and he and two others were later released but an investigation continues, a judicial source close to the investigation told NBC News.
A statement on Brown’s Instagram account denied the allegations, and called them false.
The Associated Press, citing two anonymous police officials, said the 29-year-old singer was detained Monday along with his bodyguard and one other person after a woman accused Brown of raping her in a hotel room last week.
NBC News could not immediately confirm the report. Judicial police can generally hold someone for 24 hours, although an extension can be sought for more serious charges.
A highly placed judicial source said that "the police detention of Chris Brown and two other persons brought into police custody on accusation of aggravated rape and drug related charges has been lifted tonight," and the three people were released.
But the source said "the investigation is not closed at this stage and continues under the authority of the Parquet of Paris."
Brown's publicists at Sony Music did not immediately return a request for comment Tuesday.
A message posted on Brown’s Instagram account Tuesday afternoon ET appeared to respond to the accusation, saying, "This B!tch Lyin'."
"I WANNA MAKE IT PERFECTLY CLEAR...... THIS IS FALSE AND A WHOLE LOT OF CAP! NNNNNNNNEEEEEEEEEEVVVVVVVVVVEEEEEERRRRRR!!!!!! FOR MY DAUGHTER AND MY FAMILY THIS IS SO DISPRESPECTFUL AND IS AGAINST MY CHARACTER AND MORALS!!!!!" the message said.
Before Tuesday afternoon, Brown last posted to his Instagram account on Monday from Paris, including a picture of himself at a dance rehearsal at the LAX Studio.
The Grammy Award-winning artist has faced a slew of legal trouble stretching back to 2009, when he was arrested for physically assaulting his then-girlfriend, singer Rihanna. He pleaded guilty to felony assault and completed probation in 2015.
Another ex-girlfriend of Brown's, model Karrueche Tran, was granted a five-year restraining order against him two years ago.
And last spring, Brown was accused of presiding over a drug-fueled orgy at his Los Angeles mansion where a woman was sexually assaulted by two of his associates.
In his latest legal trouble, Brown was charged last month in Los Angeles with two counts of having a restricted species without a permit after he posted a picture on Instagram showing his daughter with a capuchin monkey. His next court date was scheduled for next month. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | January 2019 | ['(NBC News)'] |
The World Health Organization announces a US$100 million emergency response plan to combat the outbreak, which has killed at least 729 people. | The head of the World Health Organization and leaders of West African nations affected by the Ebola outbreak are to announce a new $100m (59m; 75m euro) response plan.
They are meeting in Guinea to launch the initiative to tackle a virus which has claimed 729 lives.
Sierra Leone has declared an emergency after 233 people died there.
Ebola spreads by contact with infected blood, bodily fluids, organs - or contaminated environments.
Initial flu-like symptoms can lead to external haemorrhaging from areas like eyes and gums, and internal bleeding which can lead to organ failure. Ebola kills up to 90% of those infected, with patients having a better chance of survival if they receive early treatment.
WHO Director General Margaret Chan is meeting West African presidents in the Guinean capital Conakry.
"The scale of the Ebola outbreak, and the persistent threat it poses, requires WHO and Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone to take the response to a new level, and this will require increased resources, in-country medical expertise, regional preparedness and coordination," she said in a statement released on the WHO website on Thursday. "The countries have identified what they need, and WHO is reaching out to the international community to drive the response plan forward."
Key elements of the WHO's new plan are:
The response builds upon a previous plan that called for several hundred more personnel to be deployed to the region.
The WHO says that the scale of the ongoing outbreak is "unprecedented", with about 1,323 confirmed and suspected cases reported in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone since March 2014.
The plan is also expected to highlight the dangers faced by health workers on the front lines of the outbreak, and to call for improving ways to protect them from infection.
Recently an unnamed US aid worker became infected with the Ebola virus, and was flown for treatment at a high-security ward at Emory University Hospital.
A spokeswoman for the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said she was not aware of any Ebola patient ever being treated in the US before. But in a statement the Atlanta hospital said it had an isolation unit which is specially equipped to deal with this kind of infection.
Meanwhile an American doctor with Ebola in Liberia has taken a "slight turn for the worse", the Samaritan's Purse aid agency said on Thursday.
Kent Brantly and another American worker, Nancy Writebol, "are in a stable but grave condition", the agency said in a statement.
The statement said that Dr Brantly had been offered experimental serum - using blood from a child whose life he saved - but he had insisted that Ms Writebol should receive it instead.
Health workers, doctors and nurses are a scarce resource in all three countries, and hundreds of international aid workers and more than a hundred WHO staff have already been deployed to support regional response efforts.
WHO says that improving prevention, detecting and reporting suspected cases, referring people infected with the disease for medical care, as well as psychosocial support, are of paramount importance in battling the illness.
The US is sending 50 extra specialists to affected areas.
In other developments:
In London, the ActionAid charity said that the battle against Ebola was being hampered because of the spiralling price of hand sanitizers.
A spokesman said that the cost of some hygiene products had gone up sevenfold, making them too expensive for many people in the region.
Sierra Leone's President Ernest Bai Koroma announced earlier that the epicentres of the outbreak in the east would be quarantined and he asked the security forces to enforce the measures. | Disease Outbreaks | July 2014 | ['(BBC)'] |
Former Société Générale trader Jérôme Kerviel loses his appeal against a five–year prison sentence for forgery and breach of trust, handed down in 2010. | Former Societe Generale trader Jerome Kerviel has lost his appeal in Paris against a three-year prison sentence, with an additional two years suspended, for forgery and breach of trust.
The ex-trader lost the bank almost 5bn euros ($6.5bn; £4bn) in 2008, and was convicted in 2010.
Kerviel, who was also convicted of unauthorised computer use, has always said his bosses knew what he was doing.
He will also have to pay back the losses incurred by the bank.
However, Societe Generale has said it will not demand full repayment.
"The appeals court... upholds the ruling," the judge told Kerviel, adding that he would not go to jail immediately.
"Jerome Kerviel was the sole creator, inventor and user of a fraudulent system that caused these damages to Societe Generale," the court's written ruling said.
The trader's lawyer said his client might consider a second appeal against the original sentence.
"We defended Jerome Kerviel vigorously and I confirm that despite all the evidence put forward by the defence, it was not enough to dissuade [the court] against the original verdict," said David Koubbi.
"Our aim was to defend Mr Kerviel against a lamentable injustice. I admit we have failed.
"We will continue to support Mr Kerviel in his fight and we will now decide with him if we can take this further with the court of cassation."
Societe Generale's lawyer said the bank would take into account Kerviel's income and assets when deciding how much it wanted its ex-employee to pay back.
Jean Veil said it would be "indecent" if Kerviel kept money made from his actions at the bank, for example from any book or film rights.
Despite his claims that his superiors knew all about his actions, Kerviel's former bosses and colleagues lined up to testify against him during the trial in 2010. The judge at the time ruled that the trader "knowingly went beyond his remit".
Kerviel has been banned from trading for life, while Societe Generale was also fined 4m euros by French regulators for failures in its risk control systems following the scandal.
Another high-profile case of rogue trading is that of Kweku Adoboli, a former trader with Swiss bank UBS.
He is on trial for false accounting and fraud, which the prosecution maintains led to £1.4bn of losses at the bank. Mr Adoboli claims his managers supported his risk-taking.
| Famous Person - Commit Crime - Sentence | October 2012 | ['(BBC)'] |
The Socialist Party win the Portuguese legislative election to elect members of the Assembly of the Republic, with 36.6% of the vote. | With unemployment at its highest level in 20 years, Portugal went to the polls yesterday in an election that could bring greater political uncertainty as the ruling Socialists are expected to win but fall short of an absolute majority.
Prime Minister Jose Socrates, an energetic 52-year-old, is expected to win around 38 per cent of the vote, according to the last polls. That result would leave him short of his current majority and he would likely have to rule with a minority.
The highest jobless rate since the 1980s and the worst economic downturn in decades has not been enough to push the Portuguese away from the centre-left Socialists, who launched market reforms and cleaned up public finances in their first term. Manuela Ferreira Leite, 68, the leader of the centre-right Social Democrats, has fared poorly, analysts said.
She is known as a tough cost cutter from a stint as finance minister when current European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso was prime minister of Portugal. Analysts said that a minority government would not be a disaster, but could reduce Mr Socrates's ability to make ambitious reforms. He won 45 per cent of the vote in 2005, giving him a strong absolute majority in parliament that allowed him to clean up public finances and to reform pensions and the civil service.
This time around, he might have to co-operate with Ms Ferreira Leite's party, particularly on public finance and the 2010 budget. On other matters, such as social reform, the Socialists may turn to leftist parties. Mr Socrates, like the left, sees a bigger government role in the economy, with projects to create jobs. This year, the Portuguese economy is expected to contract up to 4 per cent in what is western Europe's poorest country. | Government Job change - Election | September 2009 | ['(euronews)', '(The Independent)', '(Trend News Agency)'] |
Omar Ameen, a man arrested in Sacramento on suspicion of a 2014 Iraqi murder linked to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, faces a judge at an extradition hearing. He is denied bail. | A man accused of being an ISIS member and shooting an Iraqi police officer in Al-Anbar province will be held without bail in Sacramento.
A federal judge told 45-year-old Omar Abdulsattar Ameen that unless other evidence comes to light, he believes that Ameen could be a flight risk and a danger to others. Representatives from the U.S. government were also in the Sacramento courtroom. Ameen is accused of shooting the Iraqi police officer in the chest when ISIS took over the Rawah District of Al-Anbar, court documents show.
Ameen was arrested Wednesday at a Sacramento apartment, court documents show. He had come to the U.S. on a visa and had asked for refugee status.
Chief Assistant Federal Defender Benjamin D. Galloway is representing Ameen. He released the following statement Monday on the no bail ruling:
“Mr. Ameen and his family have lived peacefully in this community for several years. The Iraqi government’s allegations against him have come as a great shock. Because the potential penalty is so severe, and because the American court system may be the only meaningful justice system available to Mr. Ameen, we intend to investigate this matter thoroughly and do everything we can to protect his rights here in the United States. It is critical that he be afforded every opportunity to address these accusations in this extradition proceeding. We would wish no less for an American citizen being held in a foreign country.”
Ameen is currently being held in Sacramento County Jail. He will face an extradition hearing in federal court on Sept. 5.
Hearst Television participates in various affiliate marketing programs, which means we may get paid commissions on purchases made through our links to retailer sites. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Arrest | August 2018 | ['(CBS Sacramento)', '(KCRA)'] |
The Golden Globe Awards are held in Beverly Hills, California, with 12 Years a Slave winning the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Drama and American Hustle winning the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy. | “12 Years a Slave” went into the 71st Golden Globe Awards on Sunday night with seven nominations but was passed over again and again. That is, until the last award of the evening, and arguably the best of them all. The harrowing portrayal of slavery in America took home the prize for best drama of 2013.
The film’s director, Steve McQueen, seemed surprised by the win. “Little bit in shock,” said the British filmmaker, clutching the award. “I wasn’t expecting it.”
But the evening’s biggest victor was David O. Russell’s Abscam-inspired comedy, “American Hustle.” It won three trophies during the three-hour ceremony that aired on NBC from the Beverly Hilton, including for best musical or comedy, best actress for Amy Adams and best supporting actress for Jennifer Lawrence.
GOLDEN GLOBES 2014: Full coverage | Show highlights | Quotes from the stars
Also performing well at the awards show considered a key indicator for Oscar gold: the AIDS drama “Dallas Buyers Club.” Matthew McConaughey won his first Golden Globe as lead actor in the film, as did Jared Leto for supporting actor in the film. Cate Blanchett received the best actress in a drama honor for Woody Allen’s “Blue Jasmine.”
Leonardo DiCaprio joked that he never thought he’d win a Golden Globe for a comedy, but that’s just what he did, taking home the trophy for best actor in a musical or comedy film for his role as a hedonistic broker in “The Wolf of Wall Street.” He praised the film’s director, Martin Scorsese, with whom he’s worked five times, saying, “Thank you for your mentorship.” DiCaprio also commended the other unlikely “comedians” nominated in the category with him, including Christian Bale.
In other marquee categories, the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn., which presents the Globes, honored Mexican filmmaker Alfonso Cuaron with best director for his lost-in-space thriller, “Gravity.”
MORE: Red carpet arrivals | Top winners | Complete list
It was also a good night for “Breaking Bad.” The acclaimed drama about a high school teacher turned ruthless meth maker, which ended its run last fall, won best drama, and the show’s star, Bryan Cranston, who plays Walter White, won best actor. It was the first Globe for the show and Cranston. “It’s such a lovely way to say goodbye to the show,” said Cranston, who had been nominated three other times.
One of the biggest surprises of the night? How about Fox’s first-year cop spoof, “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” winning big. It took home the best comedy series honor, beating out such established favorites as “The Big Bang Theory” and “Modern Family.” And the show’s star, Andy Samberg, was almost speechless when he won for best actor in a comedy series.
It was no surprise, though, that Allen was a no-show Sunday night, even though he was honored with the prestigious Cecil B. DeMille Award.
PHOTOS: Top Golden Globe nominees and winners
Diane Keaton, who earned a Globe and an Oscar for lead actress for Allen’s 1977 classic, “Annie Hall,” subbed for the notoriously award-shy auteur. “I think it’s safe to say Woody Allen is an anomaly,” Keaton said in picking up the honor on his behalf. She praised him especially for creating strong female characters — and then got bleeped for using salty language before launching into the Girl Scout song “Make New Friends” to symbolize her 45-year friendship with the filmmaker.
In other film awards, Spike Jonze won for his original screenplay for the quirky romance “Her,” about a man who falls in love with the voice of his computer’s operating system. Alex Ebert won for best original score for “All Is Lost.” Best song honors went to “Ordinary Love,” U2’s song for “Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom,” with U2’s Bono and the Edge among those on stage to pick up the trophy. “Frozen” won best animated film. And Italy’s “The Great Beauty” won for best foreign film.
On the TV side, Amy Poehler, who returned Sunday night as host with Tina Fey, won her first Golden Globe for best actress in a comedy series for “Parks & Recreation.” Robin Wright won her first Golden Globe for best actress in a drama series for the political drama “House of Cards.” Jon Voight, 75, won the Golden Globe for best supporting actor in a series, miniseries or TV movie for the drama series “Ray Donovan.”
GOLDEN GLOBES 2014: Full coverage | Show highlights | Quotes from the stars | Top winners/nominees | Red carpet arrivals | Complete list | Main story | Nominee reactions
“Behind the Candelabra,” HBO’s drama about flamboyant pianist Liberace and his young boyfriend, won best miniseries or TV movie. And Michael Douglas, who played the celebrated showman, won a best actor trophy for the performance. Elisabeth Moss won her first ever Golden Globe for best performance by an actress in a TV miniseries or movie for the thriller “Top of the Lake.” And veteran Jacqueline Bisset earned her first Globe, winning the best supporting actress trophy for the miniseries “Dancing on the Edge.”
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FULL COVERAGE: Golden Globes 2014
PHOTOS: Quotes from the stars at the Globes
PHOTOS: Top Golden Globe nominees and winners
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An inquiry into the 1989 Jonesborough ambush finds that members of the Garda Síochána colluded with the IRA in the shooting of two RUC officers as they crossed the Irish border. | Irish police officers colluded in the IRA murders of two senior Northern Ireland policemen, an inquiry has found.
Chief Supt Harry Breen and Supt Bob Buchanan were shot dead in an ambush in March 1989 in south Armagh.
The attack happened as they crossed the border into Northern Ireland after a meeting in Dundalk Garda station.
In the report of his inquiry, judge Peter Smithwick said he was "satisfied there was collusion in the murders".
Judge Smithwick said the circumstances suggested information was leaked to trigger the IRA operation, and the timing suggested it was "more likely that the information came from Dundalk Garda station". He said the two policemen had arrived at the station no earlier than 2.20pm, and ten minutes later, the IRA had placed gunmen on the road where they were killed. "This was as a direct result of confirmation having been received that the officers had arrived at Dundalk," he said. He added: "Either the IRA did have an extraordinary piece of good fortune, or Harry Breen was the target of this operation. I believe that the evidence points to the latter conclusion. "I also think that this makes it significantly more likely that the Provisional IRA knew that Chief Superintendent Breen was coming, and were not simply waiting on the off-chance that he might turn up."
The judge said he believed Harry Breen was the IRA's target, as after the killing of eight IRA men and a civilian in Loughgall, County Armagh, by undercover soldiers in 1987, he had been pictured with weapons recovered by police. "There was, in the wake of the murder, triumphalism in relation to the fact that the Provisional IRA had killed the officer who had appeared in that photograph 'etched in every republican's mind'," he wrote. He found that the IRA needed positive identification that Mr Breen in particular had arrived at the police station in Dundalk, and this positive confirmation would likely be from a member of the Garda. "Given that I am satisfied that the evidence points to the fact that there was someone within the Garda station assisting the IRA, it also seems to me to be likely that the Provisional IRA would seek to exploit that resource by having that individual or individuals confirm the arrival of the two officers," he said. The report is also critical of two earlier garda investigations into the murders, which it describes as "inadequate". The judge said it was "highly regrettable" that the most senior police officers on both sides of the border dismissed speculation of a mole in the immediate aftermath of the killings. He said this was "political expediency" at the expense of the victims.
He said the culture of failing to adequately address suggestions of wrongdoing, either for reasons of political expediency or by virtue of misguided loyalty, has been a feature of life in this state. He concluded that "too often that culture has resulted, some years later, after doubts, grievances and injustices have festered, in the setting up of investigations, commissions or tribunals of inquiry". He said he hoped his report would contribute in "one small part to changing that culture".
Judge Smithwick said there was "no smoking gun" and it was not surprising that the tribunal had not uncovered direct evidence of collusion. Bob Buchanan's son, William, said: "The findings of Judge Smithwick are both incredible and shocking, and confirm the existence of a mole in Dundalk station - this led to my father's death."
A solicitor speaking on behalf of Chief Supt Breen's family said the report was "a truly remarkable exposé and indictment of wrongdoing and collusion with terrorists by some within An Garda Siochána". The family said the report detailed in the most stark and dramatic fashion the failure by state systems to address these matters year upon year. Irish Justice Minister Alan Shatter apologised "without reservation" for the failings identified in the report.
"Even with the passage of 24 years and the positive developments which have taken place on the island since, our condemnation of their murder should be as strong today as it was then," he said. Mr Shatter said nothing in the report should detract from the good work of An Garda Siochána during the Troubles.
His counterpart in Northern Ireland, David Ford, said the suggestion of garda collusion was "no different from the suggestions in the past of one or two RUC officers behaving inappropriately".
"The important issue is that fundamentally the two organisations are good police services, they now work together in a extremely good way," he added. The publication of the report on Tuesday follows almost eight years of painstaking investigations. The Dublin-based tribunal was established by the Irish government in May 2005 and began its private investigation phase 10 months later. Public sessions began in June 2011, hearing from hundreds of witnesses including police from both sides of the Irish border, IRA members, undercover agents and politicians. It had been recommended by retired Canadian judge Peter Cory, as part of his report on several controversial killings presented to the British and Irish governments in 2003. Smithwick Tribunal
| Armed Conflict | December 2013 | ['(BBC)'] |
A piece of stone axe found at the Gabarnmung rock art gallery on the lands of the Jawoyn people in Australia's Northern Territory is dated at 35,500 years old making the oldest of its type in the world. | A piece of stone axe found in the Northern Territory has been dated at 35,500 years old, making it the oldest of its type in the world.
The piece has a series of marks which archaeologists say proves it comes from a ground-edge stone axe.
Monash University's Bruno David led the international archaeological team, which made the find during an excavation in Arnhem Land in May.
Dr David says the find shows the Jawoyn people were the first to grind axes to sharpen its edges.
"We could see with the angled light that the rock itself has all these marks on it from people having rubbed it in order to create the ground-edge axe," he said.
"We already knew that the oldest evidence of axes in the world were in the late 20s of thousands of years ago.
"Very soon after that we received a carbon result of 35,500 years ago for that piece."
Dr David says it is an important step in the evolution of modern humans.
"It means that you're creating a tool that is far more efficient than what you had before, and that you also have to create a tool not just through a simple series of actions of hitting against it," he said.
The two-week dig was held at a rock art gallery on the traditional lands of the Jawoyn people.
The Jawoyn call it Gabarnmung, which means "hole in the rock", and it is covered in paintings depicting animals and spirits.
The site was rediscovered three years ago and is one of thousands that have been found across Jawoyn country in recent years.
Jawoyn traditional owner Margaret Katherine invited the archaeologists to the site so she could find out more about her lost ancestors.
"They study about rocks and bone and everything and I wanted to know the truth," she said.
"Now that I know the truth I am very happy deep inside."
Jawoyn Association spokesman Preston Lee says it is a find that means a lot to the Jawoyn people.
"We've been told by our elders and our ancestors that we've been in the area for a very long time and now the scientific research come back and now it's saying the same thing we've been saying all along," he said.
"Pride is the best word to say. Everybody is very proud of our heritage and it just goes to show we're out there, we are Jawoyn people, we are proud to be Jawoyn."
To find out about the discoveries from the excavation, a Jawoyn delegation spent a week at Monash University in Melbourne.
During the visit, the Jawoyn also signed a landmark agreement with the university which allows the archaeologists to continue their research at rock painting and other cultural sites.
Monash University's deputy vice-chancellor, Adam Shoemaker, says it is a partnership where real things will happen.
"This is something very much about the future," he said.
"The document talks about respect, talks about collaboration. It talks about doing things together, it talks about training.
"All of that is something which we really believe in."
Dr David says he is excited to be able to continue the important research at Gabarnmung as well as at other sites in the area.
| New archeological discoveries | November 2010 | ['(ABC News Australia)'] |
Tim Farron resigns as leader of the Liberal Democrats amid controversy concerning his views on gay sexual practices. | Tim Farron has resigned as leader of the Liberal Democrats, following a furore over his beliefs concerning gay sex.
The politician admitted some of his comments concerning the matter could have been wiser – when asked if homosexuality is a sin he had previously responded: “We are all sinners.”
After the matter refused to go away and surfaced again during the election campaign, Mr Farron said it had felt “impossible” to be both Lib Dem leader and a Christian.
Tim Farron refuses to say whether being gay is a sin
Earlier on Wednesday Lib Dem Lord Paddick, a gay former senior Met police officer, resigned from his post as the party’s home affairs spokesman.
In a statement, Mr Farron said: “I seem to be the subject of suspicion because of what I believe and who my faith is in.
“In which case we are kidding ourselves if we think we yet live in a tolerant, liberal society. That’s why I have chosen to step down as leader of the Liberal Democrats.”
He said that from the “very first day” of his leadership he had faced questions about his Christian faith and that he had tried to answer with “grace and patience”, adding: “Sometimes my answers could have been wiser.” Darren O'Brien
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But with the vital election campaign kicking off and the Lib Dems desperate to capitalise on any anti-Brexit feeling, Mr Farron said the issue was distracting attention from the party’s message.
When the results came in last Friday the party had gained four seats, leaving them with 12 – not as many as had been hoped for in the wake of the EU referendum. Mr Farron added: “Journalists have every right to ask what they see fit. The consequences of the focus on my faith is that I have found myself torn between living as a faithful Christian and serving as a political leader. “A better, wiser person than me may have been able to deal with this more successfully, to have remained faithful to Christ while leading a political party in the current environment.” Taking to Twitter earlier in the day, Lord Paddick said: “I’ve resigned as Lib Dems Shadow Home Secretary over concerns about the leader’s views on various issues that were highlighted during GE17.”
The announcement clears the way for one of the other well known figures in the party to step forward and take on the top job.
Potential contenders include Jo Swinson, newly returned to Parliament, former cabinet ministers Vince Cable and Ed Davey and ex-health minister Norman Lamb.
| Government Job change - Resignation_Dismissal | June 2017 | ['(The Independent)'] |
2013 Romanian drama film Child's Pose wins the Golden Bear at the 63rd Berlin International Film Festival in Berlin, Germany. | BERLIN -- The 63rd Berlin International Film Festival handed out its awards Saturday, with the top prize, the Golden Bear for best film, going to the Romanian family drama and corruption tale “Child’s Pose,” directed by Calin Peter Netzer.
An unflinching look at life among the country’s entitled and connected upper class, “Child’s Pose” follows a controlling mother’s attempt to bribe freedom for her ungrateful son after he kills a child from a poor family in a traffic accident. Speaking from the winner’s podium, the film’s producer Ada Solomon addressed the dwindling support for film in her country, declaring, “Romanian politicians should pay much more attention to the kind of ambassador Romanian cinema is for our country around the world.” Solomon also gave thanks to art house distributors and cinemas for their fight against “commercial censorship.”
ENVELOPE: The awards insider
The jury was headed by Hong Kong filmmaker Wong Kar Wai and included actor Tim Robbins, Greek director Athina Rachel Tsangari, and Iranian artist/director Shirin Neshat.
The Jury Grand Prize Silver Bear went to Bosnian Danis Tanovic’s “An Episode in the Life of an Iron Picker,” a docudrama re-creating institutional abuse and neglect of a Roma family in need, with the actual family members playing themselves. Receiving his award, Tanovic said “sometimes good things can come out of anger.” The film also garnered the best actor for Nazif Mujic. At the awards press conference, Mujic said he still collects scrap metal to support his family, even though his experiences have made him a well-known activist at home. The Silver Bear for best script went to Iran’s Jafar Panahi and Kamboziya Partovi for “Pardé" (Closed Curtain). Panahi is prohibited by Iranian authorities from travelling or making movies due to his involvement in election protests in 2009. “Closed Curtain” is a poetic documentation of his artistic isolation and desolation. Speaking at the awards event, Partovi, who co-directed with Panahi and stars in the film, said “it’s never been possible to stop a thinker and a poet.”
David Gordon Green won a Silver Bear for best director for “Prince Avalanche,” which stars Paul Rudd and Emile Hirsch as a pair of odd couple Texas road workers. On stage to receive his prize, Green reminisced about his first time at the Berlinale 13 years ago, which also marked the first festival screening of his first film, “George Washington.”
Quirky Canadian entry “Vic + Flo Saw a Bear,” from Dennis Côte, received the Alfred Bauer Prize, awarded to a feature film that “opens new perspectives.” This year’s Silver Bear for outstanding artistic contribution was awarded to cinematographer Aziz Zhambakiyev for his work on Kazakh film “Harmony Lessons” from director Emir Baigazin. The film focuses on bullying in a school in rural Kazakhstan, and makes the most of its spare landscapes and the faces of its intense young performers. Best actress prize went to Paulina García for her role in “Gloria,” as a 58-year-old divorcee looking for love. Rights for the Chilean film, from Sebastián Lelio, sold quickly this week in Berlin, with Roadside Attractions picking up distribution in the United States. Wong also gave special mention to two films not receiving awards -- Pia Marais’ “Layla Fourie” and Gus Van Sant’s “Promised Land,” for the “integrity of their vision and their conviction that cinema can make a difference.”
Golden Bear for the best short film went to “La Fugue,” (The Runaway) from Jean-Bernard Marlin, while Stefan Kriekhaus won the Jury Prize Silver Bear for “Die Ruhe Bleibt” (Remains Quiet). Australian Kim Mordaunt’s Laos-based film “The Rocket” received the prize for best first feature; it had already picked up a Crystal Bear from the youth-centric Generations section. Crystal Bears also went to Kasia Roslaniec for “Baby Blues,” and to short films “Rabbitland” from Ana Nedeljkovic and Nikola Majdak, and “The Amber Amulet” by Matthew Moore. ALSO:
Offbeat ‘Harmony Lessons’ an edgy contender at Berlin festival
River Phoenix’s final film, ‘Dark Blood,’ finally comes to screen
At Berlin festival, Danis Tanovic film takes story, cast from life
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Bono is released from hospital in Munich following his spinal surgery as U2 confirm the postponement of the North America leg of the U2 360° Tour and cancel their headlining slot at the Glastonbury Festival 2010. | U2 postponed the North America leg of its tour and cancelled its Glastonbury appearance today as the group’s singer Bono was released from hospital after emergency back surgery. He was told by doctors he would need at least eight weeks to recover. Bono, 50, whose real name is Paul Hewson, was treated in a Munich hospital after an injury sustained during tour preparation training, a statement on the band’s website said.‘‘Our biggest and I believe best tour has been interrupted and we’re all devastated,’’ the Irish act’s manager Paul McGuinness said in the statement."Bono’s concerns about more than a million ticket buyers whose plans have been turned upside down, we all share, but the most important thing right now is that Bono make a full recovery. We’re working as fast as we can with Live Nation to reschedule these dates.’’U2 has sold more than 150 million records. Its current 360-Degree tour made more than $311 million from 44 shows in 2009, making it the highest-grossing of the year, according to Billboard.com. U2’s revenue exceeded the $222 million made by Madonna’s shows. Artists have been turning to live performances as revenue drops from CD sales.The European leg of the tour planned later in the year remains in place at present. Live Nation said the 16 dates from Salt Lake City on June 3 through to New Jersey’s Meadowlands Stadium on July 19 will be rescheduled for 2011.The Glastonbury Festival website said the band had cancelled what was due to be its first appearance at the event in June, and Bono had called organiser Michael Eavis to break the news.BLOOMBERG | Famous Person - Recovered | May 2010 | ['(The Irish Times)', '(CNN)', '(The Sydney Morning Herald)'] |
Beijing introduces traffic restrictions and factory closures in an effort to reduce air pollution for the 2008 Summer Olympics. | BEIJING, July 20 (Reuters) - Traffic restrictions and factory closures came into affect in Beijing on Sunday in a last ditch attempt to turn the often smokey and dusty Chinese capital into the promised pollution-free venue for next month's Olympics.
Cars will be banned on alternate days depending on whether their license plates end in odd or even numbers, and almost all Beijing's earth and cement works have now been closed.
Beijing hopes to take 45 percent of the city's 3.3 million cars off the roads and reduce emissions by 63 percent for a two-month period, which takes in the Aug. 8-24 Olympics and Sept. 6-17 Paralympics.
The city's chronic pollution has been one of the biggest headaches for Games organisers, who are banking on traffic restrictions and last-minute industrial cut-backs to bring blue skies and easy breathing for athletes during the Games.
The city has warned drivers that might consider violating Olympic traffic restrictions that they will be caught by a high-tech surveillance network, but offenders will receive only modest fines, according to state media.
Authorities had installed more than 10,000 "smart" devices, including cameras, "ultrasonic and microwave" scanners at regular intervals on major trunk roads and dozens of designated Olympic routes.
Cars caught by the surveillance network would be fined 100 yuan ($15), but it was not clear whether drivers could be fined multiple times in one day.
With more than 1,000 new cars hitting the street every day, Beijing is fast becoming one of the world's most congested cities. Officials hope that reduced emissions during the Games period will help improve air quality, although some athletes have lingering concerns.
Construction sites in rapidly developing Beijing have also been blamed for the poor air quality, which has led some to dub the city "Grayjing".
More than 150 high-polluting earth and cement works have been shut for two months, and only five are being retained for "emergency" purposes.
But the rules are not just limited to the capital.
Tianjin, a port city just east of Beijing and host to Olympic soccer qualifiers, last week ordered 40 factories to close. Tangshan, a heavy industrial base northeast of Beijing will shut nearly 300 factories this month to improve air quality for the Games.
Beijing has spent some 120 billion yuan ($17.58 billion) to clean up its environment, and has already ordered 300,000 high-emission cars off its roads.
| Government Policy Changes | July 2008 | ['(Reuters)'] |
In a meeting between U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Chairman of the Sovereignty Council of Sudan Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the United States proposed removing Sudan from the U.S. state sponsors of terrorism list for $330 million compensation. The payment would allegedly go to American victims of Al-Qaida but ministers, opposition leaders, and other people in the country have expressed anger at the prospect of a multimillion-dollar payment to the United States. | The payment would go to victims of al-Qaida but has caused anger in the poverty-stricken country Last modified on Thu 27 Aug 2020 04.36 BST
A US proposal to remove Sudan from a list of states that sponsor terrorism – in exchange for a $330 million payment compensation to American victims of al-Qaida – has caused anger in the poverty-stricken east African country. Mike Pompeo, the US secretary of state, visited Khartoum on Tuesday to underline US support for the new transitional government that took power following the fall of Omar al-Bashir last year, whose 30 year authoritarian rule saw Sudan become an international pariah.
Pompeo, who also pressed for improved ties between Sudan and Israel, discussed the lifting of sanctions with the Sudanese prime minister, Abdalla Hamdok.
The US has moved to incrementally restore relations with Sudan over recent years but has insisted that outstanding legal claims are settled before the country is struck from the list of state sponsors of terrorism. North Korea, Iran and Syria are also on the list.
Sudan has been on the list since 1993, and so faces a range of damaging measures including the denial of much needed financial aid from international multilateral institutions.
The double bombing of embassies in Tanzania and Kenya in 1998 was the work of al-Qaida, then run by Osama bin Laden from Afghanistan. More than 224 people died and 4,000 were injured in the bombings.
Courts in the US have found Sudan guilty of providing essential support to al-Qaida when Bin Laden was based in the country between 1991 and 1996.
But ministers, opposition leaders and ordinary people in the country have expressed their dismay at the prospect of a multimillion-dollar payment to the US. Some complained that it was unfair that the new reformist government in Sudan should suffer for the misdeeds of a fallen dictator.
Activist Mohamed Babiker, 32, accused the US of intensifying Sudan’s problems: “We opposed the regime and overthrew it. Now we have to pay for what it did wrong,” he said.
Shamael el-Noor, a participant in the mass protests that led to Bashir’s ousting, said that the US should have immediately removed Sudan’s name from the list of countries supporting terror once Bashir was gone.
“The terrorism was linked to the former regime’s ideology … It’s unfair to keep Sudan on that list while people revolted against the terrorism of that regime,” El-Noor said.
Others contested the basis for the compensation claim, saying that Sudan had sought to cooperate with the US by expelling Bin Laden and that the attacks had occurred two years after the Saudi-born extremist had left their country.
Hassan Abdulrahman, defence minister in Sudan at the time of Bin Laden’s stay, said Washington had refused an offer to hand the extremist leader to them.
“The politicians suggested we send him to the Americans but [the Americans] rejected that … The Sudanese also said they were prepared to detain or otherwise restrain Bin Laden,” Abdulrahman said.
US officials in key counter-terrorist posts at the time have since denied that the Sudanese offer wasserious. Bin Laden was eventually expelled by Khartoum and found a safe haven in eastern Afghanistan, then under the control of warlords.
The proposed compensation deal follows an earlier payment of a smaller sum to victims of another al-Qaida attack, on a warship just offshore of Aden in Yemen in 2000.
With its economy crippled by decades of Bashir’s misrule, continuing internal conflict, recent political upheaval and the Covid-19 pandemic, Sudan may have little choice but to agree US demands.
About 10 million people in Sudan are facing food shortages, according to the UN, and inflation was over 130 percent in June.
Faisal Mohamed Salih, the communications and media minister, said Sudan was compelled to pay the compensation because it had been ordered by a court and was “binding on the United States government before being binding on us”.
However this is contested by many, and the deal is controversial even among potential beneficiaries. One complaint is the amount to be paid by Sudan. US judges have awarded damages of more than $10bn against the country – around 30 times the sum negotiated by the state department.
But the main concern is that victims who were US citizens at the time of the attacks will receive much more than Kenyan and Tanzanian victims, who will receive nothing at all, lawyers say.
“Sudan was led down a total blind dead end alley by the state department by telling them they can roll over the non-Americans. My clients are very sympathetic to the people of Sudan and they want them to have a bright future under the rule of democracy and human rights. They want this to be resolved in a fair way for everyone,” said Gavriel Mairone, a lawyer who represents several hundred victims.
The responsibility of Sudan for the bombings is also contested. Though Khartoum was undoubtedly supportive of Bin Laden as officials sought to build a coalition of Islamist extremists in the early 1990s, evidence for direct involvement in the actual attacks less clear.
The attacks took place in Kenya and Tanzania, and involved a Kenyan, a British-born Saudi, several Egyptians and others, who belonged to an organisation that was based in Afghanistan with some infrastructure in Pakistan. They were conceived after Bin Laden had left Sudan and dismantled his operations there.
In trial hearings against Sudan, which did not mount a defence, three experts said that the attacks would have been impossible without infrastructure, knowledge and experience gained during Bin Laden’s stay in Khartoum and through the efforts of Sudanese officials.
The use of Sudanese diplomatic passports, and funds laundered through Sudan were also cited.
The bombings were an opening salvo in al-Qaida’s war against the US, which the organisation described as the “far enemy” in contrast to the near enemy, which were regimes in the Arab world.
“There has to be some kind of accountability. If you deal in violence, whether you are a bank, a company or a country, the day will come when you have to account for it,” said Mairone.
Babiker, the activist, disagreed. “It’s unfair to punish a whole nation for what a dictator did. The dictator ruled his country by force and the whole world was watching and did nothing to stop the massacres that the regime committed or its terrorism, and after all that they want to punish the nation,” he said. | Diplomatic Talks _ Diplomatic_Negotiation_ Summit Meeting | August 2020 | ['(The Guardian)'] |
Officials from North and South Korea meet for talks for the first time in two years. | Hyun In-taek met visiting North Korean spy chief Kim Yang-gon in Seoul
The first meeting between North and South Korean officials in nearly two years has taken place unexpectedly in the South Korean capital Seoul.
A spy chief said to be close to the North's leader Kim Jong-il met Seoul's Unification Minister Hyun In-taek. Later, a South Korean government official announced the envoys would meet President Lee Myung-bak on Sunday. The delegates from the North have said they want better relations on the Korean peninsula. They are in Seoul to pay respects to late ex-President Kim Dae-jung. The Northern official in charge of inter-Korean relations, Kim Yang-gon, said there was an urgent need to improve the frosty relations between the two countries. "After meeting with several people [in the South], I felt the imperative need for North-South relations to improve," Mr Kim said ahead of his talks with Mr Hyun. Conciliatory gestures
Saturday's meeting is the first between officials from the two Koreas since the conservative Mr Lee came to power in Seoul in February 2008. Relations soured when Mr Lee made South Korean aid conditional on North Korea's nuclear disarmament. In the past few months, North Korea has fired a long range rocket over Japanese territory and conducted an underground nuclear test. But more recently, there has been a series of conciliatory gestures. Two US reporters and a South Korean worker were released from detention and Pyongyang said it was interested in resuming cross-border tourism and industrial projects. Some observers believe that, with UN sanctions beginning to bite, the North is keen to boost cross-border tourism and trade that bring in badly needed foreign currency, our correspondent adds. On Friday, the six officials from North Korea's ruling Workers' Party, wearing black suits and ties, placed a wreath of flowers on the steps of South Korea's National Assembly, where Kim Dae-jung is lying in state. Mr Kim - who died on Tuesday at the age of 85 - devoted his presidency to improving relations between the two Koreas, still technically at war. He reached out to the North with aid - the main thrust of his "Sunshine Policy" that earned him the Nobel Peace Prize in 2000, and held a historic summit with Kim Jong-Il in that year. Mr Kim's funeral is to be held on Sunday. | Diplomatic Talks _ Diplomatic_Negotiation_ Summit Meeting | August 2009 | ['(BBC)', '(Yonhap)'] |
Peruvian authorities investigate the death of British De La Salle Brother Paul McAuley, age 71. According to the report he is burned to death in a home he founded for indigenous students in Iquitos, in the northeastern Amazonian region. | LIMA, Peru (AP) — A British religious activist who faced expulsion from Peru a decade ago for his work on behalf of indigenous communities was found dead Tuesday at a youth hostel he ran in the Amazon rain forest.
Paul McAuley, 71, had long worked to embolden Peru’s historically discriminated tribes in the battle against powerful oil and mining interests.
In 2010, the government tried unsuccessful to strip him of his residency for allegedly inciting unrest after he fought attempts to open up the Amazon to drilling.
The La Salle Christian Brothers said in a statement Tuesday that the lay activist had been burned to death.
Authorities are questioning six indigenous youth who lived in the hostel he managed in a poor section of the city of Iquitos.
In 2004, McAuley founded the Loreto Environmental Network, a group that works on behalf of indigenous groups. He and environmentalists opposed then-President Alan Garcia’s moves to open up the Amazon to unprecedented mining and oil exploration and drilling. They also complained that Garcia’s government has done little to impede rampant logging, which they say threatens the existence of indigenous groups.
Environmental activists mourned his passing Tuesday.
“What tough news. A great man who did a lot for indigenous communities, their rights and the forests,” tweeted Julia Urrunaga, director of Peru Programs at Environmental Investigation Agency | Famous Person - Death | April 2019 | ['(AP)'] |
On the last day of the 115th United States Congress, Democratic leaders Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, and others meet with President Donald Trump at the White House to discuss implementing a new budget agreement that may include funding for a new Mexico–United States barrier that could end the current federal government shutdown. | The partial government shutdown entered its 12th day Wednesday, as bipartisan congressional leaders headed to the White House for a briefing on President Donald Trump’s proposed border wall.
Nine federal departments remain unfunded and hundreds of thousands of federal workers face missing paychecks amid an impasse over funding for the barrier. Democrats have pledged to pass spending legislation without wall money when they take control of the House on Thursday. But Trump has already promised to oppose the measure, leaving Congress and the White House still far from a solution.
Eight lawmakers attended the White House briefing on border security at 3 p.m. Wednesday. The group includes House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, who will likely become speaker Thursday, and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. In the lead-up to the shutdown last month, the Democratic leaders got into a televised Oval Office spat with the president over the wall.
The briefing comes as neither side has shown willingness to cave on the president’s demand for $5 billion in taxpayer money for the project. Trump has insisted on funding for the barrier, a core campaign promise that excited supporters at political rallies when he promised Mexico would pay for it. Democrats have flatly opposed the funding, calling a wall both inhumane and ineffective.
Trump’s own messaging muddied his push for a wall as talks stalled over the holidays. The president has not made it clear what exactly he wants — calling at various times for a concrete barrier, fencing or a structure made of steel slats.
Some Democrats have worried about the White House using the briefing as a political ploy rather than a piece of an effort to reach a deal to end the shutdown. Asked Wednesday as he entered Pelosi’s office if he thought the event was a stunt, Schumer said “I hope he’s serious, but I’m worried that it’s another one of his events for show,” according to NBC News.
Leaving Pelosi’s office later, Schumer said he and the California Democrat are “always” on the same page. The Democrats “hope” the shutdown will end soon, but “it’s up to President Trump,” he added.
A tweet Wednesday morning also raised questions about why Trump still demands taxpayer money for the wall. He claimed “Mexico is paying for the wall” through a replacement of the North American Free Trade Agreement. The Trump administration has struggled to explain that assertion, and Congress still needs to approve the deal for it to take effect.
He also claimed “much of the wall has already been fully renovated or built.” Congress has not passed funding for the wall as Trump proposed, but has put money toward replacing existing fencing or building new fences on the border.
Trump tweet
It is unclear what proposal would make Republicans and Democrats compromise. Trump, who last month said he would be “proud to shut down the government for border security,” sees the wall as a winning political issue.
The plan Democrats hope to pass Thursday would fund the closed departments and agencies through Sept. 30. It would reopen the Department of Homeland Security, which receives border security funding, only through Feb. 8.
That would give Congress more time to break the stalemate over the wall while minimizing the shutdown’s effects. But it would also delay, rather than end, the political fight over funding.
Before Trump threatened to veto it last month, the GOP-controlled Senate passed a similar measure to fund the government. The Republican House majority then approved a plan with more than $5 billion for the wall, which led to the shutdown.
“We are giving the Republicans the opportunity to take yes for an answer,” Pelosi wrote in a letter to House Democrats on Tuesday. “Senate Republicans have already supported this legislation, and if they reject it now, they will be fully complicit in chaos and destruction of the President’s third shutdown of his term.”
But Trump’s opposition to it jeopardizes its passage in the Senate. In a statement late Tuesday, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Pelosi’s plan “will not re-open the government because it fails to secure the border.”
Republicans will hold 53 seats in the chamber on Thursday. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s office has said the Senate will not pass a plan that Trump refuses to sign.
It is unclear whether the briefing Wednesday will bring any progress toward a deal, or if the White House will simply use it to try to strengthen its negotiating position. During a Cabinet meeting Wednesday, Trump said administration officials would make the case for a wall.
He added that he would keep the government shut down for “as long as it takes.” Trump said he would not accept the $2.5 billion in border security funding that his administration previously offered to Democrats. The president wants more than $5 billion in funding.
In a tweet Tuesday, Trump chided Pelosi, saying a shutdown “is not where Nancy Pelosi wanted to start her tenure as Speaker!”
“Let’s make a deal?” he wrote.
Pelosi responded by saying Trump has “given Democrats a great opportunity to show how we will govern responsibly & quickly pass our plan to end the irresponsible Trump Shutdown.”
Pelosi tweet
Aside from Pelosi, Schumer and McConnell, the White House also invited congressional leaders Reps. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., and Steve Scalise, R-La., along with Sens. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and John Thune, R-S.D. | Diplomatic Talks _ Diplomatic_Negotiation_ Summit Meeting | January 2019 | ['(CNBC)'] |
Prominent opposition figure and activist Maria Kalesnikava is taken away by masked men in Minsk and bundled into a van. Police say that they did not detain her. | Maria Kolesnikova, a prominent opponent of President Alexander Lukashenko, has allegedly been seized by masked men in Minsk and taken away in a van. Her allies have slammed the regime for using "methods of terror."
Unidentified men in black wearing masks have reportedly grabbed Belarusian opposition figure Maria Kolesnikova off the street on Monday, driving her away in a minibus.
Kolesnikova is a campaign partner of opposition candidate Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who claimed victory against President Alexander Lukashenko in the August 9 presidential election. Protesters have disputed the election results, with tens of thousands marching against the president since the vote. Kolesnikova is a vocal critic of Lukashenko and has played a vital role during the weeks of demonstrations.
Read more: Maria Kolesnikova: The Belarus opposition leader eyeing fair elections
Witnesses say Kolesnikova was seized in central Minsk and bundled into a bus labelled "Communications." Her phone was also apparently switched off.
The Coordination Council said Kolesnikova had been "kidnapped by unknown people in central Minsk," along with a spokesman and executive secretary.
"Their whereabouts are unknown," it said, accusing Lukashenko's regime of "openly using methods of terror."
The Coordination Council has demanded the immediate release of the detainees and the return of other activists who were pressured into leaving Belarus.
Local journalist Hanna Liubakova wrote on Twitter that her Coordination Council colleague Anton Radniankou could also not be reached.
Speaking with Russia's Interfax news agency, Minsk police denied that they had detained Kolesnikova.
Kolesnikova announced the creation of a new opposition party, Together, last week. Some of her fellow anti-Lukashenko activists have condemned the move, calling it a distraction.
In a statement, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, Lukashenko's main rival, said the kidnappings were an attempt to interfere with the work of the Coordination Council.
"The more they try to scare us, the more people will take to the streets," Tsikhanouskaya said in a statement.
Read more: Belarus opposition leader: This freedom 'can't be broken with police batons'
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Tsikhanouskaya, who fled Belarus for Lithuania a day after the election, said the alleged kidnapping was an attempt to undermine the opposition.
"It's an attempt to derail the work of the Coordination Council, but we will not be stopped," she said. The Coordination Council was set up by opposition figures to oversee a peaceful transition of power from Lukashenko.
She added "what the government is doing is terrorism," according to Interfax.
Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius likened what happened to the actions of Soviet-era secret police, calling it "a disgrace" on Twitter.
Another leading activist, Olga Kovalkova, arrived in Poland on Saturday. She said she had been told she would face arrest if she stayed in Belarus.
More than 600 people were arrested over the weekend during protests, according to police. The demonstrators were accused of taking part in illegal mass gatherings.
At least 100,000 people took part in weekend demonstrations in the capital.
European Commission spokesman Peter Stano said the EU's executive branch was looking into Kolesnikova's abduction and denounced the Belarusian authorities' actions as "unacceptable." Stano said the EU wanted to impose sanctions "very soon" after coming up with a list of individuals responsible for rigged elections and police violence against demonstrators.
The European Commission expressed concern about "unexplained and arbitrary arrests" in Belarus on Monday, while Germany has also condemned the widespread arrests. The weekend clampdown was one of the most intense since protests began.
ed, mvb/dj (AFP, dpa, Reuters)
More than 100 people have been arrested after ignoring threats not to assemble. Authorities have sealed off roads and deployed heavy vehicles to prevent protesters from trying to reach Independence Square. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Arrest | September 2020 | ['(DW)'] |
At least 70 people are killed and about 120 others injured in a suicide bombing at a hospital in Quetta, Pakistan. | A suicide bomb attack has killed at least 70 people at a hospital in Quetta in south-west Pakistan, officials say.
About 120 others were injured in the blast, which happened at the entrance to the emergency department where the body of a prominent lawyer shot dead earlier on Monday was being brought.
The casualties included lawyers and journalists accompanying the body of Bilal Anwar Kasi.
A faction of the Pakistani Taliban has said it was behind the bombing.
Jamaat-ul-Ahrar said it had also carried out the earlier attack on Mr Kasi, who was president of the Balochistan Bar Association and had been shot while on his way from his home to the main court complex in Quetta.
Witnesses described scenes of chaos after the hospital blast, with "bodies everywhere" and survivors shouting for help through the smoke and dust.
Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and chief of army staff Gen Raheel Sharif have both gone to Quetta and will hold talks with security officials.
Gen Sharif met some of those wounded at the Quetta Civil Hospital.
Mr Sharif expressed his "deep grief and anguish", adding: "No-one will be allowed to disturb the peace of the province. The people, policy and security forces in Balochistan have given sacrifices for the country."
The president of Pakistan's Supreme Court Bar Association, Syed Ali Zafa, denounced the assault as "an attack on justice". The Pakistan Bar Council has announced a nationwide strike by lawyers on Tuesday.
The Chief Minister of Balochistan, Sanaullah Zehri, said those injured should be given the best medical treatment and facilities available.
There have been a number of targeted killings in Quetta and the victims in recent weeks have included several lawyers.
Mr Kasi had strongly condemned the attacks and local media said he had announced a two-day boycott of court sessions in protest at the killing of a colleague last week.
Those killed in the hospital attack were said to include Baz Muhammad Kakar, a predecessor of Mr Kasi as provincial bar president, and 17 other lawyers. Two journalists have also been identified among the dead - Shahzad Khan, a cameraman for Aaj TV, and Mehmood Khan, a cameraman for DawnNews.
Lawyers in Lahore staged a demonstration to condemn the attack. Some journalists also protested, demanding protection for freedom of expression.
Facebook has activated its safety check feature for Quetta, allowing users to mark themselves or others as being safe. | Armed Conflict | August 2016 | ['(BBC)'] |
Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal declares a state of emergency after Tropical Storm Lee forms in the northern Gulf of Mexico. | (CNN) -- Oil companies evacuated workers from offshore wells, New Orleans prepared for possible flooding and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal declared a state of emergency as a tropical depression formed Thursday in the Gulf of Mexico.
The National Hurricance Center issued a tropical storm warning Thursday evening for an area stretching from Pascagoula, Mississippi, to Sabine Pass, Texas. The hurricane center said tropical storm conditions are expected somewhere within the warning area.
New Orleans -- much of which sits below sea level -- is likely to see 8 to 10 inches of rain in the next few days, Mayor Mitch Landrieu told reporters.
"What we do know is there's high wind, there is a lot of rain and it's going slow," Landrieu said. "That's not a good prescription for the city of New Orleans should it come this way."
It was six years ago this week that Hurricane Katrina slammed into the Gulf Coast, devastating coastal Louisiana and Mississippi and inundating much of New Orleans.
Landrieu urged residents to start collecting the items they might need in case of flooding or a hurricane, such as bottled water, batteries, nonperishable food, first-aid kits and family documents. They may not be needed this time, he said, "But we seem to be entering the more active phase of the storm season.
"It is important for citizens to remember it is individual preparation at the end of the day that matters the most," he said.
Firefighters had been battling a huge wildfire in a swamp on the city's east side for several days as the blaze spread smoke over much of the city. Landrieu quipped that city officials had hoped for rain, "and it appears as though our prayers have been answered."
As of 7 p.m. Thursday, the tropical depression was centered about 225 miles south of the mouth of the Mississippi River and was moving northwesterly at about 6 mph. It had maximum sustained winds of 35 mph.
In advance of the weather, BP and ExxonMobil ordered their Gulf rigs evacuated and have shut down their wells, spokesmen for those companies told CNN. Chevron, meanwhile, has ordered nonessential workers off the platforms, and Shell said it had begun taking some of its workers back to shore Thursday afternoon.
"Weather conditions are already impairing staff movement, but we are using all available resources to safely evacuate employees," Shell said in a written statement. "The number of evacuated personnel will depend on weather conditions, and we will only transport personnel if safe to do so."
"Interests along the entire northern Gulf of Mexico coast should monitor the progress of this disturbance," they noted.
In the state of emergency declaration, Jindal authorized the state Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness director "to undertake any activity authorized by law which he deems necessary and appropriate" to prepare for the storm. | Hurricanes_Tornado_Storm_Blizzard | September 2011 | ['(CNN)'] |
British author Jenny Colgan wins the 2013 Romantic Novel of the Year Award for her book Welcome to Rosie Hopkins' Sweetshop of Dreams. | 'Chick-lit' author Jenny Colgan has won the romantic novel of the year award with her 2012 book Welcome to Rosie Hopkins' Sweetshop of Dreams. The Romantic Novelists Association said it was a close competition, but said the Scot had won "by a nose" due to her "impeccable plotting and structure".
The RNA judges praised the "element of surprise" in the book, describing it as "unusual in a romantic novel".
Colgan's other books include Amanda's Wedding and Talking to Addison. Her novel triumphed over four other titles, all of which were named winners of individual categories in March. They included Mhairi McFarlane's You Had Me At Hello, winner in the contemporary category, and Charlotte Betts' The Apothecary's Daughter, adjudged this year's best historical romantic novel. Colgan, whose tome came top in the romantic comedy category, said she wrote the book in tribute to the sweetshops of her childhood and the works of James Herriot. The author, who currently lives in France, accepted her prize from best-selling historical novelist Lindsey Davis.
Also presented at the RNA's summer party on Thursday was the Joan Hessayon Award for the best in new writing, won by Liesel Schwartz for A Conspiracy of Alchemists. | Awards ceremony | May 2013 | ['(BBC)'] |
General Motors Chairman/CEO Rick Wagoner resigns. | Follow us: NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- General Motors CEO Rick Wagoner announced his resignation early Monday as the Obama administration gave automakers failing grades for their turnaround efforts. White House and GM sources had told CNN Sunday that Wagoner would resign as part of the federal government's bailout strategy for the troubled automaker.
"On Friday I was in Washington for a meeting with Administration officials. In the course of that meeting, they requested that I 'step aside' as CEO of GM, and so I have," Wagoner said in a statement posted to the GM Web site.
He is being replaced by GM's president and chief operating officer, Fritz Henderson. Kent Kresa will serve as interim chairman.
"Having worked closely with Fritz for many years, I know that he is the ideal person to lead the company through the completion of our restructuring efforts. His knowledge of the global industry and the company are exceptional, and he has the intellect, energy, and support among GM'ers worldwide to succeed," Wagoner said.
Wagoner's departure comes amid promises from the federal government for a sweeping overhaul of GM (GM, Fortune 500) and Chrysler LLC. The government plans to fund their operations for the next few weeks, but it is holding out the threat of a "structured bankruptcy." GM will get 60 days and Chrysler 30 days in which to make a final push toward proving they can run viable businesses. If Chrysler succeeds, it will receive a $6 billion loan. In GM's case, the officials would not specify how much money the carmaker might receive. President Obama is expected later Monday morning to make a formal announcement about his plans for the companies, which have already been given $17.4 billion. (Obama aides flunk GM and Chrysler)
Wagoner, a 32-year company veteran, has been CEO of General Motors since 2000. Prior to becoming CEO, he was chief operating officer and led the company's North American operations. He also served as chief financial officer from 1992 to 1994. ('Wagoner: Almost a superstar CEO')
GM has been hit hard as auto sales have plummeted. Sales have continued to tumble through the early months of this year, falling 40% across the industry and about 50% at GM and Chrysler. The companies and industry analysts have slashed their sales estimates for the year -- and that in turn has heightened the need for more loans to keep GM and Chrysler afloat.
Last month, the two companies filed reports on their restructuring efforts. GM said it needed up to $16.6 billion more in loans. Chrysler asked for an additional $5 billion, and said it would need the money by the end of March to avoid running out of cash.
The other member of Detroit's Big Three, Ford Motor (F, Fortune 500), has a better cash position than its rivals and has so far not needed federal loans. But Ford has asked for a $9 billion line of credit in case sales continue to be worse than expected or if major suppliers have to halt operations.
As part of the viability plan, GM and Chrysler were to win concessions form bond holders and the UAW. GM has a big debt load, but negotiations with bond holders have gone slowly. As for talks with labor unions, last week GM announced that 7,500 factory workers had taken its latest buyout offer. The workers leaving the company represent about 12% of the GM's remaining U.S. hourly work force, leaving it with just under 55,000 factory workers in the United States. With this latest program, GM has shed about 60,000 hourly U.S. jobs since 2006. GM has offered buyout packages to all of its remaining hourly workers. Even if the company needs to hire someone new to replace a departed worker, the company will save money under terms of the 2007 labor contract that pays new hires at a lower wage scale and with a far less lucrative benefit package. | Government Job change - Resignation_Dismissal | March 2009 | ['(CNN)'] |
The Arctic Research Foundation discovers the wreck of the Royal Navy's HMS Terror almost completely intact off the southern coast of King William Island in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, 168 years after being abandoned during Franklin's lost expedition in 1848. | Exclusive: Perfectly preserved HMS Terror vessel sank during disastrous expedition led by British explorer Sir John Franklin
First published on Mon 12 Sep 2016 16.41 BST
The long-lost ship of British polar explorer Sir John Franklin, HMS Terror, has been found in pristine condition at the bottom of an Arctic bay, researchers have said, in a discovery that challenges the accepted history behind one of polar exploration’s deepest mysteries.
HMS Terror and Franklin’s flagship, HMS Erebus, were abandoned in heavy sea ice far to the north of the eventual wreck site in 1848, during the Royal Navy explorer’s doomed attempt to complete the Northwest Passage.
All 129 men on the Franklin expedition died, in the worst disaster to hit Britain’s Royal Navy in its long history of polar exploration. Search parties continued to look for the ships for 11 years after they disappeared, but found no trace, and the fate of the missing men remained an enigma that tantalised generations of historians, archaeologists and adventurers. Now that mystery seems to have been solved by a combination of intrepid exploration – and an improbable tip from an Inuk crewmember.
On Sunday, a team from the charitable Arctic Research Foundation manoeuvred a small, remotely operated vehicle through an open hatch and into the ship to capture stunning images that give insight into life aboard the vessel close to 170 years ago.
“We have successfully entered the mess hall, worked our way into a few cabins and found the food storage room with plates and one can on the shelves,” Adrian Schimnowski, the foundation’s operations director, told the Guardian by email from the research vessel Martin Bergmann.
“We spotted two wine bottles, tables and empty shelving. Found a desk with open drawers with something in the back corner of the drawer.”
The well-preserved wreck matches the Terror in several key aspects, but it lies 60 miles (96km) south of where experts have long believed the ship was crushed by ice, and the discovery may force historians to rewrite a chapter in the history of exploration.
The 10-member Bergmann crew found the massive shipwreck, with her three masts broken but still standing, almost all hatches closed and everything stowed, in the middle of King William Island’s uncharted Terror Bay on 3 September.
After finding nothing in an early morning search, the research vessel was leaving the bay when a grainy digital silhouette emerged from the depths on the sounder display on the bridge of the Bergmann.
“Everyone was up in the wheelhouse by that point in awe, really,” said Daniel McIsaac, 23, who was at the helm when the research vessel steamed straight over the sunken wreck.
Since, then, the discovery team has spent more than a week quietly gathering images of the vessel and comparing them with the Terror’s 19th century builders’ plans, which match key elements of the sunken vessel. At first, the Terror seemed to be listing at about 45 degrees to starboard on the seabed. But on the third dive with a remotely operated vehicle, “we noticed the wreck is sitting level on the sea bed floor not at a list - which means the boat sank gently to the bottom,” Schimnowski said Monday.
About 24 metres (80ft) down, the wreck is in perfect condition, with metal sheeting that reinforced the hull against sea ice clearly visible amid swaying kelp.
A long, heavy rope line running through a hole in the ship’s deck suggests an anchor line may have been deployed before the Terror went down.
If true, that sets up the tantalising possibility that British sailors re-manned the vessel after she was abandoned at the top of Victoria Strait in a desperate attempt to escape south.
One crucial detail in the identification of the ship is a wide exhaust pipe rising above the outer deck.
It is in the precise location where a smokestack rose from the locomotive engine which was installed in the Terror’s belly to power the ship’s propeller through closing sea ice, said Schimnowski in a phone interview.
The ship’s bell lies on its side on the deck, close to where the sailor on watch would have have swung the clapper to mark time.
And the majestic bowsprit, six metres (20ft) long, still points straight out from the bow as it did when the crew tried to navigate through treacherous ice that eventually trapped Erebus and Terror on 12 September 1846.
The wreck is in such good condition that glass panes are still in three of four tall windows in the stern cabin where the ship’s commander, Captain Francis Crozier, slept and worked, Schimnowski added.
“This vessel looks like it was buttoned down tight for winter and it sank,” he said. “Everything was shut. Even the windows are still intact. If you could lift this boat out of the water, and pump the water out, it would probably float.”
The Arctic Research Foundation was set up by Jim Balsillie, a Canadian tech tycoon and philanthropist, who co-founded Research in Motion, creator of the Blackberry. Balsillie, who also played a key role in planning the expedition, proposed a theory to explain why it seems both Terror and Erebus sank far south of where they were first abandoned.
“This discovery changes history,” he told the Guardian. “Given the location of the find [in Terror Bay] and the state of the wreck, it’s almost certain that HMS Terror was operationally closed down by the remaining crew who then re-boarded HMS Erebus and sailed south where they met their ultimate tragic fate.”
The 21st-century search for Franklin’s expedition was launched by Canadian former prime minister Stephen Harper as part of a broader plan to assert Canadian sovereignty in the Arctic and promote development of its resources – including vast reserves of oil and natural gas, which will be easier to exploit as the Arctic warms and sea ice disappears.
Parks Canada underwater archeologists have led the mission since it began in 2008. Now they must confirm the wreck is Terror, either by examining the foundation’s images or visiting the site themselves. With the first winter snow already falling in the High Arctic, Terror Bay will soon be encased in thick sea ice.
The latest discovery was made two years and a day after Canadian marine archeologists found the wreck of Erebus in the same area of eastern Queen Maud gulf where Inuit oral history had long said a large wooden ship sank.
The same stories described startled Inuit stumbling upon a large dead man in a dark room on the vessel, with a big smile. Experts have suggested that may have been a rictus smile, or evidence that the man had suffered from scurvy.
Parks Canada archeologists found Erebus standing in just 11 meters of ocean. Sea ice had taken a large bite out her stern, and more than a century of storm-driven waves had scattered a trove of artifacts around the site.
So far, archaeologists have brought up the bell from Franklin’s flagship, a cannon, ceramic plate and other objects.
Inuit knowledge was also central to finding the Terror Bay wreck, but in a more mysterious way. Crewman Sammy Kogvik, 49, of Gjoa Haven, had been on the Bergmann for only a day when, chatting with Schimnowski on the bridge, he told a bizarre story.
About six years ago, Kogvik said, he and a hunting buddy were headed on snowmobiles to fish in a lake when they spotted a large piece of wood, which looked like a mast, sticking out of the sea ice covering Terror Bay.
In a phone interview, Kogvik said he stopped that day to get a few snapshots of himself hugging the wooden object, only to discover when he got home that the camera had fallen out his pocket. Kogvik resolved to keep the encounter secret, fearing the missing camera was an omen of bad spirits, which generations of Inuit have believed began to wander King William Island after Franklin and his men perished.
When Schimnowski heard Kogvik’s story, he didn’t dismiss it, as Inuit testimony has been so often during the long search for Franklin’s ships.
Instead, the Bergmann’s crew agreed to make a detour for Terror Bay on their way to join the main search group aboard the Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker CCGS Sir Wilfrid Laurier and the Royal Canadian Navy’s HMCS Shawinigan, at the north end of Victoria Strait. That is where the only known record of the Franklin expedition provided coordinates for what experts now call the point of abandonment. A scrawled note dated 25 April 1848, and concealed in a stone cairn at Victory Point on northern King William Island, said Erebus and Terror had been abandoned three days earlier, stuck in sea ice.
Crozier was in command of “the officers and crews, consisting of 105 souls”, because Franklin had died on 11 June 1847, the note continued, “and the total loss by deaths in the expedition has been to this date 9 officers and 15 men”.
Crozier and Captain James Fitzjames signed the note, which had what seemed a hurried postscript, scrawled upside down in the top right corner: “and start on to-morrow 26th for Back’s Fish River”.
Survivors apparently hoped to follow the river – now known as Back river – south to safety at a Hudson’s Bay Company fur trading outpost. None made it, and for generations, the accepted historical narrative has described a brutal death march as the Royal Navy mariners tried to walk out of the Arctic, dying along the way.
Now Franklin experts will have to debate whether at least some of the dying sailors instead mustered incredible strength, fighting off hunger, disease and frostbite, in a desperate attempt to sail home. | New archeological discoveries | September 2016 | ['(The Guardian)'] |
Swaziland's justice minister and senator Ndumiso Mamba resigns from both positions over allegations of an affair with a wife of King Mswati III; the wife has denied the allegations. | A government minister in Swaziland has resigned amid rumours that he had an affair with one of the 14 wives of King Mswati III.
Ndumiso Mamba, the justice minister and childhood friend of Mswati, stepped down as the sex scandal rocked the tiny African kingdom.
A pro-democracy group, Swaziland Solidarity Network, alleged last week that Mamba had been having an affair with 23-year-old Inkhosikati LaDube, the 12th wife of the king.
It has been claimed that LaDube wore an elaborate disguise so she could enjoy clandestine meetings with Mamba. The queen is said to have dressed in military fatigues to leave the royal palace without arousing suspicion.
A palace source was quoted by the South African Press Association as saying: "For many months the inkhosikati (queen) would dress in an army uniform whenever the king was not around.
"She allegedly got into her room and changed into her uniform and walked straight to the gate and no one bothered to ask where was this soldier going. In no time a car was there to pick the 'officer' up and whisked her to Royal Villas [a luxury hotel] about 10km west of the Lozitha palace."
But Mamba was apparently caught and arrested in a police sting at the hotel, owned by 42-year-old Mswati. He was reportedly detained in a police station, then prison, and faces possible expulsion from the country. The queen was put under house arrest.
The affair has caused huge embarrassment to Africa's last absolute monarchy after failed attempts to prevent it from leaking into the public domain.
Newspapers are tightly censored and the Times of Swaziland reported only: "Mamba resigned following certain allegations circulating in the country and internationally." But the story has been seized on by the press in neighbouring South Africa.
Banarbas Sibusiso Dlamini, the Swazi prime minister, said: "There is a story that has gone far which is currently being circulated … The story touches on the minister of justice and constitutional affairs, Ndumiso Mamba.
"Mamba had opted to resign as both senator and minister of justice … to allow the matter to be considered by the appropriate authorities."
Dlamini did not give any details of the case or accept questions on the subject.
LaDube was 16 when she first caught the king's eye at the annual Reed Dance pageant six years ago. She has borne him three children.
| Government Job change - Resignation_Dismissal | August 2010 | ['(BBC)', '(Times LIVE)', '(IOL)', '[permanent dead link]', '(The Guardian)'] |
A civil trial begins in San Francisco, California, in the U.S. Justice Department's effort to prevent the purchase of PeopleSoft by Oracle Corporation. Antitrust authorities contend that the proposed acquisition of PeopleSoft, for USD $7.7 billion, would effectively monopolize the market for enterprise software. | In a trial that promises to shed light on the private dealings of the computer software industry, the first bombshell dropped yesterday even before the courtroom doors opened in San Francisco.
Microsoft issued a press release early yesterday morning saying that it had held discussions with SAP, the big German maker of business software, about buying that company. The merger talks began late last year, the terse statement explained, but Microsoft broke off the negotiations after weighing the ''complexity of the potential transaction'' and the management headaches of trying to put together two huge software companies.
Microsoft made the disclosure before it was presented in the trial of the antitrust case brought by the Justice Department to contest the Oracle Corporation's hostile $7.7 billion bid for PeopleSoft.
Microsoft is not a litigant in the antitrust case. But its presence looms large in the courtroom, especially its strategy in business software -- a $25-billion-a-year market for the back-office programs that companies use to manage their finances, human resources, procurement, sales and customer relations.
The bid for SAP that Microsoft was pursuing would have been the largest ever in the computer industry. SAP, the world's third-largest software company, after Microsoft and Oracle, has a stock market value of more than $50 billion, and Microsoft would have had to offer a premium to buy the company.
The takeover talks show just how eager Microsoft is to find new sources of growth now that the business it has long dominated, personal computer software, is slowing.
Oracle insists that the market for business software is already highly competitive and likely to remain so even if it is allowed to buy PeopleSoft. Microsoft's disclosure could help determine the outcome of the case by bolstering Oracle's defense against the government's contention that a merger with PeopleSoft is anticompetitive.
Microsoft described the aborted merger talks with SAP as having been ''preliminary'' and added that neither company intended to resume the negotiations.
Microsoft wanted to make the disclosure on its own terms instead of allowing Oracle lawyers to break the news in court. Oracle learned of Microsoft's overtures to SAP in Microsoft documents Oracle's lawyers received in pretrial discovery.
Microsoft's merger talks with SAP, the largest maker of enterprise applications software, with revenue of $8.6 billion last year, strongly suggest that Microsoft's ambition is to become the leader in the corporate software market and climb to the top as quickly as possible.
Such a purchase would be far bigger than anything Microsoft has tried. Its acquisitions tend to be much smaller, ranging up to $1 billion or $2 billion.
Two of Microsoft's largest moves have come in building its business software division, which had sales of nearly $700 million last year. In December 2000, Microsoft acquired Great Plains Software for $1.1 billion and in May 2002, it purchased Navision, a Danish producer of business software, for $1.3 billion.
In 1995, Microsoft abandoned a $2.2 billion bid for Intuit, a leader in personal finance and tax preparation software, after the Justice Department objected.
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''The talks with SAP show the strategic importance of this business to Microsoft,'' said David M. Smith, an analyst at Gartner, the technology research firm. ''It's no surprise that Microsoft is looking for other acquisitions in the business software applications industry. But the fact that Microsoft was talking to SAP means they were going after the big kahuna.''
Microsoft increasingly needs new markets as its mainstay desktop PC business matures. Most analysts expect its revenue to increase by less than 10 percent next year, far less than the routine 20 to 30 percent growth in the 1990's.
The Justice Department contends that the market for supplying business software to the largest corporations is an oligopoly of three -- SAP, Oracle and PeopleSoft. If Oracle is allowed to buy PeopleSoft, the Justice Department and 10 states assert, the number of major rivals in business software will be reduced from three to two, thus driving up prices.
In his opening remarks, Claude Scott, the lead lawyer for the Justice Department, described the barriers to entry in the upper end of the corporate market in daunting terms. ''It is difficult and it would take a long period of time,'' Mr. Scott said.
Judge Vaughn R. Walker of Federal District Court repeatedly quizzed Mr. Scott about the government's definition of the business software market. The Oracle defense is hoping to turn Judge Walker's curiosity into skepticism and doubt.
The government, according to Oracle, is taking an unrealistically narrow view of a fast-moving high-technology market. The business software market, Oracle contends, is a dynamic one, with no shortage of innovation and competitors. To Oracle's lawyers, Microsoft represents a powerful challenge to the government's myopic market definition, and its talks with SAP are proof that the business software market could change quickly.
Dan Wall, Oracle's lead lawyer, said Microsoft already had business software offerings for large global companies and a growing list of customers. ''Right now, Microsoft's strategy is to go after all the corporate account space,'' Mr. Wall said. ''Microsoft is an important competitive force, and they are definitely going to be one in the near future.''
Oracle did not present the documents it obtained from Microsoft about the SAP talks yesterday; that will come later in the trial.
But even without the documentary evidence to debate, people close to Oracle and those close to Microsoft offered different versions of the timing of the talks and how they started.
The Microsoft talks with SAP, according to a person close to Oracle, began shortly after Oracle made its initial bid for PeopleSoft in June 2003. Later, when the merger talks between Microsoft and SAP were tabled, the two companies compromised on a technology collaboration, this person said.
Microsoft, in its statement, said the merger talks began ''late last year.'' According to a person close to Microsoft, the merger discussions grew out of technology talks between the companies.
Both companies are moving in the direction of having their software based on Internet-based standards, known as Web services, that allow programs from different suppliers to work together smoothly and share data. The merger talks were abandoned shortly before Microsoft and SAP announced a technology agreement on May 12.
Microsoft informed SAP over the weekend that it planned to make an announcement early Monday morning, and SAP issued its own statement yesterday, echoing the Microsoft version of events.
''SAP, like all publicly held corporations, routinely evaluates potential opportunities to strengthen its leading position in the enterprise software market,'' said Henning Kagermann, chief executive of SAP. ''And the disclosure made today should be interpreted this way.''
SAP representatives appeared this year before the staff of the European Commission, which is investigating the Oracle bid for PeopleSoft. SAP representatives supported Oracle's bid on the ground that the business software market was highly competitive.
In an interview with The Times of London in March, Mr. Kagermann criticized the Justice Department's effort to block Oracle's bid for PeopleSoft and the department's market definition. ''It destabilizes the regulatory environment because if they start to narrow it down, where will they stop?'' Mr. Kagermann said.
The disclosure of the Microsoft-SAP talks points to future competition in business software. But it does not necessarily affect how the court defines the market. If the court chooses the government's narrow definition -- the most sophisticated software used by the largest corporations -- the Justice Department could still prevail, regardless of Microsoft's potential for growth in the business software market.
''Microsoft has become a serious competitor against SAP, Oracle, PeopleSoft and others,'' said Kevin O'Marah, vice president for research at AMR Research, a technology consulting firm. ''But not at the very high end yet, where a lot of hand-holding is required. The issue for the court is how far up the line is drawn to define the enterprise software market.'' | Organization Merge | June 2004 | ['(NYT)'] |
Violent protests break out across Germany after a stabbing attack the day before. Several instances of racial violence are reported, and riot police have been attacked. | Neo-Nazis and leftist protesters took to the streets of Germany's Chemnitz after a murder involving migrants. Saxony police mostly managed to cope with sporadic violence, although the protests caught them by surprise.
The eastern German city of Chemnitz was gripped by a febrile atmosphere on Monday night as several thousand people took to the streets to demand foreigners leave Germany. At the same time, roughly 1,000 opposing demonstrators collected in a small park opposite far-right protesters to call on "the Nazis" to get out of the city.
The evening began calmly enough, as a heavy police presence kept the two sides apart and the groups confined themselves to jeering at each other beneath the gaze of Chemnitz's colossal Karl Marx monument. But by around 9 p.m., when the demonstrations began to move, six people were injured by fireworks and rocks thrown by members of both camps who were wearing the customary black hooded tops, gloves, face coverings and dark glasses.
The protests eventually subsided and "everything was quiet during the night" the police said on Tuesday morning.
The demonstrations were sparked by a deadly brawl that broke out in the German city of Chemnitz in the early hours of Sunday (August 26). What started out as a war of words resulted in a 35-year-old man being stabbed to death. Hours later, spontaneous, anti-migrant protests took over the streets of Chemnitz.
A German-Cuban man was stabbed in an altercation involving 10 people, several of whom were of "various nationalities," police sources said. The victim, named only as Daniel H., was apparently well-known among various political groups in the area. Two men in their 30s were also stabbed and seriously injured, and a 22-year-old Iraqi and 23-year-old Syrian are in custody over the killing.
By Sunday afternoon, some 800 people had gathered to protest the man's death, including far-right groups. Authorities said the crowd was largely uncooperative and threw bottles at police officers. Police reinforcements had to be called in from nearby cities. The mobilizations were spontaneous and are thought to have surfaced following calls to demonstrate on social media. German authorities said that that far-right groups spread misinformation on the internet. Among the false claims was that the victim of the knife attack died protecting a woman. Thousands of far-right and counterdemonstrators faced off in a second day of protest Monday. Several people were injured as objects and fireworks were hurled. Video footage showed the far-right "Pro Chemnitz" movement holding a banner with a quote from early 20th century poet Anton Günther reading "German and free we aim to be."
Counter-demonstrators denouncing right-wing extremism also took to the streets of Chemnitz. Among the protesters were Antifa, who clashed with right-wing demonstrators. Author: Louisa Wright German-Cuban man killed
On Monday, the tension was palpable along the wide Brückenstrasse boulevard that divides the city center, where the rival protests had been called. Local shops, many run by people of Turkish and Arab descent, had been told to close early as the two demonstrations, one called by the local branch of the socialist Left party, the other by the far-right Pro Chemnitz group, slowly gathered.
The competing chants were familiar enough from the last three years of German demonstrations — "Merkel must go!" or "Close the borders!" or "Nazis out!" or "Refugees are welcome here!" But this time the marches carried an extra emotional weight, as they were triggered by the murder of a German-Cuban, apparently well-known by people of all political stripes in the small city.
The protests in Chemnitz turned violent as the evening wore on
The 35-year-old, named only as Daniel H., died in hospital on Sunday after having been stabbed multiple times during a fight late on Saturday night. Two other men, also reported to be of immigrant backgrounds, were also injured in the attack. Two younger people, a 22-year-old Iraqi and a 23-year-old Syrian, remain in custody over the killing.
Riot police, neo-Nazis and mourners
Adding to the emotional charge at the protests, the fatal fight had occurred only a few hundred yards along Brückenstrasse, at a spot on the sidewalk that on Monday had been turned into a small shrine. Several mourners were bringing candles and flowers to the place even as riot police, Antifa demonstrators, and neo-Nazis were gathering on the street around them. Several right-wing protesters were photographed giving the Nazi salute.
One of the mourners was Nancy Larssen, a young half-Cuban woman who had grown up with Daniel H., who she described as her "best friend."
The site in Chemnitz where the fatal stabbing took place has been turned into a shrine
"I think it's horrible what's happening here in Chemnitz, and I hope that they know who they're doing this march for," she told DW. "I think it's sad that in the media they're just saying that a German has died, and that's why all the neo-Nazis and hooligans are out, but the media should describe who died, and what skin color he had, because I don't think they'd be doing all this if they knew."
According to his Facebook page, Daniel H. also liked an anti-Nazi page on the platform.
Another friend of Daniel H's, Marcel Kratzer, felt that the media had only emphasized the political divisions in Chemnitz without talking enough about the victim, "a really good man, a good father," or his family — or what he saw as the police's failure to control the three-day city festival where fighting had broken out.
That feeling was reflected in the leftist demo, at which several people shouted "Where were you yesterday?" at passing squads of riot police. Meanwhile, the chanting and counterchanting went on, as anti-fascists used whistles to try to drown out far-right speakers who could be heard claiming that "people didn't use to draw knives" before the Syrian refugees arrived. There was applause, and placards that read, "Stop the asylum flood."
Tim Detzner, the leader of the Chemnitz Left party who had co-organized the counterdemonstration, told DW: "This demo is so important because the pictures that came out of Chemnitz yesterday afternoon shocked a lot of people, and, as you can see today, a lot of people had an urge to react and to show that not all of Chemnitz is the way you saw there."
The police's damaged reputation
Police in the state of Saxony, where Chemnitz lies, spent much of Monday struggling to re-assert their authority following an awkward few weeks. After detaining a TV news crew in Dresden at the behest of a PEGIDA supporter who turned out to be a police employee, they faced serious criticism for their failure to control spontaneous outbreaks of violence on Sunday afternoon, which led to the Chemnitz festival being cut short.
Apart from preparing for two potentially violent demonstrations, the police also spent the day quashing rumors on social media, including that one of the other two attack victims had died of his injuries, and that the fight had been triggered by a sexual harassment incident.
Earlier in the day, there was some criticism that the media had chosen the word "demo" to describe Sunday's far-right marches. These were, organizations such as the Turkish Community Germany (TGD) said, pogroms. The police did report two cases of physical assault during the marches on Sunday night, while videos posted on social media showed neo-Nazis attacking people they considered to be of foreign origin in the street.
The TGD said the far-right marches in Chemnitz were more pogrom than demonstration
Calls for vigilante violence
Meanwhile, the Saxony arm of the far-right populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) party tried to distance itself from Sunday's violence, and from Monday's Pro Chemnitz demo. Having spontaneously gathered around 100 supporters in the city center on Sunday afternoon, the party has now decided to wait until Saturday to stage their next anti-Merkel protest.
"The AfD expressly distances itself from any form of violence and expressly warns against participation in the demonstrations that have been called today by the NPD among others," Saxony AfD leader Jörg Urban said in a statement posted on Facebook, referencing Germany's right-wing extremist National Democratic Party. He went on to suggest that "provocateurs" may well be planted in the demo to instigate violence and "criminalize the justified protest of citizens."
Urban insisted that the "hunting scenes" in Chemnitz on Sunday had "nothing, absolutely nothing at all" to do with the AfD. Nevertheless, a tweet by AfD parliamentarian Markus Frohnmaier, which said it was "a civic duty to stop the death-bringing 'knife migration,'" amounted to a call for vigilante justice according to TGD chairman Gökay Sofuoglu. | Riot | August 2018 | ['(Deutsche Welle)'] |
A rescue helicopter crashes while attempting to evacuate residents near the Dieng Volcanic Complex in Central Java, Indonesia, killing all eight people on board. | Helicopter crashed three minutes before arriving at Dieng Plateau, the popular tourist area where the eruption on Sunday injured at least 10 A rescue helicopter crashed while heading to help evacuate residents near an active volcano on Indonesia’s main island, killing all eight people on board, officials said on Monday. The helicopter crashed about three minutes before arriving at Dieng Plateau, the popular tourist area where the volcanic eruption on Sunday injured at least 10 people. The aircraft reportedly hit a cliff on Butak Mountain in the Temanggung district of Central Java province. All eight people on board were killed, said Maj Gen Heronimus Guru, deputy operations chief of the National Search and Rescue Agency. “We are now at the Bhayangkara hospital in Semarang,” the Central Java provincial capital where the victims’ bodies were taken, he said. Brig Gen Ivan Tito, director of operation and training at the search agency, told TVOne station in a live interview from Temanggung, that the victims were four navy officers and four rescuers. He also said the Indonesian-made Dauphin AS365 helicopter was airworthy. The Sileri Crater at Dieng Plateau spewed cold lava, mud and ash as high as 50 metres into the sky when it erupted Sunday morning, said National Disaster Mitigation Agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho. The sudden eruption occurred while about 17 visitors were around the crater. Ten people were injured and were treated at a hospital. Soldiers and police officers were dispatched and local residents and visitors were asked to evacuate in case of further eruptions, Nugroho said. The crater appeared to be quieter on Monday morning, and all visitors to the plateau have been evacuated. Sileri is the most active and dangerous among 10 craters at Dieng Plateau. Its most recent eruption was in 2009, when it unleashed volcanic materials up to 200 metres high and triggered the creation of three new craters. Dieng Plateau, located in the Central Java district of Banjarnegara, is a popular tourist attraction because of its cool climate and ninth-century Hindu temples. It sits about 2,000 metres above sea level. Around 140 people were reportedly asphyxiated in 1979 when the volcano spewed gases. | Air crash | July 2017 | ['(The Guardian)'] |
A small plane carrying ten people from Araraquara Airport crashes in the Amazon jungle, with "little chance of finding survivors". | Bogota - Colombian authorities said there was little chance of finding survivors after a small plane with 10 people on board crashed in the Amazon jungle.
The aircraft with registration number HK-4755 PA 34 Navajo took off from Araracuara Airport in the country's south around 15:00 local time (20:00 GMT) on Saturday. It lost contact with air traffic control as it went over the town of Florencia.
Authorities have yet to find the occupants - two crew members and eight passengers - although it is almost certain they are dead.
"The aircraft was located - fragmented and incinerated - 10km from the urban centre of the town of Puerto Santander... It is possible that no passengers will be found," the Civil Aviation Authority said in a statement.
"Specialised rescue personnel are currently in a search and rescue mission for the bodies of the occupants of the aircraft."
The unit is responsible for ensuring the safety of commercial flights in Colombia.
. | Air crash | September 2014 | ['(News24)', '(eNCA)'] |
The United States Department of Veterans Affairs allows the Wiccan pentagram to be used on the tombstones of deceased soldiers. | WASHINGTON, April 23 — To settle a lawsuit, the Department of Veterans Affairs has agreed to add the Wiccan pentacle to a list of approved religious symbols that it will engrave on veterans’ headstones.
The settlement, which was reached on Friday, was announced on Monday by Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, which represented the plaintiffs in the case. An article on Sept. 30 about a lawsuit to force the Department of Veterans Affairs to add the Wiccan symbol to the list of approved emblems for headstones included erroneous information from the suit about a Pentagon survey of Wiccan participation in the military. (The error was pointed out after it was repeated in an article on April 23 about the suit’s settlement.) There were more than 1,800 Wiccans in the Air Force, not in all of the armed forces. (The Pentagon did not survey the entire military.) | Government Policy Changes | April 2007 | ['(New York Times)'] |
The Prime Minister of Australia John Howard asks the Governor–General of Australia Michael Jeffery to dissolve the Parliament of Australia and call an election on 24 November. |
Prime Minister John Howard has arrived at Government House in Canberra and he is shortly expected to end the speculation about an election date.
Mr Howard will meet with Governor-General Major General Michael Jeffery and ask him to dissolve Parliament.
It is not clear how long the campaign will run, but a six-week election with polling day on November 24 is widely tipped.
Once Mr Howard has spoken to the Governor-General he is expected to announce the election details at a media conference later today.
The election is likely to be fought in the key areas of health, education, the economy, but also climate change and national security.
The Labor Party need to win an extra 16 seats outright to claim a majority government.
The Coalition has had a string of poor opinion polls, a recent Newspoll showed Labor with an election-winning lead over the Coalition, with 56 per cent of the vote after preferences, compared with 44 per cent for the Government.
We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Australians and Traditional Custodians of the lands where we live, learn, and work.
This service may include material from Agence France-Presse (AFP), APTN, Reuters, AAP, CNN and the BBC World Service which is copyright and cannot be reproduced.
AEST = Australian Eastern Standard Time which is 10 hours ahead of GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) | Organization Closed | October 2007 | ['(ABC News Australia)', '(ABC News Australia)'] |
A cave–in at a gold mine in Siguiri, Guinea, kills 20 people, injures five more, and renders ten others missing. | At least 13 people in Guinea have died and five are badly injured after a gold mine they were working in caved in.
Guinea's information minister said 10 people remained unaccounted for. The BBC's Alhassan Sillah in Guinea says the area around Siguiri town, some 600km (372 miles) north of the capital, Conakry, is rich in gold deposits. They are mined by giant multi-national firms and by members of the local population, who often take big risks in their search for gold, he says. In some cases, people descend as deep as 70m without protection or protective gear, our correspondent adds. Information minister Justin Morel Junior made the announcement on state television on Thursday night, but did not give further details about the incident. He said a joint defence and security team had been sent to the scene by the village of Marella, near Siguiri, to investigate. What are these? | Mine Collapses | May 2009 | ['(BBC)'] |
Chris Huhne, former UK Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, appears in court to face charges of perverting the course of justice together with his exwife, regarding a traffic violation. | Former energy secretary Chris Huhne and his ex-wife Vicky Pryce have appeared in court to face charges of perverting the course of justice.
The hearing at Westminster Magistrates' Court came after the Crown Prosecution Service looked into claims about a speeding incident in Essex in 2003. Mr Huhne, 57, resigned from the cabinet after the announcement on 3 February. The Lib Dem MP for Eastleigh in Hampshire has indicated he intends to plead not guilty.
During the court hearing, the pair spoke only to confirm their names, dates of birth and addresses. Both were granted unconditional bail and neither has yet entered a plea.
The case was adjourned to 2 March at Southwark Crown Court.
The CPS decision to obtain summonses against them followed an eight-month investigation by Essex Police which involved taking a national newspaper to court in order to force it to disclose information allegedly related to the case. The CPS has said it was alleged that Ms Pryce accepted responsibility for a speeding offence in Essex in order to spare her husband penalty points on his licence. The charge against Ms Pryce alleges that she "falsely informed the investigating authorities" she had been the driver of a vehicle, enabling herself "to falsely admit responsibility" for a speeding offence.
The charge against Mr Huhne alleges he "falsely informed" the investigating authorities that Ms Pryce was driving the vehicle, "enabling her to admit responsibility for the offence".
Mr Huhne immediately resigned from his job as Energy Secretary following the CPS announcement, saying that although he was innocent, he wanted to "avoid distraction". Crown Prosecution Service
| Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | February 2012 | ['(BBC)'] |
BBC reporter Urunboy Usmonov is released on bail in Tajikistan but still faces trial. | BBC World Service reporter Urunboy Usmonov has been released from prison in Tajikistan on bail. I reported yesterday that he was said to be "frail and frightened" after spending more than a month in jail.
Usmonov, pictured here, was reportedly held on accusations that he was a member of Hizbut-Tahrir, an extreme Islamic organisation. This was strenuously denied by his family and the BBC. Peter Horrocks, the director BBC global news, said: "We are encouraged that Tajik authorities have considered our appeals. "As we have said all along, we believe Urunboy is innocent and all he was doing was his journalistic work for the BBC. "We know that his family and friends are delighted to have Urunboy back and are appreciative of the support from colleagues at the BBC and around the world." | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Sentence | July 2011 | ['(BBC)', '(The Guardian)', '(The Daily Telegraph)', '(Reuters)'] |
In auto racing, the 2016 Pennsylvania 400 at Pocono Raceway is won by Chris Buescher, the first rookie to win a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race since 2009. Adverse weather plagued the event, causing it to start a day later than planned, and end 22 laps shorter than the scheduled distance. | Ricky Craven says Jeff Gordon did a good job to fix his seatbelt that came loose during the race at Pocono but adds that other drivers will question how it happened and if it could be a concern for the future. (1:23)
LONG POND, Pa. -- Chris Buescher has spent 2016 living a season to forget.
What was there to remember? That scary flip at Talladega amid several hard wrecks in restrictor-plate events? He spent the first 20 weeks with no top-10 finishes while driving cars that obviously needed work; he had failed to qualify in the top 20 all year.
Through it all, Buescher persevered, in many ways with performances that justified his being under the radar, except when his car went airborne at Talladega.
Funny thing is, what was "under the radar" allowed Buescher to have a day to remember Monday in the Pennsylvania 400 to earn his first career Sprint Cup win.
Buescher, 22, had to wait 80 minutes after NASCAR declared a red flag for fog Monday afternoon at Pocono Raceway. With threats of severe weather and no lifting of the fog, NASCAR decided to end the race with just over 21 laps remaining.
Buescher was one of two drivers -- third-place Regan Smith was the other -- who had not yet made a final pit stop when the fog forced NASCAR to throw the caution on Lap 132 and then the red flag just before the drivers came to the line to complete Lap 139.
Everyone else had to pit for fuel or assumed the race would go longer. They could see rain a little further out but couldn't predict the under-the-radar fog.
So a quiet driver ended up in a quiet Victory Lane in a garage since NASCAR couldn't use the real Victory Lane because of the threat of lightning. It was a somewhat appropriate venue for a feel-good story for a driver who seems to savor getting behind the wheel and competing, whether he's running for 20th or for the lead.
"This is going to stir up our whole year. ... It's not going to [sink in] for a while," Buescher said of the win, which came in his 27th career Sprint Cup start. "It doesn't even feel real right now. It's so quiet in here. We're not even in the real Victory Lane. We're having to seek shelter. It was a pretty wild event."
The Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook had Buescher at 1,000-to-1 to win the race. He is the first rookie to win a Cup race since Joey Logano did it in 2009.
"I hope somebody bet on us and made out really well," Buescher said. "It would be awesome for them. We faced pretty steep odds coming into this one. ... You take advantage of every situation that's presented to you, and that's what we did today."
The win could put Buescher in the Chase for the Sprint Cup, as he sits six points behind 30th-place David Ragan in the Sprint Cup standings. A driver has to be in the top 30 to qualify for the Chase via a race victory. Ragan posted the first Front Row Motorsports victory at Talladega Superspeedway in May 2013, and now Buescher has the second.
"We're in the hunt," Buescher said. "We can definitely handle this now. We can get into this Chase now. We'll go do it the same way we've been doing. ... We've been heading in the right direction."
While Buescher pulled off the upset, many in the garage will see it as a just victory in the racing world. Buescher is well-respected not only for winning the 2015 Xfinity Series title but also because he took the chance to get Sprint Cup experience knowing he would drive for an underfunded, underdog team that likely would produce few top-10s, let alone victories.
"The key [for young drivers] is to make the most of your opportunities," said second-place finisher Brad Keselowski. "Chris is a master of that. He makes the most out of each and every opportunity.
"That's going to take him a long ways in his career."
Buescher had to take something of a sidestep in his career this year. After winning the Xfinity Series title for Roush Fenway Racing in 2015, Buescher was set to defend that title this year when Roush did a deal with Front Row Motorsports to loan Buescher -- and crew chief Bob Osborne -- to Front Row for 2016.
Buescher won on a day when two of the youngest stars of the Sprint Cup Series -- Austin Dillon and Kyle Larson -- battled side by side for the lead and appeared to have the best pit strategy early in the race.
"Congratulations to [Buescher]," said Dillon, who has raced Buescher in the Xfinity Series. "It's a little frustrating for all of us who were up there. It will be a blessing for him. He's a great guy. He deserves anything that he's got coming to him.
"I just wish it was us. Given the situation, it was a heartbreaker."
Larson and Dillon, both in their third year of Sprint Cup racing, are still looking for a first career win. The same is true for rookie Chase Elliott, who has had the best points season of any rookie.
After the race was red-flagged, Elliott went over to Buescher.
"I stopped by and told him I was pulling for him," Elliott said just before the race was ruled official. "It would be really cool. He's a good racer. He's deserving of a good opportunity and I think it would be neat to see him get a win."
Buescher obviously thought it was neat. It was a great victory for him and Osborne, a former crew chief for Carl Edwards.
"He's a good kid and an Xfinity champion," said three-time Sprint Cup champion Tony Stewart during the NBCSN telecast. "It doesn't matter how you get your first win, you just want to get your first win." | Sports Competition | August 2016 | ['(ESPN)'] |
A Saudi national opens fire at the AlSalam Royal Palace in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, killing two guards and injuring three others. Security guards shoot and kill the gunman. , | JEDDAH: A gunman armed with a Kalashnikov rifle and three petrol bombs killed two Royal Guards and wounded three others in an attack at a security guards checkpoint at the western gate of Al-Salam Palace in Jeddah early on Saturday.
The attacker, Mansour bin Hassan Al Ameri, 28, a Saudi, was killed by security forces on the spot, said Interior Ministry spokesperson Mansour Al-Turki.
The gunman left his vehicle and started shooting at the guards, Al-Turki said. Investigations are continuing.
| Armed Conflict | October 2017 | ['(Arab News)', '(BBC)'] |
The Auburn Tigers defeat the Oregon Ducks to win the 2011 BCS National Championship Game. | So he started running again -- past the tackler who thought he had him down, deep into Oregon territory. A once-in-a-lifetime run, the kind that wins championships.
Dyer's stop-and-go maneuver set up a short field goal on the last play that sent No. 1 Auburn over the No. 2 Ducks 22-19 in the Tostitos BCS National Championship Game Monday night.
"All I knew was the whistle wasn't blowing and my coach was saying 'Go!' " Dyer said.
With his 37-yard run, sure to be preserved in college football's highlight reel, the freshman running back did what most fans thought was impossible -- he upstaged his teammate, Heisman-winning quarterback Cam Newton.
Three plays later, Dyer ran 16 yards to push the ball to the 1 and set up Wes Byrum's 19-yard field goal with no time left. It was his sixth career game-winning field goal -- the one that capped off a perfect, 14-0 season, brought the title back to Auburn for the first time since 1957 and left the Southeastern Conference on top for the fifth straight year.
"Fifty-three years, baby!" coach Gene Chizik said to the cheering crowd. "This is for you. War Eagle!"
A few hours after the game, Auburn won the Associated Press national title as well, earning 56 of the 59 first-place votes. TCU was second, and Oregon came in third.
Dyer was the star of a classic sequence that closed out a wild finish -- five crazy minutes of football that made up for the first 55, which were more of a bruising battle than the offensive masterpiece everyone had predicted.
The craziness began when Casey Matthews, son of the 1980s NFL linebacker Clay, knocked the ball from Newton's hands while he was trying to ice a 19-11 lead.
Oregon's offense, shut down by Nick Fairley & Co. for most of the night, moved 45 yards over the next 2:17 and Darron Thomas threw a shovel pass to LaMichael James for a touchdown. Thomas hit Jeff Maehl for the tying 2-point conversion with 2:33 left and the game was down to the last possession.
And that possession will be remembered for one incredible play.
Dyer, who chose jersey No. 5 because that's how old his brother was when their father died in a car accident nearly two decades ago, took the handoff from Newton and ran off right tackle for what looked like a 6- or 7-yard gain. Nothing routine about this one, though. He wasn't sure his knee hit the ground, so, urged by his coaches on the sideline, he popped up and kept going. Almost everyone on the field had stopped playing, but the referee never blew the play dead. Dyer made it to the Oregon 23. An official's review ensued and the replay showed that, indeed, his knee had never touched the turf.
"Really, it was going through my mind to get the first down, hold onto the ball," Dyer said. "And the time being tackled, my knee wasn't down ... I didn't hear a whistle, not yet, so I was kind of, like, looking, like, what's going on?"
In a statement released after the game, Big Ten referee Bill LeMonnier said he was confident of the call: "The ruling on the field was there was nothing other than the foot that touched the ground," he explained.
Eddie Pleasant, the Oregon defensive back who almost made the tackle, was as shocked as anyone.
"It hurts, you know," he said. "It's not like he broke free and did some spectacular things. He was tackled. Everybody on the side of the defense stopped. He stopped and the coach told him to keep running and he ran. It's not like it was a blown assignment. It's not like he busted a 50-yard run down the middle. It was just a crazy play."
Dyer finished with 143 yards and was chosen Offensive Player of the Game -- no small feat considering he had Newton playing well on the same offense.
Newton threw for 265 yards and two touchdowns and ran for 64 yards, most in short, punishing bites. He wrenched his back and had to go to the trainer after the game. All in a night's work: "I'm OK. It was worth it," he said.
Newton received X-rays on his back following the game, ESPN's Tom Rinaldi reported.
It was a good performance, but not spectacular -- par for the course in a game that was projected as a possible 60-55 thriller by South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier and a 74-point touchdown-fest by the oddsmakers who set the over-under.
Wearing white jerseys with gray numbers, green pants and DayGlo shoes and socks, the Ducks got only 49 yards rushing from James. An offense that had been held under 37 points only once all year managed just the two touchdowns. The last one came on a simple shovel pass from Thomas, who finished with 363 yards -- 81 of which came on a long pass to Maehl that set up the first touchdown.
Oregon didn't come close to its nation-leading 49-point average and the fast-paced offense that turned most opponents into mush in the second half couldn't wear down Auburn.
The Ducks finished 12-1, three points shy of their first national title, but not making apologies for the effort they gave in the desert.
"When it comes down to a field goal at the last second, you can always point to play here, a play there, but it really doesn't do much for you," Oregon coach Chip Kelly said. "We're a forward-thinking operation, and we'll learn from this thing and move forward."
Fairley, Auburn's 298-pound defensive tackle, had the Ducks moving backward much of the night. He lived up to his reputation as a game-changer for better, with three tackles for loss, including a sack -- and for worse, when he got a 15-yard penalty for shoving James' face into the turf after the whistle.
Newton was a game-changer, as always, helping Auburn to its ninth comeback win of this improbable season. He has now won the national title three straight years -- in 2008 as a backup to Tim Tebow at Florida, last year in junior college at Blinn and now with the Tigers.
If he goes pro -- as some people expect -- this will mark the end of a tumultuous stay at Auburn, shadowed by an NCAA investigation into his failed recruitment by Mississippi State. The governing body cleared him to play before the SEC championship but said his father, Cecil, solicited money from the Bulldogs.
"Anything is possible," Newton said. "I guarantee, five or six months ago, that no one would bet their last dollar that Auburn would win the national championship. And now we're standing here."
Standing with a crystal football, the biggest jewel in a bowl season that, at times, felt never-ending, beginning on Dec. 18 with the BYU-UTEP game and wrapping up in Arizona with a most improbable finish.
The SEC improved to 7-0 in BCS title games. Four different teams from the conference have won it in this latest five-year run.
LSU. Florida twice. Alabama.
And now, Auburn, the school that has loads of tradition -- the Tiger Walk, the War Eagle yell and a case full of Heisman and other big-time individual trophies -- but not nearly as many titles to go with it. Bad luck in the polls doomed their one-loss season in 1983, probation kept them from capitalizing on a perfect record in 1993 and the vagaries of the BCS left them on the outside in 2004, maybe the most painful of all the snubs.
So, really, this one is for all the Bos and Beasleys and Terrys and Tracys in the Auburn family who came close but couldn't close the deal. And it fashions a nice symmetry with that team up the road -- the Crimson Tide -- which took home the Heisman and the same crystal championship trophy one short year ago.
Tide fans, of course, will remind you that it still has five more AP titles than the Tigers. But this celebration is going on at Toomer's Corner in Auburn, where the traditional toilet-papering of the drugstore and the rest of the street was going on in full force in the bitter cold as Monday night turned into Tuesday morning.
"Winning a championship for the Auburn family, I can't really describe it right now," Chizik said. "To try would probably cheapen it."
At Auburn, the words "War Eagle" would almost surely suffice.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
Heather Dinich explains the next steps in the College Football Playoff expanding and when it could be implemented.
Mark Emmert wrote in a memo Friday that if the NCAA's more than 1,200 member schools cannot pass NIL legislation by July, he would take action.
More than 100 former members of Bo Schembechler's Michigan football teams signed a letter this week seeking to defend the former coach's reputation after claims that he ignored allegations that a then-team doctor was sexually assaulting his patients.
The proposal to expand the College Football Playoff to 12 teams will be presented at a meeting Tuesday to the 11 university presidents and chancellors who have the ultimate authority over the format.
The pandemic forced coaches to think creatively, and some of their quick fixes, like virtual visits for recruits, turned out to be a mainstay.
Alabama and Clemson both were installed with season win totals of 11.5 by Caesars Sportsbook by William Hill, which posted totals for each FBS team Thursday. | Sports Competition | January 2011 | ['(ESPN)'] |
Ten officers are killed by an alliance of rebel groups during an attack at a police station in Naungmon. | Fighters from an alliance of rebel groups reportedly attack a police station in a new escalation after the military coup.
An alliance of ethnic armies in Myanmar that has opposed the military’s crackdown on anti-coup protests has attacked a police station in the country’s east and killed at least 10 policemen, according to local media.
The police station at Naungmon in Shan state was attacked early in the morning of Saturday by fighters from an alliance that includes the Arakan Army, the Ta’ang National Liberation Army and the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, media reported.
Shan News said at least 10 policemen were killed, while the Shwe Phee Myay news outlet put the death toll at 14.
There was no immediate comment by the military.
Al Jazeera’s Tony Cheng, reporting from neighbouring Thailand, noted the ethnic armies are some of the oldest in the world, having battled central government forces for decades.
“Since the [February 1] coup, there has been a lot of talk about armed groups operating together but we have not actually seen it before. Today it’s claimed three acted together, joined forces, attacked this outpost manned by Myanmar police, killing a number of policemen,” said Cheng.
More than 700 people have been killed by the military in the crackdown on protests against the coup, according to a monitoring group. As violence has escalated, about a dozen armed groups have condemned the coup-makers as illegitimate and pledged to stand with the protesters.
Civilian lawmakers, most of whom are in hiding after their removal, have announced plans to form a “national unity government” with key roles for ethnic leaders and are holding online talks about joint resistance to the generals.
Meanwhile, reports from Myanmar said dozens of people were killed in a military assault on anti-coup protesters in the city of Bago, about 60km (32 miles) northeast of Yangon.
Independent local media and the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), which issues daily counts of casualties and arrests from the crackdown against protesters, put the death toll to at least 82.
The AAPP’s tallies are widely accepted as highly credible because cases are not added to their totals until they have been confirmed, with the details published on the group’s website. In its Saturday report, it said it expected the number of dead in Bago to rise as more cases were verified.
News site Myanmar Now cited a protest leader as saying dozens of bodies had been brought inside a pagoda compound where the military was based. Witnesses cited by both media outlets reported hours of gunfire that started early on Friday.
Protests against the February coup continued on Saturday in Yangon, Mandalay, Bagan, Sagaing, Myeik and many other cities.
The military crackdown has also included reports of protesters being tortured in detention and harsh sentences.
The military issued death sentences on 19 people from Yangon’s North Okkalapa township on Friday. They were charged with beating an army captain, according to Radio Free Asia.
The military coup overthrew the elected government led by Aung San Suu Kyi, who is currently under house arrest.
Anti-coup groups share radio frequencies, offline internet resources to circumvent internet curbs amid violence.
Local media say residents of northwest town used guns, knives, firebombs as security forces attempted to quell protests.
Diplomats loyal to the military seized control of embassy leaving Ambassador Kyaw Zwar Minn locked out in the street.
People reported killed overnight and on Saturday in Bago outside Yangon as security forces dismantle barricade.
| Armed Conflict | April 2021 | ['(Al Jazeera)'] |
Russia dismisses calls for further sanctions against Iran in the aftermath of the report on suspect Iranian nuclear activities. | MOSCOW — Russia on Wednesday sharply dismissed calls for further sanctions against Iran in the aftermath of a new United Nations report on suspect Iranian nuclear activities, signaling the Kremlin’s departure from the cooperation on Iran that was a hallmark of the “reset” in relations with the United States.
“The world community will see all additional sanctions against Iran as an instrument of regime change in Tehran,” Gennadi M. Gatilov, Russia’s deputy foreign minister, said in comments to the Interfax news agency. “This approach is unacceptable to us, and the Russian side does not intend to consider such a proposal.”
Michael Schwirtz contributed reporting.
| Diplomatic Talks _ Diplomatic_Negotiation_ Summit Meeting | November 2011 | ['(The New York Times)'] |
FBI agents arrest a Cleveland man they say told an undercover agent he was planning to bomb a July 4th celebration. | CLEVELAND/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An Ohio man arrested on suspicion of planning to detonate a bomb at Cleveland’s Fourth of July celebrations and then stand by and watch “it go off” was granted a public defender on Monday during his initial court appearance.
FBI agents on Sunday arrested Demetrius Pitts, 48, after he met with an undercover agent and said he planned to plant a bomb at an event celebrating the U.S. Independence Day holiday in the Ohio city.
Pitts, a U.S. citizen and Philadelphia native who had expressed allegiance to the al Qaeda militant group, intended to target other locations in Cleveland and Philadelphia, the agency said.
An undercover FBI agent helped Pitts pick the location for his planned attack. The site is near multiple U.S. government buildings and a scheduled fireworks show along the city’s Lake Erie waterfront.
“I’m gonna be downtown when the when the thing go off. I’m gonna be somewhere cuz I wanna see it go off,” Pitts told an undercover agent who he believed was affiliated with al Qaeda, according to court documents.
Most American cities and towns mark the holiday with fireworks and parades, and typically ramp up security around such events.
In 2015, U.S. law enforcement officials said they had arrested more than 10 people inspired by the Islamic State militant group ahead of the Fourth of July holiday, saying the arrests had disrupted planned attacks.
Pitts also suggested giving the children of military personnel remote control cars packed with explosives during the event, in the hope they would unwittingly detonate the bombs, the FBI said.
Pitts, most recently of the Cleveland suburb of Maple Heights, has criminal and traffic convictions in Hamilton County, which includes Cincinnati, dating back to 1989 through 2006. He served time in prison for a 1993 robbery in the area.
In his latest run-in with law enforcement, he was charged with attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization. He faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted.
He appeared in court wearing glasses, a gray T-shirt, khaki shorts and black sneakers with the laces removed. He told the judge he was unemployed and was assigned to the public defender’s office.
Pitts also discussed possibly traveling to San Francisco for reconnaissance for al Qaeda, the FBI said.
Relatives could not immediately be reached for comment.
“This defendant, by his own words and by his own deeds, wanted to attack our nation and its ideals,” said Justin Herdman, the U.S. attorney for northern Ohio.
According to one of two of his Facebook pages, Pitts attended culinary school in Philadelphia, lived in Chicago and went to high school in Lincoln City, Oregon.
The FBI reviewed the Ohio suspect’s Facebook account, which appeared to have been taken down on Monday, after receiving a tip and determined that Pitts was “threatening violence against the United States,” the FBI said.
In January 2017, under the name Abdur Raheem Rafeeq, Pitts commented on pictures believed to be of a training camp for militants.
But officials said he had been radicalized in the United States.
“We need to known how to shoot guns... We should always be prepared to fight in the name of Allah Akbar,” the post read, according to the FBI.
Additional reporting by Barbara Goldberg and Diana Kruzman in New York; Editing by Frank McGurty and Jonathan Oatis
| Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | July 2018 | ['(Reuters)'] |
An Egyptian court sentences former President Mohammed Morsi to twenty years imprisonment for involvement in the killing of protesters when he was in power. | An Egyptian court has sentenced ousted President Mohammed Morsi to 20 years in jail for ordering the arrest and torture of protesters during his rule.
It is the first verdict he has received since his overthrow and is one of several trials he faces.
Morsi was deposed by the military in July 2013 following mass street protests against his rule.
Since then, the authorities have banned his Muslim Brotherhood movement and arrested thousands of his supporters.
Morsi and 14 other Brotherhood figures escaped a more serious charge of inciting the killing of protesters, which could have carried the death sentence.
Most of the other defendants were also given 20-year prison sentences. Morsi's legal team have said they will appeal.
This verdict is just one of several Mr Morsi faces. They include:
Little sympathy for Morsi in Egypt press
What's become of Egypt's Morsi?
Morsi stood accused of inciting supporters to kill a journalist and opposition protesters in clashes outside the presidential palace in late 2012.
As crowds grew outside the palace, Morsi ordered the police to disperse them.
They refused, so the Muslim Brotherhood brought in their own supporters. Eleven people died in the ensuing clashes, mostly from the Brotherhood.
Hearing the verdict, Morsi and the other defendants gave a four-fingered salute, a symbol of the deadly clearance of Brotherhood supporters at the Rabaah al-Adawiya mosque in 2013.
A senior Brotherhood figure, Amr Darrag, called the ruling a "travesty of justice".
"They want to pass a life sentence for democracy in Egypt," he said.
Ramy Ghanem, a lawyer for one of those injured in the clashes, expressed surprise that Morsi escaped the more serious charge, but told the AFP news agency the sentences are "not bad".
However the brother of one of the victims said he wanted to "enter the cage and pull out his [Morsi's] intestines", according to Reuters.
Morsi has rejected the authority of the courts, shouting during his first trial that he was the victim of a military coup.
On Monday, a court sentenced 22 Muslim Brotherhood supporters to death for an attack on a police station in Cairo, part of an ongoing crackdown against the Islamist movement.
Morsi was Egypt's first freely-elected president, but protests began building less than a year into his rule when he issued a decree granting himself far-reaching powers.
A court dropped charges of conspiracy to kill protesters against Morsi's predecessor, Hosni Mubarak, last year.
| Famous Person - Commit Crime - Sentence | April 2015 | ['(BBC)'] |
Following a campaign led by Georgian politician Zurab Japaridze, the Constitutional Court of Georgia legalizes cannabis for recreational use. Georgia is the first former Soviet Republic to fully legalize the drug, with it also being decriminalized in Russia, Ukraine and Estonia. | TBILISI -- Georgia's Constitutional Court has abolished administrative punishments for the consumption of marijuana, making the Caucasus country the first former Soviet republic to legalize usage of the drug.
The ruling by four senior court judges on July 30 concerns only the consumption of cannabis, while cultivation and selling remain a crime, the court said in its ruling.
It added that punishing a person for consuming cannabis would comply with the constitution only if consumption put a third party at risk.
"According to the applicants [Zurab Japaridze and Vakhtang Megrelishvili], the consumption of marijuana is not an act of social threat. In particular, it can only harm the user's health, making that user him/herself responsible for the outcome. The responsibility for such actions does not cause dangerous consequences for the public," the court said.
"The Constitutional Court highlights the imposition of responsibility of marijuana consumption when it creates a threat to third parties. For instance, the court will justify responsibility when marijuana is consumed in educational institutions, public places, such as on public transport, and in the presence of children,” it added.
The ruling was prompted by a lawsuit filed by activists of the opposition Girchi party.
"It can only harm the health of the consumer, who is responsible for the results of the action," the lawsuit read.
Japaridze told reporters the ruling was a victory for a freer Georgia.
"This wasn't a fight for cannabis. This was a fight for freedom," he said.
In late November, the Constitutional Court decriminalized use of marijuana or other forms of cannabis-based drugs but preserved administrative punishment, such as a fine, for marijuana use.
Before that, Georgia's Criminal Code defined repetitive use of marijuana and possession of more than 70 grams of dried cannabis as a crime for which individuals could face punishment that does not include imprisonment.
The Girchi party, which has led a drive to legalize marijuana since November 2016, said then that it will fight for complete decriminalization of marijuana in the country | Government Policy Changes | July 2018 | ['(Georgia Today)', '(RFE/RL)'] |
Latvia's State Border Guard begins the construction of a border fence that will cover almost a third of the Latvia–Russia border in an effort to keep out migrants who attempt to illegally cross the border from Russia. | According to Eugenia Pozniak, of the Border Guard Service, the new fence will cover almost a third of the total border between Russia and its Baltic neighbor.
“Over the last year we detained 144 persons, and this year their number is approaching 500. There we are talking about a threefold increase. A lot of them Vietnamese and they usually go in groups of several dozen people,” Pozniak told the BBC, according to a translation from Newsweek.
Latvia's fence construction does not explicitly reference the ongoing security situation in the Baltics. However, it does follow a trend among the other Baltic nations and Poland to strike a more defensive posture against Russia due to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.
In April 2015, Poland announced that it would build a series of watchtowers along its border with Russia's Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad. Warsaw also announced that it would increase its defense spending to better prepare itself for any conflict between Russia and NATO, of which it is is a military member.
The Baltic nation of Lithuania also announced in February 2015 that it would bring back limited mandatory conscription in an effort to stand up to potential Russian expansionism.
"We must temporarily renew mandatory military service," President Dalia Grybauskaite told reporters, according to AFP. "The current geopolitical environment requires us to enhance and accelerate army recruitment."
And the concerns of a revanchist Russia has echoed beyond the Baltic states to Scandinavia. Historically neutral Sweden has made a series of security pledges and mutual defense pacts with neighboring Baltic and Scandinavian countries in an effort to boost its own security, as the country continues to debate whether or not it should join the NATO military alliance.
Construction of the Latvian fence officially began on Monday, with designs having started in the beginning of 2015. | Organization Established | December 2015 | ['(Business Insider)'] |
SpaceX successfully launches the EchoStar 23 satellite, a Direct-to-home television broadcast services for Brazil, into a geosynchronous transfer orbit, using the fully expendable version of their Falcon 9 launch vehicle. | SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket has conducted its third flight of the year on Thursday, following a scrub due to high winds on Tuesday. The launch carried a commercial communications satellite into geosynchronous transfer orbit. The launch took place from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Falcon 9 Launch:
The launch carried the EchoStar XXIII satellite into orbit for EchoStar Corporation.
With a mass of around 5,500 kilograms (12,000 lb), EchoStar XXIII was the heaviest geosynchronous payload yet launched by the Falcon 9, requiring the rocket to fly in a fully-expendable configuration.
By eliminating the attempt to recover the rocket’s first stage, which has been a feature of SpaceX’s recent launches, the rocket does not need to conserve fuel for first stage landing maneuvers and also saves weight through the elimination of hardware carried to support the landing – including the landing gear and grid fins.
EchoStar XXIII was constructed by Space Systems Loral (SSL), based on the SSL-1300 bus. The satellite was originally constructed as EchoStar XIII, or CMBStar, which was intended to be used under a partnership between EchoStar and the Chinese government to provide s-band mobile video broadcasting during the 2008 Summer Olympics.
The program was abandoned in April 2008, after construction was complete, when it became clear the satellite would not launch in time for the Olympics – although the reason stated for the cancellation was that performance specifications had not been met.
The EchoStar XXIII satellite was ordered in 2014, to reuse the spacecraft which had been constructed for the earlier mission. The large antenna which would have served mobile users of the EchoStar XIII satellite has been replaced with four Ku-band antennae with thirty-two transponders, while the satellite is also able to offer S-band and Ka-band communications.
The satellite has a design life of fifteen years and will begin its service life in an orbital slot at a longitude of 45 degrees West. However, it is able to operate in any of EchoStar’s eight geosynchronous slots allotted to Ku-band broadcasting satellites.
The launch took place from the historic Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Built in the 1960s for the Apollo program, LC-39A served as the prime launch pad for manned Lunar missions. Every Apollo mission to visit the moon, except for Apollo 10, lifted off from LC-39A atop a Saturn V rocket – the pad was also used for the Saturn V’s first two unmanned launches, Apollo 4 and Apollo 6, the Earth-orbit Apollo 9 mission, and to launch the Skylab space station aboard a modified two-stage version of the Saturn V.
Following the Skylab launch, LC-39A was converted to serve the Space Shuttle, which made its maiden flight from the pad on 12 April 1981. The Space Shuttle flew eighty-two of its 135 missions from Launch Complex 39A, with its other flights being made from Complex 39’s other pad, LC-39B.
Since the end of the Space Shuttle program a third pad has been added to the launch complex; LC-39C is located within the perimeter of pad 39B, and is designed to accommodate smaller rockets. It has not yet been used for a launch.
The final Space Shuttle launch, STS-135, occurred from LC-39A on 8 June 2011. NASA announced in 2014 that it had agreed to lease pad 39A to SpaceX for twenty years, with SpaceX converting the facility to service its Falcon 9 rocket as well as the future Falcon Heavy.
A new hangar was constructed at the base of the pad’s ramp, replacing the role of the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) in integrating rockets.
In contrast to Saturn and the Space Shuttle, which were stacked vertically atop a mobile platform and then rolled to the pad atop a crawler transporter vehicle, Falcon is assembled horizontally and then erected on the launch pad.
The launch of EchoStar XXIII is the second for SpaceX from the Kennedy Space Center, following the Falcon 9’s inaugural mission from the site last month.
EchoStar XXIII was the first commercial geosynchronous satellite to be launched from Kennedy since January 1986 – when Space Shuttle Columbia deployed the Satcom K1 spacecraft, with the aid of a PAM-D2 upper stage, during the last successful Shuttle mission before the loss of Challenger.
Before Challenger, commercial satellites – along with other payloads for NASA and the US military – were frequently deployed during Space Shuttle missions.
Beginning with Columbia’s STS-5 mission in 1982, a total of twenty commercial communications satellites were deployed. The Shuttle would carry the satellites into low Earth orbit, with perigee kick motors such as the Payload Assist Module (PAM) boosting them into geosynchronous transfer orbit.
Although commercial satellite deployments were halted after Challenger, NASA and the military continued to fly satellites aboard the Shuttle into the 1990s.
The Space Shuttle’s final geostationary payload was NASA’s TDRS-G – later TDRS-7 – communications satellite, which Discovery deployed with the aid of an Inertial Upper Stage (IUS) in July 1995’s STS-70 mission.
The final Shuttle mission dedicated to satellite deployment was STS-93, conducted by Columbia in July 1999, which placed the Chandra X-Ray Observatory into a highly elliptic orbit – again using an IUS.
The EchoStar launch was the first from LC-39A not in support of the International Space Station since Space Shuttle Atlantis flew the final Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission, STS-125, in May 2009.
The launch was the ninety-sixth from Launch Complex 39A, the 155th from Launch Complex 39 and the 156th overall from the Kennedy Space Center.
The mission was the thirty-first flight of the Falcon 9 rocket, which made its debut with a test launch in June 2010.
The first five launches used a configuration which has retrospectively been known as Falcon 9 v1.0, with the sixth launch onwards introducing the v1.1 configuration which stretched both the first and second stages of the rocket, rearranged the first stage engines from a square to octagonal formation and upgraded the vehicle’s engines.
The current configuration, known informally as the Falcon 9 Full Thrust or Falcon 9 v1.2, further stretched the vehicle’s second stage, introduced supercold liquid oxygen – which is denser than the liquid oxygen used previously, allowing a greater mass of oxidizer to be carried within the same tank volume – and uprated engines.
The Falcon 9 was designed with reusability in mind; where mission requirements allow, the first stage is equipped with landing gear and makes a series of engine burns to guide itself back to Earth after separation.
A major goal of the Full Thrust configuration was to increase the rocket’s performance so that an attempt to recover the first stage could be made on nearly all missions, either aboard an Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ship (ASDS) downrange, or where the mission’s performance margin is sufficient by returning to the launch site.
SpaceX has achieved in increasing level of success with recovery attempts; recovering eight first stages from thirteen attempts.
The mission did not include a landing attempt, as delivering EchoStar XXIII into geosynchronous transfer orbit required too much of the rocket’s performance. The rocket flew without the legs and grid fins used in landing attempts, with the spent first stage falling into the Atlantic Ocean once it completed its burn.
Fuelling of the Falcon 9 for the launch began seventy minutes before liftoff with loading of RP-1 propellant. A poll eight minutes beforehand verified that controllers were happy to proceed into this stage of the countdown. Oxidizer loading began forty-five minutes in advance of launch.
Most of the countdown’s visible activity occurred in the final ten minutes. At the seven-minute mark chilldown of the vehicle’s engines began. Shortly afterwards the strongback – the structure used to transport the rocket to the launch pad, erect it and to provide umbilical connections, retracted by a degree and a half as a test ahead of its full retraction as the rocket lifts off.
Final approval to launch was given by the US Air Force’s Range Control Officer (RCO) and SpaceX’s launch director at the 120-second and 90-second marks in the countdown respectively.
Three seconds before launch, the first stage’s nine Merlin 1D engines ignited, with the rocket lifting off as the countdown reached zero. As Falcon began its climb away from the pad, the strongback fell away from the vehicle to its retracted position.
Falcon 9 passed through the area of maximum dynamic pressure – or Max-Q – where the vehicle experiences peak aerodynamic stress, seventy-six seconds after liftoff. The first stage burned for two minutes and forty-three seconds before cutoff, or MECO.
Four seconds after MECO the spent stage was jettisoned, with second stage ignition taking place eight seconds after stage separation. The payload fairing separated from the nose of the vehicle forty-eight seconds into the second stage burn.
To deploy EchoStar XXIII, the Falcon 9’s second stage was called upon to make two burns. The first of these lasted five minutes and 36 seconds, establishing an initial parking orbit.
Following a 17-minute, 48-second coast phase the second stage restarted its vacuum-optimised Merlin-1D engine for a sixty-second second burn. The end of this burn, at 27 minutes and 19 seconds mission elapsed time, concluded powered flight.
Spacecraft separation occurred six minutes and 41 seconds later, thirty-four minutes after liftoff.
The third mission for SpaceX in 2017, the launch followed last month’s CRS-10 Dragon mission to the International Space Station and January’s deployment of ten Iridium communications satellites.
The Iridium launch, conducted from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, marked Falcon’s return to flight after a Falcon 9 exploded on its launch pad last September during fuelling for a test firing ahead of the planned launch of the Amos 6 satellite, which was destroyed in the explosion.
*Click here for 100s of SpaceX News Articles*
The launch marks the start of a busy two weeks on Florida’s Space Coast, with a Delta IV launch from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station scheduled to deploy the WGS-9 communications satellite and an Atlas V slated to carry Orbital ATK’s next Cygnus spacecraft, the SS John Glenn, to the International Space Station.
The next mission for SpaceX is currently scheduled for 27 March, with another Falcon 9 from LC-39A deploying the SES-10 satellite. That launch is expected to be the first to re-fly a first stage recovered from a previous mission.
EchoStar’s next launch is expected to be conducted by International Launch Services at the end of April; a Proton-M rocket with a Briz-M upper stage will carry the EchoStar XXI satellite into orbit. | New achievements in aerospace | March 2017 | ['(NASA Spaceflight)'] |
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