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King Salman of Saudi Arabia, 84, is admitted to a hospital due to an inflammation of the gall bladder. The hospitalization prompts Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al–Kadhimi to cancel his scheduled visit to Saudi Arabia. | RIYADH (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia’s 84-year-old ruler, King Salman bin Abdulaziz, has been admitted to hospital in the capital Riyadh, suffering from inflammation of the gall bladder, state news agency SPA said on Monday.
The king, who has ruled the world’s largest oil exporter and close U.S. ally since 2015, is undergoing medical checks, the agency added, without giving details.
After the news, Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi postponed a visit scheduled to Saudi Arabia, said Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud.
King Salman received phone calls from the leaders of Kuwait, Bahrain and Jordan, who were “reassured of his health”, SPA reported later on Monday.
Kuwait’s 91-year-old ruler Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah himself underwent surgery on Sunday.
Related Coverage
King Salman, the custodian of Islam’s holiest sites, spent more than 2-1/2 years as the Saudi crown prince and deputy premier from June 2012 before becoming king. He also served as governor of the Riyadh region for more than 50 years.
The de facto ruler and next in line to the throne is the crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, widely referred to as MbS, who has launched reforms to transform the kingdom’s economy and end its “addiction” to oil.
The 34-year-old prince, who is popular among many young Saudis, has won praise at home for easing social restrictions in the conservative Muslim kingdom, giving more rights to women and pledging to diversify the economy.
To the king’s supporters, this boldness at home and abroad was a welcome change after decades of caution, stagnation and dithering.
But state control of the media and a crackdown on dissent in the kingdom make it difficult to gauge the extent of domestic enthusiasm.
The crown prince’s reforms have been accompanied by a purge of top royals and businessmen on charges of corruption, and a costly war in Yemen, which have all unnerved some Western allies and investors.
His prestige also suffered a blow after the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018 at the hands of Saudi security personnel seen as close to him.
Reporting by Alaa Swilam in Cairo and Marwa Rasahd in Riyadh; Writing by Marwa Rashad, Editing by Clarence Fernandez, Maha El Dahan and Jonathan Oatis
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
All quotes delayed a minimum of 15 minutes. See here for a complete list of exchanges and delays. | Famous Person - Sick | July 2020 | ['(Reuters)'] |
Tens of thousands of women hold nationwide protests in 200 cities against Prime Minister of Italy Silvio Berlusconi, whom they say has damaged the standing of women with his string of sex scandals. | Italian women have held protests nationwide and abroad against embattled Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. Thousands of protesters marched in more than 60 towns and cities nationwide. Some women carried banners reading "Italy is not a brothel", and said Mr Berlusconi had demeaned women with his recent sex scandals. The premier denies attending sex parties and consorting with prostitutes, labelling the claims "disgusting" and politically motivated.
Smaller protests were also held on Sunday in Brussels, Madrid, Lisbon, Paris, Lyon and Toulouse in France, and as far afield as Tokyo. Last week prosecutors in Milan applied to have Mr Berlusconi put on trial for allegedly paying for sex with an underage girl.
He denies paying for sex with a Moroccan nightclub dancer when she was 17, and abusing his power to get her released by police after she was detained in another case.
A magistrate will now decide if there is enough evidence to proceed to trial.
If convicted, Mr Berlusconi could face up to 15 years in prison.
Although frequenting prostitutes is not a crime in Italy, having sex with one under the age of 18 is an offence that carries a prison sentence.
Sunday's protests had a title - Se non ora, quando? (If not now, when?) - designed to express the frustration of those Italian women who are asking what it will take for Mr Berlusconi to resign, says the BBC's Duncan Kennedy in Rome.
Protests took place across Italy, including Rome, Naples, Palermo, Bari, Trieste and Venice. Rome's Piazza del Popolo - or People's Square - was crammed with tens of thousands of women and some men in an act of solidarity. "We are asking all women to defend the value of our dignity, and we are asking men, if not now, when?" organisers said on the protest website.
Marching through Naples, the mayor of the southern Italian city, Rosa Russo Iervolino, said: "The importance of this rally is in the common participation of men and women, young and old, intellectuals and workers." One woman at a protest in Milan said Italian women had "become a joke to the rest of the world" because of the allegations surrounding Mr Berlusconi.
Some 400 men and women gathered outside the Sacre Coeur cathedral in Paris, banging pans and calling for Mr Berlusconi to resign, while in Madrid, protesters carried banners reading: "Italy says enough" and "My dignity is not for sale".
Despite all the recent negative publicity, Mr Berlusconi's opinion poll ratings are still at around 35%.
The billionaire prime minister also retains the support of his ruling coalition allies the Northern League, who do not want to see him quit, adds our correspondent.
| Protest_Online Condemnation | February 2011 | ['(BBC)', '(The Daily Telegraph)', '(Herald Sun)'] |
Afghan authorities suspend two Christian foreign aid groups, Church World Service and Norwegian Church Aid, on suspicion of proselytizing in the strictly Islamic republic and said a followup investigation would include whether other groups were trying to convert Muslims. | U.S.-based Church World Service and Norwegian Church Aid will not be allowed to operate while the allegations, aired Sunday on Afghan television, are investigated, said Mohammad Hashim Mayar, the deputy director of the Afghan government office that oversees nongovernment organizations, known as NGOs.
An investigation commission including officers from the National Security and Interior Ministries had been appointed, he said.
Both organizations denied the allegation, and Mayar said officials did not have any evidence of proselytizing beyond the television report.
"They are investigating whether the groups were proselytizing or not," Mayar said. "They will report back and also assess what is the impact of closing these NGOs. The investigation will include whether other groups or individuals are involved."
Norwegian Church Aid Secretary-General Atle Sommerfeldt said in a statement that his organization has a firm policy of not attempting "to convert people to another religion" in all countries where it operates.
Maurice Bloem, deputy director of programs for Church World Service, said in a statement that his organization does not proselytize, in accordance with the code of conduct for NGOs.
Bloem said Church World Service has worked inside Afghanistan since 1979, always in partnership with local Afghan organizations, and has been serving half a million people of different faiths there. He said its mission is to assist the Afghan people.
Proselytizing is illegal in Afghanistan, as it is in many Muslim countries. It is a hot-button issue for many Afghans sensitive to the influence of the scores of foreign aid groups operating in the country to help it recover from decades of war.
The television report, which interviewed local police saying they had heard rumors of the charities' proselytizing, triggered a demonstration by several hundred students at Kabul University on Monday.
The group shouted deaths threats toward foreigners who seek to convert Muslims and demanded that the government expel anyone who tried, said Mohammad Najib, a professor at the school who witnessed the protest.
The group blocked the road outside the university's main gate for more than an hour before the demonstrators moved off peacefully, Najib said. Police stood by but did not intervene.
Church World Service is a cooperative ministry of more than 30 Protestant and Orthodox denominations in the United States and works in more than 80 countries. It is headquartered in Elkhart, Indiana.
Norwegian Church Aid, which is tied to Norway's Lutheran state church and receives financial support from the Norwegian government, operates in about 125 countries, providing long-term development and emergency response aid, according to its website. It said it has been working in Afghanistan since 1979.
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Ragnhild Imerslund said the ministry had scheduled a meeting Monday between Norway's ambassador to Afghanistan and Afghanistan's minister of economic affairs to determine the nature of the allegations. | Armed Conflict | May 2010 | ['(USA Today)'] |
The World Health Organisation confirms a second new case of Ebola virus in Sierra Leone. | Freetown (AFP) - A new case of Ebola has been confirmed in Sierra Leone, officials said Thursday, the second since west Africa celebrated the end of the epidemic last week.
The fresh outbreak has prompted the country to re-open its Ebola treatment centres and relaunch screening systems, including checkpoints on motorways, a grim reminder of the much feared tropical virus.
The World Health Organization said the new case involved the aunt of 22-year-old Marie Jalloh, who died of Ebola on January 12.
The 38-year-old woman "was a primary caregiver during (her niece's) illness," WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic told AFP in an email.
He added that the patient had developed symptoms on Wednesday while she was being monitored at a quarantine facility.
So far, 150 of Jalloh's contacts had been identified, "of which 42 are high risk," Jasarevic said, noting that the list of people who needed to be monitored was likely to grow following the new confirmed case.
Sierra Leone's health ministry spokesman Sidi Yahya Tunis also confirmed the new patient, saying the aunt had helped wash Jalloh's body to prepare it for an Islamic burial.
"We are expecting other cases particularly from those who washed the body before the burial of Marie," he told reporters.
Ebola is at its most infectious as people are dying or in the bodies of those who have died from the virus.
"It is disappointing of course considering the fact that we have gone for over 100 days since we last recorded a case," Tunis said.
"What is however encouraging is the fact that this particular individual had already been identified as a high risk contact... and she was already isolated at the voluntary facility... and we were quickly able to remove her the moment she started exhibiting signs and symptoms," he added.
Sierra Leone's head of medical services, Brima Kargbo, has announced a vaccination programme for those quarantined following Jalloh's death in the central city of Magburaka.
The vaccine being used, VSV-EBOV, is the first to have proven effective, according to experts, and Kargbo has said the operation would continue "until all the contacts are vaccinated."
Some of those quarantined have resisted vaccination, telling health workers they feared it would lead to other ailments.
- Improved response -
A week ago, the WHO announced that transmission of the virus that killed 11,315 people and triggered a global health alert had ended, with Liberia the last country to get the all-clear.
Sierra Leone was declared free of Ebola transmission on November 7 last year and Guinea on December 29.
But officials warned that a recurrence remained possible and stressed the importance of a quick, effective response to potential new cases.
Jasarevic told AFP that Sierra Leone had taken all the necessary measures following the new flare-up.
"It is a concrete demonstration of the government's strengthened capacity to manage disease outbreaks," he said.
Tunis said the latest patient had been taken from her home in Magburaka to a military hospital in the coastal capital, Freetown, which is fully equipped to handle Ebola cases.
"Now that we have seen another case, we are reinstituting screenings and other health measures at major road checkpoints and other areas," he added.
- 'Need to do more' -
Magburaka residents contacted by phone on Thursday told AFP that locals remained calm but were anxious for information about the fresh outbreak.
"The community woke up this morning with the bad news after we were trying to shake off the first shock of Marie Jalloh," said Tity Kamara, a 36-year-old housewife.
"We don't know whether we are now safe and it is the health authorities that should re-assure us of our safety," she added.
"I appreciate their work so far but they need to do more."
The deadliest outbreak in the history of the tropical virus wrecked the economies and health systems of the three worst-hit west African nations after it emerged in southern Guinea 2013.
| Disease Outbreaks | January 2016 | ['(AFP via Yahoo! News)'] |
Lebanon holds two by–elections to replace two members of the Parliament of Lebanon, Pierre Amine Gemayel and Walid Eido, killed in violent incidents claimed to be murder. Camille Khoury and Mohamad Amin Itani are declared as the winners of the elections although rival candidate Amin Gemayel has lodged a complaint about Khoury's victory. | The local residents are voting to replace the MP Pierre Gemayel, a staunch critic of Syria, who was assassinated in November.
Standing to fill the vacant seat is his father, Amin Gemayel, leader of the right-wing Maronite Christian party, the Phalange.
The former president and his allies accuse Syria of orchestrating the killing of his son. "This election is very important," says Mr Gemayel.
"Lebanon is at a crossroad. The people have to make a choice whether they want an independent and democratic Lebanon, or whether they want to vote for the opposition and a country ruled by Syria."
Christian divisions
For as long as anyone can remember in Metn, the Gemayel family and the Phalange have claimed the loyalty of the Christian community.
Founded by Mr Gemayel's father, Pierre, in 1936, the party was one of the main players in the bloody civil war that gripped Lebanon through the 1970s and 1980s.
The splits worry me - only our unity can preserve the country and restore a major role for the Christians in Lebanon
Amin Gemayel
But the family's rule is now hotly contested and the divisions which are emerging between the different Christian factions are dangerous. "The splits worry me," says Mr Gemayel. "Only our unity can preserve the country and restore a major role for the Christians in Lebanon."
"The divisions are dangerous for the future - and they are threatening too!"
Many say they will vote for the Gemayel family in sympathy, but there is sizeable support for the rival candidate, Camille Khoury.
Mr Khoury has been put forward by the other main Maronite Christian leader, Michel Aoun of the Free Patriotic Movement (FMP).
A lifelong critic of Syrian influence in Lebanon, the former army chief surprised many in 2006 when he made an alliance with Hezbollah, the Shia Muslim group which is backed by Damascus.
High stakes
Mr Aoun is keen to become the next president, and Hezbollah are thought to have pledged their support.
"In the past, our party and our leader, General Aoun, have been vocal opponents of Syria's influence in Lebanon," Mr Khoury says. "In fact, I am one of the people who protested - openly!"
Michel Aoun returned to Lebanon in 2005 after 14 years in exile
"I've stood in front of Syrian tanks waving my Lebanese flag - and remember we were the only Christian party that was not in power when the Syrians were here!"
Paul Salem of the Carnegie Middle East Centre says that while Mr Aoun might not be standing this weekend, this is a crucial election for him.
"This by-election is essentially a contest between the two major leaders within the Christian community," he says, "and to some degree will decide the issue as to who represents more strongly the Christian community."
Mr Salem believes victory is crucial for Mr Aoun.
"If he loses, he can no longer claim within the opposition that he can bring the Christians along with him," he says.
"It would put a major dent in his chances of becoming president."
That undoubtedly raises tensions and in the past week the anger has spilled out onto the streets, with the army called in to separate the two sets of rival supporters.
On Friday, Mr Aoun made a speech behind bullet proof glass. His candidate would only be interviewed by the BBC within the confines of his own office. Fleeing the country
There are great fears the violence is set to escalate.
"The Christians are weakening each other," says Riyadh Kharraj, a Maronite who witnessed a clash between Aoun and Gemayel supporters earlier in the week.
Hezbollah is not contesting the seats to spare sectarian tensions
"There is tension and there will be more if it is not resolved." the 54-year-old shopkeeper and Aoun supporter says.
In the other by-election, held in a mainly Muslim district of West Beirut, people are voting to replace Walid Eido, a Sunni Muslim anti-Syrian MP killed in a car bomb attack in June.
Hezbollah has decided not to contest the seat.
"These by-elections might have some influence on the race for the presidency," says Mr Salem. "But in the bigger picture, they are not of major significance." "At the moment, Lebanon is stuck between the internal divisions within parliament and the pressures that come from the region." "On one side are Syria and Iran - on the other the United States and Saudi Arabia. It is all part of the same regional tension that we see in Iraq, we have seen in Palestine." For the past eight months Hezbollah supporters have been camped outside the Prime Minister Fouad Siniora's office refusing to leave until they get a new government of national unity. Parliamentary business has been paralysed since November - many of the anti-Syrian MPs have now left the country in fear of their lives.
It is a crisis that splits Lebanon right down the middle, and the longer it continues the more dangerous all these splits will become. | Government Job change - Election | August 2007 | ['(BBC)', '(AFP via ABC News Australia)'] |
Irom Chanu Sharmila is set to end her 16–year fast against India's Armed Forces Act. | File picture of social activist Irom Chanu Sharmila. Imphal: The 'Iron Lady' of Manipur and social activist Irom Chanu Sharmila is set to end her fast on Tuesday, nearly 16 years after she started her protest against the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA) in Manipur.
Around 10.39 am, she came out of the Imphal hospital and headed for a local court to official declare that she is going to end her fast. There are speculations that she might contest the next year Assembly Elections in Manipur to press her demand politically.
Irom, who was forcibly fed through a nasal tube since 2000 to keep her alive at a prison-turned-hospital, is set to end her fast at a local court in Imphal.
On July 26, Irom told mediapersons outside the Imphal Court that she wanted to contest elections after breaking her fast. Activists associated with her said her decision would mark a new beginning in the fight against AFSPA in the state. Her decision to contest state elections is likely to have a huge impact on Manipur's political scene.
On November 2, 2000, Irom began a hunger strike (unto death) to protest against the gunning down by the Assam Rifles of 10 civilians waiting at a bus stop at Malom near Imphal airport.
On November 5, 2000 she was arrested three days after the fast and on November 21, 2000, she was force-fed through nasogastric intubation in order to keep her alive while under arrest, as her health had deteriorated severely.
Under the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958, in the 7 North-Eastern states and J&K, the armed forces can arrest, search without a warrant and use force on the basis of "reasonable suspicion" that a person is engaging in anti-national activities.
| Government Policy Changes | August 2016 | ['(Special Powers)', '(News18)', '(Ndtv)'] |
A court in India sentences dozens of people to prison, some of them for life, for their roles in riots that killed 69 Muslims in the city of Ahmedabad in 2002. | A court in India has sentenced 11 people to life in prison for their roles in a notorious massacre during the 2002 anti-Muslim riots in Gujarat.
Of the 24 people convicted for the so-called Gulbarg Society killings, 12 were jailed for seven years while one man was sentenced to 10 years.
During the attack, 69 people were hacked and burned to death by a mob.
More than 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, died in the riots, sparked by a fire on a train that killed 60 Hindu pilgrims.
Critics of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was the state chief minister at the time, say he did little to stop the riots.
The special court in Ahmedabad called the incident the "darkest day in the history of civil society".
However, Zakia Jafri, the wife of Ehsan Jafri, a prominent Muslim politician and a former Congress party MP, who was among those killed, has expressed disappointment at the sentencing. "I was there when Ehsaan Jafri was killed, it's not justice at all," she told reporters.
Survivors of the Gulbarg massacre say he fired his gun in self-defence as the mob attacked the complex.
Mrs Jafri says her husband called Mr Modi for help but it never came. Mr Modi has always denied any wrongdoing and has not apologised for the riots. A Supreme Court panel also refused to prosecute him in 2013, citing insufficient evidence. The violence was initially investigated by the Gujarat police and subsequently by an independent Special Investigation Team (SIT) appointed by the Supreme Court in 2008.
The Gulbarg massacre was among 10 key incidents in the riots being investigated by the SIT.
Some of these cases have brought convictions. Court convicts 24 over Gujarat massacre
| Famous Person - Commit Crime - Sentence | June 2016 | ['(BBC)'] |
Ukrainian voters go to the polls to elect a new president. | Ukraine's presidential election is set for a second round run-off after partial results showed no candidate would win more than 50% of the vote.
With half the votes counted, former Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych led current PM Yulia Tymoshenko by 37% to 24%. The two were on opposing sides of the Orange Revolution in 2004-5, but both now favour closer ties with Russia. Current President Viktor Yushchenko has been eliminated from the vote. Unless the exit polls are very wide of the mark, Viktor Yanukovych will face the Prime Minister, Yulia Tymoshenko, in a second round run-off on 7 February. She was instrumental in bringing the current President, Viktor Yushchenko to power during the Orange Revolution five years ago. But the pair soon fell out, and she is now portraying herself as the heir of the Orange mantle. Five years ago Viktor Yanukovych was the villain, tainted by allegations of vote-rigging and open support from Moscow. Now, both candidates say they favour closer ties with Russia - after five years of increasingly tense relations under President Yushchenko - and the Kremlin seems happy with either.
A total of 18 candidates took part in the election. The BBC's Gabriel Gatehouse, in Kiev, says there is much disillusionment among voters over the failure to tackle corruption and links with the EU. It was Mr Yanukovych's victory in the 2004 election that was annulled by the Orange Revolution and brought Mr Yushchenko and Ms Tymoshenko to power. Turnout in the election was reported to be less than 50% by early afternoon. Polls closed at 2000 (1800 GMT). In the capital Kiev, voters walked to polling stations through light snow. In the eastern city of Donetsk, one polling station encouraged voters with vodka and sausage. President Yushchenko cast his ballot at a polling station in central Kiev with his wife, Kateryna, and their five children. "Ukraine once again will demonstrate that it is a European democratic country, that it is a free nation, free people and free election," he said. Warnings of unrest
The leading candidates have accused each other of trying to rig the election, and there have been warnings of unrest after the vote. In an effort to boost confidence in the election, foreign observers have spread out across Ukraine to monitor voting. Jens-Hagen Eschenbacher, of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, said about 600 OSCE election monitors are in place, as well as thousands of other foreign observers. The Orange Revolution led Ukrainians to expect sweeping changes - integration with Europe and an end to corruption, our correspondent says. But the reality has not lived up to expectations and there is widespread disillusionment with politicians across the spectrum, he adds. | Government Job change - Election | January 2010 | ['(Kyiv Post)', '(BBC)'] |
Russia announces that its military has pulled out of Georgia, although reports indicate that it has not complied with the cease-fire agreement. | Russia has defended plans to keep its forces in the key Georgian port of Poti, saying it does not break terms of a French-brokered ceasefire deal.
The US, France and UK say Russia has already failed to comply by creating buffer zones around the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
Russia's Gen Anatoly Nogovitsyn said combat troops had now left Georgia and only peacekeepers remained.
Georgia accuses Moscow of creating an economic stranglehold on the country.
Georgian forces are reported to be back in control of the main east-west highway and residents are returning to their homes in Gori, the largest town close to the border with South Ossetia.
For the first time in more than two weeks the main road from the capital, Tbilisi, to Gori is packed with traffic, reports the BBC's Gabriel Gatehouse.
Minivans are taking passengers back to the towns they left, and carrying provisions to villages where very little has got through the conflict began.
But this is still a fluid situation, our correspondent reports. The Russian checkpoints along this road may have gone but Russian forces still share the road with Georgian soldiers in their green pick-up trucks.
Earlier, about 1,000 Georgians held a demonstration just outside Poti against the Russian continued presence, the Associated Press reports. There are also reports of protesters marching on Russian positions outside Gori.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who brokered the peace plan, has called on Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to withdraw Russian forces from the road linking Poti and Senaki, scene of Georgia's main airbase.
Mr Sarkozy's office says he spoke to Mr Medvedev by telephone.
Earlier, Gen Nogovitsyn, who said Russia was not the Soviet Union or the Evil Empire, accused Georgia of preparing acts of sabotage in South Ossetia and preparing troops for "further actions".
Moscow intends to maintain what it describes as a peacekeeping presence of 2,600 troops in "buffer zones" around Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
Russia insists it is allowed these zones under previous peacekeeping agreements that ended fighting in Abkhazia and South Ossetia when they first broke away from Tbilisi in the 1990s.
The zones include sections of the main highway from Tbilisi to the Black Sea as well as the airbase at Senaki.
Gen Nogovitsyn admitted that Poti, 32km (20 miles) south of Abkhazia, was outside this zone.
The general accused Nato of increasing tensions by massing forces in the Black Sea. He said the arrival of Spanish, German, US and Polish ships in the Black Sea "did not contribute to the settlement of the situation".
Nato says it is holding long-planned exercises in the area, which were not linked to the conflict in Georgia.
Under the terms of the six-point peace plan, Russia must not jeopardise freedom of movement in Georgia, says the BBC's Humphrey Hawksley in Moscow.
Gen Nogovitsyn said the Russian force was in full compliance with the principles signed by the French and Russian presidents.
"The first of them is not using force," he said. "The second one is the end of all military actions. The Commander in Chief of the Russian Federation has taken a decision to that effect and all military activities have been stopped.
"Only peacekeeping actions are still being executed by a special contingent."
France brokered the ceasefire to end fighting over Georgia's Russian-backed breakaway province of South Ossetia which started on 7 August.
The deal's terms are vague about the extent of any buffer zones, analysts say.
A spokesman for the French foreign ministry, Eric Chevalier, said a United Nations Security Council resolution was needed to clarify exactly what the ceasefire agreement covers.
The UN Security Council was split this week over a resolution, with rival drafts submitted by Moscow, and the US and its allies. | Armed Conflict | August 2008 | ['(BBC News)', '(The Independent)', '(Globe and Mail)', '(The New York Times)', '(BBC News)', '(CNN)'] |
Five Iraqi Shia, Sunni and Kurdish political parties sign a deal forming a new "Moderates Front" supporting Prime Minister Nouri al–Maliki | The accord was the second step towards rebuilding Iraq's political process, Mr Maliki said, after four Kurdish and Shia parties formed a new alliance.
A committee formed by the parties had "accomplished some solutions", he said.
Mr Maliki has been criticised in recent days by US politicians, but the White House hailed Sunday's deal as "an important symbol" of unity in Iraq.
"We congratulate Iraq's leaders on the important agreement reached today in Baghdad... [and] their commitment to work together for the benefit of all Iraqis," said a statement issued from President George W Bush's Texas ranch. 'Sense of movement'
Issues under discussion between Iraqi politicians include holding provincial elections and easing a ban on former Baath party members in the civil service and military.
After the meeting, Mr Maliki appeared at a news conference alongside Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, Sunni Vice-President Tariq al-Hashemi, Shia Vice-President Adel Abdul-Mahdi and Massoud Barzani - president of the Kurdish region.
But nothing suggests that the rebuilding of a broad-based government is necessarily any closer, the BBC's Mike Wooldridge in Baghdad says.
Mr Hashemi said he had taken part in the talks as vice-president but did not indicate his Iraqi Islamic Party was about to join the moderate Shia-Kurdish alliance. The news conference seemed intended more to give a sense of movement than to convey the substance of significant agreement, our correspondent adds.
The deal has been pushed by the US as a key step on the path to national reconciliation in Iraq.
Earlier on Sunday, Mr Maliki hit back at senior US politicians who have called for him to be removed from office, singling out senators Hillary Clinton and Carl Levin. He said the Democratic senators were acting as if Iraq was "their property" and that they should "come to their senses" and "respect democracy". US commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus, and US ambassador Ryan Crocker are expected to report to US Congress in mid-September on progress in Iraq since the troop surge.
The introduction of 30,000 extra troops - completed in mid-June - was supposed give the Iraqi government extra time to make political progress. Mr Maliki said a negative report by Gen Petraeus would not cause him to change course, but he expected the general to "be supportive of the government". | Sign Agreement | August 2007 | ['(BBC)'] |
An Egyptian court sentences 26 people to death in absentia for plotting attacks on ships passing through the Suez Canal. | Death sentences were handed down to 26 people Wednesday by an Egyptian court for plotting attacks on ships passing through the Suez Canal, a judicial source told Reuters.
None of the accused were in court to face the charges so they were tried in absentia, Reuters reported.
The defendants were accused of "founding and leading a terror group that aimed to attack people's freedom, damage national unity and (attack) the Suez canal waterway", another source told agency AFP.
The case has now been referred to the Grand Mufti, Egypt's top government cleric, who has the power to commute the death sentences if they contradict Islamic law. The canal, which runs between Port Said and Suez, is a vital global trade route between the Red Sea and Mediterranean and is seen as a prize target for insurgents looking to destabilize the Egyptian economy.
An Islamist insurgency has gained momentum since the army overthrew president Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood in July. A subsequent crackdown on Islamists and liberals saw hundreds killed and thousands jailed. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Sentence | February 2014 | ['(NBC News)'] |
Two passenger trains collide in Iran's Semnan Province resulting in at least 44 deaths and 100 people injured. | ANKARA (Reuters) - Forty-four people were killed and 103 injured when one Iranian passenger train collided with another at a station about 150 miles (250 km) east of the capital Tehran, state media reported.
Deadly train crash in Iran
00:40
“I was sleeping when the crash happened. I thought it was an air strike ... When I opened my eyes, there was blood everywhere,” a hospitalized passenger told state television.
State television footage showed four derailed carriages, two of them on fire and a spokesman for Iran’s Red Crescent, Mostafa Mortazavi, told the semi-official Fars news agency that firefighters were trying to control the blaze.
Senior Health Ministry official later announced via Tasnim news agency that rescue operations had been completed and the final death toll was 44. An investigation into the cause of the crash in the northern province of Semnan was continuing.
Semnan provincial governor Mohammad Reza Khabbaz told Iranian television it appeared that a train entering the Haft-Khan station on the outskirts of Shahroud plowed into another that had broken down there.
“The initial investigation suggests that a mechanical failure, possibly caused by cold weather, forced the express train, operating between the cities of Tabriz and Mashhad, to stop (at Haft-Khan),” Khabbaz said.
Tabriz state governor Rahim Shohratifar told Tasnim that the moving train had 400 passengers. It was not clear how many passengers were on the stationary train. Fars earlier reported that 100 passengers had been rescued.
Semi-official Mehr news agency said four of the dead were railway employees aboard the trains.
Iran’s rail network aged badly under economic sanctions imposed over its disputed nuclear program, making it difficult to modernize rolling stock, and safety standards suffered.
The sanctions were lifted in January after Iran reached a deal with world powers to limit its nuclear activity.
| Train collisions | November 2016 | ['(Reuters)', '(New York Times)', '(AP via Daily Mail)'] |
At least twelve people are killed, and 17 more people are injured, in a train accident in Castelldefels, near Barcelona. (El País) | A high-speed train passing through a Spanish railway station has hit a group of young people crossing the tracks, killing at least 12 people.
The train was travelling through Castelldefels Playa station near Barcelona when the incident occurred.
At least 14 other people were injured, three critically, officials said.
It is believed they were heading to the beach to celebrate a summer festival and were crossing the tracks rather than using a pedestrian underpass.
They had just arrived on a commuter train from Barcelona. The authorities have said the underpass was signposted and open. Some witnesses said it was crowded and taking a long time for people to get through.
One witness, Fernando Ortega, told Spanish media the platform they had arrived on was "very full" and a large group of people "decided to jump across the tracks and cross to the other side of the station" to avoid the crush.
"At that moment a train came from the other direction and ran everyone over."
Another witness, who was not named, said: "The door was closed and we could not get through, so we tried to go through the side of the train, and there was no light and nobody alerted us that the train was coming. We were more than 30 people."
Several people contacted the BBC News website to say that they had used the same station and it was common for people to cross the tracks.
Jordi Morell said: "The underpass is quite small and it has been the usual practice for crowded trains coming from Barcelona, to have at least a third of the passengers crossing the line.
"Even at my age (early 60s) I have got down from the platform and crossed the line rather than wait for the slow queue through the underpass."
Many of the victims were heading to the beach for the annual San Juan festivities, which celebrates one of the year's shortest nights with bonfires, fireworks and dancing.
Marcelo Cardona, a Bolivian who was on the commuter train, said the youths had crossed "in a wave" but that he had held back and waited on the platform.
"The euphoria of getting off the train immediately became screams. There were people screaming, 'my daughter, my sister'," he told the Associated Press.
Mr Cardona said he saw "mutilated people, blood everywhere, blood on the platform".
The owner of a nearby supermarket described the impact between the train and the pedestrians as "brutal".
"The noise was like rocks being crushed," he told El Mundo. Spain's interior minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba said: "We're shocked. It's horrible. The only thing we can do at the moment is send a message of solidarity to the families of those who died and wish that those who are injured will recover as soon as possible."
The accident happened at around 2330 local time (2130 GMT), the interior ministry of Catalonia said.
The ministry added that the rail line was closed and teams of police, medical staff, firefighters and Red Cross workers were at the scene.
No-one on the high-speed train, travelling between Alicante and Barcelona, was hurt.
Although the identities of the victims are not yet known, the president of the government of Catalonia said there were "many of South American origin".
The accident was Spain's worst rail accident since 2003, when 19 people were killed when two trains collided near the central town of Chinchilla.
| Train collisions | June 2010 | ['(BBC News)'] |
Fifteen more people are killed in clashes between security forces and protestors in Iraq, raising the overall death toll to 222 since protests began this month. | At least six killed in Baghdad and Nasiriya, officials say, as protests continue across the country for a second day.
At least six protesters have been killed in clashes with security forces in Iraq, officials said, pushing the overall death toll in this month’s anti-government protests to more than 190.
Thousands took part in nationwide protests on Saturday, and security forces fired tear gas at demonstrators who tried to reach Baghdad’s Green Zone, home to government offices and embassies.
Three protesters were killed when they were struck by tear gas canisters in Baghdad, security and medical officials said.
Three others were shot dead in the southern city of Nasiriya after attacking a local official’s home, according to police and medical officials.
Al Jazeera’s Natasha Ghoneim, reporting from Baghdad, said the mood in the city was tense with heavy security forces deployed around the Iraqi capital.
“People here are furious. Some are trying to storm barricades leading to the Green Zone, where government offices and the parliament building are located,” she said.
“They want the government to go. Security forces are using lots of tear gas and stun grenades.”
The rallies have mainly been by young, unemployed men who are protesting against the government and demanding jobs and better services.
“I want change. I want to remove those corrupt people who sleep in the Green Zone and who fired tear gas and rubber bullets at us,” Mukhaled Fares, 19, told the AP news agency.
The protests are a continuation of the economically driven demonstrations that began in early October and turned deadly as security forces cracked down, using live ammunition.
At least 149 people were killed in the protests earlier in October.
The Iraqi commission for human rights said the death toll from Friday’s protests stood at 42. It said more than 2,300 people were wounded.
The Interior Ministry, meanwhile, praised what it called the restraint shown by security forces on Friday.
“The security forces secured the protection of demonstrations and protesters responsibly and with high restraint, by refraining from using firearms or excessive force against demonstrators,” the ministry said in a statement on Saturday.
People gathered at Baghdad’s Tahrir Square said they were struggling to make sense of what they called the security forces’ excessive use of force, claiming all they carried on them were flags and water to fight off tear gas and rinse their eyes.
“Just yesterday, we lost more than 30 men … We need a safe country,” said Batoul, a 21-year-old protester.
“We want to have a life, literally. It’s not about jobs or money, it’s about being in a good country that we deserve. We have a great country, but not a great government,” she told Al Jazeera.
The ongoing turmoil has broken nearly two years of relative stability in Iraq, which in recent years has endured an invasion by the United States and protracted fighting, including against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL or ISIS) armed group.
The demonstrations have posed the biggest challenge yet to the year-old government of Prime Minister Abdul Mahdi, who has pledged to address demonstrators’ grievances by reshuffling his cabinet and delivering a package of reforms.
The moves have done little to quell the demonstrators, however, whose ire is focused not just on Mahdi’s administration but also Iraq’s wider political establishment, which they say has failed to improve the lives of the country’s citizens.
.
Many view the political elite as subservient to one or other of Iraq’s two main allies, the US and Iran – powers they believe are more concerned with wielding regional influence than ordinary Iraqis’ needs.
Nearly three-fifths of Iraq’s 40 million people live on less than six dollars a day, World Bank figures show, despite the country housing the world’s fifth-largest proven reserves of oil.
Sami Hamdi, editor-in-chief of the UK-based International Interest magazine, said Iraq had seen similar mass protests in the past, but they had dissipated because of a lack of leadership.
“And the other dynamic that many or not talking about, which painful to say, is that Iraqi society is itself very divided. Many Iraqi voted in elections across sectarian lines, and therefore it produced a sectarian government. These parties rewarded their loyalists with public sector jobs,” he said.
“While the protesters are united over their basic rights, they are not united over who should give it to them.”
Thousands also wounded by security forces as renewed rallies erupt in Baghdad and several southern cities.
Committee tasked with probing this month’s unrest recommends Baghdad operations commander and other officials be sacked.
UN chief tells reporters there is a growing threat to public order because of trust deficit between leaders and people. | Protest_Online Condemnation | October 2019 | ['(Al Jazeera)', '(Reuters)'] |
3 coal miners are killed and 40 others are trapped in separate incidents in the People's Republic of China. | BEIJING -- Rescuers were racing against time on Saturday to reach 40 miners buried underground in two separate coal mine disasters which have already killed three people in south China.
Work crew operated at least 17 pumps at Niupeng Mine in rural Guizhou Province to release water from the flooded mine before rescuers could be sent down the pit.
Over a thousand police, firemen, and para-military have been mobilized to join the rescue, said Mao Youzhi, head of the county government of Pingtang, where the coal mine is located.
The flooding occurred at about 9:30 am Saturday when 29 miners were working at two shafts of Niupeng Mine. Eight workers have already been back to the ground safe, the official said.
| Mine Collapses | July 2011 | ['(AP via Newsday – sub. req.)', '(China Daily)'] |
Afghan officials say yesterday's U.S. airstrikes killed up to eight Afghan policemen in Lashkar Gah, Uruzgan. | LASHKAR GAH, Afghanistan (Reuters) - A U.S. air strike killed as many as eight Afghan policemen outside the embattled provincial capital of Uruzgan province, Afghan officials said on Monday, as security forces, supported by U.S. strikes, battle resurgent Taliban militants.
An initial air strike late on Sunday killed one policeman, while a follow up strike targeted first responders, killing at least seven, said Rahimullah Khan, commander of the reserve police unit in Uruzgan.
Another official, Uruzgan deputy police chief Mohammed Qawi Omari, put the death toll at six but also reported the police were killed by a foreign air strike.
The U.S. military command in Kabul confirmed its warplanes had conducted an air strike in the area, but said they targeted “individuals firing on, and posing a threat to” Afghan national security forces.
“We don’t have any further information on who those individuals might have been or why they were attacking ANDSF (Afghan national defense and security forces),” U.S. military spokesman Brigadier General Charles Cleveland said in a statement.
“U.S., coalition, and Afghan forces have the right to self-defense and in this case were responding to an immediate threat.”
Afghan officials said they were investigating the attack and were in contact with the U.S.-led coalition.
Afghan security forces, supported by American air strikes and international military advisers, are battling Taliban militants who have fought a 15-year insurgency against the Western-backed government in Kabul.
Taliban fighters briefly entered Uruzgan’s capital city, Tarin Kot, in early September, according to provincial officials, before being pushed back by security forces.
Additional reporting by Ismail Sameem in Kandahar and Josh Smith in Kabul; Editing by Nick Macfie
| Armed Conflict | September 2016 | ['(Reuters)'] |
An alleged American FBI agent is arrested in Pakistan for carrying ammunition while trying to board a flight, which is in violation of their antiterror laws. | An agent with the US FBI has been arrested under anti-terrorism laws in Pakistan for carrying ammunition while trying to board a flight.
The US citizen was detained at Karachi airport after security staff found 15 bullets for a 9mm handgun in his luggage ahead of a flight to Islamabad.
A spokeswoman for the US state department said he was on a temporary assignment with the US mission.
A judge ruled he be held until Saturday while Pakistani officials investigate. US officials said the man had accidentally been carrying the ammunition in his luggage when he was detained on Monday night.
The US embassy in Islamabad refused to reveal his identity but confirmed that a US citizen had been arrested and said the embassy was co-operating with local authorities.
On Wednesday, US State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki confirmed the man was an FBI employee "on temporary duty assignment to provide routine assistance to the legal attache at the US mission".
"We are co-ordinating with Pakistani authorities to resolve this matter," she said. "We are working closely with them."
American agents operating inside Pakistan have been the cause of strained relations in the past and have fuelled anti-US feeling in the country.
In 2011 there was furore when CIA contractor Raymond Davis was arrested for shooting dead two men following what he said was an attempted armed robbery in Lahore.
Mr Davis was later released after the families of the dead men accepted "blood money".
The United States and Pakistan co-operate in the global fight against Islamist militants, angering many Pakistanis.
| Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | May 2014 | ['(BBC)'] |
Boko Haram militants attacked the town of Darak in Cameroon’s Far North Region bordering Lake Chad, killing 21 soldiers and 16 civilians. Several Boko Haram attackers were also killed. | YAOUNDE, June 11 (Xinhua) -- The death toll from an attack by terror group Boko Haram in Darak, a town in Cameroon's Far North region bordering Lake Chad, rose to 37, military sources said Tuesday.
"We now know that 21 soldiers and 16 civilians were killed in the attack. We arrested some 15 Boko Haram militants and neutralized some. We are still searching for some missing civilians and soldiers," a military officer, who asked not to be named, told Xinhua.
According to local authorities, Boko Haram attacked the town on Sunday night and clashed with the Cameroonian army until Monday afternoon.
"They were shooting indiscriminately, killing civilians in the process. Some of those shot fell into Lake Chad and the bodies were retrieved after," the officer added.
"If they (terrorists) had come during peak hours, today would be a disaster. They even broke into the military camp, then left with weapons and equipment," Alifa Adoum, a resident of Darak, told Xinhua Tuesday morning. He lost his brother in Boko Haram's attack.
On Tuesday, the region's governor Midjiyawa Bakari said "life was returning to normal" in the region after the attack and stressed that the civilians and soldiers "must remain vigilant."
"Boko Haram can fall upon us at any moment," Darak mayor Ali Ramat told Xinhua Tuesday morning. He called for military reinforcement and a change of strategy of the army fighting the terror group. | Armed Conflict | June 2019 | ['(xinhuanet)'] |
Panamanian-flagged cargo ship Gulf Livestock 1 with 43 crew members and thousands of cattle onboard is reported missing in the East China Sea. The Japan Coast Guard says it has found one person drifting in rough waters in a lifejacket. A distress signal was sent from the ship shortly before disappearing. | The Japanese coastguard has rescued one person from a cargo ship thought to have sunk during a typhoon with more than 40 crew and 6,000 cattle on board.
The crew member, who was found drifting in a life jacket, said the ship had capsized.
The Gulf Livestock 1 sent a distress signal from the East China Sea after being caught up in Typhoon Maysak.
The search for the rest of the crew and ship continues but has so far failed to find any more survivors.
The crew of the freighter includes 39 seamen from the Philippines, two from New Zealand and two from Australia.
According to the Japanese coastguard, the man rescued is one of the Filipino crew, who said the ship's engine failed before it capsized after being hit by a wave.
Eduardo Sareno, the vessel's 45-year-old chief officer, said the crew had been instructed to put on lifejackets and that he jumped into the water. He said he did not see any other crew members before he was rescued. Mr Sareno's wife told the BBC he'd spoken to her from a hospital telling her he was safe. The Gulf Livestock 1 left New Zealand on 14 August headed for China, with the journey expected to take 17 days, New Zealand's foreign ministry said.
On Wednesday night, the ship sent a distress call from waters to the west of Amami Oshima island in south-western Japan. The Philippine department of foreign affairs said its consulate in the Japanese city of Osaka was "monitoring the situation and co-ordinating" with authorities. The Japanese coastguard "is launching a second search-and-rescue mission prior to the expected incoming typhoon", it said in a press release.
Liezel Pitogo, 38, last spoke to her husband Lindon, a seafarer on the ship, on Tuesday evening.
He said they were travelling to China but were a bit worried about the weather, she told the BBC, speaking from Quezon province in the Philippines.
"His phone was unreachable on Wednesday," Ms Pitogo said. "I thought it's just a problem with the erratic signal when they are on the sea but I saw a Facebook post from a seaman's wife about a cargo ship that went missing so I started contacting and asking some of the other wives."
Both Australia and New Zealand said they were providing consular assistance to the families of their crew members.
The Gulf Livestock 1 is a 139m (450ft), Panamanian-flagged cargo vessel built in 2002. Strong winds and torrential rains from the typhoon battering the region are hampering the search effort. After moving through the East China Sea, Typhoon Maysak, named after a Cambodian tree, made landfall early on Thursday in the South Korean port city of Busan, packing winds of 140km/h (87mph).
At least two people are reported to have been killed in the city. One was a woman whose apartment window was shattered by the force of the wind.
Another man in Busan was believed to have fallen to his death from the roof of his house. Yonhap news agency reported he had been repairing a leak.
More than 2,200 people have been evacuated to shelters and about 120,000 homes were left without power in the affected region. Wind and rain have flooded Busan's streets.
Flights have been cancelled and ferries suspended. Maysak is one of the strongest storms to hit the region in years. It is moving north and made a second landfall at Kimchaek in North Korea, before weakening as it tracked into north-east China. North Korean TV showed flooded farmland.
| Shipwreck | September 2020 | ['(BBC)'] |
A van strikes a group of pedestrians in Toronto, Canada, killing ten and injuring sixteen. According to the Toronto Police Service, the driver, who fled the scene, was later arrested. | Ten people have been killed and 15 injured after a man drove a van into pedestrians in Toronto, police said.
The suspect has been named by police as Alek Minassian, 25.
A man was arrested several streets away following a tense standoff with officers on the street.
Bystander videos appeared to show the driver pointing an object at the officers, who could be heard shouting at him to get down. The man was then detained without any shots being fired. Toronto deputy police chief Peter Yuen asked for witnesses to come forward and said there would be "a long investigation". He said separate hotlines had been set up for victims' families and for witnesses.
City police chief Mark Saunders told a news conference that the incident appeared to be deliberate but the motive was still unknown. He said Alek Minassian, from the Toronto suburb of Richmond Hill, was not previously known to them.
Canadian public safety minister Ralph Goodale, in a tweet thanking the emergency services, referred to the incident as a "horrific attack".
Grateful for the brave and professional response of @TorontoPolice and other first responders to the horrific attack at Yonge and Finch. Canadians are appalled at what happened. The victims and their families have our deepest condolences.
Reza Hashemi, who owns a video shop on Yonge Street, told the BBC he heard screaming on the other side of the road.
He said the white rental van had repeatedly mounted the pavement and run into people. Van rental company Ryder System Inc confirmed that one of its vehicles was involved and said it was co-operating with authorities.
The incident occurred at Yonge Street and Finch Avenue at 13:30 local time (17:30 GMT) on Monday. The crime scene encompassed a an over 1km (0.6 mile) stretch of Yonge Street.
About 18 miles (30km) away in the city centre, foreign ministers of the G7 leading industrialised nations - Canada, the US, Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Japan - were holding meetings. Pictures apparently taken at the scene showed armed police and paramedics treating the injured. One orange bag, which appeared to contain a body, was loaded on to an ambulance. Toronto police spokeswoman Jenifferjit Sidhu told CBC News that the vehicle was stopped by police. Jessica Murphy, BBC News, Toronto
A long stretch of Yonge Street in Toronto's North York is cordoned off with yellow police tape for what police say will be a complex investigation.
There are multiple sites where people were hit. At one intersection, debris and a lone shoe mark the spot of one fatality. In the aftermath, people who would usually be running errands or heading back to surrounding office towers and condominiums reacted with shock at what happened, sharing what they had seen or heard, even though reasons behind the incident remain unclear. Hours after the event there is mainly just quiet, as police begin the painstaking work of piecing together what happened on a wide stretch of road on Monday lunch hour. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tweeted from Ottawa: "Our thoughts are with all those affected by the terrible incident at Yonge and Finch in Toronto." "Thank you to the first responders working at the scene - we're monitoring the situation closely."
One witness told City News that the driver was "hitting anything that comes in the way".
"People, fire hydrants, there's mail boxes being run over," said the unnamed man, who said he was driving behind the van during the incident.
As the van continued, the man said he sounded his horn to try to warn pedestrians. "I witnessed at least six, seven people being hit and flying in the air, like killed, on the street," he said.
Toronto Mayor John Tory called it "a very tragic incident" that was "not representative of how we live or who we are". He said he had "offered any and all assistance that the city can provide to the police to help this investigation".
The US and Europe have seen an increase in driving attacks in recent years. In October 2017, a man in New York drove a van down a bicycle path, killing eight people.
| Road Crash | April 2018 | ['(BBC)', '(Globe News)', '(The Guardian)', '(BBC)'] |
A bombing occurs in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan injuring 29 people. | Emergency workers on Saturday near the site of the explosion, which was reported around 8:30 p.m.
A group gathered near the scene of the explosion.
Police near the site of the explosion.
Mayor Bill de Blasiosaid the explosion appeared to have been “an intentional act.”
The authorities were searching the surrounding streets in case there were additional explosive devices.At 11 p.m., the police said onTwitterthat a “possible secondary device” had been found at 27th Street between Avenue of the Americas and Seventh Avenue.
A Police Department truck towed away the second explosive device in a spherical chamber around 2:25 a.m. Sunday.
Investigators walked through debris near the scene of the explosion.
A powerful explosion caused by what the authorities believe was a homemade bomb injured at least 29 people on a crowded sidewalk in the bustling Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan on Saturday night.
A few hours later, the authorities found and removed what they described as a second explosive device four blocks away, raising the possibility that two bombs had been planted in the heart of the city. | Armed Conflict | September 2016 | ['(The New York Times)'] |
The 2020 BNP Paribas Open is canceled due to coronavirus fears. This is one of the first major sporting events in the United States to be canceled over the coronavirus. | For the first time in the United States, a major sporting event has been cancelled due to fears of the coronavirus outbreak.
Source:Getty Images
The 2020 BNP Paribas Open tennis tournament in southern California, has been cancelled over concerns about the worldwide outbreak of the new coronavirus, organisers said.
The tournament, considered the biggest outside the four Grand Slams, was due to begin on Wednesday in Indian Wells. It’s the first major US sport event to be cancelled because of concern over the virus.
Organisers had said they planned to go ahead with extra health measures in place. But they opted to cancel after the health department of California’s Riverside County declared a public health emergency for the Coachella Valley — in the desert east of Los Angeles — after a confirmed case of COVID-19 locally.
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Rafael Nadal was meant to compete at the Paribas OpenSource:AP
“We are very disappointed that the tournament will not take place, but the health and safety of the local community, fans, players, volunteers, sponsors, employees, vendors, and everyone involved with the event is of paramount importance,” said tournament director Tommy Haas.
“We are prepared to hold the tournament on another date and will explore options.”
Professor of Medicine and Biomedical Engineering Dr. David Agus said the decision was necessary to ensure the safety of participants and attendees.
“There is too great a risk at this time to the public health of the Riverside County are in holding a large gathering of this size,” Agus said in a statement.
“It is not in the public interest of fans, players and neighbouring areas for this tournament to proceed.
“We all have to join together to protect the community from the coronavirus outbreak.”
The City of Indian Wells also released a statement, supporting the decision.
“The City of Indian Wells urges all residents in the Coachella Valley to follow the recommended protocols,” the statement read.
“Wash your hands, stay away from the public if you are sick, avoid sick people, clean surfaces.
“A particularly clean lifestyle now is more important than ever.”
Tennis writers and coaches reacted with shock to the announcement.
Players took to Twitter and claimed they weren’t even informed of the decision, instead forced to find out on social media.
Sorana Cirstea and Kirsten Flipkens were among those to voice their frustration about the way the announcement was handled.
An hour before the decision was made, Flipkens wrote: “We know nothing so far.”
When the call was confirmed, she tweeted “what the f***?!?!?!” before having a crack at the WTA.
Refunds for this year’s event or a credit toward next year’s tournament are being offered.
The event — founded in 1974 — typically draws upwards of 450,000 fans. Global superstars Rafael Nadal, Serena Williams and Ash Barty, along with Australian Open winners Sofia Kenin and Novak Djokovic were set to feature in the two-week tournament.
Earlier in the week, officials had announced several measures to protect players, fans and staff at the event. Ball kids were going to have to wear gloves and not touch the towels of players on the court.
Organised player and fan interaction was also going to be limited at the tournament which is informally referred to as the fifth Grand Slam because of its popularity with players and fans, many of whom come from overseas. | Sports Competition | March 2020 | ['(Indian Wells)', '(Bleacher Report)', '(News AU)'] |
President of Guinea Moussa Dadis Camara is reportedly unable to communicate following surgery due to an assassination attempt. | AFP - Guinea junta leader Moussa Dadis Camara is unable to communicate after being shot by an aide and operated on in Morocco for a head wound, his foreign minister said in an interview on Monday.
"I have seen President Dadis. He recognises his entourage," Alexandre Cece Loua told Radio France Internationale from Rabat.
Asked whether he can engage in conversations, the minister said: "No, not for the time being. On the advice of doctors, he cannot yet communicate."
Cece Loua had previously said the junta leader underwent surgery for a head wound and his condition was "very favourable."
"His life is not in danger," he said.
He has indicated Camara may address the nation in the coming days.
Camara was wounded Thursday when his aide de camp, Aboubacar Sidiki Diakite, allegedly shot him in what a junta spokesman said was a bid to seize power in the west African country.
Opposition leader and former prime minister Cellou Dadis Diallo denied there had been a coup attempt and called the shooting a "a settling of scores between two people who were accomplices but who have since fallen out." Guinea has been tense since junta soldiers carried out a massacre of opposition supporters at a stadium rally in September.
Camara seized power in a coup a year ago following the death of longtime leader Lansana Conte.
tin pot dictator in a tin pot country on a 3rd world continent
I think his is already gone for good
Please, be advise that Former Prime Minister's name is Cellou Dalein Diallo and not Cellou "Dadis" Diallo. "Dadis" is the 2nd name of the Junta leader Moussa Dadis Camara. | Famous Person - Sick | December 2009 | ['(France 24)'] |
Turkey is to ask the United Nations Security Council to discuss ways to end the violence in Xinjiang. | ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkey’s Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday his country will ask the U.N. Security Council to discuss ways of ending ethnic violence in China’s northwestern region of Xinjiang.
Predominantly Muslim Turkey has a non-permanent seat at the Security Council. At least 156 people have been killed in clashes between Uighurs and Han Chinese in the capital of Xinjiang. Uighurs are a Turkic people who share linguistic and cultural bonds with central Asia.
“We will put the events happening in the Xinjiang Uighur autonomous region onto the agenda of the United Nations’ Security Council,” Erdogan told a meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) in Istanbul.
On Tuesday, around 250 protesters in the capital Ankara briefly scuffled with police outside the Chinese Embassy.
Turkey is a common destination for Uighurs who have emigrated from China and Turkish pan-Turkic groups see the ethnic group as the easternmost frontier of Turkic ethnicity.
| Riot | July 2009 | ['(Reuters)'] |
A Peruvian court orders the arrest of two Chilean military officers on charges of spying, causing a diplomatic row between the two countries. | A new diplomatic row has erupted between Peru and Chile after a Peruvian court ordered the arrest of two Chilean military officers over alleged spying.
The court accused the officers of paying a Peruvian air force officer to reveal national secrets. Chilean Foreign Minister Mariano Fernandez has denied his government has been involved in espionage. But Peru's President Alan Garcia said he was leaving the Asia-Pacific summit in Singapore a day early over the row. He also said he had cancelled planned talks with his Chilean counterpart, Michelle Bachelet, at the Apec summit. "I am returning 24 hours earlier than scheduled so I can obtain complete and sufficient information (on the issue) and to be able to speak from Peru," Mr Garcia said, quoted by AFP new agency. Reports in the Peruvian media said Lima had recalled its ambassador to Chile for talks. Claims dismissed
Speaking in Singapore, Chile's foreign minister said: "Chile does not engage in espionage. "We dismiss any charges [that] the Chilean government is involved in anything illegal in regards to relations between the two countries," Mr Fernandez added. The Peruvian air force officer, Victor Ariza Mendoza, has been arrested and charged with spying. Lima-based El Comercio reported that Mr Ariza had worked at the Peruvian embassy in Santiago in 2003. Tensions are already strained between the two countries following a military exercise staged by Chile last month near its disputed border with Peru. Peru and Chile have been embroiled in a bitter border dispute since the late 19th century, when Chile defeated Peru in the War of the Pacific. The countries also disagree on their maritime border, and last year Peru took Chile to the international court in The Hague to seek a resolution. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | November 2009 | ['(AFP)', '(BBC)'] |
Riot police and dogs clash with protesters as demonstrations lead to violence in England. There are injuries and 5 men are arrested in the country's largest police operation for a quarter of a century . | Thirteen men have been arrested during two protests in Leicester, which sparked the biggest police operation in the county for 25 years. The English Defence League (EDL) held a static demonstration and Unite Against Fascism (UAF) staged a counter-protest on Humberstone Gate East.
Riot police moved in after several fireworks, bottles and coins were thrown.
There were also reports of violence away from the demonstration site.
Gangs were seen throwing stones and bricks at two coaches carrying EDL supporters as they left the city.
Those arrested at the main protest site were aged between 30 and 42 and were not from the Leicester area.
One has been arrested on drugs offences, two for possession of an offensive weapon and two for minor public order offences.
About 2,000 EDL protesters gathered in the city - about 1,000 gathered at Humberstone Gate and 600 UAF protesters also went to the site.
A policeman was taken to hospital with a leg injury and two protesters were treated by paramedics for minor injuries.
Nick Cimini, an anti-fascist protester and a shop worker from Derby, said: "We've got to show them that racism and fascism are not welcome here.
"If you turn a blind eye, they will come and smack you in the face, particularly ethnic minorities, homosexuals and anyone who does not fit their narrow definition of English."
EDL member Lucy Bethell, 23 and from Manchester, said: "I've come to this great city of Leicester to protest against Islamic extremism.
"I am not a racist. I have Muslim and black friends. There is a big difference between racism and protesting against Islamic extremism.
"I joined the EDL because it made no sense that people defending Englishness were labelled as troublemakers."
Officers from 13 forces were on hand to maintain order in the city.
Metal barriers were put up on Humberstone Gate and the windows of several shops were covered with boards.
Sheila Lock, chief executive of the city council, said: "I've been overwhelmed by the reaction of both the public sector and the community.
"Both community leaders and faith leaders have said they will stand for the importance of unity and respect and I believe Leicester will be stronger for this because that's what people have said to me."
A series of "green-themed peace events" are being held on Humberstone Gate as part of the event on Sunday from 1300 to 1600 BST.
| Protest_Online Condemnation | October 2010 | ['(25 years)', '(BBC)', '(The Daily Telegraph)'] |
A car bomb kills at least eight people and injures up to 100 in Diyarbakır, Turkey. | Rescue officials and others carry an injured man from the explosion site after a car bomb detonated in the southeastern Turkish city of Diyarbakir. At least eight people were killed and 100 injured in a blast outside a police building Friday morning.
A car bomb in the largest majority-Kurdish city in Turkey has killed at least eight people and wounded scores more, shortly after a dozen pro-Kurdish Turkish legislators were detained by the government for questioning.
Diyarbakir is the largest city in southeast Turkey, a majority-Kurdish region. The car bomb hit Friday morning near a building used by riot police, killing both police and civilians, The Associated Press says.
Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said one of the assailants was "caught dead," though he did not elaborate, according to the AP.
"The Diyarbakir governor's office said the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, had claimed the attack," the wire service says.
The explosion came just hours after 12 pro-Kurdish legislators in Turkey were detained by authorities. The lawmakers in custody include the two leaders of the pro-Kurdish opposition party HDP, the BBC reports.
The legislators are accused of failing to cooperate with counter-terrorism efforts and spreading propaganda for the PKK.
"Turkish politicians normally have immunity from prosecution but this was removed from the HDP and some other MPs in May," the BBC reports. "Last month, the joint mayors of Diyarbakir ... were also arrested as part of a terrorism investigation."
Turkish police officers take cover after the blast in the majority-Kurdish city of Diyarbakir on Friday. The car bomb was detonated hours after the government detained 12 pro-Kurdish legislators.
Turkish police officers take cover after the blast in the majority-Kurdish city of Diyarbakir on Friday. The car bomb was detonated hours after the government detained 12 pro-Kurdish legislators.
One member of the Turkish parliament who is currently traveling abroad told the BBC the overnight crackdown "is nothing to do with procedural law, criminal law, any law whatsoever or the constitution."
Another HDP legislator told the AP the detentions "officially put an end to the functioning of Parliament" by removing the opposition.
European diplomats have expressed alarm over Friday's developments, with a spokeswoman for the German foreign ministry calling the arrests a "drastic intensification of the situation" in Turkey, the AP reports.
Turkey remains under a state of emergency, declared after the failed coup attempt this summer. It grants broad powers to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Meanwhile, watchdog groups in Turkey report a crackdown on Internet freedoms, the AP writes:
"The TurkeyBlocks monitoring network is reporting that access to various social media and messaging apps have been restricted as of 1:20 a.m. Friday, coinciding with the detentions of 12 pro-Kurdish politicians.
"Users nationwide have been complaining about restricted access to various social media and messaging, including Facebook, Twitter, Whatsapp and Skype.
"TurkeyBlocks confirmed the restricted access, saying its monitoring probes have identified 'throttling at the ISP level as the source of the slowdowns, with the majority of Internet users affected at the time of measurement.'
"Rights activists say restricting access to the Internet is aimed at preventing calls for demonstrations."
In Diyarbakir, site of Friday's explosion, Internet access had been restricted last week, the AP reports — after the arrest of the city's co-mayors. | Road Crash | November 2016 | ['(NPR)', '(USA Today)'] |
The Spanish Congress of Deputies approves the decree to allow the government to exhume the dictator Francisco Franco's remains from the Valle de los Caídos. " | MADRID (Reuters) - Spanish lawmakers on Thursday voted to remove the remains of dictator Francisco Franco from a mausoleum where tens of thousands of victims of the 1936-39 civil war that brought him to power are also laid to rest.
The bill had the backing of the ruling socialists, leftist Podemos and smaller regional parties and passed with 176 votes in favor, but there were 165 abstentions and two against.
The Valley of the Fallen site near Madrid was described by a senior Podemos leader last month as “the last standing monument to fascist dictatorship in Europe”.
But the plans to move Franco’s remains have divided Spanish society. Several of his descendants issued a statement last month expressing their “firm and unanimous” opposition to the exhumation.
The statement said the family hoped the Benedictine order in charge of the site, which is marked by a 152 meter (500 ft)-tall cross, would prevent the state’s “vengefulness”.
The government of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez hopes Franco’s exhumation will help settle grievances from the period of his rule that still cast a shadow over the country.
“It’s about time,” Nicolas Sanchez-Albornoz, 92, who worked on the construction of the mausoleum after being sentenced in the 1940s to six years’ forced labor for student activism against the Franco regime, told Reuters.
“Spanish society has evolved. The government won’t be able to change its mind now.”
Sanchez-Albornoz escaped in 1948 with the help of colleagues in France before fleeing to Argentina. He permanently returned to Madrid in 1991.
“Every time I drive past, I look up to see if the cross is still there,” he said.
As many as 500,000 combatants and civilians died in the Spanish civil war. During Franco’s 1939-1975 rule, tens of thousands of his opponents were killed or imprisoned.
Past political crimes were pardoned as part of Spain’s transition to democracy in the late 1970s, fostering resentment among some families of victims.
Many hope to win permission to unearth remains of war dead at the Valley of the Fallen and in dozens of unmarked graves throughout the country, and give their loved ones what they consider a proper burial.
| Government Policy Changes | September 2018 | ['(Reuters)', '(The New York Times)'] |
Russian President Vladimir Putin signs an amendment to Russia's law regarding the regulation of the use of weapons, giving the FSB the authority to use lethal force on crowds in order to "prevent acts of terrorism, rescue hostages, or repel attacks on public buildings." | Russian President Vladimir Putin has given the state intelligence service the authority to use weapons in crowds and fire at women and children under certain circumstances.
According to an amendment published on December 30 to the law governing the FSB's use of arms, intelligence services van now use weapons in crowds "to prevent acts of terrorism, rescue hostages, or repel attacks on public buildings."
The FSB also will have the right to shoot at women, the disabled, and minors "in case of armed resistance" and will be allowed to use nonlethal weapons against pregnant women.
The law also allows FSB agents to enter any premises in the country and take fingerprints at border checkpoints.
The law has alarmed human rights activists in Russia. Members of the Russian Presidential Human Rights Council, which has an advisory role to the government, earlier appealed to Putin not to amend the law regulating the FSB's use of weapons.
The appeal was signed by Lyudmila Alexseyeva, the 85-year-old figurehead of Russia's human rights movement, and prominent rights activist Lev Ponomarev, among others. | Government Policy Changes | December 2015 | ['(Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)'] |
Mitt Romney is projected as the winner of primaries in Virginia, Massachusetts, Ohio and Vermont as well as the Idaho and Alaska caucuses. | Mitt Romney won the Vermont primary, the Associated Press projected, easily beating Rick Santorum and Ron Paul in a New England state that borders Massachusetts, where Romney served as governor.
It’s Romney’s second prize of Super Tuesday, after Virginia was also called in his favor.
Vermont was called based on exit polls, which projected a double-digit margin for Romney. Paul and Santorum were closely matched for second place.
Based on early returns, Romney, Paul and Santorum stood to collect delegates in Vermont. The state holds 17 Republican delegates, with 14 of them awarded on a proportional basis to any candidate who receives more than 20% of the vote, unless one candidate earns more than a majority. The other three delegates are the elected state party leaders.
Polls showed Romney comfortably ahead, prompting his competitors to skip campaigning there. Besides Romney, only Ron Paul spent advertising dollars in Vermont in the run-up to the primary. John McCain won the Republican primary here in 2008 over Mike Huckabee.
In general elections Vermont has been reliably Democratic for decades, last opting for the Republican nominee when George Bush, after serving as vice president for two terms under Ronald Reagan, carried the state in 1988. Barack Obama carried Vermont in the 2008 general election and it is considered safely Democratic no matter who emerges as the Republican nominee.
| Government Job change - Election | March 2012 | ['(Chicago Tribune)', '(Los Angeles Times)', '(Washington Post)', '(Chicago Tribune)', '(AP via Washington Post)'] |
Zimbabwe says it will return land that was seized from foreigners between 2000 and 2001, saying foreign citizens who had their land seized, mostly Dutch, British and German nationals, could now apply to get it back. The government says black farmers who received land under the controversial land reform programme would now be moved to allow the former owners "to regain possession". | Zimbabwe has offered to return land to foreign nationals whose farms were seized under a controversial government programme two decades ago.
Thousands of white farmers were forced from their land, often violently, between 2000 and 2001.
The seizures were meant to redress colonial-era land grabs but contributed to the country's economic decline and ruined relations with the West.
A separate compensation scheme has been launched for local white farmers.
They have not been offered land, but the government last month promised them $3.5bn (£2.6bn) for seized infrastructure.
The US has said compensating farmers is one of the requirements for it to lift decades of economic sanctions.
Zimbabwe on Monday said foreign citizens who had their land seized could now apply to get it back.
Hundreds of Europeans - mostly Dutch, British and German nationals - whose investments were protected under international agreements could benefit from the offer, reports the BBC's Shingai Nyoka from the capital, Harare. The farms were taken under a controversial land reform programme launched by former President Robert Mugabe.
He argued that this was to redress colonial-era land grabs, when much of the country's best land was reserved for the white population and black farmers were forced onto marginal areas. Under the programme, most of the country's 4,000 white farmers - then the backbone of Zimbabwe's agricultural economy - were forced from their land, which was handed over to about a million black Zimbabweans.
In a joint statement on Monday, the ministers of finance and agriculture said some black farmers who received land under the programme would now be moved. To allow the former owners "to regain possession" of their land, the government will revoke offers made to black farmers currently occupying the farms and "offer them alternative land elsewhere", the statement said. The offer marks an important step in repairing relations with Western nations and avoiding international judgements against Zimbabwe worth hundreds of millions of dollars, our reporter says.
| Government Policy Changes | September 2020 | ['(BBC)'] |
Shia insurgency in Yemen: Six soldiers have been killed and 20 injured in attacks by Shia militants in the north of Yemen, officials say. | The attacks on military and security forces' bases in Saada province were led by prominent Shia militant Abel Malek al-Houthi, a statement said.
Details of which installations were attacked have not been released. The security forces have clashed many times with northern Shias over the last three years, after a Shia uprising against the government in 2004.
That rebellion was led by Shia Muslim cleric Hussein al-Houthi, the brother of the man accused of leading this latest attack.
Hussein Badr Eddin al-Houthi died in the 2004 revolt, but forces loyal to him have continued with their anti-government campaign since.
US alliance
The rebels accuse the government of being too closely connected to Washington, which has supplied equipment and training for Yemen's security forces as part of its worldwide war on terror. The Yemeni government says the Shias led by Abel Malek al-Houthi are trying to bring in Shia religious rule.
The statement from the Saada security committee relating to the latest violence gave no details of casualties among the Shias, whom it described as "saboteurs".
In it officials pledge to stamp out such violence, saying: "The local authority and the armed and security forces in the province of Saada... will carry out their duties in preserving security and stability and ending these acts of sabotage carried out by these criminals". | Armed Conflict | January 2007 | ['(BBC)'] |
The driver of the lorry in which 39 bodies were found is charged with 39 counts of manslaughter, as well as immigration offences, money laundering, and people trafficking. Three other people remain in police custody suspected of manslaughter and people trafficking after 39 bodies were found in a lorry earlier this week. | A lorry driver has been charged with the manslaughter of 39 people found dead inside a refrigerated trailer.
Maurice Robinson, 25, was arrested after the bodies of 31 men and eight women were found in Grays on Wednesday.
He is further charged with people trafficking, immigration and money laundering offences, Essex Police said.
Mr Robinson, of Laurel Drive, Craigavon, Northern Ireland, is due before Chelmsford Magistrates' Court on Monday.
Three others, a man and a woman, both 38, from Warrington, Cheshire, and a 48-year-old man from Northern Ireland remain in police custody.
All three were arrested on suspicion of manslaughter and conspiracy to traffic people.
A man in his 20s arrested by Irish police in Dublin was said to be "of interest" to the Essex Police investigation.
Earlier police said efforts to identify the 39 people were focusing on the Vietnamese community.
The victims - who police initially believed to be Chinese nationals - were inside a refrigerated trailer which came to the UK via the Belgian port of Zeebrugge.
Officers said there had been a "large amount of engagement" from the Vietnamese population since the discovery of the bodies in the early hours of Wednesday.
They said all the bodies had now been removed from the trailer and post-mortem examinations were being carried out.
The victims had been carrying "very few" identity documents, leaving officers to rely on fingerprints, DNA and distinguishing features such as tattoos or scars, he said.
VietHome, an organisation that represents the Vietnamese community in the UK, said it had received photos of nearly 20 people reported missing.
The BBC has been contacted by Vietnamese families who fear their relatives were among the dead, including the family of Pham Thi Tra My, 26, who last messaged her family late on Tuesday.
In a text message shared by her parents, she said: "I am really, really sorry, Mum and Dad, my trip to a foreign land has failed.
"I am dying, I can't breathe. I love you very much Mum and Dad. I am sorry, Mother."
Nguyen Dinh Gia believes his son, Nguyen Dinh Luong, 20, was also among the 39 victims.
Relatives of a third man - Nguyen Dinh Tu - have also contacted the BBC saying they had not heard from him. His father, Nguyen Dinh Sat, said his son had been in debt so decided to travel abroad to seek work.
It also emerged on Saturday that the family of a 19-year-old Vietnamese woman Bui Thi Nhung fear she may be among the dead.
Prayers have been said for her during a service in Yen Thanh, in the northern central coast region of Vietnam.
Tran Ngoc An, the Vietnamese ambassador to the UK, visited Grays on Saturday morning with embassy officers and held meetings with Essex Police and the local council.
The ambassador has also spoken to Home Secretary Priti Patel about the deaths.
In a statement, the embassy said there was a "willingness to exchange information and to co-ordinate" with British authorities to help identify the victims.
It added that there had been no official confirmation of the identity of the victims. The Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said he had asked the relevant authorities to urgently establish the identities of victims and look into the cases of Vietnamese nationals who were sent abroad illegally.
| Famous Person - Commit Crime - Sentence | October 2019 | ['(BBC News)'] |
Protests continues in Senegal against the arrest of opposition leader Ousmane Sonko, with three more people confirmed dead, bringing the death toll to 4. | Violent protests have hit Senegal for a third day as demonstrators burnt cars and clashed with police after the arrest of an opposition leader on Wednesday.
Four people have died in the rare unrest, the interior minister said.
Ousmane Sonko appeared in court on Friday accused of disrupting public order. He also faces a rape allegation.
He denies the allegations and his supporters say the accusations are politically motivated.
On Friday Interior Minister Antoine Felix Abdoulaye Diome vowed to use "all the means necessary for a return to order".
Speaking on national TV, Mr Diome accused Mr Sonko of "issuing calls to violence".
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has urged protesters and police to refrain from violence in the nation which is one of West Africa's most stable countries.
On Friday police fired tear gas at Mr Sonko's supporters, who set up makeshift barricades in the capital Dakar where the ground was covered in burnt debris and people chanted "Free Sonko". Police blocked motorbikes and mopeds, which are popular among Mr Sonko's young supporters, from the city's streets. A supermarket in Dakar's suburbs was raided on Friday, according to AFP news agency.
"What we are living through in this country is incredible, it is shameful," one protester told Reuters news agency. Demonstrators have gathered in the city's surrounding areas and in the southern city of Bignona, a stronghold of Mr Sonko.
Two private TV channels that covered the protests have been suspended for 72 hours by the government.
On Thursday Internet monitor NetBlocks said access to social media and messaging apps was restricted.
The United Nations' special envoy for West Africa Mohamed Ibn Chambas has appealed for calm.
Some of the protesters have targeted French-owned businesses such as supermarkets and petrol stations because they say that under President Macky Sall, France has extended its economic interests in its former colony.
Mr Sonko, 46, was accused of rape in February by a woman who worked in a beauty salon. Following an investigation he was arrested on Wednesday and taken to court accompanied by a group of supporters.
Police said they then arrested him for disrupting public order when he refused to change his route to the court.
Mr Sonko says the allegations of rape are fabricated. He accuses President Sall of trying to remove potential opponents ahead of the 2024 election. Two other opposition leaders were excluded from the 2019 election after being convicted on charges which they say were politically motivated.
There are reports that Mr Sall may seek to change the constitution to allow him to run for a third term.
Mr Sonko is the president's only remaining serious challenger, BBC Afrique's Ndèye Khady Lo in Dakar says.
She explains that the opposition politician is particularly popular with young Senegalese for his promise of radical opposition to what he calls "the system".
In 2014 he founded his own political party, Pastef-Les Patriotes, and came third in the 2019 presidential election with 15% of the vote.
In a video recorded and shared on social media in 2018, Mr Sonko told activists: "There is enormous potential in this country. It is unacceptable to see suffering of our people.
"Our politicians are criminals. Those who have ruled Senegal from the beginning deserve to be shot."
| Protest_Online Condemnation | March 2021 | ['(BBC)'] |
The death toll from yesterday's capsizing of the M/B Nivana off the coast of the Philippines rises to 56 as murder charges are filed against the owner and crew. , | MANILA, Philippines (AP) — At least three more bodies have been recovered from a ferry that capsized in choppy waters in the central Philippines, raising the death toll in the accident to 38 with 15 others missing, the coast guard said Friday.
At least 134 people from the M/B Kim Nirvana were rescued by fishing boats and coast guard personnel or swam to safety off Ormoc city on Leyte Island on Thursday, said coast guard spokesman Cmdr. Armand Balilo.
Balilo said two passengers initially listed in the manifest did not board the ferry, lowering the total number of people on board to 187 from 189 earlier reported by the coast guard.
Regional coast guard commander Capt. Pedro Tinampay told DZBB radio in Manila that rescuers were using a barge with a crane to move the overturned boat to its side to make it easier for divers to find more bodies. Another crane will be used to raise it upright, he said.
A coast guard ship and a navy vessel anchored in the choppy waters in the vicinity of the overturned ferry and three rescue boats took divers to the site early Friday.
Balilo said the wooden outrigger ferry was maneuvering out of the Ormoc port heading on its routine voyage to Pilar township on one of the Camotes Islands, about 30 kilometers (19 miles) to the south, when it was lashed by strong waves.
He said the captain and some of the crew were rescued and are in custody pending an investigation.
Coast guard officials and survivors said it wasn't immediately clear what caused the 36-ton ferry, which was carrying a heavy cargo of construction materials and bags of rice, to overturn.
Tinampay said the movement of the cargo inside the ferry "may have been contributory to the shift in the weight of the cargo, that's why the boat listed."
Survivors told The Associated Press by cellphone that the bow suddenly rose from the water before the vessel flipped over on one side, turning it upside down and trapping passengers underneath.
Among the passengers who survived were at least three Americans and a Canadian.
Lawrence Drake, 48, a retired firefighter from Rochester, New York, said he was able to revive a woman who wasn't breathing while they were in the water via mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.
Drake said he also saved the woman's pregnant daughter and an 8-year-old boy. He said he saw at least seven bodies floating in the water, including two children.
Many of the passengers were screaming in panic, he said.
Drake's Filipino wife, Mary Jane, said the ferry was pulling slowly out of the port when it suddenly flipped to the left in strong waves.
"No one was able to jump out because it overturned very swiftly. There was no time to jump," she said.
TV footage showed coast guard rescuers and army soldiers carrying survivors from rubber boats to a beach. Not far away, the bottom part of the vessel could be seen protruding from the water.
A rescue leader, Ciriaco Tolibao, said divers had difficulty looking for bodies because the water was murky.
Cloudy weather at the time of the accident did not pose any danger that would have prompted the coast guard to stop sea voyages, officials said.
A brewing storm in the Pacific was 550 kilometers (340 miles) east of Ormoc and was too far away to affect any part of the Philippine archipelago, according to forecasters. They said winds in the Ormoc region were not strong enough to whip up dangerous waves.
Ormoc, a regional economic and transportation hub of about 200,000 people, is located in a disaster-prone eastern region that is regularly hit by some of the approximately 20 tropical storms and typhoons that blow in from the Pacific each year.
The city was among those devastated by Typhoon Haiyan, one of the most ferocious storms on record to hit land, which left more than 7,300 dead and missing and leveled entire villages in November 2013.
In 1991, a storm set off flash floods in the Ormoc region that killed more than 5,000 people and swept homes and vehicles into the sea.
Frequent storms, badly maintained vessels and weak enforcement of safety regulations have been blamed for many past sea accidents in the Philippine archipelago, where small, rickety inter-island ferries are a main mode of transport.
In 1987, the ferry Dona Paz sank after colliding with a fuel tanker, killing more than 4,300 people in the world's worst peacetime maritime disaster. | Shipwreck | July 2015 | ['(AP via USA Today)', '(AFP via Straits Times)'] |
Over the last week, a meningitis outbreak has killed at least 140 people in Nigeria. | An outbreak of meningitis in several states of Nigeria has killed at least 140 people, officials say. It has been reported over the last week in six states and has so far infected more than 1,000 people, the Abuja Centre for Disease Control says. Meningitis causes an acute inflammation of the outer layers of the brain and spinal cord. The current outbreak is the worst in Nigeria since 2009 when it killed at least 156 people.
The disease is spreading amidst fears it could be out of control if refugee camps, prisons and police cells become affected through crowds, the BBC's Chris Ewokor in Abuja says. Vaccination is an effective way of preventing against meningitis. However, a new strain, which may have been imported from a neighbouring country is now prevalent in Nigeria and requires a different type of vaccine, Nigerian Minister of Health Isaac Adewole said. The seasonal outbreak has been attributed to cold nights, dusty winds and dry weather, which were aggravated by traditional beliefs, poor hygiene, and overpopulation, our reporter says. Nigeria lies on the meningitis belt, stretching from the Sahel region to the Horn of Africa, where outbreaks occur regularly. | Disease Outbreaks | March 2017 | ['(BBC)'] |
In Indonesia, Sri Mulyani Indrawati assumes office as the new Finance Minister. | JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesian President Joko Widodo pleased market reform advocates on Wednesday by bringing home the World Bank’s managing director to be finance minister and upset human rights activists by naming a controversial ex-general as security chief.
The surprise appointments of Sri Mulyani Indrawati to head the finance ministry and Wiranto as coordinating minister for politics, law and security were part of a wider-than-expected cabinet reshuffle in which the trade, energy, transport and industry ministers were also replaced.
“I am aware that the challenge keeps changing and it needs quick action from us,” Widodo told reporters, adding that unemployment and income inequality must be addressed and the cabinet needed to work “more quickly, more effectively”.
The addition of Indrawati to the president’s economic team lifted financial markets, with stocks closing 1 percent higher and the rupiah strengthening 0.4 percent against the dollar.
“Sri Mulyani’s appointment is a game-changer because it restores a certain amount of investor confidence and means having a steady hand on the tiller with a solid record as a reformer,” said Paul Rowland, a Jakarta-based analyst.
In 2010, Indrawati joined the World Bank after serving as both Indonesia’s chief economic minister and finance minister under a previous president, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
Six years later, she officially returned to Indonesia, wearing a blue batik outfit and a pearl necklace at a handover ceremony at the finance ministry in Jakarta.
“This task is a noble task but it is not light,” Indrawati said as she accepted her appointment. She listed reducing poverty and inequality, creating job opportunities and restoring business confidence as priorities.
Indrawati had earlier said that she would be looking at both budget and fiscal policies to strengthen Indonesia’s economy to withstand “global tremors and pressures that are very difficult at the moment”.
Related Coverage
Indrawati, who has a doctorate in economics from the University of Illinois and is not a member of a political party, won praise for successfully managing Indonesia’s economy through the 2008 global financial crisis.
“The president wants a dream team to manage economic policies so that we can accelerate (growth). He needs Sri Mulyani,” said David Sumual, chief economist for Bank Central Asia.
Indonesia’s economic growth is expected to improve only slightly in the second quarter from 4.92 percent in the first three months of the year. The finance ministry has forecast full-year GDP growth of about 5.2 percent in 2016, up from 4.79 percent last year.
Bambang Brodjonegoro, the finance minister Widodo appointed in 2014, has been shifted to head the national development planning agency.
The change in finance ministers comes just after Indonesia launched a tax amnesty it hopes will bring home billions of dollars that Indonesians have parked overseas.
Widodo also surprised many by announcing Wiranto as his new chief security minister, reassigning his close adviser Luhut Pandjaitan to be chief maritime minister.
‘VERY OLD GUARD’
Wiranto, army chief when strongman Suharto quit amid protests in 1998, was indicted by a U.N. panel over the bloodshed surrounding East Timor’s 1999 independence vote, when about 1,000 people died. The former general has denied any wrongdoing in East Timor.
“He is part of the very old guard of Suharto’s New Order,” said Andreas Harsono, Indonesia director of Human Rights Watch. “This is really bad news for human rights.”
Analysts viewed Wiranto’s appointment and others as politically motivated, as the president looks to consolidate support from parties keen to join the ruling coalition.
Wiranto controls Hanura, “a party which has supported Jokowi from the get-go, and one way of seeing this is for the president to secure its continued support”, wrote Wellian Wiranto, economist at OCBC.
The president also welcomed the second-largest political party, Golkar, into the cabinet by appointing Airlangga Hartarto as industry minister.
Golkar, which was in opposition to Widodo when he was elected in 2014, played a key role in getting the president’s tax amnesty bill passed this year.
Other major cabinet changes included the re-assignment of Thomas Lembong from trade minister to investment chief.
Arcandra Tahar, an executive at Texas-based offshore engineering firm Petroneering, was appointed energy and mining minister, replacing Sudirman Said.
.
| Government Job change - Appoint_Inauguration | July 2016 | ['(Reuters)'] |
Clemson defeats Alabama 44–16 in the College Football Playoff National Championship. The Tigers win their second national championship in three seasons, and third overall. |
On Jan. 7, 2019, Clemson freshman QB Trevor Lawrence threw for 347 yards and three touchdowns as the second-ranked Tigers beat No. 1 Alabama 44-16. (1:16)
SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- Dabo Swinney kissed the championship trophy and proclaimed this Clemson team the greatest of all time.
He's got a case.
With stunning ease -- and a freshman quarterback -- Clemson toppled college football's greatest dynasty again to become the first perfect playoff champion.
Trevor Lawrence passed for 347 yards and three touchdowns and the second-ranked Tigers beat No. 1 Alabama 44-16 on Monday night in the College Football Playoff national championship game.
In the fourth consecutive playoff meeting between the Tigers and Tide, Clemson evened the series and beat `Bama for the national championship for the second time in three years. Clemson is the first college football team to finish 15-0 since the 1800s, and the first team since the playoff started five seasons ago to get through a season unscathed.
"I mean, our guys had the eye of the tiger, but I'm so proud, and then for our seniors to be able to go out 15-0 and truly be the best ever -- there was a lot of talk about best ever all year long," Swinney said, talking about Alabama. "We were never in that conversation. But tonight, there's no doubt. First 15-0 team, to beat Notre Dame and to beat Alabama to do it, this team won 13 games by 20 points or more and led by an unbelievable group of seniors, amazing group. I'm just thankful to be a part of it."
Alabama coach Nick Saban and the Tide (14-1) were looking for a sixth national championship in 10 years, trying to add to an already unprecedented run in the sport. Instead, Clemson crushed Alabama, becoming the first opponent to beat the Tide by more than 14 points since Saban became coach in 2007.
Swinney's Tigers sealed their status as a superpower, no longer just 1A to Alabama's 1.
"We're 15-0, we beat the best team ever, nobody's taking that away from us," Clemson All-American defensive tackle Christian Wilkins said.
Two seasons ago it was Deshaun Watson dethroning the Tide with a last-second touchdown pass. Clemson's new star quarterback didn't need the late-game heroics. The long-haired Lawrence cut though Alabama's defense with the help of another fabulous freshman. Justyn Ross made a juggling grab, a one-handed snare and broke a 74-yard touchdown about midway through the third quarter that made it 37-16 and had Swinney high-stepping down the sidelines.
Ross, who scored two touchdowns in the semifinal rout of Notre Dame, had six catches for 153 yards against his home-state team.
Swinney takes a different approach than Saban, running a more fun-loving program than Alabama's all-business organization. But the results have been every bit as good. And on Monday night at Levi's Stadium, in a championship game played more than 2,000 miles away from Clemson's South Carolina campus, the Tigers were way too much for an Alabama team that had spent the season mauling its opposition. The Tide won their first 14 games by an average of 31 points.
Alabama's Tua Tagovailoa threw two crucial interceptions in the first half, the first returned 44 yards for a touchdown by A.J. Terrell to put Clemson up 7-0. The Tide came in scoring 48 points per game, but was shut out over the final 44 minutes by an opportunistic Clemson defense.
Saban lamented numerous mistakes: blown coverages on third down (Clemson was 10 for 15), stall outs in the red zone and special teams mishaps, including a fake field goal that flopped on the first possession of the second half.
He laid the blame on himself. The Alabama program has set a championship-or-bust standard under Saban, but he didn't want this season looked at as a failure.
"One game doesn't define who you are," Saban said. "But I also told the players that sometimes we learn more when things don't go well, when we lose."
Tagovailoa, the sophomore who came off the bench to win the championship game last year for the Tide, went 22 for 34 for 295 yards and two touchdowns.
"We had a great season, but five words: Good is not good enough," Tagovailoa said. "We didn't finish the way we wanted to finish. We didn't do the things we needed to do to execute and be successful in this game, and that's all it is."
The Heisman runner-up was also the second-best quarterback on the field in the championship game. Lawrence finished 20 for 32, and went 18 for 25 for 277 yards over the final three quarters.
The teenager who took over as the starter four games into the season raised the Tigers' play, giving them an explosive offense to match a suffocating defense, led by All-American linemen Clelin Ferrell and Wilkins.
"Just these seniors, just taking me in, and they kind of dragged me along until I got my feet under me, and they just -- they're awesome people as well as players," said Lawrence, the first freshman starting quarterback to lead his team to a national title since Oklahoma's Jamelle Holieway in 1985.
Clemson hit Alabama with a 31-point first half, capitalizing on the Tide's mistakes and unleashing Lawrence's rocket arm.
Tagovailoa threw a second interception in the second quarter, this time into triple coverage, and Trayvon Mullen's 46-yard return put Clemson in Alabama territory. That led to Travis Etienne's third touchdown of the half, a 5-yard shovel pass from Lawrence.
With a chance to stamp itself as the best team in Saban's remarkable 12 seasons at Alabama, the Crimson Tide played maybe the worst half of the coach's tenure. The 15-point halftime deficit was the largest the Tide has ever faced under Saban.
Alabama seemed panicked in the third quarter, running a fake field goal into a waiting Clemson defense instead of kicking from 40. Three plays later, Lawrence faced down a pass rush and slung a pass to Ross, who was alone after Alabama defensive back Saivion Smith went down with an apparent leg injury.
Ross sprinted away and the shocking rout was on.
Almost as shocking as Clemson, a program that promoted an obscure receivers coach to lead the program 10 years ago, climbing over the traditional powers to the top of college football. Clemson finished No. 1 in the AP poll for the third time.
"Our goal is not to win a national championship. People don't believe that. Our goal is to win the closer right there. The national championship is just a byproduct of that. It's never been my goal," said Swinney, who now has as many titles as Hall of Famers Bobby Bowden and Joe Paterno. "I don't measure teams by that, and I know we've got some rabid people that that drives them crazy, but I measure our team based on did we get better, did we reach our potential." | Sports Competition | January 2019 | ['(AP via ESPN)'] |
Three Mexican Army soldiers die as gunfire downs a helicopter in the state of Jalisco. Ten soldiers and two Federal Police officers are injured. | At least seven people died as flames and gunfire erupted around the western Mexico state of Jalisco on Friday when a military operation targeting a violent drug cartel was launched at the start of a three-day holiday weekend.
Suspected cartel members stopped buses and trucks to block key highways in the state capital of Guadalajara and other cities, snarling traffic on a day Mexicans took to the road in droves. Officials said 11 banks and five gas stations were firebombed in almost simultaneous attacks. Lesser violence also was reported in three neighboring states.
The first attack occurred when gunmen fired on a military helicopter, killing three soldiers and forcing it to make an emergency landing about 150 miles (250 kilometers) southwest of Guadalajara. Ten soldiers and two federal police officers were injured and three soldiers remained missing, a defense ministry statement said.
The statement said the helicopter was participating in the anti-cartel offensive known as Operation Jalisco.
Jalisco Gov. Aristoteles Sandoval said at an afternoon news conference that the violence around the state was a reaction to the operation, which he said was designed to "get to the bottom of and to be able to arrest all the leaders of this cartel, of this organization."
Sandoval did not name the cartel, but authorities have been locked in an increasingly bloody battle with the Jalisco New Generation cartel. Last month, cartel gunmen killed 15 state police officers in an ambush that was the bloodiest single attack on Mexican authorities in recent memory.
One week earlier, cartel gunmen attempted to assassinate the state security commissioner and on March 19 they killed five federal police officers. Authorities have said those attacks were revenge for state forces killing a cartel leader.
On Friday, Sandoval said Operation Jalisco, which had been announced by federal authorities earlier in the day, had the goal of arresting all members of the cartel.
Sandoval said there were a total of seven deaths Friday, but did not specify the circumstances or the victims.
Later, state spokesman Gonzalo Sanchez said through his Twitter account that the dead included three soldiers, one state police officer, two suspected criminals and one civilian. In an interview with the newspaper El Universal, Sanchez said authorities believed the Jalisco New Generation cartel was responsible.
Sandoval counted 39 road blockades around the state affecting 25 municipalities. Nineteen people were arrested and there were four armed confrontations, he said. He said 19 people were injured, including three civilians who suffered burns.
Alejandro Hope, a former official with Mexico's intelligence service, said the violent response to the government offensive showed the cartel is cohesive and capable of reacting to attacks. He said the gang would likely tighten security to fend off the capture of its leader, who is believed to be Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, nicknamed "El Mencho."
Hope questioned the decision to go after the cartel's top leadership before first taking out mid-level leaders and weakening the gang's ability to react with coordinated violence.
However, Jorge Chabat, another Mexican security expert, said he didn't think the cartel's response would have a big impact. "I don't believe that it is going to make the federal government leave them alone," he said. | Armed Conflict | May 2015 | ['(AP via ABC News America)'] |
In golf, Henrik Stenson wins the 2016 Open Championship defeating Phil Mickelson after a closely fought battle in the final round at the Royal Troon Golf Club in Scotland. Stenson's total of 264, 20 under par, is the lowest stroke total ever recorded in any major championship and ties Jason Day's performance at last year's PGA Championship for the lowest score in relation to par at a major. It is also Stenson's first victory in a major tournament. | Swede wins first major of his career after superb final round Stenson’s winning total is a new record for the competition
Last modified on Mon 27 Nov 2017 08.49 GMT
There must be something about Ayrshire. Thirty nine years on from the duel in the sun, an epic battle between Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson at Turnberry, Royal Troon staged a Sunday worthy of identical status. That is no exaggeration; Henrik Stenson and Phil Mickelson produced one of the finest denouements in the history of major championship golf. There was privilege in watching it. Not even a Mickelson 65 was good enough.
For Stenson, the Claret Jug and a major record-crushing score of 264. Or, in more simple language, 20 under par. In his 42nd major appearance, Stenson finally reached his holy grail. He took just 63 Sunday shots in doing so.
Only Mickelson, who was eventually battered into submission – ultimately falling short by three during the closing stretch – may grudge the 40-year-old his maiden major title. In cold reflection, hopefully the left-hander will appreciate the part he played in a monumental tussle. Here is further context: Mickelson finished 11 shots clear of JB Holmes, who was third.
Stenson was inspired. He had to be, such was the pressure applied upon him by a player seeking a sixth major at the age of 46. One of the most popular players on golf’s scene has thereby delivered Sweden’s first triumph in the sport’s prime four events.
Stenson has also touched upon karma. Allen Stanford, the man who swindled millions of dollars from the golfer, continues to serve a 110-year sentence in a Floridian jail as Stenson etches his name into history books. Who emerged the better from that deal, after all?
A sign of things to come arrived as the final grouping took to the 1st. For the first time in three days, the sun came out as an indicator of what the final 18 holes of the 145th Open would produce. An opening Mickelson birdie as Stenson three-putted levelled the scores at 12 under par. On the 2nd, Mickelson lipped out when chipping from off the green and over a bunker. The duo traded blows during identical, stunning outward halves of 32. Stenson had regained the lead by that turn, which was conceded again as the pair took to the 12th tee in a tie at minus 16.
Mickelson’s par save on 12, converted from outside 20ft, suggested the golfing gods may be smiling favourably upon him. That sentiment belied one key factor; this was to be Stenson’s time, an opportunity he wouldn’t pass up. Stenson’s 22nd birdie in just 68 holes, from 12ft at the 14th, edged him back in front.
The advantage was two in the moment that perhaps defined this event. From off the 15th green, Stenson holed for a birdie. Mickelson, a ferocious competitor but a respectful one, raised a smile. The American’s look on the 16th was of frustration as an eagle putt slid so agonisingly past the hole.
Typically, Stenson’s short putt to allow the relative cushion of three shots when standing on the 18th tee was to miss. The theatre couldn’t end at 71 holes.
It duly didn’t. Stenson’s tee shot at the last held up a mere inches from a treacherous fairway bunker. A career of near misses flashed before the Gothenburg man’s very eyes. Now he wouldn’t be denied, a shot to the centre of the green and single putt sparking moving moments. The outpouring of Stenson emotion was entirely justified.
In making up the numbers, Steve Stricker finished in fourth, a shot adrift of Holmes. Dustin Johnson sneaked a top 10 finish with a Sunday 70. Jason Day, the world No1, signed off with a 71 for disappointing aggregate of plus one. “I’m just used to greens that are 12, 13, 14 on the Stimpmeter,” Day said. “Then we get here and it’s nine. Obviously, that’s understandable because of the conditions and the elements that you have to battle out here, how windy it is, you have to keep them at a certain speed or else they’ll blow off and it won’t be fair for anyone.
“I tried to get in early, tried to get used to the greens. It just feels like I’m hitting it with a sledgehammer and it’s going nowhere. It’s something you have to get used to and unfortunately I just didn’t putt really well this week.”
He just about admitted as much himself but it surely isn’t asking too much for a player of Day’s standing to appropriately adjust to the pace of putting surfaces by the final day of a tournament.
Rory McIlroy will head for the final major of the season, at Baltusrol from Thursday week, in fine fettle. The 27-year-old posted his best round of this Open, a 67, on day four. McIlroy thereby shared fifth.
“I missed a few short putts this week but I’m not really putting that down to anything,” said McIlroy. “I think I just need to do a little bit of work and maybe just be a bit more confident over them. Tee to green was good and I can only be positive going into Baltusrol, really.
“I’m playing well. I’m driving the ball great. I think that’s a big thing, especially with the US PGA coming up. The PGAs are usually [such that] if you can drive the ball well, you’ll do well. I’ve had success in that tournament before. I’ll go there feeling pretty good about myself.”
Another reason for McIlroy’s cheer was that he could watch the ending to the third major of 2016. Sunday 17 July at Royal Troon will linger long in the memory, with Stenson’s recollections the most vivid of all. One of the most talented players of a generation is the nearly man no more.
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The Taliban claims responsibility for a car bomb attack near the Spanish embassy in Kabul. At least one Spanish security officer is killed. | KABUL (Reuters) - Taliban fighters mounted a car bomb attack on a guest house near the Spanish embassy in Kabul on Friday, killing at least one security officer and further dimming any hopes of peace talks with moderate elements of the Islamist insurgent movement.
Gunfire was reported immediately following the explosion, which the Taliban said targeted a guest house attached to the embassy near a heavily protected area of the capital close to many other foreign embassies, U.N. and government buildings.
A spokesman for the Spanish foreign ministry said there had been an explosion in the embassy, which is outside the fortified “green zone”, but Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said later that the attack was not directed at the embassy itself but at the guest house.
A Taliban spokesman said the attack had targeted “an invader’s guest house”.
One Spanish security officer was killed but all other embassy staff were safe and unhurt, he told reporters in Madrid.
Security forces with armored vehicles were deployed around the scene in biting cold weather with at least three insurgents involved in the attack, according to one police official.
Deputy Interior Minister Ayoub Salangi said two of the attackers had been killed by snipers and a third was wounded. Security forces were proceeding with caution because they were not sure exactly how many attackers might still be inside.
As the mopping up operation went on, gunfire and several loud explosions were heard around midnight, some six hours after the attack began.
At least seven people were taken to a hospital run by the aid group Emergency, 700 meters (yards) from the Spanish embassy, according to a tweet from the organization.
Spain, which contributed to the international force in Afghanistan, withdrew the last of its troops in October although a few officers remain at the headquarters of NATO’s Resolute Support Mission in Kabul.
On Wednesday, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani returned from a regional peace conference in Islamabad aimed at reviving stalled peace talks with Taliban militants following several months of relative calm in the Afghan capital.
The day before, a Taliban attack in the southern city of Kandahar killed 50 civilians and security personnel, and was only suppressed after more than 24 hours of fighting.
On Thursday, the head of Afghanistan’s intelligence agency resigned over a row with Ghani, in a move that underlined the divisions among leaders of the country’s security apparatus.
The Taliban has been caught up with a bloody internal power struggle but it has nevertheless been able to mount well-coordinated attacks on targets across the country.
Militants have stepped up the insurgency following the withdrawal of international forces from combat operations last year, achieving a series of successes, including seizing the northern city of Kunduz in September.
| Armed Conflict | December 2015 | ['(Reuters)'] |
An overnight attack on Camp Integrity in Kabul leaves one NATO service member killed, along with eight support staff and two Taliban insurgents. , | KABUL (Reuters) - One member of Afghanistan's NATO force and two insurgents were killed in an overnight battle at a base used by special forces in Kabul, a U.S. official said on Saturday. Authorities were still gathering information about the attack on the Camp Integrity facility, which followed suicide bomb attacks in other parts of Kabul, said Colonel Brian Tribus, director of public affairs for NATO's Resolute Support mission in Afghanistan. "One Resolute Support service member and two insurgent attackers were killed," he said in a statement, which gave no further details. Dozens of people were killed in a wave of attacks in the city that began early on Friday with a huge truck bomb. (Reporting by James Mackenzie; Editing by Robert Birsel)
| Armed Conflict | August 2015 | ['(Reuters via Yahoo News)', '(AFP)'] |
An Egyptian excavation team discovers the remains of a pyramid dating back 3,700 years to the thirteenth Dynasty of Egypt at the Dahshur necropolis 40km south of Cairo. , | The remains of a pyramid built some 3,700 years ago have been discovered in Egypt, the antiquities ministry says.
An interior corridor and a block engraved with 10 hieroglyphic lines were among the finds at the Dahshur royal necropolis, south of Cairo.
The ministry said they were in very good condition and that excavation work was continuing to try to reveal more and establish the size of the pyramid.
It is believed to have been built during the 13th pharaonic dynasty.
Dahshur is where King Sneferu of the 4th Dynasty built ancient Egypt's first true smooth-sided pyramid, the 104m-high (341ft) Red Pyramid, about 4,600 years ago.
He also constructed an earlier version, the 105m-high Bent Pyramid, whose slopes change angle from 54 degrees to 43 degrees about halfway up.
Sneferu was succeeded by his son Khufu, the renowned builder of the Great Pyramid at Giza, which is 138m high and was a wonder of the ancient world. | New archeological discoveries | April 2017 | ['(Al Jazeera)', '(BBC)'] |
A fire at a power plant at Puerto Rico's Electric Power Authority causes a blackout which leaves 1.5 million people without electricity. | A big fire at a power plant has left 1.5 million people without electricity in the US territory of Puerto Rico.
The fire affected two transmission lines and caused the collapse of the electricity system across the island, officials say.
Supply is expected to be restored to most areas on Thursday. Puerto Rico's Electric Power Authority has been undergoing restructuring and is seeking funds to update what it says is outdated equipment.
The fire department said it had extinguished the blaze at the power plant in the south of the island, which serves most of the island's 3.5 million people.
The cause of the fire is still unclear.
There was traffic chaos as the outage forced schools and businesses to close earlier, reports say.
The blackout also caused 15 fires across Puerto Rico as a result of malfunctioning generators.
| Fire | September 2016 | ['(BBC)'] |
President Trump tweets that he has fired Secretary of Defense Mark Esper. Esper had prepared a letter of resignation in the wake of the recent presidential election. National Counterterrorism Center director Christopher C. Miller has been named acting secretary. | Follow NBC News WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump announced Monday that he fired Mark Esper as his defense secretary and said Christopher Miller would serve as the acting secretary of the Department of Defense.
"I am pleased to announce that Christopher C. Miller, the highly respected Director of the National Counterterrorism Center (unanimously confirmed by the Senate), will be Acting Secretary of Defense, effective immediately," Trump tweeted, announcing his first personnel move since losing the presidential election.
He added, "Chris will do a GREAT job! Mark Esper has been terminated. I would like to thank him for his service."
Esper's ouster was Trump's first personnel move since losing the election. Esper has been working with Congress recently to strip Confederate names from military bases, which Trump opposes.
Trump's announcement comes after NBC News reported last week that Esper had prepared a letter of resignation. NBC News has previously reported that Esper has long been at odds with Trump. The two disagreed, for example, about the use of active-duty troops to respond to protests across the nation this summer.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif, excoriated the president in a statement on Monday, calling Esper's firing an attempt "to sow chaos."
“The abrupt firing of Secretary Esper is disturbing evidence that President Trump is intent on using his final days in office to sow chaos in our American Democracy and around the world," she said. "Continuity and stability are always important during a presidential transition; they are absolutely imperative at this moment, as this historically erratic Administration prepares for its departure."
She added, "It is disturbing and dangerous that, at this precarious moment, our military will now be led by an official who has not been confirmed for this position by the Senate.”
Esper also distanced himself from Trump’s photo-op at St. John’s Episcopal Church after a crowd of protesters was violently dispersed from Lafayette Square during the protests over police brutality this summer.
Esper also said he would not support Trump invoking the Insurrection Act to quell civil unrest during the protests when Trump was threatening to do so.
Further, Esper attempted to cut funding in the Pentagon budget for Stars and Stripes, a newspaper for U.S. military personnel that has been published since the Civil War, which Trump pushed back on.
Esper said in a statement, "I am particularly proud of these accomplishments in light of the challenges we faced along the way: a global pandemic; confrontations with Iran and its proxies throughout the Middle East; continued deployment of troops into conflict zones; domestic civil unrest; malign behavior globally by Russia and China; and a charged political atmosphere here at home. Through thick and thin, however, we have always put People and Country first."
Esper had served as defense secretary since July 2019, taking over from Jim Mattis, who resigned from the role in late 2018. Mattis had also been critical of Trump's approach as commander in chief.
Miller, meanwhile, has served as director of the National Counterterrorism Center since August. Before that, he served as the deputy assistant secretary of defense for special operations and combating terrorism. Miller served in the military from 1983 to 2014, according to the Defense Department.
Given that Trump named Miller as the acting secretary, it's unlikely the president will formally nominate Esper's replacement before he leaves office in January. Once President-elect Joe Biden takes office in January, he will have the power to nominate his own secretary of defense, whom the Senate would have to confirm. | Government Job change - Resignation_Dismissal | November 2020 | ['(NBC News)'] |
In snooker, Ding Junhui defeats Neil Robertson 4–3 to win the Grand Final of the Players Tour Championship 2012/2013. | Last updated on 17 March 201317 March 2013.From the section Snooker
China's Ding Junhui fought back from 3-0 down to beat Neil Robertson 4-3 and win the Players Tour Championship Grand Finals in Galway.
Ding, who in the quarter-finals, watched as Australian Robertson reeled off breaks of 88, 80 and 72 in the first three frames.
But Ding cut the deficit with a 70 and really found his form when making it 3-2 with a 130 break.
The world number nine levelled in a tight frame and won it with a 98 break.
"I have played well all week," Ding told the World Snooker website.external-link "It was very tough because I had to win four matches in the last frame.
"I have taken my chances, made big breaks and fought back in matches. I have more experience now and I know I can win close matches with just one chance. It's all about thinking, and keeping my concentration.
"I have been working hard all year. I might have a few tournaments when I don't play well and have less energy, but I know I can come back strong." | Sports Competition | March 2013 | ['(BBC)', '(Eurosport)'] |
The government of the People's Republic of China announces a 10–year program under which clean energy will account for 15 percent of the total consumption mix by 2020. | BEIJING: The government has formulated a 10-year program under which clean energy will account for 15 percent of the total consumption mix by 2020, a top official has revealed.
To realize the goal, the government will invest billions in the construction of nuclear power stations, wind farms, solar power plants and research of renewable energy technologies, said Zhang Guobao, head of the National Energy Administration.
Zhang told China Daily that the program will soon be made public but did not specify a date.
He also said the National Energy Commission, the apex body set up in January to coordinate energy policy and headed by Premier Wen Jiabao, will hold its first meeting soon.
Zhang forecast a boom in the building of renewable energy infrastructure in the coming five years to meet the goal, which Wen pledged to global leaders at the Copenhagen climate change summit in December. The premier also pledged that the country will reduce its carbon intensity by 40-45 percent by 2020 from 2005 levels.
"Power projects take a long time to be up and running, and we are basically allowed five years to complete them although it is a 10-year program," said Zhang. "Otherwise, the facilities cannot be put into use by 2020."
Last year, groups of researchers, scientists and officials drafted the program under the supervision of Wen and Vice-Premier Li Keqiang.
The National People's Congress, the top legislature, recently passed an amendment to the renewable energy law to require power grid companies to buy all the electricity produced by renewable energy generators.
All these efforts reflect the strategic importance of the renewable energy industry, said Zhang, adding the policy will offer more opportunities for global partners.
| Government Policy Changes | March 2010 | ['(China Daily)'] |
It is expected that there will be 70 deaths from the illness, and at least 6,500 people will be infected by the highly infectious disease. |
Emma Russell is a health reporter for the New Zealand Herald
As Samoa struggles to get a grip on a lethal measles outbreak already claiming 42 lives, New Zealand experts predict the worst is yet to come. Health reporter Emma Russell explains.
More than 70 people - including toddlers and babies - are expected to die in Samoa's escalating measles epidemic, health experts predict.
In the next three weeks, it's likely 6500 people will be infected by the highly contagious disease - 3 per cent of the country's population.
Scientists at the University of Auckland's Department of Engineering Science and Auckland Bioengineering Institute calculated the expected death trajectory, based on the number of reported cases and percentage of population currently immunised against the disease.
Immunologist and vaccine specialist Dr Helen Petousis-Harris said this was "absolutely devastating" and highlighted just how important it was for people in Samoa get vaccinated as soon as possible.
Auckland doctor Scott Wilson, who has been leading a medical team in Samoa for the last 10 days, told the Herald children were collapsing as soon as they walked through the hospital doors and required immediate resuscitation.
"We are seeing children literally deteriorating in a matter of hours. You'll see them, then go see another patient and come back and they are worse.
"You are watching the progression of the disease and it is just terrifying," Wilson said.
At least 3149 people have been infected with the deadly disease, as of yesterday afternoon.
In the last week the death toll has more than doubled from 20 people confirmed dead last Friday to 42 yesterday.
Of that, 38 have been children under the age of four - six were younger than five months old, 12 were between the age of six to 11 months and 20 were aged one to four years old.
The deadly disease has also taken the lives of three people between the age of 10 and 20, and one person in their 30s, figures released by the Government of Samoa showed.
Father-of-five Tu'ivale Luamanuvae buried his third child this week in the village of Lauli'i. He lost his one-year-old twins and two-year-old son after they all were infected with measles.
In the village of Toamua, another family lost their three-year-old boy who died from measles at the national hospital.
Official reports showed the deadly disease started appearing in Samoa, after arriving from New Zealand, in late August. On November 15 the Samoan Government declared a state of emergency. Five days later a mass vaccination began - and since then more than 45,000 people have been immunised.
Petousis-Harris said the outbreak couldn't have started with just one infected person arriving in Samoa, it would have had to have been a cluster of infected of people.
"The response has sadly been extremely delayed and for reasons unknown."
She said countries like Tonga and America had also seen measles being imported but it had not resulted in an outbreak because they had much higher vaccination rates and they moved quickly.
"As soon as cases appeared people were put into isolation and that's just a text book response but that didn't happen in Samoa and we don't know why."
Petousis-Harris said a distrust in the Samoan health system was one of the reasons the country had such a low vaccination rate.
The two toddlers, Lannacallystah Samuelu and Lameko Si'u, who died shortly after receiving MMR vaccinations in August last year likely escalated fear among the public about getting immunised, Petousis-Harris said.
She said after the toddler deaths the vaccination programme was halted in Samoa while an investigation into the deaths took place.
Though the findings were concluded within a matter of days and showed the MMR vaccine powder had been mixed with expired muscle relaxant anaesthetic instead of water, that information was not released to the public for several months.
"This meant there was a long delay before the vaccination programme started up again and fear around vaccinations quickly spread among the public," Petousis-Harris said.
She said in New Zealand muscle relaxant anaesthetic wouldn't even be in the same room as the MMR vaccine because it was far too dangerous.
Now, Dr Wilson said nearly every Samoan family was seeing the dreadful outcome of not being vaccinated and attitudes were starting to shift.
"People are coming into hospital wanting the vaccine which is really fantastic to see because we are trying to educate.
"They'll come in wanting the vaccine and then they actually have early signs of the disease - and they are really passionate about protecting their children," Wilson said.
On a more positive note, he has seen hundreds and hundreds of patients pumping through the facility who are doing well.
"We are walking into them at the supermarket and seeing them come back with their siblings and they are doing so much better."
The message Wilson wanted to share with New Zealanders was to be supportive of the vaccination programme.
"If you have relatives who aren't vaccinated encourage them to vaccinate, it is so successful and if people get it early it saves unnecessarily suffering."
"Also try to stay positive, send prayers and love because this isn't something that's going end soon - it will continue for some time yet."
Yesterday, Foreign Minister Winston Peters announced further support will be sent to Samoa to help control the outbreak.
This will include a third rotation of New Zealand's emergency medical assistance team (NZMAT), further nurse vaccinators, intensive care (ICU) specialists and Samoan-speaking medical professionals.
Peter said Samoan health workers had been grappling with the outbreak for a number of weeks.
"New Zealand is also looking to provide psychological support for health workers in Samoa, who have been confronted with some distressing cases in very demanding conditions, and communities that have been affected by the health crisis.
"This is a very difficult time for Samoa, and our sympathies are with everyone affected," Mr Peters said.
| Disease Outbreaks | November 2019 | ['(NZ Herald)'] |
Palestinian prisoner Khader Adnan ends a 66–day hunger strike over his detention in a deal that will see him released in two months. | Former Palestinian prisoner in Israeli jail, Siham al-Heeh, holds a portrait of Khader Adnan, a Palestinian held in an Israeli prison without trial and who is on hunger strike since December 18, during a protest in front of the Red Cross office in the West Bank city of Hebron on February 20, 2012.
The 33-year-old prisoner, a political activist with Islamic Jihad who was arrested by Israel on December 17 and began refusing food a day later, has a long history of using hunger strikes as a protest.
As his landmark protest stretched beyond nine weeks, doctors warned his high-profile attempt to challenge the Israeli army's justice system could cost him dearly.
But on Tuesday, his hunger strike, easily the longest ever staged by a Palestinian prisoner, drew to a close after officials in Ramallah and Jerusalem reached a deal which will see him released on April 17, exactly four months after his arrest.
His protest put the spotlight squarely on a military procedure dating back to the British Mandate known as administrative detention, under which a suspect can be held without charge for six-month periods, renewable indefinitely.
Israel's Supreme Court had been expected to hear an appeal by Adnan's lawyer later on Tuesday, but the hearing was cancelled after news of the deal became public.
A baker by trade, from the village of Arabeh near the northern West Bank town of Jenin, Adnan is no stranger to hunger striking as a form of protest.
Born on March 24, 1978, he became politically active on behalf of the radical Islamic Jihad movement in 1996 while studying for a degree in mathematics at Birzeit University near Ramallah.
He was first arrested by Israel in March 1999 and spent four months in administrative detention.
Eight months later, he was arrested by the Palestinian Authority for encouraging his fellow students to throw stones at visiting French prime minister Lionel Jospin, sparking his first 10-day hunger strike.
In December 2002, he spent a year in administrative detention, and six months after his release, he was arrested again and placed in solitary confinement.
In protest, he went on hunger strike for 28 days until the Israel Prisons Service relented and put him back in with the general population.
He was arrested again in August 2005 for a 15-month period, and then in March 2008, he served six months of administrative detention.
Adnan has served as a spokesman for Islamic Jihad since 2000, and in October 2010, he was arrested by the Palestinian security forces in connection with his political activity.
Adnan's latest protest has seen him break the record for the longest hunger strike by a Palestinian prisoner, with the previous record set in 1976 when a group of prisoners refused food for 45 days.
Married for seven years, Adnan has two small daughters, Maali, 4 and 18-month-old Bissan. His wife, Randa, is five months pregnant with a baby boy.
Speaking to AFP on Monday, his wife described him as a determined man with very strong principles who would "stick to his message, even if he has to sacrifice his life."
"For him, a principle is a principle," she said.
Adnan is one of some 5,000 Palestinian prisoners being held in Israeli jails, and one of more than 300 currently being held in administrative detention.
His case sparked expressions of concern from the European Union and the United Nations, and has gained widespread support on the Palestinian street.
RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories: Palestinian prisoner Khader Adnan, who on Tuesday ended a 66-day hunger strike, has become a potent symbol of protest against Israel's practice of holding suspects without trial.
| Famous Person - Commit Crime - Release | February 2012 | ['(Daily Star Lebanon)'] |
Malta buries former president Guido de Marco in a state funeral. |
Monday, 16th August 2010 - 19:06CET
The nation bid its final farewell to former President Guido de Marco today with a state funeral that drew hundreds of people to Valletta and emptied the streets, as many more people watched proceedings on television.
Prof de Marco, an MP for 33 years before becoming President, passed away on Thursday aged 79.
Hundreds of people filed past the body of Prof de Marco in the final hours of lying in state this morning.
Prof de Marco started his final journey at 2.40 p.m. when his coffin was carried out of the Palace and placed on a gun carriage, a poignant moment since the Palace was the centre of his public service for 38 years.
People who lined both sides of Republic Street under a blazing sun applauded as the cortège slowly made its way to St John's Co-Cathedral. Some people wept openly and shouted 'Guido, Guido' .
St John's Co-Cathedral was packed with mourners well before the funeral Mass started.
President George Abela led the congregation, while the highest ranking foreign dignitary, Kuwaiti Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Mohammed al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah sat on the front pew. With Prof de Marco enjoying deep respect in Kuwait for his support for the country during the invasion by Iraq in 1990, the former Bishop of Kuwait, Mgr Francis Adeodato Micallef, took part in the funeral Mass.
Archbishop Paul Cremona in his homily praised the former President for having been at ease with both dignitaries and ordinary people and for having seeing value in everyone, hence his belief in the politics of persuasion.
A message of condolence sent on behalf of Pope Benedict was read at the end of the Mass. In it the Cardinal Secretary of State said that mindful of Prof de Marco's clear and constant witness to his faith in Christ in the conduct of political life, the Holy Father prayed that many who served in public office would draw inspiration from his example.
Those present for the funeral included Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi and Opposition leader Joseph Muscat, former Presidents, former Opposition leader Alfred Sant, Italian Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs Vincenzo Scotti, Suha Arafat, and people from all walks of life who had known and loved the former President .
The coffin, draped in the Maltese flag, was carried out of the Co-Cathedral to long applause from those inside and outside. The cortège then proceeded out of Valletta along Merchants' Street and past his former office at the Foreign Ministry, to the War Memorial.
President and the de Marco family walking immediately behind the coffin followed by members of the judiciary - who well remember Prof de Marco as a leading criminal lawyer and later as Justice Minister - MPs, representatives of foreign governments and members of the public.
Fondazzjoni Wirt Artna fired a salute to Prof de Marco from the antique guns at the Upper Barrakka gardens.
The formality of the state funeral gave way to the popular manifestation of grief at Hamrun - for long Prof de Marco's place of residence.
The St Cajetan Band, of which he was vice president for several years, played funeral marches and people threw flowers at the hearse as it stopped outside the parish church and clubs with which he was associated.
One man, tears in his eyes, summed up his goodbye in the way Prof de Marco normally did. | Famous Person - Death | August 2010 | ['(The Times)', '(The Malta Independent)'] |
Rioting erupts in Malmö, Sweden, following a Quran book burning event by far–right Danish politician Rasmus Paludan in the city. Police say as many as 300 people gathered to protest the anti–Islam activities, which then became violent as protesters set fires and attacked police. | STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - A riot broke out on Friday in the southern Swedish town of Malmo, where at least 300 people had gathered to protest against anti-Islam activities, police said.
Protesters were throwing objects at police officers and car tyres had been set on fire, a police spokesman said. Earlier in the day, a copy of the Quran had been burned in Malmo by right-wing extremists.
“We don’t have this under control but we are working actively to take control,” the spokesman said.
“We see a connection between what is happening now and what happened earlier today,” he said.
The demonstrations had escalated in the same place where the Quran had been burned, the spokesman said.
Daily Aftonbladet said several anti-Islam activities had taken place in Malmo on Friday, including three men kicking a copy of the Quran between them in a public square.
The anti-Islam protests occurred after Rasmus Paludan, leader of Danish far-right political party Hard Line, had been denied permission to have a meeting in Malmo and was stopped at the Swedish border, according to the newspaper. | Riot | August 2020 | ['(Reuters)'] |
A 6.2 magnitude earthquake occurs on the lower North Island of New Zealand near the capital Wellington. |
A "severe'' magnitude 6.2 quake has damaged homes and closed roads in the lower North Island, toppling walls and chimneys and sending rockfalls across roads.
The quake, initially reported as a magnitude 6.3, struck 10km north of Castlepoint in Wairarapa, at a depth of 33km, at 3.52pm, GeoNet said.
Sara Page, GeoNet public information specialist at GNS Science, said GeoNet had received more than 6000 "felt" reports from the public by 4.30pm, with some reporting damage.
"As expected after a quake of this size, there have been multiple aftershocks, and these will continue for some time as the region settles," she said.
The Wairarapa is no stranger to large earthquakes, with two very damaging magnitude 7 quakes in 1942.
However, the region's last earthquake above magnitude 6 was in 1961.
Fifteen people will not be able to return home tonight after their building in the centre of Masterton was red-stickered as a result of today's earthquake.
Wairarapa area Civil Defence controller Kevin Tunnell said the three-storey Daniels Building on Queen St had sustained unspecified damage in the quake.
It was initially deemed unsafe by the Fire Service and then by Masterton District Council engineers.
Its 15 tenants would not be allowed home for at least tonight and engineers would carry out further inspections tomorrow.
Most of the tenants had managed to find alternative accommodation but two who had not would be housed by the council tonight.
Mr Tunnell said the building's locks had been changed to prevent the tenants trying to retrieve their belongings.
"The natural instinct is for people to get back into their residence but unfortunately that's against the law at the moment.''
Overall, a central ambulance communications spokesman said two people had suffered "very minor'' injuries due to falls during the quake. No further details were available.
There are still no reports of serious injury.
Wellington Region Emergency Management group controller Bruce Pepperell said very little damage had been reported in the Wellington region, but there was damage closer to the epicentre in Wairarapa.
"There's no serious injuries or deaths over there, but they got a very severe jolt. It has caused some isolated damage with stuff coming off shelves and things like that.''
Three 1920s-style buildings in Masterton had been evacuated as a precautionary measure.
"The engineers will check them out - safety is paramount.''
Coastal residents near Castlepoint reported the seas were quite calm, Mr Pepperell said.
There was no sign of the traffic chaos that gripped Wellington after the magnitude 6.6 earthquake in August last year.
"There is a bit of traffic with people coming home from a long weekend and extended holidays, things like that. But some people didn't even feel it,'' Mr Pepperell said.
GNS Science had told Mr Pepperell the forces at play in Wellington were "a hell of a lot less than we experienced last year''.
"It was one of those good reminders, but we got away relatively lightly down here.''
Emergency services have reported damage to roads and buildings in the lower North Island.
Most of the damage was reported in the Wairarapa and Palmerston North areas.
Fire Service central communications shift manager Mike Wanoa said there were no reports of major damage so far, but firefighters were "extremely busy''.
"The earthquake has been reasonably major in the Masterton-Eketahuna area, so we're getting multiple calls to all sorts of things at the moment, but we're right in the middle of it now.''
There were reports of fires, alarm activations and lines down. A lot of the damage was in the Wairarapa and Palmerston North areas, Mr Wanoa said.
Inspector Mike Coleman of police central communications said there were reports of damage to houses in Eketahuna, including broken windows, collapsed walls and fallen chimneys.
The number of reports of damage remained unknown.
"Obviously some houses have been damaged,'' Mr Coleman said.
"Windows have been smashed and crockery has been thrown around the place - the usual sort of movement with earthquakes.''
Mr Coleman said there were rocks and debris on roads between Woodville and Taihape due to various slips.
The Manawatu Gorge road was down to one lane, while the road between Pahiatua and Palmerston North was closed.
Bridges and roads around Eketahuna were being checked, Mr Coleman said.
New Zealand Transport Agency spokesman Ewart Barnsley said they were fairly confident the state highway network had come through the quake largely unscathed.
However, engineers were continuing to conduct checks and motorists were advised to exercise appropriate caution.
"We're pretty confident that our state highway network is okay and Manawatu Gorge is okay. Traffic's flowing okay,'' he said.
A Wellington Free Ambulance spokesman said: "Wellington Free Ambulance has had no callouts as a result of the earthquake. However, we have gone into emergency management mode just to be safe.''
Tranz Metro said all train services in the region had been suspended due to the quake.
The New Zealand Transport Agency said teams were busy checking the road network for damage but everything seemed to be okay.
Power is out in Linton, south of Palmerston North.
Image 1 of 15: The giant eagle hanging from the roof of Wellington airport to promote the Hobbit trilogy has fallen down due to the shake. Photo / Kylie Te Moananui
A spokeswoman for the Earthquake Commission (EQC) said the agency was still gathering information on the quake and the volume of calls received.
One of the two giant eagles hanging from the roof of Wellington airport to promote the Hobbit trilogy did fall down as a result of the shaking.
The Weta Workshop eagles each weigh 2 tonnes, have a wingspan of 15m, and were suspended from the roof by eight cables.
Greg Thomas from Wellington Airport said one of the eagles slowly became detached during the quake and had come to rest on the floor.
He said it was still partly suspended, and no one was injured when it came down.
The quake had not caused any other damage at the airport. A runway inspection had been carried out and the airport had been cleared to continue operating.
No flights had been disrupted, he said.
Damage at Pukaha Mt Bruce wildlife centre, near Eketahuna, was confined to items falling off shelves in the retail area, said general manager Helen Tickner.
"There's a bit of cleaning up to do tomorrow, but all the animals are fine and all the visitors were fine,'' she said.
"Everyone was a bit shaken up and a bit freaked out.''
She said there would be a careful check for any further damage, but it was expected the centre would open as usual tomorrow.
Karen Monk, who is on a farm in Mauriceville, just north of Masterton, said the quake was "really violent''.
"My baby daughter was in her cot asleep and I managed to leap across the hall and grab her and leap outside onto the lawn,'' she said.
They had stayed outside for about half an hour while aftershocks rolled through.
Ms Monk said the quake was sudden and violent, compared to the usual rolling shakes.
"It was certainly the biggest we've had since we've been here.
"It was really sudden. Usually the earthquakes we feel up here, whether they're from north or south, they're more rolling and you start start with a gentle shake.
"This one just came with a bang, with massive jolting.''
She said the contents of the pantry had spilled onto the floor, shelves tipped over. Almost every room in the wooden villa had cracks in the walls.
"We're on a farm here and the animals don't normally react to quakes but the horses were running around for a good 10 minutes afterwards. The sheep are all huddled together. That's really unusual.''
Hear a Radio trackside horse commentator interrupted by the earthquake live on air here:
An office worker in Masterton described the tremor as "a good quake - one of the best''.
"It was a roll rather than a jolt. It was not very long but it was long enough - it lasted about 20 seconds.''
Pam Lochore, wife of All Black great Sir Brian Lochore, said photographs had fallen off shelves in the couple's Masterton living room.
The shaking also caused water in the pool to "rock side to side'' and a "rugby ball went flying across the room''.
Raumati South resident Leigh Nichols was at her beachside bach when the quake hit.
"It was huge. The noise - it was like a train going along the track. It was so noisy, everything was just rattling.''
Mrs Nichols said a wine glass smashed and DVDs spilled to the floor. Her husband David clutched a wooden statue to prevent it tumbling over.
"It was the noise that got me, not the shaking. I just stood here. I don't get frightened, I'm fascinated.''
Asked how the quake compared to the big Seddon shakes in July last year, she said: "I think it was just as bad, at least.''
Mrs Nichols was about to head to her Raumati interior design store, Furnishing Affair, to check merchandise for damage.
"If it's only things, it's only things. But gosh it was big.''
In North Wairarapa crockery broke, fridge doors were flung open spilling food onto kitchen floors and disheartened homeowners described the aftermath as "a bloody mess''.
In Masterton initial reports showed there was little damage in shops although some crockery had been broken.
Anders Crofoot, owner of Castlepoint Station on the east coast of Wairarapa, said it was "the best shake we've had in 15 years''.
"Stuff off the shelves, stuff off walls, but nothing that we've come across that's too major,'' he said.
He said the shaking went on for about 40 seconds.
"I was up in the office and it was long enough to think about it and then get downstairs and outside and it was still going.''
He would now be checking the farm water supply for damage. "There's a high probability with some of these old pipes that there'll be a problem.''
Electricity retailer Powershop, which has its headquarters in Masterton, tweeted that it had evacuated its call centre following the earthquake.
The company said it would continue responding to email queries as best it could.
A DB Breweries spokeswoman said they had checked with staff at the Tui Brewery in Mangatainoka and there appeared to be no damage as a result of the quake.
Fonterra said all staff at the Paihiatua plant are safe but power is currently out and they are still checking the plant for damage.
No damage to my house but my neighbours chimney is a bit munted after the quake. | Earthquakes | January 2014 | ['(New Zealand Herald)'] |
Thousands of people take to the streets of Jayapura and other towns in Papua, Indonesia, in support of the Free Papua Movement and its effort to join the Melanesian Spearhead Group. Indonesia responded with a large police and military presence, with reports of police firing on demonstrators in Wamena and arresting dozens across the province. | There have been more demonstrations in Indonesia's Papua region today, in support of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua.
A large peaceful demonstration in Jayapura in support of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua. Photo: Tabloid Jubi
Over a thousand demonstrators gathered in the Papua provincial capital Jayapura to express their support for the Liberation Movement and its bid for full membership in the Melanesian Spearhead Group.
In the past month and a half there's been a series of large, peaceful demonstrations in most Papuan urban centres in support of the Liberation Movement.
The largest and most widespread demonstrations occurred on May 2nd when police arrested around two thousand people in Jayapura alone.
The demos have mainly been organised by the West Papua National Committee which is part of the Liberation Movement.
Today's demonstrations also included large gatherings in Manokwari, Fakfak and Wamena, one of Papua's major Highlands towns.
Initial reports from Wamena indicate a large police and military forces presence, with police shooting two demonstrators.
Local people have reported that they had no access to Wamena hospital as the security forces have blocked it off.
Police reported that a Papuan who has been on their wanted list, Kelenak Telenggen, was one of the people shot.
Back in Jayapura, police stopped the demonstration moving from Waena to Abepura while in nearby Sentani they detained 33 members of the West Papua National Committee.
Indonesian police talk to members of the West Papua National Committee, or KNPB, in Jayapura during their demonstration, 31 May 2016. Photo: Tabloid Jubi
Earlier, BBC Indonesia reported that a hundred West Papuans had been arrested in Jayapura and Wamena in the past few days for handing out flyers calling for people to join today's demonstrations.
As well as showing support for the Liberation Movement's MSG membership, the demonstrations have been another clear expression of independence aspirations among West Papuans.
However, a police spokesman indicated that security forces would not tolerate freedom of expression in public where it involved promoting the idea of independence for Papua.
Staff at Papua's Cenderawasih University are reportedly striking over a continued blockade of the campus at Abepura.
The Jakarta Post quotes the university director, Onesimus Sahuleka, as saying the strike is a protest against the students who have been frequently blocking the campus.
The students are demanding that the campus extend the enrolment period and ensure that 80 percent of the places available are assigned to Papuans.
He praised the students' aspirations but urged them to not disturb teaching and learning activities at the campus.
Onesimus said the enrolment period oculd not be extended because registration happens online and across Indonesia.
West Papuans in Manokwari march in support of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua. Photo: Tabloid Jubi
Dozens of members of the West Papua National Committee have been arrested by Indonesian police in Papua province.
More mass demonstrations are expected in Indonesia's Papua region amid growing international interest in West Papuan self-determination aspirations.
There's disquiet within the Melanesian Spearhead Group over denial of entry to Papua New Guinea for a West Papuan leader. Audio | Protest_Online Condemnation | May 2016 | ['(Radio New Zealand)'] |
Syrian government airstrikes in Syria’s northwestern de-escalation zones target the towns of Maarrat al-Nu'man and Maarat Herma in Idlib Governorate, killing twelve civilians. | IDLIB, Syria Twelve civilians were killed in regime airstrikes in Syria’s northwestern de-escalation zones, sources with the White Helmets civil defense agency said on Wednesday.
The attacks targeted the towns of Maarat Al-Numan and Maarat Herma in Idlib province, the sources said. Also, regime forces and Iran-back terrorist group shelled the town of Khan Sheykhun and the villages of Al-Kassabiyya, Abdin, Karasaa, Kafr Sajna and Al-Naqeer. The new deaths brought to more than 455 civilians, who have lost their lives in Idlib since April 25. Some 1.5 million people currently reside in Idlib, half are displaced from other parts of the war-torn country. Turkey and Russia agreed last September to turn Idlib into a de-escalation zone in which acts of aggression would be expressly prohibited. The Syrian regime, however, has consistently broken the terms of the cease-fire, launching frequent attacks inside the de-escalation zone. Syria has only just begun to emerge from a devastating conflict that began in early 2011 when the Bashar al-Assad regime cracked down on demonstrators with unexpected severity. * Writing by Mahmoud Barakat History | Armed Conflict | May 2019 | ['(AA)', '(Daily Sabah)'] |
The United Kingdom's House of Lords approves a bill forcing Prime Minister Boris Johnson to ask the European Union for a Brexit deadline extension. The bill will now become law once receiving royal assent from Queen Elizabeth II. | Prime Minister Boris Johnson has repeatedly said the UK will leave the European Union (EU) on 31 October "deal or no deal". But Chancellor Sajid Javid has now conceded that the deadline "can't be met".
While opposition parties decide in which circumstances they could support Mr Johnson's request for a December general election, the fate of the Brexit deadline currently lies with European leaders.
As things stand, it is still just about possible for the UK to leave the EU without a deal at the end of the month.
Now that EU ambassadors have agreed that there should be an extension, this route to a no-deal is extremely unlikely.
But for an extension to the Halloween deadline to go ahead, leaders of the other 27 EU countries have to agree unanimously. Until the change is formalised, the legal "exit date" remains at 31 October.
Now that the EU has agreed to an extension, it could still offer the UK a leaving date other than 31 January. In that instance, MPs would have up to two days in which they could vote to reject the proposal. If they don't vote, the proposal is automatically agreed to.
The EU may not announce the length of the extension until Tuesday, meaning any vote by MPs could theoretically happen on 31 October itself.
If the proposal was rejected, the extension would be off and a no-deal Brexit would happen next Thursday.
MPs would be unlikely to reject a proposal, however, for two reasons: Even with an extension agreed and put in place before the end of the month, a no-deal Brexit is not "off the table". Instead, it just pushes the possibility further into the future.
Regardless of the length of the extension, the prime minister would probably still try to push his deal through Parliament.
However, if the government is unable to implement his deal (or another) before the new deadline, the UK would leave without a deal.
This is the most controversial and unlikely scenario.
If an extension were agreed, a minister would be required to change the deadline in law using something called a statutory instrument (the power to change the law without a vote of MPs).
And, theoretically, they could simply refuse to do this.
But not only would this be unlawful, it could be argued the "exit date" would be automatically changed anyway, because international law trumps domestic law. Brexit - British exit - refers to the UK leaving the EU. A public vote was held in June 2016 to decide whether the UK should leave or remain.
| Government Policy Changes | September 2019 | ['(BBC)'] |
Several high ranking Georgian government officials resign after protests caused by revelations of inmate torture and rape. | Georgia's Interior Minister Bacho Akhalaia has stepped down amid uproar over video footage that showed prison guards abusing inmates.
The minister said he felt "moral and political responsibility" that the practice of torture had not been eradicated from Georgia's jails.
Prisoners were shown being beaten and one was seen being sexually assaulted.
Protesters marched for a second day in the capital, Tbilisi, on Thursday in protest at the abuse.
There were also demonstrations in the cities of Batumi and Rustavi.
President Mikheil Saakashvili has suspended the country's entire prison staff, saying that police will be deployed in their place.
He has also announced that Georgia's human rights ombudsman will take over as prisons minister. Giorgi Tugushi's predecessor had already stepped down over the scandal.
Mr Tugushi, described by the president as a "very strong critic" of the prisons system, has promised a complete overhaul of the system.
The film which shows abuse in the Gldani prison No. 8 was broadcast on TV on Tuesday.
In one of the most disturbing scenes in the footage an inmate is seen being sexually assaulted with a broom.
Several prison officers identified in the video have been charged, the Georgian authorities say.
In a statement, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said she was "appalled by the shocking footage of abuses committed against inmates".
Georgian prison staff suspended
Protests over Georgia jail abuse video
| Government Job change - Resignation_Dismissal | September 2012 | ['(Euronews)', '(BBC)'] |
Six Uyghurs are sentenced to death over riots in the western region of Xinjiang, China in July. | URUMQI: Six men who were convicted of murder and other crimes in the July 5 riot in Xinjiang were sentenced Monday to death after a first-instance trial, and another man was jailed for life.
Abdukerim Abduwayit, Gheni Yusup, Abdulla Mettohti, Adil Rozi, Nureli Wuxiu'er, and Alim Metyusup were sentenced to death at the Intermediate People's Court in Urumqi.
All seven men had been convicted of murder, and some of them were also convicted of arson or robbery.
The seven were the first to be sentenced over the riot, which left 197 people dead and more than 1,600 injured in Urumqi, capital of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.
Abdukerim Abduwayit killed five innocent people with dagger and pipe wrench during the riot. He also set fire to a downtown building, forcing 13 people to jump off the building to escape and causing an economic loss of more than 260,000 yuan (38,067 U.S. dollars).
In the second case, Gheni Yusup led Abdulla Mettohti, Adil Rozi and Nureli Wuxiu'er in beating four people to death and injuring another. They smashed and looted shops and vehicles.
Abdulla Mettohti and others also set a grain and oil shop ablaze, killing five people who were hiding inside and causing an economic loss of 1.37 million yuan.
In the third case, Alim Metyusup and Tayirejan Abulimit together killed three people and seriously injured one person. They also robbed the victims of their mobile phones.
Alim Metyusup together with other mobs killed another two people and set fire to houses, resulting in an economic loss of more than 50,000 yuan.
The public prosecutors presented testimonies of witnesses, autopsy reports and other evidences at the court, and played monitoring video of the scenes of crimes.
The defendants provided explanation against their charges and their lawyers defended at the court.
More than 400 people, including legislators, political advisors, family members of the defendants and victims, and journalists, observed the court hearings. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Sentence | October 2009 | ['(China Daily)', '(BBC)', '(Bernama)', '(RIA Novosti)'] |
Japanese prosecutors issue arrest warrants against a former United States special operations forces soldier and two others for allegedly helping Carlos Ghosn to escape from Japan. Another arrest warrant was issued against Ghosn himself. | TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese authorities on Thursday issued arrest warrants for a former U.S. special forces soldier and two other men on suspicion of smuggling former Nissan Motor Co boss Carlos Ghosn out of Japan.
Warrants were issued for former U.S. Green Beret Michael Taylor and two other men, George-Antoine Zayek and Peter Taylor, prosecutors said in a statement. A warrant was also issued for Ghosn for illegally leaving the country, prosecutors said.
Ghosn fled to Lebanon, his childhood home, at the end of last year, while he was awaiting trial on charges of under-reporting earnings, breach of trust and misappropriation of company funds, all of which he denies.
The arrest warrants come days after prosecutors searched the Tokyo office of Ghosn’s former lawyer.
Lebanon and Japan have about 40 days to decide whether Ghosn will be extradited to Japan or stand trial in Lebanon, Reuters reported last week.
The two countries have no extradition treaty and Lebanon does not typically hand over its nationals. Ghosn’s legal team is hoping to hold the trial in Lebanon, where the former auto executive has deep ties and hopes to clear his name.
Ghosn has struck out at what he has called Japan’s unjust judicial system and said the alternative to fleeing would have been to spend the rest of his life languishing in Tokyo without a fair trial.
Reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka and Junko Fujita; Editing by David Dolan, Christian Schmollinger and Lincoln Feast.
| Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | January 2020 | ['(Reuters)'] |
A bomb on a civilian bus in Nimruz Province in southwest Afghanistan results in at least 25 deaths. , | Herat: Twenty five civilians were killed and another 27 injured when a crowded bus hit a Taliban-style roadside bomb in southwestern Afghanistan .
The bus was travelling on a highway in the Delaram district of Nimroz province when the blast occurred,provincial governor Ghulam Dastgir Azad said."The roadside bomb struck a civilian bus this morning.Twenty civilians were killed and another 27 have been injured," he told."The bomb had been planted by the enemies because this morning a coalition convoy was supposed to cross the area," he said, referring to NATO forces.
"Coalition forces helped us to evacuate the injured."Civilian casualties in the war in Afghanistan are largely caused by Taliban attacks, according to surveys.Roadside bombs are the Taliban's main weapon in thewar, now approaching the end of its ninth year. | Armed Conflict | July 2010 | ['(Press TV)', '(samaylive)'] |
France's National Front confirms 42–year–old Marine Le Pen as party leader, succeeding her father Jean–Marie Le Pen. | France's far-right National Front has named Marine Le Pen as its new leader at a party conference.
She is succeeding her father Jean-Marie Le Pen, who founded the FN in 1972.
On Saturday party sources reported that she had secured two-thirds of votes against rival Bruno Gollnisch in a recent referendum of members.
The anti-immigrant FN has been shunned by France's main parties, but Ms Le Pen has said she wants to break with the party's xenophobic image.
In a combative farewell speech on Saturday Mr Le Pen, 82, insisted that "unceasing immigration" posed a threat to France.
"All my comments were distorted from their true meaning... because I refused to submit to the dictatorship of the thought police," he told cheering supporters at the conference in the central city of Tours.
He added that it was up to FN members to ensure the party's future success under a new leader.
"I entrust you with the destiny of our movement... its unity, its pugnacity," he said.
French TV footage showed Marine Le Pen, 42, crying as she applauded her father.
Although Mr Le Pen's five presidential bids have failed, the FN has steadily grown under his leadership.
In recent elections the party has been able to garner about 15% of the vote.
In 2002 he came a shock second in the first round of presidential elections, but lost the second round to then-incumbent Jacques Chirac.
A recent poll suggested the party could come third in presidential elections to be held in 2012.
The French lobby group SOS Racisme said Ms Le Pen's election at the head of the National Front would not change the nature of the party, and that its "hate speech" would continue.
| Government Job change - Appoint_Inauguration | January 2011 | ['(BBC)'] |
Taiwan authorities close schools and offices as Typhoon Megi approaches the island. | A massive typhoon left one person dead in eastern China on Wednesday, a day after killing four and injuring 260 in Taiwan.
Typhoon Megi weakened to a tropical storm after hitting the coastal city of Quanzhou in Fujian province before dawn, packing winds of up to 118 kilometers (74 miles) per-hour, China's National Meteorological Center said.
One person died after several structures collapsed in Quanzhou, state-approved news media reported. In Fuzhou, Fujian's provincial capital, people were shown on state television walking through knee-deep waters that had swamped major roads. Schools were closed and dozens of flights were canceled.
The storm was forecast to move northwest Wednesday and fade gradually.
In Taiwan on Tuesday, the typhoon's bands of heavy rain and sustained winds of 162 kilometers (100 miles) per-hour blanketed the island by midafternoon as the eye of the storm made landfall on the east coast. Authorities had raised alert levels for Taiwan, which is prone to landslides and flooding, said National Fire Agency Director-General Chen Wen-lung.
The 268 injured included eight Japanese tourists traveling in a tour bus that turned on its side in central Taiwan. Three people suffered fatal falls and a fourth person died in a truck crash, said Lee Wei-sen, a spokesman for Taiwan's Central Emergency Operations Center. Many of the injuries were from falling and wind-blown objects.
Megi was 500 kilometers (310 miles) in diameter at its largets, and rainfall had topped 300 millimeters (12 inches) in the south and eastern mountains of Taiwan.
More than 8,000 people were evacuated, mostly from mountainous areas at risk of landslides or floods. About 2,800 went to shelters, Chen said. Approximately 2.9 million households lost power overnight.
The weather delayed more than 121 flights and forced the cancellation of 253 more at Taiwan's Taoyuan International Airport, while another seven were diverted to other Taiwanese airports. Authorities had closed schools, offices and most of Taiwan's railway system.
Megi is the fourth typhoon of the year to hit Taiwan and third in the last two weeks.
On the Chinese coast, about 160 kilometers (100 miles) from Taiwan at its nearest point, fishing boats were ordered back to port, China's official Xinhua News Agency said. | Hurricanes_Tornado_Storm_Blizzard | September 2016 | ['(AP via Star-Telegram)'] |
American songwriter Hal David, who was best known for his collaborations with composer Burt Bacharach, dies in Los Angeles, California, at the age of 91. | US songwriter Hal David, who wrote dozens of hits with collaborator Burt Bacharach, has died at the age of 91.
His family said he died in Los Angeles from complications from a stroke.
He and Bacharach wrote a string of hits for Dionne Warwick, including Walk On By and I Say a Little Prayer, but also wrote for other performers, such as Tom Jones and Dusty Springfield.
Their film work included Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid's Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head, which won an Oscar.
David's wife, Eunice, told the Associated Press news agency that he had suffered a major stroke in March and was stricken again on Tuesday.
"Even at the end, Hal always had a song in his head," she said. "He was always writing notes, or asking me to take a note down, so he wouldn't forget a lyric."
David's work was performed by a huge array of artists over the decades, including Perry Como, Louis Armstrong, the Carpenters and Sandie Shaw.
On Broadway, success came with the musical comedy, Promises, Promises, based on the Billy Wilder film, The Apartment.
Including the songs, l'll Never Fall In Love Again, and Knowing When to Leave, the original cast recording was nominated for a Tony Award and won a Grammy in 1969.
The pair also turned out songs for the movies, What's New, Pussycat, Alfie and the 1967 version of Casino Royale, which each earned them Oscar nominations for best song.
In 1974 David joined the board of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers and served as president from 1980 to 1986. He was head of the Songwriters Hall of Fame from 2001 to 2011, and was Chairman Emeritus at his death.
The society's current president, Paul Williams, said in a statement: "As a lyric writer, Hal was simple, concise and poetic - conveying volumes of meaning in fewest possible words and always in service to the music. "It is no wonder that so many of his lyrics have become part of our everyday vocabulary and his songs... the backdrop of our lives."
In 2011, David and Burt Bacharach were awarded the Gershwin Prize for popular song by the US Library of Congress, the first time a songwriting team has been given the honour. | Famous Person - Death | September 2012 | ['(BBC)'] |
Pirates kill a Ukrainian sailor after an oil tanker is attacked off the coast of Benin. | Pirates have attacked an oil tanker off the coast of west Africa, killing a Ukrainian seaman, the commander of Benin's naval forces says.
Cdr Fernand Maxime Ahoyo says the Cancale Star's chief engineer was killed and one other crewman wounded. The pirates attacked the vessel some 18 nautical miles (33km) off the coast of Benin, in what correspondents say is the country's first such attack. One pirate was overpowered by the crew, but the others managed to escape. Benin-based journalist Esther Tola told the BBC that the pirates were thought to be from Nigeria. The commander said naval forces had rescued the crew from the tanker and brought them into port. There were 24 seamen of different nationalities on board the Liberia-flagged vessel, including Filipinos, Lithuanians and Ukranians, Cdr Ahoyo told AFP news agency. Western front
The International Maritime Bureau (IMB) says piracy in the waters of west Africa is on the rise, with 100 such incidents recorded last year. The IMB has previously warned of heightened piracy risks along shipping routes in Nigeria and Ghana, to the east and west of Benin. It said attacks usually took place while ships were at anchor or close to coastal areas, unlike in eastern Africa, where Somali pirates strike ships hundreds of miles out to sea. More than 10 ships and 200 hostages are currently being held by pirates operating in waters off Somalia. An international force of about 40 warships has been stationed around the Gulf of Aden, in an effort to clamp down on piracy in some the world's busiest shipping lanes. | Armed Conflict | November 2009 | ['(BBC)', '(Press TV)'] |
Thousands of people living on the Mid North Coast of the Australian state of New South Wales face a flooding risk, with the town of Kempsey under particular threat and with ten thousand people isolated. | Hundreds of people have been evacuated from low-lying areas on the New South Wales mid-North Coast as flooding continues.The Macleay River which runs through Kempsey is expected to peak later today and could inundate parts of the CBD as well as low-lying areas further downstream. The floods have closed parts of the busy Pacific Highway which has had a knock-on effect for traffic all along large parts of the coast. And more rain is forecast. Timothy McDonald reports.TIMOTHY MCDONALD: Graham Belmont lives in New Zealand but he's on holiday in Kempsey.He says he was caught out in yesterday's downpour. GRAHAM BELMONT: At some point it almost stopped and you could like just walk out and wouldn't even feel it.But yeah, some points during the day you couldn't go outside for 30 seconds without being soaked through five layers (laughs).TIMOTHY MCDONALD: Graham Belmont says police came to evacuate the motel he was staying in. GRAHAM BELMONT: Yeah basically it'd been raining all day and I was just going off to bed thinking, wondering how high it was going to get.And the guy comes banging on the door saying, hey, police are saying we'd better move.We all chucked a couple of things in the bag, wandered downstairs and bus turns up after about half an hour, takes us off here to the call and basically don't know where we're going from here. I think it's just a case of wait and see if the river goes up or down or what happens really.TIMOTHY MCDONALD: Hundreds of other people are in a similar situation. Evacuation centres have been set up at a number of schools around the Kempsey region.The river is expected to peak at 6.9 meters later today. It's possible that the town's levee may not be sufficient to contain that much water and the town's CBD will be flooded. Low-lying areas downstream are also likely to be affected. Robert Scott is the director of infrastructure services at Kempsey Shire CouncilROBERT SCOTT: On the ground in Kempsey there's an awful lot of water all over the place as you would expect.We do have evacuation orders out for our lower Macleay residents in Gladstone, Smithtown and Jerseyville.And certainly the road system down in that area is becoming increasingly difficult to navigate through because of the floodwaters rising up over the system itself.We've got evacuation order in our CBD as the levels are expected that there's a possibility that they'll create flooding in that area as well.TIMOTHY MCDONALD: How does this one compare to previous floods?ROBERT SCOTT: This one, at this stage the levels and all indications are that it'll shape up pretty close to the levels that we saw during our 2009 flood event during May.However it's interesting at the moment we're still seeing a rainfall in our upper catchment area, we're still seeing increases on the upper catchment flow gauges and there's a likelihood that things could change.TIMOTHY MCDONALD: The Kempsey Shire council was due to finish its repairs from the 2009 floods in the next few weeks. The floods have also affected traffic. The Pacific Highway is still closed at Kempsey between Port Macquarie and Blacksville which is good news for some further inland. Shane Beecher is the manager of Black Mountain Roadhouse just north of Armidale on the New England Highway.He's had additional business from trucks that have been diverted off the Pacific Highway.SHANE BEECHER: Well obviously because of the floods the sales increased, oh I don't know, something like about 70 per cent.We've had a lot of trucks in the yard, a lot of food sales.We get a lot of phone calls prior to trucks arriving here to see if we have parking space.We try and squeeze in as many as we can. We can have up to 40 VR trucks parked here on site at one time.They're upset that they've got to travel this way. It means more cost to them and everything like that.But the Pacific Highway seems to be closed when there's a bit of a flood.Well obviously got to travel extra distance. It's a little bit more hillier road than what the Pacific Highway is. So they tend to burn out more fuel.TONY EASTLEY: Shane Beechey, the manager of the Black Mountain Roadhouse on the New England Highway, ending that report by Timothy McDonald.
Around 500 Indigenous people fought in the First World War, and as many as 5,000 in the second. But many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander diggers who made it home received little or no recognition for their contribution. On Anzac Day, 2007, the first parade to commemorate their efforts and bravery was held in Sydney. Listen to our report from that day by Lindy Kerin. | Floods | June 2011 | ['(ABC News Australia)', '(Daily Telegraph)'] |
A suicide bomb attack kills at least 15 people at a mosque in the south-western Saudi city of Abha. IS claims responsibility. , | Riyadh (AFP) - The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for a suicide bomb attack Thursday on a mosque inside a Saudi special forces headquarters that killed 15 people.
The claim, made in an online statement by a group affiliated to IS calling itself "Al-Hijaz Province", said that one of its members detonated an explosive vest inside the mosque in the southern city of Abha. | Armed Conflict | August 2015 | ['(Reuters)', '(AFP via Yahoo)'] |
The United States Senate votes 50–49 to pass a budget resolution that would allow Democrats to pass President Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion relief package without support from Republicans. | Senate Democrats on Tuesday took the first step to secure the passage of President Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion rescue package, advancing a budget resolution in a maneuver that could allow them to approve it without any Republican support.
It was a 50-49 party-line vote. Every Democratic senator supported it, and all Republicans were united in their opposition. GOP Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania was absent.
"We're not going to dilute, dither, or delay because the needs of the American people are just too great," Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said at a news conference before the vote. "Time is of the essence."
The vote kicks off the budget-reconciliation process in the Senate. It would allow Democrats to pass the Biden plan with only 51 votes instead of the 60-vote supermajority generally required for bills. The resolution sets up a "vote-a-rama" later this week when any senator can propose an amendment. Debating and voting on them can stretch on for many hours.
Read more: Democrats are moving ahead with Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion COVID stimulus — with or without Republicans. Here are the 4 main sticking points that could blow things up.
Biden held a private lunch call with Senate Democrats on Tuesday, a day after he met with a group of Republican senators led by Susan Collins of Maine in the Oval Office to discuss its $618 billion counteroffer.
The proposal would significantly lower spending on the president's relief priorities, reducing stimulus-check amounts and limiting the extension of federal unemployment benefits through June. It has been roundly rejected by Democrats. Schumer said Biden urged Democratic lawmakers to "act boldly and quickly."
"He was very strong in emphasizing the need for a big, bold package," Schumer said. "He said that he told Senate Republicans that the $600 billion that they proposed was way too small."
A person familiar with Biden's remarks told Insider the president emphasized there was greater danger in going too small than going too big to combat the pandemic. Biden urged lawmakers to learn the lessons of the 2009 recession, when Democrats passed an $830 billion stimulus package that many economists now say was insufficient to address the economic wreckage of the financial crisis. Republicans were opposed to more spending at the time.
The person was granted anonymity because the comments were meant to be private. Their identity is known to Insider.
House Democrats also moved forward on Tuesday evening with a procedural vote to start the reconciliation process.
Biden is pressing ahead with his $1.9 trillion emergency spending plan. There are few signs so far that he will modify it in a substantial way to placate Republicans who say it is too large. White House chief of staff Ron Klain said in a tweet on Tuesday the proposal represented a "bipartisan agenda," citing a new Yahoo News/YouGov poll indicating more Americans favor than oppose most of Biden's plans.
The plan includes provisions like a new wave of $1,400 stimulus checks, $400 federal unemployment benefits through September, and funds for vaccine distribution and virus testing. It also sets aside significant money for states and local governments and gradually raises the minimum wage to $15 an hour.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell criticized congressional Democrats for choosing "a totally partisan path" to enact additional economic relief. Sen. Todd Young of Indiana, one of the Republicans who met with Biden, said he was discouraged that Schumer was using the reconciliation process.
"It's not a good signal that he's adopting a take-it-or-leave-it approach right after his president delivers an inaugural address based on unity," he told reporters on Capitol Hill.
Republicans used the maneuver twice in 2017 shortly after President Donald Trump was sworn in. They enacted a large corporate tax cut and failed to repeal the Affordable Care Act.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said at a press conference on Tuesday the administration was committed to passing the entire proposal. She added that while the White House was open to negotiating the income thresholds of the stimulus checks, the president did not intend to shrink them to the $1,000 put forth in the GOP plan.
Schumer indicated he and his office were in close communication with Biden.
"Joe Biden is totally on board with using reconciliation. I've been talking to him every day," he said at the news conference. "Our staffs have been talking multiple times a day."
Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, a conservative Democrat, also voted to kickstart the reconciliation process after refusing to say whether he would back the resolution. He said in a statement any relief effort must be "targeted" to help "Americans who have been most impacted by this pandemic."
"The president remains hopeful that we can have bipartisan support moving forward," he said. "I will only support proposals that will get us through and end the pain of this pandemic."
Read more: Democrats are moving ahead with Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion COVID stimulus — with or without Republicans. Here are the 4 main sticking points that could blow things up. | Government Policy Changes | February 2021 | ['(Business Insider)'] |
Venezuela breaks diplomatic relations with Colombia and expels all of Colombia's diplomats; however, Colombia maintains diplomatic relations with Guaidó's ambassador, Humberto Calderón Berti. (Colombia's Caracol TV) | CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said on Saturday his government had broken relations with Colombia and would expel some Colombian diplomatic staff after Colombia assisted the opposition’s efforts to bring humanitarian aid into the country.
“Patience is exhausted, I can’t bare it anymore, we can’t keep putting up with Colombian territory being used for attacks against Venezuela. For that reason, I have decided to break all political and diplomatic relations with Colombia’s fascist government,” Maduro said in a speech.
He said the ambassador and consular staff would have to leave Venezuela within 24 hours. | Government Policy Changes | February 2019 | ['(Reuters)', '(Colombian Foreign Minister)'] |
A judge sentences Russell Wasendorf, a founder of Peregrine Financial Group, to 50 years in prison for stealing $215.5 million from investors over 20 years. | DES MOINES, Iowa -- A judge sentenced disgraced financier Russell Wasendorf Sr., the head of Peregrine Financial Group, to 50 years in prison Thursday for stealing $215 million from more than 13,000 customers over a 20-year period.
Wasendorf, 64, would be at least 107 years old by the time he's eligible for release.
Wasendorf pilfered customer funds to live a lavish lifestyle and expand the business, which prosecutors said was never profitable on its own.
Investor confidence in the sanctity of the $37 trillion futures market was shaken by details of the scam that were contained in suicide notes discovered after Wasendorf's botched attempt to take his own life July 9.
"This is a very serious offense with staggering affects to the victims and ripple effects," said U.S. District Judge Linda Reade in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
"By imposing a substantial sentence, the court sends a message that white collar criminals may serve long prison sentences for stealing money from other people," Reade said.
Wasendorf appeared frail at the sentencing. His attorney said he'd lost a substantial amount of weight while being held in jail.
Before the sentencing, Wasendorf issued a broad apology for the damage he caused and said he would accept any sentence imposed.
Wasendorf pleaded guilty in September to misusing at least $100 million to cover business losses at his Cedar Falls-based brokerage, which did business as PFGBest, and a range of personal expenses. He admitted that he hid the theft from colleagues and regulators by making phony financial statements for nearly two decades.
Wasendorf was found unconscious outside the company's headquarters in July after attempting suicide in his vehicle by connecting a tube to his exhaust pipe. He left a startling suicide note confessing to the fraud, saying he started stealing because his "ego was too big to fail," that he did not feel bad about duping regulators he felt were overzealous, and had learned to make "convincing forgeries" of bank and financial statements using printers and scanners.
Regulators immediately discovered PFGBest could not account for more than $200 million in customer funds it was supposed to be holding, and the firm filed for bankruptcy protection. Some 24,000 customers were unable to access their accounts and still have not been fully reimbursed. Customers who opened accounts to trade commodities have received between 30% and 40% of their money back, while customers who traded foreign currency have received nothing because that activity has less legal protection.
Wasendorf used their money to build up a business empire that included a publishing company, a corporate jet, the nicest restaurant in Cedar Falls, and a family charity known for making donations to universities and hospitals.
Customer money also helped build what was perhaps the biggest symbol of Wasendorf's home-grown success with a firm he started in a basement 30 years ago: PFG's $20 million headquarters, a three-story glass building that opened in 2009 and included a gym, a daycare center, a Montessori school, and a restaurant. Today, the building is largely empty and up for sale.
Federal sentences are only reduced by a maximum of 15% for good behavior, which means that Wasendorf must serve a minimum of 42.5 years before being eligible for release. Reade noted that his victims included 13,000 investors and more than 200 employees.
Wasendorf must also serve a three-year term of supervised release after the prison term.
There is no parole in the federal system. The judge imposed a judgment of forfeiture in the amount of $100 million and ordered Wasendorf to make $215,530,041.39 in restitution to his victims.
As part of the plea agreement, Wasendorf agreed that any proceeds from any publicity about his crimes would be assigned to the United States and applied toward his restitution.
Wasendorf is being held in the United States Marshal's custody until he can be transported to a federal prison.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Pete Deegan said Wasendorf's embezzlement was "off the charts" of the federal sentencing guidelines.
Deegan made the remarks Thursday during the sentencing hearing for Wasendorf.
"The offense in this case is really beyond the pale," Deegan said as a gaunt Wasendorf bowed his head. "The defendant boldly lied every day in order to get away with this massive embezzlement fraud."
A native of Marion, Iowa, Wasendorf had climbed upward through the futures industry and brought the business he built in Chicago back home to Iowa in 2009.
Prosecutors said last week that Wasendorf bought out his partner at Peregrine with stolen customer funds in 1993 or 1994 and proceeded to tap them as needed. They funded a lavish lifestyle that included a lakefront condo in Chicago, a commuter jet, and an estate and two restaurants in Cedar Falls. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Sentence | January 2013 | ['(Reuters)', '(USA Today)', '(NASDAQ)'] |
Air India Express Flight 812, with 166 people on board, crashes near Mangalore International Airport. | New Delhi, India (CNN) -- Rescue teams worked into the night at the smoldering scene of an Air India plane crash that killed 158 people Saturday after the jet overshot a runway in southern India, crashed into a ravine and burst into flames, officials said.
As darkness descended, workers used portable lights to pull charred bodies out of the wreckage outside Mangalore International Airport. All but eight bodies have been recovered, the civil aviation ministry said.
Eight of the 166 people on board Air India Flight IX-812 survived the crash and were taken to hospitals, where most were in good condition, CNN-IBN reported.
The Boeing 737 took off from Dubai in the United Arab Emirates and crashed while trying to make its scheduled landing in Mangalore at 6:30 a.m. Saturday (9 p.m. ET Friday), Air India spokesman Anup Srivastava said.
India's civil aviation minister Praful Patel said an investigation was underway but reasons for the crash would not be known until the flight data and voice data recorders have been recovered. Emergency workers were attempting to cool the fiery wreckage Saturday night to keep the data intact.
The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board announced Saturday that it will send a team to India to assist in the investigation. The Air India jet touched down on an 8,000-foot runway -- 2,000 feet longer than the old runway and more than sufficient for the Boeing 737, Patel said. The runway has been operational since 2006.
Some of the survivors recounted their harrowing tales for CNN-IBN.
Ummerfarook Mohammed said the cabin quickly filled with smoke after the jet skidded off the runway and hit a boundary wall. The impact created a hole in the plane's body, he said, through which he crawled out and ran for his life.
Nearby villagers carted him in a rickshaw to a hospital.
A medical student said she escaped from the plane but that she then free-fell until she was snagged by a tree, where rescuers found her.
Some of those flying back from Dubai were among the millions of Indians who work as laborers in Persian Gulf states.
Mangalore's airport was "technically certified" by the country's civil aviation regulator.
Patel said weather conditions were good -- calm winds, no rain and good visibility of 6 kilometers -- and both the pilot and co-pilot were experienced and had landed many times before at the Mangalore airport. They did not report any problems before landing the plane, India's civil aviation ministry said.
However, the 90-meter spillover sand bed beyond the runway was limited and was not able to stop the aircraft after it overshot the tarmac, Patel said. Only the tail of the aircraft was left intact.
Witnesses said the plane crashed through the hilltop airport's boundary wall and fell into a valley, CNN-IBN reported.
Survivors told CNN's sister network that they jumped out of the plane after it crashed, seconds before it burst into flames.
Rescue workers struggled to reach the crash site in a hilly wooded area, the network said. Smoke from the plane also hampered rescue efforts and many of the recovered bodies were badly burned, CNN-IBN reported.
Abhay Pathak, a regional manager for Air India based in Dubai, said there were 160 passengers on board the plane and six crew members. Of the passengers, 32 were women, 105 were men, 19 were children and four were infants, he said.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced financial aid for the victims Saturday and canceled scheduled events at his residence to mark the end of his first year in office.
The government said families would receive 200,000 rupees, or about $4,260, for each dead passenger and 50,000 rupees, or $1,064, for every injured passenger.
The airline has offered relatives of crash victims in the United Arab Emirates free passage to India, Pathak said, and about 20 people have accepted the offer.
Boeing released a statement saying the company would send a team to provide technical assistance to Indian authorities during their investigation. | Air crash | May 2010 | ['(Aviation Safety Network)', '(Al Jazeera)', '(CNN)', '(BBC)'] |
Ukraine reports 10 ceasefire violations in the Luhansk region. | The Command of Ukraine's Armed Forces has reported 10 violations of the latest ceasefire agreement committed by Russia-controlled armed groups in the Donbas warzone on Thursday, February 25.
"In the past day, February 25, as many as 10 ceasefire violations were recorded in the Joint Forces Operation (JFO) zone," the press center of the Ukrainian JFO Command said on Facebook in an update as of 07:00 Kyiv time on February 26, 2021.
In particular, the Russian Federation's armed formations fired proscribed 82mm mortars and heavy machine guns near the village of Lebedynske.
Also, the enemy used grenade launchers of various systems and automatic rifles near the villages of Zholobok, Slavne and Pisky.
What is more, the Russian occupation troops fired automatic and hand-held anti-tank grenade launchers, and rifles near the village of Pavlopil, a hand-held anti-tank grenade launcher near the village of Luhanske, and an anti-tank grenade launcher near the village of Shumy.
Since Friday midnight, February 26, one ceasefire violation was recorded in the JFO zone. In particular, the enemy fired rifles near Pisky.
The violations were reported to OSCE representatives through the Joint Center for Control and Coordination (JCCC) of the ceasefire in Donbas.
There were no casualties in the past day.
The situation is under full control of the Ukrainian military.
Participants in the Trilateral Contact Group (Ukraine, Russia, and the OSCE) on the peace settlement in Donbas on July 22 agreed on a full and comprehensive ceasefire along the contact line from 00:01 on Monday, July 27, 2020.
On the very first day of the newly-agreed truce, Russia's hybrid military forces mounted three attacks on Ukrainian positions in Donbas, eastern Ukraine. Ukraine has reported more such violations over the latest period. | Tear Up Agreement | February 2021 | ['(Unian)'] |
French privacy watchdog group CNIL launches a preliminary investigation into TikTok, as part of a European Union–wide taskforce monitoring the app's operations. | PARIS (Reuters) - France’s data privacy watchdog CNIL said on Tuesday that it was making preliminary investigations into TikTok after it received a complaint in May against the Chinese-owned video-sharing app.
TikTok, owned by China’s ByteDance, is already under investigation over privacy concerns by U.S., European Union and Dutch authorities.
“The CNIL began investigations into the tiktok.com website and the TikTok application in May 2020. The CNIL had indeed received a complaint at that date,” a spokesman for the authority said in written comments sent to Reuters on the case.
“To date, the CNIL continues its investigations and participates in ongoing European work.”
Asked about the CNIL probe, TikTok said: “Protecting TikTok users’ privacy and safety is our top priority. We are aware of the investigation by the CNIL and are fully cooperating with them.”
The investigations concern the level of information provided to TikTok’s users and how they can exercise their rights, the flow of data going out of the European Union and measures taken to protect minors, the CNIL spokesman said.
The complaint in May was closed after it appeared the complainant, who was asking for a removal of a video from the app, didn’t first ask TikTok to do so as required by EU rules, the spokesman said.
The CNIL is part of a recently established EU task-force on TikTok. It is notably reviewing TikTok’s arrival in the region and its wish for Ireland’s Data Protection Commission (DPC) as its chief oversight national regulator, the CNIL spokesman said.
The composition of the task-force hasn’t been made public.
In the United States, officials have said that TikTok poses a national security risk because of the personal data it handles.
President Donald Trump has threatened to ban TikTok and has given ByteDance 45 days to negotiate a sale of TikTok’s U.S. operations to Microsoft.
Reporting by Mathieu Rosemain; additional reporting by Foo Yun Chee and Douglas Busvine; writing by Geert De Clercq; editing by Jason Neely and Nick Macfie
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
All quotes delayed a minimum of 15 minutes. See here for a complete list of exchanges and delays.
Exclusive: Fed’s Neel Kashkari opposes rate hikes at least through 2023 as the central bank becomes more hawkish | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Investigate | August 2020 | ['(Reuters)'] |
44 people are killed and 41 injured after two buses crash in the south of Egypt's Sinai Peninsula. | Two tour buses have collided near Sharm El-Sheikh in Egypt's Sinai peninsula, leaving 33 people dead and 41 injured, officials say.
One of the vehicles overturned in the crash which happened early in the morning about 50km (31 miles) from the popular holiday destination.
Ukrainian, Saudi and Yemeni citizens are said to be among the injured, some of whom are in a critical condition.
Egypt's roads and railways have a notoriously poor safety record.
Thirty ambulances were sent to the scene to take the injured to nearby hospitals and the local motorway was closed off.
According to Egypt's state news agency Mena, one of the buses was heading from Sharm El-Sheikh to Cairo when it hit a bus coming in the opposite direction.
First reports said that Russian citizens may have been among those hurt but updates referred to a Ukrainian.
Among other recent traffic accidents in Egypt
| Road Crash | August 2014 | ['(Al–Ahram)', '(RT)', '(BBC)'] |
Several earthquakes, including one of 6.9 magnitude, hit northwestern Mexico. | Mexico's Gulf of California has been hit by a 6.9-magnitude earthquake and at least three smaller tremors.
There have been no reports of injuries or damage. The 6.9-magnitude tremor struck at 1259 local time (1759GMT), with its epicentre 76 miles (122km) north-east of Santa Isabel in Baja California. There was a risk of a small, localised tsunami in the area, officials and experts warned, but no threat to America's Pacific coast. The tremors were all centred under the bed of the Gulf of California, a narrow strip of sea between Baja California peninsula and the Mexican mainland. Wilfredo Rivera, a manager at the Posada Santa Gemma hotel in Bahia Kino told Associated Press: "The earth was turning around really ugly. People got really scared." The mountains and deserts of the peninsula are sparsely populated, minimising the risk of widespread damage or injuries. | Earthquakes | August 2009 | ['(USGS)', '(BBC)'] |
A Londonbased trader who traded on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, Navinder Singh Sarao, accused of contributing to the 2010 Wall Street "flash crash" by placing bogus orders to spoof the market, fails in his legal bid to stop extradition and will now be sent to the United States to face trial where he is wanted by U.S. authorities on 22 criminal counts of wire fraud, commodities fraud, and market manipulation. A judge initially approved his extradition in March, and today his bid to launch an appeal against that decision was rejected, ending his 18month legal fight. He will now be extradited within 28 days. | LONDON (Reuters) - A London-based trader accused of contributing to the 2010 Wall Street “flash crash” by placing bogus orders to spoof the market lost his legal bid to stop extradition on Friday and will now be sent to the United States to face trial.
Navinder Sarao, 37, who traded on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) from his parents’ home near Heathrow airport, is wanted by the U.S. authorities on 22 criminal counts of wire fraud, commodities fraud and market manipulation.
He has denied any wrongdoing and in his only public comment said he was just good at his job.
A judge initially approved his extradition in March, and on Friday his bid to launch an appeal against that decision was rejected, ending his 18-month legal fight. He will now be extradited within 28 days.
U.S. authorities say Sarao used a modified computer program to “spoof” markets by generating large sell orders that pushed down prices. He then canceled those trades and bought the contracts at the lower prices, reaping a roughly $40 million profit.
They say his actions contributed to market instability which led to the May 6, 2010 flash crash when the Dow Jones Industrial Average briefly plunged more than 1,000 points, temporarily wiping out nearly $1 trillion in market value.
Sarao’s lawyers have argued that experts have ruled out his actions as being responsible for the flash crash, and in his ruling in March, judge Quentin Purdy also cast doubt on the role the trader is alleged to have played.
However, Purdy added the flash crash was just one of the 400 trading days referred to by U.S. prosecutors when Sarao was said to have been spoofing the market.
If found guilty, the maximum U.S. sentences for the charges he faces amount to more than 350 years in prison.
But in July, a U.S. judge sentenced futures trader Michael Coscia to three years in prison after he became the first person criminally convicted of spoofing, a lighter punishment than prosecutors had sought. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | October 2016 | ['(Reuters)'] |
North Korean foreign minister Pak Ui–chun arrives in Burma in the first visit since the two countries restored ties in 2007, amid worries over nuclear cooperation. | North Korea's foreign minister has arrived in Burma for talks with top leaders, reports from the region say. It is thought to be the first visit by Pak Ui-chun since the two countries resumed formal ties in 2007. Mr Pak will travel to the capital, Naypyitaw, for talks with counterpart Nyan Win, officials said. Analysts have raised concerns in recent months that Burma is co-operating with North Korea to develop nuclear technology. Burma denies this. Last week US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she was concerned about military ties between the two authoritarian states. "We know that a ship from North Korea recently delivered military equipment to Burma and we continue to be concerned by the reports that Burma may be seeking assistance from North Korea with regard to a nuclear programme," she said at a regional summit in Hanoi. Last month a report by Oslo-based Democratic Voice of Burma said that Burma was trying to develop a nuclear weapons programme. It based its report on testimony, files and photographs provided by Major Sai Thein Win, a Burmese soldier and mechanical engineer who defected. The Burmese government described the report as "baseless allegations". North Korea has conducted two nuclear tests. Talks between it and the international community on ending its nuclear programme have been stalled for months. The North Korean foreign minister is expected to spend four days in Burma, reports said. | Diplomatic Visit | July 2010 | ['(AFP)', '(BBC)'] |
Naoto Kan is reelected as the leader of the Democratic Party of Japan and therefore as Prime Minister of Japan, defeating powerbroker Ichirō Ozawa. | TOKYO, Sept 14 (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan will keep his job after an unexpectedly decisive victory in a ruling party leadership vote on Tuesday, but must now unify his party and forge deals with the opposition in a divided parliament.
Kan, 63, who has pledged to curb spending and borrowing, is struggling with a strong yen, a fragile recovery and public debt that is twice the size of Japan’s $5 trillion economy.
Markets had been braced for a shift toward aggressive spending if Kan lost the party leadership contest to Ichiro Ozawa, a scandal-tainted powerbroker who had said he would consider issuing more debt if the economy worsened.
Kan was favoured by most ordinary voters but Ozawa’s strong support among lawmakers made the outcome of the vote far from certain.
The Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) has floundered since sweeping to power a year ago. Its coalition with a tiny partner lost their upper house majority in a July election a month after Kan took over and floated a possible rise in the 5 percent sales tax to fix tattered state finances.
Kan has also disappointed many with his lack of a convincing message for how to engineer growth, despite hopes that the former grass-roots activist was a pragmatist who could get things done.
“Kan won by quite a big margin. But he still needs to come up with ways to pass legislation through parliament, such as by teaming up with an opposition party,” said Koichi Haji, chief economist at NLI Research Institute.
“The outlook doesn’t look good for Kan.”
The yen briefly rose to a fresh 15-year high of 83.09 per dollar JPY= after Kan won, but then traded back to about 83.30. Kan's government has repeatedly expressed concern about the yen's rise and its impact on the export-dependent economy, but so far has refrained from intervening in the market.
Ten-year Japanese government bond futures 1JGBv1 rose and Nikkei stock futures SSIZ0 fell after Kan's victory made a shift to aggressive spending unlikely.
Ozawa, 68, had promised to stick to election campaign promises to give consumers more cash and pry control over policy away from bureaucrats to refocus budget spending. His supporters had painted him as a decisive leader and skilled operator who could break through Japan’s political and economic stalemate.
Ozawa had also pledged to act boldly to curb the yen’s rise, even if that meant a solo intervention, and could have pressured the Bank of Japan to buy government bonds to fund spending.
“Whoever won, there would be much difficulty binding the party together again, and in that sense Kan has to adopt some of the agenda raised by Ozawa or his supporters,” said Yuuki Sakurai, CEO and President, Fukuoka Capital Management.
Credit rating agency S&P said Japan’s credit quality was sinking slowly but was not in danger of an immediate downgrade.
“There is no reason to be optimistic simply because of the continuation of the policy of the previous government, because the DPJ government has a tendency to take populist measures,” S&P director Takahira Ogawa told Reuters Insider TV in an interview.
The DPJ last year ousted the conservative Liberal Democratic Party, ending more than 50 years of its nearly non-stop rule. But once in power, it has struggled to maintain unity.
Kan won just over half of the votes cast by DPJ members of parliament in the leadership contest, but trounced Ozawa among the party rank-and-file and prevailed with 721 out of 1,212 total points.
“This outcome is better than Ozawa winning, but it doesn’t mean people are really supporting Kan,” said university student Saburo Takahashi. “I don’t think many people will expect Kan to push for big changes.”
While Ozawa has been known as “Destroyer” for breaking up parties he led, he is not expected to leave the party right away.
Still, Kan will need to reach out to members of Ozawa’s camp to unify the party and even then, Ozawa may remain a threat.
Kan was tightlipped about a possible cabinet reshuffle, telling a news conference merely that he would leave for a U.N. General Assembly meeting in a week and planned to discuss that and other matters with former DPJ leaders on Wednesday.
“I guess the next occasion is when Kan’s support rates go down and then there will be an opportunity for Ozawa to play another trick,” said Sophia University professor Koichi Nakano.
“I don’t think he will be finished until he is dead and buried. At the end of the day, he is a destroyer.” (Additional reporting by Yoko Nishikawa, Yoko Kubota, Kiyoshi Takenaka and Antoni Slodkowski; Editing by Tomasz Janowski)
.
| Government Job change - Appoint_Inauguration | September 2010 | ['(Xinhua)', '(Reuters)'] |
The death toll from recent flooding in northern Afghanistan rises to 123. | KABUL, AFGHANISTAN (BNO NEWS) -- Flash floods triggered by torrential rains have destroyed more than 3,000 houses in northern Afghanistan, killing at least 123 people and leaving more than 150 others missing, officials said on early Saturday. The full extent of the disaster was not yet clear.
Jowzjan and Faryab provinces, both bordering Turkmenistan, appeared to be the worst affected regions by the flash floods, which followed heavy rainfall that began on Thursday. Flash floods were reported in 23 districts across six provinces, namely Jowzjan, Faryab, Sar-e Pol, Balkh, Samangan, and Takhar.
Aidan O'Leary, the head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Afghanistan, said provincial governments had reported 123 fatalities by late Friday evening. He said at least 80 people died in Jowzjan province, 33 died in Faryab province, and 10 more died in Sar-e Pol province.
But the full extent of the damage and casualties remained unclear, with locals in the Qush Tepa district of Jowzjan province alone reporting that as many as 150 people were still missing. A situation report from OCHA said at least 700 houses, 250 shops and 120 gardens were destroyed in the province, displacing more than 6,000 people.
Authorities in Jowzjan province indicated an immediate need for search-and-rescue assistance and heavy machinery to unblock flood canals. Two Afghan National Army helicopters were already airlifting flood-trapped people from rooftops but their capacity was insufficient, OCHA said.
At least 2,309 houses were destroyed and a large amount of agricultural land was affected in neighboring Faryab province, where the government reported at least 33 dead and seven missing. At least 1,750 people were affected in the district of Khwaja Sabz Posh, but the number is believed to be higher in other parts of the province.
"As assessments are underway to determine the full extent of the damage caused, as well as the humanitarian needs of the affected population, it is still too early to get a full picture of the scale of the flooding," OCHA said in its report. "Limited access to some of the more heavily affected areas remains a key challenge. Priority needs at present include clean drinking water, medical supplies, food, non-food items and shelter."
Seasonal rains and spring snow melt regularly results in devastating flash floods in northern Afghanistan, which is at a high risk for such disasters due to its geographical location and environmental degradation. Flash floods crashing down mountains in Kabul province in August 2013 killed more than 80 people. | Floods | April 2014 | ['(WireUpdate)'] |
IMF head Christine Lagarde is accused of "insulting the Greek people" following her latest controversial comments about the country. | Political parties in Greece have criticised IMF head Christine Lagarde for suggesting that Greeks were avoiding paying taxes.
Socialist leader Evangelos Venizelos accused Ms Lagarde of "insulting the Greek people".
Left-wing leader Alexis Tsipras insisted: "Greek workers pay their taxes, which are unbearable."
In her interview with the UK's Guardian newspaper, Ms Lagarde suggested it was payback time for Greece.
She said she was more concerned about poverty-stricken children in sub-Saharan Africa than Greeks hit by the economic crisis.
Greece has promised to implement tough austerity measures in return for a multi-billion euro EU-IMF bailout. But the deal is under threat following inconclusive elections in May.
After thousands of angry messages were posted on her Facebook page, the head of the International Monetary Fund wrote that she was "very sympathetic to the Greek people and the challenges they are facing".
"That's why the IMF is supporting Greece in its endeavour to overcome the current crisis," she said.
Mr Venizelos told an election rally that he welcomed Ms Lagarde's Facebook message, but added: "Nobody can humiliate the Greek people during the crisis.
"I say this today addressing specifically Ms Lagarde... who with her stance insulted the Greek people," he said.
Mr Tsipras, whose Syriza party is one of the two main contenders for the 17 June election, said: "The last thing we seek in Greece is her sympathy. Greek workers pay their taxes, which are unbearable.
"For tax-evaders, she should turn to Pasok and New Democracy [previous coalition government partners] to explain to her why they haven't touched the big money and have been chasing the simple worker for two years."
French minister Najat Vallaud-Belkacem told France's Canal+ TV that Ms Lagarde should not have made the comments.
"I find (her point of view) rather simplistic and stereotypical. I think that these days it shouldn't be about trying to teach people a lesson," she said.
French far-left politician Jean-Luc Melenchon even said Ms Lagarde should resign over the comments.
"What gives her the right to speak in this manner to the Greeks?" he said in an interview with France 3 TV.
Fears are growing that Athens may be forced to leave the eurozone if the June election produces a government opposed to the bailout deal.
That could possibly trigger a run on banks - not only in Greece but in other eurozone nations, experts warn.
In the interview published on Friday
, Ms Lagarde said: "As far as Athens is concerned, I also think about all those people who are trying to escape tax all the time. All these people in Greece who are trying to escape tax.
"I think they should also help themselves collectively."
She added: "I think more of the little kids from a school in a little village in Niger who get teaching two hours a day, sharing one chair for three of them, and who are very keen to get an education. I have them in my mind all the time. "Because I think they need even more help than the people in Athens."
When asked if she was saying to the Greeks that it was now payback time, Ms Lagarde responded: "That's right." | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | May 2012 | ['(BBC)'] |
A Japanese man is taken into custody in North Korea with Tokyo trying to gather information about the case. |
A Japanese man has recently been taken into custody in North Korea, government officials said Saturday as Tokyo tried to obtain information on the case.
According to informed sources, the man, in his 30s, was visiting the communist regime on a package tour organized by a foreign tourist agency. He was in Nampo, a port town in the western part of the country, the source said.
Japanese officials are concerned his detention could affect negotiations on the long-running abduction issue, which concerns Japanese who were kidnapped by North Korean agents in 1970s and 80s. Five were returned several years ago after talks held under the administration of Junichiro Koizumi.
“North Korea may use the man it has held as a bargaining chip for negotiations with Japan,” an official said.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has been trying to arrange a meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in the wake of the historic summit between North Korea and the United States, but there are no signs of progress yet.
A Foreign Ministry official declined to provide specifics on the case, such as the purpose of the man’s visit, saying only that the ministry is in the process of confirming the details.
Tokyo has reportedly called on Pyongyang to release the man through diplomatic channels, including the North Korean Embassy in Beijing, the sources said. The ministry has asked Japanese to refrain from traveling to North Korea as part of its economic sanctions on the country.
North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho did not respond to questions on the matter when he arrived at Beijing international airport Saturday following a trip to Singapore and Iran.
In 1999 a Japanese newspaper reporter working in North Korea was taken into custody on spy charges and detained for about two years.
Sources familiar with bilateral relations said last month that North Korea has established a team to negotiate with Japan, which itself is seeking direct talks to settle various issues. The team was apparently established sometime between April and the historic U.S.-North Korea summit on June 12, reflecting a move by Pyongyang to explore dialogue with Tokyo amid the rapidly changing geopolitical situation on the Korean Peninsula.
North Korea judged earlier this year that mending ties with Japan would become a future task if it moves to improve ties with the United States, South Korea and China, the sources said.
At a plenary meeting in April of the central committee of North Korea’s ruling party, the policy of pursuing active dialogue with surrounding countries was adopted, they added.
Tokyo has long sought answers about the abduction issue. Japan officially lists 17 citizens as abduction victims and suspects the North’s involvement in many more disappearances.
But no substantial progress has been made despite exchanges via the team, the sources said, and prospects for making progress are clouded by the murky outlook of the denuclearization talks between the U.S. and North Korea.
| Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | August 2018 | ['(The Japan Times)'] |
Google pulls Android update support for Huawei phones, as well as the Google Play Store and Gmail apps, after the Chinese technology company was blacklisted by the United States Commerce Department. | Reported move could hit Huawei Technologies’ ability to run phone operating system First published on Sun 19 May 2019 19.30 BST
Google has suspended Huawei’s access to updates of its Android operating system and chipmakers have reportedly cut off supplies to the Chinese telecoms company, after the US government added it to a trade blacklist last week.
Google said it was complying with an executive order issued by Donald Trump and was reviewing the “implications”, later adding that Google Play – through which Google allows users to download apps – and the security features of its antivirus software Google Play Protect would continue on existing Huawei devices. New versions of its smartphones outside China would lose access to popular applications and services including Google Play, Maps and the Gmail app.
Huawei will continue to have access to the version of the Android operating system available through the open source licence that is free to anyone who wishes to use it. But, according to Reuters who first reported the ban on Sunday, Google will stop providing technical support and collaboration for Android and Google services.
Fast-growing Huawei is arguably China’s first global multinational. The Shenzhen-based company makes mobile phones, base stations and the intelligent routers that facilitate communications around the world.
But its success increasingly concerns the US, which argues Huawei is ultimately beholden to the Chinese Communist party and has the capability to engage in covert surveillance where its equipment is used.
Huawei is by some distance the world’s largest supplier of telecoms equipment with an estimated 28% market share in 2019. It was also the second largest phone maker in 2019, after Samsung and ahead of Apple.
But Australia banned Huawei from 5G in 2018, with its spy agencies declaring they were worried the company could shut down power networks and other parts of its infrastructure in a diplomatic crisis.
Trump banned US companies from working with Huawei last year and has strenuously lobbied others to follow suit, venting “apoplectic fury” in a phone call to Boris Johnson after the UK agreed to allow the Chinese company into 5G.
The company had successfully targeted the UK early on. It has supplied BT since 2003 and gradually expanded to the point where it agreed to create a special unit in Banbury, known as the Cell, where the spy agency GCHQ could review and monitor its software code. Vodafone is another key customer.
Britain’s intelligence agencies said in January that any Huawei risk could be managed as long as the company was not allowed to have a monopoly. As a result, Boris Johnson concluded Huawei’s market share should be capped at 35% for forthcoming high-speed 5G networks.
In July 2020 the UK position changed, and it was announced that Huawei is to be stripped out of Britain’s 5G phone networks by 2027. Oliver Dowden, the UK culture secretary, also announced that no new Huawei 5G kit can be bought after 31 December 2020 – but said that older 2G, 3G and 4G kit can remain until it is no longer needed.
Dan Sabbagh Defence and security editor
Huawei responded late Monday afternoon, promising to continue providing security updates and after-sale services for its smartphones and tablets. It did not clarify what the ban will mean for new Huawei phones but instead underscored its previous cooperation with Android.
“Huawei has made substantial contributions to the development and growth of Android around the world,” it said. “As one of Android’s key global partners, we have worked closely with their open-source platform to develop an ecosystem that has benefited both users and the industry.”
A spokesman for China’s ministry of foreign affairs, Lu Kang, said Beijing would “support Chinese enterprises in defending their legitimate rights through legal methods”.
Observers say Chinese countermeasures could include encouraging a consumer boycott of US goods, such as Apple products. China is Apple’s third largest market by sales volume. Increased inspections or added regulatory hurdles are other options. In 2014, amid US accusations of Chinese cyber-theft, Microsoft offices in China were subjected to raids by inspectors.
Huawei has previously said it is developing its own backup operating system in case it was blocked from using US software.
In an interview in March with the German publication Die Welt, Richard Yu, the head of the company’s consumer division, said the company had a “plan B”. He said: “We have prepared our own operating system. Should it ever happen that we can no longer use these systems, we would be prepared.”
Chipmakers such as Intel, Qualcomm, Xilinx, and Broadcom have told employees they will not supply chips to Huawei until further notice, Bloomberg reported on Monday, citing people familiar with the matter.
Huawei, which relies on chips from the US, has reportedly been stockpiling the chips and other components in anticipation of the ban. In an interview on Saturday, the Huawei chief executive, Ren Zhengfei, said the company would be “fine” without US chips.
The moves come after the Trump administration officially added the telecoms manufacturer to a trade blacklist on Thursday, declaring a national economic emergency to ban the technology and services of “foreign adversaries”. The blacklist immediately led to restrictions that will make it extremely difficult for the firm to do business with US companies.
In another development in the growing trade war between the two countries, Trump claimed in an interview on Fox on Sunday night that his policy of imposing tariffs on Chinese goods was already bearing fruit by encouraging companies to move manufacturing to other countries.
The latest restrictions are likely to hit Huawei’s European business, its second-biggest market, because it licenses many of its mobile phone services from Google in Europe.
Geoff Blaber, the vice-president of research at the market research firm CCS Insight, told Reuters: “Having those apps is critical for smartphone makers to stay competitive in regions like Europe.”
Google’s suspension follows a report last week calling for Huawei to be prevented from supplying 5G mobile networks in the UK, because its operations are “subject to influence by the Chinese state”.
The research, by a Conservative MP and two academics, said a decision announced by Theresa May last month, after a fraught meeting of the national security council (NSC), to allow the company to supply “non-core” equipment should be overturned because using the company’s technology presents “risks”.
In the report by the Henry Jackson Society thinktank, the authors claimed Huawei “has long been accused of espionage” – a claim repeatedly denied by the firm – and noted that “while there are no definitely proven cases”, a precautionary principle should be adopted.
The British government has been pressured by partner intelligence agencies in the US and Australia to reconsider letting the Shenzhen-based multinational participate in the UK’s 5G network.
In April, May provisionally approved the use of Huawei technology for parts of the networks after a meeting of the NSC. A leaked account of the meeting said five cabinet ministers had raised concerns about the company.
Robert Strayer, a deputy assistant secretary at the US state department, warned last month that the UK’s proposal to adopt Huawei technology risked affecting intelligence cooperation with the US. He claimed the Chinese firm “was not a trusted vendor” and any use of its technology for 5G was a risk.
Australia, which also shares intelligence with the UK, has already moved to ban Huawei as a supplier for its future 5G network.
Huawei has always insisted it is a privately held company, independent of the Chinese state, owned largely by its employees, and has worked supplying phone technology in the UK for 15 years without problems. | Government Policy Changes | May 2019 | ['(The Guardian)'] |
U.S. Republican Party Senators adopt a ban on earmarking, or setting aside money in bills for specific purposes specified by legislators. | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republicans in the Senate on Tuesday adopted a voluntary ban on the congressional pet projects known as earmarks, and the chamber’s Democratic leader said he would allow a vote on a binding moratorium.
Senator John McCain stands next to a graph depicting the increase of earmarks in Congress during a 2006 press conference. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
Republicans in both the Senate and the House of Representatives have now forsworn earmarks as they eye large spending cuts in the coming year, when they will control the House and wield greater influence in the Senate.
Though earmarks account for less than one half of a percent of the federal budget, they have become a symbol of wasteful spending for many grassroots Tea Party activists who helped Republicans win big in the November 2 elections.
“I think it shows that this conference is serious about doing what it said we were going to be about -- limited government, spending reduction, dealing with the national debt,” said newly elected Republican Senator Marco Rubio.
Senate Majority Harry Reid said he would allow a vote on a binding, two-year ban that would apply to everyone in the Senate, though only two of the chamber’s 59 Democrats have said they support the measure.
“I would be happy to work, to set up a reasonable time to have a debate on that and have a vote on it,” Reid told a news conference.
Earmarks, which have accounted for roughly $16 billion of the $3.5 trillion federal budget in recent years, have been a popular way for lawmakers to steer federal dollars back to their home districts and states.
Reid, who represents Nevada, and other backers also say they are a way to ensure that Congress maintains some control over federal spending that otherwise would be managed by government agencies.
A ban would not necessarily save money, they say.
Related Coverage
“I think I have an obligation to the people of Nevada to do what’s important to Nevada and not what’s important to some bureaucrat with green eyeshades,” Reid said.
Democrats have sought to rein in earmarks in recent years after they factored in several corruption scandals, though they have not backed an outright ban.
An earmark ban could worsen congressional gridlock as they often serve as sweeteners to build support for the large spending bills that are needed to keep the government running, said Thomas Stratmann, an economics professor at George Mason University.
“To the extent that earmarks grease the wheel they are beneficial,” Stratmann said.
In the Senate, two Democrats have joined several Republicans to press for a vote on an earmark ban as soon as Wednesday, though Reid indicated he might not let that happen so soon.
“It’s not clear to me if or when we’ll get a vote on earmarking,” said Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill, who supports the ban. “I think it depends on how far the Republican caucus is willing to go to force a vote on it.”
In the House, Republicans adopted a voluntary ban earlier this year and are expected to schedule a vote for a binding ban soon after they take control in January.
| Government Policy Changes | November 2010 | ['(Reuters)'] |
At appeal, Australian actress Rebel Wilson is ordered to pay back A$4.7m that she won in damages and interest from Bauer Media Group in what was Australia's largest ever libel payout. Wilson is also ordered to pay 80% of the group's appeal costs. The case stemmed from allegations that libelous articles portraying her as a serial liar had resulted in her losing acting jobs. The Victorian Court of Appeal finds that Wilson has not proved a connection between the libel and any failure to land roles. The case prompted national discussion over potential chilling effects on legitimate journalism. | An Australian court has ordered actress Rebel Wilson to repay the majority of her record defamation payout from a magazine publisher.
Wilson had received A$4.7m (2.6m; $3.5m) in damages and interest from Bauer Media over articles that she said portrayed her as a serial liar.
But a court reduced the sum to A$600,000 earlier this month following an appeal by the publisher.
On Wednesday, Wilson was ordered to pay back A$4.1m and A$60,000 in interest.
She will also have to cover 80% of what Bauer spent on its appeal.
Wilson, an Australian star of Hollywood films including Pitch Perfect and Bridesmaids, has vowed to give all of her compensation to charity.
In its original finding, the Supreme Court of Victoria awarded her A$650,000 in general damages and $A3.9m for film roles she had lost out on. She was later paid A$180,000 in interest.
However the size of the payout, Australia's largest for a defamation case, was reduced significantly on appeal.
Ahead of the appeal case - which Wilson did not attend in person - the actress was keen to point out that the court was not reconsidering whether she had won her case, but merely the amount paid out.
What happens tomorrow is to do with the losers @bauermedia quibbling about how much they now have to pay me. While this case was never about the money for me, I do hope to receive as much as possible to give away to charities and to support the Australian film industry. ?
The Victorian Court of Appeal ruled that Wilson had failed to prove that Bauer was responsible for her missing out on film roles.
The actress wrote on Twitter at the time: "That's now $4 million less going to less fortunate Australians and leaves a billionaire corporation, proven guilty of malicious defamation, being able to get away with their seriously harmful acts for a very low pay day."
The size of the original payout also generated discussion in Australia over whether it could stifle future journalism in the public interest.
| Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | June 2018 | ['(BBC)'] |
Voters go to the polls in the Maldivian presidential election, the first democratic elections held in the Maldives, with six candidates including incumbent Maumoon Abdul Gayoom. | MALE (AFP) — The first-ever democratic presidential election in the Maldives looked set to go into a second round after Asia's longest-serving leader apparently failed to deliver a knock-out blow to his rivals.
Official results based on roughly two-thirds of ballots cast showed incumbent President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom -- who has run the Indian Ocean archipelago unchallenged for 30 years -- in the lead but short of a majority needed to avoid a tough run-off.
The president had just under 40 percent support, the election commission said, with his most outspoken critic -- former political prisoner Mohamed "Anni" Nasheed -- in second place with around 26 percent.
If the counting trend holds, the two will fight head-to-head within 10 days.
Analysts say Gayoom will have a tough time fighting Nasheed in a run-off if supporters of the other opposition candidates rally behind the one-time Amnesty International "prisoner of conscience."
"If there is a second round, that would be a big blow to Gayoom. He was so sure of winning in the first round," said an official from Nasheed's Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), which had accused Gayoom of trying to rig the polls.
The landmark presidential vote held Wednesday was the first time Asia's longest-serving leader has allowed any competition.
The polls also marked the climax of an effort to bring political freedoms to the Muslim nation of 300,000 people in the wake of pro-democracy protests and international pressure.
Rival political parties were only allowed to be formed two years ago.
Many Maldivians are eager to see a fresh face in charge of their atoll nation -- which despite its image as a beach paradise is beset by problems including a critical housing shortage, rising crime and drug abuse.
Political tensions have also been mounting.
In January, one islander tried to stab Gayoom with a kitchen knife, and a year ago several tourists were injured in the Maldives' first-ever terrorist attack, which was blamed on Islamic militants and followed by a tough crackdown.
"I want change. Thirty years of Gayoom is long enough. He's been filling his pockets and denying our rights for long enough," said Hamza, a 20-year-old student who queued for five hours to cast his ballot.
While the cramped island capital Male is seen as an opposition stronghold, Gayoom -- with his conservative Muslim platform and father figure persona -- appears to be more popular on outlying islands.
Gayoom can also lay claim to having built South Asia's richest nation per capita, thanks to the opening of dozens of resorts on white sand beaches and crystal clear waters -- where some rooms cost up to 15,000 dollars a night.
"I feel I must be at the helm to see through the reform programme," Gayoom told reporters before the vote, positioning himself as a committed democrat rather than the Robert Mugabe-type politician his opponents paint him as.
And the president has also taken legal action against two opposition politicians who accused him of stealing 40 million dollars of tsunami aid and stashing away tens of millions more in a foreign bank account. | Government Job change - Election | October 2008 | ['(AFP)'] |
A Malaysian court finds a local man guilty of the murder of two British students in Borneo in 2014. | A Malaysian court has found a local man guilty of murdering two British medical students in Borneo. Newcastle University students Aidan Brunger and Neil Dalton, both 22, were stabbed in a bar in Kuching, Sarawak, in August 2014.
Fishmonger Zulkipli Abdullah, 23, had denied their murder but admitted being involved in a street fight with them along with two other men.
The penalty for murder in Malaysia is a mandatory sentence of death by hanging.
In a joint statement, the parents of Mr Dalton, from Ambergate, Derbyshire, and Mr Brunger, from Hempstead, Kent, paid tribute to their sons.
Phil and Jan Dalton and Paul Brunger and Sue Hidson spoke of the devastation their deaths had caused.
"They were two exceptional young men with such promise - kind, funny and full of life. Their deaths have left their families and many good friends utterly devastated," it read.
"Our sons would soon have qualified as doctors. Their unprovoked and senseless murders as they were walking home after a night out with other medical students mean that Aidan and Neil will never have the chance to spend their lives caring for and helping others.
"They would have given so much to the world. We are so very proud of both of them and in what they achieved in their all too short lives.
"Although we are pleased that the man responsible for their murders has been held accountable, the guilty verdict does not bring our sons back." | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | March 2015 | ['(BBC)'] |
Tens of thousands of people in Madrid protest the release of jailed Basque separatist José Ignacio de Juana Chaos. | Spain's socialist government decided that Jose Ignacio de Juana Chaos should be transferred to house arrest after staging a hunger strike.
De Juana Chaos had been serving 20 years in prison for 25 murders. Spain's centre-right opposition Popular Party (PP) accuses the government of surrendering to terrorism.
This latest demonstration comes after thousands joined related protests in dozens of towns across Spain on Friday night. Thousands attended Saturday's protest organised by the PP, waving Spanish flags and parading big banners saying "Spain for Liberty". But many others attending the protest were frustrated with how the country's two main political parties continue to bicker over how to deal with Eta militancy, reports the BBC's Danny Wood in Madrid.
They would like their parties to be united in the face of what they see as one of their country's gravest problems, he adds. Additional sentence
Last year, on the verge of release, de Juana was sentenced to another 12 years for writing threatening newspaper articles. He went on hunger strike in protest.
De Juana ended his strike earlier this month after being moved from Madrid to a hospital in the Basque country.
He is to be kept under house arrest for the two years remaining on his sentence. He was force-fed in the latter stages of a hunger strike he began 114 days ago in protest at his sentence. He was jailed in 1987. The Spanish government has halted talks with Eta.
Eta has been waging a violent campaign for Basque independence and has been blamed for more than 800 deaths since 1968. | Protest_Online Condemnation | March 2007 | ['(BBC)'] |
At least 17 people are killed in a stampede at a nightclub in Caracas, Venezuela. The stampede was reportedly triggered when a tear–gas canister was set off during a brawl. Seven people have been arrested. | At least 17 people have been killed in a stampede in a nightclub in the Venezuelan capital Caracas, the Interior Minister Néstor Reverol has confirmed.
The stampede was triggered when a tear-gas canister was set off during a brawl, he said.
Party-goers were celebrating the end of the school year and several of the dead are reported to be minors.
Seven people have been arrested over the case, the minister said.
The stampede took place at the Club Los Cotorros in the El Paraíso district in western Caracas, local media reported.
Some 500 party-goers rushed for the exit when the tear-gas canister was detonated during a fight in the early hours of Saturday morning, Mr Reverol told state television.
Among those detained are two minors identified by witnesses along with the owner of the club for failing to implement measures to prevent weapons being brought into the premises.
"The majority of the deceased... were between 16 and 20 years old," journalist Darvinson Rojas told La Patilla news website.
"Some died from asphyxiation, others from injuries sustained when they tried to escape the room when the explosive was detonated."
Five people injured in the incident, one seriously, are being treated in hospital, Efe news agency reports. | Riot | June 2018 | ['(BBC)'] |
American author Tom Clancy, best known for his military thriller novels, dies at the age of 66. | Tom Clancy, whose complex, adrenaline-fueled military novels spawned a new genre of thrillers and made him one of the world’s best-known and best-selling authors, died on Tuesday in Baltimore. He was 66. Mr. Clancy, who grew up in Baltimore, died at Johns Hopkins Hospital after a brief illness, his lawyer, J. W. Thompson Webb, said on Wednesday. Neither Mr. Webb nor Mr. Clancy’s longtime publisher, Ivan Held, president of G. P. Putnam’s Sons, said he knew the precise cause of death.
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This is an offer for a Basic Digital Access Subscription. The Basic Digital Access Subscription does not include e-reader editions (Kindle, Nook, etc.), NYT Games (the Crossword) or NYT Cooking. Mobile apps are not supported on all devices. These offers are not available for current subscribers. Other restrictions and taxes may apply. Offers and pricing are subject to change without notice. | Famous Person - Death | October 2013 | ['(The New York Times)'] |
The Myanmar Police Force files new charges against ousted State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi for violating COVID-19 regulations, which may allow her to be held indefinitely without trial. | Police in Myanmar filed a new charge against ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi, her lawyer said Tuesday, which may allow her to be held indefinitely without trial. Lawyer Khin Maung Zaw told reporters after meeting with a judge in the capital, Naypyitaw, that Suu Kyi has been charged with violating Article 25 of the Natural Disaster Management Law, which has been used to prosecute people who have broken coronavirus restrictions.
Suu Kyi, who was ousted in a military coup on Feb. 1, has already been charged with possessing walkie-talkies that were imported without being registered.The maximum punishment for the COVID-19 violation is three years' imprisonment. However, the new charge may allow her to be held indefinitely without trial because a change in the Penal Code instituted by the junta last week permits detention without court permission.Groups of demonstrators turned out in Yangon and other cities on Tuesday to protest the coup and demand that Suu Kyi and members of her ousted government be freed from detention.In Yangon, police blocked off the street in front of the Central Bank, which protesters have targeted amid speculation online that the military is seeking to seize money from them.Buddhist monks demonstrated outside the U.N.'s local office.
The protests are taking place in defiance of an order banning gatherings of five or more people.Around 3,000 demonstrators mainly students returned to the streets in Mandalay, the country's second biggest city, carrying posters of Suu Kyi and shouting for the return of democracy.Security presence was low-key around the march, with most police guarding key buildings in the city, such as state banks branches.On Monday in Mandalay, soldiers and police violently broke up a gathering of more than 1,000 protesters in front of the Myanmar Economic Bank. They attacked the protesters with slingshots and sticks, and police could be seen aiming long guns into the air amid sounds that resembled gunfire. Local media reported rubber bullets were fired into the crowd and that a few people were injured.The government ordered internet access blocked on Sunday and Monday nights without giving a reason. It has in the past few weeks imposed selective and ineffective blocks on social media platforms and prepared a draft internet law that would criminalize many online activities.There is also widespread speculation that the government is installing a firewall system that can monitor or block most or all online activity.State media were acknowledging the protest movement with indirect references. The Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper reported about a meeting of the State Administration Council, the new top governing body, and quoted its chief, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, saying the authorities "are handling the ongoing problems with care."It said the council discussed taking legal action against protesters, providing "true information" to the media, and resuming public transport, an apparent reference to strikes and slowdowns by truckers and state railway workers.The newspaper also said the council members discussed acting against a "parallel government" established by some elected lawmakers of Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party, who were prevented from taking their seats when the military stopped Parliament from opening its session Feb. 1.The self-styled Committee Representing the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw has 15 members who met online and said they have enough support to convene Parliament. It stakes a claim to being the sole legitimate government institution and has appealed to foreign powers and the U.N. and other multilateral institutions for recognition, with no known positive responses. Committee members believe warrants have been issued for their arrests.The military contends there was fraud in last year's election, which Suu Kyi's party won in a landslide, and says it will hold power for a year before holding new elections. The state election commission found no evidence to support the claims of fraud.The military says its takeover is legitimate under a 2008 constitution that was drafted under military rule and ensures the army maintains ultimate control over the country. The U.N., U.S. and other governments have urged it to return power to the elected government and release Suu Kyi and other detainees. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse | February 2021 | ['(CBS News)'] |
Togo abolishes the death penalty. | The vote was witnessed by Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero. He has been campaigning for a global moratorium on the death penalty as a first step towards its total abolition. The BBC's Ebow Godwin in the capital, Lome, says there were at least six convicts on death row. But the country has not carried out an execution since 1978, he says. Mr Zapatero said the Togolese parliament had raised a voice for justice and human dignity. And Justice Minister Kokou Tozoun said: "I think that it's the best decision that we took in this year... we don't have the right to give death to someone if we know that death is not a good thing to give." Amnesty International said the decision means Togo has become the 15th member of the African Union and the 94th country in the world to abolish the death penalty for all crimes. What are these? | Government Policy Changes | June 2009 | ['(BBC)'] |
In her Royal Christmas Message, Queen Elizabeth II praises aid workers for fighting ebola in West Africa. | Updated on: December 25, 2014 / 12:16 PM
/ CBS/AP SANDRINGHAM, England- Queen Elizabeth II used her traditional Christmas broadcast to call for international reconciliation and to praise medical workers fighting Ebola in Africa.
The queen said she has been "deeply touched" by the "selflessness" of doctors and nurses combating the Ebola outbreak. She also recalled the legendary 1914 Christmas Truce during World War I and urged that its lessons inspire reconciliation throughout the world.
"No one who fought in that war is still alive, but we remember their sacrifice and indeed the sacrifice of all those in the armed forces who serve and protect us today," she said. "In 1914 many people though the war would be over by Christmas, but sadly by then the trenches were dug and the future shape of the war in Europe was set. But as we know, something remarkable did happen that Christmas, exactly one hundred years ago today. Without any instruction or command, the shooting stopped and German and British soldiers met in No Man's Land."
It should remind us, she said, "that even in the unlikeliest of places hope can still be found."
Each year the queen writes her own Christmas speech, which is pre-recorded and televised in many parts of the world on the afternoon of Christmas Day. She made her first Christmas broadcast on radio in 1952.
The queen is celebrating the holiday with her husband Prince Philip and other members of the royal family at the sprawling Sandringham estate in Norfolk, England.
The royals attended a church service Christmas morning before enjoying a gala lunch. Prince William and his pregnant wife Kate were present, but their toddler son, Prince George, did not go to church.
Prince Charles' wife Camilla also did not attend because of a painful back injury suffered earlier this month, officials said.
The queen arrived by car while the other royals walked from her estate to the village church.
Hundreds of well-wishers lined the route to the church to exchange Christmas greetings with the royals. Some shouted with glee as Prince Harry walked by. One visitor from Spain told reporters she had asked Harry to marry her.
William and Kate talked to the crowds briefly after the service when the queen had left by car.
Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby cancelled his Christmas sermon because of a severe cold. In a statement he expressed "great regret" about his inability to preach his planned sermon about the true meaning of Christmas.
Church officials said the sermon at Canterbury Cathedral would instead be delivered by the Dean of Canterbury Robert Willis. | Famous Person - Give a speech | December 2014 | ['(CBS)'] |
South Korea imposes direct sanctions against North Korea that blacklists dozens of Northern companies and people for the first time, and bans ships that have visited North Korean ports in the previous 180 days from its waters. | South Korea on Tuesday announced unilateral sanctions against North Korea, blacklisting dozens of individuals and organizations it said were involved in the North’s missile and nuclear programs.
The announcement came after Pyongyang threatened to launch nuclear strikes on the United States and South Korea, as the two countries started their annual joint military drills Monday.
The South’s sanctions include blacklisting 38 North Korean officials and two foreigners and 30 organizations, 24 of them based in Pyongyang, the South’s Yonhap news agency reported.
It said the blacklisted people and organizations will be barred from financial dealings with South Korean banks and their assets in the South will be frozen. Ships that have traveled to North Korea in the past 180 days will also be barred from entering South Korean waters, Yonhap reported.
N. Korea threatens nuke strikes on U.S., S. Korea
The news agency also reported Tuesday that the North stole information from the smartphones of South Korean officials in the latest in a series of cyberattacks.
The South’s National Intelligence Service said North Korean hackers sent text messages to top South Korean officials to try and get them to click on links to malicious software. It said a number of smartphones were infected with malware, giving hackers access to text messages and phone conversations, Yonhap reported. The information couldn’t be independently verified by USA TODAY.
| Government Policy Changes | March 2016 | ['(The Washington Post)', '(AP via USA Today)'] |
British Prime Minister Theresa May announces that her government will trigger article 50, which begins the process of withdrawing from the European Union, on March 29. | EU sources say Theresa May missed chance of swift start to Brexit negotiations, which are now likely to start in June
First published on Mon 20 Mar 2017 11.31 GMT
Theresa May has informed the European council that she will trigger article 50 on Wednesday 29 March, but European sources have made clear that Britain could be forced to wait until June to embark on formal talks.
The prime minister’s decision to name the date on which the two-year Brexit clock will start ticking down came as her official spokesman also quashed speculation about an early general election.
Instead he made clear that the government’s focus was set to turn solidly towards the country’s EU exit, which is now guaranteed to be complete by the end of March 2019.
The president of the European council, Donald Tusk, responded quickly to say that he would distribute his draft response to May’s letter among the leaders of the EU27 within 48 hours of next Wednesday. But sources made clear that it would take “four to six weeks” for the other 27 countries in the EU to reach consensus and start the more formal process.
May’s decision to spell out the starting date came after Jean-Claude Juncker claimed that “Britain’s example will make everyone else realise that it’s not worth leaving”.
And lead negotiator, Michel Barnier, hinted on Twitter that the EU27 were preparing to impose customs controls, despite May’s determination to secure “frictionless trade”.
#Brexit: 4th technical seminar @27 to discuss impact on customs controls & procedures. EU27 have to start preparing now for future controls pic.twitter.com/LJjngCcaDd
The warnings underlined the rocky path that the prime minister will have to tread as she begins one of the most complicated negotiations of political history.
“I am very clear that I want to ensure we get the best possible deal for the United Kingdom that works for everyone across the United Kingdom and all parts of the UK when we enter these negotiation,” said the prime minister in Wales, at the start of a whirlwind UK tour aimed at drumming up last-minute support from the devolved administrations.
“I have set out my objectives. These include getting a good free trade deal. They include putting issues like continuing working together on issues like security at the core of what we are doing. We are going to be out there, negotiating hard, delivering on what the British people voted for.”
The prime minister – who also made clear that there would be no early general election – asked the UK ambassador to the EU, Sir Tim Barrow, to inform the European council president of the date. However, EU sources claimed that May’s choice of next Wednesday meant she would miss the chance of a swift start to the negotiations, and instead have to wait up to six weeks for a formal response.
The prime minister’s chosen date shortens an already tight timeframe in which the British government hopes to both agree on the terms of withdrawal, including its financial liabilities, and successfully negotiate a “comprehensive free trade deal” with the EU.
The EU had hoped to offer a substantive political response to Britain at a summit pencilled in for the 6-7 April, but the notification date announced by Downing Street does not now make that possible, EU sources said.
Formal EU-UK negotiations are unlikely to start until mid-May at the very earliest, while some diplomats representing member states in Brussels believe it is more likely that talks will start in earnest in June.
Speaking to the Guardian, Gianni Pittella, the president of the socialist bloc in the European parliament, mocked the British prime minister’s slow progress in triggering talks, and warned that the EU would also be demanding agreement on Britain’s estimated £57bn divorce bill before trade talks could start.
He said: “Congratulations, Theresa May. Nine months to give birth to a date for article 50 notification. We will make sure that Brexit won’t affect EU and UK acquired citizens’ rights.
“Before negotiating the new relationship with UK, first and foremost we want substantial progresses on the withdrawal agreement to be ensured.”
Michel Barnier, who will lead negotiations for the EU, has also said the talks must proceed in that way, with experts lining up to warn that the two-year period will not be long enough for Britain to secure a future trading relationship.
However, a Tory peer who was involved in the drafting of article 50 told the Guardian that it was designed to allow the exit and trade talks to take place simultaneously.
Lord Kirkhope, who was a full member of the Convention on the Future of Europe that drew up the text that led to the Lisbon treaty, said: “As one of those involved in the drafting of article 50, I know that – whatever Michel Barnier says – it does allow for a parallel debate on both the terms of exiting the EU and the deal to be negotiated for after Brexit.”
Nevertheless, the two-year timetable is widely seen as extremely tight if May is to achieve her desire of securing a future deal before March 2019, especially given the need for around six months in which to ratify any deal.
Even with Tusk’s swift action, there will be around “four to six weeks” as EU states agree to the proposed response by consensus, according to a senior source.
Once the EU27 have formally adopted the guidelines, the European commission is expected to quickly present more detailed draft directives and recommend the opening of talks, which will then agreement by qualified majority at a meeting of ministers of the EU27, known as the general affairs council.
A date has yet been set for that ministerial meeting but it is only then that the talks with the UK will be formally opened.
Earlier rumours that the move would be made last week had to be quashed by sources close to the prime minister after Nicola Sturgeon declared her desire for a second Scottish independence referendum, leading to speculation that May had prevaricated because she did not wish to appear cavalier about the future of the union.
However, a Downing Street spokesman said the warning given on Monday morning was merely a matter of courtesy rather than a formal procedure designed to speed up the start of talks. “It’s simply a case of providing advance notice to help people on all sides,” he said. “We have always said we would trigger article 50 by the end of March and we thought it would be helpful to give advance notice.”
The prime minister’s spokesman said Barrow had a conversation with the office of the European council president, Donald Tusk, earlier on Monday to offer the EU notice of the date.
“There will be a letter, [May] will notify President Tusk in writing, and the prime minister has already confirmed she will give a statement to parliament as well,” he said. “More details will be given in due course.
“We want negotiations to start promptly, but it’s obviously right that the 27 have the opportunity to agree their position,” the spokesman said. “We fully expect they will want to do that in advance.
The Brexit secretary, David Davis, called the process “the most important negotiation for this country in a generation”.
“The government is clear in its aims: a deal that works for every nation and region of the UK and indeed for all of Europe – a new, positive partnership between the UK and our friends and allies in the European Union”, he said.
Within 48 hours of the UK triggering Article 50, I will present the draft #Brexit guidelines to the EU27 Member States.
Clarity is in everyone's interest! We hope UK will continue to be close partner of Belgium and EU. Negotiations on #Brexit can finally start | Withdraw from an Organization | March 2017 | ['(The Guardian)'] |
American professional wrestler Reid Flair dies at age 25 from unknown causes. | Reid Flair, the 25-year-old son of WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair, died Friday, wrestlingobserver.com is reporting. Details surrounding his death are unknown at this time.
Flair’s agent, Melinda Morris Zanoni, released the following statement: “We are heartbroken to confirm that Ric’s son, Reid, has passed away today March 29, 2013 in Charlotte, NC. The investigation into the cause of death is ongoing. Reid was an incredible son, brother, friend, and professional wrestler. No words can describe the grief that Ric and his family are experiencing and they do request privacy during this devastating time.”
According to wcnc.com, Charlotte-Mecklenburg police received a call around 10:30 a.m. ET that a man was unresponsive in a hotel room. Police identified the man as Reid Flair. Foul play is not suspected at this time.
Reid Flair had been wrestling in Japan occasionally for the last year to improve his skills in the ring. He was in the U.S. and scheduled to tour with his father this weekend.
He was expected to be signed by WWE at some point in the future, as his father has recently rejoined the company.
Reaction by the pro wrestling community on Twitter was immediate.
Roddy Piper:
My heart is with Ric and Reid Flair today! Reid was my son too! — Rowdy Roddy Piper (@R_Roddy_Piper) March 29, 2013
Eric Bischoff:
Heavy heart. Our thoughts, prayers, and sympathy to Ric Flair and family at the passing of Reid Flair. Such a sad day. — Eric Bischoff (@EBischoff) March 29, 2013
Kurt Angle:
To Ric flair and His family, I’m So Sorry for the Loss of Reid, Ric’s Son. You Were family to Me. GOD Bless You Ric! I Love U — Kurt Angle (@RealKurtAngle) March 29, 2013
We will have more on this story as it develops throughout the day.
[Update: An earlier version of this post listed Reid Flair’s age as 24. He is 25.]
| Famous Person - Death | March 2013 | ['(Los Angeles Times)'] |
In football, Zenit St Petersburg of Russia win the 2008 UEFA Cup after defeating Scottish side Rangers 2–0 in the final. | Zenit St Petersburg deservedly lifted the Uefa Cup with a two-goal victory over Rangers in Manchester.
The Russians dominated the first half without seriously threatening a packed Rangers defence.
Rangers' Jean-Claude Darcheville forced a good save and a Barry Ferguson snap shot struck the outside of a post.
But Igor Denisov played a one-two with Andrei Arshavin before firing home and Konstatin Zyryanov side-footed in to secure Zenit's first European trophy.
It meant Rangers' dream of repeating their 1972 Cup-Winners' Cup success died at the hands of Zenit coach Dick Advocaat - the man dubbed the Little General during his time in charge at Ibrox.
And the Scottish side's hopes of winning four trophies by the end of the season had faltered at the second hurdle.
Rangers had been accused of playing "anti-football" during a miserly run to the final built on a solid defensive foundation.
And manager Walter Smith was not about to disappoint his critics - playing two holding midfielders instead of his usual one.
But there was no negativity among the hordes of Rangers fans who had the City of Manchester Stadium shaking with their now traditional "bouncy, bouncy" antics.
The Zenit fans added to the sea of blue and white and it was their favourites who launched a wave of attacks from the outset.
Arshavin, back in the side after being banned for the semi-final, fired into the side-netting after just four minutes after Brahim Hemdani was caught in possession.
Rangers' Algerian midfielder constantly put his side in trouble by dwelling on the ball.
But he was not the only culprit as Zenit showed their own determination to close down their opponents as they stuck to their Rangers opponents like limpets. For their part, the Glasgow outfit were limiting Zenit to long range efforts and an Anatoly Tymoschuk drive and an Alexander Anyukov half-volley were easily dealt with by goalkeeper Neil Alexander.
Rangers were relying on the break and, when Darcheville stole into the box, only an excellent interception by Radek Sirl denied Ferguson an opportunity from close range.
Steven Whittaker squandered Rangers only other chance of the first half, heading well over after being found unmarked at the back post by a Steven Davis cross.
There were some appeals for a penalty when a cross struck Kirk Broadfoot in the Rangers box, but the half-time whistle blew without either side making a breakthrough.
Zenit goalkeeper Vyacheslav Malafeev pulled off a fine save with his feet to block a low Darcheville drive as Rangers showed more adventure at the start of the second half.
And, during the goalmouth melee that followed, there were claims for a penalty and Ferguson toe-poked the ball against a post.
Whittaker and Davis had low drives cleared from in front of goal, but Zenit broke clear and Arschavin beat Alexander only to have his chip towards goal headed off the line by Sasa Papac.
The loss of suspended striker Pavel Pogrebnyak, the leading scorer in the competition, appeared to be hampering Zenit.
But the breakthrough was supplied when Denisov at last broke through the centre of the Rangers defence after 72 minutes.
Konstantin Zyrianov struck the outside of the post moments later.
But, after substitute Nacho Novo blasted over for a Rangers side throwing everything into attack, Zyryanov fired home in stoppage time after a Fatih Tekke cutback.
Zenit St Petersburg: Malafeev, Aniukov, Krizanac, Shirokov, Sirl, Tymoschuk, Zyryanov, Denisov, Faitzulin (Kim 90), Tekke, Arshavin. Subs Not Used: Contofalsky, Radimov, Dominguez, Ricksen, Ionov, Gorshkov. Booked: Malafeev. Goals: Denisov 72, Zyryanov 90. Rangers: Alexander, Broadfoot, Weir, Cuellar, Papac (Novo 77), Hemdani (McCulloch 80), Whittaker (Boyd 86), Ferguson, Thomson, Davis, Darcheville. Subs Not Used: Graeme Smith, Adam, Dailly, Faye. Att: 47,500 Ref: Peter Frojdfeldt (Sweden)
BBC Sport Player Rater man of the match: Zenit St Petersburg's Andrei Arshavin 7.97 (on 90 minutes). Please note that you can still give the players marks out of 10 on BBC Sport's Player Rater after the match has finished. | Sports Competition | May 2008 | ['(BBC News)'] |
Terri Schiavo dies 13 days after her feeding tube was removed by court order in Florida, US. | Mrs Schiavo's feeding tube was disconnected on 18 March, following a seven-year battle through the courts.
Her husband Michael Schiavo had said his wife would not have wanted to live in her current condition.
President George W Bush, who offered his sympathies to her parents Bob and Mary Schindler, said he was attached to a "culture of life".
Mr Bush urged those who backed the Schindlers to "continue to work to build a culture of life where all Americans are welcomed and valued and protected, especially those who live at the mercy of others".
"The essence of civilisation is that the strong have a duty to protect the weak. In cases where there are serious doubts and questions, the presumption should be in the favour of life." This is not only a death, this is a killing
Father Frank Pavone
Mr Schiavo's overriding concern was to give his wife "a peaceful death with dignity", his lawyer George Felos said.
"No family in the US having to go through the death process for a loved one should have the added worry that a panel of judges is going to order an ambulance to come or that politicians are going to interfere with the death process that your loved one has chosen and has almost completed," he said.
The 41-year-old's parents fought to the highest level of the US courts system to keep their daughter alive.
The legal battle went as far up as the US Congress, and President Bush rushed through an emergency bill to send the case back to the federal courts soon after the feeding tube was disconnected.
But the US courts at every level supported Michael Schiavo's case and rejected requests by Mrs Schiavo's parents to have her feeding tube reinserted. The case divided the country, with a majority of people agreeing her feeding tube should have been disconnected. But it fanned the flames of a fierce debate over whether life should be preserved at all costs, the BBC's Lesley Curwen in Washington says.
'Killing'
Mrs Schiavo died on Thursday at the Pinellas Park hospice, where she lay for years while her husband - who was her legal guardian - and her parents fought over whether to keep her alive or let her die.
Mr Schiavo had been living at the hospice since his wife's feeding tube had been removed in a separate room down the hall from her room, his lawyer said.
Her siblings were with her up to 15 minutes before she died, but say they were asked to leave shortly before Mrs Schiavo died. Her parents were not there at the time as earlier reported.
TERRI SCHIAVO CASE
Feb 1990: Terri Schiavo collapses
May 1998: Mr Schiavo files petition to remove feeding tube
Oct 2003: Florida lower house passes "Terri's Law", allowing governor to order doctors to feed Mrs Schiavo Sept 2004: Florida Supreme Court strikes down law
18 Mar 2005: Florida court allows removal of tube
22 Mar 2005: Federal judge rejects appeal
23 Mar 2005: Appeals court backs federal ruling
29 Mar 2005: Federal court grants parents leave to appeal
30 Mar 2005: Federal court and Supreme Court reject parents' appeal
31 Mar 2005: Terri Schiavo dies
Q&A: Terri Schiavo case
Mr Schiavo's lawyer said he was told the siblings were asked to leave the room for nurses to do an assessment, but that Mrs Schiavo's father, Bobby Schindler, did not want to leave the room.
"It was very disconcerting to hear that Bobby Schindler had some dispute with law enforcement," Mr Felos said.
Mr Schiavo was cradling his wife as she passed away; her brother was also in the room. She died a "calm, peaceful and gentle death", Mr Felos said.
Her family were allowed back into the room after she died.
Father Frank Pavone, national director of the organisation Priests for Life, accused Mr Schiavo of "heartless cruelty". "This is not only a death, this is a killing," he said. "We grieve that our nation has allowed such an atrocity as this."
Mr Schiavo's lawyer said it was "disquieting to hear the priest issue venom and make extremely harsh statements about Mr Schiavo. We felt that was highly inappropriate under the circumstances." The Vatican also denounced the death.
"An attack against life is an attack against God, who is the author of life," Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins, head of the Vatican's office for sainthood, was quoted as saying by the Associated Press news agency.
An autopsy is planned and is expected to show the extent of her brain injuries.
Mrs Schiavo collapsed after her heart stopped beating temporarily in 1990. Court-appointed doctors had said she was in a permanent vegetative state and would not recover, but her parents had said she could.
The case galvanised activists from both sides of the euthanasia debate. It also highlighted the issue of living wills, since Terri Schiavo had left no written instructions about what action she wanted taken if she became disabled. | Famous Person - Death | March 2005 | ['(Reuters)', '(BBC)'] |
Residents from more than 50 homes in Ripley, New York, are evacuated following the derailment of a 34–car Norfolk Southern train carrying hazardous materials in the southwestern part of the state. Ethanol leaked from the two of the 16 derailed cars. A third car carrying propane crashed but did not leak. | - Dozens of residents in western New York town were evacuated from their homes early on Wednesday after a train carrying hazardous liquid derailed, local officials said.
Sixteen cars of the 34-car Norfolk Southern train went off the tracks late on Tuesday in the town of Ripley, on Lake Erie, the company said. Two of the derailed cars were carrying ethanol and were leaking, it said.
More than 50 homes near the derailment were evacuated, the Chautauqua County Sheriff’s office said. Broadcaster WGRZ-TV reported many other residents in the area were told to shelter in place. No injuries were reported, the sheriff’s office said.
A spokesman for Norfolk Southern, Dave Pidgeon, said an undetermined amount of ethanol leaked from the two cars after they derailed. One spill emanated from a puncture that has since been patched. The other car was leaking ethanol through a gasket, he said.
A third derailed car carrying plastic pellets also spilled some of its contents, Pidgeon said. A train car carrying propane derailed but did not leak, he said.
Crews would haul away all soil that had been contaminated, he said. He added that it was not yet clear how long that would take.
It was not yet known what caused the derailment.
| Train collisions | March 2016 | ['(Reuters)', '(AP via Fox News)'] |
Zhao Yan, a Chinese journalist working for the New York Times, is released from jail in China after serving a three year sentence for "leaking state secrets". | Zhao Yan was arrested in 2004 and later charged with leaking state secrets, prompting condemnation from human rights groups and Western governments. That charge was dropped but he was then convicted of defrauding an official of $2,500 - a charge he has always denied.
On his release, he was met by friends and relatives including his sister, who said he was in good spirits.
Zhao Yan was released from prison early on Saturday morning, but chose not to make any kind of statement. Reporting restrictions
Mr Zhao, 45, works as a research assistant for the New York Times in China.
He was detained by state security forces in September 2004 after writing a short note about political rivalries among China's leaders. Mr Zhao is thought to have originally been detained in connection with a New York Times report about plans by ex-President Jiang Zemin to retire from his top military post. At the time, Mr Jiang's intention would have been a closely guarded secret, and any leak regarded as a serious offence.
Mr Zhao was eventually sentenced to three years for fraud, and those three years are now up. The New York Times says that it is delighted Zhao Yan has been released, says the BBC's James Reynolds, in Beijing.
The newspaper says that his only offence seems to have been practising journalism, while human rights organisations say that this case demonstrates how hard it is for Chinese journalists to report what is really going on in the country, he adds. China is currently detaining more than 80 Chinese journalists and bloggers, according to the rights group Reporters Without Borders. | Famous Person - Commit Crime - Release | September 2007 | ['(BBC)'] |
Tunisian politicians select Mehdi Jomaa as the acting Prime Minister of Tunisia until new elections are called. | Tunisian politicians have agreed on a new prime minister after talks between the ruling Islamist Ennahda party and the opposition.
Mehdi Jomaa, industry minister, will head a caretaker government until elections are held next year.
Mr Mehdi's name was one of six put forward for the post by the parties involved in Saturday's negotiations.
Tunisia has been in crisis since the assassination of two opposition politicians earlier this year.
The appointment is part of a deal reached on Thursday that will see the moderate Islamists hand over power to end the political deadlock.
The murders of prominent left-wing figure Chokri Belaid in February and opposition politician Mohammed Brahmi in July led to intensified anti-government protests.
Ennahda condemned the killings - but the opposition accused it of failing to rein in radical Islamists.
The political wrangling that followed has threatened to disrupt a democratic transition that began after Tunisians threw out their decades-old government at the beginning of the 2011 uprisings, widely referred to as the Arab Spring.
Protests against the authoritarian rule of Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali inspired uprisings across the Arab world.
Setback for EU in legal fight with AstraZeneca
But the drug-maker faces hefty fines if it fails to supply doses of Covid-19 vaccine over the summer. | Government Job change - Appoint_Inauguration | December 2013 | ['(BBC)'] |
Severe winter storms in the southeastern United States kill three people and leave 310,000 others without power. | A heavy snowstorm has swept through US south-eastern states, killing at least three people and leaving hundreds of thousands without power.
A state of emergency has been declared in North Carolina, with some areas reporting as much as 0.5m (18.5ins) of snow over the weekend.
One man died after a tree fell on his car. A search is under way for a driver whose vehicle was found in a river.
Thousands of flights were also cancelled across the region.
Snow, sleet and freezing rain continues to impact the South. At a news conference on Monday, North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper said "a year's worth of snowfall fell in some places in a day".
More than 300,000 people were affected by electricity outages in the Carolinas, Alabama, Tennessee and Georgia on Sunday, while storm warnings remained in place in the south-east "especially North Carolina and Virginia", the National Weather Service (NWS) said in a tweet.
The storm was expected to move off the coast on Monday, although the NWS's lead forecaster Michael Schichtel warned it would continue to be "a dangerous system".
"It's slow to move off the Carolinas but a saving grace is that it won't hit New England," he told Reuters news agency.
In some areas, so much snow fell the weight brought power lines crashing down.
All that heavy wet #snow is starting to weigh #powerlines and tree branches down. Here on the 2800 block of Beck Rd a power pole has broken. Remember when the power goes out to safely use alternative heating and lighting sources. #NCWx #DurhamWeather #WinterStorm #WinterSafety pic.twitter.com/aikCgH3htM
But the main danger appeared to be on the roads.
Almost 60 crashes were reported in Virginia, state police told local media, with the number rising to 672 in North Carolina as of Monday morning.
NWS officials warned of black ice forming on roads on Monday and into Tuesday.
Gov Cooper emphasised that the roads could "turn into ice rinks" even as the storm passes.
On Monday, the governor confirmed three storm-related deaths, saying the snow "turned into a nightmare and tragedy".
A man was killed in a suburb of Charlotte when a tree fell on his car. A second person was taken to hospital following the accident, WRAL.com said.
A woman receiving hospice care in the western part of the state also died during the storm. Near Winston-Salem, another individual died of a heart condition on the way to a shelter, according to the governor's office.
Gov Cooper urged residents to check on their loved ones and neighbours, particularly senior citizens.
The North Carolina National Guard remains active. The troops rescued 20 people in Wilkesboro, Brig Gen Todd Hunt said at the news conference, and continue to assist with road clearing and traffic accidents.
Several hundred miles east, in Kinston, divers were searching for another driver, whose tractor-trailer apparently crashed into the Neuse River.
Officials were alerted after debris was spotted on a bridge over the river, ABC12 said.
| Hurricanes_Tornado_Storm_Blizzard | December 2018 | ['(BBC)'] |
In Dublin, Irish military forces parade for the first time since 1970 in commemoration of the 1916 Easter Rising. Taoiseach Bertie Ahern lays a wreath at Kilmainham Jail, where most of the rebel leaders were subsequently shot, in memory of the civilian and military dead of both sides. | The Easter Sunday parade, which features 2,500 military personnel, is the first in Dublin for 37 years.
Wreaths have been laid and a minute's silence was held in commemoration of all civilian and military personnel, including the British, killed in 1916.
Irish premier Bertie Ahern and President Mary McAleese attended.
Mr Ahern said the commemorations would give an opportunity for "remembrance, reconciliation and renewal".
He said those participating would "fittingly commemorate the patriotism and vision of those who set in train an unstoppable process" which led to Ireland's political independence.
The ceremony marked the start of events in the Irish Republic to commemorate the rising. Military personnel, some saluting atop tanks and others marching with fixed bayonets, paraded past the bullet-scarred spot where rebels mounted the rebellion.
The streets along the route were lined by tens of thousands of spectators, while hundreds of thousands more watched live on television.
Wreath laying
Mr Ahern laid a wreath in Kilmainham Jail as a mark of respect to the men executed after the revolt.
Heavy fighting took place in central Dublin in 1916
The BBC's James Helm in Dublin said the parade had stirred up debate about the revolt and how Dublin should mark its anniversary.
In the early 1970s, during the Troubles, the military parades were stopped and official commemorations became more low key.
The 1916 Easter Rising saw Irish rebels attempt to seize the capital from British imperial forces. British troops put down the rebellion and many of its ringleaders were captured and executed. | Protest_Online Condemnation | April 2006 | ['(BBC)'] |
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