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Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer succeeds Angela Merkel as the new chairperson of the Christian Democratic Union, one of the major political parties in Germany.

Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, a staunchly Catholic conservative career politician, has been elected as the successor to Angela Merkel as leader of Germany’s Christian Democrats. Kramp-Karrenbauer won by just 25 votes following a nail-biting second round run-off against her main opponent, the multi-millionaire businessman Friedrich Merz. Wiping away tears, Kramp-Karrenbauer said she would accept the post, and thanked the party for its support and trust in her, insisting she would give new impetus to the party as it seeks to claw back the millions of voters it has lost to rightwing populists and the Greens in recent years. “We should harness the boost this competition has given us, and use it to propel the party’s success,” she said. Dubbed a mini-Merkel - a title she is determined to discard - Kramp-Karrenbauer was not officially endorsed by the chancellor, but was clearly her favourite, having been propelled by her to the position of the party’s general secretary in February. But in a veiled sign of her support earlier in the day, Merkel made a point of praising Kramp-Karrenbauer for her contribution to the CDU’s electoral success during a valedictory speech to the party on Friday morning. The result is seen as making it more likely that Merkel will be able to see out her fourth term until 2021. She has expressed her determination to stay on as chancellor for the remaining three years of her term in office and 56% of Germans support her decision to do so, polls show. Kramp-Karrenbauer had won the first round of voting, securing 45% or 450 votes, and went on to win 517 votes in the second. The vote followed a nail-biting contest after Merkel announced in late October she was stepping down as party chief but intended to continue as chancellor until the next elections. Merz, 63, an economics lawyer who was ousted as parliamentary leader of the CDU by Merkel in 2002, this time received 482 votes in the second round, and 392 in the first. He had taken the party by surprise after parachuting in from his high-powered job in the banking industry, insisting he could win back many of the voters the party has lost to rightwing populism. His supporters said Merz would have been the more courageous option because he was determined to take the party away from the centre ground where Merkel had firmly kept it during her 18 years at the helm. The vote marks a new era for the party, founded in 1945, which has provided Germany with a chancellor for 50 years of the last seven decades. Merkel told the party faithful on Friday it was “time for a change”. Kramp-Karrenbauer - or AKK as she is popularly known, not least because many Germans find her double-barrelled name difficult to pronounce - will now be viewed as a potential future chancellor if the CDU wins the next election in 2021. The mother of three, a self-professed strict Catholic who has served as state leader of Saarland and before that was its interior minister, has a total of 18 years’ leadership experience, all of which stood her in good stead to win the vote. The third candidate in the running, Jens Spahn, 38, refused to withdraw his candidature, despite pressure from party colleagues to do so when it was clear that support for him was weak. Made health minister in Merkel’s government six months ago, he had been considered a frontrunner for several years to succeed Merkel but was pushed aside when Merz decided to throw his hat into the ring and won the support of party heavyweights, such as the president of the Bundestag and Merkel’s former economics minister Wolfgang Schäuble. Spahn secured a higher than expected 157 votes out of 999, but was not eligible for the second round. Over 1,000 party delegates were eligible to vote on what was described as the most momentous decision for the party in nearly 50 years and one that would decide the future direction not only of the CDU, but also of the country and the continent. The party has faced a dilemma, to either keep itself on the course set by Merkel – who was determined to secure the centre ground and has turned the CDU into a champion of gay marriage, a minimum wage and a quota for women in politics - or to take it more to the right in an attempt to win back the voters lost to the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD). In Kramp-Karrenbauer it has arguably chosen a safer option than Merz, not least because she is likely to have an easier relationship with Merkel in the chancellery than Merz, who is seen as having a grudge against Merkel. Kramp-Karrenbauer’s victory is a sign that the party wants to continue on the path set for it by Merkel. Nevertheless, Kramp-Karrenbauer has repeatedly said she would forge her own path, and is decidedly more socially conservative than her predecessor. She told party delegates she was “not a mini version” of Merkel, but her “own person”. “I have read a lot about what I am and who I am: ‘mini’, a copy, simply ‘more of the same’. Dear delegates, I stand before you as I am and as life made me and I am proud of that,” she said. Although she supported Merkel’s open-door migration policy in 2015, Kramp-Karrenbauer is in favour of tightening migration, she is against same-sex marriage and has argued for more restrictions placed on doctors carrying out abortion. But she also takes a liberal approach to other issues, voting in favour of a minimum wage, and supporting a women’s quota. Some say she is still largely an unknown quantity, having played out most of her political life in Saarland. Thousands of CDU members descended on Hamburg for the spectacle, as well as over 1,600 accredited journalists and hundreds of diplomats and political observers. Watching from the sidelines, Udo Tappe, a long-time CDU member described it as the most exiting moment for the party in decades. “My heart was with AKK, my head with Merz,” the 77-year-old retired Hamburg estate agent admitted. “I think that Kramp-Karrenbauer is better in that she has a lot more political successes behind her than Merz, but I wonder how she will stand up to the likes of autocrats like Erdogan and Putin, which Merkel did well.” Earlier in the day Merkel fought back tears after CDU delegates gave her a 10-minute standing ovation after she delivered an emotional speech marking the end of her leadership, which she said had been both “challenging” and “a joy”. This article was amended on 11 December 2018. In the first round, Jens Spahn secured 157 votes, not 175 as an earlier version said. … as you’re joining us today from Korea, we have a small favour to ask. Tens of millions have placed their trust in the Guardian’s high-impact journalism since we started publishing 200 years ago, turning to us in moments of crisis, uncertainty, solidarity and hope. More than 1.5 million readers, from 180 countries, have recently taken the step to support us financially – keeping us open to all, and fiercely independent. With no shareholders or billionaire owner, we can set our own agenda and provide trustworthy journalism that’s free from commercial and political influence, offering a counterweight to the spread of misinformation. When it’s never mattered more, we can investigate and challenge without fear or favour. Unlike many others, Guardian journalism is available for everyone to read, regardless of what they can afford to pay. We do this because we believe in information equality. Greater numbers of people can keep track of global events, understand their impact on people and communities, and become inspired to take meaningful action. We aim to offer readers a comprehensive, international perspective on critical events shaping our world – from the Black Lives Matter movement, to the new American administration, Brexit, and the world's slow emergence from a global pandemic. We are committed to upholding our reputation for urgent, powerful reporting on the climate emergency, and made the decision to reject advertising from fossil fuel companies, divest from the oil and gas industries, and set a course to achieve net zero emissions by 2030. regular amount each month. Thank you.

Government Job change - Appoint_Inauguration

December 2018

['(The Guardian)']

The United Kingdom's House of Lords suspends Thomas Taylor and Peter Truscott until November for misconduct.

Peers decide to suspend Lord Truscott and Lord Taylor of Blackburn The House of Lords has voted to suspend two Labour peers from Parliament for six months for misconduct, the first such action since the 17th Century. Lord Truscott and Lord Taylor of Blackburn were found by a Lords committee to be willing to change laws in exchange for cash. The two men denied the allegations made by the Sunday Times. Lord Truscott, who has resigned from the Labour Party, argues he has been made a scapegoat. 'Serious damage' The House of Lords approved a report by its Privileges Committee condemning the conduct of the two men and a separate report arguing that the House had the authority to suspend them. The House then voted to exclude the two men for the remainder of the current Parliamentary session, which will end in November. Urging fellow peers to suspend Lord Truscott and Lord Taylor, Lord Brabazon of Tara, chairman of the Privileges Committee, said an internal investigation had shown that they had "failed to act on their personal honour". "This episode has done serious damage to the reputation of the House," he said. The House had the "inherent" power to discipline its members and must show that it was prepared to take action, he added: "We have to get our house in order." The Sunday Times also made allegations against two other Labour peers, Lord Snape and Lord Moonie. The two were ultimately cleared of wrongdoing by the privileges committee but invited to apologise for "inappropriate attitudes" to their duties brought to light during the investigation - which Lord Snape subsequently did. For the Conservatives, Lord Strathclyde said the actions of all four men "fell short" of the high standards expected of their representatives by Parliament and the public. But in the case of Lord Truscott and Lord Taylor, he said the Lords must act in a "firm and unified" way to show its "abhorrence" at the way they had broken parliamentary rules. Lord McNally, Lib Dem leader in the Lords, said he believed the Sunday Times had been guilty of "entrapment" and the rules governing lobbying practices needed tightening. However, at a time when the reputation of Parliament was being assailed, he said the Lords must show "loud and clear" that it would not condone wrongdoing. But Labour peer Baroness Mallalieu urged the House to consider less punitive measures than suspension to "make its displeasure known" such as permitting the men to continue sitting but not to speak in debates. Posing as lobbyists The Sunday Times alleged the two peers were prepared to change proposed legislation in return for money - breaching parliamentary rules which state that peers should not seek to influence legislation in return for financial inducement. The reporters were posing as lobbyists for a foreign retail firm which, they claimed, wanted to set up stores in the UK and get an exemption from business rates. The peers discussed what help they might give them and how parliamentary procedure worked. Neither men actually accepted any money but the Lords committee found they had broken rules governing the behaviour of its members in relation to paid advocacy. The allegations against the four men were initially investigated by the Lords sub-committee on members' interests. It concluded that Lord Truscott had broken rules on exercising parliamentary influence in return for money by agreeing to "smooth the way" for lobbyists, make introductions to other peers and ministers and to lobby officials. The committee found "clear and plentiful" evidence that he "was advertising his power and willingness to influence Parliament in return for a substantial financial inducement". Lord Truscott said he followed the rules as they were at the time and had been the victim of "Soviet-style" summary justice. Lord Taylor's explanation that he was aware the lobbyists were in fact journalists and he had continued to meet them in order to discover the truth was dismissed as "inherently implausible". Lord Taylor has been suspended from the Labour Party pending a "full disciplinary investigation". The "cash for amendments" row is one of a series of recent scandals to have damaged the integrity of Parliament. The police decided not to mount a criminal investigation into the case earlier this year, citing the difficulty of obtaining evidence.

Government Job change - Resignation_Dismissal

May 2009

['(BBC)']

Students and civil servants join transport workers in the strike.

Hundreds of thousands of civil servants have joined striking transport and energy workers as France is paralysed by a second week of industrial action. Teachers, postal workers, air traffic controllers and hospital staff are holding a 24-hour stoppage over planned job cuts and higher wage demands. Students are continuing to demonstrate over university funding plans. Many thousands joined street protests in Paris, Rouen, Strasbourg, Marseille, Grenoble, Lyon and other cities. It could end up as the biggest show of defiance at President Nicolas Sarkozy's reform plans since his election in May. The latest nationwide stoppage left many schools closed, hospitals providing a reduced service and newsagents without newspapers. Sarkozy's silence The French capital's two airports and Marseille airport in the south suffered delays and cancellations. French energy workers, who began a third 24-hour strike on Monday night, have cut nearly 9% of capacity at nuclear plants, union officials said. And rail and bus workers are on their seventh day of an indefinite stoppage against planned pension cuts. Finance Minister Christine Lagarde said the dispute was costing France up to 400m euros (£290m) a day. Half of the country's high-speed TGV trains were operating on Tuesday, while in Paris only one metro train in three was in service and less than half of buses were expected to run. State rail operator SNCF, which is due to hold talks with transport unions on Wednesday, says the number of its workers on strike had fallen since last week. But with traffic gridlock on the capital's roads on Tuesday morning, the stoppage still caused havoc for commuters. BBC world affairs correspondent Nick Childs says the French president has been keeping a low profile, perhaps to test the public mood. Mr Sarkozy may wish to avoid a counter-productive confrontation, but his public absence risks being construed as a sign of weakness, our correspondent says. Opinion polls suggest voters back the French leader's plans to reform "special" pensions which allow transport and utility workers to retire early, but a majority sympathises with civil servant grievances. Analysts say Mr Sarkozy is attempting to succeed where his predecessor Jacques Chirac failed, by standing firm against the strikers and completing his reforms. Walking to work in the centre of Paris, commuter Guy Cousserant, 56, told Reuters: "A small group of people are holding the country hostage. It's lamentable, very annoying." But one woman in the capital told AP news agency: "The civil servants' purchasing power has dramatically lowered. I think they have the right to go on strike." The education ministry said 40% of teachers had walked out but union officials said the figure was more like 60%. Eight unions representing 5.2 million state employees - around a quarter of the entire workforce - say their spending power has fallen 6% since 2000, though the government disputes that figure. They also oppose plans to cut 23,000 jobs in 2008, half in education. Students are continuing to block access to campus buildings in half of the country's 85 universities. They have been protesting since the start of November over plans to let faculties pursue non-government funding. Prime Minister Francois Fillon said on Monday the government was ready to talk with unions but insisted it would not budge on plans to overhaul the French economy.

Strike

November 2007

['(BBC)']

The Italian news agency Agenzia Nazionale Stampa Associata reports that 25 refugees have been found dead in a boat off the coast of Lampedusa.

(CNN) -- Italian authorities found 25 dead bodies in a boat that was carrying refugees and was discovered off the coast of the southern island of Lampedusa, an Italian official news agency reported Monday. The bodies of the victims -- all males -- were found during an inspection of the boat after it was accompanied ashore, the ANSA news agency said. Officials could not immediately say how the men died nor did they know from where the boat departed. The boat was also carrying 271 other passengers, including 36 women and 21 children, the news agency said. Lampedusa, the closest Italian island to Africa, has become a destination for tens of thousands of refugees seeking to enter European Union countries. More than 30,000 migrants and refugees from Tunisia and Libya have risked this dangerous journey to Lampedusa in the last year. Lampedusa and Malta, both islands less than an hour's flight from the North African coast, have taken the brunt of the subsequent wave of migration.

Shipwreck

August 2011

['(CNN)']

Ten people are injured when a taxi jumps a curb and hit a group of cabdrivers outside the taxi pool building at Logan International Airport in Boston, Massachusetts.

(Reuters) - A taxi ploughed into a group of pedestrians near the taxi pool serving Boston’s Logan International Airport on Monday, sending at least 10 people to hospitals with injuries, authorities said, adding that it appeared to be an accident. “At this preliminary point in the investigation, there is no information that suggests the crash was intentional,” the Massachusetts State Police said in a statement. Local media, citing unnamed sources, said the taxi driver may have hit the gas instead of the brake pedal. Police said they were interviewing the driver, a 56-year-old man from Cambridge, Massachusetts. Boston police officers, as well as fire and emergency services personnel, were on the scene of the crash, which occurred in the city’s East Boston section, the Massachusetts State Police said in a Twitter post. “Preliminary reports indicate several pedestrians with injuries, varying severity,” the police said. At least 10 people were taken to hospitals after the crash, Boston Emergency Medical Services said in a Twitter message. Video footage on CNN showed what appeared to be a taxi, with its front hood buckled, resting next to a building. The people who were hit were on a patio next to the parking lot where dozens of taxis were parked, WCVB-TV reported. Reporting By Gina Cherelus in New York and Bernie Woodall in Detroit; Additional reporting by Daniel Wallis in New York, Tim Ahmann in Washington; Writing by Frank McGurty; Editing by Chris Reese and Jonathan Oatis

Road Crash

July 2017

['(Reuters)', '(The Boston Globe)']

World Wildlife Fund states that Asian river dolphins are in danger due to pollution and damming of rivers.

Asia's river dolphins are in danger of extinction because of the damming of rivers and declining water quality, says global conservation body the WWF. Once-thriving populations are being threatened by human activity. Only a handful of individuals of a local species of dolphins are now left in China's Yangtze River. The WWF's warning comes as part of the build-up to the United Nations International Decade of Water for Life, which is to be launched on Tuesday. Fresh water dolphins are key indicators of the health of rivers, according to the WWF; not only because of the direct effects of low water quality on them, but because they prey on fish which are themselves sensitive to the state of their environment. Distinct species of dolphin inhabit the Yangtze, the Ganges, the Indus and the rivers of South East Asia. Only 13 individuals now survive in the Yangtze River. Elsewhere, they are numbered in just thousands. Risk to humans Industrial and agricultural pollution is one problem. Residues of pesticides and herbicides have been found in dolphin tissues. Human sewage is another. So is the damming of rivers - restricting their natural ranges, and destroying the spawning grounds for the species of fish they prey on. Abstraction of water from the rivers exacerbates the problems - only 5% of the water in the Ganges reaches the sea. But the WWF is not simply concerned with the survival of some of nature's more elegant species. The plight of the dolphins, the WWF says, should alert us to the risk to humans of low-quality water. And solutions that help dolphins can also help the hundreds of millions who live along the banks of Asia's great rivers, the group says.

Environment Pollution

March 2005

['(BBC)']

Saudi forces continue more raids against rebel Houthi fighters in northern Yemen, after rebel fighters killed a Saudi security official.

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, Nov. 6 (UPI) -- Saudi Arabia bombed rebels in Yemen Thursday, a day after a Saudi soldier was killed by "infiltrators," officials said. The air raids were aimed at Houthi rebels, a group trying to oust the Yemeni government, The Wall Street Journal reported. The Houthi are Shiite Muslims and do not have ties to al-Qaida, the newspaper said. Saudi Arabia has one of the most modern militaries in the Middle East, but one that is seldom used. The air raids were a rare instance of Saudi military action. Residents of Jizan, a Saudi town about 50 miles from the border, told the Journal they saw planes flying south throughout the day and infantry moving toward Yemen. Saudi Arabia supports the government of Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh. Yemen launched a major offensive against the Houthi rebels this summer, dubbed Operation Scorched Earth.

Armed Conflict

November 2009

['(Al Jazeera)', '(UPI)']

University of Louisville basketball player Kevin Ware breaks his right leg during a game at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana. He was taken to Methodist Hospital of Indianapolis.

In one of the more gruesome injuries you will see on a basketball court, Louisville guard Kevin Ware severely fractured his leg in Sunday's Elite Eight game against Duke. UPDATE: Saturday, Nov. 9, at 3:55 p.m. ET Matt Norlander of CBS Sports reports that Ware will likely miss another 2 weeks: As for Ware, it's going to probably be two weeks before he's good to go and play in an actual game. "He's still limping a little bit," Pitino said at the team's postgame press conference. "And it's noticeable, and when he gets over that he's going to play. He's probably only about two weeks away from playing, but I notice in practice a little bit he's limping. That means, psychologically, he's favoring it a little bit. He doesn't notice it at all. But I don't want to put him in this type of game. The Pikeville (exhibition) situation was just, 'Get out there, get loose.' But he is playing full-blown in practice, but I still notice a limp so I don't want to play him until he's over that. It'll be pretty soon." ---End of Update--- UPDATE: Wednesday, Nov. 6, at 8:32 p.m. ET  WDRB's Eric Crawford reports that Ware has entered Wednesday's game: ---End of update--- UPDATE: Wednesday, Nov. 6, at 2:07 p.m. ET Rick Pitino told reporters (via Adam Zagoria of SNY) that Kevin Ware will be in uniform for Louisville's season opener, but is unsure if he will see any playing time. ---End of update--- UPDATE: Wednesday, Oct. 30, at 10:15 a.m. ET From Adam Himmelsbach of The Courier-Journal: ---End of update--- UPDATE: Monday, Oct. 28, at 2:20 p.m. ET From Steve Jones of The Courier-Journal: ---End of update--- UPDATE: Monday, Oct. 21, at 1:15 p.m. ET Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com talked to Kevin Ware about his injury, rehab and his road back to the Louisville lineup: "I'm ready for contact," Ware told ESPN.com. "I just want to get my feet wet and see where I'm at." Ware is nearly seven months removed from the unsettling and emotional injury he suffered in the first half of Louisville's Elite Eight game against the Blue Devils. He said he was fortunate that it was a broken leg instead of a torn ACL, which requires a lengthier rehabilitation process. "I don't have any pain," Ware said. "My knees are sore sometimes, but I don't have any pain -- and I'm blessed for that." Ware was optimistic heading into Friday's practice that he'd be cleared to participate in 2-on-2 contact drills, but trainer Fred Hina -- who worked Ware out prior to the practice -- did not give him the go-ahead. "He's doing really well," Hina said. "But he still has strength and confidence to gain. The bone is continuing to heal, and it will for some time." ---End of update--- UPDATE: Thursday, Oct. 10, at 3:17 p.m. ET From ESPN's SportsCenter Twitter account:  ---End of update--- UPDATE: Friday, Oct. 4, at 3:20 p.m. ET The Louisville Courier-Journal has good news about Ware's status heading into the season: “He has a clean bill of health,” coach Rick Pitino said Friday. “He can play all-out at the end of the month.” Pitino said Ware has been cleared to begin basketball workouts immediately, but while he may be physically ready to return to the court, Pitino cautioned he may still need to get past his injury mentally. ---End of update--- UPDATE: Thursday, Sept. 26, at 12:41 p.m. ET  Andy Katz of ESPN has an update from Louisville head coach Rick Pitino on Kevin Ware's rehab as he recovers from his leg injury: Pitino added that wing Kevin Ware, rehabbing from a broken leg suffered last March in the Elite Eight, will start workouts in two weeks. "He should be ready to go at it around late October,'' said Pitino. ---End of update--- UPDATE: Sept. 16, at 4:58 p.m. ET  TheCardinalConnect.com shared a video of Louisville guard Kevin Ware dunking as he tries to return from the injury that ended his season:  ---End of update--- UPDATE: July 15, at 1:07 p.m. ET by Brandon Galvin Kevin Ware provides fans with an update on his recovery: ---End of update--- UPDATE: Tuesday, June 4, at 5:02 a.m. ET by Tom Kinslow Kevin Ware is making great progress on the road to recovery from the gruesome injury that ended his season during the NCAA tournament. According to Eric Crawford of WDRB.com, Ware has been shooting jump shots at Louisville's facilities: Ware, who captured the attention of the nation when his right leg broke during the Cardinals' Elite Eight victory over Duke, was spied putting up jumpers at the U of L Yum! Center practice court Monday afternoon. Ware can't yet do much running or cutting. But trainer Fred Hina has challenged Ware to push his healing broken leg as much as he can in rehab. Ware said a month ago that he planned to hold nothing back in terms of pushing it to heal. "I'm not going to do anything to jeopardize it," he said. "But I'm not going to take it easy, either." U of L coach Rick Pitino said Ware is making good progress. "Kevin's doing great," Pitino said. "It's pretty amazing." A few days ago, Ware let everyone know that he was able to stand up without any assistance via his Twitter account, so this latest step is even more encouraging. ---End of update---   UPDATE: Wednesday, Apr. 3, at 11:55 a.m. ET by Brandon Galvin Exciting news, as Kevin Ware will travel with his Louisville teammates to be in Atlanta for the Final Four, according to an ESPN staff report: Louisville's Kevin Ware has been cleared to travel with the team to Atlanta for Saturday's national semifinal against Wichita State. ... Ware said, in the event Louisville won the national championship, he wouldn't hesitate in helping cut down the net. "I just want to win at this point," Ware said in the interview with ESPN. "That would mean so much more to me than anything." ---End of update--- UPDATE: Tuesday, April 2, at 3:15 p.m. ET by Timothy Rapp Kevin Ware was reunited with his teammates on Tuesday, and Louisville's Chane Behanan posted the following photos of the encounter on Instagram (via The Cardinal Connect): ---End of update--- UPDATE: Tuesday, April 2, at 1:13 p.m. ET by Rob Goldberg Great news for Kevin Ware and Louisville fans, as it appears the guard is on his way out of the hospital and is ready to join his team in Atlanta. He tweeted this picture on Tuesday: ---End of update--- UPDATE: Tuesday, April 2, at 12:20 p.m. ET by Timothy Rapp Kevin Ware wants his mother to know that he's just fine. How do I know? Oh, it's just on this week's cover of Sports Illustrated: Your final regional cover this week: "Calm Down, Mom. I'm O.K." - Kevin Ware http://t.co/gfKaU8TYZq ---End of update---   UPDATE: Monday, Apr. 1, at 3:59 p.m. ET by Brandon Galvin Kevin Ware wants the world to know he'll be fine. ESPN's Dana O'Neil has the latest from Ware: Hopefully I'll be back in time to watch practice. It hurts but I'll be fine. I'll be fine. ... I jumped and my leg felt kind of funny. When Coach P tried to help me up, he gave me a funny kind of look. I'm looking at him and then I look down and I see my bone sticking out. It wasn't a hurt feeling. I just went into shock. In the moment, you don't know what's wrong with you. You're just looking, thinking, "How did this happen?" I never watched the replay. I never want to. ... Seeing Chane [Behanan] cry as hard as he ever cried, and Russ [Smith], coach, all of them, I just looked at Coach P and said, "You gotta pull yourself together. Tell the guys to come over here." They came over and they were still emotional but I meant it. I told them, "Don't worry about me. I'll be fine." I just had to block the pain out and put my situation on hold. I never back down for a challenge and to me, that's what this is. Just another challenge. I'll get through it. I wanted them to know that. O'Neil added: They all plan to go to Louisville on Tuesday, if Ware's discharge is approved, and then he hopes to travel with the team to Atlanta, which is Ware's hometown, for the Final Four. "I'm hoping I can go. Really hoping so," Ware said. "We still have a job to get done. We still have one more goal." ---End of update---   UPDATE: Monday, Apr. 1, at 11:44 a.m. ET by Brandon Galvin Kevin Ware is already out of bed and using crutches to get around his hospital room. Kenny Klein, Louisville Senior Associate Athletic Director for Media Relations, tweeted a photo of Ware this morning. He also posted a photo of Ware with Rick and Richard Pitino. Louisville G Kevin Ware up and moving on crutches today after surgery to repair a broken leg yesterday #L1C4 http://t.co/g5mrX2jxUd Louisville Coach Rick Pitino and Richard Pitino visit guard Kevin Ware at Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis today http://t.co/lwi477TJxJ ---End of update--- UPDATE: Monday, Apr. 1, at 9:02 a.m. ET by Brandon Galvin Kevin Ware's teammates celebrated the team's advancement to the Final Four with him at the hospital. Chris Douglas posted a photo on Twitter and Peyton Siva put one up on Instagram. ---End of update--- UPDATE: Sunday, March 31, at 11:00 p.m. ET by Dan Talintyre The Courier Journal's C.L. Brown reports that the surgery on Ware's leg has been successfully completed and the player will remain in Indianapolis until at least Tuesday, though the release date will obviously depend on how well his recovery goes. Kevin Ware has completed surgery; bone was reset & rod inserted in right tibia; will remain in Indy til at least Tues ---End of update--- UPDATE: Sunday, March 31, at 8:30 p.m. ET by Tim Keeney According to The Courier-Journal's Kyle Tucker, head coach Rick Pitino will stick around so he can be with Ware after surgery: Pitino will stay here in Indianapolis tonight to be with Ware when he gets out of surgery. ---End of update--- UPDATE: Sunday, March 31, at 7:38 p.m. ET by Rob Goldberg The latest update comes from Rick Pitino. In a post-game interview, he explained that the injury will keep him out for a year (via Stewart Mandel of Sports Illustrated): Rick Pitino on Ware: "Basically the bone popped out of his skin. It will take a year for him to come back. Same injury as Michael Bush." The squad then had a very emotional momentum after the game while holding up Ware's uniform (via Bleacher Report): Louisville holds up Ware's jersey as they celebrate their win http://t.co/bk9GHdT1Ts ---End of Update--- UPDATE: Sunday, March 31, at 6:38 p.m. ET by Rob Goldberg According to Tracy Wolfson of CBS (via Bleacher Report), Ware had some motivational words for the Cardinals before leaving: . @tracywolfson reports Kevin Ware told his teammates: "Don't worry about me. I'll be OK. You guys go win this thing." ---End of update--- UPDATE: Sunday, March 31, at 6:34 p.m.

Famous Person - Sick

March 2013

['(Bleacher Report)']

A plane crash kills more than a dozen in Southern Sudan, including defense minister Dominic Dim Deng.

JUBA, Sudan (AFP) — South Sudan's defence minister was killed on Friday in a plane crash along with at least 22 other people, most of them senior members of the southern former rebel leadership. Lieutenant General Dominic Dim Deng's plane came down 375 kilometres (around 220 miles) from the southern capital Juba, killing everyone on board, including many army officers. "There were 21 passengers besides the pilots," southern president Salva Kiir told journalists in Juba. He said there were probably two crew on board but that "the full list of the passengers is not yet obtained. We have confirmed, however, that Lieutenant General Dominic Dim was among the passengers," along with his wife. Kiir's spokesman Luka Mariak told AFP earlier that the plane came down "in a flat, savannah-like region." Kiir said that the United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS), which sent a helicopter to the scene of the crash, confirmed that all on board were killed. "With this tragedy, I declare public mourning all over southern Sudan for three days," Kiir said. South Sudan Vice President Riek Machar told AFP that he did not know the reason for the crash, but ruled out an attack. Mariak said the crash appeared to be due to a mechanical failure. Justin Yak, minister for cabinet affairs until he was dropped in a reshuffle in 2007 because of ill-health, also died in the crash along with his wife. Distraught relatives gathered at Juba airport waiting for news in the hours following the crash. Government offices in the town were closed amid a pervasive mood of gloom, an AFP correspondent reported. Late on Friday, Juba airport was deserted with the bodies of the dead now expected to be flown to the nearby UNMIS airfield which is off-limits to the public. "The plane had been rented from a charter company and was carrying a delegation of leaders from the (former rebel) Sudan People's Liberation Movement from Wau to the capital Juba," 450 kilometres (290 miles) to the southeast, Machar said. Kiir's predecessor and southern rebel leader John Garang died in July 2005 when the Ugandan presidential helicopter he was travelling in crashed into a mountainside in southern Sudan, with some suspecting foul play. In April 2006, a joint Sudanese-Ugandan probe -- conducted with assistance from Kenyan, Russian and US aviation experts -- ruled out foul play in the crash of the Ugandan chopper that was followed by rioting in several Sudanese cities. Machar said an inquiry would be opened into Friday's crash. The UN Secretary General's Special Representative in Sudan, Ashraf Jehangir Qazi, expressed his condolences over the "tragic" plane crash, according to a UN statement. It said that UNMIS had made aircraft available to take southern safety officials to the scene of the crash. There was no immediate reaction to the crash from the central government in Khartoum, against which the SPLM fought Africa's longest-running civil war, which ended with a peace accord in 2005. Around six million people were displaced by the fighting, which also broke the back of the southern Sudanese economy. The SPLM said that most of the leaders on the plane were from Twic, in central Sudan that provided many of the foot soldiers in the 21-year north-south conflict. Deng signed up to the national army in Khartoum in 1972 and rose to the rank of colonel before joining the SPLM's armed wing, the SPLA, in 1987, according to the Sudan Tribune, which added he moved to London in 1992. In July 2007, he was appointed defence minister and also minister for SPLA affairs, becoming the first to hold the post since the first southern government was formed after the war. A census is underway across Sudan, the results of which are supposed to decide, among other things, on distribution of the country's natural wealth. The census will also prepare voter registration for elections due in 2009 and be used to redraw or confirm the ratio of power-sharing between north and south in the central government. The Arab domination of power in what is Africa's largest country was a major reason for the two-decade civil war between north and south, as well as for the separate five-year conflict in the western Darfur region. Previous marginalisation and the costs of the civil war have left the south underdeveloped. The lack of infrastructure such as roads means that much travel is done by plane or helicopter.

Famous Person - Death

May 2008

['(AFP via Google News)']

Results indicate that Sergei Sobyanin will be elected as Mayor of Moscow with over 50 per cent of the vote.

Kremlin-backed candidate Sergei Sobyanin has won the election for mayor of Moscow, Russian election officials have announced. Mr Sobyanin secured 51.3% - just above the 50% threshold needed to avoid a second-round ballot. His main rival, opposition leader Alexei Navalny, polled 27.2%. Mr Navalny called for a run-off and refused to recognise the results, saying they had been "deliberately falsified". Mr Navalny said he had won enough votes to force a second round and that the count had been marred by "many serious violations". But Moscow's electoral commission said there had been no serious violations and a run-off would not take place. With all the votes counted, the commission said turnout in the Moscow vote was a low 32%. The Communist candidate, Ivan Melnikov, came third with 10.7%. Mr Sobyanin, once President Putin's chief of staff, told supporters earlier the election had been transparent. "We have something to be proud of," he said at a late-night rally in Bolotnaya Square. "We have organised the most honest and open elections in the history of Moscow." Mr Navalny warned late on Sunday that if he was denied a run-off, he would "appeal to the citizens and ask them to take to the streets of Moscow". City authorities have allowed him to hold a rally on Monday evening with up to 2,500 supporters. In late 2011, Moscow was the scene of the biggest anti-government protests since Soviet times after a general election marred by allegations of ballot-rigging. "Right now Sobyanin and his main supporter Vladimir Putin are deciding whether to have a relatively honest election and to have a second round, or not," he said as partial results were still coming in. The opposition leader is currently on bail after being found guilty of embezzlement in what he insists was a political trial. In other mayoral votes on Sunday, anti-heroin campaigner Yevgeny Roizman won by a narrow majority in Yekaterinburg, the main city in Russia's Urals industrial zone, election officials say. Mr Roizman, a former MP often critical of Kremlin policy, defeated ruling party candidate Yakov Silin by a margin of 30% to 26%, according to preliminary results. Unlike Moscow, the city's mayor is elected by a simple majority in a single round. Mayoral elections were abolished in Moscow in 2004 but re-instated as a concession to pro-democracy campaigners. Mr Navalny ran a Western-style campaign, holding informal meetings with voters outside metro stations and using glossy posters of himself with his family. He is credited with bringing grassroots politics to the Russian capital, inspiring thousands of volunteers to support his campaign. Mr Sobyanin became mayor in 2010 after Yuri Luzhkov, who had governed the city for almost two decades, was forced out of office. The Kremlin-backed candidate has kept a low profile during the race, shunning debates with the five other candidates.

Government Job change - Election

September 2013

['(Reuters)', '(BBC)']

The South Korean National Assembly ratifies a free trade agreement with the European Union.

South Korea's parliament has ratified a free trade agreement with the European Union, clearing the last hurdle for the deal to take effect in July. The pact is expected to boost the value of trade in goods between South Korea and the EU to about 100bn euros (£84bn). The deal will lift most tariffs and trade barriers within the next five years. South Korea has also signed a free-trade pact with the US. The ruling Grand National Party (GNP) pushed through the free trade agreement, with the opposition Democratic Party boycotting the vote. "We expect the deal to create 250,000 jobs, which is the greatest form of welfare for working people, and contribute hugely to their lives by stabilising prices and improving income potentials," said Grand National Party spokesman Bae Eun-hee. The Democratic Party boycott was over a dispute about safeguards for farmers and small business. The European Parliament ratified the free-trade pact in February. South Korea and the EU first began discussions on a free trade agreement in 2007, the same year a deal was signed between South Korea and the US. However, the US-South Korea deal has been delayed because of opposition in both countries. In America, the beef and car industries are holding up discussions, where as in South Korea it is the farmers that are against the deal. US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton said during a recent visit to Seoul that Washington was hoping to get the agreement ratified this year. Both the EU and US are hoping to be the first to get access to the market in Asia's fourth-largest economy.

Government Policy Changes

May 2011

['(BBC)']

Al–Baghdadia TV journalist Muntadhar al–Zaidi is subdued after throwing both his shoes at United States President George W. Bush during his farewell speech in Iraq.

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- A man identified as an Iraqi journalist threw shoes at -- but missed -- President Bush during a news conference Sunday evening in Baghdad, where Bush was making a farewell visit. President Bush, left, ducks a thrown shoe as Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki tries to protect him Sunday. Bush ducked, and the shoes, flung one at a time, sailed past his head during the news conference with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki in his palace in the heavily fortified Green Zone. The shoe-thrower -- identified as Muntadhar al-Zaidi, an Iraqi journalist with Egypt-based al-Baghdadia television network -- could be heard yelling in Arabic: "This is a farewell ... you dog!" While pinned on the ground by security personnel, he screamed: "You killed the Iraqis!" Al-Zaidi was dragged away. While al-Zaidi was still screaming in another room, Bush said: "That was a size 10 shoe he threw at me, you may want to know." Watch Bush duck the shoes » Hurling shoes at someone, or sitting so that the bottom of a shoe faces another person, is considered an insult among Muslims. Al-Baghdadia issued a statement Sunday demanding al-Zaidi's release. Al-Zaidi remained in custody Monday while the Iraqi judiciary decides whether he will face charges of assaulting al-Maliki, a government official said. The official said al-Zaidi is being tested for alcohol and drugs to determine if he was fully conscious during the incident. Al-Zaidi drew international attention in November 2007 when he was kidnapped while on his way to work in central Baghdad. He was released three days later. Bush had been lauding the conclusion of a security pact with Iraq as journalists looked on. "So what if the guy threw his shoe at me?" Bush told a reporter in response to a question about the incident. "Let me talk about the guy throwing his shoe. It's one way to gain attention. It's like going to a political rally and having people yell at you. It's like driving down the street and having people not gesturing with all five fingers. ... "These journalists here were very apologetic. They ... said this doesn't represent the Iraqi people, but that's what happens in free societies where people try to draw attention to themselves." Bush then directed his comments to the security pact, which he and al-Maliki were preparing to sign, hailing it as "a major achievement" but cautioning that "there is more work to be done." "All this basically says is we made good progress, and we will continue to work together to achieve peace," Bush said. Bush's trip was to celebrate the conclusion of the security pact, called the Strategic Framework Agreement and the Status of Forces Agreement, the White House said. The pact will replace a U.N. mandate for the U.S. presence in Iraq that expires at the end of this year. The agreement, reached after months of negotiations, sets June 30, 2009, as the deadline for U.S. combat troops to withdraw from all Iraqi cities and towns. The date for all U.S. troops to leave Iraq is December 31, 2011. Bush called the passage of the pact "a way forward to help the Iraqi people realize the blessings of a free society." Bush said the work "hasn't been easy, but it has been necessary for American security, Iraqi hope and world peace." Bush landed at Baghdad International Airport on Sunday and traveled by helicopter to meet with President Jalal Talabani and his two vice presidents at Talabani's palace outside the Green Zone. It marked the first time he has been outside the heavily fortified Green Zone in Baghdad without being on a military base. The visit was Bush's fourth since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003. Afterward, Talabani praised his U.S. counterpart as a "great friend for the Iraqi people" and the man "who helped us to liberate our country and to reach this day, which we have democracy, human rights, and prosperity gradually in our country." Talabani said he and Bush, who is slated to leave office next month, had spoken "very frankly and friendly" and expressed the hope that the two would remain friends even "back in Texas." For his part, Bush said he had come to admire Talabani and his vice presidents "for their courage and for their determination to succeed." As the U.S. and Iraqi national anthems played and Iraqi troops looked on, he and the Iraqi president walked along a red carpet. Watch President Bush and Iraq's president walk the red carpet » Bush left Iraq on Sunday night and arrived Monday morning in Afghanistan, where he will met with President Hamid Karzai and speak with U.S. troops. In remarks to reporters, National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley, who traveled with Bush, described the situation in Iraq as "in a transition." "For the first time in Iraq's history and really the first time in the region, you have Sunni, Shia and Kurds working together in a democratic framework to chart a way forward for their country," he said. On Monday, new violence in Iraq showed that work remains to be done. A suicide car bomb attack killed at least three people and wounded 31 others west of Baghdad on Monday, an Iraqi Interior Ministry official said. The noontime bombing targeted civilians on a road between Khan Dhari and Abu Ghraib, according to the official. Also, the U.S. military said three militants were killed and 13 others were detained in operations targeting al Qaeda in Iraq on Sunday and Monday. The incidents took place in Baiji, Tall Sumayyir, Tikrit, near the towns of Abu Ghraib, Mahmoudiya and Kirkuk. CNN's Jomana Karadsheh and Octavia Nasr contributed to this report.

Famous Person - Give a speech

December 2008

['(CNN)']

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini confirms his country will hold talks with the United States regarding the security situation in Iraq.

- The United States and Iran will meet in Baghdad in the next few weeks to discuss Tehran taking a “productive role” in Iraq’s security, the White House said on Sunday. Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini speaks to journalists during a news conference in Tehran February 12, 2007. REUTERS/Raheb Homavandi U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker will represent the United States, which has accused Iran of backing Shi’ite militia in Iraq and seeking an atomic bomb. Tehran denies both charges. Iran, which has not had diplomatic relations with the United States in more than 25 years, first announced the talks on Sunday and White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe confirmed the development from Air Force One en route to Virginia with President George W. Bush. “You could expect a meeting in the next few weeks with Ambassador Crocker and Iranians,” Johndroe said. “The purpose is to try to make sure that the Iranians play a productive role in Iraq.” Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari welcomed the talks by saying, “This is a positive sign ... The U.S. is a major player and so is Iran, and there will be a room for some substantial discussions for the stability of Iraq.” U.S. officials have often said they would meet with Iranian counterparts but that talks would have to be limited to Iraq. There was no indication the upcoming discussions would stray from that position. ‘THIS IS ABOUT IRAQ’ “This is not about the United States and Iran. This is about Iraq,” Johndroe said, emphasizing that the nuclear issues are separate from discussions about Iraq. Earlier this month Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice exchanged pleasantries at a lunch on the sidelines of an Egyptian conference on efforts to stabilize Iraq but held no substantive discussions. Related Coverage Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said Iran’s decision to hold talks with its arch enemy followed weeks of intense lobbying by Baghdad, which had sought to persuade Iran to engage in such talks. “With the aim of easing the pain of the Iraqi people, supporting the Iraqi government and strengthening security in Iraq ... Iran will talk with the American side in Baghdad,” Iran’s official IRNA news service quoted Hosseini as saying. The recent conference in Egypt was a follow-up to a meeting of senior officials in Baghdad in March, where Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki urged neighbors to do more to end bloodshed that has killed tens of thousands of Iraqis. Many experts say Tehran could play a big role in stabilizing Iraq and this should be a major area of U.S.-Iranian convergence. Iran has denied backing the insurgency in Iraq and accuses Washington of igniting tensions between Iraq’s Shi’ite and Sunni Muslims. Analysts say Washington and Tehran are both concerned about worsening violence in Iraq, pushing them to agree to meet. Both sides acknowledge meeting one-on-one in recent years for discussions specific to Afghanistan, another neighbor of Iran where the United States went to war. Washington has been leading diplomatic efforts to isolate Iran because of its nuclear program. Iran has rejected repeated U.N. demands to halt uranium enrichment, which is used to make fuel for atomic power stations but also has military uses. Iran, a major oil exporter, says it needs its atomic program to satisfy its booming electricity demand.

Diplomatic Talks _ Diplomatic_Negotiation_ Summit Meeting

May 2007

['(Reuters)']

The Air Accidents Investigation Branch determines that a pilot error was the cause of the crash.

A jet crashed on a major road killing 11 men in a fireball because it was too low to perform an aerobatic manoeuvre, investigators have found. The Hawker Hunter jet crashed on the A27 in Sussex during the Shoreham Air Show on 22 August 2015. A further 13 people, including the pilot Andy Hill, were injured. In its final report on the disaster, the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) listed a series of failings including poor risk assessments. Mr Hill, 52, from Hertfordshire, has been the subject of a manslaughter investigation by Sussex Police and was interviewed under caution. 'A fireball headed towards us at 400mph' Live updates: Shoreham air disaster report On publication of the report into the disaster, AAIB principal inspector Julian Firth said: "The aircraft crashed because at the top of its aerobatic manoeuvre it was too low to complete it." The parents of victim Matthew Grimstone, 23, said: "Apart from anything that the pilot may have got wrong it is very evident the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and the Shoreham Air Show organisers have got much to answer for. "Rules laid down by the CAA were quite clearly inadequate and those that were there were, in some cases, not fully adhered to by the air show organisers." Caroline Schilt, the mother of Jacob Schilt, who died along with fellow Worthing United player Mr Grimstone as they travelled in a car to a game, said she was happy with the AAIB's investigation, but there would still be unanswered questions until the inquests were held. "The AAIB has given us as a very comprehensive and factual report of their investigation... but there are still questions and they are ones for the coroner, and she is still waiting for all the inquiries to finish before she can go further." A new date has now been set for the rescheduled pre-inquest review into the deaths. It will take place on 20 June at the West Sussex Coroner's Court, in Crawley, but no evidence will be heard. The organisers of the airshow said the report "clearly confirms that a series of errors by an experienced and fully authorised pilot were the cause of the tragic crash". The AAIB criticised risk assessments which did not adequately protect people in areas "outside the control of the organisers", but Shoreham chiefs claimed they had "always worked hard to ensure the event was both safe and successful". "Our main aim in 2015 was to do just that, but there are findings in the report that will require further analysis and reflection. "The report also contains important recommendations for the CAA, as well as the wider airshow industry, and these must be noted carefully," they said. The report said the pilot carried out the manoeuvre at less than maximum thrust. It would have been possible to abort it safely at the apex of the loop but Mr Hill had not been trained in the escape manoeuvre which might have got him out of trouble. The AAIB also found the severity of the outcome of the crash was due to "an absence of provisions to mitigate the effects of an aircraft crashing in an area outside the control of the organisers of the flying display". The report said the risk assessment "was not suitable and sufficient to manage the risks to the public", and the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) did not require to see or approve risk assessments before issuing a permission to hold a flying display. The AAIB made 31 safety recommendations for the CAA and one for the government. Ten are in the final report, including that airshow organisers must conduct suitable and sufficient risk assessments, and pilots must tell organisers what manoeuvres they will carry out and where. The AAIB also recommends that pilots should be trained in escape manoeuvres, and that displaying aircraft are separated from the public by a sufficient distance to minimise risk of injury to the public. It also recommends that the Department for Transport commission, and report the findings of, "an independent review of the governance of flying display activity to determine the form of governance that will achieve the level of safety it requires". The CAA said it had acted on 21 recommendations and would action the other 10 as a priority. Richard Westcott, transport correspondent Investigators interviewed the Shoreham pilot several times but critically, he can't remember anything about the accident. They say his flight helmet had dents in so it's possible he hit his head. What that means is that, although they know the aircraft was flying too low and too slow, and that the engine wasn't at full power when it should have been, they can only speculate as to why. One possible explanation they've looked at is whether the pilot got confused with another jet aircraft, called a Jet Provost, which he normally flies. The height and speed he started the Shoreham manoeuvre would be right for the Jet Provost, because it is smaller and lighter than the Hunter. Aviation specialists have suggested that he may have got the planes muddled up. But it's unlikely that we will ever know for sure. Sussex Police said it would be looking at the AAIB report in detail with its independent experts. Det Ch Insp Paul Rymarz said: "We have been waiting some time for this report and it will take us some time to review. "We hope to do everything we can to submit a file of material to the CPS in advance of the pre-inquest review on 20 June. "As we have said before, this is an extraordinarily complex investigation, but we remain committed to finding answers for the families and friends of those who died." Both the AAIB and CAA have already published a series of interim reports looking at the findings from the crash scene and implications for air displays around the UK An AAIB report in September 2015 found the jet showed "no abnormal indications" during its flight. But a further report in December said the aircraft had expired ejector seat parts and an out-of-date technical manual. In March last year, the AAIB said organisers of the Shoreham air show were unaware of the pilot's display plans. Safety measures at all UK civil air shows were enhanced following the disaster and the CAA said it had reviewed every aspect of air display safety. Who were the Shoreham air crash victims? Families await air disaster findings Air crash safety measures accepted Shoreham air crash report delayed Shoreham pilot interview access refused Silence marks air disaster one year on 'A fireball headed towards us at 400mph' Air Accidents Investigation Branch Civil Aviation Authority Shoreham Airshow Sussex Police West Sussex Coroner AAIB report - March 2016 AAIB report - September 2015 AAIB report - December 2015 CAA report - January 2016 CAA report - October 2015 See pictures of Hastings raising the flag for Sussex Day Looking back at the Eastbourne children’s carnival procession of 2008 Entries for London to Brighton Veteran Car Run set to open Enjoy a toast from the coast to mark English Wine Week Pandemic life: "the silence I once longed for is now deafening" Brighton based Night House announce special concert Information about BBC links to other news sites Hardliner Raisi set to be new Iran president Vote-counting shows Ebrahim Raisi - Iran's top judge - has so far received 62% of the vote. UN calls for end of arms sales to Myanmar Tokyo Olympics: No fans is 'least risky' option Asia's Covid stars struggle with exit strategies Why residents of these paradise islands are furious The Gurkha veterans fighting for Covid care. VideoThe Gurkha veterans fighting for Covid care Troubled US teens left traumatised by tough love camps Why doesn't North Korea have enough food? Le Pen set for regional power with eye on presidency How the Delta variant took hold in the UK. VideoHow the Delta variant took hold in the UK

Air crash

March 2017

['(BBC)']

At least 21 civilians are killed when their minibus hits a land mine in southern Syrian town of Nawa, with opposition activists blaming the Syrian army. ,

. ISIS rebels were also involved in an incident on the border with Turkey, close to the Syrian town of Azaz. The Turkish army said it fired four artillery shells at ISIS positions in response to a mortar round that landed close to a military post inside Turkey.

Armed Conflict

October 2013

['(Reuters)', '(BBC)']

The Victoria State Government establishes a royal commission into Crown Melbourne after New South Wales revoked Crown Resorts' gambling license over money laundering concerns.

The Victorian government will establish a royal commission into James Packer’s Crown Resorts’ Melbourne casino, in the wake of a NSW inquiry which found the company was not suitable to hold a casino licence in that state. Responsibility for regulating the casino, Crown’s largest operation, will also be stripped from the much-criticised Victorian Commission for Gaming and Liquor regulation and handed to a stand-alone body. In other developments on Monday afternoon, non-executive director Harold Mitchell became the latest senior figure at Crown to resign since the NSW report into allegations of money laundering was handed down earlier this month. The announcement of a royal commission means Victoria joins two jurisdictions in Australia that license Crown in launching a quasi-judicial inquiry into the company. NSW’s inquiry, run by former judge Patricia Bergin, found Crown was not suitable to hold the licence for a new casino at Barangaroo in Sydney. In a report tabled in NSW parliament a fortnight ago, she said the company facilitated money laundering at its Melbourne and Perth casinos and that junket operators who brought high-rollers in to gamble were linked to organised crime. Western Australia launched an inquiry with the powers of a royal commission last week. Victoria’s gaming minister, Melissa Horne, said the Victorian royal commission would be run by former judge Ray Finkelstein and she hoped it would report back by August – “certainly by the end of the year”, she said. Terms of reference were not immediately available on Monday afternoon but Horne said they would be released soon. She defended the time taken to announce an inquiry compared with WA by saying the Bergin report was large and the issue was complicated. “The Bergin report was an 800-page report, we needed that complex legal advice, we need to understand what the commercial restraints are as well, in relation to the Victorian context, we have done that work, and the advice is the strongest possible response to it, which is calling for a royal commission,” she said. She did not directly answer when asked by reporters why the VCGLR had not taken action against Crown earlier, given similar allegations have been made in the media for years. “The VCGLR has had a number of investigations and inquiries going on,” she said. “They’ve worked closely with the NSW regulator.” She said VCGLR also worked closely with Austrac, Australia’s anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism finance authority, “to be able to do what is appropriate in our jurisdiction”. Crown said it would “fully cooperate” with Finkelstein’s inquiry. “Crown welcomes the announcement from the Victorian government as it provides an opportunity to detail the reforms and changes to our business to deliver the highest standards of governance and compliance, and an organisational culture that meets community expectations,” Crown executive chair Helen Coonan said. “Victorians should be assured we recognise the responsibility placed on us by the community, governments and regulators and we will fully cooperate with the royal commission.” Charles Livingstone, an expert on the public health effects of gambling and an associate professor at Monash University, said the Victorian royal commission was “a bit overdue”. “But I’m glad they finally got there,” he said. He said that after WA announced its inquiry it became impossible for premier Daniel Andrews to leave investigating Crown to the VCGLR. “I think it’s a vote of no-confidence in the VCGLR,” he said. Mitchell quit the board of Crown “with immediate effect”, the company said in a one-line announcement to the stock exchange. His departure follows that of fellow non-executive director Andrew Demetriou, who quit after being criticised by Bergin for reading from notes while giving evidence to her inquiry and then denying he did so. Two other directors, who served as nominees of Packer, Guy Jalland and Michael Johnston, also quit following criticism from Bergin about the billionaire’s influence over Crown. Chief executive Ken Barton has also resigned. Chair Helen Coonan is currently running the company as executive chair. Livingstone said he hoped the royal commission’s terms of reference were “reasonably broad and allow the commissioner to look into matters of harm prevention, not just links with crime.” “We need a new national set of standards on all gambling regulation,” he said. “The reality is that gambling regulators in Australia are united on one thing, and that is that they’re not very good at regulation.” In a statement, the VCGLR said it looked “forward to supporting Mr Finkelstein QC and his team as the royal commission progresses” and would “support the work” of a review into setting up the new casino regulator. VCGLR had previously responded to the Bergin inquiry by bringing forward to this year a regular review of Crown’s Melbourne licence. The fate of this review is now up in the air, with VCGLR saying it would be considered at the regulator’s next board meeting.

Organization Established

February 2021

['(The Guardian)']

American country music singer Mindy McCready dies as the result of a suspected suicide at the age of 37.

The 37-year-old died from an "apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound", Arkansas sheriff Marty Moss said. Her death comes weeks after that of her boyfriend and father of one of her two sons, record producer David Wilson, whose death is being investigated. The singer had attempted to take her own life twice before and was known to have problems with substance abuse. The Cleburne County Sheriff's Office said McCready's body would be taken to the Arkansas State Crime Lab for an autopsy, adding that "the matter will be fully investigated." She recorded five studio albums, and scored 12 hits on the US country music charts, including Ten Thousand Angels and Guys Do It All The Time. Her sole UK chart appearance came in 1998, when Oh Romeo reached number 41. Her fifth album, I'm Still Here, was released in 2010. Police said they had been called to the singer's house after reports of gunshots on Sunday afternoon. They found the body of Malinda Gayle McCready on the front porch. She was pronounced dead at the scene. TMZ reported she had shot her dog before turning the gun on herself. After the death of her partner in January, McCready had told NBC's Dateline programme that she had "never gone through anything this painful. "He didn't just touch my heart, he touched my soul." She denied any involvement in Wilson's death. Tributes have flooded in for the singer, with Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks saying: "Too much tragedy to overcome. RIP Mindy McCready." Fellow country singer Carrie Underwood added: "I grew up listening to Mindy McCready... So sad for her family tonight. Many prayers are going out to them." And songstress Wynonna Judd said: "Oh my! Mindy. Dear sweet girl. This is so sad. It just breaks my heart what addiction continues to take from this life." McCready leaves two young sons, Zander, aged six, and Zayne, aged 10 months. Obituary: Mindy McCready Mindy McCready 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.

Famous Person - Death

February 2013

['(E! Online)', '(BBC)']

Israeli hospital officials announce an Eritrean migrant, Haptom Zerhom, mistakenly shot by an Israeli security guard and then attacked by bystanders who thought he was involved in the Beersheva bus station attack, has died of his wounds. Foreign Ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahsho said this latest incident seemed to capture the current climate of ratcheted-up tensions. Police are looking to identify and locate members of the crowd who beat and fatally wounded the man; the security officer whose shot incapacitated the victim will not be investigated.

Police announced on Monday that they would work to identify and locate civilians who fatally wounded an Eritrean who was mistaken for a terrorist during the Sunday evening terror attack at the Be'er Sheva central bus terminal. Investigators plan to examine videos taken by witnesses and captured on security cameras. Police noted that they were searching specifically for people who assaulted the Eritrean man after he was incapacitated by a gunshot wound and clearly no longer posed a threat. The security officer who suspected the victim was a terrorist and shot him will not, said police, be investigated. It is unclear what charges these individuals might face and whether they would end up being indicted. After the man was shot by a security officer and lay incapacitated, people beat him, threw benches and chairs at him, kicking him, spat on him and cursed at him. Police officers on the scene, as well as some civilians, tried to keep attackers at bay at bay. Paramedics trying to evacuate the Eritrean to the hospital ran into objection from the crowds at the scene, who blocked their way and called out "Death to Arabs," "Arabs out!" and "Am Israel Hai" ("The people of Israel still live"). He was taken in serious condition to Soroka Medical Center, where he died of his wounds early Monday morning.

Armed Conflict

October 2015

['(AP)', '(Yediot Ahronot Ynet)']

Hu Jintao, General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, holds an official meeting and banquet with the Honorary Chairman of the Nationalist Party of China , Lien Chan. The two reached on the new "15 Favourable Policies" on relations between the Chinese mainland and Taiwan. (People's Daily)

General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee Hu Jintao and visiting Chinese Kuomintang (KMT) Honorary Chairman Lien Chan underscored peace and development across the Taiwan Straits in their meeting Sunday in Beijing. "Peace and development should be the theme of cross-Straits relations, and the common goal of the people both in the mainland and Taiwan," Hu said. The denial of the "1992 consensus" caused setbacks in cross-Straits relations, he said. Hu said that adhering to the "1992 consensus" (referring to the common belief that both the mainland and Taiwan belong to one China) is the vital foundation for peace and development across the Taiwan Straits. Although China is not reunified yet, the fact that both the mainland and Taiwan belong to one China has not changed, and the bonds of flesh and blood between compatriots on both sides of the strait have not changed, he said. Hu recalled that 14 years ago it was based on the above-mentioned common understanding and their wish to seek common ground while shelving differences that the two sides reached the "1992 consensus," which resulted in the "Wang-Koo Talks" in 1993. The "Wang-Koo Talks" refers to the landmark meeting in 1993 between Wang Daohan, president of the mainland-based Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS) and Koo Chen-fu, chairman of the Taiwan-based Strait Exchange Foundation (SEF), in Singapore in April 1993. It was the first ever high-level, non-governmental talks across the Taiwan Straits. Lien said peace was the basis for cross-Straits prosperity and development. Compatriots from both sides of the Straits should face up to the challenges and continue to pursue peace, so as to create economic prosperity on both sides of the Straits. The mainland is creating a miracle with a growth rate of about 10 percent for 27 years, he noted. "Peace and prosperity live together, for if there is no peace, there will be no prosperity, and only peace creates opportunities for us to pursue prosperity," he said. Lien arrived on Thursday leading a KMT delegation to attend a cross-Straits economic and trade forum, which closed on Saturday. Hu extended warm congratulations on the behalf of the CPC Central Committee for the success of the forum. "The two-day forum is an important activity for the two parties to continue exchanges and dialog," Hu said. The mainland announced at the forum a new package of beneficial policies to promote cross-Straits economic and trade relations, and the participants also passed joint proposals for closer economic and trade ties across the Straits. The 15 new favorable policies announced by the mainland pointed out a new direction for the future cross-Strait economic and trade development, Lien told Hu. Both sides should endeavor toward peace and opening-up, as cross-Straits relations are now in a seesaw struggle between peace and opening-up on one side and conflicts and closure on the other, said Lien. Hu emphasized that a mutually complementary and beneficial relationship is the effective way for realizing peaceful development across the Taiwan Straits. Referring to the so-called "marginalization" of Taiwan, he urged some people in Taiwan not to "marginalize themselves." Hu and Lien met for the first time in Beijing a year ago when Lien, then chairman of the KMT party, had an "ice-breaking" journey to the mainland. It was also the first meeting between top leaders of the CPC and KMT in 60 years. Source: Xinhua

Sign Agreement

April 2006

['(Kuomintang)']

Cypriot National Guard chief of staff Petros Tsalikidis and Cypriot Defense Minister Costas Papacostas both resign from office.

The head of Cyprus' navy, Andreas Ioannides, was among 12 people killed when seized containers of gunpowder exploded at its main base. The commander of the Evangelos Florakis base, Lambros Lambrou, also died. The defence minister and military chief have resigned over the incident, which officials said occurred after a bush fire ignited the explosives. A government spokesman has said a recent meeting concluded that safety at the site needed to be improved. But the recommendations had not yet been implemented, he added. The comments came after Ioannides' son said senior officials had repeatedly ignored his warnings about the condition of the containers. More than 90 containers of gunpowder had been kept in the open at the Evangelos Florakis base since they were confiscated by the Cypriot authorities from a ship intercepted in 2009 sailing from Iran to Syria in violation of United Nations sanctions on the Islamic Republic. Early on Monday, firefighters were called to tackle a small fire in the storage area. At 0550 (0250 GMT), there was a massive explosion. The blast killed Mr Ioannides and Mr Lambrou, as well as four other navy personnel and six firefighters, a police and military statement said. Sixty-two people were wounded, two of them seriously. The shockwave destroyed the walls of two multi-storey buildings on the base, and generator buildings and fuel tanks at the nearby Vassilikos power plant. Debris was blown as far as 3km (2 miles) from the base and hundreds of trees were flattened. Nearly all the windows in the village of Zygi were blown out, while roof tiles were torn off and windows broken in the village of Mari. "My tractor jumped about half a metre in the air," farmer Nicos Aspros told the Reuters news agency. "There isn't a house in the community which hasn't been damaged." Commerce Minister Antonis Paschalides said the damage to the power station, which produces 60% of the country's electricity, was a "tragedy of Biblical dimensions". The blast caused widespread power cuts, and the electricity authority has warned that the plant will not immediately come back online. Government spokesman Stefanos Stefanou said there was no risk of further explosions, and that foreign experts would be called in to help the police and armed forces, the National Guard, investigate the incident. The government had declared three days of official mourning, and the state would pay for the funerals of the victims, he added. Asked about reports that navy commanders had expressed concerns over the safety of the gunpowder storage area, Mr Stefanou said officials had met last week at the defence ministry to discuss the matter. "Decisions were taken on protecting the material, but unfortunately this was not possible as time ran out," he added. Earlier, Ioannides' son told CyBC television that his father had warned that the gunpowder containers had been had become "warped" because they had remained exposed to the elements since being confiscated. Mari's community leader, Nicos Asprou, told reporters that the community had not been told gunpowder was being stored at the base. President Demetris Christofias meanwhile accepted the resignations of Defence Minister Costas Papacostas and National Guard chief of staff, Petros Tsalikidis. They will remain in post until replacements are named. "I want to express my sympathy and condolences to the families of the people who died while selflessly performing their duty," Mr Christofias said. "The material damage can be repaired, but lives do not come back."

Government Job change - Resignation_Dismissal

July 2011

['(BBC News)']

At least four people in N'Djamena and one in Moundou are killed during protests requesting the military government to concede to a civilian transition. Police use tear gas to disperse protesters. The military council has banned protests.

Country rocked by violent protests, with at least five people killed as demonstrators call for the military to cede power. At least five people have been killed in Chad as demonstrators took to the streets demanding a return to civilian rule after the military took control following President Idriss Deby’s death last week. “There were four deaths in N’Djamena,” including “one killed by the demonstrators”, the capital’s prosecutor Youssouf Tom was quoted as saying by AFP news agency on Tuesday. One person was killed in the country’s second city Moundou, 400km (250 miles) to the south, another prosecutor said. However, a local NGO reported nine fatalities – seven in the capital and two in the south. The Chadian Convention for the Defence of Human Rights said 36 people were also wounded and about 12 arrested. “We denounce and condemn this massacre … (and) the disproportionate use of weapons of war against protesters,” it said. Tuesday’s unrest underscores the tense atmosphere in Chad following Deby’s death, with the military transition already struggling to win over a population exhausted by 30 years of monolithic rule. The ruling military council said on April 20 it had taken power after Deby succumbed to wounds sustained on the frontlines in the country’s north, where the Chadian army was fighting advancing rebels. The council, headed by Deby’s son Mahamat Idriss Deby, who was declared president, has said it will oversee an 18-month transition to elections. After the violent protests on Tuesday, Mahamat Deby promised an “inclusive national dialogue” and also pledged to “fight terrorism and respect all its international obligations”. A spokesman for the council said security forces were attempting to contain the protesters while limiting material damage. Police were deployed in Ndjamena to break up the planned demonstrations called by the opposition and civil society groups. They reportedly used tear gas in the capital to disperse small groups of demonstrators, some of whom burned tyres. “We do not want our country to become a monarchy,” said 34-year-old protester Mbaidiguim Marabel. “The military must return to the barracks to make way for a civil transition.” Some opposition politicians have called the military takeover a coup and asked supporters to protest, even as the army on Monday appointed a civilian politician, Albert Pahimi Padacke, as prime minister of a transitional government. The military council had banned protests, saying in a statement on Monday no demonstrations that could lead to disorder were allowed while the country was still in mourning. Trucks loaded with soldiers were seen patrolling the streets around central Ndjamena. “The police came, they fired tear gas, but we are not scared,” said Timothy Betouge, age 70. “We are fed up, fed up, fed up with the monarchical dynasty in Chad,” one protester, Sarah, told AFP news agency, referring to the Deby family rule. Behind her, a crowd ran in the streets shouting “police, police”, as security forces approached in a vehicle.

Protest_Online Condemnation

April 2021

['(Al Jazeera)']

Islamic Jihad claim responsibility for an attack on the U.S. embassy in Yemen that results in 16 confirmed deaths.

BEIRUT, Lebanon Militants disguised as soldiers detonated two car bombs outside the United States Embassy compound in Sana, Yemen, on Wednesday morning, killing 16 people, including 6 of the attackers, Yemeni officials said. No American officials or embassy employees were killed or wounded, embassy officials said. Six of the dead were Yemeni guards at the compound entrance, and the other four killed were civilians waiting to be allowed in. Because of an editing error, an article on Thursday about a deadly bombing outside the United States Embassy in Sana, Yemen, misidentified the militant group that had vowed to retaliate for a Yemeni counterterrorism force raid on a Qaeda safe house Aug. 11. It was the Yemeni branch of Al Qaeda not Islamic Jihad, a little-known Yemeni group that took responsibility for the embassy attack. Khaled al-Hammadi contributed reporting from Sana, Yemen, and Eric Schmitt and Steven Lee Myers from Washington.

Armed Conflict

September 2008

['(The New York Times)']

Following heavy pressure from world powers, Yemen's warring factions agree on an agenda for U.N.-backed peace negotiations to continue.

Yemen’s warring factions agreed on an agenda on Tuesday for U.N.-backed peace negotiations, delegates said, following heavy pressure from world powers. The talks to end fighting between the Iran-allied Houthis and supporters of Saudi-backed President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi were launched last week but were suspended on Sunday amid bickering about flights over Yemen by the Saudi-led coalition. The Houthis argue that the flights constitute a violation of the truce that began on April 10 to facilitate the talks. The Hadi government insists the flights are intended to prevent the Houthis and their ally, former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, from moving heavy weapons around. The stability of Yemen, where al Qaeda and Islamic State are vying for influence, is of international concern as the country neighbors Saudi Arabia, the world’s top oil exporter, and is also near key shipping lanes. Differences over the agenda had made it difficult for the two sides to start real negotiations to end the 13-month war that has killed more than 6,200 people, wounded more than 35,000 and displaced more than 2.5 million people. The two sides had agreed last week to a five-point agenda outlined by the U.N. special envoy to Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, but remained divided over whether to start with a unity government or to focus on a Houthi withdrawal from the cities and the handover of their weapons. Delegates said the two sides had agreed on Tuesday to work in two parallel committees. “The talks will start tomorrow (Wednesday) to discuss this agenda,” one delegate told Reuters. Yemeni Foreign Minister Abdel-Malek al-Mekhlafi said the agenda provided for the Houthis to quit cities they seized since 2014, allowing the government to retake control of the state. “We consider approval by the Houthis and the General People’s Congress party (of ex-president Saleh) of the agenda as a good step that can lead to positive results,” Mekhlafi said. Kuwait’s Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah, whose country is hosting the talks, had personally waded into the dispute, helping to smooth differences over the truce and over the agenda, delegates said. Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and Islamic State have exploited the crisis to expand their control in Yemen and to recruit new followers. Hadi supporters, backed by the Saudi-led coalition, have attacked the AQAP stronghold in southern Yemen over the past two days, driving them from the Hadramout provincial capital and from key Arabian Sea ports. Delegates said Tuesday’s talks followed strong pressure from the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council. “The diplomats were quite tough and used harsh language, telling them that peace in Yemen was important for regional security and that no one would be allowed to leave Kuwait without an agreement,” one source told Reuters. Yemen’s crisis began in September 2014 when the Houthis seized the capital Sanaa. A Saudi-led Arab alliance intervened in March last year, launching a campaign of mostly air strikes against the Houthis in support of Hadi’s forces.

Diplomatic Talks _ Diplomatic_Negotiation_ Summit Meeting

April 2016

['(Reuters)']

Clashes break out in Alexandria, Egypt, on the evening of the second leg of voting in the constitutional referendum.

Clashes have broken out in the Egyptian city of Alexandria on the eve of the second leg of voting in the country's constitutional referendum. Police fired tear gas as thousands of Islamists were met by a smaller group of protesters near a large mosque. The Islamists back President Mohammed Morsi and his draft constitution. Opponents say the document has been rushed and does not protect minorities. Alexandria voted in the first leg of a referendum that has split the nation. The capital, Cairo, has also voted. Seventeen of the 27 provinces will cast ballots on Saturday. Islamists in favour of the draft had called for a large rally outside the Qaed Ibrahim mosque in the centre of Alexandria. They chanted "God is Great" and "With blood and soul, we redeem Islam". A smaller group of opponents chanted anti-constitution slogans and the two sides threw stones at each other. Police formed lines to keep the groups apart and fired tear gas, with the unrest subsiding after about 90 minutes. The state news agency Mena quoted the health ministry as saying that 32 people had been injured. Last week an ultraconservative cleric was trapped in a mosque in Alexandria for 12 hours as his supporters battled opponents outside. Some 250,000 security personnel have been deployed nationwide to try to keep order during the referendum. Turnout for the first round of voting was reported to be low - just above 30%. Unofficial counts suggested some 56% of those who cast ballots voted "yes" to the draft. The opposition has complained of a number of cases of fraud. Analysts believe Saturday's leg will favour a "yes" vote as the areas to vote are considered in general to be more conservative. Egypt's latest crisis began on 22 November, when Mr Morsi adopted sweeping new powers in a decree, stripping the judiciary of any power to challenge his decisions. The decree spurred protests and clashes between Mr Morsi's supporters and opponents. Under pressure, the president revoked much of the decree but only after a constituent assembly had voted through the draft constitution and it had been put to the referendum. The opposition had demanded the referendum be postponed, saying the assembly had approved the draft despite a boycott by liberals, secularists and Christians, who believe it does not adequately protect women, freedom of expression or religion. The opposition did not, however, call a boycott, instead urging its members to vote "no". If the constitution passes, elections must take place within three months. In the meantime, legislative powers would remain with Mr Morsi.

Riot

December 2012

['(BBC)']

A large explosion caused by a suspected gas leak destroys a bakery in the 9th arrondissement of Paris, France. Four people are killed, and 40 others are injured.

Several victims are extracted by helicopter after a blast in a bakery overturns cars and blasts out the fronts of several shops. By Philip Whiteside, international news reporter Sunday 13 January 2019 12:15, UK The number of people who died after a suspected gas leak triggered an explosion at a bakery in Paris has risen to four. Two firefighters and a Spanish woman were killed, while 10 people were in a critical condition and 37 others suffered less serious injuries. The body of a fourth person was discovered among the rubble of the bakery. The Spanish woman was apparently a tourist who was staying in a hotel near the bakery where the explosion took place.France's Prefecture de Police said the blast occurred in Rue de Trevise, in the 9th arrondissement, north-central Paris. Several buildings in the surrounding area were damaged and pictures of the scene showed a large amount of debris strewn in the street, about a mile north of the Notre-Dame cathedral. Windows were blasted out of neighbouring shops and apartments and cars were overturned. Broken glass was seen scattering the pavements nearby. Pictures showed at least one casualty on a stretcher being taken away by emergency services from the scene, where about 200 firefighters were in attendance. Sky's Alistair Bunkall, who was at the scene of the blast, said: "The Pompiers and the Gendarmerie are here in large numbers. It's pretty chaotic at the moment, in terms of the cordon and what went on. "A bakery might suggest it is a gas explosion but when you have Paris on high alert here, because of the Gilets Jaunes protests - police are out in the thousands - it really adds to the complexity of what is already a highly charged policing operation. "Lots of reports of casualties but whether the reports of fatalities are accurate, we don't know yet." A tourist who was in the street at the time with a group of others said: "In the middle of nothing, I heard this big explosion. "A lot of pressure came out of it, a lot of black smoke and glass. I just had time to get down and cover myself and my head. I felt a lot of things fall on me. "I was in panic. Fortunately, I know my hotel well, so I ran. I don't know what I stepped on. I just ran. "I've spoken to my clients and a few of them got injured in the head. They were bleeding." Interior minister Christophe Castaner said: "The toll appears to be high, and severe." Police have closed off streets the Opera theatre in order to land two helicopters in the street, apparently to evacuate victims. Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo said many residents and tourists have been evacuated from neighbouring buildings and hotels and the city was providing temporary accommodation for those affected. Meanwhile, more than 50 people were arrested during a ninth straight weekend of "yellow vest" protests against French President Emmanuel Macron's economic reforms. Police fired water cannon and tear gas to repel Gilets Jaunes demonstrators who gathered around the Arc de Triomphe monument. Some activists were detained for carrying objects that could be used as weapons. Thousands of protesters also marched noisily but peacefully through the Grands Boulevards shopping area in northern Paris close to the site of the bakery explosion.

Gas explosion

January 2019

['(Sky News)']

In Japan, tens of thousands are forced to evacuate due to flooding and landslides caused by Tropical Storm Etau. So far, one person is reported as missing. , (AP via U.S. News & World Report), ,

Authorities in central Japan have ordered tens of thousands to flee their homes after rain flooded rivers and triggered landslides, with one person missing after a mudslide buried houses. A hotel building falls into the floodwaters at Nikko mountain resort in Tochigi prefecture. The Japan Meteorological Agency issued special downpour warnings for areas north of Tokyo. At an emergency media conference, it said the scale of the downpour has not been experienced before and it warned of grave danger. Authorities in Tochigi prefecture have ordered more than 90,000 residents to evacuate, while another 80,000 were advised to leave their homes. The swollen Kinugawa River in Joso city, northeast of Tokyo and home to 65,000 people, burst its banks. Some people were left clinging to the roofs of their houses, waiting for helicoptors to rescue them.

Hurricanes_Tornado_Storm_Blizzard

September 2015

['(Radio NZ Online)', '(Al Jazeera English Online)', '(BBC)']

Neil Robertson becomes the first Australian to win the World Snooker Championship since 1952 and the first player from outside the UK and Ireland to win the world title since 1980.

Neil Robertson beat Scot Graeme Dott 18-13 to become the first Australian to win the world snooker title. Robertson, who rises to number two in the world, had trailed 5-3 but having edged ahead, kept his nose in front despite not being at his best. He sunk the last ball of a tense, error-ridden final at 0054 BST. The 28-year-old is the first player from outside the UK and Ireland to win the world title since Canadian Cliff Thorburn's victory in 1980. Snooker's showpiece event had been overshadowed by the suspension of 2009 world champion John Higgins following bribery allegations. Big breaks were at a premium in the final, with Scotland's Dott knocking in the only century. It was a gruelling, but gripping, climax to the Sheffield tournament, with the players equalling the record set by John Higgins and Mark Selby in 2007 for the latest finish to a Crucible final. There will be huge celebrations in Robertson's home city of Melbourne as the country watched him become the first Australian to lift the famous trophy and pick up his fifth ranking title. Despite neither player being able to replicate the break-building skills showcased earlier in the 17-day tournament, there was certainly no shortage of tension as the pair traded blows in an edgy contest. Having racked up seven centuries at this tournament, Robertson's highest knock in this clash was only 90, but at the crucial times, his safety, tenacity and long potting proved enough to see off his battling opponent. Just moments after potting the final ball of the clinching frame, Robertson said the support of his family - who had flown over from Australia in time for the final - made the occasion even more special. "This is absolutely incredible," Robertson, who will receive a cheque for £250,000 for his achievement, told BBC Sport. "I seriously can't believe it. In my last-16 match, I was 11-5 down to Martin Gould and after my (semi-final) match with Ali Carter I was really disappointed I couldn't have any of my family over for the final. "Then I got a voicemail from my mum to say that when I was 15-9 up overnight against Ali, she had jumped on a plane, so it was quite lucky I finished the job off! "My mum and her partner have travelled for ages and they only got two hours' sleep before the final, so for them to be here makes it absolutely perfect." Robertson went one better than compatriot Eddie Charlton, who lost in three finals in the 1960s and 1970s, and he said he hoped his success would give the sport a major boost in Australia. "Obviously Australians love Olympic and world champions," added Robertson. Robertson delights in 'perfect' moment "It would have been a big blow if I had lost in the final. I had all that pressure to contend with but hopefully this is the start of something and we can have an event there now." Dott, the 2006 Crucible winner, has battled with depression and a downturn in results in recent seasons, but found his form at the right time to reach his third world final. But the 32-year-old did not quite hit the heights in the final, and admitted Robertson had fully deserved his victory. "He was far and away the better player - how I managed to get 13 frames I don't know," said Dott. "I am obviously disappointed to lose in the final and not really perform. But I needed to get to the semi-finals to get back in the top 16 and I have played really well, so hopefully I will be back for next next year." The players resumed the final session of the final with Robertson leading 12-10, maintaining the two-frame advantage he held at the end of Sunday's action. Try as he might, Dott could not get back in front of his opponent on the scoreboard as the pressure - and, as a result, the number of mistakes - continued to grow inside snooker's most famous venue. A 57 by Dott brought the score back to 13-12 but that was as close as he got. The 29th became the longest frame of the match, with Robertson taking 48 minutes to stretch his lead to 16-13. Even the Scot looked frustrated with the pace of the game and after smashing the pack in the next, no less than three reds stopped in the jaws of the pockets to hand Robertson the frame which put him on the verge of victory. And after a 53 break in the last, a famous victory was in the bag and Robertson's mother Alison was on hand to begin the celebrations.

Sports Competition

May 2010

['(BBC)', '(The Sydney Morning Herald)']

The United States Supreme Court, in a 6–2 ruling, essentially upholds the state of Colorado's legalization of marijuana, turning down complaints by the neighboring states of Nebraska and Oklahoma that, by federal and their state law, Colorado's statutes allow "illegal marijuana" to pour into their states. Last year, the justices asked the federal government to weigh in; in December, Solicitor General Donald Verrilli Jr. urged the court to turn away the lawsuit. Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissented. (San Francisco Chronicle

DENVER — The federal government has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to avoid wading into a lawsuit brought by Oklahoma and Nebraska over Colorado’s legalized marijuana system. Oklahoma and Nebraska say Colorado’s legal marijuana system has created a flood of modern-day bootleggers who are buying pot in Colorado and then illegally crossing state lines. Oklahoma and Nebraska have sued Colorado, asking the Supreme Court to block the state’s legal marijuana system. Colorado asked the court to throw out the lawsuit, and the Supreme Court this fall asked the federal government to weigh in. "Entertaining the type of dispute at issue here — essentially that one state’s laws make it more likely that third parties will violate federal and state law in another state — would represent a substantial and unwarranted expansion of this court’s original jurisdiction,” Solicitor General Donald Verrilli Jr. wrote in his response filed Wednesday. Verrilli argued the Supreme Court generally has avoided stepping into disputes between states unless it is the states themselves that are at odds. Oklahoma and Nebraska have sued Colorado over the actions of private citizens who are breaking the law. Colorado’s legal marijuana system allows people within the state to grow, possess and consume it, but leaving Colorado remains illegal. And marijuana also remains completely illegal at the federal level. Oklahoma and Nebraska argue Colorado’s system violates federal interstate commerce laws and the Controlled Substances Act. Colorado sued by neighboring states over legal pot "Nebraska and Oklahoma essentially contend that Colorado’s authorization of licensed intrastate marijuana production and distribution increases the likelihood that third parties will commit criminal offenses in Nebraska and Oklahoma by bringing marijuana purchased from licensed entities in Colorado into those states,” Verrelli wrote. "But they do not allege that Colorado has directed or authorized any individual to transport marijuana into their territories in violation of their laws. Nor would any such allegation be plausible." Marijuana-legalization advocates see Verrelli’s filing as a sign the Obama administration is willing to relax federal restrictions, or at the very least a strong signal that voters who chose to legalize cannabis should be respected. "This is a meritless and, quite frankly, ludicrous lawsuit. We hope the court will agree with the solicitor general that it’s not something it should be spending its time addressing. These states are literally trying to prevent Colorado from controlling marijuana within its own borders,” said Mason Tvert, a spokesman for the pro-legalization Marijuana Policy Project. "If officials in Nebraska and Oklahoma want to have a prohibition-fueled marijuana free-for-all in their states, that’s their prerogative. But most Coloradans would prefer to see marijuana regulated and taxed similarly to alcohol.” In tiny Nebraska towns, a flood of Colorado marijuana Legalization opponents argue Verrilli’s brief focuses only on a narrow legal issue and shouldn’t be seen as a change in policy. They point out Nebraska and Oklahoma could file the lawsuit in federal court, instead of directly with the Supreme Court under a process known as "original jurisdiction." "All the brief says is that the Supreme Court should not be the first court to hear this case,” the group Smart Approaches to Marijuana. "Any argument otherwise either misreads the brief or is intentionally disingenuous."

Government Policy Changes

March 2016

['(NBC News)', '(USA Today)']

James A. Fields Jr. is sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty to 29 hate crimes for driving his car into a crowd of protestors, killing one and injuring 28, at the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.

By Ellie Kaufman, Ralph Ellis and Steve Almasy, CNN Updated 0002 GMT (0802 HKT) June 29, 2019 Charlottesville, Virginia (CNN)James A. Fields Jr., the man who drove into a crowd of counterprotesters in Charlottesville's "Unite the Right" rally two years ago, leaving one woman dead, was sentenced Friday to life in prison in his federal hate crimes case. CNN's Ellie Kaufman reported from Charlottesville, and CNN's Ralph Ellis and Steve Almasy reported from Atlanta. CNN's David Shortell, Madeline Holcombe and Eric Levenson contributed to this report.

Famous Person - Commit Crime - Sentence

June 2019

['(CNN)', '(NBC News)', '(The Washington Post)']

Pakistan postpones a visit from U.S. acting Assistant Secretary of State Alice Wells, its foreign ministry says, as some protest President Donald Trump's accusations that Pakistan is harbouring terrorists.

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan postponed a visit by a U.S. acting Assistant Secretary of State, officials said, as small protests broke out against President Donald Trump’s accusations that Islamabad was prolonging the war in Afghanistan. The visit of Alice Wells, acting assistant Secretary of State for South and Asian Affairs, scheduled for Monday, would have been the first high-profile visit by a U.S. official since Trump’s Afghan policy speech on Aug. 21. “At the request of the Government of Pakistan, Acting Assistant Secretary Wells’ trip has been postponed until a mutually convenient time,” a U.S. Embassy spokesperson told Reuters in Islamabad on Sunday. Pakistan’s foreign ministry released a statement with similar wording. Neither side gave a reason for the postponement, but U.S. officials working in Pakistan have been on high-alert since Monday’s speech. Trump accused Pakistan of harboring “agents of chaos” and providing safe havens to militant groups waging an insurgency against a U.S.-backed government in Kabul. Pakistani officials responded by saying the U.S. should not “scapegoat” Pakistan and accused the American military of failing to eliminate militant sanctuaries inside Afghanistan. In the southern metropolis of Karachi, police fired teargas at protesters from a religious student group as they began moving toward the U.S. consulate building. Between 100 and 150 protesters carrying placards bearing pictures of President Trump and chanting anti-U.S. slogans were kept at bay by police and not allowed within 3 km (2 miles) of the consulate. On Friday, banned Islamist organization Jamaat-ud-Dawa, held responsible by Washington and New Delhi for a series of coordinated attacks in the Indian city of Mumbai in 2008, staged nationwide protests but also failed to draw large numbers.

Diplomatic Visit

August 2017

['(Reuters)']

NASA's Curiosity rover is switched to a redundant onboard computer in response to an undefined memory issue on the active computer.

The ground team for NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has switched the rover to a redundant onboard computer in response to a memory issue on the computer that had been active. The intentional swap at about 2:30 a.m. PST today (Thursday, Feb. 28) put the rover, as anticipated, into a minimal-activity precautionary status called "safe mode." The team is shifting the rover from safe mode to operational status over the next few days and is troubleshooting the condition that affected operations yesterday. The condition is related to a glitch in flash memory linked to the other, now-inactive, computer. "We switched computers to get to a standard state from which to begin restoring routine operations," said Richard Cook of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, project manager for the Mars Science Laboratory Project, which built and operates Curiosity. Like many spacecraft, Curiosity carries a pair of redundant main computers in order to have a backup available if one fails. Each of the computers, A-side and B-side, also has other redundant subsystems linked to just that computer. Curiosity is now operating on its B-side, as it did during part of the flight from Earth to Mars. It operated on its A-side from before the August 2012 landing through Wednesday. "While we are resuming operations on the B-side, we are also working to determine the best way to restore the A-side as a viable backup," said JPL engineer Magdy Bareh, leader of the mission's anomaly resolution team. The spacecraft remained in communications at all scheduled communication windows on Wednesday, but it did not send recorded data, only current status information. The status information revealed that the computer had not switched to the usual daily "sleep" mode when planned. Diagnostic work in a testing simulation at JPL indicates the situation involved corrupted memory at an A-side memory location used for addressing memory files. Scientific investigations by the rover were suspended Wednesday and today. Resumption of science investigations is anticipated within several days. This week, laboratory instruments inside the rover have been analyzing portions of the first sample of rock powder ever collected from the interior of a rock on Mars. NASA's Mars Science Laboratory Project is using Curiosity to assess whether areas inside Gale Crater ever offered a habitable environment for microbes. JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. More information about Curiosity is online at http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/msl , http://www.nasa.gov/msl and http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/ . You can follow the mission on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/marscuriosity and on Twitter at: http://www.twitter.com/marscuriosity .

New achievements in aerospace

March 2013

['(NASA)']

Theresa May announces a ban on gay conversion therapy.

Controversial "gay conversion therapies" are to be banned as part of a government plan to improve the lives of gay and transgender people. A national survey of 108,000 members of the LGBT community suggested 2% have undergone the practice with another 5% having been offered it. It also found more than two-thirds of LGBT people avoid holding hands in public, for fear of negative reactions. The prime minister said nobody "should ever have to hide who they are". A 75-point plan to improve the lives of LGBT people, costing £4.5m, has been produced in response to the survey. It includes plans to introduce a national LGBT health adviser, tackle discrimination, improve the response to hate crime and to improve diversity in education institutions. Theresa May has also launched a 16-week public consultation in England and Wales about the process of gender reassignment after research showed that trans people find it "overly bureaucratic and invasive". The charity Stonewall said there were still "pockets of society" where the LGBT community was "far from safe". As part of the plan, it said it would "consider all legislative and non-legislative options to prohibit promoting, offering or conducting conversion therapy". While the government did not offer a definition of "conversion therapy", its report said it "can range from pseudo-psychological treatments to, in extreme cases, surgical interventions and 'corrective' rape". Faith organisations were by far the most likely to have carried out the practice, according to the report. It is often either forced on people or they go voluntarily. The NHS does not refer people for it and disagrees with the practice. Equalities minister Penny Mordaunt told BBC Radio 4's Today programme of the practice: "This is very extreme so-called therapy that is there to try and 'cure' someone from being gay - of course you can't cure someone from being gay. In its most extreme form it can involve corrective rape. "That's very different from psychological services and counselling. It's pretty unpleasant, some of the results we found, and it shows that there's more action to do." She said the government is consulting on the best way to implement a ban, adding: "It's absolutely right that that abhorrent practice has to go." Journalist Patrick Strudwick, who went undercover to expose so-called conversion therapists, said he has "seen, and felt, the damage it does", writing: "Conversion therapy does need to be banned. It is abuse." He said it would be difficult to do so though, with the government recognising the scale of the issue. 13/ The government needs to understand the scale of conversion therapy. It isn’t just restricted to therapists, it infects a range of religious organisations, often in private. In the end, the very idea needs to be attacked. Love needs no cure. Jayne Ozanne, a member of the Church of England's general synod who went through the "therapy", told the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire programme: "I went through this because I believed - as many do - that being gay was sinful." She added: "The key problem is that it causes great harm. There are many, many young people suffering mental issues, self-harm, suicidal tendencies as a result of this, because they feel so guilty when it doesn't work." Vicky Beeching sought therapy as a teenager, but the experience led to depression, anxiety, suicidal thoughts and physical health symptoms. "This is devastating," she said of such practices. "People's lives are literally in the balance." Dr Louise Theodosiou of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, which "100% backs the ban", told the programme: "There's no evidence base to support this therapy. Your sexuality and your gender ID are inherent and there's no evidence base and no therapeutic treatment to change what is simply part of someone's nature." By Michelle Roberts, BBC News online health editor Sometimes called "reparative" or "gay cure" therapy, conversion therapy is a term used for any form of so-called treatment which attempts to change sexual orientation or reduce attraction to others of the same sex. Experts say the word therapy is misleading because there is no scientific basis for it All major therapy professional bodies as well as the NHS in the UK disagree with it on logical, ethical and moral grounds. Stonewall says that "no one should be told their identity is something that can be cured". Those identifying as gay or lesbian made up 61% of respondents to the survey, carried out between July and October last year. Just over a quarter identified as bisexual and a small number identified as pansexual (4%) and asexual (2%). People identifying as transgender accounted for 13% of respondents. A quarter of those who took part in the survey said they were not open at all about being LGBT with family members they lived with. Of the trans men who took part in the survey, 56% said they had avoided expressing their gender identity for fear of a negative reaction from others. That figure rose to 59% for trans women and 76% for non-binary respondents. LGBT hate incidents had been experienced by 40% of people in the survey, with more than nine in 10 of the most serious offences going unreported. Prime Minister Theresa May said: "We can be proud that the UK is a world leader in advancing LGBT rights, but the overwhelming response to our survey has shone a light on the many areas where we can improve the lives of LGBT people. "I was struck by just how many respondents said they cannot be open about their sexual orientation or avoid holding hands with their partner in public for fear of a negative reaction. "No one should ever have to hide who they are or who they love." Ruth Hunt, chief executive of Stonewall, said she was pleased the government was listening to the LGBT community,. But she added there was "still a long way to go until we reach full equality". Campaigner Peter Tatchell welcomed the government trying to ban conversion therapy. But he said the 75 point-plan did not go far enough. "The biggest fail is the lack of any pledge to end the detention and deportation of LGBT+ refugees fleeing persecution in violently homophobic countries like Uganda, Iran, Russia, Egypt and Jamaica," he said. "Another big omission is the absence of any commitment to compensate gay and bisexual men who were convicted under past anti-gay laws."

Government Policy Changes

July 2018

['(BBC)']

Novelist, playwright and short story writer William Trevor dies in Devon, England.

William Trevor: “What is important is to take Irish provincialism . . . and to make it universal.” Photograph Brenda Fitzsimons William Trevor, one of the most prolific, successful, well-respected and well-loved of modern Irish writers, has died at the age of 88. He was perhaps unusual in maintaining something of an equal commitment to both the novel and the short-story form during his writing life. He remained faithful to the short-story form because he regarded it as, in the words of one critic, “the natural expressive idiom of his native land”. In his introduction to the Oxford Book of Irish Short Stories (1989), he wrote: “The Irish delight in stories, of whatever kind, because their telling and their reception are by now instinctive.” When his novel Love and Summer was shortlisted for the 2011 International Impac Dublin Award, Eileen Battersby described Trevor in The Irish Times as “revered by writers and readers all over the world” and as “living proof that fiction is an international language and that story is universal”. William Trevor Cox was born in Mitchelstown, Co Cork. His father James William Cox, originally from Co Roscommon, worked in the bank, and his mother, Gertrude Davison from Co Armagh, was also a bank clerk until marriage. In an interview he gave to the Guardian in September 2009, he described his parents as “lace-curtain Protestant” (ie, they did not belong to the “big house” or Anglo-Irish ascendancy), who hated each other. He had two siblings and they were raised in what he recalled as a very lonely household. He could never understand why his parents didn’t get on or make some effort to resolve their differences; he wondered if something had happened in the relationship that was hidden from the rest of the world. This background may explain many of the characters he later created in his fiction. His father’s bank job meant the family moved to various towns with each promotion he got. This resulted in Trevor attending 11 different primary schools. The first of these was the Loreto in Youghal, where he was one of the few Protestant children. In Excursions in the Real World (1993), he wrote: “I was treated fondly and recall neither prejudice nor attempts at religious influence.” When the family moved to Skibbereen and he was sent to a Protestant school, where “education was less pleasant”. After that, there were moves to Tipperary and Enniscorthy. For his secondary schooling he boarded at Sandford Park and afterwards St Columba’s College, both in Dublin. At St Columba’s, his art teacher was Oisín Kelly, who became a famous sculptor and who encouraged Trevor’s interest in the subject. He went to Trinity College Dublin in 1946 where, faute de mieux as he said himself, he studied history. Following graduation, he taught in a private school near Killyleagh, Co Armagh, from 1950 to 1952. He had met Jane Ryan at Trinity and they married in 1952. When his school closed and with Ireland in a deep recession, they emigrated to England. Trevor taught art at prep schools near Rugby, Warwickshire, from 1952-1956 and at Taunton, Somerset from 1956-1960. He also worked as a church sculptor for seven years, “rather like Jude the Obscure but without the talent”, he told the Guardian in 2009. With the birth of his first child he needed a better-paying job and the family moved to London, where he made a living writing advertisements. “They would give me four lines or so to write and four or five days to write it in. “It was so boring. But they had given me this typewriter to work on, so I just started writing stories. I sometimes think all the people who were missing in my sculpture gushed out into the stories.” In an interview for the Paris Review (spring 1989), he listed Somerset Maugham as his first strong influence, followed by Joyce and Irish short-story writers such as Frank O’Connor. Through having short stories published in the London Magazine and the Transatlantic Review, he was approached by an editor who suggested he write a novel. The result was The Old Boys (1964), which tells of the petty rivalries and odd behaviour of members of the alumni association of a small English public school. It won the Hawthornden Prize and its success led to Trevor adapting it for television and then the stage. This meant he could give up the advertising-writing job, move to a small village in Devon and become a full-time writer. The Boarding House (1965) continued his interest in eccentrics and misfits, in a story where the boarders scheme against each other. The Love Department (1966) was a darkly comic story of a sexual pervert who gets his just deserts. All three novels showed Trevor’s subtle comic vision as he created characters who were doomed in some way. A short-story collection The Day We Got Drunk on Cake and Other Stories (1967) followed, with its array of funny, melancholic and brutal characters. The novels Mrs Eckdorf in O’Neill’s Hotel (1969) and Miss Gomez and the Brethren (1971) presented more characters living on the margin, their lives troubled by failure and disappointment. Trevor experienced theatrical success with four plays in the early 1970s: the stage version of The Old Boys (1971), A Night with Mrs da Tanka (1972), Going Home (1972) and Marriages (1973). Up to this he had written mainly about the foibles of the English middle classes, viewing them from the perspective of a fascinated outsider. Being an Irish Protestant meant he was also somewhat of an outsider in his own country. He believed that writers were outsiders, that they had no place in society because society was what they were watching. He liked to live in the shadows and disliked the limelight. The title story of The Ballroom of Romance and Other Stories (1972) is possibly his most famous short story. Bridie, the main character, is a typical Trevor creation, lonely and yearning for love, her life stultified by the social realities of the rural Ireland of the time. Elizabeth Alone (1973), a novel, also focuses on women leading frustrated lives. Other novels of the 1970s were The Last Lunch of the Season (1973) and The Children of Dynmouth (1976), which won the Whitbread Novel Award, while short-story collections were Angels at the Ritz (1975), winner of a Heinemann Award, Lovers of Their Time (1978) and The Distant Past (1979). Graham Greene described Angels at the Ritz as “one of the best collections, if not the best, since James Joyce’s Dubliners”. Trevor’s radio plays Beyond the Pale (1980) and Autumn Sunshine (1982) won Giles Cooper Awards. Novels of the 1980s were Other People’s Worlds (1980), Fools of Fortune (1983), Nights at the Alexandra (1987) and The Silence in the Garden (1988), Fools of Fortune winning a Whitbread Novel Award. Short-story collections were Beyond the Pale (1981), The News from Ireland (1986) and Family Sins (1989), which won the Irish Times Irish Literature Prize for Fiction. His later novels became structurally and narratively more complex. Two Lives (1991) included Reading Turgenev (also awarded the Irish Literature Prize for Fiction) and My House in Umbria, in both of which the line between fact and imagination is blurred. Juliet’s Story (1992) was his only children’s book, while the ambiguous Felicia’s Journey (1994) won Irish Times and Sunday Express awards as well as Whitbread Book of the Year. The short-story collections After Rain (1996) and The Hill Bachelors (2000) both won this paper’s Irish Literature Prize for Fiction, the latter also winning a PEN/Macmillan Award. The Story of Lucy Gault (2002) was, according to one critic, “quite possibly the saddest story you have ever heard”; its pervasive theme is guilt and the need for forgiveness, especially self-forgiveness. In the Guardian interview already mentioned, Trevor said that guilt, sorrow, shame and secrets were part of life. “People should feel guilty sometimes. I’ve written a lot about guilt. I think that it can be something that really renews people.” Lucy Gault was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. His short-story collections A Bit on the Side (2004) and Cheating at Canasta (2007) have the familiar characters on the margins, who are lonely, and the familiar themes of shame, fear and isolation. By contrast, the novel, Love and Summer (2009), which made it to the Booker longlist, is his most benign work and showed his writing powers undiminished in his 80s. He was acclaimed both in the UK and Ireland. He was awarded an honorary CBE in 1977 for his services to literature and presented with an honorary knighthood in 2002. Further, he was awarded the Bob Hughes Lifetime Achievement Award in Irish Literature in 2008 and in 2011 he was elected saoi in Aosdána. He told the Paris Review that he considered himself an Irish writer because, as an Irishman, he felt he belonged to the Irish tradition. “I don’t really feel that being Irish is the important thing. What is important is to take Irish provincialism – which is what I happen to know about because it’s what I came from – and to make it universal.” Trevor was a very disciplined writer, for much of his life being at his writing desk at 4am. Even as he got older, he continued the early start to his day, at the slightly later time of 6am or 6.30am. He did an enormous amount of rewriting, often cutting large swathes of text, believing that what was omitted from a story could be as important as what was included. The rest of the day he spent in his garden and at chats over cups of tea with his wife, Jane, to whom all his books are dedicated. He is survived by her and by his sons Patrick and Dominic.  Subscribe.

Famous Person - Death

November 2016

['(The New York Times)', '(The Guardian)', '(The Irish Times)']

A state of emergency is declared in Pennsylvania and New Jersey as a large winter storm makes its way to the northeastern United States. Three people have already been killed due to it.

Winter Storm Harper has forced thousands of flight cancelations, caused numerous crashes and killed at least five people as it makes its final push Sunday into the Northeast. A Kansas Department of Transportation worker was killed Saturday in a rollover crash during snow removal operations on southbound U.S. 69 in Johnson County. No other vehicles were involved in the crash. The driver was identified later Saturday as 52-year-old Stephen Winder. He died after the rig he was driving rolled over around 6 a.m. local time. Windler was reportedly thrown from the vehicle, which then landed on top of him. The crash is under investigation. “My heart is breaking for the family of this dedicated KDOT employee,” said Gov. Laura Kelly in a press release. “Our KDOT personnel work very hard, at all hours, in dangerous conditions to make our roads safer for their fellow Kansas citizens. My thoughts are with his family, friends and the entire KDOT family at this devastating time.” The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported two deaths from weather-related crashes. The storm had already claimed two lives in California earlier this week. A United Airlines jetliner slid off the runway Saturday morning after landing at O'Hare International Airport, the Chicago Tribune reports. No one was injured when United Airlines flight 656 from Phoenix to Chicago rolled off the concrete surface into a grassy area. On Friday, Southwest Airlines 1643 slid off the runway at Eppley Airfield after landing about 2:05 p.m. local time, according to the Omaha World-Herald. Freezing drizzle was falling at the time. The airport, which closed for several hours because of the accident, tweeted: "There are no injuries and airport fire crews are working with Southwest to deplane the passengers and take them to the terminal." "It seemed like it would be OK, but then once we were slowing down to turn, you could feel them trying to get the brakes going and it was just too slick. So we ended up off the runway in the grass," Ali Schwanke tweeted Friday. More than 1,600 flights have been canceled as of Sunday morning, flightaware.com reports. Thousands of flights have also been delayed. A ban on tractor-trailers and buses on most highways in the state began at 3 p.m. ET Saturday. "Safety is our number one priority and with the anticipated storm impacting most of New York State, we are implementing this ban on tractor trailers and buses so our plow operators, fire, law enforcement and emergency personnel can keep roads clean and respond to emergencies as quickly as possible," Cuomo said. "I am also urging drivers to stay off the roads unless absolutely necessary." The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation shut down commercial access to Interstates 70, 76 and 80 beginning at 12 p.m. ET Saturday. “We want to be aggressive in managing this storm, during which snowfall rates could exceed one to two inches per hour," Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf said. "Our top concern is the safety of residents. If you do not have to travel during the storm, please avoid it. Please heed warnings from emergency responders and personnel, and remember to check on your neighbors, especially the elderly.” In Ohio, the state's Department of Transportation said Saturday it had more than 1,000 crews out statewide clearing roadways, while a level 1 snow emergency was declared for several northern counties. A level 1 emergency indicates that "roads may be hazardous with blowing and drifting snow. In addition, roads could be icy." U.S. 24 was closed near Napoleon, Ohio after a big rig slid off the road and blocked lanes. More than 13,000 Ohio customers were without power Sunday, according to poweroutage.us. In Indiana, a jackknifed tractor-trailer was blocking southbound lanes Saturday afternoon on Interstate 65, south mile marker 231. The storm caused travel woes across the Plains on Friday as it pushed towards the Midwest. A 15-vehicle pileup on Interstate 55 near Thayer, Missouri, which temporarily closed a section of the interstate in the southeastern side of the state. The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported 1608 calls for service, 575 stranded motorists, 285 crashes and 43 injuries in addition to the two fatalities. The Minnesota Department of Transportation said Saturday at least five snowplows had been hit by passing vehicles in the past 24 hours. A jackknifed semitrailer truck shut down part of Interstate 35 in Minnesota on Friday afternoon from the Clarks Grove exit to near Albert Lea, the Albert Lea Tribune reported. It was one of a number of crashes affecting traffic on I-35 and Interstate 90. The Kansas Highway Patrol said there were several crashes and vehicles sliding off the road on Interstate 70 in Geary and Riley counties. The interstate was partially blocked near mile marker 316. No injuries were reported after a vehicle collided with a snowplow Friday on a South Dakota road. "Early this morning a driver tried to pass a snow plow and collided with the wing blade in a white out," the South Dakota Highway Patrol tweeted Friday. "Now we have 1 less (snowplow) to clear the road. Poor driving decisions affect us all!" Friday afternoon, a second snowplow was hit by a car. No injuries were reported in that crash. In Nebraska, numerous spin outs were reported on I-29 outside Omaha, including three tractor-trailers that slid into ditches. Across the Northeast, officials were finalizing preparations for the storm that is expected to produce heavy accumulations of snow and dangerous ice. The governors of Pennsylvania and New Jersey declared states of emergency ahead of the storm. Both declarations took effect 12 p.m. ET Saturday. Amtrak announced Friday that it would be modifying its service in the Midwest and Northeast because of the storm. (MORE: Winter Storm Harper Latest Forecast) On Sunday, five Acela trains and six Northeast Regional trains are canceled between New York and Boston. Six Keystone trains will not operate between New York and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Two Pennsylvanian trains between New York and Pittsburgh are canceled. Two Vermonter trains on Sunday will not operate between St. Albans, Vermont, and New Haven, Connecticut, the Associated Press reports. Service between New York and Washington will run as scheduled. In anticipation of the storm, airlines including American, Southwest, United and Frontier are waiving change fees for cities impacted by the storm.

Hurricanes_Tornado_Storm_Blizzard

January 2019

['(AccuWeather)', '(The Weather Channel)']

Voters in Ecuador go to the polls for a general election with incumbent President Rafael Correa claiming a landslide victory.

Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa vowed on Monday to press ahead with laws to control the media and redistribute land to the poor as he looks to deepen his socialist revolution after a resounding re-election victory. Correa, a pugnacious 49-year-old economist, trounced his nearest rival by more than 30 percentage points on Sunday to win a new four-year term. He has already been in power for six years, winning broad support with ambitious social spending programs. His re-election triumph could set him up to become Latin America's most outspoken critic of Washington as Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is struggling to overcome cancer. But Correa will have to balance his desire for an agenda similar to Chavez's radical socialism with a need for pragmatic negotiations with foreign investors to raise Ecuador's oil production and spur the mining industry. He focused on his socialist reforms on Monday, saying he'd push through legislation that has been blocked by opposition leaders in Congress. “The first thing we'll do is to push through key laws that have been left to wither as a way of hurting Correa, but this has actually hurt the country,” Correa said in an interview with regional television network Telesur. Those include a proposed land redistribution drive to give terrain deemed unproductive to poor peasants and setting up a showdown with large banana and flower producers, much the way Chavez took on Venezuelan ranchers during a decade-long land expropriation campaign. Correa's plan to create a state watchdog group to determine if media have published inappropriate content also echoes Chavez's controls over television and cable broadcasters, and would extend Correa's vitriolic fight with opposition media. In addition, Ecuadoreans voted for a new Congress on Sunday and Correa said he expected his ruling Alianza Pais to win a majority. That would help speed his efforts to pass the proposed legislation. But he is also expected to pass a new mining law that would ease investment terms as a way of helping close a deal with Canada's Kinross to develop a large gold reserve. That will be a major test of his ability to offer investment security while ensuring the state keeps a large portion of revenue. “Without a doubt this reform will make the country attractive to foreign investors... and help attract large investments,” said Santiago Yepez, the head of Ecuador's mining chamber. With almost two-thirds of votes counted by Monday morning, Correa had 57 percent support while conservative opposition candidate Guillermo Lasso was in second place with 24 percent. The election established Lasso, a former banker from the coastal city of Guayaquil, as the face of the opposition. Six other candidates trailed way behind. Lasso has called Correa a dangerous authoritarian who has curbed media freedom and controlled state institutions. Even some supporters disapprove of Correa's tempestuous outbursts, fights with media and bullying of adversaries. His re-election puts him in line to be the de facto leader of the leftist ALBA group of Latin American nations that push state-driven economic policies and oppose free-market reforms promoted by Washington. Chavez made a surprise return to Venezuela on Monday after two months of cancer treatment in Cuba, but his health is delicate and it is unclear if he will be able to stay in power and continue being the region's leftist standard bearer. The continued success of Latin American socialism will depend on strong commodities prices that underpin generous social spending, and Correa needs foreign investment to ensure state coffers remain full during his next four-year term. Ecuador has been locked out of capital markets since a 2008 debt default on $3.2-billion in bonds, and Correa's government has taken an aggressive stance with oil companies to squeeze more revenue from their operations. Correa's recent statements show that although he wants to maintain many of his radical policies, he also wants to soften his reputation as an anti-capitalist crusader within investing circles. “The advantages of our country for foreign investment are political stability, a strong macroeconomic performance... and important stimulus to new private investment,” he said last week while hosting the emir of gas-rich Qatar. Correa's government is also in talks with China to secure funding for the $12.5-billion Pacifico refinery, which would allow Ecuador to save up to $5-billion a year in fuel imports. “We can't be beggars sitting on a sack of gold,” is a catch phrase Correa has used in recent months to argue that Ecuador needs to attract oil investments and expand a mining industry that has barely begun to tap its gold and copper reserves.

Government Job change - Election

February 2013

['(Reuters)', '(BBC)', '(The New York Times)', '(IOL News)']

Hurricane Dorian increases to a Category Three storm as it approaches The Carolinas in the United States.

Stronger and a little larger, Hurricane Dorian has exited Florida, setting its sights on the coasts of Georgia and the Carolinas. These areas face a triple threat of “destructive winds, flooding rains, and life-threatening storm surges,” according to the National Hurricane Center. While Dorian stayed far enough off the coast to largely spare Florida from the worst of its wrath, it is forecast to make a much closer approach to the coastline of the Carolinas Thursday and Friday and could even make landfall. Impacts are thus expected to be more severe. In addition, Dorian has gained some added strength, increasing the risk of storm hazards. It maximum sustained winds are back up to 115 mph, meaning it has regained Category 3 intensity. If it makes landfall in North Carolina, it would be the first Category 3 to strike since Fran in 1996. While intensifying, its wind field has expanded, with tropical-storm and hurricane-force winds covering more territory.

Hurricanes_Tornado_Storm_Blizzard

September 2019

['(The Washington Post)']

Victoria Police charge Cardinal George Pell, the Prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy, and the third most senior official of the Catholic Church, with historic child sex offences. Pell will be required to attend hearings at the Melbourne Magistrates Court in Australia on July 19.

Cardinal George Pell says he is looking forward to his day in court after being charged with historical sexual assault offences. Australia's most senior Catholic cleric has been ordered to appear in the Melbourne Magistrates' Court on July 18, after Victoria Police served charges on his legal representatives. "Cardinal Pell will return to Australia, as soon as possible, to clear his name following advice and approval by his doctors, who will also advise on his travel arrangements," a statement released by the Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney said. "He has again strenuously denied all allegations." He is expected to make a further statement in Rome at 4:30pm AEST. Victoria Police Deputy Commissioner Shane Patton earlier told reporters the charges involved multiple complainants. Last July, police confirmed they were formally investigating complaints about offences alleged to have occurred in Ballarat in the 1970s. Pell has always maintained his innocence and denied any wrongdoing. Deputy Commissioner Patton said the "process and procedures" being followed had been the same as those applied "in a whole range of historical sex offences, whenever we investigate them". "The fact that he has been charged on summons we have used advice from the Office of Public Prosecutions and also we have engaged with his legal representatives, which is common and standard practice." The charging of Cardinal George Pell poses fundamental questions about the future of the Catholic Church in Australia, Paul Kennedy writes. As head of the Vatican's finances, Pell is considered number three in the Catholic hierarchy behind the Pope. In July, Pell said the allegations were part of a smear campaign by the media. "The allegations are untrue, I deny them absolutely," Pell said. "I'm like any other Australian I'm entitled to a fair go." However, he said he was "quite prepared to co-operate" with the process. In October, three Victoria Police detectives flew to Rome to interview Pell. Cardinal George Pell has long been one of the most prominent and controversial figures in the Australian Catholic Church. A Victoria Police statement issued at the time said: "Cardinal George Pell voluntarily participated in an interview regarding allegations of sexual assault." Australia does not have an extradition treaty with the Vatican, even though it does with Italy. Donald Rothwell, a professor of International Law at ANU said because Pell had indicated he would return to Australia, it was unlikely the issue of diplomatic immunity would "become a live issue". Although others in senior roles inside the church had been involved in serious prosecutions, this case was unique. Professor Rothwell said Pell would be one of the most senior Catholics to be involved in a serious prosecution. "Certainly to my knowledge this is the first occasion that any one of the eminent rank of a Cardinal within the Catholic Church has been subject to criminal proceedings of this type," he said. Child sexual assault survivor advocate Chrissie Foster said it was right that the allegations would now be heard in the courts. "I've been waiting to see what happens with this investigation for a long time," she said. Ms Foster's daughters Emma and Katie were raped by Melbourne paedophile priest Father Kevin O'Donnell when they were in primary school in the 1980s. In a statement from the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne, Archbishop Denis Hart said he was aware of the significance of the decision to charge Pell. "Cardinal Pell has been a friend and brother priest of Archbishop Hart for more than 50 years," the statement said. "The Archbishop is conscious of the Cardinal's many good works which have been acknowledged both nationally and internationally. "It is important all in society recognise that the presumption of innocence applies and that Cardinal Pell, like all Australians, is entitled to a fair trial." Pell was the son of a Ballarat publican, a head prefect at school and a talented Australian Rules footballer, who was signed as a ruckman by the Richmond Football Club. Now Victoria Police are charging Cardinal Archbishop George Pell with multiple sexual offences we are in an unprecedented historical position, writes Noel Debien. His studies took him to Rome and then Oxford. In 1971 he returned to Victoria as an ordained priest, and rose through the ranks to eventually become Archbishop of Melbourne. He rankled progressive Catholics with his resistance to change, including on issues such as the ordination of female priests, divorce and abortion. He also refused communion to gay activists at one of his masses. In 1990 he said: "Homosexuality we're aware that it does exist. We believe such activity is wrong and we believe for the good of society it should not be encouraged." His hardline conservatism caught the attention of Rome, and he was chosen to join a Vatican congregation dedicated to enforcing orthodoxy. "There are many smorgasbord Catholics who choose a bit of this and that ... my business as bishop is to proclaim the whole of the message," he said. In 1996, then-Archbishop Pell was the first Catholic leader to address the child sexual abuse that has plagued the church. Reuters: Mark Baker [file photo] He instigated a redress scheme called the Melbourne Response. When announcing the scheme he said: "It's a matter of regret that the Catholic Church has taken some time to come to grips with the sex abuse issue adequately." But the Melbourne Response, which capped compensation for victims at $50,000, was widely criticised as being legalistic and not offering enough support to victims. He then became Archbishop of Sydney and was made a cardinal. In 2014, he was chosen by the Pope to get the Vatican's finances in order and he moved to Rome. Ill health prevented him from returning to Australia in 2016 to give evidence to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. Editor's note: On Tuesday April 7, 2020, the High Court in a unanimous decision upheld Cardinal Pell's appeal and quashed his convictions on all five charges. We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Australians and Traditional Custodians of the lands where we live, learn, and work.

Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse

June 2017

['(ABC News Australia)']

Prominent Venezuelan journalist Luis Carlos Díaz  is released after being taken by SEBIN, the national intelligence service, on Monday; he has been ordered not to speak of his time in detention or publish anything.

Luis Carlos Díaz, who was charged with inciting violence and ordered not to leave the country, was released late on Tuesday First published on Tue 12 Mar 2019 14.12 GMT A prominent Venezuelan journalist who had been reporting on the country’s escalating political crisis and electricity blackout out has been seized by secret police, sparking international condemnation. Luis Carlos Díaz went missing at about 5.30pm on Monday after leaving the radio station where he worked in the capital, Caracas. A social media hunt ensued with Twitter users demanding #DóndeEstáLuisCarlos or #WhereIsLuisCarlos. Fellow journalists confirmed Díaz had been taken by members of Venezuela’s intelligence service, Sebin. He was charged with inciting violence and released late on Tuesday. A judge ordered him not to leave the country and prohibited him from making public statements. Venezuela’s National Press Workers Union said agents raided Díaz’s home shortly before dawn, seizing computers and pen drives as the handcuffed journalist looked on. Díaz was reportedly held in the notorious El Helicoide political prison. Luz Mely Reyes, an internationally acclaimed Venezuelan journalist, told the Guardian her colleague’s detention was part of an escalating war on the press being waged by the country’s embattled leader, Nicolás Maduro. Maduro is fighting for his political life after an audacious challenge from a young opposition leader called Juan Guaidó, who most western governments now recognize as Venezuela’s rightful interim president. “I think one of the things [Maduro] is trying to achieve is to intimidate [journalists] and ensure the stories about what is going on in Venezuela are not told,” Reyes said. “Repression against the press has been growing.” Last week, one day before much of Venezuela was paralyzed by a massive power cut, an American freelance journalist who had worked for the Daily Telegraph was deported after being seized at his home in Caracas. A rightwing German journalist, Billy Six, has reportedly been held in El Helicoide since being detained on suspicion of espionage last year. “It is just a joke,” his father, Edward Six, told the Guardian in a recent interview. “Journalism is not a crime.” Díaz’s detention – which authorities have yet to explain – triggered condemnation in and outside of Venezuela, with Guaidó denouncing Maduro’s “persecution” of journalists. The UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet tweeted that she was “deeply worried” by the detention of Díaz, adding that UN officials in Caracas had urgently requested access to him. During a brief conversation in the early hours of Tuesday, Díaz reportedly told Naky Soto, his journalist wife, he had been detained near the Korean embassy in Caracas while riding his bicycle home. Agents said he was suspected of “IT offenses”. Last Friday, Maduro’s second-in-command, Diosdado Cabello, published a conspiratorial video on Twitter insinuating Díaz was part of a “rancid” rightwing US-backed plot to destroy Venezuela’s electricity network. Reyes said she feared Díaz’s detention would not be the last, as the political situation in Venezuela deteriorated. “This is not a game – this is a very serious situation that puts us on alert.”

Famous Person - Commit Crime - Release

March 2019

['[es]', '(The Guardian)']

The Palestinian Journalist Syndicate criticizes Islamic Jihad militants for using a vehicle marked with a "TV" sign to approach Gaza's frontier border with Israel in an attempt to kidnap an Israel Defense Forces soldier from a position across the border.

The Palestinian journalists' union criticized militants Sunday for using a vehicle marked with a "TV" sign to approach Gaza's frontier border with Israel and attempt to kidnap an Israel Defense Forces soldier from a position across the border."The use of vehicles that carry 'Press', 'TV' or other signs... expose journalists' lives to danger, gives the Israeli occupation a pretext to target and kill journalists and restricts their ability to perform their professional and national duties," the Palestinian Journalist Syndicate said."We stress our rejection of the use of media vehicles and the involvement of the press in any existing conflict, and we demand all parties stop using these methods," said the group, the sole journalists' union in the Gaza Strip and West Bank. News photographs showed the white armored vehicle, with "TV" in red letters on the front, at Kissufim Crossing after the attack, bullet holes in its windshield.The Israel-based Foreign Press Association said in a statement the use of a vehicle marked with TV insignia represented "abuse of this recognized protection for the working journalist" and was "a grave development."Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, in broadcast remarks at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, said Sunday that the attackers used "a vehicle marked 'TV' in order to fool Israeli soldiers."He said the gunmen had tried "to take advantage of the special sensitivity that we have in a democratic country such as ours, to the right of the media to operate freely and independently in security-sensitive areas."Abu Ahmed, spokesman for Islamic Jihad's armed wing, accused the IDF of fixing the TV sign to the armored car.

Armed Conflict

June 2007

['(Haaretz)']

A bombing in the eastern Turkish city of Tunceli kills at least seven people.

A large explosion has rocked the Turkish city of Tunceli, killing seven people, mainly security personnel. The blast targeted a vehicle carrying security forces. The city is near the country's Kurdish area and suspicion will automatically fall upon Kurdish rebel group the PKK, says the BBC's Istanbul correspondent James Reynolds. Fighting between Turkish troops and the PKK - the Kurdistan Workers' Party - has escalated in recent months. Six members of the security forces and one civilian died in the attack in the Ataturk neighbourhood, said local media and hospital sources. Turkish TV stations showed pictures of workers trying to put out fires in two burnt-out vehicles. Reports said a vehicle carrying explosives was remotely detonated as an armoured vehicle carrying security forces passed by, sending a huge plume of dark smoke over the city. Some reports said a civilian vehicle was also damaged in the explosion. One report, in Turkey's Hurriyet Daily News, said security forces arriving on the scene clashed with suspected PKK militants, with one militant killed. No-one has yet said they carried out the attack, but Kurdish rebels are active in the city, which is the capital of the province of Tunceli. This incident comes amid a surge in fighting in the three-decade conflict between the military and the PKK which in total has killed more than 40,000 people. In mid-September, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said 500 Kurdish rebels had been "rendered ineffective" by Turkish forces in the space of a month. Many have died in Turkish aerial campaigns against suspected PKK hideouts in the south-east of the country. PKK fighters killed 17 Turkish soldiers and injured scores over three days in Bingol province last week. Earlier this month, one soldier and three Kurdish militants were killed when insurgents attacked army outposts in Tunceli. This has become the most violent period in fighting with the Kurds since the capture of the PKK's leader, Abdullah Ocalan, in 1999, our correspondent says.

Armed Conflict

September 2012

['(BBC)']

In football, Wayne Rooney becomes the highest goalscorer for the England national football team with a goal against Switzerland in a UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying match.

Speaking after the 2-0 win, Rooney told ITV Sport: "It's a great feeling obviously. "I've not always been close to it obviously the last few England games and to finally do it it's a dream come true and as you probably seen i was a bit emotional out there. "A huge honour i'm extremely proud of and happy it's done and hopefully kick on from here and concentrate now with getting on the team and hopefully success in the future." Congratulations @waynerooney.

Sports Competition

September 2015

['(ITV)']

Thousands of Jewish settlers stage a protest at the curbs on settlement building in the West Bank.

Settlers protest against curb on settlement building in the West Bank Thousands of Jewish settlers and their supporters have staged a rally in Jerusalem in protest at a curb on settlement building in the West Bank. Demonstrators gathered outside the residence of PM Benjamin Netanyahu, days after he ordered a 10-month lull in permits for new settlement homes. The order followed US calls for a total freeze in settlement building. Israel said the move was aimed at helping restart peace talks, but Palestinians said it was insufficient. Jewish settlers have been angered by the moratorium, ordered by Mr Netanyahu's right-leaning government, ordinarily supportive of settlement activity in the West Bank. There was a lot of anger here directed towards the United States - "US, take your money and leave us alone" was one of the placards I saw, because it is American pressure on Israel which has brought about these building restrictions in the occupied territories. But the real anger was reserved for Mr Netanyahu and for the Israeli government - these people told me they had voted for the Israeli government and got a policy completely opposite to that which they had been expecting. Nearly 500,000 Jews live in more than 100 settlements built on occupied territory in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Settlement building in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, is illegal under international law - although Israel disputes this. Protesters waved signs and banners carrying defiant slogans including "We will continue to build", and "Stop Iran's nukes, not our homes". The demonstration passed off mainly peacefully. A spokesman for the protesters, Bobby Brown, who is a former adviser to Mr Netanyahu, told the BBC settlers were angry at the way they were being treated. "We believe we have a right as Jews to settle where we are. To say there's going to be a freeze based on religion - that a Muslim can build and a Jew can't - is not something we expect in this day and age." Meanwhile, Israeli anti-settlement movement Peace Now says more homes are under construction per inhabitant in the West Bank than inside Israel despite the recent curbs. The group said 1,167 homes were being built for every 100,000 West Bank settlers, compared to just 836 for the same number of Israeli residents. More building Under the new Israeli policy, permits for new homes in the West Bank will not be approved for 10 months. But municipal buildings and about 3,000 homes already under construction will still be allowed to go ahead. Scuffles have erupted in the past week as Israeli settlers held protests and tried to block building inspectors from entering their communities to enforce the new rules. But, on the basis of the official figures, Peace Now said "the settler's claims of discrimination and attempts to 'dry out' the settlements have no basis in reality". "Even during the freeze a larger number of housing units than the national average will be built in the occupied territories," it said. Israeli politicians and media have been referring to the restrictions as a "freeze", although Palestinians say they are far from the total building halt, including in East Jerusalem, that they have demanded. The BBC's Paul Wood in Jerusalem says the settlers feel betrayed by a government they thought was on their side. Israel could just be acting tactically, trying to make the Palestinians look like the roadblock to negotiations, our correspondent says. But even so, he adds, the Israeli government may have to choose between peace with the Palestinians or peace with the settlers.

Protest_Online Condemnation

December 2009

['(BBC)', '(Xinhua)', '(Times of India)']

Lebanese Tourism Minister Faddy Abboud says an episode of the popular U.S. TV series Homeland misrepresented Beirut and is set to pursue legal action against its makers due to concerns over damage to image and tourism.

A Lebanese minister has threatened to sue the makers of hit US TV series Homeland for misrepresenting Beirut in a recent episode of the show. Back to Beirut, the second episode in the new series of Homeland showed a terrorist meeting on Hamra Street - an apparent Hezbollah stronghold. The episode was actually shot in Israel. Lebanese Tourism Minister Faddy Abboud said filming "did not depict reality". "It was not filmed in Beirut and does not portray the real image of Beirut." "It showed Hamra Street with militia roaming in it," he told the Associated Press, adding that the real Hamra Street was actually a popular neighbourhood of shops and cafes. Mr Abboud believes the depiction of the city could have a negative impact on tourism. "This kind of film damages the image of Lebanon - it is not fair to us and it is not true," he told Beirut's Executive magazine. "We want to take action, we want to write to the filmmakers and producers and demand an apology. And we are planning to raise a lawsuit against the director and the producer." Twentieth Century Fox, which produces the Emmy-winning US series, has declined to comment. Mr Abboud was also offended that filming for the episode, which is based on an Israeli series called Hatufim (Prisoners of War), took place in Israel rather than Beirut itself - especially given the history between the two territories. But filming in Beirut would have been difficult since Homeland's co-creator, Gideon Raff, is Israeli and Israel's citizens are barred from visiting the city. Lebanon's leading LBC TV carried a report on the controversy on Thursday, saying the show disparaged Arabs and that its setting in Israel was "a double insult." Homeland, now in its second series, has proved a ratings success in the US, and has aired in more than 20 countries. It follows the burgeoning political career of former prisoner of war Nick Brody, and the CIA operative who believes he was turned by the enemy and is now a threat to the US. Both the leading actors - Britain's Damian Lewis and US star Claire Danes - recently picked up Emmys for their work on the show.

Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse

October 2012

['(BBC)']

30,000 troops from the Pakistan Army begin an offensive operation against the Taliban and their allies in South Waziristan.

Major General Athar Abbas of the Pakistani Army: ''Forces are progressing well'' Fierce fighting has broken out as Pakistan's army launched an air and ground offensive against Taliban militants in the South Waziristan area. Officials said 30,000 troops, backed by artillery, had moved into the region where Pakistan Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud is based. Militants were reported to be offering stiff resistance as troops advanced from the north, east, and west. A curfew was imposed in the region before the offensive began. There have been several co-ordinated Taliban attacks in recent days, killing more than 150 people in cities across Pakistan. Pakistan's top army spokesman Maj Gen Athar Abbas confirmed that a fully-fledged assault had begun and said that an offensive could last up to two months. "The objective is to clear this terrorist organisation from the area, who has taken over the area, turned these state institutions, organisations out and has taken the entire population hostage," he told the BBC. He added that intense fighting was expected during the course of the operation. Dozens of casualties have already been reported by local officials as both sides used heavy weapons. The bodies of three Pakistan soldiers were taken to the northern town of Razmak. There have also been unconfirmed reports of militant deaths. Nearly all communications in the region were down after the Taliban destroyed a telecommunications tower at Tiarza, local officials said. Reports from the area are sketchy as it is difficult and dangerous for foreign or Pakistani journalists to operate inside South Waziristan. Aerial bombardments in the the Makeen area, a stronghold of the Mehsud tribe and a key army target, were also reported by local officials and witnesses. One resident of Makeen town described the onset of fighting. "We heard the sounds of planes and helicopters early Saturday. Then we heard blasts. We are also hearing gunshots and it seems the army is exchanging fire with Taliban," Ajmal Khan told the Associated Press news agency by telephone. The ground operation comes after weeks of air and artillery strikes against militant targets in the region, which lies close to the Afghan border. Thousands of civilians have fled South Waziristan in anticipation of the offensive. Aid agencies say that many more are expected to flee but the tough terrain and the Taliban's grip on the area will present difficulties. Transport has been difficult as roads have been blocked by the military. There is a huge army presence on the road between Tank and Dera Ismail Khan, says the BBC's Islamabad correspondent Shoaib Hasan, near South Waziristan. On his way to South Waziristan, he passed several army convoys on the road. The mobilisation came a day after Pakistan Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani held a meeting of the country's senior political and military leadership. Lengthy planning Recent militant attacks were seen as an attempt to divide public opinion, but they appear to have strengthened the resolve of the government, which says the Taliban must now be eliminated, our correspondent added. The army has been massing troops near the militants' stronghold for months - ever since the governor of Pakistan's North West Frontier Province announced a ground offensive in South Waziristan on 15 June. Pakistan's government has been under considerable pressure from the US to tackle militancy there. North and South Waziristan form a lethal militant belt from where insurgents have launched attacks across north-west Pakistan as well as into parts of eastern Afghanistan. South Waziristan is considered to be the first significant sanctuary for Islamic militants outside Afghanistan since 9/11. It also has numerous training camps for suicide bombers.

Armed Conflict

October 2009

['(BBC)']

British actor Peter O'Toole, best known for his role in Lawrence of Arabia, dies at the age of 81 after a long illness.

LONDON (AP) — Known on the one hand for his starring role in "Lawrence of Arabia," leading tribesmen in daring attacks across the desert wastes, and on the other for his headlong charges into drunken debauchery, Peter O'Toole was one of the most magnetic, charismatic and fun figures in British acting. O'Toole, who died Saturday at age 81 at the private Wellington Hospital in London after a long bout of illness, was nominated a record eight times for an Academy Award without taking home a single statue. He was fearsomely handsome, with burning blue eyes and a penchant for hard living which long outlived his decision to give up alcohol. Broadcaster Michael Parkinson told Sky News television it was hard to be too sad about his passing. "Peter didn't leave much of life unlived, did he?" he said. A reformed — but unrepentant — hell-raiser, O'Toole long suffered from ill health. Always thin, he had grown wraithlike in later years, his famously handsome face eroded by years of outrageous drinking. But nothing diminished his flamboyant manner and candor. "If you can't do something willingly and joyfully, then don't do it," he once said. "If you give up drinking, don't go moaning about it; go back on the bottle. Do. As. Thou. Wilt." O'Toole began his acting career as one of the most exciting young talents on the British stage. His 1955 "Hamlet," at the Bristol Old Vic, was critically acclaimed. International stardom came in David Lean's epic "Lawrence of Arabia." With only a few minor movie roles behind him, O'Toole was unknown to most moviegoers when they first saw him as T.E. Lawrence, the mythic British World War I soldier and scholar who led an Arab rebellion against the Turks. His sensitive portrayal of Lawrence's complex character garnered O'Toole his first Oscar nomination, and the spectacularly photographed desert epic remains his best known role. O'Toole was tall, fair and strikingly handsome, and the image of his bright blue eyes peering out of an Arab headdress in Lean's film was unforgettable. Playwright Noel Coward once said that if O'Toole had been any prettier, they would have had to call the movie "Florence of Arabia." Prime Minister David Cameron said Sunday the movie was his favorite film, calling O'Toole's performance "stunning." Actor Will Ferrell also remembered "Lawrence of Arabia." "My father took me to see a re-release of 'Lawrence of Arabia' on the big screen and I couldn't get over how amazing that movie looked for the time it was shot and how charismatic he was on screen," Ferrell said Sunday at the New York premiere of "Anchorman 2." ''You hear a name like Peter O'Toole, you hear these names and you go, 'uh, yeah, OK, they were movie stars,' then you watch them on film and you go, 'they really were movie stars." In 1964's "Becket," O'Toole played King Henry II to Richard Burton's Thomas Becket, and won another Oscar nomination. Burton shared O'Toole's fondness for drinking, and their off-set carousing made headlines. O'Toole played Henry again in 1968 in "The Lion in Winter," opposite Katharine Hepburn, for his third Oscar nomination. Four more nominations followed: in 1968 for "Goodbye, Mr. Chips," in 1971 for "The Ruling Class," in 1980 for "The Stunt Man," and in 1982 for "My Favorite Year." It was almost a quarter-century before he received his eighth and last, for "Venus." For writer-producer Judd Apatow, in addition to "Lawrence of Arabia," ''My Favorite Year," also stands out. "I related to the comedy writer hanging out with the mad actor because I've done that a few times," he said at the "Anchorman 2 premiere. Seamus Peter O'Toole was born Aug. 2, 1932, the son of Irish bookie Patrick "Spats" O'Toole and his wife Constance. There is some question about whether Peter was born in Connemara, Ireland, or in Leeds, northern England, where he grew up, but he maintained close links to Ireland, even befriending the country's now-president, Michael D. Higgins. Ireland and the world have "lost one of the giants of film and theater," Higgins said in a statement. After a teenage foray into journalism at the Yorkshire Evening Post and national military service with the navy, a young O'Toole auditioned for the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and won a scholarship. He went from there to the Bristol Old Vic and soon was on his way to stardom, helped along by an early success in 1959 at London's Royal Court Theatre in "The Long and The Short and The Tall." The image of the renegade hell-raiser stayed with O'Toole for decades, although he gave up drinking in 1975 following serious health problems and major surgery. He did not, however, give up smoking unfiltered Gauloises cigarettes in an ebony holder. That and his penchant for green socks, voluminous overcoats and trailing scarves lent him a rakish air and suited his fondness for drama in the old-fashioned "bravura" manner. A month before his 80th birthday in 2012, O'Toole announced his retirement from a career that he said had fulfilled him emotionally and financially, bringing "me together with fine people, good companions with whom I've shared the inevitable lot of all actors: flops and hits." "However, it's my belief that one should decide for oneself when it is time to end one's stay," he said. "So I bid the profession a dry-eyed and profoundly grateful farewell." In retirement, O'Toole said he would focus on the third volume of his memoirs. Good parts were sometimes few and far between, but "I take whatever good part comes along," O'Toole told The Independent on Sunday newspaper in 1990. "And if there isn't a good part, then I do anything, just to pay the rent. Money is always a pressure. And waiting for the right part — you could wait forever. So I turn up and do the best I can." The 1980 "Macbeth" in which he starred was a critical disaster of heroic proportions. But it played to sellout audiences, largely because the savaging by the critics brought out the curiosity seekers. "The thought of it makes my nose bleed," he said years later. In 1989, however, O'Toole had a big stage success with "Jeffrey Bernard is Unwell," a comedy about his old drinking buddy, the legendary layabout and ladies' man who wrote The Spectator magazine's weekly "Low Life" column when he was sober enough to do so. The honorary Oscar came 20 years after his seventh nomination for "My Favorite Year." By then it seemed a safe bet that O'Toole's prospects for another nomination were slim. He was still working regularly, but in smaller roles unlikely to earn awards attention. O'Toole graciously accepted the honorary award, quipping, "Always a bridesmaid, never a bride, my foot," as he clutched his Oscar statuette. He had nearly turned down the award, sending a letter asking that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences hold off on the honorary Oscar until he turned 80. Hoping another Oscar-worthy role would come his way, O'Toole wrote: "I am still in the game and might win the bugger outright." The last chance came in, for "Venus," in which he played a lecherous old actor consigned to roles as feeble-minded royals or aged men on their death beds. By failing again to win, he broke the tie for futility which had been shared with Richard Burton, his old drinking buddy. O'Toole divorced Welsh actress Sian Phillips in 1979, after 19 years of marriage. The couple had two daughters, Kate and Pat. A brief relationship with American model Karen Somerville led to the birth of his son Lorcan in 1983, and a change of lifestyle for O'Toole. After a long custody battle, a U.S. judge ruled Somerville should have her son during school vacations, and O'Toole would have custody during the school year. "The pirate ship has berthed," he declared, happily taking on the responsibilities of fatherhood. He learned to coach schoolboy cricket and, when he was in a play, the curtain time was moved back to allow him part of the evenings at home with his son. O'Toole's death was announced by agent Steve Kenis, who said the actor had been ill for some time. His daughter Kate said the family had been overwhelmed by the expressions of sympathy. "In due course there will be a memorial filled with song and good cheer, as he would have wished," she said in the statement. ___ AP writer Raphael Satter contributed to this report. Breaking down school accountability ratings by City Council district should prompt a new focus on improving education. Florida now has about one job opening for every out-of-work resident, new state data showed Friday. Mexican soccer federation again urges fans to stop using chant after FIFA hands toughest penalty to date in response to persistent use of anti-gay slur. The gallery in Shanghai pulls the video piece "Uglier and Uglier" after a backlash. People also said they’re more likely to resume pre-pandemic activities. “Mark Cuban approached me about a role as special advisor and I am happy to support my Mavs,” the Mavs icon said. REUTERS/Michaela RehleThe wild saga of the South African woman who claims she gave birth to a record-setting 10 babies—who have yet to be seen publicly—has taken several more dramatic turns.Health authorities took Gosiame Sithole into custody this week, reportedly for a psychiatric examination, prompting her attorney to threaten legal action to get her released.Meanwhile, a South African media outlet is reporting an exam showed no signs that Sithole had been pregnant—as a top government minister Much to the surprise of a puzzled pundit corps, history may well conclude that, while President Joe Biden and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin produced no big-deal breaking news headline, their summit may prove to be one of the 21st century’s pivotal events. A Tory MP is facing trial accused of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old boy in 2008, it can now be revealed. Imran Ahmad Khan, 47, the Conservative MP for Wakefield, West Yorkshire, is alleged to have groped the teenager in Staffordshire. Mr Ahmad Khan, who was elected at the 2019 general election, appeared at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Thursday by video-link from his lawyers' office. He was named on Friday after reporting restrictions were lifted. Mr Ahmad Khan has had the Tory whip suspe Sen. Ted Cruz said Thursday he hopes Matthew McConaughey doesn't run for Texas governor as he might pose a "formidable" challenge to Gov. Greg Abbott. Daredevil Alex Harvill, 28, crashed his motorcycle while practicing to perform a 351-foot jump at an airshow in Washington state on June 17. Former White House doctor Rep. Ronny Jackson and 13 other Republicans want President Joe Biden to take a mental cognition test and share the results. The "Daily Show" correspondent Jordan Klepper confronted Mike Lindell about his conspiracy theories during the Frank Free Speech Rally in Wisconsin. Rep. Ronny Jackson on Thursday said he's circulating a letter among House GOP colleagues calling on President Joe Biden to take a cognitive test. Anna Kern, who got a breakthrough infection in April, said she was struggling to return to work and was dealing with extreme fatigue. A growing contingent of medical experts is questioning the conventional wisdom that healthy children should get COVID-19 shots as soon as possible. If Gov. Ron DeSantis really cared about the meth-addiction problem in Florida, he would not be looking for solutions among immigrants at the Texas or Arizona borders, where he has no jurisdiction to enforce immigration law or run drug stings. The Conservative Party's loss to the Liberal Democrats in Chesham and Amersham is their largest defeat at a by-election since its 2014 losses in UKIP-voting constituencies. A fierce campaign centred on the Tories’ planning reforms and the construction of the HS2 rail line saw voters swing to Sir Ed Davey’s party by 25 points on Thursday, giving the Liberal Democrats 56.7 per cent of the vote. The party is claiming to have punched a hole in the Blue Wall - a band of southern Tory-voting constitue Even though my father passed away, he remains a source of comfort, love and safety. Using perplexing language and trying to confuse their constituents is just the latest strategy issued by Republicans attempting to enact policy.

Famous Person - Death

December 2013

['(AP via Yahoo! News)']

Kenyan troops launch an assault on cornered Somali militants holding hostages inside the shopping mall to end the deadly siege.

Nairobi - Kenyan troops have launched an assault on cornered Somali militants holding hostages inside a Nairobi shopping mall to end a deadly siege, the government crisis team said on Sunday. "Godspeed to our guys in the Westgate building," Kenya's National Disaster Operation Centre said in a message on its Twitter site. "Major engagement ongoing." The number of people killed in the ongoing siege, which began on Saturday, is feared to rise sharply from the 59 people confirmed dead, police sources said after entering the building. "We fear the death toll... it could be much, much higher than what we have, judging from the bodies sighted inside," a police officer said, after reports from inside of multiple corpses. "There are more people dead inside, and some of the attackers are still armed and throwing grenades and shooting at the officers," the officer added. The disaster centre reported "sporadic gunfire", while an AFP reporter outside the mall said a loud explosion had been heard as troops moved inside the sprawling complex. Military and police helicopters were also reported flying overhead the mall.

Armed Conflict

September 2013

['(AFP via News24)']

A court in Hong Kong denies bail to Tong Ying-kit, a 23-year-old man who was arrested last week for driving a motorbike into police officers and carrying a separatist banner. Also, prominent pro-democracy activists Joshua Wong and Agnes Chow appear in court. Wong pleads not guilty to inciting others to participate in an unlawful assembly last year while Chow pleads guilty to similar charges.

HONG KONG (Reuters) - A Hong Kong court denied bail on Monday to the first person charged with inciting separatism and terrorism under the city’s new national security law after he carried a sign saying “Liberate Hong Kong” and drove his motorbike into police. Tong Ying-kit, 23, was arrested after a video posted online showed him knocking over several officers at a demonstration last Wednesday, less than 24 hours after Beijing imposed sweeping national security legislation on its freest city. The city’s government has said the protest slogan “Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times”, connotes separatism or subversion under the new law, stoking concern over freedom of expression in the former British colony. Tong, who was unable to appear in court on Friday as he was being treated in hospital for injuries sustained in the incident, appeared in court in a wheelchair. In rejecting bail, Chief Magistrate So Wai-tak referred to Article 42 of the new law, which states that bail will not be granted if the judge has sufficient grounds to believe the defendant will continue to endanger national security. The case was adjourned until Oct. 6 and Tong was remanded in custody. Critics say the law - which punishes crimes of secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces with up to life in prison - is aimed at crushing dissent and a long-running campaign for greater democracy. Authorities in Beijing and Hong Kong have repeatedly said it is aimed at a few “troublemakers” and will not affect the rights and freedoms that underpin the city’s role as a financial hub. Also on Monday, prominent democracy activist Joshua Wong pleaded not guilty to inciting others to participate in an unlawful assembly during anti-government protests last year. Fellow activist Agnes Chow pleaded guilty to a similar charge. Their case has been adjourned to Aug. 5. Wong and Chow, who were both granted bail last year, led a pro-democracy group called Demosisto that they dissolved hours after Beijing passed the national security law. Reporting By Jessie Pang and Pak Yiu; Writing by Anne Marie Roantree; Editing by Robert Birsel; Editing by Robert Birsel

Famous Person - Commit Crime - Accuse

July 2020

['(Reuters)']

Pro-military counter-protesters attack anti-coup protesters during a rally against the military junta in Yangon. Some counter-protesters were armed with knives and clubs, while others used slingshots and threw stones to attack their opponents.

The political crisis in Myanmar took a new turn Thursday when supporters of the military junta in Yangon attacked demonstrators protesting the February 1 overthrow of the civilian government. The violence capped a day that began when hundreds of pro-military supporters turned up for a rally in downtown Yangon. The Associated Press reports the pro-military supporters were marching near the city’s central railway station when they were jeered by a group of bystanders, and responded by firing slingshots and throwing stones at the bystanders. Video posted on social media showed several pro-military demonstrators attacking a man in front of an office building, with at least one of the demonstrators carrying a knife. The escalating crisis prompted Facebook to ban Myanmar’s military from the social media platform and its affiliated site, Instagram. “Events since the February 1 coup, including deadly violence, have precipitated a need for this ban," the social media giant said in a statement. Facebook also banned several military-affiliated entities from advertising on the platforms. Myanmar’s military did not immediately respond to the ban. The social media platform has been widely used by Myanmar’s military government, despite its ban in the days immediately following the coup. In recent years, Facebook has pushed back against Myanmar’s military after drawing global criticism for not controlling online hate campaigns. The American social media giant banned Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing and other top officers and groups and took down hundreds of accounts and pages operated by members of the military. Min Aung Hlaing is currently the country’s military ruler. Facebook acknowledged Thursday there were efforts to rebuild networks operated by the military that had been previously removed. Popular protests against the coup have been staged across Myanmar on a daily basis since the military detained de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other members of the civilian government on February 1, claiming widespread fraud in last November’s election, which Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy won in a landslide.   The United Nations said 150 people in the capital were arrested Monday.  “The U.N. team is currently tracking more than 900 political and state officials, activists and civil society members – including journalists, monks and students – now being detained. And of course, we call for their immediate release,” U.N. Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told reporters Thursday. Three people have been killed as a result of the daily protests, including two who died Saturday in Mandalay — one of them a teenage boy — when police and security forces used live rounds and rubber bullets, tear gas, water cannon and slingshots against demonstrators.   Massive demonstrations on Monday, combined with a general strike, took place in defiance of the junta’s ominous warning issued the day before that protesters were heading down a “confrontation path where they will suffer the loss of life.”  The junta has declared a one-year state of emergency. Min Aung Hlaing has pledged that new elections will be held to bring about a "true and disciplined democracy,” but did not specify when they would take place.   Myanmar’s electoral commission denied the military’s claims of election fraud.   The United States and other Western nations have demanded the release of Suu Kyi and her lieutenants, who have been detained since the coup, and called on the junta to restore power to the civilian government. 

Protest_Online Condemnation

February 2021

['(Voice of America)']

Governor Lou Leon Guerrero signs a bill into law, legalizing the recreational use of cannabis.

Guam's Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero (D) on Thursday signed a bill legalizing recreational marijuana in the territory into law.  The law allows people over 21 to have up to an ounce of marijuana in their possession, according to Pacific Daily News. Adults will also be permitted to grow six marijuana plants, but for the time being will not be permitted to buy or sell marijuana.  "We must regulate this illicit drug that is the most widely used drug in our society," Leon Guerrero reportedly said at a press conference. "We have to take it and control it, monitor its use and effects, benefit from its medicinal efforts, allow our people to live in a safer environment." "Keeping it illegal in my mind rejects the motion that it exists and that the underground market will continue to prey on us. We have to be ahead of this and we have to control it," she added. The law also creates a Cannabis Control Board that will be tasked with the drug's testing, manufacturing, licensing, packaging and production. The board has a year to create marijuana regulations, which have to be approved by lawmakers.

Government Policy Changes

April 2019

['(The Hill)']

Near the town of Ramle, Israeli archeologists uncover hundreds of gin and whiskey bottles dating back to the First World War at the site of a former British Army barracks.

Hundreds of whisky and gin bottles found at remains of British army barracks near town of Ramle Last modified on Wed 14 Feb 2018 20.37 GMT Archaeologists have unearthed hundreds of whisky and gin bottles at the remains of a first world war British army barracks in the centre of Israel. The Israel Antiquities Authority said in a statement that the camp, near the town of Ramle, was used by an expeditionary force under Gen Edmund Allenby for about nine months from November 1917 during a pause in the campaign against the Turkish army in Palestine. The statement quoted excavation director Ron Toueg as saying the bottles were found among crockery shards and broken cutlery in a rubbish tip. “About 70% of the waste that was discarded in the refuse pit was liquor bottles,” Toueg said. “It seems that the soldiers took advantage of the respite given them to release the tension by frequently drinking alcohol. The discovery of this site and the finds in it provide us with an opportunity for a glimpse of the unwritten part of history, and to reconstruct for the first time the everyday life and leisure of the soldiers.” Pictures of the bottles showed several marked as Gordon’s Gin and Dewar’s Whisky. Researcher Brigitte Ouahnouna said it was the first such discovery in Israel. “It is a fascinating testimony of the everyday life of the British military camp a century ago,” the statement quoted her as saying.

New archeological discoveries

March 2017

['(The Guardian)']

Ten people were shot Tuesday night in what appears to be two driveby shootings in southeast Washington D.C., with at least four killed.

WASHINGTON - Four people were killed and five others injured Tuesday night in what appears to be two drive-by shootings in southeast Washington DC, police told Xinhua. The shootings involved two crime scenes, one on Galveston Street SW inside DC Police said an 18-year-old man was shot there. He was injured but the injuries were non-life threatening. Related readings:3 killed in Washington area shootingUS man gets 10 years in sex game shooting Local TV quoted authorities as saying all of the victims are in their 20s and 30s except for one teenager. There were six male victims and three females. The suspected shooters fled south into Maryland after the shooting. Police recovered an AK-47 assault rifle near the crime scene, seemed to be tossed out of the suspects' car. As police chased the suspects into Maryland, two of their patrol cars crashed in Oxon Hill, Maryland. Five police officers were hurt. Police said they detained 3 suspects. They didn't give a motive for the shooting. The crime scenes were closed off as investigators worked. Luan Shengjie, a 23-year-old photographer, penetrated deep into Yunnan province and recorded not only the faces but also the wishes of the old soldiers.

Armed Conflict

March 2010

['(Xinhua)', '(China Dialy)', '(CCTV)', '(CNN)']

The Thailand Opposition vows to resign en masse after weeks of protest.

Thailand's opposition MPs are to resign en masse, officials say, after weeks of anti-government protests in Bangkok. Opposition-backed street protesters have been trying to oust PM Yingluck Shinawatra, saying she is controlled by her brother, former PM Thaksin. Protest leader Suthep Thauksuban, a former deputy PM, has rejected dialogue and called for a final push to overthrow the government on Monday. Ms Yingluck has proposed a referendum on the country's political crisis. She repeated that she was ready to dissolve parliament and hold fresh elections if agreement could be reached with her opponents. The protesters want Ms Yingluck's current government to step down and be replaced by an unelected "People's Council". They allege that her government is controlled by her brother, former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who is in self-imposed exile after he was overthrown in a military army coup in 2006 and convicted of corruption. All 153 MPs of the main opposition Democrat party, Thailand's oldest, will resign. They hold just under one third of the seats in the 500-seat parliament, where the the governing Pheu Thai party has a commanding majority. "We decided to quit as MPs to march with the people against the Thaksin regime," Democrat Party MP Sirichok Sopha said in televised remarks. Bangkok MP Sansern Samalapa wrote on his Facebook page: "The resignation en masse is intended to deny the parliamentary system of the Thaksin regime, which has run out of legitimacy, and we have fully performed the duty of the opposition." Mr Suthep, a former Democrat MP, is calling Monday's final-push protest a last-ditch attempt to overthrow Ms Yingluck's government. Protesters say huge rallies will converge on Government House from nine directions. If he fails, he says he will hand himself in to the police, who have issued an arrest warrant for him. The government, despite all the criticisms made of it, still holds a clear majority in parliament, and is likely to win another election, its sixth in succession, if the prime minister does decide to call one, says the BBC's Jonathan Head in Bangkok.

Regime Change

December 2013

['(BBC)']

12,000 protesters march in the Brazilian capital of Brasília to protest the government's slowness in land reform. A 17–day march of the Landless Workers Movement ends with violence in the capital when the demonstrators clash with the riot police. Over 50 people are injured.

The protesters arrived in Brasilia after a two-week 200km (125-mile) walk from the city of Goiania, capital of the neighbouring state. They said they wanted to highlight the government's failure to distribute land and resettle landless peasant families. Leaders of the movement later met Brazil's president. The march was the biggest staged by the Landless Rural Workers' Movement (MST). Nearly all the city's security forces were deployed to police it, Efe news agency quotes Brasilia's security chief Gen Athos Costa as saying. Wealth gap MST says the government has failed to live up to its election promises to find homes for 400,000 families by 2006. Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who was elected in 2003, promised to buy disused land and redistribute it to poor families with no home of their own. The government says it has already settled a little over a quarter of its target, but MST says the real figure is much lower. In two years and a half since coming to power, President Lula's government has only managed to find homes for some 80,000 families, according to Efe. MST leaders met President Lula and presented him with a list of 16 demands including economic reform, increased public spending and meeting the government's pledge on housing. Leaders of the leftwing movement say they still back the president but analysts say they could withdraw their support for the president's re-election bid if he fails to spend more on resettling landless families. "We have no doubt that Lula is our friend. We don't want to break with him. We have to change his economic policies," march coordinator Marina Dos Santos told Reuters. Brazil has one of the biggest wealth gaps in the world. Nearly half of all farmland is owned by just 1% of the population.

Protest_Online Condemnation

May 2005

['(Bloomberg)', '(Reuters)', '[permanent dead link]', '(BBC)']

Two thousand Tamil people have been killed and 5,000 injured in Vanni District during Sri Lanka's civil war.

The campaign group, Human Rights Watch, has accused the Sri Lankan army of "slaughter" and rebels of "brutality" towards civilians in the north-east. It called on the government to end its "indiscriminate artillery attacks" on civilians and its policy of "detaining displaced persons in internment camps". Human Rights Watch also condemned the Tamil Tigers for "increased brutality" towards trapped civilians. The government and rebels both strongly deny targeting civilians. Top UN humanitarian official John Holmes is currently in Sri Lanka and is visiting camps of displaced civilians in the north-east. 'Propaganda' Human Rights Watch said that it had compiled a 45-page report based on a two-week fact-finding mission to northern Sri Lanka in February. It said "independent monitors" had told it that some 2,000 civilians had been killed and another 5,000 wounded in the past month. James Ross, legal and policy director at Human Rights Watch, said: "This 'war' against civilians must stop. Sri Lankan forces are shelling hospitals and so-called safe zones and slaughtering the civilians there." Mr Ross said civilians who escaped were held "in squalid military-controlled camps" and the government seemed "to be trying its best to keep its role in their ordeal away from public scrutiny". The government has not commented directly on the report but says it is doing all it can to avoid civilian casualties and accuses the rebels of using civilians as human shields. Human Rights Watch also urged the Tamil Tigers to permit trapped civilians to leave the war zone and to "stop shooting at those who try to flee". Mr Ross said: "With each battlefield defeat, the Tamil Tigers appear to be treating Tamil civilians with increased brutality." Both the Sri Lankan government and the UN have also accused the rebels of shooting civilians. Tamil Tiger political chief B Nadesan dismissed the accusations as "malicious propaganda". "There are 300,000 people who want to stay with us because they are confident that we are their guardians," he said. Independent journalists cannot travel to the war zone so claims on either side cannot be verified. Mr Holmes is currently on a three-day visit. On Thursday he urged Sri Lanka's army and the Tamil Tigers to do everything possible to avoid civilian casualties. "I hope to hear no more of shootings of people trying to leave or recruitment of children as soldiers," he said. The Sri Lankan defence ministry quoted Mr Holmes as saying the UN would help Sri Lanka to enable the return of normal life and normal democratic politics. Mr Nadesan told the BBC Sinhala service on Thursday the rebels were prepared to adhere to a ceasefire immediately if the international community could create a "congenial environment". The government has regularly dismissed any ceasefire and has vowed to crush the rebels. Separately, the army said it had found diving equipment and underwater "scooters" used by rebel suicide bombers. The equipment was found after fighting at the village of Ampalavanpokkanai on Thursday. About 50,000 soldiers are pressing the Tamil Tigers into a patch of north-eastern jungle after taking the key areas of Kilinochchi, Elephant Pass and Mullaitivu. The Tigers have been fighting for a separate homeland in the north and east for a quarter of a century.

Armed Conflict

March 2009

['(AP)', '(BBC)']

Pakistan's ambassador to Iran, Mohammad Bakhsh Abbasi, is hospitalised after becoming injured in an attack by an Afghan on his car in Tehran.

Pakistan's ambassador to Iran has been injured in an attack by an Afghan on his car in Tehran, officials say. The suspect was arrested, an Iranian foreign ministry spokesman quoted by state-run al-Alam TV said. Mohammad Bakhsh Abbasi was taken to hospital after the incident in the Iranian capital, although he was not reported to have been seriously hurt. The envoy was travelling without bodyguards or a driver, the foreign ministry spokesman said. An earlier report from Dubai-based al-Arabiya TV said two bodyguards had been killed. "The Pakistan ambassador's car has been attacked by an Afghan," foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast was quoted as saying. "The ambassador has been injured and he is in hospital. The Afghan has been arrested." A Tehran police chief reportedly said the ambassador had got into a confrontation as he went to a leisure centre he frequents. "He had a clash with a 21-year-old Afghan; he was injured on the head and fell," police chief Hossein Sajedi-Nia told Iran's Isna news agency.

Armed Conflict

May 2010

['(BBC)']

A suicide attack kills at least 35 people and injures 250 more in Lahore, Pakistan.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- Three suspects were arrested after an explosives-packed van reduced a police building to rubble Wednesday in eastern Pakistan, killing 27. The scene of an apparent suicide car bomb attack on a police building in Lahore on May 27. The morning attack in Lahore -- Pakistan's second-largest city -- also wounded more than 250 people, most of them police officers and staffers, authorities said. Fourteen of the dead included police officers. Three others were identified as bodies of "terrorists," said City Commissioner Khusro Pervez. Immediately after the blast, police arrested two of the suspects, said City Commissioner Khusro Pervez. Local television showed the men being led away by officers. Sir Ganga Ram hospital, which was damaged by the explosion, was treating 128 victims. Authorities expected the death toll to rise as rescue workers picked through twisted metal and other debris from the building, looking for more bodies. Watch more on the attack The attack comes amid a Pakistani military offensive to rout militants from their haven in the northwestern part of the country. Baitullah Mehsud, the leader of the Pakistan Taliban, had threatened to target major Pakistani cities if the operations did not cease. "The enemies of Pakistan are trying their very best to use every venue to destabilize the country," Interior Minister Rehman Malik told reporters Wednesday. The blast occurred on Mall Road near the city police headquarters and the high court. It is one of Lahore's busiest areas. A passenger van, laden with explosives, broke through a security barrier and was headed toward the police building when guards opened fire to stop it, said Lahore's district coordination officer, Sajjad Ahmed Bhutta. Watch rescue workers respond to the scene The two sides exchanged gunfire, with the attackers hurling grenades, said Faisal Gulzar, deputy police superintendent. The van exploded before it could reach the building. It was carrying an estimated 100 kilograms (220 pounds) of explosives, Bhutta said. The impact was immense. The targeted building -- Building 15 -- collapsed. It housed the city's rapid response team, which is dispatched during emergencies. At least 50 people were thought to have been inside the two-story building at the time, said police spokesman Ray Nazar Hayat. The police headquarters that sits adjacent to the building was also damaged. Motorcycles from a nearby dealership were strewed about, charred from the heat. The roof of four operating rooms caved at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, with 40 medical staff members suffering minor wounds. Police waved away onlookers in vain. Many of them jumped over the collapsed walls of Building 15 to look for survivors. Semi-conscious officers in blood-stained uniforms were pulled from under wooden planks. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, with suspicion falling on the beleaguered Islamic militants in the northwest who had vowed revenge. "We're doing our best," Malik, the interior minister, said of the offensive in the northwest. "Please do not forget we're in a state of insurgency. It's a fight for our survival. We had two choices: We surrender our country or we save it for our next generation." Lahore is Pakistan's cultural capital, far removed from the fundamentalist interpretation of Islam that is embraced in the north of the country, which borders Afghanistan. Still, it has sporadically been swept into widening Islamist violence that grips the country. In March gunmen hurled grenades and opened fire on officers at a police training center, killing at least seven cadets. The same month gunmen opened fire on a bus carrying members of the Sri Lankan national cricket team on their way to a stadium for a match. The attack wounded at least eight members of the team and killed a driver and six Pakistani police officers. "Everywhere in the city is insecurity," Haris Nadeem, a student in Lahore, said Wednesday. "You never know when a blast is going to occur or where. A shopping center? A government office?" Still, said Saleem Khan, residents forge ahead "We will avoid places when they are crowded, but we can't change everything," he said. "We can't stop going out of our houses. Life has to go on." CNN's Ingrid Formanek and Saeed Ahmed and journalists Zeeshan Ali Taher and Naser Habib contributed to this report. All About Pakistan The Taliban

Armed Conflict

May 2009

['(CNN)', '(BBC)']

At least 42 people are killed during one fire in the city of Monastir in the central east of the country, the current deadliest single incident of the month-long protests.

TUNIS (Reuters) - Forty-two inmates were killed in a prison riot in the Tunisian town of Monastir, the official TAP news agency quoted a hospital official as saying. “Some prisoners tried to escape from the prison, which led to complete chaos,” the agency quoted Ali Chedli as saying. “Some were able to escape and the others set fire to mattresses in a wing housing more than 90 prisoners. Those who died suffered from burns or smoke inhalation.” Reporting by Tarek Amara; Writing by Christian Lowe; editing by Tim Pearce

Fire

January 2011

['(Ennahar)', '(Ynetnews)', '(Reuters)', '(Al Jazeera)']

Bruce McArthur, a Toronto landscaper charged on January 18, 2018, in this decade-long investigation, pleads guilty in Ontario Superior Court to murdering eight men.

A Toronto landscaper accused of killing eight men who went missing between 2010-17 has pleaded guilty to their murders. Bruce McArthur, 67, was arrested last January and charged in the deaths of two men, and police subsequently charged him in six other cases. Most of his victims had links to Toronto's Gay Village neighbourhood. Many of the victims' remains were found in plant pots on one property in Toronto's Leaside neighbourhood. Each of the first-degree murder charges carry an automatic life sentence, meaning he will not be able to apply for release until the age of 91. His sentencing hearing will begin on 4 February, in which friends and relatives will be give impact statements, describing how the killings have affected their lives. The judge must also decide whether to sentence him to consecutive life sentences, or whether he can serve eight life sentences concurrently. In court on Tuesday, Crown prosecutor Michael Cantlon described how McArthur had "staged" and photographed the victims, keeping mementos such as jewellery and a notebook. He described all of the crimes as "sexual in nature", adding that there is evidence he tied the victims up during the murders. While many of the remains were buried in planters at 53 Mallory Crescent in Toronto, where McArthur worked as a gardener, others were buried in a nearby ravine. McArthur had an agreement with the home's elderly residents to store his landscaping equipment there in exchange for free lawn care, according to the authorities. Police say they found a duffle bag with duct tape, a surgical glove, rope, zip ties, a black bungee cord and syringes in his bedroom when they searched his property, according to court documents. They say that some of the victims were killed during a sexual assault or while being "unlawfully confined". The arrest launched a massive investigation that spanned Canada's largest city, one of the largest such investigations in the history of Toronto police. Investigators searched dozens of properties linked to the self-employed landscaper and looked into cold cases dating back decades. By Robin Levinson-King in the Toronto court In a packed courtroom, Bruce McArthur's eight guilty pleas marked the beginning of the end of a saga that has haunted Toronto's LGBT community for years. Dressed in a black cable-knit sweater and a plaid shirt, McArthur spoke softly and matter-of-factly when addressing the court, which was filled with family and friends of his victims. As the plea deal was read, they were stoic, but outside of the courtroom, many embraced with signs of relief in their eyes. For years, rumours of a serial killer stalking Toronto's Gay Village has left the city's LGBT community afraid. McArthur's conviction, and his subsequent sentencing to life in prison, will bring closure for many. But nagging questions remain: how did he get away with it for so long? Why did he do it? So far, all of the eight victims except one had ties to the city's Gay Village. Many were immigrants from South Asia or the Middle East. Members of Toronto's LGBT community have criticised police, saying they did not take their concerns about the missing men seriously. The first two alleged victims were identified in January as Andrew Kinsman, 49, and Selim Esen, 44, who both went missing in 2017. Since then, police have named Skandaraj Navaratnam, 40, who disappeared on Labour Day weekend in 2010; Soroush Mahmudi, 50, reported missing in 2015; Dean Lisowick, 47, who is believed to have been killed in April 2016; Abdulbasir Faizi, 42, who disappeared in 2010; Majeed Kayhan, 58, who disappeared in 2012; and Kirushna Kumar Kanagaratnam, 37, who police believe was killed in January 2016. Karen Fraser, one of the residents of the home where victims were recovered, told reporters outside the courthouse that the couple feels "violated" by the man they knew for more than a decade. "What does remorse look like? I only saw a blank face," she said, calling him "evil" and a "shuffling, broken man, as he should be". She had previously met two of the victims, whom she did not name, at her property with McArthur. She said thinking about their last moments "haunts her". "They're not just on a list or a photograph, they were people standing in front of me." Mrs Fraser said that in her mind, there were two Bruce McArthurs: "Bruce A" and "Bruce B". Karen Fraser, whose home was turned into a graveyard for McArthur’s victims when she let her landscaper and friend McArthur store things in her shed, says she’s “not big on closure”.“I’m not big on closure. Terrible things were done.” pic.twitter.com/A4n51dgtY8 Lead Homicide Detective David Dickinson said investigators are glad for the guilty plea, which will spare victims and families a trial. An independent review has been ordered to look into how police handle missing persons cases. "If mistakes were made we should learn from them," Detective Dickinson said. Alliance for South Asian AIDS Prevention Director Haran Vijayanathan, who has been speaking on behalf of many victims' families since McArthur's arrest, said they are grateful. "We have closure now finally. We don't have to guess and wait and anticipate and come to court meetings and just walk away with no answers," he said. "So this is really good for closure for everyone."

Famous Person - Commit Crime - Investigate

January 2019

['(BBC)']

U.S. President Donald Trump announces former United States Ambassador to the United Nations John R. Bolton will become his National Security Advisor, succeeding the outgoing H. R. McMaster.

WASHINGTON — President Trump accepted the resignation of national security adviser H.R. McMaster on Thursday — and then named John Bolton, a former ambassador to the United Nations and conservative foreign policy commentator, to succeed him. McMaster's ouster continues a period of particular turmoil in Trump's national security team, following the ouster last week of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who was replaced by CIA Director Mike Pompeo. That move, Trump said, was in preparation for upcoming top-level nuclear talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. But whereas Tillerson was fired by tweet, McMaster's departure appears to be more amicable. Trump and McMaster both released written statements thanking each other, with the president describing McMaster as an architect of his "America First" foreign policy. "He has won many battles and his bravery and toughness are legendary," Trump said. A 55-year-old three-star Army general, McMaster will retire from the military after 34 years. Bolton will take over April 9, Trump said. The new national security adviser is a 69-year-old lawyer who has been a controversial figure in the foreign policy establishment. He served as President George W. Bush's ambassador to the United Nations, but was appointed during a congressional recess and was never confirmed by the Senate. The national security adviser post does not require Senate confirmation. He previously served in State and Justice Department posts under President Reagan and both Bushes. Bolton's arrival may signal an even more hawkish Trump line on Iran and North Korea. In a Wall Street Journal op-ed last month, he outlined a legal case for a first strike against North Korea, calling the regime an "imminent threat."  He's made a similar argument about Iran, and as undersecretary of State for arms control in the run-up to the Iraq War, he argued for a pre-emptive invasion of Iraq to prevent the regime from using weapons of mass destruction — weapons that were never found in large quantities. A recent fixture on Fox News, he's also been a skeptic of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election — raising the possibility that it was a "false flag" operation. (The intelligence community has concluded that Russia was responsible for the hacking of emails belonging to the Democratic party and Clinton campaign officials.) In an interview Thursday on Fox News, Bolton declined to address any of his past statements. "They’re all out there on the public record. I've never been shy about what my views are," he said. "The important thing is what the president says and what advice I give him." In recent years, Bolton has run his own political operation, including a super PAC that bears his name, to support Republican candidates. The political action committee has relied on research from Cambridge Analytica, a voter profiling firm at the center of a controversy over what Facebook says was unauthorized of the social network’s data. In the 2016 election alone, Bolton's super PAC paid more than $811,000 to Cambridge Analytica for “survey research,” according to Federal Election Commission filings. Bolton will be Trump's third national security adviser: Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn was fired after less than a month for lying about his contacts with the Russian ambassador. Later last year he was indicted on related charges. For weeks, Bolton's increasing visits to the West Wing — including one witnessed by reporters Thursday — had prompted speculation he could be McMaster's successor. But officials repeatedly batted down those rumors. In December, press secretary Sarah Sanders described Bolton as a simply a friend of the president. "Somebody who he wanted to visit with, nothing more than that," she said. During that same time, the relationship between Trump and McMaster appeared to grow more tense. Last month, Trump upbraided McMaster after the general told a national security conference in Munich there was “incontrovertible” evidence of Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.  Trump tweeted: "General McMaster forgot to say that the results of the 2016 election were not impacted or changed by the Russians and that the only Collusion was between Russia and Crooked H, the DNC and the Dems," he said, using a nickname for former secretary of State Hillary Clinton.  An Army lieutenant general, McMaster was appointed national security adviser in February 2017 with a reputation for innovation in combat and challenging authority.  More:White House departures: Who's been fired and who resigned In 1991, he won a Silver Star for valor during the start of the ground phase of the Gulf War that defeated Iraqi forces. In 2005, he led a brigade in the embattled city of Tal Afar, pioneering the counterinsurgency tactics that became the centerpiece of Gen. David Petraeus’ strategy that brought relative stability to Iraq for a time. A graduate of West Point, McMaster went on to earn a doctorate in history from the University of North Carolina. His book, Dereliction of Duty: Lyndon Johnson, Robert McNamara, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Lies That Led to Vietnam, heaped criticism on military brass for supporting a war they doubted could be won. McMaster caught the eye influential officers on his ascent in the ranks, including Marine Gen. Jim Mattis, who recognized his ability when he oversaw Joint Forces Command in Suffolk, Va., and McMaster was a student at a training course for rising stars in 2009. Mattis is now Defense secretary. Though he could have returned to uniform and was eligible to be promoted to a four-star general, McMaster said he would instead retire. “After thirty-four years of service to our nation, I am requesting retirement from the U.S. Army effective this summer after which I will leave public service," he said in a statement. "Throughout my career it has been my greatest privilege to serve alongside extraordinary service members and dedicated civilians. I am thankful to President Donald J. Trump for the opportunity to serve him and our nation as national security adviser."   

Government Job change - Appoint_Inauguration

March 2018

['(USA Today)']

Six Egyptian police officers are killed and three wounded following a roadside bombing in the Sinai peninsula.

Six Egyptian policemen have been killed by a roadside bomb in the Sinai peninsula, the Egyptian interior ministry says. Two officers were also hurt in the attack, it said. The group was travelling in an armoured convoy in northern Sinai. Militants in Sinai have intensified their attacks on the security forces after the military overthrew President Mohammed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood last year. Tuesday's bombing took place on the road between Rafah, on the border with Gaza, and North Sinai's provincial capital, el-Arish, the interior ministry said. Responsibility for past attacks has been claimed by an al-Qaeda-linked group, Ansar Beit al-Maqdis. The group says it is avenging the hundreds of Islamists killed and thousands detained in a crackdown on Mr Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood.

Armed Conflict

September 2014

['(BBC)']

Since August 1, another round of pneumonic, bubonic, and septicemic plague spreads in Madagascar, killing at least 45 people. ,

Some might consider the plague a thing of the past, buried deep in medieval history. But it thrives in Madagascar, where the disease is a seasonal worry.? And this year, the country is experiencing what?may be its?deadliest outbreak?in years: About 194 people are suspected to have fallen ill from the plague since August, and 33 have died as of Saturday, according to Madagascars Ministry of Health. Experts say they cant remember the last time the death toll was so high. In 2016, 63 people died over the course of the year, out of 275 cases.?? The?majority of this years cases are pneumonic plague, which can be transmitted through coughing, according to the BBC. This form of the disease can kill an infected person in less than a day. To slow the outbreak, Madagascar is temporarily shutting down its public institutions. Government authorities ordered two universities to close, and other schools?have shut their doors across the country, including the capital, Antananarivo, so buildings can be sprayed?with insecticides. The World Health Organization has shipped more than a million doses of antibiotics to the country, the BBC reported. We are scared? all of these deaths show that the situation is serious, Miora Herinjatovo, 55, told Agence France-Presse on Wednesday.?She?got a?mask?from?a hospital? unlike her husband, who failed to get one after standing in line outside a pharmacy. He instead collected a handful of generic antibiotics. The plague, alive and well in Madagascar Experts?say the outbreak started in late August, when a 31-year-old man from the eastern city of Toamasina took a trip inland to Ankazobe, where the plague lives in rodent and flea populations. While there, he came down with malaria-like symptoms. He died in a taxi home, passing through Antananarivo, the WHO said in a Sept. 28 statement. The WHO said that many of the cases identified are directly or indirectly linked to the man, which is evidence of person-to-person transmission. Of the 31 people who made direct or indirect contact with him, four became ill and died, the WHO said.?Antananarivo and Toamasina were among the?most-infected cities: As of Sept. 30, Antananarivo and its suburbs had 27 cases and seven deaths, and Toamasina had 18 cases and five deaths. Antananarivo has about 1.3?million residents, while Toamasina has about 237,000, according to a 2014 count by the National Institute of Statistics in Madagascar. Public gatherings, including jazz festivals and basketball tournaments, have been called off to prevent the plague from spreading, according to media reports. One of the people killed by the plague last week was a basketball coach from?the Seychelles, who died while visiting the capital for a tournament, according to a WHO report released Thursday. Right now, we have the outbreak of a very infectious, fatal disease, said Katharina Kreppel,?an epidemiologist at the Ifakara Health Institute in Tanzania, who spent four years conducting field research in Madagascar. If people dont notice fast enough, or dont have access to health care fast enough, they die very quickly. Theres plague in Arizona. Authorities warn of fleas that can infect people and pets. This plague shares the same bacterium,?yersinia pestis, that caused the Black Death pandemic in Europe during the 14th century. The most common form of the plague in Madagascar was, until this year, the bubonic plague, spread to humans through infected fleas that contracted the infection from small animals they bit, like rats. The disease is typically spread to humans by the bite of an infected flea, according to?the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The bubonic plague is often treatable with antibiotics. If left untreated, though, the bacteria can spread through the bloodstream to the lungs and cause pneumonic plague a deadly, more infectious form thats now spreading throughout Madagascar. Symptoms of the pneumonic plague are similar to the common cold, according to?the CDC. The symptoms?of bubonic plague are fever, headaches, chills and weakness as well as one or more swollen and painful lymph nodes, known as buboes. The bacteria multiply in the lymph node closest to where the bacteria entered the body, usually through the infected flea bite, according to the CDC. If an infected person isnt given antibiotics, the bacteria can spread to other parts of the body. Should the bubonic plague become pneumonic, the person will develop shortness of breath, chest pain and sometimes bloody or watery mucous. The pneumonia may cause respiratory failure and shock. All forms of plague, if untreated, can progress rapidly to death, according to the CDC. There have been three major plague pandemics: The Justinian plague, which broke in the Byzantine Empire in AD 541; the Black Death, which originated in China in 1334 and spread to Europe; and the Modern Plague, which began in China in the 1860s and appeared in Hong Kong by 1894, according to the CDC. It was during the last pandemic that scientists identified the link between the bacteria and infectious flea bites, and rat-associated plague was soon brought under control in most urban areas. The plague has since been controlled in most countries with insecticides, according to the CDC. And since it can be treated with antibiotics, the spread of the disease is usually prevented if promptly identified. The plague is most commonly found in sub-Saharan Africa and Madagascar, areas which account for more than 95 percent of reported cases, according to the CDC.?Madagascar?often sees the highest?numbers of bubonic plague cases worldwide, about 600 infections annually. Madagascar has been in the throes of a political crisis since 2009 and has become one of the poorest countries in the world, with more than 92 percent of the population living?on less than $2 a day, according to the World Bank Group. Its lost a substantial portion of international aid, and its infrastructure has deteriorated. Once rice harvest season finishes at the end of summer, the rat population drops, as they dont have as much food. Fleas begin looking for new hosts to bite and settle on humans. As it is an island,?Madagascar is home to species that transmit the plague and often arent found anywhere else, Kreppel told The Washington Post. While Madagascars scientists have monitored plague patterns for years and have the knowledge to mitigate the spread of this new, pneumonic plague, the money and resources to do so arent available, Kreppel said. There isnt adequate funding for insecticides, spraying equipment or antibiotics, she said, and there arent enough?health facilities to house quarantined patients. The country cant afford the vehicles required to travel to isolated villages, should the disease spread further, Kreppel said. If an outbreak like this happened in the U.S. or Europe or anywhere else it would be controlled quite fast, because the resources are there, she said.

Disease Outbreaks

October 2017

['(The Washington Post)', '(Relief Web)']

The European Court of Human Rights, deciding about the so–called McLibel case, rules in favour of environmental campaigners Helen Steel and David Morris and their claim that their trial was unfair. The pair said their human rights were violated when their criticism of McDonald's was ruled libel. The case has taken 15 years.

The European Court of Human Rights said the lack of such aid effectively denied the pair the right to a fair trial. Helen Steel and David Morris, from north London, dubbed the "McLibel Two", were found guilty in a 1990s trial of libelling the company in a leaflet. England's libel laws may now be changed, although legal aid is now sometimes available in libel cases. Libellous leaflets The original legal wrangle - the longest civil or criminal action in English legal history - was triggered when McDonald's sued former gardener Helen Steel, 39, and former postman David Morris, 50. The pair had been handing out leaflets containing numerous allegations about the corporation's policies and practices. Neither Ms Steel nor Mr Morris wrote the leaflets, but became embroiled in the libel action launched in 1990 and ending only in 1997 - with of 314 days spent in court. At the end of the case the High Court ruled McDonald's had been libelled and awarded the company £60,000 in damages, later reduced to £40,000 on appeal. But he found the leaflet was true in some aspects. The Strasbourg court's verdict is the end of a subsequent courtroom fight in which the activists accused the UK Government of breaching their human rights. We believe there's an alternative where people and communities have control over decision-making and resources David Morris Longest case in UK history The court ruled they did not receive a fair trial as guaranteed under the Human Rights Convention, because of the lack of legal aid available to libel defendants, and that their freedom of expression was violated by the 1997 judgement. The pair were awarded £24,000 damages, plus costs. Reacting to Tuesday's decision, a spokesman for the Department of Constitutional Affairs said: "We are studying the judgement very carefully." Recent changes in the law mean that legal aid is now sometimes available in exceptional libel cases. Legal repercussions Libel lawyer Jeremy Clarke-Williams said the government would look at the libel laws in the wake of the decision "but I would be surprised if there were any changes as a result". He said the situation had changed since the case emerged in the 1990s. The cutback in legal aid and emergence of "no win no fee" agreements between lawyers and their clients had largely plugged the hole in provision which led to the action, he said. Joshua Rozenberg, legal editor of the Daily Telegraph, said: "I think the government will have to make legal aid available to people accused of libel who can't otherwise defend themselves. Although the so-called 'McLibel' case came to court in 1994, the allegations related to practices in the 80s McDonald's "The courts will not be able to order individual defendants to pay heavy damages to large corporations." Celebrating the decision outside a London McDonald's, Mr Morris said: "We believe in people power and we believe people should make the decisions themselves in their own communities." Ms Steel described the 15-year case as a "complete nightmare" but said it had been good to fight it. "Hopefully the government will be forced to change the law and that will mean greater freedom of speech," she said. McDonald's said it would not comment as it was not a party to the case. It said the libel trial related to practices in the 1980s and McDonald's had 'moved on' since then.

Famous Person - Commit Crime - Sentence

February 2005

['(BBC)', '(Scotsman)', '(CNN)']

Government-aligned militias kill 16 people during a raid in Wau, South Sudan.

NAIROBI (Reuters) - At least 16 people were killed in the South Sudanese town of Wau on Monday, said the United Nations, as witnesses said ethnic militiamen went house to house searching for people from other groups. Streets were deserted as families hid inside, residents told Reuters by phone. Some reported seeing killings. Witnesses said the militia members were aligned with the government in the country’s ethnically charged civil war. They accused army soldiers of blocking the main road to a civilian encampment protected by U.N. peacekeepers. U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said two U.N. peacekeeping patrols had been sent to the area on Monday and more were expected to patrol on Tuesday. The U.N. peacekeeping mission is known as UNMISS. “They saw 16 bodies of civilians in a hospital and at least 10 others were injured,” Dujarric told reporters in New York. “Eighty-four people have arrived at the UNMISS protection of civilians site in Wau, while at least 3,000 people have reportedly moved to a site run by the Catholic church in town and those are mostly women and children,” he said. South Sudan’s deputy army spokesperson, Colonel Santo Domic Chol, said fighting had first broken out during a mutiny by soldiers at the town’s prison. He was awaiting more information, he said. The fighting followed an ambush that killed a brigadier general and a colonel in Wau state over the weekend, a rebel spokesman based outside the country said. “This morning the government forces were retaliating against innocent Fertit people,” he said, referring to a local ethnic group. The International Committee of the Red Cross said it is flying a surgical team to Wau. “The ICRC has received multiple requests to assist medical staff in Wau with patients wounded in the violence,” a spokesman said. A staff member at Wau Teaching Hospital said all the bodies it had received appeared to be civilian and all had gunshot wounds. Five residents, all of whom asked not to be named, described members of the president’s Dinka ethnic group searching for members of the local Luo and Fertit groups. The head of the military is also Dinka. “We are still inside hiding,” said one man by telephone, speaking from a Wau neighborhood called Nazareth. “I have seen four dead bodies of my neighbors.” “Armed militias are moving from house to house,” one resident said. “It is an ethnic crackdown.” Another said he had fled an attack that had killed many people, including his cousin. South Sudan descended into civil war in 2013 after President Salva Kiir, a Dinka, fired his deputy, Riek Machar, a Nuer. Fighting since then has often split the oil-producing country along ethnic lines and created a patchwork of armed factions. The country is awash with weapons after decades of conflict with neighboring Sudan and local feuds over land. In another part of Wau, a resident saw two bodies near a feeding center and a couple killed beside the road as they tried to flee to a nearby civilian encampment protected by U.N. peacekeepers. More than 200,000 people have taken refuge in such sites set up across the country after widespread ethnic killings, many by soldiers. Campaign groups have accused both sides of atrocities. Two residents said soldiers had blocked off the road leading to the protected site in Wau. “I and my two sisters tried to get a way to the UNMISS protection site, but we can’t because the road is blocked by government soldiers,” one woman said. “I saw one woman together with her husband who was killed because they tried to run to UNMISS.” The army’s Chol said the mutiny had broken out on Monday morning. “Some four prison soldiers in Wau prison decided to mutiny and shot at their own colleagues. They killed two,” he said. He said there had been fighting in Wau state for the past three days but had no further details on Monday’s fighting, apart from the fact it was taking place along ethnic lines. “The type of the rebellion which is taking place in Wau ... it is more or less tribal,” he said. The 15,000-strong U.N. peacekeeping mission, which has a base in Wau, has not been able to stop the killing. “We are aware of the situation in the town and we are looking into it,” U.N. spokesman Daniel Dickinson said. Additional reporting by Michelle Nichols at the United Nations; Editing by Larry King and James Dalgleish

Armed Conflict

April 2017

['(Reuters)']

2015 Masters Tournament: In golf, the final round of the Masters Tournament is held at the Augusta National Golf Club with American Jordan Spieth winning his first championship at the age of 21. Spieth is the second youngest player to win the Masters after Tiger Woods, he ties Woods's record for the lowest winning total, and becomes the fifth man to lead from start to finish. ,

The presentation ceremony is happening at Augusta. Organisers take a small lifetime in acknowledging and reading out the contributions of various golf associations from across the world (yes, Taiwan, Mexico - they all get a mention!) Jordan Spieth is impressively composed and humble with his victory speech. He leaves little doubt that now that he has one green jacket, he also wants another one. The 21-year-old thanks his family, friends and his caddy. Spieth also shows he has a touch of humour, referring to his receding hairline. "There's a reason why I have a hair-line like this, because it's stressful what we do," he says. Alex Lavelle reports from Augusta: American Jordan Spieth has launched himself onto the world stage with a dominant wire-to-wire victory in the US Masters. Spieth is 21, the same age as Tiger Woods when he won at Augusta for the first time in 1997. He finished at 18 under par with a final round of 70, to win by four from Justin Rose and Phil Mickelson. Spieth became the only player ever to get to 19 under at Augusta, but a bogey at the last meant he ended up equalling Woods' record score of 270 " Read more "It's the most incredible week of my life," Spieth says during his post-tournament interview and just before putting on the green jacket. "It didn't kick in then (when I saw my friends beside the 18th) and it still hasn't kicked in." Jordan Spieth (USA) -18. 64, 66, 70, 70 Phil Mickelson (USA) -14. 70, 68, 67, 69 Justin Rose (ENG) -14. 67, 70, 67, 70 Rory McIlroy (IRE) -12. 71, 71, 68, 66 Hideki Matsuyama (JPN) -11 Paul Casey (ENG) -9 Ian Poulter (ENG) -9 Dustin Johnson (USA) -9 Hunter Mahan (USA) -8 Zach Johnson (USA) -8 THERE IT IS! THE WIN IS COMPLETE. Jordan Spieth secures the US Masters and he fabled green jacket at just 21 years of age. It's an enormously popular result. The well-wishers are coming from everywhere, including his high school mates. He's the second youngest to ever claim the green jacket and the first 'wire-to-wire' winner since 1976. For the record, Tiger Woods holds the record as the youngest ever winner. Justin Rose finishes at 14-under. Just waiting for Spieth to finish now .... Simply a massive gallery circles the 18th (and 72nd) hole at Augusta. We're now seeing images of Spieth's family as the young star walks up the fairway. Just a little spine-tingling. Bubba Watson comes up and passes on his congratulations to his mum and dad. OK, so he's human. Jordan Speith finds the rought to the right on the 18th. But, it simply won't matter. The final pairing have holed out on the 17th. Just one hole to come and the magic moment for Jordan Spieth.

Sports Competition

April 2015

['(Sydney Morning Herald)', '(CNN)']

David Clark resigns as New Zealand's Minister of Health after security mistakes at quarantine facilities just days after the country had been declared free of COVID-19. Clark also received strong criticism for personally breaching lockdown rules twice. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern had refused calls to sack the minister.

WELLINGTON (Reuters) - New Zealand’s embattled health minister resigned on Thursday after security slip-ups at quarantine facilities where the coronavirus was detected just days after officials declared it had been eliminated from the country. David Clark’s departure, which also followed criticism for his personal breaches of strict lockdown rules earlier in the year, comes as New Zealand heads into a September general election. “It has become increasingly clear to me that my continuation in the role is distracting from the government’s overall response to COVID-19 and the global pandemic,” Clark, who was criticised for taking his family on a beach trip and driving to a mountain biking track, said. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, who had earlier refused calls to sack Clark, citing his critical role in the country’s response to the pandemic, said she agreed with his decision. Three years after becoming the world’s youngest female leader, Ardern remains popular, lauded for her compassionate response to last year’s Christchurch shooting and swift handling of the coronavirus crisis. But blunders by her ministers have drawn claims from the opposition there is a lack of talent in her cabinet, a potentially damaging charge ahead of the September election. Ardern’s popularity skyrocketed early in the pandemic as she took decisive action limits its spread, imposing one of the world’s toughest lockdowns. But opinion polls released last week show the conservative National Party has managed to trim some of Labour’s lead. “She has no confidence in anyone else not to drop the ball,” National Party leader Todd Muller said. Grant Duncan, an associate professor of politics at Auckland’s Massey University said the opposition had been granted an opportunity to “talk of the government’s failure to deliver and incompetence.” Clark’s resignation would help dampen that rhetoric, he added. Ardern declared in early June that New Zealand had eliminated coronavirus, although she warned there would almost certainly be new cases, as she lifted social distancing restrictions. Just days later it was revealed that two women who arrived from Britain who were allowed to leave quarantine early on compassionate grounds later tested positive for the virus. The country still has no known cases of community transmission, but there are 18 active cases at the border through returning New Zealanders. Ardern appointed Education Minister Chris Hipkins as interim health minister until the September election. It is the second time in 18 months Arden has reshuffled her cabinet, replacing her housing minister last year after he came under fire for the failure of the government’s flagship public housing project.

Government Job change - Resignation_Dismissal

July 2020

['(Reuters)']

Mortar rounds fired from Libya land near the Tunisian border town of Dehiba.

TATAOUINE, Tunisia, May 5 (Reuters) - More than a dozen mortar rounds fired from Libya landed near the Tunisian border town of Dehiba on Thursday, a Tunisian security source said, as Libyan government troops fought rebels in the Western Mountains. A resident of Dehiba said one of the mortar rounds landed near a reservoir supplying the town with drinking water. Artillery fire from Libya has landed in or near Dehiba several times in the past week, as forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi try to wrest control of a key border post from rebels. (Reporting by Tarek Amara; Writing by Matt Robinson; Editing by Tim Pearce)

Armed Conflict

May 2011

['(Reuters Alertnet)']

Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal and Real Madrid is named the winner of the 2013 FIFA Ballon d'Or as the year's top male player. Nadine Angerer of Germany and the Brisbane Roar is named FIFA Women's World Player of the Year.

Cristiano Ronaldo has won the Fifa Ballon d'Or for the second time after a stellar year. The Real Madrid forward was emotional as he collected his award and thanked his team-mates for their support. "First of all I have to say a great thanks to all of my team-mates with the club and the national team," he said. "Without all of their efforts this would not have been possible. I am very happy, it is very difficult to win this award. "Everybody that has been involved with me on a personal level I have to thank. My wife, my friends, my son. It is a tremendously emotional moment. All I can say is thank you to everybody that has been involved." Scoring at a ratio of over a goal a game, he became the quickest Real Madrid player to reach 200 goals for the club and signed a new deal at the Bernabéu in what was a sensational 2013 for the 28-year-old. He also scored in both legs of Madrid's Champions League tie against his former side Manchester United but could not help his compatriot José Mourinho capture any silverware in his final year at the club. Ronaldo won the 2008 Ballon d'Or for his performances as a Manchester United player but since then has seen his great rival Lionel Messi walk off with the prize four years in a row while he has finished as a runner-up three times. Messi may have dropped below his own high standards in the last year – averaging a meagre goal a game and winning only his sixth Primera Division crown with Barcelona – but he was hoping to collect his fifth straight Ballon d'Or. Messi's importance to Barcelona was highlighted during an infamous Champions League mauling at the hands of Franck Ribéry's Bayern Munich in April when the 26-year-old was an unused substitute in the second leg as he struggled to overcome a hamstring issue. Ribéry enjoyed being part of an all-conquering Bayern side who swept everyone away domestically and on the European stage, hammering Messi's Barcelona 7-0 on aggregate in their Champions League semi-final before going on to beat their German rivals Borussia Dortmund in the Wembley final. While Ribéry collected winners' medals for the Bundesliga, the German Cup, Champions League, Super Cup and Fifa Club World Cup competitions, Ronaldo did not win a single team accolade with his Real Madrid side in 2013. But the Ballon d'Or is awarded for individual prestige and the Portugal captain once again shone brightly for much of the year. The first ever Ballon d'Or prix d'honneur was awarded to Pelé. "In the great sweep of history, there are few names that stand out. But when we think of football, there is one name that leaps out above all others," said the Fifa president Sepp Blatter. "No player has had such an influence on the game. No one has inspired so many to play. His legacy speak to us all. His verve and skill were timeless. His creativity limitless, his good nature boundless." "I got so many trophies and prizes but I was jealous because all of those guys who got the Ballon d'Or, which I couldn't get because I didn't play in Europe," Pelé said. "Now I thank God that I can complete my trophies at home." The Fifa/Fifpro World XI 2013 was also named and featured the Bayern Munich goalkeeper Manuel Neuer, the defenders Philipp Lahm, Sergio Ramos, Thiago Silva and Dani Alves, the midfielders Iniesta, Xavi and Ribéry and the forwards Messi, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Ronaldo. Jupp Heynckes, who won the Champions League and the German league and cup with Bayern Munich last season, was named as the coach of the year over his fellow Champions League final coach, Dortmund's Jürgen Klopp. The retired former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson was the third nominee for the coach of the year but he did not attend the ceremony as he is on a family holiday in Barbados. The German goalkeeper Nadine Angerer, who plays in Australia for the Brisbane Roar, was named as the women's world player of the year ahead of the Brazilian Marta and the American Abby Wambach. The women's coach award went to Silvia Neid, who is in charge of the Germany team. "I have to say that I'm a little surprised, but very thankful. First of all I have to thank everybody that voted for me. I just want to pay my respects to Marta and Abby who have had an incredible year too," Angerer said. Ibrahimovic won the Puskas award for the most beautiful goal of the season for his long-distance bicycle kick while playing for Sweden against England. The former head of the International Olympic Committee Jacques Rogges won the presidential award while the Afghanistan football federation were awarded the fair play award.

Awards ceremony

January 2014

['(The Telegraph)']

The President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev visits Kunashiri, one of the southern Kuril Islands that are the subject of the Kuril Islands dispute between Russia and Japan.

(CNN) -- Russia's president visited the disputed Kuril Islands on Monday, over Japanese protest, Russian state media said. The Japanese government, which had urged against the visit, quickly responded after the trip. Prime Minister Naoto Kan told reporters President Dmitry Medvedev's visit was ''extremely regrettable.'' Medvedev visited the island of Kunashiri, the first time a sitting Russian president has set foot on any of the chain of more than 50 islands in the northwest Pacific. He made the stop during an Asian tour that included a meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations over the weekend in Vietnam. "To bring the people's living standards on the islands up to the level of Russia proper, it is necessary to make sure that the services that the citizens receive in this remote region are comparable to those in ... the rest of the country," Medvedev said on state television. "It is necessary to ensure that doctors and other specialists go there." Medvedev said on state television that after speaking with residents, he believes the islands do not have enough medical specialists, and called for a plan that would include a housing construction program to provide housing to those who choose to move there as an incentive. The Kurils stretch between Russia in the north and Japan in the south. Following Japan's defeat in World War II, the Soviet Union in 1945 annexed the four southernmost islands, which previously belonged to Japan. Ever since, the islands -- called the South Kurils by Russia and the Northern Territories by Japan -- have been the subject of dispute. That dispute has prevented the two countries from signing a formal peace treaty following World War II. In a speech on Russian state TV, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov called Japan's reaction to the visit "unacceptable." "It is our land," he said. "The Russian president visited Russian land, Russian territory, a Russian region. We have explained that to our Japanese partners. The Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement posted on its website that it told Masaharu Kono, the Japanese ambassador in Moscow, that Japan's protests over the visit were impermissible. "It was indicated to the Japanese side that its attempts to influence the choice of domestic routes by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev were totally unacceptable and incompatible with neighbourly relations between Russia and Japan that have taken place in recent years," the statement said. Lavrov had said earlier that the ambassador would be summoned to the ministry "and we will once again clearly and unequivocally reiterate our position. We will not take any steps that might impede the Russian-Japanese cooperation, but the Japanese side should, of course, draw conclusions."

Diplomatic Visit

November 2010

['(Reuters)', '(CNN)']

The military junta shuts down the country's internet with a near-total blackout in effect amid growing protests against the coup.

Myanmar's military rulers have shut down the country's internet as thousands of people joined the largest rally yet against Monday's coup. A near-total internet blackout is in effect with connectivity falling to 16% of ordinary levels, said the monitoring group NetBlocks Internet Observatory. In the main city, Yangon, crowds chanted "Military dictator, fail, fail; Democracy, win, win". Police with riot shields have blocked the main roads into the city centre. The internet shutdown happened hours after the military blocked access to Twitter and Instagram to stop people mobilising for protests. Facebook had been banned a day earlier. Many users had evaded the restrictions on social media by using virtual private networks (VPNs) but the more general blackout severely disrupted that. Civil society organisations urged internet providers and mobile networks to challenge the blackout order, Reuters news agency reported. Human rights group Amnesty International called the shutdown "heinous and reckless" and warned it could put the people of Myanmar at risk of human rights violations. The military has not commented. It temporarily blocked access to the internet following the coup on 1 February. On Saturday morning, protesters - including factory workers and young students - called for the release of those detained by the army, including elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi. They marched through the streets of Yangon as city buses sounded their horns in support. Bystanders flashed the three-finger Hunger Games salute, which has become a symbol of defiance against authoritarianism, while residents clapped or banged pots and pans on their doorsteps. Many households have also been displaying red stickers in their windows in support of Ms Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) party, the BBC's Burmese editor Soe Win Than reports. Police with riot shields used barbed wire to block roads and water cannon were put in place in some areas as a precaution, but the demonstration reportedly remained peaceful, with no attempt by protesters to pass police lines. Demonstrators gave police roses and bottles of drinking water, calling on them to support the people not the new regime. One female protester, who asked not to be named, said she would not accept the "unjust seizing of power". "Because of military dictatorship, many of our lives have been destroyed," she said, adding: "We cannot allow our future generations to meet the same fate." Speaking from Yangon, Britain's ambassador to Myanmar, Dan Chugg, told the BBC that people were taking to the streets in increasing numbers. "The grief and the sadness of the last few days is gradually turning to anger," he said, adding: "Doctors are refusing to work and civil servants have been refusing to work... There's quite a sense around the country of unhappiness at what's happened - and outrage." Another demonstration took place on Saturday in Myanmar's second city, Mandalay. Myanmar - also known as Burma - has remained mostly calm in the aftermath of the coup, and there were no immediate reports of violence after Saturday's protests. More demonstrations were expected to be held later. The military authorities are hunkered down in the capital, Nay Pyi Daw, and have so far avoided direct engagement with the protesters. The BBC's Nyein Chan in Yangon says the Burmese know very well the violent crackdowns that the military is capable of. The country was ruled by an oppressive military government from 1962 to 2011. But now that people have had time to digest what is happening, they are finding different ways to get their voices heard, our correspondent says. Ms Suu Kyi is under house arrest, according to her lawyer. Police documents show she is accused of illegally importing and using communications equipment - walkie-talkies - at her home in the capital. The coup took place as a new session of parliament was set to open, following November's landslide election win by the NLD party. Many Burmese watched the events unfold in real time on Facebook, which is the country's primary source of information and news. But three days later, internet providers were ordered to block the platform for stability reasons. Following the ban, thousands of users were active on Twitter and Instagram using hashtags to express their opposition to the takeover. By 22:00 local time (15:30 GMT) on Friday access to those platforms had also been denied. There was no official word from the coup leaders but AFP reported it had seen an unverified ministry document that said the two social media sites were being used to "cause misunderstanding among the public". A spokeswoman for Twitter said the ban undermined "the public conversation and the rights of people to make their voices heard". Facebook, which owns Instagram, called on the authorities to "restore connectivity". Myanmar is a country of 54 million people in South East Asia which shares borders with Bangladesh, India, China, Thailand and Laos. It was ruled by an oppressive military government from 1962 to 2011, either directly or indirectly, leading to international condemnation and sanctions. Aung San Suu Kyi spent years campaigning for democratic reforms. A gradual liberalisation began in 2010, though the military still retained considerable influence. A government led by Ms Suu Kyi came to power after free elections in 2015. But a deadly military crackdown two years later on Rohingya Muslims sent hundreds of thousands fleeing to Bangladesh. It triggered a rift between Ms Suu Kyi and her previous supporters in the international community after she refused to condemn the crackdown or describe it as ethnic cleansing. But she has remained hugely popular at home, shown in her party's landslide win in the November election. Have you been affected by recent events in Myanmar? You can share your experience by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk. Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also get in touch in the following ways: If you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or comment or you can email us at HaveYourSay@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any submission. Banging pots and pans to protest

Protest_Online Condemnation

February 2021

['(BBC)']

Pro-Russian separatists agree to release four of eight Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe observers held hostage since April.

DONETSK Ukraine (Reuters) - Rebels in southeast Ukraine early on Friday released four out of eight international observers, captured over a month ago, in an apparent goodwill gesture that could help pave the way to a resolution of the conflict that has so far claimed hundreds of lives. Pro-Russian separatists had detained eight observers from the Vienna-based Organisation for the Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), a key security and rights body, tasked with monitoring an agreement drafted in Switzerland in April to de-escalate the crisis that has pitted the rebels against leaders in Kiev. Four observers from Switzerland, Turkey, Estonia and Denmark, part of the 100-strong mission, were brought by heavily armed rebels to a hotel in downtown Donetsk, where they were handed over to their colleagues. Another four remain in rebel captivity in the neighboring Luhansk region. "It was a long road and this release is the fruit of good will and it was unconditional," Alexander Borodai, prime minister of the self-styled Donetsk People's Republic, told reporters. "I am hoping we can facilitate the release of the four remaining observers." Securing the release of the four OSCE hostages has been a part of peace consultations between mediators of the Kiev government, OSCE, Russia and rebel leaders. The ceasefire between the rebels and the government, set to expire later on Friday, has already been marred by a number of violations, including the downing of a Ukrainian helicopter earlier this week with the loss of all nine people on board. Mark Etherington, the senior OSCE mediator in southeastern Ukraine, said the mission was "profoundly grateful" to all who facilitated the release of the hostages. He did not elaborate. (Reporting by Aleksandar Vasovic; Editing by Alessandra Prentice and Leslie Adler)

Famous Person - Commit Crime - Release

June 2014

['(Reuters via Yahoo! News)']

Indian politician Narendra Modi addresses a meeting of Indian–Americans via satellite. He claims there is a "disinformation campaign" against India.

Denied a visa for a business visit to the US, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi today spoke to an Indian-Americans audience over satellite telling them that a "disinformation campaign" was being launched to malign India. "I have no grievance against the US or the people of that country over the visa denial issue," he said and went on to criticise those who rallied against his US tour. Modi asked Indians living in that country to act as ambassadors to counter the propaganda being launched by certain motivated groups having vested interests in defaming India. Appealing to the NRIs to make India an "investment locale and global hot spot", Modi, in his hour-long address from his residence through tele-conferencing, try to sell the concept of a "robust and developed" Gujarat. Gujarat is a state with "robust and world class infrastructure, effective water management policy and a gas-based economy", he told a large gathering at New Jersey. There is sufficient scope of investments in the state with several Special Economic Zones, apparel parks, marine biotechnology parks and pharmaceuticals and agro-product industries, he added. To a question on the visa denial issue from a participant in the US, Modi said "I have no reaction. I believe only in action". A handful of people managed to publish false information and succeeded in defaming India. Such false campaigns could be countered by putting forth facts along with explanations, he said. Pointing out that Gujarat in the recent years earned several accolades, including awards from the World Bank and United Nations, for good governance, Modi mentioned various developmental schemes launched by his government. On tourism front, he appealed to the NRIs to "inspire five non-Indian families to visit India. This will result in a ten-fold increase in Indian tourism". To a question after the tele-conference on a campaign in the UK regarding his proposed visit there, Modi told reporters "some individuals earn their bread in this manner". Click to get a Job!

Famous Person - Give a speech

March 2005

['(Sify)', '(Outlook India)']

Syrian officials confirm the detention of an Al Jazeera reporter, Dorothy Parvaz, who has been missing since Friday.

(CNN) -- Family members and friends of an Al Jazeera journalist detained last week in Syria were relieved when news of her whereabouts surfaced Wednesday, but they now have concerns as to when she will be released. The Syrian government acknowledged holding Dorothy Parvaz, a reporter with the Al Jazeera English network, who had gone missing after arriving in Damascus on Friday to cover the ongoing unrest in Syria, the network said. But Syrian officials later said that the 39-year-old journalist had been flown to the Iranian capital on May 1 after entering Syria on an expired passport and with "tourism" as her declared reason for travel, according to a statement from the Syrian Embassy in Washington. Authorities say they searched Parvaz and discovered a large sum of undeclared Syrian currency in cash, along with transmitting equipment. She was then was escorted by the Iranian Consul to Caspian Airlines flight 7905 enroute to Iran, her country of origin. "It is very regretful that a journalist working for a world-renowned news agency such as Aljazeera International would attempt to enter a country on two illegal accounts: an expired passport, and by providing false information on official documents regarding her travel reason," the statement said. "It is even more troubling if her employer was aware of, and condoned, this illegal activity, accepting to send her into such harm's way." But on Monday, Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi expressed his concerns regarding her detention to state-run TV, IRIB. "I hope that it is not true, but if that is the case, then we demand the government of Syria to look into this," said Salehi. Al Jazeera said in a written statement that the network is "worried about Dorothy's welfare, security and safety." "Syria should release her immediately," the network said. Meanwhile, Parvaz's family members said they have had no direct contact with her since she disembarked from a Qatar Airways flight in Damascus last Friday. "We're thankful for the official confirmation, it's a good first step which now allows U.S., Canadians and Iranian officials to take further action," said Todd Barker, Parvaz's fiance, of Luxembourg. "We trust that they will be treating her with the respect that she deserves," said her father, Firouz Parvaz of Vancouver, Canada. Parvaz holds U.S., Canadian and Iranian citizenship and has worked for Al Jazeera since 2010. Kristen Young, a friend and former colleague with Parvaz at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, said Parvaz had recently returned from reporting on the aftermath of the earthquake in Japan and had covered political strife in Iran. Thousands of supporters from around the world have started a social media campaign on Facebook, "Free Dorothy Parvaz" and Twitter #FreeDorothy in an effort to draw attention to her disappearance. "It's such a horrible situation, all you can do is take action," Young said."E-mail everyone you know, call everyone you know, put it on Facebook." Syria has been roiled for six weeks by anti-government protests and has largely prevented foreign journalists from covering the unrest. Media organizations have been relying on social media, eyewitness accounts and cell-phone video to report the story. Dozens of international journalists have been detained and expelled from Syria since March 15, when anti-government protests began, said Mohamed Abdel Dayem, program coordinator for the Committee to Protect Journalists in the Middle East and North Africa. Syria, according to the committee, has always been one of the worst countries in the region for local and international reporters. Dayhem called Syria's admission that it was holding Parvaz a positive development. "The announcement that they are indeed holding any given journalist is usually a precursor to them being released and expelled. Those two things always go hand in hand. Every [international] journalist who has been detained since March 15, once they are released, they are expelled," said Dayem. Dayem said a regime already restrictive of press freedoms has turned increasingly repressive. "Syria has always been one of the worst countries in the region for local and international reporters. A bad situation has only gotten worse."

Famous Person - Commit Crime - Arrest

May 2011

['(CNN)']

A student dies after allegedly being shot during a violent clash between the protesters and police force in front of the provincial parliament building in Kendari, Indonesia.

A student from Halu Oleo University in Kendari, Southeast Sulawesi, has died after a demonstration in front of the provincial legislative council (DPRD) building descended into violence on Thursday. The 21-year-old student, identified as La Randi, died after allegedly being shot. He was brought to Dr. R. Ismoyo Hospital at 3:30 p.m. in a critical condition with a chest wound. “[Randi] has passed away,” Kurniawan Hendrik, the coordinator of the student protest, confirmed to The Jakarta Post on Thursday evening. Another Halu Oleo University student, Laode Muhammad Yusuf Farwadi, underwent surgery at Bahteramas Hospital after he suffered severe head injuries. He was in a critical condition as of 7:50 p.m. Jakarta time on Thursday. Head of the Indonesian Ombudsman’s Southeast Sulawesi office Mastri Susilo, who visited Randi at the hospital, also confirmed that the student died despite receiving treatment from medical personnel. “We will launch an investigation into where the bullet [came from],” Mastri said as quoted by tempo.co, adding that he suspected the incident was the result of a failure to follow police procedures. Randi’s body was reportedly taken to Abunawas General Hospital in Kendari for an autopsy. Student protests in front of Southeast Sulawesi DPRD ended in clashes between protesters and the police on Thursday, with police firing water cannons and tear gas after some protesters made an attempt to break through the council building’s gate. Southeast Sulawesi Police denied any involvement in Randi’s death, with police spokesperson Adj. Comr. Sr. Harry Goldenhardt saying that the personnel securing the protests were armed with neither live rounds nor rubber bullets. “The personnel only had batons and tear gas canisters,” Harry said as quoted by tempo.co. The rally in Kendari on Thursday was the latest in a series of rallies held by tens of thousands of students nationwide since Monday, in protest at controversial bills ─ including a revision to the Criminal Code ─ and what they perceive as attempts to roll back the country’s democracy and anticorruption commitment. Some of the protests, including those held in Jakarta and Makassar, South Sulawesi, on Tuesday, saw hundreds of students injured, with dozens of others in the capital still unaccounted for as of Thursday. Reports filed with public advocacy groups in Jakarta have alleged police personnel used excessive measures when dealing with protesters, as well as journalists who are covering the protests. Human rights groups have demanded an investigation into the death of Randi, as they called for the police to refrain from using excessive force when handling student protests. “The authorities should immediately launch a thorough, independent and impartial investigation and the perpetrator should be brought to court,” Amnesty International Indonesia executive director Usman Hamid said. Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) coordinator Yati Andriyani concurred with Usman, as she “condemned” the police’s slow response to demands its personnel refrain from using harsh measures during student protests.

Protest_Online Condemnation

September 2019

['(The Jakarta Post)']

Four people are killed and over 30 injured in a car bomb attack at a funeral for a senior Libyan National Army commander in Benghazi.

BENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) - At least four people were killed and 33 wounded when a car bomb hit a funeral of a former senior military commander in the east Libyan city of Benghazi, a spokesman for the eastern administration’s interior ministry said. The funeral at Benghazi’s Huwari cemetery was for Khalifa Mismari, the assistant commander of Libya’s special forces under former leader Muammar Gaddafi, who was toppled in 2011, a military source said. A Reuters witness saw two burned out cars at the scene of the blast. According to the military source, the current head of the special forces, Wanis Bukhamada, was attending the funeral but was unharmed. Since 2014, Libya has been divided between rival political and military factions based in Tripoli and the eastern part of the country. The special forces have become a key unit aligned with Khalifa Haftar, the military commander who controls eastern Libya. Since early April, Haftar has been waging an offensive to try to take the capital Tripoli, in the west of the country, though his campaign has stalled. Reporting by Ayman al-Warfalli; Writing by Ahmed Elumami and Aidan Lewis; Editing by Alison Williams and Emelia Sithole-Matarise

Armed Conflict

July 2019

['(Reuters)']

Flooding hits large parts of England and Wales.

Householders and business owners have been warned to be prepared for further flooding, as torrential rain sweeps across the country. The Met Office issued an amber alert for the east, south-east and south-west of England and there were concerns that more rain in mid and west Wales could cause further damage. By lunchtime on Monday the Environment Agency had issued 35 flood alerts – signalling that flooding is possible – for parts of the south and north of England, the Midlands and Wales, after up to 50mm of rain fell in a few hours. One flood warning – meaning flooding was expected and immediate action would be needed – was issued for areas of Surrey and West Sussex around Gatwick airport. The airport said services were working normally. Firefighters in West Sussex received more than 80 flood-related calls between 10.30pm on Sunday and 3am on Monday. Some homes in Littlehampton were under 1.2 metres of water, and a temporary centre for evacuees was set up at a leisure centre. About 40 properties were affected. A fire service spokesman said: "There are no reports of any injuries, but people are being urged to stay out of floodwater due to the dangers of lifted manhole covers and water contaminated with sewage." Some schools on the south coast were closed and health emergency cases were diverted from Worthing hospital in West Sussex to a nearby centre. There were road closures and some traffic disruption throughout the south-east. The weather is proving a bonus for pest control firms, who are reporting an increase in callouts to rat infestations. Rats are thought to be moving close to the surface as they flee flooded sewers. In the Welsh village of Pennal in Gwynedd, between Machynlleth and Aberdovey, a landslide blocked a channel through which water normally drains from a disused quarry. The heavy rain meant the quarry was in danger of filling and the water spilling into the village below. North Wales police told people to leave their homes and most of the 600 residents moved in with friends or relatives or into the leisure centre at Machynlleth, where a temporary refuge had been set up. Emergency services managed to cut a new channel from the quarry to allow water to seep out and residents were told it was safe to return. A fire service spokesman said: "The pressure on the reservoir was immense, so public safety was paramount. We have managed to avert a very serious situation." Hundreds of residents and holidaymakers returned to homes and caravans in and around Aberystwyth which had been hit by floodwater up to 1.5 metres high. Firefighters were continuing to pump out water. About 150 people had been rescued or evacuated after 150mm of rain fell in 24 hours, twice as much as normally falls in the whole of June. Two teenagers were winched to safety after a static caravan where they were staying was surrounded by floodwater. Emily Nickless, 18, and Leigh-Anne Wharton, 17, were asleep in the caravan at the Riverside park in Llandre, near Aberystwyth, when Emily's grandfather, Sam Nickless, spotted it on TV coverage of the floods and rang to warn them they were surrounded by water. They called for help and were rescued by an RAF helicopter crew. Emily said: "I got woken up by a call on my mobile. It was my granddad, he told me to look out the window because the campsite was on the news because it was under water. When we opened the door, it was terrible. It was impossible to get out." The Welsh first minister, Carwyn Jones, said the government was spending £40m on bolstering flood defences and tackling coastal erosion over the next year. "The reality is you can't prevent flooding at all times, especially when you get very unusual weather patterns such as we've seen over the last few days in this part of Wales. The situation will be examined, we'll talk to the Environment Agency about what could be done to help boost flood defences in the future," he said. Health officials in Wales warned people to stay away from the floodwater and to seek medical advice if they had accidentally swallowed any and felt ill. In Waterlooville, Hampshire, a man had to be rescued by firefighters after his car became stuck in a deep water in a ford and started taking in water running off from nearby fields. The water had reached seat-level by the time the man was helped to safety. Mick Crennell, of Hampshire fire and rescue, said: "This incident highlights the dangers of attempting to drive through deep water and it gives an indication of how quickly the situation can change and become life-threatening." Parts of the M1 in West Yorkshire were shut during the night after flash-flooding made driving hazardous, but the road was reopened by Monday morning.

Floods

June 2012

['(The Guardian)']

Proactiva notes the finding of five corpses the Libyan coast; these were floating near two capsized boats which could each hold more than 100 people.

More than 200 migrants are feared dead after five bodies were discovered off the Libyan coast, a Spanish aid organisation says. Proactiva said the bodies were found floating near two capsized boats which could each hold more than 100 people. The group's Laura Lanuza said the five they pulled from the Mediterranean were young men who appeared to have drowned. A spokesman for Italy's coast guard, which co-ordinates rescues, confirmed the five deaths. The spokesman told the BBC that the coast guard could not confirm whether any boats had sunk, and said no distress calls had been received. Ms Lanuza said at least 240 migrants may have died as the boats were often overloaded by smugglers. "We brought on board five corpses recovered from the sea, but no lives," the group wrote on its Facebook page. "It is a harsh reality check of the suffering here that is invisible in Europe." Numbers of migrants trying to reach Europe from Libya via Italy have risen dramatically this year since the route between Turkey and Greece was effectively shut down. The Italian coast guard said they had co-ordinated more than 40 rescue operations in the last few days. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) says more than 20,000 migrants have arrived in Italy so far this year - and some 559 people are estimated to have died or gone missing en route. This compares with fewer than 19,000 arrivals in Italy and about 350 deaths in the first three months of 2016. "We have yet to complete March, and we are already racing at a pace of arrivals that has exceeded anything we've seen before in the Mediterranean," IOM spokesman Joel Millman said earlier this week. "This is typical of spring, getting very busy, but it's not typical to have the numbers be so high this early and the corresponding deaths that go with it."

Shipwreck

March 2017

['(BBC)']

Russian and Syrian warplanes carry out airstrikes in southern Idlib, killing three civilians and wounding others.

by Loaa Adel Sep 21, 2017, 7:48 pm Idlib (Syria News) Civilians were either killed or wounded, on Thursday, in air strikes carried out by Russian warplanes on Khan Sheikhon City, in southern Idlib. Qasioun News reported that Russian warplanes conducted air strikes on the city of Khan Sheikhon, in southern Idlib, killing three civilians and wounding others. Furthermore, Syrian regime warplanes carried out air strikes and dropped explosive barrels on the villages of Tariya and Tahtaya, in southern Idlib, causing material damage but no casualties were reported. Syrian and Russian warplanes are intensifying their air strikes for the third day, where more than 140 air strike were conducted on the towns of Idlib and Hama. Meanwhile, Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham and other opposition militias are carrying out military operations on the Syrian army locations, in northern Hama, and managed to capture several headquarters near the city of Maan.

Armed Conflict

September 2017

['(Iraqi News)']

Ethan Couch, the socalled "affluenza" teen who violated probation for killing four people when driving while intoxicated when he disappeared from Tarrant County, Texas, is taken into custody in Mexico. Mexican officials will remand Couch and his mother, with whom he fled, to the U.S. Marshals Service.

FORT WORTH, Texas/PUERTO VALLARTA, Mexico (Reuters) - A rich Texas teenager who fled with his mother to Mexico to avoid possible jail time for violating his probation in a drunken-driving crash that left four people dead planned the flight and even held a farewell party, U.S. authorities said on Tuesday. Officials working to get ‘affluenza’ teen back on U.S. soil 01:15 Ethan Couch, 18, became known as the “affluenza” teen during his trial in juvenile court over the 2013 crash. He and his mother were captured by Mexican authorities on Monday in the Pacific Coast beach city of Puerto Vallarta. They were likely to be returned to the United States on Wednesday. During Couch’s trial, a psychologist sparked outrage by saying in his defense that Couch was so wealthy and spoiled he could not tell the difference between right and wrong. He was sentenced to 10 years drug-and-alcohol-free probation for intoxication manslaughter, a punishment condemned by critics as privilege rewarded with leniency. Couch and his mother, Tonya Couch, fled the country after a video surfaced online apparently showing Couch at a party where beer was being consumed. Authorities had been investigating that video as a potential parole violation. Couch had missed a mandatory meeting with his probation officer, prompting officials in Tarrant County, Texas, to issue a warrant for his arrest earlier this month. Couch and his 48-year-old mother were tracked down and captured near Puerto Vallarta’s seafront promenade. Mexican authorities said they had been working with the U.S. Marshals Service since Dec. 24 to locate the pair. The mother and son apparently entered Mexico by land, said Ricardo Vera, a local official for Mexico’s National Migration Institute. He said the two did not register when entering Mexico and it was not clear where they came in. Vera said owing to a shortage of seats on Tuesday flights to Houston, the two were now more likely to return to Texas on Wednesday from Jalisco’s state capital, Guadalajara. “They had planned to disappear,” Tarrant County Sheriff Dee Anderson told a news conference in Fort Worth, Texas. “They even had something that was almost akin to a going-away party before they left town.” When they arrived back in the United States, Couch would appear in juvenile court and his mother would be arrested for hindering an apprehension, Anderson said. Related Coverage Ethan Couch’s attorney, Reagan Wynn, declined to comment, saying in a statement he had not had the chance yet to speak with his client. In Puerto Vallarta, eyewitness Cristina Barraza said she saw Tonya Couch’s arrest. She was led with hands behind her head by a man in plainclothes to a white pickup truck in front of a modest four-story building where the pair were reportedly staying. Afterwards, the vehicle sped off, said Barraza, saying she did not see Ethan Couch during the arrest. She also recalled an exchange with the mother last week as she sat outside her home on the sidewalk across the street. “She came along here and greeted me in Spanish. She was nice.” Jalisco’s Attorney General Eduardo Almaguer told reporters the pair had first stayed in a bungalow close to the beach, then moved to a “more discreet” apartment further into town. They were detained while arriving back at the apartment on Monday evening and put up no resistance, he said. A police booking picture from Mexico showed the previously blond Ethan Couch with dark hair, which the sheriff said suggested Couch was trying to change his appearance. Tarrant County District Attorney Sharen Wilson said that she expected the judge to hold Couch after his juvenile hearing, and that she hoped it would be in an adult jail. At a previously scheduled Jan. 19 court hearing, Wilson had planned to ask a judge to transfer Couch’s case into the adult court system from the juvenile system, putting Couch under stricter supervision and leaving him open to harsher punishment if he violated probation. If he were in the adult system, Couch could face 120 days in jail for not meeting with his probation officer as required, and he could face up to 40 years in prison if he violated probation again after that, Wilson said. U.S. Marshal Rick Taylor and Anderson declined to say how authorities tracked Couch down, but CNN said the marshals used Couch’s mobile phone to locate him. ‘HANDS-OFF’ PARENTING In the fatal accident, Couch, then 16, was speeding and had a blood-alcohol level of nearly three times the legal limit when he lost control of his pickup truck and fatally struck a stranded motorist on the side of the road and three people who had stopped to help. Susan Cloud, a friend of Brian Jennings, one of those killed, said she felt conflicted about what should happen to Couch, but wished he had not thrown away his second chance under his probation. “I feel more negatively toward his mother than I do him,” Cloud said. “The parents seem to have a completely hands-off approach.” Sheriff Anderson said last week that the passports for Couch and his mother had been reported missing by the teen’s father, who has cooperated with investigators. Fred Couch is divorced from the mother and owns a successful sheet metal business near Fort Worth. The “affluenza” term was apparently used for the first time explicitly in defense during Couch’s trial, but has been a theory in sociological and psychological circles since the late 1990s to explain the impact of indulgent parenting, said Daniel Medwed, a criminal law professor at Northeastern University in Boston. The notion of rich kids getting leniency based on their advantages sparked a public backlash against the theory, Medwed said, adding, “My hunch is this latest parole incident will mark the end of its use.” Additional reporting by Anahi Rama and Veronica Gomez in Mexico City, Robert Iafolla in Washington, Letitia Stein in Tampa, Florida and Melissa Fares in New York; Writing by Ben Klayman; Editing by Jonathan Oatis, Frances Kerry and Tom Brown Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. More From Reuters 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 - Accuse

December 2015

['(Reuters)']

Two–time Pulitzer Prize winner Anthony Shadid dies suddenly at age 43 of an acute asthma attack.

Our veteran Lebanon reporter Nicholas Blanford recalls the courage, humility, and friendliness of his Lebanese-American colleague, who died yesterday while reporting in Syria. February 17, 2012 Anthony Shadid, the Middle East correspondent for The New York Times who died Thursday of natural causes while on a reporting assignment in Syria, was, quite simply, the best. The quality and depth of his reporting from across the region, particularly Iraq, was peerless, leaving the rest of us regional foreign correspondents stumbling in his wake in rueful admiration of his bravery, modesty, and innate talent. Perhaps part of that talent came from the fact that while he grew up in America, he was of Lebanese descent and thus had a cultural affinity with the region he was covering. Although he began reporting from the region from 1995, first with the Associated Press in Cairo, then The Boston Globe and The Washington Post, it was in Iraq where he rightly achieved renown. Reading Anthony’s work, one sensed that he had an ability to shut himself off from the pressures of deadlines and the demands for instant analysis to take the time and thought to patiently locate, extract, and expose the soul of a story. He did this with unforgettable and moving portraits of individual people attempting to cope with the rigors and fears of life in post-2003 Iraq. These elegantly written and nuanced reports, which became his trademark, offered a far more compelling and powerful insight into the realities of Iraq than the pedestrian daily accounts of the ebb and flow of the conflict. His two Pulitzer Prizes for International Reporting, awarded in 2004 and 2010, were justly deserved. Anthony set a blistering pace in the competitive world of journalism. Even while he was busy racing between Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya to report on the startling developments of the Arab Spring, he still found time to scoop us all in his coverage of Syria. In May 2011, Anthony scored a fascinating and frank interview with Rami Makhlouf, Syria’s über-oligarch and cousin and confidante of President Bashar al-Assad. Mr. Makhlouf’s boast that the regime would fight to the end in a struggle that could turn into a sectarian war and destabilize the Middle East revealed the arrogance of power and also left embarrassed Syrian officials scrambling to downplay the impact of his words. Anthony had won an unprecedented invite from Makhlouf to Syria in response to his profile of the influential regime insider published in The New York Times days earlier. Not content to land the first interview with Makhlouf in the Western media, Anthony returned to Syria days later, this time without an invite. He became the first foreign reporter to clandestinely slip into Syria, boldly riding a motorcycle across a remote stretch of Syria’s border with Lebanon to reach Homs, Syria’s third-largest city, which was just then beginning to bear the brunt of the regime’s crackdown. Anthony was an extraordinarily brave journalist. In 2002, he was shot in the shoulder by an Israeli soldier while covering the Palestinian intifada in the West Bank. Last year, he was one of four New York Times reporters who were abducted for six days and threatened with death while covering the uprising in Libya – an incident in which their driver almost certainly died. In an article for the Times, they expressed remorse. "If he died, we will have to bear the burden for the rest of our lives that an innocent man died because of us, because of wrong choices that we made, for an article that was never worth dying for," they wrote. Shadid was no gung-ho war junkie, however. Instead, he accepted that taking calculated risks were sometimes necessary to get to the truth of a story. The first time I met him was at the beginning of the war between Israel and Lebanon’s militant Shiite Hezbollah in the summer of 2006. We were newly arrived in the southern port of Tyre where a growing band of journalists were mulling the risks of proceeding into the hill country south east of the town. The area had become a killing zone where all vehicles – even those bearing the supposedly protective motif “TV” taped to the roof – were perilously vulnerable to the Israeli jets and pilotless drones prowling the skies above. While the rest of us were eyeing each other, wondering who would be first to make the move, Anthony quietly put on his flack jacket and climbed into his car. He told me he hoped to reach a village called Srifa which had been bombed a few days earlier, reportedly killing two dozen people. Anthony returned a couple of hours later, shaken. Bomb-cratered roads had thwarted his trip to Srifa and he had endured near misses from artillery and been harassed by angry and frightened villagers. But he had set the example for us to follow and in the days ahead we all began making perilous forays from the relative safety of Tyre. Yet for all his bravery, there was none of the swagger and bravado one sometimes finds in war correspondents. In fact, his courage was matched only by his genuine humility, friendliness, and quiet sense of humor. Following the 2006 war, Anthony took time off to stay in Marjayoun, his ancestral town in south Lebanon. He was born and raised in Oklahoma City, which boasts a large expatriate Lebanese population, many of them originally from the Marjayoun area. He spent an idyllic few months fixing up his grandfather’s old home, exploring his Lebanese roots and writing his third book, “House of Stone: A Memoir of Home, Family and a Lost Middle East," which will be published next month. Anthony died on Thursday in Syria, not from a bullet wound, explosion or at the hands of a gunman, but from an asthma attack, according to his colleague and friend, New York Times photographer Tyler Hicks. The attack came as the two of them walked toward the border with Turkey after several days of covert reporting inside Syria. His death has left a gaping hole in Middle East reportage, but his legacy will remain in his exemplary newspaper articles and books and in the inspiration he fostered among younger generations of journalists. Get the Monitor Stories you care about delivered to your inbox. Last June, Anthony gave the commencement speech at the American University of Beirut, where, in reference to his recent unnerving experience in Libya, he spoke with typical modesty and eloquence about the risks he took to convey the story. “There is nothing exhilarating about escaping death. Its very prospect felt to me like a poison, spreading through your body. It lingers far longer than the bruises, and it lasts long after the memories fade of hands and legs bound by wire, in scenes so familiar to me over so many years in Baghdad and all the other cauterized cities in Iraq.” Already a subscriber? Login Monitor journalism changes lives because we open that too-small box that most people think they live in. We believe news can and should expand a sense of identity and possibility beyond narrow conventional expectations. Our work isn't possible without your support. Already a subscriber? Login Dear Reader, About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”: “Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.” If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism. But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in. The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908. We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

Famous Person - Death

February 2012

['(Christian Science Monitor)']

In chess, Vishwanathan Anand, the loser of the World Chess Championship 2013, earns the right to challenge Magnus Carlsen for the World Chess Championship 2014 by winning the Candidates Tournament with one round to spare.

Amid mounting tension, Viswanathan Anand’s defensive skills came to the fore and foiled 24-year-old Russian Sergey Karjakin’s desperate bid for victory. After six hours, the eventual draw gave Anand the title with a round to spare in the World Candidates chess tournament at Khanty Mansisyk, Russia, on Saturday. The 91-move draw with black pieces took Anand’s tally to eight points from 13 rounds and put him 1.5 points clear of a five-man pack in the second spot. After the longest game of the competition, a “too tired” but pleased Anand said: “I was pleasantly surprised how I played. Before the tournament, I did not know what to expect. But it went ridiculously well. To win this tournament is incredibly important. It’s a very, very strong field. Very happy with my results, obviously. Today was close, one day when I was shaky, and perhaps, under the circumstances, I should not whinge too much.” The unbeatable lead confirmed Anand’s claim to be the challenger to Magnus Carlsen in the World title match in November. Last year, Carlsen had dethroned Anand in Chennai. Major factor A major factor that settled the title in the penultimate round was the shock defeat of second-placed top seed Levon Aronian. The pre-event favourite and World No. 2 lost to the lowest rated player in the field, Russia’s Dmitry Andreikin, and that helped Anand’s cause. Taking the lead after winning the first round against Aronian, the 44-year-old Anand never trailed. By becoming the challenger, Anand also becomes the first player to be in the world title matches eight times and winning in all three formats — knockout, double-round robin and match-play. His effort this month has also brought him €135,000! On a day when Vladimir Kramnik avenged the loss suffered to bitter-rival Veselin Topalov, Anand and Karjakin were involved in a Queen’s Gambit battle. As the game approached the first time control, a tactical skirmish followed when Anand won back a pawn by trading rook for a bishop and knight. The position that followed demanded precise play from Anand and he was equal to the task. On this day, Anand’s vast experience stood out and provided another example of why the chess world respects his endgame skills. The results: 13th round: Sergey Karjakin (Rus, 6.5) drew with Viswanathan Anand (8); Dmitry Andreikin (Rus, 6.5) bt Levon Aronian (Arm, 6.5); Vladimir Kramnik (Rus, 6.5) bt Veselin Topalov (Bul, 5.5); Peter Svidler (Rus, 6) drew with Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Aze, 6.5).

Sports Competition

March 2014

['(The Hindu)']

A wildfire near Willow, Alaska in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough burns over 6,500 acres, numerous structures and closes the George Parks Highway, severing the road link between Anchorage and Fairbanks.

"Travelers should expect delays and intermittent closures depending on fire activity. The goal of the day is to keep the road open and move vehicles through the area with pilot cars but that is dependent on fire activity," the Alaska Division of Forestry said. Check with the 511 road status system before traveling, the Department of Transportation and Public Facilities said. For travelers between Anchorage and Fairbanks, an alternative route via the Richardson and Glenn highways avoids the fire zone. Update, 10:49 a.m.: Mara Hill and her friends were driving south on the Parks Highway from a weekend trip to Fairbanks and Chena Monday morning. They saw no obvious signs of fire until they reached roughly Mile 77, where flames were visible from the roadway. "It was pretty much right up to the trees," Hill said. Cars were being let through on the Parks Highway one direction at a time. Hill said her group waited 30-40 minutes to get through. The smoke was thick. "We could see through the smoke, several cars in front of us. But the smell was enough that even with the windows rolled up and air off I found myself breathing through my mouth." Update: 10:37 a.m.: Firefighters from the West Lakes Fire Department, in the Big Lake and Meadow Lakes area, responded to a small brush fire at 9:45 a.m. Monday near the powerful Sockeye Fire, according to Mat-Su Emergency Services director Bill Gamble. The Horseshoe Lake Fire was about 50 feet in diameter and was controlled in about 15 minutes, Gamble said. Gamble did not immediately know the cause of the fire. Gamble said the Horseshoe Lake fire did not use resources from the Sockeye Fire. Update, 10:18 a.m., Fairbanks: Alaska Railroad passenger trains left on time Monday morning from Anchorage and Fairbanks. A railroad spokesman said the railroad is not transporting any hazardous materials and that speeds will be reduced through the fire area. The spokesman said an emergency vehicle will travel well in front of the train. Update, 10:10 a.m., Houston: At an shelter for weary evacuees from the wildland fire roaring through the Susitna Valley, the Matanuska-Susitna Borough's emergency manager told Willow residents the soonest they could return to their homes would be Tuesday. Casey Cook told about 30 people eating biscuits and gravy Monday morning the "hot and fast" fire now has a perimeter of about 18 miles. Some homes have burned, Cook said, but the borough won't have specifics until it completes a door-to-door damage assessment that began Monday morning. The Alaska State Troopers are "trying to curtail" residents from returning to homes off the Parks Highway, he said. Smoke dulled the air at Houston Middle School, and evacuees asked if they'd have to move again, after a shelter at Willow Community Center closed Sunday when the fire neared. No -- at least, not yet, Cook said. "Right now this is probably the safest place for you folks." Original story: Officials were in the Willow area Monday trying to determine the extent of damage from the Sockeye Fire, which scorched a destructive path through the area, while the fire continues burning into a second day, heading south. Matanuska-Susitna Borough officials were conducting an on-the-ground assessment early Monday to how much damage the fire had caused. Sunday evening the borough estimated that 10 to 15 structures had burned. Officials Monday morning couldn't immediately confirm how many additional structures were destroyed, but expected that number to grow, and hoped to have a new estimate by noon. An ever-expanding 15-mile evacuation corridor runs along the Parks Highway from north of Willow down to the Nancy Lakes area, with some 1,700 residential structures inside its perimeter, according to an update posted early Monday by the Matanuska-Susitna Borough and Alaska Division of Forestry, which administers the state's firefighting forces. As of late Sunday evening, the fire estimated at 6,500 acres was burning on both sides of the Parks Highway, running due south. As of midnight, the fire had reached the Crystal Lakes Road subdivision. The National Weather Service on Sunday issued a red flag warning for the Susitna Valley, meaning high winds and low humidity could lead to dangerous fire weather. The forecast called for north winds from 10 to 25 mph and 12 to 20 percent relative humidity. The warning was in place through Monday. One firefighter was treated for heat exhaustion. Some 210 residents signed in overnight at the evacuation centers in Houston, near Talkeetna, and at the North Star Bible Camp on Willow Fishhook Road, according to the update. Shelters are at Houston Middle School at Mile 53 on the Parks Highway and the Upper Susitna Senior Center at Mile 99. Close to 200 emergency personnel from multiple agencies are responding to the incident, according to the state and borough. The Parks Highway will be opened as firefighting and public safety allow, officials say. Officials said to expect periodic closures over the next few days and pilot cars guiding traffic through. A Forestry Division update said the highway was open to limited traffic during the early hours of Monday morning. The latest report on the Sockeye Fire near Willow is that the Parks Highway is now open. A pilot car is leading cars... In a tweet Monday morning, Mat-Su Borough officials said Alaska State Troopers were stopping cars to alternate north and southbound traffic at mile 66.5. Five "hot shot" crews from the Lower 48 have been ordered for the fire and are expected to arrive Monday. Fire managers expected the fire to calm down overnight but continue to spread before picking up again. The Federal Aviation Administration issued temporary flight restrictions in the area to accommodate firefighting aircraft. The fire started Sunday afternoon on West Sockeye Avenue, about 7 miles north of Willow just off the Parks Highway. Authorities say the fire was human-caused. Rumors among evacuees blamed fireworks, but authorities said an investigation continues. By Sunday evening, with the fire rampaging down the Parks Highway and bearing down on downtown Willow, hundreds of people took to emergency shelters. More found refuge with friends or family. Many left their homes with pets but also horses and sled dogs. Willow is home to scores of competitive and recreation dog mushers. A Facebook group, Sockeye Willow Fire Pet and Home Resource Finder, was established to help evacuees who needed help with animals. Despite reports that flames overtook Capital Speedway racetrack in Willow, owners there posted updates on social media that no structures were lost. But residents who evacuated their homes now don't know if they still stand. Houston residents posting on social media overnight said they are getting ready to leave as a precaution, in case the fire makes it that far south. By Monday, a tweet from the National Weather Service in Anchorage noted the Sockeye Fire was already large enough to be detected overnight on nighttime satellite imagery. A voluntary evacuation area extends from Mile 63 to Mile 78 of the Parks Highway. Between that stretch of highway the evacuation area stretches west to the Susitna River and two miles east of the Parks Highway. The fast-moving fire started at just 2 acres -- two football fields, minus the end zones -- but quickly exploded out of control as it ran, pushed by swirling winds and high temperatures, through stands of black spruce. Response shifted from one state Division of Forestry wildland fire helicopter and an engine to multiple engines and tankers from West Lakes and Central Mat-Su fire departments to multiple initial attack wildland fire crews from around Alaska, including the Pioneer Peak crew based out of Palmer. Planes and helicopters dropped retardant and water. Multiple aircraft were dispatched to the fire to drop retardant and water on the fire. The Matanuska-Susitna Borough is handling evacuation procedures.

Fire

June 2015

['(Alaska Dispatch News)']

People in the Autonomous Region of Bougainville vote to choose between more autonomy within Papua New Guinea or outright independence. However, the Papua New Guinea central government will have the final say on accepting independence.

The autonomous Papua New Guinea region's non-binding referendum is the ultimate provision of 2001's Peace Agreement which formally ended hostilities in Bougainville's civil war. People queue at a referendum polling booth in Buka as voting gets underway in Bougainville for the autonomous PNG region's referendum on possible independence. Bougainvilleans have entered into celebratory mode for this historic occasion. Bougainville flags are everywhere, festivities have broken out, and the mood around the region indicates that the favourite option on the ballot is number two: for independence, rather than greater autonomy within PNG. The two week polling period starts in the main centres of Buka and Arawa as well as numerous remote locations and then will move around Bougainville progressively. In coming days polling also gets underway in other parts of PNG and two locales in neighbouring countries - in Brisbane, Australia and Gizo in Solomon Islands. Bad weather is threatening to delay the start of polling in Bougainville's atolls. But at this stage nothing will dampen the spirits of a people who are clearly expectant that this is the next step towards the birth of a new nation. A cultural group performing in Bougainville Photo: RNZ Pacific / Johnny Blades Cultural groups have been performing in anticipation of the start of polling in parts such as Tinputz district. A ward representative in Tinputz, Peter Aromet, said Bougainvilleans had been eagerly awaiting this moment since the end of the crisis about two decades ago. According to him, the experience of going through civil war had shaped the region's aspirations for independence. "During the crisis people went through a lot of traumas. If we can turn those traumas into something good, from pain to something positive... I believe that all these traumas that we've come through, that we went through, we can use them for something positive." Arawa-based social worker and reconciliation leader Theresa Jaintong. Photo: RNZ Pacific / Johnny Blades "People are very excited about what is expected especially the process between now an December," said Theresa Jaintong, an Arawa-based social worker and reconciliation leader. In terms of how the vote may pan out, Ms Jaintong said the ball was firmly in the court of Bougainvilleans. "It's up to us Bougainvilleans really to embrace the outcome and then what government will go into, and then drive it together. We have to be really united - the whole Bougainville - at all cost." Like many people in Bougainville, Mr Aromet is anticipating a period of transition following the outcome of the referendum, although a time frame is yet to be mapped out by the PNG and autonomous Bougainville governments. Expectations placed in the referendum by Bougainvilleans are high, although the vote result requires ratification by PNG's parliament before being implemented. "If the outcome is positive or in favour of the Bougainvilleans, it might not turn out as people expect," Mr Aromet admitted. "But I believe it's going to take a process. We'll go to a transitional period - it might take five or ten years, then we'll go to independence." Bougainvilleans will begin voting tomorrow in an historic referendum to decide if they want independence from Papua New Guinea. Bougainvilleans are being encouraged to consult with teams holding transitional dialogue on what happens after the upcoming referendum. As Bougainville nears its self-determination referendum, the mine that sparked its bloody civil war is seen as the key to potential independence from Papua New Guinea. A new type of government must emerge in Bougainville after the upcoming referendum, says the former leader of the Bougainville Revolutionary Army. Communities on Bougainville's atolls hope the upcoming independence referendum is an impetus for improved services to the remote islands.

Government Job change - Election

November 2019

['(RNZ)']

The finals of the robot football World Cup are held. A Chinese team defeats the Netherlands in the finals of the middle–weight non–humanoid league, while another lost in the final of the small humanoid class to a team from Japan.

Football playing robots built by researchers at Eindhoven University have lost the final of the Robocup World Cup 4-1 to a Chinese team. The Dutch team, with players such as Robodinho, were defending champions and beat the same Chinese team, named Water, in 2014 and in 2012. The Chinese won the event in 2011 and 2013, when they also faced Tech United in the final. The robots play independent football and are not controlled by humans during the game. The Robocup competition was launched in 1997 with the aim of stimulating research into robotics and artificial intelligence.

Sports Competition

July 2015

['(DutchNews)', '(BBC)']

The 2016 NBA All-Star Game is held in Toronto, Canada, with the Western Conference All-Stars defeating the Eastern Conference All-Stars 196 to 173.

Giannis Antetokounmpo scores 35 points on 16-for-16 shooting, an All-Star Game record, to lead Team LeBron's big victory and win the Kobe Bryant MVP Award. From viral deep 3-pointers to Giannis' perfect night, here are the standout moments from All-Star 2021. Take a look back at the highlight-filled duel as Team LeBron defeated Team Durant 170-150 at the 2021 All-Star Game in Atlanta. Bucks forward wins All-Star Game MVP after finishing 16-for-16 from the floor, scoring a game-high 35 points. Second-year guard becomes first Trail Blazer to win, nearly kissing the rim on his title-clinching dunk. Stephen Curry's second victory in the contest makes him just the seventh player to win multiple times (2015, 2021). The Pacers star becomes the fourth big man to win the competition. After winning the Kia All-Star MVP, Giannis Antetokounmpo joined GameTime to discuss his perfect shooting performance, the value of the NBA's community outreach efforts in Atlanta and the positive impact of HBCU's. Anfernee Simons wins the 2021 AT&T Slam Dunk championship. Steph Curry narrowly defeats Mike Conley in the MTN DEW 3-point contest. Go in depth on Team LeBron's win over Team Durant led by Giannis Antetokounmpo, Stephen Curry and Damian Lillard. The Cleveland Cavaliers will host the league's marquee midseason event for the third time next February. Expecting the league's business to 'continue apace' as pandemic recovery unfolds, Adam Silver held court during his annual All-Star news conference. The game court was designed in collaboration with HBCU alumni from various schools. The funds are in support of York as a largely minority-serving institution and its affiliation with the Thurgood Marshall College Fund HBCUs, Thurgood Marshall College Fund, the United Negro College Fund, National Association for Equal Opportunity and Direct Relief’s Fund for Health Equity are named as NBA All-Star 2021's beneficiaries. The NBA All-Star Game is always a showcase for the NBA's best and brightest. The marquee event of All-Star Saturday Night has an illustrious list of high-flying champs. From Larry Bird to Steph Curry, the NBA's best long-range shooters have claimed the 3-point crown. Dribbling, passing, shooting and court sense are always tested in the NBA's annual skills competition.

Sports Competition

February 2016

['(NBA)']

Protestors breach the walls of the U.S. embassy compound in Sana'a, Yemen. Yemeni police fire warning shots in the air and four people are killed. The Egyptian ministry of health says 224 people are injured in demonstrations around the embassy in Cairo. In Kuwait, 500 people gather and chant near the embassy.

Protests against an anti-Islam film made in the US have spread across the Middle East and North Africa. In Yemen, demonstrators briefly stormed the grounds of the US embassy in Sanaa and burnt the US flag, but were driven back by security forces. In Egypt, 224 people were injured in protests, the health ministry said. In Libya, where the US ambassador was killed during protests in Benghazi on Tuesday, officials said they had made some arrests over the attack. US officials say they are investigating whether the attack in Libya was planned, citing suspicions that a militant jihadist group may have co-ordinated the violence. Libya's new Prime Minister Mustafa Abu Shagur told the AFP news agency there had been a "big advance" in the investigation in Benghazi. "Arrests have been made and more are under way as we speak," he said. Deputy Interior Minister Wanis al-Sharif said that police were gathering evidence and, in addition to those arrested, some militants were being closely monitored. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton condemned the film which gave rise to the protests as "disgusting" and "reprehensible". The US utterly rejected its contents and its message, she said, but the film was no excuse for violence. Police in Sanaa shot in the air, but failed to prevent crowds from gaining access to the embassy compound and setting fire to vehicles. Security force reinforcements used tear gas, water cannon and live fire to drive protesters back. There were reports of injuries on both sides, although the Reuters news agency carried a statement from the embassy saying there were none. Windows were smashed. A US flag was torn down and replaced with a black flag bearing the Muslim statement of faith, "There is no god but Allah". In Washington, a White House spokesman said all those working in the Sanaa embassy were safe and accounted for. In Egypt, protests erupted for a third day outside the US embassy in Cairo, with some demonstrators demanding the expulsion of the ambassador. Police fired tear gas at crowds throwing stones. Islamist groups and others have called for a "million-man march" in Cairo on Friday. The Muslim Brotherhood, the Salafist al-Nour party and non-religious groups including the "Ultra" fans of Zamalek football club have invited Muslims, Coptic Christians and all Egyptian citizens to join them. President Mohammed Mursi appealed for calm, saying Egyptians "reject any kind of assault or insult" against the Prophet Muhammad. "I condemn and oppose all who... insult our prophet. [But] it is our duty to protect our guests and visitors from abroad," he said in a statement broadcast by state media. "I call on everyone to take that into consideration, to not violate Egyptian law... to not assault embassies." In other developments: US officials have described the Benghazi attack as complex and professional, and suggested the attackers may have used the film protest as a pretext for the attack. Reuters quoted officials as saying there were suspicions that a militia known as the Ansar al-Sharia brigade was responsible, although the group has denied the claim. The officials said there were also reports that al-Qaeda's North Africa-based affiliate, al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, may have been involved, the news agency reports. The obscure film which has sparked anger, called Innocence of Muslims, was shot in the US and posted online earlier this year. Clips have since been shown on Arab TV stations. It depicts the Prophet Muhammad as a womaniser and the bloodthirsty leader of a ragtag group of men who enjoy killing. The BBC's Alastair Leithead says the exact origin of the movie and the internet clip, and the motivation behind its production, remains a mystery. The most offensive comments regarding Muhammad appear to have been dubbed on later, says our correspondent. Some of the actors involved have since condemned the film, and said they had no idea it was to be used as anti-Islam propaganda.

Protest_Online Condemnation

September 2012

['(BBC)', '(AFP via Google News)']

10,000 Gabonese watch the body of President Omar Bongo arrive back home from Spain.

Up to 10,000 Gabonese have turned out to see the body of the late President Omar Bongo arrive back home from Spain, where he died on Monday. Mourners lined the route from the airport in the capital Libreville as the car carrying the leader's coffin drove slowly through the city. His body is to lie at the presidential palace ahead of the burial next week. The senate's speaker was sworn in on Wednesday as interim head of state. Elections must be held within 45 days. Earlier, a small funeral ceremony was held at Barcelona airport before the Spanish Air Force plane took off for West Africa, reports the AP news agency. Daughter weeps Mr Bongo, who was in power for nearly 42 years, is to be buried at Franceville in the Bateke region of his birth in south-east Gabon on Thursday of next week. At least 10 heads of state, including French President Nicolas Sarkozy, are expected to attend the funeral. Under Mr Bongo, Gabon retained close economic and political ties to France, its former colonial power. Politicians, diplomats and military officials were on the tarmac to receive the coffin, draped in the national flag, with full honours on Thursday. Mr Bongo's daughter and cabinet chief, Pascaline, reportedly fell sobbing into the arms of Congo's President Denis Sassou-Nguesso, who was also Mr Bongo's father-in-law. 'Iron lady' Gabonese journalist Linel Kwatsi says thousands of people, many in black clothing or wearing T-shirts with Mr Bongo's image, turned out along the waterfront and waved at the vehicle bearing the late leader's body as it cruised past. He says the anxiety that overshadowed the country as news of the president's death emerged is vanishing. There is relief that the mechanisms of democracy appear to be working and that fears of a coup have proved unfounded, he adds. The hope now is that interim leader, Rose Francine Rogombe, an ally of Mr Bongo, will organise fair presidential polls. The ruling Gabonese Democratic Party (PDG) has been deciding who should succeed the late president, with his 50-year-old son, Defence Minister Ali-Ben Bongo, tipped as a leading contender. Ms Rogombe, 66, a lawyer and ruling party member dubbed "the iron lady", is constitutionally ineligible from standing in the presidential poll. Likely opposition candidate Pierre Mamboundou - leader of the Union of the Gabonese People - has called on citizens to back Ms Rogombe while she organises polls to help "guarantee transparency during the vote". It emerged last month that Mr Bongo was being treated in a Barcelona clinic, amid unconfirmed reports he had cancer. The government said on Monday the 73-year-old had died of a heart attack, hours after saying he was alive and well. Libreville's mayor has banned large gatherings and ordered nightclubs and bars to close, while security forces have been on patrol.

Famous Person - Death

June 2009

['(BBC)', '(The Sydney Morning Herald)']

Iran hangs two members of the People's Mujahedin of Iran convicted of involvement in the post–election riots after the presidential election in June 2009 and of visiting a training base in Iraq, in the latest series of executions that has seen an unprecedented 64 people executed in 24 days.

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran executed two members of an exiled opposition group on Monday who it said were involved in turmoil after the disputed 2009 presidential election, the official IRNA news agency reported. It said Jafar Kazemi and Mohammadali Hajaghaie were members of the Mujahideen Khalq Organization (MKO) and had filmed and distributed footage of huge opposition protests that erupted in Iran after the vote. “Two members of the Monafeghin (hypocrites) group ... were hanged early today,” IRNA reported, citing a statement by the prosecutor’s office. The report said the two men were “members of an active network” of MKO and were involved in post-election riots with the guidance of their leader in England. IRNA said the pair were hanged after an appeals court upheld their death sentences. Iran executed two people last year in connection with the vote unrest and on charges including waging war against God, trying to overthrow the Islamic establishment and being members of armed opposition groups. The vote, which was followed by huge opposition protests, plunged Iran into its deepest internal crisis since the 1979 Islamic Revolution and exposed divisions in the establishment. The reformist opposition says the election was rigged to bring back President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The authorities deny the charge and have portrayed the protests as a foreign-backed bid to undermine the Islamic government system. Thousands of people, including senior reformers, were detained after the election for fomenting unrest. Most of them have since been freed, but more than 80 people have been jailed for up to 15 years and five have been sentenced to death. Separately on Monday, six Iranians were hanged on different charges, including rape and murder, Iranian media reported. .

Famous Person - Commit Crime - Sentence

January 2011

['(The Washington Post)', '(AsiaNews)', '(Reuters)', '(Ynet)']

Voting takes place in the first round of the French Socialist Party presidential primary to select a candidate to run in this year's presidential election.

PARIS (Reuters) - Benoit Hamon, a former Socialist government rebel won the first round of a primary on Sunday and will meet ex-prime minister Manuel Valls in a runoff to decide who will be the candidate of the beleaguered left in a presidential election in spring. Candidates and public vote in French Socialist primary to pick presidential nominee 01:18 Hamon, 48, a traditional leftwinger who was sacked from government by President Francois Hollande for criticizing his economic policies, coasted to a comfortable win ahead of Valls, a former Hollande loyalist in government, according to partial results. With the field now whittled down from seven candidates to two and Valls and Hamon set to meet mid-week for what could be a testy televised debate, the final outcome was hard to predict. But former economy minister Arnaud Montebourg, who trailed in third place, gave Hamon, a party ally on the left, an advantage by criticizing Valls’s pro-business policies and urging his supporters to vote for Hamon next Sunday. Either way, opinion polls indicate that no Socialist candidate has much chance of getting beyond the first round of the election in April-May after five years of unpopular rule by Hollande. The Socialist party, for decades one of the main political forces in France, has become marginalized as Hollande failed to bring high unemployment down and alienated left-wing voters with his economic policies. But the Socialists’ final choice on January 29 could have an impact on the election fortunes of the front-runners for the Elysee - conservative Francois Fillon, far-right leader Marine Le Pen and popular independent Emmanuel Macron. Polls indicate Fillon, a former prime minister who has The Republicans ticket, is most likely to win if he is pitted against National Front leader Le Pen in a May 7 head-to-head. But Macron, a 39-year-old former banker and one-time economy minister who pushes a centrist agenda and tries to appeal to both left and Right is attracting large crowds to rallies and could yet upset the balance. The Spanish-born Valls, who implemented pro-business policies under Hollande to the consernation of the traditional left-wing, appeals to a more moderate electorate and will pose a greater challenge to Macron for the center ground. Conversely, political commentators say a traditional Socialist such as Hamon, who wants to legalize cannabis and establish a basic state income level of 600 euros per month for all adults, will benefit Macron in his campaign. “I can see the first bricks with which we can reconstruct the left and reunite the left and then also rebuild hope and share this with the people of France,” Hamon said in a short address to his supporters after the result. Valls, 54, in combative mood, suggested that Hamon stood no chance of pulling off victory in spring and that he alone would be able to turn the tide against the odds. “We face a choice now between certain defeat and possible victory, between unrealistic promises that cannot be financed and a credible left that can bear responsibilities,” Valls said, referring to Hamon’s proposal on basic income. Partial results showed that with half the vote counted, Hamon had won 35.2 percent and Valls about 31 percent. Montebourg had about 18 percent. Calling on his supporters to vote for Hamon next Sunday, Montebourg said: “Voters massively and seriously rejected those who carried out free-market, austerity policies during the presidential term.” Hamon and Montebourg were kicked out of Valls’s government in 2014 for criticizing economic policies which they said were too business-friendly. The program of Fillon, seen as the election front-runner, includes cutting business taxes, relaxing labor laws and scrapping the 35-hour working week in an attempt to boost growth, while also eliminating half a million public sector jobs as part of a drive to shrink the state sector. Anyone who pledged allegiance to the political values of the left and paid a one euro fee were able to vote in the primary. Organizers of the primary said there had been a turnout close to two million.

Government Job change - Election

January 2017

['(Reuters)']

A 4,000–year–old pyramid at El Paraíso in Peru is destroyed by property developers.

Authorities in Peru say an ancient pyramid at the oldest archaeological site near the capital, Lima, has been destroyed. They are pressing criminal charges against two real-estate companies blamed for tearing down the structure, which was 6m (20-ft) high. An archaeologist said those responsible had committed "irreparable damage". The building was one of 12 pyramids found at the El Paraiso complex and is thought to be at least 4,000 years old. The site, which dates back to the Late Preceramic (3500-1800 BC) period, is situated several kilometres north of Lima. According to Peru's tourism ministry, it was a religious and administrative centre long before the pre-Columbian Inca civilisation. Rafael Varon, deputy minister of cultural patrimony, said the destruction had taken place over the weekend. He said company workers using heavy machinery had attempted to destroy three further pyramids, but had been stopped by onlookers. Mr Varon said criminal complaints had been lodged against two companies. Marco Guilen, director of an excavation project at El Paraiso, told Associated Press news agency the people who tore down the pyramid "have committed irreparable damage to a page of Peruvian history". "We are not going to be able to know in what ways it was constructed, what materials were used in it and how the society in that part of the pyramid behaved."

Organization Closed

July 2013

['(BBC News)']

A rocket is fired from the Gaza Strip, exploding in an open field in southern Israel. The IDF retaliates by launching strikes against two Hamas military posts.

Israeli tanks and aircraft attacked Hamas military posts in Gaza late Thursday night in response to a rocket attack fired from the enclave at southern Israel at around 8:30 pm. One rocket landed in an open area. There was no property damage and no one was injured. Rocket Attack Fired From Gaza, No Injuries “A short time ago, an IDF tank and aircraft attacked two military posts of the Hamas terrorist organization in the northern Gaza Strip,” the IDF Spokesperson said. In response to the rocket fired from #Gaza at #Israel earlier tonight, we targeted 2 Hamas military posts in Gaza. Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) October 31, 2019 It’s not clear which terrorist organization launched the rocket attack. However, the Israeli government holds Gaza’s ruling Hamas terrorist organization responsible for all attacks emanating from its territory.

Armed Conflict

October 2019

['(The Jewish Press)', '(Xinhua News Agency)']

At least 71 people are killed in a head–on collision between a bus and a truck in Ghana.

The number of people killed when a bus crashed into a truck in northern Ghana has risen to 71, medical officials say. The Metro Mass Transit coach reportedly collided head-on with a cargo truck carrying tomatoes near the town of Kintampo on Wednesday evening. Regional police chief Maxwell Atingane told Reuters news agency that many passengers died at the scene. He said police were investigating the cause of the crash, believed to be one of the worst in many years. Joy News, a Ghanaian website, reported that a passenger told police that the bus had been experiencing brake problems. Investigators said the bus was overloaded, carrying more than 70 passengers rather than a maximum of 63. The coach was travelling north from Kumasi, the second largest city after Accra, the capital. Fifty-eight of the 71 were already dead when they were brought to the hospital in Kintampo, said Bismark Owusu Fosu, the hospital director. A further 10 died after admission, and another three people died at a nearby hospital, he added. Anger has spread against some people on social media who shared horrific pictures of the aftermath, the BBC's Sammy Darko reports from Accra. Emergency services are said to have worked for hours to try to free passengers trapped in the wreckage. President John Mahama offered his condolences to "those who've lost loved ones" via Twitter.

Road Crash

February 2016

['(Sky News)', '(BBC)']

A 5.1 magnitude earthquake leaves 20,000 homeless and causes US$1.5 million in damage in eastern Tajikistan.

VANCH, Tajikistan, Jan. 3 (UPI) -- A 5.1 magnitude earthquake hit Tajikistan, leaving 20,000 people homeless and inflicting about $1.5 million in damage, officials said Sunday. The temblor struck in the mountainous eastern Gorno-Badakhshan province at 7:15 a.m. local time Saturday. The most damage was registered in the province's Vanch district where the district's two schools, prosecutor's office, recreational center and hospital were destroyed, RIA Novosti reported. About 1,050 mud dwellings, home to about 20,000 people, were destroyed. Telephone service and electricity were disrupted, and a main road was blocked by rock and mudslides, the news service said.

Earthquakes

January 2010

['(CNN)', '(UPI)', '(RIA Novosti)']

Femen co–founder and activist Oksana Shachko is found dead in her Paris apartment in an apparent suicide. France granted her political refugee status in 2013.

A founding member of the prominent protest group Femen, Oksana Shachko, has died in Paris in an apparent suicide, fellow members say, mourning the loss of a woman they called "a heroine of our time." Femen co-founder Anna Hutsol told RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service on July 24 that Shachko was dead, following reports that her body was found in her Paris apartment the previous day. "As far as I know, she was concerned that everything is going badly in the world," Hutsol said of Shachko. She added that "unfortunately," she and Shachko had not been in touch much lately. "RIP. The most fearless and vulnerable Oksana Shachko has left us," a post on the Femen website said. "We mourn together with her relatives and friends and [await] the official version from the police." "At the moment it is known that yesterday, July 23, Oksana’s body was found in her apartment in Paris. According to her friends, she left a suicide note," the post said. Click on image to open gallery. The second secretary at the Ukrainian Embassy in Paris, Oksana Lovha, confirmed Shachko's death to Current Time TV, the Russian-language network run by RFE/RL in cooperation with VOA. There was no public comment from French authorities, and Lovha said Ukrainian diplomats were awaiting further details from police. Founded in Ukraine a decade ago, Femen is known mainly for protests in which activists often bare their breasts -- sometimes exposing slogans written on their skin -- and disrupt political events or gatherings. Femen activists have rushed politicians such as Russian President Vladimir Putin and Czech President Milos Zeman, and public figures like American comic Bill Cosby. No media source currently available Often directed at leaders they describe as dictators or oppressors, their protests have also taken other forms and targeted issues such as the environment. A native of Ukraine who had lived in Paris in recent years, Shachko, 31, was one of a group of Femen activists who rushed Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Hannover, Germany, in 2013. Shachko was "a heroine of our time," a separate post on the Femen website said. "Oksana fought against injustice, fought for equality, fought like a hero for herself and for other women." "Oksana is no longer with us, but she is here, she is everywhere," it said. "Oksana... is in each of us, she is in FEMEN, and she is in the history of feminism." A post on the Telegram channel Paris Burns late on July 23 said that Shachko committed suicide and that the police had just removed her body from the apartment. It was not immediately possible to confirm the information in the Telegram post, which did not provide details or evidence. Another founding member of Femen, Oleksandra Shevchenko, told the BBC that Shachko had last been seen alive on July 20 and that it was not clear what day she died. "The autopsy will determine that," she said. Femen said in 2011 that Shachko was among three members seized by security officers after staging a topless protest mocking Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka. It said the officers forced them to strip naked, poured oil over them, threatened to set them on fire, and cut off their hair. Femen has said that Shachko was abducted again during a visit by Putin to Ukraine, and a lawyer for the group said she was beaten and briefly hospitalized. Femen now has branches on at least four continents.

Famous Person - Death

July 2018

['(RFE/RL)']

During an arrest attempt in Cairo, Egyptian security forces kill Aly Ashraf Hassanein al Gharabli, an ISIL–linked militant who masterminded the murder of Apache Corporation worker William Henderson in Egypt last year.

An operative for the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria who masterminded the slaying of an Apache Corp. worker in Egypt last year has been killed by security forces in Cairo, according to media reports. Aly Ashraf Hassanein al Gharabli ran operations for an ISIS-linked militant group that claimed responsibility last year for murdering William Henderson. Photos of his passport and work badges were published on an online forum for militants after he was found dead in a car on a road in the western Egyptian desert. Gharabli was shot and killed by Egyptian police during a firefight that erupted during an arrest attempt. Gharbli has also been linked to the kidnapping and beheading of a Croatian national, the bombing of the Italian consulate in Cairo and an attempted attack on tourists in Luxor, Egypt. Henderson, 58, had worked for Apache for more than two decades. He had been employed as a supervisor overseeing the company’s oil and gas operations in Karama, Egypt when he was shot and killed during a kidnapping attempt while driving on a desert road. His murder, the first recent slaying of an American oil worker in Egypt, raised questions about the safety of oil and gas operations in the remote deserts of Egypt, which had been roiled by political instability since protesters in 2011 launched an uprising that overthrew former President Hosni Mubarak. The Houston oil company, which has been active in Egypt since 1994, recently declared that it has become the largest oil and gas producer in Egypt, with gross production returning to the company’s peak levels in 2011 and 2012. When reached for comment, Apache said the company’s investigation into Henderson’s death was still ongoing, but that “the safety and security of our employees and their families are our top priority in Egypt.” .

Famous Person - Death

November 2015

['(Fuel Fix)']

South Korea and the United States suspend their Foal Eagle military exercises. Furthermore, they also finish parts of the Key Resolve exercises.

SEOUL, April 26 (UPI) -- South Korea and the United States have decided to suspend their annual combined military drills on the inter-Korean summit day, defense authorities here said Thursday. The South Korean military will instead focus on providing "stable support" for the talks between President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to be held at the border village of Panmunjom, according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The allies kicked off the Key Resolve command-post training in Korea on Monday for a two-week run and agreed to finish the first part of the drill on Thursday. "The South Korean and U.S. military authorities have decided to conduct the first part of the 2018 KR through Thursday, jointly concluding that the intended goals of the exercise have been attained," the JCS said. They plan to continue the second part of this year's KR after the summit day break. The two sides have also effectively wrapped up the Foal Eagle field training that began on April 1. At that time, the JCS announced it would last four weeks. "Most of the programs in the Foal Eagle exercise will finish today," a military official said. "You can say that the training virtually comes to an end today." The allies usually open the large-scale drills in late February or early March. This year they waited until the end of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games. They are apparently playing low-key amid the peace mood in Korea, shortening the official training period and avoiding the deployment of such U.S. strategic assets as a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier.

Military Exercise

April 2018

['(UPI)']

At least ten people including seven police officers are killed when gunmen ambush a bus in Kotulo, Kenya. Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the attack.

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Several people were killed on Friday when suspected Islamist militants attacked a bus in Kenya near the border with Somalia, police and local media outlets said. Stephen Ng’etich, the police commander for Wajir county, told Reuters the bus had been attacked in an area called Kotulo, without providing details of casualties. “A group of armed men ambushed a bus traveling to northern Kenya this evening ... We suspect al Shabaab was involved,” he said, referring to the Islamist militant group from Somalia. Al Shabaab has targeted Kenya many times since the East African nation sent its troops across the border to fight the militants in their homeland in October 2011. The local privately-owned Citizen TV channel said that eight people had been killed. Police spokesman Charles Owino said “lives are believed to have been lost”, without giving details. The Medina Bus Company vehicle was traveling between Wajir and Mandera when it was ambushed at about 5.30 pm local time (1430 GMT), Owino said in a statement. Ismail Adan, a resident, said those who were killed were ordered out of the bus and shot at close range. Police did not immediately comment on this. Reporting by Humphrey Malalo and Noor Ali; Writing by Duncan Miriri; Editing by Grant McCool and Alexander Smith

Armed Conflict

December 2019

['(Reuters)', '(Al Jazeera)']

Nineteen-year old Cameron Selmon died during last night's shooting on the Tennessee State University campus when a fight erupted during a dice game, in which a player pulled out a gun and started firing. One of the three injured 18-year-old female students remains hospitalized. The suspect fled the scene on foot and is still at large. The school is closed today but will re-open with Monday classes.

Hours after ashooting thatkilled one man and injured threestudents at Tennessee State University, Mayor Megan Barrypledged to repair the damage violence had done on the school’s campus and the surrounding neighborhood. Flanked by TSU President Glenda Glover and several Metro police officers during a news conferenceFriday, a somber Barry, dressed in black,saidthe community must uniteto fight thatviolence, which often invades TSU from beyond its borders. "Tennessee State University and the community that surrounds it is anincredibly important part of the fabric of our city," Barry said, readingfrom prepared remarks. "It will be a goal of my administration to investin and revitalize the area in order to improve the quality of life forresidents and support the local economy. "That can’t happen unlessresidents and visitors feel safe." Toaccomplish that goal, Barry said, Metro police will patrol the campus at night, joining TSU police and security guards who already are on duty. The added security measure began Friday. "Despite the shooting incident (Thursday)night, we believe the TSU campus is a safe place," Barry said."Our police department will work with Dr. Glover and the TSU Police Department to help ensure it stays that way." Video shows shooting on TSU campus Dice game leads to shooting Metro police spokesman Don Aaron said the Thursday nightshootingstemmed from an argument over adice game that escalated into a physical fight and thengunfire in a TSU courtyard. Aaron said young people were gathered in the courtyard by the Floyd-Payne Campus Centerwhen shots rang out around 10:50 p.m. One or more of those bullets hitCameron Selmon of Memphis, who died at the scene. Selmon, 19,was not a TSU student. Bullets also hitthree freshman women who were passing by the courtyard at the time. One woman was grazed by a bullet and refused treatment, Aaron said.The other twowere transported toVanderbilt University Medical Center, where they weretreated and released Friday. Of the university'ssworn police department of 28 officers, Glover said four or five were on campus at the time of the shooting, although it was unclear exactly where they were when the shooting took place. Glover said TSU police immediatelynotified Metro, which is leading the investigation. Detectives havenot been able to identify the suspect responsible for the deadly shooting. Aaron said several students gathered in the courtyardused their smartphones to record video footage as the fighting and shooting erupted. Detectives were reviewing some of those videos Friday, but were still asking for others. The police department is teaming with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to offer a $5,000 reward for informationon the gunman's identity.That is in addition to a reward of up to $1,000 offered by Nashville Crime Stoppers. Anyone with information or footage of the incident can call 615-74-CRIME. At several points during a Friday interview, Aaron reiterated that the shooting was an isolated incident that did not speak to an overarching danger on campus. “We think the campus itself is a very safe environment that last night was victimized by a dispute that turned into a fight that turned into a shooting," he said.“A college campus is a microcosm of society. And what happened there last night is not unheard of in any major city in the country.” The killing at TSU marked Nashville's 58th homicidethis year and the third homicide that was reportedThursday night.Last year at this time the city had 34 homicides. Nashville criminal homicide count could soon surpass last year's total Expanding safety efforts Freshman Terrea Thomas, who was on campus Friday, said she was saddened to find out about the shooting on Twitter. "I was even sadder because this has been going on for a while now," she said. The Thursday shooting is the latest in a long string of violent incidents connected to TSUand the nearby Hadley Park neighborhood, although many of those incidents have occurred off campus and involve suspects or victims who were not affiliated with the university. The shooting came the same day as a meeting between police, TSU officials and community leaders to discuss safety concerns around the campus.That meeting was spurred by a shooting last week that injured three peopleat an off-campushouse partyonAlbion Street, near the university. The gunman involved in that shooting is still at large and the investigation is ongoing. Man shot in head outside house party near TSU improving During an interviewFriday, Glover said TSU had invested $1 million over the past year on campus safetyimprovements. Some of that money went toward new fencing, lighting and security cameras, she said. Glover said the universityalso is working tohire more campus police officers. In March 2014, motivated by another wave of crime in and around campus,TSU instituted a new policy requiring students to wear their IDs on campus at all times. Administrators said at the time thatmuch of the criminal activitywas initiated by people not associated with the school. Glover said that the new policy had helped, but acknowledged it was not fail-safe. “As in many systems, sometimes there’s a breach, and apparently there was a breach (Thursday),” she said. TSU has teamed with Metro and religious leadersin the past yearto confront crime in the area surrounding the university. Kelli Sharpe, TSU's assistantvice president forpublic relations and communications,said police and community members at the most recent meetingaddressed the need for better public lighting and a crackdown ondilapidated houses and junk cars in the neighborhood surrounding campus. “We think that that discussion is just one of many community groups need to have,” Sharpe said.“All we can do is talk to our students, have them make smart decisions, continue to partner with the community, continue to partner with Metro police.” During her remarksFriday, Barry urged community members to form a coalition with police to promote safety. "This is a community issue, not just one involving the police," Barry said."I am asking that community leaders, the clergy and families work even more diligently to dissuade violence and criminal conduct that leads to violence." 'A good young man' Selmon, the victim killed Thursday, was a 2014graduate ofSouthwind High School in Memphis. Noah Lane, who said he attendedColonial Middle School in Memphiswith Selmon,described theavid football fan who loved the Dallas Cowboys. “He was a very funny, active young man," Lane said, adding that Selmon was "at the wrong place at the wrong time.” NeighborHarriett Freeman saidSelmonwas"a good young man" whowas always polite and respectful. “He had good parents good, loving parents,” Freeman said by telephone. “He was always very respectful, saying, ‘Yes, ma’am’ and ‘No, ma’am.’ … My heart goes out to his family.” The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Armed Conflict

October 2015

['(The Tennessean)', '(Fox News)']

The Australian Government announces that it will establish two new Immigration detention centres in Northam, Western Australia and Inverbrackie, South Australia and end detention of children and family groups. ,

The Australian government has unveiled plans for two more detention centres to accommodate an increasing number of asylum seekers. It also announced that children and family groups would be moved from detention into community-based accommodation. Prime Minister Julia Gillard said it was not the Australian way to have children behind razor wire. The new detention centres in Perth and Adelaide will house 2,000 people. Asylum and immigration issues were focal points in Australia's recent election campaign. The country's policy of mandatory detention for all migrants without papers while their asylum applications are processed has been criticised by the United Nations. Ms Gillard said "significant numbers" of minors and families would be moved into community-based accommodation as part of a more "humane" approach to the issue. "This is especially important for children, for whom protracted detention can have negative impacts on their development and mental health," Ms Gillard said. "I don't think it is the Australian way to have kids behind razor wire in the hope that that is a deterrent," she added. She said several hundred families would be moved by the middle of next year. Australian Immigration Minister Chris Bowen said that while the country needed to maintain one of the toughest asylum policies in the world, improvements could be made to the treatment of asylum seekers. "Children will be able to, and obliged to, attend school normally and to live a normal life," he said. The government is in talks with East Timor and Indonesia about a plan to build a regional processing centre for asylum seekers. Earlier conservative governments has instituted the so-called "Pacific solution" under which asylum seekers were detained on the Pacific island of Nauru while their claims were processed. Mr Bowen said the best deterrent would be a rigorous system of checks on whether applicants fulfilled conditions to be granted refugee status.

Organization Established

October 2010

['(BBC)', '(Sydney Morning Herald)']

Leaders of the European Union reach agreement on the Lisbon Treaty following last–minute concessions to Poland, Italy and Bulgaria.

The European Union has overnight agreed the precise text of its new 'Lisbon Treaty' to be formally signed off on 13 December in the Portuguese capital. At around 02:00 local time on Friday morning - following shorter-than-usual discussions - Portuguese prime minister Jose Socrates announced that a deal has been struck, describing it as "victory for Europe". "With this agreement we have managed to get out of stalemate...we will be ready to tackle the world's challenges", Mr Socrates said. European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso also branded the accord as "historic", providing the EU with the "capacity to act". The decision effectively ends a six-year long period of trying to internally reform. The first bullet in this battle was fired in February 2002, when the European Convention headed by former French president Valery Giscard d'Estaing started drafting the EU Constitution. This project, however, was buried when French and Dutch voters rejected the document in 2005 - something that resulted in a two-year long phase of soul searching. The final hours in the run up to Friday morning's agreement saw battles on two main fronts - with Poland and Italy seeking to strengthen their political weight within the 27-nation union. In response to Warsaw's demands, a decision blocking mechanism - known as the Ioannina clause - will be written into a declaration of the treaty. However, the declaration will be linked to a legally stronger protocol, saying that the clause can be modified only by unanimous consensus of all EU leaders. "We got everything we wanted", Polish president Lech Kaczynski said on Friday morning, adding this compromise means that the clause cannot be removed without his country's approval. Another headline-stealing issue of the summit was how to distribute seats in the European Parliament among EU member states after the next EU elections in 2009. Italy was demanding to have the same number of deputies as France and the UK. Under the newly-agreed treaty, Rome will get one extra MEP, while the president of the parliament would no longer be counted as a lawmaker in order to preserve the 750 overall ceiling of MEPs. Originally, Italy was supposed to end up with 72 deputies, compared to 73 for the UK and 74 for France. Finally, leaders also overcame Sofia's objections towards the spelling of the word 'euro' and agreed to use the spelling 'evro' in the Bulgarian version of legal documents and the treaty. The new treaty will be formally signed by all European leaders in Lisbon on 13 December and subsequently go for ratification next year, with a view to coming into place by mid-2009, ahead of the next European elections. Among other things, the new treaty introduces an EU president, a post that can be held for up to five years, strengthens the post of its foreign policy chief and takes away national vetoes in areas such as terrorism. It also gives more power to the European Parliament. CORRECTION - an earlier version of this article stated suggested that the Bulgarian spelling of the euro was to be further discussed. In fact, EU leaders agreed that 'evro' could be used in Bulgarian translations of official EU documents. , your membership gives you access to all of our stories. We highly appreciate your support and value your feedback. If you have any thoughts on this story, we would love to hear it. The EU's new treaty is the same as the rejected constitution - only the format has been changed to avoid referendums, says Valery Giscard d'Estaing, architect of the constitution. With Belgium still struggling to form a new government, fears are growing that the country will not be able to ratify the EU's Lisbon treaty in December, stalling the overall ratification process. Catalan separatist MEPs Carles Puigdemont, Toni Comín and Clara Ponsatí lost their parliamentary immunity - a result they have hailed as a "political victory" for bringing the conflict between Catalonia and Spain closer to the heart of Europe. The debate about the much-delayed Conference on the Future of Europe so far has been locked in endless institutional infighting over who should lead the event - lowering the expectations about what can be achieved in the coming months. European Parliament president David Sassoli called for the Conference on the Future of Europe "to start as soon as possible". Meanwhile, nearly half of EU citizens would like to see reforms to the bloc. Transparency International carried out three separate studies on integrity, of the European Parliament, the European Commission, and the Council (representing member states). The European Parliament refused to cooperate. The Belgian and Bulgarian prosecutors who were appointed had also not been the experts' first choice. Belgian prosecutor Jean-Michel Verelst has challenged the council's decision at the European Court of Justice. Portugal's prime minister António Costa will on Wednesday discuss with European Parliament president David Sassoli and MEPs and try to resolve the issue of who will chair the conference.

Sign Agreement

October 2007

['(EuObserver)', '(ABC News Australia)']

Bee Gees singer Robin Gibb dies at the age of 62.

Sir Cliff Richard has led the tributes for Bee Gee Robin Gibb who has died aged 62 after a lengthy battle with cancer. "We are a fraternity of people who sing pop and rock and Robin is another one of us who has gone too soon," he said. Many musicians including Ringo Starr, Stevie Nicks and Bryan Adams have been paying their respects via Twitter. Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, a friend of Gibb, said he would "miss him very much". "Robin was not only an exceptional and extraordinary musician and songwriter, he was a highly intelligent, interested and committed human being," added Mr Blair. British-born Gibb's musical career began when he formed the Bee Gees with his brothers Barry and Maurice in 1958. The group are among the biggest-selling of all time with hits spanning five decades, notching up album sales of more than 200 million worldwide. Speaking of their contribution to music, Sir Cliff Richard said: "The legacy will be what the Bee Gees did, which was stunningly good stuff, right on a par with The Beatles." Meanwhile, broadcaster Paul Gambaccini described the singer as "one of the major figures in the history of British music". He echoed Sir Cliff and said: "Everyone should be aware that the Bee Gees are second only to Lennon and McCartney as the most successful songwriting unit in British popular music." Robin Gibb had "one of the best white soul voices ever", Gambaccini said, adding that the group's accomplishments had been "monumental". "Not only have they written their own number one hits, but they wrote huge hit records for Barbra Streisand, Diana Ross, Dionne Warwick, Celine Dion, Destiny's Child... the list goes on and on." Former BBC Radio 1 DJ Mike Read, who was a family friend, said: "Robin had the voice, the pathos, and he was a great writer. "He had a gift for melody and a gift for lyrics and left a phenomenal legacy, a phenomenal catalogue." Referring to the Bee Gees, he said: "They had every award, every gold disc, every platinum disc, the Grammys, the lot, and had been doing it so long but were still so good at it." The singer Dionne Warwick, whose biggest hit Heartbreaker was written by the Gibb brothers, said of Robin: "He was wonderful. He was a jokester. "He had an incredibly witty sense of humour and was fun to be around. All three of them were sensational gentlemen first, just fun loving guys." She touched upon the family members' close bond: "I think what was most attractive to me was how grounded they were. "I think a lot of it has to do with their sense of family and being together as a family. I know exactly what that means, because I come from a family of singers. That is very important, to be connected. They loved each other very strongly and showed it, and it was a joy." Musicians have been taking to Twitter to pay their respects. Canadian singer Bryan Adams wrote: "Robin Gibb RIP. Very sad to hear about yet another great singer dying too young." Justin Timberlake described Gibb as "a truly brilliant musician", adding: "One of my idols. My heart goes out to the Gibb family in this time of sorrow." Gibb had battled ill health for several years. In 2010, he cancelled a series of shows after suffering severe stomach pains while performing in Belgium. He went on to have emergency surgery for a blocked intestine. His twin brother and band partner Maurice died in 2003 aged 53 following complications from a twisted intestine. Robin Gibb cancelled a series of shows in Brazil in April 2011, after again suffering from abdominal pains. Later that year, he was found to have cancer of the colon after having surgery on his bowel for an unrelated condition. He was later also diagnosed with cancer of the liver, and underwent chemotherapy and surgery. Last month the singer fell into a coma after contracting pneumonia. Four weeks ago, he regained consciousness and was said to have been making a positive recovery. But his death was announced at 23:30 BST (22:30 GMT) on Sunday.

Famous Person - Death

May 2012

['(BBC)']