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Students have mixed reactions to Dr. Anthony Fauci speaking at commencement

Dr. Anthony Fauci, one of the most recognizable names in medicine at the moment, will be one of two speakers for the class of 2021's commencement in May. But, students have mixed reactions to Fauci delivering a virtual address.  While some students are excited to hear from the celebrated researcher, others were quick to call attention to UNC hosting a leader in the fight against the spread of COVID-19 after facing public scrutiny for its attempt to reopen campus in the fall.  In addition to UNC, Fauci is set to address graduating classes at Emory University, Vanderbilt University and the Yale School of Public Health this May.  For senior Makenna Smith, commencement has been something she has looked forward to for six years. But, when the University announced Fauci as a commencement speaker, Smith said she was disappointed by the news.  “I think I was hoping it wouldn’t be another reminder of how COVID has stained this experience in my life,” Smith said. “My last year of school has been completely virtual. I haven’t even touched campus in almost a year.”  In a statement to The Daily Tar Heel, Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Robert Blouin said it is an honor to have both Fauci and Kizzmekia Corbett address this year’s graduating class. “Their presence speaks to the vitally important, cutting-edge work Carolina’s faculty, staff and student researchers have done to address the COVID-19 pandemic, not just this year but for decades before the pandemic began,” Blouin said in the statement. Other students, such as senior Savinna Mangalindan, reacted positively to the announcement of Fauci's address. Mangalindan said she was overjoyed. “It made my day knowing our speakers are highly regarded and significant figures during the pandemic,” she said. “I felt like my class deserved it.”  Mangalindan said she is happy with the selection as she has personally looked up to Fauci over the past year. “I look highly of him, especially how he dealt with criticism and just kept trying to do his job,” she said. First-year Samuel Robinson said he was happy to hear the news about Fauci.  “I think it’s fantastic that UNC is going to be able to host a man who has devoted his life to public service and done all he can to try and help this nation through the COVID-19 pandemic,” Robinson said.  In contrast, Smith said she was left to question the University’s motives in selecting Fauci as a speaker. She said she thought of this decision as a "publicity stunt" because of the events of last semester, where students were quickly sent home after UNC’s rise in COVID-19 cases on campus.  Robinson said he found the decision in some ways ironic for this reason. But, he added that he believes the University has since corrected those mistakes.  “While I think last semester was certainly less than a perfect situation, I think the University has done all they can this semester to take care of the student body and make the right calls for our public health,” he said.  In his statement, Blouin spoke to UNC's role in research on coronaviruses and in developing treatments.  “Carolina is world-renowned for its work on coronaviruses, which has led to life-saving treatments, important diagnostic advancements and vaccines that we see in use today," Blouin said. "North Carolina – and the world – is safer because of this work." Although Robinson will not be graduating alongside the class of 2021, he believes Fauci is a great fit and is looking forward to hearing what he has to say.  “Dr. Fauci in many ways symbolizes the resilience of America,” Robinson said. “The resilience of the people of this country and this community to overcome this virus. I think history is going to judge him very kindly as someone who did all he could to do the right thing, and I think the class of 2021 will see that in the years to come.” 

Famous Person - Give a speech

Swarm of grasshoppers take over Central Australia, but expert ...

Swarm of grasshoppers take over Central Australia, but expert says no threat to southern crops For the latest weather warnings in Queensland and northern NSW, search on ABC Emergency Swarms of insects have descended upon the Central Australian outback after recent rainfall. In particular, large amounts of yellow-winged grasshoppers have populated the area, both in Alice Springs and surrounding areas. Chris Adriaansen, director of the Australian Plague Locust Commission, identified the insect as a grasshopper species. "They're not a locust species, they're a grasshopper species," he said. "Yellow-winged grasshoppers are fairly widespread across Australia, and the population rises and falls quite dramatically with weather conditions. "Given the rainfall that's been in Central Australia four of five weeks ago the population has just burst forth." Loading Mr Adriaansen said local grasshoppers will be looking to eat vegetation, unlike the Australian plague locusts which feed on grass species and grain crops. "When they're in numbers obviously they can create a level of damage but generally the population will drop back reasonably quickly, so the damage won't persist for any great length of time," he said. "It's not a widespread infestation, but it's certainly got some numbers in the localities there." Mr Adriannsen said there was no risk of these particular insects in Alice Springs migrating to southern or eastern farms. "One of the things that separates grasshoppers from locusts is that grasshoppers are not a migratory species, so they don't move en masse over large distances," he said. "There is no threat from the Alice Springs population of yellow-winged grasshoppers to other areas." Yellow-winged grasshoppers take over Alice Springs. (Supplied: Veronica Hagan) Grasshoppers no threat to grapes In Ti Tree, 190km further north, the grasshoppers are also out in full force, but thankfully are not causing any significant damage. The manager of Ti Tree grape farm, Bevan Ball, said they were somewhat of a nuisance. "We've got grasshoppers, we've got locusts, all different sorts of bugs at the moment. They're not in plague proportions by any means — there's just a lot of them." Mr Ball said they were no strangers to grasshoppers on the farm. "Every year is a little different, we've had a lot of rain this year so it's a good breeding cycle for them, so more around than normal," he said. "Probably four of five years ago we had a fairly bad run with them for a few months, and then they just disappear and move on." Mr Ball said they would start trying to get rid of the insects in coming days. "They're eating some leaves on the vines at the moment; we'll start spraying for them this week and we'll thin the numbers out a bit," he said. "Generally it's not too much of a problem, but if you're driving around they hit you and it hurts. Very annoying." Yellow-winged grasshoppers out en masse in Alice Springs. (ABC Rural: Katrina Beavan)

Insect Disaster

2005 Air Kasai Antonov An-26B crash

On 9 September 2005, an Air Kasai Antonov An-26B crashed in the Republic of the Congo north of Brazzaville, killing all 13 people on board. [1] Antonov An-26B 9Q-CFD was on a domestic flight in the Democratic Republic of the Congo from Kinshasa to Boende Airport in Boende on 9 September 2005. Its route took it over the neighboring Republic of Congo, where at about 15:45 local time it crashed about 50 km (31 miles) north of Brazzaville. All 13 people aboard (four crew members and nine passengers) died in the crash. [1] The aircraft was a twin-engine Antonov An-26B, manufacturer's serial number either 10605 or 12901 (sources differ). [1] It had first flown in 1983 and was registered as 9Q-CFD. [1]

Air crash

2001 Japan Airlines mid-air incident crash

On January 31, 2001, Japan Airlines Flight 907, a Boeing 747-400 en route from Haneda Airport, Japan, to Naha Airport, Okinawa, narrowly avoided a mid-air collision with Japan Airlines Flight 958, a McDonnell Douglas DC-10-40 en route from Gimhae International Airport, South Korea, to Narita International Airport, Japan. The event became known in Japan as the Japan Airlines near miss incident above Suruga Bay (日本航空機駿河湾上空ニアミス事故, Nihonkōkūki surugawan jōkū niamisu jiko). The incident was attributed to errors made by Air Traffic Controller (ATC) trainee Hideki Hachitani (蜂谷 秀樹, Hachitani Hideki) and trainee supervisor Yasuko Momii (籾井 康子, Momii Yasuko). The incident caused Japanese authorities to call upon the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to take measures to prevent similar incidents from occurring. The Boeing 747-446 Domestic, registration JA8904, was operating Flight 907 from Tokyo Haneda International Airport to Naha Airport with 411 passengers and 16 crew. The flight departed Haneda airport at 15:36 local time. Flight 907 was commanded by 40-year-old pilot Makoto Watanabe (渡辺 誠, Watanabe Makoto). The McDonnell Douglas DC-10-40, registration JA8546, was operating Flight 958 from Gimhae International Airport to Narita International Airport with 237 passengers and 13 crew. [2] Flight 958 was commanded by 45-year-old pilot Tatsuyuki Akazawa (赤沢 達幸, Akazawa Tatsuyuki). According to the flight plan, both aircraft were supposed to pass each other while 2,000 feet (600 m) apart. [3] The mid-air incident occurred as flight attendants began to serve drinks onboard Flight 907. [4] JA8904's 'Traffic Collision Avoidance System (TCAS)‘ sounded 20 minutes after its departure[3] as the jet climbed towards 39,000 ft (12,000 m). The DC-10, JA8546, cruised at 37,000 ft (11,000 m). [2] The TCAS on both aircraft functioned correctly, a "CLIMB" instruction was annunciated for Flight 907, however the flight crew received contradicting instructions from the flight controller at the Tokyo Area Control Center in Tokorozawa, Saitama Prefecture. Flight 907 followed an order to descend issued by the flight controller while Flight 958 descended as instructed by the TCAS, meaning that the planes remained on a collision course. The trainee for the aerospace sector, 26-year-old[5] Hideki Hachitani (蜂谷 秀樹, Hachitani Hideki),[6] handled ten other flights at the time of the near miss. Hachitani intended to tell Flight 958 to descend. Instead, at 15:54, he told Flight 907 to descend. When the trainee noticed that JAL 958 cruised at a level altitude instead of descending, the trainee asked JAL 958 to turn right; the message did not get through to the JAL 958 pilot. The trainee's supervisor, Yasuko Momii (籾井 康子, Momii Yasuko),[7] ordered "JAL 957" to climb, intending to tell JAL 907 to climb. There was not a JAL flight 957 in the sky at the moment of the incident, but it can be inferred that by "957" she meant flight 907. [2] The aircraft avoided collision using evasive maneuvers once they were in visual proximity, and passed within about 135 metres (443 ft) of each other. [a][9] An unidentified passenger told NHK, "I have never seen a plane fly so close. I thought we were going to crash." Alex Turner, a passenger on Flight 907 and a student at Kadena High School, a school for American children with parents stationed at Kadena Air Base in Okinawa Prefecture, estimated that the avoidance maneuver lasted for two seconds. [3] Seven passengers and two crew members of the 747 sustained serious injuries; additionally, 81 passengers and 10 crew members reported minor injuries. Some unbelted passengers, flight attendants, and drink carts hit the ceiling, dislodging some ceiling tiles. [4] The maneuver threw one boy across four rows of seats. [3] Most of the injuries to occupants consisted of bruising. The maneuvers broke the leg of a 54-year-old woman. [10][11] In addition, a drink cart spilled, scalding some passengers. No passengers on the DC-10 sustained injuries. [12] Flight 907, with the 747's cabin bearing minor damage, returned to Haneda, landing at 16:45. By 18:00 on February 1, eight Flight 907 passengers remained hospitalized, while 22 injured passengers had been released. Two passengers remained hospitalized at Kamata General Hospital (蒲田総合病院), while two other passengers remained hospitalized at Ichikawa No. 2 Hospital (市川第2病院). In addition, the following hospitals each had one passenger remaining: Takano Hospital (タカノ病院), Kitasato University, Horinaka Hospital (堀中病院), and Tokyo Rosai Hospital (東京労災病院). [13] All injured passengers recovered. JAL sent apology letters to the passengers on the 747; injured passengers directly received messages, and uninjured passengers received messages via the mail. [14] In its report on the accident, published in July 2002, the Aircraft and Railway Accidents Investigation Commission called on the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to make it clear that TCAS advisories should always take precedence over ATC instructions. [15] A similar recommendation was made three months later by Germany's accident investigation body (the BFU) in light of the Überlingen mid-air collision. [16] ICAO accepted these recommendations and amended its regulations in November 2003. [17][18] Flight numbers 907 and 958 are still used by Japan Airlines for the same respective routes today, but are operated with a Boeing 777 and Boeing 737, respectively. The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department and Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport investigated the incident. [9] In May 2003, Tokyo police filed an investigative report concerning Hideki Hachitani (ATC trainee), Yasuko Momii (ATC Supervisor), and Makoto Watanabe (Pilot of flight 907), suspecting them of professional negligence. In March 2004, prosecutors indicted Hachitani and Momii for professional negligence. [19] Hachitani, then 30 years old, and Momii, then 35 years old, pleaded not guilty to the charges at Tokyo District Court in 2004. [20] During the same year, the lawyer for Hachitani and Momii said that the pilots of the aircraft bore the responsibility for the near miss. [21] By November 16, 2005, 12 trials had been held since the initial hearing on September 9, 2004. The prosecution argued that the two defendants neglected to provide proper separation for the two aircraft, the instructions issued were inappropriate, and that the supervisor failed to correct the trainee.

Air crash

5 Ways You Can Help Kenya and These East African Countries Facing Starvation

Over the last year Africa’s countries have experienced conflict, pandemic-related economic losses, and have struggled to combat the effects of climate change. These factors have made food insecurity worse in some regions and millions of people on the continent are on the brink of starvation. Join us in the mission to achieve the UN’s Global Goal 2 that calls for zero hunger, by taking action here . Food insecurity is undoubtedly increasing around the world as most global resources have been put towards dealing with the pandemic, and climate change continues to wreak havoc. The African continent is the worst affected by food insecurity and the situation is only deteriorating due to conflict in some regions and coping with the global pandemic in others. According to a recent study by World Vision East Africa Hunger Emergency Response, two million people in Kenya are on the brink of starvation and in dire need of immediate food aid. These conditions have come as a result of droughts, as well as the economic knock of the COVID-19 pandemic. Kenya is not the only country in the east African region that is experiencing dire hunger conditions. According to the same study, more than seven million people in East Africa have edged closer to the brink of starvation because of conflict and the pandemic’s economic impacts. It also stated that over 108,000 people in the region are currently experiencing catastrophic famine-like conditions. “Between June and December 2020 rising conflicts in countries such as Ethiopia worsened the food insecurity situation, coupled with economic impact of lockdown which affected livelihoods and pushed millions to desperation,” the report said. Most recently, Ethiopia’s Tigray region was officially classed as suffering from famine as a result of ongoing civil unrest, with United Nations’ humanitarian chief, Mark Lowcock, explaining that the region is experiencing one of the worst hunger crises globally. “The number of people in famine conditions ... is higher than anywhere in the world, at any moment since a quarter million Somalis lost their lives in 2011,” he said in June 2021. Other countries in the region that are experiencing extreme hunger conditions include Uganda, Somalia, Sudan, and South Sudan, which are all victims of the deadly mix of conflict, climate change and the socio-economic impacts of COVID-19. This, however, is not a helpless situation. Global Citizens from all over the world, including you, can help to make sure that world hunger that has been exacerbated by COVID-19 and conflict, comes to an immediate end. Want to know what you can do to take action from where you are right now? Here are a few things that you can do to help bring hunger to an end. 1. Help to end the pandemic once and for all Bringing the COVID-19 pandemic to an end will not only save millions of lives, it will also help to get countries and their economies back on track to achieving all of the United Nations’ Global Goals by the year 2030, and allow for much needed resources to find their way to the most vulnerable communities. Right now Africa is experiencing a deadly third wave of COVID-19 infections and vaccines on the continent are steadily drying up, meanwhile wealthy countries have secured more than enough vaccines to protect their populations. Call on rich countries to share their vaccines with those in need immediately in order to help bring the pandemic to an end. Take action below by telling the world why vaccine equity is important. 2. Get clued up on how Africa is affected by hunger Rising hunger levels are not new to the African continent. Understanding more about why hunger continues to increase is essential to helping bring the crisis to an end. You now know that more than seven million people in East Africa were pushed closer to starvation in the last year, but did you know that two out of three people on the entire African continent (home to 1.2 billion people) are suffering from hunger? Learn about this and so much more by taking action below. 3. Tweet World Leaders to End the Climate Crisis Climate change remains one of the biggest driving forces behind global hunger . The droughts experienced in East African countries such as Kenya and South Sudan have deeply impacted food production resulting in increased food insecurity in the region. Ending the climate crisis could turn this situation around entirely. In November all eyes will be on world leaders as they submit their plans to reduce carbon emissions at the The United Nations Climate Change Conference called COP26. You have the power to call on them to prioritise climate action and do more to save the planet. Sign this petition below to add your voice to the call for world leaders to end the climate crisis. 4. Tell us what good food means to you Food is more than just nourishment that the human body needs to survive. It is what brings people together, it is what memories are made of, and it is often a reason to smile. We all remember cooking our first dish or digging into our favourite homemade meal. Making sure that the most vulnerable regions in the world have access to food is making sure that they too will have the luxury of adding this level of significance to food. The UN’s Food Systems Summit is taking place in September, where the organisation will announce actions to change the way food is produced and consumed. Before then we’re starting a conversation about the value of good food, and this conversation will hopefully influence decisions made throughout the summit. Join the global conversation and let us know what good food means to you by sharing a video below. 5. Learn About the The UN’s Food Systems Summit and How it Will Impact Your Food UN Secretary General Anonion Guterres is hosting the UN’s Food Systems Summit in just a few months, where actions will be put in place surrounding how food should be produced globally, and conversations surrounding global food security will take place.

Famine

Bakers Creek air crash

The Bakers Creek air crash was an aviation disaster which occurred on 14 June 1943, when a United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress aircraft crashed at Bakers Creek, Queensland. The aircraft took off from Mackay and crashed approximately 8 km (5.0 mi; 4.3 nmi) south of the airfield. Forty military service personnel on board were killed; one person survived the crash. [1] The crash is Australia's deadliest aviation disaster by death toll and was the deadliest accident involving a transport aircraft in the south-western Pacific during World War II. [2][3] The aircraft was a Boeing B-17C, serial number 40-2072, known as "Miss Every Morning Fixin". [4] The six crew and 35 passengers were returning to New Guinea after an R&R break. The aircraft was part of the United States Fifth Air Force and was operated by the 46th Troop Carrier Squadron, part of the 317th Troop Carrier Group. [2] It had formerly been one of the B-17s sent to the Philippines in the autumn of 1941 with the 19th Bomb Group and had been converted into a transport after suffering heavy battle damage in a mission on 25 December 1941. Over 1,100 bullet holes were found when the plane returned to Darwin. [5] The plane earned its nickname due to the constant work needed to keep it airworthy. A former maintenance chief estimated that for every eight hours the plane flew, it needed at least 12 hours of maintenance. [5] During the 10 days before Miss EMF's last flight, mechanics installed a new fuel tank and two new engines, and a satisfactory test flight was made on the previous day. [5] The aircraft took off from Mackay Airfield[4] just before dawn at about 6 am in foggy conditions, headed for Port Moresby. Soon after, it made a low altitude turn and a few minutes later, crashed. All but one person on board was killed. The cause of the crash remains a mystery. The sole survivor of the crash died at Wichita Falls, Texas, on 4 February 2004. Another person, also of the 317th Troop Carrier Group, was due to be a passenger on the plane, but missed the flight due to sleeping in and arriving late at the airfield. [6] Due to wartime censorship, nothing of the incident was reported in the media. The Daily Mercury, Mackay's newspaper, reported the following day that a visiting American serviceman had been injured, as well as an editorial expressing the sentiments of locals who knew what had happened. Nothing more appeared in the local media until 21 August 1945, after the war had ended. [7] Victims' relatives received War Department telegrams which said little more than the serviceman had been killed in an air crash in the south west Pacific. Australia's equal second deadliest aviation disaster, the 1960 crash of Trans Australia Airlines Flight 538, also occurred at Mackay Airfield. [8] A memorial was unveiled at Bakers Creek, near Mackay, Australia, on 11 May 1992, consisting of two brick columns aligned northwards on which are mounted flag poles and two brass plaques facing eastwards. Between the columns is a large aircraft propeller of a type fitted to Douglas C-47 airplanes supplied to the Royal Australian Air Force. The plaques describe the crash and list the men known to have perished as well as the sole survivor. Above the monument is a brass model of a B-17C that was unveiled and saluted by a low-flying 5th AF United States Air Force Lockheed C-130 from Yokota AB, Japan, on 15 June 2003, during 60th Anniversary events marking the crash. A small brass plaque tells about the model. Two brass plaques representing the 46th Troop Carrier Squadron and the 5th Air Force Memorial Foundation are mounted on a plinth in front of the Bakers Creek Memorial: inside a spotlight illuminates the memorial for several hours each night. Annual commemorative ceremonies are held at the memorial, usually in June. [9] Another memorial to the US servicemen was unveiled in Washington, D.C., on 14 June 2006, at the National World War II Memorial. After the unveiling, it was moved temporarily to the Embassy of Australia in Washington, D.C. Because embassies are considered foreign soil, the Bakers Creek Memorial Association (USA) petitioned American lawmakers to relocate the memorial. After several years of negotiation, a dedication ceremony took place on 11 June 2009 at the Selfridge Gate entrance to Arlington National Cemetery on Fort Myer, Virginia. [10][11][12]

Air crash

2014 Aleutian Islands earthquake

The 2014 Aleutian Islands earthquake occurred on 23 June at 11:53 HDT (UTC-9) with a moment magnitude of 7.9 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe). The shock occurred in the Aleutian Islands – part of the US state of Alaska – 19 miles (31 km) southeast of Little Sitkin Island. The earthquake was initially reported as 8.0 Mw before it was downgraded to 7.9. [3] The rupture was on a normal fault, at ~107 km depth. Based on the geometry of the slab, and the relative movement of the tectonic plates, the slip vector is likely to have been oblique down-dip towards the ESE. The fault plane appears to be oblique, striking NW-SE and cutting steeply into the subducting slab. A tsunami warning was issued,[4] but was soon downgraded to a tsunami advisory for much of the Aleutian Islands;[5] however, the hypocenter was too deep to generate a tsunami that would affect the Pacific basin. [6] A small non-destructive tsunami was generated. [7] Sources

Earthquakes

At least 19 illegal miners killed at subsidiary of Swiss-based Glencore

The incident happened when two galleries caved in at a mine in the Kolwezi area operated by Kamoto Copper Company (KCC), a subsidiary of Glencore. “Tragically there were 19 fatalities today, with possible further unconfirmed fatalities,” Glencore said in a statement, which said there had been recurrent problems with illicit mining on its concessions. Other reports suggest the death toll could be higher. The Congolese site Actualite.CD reported at least 36 deaths. “The illegal artisanal miners were working two galleries in benches overlooking the extraction area. Two of these galleries caved in,” the company said. Glencore said KCC had observed a “growing presence” of illegal miners, with on average 2,000 people a day intruding on its operating sites. “KCC urges all illegal miners to cease from putting their lives at risk by trespassing on a major industrial site,” Glencore said. Illegal mining is common and frequently deadly in Democratic Republic of Congo, where safety is often poor and risk-taking high. Figures indicating the scale of the problem are sketchy, given that many mines are illegal and remote.

Mine Collapses

1936 State Line earthquake

The 1936 State Line earthquake (also referred to as the 1936 Milton-Freewater earthquake) struck at 23:08 Pacific time on July 15, 1936. The earthquake had an estimated magnitude of 5.8 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of VII (Very strong). The epicenter was near the Oregon/Washington state line approximately 6 miles (9.7 km) northwest of Milton-Freewater, Oregon and southwest of Walla Walla, Washington and was felt throughout the Pacific Northwest, including as far away as Bonners Ferry, Idaho near the Canadian border and by seismographs as far away as San Diego, California. [6] Larger earthquakes like the 1936 State Line earthquake are not uncommon along the Olympic–Wallowa Lineament, a series of faults stretching from Port Angeles, Washington to the Wallowa Mountains in northeast Oregon. Another earthquake estimated near a magnitude 6 struck the Walla Walla valley in 1882. The earthquake occurred in the Touchet Ridge, a spur leading west off the Blue Mountains that is known as the Horse Heaven Hills west of the Wallula Gap. There is both the old fault along the ridge as well as a newer fault leading from the ridge into the valley. [1] To the north of the earthquake is the Hite Fault, which lies approximately parallel to the west slopes of the Blue Mountains in Walla Walla County. The Hite Fault is thought to be the boundary between the more stable North American craton to the east and accreted material to the west. While there is no evidence of a Quaternary earthquake event along the Hite Fault, the USGS and several Washington state agencies have run scenarios regarding a future earthquake on the fault. [7] There have been 66 earthquakes felt in the area since 1936. Most of these have had a magnitude below 4, though one event in November 1991 was 4.3. [2] The ground near Milton-Freewater exhibited cracks over an area that was 1,500 feet (460 m) long by up to 100 feet (30 m), one of which being 300 feet (91 m) long and 6 feet (1.8 m) wide in places. Near Umapine there were cracks in the ground up to 6 inches (15 cm) wide that had water flowing out of them, demonstrating soil liquefaction. Some cracks were 8 feet (2.4 m) deep. Residents in Umapine reported being woken during the night. Wells in Milton-Freewater saw in increase in water level and a creek near town, which had previously ran dry, began flowing immediately after the earthquake. Observers in Walla Walla noted rumbling noises immediately preceding the first shocks. [1] At one point the ground dropped by 2.4 metres (7.9 ft). About 70% of headstones at a nearby cemetery were found to have been rotated clockwise. [2] Two small foreshocks were recorded in the three hours before the main shock. [1] Severe damage was widespread throughout Milton-Freewater and Walla Walla. In Athena, people were forced to evacuate their homes due to large cracks found within their walls. Rocks were reported to have wandered into some intersections and two freight cars were shaken off the tracks at Blue Mountain Station in Dayton. [2] The shaking was reported as being strongest near State Line. Very strong shaking occurred in Milton-Freewater, breaking windows and collapsing chimneys that had been built longer than ten years previous to the earthquake. Up to $3,000 ($53,000 in 2018) in damage was done to canned goods as well as $8,500 ($151,000 in 2018) in damage to school buildings. A new home 4 miles (6.4 km) west of town was nearly destroyed, and extensive damage was dealt to two cement homes that had been built around 1916 about 7 miles (11 km) west of town. In Umapine a handful of homes were badly damaged. The grade school and high school, which were joined, were found to be separated by 3 inches (7.6 cm). Chimneys on roofs collapsed in numerous locations, as far away as Waitsburg. Pendulum clocks stopped in Umatilla and plaster was found to have been cracked in Prosser. [1] Over 50 aftershocks were recorded intermittently until mid-November 1936. Several dozen were felt the night of the event in the immediate area, with only three of them reaching to Hermiston. These earthquakes occurred in both Washington and Oregon, owing to the close proximity of the main shock to the state line. Aftershocks measuring IV on the Mercalli scale were recorded in August, with the ones that struck in November being measured as III. [1]

Earthquakes

Arcserve and StorageCraft Sign Definitive Agreement to Merge

EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. & DRAPER, Utah--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Arcserve, the world's most experienced data and ransomware protection provider, and StorageCraft, whose mission is to protect all data and ensure its constant availability, today announced that they have signed a definitive agreement to merge. Once completed, the merger of the two highly complementary companies will form the most comprehensive global provider of data management and protection solutions for organizations spanning from SMBs to the Fortune 50. The merger will solve the growing market need for a single source to manage and protect workloads throughout the data center, cloud, SaaS applications, and at the edge. With expanded geographic reach, the industry’s broadest product portfolio, flexible business models, and magnified innovation footprint, the merged companies will bring extensive market and revenue opportunities for MSPs, VARs, and distributors. “The combination of StorageCraft's leadership in the SMB and MSP market combined with Arcserve's strength in the enterprise and VAR ecosystem, is game changing for the data protection and recovery market.” Addressing challenges facing end-users in every size organization Combining capabilities will create a comprehensive product suite that addresses the vast majority of use cases and business continuity challenges. With total global data storage projected to exceed 200 zettabytes by 2025 and cybercriminals expected to attack a new business every 11 seconds in 2021, organizations will be able to choose one vendor for a single, agile ecosystem to manage data workloads in all environments and to protect and recover data in the event of cyberthreats, human error, and natural disasters. Organizations of all sizes will be able to rely on a single partner to protect current and evolving data infrastructures with a solutions-based portfolio that spans DRaaS, BaaS, SaaS protection, hybrid and converged data management, direct to cloud data protection, and workload migration to the cloud - or any other infrastructure. Significant value for MSPs, VARs, and distributors As two 100% channel-focused organizations come together, the merger will create meaningful new revenue opportunities for partners worldwide. The significantly expanded portfolio will simplify the selling process with solutions, services, and support from one vendor while also providing diversification to help partners expand addressable market share, scale revenue, and create margin opportunities. Flexible perpetual license and subscription business models will further optimize market and revenue opportunities and enable friction-free commerce. Accelerated investment for future infrastructures and next-generation data workloads Arcserve and StorageCraft will continue to fully support and invest in their existing solutions. In addition, both companies will increase investments in R&D and combined IP, which will strengthen both companies’ product portfolios. Channel partners and end-users alike will see rapid innovation for continuous data availability across every platform and location. This will enable a seamless evolution from current to next-generation infrastructures and data workloads, including hyper-converged, multi-cloud, containers, edge infrastructures, and next-generation cloud data centers. Following the merger, StorageCraft will be branded 'StorageCraft, an Arcserve Company,’ and the merged company will be united under the leadership of CEO Tom Signorello, the current CEO of Arcserve, and president Douglas Brockett, the current president of StorageCraft. Availability The combined Arcserve and StorageCraft solution portfolio will be available through channel partners and distribution. Supporting Quotes Tom Signorello, CEO, Arcserve "Companies in every sector are looking to modernize their infrastructures amid unabated cyber threats and global changes that have altered the way they must protect and manage data. This merger will place us at the forefront of filling a massive market gap by supporting all workloads in every environment with one ecosystem. No longer will organizations require ad-hoc solutions that only add to the complexity they are trying to solve. We will be better placed than any other vendor to be ready as new workloads arise and infrastructures evolve – providing certainty today and in the future." Matt Medeiros, Chairman and CEO, StorageCraft "The combination of StorageCraft's leadership in the SMB and MSP market combined with Arcserve's strength in the enterprise and VAR ecosystem, is game changing for the data protection and recovery market.” Douglas Brockett, President, StorageCraft "Following the completion of the merger, the scope and scale of our combined businesses will allow us to bring a dramatically broader portfolio of solutions to market. At the same time, it expands the resources with which we can serve our customers and ensures we grow hand in hand with our channel partners." Phil Goodwin, Research Director, IDC “The combination of Arcserve and StorageCraft is very intriguing because it combines complementary hardware and software platforms. Arcserve’s data protection and data security portfolio, when combined with StorageCraft’s object-based data protection appliance platform, opens up solution possibilities beyond data protection and recovery. A holistic approach to data protection, security and secondary uses is the sort of solution that many IT organizations are considering.” Jerome Wendt, President & Founder, DCIG LLC “StorageCraft and Arcserve coming together as a single company will very likely disturb the status quo of the data backup and protection industry. Independently, they represent well-run organizations with market-leading products that play in complementary markets. As a unified entity, it means that, for the first time, organizations have access to solutions that span from the enterprise to the smallest office – all from a single source. It gives organizations new freedom and potentially better choices in how they implement data management in their environments – plus a powerful and less complicated roadmap for future data workloads. This merger is likely a win for everyone, except maybe their competitors.” Ryan Spillane, Managing Director, Correct Solutions “When two channel-centric data protection leaders come together, it can only be good news for the channel. The unified portfolio of best-in-class solutions is highly attractive to us. There is minimal product overlap, which makes the potential for adding services and expanding our market and revenue opportunity pretty exciting.” For more information, including background and factsheets, please visit Arcserve or StorageCraft. About Arcserve Arcserve provides exceptional solutions to protect the priceless digital assets of organizations in need of full scale, comprehensive data protection. Established in 1983, Arcserve is the world's most experienced provider of business continuity solutions that safeguard multi-generational IT infrastructures with applications and systems in any location, on-premises and in the cloud. Organizations in over 150 countries around the world rely on Arcserve's highly efficient, integrated technologies and expertise to eliminate the risk of data loss and extended downtime while reducing the cost and complexity of backing up and restoring data by up to 50 percent. Arcserve is headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota with locations around the world. Explore more at www.arcserve.com and follow @Arcserve on Twitter. About StorageCraft For nearly two decades, StorageCraft has been innovating advanced data management, protection, and recovery solutions. Together with our channel partners, we ensure medium and small organizations can always keep their business-critical information safe, accessible, and optimized. Our customers benefit from category-leading intelligent data protection, and management solutions converged primary and secondary scale-out storage platform and world-class cloud backup and DRaaS services. Regardless of whether an organization relies on on-premises, cloud-based, or a hybrid IT environment, StorageCraft solves the challenges of exploding data growth while ensuring business continuity through best-in-class protection and recovery solutions.

Organization Merge

2016 Vietnam floods

The 2016 Vietnam floods affected central Vietnam, resulting in estimated 27.000 thousands of homes entirely submerged by rising water. Meteorologists cited the 2016 Asian monsoon, among the strongest in years, and the El Niño as the cause. [1] The last time the area was heavily flooded was during the 2008 Vietnam floods. At least 13 people have died, following the flooding. [1]

Floods

1999 Air Botswana ATR 42 crash

The 1999 Air Botswana incident occurred when Chris Phatswe, a Botswana airline pilot, killed himself by crashing a plane into the airport apron and a group of aircraft at Sir Seretse Khama International Airport in Gaborone, Botswana. He was the only casualty. His actions effectively crippled operations for Air Botswana. [1] On 11 October 1999, Phatswe commandeered an Aérospatiale ATR 42-320, registration A2-ABB, from the Air Botswana section of the terminal at Sir Seretse Khama International Airport and took off. For two hours he circled the airport, radioing the control tower and announcing his intention to kill himself. The airport was evacuated as a precaution; passengers later reported a good deal of panic in the terminal. Officials in the tower attempted to convince him to land; efforts were led by General Tebogo Masire, then deputy commander of the Botswana Defence Force. [1] Phatswe threatened to crash it into an Air Botswana building, saying he had a grudge with the airline's management. He demanded to speak to Ian Khama, Botswana's then vice-president, but when officials in the control tower told Phatswe that there were people in the Air Botswana building, he changed his mind. Shortly after being put through to Khama, the ATR-42 began to run out of fuel, so Phatswe carried out a successful landing, but instead of surrendering to airport security, he proceeded to taxi towards the apron at high speed, slamming the stolen plane into two other ATR-42s on the ramp. All three planes were destroyed in a fiery crash, and Phatswe was killed. He was the only casualty. [1] The three planes were the only operational craft then in the Air Botswana fleet; a fourth plane, a BAe-146, was grounded with technical trouble at the time. Consequently, Phatswe's actions effectively crippled operations for the flag carrier. [1][2] Phatswe had repeatedly threatened airport authorities, telling them that he would kill himself, but never gave a reason. At the time of the incident he was on medical leave from the airline, having failed a physical two months previously and been declared unfit to fly; consequently, he was not authorized to take the plane. Airport security was reported to be lax, and it was said to be quite easy for somebody to steal an aircraft. [1]

Air crash

An accident in a stolen car left him catastrophically injured, but Trey was refused compensation

It was a cool spring morning in October 2019, the sun was rising and 25-year-old Stephen Lindrea was driving fast. Weaving between lanes in a black Toyota ute as he headed south of Perth on Western Australia's Kwinana Freeway, Lindrea rounded a bend and lost control. The ute rolled, tumbling several times before coming to rest on the freeway's median strip. Kwinana Fwy CLOSED southbound at Lakes Road, Stake Hill due to a CRASH - All traffic to exit at Lakes Rd - AVOID THE AREA - https://t.co/EX9sf2A7gm #perthtraffic pic.twitter.com/HgalWqQLYT Lindrea received only minor injuries. But his passenger, 22-year-old Trey Flick, was not so lucky. The RAC rescue helicopter flew Trey to Royal Perth Hospital, where he received treatment for serious injuries to his head and legs. He survived but his injuries have left him unable to talk or walk. Since the accident, the Insurance Commission of WA (ICWA) has paid the costs of Trey's medical treatment and ongoing care. Yet despite his extensive injuries, Trey is not entitled to the full compensation. The ICWA has decided that Trey is not entitled to compensation under the compulsory third party scheme (CTP), which would cover him for economic loss as well as pain and suffering. Why? Because the ute was stolen — and CTP compensation is not paid out to people injured in the process of committing a crime. But some, including Trey's lawyer and family, are questioning whether this rule is being applied fairly. At the time of the crash, Trey was visiting Perth from New South Wales, spending a few months with family. But, due to his injuries, he has not been able to return home and is living in a nursing home in WA. His injuries are catastrophic. "He can't do anything now," Larry Flick, Trey's grandfather, tells ABC RN's The Law Report. "All he does is lie in the bed all day. He just lies in the bed and he can't do nothing." Trey's lawyer Kenneth Rukunga says the young man will never walk again. "The nature of the fractures in his spine is such that he will have no function of his lower limbs and, depending on his recovery process, [he's] quite unlikely to have a function of his bowel and bladder," Mr Rukunga says. Trey had a tracheotomy and cannot speak. "The only way he's going to learn how to communicate is through the use of technology, so an iPad is what he's using at the moment," Mr Rukunga says. "He needs 24 hours, seven-day-a-week supervision, care and assistance." Trey's medical treatment and care has been paid for by the WA Catastrophic Injuries Support (CIS) scheme The CIS scheme, introduced in 2016, covers those involved in West Australian motor vehicle crashes where fault hasn't been established. Trey's family are supporters of the scheme. Trey and his father Nathan feature in a video about the scheme for ICWA explaining what supports and ongoing treatments Trey receives. The scheme provides lifetime treatment and support for crash victims suffering from catastrophic injuries — such as spinal cord injuries, traumatic brain injuries or severe burns. But Mr Rukunga says the CIS scheme only covers "simplified care and assistance" and his client would have been better off if his claim for compensation under CTP had also been accepted. The motor injury insurance scheme, Mr Rukunga says, covers economic loss, loss of superannuation, the cost of home modifications and further care and assistance not covered by the CIS. "Your claim is going to be significantly larger when liability is accepted for your injuries compared to what you get … within the [CIS] catastrophic scheme," Mr Rukunga says. After the accident, Lindrea was jailed for burglary, possession of cannabis and dangerous driving occasioning grievous bodily harm. Trey was not charged. However, WA Insurance Commissioners denied Trey motor accident insurance because he was deemed to be engaged in a joint criminal enterprise at the time of the accident. The family dispute this. Larry says the insurance commissioners' decision that Trey was involved in the theft does not appear to be "based on much". "We don't know whether Trey knew the car was stolen. We didn't know if Trey stole the car or whatever," Larry says. Questions around whether a driver is liable to someone jointly involved in a criminal enterprise have been tested in Australian courts before. In 1998, a teenage girl and several others stole a car after a night out. The driver of the car crashed it into a pole, killing one of the nine passengers and catastrophically injuring the teenager. The High Court ruled that the driver was liable for the teenager's damages, because the girl had pleaded with the driver to stop the car and let her out — but he had refused. The girl was considered to have withdrawn herself from the joint criminal enterprise and so she was able to recover damages from the driver. This case was raised in the Supreme Court of NSW Court of Appeal's consideration of a 2013 incident where a woman was seriously injured when the car she was a passenger in collided with a telegraph pole. The court found she was unable to recover damages from the owner/driver of the vehicle. Informative, jargon-free stories about law reform, legal education, test cases, miscarriages of justice and legal culture. This is because all four occupants of the vehicle had been involved in the purchase and consumption of methamphetamine that evening. There was nothing to suggest the woman had withdrawn from the joint criminal enterprise — in fact she had paid for the drugs. In Trey's case, Mr Rukunga says, it is simply not known whether he was a willing participant in the joint criminal enterprise or not. "The evidence that we've received to date is that he [Trey] was not aware that the vehicle was stolen," the lawyer says. He says Lindrea originally said he and Trey stole the ute together but Lindrea later changed his story. "People that were present at that time — unfortunately, they are minors— have said, more than once, that Trey was not involved in the stealing of that vehicle." Mr Rukunga says in cases where there are unknowns, such as Trey's, an insurance commissioner should not just decide that there had been a joint criminal enterprise. "We can't turn our minds away from those people simply because we think maybe — not that we've got any proper valid evidence — we just think maybe there was a commission of a crime," he says. "We should be looking into it ... and addressing every single channel that we possibly can. And that's what we're supposed to do, as officers of the court." In response to questions from the ABC, the Insurance Commission of WA (ICWA) said it could not comment on particular decisions. However a spokesperson said that, in determining eligibility, the ICWA considers crash report forms, police reports, photos and/or videos, vehicle damage reports, statements from those involved in accident and witnesses, investigation reports and medical reports. The spokesperson also stressed that the Compulsory Third Party (CTP) scheme is designed as a common law scheme to compensate someone who was injured due to the fault of another person. "The CIS scheme exists to ensure people with catastrophic injuries receive lifetime treatment, care and support irrespective of who was at fault in the crash," the spokesperson says. Larry and Mr Rukunga both say they have not asked Trey if he knew the vehicle was stolen. But Larry says, even if Trey was involved in the theft, people shouldn't be quick to judge. "There are a lot of people that are given second chances in life and they turn their lives around after being criminals themselves," he says. "Just one mistake can really ruin you. We know Trey's no angel but he's still our kid, he's still our baby boy." Larry hopes that Trey may be able to leave the nursing home one day. "I would like him to have his own house set up where he can walk in and have all the stuff in his house … that suits his needs so he can at least have a little bit of comfort and enjoyment for the rest of his life." Get more stories that go beyond the news cycle with our weekly newsletter.

Road Crash

2018 Haiti earthquake

On October 6, 2018, at approximately 8:11 p.m, a magnitude 5.9 earthquake struck 19 kilometers northwest of Port-de-Paix, Haiti. [2] The earthquake damaged structures and killed 18 people. [1] The earthquake was the strongest to hit Haiti since January 12, 2010,[3] not including the aftershocks of the 2010 earthquake, and the shaking was felt as far away as Port-au-Prince. [4] Haiti lies at the boundary between the Caribbean Plate and North American Plate. Movement across this boundary is partitioned across several major structures. The major left-lateral strike slip fault zones of the Septentrional-Oriente fault zone and the Enriquillo–Plantain Garden fault zone together accommodate the lateral component of this movement. North of Haiti, the overall deformation is transpressional in nature and an additional structure, the North Hispaniola Fault, a major thrust zone, takes up the component of convergence at a rate of 5 mm per year. [5] The earthquake caused part of a school to collapse in Gros-Morne,[6] damaged the façade of the Paroisse St. Michel A De Plaisance church in Plaisance,[7] caused a cultural center to collapse in Gros-Morne,[8] damaged a holding cell at the Police Nationale d'Haiti Commissariat de Port-de-Paix in Port-de-Paix,[9] allowing several detainees to escape,[8] caused an auditorium to collapse in Gros-Morne,[4] damaged several classrooms at San Gabriel National School in Gros-Morne,[6] and destroyed houses in the communes of Chansolme,[citation needed] Gros-Morne,[10] Plaisance,[7] and Port-de-Paix as well as on the island of Tortuga. [10] Overall, at total of 2,102 houses were destroyed and a further 15,932 were damaged. [1] The earthquake killed 18 people and 548 people were injured. [1] Nine of the deaths occurred in Port-de-Paix, seven in Gros-Morne and one in Saint-Louis du Nord. [11] President Jovenel Moïse instructed residents to stay calm and stated that authorities would be responding to those who need help. [12] Prime Minister Jean-Henry Céant said that a cabinet had been created to help organize the emergency response. [13] The day after the earthquake, President Moïse visited Port-de-Paix de oversee the recovery efforts. [14] There have been two aftershocks since the initial earthquake struck. A magnitude 5.2 event occurred nearly 20 hours after the mainshock, with another magnitude 4.2 event happening about 5 hours later. [11] In the first 8 months of 2018, there were 26 earthquakes between the magnitudes of 2.9 and 4.6 recorded. [8]

Earthquakes

1 dead, 6 others treated after suspected carbon monoxide poisoning in Scott County

Updated: 5:37 PM EDT May 5, 2021 LEXINGTON, Ind. — One woman has died and six others were treated after the Scott County Sheriff's Office said a household used a gasoline-powered generator inside the home. When deputies responded to a medical emergency in Lexington, IN. early Wednesday, they were told that the generator was being used without proper ventilation or air flow. Terri L. Hart, 51, was pronounced dead by the coroner's office. While the cause of death is pending, preliminary investigation shows Hart died of possible carbon monoxide poisoning. Four other people in the house — ages 23, 6, 4 and 3 months — were taken by EMS. Two other adults were treated at the scene but not transported to a hospital. The Sheriff's Office said there are no signs of foul play and are conducting a non-criminal death investigation.

Mass Poisoning

Bond Offshore Helicopters Flight 85N crash

Just before 2:00 pm on 1 April 2009, Bond Offshore Helicopters Flight 85N crashed 11 nautical miles (20 km) north-east of Peterhead, Scotland in the North Sea while returning from a BP oil platform in the Miller oilfield, 240 km (150 mi) north-east of Peterhead. [2] The crash killed all sixteen people aboard. [3][4][5][6] The flight was operated using a Eurocopter AS332L2 Super Puma Mk 2 belonging to Bond Offshore Helicopters. The cause of the crash was main rotor separation following a catastrophic gearbox failure. The helicopter was flown by Captain Paul Burnham and co-pilot Richard Menzies, both working for Bond Offshore Helicopters. [7] Most of the victims were employees of KCA Deutag Drilling. Bond also operated a very similar Eurocopter EC225LP helicopter which ditched in the North Sea on 18 February 2009, in which all 18 aboard were rescued. [3][8] The most serious North Sea helicopter accident was the 1986 British International Helicopters Chinook crash, when a Boeing 234 Chinook crashed, killing 45 people. [9][10] The search for survivors was called off on the evening of 2 April, rescuers admitting that there was no chance of finding anyone alive, and the seismic survey vessel Vigilant returned to Peterhead on 4 April. The eight bodies found a few hours after the crash were taken to Aberdeen and then on to a police mortuary. The Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) chartered the Vigilant for its initial investigation, which arrived on site on 3 April, carrying specialised sonar equipment to locate the wreckage on the seabed. No EPIRB beacon signal had been reported. [11] Grampian Police stated on the evening of 4 April that they had identified the eight bodies that were initially recovered from the surface of the sea. A second vessel, the Diving Support Vessel Bibby Topaz, was chartered to assist the work, and sailed from Peterhead on 4 April, to recover the remaining eight bodies that were not found on the surface, as well as wreckage and the cockpit voice and flight data recorders. [12] The wreckage of the Super Puma was located on the sea bed in 100 m (330 ft) by the Bibby Topaz. The remaining eight bodies were recovered from inside the fuselage. The combined FDR/CVR was recovered and sent to the Farnborough headquarters of the AAIB for analysis,[1][13] as was all the wreckage. [14] The AAIB invited the Bureau d'Enquêtes et d'Analyses pour la sécurité de l'Aviation Civile (BEA), Eurocopter, the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), and the UK Civil Aviation Authority to participate. [7] The AAIB released a third press statement on 4 April 2009 stating that work to recover the wreckage of G-REDL was continuing. [citation needed] On 11 April the AAIB released its initial report into the accident in which it stated that the immediate cause of the accident was a "catastrophic failure of the main rotor gearbox" and the consequent detachment of the main rotor. Three safety recommendations were made, the first of which was that all Super Puma helicopters should receive additional checks on the main rotor gearbox epicyclic module. [15] On 17 April the AAIB released a second report noting that metallic debris from the gearbox had been detected 34 flying hours prior to the helicopter crash. However, "no signs of an incipient gearbox failure were detected". In response, the EASA ordered an "urgent" inspection of the gearboxes on both the AS332L2 Super Puma and the EC225LP Super Puma. Helicopter operators were given to 24 April to complete the inspections. [16][17] On 16 July the AAIB published AAIB Special Bulletin: 5/2009 detailing further progress in the investigation, including two further safety recommendations 2009–74 and 2009–75. These respectively called on the EASA to urgently review the manuals on magnetic particle detection and on planetary gear inspection. [18] On 24 November 2011 the AAIB published its Formal Report 20/2011 into the accident. The cause of the accident was attributed to the catastrophic failure of the Main Rotor Gearbox as a result of a fatigue fracture of a second stage planet gear in the epicyclic module. [19] In addition the investigation identified three contributory factors: Seventeen Safety Recommendations were made as a result of the investigation. On 13 March 2014, an official UK government inquiry found that the accident could have been prevented if maintenance procedures had been correctly followed. [20]

Air crash

UM Airlines Flight 4230 crash

UM Airlines Flight 4230 was a chartered Yakovlev Yak-42 which crashed on 26 May 2003 near Maçka, Turkey. All 13 crew and 62 passengers were killed in the crash. It remains the third-worst crash in Turkish aviation history. [1] The aircraft was carrying Spanish peacekeeping troops back from Afghanistan. It crashed in fog into a mountain after the pilot attempted to land to refuel. The UM Airlines Yakovlev Yak-42 was a chartered aircraft being used to transport Spanish troops after a four-month peacekeeping tour of Afghanistan. The final destination was Zaragoza Airport but the aircraft attempted to stopover at Trabzon Airport in Turkey, in order to refuel. The aircraft crashed into the side of a mountain near the town of Maçka, 30 miles (48 km) from Trabzon, on its third attempt to land in dense fog. The pilot had stated that he could not see the runway; visibility was less than 10 metres (33 ft). All crew and passengers were killed in the impact. The troops on board comprised 41 members of the army and 21 members of the air force. The aircraft was also carrying ammunition; explosions after the crash distributed the wreckage over a large area. The aircraft had been chartered from the Ukrainian UM Airlines by the Spanish defence ministry to return some of the 120 Spanish troops working as International Security Assistance Force peacekeepers in Afghanistan. It was the third crash of a Ukrainian-operated aircraft within six months; an Ilyushin Il-76 had crashed on 9 May, killing around 14 people, and the previous December saw an Antonov An-140 crash in Iran with 44 fatalities. Spanish defence minister Federico Trillo stated "the meteorological conditions and dense fog caused the drama". NATO Secretary-General George Robertson stated "This is an appalling tragedy, given that these soldiers were serving the interest of peace in a difficult mission in Afghanistan". In 2004, the Spanish Socialist Party government sacked three generals after it was discovered that 22 of the victims' bodies had been misidentified and returned to the wrong families.

Air crash

1973 Staten Island gas explosion

Coordinates: 40°37′N 74°11′W / 40.62°N 74.19°W / 40.62; -74.19 On February 10, 1973, a gas explosion occurred inside a Texas Eastern Transmission Pipeline tank storing liquefied natural gas in the Bloomfield neighborhood of Staten Island, New York City, while 42 workers were cleaning the tank. The tank had supposedly been completely drained ten months earlier, but ignition occurred, causing a plume of combusting gas to rise. Two workers near the top felt the heat and rushed to the safety of scaffolding outside, while the other 40 workers died as the concrete cap on the tank rose 20 to 30 feet (6.1 to 9.1 m) in the air and then came crashing back down, crushing them to death. The incident was the worst industrial accident in Staten Island's history. It resulted in a moratorium on liquefied natural gas storage facilities in New York state. At the time of the incident, Rossville, Bloomfield, and other Staten Island neighborhoods had numerous liquefied natural gas storage tanks. In 1970, Distrigas had announced plans to build nine 37,800,000-US-gallon (143,000,000 l; 31,500,000 imp gal) gas tanks in Rossville, of which two were built. [1][2]:26 Opposition to such tanks developed slowly, but by 1971, many Staten Island residents were opposed to the construction of gas tanks. [2]:27 Gene and Edwina Cosgriff formed the group Bring Legal Action to Stop the Tanks (BLAST) to protest the tanks' construction after hearing about the theoretical negative effects of an oil spill within the nearby Arthur Kill waterway. [1][2]:44–45 Patrick A. Mercurio, BLAST's chairman, later said that according to scientists, "an explosion of a tank filled with gas would extend to an area eight miles by one mile—the equivalent of a small nuclear explosion". [3] The particular gas tank that exploded had a capacity of 660,000 barrels,[4][5] and was 108 feet (33 m) tall[4] with a diameter of 272 feet (83 m). [6] The tank was owned by Texas Eastern Transmission Pipeline (TETCo) and had supposedly been drained in April 1972. [2]:28 However, the tank had a polyurethane lining, which enabled gas to be trapped inside the lining even after the liquid had been drained. [7] At the time of the explosion, the men were sealing cracks in the plastic lining of the tank. [8][9] The roof of the tank was designed to collapse in the event of an explosion. [5] TETCo officials had been "fanatical about safety",[4] and even on the day before the explosion, February 9, 1973, TETCo officials called Staten Island residents "hysterical" for raising concerns about the danger of storing gas near residential areas. [2]:26 The explosion occurred on February 10, 1973, at about 1:00 p.m. EST. [6] Jose Lema and Joseph Pecora, two survivors of the explosion, said that just before the explosion occurred, the space had heated up and a low "woof" could be heard from the ceiling. Pecora tapped Lema on the shoulder and the two workers escaped out of the stairway. Lema reported a loud explosion after the two men had escaped through an opening in the dome, though Pecora did not remember any sound. [2]:26 Another worker, John Carroll, had been on the roof and ran down the embankment around the tank, escaping with minor injuries. [4] Hundreds of first responders went to the site, including New York City Fire Department rescue companies 1 and 2, and found the bodies at about 1:00 a.m. EST on February 11. [6] Rescuers developed a system to retrieve the corpses. Rescue and truck companies worked in shifts to recover the bodies, with one rescue company being assisted by several truck companies at any given time. [2]:26–27[5] Most of the bodies were retrieved quickly, with 28 victims having been extricated by February 12. [10] The recovery process was stymied by the presence of debris on the site, including granite slabs from the roof of the tank. [11] The last body was not retrieved until February 22. [12] A few bodies were identified by artifacts such as "rings, watches, and bracelets". [2]:27 Some sources claimed that 43 workers were killed,[5][13] possibly based on initial media reports that counted Lema, Pecora, and Carroll,[4][6] though the final death toll was 40. [11] The incident was the deadliest industrial accident in Staten Island's history. [4] Investigators from the New York City Fire Department and from the United States Department of Labor found that natural gas pockets had been found both in the tank itself and in surrounding areas. [14] Massachusetts Institute of Technology mechanical-engineering professor James A. Fay said that TETCo's storage of liquefied natural gas and naphtha, both volatile substances, was very dangerous. [15] Experts from the gas industry disputed the fact that the explosion could have been caused by gas, saying "a construction accident" was the cause of the explosion. [16] In response to TETCo's claim that the liner was not flammable, scientists at the United States Bureau of Mines built a model of the tank and set it on fire, observing that the model had burned in a similar manner to the real tank. [2]:27 After investigators suggested that the tank may have been sabotaged, two TETCo workers confessed to breaking the lining to extend the tenure of their jobs, and were fired. [2]:28 Politicians quickly took regulatory action. The New York City Council passed a bill imploring the New York City Department of City Planning to prohibit any gas storage tanks from being constructed. [7] Mayor John Lindsay signed a bill on March 25 that prevented the New York City Board of Standards and Appeals from granting zoning variances for tanks, meaning that they could not be larger than 500,000 US gallons (1,900,000 l; 420,000 imp gal). [17] The explosion resulted in a moratorium on liquefied natural gas storage facilities in New York state. [1] The construction of two under-construction tanks in Rossville was subsequently abandoned. [4][18] The Public Service Electric and Gas Company attempted to store natural gas in the two tanks, but dropped these plans in 1984 due to opposition. [19] The statewide ban was repealed in January 2015, except within New York City, where it remained active. [20] Numerous lawsuits were filed by the estates of the victims, the first having been filed in December 1973. [21] TETCo was charged with 40 counts of negligent homicide in 1974. [22] Two years later, courts reached settlements of a combined $11 million in 33 civil lawsuits related to the explosion. [23] The tank's site was cleared in 1993[4] and bought by NASCAR in 2004;[24] since then, it has lain unused. [4]

Gas explosion

Chinese soldiers take part in joint anti-terrorism drills in Russia

Troops from nations that have joined the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) have been practising manoeuvres in Russia for the bloc’s “Peace Mission 2021” counterterrorism military drills. The SCO member states taking part include China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, India, Pakistan and Uzbekistan. Collectively, over 4,000 military personnel joined two weeks of exercises that began on September 11, 2021. Over 550 of them are from China, according to Chinese state media. The military exercises included live ammunition drills at the Donguz training range in Orenburg, involving equipment ranging from fighter bombers and attack aircraft to unmanned aerial vehicles and infantry fighting vehicles.

Military Exercise

2006 Dhaka strikes

From May 20 to June 6, nearly 1.8 million garment workers of Bangladesh concentrated in industrial areas in and around the capital Dhaka engaged in a series of simultaneous massive wildcat strikes. During this period, especially from May 20 to May 24 when garment workers’ revolt was at its peak, workers of nearly 4000 factories struck work. These workers, and other workers from the industrial suburbs, continuously demonstrated and blocked highways connecting industrial suburbs to the capital Dhaka and Dhaka to other cities – Mymensingh, Gazipur, Narayanganj, Ashulia, and Chittagong etc. In the face of this mass revolt, the government resorted to massive repression. In the first one-week, as per official figures, at least 3 workers were shot dead, 3000 injured and several thousands were put into prisons. Till June 6–7, workers in different Export Processing Zones (EPZ) and industrial areas continued to engage in wild cat strikes and demonstrations – most garment factories remained closed. The state proclaimed that factories will open only from June 8 once order is fully restored.

Strike

Mangalmé riots

The Mangalmé riots also called Mangalme Rebellion or Mubi Uprising were series of riots in central Chad, starting in the village of Mangalmé in the Guéra Prefecture on September 2, 1965. Riots started after a tax increase on personal income, in some areas tax was tripled. Civilians of the area also accused government of tax collection abuses and corruption. Government called the tax increase "a loan" to finance necessary projects in the area. Riots rapidly spread to all of Guéra Prefecture. During the riots ten government officials were killed, including the local deputy to the National Assembly, after this the government sent the military and crushed the riots, 500 people were killed during the intervention. It is generally believed that this event started the Chadian Civil War. [1]

Riot

Reef degradation leaves Australian coast vulnerable to tsunami damage

New research shows that Queensland's coastline would be in danger of significantly larger potential tsunami waves if coral cover on the Great Barrier Reef was removed. Photo: Shutterstock The size and impact of Pacific Ocean tsunami waves on the Australian coastline are significantly reduced by healthy coral structures in the Great Barrier Reef, researchers have shown. But their findings, published in the Natural Hazards journal, also indicate that areas of the Queensland coast would be in danger of increased damage from a tsunami if the coral was dead or dying and had lost its structural complexity. The research was led by Dr Mandi Thran, a senior research associate at the Water Research Laboratory and UNSW School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, along with colleagues at the University of Sydney. Using simulated models they were able to quantify, for the first time, that if the coral cover was removed completely there would be a 31% increase in offshore wave amplitude for a tsunami caused by a large-scale Mw9.0 earthquake in the Solomon Islands. “We found that when we included rough coral cover, in our simulations, the tsunami waves were dampened,” Dr Thran says. “But when we removed that coral cover the waves actually grew in size. The research team ran various computer simulations for different incidents that could feasibly cause a tsunami in the region — including earthquakes of strengths from 7.5Mw to 9.0Mw in the Solomon Islands, as well as landslides in and around the Great Barrier Reef itself. For each simulation, the team first assumed the coral cover was healthy, with a rough and complex structure. They then re-ran the simulations for conditions where the coral was deemed to be smooth, such as it might be after being damaged by climate change. Finally, models were analysed where the entire reef platform was removed, in order to assess the buffering capacity of the Great Barrier Reef itself. Where coral structures were present, the key component was the ‘roughness’ of the coral on the reef, which is maximised when it is healthy and has a vibrant complex structure. “Being able to monitor the reef’s health and being able to quantify how rough it is, that will better equip us with the ability to anticipate what the tsunami hazard will be,” Thran said. “We can have a better gauge on how much more hazard there is for a particular area of the coastline if the health of the reef is declining or deteriorating.” The phenomenon highlighted by the research is very similar to the way a lens will focus light, given the fact that reefs are generally circular. As tsunami waves approach the reef they bend inwards, with the energy focused towards the reef platform and potentially causing the waves to grow bigger and more powerful. However, when healthy ‘rough’ coral structures are present on the reef, there is a frictional force that counteracts the effect and dampens down the waves. Research shows that dead coral which has lost its 'roughness' does not act as a dampner against potential tsunami waves, and could actually help to increase the amplitude of such waves. Photo: Shutterstock The researchers also noted, though, that the positive effect caused by healthy Great Barrier Reef coral is just one aspect to be considered in terms of ongoing protection from potential tsunami damage. Risk awareness, hazard education, early warning systems and resilient infrastructure should also play a large part, they said. But in terms of the reef structures, Professor Dale Dominey-Howes from the University of Sydney, who was a co-author of the paper, says it is vital to address the damage being done by the effects of climate change. “The most significant finding is to demonstrate clearly, in a quantifiable way, the protective effects that healthy marine reefs can provide to adjacent low-lying coastal landscapes that are at risk from flooding and from tsunami events,” Prof. Dominey-Howes said. “Healthy coral reef acts as a buffer, mitigating the effects of tsunami waves, although it doesn't reduce it to zero. But it can slow the wave down, which reduces the power of the wave to do damage to buildings and infrastructure in the adjacent coastal plain. “Totally separate from the issue of tsunami risk is the fact that changing climate can damage coral reef ecosystems, potentially killing them. And if we do that, we're actually amplifying the risk associated with tsunamis by killing a natural protective barrier. “This adds weight to the argument that we need to think about protecting coral reefs from the worst impacts of climate change, which means we need to take action on human-induced climate change.”

Tsunamis

Russia-Led CSTO To Hold Military Drills In Central Asia Due To Situation In Afghanistan

The Russia-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) says it plans to hold military exercises in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan due to the ongoing situation in Afghanistan. CSTO spokesman Vladimir Zainetdinov told the Interfax news agency on August 27 that several thousand troops will be involved in the planned Rubezh (Frontier) exercises in Kyrgyzstan, which will be conducted from September 7-9. According to Zainetdinov, three more sets of military maneuvers will be held close to the Tajik-Afghan border in October, with a fourth scheduled for November. CSTO members include Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Tajikistan. Central Asians states bordering Afghanistan are concerned about security threats emanating from the war-torn country and the potential for tens of thousands of refugees to pour over the border. The Taliban has sought to reassure neighboring countries and Russia that it poses no threat since gaining control over much of Afghanistan’s territory in recent weeks, including Kabul, the capital. The group has pledged to rule differently than during its brutal regime of the 1990s that saw women confined to their homes, most entertainment banned, and punishments that included stonings and public executions. But their promises are being treated with skepticism by many Afghans and governments around the world. Zainetdinov’s statement comes as Russia and Tajikistan hold one-month joint military drills bear the Afghan border that started on August 17. On August 10, Russia completed joint military exercises with Tajik and Uzbek troops near the border with Afghanistan, which followed smaller Russian-Uzbek maneuvers along Uzbek-Afghan border. Russia, which has military bases in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, has vowed to defend Moscow's allies in Central Asia against any security threat from Afghanistan.

Military Exercise

US and Singapore Armies Conduct 40th Annual Tiger Balm Exercise

Celebrating a 40-year partnership, Exercise Tiger Balm is the longest running bilateral exercise between the U.S. Army and the Singapore Armed Forces that occurred virtually on Singapore and Oahu, Hawaii, May 6-13, 2021. Exercise Tiger Balm is a U.S. Army Pacific (USARPAC) sponsored exercise conducted annually since 1981 with the Singapore Armed Forces to enhance regional security, interoperability, and country-to-country military relationships. Soldiers from U.S. Army 25th Infantry Division, Hawaii Army National Guard, California Army National Guard, contractors with the Regional Cyber Center Pacific, and the Singapore Armed Forces participated in Exercise Tiger Balm 2021. Exercise Tiger Balm has been the catalyst for both nations’ close military-to-military ties. In 2020 it was cancelled due to the unprecedented threat of a global pandemic. To continue the strong U.S and Singapore Armed Force’s ties and bonds, exercise planners had the challenge in 2021 to make the entire exercise virtual. ”This year we celebrate the 40th Anniversary of Tiger Balm, our bilateral exercise between U.S. Army Pacific and the Singapore Army focused on strengthening our partnership, solidifying interoperability, and building trust which enable a free and open Indo-Pacific,” Commanding General, U.S. Army Pacific, Gen. Paul J. LaCamera said. “Tiger Balm is the longest-running bilateral exercise the Singapore Army has with any defense partner, and this exercise is of great importance to both our armies. The U.S. Army Pacific is honored to be a part of this great tradition. Our partnership continues to be one of professionalism, mutual respect, and trust.” Since 1981, this exercise has provided opportunities to soldiers from U.S. and Singapore to work cohesively, exchange tactical skills, techniques, training and equipment, and build on lessons learned from previous iterations. “Through four decades of bilateral training and collaboration, we have gleaned invaluable operational insights, and sharpened our professional competencies,” Singapore Chief of the Army, Maj. Gen. Goh Si Hou said. “This would not have been the case if the exercise itself had not evolved constantly through the years, to stay relevant to the most pressing security challenges of our time.” Though the 2021 iteration was conducted virtually with its participants thousands of miles away, this exercise continues to be of significant importance to both Nation’s armies. The greatest advantage remains the people – U.S. and Singapore Armed Forces – empowered by leadership and technology. “Exercise Tiger Balm has provided a platform for professional exchanges to enhance the interoperability of both armies,” said Brig. Gen. Lee Yi-Jin, Commander of 6th Division, Singapore Armed Forces. “The exercise has also grown in complexity over the years to incorporate emerging capabilities, doctrinal developments, and operational insights. These have been invaluable in preparing us for the multi-faceted threats that we face today, which increasingly require concerted and coordinated action by partner nations. This year’s exercise is unique in Tiger Balm’s history. We have been exercising continuously for four decades because we always believe by doing so enhances regional security through a strong rapport and interoperability.” The bilateral command post exercise provided a valuable opportunity to train with Singapore Armed Forces, building readiness and capability. Maintaining operable forces fosters peace and stability, which is beneficial to U.S. interests and those of our partners. “Exercise Tiger Balm has also provided the means for our armies to continue to improve our partnerships,” Hawaii Army National Guard Brig. Gen. Moses Kaoiwi Jr. said. “For over 40 years our forces were able to develop an enduring relationship. As a Hawaii National Guardsman, I have personally witnessed and experienced how Exercise Tiger Balm has strengthened the trust and confidence that we have in each other. Exercise Tiger Balm creates long lasting relationships that transcend beyond this exercise. I am confident that should we find ourselves together as partners in any conflict, contingency operation, or all-hazards event; we will be successful in completing our mission.” This year’s closing ceremonies concluded after eight-days of virtual brigade-level command post exercise scenarios. The new Exercise Tiger Balm logo was unveiled during the closing ceremony to commemorate the 40th anniversary. There was also a commemorative magazine, signed and exchanged by the leaders. Exercise Tiger Balm continues to evolve in order to counter the increasing complexities and challenges of an uncertain world and continues to fortify its forces and relationships. “Though over the course of the last 40 years the exercise has seen many different faces and ever-evolving training and equipment,” said 25th Infantry Division Commanding General, Maj. Gen. James. B. Jarrad. “The relationships that have been built – and continue to be built – continue to tell the story of a partnership founded on conviction, commitment, and professionalism. We look forward to the future to where we can come once again together, to advance our partnership, our interoperability, and our capacity to train, fight, and win as one team.”

Military Exercise

Philippine Airlines Flight 143 crash

Philippine Airlines Flight 143 (PR143) was a domestic flight from the Manila Ninoy Aquino Airport, Manila, Philippines to Mandurriao Airport, Iloilo City. On May 11, 1990, at Manila Ninoy Aquino International Airport the Boeing 737-300 (C/N 24466, MSN 1771) assigned to the route suffered an explosion in the central fuel tank and was consumed by fire in as little as four minutes. [2][3] The air temperature had been high at the time of the accident, about 35 °C (95 °F), while the Boeing 737-300 was parked at Manila. The air conditioning packs, located beneath the center wing fuel tank of the 737, had been running on the ground before pushback (approximately 30 to 45 minutes). The center wing fuel tank, which had not been filled in two months, likely contained some fuel vapors. Shortly after pushback a powerful explosion in the center fuel tank pushed the cabin floor violently upward. The wing tanks ruptured, causing the airplane to burst into flames. The majority of the 113 passengers and 6 crew escaped via the emergency chutes, which had been deployed following the blast. [2] Several passengers reported as many as three explosions in the plane, and Oscar Alejandro, then director of the Philippine Air Transport Office, confirmed the engines had not been started at the time of the blasts. [2] It is thought the vapors ignited due to damaged wiring, because no bomb, incendiary device, or detonator had been found at the scene. [1] The airline had fitted logo lights after delivery which required passing additional wires through the vapor seals in the fuel tanks. The NTSB recommended to the FAA that an Airworthiness Directive be issued requiring inspections of the fuel boost pumps, float switch, and wiring looms because signs of chafing had been found. The FAA declined to issue the Airworthiness Directive. There were 8 fatalities, including one child, while another 82 people were treated for smoke inhalation and other injuries at the airport clinic. There were no ground fatalities or injuries from the explosion. [1][4]

Air crash

1988 Denver attack

Phillip L. Hutchinson was an American bank robber, known for his 1988 rampage in Denver, Colorado, in which he robbed a bank, murdered a police officer and held a man hostage. He was chased by police and a news helicopter that filmed his getaway in one of the first ever recorded police chases. Hutchinson was eventually stopped when the pilot of the news helicopter landed it in front of his hijacked pickup truck. Hutchinson was then shot dead by police when they surrounded him. A film made in 1991 called The Chase was about his crime spree. Hutchinson was born in Arlington County, Virginia on March 19, 1963. He was described by authorities as a career criminal and was an escaped convict. Prior to the Denver bank robbery, he was serving a life sentence for an aggravated robbery in a Texas prison. According to the Texas Department of Corrections, he had escaped from prison on July 31, 1987, along with another inmate. Hutchinsons criminal record included kidnapping, two prison escapes and desertion from the Marine Corps. Authorities also believe he had possible involvement in four other bank robberies in the Denver area. On February 9, 1988, in Denver, Colorado, at around 11:20 a.m., Hutchinson entered the Rio Grande Operating Credit Union office armed with a handgun and robbed the teller at gunpoint. He then fled in a brown Chevrolet K5 Blazer at speeds of up to 60 miles per hour. A KCNC-TV news helicopter that had been filming aerial shots for a local newscast was informed of the robbery and ensuing police chase. Hutchinson drove recklessly at high speeds and forced other vehicles off the road including police cruisers. Hutchinson fled northbound on Tennyson Street and headed directly towards an unmarked police cruiser. The two detectives inside the vehicle attempted to escape. Detective Robert "Bob" Wallis, who had been inside the vehicle, was struck by Hutchinson as he attempted to run across the street. Walliss body was sent flying and he was killed instantly. Hutchinson continued to flee and did not stop. He escaped from the police momentarily but then crashed his Blazer into a tree after losing control of the vehicle. He then fled on foot with the stolen money and handgun to a nearby parking lot. Hutchinson then spotted a young woman with a baby in a blue car. He attempted to hijack the vehicle and use them as hostages, but the woman drove off before he could break into her vehicle. As she fled, Hutchinson opened fire with his handgun on the vehicle. He hit the car but missed hitting anyone inside. Hutchinson then fled to a nearby house where he encountered 73-year-old John Laurienti. He held him hostage at gunpoint and forced Laurienti to drive him in Laurientis green pickup truck. Hutchinson threatened to kill Laurienti if he made any attempt to alert the police of his presence. By this point, only the news helicopter pilot, Mike Silva, and the cameraman, Jim Stair, knew of Hutchinsons present location. They were unable to get through to the police and inform them of where Hutchinson was located. As Laurienti drove past a police car, Hutchinson ducked down in the passenger seat and the pickup drove straight past the cruiser, with the police completely unaware he was in the vehicle. Realising the danger of Hutchinson escaping and potentially killing his hostage, Silva landed the helicopter on the road directly in front of the pickup and stopped it from going any further. Hutchinson ordered Laurienti to ram the helicopter, but after hesitating, Hutchinson fired through the front windshield at the helicopter. Police officers were then alerted to Hutchinsons whereabouts and surrounded him from all sides. One officer rammed the pickup to stop Hutchinson firing off any more rounds. The helicopter flew off and landed nearby. Stair then exited the helicopter and filmed the officers on foot as they surrounded Hutchinson. Hutchinson attempted to shoot at the police and kill Laurienti but before he could fire off any more rounds, the police opened fire and shot Hutchinson dead in the pickup truck. Laurienti was then pulled from the truck unharmed. Stair caught Hutchinsons death on camera. Silva was criticized by some for getting involved. However, police officers and the KCNC-TV director, along with many others, praised him as a hero who had saved the day. Hutchinson died at the age of 24 and was buried in Round Rock, Texas. Hutchinsons rampage and death have been widely reported in the media and have been featured in many documentaries on television. Most famously, footage of his death was featured in: Worlds Scariest Police Chases, Police Stop!, Rescue 911, and the 1993 shockumentary film, Traces of Death. A film made in 1991 called The Chase is a 93-minute film directed by Paul Wendkos about the robbery and events which led to Hutchinsons death. Hutchinson was played by film actor Casey Siemaszko. Also starring in the film was the late Ben Johnson as Laurienti, Robert Beltran as Silva and Barry Corbin as Wallis. The film also starred: Gerry Bamman, Megan Follows, Sheila Kelley, Ricki Lake, Anthony Tyler Quinn and Gailard Sartain.

Bank Robbery

Aeroflot Flight 3739 (1976) crash

Aeroflot Flight 3739 (Russian: Рейс 3739 Аэрофлота Reys 3739 Aeroflota) was a regularly scheduled Russian domestic flight from Irkutsk to Pulkovo Airport in Saint Petersburg (with a stopover at Tolmachevo Airport) that crashed during takeoff from Irkutsk International Airport on 9 February 1976. Twenty-four of the 114 people on board perished in the accident. [1] The aircraft involved in the accident was a Tupolev Tu-104A, registered to Aeroflot. The aircraft made its first flight on 26 November 1956 and was delivered to Irkutsk in December 1957 after being used for test flights. The aircraft was originally configured to seat 70 passengers, but was later re-arranged to seat 85 passengers. At the time of the crash the aircraft had 22,069 flight hours and 10,308 pressurization cycles. [2] The cockpit crew consisted of the following:[2] The cabin crew consisted of four flight attendants. [2] Initially, 99 passengers boarded the plane at Irkutsk. Eventually, 5 more passengers not on the manifest were permitted to board the aircraft, four of them with tickets, one the adult son of the radio operator who didn't have a ticket. [3] Two of the unseated passengers were placed in the restrooms, two in the front of the aircraft, and the radio operator's son sat in the cockpit. None of the five additional passengers were listed in the flight documents. It is not completely clear where the remaining passengers without seats stood. Flight 3739 started takeoff from Irkutsk at 8:15 AM local time at a bearing of 116°. During takeoff the aircraft began to roll to the right, but with considerable effort the pilots rolled the aircraft 20° to the left in efforts to level the aircraft. The aircraft broke away from the runway at 300 km/h, when the pilots were able to temporarily level the aircraft only for the aircraft to start banking to the right again at 30 meters. Rapidly losing altitude, the aircraft crashed eight seconds after separating from the runway at a bank angle of 70°, just 180 meters past the southeast end of the runway. A Chosonminhang Tupolev Tu-154, registered P-551, was damaged after being struck by the aircraft during the crash. [3][2] Investigators initially suspected the right wing had been modified during maintenance in such a way that it resulted in an aerodynamic imbalance. To confirm this hypothesis, the remains of the right wing were sent to the Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute, where engineers concluded the right wing was fully functional until impact. Investigators recreated the flight path until impact on another Tupolev Tu-104, and published their findings. Flight testing showed that the Tupolev Tu-104 was prone to banking in a side wind. In the low altitude situation, the pilot's response of adjusting the ailerons was not sufficient; the proper response would have been to sharply pull back on the throttles. They concluded that as soon as the aircraft separated from the runway, the aircraft exceeding the aircraft flight manual recommended 2-3° angle of takeoff, although still 3-4° from a stall angle; the wind was believed to have pushed the right wing into the roll. [3] Calculations showed the right fuel tanks held an estimated 1300-1500 kilos more fuel than the left, contributing to the roll. [3] The commission of the Ministry of Aviation Industry of the USSR tasked with investigating the crash concluded the causes of the accident were as follows;[3]

Air crash

Ahearne Cup

Ahearne Cup or Ahearne Trophy is the name of two ice hockey tournaments, the first played from 1952 to 1977 and the second created in 2001. Both are named after British ice hockey promoter, J. F. "Bunny" Ahearne. The original Ahearne Cup was held in Sweden annually from 1952 to 1977 (no tournament played in 1957), with the finals at Johanneshovs Isstadion in Stockholm, and co-arranged by newspaper Dagens Nyheter. It was held in December and open to both club teams and national teams, although national teams seldom competed. While most teams were from Sweden, many teams from the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia, Canada and Finland also competed. The record for most tournaments attended is shared between Swedish teams Södertälje SK and Djurgårdens IF, both with 20 entries, followed by Leksands IF and AIK with 12 each. Djurgården also has the record for most wins, four, while Harringay Racers and Spartak Moscow won the tournament three times each. For many Swedes, this tournament was the first meeting with North American playing style, represented by Canadian amateur teams and British teams filled with Canadians. However, as professional hockey evolved in North America, the transatlantic amateur teams became both less competitive and less interested in joining European tournaments of this kind. The resulting downturn in public interest, together with tougher playing schedules in the European leagues, led to the cancellation of the tournament. The Ahearne Trophy was created to promote interest in the British Ice Hockey Superleague. It was played in 2002 between teams from the ISL and teams from the Deutsche Eishockey Liga and in 2003 between British and Norwegian teams. It was again played for in 2006 between British and German teams, this time with the British teams coming from the Elite Ice Hockey League. Although the more recent event was called Ahearne Trophy instead of Ahearne Cup, and was not considered an official revival, Superleague organizers acknowledged that the similar name was meant to recapture some of the classic tournament's prestige.

Sports Competition

Woman accused of trying to rob Phoenix bank said it was meant to be a 'joke'

PHOENIX - A woman accused of trying to rob a Phoenix bank this week is now claiming it was all a misunderstanding. Phoenix police say 46-year-old Kerri Lee handed a note to a teller at a Bank of America near 19th Avenue and Bethany Home Road demanding money. Lee's personal information was reportedly written on the note as well. She was arrested once she tried to leave the bank. The 46-year-old told detectives that she did write the note, but that it was meant to be a joke.

Bank Robbery

Deadly Marburg virus discovered for first time in west Africa

Ebola-like disease kills man in Guinea as WHO says it is working with local health authorities on swift response to stop spread Last modified on Tue 10 Aug 2021 01.57 BST Health authorities in Guinea have confirmed one death from Marburg virus, a highly infectious haemorrhagic fever similar to Ebola, the World Health Organization says. It marks the first time that the deadly disease has been identified in west Africa. There have been 12 major Marburg outbreaks since 1967, mostly in southern and eastern Africa. Guinea’s new case was first identified last week, just two months after the country was declared free of Ebola following a brief flare-up earlier this year that killed 12 people. The patient, who has since succumbed to the illness, first sought treatment at a local clinic before his condition rapidly deteriorated, the WHO said on Monday. Analysts at Guinea’s national haemorrhagic fever laboratory and the Institute Pasteur in Senegal later confirmed the Marburg diagnosis. “The potential for the Marburg virus to spread far and wide means we need to stop it in its tracks,” Matshidiso Moeti, WHO’s regional director for Africa, said. “We are working with the health authorities to implement a swift response that builds on Guinea’s past experience and expertise in managing Ebola, which is transmitted in a similar way,” Moeti said. Both the Marburg case and this year’s Ebola cases were detected in Guinea’s Gueckedou district, near the borders with Liberia and Ivory Coast. The first cases of the 2014-2016 Ebola epidemic, the largest in history, also were from the same region in south-eastern Guinea’s forest region. Marburg case fatality rates have varied from 24% to 88% in past outbreaks, depending on virus strain and case management, WHO said, adding that transmission occurred through contact with infected body fluids and tissue. Marburg outbreaks start when an infected animal, such as a monkey or a fruit bat, passes the virus to a human. The virus then spreads from human to human by contact with an infected person’s body fluids.

Disease Outbreaks

2007–08 CBS News writers strike

The 2007–2008 CBS News writers strike is a strike action by news writers working for the U.S.-based news broadcaster CBS News. The strike began on November 19, 2007. In addition to CBS News, CBS's locally owned and operated station news operations (including CBS Radio's news radio stations like WCBS, WBBM, KYW and KNX) have been without a contract with the network since April 2005. [1] While most news writers are members of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, a labor union representing workers in the entertainment industry, CBS News and CBS-owned news station employees are represented by the Writers Guild of America. On November 19, 2007, employees voted to authorize strike action along with the rest of the guild. [2] Democratic presidential candidates John Edwards, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Chris Dodd, Joe Biden and Bill Richardson said they would not cross picket lines for appearances on interview shows or a candidate debate. [3] On January 9, 2008, the WGAE and CBS News struck a tentative deal. [4] On January 24, the WGA announced that its members had voted to ratify the contract, which runs to April 1, 2010. [5]

Strike

20 June 1981 Iranian protests

The 20 June 1981 Iranian protests, also known as the 30 Khordad protests, was a one-day anti–Islamic Republic protest organized by the People's Mujahedin of Iran on 20 June 1981 in various Iranian cities in response to the impeachment of the then president Abolhassan Banisadr. [4] A few days before the protest, Asadollah Lajevardi ordered the arrests of Massoud Rajavi and Mousa Khiabani; but the security forces could not locate them. [5] On 20 June 1981 protests were seen in Tehran, Isfahan, Urmia, Shiraz, Arak, Ahvaz, and Bandar Abbas. [1] Protests in Tehran were focused in the city centre and around areas such as Enghelab street, Ferdowsi square, Moniriyeh square, Taleghani street, and Vali Asr street. The government responded swiftly, at least 16 were killed and 1000 arrested near the University of Tehran. [3]

Protest_Online Condemnation

American, Lithuanian forces begin combined tactical field excercise

RUKLA, Lithuania (May 14, 2014) -- American paratroopers from the 173rd Airborne Brigade "Sky Soldiers," and their allies in the Lithuanian Mechanized Infantry Brigade "Iron Wolf," marked the opening of Exercise Black Arrow 2014 with a ceremony here, Monday. The tactical field exercise, hosted by Lithuania, will focus on defensive operations and increasing interoperability between the two NATO-allied units. "This is a ground-breaking event for everybody," said Maj. Gen. Almantas Leika, commander of the Lithuanian Land Forces. "First of all, this is the first field training exercise that the Iron Wolf Soldiers and [173rd] "Sky Soldiers" train together. Secondly, it's new for us that we will train all arms into this exercise, including an airborne assault." The 173rd Airborne Brigade, based in Vicenza, Italy, is the Army Contingency Response Force in Europe, and is capable of projecting forces to conduct the full of range of military operations across the United States European, Central and Africa Commands areas of responsibility. The Iron Wolf Brigade is the core unit of the Lithuanian army, and a large portion of the country's contribution to the NATO alliance's collective defense. "It's going to be an awesome event," said Capt. Nicholas Salimbene, commander, Company B, 1st Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade. "The first week we will be doing combined platoon-level exercises, then following week we'll be conducting company-level defensive operations; working hand-in-hand with Lithuanians the whole time." A major part of the exercise will be a combined American-Lithuanian airborne operation. "This is where we show everyone what we do," said Salimbene. "We're jumping into Jonava Air Field where, with our Lithuanian allies, we will seize and hold it, then go into defensive operations with soldiers from the Duke Vaidotas Mechanized Infantry Battalion." This exercise will act as a certification for the Lithuanian staff, and provide training for both units leading up to Exercise Saber Strike, a security cooperation exercise focused on the three Baltic States later this June. "Training alongside our American allies, we will achieve much more in this exercise," said Leika. "We will continue building and maintaining the trust and confidence in each other that we achieved during our operations together in Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan." Approximately 600 paratroopers from the 173rd Airborne Brigade are in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland, as part of an unscheduled land-forces exercise to demonstrate commitment to NATO obligations and sustain interoperability with allied forces.

Military Exercise

Creek Fire (2020)

The Creek Fire was a large wildfire which started on September 4, 2020 near Shaver Lake, California. The fire burned 379,895 acres (153,738 ha) and was declared 100% contained on December 24, 2020. [5] The fire burned mostly in the Sierra National Forest. The Creek Fire was the fourth-largest wildfire in modern California history, and the second-largest single fire not part of a greater complex. [6] The fire necessitated the rescue of hundreds of people by National Guard helicopters. [7] Evacuations were issued in North Fork, Bass Lake, Big Creek, Shaver, Huntington Lake, Tollhouse and Auberry, California. [8] Half the homes in Big Creek were reported to have been destroyed by the fire. [9][10] The Creek Fire destroyed at least 856 buildings and cost over $193 million (2020 USD) in fire suppression costs,[3] while the total property damage is currently unknown. The fire began around 6:40 PM PDT on Friday, September 4, 2020, in the Big Creek drainage area between Shaver Lake and Huntington Lake, California. Driven by powerful diurnal upcanyon winds within the San Joaquin River drainage, the Creek Fire quickly became a firestorm. NASA documented the creation of a pyrocumulonimbus cloud believed to be one of the largest ever seen in the United States. [11] The fire was fed in part by these cloud formations, which generated downdrafts giving the fire more oxygen and pushing it across fire lines. [12] The fire has been characterized as a plume-dominated blaze, where the environment allows for the continued upward blowing of smoke and the vertical transfer of heat causing extreme fire behavior. Such behavior was seen as multiple fire tornadoes were observed through Doppler weather radar data. [13] Within the initial 4 days of sparking, the Creek Fire rapidly exploded, expanding anywhere between 20,000 acres (81 km2) to 50,000 acres (200 km2) each day from September 4–9. Reasons for this explosive behavior included strong, gusty winds pushing east from the Central Valley into the Sierra Nevada and the pileup of dead trees due to the 2011-17 California drought and subsequent bark beetle infestation. [14] With over 290,000 acres (1,200 km2) burned on September 23, the Creek Fire became the largest single blaze in the history of California. [15] The Creek Fire also spawned two massive fire whirls one on September 7, an EF-2 near Huntington Lake with 125 mph winds, and the second an EF-1 near Mammoth Pool with 100 mph winds, on September 5. The tornadoes caused damage like uprooting pine trees and other smaller trees as well as stripping their bark. These firenadoes were formed due to the intense heat the fire had generated, which pulled in smoke, fire, and dirt creating rotation vortices. [16] The Mammoth Pool firenado trapped hundreds of campers in that area, while the Huntington Lake one caused severe damage to trees in the Camp Silver Fir, B.S.A. & Kennolyn Camps area, that continued to attack their root systems a week later, burning underground at over 1,500 °F (820 °C). [17] Over the next month, the Creek Fire continued to grow in size, exceeding 300,000 acres (120,000 ha) on September 27. In October, most of the new growth in the Creek Fire was coming from the eastern flank of the fire, which was expanding towards Mono Hot Springs and Lake Thomas A Edison. In late October 2020, the Creek Fire became the fourth-largest fire in the recorded history of California. [6] On October 26, the Creek Fire had grown to 369,362 acres (149,475 ha), while containment was at 63 percent. Full containment was expected around November 30,[18] however, the fire persisted for another month, before it was fully contained on December 24. [19] On September 5, hours after the fire broke out, the Fresno County Sheriff's Office closed Shaver Lake, a popular destination for boating and camping. The California Highway Patrol also shut down California State Route 168 for access only to emergency responders and evacuees. [20] On September 7, California governor Gavin Newsom issued a state of emergency for the Creek Fire in the Fresno, Madera, and Mariposa counties, as the fire crossed State Route 168 and was rapidly moving southward, threatening the community of Shaver Lake. The town of Big Creek was already decimated on September 5. 1,000 firefighters were called to fight this fire, which was already 78,000 acres (320 km2) large with no containment, moving quickly towards cabins, homes, and shops. [21] Scores of people were airlifted from hiking trails within the Sierra National Forest in the early days of the fire, with at least 150 people and some dogs evacuated by September 8. [22] The fire had initially trapped about 1,000 people near Mammoth Pool Reservoir after it jumped the San Joaquin river, with at least 200 individuals trapped at a boat launch. [13] On September 9, at least 60 homes were destroyed and 278 commercial-residential structures were destroyed along with the historic Cressman's General Store, a local-landmark. [23] On September 9, the fire reached explosives stored by the China Peak Mountain Resort that were used to control avalanches causing the cache to explode. Firefighters had been warned of the cache and evacuated prior to the fire reaching the explosive materials. [24] On September 22, the fire had destroyed more than 855 structures and forced the evacuation of over 30,000 people in Fresno and Madera Counties. [1][25] Smoke from the fire, worsened the air quality in the Central Valley area and caused an increase in at-risk individuals and children to be affected by respiratory issues and an increase in the use and prescribing of inhalers. [26] On September 17, the Boy Scouts of America - Southern Sierra Council announced that the fire had badly damaged Camp Kern, with some significant structures fully destroyed by the fire. [27] Multiple organizations and locations housed pets and livestock during the evacuations, such as the Fresno Fairgrounds,[28] Clovis Rodeo Grounds and local high schools. [29] The Red Cross organized hotel rooms for evacuees; group shelters were not an available option due to COVID-19 pandemic social distancing requirements. [23] On September 15, Gavin Newsom and California senator Kamala Harris travelled to Fresno County to survey Creek Fire damage. They were met with both supporters and protestors. They talked to first responders about their efforts to fight the fire, as well as wildfire evacuees. [30] They also addressed climate change as a major problem facing California and the country, helping to fuel wildfires like the Creek Fire. [31] However, an Auberry family accused the pair of using their property for photo-op purposes, merely to push their political agenda, before even the family themselves could survey the damage. [32][33]

Fire

1987 European Competition for Women's Football

The qualification for the 1987 European Competition for Women's Football was held between September 26, 1984 & October 12, 1986. The first-placed teams qualified. Norway qualified for the final tournament. England qualified for the final tournament. Sweden qualified for the final tournament. Italy qualified for the final tournament.

Sports Competition

Iran Air Flight 742 crash

Iran Air Flight 742 was a Boeing 727 passenger jet on a scheduled service from Moscow, Russia, to Tehran, Iran, which on 18 October 2011 made an emergency landing at Tehran's Mehrabad International Airport, after the nose landing gear failed to deploy. All 113 on board escaped injury. Arriving from Moscow's Sheremetyevo International Airport with 94 passengers and 19 crew, at 15:20 local time flight 742 was approaching Tehran Imam Khomeini International Airport, when the crew received a 'not down and locked' indication for the nose gear and aborted the approach. [4][5] Following unsuccessful troubleshooting the crew, led by captain Hushang Shahbazi, decided to divert to Mehrabad where a low approach confirmed the nose gear was not extended. The crew subsequently landed the aircraft without the nose gear on runway 29L at about 16:00 local time and came to a stand still on both main gear and the nose of the aircraft. [6] The aircraft was evacuated. No injuries occurred. Although initially subjected to a ban from flying while the incident was investigated,[7] Captain Shahbazi was acclaimed as a national hero, and received more than 11,000 emails from people in Iran and overseas. [8] He was subsequently forced into early retirement due to his political activism. [9] The aircraft was repaired and returned to service with Iran Air. In 2013 it was placed into storage. [10]

Air crash

The massive eruption of Mount Unzen’s Fugendakein Shimabara, Nagasaki Prefecture, in 1991.

By SATSUKI TANAHASHI/ Staff Writer June 3, 2021 at 17:26 JST Miharu Yanai, holding her father Makio’s camera, stands in front of a TV camera Makio was using when he was killed by the massive eruption of Mount Unzen’s Fugendake in Shimabara, Nagasaki Prefecture, in 1991. (Satsuki Tanahashi) Thirty-one-year-old Miharu Yanai remembers the days when she felt overwhelmed by guilt from the tragic death of her father 30 years ago. She was only a year old in 1991 when the massive volcanic eruption from Mount Unzen’s Fugendake peak killed her father, Makio, 31, a cameraman for Japan Broadcasting Corp. (NHK). She is his only child. Makio was covering the eruption in Shimabara, Nagasaki Prefecture, when he was swept up by a pyroclastic flow--a fast-moving mix of volcanic matter and superhot gases--and died. The eruption killed 43 people, including journalists, taxi drivers and firefighters. But the stern eyes of the public turned toward members of the news media like Makio, who remained in the area despite warnings from local firefighters about the dangers of getting too close to the violent pyroclastic flows. Public sentiment was that if the press had stayed out of the area, the firefighters and taxi drivers would not have died. Growing up, Yanai learned the burdens of bereavement. Her mother rarely spoke about Makio. But her grandmother and relatives told her about him when she visited his grave. The internet meanwhile offered her ample access to the unfiltered views of the public. “What he did is murder,” one post said about Makio. “Shame on him,” said another. It was too much for Yanai. But her mother told her: “The media was probably meeting the desire of viewers who want to watch interesting news. If nothing changes, there will be people who experience the same grief like us.” When Yanai was 15, a TV camera that Makio used when he died turned up. Yanai, with her mother and grandmother, went to the Unzen Disaster Memorial Hall in Shimabara that was storing the camera. After seeing the memento, Yanai noticed a video airing in the hall. In the video produced by a commercial TV station, the hall’s director, who was a city employee at the time of the eruption, was being interviewed. “Drivers, journalists, police officers … Every one of them had different emotions,” said the figure in the video. Yanai felt the remark lifted some of the great weight off her shoulders. She began to feel it is OK for her to have her own feelings about the incident. When she returned home, she took out Makio’s single-lens reflex camera that had been stored deep inside a closet and took it to a repair shop. At university, she studied photography. When she turned 20, she watched family videos Makio shot that had been stored at home. One of them showed Yanai when she was just a newborn. She could hear Makio’s low and kind voice. Her mother then took the video camera, filming Makio with the baby. He was tall and showed a carefree smile. It was the first time she could remember seeing Makio alive. Yanai started to cry as she watched the scene. She picked up Makio’s camera and took a picture of the screen. The shot, titled “In search of love,” was later displayed at a photo exhibition. In 2010, Yanai visited the Fugendake peak alone for the first time. She set down a tripod in the area where the press had gathered at the time of eruption. She used Makio’s camera and took pictures of the mountain, reliving Makio’s view. After graduating university, Yanai studied at an art university in France. She returned to Japan in late January this year and became a company employee in Tokyo. Her pictures of Fugendake have been on display at the memorial hall since May. On June 3, Yanai is expected to attend for the first time a memorial ceremony held in Shimabara, which will mark the 30th anniversary of the disaster. “The past 30 years was for me to learn what happened,” Yanai said. “Now I have something I need to pass on, and I will think about what I should say.” Victims of Unzen volcano eruption remembered 30 years on Cars dug out of the ashes from 1991 Fugendake volcanic disaster VOX POPULI: Mt. Unzen deaths remind reporters some risks aren’t worth the story Volcano erupts off Kagoshima, but no signs of injury or damage Lava flow from Mt. Fuji eruption double previous estimate

Volcano Eruption

2020 Monte Cristo Range earthquake

On May 15, 2020 at 4:03:27 local time, a magnitude 6.5 earthquake struck ~35 miles (56 km) west of Tonopah, Nevada in the Monte Cristo Range near the California-Nevada border. [3] It was Nevada's largest earthquake in 66 years. [4][5] Southwestern Nevada lies within a complex zone of distributed faulting known as the Walker Lane, which carries up to a quarter of the motion of the North American Plate relative to the Pacific Plate. [3] It extends from the Garlock Fault in the southeast along the northeastern flank of the Sierra Nevada, running parallel to the California–Nevada boundary. The central Walker Lane is characterised by a zone of west–east trending left-lateral strike slip faults that link northwest–southeast trending dominantly right-lateral strike-slip faults. [6] The earthquake had a magnitude of 6.5 ML  and a hypocentral depth of only 2.8 km (1.7 mi). Shaking was felt throughout California and Nevada, with some reports from as far as San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Salt Lake City. [7][8] The estimated maximum intensity of shaking was rated as VIII (Severe) on the Modified Mercalli intensity scale. The magnitude was initially reported as M 6.4, but was upgraded about 1 hour later by USGS to its current figure. [9] More than 22,300 people reported feeling the earthquake. [3] The focal mechanism of the earthquake suggests either left-lateral strike-slip faulting on a west–east trending fault or right-lateral faulting on a north–south trending fault. [10] The distribution of aftershocks supports the first of these options. [11] The earthquake lies close to the projected eastward continuation of the Candelaria fault, which is known to have been active during the Quaternary period. [12] It also lies close to the northern end of the north–south trending Eastern Columbus Salt Marsh fault. [13] Within the first 5 hours proceeding the main shock, there were 6 aftershocks measuring magnitude 4.5 or higher, the highest being a 5.1. [14] On November 13, at 1:13 a.m. local time, a magnitude 5.3 aftershock took place. It is the largest aftershock of the sequence. [15] Since the earthquake occurred in a remote and relatively uninhabited area, few people were exposed to severe shaking, hence no casualties occurred. [8][16][17] The earthquake cracked U.S. Route 95 between Reno and Las Vegas, causing it to be temporarily closed. The highway was reopened 10 hours after repair operations. In Tonopah, displaced items, broken windows, cracked asphalt, masonry, and drywall were reported. [18][19][20]

Earthquakes

2015 Los Llanos Air Base crash

On 26 January 2015, an F-16 jet fighter of the Hellenic Air Force crashed into the flight line at Los Llanos Air Base in Albacete, Spain, killing 11 people: the two crew members and nine on the ground. Twenty-one others, all on the ground, were also injured. [1] Los Llanos Air Base is the venue of NATO's Tactical Leadership Program (TLP), a regular series of training exercises for personnel from ten NATO member air forces. In January 2015, during TLP2015-1, several NATO air forces deployed aircraft to the base, including four F-16 Block 50 fighter aircraft of the Hellenic Air Force's 341st Squadron, supported by 41 pilots and technicians from the 111th Combat Wing, based at Nea Anchialos Air Base. [2] On 26 January 2015, one of the Greek F-16s crashed into other aircraft at the base just after takeoff, causing an explosion which killed 9 people. A total of five aircraft on the ground were damaged or destroyed, including two Italian AMXs, two French Alpha Jets, and one French Mirage 2000. Those killed included the two Greek crew members of the F-16 and eight French personnel on the ground. 21 individuals were injured, six of them severely. The following day, a French airman who was severely burned in the accident died, bringing the death toll to eleven. [3] In addition to the loss of personnel, the crash resulted in the write-off of two Dassault Mirage 2000D fighters and two Alpha Jet trainers of the French Air Force. Two of its Dassault Rafales were also severely damaged. [4] Initial findings were that a technical fault developed on board the F-16 during take-off, and the two crew members had tried to eject. [5]

Air crash

Sydney news: Five COVID-19 positive men fined for leaving isolation in Sydney's south-west

Five men who tested positive for COVID-19 have been fined for leaving isolation in Sydney's south-west. NSW Police said officers found five men sitting at a table on a footpath without masks, during COVID-19 compliance checks in Leppington around 11:30am yesterday. The men, aged between 23 and 32, revealed they had tested positive to COVID-19 in rural NSW and had been ordered to self-isolate for 14 days. The men were issued with $5,000 fines and escorted back to their mandatory isolation. The NSW hospital system has been warned the worst is yet to come despite already being under significant pressure from surging COVID-19 cases. Case numbers soared beyond 1,200 yesterday, breaking another daily infection record. Premier Gladys Berejiklian warned hospitals would feel the full brunt of the rising case numbers in October when more pressure would be placed on intensive care units. "We will we need to manage things differently," Ms Berejiklian said.  "We're in the middle of a pandemic, of course, but will we cope? Of course, we will." She said that even after 80 per cent of people had had a double dose of the vaccine there would be more cases, but the majority would not require hospitalisation. NSW Health has issued alerts for more venues on the Central Coast and Hunter region as the state's COVID outbreak intensifies. Anyone who visited KI Building Services at Ormond Street in North Gosford any time on Saturday, August 21 and from Monday, August 23 to Friday, August 27 inclusive, is considered a close contact and must get tested and isolate for 14 days, regardless of the result. Subway MarketPlace in Raymond Terrace is also a close contact venue after a COVID-19 case visited on Wednesday, August 25, from 11:55am to midday. The NSW opposition says it's deeply concerned by the state government's decision to delay the return of Parliament by another month. Sitting days were suspended in June and a cross-parliamentary working group had agreed to a return in September pending health advice. But speaker Jonathon O'Dea yesterday sent an email to members saying Parliament would be further delayed till October. Wollongong MP Paul Scully said Parliament needed to be recalled so the government could be held to account "We are deeply are concerned that once again the NSW government has not managed to put in place alternatives to the traditional sittings in the legislative assembly, and this seriously limits the capacity of local members to raise local issues and hold the government to account."

Organization Fine

Funds are running out in battle against Madagascar's locusts

Funds are running out in battle against Madagascar’s locusts Format A family of farmers watch as locust-control workers spray pesticides on their land in Madagascar's Betroka region. © FAO/Yasuyoshi Chiba Extra US $10.6 million urgently needed to avoid resurgence of locust plague 21 January 2015, Rome - In Madagascar, the battle against an ongoing plague of locusts risks being lost as funds to continue operations to subdue widespread infestations of the crop-hungry insects run out, posing a serious food security challenge for 13 million people. Failure to carry through the joint 2013-16 FAO/government anti-locust programme would annul the more than $28.8 million mobilized so far and could trigger a food-security crisis in a huge part of the country Some $10.6 million is needed to complete the locust campaign, including monitoring and spraying operations going through the end of the rainy season in May 2015. The locust plague that started spreading across Madagascar in 2012 was successfully halted last year but the risks of relapse are high during the rainy season, which provides ideal breeding conditions for the pests. "Taking action now is critical to ensure the significant efforts made so far, financially and technically, are built upon rather than lost," said Dominique Burgeon, Director of FAO's Emergency and Rehabilitation Division. "The current campaign is essential to reinforce the decline of the current plague, avoiding any relapse, and then continue towards a full-fledged locust recession," he added. "The costs that will result from ceasing locust control activities will be far greater than the amount spent so far, so it is critical for the international community stay the course and complete the Locust Emergency Response Programme," said Patrice Takoukam Talla, FAO's Representative in Madagascar. No time to waste to combat wingless hoppers The first quarter of the year is especially critical as it corresponds to the second generation of breeding and to the formation of wingless "hopper" locust bands. It is easier to combat hoppers, which are more sensitive to the pesticides and move more slowly than winged adults. As control operations have already been successfully carried out for one year, the hoppers are likely to form smaller groups, which however makes them harder to find and requires more ground and aerial surveys. Biologically, even a short two-month interruption in monitoring and spraying operations could significantly erase much of the progress made so far. Food production sharply down in southern regions As much as 40 percent of crops in southern Madagascar are at risk from the locust crises in combination with the droughts and cyclones to which the island nation is prone, according to FAO. More than three-fourths of the population in the Atsimo Andrefana and Androy regions, where maize and cassava production have declined sharply and rice output remains well below trend, currently face food insecurity, up notably from a year earlier. Successful program FAO, working with the government, designed a three-year $39.4 programme starting in 2013 that has already surveyed more than 30 million hectares - an area almost as large as Japan - and controlled locust infestations over more than 1.3 million hectares with pesticides and biopesticides, all without triggering any major impact on human health and the environment. FAO's has also invested resources in training personnel so that Madagascar has national capacity to monitor and combat the insects The resources raised so far in support of this effort have come from the governments of Austria, Belgium, France, Italy, Japan, Madagascar through a World Bank loan, Norway and the United States of America as well the European Union, the United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund and the International Fund for Agriculture Development. Algeria, Mauritania and Morocco also donated pesticides. Primary country

Insect Disaster

Binghamton professor receives grant to develop a faster, less painful way to diagnose lung nodules

A biomedical engineering professor at Binghamton University, State University of New York has received a $2.4 million grant to develop a faster, less painful way to diagnose malignant solitary pulmonary nodules (SPNs). More than 1.5 million Americans are diagnosed each year with SPNs. These abnormalities in the lungs, often found during routine X-rays or CT scans, are isolated groups of cells up to 3 centimeters in size. Many SPNs are benign, but figuring out which ones are malignant isn't an easy process. One method is to scan patients again in three to six months so that the nodules can be rechecked. If it looks like they've grown or changed, there's a risk that it could be a malignant lesion and cancer cells already are traveling through the bloodstream to other parts of the body. Another method is do tissue biopsies, but those can be painful and difficult to accomplish, because the nodules are relatively tiny. Missing the target and taking surrounding healthy cells instead can lead to misdiagnosis. Binghamton Univesrsity Assistant Professor Yuan Wan wants to develop a faster, less painful way to diagnose malignant SPNs. The Department of Biomedical Engineering faculty member at Binghamton University's Thomas J. Watson College of Engineering and Applied Science recently received a five-year, $2.4 million grant from the National Institutes of Health, with the possibility of two years' additional funding pending initial results. The funding is through the NIH's prestigious MERIT (Method to Extend Research in Time) Award program. Established in 1986 and also known as an R37 award, the MERIT program supports both experienced researchers as well as early-stage investigators such as Wan who are in the first 10 years of their careers. Wan hopes to reduce detection time so that patients would know within a week about whether their SPNs should be removed. The method would analyze extracellular vesicles, which are small sacks of proteins, lipids and nucleic acids that cells secrete for intercellular communication. Under Wan's vision, a patient would give blood, and the vesicles would be extracted from the plasma and enriched using specially designed microfluidic devices. If we can collect these vesicles and use a very high-sensitivity detection technology, we probably can tell if there is some abnormal information from the extracellular vesicles and give a diagnosis about whether it's a tumor or just benign based on the mutation information." Yuan Wan, Assistant Professor, Binghamton Univesrsity In a collaboration with Johns Hopkins University, the effectiveness of these new tests would be judged against tissue samples collected from patients with SPNs. "In cancer diagnosis right now, tissue samples are still the gold standard, so when you develop any new technology, you always need to compare with the tissue sample," Wan said. "In this experiment, we're going to collect the samples from malignant SPN patients as well as normal tissue samples and benign SPN samples as negative controls. We will extract the DNA from the tumor sample and the normal sample, and then use a 565-gene panel to learn about mutation evolution in cancer progression, look at the mutation pattern and find out the mutation hallmarks of malignant SPNs." From there, Wan would zero in on 60 or fewer gene mutations that are telltale signs of malignancy and develop a commercial version of the test for use by medical providers. His ambition is also to help doctors better analyze CT scans of malignant nodules using machine learning instead of relying on their own eyes. "In a pilot study, we collected 3,000 images and trained the program to tell the difference between potentially cancerous ones and benign ones," he said. "Eventually, we would expand the sample size to train the program to improve the diagnosis with sensitivity and specificity. In the future, once a red flag is raised by the intelligent program, doctors will suggest that patients take the extracellular vesicles-based test for further diagnosis." Before earning his PhD in biomedical engineering from the University of Texas at Arlington, Wan graduated from medical school in China, but he found the pace it required to be daunting. "In China, being a doctor is not an easy job," he said. "In one morning, a doctor can see probably 20 to 30 patients -; it is super-busy. So that's why after graduation I went into biomedical engineering." Having that medical training does give him better insight into patients' needs, and developing a less painful method for assessing SPNs and potentially other types of cancer offers a more compassionate form of care. He also stressed the importance of detection: "If doctors identify nodules as malignant early enough and they remove the lung section, patients have a five-year overall survival rate of more than 95%, possibly even reaching 100%." Wan's grant for "Liquid biopsy of solitary pulmonary nodule with extracellular vesicles" is NIH #1R37CA255948-01A1. Binghamton University Be the first to rate this article Posted in: Medical Science News | Medical Research News Tags: Biopsy, Blood, Cancer, Cancer Diagnosis, CT, DNA, Doctor, Evolution, Gene, Lipids, Lungs, Machine Learning, Malignant, Medical School, Misdiagnosis, Mutation, Research, Tumor Cancel reply to comment Warren Mino In this interview, we spoke to Warren Mino at Smiths Detection, about their innovative technology and its involvement within biothreat detection. Dr. Phil Landrigan We speak to Dr. Philip Landrigan about his latest research into air pollution and how African countries are in a prime position to take action against it. Dr. Mann and Dr. Shah News-Medical talks to Dr. Mann and Dr. Shah about the Columbia Psychiatry Pathways app and its purpose of improving the treatment of depression.

Famous Person - Sick

Consequences of the U.S. Departure from the Human Rights Council

Civil society and other stakeholders warned of consequences to human rights defenders and victims of rights abuses when the United States formally announced last month its decision to withdraw from the United Nations Human Rights Council. [HRW: Blame; HRW: Oppose; OHCHR Press Release: Dialogue] The decision – effective June 19, 2018, over a year before the end of the State’s term, which would have expired on December 31, 2019 – marks the first time a State has voluntarily left the Human Rights Council before serving its full term. It is the second time, though, a State has failed to complete its full term on the Human Rights Council; Libya was removed from the Council in 2011. [UN General Assembly Press Release] See U.S. Department of State, Remarks on the UN Human Rights Council. The primary reasons listed by the United States for its departure include the Council’s alleged anti-Israel bias; the membership on the Council of States that commit human rights abuses, including Cuba, Venezuela, China, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo; and a failure of the Human Rights Council to reform itself, including in the election process. See U.S. Department of State, Remarks on the UN Human Rights Council. Additionally, U.S. Ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, asserted that key human rights non-governmental organizations (NGOs) were also responsible for the U.S.’s departure. [HRW: Blame; HRW: Oppose] Civil society organizations have rejected the Ambassador’s claims, and have spoken out against the move, expressing concern that countries like China and Russia will take advantage of the absence of the U.S. to weaken human rights protections and programs, among other consequences. [HRW: Blame; HRW: Oppose] The United States has made other withdrawals from international commitments since the start of 2017, including its departures from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, Iran nuclear deal, and Paris Agreement. [IJRC: Paris Agreement; NYT: Iran Nuclear Deal; Washington Post: TPP] The international community has noted that there may be three primary consequences to the United States withdrawing from the Human Rights Council, each possibly weakening the Council’s ability to protect and promote human rights. First, the Council may suffer a loss of credibility and the robustness of its human rights discussions and programs; second, other Member States on the Council will be able to push forward their agendas, which will likely include dismantling certain human rights programs and blocking human rights defenders from participating in international forums; and third, the Council will suffer a reduction in funding. [OHCHR Press Release: Remarks; Foreign Policy: Russia; Foreign Policy: U.S.] The departure of the United States prior to the end of its term on the Council undermines the Council’s stability and the importance of its work; detracts from the opposition to, and investigation of, human rights abuses committed by certain States; and may prevent some States from receiving UN assistance in implementing human rights protections. [The Hill; Foreign Policy: U.S.] Commentators have pointed out that the Human Rights Council has proven valuable in addressing rights violations in countries such as Syria and Myanmar and rights violations against certain populations, such as people with disabilities and migrants. However, the departure of the U.S. will not only diminish its own leverage in addressing these issues and the human rights violations occurring within Council Member States, but also require other States in the Council to work harder to ensure that those conversations and inquiries continue. [Al Jazeera; NPR] Some of the most pressing conversations and inquiries before the Council include those addressed at the most recent Human Rights Council session in June and July. During that session, the State representatives heard reports and presentations on human rights assistance in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and in Ukraine, on the human rights situations in Myanmar and Syria, and the human rights topics of migrants and violence against women, among many other reports and updates. In response to the departure of the U.S., the President of the UN Human Rights Council, Ambassador Vojislav Šuc of Slovenia, called on States to support and protect the space the Council provides for discussions on human rights, which, according to Šuc, are unlikely to be held elsewhere if not in the Human Rights Council. Šuc pointed out that the Council is the only intergovernmental body that addresses human rights issues around the world. Accordingly, Šuc said, “[I]f human rights issues are not discussed here, in this very room, they have little chance to be dealt with meaningfully anywhere else.” [OHCHR Press Release: Remarks] The U.S. withdrawal from the Human Rights Council may have a significant impact on UN human rights programs around the world. Human rights advocates and civil society are concerned that U.S. withdrawal from intergovernmental institutions, including the Human Rights Council, will allow China and Russia to assert more power within the Council and to seek budgetary cuts targeting certain human rights programs, especially regarding peacekeeping missions. [Foreign Policy: Russia] Russia has proposed a 50 percent cut in funding for UN peacekeeping missions in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Cyprus, Haiti, Sudan, and South Sudan. Further, China has proposed eliminating over 35 positions related to human rights work, including human rights officers and investigators. [Foreign Policy: Russia] U.S. withdrawal may also allow other countries, including China, to further obstruct civil society’s advocacy around Human Rights Council sessions and activities. China has persistently prevented civil society engagement in the Human Rights Council and other UN forums, such as by blocking a moment of silence at the Council for a deceased human rights defender, and the U.S. has been one force that opposes China’s prevention of civil society direct engagement at the UN. See Human Rights Watch, The Costs of International Advocacy: China’s Interference in United Nations Human Rights Mechanisms (2017). [Foreign Policy: Russia; Foreign Policy: Jailed] For instance, when China successfully blocked human rights defender Dolkun Isa from remaining on UN premises, Isa was only allowed into the UN in New York after U.S. and German officials spoke with the UN Secretary General on Isa’s behalf. [Foreign Policy: Jailed] Additionally, with its departure, the United States will no longer fund the Human Rights Council, which may hurt certain programs and activities such as investigations of human rights abuses. [The Hill; UN Watch] Through the end of this year, the United States is obligated to fund 22 percent of the UN’s overall budget, in line with its share of global gross domestic product. See UN General Assembly, Resolution 70/245, Scale of assessments for the apportionment of the expenses of the United Nations, UN Doc. A/RES/70/245, 23 December 2015, para. 13. The UN Secretary General and several State representatives expressed disappointment that the United States chose to leave the Human Rights Council. The UN Secretary General, António Guterres, stated that he would have preferred the U.S. remained in the Human Rights Council. [United Nations Secretary General Press Release] Ambassador Šuc asked the United States to reconsider its decisions to withdraw. [OHCHR Press Release: Dialogue] Bulgaria, on behalf of the European Union, noted that the EU regrets the decision of the U.S. to leave the Council, and believes that the U.S.’s action undermines the U.S. as an advocate for democracy. [OHCHR Press Release: Dialogue] Among civil society members, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International in particular have been outspoken opponents of the U.S. decision to leave the Human Rights Council. Amnesty International stated that leaving the Human Rights Council demonstrates U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration’s disregard for fundamental rights and freedoms, and that while the Human Rights Council is not perfect, it is an important force for accountability. [Amnesty International: Leaves] Human Rights Watch similarly stated that the decision to leave the Human Rights Council will ultimately hurt the victims of human rights violations. [HRW: Defense] In response to civil society’s outspoken criticism, Ambassador Haley sent letters to a group of human rights NGOs and non-profits, stating that it was their request that Member States oppose the U.S.’s proposed reforms for the Human Rights Council that contributed to the U.S. to withdraw. [Amnesty International: Letters; HRW: Blame] Civil society organizations had requested Member States to oppose the reforms because they would have allowed space for other States to establish reforms that undermined the effective functioning of the Council. [HRW: Blame] Amnesty International responded to Haley by saying that it believes the best way for the U.S. to address the Council’s deficiencies is to remain a member of the Council and “provide strong and principled leadership.” [Amnesty International: Letters] While a reform process is underway at the Human Rights Council, the U.S., Human Rights Watch noted in its response, has instead chosen to disengage from those efforts. [HRW: Blame] The UN Human Rights Council is an intergovernmental body of the United Nations, through which States discuss human rights conditions in all UN Member States, with input from civil society. The Council has a mandate to promote human rights as well as address violations of human rights, including through issuing recommendations. Created in 2006, the Human Rights Council is composed of 47 Member States elected from the UN General Assembly in staggered three-year terms, with a specified number of seats being allocated to each major geographic region. The Human Rights Council may issue resolutions to call on States to take specific actions, create mechanisms to investigate situations, and may create or renew the mandates of special procedures, among other activities. See IJRC, UN Human Rights Council. The United Nations General Assembly will vote to fill the empty seat on the Human Rights Council. [OHCHR Press Release: Dialogue] When the Human Rights Council was first created in 2006, the U.S. opted not to put forth a bid for membership, and it was not until 2009 that the U.S. joined the Council. [Time]

Withdraw from an Organization

1997 Indonesian forest fires

The 1997 group of forest fires in Indonesia that lasted well into 1998 were probably among the two or three, if not the largest, forest fires group in the last two centuries of recorded history. In the middle of 1997 forest fires burning in Indonesia began to affect neighbouring countries, spreading thick clouds of smoke and haze to Malaysia and Singapore. Then Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir bin Mohamad searched desperately for a solution,[1] and based on a plan by the head of the Malaysian fire and rescue department sent a team of Malaysian firefighters across to Indonesia under code name Operation Haze. This is to mitigate the effect of the Haze to Malaysia economy. The value of the Haze damage to Malaysian GDP is estimated to be 0.30 per cent. [2] Seasonal rains in early December brought a brief respite but soon after the dry conditions and fires returned. By late 1997 and early 1998 Brunei, Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines and Sri Lanka[3] had also felt the haze from the smoke of the forest fires. By the time the 1997-98 forest fires were finally over some 8 million hectares of land had burned while countless millions of people suffered from air pollution. The 1997 Indonesian forest fires were caused by changing land use which made the tropical forest vulnerable to fire during a drought associated with that year's El Niño. Indonesian forests have historically been resistant to burning even during long dry seasons and despite the use of fire to clear land for swidden agriculture. The land use changes that led to the fires were a combination of industrial-scale logging, draining peatlands for conversion to oil palm and fast-growing tree plantations, and a massive government program to drain swamps and convert them to rice paddies. [4] A total of 240 people perished in the wildfires. [5] Due to the heavy smoke caused by the fires. An Airbus A300 operating as Garuda Indonesia Flight 152 crashed on approach to Medan's Polonia Airport. All 234 people on board died, making it the worst crash in Indonesian history. The total economic value of the damages is conservatively estimated to be US$4.47 billion, of which by far the largest share was borne by Indonesia. [6] This figure excludes a number of damages that are especially difficult to measure or to value in monetary terms, such as loss of human life, long-term health impacts, and some biodiversity losses. Forest fires in Indonesia in 1997 were estimated to have released between 0.81 and 2.57 gigatonnes of carbon into the atmosphere, which is between 13 and 40% of the annual carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels.,[7][8] As part of steps taken to avoid the recurring of the Haze, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) approved the need for an early warning system in the Regional Haze Action Plan (RHAP) in 1998 to prevent forest fires and the resulting haze through improved management policies and enforcements, example via Fire Danger Rating System (FDRS). [9]

Fire

Metro Toronto Elementary Teacher's Strike

The Metro Toronto Elementary Teacher's strike was a month-long labour dispute that saw nearly 10,000 elementary teachers with the then Metropolitan Public School Board in Metro Toronto, Ontario, Canada, walk off the job in a bid to achieve more preparation time. [1] The strike ran from September 21[2] to October 18, 1987. [3] The strike involved members of CUPE (Locals 1325, 808 and 134) and OPSEU (mistakenly identified as OPSUE). After negotiations the requested preparation time led to compromise for 100 minutes and eventually 120 minutes. [4] Before 1987 there is one notable event: Since 1987 there have been other labour actions in Toronto and beyond:[7] This Toronto-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

Strike

World records fall on day two in Beijing

Three world records fell at the Beijing Grand Prix on Saturday as world and Paralympic champion Xiaoyan Wen leapt to new lengths in the Chinese capital. Wen lay down her marker for the 2019 Para athletics season – which culminates with the World Championships in November – with a new world record in the women’s long jump T37. The 21-year-old added four centimetres on to the mark she set on her way to Paralympic gold in Rio three years ago – only a teenager then – with a new mark of 5.18m. Results in Beijing showed Wen, who also won Asian Para Games gold last year, still has plenty more up her sleeve and she will surely hold high hopes of success at the Worlds in Dubai in six months’ time. China’s 4x100m universal relay team – comprising Cuiqing Liu (women’s T11), Hao Wang (men’s T46), Yifei Yang (men’s T36) and Lihong Zou (women’s T54) established a new world record on the track, stopping the clock at 47.57. Hosts excel in newest event The universal relay was added to the Paralympic Games programme last year and requires teams of two female and two male Para athletes from different classes - T11-13 vision impairment, T42-47 or T61-64 limb impairment, T35-38 co-ordination impairment and T33-34 or T51-54 wheelchair racing classes. Japan’s Erina Yuguchi (21.58) also set a new 100m world record in the women’s T61 class established last year. Out in the field, China’s women excelled – displaying the strength and power now expected of them. Consistency was the name of the game for Paralympic and world champion Liangmin Zhang who took gold in the shot put F11 with a best of 11.45m in the sixth and final round, having thrown 11.42m and 11.44m with her previous two efforts. Four-time world medallist Yuping Zhao (12.51m) took gold in the shot put F12 and Paralympic champion Jun Wang (11.21m) won the shot put F35/36. Just two centimetres separated first and second place in the shot put F37, but it was experienced star Na Mi (13.50m) who claimed the gold ahead of her 21-year-old teammate Yingli Li (13.48m), who won silver behind Mi at London 2017. Victory was more straightforward for Juan Yao in the shot put F44 – the four-time Paralympic gold medallist led from the first round and finished with a best of 12.15m. She added a win in the discus F44 (38.78m) later in the day. Lijuan Zou claimed two golds, first in the discus F34 (16.22m) then later in the shot put F33/34 (8.62m). The 24-year-old is unbeaten at major championships and has two Paralympic, four world and four Asian Para Games golds to her name already. Liwan Yang, another of China’s multiple major gold medallists, also won her discus and shot put F54 events – throwing 18.14m and 7.35m respectively. There was a win too for Paralympic discus champion and F55 athlete Feixia Dong (22.91m). Spoils served Success did not all go China’s way though – Japan’s Yukiko Saito (11.25m) won the women’s shot put F46; Vietnam’s Bich van Truong (18.60m and 7.33m) won the women’s discus and shot put F56 and Thi Hai Nguyen (23.52m) – also of Vietnam – won the women’s javelin F57. China’s men did not disappoint either. Dening Zhu and Hao Wang both leapt to the top of their respective long jump world rankings. Zhu reached 7.03m in the T38 class while T46 athlete Wang jumped 7.23m - five centimetres further than his winning distance at London 2017. Back on the track and 24 hours after claiming victory over 100m, reigning world champions Yifei Yang and Yiting Shi notched up their second sprint golds of the three-day meeting – this time over 200m. Yang (25.89) crossed the line nearly two seconds clear of his rivals in the men’s 200m T36, while Shi (31.70) finished ahead of T35 athlete Xia Zhou (34.49). Yang went on to win long jump T20/36 gold in the afternoon session with a best of 5.49m. Cuiqing Liu (12.13) and Dongdong Di (11.45) also made it two out of two with wins in the women’s and men’s 100m T11. Guohua Zhou (12.37) had to settle for second behind Li just as she did over 200m a day earlier. Hongzhuan Zhou (29.31) claimed her third gold of the Grand Prix, this time winning the women’s 200m T51/53; it was a hat trick too for Zhaoqian Zhou (29.18), winner of the women’s 200m T54. Yang Liu (25.63) won the men’s 200m T54 to add to his victory over 100m on Friday. Another star Para athlete back in action on day two was Japan’s Atsushi Yamamoto (13.42). Winner of the long jump competition the previous day, this time he lined up in the 100m T63/64. Yamamoto was the first T63 athlete over the line, with teammate and T64 sprinter Yuma Tamaki just ahead in 13.28. The men’s and women’s 1,500m T54 races saw wins for Yong Zhang (3:05.56) and Zhaoqian Zhou (3:39.25) respectively.

Break historical records

Caeleb Dressel Wins 100-m Butterfly and Sets New World Record

Caeleb Dressel of USA during the 100m Butterfly semifinal on day seven of the swimming competition of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at Tokyo Aquatics Centre on July 30, 2021 in Tokyo, Japan. Jean Catuffe—Getty Images By Alice Park/Tokyo Updated: July 30, 2021 10:25 PM EDT | Originally published: July 30, 2021 9:39 PM EDT The 100-m butterfly has been largely dominated by Michael Phelps at the Olympics since 2004. Now it’s Caeleb Dresse l’s turn. Dressel won the race in a blazing 49.45 seconds on Saturday in Tokyo, nabbing his third gold medal of the Summer Games and breaking his own world record by .05 seconds. Keeping to himself in a corner of the ready room before the race, Dressel didn’t sit in the chair reserved for him, choosing to stand off to the side. A self-described “loner” and “weirdo,” Dressel prefers not to talk to many people at meets, but talked to himself as he walked onto the deck to cheers from his fellow Team USA swimmers. It’s an approach that’s worked well for him. The only swimmer who was under 50 seconds in qualifying, Dressel led the race from the start, holding off rising star Kristof Milak of Hungary, who won gold in the 200-m butterfly earlier in Tokyo. Dressel, however, owns the 100-m distance, and popped off the blocks with one of the fastest reactions times of .60 seconds. Dressel hit the wall at 50 m in 23.0, and continued his blistering pace through the finish. Since he’s arrived in Tokyo, Dressel has been closing in on his own world record, which he set at the 2019 world championships; he set an Olympic record in the semifinals in Tokyo and shaved 0.03 more off that time to set the new world record in the final. It’s the first world record for an American swimmer in Tokyo, and only the second individual world record set at this Olympics (the other was set by South Africa’s Tatjana Schoenmaker in the women’s 200-m breaststroke ). Dressel now owns the five fastest times in the event. That’s no small feat given that the record he broke in 2019 belonged to Phelps, who was the first to break the 50-second barrier at the world championships in 2009, which Phelps swam in a type of fast suit that is no longer allowed in competition. Dressel’s time puts him in the company of other great American champions in the event, from Phelps to Ian Crocker, Pablo Morales and Mark Spitz, each of whom contributed to faster and faster races that set the stage for Dressel’s impressive time. The gold is the second individual one for Dressel, who also claimed the 100-m freestyle title in Tokyo. His third gold medal in Tokyo came as part of the 4×100-m freestyle relay team alongside Blake Pieroni, Bowen Becker and Zach Apple. Dressel has one more individual final, the 50-m freestyle, on the last day of the swimming competition in Tokyo. In his semifinal for the event, which he swam not long after winning the 100-m, Dressel recorded a time of 21.42 seconds—the fastest of any swimmer.

Break historical records

Blinken Will Visit Qatar, Where Diplomats Relocated To Keep Working On Afghanistan

A general view of the skyline of the Qatari capital, Doha. Qatar has long played a center role in diplomacy on Afghanistan. Giuseppe Cacace/AFP via Getty Images hide caption A general view of the skyline of the Qatari capital, Doha. Qatar has long played a center role in diplomacy on Afghanistan. Since the United States evacuated its embassy in Kabul following the Taliban takeover, diplomats have been setting up shop thousands of miles away — in Doha, Qatar. The mission doesn't have a name yet, but it could serve as something of an embassy in exile for what was one of America's largest foreign diplomatic offices. The Doha office will include consular affairs and will oversee humanitarian aid, contacts with the Taliban and counterterrorism efforts, according to Undersecretary of State Victoria Nuland. "We have set up our Afghan office in Doha, led by Ian McCary, to manage diplomacy in all of its aspects with Afghanistan, and to work with allies and partners who have also relocated their operations to Doha," Nuland said in a news briefing Wednesday. McCary was deputy chief of mission in Kabul. Ross Wilson, who served as the embassy's chargé d'affaires, has returned to the U.S. after helping manage a major evacuation at the Kabul airport. (This week Wilson reportedly tested positive for the coronavirus.) The closed embassy in Kabul is now just one of many signs of loss for the U.S., former officials say. "The country is littered with symbols of American defeat, and we need to understand this was a defeat," says retired diplomat Ronald Neumann, who was U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan from 2005 to 2007. On Friday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he will travel to Doha next week where he will thank Qatari leaders "for all that they're doing to support the evacuation effort." He will also "convey our pride and thanks to the diplomats, troops and other U.S. government employees in Doha who are doing truly heroic work around the clock to keep this process moving forward as quickly and humanely as possible," Blinken said. He said the U.S. has evacuated about 124,000 people from Afghanistan. Consular officials in Doha are looking at options to help U.S. citizens still there as well as at-risk Afghans to get out of Afghanistan and obtain the documents they need. The Taliban say they are willing to allow safe passage to those with proper papers. But it will be hard to hold Afghanistan's new leaders to account, according to Neumann. "You may get some coming out. But how do you know whether others are being turned back or not? And that's the kind of thing that you really right now want somebody, some kind of eyes on the ground, to get a sense of how the Taliban are doing this," Neumann says. He says few U.S. officials really understand the Taliban. That includes special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad, who has negotiated with them on behalf of the Trump and Biden administrations. "Even people like Khalilzad, who dealt with only a very thin cut of the political leadership," do not fully comprehend the Taliban, says Neumann. "So we're going into this without knowing very much about this group and without having very many contacts that are very useful to us." Qatar has played an important diplomatic role on Afghanistan for years, hosting various rounds of talks with Taliban members. Representatives from the Trump administration and the Taliban signed a landmark deal there in February 2020 for U.S. and foreign forces to withdraw from Afghanistan this year. It's also where the Taliban and Afghan officials had been negotiating toward a political settlement, before then-President Ashraf Ghani fled Kabul and the government collapsed. In addition to the U.S., several European countries have moved their diplomatic missions on Afghanistan to Qatar, although Germany said it hopes to have representation in Kabul even following the Taliban takeover. This week, Qatar's government said it is working along with Turkey to reopen the airport in Kabul, a key transit point for humanitarian aid to come in and for people trying to leave. There was no way to keep an embassy on the ground inside Afghanistan, says retired U.S. Ambassador Deborah Jones. She has experience of being a sort of ambassador in exile after she had to evacuate from Libya in 2014, amid escalating violence in the country. She says it is possible to do diplomatic work from afar. "Is it always kind of better to be on the ground? Of course it is. But even so, when we're on the ground, we pick and choose with whom we speak," Jones says. In a country as fragmented as Afghanistan, she says, the U.S. government needs to expand its contacts. That is more difficult now as Afghan journalists, human rights activists and women leaders are fleeing or trying to. The U.S. also needs to coordinate with those countries still on the ground. They include Russia and China. And the U.S. is relying on Qatar and Turkey to help the Taliban reopen the Kabul airport. "You need to stay in close contact with countries who do have presence there still or, you know, even your competitor, I mean, especially your competitor, countries who have interests there," Jones says.

Diplomatic Visit

Kelly Clarkson Scores Major Victory in Divorce From Brandon Blackstock, but There's a Catch

By creating an account, you verify that you are at least 13 years of age, and have read and agree to the popculture.comTerms of Service and Privacy Policy By BreAnna Bell - October 1, 2021 11:30 pm EDT A judge has ruled that Kelly Clarkson gets to keep her Montana ranch to do with as she pleases amid her ongoing divorce battle with Brandon Blackstock. The home has been a point of contention between the two as Blackstock claims to have rights to it since it was purchased during their marriage. Clarkson purchased the home in 2019 at an auction for $10.4 million. Since she is the sole owner on the title and their prenuptial agreement states she gets to retain everything she purchased on her own throughout their marriage, the judge has ruled in favor of honoring the contract.  Blackstock has been staying at the ranch as he pursues his new ranching career and he reportedly does not want to move out. Clarkson's ex-husband originally wanted to split all of their properties down the middle along with taking half of the income she earned during their union, but the judge has vetoed the request.  As previously reported, Clarkson wanted to sell the expensive ranch home. Her attorney Laura Wesser asked the judge for permission in doing so, but Blackstock's attorneys objected to the idea as there had been no ruling on who would hold ownership at that time. The judge also ordered Blackstock to pay the costs of running the ranch while he stays there. The ranch expenses total close to $81,000 a month to run. The news comes after Clarkson earned another big win in the divorce battle this summer. While she'll still be forced to give up a large chunk of change in spousal support, a judge declared that she would maintain the bulk of her assets and income she earned while she was married. Sources told outlets that she was apparently so ecstatic over the news that she let out a scream of joy while working on the set of The Voice.  In July, Clarkson was temporarily ordered to pay Blackstock almost $200,000-per-month in spousal and child support –– which is a drop in the bucket for the singer and TV show host. Court documents revealed she makes a significant $2.4 million per month. Clarkson will also pay 70 percent of her children's school fees and expenses since she holds full custody of their two children, River, 7, and Remington, 5. The "Stronger" singer was legally declared single in September. 

Famous Person - Divorce

Iceland Volcano Eruption Triggers Safety Warning From Meteorological Office

A volcanic eruption that started last month in Iceland is beginning to pose a bigger threat to human safety than initially anticipated as the flow of lava spreads. “The area has become more dangerous,” Kristin Jonsdottir at Iceland’s Met Office told state broadcaster RUV. She says the risk now is that the lava might quickly shift direction, potentially encircling onlookers. The site has been cordoned off since Monday, after attracting thousands of people eager to catch a glimpse of the eruption, which was the first on Iceland’s Reykjanes peninsula in almost 800 years. The area remained closed on Tuesday as poisonous gases spewed from the opening. Fresh lava flowed into a nearby valley, with about seven cubic meters pouring through each second.

Volcano Eruption

Places where June 10 Solar Eclipse will be visible

The Solar Eclipse on June 10 is the first solar eclipse for year 2021, and will start (partial) at 11:42 AM Indian Standard Time (IST). The annular eclipse will start from 3:30 PM (IST) and will continue till 4:52 PM. The last phase of the eclipse will end at around 6 PM. If you are in India and are keen to watch the eclipse, know that the phenomenon will only be visible from Arunachal Pradesh and Ladakh for a short duration. The partial solar eclipse tomorrow will be visible in Arunachal Pradesh and a few other states in the east. Only a part of it would be visible from Arunachal's Dibang Wildlife Sanctuary at 5:52 PM., right before the sunset. It is predicted that the eclipse would be visible from here for a very short time, a maximum of 3-4 minutes. Anyone keen to do so much take proper precautions and not watch the phenomenon with naked eyes. A number of places in Europe will be audience to the year's first solar eclipse. A lot of countries across Europe are perfect for watching the celestial event this time. June 10 solar eclipse would also be visible from a number of places in Eastern America and the surrounding places. In addition, the eclipse would also be visible from Canada and North Atlantic Sea. Another place in India which will have glimpses of tomorrow's solar eclipse is Ladakh. It would be visible in Ladakh at 12:25 PM and will be visible till 12:51 PM. A stunning destination, it can be a perfect place to watch the event. It will be visible over the northern border of Ladakh for a short duration. Another region to watch tomorrow's solar eclipse is the Caribbean. A number of island in the region would be privy to the celestial event. Other than these places, part of northern Africa, Asia, northern Alaska are also perfect to watch the eclipse. The finest stays in the Western Ghats Most Instagrammed UNESCO World Heritage Sites of 2021! Luxury redefined: seven-star hotels in the world Wildlife sanctuaries in India that are perfect for winters Offbeat destinations in India to visit this long weekend 10 best international destinations for solo travellers Places that celebrate Christmas in India World’s famous hippie destinations! Adventurous high-altitude national parks in India Beachside hotels in Goa for Christmas

New wonders in nature

'Unprecedented' locust swarms devastating several countries ...

Unusually heavy rain is being cited as a factor in one of the worst outbreaks of desert locusts in decades across parts of East Africa and posing what officials say is an "unprecedented" threat to crops in third world countries, according to a recent report issued by the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO). The rare outbreak is destroying crops and pastures across eastern Ethiopia and neighboring areas of Somalia, parts of Sudan, Eritrea and northern Kenya as it risks spreading further due to the continuation of favorable ecological conditions for locust breeding until around June. The report states that South Sudan and Uganda are not currently affected, but they are at risk for the species to eventually arrive. "This has become a situation of international dimensions that threatens the food security of the entire subregion. FAO is activating fast-track mechanisms that will allow us to move swiftly to support governments in mounting a collective campaign to deal with this crisis," FAO Director-General QU Dongyu said in a statement earlier this week. Dongyu said control efforts are underway, but due to the scale and urgency of the threat, additional financial backing is needed from international donors to help authorities. "Communities in Eastern Africa have already been impacted by extended droughts, which have eroded their capacities to grow food and make a living. We need to help them get back on their feet, once the locusts are gone," Dongyu said. The FAO says the devastating swarms potentially contain hundreds of millions of locusts and that the insects can travel distances of more than 90 miles in a single day. If left unchecked, the insect swarms could grow 500 times by June. It's been 25 years since people in Kenya and Ethiopia have seen swarms of this magnitude and 70 years since Kenya last encountered such an invasion of locusts. FAO officials warn that the locusts are rapidly heading toward Ethiopia's Rift Valley, known as the country's "breadbasket." "Unusually high rainfall in desert and savanna can definitely lead to blooms of rich vegetation that swarming insects like locusts will readily take advantage of," AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Jim Andrews said. Some of the data sites AccuWeather meteorologists track suggest unusually high rainfall, which can create favorable breeding environments for the locusts, occurred on at least a few days in October to November. "The climate across the affected areas [typically] varies from favorably moist, which supports forest or savanna, as well as crops in season, to desert, which is fit for limited grazing, as crops grow only where water is available," Andrews said, adding that the region hosts a rather diverse climate. Andrews said the excessive rainfall could be related to the Indian Ocean Dipole, which set a record-high value during 2019. The Indian Ocean Dipole, which is sometimes referred to as the "Indian Niño" because of its similarity to its Pacific equivalent, El Niño, and refers to the difference in sea-surface temperatures in opposite parts of the Indian Ocean. "In a nutshell, the dipole is indicative of unusual sea-surface warmth in the western tropical Indian Ocean while the eastern tropical Indian Ocean has an overall temperature that is normal to below normal," Andrews said. According to Andrews, this dipole has been linked to unusual patterns of rainfall in other parts of the world, including in the Indian subcontinent, and it's one culprit behind Australia's severe drought and devastating fires. One of the factors that worsened the situation was the heavy rain unleashed by deadly Cyclone Pawan in early December across Somalia. "The already threatening situation was further exacerbated by limited operational capacities in Somalia and by heavy rains and floods from Cyclone Pawan that will allow at least one to two more generations of breeding, causing a substantial increase in locusts over the next six months," the FAO said in the report. "In South-West Asia, intensive control operations were in progress along both sides of the Indo-Pakistan border where numerous swarms continued to form," the FAO said. These swarms have been present in India, Iran and Pakistan since June 2019. Officials say recent rounds of heavy rain in Iran have allowed swarms to migrate to southern Iran to lay eggs, which could develop into a new swarm come springtime.

Insect Disaster

Weightlifting world records surpassed at China's National Games

XI'AN, Sept. 22 (Xinhua) -- Shi Zhiyong came under the limelight in the weightlifting arena at China's 14th National Games on Wednesday by surpassing world records in the snatch and total in the men's 73kg category. Representing Zhejiang, Shi lifted 170kg in the snatch en route to a 365kg total, both exceeding his own world records by one kilogram. After winning a gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics, 27-year-old Shi only had three weeks of systematic training before turning to the National Games, and needed acupuncture for treatment. "Actually I was not feeling quite well today, but before the event people always asked you, 'when can you break the record again?' I had to exceed my limit," Shi explained, adding that he planned to again challenge his own records at the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou. Shi's feat was not rare at the ongoing Games, which has witnessed six weightlifting world records surpassed after six competition days going into Wednesday's event. Olympic champion Hou Zhihui from Hunan kicked off the weightlifting competition on September 16 by achieving a new national record of 214kg in the women's 49kg category, also exceeding the world record of 213kg she set at the Asian Championships in Tashkent, Uzbekistan in April. "It's more difficult to win the National Games title than the Olympic Games," Hou said. "Weightlifters compete here at a high level, which has pushed me to challenge myself. I'm happy with my breakthrough," she added. Two days later in the women's 76kg event, Xiang Yanmei from Hunan surpassed the clean and jerk world record with 157kg, and Peng Cuiting from Guangdong exceeded the snatch world record with a new national record of 125kg. After winning Olympic gold at Rio in 2016, Xiang initially retired, but decided to return shortly afterwards. Competing in her fourth National Games, Xiang thanked her coaches and teammates for encouraging her to bounce back. "People doubted me when I made a comeback, but they made me feel more confident. And I had no regrets about these Games," she said. In the men's 61kg, Jia Xionghui from Beijing lifted 147kg in the snatch, exceeding Olympic gold medalist Li Fabin's world record of 145kg set at the 2019 Asian Championships in Pattaya, Thailand. But Jia failed to continue his form in the clean and jerk with no successful lifts, seeing Li stand atop the podium with a total of 311kg. Enditem

Break historical records

1988 British Army Lynx shootdown crash

1980s 1990s On 19 March 1994, a British Army Lynx helicopter was shot down by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) in Northern Ireland. A unit of the IRA's South Armagh Brigade fired a heavy improvised mortar at the British Army base in Crossmaglen, County Armagh. The mortar round hit and shot down the helicopter, serial number ZD275,[1] while it was hovering over the helipad. Three British soldiers and a Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) member were wounded. Since the 1970s, the IRA developed a series of home-made mortars. The goal was to produce devices to be used as "stand-off" weapons, capable of being launched from safe ranges upon police or military outposts and easy to conceal on dead-ground. [2] The development by the provisionals of the Mark 10 mortar multiple-launched mortar led the IRA South Armagh Brigade to conceive the idea of using this type of weapon to engage helicopters as they were hovering over border bases. On 22 June 1983, the IRA attempted to shoot down a Wessex helicopter with a battery of Mark 10 improvised mortars over Crossmaglen, County Armagh. The pilot was forced to undertake an evasive manoeuvre, dropping the helicopter's cargo into the street below. Four mortars failed to explode and the rest landed in the vicinity of the base, causing some damage and slightly injuring a British soldier. A subsequent investigation found that if the mortar base plate had been aligned "five to ten degrees" differently the projectiles likely would have hit the helicopter. [3] The different improvised mortar designs evolved in 1992 into the Mark 15 mortar, widely known as the "barrack buster". The mortar shell consisted of a one metre long metal propane cylinder with a diameter of 36 cm that contained around 70 kg of home-made explosives and with a range between 75 and 275 m. The cylinder was an adaptation of a commercial 'Kosangas' gas cylinder for heating and cooking gas used in rural areas in Ireland. [4] The first use of the "barrack buster" took place on 7 December 1992 against a joint RUC/British Army base in Ballygawley, County Tyrone. [5][6] On 11 June 1993, there was a previous IRA bid to shoot down a Puma helicopter taking off from the Crossmaglen base with a Mark 15 mortar. The barrack buster, fired from the back of a local baker's delivery van, exploded on the helipad shortly after the pilot had managed to take off. Two Lynx helicopters escorting the Puma were unable to prevent the attack. The IRA action was carried out to coincide with a one-day visit to Northern Ireland by Queen Elizabeth. [7] On the evening of 19 March 1994, a Lynx helicopter, serial number ZD275, was in the process of landing at the large British Army base in Crossmaglen. Meanwhile, an IRA unit had mounted a Mark 15 mortar on a tractor, concealed behind bales of hay. The tractor was parked 150 yards from the intended target, on waste ground. At 20:27, there was a sudden blackout across Crossmaglen's square and at the same time, a single mortar shell was lobbed into the barracks. The IRA had used the mains for the collapsing circuit of the firing pack, turning off the street's power supply and allowing the mortar's own battery to trigger the launcher. When the Lynx was hovering 100 feet over the helipad, the mortar round hit the aircraft on the tail's boom, which was severed from the fuselage. The machine spun out of control, but the pilot was able to crash-land the Lynx inside the base. A Grenadier Guards' patrol spotted a huge orange fireball from a mile away. Three members of the crew managed to get out with minor injuries, but a member of the Royal Ulster Constabulary was trapped inside the blazing wreckage. The constable was rescued just before the fuel tanks and the ammunition started to explode. [8] Author Toby Harnden described the incident as the most successful IRA operation against a helicopter in the course of the Troubles. [8][9][10] After the incident, the IRA and Sinn Féin were criticised by the Social Democratic and Labour Party Member of the Parliament for the area Seamus Mallon, who said: God knows how many people could have been killed. When you realise this mortar was lobbed over a number of houses it brings home the enormity of the danger so many people faced. Yet again you have Sinn Féin talking peace in the morning and carrying out these murderous attacks through the IRA in the evening. John Fee, a local SDLP councillor who described the attack as "an act of lunacy", was later beaten by two men outside his home. The IRA denied responsibility. [11] Corporal Robert Tomlinson of the Royal Military Police was awarded the Queen's Commendation for Valuable Service for his part in coming to the aid of the wounded constable and organising his medical evacuation. [12] Corporal Wayne Cuckson of the Royal Logistic Corps was awarded the Queen's Gallantry Medal for dragging the wounded constable out of the crashed aircraft. [8] Cuckson, who reached the rank of Warrant Officer Class Two, died on 6 April 2011 in a crash while driving his motorcycle between Abingdon and Oxford. [13] There was a second mortar attack on a British military helicopter on 12 July 1994, at Newtownhamilton, when an RAF Puma carrying 11 soldiers and an RUC constable crash-landed on a soccer pitch after being hit by shrapnel on its tail from a near-miss by another Mark 15 mortar launched from a tractor. [14] The helicopter was lifting off from the local military base. No serious injuries were reported. [8][15] The Puma, serial number XW225, sustained Category 3 or Category 4 damage on the RAF scale. After returning to service, the machine was definitively written off and scrapped after suffering another crash-landing in Germany on 15 February 1997. [16][17][18] The downing of two helicopters by mortar fire, along with the increasing sniper activity of the IRA, was both a morale and military blow to the British forces in south County Armagh. [19]

Air crash

Desert Locust 're-invasion' threatens millions across Horn of ...

Desert Locust ‘re-invasion’ threatens millions across Horn of Africa Locusts swarm in the Nugal region of Somalia. (file photo) 16 December 2020 Humanitarian Aid New Desert Locust swarms are forming in the Horn of Africa, threatening agricultural livelihoods and the food security of millions of people, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warned on Wednesday.  According to the agency, locust infestations increased over the past month in Ethiopia and Somalia as a result of extensive breeding, favourable weather and rainfall, with populations predicted to increase further in the coming months.  New generation of #DesertLocust swarms is threatening agricultural & pastoral livelihoods & the food security of millions of people in the #HornofAfrica & Yemen @FAO is seeking funds for control operations 👉🏾 https://t.co/HIdNKTOHLd pic.twitter.com/VzEfVw9b1a — FAO Locust (@FAOLocust) December 16, 2020 “New locust swarms are already forming and threatening to re-invade northern Kenya and breeding is also underway on both sides of the Red Sea, posing a new threat to Eritrea, Saudi Arabia, the Sudan, and Yemen,” FAO said in a news release .  The greater Horn of Africa region witnessed one of its worst ever  Desert Locust infestations , earlier this year. A new crisis could have devastating consequenes for communities affected by recurrent drought, conflict, high food prices, and the coronavirus pandemic.  Battle ‘not yet over’ The upsurge occurred in spite of an unprecedented campaign supported by FAO and partners, in which more than 1.3 million hectares of locust infestations were treated across ten countries this year. Control operations prevented the loss of an estimated 2.7 million tonnes of cereal, enough to feed 18 million people a year, in countries already hard hit by acute food insecurity and poverty. FAO Director-General Qu Dongyu highlighted the achievements but warned that the “battle against the relentless pest is not yet over.” “We must not waiver. Locusts keep growing day and night and risks are exacerbating food insecurity for vulnerable families across the affected region,” he added. Protecting livelihoods FAO, for its part, is assisting governments and partners with monitoring and coordination, technical advice and the procurement of supplies and equipment. It is also supporting rural livelihoods by providing affected communities with farming packages, veterinary care and feed for vegetation-starved livestock, and cash for families who have lost their crops so that they can cope until their next harvest.  However, efforts must be scaled up to protect food production and prevent worsening food insecurity in the affected countries.  The UN agency requires a further $40 million to increase surveillance and control activities in the worst affected countries – Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, the Sudan, and Yemen – next year.  Without additional funding, control efforts could slow down or halt from the end of January 2021, potentially allowing the numbers of the crop-devouring pest to surge in some places, it warned.  “Farmers, whose livelihoods have been impacted, require further support and national capacities in monitoring and responding to Desert Locust still need to be strengthened.”     

Insect Disaster

2002 European Women's Handball Championship

The 2002 EHF European Women's Handball Championship was held in Denmark from 6–15 December. It was won by Denmark after beating Norway 25–22 in the final match. The European Championships was held in the following cities: Note: Bold indicates champion for that year. Italic indicates host for that year. Source: EHF-Euro.com Denmark3rd title Lene Rantala, Ditte Andersen, Mette Vestergaard Larsen, Camilla Thomsen, Christina Roslyng Hansen, Heidi Johansen, Rikke Hørlykke Bruun Jørgensen, Winnie Mølgaard, Karin Mortensen, Trine Jensen, Katrine Fruelund, Louise Bager Nørgaard, Kristine Andersen, Karen Brødsgaard, Line Daugaard, Josephine Touray.Head Coach: Jan Pytlick. Chosen by team officials and EHF experts: EHF (minimum 20% of total shots received by team)

Sports Competition

2002 Afyon earthquake

The Afyon Province of western Turkey was struck by an earthquake measuring 6.5 Mw on 23 February 2002 at 10:11 local time (07:11 UTC). It had a maximum felt intensity of VIII (severe) on the Modified Mercalli intensity scale. It damage hundreds of buildings and caused the deaths of 44 people and a further 318 injuries. [1] Most of western Turkey lies in an area of extensional tectonics that extends into the Aegean Sea. The cause of the extension is thought to be the rollback of the subducting slab of the African Plate that dips northwards beneath the Aegean. The overall N–S extension has resulted in a series of NW–SE to W–E trending seismically active normal faults with associated rift basins. The Afyon–Akşehir Graben lies in the hanging-wall of the low-angle Sultandağı Fault and contains nearly 1 km of late Miocene to Quaternary sedimentary fill. Part of this fault ruptured during a magnitude 6.0 earthquake in December 2000. [2] The earthquake had a magnitude in the range 6.2–6.7 Mw . [3][4] The observed focal mechanism is consistent with normal faulting along a fault trending WSW–ENE, although the local trend of the basin-bounding fault is closer to WNW–ESE. The distribution of the aftershocks, however, is consistent with a rupture along part of the Sultandağı Fault of about 40 km in length. It also suggests that the rupture propagation was almost unidirectional towards the northwest, with the mainshock close to the southeastern end of the rupture. [2] A large aftershock, measuring 5.8–6.0 Mw , occurred roughly two hours after the mainshock near the western end of the Sultandağı Fault. [2][3] Analysis of the coulomb stress transfer associated with the M6.0 earthquake on 15 December 2000 suggests that these stress changes triggered the 2002 mainshock. The epicentre of the mainshock lies near the termination of the rupture associated with the earlier earthquake, consistent with this interpretation. [2] There was significant damage in 8 of the 18 districts in Afyon Province and some damage in Akşehir in Konya Province. A total of 4,051 residential and 339 commercial buildings either collapsed or were badly damaged. A further 10,402 residential and 884 commercial buildings suffered either low or medium levels of damage. The town of Çay suffered the most damage and had the greatest number of fatalities. [5] The most damaged building type was the traditional Himis style, which consists of timber frames with adobe and rubble infill and heavy roofs. Collapse of this building type was responsible for causing most of the deaths and injuries in this earthquake. [5]

Earthquakes

Crop-eating pests plague southern African farmers - The New ...

Crop-eating pests plague southern African farmers (Agrillifetoday/Flickr) العربية HARARE/JOHANNESBURG The rainy season, always welcome in often dry southern Africa, has brought with it favourable breeding conditions for army worms and red locusts. The crop-eating pests are contributing to the woes of subsistence farmers already struggling to recover from setbacks in the last farming cycle.  In Zimbabwe, where the World Food Programme (WFP) estimates that 2.2 million people now require food assistance , more than 800 hectares of cereal grain crops and 300 hectares of pasture have been destroyed by outbreaks of army worms. Godfrey Chikwenhere, Deputy Director of the Department of Research and Specialist Services in the Ministry of Agriculture, told IRIN that the damage caused by the army worms, which are in fact moth larvae, was significant and would impact the food security of households in the affected areas. He said the army worm originated in East Africa and the Horn of Africa. Between October and November, moist winds carried the moths into Zimbabwe and deposited them in northern Zimbabwe’s Mashonaland Central Province, from where they spread across the country. A similar pattern of movement occurred in 2013 . Zimbabwe “Some crops were completely destroyed, forcing some farmers to replant when we are way into the farming season, and this will result in reduced yields,” Chikwenhere said. “The effect will also be felt among livestock producers because of the destruction of pastures, especially in the cattle-producing provinces of Matabeleland North and South.” Spraying pesticides to destroy the caterpillars could only be done on crops because the spraying of pastures and game parks could expose animals to toxic chemicals, he noted. As a result, the army worms had been able to reproduce unhindered in some areas.  Although his department initially had adequate supplies of carbaryl - the chemical used to contain the pest – Chikwenhere said stocks were running out fast and there was a shortage of vehicles to monitor outbreaks and distribute the pesticide.  “Because of the almost daily high rainfall being recorded in many parts of the country, some farmers are having to respray, as the rains dilute the effect of the chemical,” he added. Recent torrential rains and flooding in several of Zimbabwe’s southern provinces have destroyed crops as well as homes and infrastructure, according to local news reports . In its monthly report for January, Chikwenhere’s department predicted that: “Fresh outbreaks emanating from secondary generation army worm are likely to hit most parts of the country up to May 2014, if current weather conditions persist.” He said there was a need to train farmers on prevention and early reporting. “A lot of our farmers are well versed on spraying pests… but they need to be trained on how to identify army worm at an early stage, so that intervention mechanisms are implemented before any damage is done.” Malawi Army worm outbreaks have also been reported in Mozambique, eastern Zambia and Malawi, where 2,600 hectares of crops were affected, over 500 hectares of which were totally destroyed according to reports from the Ministry of Agriculture.  Food shortages in Malawi are already afflicting 1.85 million people, according to the Malawi Vulnerability Assessment Committee (MVAC). Now the country is also experiencing outbreaks of red locusts, mainly around Lake Chiuta and Lake Chilwa near the border with Mozambique in the southeast.  A January migratory pest report by the International Red Locust Control Organisation for Central and Southern Africa (IRLCO-CSA) notes that the locusts bred in January and their eggs have now produced hoppers.  “Hoppers will fledge and adults are expected to appear in March/April,” reads the report. “These swarms, if not controlled, will migrate and threaten food security in most countries in the region.”

Insect Disaster

African Union lifts Mali’s suspension imposed in the wake of coup

The decision comes days after the West African regional bloc ECOWAS announced it was ending its post-coup sanctions on Mali. The African Union had imposed sanctions after a military coup toppled the West African nation's government in August [File: Moussa Kalapo] Published On 9 Oct 20209 Oct 2020 The African Union on Friday lifted its suspension of Mali which went into effect after a military coup toppled the West African nation’s government in August. The decision comes three days after the West African regional bloc ECOWAS announced it was ending its tough post-coup sanctions on Mali, saying it wished to back the country’s return to civilian rule. In a communique, the regional heads of state cited “significant advances” toward a return to democracy in Mali, noting the selection of a civilian president and prime minister to head the process. The sanctions included border closures and a ban on commercial trade and financial flows but not basic necessities, drugs, equipment to fight coronavirus, fuel or electricity. “The Peace and Security Council, in view of recent positive political developments, has decided to lift the suspension it had imposed against Mali,” the AU’s 15-member security body said in a post on Twitter. The 55-nation AU quickly condemned the “unconstitutional change of government” after former President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita was forced out in August by mutineering soldiers following mass protests. The coup was bloodless but triggered widespread alarm among Mali’s neighbours. A coup in 2012 was followed by an uprising in northern Mali which morphed into an armed rebellion, claiming thousands of lives and threatening neighbouring Niger and Burkina Faso. The regional bloc ECOWAS has insisted that the transitional government be headed by civilians and not military leaders [File: Malik Konate/AFP] This year’s coup came after months of protests over the country’s armed rebellion, economic struggles and chronic inter-ethnic violence. ECOWAS also called on the transitional authorities to release all remaining detainees arrested since the August 18 coup, when democratically elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita was forced to resign after the junta surrounded his home and fired shots into the air. The regional bloc had insisted that the transitional government be headed by civilians, though junta leader Colonel Assimi Goita is staying on as vice president. On Monday, Prime Minister Moctar Ouane announced the government of 25 ministers, four of them military officials. Those positions are the ministries of defense, security, territorial administration and national reconciliation. Armed movements from the north that signed the 2015 peace agreement have entered the government for the first time with two ministerial portfolios.

Regime Change

A police officer who was believed to have died has reportedly been found alive and living in a psychiatric hospital more than 16 years later.

NZ Herald A police officer who was believed to have died in the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami has reportedly been found alive and living in a psychiatric hospital more than 16 years later. Abrip Asep had been on duty the night the Indian Ocean earthquake struck on December 26, 2004, his family said. The resulting tsunami killed more than 230,000 people, making it one of the biggest natural disasters. His relatives believed he was among those killed in Indonesia's westernmost province of Aceh when waves up to 30m high swept in over Southeast Asia. By chance Asep was found and reunited with his family after nearly two decades apart, according to local media. The discovery was made after photos of Asep were shared on a family group chat on social media. . Abrip Asep was declared dead after the 2004 Indonesian tsunami. Photo / Polsubsektor Blang Bintang Local police confirmed the man found in the psychiatric hospital was Asep, who was reported missing during the tsunami and later declared dead. "I couldn't believe it, 17 years of no news and we thought that he passed away, we didn't know he was still alive," a family member said. Asep was found in a psychiatric hospital in Aceh province after suffering from trauma after witnessing the tsunami. He is said to be in good health. "Even though he is experiencing mental illness due to the tsunami, his family is very grateful to have found him alive," a spokesperson for the Aceh Regional Police said. It is unclear why his family were not notified he was in the psychiatric hospital. He was discovered in a hospital. Photo / Polsubsektor Blang Bintang On Boxing day 2004 a 9.1-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of the island of Sumatra, Indonesia.

Tsunamis

1982 World Rubik's Cube Championship

The 1982 World Rubik's Cube Championship was a competition for speedsolving the 3×3×3 Rubik's Cube. It was held in Budapest, Hungary, on 5 June 1982. [1] Contestants selected from 19 countries took part. [1] Minh Thai from the United States of America was the winner with a best time of 22.95 after three attempts for each contestant. The top attempt of three was taken as the competitor's score. [2] First prize was a gold-plated Rubik's Cube. [1] Writing shortly afterwards, David Singmaster who was one of the judges, described the competition as being efficiently organized, although at one point power for the TV and the display timer failed in the middle of a trial. [3] The cubes were selected by Ernő Rubik himself, and according to Singmaster "competitors described them as pretty good". [3] However, writing around 20 years later, Jessica Fridrich who had participated in the contest, criticised the cubes for being "really hard to turn and were not prepared for serious speed cubing". [4] This competition was the first officially recognised competition of its kind. The next competition was held in 2003 in Canada, with many differences to the competition structure and many other puzzles being added other than the Rubik's Cube. [5] The results were:[3] WR = World Record ER = European Record AsR = Asian Record SAR = South American Record NR = National Record

Sports Competition

2006 Falsterbo Swedish Coast Guard C-212 crash

Coordinates: 55°24′N 12°57′E / 55.4°N 12.95°E / 55.4; 12.95 The 2006 Falsterbo Swedish Coast Guard crash was the crash of a CASA C-212 Aviocar turboprop airplane belonging to the Swedish Coast Guard in Falsterbo Canal, Sweden, on 26 October 2006. [1][2] The accident aircraft was one of three CASA C-212s to be operated by the Swedish Coast Guard. They were based at Stockholm-Skavsta Airport and regularly flew excursions to other parts of Sweden. [citation needed] The accident aircraft was performing a low-level fly-by of the Skanör-Falsterbo Coast Guard Station while en route from Ronneby Airport to Malmö Airport. [3] The accident was observed by a group of schoolchildren who reported that the port wing fell off during a turn, making the aircraft fall into the sea. All four crewmembers died. The wreckage was subsequently recovered. The Swedish Coast Guard grounded its remaining fleet of CASA C-212s within days after the accident. [4] The remaining aircraft were sold to Uruguay. The Swedish Accident Investigation Board determined the cause to be metal fatigue. [5] The Swedish Coast Guard later replaced the aircraft with Bombardier Dash-8 Q300s because the remaining two aircraft were found to have the same issue.

Air crash

Blow Hard: 11 of the Biggest Volcanic Eruptions of All Time

For hard evidence of nature’s ability to erupt into catastrophic disaster, look no further than the volcano. These metaphorical portals to hell, which currently number about 1500 globally, not only spew volcanic ash and lava, but can radically alter the climate and the course of world events. Most are stratovolcanoes—cone-shaped elevations built over time from layers of ash and lava. Their relatively soft composition allows pressure to build up inside until they blow, resulting in explosive eruptions with little prior warning. Their steep slopes also generate mudslides and pyroclastic flows. All of these factors make them the most dangerous volcano type. (In contrast, shield volcanoes—like those in Hawaii—are low to the ground and often emit syrupy lava from vents in the Earth.) Need examples? Look no further than these incendiary volcanic milestones, in no particular order. Volcanic eruptions can be measured in terms of consequences or simply in terms of sheer output. In the case of the latter, the Novarupta, or Katmai, eruption that began June 6, 1912, was a monumental event. Over 13 cubic kilometers of lava was released over the course of 60 hours, or the equivalent of 573.2 million tons every hour. In Kodiak, about 100 miles away, over 1 foot of ash collected on the ground. The cooled sheet of ash surrounding the volcano wound up forming the “Valley of 10,000 Smokes,” creating steaming fumaroles (openings in the ground where gas or water vapor escapes). The incident even prompted an atmospheric haze that was said to have reduced summer temperatures. All told, it was the largest volcanic eruption of the 20th century and earned a 6 on the Volcanic Explosivity Index (VEI), a measurement of the explosive thrust of an eruption, with 1 being least powerful and 8 being the most powerful. Indonesia holds the unwelcome distinction of hosting two of the most potent volcanic events of the 1800s. (Unfortunate, but understandable—its 150 active volcanoes are the most of any country.) One occurred in August 1883, when Krakatoa (sometimes spelled Krakatau) erupted on an island near Sumatra. Roughly five cubic miles of lava shot 50 miles into the air and ushered in massive tsunamis. The volcano gave off several warnings in the months leading up to its big burst, with a series of comparatively smaller explosions where the ash plume reached only seven miles into the sky. The first big blast, with a VEI of 6, came August 26, which demolished two-thirds of the island. Multiple eruptions followed, resulting in a global veil of ash that ultimately caused the planet’s temperature to drop by several degrees. About 36,000 people were killed, including 31,000 who perished when the tsunamis crashed into neighboring islands. The mercilessness of volcanoes was on full and morbid display with Mount Tambora, which blew in April 1815 in Sumbawa, Indonesia. In the days before the blast, which had a VEI of 7, nearby soldiers heard cannon-like rumbling and armed themselves, thinking an enemy was about to attack. In a way, one was. Tambora spewed 12 cubic miles of gases and dust 25 miles into the atmosphere, triggering towering tsunamis and drenching the surrounding islands in ash. Roughly 10,000 people perished immediately, and a total of 90,000 died due to resulting food shortages. Today, scientists believe the epic eruption may have radically altered global weather, leading to crop failures and famine in North America and Europe. In 1816, with Tambora's ash still blanketing the skies of the Northern Hemisphere, the poet Lord Byron challenged his literary friends, including Mary Shelley, to write something appropriately macabre. She began Frankenstein. Volcanic terror hit North America on May 18, 1980, when Mount St. Helens blew its top. Days earlier, an earthquake had prompted avalanches on the volcano. Thousands of earthquakes followed, which destabilized the terrain. Then, a 5.1-magnitude earthquake hit, causing the peak to blow ash and hot gases skyward. The blast took an incredible 1314 feet off the height of the mountain. Effects were felt and seen across 230 square miles, and 158 miles of highway were damaged. Recovery from the disaster cost over $1.1 billion. With 57 people killed, Mount St. Helens's explosion—with a VEI of 5—remains the deadliest volcanic eruption in U.S. history. While not quite on the level of other massive eruptions (it's only a 5 on the Volcanic Explosivity Index), the lore surrounding the rage of Mount Vesuvius puts it in a category all its own. The volcano exploded on August 24 in the year 79 CE, turning the Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum into frozen portraits of thousands of interrupted lives. Before being blanketed in ash, Pompeii was known for fertile ground that fed orchards and vineyards; Herculaneum was a summer getaway for the Roman elite. When Vesuvius erupted, many stayed behind hoping to wait it out. But another blast gassed and incinerated the cities, then buried them in mud and ash. The cities were rediscovered in the 18th century, and new discoveries about the last days of Pompeii and Herculaneum are still being made. A colossal volcanic eruption—6 on the VEI—of recent vintage, Mount Pinatubo caused cataclysmic destruction of a thickly populated part of Luzon in the Philippines on June 15, 1991. After a series of earthquakes and a stream of magma making its way 20 miles upwards to the surface of the Earth, Pinatubo's activity crescendoed when gas-powered lava, totaling more than five cubic kilometers, was released. Pyroclastic flows of ash and pumice left deposits over 660 feet thick at the foot of the mountain, while tropical storms created vast mudslides out of the volcanic ejecta. Heavy layers of wet ash crushed buildings. Fortunately, scientific forecasts were able to warn residents, who were evacuated; thousands of lives were saved. For sheer stubbornness, few volcanic eruptions beat Laski, located in what is now Vatnajökull National Park in Iceland. Instead of one giant eruption, Laki perpetuated a series of lava flows and explosions that lasted for more than eight months in 1783 and 1784 and registered a VEI of 4. Laki produced enough lava to pave the entire city of Boston 207 feet deep. The eruption emitted gases that resulted in acid rain strong enough to burn leaves and irritate skin, while the toll on livestock caused a famine that may have killed up to one-quarter of Iceland’s population at the time. Like the aftermath of Tambora's eruption, Laki's ash veil caused widespread weather disruption and food shortages in Europe. It may have even fueled the unrest that preceded the French Revolution. Mount Pelée loomed over the quiet hamlet of St. Pierre, on the French Caribbean island of Martinique, like a ticking time bomb. In early May 1902, a violent lahar—a river of volcanic rock fragments and water—burst out of the side of the mountain, inundating a sugar refinery before reaching the sea and triggering a tsunami. The disturbances caused wildlife—huge insects and venomous snakes—to flee the mountains and seek safety in the town. Bites from vipers killed about 50 people. But the island's governor assured residents that there was no real danger. Unfortunately, he was extremely wrong. On May 8, the mountain exploded with a VEI of 4, unleashing a blast of superheated gas and debris that destroyed St. Pierre and killed 30,000 residents in just a few minutes. At 77 square miles, Nevado del Ruiz is an imposing stratovolcano. It has erupted several times since 1570, but the most memorable event occurred November 13, 1985. As magma bubbled up toward the volcano's apex, the heat melted huge glaciers that blanketed the peak. The rivers of melted ice became devastating lahars, which joined up with existing rivers to cause catastrophic mudslides in the valleys. During the VEI 3 eruption, the nearby town of Armero was flattened and 23,000 people lost their lives in the floods. The people inhabiting North Island in New Zealand got a seismic shock on June 10, 1886, when Mount Tarawera erupted, forming fissures in the Earth that extended 10 miles from the epicenter. The VEI 5 blasts were heard up to 310 miles away, making it the largest volcanic event in New Zealand’s history. It also has some ghost stories attached to it. Some European residents insisted they saw a Māori war canoe sailing on Lake Tarawera just before the eruption. They hailed the sailors, but they didn't respond. Later, after the cataclysm, the observers learned no such canoe had ever been seen on the lake. Beneath the grounds of Yellowstone National Park lurks a supervolcano, one that’s believed to have erupted substantially at least three times in recorded human history: 2.1 million years ago (which had a VEI of 8), 1.3 million years ago, and 664,000 years ago. The last left a depression in the ground 34 miles by 50 miles in size. Today, the magma underneath Yellowstone is five miles deep, prompting some to speculate that if it ever erupted—and there’s a non-zero chance of that happening—it could bury the Rockies in ash, thanks to its potential for unleashing a super-eruption (anything with a VEI of 8 or higher).

Volcano Eruption

Absent-minded bank robber overpowered after losing keys

A bank robber on the Greek island of Rhodes was overpowered by the bank's customers and staff when he returned to the scene of the crime to look for keys which he had left behind, the Greek media reported. The 41-year-old man had walked out of the bank with around 15,000 euros which he forced a cashier to hand over at gunpoint. But seconds later, he went back to look for the ignition keys to his hired getaway motorbike. Bank staff, who had recovered from the shock of the robbery, found the courage to overpower the robber to prevent him escaping a second time.

Bank Robbery

Channel 7 footy commentator Brian Taylor recovering from gas explosion at Gippsland home

Former football star and Seven commentator Brian Taylor is recovering after he was injured in a gas explosion at his home on Wednesday. Taylor, 59, was airlifted to hospital with burns to his face and neck. Footage shows Taylor, injured and clutching his face as paramedics wheeled him into a waiting ambulance. He had only moved into his new Gippsland property on Wednesday and was trying to light a hot water service when it exploded. “After that, the shock sets in, but for the first three or four seconds, put the hair out, get out of there and get a wet towel on my face,” Taylor told 7NEWS. “All the locals helped, which was absolutely fantastic, that saved me from swelling or any blistering on my face.” Taylor said he was taken to hospital to make sure there was nothing wrong with his airways - and being airlifted was the only way that could happen. “Geographically, up here where we are, there’s no other way of getting to a major city hospital,” he said. Taylor is now back at his Gippsland home. See Brian Taylor talking about the accident in the video below “I’ve got quite a big forehead now, it’s burnt right back to my hair and the old moustache got a bit of a touch up as well,” he joked. The former plumber said he’d learned a valuable lesson. “My mum and dad always told me to never play with matches, and that’s very very true,” he said. Taylor was quick to praise the remarkable job done by the staff at the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne. “I’ve learnt there are a lot of good people out there doing a lot of fantastic jobs, and I’ve learnt that first hand, unfortunately,” he said. A spokesperson from the Country Fire Association has revealed that the incident did not cause a fire and was quickly brought under control. The voice of Seven’s AFL coverage, fans will still hear his familiar tones when Port Adelaide takes on Geelong on Friday night. Asked how he would “call” the nasty incident like he was calling a footy game, Taylor had only two words to describe it.

Gas explosion

+1.08% Prices for some commodities, including iron ore and copper, took a hit on Monday, as the potential collapse of one of China’s biggest property developers fueled worries about the economy, and potential declines in construction and demand for raw materials

The Evergrande name and logo are seen outside the construction site of an Evergrande housing complex in Beijing. Greg Baker/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images +1.08% Prices for some commodities, including iron ore and copper, took a hit on Monday, as the potential collapse of one of China’s biggest property developers fueled worries about the economy, and potential declines in construction and demand for raw materials. The “festering fears” around China’s Evergrande 3333, +3.23% are “ raising concerns about a bigger economic crisis in China that could put downward pressure on a lot of the commodities that China consumes,” said Phil Flynn, senior market analyst at The Price futures Group. Read: Dow skids as implosion of China’s Evergrande rattles stock market Among the big questions: could this be China’s “Lehman moment”— one that leads to a situation with more systemic risk than China realizes, and is the country going to be able to contain the fallout from this crisis?” said Flynn, referring bankruptcy of the global financial services firm that contributed to the 2008 financial crisis. For now, it’s “way too early to call this a major crisis,” and the markets may be overplaying the risk to commodity demand, he said. “Only time will tell.” On Monday, the most-active December futures contract for 62% iron-ore fines delivered to China TIOU21 settled at $91.75 per metric ton on the CME, down 8.3%. It’s on track for a monthly loss of 37%, according to Dow Jones Market Data. Most-active December copper futures HGZ21, +2.95% lost 13 cents, or 3.1%, to settle at $4.115 a pound, trading down 6% for the month so far. In contrast, gold’s safe-haven appeal helped to lift prices for the precious metal on Monday. “If Evergrande were to completely collapse, the supply and demand equation in the metals market could be whiplashed into a strong imbalance that favors the bears — never mind the potential for additional defaults,” said Adam Koos, president at Libertas Wealth Management Group. Traders are “wondering if, perhaps, this isn’t a one-off event,” he said. “Should other developers release similar news, concerns…could bleed across the entire financial landscape in China, resulting in a potentially catastrophic cascade of selling.” ““Should other developers release similar news, concerns… could bleed across the entire financial landscape in China, resulting in a potentially catastrophic cascade of selling.”” — Adam Koos, Libertas Wealth Management Group In reaction to the Evergrande news, U.S. and global stock markets saw broad declines. In the U.S., the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, was headed for its worst day in 10 months , with the index down 2.6% not long before the trading on the stock market closed. The potential for Evergrande to default increases the potential for the Chinese economy to slow down in 2022, said Jay Hatfield, chief executive officer and founder of Infrastructure Capital Advisors in New York. A slowdown in China would, in turn, raise the likelihood of a recession in the U.S. next year, he said. “China is the largest importer of oil and iron ore in the world, so any slowdown of growth in China will reduce demand for those commodities.” Oil prices on Monday declined with U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude for October delivery CLV21 down $1.68, or 2.3%, to settle at $70.29 a barrel. Global benchmark Brent crude saw its November contract BRNX21 settle at $73.92 a barrel, down $1.42, or 1.9%. Meanwhile, commodities related to the steel industry may be more of a concern, given they were the “most impacted” from renewed restrictions in China’s Xiamen and Fujian provinces to combat COVID infections, said Rob Haworth, senior investment strategist at U.S. Bank Wealth Management. Taking a look at the bigger picture, Evergrande’s funding challenges could lead to “caution in the housing market, limiting building activity and softening demand for key commodities,” said Haworth. For now, however, while these events “do temper near-term growth,” U.S. Bank Wealth Management remains “constructive on the path forward for the global economy,” Haworth said.

Financial Crisis

Fiji to join Non-Aligned Movement

As the Fiji government continues to sign new diplomatic relations with countries around the world, Prime Minister Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama has stressed that we cannot achieve goals if we simply fall into predetermined political spheres of influences or have predetermined alignments. While addressing the first ever Arab League and Pacific Islands summit in Abu Dhabi, Commodore Bainimarama also revealed that the Fiji government has recently taken steps to join the Non-Aligned Movement which he said stems from the philosophical basis that while determining their own destinies as sovereign states, we must work in collaboration with all, with the aim of sustainable peace, dignity and respect for all. Commodore Bainimarama said we must be prepared to step out of the norm or existing relationships and decide each issue on its merit, but using amongst others the general rule of justice and equality. The Prime Minister also highlighted that despite Fiji's enormous contributions towards peacekeeping missions in the Middle East since 1978, Fiji has not developed nor pursued formal political, economic and cultural relations with the Arab world. Commodore Bainimarama stressed that he has now taken steps to ensure this stops. He also called on the Arab League to have its presence on the Small Pacific Island developing states which he said is of vital importance to foster genuine dialogue, co-operation and interaction between the Pacific and members of the Arab League. Commodore Bainimarama earlier revealed to Fijivillage news that Fiji is set to sign new diplomatic relations agreements with a total of 108 countries in the months ahead.

Join in an Organization

Tajikistan: Locust infestation threatens food security - ReliefWeb

Originally published 16 May 2003 ISLAMABAD, 16 May (IRIN) - The UN's Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) has warned of a devastating locust infestation in southern Tajikistan. "It has already started in the southern regions, especially Pyandhz, where 3,000 hectares have been infested, and of these 1,500 hectares were treated as of 5 May," the national programme assistant for FAO, Artem Phashenko, told IRIN from the Tajik capital, Dushanbe, on Friday. The country is prone to locust infestations, and this year FAO plans to treat 72,000 ha of land, costing US $340,000 under a 16-month programme for 2003. An FAO statement said the objective of the project was to provide urgent assistance to the Tajik government to control the expected locust outbreak, thereby to reduce damage to crops during the agricultural season. This is with a view to safeguarding the food security of some 12,250 of the most vulnerable households and farming units. The project will also support the preparation of the 2004 locust campaign in order to decrease the numbers of the next locust generation and help re-establish sustainable monitoring and control. "The infestation is less compared to last year," Phashenko said, adding that farmers were better prepared this time. "They have equipment and pesticides to deal with it." In addition to the southern Pyandhz area, the districts of Ghozimalik and Kolkhozabad in Khatlon Province have also been affected. FAO has so far surveyed 24,900 ha country-wide to determine the extent of the problem and found that 6,450 ha have been infested. Of that figure some 2,300 ha have been treated. The last locust infestation in Tajikistan was in 2002 and is expected to reoccur every four to five years. At that time FAO developed a programme and delivered chemicals and equipment to the affected areas. But Moroccan locusts continue to eat away the pastures in the north and south of the country. Up to 1990, locust control in Tajikistan was carried out with resources made available by the Soviet Union. However, following the break-up of the Soviet Union and the declaration of independence by Tajikistan, the measures available have been limited during a period of civil war and further serious economic difficulties. Last year, the districts of Shahrtuz, Qabodiyon, Qumsangir and Tursunzoda in the south and Matcha, Djabor Rasulov, Now and Zaffarabad in the north, along with some areas in the central region were affected. A total of 72,100 ha were infested in 2002, according to a national survey, of which only 11,100 ha were treated. [ENDS]

Insect Disaster

Motorcyclists Rev Up For “Canceled” Event

NHPD Facebook; East Coastin' FacebookThe city’s version of this Saturday’s event; the organizers’ response.Breen, Bass PhotosTop cop Dominguez: Event’s off. Daredevil Canestri: Sure about that?Sam Gurwitt Photo“Controlled chaos” at 2020 (above) and 2017 (below) versions of event. David Sepulveda Photo New Haven declared a motorcycle event planned for this coming Saturday “canceled.” NHPD Facebook; East Coastin' Facebook The city’s version of this Saturday’s event; the organizers’ response. Breen, Bass Photos Top cop Dominguez: Event’s off. Daredevil Canestri: Sure about that? Sam Gurwitt Photo “Controlled chaos” at 2020 (above) and 2017 (below) versions of event. David Sepulveda Photo Someone forgot to tell the thousands of hog riders and fans still expected to converge on the city, or the hotels that have run out of available rooms. The event is called EastCoastin’. It draws stunt riders and cycling enthusiasts to city streets from early afternoon until dusk. They tear up the road, have some fun. The event has taken place around this time every year since 2016. It grew from 300 to 600 to 1,500 participants, with 3,000 expected this year, according to organizer Gabe Canestri Jr., a High School in the Community grad who works with the EastCoastin’ group. In some years, the organizers developed an understanding, sometimes tacit, sometimes spelled out, with the police: They’d contain their activity to little-traveled industrial streets in the Annex. They’d keep it safe and nonviolent; police would show up to coordinate checkpoints, keep traffic flowing, enforce laws. Officers ended up posing for photos with the bikers, who in turn praised the police. Click here for a story about how that deal was first struck. Click here and here to read about two previous gatherings. This year the Elicker administration and police brass made it clear that there will be confrontation, not cooperation, if the motorcyclists proceed with their plans. At a recent press conference with the mayor, Police Chief Renee Dominguez reiterated the message. “That event is canceled. There is not a permit for that. It is canceled. We will have a detail that day to make sure of the safety of the residents in case individuals do gather. We will be enforcing” laws at the event, she vowed. (Her comments on the subject begin at the 17:15 point in this video.) Canestri said the event is very much on, with or without the city’s cooperation. Participants have already booked pretty much all the hotel and Air BnB rooms available in the area, he noted. The group plans to gather, as it has in past years, by the Hole in the Wall motorcycle club on Forbes Avenue and rev up their engines on the industrial streets nearby. So the city is planning a large police presence ready to make mass arrests. The event was originally scheduled for the first weekend in September. Canestri said that at the city’s unofficial request he moved it to this coming weekend, so as not to conflict with the Labor Day Road Race. “I moved other events around to do this one, because they didn’t want me to have it on Labor Day weekend. But I guess Mayor Elicker wasn’t pumped on the new date,” said Canestri, one of the second-generation members of the Hole in the Wall club. “There are other issues going on in New Haven. Violence, killing. This is one event where people get together. You don’t hear about people getting hurt. It’s controlled chaos. “We’re going to have some kind of party. We’re off the grid. People are still coming,” Canestri said. He predicted the activities would run through the afternoon until sundown. Another person close to the planning process conveyed a message to the Independent that the Hell’s Angels and the affiliated Red Devils have committed to have members “from several states” provide “tight security” at the event in the absence of police cooperation: “They will hold people off of Forbes Avenue. They’re asking for the back roads where the [New Haven] Terminal is,” and tanker trucks “can use the road where the bridge goes in and out.” Companies along the harbor have been complaining for years about both the annual event as well as cyclists tearing up and down the streets at other times to practice stunts. Sam Gurwitt PhotoThe crowd in the Annex in 2020. Mayor Elicker said in a conversation Monday that at last year’s event, thousands of participants, who “were not allowed to be there,” caused havoc throughout the city, shutting streets and endangering lives through dangerous driving. Sam Gurwitt Photo The crowd in the Annex in 2020. “We’re clear that this group does not collaborate with the police and does not follow the law,” Elicker maintained. He characterized the city’s approach to this year’s planned gathering as part of an ongoing safe-streets campaign. In “every neighborhood, I hear from people who are concerned about this activity,” Elicker said. “We have worked hard to confront drag racing that was a major problem last year, dirt bike and ATV riding. These are very difficult challenges to address. We have made progress on them. We often have to use creative solutions to respond.”

Organization Closed

Trump: I will withdraw from TPP on 'day one'

Jeff Sessions accused of retaliation after racism claims; media grapples with questions over its role in Trump’s rise; women prosecuted for self-induced abortions; five killed in Tennessee school bus crash Last modified on Fri 9 Feb 2018 18.59 GMT In a video released on Monday night, Donald Trump outlined his plans for his first 100 days in office, and vowed to withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal “from day one”. Trump said he was going to issue a note of intent to withdraw from TPP, calling it “a potential disaster for our country”. Instead, he said, he would “negotiate fair bilateral trade deals that bring jobs and industry back”. Hours before Trump’s announcement, Japan’s prime minister, Shinzo Abe, warned that TPP would be “meaningless” without US participation. Abe became the first foreign leader to meet the president-elect in New York last week and the TPP is thought to have been high on his agenda. Here’s a handy explainer on the TPP. Donald Trump to withdraw from Trans-Pacific Partnership on ‘day one’ Senator Jeff Sessions, Donald Trump’s nominee for US attorney general, has been accused of bringing criminal prosecutions against two black officials in Alabama as retaliation for their roles in derailing his nomination to be a judge. The officials faced federal corruption charges in the southern district of Alabama, where Sessions was the top federal prosecutor, after their allegations of racism caused the US Senate to deny Sessions the judicial appointment in 1986. Sessions had been accused of calling Douglas Wicks, the first black man to be elected as a county commissioner in Mobile, a “nigger” and then gave a false explanation to the US Senate when testifying about the allegation. Jeff Sessions accused of retaliation after claims of racism cost him a judgeship Never has America needed fearless independent media more. Help us hold the new president to account, sort fact from fiction, amplify underrepresented voices, and understand the forces behind this divisive election – and what happens next. Support the Guardian by becoming a member or making a contribution. After Donald Trump was elected president, the “mainstream media”, as he and his supporters scathingly call it, is left with many questions. To begin poking some of those issues, the Guardian has teamed up with the Columbia Journalism Review, which compiled an oral history of the 2016 election through the eyes of top reporters. The narrative runs to 11,000 words, with the Guardian publishing an edited version of it. Ed Pilkington examines the big questions raised by the oral history, such as the role of blanket TV coverage in the rise of Trump, why impressive works of journalism seemed to have no impact on the election outcome and how the US press will fare under the new president. Trump v the media: did his tactics mortally wound the fourth estate? In a March town hall, Donald Trump said he believed there should be “some form of punishment” for women who get abortions. Trump later retracted his statement, but a cry went up almost in unison from reproductive rights activists: some women are already being punished for having abortions. Unwittingly or not, women who self-induce their own abortions are operating in murky legal territory. Only seven states have some law that makes it explicitly illegal for a woman to attempt her own abortion, and in most states and at the federal level, the law says nothing at all. But that hasn’t stopped individual prosecutors from going after women who self-induce abortions, or try. Jailed for ending a pregnancy: how prosecutors get inventive on abortion In case you missed it, here’s part one in the series: ‘Please, I am out of options’: inside the murky world of DIY abortions Women are already being punished for their abortions, and the situation is likely to grow worse after Donald Trump and Mike Pence take office, Jessica Valenti writes. “Women and reproductive rights organizations should be doing all they can to steel themselves for the battles to come – not just on a policy level, but in terms of everyday needs.” Abortion rights are already under siege – and it’s only going to get worse A 21-year-old woman was severely injured and may lose her arm after being hit by a projectile when North Dakota law enforcement officers turned water cannon on Dakota Access pipeline protesters and threw “less-than-lethal” weapons. Sophia Wilansky was one of several hundred protesters injured during the standoff with police on Sunday on a bridge near the site where the pipeline is planned to cross under the Missouri river. Many suffered hypothermia after being hit by water cannon in below-freezing weather. Dakota Access pipeline protester seriously hurt during police standoff Five people were killed on Monday, police say, when a school bus in Chattanooga, Tennessee, with 35 young children aboard crashed, turned on its side and wrapped around a tree, according to the district attorney. Twenty-three children were brought to hospitals, officials said. The bus driver has been arrested and faces charges including vehicular homicide. Tennessee school bus crash: driver arrested after five children killed Japan has lifted all tsunami warnings issued after a 7.4-magnitude earthquake hit off the country’s east coast, as the risk of major damage appeared to pass. The earthquake struck east of Fukushima prefecture at about 6am local time on Tuesday. There were no reports of severe injuries from the quake, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency. The agency said the earthquake was thought to be an aftershock of the 9.0-magnitude event that devastated the same region in 2011. Fukushima: tsunami waves hit after 7.4-magnitude earthquake hits Japan Kanye West has reportedly been admitted to hospital for exhaustion, one day after canceling his Saint Pablo tour. The rapper ended a concert early on Saturday and criticized Beyoncé, Hillary Clinton and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. Last week, he told concertgoers that he would have voted for Donald Trump had he decided to cast a ballot.

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Feds Seek Tougher Sentences for Veterans Who Stormed Capitol

During his 27 years in the U.S. Army, Leonard Gruppo joined the Special Forces, served in four war zones and led a team of combat medics in Iraq before retiring in 2013 as a lieutenant colonel. During his six minutes inside the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, Gruppo joined a slew of other military veterans as a mob of pro-Trump rioters carried out an unparalleled assault on the bastion of American democracy. He's among dozens of veterans and active-service members charged in connection with the insurrection. Now, cases like his are presenting a thorny question for federal judges to consider when they sentence veterans who stormed the Capitol: Do they deserve leniency because they served their country or tougher punishment because they swore an oath to defend it? The Justice Department has adopted the latter position. In at least five cases so far, prosecutors have cited a rioter’s military service as a factor weighing in favor of a jail sentence or house arrest. Prosecutors have repeatedly maintained that veterans' service, while commendable, made their actions on Jan. 6 more egregious. The participation of veterans in the riot was particularly shocking because some of them apparently used training they received in the U.S. military against their own government to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power. Several veterans are among the far-right extremists charged with plotting coordinated attacks on the Capitol, including Oath Keepers members who marched up the Capitol steps in a “stack” formation used by military infantrymen. Prosecutors' arguments about rioters' military service didn't sway one of the first judges to hear them — at Gruppo's sentencing hearing last Friday. “I don’t view his military service that way. I just can’t bring myself to do that," Chief U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell said before sentencing Gruppo to two years of probation, including 90 days of house arrest. A prosecutor argued that Gruppo's military service supported the Justice Department's recommendation for a 30-day jail sentence. Assistant U..S. Attorney Hava Mirell said Gruppo, 56, of New Mexico, was trained to recognize the obvious danger at the Capitol and “to assist rather than to harm.” “But the fact that he did receive that training and the fact that he intentionally overlooked his oath to commit one of the most destructive acts against our Constitution and our democracy, that does affect the government’s view of his conduct,” she said. Defense attorney Daniel Lindsey argued his client's service to the country shouldn’t be used against him. He said Gruppo initially wanted to keep quiet about his military service because he felt he had dishonored it. “And he did,” Howell interjected. “Let’s not mince words.” But the judge said she was surprised by the Justice Department's position because she believes most Americans would have “enormous respect” for Gruppo's service. “And it's not just because I grew up on military bases around the world,” Howell added. In most criminal cases, judges typically view a defendant's military service as a mitigating factor that favors leniency, said James Markham, a professor of public law and government at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. But he recognizes how the Justice Department could conclude that rioters with military experience should be held to a higher standard than those without it. “It’s obviously not related to their military service directly, but it’s also not entirely conceptually unrelated that somebody who is a veteran or had military service could be viewed as having a more refined understanding of the importance of civilian control and electoral stability," said Markham, a lawyer and Air Force veteran. Over 650 people have been charged in the Jan. 6 attack. Some of the rioters facing the most serious charges, including members of far-right extremist groups, have military backgrounds. A handful of riot defendants were on active duty, including an Army reservist who wore a Hitler mustache to his job at at a Navy base. More than 100 riot defendants have pleaded guilty, mostly to misdemeanors punishable by a maximum of six months incarceration. Two dozen have been sentenced as of Friday. At least three of the sentenced defendants are veterans, according to an Associated Press review of court records. In September, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg sentenced Air Force veteran Derek Jancart to 45 days in jail for joining the riot. Prosecutors had sought a four-month jail sentence for Jancart, an Ohio steelworker. “He swore an oath to defend the country and instead he participated in an attack on democracy itself,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Leslie Goemaat. Jancart said he loves his country and is ashamed of his actions. The judge told Jancart that he respects his military service, particularly his deployment to Afghanistan, but said it wasn't the only factor to consider. “You attempted with others to undermine one of our country’s bedrock acts, which is the peaceful transfer of power following a democratic election,” Boasberg said. Another Air Force veteran, Thomas Vinson, was sentenced on Oct. 22 to five years of probation. Prosecutors had recommended three months of house arrest for Vinson, a Kentucky resident who served in the Air Force from 1984 through 1988. Vinson, whose wife also was sentenced to probation for entering the Capitol on Jan. 6, told U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton that he loves his country and joined the military to defend it. "I took that oath to the Constitution, and I know I broke that oath that day by entering that building,” Vinson said. At least two other rioters who served in the military are scheduled to be sentenced in the coming days. Prosecutors have recommended two months in jail for Boyd Camper, who served in the U.S. Marines from 1987 to 1990. The Montana man told the FBI that he believed he was on the “front line” and entered a “combat” state of mind at the Capitol, where he used a camera with an extension pole to record himself inside the building, according to prosecutors. "His voluntary decision to storm a guarded government building is nothing short of shocking in light of his former military service and training,” prosecutors wrote ahead of Camper's Oct. 12 sentencing. Prosecutors are seeking two months of house arrest for Air Force veteran Jonathan Ace Sanders Sr., who is scheduled to be sentenced on Thursday. Surveillance video captured the Indiana man wearing a military-type vest as he walked through the Capitol, according to prosecutors. “As an Air Force veteran, Sanders was well aware of the great jeopardy posed by the rioters’ violent entry into the Capitol,” prosecutors wrote. “His repeated assertions that he had done nothing wrong is not credible — his background shows he knew better.” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said he wants a new strategy within three months to help hungry service members and their... Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin says the U.S. is unsure why Russian President Vladimir Putin is building up military forces... Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman cited "some bilateral differences" between the two Asian allies of the United States. U.S. Army Air Forces Staff Sgt. Charles G. McMackin, 26, was accounted for in August, but his family was only recently... Military families and retirees will be paying more for Tricare in 2022, but thankfully the price increase is relatively small... The Pentagon brass could be missing the signal Moscow is sending on what it's willing to fight over. “The Chinese know very well that U.S. satellites are monitoring and would eventually see these efforts,” Goldstein said. A Montana Army National Guard soldier has become the first woman to complete the seven-week U.S. Army Sniper Course at Fort... It’s at least the fourth rescue involving a rip current and U.S. service members in Okinawa since October 2020. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said he wants a new strategy within three months to help hungry service members and their... Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin says the U.S. is unsure why Russian President Vladimir Putin is building up military forces... Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman cited "some bilateral differences" between the two Asian allies of the United States. U.S. Army Air Forces Staff Sgt. Charles G. McMackin, 26, was accounted for in August, but his family was only recently... The College Scholastic Ability Test, or suneung, is administered to high school students in South Korea every third Thursday...

Famous Person - Commit Crime - Sentence

1981 Writers Guild of America strike

The 1981 Writers Guild of America strike was a 3-month strike action taken to establish compensation in the then-new markets of "pay TV" and home video.

Strike

Youth pumping helium into balloons killed in explosion

A 19-year-old labourer who was pumping helium into balloons for a birthday party was killed when the cylinder exploded. The incident took place at an apartment on Langford Road, around 7.45 p.m. on Saturday. The deceased has been identified as Dinesh, a resident of Parappana Agrahara. According to the police, one of the residents of the apartment had planned to celebrate her male friend’s birthday. She had ordered helium balloons from Dinesh and his friends who are selling them. Dinesh was filling the balloons near the entrance of the apartment when the blast occurred. “He sustained severe injuries and died on the spot. His friend who was with him, also pumping gas into the balloons, sustained injuries and was taken to hospital,” said a police officer. An investigating officer said the woman who was organising the party had searched for them on the internet and booked them. “We have recovered a bag full of material and equipment used by Dinesh and his friend,” said the police officer.

Gas explosion

Displaced and underinsured: Thursday mudslide impacts Avon residents

Thursday’s mudslide in Avon fills the parking lot of the Sonnen Halde condominiums on Nottingham Road in Avon. Special to the Daily The Thursday afternoon mudslide in Avon meant traffic delays for many , but for some residents it has meant displacement and extensive damage that, in many cases, will be a cost shouldered by them and them alone. For the residents of two housing complexes — Beaver Bench in Nottingham Park and the Sonnen Halde condominiums on Nottingham Road — Thursday’s mudslide was a horror they were completely unprepared for, one local said Friday. “My main fear is that something could happen again before we have a chance to clean up and assess the damage from the first time, and make sure that we can do any permanent changes to avoid this happening in the future,” said Jennifer Lance, a resident of Sonnen Halde. “We’re definitely worried that it could get worse before we have a chance to make it better.” Lance said she was working in her living room when the rain and hail began to fall Thursday afternoon. It wasn’t long before she began to hear a strange noise of gushing water “like a pipe had burst or something,” she said. She got up to look around and suddenly saw “muddy water shooting in underneath (the) front door.” “I tried to open the door, but it was stuck closed,” Lance said. “Thank heavens, because if I had opened it, a tidal wave of 5 feet of water would have come in the house. After maybe five minutes of (water) just shooting in, then it was just more of a steady seep and then it just slowly filled our entire kitchen, hallway and living room area.” Half an inch of mud fills the home of Jennifer Lance, a resident of Sonnen Halde condominiums in Avon who had recently finished remodeling her home before Thursday’s mudslide came bursting through her front door, she said. Special to the Daily Lance and her husband, who rent the home from his parents, recently remodeled and put in new flooring in their main living area, which is now coated in half an inch of mud, she said. She estimates they will need to install new flooring in addition to replacing their baseboards and cutting out the bottom portion of dry wall to avoid mold. Much of the furniture in their living room and kitchen was also damaged. But when Lance and her husband tried to file a claim with their insurance company to get help in paying for these damages, they were told that mudslides were listed as an exclusion on their insurance policy and, therefore, nothing would be covered. As a result, the family will likely be displaced from their home for “at least three weeks” as they try to repair the damage done to their home without any assistance, which Lance said will be difficult. “We spent all the money we had to invest in our home last year during COVID and then we also run a business and we run our business out of our home too, so that is all being impacted by it,” she said. Even now, Lance said she is terrified of what will become of her home if this weekend’s rains bring more flooding. “Oh no, it started to rain,” Lance said as she spoke with the Vail Daily on Friday afternoon. “Oh my gosh, my heart is beating so fast right now because it’s raining.” Sandbags are laid outside of a housing unit in the Sonnen Halde housing complex in Avon to prevent further flooding after Thursday’s mudslide. Special to the Daily As the town of Avon begins to process the implications of Thursday’s extreme weather event, Town Manager Eric Heil said he is interested to understand just how record-breaking the afternoon’s rainfall was. “This was a much higher water event than anyone can remember Avon receiving for decades with a much higher amount of debris flow and damage, so we’ll have to take a look and see what the rain event was and how much that exceeded what we planned for and anticipate year over year,” Heil said. Fortunately, the town recently invested in improvements to its drainage infrastructure along Benchmark and Avon Roads, otherwise the damage may have been much worse, he said. Still, conversations will certainly be had about how the town can plan for future mudslides and flooding, he said. “I’m sure we’ll look at what happened in this event and what we can do for additional improvements to try to control it, but … there’s only so much we can expect in controlling nature, and I think we see plenty of places throughout Colorado and everywhere where nature overwhelms the human environment,” Heil said. The town of Avon’s public works department worked tirelessly to clear the westbound lanes of Interstate 70 and a portion of Nottingham Road, which were closed Thursday afternoon until just after 6 p.m. due to intense flooding. Friday, the work continued as workers attempted to pull mud and water from the town’s drainage systems to prepare for more rain in the forecast this weekend, Heil said. The public works department has enlisted the help of private contractors when possible and has been using every tool at its disposal to clear debris from roadways and drainage areas, Heil said. Snowplows, front-end loaders, trucks and street sweepers are all being put to work to clean up the town, with some public officials working for hours on end, he said. “I am really so proud of our public works department,” Heil said. “They really dug in hard and got a lot of work done yesterday, and between yesterday and today, did a lot of work to clean out our drainage system, so I think we’ve done the best that we can.” The town has also coordinated with the Vail Valley Salvation Army and the local branch of the American Red Cross to find a place to stay for the residents whose homes were left uninhabitable by the slide, he said. “They’re being denied by their insurance companies and some of them have definitely lost everything,” said Tsu Wolin-Brown, a coordinator at the Salvation Army. Wolin-Brown said the nonprofit has already heard from the residents of eight housing units between Sonnen Halde and Beaver Bench, most of whom have requested assistance with finding a place to stay. For now, the Salvation Army has paid to put these residents up in the Christie Lodge in Avon, which offered shelter at a discounted rate, she said. The town is working to prepare a local fire station to house more residents until they are able to safely return to their homes. Wolin-Brown said she fears there are likely more residents that are struggling and are unaware that they can reach out to the Salvation Army for assistance. She welcomed anyone to call the nonprofit at 970-748-0704 for assistance. The Salvation Army and the Red Cross are also giving out gift cards to anyone who may need help securing groceries or other essential items during this time, she said. Lance said she and her husband will be setting up a GoFundMe page to help other residents who were denied insurance coverage, which will be listed under Jason and Jennifer Lance and posted to the popular community Facebook group “Eagle County Classifieds.“

Mudslides

1974 Togo presidential C-47 crash

On 24 January 1974, a Togo Air Force Douglas C-47 Skytrain carrying several notable political figures crashed at an isolated location near the village of Sarakawa in northern Togo. Gnassingbé Eyadéma, the President of Togo, was on board the aircraft, which was flying from Lomé to his native village, Pya. As the C-47 descended for landing, it crashed near Sarakawa. [1] Eyadéma survived, but claimed his French pilot and all three other passengers died. [2] Eyadéma claimed the aircraft had been sabotaged after he had reneged on an agreement with a French company over the use of a phosphate mine. [1] Eyadéma attributed his survival to mystical powers and declared 24 January to be "Economic Liberation Day. "[1] Eyadéma even changed his first name from Étienne to Gnassingbé to remember the date of the day he survived the crash. [3] Following the incident, a monument was established by the Togolese government near the crash site. The monument features a statue of Eyadéma standing on a plinth, flanked by images of his generals who died in the crash. [4] Eyadéma was not the sole survivor of the crash,[5][6] but he deliberately misrepresented the details of the accident to make himself look like a hero with superhuman strength who miraculously survived the disaster when everyone else was killed. [7][8] Eyadéma claimed that the crash was not an accident but was a conspiracy to kill him, plotted by French imperialists who did not like his plan (announced on 10 January 1974) to nationalize the important phosphate mining company, the Compagnie Togolaise des Mines du Bénin (CTMB or Cotomib). [9][10] His C-47 was replaced by a new presidential jet, a Gulfstream II (registered as 5V-TAA) which was itself damaged beyond repair in a crash on 26 December of the same year, which killed three members of the crew, but which all three of the passengers on board survived. [11] Eyadéma was not on board the jet at the time.

Air crash

2019 Whakaari / White Island eruption

On 9 December 2019 White Island, an active stratovolcano island in New Zealand's northeastern Bay of Plenty region explosively erupted. [3] The island was a popular tourist destination, known for its volcanic activity, and 47 people were on the island at the time. Twenty-two people died, either in the explosion or from injuries sustained, including two whose bodies were never found and were later declared dead. A further 25 people suffered injuries, with the majority needing intensive care for severe burns. [4] The ongoing seismic and volcanic activity in the area as well as heavy rainfall, low visibility and toxic gases hampered recovery efforts over the week following the incident. [5][6][7] Experts identified the event as a phreatic eruption: a release of steam and volcanic gases that caused an explosion, launching rock and ash into the air. [8] Following the eruption, investigations resulted in WorkSafe New Zealand charging multiple tour operators, government and scientific agencies under the Health and Safety at Work Act for failing to ensure the health and safety of workers and others. The latest hearing was held in June 2021. [9] Whakaari / White Island[a] is an active andesite stratovolcano, situated 48 km (30 mi) off the north-northeast coast of the North Island of New Zealand in the Bay of Plenty. The volcano has erupted many times in recent history, including several times in the 1980s. [10] A major eruption formed a new crater in 2000, and small eruptions occurred in 2012,[11] 2013,[12] and 2016. [13] The volcano had been showing signs of unrest for several weeks before the 2019 eruption. In October 2019, volcanic tremors and sulphur dioxide gas were at their highest levels since 2016, indicating that an eruption was more likely to occur,[13] and on 18 November, the volcano was rated at Volcanic Alert Level 2, indicating "moderate to heightened volcanic unrest", due to increased activity. [14] On 24 November, two weeks prior to the eruption, a moment magnitude (Mw ) 5.9 earthquake lasting approximately one minute with an epicentre located 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) northeast of White Island occurred, and was felt by people throughout New Zealand as far south as Christchurch. [15] Seismic activity can be a contributing factor to hydrothermic eruptions, due to a reduction of pressure within the geothermal system. [16][17] The island is monitored by GNS Science with three web cameras, one seismograph, and a microphone to detect volcanic explosions. The organisation also makes regular visits to test water, gas and soil, and to survey surface deformation. [18] Tourists regularly visited the island, primarily through White Island Tours. The organisation posted a statement on their web page before the eruption, which stated:[19] Whakaari/White Island is currently on Alert Level 2. This level indicates moderate to heightened volcanic unrest, there is the potential for eruption hazards to occur. White Island Tours operates through the varying alert levels but passengers should be aware that there is always a risk of eruptive activity regardless of the alert level. White Island Tours follows a comprehensive safety plan which determines our activities on the island at the various levels. The volcano erupted on 9 December 2019 at 14:11 NZDT (01:11 UTC). [3] The ash plume rose 3.7 kilometres (12,000 ft) into the air. [20] It was initially believed that there were about 100 tourists on or near to the island when the eruption took place; later, this figure was revised to 47 people who were on the island at the time. [21] Of these people, 38 were passengers on a shore excursion from the cruise ship Ovation of the Seas,[22] which was on a 12-day voyage around New Zealand and had berthed at the Port of Tauranga that morning. [23] Some visitors were waiting for vessels to take them off the island at the time of the eruption. Tour operators and these vessels rescued 23 people from the island before it was officially declared unsafe. [24] A passenger on one of the boats stated that his vessel attempted to first outrun the ash cloud before many on the vessel noticed a crowd of people in need of help on the jetty. Those who were brought onto the boat were aided by the original passengers who used water bottles, jackets and other clothing, inhalers, and eye drops. [25] Another passenger told reporters that the boat he was on, which was about 200 metres offshore at the time of the eruption, launched an emergency inflatable and retrieved 23 people before returning to the mainland. Paramedics from the New Zealand Coastguard boarded the boat before it reached the docks to tend the injured. [26] Noticing the eruption from the mainland shore, three commercial helicopter pilots conducted rescue missions to the island in their helicopters, bringing back twelve survivors. They also saw several bodies in the area, but concentrated on bringing back the survivors. [27] The pilots reportedly attempted to return to the island to collect the bodies they had seen but were stopped by police; however, they were consulted later in order to collect the bodies once the area became more stable. [28] The 47 people on the island at the time of the eruption consisted of 24 Australians, nine Americans, five New Zealanders, four Germans, two Chinese, two Britons and one Malaysian. [32] A passenger on a rescue boat stated that many of the injured had severe burns as many of them had worn just T-shirts and shorts for the day. [26] At 18:35 on 9 December, media were told there was one confirmed fatality, with more likely to be dead as several were missing,[13] while many were injured, seven critically. [20] Authorities said it was still too dangerous for the emergency services to get onto the island to rescue people as it is covered in ash and volcanic material. [3][33] Later the same day, officials declared that forty-seven people were on the island at the moment of the eruption: five were killed, 34 injured and rescued, while eight were missing and presumed dead. [34] Three other people died in hospital the next days, bringing the confirmed death toll to eight. [35][36] Six more bodies were found during an operation on the island, bringing the death toll to 14. On 14 December, it was announced that the death toll had risen to 15 as another injured person died in hospital. [37] A day later, an Australian citizen who was repatriated died in hospital, bringing the death toll to 16, plus two victims whose bodies had not been recovered. [38] Another victim died from injuries in hospital, pushing the death toll to 19 including two missing people that were presumed dead. A further victim died at a hospital in Australia on 12 January 2020 bringing the total to 20. [39] Authorities were still working to recover two more bodies,[40] although as of 15 January efforts were scaled down. [41] Over the days following the initial eruption, the death toll steadily rose as bodies were recovered from the island and as several of the severely burnt victims succumbed to their injuries. [42][35][36][43][44][45][46][47][48] On 15 December it was announced that the death toll had risen to 16. [38] They included 13 Australian tourists, three Americans and two New Zealand men who worked as guides for White Island Tours.

Volcano Eruption

Explosions from Mount Etna, Europe's largest active volcano, sent lava rocks flying into the air

Explosions from Mount Etna, Europe's largest active volcano, sent lava rocks flying into the air Feb. 3 and left orange streams oozing down the slopes, illuminating the night sky. Mount Etna seen from the village of Fornazzo, Italy, Feb. 3, 2021. The lava flowed into an uninhabited valley while some ash blew over some of the nearby towns. The large streams of red hot lava shoot into the night sky as Mount Etna leaps into action, seen from the village of Fornazzo, Italy, Feb. 3, 2021. While there were no risks for the local population, Etna's activity is closely watched. An eruption from Mount Etna lights up the sky during the night, seen from the small village of Fornazzo under the volcano, Italy, Jan. 13, 2021. Etna is the largest of Italy's three active volcanoes which also include Stromboli, on the Sicilian island of the same name, and Mount Vesuvius near Naples which last erupted in 1944. Spectacular eruptions from Mount Etna light up the sky during the night in this still image taken from video filmed in Nicolosi, Catania, Italy, Dec. 14, 2020. Etna is a popular tourist destination attracting hikers eager to see the extraordinary lava flows glowing orange at night. Large streams of red hot lava shoot into the night sky as Mount Etna, Europe's most active volcano, leaps into action, seen from the village of Fornazzo, Italy, Feb. 3, 2021. Large streams of red hot lava shoot into the night sky, seen from the village of Fornazzo, Italy, Feb. 3, 2021. Mount Etna looming over the city of Catania, Italy, Dec. 14, 2020. Wind sweeps ash and lava from Mount Etna as seen from the small village of Fornazzo at the foot of the volcano, Italy, Jan. 13, 2021. An eruption from Mount Etna lights up the sky during the night, seen from a church in the small village of Fornazzo at the foot of the volcano, Italy, Jan. 13, 2021.

Volcano Eruption

1992 St. George earthquake

The 1992 St. George earthquake was a Mw5.8 earthquake that occurred on September 2, 1992 at approximately 4:26 AM MDT along the Washington Fault zone near the larger Hurricane Fault about 5 miles (8.0 km) southeast of St. George in Utah, United States. The quake triggered a landslide that destroyed three houses and caused approximately US$1 million in structural and cosmetic damage to houses, roads, natural formations, and utilities. No people were killed by the quake. At 4:26 AM MDT on September 2, 1992, a magnitude 5.8 earthquake occurred along the Washington Fault zone near the larger Hurricane Fault about 5 miles (8.0 km) southeast of St. George in Utah, United States. [1] Reports on the magnitude of the earthquake vary. [1][2][3] The University of Utah reported the quake as a Mw5.8 in their official report via the Intermountain Seismic Belt Historical Earthquake Project,[4] which is supported by a 1994 news article from the Deseret News[5] and an official report from the Utah Geological Survey. [6] A contemporaneous report from the journal Arizona Geology reported Mw5.5 from the University of Arizona and Mw5.9 from the USGS. [1] Most of the force of the earthquake was directed away from the city of St. George toward Hurricane and Springdale. [5] In the Balanced Rock Hills area of Springdale, a landslide covered part of Utah State Route 9, taking several hours to complete movement. [6] The slide was about 1,600 feet (490 m) long and 3,600 feet (1,100 m) wide, contained boulders up to 20 feet (6.1 m) in diameter, with a total volume of 18,000,000 cubic yards (14,000,000 m3) and total area of 4,400,400 square feet (408,810 m2). [2][6] It destroyed three houses as well as above- and below-ground utilities, causing about US$1 million in damage. [5][6]

Earthquakes

Sudbury Strike of 1978

The Inco strike of 1978 (locally referred to as the Sudbury Strike of 1978) was a strike by workers at Inco's operations in Sudbury, Ontario, which lasted from 15 September 1978 until 7 June 1979. It was the longest strike in Inco or Sudbury history until the strike of 2009–10, and at the time broke the record for the longest strike in Canada. [3] It has been noted as one of the most important labour disputes in Canadian history. [4] The conflict was caused by proposed layoffs and cuts to pay and benefits by Inco management, with low nickel prices as a justification. [5][6] Around 11,600 workers were involved in the strike, which affected the wages sustaining 43,000 people, or about 26% of the population of metropolitan Sudbury. [2] By the end of the strike, the company had been starved of over twenty-two million hours of labour, smashing records for the longest strike in both Canadian and Inco history. [1] Community support for the union was strong, with local politicians such as future mayor and then-Member of Parliament John Rodriguez as well as other New Democrats vocally supporting the strikers. [7] A major role was played by women's support committees, which had also existed during the 1958 strike. [8] The role of women in the community during the strike was profiled in the 1980 documentary film A Wives' Tale (Une histoire de femmes). [9] Concessions won as a result of the strike included Inco's "thirty-and-out" policy, whereby workers with thirty years at the company could retire with a full pension, regardless of age. [6] As well, most miners received a dollar an hour wage increase. [1] A study on alcohol consumption showed that over 35% of strikers and over 40% of their wives reportedly stopped drinking alcohol or drank dramatically less during the course of the strike, while a small minority drank much more, hypothesized as being stress-induced. Overall, alcohol sales declined by 10% during the strike as compared to the previous winter, likely due to economic reasons. [2] This effect was mirrored in the rest of the local economy, which was catastrophically affected. This would later play a critical role in spurring new economic development efforts in the city into the 1980s and 1990s; when a longer strike hit the same operations, now owned by Vale, in 2009, the action had a much more modest effect on the city's economy than the 1978 strike, with the local rate of unemployment declining slightly during the strike. [10]

Strike

3 Financial Crises in the 21st Century

A decade after the financial crisis, the casualties of the economic near-collapse are fading from memory. But that period of turmoil permanently altered the U.S. economy and the financial system. Here are 10 common questions about the crisis and its lasting impact: 1. What was the short-term impact of the financial crisis on the economy? The crisis was the worst U.S. economic disaster since the Great Depression. In the United States, the stock market plummeted, wiping out nearly $8 trillion in value between late 2007 and 2009. Unemployment climbed, peaking at 10 percent in October 2009. Americans lost $9.8 trillion in wealth as their home values plummeted and their retirement accounts vaporized. In all, the Great Recession led to a loss of more than $2 trillion in global economic growth, or a drop of nearly 4 percent, between the pre-recession peak in the second quarter of 2008 and the low hit in the first quarter of 2009, according to Moody’s Analytics. “It was such a shock to the economic system that it unleashed dynamics that we still don’t understand fully,” said Joe Brusuelas, chief economist at RSM, an audit and advisory firm. 2. What has been the long-term impact on the economy? The U.S. economy has largely recovered. In late August, the U.S. stock market set a record for the longest-running upswing in its history, replenishing the retirement accounts of workers who stayed invested through bouts of volatility. Home prices have also rebounded, pushing total housing wealth to top the levels seen in the pre-recession peak. Unemployment is low, at 3.9 percent in July. “It’s fair to say the crisis was a financial calamity for homeowners everywhere, but now almost everyone has recovered what they lost in that downturn,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics. Still, the recovery has not buoyed all consumers equally. Many workers have struggled to land jobs that paid as well as the positions they had before the recession. That shift, combined with the time spent out of work and other drops in productivity since the crisis, has led to a loss of about $70,000 in lifetime income for every American, according to an estimate from the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. At the end of 2017, 4.4 million homeowners were underwater on their mortgage, meaning they owed more than their homes were worth, according to the real estate company Zillow. 3. Whatever happened to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac? In 2008, the government seized control of the troubled mortgage giants as the housing market unraveled and the companies’ losses piled up. Taxpayers pumped billions into the companies, but over the past few years Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which buy mortgages from lenders and then package them into securities to sell to investors, have been spewing profits that feed into government coffers. Fannie Mae, for example, took $119.8 billion in taxpayer bailout money but has handed over $167.3 billion to the Treasury Department. The smaller Freddie Mac took $71.6 billion in bailout money and has turned over $112.4 billion in profits. The companies remain under government conservatorship, and there is little urgency in Congress to tackle the complicated task of determining their futures. Some proposals have called for Fannie and Freddie to be privatized, others to abolish them all together. Further complicating the fight: Some Wall Street investors say Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s profits should be going to shareholders and not the government. In the meantime, Fannie and Freddie still back about 60 percent of U.S. mortgages, and lawmakers appear hesitant to disturb the status quo, housing experts say. “There is a risk that if you get it wrong, you are really going to do damage to a market that is essential to millions of Americans,” said Michael Barr, a University of Michigan Law School professor who served in the Treasury Department in 2009 and 2010. 4. How did the crisis change the housing market? The housing market was ground zero of the crisis. The market crashed as homeowners with subprime and other troublesome loans defaulted at record levels. Home prices dropped, and millions lost their homes to foreclosure. The market has largely recovered, with home prices rising and far fewer people behind on their mortgages. Regulators have also established new restrictions on the types of loans banks could offer. “Remember ninja loans? No income, no assets, no problem? We have come a long way,” Brusuelas said. But the housing recovery has left behind low-income, low-credit-score borrowers, economists say. Rather than risk making loans to those buyers, banks have focused more intensely on those with pristine credit and buying more-expensive homes, they say. “There is pressure building to change this,” said Aaron Terrazas, a senior economist at Zillow. 5. Are there still “too big to fail” banks? Yes. In fact, many of the country’s biggest banks are bigger now than they were before the financial crisis. JPMorgan Chase has $2.5 trillion in assets, compared with $1.5 trillion in 2007. Bank of America has about $2.3 trillion in assets, compared with $1.7 trillion in 2007. The assets of Wells Fargo are near $2 trillion, more than double what they were right before the crisis. “If and when another crisis hits, the biggest players will be far larger than they were during the last crash,” according to a 2017 S&P Global Market Intelligence report. Some policymakers, including Minneapolis Federal Reserve President Neel Kashkari, continue to call for a breakup of the big banks, but the idea has not gained much traction. Lawmakers considered trying to limit the size of banks while debating legislation to overhaul the financial industry but ultimately rejected the idea. Instead, the 2010 financial-overhaul law, the Dodd-Frank Act, handed regulators broad new powers to police the industry, and the biggest banks undergo the most intense scrutiny. “Essentially, too big to fail has been solved — taxpayers will not pay if a bank fails,” Jamie Dimon, chief executive of JPMorgan, the largest bank in the country, wrote in a 2017 letter to shareholders. 6. What ever happened to Lehman Brothers? Many point to Sept. 15, 2008 — the day Lehman Brothers, then the nation’s fourth-largest investment bank, filed for bankruptcy — as a turning point in the crisis. After galloping to the rescue of other major financial institutions, the federal government drew the line with Lehman, allowing the firm to collapse. A decade later, a bankruptcy court is still wading through the wreckage. The bank’s trustee has sold thousands of its assets and paid out more than $130 billion to settle claims against it. But 365 former Lehman Brothers employees are still petitioning to recover millions in lost salaries and bonuses, potentially keeping the case in court for years to come. “When we started out ten years ago, we faced the chaotic conditions of a global liquidity crisis and had to make immediate decisions in the ‘Fog of Lehman,’ ” James W. Giddens, liquidation trustee for Lehman Brothers, said in a statement. “It was a monumental amount of work. We are proud that we were able to recover as many assets as possible for those distributions in an efficient and fair process.” 7. Did anyone go to jail for causing the financial crisis? No major bank CEOs were criminally charged with causing the financial crisis. Federal prosecutors considered cases against some high-profile figures, including Angelo Mozilo, the chief executive of mortgage giant Countrywide Financial, but ultimately didn’t pursue them. In 2013, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said that some financial institutions had become “so large” that it made it “difficult for us to prosecute them.” Prosecutors would have needed evidence that the high-ranking executives were personally involved in criminal conduct to bring a case, said Jacob Frenkel, a former federal prosecutor and a partner at the law firm Dickinson Wright. “Many of the decisions in institutions that gave rise to the financial crisis, and certainly the design of the aggressive practices and instruments that triggered the crisis, occurred at levels well below the big-name executives,” he said. Dozens of executives from smaller banks have been prosecuted by the Office of the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, which was established to police firms that received bailout funds. But even SIGTARP has expressed frustration with the difficulty of prosecuting executives at the top firms. To be sure, the banking industry did pay a hefty price for the crisis — billions in fines. Bank of America, for example, paid a whopping $17 billion to resolve allegations that it knowingly sold faulty mortgage securities that contributed to the financial crisis. JPMorgan Chase paid $13 billion. 8. Is Wall Street still handing out big bonuses? Sort of. Wall Street bonuses are nearing record highs again. The average bonus payout reached $184,220 last year, a 17 percent increase compared with the previous year and the closest Wall Street has come in more than a decade to its all-time high of $191,360 in 2006, according to the New York state comptroller. Wall Street’s critics argued that excessive bonuses helping fuel the financial crisis, and Congress attempted to address the issue in Dodd-Frank, requiring regulators to establish new rules aimed at stopping executives from making risky financial bets to boost their pay and then collecting large bonuses before the fallout is clear. But the rules are years overdue and have yet to be finalized. Trump-era regulators are not expected to push the matter further. “Ten years after the crisis, the cause — venal pay incentives — remain unaddressed by Washington,” said Bart Naylor, a financial-policy advocate for the nonprofit consumer group Public Citizen. Industry officials say the proposed rules were too complicated and unnecessary. Banks have already addressed the problem, they say, noting that most bonuses are handed out over several years rather than all at once. 9. Did all the companies bailed out by taxpayers pay the money back? Pretty much. The Treasury Department injected $412 billion into banks, carmakers and other struggling companies through the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP. As of the end of last year, it had collected everything it had paid out in bailout funds and then some, leaving the government with a profit of $12 billion. Only about half of the banks and other companies that the Treasury Department invested in repaid in full, said Christy Goldsmith Romero, head of SIGTARP. Some companies paid dividends and interest, which helped make up for the program’s losses on some companies, she said. Taxpayers, for example, lost about $11 billion on the bailout of General Motors. A few banks haven’t finished paying the government back. But they owe a total of less than $100 million, a small portion of the money loaned out. Also, TARP carved out billions to help distressed homeowners by paying banks to lower their interest rates and monthly payments. Big banks, including Wells Fargo, are expected to continue receiving money through that program until 2023. 10. Is the financial system safer than it was before the crisis? Generally, economists agree that the financial system is safer. The 2010 Dodd-Frank Act put new guardrails around the banking sector. The country’s biggest banks must now undergo periodic “stress tests” to prove they could survive another crisis and draw up “living wills” so that they could be dismantled in an emergency without requiring a taxpayer bailout. But Congress and regulators have recently begun loosening some of Dodd-Frank’s key requirements, allowing small and midsize banks to escape some of the most rigorous rules, for example. Critics warn that such efforts could make another crisis more likely. “Many holes in our financial regulatory system are now plugged,” said Aaron Klein, policy director at the Center on Regulation and Markets at the Brookings Institution. “Are we impervious to another crisis? No. It’s human nature. Cars are safer today than they were 30 years ago, but you can still get into an accident.” Jonnelle Marte contributed to this report.

Financial Crisis

2021 Panguipulli riots

The death of Francisco Martínez was a Chilean police incident in which the 27-year old street-juggler Francisco Martínez was shot to death by Chilean police forces in the southern city of Panguipulli. Various events of street demonstrations and episodes of violent rioting spread across the country of Chile after the event. Francisco Andrés Martínez Romero (August 7, 1993 – February 5, 2021)[2] was 27 years old at the time of his death. His family lived in the Puente Alto commune, in Santiago, a city which he left at 18 years of age in order to live in various Latin American countries. In 2015, he settled in Panguipulli, living on the streets and working as a street artist, juggler and craftsman. [4] In that city he was known as «Franco» or «Tibet», and participated in the mobilizations of the 2019 social outbreak. According to the testimony of his sister, Francisco suffered from schizophrenia.He was the uncle of a minor who was also involved in an episode of police brutality caused by the Carabineros on the Pío Nono Bridge in Santiago, also within the context of the social outburst. [6] After 3:00 p.m. on Friday, February 5, 2021, in the city of Panguipulli, southern Chile, Francisco Martínez was juggling with machetes at the busy intersection of Martínez de Rozas and Pedro de Valdivia streets. At the scene, he was intercepted by a group of three Carabineros officials to carry out an identity check. The situation in which the events occurred, which triggered an argument between Martínez and the police, is not yet clear. In an act, still under investigation, Second Sergeant Juan Guillermo González Iturriaga fired several shots at the floor and at point-blank range at the body of Francisco, ending his life. During the altercation, Martínez had thrown himself against the policeman with the machetes. A nursing technician who was at the scene gave Martinez first aid and unsuccessfully performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Martinez's death was recorded by a passerby and the video was broadcast through social media. The event generated several spontaneous protests in the main streets of Panguipulli during the afternoon of February 5. The demonstrations led to incidents during the night, with the Municipality of Panguipulli being completely burned down. Other buildings affected were the Chilean Post Office, the Local Police Court, the Civil Registry, and the ESSAL office. The protests ended with five people arrested. Rioting plagued the main streets of other cities as the manifestations entered its second day, with clashes with police becoming a frequent occurrence in Santiago. On February 6, Martínez's body left the Panguipulli Medical Legal Service for Santiago, being honored by the local community. During that day, protests also took place in other cities of Chile, such as Antofagasta, Santiago, Concepción, Temuco and Valdivia. [10] On the morning of February 7, Martínez's remains arrived in Bajos de Mena, Puente Alto commune, for his wake, which was attended by the singer Roberto Márquez, 16. His funeral was held the next day in the Parque El Prado cemetery. On February 8, protests over Martínez's death were also held in various cities in Chile, including Santiago, Valparaíso, and La Serena.

Riot

Bangladeshi schools reopen after 18-month's closure

More than 164,000 Rohingya children in the Cox’s Bazar refugee camps in Bangladesh returned to learning centres today after one of the longest disruptions to schooling globally due to COVID-19. Learning centres run by humanitarian agencies, which provide primary-level education for Rohingya refugee children, were closed 18 months ago, leaving children vulnerable to child marriage and child labour as a means for families to survive. The government announced that learning centres could reopen for children in grades two to four after a drop in positive testing rates for COVID-19 nationally and in Cox’s Bazar to around 5% this week from over 30% in early August. Bangladeshi schools reopened on September 12 but Rohingya children were still waiting to resume their education. Save the Children welcomed the re-opening of learning centres but called on the government to allow other age groups to also return to their classrooms and for a pilot programme using the curriculum from Myanmar. About 456,000 children are living among almost 900,000 refugees in the camps at Cox’s Bazar. Taslim,* 9, said it would help for teachers to use the Myanmar curriculum and to have teachers from Myanmar. “This would help me to be a doctor or teacher and be able to fulfil my dreams,” she told Save the Children. Save the Children’s Bangladesh Country Director, Onno Van Manen, said Rohingya children and families were keen to return to learning and quality education. “Efforts need to be re-doubled to provide quality education to Rohingya children. This can be achieved through community outreach to convince families to send their children back to school and by urgently resuming the rollout and expansion of the pilot program to allow Rohingya children to study in their mother-tongue using the curriculum,” he said. Save the Children, with the help of Rohingya and Bangladeshi teachers, have provided education to Rohingya refugees and the host community at 100 learning centres in Cox’s Bazar camps since 2017 when almost one million Rohingya refugees fled Myanmar into Bangladesh.

Organization Closed

Earth Observation Satellites are essential for India’s national security

Last month, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Earth Observation Satellite (EOS-3) failed to inject into Geo Transfer Orbit (GTO), because of the failure of the Geosynchronous Launch Vehicle’s (GLSV) cryogenic upper stage. This satellite’s ultimate orbital destination was Geostationary Orbit (GEO). Notwithstanding the failure of the mission given the chequered history of the GSLV’s cryogenic stage performance, the EOS-3 was supposed to fulfil an important earth observation mission. Although ISRO did not release details about the payloads aboard the EOS-3, it would not be surprising if the space agency installed electro-optical capabilities that were intended to service the needs of the Indian armed forces. The satellite was expected to be in service or operational for 10 years. ISRO has successfully launched several Earth Observation Satellites (EOS) in the past using its “workhorse” Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) and its variants. Had the EOS-3 been successful, it would have met an important part of the armed services imagery needs. This is a setback not just for ISRO, but the Indian military as well, because they need it given the operational challenges confronting the Indian Army (IA) and the Indian Air Force (IAF) against China. A glance at China’s EO capabilities will give the reader sufficient indication as to why they constitute such an important investment. ISRO has successfully launched several Earth Observation Satellites (EOS) in the past using its “workhorse” Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) and its variants. The Indian military needs these EO satellites because the Peoples Republic China (PRC) has several of them. The PRC operates the Gaofen series or constellation of EO satellites. EO satellites are crucial for Imagery Intelligence (IMINT), photo reconnaissance, Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), and electro optical functions. These EO Gaofen satellites are at least notionally part of China’s High-resolution Earth Observation System (CHEOS). The latter performs several tasks and functions that help with matters such as land surveying, urban planning, disaster relief, design of road networks, and agriculture. Notwithstanding the utility and purpose behind civilian applications of the CHEOS constellation, the Gaofen series are also integrated with payloads, instruments, and platforms, but with decidedly military reconnaissance missions. China launched the Gaofen-13 satellite in October 2020, which operates from the Geostationary Orbit (GEO). Very little is known about this satellite, because the Chinese have revealed close to nothing about its payloads and instruments. The last occasion the PRC launched a satellite, the Gaofen-4, into the same orbit was in 2004. However, China has not divulged details of other satellites either in the same series such as the Gaofen 11. The Gaofen satellites, believed to be electro-optical remote sensing satellites, are important from a military reconnaissance standpoint. To be sure the PRC has suffered some setbacks as part of its remote sensing satellite programme, such as the failed launch of the Jilin or Gaofen–02C optical earth observation satellite in September 2020. This satellite is believed to have had a 0.76-metre resolution with a swath breadth of 40 kilometres. This satellite was intended for placement in Sun Synchronous Orbit (SSO) or Low Earth Orbit (LEO). EO satellites are crucial for Imagery Intelligence (IMINT), photo reconnaissance, Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), and electro optical functions. Irrespective of this failure, remote sensing satellites such as the Gaofen series have several advantages. Firstly, remote sensing satellites can provide imaging data about the location and scope of military activities being pursued by adversaries. Secondly, they are also crucial for post-attack damage assessment. The latter enables or creates opportunities for refining attacks against enemy targets for the future. Relying exclusively on drones and reconnaissance aircraft to image the earth’s surface has its disadvantages to the extent that they can be shot down if reconnaissance missions were to be carried out over military installations and facilities whether in China or even Pakistan. Further, movement of troops by an adversary as was the case with the PRC’s Ladakh occupation in 2020 went largely undetected because of the lack of a sufficient number of EOS type or more generally remote sensing spacecraft. For this reason, satellites such as the EOS-3 and the Gaofen-13 are vital to service the imaging and reconnaissance needs of the military. However, satellites in lower orbits are also necessary for remote sensing, but they have limitations as we will see below. The Indian Remote Sensing (IRS) satellites is one of the largest civilian remote sensing constellations in the world, but China’s Ladakh aggression clearly testifies to the need to develop and launch more of them. Other satellites like the CARTOSAT series have dedicated military applications, which ISRO has launched. In addition, the RISAT series spacecraft, which are radar imaging reconnaissance satellites, have also helped meet India’s remote sensing requirements. ISRO has also launched remote sensing satellites as part of the EOS series in years past. For instance, the EOS-1, which was launched from Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) into Low Earth Orbit (LEO)that ISRO has publicly declared to perform applications relating to forestry, agriculture, and disaster management. Nevertheless, this description is no different from what the PRC has done with its Gaofen satellites to conceal the true purpose behind their application. The RISAT series spacecraft, which are radar imaging reconnaissance satellites, have also helped meet India’s remote sensing requirements. There are, however, trade-offs involved in launching and operating remote sensing satellites and it is in this context that we must view the failure of the EOS-3. What are these trade-offs? There are time-bound weaknesses in the form of temporal resolution that are compounded by cost and target resolution weaknesses in the form of spatial resolution. The higher the altitude of a spacecraft, the greater the temporal resolution and increased or longer orbital shelf-life of the satellite, but there are also commensurately higher demands for strong spatial resolution in that the spacecraft needs sharper optical payloads to image a target area. Some of these problems can be addressed by launching multiple small satellites into low orbital planes, but only up to a point. Low altitude satellites are susceptible to high atmospheric drag, which reduces the orbital shelf-life of the spacecraft. Thus, imaging satellites such as the EOS-3, which is an expensive space borne platform is durable and necessary and its loss will be felt by the Indian military. The views expressed above belong to the author(s). ORF research and analyses now available on Telegram! Click here to access our curated content — blogs, longforms and interviews. Kartik Bommakanti is a Fellow with the Strategic Studies Programme. Kartik specialises in space military issues and his research is primarily centred on the Indo-Pacific region. He also works on emerging technologies as well as nuclear, conventional and sub-conventional coercion, particularly in the context of >> Set up in 1990, ORF seeks to lead and aid policy thinking towards building a strong and prosperous India in a fair and equitable world. It helps discover and inform India’s choices, and carries Indian voices and ideas to forums shaping global debates. ORF provides non-partisan, independent analyses and inputs on matters of security, strategy, economy, development, energy, resources and global governance to diverse decision-makers (governments, business communities, academia, civil society). ORF’s mandate is to conduct in-depth research, provide inclusive platforms and invest in tomorrow’s thought leaders today.

New achievements in aerospace

Russia and China teamup on the Indian Ocean

The US and its allies may have military dominancein the region, but it’s no guarantee of influence. Two recent naval exercises demonstrate the potential for Russia-China cooperation in the Indian Ocean, and how the two present a much greater threat to a continued US role and influence in the region than either would individually. Last year, South Africa hosted a maritime exercise with Russia and China, the first-ever trilateral exercise among the three countries. Exercise Mosi was designed, according to the South African Navy, to “enhance interoperability and maritime security“ and showed the three countries’ willingness to work together to counter security threats at sea, such as terrorism and piracy. There were the obligatory social and cultural activities, and then military manoeuvres that focused on a surface gunnery exercise, helicopter cross-deck landings, boarding operations and disaster control exercises. China and Russia followed this up in December 2019 with another trilateral maritime exercise with Iran in the Gulf of Oman called Exercise Marine Security Belt. The exercises included live-fire drills and an anti-piracy exercise involving Iranian commandos. According to the Iranian naval commander, the exercises’ message was that “Iran cannot be isolated.” A Chinese spokesman stated: “The naval drills aim to deepen exchange and cooperation among the navies of the three countries, and display their strong will and capability to jointly maintain world peace and maritime security”. Trilateral exercises reveal that regional powers such as South Africa and Iran, as well as other countries, welcome the increased role of China and Russia. Both China and Russia have gradually been increasing their presence in the Indian Ocean. Russia recently announced it would establish a naval facility in Port Sudan on the Red Sea. China opened its first overseas base in Djibouti in 2017, and China’s navy has increased operations in the Indian Ocean region over the past three decades. The Covid-19 crisis may have slowed further moves towards cooperation this year. Moscow just hosted the 12th BRICS summit virtually, which doesn’t lend itself to deep military engagement. But the trilateral exercises are notable because they signal Moscow’s and Beijing’s desire to cooperate in the region. And more importantly, they reveal that regional powers such as South Africa and Iran, as well as other countries, welcome the increased role of China and Russia. Relations between South Africa and the United States were already strained when Pretoria agreed to the trilateral exercises last year. Under the Trump administration, the United States grew critical of South Africa’s UN voting record. Washington also declined to exempt the country from hikes in tariffs on US imports of steel and aluminium. In contrast, China has pledged the most investments of any country in South Africa. Russia has followed in its footsteps in building political, military and trade ties across sub-Saharan Africa. Iran has even more reason to build relations with China and Russia. Since the US withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal in 2018, Iran has strengthened its ties to China and Russia, using multi-billion-dollar loans from the two countries to resist US sanctions and deepening defence cooperation and intelligence sharing. Smaller countries can also find the Russia-China nexus useful. According to a Chinese-language source, Sudan, a long-standing regional partner of China, first proposed hosting a Russian base in 2017 as a counterbalance “against aggressive acts of the United States”. In other words, China and Russia together may be better equipped to compete with the United States and its allies in the Indian Ocean region for influence, for several reasons. Moscow may be more willing than Beijing to play the ringleader role in organising and directing opposition against the United States, but it doesn’t have the economic heft to make such cooperation a winning proposition for Indian Ocean states. While China has considerable resources, it is more concerned about provoking the United States and potentially worsening already poor relations. China often argues that it is a different type of great power, one that does not engage in hegemonic behaviour such as alliance formation. China is also keen to avoid sparking a countervailing coalition against it. For these reasons, Beijing often tones down its rhetoric about the nature of its relationship with Russia. China claimed the Indian Ocean exercises do “not target any third party”. For Russia, however, overtly undermining the United States is a key component of its strategy and plays well domestically for Putin. On the other hand, China has the economic resources to wield influence and invest heavily in Indian Ocean countries. In Pakistan alone, Beijing has pledged an estimated $87 billion in funding and completed roughly $20 billion worth of projects. Recently, Beijing and Tehran reportedly agreed to a 25-year deal to expand China’s investment in Iranian banking, telecommunications, ports and railways in exchange for oil. While China and Russia are nowhere near dominating the Indian Ocean region militarily, their combined influence may promise trouble for the United States and its partners. The two countries will likely work together to inure their partners to international pressure, including over human rights violations. And those partners will receive security benefits (such as military access) and economic benefits (such as preferential economic ties) in return. Although it seems a bit exaggerated, there is some truth to Iranian Admiral Hossein Khanzadi’s declaration that strategic coordination with Russia and China means “the era of American free action in the region is over”. China and Russia may be slow in enhancing their strategic coordination in the Indian Ocean slowly, but the intent is there. The United States and its allies may still be dominant militarily. But we should be careful not to fall under the illusion that this guarantees influence. With China and Russia presenting themselves as strong alternative powers, the United States and like-minded countries have to work that much harder to promote sustainable economic development, protect international rules and norms, and ensure peace and security in the region. This article is part of a two-year project being undertaken by the ANU National Security College on the Indian Ocean, with the support of the Australian Department of Defence

Military Exercise

2011 Military World Games

The track and field competition at the 2011 Military World Games was held from 17–23 July 2011 at the Estádio Olímpico João Havelange in Rio de Janeiro. The programme contained 35 athletics events, 20 for men and 15 for women. The marathon races (held in conjunction with the annual Rio de Janeiro Marathon) took place on 17 July while the track and field events were held in the stadium from 19–23 July. The host nation Brazil topped the medal table with eight gold medals and fourteen in total. Kenya was a close runner-up, with six golds and a total of fifteen medals after strong performances in the middle to long distance running events. Poland, Qatar and Ukraine were other countries which performed well. Twenty-six nations had a medal-winning athlete in the track and field competition. The marathon competition returned, after a break at the 2007 edition, but the racewalk and decathlon were dropped. Despite the increased number of women's track events, only three field events were contested by female athletes. Qatar's Femi Ogunode was the only athlete to win two individual events, taking the 100 metres and 200 metres titles in Games records. Ana Cláudia Silva of Brazil won the women's 200 m and the 4×100 metres relay, as well as the 100 m silver, while her compatriot Geisa Coutinho won the 400 m and featured in both of Brazil's winning relay teams. Keila Costa came close to a long jump/triple jump double, but was narrowly beaten by Simona La Mantia in the latter event. A total of ten Games records were broken during the five-day competition. Chinese Olympic medallist Zhang Wenxiu won the women's hammer throw in a Games record – a feat also achieved by Poland's Paweł Wojciechowski in the men's pole vault. The men's 400 metres was won by Sajjad Hashemi in an Iranian national record time. [1]   *   Host nation (Brazil) Results

Sports Competition

Physicists predict a Solar Deepavali this year

A solar flare bursts off the left limb of the sun in this image captured by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory in 2014. File | Photo Credit: Reuters The sun may well add to this year’s Deepavali celebrations, if predictions made by solar physicists come true. A solar flare that occurred on the Sun has triggered a magnetic storm which scientists predict will arrive at the Earth in the early hours of November 4, and this can give rise to spectacular displays of aurora in the polar regions, just in time for the Deepavali celebrations in India. The solar magnetic cycle that works in the deep interior of the Sun creates regions that rise to the surface and appear like dark spots. These are the sunspots. Solar flares are highly energetic phenomena that happen inside the sunspots. In a solar flare, the energy stored in the sun’s magnetic structures is converted into light and heat energy. This causes the emission of high energy x-ray radiation and highly accelerated charged particles to leave the sun’s surface. Sometimes solar flares also cause hot plasma to be ejected from the Sun, causing a solar storm, and this is called Coronal Mass Ejection (CME). Coronal Mass Ejections can harbour energies exceeding that of a billion atomic bombs. The energy and radiation and high energy particles emitted by flares can affect Earth bound objects and life on Earth – it can affect the electronics within satellites and affect astronauts. Very powerful Earth-directed coronal mass ejections can cause failure of power grids and affect oil pipelines and deep-sea cables. They can also cause spectacular aurorae in the high-latitude and polar countries. The last time a major blackout due to a coronal mass ejection was recorded was in 1989 – a powerful geomagnetic storm that took down the North American power grid, plunging large parts of Canada in to darkness and triggering spectacular aurorae beyond the polar regions. A team of solar physicists from CESSI, in IISER Kolkata, which included PhD student Suvadip Sinha and Prof. Dibyendu Nandi, have predicted that a collection of sunspots denoted active region 12887 and 12891 could erupt into a so-called X-class flare and several M-class flares. These are the types of flare that are strongest and second strongest in terms of the intensity of x-ray radiation that they carry. This prediction has already proven to be true. The team expects the CME triggered by the M class flare that occurred in sunspot 12891 to impact the Earth with speeds upwards of 700 km/s late in the night of November 3 or early on November 4. According to Dibyendu Nandi, “This storm may well be dubbed the “Diwali solar storm,” in keeping with the naming of storms after Bastille Day (2000), Halloween Day (2003) or St Patrick’s Day (2015).” If the storm is strong enough, it could cause lighting effects or aurorae in the polar regions. Prof Nandi said, “Often when the solar wind speed is high and the magnetic field component in the wind is in the right orientation, auroras are triggered. For example, there is an auroral oval which is confined just over the poles which is often visible from space crafts. However, only during a storm does the aurora become more spectacular and become visible in countries like Canada, Northern USA, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Siberia etc.”

New wonders in nature

Jamaica’s Thompson-Herah Breaks Flo Jo’s Olympic Track Record in Women’s 100-Meter Race

Elaine Thompson-Herah broke Florence Griffith Joyner’s 33-year-old Olympic record in the women’s 100 meters, pointing at the scoreboard even before crossing the line in 10.61 seconds Saturday to defend her title and lead a Jamaican sweep of the medals. Griffith Joyner set the previous record of 10.62 at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. Thompson-Herah defeated her top rival, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, by .13 seconds. Shericka Jackson, who moved to the shorter sprints for the Tokyo Olympics, won bronze in 10.76. No Olympic champion had broken 10.7 since Flo Jo back in the day. Thompson-Herah wasn’t sure she would either as she approached the finish. But “I knew that I won,” she said. “The pointing, I don’t know what it means. To show that I was clear,” she said. This was the first Jamaican sweep of the medals since the women did it at the 2008 Beijing Games – a feat somewhat overshadowed that week by the record-setting performance by Usain Bolt. But really, there is no overlooking the Jamaican women, who actually have a longer history of sprint success than the men in the island country. Fraser-Pryce finished on top in that 2008 race, and completed her Olympic set in the 100, where she now has two golds (′08, ′12), a silver and a bronze (′16). Fraser-Pryce and Thompson-Herah are headed for a possible rematch in the 200, where Thompson-Herah also is the defending champion. This had been shaping up as a fast race for days, if not months. In June, Fraser-Pryce ran the fourth-fastest time in history at 10.63 seconds. And when the sprinters arrived in Japan, they discovered a fast track at Olympic Stadium. In the semifinals earlier Saturday, the Jamaicans all cracked 10.8 to get on the list of the 10 best times in Olympic history. Then, it was Thompson-Herah’s turn to make history. Flo Jo’s records are older than virtually every sprinter in the women’s game, save Fraser-Pryce, who was born about 18 months before the American set the marks. Griffith Joyner’s world record, the 10.49, is still out there, and no other woman has ever broken 10.6. Fraser-Pryce came in thinking it could be her, and when she crossed the line in second, she flashed a look of disbelief, then stood stone-faced with her hands on her hips looking at the scoreboard. Thompson-Herah wasn’t surprised. She was looking left toward the clock as she approached the line. She was pointing even before she got there, conjuring memories of Bolt, who celebrated with 10 meters to go when he ran 9.69 to break the men’s world record in 2008. “I think I could have gone faster if I wasn’t pointing and celebrating, really,” Thompson-Herah said. “But to show you that there’s more in store. Hopefully one day I can unleash that time.” The women’s 100 shaped up as potentially the best race of the Olympics, ahead of the Bolt-less men’s sprint. As if to accentuate that point, the favorite in the men’s race, American sprinter Trayvon Bromell, finished fourth in his qualifying heat and had to wait nearly an hour to see if he’d get one of three wild-card spots into Sunday’s semifinal round. He did, and said, “Honestly, I have no words for it,” when asked to explain the lackluster run. Another surprise came in the Olympic debut of the mixed 4x400 relay, where Poland won the gold and Alexander Ogando of the Dominican Republic sprawled over the line to edge out the Americans for second. The U.S., which was disqualified from the preliminary heat the night before, only to be reinstated after an appeal, settled for bronze. Allyson Felix, who spearheaded a win in this race two years ago at the world championships, was not in the lineup. The evening’s other medal event was men’s discus, where Daniel Stahl and Simon Pettersson led a 1-2 Swedish finish. The Swedes draped flags over their shoulders and jogged on the grass down the backstretch during a celebration in front of a near-empty stadium. Not long after, the real running began, and Thompson-Herah found herself in a spot she was familiar with — first at the Olympics — but with a time no woman had ever seen on this stage: 10.61.

Break historical records

At least seven killed in gas explosion in Bangladesh

DHAKA (Reuters) - At least seven people were killed and eight injured on Sunday after a gas pipeline exploded in the Bangladeshi port city of Chittagong, a police official said. The pipeline exploded in front of a five-story building, blowing some of the building’s walls off, Mohammad Mohsin said, citing witnesses. The injured were taken to hospital, he said, adding the death toll could rise as some were in critical condition. Among the injured, one suffered burns while others were wounded by the wall collapse, Mohsin said. It was not immediately clear what caused the explosion, fire service official Amir Hossain said, adding an investigation was under way. Last month seven children died after a gas cylinder used for inflating balloons exploded in the capital Dhaka. Faulty gas pipelines and substandard cylinders often cause accidents in the south Asian country, blamed on lax monitoring. Reporting by Ruma Paul; Editing by Susan Fenton Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. Trending Stories All quotes delayed a minimum of 15 minutes. See here for a complete list of exchanges and delays.

Gas explosion

Hospitals, health systems launch not-for-profit generic drug company

Several hospitals and health systems today officially established Civica Rx – a new not-for-profit generic drug company that will help patients by addressing shortages and high prices of lifesaving medications. Since the initiative, which was previously known as Project Rx, was announced in January 2018, more than 120 health organizations representing about a third of the nation’s hospitals have contacted Civica Rx and expressed a commitment or interest in participating with the new company. “We are creating a public asset with a mission to ensure that essential generic medications are accessible and affordable,” said Civica Rx CEO Martin VanTrieste, former chief quality officer for Amgen. “This will improve the situation for patients by bringing much needed competition to the generic drug market.” Initial governing members of Civica Rx will include Catholic Health Initiatives, HCA Healthcare, Intermountain Healthcare, Mayo Clinic, Providence St. Joseph Health, SSM Health and Trinity Health. Other health systems participating with Civica Rx will be announced later this year. Civica Rx is collaborating with the AHA Center for Health Innovation, which was officially launched yesterday, to manage inquiries about the initiative from the field. Hospitals and health systems can call 800-242-4677 with questions, or visit www.civicarx.org for information. Civica Rx first will seek to stabilize the supply of essential generic medications administered in hospitals, many of which have fallen into chronic shortage situations, putting patients at risk. Civica Rx expects to have its first products on the market as early as 2019. The initiative also is expected to result in lower costs and more predictable supplies of essential generic medicines, helping ensure that patients and their needs come first in the generic drug marketplace, according to the company.

Organization Established

Largs railway station

Largs railway station is a railway station in the town of Largs, North Ayrshire, Scotland. The station is managed by Abellio ScotRail and is owned by Network Rail. It is on the Ayrshire Coast Line, 43 miles (69 km) south west of Glasgow Central. The station was originally opened on 1 June 1885 by the Glasgow and South Western Railway,[2] as the terminus of the extension of the former Ardrossan Railway to Largs. The station originally had four platforms with additional stabling lines, a glazed canopy and a footbridge spanning the platforms. [3] By the time the electrification project commenced only three platforms and the centre stabling line were in operation. A fire in 1985 destroyed the station signal box and shortly afterwards work was undertaken to remodel & rationalise the track layout and modernise the signalling ahead of the planned electrification (as part of the wider Ayrshire Coast scheme). Once this was completed by British Rail in 1987, only two platforms remained in use with the line southwards having been reduced to single track. The standard 25 kV A.C overhead system was used, with the signalling system supervised from Paisley signalling centre. On 11 July 1995 an early morning Class 318 from Glasgow Central failed to stop. It crashed through the buffers and the back of the ticket office, severely damaging parts of the station building, and demolished two shops before coming to a stop next to the taxi rank on Main Street. An eye-witness described the noise with the station shaking as the train "was ploughing through it like a set of dominoes", then "the whole corner of the building disintegrating". Although the driver, the guard and three others suffered injuries, there was considerable relief that no-one was killed. [4][5] For several years there were discussions of redevelopment and replacement buildings, and in 2001 a small ticket office was constructed. [5] A £200,000 makeover (including a new station building) was completed in 2005, albeit much simpler than the original. There is an hourly service to and from Glasgow Central (including Sundays), with additional services during weekday peak periods. Trains usually use Platform 2, with the exception of the 0722 and 1953 services to Glasgow, which use Platform 1. [6]

Train collisions

SAETA Flight 232 crash

On 15 August 1976, SAETA Flight 232 en route from Quito, Ecuador, to Cuenca was reported missing while in flight. The SAETA-operated Vickers Viscount 785D carried 55 passengers and 4 crew members. Searches of the possible crash area produced no results. A mid-route crash on the stratovolcano Chimborazo was considered to be most probable, though some speculated a guerrilla hijacking. [1] The plane was eventually found at 5,310 meters (17,420 feet) in October 2002 by two members of the Nuevos Horizontes mountaineering club, Pablo Chiquiza and Flavio Armas, while exploring a new route to the summit of Chimborazo via the García Moreno Glacier. However, they did not report it immediately. The discovery wasn't confirmed until February 2003, when a team hired by the television network Teleamazonas went up the volcano to film a video of the wreckage and found human remains, newspapers from the day the plane disappeared, and identification cards of known passengers. [2][3][4]

Air crash

2010 Romanian floods

The 2010 Romanian floods (Romanian: Inundațiile din iunie 2010 din România) were the result of an extreme weather event that struck Romania in late June 2010. Currently, at least 21 people died. The north-east of the country, especially Suceava County was most affected. [1][2][3] Also affected was the Chernivtsi Oblast in neighbouring Ukraine. [4][5][6][7] On 29 June 2010, the River Siret threatened to break through the dykes protecting the town of Şendreni, as locals and emergency services reinforced the dykes with sandbags to prevent the river breaking out and flooding the town. [8] Romanian Prime Minister Emil Boc visited the area, touring Suceava and Botoşani counties, both hard-hit by flooding and still under weather advisories. Officials said hundreds of people have been forced from their homes, dozens of houses have collapsed and hundreds of homes were damaged. [9] According to an IGSU press release, the storms and flooding affected the counties of Alba, Arad, Bacău, Botoşani, Brașov, Cluj, Hunedoara, Iași, Mehedinţi, Neamț, Olt, Prahova, Sălaj, Sibiu, Suceava, Timiș, Tulcea, Vâlcea and Vrancea. One person in Alba County died and at least 160 people all over the country were evacuated. Romanian Interior Minister Vasile Blaga said that two people in Cluj County lost their lives. The north-eastern town of Dorohoi witnessed 6 deaths in the night of June 28–29 as floods rose to just over 1 metre, 3,3 feet in some places. Several roads into Dorohoi remained either washed away or under water. [8] The heavy rain that had been falling for much of the past week in the Balkan country and forecasters have warned that it will continue in northeast Romania until Wednesday morning. [8] The emergency situations spokeswoman Dorina Lupu from Botoşani judet said unusually heavy rain had killed 6 people, most in the town of Dorohoi on the 29th. [10] On July 5, 2010, the Danube in Galaţi recorded a flow rate of 676 cm (76 cm above the rate of flooding) and a flow of 16,055 m/s. At Şendreni, Siret had a rate of 728 cm (78 cm over the danger level). [11] The local emergency services reinforced the dykes in the afternoon and narrowly averted any more flooding. It was flooded during the July 2010 flood as was its names sake in Galaţi County. In Galaţi, the city was building a dam 1.5 m high, 4.5 km long, with the support of 1,400 military personnel from the Ministry of Administration and Interior and the Ministry of Defence. If the dam breaches, the resulting flood would drown one-quarter of the city, including its shipyard, port and customs office. Nearly 12,000 jobs exist in the area, and about €45 million is lost daily and around €250 million in property losses have been caused by the flooding in Galaţi. [11] The flooding has affected 1,873 homes and farms, 1,065 hectares of farmland, 1,928 hectares of forest and pasture, two kilometers of national roads, 37 km of county roads, 91 km of communal roads and clogged 424 wells. Authorities say at least 21 people have died and three are missing after heavy rains and flooding in northeastern Romania. Hundreds of people had to be evacuated from their homes, mainly in Suceava and Botoşani departments, close to the Ukrainian border. They spent the night in schools and sports halls or with relatives. [12] On June 30, 2010, 21 people were killed by the flood in Romania and Ukraine while another 9,500 people were evacuated, according to authorities from both countries. [7] The majority of victims were Romanians; 1 Ukrainian was killed by the flood and 1,083 were evacuated. [13] The Romanian Interior Minister Vasile Blaga told parliament that losses were the equivalent to 0.6% GDP. The agriculture ministry has estimated that of 6,700,000 tonnes of wheat for and 2,000,000 hectares of land were by the 30th. [14] Moldova and Ukraine had yet to assess the crisis in their flooded regions. Most of the victims drowned when they were trying to escape, while two people were struck by lightning. Three trains were stuck in northeastern Suceava county, due to the flooding of a 50-meter railroad segment. A southwestern customs in Mehedinţi County was flooded, and alluvial deposits were reported on two national roads in northeastern Neamţ County. Floods spawned by heavy rainfall also affected thousands of acres of pasture and farmland, roads, bridges and power lines in the rural areas in the northeastern part of the country. Local emergency committees and volunteer emergency services rallied 530 firefighters and 160 volunteers, who took part in damage control efforts. Russia has also delivered 70 tonnes of humanitarian aid to Ukraine in response to the flooding. [6]

Floods

Woolsey Fire

The Woolsey Fire was a destructive wildfire that burned in Los Angeles and Ventura Counties of the U.S. state of California. The fire ignited on November 8, 2018 and burned 96,949 acres (39,234 hectares) of land. The fire destroyed 1,643 structures,[5] killed three people, and prompted the evacuation of more than 295,000 people. [3] It was one of several fires in California that ignited on the same day. While the nearby Hill Fire was contained with minimal damage on November 16,[6] the Camp Fire in Northern California destroyed most of the town of Paradise, killing 85 people. [7] The fire started in Woolsey Canyon on the Santa Susana Field Laboratory property, a complex of industrial research and development belonging to Boeing, in the Santa Susana Mountains above the Simi Valley near the boundary between Los Angeles and Ventura counties. [8] The Santa Ana winds, which often are a factor for Southern California fires, pushed the fire in a southerly direction throughout the first day. [9][10] The Ventura freeway between the San Fernando Valley and the Conejo Valley was closed as the fire crossed and headed into the rugged Santa Monica Mountains. The fire raced through the chaparral-covered steep canyons where it encountered historic movie and TV sets, small ranches, and the houses of celebrities. [11] Hundreds of houses in Malibu were destroyed or damaged on both sides of Pacific Coast Highway. Many of these were on Point Dume that juts out from the narrow coastal terrace that lies between the mountains and the Pacific Ocean. The mitigation measures Pepperdine University had in place successfully protected the campus, with students sheltering in place, to the south. The entire sparsely populated portion of the Malibu coast west to the community of Solromar, which includes state and national parklands, suffered damage from the fire. The fire cost at least $6 billion (2018 USD) in property damage. [4] Thousands of residents were kept away from their houses in numerous neighborhoods along the Ventura Freeway and the communities along the Malibu coast. The evacuations frustrated residents as they lasted for many days as the fire continued to threaten houses especially when the winds increased and fanned the flames. The evacuated residents were incrementally allowed to return to see if their houses were damaged or destroyed as the fire continued to spread through the rugged wilderness at the western end of the Santa Monica Mountains. Authorities in many of the damaged communities declared that they needed to prevent residents from returning quickly as neighborhoods were crowded with crews repairing downed power lines and other hazardous conditions. In the months after the fire, people[who?] criticized what they thought was a slow and inadequate response by cities and counties during public meetings held by public officials. While this and other fires were burning, President Donald Trump blamed poor forest management by the state. One fire scientist explained that forest management (good or bad) had a minor influence on the severity of the fires, and that Woolsey was not a forest fire. [12] The California Public Utilities Commission is investigating an equipment problem near the point of origin reported by Southern California Edison. At 2:22 p.m. PST on Nov 8, Southern California Edison reported an outage on the Big Rock 16 kV circuit out of the Chatsworth substation on the Santa Susana Field Laboratory property, south of Simi Valley, Ventura County, California. [13][14][15][16] At 2:24 p.m. PST a brush fire was reported in the same location. [17][18][19][20] The first firefighters arrived almost 20 minutes later due to complications of resources because of the nearby Hill Fire. [21] The nearest fire crew, part of a private company contracted to protect Santa Susana Field Laboratory, a Boeing Company facility nearby, was delayed by its engine breaking down. [22] Powerful Santa Ana winds, reaching 50 to 60 mph (80 to 97 km/h), caused the fire to spread rapidly and beyond firefighting capabilities. During the overnight hours into the early morning of November 9, the fire crossed U.S. Route 101 near Calabasas and spread through Liberty Canyon in Agoura Hills. Aerial suppression of the fire was unable to commence until 5:00 a.m. PST, November 9, when winds lessened enough. On the morning of November 9, Assistant L.A. County Fire Chief Williams told KBUU-LP that his request for 70 strike teams had been denied. [23] The blaze spread rapidly throughout the day burning through the mountains and along the 101 Freeway, eventually reaching Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu by the afternoon devastating numerous houses there. Firefighters and firetrucks who did not know the area were reported idle by many frustrated citizens. [24][25] Several homeowners stayed despite the mandatory evacuation to defend their houses. [26][27] Pepperdine University in Malibu recommended that students shelter in place in specific buildings on campus rather than use the crowded highway to evacuate. Farther north, the flames spread to portions of Thousand Oaks, Bell Canyon, Westlake Village, Oak Park[28] and the West Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles forcing residential evacuations and the closure of numerous business and corporate offices in the region. [29] On the day before the Hill and Woolsey fires started, residents in the Conejo Valley experienced the shooting of thirteen people in a bar including a police officer and the perpetrator. As the fires threatened the community and otherwise disrupted their routine, memorial services had to be postponed. [30] By November 9, Cal Fire and the United States Forest Service were also helping local services with the fire. [31][32] This resulted in 3,242 firefighters being deployed to contain the blaze by the morning of November 10. [1] The fire had engulfed more than 70,000 acres (28,000 hectares) of land, forcing the evacuation of an estimated 295,000 people from 105,000 residences. [33] This included an unprecedented total evacuation of Bell Canyon,[1] Malibu,[28] Agoura Hills, Malibou Lake, and Oak Park. [1] Before sunrise on November 14, the fire flared up in rugged wilderness at the western end of the Santa Monica Mountains with winds blowing strongly. [34] The fire burned well away from populated neighborhoods, but was threatening scattered home sites. The flare-up sent a huge column of smoke over Point Mugu and out to sea. [35] By November 21 at 6:11 p.m. PST, the fire was 100% contained. [1] Many of the public and private parks and trails within the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area were closed indefinitely as damage due to the fire was being evaluated and necessary remediation measures were put in place. Closures included Malibu Creek State Park and Zuma Beach. [7] Property owned by the federal government within the national recreation area includes some developed parks and large undeveloped tracts of land. The fire caused trails to be shut for months as 88% of the federal parkland was burned.

Fire

2009 South American Junior Championships in Athletics

The 38th South American Junior Championships in Athletics (Campeonatos Sudamericanos de Atletismo de Juveniles) were held in São Paulo, Brazil in the Estádio Ícaro de Castro Melo from July 25–26, 2009. The Champions for men’s 10,000m, both Race Walking and Combined Events were extracted from the classification of the 2009 Pan American Junior Championships held in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago in the Hasely Crawford Stadium from July 31 to August 2, 2009. [1][2] A detailed report on the results was given. [1] Detailed result lists can be found on the "World Junior Athletics History" website. [3] An unofficial count yields the number of about 212 athletes from about 12 countries: Argentina (30), Bolivia (6), Brazil (75), Chile (27), Colombia (21), Ecuador (10), Panama (6), Paraguay (2), Peru (10), Suriname (2), Uruguay (3), Venezuela (20). Medal winners are published. [1] Complete results can be found on the CBAt website,[2] and on the "World Junior Athletics History" website. [3] The medal count was published. [2]   *   Host nation (Brazil) The placing tables for team trophy(overall team, men and women categories) were published. [2]

Sports Competition

1949 Queensland Airlines Lockheed Lodestar crash

On 10 March 1949 a Lockheed Lodestar aircraft became airborne at Coolangatta, Queensland, Australia for a flight to Brisbane. Before reaching a height of 300 feet (90 m) it suddenly pitched nose-up, stalled and crashed onto its belly beyond the end of the airstrip. Fuel from the aircraft's tanks caught fire and the aircraft burned fiercely. All 21 people on board died, either of injuries during the crash or in the ensuing conflagration. It was the worst civil aviation accident in Queensland at the time,[Note 1][1] and the second-worst accident in Australia. It occurred exactly three years after the worst, the ANA DC-3 crash near Hobart on 10 March 1946. [Note 2][3] Investigation of the crash uncovered some errors in the information used to determine the position of the aircraft's centre of gravity. It became clear that the aircraft had taken off with its centre of gravity slightly outside the approved limits. Investigators also found evidence that the takeoff may have been performed with the elevator trim tab still set for landing. If the elevator trim tab had not been set for takeoff this would have been exacerbated by the incorrect position of the centre of gravity and the aircraft would have been uncontrollable. Queensland Airlines used Lockheed Lodestar VH-BAG to conduct a regular passenger service between Brisbane, Casino, Coffs Harbour, Coolangatta and Brisbane. [4] VH-BAG arrived at Bilinga airstrip, on the outskirts of Coolangatta, from Coffs Harbour with 11 of its 16 passenger seats occupied. Some passengers left the aircraft at Bilinga and others boarded for the flight of 45 nautical miles (83 km) to Archerfield Airport in Brisbane. [Note 3][1] The aircraft was parked at the Queensland Airlines terminal for about a quarter of an hour before departing at 11:15 am local time. On board were 16 adult passengers and 2 infants, 2 pilots and an air hostess. All passenger seats were occupied. [Note 4][1][4][6] Observers saw the aircraft taxi to the end of the strip, turn around and promptly commence its take-off run. [Note 5][6] The take-off appeared to be normal until the undercarriage was retracted. The aircraft quickly pitched nose-up into an almost vertical attitude. First the aircraft rolled to the right until the wing was almost vertical, then it rolled to the left. The aircraft reached a height estimated to be between 200 and 300 feet (60 and 90 m) and then began descending and curving to the left. It continued to descend until it crashed onto its belly, tree stumps tearing open the underside of the left wing and the fuselage beneath the cabin door. The aircraft slid for only about 20 yards (18 m) before stopping about 100 yards (91 m) beyond the end of the strip. [Note 6][8] It came to rest in the shallow waters of a swamp at the edge of the airstrip. [1][8][9] Within seconds of the crash, flame and black smoke erupted from the wreckage. [4] Only a small number of people were at the airstrip and saw the crash. The airport groundsman and an airline staff member grabbed portable fire extinguishers, jumped into a car and raced across the airstrip. [8] Others at the airstrip and nearby beaches ran towards the burning aircraft. The aircraft's cabin door had been torn away by a tree stump and lay about 30 feet (10 m) behind the aircraft but despite the open doorway no-one inside the passenger cabin attempted to escape. Fuel floating on the surface of the water was burning fiercely, making it dangerous to approach the wreckage. [1] One of the first witnesses to reach the scene believed he saw two people at the front of the passenger cabin who were alive but before he could get close enough to investigate he was driven back by flames. [Note 7][4] A fire engine from Coolangatta arrived within minutes of the crash. The boggy swamp made it difficult to manoeuvre the vehicle close to the wreckage. Firemen initially attacked the fire with portable fire extinguishers and then used the fire engine to pump water from the swamp onto the blazing wreckage. Two firemen found a way around the burning fuel on the surface of the water and climbed onto the wing with their hose. [Note 8][1] The fire burned fiercely for 30 minutes but was not completely extinguished for another hour. [Note 9][4][8] Apart from the outer wings and the tail section, little of the aircraft was recognisable. Both halves of the tailplane were visibly bent downwards. The wreckage of the wings and engine mounts also showed they had suffered severe downward bending indicating the severity of the impact. [8] The charred body of one of the pilots was half-way out a cockpit window, suggesting he survived the crash and attempted to escape from the wreckage. [4] At 3:15 pm police, ambulance and volunteers began to remove the bodies of victims from the wreckage. By 4:30 pm 20 bodies had been recovered. All were burned beyond recognition. Searching for the body of the final victim, a rope was attached to the row of burned seats and a truck was used to move the seat row. Underneath the seats was the body of a man, almost submerged under the water, his face protected by the swamp water and still recognisable. [1] The Director-General of Civil Aviation[Note 10] immediately appointed an investigation panel comprising specialists from the Department of Civil Aviation. Evidence from eyewitnesses led the panel to conclude that the aircraft climbed to a height of less than 500 feet (150 m) and then stalled. [Note 11][12] An initial investigation of the aircraft showed no evidence of any failure in the control system. [13] The throttles were fully open, the magneto switches on, and the propellers in fine pitch. [13] The undercarriage was retracted, but the flaps were extended 15°.

Air crash

China to conduct South China Sea military exercises

Drills to take place the same week that China complained about a US aircraft carrier group sailing through the waters. China said on Tuesday it will conduct military exercises in the South China Sea this week, just days after complaining that a US aircraft carrier group had sailed through the disputed waters. A notice issued by the country’s Maritime Safety Administration prohibited entry into a portion of waters in the Gulf of Tonkin to the west of the Leizhou Peninsula in southwestern China from January 27 to January 30, but did not include details on when the drills would take place or on their scale. The USS Theodore Roosevelt led a group of ships into the South China Sea on Saturday to promote “freedom of the seas,” the US military said, days after Joe Biden began his term as president. China claims sovereignty over the entire sea based on its historic “nine-dash line” and has been increasingly assertive in recent years, building military bases on rocky outcrops and deploying its coastguard and maritime militia. The waters are also claimed by the littoral states – Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Brunei – as well as Taiwan – and have become another flashpoint in the testy bilateral relationship between Beijing and Washington as the US military has stepped up activities in the sea. China on Monday complained that US action to “flex its muscles” was not conducive to peace and stability in the region.

Military Exercise

Tsunami Hazard Maps Released For Alameda, Monterey, San Mateo Counties

(BCN) – California has added interactive maps for several counties in the state, including three in the greater Bay Area, as part of its ongoing Tsunami Hazard Area project mapping the entire coastline of California. The California Geologic Survey released maps Tuesday for Alameda, Monterey and San Mateo counties. The interactive maps allow users to insert an address to determine if the property is subject to potential tsunami flooding. READ MORE: Parents At Richmond School Call For Principal's Ouster, Keep 100+ Kids Out Of Class In 'Sickout' The project updates maps made in 2009 with new data from improved computer modeling showing how far inland a surge of seawater might go in a worst-case scenario. The maps are available online at https://www.conservation.ca.gov/cgs/tsunami/ . Updates are in the works for Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Solano and Sonoma counties. For the local maps just released, changes to the existing tsunami hazard maps show that in a worst-case tsunami, sizeable areas of Alameda, Oakland, and Berkeley could be flooded up to an 18-foot elevation. Along the outer coast of San Mateo County, the biggest change is in Half Moon Bay, where seawater could cross state Highway 1 through much of the community north of Arroyo Leon. Further south, the city of Monterey and Moss Landing saw slight increases in hazard areas due to higher projected surges, whereas the high dunes near Salinas River State Beach and Monterey Dunes Colony Association were removed from the hazard area. The new maps also provide local officials with more detailed information for evacuation plans. “After 10 years of research following the Tohoku-Oki earthquake and tsunami in Japan, we’re releasing maps with many improvements to keep Californians safe,” said Dr. Steve Bohlen, acting state geologist who heads the California Geologic Survey. “Japan utilized data from several hundred years of tsunami records in its planning, which seemed perfectly reasonable, then was hit by a once-a-millennium tsunami. So, we’re using a thousand-year scenario as the baseline for our new maps, hoping to avoid the tragic loss of life experienced there. While damaging tsunamis are infrequent in California, if you’re on the coast, you need to be aware of this potential hazard.” More than 150 tsunamis have hit California’s shore since 1800, state officials said. Many were barely noticeable, but a few have caused fatalities or significant damage — most recently the 2011 tsunami that not only devastated Japan but caused $100 million of damage to California ports and harbors. The most destructive tsunami to hit California occurred March 28, 1964, according to the California Geologic Survey. Several surges reaching 21 feet high swept into Crescent City four hours after a magnitude 9.2 earthquake in Alaska, killing 12 and leveling much of the town’s business district. For most of California, the biggest tsunami threat would result from another huge earthquake in the Aleutian Islands.

Tsunamis

UPDATE: Miners killed in Avery Island salt mine collapse identified

NEW IBERIA, La. (KLFY) – UPDATE: The Iberia Parish has released the names of the two miners killed in Monday’s collapse. They are identified as 27-year-old Lance Begnaud Jr., of Broussard, and Rene Romero Jr., 41, of New Iberia. Cargill officials released this statement Wednesday morning. “On Tuesday evening, the rescue team recovered the second of the two missing miners who was also fatally injured in the accident at our Avery Island mine. Our hearts are broken for our colleagues and their families. To respect their privacy, we will not be sharing further details about the employees at this time. We continue to offer both families support and extend our deepest condolences for their loss. We care about our teammates and have professional grief counselors on site at our facility who will be available to our team as needed. The safety and well-being of our colleagues is our top priority. We are grieving with the community as we face this loss together. As rescue efforts have concluded, we now focus on completing our investigation in coordination with the Mine Health and Safety Administration to better understand what caused the accident. We are committed to learning from this tragedy and remain unwavering in our dedication to safe operations. “ UPDATE: The two miners who went missing when a roof collapsed in the Avery Island Salt Mine Monday morning were working. A total of 18 miners were inside with 16 of those employees escaping without injuries. All day on Monday, mine rescue crews made their way underground to the spot where the roof collapsed, but to no avail. Overnight, they secured the site and searched through the debris for the two missing miners. Early Tuesday morning, a rescue team found the body of one of the miners. Crews are still underground hoping they can find and save the second miner who was trapped, but as of right now, he is still missing. Cargill says they are still investigating the cause of the roof collapse in the salt mine. We have recently learned that the mine safety and health administration has issued several citations here recently. In the last year, citations and fines were issued for not properly securing unattended mining equipment, not maintaining two way communication systems for underground workers, and not properly halting other activities during blasting operations. In November, 2019 Cargill was also cited for improper maintenance of escape routes. A spokesperson for Cargill says there’s no indication that the roof collapse in the salt mine is related to an inspection issued identified in these recent citations. Read the company’s statement below: “Cargill is deeply saddened by the tragic loss of life in our community. I can confirm that this morning the rescue team recovered one of the missing miners who was fatally injured in the accident. We are continuing to do everything we can to locate the other team member with whom we have not had contact since the accident. Out of respect for the families, we will not be sharing further details about the employees at this time. Our sympathy is with the family who is mourning the loss of a loved one and we are offering support to them. We are working around the clock with the Mine Safety and Health Administration to safely complete the rescue efforts. We care about our teammates and have professional grief counselors on site at our facility who will be available to our team as needed. The safety and well-being of our colleagues is our top priority. We are grieving with the community as we face this loss together.” AVERY ISLAND, La. (KLFY) — A roof collapse at Cargill’s Avery Island salt mine has left two miners unaccounted for as officials continue to respond to the emergency. Cargill Media Relations Director Daniel Sullivan issued the following statement: Early Monday morning, the roof fell in one intersection of Cargill’s Avery Island salt mine. We have two employees who remain unaccounted for at this time. Our rescue operations team and the Mine Safety and Health Administration are onsite responding to this emergency. The 16 other employees working that shift have been evacuated with no injuries reported. The facility has been shut down to allow a complete investigation of the incident and ensure the safe operation of our facility. Throughout the day we have been relocating critical equipment to aid in the search and rescue efforts. Our mine rescue teams are advancing to the location of the collapse to secure the site underground and intend to work through the night. Our immediate focus is on the two missing miners and the safety of the rescue personnel. While we are still investigating the cause of today’s roof collapse, there is no indication it is related to the inspection issues identified in the recent MSHA citations.

Mine Collapses

Indian Army to participate in military exercise in Russia, China-Pak armies to be observers

A 200 personnel-contingent of the Indian Army will participate in Zapad 2021, a multi-nation military exercise in Russia, where China and Pakistan will take part as observers. Sources said a small group of officials from the armies of China and Pakistan will be observers in the military exercise. Zapad 2021 will be held between September 3 and 16 at Nizhniy, Russia. The countries which will participate include Russia, India, Myanmar, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Mongolia, Serbia, Kyrgyzstan, Armenia, Belarus, Nepal, Kazakhstan along with China and Pakistan as observers. Zapad 2021 is one of the theatre-level exercises of the Russian armed forces and will focus primarily on operations against terrorists. Over a dozen countries from the Eurasian and South Asian regions will participate in the signature event. A battalion group constituting troops of the Naga regiment will also participate in the exercise. “The exercise aims to enhance military and strategic ties amongst the participating nations while they plan & execute this exercise,” a statement from the ministry of defence said. The Indian contingent has been put through a strenuous training schedule which encompasses all facets of conventional operations including mechanised, airborne, heliborne, counter-terrorism, combat conditioning and firing.

Military Exercise

Dongzhou protests

The Dongzhou protests refers to a series of protests that took place for seven months until December 2005 in Dongzhou (东洲), a subdistrict in Shanwei prefecture, Guangdong Province, China. The protests were organized in opposition to government plans to partially infill the bay and build a new power plant. It resulted in the shooting deaths of several residents in the night of 6 December 2005 by People's Armed Police. The death toll is unknown, with different sources mentioning anywhere from three to several dozen deaths. The protests resumed in November 2006. The protests were held because local farmers were dissatisfied with the lack of compensation for land expropriated for the construction of the plant. They are also reportedly concerned with the potential for harmful pollution affecting their crops, while fishermen felt their livelihood would be adversely affected by the modifications to the bay. According to Xinhua, the Information Office of the government of Shanwei described the incident as "serious violation of law", in which Huang Xijun, Lin Hanru and Huang Xirang led protesters in attacking police with knives, petrol bombs, and other explosive devices. Xinhua reported that the police fired warning shots but, in the confusion after nightfall, people were hit by mistake. [1] Local villagers denied these accounts, reported that the protesters may have used ordinary fireworks as part of their protest. Villagers also alleged that the authorities had "enlisted thugs from local organized crime groups to help put down the demonstration" in addition to regular security forces. [2] The subdistrict was sealed off by government forces who are searching for suspects involved in the violence and preventing people from leaving the subdistrict. [needs update?] The official New China News Agency stated that three people had been killed and eight others injured, but there are other reports that quoted residents saying as many as 20 people had been killed. There were reports that local authorities refused to return bodies to families, in some cases offering money to residents instead so that they would stop asking for the bodies. It was also reported that on 9 December, many residents held incense sticks and knelt in front of police barricades in the subdistrict, asking for the bodies of their loved ones for proper burial. These requests were refused. [needs update?] The South China Morning Post quoted some residents who said that the officials were attempting to hide the death toll. [2] On 11 December 2005, the Chinese government announced that a police commander was detained for mishandling the protest and causing deaths and injuries. [3] Ta Kung Pao reported on 13 December that, according to the Shanwei TV Station via Agence France Presse, Wu Sheng, the vice director of the Shanwei Police Department, was placed in criminal detention by procurator bureau for mishandling the event. [3] According to local television via The Washington Post, nine residents were also arrested. [4] So far, the news has been followed closely by Hong Kong, Taiwan, dissident Chinese, and overseas media, but has received lesser coverage in mainland China media. In June 2006, The New York Times reported that 19 residents had been prosecuted for the unrest, 7 being given long sentences for disturbing public order and using explosives against the Police. This was taken to be evidence of the Chinese government covering up the true nature of the shootings. The trial was not widely reported on and locals said that they were constantly being pressured not to talk about what happened in 2005. Construction work resumed on the plant after the protests ended, with no compensation being handed out. No public investigation of the shootings has been carried out either. In November 2006, the BBC reported that tension was again mounting in Dongzhou. The report stated that residents had taken eight local officials hostage after a resident was detained. [5] Two days later, Radio Free Asia reported that the officials had been released following a dawn raid by police, but more residents had been detained. [6] Shortly after, a similar event took place at another village in Guangdong, where residents attempted to detain officials in a dispute over compensation for loss of farm land. [7] Clearly the events in Dongzhou are not an isolated case but part of an ongoing wave of protests against land grabs in China,[8][9] which Prime Minister Wen Jiabao has acknowledged is an "historic error". [10]

Protest_Online Condemnation