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Officials stress carbon monoxide awareness after Faster Horses deaths
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/ Updated:
Jul 22, 2021 / 08:30 AM EDT
(Getty Images)
LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) — As the greater Jackson area mourns the loss of three young men who died at faster horses last weekend, it has brought awareness to a deadly problem that’s often overlooked.
Carbon monoxide poisoning kills hundreds of people in the United States every year and oftentimes is something that usually can be prevented.
It is colorless, odorless and it’s undetectable by humans; carbon monoxide is known as the invisible killer. At least one family from Jackson now says they plan to make it their mission to help educate others on the dangers of carbon monoxide so hopefully, at least one person can avoid the same fate as their son and his friends.
Jerry and Meeka Sova lost their son Kole on Saturday; he died of carbon monoxide poisoning at Faster Horses. Two of Kole’s friends, Dawson Brown and Richie Mays also died from the contamination, while two other young men they were with remain in the hospital in critical condition.
“Every time our boys go away we try to warn them of… I have a list you know be careful, be smart, mind your business, be careful with this that and the other. How often do you tell your kids ‘watch out for carbon monoxide’?”, said Jerry Sova.
Sova continues,
“There’s so many generators and trailers down there … it’s just like how did it happen to our boys?… at first we blamed ourselves but this was just such a freak thing.”
Michael Mcleieer is the former president of the Michigan State Firemen’s Association and said there is one true way to be safe from carbon monoxide,
“Working carbon monoxide alarms, one on each level of the home inside and outside the sleeping areas is going to be the best level of defense to make sure that an unthinkable tragedy doesn’t happen to you and your family… Now is the time we should take to push that test button, make sure the carbon monoxide and smoke alarms are actually working.”
Mcleieer also recommends testing alarms once a month, having a service check on all heating and gas-powered appliances every year, not running your car in an enclosed space and never run generators or gas-powered machines inside – even if the windows are open.
“Carbon Monoxide alarms can be purchased from any of the big box stores, anywhere they’re selling fire extinguishers, smoke alarms … they usually run anywhere from $12-20 in price” says Mcleieer.
The Sovas now have a new mission- to not let anyone else feel this same pain.
“We never know if it would make a difference, but we’re going to do our damndest to make sure it doesn’t happen.”
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Mass Poisoning
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Africa | African crops 'spared by locusts' - BBC NEWS
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A locust invasion across swathes of West Africa has not severely affected food production, the UN says.
Despite fears the swarms would devastate crops and destroy harvests, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) says actual losses are limited.
Mauritania has been the worst-affected country, with up to half of all cereal crops consumed by the insects.
Many swarms are still present in Mauritania and Niger but are now moving away from Mali and Senegal.
"The harvest prospects are not as bad as feared," says FAO agricultural economist Jean Senahoun.
Bread-baskets
"Although the locusts damaged crops, it was often localised damage which did not have an important impact at a national level," he said.
The key crop-producing areas, the so-called "bread-baskets" were not affected, he said.
But Mr Senahoun warned that many rural households, especially in Mauritania, would face hardship and need fresh seeds, fertilisers and tools to replant their destroyed crops.
The locust infestation is one of the most severe in a decade.
Swarms have invaded swathes of northwest Africa and flown across the continent.
Small swarms have even arrived as far north as Cyprus and the Greek island of Crete.
FAO had warned the situation might develop into a plague unless urgent control measures were taken.
Such measures have successfully prevented widespread damage to food crops, it says.
Currently swarms are flying northwards and have reached the foothills of the Atlas mountains in Morocco and Algeria.
Other swarms have reached the Cape Verde islands, northern Mali and Niger.
Countries have been urged to prepare themselves for another upsurge in locust numbers next year
The body says it has now received almost half of the $100m needed to deal with the crisis.
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Insect Disaster
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Church of the Company Fire
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The Church of the Company Fire (8 December 1863) is the largest fire ever to have affected the city of Santiago, Chile. Between 2,000 and 3,000 people died, probably the largest number of people to die in an accidental fire in any one building in the world. [1]
The Church of the Company of Jesus, (Spanish: Iglesia de la Compañía de Jesús) was a Jesuit church located in downtown Santiago. The day of the fire was the celebration of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, one of the most popular festivities of the religious calendar, and the temple was adorned with a profusion of candles and oil lamps and wall coverings. In the main altar, a large statue of the virgin Mary stood over a half-moon that in itself was a huge candelabra. That night, the fire started a few minutes before 7 PM,[2] when an oil lamp at the top of the main altar ignited some of the veils that adorned the walls (some early accounts blamed a gas lamp, as people tried to make sense of the shocking tragedy amid old and new technology, but the church was not equipped with gas. The error, like the news itself, was copied by newspapers as far away as Australia). By a flaw in design, the church of Compañía had doors that swung inward. A strong wind blew the doors open during the liturgy. This wind knocked a candle off the podium and disrupted the meeting of worshippers. The fire started by the burning candle roared through the church which resulted in the church's destruction. More than 2500 people died in the fire. Somebody tried to put it out by smothering it with another cloth, but managed only to make the fire jump over to the rest of the veils and from there on to the wood roof. The mostly women attendees panicked and tried to escape but the side doors had been closed in order to leave space to accommodate more people (they could be opened only inwards), leaving the main entrance as the primary escape route for most occupants in the church. Men were seated separately from women with an iron grating between them, and most of the men quickly escaped, many of them returning to the burning church to try to rescue those still trapped. [2]
The priests retreated into the sacristy, and some of the men made their escape by following them. The priests were gathering together the valuables of the church to save them, and they closed the door to the sacristy so they could do this in peace. No one escaped through the sacristy after the door was closed. The priests then left the scene, all unharmed, with what valuables they were able to save from the blaze. [2]
The main door became jammed with a pile of approximately 200 women and children, which made it impassable. Eventually the side doors were also opened, but they also became jammed. Rescuers were able to pull about 50 people from these heaps, but no more. [2]
Upon being notified of the tragedy, U.S. Envoy to Chile Thomas H. Nelson rushed to the scene and assisted in rescue operations. Several days after the fire, Nelson was recognized as a "true hero of Chile." The big hoop skirts worn at the time made escape very difficult if not impossible, causing the people at the front to fall down and be trampled by the ones behind. Very soon the main entrance was blocked by a human wall of bodies, impeding both the exit of the ones trapped inside, and entry of rescuers. The main tower of the church was built of wood (while the rest of the church was solid masonry) and finally collapsed inwards around 10 PM,[2] putting an end to the few remaining survivors. Between 2,000 and 3,000 people perished in the fire, in a city that at the time had about 100,000 inhabitants. Entire families were wiped out. The cleanup of the bodies took about ten days, and since most of the bodies were burned beyond recognition, they were placed in a mass grave at the Cementerio General de Santiago. A Santiago newspaper printed the names of over 2,000 known victims, and the same paper also printed a list of the objects saved by the priests and their value, which led to public outcry against the priests who had saved valuable objects but not people. Already under fire for designing a celebration mass with thousands of candles and oil lamps surrounded by flammable cloths and decorations, Ugarte and his colleagues drew more criticism when they later explained the deaths of so many women and girls as the Virgin Mary needing to take them without delay to her bosom. [2]
The remaining walls of the church were torn down, and a garden was planted in the place, with a statue placed at the site where the main altar used to be. [3] A few years later, a second statue replaced the first. The garden and the statues still exist. The second statue is now part of the Ex Congreso Nacional gardens. The original statue is located at the main entrance of the Cementerio General de Santiago. The church bells were sold for scrap and recovered. One of the bells was melted down to cast two new bells for the new Jesuit church in Santiago. [4] Four made their way to Mumbles, Wales, where they were used to call people to worship until they were returned to Santiago in 2010. [5][6] Two of the returned bells now hang next to the statue in the Ex Congreso Nacional gardens, one in the courtyard of the Cuartel General de Bomberos, and one at the 14th Fire Company firehouse in Providencia. One bell stayed in Santiago, where it was hung in the Hermita de Santa Lucía on the Santa Lucía Hill in 1872–73, the dent from where it fell marking it as a memorial. The tragedy, and the fact that one of the contributing factors was the lack of an organized fire-brigade, motivated José Luis Claro y Cruz to organize the first Volunteer Firemen's Corps in Santiago, on December 20 of the same year. Fire brigades in Chile, even today, are still made up only of unpaid volunteers. New fire regulations also resulted, and the tragedy contributed to the partial secularization of Chilean government over the next two decades. [7]
Workers excavating for a new line of the Santiago Metro uncovered an unexpected length of the eastern foundation of the church in November 2013. Some Santiaguinos are trying to have the foundation preserved as a memorial. Coordinates: 33°26′19″S 70°39′10″W / 33.438474°S 70.652772°W / -33.438474; -70.652772
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Fire
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Syrian protests (2016)
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The civil uprising phase of the Syrian Civil War, or as it was sometimes called by the media, the Syrian Revolution,[20] was an early stage of protests – with subsequent violent reaction by the Syrian Arab Republic – lasting from March to 28 July 2011, as part of the wider spread Arab Spring in the Arab world. The uprising, initially demanding democratic reforms, evolved from initially minor protests, beginning as early as January 2011 and transformed into massive protests in March. The uprising was marked by massive anti-government opposition demonstrations against the Ba'athist government led by Bashar al-Assad, meeting with police and military violence, massive arrests and a brutal crackdown, resulting in hundreds of deaths and thousands of wounded. Despite Bashar al-Assad's attempts to stop the protests with the massive crackdown and use of censorship on one hand and concessions on the other, by the end of April it became clear the situation was getting out of his control and his government deployed numerous troops on the ground. The civil uprising phase led to the emergence of militant opposition movements and massive defections from the Syrian Army, which gradually transformed the conflict from a civil uprising to an armed rebellion, and later a full-scale civil war. The rebel Free Syrian Army was created on 29 July 2011, marking the transition into armed insurgency. Massive protests and a violent crackdown led to international condemnation and support for the protesters. As the war progressed in October-November 2011, protests against the government and the war strengthened with 23 deaths and hundreds of thousands of protesters. The protests were marred by a massive crackdown which angered more protesters in northern and western Syria. Protests and riots continued by students and the youth despite aggressive suppression. Before the uprising in Syria began in mid-March 2011, protests were relatively modest, considering the wave of unrest that was spreading across the Arab world. Syria, until March 2011, for decades had remained superficially tranquil, largely due to fear among the people of the secret police arresting critical citizens. [21]
Factors contributing to social unrest in Syria include socioeconomic stressors caused by the Iraqi conflict (2003–present), as well as the most intense drought ever recorded in the region. [22]
Minor protests calling for government reforms began in January, and continued into March. At this time, massive protests were occurring in Cairo against Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, and in Syria on 3 February via the websites Facebook and Twitter, a "Day of Rage" was called for by activists against the government of Bashar al-Assad, to be held on Friday, 4 February. [23] This did not result in protests. [24] [25]
Major unrest began on 15 March in Damascus[citation needed], yet in the southern city of Daraa, sometimes called the "Cradle of the Revolution",[26] protests had been triggered on 6 March by the incarceration and torture of 15 young students from prominent families who were arrested for writing anti-government graffiti in the city,[27][28][29] reading: "الشعب يريد إسقاط النظام" – ("The people want the fall of the regime") – a trademark slogan of the Arab Spring. [30][31]
The government claimed that the boys weren't attacked, and that Qatar incited the majority of the protests. [32] Writer and analyst Louai al-Hussein, referencing the Arab Spring ongoing at that time, wrote that "Syria is now on the map of countries in the region with an uprising". [31]
Demonstrators clashed with local police, and confrontations escalated on 18 March after Friday prayers. Security forces attacked protesters gathered at the Omari Mosque using water cannons and tear gas, followed by live fire, killing four. [33][34]
On 20 March, a mob burned down the Ba'ath Party headquarters and other public buildings. Security forces quickly responded, firing live ammunition at crowds, and attacking the focal points of the demonstrations. The two-day assault resulted in the deaths of seven police officers[35] and fifteen protesters. [36]
Meanwhile, minor protests occurred elsewhere in the country. Protesters demanded the release of political prisoners, the abolition of Syria's 48-year emergency law, more freedoms, and an end to pervasive government corruption. [37] The events led to a "Friday of Dignity" on 18 March, when large-scale protests broke out in several cities, including Banias, Damascus, al-Hasakah, Daraa, Deir az-Zor, and Hama. Police responded to the protests with tear gas, water cannons, and beatings. At least 6 people were killed and many others injured. [38]
On 25 March, mass protests spread nationwide, as demonstrators emerged after Friday prayers. At least 20 protesters were reportedly killed by security forces. Protests subsequently spread to other Syrian cities, including Homs, Hama, Baniyas, Jasim, Aleppo, Damascus and Latakia. Over 70 protesters in total were reported killed. [39]
Even before the uprising began, the Syrian government had made numerous arrests of political dissidents and human rights campaigners, many of whom were understood as terrorists by the Assad government. In early February 2011, authorities arrested several activists, including political leaders Ghassan al-Najar,[40] Abbas Abbas,[41] and Adnan Mustafa. [42]
Police and security forces responded to the protests violently, using water cannons and tear gas as well as physically beating protesters and firing live ammunition. [43]
As the uprising began, the Syrian government waged a campaign of arrests that captured tens of thousands of people, according to lawyers and activists in Syria and human rights groups. In response to the uprising, Syrian law had been changed to allow the police and any of the nation's 18 security forces to detain a suspect for eight days without a warrant. Arrests focused on two groups: political activists, and men and boys from the towns that the Syrian Army would start to besiege in April. [44] Many of those detained experienced ill-treatment. Many detainees were cramped in tight rooms and were given limited resources, and some were beaten, electrically jolted, or debilitated. At least 27 torture centers run by Syrian intelligence agencies were revealed by Human Rights Watch on 3 July 2012. [45]
President Assad characterized the opposition as armed terrorist groups with Islamist "takfiri" extremist motives, portraying himself as the last guarantee for a secular form of government. [46] Early in the month of April, a large deployment of security forces prevented tent encampments in Latakia. Blockades were set up in several cities to prevent the movement of protests. Despite the crackdown, widespread protests continued throughout the month in Daraa, Baniyas, Al-Qamishli, Homs, Douma and Harasta. [47]
During March and April, the Syrian government, hoping to alleviate the unrest, offered political reforms and policy changes. Authorities shortened mandatory army conscription,[48] and in an apparent attempt to reduce corruption, fired the governor of Daraa. [49] The government announced it would release political prisoners, cut taxes, raise the salaries of public sector workers, provide more press freedoms, and increase job opportunities. [50] Many of these announced reforms were never implemented.
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Protest_Online Condemnation
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Two people dead after apparent carbon monoxide poisoning
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TOWN OF STOCKHOLM, N.Y. (WWNY) - Two people are dead after an apparent carbon monoxide poisoning in their home Friday afternoon.
It happened in the Town of Stockholm. A husband and wife were found dead in their home on County Road 49.
Emergency Crews discovered the couple around 4:30. They were pronounced dead at 7:00 that night.
Exactly what happened is under investigation, but State Police on scene said the couple appeared to have suffered carbon monoxide poisoning.
State Police are still investigating and St. Lawrence County coroners will perform an autopsy on Monday.
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Mass Poisoning
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Glass Fire
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The Glass Fire was a wildfire in Northern California, that started on September 27, 2020, at 3:48 AM (PDT) from an undetermined cause and was active for 23 days. [2] It was considered to be part of the 2020 California Wildfires and the 2020 Western United States wildfire season. The fire was named due to its origin nearby Glass Mountain Road in Deer Park, Napa County, and it extended also into Sonoma County. Initially a single 20-acre brush fire, it rapidly grew and merged with two smaller fires that expanded to 11,000 acres during the night of September 27 into September 28.
The Glass Fire was fully contained on October 20, 2020, after burning over 67,484 acres and destroying 1,555 structures, including 308 homes and 343 commercial buildings in Napa County, as well as 334 homes in Sonoma County. [10][11] No injuries or deaths were reported as a result of the fire. [12] An estimated 70,000 people were under evacuation orders in the regions surrounding the Glass Fire. [13] CAL FIRE officials lifted all remaining evacuation orders related to the fire on October 19, 2020. [14]
Numerous structures were destroyed in Deer Park, including the Foothills Adventist Elementary School. [15] Additionally, the fire destroyed or damaged 31 wineries, restaurants, and lodges in the region, including the famous 41-year-old Chateau Boswell Winery near St. Helena, and the13th-century–style winery Castello di Amorosa winery near Calistoga, which lost $5 million worth of wine (based on 120,000 bottles), though its $30 million castle remains safe. [16] California's oldest resort, the White Sulphur Springs Resort, was also destroyed. [17] The three-Michelin-starred The Restaurant at Meadowood also burned to the ground on September 28, 2020. [18]
More than 2,000 firefighters participated in the extinguish efforts. [19][20]
Soon after the fire began, on September 27, 2020 the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) secured a Fire Management Assistance Grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to help ensure the availability of vital resources to suppress the Glass Fire. [21]
On September 28, 2020, California Governor Gavin Newsom declared the state of emergency for Napa, Sonoma and Shasta counties due to the Glass and Zogg fires ravaging the area at the time. [22] A day later, on September 29, the Governor signed a series of bills aimed at improving the state's wildfire preparedness, supporting the mitigation efforts, and assisting victims. [23] On October 1, 2020, Newsom visited an area in Napa county hard hit by the Glass Fire and promised at a press conference that he would seek long-term solutions to the wildfire problems facing the state. [24]
On October 7, 2020, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection announced an investigation into allegations that private firefighting crews set illegal backfires to protect their clients' properties from the Glass Fire during the first week of October. [25] This practice has sparked controversy over safety issues and unequal access to resources for private property protection. [26]
On October 22, 2020, Governor Newsom announced that the Counties of Napa and Sonoma were added to the Presidential Major Disaster Declaration, which was initially approved by the White House on October 16, 2020 to bolster California’s emergency response to wildfires across the state. [27][28][29] The Declaration also allowed individuals who lost their home or sustained other losses due to wildfires to apply for federal assistance to help them pay for such needs as rent, home repairs, medical, dental or funeral costs, and other serious disaster-related expenses. [30]
On October 21, 2020, video evidence of Napa and Sonoma damaged wineries[31] once again triggered thinking about the role of defensible space[32] in reducing the impact of unwanted wildfire,[33] and underscored the importance of maintaining a buffer area to reduce structural damage, such as that suffered by the wineries in Napa and Sonoma as a result of the Glass Fire. [34] In Australia, for example, fire-prone areas[35] were identified and combined with a Geography Information System to mitigate their negative impact on lives and infrastructures. Specific restrictions in the Building Code of Australia were also highlighted for construction inside these regions. [36]
Regarding reconstruction[37] in affected counties, the instructions from the California State Government[38] suggested removing nearby vegetation and using fire-resistant building materials. [39] Although there are studies and examples proving that fire incidents that occur in extreme weather are difficult to avoid despite defensible space policies,[40] this will allow estate owners and firefighters to have more reaction time. [41]
Wildfire smoke created hazardous conditions in the region in September 2020. Smoke from wildfires in Northern California polluted the air, with Air Quality Index readings reaching 170,[42] well above the threshold considered “unhealthy” air quality. [43]
Exposure to wildfire smoke can have adverse effects on human health, including lung capacity development among children. [44] According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), those with an existing respiratory illness, cardiovascular disease or diabetes, as well as seniors, children, and pregnant women, are at higher risk of health complications when exposed to wildfire smoke. [45] Stanford University researchers estimate that approximately 3,000 deaths in August and September 2020 in California can be attributed to exposure to wildfire smoke, especially among seniors with pre-existing conditions. [46]
Exposure to wildfire smoke also takes a toll on healthcare systems, with visits to emergency rooms for respiratory symptoms spiking during wildfire events. [47] Two evacuations in five weeks of the Adventist St. Helena Hospital in Napa County forced all patients and staff to relocate,[48] limiting access to health care. For those at risk, the EPA advises contacting your healthcare provider, having a supply of non-perishable foods, buying an air cleaner, and having a supply of N-95 or P-100 masks. [49]
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Fire
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1930 North Izu earthquake
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The 1930 North Izu earthquake (1930年北伊豆地震, Sen-kyūhyaku-sanjū-nen Kita-Izu Jishin) occurred on November 26 at 04:02 local time. [1] The epicenter was located in the northern Izu Peninsula, Japan. It had a magnitude of Ms 7.3. The earthquake was caused by the movement of the Tanna Fault (丹那断層). The Izu Peninsula is located in the northern tip of the Philippine Sea Plate. However, the GPS vectors of the Izu Peninsula are almost westwards, which are different from the northwestward motion of the Philippine Sea Plate. A seismically active area in the east off the Izu Peninsula might be the deformation zone between the Izu Peninsula and the main part of the Philippine Sea Plate or at times be regarded as the boundary between the Izu microplate and the Philippine Sea Plate. The suspected boundary might be rather a complex fracture zone than a simple boundary. In this view, the Izu microplate is pushed northwestwards by the Philippine Sea Plate and rotates clockwise, pivoting on the base of the Izu Peninsula. The rotation causes an almost westward motion under the Suruga Bay. The interplate coupling under the Sugura Bay is not weak. [2]
The Tanna Fault is part of the North Izu Fault Zone (or Kita-Izu Fault Zone) (北伊豆断層帯). The North Izu Fault Zone is about 32 kilometres (20 mi) long, lying in the NNE-SSW direction. This fault zone is predominantly of left-lateral strike-slip faulting with an estimated left-lateral slip rate of about 2 metres (6.6 ft) per 1000 years. [3] The 1930 North Izu earthquake was identified with the movement of the Tanna Fault. The focal mechanism was left-lateral strike-slip faulting. [4]
272 people were reported dead in this earthquake. 2,165 houses were totally destroyed. Building damage rate was high along the Tanna Fault. [5] Many buildings collapsed in the village of Kawanishi (川西村), now part of Izunokuni, Shizuoka. [6] The earthquake caused many landslides. [7] A landslide caused 15 deaths in the village of Nakakano (中狩野村), and another one caused 8 deaths in the village of Kitakano (北狩野村), both locations now belong to Izu, Shizuoka. [8] The intensity reached shindo 6 in Mishima, Shizuoka. [9] Fires were reported in Itō, Shizuoka. [10]
The change of the Coulomb failure stress due to the 1923 Kantō earthquake may have had contribution to the occurrence of this earthquake. [11]
There was an earthquake swarm near Itō, Shizuoka from February 13 to the end of May, 1930, to which the November 26 earthquake was not thought to belong. [10][12][13]
The largest foreshock of this earthquake occurred on November 25, 1930, at 16:05 local time, and the largest aftershock occurred on March 7, 1931, at 01:53 local time. [13]
Prominent earthquake light was observed. [14] It could be observed over a large area, including the coast of Suruga Bay, the Izu Peninsula, the coast of Sagami Bay, Sagami River Valley, the coast of Tokyo Bay, and the Bōsō Peninsula. The earthquake light was reported to have appeared before the earthquake occurred and continued for at least an hour. [15]
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Earthquakes
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Two most prominent Lake George protection groups to merge
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LAKE GEORGE — The lake’s two most prominent protection groups announced Thursday they will merge, citing growing threats to the lake’s water quality. Boards from the Lake George Association and The Fund for Lake George unanimously endorsed the merger on Tuesday, citing a growing number of threats to the lake, including harmful algal blooms and invasive species. “We all felt that the compounding threats to Lake George, its water quality, demanded nothing other than a unified strategy that would come out of one organization with one voice,” said Jeff Killeen, board president of The Fund for Lake George, during a virtual press conference. The two organizations were one and the same until 1980, when the Fund for Lake George broke away from the LGA to become its own entity. The LGA was founded in 1885 and is the oldest lake protection organization in the country. The new entity will keep the Lake George Association name. Members of the association must still approve the merger before it can be completed, but Peter Menzies, president of the organization, said he doesn’t anticipate any objections. “We see no issues with it based on the overwhelming support we’ve received so far,” he said. The merger is expected to be ratified in April and will become official sometime around May 1, Menzies said. “The chemistry between this team is very real and I’m so encouraged by our working relationships we forged already,” he said. “We’re ready to hit the ground running.” Finances had nothing to do with the decision, Killeen said. The Fund had $5.8 million in total assets as of 2018 and the LGA had $5.2 million the same year, according to tax records. Support for both organizations has remained steady, even throughout the pandemic, when the usual fundraising activities could not take place. “We have found out that our supporters are steadfast,” said Walt Lender, executive director of the LGA. The goal in unifying is to create something that “literally doesn’t exist anywhere” to tackle the growing number of threats to Lake George and influence public policy in a way that benefits fresh water bodies throughout the state, Killeen said. “We feel that it’s the right way to manage Lake George. … we can be a leader and lead by example on public policy relevant to fresh water,” he said. The organizations operate a number of water protection programs to mitigate the flow of nutrients like phosphorus and nitrogen into the lake through stormwater runoff and wastewater discharges. Education programs to enhance public awareness about Lake George are a staple for both organizations. The Fund operates The Jefferson Project, a collaboration between IBM Technologies and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute launched in 2013 to study the effects human activity has on the lake. The discovery of the first harmful algal bloom in the lake last fall and the emergence of several invasive species in the Lake George basin, including hemlock woolly adelgid, played a role in the merger. “With those threats we have to act decisively, and we can only do that if we do it together,” Killeen said. The new organization will be led by a board of directors comprising members from both the LGA and The Fund, with Killeen acting as chairman and Menzies vice chairman. Eric Siy, executive director of The Fund, will become president of the new organization, and Lender will serve as senior vice president. “There’s nothing like this anywhere in the world, but, you know, there’s no place like Lake George anywhere in the world,” Siy said. “This is history in the making, and it’s future in the making and we’re doing it together.”
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Organization Merge
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Battersea Park rail crash
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The Battersea Park rail crash occurred on 2 April 1937, just south of Battersea Park railway station on the Southern Railway, in London. Two electrically driven passenger trains collided on the Up Local line; the second train, from Coulsdon North to Victoria, had been allowed into the section while it was still occupied by the first train, from London Bridge to Victoria. The signalman at Battersea Park, G. F. Childs, believing there was a fault with the Sykes electromechanical interlocking apparatus which was installed at the box, had opened up the case of the instrument and inadvertently cleared the interlock which should have prevented this situation. The official enquiry ruled that he subsequently accepted the Coulsdon train, although he should have been aware that the London Bridge train had not cleared the section. Ten people were killed, including the guard of the London Bridge train, and eighty people were injured, seven sustaining serious injuries. [1][2]
Another accident had occurred at Battersea Park in 1881. On 2 April 1937, Battersea Park signal box was operated by Relief Signalman G. F. Childs, rather than the usual signalman (F. W. Harvey). Although Childs was a very experienced and well-respected signalman within the SR, and had been passed as competent to operate the box two weeks previously, this was the first time he had operated it unsupervised, and he had never operated it during the morning rush-hour. During the course of the morning, he made several mistakes, the last one of which was the direct cause of the accident. [1]
The various boxes on this section of the railway used Sykes electromechanical "Lock and Block" interlocking, which used treadles to detect the presence of trains on the line rather than electrical track circuits, and prevented unsafe signal indications by mechanically locking the signal slides in the box, rather than interrupting an electrical circuit. A feature of the Sykes system was that the various actions needed to set up a route for a train and clear the appropriate signals had to be completed in the correct order, otherwise the apparatus would lock up and require releasing. On the boxes to the south of Battersea Park, the apparatus could be released by the signalman alone using a key, but Battersea Park and the boxes to the north required the signalman to request a release from the next box in the chain – for Battersea Park, this was Battersea Pier box. This procedure required the signalman making the request to send a bell signal, then for both signalmen to press the appropriate button in their respective boxes – the interlocking would only be released if both buttons were pressed simultaneously. [1]
Childs' first mistake occurred at approximately 0605, when his apparatus locked up after the passage of a boat train. In his evidence to the enquiry, he described this as a "treadle failure", but it was ruled that the lock-up had been due to his operation of two signals in the wrong order. He was able to clear the interlocking in this case without requiring permission from any other box. Between 0757 and 0804, no fewer than ten trains were due to pass Battersea Park, and Childs was working under considerable pressure. The three trains directly involved in the accident were the 0737 train from London Bridge to Victoria, referred to in the report as the "South London" train, the 0730 from London Bridge to Victoria via Tulse Hill, referred to as the "London Bridge" train, and the 0731 from Coulsdon to Victoria, the "Coulsdon" train. All three trains were due to depart Battersea Park on the Up Local line, the South London train from the Wandsworth Road line, and the other two from the Clapham Junction line; the box immediately on the country side of this line from Battersea Park was Pouparts Junction. Childs accepted the South London train at 0758, and the London Bridge train at 0759, intending to hold the London Bridge train at the Up Local home signal until the South London train had cleared the section. He made his second mistake at this point; he failed to put the switch-hook on the Clapham line Up Local plunger, which had to be pressed to accept a train on the line. The switch-hook would both mechanically prevent the plunger being depressed, and electrically prevent the block indicator at Pouparts Junction from showing "Line Clear". While attempting to allow the South London train into the station, Childs made his third mistake; he attempted to clear the home signal for this train before setting the points correctly. This again caused the Sykes apparatus to lock up, and, on this occasion, it would have to be released by Battersea Pier box. Childs sent the bell signal, but (his fourth mistake), he pressed the wrong release button, leaving the apparatus locked. Rather than attempting the release again, or contacting Battersea Pier by telephone to investigate the problem, Childs assumed the apparatus had failed, and decided to open the case and reset it manually. He was permitted to do this by the regulations then in force, but this procedure should only have been used in an emergency. While resetting the signal slide for the South London train, Childs inadvertently also cleared the interlock for the London Bridge train, which was still standing at the home signal. This caused the block indicator at Pouparts Junction to return to "Line Clear", as it was not being held on by the switch-hook circuit. The signalman at Pouparts Junction (T. P. G. Hillman) then offered the Coulsdon train forward. He should not have done this until he had received the "Train out of Section" bell signal for the London Bridge train, which Childs denied strongly that he had sent. The enquiry made no definite ruling on this point – it was possible that Hillman had mistaken another bell signal relating to a down train for the "Train out of Section" signal. However, Childs' fifth and fatal mistake then occurred. He pressed the plunger to accept the Coulsdon train, and, as the enquiry ruled, sent the acceptance bell signal to Hillman. Hillman cleared his signals, and the Coulsdon train entered the occupied section at approximately 40 mph. The driver of the Coulsdon train initially thought that the London Bridge train was on another line, and only realised there was a conflict a few seconds before the accident. He made an emergency brake application, but the speed was not significantly reduced. The leading car of the Coulsdon train overrode the rear car of the London Bridge train, completely destroying the wooden bodywork of all but one of its compartments. Nine of the ten fatalities occurred in this car. The leading car of the Coulsdon train also suffered considerable damage, but there was no significant damage to any other car of either train, and neither train derailed. [1]
The immediate cause of the accident was Childs' acceptance of the Coulsdon train into the occupied section. The interlocking apparatus should have prevented him doing so, but his interference with it, and his failure to apply the switch-hook, rendered the interlocking ineffective. [1]
The enquiry recommended that the paragraph of the rules which permitted signalmen to manually reset the apparatus in an emergency should be deleted, so that any such maintenance tasks would only be performed by qualified linemen, and that the conversion of the signalling in the area from electromechanical interlocking to entirely electrical track circuiting should be expedited. [1]
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Train collisions
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HTI factory fire
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On February 1, 2017 at around 6:00 p.m. (UTC +8), a fire hit the House Technology Industries, Ltd. factory inside the Cavite Export Processing Zone in General Trias, Cavite. [4]
On February 1, around 746 employees were at work when the fire started according to Brig. Gen. Charito Plaza, director-general of Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA). [5] At 9pm, the third alarm was immediately raised. [5]
The fire was officially out at 4:15pm on February 3. [6] Remulla said that some survivors suffered about 70% to 90% burns to their bodies. [7]
The claims that there were fatalities which authorities tried to cover up were refuted by Remulla. [6] The fire resulted in five fatalities who all died in hospital and not during the fire incident. [8]
.
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Fire
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ALERT! Geomagnetic storm to hit Earth today, may affect satellites, electricity grids
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Reported By:| Edited By: DNA Web Team |Source: DNA webdesk |Updated: Sep 26, 2021, 09:50 AM IST The space weather tracking body of the US government has warned that a geomagnetic storm is set to hit the Earth on September 26 and it is likely to affect satellites and electricity grids. It is to be noted that the geomagnetic storm is different from a solar storm and it is caused by the solar wind. The Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has issued a Geomagnetic Storm Watch for Sunday (September 26). The SWPC has warned about the possibility of G1 or G2-level storm. A geomagnetic storm is a disturbance of magnetosphere of Earth and it takes place after an exchange of energy from the solar wind into the space environment surrounding Earth. The SWPC has said that the largest storms that result from these conditions are associated with solar coronal mass ejections (CMEs). According to SWPC, the area of impact of the geomagnetic storm could primarily be poleward of 60 degrees geomagnetic latitude and it is likely to cause power grid fluctuations and may impact satellites. The SWPC also saod that the aurora could also be caused by geomagnetic storm and the aurora might be visible at high latitudes, such as the northern tier of the US such as northern Michigan and Maine. It is to be noted that G1 and G2 are Minor and Moderate level storms, which means that they would not cause any major damage. A G2 level storm can cause voltage alarms and transformer damage in high-latitude power systems. Notably, a G1 level storm is capable of causing a minor impact on satellite operations. As per a WeatherBoy report, “Isolated G1 (Minor) geomagnetic storming is likely 26 September as a positive polarity CH HSS extension from the Northern crown becomes geoeffective.”
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New wonders in nature
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1961 Goldsboro B-52 crash
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The 1961 Goldsboro B-52 crash was an accident that occurred near Goldsboro, North Carolina, on 23 January 1961. A Boeing B-52 Stratofortress carrying two 3–4-megaton Mark 39 nuclear bombs broke up in mid-air, dropping its nuclear payload in the process. [2] The pilot in command, Walter Scott Tulloch, ordered the crew to eject at 9,000 feet (2,700 m). Five crewmen successfully ejected or bailed out of the aircraft and landed safely; another ejected, but did not survive the landing, and two died in the crash. [3] Information declassified in 2013 showed that one of the bombs came very close[citation needed] to detonating. [4]
The aircraft, a B-52G, was based at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in Goldsboro. Around midnight on 23–24 January 1961, the bomber had a rendezvous with a tanker for aerial refueling. During the hook-up, the tanker crew advised the B-52 aircraft commander, Major Walter Scott Tulloch (grandfather of actress Elizabeth Tulloch), that his aircraft had a fuel leak in the right wing. The refueling was aborted, and ground control was notified of the problem. The aircraft was directed to assume a holding pattern off the coast until the majority of fuel was consumed. However, when the B-52 reached its assigned position, the pilot reported that the leak had worsened and that 37,000 pounds (17,000 kg) of fuel had been lost in three minutes. The aircraft was immediately directed to return and land at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base. As the aircraft descended through 10,000 feet (3,000 m) on its approach to the airfield, the pilots were no longer able to keep it in stable descent and lost control. The pilot in command ordered the crew to abandon the aircraft, which they did at 9,000 feet (2,700 m). Five men landed safely after ejecting or bailing out through a hatch, one did not survive his parachute landing, and two died in the crash. [3] The third pilot of the bomber, Lt. Adam Mattocks, is the only person known to have successfully bailed out of the top hatch of a B-52 without an ejection seat. [5][6] The crew's final view of the aircraft was in an intact state with its payload of two 3-4-megaton[a] Mark 39 thermonuclear bombs still on board; however, the bombs separated from the gyrating aircraft as it broke up between 1,000 and 2,000 feet (300 and 610 m). The aircraft wreckage covered a 2-square-mile (5.2 km2) area of tobacco and cotton farmland at Faro, about 12 miles (19 km) north of Goldsboro. [8] Three of the four arming mechanisms on one of the bombs activated after it separated, causing it to execute many of the steps needed to arm itself, such as charging the firing capacitors and deploying a 100-foot-diameter (30 m) parachute. The first bomb that descended by parachute was found intact and standing upright as a result of its parachute being caught in a tree. [9] Lt. Jack ReVelle,[10] the bomb-disposal expert responsible for disarming the device, stated that the arm/safe switch was still in the safe position, although it had completed the rest of the arming sequence. [11][12] The Pentagon claimed at the time that there was no chance of an explosion and that two arming mechanisms had not activated. A United States Department of Defense spokesperson stated that the bomb was unarmed and could not explode. [13] Former military analyst Daniel Ellsberg has claimed to have seen highly classified documents indicating that its safe/arm switch was the only one of the six arming devices on the bomb that prevented detonation. [2][13] In 2013, information released as a result of a Freedom of Information Act request confirmed that a single switch out of four (not six) prevented detonation. [14][b][15]
The second bomb plunged into a muddy field at around 700 miles per hour (310 m/s) and disintegrated without detonation of its conventional explosives. The tail was discovered about 20 feet (6.1 m) below ground. Pieces of the bomb were recovered. [16][page needed] Although the bomb was partially armed when it left the aircraft, an unclosed high-voltage switch had prevented it from fully arming. [11]
In 2013, ReVelle recalled the moment the second bomb's switch was found:[17]
Until my death I will never forget hearing my sergeant say, "Lieutenant, we found the arm/safe switch." And I said, "Great." He said, "Not great. It's on arm." That sergeant's name was Earl Smith, of Alabama, who had just graduated the Air Force EOD school nine months prior, and who was the EOD on call and was called to action even before the crash occurred, flown in to the site by helicopter from the base. Earl "Buster" Smith, of Birmingham, Alabama, recounted the events that would have changed American history as we know it by diffusing the bombs instead of waiting hours for confirmation from specialty teams that they needed to be diffused asap.https://www.annistonstar.com/the_st_clair_times/lincoln-resident-helped-disarm-hydrogen-bomb-following-b-52-crash-in-north-carolina-56-years/article_eea2f00c-5eb1-11e7-83bc-0fdff9df2dcb.html
Excavation of the second bomb was abandoned as a result of uncontrollable ground-water flooding. Most of the thermonuclear stage, containing uranium and plutonium, was left in place, but the "pit", or core, of the bomb had been dislodged and was removed. [17] The United States Army Corps of Engineers purchased a 400-foot (120 m) circular easement over the buried component. [18][19] The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill determined the buried depth of the secondary component to be 180 ± 10 feet (54.9 ± 3.0 m). [16][page needed]
Wet wings with integral fuel tanks considerably increased the fuel capacity of B-52G and H models, but were found to be experiencing 60% more stress during flight than did the wings of older models. Wings and other areas susceptible to fatigue were modified in 1964 under Boeing engineering change proposal ECP 1050. This was followed by a fuselage skin and longeron replacement (ECP 1185) in 1966, and the B-52 Stability Augmentation and Flight Control program (ECP 1195) in 1967. [20]
Lt. Jack ReVelle, the bomb disposal expert responsible for disarming the device, claimed "we came very close"[citation needed] to a nuclear detonation that would have completely changed much of eastern North Carolina. [12] He also said the yield of each bomb was more than 250 times the destructive power of the Hiroshima bomb, large enough to create a 100% kill zone within a radius of 8.5 miles (13.7 km). [17]
In a now-declassified 1969 report, titled "Goldsboro Revisited", written by Parker F. Jones, a supervisor of nuclear safety at Sandia National Laboratories, Jones said that "one simple, dynamo-technology, low voltage switch stood between the United States and a major catastrophe", and concluded that "[t]he MK 39 Mod 2 bomb did not possess adequate safety for the airborne alert role in the B-52", and that it "seems credible" that a short circuit in the Arm line during a mid-air breakup of the aircraft "could" have resulted in a nuclear explosion. [4] In contrast The Orange County Register said in 2012 (before the 2013 declassification) that the switch was set to ARM, and that despite decades of debate "No one will ever know" why the bomb failed to explode. [12]
In 2008 and in March 2013 (before the above-mentioned September 2013 declassification), Michael H. Maggelet and James C. Oskins, authors of Broken Arrow: The Declassified History of U.S. Nuclear Weapons Accidents, disputed the claim that a bomb was only one step away from detonation, citing a declassified report. They point out that the arm-ready switch was in the safe position, the high-voltage battery was not activated (which would preclude the charging of the firing circuit and neutron generator necessary for detonation), and the rotary safing switch was destroyed, preventing energisation of the X-Unit (which controlled the firing capacitors). The tritium reservoir used for fusion boosting was also full and had not been injected into the weapon primary. This would have resulted in a significantly reduced primary yield and would not have ignited the weapon's fusion secondary stage. [21][22]
In July 2012, the State of North Carolina erected a historical road marker in the town of Eureka, 3 miles (4.8 km) north of the crash site, commemorating the crash under the title "Nuclear Mishap".
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Air crash
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1948 Australian National Airways DC-3 crash
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The 1948 Lutana crash occurred on 2 September 1948 near Nundle, New South Wales, Australia, when the Lutana, a Douglas DC-3 operated by Australian National Airways, crashed into high terrain en route from Brisbane to Sydney, killing all 13 on board. A judicial enquiry by a Supreme Court Judge determined that the crash was caused by errors in radio navigation equipment used by the pilot to navigate the route from Brisbane to Sydney. One of the passengers was Margaret McIntyre, the first woman elected to the Parliament of Tasmania. On 2 September 1948, the Lutana departed Brisbane's airport on a scheduled flight to Sydney. About 280 nautical miles (520 km) south of Brisbane it crashed into rising terrain in the North West Slopes of Australia's Great Dividing Range, due to an erroneously determined position based on errors in the navigational equipment the pilots relied upon for determining a safe course through the rising terrain. [1][2]
An Air Court of Inquiry was conducted by Judge William Simpson of the Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory, and two assessors, E. J. Bowen, Sci. D, PhD; and Captain L. M. Diprose, chief pilot of Associated Airlines, nominated by the Australian Pilots Association. [3] The inquiry report, released 17 November 1948, found the pilot, Captain J. A. Drummond, to be a "pilot of more than ordinary ability," and led to a reorganisation of the Department's system of air traffic control. The inquiry found that the probable cause of the crash was interference with the aeroplane's magnetic compass due to a nearby electrical storm and a temporary defect in the navigational signals sent by the Government-maintained Kempsey low-frequency radio range station, an important navigational aid to flights in the area. The inquiry also identified errors and deficiencies in the aeronautical charts used to navigate the mountainous area. [2][4]
Australia's then Air Minister, Arthur Drakeford, objected to the findings of the inquiry, stating that the lack of definitive evidence in the report rendered its findings "inconclusive," and that the assertion that the Kempsey range station malfunctioned temporarily was "difficult to believe. "[2]
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Air crash
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One man dead, another critically injured in separate road crashes over the weekend
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A man has died and another person was critically injured in two separate crashes in the State’s south over the weekend. A 43-year-old man has died in Cowaramup overnight after he lost control of his vehicle and struck a tree. The man was driving east on Brockman Road North when his red Toyota Land Cruiser left the road near Clews Road, and struck a tree just after 7.15pm last night. The man could not be revived and died at the scene. Major crash detectives are investigating the incident and asking anyone with dash-cam footage to upload it directly to the Western Australia Police Evidence Submission Portal for the Cowaramup Fatal Crash. Anyone with information regarding this crash, or who saw the red Toyota Land Cruiser driven before the crash, is asked to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or report it online. A serious crash occurred in South Yunderup on Friday just after 5.40pm when a blue Kawasaki motorcycle and a silver Toyota Corolla hatchback collided lunging the motorcyclist off his bike. The two vehicles were travelling west on South Yunderup Road in the same direction when they collided near the intersection of Willow Gardens. The impact of the crash dislodged the 32-year-old motorcyclist from his bike. He received critical injuries and was rushed to Royal Perth Hospital for treatment. He remains in a stable condition in hospital. The 28-year-old driver of the Toyota Corolla was not injured in the crash. Anyone with dash-cam footage or other vision relating to the crash is asked to upload it directly to the Western Australia Police Evidence Submission Portal for the Serious Traffic Crash in South Yunderup. Major Crash detectives are investigating and anyone with information, or who say the two vehicles driving before the crash, is asked to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or report it online.
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Road Crash
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2009 Papua earthquakes
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The 2009 Papua earthquakes occurred on January 4 local time in Indonesia's West Papua province. The very large earthquake doublet comprised a magnitude 7.6 initial shock that had a maximum Mercalli intensity of VI (Strong) and a second very large event that had a moment magnitude of 7.4 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe). The events took place less than three hours apart to the east-northeast of Sorong on the Bird's Head Peninsula and left at least four people dead and dozens injured. An official of World Vision International, a humanitarian aid organization, said ten buildings had been totally destroyed, including several hotels and the house of a government official. Officials said three people, who had been staying at the Mutiara hotel in the city of Manokwari, were pulled alive from the rubble and taken to a hospital. Two hotels collapsed in the quake. There have been twenty-three aftershocks above magnitude 5.0 and another at magnitude 6.0. The earthquakes were also felt in nearby Papua New Guinea and Darwin, Australia.
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Earthquakes
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2009 Kuwait wedding fire
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The 2009 Kuwait wedding fire was an arson attack that occurred during a wedding ceremony in Oyoun, Jahra Governorate, Kuwait on August 15, 2009. At least 57 people were killed and about 90 others wounded when the groom's 23-year-old first wife, Nasra Yussef Mohammad al-Enezi,[1] to take revenge for her husband taking a second wife, poured petrol on a tent where women and children were celebrating and set it on fire. Within three minutes the whole tent, which had only one exit and did not meet fire safety regulations, was engulfed in flames, trapping many inside. It was the deadliest civilian disaster in Kuwait in the last 40 years. [2][3][4]
There was only one exit. It had been claimed that the temperature inside the tent was above 500 degrees Celsius (930 °F). Although al-Enezi recanted a confession she had given to police after her arrest, stating in court she had only sprayed the tent with cursed water, but did not set it on fire,[5] she was found guilty of premeditated murder and starting a fire with the intent to kill and sentenced to death on March 30, 2010. [6] She was hanged by the Kuwaiti Central Prison authorities on January 25, 2017. [7]
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Fire
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Chiefs, Patrick Mahomes agree to 10-year, $503M extension
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Kansas City will get to watch Patrick Mahomes sling the pigskin for the next dozen seasons.
The Chiefs and the quarterback reached an agreement on a 10-year contract extension that will keep the Super Bowl Most Valuable Player in K.C. through the 2031 season, NFL Network's Michael Silver reported, per a source informed of the deal. It is worth a colossal $503 million with $477 million in guarantee mechanisms which gives Mahomes the ability to have outs if the mechanisms are not exercised, NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport and NFL Network's Tom Pelissero reported.
It is the largest contract in sports history as Mahomes becomes the first athlete with a half-billion-dollar contract and the first NFL player to be the highest-paid athlete in the sports world.
Years Total Value
NFL Patrick Mahomes * *10 * *$450.0M
BOX Floyd Mayweather 2.5 $450.0M
MLB Mike Trout 12 $426.5M
BOX Canelo Alvarez 5 $365.0M
MLB Bryce Harper 13 $330.0M
MLB Giancarlo Stanton 13 $325.0M
MLB Gerrit Cole 9 $324.0M
MLB Manny Machado 10 $300.0M
-----
The Chiefs later made the extension official.
The Chiefs' all-world quarterback gets $450 million "in so-called new money" over the 10-year extension, Pelissero clarified, in addition to the $28 million covered by the two remaining years on his rookie contract. Mahomes, the No. 10 pick in the 2017 NFL Draft, will get a $10 million signing bonus, then has large roster bonuses on a rolling guaranteed basis in future years, which includes a massive $49.4 million bonus due in 2026, Pelissero explained. There is also $25 million in incentives tied to winning the MVP and reaching the Super Bowl starting in the 2022 season. Upon signing, Mahomes gets just more than $63 million and just north of $103 million by March, Pelissero outlined. The contract leaves the Chiefs with a lot of short-term flexibility as nearly the whole deal is conditionally guaranteed, Pelissero said. Per Rapoport, by March, there is no trade clause in the deal.
ESPN first reported the extension news.
Mahomes tweeted out a reaction video that ended with: "And we're staying together … for a long time. We're chasing a dynasty."
As expected, the contract will make the 2018 NFL MVP the richest player in league history and the NFL world reacted in appreciation and amazement.
"I've had the privilege of coaching a lot of incredible athletes and special people in my career, and Patrick is without question on that list of players." Chiefs head coach Andy Reid said in the team statement. "The best part is he's still early in his career. He's a natural leader and always grinding, whether that's on the field, in the weight room or watching film, he wants to be the best. He's a competitor and his teammates feed off his energy. He makes us all better as an organization and we are blessed he's going to be our quarterback for years to come."
A 10-year agreement is nearly unheard of in the current era of free agency when some players are signing shorter deals to get more bites at the free-agent apple -- think Kirk Cousins in Minnesota.
The deal comes before training camp, which was the desire for the Chiefs and Mahomes, according to NFL Network's James Palmer.
It is a deal largely unlike any before it.
Since 2000, Brett Favre ($100 million in 2001), Drew Bledsoe ($103M, 2001), Daunte Culpepper ($102M, 2003) and Michael Vick ($130M, 2004) have signed 10-year contracts, per NFL Research. Donovan McNabb inked a 12-year deal worth $115 million in 2002. Among current active contracts, Mahomes' 10-year extension bests Tyron Smith's eight-year deal in Dallas (14 others are tied with six-year pacts).
After famously sitting his first season, Mahomes has set the NFL on fire the past two years, earning two Pro Bowl bids, first-team All-Pro honors in 2018, the NFL MVP, the Super Bowl MVP and a Lombardi Trophy. In just two seasons as a starter, Mahomes already has made more "OH MY Gooooooodness, did he just do THAT?!?" plays that some quarterbacks make in an entire career.
Mahomes averages 302.4 passing yards per game, including playoffs, the most in NFL history, per NFL Research. The youngest player to win the Super Bowl MVP also currently enjoys the highest passer rating in NFL history at 108.9 (No. 2 on the list is Aaron Rodgers at 102.4). In 2018, Mahomes joined Peyton Manning (2013) as the only two players in NFL history to post 5,000 passing yards and 50-plus TDs in a season. Mahomes has 9,412 pass yards in 31 career regular-season starts (the most among players in first 31 starts since 1950).
The Chiefs have led the NFL with 31.2 points per game since Mahomes became the starter and also rank No. 1 in yards per play (6.5) and third-down percentage (47.4) since his promotion.
Mahomes' new deal puts a stamp on the fact that the Chiefs quarterback is the new face of the NFL along with other young signal-callers like Deshaun Watson and Lamar Jackson. Mahomes is a player who can make every throw look easy, has a rocket for an arm that makes SpaceX researchers jealous, is as intelligent as they come and is the model teammate.
Turning 25 in September, Mahomes will be 36 when his new contract ends. In today's NFL, that's considered middle-aged.
The Chiefs never shied away from the fact that they'd have to make Mahomes the highest-paid player in NFL history. The team knew what it'd take to ensure a once-in-a-generation talent like Mahomes went nowhere.
Mahomes puts butts in the seats. The Chiefs ensured he'll keep awing fans in K.C. for the next decade-plus.
Said Chiefs chairman and CEO Clark Hunt in a statement: "This is a significant moment for our franchise and for the Chiefs Kingdom."
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Sign Agreement
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The Colorado Ultraviolet Transit Experiment launched for space on Monday, Sept. 27 from Vandenberg Space Force Base in Lompoc, California
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The Colorado Ultraviolet Transit Experiment (CUTE) was designed and built in the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at CU Boulder. "Of course, we had to name it, since it's so small, something that was kind of cute," said Kevin France, the principle investigator for the mission, who is also a professor for CU's Department of Astrophysics and Planetary Services. The satellite launched for space on Monday, Sept. 27 from Vandenberg Space Force Base in Lompoc, California. "And what it does is designed to study planets around other stars and not just any planets around other stars, but this special type of planet called hot Jupiters," France said. Those "hot Jupiters," are exoplanets (outside of our solar system) that orbit close to their parent stars, and as a result are very hot, reaching temperatures of thousands of degrees Fahrenheit. "So these are planets that are big gas giants, just like Jupiter in our own solar system, except for their part, for whatever reason, really, really close to their parent stars. So we don't have anything like this in the solar system. This would be like if you took Jupiter and moved it inside the orbit of Mercury," France said. "And because your your orbit is so close to the parent star, you get tremendous amounts of radiation from this star, and that causes the planet's atmosphere to heat up [and] inflate. And if it inflates enough, that atmosphere actually becomes unbound from the planet and escapes to space. So it's a way for a planet to actually lose its mass over time because it's being essentially cooked by its parent star." Using a telescope, antenna and other materials, the CUTE satellite will be observing those planets while orbiting earth in a "polar orbit," which means it revolves over the north and south poles. The hope is that by examining the process which those "hot Jupiters" go through, it can help better understand what changes the make of a planet. "But this process of atmospheric escape is something that operates on all planets. It happens on Earth today. It almost certainly happened on Mars in the past. We believe that Mars probably had a much more Earthlike climate several billion years ago, but through the process of atmospheric escape became the more barren world that it is today," France said. "And by understanding that, we get a better picture of how basically how atmospheres work on all types of planets, both in our solar system and in planets beyond the solar system specific to Earth." For sixth-year PhD student Arika Egan, who worked on a project, it's an accomplishment four years in the making. "We can look at the direct extreme dynamics that are happening on these exoplanets outside to understand what kinds of physical processes are making these planets and turning them into something different," Egan said. Egan held several roles when putting the satellite together, which included the mechanical assembly, putting the telescope inside of the spacecraft and removing it and assisting in environmental testing. "We don't have a lot of extreme dynamic processes that tell us about how the planets and our very own solar system formed and evolved. We know them as they are today, and we can find evidence for how they were in the past. But we don't have direct observations of how they were a billion years ago when they were forming," Egan said. France adds that projects like this provide more than just research. "It's a really great way to get early career people in the pipeline of NASA space missions," he said.
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New achievements in aerospace
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SATA Air Açores Flight 530M crash
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SATA Air Açores Flight SP530M was a Portuguese regional commuter flight operated by SATA Air Açores, that connected Ponta Delgada-João Paulo II Airport and Flores Airport, with an intermediary stop at Horta, on 11 December 1999. At 10:20 a.m., the British Aerospace BAe ATP, named Graciosa, while enroute to Horta, collided with Pico da Esperança, on the central mountains of the island of São Jorge, resulting in the deaths of all 35 people on board. [1] It is also the deadliest aviation accident involving the British Aerospace ATP. [2]
On 11 December 1999, the British Aerospace ATP (CS-TGM) with 35 people aboard, began flight SP530M from Ponta Delgada (on the island of São Miguel) to Horta (on the island of Faial, as part of the first leg of the wider Ponta Delgada to Flores flight. [3][2] The flight departed at 9:37 a.m. from Ponta Delgada, with a planned flight level of 12,000 feet (3,700 m) feet and cruising speed of 260 knots, with an estimated 51 minutes flight time. [3][2] The flight crew consisted of captain Arnaldo Mesquita (55) and first officer António Magalhães (46). [3][4][5]
The meteorological information (submitted by the Instituto Meteorlogia) forecast between the hours of midnight and 6:00 a.m. in the islands of the Azores indicated a superficial cold front, with heavy clouds, moderate southwesterly winds changing to strong northerly winds, but generally weak in the central and western groups of the Azores. [3][2] Wind strength for the itinerary ranged from 30 to 45 knots. [3][2]
During the course, the crew decided to alter their flight plan, opting for a route that included approach descent over the channel between the islands of Pico and São Jorge, to intercept the 250 degree VOR/VFL Horta radial. [2] Horta tower initially cleared the flight to FL100 10,000 feet (3,000 m), but the crew then requested (and were cleared) to descend to 5,000 feet (1,500 m) with instructions to maintain visual contact with the island of Pico. [2]
At 10:03 a,m., the co-pilot had contacted the Santa Maria control tower to communicate that the flight was passing the LIMA-MIKE waypoint. [3] The flight was planned for a route direct to Horta, but when the crew reported their position as LIMA-MIKE, the ATP had already drifted 14 nautical miles from its course; the crew did not indicate their awareness of the diversion. [3] Approximately 43 nautical miles from Horta, the crew was authorized by the Horta tower to descend to 5,000 feet (1,500 m) and indicated their visual contact with Pico. [3][2] During the descent, heavy rain and turbulence were encountered. [2] The flight continued on its course as it descended, crossing the north coast of the island of São Jorge. [3] But the crew had lost situational awareness, and could not distinguish their barometric altitudes from the radio altimeter indicators. [3]
The crew only realized that they were overflying the island from the verbal indication by the co-pilot and the final audible sound of the GPWS. [3] Five seconds after the first alarm by the GPWS, the co-pilot reacted by pulling back on the throttles, and eight seconds following the alarm, the motors reacted. [3] The plane began to recover its altitude and turned to the left. Seven minutes (10:17 a.m.) after initiating the descent, the left wing of the ATP impacted the northern hillside and eastern flank of Pico da Esperança and separated from the fuselage, at approximately 1,067 metres (3,501 ft) altitude on the island of São Jorge. [3] The plane had continued its crash trajectory, rolling along a longitudinal path and inverting towards the sea before crashing. [3] The GPWS alerted the crew 17 seconds before impact. [2] No emergency call was received from the aircraft before it went down. [3] There was no fire. [3]
Rescue teams reached the wreckage more than four hours after the ATP crashed on Sao Jorge, where it scattered debris and victims across a dense ravine. [6]
The search was called off after dark, and only resumed on Sunday, when the investigation team was sent to the isolated crash site from the mainland. [6][7] Seven bodies were recovered as rescuers using ropes and carrying stretchers, who scrambled over the steep mountainside before nightfall. Similarly, a thick mist shrouded the area, which was inaccessible to vehicles, making difficult the search operation. [6]
Although the Portuguese Air Force helicopters were on standby to winch out any survivors, the time spent meant that the searchers were only there to "collect the bodies and examine the causes of the accident", since there was "no hope of finding survivors", from the comments of Internal Affairs Minister Fernando Gomes. [6]
All SATA flights were canceled after the crash. Portuguese Prime Minister António Guterres, who was in Helsinki, Finland, for a European Union summit, cancelled a planned visit to Kosovo and headed straight for the Azores. [6] SATA arranged flights to the islands for international relatives of crash victims. [6]
The final report by the commission of inquiry by the National Institute of Civil Aviation (Portuguese: INAC Instituto Nacional de Aviação Civil) concluded that the flight had made a slight deviation from its route to Horta, that was not perceptible by the flight crew. [8] This deviation crossed the northern coast of the island of São Jorge, where it crashed into Pico de Esperança. [1] The crew "was completely convinced" that the plane was over the São Jorge Channel, and they were concentrated on meteorological conditions at the time of the collision. After hearing their impact warning, three seconds before the first impact, the copilot alerted the crew that they were "losing altitude and over São Jorge". But, even as the pilots increased engine output, the maneuver was "insufficient to overcome the obstacle". The conclusion of the report indicated that there was a lack of rigour in maintaining the prescribed safe altitude, inaccurate dead reckoning, lack of cross-checking the information of the radio altimeter and barometric altimeter, and improper use of airborne weather radar as an additional ease of navigation, all of which contributed to the disaster. [2] The bad meteorological conditions on the day (which included clouds, moderate to heavy winds, with turbulence) and the lack of autonomous navigational aids aboard the aircraft (such as GPS), that could have determined their position, were also factors that contributed to the accident. [2] In regards to the aircraft, the report determined that the ATP was operating within the navigational conditions correspondent to the regulations and approved procedures outlined by aeronautical authorities. José Estima, member of the directorate of the APPLA Associação Portuguesa de Pilotos de Linha Aérea (Portuguese Airline Pilots Association) stated that the factor that contributed to the accident of the SATA commuter was "a difficient [sic] quality and quantity of infrastructures to support aerial navigation". Referring to the credibility of the plane's pilot, APPLA indicated that the "pilot had flown for more than 20 years in the archipelago" and recorded that SATA pilots "are at the forefront, since they work in these adverse [local] conditions". [This quote needs a citation]
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Air crash
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Norwich aldermen revive American Rescue Plan funding for luxury apartments
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The future of a proposed $8.8 million luxury apartment complex in downtown Norwich is moving forward again after city council members unanimously voted to direct $800,000 in American Rescue Plan funding to the developer of the project. Norwich Luxury Apartments LLC, owned by Yacov Adler of Spring Valley, New York, purchased the buildings at 77-91 Main St. for $1.8 million in early August from New England Rose LLC, which acquired it for $675,000 in June 2018. If completed, the plans will see more than 40 high-end apartments built in the now vacant block of buildings, along with some commercial space on the ground floor. The property currently holds an assessed value of $749,400 as of 2020, according to deed filings. Two weeks ago, the city council voted 4-3 to allocate $2 million to the Norwich Community Development Corporation with the stipulation that any loans issued be capped at $300,000. The money headed to Norwich Luxury Apartments LLC, a $400,000 grant and an accompanying $400,000 loan, will not come out of the $2 million because officials wanted that money to be dedicated to small business with less than 10 employees. More: First Toni Morrison bench in state honors Prudence Crandall and Black students The funding announced Monday will instead be drawn from the roughly $4 million remaining out of the $14.4 million in American Rescue Plan funding directed to Norwich for 2021. Next year, the city is scheduled to receive an additional $14.4 million. Among the preliminary U.S. Treasury guidelines directing municipalities on how to spend the funding, the federal money must be designated “to meet pandemic response needs and rebuild a stronger, more equitable economy as the country recovers” from the COVID-19 pandemic. The guidelines also direct municipalities to make allocations by the end of the calendar year in which they are given. "We believe this project will go forward and will be completed," the attorney representing NCDC, Mark Block, told the council Monday evening. "We spent a long time developing this program with the developer to assure that not one penny of city money, the money from this plan, goes out to the developer absent of the developer meeting all of the conditions..." In addition to the financial aid and loan granted by the city, the developer is also receiving tax abatements from the city, according to NCDC President Kevin Brown. “The net effect over five years is this city will have reaped the same number of dollars it would put into it, from a public standpoint,” he said. Under the resolution passed by the city council this week, the approved grant and loan amounts will only be issued to Norwich Luxury Apartments LLC following the city’s certification of compliance with its building code. An amendment added Monday by City Council President Pro-Tempore Mark Bettencourt requires NCDC to provide quarterly updates on the progress of the project and certifies the city manager to recoup the funding if it is not completed by September 2024. “I am hoping that this is a successful project, but again we have to make sure that things are in place,” he added. Republican City Council member Stacy Gould spoke in support of the allocation Monday night. More: Norwich residents search for accountability as city seeks FEMA funds for Ida flooding “This is a perfect example of how we put feet on the street in downtown Norwich,” she said. “…And hopefully, as a result of it, there will be more storefronts, more retail opening up to help support the people who are living in these apartments.” Gould noted the challenges facing anyone seeking to develop the city’s downtown area, including the buildings at 77-91 Main Street which were originally constructed in the late 1800s. “If we are not going to help these developers then we should take this ARP and other money and put it in the demo account because that is what we will have to do,” she added. Gould said Tuesday she knows ARP funds are not permitted to be used for demolitions under U.S. Treasury guidelines, calling her comment “tongue-in-cheek.” “It’s very expensive to try to rehab a building in downtown Norwich – we have to have a mechanism in place [to support the development of the buildings],” Gould said in a phone interview. “People are moving to Norwich, so we have to give those options,” she added. “Not everyone wants a single-family home.” Gould's statement contradicted one made by her colleague Derell Wilson two weeks prior, when he said families are not moving into market-rate apartments, as an argument against the project. Reached for comment this week, he noted a productive meeting with NCDC leadership and highlighted the importance of the strings attached to the resolution approved Monday. “The bigger picture for me, after sitting down and understanding the project, the biggest condition is that if the project does not work it does not give the NCDC an additional 800,000 to then add to the $2 million, that money can come back to the city to be reallocated to a different project or a different program,” Wilson said. More: PHOTO GALLERY Roundabout nears completion in downtown Norwich “My hope is this project, if it can be successful, can be a springboard to bringing nightlife and different opportunities to downtown that are tangible for individuals that will not only move there but making the downtown its own, individual neighborhood as well.” Following the meeting, Brown told The Bulletin the project has been in the works for at least a year but Block attested the building's previous owner, New England Rose LLC, has no connection to the current developer. While agendas are available, meeting minutes for NCDC have not been posted since Sept. 24, 2020, and Bettencourt said he hoped going forward that NCDC would “be more responsive in terms of presenting to the public.”
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Financial Aid
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Twin crises
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In economics, twin crises are simultaneous crises in banking and currency (also called a balance of payments crisis). The term was introduced in the late 1990s by economists Graciela Kaminsky and Carmen Reinhart,[1] after the occurrence of several episodes with this characteristic around the globe. The wave of twin crises in the 1990s, which started with the 1994 Mexican crisis, also known as the "Tequila crisis", and followed with the 1997 Asian financial crisis and the 1998 Russian financial crisis, gave rise to a huge discussion on the relations between banking and currency crises. And although the literature on financial crises provided several theoretical economic models that tried to understand the linkages between these two types of crises, the causality direction was not unambiguous. While one research stream argued that currency crises could cause banking crises,[2][3] another stream argued that banking-sector problems could cause currency crises,[4][5] Moreover, there was yet a third stream of researchers that defended the idea that there would not be a causality relation between banking and currency crises, arguing that both types of crises would be caused by common factors. [6][7][8]
To address this ambiguity in the theory, Kaminsky and Reinhart (1999)[1] conducted an extensive empirical work for 20 countries over a 25-year sample and found that banking-sector problems not only are generally followed by a currency crisis, but also help to predict them. A currency crisis, on the other hand, does not help to predict the beginning of a banking crisis, but does help to predict the peak of a banking crisis. That is, although it doesn't cause the beginning of a banking crisis, a Balance-of-Payment crisis may help to deepen an existing banking crisis, creating thus a "vicious cycle". This result is supported by Goldstein (2005),[9] who found that with the existence of strategic complementarities between speculators and creditors in the model, an increase in the probability of one type of crisis generates an increase in the probability of the other type. This "vicious cycle" would be responsible for the severity of twin crises if compared to single crises, resulting in much higher fiscal costs[10] for the affected economy. If on the one hand the frequency of currency crises has been relatively constant over time, on the other hand the relative frequency of individual banking and twin crises has significantly increased, specially during the 1980s and the 1990s. [8] In fact, during the 1970s, when financial markets were highly regulated, banking crises were rare, but as the world experienced several episodes of financial liberalization, the occurrence of banking crises more than quadruplicated, giving rise to the "twin crises" phenomenon. [1]
Goldfajn and Valdes (1997) [7] gives theoretical support to this idea by showing that financial intermediaries (that would arise as a consequence of financial liberalization) can generate large capital inflows, as well as increase the risk of massive capital outflows, which could lead to higher probabilities of twin crises. Moreover, in a sample that goes from 1970 to 1995, Kaminsky and Reinhart (1999)[1] documented that the majority of the twin crises happened in the aftermath of financial liberalization events. More specifically, the pattern shows that financial liberalization generally preceded banking crises (this happened in 18 out of 26 banking crises in the sample! ), which would be followed by currency crises in most of the times, completing the link between financial liberalization and twin crises, and thus pointing to possible common causes to banking and Balance-of-Payment crises. Since one stream of the literature on currency crises argues that some of those events are actually self-fulfilling crisis,[11] this idea could be naturally expanded to the twin crises at first. However, the linkage between financial liberalization and twin crises gives a clue on which economic fundamentals could possibly be common causes to both types of crises. In this spirit, Kaminsky and Reinhart (1999)[1] analyzed the behavior of 16 macroeconomic and financial variables around the time that the crises took place, aiming to capture any pattern that would indicate a given variable to be a good signal to the occurrence of such crises. That is, the goal was to create signals that, by surpassing some threshold, would alarm policymakers about upcoming crises, in order to prevent them from happening (or at least to diminish their effects) by making use of adequate economic policy. The results show that there are actually several "good" signals for both types of crises, with variables related to capital account (foreign-exchange reserves and real interest-rate differential), financial liberalization (M2 multiplier and real interest rate) and current account (exports and terms of trade) being the best signals, and the fiscal-sector variable (budget deficit/GDP) being the worst signal. All the variables previous cited as good indicators sent a pre-crisis signal in at least 75% of the crises, getting up to 90% for some variables, while the fiscal-sector variable only sent a signal in 28% of the crises. In fact, the real interest rate sent a signal for 100% of the banking crises, which supports the idea that financial liberalization may cause banking crises, since financial deregulation is associated with high interest rates. The real-sector variables (output and stock prices) are an interest case, as they are not very good signals to currency crises but are excellent signals to banking crises, suggesting that the bursting of asset-price bubbles and bankruptcies associated with economic downturns seem to be linked to problems in the domestic financial system. In a nutshell, they find that the majority of crises present several weak economic fundamentals prior to its burst, leading to the conclusion that they are mainly caused by macroeconomic/financial factors, and that self-fulfilling crises seem to be very rare. Moreover, most of the signals (13 out of 16) performed better with respect to twin crises than to single currency crises, which can partially explain the greater severity of the twin crises in comparison to single crises, since there is more instability in the macro/financial variables in those cases. During the last three decades of the 20th century, developing and emerging market countries suffered both banking and currency crises more often than advanced economies. The openness of emerging markets to international capital flows, along with a liberalized financial structure, made them more vulnerable to twin crises. On the other hand, due to the previous cited vicious cycle mechanism, at least in financially liberalized emerging markets, policy measures that are taken to help avoid a banking crisis have the additional benefit of lowering the probability of a currency crisis, and policy measures that are taken to help avoid a Balance-of-Payment crisis might also lower the probability of a banking crisis, or at least reduce its severity if such a crisis actually happens. [8] That is, measures that reduce the exposure and enhance the confidence in the banking sector may reduce the incentives for Capital flight (and consequent currency devaluations), while credible policies designed to promote exchange rate stability may enhance the stability in domestic banking institutions, which lowers the probability of a banking crisis. Thus, since the emerging market economies suffered from severe crises during the 1980s and 1990s, they developed (in general) more regulated banking systems in the 2000s as a precautionary measure, becoming then less susceptible to banking (and consequently to twin) crises than before. On the other hand, before the 2007 global financial crisis there was a belief that, for advanced economies, destabilizing, systematic, multi-country financial crises were a relic of the past, as if they were free from that problem. Those economies were in fact experiencing a period of "Great Moderation", a term coined by Stock and Watson (2002)[12] in reference to the reduction of the volatility of business cycle fluctuations, which could be seen in the data since the 1980s. However, the conclusion of some economists that those countries were immune from such crises was, at least, precipitated. The Nobel Prize literature in Economics Robert Lucas Jr., for example, said that the "central problem of depression-prevention (has) been solved, for all practical purposes". [13] Thus, relying on this misconception, Advanced Economies engaged in excessive financial risk taking by allowing for great deregulations in their banking systems, which made them more susceptible to banking crises. As Reinhart and Rogoff (2008)[14] showed later, this idea was myopic because those countries only took in consideration a very short and recent sample of crises (all the research was being made with data starting on the 1970s). By using data on banking crises that goes back to 1800 (or to the year of independence of each country, whatever comes first), they showed that banking crises have long been an "equal opportunity menace", in the sense that the incidence of banking crises proves to be remarkably similar in the high-income countries and in the middle-to-low-income countries. And more surprising, there are also qualitative and quantitative parallels across disparate income groups. Also, a more careful analysis would have shown that even in the 1990s there were banking crises in advanced economies, such as the crises in the Nordic countries (a systemic crisis that affected Finland, Norway and Sweden), in Japan and in Greece, which shows that the "immunity to crises" idea was based in very weak fundamentals. As a result, the Global Financial Crises came in 2007–2008 and the world banking system collapsed, resulting in much more severe consequences to the advanced economies in comparison to the emerging markets, due to their less regulated banking systems. The emerging markets showed a much faster recovery from the crisis, while several advanced economies faced deep and long recessions. An interesting fact was that most of these severe banking crises in the advanced countries did not lead to twin crises, that is, were not followed by currency crises (Iceland was an exception, having a huge currency devaluation; for details, see 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis). The main reason for this was probably the impossibility of several of the most affected countries (members of the Eurozone such as Greece, Portugal, Ireland and Spain) to actually to use the exchange rate as a policy instrument, for being part of a currency union, the Euro. Thus, they could not depreciate the currency to dampen the impact of negative shocks and restore balance in current account, which ultimately contributed to the European sovereign-debt crisis. Another reason for not having several currency crises following the banking collapses was probably the "liability dollarization" practiced by some countries, since in this case a currency devaluation would imply a considerable increase in the Sovereign debt/GDP ratio, as the debt of such a country would be denominated in US dollars (or another foreign currency) and its assets would be denominated in local currency. [15]
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Financial Crisis
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2020 Bangalore riots
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On the night of 11 August and the early hours of 12 August 2020, violent clashes took place in the Indian city of Bangalore, Karnataka. Provoked by an inflammatory Facebook post on Muhammad that was allegedly shared by the nephew of the Akhanda Srinivas Murthy, a state legislator of the Indian National Congress,[7] a group of Muslims arrived at his house in protest which later turned violent.
The clashes between the police and the mobs started around the residence of the legislator and spread to the police stations of KG Halli and DJ Halli. [10] The incident resulted in the imposition of a curfew in the affected areas. 3 people were killed after police opened fire on the crowds. 30–80 policemen] and several journalists, were injured by armed assailants. Murthy's property was torched during the period of violence.
The following day, over 100 people were arrested by the police. Some of the crowds were also allegedly led by members of the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI), and has led to the arrest of a few of its leaders.
On 11 August 2020, the nephew of an Indian National Congress state legislator Akhanda Srinivas Murthyallegedly posted a derogatory remark on Facebook that targeted the Islamic prophet Muhammad. The post went viral in the area and people began gathering in front of the legislator's residence in Kaval Byrasandra in protest, demanding that the accused be arrested. The police sent two teams from the DJ Halli station to detain the nephew.
According to the police, at around 8 p.m., small groups had arrived at Kaval Byrasandra, following which hundreds started gathering around the DJ Halli police station, demanding action against those responsible for the social media message. Members of the SDPI were reportedly present in the crowd at DJ Halli. The people present there tried to report a complaint but claimed that the police were reluctant to do so, which agitated the crowd.
The News Minute reported there were 17–20 Muslims protesting in front of the legislator's residence at 8:30 p.m., however within the next hour the numbers swelled to around 200, joined by people armed with sticks, petrol and kerosene cans. This crowd began throwing stones, vandalising the residence and eventually set a part of the property on fire. The legislator and his family were not present inside the residence at the time of the attack. The mob reportedly also indulged in looting at the residence; according to Murthy, ornaments and sarees went missing from his house.
Meanwhile, the police at DJ Halli station attempted to defuse the tension with the assistance of local community membersbut when one of the teams returned without the accused, the crowd forcefully entered the station, vandalised it and even set police vehicles on fire. At 10:30 p.m., two other Congress state legislators Zameer Ahmed Khan and Rizwan Arshad arrived at the DJ Halli station to help subdue the situation but the violence had reportedly gotten out of control by this time. The Bengaluru Police Commissioner, Kamal Pant also arrived around the same time. Between 11:00 p.m and 12:30 a.m, a group of Muslim youths also formed a human chain around the local temple near DJ Halli station to protect it in case of any escalation. According to a later testimony from the police, the situation fortunately did not snowball into a communal riot. Eventually the Karnataka State Reserve Police (KSRP) had to be called in to disperse the crowd and free the policemen trapped inside the station. The KSRP began by lathi charges, proceeded to firing tear gas, then firing warning shots and eventually fired live rounds at the crowd.
In Kaval Byrasandra, by 10:30 p.m the mob at Murthy's house had moved to his nephew's residence, demanding that he be handed over to them and on receiving no response barged in, vandalised and looted the house. The resident family took refuge in a neighbor's house by climbing through parapets. The family's car was burned down as well. The mob eventually moved around the neighborhood setting fire to several cars and a bar. Around 11 p.m., rumours started spreading that a neighbouring police station, KG Halli, was protecting the legislator's nephew. During the confrontation with the police in DJ Halli, a section of the mob dispersed and a new mob was formed at KG Halli that attempted to enter the station. However, this mob was met with stronger resistance from the police and in the end resorted to burning down cars parked outside. Several policemen and journalists outside the station were injured by the armed mob. The crowds eventually scattered after the police at DJ Halli station began firing.
According to The Hindu, the total number of participants in the mobs amounted to 2000 while the police firing at DJ Halli resulted in the death of 3 people. The deaths were later confirmed by the city police commissioner, according to whom at least 1000 people were involved. Between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m., the police began clearing the streets while identifying and arresting those involved in the violence.
On 12 August 2020, the JCP (Crime) Bengaluru, Sandeep Patil reported that 110 people had been arrested in relation with the violence. The accused were charged under attempt to murder and obstruction of a public servant.The Bengaluru Police Commissioner, Kamal Pant, stated that a curfew was enforced in the DJ Halli and KG Halli police jurisdictions while section 144 imposed in the rest of the city. Later in the same day, Pant extended the curfew till 6 a.m. of 15 August. The Central Crime Branch DCP, Kuldeep Jain justified the police firing and stated that due process was followed. According to his testimony, the police attempted to convince the mob but they had instead turned violent and begun throwing stones at the police due to which additional forces had to be brought in. The Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai also stated that the police had to resort to firing to bring the situation under control.
The families of those killed in the firing claimed they were simply bystanders and did not take part in the violence,[28] as did the family members of many arrested. The legislator's nephew, who made the objectionable post, was also arrested. However, he claimed that his Facebook account was hacked,while his father claimed his phone had been stolen two days before the post. His uncle filed an FIR for the destruction of his ancestral house, claiming 3 crores loss, and sought police protection for himself and his family.
On 14 August 2020, the Bengaluru Police Commissioner reported that 60 more people were arrested in night operations on 14 August, bringing the total arrested to 206.
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Riot
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Major Military Exercise in Africa Now Canceled
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One of the U.S. military's largest exercises in Africa has been canceled due to the threat of the coronavirus, after already being significantly scaled down last week. U.S. Africa Command said Monday the decision to cancel the massive, U.S.-led African Lion exercise was made "out of an abundance of caution" and based on both international travel restrictions associated with COVID-19 and the desire to minimize the risk of service members being exposed to the coronavirus. The massive, U.S.-led African Lion exercises in Morocco, Tunisia and Senegal were supposed to involve 9,300 troops from eight nations. The troops use the exercises to improve military readiness and integration, while preparing to combat transregional threats. Last week, Gen. Stephen Townsend, commander of U.S. Africa Command, told VOA and The Wall Street Journal that he had decided to to significantly scale down the exercise "in scale and scope" based on coronavirus concerns. At that time, Army exercises were to be cut because they involved troops being housed in closed quarters. However, Townsend and his international partners had planned to continue training events that required "less interaction between large troop formations like air activity, naval activity, and maybe some special operations activity," the general said. African Lion was scheduled to take place from March 23 to April 4. While African Lion 2020 has been canceled, planning continues for 2021. Meanwhile, U.S. officials have significantly scaled down long-awaited Defender 2020 exercises in Europe. Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman said Monday that while the main exercise may be constrained, the Pentagon hopes to continue some individual components of the exercise to get as "much benefit out of them as possible." Defender 2020 was intended to test the Army’s ability to move a force of between 10,000-20,000 troops for training across 10 European countries. About 6,000 soldiers had already deployed from the United States to Europe since January.
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Military Exercise
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Gap Fire (2008)
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The Gap Fire was a fire that burned 9,443 acres (38.21 km2) of the Santa Ynez Mountains above Goleta, California between July 1 and July 28, 2008. The fire burned primarily on steep slopes above the community of Goleta. Dense brush that had not burned in over fifty years, coupled with steep terrain made the fire challenging for firefighters. [3]
Initial efforts by the Santa Barbara County Fire Department nearly contained the fire before it broke loose. [4] When the first engine arrive on scene at 5:32 p.m. on July 1, the fire was less than a quarter acre, but then winds came up and swept the fire over the ridge and down into drainage. [4] By July 3 the fire had grown to more than 2,000 acres (810 ha) forcing the county to declare a state of emergency. [4] During the initial operational periods, the fire was driven downhill by Sundowner winds and burned to the edges of Goleta requiring the multiple strike teams for structure protection. [3] After the initial 48 hours, the winds died down allowing firefighters to begin working in the mountainous terrain to contain the fire. The fire caused major power issues for residents and businesses in Goleta, Isla Vista, Santa Barbara and even as far south as Montecito. [5] Southern California Edison high voltage transmission lines carrying power to the region pass directly through the area of the fire. During the peak of the outages, over 150,000 customers were reported to be without power. [4]
Emergency response organization Direct Relief provided 35,000 free NIOSH N-95 particulate respirators to local residents. [6]
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Fire
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U.S. reinstates Sudan's sovereign immunity, authorizes funds to help pay debt
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CAIRO/WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The United States on Monday reinstated Sudan’s sovereign immunity, as the U.S. Congress passed legislation formalizing the move, following the ending of Sudan’s designation as a state sponsor of terrorism. However, the legislation includes an exemption allowing lawsuits by the families of victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States already underway in U.S. courts to move forward, although experts say Sudan is unlikely to lose those cases. The state sponsor of terrorism designation, which was in place for almost three decades, had weighed on Sudan’s economy and restricted its ability to receive aid. For investors, the reinstating of sovereign immunity removes another layer of financial risk. Sudan had been engaged in talks with the United States for months, and paid a negotiated $335 million settlement to victims of al-Qaeda attacks on U.S. embassies in East Africa in 1998 who had been awarded much higher damages by U.S. courts. The process to release the settlement money and restore Sudan’s sovereign immunity - protection against being sued in American courts - had been stalled in the U.S. Congress as it had been tied to the $892 billion coronavirus aid package.
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Financial Aid
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Mediterranean Sea oil spill approaches Corsica's east coast
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French officials are racing to minimise the environmental impact of an oil spill approaching eastern Corsica, with two navy boats armed with clean-up equipment heading to the Mediterranean island.
"We fear that part of this pollution will reach the Corsican coast today," maritime official Christine Ribbe said.
Two naval ships, equipped with "anti-pollution material and specialised staff", were steaming to Corsica from their base in Toulon, southern France on Saturday.
Some 80 members of the security forces and rescue services were also being drafted in to aid with the clean-up should the oil reach the coast, local authorities said.
The heavy-grade oil, which appears to have leaked from a ship, was first detected about midday on Friday during a surveillance operation by the local airbase.
By Saturday, officials had detected two large slicks stretching over 19 nautical miles (35 kilometres), one 800 metres offshore, the other 3.5km.
"Surveillance by plane and helicopter mid-morning Saturday allowed us to locate several scattered slicks, some of which are approaching the coast," Ms Ribbe said.
The oil is approaching Corsica's Aleria coastline, a 40km strip of sandy beaches.
Local authorities urged residents to stay away from the beaches on Saturday and banned fishing in the area.
Francis Giudici, Mayor of Ghisonaccia, where the beach has been closed, said: "I'm very concerned. There's also a lot of anger."
"We really don't need this at the start of the [holiday] season."
France's Ecological Transition Minister, Barbara Pompili, and Minister for the Sea Annick Girardin were both due to visit the area later Saturday.
Prosecutor Dominique Laurens said France's maritime gendarmerie had opened an investigation into the spill.
"An analysis of maritime traffic in the area is under way," she said, adding the polluting vessel would be identified.
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Environment Pollution
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President Trump signs order to withdraw from Trans-Pacific Partnership
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Trump did not directly address the North American Free Trade Agreement on Monday as he had promised during the election. However, he repeated his threat to punish U.S. companies that build factories overseas and ship products back home — a charge he has primarily leveled at automakers with operations in Mexico. And his hard-line opening stance could portend a contentious renegotiation of the 22-year-old deal with Mexico and Canada that Trump’s senior advisers have called a top priority for the new administration. “This abrupt action so early in the Trump administration puts the world on notice that all of America's traditional economic and political alliances are now open to reassessment and renegotiation,” said Eswar Prasad, trade policy professor at Cornell University. “This could have an adverse long-run impact on the ability of the U.S. to maintain its influence and leadership in world economic and political affairs.” President Trump outlines his top priorities for trade and the economy The TPP was one of former president Barack Obama’s signature efforts, part of a broader strategy to increase American clout in Asia and provide a check on China’s economic and military ambitions. Several of the executives Trump met with Monday initially had supported the agreement, while the chief architect of the administration’s trade policy, Commerce secretary nominee Wilbur Ross, was also once a booster for the deal. But ending TPP was one of the clarion calls of Trump’s campaign, part of a global backlash against the drive toward greater internationalization that has defined the world economy since the end of World War II. British Prime Minister Theresa May, who is in the midst of navigating her country’s own break from established trading partners, is slated to visit with Trump later this week. A White House spokesman said meetings with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto are in the works. Advertisement Story continues below advertisement “What we want is fair trade,” Trump said during his meeting with executives. “And we're gonna treat countries fairly, but they have to treat us fairly.” President Trump started his first full week in office Jan. 23 by signing an executive order ending U.S. participation in the Trans-Pacific Partnership. (Bastien Inzaurralde/The Washington Post) Since the election, TPP has become politically toxic in both parties. On Monday, five Democratic senators introduced legislation that would require the president to notify each of the 11 other countries involved in the deal of the United States’ withdrawal. It would also block any so-called “fast track” approval of the agreement in the future. AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka hailed the president’s executive order and called for additional action. “They are just the first in a series of necessary policy changes required to build a fair and just global economy,” he said in a statement. Story continues below advertisement On Monday, Trump highlighted his proposal for a border tax as a centerpiece of the administration’s trade policy. Dow Chemical Chief Executive Andrew Liveris, who was among the business leaders who met with Trump on Monday morning, said the border tax was discussed extensively. He said the executives were asked to return in 30 days with a plan to shore up the manufacturing industry. “I would take the president at his word here,” Liveris said. “He’s not going to do anything to harm competitiveness. He’s going to actually make us all more competitive.” Still, it remains unclear exactly how a border tax would be implemented. Testifying before the Senate finance committee last week, Trump’s nominee to lead the Treasury Department said any border tax would be targeted at specific businesses. However, the president does not have the power to levy taxes, and international trade experts have warned singling out companies could violate existing treaties. Trump to CEOs: Stay here, and I’ll wipe out 75 percent of regulations, fast-track factories House Speaker Paul D. Ryan has proposed allowing businesses that export goods to deduct many of their expenses, while those that import would not receive the same benefit. But in a recent interview with the Wall Street Journal, Trump dismissed the plan, known as border adjustment, as “too complicated.” Advertisement Story continues below advertisement Economists have warned that many of Trump’s proposals — including suggestions that he would impose blanket double-digit tariffs on goods from Mexico and China — could backfire on the American economy by causing prices to rise or igniting a trade war. And business groups such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce had lobbied extensively for passage of TPP, touting the deal as an engine of job growth and an important check on China’s growing ambitions. “TPP withdrawal will slow U.S. [economic] growth, cost American jobs, & weaken U.S. standing in Asia/world,” said Richard Haas, president of the Council on Foreign Relations, said in a tweet early Monday. “China could well be principal beneficiary.” But other industry groups argued that Trump’s approach would better leverage America’s status as the world’s largest economy. Scott Paul, president of the Alliance for American Manufacturing, said his group is hoping that opening up NAFTA could provide more leeway to combat currency manipulation in countries outside the agreement. His group, which represents both industry and unions, is also seeking more stringent rules of origin that dictate how much production must occur with member countries to qualify for free trade status. “The details are going to matter a lot,” Paul said. “Renegotiating NAFTA obviously entails some risks and some rewards.”
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Withdraw from an Organization
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PNG police shoot would-be bank robbers
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Police in Papua New Guinea have shot two suspected robbers in the ankles in the resort town of Madang. Details are sketchy, but police sources say four men tried to rob a person outside the Bank South Pacific in Madang this morning. It is not clear if the bandits were armed but police started shooting as the men tried to run towards a nearby boat. A police spokesman says they shot two and one man drowned while trying to swim away. Eddie Yehriwanie is a health worker at the hospital where the two injured men are being treated and says they had been shot in the ankles. "Their bones have been broken. They are stable at the moment. None of them are in a critical condition," Mr Yehriwanie said. The fourth alleged robber was arrested and is in police custody.
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Bank Robbery
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Police release bank robbery video
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Police have released security footage of two men wanted over a daylight bank robbery on Queensland's Gold Coast. An ANZ branch at Benowa was robbed on Wednesday morning at knifepoint. A teller had the weapon held to her throat. They escaped with a sum of cash. No-one was hurt. Detective Senior Sergeant Paul Austin says about a dozen staff and customers were in the bank at the time. "With the amount of people in the bank it was quite brazen," he said. "At this time of year people are doing their banking after public holidays and the like, so there was a lot of people. "There was a number of staff so [the bandits] were quite forthright in going in there armed with knives and doing what they did." Anyone with information is urged to contact Crimestoppers on 1800 333 000.
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Bank Robbery
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Trump Says He’s ‘Torn’ on China Deal as Advisers Signal Harmony on Trade
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President Trump criticized China for failing to hold up its end of the trade deal on Friday and said he was “very torn” about the fate of the agreement signed in January, even as his closest economic advisers released a statement reassuring the world that the truce was intact. “Look, I’m having a very hard time with China,” Mr. Trump said in an interview on Fox & Friends, lamenting how recent economic disruptions tied to the coronavirus had overridden “a great trade deal.” When asked whether the deal might be falling apart, Mr. Trump was noncommittal. “I have not decided yet, if you want to know the truth,” he said. Mr. Trump’s comments came just hours after top trade and financial officials held talks via conference call, their first since the coronavirus pandemic ballooned in late January. In separate statements, the two countries signaled that their agreement was on track. “Both sides agreed that good progress is being made on creating the governmental infrastructures necessary to make the agreement a success,” the Office of the United States Trade Representative said. “They also agreed that in spite of the current global health emergency, both countries fully expect to meet their obligations under the agreement in a timely manner.” The future of the trade deal, which brought an end to tariff escalations and set the two countries toward a more cordial relationship, has been called into question in recent days by Mr. Trump, who has expressed anger over China’s response to the coronavirus and has suggested the United States could retaliate for its failure to contain the disease. Mr. Trump suggested that the White House would take a skeptical look at whether China was living up to its commitments under the truce . Those comments had rattled stock markets, and the joint statement released on Friday morning seemed aimed at reassuring businesses and investors that the world’s largest economies were not on the cusp of restarting the trade war. Yet deep uncertainty surrounding the U.S.-China relationship remains. As the nations spar over the pandemic, misinformation campaigns, Beijing’s policies toward Hong Kong, Taiwan and the South China Sea and over trade, relations have reached a level of hostility not seen even in the depths of the trade war last year. They could fray even more in the coming months. Mr. Trump and many of his advisers continue to see the trade agreement signed with China last year as a signature achievement. But they have been worried and angered by recent data showing that China is falling behind on its promises to buy $200 billion of additional American exports by 2021. Chinese negotiators face nationalists at home who favor a more antagonistic relationship. And Mr. Trump’s campaign team and Republican lawmakers see taking a hard stance on China as a way to bolster their prospects ahead of the November elections. Two-thirds of Americans now view China unfavorably, according to a poll from the Pew Research Center, a proportion that has climbed sharply in the last few years. Mr. Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden have painted each other as weak on China in recent campaign ads. As he has throughout his presidency, Mr. Trump has continued to alternate between praise and criticism of China. But his optimism about his trade deal appears to have slowly evaporated in recent weeks. In early April, Mr. Trump said he believed the Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, would “honor the deal” he made with the United States “because I know President Xi, who I like and respect,” Mr. Trump said. The Phase 1 agreement keeps 25 percent tariffs in place on a wide range of imports from China that the Trump administration considers to have strategic or economic value, like cars or nuclear reactor components. It requires China to strengthen intellectual property protection and open its markets to foreign financial services companies. Reddit takes its first official step toward going public. The agreement also calls for China to increase its imports from the United States by $200 billion this year and next year, compared with levels in 2017, before the trade war began. The chapter on extra purchases, one of seven chapters in the agreement, mandates specific increases in four categories of China’s imports from the United States: food, manufactured goods, energy and services. China has increased its imports of American food since the pact was signed. But its overall imports of other American goods have fallen short of the administration’s initial hopes. China’s total imports from the United States fell 5.6 percent in the first four months of this year compared with the same period last year, according to China’s trade data. According to an analysis by Panjiva, China’s imports in March of the goods it promised to buy in the trade deal were just 44 percent of their target level, and Chinese trade data suggested April might be worse. Given the economic catastrophe caused by coronavirus, that is no surprise, analysts said. China is still struggling to recover from its efforts to stamp out the coronavirus, which included shutting vast parts of its industrial machine; its economy shrank for the first time in nearly half a century . The United States is still debating when to end its own lockdowns, which have contributed to the loss of millions of jobs. “There’s no chance whatsoever that the purchasing targets will be met,” said Scott Kennedy, a China expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Image Corn harvesting in Roachdale, Ind., last year. China has been importing more American food but isn’t likely to meet the targets in the trade pact.Credit...Bryan Woolston/Reuters Economists said plummeting consumer demand in China would likely translate to fewer purchases of American cars and Boeing aircraft, making it hard for China to meet the target for buying manufactured goods. Shutdowns in American slaughterhouses could limit the amount of pork, beef and other American agricultural products available for purchase. And the price of oil and gas has collapsed, meaning China would have to buy many more barrels to meet a $50 billion target by the end of the next year. Brad Setser, an economist at the Council on Foreign Relations, said the energy target from the trade deal “assumes a different world.” Experts in China said Beijing would live up to its commitments, despite a pandemic that negotiators could not have anticipated when the truce was reached in mid-January. “China sticks to the Phase 1 agreement,” said He Weiwen, a prominent Chinese trade expert and former Commerce Ministry official. But Mr. He acknowledged that a nose-dive in world oil prices, together with falling Chinese energy usage as the country’s economy slows, would make it hard for China to meet the targets in the Phase 1 accord for energy imports from the United States. “There is a phenomenal decrease in the demand,” Mr. He said. On Wednesday, Mr. Trump said during a White House briefing that by the end of next week he would review whether China was complying with the Phase 1 trade pact. But when asked about putting tariffs on China, he responded, “I don’t want to talk about this.” Current and former trade officials on both sides of the Pacific have evinced little enthusiasm for a revival of the trade war and predicted that the agreement would survive. “The Phase 1 agreement will set the rules of engagement even after the pandemic has receded,” said Jamieson Greer, who was chief of staff for Robert Lighthizer, the United States trade representative, until a month ago and is now a partner at King and Spalding, a Washington law firm. The pact signed in January contains a clause saying the two countries may resume talks if “a natural disaster or other unforeseeable event” prevents them from keeping the terms of the deal. But China has insisted it isn’t exercising that provision. Against that backdrop, the statements released by both governments after the call — which included Mr. Lighthizer, Vice Premier Liu He and Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin — were noticeably upbeat. “The two sides stated that they should strengthen macroeconomic and public health cooperation, strive to create a favorable atmosphere and conditions for the implementation of the first phase of the Sino-U.S. economic and trade agreement, and promote positive results,” China’s Ministry of Commerce said.
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Tear Up Agreement
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Bernardo Fire
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The Bernardo Fire was a wildfire that occurred during the May 2014 San Diego County wildfire outbreak. [1] The Bernardo fire was the second of the May 2014 wildfires in San Diego County, and the first of the swarm of wildfires that ignited in mid-May, following dry weather and Santa Ana conditions. The fire ignited in 4S Ranch in San Diego County, on May 13, near Del Norte High School, and eventually spread southward and westward, burning 1,548 acres (6 km2) of land. The Bernardo Fire was extinguished on May 17, without causing any significant property losses. [1]
The fire started on Tuesday, May 13, at 10:00 AM PDT, just south of Del Norte High School, in a construction trench off Nighthawk Lane. [1][2] Over the next few hours, the wildfire intensified, due to the strong Santa Ana winds driving it southward. This prompted the evacuation of several schools (with the exception of Del Norte High School), in addition to at least 20,000 homes. Within several hours, the fire covered at least 800 acres (320 ha) and was only 5% contained. The rapid southward spread of the fire caused mandatory evacuation orders to be issued for portions of 4S Ranch, Del Sur, Black Mountain Ranch, Rancho Santa Fe, and other residential communities. Late on May 13, the Bernardo Fire reached a size of 1,600 acres (650 ha). By 12:00 AM PDT on May 14, the portion of the fire within 4S Ranch and Del Sur had been completely extinguished, which was about 25% of the Bernardo Fire's 1,600 acre blaze. Later on May 14, all of the evacuation orders were lifted. [3]
On Wednesday, May 14, at 6 PM PDT, the wildfire was 50% contained. [4] By the next morning, it was reported as 75% contained and no longer expanding. [5] On May 16, the Bernardo Fire was reported to be 90% contained, but some structures were still threatened by the fire. [6] On May 17, the fire was 95% contained, without having expanded any further. [7] On May 17, at 8:14 PM PDT, the Bernardo Fire was reported to be 100% contained. The San Diego Unified School District closed all its schools citywide on May 15, but reopened most of them on the following day. [citation needed]
The cause of the Bernardo Fire has been ruled to be accidental; authorities said that it started in a small trench being dug by a construction crew and spread rapidly through the dry brush at the site. The Bernardo Fire had been ignited by sparks coming from a backhoe trencher. [8]
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Fire
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Petarukan train collision
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The Petarukan train collision occurred on 2 October 2010, at Petarukan, in Pemalang Regency of Central Java, Indonesia, when two intercity trains collided with each other. Thirty-six people died as a result of the accident, and 50 people were reported injured. At 3:00am local time on 2 October 2010,[1] an Argo Bromo Anggrek executive train travelling from Jakarta to Surabaya ran into the rear of a Senja Utama Semarang business train at Petarukan, Pemalang[3] a city on the north coast of central Java. [4] The Argo Bromo executive train had 336 passengers on board, while the Senja Utama Semarang business train was bound for Semarang and carrying 663 passengers. The Senja Utama Semarang train was waiting for an oncoming train at Petarukan station because of a single track section ahead. The Argo Bromo Anggrek train passed a signal at danger and eventually rear-ended the waiting train. [5] Three carriages derailed and overturned,[1] 36 people were reported to have been killed and 50 injured,[6] with the death toll expected to rise. [1][7] The accident was the deadliest in Indonesia since the Bintaro train crash on 19 October 1987, which killed 156 people. [8]
At around the same time, a second crash in Surakarta (Solo) killed a single person when an economy train was grazed in the rear by an express train. [9]
A spokesman for Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said that "The President has instructed a sanction against whoever was responsible for the accident. "[10]
Director General of Railway Affairs at the Ministry of Transportation Tunjung Inderawan offered apologies for the two incidents, saying that "I apologize to the families of all the victims of the train accidents. "[11]
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Train collisions
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Sharjah Ruler briefed on treasure trove found by archaeologists
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Sheikh Dr Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Sharjah, was briefed on the latest archaeological discoveries found by historians working in the central region of the emirate. All photos: Wam Sharjah’s Ruler has been briefed on the latest archaeological discoveries found by historians working in the central region of the emirate. Sheikh Dr Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi was shown a Roman key and 32 swords dating to the third or second century BC, which were found in Mleiha. Archaeologists at Sharjah Archaeology Authority also showed Sheikh Dr Sultan a white glazed-pottery jar with some green spots. It contained Abbasid dirhams dating back to the 10th century AD. The treasure trove of 409 coins was unearthed in February, and was described as hugely significant. Sharjah Archaeology Authority has unearthed an ancient jar filled with hundreds of priceless coins. The coins came from a large geographical area, encompassing Africa in the west, and the Transoxiana region in the east, and from several eras, including the Caliph Abu Ja’far Al Mansur, Muhammad Al Mahdi, Harun Al Rashid, Muhammad Al Amin and Abdullah Al Ma’mun. There was also a penny from the era of Caliph Al Mahdi. Dr Sabah Aboud Jasim, SAA’s director-general, said the discovery showed evidence of the early Abbasid presence in the region. Excavations in Mleiha have also uncovered 32 iron swords of various shapes dating back to the third and second century BC, and an iron key dating back to the Roman period. This is considered one of the most important artefacts discovered by the Authority. Mleiha Archaeological Centre opened for visitors in 2016 and charts the region’s history back to the Stone Age. The Mleiha area is of huge archaeological importance and was a centre of trade and commerce on the Arabian Peninsula.
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New archeological discoveries
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2007 South African public servants' strike
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The 2007 South African public servants' strike was a general strike of workers in the public sector of South Africa. It was led by the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), which is currently in a labour/political alliance with the governing African National Congress (ANC) party of Thabo Mbeki (since succeeded by Jacob Zuma). The strike arose out of demands by South Africa's trade unions to raise the pay for civil servants by no less than 12%. The government offered a 7.25% pay raise, which the trade unions refused to accept. [1]
This South African history-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. This article related to a strike action or other labor dispute is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
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Strike
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Food poisoning spikes in Lebanon amid fuel crisis
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BEIRUT — Cases of food poisoning have been on the rise since the summer amidst Lebanon’s increased power outages. The true scale of the numbers has not been officially reported, according to Lebanon's Ministry of Public Health.
“The problem is that we know there is a spike in food poisoning because all the factors associated with food poisoning are present. You have a lack of electricity that affects refrigeration, which affects the quality and safety of food,” Mohamad Abiad, associate professor of food processing and packaging at the American University of Beirut, told Al-Monitor. “The factors are there, but the reporting isn’t.”
A committee of nine experts known as the Scientific Committee on Food Safety was formed Sept. 1 by the Ministry of Public Health to investigate emergency issues of food safety coinciding with the electricity crisis.
Committee head Joyce Haddad, who also serves as director of food safety in the Ministry of Public Health, said the biggest problem is the lack of a system to keep track of accurate information. In 2019, 510 cases were reported. Despite all the anecdotal evidence of a sharp rise in cases, only 210 have been reported so far in 2021.
One of the goals of the committee is to establish an apparatus that not only gathers statistics from hospitals but also encourages doctors and pharmacies to report figures in the wake of the food poisoning spike.
According to a recent report from Lebanese nongovernmental organization Legal Agenda, one out of every three people who enter pharmacies is requesting medicine to treat food poisoning. A reporter for local TV station MTV tweeted in July: “Who of you has recently suffered from food poisoning?” His tweet received hundreds of replies.
For the past two years, the country has suffered through an unprecedented financial crisis in addition to severe medical and fuel shortages. Beirut also witnessed a massive explosion that devastated large parts of the capital. Yet while some Lebanese with fresh dollars (dollars that were transferred directly from abroad and are not currently available in bank accounts) who are away from the capital have been able to escape the plights and tragedies that have affected so many, the effects of this escalating electricity crisis — with food poisoning being one of many — are felt in every household.
Although there is an increase in cases, the issue of food poisoning is not new in Lebanon. In 2015, a food safety campaign was launched by then-Minister of Public Health Wael Abu Faour. The campaign passed a decree for Food Safety Law No. 48 that stipulated the formation of a Lebanese Food Safety Authority, Lebanon's equivalent to the Food and Drug Administration in the United States. Yet because of political differences over finding the right sectarian quota, the committee was never established.
The electricity crisis has also been present for decades. But with the economic meltdown that traces back to two years, the state has struggled more than ever to provide reliable fuel and power to the country’s residents.
One of the most damaging repercussions of the fuel crisis is felt in small food businesses, supermarkets and restaurants. Securing daily food has become a complex process, and those who used to order delivery meals now think twice before picking up the phone for fear of food poisoning.
Hiba al-Masr, 40, opened up in 2011 a food-catering business she named Oriental Restaurant, with the aim of serving healthy "plats du jour" to Beirut residents.
“Back then, the days were easier. Lebanon was good. There was electricity. The dollar was stabilized at 1.500 liras, and we could buy and sell and be more comfortable,” she told Al-Monitor.
Today, what tires her most is the exorbitant increase in prices. Yet she remains committed to serving healthy food in the wake of the food poisoning crisis. “I’m still using the cooking supplies and everything as before to ensure the same quality. I’m very concerned right now about food safety and want our food to be clean so no one ever gets sick from it.”
Many supermarkets and restaurants have had to switch to lower-quality ingredients and suppliers as a result of the spike in prices. A sign outside the Carrefour in City Mall recently displayed reads: “To our valued customers, this fridge has been turned off and the products have been moved to other fridges to maintain enough fuel to be able to continue to serve you for as long as possible.”
Frozen products can last 48 hours until they become dangerous for human consumption, which is above 5 degrees. But for refrigeration, including dairy products, there are only four hours to salvage food. In fact, 80% of sales have fallen in supermarkets across the country, according to Nabil Fahd, head of the Supermarket Owners Syndicate in Lebanon.
Whereas state electricity used to cover most of the energy in the city with people relying on generators, now the situation has been totally reversed and some generators run for over 12 hours a day.
“We no longer receive electricity from the government — maximum three hours per day if they like you,” Mustafa Kalach, 28, manager of Neighbor’s Pub, told Al-Monitor. The state electricity turned on during the interview for five minutes and then turned promptly off.
The restaurant, located on popular Hamra Street, also closed its doors for four days as a preventative measure against potential food poisoning. The restaurant, which has been operating for 14 years, no long opens for breakfast.
“We were forced to close for four days, from Aug. 6-10, because we realized food was spoiled and we did not want people to get poisoned. We cleaned the fridges and freezers and put them outside in the sun because mold was growing,” he said. “Food is arriving to your place already spoiled because suppliers need electricity. This temporary close was essential because it showed people that we are being safe and cautious, and all stores in Beirut should do this. In all of Beirut, there wasn’t electricity, but rarely places closed.”
According to Antoine El-Zoghbi, head of the emergency department at Hotel-Dieu Hospital, food poisoning cases are up 20% from last year. Yet the symptoms of those who suffer from food poisoning are more severe now than ever before, he said.
The rise in food poisoning started in the spring of 2021 when the lockdown concluded and gatherings in public spaces resumed. And many who are succumbing to food poisoning are not going to hospitals, fearing COVID-19, high hospital bills or the lack of medicine.
“People know there are not many medications available, so going to a hospital with no medication will not change anything and people would prefer to stay at home,” Abiad said.
The biggest crisis contributing to the uptick in food poisoning is the faltering economy. When the financial crisis began and the lira lost 80% of its value, salaries of inspectors plummeted. The low pay meant much of their income would be spent on gas or transportation. Add to this the prospect of bribery, which rises in desperate times.
“You don’t want to conduct an inspection at this point because bribery will rise. If a factory owner gives extra money to an inspector not to disclose information he’s collected in case of violations, they might not do their job and instead say everything passed,” Abiad said. Eight out of 50 inspectors in the Ministry of Public Health have resigned in recent weeks.
“It is not only inspectors, but those in high positions as well that are resigning. We are suffering from a massive human resource crisis,” confirmed Haddad. In spite of this exodus, many doctors and health care employees have decided to stay put out of a moral obligation toward their patients.
The Lebanese government was formed Sept. 10 after more than a year of political paralysis in the country. New Minister of Public Health Firass Abiad has inherited a mountain of challenges. At the top of his agenda is providing access to medication and hospitalization, especially for the 78% who are estimated by the UN to be living below the poverty line. Meanwhile, the Scientific Committee on Food Safety is trying to find solutions to curb the food poisoning crisis. Above all, they are working with various syndicates to develop an emergency plan and collect accurate data.
“We have financial problems, electrical problems, infrastructure problems, and all that affect the health and food poisoning problem,” pub manager Kalach said. “We always said we were not going to get to a place where we are going to have to close because of electricity, but we did. This is for the interests of the store, and especially for our clients.”
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Mass Poisoning
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15 Biggest Companies That Went Bankrupt
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In this article we are going to list the 15 biggest companies that went bankrupt. Click to skip ahead and jump to the 5 biggest companies that went bankrupt . Look, while we all hate the ultra-rich and curse them for hoarding more wealth than they could spend in a hundred lifetimes, the truth is, it is not so easy to be an entrepreneur and start your own business. This is exactly why many of us are ready to spend their entire lives working for corporations, in order to obtain a risk free salary, and at least have the security that your hard work will be rewarded, if only at a percentage of its total worth. For starting a business, not only do you need capital, which might not be the easiest of tasks, you will also be taking major risks, and there is no certainty of a reward. Certainly, for the first few years, you will most likely be making losses or even if you do make a profit, more often than not it will be average. And even then, the odds of a business failing are huge. After all, even in the United States, which is the capitalistic capital of the world, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, a fifth of all business, or 20% of all businesses, simply collapse within the first two years of being established. And this doesn't get better after two years. 45% of businesses, or nearly half of all businesses, collapse within the first five years, while 65% don't make it past 10 years. Only 15% of businesses make it past 15 years, which makes you wonder if all the effort and everything is really worth it or not. And if you're a business owned by Donald Trump, the former President of the United States of America, then it's a good bet that the business will declare bankruptcy sooner or later, while making Trump even richer. losing, money, man, pockets, poor, hands, concept, despair, penniless, pants, needy, expressive, loss, business, problems, people, moneyless, depressive, poverty, Pakhnyushchy/Shutterstock.com Yes, it's true that business fail and fail often. However, once a business becomes firmly established and entrenched, the odds of this happening fall significantly with time. And once you become a major corporation, then it's almost impossible to fail. In fact, for major banks around the world, there is a term known as 'too big to fail', which was used after the 2008 financial crisis and the role of the banks in perpetuating the crisis while getting bailed out. Story continues The Financial Crisis of 2008 came about because of the collapse of the housing bubble, but it was actually the excessive risk taking by banks, including providing loans without proper background checks and selling CDOs and mortgage bounds which they knew were not of the quality they were purporting to be. And yet, despite the biggest banks in not just the US but other countries being involved as well, only one person from the US was actually jailed for his part in the crisis, while the banks, who were hemorrhaging money were provided bailouts by the federal government worth hundreds of billions of dollars. And while some major institutions did collapse, most went on paying their executives hefty salary and bonuses and went on as if nothing really ever happened. The world we currently live in is not a normal word. People may talk about the new normal or the new ways or living, but the truth is, nothing makes sense right now. It is a precarious world right now, and that is especially true for businesses. I am of course, talking about the coronavirus pandemic. The Covid-19 pandemic has seen more than 107 million cases across the world which resulted in the deaths of at least 2.34 million people. The most horrifying fact is that these figures are likely to be really underreported and we will only have a proper idea of the devastation caused by the pandemic later on. To battle the spread of the virus, most countries across the world chose to enter lockdowns, which resulted in the closure of any non-essential businesses, the suspension of travel and basically resulted in the economy of most countries contracting. Due to these impacts, many businesses across the world had to permanently shut down, while major businesses incurred tens of billions of dollars in losses and had to fire tens of thousands of people, which resulted in around 40 million people losing jobs in just the United States alone. Many of the businesses which had to close down permanently during the pandemic were already not doing well and making a lot of losses, with liabilities exceeding their assets. Or even if they weren't making losses, the profits weren't a lot in number as well. And the pandemic just happened to be the straw that broke the camel's back. However, if you want to look at the biggest companies that went bankrupt, then that didn't just happen in 2020 or 2021, it has been happening for at least a century. Some of these companies shocked the world when they finally announced bankruptcy. You may all remember that one of the most beloved company, Toy "R" Us, filed for bankruptcy back in 2017. It was seen as a huge deal since it was a major company and ended up becoming one of the biggest retail bankruptcies in history. And yet, it doesn't feature on our list. Our list is comprised of billion dollar companies, which had assets worth tens of billions of dollars, if not hundreds of billions. So let's take a look at the biggest companies which failed to seize their advantage and had to end up declaring bankruptcy, starting with number 15: 15. Refco Total assets at the time of bankruptcy (in billions of dollars): 33.33 Date of bankruptcy: October 17, 2005 Refco was a financial services company in New York, and unlike most financial institutions in our list, wasn't a result of the 2008 financial crisis. The company ended up declaring bankruptcy due to its CEO hiding 430 million in bad debts. 14. America Savings and Loan Total assets at the time of bankruptcy (in billions of dollars): 33.86 Date of bankruptcy: September 9, 1988 The savings and loan crisis in the US took place in the 1980s and the 1990s, with America Savings and Loan resulting in the biggest cost to the government. Rawpixel.com/Shutterstock.com Total assets at the time of bankruptcy (in billions of dollars): 34.9 Date of bankruptcy: December 4, 1987 A subsidiary of Chevron ( NYSE:CVX ), Texaco filed for bankruptcy back in 1987 and was the biggest bankruptcy for a long while in US history. Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX), Sign, gass station, logo, Symbol, oil, fuel Ken Wolter / Shutterstock.com 12. Pacific Gas and Electric Co. ( NYSE:PCG ) Total assets at the time of bankruptcy (in billions of dollars): 36.1 Date of bankruptcy: June 4, 2001 PCG is one of the biggest investor owned utility companies in America. The bankruptcy came about because while California had set the rates at which PCG could sell, its own cost of purchase increased due to droughts resulting in massive losses and declaration of bankruptcy. KRITSANA NOISAKUL/Shutterstock.com Total assets at the time of bankruptcy (in billions of dollars): 36.5 Date of bankruptcy: January 5, 2009 The real estate investment trust was one of the casualties of the 2008 financial crisis, and made a loss of $1.5 billion in income in 2007, after which its bankruptcy was more or less inevitable. docstockmedia/Shutterstock.com Total assets at the time of bankruptcy (in billions of dollars): 39.3 Date of bankruptcy: April 30, 2009 Chrysler is one of the most famous automobile brands in the US, and is nearly a century old, having been founded in 1920. Its parent company now is Stellantis. However, despite its fame, when the 2008 financial crisis struck, it deeply impacted the automotive industry as well, which is why Chrysler had to declare bankruptcy.
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Financial Crisis
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An explosive eruption rocked La Soufriere volcano on the eastern Caribbean island of St. Vincent on Friday after the government ordered thousands to evacuate their homes nearby.
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SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — An explosive eruption rocked La Soufriere volcano on the eastern Caribbean island of St. Vincent on Friday after the government ordered thousands to evacuate their homes nearby.
Experts said the first explosion shot an ash column 32,000 feet (10 kilometers) into the sky and that the majority of the ash was headed northeast into the Atlantic Ocean. Lightning crackled through the towering column of smoke and ash late Friday.
Heavy ashfall was reported in communities around the volcano and beyond, with authorities saying some evacuations were limited by poor visibility.
Several flights also were canceled and islands including Barbados, St. Lucia and Grenada prepared for light ashfall as the 4,003-foot (1,220-meter) volcano continued to rumble. Authorities reported two other explosions later Friday as the island braced for possible additional activity.
“More explosions could occur,” Erouscilla Joseph, director of the University of the West Indies Seismic Research Center said in a phone interview, adding that it was impossible to predict whether they might be bigger or smaller than the explosions that have occurred so far.
There were no immediate reports of casualties from the eruption that occurred four days short of the 42nd anniversary of the last sizable eruption.
In the coastal town of Barrouallie, about 14 kilometers (9 miles) from the volcano, evacuees trudged toward shelters carrying backpacks, duffel bags and shopping bags stuffed with personal belongings after the explosion. Some prepared to stay there, while others were expected to board cruise ships and go to nearby islands that have offered help.
Others still waited for transportation to a shelter, including one family who stood for at least an hour by the side of a road under the sun with their children and suitcases as they awaited a ride from someone.
The volcano last erupted in 1979, and a previous eruption in 1902 killed some 1,600 people.
The new eruption followed mandatory evacuation orders issued Thursday for the roughly 16,000 people who live in the red zone near the volcano in the island’s northern region. More than 2,000 people were staying in 62 government shelters.
“We have had hiccups here and there ... but by and large we are proceeding pretty well,” Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves said in a press conference. He later wiped tears from his eyes and apologized for crying while he thanked people and other governments in the region for opening their homes and countries to St. Vincentians.
“On the dangerous road to Jericho, we have the good Samaritans,” he said.
He said that depending on the damage done by the explosion, it could take up to four months for things to go back to normal.
As dozens of people streamed toward safer ground, officials worried the pandemic could hamper evacuation efforts.
Gonsalves said people have to be vaccinated if they go aboard a cruise ship or are granted temporary refuge in another island. He said two Royal Caribbean cruise ships and two Carnival Cruise Lines ones arrived Friday. Islands that have said they would accept evacuees include St. Lucia, Grenada, Barbados and Antigua.
He said he was talking to Caribbean governments to accept people’s ID cards if they don’t have a passport. “This is an emergency situation, and everybody understands that,” he said.
Gonsalves added that he highly recommends those who opt to go to a shelter in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, an island chain of more than 100,000 people, be vaccinated. Authorities said those staying in shelters would be tested for COVID-19, and that anyone who tests positive would be taken to an isolation center.
Emergency management teams have been going out to communities in the red zone and providing transportation to safer locations, including prearranged shelters, according to Joseph.
By late Thursday evening, shelters were filling up as a string of car lights making their way to safer ground twinkled through the darkened mountains.
John Renton, a school principal who was in charge of one shelter, said in a phone interview that they had plenty of masks and other personal protective equipment but needed more cots. While talking, he was interrupted by a phone call from a government official asking about the state of things. “We’re over capacity,” he responded, noting that the shelter could hold 75 people and was already filled up. Meanwhile, the government warned of water shortages given that people were stocking up after the alert was issued.
Scientists alerted the government about a possible eruption after noting a type of seismic activity at 3 a.m. on Thursday that indicated “magma was on the move close to the surface,” Joseph said.
A team from the seismic research center arrived in St. Vincent in late December after the volcano had an effusive eruption. They have been analyzing the formation of a new volcanic dome, changes to its crater lake, seismic activity and gas emissions, among other things.
Seventeen of the eastern Caribbean’s 19 live volcanoes are located on 11 islands, with the remaining two underwater near the island of Grenada, including one called Kick ’Em Jenny that has been active in recent years.
The region’s most active volcano in recent years has been Soufriere Hills in Montserrat, which has erupted continuously since 1995, destroying the capital of Plymouth and killing at least 19 people in 1997.
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Volcano Eruption
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Norway cancels allied exercise over COVID-19 safety concerns
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As Oslo and neighboring municipalities impose social lockdown with red level alert after an outbreak of the British variant of the coronavirus, also military activities in the north of the country is affected. The Barents Observer could earlier in January report about a spike in COVID-19 cases among US Marines arriving for winter training to Setermoen camp in Troms. The American soldiers were, together with other allies and Norwegians, training cold climate snowy warfare. It was all supposed to culminate in the Joint Viking 2021 exercise in the end of February with about 10,000 soldiers. “Norway is facing a very demanding situation. Infection control measures [in the outbreak areas] are the most intrusive since the start of the corona pandemic,” said Minister of Defense, Frank Bakke-Jensen. “We must avoid the spread of the mutated virus, and after a comprehensive assessment of the situation, we have decided to cancel the allied activities in Troms,” the minister said. No new forces from other countries will travel to northern Norway. Forces that are already in place will make a controlled withdrawal, the defense ministry informs. The means about 2,900 soldiers will have to pack up and go home. Of those are more than 1,000 from the United States, just under 1,000 from Great Britain, some 600 from the Netherlands and about 200 from Germany. In total, 3,400 allied soldiers were supposed to come to Joint Viking before start on February 28. About 45 of the U.S. and British soldiers tested positive for COVID-19 after arrival a month ago and where isolated at the camp in Setermoen. The virus did not spread to others. Northern Norway have relatively few cases, but the government fears the mutated virus causing lockdown near Oslo could spread to other parts of the country. The same fear has triggered Norway’s Nordic neighbors, Sweden and Finland, to close their borders to Norway. Last winter, the even larger exercise Cold Response was cancelled after 10 days, as the first wave of COVID-19 infections hit Norway. Then, the 15,000 soldiers from Norway and nine allied countries had to put down their weapons and pack up. Due to the outbreak of the mutated virus, the Armed Forces have introduced restrictive measures on personell coming from red zones in South-Eastern Norway. This entails a halt in the drafting of new recruits from these municipalities for the time being, and commuter-travel to and from these zones is suspended for now. All scheduled leaves for Army personell are halted until further notice. To maintain national readiness, there will however, within current strict Covid-19 preventative measures, still be conducted national training and excercise-activity in the Troms region.
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Military Exercise
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Garden House riot
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The Garden House riot was a civil disturbance at the Garden House Hotel in Cambridge on Friday 13 February 1970. [1] It was the only serious disturbance at the University of Cambridge in the period around the widespread 1968 student protests. The event has been described as a marking a watershed in student protest in the UK. [2]
The Greek Tourist Board organised a "Greek Week" in Cambridge in 1970, with support from the Greek government and local travel agents, including events at the Royal Cambridge Hotel and its sister hotel, the Garden House. [3] Protesters against the Greek military junta, the 'Colonels' regime', gathered outside the hotels for several days, culminating with a crowd of several hundred protesters – mostly Cambridge University students organised by socialist groups – demonstrating against a Greek dinner for 120 guests being held at River Suite at the Garden House Hotel from 7:30 pm on 13 February. [4]
The protesters picketed the venue – in a narrow cul-de-sac off Mill Lane, beside the River Cam – to discourage diners from entering. The noisy crowd attempted to disrupt speeches inside, with a loudspeaker in a Fellow's room in neighbouring Peterhouse playing music by dissident Greek composer Mikis Theodorakis. Protesters invaded the hotel's garden, still icy from recent snow, banging on the windows of the venue and climbing onto the hotel roof. An attempt to break up the crowd using a fire hose played from a first floor window at the hotel failed, and violence broke out: the hotel was invaded and damaged (estimated at £2,000), one policeman was seriously injured, others received minor injuries, and a University pro-proctor, Dr Charles Burford Goodhart[5] was struck by a half-brick and taken to hospital. [6] Around 80 policemen accompanied by police dogs restored order by about 11 pm. Six students were arrested on 13 February, and the University proctors provided the police with the names of approximately 60 people they had spotted in the crowd. Fifteen students were tried on a variety of charges at the Hertford Assizes in June and July 1970, including riotous assembly, unlawful assembly, assaulting a police constable, and possessing offensive weapons. [7] Charges against another four people – including economist Bob Rowthorn, the only senior member of the university to be charged – had been dismissed at a committal hearing in May. [4]
After a trial of seven days, the jury took nearly four hours to reach its decision. Seven of the defendants were acquitted, but eight students were convicted,[8] including the six arrested in February and two others seen pushing in the crowd. All were aged between 19 and 25. Judge Melford Stevenson controversially gave harsh sentences to those involved. [9] Six of the convicted students were sentenced to between 9 months and 18 months in prison, and two aged under 21 were sentenced to periods in borstal. One student from Brazil and a second from South Africa were also recommended for deportation. [10] The sentences were criticised as heavy-handed, as was the judge's comment that he would have passed heavier sentences but for the "evil influence of some senior members of the university". [10] The Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge University, Owen Chadwick, contradicted press statements that students were incited to violence by more senior members of the university. [11]
All eight made appeals to the Court of Appeal against their sentences, and three against their convictions. The appeals were heard by Lord Justice Eric Sachs, Mr Justice Maurice Lyell and Ralph Cusack on 18 August. [12][13] Only one appeal – the South African student, found with a mole fuse (a small smoke bomb for smoking out moles) in his pocket, and convicted for possessing an offensive weapon – was allowed, but the recommendation for deportation of the Brazilian student was also cancelled. [14][15] The case remains a precedent for the legal principles that holding strong political views is no excuse for violent acts, that prosecuting only a few out of a number of potential defendants is permitted, that a defendant's individual acts should not be considered in isolation but must take their share of blame from the broader context of the disorder, and that encouraging or promoting disorder by words or actions is as culpable as participating in it. The case also continues to be cited in deportation cases, for the principle that a decision to recommend deportation following a conviction must be justified by the potential detriment to the UK if the person is allowed to stay. The president of the National Union of Students, Jack Straw (who was Home Secretary from 1997 to 2001), accused the court of discriminating against students. [16]
Several of the defendants returned to their degrees after serving their sentences; others had already completed their studies. [17] The incident led to a reform of the powers of the Cambridge University proctors. The Garden House Hotel was destroyed by a fire on 23 April 1972 in which two guests died. [18][19] It was rebuilt the following year. Later the hotel became the 'DoubleTree by Hilton, Cambridge'[20] and at the start of 2020, the 'Cambridge Hotel'. [21]
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Riot
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2020 South West Aviation Antonov An-26 crash
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A South West Aviation Antonov An-26 cargo plane crashed after taking off from Juba today. The freighter aircraft was operating a charter service between Juba and Aweil in South Sudan. Initial reports, which cant be confirmed yet, have stated that as many as 17 people have lost their lives. However, one person on board is said to have survived the crash and is in critical condition. Eyewitness accounts suggest that the aircraft lost height shortly after departure and fell in a farm near the suburbs of the country’s capital. According to CGTN, the crash took place around 9:00 AM local time. Many news reports were initially stating that eight people were on board; however, now it is assumed that there were, in fact, 17 passengers. Many videos and photos from the crash site have circulated social media. Although the wing section is somewhat intact, the fuselage of the aircraft has been destroyed due to impact and fire. The aircraft, registered YI-AZR, was carrying motorbikes, spare parts, food items, and NGO staff salaries. It is being said that once the news of the crash spread, people rushed to the ground to collect the scattered money. Whether this happened before the rescue operation or not is still unknown. Antonov An-26 cargo plane crashes after takeoff from Juba Airport, South Sudan. At least four occupants on board have died. https://t.co/Mr5k1wmi9V pic.twitter.com/zFANu5KIkX
— Breaking Aviation News & Videos (@breakingavnews) August 22, 2020
A cargo plane, operated by South West Aviation, has crashed this morning after taking off from Juba airport. The Antonov An26 was headed to Wau and Aweil. According to reports, 4 crew members died while one person survived. Our thoughts are with the victims and their families. pic.twitter.com/pmtFCLlGCQ
— Chidozie Uzoezie (@ChidozieMario) August 22, 2020
As of now, it is unknown as to what led to the crash. Witnesses have suggested that the aircraft suddenly lost power and plunged into the residential area. The weather at Juba was mostly fine when the accident occurred. After assessing the crash site, which is to the South-West of Juba Airport, it is possible that the aircraft was on the downwind leg of a departure. Runway length is probably not one of the factors as 3100m is sufficient for an An-26 to operate safely. Antonov aircraft, specifically AN-26, have had various crashes in the last few years. In 2017, an An-26 passenger plane coming from Juba caught fire after landing in the city of Wau, and, despite the aircraft being destroyed, all 45 people on board were rescued. A more tragic incident occurred in 2015 when an An-12 cargo plane crashed shortly after taking off from Juba, killing 37. In 2018, A Russian Air Force AN-26 crashed on approach to Khmeimim airbase in Syria, killing all 39 onboard. In most cases, the reason behind the crash is a technical failure. Obsolete technology and inadequate maintenance are some of the prime factors. In fact, the last AN-26 was built way back in 1986. For this reason, most of the Air Force’s across the world are retiring the type gradually. Unlike Airbus and Boeing, companies like Antonov may not invest heavily in global logistics and MRO facilities. Moreover, there are often no standards in place to make sure that old aircraft are replaced by newer technology. Unless local aviation authorities enforce replacement of outdated aircraft, crashes like this are almost imminent.
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Air crash
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President Muhammadu Buhari with Wang Yi, Chinese foreign minister, in Abuja, Nigeria.
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President Muhammadu Buhari with Wang Yi, Chinese foreign minister, in Abuja, Nigeria. Image from Aso Rock [Nigeria Presidential] Villa Facebook page, Jan 5, 2021.
However, these Chinese companies too often mistreat, exploit, and abuse their Nigerian staff, who have been subjected to what the Nigerian lawmaker Ndudi Elumelu described as “slavish conditions.” Over the years, allegations of racism, physical abuses, sexual violation, injuries and even death of local workers due to the negligence or explicit approval of Chinese bosses have made front page news. There have been few repercussions for these alleged acts.
The Global Voices Civic Media Observatory research on China’s Belt and Road Initiative identified two major categories of infractions by Chinese companies in Nigeria: industrial accidents caused by lack of safety standards, and forced labour. These stories and allegations, shared in Nigerian newspapers and on social media by reporters, witnesses, and others, together build a narrative that paints Chinese factory owners and businesspeople in Nigeria as abusive and indifferent to the health and rights of their employees. While not every allegation has been proven, together they degrade the image of China in Nigeria as a fair employer and benevolent partner.
George Ofosu and David Sarpong, scholars from Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen, Germany and Brunel University London, United Kingdom in their qualitative analysis of existing peer-reviewed ‘Chinese-labour-focused’ literature on Africa assert that “Chinese firms’ labour practices engender abuse via casualisation of labour, low remuneration, and a general lack of adherence to occupational safety.”
The silence of Nigeria’s federal government in response to these alleged infractions by Chinese business owners of the country’s labour laws and international labour covenants points to the asymmetrical relationship between the two countries.
Onyinye in an ambulance after the fire incident (graphic content, viewer discretion advised).
Onyinye [Onyi] Onwuegbusi, a translator with Wihu Limited, a Chinese factory located located along the Lagos-Ibadan expressway in Isheri, Ogun State was burnt to death on July 9, 2021, due to alleged negligence by her Chinese employees. The fire also claimed the lives of three other Nigerian staff.
Sola Akinsehinwa, a board member of the Association of Foreign Language Translators of Nigeria (AFLAN) who spoke to Global Voices via WhatsApp and email, asserts that “the ladies sensed the smell of gas” discovered that the Chinese company had installed a gas pipe that passed through the kitchen of the dormitory where the victims were cooking. A fly catcher spark caused the explosion.
Large gas cylinder in the Chinese Wihi company in Lagos. Image provided by Sola Akinsehinwa and used with his permission
The Wihu Factory had neither fire extinguishers nor an ambulance, according to one Twitter user. Due to an ongoing strike by Nigerian doctors, the victims did not receive prompt medical attention, which eventually led to the death of Onyi and three others.
The delegates of the AFLAN, of which Onyi was a member, were threatened and denied access to the management of the Chinese factory. “It was after the incident that they [Wihu Limited] went to buy fire extinguishers, as said by the workers that bought them. They did this, trying to cover up their tracks,” Akinsehinwa told Global Voices.
Global Voices reached out to Markus, a manager in Wihu who did not provide his last name by telephone on September 10, 2021 to get the company's side of the story. The manager agreed to respond to questions via WhatsApp but had not done so by the publication date.
In a similar case, in February 2018, the government of Lagos State, Nigeria’s economic capital, held the management of a Chinese firm, Hongxing Steel Company Limited responsible for an accident that deformed Chris Abiodiun, a contract worker. Abiodun sustained burns in the face and most parts of his upper limbs when molten metal erupted on him on October 1, 2017. The company had refused to adequately compensate him for injuries he sustained during the incident.
The outspoken reactions from the Lagos State government, the House of Representatives, Nigeria’s lower house and the Ogun State parliament to Chinese firms’ labour infractions, is a clear contrast to the federal government’s silence. This may be due to the independence of these tiers and levels of government from direct involvement in the execution of Nigeria’s diplomacy and foreign policy objectives with China, which is the exclusive preserve of the federal government.
In March 2020, at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, PslamB, a Twitter user, claimed in a series of tweets that Hufua Plastics Industry Company Limited had blatantly flaunted the COVID-19 lockdown directives of the Nigerian government. Hufua Plastic, forcibly held over three hundred Nigerian employees within their factory in Ibafo, Ogun State, the Twitter user wrote.
The company allegedly threatened to sack staff who resisted the forced labour, and required them to live at the factory in order to keep working. The company also failed to adhere to COVID-19 protocols in the facility, to the detriment of the health of their Nigerian staff.
Similarly inhumane treatments were experienced by Nigerian staff of Chinese-owned Goodwill Ceramics, Ogun Guangdong Free Trade Zone Igbesa, in southwestern Nigeria in April 2020. The workers, who were “held inside the company for 14 days of the lockdown without proper feeding,” were asked to leave without adequate compensation, according to SaharaReporters, an online newspaper.
In July 2020, the Nigerian police arrested a Chinese couple in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital for allegedly locking up their eight Nigerian domestic employees in their apartment for four months during the COVID-19 lockdown. The Chinese couple were arrested following a tip-off from a resident who alerted the police, Nigerian newspaper The Punch reported. But they have not yet been convicted of a crime, which is common in these cases.
A month after, in August 2020, Inner Galaxy Steel Co, Abia State, southeastern Nigeria was described as “a Chinese modern day slave camp, right inside Nigeria,” in a series of tweets by a person who claimed to witness the conditions, using the Twitter name @Truthfully83. The witness also alleged racism and sexual assault of Nigerian staff by Chinese managers: “Every Nigerian in that company is mandated to call their Chinese employers MASTER or MISTRESS” and that “male Nigerian workers are physically assaulted, while their female counterparts are sexually assaulted. … Chinese MASTERS will boast of killing you and getting away with it.”
Nothing came out of this case. @truthfully83 claimed that either a “soft landing” was negotiated for the company “in exchange for bribes” or “others are simply following instructions from some quarters to avoid a backlash from the Chinese government.” Solicitors of the Inner Galaxy company dismissed the allegations as “false, unsubstantiated, damaging and incredulous” attacks on the company.
A Chinese shop in Lagos Island, Nigeria. Image by Kaizen photography via Wikimedia Commons, 27 March 2016.
The Nigerian Labour Act and the Employee’s Compensation Act, 2010 protects wages, guarantees adequate compensation, and criminalizes forced labour and discrimination of any kind, with specific punishments when infractions are established by a court ruling.
The inability to apply the laws to errant Chinese migrants doing business in Nigeria “brings into focus the poor and non-implemented labour laws that exist in many African countries,” writes Socrates Mbamalu, a Nigerian journalist. Consequently, “the ultimate responsibility for protecting the rights of workers falls on the Federal Government and state authorities to enforce labour codes,” Eric Olander, managing editor of The China Africa Project told The African Report.
Labour law infractions by Chinese firms in the country are likely to continue because, among other reasons, bribery by the Chinese of Nigerian law enforcement officials is commonplace. In addition, the Nigerian government seems to prefer to remain silent, despite the media spotlight on these issues, in order not to compromise Chinese interests in the country.
“China is a major financier of large projects in Nigeria. An estimate puts the current cost of Chinese projects at $47 billion. Many of these are financed by Chinese loans. It will be difficult for a country that relies so much on China to take action against Beijing,” argues Abdul-Gafar Tobi Oshodi, a political scientist in Nigeria’s University of Lagos. This is why Wang Yi, Chinese foreign minister’s admonition to Chinese firms to abide by Nigerian labour laws has had little impact.
Oreva Olakpe, a research fellow at Ryerson University’s Canada Excellence Research Chair (CERC) in Migration and Integration, asserts that “China’s diplomacy hypes ideals of mutualism, equality and respect… Nigeria’s high dependence on China means that Nigeria will remain limited in how much initiative it can take in Sino-Nigerian relations.” The abuses by Chinese companies in Nigeria will persist until the power dynamics between both countries become mutual in reality.
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Gas explosion
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Windsor law firm announces Wheatley explosion class action suit
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Negligence on the part of the local municipality and the province is to blame for a massive explosion that levelled buildings in downtown Wheatley on Aug. 26, a Windsor law firm alleges.
“We’ve been retained by a number of individuals to commence a class-action lawsuit,” Sharon Strosberg of Strosberg Sasso Sutts LLP told the Star on Tuesday. Since giving notice to the Municipality of Chatham-Kent and the Ontario government on Friday, she said “many, many more people have contacted us.”
Notifying the lawsuit targets is just the first step. The Windsor law firm is known for class-action suits that make news headlines. Strosberg said “the damages continue” so that it’s too early to estimate how much compensation might be sought for those eventually represented in the claim.
The explosion less than two weeks ago came within hours of gas monitoring alarms being triggered and businesses and homes being evacuated. Two buildings were levelled, dozens more were damaged and 20 people were injured, three of them seriously. There had been previous states of emergency declared in June and July after gas monitors in the same area detected harmful hydrogen sulphide levels.
Provincial officials, including technical experts, are investigating, but more than 300 residents who tuned in to a virtual town hall on the weekend were told the source of the gas leak is still unknown. Leaky gas wells, some drilled more than a century ago and abandoned, are suspected.
“Insurance typically wouldn’t cover all the losses,” said Strosberg, citing policy deductibles and compensation limits covering residential and commercial properties. Some workplaces don’t have loss-of-business insurance, tenants may have no insurance, and some workers may no longer have a job.
At Saturday’s virtual town hall — which can be viewed on the municipality’s website — Chatham-Kent Fire and Emergency Services Chief Chris Case said gas is currently not being detected in the area of the blast.
Chatham-Kent CAO Don Shropshire said it was still unknown who will pick up the recovery costs and whether that might include government, insurance or private property owners. “Quite frankly, we don’t know,” he said.
A reception centre at the Wheatley Arena remains open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. daily. Evacuees can call 519-351-8573 during office hours and ask to speak to a Wheatley crisis case manager. Residents who need information after hours can call 519-350-2956.
Wheatley, a town of about 3,000 people, is located on Lake Erie east of Leamington.
Among the intended defendants in the Strosberg Sasso Sutts lawsuit are the Chatham-Kent Police Services and Ontario’s Minister of Northern Development, Mines, Natural Resources and Forestry. The proposed action seeks compensation for “general damages, lost use of office or residential space, lost income, expenses incurred for alternate accommodation, office space, replacement or cleaning of damaged items, physical and emotional injury, damage to property, relocation and other expenses.”
The law firm urges those affected by the explosion “to keep track of all of your out of pocket expenses that you incur.”
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Gas explosion
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Aeroflot Flight 343 crash
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Aeroflot Flight 343 (Russian: Рейс 343 Аэрофлота Reys 343 Aeroflota) was a passenger flight from Moscow-Sheremetyevo Airport to Jorge Chávez International Airport, on a stopover at Luxembourg-Findel International Airport, that veered off the runway on 29 September 1982, fatally injuring seven occupants. The Ilyushin Il-62M operating the flight suffered a mechanical failure. [1]
The aircraft involved in the accident was an Ilyushin Il-62M operated by Aeroflot, registered CCCP-86470. The aircraft rolled off the assembly line of the Kazan production facility in April 1977. At the time of the accident the aircraft had 10,325 flight hours. [2]
The flight was intended for the Moscow-Luxembourg-Havana-Lima route, but crashed on the first stopover in Luxembourg. The flight had 66 passengers and 11 crew members. The aircraft started experiencing technical difficulties on approach to landing. At an altitude of just 5 m (16 ft) above the runway and a speed of 278 km/h (173 mph; 150 kn), with the engines set at 40% Nh, the thrust reversers on engines No. 1 and 4 were released; immediately thereafter the Il-62 suddenly began to pivot to the right. Five seconds later at a speed of 265 km/h (165 mph; 143 kn), the crew increased power on engine No. 4 to 80% Nh and engine No. 1 – to 86% Nh, intending to re-align the aircraft with the runway. Instead, the deviation to the right only increased. Instead of stopping on the runway, the aircraft wing hit a water tower, then continued on, striking a small airport fence before it rolled into a small forest, damaged several trees, then fell into a small ravine 200 meters from the runway at 20:23 local time. [3]
The investigation determined the probable cause of the accident to be mechanical failure of the thrust reversers on engine No.1:[3]
"The accident may be attributed to a mechanical failure affecting the mechanism of controlling thrust which occurred during the most critical phase of landing. This failure, sudden and unpredictable, was identified by the crew and made the aircraft uncontrollable in direction during the execution of the normal landing procedure. "[1]
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Air crash
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Contamination levels high at Empire Bay Marina on Central Coast
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An assessment of the Empire Bay Marina on the Central Coast has found high levels of contamination.
Engineering firm Douglas Partners carried out a detailed site investigation for Crown Lands.
It tested the soil, sediment and groundwater and found heavy metals, hydrocarbons, anti-fouling agents and acid sulfate, probably from fuel, oil, lead-based paint and other chemicals.
"It's very disappointing that the community finds itself in this situation," Parliamentary Secretary for the Central Coast Adam Crouch said.
"The next step is for Crown Lands to work hand in hand with the [Environmental Protection Authority] about how we safely manage the contamination of this site.
"We literally have to take this one step at a time and do it very, very carefully, because if this contamination is not handled appropriately it could spread."
Crown Lands took over the marina in September last year after revoking the private operator's licence due to ongoing breaches.
The Douglas and Partners report said "deterioration of marina facilities and poor-work practices" had the potential to result in site contamination.
The area has been fenced off from the public.
Mr Crouch said it was "too early to tell" if the decaying historic boatshed at the site could be salvaged.
Some community members, including Errol Baker, have been campaigning to protect it.
Mr Baker said he was not surprised by the report's findings but eagerly awaited details about the shed.
"It's not in that bad a condition, so let's try and save it — it's 100 years old," Mr Baker said.
"Once we lose this iconic building you're never, ever going to get it replaced.
"The Empire Bay boat shed is a glorified garage on stilts — it's not that hard to fix."
The Douglas Partners report said the site could be made suitable for use as a public space, subject to recommended detailed investigations and remediation works.
But the firm said works would likely further impact the stability of the dilapidated boatshed and suggested engaging a structural engineer.
The Minister for Water and Property, Melinda Pavey, said Crown Lands would complete more assessments before it made a final decision on the future of the site.
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Environment Pollution
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2015 Services Air Airbus A310 crash
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On 24 December 2015, at 08:35, an Airbus A310-304F cargo aircraft, operated by Congolese company Services Air on a domestic flight, ran off the end of the runway and crashed in a residential area while landing at Mbuji-Mayi Airport in the city of Mbuji-Mayi, the capital of Kasai-Oriental province in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Eight people were killed and nine others were injured, all of whom were people in the residential area. The aircraft suffered substantial damage, but the five crew members were uninjured. The aircraft overshot the runway by about 500 m (1,640 ft) and ploughed into the residential area, destroying several homes. [1]
The pilot informed Ngoyi Kasanji, governor of Kasai-Oriental province, that a brake problem on the aircraft was the cause of the accident. According to witnesses the aircraft had already gone around twice and on the third landing attempt it touched down about halfway along the runway and was unable to stop before rolling off the end. The A310 came to a stop on soft ground among houses about 500 m (1,640 ft) past the runway end. [2]
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Air crash
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PM
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The volcano that's threatening to erupt on Vanuatu's Ambae island has now polluted local water supplies, as evacuations continue to move roughly a thousand people a day to safety. Steam, ash and lava bombs are emanating from the island's Mount Manaro, while lava flows have been reported flowing into Lake Voui. PM speaks to Joe Cropp, the Australian Red Cross spokesperson who was on Ambae Island this morning. LINDA MOTTRAM: The volcano that's threatening to erupt on Vanuatu's Ambae Island has now polluted local water supplies, as evacuations continue to move roughly 1000 people a day to safety.
Steam, ash, and lava bombs are emanating from the island's Mount Monaro, while lava flows have been reported flowing into Lake Voui, which fills the volcano's crater, turning the water milky white.
Joe Cropp is the Australian Red Cross spokesperson who was on Ambae Island this morning and is now on a neighbouring island. I put to him that one headline today had described the evacuation as resembling Dunkirk.
JOE CROPP: They are now starting to evacuate people off the beaches. So, standing at one of the evacuation areas, there was a large landing barge.
So, they would have been loading up 200 or 300 people, plus all the belongings they could carry. And next to that, shuttling in and out, were smaller boats carrying 20 to 30 people.
There's larger boats; there's smaller community boats whizzing around; people waiting on the beach with all their belongings piled up next to them; people waiting further back in small villages, ready to be shuttled down.
So yes, that's a good analogy for what it looks like on those beaches.
LINDA MOTTRAM: And what sort of mood are people in - are they calm? Is there a sense of panic? What's it like?
JOE CROPP: Talking to people, there is calmness. People realise they need to leave and they're moving around in a calm way, a very organised way.
But as soon as you start to talk to them, there is so much sadness. They're leaving their communities, which they rely on so much, and there's uncertainty about where they're going to. So, a mix of moods - there is calmness there, but there's sadness as well.
LINDA MOTTRAM: And what about the volcano itself? Were you anywhere near where you could sense its activity?
JOE CROPP: You can see it as you fly in, but as soon as you land it's out of sight, you can't hear or feel it. You can see and smell the ash in the air, but other than that it's very much in the background.
LINDA MOTTRAM: So, how many people have been evacuated now?
JOE CROPP: I don't have good figures on that. The island has got a population of 11,000 people. They have got three evacuation areas: two in the east they're still evacuating from; there's one in the west, where I went to. And there's no-one on the western end of the island now - the villages are totally empty.
LINDA MOTTRAM: Gosh, that must be an eerie feeling?
JOE CROPP: It was a very eerie feeling. I've been to a lot of these villages over the years and there's always activity around - there's children; there's people walking; there's vehicles around. And these same villages: it was a very eerie feeling to walk in and absolute silence, just the wind.
LINDA MOTTRAM: And what about animals? Have they been evacuated as well?
JOE CROPP: The animals have stayed behind, so they're just evacuating people with the clothes they can carry. And that's obviously a concern for these people, but this is their livelihoods that they need to leave behind in order to evacuate.
LINDA MOTTRAM: There were reports today that the volcano is polluting drinking water supplies on Ambae now. Is there sufficient bottled water to give to people as they are in this process of being evacuated?
JOE CROPP: That has been one of our major concerns over the previous week and Red Cross volunteers have been moving around, distributing this bottled water. So, we've been keeping enough bottled water coming up.
Now what's important, I think, is we also have to start to look forward and start to think about providing these people with water, food, and shelter in the coming weeks.
LINDA MOTTRAM: And so, they're being evacuated to where?
JOE CROPP: They're being evacuated to three surrounding islands, which are fairly close.
You can actually see one of them from where they're undertaking the evacuation on the beach. So, they're spreading out to those three different islands. They're being accommodated in the short term in schools, churches, sports fields, and things like that.
LINDA MOTTRAM: Now, Australia has dispatched HMAS Choules to assist with the evacuation; it's expected to arrive mid-week. Is that too late, though?
JOE CROPP: They're expecting to finish the evacuation by Wednesday afternoon. The arrival of the Australian Navy ship will be very welcome. That brings a lot of important resources that can provide help for the relief.
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Environment Pollution
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Pipeline that ruptured in fatal Coolidge explosion installed nearly 40 years ago; was originally for crude oil
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COOLIDGE, Ariz. — The pipeline that ruptured and exploded resulting in two dead and one injured in Coolidge in August was installed over three decades ago, the National Transportation Safety Board reported.
The NTSB released a report on its preliminary investigation of the explosion on Wednesday, detailing that a 46-foot section of the pipeline was ejected as a result.
Officials said the pipeline was installed in 1985 and was originally used to transport crude oil. It was converted to natural gas service about 20 years ago and acquired by Kinder Morgan in 2012.
Right before the explosion, the NTSB said the gas pressure of the pipeline was below the maximum allowed operating pressure.
RELATED: Safety expert weighs in on Coolidge's deadly pipeline explosion
On August 15, around 5:30 a.m., the pipeline exploded 120 yards away from a family's home, killing a father and his daughter and injuring the mother.
RELATED: Coolidge gas explosion was 120 yards from victims' home, officials said
The pipeline is owned by El Paso Natural Gas and its parent company, Kinder Morgan, which is one of the largest oil and gas infrastructure companies in the country.
The company has had other pipelines rupture in the past, sometimes resulting in fatalities.
Kinder Morgan's gasoline pipeline from Texas to Tucson famously broke in 2003, spilling thousands of gallons of gasoline, shutting down for weeks, causing a gasoline shortage across Arizona.
The company was fined $500,000 and had to pay $5.5 million for the environmental cleanup.
Catch up on the latest news and stories on the 12 News YouTube channel. Subscribe today.
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Gas explosion
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Zanthus train collision
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The Zanthus train collision occurred at a crossing loop on the Trans-Australian Railway between Perth and Sydney on 18 August 1999. It is located 739 km (459 mi) east northeast of Perth and 202 km (126 mi) east of Kalgoorlie in Western Australia, on the Nullarbor Plain. On 18 August 1999 an eastbound freight train was waiting at the departure end of the crossing loop for the westbound Indian Pacific passenger train to pass through. [1]
The second engineman was waiting at the control panel for the points for the opposing train to pass through. Out of habit he had the control panel box unlocked and opened. Unfortunately, out of habit, he pressed the button to operate the points at an inappropriate time, and the opposing train was diverted at a speed of about 40 km/h (25 mph) into the loop where it could not stop in time to avoid a head-on collision. The actual speed of impact as recorded by the locomotive data logger on NR 15 was 27 km/h. Twenty-one passengers and crew from the Indian Pacific were airlifted by the Royal Flying Doctor Service to Kalgoorlie Hospital from the remote Coonana airstrip, 40 km (25 mi) from the crash site. Only two passengers were admitted for overnight observations. Westrail provided two Prospector railcars to transfer the remainder of the passengers back to Kalgoorlie. All nineteen coaches of the Indian Pacific received varying degrees of damage, from minor internal damage to the write-off of luggage/smoking car HM311; some abandoned wrecked carriages are still at the site. [2] At the time, Great Southern Rail estimated the damage to the coaches to be of the value of $5 million. National Rail Corporation estimated the damage to locomotives NR15 and NR51 at around $1 million. Since the accident, the operation of the points at this and other crossing loops has been altered so that the point indicator lights will not operate until the access process is completed,[3] and this gives all trains time to stop at the red point indicator lights. The simplified overview of process is:
All traffic then proceeds as directed. This accident happened because the points were not fully interlocked, and were merely a kind of power-assisted hand lever, with automatic normalisation.
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Train collisions
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2017 IQA European Games
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The IQA European Games (EG) are the biennial games for the sport of quidditch held in Europe where national governing bodies send national teams to compete. [1] The European Games were created in response to the IQA World Cup,[2] the biennial tournament wherein nations from across the world compete in a similar style to the FIFA World Cup. [3] Both Games alternate years so in the off years regional tournaments such as the European Games or the Asian Quidditch Cup[4] can occur. These games are the highest level of championships in quidditch aside from Global Games. The 2015 champions were Team France, narrowly beating Team UK. [5]
The 2015 European Games were the inaugural championships of this tournament. Bid on by European cities,[6] the organizational body Quidditch Europe decided on Sarteano, Italy to host the games. [7] Sarteano proceeded to host an aggressive advertising campaign across the country[8] as well as locally which included the sale of specially made artisanal crafts, wine and cheese. [9] The 2019 edition was held in Bamberg, Germany. [10]
The twelve teams competing in the 2015 games were separated into two groups of six teams. [11] The group stage began on 25 July 2015 and ended the morning of the 26th. The groups themselves were split into pots based on EQC rankings[12] and seasonal performance matched up. [13] The top four teams from each group qualified for the bracket stage, where brackets were determined using the following criteria: games won, head-to-head, QPD[note 1] and SWIM catches. [note 2] Finally, the tournament ended with semi-finals, a third place final and the gold medal match. [13]
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Sports Competition
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Shot fired during bank robbery
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A shot has been fired during a hold-up of the Westpac Bank in the east Canberra suburb of Fyshwick. A robber wearing a black and white mask and armed with a gun demanded money from tellers in the Wollongong Street branch just before 1:00pm AEDT. During the bank robbery, the offender fired a weapon but no-one was hurt. Police say the bank's security screens were deployed and they believe the robber left empty-handed. The wanted man is described as having wavy shoulder-length hair and was well built. Police believe he is driving a beige coloured Audi with New South Wales registration.
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Bank Robbery
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2009 Southeastern United States floods
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The 2009 Southeastern United States floods were a group of floods that affected several counties throughout northern Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, and Arkansas. The worst flooding occurred across the Atlanta metropolitan area. Continuous rain, spawned by moisture pulled from the Gulf of Mexico, fell faster than the local watersheds could drain the runoff. Initial damages from around the state were estimated at $250 million. On September 26, Georgia Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine raised the estimated cost to $500 million with the potential for it to rise. Some 20,000 homes, businesses and other buildings received major damage and 17 Georgia counties received Federal Disaster Declarations. The flood is blamed for at least ten deaths. [1]
The floods were historic, breaking records that went back more than a century in some locations. The Chattahoochee River, the largest river in the region, measured water levels at a 500-year flood level. [2]
Rain began falling on the Atlanta area on September 15, 2009, with the National Weather Service reporting only 0.04 inches that day at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. [3] Additional rain fell throughout the week, with only a trace amount recorded for September 18. [3] However, a large rain event began to inundate the area on September 19. The official NWS monitoring station at the Atlanta airport recorded 3.70 inches (94 mm) of rainfall from daybreak to 8pm (more than doubling the previous record for rainfall on that date), while outlying monitoring stations recorded 5 inches (130 mm) of rainfall in a 13-hour period. [3] Flooding began in one neighborhood that day, with the remainder of the area placed under a flash flood watch for the rest of the weekend. [3]
Hundreds of people were rescued by boat from their homes, and at least ten people died, mostly in their cars by driving where water crossed the road, which motorists were repeatedly warned against on local radio and TV. The American Red Cross started emergency shelters in each county affected by the floods. Most Atlanta area school districts were closed September 21, due to floodwaters and the difficulty for school buses to get around the hundreds of closed roads. The Chattahoochee rose to the highest levels since Buford Dam was built. Water levels along the river rose over the 0.2 percent chance exceedence (500-year) flood at the gage location. [2] The River reached its second-highest level ever in Vinings at Paces Ferry Road, and would have surpassed its 1916 record were it not for the impoundment built in the 1950s. Along the river in both Vinings and Roswell, a one percent chance exceedence (100-year flood) level was measured. [2]
Peachtree Creek topped its stream gauge and the bridge itself at Northside Drive, but remained just below its 1916 record. Nancy Creek, however, did reach a record level, destroying the Peachtree-Dunwoody Road bridge. Peachtree-Dunwoody Road bridge reopened March 23, 2010. Both Peachtree Creek and Nancy Creek are tributaries of the Chattahoochee River. The western side of the Interstate 285 beltway crosses the Chattahoochee River. This section of the interstate was completely underwater for several days. Many of the roller coasters and rides at Six Flags Over Georgia were partly underwater, with at least 80% of Great American Scream Machine submerged by the Chattahoochee River. Located along the Chattahoochee River in west Atlanta, the R.M. Clayton sewage treatment plant, the largest in the Southeastern U.S., was swamped with four feet of water as the river rose by twelve additional feet. Millions of gallons of untreated sewage were released into the rising waters. [4] Other plants in Cobb and Gwinnett counties experienced similar spills. [5] Also located near the Chattahoochee, a Kellogg Company food plant was flooded, resulting in the closure of the plant and a subsequent national shortage of frozen waffles. [6]
Lake Lanier rose quickly, while Lake Allatoona soared to more than ten feet or three meters over full pool, using its flood reserve capacity for the first time after years of the 2006–2009 Southeastern U.S. drought. Lake Allatoona reached its highest level since 1990. On Monday, September 21, Sweetwater Creek rose to its highest level ever. On September 22, The United States Geological Survey measured the greatest flow ever recorded on Sweetwater Creek, at 28,000 cubic feet per second (790 m3/s). [2] The flooding from the creek was met with water from the swollen Chattahoochee River, which blocked Interstate 20 west of Atlanta for two days. Many homes and businesses in the area were completely submerged. Interstate 575 was heavily blocked by Noonday Creek, which also blocked several other roads including Georgia State Route 92. The Little River also caused major problems in the same area, blocking the original parallel route of Georgia 5 (which was replaced by I-575 in the 1980s), and Arnold Mill Road, north and east of Woodstock. Commuters trying to get back home to Cherokee county found it took hours due to the numerous road closures and unmarked detours, extending the September 21, 2009 rush hour until after 9:00pm as people sat in gridlocked traffic. Kennesaw State University in Cobb County received significant flooding on several parts of campus including the east parking deck. Several buildings and dormitories along Campus Loop Drive were flooded from a nearby creek and lake. Water rushing into the Social Science building reportedly rose up to the bottom of the hand-rail of the first floor stairs. Classes were cancelled at 1:00pm on Monday, September 21 for the remainder of the day and again on September 22 and 23 while damage was assessed and clean-up began. [7]
Pope High School was surrounded by water, which receded in time to let the students leave. Clarkdale Elementary School was flooded to the roof. Students were evacuated early September 21, while waters were ankle-deep. The Cobb County School District, wary of rising waters, let middle school students leave before elementary and high schools.
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Floods
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Anthony Ramos & His Fiancée Just Broke Up After 6 Years Together Amid Rumors He Cheated on Her
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All is not well in Hollywood, and the celebrity breakups of 2021 show that. So far in 2021, we’ve seen celebrity couples like Shia Labeouf and Margaret Qualley, and Zoë Kravitz and Karl Glusman call it quits. And as we know from past years, there will be more celebrity breakups to come in 2021. Before we dive into all the couples who have split in the past year, let’s look back at the celebrity couples we lost in 2020. Everyone and their moms knows that 2020 was a dumpster fire, so, as expected, there were a lot of celebrity splits that shook us to our core. Some examples include Demi Lovato and Max Ehrich (who split two months after their engagement ); Kelly Clarkson and manager Brandon Blackstock (who are in a legal battle over alleged unpaid commissions); and Kristin Cavallari and Jay Cutle r (who split in 2020 after almost seven years of marriage.) Now that we’re in 2021, we’re sad to report that more celebrity couples have come and gone. From married celebrity couples to matches that we made on reality TV, the biggest celebrity breakups of 2021 is one sad list. Ahead, are the most shocking celebrity splits from the past year so far. Anthony Ramos & Jasmine Cephas Jones
A post shared by Anthony Ramos (@anthonyramosofficial)
Hamilton stars Anthony Ramos and Jasmine Cephas Jones ended their engagement after six years together, a source confirmed to Us Weekly on November 30, 2021. The former couple, who met during rehearsals for the Off-Broadway production of Hamilton at The Public Theatre in 2014, got engaged on Christmas Eve in 2018. Ramos announced their engagement in an Instagram post at the time, writing, “I love you Jas. Thank you for saying yes to writing stories together for the rest of our lives. I’m honored and Blessed to marry you.” Cephas Jones, for her part, wrote in an Instagram caption of her own: “My beloved Anthony, On Christmas Eve you got down on one knee and proposed to me in front of my favorite castle in Arundel that I used to visit all the time as a child. I love you beyond words and am so excited to continue this awesome journey with you.”
News of the pair’s split comes amid speculation that Ramos was cheating on his then-fiancée after he was reportedly spotted at a strip club in Los Angeles. In a now-private TikTok video posted on November 29, 2021, one TikTok user claims that she witnessed the In the Heights actor arrive at the club with a woman. She alleged that the pair was “tipping the dancers and was all over each other.” According to a source who spoke to Us Weekly on November 30, 2021, however, Ramos and Cephas Jones had already called it quits before the outing. “Their engagement previously ended,” the insider noted at the time. Kaia Gerber & Jacob Elordi
Image: Xavier Collin/Image Press Agency/Sipa USA. Kaia Gerber and Jacob Elordi have broken up after one year together. E! News confirmed the split on November 18, 2021. “They split and it is amicable,” a source told the site. The breakup came two months after the former couple made their red carpet debut at the Academy Museum of Motions Pictures’ opening gala in Los Angeles in September 2021. In an interview with Vogue in 2021, Gerber opened up about what it was like to be in a relationship with Elordi. “Being able to be with someone I trust, where we don’t want anything from each other, having a safe, steady relationship like that, has really opened my eyes to the possibilities of love and what it feels like to love without conditions,” she said at the time. “Lust is touching other people or wanting them, but love is really seeing someone.”
Shawn Mendes & Camila Cabello
Image: Anthony Behar/Sipa USA. Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello confirmed their breakup on November 17, 2021. The couple announced in a joint statement at the time that they had split after two years together but will continue to remain friends. “Hey guys, we’ve decided to end our romantic relationship but our love for one another as humans is stronger than ever,” their statement read. “We started out relationship as best friends and will continue to be best friends. We so appreciate your support from the beginning and moving forward.”
The breakup came less than a month after Shawn and Camila wore matching folklorico costumes for Halloween and Day of the Dead. Two months before their split, the couple, who lived together in Miami, Florida, also walked the red carpet together at the Met Gala for the first time. Madelyn Cline & Chase Stokes
A post shared by Maddie (@madelyncline)
Both E! News and People confirmed on Tuesday, November 2 that Outer Banks stars Chase Stokes and Madelyn Cline broke up after just over a year together. The pair, who announced their relationship in June 2020 and celebrated their first anniversary in April 2021, reportedly broke things off “months” ago, according to an insider who spoke to People. “Madelyn and Chase are no longer together,” the source told the site on Tuesday. “They were trying to work things out privately but broke up a couple of months ago.” Another insider added at the time, “They are definitely broken up.”
Stokes and Cline’s breakup comes just weeks after the Netflix actress was spotted dancing with 13 Reasons Why alum, Ross Butler. The actor, 31, denied that there was “anything” going on between him and the Outer Banks star when asked about their relationship by a TMZ reporter in October 2021, telling them at the time that he and Cline were “just friends.”
Zayn Malik & Gigi Hadid
Image: XPX/STAR MAX/IPx. Gigi Hadid and Zayn Malik are over. A source told People on October 28, 2021, that the couple—who share daughter Khai—split after Zayn allegedly “struck” Gigi’s mother, Yolanda Hadid. “They are not together right now. They are both good parents though,” the insider said. “They co-parent. Yolanda is of course very protective of Gigi. She wants the best for her daughter and grandchild.”
TMZ reported at the time that Yolanda planned to file a police report against Zayn after he physically “struck” her in a fight. “Gigi is solely focused on the best for Khai. She asks for privacy during this time,” a representative for Gigi said at the time. In a tweet at the time, Zayn confirmed that he and Yolanda had an argument after she “entered” his home with Gigi while he was home alone. “As you all know I am a private person and I very much want to create a safe and private space for my daughter to grow up in,” he wrote. “A place where private family matters aren’t thrown on the world stage for all to poke and pick apart. In an effort to protect that space for her I agreed to not contest claims arising from an argument I had with a family member of a partner’s who entered our home while my partner was away several weeks ago.”
He continued, “This was and still should be a private matter but it seems for now there is divisiveness and despite my efforts to restore us to a peaceful family environment that will allow for me to co-parent my daughter in a manner in which she deserves, this has been ‘leaked’ to the press. I am hopeful though for healing for all involved with the harsh words shared and more importantly I remain vigilant to protect Khai and give her the privacy she deserves.”
Zayn also responded to the claims in a statement to TMZ where he “adamantly” denied that he physically “struck” Yolanda and slammed her “false allegation” about the assault. “I adamantly deny striking Yolanda Hadid and for the sake of my daughter I decline to give any further details and I hope that Yolanda will reconsider her false allegations and move towards healing these family issues in private,” he said. Katie Thurston & Blake Moynes
Image: Courtesy of ABC/Craig Sjodin. Katie Thurston and Blake Moynes broke up two months after their engagement aired on the season 17 finale of The Bachelorette. Katie confirmed the split in an Instagram post on October 25, 2021. “It is with mutual love and respect that we have decided to go our separate ways. We are so grateful for the moments we shared together and the entire journey that has unfolded this year, but we ultimately have concluded that we are not compatible as life partners, and it is the most caring choice for both of us to move forward independently. We ask for kindness and privacy as we both navigate this transition. Both of us will forever want the best for one another and ask you to please support us in our decision,” she captioned a black-and-white photo of her and Blake at the “After the Final Rose” ceremony. Blake posted the same statement on his Instagram. Days before her split, Katie told Us Weekly that she was “winging” she and Blake lived apart. Katie moved to San Diego, while Blake lives in Canada. His job as a wildlife manager also takes him around the world, including a recent trip to Africa. “I’m, like, totally winging my life right now,” she said at the time. “I literally leave tomorrow in San Diego at, like, six in the morning.” “The short version is we’re figuring it out,” she continued. “We don’t know. This is very new to us still. I’m just focusing on myself. He’s focusing on him, and if we work doing that, great.”
JoJo Siwa & Kylie Prew
Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP. Dance Moms alum JoJo Siwa has reportedly broken up with Kylie Prew after less than a year together. An insider told E! News on Monday, October 25 that JoJo and her partner “split weeks ago.” JoJo, who stars on Dancing With the Stars season 30 , started dating her first girlfriend in January 2021. “After being my best friend for over a year, January 8th 2021, I got to start calling this exceptional human my Girlfriend,” she wrote on social media in February. “Since then I’ve been the happiest I have ever been!” The reality star previously came out as a member of the LGBTQ+ community in a post to her followers earlier that month. According to a separate source who spoke to The Sun , the pair reportedly broke up after Kylie started to become “jealous” of JoJo’s relationship with her DWTS partner, Jenna Johnson. “They split. Kylie became jealous of the relationship JoJo has fostered with Jenna,” the insider told the site at the time. “JoJo is a mess.” The source went on to suggest that JoJo’s “busy” schedule may have contributed to the breakup, noting, “I think JoJo has always been a workhorse, but having a relationship and trying to keep up with a massive star schedule—it’s a challenge.”
Lala Kent & Randall Emmett
A post shared by Randall Emmett (@randallemmettfilms)
Vanderpump Rules‘ Lala Kent and Randall Emmett are broken up. Page Six reported on October 18, 2021, that the couple ended their engagement after rumors that Randall cheated on Lala with two women in Nashville. “Randall always lives a double life,” a source told the site. “He lives the life of a husband or boyfriend, and then he lives the life of a serial partier and then goes on a bender.”
The split came after photos and videos of Randall with two women went viral on Instagram and Twitter. After the viral videos and photos, Lala deleted all posts of her ex from her Instagram. She also liked an Instagram post about him allegedly cheating on her, as well as shared a video on her Instagram Story of her moving into a hotel as Beyoncé’s “Sorry” played in the background with the lyrics: “Now you want to say you’re sorry / Now you want to call me crying / Now you gotta see me wilding / Now I’m the one that’s lying / And I don’t feel bad about it / It’s exactly what you get.” Lala and Randall, who got engaged in 2018, share daughter Ocean. Clare Crawley & Dale Moss
Image: ABC/Craig Sjodin. Season 16 Bachelorette Clare Crawley and Dale Moss are broken up. Us Weekly confirmed on September 28, 2021, that the couple had ended their engagement less than a year after they got back together. “It was best for them to go their separate ways at this time,” a source said. “They will still support each other and have love for each other no matter what.” The split also came after Dale was seen at several events, including a friend’s wedding and his own birthday party, without Clare. “[Dale] didn’t mention why she didn’t go,” the source said. “He was celebrating his friend’s wedding and wasn’t going around telling people about his own personal life.”
Clare and Dale met and got engaged on season 16 of The Bachelorette in 2020. They broke up in January 2021 amid rumors he cheated on her. E! News reported that Dale had cheated on Clare with Eleonora Srugo, a real estate agent in New York City that he knew before her season. (Srugo denied that their relationship was romantic.) Us Weekly reported in July 2021 that Clare and Dale were back together and engaged again. “They’re still working on some issues they have to overcome but it’s not like they make it known,” an insider said at the time. “They’re more private when it comes to their issues. The good thing is that they’re happy together and enjoying this time as an engaged couple. They love each other very much and care for each other.”
The source continued, “[They are] a much better place than where they were months ago….They have plans to travel this summer. She still has her home in Sacramento. Sacramento will always be home to her and she’ll be in California a lot still since she still takes care of her mom and her sisters live there.”
Elon Musk & Grimes
Image: zz/XPX/STAR MAX/IPx. Page Six reported on September 24, 2021, that Elon Musk and Grimes had broken up after three years of dating. Musk confirmed the breakup and told Page Six that he and Grimes had “semi-separated” but remain on good terms. The split came a year after the birth of their son, X Æ A-Xii Musk. “We are semi-separated but still love each other, see each other frequently and are on great terms,” Musk told Page Six. “It’s mostly that my work at SpaceX and Tesla requires me to be primarily in Texas or traveling overseas and her work is primarily in LA. She’s staying with me now and Baby X is in the adjacent room.”
Phoebe Dynevor & Pete Davidson
Image: Steven Paston/PA Wire. The Sun reported on August 15 that Phoebe Dynevor and Pete Davidson had split after five months of dating due to long distance. Dynevor, who stars in Bridgerton, lives in England, while Davidson, who is a cast member on Saturday Night Live, is based in New York. “Their mates think they make a great couple, but the distance has made it completely unworkable,” an insider told The Sun. “They had fun and will remain close, but unless something drastic changes, their relationship won’t recover.”
The source continued, “It was wild while it lasted, and they both really care for each other. But the distance has put a strain on them.”
Olivia Jade & Jackson Guthy
A post shared by olivia jade (@oliviajade)
Olivia Jade confirmed on her Instagram Story on August 12 that she and her boyfriend, Jackson Guthy, had split after two years of dating. In her post, Olivia responded to a follower who asked, “R u single?” She replied, “I am indeed,” alongside a photo of her smiling with her arm in the air. Olivia later offered dating advice to women in their 20s. “You’re still so young!” she wrote. “Have fun, be safe, & let the universe do it’s [sic] thingggg. What is meant to be will be.”
This isn’t the first time Olivia and Jackson have broken up. In May 2019, Us Weekly reported that Jackson broke up with Olivia after her parents, Lori Loughlin and Mossimo Gianulli, were arrested for their part in the college admissions scandal.
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Famous Person - Divorce
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62.2 pc death row prisoners diagnosed with at least one mental illness: Study
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A study on the mental illness and intellectual disability among death row prisoners has shown that over 62 per cent had at least one mental illness, half of them contemplated suicide in jail and experienced adverse childhood and traumatic life experiences.
Project 39A, a criminal justice program at the National Law University Delhi, conducted a study on 88 death row prisoners, three female, and 85 male, and their families across Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Karnataka, Kerala, and Madhya Pradesh.
The findings of the study titled "Deathworthy: A mental Health Perspective of the Death Penalty" presented empirical data on mental illness and intellectual disability among death row prisoners in India and the psychological consequences of living on death row.
The report which was released after five years of research also established correlations between conditions of incarceration and ill-health.
The report stated that it was found that an "overwhelming" majority of death row prisoners interviewed -- 62.2 per cent, had a mental illness and 11 per cent had an intellectual disability.
This proportion is overwhelmingly higher than the proportion in the community population, it said.
51 death row prisoners (62.2 per cent) were diagnosed with at least one mental illness. 35.3 per cent were diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder (MMD), 22.6 per cent were diagnosed with Generalised Anxiety Disorder and 6.8 per cent screened positive for psychosis, the report said.
On Wednesday, speaking at a panel discussion organized to mark the release of the report, Justice S Muralidhar, Chief Justice of Orissa High Court, said that sentencing should be a socio-legal exercise and take into account a 360 degree understanding of the victim's perspective, the victim's family perspective, history and the wider impact of the society at large.
This report tries to show us that even the accused are, in a way, victims, he further said.
The study showed that 19 out of the 88 prisoners who were interviewed were ultimately acquitted and the sentence of 33 prisoners was commuted to various terms of life imprisonment.
13 out of the 19 prisoners who are now acquitted were diagnosed with at least one mental illness, three had attempted suicide in prison. Of the 30 prisoners diagnosed with depression, 17 are now no more on death row, Maitreyi Misra, the lead author of the study, stated in the report.
The report added, Of the 34 prisoners who had been at risk of suicide, 20 are not on death row anymore. Half of those who were actively contemplating suicide around the time of the interview is not on death row anymore.
Almost 9 out of 83 death row prisoners were diagnosed with intellectual disability. Over 75 percent of prisoners were found to have deficits in intellectual functioning.
While international law prohibits the imposition of the death sentence on persons with mental disabilities, in the case of these nine prisoners, their disability was not even brought to the attention of the courts, Misra added.
Besides this, 34 death row prisoners, over 50 per cent, out of the 63 prisoners who volunteered information on suicidal behaviour and ideation spoke about contemplating suicide at least once in prison.
According to the report, one man spent 14 years on death row in solitary confinement and reported having heard voices, seen a goddess, and even attempted to kill himself.
Eight prisoners had attempted suicide in prison, the study stated, adding that these numbers and proportions are alarmingly high when compared to the proportion of those at high risk of suicide among the general prison population and in the community.
The study also showed that the death row prisoners suffered from childhood abuse, neglect, and disturbed family environments.
Among the 88 prisoners interviewed, the cascading effect of poverty was clear. 46 prisoners were physically or verbally abused as children, 64 were neglected, and 73 prisoners grew up in disturbed family environments. 46 prisoners had less than 10 years of education, 28 had early onset of substance abuse. 73 prisoners had experienced three or more adverse experiences, the report finds.
Over 56 prisoners experienced three or more potentially traumatic experiences like natural disasters, physical abuse, accidents, the report said adding that prisoners who were diagnosed with a current episode of MDD reported experiencing more traumatic life events than those who were not diagnosed.
It further stated that death row prisoners are treated as a separate class of prisoners and, more often than not, the violence and alienation are directly linked to their belonging to this separate class -- the living dead.
It stated that the families of death row prisoners go through this punishment as well, who are assumed to be guilty by association and are left behind to face the wrath and collective condemnation of society.
Not knowing whether their loved one is going to live or die, families deal with this 'ambiguous loss' without being able to grieve openly because who, after all, would mourn the loss of a death row prisoner. Their 'disenfranchised grief' remains unexpressed and unvalidated, the report added.
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Famous Person - Sick
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1994-95 Major League Baseball strike
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The 1994–95 Major League Baseball strike was the eighth work stoppage in baseball history, as well as the fourth in-season work stoppage in 22 years. [1] The strike began on August 12, 1994, and resulted in the remainder of that season being cancelled, including the postseason and, for the first time since 1904, the World Series. The strike was suspended on April 2, 1995, after 232 days, making it the longest such stoppage in MLB history and the longest work stoppage in major league professional sports at the time (breaking the record set by the 1981 strike, also in MLB); its length was later surpassed by the 2004–05 NHL lockout, which ran for 310 days and caused the cancellation of that league's entire 2004–05 season. [1]
In the baseball strike, 948 games were cancelled in all, and MLB became the first-ever major American professional sports league to lose an entire postseason due to labor struggles. Due to the strike, both the 1994 and 1995 seasons were not played to a complete 162 games; the strike was called after most teams had played at least 113 games in 1994. Each team played 144 games in 1995. In response to a worsening financial situation[2] in baseball, the owners of Major League Baseball teams collectively proposed a salary cap to their players. [3] Ownership claimed that small-market clubs would fall by the wayside unless teams agreed to share local broadcasting revenues (to increase equity among the teams) and enact a salary cap, a proposal that the players adamantly opposed. On January 18, 1994, the owners approved a new revenue-sharing plan keyed to a salary cap, which required the players' approval. [4][5] The following day, the owners amended the Major League agreement by giving complete power to the commissioner on labor negotiations. The dispute was played out with a backdrop of years of hostility and mistrust between the two sides. What arguably stood in the way of a compromise settlement was the absence of an official commissioner ever since the owners forced Fay Vincent to resign in September 1992. Vincent said the owners had colluded in the signing of free agents, which led to "a $280 million theft" by Bud Selig and Jerry Reinsdorf, which "polluted labor relations in baseball" and left Donald Fehr, executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association, with "no trust in Selig. "[6] On February 11, 1994, the owners greatly reduced the commissioner's power to act in "the best interests of baseball. "[7]
Owner representative Richard Ravitch officially unveiled the ownership proposal on June 14, 1994. [8] The proposal would guarantee a record $1 billion in salary and benefits. [9] But the ownership proposal also would have forced clubs to fit their payrolls into a more evenly based structure. Salary arbitration would have been eliminated, free agency would begin after four years rather than six, and owners would have retained the right to keep a four- or five-year player by matching his best offer. [10] Owners claimed that their proposal would raise average salaries from $1.2 million in 1994 to $2.6 million by 2001. [9]
Fehr rejected the offer from the owners on July 18. He believed a salary cap was simply a way for owners to clean up their own disparity problems with no benefit to the players. On July 13, 1994, Fehr said if serious negotiations between the players and the owners did not begin soon, the players could go out on strike in September of that year, threatening the postseason. On December 31, 1993, Major League Baseball's collective bargaining agreement ran out with no new agreement yet signed. [11]
As negotiations continued to heat up, the owners decided to withhold $7.8 million that they were required to pay per previous agreement into the players' pension and benefit plans. The final straw came on June 23 when the Senate Judiciary Committee failed to approve an antitrust legislation by a vote of 10–7. According to Fehr, the action left the players with little choice but to strike. "We felt in '94 we were pushed into it," he said. "I still think that's a justified conclusion. "[12]
On July 28, the Players Association executive board set August 12, 1994, as a strike date. [13] When that day came, the players went ahead with their threat to walk off the job. [14] The last games of that baseball season were played on August 11, 1994. On August 31, three-and-a-half hours of negotiations with federal mediators produced no progress in the strike, and no further talks were scheduled as the strike went into its 4th week. According to then-acting commissioner Bud Selig, September 9 was the tentative deadline for canceling the rest of the season if no agreement was reached between the owners and players. The MLBPA offered a counterproposal to ownership on September 8 calling for a two-percent tax on the 16 franchises with the highest payrolls to be divided among the other 12 clubs. Teams in both leagues would share 25% of all gate receipts under the MLBPA's plan. The owners responded by claiming that the measures wouldn't meet the cost. The rest of the season, including the World Series, was called off by Bud Selig on September 14. [15] Selig acknowledged that the strike had torn an irreparable hole in the game's fabric. [15] The move to cancel the rest of the season meant the loss of $580 million in ownership revenue and $230 million in player salaries. In 1994, the average MLB salary was an estimated $1.2 million. The Montreal Expos' best season in their history was stopped by the strike. They had the best record in baseball, 74–40, and were six games ahead of the Atlanta Braves in the NL East despite having the second-lowest payroll in MLB. [16] Most baseball writers considered the Expos to be World Series contenders. Coincidentally, the only time that the Expos actually made it to the postseason was in 1981, the last time that there was a significant players' strike in Major League Baseball. [17] That season, Montreal qualified by winning the 2nd half of the 1981 season. Chicago White Sox star Frank Thomas, who wound up winning the American League's Most Valuable Player (MVP) Award for the second year in a row in 1994,[18] said "I've had a career year, but I'm not going to finish it. "[19] Tony Gwynn had a chance to be the first to finish a season over .400 since Ted Williams, as he was batting .394 at the time of the strike. The strike also cost Matt Williams of the San Francisco Giants a chance to beat Roger Maris' single season home run record. When the strike forced the cancellation of the remaining 47 games of the season, Williams had already hit 43 home runs, on pace to match Maris' single season record of 61 home runs. [20] Cleveland Indians second baseman Carlos Baerga was unable to extend his record two-year streak of 20 home runs, 200 hits, and 100 RBI by a second baseman because of the strike.
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Strike
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Poland, Latvia worry over Russia's war games on tense EU-Belarus border
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BRUSSELS, Sept 2 (Reuters) - Poland and Latvia expressed concern on Thursday over Russia's looming military drills held jointly on Belarus' western border where the European Union accuses Minsk of pushing migrants over to put pressure on the bloc. Poland, Latvia and Lithuania sealed off their eastern borders after several thousand people - including from Iraq, Afghanistan, Congo and Cameroon - got in, crossing on foot from Belarus through dense woods. The EU accused Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko of blackmail and risking the lives of the migrants for political revenge on the bloc after it had slapped sanctions on Minsk. That came after Belarus forced a Western airplane to land on its soil to arrest a Lukashenko critic on board, part of a sweeping crackdown on dissidents protesting a disputed 2020 presidential election. "What is happening in Belarus is a hybrid attack on our borders where basically the state is kidnapping people, giving them visas and then pushing them into the border area," Latvian Defence Minister Artis Pabriks told the European Parliament. "This is a dangerous thing particularly because of military exercises Zapad 2021. They are colliding in the same place at the borders of the European Union." Speaking at the same hearing, Poland's EU ambassador said Lukashenko was testing the bloc and warned the situation might get more tense with the Zapad - or "West" - wargames due to start on Sept.10. "Some of the elements of the exercises will be held in the vicinity of EU borders," said Andrzej Sados. "This creates additional risks of incidents." The EU - increasingly restrictive on immigration since Mediterranean arrivals overwhelmed it in 2015 - supports its eastern members in preventing irregular migrants from coming, though rights groups demand help for the people. "We need not only EU coordination but support including the possibility of new sanctions because our borders are under stress," said Pabriks. A deputy foreign minister of Lithuania also demanded further sanctions on Belarus, including restricting access to international financial markets for flag carrier Belavia, which is already blocked from European skies. He said new sanctions should target "Belarusian state entities and persons involved in the smuggling of migrants across the eastern EU border and the abuse of human rights." Belarus said last month the Zapad drills would involve thousands of servicemen, as well as tanks, artillery and aircraft. The annual exercises often unnerve the West but this year the situation is more tense over the migration issue. Lukashenko has said he will no longer hold back migrants after the EU imposed sanctions over the 2020 presidential election and Minsk's subsequent crackdown on protesters. Some 166 persons - including government ministers, army and security officials, as well as judges accused of playing an active role in the crackdown - and 15 entities are now on the EU's blacklist, meaning any assets they hold in the bloc are seized and they cannot travel to any of the 27 member states. The broader economic sanctions bar sales of equipment to Belarus that might be used for monitoring of the Internet or telephone calls, and restrict trade in petrol products as well as potash, Minsk's main export. The European Commission proposed on Friday that EU countries suspend travel links with countries in which the new variant of the coronavirus called B.1.1.529, has been found.
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Military Exercise
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43 people at Saskatoon apartment building treated for carbon monoxide poisoning
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The Saskatoon Fire Department (SFD) says a carbon monoxide leak at an apartment building was a dangerous situation that could have resulted in multiple deaths.
The department said it received a call just after 6 p.m. Thursday reporting the possible presence of carbon monoxide at 12 Bateman Cres.
A detector returned an initial carbon monoxide reading of 350 ppm, fire officials said, with readings in the main hallway over 200 ppm.
“This was a serious incident that could have turned out very differently,” SFD Chief Morgan Hackl said.
“There’s no doubt, many lives were saved.”
Read more: Winnipeg apartment block evacuated in early morning carbon monoxide incident
The cause was traced to the boiler room.
SaskEnergy crews reported a reading of 412 ppm and said the boiler had rusted and exhaust was being pumped into the building.
The apartment building is closed and the SFD said it will remain that way until repairs are completed.
Around 50 people were evacuated from the building and Medavie Health Services West (MHS) said paramedics took 29 people to hospital for treatment of carbon monoxide poisoning.
The Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) said Saskatoon City Hospital took in 17 adult and 16 pediatric patients while Royal University Hospital and Jim Pattison Children’s Hospital took in four adults and six children.
It added all patients were treated and discharged from the emergency department.
MHS spokesperson Troy Davies said a Code Orange was called and they activated their special operations unit.
Twenty-five people were taken to City Hospital for treatment. Davies said 18 patients were transported in the special operations unit, with SFD members providing assistance.
Four patients were taken to Royal University Hospital.
Read more: Lung Association of Saskatchewan warns of carbon monoxide in homes after blizzard
Davies said this is the highest number of carbon monoxide patients he recalls paramedics treating at one time in 25 years.
“Paramedics would like to personally thank Dr. (Mark) Wahba for his quick response that could have turned out much worse, and also thank all ER department staff for the amazing job triaging patients,” Davis said in a statement.
He added that all 29 patients are in stable condition.
The SFD said it is inspecting other neighbouring buildings and has closed the apartment building at 20 Bateman Cres. due to boiler issues and improper ventilation.
Roughly 50 residents have been evacuated from the building and the SFD said it is not known when they will be allowed to return to their suites.
Fire officials added the property owner is arranging for hotel rooms for the evacuated residents and has secured 30 carbon monoxide detectors for installation in the building.
“The Saskatoon Fire Department urges all residential homes and multi-unit residences to have carbon monoxide alarms. They save lives,” Hackl said.
Carbon monoxide is an invisible, odourless and poisonous gas.
Symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning include headaches, dizziness and confusion in low concentrations, according to the Lung Association of Saskatchewan.
It can cause comas and death in higher concentrations.
The Lung Association of Saskatchewan says every household should have a carbon monoxide detector.
The SFD said homeowners and property owners can take steps to protect homes from carbon monoxide poisoning.
They said furnaces, water heaters, chimney vents and pipes need to be kept free of obstructions.
All gas equipment and appliances should be properly installed, maintained and serviced by a licensed contractor and the manufacturer’s directions for proper operation and care need to be followed.
Generators, barbecues and portable propane heaters should only be used outside and vehicles and fuelled engines should not be left running indoors.
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Mass Poisoning
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France to lead Quad naval drill in Indo-Pacific challenge to China
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NEW DELHI/PARIS -- In a first, India will join its Quad partners -- Australia, Japan and the U.S. -- in a French-led naval drill in the Bay of Bengal next week, as the nations seek to improve Indo-Pacific maritime security. The first edition of the La Perouse exercise, named after an 18th century French naval officer and explorer, was held in 2019 without India. Three days of drills will take place from Monday. They "will provide an opportunity for these five like-minded, high-end naval forces to develop closer links, sharpen their skills, and promote maritime cooperation throughout a free and open Indo-Pacific," the French embassy in New Delhi said in a statement on Wednesday. The drill follows the maiden summit of Quad leaders, held virtually on Mar. 12, and viewed as a defining moment in Asia's geopolitics. That was followed by U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin's visit to New Delhi as part of his first overseas trip since taking office -- a tour that also included Japan and South Korea. The four Quad nations joined hands for a maritime exercise after the November 2020 Malabar drill in the Indo-Pacific. With France, the four nations are expected to take this cooperation to a new high. "The significance of this coming together of the Quad nations for a multilateral military exercise is not lost on those keenly watching this space," N.C. Bipindra, a defense and strategic affairs analyst and editor at news portal Defence.Capital, told Nikkei Asia. "Obviously, China will be one of those observers of what is going on closer home, as it has in recent years raised the stakes in the Indo-Pacific region through its aggressive military activity." The Quad -- a loose security grouping -- and France frequently talk at various forums about the need for freedom of navigation in Indo-Pacific, a euphemism for China's "illegal" maritime territorial claims in the South China Sea. "It is but natural to see the La Perouse maritime military exercise as a move by these five nations to practice naval maneuvers for interoperability during a crisis situation in the region," Bipindra said. "It is an indicator of how the future will unfold in the region's geopolitical dynamics," he said, adding it also seems like the initial flicker at the end of the tunnel for the Quad itself expanding with inclusion of other democracies that have stakes in the region such as France and the U.K. "Already, there is talk of Quad emerging as Asia's NATO." Isabelle Saint-Mezard, an associate researcher at the French Institute of International Relations, said the upcoming La Perouse exercise signals that France "is a stakeholder in like-minded and variable-geometry coalitions" that want to promote the law of the sea, freedom of navigation, peaceful resolution of conflicts, and to sum up, a rules-based multilateral order. "This type of cooperation, which is flexible and still not very institutionalized, seems to be a privileged tool for action in the immense space that is the Indo-Pacific," she told Nikkei Asia. Days ahead of La Perouse, the navies of India and the U.S. also conducted an exercise in the eastern Indian Ocean Region on March 28-29. The Indian side deployed guided-missile frigate INS Shivalik and long-range maritime patrol aircraft P8I, while the USS Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group participated from the American side. An Indian navy spokesperson said the exercise consolidated synergy and interoperability achieved during Malabar 2020. In La Perouse, two French warships -- Tonnerre and Surcouf -- will participate. The two vessels form the Jeanne d'Arc battlegroup, which set sail from France in February for a five-month deployment in the Indo-Pacific with the aim of providing training to a new cohort of 148 French naval officer cadets. "I look forward to the La Perouse joint exercise, during which these two French navy ships will be joined by ships from India, Australia, Japan, and the USA for a concrete demonstration of multilateralism at sea and our commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific," French ambassador to India, Emmanuel Lenain, said in the Wednesday statement. Pankaj Jha, a former deputy director of India's National Security Council Secretariat and now a professor of defense and strategic studies at O.P. Jindal Global University, said the larger aim of the exercise is to build a nexus on two counts: a trilateral France-Australia-India mechanism, and Quad plus France in the Indian Ocean. "France has been aware of the fact that Chinese have been making certain under sea moves [scavenging for minerals and resources], particularly in French territories in the Indian Ocean, so they wanted [to do something that] acts as a deterrent and also as a collaborative effort," he added. In an opinion piece published in the Chinese Communist Party's mouthpiece Global Times on Mar. 16, Beijing-based military analyst Wei Dongxu called the upcoming drill "a publicity stunt" and Quad "a loosely knit group which was established for temporary interests of its members." At the same time, Wei wrote, the military moves of Quad "are obviously aimed" at China. "What China needs to do now is to improve its own military capabilities and to strengthen its comprehensive maritime combat abilities while proving to the world that a stronger Chinese navy will safeguard world peace and stability." Analysts in New Delhi say that while Beijing is making lots of noise over such exercises in the region, it is mainly concerned about some of the countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, including those with which it has territorial disputes in South China Sea, tilting toward a Quad plus set-up. "If France joins Quad plus it doesn't make much difference to the Chinese, but if Vietnam, Indonesia or the Philippines joins the Quad then it makes a huge difference [to Beijing] because these countries will offer their naval bases [in the region to Quad members]," Srikanth Kondapalli, a professor of Chinese Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University, told Nikkei Asia. "The French will have to come this far to conduct exercises and obviously, after that, they will have to go home. But, the Vietnamese, Filipinos, Indonesians or Malaysians are here only and they will offer their naval bases, which will aggravate the situation for the Chinese," he added. Meanwhile, two Royal Australian Navy ships, HMA Ships Anzac (III) and Sirius -- which are conducting a two-month deployment throughout the Northeast Indian Ocean and Southeast Asia -- will participate in La Perouse. "We are strongly committed to our vital work with regional partners to address shared challenges, including our region's maritime security," Australia's acting defense minister Marise Payne said on March 15. "Regular cooperation with our partners and neighbors is critical for maintaining a peaceful, inclusive, sovereign and resilient Indo-Pacific region, where the rights of all states are respected."
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Military Exercise
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Singapore's youth unemployment rate higher in 2020 compared to previous economic downturns
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SINGAPORE — Compared to previous downturns such as the 2009 Global Financial Crisis and the 2003 severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) pandemic, Singapore's youth unemployment rate was higher in 2020. The youth unemployment rate was 10.6 per cent in 2020 In comparison, it was 8.8 per cent during the 2009 Global Financial Crisis and 9.3 per cent during the Sars epidemic The youth long-term unemployment rate was 1.1 per cent in 2020 Economists said that youth labour market conditions reflect the economic downturn SINGAPORE — Compared to previous downturns such as the 2009 Global Financial Crisis and the 2003 severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) pandemic, Singapore's youth unemployment rate was higher in 2020. This is likely because it was challenging for young people to secure part-time or temporary employment in the , the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) said on Thursday (June 17). In its latest labour market report for the first quarter of this year, MOM noted, however, that “youth unemployment is mostly transitional and short term” and the overall long-term youth unemployment rate was still in line with past downturns and lower than in other advanced economies. The youth unemployment rate was 10.6 per cent in 2020, compared to 8.8 per cent during the Global Financial Crisis and 9.3 per cent during the Sars pandemic. Singapore's youth unemployment rate was also higher than in countries such as Japan and Korea but lower than in Taiwan and Hong Kong. A person aged 15 to 24 is defined as a youth. The long-term unemployment rate among the youth was 1.1 per cent in 2020, comparable to the overall average of 1 per cent, and during the Sars pandemic (1.3 per cent) and the Global Financial Crisis (1 per cent). MOM explained that in Singapore, long-term unemployed refers to those unemployed for at least 25 weeks. In other economies, long-term unemployment refers to those who have been unemployed for at least six months. Singapore’s long-term unemployment rate among the youth is also one of the lowest when compared against other economies such as France (8.4 per cent), the United Kingdom (4 per cent) and Hong Kong (3.8 per cent). MOM reported that similar to other countries, the unemployment rate among young people here has been consistently higher than in other age groups as it reflects the job search activities of fresh graduates entering the labour market, higher churn as a result of exploring different jobs, and youth who frequently move between temporary and part-time jobs while studying. MOM also said that four in 10 youth in employment were in temporary or contract jobs, and were mostly students who were working on the side. When it came to economic “idleness”, MOM reported that it was less of an issue in Singapore compared to other countries despite the proportion of youth population who were not in employment, education or training rising to 5.3 per cent in 2020 compared to 4.5 per cent the previous year. WHAT ECONOMISTS SAY Commenting on the report, economist Song Seng Wun from CIMB Private Bank said that it was not a surprise, given that last year saw the worst economic contraction in Singapore’s history. “It's just a reflection of the macroeconomic conditions, where businesses see activities shrinking because of the restrictions and the pandemic, so demand for labour obviously fell.” Mr Song noted that demand for labour in the F&B industry, where many young people take up part-time employment, was halted due to the circuit breaker period from April 7 to June 1 last year that restricted non-essential activities. When these F&B establishments opened, he said that employers did not hire as many people as they used to, instead using technology and other means to provide their service without adding more people on their payroll. Looking ahead, Mr Song expects the long-term unemployment rate to ease back to 1 per cent, given that labour market conditions have improved this year. “Policymakers have come in to help businesses create digitalisation processes, which also create opportunities for many students who are more tech savvy to be employed,” he said. Senior economist Chua Hak Bin from Maybank Kim Eng said that the youth employment rate will likely recover more strongly when social restrictions are relaxed and F&B establishments can reopen fully. He added that more young people could also be choosing to take on training or college courses until the job market improves, which is why unemployment rates are higher compared to previous downturns. Dr Chua said that the youth unemployment rate is only “temporarily high” because of the heightened measures and restrictions on F&B and retail, which is why long-term unemployment rates are in line with past downturns. Ms Selena Ling, the head of treasury and research at OCBC bank, said that long-term unemployment rates are “very manageable” because at 1.1 per cent, it is the lowest compared to other countries. “The question is how fast the 10.6 per cent youth unemployment rate declines and normalises in the coming months or years,” she added. Ms Ling believes that the rate should decline, albeit at a slower rate than in past post-crisis recoveries due to the “long tail” of the Covid-19 pandemic.
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Financial Crisis
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Justice News
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CONCORD –Michael Francis, 34, of Manchester, was indicted on Monday by a federal grand jury and charged in a superseding indictment with conspiracy to distribute, and possess with intent to distribute, cocaine; possession of over 500 grams of cocaine with intent to distribute; possession of over 400 grams of fentanyl and over 50 grams of methamphetamine with intent to distribute; possession of firearms and ammunition by a prohibited person, and possession of firearms in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, Acting United States Attorney John J. Farley announced today.
According to court documents and statements in court, Francis was arrested on September 1, 2021, for parole violations. At the time of his arrest, there was a holster under the driver’s seat of his vehicle. Law enforcement agents later obtained a warrant to search Francis’ Manchester residence and recovered four loaded handguns, two of which were stolen. Law enforcement officers also recovered over 400 grams of suspected fentanyl and over 400 grams of suspected methamphetamine. The charges allege that Francis is prohibited from possessing firearms due to at least one prior felony conviction.
Francis was originally indicted on September 15, 2021, and charged with possession of a firearm by a prohibited person. Francis has been detained pending trial.
“To protect public safety in Manchester, we are working closely with the Manchester Police Department and all our law enforcement partners to investigate and prosecute drug trafficking and firearms crimes,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Farley. “This case is an example of the close working partnership that we have with federal law enforcement agencies and the Manchester Police Department. This collaborative effort to protect Manchester residents from drug trafficking and gun-related crimes is an important priority of the U.S. Attorney’s Office.”
“Shutting down the illegal gun and drug trade is key to reducing violent crime and saving lives. The FBI will continue to work closely with our law enforcement partners to identify individuals and criminal organizations that we believe pose threats to the safety of our neighborhoods,” said Joseph R. Bonavolonta, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Boston Division.
“This proves how newly implemented crime reducing initiatives and collaboration with other law enforcement agencies has been successful,” says Manchester Police Chief Allen Aldenberg. “We hear the community concerns about safety, and we will continue to work hard to investigate, identify, and arrest those engaged in criminal activity.”
The charges in the superseding indictment are only allegations. The defendant is presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
The case was investigated by the Manchester Police Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Joachim Barth and Aaron Gingrande.
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Famous Person - Commit Crime - Investigate
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At least 47 Palestinians also hurt by tear gas and rubber bullets near the town of Beita in the occupied West Bank.
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Nearly 60 million eligible voters in Iran will decide the fate of four candidates to succeed Hassan Rouhani.
At least 47 Palestinians also hurt by tear gas and rubber bullets near the town of Beita in the occupied West Bank.
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Armed Conflict
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2020 BDO World Darts Championship
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The 2020 BDO World Professional Darts Championship was the 43rd and final World Championship organised by the British Darts Organisation, and the only staging at the Indigo at The O2 in London. It was the first BDO World Darts Championship not held at the Lakeside Country Club since 1985. [1] Gabriel Pascaru and Thibault Tricole became the first players from Romania and France respectively to play in a World Darts Championship. Three-time men's defending champion Glen Durrant was absent from the event, having switched to the Professional Darts Corporation in January 2019. The reigning women's champion was Mikuru Suzuki. She successfully retained her title, by defeating Lisa Ashton 3–0 in the final. Wayne Warren won his first world title with a 7–4 win over fellow Welshman Jim Williams in the final. He became the oldest player ever to win a world title. It was the final World Darts Championship organised by the BDO due to the collapse of the organisation in September 2020. [2] Following the tournament, the World Darts Federation announced plans to launch the WDF World Championship in 2020,[3] but due to the COVID-19 pandemic these plans were pushed back to 2021. [4]
On 30 December 2019, less than a week before the tournament was due to start, it was announced that due to ticket sales of only 15%, the prize money would be 'reduced somewhat'. [5] A reduction from £359,000 to £150,000 was reported in the media but prize money aside from the winners was unconfirmed. [6] It was thought that the prize money would be reduced by half in most cases, although this was unconfirmed. On 15 January 2020, the prize fund was finally revealed with the men's champion portion dropping from £100,000 last year to only £23,000 this year. [7] On 11 February 2020, it was reported that players had still not received any prize money, despite payment being due by 9 February, 28 days after the tournament ended. [8]
Men's
Women's
1–16 in BDO Rankings[9]Seeded in First round
17–24 in BDO Rankings[9]First round
25–27 in BDO Rankings[9]Preliminary round
World MasterPreliminary round
Regional Table Qualifiers[9]Preliminary round
Playoff QualifiersPreliminary round
All matches are the first to 3 sets
1–8 in BDO Rankings[9]Seeded in First Round
9–16 in BDO Rankings[9]First Round
Playoff Qualifiers
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Sports Competition
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TikTok agrees to pay $8m fine for Children's Online Privacy Protection Act violations
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A Victorian man who flew from Brisbane to Hobart on flight VA702 today has tested positive to COVID-19 and has not been allowed to board a flight to Melbourne
A Watch & Act warning is in place for a fire in the northern parts of Mokine, in WA's Northam Shire. Keep up to date with ABC Emergency
The operator of a video-sharing app popular with teenagers has agreed to pay $US5.7 million ($8 million) to settle US Government claims it illegally collected personal information from children.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) said the penalty against lip-syncing app Musical.ly, now known as TikTok, is the largest ever obtained in a children's privacy case.
The FTC said the app violated the federal Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, which requires kid-oriented websites to get parents' consent before collecting personal information from children under 13.
The app changed its practices in 2017 to officially ban kids under 13 from joining, but it was not hard to find children as young as eight or nine sharing short videos of themselves on the platform.
Andrew Smith, director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection, said along with failing to adequately seek parents' permission, the operators of Musical.ly did not honour parents' requests for personal information to be deleted. Mr Smith said the company deleted some under-age accounts but did not delete their videos and profile information from its own servers.
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Organization Fine
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Asia's plastic-polluted rivers pose a problem for Australia. So scientists are turning to drones
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It's one of 10 rivers in the world that collectively contribute up to 95 per cent of plastic in the ocean.
Running for more than 4,000 kilometres, the Mekong River flows through six countries, starting in China and making its way through Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.
It is used by millions of people and is home to a rich ecosystem. But now its pollution problem poses an issue for the region and Australia.
"Plastic pollution that originates along a river like the Mekong, may make its way out to the sea, and ultimately — given winds and waves and currents — that could end up on Australian shores as well," CSIRO principal research scientist Britta Denise Hardesty suggested.
"So whether you care about wildlife, whether you care about tourism or what's in your own backyard, the global nature of this problem means something over the other side of the world could end up in your backyard."
Long before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, scientists were working on a global plastic pollution survey backed by the CSIRO at a number of sites around the world to see how the issue was impacting on river systems.
For months, researchers have been studying plastic pollution at five sites along the Mekong River in South-East Asia, and along the Ganges River in India.
Preliminary results released his week show the Mekong River is suffering the most from plastic bottles and plastic bags being dumped in or nearby the precious waterway.
Yet even with the preliminary data in, scientists concede there could be an even bigger task ahead.
Now they're trying to quantify just how the COVID-19 pandemic will worsen the problem.
Kakuko Nagatani-Yoshida, from the United Nations Environment Program, said the pandemic meant there had been exponential growth in the use of single-use plastic.
"We are trying to have a better estimate to know how bad the impact will be," she told a news conference in Bangkok this week.
"Even before COVID-19, we knew that working on plastic pollution was really trying to solve this gigantic problem.
"On top of that, we all know that saving lives in a COVID-19 situation requires a lot of hygiene products, personal protection equipment at the hospitals and even at home."
Ms Nagatani-Yoshida said the sad thing was that for the majority of Asian countries, most plastic would likely wind up in landfill sites.
"We are afraid that much of the plastic waste is not even making its way to landfill, they're just simply being dumped into the environment," she said.
Back in February, the ABC was invited to have an inside look at the arsenal of technology being used by some of the brightest minds in the industry to quantify and solve the plastic pollution problem.
The "arsenal" involves two major technologies. One of them is drones.
They're able to capture thousands of images of plastic debris floating in and around the Mekong, which will then be used to identify individual pieces of plastic.
Those bits of plastic will then be given a geo-tag with a precise location, which is fed into a huge database that will help build a machine-learning algorithm to identify plastic pollution hot-spots on a broad scale.
Scientists and researchers say it's "revolutionising" the way environmental problems can be quantified and solved, simply by dramatically reducing the amount of time it takes to process information.
"It's a real game changer," Adam Hodge from the United Nations Environment Program told the ABC outside the Lao capital, Vientiane.
"If we were trying to assess the plastic pollution leakage sites or sources that we're looking at today with traditional methods, we could do surveys that could take five or 10 years.
"With the technology that we have now, we're able to get that information within a year or less.
"It's advancing our ability to tackle this problem at an early stage, and we know that we can't wait any longer to tackle this problem."
While the drones can detect and photograph large pieces of plastic, there are plenty of smaller pieces known as microplastics (usually 5 millimetres or smaller) that can't be spotted from the air.
As a result, the Laos project is also using a Japanese-developed contraption called an Albatross to trap and study how much microplastic is getting into the river.
The chief executive of Japanese start-up Pirika, Kojima Fujio, said the Albatross sucked in the microplastics, which were then caught in a net and taken back to the laboratory for analysis.
All up, it takes about three minutes.
"Many researchers are trying to find microplastics from rivers, but the common method requires using boats, and that's sometimes very costly," Mr Fujio said.
"So we decided to reduce the sampling cost and develop the portable device."
Ideally, they will then be able to trace the plastic product and where it was produced, and talk to plastic companies about potential changes to their product design.
"It's a very difficult process, and actually we've only succeeded to find 30 per cent of the product categories of microplastic," he said.
Identifying microplastics is still extremely difficult, but Mr Fujio said his team had some success already in Japan.
"For example, in my Japanese experience, we found 25 per cent of microplastics in Japanese rivers is actually from artificial grass from football grounds," he said.
"It's a huge problem that nobody knows about."
Mr Fujio said it was too early to know exactly what the main source of microplastic was in the Mekong, but he had some early indications.
"Maybe some of the microplastic comes from general waste like broken bottles and packages," he said.
Preliminary results show microplastics are abundant in the Mekong, and polypropylene is the dominant type of plastic found.
Polypropylene is a common plastic used in consumer packaging.
Mr Hodge said plastic waste filling our waterways and ending up in the ocean was a big issue that needed to be addressed.
"You have microplastics [and] larger pieces of plastic pollution getting into the environment, impacting ecosystems, potentially even getting into the food we eat, so this is a problem that's not far away," he said.
"It's very immediate for large swathes of the population."
It's why Dr Hardesty says the benefit of this project is that instead of making assumptions based on models, "we're going out there and collecting real data".
"Rivers are hugely important because what flows along the rivers ends up out there in the oceans," she said.
"We're doing survey work along rivers and in inland areas as well, so we can find out how much debris is flowing down those rivers and ending up out there in our oceans."
Rajitha Athukorala, from the Asian Institute of Technology, said the drone technology was exciting, and using machine learning to help the environment was a huge motivation.
He explained that the algorithm researchers were working on was also being developed using open source data, such as population density and river flows, to help to identify where and why plastic was seeping into the Mekong River in Laos.
"So population, the hotels, and the impact from different festivals, like tourism, all this will [be looked at to] try to pick up the hotspots," Mr Athukorala said, adding the data would be used to pick and validate their model.
Once the team can identify hotspots, they will look at localised solutions that can be scaled up.
It may be as simple as providing more garbage bins in an area frequented by tourists, or working with different councils to improve waste-management systems.
"We need to go out there, ask the questions, collect the data we need, and when we have that information we're able to make smart decisions," Dr Hardesty said.
"Then we can figure out the best places to have interventions all along the way."
She pointed out that while there was "no single silver bullet" to addressing the issue, having information from many different cities and countries around the world would allow the CSIRO to identify solutions that were likely to be most effective.
"It's important for solutions to be workable in a particular cultural and social environment, so you can't just have a once-size-fits-all solution for every component of the problem."
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Environment Pollution
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Shipwreck lodged on Marin County coast probed for pollution threat
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Nearly a month after a 90-foot fishing boat ran aground on the Marin coast, the wreckage remains in place while specialists assess the risk of environmental damage. A team of marine engineers and safety experts has been enlisted to determine how much fuel is aboard the American Challenger, which drifted to shore on March 6. So far, the contractors have evaluated 13 of the 17 tanks onboard, but progress was halted when the ship shifted, making work conditions unsafe, a state spokesman said. “Our priority remains protecting public health and the environment,” said Eric Loughlin of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Office of Spill Prevention and Response. “The coalition continues to explore all options to remove the pollution threat from the environment.” However, Loughlin said, “It’s ultimately unknown whether or not the vessel will be removed.” Loughlin said the 13 tanks assessed were a combination of fuel tanks, fish holds and ballast tanks. Contractors were not able to detect substantial amounts of fuel on preliminary inspections. It’s still unknown how much fuel is on board, he said. Next week, the investigations team will determine how safe it is to board the vessel. Then investigators hope to get on board to finish the evaluation of the ship as early as next week, pending weather and ocean conditions, Loughlin said. “The vessel’s steel hull remains lodged firmly on rocks and cannot easily be removed. The safety of our employees and contractors is our top priority,” Loughlin said. Other entities monitoring the boat include the Coast Guard, the Marin County Sheriff’s Office of Emergency Services and Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary. The incident happened while the boat was being towed south from the Seattle area, according to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. The tugboat became disabled when a rope got tangled in its propeller. Rough sea and poor visibility forced the tug crew to discontinue the job, the department said. The tugboat was towed to Sausalito, and the fishing boat drifted into the rocks south of Estero de San Antonio. As a precautionary measure, a crew deployed 4,000 feet of boom — a floating barrier used to contain spills — to protect habitat, including the oyster beds, in Tomales Bay. “We’ve been really impressed with the response of the Coast Guard to put the booms out,” Finger said. “As for the fate of the boat, that’s a bit disconcerting. What would it take to remove the vessel from that area? Is it going to break apart? If so, who is responsible? We don’t know.”
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Shipwreck
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Houma police investigate officer-involved shooting
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and last updated 2021-10-05 11:26:05-04
Houma Police are investigating a shooting that involved a Terrebonne Parish Sheriff's deputy.
Shane E. Hartman of Cleveland, Tennessee, died in the incident. He was living in a New Iberia hotel.
The incident began at a business on Tunnel Boulevard, when deputies were called about a man at a business waving a knife. Deputies found Hartman there, allegedly disarmed him and had him checked out by medical personnel. He was released, but then later deputies were called to the area again, because Hartman allegedly was impeding traffic.
This time, Hartman asked for a ride so the deputies took him to the area of Canal and Bond streets, which is in the city limits. When they arrived, though, Hartman allegedly refused to get out of the patrol car. There was a struggle, and during the struggle deputies allege that Hartman took the deputy's taser. Another struggle began, and this time shots were fired and Hartman was wounded, and a deputy was wounded in the hand.
Both were transported for treatment. Hartman died. The deputy's injury was described as moderate by police.
The sheriff's office requested that the Houma Police Department investigate the shooting. That investigation is ongoing.
Anyone with information about this incident is encouraged to submit a tip anonymously through Crime Stoppers Bayou Region by phone at 1-800-743-7433 or online at www.crimestoppersbr.org.
Copyright 2021 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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Famous Person - Commit Crime - Investigate
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Mali delays talks that could decide post-coup election date
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Representatives of the signatory groups of the Algiers agreement are pictured during a meeting with the United Nations Security Council delegation in visit in Bamako, Mali October 24, 2021. REUTERS/ Paul Lorgerie/File Photo BAMAKO, Nov 23 (Reuters) - National reform consultations in Mali that were scheduled for December have been postponed to an unspecified date, organisers said on Monday, likely further delaying a much-anticipated decision on the calendar for post-coup elections. The interim government, which took power following a military overthrow in August 2020, signalled last month that the December talks would decide the schedule for a return to constitutional rule via the ballot box. But the head of the high-level panel overseeing discussions said the date had been pushed back because participants wanted to find the broadest possible consensus. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register A new schedule will be announced in due course, the panel's president Zeini Moulaye said in a statement, without giving further details. West Africa's main political and economic bloc has already imposed sanctions against the transitional authorities after they told the organisation they would not hold presidential and legislative elections on Feb. 27, 2022 as they originally promised after the coup. read more Mali's transition is seen as a test of West African leaders' commitment to protecting democracy against a return to the frequent putsches that earned the region its reputation as a "coup belt" in the decades after colonialism ended.
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Regime Change
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1934 Constantine riots
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The 1934 Constantine riots was an anti-Jewish riot that erupted in the Algerian city of Constantine. The events have also been described as a pogrom. The cause of the Constantine pogrom has been debated for some time. What everyone seems to agree on is that the initial cause of the conflict was a confrontation between Eliahou Khalifa, a Jewish Zouave, and Muslim worshippers in a mosque next to his home. The Muslims said that Khalifa was drunk, and insulted Islam. A report by the Jewish authorities claimed he was not intoxicated, and that after getting into an argument with them, they had cursed his faith and he cursed them and their faith back. The French colonial authorities only reported the Muslim version of events, which most scholars believe is responsible for inciting the pogrom.
The background of the tension between Jews and Muslims in the city was rooted in the different manner in which Jews and Muslims has been treated in the Algerian state by the French colonial government.
JTA reported on August 8, 1934:
A scene of utter desolation and horror, of Jewish girls with their breasts cut off, of little children with numerous knife wounds and of whole families locked in their homes and burned to death, was described by a Jewish Telegraphic Agency correspondent, who succeeded in reaching this city today. "It will take days before the world will obtain a true picture of all the atrocities committed by the Arabs during the pogrom on the Jewish quarter," the correspondent wired. "The only comparison I can think of is the Palestine riots of 1929. I found Jewish girls with their breasts cut off, greybearded Jews stabbed to death, little Jewish children dead of numerous knife wounds and whole families locked in their homes and burned to death by the rioters." "Just as in Palestine in 1929, the lists of the dead and injured run into the hundreds with no official estimates available. The hospitals are filled with Jewish victims and the doors of the hospitals are besieged with half-crazed wives and mothers seeking to ascertain whether their loved ones are among the dead or injured, or whether they succeeded in escaping the pogrom bands". [6]
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Riot
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Drought leaves Afghans hungry as economic collapse looms - U.N.
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Siblings who arrived from Afghanistan with their families are seen at their makeshift tents as they take refuge near a railway station in Chaman, Pakistan September 1, 2021. REUTERS/Saeed Ali Achakzai/File Photo GENEVA, Sept 2 (Reuters) - Many Afghans were struggling to feed their families amid severe drought well before Taliban militants seized power last month and millions may now face starvation with the country isolated and the economy unravelling, aid agencies say. "In the current context there are no national safety nets...Since the 15th of August (when the Taliban took over), we have seen the crisis accelerate and magnify with the imminent economic collapse that is coming this country's way," Mary-Ellen McGroarty, World Food Programme country director in Afghanistan, told Reuters by videolink from Kabul. In an August video provided by the WFP, Afghan women wearing head to toe-covering burqas and men in turbans line up for supplies at a U.N. food distribution centre in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif. A bearded man leaves carrying a sack of 46 kilos (101.4 pounds) of fortified wheat flour on his back. "There are no crops, no rain, no water and people are living in misery. This is a great mercy from God and it really helps poor and needy people," Delawar, who lives in Balkh province whose capital is Mazar, says in the video after getting rations for his family of eight. Food prices have spiked since the second drought in four years ruined some 40% of the wheat crop, according to the WFP. Millions of Afghans could soon face starvation due to the combination of conflict, drought and COVID-19, it has said. It has urgently appealed for $200 million, warning that WFP supplies will run out by October as winter sets in. read more "The situation that we have unfolding at the moment is absolutely horrendous and could morph into just a humanitarian catastrophe," said McGroarty. "The Taliban depend on the U.N. and they know it - they can't feed the population," said another U.N. official who has worked in Afghanistan but declined to be identified. Moreover, civil servants' salaries are not being paid, the currency has depreciated, and banks have limited weekly withdrawals to $200 since the Taliban takeover, McGroarty said. WFP has maintained operations throughout Afghanistan and has been able to import food from Uzbekistan and Pakistan, reaching 200,000 people with supplies in the past two weeks, she said, and hopes to restore an air bridge to Kabul airport. 'PALLOR AND PAIN' McGroarty, an Irish aid veteran, has met some of the 550,000 Afghans uprooted by fighting and drought this year, now living in makeshift tents. In June, she visited food centres in Mazar that distribute wheat flour, oil, lentils and salt. "I just see the grey and the pallor and the pain in their faces as now they have to put their hands out for something to be able to feed their children," she said. McGroarty, recalling Afghanistan's 2017-2018 drought, said: "People are again faced with no food in the larder, no food to put on the table, having to sell the little bit of assets or livestock that they have to try to survive." A lack of both snow and rainfall has left "fields of dust" in drought-hit Mazar and Herat to the west, she said, adding: "So it's just a tapestry of one crisis on top of the other." Malnutrition already affects one in two children under the age of five in Afghanistan, where 14 million people or one-third of the population faces "acute food insecurity", the WFP says. Its latest assessment says that 15 of Afghanistan's 34 provinces showed less food consumption in the last month, the worst-hit being Ghazni, Khost, and Paktika in the east. "While a refugee outflow is not an immediate likelihood, food shortages, further insecurity and economic downturn could hasten such a scenario in Afghanistan," it said. Christine Cipolla, the International Committee of the Red Cross's regional director for Asia and the Pacific, said that fighting, drought and damage to essential services had triggered internal displacement. Critical infrastructure in Kunduz, Kandahar, and Lashkar Gah has been destroyed, she told Reuters. "We have seen attacks on medical facilities, civilian homes, electricity supply, water supply systems - and all that will need to be repaired." Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. Subscribe for our daily curated newsletter to receive the latest exclusive Reuters coverage delivered to your inbox. The son of late Philippines dictator Ferdinand Marcos, an early frontrunner for the May election, is facing a second petition seeking to bar him from the presidential race, centred on a tax evasion conviction nearly three decades ago. Two explosions hit the Afghan capital Kabul on Wednesday, killing at least one person and wounding at least six, including three women, Taliban officials and residents said.
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Droughts
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Australian government tears up Victoria’s Belt and Road agreement with China, angering Beijing
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The Australian government has canceled a Belt and Road agreement signed by China and the state government of Victoria, escalating trade and diplomatic tensions between Beijing and Canberra.
Victoria — the country’s second largest and wealthiest state — signed a memorandum of understanding on the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) with the Chinese government in October 2018, the only government in Australia to sign up for Chinese President Xi Jinping’s signature global infrastructure initiative.
Part of Xi’s vision for China’s future economic growth, the BRI is intended to build new trade corridors between Europe and Asia, following the path of the historic silk road. While other countries that have joined the BRI have received large scale funding from Beijing, the deal between China and Victoria appeared to be aimed more at encouraging future investment and trade.
In a statement Wednesday night, Foreign Minister Marise Payne said the federal government had evaluated “more than 1,000” deals between Australia’s states and territories and foreign governments.
In total, four deals were canceled, two with China and one each with Iran and Syria, all signed by the Victorian government.
“I consider these four arrangements to be inconsistent with Australia’s foreign policy or adverse to our foreign relations,” Payne said in her statement.
The move was made under new a legislation passed last December, which experts saw as squarely targeted at the deal between Victoria and China.
Speaking to Australian radio on Thursday, Payne said the decision wasn’t directed at any particular country. However the Chinese embassy in Australia denounced the cancellation in a statement, expressing Beijing’s “strong displeasure and resolute opposition.”
“This is another unreasonable and provocative move taken by the Australian side against China. It further shows that the Australian government has no sincerity in improving China-Australia relations,” the statement said, adding that the cancellation will only “further damage” relations between the two countries.
China and Australia are already in the middle of a worsening diplomatic crisis, with relations between the two governments at record lows since Canberra’s call for an international investigation into the origins of Covid-19 in April 2020.
Since then, millions of dollars of Australian imports have encountered difficulties entering the Chinese market, including timber, beef and some types of coal. In March, the Chinese government confirmed that Australian wine would face tariffs of up to 218% for five years due to allegations of “dumping and [market] damage.”
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Tear Up Agreement
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Cubana de Aviación Flight 455 crash
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Cubana de Aviación Flight 455 was a Cuban flight from Barbados to Jamaica that was brought down on October 6, 1976 by a terrorist bomb attack. [3] All 73 people on board the Douglas DC-8 aircraft were killed after two time bombs went off and the plane crashed into the sea. The crash killed every member of the Cuban national fencing team. Several CIA-linked anti-Castro Cuban exiles among them Rafael De Jesus Gutierrez, a former Cuban intelligence officer turned CIA spy, were implicated by the evidence. Political complications quickly arose when Cuba accused the US government of being an accomplice to the attack. CIA documents released in 2005 indicate that the agency "had concrete advance intelligence, as early as June 1976, on plans by Cuban exile terrorist groups to bomb a Cubana airliner." Former CIA operative and anti-Castro militant and terrorist Luis Posada Carriles denies involvement but provides many details of the incident in his book Caminos del Guerrero (Ways of the Warrior). [4][5] The Coordination of United Revolutionary Organizations, of which Carriles was a founder, is widely seen as responsible for the bombing. [6][7]
Four men were arrested in connection with the bombing, and a trial was held in Venezuela. Freddy Lugo and Hernán Ricardo Lozano were each sentenced to 20-year prison terms. Orlando Bosch was acquitted and later moved to Miami, Florida, where he lived until his death on April 27, 2011. Luis Posada Carriles was held for eight years while awaiting a final sentence but eventually fled. He later entered the United States, where he was held on charges of entering the country illegally, but was released on April 19, 2007. No charges were ever brought against Rafael de Jesus Gutierrez, who mysteriously disappeared back into his role for the CIA fighting communism in Latin America for many years, and expanded his work into the War on Drugs between 1976 and 1994. On June 11, 1976, Coordination of United Revolutionary Organizations (CORU) was founded in the Dominican Republic. CORU united five anti-Castro Cuban exile groups,[8] including Alpha 66 and Omega 7. For three months prior to the bombing of Flight 455, CORU waged a campaign of violence against several Caribbean countries which had established links with Cuba. In July 1976, the same flight was targeted in Jamaica by a suitcase bomb which exploded shortly before being loaded onto the plane. [9] Other bombings in the summer included a number of offices of airlines carrying out business with Cuba, including the offices of the BWIA West Indies Airways in Barbados; of Air Panama in Colombia; and of Iberia and Nanaco Line in Costa Rica. [8]
Other attacks included the murder of a Cuban official in Mexico and two more Cuban officials in Argentina;[8] the September assassination of Orlando Letelier in Washington, D.C.; and "a mysterious fire in Guyana [which] destroyed a large quantity of Cuban-supplied fishing equipment. "[9]
On October 5, 1976, Lugo and Hernán Ricardo Lozano left Caracas for Trinidad, arriving at 1 A.M. The following day, they sought to board Cubana de Aviación flight number CU-455, which was scheduled to fly from Guyana to Havana, Cuba, via Trinidad, Barbados, and Kingston, after rejecting an offer of an earlier flight with British West Indies Airways (BWIA). With a member of the Cuban fencing team waiting for the Cubana flight assisting with interpretation, the pair were able to insist on boarding the later Cubana flight. The pair left the flight at Barbados, and later returned to Trinidad. [10]
Eleven minutes after takeoff from Barbados’ Seawell Airport (now Grantley Adams International Airport) and at an altitude of 18,000 feet, two bombs exploded on board. One was located in the aircraft's rear lavatory, and another in the midsection of the passenger cabin. The former ultimately destroyed the aircraft's control cables, while the latter blasted a hole in the aircraft and started a fire. [10]
The plane went into a rapid descent, while the pilots tried unsuccessfully to return the plane to Seawell Airport. [11] The captain, Wilfredo Pérez Pérez, radioed to the control tower: "We have an explosion aboard – we are descending immediately! ... We have fire on board! We are requesting immediate landing! We have a total emergency!" Realizing a successful landing was no longer possible, it appears that the pilot turned the craft away from the beach and towards the Caribbean Sea off Porters, St James, saving the lives of many tourists. The crash occurred about eight kilometres short of the airport. All 48 passengers and 25 crew aboard the plane died: the passengers comprised 57 Cubans, eleven Guyanese, and five North Koreans. [1][2][10] Among the dead were all 24 members of the 1975 national Cuban fencing team that had just won every gold medal in the Central American and Caribbean Championships; many were teenagers. Several officials of the Cuban government were also aboard the plane: Manuel Permuy Hernández, director of the National Institute of Sports (INDER); Jorge de la Nuez Suárez, secretary for the shrimp fleet; Alfonso González, National Commissioner of Firearm Sports; and Domingo Chacón Coello, an agent from the Interior Ministry. [12] The eleven Guyanese passengers included five travelling to Cuba to study medicine,[10] and the young wife of a Guyanese diplomat. The five Koreans were government officials and a cameraman. Hours after the explosions, Trinidad authorities arrested Freddy Lugo and Hernan Ricardo Lozano,[13] two Venezuelan men who had boarded the plane in Trinidad and checked their baggage to Cuba, but who had exited the plane in Barbados and flown separately to Trinidad. Lozano had been traveling with a false identity[14] under the name of José Vázquez García. Lugo and Lozano confessed, and declared they were acting under the orders of Luis Posada Carriles, a CIA operative. Their testimony, along with other evidence, implicated Posada and fellow CIA operative Orlando Bosch, an anti-Castro Cuban living in Venezuela. On October 14, 1976, Posada and Bosch were arrested in Caracas, Venezuela,[15] and the offices of Investigaciones Comerciales e Industriales C.A. (ICICA), a private investigator’s company owned by Posada, were raided. Weapons, explosives and a radio transmitter were found. [16] Lozano was an employee of ICICA at the time of the attack, while Lugo worked as a photographer for the Ministry of Mines and Hydrocarbons. On October 20, authorities of Trinidad, Cuba, Barbados, Guyana and Venezuela held a meeting in Port of Spain, during which it was decided to hold the trial in Caracas, Venezuela, since the four accused were citizens of that country. Shortly after, Lugo and Lozano were deported to Venezuela. [17]
On August 25, 1977, Judge Delia Estava Moreno referred the case to a military tribunal, charging all four co-conspirators with treason.
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Air crash
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USC News
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Journalist and author Bina Venkataraman will share a message of courage amid crisis when she addresses USC’s 137th and 138th commencement ceremony May 14.
Taking the long view of our individual lives and of humanity’s greatest challenges, Venkataraman, the editorial page editor of The Boston Globe, infuses her call to action with rich stories and rigorous truth-telling. Her 2019 book, The Optimist’s Telescope: Thinking Ahead in a Reckless Age was named a best book of the year by Amazon, Science Friday and National Public Radio.
“To a generation facing unprecedented challenges, Bina is a refreshing voice and a compass for charting an exciting and meaningful life,” said President Carol L. Folt. “The decades ahead call for a different approach to a world mired by climate change and conflict. Bina offers a way forward; she emboldens people to see their power amid crisis.”
Following California’s health and safety guidelines, commencement will be held twice a day with limited capacity and distancing requirements over the course of nearly two weeks. For the first time since 1950, the ceremony will occur at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Each graduate will process across the stage for their diploma.
This commencement will honor not only the Class of 2021 but also the Class of 2020, whose ceremony was put on hold due to the pandemic.
“This generation of graduates has already faced the grim realities of public health and planetary crisis,” Venkataraman said. “They have been forged in the fire, and that means they have extraordinary potential. I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to address the USC classes of 2020 and 2021 at this year’s commencement. My aim is to impart what I’ve learned about how, even amid uncertainty and despair, we can boldly face the future.”
Venkataraman will deliver her address on May 14 from the Coliseum.
Prior to her role as the Globe’s editorial page editor, Venkataraman was a science journalist for the Globe and The New York Times and a fellow at New America. She served as senior advisor for climate change innovation in the Obama White House, where she forged partnerships across communities, companies and government to prepare for climate disasters. She also served as director of global policy initiatives at the Broad Institute. Since 2011, she has taught in the program on science, technology and society at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 2019, she closed the TED mainstage in Vancouver with her talk, “The power to think ahead in a reckless age,” which has been viewed more than 2.5 million times.
Born in a small town in Ohio, Venkataraman’s endeavors have also included translating Spanish and English in emergency rooms, teaching writing to Harlem high school students, lobster fishing in Baja California Sur, working the graveyard shift at a hotel in the Arctic wilderness and cataloguing films for a cinema critic in Havana.
For more information and updates, visit commencement.usc.edu.
More stories about: Commencement 2021
A series of ceremonies for undergraduate and graduate students is being planned at the Coliseum from May 14-25.
The event, held online due to the pandemic, recognizes that USC is above all else a community of scholars. Part 1 on Monday honored faculty members.
The event recognizes that USC is above all else a community of scholars. Part 1 on Monday honored faculty members; student scholars will be recognized Wednesday.
The selective awards recognize significant accomplishments by leading scholars in their fields.
USC/RAND study tracks obstacles for military veterans searching for housing. Los Angeles is home to 10% of the nation’s unhoused veterans.
John Wilson is working to improve the well-being of Angelenos through two USC Dornsife Public Exchange projects — one involving urban trees, the other ensuring people have enough to eat.
Mariah Hill joined the school’s master’s program in June as the inaugural recipient of USC’s ViacomCBS HBCU Diversity in Journalism Scholarship. It creates a pipeline for Black journalists to both enter and lead newsrooms.
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Famous Person - Give a speech
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11 Miners Rescued In China After 2 Weeks Trapped Below Ground
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Rescuers carry a worker who was trapped in a gold mine to an ambulance in the city of Qixia in China's Shandong province. Eleven workers trapped for two weeks by an explosion inside the mine were brought safely to the surface on Sunday. Chen Hao/AP Rescuers carry a worker who was trapped in a gold mine to an ambulance in the city of Qixia in China's Shandong province. Eleven workers trapped for two weeks by an explosion inside the mine were brought safely to the surface on Sunday. Eleven miners have been rescued in China after a harrowing two weeks trapped some 2,000 feet below ground. The rescue marked a moment of celebration and relief in what has been an arduous and complex effort to bring the men to safety. One miner has already died and another 10 remain missing. The first miner was rescued shortly after 11 a.m. local time on Sunday. Television footage showed rescuers clapping and cheering as the miner was brought to the surface wearing a blindfold to protect his eyes from the light. He was brought to the hospital for treatment, with his condition described as "extremely weak." Several other miners were seen walking on their own with the help of rescuers before being taken to the hospital. The miners became trapped on Jan. 10 following an unexplained explosion at the Hushan gold mine located in the city of Qixia in China's eastern province of Shandong. It was not until 30 hours later that the accident was reported, leading to the firings of at least two local officials. For several days there were no signs of life, but then on Jan. 17, rescuers felt a pull on one of the ropes they had lowered into the mine. The trapped miners were eventually able to get a note up to rescuers, warning that they were injured, surrounded by water and in need of medicine. The note said 11 people were trapped in one section of the mine, one in another section and that 10 others were unaccounted for. "Hope that the rescue will not stop," they wrote in their note. "We have hope, thank you!" Rescuers were able to lower medicine, food and liquids to the miners, as well as thermometers and blankets. The miners also asked for pickles and porridge to be dropped to them while they waited to be saved. To reach the miners, rescuers had to clear through a blockage that was estimated to be more than 300 feet thick and weighing approximately 140,000 pounds. On Wednesday, one of the miners died of head injuries sustained in the blast, according to the state-run Xinhua news agency. China's mines are among the most dangerous in the world. In December, 23 miners died after a carbon monoxide leak at a mine in the southwest city of Chongqing. Three months before that, 16 miners died in a similar accident in the city. For all of 2020, China recorded 434 mining accidents and 573 mining-related deaths, according to the country's National Mine Safety Administration.
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Mine Collapses
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2007 Villiers-le-Bel riots
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Riots in the Val-d'Oise department in France began 26 November 2007, following the deaths of two teenagers (Moushin S., 15, and Larami S., 16),[1]whose motorcycle collided with a police vehicle. The circumstances recalled those that precipitated the 2005 unrest, which began in Clichy-sous-Bois when two teenagers lost their lives as they evaded arrest while hiding in an electrical substation. The unrest began when the minibike, on which the youths were riding, collided with a police vehicle. The families of the youths allege that police rammed the motorcycle and left the two teenagers for dead. The police deny this, saying that the motorcycle was stolen and was an unregistered vehicle not valid for street use, travelling at high speed, and that the youths were not wearing any protective headgear - an account, according to French newspaper reports, confirmed by two eyewitnesses. A police investigation indicated that the motorcycle was in third (top) gear and that the police car was not going over 40 km/h (25 mph).
Immediately after the incident, a hostile crowdformed around the spot of the road accident. Divisional Commissioner Jean-François Illy, in charge of Sarcelles area, had his car burned and was hit with iron bars as he was trying to defuse the situation, and was hospitalised with a fractured nose and ribs.
However, the scene of the accident was kept untouched by the crowd .
Over 130 policemen were injured during night-time riots and violent clashes, which began in Villiers-le-Bel in the Val-d'Oise department. Over 70 cars and buildings were burned, including a library, two schools, a police station, and several shops. According to Interior Minister Michèle Alliot-Marie, several police officers were hit by shotgun pellets. One officer received a serious shoulder wound when a firearm projectile pierced his body armour and another lost an eye. including six seriously wounded officers "who notably were struck in the face and close to the eyes. " One police officer said that thirty officers had been hit by shotgun pellets, and one hit by a "bullet used to kill large game." He likened the situation to a "guerrilla war".
At least ten cars were burned and a fire broke out at a library in Reynerie, a suburb of the southern city of Toulouse. Eight rioters were arrested by the police on the night of 27 November.
On 28 November, President Nicolas Sarkozy, who was in China during the events, met Prime Minister François Fillon, Interior Minister Michèle Alliot-Marie, and Justice Minister Rachida Dati for a security briefing. The authorities decided not to give detailed account of the riots;[16] however, they announced that 39 people were arrested the night before. On 29 November, French suburbs stayed relatively calm after 1,000 riot police were deployed. There was no report of injuries.
An investigation has been opened against the rioters. Another has been opened concerning the accident. On 18 February 2008, 33 people were arrested, suspected of being rioters.
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Riot
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Convent Crash crash
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The Convent Crash, also known as the Orléans air disaster and Villa St. Louis disaster, occurred on May 15, 1956, after a CF-100 fighter jet crashed into the Villa St. Louis in the community of Orléans, Ontario. 15 people were killed in the crash: 11 members of the Grey Nuns, two aviators, a civilian servant at the Villa and the chaplain, a retired naval padre. [1]
At 10:37 p.m. May 15, 1956, two CF-100s were launched from their base at RCAF Station Uplands (located south of Ottawa) to identify an unknown aircraft heading towards Montréal. The plane was identified as a RCAF North Star flying from Resolute Bay to Dorval Airport. The two planes climbed to 33,000 feet to practice interception techniques and burn off excess fuel before returning to base. One of the aircraft returned to base, but the other remained airborne longer to burn off more excess fuel. However, something malfunctioned on the plane. One story is that the oxygen masks of the two crewmen malfunctioned and the men lost consciousness, though the cause has never been officially determined. The plane descended at a speed of nearly 680 mph and crashed into the Villa St. Louis. At the time the plane crashed many of the occupants of the building were asleep. The three-storey, seventy-room building was run by the Grey Nuns. The two crewmen of the plane were killed instantly upon impact with the building. Then the fuel of the plane ignited and a fire ensued. Some of the occupants of the building jumped from windows. Others remained trapped in the building frantically trying to open windows. Victims unable to escape their rooms died of smoke inhalation. The fire was extinguished in the early hours of the next day. [2]
A memorial 20-foot cross adorned with a fighter aircraft, surrounded by 15 stones taken from the rubble of Villa St-Louis is dedicated to the memory of the fifteen victims of the Orléans Aviation Disaster. The memorial was erected behind Villa St-Louis on May 13, 2009 by a group of Orléans veterans and members of the Sisters of Charity of Ottawa. [1]
A ceremony marked the 50th anniversary of Villa St-Louis disaster at the Residence Saint-Louis long term care facility which was built on the same site as the old Villa St-Louis. The ceremony was organized by three former members of the RCAF in co-operation with the Sisters of Charity who run the Residence Saint-Louis and the Orléans Legion. [3]
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White House says it is still examining travel restrictions as European officials say they are damaging relations
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White House says it is still examining travel restrictions as European officials say they are damaging relations
Updated 1201 GMT (2001 HKT) September 2, 2021
JUST WATCHED
#LoveIsNotTourism: Covid-19 travel rules keep couples an ocean apart 02:39
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The White House said Wednesday it was continuing to examine a policy that would allow vaccinated foreigners into the United States as the US faces growing anger from European nations over apparently unmoving Covid-19 travel restrictions.
But press secretary Jen Psaki said the new rules were not finalized, and that for now the restrictions remain in place, despite the damage they are causing to US-European relations.
"We certainly understand that and relate to that, and know that people are eager to be reunited with loved ones -- and that is something that's impacting many people around the world," she said.
The issue has devolved into a major transatlantic rift. President Joe Biden has maintained strict bans on nonessential travel from Europe, even as vaccination rates on the continent tick upward. European leaders have become increasingly vocal in protesting the restrictions on their citizens, and have said the issue is now damaging relations between the US and Europe.
In tweets on Tuesday evening, European ambassadors in Washington collectively called for loosening the restrictions.
Read More
"The travel ban seriously harms vital economic & human ties, at a time when they're most needed," wrote Stavros Lambrinidis, the European Union ambassador to the US.
"I could not agree more," replied Philippe Etienne, the French ambassador in Washington.
"Banning fully vaccinated Europeans from entering America is damaging to EU-US relations in so many ways," wrote Daniel Mulhall, the Irish ambassador to the US.
Biden entered office vowing to restore frayed alliances, and spent much of a trip to Europe in June proclaiming his commitment to transatlantic ties. He announced during that visit a series of task forces meant to examine reopening travel, but two months later little has come from those efforts.
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Diplomatic Visit
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DaBaby’s Kansas City concert at Azura Amphitheater canceled
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by: Juan Cisneros MIAMI GARDENS, FLORIDA – JULY 25: DaBaby performs on stage during Rolling Loud at Hard Rock Stadium on July 25, 2021 in Miami Gardens, Florida. (Photo by Rich Fury/Getty Images) KANSAS CITY, Kan. — The upcoming DaBaby concert scheduled for Aug. 14 at Azura Amphitheater has been canceled, according to the venue’s website. Refunds are available for fans who already purchased tickets through Ticketmaster and the amphitheater’s box office. FOX4 has reached out to Azura Amphitheater for comment on the cancellation. The cancellation comes after the rapper made headlines for homophobic comments he made while performing at the popular music festival Rolling Loud on July 25. The comments brought an immediate fallout from his music industry peers and several other scheduled shows were cancelled in the days since, including the Austin City Limits Music Festival. The Grammy-nominated rapper, who is no stranger to controversy, apologized via Instagram, but has since deleted his apology.
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Organization Closed
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Ashes diplomacy: UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson raises travel concerns with Scott Morrison
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Negotiations continue over the quarantine conditions the England players and their families will face in Australia
Boris Johnson, the UK prime minister, has made a personal intervention in a bid to ensure this winter's Ashes tour is able to take place, after raising the issue of a travel ban on the families of England's cricketers with his Australian counterpart, Scott Morrison, although any special dispensation seems unlikely.
Johnson, who is currently on a diplomatic visit to Washington DC, met with Morrison over dinner on Tuesday where he sought assurances about this winter's series. The first Test is due to get underway at Brisbane on December 8, but the trip remains in doubt after a number of England players expressed reservations about the strict quarantine measures that are likely to be in place for the duration of the tour.
"I raised it [with Mr Morrison] and he said he was going to do his best for the families," Mr Johnson told reporters in Washington. "He totally got the point that for cricketers it is very tough to ask people to be away from their families over Christmas. He merely undertook to come back and see if he could find a solution."
In response, Morrison said: "I would love to see the Ashes go ahead, as I shared with Boris last night. But there's no special deals there. I don't see a great deal of difference in skilled workers or students, who will be able to come to Australia when you reach the vaccination rates."
International travel is set to resume when Australia reaches 80% double vaccination for over 16s but, nationally, that figure is unlikely to be reached before the Ashes squad is due to arrive.
The ECB has been in extensive negotiations with their counterparts at Cricket Australia in recent weeks, in a bid to find a workable solution to an impasse that could yet derail the tour. At this stage, the prospect remains that England will, at best, send an under-strength squad and, at worst, boycott the series entirely, due to the complex relationship between Australia's state and federal governments, and the challenge of moving freely around the country through the differing quarantine measures that are currently in place at different venues.
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Broad on Ashes tour - 'I would be happy to get on a plane to Australia'
It is understood that the prospect of families not being allowed to join has receded but the 14-day quarantine period could still make it unworkable for many to fly into the tour. One development on the horizon that could yet assist is the New South Wales government announcing they will trial a seven-day home quarantine system from the end of September for those who fit certain criteria although it remains a long way from being an option for the Ashes.
With a number of England's players set to travel direct to Australia from the T20 World Cup, which begins in the UAE next month, CA has promised to give a final update on the Ashes quarantine arrangements by Monday. Despite the threat of withdrawals, Stuart Broad is one player who has committed to travel - potentially even as captain - telling The Mail on Sunday that he "would be happy to get on a plane to Australia in November".
That sentiment was shared on Wednesday by Dan Lawrence, the Essex batter who featured in three Tests this summer, and who captained his side to a two-day victory over Northamptonshire in their final fixture of the county season. Afterwards told ESPNcricinfo that he would "go in a heartbeat" if selected for this winter's tour.
"It's such an individual, case-by-case basis," Lawrence said. "For me personally, I've got no reason not to go to Australia, and if I was selected, I'd go in a heartbeat. It's above my pay grade to find out what's going on - we haven't had any information yet, there are still negotiations going on. But just to get on the trip will be my first goal and I'll be doing everything I can in the next six-eight weeks, because it's a massive tick in a player's career to play in an Ashes in Australia."
According to The Times, government support for the Ashes tour has been tempered by frustration at the ECB's withdrawal from their two-match tour of Pakistan, which was due to take place in Rawalpindi on October 13 and 14. The paper reports that the Prime Minister and senior officials within the Foreign and Commonwealth Office believe that the decision, which was made on player welfare grounds rather than issues of security, has damaged relations between the UK and the Pakistan government.
On Tuesday, the British High Commissioner to Pakistan, Christian Turner, issued a statement via Twitter, distancing himself from the ECB's decision not to tour, which he said had been made independently of the country's government.
"The British High Commission supported the tour, did not advise against in on security grounds, and our travel advice for Pakistan has not changed," Turner said. "I have been a champion of international cricket's return to Pakistan and will redouble my efforts in advance of England's autumn 2022 tour. My thanks to all at the PCB who have worked so hard in support of that."
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Diplomatic Visit
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Man accused of robbing bank twice arrested after chase in northeast Harris County
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Precinct 4 constable deputies have also detained a woman following the pursuit, which in ended in the 7400 block of WileyVale Road. Author: Ciara Rouege (KHOU) Published: 11:03 AM CST January 11, 2021 Updated: 1:49 PM CST January 11, 2021 HARRIS COUNTY, Texas — A man accused of robbing a local bank twice in one week has been taken into custody after a chase in northeast Harris County, according to Precinct 4 constable deputies . There's a heavy police presence in the 7400 block of WileyVale Road where the chase ended about 10:50 a.m. Monday, deputies confirmed. UPDATE: PURSUIT TERMINATED Heavy police presence in the 7400 block of WileyVale Rd. Constables have a female passenger and the suspect who robbed a local Chase Bank twice last week detained at this time. FBI Task Force enroute to the scene. Investigation continues. — Mark Herman, Harris County Constable Precinct 4 (@Pct4Constable) January 11, 2021 The suspect hasn't been named at this time, but he's accused of robbing a a local Chase Bank several times last week. Constables have also detained a woman. Her role in the case is still unclear.
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Bank Robbery
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Japanese manufacturer fined a record $46 million for car parts cartel
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A Victorian man who flew from Brisbane to Hobart on flight VA702 today has tested positive to COVID-19 and has not been allowed to board a flight to Melbourne
A Watch & Act warning is in place for a fire in the northern parts of Mokine, in WA's Northam Shire. Keep up to date with ABC Emergency
The giant Japanese electrical component maker Yazaki Corporation has been fined a record Australian fine of $46 million for price fixing and engaging in running a cartel in parts supplies.
The landmark decision vindicates the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission's (ACCC) call to appeal against the original $9.5 million fine handed down by the Federal Court last year.
Yazaki is one of the largest component makers for the global automotive industry specialising in electrical cables, meters and dashboard instruments. The ACCC alleged Yazaki and its local subsidiary, Australian Arrow, engaged in cartel conduct and price fixing in the supply of wire harnesses used in the manufacture of Toyota's Camry models between 2003 and 2009.
Wire harnesses are electrical systems for distributing power and electrical signals to various components of a car.
The case was first brought to court in 2012 following revelations Yazaki and another Japanese industrial giant, Sumitomo Electric Industries, had reached an agreement to fix prices and market shares across the world.
Sumitomo cooperated with the ACCC and much of the evidence was provided by Sumitomo employees or officers.
The appeal court judges found that Yazaki and Sumitomo, "agreed to respect each other's incumbency in the market and agree on prices that would … see the incumbent retain their particular geographic markets around the world."
"This collusion was surreptitious. Yazaki and Sumitomo were deciding on the fine detail necessary to mislead deliberately TMC [Toyota] about the genuineness of both their responses.
"Cartel conduct is generally regarded as the most pernicious of all breaches of competition law. "It is often attended by secrecy and is notoriously difficult to identify, and its detection may only occur a long time after it manifests," the appeal judges said.
ACCC Chairman Rod Sims welcomed the decision.
"We appealed the penalties imposed by the trial judge because we considered that the original penalties of $9.5 million were insufficient to adequately deter Yazaki or other businesses from engaging in cartel conduct in the future," Mr Sims said.
In its appeal, the ACCC argued a total penalty of between $42 million and $55 million would be an appropriate deterrent, taking into account the serious nature of Yazaki's actions and the size of their global operations.
The maximum penalty the court could hand Yazaki was $87 million.
The Pratt family-owned packaging business, Visy, had the dubious distinction of holding the previous record price-fixing fine of $36 million in 2007.
"Cartel conduct is illegal because it not only cheats consumers and other businesses, it also restricts healthy economic growth," Mr Sims said. "The ACCC is continuing to seek penalties which are high enough to deter anti-competitive conduct, particularly by large national and multinational corporations." While it is a step in the right direction for the ACCC in its efforts to stamp out price-fixing and cartels, the result still supports a recent OECD finding that average and maximum penalties imposed by Australian courts for breaches of the cartel laws are significantly lower than in other developed economies.
In 2012, Yazuki was fined $630 million and had four senior executives jailed for between 15 month and two years for running a similar cartel in the US.
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Organization Fine
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Solar eclipse 2020: See June's annular eclipse on Sunday
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Lucky stargazers in the Eastern Hemisphere will see an annular solar eclipse on the heels of the summer solstice on Sunday. This type of eclipse is characterized by its stunning "ring of fire" since it's not a total eclipse and edges of the sun can still be seen around the moon. A satellite captured a powerful hurricane and a solar eclipse at the same time "Annular eclipses are similar to total eclipses in that the moon, Earth and sun are aligned so that the moon moves directly in front of the Sun as viewed from Earth," said Alex Young, associate director for science in the heliophysics science division at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. "But a total eclipse does not happen, that is the moon does not completely block out the visible disk of the sun because the moon is farther away and so its apparent size in the sky is [slightly] smaller than the sun. This means that a tiny ring of annulus of the solar disk is visible around the moon." Solar eclipses occur about two weeks before or after a lunar eclipse, Young said. There was a lunar eclipse on June 5 and the next one occurs on July 5. The annular eclipse will begin at 12:47 a.m. ET (4:47 UTC) on June 21 and cross a skinny path that starts at sunrise in Africa and eventually moves across to China before ending at sunset over the Pacific Ocean. It will peak at 2:40 a.m. ET (6:40 UTC) and end around 4:32 a.m. ET (8:32 UTC). The partial eclipse will begin at 11:45 p.m. ET (3:45 UTC) on June 20 and end at 5:34 a.m. ET (9:34 UTC) on June 21. Check TimeandDate.com for more specific timing in your area. Stunning photos of the solar eclipse over South America It will be visible over central Africa, the southern Arabian Peninsula, Pakistan, Northern India and South Central China, Young said. A partial eclipse will be seen over most of Asia, Africa, South and East Europe, northern Australia and parts of the Pacific and Indian Oceans, he added. And of course, this is weather permitting, so hopefully the skies will be clear. The entire eclipse will last about 3.75 hours, but the duration as it passes over individual locations will equal to around a minute and a half. During the peak, that will actually shorten to just over 30 seconds. If you want to watch the annular eclipse but live outside of the viewing area, The Virtual Telescope Project will share a live view. How to watch Although this isn't a total solar eclipse, you still need to watch the eclipse using safety measures. "Because the Sun is so incredibly bright, it is still too bright to look at with unprotected eyes," Young said. "You need safe solar viewing glasses or special filters for use with telescopes or binoculars." Any glimpse of the sun's brightness is not only uncomfortable — it's dangerous. Looking directly at the powerful brightness of the sun can cause damage to the retina, the light-sensitive part of the eye. Even the smallest amount of exposure can cause blurry vision or temporary blindness. The problem is, you won't know whether it's temporary at first. Wolf moon eclipse kicks off the first of 13 full moons in 2020 Whether you use the cardboard eclipse glasses or a handheld card with a single rectangular view, the most important feature is the filter. Make sure your eclipse glasses meet the ISO 12312-2 international safety standard. Eclipse glasses can be worn over regular eyeglasses. To test for safety, the only thing you can see through a safe solar filter is the sun itself. If you look through and the sun is too bright, out of focus or surrounded by a murky haze, or if you can see things like ordinary household lights, the glasses aren't safe. If you're tempted to reuse eclipse glasses that are three years or older, they were made before the international safety standard was in place and come with a warning that says you can't look through them for more than three minutes at a time. These should be discarded, according to the American Astronomical Society. Safety first If you plan on watching the eclipse through a camera, a telescope or binoculars, buy a solar filter to place on the end of the lens. But do not wear eclipse glasses while looking through any of these. The concentrated light will go right through the filters and cause injury to your eyes. Here are safety tips to remember, according to the American Astronomical Society: Always inspect your solar filter before use; if it's scratched, punctured, torn or otherwise damaged, discard it. Read and follow any instructions printed on or packaged with the filter. Always supervise children using solar filters. If you normally wear eyeglasses, keep them on. Put your eclipse glasses on over them, or hold your handheld viewer in front of them. Stand still and cover your eyes with your eclipse glasses or solar viewer before looking up at the bright sun. After looking at the sun, turn away and remove your filter; do not remove it while looking at the sun. Do not look at the uneclipsed or partially eclipsed sun through an unfiltered camera, telescope, binoculars or other optical device. Similarly, do not look at the sun through a camera, a telescope, binoculars or any other optical device while using your eclipse glasses or handheld solar viewer; the concentrated solar rays could damage the filter and enter your eyes, causing serious injury. Seek expert advice from an astronomer before using a solar filter with a camera, telescope, binoculars or any other optical device; note that solar filters must be attached to the front of any telescope, binoculars, camera lens or other optics.
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New wonders in nature
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One Reason Mergers Fail: The Two Cultures Aren’t Compatible
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Amazon’s 2017 acquisition of Whole Foods was met with a lot of fanfare. The deal would allow Amazon to grow beyond e-commerce and collect significant shopper data, while Whole Foods could lower its prices and scale up after its recent declines in sales. But a year later, stories of Whole Foods employees crying on the job over Amazon’s changes have begun circulating, and some workers have even taken steps to explore unionizing. The two companies failed to investigate their cultural compatibility before merging, and now they stand on a fault line researchers call tightness versus looseness. Tight company cultures, like Amazon’s, value routine and use strict rules to uphold cultural traditions. Loose cultures, like Whole Foods’, eschew rules, encourage new ideas, and value discretion. When tight and loose cultures merge, there is a good chance that they will clash — but, if diagnosed early, these clashes can be handled productively. To avoid the pitfalls experienced by Amazon and Whole Foods, companies considering merging should: (1) Prepare to negotiate culture from the start and identify areas for compromise. (2) Construct a prenup that outlines their integration plan. (3) Make sure everyone across both organizations understands what changes will be made and why they will be made. (4) Embrace trial and error. Amazon’s 2017 acquisition of Whole Foods was met with a lot of fanfare. The deal would allow Amazon to grow beyond e-commerce and sell groceries in hundreds of stores while collecting significant shopper data. Meanwhile, Whole Foods could lower its prices (organic avocados for just $1.69!) and scale up after its recent declines in sales and market share. In the words of Whole Foods CEO John Mackey, the partnership was “love at first sight.” A year later, such optimism seems hard to find at Whole Foods. Stories of employees literally crying on the job over Amazon’s changes have begun circulating. Scorecards measuring compliance with a new inventory system are used to punish and sometimes terminate workers. A group of Whole Foods employees have recently taken steps to explore unionizing . Even customers — the stakeholders that Amazon values the most — have been angry over poorly stocked stores . So where did the love go? Amazon and Whole Foods’ relationship problems were completely predictable. The two companies may have seen value in capitalizing on each other’s strengths, but they failed to investigate their cultural compatibility beforehand. They now stand on a fault line where tensions often erupt in mergers. This fault line is what we call tightness versus looseness. When tight and loose cultures merge, there is a good chance that they will clash. Tight company cultures value consistency and routine. They have little tolerance for rebellious behavior, and use strict rules and processes to uphold cultural traditions. Loose cultures are much more fluid. They generally eschew rules, encourage new ideas, and value discretion. Tight cultures have an efficient orderliness and reassuring predictability, but are less adaptable. Loose cultures tend to be open and creative, but are more disorganized. People in loose cultures prefer visionary, collaborative leaders: those who advocate for change and empower their workers, like Whole Foods’ Mackey. People in tight cultures desire leaders who embody independence, extreme confidence, and top-down decision making. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, who is known to expect unwavering discipline from his workers, personifies this leadership style. Amazon’s culture is a tight one, characterized by structure and precision. Rooted firmly in the manufacturing industry, Amazon has defined processes to maximize its efficiency. Employees operate within a hierarchy and are well aware of the guidelines that dictate their behavior. According to Amazon’s leadership principles, leaders are instructed to “ hire and develop the best ” and “insist on the highest standards.” Performance is subject to constant measurement and review — employees can anonymously report each other to higher-ups through an internal phone system. Behavior is even more tightly regulated at Amazon’s warehouses, where target goals and surveillance keep production on schedule. This rule-bound culture ensures that all employees understand the company’s objectives and are consistently working to achieve them. Whole Foods, on the other hand, has a much looser culture. The unique blend of idealism, high profit margins, and rapid growth that came with operating the first certified organic national supermarket in the U.S. provided the founders with considerable latitude in introducing innovative and unorthodox management methods. Prior to the Amazon merger, the company had an egalitarian structure organized around self-managed teams. This structure granted individual employees significant decision-making power. Face-to-face interactions between workers, vendors, and customers were the norm. Managers could operate their stores with autonomy and tailor products to customer preferences. “Empowerment must be much, much more than a mere slogan,” Mackey wrote in a 2010 blog post . “It should be within the very DNA of the organization.” Such decentralization and lack of structure, however, might have ultimately contributed to company-wide inefficiencies that drove up prices. To understand more about how mergers between tight and loose cultures work, we collected data on over 4,500 international mergers from 32 different countries between 1989 and 2013. The study took into consideration factors such as deal size, monetary stakes, industry, geographic distance, and cultural compatibility. We found that mergers with more-pronounced tight-loose divides performed worse overall. On average, the acquiring companies in mergers with tight-loose differences saw their return on assets decrease by 0.6 percentage points three years after the merger, or $200 million in net income per year. Those with especially large cultural mismatches saw their yearly net income drop by over $600 million. Fortunately, when diagnosed early, the tight-loose clashes that crop up in mergers can be handled productively. To increase their chances of achieving cultural harmony, companies should do a few things. Prepare to negotiate culture. In addition to negotiating price and other financial terms, organizations discussing a merger need to negotiate culture. Leaders should start by conducting a cultural assessment to understand how people, practices, and management reflect tightness or looseness in both companies. They should determine the pros and cons of their current levels of tight-loose, as well as the opportunities and threats posed by merging cultures. How might sacrificing some discretion for structure, or vice versa, enhance or harm each organization? Above all, they should identify areas for compromise: Tighter organizations need to identify domains where they can embrace greater looseness, and looser organizations need to think about how they can welcome some tight features. We call these flexible tightness and structured looseness, respectively. Construct a prenup. Once merging organizations better understand the strengths and weaknesses of their company cultures, they should develop a cultural integration plan that articulates which domains will be loose and which will be tight. Mutual input about how each company will change — and a formal contract documenting those changes — can help ensure long-term success. When Disney bought Pixar in 2006, Disney CEO Robert Iger agreed to a set of ground rules for safeguarding Pixar’s looser culture. For example, Pixar employees weren’t required to sign employment contracts with Disney, were free to choose the titles on their business cards, could decorate their cubicles and offices as they wished, and could continue their annual paper airplane contest. Get buy-in. Everyone across both organizations needs to be informed about the integration plan. Simply explaining what the changes will be is not enough; people need to know why they will be implemented. Communicating openly and gaining broad acceptance for changes will help minimize the threat people feel from new ways of doing business. People in tight organizations might feel their control is being threatened. People in loose organizations might feel their autonomy is being threatened. Leaders need to be culturally ambidextrous — or demonstrate the value of being both tight and loose, and work to address employees’ underlying fear of change. Embrace trial and error. Finally, organizations need to be prepared to reevaluate their original integration strategy. No matter how foolproof the plan may seem, issues are bound to arise. Amazon’s increased standardization and employee surveillance at Whole Foods had positive business outcomes — prices dropped as much as 40% on certain items — but it was also hard on the company culture. Amazon now has an opportunity to learn from these results, and possibly incorporate some of the looser cultural elements that Whole Foods employees value. For example, Amazon could create a better balance between the time people spend on logging inventory and organizing store shelves and the time they spend interacting with customers. Likewise, there may be more domains where Whole Foods can relinquish some of its unstructured business practices. For example, using Amazon’s expertise in data science and logistics, Whole Foods has an opportunity to gain better customer insights and provide its clientele with services that are not only personal but also customized and consistent. Negotiating tight and loose in organizations takes work, but patience and a willingness to make sacrifices can help merging organizations overcome some of the most difficult challenges. How will the Amazon–Whole Foods partnership pan out? It’s too soon to say, but spending more time on integrating their cultures could help.
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Organization Merge
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Indiana State Police requested to investigate officer-involved shooting in Hammond
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HAMMOND – On Thursday, November 4, the Indiana State Police District 13 Criminal Investigations Division was contacted by the Hammond Police Department to investigate an officer-involved shooting that occurred at the intersection of Orchard Avenue and Rhode Island.
Preliminary investigation shows that at approximately 3:30 a.m., officers with the Hammond Police Department as well as the Hammond Fire Department were dispatched to the location for a welfare check and possible vehicle fire. The 911 caller had reported a vehicle crash at that location. Officers located a blue 2013 Infiniti SUV.
The officers observed a single male occupant in the vehicle and made several attempts to have him exit the vehicle, but he refused. During this encounter, the suspect eventually exited the vehicle while holding a handgun and was subsequently shot by an officer. A large capacity drum magazine was also located in the driver’s area of the vehicle.
Officers immediately began to render first aid to the suspect. The suspect was transported via ambulance to the University of Illinois Chicago Hospital for treatment and is currently listed in stable condition.
No officers were injured during the incident.
This is an ongoing investigation. The identity of the suspect will be released once charges have been filed with the Lake County Prosecutor’s Office.
At the request of the Hammond Police Department, the following information is being released. “The officer involved in this shooting has been placed on paid administrative leave as is department policy following an officer-involved shooting. The officer’s name will be released later. To allow for a thorough and complete investigation by the Indiana State Police, no further information on the officer or the incident will be made available until the investigation has been completed.”
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Famous Person - Commit Crime - Investigate
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Food poisoning: Girl dies, 75 ill in Bhandara village
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Nagpur: A 12-year-old girl died of suspected food poisoning after consuming panipuri and noodles at a weekly market in Bhendala village of Paoni taluka in Bhandara district, while 75 others have taken ill.
According to sources, several villagers visited the weekly market on Sunday (March 14) to stock essentials and many among them had panipuri and Chinese food at roadside stalls there.
12-year-old Dnyaneshwari (Rakhi) had accompanied her father Ramdas Satibawne and others in the family to the market where they too ate panipuri and noodles.
On Monday afternoon, Dnyaneshwari started vomiting. At first, the family tried home remedy to treat the girl. As her condition started deteriorating, Ramdas decided to take his daughter to Paoni for treatment. However, the girl breathed her last even before they could reach Paoni.
Meanwhile, nearly 75 others in the village from different age groups also complained of vomiting, fever, abdominal pain and diarrhoea. As reports about suspected mass food poisoning reached health department authorities, a team under district health officer Dr Prashant Uike and civil surgeon Dr Riyaz Farukhi reached the village and started making arrangements for patient care.
Around 30 patients were rushed to Paoni rural health centre, while others were accommodated in a makeshift arrangement at Bhendala gram panchayat office.
Dr Farukhi said most villagers are suffering from vomiting and stomach ache.
Doctors at Paoni and Bhendala told TOI that most of the patients have very mild food poisoning symptoms. “The girl who died on Tuesday morning was severely dehydrated. She was vomiting since Monday and had become very weak. She died on way to the hospital,” said a doctor over phone.
“Around 75 villagers are under treatment. I have directed officials to take samples of the food being sold at the stalls. Tests in laboratory will make everything clear,” said Bhandara collector Sandip Kadam, who visited the village on Tuesday.
Bhandara district administration has taken serious note of the incident. This is second serious incident of health hazard in the district this year. In January, 10 newborns had died in NICU fire due to short-circuit at the Bhandara District General Hospital.
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Mass Poisoning
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Introduction of Médecins Sans Frontières
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Médecins Sans Frontières brings medical humanitarian assistance to victims of conflict, natural disasters, epidemics or healthcare exclusion. Learn about how, why, and where MSF teams respond to different diseases around the world, and the challenges we face in providing treatment. Learn about the different contexts and situations in which MSF teams respond to provide care, including war and natural disaster settings, and how and why we adapt our activities to each. Learn about our response and our work in depth on specific themes and events. In more than 70 countries, Médecins Sans Frontières provides medical humanitarian assistance to save lives and ease the suffering of people in crisis situations. Our staff “own” and manage MSF, making sure that we stay true to our mission and principles, through the MSF Associations. We set up the MSF Access Campaign in 1999 to push for access to, and the development of, life-saving and life-prolonging medicines, diagnostic tests and vaccines for people in our programmes and beyond. Read stories from our staff as they carry out their work around the world. Hear directly from the inspirational people we help as they talk about their experiences dealing with often neglected, life-threatening diseases. Based in Paris, CRASH conducts and directs studies and analysis of MSF actions. They participate in internal training sessions and assessment missions in the field. Based in Geneva, UREPH (or Research Unit) aims to improve the way MSF projects are implemented in the field and to participate in critical thinking on humanitarian and medical action. Based in Barcelona, ARHP documents and reflects on the operational challenges and dilemmas faced by the MSF field teams. Based in Brussels, MSF Analysis intends to stimulate reflection and debate on humanitarian topics organised around the themes of migration, refugees, aid access, health policy and the environment in which aid operates. This logistical and supply centre in Brussels provides storage of and delivers medical equipment, logistics and drugs for international purchases for MSF missions. This supply and logistics centre in Bordeaux, France, provides warehousing and delivery of medical equipment, logistics and drugs for international purchases for MSF missions. This logistical centre in Amsterdam purchases, tests, and stores equipment including vehicles, communications material, power supplies, water-processing facilities and nutritional supplements. SAMU provides strategic, clinical and implementation support to various MSF projects with medical activities related to HIV and TB. This medical unit is based in Cape Town, South Africa. Regional logistic centre for the whole East Africa region BRAMU specialises in neglected tropical diseases, such as dengue and Chagas, and other infectious diseases. This medical unit is based in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Our medical guidelines are based on scientific data collected from MSF’s experiences, the World Health Organization (WHO), other renowned international medical institutions, and medical and scientific journals. Find important research based on our field experience on our dedicated Field Research website. The Manson Unit is a London, UK-based team of medical specialists who provide medical and technical support, and conduct research for MSF. Providing epidemiological expertise to underpin our operations, conducting research and training to support our goal of providing medical aid in areas where people are affected by conflict, epidemics, disasters, or excluded from health care. Evaluation Units have been established in Vienna, Stockholm, and Paris, assessing the potential and limitations of medical humanitarian action, thereby enhancing the effectiveness of our medical humanitarian work. The Luxembourg Operational Research (LuxOR) unit coordinates field research projects and operational research training, and provides support for documentation activities and routine data collection. The Intersectional Benchmarking Unit collects and analyses data about local labour markets in all locations where MSF employs people. To upskill and provide training to locally-hired MSF staff in several countries, MSF has created the MSF Academy for Healthcare. This Guide explains the terms, concepts, and rules of humanitarian law in accessible and reader-friendly alphabetical entries. The MSF Paediatric Days is an event for paediatric field staff, policy makers and academia to exchange ideas, align efforts, inspire and share frontline research to advance urgent paediatric issues of direct concern for the humanitarian field. The MSF Foundation aims to create a fertile arena for logistics and medical knowledge-sharing to meet the needs of MSF and the humanitarian sector as a whole. A collaborative, patients’ needs-driven, non-profit drug research and development organisation that is developing new treatments for neglected diseases, founded in 2003 by seven organisations from around the world. Nestled in the hills at the confluence of three rivers, the health zone of Popokabaka, nearly 400 kilometres southeast of Kinshasa, the capital of Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), has been the centre of an outbreak of typhoid fever that has lasted for months. “Our team was called to respond in Popokabaka after the authorities confirmed the epidemic,” says Jean-Marc Mavunda, medical manager of Médecins Sans Frontières’ (MSF) emergency team. “But all indications were that the disease had already been present for several months and had already claimed many lives.” Usually spread either by ingesting water or food contaminated with human faeces and secretions, or else through hand-to-hand contact, the main symptoms of typhoid are a prolonged fever, a headache and digestive problems including stomach pains, vomiting and diarrhoea. Once diagnosed, typhoid is treatable in just a few days with antibiotics. But diagnosing it can be difficult, particularly in local health centres, because its symptoms are very similar to other diseases. Laboratory analysis is needed. When treatment is delayed, typhoid can lead to serious complications and sometimes death. This morning, Chadrac Mbaya is sitting next to his one-year-old daughter La Joie. La Joie was admitted to Popokabaka hospital four days ago with symptoms of typhoid. “One night she started vomiting and having diarrhoea,” says her father. “We went to the health centre, but the treatment she received did not improve her condition. She ended up being transferred here. Her sister also had the disease, but fortunately she recovered.” People’s living conditions in Popokabaka mean that outbreaks of waterborne diseases are common. There is limited access to clean drinking water, while sanitary facilities are almost non-existent in most residents’ homes. “In this area, people drink water from the river, where we also bathe and clean the dishes,” says Chadrac. “How do you expect us to avoid the disease?” To reduce people’s risk of catching the disease as they go about their daily life, MSF health promoters have held awareness-raising sessions in school, health facilities and within the community. Meanwhile MSF teams have tracked the course of the disease throughout the area in order to respond quickly and effectively. “In addition to support for care and awareness [of the community], we conducted epidemiological surveillance of the entire zone in order to adapt our response to the evolving situation,” says Mavunda. “This work quickly revealed that the number of cases was much higher than initially estimated.” “Every day, the hospital was receiving patients with typhoid fever referred from peripheral health centres,” Mavunda continues. “In total, it is estimated that more than 3,700 people have been affected since the beginning of the year.” Endemic in sub-Saharan Africa, typhoid can cause serious complications in 10 to 15 per cent of patients, including digestive haemorrhage, intestinal perforation and peritonitis, all of which require surgery. “Given the number of complicated cases in the area, we directly integrated a surgical component into our response,” says Mavunda. “We've dealt with a lot of cases of peritonitis, which is a serious infection that can easily lead to death. Acute peritonitis sometimes requires multiple operations on the same patient.” “Before we launched our response, 29 in-hospital deaths had been reported, almost all of them post-operative,” Mavunda continues. “Providing surgical support and post-operative care was therefore fundamental.” Eleven-year-old Tharcisse developed complications from typhoid and has already had four visits to the operating theatre. “The first three operations were performed last May and June,” says his father, also called Tharcisse. “After the first two, the situation had not improved.” “I was about to take him to Kinshasa to be treated there, but when I heard that the MSF team had arrived, I decided to wait,” says the senior Tharcisse. “And it was the MSF team that organised the rest of the operations.” From mid-July to mid-September, 2,180 patients were treated, and 20 surgical operations were performed with MSF’s support. In addition to treating typhoid fever, our team also operated on 11 people for surgical emergencies and treated more than 3,500 patients suffering from simple and severe malaria. Cases of typhoid fever are now decreasing, allowing our team to respond to emergencies elsewhere in the country, but staff at health facilities across the region will need to be vigilant in the coming weeks. Water, hygiene and sanitation – the main factors in the spread of typhoid fever – are still far below what is needed in the Popokabaka area, and the onset of the rainy season could lead to an increase in cases. Before heading elsewhere, the MSF emergency team donated medicines, medical and surgical equipment to Popokabaka hospital to strengthen care, but a more structural response is needed to improve people’s living conditions and tackle the disease at its source. MSF’s emergency team supported the Ministry of Health in treating patients with typhoid fever at Popokabaka hospital and seven other health facilities in and around Popokabaka city from mid-July to mid-September 2021.
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Disease Outbreaks
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IGAD, NGOs warn that Horn of Africa locust disaster is spreading
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NGOs warn that Horn of Africa locust disaster is spreading IGAD, NGOs warn that Horn of Africa locust disaster is spreading By AT editor - 17 February 2020 at 2:24 am The desert locust swarms that have devastated crops on the Horn of Africa are rapidly multiplying in affected countries and likely to spread into other nations, according to an update from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and partner agencies. FAO says swarms are the worst in 25 years in Ethiopia and Somalia , and the worst in 70 years in Kenya. Now they have the potential to threaten Eritrea, Djibouti and northeastern Uganda, where new swarms have been observed. The FAO, along with the regional Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) and the the Famine Early Warning Systems Network, warn that South Sudan also is at high risk. “Looking forward, given favorable forecast weather conditions, swarms are expected to increase in areas already affected, as well as spread to neighboring areas,” the organizations said in a statement that appealed for more funding to address the crisis. Rains in March and April are expected to make matters worse. FAO says it needs US$76 million to respond effectively and protect food security for some 13 million people, but it has raised only $22 million of what’s needed. “It will be vastly more cost-effective to support (FAO) to tackle locusts in East Africa now than to help people in the region after their crops have been ruined,” said WFP executive director David Beasley. “Do nothing now and WFP will need up to 15 times that amount – more than US$1 billion – to assist people devastated by losing crops and livelihoods. Preventing a catastrophe in East Africa is a far better investment than responding to its consequences and impact on the lives of millions across the region.”
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Insect Disaster
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A ceremony is held in Oslo to award the Nobel Peace Prize to Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo in absentia
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The chairman of the Nobel prize committee has called for the immediate release of jailed Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo, winner of the 2010 peace prize.
There were two standing ovations at the ceremony in Oslo for Mr Liu, who was represented only by an empty chair. China has been angered by the award and has waged a campaign in recent weeks to discredit it. Nobel chairman Thorbjorn Jagland praised China for lifting millions of people out of poverty. He called it an "extraordinary achievement" but warned China that its new status as a leading world power meant Beijing "must regard criticism as positive". He said the Nobel committee was calling for Mr Liu to be freed immediately, saying: "He hasn't done anything wrong."
For its part, China's foreign ministry condemned the ceremony as a "political farce". "We resolutely oppose any country or any person using the Nobel Peace Prize to interfere with China's internal affairs or infringe upon China's legal sovereignty," said the ministry in a statement.
During the award ceremony, Norwegian actress Liv Ullmann read out a statement that Mr Liu had made in court during his trial in December 2009.
"I, filled with optimism, look forward to the advent of a future, free China," said the statement.
"For there is no force that can put an end to the human quest for freedom, and China will in the end become a nation ruled by law, where human rights reign supreme."
Honouring the new laureate, Mr Jagland placed the Nobel diploma on the empty chair marking Mr Liu's absence.
The Nobel chairman compared China's anger at the award to the outcry over peace prizes awarded to other dissidents of their times, including South African archbishop Desmond Tutu and the Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. He said Mr Liu was dedicating his prize to "the lost souls from 4 June", those who died in the pro-democracy protests on that date in Tiananmen Square in 1989. "We can say (Mr) Liu reminds us of Nelson Mandela," he said. The former South African president received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993.
The UN says it had information that China detained at least 20 activists ahead of the ceremony.
A further 120 cases of house arrest, travel restriction, forced relocation and other acts of intimidation have been reported.
The BBC's English and Chinese language websites have been blocked, and BBC TV coverage was blacked out inside China during the ceremony.
Mr Liu, one of China's leading dissidents, is serving an 11-year sentence in a jail in north-east China for state subversion. Police are stationed outside his home in Beijing where his wife, Liu Xia, is under house arrest. Geir Lundestad, the director of the Nobel committee, said 48 foreign delegations attended the Oslo ceremony, 16 countries - including Russia, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan - turned down the invitation and the Chinese returned their invitation unopened.
Analysts say many of those who stayed away did so as a result of Chinese pressure. However, Serbia - which had previously said it would not attend - announced on Friday that it would be sending a representative. The Serbian government, which has warm relations with China, had come under pressure from within the European Union and from political parties and civil society groups in Serbia to attend. Beijing had sought to prevent anyone travelling from China to Oslo to collect the prize on Mr Liu's behalf.
The BBC's Mike Wooldridge in Oslo says that to the Nobel committee, Liu Xiaobo symbolises a message it was keen to send to China - that its growing economic strength and power do not exempt it from universal standards of human rights. On the other hand, China said the committee had chosen a criminal convicted under Chinese law to serve the interests of certain Western countries, our correspondent says.
Liu Xiaobo first came to prominence when he took part in the 1989 protests in Beijing's Tiananmen Square.
He was sent to prison for nearly two years for his role, and has been a critic of the Chinese government ever since.
He was given an 11-year prison sentence in December 2009 for inciting the subversion of state power, a charge which came after he co-authored a document known as Charter 08.
The document calls openly for political reforms in China, such as a separation of powers and legislative democracy.
This year marks the first time since 1936 that the Nobel Peace Prize, now worth $1.5m (£950,000), was not handed out.
UN human rights chief Navi Pillay on Thursday again called for Mr Liu to be released "as soon as possible".
Last year's peace prize winner, US President Barack Obama, has also called for his release.
The Chinese government has been furious about the award ever since it was announced in October that Liu Xiaobo had won it.
Beijing says that Mr Liu is a criminal, and insists that giving him a prize is an insult to China's judicial system.
As well as putting Liu Xia, the Nobel laureate's wife, under house arrest, the authorities have put pressure on other activists and dissidents.
Some have been prevented from leaving the country, while others have been forced to leave their homes for the next few days, according to the Chinese Human Rights Defenders.
One of those to disappear, it said, was Zhang Zuhua, the man who co-wrote Charter 08.
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Awards ceremony
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Aeroflot Flight 2723 crash
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Aeroflot Flight 2723 was a Soviet domestic passenger flight from Bina International Airport to Makhachkala Airport. On 23 April 1966 the Ilyushin Il-14 operating the route ditched in the Caspian Sea following engine problems. The Ilyushin Il-14P involved was built in 1956 and flew until 1959 registered as CCCP-Л1772 for Aeroflot, before the registration was changed to СССР-61772. By the time of the accident, the aircraft had completed 16,257 flying hours. [1]
The Il-14P departed at 07:42 local time from Baku for Saratov with a stopover in Makhachkala. The weather at the time of departure was heavy rain and thick clouds with a ceiling of 140–200 m (460–660 ft). About 12 minutes after takeoff, at an altitude of 1,500 m (4,900 ft), the pilots reported problems with the engines and assumed that the cause was wet spark plugs. The flight made a 180° turn to return to Baku. Shortly thereafter, the crew reported strong vibrations and low revs from the left engine. At 07:59, the crew reported that the temperature had dropped sharply in both engines. Three minutes later, the pilots reported reaching an altitude of 200 m (660 ft). However, due to the bad weather, the aircraft had already flown past the airport and was located over the Caspian Sea south of the Absheron Peninsula. Five seconds later, the crew radioed an SOS call and reported that they would ditch the aircraft in the sea. That was the last radio contact with Flight 2723. No trace of the aircraft was found until a few months later when the wreckage was found by accident on the seabed in 23 m (75 ft) of water some 18–20 km (11–12 mi) south of Nargin Island by Navy divers searching for another sunken object. The aircraft and most of the bodies of those on board were removed from the water by a floating crane. The fuselage had little significant damage, indicating that the aircraft hit the water at a shallow angle and remained relatively intact. The investigation was unable to find the cause of the engine failures. [2]
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Air crash
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Iberia Airlines Flight 1456 crash
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Iberia Airlines Flight 1456 was a scheduled flight from Barcelona-El Prat Airport, Spain, to Bilbao Airport, Spain. On Wednesday, February 7, 2001, the Airbus A320, which took off from Barcelona-El Prat Airport, Spain, encountered a microburst induced wind shear on final approach to Bilbao Airport, Spain. The wind shear caused the plane's landing gear to collapse. All 143 passengers onboard survived; with 25 people suffering light injuries, and 1 person receiving serious injuries. The aircraft was irreparably damaged as a result of the ordeal and was decommissioned soon after, making it the ninth loss of an Airbus A320 at that time. This accident prompted Airbus to develop a fail safe modification for its flight control software by preventing the airplane's built-in protection against stall from being activated by a high rate of change for the angle of attack. [1]
The aircraft was manufactured for Iberia in 2000. It had also made its first flight in 2000. At the time of the accident, it had flown for 1,149 hours and 869 cycles. The aircraft was equipped with 2 CFMI CFM56-5B4/P engines. [2]:5–6
There were three cockpit crew and four cabin crew. The captain was a 42-year old Spanish male and held an Airline Transport Pilot License. He was qualified to fly Airbus A320 aircraft under instrument flight rules (IFR). At the time of the accident, he had a total of 10,805 flight hours. The first officer was a 27-year old Spanish male and held a Commercial Pilot License. He was qualified to fly Airbus A320 under instrument flight rules (IFR). At the time of the accident, he had a total of 2,670 flight hours. The trainee pilot, who flew under supervision, was a 24-year old Spanish male and held a Commercial Pilot License. At the time of the accident, he had a total of 423 flight hours. [2]:3–4
There were four flight attendants on the aircraft. [2]:5
On Wednesday, February 7, 2001, the Airbus A320 took off from Barcelona-El Prat Airport, Spain. The flight was uneventful until the final approach to Bilbao Airport. The Airbus encountered a microburst induced wind shear on final approach to the airport. The crew decided to perform a go-around, but the aircraft failed to respond, causing the plane's landing gear to collapse. A subsequent emergency evacuation was carried out. All 143 occupants on the aircraft survived, but 25 people were injured during the evacuation. One crew member and 23 passengers suffered minor injuries, while a female passenger was seriously injured. Seven injured passengers were taken to hospitals. The three pilots were not injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged and written off, making it the ninth hull loss of an Airbus A320. [1][2]:2–3
The runway received minor damage upon the aircraft's hard landing. Two runway edge lights were broken. [2]:3
The Civil Aviation Accident and Incident Investigation Commission (CIAIAC) immediately launched an investigation into the accident, which took 5 years and 9 months. The investigation by the CIAIAC concluded:
The activation of the angle of attack protection system, which, under a particular combination of vertical gusts and windshear and the simultaneous actions of both crew members on the sidesticks, not considered in the design, prevented the plane from pitching up and flaring during the landing. [1]
This accident prompted Airbus to develop a modification for its flight control software by preventing the airplane's built-in protection against stall from being activated by a high rate of change for the angle of attack. Following this accident, the CIAIAC made four safety recommendations. [3]
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Air crash
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2009 Gojra riots
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The 2009 Gojra riots were a series of attacks targeting Christians in Gojra town in Punjab province of Pakistan.These resulted in the deaths of eight Christians including four women and a child.
Christians make up 1.6% of Pakistan's predominantly Sunni Muslim population of 210 million people. Gojra, which is located in the Toba Tek Singh District of Pakistan's Punjab province, has a relatively high number of Christians. Minorities also face intimidation at the hands of discriminatory laws, including a blasphemy law that carries the death penalty for using derogatory language against Islam, the Qur'an and Muhammad. [4] The law is often misused to settle personal scores and rivalries. These attacks came less than a month after a mob attacked 100 houses belonging to Christians in Kasur District of Pakistan, destroying many of them and injuring many people after a blasphemy charge. According to Nadeem Anthony, a member of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, there is a link between violence against Christians and the US-led war in Afghanistan. Joseph Francis of the Christian Nationalist Part stated that the Muslim mob in Gojra had been incited with hate-speech that called Christians "America's dogs", he added since "9/11, we've felt a lot more at risk. [6] Islamic militants in Pakistan target other minority groups as well, including Shias and Ahmadiyya Muslims, groups they consider heretics. According to Minority Rights Group International, Pakistan had the world's highest increase of threats against minorities last year and was ranked the sixth least dangerous country for minorities overall. Pakistan was ranked after Somalia, Sudan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Burma.
The attacks were triggered by reports of desecration of the Qur'an. It was reported that Mukhtar Maseeh, Talib Maseeh and his son Imran Maseeh had desecrated the papers inscribed with Qur'an verses at a wedding ceremony. District Police Officer Inkisar Khan said a case had been registered under section 295-B of the Pakistan Penal Code against Mukhtar Maseeh, Talib Maseeh and Imran Maseeh without any arrest.Forty houses and a Church were set ablaze by a mob on August 1, 2009. Most of the houses were burnt by youths who had their faces covered with veils. [10] The victims were all burnt alive. 18 others were injured. Televised footage showed burning houses and streets strewn with blackened furniture and people firing at each other from their rooftops. The dead were identified as Hameed Maseeh, 50, Asia Bibi, 20, Asifa Bibi, 19, Imamia Bibi, 22, Musa, 7, Akhlas Maseeh, 40, and Parveen, 50. According to Rafiq Masih, a resident of the predominantly Christian colony “They were shouting anti-Christian slogans and attacked our houses.” Residents said that police stood aside while the mob went on the rampage. “We kept begging for protection, but police did not take action,” Masih said.According to Pakistan government they had received information that a group of armed ‘miscreants’, with masked faces had come from Jhang.
Law minister Rana Sanaullah, who is also responsible for security matters of Punjab, condemned the attack and ordered an inquiry. A contingent of Pakistan Rangers was sent to the city on orders of federal government. He stated that a preliminary investigation showed there was no desecration of the Qur'an. "It was just a rumor which was exploited by anti-state elements to create chaos," he said. President Asif Ali Zardari expressed grave concern over the incidents and directed federal minister for minority affairs Shahbaz Bhatti to remain in Gojra until the situation becomes normal and also asked him to take steps for the security of people's life and property. Police lodged cases against 17 known and 783 unknown suspects following these attacks. Chief Minister of Punjab, Shahbaz Sharif announced US$ 6,000 for each bereaved family. [14] According to Shahbaz Bhatti, the federal minister for minorities, the attackers belonged to Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan, a banned militant group which has carried out attacks against security forces and bombings in recent years. This group was originally an anti-Shiite organization and was funded in the past by Pakistan's intelligence services to wage war in Kashmir. [6] Police arrested more than 65 people for their alleged involvement in the violence under anti-terrorism laws. The arrested men include Qari Abdul Khaliq Kashmiri, a leader of the banned Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan.
Following the riots relatives of the slain protested by blocking the Multan-Faisalabad railway line for six hours, which passes through Gojra, by placing coffins of those killed on the tracks. On Sunday representatives of the protesters met with government ministers in talks to end the protests.
The blockade of the railway only ended when provincial minister Kamran Michael showed the protesters a copy of a First Information Report (FIR) apportioning blame onto the District Coordination Officer and the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) for negligence.
Kamran Michael, the provincial Minister for Minority Affairs, who himself is Christian, said that there "is too much fear among the Christians", he added that "the situation is tense in the city, but security has been enhanced to keep the situation under control. "[17] Christian schools closed for three days to mourn the victims of these attacks. Christians in Gojra will mark August 11, traditionally celebrated as Pakistan's minority day, as a "black day" of mourning.
According to Iqbal Haider, co-chairperson of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, the attacks are an indication of the unchecked growth of religious extremism in Pakistan. "This has to be a wake-up call for the government. The Gojra tragedy is just the latest, this is a direct consequence of the religious fanaticism that is rampant now all over Pakistan. These extremists are hell-bent upon killing every person who does not support their religious views," he said.
On August 4, Punjab CM Shahbaz Sharif visited the city and, speaking to the media from a church in the city, strongly condemned the acts of violence and promised that members of the Muslim League will stay in the area for rehabilitation.
After these attacks Prime Minister Gilani hinted that Pakistan may review its Blasphemy laws.
Altaf Hussain of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement strongly condemned the attacks and called upon the government to quickly arrest the culprits. [21]
Sherry Rehman of Pakistan Peoples Party calling for repeal of the blasphemy laws stated “Pakistan Peoples Party has always sought to protect the minorities, but it is General Zia’s black laws that are used to target innocent civilians on trumped-up ruses. Nobody should demonize what is sacred to another, and Islam is clear on this issue, but nobody must be allowed to exploit and misuse laws, such as the Blasphemy Law, which were ordered into law by a dictator, who politicized religion to make up for his own lack of legitimacy.”
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Riot
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Thirty Meter Telescope protests
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The Thirty Meter Telescope protests are a series of protests and demonstrations that began on the Island of Hawaii over the choosing of Mauna Kea for the site location of the Thirty Meter Telescope. Mauna Kea is the most sacred dormant volcano of Native Hawaiian religion and culture, and was known to natives as the home to Wākea, the sky god. [3] Native Hawaiian cultural practitioners have repeatedly failed in court to prove that these practices predate 1893, which is the threshold for protection under Hawaii State law. Protests began locally within the state of Hawaii on October 7, 2014 but went global within weeks of the April 2, 2015 arrest of 31 people who had blockaded the roadway to keep construction crews off the summit. The TMT, a $1.4 billion[4] ground-based, large segmented mirror reflecting telescope grew from astronomers' prioritization in 2000 of a thirty-meter telescope to be built within the decade. Mauna Kea was announced as TMT's preferred site in 2009. [3] Opposition to the project began shortly after the announcement of Mauna Kea as the chosen site out of 5 proposals. While opposition against the observatories on Mauna Kea has been ongoing since the first telescope, built by the University of Hawaii, this protest may be the most vocal. The project was expected to be completed by 2024, nearly simultaneously with the 39-meter Extremely Large Telescope being built in Chile; however, on December 2, 2015, the Supreme Court of Hawaii invalidated the TMT's building permits. The court ruled that due process was not followed. The TMT corporation then removed all construction equipment and vehicles from Mauna Kea, and re-applied for a new permit, meant to respect the Supreme Court's ruling. This was granted on September 28, 2018. [5][6] On October 30, 2018, the Court validated the new construction permit. [7]
Recent polling has showed that public support for construction among all groups has dropped since the start of the 2019 protests, to 50 percent support statewide. [8] There is also significant opposition among native Hawaiians, with polls showing 39 percent supporting the project in 2016[9] to 27 percent supporting in September 2019. [8] Notable native Hawaiian supporters include Peter Apo, sitting trustee of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs,[10] and leading University of Hawaii professor and astronomer the late Dr. Paul Coleman, who in 2015 noted "Hawaiians are just so tied to astronomy I cannot, in any stretch of the imagination, think that TMT is something that our ancestors wouldn't just jump on and embrace" [11][12] In July 2019, 300 protestors gathered in support of the TMT project outside the Hawaii State Capitol in Honolulu. [13][14]
After studying photos for NASA's Apollo program that contained greater detail than any ground based telescope, Gerard Kuiper began seeking an arid site for infrared studies. [15][16] While he first began looking in Chile, he also made the decision to perform tests in the Hawaiian Islands. Tests on Maui's Haleakalā were promising but the mountain was too low in the inversion layer and often covered by clouds. On the "Big Island" of Hawaii, Mauna Kea is considered the highest island mountain in the world, measuring roughly 33,000 feet from the base deep under the Pacific Ocean. While the summit is often covered with snow the air itself is extremely dry. [15] Kuiper began looking into the possibility of an observatory on Mauna Kea. After testing, he discovered the low humidity was perfect for infrared signals. He persuaded then-governor John A. Burns, to bulldoze a dirt road to the summit where he built a small telescope on Puʻu Poliʻahu, a cinder cone peak. [15][17][18] The peak was the second highest on the mountain with the highest peak being holy ground, so Kuiper avoided it. [19]
Next, Kuiper tried enlisting NASA to fund a larger facility with a large telescope, housing and other needed structures. NASA, in turn decided to make the project open to competition. Professor of physics John Jefferies of the University of Hawaii placed a bid on behalf of the university. [15][20][21] Jefferies had gained his reputation through observations at Sacramento Peak Observatory. The proposal was for a two-meter telescope to serve both the needs of NASA and the university. While large telescopes are not ordinarily awarded to universities without well established astronomers, Jefferies and UH were awarded the NASA contract, infuriating Kuiper who felt that "his mountain" had been "stolen" from "him". [15][22] Kuiper would abandon his site (the very first telescope on Mauna Kea) over the competition and begin work in Arizona on a different NASA project. After considerable testing by Jefferies' team, the best locations were determined to be near the summit at the top of the cinder cones. Testing also determined Mauna Kea to be superb for nighttime viewing due to many factors including the thin air, constant trade winds and being surrounded by sea. Jefferies would build a 2.24 meter telescope with the State of Hawaii agreeing to build a reliable, all weather roadway to the summit. Building began in 1967 and first light seen in 1970. [15]
Although polls, some of them highly criticized,[23] indicate that a majority of Hawaii residents support the Thirty Meter Telescope,[24] opposition to the project and other observatories has existed since 1964. [25] In Honolulu, the governor and legislature, enthusiastic about the development, set aside an even larger area for the observatory causing opposition in the city of Hilo. Native kānaka ʻōiwi believed the entire site was sacred and that developing the mountain, even for science, would spoil the area. Environmentalists were concerned about rare native bird populations and other citizens of Hilo were concerned about the sight of the domes from the city. Using town hall meetings, Jefferies emphasized the economic advantage and prestige the island would receive. [15] Over the years, the opposition to the observatories may have become the most visible example of the conflict science has encountered over access and use of environmental and culturally significant sites. [26] Opposition to development grew shortly after expansion of the observatories commenced. Once access was opened up by the roadway to the summit, skiers began using it for recreation and objected when the road was closed as a precaution against vandalism when the telescopes were being built. Hunters voiced concerns as did the Hawaiian Audubon Society who were supported by Governor George Ariyoshi. [27]
The Audubon Society objected to further development on Mauna Kea over concerns to habitat of the endangered palila, an endemic species to only specific parts of this mountain. The bird is the last of the finch billed honeycreepers existing on the island. Over 50% of native bird species had been killed off due to loss of habitat from early western settlers or the introduction of non native species competing for resources. Hunters and sportsmen were concerned that the hunting of feral animals would be affected by the telescope operations. None of these concerns proved accurate.
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Protest_Online Condemnation
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PLA Warplanes Drop Thousands of Munitions in South China Sea Exercise
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The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) conducted a live-fire exercise in which warplanes dropped thousands of munitions at sea targets in the South China Sea, according to Chinese government-controlled Global Times. The exercise was done to enhance combat readiness and precision strike capabilities, as the warplanes flew at low altitudes and rained down bombs and anti-ship rockets, among others, at targets floating at sea. According to state broadcaster CCTV, several dozen JH-7 fighter bombers were used in the exercise by a brigade of the PLA Southern Theater Command Naval Aviation Force. Several thousand rockets, cannon rounds, and aerial bombs were fired and dropped during the exercise, CCTV reported. Although the exercises were conducted days after the guided-missile destroyer USS Curtis Wilbur sailed near the Paracel Islands, Global Times reported analysts said it was not a targeted response. Chinese military expert Song Zhongping told the state media outlet that a single US ship “has limited capability” and is not “worthy of a targeted exercise.” The Paracel Islands, which the Chinese call “the Xisha Islands,” are located in the northwestern portion of the South China Sea. Beijing has asserted its authority over the island for more than four decades, contesting the claims of Vietnam and Taiwan. The Xi’an Jian Hong-7 (Xi’an JH-7), also called the FBC-1 Flying Leopard, is a two-seat, twin-engine fighter bomber used by the People’s Liberation Army Naval Air Force (PLANAF), and the People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) since 1992. The Xi’an JH-7 was built to replace the PLAAF’s ageing fleet of Harbin H-5 and Nanchang Q-5 aircraft. The aircraft has a top speed of 1,808 km/h (1123 mi/h), a range of 1,759 km (1093 mi), a length of 22m (72 ft), a wingspan of 13m (43 ft), and a cruise speed of 903 km/h (561 mi/h). It can operate day and night, and in all weather conditions. The Xi’an JH-7 has four variants namely: JH-7A, JH-7B, FBC-1 Flying Leopard and FBC-1A Flying Leopard II. Currently, there are about 70 JH-7 aircraft operating globally.
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Military Exercise
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Cold Fire (wildfire)
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The Cold Fire was a wildfire that started on August 2, 2016 in the Vaca Mountains, near Lake Berryessa and just west of the city of Winters, in Yolo County, northern California. The fire was contained by 6 PM on August 11 after burning a total of 5,371 acres (21.74 km2), including two buildings, causing an estimated $100,000 in damage. [2]
The fire was first reported at 4:36 pm on August 2 near Highway 128 west of Pleasants Valley Road. By sundown mandatory evacuations were ordered for Canyon Creek Campground and Golden Bear Estates. [3] The following day, less than 24 hours after the fire was first reported, it had grown to over 4,000 acres (16 km2). [4]
A Red Cross shelter was briefly setup in Winters but was closed due to lack of use. [5]
By August 4, the third day, the fire had grown to 4,700 acres (19 km2), with 903 fire personnel members on the ground and the evacuation order for Golden Bear Estates had been lifted. [1][6]
By August 6, the fourth day, the fire had grown to 5,385 acres (21.79 km2) with 1,625 fire personnel members on the ground and Highway 128 was reopened to traffic and Thompson Valley Road at Highway 128 being closed. [1]
The fire was contained by 6 PM on August 11. The Cold Fire caused an estimated $100,000 in damages. In total, 5,731 acres (23.19 km2) acres had been burned and two hunting cabins had been destroyed. The cause of the fire remains under investigation. [2]
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Fire
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Brazil dam disaster death toll in nears 60, with hundreds still missing
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Brumadinho, Brazil -- Firefighters are carefully moving over treacherous mud, sometimes walking, sometimes crawling, in search of survivors or bodies left by a dam collapse that buried mine buildings and surrounding neighborhoods with iron ore waste. The confirmed death toll has risen to 58, with up to 300 people still missing, authorities said. In an ominous sign, nobody was recovered alive Sunday, a stark difference from the first two days of the disaster, when helicopters were whisking people from the mud. The slow speed of search efforts was due to the treacherous sea of reddish-brown mud that surged out when the mine dam breached Friday afternoon. It is up 24 feet deep in some places, and to avoid the danger of sinking and drowning searchers had to carefully walk around the edges or slowly crawl out onto the muck. Even those efforts were suspended for about 10 hours on Sunday because of fears that a second mine dam in the southeastern city of Brumadinho was at risk of failing. An estimated 24,000 people were told to get to higher ground, but by afternoon civil engineers said the second dam was no longer at risk. Areas of water-soaked mud appeared to be drying out, which could help firefighters get to areas previously unreachable. Still, it was slow going for the search teams, and residents were on edge. "Get out searching!" a woman yelled at firefighters near a refuge set up in the center of Brumadinho. "They could be out there in the bush." Brazilian searchers got reinforcements late Sunday, when more than 100 Israeli soldiers and other personnel arrived with plans to join recovery efforts. Throughout the weekend, there was mounting anger at the giant Vale mining company, which operated the mine, and questions rose about an apparent lack of an alarm system Friday. Caroline Steifeld said she heard warning sirens Sunday, but there was no alert when the dam collapsed Friday. "I only heard shouting, people saying to get out. I had to run with my family to get to higher ground, but there was no siren," she said, adding that a cousin was still unaccounted for. The carpet of mining waste also raised fears of widespread environmental contamination and degradation. According to Vale's website, the waste is composed mostly of sand and is non-toxic. However, a U.N. report found that the waste from a similar disaster in 2015 "contained high levels of toxic heavy metals." Over the weekend, courts froze about $3 billion from Vale assets for state emergency services and told the company to report on how they would help the victims. Neither the company nor authorities had reported why the dam failed, but Attorney General Raquel Dodge promised to investigate. "Someone is definitely at fault, she said." Dodge noted there are 600 mines in Minas Gerais alone that are classified as being at risk of rupture. Another dam administered by Vale and Australian mining company BHP Billiton collapsed in 2015 in the city of Mariana in Minas Gerais, resulting in 19 deaths and forcing hundreds from their homes. Considered the worst environmental disaster in Brazilian history, that disaster left 250,000 people without drinking water and killed thousands of fish. An estimated 60 million cubic meters of waste flooded nearby rivers and eventually flowed into the Atlantic Ocean. Sueli de Oliveira Costa, who hadn't heard from her husband since Friday, had harsh words for the mining company. "Vale destroyed Mariana and now they've destroyed Brumadinho," she said. Other residents quietly noted that Vale was the main employer in the area. "The company is responsible for a new tragedy, but it's the principal employer," said Diego Aparecido, who has missing friends who worked at Vale. "What will happen if it closes?" Environmental groups and activists said the latest spill underscored the lack of environmental regulation in Brazil, and many promised to fight any further deregulation. Marina Silva, a former environmental minister and presidential candidate, toured the area Sunday. She said Congress should bear part of the blame for not toughening regulations and enforcement. "All the warnings have been given. We are repeating history with this tragedy," she told the AP. "Brazil can't become a specialist in rescuing victims and consoling widows. Measures need to be taken to avoid prevent this from happening again." In an email, Vale told The Associated Press that the area has eight sirens, but "the speed in which the event happened made sounding an alarm impossible" when the dam burst. People in Brumadinho desperately awaited word on their loved ones. Romeu Zema, the governor of Minas Gerais state, said that by now most recovery efforts would entail pulling out bodies. The flow of waste reached the nearby community of Vila Ferteco and an occupied Vale administrative office. It buried buildings to their rooftops and an extensive field of the mud cut off roads. Some residents barely escaped with their lives. "I saw all the mud coming down the hill, snapping the trees as it descended. It was a tremendous noise," said a tearful Simone Pedrosa, from the neighborhood of Parque Cachoeira, 5 miles from where the dam collapsed. For many, hope was evaporating. "I don't think he is alive," Joao Bosco said of his cousin Jorge Luis Ferreira, who worked for Vale. "Right now, I can only hope for a miracle."
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Mine Collapses
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Korn Cancels Concert Due to Positive COVID-19 Case ‘Within the Korn Camp’
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Korn called off a concert Saturday night just hours before show time after an undisclosed individual “within the Korn camp” tested positive for COVID-19. “Unfortunately, there has been a confirmed COVID-19 case within the Korn camp. The safety of our artists, crew, venue staff, and fans are our top priority, so we must postpone the show tonight,” the band said in a statement posted on social media. Korn and Staind were both scheduled to perform Saturday (Aug. 14) at the Pavilion at Montage Mountain in Scranton, Pennsylvania. “We’re deeply sorry for this unfortunate last minute news, but please hold on to your tickets while we work to get your rescheduled date sorted ASAP with Live Nation and the pavilion at Montage Mountain,” Korn’s note continued. “Thank you for your understanding, and stay safe out there. We’ll be back soon.” How the positive COVID-19 case will affect the summer tour’s upcoming dates was unclear at press time. Billboard reached out to a representative for the band for further information.
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Organization Closed
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China mine accident: 11 workers rescued after two weeks underground
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TV footage showed the first miner ‘extremely weak’ lifted out of the goldmine, after 22 were trapped from a 10 January blast in Qixia First published on Sun 24 Jan 2021 06.17 GMT Chinese rescuers have pulled 11 gold miners to safety, two weeks after they were trapped by an underground explosion, state broadcaster CCTV reported. Footage showed the first miner to be rescued, a black blindfold across his eyes, being lifted out of a mine shaft in the morning. The miner was extremely weak, CCTV said on its Weibo site. Over the next few hours, 10 miners from a different section of the mine, who had been receiving food and supplies from rescue workers last week, were brought out in batches. One was injured but several of the others were shown walking, supported by rescue workers and wearing black cloth over their eyes, before leaving the site in ambulances. Twenty-two workers were trapped in the Hushan mine by the 10 January blast in Qixia, a major gold-producing region under the administration of Yantai in coastal Shandong province. Rescuers have been battling difficult conditions to help the workers amid rising waters following the explosion. Contact was first established a week ago with the group of 11 miners trapped in a section of the mine around 580 metres (1,900 feet) below the surface. One of them was seriously injured in the initial explosion and had previously been confirmed dead after suffering head injuries and falling into a coma. Rescue teams had been lowering food, medicine and other supplies through several “lifeline” shafts drilled into the rock. Life detectors and nutrient solutions have been lowered to other parts of the mine to find the other missing miners. The first rescued miner was found in a section closer to the surface than the section where the first group are located, CCTV reported. State media footage on Sunday showed several tall drills boring down. A twelfth miner is believed to be trapped on his own, 100 metres further down in rising waters. For the other nine miners, hopes were dwindling as they have not been heard from since the explosion. Mining accidents are common in China, where the industry has a poor safety record and regulations are often weakly enforced.
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Mine Collapses
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Pelé In Hospital Due To Colon Tumor, To Be Released In Days
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Pelé was briefly put in intensive care after surgery on his right colon. He is recovering at his home in Guarujá, outside Sao Paulo. Brazilian soccer great Pelé was hospitalized in Sao Paulo to continue his colon tumor treatment. Hospital Albert Einstein said in a statement on Wednesday that 81-year-old Edson Arantes do Nascimento is “stable and expected to be released on the next few days." Pelé’s assistant Pepito Fornos told The Associated Press that Pelé is having chemotherapy sessions to treat the tumor that was found during routine exams at the end of August. Pelé was briefly put in intensive care after surgery on his right colon. He is recovering at his home in Guarujá, outside Sao Paulo. Pelé won the 1958, 1962 and 1970 World Cups, and remains Brazil’s all-time leading scorer with 77 goals in 92 matches.
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Famous Person - Recovered
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NAVCENT Establishes Task Force for Unmanned System Operations
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ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S. Naval Forces Central Command (NAVCENT) will establish a new task force to accelerate integration of unmanned systems of all domains and artificial intelligence, the NAVCENT commander said. Vice Adm. Brad Cooper, commander, U.S. Fifth Fleet and commander, U.S. Naval Forces U.S. Central Command, speaking Sept. 8 to reporters by phone conference, said Task Force 59 (TF59) would be established on Sept. 9 in Manama, Bahrain. The first commodore of TF59 will be Capt. Michael Brasseur, who also spoke in the conference. Cooper said TF59 “is designed to integrate unmanned systems and AI. Task Force 59 is the first U.S. Navy task force of its kind … taking efforts from across the Navy, concentrating them here in a forward operating environment — a forward fleet — to gradually move toward development and integration.” Cooper pointed out the testimony last spring before Congress of Vice Adm. Jim Kilby, then-deputy chief of naval operations for Warfighting Requirements and Capabilities, who said the Navy needed to get unmanned systems out to the fleet and into the hands of operators. Cooper said TF59 is standing up to work out the systems and assess tactics, techniques and procedures in an operational environment. “The bottom line on why we’re doing this is so that we can develop and integrate unmanned systems and AI as a means to do two things: enhance our maritime domain awareness and increase our deterrence,” he said. “On the unmanned side, we anticipate putting more systems in the maritime domain above, on and below the sea,” he said. “We want more eyes on what’s happening out there in addition to where we see and generate through our manned platforms that continue to patrol the region today. It’s not enough to simply increase the amount of information, the raw data coming in. We’ve got to process and sort in real time to determine what’s relevant to the mission.” The admiral said the allied and partner navies in his region have great interest in using unmanned systems, noting the launch of TF59 “really invigorates our partnerships around this particular region as we expand our common operating picture. The waterways here are ripe for real-world evaluation. It’s a very maritime region [with] 5,000 miles of coastline [and] three critical chokepoints,” the Straits of Hormuz, the Bab-el-Mandeb and the Suez Canal. “Our belief is if the new systems can work here, they can probably work anywhere else and we can field them across other fleets,” he said. “We’ve assembled quite an impressive team to get after this opportunity,” said Brasseur, speaking of his task force. Brasseur is the former skipper of a coastal patrol ship and a littoral combat ship. “I’m really looking forward to launching the task force tomorrow and getting these systems in the water and in the hands of the operator.” Cooper said some systems used earlier this year in Integrated Battle Problem 21 “will be used in an operational context” by TF59 during IMX-22 exercise in January 2022, which will be focused on unmanned systems. Cooper affirmed in the future the 5th Fleet could be augmented by unmanned underwater vehicles from UUV Squadron One.
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Organization Established
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Five shortest celebrity marriages in Kenya
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It seems like Kenyan celebrities have caught the divorce bug and are walking out of their relationships after a short marriage. Usually, American celebrities are the biggest culprits of short marriages like Kim Kardashian’s infamous 72-day marriage. While there are valid reasons to leave a marriage, some celebrity marriages were simply off to a rocky start which led to their quick end. Here are some of the shortest celebrity marriages in East Africa. JB Masanduku opened up during an interview with Radio Jambo that he got engaged to fellow media personality, Tina Kaggia, after 11 days of knowing her. Their relationship wasn’t rosy as there were accusations of violence and they divorced after a 3-year marriage. However, they’re blessed with two children who they co-parent and Masanduku has moved on with another woman. Doreen Majala is a bubbly lawyer-cum- journalist and a former NTV news anchor. She filed for divorce from her husband, Mwingi Central MP, Gideon Mulyungi, after allegations of domestic violence. During the proceedings, she testified that the assault began when her husband brought a 16-year-old girl to live with them. The girl allegedly disrespected the news anchor after she confronted her which prompted the MP to rain blows on Doreen. She added that this was only an isolated case and that it had happened several other times before. They divorced after two years of marriage. READ ALSO: I only carried a handbag- Doreen Majala on leaving MP hubby over assault Shortly after their stunning beach wedding, rumours of infidelity rocked this young couple. They welcomed their daughter and within a few months, the couple were reportedly separated. Though none of them has spoken about their relationship status openly, it’s clear that they’re no longer together since Lonina has never appeared on Sharon’s Instagram or YouTube channel after the messy incident. READ ALSO: What is going on in Sharon Mundia’s marriage DNG married the stunning air hostess in a lavish wedding at the Fairmont Mount Kenya Safari Club. However, a few months later the rapper took to social media announcing their separation in a series of cryptic posts. “I dumped a really hot chic who had a really dark heart and a shitty personality. I’d rather be with a chic who scores 1/10 when it comes to looks but has a heart of gold. It really takes a mature mind to understand such depth.” READ ALSO: DNG says 'I Do' to Yvette Nungari The K24 presenter reportedly left his wife after a two-week marriage. His reason behind the divorce? His wife was a cheater. He bitterly opened up about how he confronted his wife about the cheating allegations and she didn’t deny it. The pair parted ways after being married for 10 days which makes it the shortest marriage in East Africa and one of the shortest in the world. Early this week, the platform announced that it would ban sexually explicit content, a move that has left its 120 million monthly users in limbo.
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Famous Person - Marriage
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The Costly Divorces of Country Music Stars
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Perhaps the fact that so many country music songs are ballads about breakups is related to the fact that a lot of country music stars have run into their own troubles with marriage. While celebrities, in general, tend to have a shorter marriage span than average people, famous breakups not only come with public attention but big price tags. The country stars on this list had sometimes messy, sometimes expensive divorces, triggered by such forces as infidelity, the stressors of living life in the spotlight, the exhaustion of touring and sometimes just growing apart.
Ending It: The Most Expensive States To Get a DivorceMoney Couples: 23 Celebrity Couples Worth Hundreds of Millions
While some folks signed prenuptial agreements, those who married before they were famous may not have had the foresight to even consider such an option. As such, some of these stars had to pay out big divorce settlements. Here are some of the costliest.
The Grammy-award-winning musician Kacey Musgraves divorced her husband of only 2 1/2 years, Ruston Kelly, in July 2020. It appeared amicable, per their joint statement, which read: “We believe that we were put into each other’s lives for a divine reason and have both changed each other infinitely for the better…” According to TMZ, they have agreed to sell their house, and plan to split any revenue. Musgraves, who has a net worth of $10 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth, will receive 84.4% and the rest of the balance will go to Kelly, who has a net worth of around $600,000.
See: The 27 Richest Women in Music
Singer LeAnn Rimes was just 19 years old when she married Dean Sheremet, himself only 21 years old at the time, according to Country Fan Cast. They married in 2002 and divorced in 2009, in a swirl of rumors about Rimes’ infidelity with Eddie Cibrian, whom she later married in 2011. The singer has a net worth of $10 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth. Though their divorce settlement was private, Us Weekly reported that Sheremet, who initiated the divorce, asked Rimes for spousal support plus all attorney fees and costs. They tried to sell their custom-built mansion in 2009 for $7.45 million but weren’t able to find a buyer until 2012, selling it for only $4.1 million.
Check Out: How Rich Are These Past Grammy Winners?
Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert both have had successful music careers. Lambert has earned a record-breaking number of Academy of Country Music Awards and her net worth is valued at $60 million. Shelton, a chart-topping singer and co-host of the musical reality show “The Voice,” is worth $100 million. The couple met in 2005, dated for six years, married for four and broke up in July 2015 while surrounded by rumors of infidelity. According to Us Weekly, they had signed a prenup, though specifics are not public record, and planned to split their shared assets. The magazine reports that Lambert took their Nashville property while Shelton got their Oklahoma ranch.
More: 25 Surprisingly Rich Musicians
Reba McEntire is more than just a country singer — she’s a country music icon, who has sold over 90 million records globally in her career. She married her manager of nine years, Narvel Blackstock, in 1989, had one son with him, Shelby. They divorced amicably in 2015. McEntire, who has a net worth of over $95 million, allegedly settled with Blackstock for a mind-boggling $47.5 million.
A joint statement about their separation read: “Despite this being the end of their marriage, they continue to support each other. They have worked together for 35 years and will continue to do so.”
Read: Rich People Who Live Like an Average Joe
Powerhouse country singer Shania Twain, who has an astonishing net worth of $400 million, married her husband Robert John “Mutt” Lange in 1993, only six months after they first met. The couple has one son, Eja, and appeared happily married for 14 years. In 2008, Twain found out her husband was cheating with her close friend Marie-Anne Thiébaud. They divorced in 2010. In 2011, Twain shocked everyone by marrying Thiébaud’s ex-husband, Frederic. While their divorce settlement was sealed, Lange, a record producer, was already worth around $225 million, so divorce was unlikely to leave him broke.
See: 15 Famous People Who Came Out of Retirement and Made a Fortune
Garth Brooks and his college sweetheart, Sandy Mahl, married in 1986 and divorced in 2000 after 14 years married. They have three daughters. The divorce is considered one of the most expensive, according to Celebrity Net Worth. Brooks, who is worth $400 million, allegedly paid Mahl $125 million in their divorce settlement. Brooks married country artist Trisha Yearwood in 2005.
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Famous Person - Divorce
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2013 Seaside Park, New Jersey fire
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A large fire occurred on September 12, 2013 on the boardwalks and at the Funtown Pier of Seaside Heights and Seaside Park, New Jersey, on the Jersey Shore destroying more than 50 businesses. [2]
The fire was first reported at 2:05 p.m. EDT,[3] underneath Kohr's Frozen Custard and Biscayne Candies on the boardwalk. [4] The fire, driven by 30-40 mile per hour winds and tar roofing material, quickly spread to other businesses, including those recently rebuilt in the year since Hurricane Sandy. The fire destroyed more than 50 businesses on Seaside Park's end of the boardwalk, including the Funtown Pier amusement park, which resided on the border of Seaside Park and Seaside Heights. [5] Embers blew for at least 8 blocks, igniting fires at the Casino Pier as well the Royal Sands Condominium complex at Sumner Avenue and Ocean Terrace, both of which were quickly extinguished. [6]
At 6:39 p.m. EDT, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie arrived at the scene. [6] The six-alarm fire was fought by over 400 firefighters from multiple counties, as well as crews from the New Jersey Forest Fire Service and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. [6] Crews from Union County arrived with one of the state's three high-powered water cannon systems, originally purchased using Homeland Security funds to use in the event of a terrorist attack on oil tank fields. [7] Firefighting efforts were hindered due to a lack of water from pipes damaged during Hurricane Sandy. [6] Firefighters drew water from the Barnegat Bay across the island to fight the fire, as the ocean was deemed too rough to pump water. [3] Emergency crews destroyed 25 feet of the boardwalk at Lincoln Avenue to create a fire line to help stop the fire from spreading north. [6] Though wind created a challenge for firefighters and there were explosions in the buildings, it was brought under control by 7:45 p.m. EDT. [8]
No injuries were reported from the fire, however, three police officers were injured after falling off the back of a truck operated by Seaside Park Emergency Management. [1] All roads leading into Seaside Heights and Seaside Park, including Route 35 and the Mathis and Tunney Bridges were closed into the following morning. [6] Residents in towns as far north as Long Branch could smell the smoke from the fire. On September 17, 2013, authorities said the fire was accidental and linked it to electrical wiring under the boardwalk and subfloor, and equipment they say was compromised by Hurricane Sandy's floodwaters. Investigators said the fire originated under a building that housed a candy store and an ice cream stand. [9]
Seaside Park and Seaside Heights officials agreed in October 2013 to hire Eagle Paving Corp. to demolish and clean up the areas affected by the fire. The towns agreed to pay $4.7 million for the recovery work, which began in October 2013 and took around 60 days to complete. [10]
The boardwalk was re-opened for the summer 2014 season. [11] In July 2016, plans were scrapped for the rebuilding of Funtown Pier due to concerns from citizens over and the planning board refusing to allow structures over 100' tall to be built. [12]
Coordinates: 39°56′11″N 74°04′18″W / 39.93625°N 74.07174°W / 39.93625; -74.07174
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Fire
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