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2018 California wildfires
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The 2018 wildfire season was the deadliest and most destructive wildfire season in California history. It was also the largest on record at the time, now second to the 2020 California wildfire season. [18][19][20] In 2018, there were a total of 103 confirmed fatalities, 24,226 structures damaged or destroyed, and 8,527 fires burning 1,975,086 acres (799,289 ha), about 2% of the state's 100 million acres of land. Through the end of August 2018, Cal Fire alone spent $432 million on operations. [21] The catastrophic Camp Fire alone accounted for at least 85 lives, 18,804 razed buildings, and $16.5 billion in property damage, while overall, the fires amounted to at least $26.347 billion (2018 USD) in property damage and firefighting costs,[4][6][7][8][5] including $25.4 billion in property damage and $947 million in fire suppression costs. [4][5]
In mid-July to August 2018, a series of large wildfires erupted across California, mostly in the northern part of the state, including the destructive Carr Fire and the Mendocino Complex Fire. On August 4, 2018, a national disaster was declared in Northern California, due to the extensive wildfires burning there. [22]
The Carr Fire in July and August 2018 caused more than $1.5 billion (2018 USD) in property damage. [8][23][24][25] The Mendocino Complex Fire burned more than 459,000 acres (186,000 ha), becoming the largest complex fire in the state's history at the time, with the complex's Ranch Fire surpassing the Thomas Fire and the Santiago Canyon Fire of 1889 to become California's single-largest recorded wildfire. [26][27] In September 2020, the August Complex surpassed the Mendocino Complex to become California's single-largest recorded wildfire. [28]
In November 2018, strong winds aggravated conditions in another round of large, destructive fires that occurred across the state. This new batch of wildfires included the Woolsey Fire and the Camp Fire. The Camp Fire destroyed the town of Paradise and killed at least 85 people, with 1 still unaccounted for as of August 2, 2019. [29] The Camp Fire destroyed more than 18,000 structures, becoming both California's deadliest and most destructive wildfire on record. AccuWeather estimated the total economic cost of the 2018 wildfires at $400 billion (2018 USD), which includes property damage, firefighting costs, direct and indirect economic losses, as well as recovery expenditures. [30]
Several factors led to the destructiveness of the 2018 California wildfire season. A combination of increased fuel loading and atmospheric conditions influenced by global warming led to a series of destructive fires. Primary causes of wildfire vary geographically based on many factors, such as topography. [31] For example, characteristically dense forests in the Sierra Nevada Mountains harbor fuel-driven fires while the open central valley from the south Bay Area to San Diego County are more prone to wind-driven fire over dry grasslands. [31]
A direct contributor to the 2018 California wildfires was an increase in dead tree fuel. [32] By December 2017, there was a record 129 million dead trees in California. [33] Tree mortality is linked to a period during the 2010s of "anomalously warm droughts" [34] that were severe and long-lasting enough to stand out even amongst California's existing history of wildfires and exceptionally dry conditions. [31] One study focused on the concentrated mortality of densely populated conifers of the Sierra Nevada "found that die-off was closely tied to multi-year deep-rooting-zone drying" and that severity of that dryness can be used to predict mortality. [34] Such drought leaves trees stressed for water, which makes them susceptible to beetle infestation and exacerbates tree mortality further. [35]
Drought intensity lessened in California by 2017,[36] but the effects of tree mortality linger for years. One study expresses a lack of sufficient data to confidently determine the rate of coniferous tree decay in the Sierra Nevada. [37] Nonetheless it is a gradual process, and the remaining dead tree matter is an optimal fuel source for future wild fires. Stanford Earth System Science Professor Noah Diffenbaugh stated that atmospheric conditions for California wildfires are expected to worsen in the future because of the effects of climate change in California and that "what we're seeing over the last few years in terms of the wildfire season in California [is] very consistent with the historical trends in terms of increasing temperatures, increasing dryness, and increasing wildfire risk." Other experts agreed, saying that global warming is to blame for these extreme weather conditions. Global warming has led to higher temperatures and longer summers, creating a drier landscape that gave fires more fuel to burn longer and stronger. [38] Research published August 2018 predicted an increase in the number of wildfires in California as a consequence of climate change. [39] However, from a historical perspective, it has been estimated that prior to 1850, about 4.5 million acres (17,000 km²) burned yearly, in fires that lasted for months. [40]
A wildland–urban interface (or WUI) refers to the zone of transition between unoccupied land and human development. Communities that are within 0.5 miles (0.80 km) of the zone may also be included. These lands and communities adjacent to and surrounded by wildlands are at risk of wildfires. [41] Since the 1990s, over 43% of new residential buildings have been constructed in this area. In some areas, the amount of new residences in those areas is 80%. [42] In the past, when these areas burned, no residences were lost, but now residences are present, which end up being destroyed. [43] Furthermore, a "century of successful fire suppression" performed in an attempt to protect forests and those living in WUIs has also disrupted natural cycles of disturbance and renewed succession of an ecosystem by allowing fuel to reach abnormal density levels discussed above. [31]
Northern California and the Central Valley saw drastic increases in air pollutants during the height of the July and August fires, while Southern California also experienced an increase in air pollution in August. [44] Air quality in Northern and Central California remained poor until mid-September 2018, when fire activity was drastically diminished. However, during the November Camp Fire, air quality diminished again, with the majority of the Bay Area being subjected to air quality indexes (AQIs) of 200 and above, in the "unhealthy" region. The following is a list of fires that burned more than 1,000 acres (400 ha), or produced significant structural damage or loss of life. 5 firefighters injured, 89 civilian deaths, 12 civilians injured, 1 civilian missing; 18,804 structures destroyed, 564 structures damaged; destroyed the town of Paradise. Costliest wildfire recorded in the modern era. On June 4, the Panoche Fire broke out, in a series of three blazes that started in the San Benito County area. While the Panoche incident was the smallest of the three fires, burning only 64 acres (26 ha), the remains of three people were found in a destroyed camping trailer in the burn area. [9][120] The remains were believed to belong to a mother, a toddler, and an infant. [9][121]
On July 14, a Cal Fire bulldozer operator was killed while fighting the Ferguson Fire, becoming the first firefighter death of the season. [10]
On July 23, the Carr Fire broke out after a vehicle malfunctioned.
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Fire
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The US military is poisoning communities across the US with toxic chemicals
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The Department of Defense has ordered the burning of 20m pounds of AFFF – despite risks to human health
Last modified on Mon 29 Mar 2021 22.23 BST
One of the most enduring, indestructible toxic chemicals known to man – Aqueous Film Forming Foam (AFFF), which is a PFAS “forever chemical” – is being secretly incinerated next to disadvantaged communities in the United States. The people behind this crackpot operation? It’s none other than the US military.
As new data published by Bennington College this week documents, the US military ordered the clandestine burning of over 20m pounds of AFFF and AFFF waste between 2016-2020. That’s despite the fact that there is no evidence that incineration actually destroys these synthetic chemicals. In fact, there is good reason to believe that burning AFFF simply emits these toxins into the air and onto nearby communities, farms, and waterways. The Pentagon is effectively conducting a toxic experiment and has enrolled the health of millions of Americans as unwitting test subjects.
AFFF was invented and popularized by the US Armed Forces. Introduced during the Vietnam War to combat petroleum fires on naval ships and air strips, AFFF was the whizz kid of chemical engineering that forged a synthetic molecular bond stronger than anything known in nature. Once manufactured, this carbon-fluorine bond is virtually indestructible. Refusing to become fuel, this herculean bond overpowers and tames even the most incendiary infernos.
Almost from the moment they started using AFFF, the military amassed worrisome evidence about the environmental persistence of synthetic carbon-fluorine compounds, their affinity for living things, and their impact on human health. As the US Armed Forces became the largest consumer of AFFF in the world, troubling questions about what happens after the fire were brushed aside. US military bases at home and abroad encouraged the promiscuous spraying of AFFF in routine drills while firefighters were told it was as safe as soap.
Synthetic carbon-fluorine chemistry, now classified as per- and poly- fluorinated compounds (PFAS), are coming into focus today as fuelling an unprecedented environmental crisis. After the briefest moment of practical utility, PFAS compounds come to haunt life with roving mobility, torpid toxicity, and a monstrous immortality. As we now know, exposure to trace amounts of these “forever chemicals” is strongly linked to a host of cancers, developmental disorders, immune dysfunction, and infertility. Exposure has also been linked to aggravated Covid-19 infections and weakened vaccine efficacy.
From Portsmouth, New Hampshire to Colorado Springs, Colorado, the last decade has witnessed communities near military bases waking up to a nightmare of PFAS contamination in their water, their soil and their blood. “Mapping the sites of PFAS contamination in the United States, the Department of Defense stands out as a significant contributor to this dismal list,” Dave Andrews of Environmental Working Group (EWG) told me.
In its initial survey of military bases in December 2016, the Armed Forces identified 393 sites of AFFF contamination in the United States, including 126 sites where PFAS compounds infiltrated public drinking water. (The Department of Defense has active remediation plans at a small fraction of those sites.) In 2019, DOD admitted those numbers were “under-counted.” The Environmental Working Group’s popular map of PFAS contamination puts the current number of polluted military sites at 704, a number that continues to rise.
As does potential liability. While some states file suit against the manufactures of AFFF, the fingerprints of the US Armed Forces are all over the scene of the crime. When federal scientists moved to publish a comprehensive review of the toxic chemistry of AFFF in 2018, DOD officials called that science “a public relations nightmare” and tried to suppress the findings.
Beyond damning internal emails, the military is still in possession of a tremendous amount of AFFF. As the EPA and states around the US begin to designate AFFF a hazardous substance, the military’s stockpiles of AFFF are starting to add up to an astronomical liability on the military’s balance sheet. Perhaps thinking the Trump Administration presented an opportune moment, the Pentagon decided to torch their AFFF problem in 2016.
Despite AFFF’s extraordinary resistance to fire, incineration quietly became the military’s preferred method to handle AFFF. “We knew that this would be a costly endeavor, since it meant we’d be burning something that was engineered to put out fires,” Steve Schneider, chief of Hazardous Disposal for the logistics wing of DOD, said in 2017 as the operation got underway.
Only one detail stood in the way of this grand plan: there is no evidence that incineration destroys the toxic chemistry of AFFF.
Noting the “strong flame inhibition effects” of the carbon-fluorine bond, a 2020 EPA report concluded, “It is not well understood how effective high-temperature combustion is in completely destroying PFAS.”
In a 2019 technical guide for incinerators, the EPA wrote that our grasp of the “thermal destructibility” of PFAS is sparse, thinly extrapolated, and currently inoperable. An influential interstate environmental council refused to endorse burning AFFF last year, noting incineration is still “an active area of research.”
Nor was such hesitation restricted to environmental agencies. Even as it was sending tanker trucks of AFFF to incinerators in 2017, the military itself noted “the high-temperature chemistry of PFOS […] has not been characterized” (PFOS is the major PFAS ingredient in AFFF), and “many likely byproducts will also be environmentally unsatisfactory.”
But that hasn’t stopped the Pentagon from going ahead and quietly burning the chemical anyway. As the military was sending AFFF to incinerators around the country, the EPA, state regulators, and university scientists all warned that subjecting AFFF to extremely high temperatures would likely conjure up a witches brew of fluorinated toxins, that existing smokestack technologies would be insufficient to monitor poisonous emissions let alone capture them, and that dangerous chemicals might rain down on surrounding neighborhoods. Weighing out its own liability against the health of these communities, the Pentagon struck the match.
Like so much else in the Trump Administration, the reckless rush to burn AFFF unfolded almost completely out of public view. The intrepid reporting of Sharon Lerner at the Intercept and an Earth Justice lawsuit against DOD opened a window into this debacle in 2019. As information percolated back into communities near the incinerators, spirited advocacy helped push the crackpot logic of the entire operation further into unflattering visibility in Ohio and New York.
This winter, I partnered with citizens groups and national advocates to compile and publish all available data on the incineration of AFFF. As my students and I gathered together scattered shipping manifests, tracked down details about incineration facilities and nearby communities, and started to get our head around the toxic fallout of the burning AFFF, this militarized operation gained a new definition: gross negligence.
Not only is burning AFFF extremely ill-advised, but the six hazardous waste incinerators contracted to do so are habitual violators of environmental law. Since 2017, two of the contracted incinerators were out of compliance with some environmental laws 100% of the time according to the EPA (Clean Harbors incinerator in Nebraska, Clean Harbors Aragonite in Utah), two were out of compliance 75% of the time (Norlite incinerator in New York, Heritage WTI incinerator in Ohio), and the remaining two were out of compliance 50% of the time (Reynolds Metals incinerator in Arkansas, Clean Harbors incinerator in Arkansas). The EPA has issued a total of 65 enforcement actions against these six incinerators in the past five years alone.
Not that the military was expecting the best. Even as it shelled out millions of dollars to the hazardous waste industry to burn AFFF, the military did not specify burn parameters nor emission controls. The military also withdrew typical documentation requirements of hazardous waste, noting in the contract that incinerators “will not be required to provide Certificates of Disposal/Destruction.” When it came to burning AFFF, the Pentagon didn’t want to know what was really going on at these incinerators.
Mixing shoddy burn operations with fire-resistant toxicity, this multi-million-dollar debacle did not so much eradicate the military’s AFFF problem as redistribute it.
The WTI Heritage Incinerator, which burned at least 5m pounds of AFFF, is located in a working class Black neighborhood in East Liverpool, Ohio. When it was built in 1993, residents were told this mammoth incineration could help stem the exodus of factory jobs. Instead of paychecks East Liverpool got some of the worst pollution in the US. The modest homes and nearby elementary school have become home to appallingly routine emissions of dioxins, furans, heavy metals, and now PFAS. Residents call it what it is: environmental racism.
“We didn’t get any answers,” Alonzo Spencer told me. Residents started asking the WTI Heritage Incinerator about AFFF last year. Describing rising rates of cancer in his community and worried about the “close proximity of the facility to schools,” Spencer doesn’t understand why the military and the incinerator would try to burn AFFF, nor why they are so secretive about it. “They just don’t seem to have any incentive to be truthful about what they’re doing to this community,” he said.
Tucked into a scrappy working-class neighborhood in Cohoes, NY, the Norlite Hazardous Waste Incinerator burned at least 2.47m pounds of AFFF and 5.3 million pounds of AFFF wastewater, likely in violation of their operating permits. In the shadow of the smokestack lies the Saratoga Sites Public Housing, a squat brick complex where emissions routinely cloud the playground. Over the past four years, residents told me of paint peeling from their cars and waking some nights to searing pain in their eyes. Norlite, they said, “tear-gassed” them in their own homes. The potential byproducts of subjecting AFFF to extremely high temperatures include the wartime ingredients of tear gas.
Places like East Liverpool and Cohoes are the destinations of AFFF that we can track. Some 5.5m pounds of AFFF, 40% of military’s stockpile, was sent to “fuel-blending” facilities where it was mixed into fuels for industrial use. It is not clear where the AFFF laden fuel went next, although the DOD contract stipulates incineration should be the endpoint. If you live in the United States, it’s possible it might have been burned in your community. And, because AFFF is a “forever chemical” that doesn’t break down, that pollution could likely plague communities for generations.
While much remains out of public view, there is good reason to think the military continues to burn AFFF. It is well past time to enact sensible national restrictions on the incineration of AFFF and to begin robust investigations into the communities where AFFF was burned.
The very name of the Department of Defense speaks to the military’s duty to defend, not harm, its own people. By all accounts, the Pentagon is endangering the lives of countless people through its reckless handling of AFFF. Communities witnessing this environmental catastrophe first-hand demand justice and accountability. When will their government hear them?
David Bond is Associate Director, Center for the Advancement of Public Action (CAPA) at Bennington College. He leads the “Understanding PFOA” project and is writing a book on PFAS contamination.
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Mass Poisoning
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U.K. Police Officer Gets Whole-Life Sentence For Sarah Everard Murder
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Wayne Couzens, a former officer in London’s Metropolitan Police, received a whole-life sentence Thursday for the kidnap, rape and murder of Sarah Everard, a very rare sentence in the U.K. that the judge said was justified by the “grotesque” nature of his crimes. A woman holds a placard outside the Old Bailey court on the day of sentencing of Wayne Couzens for ... [+] the murder of Sarah Everard Couzens pleaded guilty to kidnapping, raping and mudering Everard in July and the court heard how he used his police warrant card and handcuffs to abduct her. Before handing down the whole-life sentence—the most severe punishment possible—Lord Justice Fulford said Couzens had shown “no evidence of genuine contrition.” While life sentences are mandatory for murder cases in England, the court usually determines a minimum time to be served before early release can be considered. PROMOTED Whole-life sentences are exceptionally rare and reserved for the very worst offenders, such as multiple murderers, having killed police or prison officers, sadistically killing a child or where murder is ideological, according to the BBC. Those serving whole-life sentences will not be considered for release and it is highly likely Couzens will die in prison. Fulford told the court Couzens’ use of his role as a police officer to commit his crimes “is of equal seriousness as a murder for the purpose of advancing a political, religious or ideological cause," according to the BBC. Everard’s death sparked an outpouring of grief, sorrow and anger at the dangers women in Britain face on a daily basis, especially when tied to a then-serving police officer. It prompted thousands of women to share stories of harassment in public, attend vigils and push the government to act decisively to make all parts of the country safe for women at all times. The Metropolitan Police’s heavy-handed approach to the vigils, including a number of arrests, drew widespread condemnation, including from a group of politicians. 60. That’s how many people are serving whole-life sentences in the U.K., according to the Ministry of Justice, CNN reported. Nearly 7,000 people are serving life sentences. The Metropolitan Police is expected to issue a statement on Couzens’ sentence. Before the sentencing, the force said it is “sickened, angered and devastated by this man’s crimes which betray everything we stand for.” Harriet Harman, a senior Member of Parliament for Labour, called on Metropolitan Police commissioner Dame Cressida Dick to step down over the incident. “Women must be able to trust the police not fear them,” Harman said. After sentencing, Everard’s family issued a statement saying they were “pleased” Couzens would spend the rest of his life in jail, but added: “nothing can make things better” and “nothing can bring Sarah back.”
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Famous Person - Commit Crime - Sentence
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2006 Greece earthquake
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This list of earthquakes in Greece includes notable earthquakes that have affected Greece during recorded history. This list is currently incomplete, representing only a fraction of the possible events. Greece is located at the complex boundary zone in the eastern Mediterranean between the African Plate and the Eurasian Plate. The northern part of Greece lies on the Eurasian Plate while the southern part lies on the Aegean Sea Plate. The Aegean Sea Plate is moving southwestward with respect to the Eurasian Plate at about 30 mm/yr while the African Plate is subducting northwards beneath the Aegean Sea Plate at a rate of about 40 mm/yr. The northern plate boundary is a relatively diffuse divergent boundary while the southern convergent boundary forms the Hellenic arc. [1]
These two plate boundaries give rise to two contrasting tectonic styles, extension on east–west trending fault zones with strike-slip tectonics on SW-NE trending fault zones throughout west and central Greece, Peloponnese and the northern Aegean and contractional in the southern Aegean, continuing around to the Ionian islands. The south Aegean is the location of the volcanic arc and is characterised by extension. To the east of Crete along the Hellenic Arc, strike-slip tectonics with some extension become important. [1]
The strongest earthquakes historically are those associated with the Hellenic Arc, although none larger than about 7.2 have been observed instrumentally. The events of AD 365 and 1303 are likely to have been much larger than this. In mainland Greece, normal faulting gives earthquakes up to 7 in magnitude, while in the northern Aegean, strike-slip events with a magnitude of 7.2 have been recorded. Large intermediate depth (>50 km) earthquakes of magnitude >7 from within the subducting African Plate have been recorded but such events cause little damage, although they are widely felt. [1]
3 injures
Turkey:The earthquake injured an addition 1,034 and killed 114 people in the
coastal city İzmir, Turkey.
(2 injures)
Sources
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Earthquakes
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Ansett-ANA Flight 325 crash
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On the evening of 30 November 1961, Ansett-ANA Flight 325, a service from Sydney to Canberra, Australia, operated by a Vickers Viscount propliner, broke up in mid-air and crashed shortly after takeoff, when it encountered a severe thunderstorm. All 15 people on board were killed. Radio contact was lost about 9 minutes after takeoff, but no reports of a crash were initially received by the authorities. The next day, wreckage and a fuel slick were found on the surface of Botany Bay, Sydney. The aircraft had been drawn into a thunderstorm and subjected to extreme turbulence. It had broken up and crashed into Botany Bay less than 3 miles (4.8 km) from where it took off. [1][2][3]
The loss of Flight 325 was the first fatal accident suffered by Ansett since commencement of operations as Ansett Airways Pty Ltd in 1935. [4]
Ansett-ANA Flight 325, a Vickers Viscount registered VH-TVC "John Oxley", took off from Sydney airport on runway 07 at 7:17 pm local time for a scheduled 128 nmi (237 km) passenger flight to Canberra. The aircraft was being leased from Trans-Australia Airlines in exchange for a DC-6B aircraft. On board were the pilot, Stan Lindsay; co-pilot, Ben Costello; two air hostesses, Aileen Keldie[6] and Elizabeth Hardy; and eleven passengers. [1][3][7]
Around the time of takeoff there was a severe thunderstorm with very heavy rain to the south of the airport and another to the north. Above Sydney airport there was cloud at about 800 feet (240 m) but no thunderstorm activity. Flight 325 was observed to enter cloud shortly after take off. [8] Five other aircraft took off while this meteorological situation existed. [1]
Flight 325 was directed to take off and continue heading east towards the Tasman Sea until reaching an altitude of 3,000 feet (910 m), turn around and fly west to a radio navigation aid 6+1⁄2 miles (10.5 km) west of the airport[Note 1] and then turn south-west for Canberra. The crew were to ensure they passed over the airport no lower than 5,000 feet (1,520 m). [1]
Five minutes after takeoff the crew advised they had reached 6,000 feet (1,830 m). About 3½ minutes later, Sydney air traffic control called Flight 325 with a routine request for information but received no reply. No further radio communication was received from Flight 325 so when it did not arrive at Canberra airport authorities knew it had suffered an accident. An air search was planned to commence at dawn. [1][9]
Approximately 9 minutes after takeoff the outer section of the right wing[Note 2] had been torn away and the aircraft had crashed into Botany Bay. [3] The rain, thunder and lightning associated with the thunderstorm over Botany Bay had been so intense that no-one saw the aircraft or observed anything crash into the water. Accident Investigator Frank Yeend wrote "The weather was so bad that this aircraft crashed in the middle of a major city without anybody having seen it or heard anything that would give cause to alarm. "[1]
When it became clear Flight 325 was not responding to radio calls and the aircraft could not be seen on the radar screen in the control tower the Alert Phase of search and rescue procedures was initiated. [Note 3] The Police, RAAF, Royal Australian Navy and Volunteer Coastal Patrol were notified. A message was broadcast on the radio frequency used by coastal shipping. The Department of Civil Aviation air-sea rescue launch based on Botany Bay made a circuit of the Bay's foreshores. When Flight 325 failed to arrive at its destination, search and rescue procedures were elevated to the Distress Phase. In the hours after loss of contact with Flight 325 no report was received of an aircraft accident so there was general foreboding that it had crashed into the Tasman Sea. At first light the next morning two Douglas DC-3 aircraft began searching the sea to the east of Sydney. A helicopter and several motor launches also began searching Botany Bay. [4]
Soon after sunrise the crew of the helicopter reported an item floating on Botany Bay. [12] The crew of the air-sea rescue launch investigated the sighting and retrieved a piece of damaged upholstery. Airline staff confirmed the upholstery was from a Vickers Viscount pilot's seat. Searchers on the beach in the north-east of Botany Bay, near Bunnerong Power Station, found some cabin furnishings and human remains. At the south of the Bay the outer section of the right wing, still showing registration VH-TVC, was found protruding above the surface of shallow water near Kurnell. [Note 4] Later in the day Police and Navy divers investigated a large fuel slick in the centre of Botany Bay and discovered the scattered wreckage of VH-TVC in 25 feet (7.6 m) of water, 1.6 miles (2.6 km) north of the outer section of the right wing. [1][4][13][14] The aircraft had crashed 2.8 miles (4.5 km) south-east of Sydney airport. [Note 5][15]
The Royal Australian Navy sent a team of clearance divers and HMAS Kimbla, a boom defence vessel, to Botany Bay and brought the main wreckage of VH-TVC to the surface. After a week Kimbla was replaced by HMAS Walrus, a smaller workboat from which the Navy divers worked for many weeks, locating and recovering many smaller pieces of wreckage. [1][14][18]
The right tailplane was missing from the main wreckage. Navy divers eventually found the missing parts of the tailplane close to where the outer section of the right wing was found, indicating the right tailplane was also torn from the aircraft prior to its impact with the water. [14][16]
Numerous small items, including many from the number 4 engine nacelle, were found on Kurnell peninsula, south of the outer section of the right wing. The wreckage trail was aligned approximately north-south with the main wreckage at the north in Botany Bay; and the smaller, lighter items at the south on Kurnell peninsula. [16]
The aircraft was not equipped with a flight data recorder or cockpit voice recorder so it was important that as much as possible of the wreckage should be recovered and examined. [Note 6][1][20] The recovery effort continued for 3 months. [21]
The top section of the rudder was not found during the recovery of the wreckage. Twelve years after the accident the missing section was found in shallow water in Botany Bay, near Kurnell Beach. [Note 7][22]
As pieces of wreckage from VH-TVC were progressively recovered from Botany Bay they were laid out in a hangar at Sydney airport to allow investigators to search for the cause of the accident. The right tailplane and the outer section of the right wing had received almost no damage on impact with the water but the main wreckage in Botany Bay showed extensive disintegration, suggesting a very high speed of impact.
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Air crash
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Corral Fire
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The Corral Fire was a wildfire that burned from November 24 until November 27, 2007 in the Malibu Creek State Park. [1] The fire, which burned 4,901 acres (20 km2) of land, forced the evacuation of 10,000–14,000 residents in Los Angeles, and injured 7 firefighters. [3][1]
The recurrence of powerful Santa Ana Winds fueled the fire upon its start on November 24 at 3:24 AM PST. The Corral Fire rapidly expanded, and soon destroyed over 80 structures, including 49 homes, with another 27 damaged. [3][4] Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger reactivated the state of emergency on November 24, which was declared during the previous month wildfires to "...(provide) any needed resources to fight these fires or help those Californians who have been impacted. "[5] During the morning of November 27, at 8:00 AM PST, the Corral Fire was reported to be 100% contained. [1]
Looking down on the Corral Canyon brush fire from Latigo Cyn Rd after sunrise on November 24, 2007. Malibu, CA
Smoke from the Corral Fire drifts out over the Pacific Ocean on November 24.
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Fire
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The Impact Of The Coronavirus Crisis On Mergers And Acquisitions
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In this article, we will discuss how the foregoing factors and others have already impacted M&A dealmaking and will likely continue to impact the M&A world for some time to come, including how buyers and sellers can each adjust to the changed circumstances to help minimize their exposure to the business risks resulting from the pandemic. 1. M&A Deal Activity Global mergers and acquisitions have already plummeted as result of the coronavirus crisis, and by the end of March 2020 had reached a near standstill. M&A levels in the United States fell by more than 50% in the first quarter to $253 billion compared to 2019, but most of those transactions were entered into or closed earlier in the quarter before the crisis spread worldwide. Among other things, executives of companies that would typically have been strategic buyers have been forced to redirect the focus and energy of their teams toward the immediate health of their own companies and away from longer term goals that include pursuing growth through acquisition strategies. Similarly, private equity sponsors have spent an increasing amount of time on efforts to strengthen or save their existing portfolio companies, at the expense of new deal activity. Parties to pending M&A transactions are also abandoning significant deals that were pending, such as Xerox recently dropping its $34 billion offer for HP, after having postponed meetings with HP shareholders to focus on coping with the coronavirus pandemic. SoftBank has terminated its $3 billion tender offer for WeWork shares, citing the coronavirus impact together with the failure of a number of closing conditions. Bed Bath & Beyond has initiated litigation in Delaware with respect to delays in the pending sale of one of its divisions to 1-800-Flowers for $250 million. Boeing suppliers Hexcel and Woodward have called off their pending $6.4 billion merger of equals transaction noting the “unprecedented challenges” caused by the pandemic. Investment bankers report that most new sell-side assignments are being put on hold until things stabilize. Of course, certain industries that have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic, such as travel and leisure, transportation, and oil and gas, may see upticks in M&A activity in 2020 as buyers see opportunities for bargains in these sectors. The existing M&A pipeline is thin, and the percentage of transactions involving rescue deals, restructurings, and distressed sellers will likely increase, both in dollar terms and as a percentage of overall M&A activity. 2. Timing and Delay in M&A Deals For both existing M&A deals that survive the pandemic and new deals entered into during the pandemic, it is expected that deal timelines will be significantly extended. Each stage of a typical transaction, including preliminary discussions between the parties, the negotiation of letter of intent or term sheet, the negotiation of a definitive acquisition agreement, and the pre-closing period, will likely take longer to accomplish. These delays will result from a number of pandemic-related factors, including the following: Negotiations will take longer: the overused adage of “getting everyone in the room” to get a deal agreed is not currently possible. Due diligence will take longer, and new M&A due diligence issues will need to be addressed. Third-party consents (such as from landlords, customers, and intellectual property licensors) will take longer to obtain. There will be delays in obtaining any necessary antitrust or other regulatory approvals. The Department of Justice has asked firms involved in mergers and acquisitions to add 30 days to their deal timing agreements, and European competition regulators have suspended investigations of a number of proposed deals. Buyers and their boards of directors are going to be much more cautious, and internal justifications for dealmaking in this environment will need to be more compelling. M&A agreement terms will take longer to negotiate as buyers will want to shift more closing risk and (where applicable) indemnity risk to sellers, and sellers will seek comfort that the persistence of the pandemic will not permit buyers to walk away from deals based on “buyer’s remorse.” Buyers will have concerns about their ability to properly value a seller in this environment. Valuations from comparable transactions, even those entered into very recently, will likely be no longer applicable. Buyers requiring financing will encounter delays resulting from the unsettled state of debt markets and available liquidity, and M&A lenders may seek closing conditions that are even more stringent than those sought by buyers, increasing closing risk for both buyers and sellers. 3. Impact on Letters of Intent Letters of intent, term sheets, memoranda of understanding, and the like are a common feature of the M&A landscape. Before investing heavily in due diligence and negotiating detailed transaction documents, buyers and sellers typically employ these preliminary, largely non-binding documents to memorialize their mutual understanding of all or some of the material deal terms. Further, since a grant of exclusivity by the seller (which frequently accompanies the execution of a letter of intent or completion of a term sheet) shifts negotiating leverage considerably in favor of the buyer, the seller will desire to nail down as many major deal terms as possible at this stage of the M&A process. Of course, it also is not unusual for a negotiated letter of intent or term sheet to address the purchase price and little else. In light of the coronavirus pandemic, we expect to see buyers and sellers alike refraining from entering into (or even negotiating) a traditional letter of intent until the buyer first has performed incremental due diligence on the degree to which COVID-19 has adversely affected the seller’s business, results of operations, financial condition, customers, suppliers, workforce, and business prospects. The length of this period of incremental due diligence will depend upon the seller’s circumstances and the parties’ relative bargaining power. A buyer can expect the seller to push hard for a short period while resisting concurrent exclusivity. Once the letter of intent negotiation begins, buyers should expect sellers (in the context of the pandemic) to attempt to include in the letter of intent provisions relating to closing conditions (including the scope of the material adverse effect definition), pre-closing covenants and drop dead dates (which are discussed in more detail below). For most letters of intent, these are unusual provisions. But during the pandemic, thoughtful sellers will want to take advantage of any bargaining leverage they have to address closing risk and closing certainty. Buyers will feel justified in seeking longer periods of exclusivity than in the recent past since the pandemic poses new due diligence challenges. Until now, sellers—especially in the technology sector—in many instances had been successful in keeping exclusivity periods to 30-45 days or so (and sometimes even less). Now, it will be more common to see buyers insisting upon at least 60-75 days, with the ability to extend, in anticipation of coronavirus fallout interfering with or delaying the buyer’s due diligence investigation. In turn, well-advised sellers will seek provisions terminating exclusivity at the first sign that the buyer may be unwilling to proceed with the transaction on the terms set forth in the letter of intent or term sheet. Related Article: How To Negotiate A Business Acquisition Letter of Intent 4. Availability and Terms of Debt Financing to Fund Acquisitions Traditionally, a significant percentage of M&A deals are financed partially through debt, particularly in the private equity space. The volatility in the financing markets brought about by the coronavirus crisis has created challenges for transactions that depend on third-party debt financing, including injecting a fair amount of uncertainty about the availability and terms of such debt financing. The new financing-related questions and challenges facing buyers/borrowers will include the following: Will lenders underwrite new financing commitments? Will the buyer’s committed debt financing actually be available when the time comes to close the acquisition? Will lead lenders whose commitments are conditioned on spreading the risk among a group of lenders have greater difficulty in syndicating the debt? Will lenders be willing to conform their closing conditions to the closing conditions in the acquisition agreement, or will they insist on more stringent terms (such as the ability to declare a “material adverse effect” even if the buyer is willing to proceed with the transaction)? Will the lenders increase pricing due to the risks of the coronavirus crisis, and insist on tighter financial covenants, increasing the risk of future events of default? Will the amount of debt leverage available be decreased from the levels that had been customary in recent times, requiring private equity buyers to inject more equity into buyouts? What additional due diligence will a lender insist upon, and how much delay will that involve? How marginally risk averse will lenders be in acquisitions involving industries particularly hard hit by the crisis? What obligations will buyers have in the event they cannot close a deal if debt markets become illiquid and lenders are unable to lend, and what remedies will sellers have in this circumstance? Will we see an increase in buyers seeking to use “reverse financing termination fees” in private company transactions to limit their financial exposure for broken deals? Will lenders have a renewed focus on the “outside date” in their financing commitments and loan agreements, and potentially require increased payments for any commitment extension? 5. Effect on Dealmaking and Deal Terms Invariably, when there is significant economic or other uncertainty in the world of M&A dealmaking, leverage shifts toward buyers and away from sellers. This was certainly the case with respect to dealmaking in the context of the burst of the dot-com bubble and dealmaking in the context of the Great Recession. There is no reason to believe that it will be any different this time, in the context of the coronavirus pandemic. While strategic and private equity buyers are of course facing their own business and operational challenges, many continue to be “cash-rich” and generally can afford to bide their time to find the right acquisition targets at the right price. Although public stock valuations have declined significantly since the end of February 2020, and the number of deals using all-stock or part-stock consideration had increased in the last few years, cash continues to be king in the dealmaking world. Many buyers continue to have plenty of “dry powder,” and the immediate slowdown in dealmaking as the crisis took hold in March 2020 will only serve to increase the relative leverage of buyers as the crisis continues to unfold. Of course, some buyers may conclude that some of the cash that they would otherwise have used for M&A should be used for other obligations, including financing their own operating costs and replacing their own revenue lost as a result from the crisis. Inevitably, as in past crises, the effect on deal pricing will not be uniform—sellers in industries that have been more significantly impacted by the pandemic (including retail, hospitality, travel, coworking spaces, and automobile and aircraft production) will be more significantly impacted than others (such as cloud computing, software, videoconferencing, other online technologies, biotech, food delivery, and online shopping) that have either been less impacted or have even thrived during the crisis. To be sure, an increase in leverage for buyers in M&A dealmaking generally should not be misconstrued as suggesting that buyers will now be more likely to prevail in negotiating each individual deal term. Sellers will strenuously pursue deal terms that protect them from closing uncertainty, arguing that buyers in future deals will have had their “eyes open” about the pandemic and its consequences when they enter into acquisition agreements. While the pandemic (at least in the United States) was arguably not “foreseeable” when deals were entered into prior to March 2020, it certainly has become not only foreseeable, but the most significant factor in dealmaking since then. In contrast, with respect to deals signed before the crisis unfolded that have not yet closed, buyers may have a degree of leverage to seek to terminate and walk away from deals, or renegotiate deal terms because of the effect of the pandemic on the ability of the seller to perform its pre-closing covenants and satisfy the buyer’s closing conditions. The following is a summary of a number of M&A deal terms that have already been implicated by the coronavirus crisis, or with respect to which deal negotiations will likely be impacted by the crisis: “Material Adverse Effect” Provisions. In most M&A transactions, the acquisition agreement has traditionally included a term commonly known as the “material adverse effect” (“MAE”) or “material adverse change” definition. The most important use of this definition is in the closing conditions—the buyer is not obligated to close the acquisition if the seller has suffered an MAE since the signing of the acquisition agreement (or the date of the seller’s most recent financial statements). The MAE provision seeks to allocate between the parties the risk of certain negative circumstances occurring or existing during the relevant period. The question of whether a significant event such as the coronavirus pandemic constitutes an MAE depends on the specific contractual language used in the clause, as well as the current (or reasonably anticipated) impact of the pandemic on the seller’s business. There is a good deal of variation among MAE clauses, but they typically include these two components: First, MAE clauses frequently include a number of “carve outs,” which the parties agree in advance will not constitute an MAE. Some common examples include conditions affecting the industry in which the seller operates, the U.S. economy or financial markets or any foreign markets or any foreign economy or financial markets in any location where the seller has material operations or sales, and acts of God, calamities, acts of war or terrorism, or national or international political or social conditions. Second, they often include an exception to certain carve-out provisions, providing that the carve out only applies to the extent that the adverse effect of the identified matter (e.g., an act of God) does not “disproportionately” adversely affect the seller compared to other companies in the same industry. Prior to the outbreak of COVID-19, if an MAE provision had included a carve out specifically referencing an “outbreak,” “epidemic,” “pandemic,” or other similar medical event, then the coronavirus pandemic would pretty clearly not constitute an MAE with respect to such transaction (although the “disproportionality” clause could enable a buyer to still declare an MAE if the seller has been affected more than its competitors by the pandemic). However, historically only a relatively small percentage of acquisition agreements have included terms that specifically reference such dangers to public health. Courts have traditionally construed MAE clauses very narrowly, and few buyers have successfully terminated M&A transactions on the basis of such provisions. In Delaware, for example, an event will only constitute an MAE if it “substantially threaten[s] the overall earnings potential of the target in a durationally-significant manner.” Thus, the question of whether the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic may constitute an MAE (where it is not specifically carved out from the definition) may depend on the ultimate duration of the crisis and the persistence of its effect on the seller in question. In future deals, some buyers will likely seek to include specific contractual language, providing that the COVID-19 pandemic is itself an MAE, or at least seeking to exclude it from the carve outs. But just as surely, sellers will take the position that the pandemic represents a known risk that the buyer should fairly have taken into account in valuing the seller’s business and proceeding with the transaction. Certainly, at a minimum, buyers will likely insist on the inclusion of the disproportionality clause, so that they are protected against adverse pandemic-related developments that ultimately are not industry-wide but rather limited to (or with greater impact on) the particular seller. Pre-Closing Business Covenants. M&A transactions that require regulatory approvals or third-party consents usually provide for a period of time between signing and closing during which such approvals and consents are pursued and obtained. During this period, the seller is required to continue to operate in the ordinary course of business, and to comply with a number of other business covenants. These obligations may be absolute, or the seller may be required only to use commercially reasonable efforts to comply with them. There are commonly permitted deviations from the covenants in order for the seller to comply with applicable law, to comply with the acquisition agreement, to carry out a directive from the buyer, or to take actions that have been pre-approved by the buyer. One of the closing conditions is invariably that the seller has complied (or complied in all material respects) with these pre-closing covenants. Moreover, in private company deals where the buyer is entitled to post-closing indemnification, a breach of the pre-closing business covenants likely will be one of the indemnifiable matters. The rationale for requiring these covenants is solid: the buyer wants the seller to protect and maintain the business being acquired, and thus wants the right to veto any actions or decisions by the seller that may threaten the value of the business. The seller, on the other hand, wants to continue to control the business in the manner that it sees fit (particularly given that the transaction may ultimately not be consummated), and minimize the likelihood that closing conditions may not be satisfied. For deals with purchase price adjustment provisions (based on closing working capital or other financial metrics), the seller also wants to run the business in a manner that minimizes the risk of a negative purchase price adjustment. In the case of transactions entered into before the COVID-19 pandemic became generally known, the pandemic may result in the seller being incapable of complying with one or more of these covenants, including restrictions on workforce reductions, restrictions on capital or other expenditures, prohibitions on material changes to personnel policies, and prohibitions on changes in compensation or benefits. Where there is an exception for matters “required by law,” the seller may be able to argue that shelter in place orders and similar governmental edicts permit it to deviate from these covenants. For new transactions, the extent to which the performance of the seller’s pre-closing covenants may be excused by the effects or consequences of the pandemic will be a hotly contested topic. The seller will want comfort that reasonable (or required) steps it takes in response to the pandemic are not breaches of the acquisition agreement. Sellers will want to be able to respond quickly and decisively to the pandemic, without fear of breaching the acquisition agreement. In contrast, the buyer may argue that notwithstanding this, it should not ultimately be required to acquire a seller whose business and prospects at the time of closing have significantly deteriorated, whatever the cause. Having the buyer pre-approve the seller’s contingency plans in response to the pandemic could help avoid misunderstandings and disagreements on these topics. “Drop-Dead” Dates and Termination Provisions. Another common feature of an M&A transaction with a delayed closing is the inclusion of a “drop-dead” date in the acquisition agreement. This is a particular date, typically several weeks (or months in the case of deals with potential regulatory issues) after the intended closing date, after which either party may terminate the agreement without consequence as a result of an unforeseen delay. If, for example, the closing of the deal has been unforeseeably delayed by the failure to obtain required antitrust or other regulatory approvals, or third-party consents, either party may terminate the transaction after the drop-dead date, provided that its own breach has not caused the delay. The coronavirus crisis will cause both buyers and sellers to reconsider (and likely extend) the period of time between signing and the drop-dead date. Federal, state, and foreign governments have seen their operations, including their ability to complete M&A regulatory analyses, significantly impacted by the pandemic, delaying the turnaround times for such reviews and deal approvals. With respect to transactions where the acquisition agreement was entered into before the COVID-19 pandemic but the transaction has not closed, the passage of the drop-dead date may provide an opportunity for a buyer with second thoughts about the deal to freely terminate the transaction. While the seller might believe it is unfair for the buyer to benefit from the unforeseen regulatory delay, the fact is that the possibility of such a delay is why the drop-dead provision was included in the first place. Working Capital and Other Price Adjustment Provisions. Many private company M&A transactions include purchase price adjustment provisions based on the amount of the seller’s cash and indebtedness at closing. There is also typically a purchase price adjustment based on a comparison of the level of the seller’s working capital at closing to a target amount of “normalized” working capital. For transactions that were already signed (but not closed) before the coronavirus crisis, such adjustment provisions may result in reductions at closing to the net purchase price that the seller had previously expected to receive. For transactions yet to be signed, the COVID-19 pandemic will undoubtedly result in changes to practices associated with these provisions. The question of what level of working capital is appropriate will likely be subject to new levels of scrutiny by buyers in light of the pandemic. Buyers may seek greater levels of normalized working capital (to help assure there will be sufficient working capital for the continued operations of the acquired business following the transaction in light of reduced revenues and new categories of expenditures). Sellers that become illiquid as a result of the crisis may also come under pressure from buyers to leave behind a portion of the purchase price credit they would otherwise have received for their closing cash balances. The desire to avoid such price reductions may lead sellers to propose that the working capital-based price adjustment provisions be “collared” so that there is a band (above and below the agreed level of normalized working capital) within which the price reduction does not kick in, but buyers may be reluctant to accommodate such requests. The need to negotiate these types of new and more complex provisions may further delay transactions. Alternative Forms of Consideration. The financial crisis associated with the COVID-19 pandemic will likely result in both downward pressures on deal values and a greater focus on the possible use of stock consideration in lieu of (or supplemental to) the buyer’s cash, as well as pricing structures involving earnouts or milestone payments. These alternative forms of consideration traditionally become more prominent whenever, as a result of a financial crisis, there is a reduction in equity values that creates a fundamental disconnect between the price expectations of buyers and sellers.
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Organization Merge
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Locust Swarm 'Like the Plagues of Egypt' Descends Upon ...
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ABC News Network | © 2022 ABC News Internet Ventures. All rights reserved.
Locust Swarm 'Like the Plagues of Egypt' Descends Upon Madagascar's Capital
By ABC News August 29, 2014
ABC News' Mustafa Hameed ( @mustafahameed ) reports:
YouTube/Sylvain Lathuy
A swarm of millions of locusts descended upon Madagascar's capital of Antananarivo on Aug. 28, slowing traffic and blotting out the skies over the city.
Fully-formed clouds of the insects, which have plagued the African nation for more than two years, whizzed through the city's streets after an urban heat wave attracted the bugs away from their usual rural surroundings.
"It reminds us of the 10 plagues of Egypt," said Ronald Miller, a missionary working in Madagascar with his family.
Miller captured video of the incident and posted it to his Facebook page.
Facebook/Ronald Miller
The current plague began in April 2012, leading to a national disaster declaration in Madagascar in November of that year, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) .
The island nation's government announced a three-year emergency plan in September 2013, when the locusts threatened food security of more than 13 million people, almost 60 percent of Madagascar's population.
But while the images are alarming, FAO officer Annie Monard told Voice of America that the locust swarms in the city were caused by unusually high temperatures, not a new surge in the pest population. So far, the FAO and Madagascar's government have succeeded in controlling the pests in over 4,600 square miles of agricultural land. Madagascar's emergency plan will continue until 2016 and is expected to cost more than $41 million.
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Insect Disaster
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Goodbye, Europe. After years of Brexit turmoil, Britain finally leaves the E.U.
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"Our job as the government — my job — is to bring this country together and take us forward," Prime Minister Boris Johnson said. By Alexander Smith LONDON — It happened — the United Kingdom walked away from the world's largest political and economic club. After 47 years of membership — and more than three years of political uncertainty, rancor and division — the United Kingdom officially left the European Union on Friday . The Brexit divorce was made official at the stroke of 11 p.m. local time (6 p.m. ET), with the image of a countdown clock projected onto Prime Minister Boris Johnson's official residence, No. 10 Downing St. With a population of more than 513 million, the E.U. has its roots in the years after World War II , created partly from a desire to ensure no such conflict could ever happen again. It is one of a handful of institutions that have come to define the postwar consensus and even the West itself — but a pact that in recent years has been put under extreme strain. For the U.K., a powerful empire stretching across the world less than a century ago, Brexit is a historic milestone in its modern history, set to define its new alliances in a rapidly shifting geopolitical landscape. But even some supporters see it as a huge gamble. In a recorded speech, the prime minister sought to help heal a deeply divided nation. "Our job as the government — my job — is to bring this country together and take us forward," said Johnson, the leader of the Conservative Party. The party's decadeslong internecine battle over Britain's membership in the E.U. precipitated the 2016 Brexit vote. "This is the dawn of a new era in which we no longer accept that your life chances — your family's life chances — should depend on which part of the country you grow up in," he added, a likely reference to the Conservatives' recent success in wooing voters from the north of England who had traditionally voted for the opposition. Anti-Brexit protester holds illuminated Union and E.U. flags near the Houses of Parliament in London.Tolga Akmen / AFP - Getty Images To celebrate the event, thousands of people descended on a pro-Brexit rally outside Parliament, an event awash with union flags, but also other banners denouncing the "traitors" who oppose Brexit. "I think it's great that it's happening, finally, after so much dither and delay," said Luke Doherty, 21, a student at Cardiff University in Wales, who was one of those who braved a drizzly night in central London. "At last, we're going to get on with what people voted for in 2016." Chris Sergeant, 70, traveled down from Oxford to mark the occasion. "We're now free to do what we want," he said, wearing a knitted union flag sweater, hat and pin. "Anyone who isn't celebrating tonight, they've got to get over that." People traveled from all over the U.K., with northern English, Welsh and Scottish accents heard among the crowd. Shouts of "Rule Britannia" and "Come on, England!" punctuated the night air, as well as angry boos for the media and anti-Brexit politicians. Perhaps not wanting to gloat, the government opted for a modest light show and the release of a commemorative 50 pence coin, rather than an ostentatious fireworks display or a larger event. Steve Baker, a Conservative lawmaker, tweeted that he was "bearing in mind our need to unite this country when many people feel great sorrow about leaving the E.U." He said he was "encouraging magnanimity from Brexit supporters." Thousands of people packed out Parliament Square, in London, as the U.K. counted down to the moment of Brexit.Henry Nicholls / Reuters But despite Johnson's and the government's conciliatory tone, the wounds of Brexit show little signs of healing. After all, the June 23, 2016, referendum was a close one, with 52 percent voting to leave the E.U. and 48 percent to remain. Recent polls suggest that opinion has since swung the other way, but only just. And, yet, this epochal moment will have almost zero immediate impact on Britons' daily lives. Friday marks more of a starting point than a destination with months, if not years, of complex and surely difficult negotiations to go. The milestone triggers an 11-month transition period in which the U.K. and the E.U. will attempt to thrash out their future trading relationship. Johnson says he wants a bespoke agreement that satisfies a string of promises that he sold to voters who elected him in December. Many in Europe, not to mention plenty of independent experts, say that given the lack of time, his goal is optimistic in the extreme. Much is still uncertain about how the project will turn out, but economists are near unanimous in forecasting the divorce will do some level of economic damage to the U.K. and its neighbors. Despite these warnings, polls suggest that most Brits who voted for Brexit still believe in it. Many did so because they felt too many decisions were taken in Brussels, the E.U.'s political heart. Others saw it as a way to curb immigration. On the other side of this culture war, Remainers are more likely to be younger people, college graduates and ethnic minorities living in cities, and inclined to support issues such as multiculturalism, environmentalism and feminism, according to polling . Brexiteers are more likely to be older, less well-educated people living in regional towns, who tend to oppose those causes. They herald this as a new era of "global Britain," but critics worry it will expose the U.K. as a medium-size nation competing in a superpower world. Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage celebrates during the rally in London on Friday.Frank Augstein / AP It also means Britain will try to forge a closer relationship with President Donald Trump — a man who is widely disliked here. The president "has long supported the United Kingdom's sovereign decision to withdraw from the European Union," U.S. Ambassador Robert Johnson said in a statement Friday. "Now that the U.K. is back in control of its own trade policy, we look forward to achieving a broad free trade agreement that will increase prosperity and create jobs in both our countries." The move also raises serious questions for the E.U. itself. Aside from losing its second largest economy, the bloc — now depleted to 27 members — is struggling to respond to right-wing populism, climate change and growing competition between Washington and Beijing. "At midnight, for the first time in 70 years, a country will leave the European Union," French President Emmanuel Macron said in an address to his nation Friday. "It is a historic alarm signal that must be heard in each of our countries." It also remains to be seen how Brexit will stress the bonds of the U.K. itself. In Scotland and Northern Ireland, where most people voted against leaving the E.U., support for independence from London appears to be on the rise . The Brexit process became so tumultuous that at times it looked like it might never happen. Political norms have been shattered on a seemingly weekly basis. Brexit has seen two prime ministers, David Cameron and Theresa May, both humiliated, while Johnson has engaged in levels of political brinkmanship that shocked allies and opponents alike. But Brexit was all but confirmed, however, when Johnson won resoundingly during a Dec. 12 election, and with it a mandate to drive through his Brexit plans. For the anti-Brexit campaigners, the dream is over. Despite their best efforts, there is now no turning back, short of the distant prospect of applying to rejoin someday. Aside from drowning their sorrows in pubs, there are also a number of europhile events dotted across the country, including the "Rally to rejoin the E.U." outside Parliament that 1,000 Facebook users say they will attend. Their mood was summed up by Guy Verhofstadt, a lawmaker and Brexit coordinator in the European Parliament. "Churchill's aspirational words still hold true today more than ever," he tweeted , followed by a quote from Britain's wartime leader. "Men will be proud to say 'I am a European.' We hope to see a day when men of every country will think as much of being a European as of being from their native land."
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Withdraw from an Organization
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United Airlines Flight 328 crash
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On February 20, 2021, United Airlines Flight 328 (UA328), a scheduled U.S. domestic passenger flight from Denver to Honolulu, suffered catastrophic engine failure four minutes after takeoff from Denver International Airport (DEN). [1][2] Parts departing from the engine cowling of the Boeing 777-222[a] aircraft resulted in a debris field at least 1 mile (1.6 km) long over suburban residential areas of Broomfield, Colorado. [3][4][5][6] Falling debris was recorded by eyewitnesses using smartphone cameras and a dash cam. [7][8] Debris fell through the roof of a private home[3] and significantly damaged a parked vehicle. [9]
The engine failure resulted in an in-flight engine fire, extensive damage to the engine nacelle, and minor damage to the fuselage. [10] Passengers also recorded video of the engine nacelle damage and in-flight fire and posted these to social media. The failed engine was a Pratt & Whitney model PW4077 turbofan. [11]
The crew secured the failed engine, and the aircraft returned to DEN using the remaining working engine, landing without further incident 24 minutes after takeoff at 13:28 local time. [1][12][13] There were no reported injuries to persons onboard or on the ground. The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board immediately began investigating. Similar 777-200 series aircraft were quickly grounded by several national aviation authorities, including the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, which issued an Emergency Airworthiness Directive requiring U.S. operators of airplanes equipped with similar Pratt & Whitney PW4000-112 series engines to inspect these engines' fan blades before further flight. [10] Japan Air Lines, which had a similar incident in December 2020, retired all of its P&W-equipped Boeing 777-200s a year earlier than planned in March 2021. As of July 2021, United Airlines, which also had a similar incident in 2018, had not returned its P&W-equipped Boeing 777-200s to service yet. The incident aircraft, N772UA,[12] is a Boeing 777-222, the United Airlines-specific variant of the original 777-200 series. [12] It was built in November 1994 (c/n 26930/Line no.5)[14] and delivered to United in September 1995. Originally the aircraft was designated as WA005, one of the original Boeing 777-200s that took part in the flight test certification program prior to its entry into commercial service. [14] Boeing stopped building the 777 with P&W PW4000 series engines in 2013,[15] and the engine is no longer in active production. The Boeing 777 is a long-range, wide-body, twin-engine aircraft. [16] At the time of the incident it had a relatively low accident fatality rate. The only two 777 accidents with total loss of aircraft, passengers and crew are Malaysia Airlines flights MH17 that was shot down over Ukraine in July 2014 and MH370 that disappeared over the Indian Ocean in March 2014. The other fatal accidents, Emirates Flight 521 and Asiana Airlines Flight 214, were both attributed to pilot error. Two other hull losses with passenger injuries occurred: EgyptAir Flight 667 had a cockpit fire while parked at the gate at Cairo Airport, and British Airways Flight 38 crashed on landing at Heathrow Airport. The latter was attributed to a design defect in its Rolls-Royce Trent 895-17 engines, not the P&W engines on this incident aircraft. [17][18]
The original 777-200 was distinctive for its Pratt & Whitney PW4000 engines that are about as wide as a Boeing 737 fuselage. [19] The PW4077 variant used on the United 777-222 nominally produces 77,000 pounds-force (340 kN) of thrust. [20] It is a dual-spool, axial-flow, high bypass turbofan engine,[21] that is a higher bypass version of the PW4000-94 engine originally fitted to the Boeing 747-400. It was redesigned exclusively for the 777 with a larger 112-inch (280 cm) diameter fan section using 22 hollow core fan blades. The PW4000-112 fan blade is a wide chord airfoil made of a titanium alloy, about 40.5 inches (103 cm) long and about 22.25 inches (56.5 cm) wide at the blade tip. A PW4000-112 fan blade can weigh a maximum of 34.85 pounds (15.81 kg). [21]
The hollow-core fan blade that experienced metal fatigue failure in this incident had only 2,979 cycles since its last trip to the P&W factory for nondestructive testing using thermal acoustic imaging (TAI) to find hidden internal defects. This interval is less than half of the 6,500 cycle test frequency established in 2019 after a similar engine failure on a previous United Airlines 777-222 flight to Honolulu (UA1175) in 2018. [22] The subject blade underwent TAI inspections in 2014 and 2016. The TAI inspection data collected in 2016 was re-examined in 2018 after the UA1175 incident. [23][24]
Japan's transport ministry ordered increased inspection frequency after the similar JAL 777-200/PW4000 engine failure incident at Naha Airport (OKA) in Japan on December 4, 2020. [19] The US Federal Aviation Administration was also considering increased inspections as a result of that incident, but had not acted prior to this incident in Denver. [22]
According to the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), the captain had been with United Airlines since 1990 and the first officer had been with United since 1999. Both pilots were based in San Francisco. [25]
The aircraft arrived at Denver International Airport (DEN) as flight UA2465 at 10:50 local time. [26][27] At 13:04 local time it departed normally from Runway 25 en route to Daniel K. Inouye International Airport (HNL) as flight UA328. [12] According to Flight Data Recorder (FDR) data and flight crew interviews by NTSB, about four minutes after takeoff, the airplane was climbing through an altitude of about 12,500 feet (3,800 m) with an airspeed of about 280 knots. The flight crew indicated to the NTSB that they advanced power at that time to minimize time in expected turbulence during their climb up to their assigned altitude of flight level 230. Immediately after the throttles were advanced, a loud bang was recorded on the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR). FDR data indicated the engine made an uncommanded shutdown and the engine fire warning activated shortly after. [23] A fan blade out failure within the right (#2) engine resulted in parts of the engine cowling disintegrating and falling to the ground in Broomfield, Colorado. [28] No one on the ground or in the aircraft was injured,[29] although flying debris resulted in a hole in the wing to body fairing, a non-critical composite part designed to reduce aerodynamic drag. [30]
The flight crew contacted air traffic control to declare a mayday emergency and request a left turn to return to the airport. [30] The flight crew began to complete checklists, including the engine fire checklist. As part of the checklist, the flight crew discharged both fire extinguisher bottles into the engine, but the engine fire warning did not extinguish until the airplane was on an extended downwind for landing. The flight crew continued to prepare for the emergency landing by completing additional critical checklists and verifying airplane performance for landing. They elected not to dump fuel for safety and time reasons and determined that the excess landing weight was not significant enough to outweigh other considerations.
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President Trump Withdraws From JCPOA; Reimposes Iran Sanctions—Six Key Takeaways
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On Tuesday, May 8, 2018, President Donald Trump announced that the United States would not sign a 120-day waiver of U.S. sanctions against Iran, effectively withdrawing from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). Although the United States is one of six signatories, including China, United Kingdom, Germany, France and Iran, President Trump’s unilateral decision to withdraw from the agreement puts the fate of the JCPOA in jeopardy.
The implications for the region and for U.S. foreign policy more broadly are profound, but, more immediately, President Trump’s decision triggers an end to U.S. sanctions relief granted as part of the agreement.
Prior to January 2016, U.S. so-called “secondary sanctions” exposed non-U.S. persons, including non-U.S. subsidiaries of U.S. companies, to civil and criminal liability if they did business in certain Iranian business sectors or with particular Iranian individuals and entities. The JCPOA lifted certain specified provisions and also established a permissive licensing policy for U.S. persons seeking to engage in certain, favored activities, such as export of commercial aircraft. However, most “primary” sanctions—those applicable directly to U.S. persons—remained in place.
In his announcement, President Trump also stated that the United States will implement new sanctions against Iran. In conjunction with the announcement, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued FAQs explaining the impact of the presidential decision and also holding out the prospect of additional measures.
Six Key Takeaways
1. The Wind-Down Period Starts Now.
Because many businesses entered into commercial relationships and activities in reliance on the JCPOA sanctions relaxation, and consistent with usual practice when sanctions are imposed, OFAC has established two wind-down periods—of 90 and 180 days, respectively—within which newly prohibited activities involving Iran that were consistent with the JCPOA relief must be ended.
Measures that will be re-imposed at the end of the 90-day wind-down period include:
Sanctions on the purchase or acquisition of U.S. dollar banknotes by the Government of Iran;
Sanctions on Iran’s trade in gold or precious metals;
Sanctions on the direct or indirect sale, supply or transfer to or from Iran of graphite, raw or semi-finished metals such as aluminum and steel, coal and software for integrating industrial processes;
Sanctions on significant transactions related to the purchase or sale of Iranian rials, or the maintenance of significant funds or accounts outside the territory of Iran denominated in the Iranian rial;
Sanctions on the purchase, subscription to, or facilitation of the issuance of Iranian sovereign debt;
Sanctions on Iran’s automotive sector;
A ban on the importation into the United States of Iranian-origin carpets and foodstuffs and certain related financial transactions; and
Activities undertaken pursuant to specific licenses or “General License I” to allow export or re-export of aircraft and related parts.
Measures that will be re-imposed at the end of 180 days include:
Sanctions on Iran’s port operators and shipping and shipbuilding sectors, including on the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL), South Shipping Line Iran and their affiliates;
Sanctions on petroleum-related transactions with, among others, the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), Naftiran Intertrade Company (NICO), and the National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC), including the purchase of petroleum, petroleum products or petrochemical products from Iran;
Sanctions on certain transactions, including the provision of specialized financial messaging services, by foreign financial institutions with the Central Bank of Iran and designated Iranian financial institutions;
Sanctions on the provision of underwriting services, insurance, or reinsurance; and
Sanctions on Iran’s energy sector.
2. Non-U.S. Subsidiaries of U.S. Persons Must Exit Iran.
One key change as a result of the President’s decision is the end of OFAC’s “General License H,” which authorized “an entity owned or controlled” by a US person and “established or maintained outside of the United States . . . to engage in transactions, directly or indirectly, with the Government of Iran or any person subject to the jurisdiction of the Government of Iran.” The revocation of General License H will be effective November 5, 2018.
3. U.S. Persons Operating Under JCPOA Licenses Must Wind Down Their Activities.
Pursuant to the JCPOA, OFAC issued licenses to U.S. persons to engage in certain, designated activities. Those activities must now be wound down, and, for U.S. persons, all payments must be received not later than the end of the applicable wind-down period. (That is an interesting distinction from how non-U.S. persons are treated. Those entities engaged in activities that are now prohibited nonetheless may continue receiving payment after the wind-down date, so long as they have fully performed their underlying contractual obligations by that date.)
The implications of this change are significant. For example, Boeing previously announced a deferred deal—pursuant to an OFAC license—to sell as many as 80 aircrafts to Iran Air for $16.6 billion. Companies with licenses for Iran-related activities should assess any outstanding financial commitments and contracts and analyze the feasibility of finalizing these deals within the authorized wind-down period.
4. Even Non-U.S. Persons Are Impacted.
Businesses with no operations in the United States that operate in a country that will continue to uphold the JCPOA also must consider winding down all Iranian operations. As recent OFAC enforcement actions suggest, U.S. authorities have been aggressive in pursuing broader theories of liability against companies with no U.S. operations. For example, OFAC has now widened its enforcement to target foreign non-financial companies that “cause” U.S. persons to violate sanctions by making U.S. dollar-denominated payments through the U.S. financial system to sanctioned jurisdictions or parties. Given the ever-broadening scope of liability, non-U.S. companies must be mindful of how the new sanctions may affect their business.
5. Some Authorizations Remain Unaffected – for Now.
At the same time, sanctions relief that pre-dates the JCPOA—such as “General License D-1,” which authorizes transactions relating to personal communications—remains in effect. In assessing the impact of today’s action, it is important to differentiate between those pre-JCPOA measures and the liberalizing measures that are being withdrawn.
6. It Is Necessary To Be Nimble.
The Trump Administration action illustrates what has become emblematic of sanctions compliance in recent years: it is necessary to be nimble. Once a relatively straightforward exercise targeting a defined group of countries, with little change from year to year, U.S. sanctions compliance over the past several years has become increasingly complex. The focus of many efforts has shifted from nations to individuals or entities, and the variety of tools employed has become more diverse.
At the same time, the identities of countries that are the subject of sanctions also has undergone significant change—with the removal of Sudan, the addition of many sanctions targeting Russia and the relaxation and now reimposition of sanctions against Iran. Compliance professionals could be forgiven for experiencing professional whiplash.
The new Administration action will require substantial retrofitting of many companies’ compliance programs, back to a pre-JCPOA posture, while remaining alert to the potential new sanctions the Administration has promised.
For more information concerning the president’s announcement and its implications, please contact any of the below members of Paul Hastings’ National Security and Global Trade Controls practice.
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Tear Up Agreement
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Australian Survivor's Lee Carseldine reveals he's recovering in hospital after undergoing surgery
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He also shared a Boomerang video of himself on Instagram Stories, and captioned it: 'Here we go again'. The short video showed Lee giving a thumbs up as he stood in front of a mirror in a surgical gown with compression socks pulled up around his legs. Ouch: In a post on Instagram on Tuesday, the 46-year-old Australian Survivor star revealed he had undergone shoulder surgery Lee previously had surgery on his shoulder back in May, sharing a series of photos of himself post-surgery. In one photo, he was seen lying in bed with his right arm in a sling, a blood pressure machine hooked up to his left arm, and a nasal cannula in his nostrils. A second photo showed his bandaged shoulder after appearing to have undergone keyhole surgery. Back in hospital: Lee previously had surgery on his shoulder back in May, sharing a series of photos of himself post-surgery Battle scars: A second photo showed his bandaged shoulder after appearing to have undergone keyhole surgery 'Round dos,' he simply captioned the post. Before that, Lee had surgery on the same shoulder in May last year, sharing yet another photo from his hospital bed, this time with a red surgical cap on. 'The new 2020 winter off the shoulder gown accompanied with red hair net kit* has been released and can be found at all reputable hospitals,' he captioned the post. Repeat patient: Before that, Lee had surgery on the same shoulder in May last year, sharing yet another photo from his hospital bed, this time with a red surgical cap on 'Don't miss out. They are selling as quickly as baby tigers in the USA. Use product code STILLHIGH to get your 110% discount. *Wristbands sold separately.' He added: 'P.S. - all is OK. Just an overnight stay this time.' Lee appeared on the 2016 season of Australian Survivor, before later returning for last year's season of Survivor: All Stars. Roughing it: Lee appeared on the 2016 season of Australian Survivor, before later returning for last year's season of Survivor: All Stars. Pictured with Locky Gilbert (bottom)
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Famous Person - Recovered
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Eastwind Airlines Flight 517 crash
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On June 9, 1996, while operating a passenger flight from Trenton, New Jersey to Richmond, Virginia, the crew of Eastwind Airlines Flight 517 temporarily lost control of their Boeing 737-200 because of a rudder malfunction. The crew were able to regain control and land the aircraft successfully. One passenger was injured. Flight 517 was instrumental in resolving the cause of Boeing 737 rudder issues that had caused two previous fatal crashes because it was the first flight to experience such rudder issues and land safely, allowing investigators to interview the pilots about their experience and to study the aircraft. On March 3, 1991, United Airlines Flight 585, a Boeing 737-200, rolled to the right and went into a vertical dive while attempting to land in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The resulting crash killed all 25 people on board. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) conducted a thorough investigation. Although a rudder problem was suspected, the aircraft's rudder components could not be tested or fully evaluated because they were severely damaged in the crash. As a result, the NTSB was unable to conclusively identify the cause of the crash. [1]:47
On September 8, 1994, USAir Flight 427, a Boeing 737-300, abruptly rolled to the left while on approach to Pittsburgh International Airport in an accident very similar to that of Flight 585. The resulting crash killed all 132 people on board. [1]:1 The NTSB's subsequent investigation persisted throughout the late 1990s. Flight 517 was a scheduled Eastwind Airlines passenger flight from Trenton-Mercer Airport in Trenton, New Jersey to Richmond International Airport in Richmond, Virginia. The flight was operated using a Boeing 737-200 (registration number N221US). On June 9, 1996, Flight 517 was operated by Captain Brian Bishop and First Officer Spencer Griffin. A total of 53 people were on board. [1]:51
Flight 517 departed Trenton without incident and encountered no turbulence or unusual weather en route to Richmond. While on approach to Richmond International Airport, at an altitude of about 5,000 feet (1,500 m) MSL, the captain felt a brief "kick" or "bump" on the right rudder pedal. [1]:51 Around the same time, a flight attendant at the rear of the plane heard a thumping noise underneath her. [1]:52 As the plane continued to descend through 4,000 feet (1,200 m), the captain suddenly experienced a loss of rudder control and the plane rolled sharply to the right. [1]:51
Attempting to regain control, the captain tried to apply full left rudder, but the rudder controls were stiff and did not respond to his commands. He applied left aileron and increased power to the right engine to try to stop the roll. The airplane temporarily stabilized, and then rolled to the right again. The crew performed their emergency checklist and attempted to regain control of the aircraft, and after several seconds they abruptly regained control. The airplane operated normally for the remaining duration of the flight. [1]:51–52
No damage occurred to the aircraft as a result of the incident. One flight attendant suffered minor injuries. No other passengers or crew aboard Flight 517 were injured. The NTSB investigated the incident, with a particular focus on determining whether the events of Flight 517 were related to previous Boeing 737 crashes. [1]:44
During the investigation, the NTSB found that prior to the June 9 incident, flight crews had reported a series of rudder-related events on the incident aircraft, including abnormal "bumps" on the rudder pedals and uncommanded movement of the rudder. [1]:263
Investigators conducted interviews with the pilots of Flight 517, and removed rudder components from the aircraft for examination, which helped to establish the cause of the previous crashes of United Flight 585 and USAir Flight 427. The NTSB determined that all three incidents could only be explained by pilot error or a malfunction of the rudder system, and, based partly on post-accident interviews with the Flight 517 pilots, concluded that rudder malfunctions were likely to have caused all three incidents. [1]:272–73
The NTSB also determined that, unlike the United or USAir accidents, the rudder problem on Flight 517 occurred earlier in the landing process and at a higher speed, which increased airflow over the other control surfaces of the aircraft, allowing the pilots to overcome the rudder-induced roll. [1]:269
N221US was repaired and returned to service with Eastwind Airlines until the airline ceased operations in 1999. The aircraft was placed into storage at Indy South Greenwood Airport the same year and was scrapped in 2000. [2]
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Air crash
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Deputies investigating bank robbery in Bakersfield
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BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — The Kern County Sheriff's Office is investigating a bank robbery at the United Security Bank on Coffee Rd and Downing Ave. KCSO says staff at the bank reported the incident just before 4 pm. They describe the suspect as a man, who mentioned he had a gun but did not show the weapon. He left the scene before deputies arrived and has not been found. There were no injuries to the staff according to KCSO. The investigation is ongoing. No word on if this man is the same suspect from another bank robbery in Kern just a few days ago.
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Bank Robbery
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2016 California wildfires
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In 2016, a total of 7,349 fires had burned an area 669,534 acres (2,709.51 km2) in California, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. [1][2]
Climatologists had predicted an extreme version of El Niño, known as a Super El Niño, to occur during the winter of 2015–16. Although the Pacific Ocean’s warming water had been expected to bring strong storms to parts of the southwestern United States, actual precipitation totals generally underperformed those expectations. [4] Early in 2016, The National Interagency Fire Center predicted that conditions from May through at least August would put much of the western United States in above-normal wildfire danger. [5]
In June, the United States Forest Service estimated that over 26 million trees had died across 760,000 acres (310,000 ha) in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. This brought the number of dead trees to over 66 million during the past four years of drought. [6]
On August 15, the National Interagency Fire Center showed the state leading the nation in the quantity, size and intensity of wildfires. [6] A day later, on August 16, San Bernardino County announced that nearly 85,000 people were evacuated because of the Blue Cut Fire near Cajon Pass. [7] Authorities arrested a 40-year-old man in connection to the Clayton Fire, and charged him with 17 counts of arson. [6]
Below is a list of all fires that exceeded 1,000 acres (400 ha) during the 2016 California wildfire season, as well as the fires that caused significant damage. [8] The information is taken from CAL FIRE's list of large fires, and other sources where indicated. On Thursday, May 5, 2016, shortly before 3 P.M. PDT, a small brush fire ignited off the 15000 block of Dove Creek Road, in a creek bed, in 4S Ranch, San Diego County. [43][44] As the fire began spreading eastward, students and staff at the nearby Oak Valley Middle School were ordered to stay indoors, though parents were allowed to pick up their children. [44][45] However, as the fire continued to spread, evacuation orders were issued for some homes along Palomino Valley Road and Oak Valley Middle School, with the students from Oak Valley Middle School being relocated by bus to Westview High School. [43] The sudden change caused some confusion and chaos among parents attempting to pick up their children, and drew criticism towards the last-minute evacuation plan. [45] The brush fire quickly grew to 5 acres (0.020 km2), but within a couple of hours, the fire was contained and further growth was stopped. [46] At 4:34 PM PDT, the evacuation orders for the homes on Palomino Valley Road were lifted, as the fire was brought to 90% containment. [43] Just before 5:30 PM PDT, the brush fire was fully extinguished, and Rancho Santa Fe fire officials declared 100% containment of the fire. The fire did not cause any injuries or structural damage. [46] The brush fire was determined to have been accidentally caused by sparks coming from a welder. [44]
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Fire
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June 2013 Nantou earthquake
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The 2013 Nantou earthquake struck central Taiwan with a moment magnitude of 5.9 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of V (Moderate) on March 27 at 10:03 a.m. local time. The epicenter was located in mountainous terrain in Ren'ai Township, Nantou County, Taiwan, not far from Sun Moon Lake. News reports indicate that a 72-year-old woman was killed by being crushed by a collapsing wall and 97 people were injured. Most of the injuries were in Taichung. [3] The earthquake caused two fires and stopped five elevators, trapping people inside. [3] This earthquake could be felt in Hong Kong, Fujian, and Zhejiang, China. [5]
Kuo Kai-wen, director of the ROC Central Weather Bureau Seismological Center (地震測報中心) said on 27 March 2013 that a 100-km long blind fault probably exists at Ren-ai Township in Nantou County. [6]
ROC President Ma Ying-jeou visited the Central Emergency Operation Center on 27 March 2013 urging the people to stay alert for any after shock and ready for any emergency situation. ROC Premier Jiang Yi-huah initiated a cabinet emergency task force to work with the relevant agencies to respond to the earthquake situation. He also urged the relevant government agencies to reassess the safety standard for any local infrastructure buildings. [7]
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Earthquakes
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Rockvale High School Closed Thursday, Sept. 9, 2021
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Rutherford County Schools Communications Director James Evans updated Rockvale High students and parents about the status of the high school for tomorrow. The utility company has been onsite today repairing the gas leak and expects to finish today. However, they must complete a pressure test of the entire system before we are allowed to occupy the building. This pressure test is schedule to be completed tomorrow. As such, Rockvale High School will remain closed tomorrow, Thursday, Sept. 9, and we will use a stockpile day to cover the closure. This only affects the high school. We know this can be an inconvenience for parents, which is why we are notifying you now for planning purposes. Thanks for all that you do as parents and we will send you an update tomorrow.
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Organization Closed
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2018 Iranian university protests
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The 2018 Iranian university protests were a series of protests by Iranian university students in support of labour, and teacher strikes, as well as protesting against the current situation of the country. [3] The protests started on 4 December 2018, ahead of university day on 7 December, which is usually marked by protests. On 4 December 2018, students at the Amirkabir University of Technology in Tehran, gathered in support of the ongoing labour and teacher strikes. Students clashed with Basiji counter protesters. Students chanted "Cannons, tanks, and weapons have no affect anymore", "Workers and students unite", "Jailed teachers, workers, and students must be freed", and "Death to this deceptive government". [3][4][5][6] Elsewhere in Tehran, students Allameh Tabataba'i University protested against the presence of members of the Ministry of Intelligence on the campus. On the same day students at the Babol Noshirvani University of Technology protested and chanted "The university is alive", "Stop crackdown on university students", and "University students will die, but will not accept oppression". [2][7]
Students at the Sahand University of Technology also protested and held a hunger strike. [3] Students at the Razi University of Kermanshah also held a protest in support of workers in Khuzestan, and chanted "Bread, freedom, workers council". [2]
On 29 December, students at the Islamic Azad University, Science and Research Branch, Tehran gathered on campus to mourn and protest after ten people were killed in a bus accident on the campus on 25 December. Students demanded the resignation of the chairman of the Islamic Azad University Ali Akbar Velayati. [8][9] The protesters, who numbered in the hundreds, also chanted against the incompetent officials whom they felt were responsible for the incident. [10][11]
Students at the Islamic Azad University, Science and Research Branch, Tehran gathered for a second consecutive day of protests on 30 December. [12] The students chanted "Velayati you are responsible for these killings" and "incompetent officials must be prosecuted". [13][1] Video from the protests showed a car running over and injuring two students. [1]
On 31 December 2018, students and other citizens gathered in front of the University of Tehran in solidarity with the students at the Islamic Azad University, Science and Research Branch, Tehran. Protestors were met by the security forces and anti-riot police who attempted to control the demonstration. [14] Demonstrators clashed with the security forces and chanted "Death to the dictator", "Our fronts to the nation, our backs to the enemy", "Don't be scared, we are all together", and "incompetent officials must resign". [15][16][17] Earlier on Christmas day a bus taking about 30 students on a mountain road hit a concrete road which resulted to the death of 10 passenger and injury of 25 others. Students were from Islamic Azad University in north east of Iran. Iran’s officials are blamed for not using safety precautions, This bus was considered out of service six years ago. [18]
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Protest_Online Condemnation
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Top Ten Most Spectacular Greek Archaeological Discoveries of 2020
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Despite the many and varied challenges of the past year as the nation and the world struggled with the pandemic and all its ramifications, 2020 was another banner year for Greece in the realm of archaeology. Let’s discover top 10 of most spectacular Greek archaeological discoveries of 2020. Home to some of the most spectacular finds on earth, the country offered up yet more treasures from its brilliant past in digs from the bottom of a well in Athens to artifacts found under the pumice at Akrotiri on the Greek island of Santorini. While all the nation’s archaeological sites were forced to shut down during the two lockdown periods — and suffered tremendous losses of revenue due to global travel restrictions even when they were open — the ancient Greek city of Mycenae experienced yet another shock when a wildfire tore through the site. However, the damage there was thankfully slight, and important archaeological work was still being carried out at many other sites around the country, with many new Greek archaeological discoveries coming to light. Another significant milestone of 2020 was the new lighting scheme for the Athens Acropolis, with energy-saving LED lighting and new spotlights showing the Parthenon’s many features to great effect. A new lift and paved walkways also greatly improved access to the iconic site. Another historical site of enormous importance to Greece is the shipwreck off the tiny Northern Sporades island of Peristera, offering such a hoard of underwater treasures that it is often called the “Parthenon of Shipwrecks” for its stellar importance to the understanding of Greece’s past. This underwater site was opened to scuba divers for the first time ever in the summer of 2020, with those who prefer to stay on land able to visit a nearby museum on the nearby island of Alonnisos, which exhibits artifacts and dioramas of the site. The recent construction work on Aeolus Street in Athens has uncovered some astounding archaeological treasures from ancient Greece, on which the Ministry of Culture has now begun restoration (top photo). The news of the recent discovery of the head of the Greek god Hermes, lying since antiquity at a depth of just 1.3 meters (4 feet 4 inches) under the feet of Athenians as they went about their daily business, was reported around the world. This was perhaps the most spectacular find of all this year due to its location, with the priceless treasure lying just under the pavement of the busy Athens thoroughfare. Greek archaeologists unearthed an ancient aqueduct and thousands of objects and artifacts dating from Hellenistic and Roman times during the excavations for the expansion of the Athens metro line to Piraeus. Many of the objects were made of wood and were preserved in water at the bottom of a well. The household objects, including wooden furniture, are extremely unusual finds considering the carbon-based material of which they were made. Some of the artifacts will frame the permanent exhibition that will be set up in the metro station called “Municipal Theater” in Piraeus, which is currently under construction. Foremost among all the treasures found was an exquisite headless statue — which was found at the bottom of an ancient well (pictured above). Archaeologists posit that the destruction of the objects may have occurred during the Roman invasion of the area. The exhibition will include other ancient artifacts, in addition to the Hermes, along with a model copy of the aqueduct, and an authentic pebble floor from the classical / Hellenistic era which was found during the excavations. Exquisite pottery was unearthed at Akrotiri, the ancient settlement on the Greek island of Santorini, early in 2020. Most of the Greek archaeological discoveries at the site are related to the everyday life of the people who lived on the island before the volcanic explosion which destroyed most of the island — and subsequently, the Minoan civilization on Crete. A perfectly-preserved shell-shaped vessel demonstrated the high level of artistic achievement in that civilization, in what was perhaps the most endearing find of all, showing that art was made for art’s sake even on the remote island in the days of antiquity. Among dozens of other new findings, the Ministry of Culture noted that an inscription, consisting of Linear A syllables and an ideogram, was found written in ink on an object which is most likely related to the use of a building, also uncovered in the Akrotiri dig. Showing another side of Greek history, a curse tablet, showing imprecations against an unfortunate man called Pytheas, was unearthed at the bottom of a well in Athens’ downtown neighborhood of Kerameikos (Ceramicus) by archaeologists from the German Archaeological Institute of Athens. A total of thirty well-preserved curse tablets dating back to the Classical period (2,500 years ago) were found in an ancient well which was originally discovered back in 2016, when other everyday objects — but not the tablets — were found. The ancient tablets have curses engraved on them which Athenian citizens would pay to have made against other people, a practice which was relatively common in ancient Greece. Four of these rectangular grave sites in Ilia, all lined with rocks, and three extremely large funerary containers, called pithoi, were found at the site, as well as an individual coffin covered by ceramic tiles and a marble grave stele. Inside one of the pithoi, which were so large that they were often used as coffins themselves, archaeologists discovered an ornately decorated bronze urn, together with its base The urn features a floral design on its handles and lion heads fill the space between its handles and its rim. A bronze mirror with a relief was also found in the funerary container. Theopetra Cave in Thessaly, Central Greece, was formed in the Upper Cretaceous period, 137,000,000 – 65,000,000 years before the present time. The cave that was created in the limestone there has been inhabited since the Middle Paleolithic period, and new findings give new insight into the lives of those early peoples. According to archaeologists, the cave is likely to be the place of the oldest human construction on earth, as findings indicate that the shelter was inhabited as early as 130,000 years ago. Neolithic residents of the cave ate wheat and cultivated barley, olives, lentils and wild pear, among others. They ate some meat, mostly from domesticated sheep and goats (which account for 60 percent of the bones found), and also kept cattle, pigs and at least one dog. About 11 percent of the bones found at the cave belong to deer, wild boars, bears, hares, wildcats and badgers, all of which were hunted. Bones from a bear, for example, astoundingly still bear knife marks. The community also made its own jewelry, drilling holes into deer-like teeth and shells from the nearby river. The remains of beeswax were also found in the community. The newest findings show that an estimated 43 people lived in Theopetra Cave during the Neolithic era. A proto-Byzantine-era skull which was discovered by anthropologists in the Paliokastro area on Thasos island shows signs of complicated surgery, in one of the more shocking examples of what was discovered this year in all of Greek archaeology. The skull, which dates from the early Byzantine period — the fourth to the seventh century AD — bears traces of surgery that are “incredibly complex,” according to researcher Anagnostis Agelarakis, Ph.D., who teaches at Adeplhi University. The discovery was made by an Adelphi University research team led by Agelarakis. A total of ten skeletons, of four women and six men, were found and studied. They are likely to be persons of high social status. “According to their skeletal-anatomical features, both men and women lived physically demanding lives…The very serious trauma cases sustained by both males and females had been treated surgically or orthopedically by a very experienced physician/surgeon with great training in trauma care. We believe it to have been a military physician,” the report says. Archaeological excavations conducted in July of 2020 revealed the remains of an even older temple building found at the shrine to Asclepius, the god of medicine, in the vicinity of the Tholos at the ancient site of Epidaurus, outside Athens. The partially-excavated building, which is dated to about 600 BC, consists of a ground floor with a primitive colonnade and an underground basement chipped out of the rock beneath. The floor is an intact pebble mosaic, which is one of the best-preserved examples of this rare type of flooring to survive from this era. The find is also considered significant because it predates the impressive Tholos building in the same location, whose own basement served as the chthonic residence of Asclepius, and which replaced the newly-discovered structure after the 4th century B.C. This shows that the worship of Asclepius at Epidaurus began much earlier than previously thought and had the same chthonic features, while altering what is known about the history of the region in general. Archaeologists from the Department of Archaeology at the University of Thessaly discovered yet more important artifacts this summer on Vryokastraki, the small rocky islet near the Greek island of Kythnos, once home to a significant city in the early Byzantine period. Well-preserved ceramics, jewelry, and female figurines were discovered in the sanctuary, leading experts to believe that there was an important cult to a female deity there. The finds, only recently released in an announcement by the Greek Ministry of Culture, also include many epigraphical remains that detail the history of the island, which was continuously inhabited from the 12th century BC until the 7th century AD. One of the inscriptions, which are considered “very important” by scholars, describes a pirate named Glafketis who took control of Kythnos in the 4th century BC. According to the recently discovered artifact, Glafketis had support from the Macedonians, but was eventually forced out of power by the Athenians. Finally, in a find that far predates human history but is nevertheless just as fascinating, fourteen petrified trees were found as a result of excavations for rainwater drainage pipes in an area near Sigri and in the region of Lesvos island’s Petrified Forest this year. The area was declared as a Protected Natural Monument in 1985 but the additional trees that were found this year were extremely old, dating back to 18 million years ago. The trees were killed by blasts of gas from the volcanic explosions and then covered by ash. Extensive heavy rains then flooded the area, sweeping away both the ash and sections of tree trunks. The giant mudflows blocked valleys, and the tree trunks piled up in successive layers, where they became fossilized. Professor Nikos Zouros, director of the Petrified Forest of Sigri Museum said of the summer 2020 discovery, “The trunks were in a very good state of preservation – they are impressive logs laid on successive strata, one above the other.”
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New archeological discoveries
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Pulse List: 7 Nigerian celebrities who quietly ended their marriages
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On our list today, we will be looking at some of your favourite celebrities who ended their marriages without making them a mess.
Their wedding, child birth and also divorce often dominate headlines. But in the case of divorces, some celebrities have managed to keep it on the low for a long time. Here are some of your favourite celebrity marriages that ended quietly. Nigerian music star Dr Sid and Simi got married in 2014 in one of the most talked-about celebrity weddings. They welcomed their first daughter and a second one a few years later.
Trouble in their marriage was first reported in 2017 but the couple stayed away from any public drama. In January 2020, Simi took to her Instagram page where she announced that their marriage was over.
Sid has remained silent about his divorce to date.
Ighodaro and Ajibade met onset of a TV show and got married afterwards to fans and industry delight. The couple's wedding ceremony was so huge, that it was televised on live TV.
In February 2019, fans and followers of Osas and Gbenro woke up to a rather strange post from the latter. He had in his post called out Osas over her parenting style. It was clear that they were separated at that time. A few months later, Osas took down Gbenro's name from her Instagram handle. After several months in the United States of America, Gbenro marked his return to Nigeria with an interview on Rubbin Minds in December where he confirmed that they are divorced.
Etinosa Idemudia's marriage to Benin-based lawyer, Ighrosa is the most shortest-lived on this list. The former couple tied the knot in September 2020 and welcomed their first daughter on Christmas Day, the same year.
The movie star had planned to keep the news of her marriage crash away from the prying eyes of the public but the press had other plans. In May 2021, she called out a blogger for breaking the news about her marriage collapse. Mofe Duncan and Jessica Kakkad had one of the most discreet breakups in the history of celebrity marriage crashes. It had to take a die-hard fan of Jessica to burst the bubble in September 2019. A few hours after the news broke, Mofe Duncan took to his Instagram page to release a statement where he revealed that the marriage had crashed a year earlier and that he still maintains a cordial relationship with Jessica and her family. Another celebrity marriage collapse that was very discreet was that of former Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria, Anita Iseghohi, and her business executive husband, Tom.
The former beauty queen took to her Instagram page in November 2018 where she revealed that her 11 years marriage to the former MD of Transcorp Corporation had ended. The union is blessed with three children.
Just like Osas and Gbenro, Damilola Adegbite and Chris Attoh had one of those onset beautiful love stories. The couple got hitched on February 14, 2015, in Accra, Ghana. In April 2017, Chris Attoh slammed divorce rumours in a radio interview. The couple had earlier unfollowed each other on Instagram. The actress remained silent about their separation after that. However, in September that same year, Attoh finally revealed that their marriage had crashed.
Blossom Chukwujekwu's split from Maureen Esisi was probably the most shocking separation gist in 2019. Social media will not forget in a hurry how Blossom and Maureen showcased their beautiful and 'happy marriage' to the admiration of many.
In September 2019, the news broke of their separation. While blogs gave different accounts of the reason behind their marriage collapse, the couple remained mute. Although Maureen has made several cryptic comments about their failed marriage.
Blossom on the other hands has done a great job keeping conversations about his failed marriage out of his way.
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Famous Person - Divorce
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Worker killed in Queensland mine collapse
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A worker has died and another been injured after a coalmine shaft collapse in central Queensland.
A man is dead and another seriously injured after the roof of a central Queensland coalmine shaft collapsed while they were trying to shore it up.
The roof fell in on the two workers, who were installing an underground support structure at the Sojitz Gregory Crinum Mine, north of Emerald, the mining union says.
There was nothing rescuers could do for a 60-year-old worker, who died in the shaft.
His colleague, a 25-year-old man, was hit by falling rocks and spent hours trapped in the rubble. He suffered crush injuries to his legs and pelvis but will survive.
Stephen Smyth, from the CFMEU, said a third worker escaped the rockfall but suffered a medical episode after witnessing it. He was also taken to hospital.
Mr Smyth said the underground part of the coalmine had been in care and maintenance mode for a number of years, but work had recently begun to recommence production.
Preliminary information indicated the team had been sent into a drift - a near-horizontal underground passageway - to carry out repair and rehabilitation work.
"The initial information is that all three were working in the same area," Mr Smyth told AAP.
"My understanding, and it is preliminary, is that they were installing a roof support, which is a common thing, as part of an overall plan to re-establish the mine."
He said such work would have been the subject of careful risk assessment and planning work, and normally the work plan would have been reviewed by a geotechnical engineer to ensure the activity was safe.
"I'm assuming all that would have been in place," he said, adding safety arrangements will be a focus of the Mines Inspectorate and union investigations that are now underway.
Sojitz Blue chief executive officer Cameron Vorias has confirmed there was a rock fall, with activity at the accident site suspended until further notice.
Mr Smyth said he understood the three men caught up in the incident all work for Mastermyne, the contract mine operator for Sojitz.
RACQ CapRescue said the 25-year-old survivor was trapped for more than four hours as rescuers worked to pull him out.
He was flown to Rockhampton Hospital in a serious but stable condition.
Resources Minister Scott Stewart has paid tribute to the emergency services and other first responders.
"Any loss of life on our mine sites is unacceptable, and it is my expectation the Queensland Mines Inspectorate and Resources Safety and Health Queensland will investigate this incident thoroughly and with diligence," he told parliament.
"I extend my heartfelt condolences - and those of everyone in this house - to the family, friends, and co-workers of the man who has passed away, and I hope for a full and speedy recovery for the man who was injured."
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Mine Collapses
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2017 Belarusian protests
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The 2017 Belarusian protests were a series of demonstrations and street protests against President Alexander Lukashenko that broke out in late February 2017. Protesters mobilized against a tax levied against the unemployed in Belarus. Demonstrations and marches were held in sites throughout the country with sizes of several hundred to several thousand gathering at a given time. Belarus has been described for several years as Europe's "last dictatorship" with no genuine political opposition against Lukashenko possible. [4] Previous protests in 2011 and 2015 resulted in mass arrests. The country has also been in an economic recession since 2015 due to falling gasoline prices and that year a law was passed taxing the unemployed. [1] Roughly 470,000 Belarusians are obliged to pay the tax but only about 10% have since it was issued. [1]
Approximately 2,500 protesters[5] filled the streets in Minsk on 17 February to protest a policy that required anyone who works for less than 183 days[6] per year to pay USD$250 for "lost taxes" to help fund welfare policies. [7] This converts to approximately p.5 million—a half-month's wages. [1] The law has proven unpopular and has been mocked in the public as the "law against social parasites". [1] On 19 February, another 2,000 demonstrated in the second city of Gomel. [7] Both gatherings were peaceful. Smaller demonstrations were held in other cities. [5]
On 25 March, opposition leader Vladimir Nekliayev, who was set to speak at the main protest, was stopped in the morning on his way to Minsk, his wife said. [8]
The government defended the mass arrests and beatings against citizens by alleging that the police had found "petrol bombs and arms-laden cars" near a protest in Minsk. [9]
The mayor of Brest met with the protesters. After the rally, the organizers received 15 days of arrest. [17]
To the protesting crowd came member of parliament Ihar Marzaliuk, five people arrested [26]
About 40 people were detained in Minsk. [27]
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Protest_Online Condemnation
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Santa Claus Bank Robbery
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The Santa Claus Bank Robbery occurred on December 23, 1927, in the Central Texas town of Cisco. Marshall Ratliff, dressed as Santa Claus, along with Henry Helms and Robert Hill, all ex-cons, and Louis Davis, a relative of Helms, held up the First National Bank in Cisco. The robbery is one of Texas' most infamous crimes, having invoked the largest manhunt ever seen in the state. [1] Eyewitness Boyce House wrote that this was "the most spectacular crime in the history of the Southwest ... surpassing any in which Billy the Kid or the James boys had ever figured. "[2][3]
Marshall Ratliff was an ex-con who had lived in Cisco before being tracked down and imprisoned for a bank robbery in Valera, Texas, by Cisco Chief of Police, G.E. "Bit" Bedford. [4] Though Ratliff was given a long prison sentence, he had been paroled just before the infamous bank robbery. He initially planned to rob the Cisco bank with his brother, Lee, but Lee had been arrested again. Ratliff pulled in Helms and Hill, whom he knew from Huntsville, and a fourth man who was good with safes. As they planned the crime in Wichita Falls, the safe-cracker came down with the flu, and the trio pulled in Davis, a relative of Helms and a family man in need, promising a large return for his participation. During this period in Texas, three or four banks were being robbed every day, and in response, the Texas Bankers Association had offered a $5,000 reward to anyone shooting a bank robber during the crime. [3][5] In addition, Ratliff knew that he would be immediately recognized if he returned to Cisco. This made the heist a particularly dangerous undertaking for the four men, so Ratliff decided to conceal his identity by disguising himself as Santa Claus. Such a disguise would also allay any suspicions by people in the bank. Stealing a car in Wichita Falls, they headed for Cisco and arrived on the morning of December 23. As the group neared the bank, Ratliff donned a Santa Claus suit he had borrowed from Mrs. Midge Tellet, who ran the boarding house where they had been staying in Wichita Falls. They let Ratliff out several blocks from the bank. Ratliff, dressed as Santa, was smiling as he came along Avenue D (the main street), stopping to chat with eager children, answering their questions and patting them on the head. The main street of Cisco was crowded with people going about their daily activities. The town had the normal decorations for the season. Everyone was in the Christmas spirit, so no one thought it odd when Santa came walking down the street around noon, one day before Christmas Eve. Still followed by children attracted to "Santa," Ratliff joined the other three in an alley and led the way to the bank. Some of the happy children who had followed Santa continued into the bank after him. Once inside, Ratliff received a pleasant greeting of "Hello, Santa," from the cashier. He did not respond, but walked to a desk in the middle of the lobby, where bank customers wrote out their deposit slips. A few customers were already at the teller's window making their deposits. The cashier again called out, "Hello, Santa." Again, no response. Right about at this point, Ratliff's accomplice, Robert Hill, entered the bank, pointed a pistol at the cashier, and snarled, "Hands up!" The second bandit, Henry Helms, also entered brandishing a gun, followed by the third armed man, Davis. Ratliff pushed through a swinging door, past the cashier's desk, went into the cashier's cage, opened a drawer under the counter, and removed a pistol from that location, stuffing it under his red Santa suit. Now, four men were armed, including "Santa Claus". "Santa" ordered the assistant cashier to open the safe, and began stuffing money and bonds into a sack he had hidden beneath his costume. While the others covered the customers and employees, Ratliff grabbed money from the tellers and forced one to open the vault. [6]
Unseen by the four robbers, bank patron Mrs. B. P. Blassengame and her six-year-old daughter, Frances, entered the bank in hopes of seeing Santa, not knowing a robbery was in progress. Immediately realizing the danger, Mrs. Blassengame charged her way with her daughter through the bookkeeping office of the bank, announcing "They are robbing the bank," as she reached for the door to the alley. She quickly unlocked the door, thrusting her daughter out into the alley while yelling at her to run and, despite warnings from the robbers that they would shoot, escaping herself. She screamed for help as she ran the one block to city hall and the police department, alerting Chief of Police Bedford and most of the Cisco citizenry about the robbery. According to eyewitness Boyce House, "Police Chief G.E. "Bit" Bedford [was] a giant of a man and a veteran peace officer." Seizing a riot gun, he started for the scene and instructed officers R.T. Redies and George Carmichael to cover the back door of the bank. The chief posted himself at the alley, which ran alongside the bank and opened at the bank's front on Avenue D, while Officer Carmichael took a position near another alley which ran behind the bank and intersected the first. Meanwhile, inside the bank, one of the men, with an automatic weapon in each hand, growled at the bookkeeper, "Don't look at me!" By this time, "Santa Claus" had filled his sack and exited the vault. Who fired the first shot is uncertain. Some sources state Ratliff, dressed as Santa, fired first, the bullet striking the bank's plate-glass window, possibly to signal unseen accomplices that the robbery had been accomplished. Other sources say that Hill, seeing someone outside, fired a shot through the window, and a shot was returned, prompting Hill to fire several more shots into the ceiling to show that they were armed. Immediately, Bedford and Carmichael directed cross-fire at the side door and the two-gunned robber fired back, first at Carmichael and then at Bedford. A fusillade of gunfire began, as many civilians who owned guns were now outside the bank, and many more had rushed to hardware stores for pistols and rifles. The assistant postmaster and the postmaster were two of the civilians who took up arms against the robbers.
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Bank Robbery
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2021 Kharkiv fire
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On 21 January 2021, a fire broke out at an unregistered nursing home in Kharkiv, Ukraine. [1] The fire killed 15 people and injured 11 others. [2] Nine people were rescued and sent to the hospital. [3] According to Prosecutor General of Ukraine Iryna Venediktova the fire was caused by carelessness with electrical heaters. This prompted the office of the Kharkiv regional prosecutor to begin criminal proceedings due to alleged violations of safety regulations. Electric heaters are considered unsafe in Kharkiv due to the inadequate design of electrical infrastructure in that area. The house was heavily damaged, with much of the second floor apparently gutted. [4] The fifteen people that died had apparently been trapped on the second floor. Kharkiv's acting mayor Ihor Terekhov declared 22 January 2021 a day of mourning. [5] President Volodymyr Zelensky declared 23 January a national day of mourning. [6]
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Fire
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KPLO, South Korea’s first Moon mission
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Empowering the world's citizens to advance space science and exploration. South Korea is launching the Korean Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter, or KPLO, to the Moon in 2022. With KPLO, South Korea forays into planetary exploration, begins its ambitious lunar exploration program, and finds a collaborator in NASA. Equipped with four indigenously built instruments and a NASA-provided camera, KPLO will show us new views of the Moon’s surface and help us plan future missions there, including landing humans on its poles. KPLO will launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket sometime around August 2022 on a ballistic lunar trajectory, which will allow it to reach the Moon by mid-December as planned regardless of any launch delays. After entering a roughly 100-kilometer circular lunar orbit, KPLO will study the Moon for at least a year with its five scientific instruments. KPLO sports two indigenously built cameras, one of which will image the Moon’s surface at a high resolution of 2.5 meters per pixel. The other is a wide-angle polarimetric camera which can determine the type of surface materials based on the way light reflects and scatters off them. This will help us better understand the Moon’s surface composition and the nature of its varied volcanic deposits. KPLO also has a gamma-ray spectrometer, which will look at highly energetic gamma rays released from the Moon. The energy levels of these rays are linked to the elements that produce them, allowing scientists to determine the elemental makeup of specific Moon materials. Together with the polarimetric camera, KPLO will better help understand the Moon’s mineral composition, and how its terrain has evolved over four billion years. The last of KPLO’s indigenous instruments is a magnetometer. While the Moon has lost its global magnetic field, it does have localized magnetic features such as “swirls.” By measuring their weak magnetic fields from orbit, KPLO will help us understand the extent of protection they offer from harmful space radiation, and the nature of the Moon’s leftover magnetic areas as hints of its past. KPLO’s final instrument, ShadowCam, is an ultrasensitive camera provided by NASA to see inside permanently shadowed areas on the Moon. It will provide critical information about the terrain and water in such regions to help plan future crewed and robotic missions there. On the Moon’s poles, the Sun sits very close to the horizon, so even small features like rocks cast very long shadows. Likewise, large craters with terraced edges block sunlight from entering the craters. Scientists call such places “permanently shadowed regions” because they’re eternally dark. They are thought to host water ice and other resources that are central to future lunar exploration plans by space entities worldwide. While sunlight doesn’t reach and thus directly reflect from the Moon’s permanently shadowed regions, a minute amount of sunlight does scatter into them from nearby terrain. This light reflected back into space is incredibly dim but detectable by current orbiters such as NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and ISRO’s Chandrayaan 2 orbiter. However, their cameras aren’t sensitive enough to peer into the darkness and help meticulously plan landing and roving missions in and around such regions. That’s where ShadowCam comes in. ShadowCam’s camera is at least 200 times more sensitive than the one on the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. This will allow it to see a shadowed region on the Moon as if it was sunlit! ShadowCam will map the terrain inside permanently shadowed regions with a very high resolution of up to 1.7 meters per pixel, and help locate their water ice deposits and other such volatile resources based on how they reflect light. This will tell us how abundant and accessible these resources are — a crucial step towards safely and affordably planning future missions to the lunar poles and building sustainable habitats. ShadowCam isn’t the only NASA contribution to KPLO. In March 2021, NASA selected nine scientists to join KPLO’s science team to help enhance the mission’s scientific output. NASA and South Korea will also test a kind of an interplanetary internet on KPLO, which should be resistant to communications disruptions. NASA is also providing technical assistance on mission design, deep space communications, and navigation technologies. On May 24, South Korea signed the Artemis Accords, which NASA calls “a practical set of principles to guide cooperation among nations participating in NASA’s 21st century lunar exploration plans.” This means scientific data can be easily shared between the two countries, and that there will be several opportunities for both countries to continue cooperating on future missions. The KPLO mission comprises the first phase of South Korea’s lunar exploration program. In the second phase, they plan to launch another lunar orbiter, a lander, and a rover. In March 2021, South Korean President Moon Jae-in said the robotic lunar lander will launch on an indigenously developed rocket before 2030.
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New achievements in aerospace
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World Tsunami Awareness Day: A Reminder of Step Up Global Efforts of Disaster Risk Reduction
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About 16 years ago, just as the Christmas celebrations were ending around the world, a massive earthquake of magnitude 9.1—third-largest earthquake on record—shook Indian Oceans off the Sumatran coast. The vigorous tremors were followed by a tsunami of unprecedented scale, claiming lakhs of lives across several countries. India was one of the worst-affected countries and lost more than 10,000 people on that fateful day. The Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004 claimed the highest number of lives for any tsunami in recorded history—an estimated 2,27,000 across 14 countries. Following this catastrophe, nations came together in Kobe, Hyogo region of Japan to adopt the 10-year Hyogo Framework for Action. This was the first comprehensive global agreement on disaster risk reduction. The Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System started from this and it continues to capture data from seismographic and sea-level monitoring stations while issuing alerts to national tsunami information centres. “We live in a multi-hazard world where risk is systemic and embedded in the very fabric of human development. Currently, we are struggling with what some describe as a tsunami of death and disease due to COVID-19. This metaphor comes easily because living memory remains strong of the worst sudden onset disaster this century, the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004 that took more than 2,27,000 lives. Pandemic preparedness can borrow much from the progress we have made in reducing the large-scale loss of life from tsunamis,” says António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations. Growing concerns and global response Nations across the Indian Ocean focused on fastening their response to such disasters after the tragedy of 2004. However, the trauma and loss caused by this are etched in the minds of people forever. As the UN underlines, tsunamis are rare events, but they are the deadliest and costliest among all hazards. In the past century, the world has witnessed 58 tsunamis that caused the death of 260,000 people—an average of 4,600 lives per disaster. The average death toll is much more when compared to any other natural hazard. As per the estimates, 50 per cent of the world's population will live in coastal areas by 2030. This puts huge populations at risk of coastal flooding, tsunamis and storms. Hence, it is vital to have plans and defence infrastructure in place to reduce the impact and increase preparedness towards such disasters. Another growing concern of urbanization and tourism in tsunami-prone regions are putting more people at risk. Growing risks in terms of increased frequency of floods, cyclones and storm surges, partly due to a warming planet, multiplies the hazard risk along the coasts. A major goal of the Sendai Framework, the 15-year international agreement adopted in March 2015 after the Hyogo Framework, is to achieve substantial reductions in disaster mortality. The Japan story In December 2015, the UN General Assembly decided to celebrate November 05 as World Tsunami Awareness Day to mark an interesting event in Japan. After the Ansei Earthquake in 1854, a giant tsunami was about to hit Hiromura village of the country. Sensing the danger, a Japanese businessman, Goryo Hamaguchi, lit rice sheaves next to the village headman’s house on fire in an attempt to alert people. As villagers quickly gathered at the headman’s house to extinguish the fire and they were alerted to run uplands. He further led the construction of a seawall in the Hiromura village as a measure against tsunamis. The well-known legend from Japan demonstrates the importance of early warning in disaster risk reduction. Even today, Japan’s experience and expertise in disaster risk reduction stand as an inspiration for the world. Faced the brunt of repeated tsunamis and earthquakes, Japan has achieved immense expertise in areas like resilient infrastructure, public action, and early warning systems. File photo: Tsunami waves hitting the coast of Minamisoma in Fukushima prefecture, Japan on March 11, 2011. In 2011, the Act on the Promotion of Tsunami Countermeasures was enacted after the Great East Japan Earthquake and November 5th became Tsunami Disaster Prevention Day in Japan. Evacuation drills and other activities were conducted on this day across the nation. In March 2013, the 3rd United Nations World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction was held in Sendai and here Japan proposed November 05 to be celebrated as World Tsunami Awareness Day. Disaster risk reduction This year’s theme for the day promotes The Sendai Seven Campaign—"7 targets, 7 years" which was started in 2016 by the United Nations Secretary-General. The primary aim of the campaign is to promote seven targets for resilience building over seven years. It encourages the execution of Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction—which again aims to save lives, decrease losses from disasters and better management of disaster risk. Though the frequency of the occurrence of Tsunamis is rare, it is a disaster that can cause immense destruction— of both human lives as well as the economy. Tsunamis are giant waves that can wash away people, buildings and can cause a great deal of damage to the built infrastructure. The literal translation of Tsunami is harbour wave- “tsu” being a harbour, “nami” meaning wave in Japanese. A tsunami is not a single wave but a series of waves and the first wave in a tsunami is not necessarily the most destructive. Tsunami waves are much more enormous in comparison to tidal waves— can be as long as 100 kilometres. They can travel long distances in a short time. The Indian Ocean tsunami travelled as much as 5,000 kilometres, all the way to Africa. Various events like submarine landslides, Volcanic eruptions, earthquakes in or near the ocean can trigger these enormous waves. Another source for a tsunami can be a collision of a cosmic object with the earth. Though this hasn't occurred till now, it is very well a possibility. Not all countries have equal resilience to tsunamis and earthquakes. Risk is a combination of hazard and vulnerability. While the intensity and timing of a natural hazard are never predictable, it is important to reduce our vulnerabilities by developing resilient infrastructure, early warning systems, increased awareness levels and improved response plan. The Tsunami Awareness Day is here to remind this paramount goal of disaster risk reduction. ** For weather, air pollution, science, and COVID-19 updates on the go, download The Weather Channel App (on Android and iOS store). It's free! The Weather Company’s primary journalistic mission is to report on breaking weather news, the environment and the importance of science to our lives. This story does not necessarily represent the position of our parent company, IBM.
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Tsunamis
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Paris Métro train fire
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The disastrous Paris Métro train fire occurred on the evening of 10 August 1903, on what was then Line 2 Nord of the system and is now Paris Métro Line 2. There were 84 deaths, most at Couronnes station, so it is also known as the Couronnes Disaster. The line, less than a year old, was mostly underground, but included an elevated section four stations long from Boulevard Barbès to Rue d'Allemagne inclusive (today Barbès – Rochechouart and Jaurès respectively; see List of stations of the Paris Métro). It was worked by a mixture of 4-car (single) and 8-car (double) trains, of the M1 stock, which turned on loop tracks at each end of the line so that the same car remained in front. On a single train, only the front car had motors; a double train had one motor car at each end, but the power for both cars was routed through the front car, as multiple-unit train control had not yet come into use. On 10 August 1903, the first sign of trouble was at 6:53 p.m., when double train 43 completed the climb to Boulevard Barbès station with heavy smoke pouring from one of the motors on its front car, car M202. The train's passengers were evacuated onto the platform and its shoes were lifted from the third rail to cut off the power, whereupon the burning subsided. But with the station full of annoyed passengers, the staff now focused their attention on restoring service. That meant moving the train, and there was no siding before the line descended back into the tunnel. The fatal decision was made to lower the shoes and move it under its own power, when in fact the motor had not simply overheated, but had a short circuit. Train 43 left the station at 7:05 p.m. amid a cloud of black smoke, but before it had passed two stations, the fire on car M202 had reignited with greater intensity. Unaware of the severity of the situation, the driver kept the train moving until it was back in the tunnel, and only then stopped for help at the first station (Combat, now Colonel Fabien). Again the shoes were lifted and the burning stopped — and again power was reapplied, and the fire restarted. This time the wooden paddles used to lift the shoes were consumed. The driver was still focused on moving the train off the line, but clearly it could not be driven from the front, and there was no way to electrically disconnect the motor cars and drive it from the rear. So he now asked for a push. By this time the passengers waiting at Barbès had boarded the next train (single train 52), which had then advanced as far as Rue d'Allemagne and was waiting for the signal to continue. It was now unloaded in turn onto the platform there and driven to Combat, where it coupled onto the rear of train 43. At 7:32 p.m. the triple train began moving slowly forward, powered by a single motor car and with the short circuit on the front car M202 still live and feeding the fire. Meanwhile, the following train (train 48, another single train), advanced to Rue d'Allemagne and the passengers from trains 43 and 52 crowded onto its four cars. The combined train 43-52 next passed Belleville station. At this station there was a siding, but the failed train could not be put into it[why? ]; it would have to continue to the end of the line at Nation, 8 stations later. As the train limped past the next station, Couronnes, its stationmaster was justifiably alarmed at the obvious signs of fire. By the time train 48 arrived there with its triple load of passengers, eddying smoke was visible in the tunnel ahead. Rather than pulling forward to the station exit as usual, the driver stopped his short train halfway along the platform to confer with the stationmaster. With the danger finally understood, the decision was made to evacuate to the street — but by now the passengers, some of them having already been ejected from two trains, were becoming uncooperative. A fare refund was demanded, a lively altercation ensued, and then suddenly it was too late. Train 43-52 had barely reached the next station, Ménilmontant, when the fire grew out of control and the crew fled for their lives. Power was cut at the nearest substation, but since the line was not divided into electrically isolated sections, the shorted motor was still receiving power from other substations. At about 8 p.m. the fire destroyed the one circuit supplying the station lighting. Couronnes station was plunged into darkness just as a dense, choking cloud of smoke emerged from the tunnel leading to Ménilmontant. In less than a minute, the station had become a death trap. Disoriented by the smoke and far from the exit, many people wandered the wrong way until they succumbed to asphyxia. In all, 84 people were killed: 75 at Couronnes, seven at Ménilmontant, and two who tried to escape through the tunnel. The wooden-bodied train was completely destroyed. Just eight days after the disaster, the Métro system was ordered to undertake a series of corrective measures:
The double trains were quickly reduced from eight cars to seven, with the two motor cars now placed together at the front. But within a few years, in perhaps the disaster's most enduring legacy, multiple-unit trains were adopted. By using much lower currents in their control circuits, these greatly decreased the risk of fire in the case of a traction power failure. Note: Of these sources, Tricoire gives the most detailed account of the fire and has been accepted as correct on details where the sources conflict. Coordinates: 48°52′09″N 2°22′49″E / 48.869274°N 2.380155°E / 48.869274; 2.380155
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Fire
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A five-year study:Assess areas of the volcanoes most likely to collapse
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In their five-year study – granted $13.3m through the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment's Endeavour Fund - the team planned to assess areas of the volcanoes most likely to collapse, and then model the impact to the mainland under different scenarios. "Preliminary modelling shows they will be more localised than large underwater earthquakes and are likely to be smaller scale, yet we don't know much about the frequency or magnitude relationships," he said. . "Also the fact that these islands are close to shore means that there is likely to be little warning or reaction time, so understanding the risks and thinking how to mitigate them is important." Instruments capable of detecting the magmatic and hydrothermal systems in the crust will be deployed beneath the volcanoes to help the scientists build "seafloor to summit" models. "We will also sample the sediments on the seafloor around the volcanoes for evidence of past eruptions and flank collapses to build up the complete geologic history." Another focus was the danger of pyroclastic flows – or fast-moving surges of hot ash, gas and rock – which had similarly been observed to start tsunamis, and also travel long distances over water. There's evidence to show that past eruptions at Tuhua/Mayor Island have generated enough ash to travel across Waikato, Auckland the East Cape. Photo / Jim Eagles The study team will also draw on a range of other fascinating technology, such as drones and underwater robotic vehicles to map the volcanoes' surface and sub-surface, a Massey University model that simulates pyroclastic surges, and what Miller described as "serious games" for children to learn about hazards. Tasman tsunamis In a separate study, scientists will investigate the tsunami threat from another source: landslides on the ocean floor. Advertisement Advertise with NZME. "Underwater landslides are the second-most cause of all tsunami after earthquakes, and we do know of some mysterious tsunami events from the past, prior instrumental records, that could be attributed to them," study leader and GNS geophysicist Dr Suzanne Bull said. When a large area of the seafloor was suddenly displaced, this caused a "drag down" effect that created a trough at the ocean surface. Water then rushed into the trough, producing a swell, followed by multiple oscillations that propagated outward. "We have not identified any underwater landslide-tsunamis recently in New Zealand, but there have been recent global occurrences, such as the 1998 tsunami in Papua New Guinea." And further back in time, there was plenty of evidence to show these dramatic episodes had unfolded near our shores. In mapping the geology beneath our feet and the seafloor to better understand our largely submerged continent, GNS scientists discovered the remains of gigantic underwater landslides off the North Island's west coast. Advertisement Advertise with NZME. "The biggest is about 4000 cubic kilometres in volume – that's the equivalent of 40 Mt Ruapehus, and is the biggest underwater landslide ever discovered in the waters around New Zealand," Bull said. "The obvious questions we have are: What caused these events? How frequent are they? Is another one likely to happen in the future? And, if so, how can we best prepare?" The study will build off existing "subsurface" information from the Tasman Sea – largely seismic reflection and drillhole data – to help describe the landslides. They'll then be translated into models to simulate their tsunami-making potential. "To better understand the modern day conditions at the site of the landslides - and if there is likely to be another landslide in the future - we will be carrying out a research cruise to collect and analyse the sediments making up the modern day seafloor." Bull pointed out that the Tasman wasn't a place that most Kiwis would expect to see a massive tsunami come from. Advertisement Advertise with NZME. The coastal settlement of Mokau. The Tasman Sea off the North Island's wild west coast isn't known as a source of near-shore tsunamis. Photo / Alan Gibson "We do expect, and are increasingly well prepared for, tsunami impacting the East Coast of New Zealand but not 'the other side'," she said. "We want to make sure that we understand all we need to about this particular hazard, to maximise New Zealand's resilience." A third GNS-led project, also granted a million dollars through the Endeavour Fund, meanwhile aimed to simulate the decisions and movements of individual people during a tsunami evacuation – right down to what vehicles they use and what barriers might lie in their path. Study leader Dr William Power said the project was inspired by work he had helped carry out to define evacuation zones around the country. "When we discussed our maps with Civil Defence, it became clear that there were many challenges to be overcome to achieve quick and safe evacuations when there are large numbers of people in the zones." That was where modelling the problem could make a difference, he said. Advertisement Advertise with NZME. "They may help by identifying 'bottlenecks' where too many people may attempt to pass, which might be alleviated in some cases by widening tracks and in others by signing alternative routes," he said. "We also hope to identify communities that have specific problems such as being far from high ground, possible solutions might include building tsunami evacuation towers. "We also hope to be able to advise on when it may be appropriate to use other forms of transport besides walking." Power and colleagues have already built models in which simulated evacuees – or "agents" - attempt to take the fastest route to safety. "Our existing model only simulates pedestrians," he said. "In our new project we hope to build enhanced models that will help us to understand what may happen if some agents use other modes of transport such as bicycles and cars, we also hope to incorporate how people might behave if they encounter obstacles while evacuating, such as areas of liquefaction." Advertisement Reconstructing Auckland's prehistoric tsunamis Meanwhile, a just-published stocktake of evidence has shown Auckland is far from sheltered from tsunami risk. A new science review, featured in the New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics , analysed decades of research into local "paleotsunamis", or events that took place hundreds to thousands of years ago. Lead author Dr Kate Clark, a paleoecologist and earthquake geologist at GNS Science, said about 30 tsunamis had been observed in the region over the past 150 years. All had been relatively minor – yet their impacts could have been different if they had swept into the more developed and populated coasts of today. "For example, a tsunami in 1868 from an earthquake in Peru caused a tsunami up to 2.5m off Great Barrier Island. If that occurred tomorrow, it's likely to have a greater impact than it did in 1868." Some parts of the region appeared to be more vulnerable than others. Advertisement Advertise with NZME. "In particular, the West Coast has a low hazard of tsunamis because that coastline faces a less tectonically active area," she said. Whangapoua estuary on Great Barrier Island, where traces left by ancient tsunamis have been found. Photo / David White "The east coast of Great Barrier Island and the northern east coast of Auckland have a higher risk of damaging tsunami because they are more exposed." In their review, a project funded by the Earthquake Commission, she and colleagues sought to get a better picture of whether large tsunamis could have been triggered by earthquakes in the Kermadec subduction zone, which is part of a wider system that spanned from the East Cape area to Tonga. If this zone did generate them, models showed that the areas most affected would be the coasts of Northland, Auckland and Coromandel. "There is not a lot of land out near the Kermadec trench, so it doesn't have many instruments on it, such as GPS and seismic stations, and we have a pretty weak understanding of how big the largest earthquakes on the Kermadec subduction zone could be," Clark said. "Using the geological record of past tsunamis could help improve that understanding." Advertisement Advertise with NZME. The paper cited evidence of these prehistoric surges from 18 sites – all discovered only in the past two decades – and concluded that just three of them bore convincing signs of inundation. One of the strongest records was found at Aotea/Great Barrier Island, where an extensive layer of pebbles was found within sand dunes. "The type of pebble found means they could only have been transported from relatively deep offshore which requires a fairly large tsunami." More rich evidence was found elsewhere on the island, and also at Tāwharanui. "Importantly, we also found that some tsunami evidence, for example, from the inner Hauraki Gulf area, including Orewa and Waiheke Island, is very weak and just not compelling or reliable," Clark said. "This points toward lower tsunami hazard in the inner Hauraki Gulf - consistent with all the latest tsunami hazard models." Advertisement Advertise with NZME. Still, Clark said there were major knowledge gaps around the timing of some of the events – and whether it was 400 or 4000 years ago that they struck the coast. "We'd like to do more research to understand where the tsunamis came from, specifically whether the tsunamis were generated at the Kermadec subduction zone, or some somewhere further afield," she said. "This is of interest, because we'd like to know how much warning time we are likely to get of large tsunamis."
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Tsunamis
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Westfield Sends Alert About Flood Risk; Event Postponed
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WESTFIELD, NJ — Now that a flash flood watch was issued for Union County through Friday morning, Downtown Westfield has postponed the nighttime portion of its Girls' Night Out event. The daytime portion is still on, and the evening portion will take place Thursday, Sept. 30. READ MORE: Downtown Westfield Event, Girls' Night Out, Returns Thursday Also, the Westfield Police sent this alert Thursday: "Showers and thunderstorms are expected ahead and along a slow moving cold front this afternoon through early Friday. There is a flash flood watch in effect from 4 p.m. this afternoon until 8 a.m. Friday across NE NJ, NYC, Nassau County NY, Fairfield County CT and the Lower Hudson Valley. There is a marginal risk of severe thunderstorms as well." The National Weather Service has issued a flash flood watch for Union, Hudson, Passaic, Bergen, and Essex counties from 4 p.m. Thursday through 8 a.m. Friday. The rain predicted for Thursday night is up to two inches, about a fifth of what spotters say fell in Union County during the dangerous Tropical Depression Ida, but a significant amount if it falls quickly. The Thursday night forecast says, "Showers and possibly a thunderstorm. Some of the storms could produce gusty winds and heavy rain. Low around 59. South wind 7 to 11 mph becoming west after midnight. Winds could gust as high as 33 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New rainfall amounts between 1 and 2 inches possible." The updated forecast is here. The last severe storm in the area, Tropical Depression Ida, caused at least 30 deaths in New Jersey, news outlets reported. There were rescues and mass flooding in Westfield, Cranford, and elsewhere in Union and Essex counties. Now, forecasters are keeping an eye on the newly formed Hurricane Sam, which, if headed toward the East Coast, is at least a week away. Track Hurricane Sam here.
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Organization Closed
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Hurricanes, wildfires, and drought: US finds itself battling climate disasters on several fronts
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Updated 2051 GMT (0451 HKT) August 31, 2021 Homes near Norco, Louisiana, are surrounded by floodwater as chemical refineries continue to flare the day after Hurricane Ida hit southern Louisiana on August 30, 2021. (CNN) Hurricanes, wildfires, floods, heat waves, and drought wreaking havoc on much of the United States paint a picture of a nation in peril. Region by region, the country faces compounding disasters. Against the backdrop of the Gulf Coast picking through the rubble of Hurricane Ida's catastrophic aftermath, the Caldor Fire has torched nearly 200,000 acres in California and prompted mandatory evacuations for tens of thousands of people in the popular tourist destination of South Lake Tahoe and other areas nearby. Meanwhile, Tennessee is also facing remnants of Ida as anxiety runs high for residents still reeling from last week's deadly flooding. Simultaneously, for those who stayed to ride out the storm in Louisiana, many will be experiencing searing temperatures that could potentially be dangerous without air conditioning due to downed power lines and uprooted trees that could have provided shade from the heat. And in concert with the South's compounding heat advisory, the West is also facing an unrelenting drought that has led to water shortages in vast swaths of the region. Throughout all these disasters, the Covid-19 pandemic persists. Ida left more than 1 million without power, possibly for weeks. And now comes the scorching heat As the climate crisis accelerates, experts say that not only will these extreme weather events become more severe and more frequent, but that emergency response and recovery efforts will also become more challenging. James Elliott, professor of sociology at Rice University, said systems need to rapidly improve to address current and long-term issues. "If you look at disasters across the country over recent decades, there's almost always stuff going on simultaneously, but what's changed is the intensity of impact, in part due to climate change but also due to increased development in harm's way," Elliott told CNN. "So the way to improve is to think about long-term solutions to these long-term problems." With emergency resources stretched thin, Samantha Montano, assistant professor of emergency management at Massachusetts Maritime Academy, said that the recovery process tends to feel like a "second disaster" for residents seeking assistance. "When you arrive at a situation like we are currently in, where you have every single state dealing with the pandemic response and then you add in these other more acute disasters along the Gulf Coast, out West, and even in the Midwest, there starts to be fatigue that sets in or starts to put a strain on the system," she told CNN. Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast Philip Adams walks through what remains of his living room and kitchen at his destroyed home in Lockport, Louisiana, on Monday, September 6. Hide Caption 1 of 73 Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast Damage is seen on the roof of a New Orleans apartment complex on Sunday, September 5. Elderly residents were still living at the building with water-soaked carpets and no power, a week after Hurricane Ida made landfall in Louisiana. Hide Caption 2 of 73 Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast Shoppers buy supplies at a grocery store in New Orleans despite the power still being out on Thursday, September 2. Hide Caption 3 of 73 Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast Cows are herded into a pen in Belle Chasse, Louisiana, on Thursday. "All of our neighbors' cows are mixed up in this bunch, so we're here rescuing them, getting them off the road and out of the water," Chris Shivers said when asked why his group was herding the cows. "They've been standing in the water now for several days without anything to eat or drink, so they're under a lot of stress and have seen a lot. The hurricane is a disaster, and these cows will probably never be the same." Hide Caption Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast National Guard members unload ice at a distribution center in Montegut, Louisiana, on Thursday. Hide Caption Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast Unattended horses are seen during a storm in Belle Chasse on Thursday. Hide Caption 6 of 73 Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast Tiffany Miller embraces her daughter Desilynn, left, and godchild Charleigh after the family returned to their destroyed home in Golden Meadow, Louisiana, on Wednesday, September 1. Hide Caption 7 of 73 Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast This aerial photo shows the hurricane aftermath in Grand Isle, Louisiana, on August 31. Grand Isle, Louisiana's last remaining inhabited barrier island at the southern tip of the state, bore the brunt of the Category 4 hurricane. Hide Caption 8 of 73 Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast The Maldonado family stands outside their damaged home in Barataria, Louisiana, on August 31. "I've lost everything in my trailer because of the hurricane," said Fusto Maldonado when asked about the storm's impact. "I've lost everything, my family has lost everything, and we're now trying to find help. We all live in this area and now it's all gone." Hide Caption Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast A dead fish lies on a road in Leeville, Louisiana, on August 31. Hide Caption Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast A shrimper works to salvage his partially submerged boat in Golden Meadow on August 31. Hide Caption Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast A palm tree is bent in half in Galliano, Louisiana, on August 31. Hide Caption 12 of 73 Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast People wait for a gas truck to arrive at a gas station in New Orleans on August 31. Hide Caption Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast Destroyed homes are surrounded by floodwaters near Point-aux-Chenes, Louisiana, on August 31. Hide Caption Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast Workers remove a tree that fell on a home in Houma, Louisiana. Hide Caption Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast What's left of a home stands in Grand Isle on August 31. Hide Caption 16 of 73 Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast Michael Wilson stands in the doorway of his flood-damaged home in Norco, Louisiana, on August 30. Hide Caption Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast Homes near Norco are surrounded by floodwaters on August 30. Hide Caption Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast A rain shower soaks evacuees in LaPlace, Louisiana, on August 30. Hide Caption Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast A damaged McDonald's sign is seen in Raceland, Louisiana, on August 30. Hide Caption 20 of 73 Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast A man rides a bicycle in front of a damaged building in Houma on August 30. Hide Caption Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast An oil slick is seen on top of floodwaters in Kraemer, Louisiana, on August 30. Hide Caption 22 of 73 Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast Residents wave at a US Coast Guard helicopter while waiting to be rescued from their flooded home in LaPlace on August 30. Hide Caption Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast Theophilus Charles sits inside his damaged home in Houma on August 30. Hide Caption Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast A highway is flooded near LaPlace on August 30. Hide Caption Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast Residents are rescued from floodwaters in LaPlace on August 30. Hide Caption 26 of 73 Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast A damaged historic building lies in ruins in New Orleans' Central Business District on August 30. Hide Caption Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast A barge damages a bridge connecting Lafitte and Jean Lafitte, Louisiana, on August 30. Hide Caption Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast Marquita Jenkins stands in the ruins of her hair salon in LaPlace on August 30. Hide Caption Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast A destroyed car is seen after an apartment building burned overnight in Kenner, Louisiana. Hide Caption Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast A resident walks through floodwaters in LaPlace on August 30. Hide Caption Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast Siblings watch men assess damage outside a hotel in Houma on August 30. Hide Caption 32 of 73 Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast A woman pushes a stroller past a boarded-up building in the French Quarter of New Orleans on August 30. Hide Caption Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast A downed tree lies on a house in New Orleans on August 30. Hide Caption 34 of 73 Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast Members of the Louisiana National Guard help with recovery efforts in New Orleans on August 30. Hide Caption 35 of 73 Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast A man looks up next to a section of roof that was ripped off a building in the French Quarter of New Orleans on August 30. Hide Caption 36 of 73 Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast Lights from a TV broadcast illuminate an otherwise dark Bourbon Street in New Orleans on August 30. Hide Caption 37 of 73 Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast Montegut Fire Chief Toby Henry walks back to his fire truck in the rain as firefighters cut through trees on the road in Bourg, Louisiana, on August 29. Hide Caption Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast Firefighters cut through downed trees on a road in Bourg on August 29. Hide Caption 39 of 73 Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast Barges are seen docked on the Mississippi River as Hurricane Ida hit Destrehan, Louisiana, on August 29. Hide Caption Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast People walk through the French Quarter in New Orleans on August 29. Hide Caption 41 of 73 Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Pesquet took this photo of Hurricane Ida from the International Space Station on August 29. Hide Caption 42 of 73 Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast The Royal Dutch Shell refinery in Norco is seen as Hurricane Ida made landfall on August 29. More than 95% of the Gulf of Mexico's oil production facilities were shut down, regulators said, indicating the storm's significant impact on energy supply. Hide Caption Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast People work inside the Federal Emergency Management Agency's headquarters in Washington, DC, on August 29. Hide Caption 44 of 73 Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast A cyclist wears a face mask while riding through the rain and high winds in New Orleans on August 29. Hide Caption Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast Firefighters look out the window of a shelter in Bourg on August 29. Hide Caption Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast Storm clouds pass over a cemetery in New Orleans on August 29. Hide Caption 47 of 73 Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast LaKeisha Verdin holds her 3-month-old son, Kevin, as she walks onto the front porch where her family was watching weather updates on the local news in Houma. Hide Caption 48 of 73 Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast A news crew reports from the edge of Lake Pontchartrain in New Orleans on August 29. Hide Caption Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast Wind blows Monroe Best's hair and face mask in New Orleans. Hide Caption Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast New Orleans' Bourbon Street is nearly empty on August 29. Hide Caption 51 of 73 Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast A vehicle is abandoned in a flooded ditch next to a highway in Bay Saint Louis, Mississippi. Hide Caption 52 of 73 Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast A man carrying his belongings walks past a sign outside the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans on August 29. Hide Caption Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast A wall of rain moves over downtown New Orleans on August 29. Hide Caption 54 of 73 Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast The Boudreaux family sits on their front porch as they await the arrival of Hurricane Ida. Hide Caption 55 of 73 Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast A man walks along the Mississippi River near the French Quarter in New Orleans early on August 29. Hide Caption 56 of 73 Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast People stand in line at the Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport on August 28. Many residents were evacuating the area ahead of Hurricane Ida. Hide Caption 57 of 73 Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast Crews reopen a flood gate to help trapped motorists who missed a closure deadline on August 28. Hide Caption 58 of 73 Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast Keith Clark brings a rope to a friend to help tie down a houseboat before he evacuated Jean Lafitte on August 28. Hide Caption 59 of 73 Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast Nikeia Washington holds her granddaughter, Halia Zenon, at a hotel in downtown Shreveport, Louisiana, where they evacuated ahead of the storm. Hide Caption 60 of 73 Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast People walk down Bourbon Street in New Orleans on August 28. Evacuation was voluntary for parts of the city inside its flood protection system. Other areas were under a mandatory evacuation order. Hide Caption 61 of 73 Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast Larry Ackman, bottom, helps neighbor Mike Jackson, left, and his son Cody board up windows in Morgan City, Louisiana. Hide Caption Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast Traffic moves slowly August 28 along Interstate 10 West in Vinton, Louisiana. Hide Caption 63 of 73 Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast A man drives a tractor through a flooded street in Guanimar, Cuba, on August 28. Before entering the Gulf, Ida made landfall twice over Cuba as a Category 1 hurricane. Hide Caption 64 of 73 Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast US President Joe Biden speaks during a FEMA briefing on August 28. "This weekend is the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina," Biden said, "and it's a stark reminder that we have to do everything we can to prepare the people in the region to make sure we're ready to respond." Hide Caption 65 of 73 Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast Dawn breaks over a Hurricane Katrina memorial at Shell Beach in St. Bernard, Louisiana, on August 28. Katrina made landfall on August 29, 2005. Hide Caption 66 of 73 Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast Clare and Joe Cermak work on putting storm shutters up on their home in Louisiana's St. Charles Parish on August 28. Hide Caption Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast Highway traffic moves slowly near Kenner as many residents fled the Louisiana city. Hide Caption 68 of 73 Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast Gregory Moore, left, helps fill sand bags as residents in Gulfport, Mississippi, prepared for the storm on August 28. Hide Caption 69 of 73 Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast John Guenther unloads about 400 crab traps that he had to pull out of the water near his home in the eastern St. Bernard Parish on August 27. Hide Caption Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast Jennifer Tate fuels up a gas can August 27 in Pass Christian, Mississippi. Hide Caption 71 of 73 Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast Workers stack bags of ice into a gas station freezer in Jefferson, Louisiana, on August 27. Hide Caption Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast A resident hammers the shutters of a 100-year-old house in New Orleans on August 27. Hide Caption 73 of 73 Montano, who was on the ground doing volunteer recovery efforts in the wake of the devastating Hurricane Katrina that pummeled Louisiana in 2005, said that the federal government often fails to lead recovery and emergency response efforts during the aftermath of tragic events like Hurricane Maria in 2017, which left more than 4,600 dead in Puerto Rico, and the deadly 2018 Camp Fire that obliterated the entire town of Paradise in California. With extreme weather events intensifying and national agencies such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) still facing debts from previous catastrophes like Hurricane Harvey, the accumulation of disaster work and mitigation response needed is piling up and becoming more urgent. In July, President Joe Biden met with seven governors in the West to discuss how states are responding to wildfires and how the federal government can help. During the virtual meeting, he acknowledged that the nation's resources are almost at capacity, citing the "urgent action" needed to address impacts of extreme heat, drought and wildfires. "Our resources are already being stretched to keep up," the President said. "We need more help, particularly when we also factor in additional nationwide challenges, the pandemic-related supply chain disruptions and our ongoing efforts to fight Covid." Caldor Fire prompts states of emergency in Nevada and California, with more than 50,000 told to evacuate the Lake Tahoe region FEMA has historically borrowed from the Treasury Department to pay claims from disasters. As of August 2020, FEMA's debt has ballooned to $20.5 billion despite Congress erasing a $16 billion debt from Hurricane Katrina in October 2017 to pay for more hurricanes including Harvey, Irma and Maria. According to the US Government of Accountability Office, the financial status of FEMA's National Flood Insurance Program could potentially worsen unless changes are made. Elliott said federal money is ultimately for rebuilding communities, but many residents -- particularly people of color -- still question where the money is going: "So the question is rebuilding for whom and to what end," he added, noting the social disparities that tend to come out of the long recover process. Regardless of the agency's debt, Montano said that the NFIP still has multiple issues such as the inaccuracy of flood maps, incentives structure, as well as premium costs. Emergency response programs also pose barriers that exacerbate underlying social inequities, particularly for low-income residents and communities of color who tend to be the hardest hit by disasters. "The starting point here is understanding that not everyone is affected equally when a disaster happens," Montano said. "We tend to see lower-income communities, communities of color, be located in more physically vulnerable areas, have less resources for mitigation or preparedness measures which can be quite costly, and so they tend to take the brunt of those impacts during the response." Photos: Wildfires raging in the West The Alisal Fire burns near Goleta, California, on Tuesday, October 12. Hide Caption Photos: Wildfires raging in the West A firefighter puts out a roadside fire in Goleta, California, on Wednesday, October 13. Hide Caption Photos: Wildfires raging in the West An air tanker drops retardant on a wildfire in Goleta.
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Droughts
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The Archegos meltdown caused huge messes at some of the world's largest banks — but it also proved the post-financial crisis rules made us safer
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A potential market catastrophe was shrugged off by the financial system at large thanks to post-2008 regulation. Johannes Eisele/Getty Images The billion-dollar losses faced by the firm Archegos didn't impact the volatility of the broader market. This is evidence that the banking system is safer because of regulations following the 2008 financial crash. By holding more capital, banks ensure that sudden losses don't impact the entire system. George Pearkes is the global macro strategist for Bespoke Investment Group . Archegos, the family office of former Tiger Capital Management portfolio manager Bill Hwang, grabbed the attention of investors around the world in mid-March when the firm suffered catastrophic losses thanks to a portfolio that had two big problems: high leverage and intense concentration in a few stocks. The Archegos mess grabbed global eyeballs not just for the size of the losses, but also for its distinct pre-financial crisis feel. There were derivatives, huge losses, exposure for large international banks, counterparty risks…all the echoes of the 2008-era blow ups. But as disastrous as the unwinding of Archegos trades was, the billions of losses that ended up piling up at the banks (specifically, their prime broker units) facilitating the trades didn't end up spilling into other markets. Specific stocks in the portfolio certainly got walloped — look no further than Viacom's share price — and the dealers who took losses — like Credit Suisse and Nomura — saw a hit to their stocks as well, but broader market volatility did not tick up. Indeed, the VIX (an index designed to measure stock market volatility) closed March at 52-week lows. Credit default swaps tied to large banks and brokers were basically unflustered. And there were no reports of contagion to other asset classes. In other words, a multi-billion dollar blow up at a giant fund that some of the world's largest banks had massive exposure to was basically shrugged off by the financial system at large. That's great news and evidence that reforms to raise the amount of capital banks hold following the global financial crisis worked. The banking system is getting safer As the US banking system approached the meltdowns of 2007 and 2008, US banks were highly leveraged. Borrowing by banks accounted for over 90% of risk-weighted assets and rising. Funding contributed by Tier 1 capital, that is first-in-line-for-losses equity and internally-generated earnings, was only about 8%. Post-crisis, that number is much higher at 12%, and very stable. Banks are holding more capital and are borrowing less relative to their assets. Leverage is lower, and capital is higher. George Pearkes This is important because if a bank has capital equivalent to 8% of its assets, it is technically insolvent should assets decline in value by 8%. By raising capital levels, banks have raised the bar for insolvency should they suffer sudden drops in the value of their assets. In addition to making it less likely a given bank goes bust, higher capital levels also ensure that a problem for one bank doesn't spread. For instance, with less capital, the reported losses suffered by Credit Suisse (the worst-hit of the banks who lent to Archegos) might lead them to default on other obligations, passing on their problems to other firms. This "contagion" was what led to a spiraling series of failures in the US financial system that claimed firms like Bear Stearns, Merrill Lynch, and Lehman Brothers. But in a well-capitalized system, a shock to one firm gets absorbed by its capital, without spilling to other dealers. Put another way, Tier 1 capital is sort of like a wall holding back wastewater from a lake. As banks sustain losses, wastewater rises towards the top of the wall, and if it overflows, wastewater (a bank's risky assets) that leak into the lake (the broader financial markets) can be dangerous and cause a mess. Prior to the financial crisis, these walls were dangerously low and massive leaks of risky assets resulted in a broader contamination of financial markets around the world. But after that crisis, regulators made banks rebuild those walls to be much higher and able to hold back much more before leaking any of the waste into the larger lake. This has hurt banks' profitability, but it's also made the system safer. Blow ups aren't spreading anymore Archegos is not the first time since the crisis that large shocks to the financial system failed to result in contagion. The 2014 to 2016 oil price collapse, 2016's Brexit shock, plunging Treasury prices after the 2016 election, or the collapse in volatility-linked exchange-traded products in early 2018 all showed that the system has gotten more resilient. In each of these cases, pundits speculated that the huge dislocations would create positive feedback loops of contagion that would spin out of control, something I've previously written about . But a well-capitalized financial system makes positive feedback loops much less likely, because a given mess doesn't extend beyond the institutions immediately exposed to it. Economist Hyman Minsky identified a tendency for financial instability to repeatedly arise as participants are rewarded for speculative activity. He contended that preventing speculation was a fool's errand — there would always be a new frontier for leverage and risk-taking to build up. While instability may be inevitable, it can be contained. Regulators were not prescient enough to prevent investors from piling into short volatility ETNs, couldn't have predicted the outcome of the initial Brexit referendum, and didn't have the visibility to see how large Archegos positions were getting. But if capital levels are sufficiently high, regulators don't have to predict every possible disaster on the horizon. Should a given fund or dealer run into trouble, that would be bad news for investors directly exposed…but not for the financial system as a whole. High levels of capital have worked well for the financial system since 2009, and that was proven again with the Archegos blow-up. Efforts to reduce minimum capital requirements should be viewed skeptically given their track record keeping specific meltdowns isolated and staving off the "Minsky moment" of financial system collapse we saw in 2008.
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Financial Crisis
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1922 Astoria, Oregon fire
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At about 2 a.m. on December 8, 1922, a fire began which destroyed up to 30 blocks in central Astoria, Oregon. Approximately 2,500 residents lost their homes, with one death, and damages exceeded hundreds of millions of dollars. [1] The fire is considered to be one of the worst in Oregon's history. [2]
A 1922 report attributed:[2]
... the rapid spread of the fire had been caused by flames eating their way beneath the paved streets, attacking the creosoted pilings which provide the support for the pavement. To this honeycomb ... is attributed the amazing speed with which the flames traveled, breaking through in myriad places. Astoria had major fires in July 1883 and December 16, 2010. [2]
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Fire
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2006 Kuril Islands earthquake
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The 2006 Kuril Islands earthquake occurred on November 15 at 8:14:16 pm JST with a Mw magnitude of 8.3 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of VII (Very Strong). This megathrust earthquake was the largest event in the central Kuril Islands since 1915 and generated a small tsunami that affected the northern Japanese coast. The tsunami crossed the Pacific Ocean and damaged the harbor at Crescent City, California. Post-tsunami surveys indicate that the local tsunami in the central Kuril Islands reached runups of 15 metres (49 ft) or more. [4]
This earthquake is also considered a doublet of the 8.2Mw 2007 Kuril Islands earthquake that hit the same area on January 13, 2007. [5]
At about 11:45 UTC, tsunami warnings were issued in Japan for the north coasts of Hokkaidō and Honshū, and a number of towns in this area were very quickly evacuated. Tsunami warnings, advisories and watches were also issued for the coastal areas of Alaska, Hawaii, parts of British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, and California. JMA initially estimated tsunami waves to be as tall as 2 metres when it hit the Japanese northern and eastern coasts, but it turned out to be merely 40 centimetres when it reached Hanasaki Ko, Nemuro, Nemuro, Hokkaidō at 9:29 pm local time. The tsunami also hit the rest of Hokkaidō and Tōhoku Region. The tallest wave recorded in Japan was at Tsubota (坪田), Miyakejima (三宅島) in the Izu Shotō of the Tokyo To, at 84 centimetres. Tsunami also hit as far as Anami in Kagoshima Prefecture and Naha in Okinawa Prefecture, and reached the Hawaiian and California coasts. A 176-centimetre wave in the harbor at Crescent City, California caused an estimated $10 million in damage to the docks there. [6] The United States authorities had issued warnings for the Russian Far East, Japan, Wake Island and Midway Atoll. The nearfield tsunami struck islands with no current inhabitants. However, geologists and archaeologists had visited these islands the previous summer, and returned in the summers of 2007 and 2008. [7][8][9] Because there were two central Kurils tsunamis in the winter of 2006/2007 (see 2007 Kuril Islands earthquake), the specific effects of each tsunami are difficult to determine; evidence is that the 2006 tsunami was the larger on all islands in the Kurils except Matua and parts of Rasshua. [10]
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Earthquakes
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Meet this amateur Baltimore historian who has unearthed a passion for archaeology during COVID-19 pandemic
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By now, the Larney family is used to getting unexpected knocks at their door. Since 1992, they’ve lived in a historic building in Old Ellicott City that used to be an Episcopal boys school, and they occasionally have folks stop by, thinking it’s a Howard County government building. But when Evan Woodard showed up on their porch in late November, he wasn’t lost. Instead, he was hoping — with their permission — to search their property for hidden pieces of history. While some crocheted miles of yarn or worried over nurturing sourdough starters during the early months of the coronavirus pandemic, Woodard delved into a new hobby: tracking down relics of Baltimore’s and Maryland’s past in centuries-old dumps and long-surviving homesteads. A self-described “history nerd” who was raised on The History Channel (when Cartoon Network wasn’t playing), Woodard spent the past few months poring over maps and old newspaper clippings to pinpoint the location of potential artifacts. Before stopping by historic properties, he contacts their owners — and he said you’d be surprised how many are open to letting him dig around in their backyards. “I think that’s really neat, because otherwise, this stuff would have just sat there, polluting the environment,” he said. “It’s cool to still find these pieces that are just out there, sitting on top of leaves, baking in the sunlight.” [Most read] Baltimore Police officer shot multiple times in Curtis Bay; currently on life support at Shock Trauma » At the Old Ellicott City property, for instance, Woodard found old insulators and pieces of broken pottery, as well as aged bottles from Baltimore breweries, Elizabeth Larney said. Considering the property’s long history, she wasn’t surprised. Her family has found some relics over the years, from bottles and coins to bits of machinery. Her son once found an old gear that looked to be cast iron. “We knew the items were there to be found if you really looked for them,” said her mother, also named Elizabeth Larney. She said she enjoyed chatting with Woodard. Woodard, 33, grew up in Laurel. Though he spent some years in Asia, including Tokyo and Hong Kong, he moved to Baltimore in 2012 and now lives in Patterson Park. He manages cybersecurity for the Ravens — when he’s not hunting for relics. Advertisement In a matter of months, he has unearthed intricately embossed glassware, religious medallions caked in dirt and a beautifully ornate kerosene finger lamp that he initially mistook for a mug. He takes his Instagram followers along for the ride, feeding them a steady stream of photos of his finds, along with an occasional look at how he returned them to their former glory. Some artifacts stand out to Woodard because of their beauty — like the Baltimore Glass Works flask he found embossed with a phoenix emerging from the ashes and the Latin word “Resurgam,” or “I Shall Rise Again.” Others stick with him because of the impossibility of their survival. Once, he found a two-part malt extract bottle buried 6 or 7 feet below the surface of an abandoned dump. [Most read] International low-cost airline launches service in U.S. next spring, starting at BWI » “When I pulled that out, it was like, this is still intact?” he recalled. “That’s incredible.” Woodard doesn’t just excavate relics; he also combs through archives from The Baltimore Sun, the University of Maryland, College Park, and the Enoch Pratt Free Library to unearth little-known stories that explain how the items fit within Baltimore and Maryland history. On his Instagram page, he’s shared tales of centuries-old scandals, lawsuits and tragedies — like the death of a 5-year-old boy whose leg was crushed by a wagon carrying malt, and the 1901 execution of a Black man for murder who Woodard said maintained his innocence . Jane Woltereck, the Baltimore Museum of Industry’s director of collections and exhibitions, is a big fan of Woodard’s Instagram page. She described him as a Renaissance man. Since the pandemic started, Woltereck said, Woodard has donated a series of bottles to the museum’s collection, including a Coca-Cola bottle stamped with the city’s name, a glass quart bottle from Cloverland Farms Dairy and a Royal Crown RC Cola bottle. “We have a massive bottle collection and I always hesitate when people offer bottles because nine times out of 10, we already have them. But he found some bottles that were different,” she said. [Most read] Rising COVID-19 cases in Maryland schools lead to temporary virtual classes and canceled games » Woodard, who describes the Museum of Industry as his “favorite museum ever,” said he’s psyched to have been able to contribute to its collection. It takes him back to watching the “Indiana Jones” movies as a kid and hearing the titular character’s familiar refrain: “It belongs in a museum!” “It’s always stuck with me,” he said, laughing. “To be able to do that, like, in real life? It’s super neat.”
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New archeological discoveries
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Salmon August Complex Fire
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The Salmon August Complex Fire was a large complex wildfire in Northern California that originally consisted of 11 separate wildfires, and charred 65,888 acres (266.64 km2) in Siskiyou County. The first fire in the complex was ignited on June 25, 2017 by lightning, and the complex fire burned for nearly 4 months, before it was finally contained on December 8, 2017. [1][2]
On June 25, 2017, at 5:00 PM PDT, the Island Fire, the first fire in the Salmon August Complex, was ignited by lightning. [2][3] In early August 2017, six other fires in the complex (the Wallow, Garden, Grizzly, Mary, Rush, and Pointers Fires) were ignited by lightning within a few days. Initially, these fires were managed with a confine-contain strategy. Although this strategy was initially effective, as weather conditions became hotter and dryer throughout mid-August, the Island and Wallow fires spread. [1]
The Wallow Fire eventually engulfed the Pointers and Island fires, becoming the largest wildfire in the area, and began threatening Eco-Trust timber lands on State Responsibility Area. At that time, an Incident Management Team and CALFIRE began to work under unified command to combat the fires. All seven fires were incorporated into a complex on August 13, 2017, as the seven wildfires merged to form the Salmon August Complex Fire. [1]
On September 7, 2017, three additional fires (the Deep, Claire, and Fourth Fires) ignited and quickly merged into the Salmon August Complex Fire. Great Basin Team 7 has successfully contained most of the fires within the Salmon August Complex by late September, and completed all Stage 1 repairs on the fires; suppression repairs began soon afterward. The fire transitioned to a Type 3 Incident management team on Thursday, September 28, 2017. [1]
The Salmon August Complex Fire continued to burn over 2 more months, until the complex fire was fully contained on December 8, 2017. At the time of containment, the Salmon August Complex Fire had burned 65,888 acres (266.64 km2) of land. [1]
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Fire
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Celebrity engagements of 2021: Every star who got engaged this year
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(L-R) Caroline Stanbury and Sergio Carrallo; Tiffany Trump and Michael Boulos; Andrew Haynes and Ally Love Getty Images / Instagram From Tiffany Trump to Lindsay Lohan, here are all of the celebs who put a ring on it in 2021. Amanda Stanton and Michael Fogel Amanda Stanton and Michael Fogel are engaged. Instagram “Bachelor” alum Amanda Stanton and her boyfriend Michael Fogel got engaged Dec. 2. Stanton posted a photo of her and her new fiancé hugging in front of their Christmas tree and captioned the pic, “YES !!! ?” Aziz Ansari and Serena Skov Campbell Aziz Ansari and Serena Skov Campbell, pictured here in November 2021, are engaged. ROKA / BACKGRID Aziz Ansari and his girlfriend, Serena Skov Campbell, are engaged . Ansari revealed the news during a surprise stand up set at the Comedy Cellar in New York City in December. Sources told Page Six at the time that the crowd cheered and “went wild” for the “Master of None” star. We’re also told he joked about his future child during the set. The couple were first linked in 2018 when they were spotted at the U.S. Open together. Lindsay Lohan and Bader Shammas Lindsay Lohan’s engagement ring from Bader Shammas is estimated to be worth $250,000. Instagram Lindsay Lohan announced that she is engaged to Bader Shammas on Nov. 27. The couple had been dating privately for approximately two years before Shammas popped the question. “My love. My life. My family. My future. @bader.shammas #love ?,” the actress captioned a series of photos of showing off her Harry Winston engagement ring. Jillian Michaels and DeShanna Marie Minuto Jillian Michaels is engaged to DeShanna Marie Minuto after three years of dating. Fitness guru Jillian Michaels proposed to her girlfriend of three years, DeShanna Marie Minuto, on Nov. 27. “1153 days… here’s to thousands more. She said ‘yes’ ❤️,” Michaels captioned a photo announcing the couple’s exciting news on Instagram the following day. Ed “Big Ed” Brown and Liz Woods “90 Day: The Single Life” stars Big Ed and Liz got engaged. “90 Day: The Single Life” stars Ed “Big Ed” Brown and his girlfriend, Elizabeth “Liz” Woods, announced their engagement in November after a rocky romance. “I couldn’t be happier. I know in my heart that she’s my forever, and that’s all I need to know,” Brown said. “I don’t want to be with anybody else, I don’t want to think about anybody else.” Kristen Stewart and Dylan Meyer Kristen Stewart and her girlfriend Dylan Meyer are engaged. @JosiahWPhotos / BACKGRID “Spencer” star Kristen Stewart announced in November that her girlfriend, Dylan Meyer, popped the question after two years of dating. “We’re marrying, we’re totally gonna do it,” Stewart shared on “The Howard Stern Show. “I wanted to be proposed to, so I think I very distinctly carved out what I wanted and she nailed it. We’re marrying, it’s happening.” Kristin Chenoweth and Josh Bryant Kristin Chenoweth and her boyfriend, Josh Bryant, are engaged. Instagram Kristin Chenoweth got engaged to her boyfriend of three years, Josh Bryant, in October. The musician popped the question to the Broadway star on the rooftop of New York City’s Rainbow Room with a Rahaminov Forevermark three-stone Halo ring. Kevin Hunter and Sharina Hudson Wendy William’s ex-husband Kevin Hunter is engaged to the woman he cheated on her with. Instagram, Getty Wendy Williams’ ex-husband Kevin Hunter is engaged to the woman he fathered a child with while married to the talk show host. A source confirmed to Page Six that Hunter purchased a ring worth around $80,000 for Hudson, but noted that he bought the ring long before Williams’ recent health issues that’s kept her side-lined from hosting her daytime show. In March 2019, Hudson gave birth to a baby girl with Hunter. At the time, he said he wasn’t “proud” of his “recent actions.” His divorce was finalized from Williams in January 2020. Chris Harrison and Lauren Zima Chris Harrison proposed to Lauren Zima in October. Instagram Former “Bachelor” host Chris Harrison proposed to girlfriend Lauren Zima in Napa Valley, Calif., in October after more than two years of dating. “I love you @laurenzima,” Harrison – who popped the question with a diamond ring from McClave Jewelers – captioned a series of photos. “The next chapter starts now!” Falynn Guobadia and Jaylan Banks Falynn Guobadia announced her engagement to Jaylan Banks after dating for just a few months. Instagram “Real Housewives of Atlanta” alum Falynn Guobadia announced in October she is engaged to Jaylan Banks — the man her ex-husband, Simon Guobadia, accused her of cheating with . The couple are also expecting a child together. In a scathing Instagram post in June, Simon wrote, “Let’s start with why I filed for divorce. Let’s start with who she cheated with and currently pregnant for and living in a home I paid for – post divorce,” referencing the reality star’s romance with Banks. Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker Travis Barker proposed to Kourtney Kardashian on a Montecito, Calif., beach after less than a year of dating. Instagram Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker got engaged in Montecito, Calif., in October 2021. The Blink-182 drummer set up an elaborate floral arrangement in the sand before he popped the question to the “Keeping Up With the Kardashians” alum. Barker and Kardashian have been friends for years, but only started dating in early 2021. Christina Haack and Joshua Hall Christina Haack confirmed her engagement to Joshua Hall. Instagram Christina Haack and Joshua Hall got engaged while vacationing in Mexico, she confirmed in September. The “Flip or Flop” star confirmed the news by posting several pics with Hall after he popped the question to her Instagram. They initially sparked rumors they were heading down the aisle a month prior after she appeared to be wearing an engagement ring. Page Six broke the news that they had been dating for a few months in July 2021. Jessica Batten and Benjamin McGrath “Love Is Blind” star Jessica Batten got engaged to surgeon Benjamin McGrath. Instagram Jessica Batten accepted a proposal from surgeon Benjamin McGrath in September. The “Love Is Blind” star’s engagement to McGrath came after a year-and-a-half of dating — and after she infamously ended her engagement to Mark Cuevas on the Netflix reality show by saying “I don’t” at the altar on what was meant to be the pair’s wedding day. Jordana Brewster and Mason Morfit Jordana Brewster confirmed she’s engaged to Jason Morfit after Page Six published exclusive photos of her massive sparkler. The “Fate of the Furious” star Jordana Brewster announced in September that tech CEO Mason Morfit popped the question . “❤️JB soon to be JBM❤️,” she captioned a selfie of her and Morfit cozying up on the beach with her massive diamond ring on display. The two were first romantically linked in July 2020. Kate Hudson and Danny Fujikawa Kate Hudson is engaged to Danny Fujikawa. Instagram Danny Fujikawa popped the question to Kate Hudson after five years of dating. “Let’s go! ????,” she captioned a photo of them embracing on top of a mountain while showing off her engagement ring in September. They began dating in December 2016 and they welcomed their daughter Rani Rose Hudson Fujikawa in 2018. Britney Spears and Sam Asghari Sam Asghari proposed to Britney Spears with a one-of-a-kind ring that features her sweet nickname. Britney Spears and Sam Asghari got engaged in September after nearly five together, Page Six exclusively confirmed. Asghari, 27, proposed to Spears, 39, at her home with a beautiful ring that has a 4-carat round brilliant stone in a platinum cathedral setting, enhanced with a floating solitaire design. It also has Asghari’s nickname for Spears, “Lioness,” engraved inside the band. They have been dating since 2016 amid the “Overprotected” singer’s contentious 13-year conservatorship . Naomi Biden and Peter Neal Joe Biden’s granddaughter Naomi is engaged to Peter Neal. Instagram President Joe Biden’s granddaughter Naomi announced her engagement to Peter Neal in September. “Forever ?,” she captioned a selfie of the happy couple showing off her diamond ring. The couple have been dating since at least 2018, sharing tons of photos together over the years. Norman Reedus and Diane Kruger Norman Reedus and Diane Kruger are reportedly engaged. Norman Reedus has reportedly popped the question to longtime girlfriend Diane Kruger. A source confirmed to People in August that the “Walking Dead” star, 52, and “Inglourious Basterds” actress, 45, are engaged. They first met while filming “Sky” in 2015 and began dating in early 2017. The couple now shares a nearly 3-year-old daughter. Mike Shouhed and Paulina Ben-Cohen Mike Shouhed and Paulina Ben-Cohen are engaged. “Shahs of Sunset” star Mike Shouhed revealed during the show’s ninth season reunion that he popped the question to Paulina Ben-Cohen while they were in Hawaii. He noted that he included her children from a previous marriage in his proposal, saying, “I actually asked her son his permission to marry his mommy, and I gave him the ring. We were in Hawaii, and I planned with the concierge where the most beautiful part of the beach was gonna be.” Eric Stonestreet and Lindsay Schweitzer “Modern Family” star Eric Stonestreet is engaged to Lindsey Schweitzer. Instagram “Modern Family” star Eric Stonestreet popped the question to longtime love Lindsey Schweitzer in August. The funnyman showed off her engagement ring in a series of Instagram photos while parading his various emotions. “She said, ‘She’d have her people call my people,'” he joked in the caption. Christine D’Ercole and Brian Hicks Christine D’Ercole said “yes” during her 50th birthday celebrations. Instagram Peloton instructor Christine D’Ercole is saying “I do” to Brian Hicks, who proposed during her 50th birthday celebrations in August. Sophia Bush and Grant Hughes Sophia Bush and Grant Hughes, pictured here in July, have been dating for more than a year since first being linked in May 2020. Entrepreneur Grant Hughes asked “One Tree Hill” alum Sophia Bush to marry him during a romantic vacation to Lake Como, Italy, in August 2021. Bushed shared a photo of the surprise proposal on Instagram and wrote, “So it turns out that being your favorite person’s favorite person is the actual best feeling on planet Earth #YES.” Joey Lawrence and Samantha Cope Joey Lawrence is engaged to Samantha Cope. Instagram Joey Lawrence and girlfriend Samantha Cope are engaged, he revealed to Page Six in August. “When you least expect it, obviously, is like when it usually works right in between all the plans that we make,” he said of his soon-to-be bride. “And I just met the most amazing person ever. Like your best friend and that person you really do share pretty much everything in common with.” Their engagement comes a little over a year after he filed for divorce from Chandie Lawrence after 15 years of marriage. He and Chandie share two daughters, 15-year-old Charleston and 11-year-old Liberty. Meadow Walker and Louis Thornton-Allan Paul Walker’s daughter, Meadow Walker, is engaged to boyfriend Louis Thornton-Allan. Instagram Paul Walker’s daughter, Meadow, announced her engagement to boyfriend Louis Thornton-Allan on Instagram on Aug. 9, showing off her diamond sparkler in a video of herself standing in a pool. “<3 <3 <3 <3,” she wrote in her caption. Katie Thurston and Blake Moynes Blake Moynes proposed to Katie Thurston during the finale of “The Bachelorette.” ABC “The Bachelorette” star Katie Thurston accepted Blake Moynes’ proposal during the Aug. 9 season finale of the ABC dating show. Moynes popped the question with a 3-carat Neil Lane sparkler at the end of an emotional episode. Leanne Hainsby and Ben Alldis Peloton instructors Ben Alldis and Leanne Hainsby are engaged Instagram Peloton instructor Ben Alldis popped the question to fellow trainer Leanne Hainsby during a romantic trip to Ibizia. “31st July 2021 ? I can’t believe I get to be your wife @benjaminalldis x,” Hainsby gushed on social media after the proposal. Ty Pennington and Kellee Merrell Ty Pennington and his fiancée, Kellee Merrell. Instagram HGTV star Ty Pennington is engaged after proposing to his girlfriend, Kellee Merrell, July 2021. “I have admired Kellee from afar for years. She’s a beautiful person inside and out,” Pennington told People. “Luckily our paths finally crossed at the right time. It’s one of those things where you just feel happy being around a person. I never thought I would get married, but she changed that. Glad I waited for the one.” Scheana Shay and Brock Davies Scheana Shay is spotted with a massive ring while out to dinner with Brock Davies. “Vanderpump Rules” star Scheana Shay is engaged to Brock Davies, E! News reports . The couple first sparked engagement speculation in late July when she stepped out wearing a wearing a massive ring on her left hand. The pair welcomed their daughter, Summer Moon Honey Davies, in April. Tyreek Hill and Keeta Vacarro Tyreek Hill and Keeta Vaccaro get engaged. Instagram Kansas City Chiefs star Tyreek Hill got engaged to girlfriend Keeta Vaccaro on the Fourth of July. The athlete popped the question and when Vaccaro said yes they shared a kiss in front of a beautiful fireworks display.
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Famous Person - Marriage
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Armed bank robbers storm another Brazilian town, battle police
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The attack is the second in two days, marking an escalation in the scale and scope of bank robberies. More than 20 armed robbers stormed a bank in a small Brazilian town on Wednesday, taking hostages, exchanging gunfire with police in the streets and killing one person before fleeing in a convoy of vehicles. The attack, in the early hours of the morning in the northern riverside city of Cameta, which has a population of 140,000 people, was the second such heist in as many days in Brazil, marking an escalation in the scale, organisation and aggression of bank robberies. “They drove around shooting at the police and at the houses. It was a horrible scene to see,” said Junior Gaia, who lives nearby, in an interview with television network Globo News. “We were all laid out on the floor, afraid they would invade the homes.” The attack saw the group of men, armed with high-calibre weapons, storm a branch of Banco do Brasil SA, the Para state security ministry said. Images on social media showed a firefight in the streets of the town. The robbers killed one hostage during the heist, the ministry added, while another local resident was shot in the leg and is in a stable condition in hospital. “We pray to God to comfort the family of the young man who lost his life,” Cameta Mayor Waldoli Valente wrote on Facebook. The robberies took place at the start of December, when bank coffers are filled in anticipation of employees withdrawing their year-end bonuses, according to Cassio Thyone, a council member of the non-profit Brazilian Forum on Public Safety. “It doesn’t happen without planning,” Thyone told the Associated Press by phone. “It’s another demonstration that everything is planned. They think of the location, and the timing.” The security ministry said it had found one abandoned getaway vehicle outside the town with explosives inside. The town was now calm, it added, with police reinforcements arriving by plane and boat. NOITE DE TERROR EM CAMETÁ, PARÁ: Mais imagens dos reféns sendo colocados no carro. — Allan Dos Santos (@allanldsantos) December 2, 2020 It was not immediately clear how many hostages had been taken or if they were all freed. Authorities also did not say how much money was stolen from the bank. Brazil has a long history of bank heists, and major lenders have struggled with a wave of violent robberies in recent years. Still, the country’s banking lobby association Febraban said bank raids fell 48.35 percent, year-on-year, to 47 attacks in the first nine months of 2020. The Cameta attack came a day after a similar heist to a Banco do Brasil branch in the southern city of Criciuma. Bank robbers there blasted explosives and fired high-calibre weapons at police, in a heist that injured two people and left reams of cash in the streets to be pocketed by locals. State-controlled lender Banco do Brasil did not immediately comment on the attacks. Destruction of the world’s largest rainforest in 2020 rose 9.5 percent from a year earlier according to government data. How one Kaiowá family is rebuilding their prayer house as explosions from a nearby rock quarry threaten their community. Images on social media showed armed men firing automatic weapons in the streets and taking hostages before fleeing.
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Bank Robbery
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Darwin sewerage plant releases 'black and evil-looking' plume near marine reserve
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A thick black stream flowing out into the sea near a marine reserve in the Northern Territory has worried locals and sparked an investigation.
The blue waters surrounding Darwin usually draw in hordes of tourists and locals. But when marine tourism operator Jim Smith spotted a black plume in the popular and picturesque shores of East Point on Wednesday, alarm bells were raised. The ABC can confirm the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, as well as the NT Environment Protection Authority, investigated the incident.
A spokesperson from Power and Water Corporation, the company that manages sewerage services in the NT, said the plume was due to an excess in "iron precipitate".
They said the "small particles" were carried over from the nearby sewerage treatment plant after it "accumulated in our discharge pipework and was pumped into the harbour through the East Point Outfall".
"The precipitate is not shown to have any environmental impact," they said.
But despite this assurance that all is well in Darwin waters, locals and marine industry advocates said this was one of many recent releases from the plant that had caused concerns. Mr Smith, who is the owner and operator of Sea Darwin, said he initially saw the discoloured water from a distance and thought it may have been an oil slick.
"I'm just thankful I didn't have any tourists on board," he said.
"It was black and pretty evil-looking. I didn't want my boat in it."
"I've never seen anything like this before. I understand what it is, it is a discharge from our sewer."
Mr Smith said he was concerned about where all the outfalls from the plant were flowing. "That is a reef area, where the discharge is, it's a no-go zone for fishing," he said.
"There is inshore coral and so forth there, it is quite diverse actually and this is heading out around and over it.
"I just want to see the harbour looked after... it needs a discussion."
Amateur Fishermen's Association of the Northern Territory chief executive, David Ciaravolo, said there were ongoing and significant concerns about what was being released into the waterway. "It's an area where people regularly go fishing for Barramundi and other sports fish. I think one of the other concerns that I have, when I fish down there, I see a lot of people doing Indigenous traditional harvest of shellfish," he said.
"What's really important about that area is that it is one of the few creeks in metropolitan Darwin that is accessible to the community.
"It has a really high social, cultural and environmental value."
Mr Ciarvolo said that plenty of local fisherman had raised issues about previous releases of effluent. "The smell is quite regularly noticeable and to notice an outfall is not underheard of. But what is shown in that video is way below the quality of water that people would be expecting to be coming out of there," he said.
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Environment Pollution
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Prepare for road closures: floods, mudslides possible for next 7-10 days
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by: Lanie Lee Cook Mudslides blocked access to portions of Interstate 70 through Glenwood Canyon on July 20, 2021. (Credit: Colorado Department of Transportation) DENVER (KDVR) — Colorado transportation officials warned travelers to prepare for road closures at least through the next 7-10 days as more floods and landslides are possible. The National Weather Service said monsoon season will be in full effect at least through next week. Meteorologists expect slow-moving storms with the ability to drop significant amounts of precipitation that could cause debris flows. The Colorado Department of Transportation urged travelers to take precautions, plan for additional travel time and double-check conditions before getting on the road. “Our crews will continue to monitor conditions closely and take what steps we can to keep people safe and return to normal as the weather allows,” CDOT Executive Director Shoshana Lew said. “Once weather passes and crews can evaluate the impacts to the roadway, we are removing rocks and debris and making sure the road surface is safe before reopening.” “Landslides can travel several miles and create an avalanche of earth, mud and debris. These natural disasters are fast-moving and come with force,” Col. Matthew C. Packard, chief of Colorado State Patrol, said. “Advance preparation can make a big difference in your safety and survival.” Packard urged preparation before getting on the road: Forecasters on Wednesday afternoon were monitoring storms building south of Interstate 70 and across the mountains, and they placed central Larimer County — which includes the Cameron Peak burn scar — under a flash flood warning. Forecasters also were monitoring the Grizzly Creek and East Troublesome burn scars, where mudslide risk is high. Ongoing monsoon weather has already closed multiple roads this week and has caused serious damage and at least one death in Larimer County. Several major roads remain affected by mudslides that were triggered on Tuesday evening and on Wednesday.
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Mudslides
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2007 Port of Tacoma protests
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In March 2007, high-profile protests were focused on the Port of Tacoma, in Tacoma, Washington, United States. The protests, which lasted for 11 days, centered on a shipment of Stryker vehicles belonging to the 4th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, which were scheduled to ship through the Port of Tacoma to the Iraq War. During the protests, members of Port Militarization Resistance tried to obstruct the shipping operations. A total of 37 protesters were arrested. Port Militarization Resistance (PMR) is an anti-war organization in the United States focused on trying to stop the Iraq War through disrupting shipments bound for the battlefield. This is accomplished through a mixture of direct action and indirect action, with less emphasis on trying to persuade elected officials to change policy. As well as organizing the Port of Tacoma protests, PMR has also organized high-profile protests at the Port of Olympia, both in May 2006 and in November 2007. After the May 2006 Port of Olympia protests concluded, many people anticipated and announced that similar protests would coincide with the next major war shipment leaving Fort Lewis. Many of these announcements were made even before the time and location of these shipments had been announced. [1][2] Port Militarization Resistance organizers expected the shipments to return through the Port of Olympia. [3]
Beginning 2 March 2007, Stryker vehicles and other equipment from the 4th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, based out of Fort Lewis, was convoyed onto the grounds of the Port of Tacoma, to be loaded onto the Iraq-bound USNS Soderman. Protests began on the Port of Tacoma grounds late at night on 3/4 March, and concluded the afternoon of 15 March, two days after the USNS Soderman's departure. Protests largely happened in the middle of the night, as the military chose to run its convoys at night instead of during the day. The first major incident of the Port of Tacoma protests occurred the night of 4 March, when three PMR organizers were arrested by police. Of them, one had been shot with a rubber bullet at point blank range, and another had been struck with a Taser three times as he was pinned down. [4]
Over the next several days, protests over the shipments spread across Tacoma. [5] Several more people were arrested or threatened with arrest. A legal observer was arrested for approaching a police officer to ask a question. A previous arrestee was again arrested at a Tacoma City Council meeting for speaking too long. [6] And a PMR videographer, while filming legally, was ordered to turn off his camera or else it would be broken. [7] Also, police instituted a ban on backpacks in the protest area, arresting one individual for defying the ban. [8]
The night of Friday, 9 March, not long after the USNS Soderman arrived, the next major incident of this round of port protests occurred. Demonstrators marched through the Port of Tacoma grounds until they came to a line of police, at which point they stopped and sat down. [8] Protesters report that police then shot rubber bullets at them at point blank range and fired tear gas canisters at them as artillery. [9][10][11] A police spokesperson had claimed protesters had provoked this response, however video released later showed the spokesperson to be lying. [12]
On the afternoon of Sunday, 11 March, Port Militarization Resistance organized a non-violent civil disobedience action. This action was coordinated with Tacoma police. The first wave involved 8 people bringing backpacks containing such items as the U.S. Constitution into the no-backpack zone. The second wave involved 15 people reading a Citizens' Injunction against the war, climbing over police barricades, and being subsequently soft-arrested. [13]
Protesters returned to the Port of Tacoma tideflats on the evening of 12 March. After a rally described "peaceful" by a Tacoma police detective, police began firing tear gas into the crowd of protesters, chasing them to the edge of the port grounds. [11][14][15] Protesters had to negotiate with police to be allowed back on port grounds to retrieve their cars. [11]
The USNS Soderman left early in the morning of 13 March. Port Militarization Resistance organizers agreed to carry through with demonstrations they had already scheduled. [16] The March 2007 Port of Tacoma protests concluded with a vigil the afternoon of 15 March, in which a coffin was carried in a funeral march to the gate of the port quay. [16][17] All told, 37 arrests were made. [16]
The increased police presence cost the city of Tacoma an unbudgeted $500,000. The city is considering sending the bill for the extra security to the military. [18]
The city of Tacoma has instructed its Citizen Review Panel to investigate allegations of police misconduct at the Port of Tacoma. Except for the "Film Is Not a Crime" incident, the city has said it will not investigate individual allegations of misconduct, citing police union contracts. [19]
The city of Tacoma chose to pursue criminal charges against many of the arrestees. So far, most of the cases have been dismissed before going to trial. As of 6 March 2008, two cases have gone to trial, both resulting in a mix of convictions on some charges and acquittals on others. These convictions were the first convictions of any arrestees in Port Militarization Resistance actions. [20][21]
Throughout the protests, PMR organizers made use of Internet media, especially the website YouTube. On some occasions, video of objectionable police behavior was viewable online only a few hours after it occurred. One video, "Film Is Not a Crime," was instrumental in inspiring the only internal investigation began by the Tacoma Police Department in regards to the protests. [7][22][23]
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Protest_Online Condemnation
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Plastic pollution the last straw for underwater clean-up volunteers at Manly Cove
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A volunteer underwater clean-up project at Manly Cove is recovering hundreds of drinking straws from the sea and raising awareness of single-use plastic pollution.
Dive instructor Harriet Spark is the project's organiser and is involved in the local environmental group Sustainable Organisations of Manly (SO Manly). She was inspired to start the clean up after one of her colleagues recovered more than 600 straws during two short snorkels at Manly Cove. "On one of our dives we actually found an octopus holding four straws in its tentacles," she told Josh Szeps on ABC Radio Sydney.
Ms Spark was alarmed at the amount of straws found in the cove and started "Operation Straw" to combat the pollution.
"When it comes to items like plastic straws, these items that we used for just seconds and at most minutes, they last on the planet for hundreds and hundreds of years.
"They're a bit of an unnecessary item that we can stop using."
She invited volunteers to collect the straws and record their colour which provides clues as to where the rubbish is coming from.
"One of the big offenders is the McDonald's straws; we find a lot of them," Ms Spark said.
"The data is the most important part of it because if we continue to clean the beaches and don't record what we find, it's hard to drive change.
"But if we record what we find, we can make a big difference."
The volunteers have already collected more than 1,200 straws from the cove after seven clean-up events.
"To put it into perspective, these straws end to end would stretch roughly the length of three Olympic swimming pools," Ms Spark said.
The majority of the discarded straws originated from nearby, but could also be washing in from the greater Sydney Harbour area, she said.
The data collected from the project will be used to encourage local businesses to change the way they dispense straws or eliminate their use altogether.
"Even just putting straws behind the counter and having some signage explaining 'we only give out straws when asked' — that reduces straws hugely," she said. "Just making a few changes can make a big impact."
Richard Nicholls has been running a dive store in Manly for 25 years and his business partnered with the volunteers to reduce the plastic waste in the cove.
Throughout his career he has been heavily involved in underwater clean-up initiatives but witnessed little reduction in the amount of plastic being recovered.
"We pretty much get 1,000 kilograms a year from pretty much one spot in Manly Cove," he said.
"It's sad in a way. We always hoped that the amount would drop and for a while we thought it was dropping, but all that was happening was that we were getting more efficient at picking up rubbish from that spot.
"So we just widened our search area a little bit and basically produced the same results."
Mr Nicholls expressed concern about how the discarded plastic was affecting marine life and the flow-on effect to humans.
Source: Plastic Free Manly
"When I was a kid in the '60s, the sea was the biggest rubbish dump in the world; people just threw everything in the sea without any thought of what could happen," he said.
"Now we're seeing the results of plastic pollution and the major problems that we're going to have as more of that gets in the food chain and people start ingesting plastic." After years of witnessing the pollution up close, he urged all plastic users including manufacturers, businesses and consumers to do their part for the environment.
"The most important thing is try and reduce the amount of plastic waste full-stop."
We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Australians and Traditional Custodians of the lands where we live, learn, and work.
This service may include material from Agence France-Presse (AFP), APTN, Reuters, AAP, CNN and the BBC World Service which is copyright and cannot be reproduced.
AEST = Australian Eastern Standard Time which is 10 hours ahead of GMT (Greenwich Mean Time)
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Environment Pollution
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Deep partial lunar eclipse November 18-19: Great for North America
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For us in North America, the partial lunar eclipse will take place overnight on November 18, and in the early morning on November 19, 2021. The moon will be high in North American skies, shifting toward the west. In this illustration, the times are in EST. Mid-eclipse will be at about 4 a.m. EST, 3 a.m. CST, 1 a.m. PST, etc. Precise time of mid-eclipse is 9:03 UTC . But watch the creeping shadow on the moon’s disk for an hour or so before that time, too! In this illustration, the white disks represent partially eclipsed moons. The maroon disk represents the moon at greatest eclipse, 97% covered by the Earth’s dark umbral shadow. Watch for the dipper-shaped Pleiades star cluster near the eclipsed moon. Chart by John Jardine Goss Partial lunar eclipse A deep partial lunar eclipse will darken the moon for much of the globe on November 19, 2021 (overnight on November 18 for North America). Most locations will see up to 97% of the moon slip into Earth’s shadow. North America has the best location to see the entirety of the eclipse. Find maps and timing for the eclipse below. In some cases, the times are in UTC and you must convert . This is an exceptionally deep partial eclipse with an umbral eclipse magnitude of 0.9742. In other words, 97% of the moon will be covered by Earth’s dark umbral shadow . With a just thin sliver of the moon exposed to direct sun at maximum eclipse, the rest of the moon should take on the characteristically ruddy colors of a total lunar eclipse. This is the second lunar eclipse of 2021. See photos of the May 2021 lunar eclipse . This eclipse occurs at the moon’s ascending node in Taurus . The moon will be placed near the famous Pleiades – aka the Seven Sisters – during the eclipse. Great photo opportunity! The eclipse takes place 1.7 days before the moon reaches apogee (November 21 at 02:14 UTC ), its farthest point from Earth for this month. For that reason, this is also the longest lunar eclipse in a span of some 1,000 years. Read more about the length of this lunar eclipse . Like watching the moon? See its phase for every day in 2022 on EarthSky’s beautiful blue-and-silver lunar calendar poster. Order now. Going fast! During a lunar eclipse, 2 shadows are cast. The dark inner part of Earth’s shadow is called the umbra. The 2nd shadow is called the penumbra. During the November 18-19, 2021, partial lunar eclipse, the moon will be 97% covered by Earth’s dark umbral shadow. Illustration via NASA . Who will see the partial lunar eclipse Viewers in North America and the Pacific Ocean, Alaska, eastern Australia, New Zealand and Japan will be able to see the entire partial lunar eclipse. Observers in western Asia, Australia, and New Zealand miss the early stages of the eclipse because they occur before moonrise. Similarly, South America and Western Europe experience moonset before the eclipse ends. None of the eclipse is visible from Africa, the Middle East, or western Asia. At the instant of greatest eclipse (09:02:56 UTC ) the moon lies at the zenith for a point in the Pacific Ocean east of the Hawaiian Islands. The moon’s southern limb lies 0.8 arc-minutes outside the edge of the umbral shadow. Comment from Fred Espenak: This is an extraordinary test case for a marginally partial eclipse. View larger . | A map of visibility for the November 18-19, 2021, partial lunar eclipse. The Americas are favored, but observers in northern Europe, eastern Asia, Australia and the Pacific will see it, too. The star marks the point where the maximally eclipsed moon will appear directly overhead. Image via Fred Espenak . Find timing for your location at timeanddate.com . View larger . | This image depicts the moon’s path with respect to Earth’s umbral shadow (in red) and penumbral shadow (in gray). The labels P4, U4, Greatest, P1 and U1 relate to eclipse timings and are explained at EclipseWise.com . The eclipse is almost total, but a tiny portion of the moon’s face will remain outside the dark umbral shadow at mid-eclipse. Image via Fred Espenak . Find eclipse timings for your location at timeanddate.com . Eclipse times The times of the major eclipse phases are listed as follows. These times are in Universal Time (UTC); translate UTC to your time. Penumbral Eclipse Begins: 06:02:09 UTC on November 19 Partial Eclipse Begins: 07:18:43 UTC (2:19 a.m. EST in North America) Greatest Eclipse: 09:02:56 UTC (4:03 a.m. EST) Partial Eclipse Ends: 10:47:07 UTC (5:47 a.m. EST) Penumbral Eclipse Ends: 12:03:44 UTC (7:04 a.m. EST) Find eclipse timings for your location at timeanddate.com . Also see this Key to Lunar Eclipse Figures . The November 18-19, 2021, eclipse is an exceptionally deep partial lunar eclipse. With a just thin sliver of the moon exposed to direct sun at maximum eclipse, the rest of the moon should take on the characteristically ruddy colors of a total lunar eclipse. Image via Joe . Saros and eclipse season The eclipse belongs to Saros 126 and is number 45 of 70 eclipses in the series. All eclipses in this series occur at the moon’s ascending node . The moon moves southward with respect to the node with each succeeding eclipse in the series, and gamma decreases. The partial lunar eclipse of November 19, 2021, is followed two weeks later by a total solar eclipse on December 4, 2021. These eclipses all take place during a single eclipse season . Bottom line: A partial lunar eclipse will occur on Friday, November 19, 2021 (overnight November 18 for North America). It will be visible from the Americas, North Europe, eastern Asia, Australia, and the Pacific. Find eclipse timings for your location at timeanddate.com.
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New wonders in nature
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Priceless Discoveries From Gupta Period in Uttar Pradesh’s Etah Include Temple stairs, Inscription
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The ASI has found temple stairs and inscriptions belonging from the Gupta period in Bilsar of Etah district in Uttar Pradesh. Etah (Uttar Pradesh): This piece of news might interest all the history buffs. Recently, in a breakthrough excavation, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has made some priceless discoveries that will blow your mind.Also Read - Hanging House Found Inside Delhi Assembly Premises. Here's What Speaker Ram Niwas Goel Said Interestingly, the ASI has found temple stairs and inscriptions belonging from the Gupta period in Bilsar of Etah district in Uttar Pradesh. Well, ASI made this priceless discovery in its Agra Circle during scientific cleaning at the protected site in Etah. Also Read - SSC CPO Recruitment: Vacancies Announced For SI In Delhi Police, CAPFs, ASI In CISF 2019 | Details Read Notably, the inscription found here belongs to the 5th century. It possibly says Sri Mahendraditya, who is identified as Kumaragupta of the Gupta dynasty. Also Read - Red Fort to be Shut From July 21 Till Independence Day, Delhi Police Raised Security Concerns: ASI ASI took to its Twitter handle and posted. “Breakthrough discovery by @ASIGoI’s Agra Circle – Stairs leading to Gupta period temple were found through scientific cleaning at the protected site of Bilsarh, Etah. An inscription in Shankh lipi on one of the steps, datable to 5th century CE, Gupta period, possibly reading “Sri Mahendraditya..”, identified as Kumargupta of the Gupta dynasty has been unearthed”. Check out the tweet here: Breakthrough discovery by @ASIGoI ‘s Agra Circle – Stairs leading to Gupta period temple were found through scientific cleaning at the protected site of Bilsarh, Etah. @MinOfCultureGoI @kishanreddybjp @KishanReddyOfc — Archaeological Survey of India (@ASIGoI) September 8, 2021 According to a TOI report , Vasant Swarnkar, superintending archaeologist of Agra circle, informed on Thursday that there is a protected site in the village of Bilsad near Aliganj, Etah. The place is said to be the site of a temple built during the Guptas. Later, the team discovered two pillars during excavation on which there is an inscription about the powerful ruler Kumargupta in sankh lipi (conch script or shell script). Furthermore, he said that when they excavated more to know the depth of the two pillars, the ASI team traced a well-finished stair and then three more stairs. It was an indication of the entrance to a temple. Isn’t that phenomenal?
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New archeological discoveries
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Malaysia, flooded with plastic waste, begins sending scrap back to developed nations
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Malaysia, which has become a dumping ground for the world's plastic waste, has begun sending non-recyclable plastic scrap to the developed countries of origin, its environment minister said.
Malaysia last year became the leading alternative destination for plastic scrap after China banned imports of such waste, disrupting the flow of more than 7 million tonnes of plastic scrap a year.
Since then, Australia has exported waste materials to Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia.
Dozens of recycling factories cropped up in Malaysia, many without an operating licence, and residents complained of environmental damage.
The Australian Council of Recycling has laid out a roadmap for how to reboot our recycling system.
The United States, Britain, Japan and Australia are among the top exporters of plastic waste to Malaysia.
Most of the plastic scrap coming into the country is contaminated and low-quality plastic from developed countries that is non-recyclable.
Now Malaysia has begun sending back the waste to its country of origin, said Yeo Bee Yin, Malaysia's minister of energy, technology, science, climate change and environment.
"Developed countries must be responsible in what they send out," Ms Yeo said.
She said some of the plastic scrap sent to Malaysia was in violation of the Basel Convention, a UN treaty on the trade of plastic waste and its disposal.
Ms Yeo threatened to send the waste back last month saying, "Malaysia will not be the dumping ground of the world."
She posted images of illegal plastic shipments on her Facebook page along with international regulations on plastic waste.
Now the process is underway, with the first five containers of contaminated plastic waste that was smuggled into the country sent back to Spain, Ms Yeo said.
The minister did not identify the smugglers but said an investigation was ongoing.
More non-recyclable plastic will be sent back to its source next week, she said.
Malaysia's imports of plastic waste from its 10 biggest source-countries jumped to 456,000 tonnes between January and July 2018, versus 316,600 tonnes purchased in all of 2017 and 168,500 tonnes in 2016. More recent data is not available.
Australia is also in the firing line of Indonesian environmentalists, who say Australian waste is effectively being "smuggled" in huge amounts under the guise of plastic and waste paper supposedly sent for recycling.
Last month, environmentalists protested outside Australia's consulate in the East Java capital of Surabaya with banners reading "Indonesia is not [your] recycling bin".
They called their protest "Take Your Shit Back From Indonesia", while demanding that the Australian Government introduce stricter regulations on waste exports.
During 2018, imports of waste materials to East Java from Australia reached 52,000 tonnes, a 250 per cent increase from 2014.
How big is the problem and what can we do about it?
Plastic unsuitable for recycling is burnt, which releases toxic chemicals into the atmosphere. Or it ends up in landfill, potentially contaminating soil and water sources.
Around 180 countries reached a deal on Friday to amend the Basel Convention to make global trade in plastic waste more transparent and better regulated, while also ensuring that its management is safer for human health and the environment.
The United States, the world's top exporter of plastic waste, has not ratified the 30-year-old pact.
The amendments to the treaty will further limit the flow of plastic scrap to developing countries, said Ms Yeo, adding it was unfair for the developed world to dump their waste on developing countries such as Malaysia.
"The amendment of the Basel Convention is the first step in solving the global problem of unjust rubbish movement from developed to developing countries," she said.
ABC/Reuters
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Environment Pollution
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1991 Kalabahi earthquakes
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The 1991 Kalabahi earthquakes struck the sea adjacent to Timor on July 4, leaving twenty three people dead and injuring 181. The two quakes, which took place two-and-a-half seconds apart, measured 6.9 on the Mw scale. Kalabahi was the epicenter of the earthquake, 2,000 kilometres (1,243 mi) east from Jakarta, the Indonesian capital. [1] With a calculated depth of 33.3 kilometres (21 mi),[2] the earthquake was in the ocean between the Timor and Alor islands. [3]
The earthquake struck Timor with a magnitude of 6.9. [3] The earthquake caused 3 fatalities on Alor alone,[4] and 181 injuries. 1,150 buildings were destroyed and at least 5,400 civilians were left homeless. [3]
Damage by the epicenter was estimated at 1991 USD $7,700,000. [3]
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Earthquakes
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Saudi Public Pension Agency and General Organization for Social Insurance to merge
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RIYADH: The Saudi Cabinet has approved the merger of the Public Pension Agency and the General Organization for Social Insurance (GOSI) to unify the public and private sectors’ insurance protection umbrella , SPA reported citing a statement by the two institutions. The merger process will not affect the mechanism and dates of disbursement of insurance benefits to insurance or pensions clients, nor the progress of operations or transactions, the two institutions confirmed. There are more than 8.3 million people who benefit from social insurance in the Kingdom according to official data. The merger is part of ongoing reforms and restructuring under Vision 2030, said Saudi Finance Minister Mohammed Al-Jadaan. He said that the merger would strengthen the financial position of the pension fund, by maximizing investment returns and boosting performance. Saudi Arabia’s government offered SR-denominated Sukuk worth SR 614.179 million ($164 million) for the November issuance, the National Debt Management Center (NDMC) announced in a statement. The issuance comes under the Saudi Arabian Government SR-denominated Sukuk Program. The Kingdom collected a total amount of SR74.2 billion of Sukuk in monthly issuances for the previous 10 months. Now, the country obtained a total value of SR74.8 billion financing from Sukuk. In an Information Memorandum, dated 20 July 2017, Saudi’s Ministry of Finance (MoF), acting through NDMC, announced the establishment of an unlimited SR-denominated Sukuk Issuance Program. The memorandum was updated on 21 July 2020. It also stated that the ministry will issue and offer Sukuk to investors at its discretion. The Kingdom’s public debt stood at SR948.3 billion at the end of this year’s third quarter, according to the MoF’s latest quarterly budget report. Domestic debt accounted for 59.1 percent while external debt made up 40.9 percent of the debt. In its Pre-Budget Statement for 2022, the MoF predicted that public debt will reach SR989 billion next year. RIYADH: Saudi fintech company Geidea has joined forces with financing firm Alamthal to simplify loan issuance and repayments for businesses. Merchants will now be able to pay back their loan amounts directly through point-of-sale terminals by automatically setting aside a percentage or amount of monthly revenue towards their loan obligations. “With this partnership, we want to remove the hassle and stress that often goes into repayments and offer a secure, trusted solution that will empower them and let them focus on their business,” said Renier Lemmens, group CEO of Geidea. Hamad Al-Salem, deputy CEO of Alamathal Financing, added: “Our goal is to promote good financial behaviors and safeguard the financial wellbeing of the SME sector, thus giving them the platform to expand and scale in line with their business goals.” Saudi Arabia has a 94 percent adoption rate of contactless payments through near-field communication — the highest in the Middle East and North Africa, above the EU’s average and ahead of Hong Kong and Canada, the Saudi Central Bank revealed last October. RIYADH: The eurozone’s economy recorded a quarterly expansion of 2.2 percent, little unchanged from previous quarter’s growth of 2.1 percent, according to estimates by Eurostat. Countries that experienced the highest growth rates were Austria, France and Portugal as their gross domestic products rose by 3.3, 3 and 2.9 percent respectively. Meanwhile, Germany’s economy grew by 1.8 percent while Italy’s jumped by 2.6 percent. On an annual basis, the eurozone’s growth rate was 3.7 percent in this year’s third quarter. US industrial production Industrial production in the US went up by a yearly rate of 5.1 percent in October up from 4.6 percent in the prior month, according to the Federal Reserve. On a monthly basis, industrial production in the country grew by 1.6 percent in October following the previous month’s decline of 1.3 percent. Both manufacturing and utilities output increased by 1.2 percent while mining production was 4.1 percent higher compared to last year. Meanwhile, growth in the US monthly retail sales reached its highest level since March, standing at 1.7 percent in October, greater than the previous month’s level of 0.8 percent, the US Census Bureau said. This was attributed to consumers’ expenditure on early holiday shopping. Italy’s Inflation Italy's yearly inflation rate rose to 3 percent in October up from 2.5 percent in September, according to the country’s National Institute of Statistics. This is the highest rate since September 2012 and was driven by rising energy prices as it surged by an annual rate of 24.9 percent. Particularly, prices of regulated energy products went up by 42.3 percent. Moreover, costs of transportation services increased by 2.4 percent. In addition, the monthly inflation rate reached 0.7 percent in October compared to a deflation of 0.2 percent in October. Jordan’s consumer prices Jordan’s annual inflation rate eased to 1.61 percent in October down from 1.84 percent in September, the country’s official statistics agency said. This was mainly due to 0.96 percent rise in transportation costs and 0.41 percent increase in the prices of meat and poultry. On monthly terms, consumer prices rose by 0.06 percent in October, down from 0.18 percent in the previous month.
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Organization Merge
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1950 Heathrow BEA Vickers Viking crash
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The 1950 Heathrow BEA Vickers Viking crash occurred on 31 October 1950 when a Vickers Viking operated by British European Airways (BEA) crashed at London Airport in heavy fog. The aircraft was on a scheduled flight between Paris and London's Northolt airport and 28 of the 30 passengers and crew on board were killed. At 6.39 pm on the evening of the accident, a Vickers VC.1 Viking twin-engined airliner of BEA (registered G-AHPN and named Lord St Vincent) took off from Le Bourget Airport in Paris on a scheduled flight to Northolt airport, London with a crew of four and 26 passengers. [1][2] A weather forecast obtained before the flight took off had warned of poor visibility, and about 45 minutes after departure as the aircraft neared London, British air traffic control (ATC) informed the pilot that fog had reduced the visibility at Northolt to 50 yd (46 m). On receiving this information, the pilot announced that he would attempt to land at London Airport instead. Although visibility at London Airport was only 40 yd (37 m), it had the facilities for a Ground-controlled approach (GCA, i.e. a "talkdown" by radar operators). The pilot told ATC that if he could not safely land at London Airport, he would divert to Blackbushe Airport in Hampshire or Manston Airport in Kent. [3][4]
The aircraft carried out what appeared to be a normal GCA, reaching the decision height of 140 ft (43 m) at about 400 yd (366 m) from the end of the runway. Shortly after reaching this point the pilot announced over the radio, I am overshooting[5] (aborting the landing attempt and carrying out a go-around), but a few seconds later the aircraft struck the runway and skidded along it for 140 ft (43 m) before regaining the air. With both propellers damaged by the initial contact with the ground, it finally crashed approximately 3,000 ft (914 m) further along the runway, the starboard wing being torn off and the aircraft bursting into flames as it came to rest next to a store of drain-pipes. [2][3] The thick fog hindered rescue attempts and it took the fire and rescue teams 16 to 17 minutes to find the crashed aircraft. [6] Of the 30 people on board there were only two survivors, a stewardess and a passenger; both had been seated near the tail. [7]
A public inquiry was set up to investigate the accident, chaired by Sir Walter Monckton;[8] while a more general investigation of the relative responsibilities of pilots and ground control with respect to landings in poor weather conditions was to be led by Lord Brabazon of Tara, the aviation pioneer and former Minister of Transport. [7]
Lord Brabazon reported first, in February 1951, making a number of recommendations regarding the lighting of airfields in poor weather conditions, the measurement of visibility and the setting of minimum weather conditions for landing. [9] While the accident report could not establish for certain the precise cause of the accident, it concluded that the pilot had probably intentionally descended below the decision height, only aborting the landing when the aircraft entered the fog bank at an altitude of less than 100 ft (30 m). Alice Steen, the hostess who had survived, had reported to the accident inquiry that the pilot Captain Clayton came back into the cabin and told her that they would not be landing at Northolt but at London Airport instead where the visibility was 400 yd (366 m); it was noted by the inquiry that Clayton had been told 40 yd (37 m) on the radio. [4] It was also noted that BEA's operating manual was confusing as to whether the decision heights stated were compulsory or advisory only, and Monckton recommended that aircraft be prohibited from landing where the visibility was significantly below the minimum conditions set by the operator. The recommendations of both Brazabon and Monckton were all implemented. [2][10]
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Air crash
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Inmates released because of COVID face returning to prison
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Kendrick Fulton, 48, is one of about 24,000 federal inmates who have been permitted to serve their sentences outside prison walls after being granted release on home confinement amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Since his release in September 2020, Fulton has gotten a job with Coca-Cola, earned his Commercial Driver’s License, and celebrated his first birthday at home in nearly two decades. “It’s been great…just being home, having the chance to be re-acclimated to society,” he told the MSR. While living with his sister in Round Rock, Texas, Fulton has been working to rebuild his life after spending 17 years in prison on nonviolent drug-related charges. He views his release as a second chance. Now, Fulton and others who’ve begun working or started college outside prison walls face the possibility of being forced to return in the absence of federal action. In recent weeks, pressure has mounted on President Joe Biden to grant clemency to prisoners who were released on home confinement as thousands of inmates grapple with the reality of their precarious futures. Related Story: COVID-19 running wild in Minnesota prisons A bipartisan group of criminal justice advocates submitted a letter to Biden on July 19, asking that he use his presidential powers to commute inmates’ sentences. “This is your opportunity to provide second chances to thousands of people who are already safely out of prison, reintegrating back to society, reconnecting with their loved ones, getting jobs, and going back to school,” said the letter from 20 advocacy groups including the ACLU, Amnesty International, and the NAACP. Phillip Holmes of the Twin Cities Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee considered how inmates’ return to federal prisons would impact their families. “Once again families, husbands generally, are being plucked away… They’re providers. It’s going to create unnecessary hardship on families that have dependent children.” COVID is pervasive throughout U.S. prisons A January Justice Department memo issued under the Trump administration prior to Biden’s inauguration clarified that inmates released to home confinement under the CARES Act to curb the spread of the virus would have to return to prison one month after the official state of emergency ends if their sentences extend beyond that period. According to the COVID Prison Project, which tracks data and policy to monitor the virus and its impacts on the prison system, there have been more than 400,000 cases of COVID-19 among incarcerated people, and more than 2,500 have died. A Biden legal team concluded in July that the law was correctly interpreted in the Trump-era memo, which applies to about 4,000 inmates. Although the end of the state of emergency is not expected to come this year due to an uptick in COVID cases attributed largely to the spread of the Delta variant, the lives of inmates released under the act are shrouded in uncertainty. Fulton, who is set to be released in 2032, said he hasn’t really begun to consider the prospect of returning to prison after 10 months of living at home. “I guess I’m not even really thinking about it,” he said. “I hadn’t even wrapped my mind around it.” Fulton was sentenced under the 100-to-1 crack versus powder cocaine sentencing guidelines, which were established by the Anti-Drug Abuse Acts of 1986 and 1988 and relate to the amount of crack versus powder cocaine necessary to trigger mandatory minimum prison sentences. Under the sentencing guidelines, possession of five grams of crack cocaine mandates the same minimum sentence as 500 grams of powder cocaine, which resulted in significantly disparate outcomes for African Americans. In 2010, the Fair Sentencing Act reduced the mandatory minimum sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine from 100-to-1 to about 18-to-1. Then in 2018, the First Step Act, which provides retroactive sentence reductions to people imprisoned under the 100-to-1 crack cocaine disparity, was signed into law. A judge has denied Fulton’s request for a sentence reduction. He appealed the decision in February, and the case is pending. After his release, Fulton launched “Life In The Feds,” a website and online community aimed at giving the public an inside look into what serving time via home confinement is like. Fulton’s more than 18,000 followers on Tik Tok have been able to share the special moments that followed his release, including his first walk with his mom in 17 years. “I’m hoping that people could see maybe this could be the new criminal justice reform,” he said. “This beats being behind the fence. I can’t go and come like I want, but I’m not subject to communal bathrooms, communal showers… This is a peek into [the lives of] people who return home from federal prison.” No recidivism and no expense Of the 24,000 prisoners released under the CARES Act, only three have committed new crimes, according to the Bureau of Prisons. About 150 people were returned to prison for violating conditions of their release, including leaving home without authorization. “If a person has not committed a new crime, what is wrong with letting him continue out his sentence and enjoy his family and be a productive member of society?” Holmes questioned. For decades, home confinement has been floated as a viable alternative to the current overcrowded prison system, especially for nonviolent offenders. The U.S. is the world leader in incarceration and spends $80 billion a year to keep over two million people locked up. In 2018, Americans paid nearly $38,000 to keep the average federal prisoner behind bars, but as Fulton pointed out, serving a sentence via home confinement is far more cost-effective. “They’re saving $40,000 a year in taxpayer money,” Fulton said. “I’m out here working, I’m out here paying taxes.” Holmes also acknowledged the economic upsides to a reformed criminal justice system. “They’re being productive, they’re paying taxes. They’re adding to the tax pool, they’re actually contributing to society. When they go inside now they’re on the dole of the taxpayer so to speak,” he said. “There has to be some compassion in some of this stuff to make it flow better and work better. We just don’t have that right now.” Biden has promised to refashion the criminal justice system by expanding restorative justice programs and cutting incarceration rates by “more than” half, he told a voter in 2019. White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates reiterated the administration’s commitment to prison reform amid calls for Biden to grant clemency to those released as the number of people in federal prison continues to grow under his presidency. “President Biden is committed to reducing incarceration and helping people reenter society. As he has said, too many Americans are incarcerated, and too many are Black and Brown,” Bates said. “His administration is focused on reforming our justice system in order to strengthen families, boost our economy, and give people a chance at a better future.” This column is in response to an April 30, 2015 Star Tribune story “Behind bars, a news camera ban in Minnesota.” I don't know if you have any interest in hearing an inmate's perspective on this new policy [banning news cameras from prisons], but staying quiet seems like a bad… Prisons are notoriously dangerous places during a viral outbreak, and incarcerated people have been left at the mercy of those at the helm of correctional facilities across the country. The high number of COVID-19 cases recently found in Minnesota prisons has raised questions about whether enough is being done by Department of Corrections .
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Famous Person - Commit Crime - Release
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Hazon and Pearlstone Announce Merger; Jakir Manela Named As New CEO
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Becky O'Brien July 8, 2021 News Comments Off on Hazon and Pearlstone Announce Merger; Jakir Manela Named As New CEO Hazon, the largest faith-based environmental organization in the U.S., and Pearlstone, one of the largest Jewish retreat centers and Jewish outdoor education sites in North America, announced today that their boards of directors have unanimously approved a proposal to merge the two organizations, with Jakir Manela serving as the inaugural CEO. This impactful new organization will lead the JOFEE (Jewish Outdoor Food Farming & Environmental Education) movement and the field of Jewish retreating for years to come. The new national organization will be called Hazon, with Pearlstone serving as national headquarters based in Baltimore and with offices in New York and additional major impact hubs at Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center in Connecticut and Hazon in Detroit. Both Pearlstone and Hazon have struck a deep chord engaging young children to senior citizens in immersive experiences integrating Jewish wisdom and inspiration, food and farm, song and spirit, community, sustainability, and justice. The shared mission is to lead a transformative movement deeply weaving sustainability into the fabric of Jewish life, in order to create a healthier, more sustainable, and more equitable world for all. Through its own programs and a wide range of strategic partnerships, the merged organization will work to catalyze culture change locally, nationally, and globally. The combined organization will manage an estimated $12 million budget, over 200 staff, and will directly engage nearly 50,000 program participants annually. The merger is not premised on any job losses, and after extensive due diligence with our merger consultants at La Piana, leadership from both organizations expect the combined entity to be more impactful with integrated staff, systems, and programming. The first board chair will be Marina Lewin of New York and the vice chair will be Aaron Max of Baltimore. Nigel Savage The idea for this merger arose as Nigel Savage, Hazon’s founder and CEO, told the Hazon board in the summer of 2020 that he wanted to step down as CEO by August 2021. “Nigel founded Hazon 21 years ago, and under his leadership Hazon has steadily grown, evolved and thrived” says Marina Lewin, board chair of Hazon. “He steps down as CEO with our great gratitude, and great blessings for the future.” And at this point in Hazon’s history, we are delighted to welcome Jakir Manela, one of the outstanding leaders of this generation, as our next CEO. In his hands, the combined organization is entering the post-Covid era with a stable and growing team, strong programmatic momentum, growing revenues, and in solid financial shape.” Emile Bendit, Pearlstone’s board chair, said, “It is clear that Pearlstone and Hazon have deeply shared values, vision, mission, and culture. We have felt great resonance and alignment throughout the merger exploration and negotiations process, and we are all truly thrilled to see this merger come to fruition.” Jakir Manela Prior to becoming the Executive Director of Pearlstone in 2012, Jakir Manela was a recognized leader in the Jewish sustainability movement. Manela was trained at Isabella Freedman as a Teva Jewish outdoor environmental educator and then went on to launch Kayam Farm at Pearlstone in 2007. “Teva, Isabella Freedman, Hazon, and Pearlstone have changed my life in profound ways, and I’m now deeply inspired to help lead a movement that can change many more lives now and into the future.” says incoming CEO, Jakir Manela. “The JOFEE movement (Jewish Outdoor, Food, Farming & Environmental Education) is truly one of the most powerful forces in American Jewish life today, and together we are poised for exponential impact and culture change moving forward. None of this would be possible without Nigel’s visionary leadership, and I’m honored to take over the leadership of Hazon from someone who’s been a friend, a partner and a mentor for many years.” In a joint statement, founders Richie Pearlstone & Josh Fidler, past board chair P.J. Pearlstone, and President & CEO of the Associated Jewish Community of Baltimore, Marc Terrill, said: “We’ve watched Pearlstone go from an idea to a retreat center to a thriving institution that we have long believed has significance beyond the boundaries of the Baltimore Jewish community. We are thrilled that Pearlstone will now be the home of what we expect and intend will become one of the most exciting institutions in American Jewish life in the coming decade and beyond.” Nigel Savage, Hazon’s outgoing CEO, said, “I’m obviously deeply committed to Hazon. I’ve been to many retreats at Pearlstone and have watched it grow and thrive under Jakir’s leadership. I believe strongly in this merger, and it has been my very great pleasure to say privately to both boards and both staffs, and now very publicly, that I am simply thrilled that Jakir will be CEO of this new merged enterprise. I have known him, admired him and respected him for twenty years, and he has my full and complete support, now and in the future.” Nigel Savage will continue in a new part-time role with Hazon, based in Israel starting in January 2022. Beginning August 1, 2021, Jakir Manela will assume leadership in working with each board and staff to maximize our collective impact, begin operational integration, and work towards final merger closing in 2022.
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Organization Merge
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Burning of Washington
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The Burning of Washington was a British invasion of Washington City (now Washington, D.C.), the capital of the United States, during the Chesapeake Campaign of the War of 1812. To this date, it remains the only time since the American Revolutionary War that a foreign power has captured and occupied the capital of the United States. Following the defeat of American forces at the Battle of Bladensburg on August 24, 1814, a British force led by Major General Robert Ross marched to Washington. That night, British forces set fire to multiple government and military buildings, including the White House (then called the Presidential Mansion), the Capitol building, as well as other facilities of the U.S. government. [4] The attack was in part a retaliation for the recent American destruction of Port Dover in Upper Canada, as well as American forces burning and looting the capital of Upper Canada the previous year. [5] Less than a day after the attack began, a heavy thunderstorm —possibly a hurricane — and a tornado extinguished the fires. The occupation of Washington lasted for roughly 26 hours, and what the British plans were beyond the damage are still a subject of debate. President James Madison, military officials, and his government evacuated and were able to find refuge for the night in Brookeville, a small town in Montgomery County, Maryland; President Madison spent the night in the house of Caleb Bentley, a Quaker who lived and worked in Brookeville. Bentley's house, known today as the Madison House, still exists. Following the storm, the British returned to their ships, many of which required repairs due to the storm. The British government, already at war with Napoleonic France, adopted a defensive strategy against the United States when the Americans declared war in 1812. Reinforcements were held back from Canada and reliance was instead made on local militias and native allies to bolster the British Army in Canada. However, after the defeat and exile of Napoleon Bonaparte in April 1814, Britain was able to use its now available troops and ships to prosecute its war with the United States. The Earl of Bathurst, Secretary of State for War and the Colonies, dispatched an army brigade and additional naval vessels to Bermuda, from where a blockade of the US coast and even the occupation of some coastal islands had been overseen throughout the war. It was decided to use these forces in raids along the Atlantic seaboard to draw American forces away from Canada. [6]
The commanders were under strict orders, however, not to carry out operations far inland, or to attempt to hold territory. Early in 1814, Vice Admiral Sir Alexander Cochrane had been appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Navy's North America and West Indies Station, controlling naval forces based at the new Bermuda dockyard and the Halifax Naval Yard which were used to blockade US Atlantic ports throughout the war. He planned to carry the war into the United States by attacks in Virginia and against New Orleans. [7]
Rear Admiral George Cockburn had commanded the squadron in Chesapeake Bay since the previous year. On June 25, he wrote to Cochrane stressing that the defenses there were weak, and he felt that several major cities were vulnerable to attack. [8] Cochrane suggested attacking Baltimore, Washington, and Philadelphia. Rear Admiral Cockburn accurately predicted that "within a short period of time, with enough force, we could easily have at our mercy the capital". [9] He had recommended Washington as the target, because of the comparative ease of attacking the national capital and "the greater political effect likely to result". [10]
Major General Ross was less optimistic. He "never dreamt for one minute that an army of 3,500 men with 1,000 marines reinforcement, with no cavalry, hardly any artillery, could march 50 miles inland and capture an enemy capital", according to CBC News. [11] Ross also refused to accept Cockburn's recommendation to burn the entire city. He spared nearly all of the privately owned properties. [12]
Major General Ross commanded the 4,500-man army in Washington, composed of the 4th (King's Own) Regiment of Foot, 21st (Royal North British Fusilier) Regiment of Foot, 44th (East Essex) Regiment of Foot, and 85th Regiment of Foot. An added motive was retaliation for what Britain saw as the "wanton destruction of private property along the north shores of Lake Erie" by American forces under Col. John Campbell in May, the most notable being the Raid on Port Dover. [13] On June 2, Sir George Prévost, Governor General of British North America wrote to Cochrane at Admiralty House, in Bailey's Bay, Bermuda, calling for a retaliation against the American destruction of private property in violation of the laws of war. Prévost argued that,
in consequence of the late disgraceful conduct of the American troops in the wanton destruction of private property on the north shores of Lake Erie, in order that if the war with the United States continues you may, should you judge it advisable, assist in inflicting that measure of retaliation which shall deter the enemy from a repetition of similar outrages. [13]
Many sources also suggest that the attack on Washington was motivated by revenge for the looting of York in Upper Canada, the provincial capital,[5] after the Battle of York in April 1813. Research completed by The Washington Post, however rebuts that claim. "The earlier arson of parliament buildings in York was not raised as a justification until months later, after the British faced criticism at home and abroad for burning buildings in Washington". Earlier, the British had filed complaints only about the "wanton destruction" along the Niagara region and Lake Erie. [14]
On July 18, Cochrane ordered Cockburn to "deter the enemy from a repetition of similar outrages ... You are hereby required and directed to destroy and lay waste such towns and districts as you may find assailable". [15] Cochrane instructed, "You will spare merely the lives of the unarmed inhabitants of the United States". Ross and Cockburn surveyed the torching of the President's Mansion, during which time a great storm arose unexpectedly out of the southeast. They were confronted a number of times while on horseback by older women from around Washington City and elderly clergymen (Southern Presbyterian and Southern Baptist), with women and children who had been hiding in homes and churches. They requested protection from abuse and robbery by enlisted personnel from the British Expeditionary Forces whom they accused of having tried to ransack private homes and other buildings. Major-General Ross had two British soldiers put in chains for violation of his general order. Throughout the events of that day, a severe storm blew into the city, worsening on the night of August 24, 1814. [citation needed]
President James Madison, members of his government, and the military fled the city in the wake of the British victory at the Battle of Bladensburg. They eventually found refuge for the night in Brookeville, a small town in Montgomery County, Maryland, which is known today as the "United States' Capital for a Day." President Madison spent the night in the house of Caleb Bentley, a Quaker who lived and worked as a silversmith in Brookeville. Bentley's house, known today as the Madison House, still stands in Brookeville. [16]
The sappers and miners of the Corps of Royal Engineers under Captain Blanshard were employed in burning the principal buildings. Blanshard reported that it seemed that the American President was so sure that the attacking force would be made prisoners that a handsome entertainment had been prepared. Blanshard and his sappers enjoyed the feast.
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Fire
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North-east men tell their stories this Movember
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Handlebar, walrus or pencil style. You might notice that the men in your life suddenly start sprouting facial hair over the coming weeks.
No, it’s not a protest against shaving, but rather the global movement which is Movember.
Although Movember is now the leading men’s health charity, it originated in 2003 when Travis Garone and Luke Slattery asked people to bring back the moustache, in Melbourne, Australia.
Thirty people answered the hairy call, and a campaign concerning men’s health emerged.
Fast forward to today, and their message could not be more poignant, with the charity aiming to reduce the number of men dying prematurely by 25% – with a deadline of 2030.
Campaigners believe our fathers, brothers, partners and sons are facing a health crisis.
Globally, on average, one man dies by suicide every minute of every day.
Three out of four suicides in the UK are by men, and last year in Scotland that figure stood at 71%.
Alongside mental health and suicide prevention, Movember is also tackling testicular and prostate cancer.
One in eight men in the UK will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetime, while testicular cancer is the most common cancer for young men.
The issues facing men’s health are clearly complex, from reluctance to go to the GP to breaking down the stereotype of “manning up” and getting on with things.
your life spoke to three men across the north-east who have battled demons, be that through a mental or physical diagnosis.
This is their story.
How do you define a dark place where the mind wanders, and a heavy cloud descends?
For 34-year-old Joe Hanlon, the signs first appeared in childhood, although he had no idea anything was wrong until around four years ago.
It took a series of panic attacks many years later for Joe to realise that mental ill-health was always there in the background.
From childhood bullying to fear of lateness, it would take many years before Joe was not only listened to, but diagnosed and given life-changing help.
He is a proud father to his four-year-old daughter, and loving husband to his childhood sweetheart.
Joe also lives with anxiety and depression, and believes that if he can help just one person by telling his story, then it has been worth it.
Working 70-hour weeks was once the norm for Joe, who is now a principal electrical engineer.
He believes that poor mental health is rife in the oil and gas industry, and research shows that workers suffer from anxiety and depression more frequently than the general population.
“Around five or six years ago, I thought my mental health was OK,” says Joe.
“But looking back, I can see the beginning.
“At the time we thought we might not be able to have a family, due to my wife’s mental health and medication she was taking.
“So the thought of a baby was shelved, as there were no studies either way which showed if medication could have any impact.
“Around the same time was the oil crash, so there was that running concurrently with the idea of starting a family – and whether or not we could even afford it when I was in and out of consultation.
“I was pulling 70-hour weeks, working on this multi-billion-dollar project. One night I came across an issue, although it wasn’t my doing. At the time it felt like I should have identified it earlier.
It must have been 11pm and I was still working, I had a panic attack.
“When I told work about the problem the next day, they were full of praise that I had spotted it and I felt so daft.”
Joe went to his GP as he was also suffering from heart palpitations. He believes his concerns were brushed off, before he was seen by a junior doctor.
“I was in floods of tears, all this stuff that I had never thought was a problem,” says Joe.
“Around the same time I had a cancer scare having gone for an offshore medical, so there was a lot going on.
I was put on tablets and felt immediately better. I think there is a sliding scale between anxiety and depression.
Looking back, I didn’t know at the time that a sore jaw could be a symptom of anxiety.
“I would panic if I was late for school, and I was also bullied because I was top of the class and considerably taller than everyone else.”
Joe has never found talking about mental health to be an issue, and taking medication gave him back control of both his personal and professional life.
Having stopped the tablets, Joe phoned his GP convinced he was having a heart attack.
“A lot of my anxiety is health-based and the fear of death,” he says.
“That actually improved once my daughter was born, even though she was born prematurely.
“Once I met her, I felt I had contributed something positive in life and that if I was to die, it would not be quite so bad.
“Parenthood is one hell of a challenge, and the nurses in the neonatal are the peak of humankind.
I remember singing to my daughter in the incubator and I was in floods of tears. There were all these alarms going off, and a nurse still took the time to come and talk to me.
“I was the first person to change my daughter’s nappy and tube feed her, it made me feel that I could be a dad.”
During lockdown, Joe reached a place mentally “without realising it” and considered taking his own life.
Again, he got help, and believes “meaningful change” is taking place in the oil and gas industry.
“There has been a couple of webinars with Man Chat, and there is a number we can call at work where we can talk anonymously,” says Joe.
“Whereas previously I didn’t want my line manager to know because I believed it would impact me negatively at work.
I don’t think it’s my duty to speak out now. But if I can help one person, well I think I am obliged to do that.
“There is no reason not to talk now, this is not the 1800s, and ever since I started speaking about mental health, I realised how prevalent it is in society.
“On a personal level, I think the most important thing is awareness. Of being aware when you are not PK.”
Twenty-nine-year-old Nathan Binnie echoes this sentiment, having put off going to the GP for one year after finding a testicular lump.
Nathan, who lives in Cove with his partner, Lewis, and the couple’s sausage dog, Arlo, was only 23 when he was diagnosed with testicular cancer.
He went on to receive the all-clear after having his testicle removed, and is now healthy and happy running his own air con business.
That does not mean to say that his diagnosis did not impact him mentally however, and Nathan hopes that by telling his story, he can encourage other people to go to their GP.
“I had found the lump one year prior to going to the GP,” says Nathan.
“I kept telling myself that it would just go away and I didn’t need to go and get checked.
I think there was a bit of embarrassment there, and I had never met anyone who had testicular cancer.
“When I finally went to the GP, I was told it was best to get myself booked in for a scan.”
Nathan was seen at The Albyn Hospital in Aberdeen in a bid to avoid joining a lengthy waiting list, but the scan and blood tests gave nothing away.
“It wasn’t very clear what was going on, but I had my testicle removed and a prosthetic fitted at the same,” says Nathan.
“It was then around a four to five week wait.”
The call came on December 23, where Nathan and his relieved family were told that although he had in fact had testicular cancer, the disease had not spread and no further treatment was needed.
“It was a type of tumour called an epidermoid which is very rare. It accounts for only one to two percent,” says Nathan.
“Everyone had been down in the dumps prior to getting the news. Then my family, my mum in particular, sprung into action.
“It was a case of getting Christmas sorted.”
Although it was the best news Nathan could have hoped for, he believes his struggles with mental health can be linked back to his experience.
“I remember I was actually raising money for Movember, and the irony was that I had a potential issue myself that I didn’t want to get checked,” he says.
I had a lot of anxiety in the run up to going to the GP, I think because I was scared I would be told that I had six months to live.
“It was my mum who noticed a change in me after diagnosis. I was in Newcastle working 16-17 hour days.
“I was put on anti-depressants, and after changing tablets I found they really helped.
“I still have my wobbly days, but previously I would just sit in my bedroom. My friends were sad when I told them I was on medication, because they had no idea.
“I had put a smile on, but they’ve been incredibly supportive.”
Nathan is now determined to raise awareness both of mental health and testicular cancer, and appeared in Brave in 2018.
The catwalk event saw men with a cancer or haematology diagnosis take to the stage in a fashion show organised by Friends of Anchor, which also hosts Courage on the Catwalk.
“It was the best experience I’ve ever had,” says Nathan.
“Fifty percent of us are still in touch and meet up regularly, whether we’ve recovered or are still going through treatment.
You never really see a bunch of guys in the pub talking about any issues. But what I would say is that it is your health and your life.
“Men need to know how to check their testicles properly, and what to look out for.
“Who knows what might have happened if I hadn’t gone and got checked.
“If I can bounce back from the dark, so can you.”
When Nathan was in hospital for his operation, he had a very special visitor thanks to his grandad, Billy Colbert.
The retired offshore construction supervisor suffered a heart attack, and was determined that he would still pay a visit to Nathan.
The pair both recovered well, until Billy was diagnosed with prostate cancer three years ago.
He believes that he comes from a generation of men who brush off health concerns, but with three grandsons he is hopeful that times are changing.
Nearly one in two men in Scotland is likely to get prostate disease at some stage in their lifetime, and one in 10 men is at risk of prostate cancer.
Prostate Scotland has been running since 2006, and provides various avenues of support for men with prostate cancer and their families.
The charity’s COMPASS Project offers specialists for face-to-face, phone or video-call appointments, to help men navigate prostate cancer. Maggie’s Highlands has also come on board, with a series of Living Well with prostate courses.
For Billy, he was able to get help when symptoms arose.
“I noticed I was urinating a lot, so I went to the doctor,” says Billy, 76, who lives in Cove.
“A biopsy of my prostate was taken, and I had to wait three months for the results.
The consultant came straight out with it and said I had cancer
Billy underwent 37 sessions of radiotherapy, followed by injections to reduce testosterone.
“It’s the testosterone which feeds the cancer,” says Billy.
“I found the injections very tiring. The only way I can describe it, is that it zaps your energy and takes all your strength away.
“I get my blood checked every three weeks, and everything seems to be OK now.
“I was in it for the long haul though. When I was having radiotherapy, I met lads who had no symptoms at all, yet had prostate cancer.
“I had never even heard of it before I was diagnosed.”
Billy believes that more awareness needs to be raised, with men over 60 targeted.
“Even if you don’t have symptoms, get checked,” says Billy.
“I think older men just think to themselves, oh it’ll be alright.
There should be some kind of screening. It’s a harrowing disease, and in my case it was just outside the prostate.
“That’s when the problems start. Always go to your GP, it’s worth it.”
Visit Movember for more information. If you are struggling with mental health, contact Samaritans by phoning 116 123, or Man Chat on Facebook @ManChatABZ
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Famous Person - Sick
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Ohio River flood of 1937
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The Ohio River flood of 1937 took place in late January and February 1937. With damage stretching from Pittsburgh to Cairo, Illinois, 385 people died, one million people were left homeless and property losses reached $500 million ($8.723 billion when adjusted for inflation as of January 2019). Federal and state resources were strained to aid recovery as the disaster occurred during the depths of the Great Depression and a few years after the beginning of the Dust Bowl. [1]
A handful of powerhouse radio stations, including WLW Cincinnati and WHAS Louisville, quickly switched to non-stop news coverage, transmitting commercial-free for weeks. These broadcasts consisted mostly of messages being relayed to rescue crews, as many civil agencies had no other means of communication. The Regionalist painter Thomas Hart Benton was commissioned by The Kansas City Star and St. Louis Post-Dispatch newspapers to provide sketches depicting the miserable conditions of the flooded areas in the Missouri Bootheel region. [5]
When it became obvious that the river would cut the electric power to radio station WHAS—thus cutting the last radio voice in Louisville—the rival clear channel station in Nashville, WSM, picked up WHAS's broadcast via telephone and broadcast emergency flood reports for three days for the lower Ohio River. Other stations across the country did much the same. Around January 18, Huntington, WV radio station WSAZ (1190 AM) began hourly broadcasts of flood related news. On January 22, the station received permission from the Federal Communications Committee to broadcast around the clock. The studios and offices in the downtown Keith-Albee Theatre Building became a regional communications center. They established direct telephonic communication with the city's general relief headquarters in City Hall with Red Cross, the Naval Reserve, the American Legion, the police and fire departments, and the Coast Guard. Messages of inquiry concerning the safety of friends and relatives, warnings of rising gasoline-covered waters, appeals for help from marooned victims, orders to relief agencies and workers poured into the cramped studios and quickly broadcast. Staff and local volunteers stayed on the air and provided information and support for nine days until 8:00 o'clock the following Sunday night, Jan. 31, when the station's regular schedule was resumed. [6]
In January 1937, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, District Engineer, MAJ Bernard Smith dispatched an entire fleet down the Cumberland River for rescue and relief work in response to the severe flooding. The bridges were too low to allow the vessels to pass under, so the vessels were forced to steam across farmland and bridge approaches, dodging telephone and power lines. [7]
The federal government under President Franklin D. Roosevelt sent thousands of area WPA workers to the affected cities to aid in rescue and recovery. It also sent supplies for food and temporary housing, and millions of dollars in aid after the floodwaters receded. The scale of the 1937 flood was so unprecedented that civic and industrial groups lobbied national authorities to create a comprehensive plan for flood control. The plan involved creating more than seventy storage reservoirs to reduce Ohio River flood heights. Not fully completed by the Army Corps of Engineers until the early 1940s, the new facilities have drastically reduced flood damages since. In the 1930s, the Tennessee Valley Authority sought to create a continuous minimum 9-foot (2.7 m) channel along the entirety of the Tennessee River from Paducah to Knoxville. The Authority also sought to help control flooding on the lower Mississippi River, especially in the aftermath of the Ohio River flood of 1937, as research had shown that 4% of the water in the lower Mississippi River originates in the Tennessee River watershed. TVA surveyed the lower part of the river and considered the Aurora Landing site, but eventually settled on the present site at river mile 22.4. The Kentucky Dam project was authorized on May 23, 1938, and construction began July 1, 1938. [8]
Much of the work of the Tennessee Valley Authority in the Tennessee River basin was strongly supported by the majority of the citizens in western Kentucky and their representatives in the United States Congress. U.S. Sen. Alben W. Barkley of Paducah and U.S. Rep. William Gregory from Mayfield and his brother U.S. Rep. Noble Gregory from Mayfield who succeeded him in office strongly supported the funding of TVA and its role in addressing flood control, soil conservation, family relocation, recreation, production of electricity, and economic development. [9]
Six to 12 inches (300 mm) of rain fell in Ohio during January 13–25, 1937, totals never before or since equaled over such a large area of Ohio. January 1937 remains as the wettest month ever recorded in Cincinnati. [10]
One hundred thousand people in Cincinnati were left homeless, as the flood affected the city from January 18 to February 5. The river reached its peak on January 26, at 79.9 feet (24.4 m), more than 25 feet (7.6 m) higher than flood stage. [11] Ohio River levels on January 26–27 were the highest known from Gallipolis downstream past Cincinnati. Crests were 20 to 28 feet (8.5 m) above flood stage and 4 to 9 feet (2.7 m) above the previous record of 1884. 12 square miles (31 km2) of the city's area was flooded,[12] the water supply was cut, and streetcar service was curtailed. Among the flooded structures was Crosley Field, home field of the Cincinnati Reds baseball team. Additionally, the amusement park Coney Island was submerged, causing pieces of carousel horses to float away, which were recovered as far downriver as Paducah. [13]
According the several local historians, the town of Gallipolis was completely submerged as high as the mound hill cemetery overlook, and many rumors regarding the curse of Lafayette's Gold Treasure buried by slaves on Gallipolis Island began to surface around the town. At Portsmouth, the rising river threatened to top the flood wall, erected 10 feet (3.0 m) above flood stage. City officials deliberately opened the flood gates and allowed river water to flood the business district 8 to 10 feet (3.0 m) deep, thus preventing a catastrophic breaching of the flood wall. The Ohio River eventually crested 14 feet (4.3 m) over the top of the flood wall. Ten people died, many fewer than the 467 killed in the floods of March 1913. The river rose to a record 53.74 feet (16.38 m), which was 19 feet (5.8 m) above flood stage, and sent water over the six-month-old riverfront plaza in Evansville. The city and state declared martial law on January 24 and the federal government sent 4,000 WPA workers to the city to assist rescue operations. [14] Residents were rapidly evacuated from river towns by train and bus in the early stages of the flood, making Indiana the only state to avoid drowning fatalities. More than 100,000 persons were left homeless by the disaster. The WPA workers led the cleanup of the city. The Evansville Merchants Retail Bureau took out newspaper ads to praise their work:[2]
Before and during the flood these men of WPA were active in salvaging property and saving lives, and immediately afterward they handled the cleanup job with such efficiency that many visitors were amazed that there was practically no evidence of the flood left throughout our entire city. All honor and gratitude is due to the rank and file of the WPA for their often almost super-human efforts, always giving their best in the interest of humanity. The Red Cross and federal government spent the equivalent of $11 million in today's money in aid to the city. The Indiana State Flood Commission was created in response, and it established the Evansville-Vanderburgh Levee Authority District, which built a system of earth levees, concrete walls, and pumping stations to protect the city.
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Floods
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1895 Quchan earthquake
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The 1895 Quchan earthquake occurred at about 11:30 local time (08:30 UTC) on 17 January. It had an estimated magnitude of 6.8 on the surface wave magnitude scale and a maximum perceived intensity of VIII (Severe) on the Mercalli intensity scale. It caused severe damage in Quchan County, particularly to the town of Quchan itself and there were an estimated 1,000–11,000 casualties. It was the last in a sequence of major damaging earthquakes that struck the area between 1851 and 1895. [2]
The Kopet Dag mountain range lies at the northern edge of the complex zone of deformation caused by the continuing collision of the Arabian Plate with the Eurasian Plate. To the west it links with the Caucasus Mountains through the Caspian Sea. There is currently about 3 mm per year of shortening across the Kopet Dag as a whole. [3] The Quchan Fault zone, trending NNW-SSE, is one of a set of active right lateral strike-slip faults that accommodate part of the shortening across the Kopet Dag and extension along its length. It has an estimated displacement rate of about 1.5 mm per year. The damage areas of the sequence of earthquakes that affected the Quchan area between 1851 and 1895 follow the projected path of the Quchan fault and its likely continuation as a thrust fault in the Atrak valley, where it forms a surface anticline. [2]
The 1895 earthquake was preceded by a group of four foreshocks that were felt in Mashhad over a period of three days. The area affected by this earthquake was very similar to that affected by the 1893 shock. [1]
The town of Quchan, newly rebuilt after the 1893 earthquake, was again devastated by the 1895 shock. The Imamzadeh of Sultan Ibrahim, which survived the earlier earthquake with some damage, collapsed completely. 600 people were trapped in a mosque that collapsed and a similar number were killed in public baths. The houses that had been rebuilt after 1893 were again ruined, but their lighter construction meant that there were far fewer casualties. The foreshocks may also have provided warning. [1]
Initial attempts to move Quchan to a new location following the earthquake caused rioting. Only after the governor was replaced was the town moved about 10 km to the east, although some families refused to leave their farms and rebuilt their houses in the old location. [4] The new site is, however, still within the epicentral area of the 1893 and 1895 earthquakes. [2]
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Earthquakes
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Jaden Lohrengel, Tyler Ellis Dead in Crash on Sitkum-Solduc Road [Forks, WA]
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FORKS, WA (September 22, 2021) – Authorities identified Jaden Lohrengel, Tyler Ellis and one other teen as the fatal victims in a solo-car crash on Sitkum-Solduc Road. The deadly crash occurred shortly after 4 a.m. Saturday, September 18 on mile five of the Sitkum-Solduc Road. According to the CHP, the driver, Jaden Lohrengel, was traveling at least 70 miles an hour when they went off the roadway and slammed into a tree. Due to the impact of the crash, Lohrengel and his front-seat passenger, Ellis, were killed on the scene. Medics then airlifted three other teens to the hospital, where, one of them tragically died at the hospital. While, the remaining two teens, sustained moderate to major injuries. Officers found open containers of alcohol in the vehicle. Authorities believe that the teens were coming home from a high school football game. At this time, no other further information were released. However, the Forks Police continue to investigate the fatal crash. Sweet James would like to send their sincere condolences to the loved ones of Jaden Lohrengel, Tyler Ellis, and the deceased teenager. Losing a loved one in an accident can have devastating effects on the emotional and financial well-being of those left behind. Let the wrongful death attorneys at Sweet James help you during this trying time. With 20 years of experience in the field, they know what it takes to help you win your case. All of them at Sweet James strongly believe each client’s case is unique and deserves full individual attention. They will fight to achieve the justice and compensation that you and your family deserve. Call them today at (800) 975-3435 for a free and confidential case evaluation. They are available 24 hours a day and 7 days a week through email, text, and online chat. Click here to request a police report.
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Road Crash
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2021 Columbia University strike
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The 2021 Columbia University strike was a labor strike at Columbia University in New York City. The strike, which began on March 15, 2021, was between the Graduate Workers of Columbia–United Auto Workers Local 2110, a labor union representing student workers at the university. This union was formed in December 2016 and has had a contentious relationship with the university since its founding, with the university only agreeing to recognize the union in 2019. That same year, the union and university began to negotiate a labor contract, but disagreements between the two entities has prevented an agreement from being made. The main issue concerns union recognition, with the university recognizing only fully-funded doctoral students as union members, while the union also recognizes master's students and undergraduate teaching assistants as members. Additional issues included disagreements over health benefits and child care, among others. While the union voted in March 2020 to authorize strike action, these plans were postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, in February 2021, still without a labor contract, the union announced their intent to strike the following month. The strike began on March 15 as an open-ended strike action, with no set end date. The strike coincided with a tuition strike that had been coordinated by the local chapter of the Young Democratic Socialists of America. Picketing and other forms of protest were held at numerous Columbia locations throughout New York City, and multiple elected officials and politicians announced their support for the strikers. On April 19, a contract proposal was submitted for ratification by the union members, but it was rejected in a rank-and-file vote. Following this, a vote was held in early May to determine the future of the strike, with a majority of voters choosing to end the strike, which officially ended on May 13. In a 2018 article, The New York Times stated that "[t]he question of whether graduate students at private universities can unionize has seesawed for years, depending, in part, on the political leanings of the members of the National Labor Relations Board. "[1] In 2000, the board ruled in favor of allowing graduate students at New York University (NYU) to unionize, leading to a surge in similar unionization at several American universities. However, in a 2004 ruling regarding a labor union at Brown University, the board reversed its decision and ruled that teaching assistants are not covered under federal labor law. [2] In 2016, the board would again reverse its decision in a case involving a unionization effort at Columbia University in New York City. [3] In December of that year, following the ruling, graduate students at the university voted 1,602 to 623 to unionize with the United Auto Workers (UAW), with approximately 3,500 graduate students as part of this new union,[4] called the Graduate Workers of Columbia–United Auto Workers (GWC–UAW) Local 2110. [1] Shortly afterwards, the university appealed to the board, which found that the vote had been fair and that the union should be recognized. [5] In January 2018, the university stated they would not bargain with the union, prompting legal proceedings in a federal appeals court. [5] In April, the union performed a one week strike over the university's refusal to recognize them. [1][6][7] By 2019, Columbia had agreed to recognize the union. [8]
Starting in 2019, the union and university began to negotiate over their first labor contract,[9] with the union's bargaining unit meeting with university officials for the first time on February 26 of that year. [9] However, after over a year, no agreement had been reached between the two parties. [9] The main point of contention between the two groups was on the issue of union recognition, as the university recognized only doctoral students who were fully funded as union members, while the union also recognized students pursuing a master's degree and undergraduate students working as teaching assistants as well. [9] In addition to expanded recognition, the union was also seeking expanded health benefits and increased subsidies for child care. In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, the union was also pushing for a one year extension for PhD students. [9] In March 2020, the union voted 1,833 to 77 in favor of strike action against the university. [9][10] However, due to the pandemic, plans for the strike were postponed, and the university and union continued to negotiate. [10]
Starting in January 2021, a large group of primarily undergraduate students at Columbia began an unrelated tuition strike, seeking both a decrease in the cost of tuition and an increase in student financial aid during the pandemic. [11] The strike was in large part organized by the local chapter of the Young Democratic Socialists of America (YDSA), who also supported the GWC–UAW and was working with them in their contract negotiations,[11] with full recognition of the union being an additional demand of the tuition strike. [9] During the strike, a deadline of February 25 was instated, after which point, if no agreement between the union and university had been made, the union would prepare for strike action. [11] On February 25, with no agreement in place after 64 bargaining sessions,[12] union members gathered on the steps of the Low Memorial Library and announced their intent to begin striking on March 15. [13][9] At the time of the announcement, an article in the Columbia Daily Spectator stated that "[a]bout 10 demands" were still being discussed, with full union recognition being chief among them. [9] U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez showed her support for the union by sending coffee and doughnuts to the GWC–UAW members,[9] while additional support was voiced by New York City Council member Mark Levine. [13] On March 8, interim provost Ira Katznelson sent an open letter addressing the strike notice, claiming that, while both sides were working towards an agreement, the union's demands for wage increases were "neither reasonable nor responsible in present circumstances". [14] An article in The Chronicle of Higher Education criticized Katznelson's approach to the situation, calling his stance hypocritical based on his previous involvement with the labor movement and even calling him a "labor sympathizer". [15] A March 11 article in the Spectator reported that the union and university were still holding bargaining sessions in an attempt to avoid the strike action, though the 10 points of contention were still unaddressed at that point. [12] The last day of official bargaining discussions between the two groups was on March 12. [10]
On March 15, with no agreement between the university and union, the strike officially began,[16][17] affecting an approximate 3,000 members of the GWC–UAW. [10][18] A GoFundMe page was set up to serve as a strike fund, which raised US$57,000 that first day. [16] Picketing commenced at several locations around the university, including at College Walk and at the intersection of Broadway and 116th Street. [18] Starting on March 17,[19] additional picketing took place at the Columbia University Irving Medical Center in Washington Heights, with additional picketing scheduled over the next several days at the Jerome L. Greene Science Center. [7] On March 18, picketing expanded to the part of the university in Manhattanville. [19] Over the course of the first week of the strike, multiple elected officials and candidates voiced their support for the strike, including 2021 New York City mayoral candidates Maya Wiley and Scott Stringer (who is also the current New York City Comptroller[7]), New York City Council member Brad Lander, and Manhattan District Attorney candidate Eliza Orlins, among others. [19] Additionally, the Spectator reported that numerous undergraduate students were in support of the strike, including the class of 2024 class president. [20] On March 18, union and university representatives met over Zoom for a bargaining session, during which the Spectator reported, "tensions were higher than usual". [21] By the end of the first week of the strike, the Spectator was claiming that both sides were considering outside mediation to help in the negotiations. [21] The next meeting between the two groups at this time was scheduled for March 23. [21] On March 19, the graduate union for NYU announced that they would be holding a vote to authorize strike action against their respective university, with the GWC–UAW announcing their support.
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Strike
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Singer Beck will have to let go of numerous art pieces, real estate, along with paying $32,000 a month for his divorce
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Singer Beck will have to let go of numerous art pieces, real estate, along with paying $32,000 a month for his divorce.
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Singer Beck and Marissa Ribisi were married for 15 years before filing for divorce in 2019. Like many other celebrity divorces, this one got a bit messy, and there were a slew of details to be negotiated and agreed upon before it was finalized. A judge has finally just signed off on the divorce papers, officially making Beck a single man again, but his newfound freedom came at a very hefty price. The musician may be free from his marriage and able to move on in the relationship realm, but his finances and personal collections of valuables are taking a huge hit. This divorce settlement forces Beck to give up some expensive real estate, priceless artwork, and a whole lot of money each month. TMZ reports that there were a lot of expensive items that were just recently divided up in order to make this divorce final.
RELATED: Kaley Cuoco's Divorce From Billionaire Karl Cook Protected By Iron-Clad Prenup
Celebrities are known to face difficult divorces when their relationships go sour. There's a lot to decide on when it comes to the division of property and valuable items, which can be exceptionally difficult to agree on during a time of marital conflict.
Of course, the rich and famous have a whole lot more at stake than the average person does, and Beck can attest to how complicated this all can be.
His divorce is forcing Beck to relinquish a grand total of 5 exclusive and wildly expensive Banksy art pieces to his ex-wife, and Beck is only getting to keep 4 for himself. Among the four that will remain in his possession are; Hunters and Sale Ends Today.
During the division of property and valuables, real estate was a huge focus. There were multiple properties owned by the couple during their marriage, and Beck is walking away with more property than Marissa is. He gets to keep the property they once shared in Los Angeles, Malibu, Memphis and Little Rock, and was ordered to issue a $500,000 payment to Marissa to balance out the fact that he kept those properties.
A post shared by Beck (@beck)
Marissa will retain some of the funds in their mutual bank account and gets to literally drive away in the 2014 Honda Odyssey, which now belongs exclusively to her.
Perhaps the most painful part of this divorce settlement is the ongoing support that Beck is going to be obligated to upkeep. The judgment demands that Beck pay Marissa $18,169 each month in spousal support, and more will be deemed necessary if he earns more than $1.7 million in a one-year time span. He is also obligated to pay $14,531 per month to Marissa for child support.
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Famous Person - Divorce
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US Airways Flight 1549 crash
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On January 15, 2009, US Airways Flight 1549, an Airbus A320 on a flight from New York City's LaGuardia Airport to Charlotte, North Carolina, struck a flock of birds shortly after take-off, losing all engine power. Unable to reach any airport for an emergency landing due to their low altitude, pilots Chesley Sullenberger and Jeffrey Skiles glided the plane to a ditching in the Hudson River off Midtown Manhattan. [1] All 155 people on board were rescued by nearby boats, with a few serious injuries. This water landing of a powerless jetliner became known as the "Miracle on the Hudson",[2] and a National Transportation Safety Board official described it as "the most successful ditching in aviation history". [3] The Board rejected the notion that the pilot could have avoided ditching by returning to LaGuardia or diverting to nearby Teterboro Airport. The pilots and flight attendants were awarded the Master's Medal of the Guild of Air Pilots and Air Navigators in recognition of their "heroic and unique aviation achievement". [4]
On January 15, 2009, US Airways Flight 1549[a] with call sign 'Cactus 1549' was scheduled to fly from New York City's LaGuardia Airport (LGA) to Charlotte Douglas (CLT), with direct onward service to Seattle–Tacoma International Airport. The aircraft was an Airbus A320-214 powered by two GE Aviation/Snecma-designed CFM56-5B4/P turbofan engines. [5][b]
The captain and pilot in command was 57-year-old Chesley 'Sully' Sullenberger, a former fighter pilot who had been an airline pilot since leaving the United States Air Force in 1980. At the time, he had logged 19,663 total flight hours, including 4,765 in an A320; he was also a glider pilot and expert on aviation safety. First officer Jeffrey Skiles, 49, had accrued 20,727 career flight hours with 37 in an A320,[12]:8–9 but this was his first A320 assignment as pilot flying. [13] There were 150 passengers and three flight attendants on board.
The flight was cleared for takeoff to the northeast from LaGuardia's Runway 4 at 3:24:56 pm Eastern Standard Time (20:24:56 UTC). With Skiles in control, the crew made its first report after becoming airborne at 3:25:51 as being at 700 feet (210 m) and climbing. [16]
The weather at 2:51 p.m. was 10 miles (16 km) visibility with broken clouds at 3,700 feet (1,100 m), wind 8 knots (15 km/h; 9.2 mph) from 290°; an hour later it was few clouds at 4,200 feet (1,300 m), wind 9 knots (17 km/h; 10 mph) from 310°. [12]:24 At 3:26:37 Sullenberger remarked to Skiles: "What a view of the Hudson today. "[17]
At 3:27:11 during climbout, the plane struck a flock of Canada geese at an altitude of 2,818 feet (859 m) about 4.5 miles (7.2 km) north-northwest of LaGuardia. The pilots' view was filled with the large birds;[18] passengers and crew heard very loud bangs and saw flames from the engines, followed by silence and an odor of fuel.
Realizing that both engines had shut down, Sullenberger took control while Skiles worked the checklist for engine restart. [c][12] The aircraft slowed but continued to climb for a further 19 seconds, reaching about 3,060 feet (930 m) at an airspeed of about 185 knots (343 km/h; 213 mph), then began a glide descent, accelerating to 210 knots (390 km/h; 240 mph) at 3:28:10 as it descended through 1,650 feet (500 m). At 3:27:33, Sullenberger radioed a mayday call to New York Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON):[22][23] "... this is Cactus 1539 [sic – correct call sign was Cactus 1549], hit birds. We've lost thrust on both engines. We're turning back towards LaGuardia". [17] Air traffic controller Patrick Harten[24] told LaGuardia's tower to hold all departures, and directed Sullenberger back to Runway 31. Sullenberger responded, "Unable". [23]
Sullenberger asked controllers for landing options in New Jersey, mentioning Teterboro Airport. [23][25][26] Permission was given for Teterboro's Runway 1,[26] Sullenberger initially responded "Yes", but then: "We can't do it ... We're gonna be in the Hudson". [25] The aircraft passed less than 900 feet (270 m) above the George Washington Bridge. Sullenberger commanded over the cabin address system to "brace for impact"[27] and the flight attendants relayed the command to passengers. [28] Meanwhile, air traffic controllers asked the Coast Guard to caution vessels in the Hudson and ask them to prepare to assist with rescue. [29]
About ninety seconds later, at 3:31 pm, the plane made an unpowered ditching, descending southwards at about 125 knots (140 mph; 230 km/h) into the middle of the North River section of the Hudson tidal estuary, at 40°46′10″N 74°00′16″W / 40.769444°N 74.004444°W / 40.769444; -74.004444[30] on the New York side of the state line, roughly opposite West 50th Street (near the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum) in Manhattan and Port Imperial in Weehawken, New Jersey. Flight attendants compared the ditching to a "hard landing" with "one impact, no bounce, then a gradual deceleration". [25] The ebb tide then began to take the plane southward. [31]
Sullenberger opened the cockpit door and gave the order to evacuate. The crew began evacuating the passengers through the four overwing window exits and into an inflatable slide/raft deployed from the front right passenger door (the front left slide failed to operate, so the manual inflation handle was pulled). The evacuation was made more difficult by the fact that someone opened the rear left door, allowing more water to enter the plane; whether this was a flight attendant[32] or a passenger is disputed.Water was also entering through a hole in the fuselage and through cargo doors that had come open,[36] so as the water rose the attendant urged passengers to move forward by climbing over seats. [d] One passenger was in a wheelchair. [38] Finally, Sullenberger walked the cabin twice to confirm it was empty.
The air and water temperatures were about 19 °F (−7 °C) and 41 °F (5 °C), respectively. [12]:24 Some evacuees waited for rescue knee-deep in water on the partially submerged slides, some wearing life vests. Others stood on the wings or, fearing an explosion, swam away from the plane. [32] One passenger, after helping with the evacuation, found the wing so crowded that he jumped into the river and swam to a boat.
Sullenberger had ditched near boats, which facilitated rescue.Two NY Waterway ferries arrived within minutes[43] and began taking people aboard using a Jason's cradle;[27] numerous other boats, including from the US Coast Guard, were quickly on scene as well. [citation needed] Sullenberger advised the ferry crews to rescue those on the wings first, as they were in more jeopardy than those on the slides, which detached to become life rafts. [27] The last person was taken from the plane at 3:55 pm. [44]
About 140 New York City firefighters responded to nearby docks, as did police, helicopters, and various vessels and divers. [45] Other agencies provided medical help on the Weehawken side of the river, where most passengers were taken. [47]
Among the people on board there were 95 minor injuries and 5 serious,including a deep laceration in flight attendant Doreen Welsh's leg.
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Air crash
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1963 Camden PA-24 crash
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On March 5, 1963, American country music performers Patsy Cline, Cowboy Copas, and Hawkshaw Hawkins were killed in an airplane crash near Camden, Tennessee, United States, along with the pilot Randy Hughes. The accident occurred as the three artists were returning home to Nashville, Tennessee, after performing in Kansas City, Kansas. Shortly after takeoff from a refueling stop, pilot Hughes lost control of the small Piper PA-24 Comanche while flying in low-visibility conditions, and subsequently crashed into a wooded area, leaving no survivors. Investigators concluded that the crash was caused by the non-instrument-rated pilot's decision to operate under visual flight rules in instrument meteorological conditions. Around 2 pm on Tuesday, March 5, 1963, the Piper Comanche, piloted by Randy Hughes, departed Fairfax Municipal Airport in Kansas City, Kansas. It was operating as an unscheduled cross-country passenger flight under visual flight rules to its destination of Nashville, 411 nautical miles (761 km; 473 mi) to the southeast. Later that afternoon, the aircraft landed to refuel at Rogers Municipal Airport in Rogers, Arkansas, and departed 15 minutes later. [1]
Hughes later made contact with Dyersburg Regional Airport in Dyersburg, Tennessee, and landed there at 5:05 pm, where he requested a weather briefing for the remainder of the flight to Nashville. He was informed by Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) employee Leroy Neal that local conditions were marginal for VFR flight and weather at the destination airport was below VFR minima. Hughes then asked if the Dyersburg runways were lit at night in case he had to return and Neal replied that they were. Hughes then informed Neal he would fly east towards the Tennessee River and navigate to Nashville from there, as he was familiar with the terrain in that area. He expressed concern about a 2,049-foot (625 m) high television transmitting tower north of Nashville, then stated that he would attempt the flight and return if the weather conditions worsened. [1]
After refueling, the passengers and pilot reboarded the Piper Comanche. Hughes requested another weather briefing by radio, then taxied into position and took off at 6:07 pm. After takeoff, no further radio contact was made with N7000P. The reported weather at that time was a ceiling of 500 feet (150 m), visibility of 5 miles (8.0 km), temperature of 43 °F (6 °C; 279 K), gusty and turbulent wind from the east at 20 miles per hour (17 kn), and cloudy. [2] A short time later, an aviation-qualified witness, about 4 miles (6.4 km) west of Camden, heard a low-flying aircraft on a northerly course. The engine noise increased and seconds later a white light appeared from the overcast, descending in a 45° angle. [1]
At 6:29 pm, the aircraft crashed into a wooded, swampy area 1 mile (1.6 km) north of U.S. Route 70 and 5 miles (8.0 km) west of Camden. The aircraft was destroyed on impact and all four occupants were killed. The witness described hearing a dull-sounding crash, followed by complete silence. [1]
Registered as N7000P,[3] the aircraft was a three-year-old PA-24-250 Comanche four-seat, light, single-engined airplane manufactured in 1960 by Piper Aircraft. Serial Number 24-2144 was equipped with a Lycoming O-540-A1D5 250 hp (190 kW) normally aspirated engine, turning a constant-speed propeller. The Comanche's maximum takeoff weight was 2,800 lb (1,300 kg) with a total fuel load of 60 US gallons (230 L), giving a range of 600 nm at 75% power including a 45-minute reserve. [4] The aircraft had passed its last FAA inspection on 19 April 1962. [2]
The owner and pilot of the aircraft, Ramsey (Randy) Dorris Hughes, 34, was also Patsy Cline's manager and the son-in-law of Cowboy Copas. [5] Hughes held a valid private pilot certificate with an airplane single-engined land rating, but was not rated to fly under instrument flight rules. Hughes had taken possession of the airplane in 1962, less than a year before the crash, and was an inexperienced pilot with a total flight time of 160.2 hours, including 44:25 logged in the Piper Comanche. [2]
After the witness notified the Tennessee Highway Patrol, two law enforcement officers performed a preliminary search of the area around 7 pm, but they found nothing. By 11:30 pm, a search party was organized consisting of the Highway Patrol, Civil Defense, and local officers who searched the area throughout the night. At 6:10 am on March 6, the wreckage was discovered. A three-foot hole indicated the area of initial impact, and debris was scattered over an area 166 feet (51 m) long and 130 feet (40 m) wide. [1]
During the FAA investigation, the aircraft's propeller was found to have contacted a tree 30 feet (9.1 m) above the ground while the aircraft was in a 26° nose-down attitude. The right wing then collided with another tree 32 feet (9.8 m) to the right, causing the airplane to become inverted. The downward angle increased to 45° and the Comanche hit the ground at an estimated speed of 175 miles per hour (282 km/h), about 62 feet (19 m) from the initial contact. [1]
Inspection of the airframe and engine disclosed that the aircraft was intact and the engine was developing substantial power before impacting the trees. Investigators found no evidence of engine or system failure or malfunction of the aircraft prior to the crash. The airplane was determined to be slightly over maximum gross weight when it departed Dyersburg airport, but this fact had no bearing on the crash. An autopsy of the pilot discovered no physical or medical concerns that could have been a factor in the accident. [6]
Investigators believe that Hughes entered an area of deteriorating weather with low visibility and lost his visual reference with the ground. This induced spatial disorientation, and eventually led to a graveyard spiral with the aircraft entering into a right-hand diving turn, with a nose-down attitude of 25°. When the aircraft cleared the clouds, Hughes attempted to arrest the high descent rate by pulling the nose up and applying full power, but it was too late. The FAA investigators later found evidence that the propeller was at maximum speed during impact. [1]
The FAA's final conclusion was the non-instrument-rated pilot attempted visual flight in adverse weather conditions, resulting in disorientation and subsequent loss of control. [6]
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Air crash
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Famous celebrities who married their way into royal families
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Famous celebrities who married their way into royal families Celebrities who married members of the royal family As opposed to the life of fame and fortune relished by the royal families, the stardom and the popularity of a celebrity is very limited and impermanent. While the royals, unlike the celebrities, do not have to fret about staying relevant in the market and in their field of entertainment, they sure do have their royal duties toward their public to perform. However, there have been instances in the past when these two totally different worlds have come together in the form of matrimonial unions that left everyone in a state of shock or in awe. From Grace Kelly’s wedding to Prince Rainer of Monaco to Meghan Markle’s marriage to Prince Harry, here are all the renowned celebrities who married their way into the royal families. 02/8Hollywood Actress Rita Hayworth married Prince Aly Khan of the Nizārī Ismaili Muslims One of the most groundbreaking and probably the first ever wedding between a famous celebrity and a royal was in 1948, when Hollywood actress Rita Hayworth married Prince Aly Khan, son of Sultan Mahommed Shah, Aga Khan III who was the leader of the Nizārī Ismaili Muslims. Reportedly, after having seen Rita in a movie, the Prince fell head over heels for the actress and made sure that a meeting was arranged between them. However, the couple eventually divorced and remarried in the following years. readmore 03/8Oscar-winning actress Grace Kelly tied the knot with Prince Rainier of Monaco While Rita Hayworth’s marriage may have been the first of its kind, actress Grace Kelly’s union with Prince Rainier of Monaco was the most classic weddings of its time. Following her marriage, the Hollywood actress gave up on her acting career and continued serving as the Queen of Monaco until her tragic death in 1982. readmore 04/8Famous anchorwoman Letizia Ortiz married King Felipe VI of Spain Before getting married to the King of Spain, Queen Letizia Ortiz was a well-renowned journalist and TV anchorwoman. Having met King Felipe VI at a dinner party, both were instantly lured by one another and following their secret dates, they finally tied the knot in 2004. readmore 05/8Glamour model Sofia Hellqvist wed Sweden's Prince Carl Phillip in 2015 Princess Sofia of Sweden may be royalty now, but there was once a time, when she was a famous glamour model and a reality television contestant, known for her role in the ‘Paradise Hotel’. Reportedly, they met through mutual friends and finally as their love started blossoming, the couple married in 2015. readmore 06/8Zimbabwean-South African former Olympic swimmer Charlene Wittstock married Albert II, Prince of Monaco Talk about celebrities marrying their way into royal families and how can we overlook the matrimonial union between Zimbabwean-South African former Olympic swimmer Charlene Wittstock and the Prince of Monaco. While it is said that the Queen did have some lingering doubts about the wedding and even tried escaping it, but in the end the two are happily married with two children. readmore 07/8British actress Sophie Winkleman married Lord Frederick Windsor, son of Prince and Princess Michael of Kent Although many actresses have become a part of the royal families around the world, the British Royal Family seemed quite against it in the past. However, in 2009, British actress Sophie Winkleman broke that tradition and married, Lord Frederick Windsor, son of Queen Elizabeth II's first cousin Prince Michael of Kent. readmore 08/8Meghan Markle's matrmonial union to Prince Harry in 2018 Joining the league is Meghan Markle who in 2018 shocked the entire world with her wedding to Prince Harry. Before marrying the Duke of Sussex, Meghan was an American Actress, known for her role in the TV show ‘Suits’. Besides that she was also spotted in movies like ‘Get Him to the Greek’ and ‘Remember Me’ and ‘Horrible Bosses’ and in the famous game show ‘Deal or No Deal’. However, currently, she has given up her role as an actress and is living a comfortable life with her husband and her son Archie.
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Famous Person - Marriage
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The Taliban story: Coup in 7 days, confusion for a month over who's the baap!
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UPDATED: September 15, 2021 13:03 IST Taliban fighters patrol a market in Kabul's Old City, Afghanistan (AP) Exactly a month ago , the Taliban captured Kabul, completing the final takeover of Afghanistan in a matter of days. Though the group was fighting for years, the final sweep of city after city by the Taliban was accomplished in just seven days. On August 15, the Taliban entered the Presidential Palace in Kabul announcing the complete takeover of Afghanistan. Their sweep was swift and almost without any resistance as the Afghan National Army melted away as the Islamist insurgents advanced in their military tanks, a large number of which were acquired in exchange for bribes. Agencies and experts too blamed corruption as the principal reason for such a smooth coup in Afghanistan. Only a few days before the insurgents announced total victory, the retreating US forces had estimated that the Taliban would take nothing less than a month to reach Kabul. This explains the scale of capitulation by the Afghan government forces. However, since then, “easier said than done” has been the story of the Taliban. They have announced and postponed the date of government formation in Afghanistan. There has been factional war, as reported by multiple international news agencies, between the camps led by Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar and Sirajuddin Haqqani, the head of terror outfit Haqqani Network. The factional war is principally over two aspects: credit for Taliban victory and sharing the spoils of the coup. WHO BROUGHT VICTORY? Mullah Baradar and Sirajuddin Haqqani camps are reportedly warring over credit sharing. Reports quoting multiple sources suggest that the two camps have got involved physically, leaving some Taliban injured. Mullah Baradar was also reportedly injured, leading to speculation about his death. The Taliban denied violence between camps and also released an audio clip of Mullah Baradar to assert that he was alive. Mullah Baradar reportedly claims credit for the Taliban takeover on account of the peace deal he struck with the US. He remains the one person in the Taliban to have had a telephonic conversation with a sitting American president, when Donald Trump spoke to him last year during the peace negotiations in Doha, Qatar. On the other hand, Sirajuddin Haqqani is said to be playing down the peace deal and insisting that it was his armed fighters and his Haqqani Network that ensured a smooth takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban. Sirajuddin Haqqani has closer contacts with the Pakistan Army’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), which fancies a ring-master’s role in the Taliban circus, while Mullah Baradar has had a chequered history with the Pakistani establishment. Mullah Baradar spent eight years in a Pakistani jail after he tried to negotiate with the Afghan government. SPOILS OF TALIBAN VICTORY The Taliban did not capture power in Afghanistan by promising to build roads, hospitals, schools or provide electricity, clean water and security to the common citizens from criminals in the country. It effected the coup to impose its own interpretation of sharia, the Islamic law. Also, unlike the 1990s, the Taliban evidently do not have an all-powerful supreme leader like Mullah Omar. The group is fighting within to share the spoils of the coup. An interim formula arrived earlier was a compromise reportedly mediated by the ISI, whose chief Faiz Hameed flew in full public view to Kabul recently. The government formation — for whose inauguration the Taliban sent out invitations to six countries , including UN Security Council’s veto-power holder China — is delayed due to continued factional war. Mullah Baradar, the political chief of the pre-coup Taliban, is reportedly opposed to the structure and hierarchy of the interim government announced earlier. Reports say Mullah Baradar has shuffled from Kandahar , which functions as the Taliban’s nerve centre and where Mullah Omar’s son Mullah Yaqoob is stationed, and Kabul, where Haqqanis hold their sway. This report said Mullah Baradar, who was made deputy prime minister in the interim Taliban government, left Kabul unhappy. As of now, the Taliban have a booty in Afghanistan that they do not know how to share.
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Regime Change
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Meanwhile, Raymond Johansen, Norwegian State Secretary of Foreign Affairs is in Addis to hold talks with Prime Minister Meles.
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Prime Minister Meles Zenawi on Thursday accused Eritrea of jeopardizing regional stability in its efforts to wage a proxy war against Ethiopia.
Meles said Eritrea was working with radical Islamic groups and Ethiopian rebels to create instability in Ethiopia. He also accused Asmara of breaching the six year old Algiers agreement which ended the 1998-2000 border war.
On Monday, some 1,500 Eritrean troops and 14 tanks moved into the Temporary Security Zone (TSZ) that is being monitored by UN peace keepers. Appeals by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and the Security Council that Eritrea withdraws from the TSZ have not had effect.
Meles said that Eritrea had openly violated the agreement and that as of Monday TSZ did not exist as Eritrean troops had moved into it.
Despite that, he said, Ethiopia was not going to react to the provocation and still looks to resolve the border issue peacefully.
With regard to Somalia, he told Parliament of his concern that the Union of Islamic Courts might be a threat as they are massing their troops near the Ethiopian border.
"There is danger looming. The Jihadists are amassing their forces near our borders. If this activity continues, and is found to threaten our national security, then our defense forces will have the right and obligation to defend the country," Meles said, "however, that does not mean that we will declare war."
Responding to questions about Ethiopian military presence in Somalia Meles said that there were Ethiopian officers and those were sent to provide training to the interim government's army and police.
"Of course these trainers being soldiers, they carry arms to protect themselves. Otherwise, there is no combat force," he said.
The basis sending the officers, Meles said was the agreement by IGAD and AU that a peace support mission needs to be sent into Somalia.
A senior US diplomat seems to share Meles's point of view in that she said Eritrea was planning to attack Ethiopia from Somalia.
"I think Eritrea is quite clearly attacking Ethiopia on another front. We have pretty clear evidence that that is a fact and they are shipping arms into Somalia," Jendayi Frazer, the US assistant secretary of state for Africa said.
Frazer expressed her concern that the involvement of Ethiopia and Eritrea in Somalia could expand the situation in that country into a regional conflict.
Eritrea blames the international community for not having pressurized Ethiopia to accept a border ruling by a boundary commission that awarded Badme to the former.
The town was a flash point of the war.
Meanwhile, Raymond Johansen, Norwegian State Secretary of Foreign Affairs is in Addis to hold talks with Prime Minister Meles.
Johansen who is on a round trip in the Horn, co-chaired in Nairobi, an International contact Group meeting on Somalia before his arrival in Addis.
The Norwegian Foreign Affairs official also met Eritrean president Isayas Afwerki in Asmara on Tuesday.
Norwegian Ambassador to Ethiopia, Jens-Petter Kjemprud said government is seriously concerned with the recent regional developments, and added that the current situation in Somalia and on the Ethio-Eritrean border calls for concerted international attention.
Johansen will also meet with Commissioner Said Djinnit of the African Union to discuss the Darfur crisis and other regional issues.
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Diplomatic Talks _ Diplomatic_Negotiation_ Summit Meeting
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2007 General Motors strike
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The 2007 General Motors Strike was a labor union strike that lasted three days from September 23 to September 25 of 2007 organized by the United Auto Workers (UAW) union. The UAW were engaged in talks with General Motors (GM) to negotiate a new labor contract but were unable to come to an agreement before the deadline. Consequently, 73,000 workers walked out forcing 80 GM facilities in 30 states to cease operations. After the two day strike, the two parties reached an agreement in which the UAW union would assume the responsibility for managing retiree healthcare liabilities. The UAW previously went on strike against General Motors in 1970. The automobile industry landscape in 2007 was drastically different to what it once was. GM's market share had been steadily decreasing as foreign automakers entered the market. Foreign players secured over 50% of market share for the first time in history in July 2007. [1] GM's foreign competitors Nissan, Honda, and Toyota increased their production within the United States. Part of GM's struggles has been its relatively high costs of production. While many of the foreign manufacturers pay less in wages as most of their plants are not a part of a union,[2] GM's labor contracts increase its costs per car by an estimated $2000 impacting its competitiveness. [1] These costs can be attributed to worker pensions and healthcare programs the unions have negotiated. The number of UAW members at GM has also steadily decreased as the company downsized. At the time of the 2007 strike, the 73,000 workers at GM are far lower than the 400,000 workers GM employed when the UAW last went on strike in 1970. [2] The UAW's lower overall membership was also caused by the increasing prevalence of non-unionized plants and factories belonging to foreign automakers. It once had over 1.5 million workers but by 2007, that number had shrunk to just several hundred thousand. [1]
General Motors' previous labor contract with the UAW union went up until September 14th, 2007. [3] Both parties agreed to an extension of 10 days until September 24th as the UAW felt that negotiations were still progressing. However, following the end of this 10 day period, as negotiations came to a stalemate the UAW believed a strike was necessary as GM refused to acquiesce to the UAW's demands in regards to job security and worker benefits. [4]
General Motors' losing market share within the United States automobile market has forced the company to downsize the company. In the two years leading up to 2007, GM had incurred $12.3 billion in losses. [2] In response, GM has since closed down numerous factories and laid off thousands of workers. At the time of the strike, GM was also planning on cutting an additional 30,000 jobs in the coming year. The UAW wanted to ensure job security for the remaining GM workers and demanded for guarantees stipulating that those workers employed under the contract would stay employed until the contract expired. [5]
Another issue of contention between GM and UAW was the company's liabilities to retirees in regards to their healthcare benefits. These liabilities amounted to $51 billion. [6] Both parties were in talks to discuss transferring these liabilities to a trust, which was GM's primary demand. The establishment of a voluntary employee benefit association (VEBA) has been an idea that was widely embraced by GM's investors and managers. Doing so what entail a large initial payment from GM but would allow it to remove workers healthcare benefits as a liability on its balance sheet. It was believed that removing these costs from the equation would allow GM to increase its competitiveness in the industry. [4]
Immediately after the deadline had passed, the UAW union moved to a national strike that involved 73,000 workers walking out of an estimated 80 GM facilities. After the union announced the strike, negotiations continued that same afternoon lasting over five hours. In the UAW's press conference, its president Ron Gettelfinger expressed his disappointment in GM's management and their refusal to meet the union halfway. He believed that the UAW had no choice but to strike stating that: “There comes a point in time where you have to draw a line in the sand”. Many saw this as the UAW refusing to roll over to management's demands from GM. Gettelfinger also expressed that the UAW was willing to consider GM's request to form a trust to take on healthcare liabilities, and that job security remained the union's number one concern. [6]
The effect of the strike was an operational halt that would otherwise produce 12,200 cars a day. Concerns were raised regarding the effect of the strike on GM if an agreement wasn't reached. The strike had the potential to influence GM supply chains and overseas plants that manufacture parts. Nearby operations in Mexico and Canada would also suffer as a result. The strike became a focus within the automobile industry as how it played it out would likely affect negotiations the UAW would later have with Ford and Chrysler given the vulnerable state of the United States’ auto companies. [5]
Despite the strike, Michael Robinet, the vice president of CSM Worldwide and an expert on global vehicle forecasts, predicted that GM would not have any issues with a shortage of vehicle production. In fact, he expected that the company would not experience issues related to inventory shortages for two to three weeks should the strike continue as a result of no agreement being reached. At the time, GM's inventory levels were generally higher than that of their competitors, a point that many linked to the company's poor sales in recent months leading up to the strike. [7]
On the first day of the strike, GM's stock closed 20 cents lower in the trading session, wiping out what was originally a gain of 2.6% earlier on in the day. The consensus amongst analysts evaluating GM's position in the strike was that while a long strike would be highly detrimental for the company as it seeks to turn its business around and become more profitable. With that said, many believed that GM would still be well positioned to endure a strike that was shorter in nature. [7]
On September 26th, it was announced that early that morning, the UAW and GM reached a deal. Specifics of the deal were not made available, however the headline for GM was that the UAW had agreed to the establishment of a VEBA that would assume the retiree healthcare liabilities worth $51 billion. Gettelfinger described that job guarantees were made by GM although the details were not disclosed.
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Strike
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Two still 'critical' in hospital following suspected gas explosion in Heysham
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Men are more heartbroken than women during a breakup, according to new study by Lancaster University
Lancaster named as the 9th best city to raise a baby in the UK according to Play Like Mum
George Arthur Hinds, aged two years and 10 months, died as a result of the incident.
George’s parents Vicky Studholme and Stephen Hinds were injured and have since been discharged from hospital.
A man aged 44 and a woman aged 50 remain in hospital with injuries described as “critical”.
Police said enquiries under way into the cause of the suspected gas explosion on Mallowdale Avenue were expected to take ‘some weeks.’
Chief Insp Chris Hardy of Lancashire Constabulary, said: “This appalling incident has resulted in the loss of a young boy’s life and has left two others with very serious injuries. My thoughts today are with George’s family and loved ones at this sad time, as well as those others affected by this incident.
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Gas explosion
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TAP Air Portugal Flight 425 crash
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TAP Flight 425 was a regular flight from Brussels, Belgium, to Santa Catarina Airport (informally known as Funchal Airport or Madeira Airport; now the Cristiano Ronaldo International Airport), Portugal, with an intermediate scheduled stop in Lisbon. On November 19, 1977, the Boeing 727 operating the service overran the airport's runway before crashing onto the nearby beach and exploding, killing 131 of the 164 people on board. It remains TAP's only fatal accident in its history. [1][2]
The aircraft operating flight TP-425 was a Boeing 727-282 Advanced registration CS-TBR named after the Portuguese aviation pioneer Sacadura Cabral. Its manufacturer serial number was 20972/1096 and it was delivered to TAP on 21 January 1975. It was powered by 3 Pratt & Whitney JT8D-17 turbofan engines which had a maximum thrust of 16,000 pounds each. The aircraft had completed a B check on 21 September 1977, and at the time of the accident had accumulated 6,154 flying hours in 5,204 cycles. [3]:37–38
The crew consisted of Captain João Lontrão, First officer Miguel Guimarães Leal, and Flight engineer Gualdino Pinto, as well as five flight attendants. There were 156 passengers on board. [3]:8,34
On November 19, the aircraft operated flight TP-420 from Lisbon to Brussels, Belgium, and then TP-425 from Brussels to Funchal with a stopover in Lisbon. Flight 420 and the first leg of Flight 425 were completed without any issues reported. In Lisbon, the crew received a weather report of Funchal. According to the forecast, severe weather was expected on the route with a chance of thunderstorm cumulus and torrential rain, but was unlikely to affect the flight. [3]:3
At 7:50 pm flight 425 left the gate, and took off from runway 03 of Lisbon airport at 7:55. [3]:4
At the time of the accident, the then-Santa Catarina International Airport's runway was 1,600 m (5,250 ft) long, which made landing extremely difficult. At 9:05 pm, on the approach to Madeira, the crew of flight 425 requested permission to descend. The dispatcher allowed to descend to flight level 50 (5 thousand feet or 1524 meters) at a pressure of 1013.2 mbar. At 9:05:50, the crew reported on the beginning of the descent to tier 50 towards Porto Santo, and received instructions to switch to 118.1 MHz to communicate with Funchal control. At 21:17 the crew contacted the air traffic control in Funchal and reported on the occupation of flight level 50 and the estimated achievement of the MAD radio beacon in 5 minutes. In response, the controller gave permission to descend to a height of 3,500 feet on QNH 1013 and reported that the landing would be on runway 06. The controller then transmitted the weather report: calm wind on runway 06, wind 14 knots direction 220 at nearby Rosário, temperature 19 °C (66 °F), visibility 4–5 kilometres (2.5–3.1 mi; 2.2–2.7 nmi). The crew acknowledged the transmission. According to the actual weather forecast at 20:50, at the Funchal airport, near the tower, the wind was blowing at a speed of 06 knots (11 km/h) in the area of the runway - a heading of 200, visibility 5 kilometres (3.1 mi; 2.7 nmi), cloudiness 7/8, rain showers, airfield pressure at runway 24: 1006 mbar, at runway 06: 1008 mbar, temperature 18–19 °C (64–66 °F). [3]:4
At 9:23:13 the crew reported on the passage of the MAD beacon at a height of 1,700 feet and a heading of 215, while not having visual contact with the ground. Following the course of 200 and descending 980 feet, at 21:26:33 from flight TP-425 they reported that there was no visual observation of the runway and a missed approach. [3]:5
After two unsuccessful attempts to land the aircraft, the crew decided to make one last try to land the plane, before they would have to make the decision to divert to the Gran Canaria Airport in the Canary Islands. [3][additional citation(s) needed]
On the third landing attempt, captain Lontrão chose runway 24. At 9:43:52, at an altitude of 1,800 feet (550 m) the aircraft was reported to be flying at a rate of 205 knots (380 km/h; 236 mph), and at 9:44:57 the controller asked the crew to see if they had the aircraft's landing lights on. The crew said that the landing lights were on. At 9:45:02 the crew reported on the passage of the airport's beacon and reported the runway in sight. At 9:46:48, when turning right on a 250° heading, captain Lontrão called for the landing checklist. [3]:5
At 9:47:21 from the tower of the airport they reported the wind on runway 24 and asked if the crew would proceed with the landing. The crew said that they would continue. The controller subsequently cleared flight 425 to land. From a height of 400 feet (120 m) at a speed of 150 knots (280 km/h; 170 mph), the plane began to descend. While on final approach to runway 24 in heavy rain, strong winds and poor visibility, the aircraft touched down 2,000 feet (610 m) past the threshold, and started hydroplaning. With just about 3,000 feet (910 m) of runway left, the crew tried desperately to stop, applying maximum reverse thrust and brakes, but the aircraft slid off the runway with a ground speed of approximately 43 knots (80 km/h; 49 mph) and plunged over a 200-foot (61 m) steep bank hitting a nearby bridge and crashing on the beach; splitting in two pieces and bursting into flames. [3]:6–7
Of the 164 people aboard (156 passengers and eight crew), 131 were killed (125 passengers and 6 crew),[4] making it the deadliest airplane accident in Portugal to that point. [5] As of 2021, it is the second deadliest airplane accident in Portugal, after Independent Air Flight 1851. [6][7] It remains TAP Portugal's only fatal accident since the beginning of its flight operations in 1946. [8]
According to the findings of the investigation, the aircraft was in good condition before impact with the bridge, and the crew was qualified for the flight. The report concluded that the flight crew violated the approach procedure, with the aircraft touching down 2,060 feet (630 m) from the beginning of the runway, which is 1,060 feet (320 m) farther than normal, and the speed was 148.2 knots (274.5 km/h; 170.5 mph), that is, 19.2 knots (35.6 km/h; 22.1 mph) higher than recommended. It was also noted that there were an insufficient number of lights of the ILS, which made it difficult to perform an ILS approach. [3]:29 Difficult weather conditions were mentioned as the immediate causes of the accident, due to aquaplaning on the runway, as well as an overshoot landing speed of 19 knots. [3]:30 The investigation recommended Funchal Airport to increase the level of meteorological observations. [3]:31[9]
After the accident occurred, TAP stopped flying the Boeing 727-200 to Madeira, and started flying only the 727-100, which was 20 feet (6.1 m) shorter and took 60 fewer passengers. [10]
The crash prompted officials to explore ways of extending the short runway. Because of the height of the runway relative to the beach below, an extension was very difficult and very expensive to perform. [10] Between 1983 and 1986,[11] a 200-metre (660 ft) extension was built; 14 years later,[12] the runway was again extended. Following the 2000 extension, the runway of what is now the Cristiano Ronaldo International Airport measures 2,781 metres (9,124 ft) long and is capable of handling wide-body commercial jets like the Boeing 747 or the Airbus A340.
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Air crash
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Pregnant woman held up by armed bank robbers who remain on the run in Sydney's south-west
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Pregnant woman held up by armed bank robbers who remain on the run in Sydney's south-west Keep up to date with the latest COVID-19 exposure sites in Queensland A pregnant woman was among several people held up by armed robbers who targeted a bank and golf club in Sydney's south-west. Police have set up a strike force to investigate the robberies as they continue to search for four suspects, who remain on the run after crashing their getaway car and unsuccessfully attempting to hijack others. Four streets in the suburb of Fairfield were evacuated as more than 100 officers searched for the suspects, who were armed with guns and a hammer and wearing balaclavas. The crime spree began when the men attempted to rob the Commonwealth Bank on Waldron Road in Chester Hill at 10:40am (AEDT). The ABC understands several employees were inside the bank at the time, including a pregnant woman. After their robbery attempt failed, the men went to the Rosnay Golf Club at Auburn where they threatened staff and stole money from a cash register. Local police in an unmarked car spotted the men and gave chase, but the pursuit was called off after about three minutes when the suspects' car collided with another car at Villawood. The female driver of the car was not injured, police said. Police said the suspects tried to hijack two other cars before fleeing on foot through Hercules Street at Fairfield, where they reportedly ran through a house and jumped a fence. Heavily armed officers evacuated homes and surrounded the area, alarming some residents. Andrew Vilches said the police surrounded the house he was in with their guns drawn. "About 15 minutes later, the cops started to come in their big vests and I thought, oh no," he said. "A couple of minutes after that they told us to leave the house. "I asked them what was going on and they said, 'I can't tell you'." Hercules, Tangerine, Mitchell and Crown streets were all in lockdown. Residents were later allowed to return to their homes, and police called off the search about 3:00pm. The mother of a pregnant bank worker, who did not want to be identified, said she came to the scene straight after her daughter phoned to tell her about the robbery. "She was very shaken, very, very shaken and emotional," she said. "She's pregnant and I was really worried about her and the baby... but they're OK. "She just wanted to let me know that she was OK and I've just come down here just to make sure she's fine. "It was the worst feeling ever knowing that your daughter could have been killed instantly." Superintendent Peter Gilham said the men were considered dangerous. "We believe they're armed. They may still be armed," he said. "Obviously, they're to be treated as such, so if anybody sees anything suspicious, we ask them to ring the local police or Crime Stoppers straightaway." Detectives from State Crime Command's Robbery and Serious Crime Squad have established Strike Force Wallent to investigate. We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Australians and Traditional Custodians of the lands where we live, learn, and work.
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Bank Robbery
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Undocumented Workers Who Power New York’s Economy Finally Get Pandemic Aid
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Protestors march across the Brooklyn Bridge in March to demand funding for excluded workers in the New York State budget. Thousands of undocumented immigrants who lost their jobs working as cooks, delivery workers, day laborers, nannies and in other essential jobs are finally getting pandemic unemployment aid. New York state has approved applications for nearly half of a $2.1 billion fund — the biggest of its kind — to help workers excluded from government aid during the pandemic. The state is starting to disburse $550 million this week from the landmark Excluded Workers Fund (EWF). Since opening on August 1, it has received more than 163,000 applications, mostly from undocumented immigrants. New York is hoping that supporting these workers can help revive the state’s battered economy. Forty-two percent of New York City small businesses shuttered as of April, and unemployment was at 10.2% in August, about double the national average of 5.2%. Tourism, which isn’t expected to fully recover for another three to four years, lost billions last year. More than 500,000 undocumented people live in New York City, followed by Long Island, Hudson Valley and other parts of New York. The Fiscal Policy Institute (FPI) estimates that giving $850 million of the EWF — the amount approved earlier this month — to excluded workers would boost New York City's economy by $600 million, Long Island by $70 million and Westchester by $35 million. “It’s going to be spent on groceries, tutors, health care,” said New York Assemblyman Ron Kim. “It’s going to really liberate local economies that have been suffering.”Landmark Infusion Governor Kathy Hochul has called the fund a lifeline for immigrants and prioritized getting Covid-19 relief money into the hands of New Yorkers since taking office last month after Andrew Cuomo’s resignation. Quick approval of EWF applications has surprised advocates expecting bureaucracy, particularly after sluggish progress on applications for a $2.7 billion rent relief fund opened June 1. The EWF by far dwarfs any other U.S. program for excluded workers ineligible for government Covid-19 relief such as unemployment benefits and other aid. People are eligible for $15,600 or $3,200 depending on proof of previous employment, a 50% drop in income, identity and state residence. They can qualify for the larger amount if they have formal documentation, such as income tax returns and a New York drivers license, versus less formal ones such as a utility bill to prove residence. So far 99% of approved applications are for the larger payment, which far exceeds early estimates from FPI. The difference between the larger and small tranche of funds “is people not being displaced from their homes,” said Jirandy Martinez, executive director of Community Resource Center, based in Westchester County, which serves about 4,000 people who hail largely from Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, Jamaica and Haiti. While New York’s $15,600 is much less than the $34,000 that others received under one year of Covid-19 unemployment benefits, other states have significantly smaller funds for excluded workers, if they have them at all. California has the next biggest pot of money for its excluded workers, setting aside $340 million for the entire state. Grassroots Campaign The EWF was created after 18 months of lobbying and campaigning by 200 advocates and community groups in New York. Core groups, including Make the Road New York, Street Vendors Project and Community Resource Center, organized protests, including an overnight sleep-in in front of the New York City apartment of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, a shutdown of Brooklyn Bridge and Manhattan Bridge and a 23-day hunger strike. Republican state lawmakers criticized the EWF for being double the size of the state’s $1 billion relief package for small businesses. Across the U.S. undocumented workers pay an estimated total of $11.74 billion in state and local taxes each year, according to a report from the Institute on Taxation & Economic Policy. FPI estimates that about half of those in the U.S. pay income tax through employee identification numbers, as well as sales and payroll tax. Applications and information about the fund are in 13 different languages, including Spanish, Chinese, Korean, Arabic, Bangla, Haitian Creole and Polish. Close cooperation with grassroots organizations has been critical to reaching people. And even after groups began EWF outreach, New York granted $14.3 million to 74 nonprofits across the state in August to help workers with paperwork. Applications are more straightforward than the Emergency Rental Assistance Program, which only approved about $680 million of $2.7 billion in three months, according to New York state. Yet there are still hurdles, such as proving prior employment for people who don’t have pay stubs or tax returns. “That’s not an option for a lot of workers,” said Bianca Guerrero, campaign coordinator for Make the Road. Since employers are often reluctant to admit they employed someone off the books, advocates persuaded the state’s Department of Labor to accept other proof of employment, such as text messages. It is also sometimes difficult to prove residence since people often informally sublet or rent rooms without a lease. The state has expanded the kinds of documents it accepts. Street vendor Aleseli Sanchez used a hospital bill to prove her residency. The mother of three sells sandwiches and Mexican food to construction workers in Manhattan. In September, Sanchez was approved for $15,600 that she will use to pay back rent and overdue bills. Sanchez, who arrived in the U.S. from Mexico 16 years ago, speaks limited English. She said it would have been difficult for her to fill out her application without help from Steffany Cielo, program coordinator with Street Vendors Project. Cielo also helped her own uncle, an immigrant from Mexico, successfully apply to the fund. When he receives the money, he plans to pay back rent accumulated after he was severely sickened by Covid-19 last year and lost his deli job in Manhattan.Immigrant ReticenceThe speedy disbursal of the EWF is positive, but advocates are also concerned the money is running out too quickly. Some community groups are still getting up and running, such as nonprofit Chinese-American Planning Council (CPC), which is still finalizing staffing for EWF outreach. Many of Assemblyman Kim’s constituents in Flushing, Queens have not heard of the fund or are afraid to take government assistance. “It’s hard to reduce that to a few months of outreach,” he said. Advocates said they would press Governor Hochul for more funding “so that more people who were left out of any economic aid have an opportunity for a just recovery," said Assemblymember Marcela Mitaynes of Brooklyn. Another lingering hurdle is overcoming mistrust among immigrants. Many people are wary of interacting with the government, especially because of the lasting threat of “public charge” under Donald Trump’s administration, said Mohammed Attia, executive director of Street Vendor Project. That rule jeopardized future applications for citizenship if immigrants accepted government assistance.Public charge was rescinded this year under President Joe Biden, but fear of potential deportation and uncertainty remains. “Some people,” said Attia, “won’t even think about applying to the fund because of potential risk.”
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Financial Aid
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Soberanes Fire
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The Soberanes Fire was a large wildfire that burned 57 homes and killed a bulldozer operator, and cost about $260 million to suppress, making it at the time the most expensive wildfire to fight in United States history. [3][2] The Soberanes Fire was the result of an illegal campfire in Garrapata State Park. The fire burned 132,127 acres (53,470 ha) along the Big Sur coast in the Los Padres National Forest, Ventana Wilderness, and adjacent private and public land in Monterey County, California. [1][4][5] At the fire's peak, over 5,000 personnel were assigned to the blaze. At the time that it was extinguished, the Soberanes fire ranked 18th on the list of the top 20 largest California wildfires, in terms of acreage burned. [6]
The fire was first reported by hikers in Garrapata State Park at 8:48 a.m. on Friday July 22, 2016,[1] and was later determined to be the result of an unattended illegal campfire. [7][8] By Saturday morning, the fire had grown to 2,000 acres (810 ha), and forced the evacuation of about 300 homes in the community along Palo Colorado Canyon. [9]
By the morning of Sunday, July 24, the fire had grown to over 10,000 acres (4,000 ha), with 5% of the fire perimeter contained. [10] Officials said that Toro Park would be closed so that firefighters could use the area as a base camp. Evacuation warnings were also issued for all of Carmel Highlands. [10]
On Tuesday July 26, acting California governor Tom Torlakson declared a state of emergency in Monterey County over the fire. [11][12]
By Saturday July 30, the fire had spread south and east into the Los Padres National Forest. [13]
Almost a month later, on August 26, the fire had grown to over 90,000 acres (36,000 ha) and was only 60% contained. [1] The majority of the fire by then was within the Los Padres National Forest and the Ventana Wilderness, and unified command of the fire suppression work was transferred from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection to the United States Forest Service's Alaska Interagency Incident Management Team. [14][15]
By September 18, the fire had increased in size to 113,260 acres (45,830 ha). Containment was still only at 61%, and 1,921 firefighters were at work. Some evacuation orders on the northern perimeter had been lifted, and crews were working on burn-out operations to establish a containment line on the northeast side of the fire, near Chews Ridge. Heavy smoke resulted from the burnouts. [1] As of 23 September 2016[update] the costs to fight the fire exceeded $200 million, the most expensive fire in United States history at the time. [16]
On October 9, the fire had burned 132,127 acres (53,470 ha) and was 99% contained. Incident management personnel expected to attain full containment by October 15. Fire personnel had been reduced to 704 workers, with many engaged in fire suppression repair efforts. On October 28, three months after the wildfire had started, fire management personnel reported that the fire was 100% contained, and that remaining smoldering hotspots would be put out by rains expected shortly afterward. By that time, restoration crews had completed suppression repair work on 374 miles (602 km) of the fire line. [1]
On Tuesday July 26, at 11:00 PM, Robert Oliver Reagan, an on-call bulldozer operator contracted by Czirban Concrete Construction to CalFire, was killed when his bulldozer rolled over, pinning him, while he was maneuvering around a fire truck on a steep slope in the Palo Colorado Canyon area. [17][18][19]
The fire destroyed 57 homes and 11 outbuildings in the Garrapata Canyon and Palo Colorado Canyon areas during the first three weeks. [1] Robert Baird, supervisor of the Los Padres National Forest, estimated that firefighters saved US$6.8 billion worth of real estate. [20]
The fire burned and possibly killed the largest Pacific madrone tree in the United States, within the Joshua Creek Canyon Ecological Reserve. The tree was 125 feet (38 m) tall and more than 25 feet (7.6 m) in circumference. The madrone was listed on the American Forests National Big Tree list, a register of the biggest trees by species in the United States. [21]
The California Department Of Parks And Recreation announced on September 28, 2016 that Garrapata State Park east of Highway 1, where the fire started, would remain closed through the winter. [22]
In March 2017, Reagan's family filed a wrongful death suit against the state of California for her husband's death while fighting the fire. [23] They later dropped the suit due to a law that gives the state immunity from wrongful death lawsuits. [24]
In April 2017, Czirban Concrete Construction, the contractor by whom Reagan was employed, was fined $20,000 for failing to report the fatality, failing to require seat belts on the equipment, failing to warn employees of the applicable hazards, and other offenses. [25][26] Ian Czirban, the head of the company, was also charged by Monterey County prosecutors with six felonies for tax evasion, insurance fraud, and a misdemeanor charge for failing to maintain workers' compensation insurance. [26] Czirban disputed the fines and charges, saying that he was not Reagan's employer and did not own the equipment at issue. [26] He entered a plea of "not guilty" on May 11, 2017. [27][28] In October 2019, Czirban was found was guilty of two counts of willfully failing to file a payroll tax return, a count of not having a workers' compensation insurance policy, and a count of filing a false document. [29] He was convicted and sentenced to 300 days of home confinement and three years of felony probation for violating state labor laws. [30]
Another company, Industrial Defense Development, was fined $6,000 for injuries that another firefighter sustained when the water truck he was driving rolled over an embankment. [25]
On August 2, 2016, officials announced that their investigation found that the fire had been caused by an unattended illegal campfire. [7] While no suspect was identified, Monterey County District Attorney Dean Flippo said that, if an arrest were made, the culprit could be charged with negligence and manslaughter. [7]
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Fire
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2012 North Korean floods
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The 2012 North Korean floods began in mid-July 2012 when Tropical Storm Khanun affected parts of the country, killing at least 88 people and leaving more than 62,000 people homeless. Torrential rains on 29 and 30 July 2012 worsened the situation, causing additional damage and casualties and forcing the government to request international assistance. [1] Severe rainfall also affected the southern region of North Korea in August, killing at least six. Khanun made landfall in South Korea on 19 July and weakened as it moved over North Korea before dissipating over China. The government on 29 July increased the number of fatalities as a result of flooding caused by Khanun from 8 to 88, with an additional 134 injured. The biggest loss of human life was in two counties of South Pyongan province. At least 62,900 were made homeless by the flooding, while more than 30,000 hectares of land for growing crops were submerged and will add to growing fears of another looming famine in the country. Three hundred public buildings and 60 factories were damaged during the storm. [2]
Torrential rains hit North Korea again on 29 and 30 July, with approximately 442 millimeters (17.4 inches) of rain recorded in Pakchon County of North Phyongan Province during a 24-hour period from 6 a.m. local time 29 July. The rains worsened the flood situation caused by Khanun, destroying railways, roads, bridges and 'many' dwelling houses. The government said many residents in the affected region were left homeless, but no figures have yet been released about damage and casualties. [3]
The North Korean government has asked assistance from resident United Nations agencies, the Red Cross, and European Union Program Support Units. The North Korean government also supported two inter-agency assessment missions in South Pyongan and Kangwon provinces on 31 July. [3][4]
On 1 August, KCNA announced that North and South Pyongan provinces and Nyongwon county were severely affected by floods, landslides and thunderbolts, which destroyed 4,900 dwellings, submerged 8,530 homes and destroyed or submerged 200 public buildings and factories. [5] KCNA also reported significant damage to coal mining and processing infrastructure in the area. Some 179,000 tonnes of coal were washed away, along with about 200 pieces of equipment at the Kaechon and Tokchon mining complexes. Railways serving the complexes were also damaged. [6] State media reported at least 31 were killed by landslides and lightning, with 16 others missing. [1]
On 4 August, the North Korean government said the death toll from both Khanun and the torrential rains in late July had risen to 169, with around 400 others missing. It said 8,600 houses were destroyed and 44,000 houses were flooded, leaving more than 212,200 people homeless. [7]
Torrential rains hit North Korea again between late 17 August and early 20 August, causing at least six deaths and destroying more than 530 buildings in the southern region of the country. Three people were killed in North Hwanghae Province, three people were also killed in South Phyongan Province, and an unknown number of people were killed in South Hwanghae Province. [8]
In North Korea, heavy rains from the storm triggered significant flooding and many landslides in late August. [9] In South Hamgyong Province, at least 100 homes were flooded by the storm. [10] KCNA reported wind speeds of more than 108 km/h (67 mph) in North and South Hwanghae, South Hamgyong, South Pyongan and the city of Nampho, and waves as high as 1.11 m (3.6 ft) in the sea of Kimchaek. [11] Widespread damage took place throughout the country as a result of the storm. At least 6,700 homes were destroyed and approximately 101,000 hectares (250,000 acres) of crop and rice fields were flooded. Additionally, 16,730 trees were downed and 880 public and industrial buildings were severely damaged. In all, at least 48 people were killed and 21,800 others were left homeless. [12]
Torrential rains from South Korea on 17 September made a landfall that spread beyond the Korean DMZ Zone to North Korea.
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Floods
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Most polling stations close at 10 pm, at which time the first results will be published.
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Most polling stations close at 10 pm, at which time the first results will be published.
There are 246,515 registered voters. That’s an increase of 8,780 since the last parliamentary election, in 2013. The number of men and women is about even.
Iceland is divided into six voting districts, each with its own number of members of parliament. They are the Northwest, Northeast, South and Southwest districts, in addition to Reykjavík South and Reykjavík North. Most MPs, or 13, come from the Southwest voting district, which consists of municipalities in the vicinity of Reykjavík. The Northwest district has the lowest number of MPs, or 8.
Twelve parties are on the ballot, nine of them running in all voter districts.
Alþingi, the Icelandic parliament, has sixty-three members, all of whom will be elected today.
At least 32 MPs are needed for parties to form a majority government. Based on recent polls, there is no chance a two-party government can be formed.
Voter turnout seems to be somewhat lower than in the 2013 parliamentary election. In 2013, the voter turnout was 81.5 percent, the lowest ever in a parliamentary election.
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Government Job change - Election
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2012 Sahel drought
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2012 had a very severe drought in the Sahel, the semiarid region of Africa that lies between the Sahara and the savannas. [1] Countries included in this region are Senegal, Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Nigeria, Chad, Sudan, and Eritrea. [2] Droughts in the Sahel occur quite often and tend to reduce the already meager water supply and stress the economies of developing countries in that region. [2]
The droughts are becoming increasingly more common, worse and more threatening due to global warming. [3] A possible explanation to the aridity trend is the supplements of an oceanography phenomenon called El Niño. [3] An idea is that evaporation is occurring at higher rate due to the change in Sea surface temperature, this then impacts the amount of rain the Sahel region receives[3] Another factor to keep into consideration is the response of our atmosphere to stimulants like greenhouse gases and carbon emissions. [3]
Valerie Amos, UN Humanitarian Chief during 2012, released a statement during the year stating that over 15 million people were malnourished in West Africa and the Sahel region. [4] The main contributor to the famine was the drought of Sahel, ensued from a combination of failing crops and El Niño. [3]
Mauritania and Chad recorded a loss in crop yield of over 50% when compared to 2011. Food reserves in the areas affected were very low and combined with corn prices soaring by 60-85% compared to averages over the last five years. In Chad alone this food crisis affected some 3.6 million people. [5] In places like Burkina Faso over 2.8 million were suffering from famine and in Senegal over 800,000 did not have enough to eat. [4]
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Droughts
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Trump administration moves to formally withdraw US from WHO
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The White House has officially moved to withdraw the United States from the World Health Organization (WHO), a senior administration official confirmed Tuesday, breaking ties with a global public health body in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic. The U.S. has submitted its withdrawal notification to the United Nations secretary-general, the official said. Withdrawal requires a year's notice, so it will not go into effect until July 6, 2021, raising the possibility the decision could be reversed. Sen. Bob Menendez (N.J.), the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, tweeted that the administration informed Congress of the withdrawal plans. "To call Trump’s response to COVID chaotic & incoherent doesn't do it justice. This won't protect American lives or interests — it leaves Americans sick & America alone," the senator tweeted. Congress received notification that POTUS officially withdrew the U.S. from the @WHO in the midst of a pandemic. To call Trump’s response to COVID chaotic & incoherent doesn't do it justice. This won't protect American lives or interests—it leaves Americans sick & America alone. Robert (Bob) Menendez Schumer, Cruz at standoff over Biden nominees Menendez fractures shoulder in dash to vote Senate rejects attempt to block Biden's Saudi arms sale MORE (@SenatorMenendez) July 7, 2020 The formal notification of withdrawal concludes months of threats from the Trump administration to pull the United States out of the WHO, which is affiliated with the United Nations. President Trump Donald Trump Warren backs expanding the Supreme Court Trump allies urge McCarthy to remove Kinzinger, Cheney from House GOP conference Agency managing Trump's DC hotel lease failed to probe ethical conflicts: report MORE has repeatedly assailed the organization for alleged bias toward China and its slow response to the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan. But public health experts and Democrats have raised alarms that the decision may be short-sighted and could undercut the global response to the pandemic, which has infected 11.6 million people worldwide. The U.S. has the highest number of reported cases in the world at nearly 3 million. They have also argued that some of the WHO's initial missteps can be attributed to China's lack of transparency in the early stages of the outbreak. ADVERTISEMENT “I disagree with the president’s decision," Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Chair Lamar Alexander Lamar Alexander McConnell gets GOP wake-up call The Hill's Morning Report - Presented by Alibaba - Democrats return to disappointment on immigration Authorities link ex-Tennessee governor to killing of Jimmy Hoffa associate MORE (R-Tenn.) said in a statement. "Certainly there needs to be a good, hard look at mistakes the World Health Organization might have made in connection with coronavirus, but the time to do that is after the crisis has been dealt with, not in the middle of it.” The president first froze funding for the WHO in April while his administration conducted a review of its relationship with the entity. Weeks later, he wrote to the WHO demanding reforms but did not specify what those reforms would be. Trump announced at the end of May the U.S. was "terminating" ties with the WHO. The move was cheered by conservatives who had accused the WHO of harboring pro-China bias and argued the global body was not a productive use of funds. Critics of the WHO have pointed to its initial assertion that the coronavirus could not be spread via human-to-human transmission, and Trump has harped on the organization's opposition to travel bans after he imposed one on China. ADVERTISEMENT Trump and his allies have also lashed out at the WHO for failing to stop early warning signs of the outbreak. China first alerted the WHO to the presence of a cluster of atypical pneumonia in the city of Wuhan on Dec. 31 after the WHO picked up reports through its epidemic intelligence system. But there is evidence to indicate the virus was circulating in Wuhan as early as mid-November. The United States contributes upwards of $400 million annually to the WHO — making it the group’s largest contributor — and public health experts have warned that a suspension of funds would severely damage the organization. The timing of the administration's decision has drawn intense scrutiny and is likely to spur questions about U.S. involvement in global efforts to develop a coronavirus vaccine. "Abandoning our seat at the table leaves the United States out of global decision-making to combat the virus and global efforts to develop and access vaccines and therapeutics, leaving us more vulnerable to COVID-19 while diminishing our position as the leader in global health," Thomas File, Jr., president of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, said in a statement. "This decision is irresponsible, reckless, and utterly incomprehensible. Withdrawing from the @WHO in the midst of the greatest public health crisis of our lifetime is a self-destructive move. More Americans will be hurt by this careless choice," Rep. Eric Swalwell Eric Michael Swalwell The Memo: Biden faces test in tornadoes' aftermath Politics, media worlds react to Wallace news Homicide Victims' Families' Rights Act will renew our commitment to support crime victims MORE (D-Calif.) tweeted.
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Withdraw from an Organization
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SNP auditors make unprecedented fraud statement in party accounts
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Updated
60 comments
THE SNP’s auditors have included an unprecedented statement about fraud in the party’s new accounts as police investigate potential criminality around fundraising.
Finance experts Johnston Carmichael LLP inserted a lengthy section on the “extent to which the audit was considered capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud”.
The accountancy firm revealed it had been reading the minutes of the party’s ruling body and audit & finance committee to check for “events that may impact the financial statements”.
Three members of the finance committee resigned earlier this year in protest over a lack of transparency, as did the then party treasurer, MP Douglas Chapman.
The auditors also said they had “obtained an understanding of the legal and regulatory frameworks that the party operates in”, with a focus on “material amounts and disclosures”.
READ MORE: SNP publishes salary of Nicola Sturgeon's husband Peter Murrell in accounts
The statement includes text adopted as part of a new industry-wide standard, but also specific steps relating to the SNP.
It comes as police officers investigate complaints about the fate of more than £660,000 raised by the party since 2017 for a second independence referendum.
After the force launched the probe last month following a consultation with prosecutors, the SNP said it would "cooperate fully" with the investigation.
However the development was a still huge blow to Nicola Sturgeon, as SNP leader, and her husband, SNP chief executive Peter Murrell.
It followed the SNP admitting it had spent some of the Indyref2 money on other things in the absence of another independence vote.
The party has now pledged to spend an “equivalent” sum, and insists the money is earmarked for Indyref2, although it is not formally identified as such in its accounts.
The SNP accounts for 2020 were published today.
READ MORE: Police Scotland launch 'fraud' probe into SNP fundraising for Indyref2
The auditors' statement underlines their procedures to detect fraud, but also the possibility of failing to do so because of the “inherent limitations of an audit”.
The ext states: “We considered the opportunities and incentives that may exist within the organisation for fraud and identified the greatest potential for fraud in the following area: revenue recognition.
“We also obtained an understanding of the legal and regulatory frameworks that the party operates in, focusing on provisions of those laws and regulations that had a direct effect on the determination of material amounts and disclosures in the financial statements.
“The key laws and regulations we considered in this context included the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 and tax legislation.
“Our procedures to respond to risks identified included the following:
· agreeing income received to bank receipts and supporting documentation;
· reviewing the financial statement disclosures to assess compliance with the laws and regulations described as having a direct effect on the financial statements;
· enquiring of management regarding the potential existence and extent of any litigation claims;
· performing analytical procedures to identify any unusual or unexpected relationships that may indicate risks of material misstatement due to fraud;
· reading National Executive Committee and Audit & Finance Committee minutes for events that may impact the financial statements.”
It concluded: “Because of the inherent limitations of an audit, there is a risk that we will not detect all irregularities, including those leading to a material misstatement in the financial statements or noncompliance with regulation."
The new statement is also included in the 2020 accounts of the SNP Westminster Group.
It is unclear if any of the measures are new for 2020, or simply stated for the first time.
In March, three members of the SNP’s finance and audit commmittee quit amid complaints about being denied access to the accounts.
In May, Mr Chapman also quit as the new SNP treasurer, complaining a lack of transparency had stopped him carrying out his “fiduciary duties”.
SNP MP Joanna Cherry QC quit the party’s ruling body, the National Executive Committee, the same month, again citing issues with transparency and scrutiny.
MSP Colin Beattie, who returned as Treasurer after Mr Chapman left, gives an assurance in the 2020 accounts that “all of the amounts raised will be spent directly on the campaign to win independence”.
READ MORE: Tom Gordon: SNP-Green deal contains poison for independence
He said that by the end of 2020 a total of £666,953 had been raised for Indyref2, of which £51,760 jhad been spent, with much of the remainder due to be spent this year.
He said he, Mr Murrell and Johnston Carmichael were in discussions about improving the transparency around the money in future years in the accounts.
The accounts show that in 2020, the SNP had an income of £4.4m, compared to £5.3m in 2019, and an expenditure of £3.3m compared to £5.6m in 2019.
This left it with a surplus last year of £1.1m, compared to a deficit of £319,000 in 2019.
Its reserves were £1.4m at the end of 2020, compared to £272,000 in 2019.
The SNP was the only major party to have a surplus last year. The UK Conservatives, UK Labour and UK Liberal Democrats all had losses in 2020.
For the first time since the 2012 accounts, the SNP also revealed Mr Murrell's salary in its accounts.
It said it was £79,750 a year as of May 31 this year.
In 2012 it was £77,024.
A spokesperson for Johnston Carmichael said: “Client confidentiality is paramount in all that we do, and we do not discuss individual cases.
"However, in line with the revised International Standards on Auditing (ISAs), effective for periods commencing on or after 15 December 2019 and beyond, all audit reports now require to include a bespoke section which addresses the extent to which the audit was considered capable of detecting irregularities including fraud.”
An SNP spokesperson said: "The SNP publishes the most extensive and transparent accounts of any major political party, despite having the lowest turnover, with 39 pages of detailed information."
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Famous Person - Commit Crime - Investigate
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2020 Central Idaho earthquake
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The 2020 Central Idaho earthquake occurred on March 31, 2020, at 5:52 PM MDT in the Western United States, near Ruffneck Peak in the Sawtooth Mountains in Central Idaho, 72 miles (116 km) northeast of Boise, Idaho and 19 miles (31 km) northwest of Stanley, Idaho.
Parts of central and eastern Idaho lie within the northern part of the Intermountain Seismic Belt (ISB). This area of relatively intense seismicity runs roughly north–south from northwestern Arizona, through Utah, Idaho, and Wyoming, before dying out in northwestern Montana. [6] The ISB is characterized mainly by normal faulting of late Quaternary age, indicating active extensional tectonics, as recognized throughout the Basin and Range province to the south. Some historical earthquakes show evidence of strike-slip faulting such as the two largest earthquakes of the 1935 Helena earthquake sequence.
Historical seismicity in the immediate vicinity of the March 31 earthquake is sparse; no earthquakes of M5+ have occurred within 50 km of this event over the past 50 years, and the most notable historic seismicity in the region occurred about 100 km to the east on the Lost River fault zone. This was the site of the M6.9 Borah Peak earthquake (October 28, 1983), which was followed by five other M 5+ events over the following year, and most recently a M5.0 earthquake in January 2015, about 60 km to the east of the event. [3] The March 31 earthquake was reported to be felt in six different states,with nearly 50,000 reports of the shaking reported, as of March 2021.
The shock measured 6.5 on the moment magnitude scale and had a maximum Mercalli intensity of VII (Very strong). The observed focal mechanism is consistent with movement on a strike-slip fault. The solution found suggests either right lateral faulting on a fault trending west–east or left-lateral faulting on a fault trending north–south. Analysis of seismic waveforms supports left-lateral slip on a fault plane with a strike of 172°, dipping steeply to the west. [11] The earthquake was about 16 km north of the northern tip of the Sawtooth Fault, a 60-km-long east-dipping normal fault that extends along the eastern base of the Sawtooth Range. [3] There is currently no evidence of any surface rupture. [1]
Left lateral strike-slip movement on a north–south trending fault came as a surprise as it does not seem to match the known orientation of the regional stress field. The north–south orientation is supported by InSAR data and the distribution of aftershocks. The fault responsible was not previously known and lacks any obvious topographic expression. [1]
The quake had numerous aftershocks, including one with a magnitude of 4.8 on April 1, and another with a magnitude of 4.0 on April 3. [12] As of April 8, 2020, there had been ~300 aftershocks of 2.5 magnitude or greater. [13][14] Aftershocks continued to rock the area through September. [15]
Significant structural cracks were found on the Bridge services building and on the Custer County courthouse in Challis, Idaho. [16]
The Idaho Geological Survey was prevented from doing a ground survey inspection of the impacted region due to both heavy snowfall and a statewide travel ban that was in effect due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Two overflights revealed some avalanches that may have been caused as well as a few landslides across minor highways. The Idaho Geological Survey stated they may not be able to do a more complete inspection until Summer of 2020. [1]
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Earthquakes
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Popular Westerville event canceled due to city’s public health state of emergency
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by: Eric Halperin Posted: Sep 22, 2021 / 09:05 PM EDT Updated: Sep 22, 2021 / 11:13 PM EDT by: Eric Halperin Posted: Sep 22, 2021 / 09:05 PM EDT Updated: Sep 22, 2021 / 11:13 PM EDT WESTERVILLE, Ohio (WCMH) – A popular central Ohio festival will not be happening as originally planned this Friday. 4th Fridays in Uptown Westerville happen from May through October, but this week’s event is canceled after the city declared a public health state of emergency Tuesday. Earlier Wednesday, Uptown Westerville posted on social media, announcing the cancelation. In addition to the state of emergency, the group said the cancelation is also coming out of care and concern for the community. According to Westerville, the state of emergency is in place in large part due to the overwhelming situations at central Ohio hospitals. Megan Lee Designs, which participates in the event, said 4th Fridays are usually one of the business’ best days, but understand why the call was made. “It’s not ideal from a small business revenue perspective, but I do believe everybody’s heart is in the right place in essence,” said Erik Weitz, Megan Lee Designs’ vice-president. “It’s like the greater good, we’re all trying to come together to make sure we can get back to business as usual, or the new business as usual.” To be 19 months into the pandemic and still have events canceled, people are disappointed, but also understand why the decision was made. “I think it’s disappointing it has to be canceled, but I also want to do whatever is going to be the safest for the community,” said Westerville resident Dawn Puster. Weitz said he saw the message from the city about area hospitals being overwhelmed and said he understands why 4th Friday will not be happening this week. “This event is sponsored by Mount Carmel Health, so it would be probably unwise and a little contradictory, I think, if they were to have it, so I completely understand why it’s canceled,” he said. While other events in the city have been canceled for the next six weeks, there is no word on next month’s 4th Friday event. Unless the situation at central Ohio hospitals improves, the city said it will reevaluate the public health state of emergency on Nov. 2.
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Organization Closed
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Lake Worth Church fire
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The Lake Worth Church fire occurred in 1999 in Lake Worth, Texas, United States. On February 15, 1999 firefighters in Lake Worth, Texas and surrounding towns were alerted to a fire in a church on Roberts Cut Off Road in the area of Cowden Street just before 11 A.M. The roof of the church would eventually collapse trapping five firefighters inside, three of whom would die before they could be rescued. Four firefighters were also on the roof performing ventilation operations when it collapsed below them. The fire started in a shed to the northeast of the church. Heavy winds caused the fire to spread to the roof area of the church. Inside the fire spread throughout the enclosed attic area. The fire was noticed by a police officer in neighboring Samson Park, and he reported to his dispatcher. The dispatcher then notified the Samson Park fire department under the impression that the fire was in their jurisdiction. At the same time a Lake Worth water department worker noticed the fire and notified his dispatcher who in turn notified the Lake Worth fire department. With all of the notifications, a total of six fire departments were dispatched to the fire. The first two arriving fire engines deployed a total of four 1.75 inches (40 mm) handlines, with three being deployed on the interior of the building. A crew of three firefighters (two from Lake Worth and one from Samson Park) made their way to the east end of the church from the church's front entrance on the west end. They went down the center aisle toward the sanctuary in the southeastern corner behind the altar. The fire was located in the attic area, and they starting extinguishing it, with the help of two more firefighters from the River Oaks fire department. As the interior crews started their interior attack of the fire, four firefighters made their way to the roof to begin ventilation operations. While the ladder crews were venting the roof, it collapsed below them. One firefighter landed next to the main entrance after falling through the roof. Another firefighter held onto a wall and was pulled up by the other two firefighters that were on the only part of the roof that didn't collapse. Initially only two firefighters were reported as being missing. The rescue team reported that they could not enter the building due to the worsening conditions. They were instructed to enter from the fellowship hall located on the southeast corner of the building. After entering through the fellowship hall, they located two disoriented firefighters inside. Another accountability check was then ordered after the two were removed from the building. This check concluded that there were still two trapped inside. Another crew from River Oaks arrived on scene and began a new search for the missing firefighters. One firefighter was found in the entrance to the offices at the rear of the sanctuary and after making their way further into the office a second firefighter was found. Accountability reports on scene indicated that two firefighters were missing and both were from River Oaks, Brian Collins and Phillip Dean. It was believed at this time that all missing firefighters has been found and that they were Collins and Dean. Unfortunately during further overhaul the body of a third firefighter was found in the hallway further into the sanctuary. An exhaustive search was begun to try to determine who the third firefighter was. It was not until the Sansom Park Engine returned to their station that they realized that Firefighter Sanders has responded with them but had not returned with them. After further investigation it was determined that another Sansom Park firefighter had showed up on scene in their private vehicle and was using the gear of another firefighter who had become ill in the initial stages of the fire. When accountability reports were initially called for the Sansom Park officer only counted firefighters in Sansom Park gear and did not account for the actual individuals that had responded with them. Autopsy reports confirmed that the three firefighters were Collins and Dean from River Oaks and Sanders from Sansom Park. It was further determined that Gary Sanders was the initial firefighter that was found by Phillip Dean. Brian Collins was the firefighter found later. The fire started in the shed outside the building to the northeast. The fire was reported as incendiary in nature, with no suspects being arrested as of 2001. Based on the fire investigation and analysis, the NFPA has determined that the following
significant factors may have contributed to the deaths of the three fire fighters:
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Fire
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2014 PDC World Darts Championship
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The 2014 Ladbrokes World Darts Championship was the 21st World Championship organised by the Professional Darts Corporation since it separated from the British Darts Organisation. The event took place at the Alexandra Palace, London between 13 December 2013 and 1 January 2014. Phil Taylor was the defending champion, having won his 16th title in 2013, but he lost 4–3 to Michael Smith in the second round. [1]
Michael van Gerwen won his first World Championship by defeating Peter Wright 7–4 in the final. [2] He became the sixth winner of the event and, at the age of 24, the youngest. [3]
The result also saw him replace Taylor as the new world number one. [4]
A new record of 603 maximum 180 scores were made during the championship, beating the previous best of 588 set in 2012. [5] For the first time in PDC history, there was no Englishman in the final. [6]
The televised stages featured 72 players. The top 32 players in the PDC Order of Merit on 26 November 2013 were seeded for the tournament. They were joined by the 16 highest non-qualified players from the Pro Tour Order of Merit, based on the events played on the 2013 PDC Pro Tour. These 48 players were joined by two PDPA qualifiers (as determined at the PDPA Qualifying event held in Barnsley on 25 November 2013), the highest ranked non-qualified player on the PDC Challenge Tour Order of Merit, and 21 international players: the four highest names in the European Order of Merit not already qualified, and 17 further international qualifiers to be determined by the PDC and PDPA. Some of the international players, such as the four from the European Order of Merit, and the top American and Australian players were entered straight into the first round, while others, having won qualifying events in their countries, were entered into the preliminary round. Order of Merit
Pro Tour
European Order of MeritFirst Round Qualifiers
PDPA QualifierFirst Round Qualifier
Preliminary Round Qualifier
Challenge Tour QualifierPreliminary Round Qualifier
International QualifiersFirst Round Qualifiers
Preliminary Round Qualifiers
Edward Santos withdrew due to travel problems and was replaced by Colin Osborne, the highest-ranking non-qualified player on the PDC Order of Merit. [19]
The 2014 World Championship features a prize fund of at least £1,050,000. The winner's prize money has been increased from £200,000 to £250,000. [20]
The prize money is allocated as follows:
The preliminary round was drawn on 30 November, the last 64 draw took place on 2 December 2013 and was made by Rod Harrington and Wayne Mardle. It was shown live on Sky Sports. The preliminary round was played in a first to four legs format. One match was played per session with the winners playing their first round matches later on the same day. Source: Match reports in the draw
This table shows the number of players by country in the World Championship, the total number including the Preliminary round. The tournament was available in the following countries on these channels:[21]
Sky Sports also showed the semi-finals and final in 3D in the United Kingdom.
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Sports Competition
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St. Vincent Volcano Eruption: Live Story
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The Caribbean island of St. Vincent is facing a series of eruptions from the La Soufriere volcano, which killed 1,600 people when it erupted in 1902. The island’s 111,000 residents are currently under threat from pyroclastic (hot gas and debris) flows, widespread ash, and the degradation of local food and water supplies — as well as the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. Direct Relief is responding to requests for local partners to help support emergency response efforts and vulnerable populations on the island. Check this page for ongoing updates from Direct Relief’s emergency response team, research and analysis team, and journalists. April 28 Today, Direct Relief Program Manager Luis David Rodriguez is in Vieux Fort, St. Lucia to assist in response to the St. Vincent volcanic eruption. Luis is working closely with the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States and the Pan American Health Organization to ensure that necessary medical supplies are properly allocated. April 19 From Direct Relief’s Research and Analysis team, here is a new story map that shows population mobility data over the past week, amid the volcanic eruption on St. Vincent. The data is sourced from Facebook’s Data for Good program, which compiles randomized Facebook App data rom users who have opted-in to the program. Click the graphic below to access the story map: April 18 A major explosion started this evening, marking the ninth significant explosion since December 2020. Ash plumes are reaching as high as 8,000 feet, with ash raining heavily on the entire island as well as neighboring islands, such as Barbados. Water supply across the island continues to be compromised and completely cut off in some areas, as well as power and internet. Aerosol plumes have traveled across vast stretches of the northern hemisphere. The UN reports that about 4,000 displaced people are living in 87 shelters set up by the St. Vincent Government, many of which lack basic services such as drinking water. Thousands more are staying in private homes of family and friends on the other end of the island. Evacuations to surrounding island nations continue, but in smaller numbers. Explosive activity is expected to continue for months, so the top priorities are water supply and shelter management. The death toll remains at zero. Direct Relief continues to receive and field requests for support. -Cydney Justman, Emergency Response Team April 17 Nine pallets of assorted PPE arrived to the Ministry of Health in St. Vincent. In its latest update, CDEMA reports that “eruptions continue although explosive activity has reduced.” The report also states that long-period and hybrid earthquakes are ongoing at La Soufrière Volcano. After a lull last night, they have been constant. The new volcanic crater now measures 900 meters at least 750 meters and is estimated to be 100 meters, according to Raphael Grandin of the University of Paris’s Institut De Physique Du Globe De Paris. Explosions with ashfall could restart in the future, the report cautioned. April 16 Two containers of PPE arrived to the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) in St. Lucia yesterday. A portion is being sent to St. Vincent by boat tomorrow morning. April 15 On the map below (one or two geocoding errors but it’s almost entirely correct) you can see the population displacement from the north of St. Vincent to the south as well. -Andrew Schroder, VP of Research and Analysis April 14 A 20-pallet shipment, valued at $1.8 million, was picked up from Direct Relief’s Santa Barbara headquarters by FedEx, en route to St. Lucia, where it will be staged for delivery to St. Vincent. April 13 An analysis of anonymized Facebook-provided user data suggests that people in St. Vincent are moving south on the island, with that area’s population having increased by about 40%, compared to the pre-eruption baseline. Based on this analysis, the greatest proportional change actually came from St. Patrick, not from St. David – which is the district where the volcano is located. St, David principally sent folks to St. Patrick – so there may have been a cascade effect of departures over the five days. St. George actually sent a reasonably significant number of people to St. David, which may include the relief effort and the assessment teams. This is all tracking movement within the country – not internationally – although it is interesting that there’s essentially no recorded movement to the more southern islands. -Andrew Schroder, VP of Research and Analysis Click here for updating GIS maps and Facebook population movement data April 12 Original reporting from Talya Meyers detailed the latest developments on the island, where 16,000 people have been evacuated during the most violent phase of the eruption so far, as well as Direct Relief’s response. Shipments from Santa Barbara are being prepared at the request of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States and St. Vincent’s Ministry of Health, Wellness, and the Environment, WHO’s Pan American Health Organization, and other local partners. Full Article April 11 Wildfires and volcanic eruptions carry may of the same risks to medically vulnerable members of the population, particularly those with respiratory conditions. Reflecting this, Direct Relief is readying its Wildfire Health Kits for delivery to St. Vincent. Each kit is designed to enable the treatment of about 250 people for 3 to 5 days, with medicines and supplies most requested by healthcare providers in past wildfire emergencies. Each pre-packed kit contains essential medicines and medical supplies to treat the most common health conditions caused and exacerbated by wildfires and mass evacuations. Some of the items are inhalers and nebulizer solutions to treat respiratory irritation, irrigation solutions and antibiotics for skin and eye injuries, analgesics for headaches, bandages and wound care items for lacerations and minor injuries like sprains and strains, and personal protective equipment (PPE) such as masks and gloves to protect health workers. April 10 La Soufriere has moved into an explosive state since early this morning. The island’s pre-emptive evacuation preparation and arrangements went into full effect yesterday and, as of this morning, close to 20,000 people have been evacuated from the area surrounding the volcano. Some evacuees were transported by land to other parts of the island, outside of the impact zone of the volcano. Two cruise ships from Royal Caribbean and two from Carnival Cruise Line arrived Thursday and Friday to ferry other groups of evacuees to nearby islands or shelters elsewhere in St. Vincent. Direct Relief is building palletized donations that contain an assortment of supplies including N95 masks, respiratory medications, burn creams, hygiene kits, cots, first aid kits and Direct Relief Wildfire Health Kits. The N95 masks will be accompanied by the leaflets which indicate safest use of masks for protection against inhalation of volcanic ash. The airport in St. Vincent is now closed. This emergency shipment will be consigned to OECS in St. Lucia, where it will be transferred by boat to St. Vincent. The Pan American Health Organization has activated their Emergency Operations Center for this event. The primary health concerns during volcanic eruptions are similar to wildfires, and include respiratory distress, eye and skin irritation, contaminated water supply, the intensification of chronic illnesses when access to medicine is compromised. The Barbados Defense Force Field Medical Team is preparing for deployment to St. Vincent. They are assessing needs and will be sending requests for support shortly. The Barbados Defense Force has a WHO-qualified Emergency Medical Team and field hospital, to support Barbados and the greater Caribbean in times of need. In March, Direct Relief supported the field hospital with 10 cots, 1 tent with lighting kit, and 2 emergency health kits each of which contained medicines and supplies frequently used and needed in emergency situations. -Cydney Justman, Emergency Response Team April 9 Original reporting from Talya Meyers outlining the latest news on the island, health concerns, and Direct Relief’s response. Full Article April 8 St. Vincent is a volcanic island in the eastern Caribbean. It is composed of partially-submerged volcanic mountains. Its largest volcano, La Soufriere, is signaling significant activity, and is expected to erupt imminently. Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves has issued an evacuation order for 20,000 people (20% of the island’s population) as conditions at La Soufriere continue to deteriorate. Evacuees will be transported by boat to St. Lucia, Barbados, and Trinidad and Tobago. Direct Relief has offered support to the Chief Pharmacist of St. Vincent, the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO). The primary health concerns during volcanic eruptions are similar to wildfires, and include respiratory distress, eye and skin irritation, contaminated water supply, the intensification of chronic illnesses when access to medicine is compromised. Since 2008, Direct Relief has provided the Ministry of Health of St. Vincent with 29 shipments valued at over $10 million. Estimated affected population: 60,000 Estimated evacuation population: 20,000
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Volcano Eruption
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Xinyang bus fire
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On 22 July 2011 at 03:43 Beijing Time (20:00 UTC on the 21st), a bus fire occurred in Xinyang, Henan, causing the deaths of 41 people and injuring 6 others. [1]
The fire occurred on China National Highway 105, which links Beijing to Zhuhai, Guangdong. At 3:43 am, a fire started at the rear of the bus,[1] rapidly consuming the bus. Upon noticing the explosion, the driver immediately pulled over to the left and stopped in 145 meters. [2] Some of the survivors reported hearing an explosion at the back of the vehicle when the fire started. [1] Six people, including the driver, survived and were hospitalized. [3] As a result of the fire, the vehicle was severely damaged. The investigation concluded that the vehicle was illegally carrying 15 boxes of Azobisisobutyronitrile,[2] each weighing 20 kg[4].It was found that at Weihai, the starting point of the route, Huichang Company worker Zhang Hui (deceased) loaded the 10 boxes on to the bus, first into the luggage area then later moved into locked toilet with another 5 loaded on later, beside the toilet,[2] and due to the improper packaging, the motion of the vehicle and the heat generated from the engine caused it to decompose and combust. [4] According to the 'Safe management of dangerous chemicals', Zhang Hui should've used a refrigerator truck,[4] instead deliberately transporting it on a public transport vehicle despite the contract stipulating the use of a refrigerated transport. [2]
As a result of the investigation, 10 people involved with Weihai Transport Company, the manufacturer of the chemical and the contracted transporter company were arrested. [2]
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Fire
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1989 Mount Carmel forest fire
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The Mount Carmel Forest Fire was a forest fire that occurred between 19 and 22 September 1989 on Mount Carmel in northern Israel and was one of the largest forest fires in Israel, the largest being the Mount Carmel forest fire of 2010. The fire extended over 6,000 dunams (600 ha; 1,500 acres), of which 3,200 dunams (320 ha; 790 acres) were natural forest areas of Aleppo pine which were part of the Carmel National Park and Nature Reserve, causing considerable damage to the flora and wildlife. The weather conditions at the start of the fire were a 31 degrees Celsius (87.8 degrees Fahrenheit), 28% humidity and eastern winds of 42–50 kmh (30–35 mph). The weather conditions and mountainous topography of the area increased both the speed at which the fire spread and its intensity, making it difficult to extinguish. The fire broke out around 11:00 a.m. on the morning of 19 September 1989 in a number of locations far apart from each other. The eruption of the fire in multiple locations led many to suspect that the fire was a result of arson, although such suspicions were never confirmed. Initially the fire spread west towards the Denia neighbourhood of Haifa and the University of Haifa. Later, when the wind direction changed at night time, the fire moved southwest towards the "Little Switzerland" area (so called for its resemblance to the landscapes of Switzerland) in the Carmel National Park, Kibbutz Beit Oren and the Damun prison facility, completely destroying nearby breeding and reacclimation centers. In the evening of September 20 the fire's intensity finally decreased significantly and was gradually extinguished, the fire finally put out on September 22. 142 firefighters of the Israel Fire and Rescue Services took part in the event using 64 fire trucks. They were assisted by 250 IDF soldiers, agricultural aircraft, volunteers of the Jewish National Fund and the Israel Nature and Parks Authority, as well as police, Municipality of Haifa and MDA forces. Most of the extinguishing operations focused on stabilizing the fire and preventing it from spreading further. Six firefighters and several volunteers were injured in the fire, although the main damage was caused to the ecosystem. About 3200 dunam (790 acres) were of natural forest areas, which caused considerable damage to the flora and wild life. The fire killed a significant portion of the animals who used to live in the region. A herd of roe deer perished completely in the flames as did 18 wild goats. In addition, some reptiles such as turtles failed to escape the fire. Coordinates: 32°45′31″N 35°00′31″E / 32.758695°N 35.008707°E / 32.758695; 35.008707
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Fire
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19 January 2015 DRC protests
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On 19 January 2015, protests led by students at the University of Kinshasa broke out in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The protests began following the announcement of a proposed law that would allow the country's 43-year-old president, Joseph Kabila, to remain in power until a national census could be conducted. Elections had been planned for 2016 and a census would be a massive undertaking that would likely take several years for the developing country. [6][7]
By 21 January, clashes between police and protesters had claimed at least 42 lives[6] (although the government claimed only 15 people had been killed, most by security guards while looting[citation needed]; the government later adjusted that figure to 27 killed[8]). As a result of the protests the government closed certain radio stations,[9] and cut all internet, SMS and 3G communication in the country on 20 January. [10]
Following a series of meetings between foreign diplomats and Congolese government officials, the Congolese Senate passed the law, omitting the controversial census clause, and the opposition called off further protests. [4]
On 17 January 2015, the Congolese National Assembly (the country's lower house) voted to revise the electoral law in the country's constitution. The new law would require that a national census be conducted prior to any upcoming elections, which, according to the Guardian newspaper, "could delay the general election, due to take place [in] 2016. "[11] On 19 January, following a call from opposition parties, protesters gathered in front of the Palais du Peuple and were subsequently attacked with tear gas and live ammunition by government security forces. [1] Protests also took place in the capitals of the country's historically unstable eastern provinces of North and South Kivu. [1]
On 20 January, Internet, SMS and 3G communications in the country were cut-off. [10] On 21 January, the Congolese Catholic Church's Archbishop, Cardinal Laurent Monsengwo stated "We denounce these actions which have caused death and we are launching this plea: stop killing your people,...[and call on the people to use] all legal and peaceful [means to oppose the law change]. "[12] The Roman Catholic Church counts around half of the country's population amongst its congregants. [7] The same day, American, British, French and Belgian diplomats met with the Congolese Senate President, Léon Kengo, and urged him either to suspend debate and voting on the modifying law or to remove the controversial provisions. [13]
On 24 January, diplomats from Belgium, the European Union, France, the United Kingdom, the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Congo, and the United States met privately with President Kabila at his home in Kinshasa. [4]
On 25 January, the Congolese Senate removed the controversial provision from the proposed law and passed it, leading the opposition to call off plans for protests on the next day. [14] President Kabila has until 24 February to sign the bill into law. [14]
Around 50 Chinese national-run businesses in the Kinshasa neighborhoods of Ngaba and Kalamu were targeted by looters. [15] An Agence France-Presse article reported that the attacks were motivated by local businesses' resentment of the low prices of Chinese run stores and the rioters' association of Chinese-run stores with the government's Chinese investment deals which have become a centerpiece of the country's economic policy. [15]
On 19 January, Martin Kobler, the head of MONUSCO, criticized the deaths and injuries during protests as "a result of violent demonstrations and the ensuing use of lethal force by the security force." He further said, "The use of force by law enforcement officers must always be necessary, proportionate, and a measure of last resort. "[1] On 20 January, the American government expressed concern about the situation in the country, the loss of life and the ongoing violence. The U.S. called for "timely elections [...] in accordance with the Constitution. "[9]
On March 15 at least 26 activists, journalists, diplomats and civilians were arrested in Kinshasa while attending a workshop on freedom of expression. Those arrested included journalists from the BBC, AFP, RTBF, and the Senegalese youth-group Y'en a Marre. [16] They were beaten by Congolese security forces, arrested and taken to be interrogated by members of Congo's National Intelligence Agency[17]
On March 17 at least 10 people were arrested and beaten in Goma for protesting the earlier arrests in Kinshasa. [18]
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Protest_Online Condemnation
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Croatia becomes an Associate Member of CERN
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Today, CERN welcomes the Republic of Croatia as an Associate Member State, following receipt of official notification that Croatia has completed its internal approval procedures in respect of the Agreement, signed on 28 February 2019, granting that status to the country.
Scientists and researchers from Croatia have contributed to many experiments at CERN for almost four decades. A Cooperation Agreement concluded between CERN and Croatia in 2001 increased the country’s participation in CERN’s research and educational programmes. Croatia applied for Associate Membership in May 2014.
As an Associate Member State, Croatia will have a seat in the CERN Council and be entitled to attend meetings of the Finance Committee and the Scientific Policy Committee. Nationals of Croatia will be eligible to apply for limited-duration positions as staff members and fellows. Firms offering goods and services originating from Croatia will be entitled to bid for CERN contracts, opening up opportunities for industrial collaboration in advanced technologies.
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Join in an Organization
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India registers 31,923 new Covid infections, 282 deaths in last 24 hours
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New Delhi: India added 31,923 new coronavirus infections taking the total tally of COVID-19 cases to 3,35,63,421, while the active cases declined to 3,01,640, the lowest in 187 days, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Thursday. The death toll climbed to 4,46,050 with 282 fresh fatalities, according to the data updated at 8 am. The active cases comprise 0.90 per cent of the total infections, the lowest since March 2020, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 97.77 per cent, the highest since March 2020, the ministry said. As many as 15,27,443 tests were conducted on Wednesday taking the total cumulative tests conducted so far for detection of COVID-19 in the country to 55,83,67,013. The daily positivity rate was recorded at 2.09 per cent. It has been less than three per cent for last 24 days. The weekly positivity rate was recorded at 2.11 per cent. It has been below three per cent for the last 90 days, according to the ministry. The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 3,28,15,731, while the case fatality rate was recorded at 1.33 per cent. The cumulative doses administered in the country so far under the nationwide COVID-19 vaccination drive has exceeded 83.39 crore. India’s COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 2020, 30 lakh on August 23, 40 lakh on September 5 and 50 lakh on September 16. It went past 60 lakh on September 28, 70 lakh on October 11, crossed 80 lakh on October 29, 90 lakh on November 20 and surpassed the one-crore mark on December 19. India crossed the grim milestone of two crore on May 4 and three crore on June 23. The 282 new fatalities include 142 from Kerala and 48 from Maharashtra. A total of 4,46,050 deaths have been reported so far in the country including 1,38,664 from Maharashtra, 37,668 from Karnataka, 35,400 from Tamil Nadu, 25,085 from Delhi, 24,039 from Kerala, 22,888 from Uttar Pradesh, and 18,691 from West Bengal. The ministry stressed that more than 70 per cent of the deaths occurred due to comorbidities. “Our figures are being reconciled with the Indian Council of Medical Research,” the ministry said on its website, adding that state-wise distribution of figures is subject to further verification and reconciliation. Also read: Issues with India’s vaccine certification, not Covishield: British High Commissioner
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Disease Outbreaks
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2006 Yogyakarta earthquake
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The 2006 Yogyakarta earthquake (also known as the Bantul earthquake) occurred at 05:54 local time on 27 May with a moment magnitude of 6.4 and a maximum MSK intensity of VIII (Damaging). Several factors led to a disproportionate amount of damage and number of casualties for the size of the shock, with more than 5,700 dead, tens of thousands injured, and financial losses of Rp 29.1 trillion ($3.1 billion). With limited effects to public infrastructure and lifelines, housing and private businesses bore the majority of damage (the 9th-century Prambanan Hindu temple compound was also affected), and the United States' National Geophysical Data Center classified the total damage from the event as extreme. Although Indonesia experiences very large, great, and giant thrust earthquakes offshore at the Sunda Trench, this was a large strike-slip event that occurred on the southern coast of Java near the city of Yogyakarta. Mount Merapi lies nearby, and during its many previous historical eruptions, large volume lahars and volcanic debris flowed down its slopes where settlements were later built. This unconsolidated material from the stratovolcano amplified the intensity of the shaking and created the conditions for soil liquefaction to occur. Inadequate construction techniques and poor quality materials contributed to major failures with unreinforced masonry buildings (then the most prevalent type of home construction), though other styles fared better. The islands of Indonesia constitute an island arc that is one of the world's most seismically active regions, with high velocity plate movement at the Sunda Trench (up to 60 mm (2.4 in) per year), and considerable threats from earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and tsunami throughout. Java, one of the five largest in the Indonesian archipelago, lies on the Sunda Shelf to the north of the Sunda Trench, which is a convergent plate boundary where the Indo-Australian Plate is being subducted under the Eurasian Plate. The subduction zone offshore Java is characterized by a northward dipping Benioff zone, frequent earthquakes and volcanic activity that influence the regional geography, and direct or indirect stress transfer that has affected the various onshore faults. Sedimentation is closely related to tectonics, and while the volume of offshore sediment at the trench decreases with distance from the Ganges-Brahmaputra Delta at the Bay of Bengal, the onshore accrual of sediments near the Special Region of Yogyakarta has been shaped by tectonic events. [7]
According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), the shock occurred 20 km (12 mi) south-southeast of Yogyakarta at a depth of 10 km (6.2 mi), but other institutions provided source parameters (location and depth) that were not in agreement. No information was present on the extent of the faulting or the direction of propagation and there was no link to the eruption of Mount Merapi. The USGS suggested that the focal mechanism was most likely associated with left-lateral slip on a NE trending strike-slip fault, as that is the orientation of the Opak Fault, but this has not been validated. No surface breaks were documented, but the location of the greatest damage that was caused does align with the Opak Fault as a possible source. [8]
A group of Japanese and Indonesian scientists visited the area in March 2007 and confirmed the lack of surface ruptures, and pointed out that any visible expression of the fault would likely have been rapidly destroyed due to the tropical climate, and have acknowledged the widely varying locations (and the preference for the Opak Fault) that were reported by the various seismological institutions. Their investigation resulted in a different scenario, with an unknown or newly formed NE trending fault as the origin of the shock. Evidence for one of the proposed faults was found in the form of alignment of portions of the Oyo River near the USGS' epicenter, which is parallel (N°65E) to the Nglipar fault in the Gunungkidul region. If the shock occurred in this area it could indicate the reactivation of a major fault system. The second proposed fault further to the east is nearly parallel to the Ngalang and Kembang faults that lie to the north of the Oyo River. [9]
While the densely populated area that saw significant destruction is adjacent to the Opak River Fault, both the USGS and Harvard University placed the epicenter to the east of that fault. Few seismometers were operating in the region, but a group of temporary units that were set up following the mainshock recorded a number of aftershocks that were east of the Opak River Fault and were aligned along a 20 km (12 mi) zone striking N°50E. Due to the ambiguous nature of the available information on the source of the Yogyakarta earthquake, a separate group of Japanese and Indonesian scientists applied one of the first uses of interferometric synthetic aperture radar to determine the source fault. Several data sets (one captured in April 2006 and another post-earthquake batch from June) were collected from an instrument on board the Advanced Land Observation Satellite and were compared to each other to show potential ground deformation patterns. [10]
A lack of any dislocation found on the images along the Opak River fault made evident the lack of movement along that fault, and though the aftershocks were occurring at a depth of 8–15 km (5.0–9.3 mi), the deformation was distinct at the surface. The observed ground deformation that was detailed by the differential satellite images and Global Positioning System measurements was roughly 10 km (6.2 mi) east of (and parallel to) the Opak River Fault, along a zone that passed through the USGS' epicenter, and delineated a NE trending vertical fault (a dip of 89°). The displacements were not more than 10 cm (3.9 in) and indicated left-lateral strike-slip motion as well as a component of reverse slip, and to the west of the Opak River Fault (and closer to the areas of damage) strong ground motion triggered subsidence of volcanic deposits from Mount Merapi. [10]
In 2006, Mount Merapi had not been active for more than four years, but on May 11 a pyroclastic flow triggered the evacuation of more than 20,000 people from the northern sector of Yogyakarta. While authorities expected a larger eruption to follow, the earthquake occurred instead. The volcano's previous eruptions deposited loosely bound sedimentary material in the valley during lahar flows and this material was found to have played a significant role in the effects of the shock. For example, German and Indonesian scientists set up instruments at several locations situated on different soil types to measure aftershocks. Of nine events that were analyzed, it was found that the station at Imogiri (a heavily affected village that was built on 150–200 meters (490–660 ft) of sediment) showed signs of local amplification when compared to a location that was built on bedrock, and that the deposits amplified the impact of the shallow crustal rupture. [11]
A separate post-event study looked at the relationship with the layer of sediment and the occurrence of soil liquefaction during earthquakes near Bantul. Researchers stated that the Yogyakarta region is seismically active, with four known events in the 19th century and three in the 20th century, with peak ground acceleration values of 0.038–0.531g. The type and properties of sediment control the occurrence and distribution of liquefaction, and other environmental conditions (like the water table) also play a part, as well as the peak ground acceleration of the earthquake. The Bantul-Klaten plain consists of alluvium (sand, silt, clay, and gravel) and volcanic deposits from Merapi (sand, agglomerates, tuff, and ash), as well as limestone and sandstone. Borehole and magnetic data surveys show that the alluvium and lahar deposits at the Bantul graben are 20–200 meters (66–656 ft) thick and at places over 200 meters, and the water table is .6–5 meters (2 ft 0 in–16 ft 5 in) below ground level. Most liquefaction events took place near the 2.5 km (1.6 mi) wide Opak Fault zone. Sand boils, lateral spreading, settling, and slides led to some tilting and collapse of buildings. [12]
Altogether, eleven densely populated districts comprising 8.3 million people were affected, but the regencies of Bantul, Sleman, Gunung Kidul, Kulon Progo, Klaten, and the city of Yogyakarta were especially hard hit. More than 5,700 people were killed in the early morning shock, with tens of thousands injured, and hundreds of thousands made homeless. Total financial losses from the event are estimated to be Rp 29.1 Trillion ($3.1B), with 90% of the damage affecting the private sector (homes and private businesses) and only 10% affecting the public sector. The damage to housing accounted for about half of the total losses and a comparison was made to the damage to homes in Aceh following the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami. Damage in central Java was more pronounced because of the substandard construction practices and the high population density, but on the other end of the scale, damage to infrastructure was very limited. [13]
With 154,000 houses destroyed and 260,000 units experiencing damage, the event was one of the most costly natural disasters in the previous ten years. With 7% of housing units lost, more houses were damaged than during the 2004 Sumatra–Andaman and the 2005 Nias–Simuele events combined. With 66,000 homes destroyed, the Klaten District saw the heaviest damage, followed by Bantul, with 47,000 destroyed. In the most heavily damaged areas, 70–90% of units destroyed, contributing to a total of 4.1 million cubic meters of debris. Of the three home construction styles used in the area, the most common type fared badly. Low quality materials and improper construction styles led to unreinforced masonry buildings being responsible for the large loss of life and the high number of injuries.
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Earthquakes
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Economies are at peril if the employment gender gap isn’t closed
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Whilst the pandemic has affected all genders and almost everyone around the world, women are still getting the shorter end of the stick as the employment gender gap increases. A widening employment gender gap is affecting women everywhere — even though they have generally tried to improve their employability and skills more than men when the pandemic hit. According to McKinsey, women’s jobs are 1.8 times more vulnerable to the Covid-19 crisis than men’s jobs. Women make up 39% of global employment — but account for 54% of overall job losses. The International Labour Organization (ILO) estimates that projected jobs growth in 2021 for women will exceed that of men. However, it asserts that it will be insufficient to bring women back to pre-pandemic employment levels. Many factors come into play. One is that the pandemic has significantly increased the burden of unpaid care — that’s disproportionately carried by women, says McKinsey in the report “COVID-19 and gender equality: Countering the regressive effects”. A common sight in Malaysia, mothers often have to grapple with juggling their children while also working as most workers are forced to work from home amidst strict lockdowns. This essentially means that women’s employment is dropping too quickly, and faster than average — even after taking into account the difference in sectors. Whilst the WEF acknowledges that men have increased their contribution to unpaid work in the household since the outbreak of the pandemic, a majority of the responsibilities still fall on women. Access to childcare continues to be an important enabler of women’s ability to participate in the labor market on equal terms. The organization attributes this widening labor force gender gap to factors such as school closures and changes to care routines. These are some of the responsibilities that have disproportionately fallen on the shoulders of women due to deeply entrenched, unequal gender norms. From this, and historical data, it’s clear that women have been, and are continuing to be — more negatively affected in multiple areas. In this case, it’s in a labor market that’s exacerbated by the rise of automation; the added burden of unpaid domestic labor, and the pandemic’s gender-skewed, negative impacts on job sectors. Some of the grave effects of the pandemic include higher incidences of domestic gender-based violence against women. However, things haven’t been better for women in the workplace either. Women employees and founders in tech have faced more workplace harassment, especially sexual, despite the rise of recent movements like #MeToo. Employees of the video game company, Activision Blizzard, hold a walkout and protest rally to denounce the company’s response to a California Department of Fair Employment and Housing lawsuit and to call for changes in conditions for women and other marginalized groups, in Irvine, California, on July 28, 2021. (Photo by DAVID MCNEW / AFP) There’s no two ways about it — women are more vulnerable to Covid-19–related economic effects because of existing gender inequalities, asserts McKinsey. And countries and businesses should really be putting more effort into ensuring equity, equality, and safety for the other majority gender — women. The ILO found that, during the pandemic, women fared considerably better in countries that took measures to prevent them from losing their jobs — and which allowed them to re-enter employment as early as possible. The ILO’s brief, “Building Forward Fairer: Women’s rights to work and at work at the core of the COVID-19 recovery” emphasizes the criticality of placing gender equality at the core of recovery efforts by countries. This means putting gender-responsive strategies in place, such as : Similar sentiments are echoed by the World Economic Forum (WEF), whose leaders stated that an economic recovery starts with growth, jobs, skills, and equity, in an inclusive way. While upskilling isn’t the panacea for women (or anyone, really), it still can improve an individual’s employability to an extent. More importantly, economic recovery for a Covid-19 ravaged world is predicated on job availability — especially in a volatile labor market burdened by even more depressed wages. McKinsey observed that, in a gender-regressive scenario in which no action is taken to counter the effects of reduced employment by women, the estimated global GDP growth could be US$1 trillion lower in 2030 (than it would be if women’s unemployment simply tracked that of men in each sector). The firm stressed that this impact could be more severe than the one they modeled in the report, “if factors such as increased childcare burdens, attitudinal bias, a slower recovery, or reduced public and private spending on services such as education or childcare make women leave the labor market permanently”. Echoing the ILO’s and WEF’s stances, McKinsey additionally argues that the advancement of gender equality could add US$13 trillion to the global GDP in 2030. However, they warned that a middle path where action is only taken post-crisis would reduce the potential opportunity by over US$5 trillion. To put that into perspective, the cost of that delay “amounts to three-fourths of the total global GDP we could potentially lose to COVID-19 this year”. Traditional gender roles still affect the way men and women manage work and family interactions. According to the United Nations, women around the world earn less, save less, have less access to social protections and financial resources, and are the majority caretakers at home. The ship where employers and/or governments claim to champion women’s equality and rights but do little to show for it — has long sailed. There isn’t any more time for virtue-signaling marketing, low-impact CSR initiatives aimed at padding yearly reports — action must be taken now to address unequal women labor participation. Whilst nobody expects these remnants of the artifact that is patriarchy to die out anytime soon, governments need to put in place more supportive and empowering policies for women to return to — and importantly, remain in the workforce. At the same time, employers as well as society at large need to work to understand the burdens women face and make accommodations for women staff to continue employment, especially women in the informal sectors and those working from home. Additionally, there can be more financial support and an improved startup environment for women entrepreneurs, who have always been at a disadvantage when seeking to raise investments. Unconscious bias, stereotyping, a lack of diversity in venture capital, structural barriers, and the hostility women have to deal with within traditionally male-centered spaces — these are all more than well documented. The detrimental long-term effects of reduced workforce participation by women will affect not just individual economies, but the world at large. If this pandemic isn’t a clarion call to put an end to the archaic mentality that domestic duties ought to be the domain of women, then, honestly, I don’t know what else can.
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Organization Closed
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UK Financial Conduct Authority’s Proposals For A New Listing Regime - Speech By Clare Cole, Director Of Market Oversight, FCA To City & Financial's 'The Modernisation Of The Listing Regime' Event
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Speaker: Clare Cole, Director of Market OversightEvent: The Modernisation of the Listing Regime, City & FinancialDelivered: 17 September 2021Note: this is the speech as drafted and may differ from the delivered version It is an exciting time for the listing regime and Primary Markets. Exciting is not a word you often hear around our regime, but we are faced with such a unique opportunity if feels only right to do so. Hopefully, over the next 10 minutes I will be able to sell the case for change and why we should all be describing this time as exciting. I wanted to start by talking about 1984 – what springs to mind? Orwell's novel? The DC universes’ Wonderwoman 1984? But what actually happened 37 years ago: The launch of the iconic Apple Mac and its famous Ridley Scott directed, and Orwellian themed advert, during the Superbowl. So the Apple Mac would have cost you $2,500 and was the first mass produced Apple computer. Of course Apple, and home PCs, have come on a bit since then. And the evolution of the mass home technology market has been nothing short of revolutionary. We certainly wouldn’t have been able to work from home like we have over the last 18 months if we had been using one of these. But, the listing regime is still stuck in 1984. Large aspects of our regime remain unchanged since then – at its core is a regime based on rules designed when we still stored data on a floppy disk. But a lot has happened since then for Apple and a lot has happened in our markets. We have had the impact of 9/11, the financial crisis and bail outs, the impact of EU regulations, Brexit, and of course coronavirus (Covid-19), we have seen the rise and rise of fintech, crypto, changing awareness of the importance of environmental, social and governance (ESG), and you can go on. Throughout all this, capital markets have remained critically important. Yet they have not adapted with the times. Of course, we have seen some changes, but they have been reactive, often slow and linked to European requirements. Some might argue we may have missed the boat in some cases. So what do we have now – well its functioning, companies are going public, capital is being raised, but it’s disjointed, unclear to users and in some cases perhaps prohibiting high quality issuers listing here. The pandemic really showed the value of being a public company. In the first half of 2020, £23.7 billion in new capital was raised on UK public markets. I'm really proud of how quickly both the market and the FCA reacted to address the challenges we faced in March 2020. The speed with which we published policies aimed at mitigating the practical effects of Covid – allowing for delays in publishing financial accounts, a different approach to working capital statements, virtual general meetings – should all show our commitment to moving fast to ensure markets can function well for both companies and investors. Now, we need to build on that agile, nimble approach and bring it into our normal policy making process. This review has been described as a 'once in a lifetime opportunity' – I think that’s right and I certainly think this is exciting. Over the last few months, we have reacted quickly to address immediate issues where our rules were hindering innovation in primary markets, like special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs); but importantly, we have also started the discussion on more fundamental changes to our market. We have challenged ourselves and the industry to think long term and strategically about what is best for the UK. The Hill review really helped us start this journey, to quote from the report: 'Everyone agrees – investors, advisors, regulators, banks, companies – that there is a need for reform'. And I couldn’t agree more with that statement, the FCA is fully committed to change – we have the support of HMT and everyone I speak to – advisors, lawyers, bankers, investors, issuers have the appetite to develop a more agile, flexible regime where we can move quickly. Of course, they don’t always agree on what needs changing, but they do want to see a new fit for purpose regime. So I will start by just picking up on some of the simpler, consultation proposals we have issued this year. Lord Hill’s Listing Review put a spotlight on aspects of our regime that are causing companies to think twice before pursuing a London listing. That spotlight, as well as the insights from the Kalifa Review of UK Fintech, gave us a head start in considering whether the Listing Rules are still suitable for the types of companies that are coming to market in today’s economy. We want investors, be they institutional or retail, to be able to share in the growth of these new and innovative companies. More of them listing on public markets at an earlier stage in their development is the best way of doing that, in a transparent, and well-regulated space. The proposals for a targeted form of dual class share structure in the premium segment, and lowering the minimum free float level, are firmly aimed at making a more welcoming environment for innovative companies so they will transition to public markets earlier. But they are targeted. They aim to look at the specific concerns raised by companies seeking to list and balance them with the needs of investors. Each of the measures contains carefully constructed safeguards – like a 5-year sunset clause for the use of dual class share structures – where we have worked hard to ensure that the high standards of investor protection and corporate governance that we so value are still front and centre of our listing regime. No one will be surprised that we have carefully considered other international approaches; and then designed a regime that we think will work well for UK capital markets. So expanding on governance – I might just quickly touch on the other 2 consultations we put out this summer for you to review from your holidays. Yes, apologies, we do appreciate that a summer consultation brings its own challenges. We see no contradiction between wanting to ensure our listing regime is fit for purpose in 2021 and beyond and high standards of corporate governance. Both the climate related disclosure requirements (TCFD) and those that call for more disclosure of diversity on company boards are designed to improve standards – but they are based on disclosure. They are outcomes focused. And we hope they put the investor in charge. Fundamentally, our listing regime needs to be leading the way on giving information and data to investors so they can use that information to understand, and challenge, the quality of the governance in those companies they want to invest in. Dynamic, innovative, well run public companies are key to investment returns for the next generation of UK retirees. However, it is important that these companies are able to meet the requirements of the markets they are listed on and meet the expectations of the investors who are active on them. Our proposal to raise the minimum market cap necessary for companies to list on the main market aims to recognise that. The UK is fortunate to have multiple markets that function well and provide a forum for both liquidity and transparency suitable for smaller companies. We are committed to ensuring that quality issuers still have suitable routes to accessing public capital markets, where investors are fully aware of the risks they are taking. So, what about the other areas of the regime; those that weren’t picked up by Lord Hill’s spotlight? What about those that need a full wide beam to find the inefficiencies that have crept in over the past few decades? In the first 6 months of this year companies have raised £9.8 billion in IPO capital, the highest in any first-half since 2014. All of that capital-raising brings with it a wealth of experience of what works in our regime – and what doesn’t. What strange archaic rules did companies have to spend a week arguing with lawyers about? What tipped the balance for a company to go public rather than stay private? What was it about the UK listing regime that meant a company chose to go elsewhere rather than opt for the prestige of a premium listing? We currently have an opportunity to use that recently gained knowledge. And combine it with the wealth of experience across UK industry, to go back to the drawing board. We can ask that really important question: What purpose does listing in the UK serve? Then go back to first principles to design a regime that delivers that purpose efficiently and effectively. We have put forward 4 extreme models of what listing in the UK could look like – not as options or preferences – but examples, to illustrate what could be and ask the question – what does the market really value? What is valuable about a standard listing? Can the market articulate what they want it to be for, positively – rather than in terms of what it is not. It is not a premium listing, it is not a junior market listing. It clearly serves a purpose for instruments like preference shares and debt instruments or certificates – but does it serve one for equity shares in commercial companies? I’d say, answers on a postcard – but that may have been more suited to 1984 – so what I will say is, I hope that you replied to the FCA’s consultation this week, but also that you continue to engage with us in all forums possible as we embark upon our journey of reform. Beyond the important debate about the division between standard and premium, the 4 models we put forwards aim to draw out the specific features of what we have today, to see what different participants really value -and what could perhaps be achieved by different means. Features that have long been part of the London listing landscape, need to be examined, considered, and optimised. The sponsor regime is a key feature of the premium listing segment rules, unlisted public markets like the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) and Aquis have similar concepts with nomads and corporate reporting officers – but what is it about having a sponsor that markets value? Is it just having someone to engage with the FCA? Someone who is experienced in our regime and perhaps it helps to have someone who speaks our language. Or, is there value to the additional due diligence and kicking the tyres that a sponsor does on a company coming to market? Does that improve confidence for investors or is it really about the reassurances the FCA receives? Does it give comfort these companies really are ready for the public to invest in? We also want to examine the ongoing obligations our listing regime places on companies. The significant transactions regime, the related party transactions rules, the controlling shareholder regime – these are all features that could be removed or enhanced. Now is the time to say what is valuable to you and why. Most of the changes I have spoken about today, stem from the long and illustrious history of the UK listing regime, long predating both our membership and our exit of the EU. However, Lord Hill’s Review also made a key recommendation on an aspect of the primary markets regime that has fundamentally influenced how public markets in the UK are structured – the prospectus regime. When and whether a prospectus is required under EU law, and now the UK Prospectus Regulation, has influenced decisions on when and how companies go public in the UK – and dictated choices for companies who wish to raise further capital once listed. It is no accident that HM Treasury (HMT) has taken forward the recommendation to review the prospectus regime from the ground up at the same time as the FCA is starting a discussion on the listing regime. The 2 go together and we are keenly supporting each other in the work ahead. A modern listing regime needs a modern prospectus regime that is fit for purpose for the UK economy. The FCA intends to be at the forefront of developing a new regime that works for both issuers and investors, where the documentation required is suited to the transaction. In the immediate term, as we embark on this exciting journey of reform, a few landmark dates for you: The FCA consultation paper on the Primary Markets Effectiveness Review closed on 14 September; HMT’s consultation on the Prospectus Regime Review closes on 24 September. Following that, and subject to consultation responses, and the decision of our Board, the FCA will be aiming to move swiftly to make final rules before the end of the year, on those areas we consulted on specifically – ie dual class share structures, free float, minimum market capitalisation – so next year's IPOs can already benefit from the initial round of changes.
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Financial Crisis
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Cramond Brig Tournament
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The Cramond Brig Tournament was a professional golf tournament held on Monday 17 June 1912 at Cramond Brig Golf Club at Cammo near Edinburgh, Scotland. It was 36-hole stroke play invitation event with over £120 in prize money. [1][2][3]
The tournament was played just before the 1912 Open Championship at nearby Muirfield and attracted a strong field. The England–Scotland Professional Match was held the following day with Open qualifying on the three days after that. Although Harry Vardon and James Braid were playing an exhibition match on the same day and J. H. Taylor and Arnaud Massy were absent, most of the other leading professionals competed, about 140 playing. In order for such a large field to play 36 holes in one day, a cut was used; only those scoring 75 or better in the first round being allowed to play in the second. [1]
Ted Ray won the tournament with rounds of 63 and 70, two ahead of Rowland Jones. Charles Mayo was third a further two shots behind, with George Duncan, Fred Leach and Robert Thomson tied for fourth. Ray scored a course record 63 in the morning round to lead by three from Jones. Ray had a bad front half of 38 in the afternoon but came home in 32. Jones, out in 36, was level with Ray at the turn but couldn't match him on the back-9 and finished two behind. [1]
Ray also won the Open Championship the following week, for which he also won a first prize of £50.
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Sports Competition
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Storms pound US, causing mudslides, power outages
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In Arizona, heavy rains caused flooding that crippled infrastructure, closed roadways and led to the death of a woman at Grand Canyon National Park, officials said. Rebecca Copeland, 29, of Ann Arbor, Michigan, was found in the Colorado River on Thursday after a flash flood struck during a rafting trip. ARIZONA HIT HARD WITH FLASH FLOODING IN WILDFIRE BURN SCAR The city of Flagstaff and Coconino County opened a joint emergency operations center and Gov. Doug Ducey issued an emergency declaration for the area Friday. "Severe post-wildfire flooding is creating dangerous challenges for communities in northern Arizona," he said . "The flooding is causing road closures, damaging property and putting Arizonans’ safety at risk." A resident shovels back floodwater as monsoon rains fell on the Museum Fire burn area causing flooding from the Paradise Wash in east Flagstaff, Ariz. on Wednesday, July 14, 2021. The threat of flash flooding will remain through next week, the National Weather Service said, though the coverage will be more scattered than widespread. Some of the flooding occurred in neighborhoods previously impacted by the 2019 Museum Fire . The National Weather Service said many areas in the Copper State have received more rain in the past month than in the entire 2020 monsoon season. In nearby Utah, flooding in Iron County contributed to a train derailment on Thursday. The crash happened near Lund, injuring three workers, though not severely. In this photo provided by the Iron County Sheriff's Department, emergency personnel remove an injured train worker from the scene of a derailment near Lund, Utah, on Thursday, July 15, 2021. Three workers on a freight train were injured when it derailed while crossing tracks covered with water in a remote part of southern Utah Thursday night, authorities said. The train, which had nearly 100 cars, tipped on its side after derailing near Lund, about 85 miles from the Nevada border. (Iron County Sheriff's Dept. via AP) Monsoon season has also hit New Mexico. Highway 70 near the state's White Sands Missile Range reopened after rains covered the area in four feet of mud for more than seven miles . Paved roads were decimated as an inch and a half of rain fell in less than 15 minutes last Sunday. One driver told the Las Cruces Sun News on Thursday that her car had suddenly been swept away in the mudslide. In Colorado, The Aspen Times reported Friday that mudslides and flash flood warnings had also led to the continual closures of Glenwood Canyon's Interstate 70 due to the burn scar of last year's 32,631-acre Grizzly Creek Fire . Midwestern states have also been pounded by flash floods and thunderstorms over the last few days. In eastern Wisconsin , floodwaters from heavy rain restricted travel, closed roads and filled basements with water. Detroit was drenched Friday , with water flooding highways and suburbs just three weeks after a storm wrecked thousands of basements . A state police officer used a boat to rescue a man stranded downtown on top of his submerged car. A semi-trailer drives through a flooded street, Friday, July 16, 2021, in Dearborn, Mich. Detroit area residents are still drying out their basements from the flooding last month, but now more flooding is on the horizon as a heavy rain front moves through southern Michigan. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio) Cincinnati.com reported Friday that thousands of Ohioans were without power Friday night as heavy rain and thunderstorms passed through the region. The NWS said Saturday that more heavy precipitation and thunderstorms are expected in the Northeast, with low-lying areas extremely susceptible to flash flooding. The agency warned of "excessive rainfall" in parts of the Northeast and New England, and warned of the potential for isolated tornadoes and damaging wind gusts between western Connecticut and northeast Maryland. Across the Southeast, Lower Mississippi Valley and Southern Plains, isolated downpours and flash flooding remain a possibility. The NWS said the southwestern monsoon could continue to produce an isolated flash flood threat, with additional rainfall and thunderstorms through the weekend. More heat warnings and watches have also been issued across Montana and the Intermountain West, and the Northern Plains and Northern Great Basin can expect to see above-average temperatures once again. The heat will exacerbate the drought felt through the region, increasing wildfire danger.
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Mudslides
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East Africa fears prolonged locust invasion as eggs hatch from ...
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East Africa fears prolonged locust invasion as eggs hatch from first wave
Feb 25, 2020
Desert locusts are seen on a farm in Kyuso, Kenya, Feb. 18, 2020. Local Catholic priests and villagers say the hatching insects mean new and locally bred swarms, something that must be avoided. (CNS/Reuters/Baz Ratner)
MASEKI, Kenya — In this remote village about 200 miles east of Nairobi, residents – some Catholics – were fearing a new wave of desert locusts, as millions of eggs the insects laid earlier began to hatch.
Under the bushes and crops, the newly hatched hoppers can be seen attempting to fly. Within weeks, they will turn into adults when each locust consumes its own weight – roughly two grams – every day.
The village is one of the many in Kenya struck by the deadly locust plague. In mid-February, the second wave of the invasion started sweeping across the country. The first was recorded in December, when the swarms landed in the northeastern county of Wajir. Since then, they have spread to 18 other counties.
The Associated Press reported last month that the infestation of locusts in Africa is linked to climate change, noting that the heavy rainfall and warmer temperatures that the continent has been experiencing as a result of global warming are favorable conditions for locust breeding.
Local Catholic priests and villagers say the hatching insects mean new and locally bred swarms, something that must be avoided.
"The hatching eggs are the greatest concern at the moment. It means if they are not destroyed, the problem will continue for generations. At the same time, I think soon there are many people who will need food aid due to the destruction on the farms," said Fr. Patrick Musili of Kimangau parish in Kitui Diocese.
The locusts first landed in Maseki in early February, and by the time government planes came to spray, most of the crops had been destroyed.
"My crops – green grams, millet, sorghum and cow peas – were all gone in a few days. The animal pasture was also gone," Priscila Syombua, 25, told Catholic News Service. "We had never seen anything like this before. There were too many of them. Millions, perhaps billions."
Perpetua Kavinya, 25, a Catholic mother of two, told a similar story, recalling how one afternoon the insects blocked the sky as they made landfall.
"We thought they were flying past, but for one week, the insects were our unwanted guests. They moved from one farm to another, eating all the green foliage," said Kavinya. "Now, we have to wait for another rain season."
Kavinya said the rains should arrive in the next few weeks, but she was not sure whether to plant.
"We do not have seeds and, even if we had, the hatching insects would eat the germinating seedlings. We need to get the right information," she said.
Musili said the locusts also brought a rare unity among the people, with groups working together to chase away them away.
"When the insects struck, the local community came together to scare away the locusts using traditional means. The villagers moved in groups from one farm to another, pushing away the insects. When they moved to the next village, the action was repeated there," said Musili. "As their leader, I was pleased with that unity. No one could manage to tackle them alone."
The locusts landed in south central Somalia in December from Yemen, before moving into Kenya and Ethiopia. By Feb. 20, the insects had spread in seven East African countries, including Tanzania, Uganda, Ethiopia and South Sudan. This is the worst locust invasion in 70 years for the region.
20200225T1001-34340-CNS-EAST-AFRICA-LOCUSTS.jpg
Priscila Syombua displays a dead desert locust on her farm in Maseki, Kenya, Feb.20, 2020. She said the locusts ate all her crops within a few days. (CNS/Fredrick Nzwili)
"South Sudan is now experiencing the invasion ... especially in southeastern parts around Kidepo Valley in the Didinga, Buya and Taposa ethnic territories. With insecurity and ambushes by armed tribesmen, emergency process is not moving," said James Oyet Latansio, the South Sudan Council of Churches general secretary.
The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization said the locust swarms are increasing in Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia and continue to move southward and westward toward Uganda and South Sudan. It has warned that the fast-breeding locusts could multiply 500 times more in March, when the rains bring more vegetation.
"We have seen one swarm here. We were shocked, since we never thought they would reach our farms from northern Kenya," said Benson Ngwili, a farmer in Kyanzavi, an area near Nairobi.
Some Catholic agencies have moved to intervene in the locust disaster. Malteser International, the worldwide relief agency of the Order of Malta, is working in Kenya's Marsabit area through the Pastoralist Community Initiative and Development Assistance and, in Ethiopia, through the Catholic Church's social and development coordinating office in Omorate.
One thing Malteser is doing is supporting active surveillance to aid spraying, helping spread information to communities and implementing a cash transfer program to aid most affected communities, said Martin Owino, project manager at the Malteser International, Kenya.
Countries are responding by spraying the insects, but some areas that are inaccessible for control activities are turning out into breeding grounds for the locusts, Owino said.
At the same time, communities also fear the negative impact of pesticides on livestock, other insects like bees and sources of drinking water.
These fears are not unfounded.
"After the government sprayed my area, the following day, bees left two of my hives. I don't know where they went," said Kavinya.
The insects are called desert locusts, but thrive during heavy rainfall in deserts and arid areas, according to scientists. For months, East Africa has experienced extraordinarily heavy rainfall linked to an Indian Ocean surface warming, a condition called Indian Ocean Dipole.
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Insect Disaster
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The Doobie Brothers concert has been postponed
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The Doobie Brothers concert at the Pavilion at Star Lake has been postponed after someone involved with the tour tested positive for COVID-19, the band announced Wednesday morning. "Out of an abundance of caution, The Doobie Brothers will postpone their four upcoming shows as a member of the touring personnel has tested positive with COVID-19 despite health and safety precautions in place," the group said in a social media post. The Doobie Brothers 50th anniversary tour, featuring the return of Michael McDonald, had been scheduled for a stop at Star Lake on Saturday night. McDonald did not perform with the Doobies at their show in Minnesota on Tuesday night because he was not feeling well, according to reports. The group said the Star Lake concert will be rescheduled. Fans are encouraged to keep their tickets for the new date. It's the second postponement at the pavilion in less than a week. The Kiss concert on Aug. 26 was postponed after Paul Stanley tested positive for the virus. Hearst Television participates in various affiliate marketing programs, which means we may get paid commissions on editorially chosen products purchased through our links to retailer sites.
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Organization Closed
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Poison control centers report jump in people taking ivermectin, despite lack of evidence it works for COVID
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Updated August 31
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Poison control centers report jump in people taking ivermectin, despite lack of evidence it works for COVID
Overdoses are associated with low blood pressure, decreased consciousness, confusion, hallucinations, seizures, coma and death.
By Rong-Gong Lin IILos Angeles Times
Email Writer
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Don’t take ivermectin, a drug used to treat parasitic infections, to prevent or treat COVID-19, health officials warn.
For months, ivermectin has become touted by people opposed to the COVID-19 vaccine as a way to prevent or treat COVID-19, despite the lack of scientific evidence the drug has any effect on preventing the disease. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has not approved ivermectin to prevent or treat COVID-19.
Poison control centers nationwide said there was a threefold increase in calls related to exposure to ivermectin in January compared to the pre-pandemic period, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. As of July, “ivermectin calls have continued to sharply increase, to a fivefold increase” from the time before the pandemic, the CDC said.
Before the pandemic, outpatient retail pharmacies nationwide dispensed 3,600 prescriptions for ivermectin a week. By early August, pharmacies were dispensing more than 88,000 prescriptions for the drug a week, representing a 24-fold increase, the CDC said.
“In some cases, people have ingested ivermectin-containing products purchased without a prescription, including topical formulations and veterinary products,” including those intended for use in large animals such as horses, sheep and cattle, which “can be highly concentrated and result in overdoses when used by humans,” a CDC health advisory said.
“People who take inappropriately high doses of ivermectin above FDA-recommended dosing may experience toxic effects,” the CDC warned. There’s also been increased reports of emergency room and hospital visits related to ivermectin overdoses.
Dr. Clayton Chau, the Orange County Health Care Agency director and health officer, recently urged people not to ingest ivermectin that is manufactured for use as a lotion for topical treatments, such as to treat head lice in humans.
“Do not swallow ivermectin products that should be used on skin,” Chau said, nor should people consume ivermectin products intended for use on animals.
Symptoms of ivermectin poisoning include vomiting, nausea and seizures, Chau said.
Overdoses are also associated with low blood pressure, decreased consciousness, confusion, hallucinations, seizures, coma and death, the CDC said.
One adult recently drank an injectable version of ivermectin intended for use in cattle, thinking it would prevent a coronavirus infection, the CDC said, and suffered from confusion, drowsiness, visual hallucination, tremors and rapid breathing. The patient required hospitalization for nine days.
Another adult had to be hospitalized after taking five tablets a day of ivermectin — of unknown strength — for five days. The adult, who was disoriented and had difficulty answering questions, was hospitalized.
Anyone experiencing symptoms of ivermectin overdose should promptly seek medical attention or call the poison control hotline at (800) 222-1222 for medical advice.
Besides veterinary use, ivermectin is FDA-approved for humans in oral formulations to treat diseases caused by parasitic worms; “river blindness,” a disease caused by a worm transmitted through the bites of blackflies, transmitted in Africa and South America; and intestinal strongyloidiasis, in which a roundworm parasite has infected the body.
Ivermectin produced for topical treatments can be used to treat head lice and rosacea, a skin condition.
Ivermectin is not a drug that treats viruses, the FDA said in an advisory in March.
“Taking large doses of this drug is dangerous and can cause serious harm,” the FDA said. “Never use medications intended for animals on yourself. Ivermectin preparations for animals are very different from those approved for humans. …
“Animal drugs are often highly concentrated because they are used for large animals like horses and cows, which can weigh a lot more than we do — a ton or more. Such high doses can be highly toxic in humans,” the FDA said.
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Mass Poisoning
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Justice News
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SALT LAKE CITY – Allison Marie Baver, 41, of Taylorsville, has been charged with nine federal criminal counts related to making false statements on loan applications to obtain funds obtained through the Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). In the indictment, Baver is charged with eight counts of making a false statement to a bank and one count of money laundering.
According to the allegations contained in the federal indictment, Baver is the listed owner and agent for Allison Baver Entertainment, LLC, and submitted eight PPP loan applications from April 13, 2020, through April 26, 2020 to Northeast Bank and Meridian Bank. In each of the loan applications, Baver allegedly sought 10 million dollars of PPP loan funding for her entertainment company. However, prosecutors allege that Baver falsely stated in each loan application that ABE’s average monthly payroll was between $4,000,000 to $4,769,583, when ABE had no average monthly payroll; and, that ABE had between 100 to 430 employees, when ABE had no employees. Prosecutors also allege that these false statements resulted in Baver fraudulently obtaining 10 million dollars in PPP loans from Meridian Bank, and that Baver accepted that money and transferred it to a separate bank account where she began using a portion of the funding to invest in a movie.
On May 17, 2021, the Attorney General established the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force to marshal the resources of the Department of Justice in partnership with agencies across government to enhance efforts to combat and prevent pandemic-related fraud. The Task Force bolsters efforts to investigate and prosecute the most culpable domestic and international criminal actors and assists agencies tasked with administering relief programs to prevent fraud by, among other methods, augmenting and incorporating existing coordination mechanisms, identifying resources and techniques to uncover fraudulent actors and their schemes, and sharing and harnessing information and insights gained from prior enforcement efforts. For more information on the Department’s response to the pandemic, please visit https://www.justice.gov/coronavirus .
Anyone with information about allegations of attempted fraud involving COVID-19 can report it by calling the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) Hotline at 866-720-5721 or via the NCDF Web Complaint Form at: https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form .
Assistant United States Attorneys are prosecuting the case and the FBI and the Small Business Administration Office of Inspector General are conducting the investigation.
Allegations are not findings of guilt and defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty at trial.
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Famous Person - Commit Crime - Investigate
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Report a digital subscription issue
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Brexit supporters celebrate during a rally in London, Friday, Jan. 31, 2020. Britain leaves the European Union after 47 years, leaping into an unknown future in historic blow to the bloc. LONDON (AP) — If you thought the drawn-out battle over the U.K.'s departure from the European Union was painful, wait until you see what comes next. While Britain formally left the EU at 11 p.m. local time Friday, the hard work of building a new economic relationship between the bloc and its ex-member has just begun. There are difficult negotiations ahead as the U.K. goes its own way while trying to preserve links with its biggest trading partner, covering everything from tariffs and product standards to British industry's ability to recruit foreign workers and the EU's access to U.K. fishing grounds. "There's a massive agenda to be agreed: trade in goods, trade in services, data protection, security cooperation, aviation, road haulage, fishing, you know the list is endless,'' said Jill Rutter, a senior research fellow at U.K. in a Changing Europe, a think tank that studies Britain's relations with the now 27-nation bloc. "It is unprecedented.'' For now, little has changed. The two sides agreed on a transition period that keeps current rules and regulations in effect until Dec. 31. But that gives the U.K. government just 11 months to negotiate a comprehensive trade deal that could decide the prospects of British businesses for decades to come. The EU accounted for 54% of Britain's imports and 43% of its exports in 2016, according to the Office for National Statistics. With challenging talks expected to begin fairly quickly, French President Emmanuel Macron published a letter on his Facebook page Saturday morning in English, addressed to his "dear British friends," that sought a conciliatory tone. "Never has France or the French people – or, I think it is fair to say, any European people – been driven by a desire for revenge or punishment," he said. British Industry groups are already lining up to protect their interests. Hotel and restaurant owners say they need to maintain the existing supply of workers from the continent to ensure rooms are cleaned and dinners are prepared. Car makers want to preserve prompt deliveries from European suppliers to avoid manufacturing delays. Banks and insurance companies are lobbying to maintain access to the lucrative European market. And fishermen want to regain control of fishing grounds they believe have been plundered by European rivals for the past four decades. If that wasn't enough for Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his ministers, the British government also is keen to negotiate separate trade deals with individual countries now that the country has broken away from the EU. Johnson's top trade prize outside the EU is the United States, the world's biggest economy and the destination for 18% of British exports. But the Americans have already made difficult demands. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was in London last week warning of security concerns linked to Chinese telecoms giant Huawei and pressuring British officials to overturn their decision to let the company take part in upgrading the country's wireless network. U.S. Ambassador Woody Johnson has been lobbying for British officials to open their doors to American goods such as chlorine-washed chicken that have been banned in the U.K. because of production standards the EU disagrees with. And U.S. medical companies are pushing for access to Britain's National Health Service. Reconciling all these demands will be difficult because any attempt to meet U.S. demands by lowering British standards will push Britain further away from European rules. The EU has already made clear that the price of access to its markets is continued adherence to the bloc's regulations. Trade negotiations, which are always complex, will be even more complicated because simultaneous negotiations will be taking place with both the EU and the U.S., think tank researcher Rutter said. "It's like playing 3-D chess,'' she said. Even the most difficult issue settled during the first round of negotiations between the EU and the British government — the knotty question of Northern Ireland — remains problematic. In an effort to protect the peace process in Northern Ireland and finally win approval for his EU withdrawal deal, Johnson agreed that Northern Ireland would keep the same rules as the bloc's single market for goods after Brexit. As a result, customs checks won't be needed on the border between Northern Ireland, which is part of the U.K., and the Republic of Ireland. Instead, some checks will have to be conducted on goods that enter Northern Ireland from the rest of the U.K. that are destined for the EU. This essentially means that Johnson agreed to place a trade border in the Irish Sea — upsetting many of his own allies because it treats Northern Ireland differently to other parts of the United Kingdom. Unionists who want to remain part of the U.K. fear the deal will push Northern Ireland closer to the Irish Republic over time. As complicated as this sounds, the details of exactly how the arrangement will work haven't been finalized. "The Withdrawal Agreement provided a high-level blueprint without setting out the exact details of how trade across the Irish border and between Great Britain and Northern Ireland will work,'' a House of Commons report on the agreement said. "The detail will be worked out in discussions between the EU and the U.K. once the U.K. has left and the transition period starts.'' Johnson has also promised Northern Ireland's farmers — the region's biggest industry — that the new trade deal with the EU will ensure they retain unfettered access to the rest of the U.K. market, which accounts for 50% of their sales. Ivor Ferguson, president of the Ulster Farmers' Union, wants an urgent acceleration of talks on a trade deal. Farming, he points out, is a capital-intensive business, with farmers working on low margins and taking out big loans. They need time to plan. "The heavy lifting is only beginning when we leave the EU,'' he said. Meanwhile, Brexit is already reshaping the economy. Companies are shifting investments, creating new supply chains and stockpiling goods to mitigate any negative impacts. Workers from the EU have started to vote with their feet. London Mayor Sadiq Khan said last week that fewer EU citizens are coming to work in the city these days, and too many are leaving, causing employment shortages in industries like construction, hospitality and social care. At a small gathering of reporters, he repeatedly stressed his dismay at the turn of events and insisted that London was a global city that welcomed EU citizens. "And it's really important that the message 'London is open' is heard loud and clear,'' he said. "And it's really important that we continue to be seen as pluralistic, open-minded and has values that are conducive to talented EU citizens continuing to come to London.'' By DANICA KIRKA, Associated Press
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Withdraw from an Organization
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Africa's Huge Locust Swarms Are Growing at the Worst Time
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As the coronavirus pandemic exploded across the world earlier this year, another even more conspicuous plague was tearing through East Africa: locusts. The voracious little beasts are particularly fond of carbohydrates like grains, a staple of subsistence farmers across the continent. Back in January, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) predicted the worst was still to come, and that by June, the size of the swarms could grow by a factor of 500. And now, at the worst time, a second wave of locusts 20 times bigger than the first has descended on the region, thanks to heavy rains late last month, according to the FAO. The swarms have infiltrated Yemen and firmly established themselves across the Persian Gulf, having laid eggs along 560 miles of Iran’s coastline. New swarms are particularly severe in Kenya, Ethiopia, and Somalia. "The timing is really horrendous, because the farmers are just planting, and the seedlings are just coming up now since it's the beginning of the rainy season," says Keith Cressman, senior locust forecasting officer with the FAO. "And it's right at the same time when you have an increasing number of swarms in Kenya and in Ethiopia. There's already pictures and reports of the seedlings getting hammered by the swarms. So basically that's it for the farmers' crops." “This represents an unprecedented threat to food security and livelihoods,” FAO officials wrote in a brief last week. All this is happening while the region locks down to stave off the coronavirus pandemic, and as travel restrictions mean experts can't get to countries to train people. It’d be hard to imagine a more brutal confluence of factors. “The problem is that most of the countries were not ready, and are now invaded with swarms,” says ecologist Cyril Piou, of the French Agricultural Research Center for International Development, which helps economically developing countries with agricultural issues. “The solution is to try to control as much as you can.” It would also be hard to imagine a more perfect enemy than the locust: in this case, the desert locust, one of the 20 species of normally solitary grasshopper that go “gregarious,” forming into swarms that can travel 90 miles in a day. Their transformation and swarming is triggered by rain; desert locusts can only lay their eggs in moist sand, since dry sand would cook them. After a storm, the locusts breed like crazy, packing a single square meter of sand with perhaps 1,000 eggs. When those eggs hatch, the baby locusts find themselves in a newly lush environment loaded with food. They’ll strip it clean and take off in swarms in search of ever more vegetation to obliterate. Their bodies actually transform to prepare them for the journey; their muscles grow bulkier, and their color changes from a drab brownish green into an electric yellow and black. This color shift probably has to do with the gregarious locusts now eating the toxic plants they had previously avoided as solitary insects: That bright coloration warns predators that they’re toxic as a result of their diet. If they were this color when they’re solitary, they’d stick out to predators, but as they gather in their billions, it’s not like they need to be inconspicuous anymore. There’s safety in extreme numbers. This particular outbreak began with heavy rains from two cyclones in May and October of 2018 that hit the southern Arabian Peninsula. This allowed two generations of desert locusts to form into swarms. Each generation can be 20 times bigger than the previous one. “The main problem is that these exceptional rains occurred in an area where there's a lot of insecurity, wars, and so on, so the initial stages of the upsurge of the outbreaks were not detected in time,” says entomologist Michel Lecoq, former director of the French Agricultural Research Center for International Development. This lapse in detection unfolded despite the best efforts of the FAO, which coordinates a complex network of data collectors to detect the locusts early, before they have time to go gregarious and swarm. They work with two dozen frontline countries between East Africa and India, with people patrolling in trucks, looking for the pests. They marry this on-the-ground information with satellite data that shows vegetation forming—an indication that hungry locusts could well follow. Read all of our coronavirus coverage here. Unfortunately, though, the locust boom in 2018 unfolded in Oman’s remote deserts, so there was no one around to raise the alarm. “We can help in creating better models, better forecasts,” says Piou. “But if there's nobody on the ground, there's no humans, then it's not enough. We cannot replace humans on the ground with satellites.” The terrifying reality is that if you don’t stop a locust swarm early, there’s very little you can do to stop its spread. These insects do not respect borders, and they do not respect crops. Once the swarm arrives, the best officials can do is deploy pesticides to attenuate the crop destruction. But that, too, requires humans, and specially trained crews at that—you can’t just hand a farmer a barrel of pesticide and hope no one gets sick. Luckily, countries currently invaded by locusts, like Kenya and Ethiopia, already have plenty of experts who know how to run a spraying operation. The concern is for what will happen if the swarms spread into countries like South Sudan and Uganda, which haven't seen major outbreaks for decades. "They don't have any national locust program in their country within the ministry of agriculture," says Cressman, of the FAO. "They have no physical setup, but they also have no expertise, no trained staff in the various aspects of controlling locust." With travel restrictions in place, experts can't get there to train people up. And even if they could get there, social distancing means you can't fill up rooms for lessons on locust control. The good news in all this is that while shipments of pesticides and spraying equipment to Africa may have slowed as supply chains slow in general, this particular supply chain is distributed across the globe. "It's coming from the four corners of the planet," says Cressman. "So we're not just relying on one region to supply us, which could be a bit risky, because if that region really shuts down, you wouldn't be able to sustain the supply." By Meghan Herbst Still, the timing of it all is catastrophic: locusts in the age of the coronavirus, with the start of the harvest season coming in late June and early July. "And unfortunately that's exactly the same time when the next generation of swarms will be forming," says Cressman. With nations elsewhere wrapped up in fighting the coronavirus pandemic, the growing locust threat may not get the attention, and humanitarian aid, it needs. A locust outbreak, Cressman says, is a lot like a wildfire: Put it out early, and you're good. Delay, and the swarm will spread and spread until it runs out of fuel—the food that subsistence farmers across Africa rely on to survive. The good news is that the swarms haven’t yet spread through North and West Africa. The bad news is that the magnitude of this outbreak rivals that of the devastating swarms that hit the continent 75 years ago. Beginning in 1948, locusts multiplied out of control in Africa, and didn’t stop until 1963. “So if we don't stop it now,” Piou says, “we are going to have swarms rolling from country to country." To keep that from happening, Piou is working with countries in the region to predict where the locusts might land next. “What we are trying to do with them is to be ready as soon as the swarms arrive,” he says, “to have a quick answer and not let them reproduce again and exponentially grow again.”
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FBI searching for San Marcos bank robbery suspect
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SAN MARCOS, Calif. (KGTV) — FBI investigators are asking the public for help finding the suspect who robbed a Chase Bank location in San Marcos on Wednesday. The FBI and San Diego Sheriff's Department say the suspect entered the Chase Bank at 348 South Twin Oaks Valley Road at about 11:45 a.m. and waited in line. He approached the counter and produced a handwritten note that said, "Give me all your 50's and 100's and give me the note back." The teller gave the suspect an undisclosed amount of money and the suspect fled the scene on foot. Investigators described the suspect as a white male, between 25 and 30 years old, standing 5' 11", and with a thin build. He was last seen wearing a black hoodie sweatshirt, black pants, black plastic sunglasses, and a colorful tube-style mask pulled over his face. Anyone with information is asked to call San Diego FBI at 858-320-1800 or Crime Stoppers at 888-580-8477.
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Bank Robbery
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Chelmsford traffic: Man dies after 'serious' crash on A1060 Roxwell Road that shut the road for hours
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A man has sadly died following a 'serious' crash on an Essex road. Emergency services rushed to the A1060 Roxwell Road in Chelmsford, Essex , at around 1.50pm yesterday afternoon (September 23) following reports of a crash involving a car and a lorry. The crash happened between Newland Hall and Boyton Hall Lane and saw the road shut in both directions for around 8 hours while emergency services dealt with the incident. Read more: Traffic and travel An air ambulance was also spotted by local residents in the area at around 2pm. Sadly, a man who was involved in the collision has sadly died from his injuries, it has been confirmed. The road was closed until 9.30pm to allow specialist officers to conduct investigations into the crash. Essex Police confirmed that no arrests have been made and enquiries into the crash are ongoing. A spokesperson for Essex Police said: "A man who was involved in a collision on the A1060 in Roxwell yesterday afternoon has sadly died from his injuries. "Officers were called to the scene at 1.50pm and the road was closed in both directions to allow specialist officers to carry out their investigations.
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Road Crash
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The fight to contain a new locust invasion that could push ...
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Extreme weather linked to climate change helped create the perfect breeding ground
Now a new generation of locusts is getting ready to take flight
CNN Special Report A looming plague The fight to contain a locust invasion that could push millions into hunger
By Tara John and Bethlehem Feleke, CNN
On this farm in central Kenya, people bang cooking utensils as they try to ward off an infestation of desert locusts, one of many swarms eating their way through East Africa.
Billions of the insects have ravaged trees, crops and fresh pasture in Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia since December. Their voracious appetites pose one of the largest food security threats to the region in decades.
Now, a new generation of locusts are weeks away from turning into hungry teenagers as harvest season begins -- potentially ravaging the livelihoods of some 20 million people who are already food insecure in the region, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the United Nation's global food body.
In recent months, the coronavirus pandemic has impacted efforts to fight the swarms of locusts, with grounded flights and closed borders. It has also slowed the delivery of important equipment, hampering the efforts of international experts seeking to join the fight against the migratory pest.
If not contained, agencies have warned that locust numbers will multiply by up to 400 times in June, and their rising numbers could turn the infestation into a plague by the end of the year.
The desert locust is considered the most dangerous of all migratory pest species because of its ability to reproduce quickly and devastate crops.
Adults can grow to be roughly the size of a human's index finger.
Female locusts can lay more than 150 eggs within a single âpod.â After about two weeks, eggs hatch into young solitary locusts called "hoppers."
Hoppers grow for about a month before becoming flying, egg-laying adults.
These young solitary adults are green and brown, to fit in with their surroundings.
When food is plentiful, desert locusts multiply and enter into whatâs known as the âgregarious stage.â At the beginning of this stage, they change color to pink.
As they grow and become denser, they also change behavior to act as a group and swarm. Swarms can contain up to 80 million locusts per square kilometer and they migrate over large distances. At this point the locusts are fully mature, and lastly change color to yellow.
This breeding cycle, from egg to mature gregarious locust takes roughly three months and can bring a 20-fold increase in numbers. This can then increase to 400-fold after six months and 8,000 after nine months.
A mature locust in a swarm can eat its own weight in vegetation. For comparison, a swarm the size of Paris can eat as much food as half the entire population of France eats in a day.
Hungry locusts have reduced pasture and croplands to stubble in parts of East Africa, where millions of people rely on agriculture and pastoral land for their survival.
At least 40M people in locust-hit countries face severe food insecurity in 2020
By country, millions
Note: Highest estimated forecast for 2020. No data available for Eritrea and Tanzania.
Source: The Global Report on Food Crises 2020.
In Kenya, at least 173,000 acres of land were infested in January, making it the countryâs worst locust event in 70 years. FAO senior locust forecasting officer Keith Cressman said a 37-mile-long and 24-mile-wide swarm was spotted in northern Kenya that month.
Desert locusts are the oldest migratory pest in the world. Yet extreme weather events linked to climate change helped create the unprecedented scourge in recent times, according to the United Nations.
Frequent heavy rains dumped on the Arabian Peninsula, due to an increased number of cyclones since 2018, created a perfect breeding environment for locusts.
Three generations of locusts thrived in the Peninsula, unchecked and undetected, according to FAO. Some moved east into Pakistan.
Large numbers of swarms began to flourish in Yemen, where war hindered the response.
Between June and December 2019, locusts crossed the Gulf of Aden and swept into Somalia and Ethiopia -- where more breeding took place and even more swarms were formed.
Estimated extent of infestation May 1-20
Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)
From October to December that year, swarms from eastern Ethiopia and northern Somalia entered Djibouti and Kenya.
This year, swarms have continued to spread and reproduce through East Africa. They've been seen in Uganda, Tanzania and South Sudan -- one of Africaâs most food-insecure and fragile economies. The FAO worries that swarms could travel as far as West Africa in the summer.
Estimated cost in losses and damages to crops and livestock in 2020
Source: World Bank
If the locust outbreak is uncontained, estimated damages and losses could reach $8.5 billion by the end of this year, said the World Bank. Ethiopia is expected to be the worst hit.
This year the region is greener than average
Changes in green vegetation this year from 2000-2010 average (February-April)
Source: Normalized Difference Vegetation Index by NASA/MODIS via Climate Engine
East Africaâs rainy season, beginning in March, has created the ideal conditions for reproduction. NASA-funded scientists have partnered with the UN to help locate these sandy and damp breeding grounds.
Breeding started in May and authorities fighting the outbreak now have limited time to control their numbers. Eggs take around two weeks to hatch, and wingless young locusts are easier to target than a flying swarm. If left uncontrolled, more locusts are expected to go airborne in June and July.
Once the locusts take flight, targeted aerial spraying is the most effective weapon. A single spraying plane can kill two to three swarms a day, according to the FAO. Kenya has five spraying aircraft, which could potentially kill up to 18 swarms a day.
Over 400,000 hectares have been treated
Locusts sprayed with pesticides, this year, thousands of hectares
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Insect Disaster
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'Dumb and Dumber' bank robbers jailed
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A judge in the United States has jailed two Australian men for robbing a bank in the Colorado ski resort town of Vail in March. The bumbling robbery earned the pair the nickname 'Dumb and Dumber'. Luke Carroll, 19, was sentenced to five years in jail and 20-year-old Anthony Prince was sentenced to four-and-a-half years. The two men grew up together in northern New South Wales and were in the US on a working holiday when they robbed the bank in March. The media have dubbed the pair 'Dumb and Dumber' because of the number of clues they left. The two men were regular customers at the bank and their Australian accents made them easily identifiable to the tellers. During the robbery, the pair also wore name tags from the sports store where they worked. Both men have expressed regret for their actions and have apologised to the two bank tellers who were on duty at the time.
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Bank Robbery
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Judges Uphold The Death Sentence For Dylann Roof Who Killed 9 Black Churchgoers
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Dylann Roof enters the court room in 2017 to enter his guilty plea on federal murder charges in the 2015 racist slayings of nine members of a Black Charleston, S.C. church. Grace Beahm/The Post And Courier via AP hide caption Dylann Roof enters the court room in 2017 to enter his guilty plea on federal murder charges in the 2015 racist slayings of nine members of a Black Charleston, S.C. church. RICHMOND, Va. — A federal appeals court Wednesday upheld Dylann Roof's conviction and death sentence for the 2015 racist slayings of nine members of a Black South Carolina congregation, saying the legal record cannot even capture the "full horror" of what he did. A unanimous three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond rejected arguments that the young white man should have been ruled incompetent to stand trial in the shootings at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston. In 2017, Roof became the first person in the U.S. sentenced to death for a federal hate crime. Authorities have said Roof opened fire during the closing prayer of a Bible study at the church, raining down dozens of bullets on those assembled. He was 21 at the time. In his appeal, Roof's attorneys argued that he was wrongly allowed to represent himself during sentencing, a critical phase of his trial. Roof successfully prevented jurors from hearing evidence about his mental health, "under the delusion," his attorneys argued, that "he would be rescued from prison by white-nationalists — but only, bizarrely, if he kept his mental-impairments out of the public record." Roof's lawyers said his convictions and death sentence should be vacated or his case should be sent back to court for a "proper competency evaluation." The 4th Circuit found that the trial judge did not commit an error when he found Roof was competent to stand trial and issued a scathing rebuke of Roof's crimes. "Dylann Roof murdered African Americans at their church, during their Bible-study and worship. They had welcomed him. He slaughtered them. He did so with the express intent of terrorizing not just his immediate victims at the historically important Mother Emanuel Church, but as many similar people as would hear of the mass murder," the panel wrote in is ruling. "No cold record or careful parsing of statutes and precedents can capture the full horror of what Roof did. His crimes qualify him for the harshest penalty that a just society can impose," the judges wrote. One of Roof's attorneys, Margaret Alice-Anne Farrand, a deputy federal public defender, declined to comment on the ruling. All of the judges in the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which covers South Carolina, recused themselves from hearing Roof's appeal; one of their own, Judge Jay Richardson, prosecuted Roof's case as an assistant U.S. Attorney. The panel that heard arguments in May and issued the ruling on Wednesday was comprised of judges from several other appellate circuits. Following his federal trial, Roof was given nine consecutive life sentences after pleading guilty in 2017 to state murder charges, leaving him to await execution in a federal prison and sparing his victims and their families the burden of a second trial. Last month, however, Attorney General Merrick Garland issued a moratorium and halted all federal executions while the Justice Department conducts a review of its execution policies and procedures. The review comes after a historic run of capital punishment at the end of the Trump administration, which carried out 13 executions in six months. A federal lawsuit has also been filed over the execution protocols — including the risk of pain and suffering associated with the use of pentobarbital, the drug used for lethal injection. President Joe Biden as a candidate said he'd work to end federal executions. White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in March that he continues to have "grave concerns" about it. Biden has connections to the case. As vice president, Biden attended the funeral for one of those slain, state Sen. Clementa Pinckney, who also pastored the congregation. During his 2020 presidential campaign, Biden frequently referenced the shooting, saying that a visit to Mother Emanuel helped him heal in the aftermath of the death of his son, Beau. Roof's attorneys could ask the full 4th Circuit to reconsider the panel's ruling. If unsuccessful in his direct appeal, Roof could file what's known as a 2255 appeal, or a request that the trial court review the constitutionality of his conviction and sentence. He could also petition the U.S. Supreme Court or seek a presidential pardon.
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Famous Person - Commit Crime - Sentence
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U.S. Army warmly welcomed ahead of NATO exercises in Albania
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DURRES, Albania (AP) — Albania’s main port of Durres has welcomed a huge influx of containers and big trucks this week ahead of NATO exercises, a concentration of military vehicles that U.S. officials said has not been seen in the Adriatic nation since World War II. Some 700 pieces of equipment from the Florida National Guard’s 53rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team were being discharged from the USNS Bob Hope at Durres, 33 kilometers (20 miles) west of the capital, Tirana. They will be used for two weeks of training involving up to 6,000 U.S. troops at six Albanian military bases. It’s part of the US Army-led Defender-Europe 21 multinational military exercises, which are focused on deterring aggression and building operational readiness with NATO and a greater number of allies and partners. They run from May 17 to June 2. “Albania is a valued partner. Our militaries benefit by training together, enhancing interoperability, building operation readiness and strengthening relationships — all of which enable our ability to respond to any crisis, anytime, together with our allies and partners,” Tammy Muckenfuss of the U.S. Army for Europe and Africa, based in Germany, said Saturday. To Maj. Randall Moran, “bringing all these groups together is something very unique.” Divers were still checking the port’s 7-meter ( 23-foot) deep draft. But the two logistic support vessels transporting the vehicles can operate in shallow water and were working nonstop to bring in the military equipment. A British military vessel will also arrive in the next few days. Defender-Europe this year has involved around 28,000 U.S., allied and partner forces from 27 nations to conduct simultaneous operations across more than 30 training areas in more than a dozen nations, from the Baltics and Africa to the Black Sea and the Balkans. Besides offering six naval, land and air bases, Albania, a NATO member since 2009, will commit 1,000 troops to what Defense Minister Niko Peleshi called “a historic event because it is the biggest exercise in Albania and the region.” U.S. military officials praised Albania’s welcome, good food and natural beauty. Muckenfuss said “Albania has been an amazing host and have greeted all of our soldiers with warmth.” “It’s a great choice for the exercise,” Moran said. “I think you guys are coming up more or less like a hidden gem. So that the people are great, the food’s wonderful and the views are magnificent.”
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Military Exercise
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Adelaide cafe owner Logan Ernest Conway, who sexually exploited child employee, seeks lenient sentence
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The lawyer for a cafe owner who sexually exploited a child waitress has urged an Adelaide court to hand down a lenient sentence, saying her client lacked the social skills to date adult women. Logan Ernest Conway, 33, pleaded guilty to the persistent sexual exploitation of a child. During sentencing submissions, the District Court heard maintaining that unlawful relationship was the worst decision Conway ever made and he regretted it "completely". His lawyer, Indiana Davis, told the court Conway's life started to derail when he failed his music education degree. "Music remained the real passion in his life," she said. "He was looking forward to a career in that degree; he felt as though he nothing but an enormous HECS debt to show for it and felt as if he had no career prospects. "He felt fairly hopeless about his future both in the career and romantic fronts." The court heard Conway then opened a cafe in Adelaide's south with his mother, despite having no "aptitude for or enjoyment of hospitality". Ms Davis said Conway ran the cafe working 12 hours a day, seven days a week for three years, but took no fewer than 10 days off from work in that time. Yet after paying for several casual staff to help, Conway did not make minimum wage. The court heard Conway lived with his mother and spent all of his time in the cafe. "It was in this context that he met the complainant, who had been employed at the cafe as a waitress," Ms Davis told the court. "And he then made the extremely ill-judged decision to become physically involved with her and then start a relationship with her. "He was at that point probably at the lowest point in his life and the complainant was able to meet his need for positive attention. "The relationship … was unquestionably wrong and he acknowledges that and takes full responsibility for the relationship." She said he was too scared to end the relationship because he feared it would cause the matter to be reported to police. The court heard Conway made "full and frank" admissions to police and was deeply ashamed and embarrassed by his offending. Ms Davis told the court Conway had not been diagnosed with "paedophilic disorder" but "lacked the social skills to confidentially date adult women". She said he was an adult who "behaved appallingly" and accepted all responsibility. Ms Davis said her client was unlikely to reoffend and wanted to participate in rehabilitation, but that was only available to him in the community, not in prison. She asked for her client — who had otherwise lived a "normal, hard-working and productive life" — to receive a merciful sentence that was lower than the minimum 10 years in jail, along with a lower-than-normal non-parole period. Prosecutor Azaara Perakath told the court Conway was aware of the age of the victim at the time, as well as the impact and consequences of the relationship. The court received no victim impact statement. Judge Jane Schammer will sentence Conway later this month.
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Famous Person - Commit Crime - Sentence
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