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Fed Chair Powell says he's powerless to protect the economy if Congress lets the US default on its debt
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won't come to the economy's rescue if the US defaults on its debt, Jerome Powell, the chair of the central bank, said Wednesday. Congress is, once again, coming dangerously close to a debt-ceiling crisis. Lawmakers have until mid-October to either raise or suspend the borrowing limit, or allow the US to default on its debt. The latter outcome would freeze spending on several critical public programs, spark massive job losses, throw financial markets into chaos, and likely plunge the US into a self-inflicted recession . In other words, defaulting on government debt is "just not something we can or should contemplate," Powell told reporters at a press conference. Failure to raise the ceiling could spark "severe damage to the economy," and the ball is solely in lawmakers' court, the Fed chair added. "I think we can agree the United States shouldn't default on any of its obligations and should pay them when due," he said. "No one should assume that the Fed or anyone else can protect the markets or the economy in the event of a failure." Debt scares aren't anything new on Capitol Hill. The ceiling has already been suspended or lifted 57 times in the past five decades. But the 117th Congress is on track to be the first to break the threshold. Republicans have been adamant that raising the ceiling is Democrats' responsibility alone. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell reiterated his opposition to the effort on Wednesday, saying Democrats shouldn't "play Russian roulette with our economy." On the other side of the aisle, Democrats are pinning the blame on Republicans' actions. Lifting the limit allows the government to cover only its past spending. After the GOP and President Donald Trump added about $8 trillion in debt through tax cuts and rescue packages, Republicans "are threatening not to pay the bills," Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer tweeted Wednesday. Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi shared on Monday a measure that would suspend the limit through December. But fervent GOP opposition, a fragile Democratic majority in the Senate, and a looming deadline stand in the way of its passage. As lawmakers barrel toward the threshold, experts have painted a dismal picture of what a US default would look like. The White House told state and local governments on Friday that failing to lift the ceiling would swiftly freeze funding for programs including Medicaid, the Children's Health Insurance Program, and Federal Emergency Management Agency. The resulting recession would prompt "economic catastrophe," Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen added Monday. Outside the White House, assessments have been even bleaker. Failure to lift or suspend the ceiling would power a downturn reminiscent of the 2008 financial crisis, Moody's Analytics economists led by Mark Zandi said Tuesday. The US would shed nearly 6 million jobs, and the unemployment rate would leap to 9% from 5.2%, they said. The resulting market crash could financially cripple everyday Americans. Stock prices would tumble more than 30% before recovering, the team said. Losses from the sell-off would total $15 trillion in household wealth, Moody's estimated. Such a slump would also come as the country remains mired in a COVID-19-slammed economy. The Fed held its ultra-accommodative policy intact on Wednesday, leaving key supports in place as 8.4 million Americans remain unemployed. Powell hinted that a pullback could start in November, but even then, it would likely take years for Fed policy to fully return to precrisis norms.
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Financial Crisis
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Our largesse as a generous nation can overcome pandemic and famine: William Lambers
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People living in a slum in Kolkata, India line up to receive a free meal distributed by a voluntary organization during a lockdown to curb the spread of the coronavirus pandemic Wednesday, June 2, 2021. (AP Photo/Bikas Das)AP By Guest Columnist, cleveland.com CINCINNATI -- When Father James Hoban spoke to students at Mount St. Joseph University in 1946, he emphasized their greatest strength: generosity. But Father Hoban reminded them that generosity must be applied to people all over the world. Hoban was a former professor of philosophy at the Mount. He left to work with Catholic Relief Services to provide aid to the needy overseas following World War II. Hoban knew the extent of the hunger, poverty and desperation the war victims were experiencing. He also knew that the power of American generosity could help lift them out of that darkness. We know from history that Father Hoban was right. America’s generosity saved millions of lives from starvation after World War II and rebuilt entire nations. Our generosity won the post-war peace and gave people hope. Now today, that powerful force of generosity is needed to overcome the challenge of a global pandemic and its impacts, including famine. Stopping the coronavirus (COVID-19) goes far beyond any actions we take in our country. We must help other nations overcome this deadly disease, too. Allowing the coronavirus to go unchecked anywhere in the globe threatens lives. It also creates the very real possibility the virus could mutate and return to our shores in a more powerful form. That is a risk no one should want to take. India is where COVID-19 is spreading with devastating consequences. Jomey Joseph of Catholic Relief Services in India says, “The hospitals in urban and metro areas are crowded, with no space to breathe . Families are carrying patients from ambulances to the doors of the hospitals, only to be turned away with no hope. Outside of the larger cities, the situation is similar, but often there are no hospitals, so people are flooding urban areas.” The pandemic has also added onto existing conflict and drought, and placed nations near the brink of famine. Some countries are facing extreme food shortages as well as the challenge of the coronavirus. We must come to their aid, too. In Yemen, the World Food Program is trying to feed nearly 13 million people suffering from hunger because of conflict. In South Sudan, there is also famine on the horizon. Burkina Faso, Congo, Madagascar, Ethiopia and many other countries are also experiencing extreme hunger, and COVID-19 is also spreading in these nations. As this summer nears, we are thankfully headed in the right direction on reducing the spread of the coronavirus through vaccinations and public health measures, including masks. We will likely be returning to a sense of normalcy in the weeks to come, as long as we keep up the good health practices. But when we do, we should not forget about those nations that are mired in COVID outbreaks and food shortages. William Lambers is a Cincinnati author who writes frequently on world hunger. Famine and COVID-19 are too much for any nation to endure. We should do everything in our power to save millions of lives from starvation and disease. This is where the power of American generosity can once again lead the world out of a crisis, as in World War II and its aftermath. You are the source of that generosity which can change the world. You can support the World Food Program, Catholic Relief Services, Save the Children, CARE and other charities that are working to provide relief abroad. Write letters to your representatives urging them to support COVID-19 and famine relief overseas. We would not want to see our tax dollars wasted on excessive nuclear weapons spending when there are so many vast needs during this pandemic. Many nations need food and vaccines. America’s generosity is the one force that can stop COVID-19 and hunger from taking more lives. William Lambers partnered with the World Food Program on the 2009 book, “ Ending World Hunger: School Lunches for Kids around the World ,” His writings have been published by The Washington Post, History News Network, Newsweek and many other news outlets.
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Famine
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UK formally leaves the European Union and begins Brexit transition period
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The U.K. finally left the EU on Friday evening after 47 years of membership, marking one of the biggest political and economic shifts in modern European history. Brexit brings about the end of a tumultuous three-and-a-half year departure process that has caused turmoil in the U.K.’s political establishment, economic uncertainty and heightened tensions between the U.K. and the EU — its largest single trading partner as a bloc. The departure on January 31 also marks the start of a “transition period” in which the U.K. remains a member of the single market and customs union and begins negotiations with the EU to strike a free-trade deal. During the transition period, the U.K. will not have voting rights on EU matters but will still be bound by EU rules. The U.K. government has set an ambitious (and some say, unviable) deadline of the end of 2020 in which a deal must be reached, otherwise it will leave the single market with “no deal” and will have to revert to World Trade Organization rules. On June 23, 2016, the British people went to the polls in a vote on whether the U.K. should remain a member of the EU. To much of the country’s shock — even, it appeared, to politicians like current Prime Minister Boris Johnson who campaigned to leave — 51.9% of Brits voted to leave the EU with 48.1% voting to remain in the economic and political union. Although the political earthquake was unexpected, euroskepticism was rife in the country in the decades and immediate years leading up to the referendum, fueled partly by an anti-EU tabloid press in the U.K. and the rise of the U.K. Independence Party led by Nigel Farage. A migration crisis in Europe in the run-up to the 2016 vote, fears over the possible accession of Turkey to the EU and a desire among many Brits to contain immigration also played a part. There were more intangible factors such as Britain being an island separated from its continental neighbors, and of somehow, someway, being “different.” Reeling from the vote and the immediate resignation of then Prime Minister David Cameron, the government under Theresa May took until March 29, 2017, to trigger “Article 50,” beginning what was meant to be a two-year countdown to the U.K. formally leaving. The EU and U.K. then struck a Brexit deal, or “Withdrawal Agreement,” but it failed to win approval by a majority of the British Parliament in March, 2019, and May was forced to ask the EU to extend the deadline. With her Brexit deal being rejected by a total of three times by Parliament, May was all but forced to step down as party leader last summer. Many point to a misjudged election she called in 2017 as being behind her downfall when she lost her paramilitary majority. Her departure prompted a leadership race within the ruling Conservative Party and the ascension of Brexit-supporting Johnson in July. Johnson went back to Brussels and renegotiated parts of the Brexit deal. His plan was also rejected by lawmakers in Westminster but a snap election in December gave him the crucial majority he desired and needed. The U.K. will now remain a member of the EU’s single market but only during a “transition period” until the end of 2020. During that time, the U.K. and EU will try to strike a trade deal, although the short time frame is seen as ambitious and Brussels has warned London that the trading relationship will not be the same post-Brexit. Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar suggested in an interview with the BBC Monday that the EU will be the “stronger team” in post-Brexit trade talks and that striking a deal would be “difficult.” Johnson has dismissed pessimism, however, saying the U.K. can “wrap up” a deal by its self-imposed deadline. What’s certain, and repeatedly reiterated by the EU side, is that the economic and political relationship will change and the U.K. might not enjoy the “frictionless trade” it has enjoyed as a member of the EU and a member of its single market. The single market seeks to guarantee the free movement of goods, capital, services, and labor — the “four freedoms” — within the EU. And with a collective population of over 500 million people and consumers, the value of single market membership and that unfettered movement of goods and services is a boon to businesses in the bloc. There is still much regret on both the EU side and among remainers in the U.K. regarding Brexit. For countries like Germany, losing the U.K. means losing not only one of the biggest economies in the bloc, but a pragmatic ally. There were tears, hugs, emotional speeches and singing in the European Parliament on Wednesday as lawmakers ratified the U.K.’s terms of departure from the EU, and took stock of the challenges facing the EU-U.K.’s future relationship and the EU itself. Germany’s Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said in a letter to the U.K., published in German newspaper Die Zeit on Wednesday, that “it hurts that you are leaving.” “Not just because the European Union is losing 66 million citizens and one of its strongest economies. You have always been ‘Global Britain,’ and that did the EU good. Your pragmatism, your tolerance, your sense of humor — even your insistence on some of the typical British opt-outs — will be sorely missed, when you leave the EU in a few hours’ time,” Maas said. Pro-Brexit lawmakers in the U.K. have always argued that the country should strike out on its own and be free of the rules and regulations (as they see them, restrictions) of Europe. But it will have to abide by many of those rules if it wants a close trading relationship. Just how economically successful the U.K. will be after Brexit, and on striking free trade deals around the world, remains to be seen — particularly as the U.K. goes from being part of a big influential bloc to a much smaller, single entity. Brexit is not just about a transformation of the U.K. and the EU’s economic and political ties, it has often been emotional too. It has been the cause of many disagreements in many streets and homes up and down the country and has often divided British families and friendships.
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Withdraw from an Organization
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CAPSTONE, a small cubesat bound for the moon, is preparing for an October launch
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NASA's plan to "reboot" human exploration of the moon will get kick-started soon by a spacecraft the size of a microwave oven. The Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation cubesat, or CAPSTONE for short, is scheduled to launch in October from New Zealand aboard a Rocket Lab Electron rocket and its Lunar Photon upper stage/spacecraft. Tipping the scales at a modest 55 pounds (25 kilograms), CAPSTONE is no lightweight when it comes to its assignments. CAPSTONE's primary objective is to test and verify the calculated orbital stability of a near rectilinear halo orbit (NRHO) around the moon. That’s the same orbit scripted for NASA's Lunar Gateway, the planned small space station that will orbit the moon to provide astronauts access to the lunar surface. The Gateway is touted as a vital component of NASA's Artemis program, which aims to establish a sustainable, long-term human presence on and around the moon by the end of the 2020s. For its part, CAPSTONE is designed to help reduce risk for future spacecraft by validating navigation technologies and verifying the dynamics of this halo-shaped orbit. After a three-month journey to its target destination, CAPSTONE will orbit this area around the moon for at least six months to understand the characteristics of the orbit. The NRHO provides an unhindered view of Earth in addition to coverage of the lunar south pole. CAPSTONE's seven-Earth-day-orbit will bring the probe within 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) of one lunar pole on its close pass and take it 43,500 miles (70,000 km) from the other pole at its most distant point. "The CAPSTONE spacecraft has been fully integrated and is currently undergoing integration testing and evaluation," said Bradley Cheetham, CEO and president of Advanced Space of Westminster, Colorado, the company that developed and will operate the spacecraft. (NASA describes CAPSTONE as "an innovative collaboration" between the space agency and private industry.) "The integration and test plans right now are on track to be ready for launch in October," Cheetham told Space.com, underscoring the progress the mission has made thus far, particularly given the unexpected challenges of a global pandemic. Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems of Irvine, California, built the cubesat platform, and Stellar Exploration, Inc. of San Luis Obispo, California, is providing CAPSTONE's propulsion system. "We have accomplished a tremendous amount in terms of developing and demonstrating the capabilities required to efficiently and effectively operate a mission to the moon," Cheetham said. "Only two entities have ever operated a spacecraft in an Earth-moon three-body orbit — NASA and the China National Space Agency," he added. "We are preparing to be the first commercial entity and only the third organization to operate in these highly valuable orbits." Yet another key task for CAPSTONE, Cheetham said, is testing a navigation system that gauges its position relative to NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), which has been studying the moon since 2009. This demonstration of spacecraft-to-spacecraft navigation services can allow future spacecraft to determine their location relative to the moon without relying exclusively on tracking from Earth. Lunar timeline: Humanity's explorations of the moon Christopher Baker, NASA's Small Spacecraft Technology program executive, said that, while not realized as rapidly as the space agency had envisioned before the COVID-19 pandemic, the CAPSTONE mission will deliver valuable data and experience operating in the near rectilinear halo orbit intended for the Gateway. "The [CAPSTONE] mission will also demonstrate novel low-energy trajectories to the moon, peer-to-peer navigation, and other future mission capabilities," Baker said. Technologies developed for CAPSTONE, he added, are already having an impact. For example, the Stellar Exploration propulsion system for CAPSTONE was successfully used on a commercial spacecraft, and two interplanetary Rocket Lab Photons were selected for NASA's ESCAPADE Mars mission. "Ultimately, we see the CAPSTONE mission as a vanguard of low-cost, risk-tolerant commercial partnerships for lunar exploration and beyond," said Baker. Originally, CAPSTONE was to head moonward from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. Murielle Baker, senior communications advisor for Rocket Lab, told Space.com that CAPSTONE can meet its mission requirements regardless of the launch location. "We originally planned to launch from Launch Complex 2 but shifted the launch location to New Zealand due to additional work that is needed to certify NASA software for a flight termination system for launches from Virginia," Baker said. Rocket Lab sees great value in deep-space exploration. "The parallels between Antarctic exploration and lunar exploration are uncannily similar," Baker said. "At the beginning of the century, there was a race to reach the south pole. Then no one went back for 50 years — just like the moon in the '60s. Then we started building bases in Antarctica. Antarctica was opened up by technological advances — motorized vehicles, air transport and radio. And the science that gets done there is having a monumental impact on how we understand things like climate change and our impact on the planet. We are now approaching that stage with our exploration of the moon and beyond." The moon is much the same, Murielle Baker said. "With each advance in spacecraft, robots and miniaturization, we can achieve so much with uncrewed missions like CAPSTONE. That saves time and money, making exploration to destinations like Venus and Mars much more accessible."
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New achievements in aerospace
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2013 Balochistan earthquakes
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The 2013 Balochistan earthquakes took place in late September in southwestern Pakistan. The mainshock had a moment magnitude of 7.7 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent). At least 825 people were killed and hundreds more were injured. On 28 September, a M6.8 aftershock occurred to the north at a depth of 14.8 kilometres (9.2 miles), killing at least 22 people. These earthquakes occurred in a sparsely populated region of Pakistan and this reduced the number of casualties significantly. [7][8]
On a broad scale, the tectonics of southern and central Pakistan reflect a complex plate boundary where the India plate slides northward relative to the Eurasia plate in the east, and the Arabia plate subducts northward beneath the Eurasia plate in the Makran (western Pakistan). These motions typically result in north–south to northeast–southwest strike-slip motion at the latitude of the 24 September earthquake that is primarily accommodated on the Chaman Fault, with the earthquake potentially occurring on one of the southernmost strands of this fault system. Further, more in-depth studies will be required to identify the precise fault associated with this event. Although seismically active, this portion of the Eurasia plate boundary region has not experienced large damaging earthquakes in recent history. In the past 40 years, only one significant event has occurred within 200 kilometres (120 mi) of this event, which was a Mw 6.1 earthquake in July 1990 that killed six people. [9]
The United States Geological Survey reported that the earthquake took place on Tuesday 24 September 2013 at 11:29:48 UTC. The depth was reported to be 15 kilometres (9.3 mi). The earthquake reportedly lasted about a minute, causing panic in cities of southern Pakistan such as Karachi and Hyderabad. [10]
The earthquake in occurred as the result of oblique-strike-slip type motion at shallow crustal depths. The location and mechanism of the earthquake are consistent with rupture within the Eurasia plate above the Makran Trench subduction zone. The event occurred within the transition zone between northward subduction of the Arabian plate beneath the Eurasia plate and northward collision of the India plate with the Eurasia plate. [9]
The earthquake killed at least 825 people and injured hundreds of others. [3] The earthquake struck a sparsely populated region of Pakistan. Most homes and buildings in the region are constructed of mud bricks and collapsed during the earthquake and aftershocks. An official in the Balochistan province claimed that 80 percent of the homes in the Awaran District had collapsed or were damaged. [11] In the regional capital Quetta, some areas appeared to be badly damaged. [12][13] Officials from the Balochistan government estimated that at least 21,000 houses had been completely destroyed by the tremor, while some areas remained beyond the reach of rescue services 48 hours after the initial quake. [4]
PAGER impact estimates from the United States Geological Survey included a red alert level for initial shaking-related fatalities (35% chance of 1,000–10,000 fatalities, 27% chance of 10,000–100,000 fatalities) and an orange alert level for economic impact (35% chance of US$100 million–$1 billion, 26% chance of US$1–10 billion). [14]
The earthquake was felt in major cities across Pakistan, including Karachi, Hyderabad, Rawalpindi/Islamabad, Larkana, and Lahore. [10] The quake was also felt in Delhi, India, where some buildings shook,[15] and Muscat, Oman—800 kilometres (500 mi) from the epicenter—where mild tremors shook tables and cabinets. [16] The earthquake shook in the parts of UAE, Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran and as far as Qatar. [17] The earthquake also shook Saravan, Iran without causing any damage or casualties. [18] There were also minor tremors and aftershocks in the United Arab Emirates. [19]
The earthquake was apparently powerful enough to raise a small island, later dubbed Zalzala Jazeera, meaning "quake island", in the Arabian Sea, variously reported as being 350 metres (1,150 ft) to 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) off the shore of Gwadar. [13][20][21] The island is partially composed of rock, but mostly consists of mud and sand. The oval-shaped island was 60–70 feet (18–21 m) high and about 200–300 feet (61–91 m) long according to local people that visited the island the day after it appeared. They noticed a smell of gas and managed to ignite it, later extinguishing it with difficulty. [20]
The island is believed to be the result of a mud volcano. [22] In the region, deposits of frozen gas hydrates—which have a large methane content—exist beneath 300 to 800 metres (980–2,620 ft) of compressed sediment. [20] After such a large earthquake, the gas hydrates converted from frozen to gaseous form through the heat of friction and either raised the overlaying sediment enough to create fissures through which it escaped or rose through fissures resulting from the earthquake itself. Another possible contributing factor in the island's creation was the liquefaction of the seabed, which allowed finer, loosely packed sediments to become liquid-like and squeeze up through fissures in overlying compressed sediment. Locals who ventured to the island shortly after it formed heard a hissing noise at one end and started a fire which was difficult to extinguish. There are several mud volcanoes inland near Zalzala Jazeera and they are common in the vicinity of subducting plate boundaries; in fact, similar islands have appeared in the same region following earthquakes in 1945, 1999, 2001, and 2010. Because of its composition of softer sediments, the sea was predicted to erode the island completely within a few months. [20] By the end of 2016, the island had completely disappeared. [23]
On 26 September, two days after the disaster, two rockets were fired at a helicopter carrying Maj. Gen. Muhammad Saeed Aleem, the National Disaster Management Authority chairman, as well as other officials and members of the media. Government sources blamed Balochi separatists, who are very active in the Awaran area. [4]
Sources
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Earthquakes
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Koza riot
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The Koza riot (コザ暴動, Koza bōdō) was a violent and spontaneous protest against the US military presence in Okinawa, which occurred on the night of December 20, 1970, into the morning of the following day. Roughly 5,000 Okinawans clashed with roughly 700 American MPs in an event which has been regarded as symbolic of Okinawan anger against 25 years of US military occupation. In the riot, approximately 60 Americans and 27 Okinawans were injured, 80 cars were burned, and several buildings on Kadena Air Base were destroyed or heavily damaged.
Following Japan's defeat in World War II, Japan came to be formally occupied by Allied forces and governed under martial law for roughly seven years. While the Occupation of Japan came to an end and most of Japan regained its independence in April 1952, Okinawa Prefecture was to remain under US military occupation for another twenty years. By 1970, it had already been decided and was widely known that the US military occupation of Okinawa was going to be ended in 1972, and that Okinawa would return to being a part of independent Japan, but also that a considerable US military presence was to remain. This came in the wake of a number of incidents between servicemen and Okinawan civilians over the years, including a hit-and-run accident in September 1970, only a few months prior to the riot, which resulted in the death of an Okinawan housewife from Itoman. The servicemen involved in that incident were acquitted at their court-martial.This incident fueled the growing discontent of Okinawans with the standard status of forces that exempted US servicemen from Okinawan justice.
The riot lasted seven or eight hours, beginning in the early morning hours of December 20, 1970 and continuing past dawn. It was not pre-meditated, planned or arranged, but is said to have erupted spontaneously from tensions, which had reached a breaking point.
Around 1 o'clock that night, a car being driven by a drunk American serviceman hit a drunken Okinawan man, on a road near a major entertainment and red-light district in Koza (now called Okinawa City), a short distance from Kadena Air Force Base. [8] The Americans got out of their car and made sure the man was alright; he presently stood up and walked away. The four men were then about to get back into their car to leave the scene when they were confronted by a number of Okinawan taxi drivers who had witnessed the accident. A crowd began to form; some were shouting "no more acquittals", "Yankee go home" and "don’t insult Okinawans".
Two American military police vehicles also arrived, sirens blaring. While the newly arrived MPs attempted to extricate their comrades from the situation, the crowd had the victim lie down where he'd been hit, and had him reenact the incident. Many accounts emphasize that the newly arrived MPs ignored the man who had been hit, focusing only on seeking to extricate their countrymen.
Another American car arriving on the scene accidentally struck one belonging to an Okinawan, and as passersby and people from the neighborhood stopped to get involved, the crowd grew to around 700, began to throw rocks and bottles, and attempted to turn over the car involved in the original accident. Okinawan police were able to remove the American driver safely from the scene, but the confrontation continued to escalate.
Warning shots were fired, attracting a larger crowd, which soon numbered around five thousand; the number of MPs on the scene was now around 700. The rioters broke into, turned over, and torched over seventy cars, and continued to throw rocks and bottles, along with Molotov cocktails assembled in nearby homes, bars, restaurants, and other establishments. The rioters pulled American servicemen from their cars and beat them, then burned their cars. Some of the rioters danced traditional folk dances as the riot continued around them; others passed through the gate into the Air Force Base, overturning and torching cars, breaking windows, and otherwise raining destruction upon American property there as well. About 500 rioters then broke the fence of Kadena Air Base and razed the military employment building and the offices of the Stars and Stripes newspaper. The MPs, meanwhile, began to deploy tear gas. The riot finally died down and came to an end around 7 o'clock in the morning; in the end, many were injured, including 60 Americans and 27 Okinawans, and 82 people arrested.
A song on the eponymous debut album of the Okinawa-based electronic duo Ryukyu Underground is entitled "Koza Riot".
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Riot
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Opémiska Community Hall fire
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On December 31, 1979, 350 people attended a New Year's Eve party held at the Opémiska Community Hall in Chapais, Quebec. [1] During the event, pine branches used as Christmas decorations were accidentally set on fire, with the resulting blaze killing 48 people and injuring 50 others. The rural community of Chapais was established as a mining town in 1955. At its peak, the mine employed 700 of the 3500 inhabitants of the town, with a sawmill employing another 450. [2]:1 Falconbridge Copper Ltd., who operated the Opemiska mine, gifted the town with a community hall that could host 300 people. On December 8, 1979, the mine hosted a Christmas party for its employees at the community hall. A large number of Christmas trees were installed as decoration, and for the second year in a row, a large arch made of pine branches was installed near the entrance. Following the party, it was decided that the decorations would be kept in the room for the upcoming New Year celebration. In order to prevent the branches from drying out, an employee of the town hall was tasked with spraying the decorations with water. The employee went home during the holidays, resulting in the branches drying out for a few days between Christmas and the New Year. [2]:2
During the night of 31 December 1979, the community hall hosted the New Year event as a fundraiser for the local Lions Club. The entrance fee was five dollars, and the club sold around 300 tickets. It was tradition in Chapais for people to move between different social gatherings in the new year to wish members of the community success in the new year. As such, it was decided that past midnight, people could enter without a ticket. [2]:2
After midnight, and the accompanying rush of townspeople exchanging greetings, the party started to die down. As such, around 1 a.m., when partygoers started going home, security was relaxed. At 1:15 a.m., Florent Cantin, a young laborer, was playing with a lighter in celebration of the new year and accidentally set fire to the arch of pine surrounding the entrance. Nearby patrons promptly attempted to put the fire out using fire extinguishers. The people inside the room did not evacuate, as they thought the fire was part of a prank, with the attempts to extinguish the fire being a performance. [2]:37 The volunteers succeeded in extinguishing the flames. However, the fire reignited when a nearby door was opened, allowing fresh oxygen to supply the embers. [2]:36 The fire then reignited and quickly spread to garlands hanging down from the roof. People began shouting for everyone to leave the room, and the crowd moved towards the left entrance to the building. The re-lit fire propagated through the room in mere seconds and provoked a power outage, shutting down all of the lights. In the ensuing chaos, it was found that the left door was blocked. A group of men managed to force the building's right entrance open, although this was partially blocked by uncleared snow. [2]:3
As the evacuation was ongoing, volunteer firefighters from a fire station located 500 feet from the community hall arrived and tried in vain to put out the flames from the outside. Many of the partygoers that managed to escape had their clothes on fire as they left the building, and rolled in the snow to extinguish them. The badly burned victims were transported to a nearby CLSC, where only one nurse was on duty. The burn victims were then transported to the hospital in Chibougamau, 30 minutes away. The next morning, nine of the badly burned victims were moved from the hospital by helicopter to a larger hospital in Quebec City. [2]:3
Florent Cantin, the man who set the decorations on fire, pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the death of Robin Desjardins. [1] During the trial, Cantin admitted to holding up a lighter to the flammable decorations with intent to "play with fire", but not to set the town hall ablaze. He compared the situation to people lighting paper napkins in celebration of the new year. [2]
Cantin was originally sentenced to eight years in prison without parole for three years. This sentence was deemed harsh considering that Cantin's actions were negligent, but nevertheless were not intended to cause harm. Petitions were circulated by citizens and organisations of the province asking for a more lenient sentence. Following an appeal by Cantin, the sentence was reduced by the Quebec Superior Court to two years minus one day. [2]:4
Upon his release from jail, Cantin moved away from the town, starting a new life elsewhere. Ten years later he was convicted of uttering threats against his wife. [3]
The town of Chapais was deeply hurt by the loss of many lives. In addition to those who were physically injured, the events left a deep emotional scar on the inhabitants of the town. A memorial park with a walkway and plaque marks the location of the destroyed club. A social worker who authored a thesis on the psychological and social effects of the tragedy on the town stated that the inhabitants preferred not to talk about the fire, with the subject eventually becoming taboo. Most survivors did not receive any psychological help or counseling, and some resorted to alcohol or drugs in order to attempt to forget the events. [4]
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Fire
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Congressman Higgins recovering at home after surgery for old injury
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Congressman Clay Higgins is recovering after surgery he underwent on Tuesday. According to Higgins' office, he underwent a successful surgical procedure Tuesday morning at Our Lady of Lourdes Regional Medical Center in Lafayette. In a statement, Higgins says the surgery was necessary after aggravating an old internal injury. He says the procedure went well. Higgins' office says the congressman will spend the next few weeks recovering and working from his home office. Congressman Higgins issued the following statement: “A few months ago, while training, I aggravated an old internal injury. This morning, I underwent a surgical procedure. The surgery was recommended by my doctors earlier in the fall, and we planned the procedure to take place after the conclusion of this year’s votes. Everything went well, and I’m grateful to my doctors and nurses for their excellent care. I will spend the Christmas season recovering at home under the care of my wife Becca and will continue working remotely on many ongoing issues. The challenges we face together will not take a holiday, and neither will I. It is an honor to serve South Louisiana, and I look forward to a full recovery from this required surgical procedure. The new year is upon us, and together we will embrace the future.”
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Famous Person - Recovered
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Issa Rae Announced Her Marriage to Louis Diame in the Most Issa Rae Way Possible
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Issa Rae and Louis Diame are married, although we wouldn't blame you for being momentarily confused. On July 26, the Insecure star shared a series of wedding pictures to her Instagram alongside a hilarious caption. "A) Impromptu photo shoot in a custom @verawanggang dress. B) My girls came to help me, but they all coincidentally had on the same dress! They were sooooo embarrassed. C) Then I took a few flicks with Somebody's Husband," the 36-year-old wrote. According to E! Online, the duo exchanged vows during an intimate ceremony in the South of France over the weekend. Issa wore a custom Vera Wang Haute dress while Louis wore custom Dolce & Gabanna. It's no surprise that details about the couple's nuptials are scarce, as Issa has been private about the pair's relationship. You can see more photos from their nuptials ahead. Listen to our podcast, Not Over It, where hosts and POPSUGAR editors Becky Kirsch and Zareen Siddiqui break down the biggest moments in celebrity and entertainment news.
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Famous Person - Marriage
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Carbery requires elbow surgery in latest injury nightmare
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Joey Carbery is once again facing the prospect of months on the sideline, with Munster confirming... 14.47 14 Dec 2021 Joey Carbery is once again facing the prospect of months on the sideline, with Munster confirming he requires surgery. The out-half sustained a fractured elbow in Sunday's 35-14 win away to Wasps in the Heineken Champions Cup. Carbery left the field in Coventry with his arm in a makeshift sling, having been on the receiving end of a late challenge from Wasps' Robin Hislop. Munster confirmed on Tuesday that Carbery suffered an elbow fracture, and will undergo surgery on Thursday (December 16). It leaves the 26-year old in a race to be fit for Ireland's Six Nations campaign. It's a cruel blow for the no.10, who had been slowly finding his rhythm once more after - seemingly - shaking off the shackles of a previous injury lay-off. He spent more than a year out with a troublesome ankle. News of the extend of Carbery's injury came on the same day it was confirmed Johann van Graan will be leaving as head coach at the end of this season. Following the heroics of Coventry, Van Graan must again tap into his reserves for Saturday's meeting with Castres at Thomond Park. Despite returning from Cape Town at the weekend - and recovering from COVID-19 - the 14 players who travelled back late from South Africa "have been required to undertake an additional period of self-isolation as advised by public health". However, the 34 players who returned Covid-free have completed their quarantine period and are under consideration for Saturday's game in Limerick.
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Famous Person - Recovered
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Great Flood of 1881
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The Great Flood of 1881 refers to flooding events along the Missouri River during the spring of 1881. The flood began around Pierre, South Dakota and struck areas down river in Yankton, South Dakota, Omaha, Nebraska, Council Bluffs, Iowa, Nebraska City, Nebraska, Kansas City, Missouri and farther south between April 1, 1881 and April 27, 1881. The events provided the first detailed reporting of Missouri River flooding, and caused millions of dollars in damage. Snowfall in the winter of 1880-81 was unusually heavy and throughout March 1881 temperatures remained extraordinarily cold. Then during the last week in March the temperature climbed. Melting snow in the Dakotas, north of Nebraska, poured water into the Missouri River. John Hilger, an early resident of Pierre, South Dakota described the flood, saying, “When the snow started to disappear, it left in a hurry. The river rose very rapidly, the ice gorged a short distance below town, turning the water into the bottoms and flooded the town with from four to six feet of water. Those who were not so fortunate as to possess two story houses were obliged to retreat to higher ground. My dugout was filled with women and children and I was obliged to seek quarters elsewhere because of the lack of room.”
Downtown Omaha was flooded up to 9th Street, and Council Bluffs was flooded the same. The river remained at a high level for several weeks and during the height of flooding was reported to have been five miles (8 km) wide. The entirety of Omaha's shipping industry was damaged, with industrial, trade and docking buildings severely damaged if not destroyed. Losses from this flood were said to be "in the millions," and in 1881 dollars that would equate to a major flood. [1][2]
There were only two deaths in Omaha during the floods. A small one-man skiff was being used by three Union Pacific workers who were attempting to cross a break in a temporary dam when the river's current pushed it into the main channel. Two men jumped from the boat and drowned immediately. [3]
The Omaha Bee covered the flood each day from April 2 through April 13. After the flood in the area south of Council Bluffs, the Missouri River had looped itself in a hairpin bend, leaving an old channel filled with quiet water. The body of water left stranded by the river's change, covering about 400 acres (160 ha), later became Lake Manawa, a popular recreation area in the Omaha-Council Bluffs metropolitan area. [4]
As the river rose efforts were made in hopes of saving the lowlands of Iowa along the Missouri River. By April 9 the steamboat ferry Lizzie Campbell was finding it difficult to land passengers at Nebraska City as the water ran deep on the landing. Passengers were unloaded only by cart. By April 11 all of the Iowan lowlands were under water. By the middle of May the river had risen to the highest point in the history of Nebraska City and Fremont County, Iowa and its course was changed considerably when the waters finally fell to normal. [5]
On the morning of April 1 word was received from Yankton, South Dakota that the Missouri River rose thirty-five feet, killing several people and destroying the lowlands in that area. The railroads received warnings from points north and advised people in the area to leave the river bottoms. They moved their rolling stock and equipment to higher lands throughout the area. In the afternoon of April 6 a temporary dam around riverfront businesses in Omaha burst. During this period the Omaha Smelting Works and Union Pacific Shops almost completely submerged. The following morning floodwaters crested at 23.5 feet (7.2 m), which was two feet higher than ever recorded on the river. The Missouri had also reached a width of 5 miles (8.0 km), effectively covering all the lowlands around Omaha and Council Bluffs. On the morning of April 9 the North Western Railroad levee bounding Council Bluffs against the river broke and water spread over the west and south sections of the city. An anonymous man rode a horse through the south part of the city to warn residents when the levee gave way. Rescue shelters were placed throughout the area, with "any building that was suitable was thrown open to the refugees. "[4]
After that event from Ninth Street in Council Bluffs west to Omaha and from Carter Lake south beyond the Union Pacific Shops looked like "a sea" dotted with houses and outbuildings like islands. Boats and large sections of wooden sidewalks were pressed into service, with the operators earning from $15 to $20 a day. [4]
Water started receding on April 12, with railroads clearing up and repairing tracks immediately. Families returned to their homes to begin cleaning out water. However, on April 22 the river stage increased at the rate of a foot an hour, causing people again to move to higher land. This time when the river broke its banks the water spread to Eighth Street and Broadway in Council Bluffs. Houses, trees and livestock were seen floating downriver. [4]
The Union Pacific Shops remained flooded as the river rose another two inches. A riverfront packinghouse and the Willow Springs Distilling Company were flooded, along with many smaller riverside businesses. 1,600 workers were unemployed at this point. In Council Bluffs 600 people were homeless, with more than a half of the city inundated with water. During the previous several weeks the Elkhorn River valley was flooded as well, with the entire town of Waterloo, Nebraska abandoned due to flooding. [6]
The river began to recede on April 27 and families returned to their homes again. General Grenville M. Dodge, the chief engineer in charge of the construction of the Union Pacific, had employees ride through the flooded areas to rescue cattle. The river dropped 10 inches (250 mm) on the 27th. [7]
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Floods
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Meet the Women Who Won Nobel Prizes This Year
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Every product on this page was chosen by a Harper's BAZAAR editor. We may earn commission on some of the items you choose to buy.
Louise Glück, Emmanuelle Charpentier, Jennifer A. Doudna, and Andrea M. Ghez just became Nobel laureates.
Since the Nobel Prize was established in 1895, less than 60 women have been honored with the prestigious international award. This week, four women–Louise Glück, Emmanuelle Charpentier, Jennifer A. Doudna, and Andrea M. Ghez–were added to that roster, triumphing in literature, chemistry, and physics. Below, meet the women became Nobel laureates in 2020. American poet Louise Glück was honored with the Nobel Prize in literature for "for her unmistakable poetic voice that with austere beauty makes individual existence universal."
The New York-born writer, who is now a professor of English at Yale University, is no stranger to prestigious awards, having previously won the 1993 Pulitzer Prize for The Wild Iris and the 2014 National Book Award for Faithful and Virtuous Night. She was also previously named the United States's poet laureate in 2003.
Of winning the Nobel Prize, Glück told The New York Times that she was "completely flabbergasted that they would choose a white American lyric poet. ... I thought, I come from a country that is not thought fondly of now, and I’m white, and we’ve had all the prizes. So it seemed to be extremely unlikely that I would ever have this particular event to deal with in my life."
Her oeuvre includes twelve collections of poetry as well as some volumes of essays on poetry. Glück is also known for writing with clarity on otherwise bleak themes, like isolation, rejection, grief, and betrayal.
“When you read her poems about these difficult things, you feel cleansed rather than depressed,” Daniel Mendelsohn, the editor-at-large for The New York Review of Books, told the Times. “This is one of the purest poetic sensibilities in world literature right now. It’s a kind of absolute poetry, poetry with no gimmicks, no pandering to fads or trends. It has the quality of something standing almost as outside of time.”
Her work has also toyed with classical motifs, like those from Greek and Roman mythology. For instance, in her 1996 collection, Meadowlands, she portrays mythological characters Odysseus and Penelope to make observations on modern-day marriages.
Glück is the first female poet to win the Nobel Prize in literature since 1996, when Wislawa Szymborska, a Polish writer, won.
"Most of what I have to say of any real urgency comes out in poems," she said in the Times interview. "And the rest is just entertainment. Dr. Emmanuelle Charpentier, a French microbiologist, geneticist, and biochemist, was jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry with Jennifer A. Doudna for their 2012 work on a new genetic editing method called Crispr-Cas9, which can be applied to experimental treatments for sickle cell disease and cancer therapies. Together, Charpentier and Doudna are the sixth and seventh women to receive a Nobel Prize in chemistry.
“There is enormous power in this genetic tool, which affects us all. It has not only revolutionised basic science, but also resulted in innovative crops and will lead to ground-breaking new medical treatments,” said Claes Gustafsson, chair of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry, in a press release.
The discovery of these "genetic scissors," which can modify the DNA of living organisms with extremely high precision, came about during Charpentier's studies of Streptococcus pyogenes, a type of bacteria that can cause harmful infections to human. There, she discovered a previously unknown molecule, called tracrRNA. After publishing her findings in 2011, she partnered with Doudna, an expert of RNA, and the two went on to recreate the bacteria’s genetic scissors in a test tube.
"I was very emotional, I have to say," Charpentier said at a press conference, per NPR. "Obviously, it's real, so I have to get used to it now."
Charpentier is now the director and founder of the Max Planck Unit for the Science of Pathogens in Berlin. Prior to that, she was educated in Paris and contributed work to academic research institutions across the world, including the United States, Austria, Sweden, and Germany. Most of her career has been devoted to understanding the mechanisms of diseases, focusing specifically on infections caused by Gram-positive bacterial pathogens.
Dr. Jennifer Doudna was jointly award the Nobel Prize in chemistry with Charpentier for their revolutionary work on Crispr-Cas9, becoming the sixth and seventh women to win in this category.
After accidentally discovering tracrRNA, Charpentier tapped Doudna for her expertise on RNA. Their collaboration led to the discovery of Crispr molecules, which made way for highly precise genetic surgery. In less than a decade after the discovery, their technique is now commonplace in genetic laboratories across the world.
In 2017, Doudna wrote A Crack in Creation, a book in which she chronicles the discovery and warns of unforeseen consequences of its use.
“We as a community need to make sure we recognize we are taking charge of a very powerful technology,” she said in an interview this week, per The New York Times. “I hope this announcement galvanizes that intention.”
She currently works as a professor of molecular and cell biology and of chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley, where she holds the Li Ka Shing Chancellor's Chair in Biomedical and Health Sciences. She also helms Doudna Lab, which discovers and develops CRISPR systems and other RNA-guided mechanisms of gene regulation in conjunction with students and postdoctoral associates.
Along with Dr. Roger Penrose and Dr. Reinhard Genzel, Dr. Andrea Ghez was awarded the Nobel Prize in physics.
Penrose, a mathematician based in England, was awarded for his work for proving the existence of black holes as a direct consequence of Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity. Meanwhile, Genzel and Ghez were awarded for their decades-long research in collecting conclusive evidence for a supermassive black hole in our galaxy. Since the 1990s, each has led a group of astronomers that have found "an extremely heavy, invisible object that pulls on the jumble of stars, causing them to rush around at dizzying speeds," according to a press release. By using the world's largest telescopes and developing innovative telescopic techniques, the duo has provided "the most convincing evidence yet of a supermassive black hole" at the center of the Milky Way.
“The discoveries of this year’s Laureates have broken new ground in the study of compact and supermassive objects," said David Haviland, chair of the Nobel Committee for Physics. "But these exotic objects still pose many questions that beg for answers and motivate future research. Not only questions about their inner structure, but also questions about how to test our theory of gravity under the extreme conditions in the immediate vicinity of a black hole."
Ghez is the fourth ever woman to receive a Nobel prize in physics.
The New York-born scientist is now a professor of astronomy the University of California, Los Angeles. Her decades-long career is also dedicated to the study of star formation.
After her win was announced, Ghez said she hoped to inspire more women to join the field, reported The New York Times. “It’s a field that has so many pleasures, and if you’re passionate about the science, there is so much that can be done,” she said. She also was one of the authors for the 2006 children's book, You Can Be a Woman Astronomer.
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Awards ceremony
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2009 World Outgames
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The 2009 World Outgames, the 2nd World Outgames, a sporting and cultural event hosted by the gay community, was hosted by Copenhagen, Denmark from July 25 to August 2, 2009. [1] It was one of the largest international sports and cultural events ever held in Denmark, with 8,000 people from around the world expected to participate. The World Outgames addressed itself primarily, but not exclusively, to the LGBT community. The aim was that, once it was underway, the event would be perceived as relevant and welcoming for all inhabitants of Copenhagen. World Outgames was built on three pillars: sports, culture, and human rights. There were 38 sports athletes to choose from. The budget was approximately 8.2 million euros. [2] Unlike the 2006 World Outgames, the 2009 World Outgames declared a profit. [3]
The Outgames included the 2nd International Conference on LGBT Human Rights from 27 to 29 July. Co-chaired by Rebeca Sevilla and Svend Robinson, the conference included keynote speakers such as John Amaechi, Virginia Apuzzo, Axel Axgil, Georgina Beyer, Michelle Douglas, Cleve Jones, Sunil Babu Pant, Parvez Sharma, Wan Yanhai and Copenhagen Lord Mayor Ritt Bjerregaard. The themes of the conference included human rights and politics, business, workers, culture and media, health, education, sport, family and relationships, and sexuality, pleasure, and body politics. [5]
The conference concluded with the release of the Copenhagen Catalogue of Good Practices, a selection of effective actions for LGBT human rights from around the world. This article about lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender topics is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. This article about a sporting event is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. This Denmark-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
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Sports Competition
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2003 San Simeon earthquake
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The 2003 San Simeon earthquake struck at 11:15 PST (19:15 UTC) on December 22 on the Central Coast of California, about 7 miles (11 km) northeast of San Simeon. Probably centered in the Oceanic fault zone within the Santa Lucia Mountains, it was caused by thrust faulting and the rupture propagated southeast from the hypocenter for 12 miles (19 km). [3]
The most violent ground movement was within 50 miles of the epicenter, though the earthquake was felt as far away as Los Angeles. With a moment magnitude of 6.6, it was the most destructive earthquake to hit the United States since the Northridge quake of 1994. The area around the epicenter being sparsely populated, the most severe damage was in Paso Robles, 24 miles (39 km) east-southeast. Two women were killed when the Acorn Building, an unreinforced masonry structure built in 1892, collapsed. Other unreinforced masonry buildings, some more than a century old, were extensively damaged. No structure that had even partial retrofitting collapsed. Two sulfur hot springs in Paso Robles erupted after the earthquake. One was underneath the parking lot of the recently opened city hall/library building. There was formerly a bath house at the location, and the spring was capped after it closed down. Hot water and sediment were released at a rate of about 1,300 gallons per minute (4,900 liters per minute), forming a large sinkhole and endangering the building. Emergency efforts saved the building. However, it took until 2010 to fully repair the damage and fill in the hole. This was mainly caused by the requirement for a full Environmental Impact Study, and the inability to do any work on the project, other than the initial emergency work. Another hot spring flowed out of the embankment at the Paso Robles Street exit on U.S. Route 101. Other unreinforced masonry buildings, some more than a century old, in the city's historic downtown area also had extensive damage. However, none of the buildings that had even partial retrofitting collapsed. There was a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the relatives of the 2 women killed in the earthquake against Mary Mastagni, and several trusts which owned the Acorn Building. The jury found Mastagni negligent in the care and maintenance of the Acorn Building, due to not retrofitting the building, in violation of city ordinances. The jury awarded nearly $2 million to the plaintiffs. [4]
Outside of Paso Robles the damage was less severe, with unreinforced masonry buildings taking minor to moderate damage. Buildings even 40 miles from the epicenter in San Luis Obispo suffered minor damage such as ceiling tiles falling. Brick veneers were also disproportionately affected. In addition, water tanks in Paso Robles, Templeton and Los Osos were damaged. Residential buildings, predominantly one- to two-story wood-frame structures, weathered the quake with little or no damage. The building that housed Atascadero's City Hall was damaged and vacated shortly after the quake. After extensive repairs, it reopened in August 2013. Some wineries, especially those near the epicenter along State Route 46, reported damage such as barrels toppling and bursting. The Mission San Miguel Arcángel had $15 million worth of damage. The earthquake also caused extensive damage to George H. Flamson Middle School. The main building was damaged and had to be demolished in 2004. A new building reflecting the original 1924 building was opened for use in August 2010. In Templeton, Bethel Lutheran Church (ELCA), sustained major damage to its 110+ year old building and the apse had to be rebuilt. Following the event, California enacted A.B. 2533, amending the California Business and Professions Code § 8875.8, requiring that certain unreinforced masonry buildings that have not been seismically retrofitted have posted notice of the potential earthquake hazard. [5][6] The law was called Jenna's Bill, after Jennifer Myrick, who died in the quake. [7]
The area where the quake struck displays complex faulting, between the Oceanic Fault and Nacimiento Fault zones, along with possible interaction from the Hosgri fault and San Simeon Fault zones. [8]
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Earthquakes
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Mother, daughter charred to death in LPG leakage blaze in southeast Bengaluru
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TNN / Updated: Sep 22, 2021, 13:48 IST
AA
Bengaluru: Bescom, BBMP, building owner booked for culpable homicide
Lakshmidevi, 82, was taking a walk in enclosed balcony when the fire broke out in the house
BENGALURU: An 82-year-old woman and her 59-year-old daughter were burnt alive in a blaze suspected to be triggered by a cooking gas cylinder leakage in an apartment in southeast Bengaluru on Tuesday evening.
The explosion occurred around 4.30pm in a second-floor flat in Ashrith Aspire in SBI Colony, Devarachikkanahalli, near BTM Layout. The fire spread to an adjacent flat in no time. Both flats were occupied by the same family. The younger woman’s husband survived the blaze with burns and is said to be stable. As residents of the apartment and neighbouring building rushed out, they found flames leaping out of flats 210 and 211, occupied by the same family. Soon the fire turned into a massive blaze accompanied by thick smoke and the flames were touching third and fourth floors of the apartment.
The older woman, Lakshmidevi, who was taking a walk in the balcony of one of the flats, was stuck as the space was sealed with iron grills. She could not get into the flat which was up in flames. She was seen crying for help as flames engulfed her.
Her daughter Bhagya Rekha, too, was stuck inside the other flat, while son-in-law Bheemsen Rao, 66, managed to come out. Rao sustained burns as he tried to get the women out in vain. Rao has been admitted to a private hospital and is said to be out of danger.
Rao’s elder daughter is in the US, and the younger, a bank employee, lives with her parents. The daughter, Preethi, and her husband, Sandeep, were not at home when the fire broke out. Rao and Rekha had returned from the US only on Monday evening.
Heard her screaming, called fire brigade, says neighbour
“We heard a woman screaming for help and banging the grills of the balcony. All of us watched helplessly as she was charred to death within a minute,” said Ravi Chandran, who lives on the same road as Ashrith Aspire, the apartment where an LPG leak killed two women on Tuesday evening.
Ravi Chandran, a corporate employee, told TOI he went to his verandah at 4.15pm for a tea break when he heard a blast and saw smoke coming out of two second-floor flats.
He heard construction workers near the apartment screaming and at 4.20pm, he called the fire brigade emergency number 101.
“Within 10 minutes, we saw flames flying out of the balconies and one woman running to the edge and screaming for help. Around 4.45pm, the fire enveloped her and within a minute, she was charred to death. She was talking on the phone and pleading for help,” he said. He added that the grills had no opening for the woman to get out and the net on the balcony to keep pigeons out may have added to the blaze, he said.
“All of us standing outside saw this helplessly and began crying,” he said, adding that fire brigade personnel reached the spot around 4.55pm.
Four persons who tried to enter the flat to save the women rushed out crying because of burns, Chandran said. The charred body was on the balcony till about 8pm as fire force personnel found it impossible to find their way into the flat full of smoke. Most residents of the apartment took refuge in the nearby Janhavi Enclave as electricity supply to their homes was cut off and rescue operations were under way.
Two Ashrity Aspire residents Naveen and Karthik said they were in their flats and did not hear the explosion. They came to know about the fire via their WhatsApp group around 4.15pm. They began evacuating women and children from all the flats and took them to the basement. Naveen, who lives on the same floor but a different wing of the flat that caught fire, said they faced no problem due to smoke and there was no panic. “We’re waiting for the all-clear to go back to our flats,” he said.
A former resident of the flat, who reached the spot on hearing about the fire, was shocked. “I’m not sure if this is the same aged lady I knew. She was always gracious while interacting with others.”
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Gas explosion
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Fernwood Park race riot
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The Fernwood Park Anti-Black Terrorism was a Race Massacre instigated by white residents against African American residents who inhabited the Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) veterans' housing project in the Fernwood Park neighborhood in Chicago. Area residents viewed this as one of several attempts by the CHA to initiate racial integration into white communities. [1] The riot took place between 98th and 111th streets and lasted for three days, from the day veterans and their families moved into the project, August 13th, 1947 to August 16th, 1947. The Chicago Police Department did little to stop the rioting, as was the case a year before at the Airport Homes race riots. [2] It was one of the worst race riots in Chicago history. Housing projects in Chicago emerged during the 1940s with the sole purpose of resolving the shortage of affordable homes for war-industry workers, many who were African American, as America prepared for World War II. [2] As Chicago proved to be a crucial steel production center for the war effort, hundreds of thousands of black workers and their families migrated from the South to Chicago in the second wave of the Great Migration. [2] Historian Devereux Bowly iterates some alarming statistics about public housing in Chicago that arose from 1940 census data: 1) 55,157 housing units were overcrowded (exceeding 1.5 persons per room), and 2) 206,103 housing units either had no access to a private bathroom or needed major repairs to interior structures. [2] To answer to such dismal conditions, the CHA opened four housing projects in low income areas with high concentrations of war-industry workers: the Frances Cabrini Homes in August of 1942, the Lawndale Gardens in December of 1942, the Bridgeport Homes in May of 1943, and the Robert H. Brooks Homes in March of 1943. [3] For families to live in these new projects, they needed to have at least one child; the family had to have one member working in a critical war industry (like steel); the family income had to total less than $2,000; and it was preferred that the family's nationality was American. [4]
Additional housing projects for war workers led by the National Housing Agency and the Federal Public Housing Authority on the far South Side included the Altgeld Gardens project, which was constructed on a 157-acre vacant land tract in November of 1943. [5] Unlike the above projects, Altgeld Gardens contained row houses and backyards rather than crowded multi-story apartments. [6] Similarly, the West Chesterfield project homes were commissioned by the CHA and built in December of 1943. [7] A unique project, the housing units (actual homes) are built on full city lots, and following construction, the CHA required a minimum annual income as to promote eventual homeownership for residents. [8] While each of the projects identified presented reasonable options for war workers and their families, the end of the war would present different challenges, especially along the lines of integration. As African American soldiers returned from the battlefronts of Europe and the Pacific following the war, the Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) shifted the initiative from creating housing for war workers and their families to providing temporary housing for returning veterans and their families. [9] The shift occurred in part because of the Emergency Veterans' Re-Use Housing Program, a federal law passed by Congress in 1945 that attempted to resolve the nationwide housing shortage for returning veterans. [10] Elizabeth Wood, the executive director of the CHA, planned to integrate the temporary veterans' housing projects, as she had "absorbed [the] spirit" of both the values of United States in its efforts to combat fascism and authoritarianism abroad during World War II, and also the energy and hope of black veterans who sought to "challenge the country to live up to its wartime rhetoric about freedom. "[10] Although the goal of integration contrasted the visions of the Democratic City Council and Illinois governor Dwight Green, Chicago's mayor, Edward Kelly, was a proponent of CHA's vision for integrated veterans' housing and nondiscrimination policy. [11]
Chicago's temporary projects were to be constructed in the fall of 1946 and set to close in July of 1949. [10] The first of these projects opened peacefully on the isolated North Side. [10] However, the CHA's second project, the Midway Airport Homes, resulted in mass discontent and violence prior to and after black families moved in. Midway's fearful white working-class community reacted violently to the thought of black families entering the segregated neighborhood. Midway's white population overwhelmingly believed the space should be reserved for deserving white veterans. When the first black family moved into the completed project on November 16, 1946, a white stone-throwing mob descended upon the building. After the attack, the black family requested to move out of the Midway Airport Homes, and police had to escort the black family off the premises. [12] White aggression and mob violence successfully preserved Midway's homogenous demographic. Bradford Hunt argues the failure of the Airport Homes integration marked a turning point for the CHA. The "racial liberalism" that CHA and Mayor Kelly promoted was directly challenged by white desire to uphold the racial purity of segregated neighborhoods. [12] Chicago City Council members and aldermen also noticed Kelly's increased effort to maintain the CHA integration initiative over other mismanaged and corrupt areas of the Democratic political machine. [11] To maintain the influence of the Democratic party in the city, key party leaders encouraged Kelly to retire in 1947. [11] He was replaced by Martin Kennelly, a pro-business, anti-CHA Democrat who prioritized private real estate interests and the expansion of the downtown business district. [13]
Fernwood Park is a neighborhood in the larger Roseland community on the far south side of Chicago. Other neighborhoods in Roseland include Lilydale, Princeton Park, Rosemoor, Sheldon Heights, West Roseland, and part of West Chesterfield. In the early 1940s, the neighborhood was an ethnically mixed European immigrant community. The CHA initiated the construction of the Fernwood Park Homes, a one story project with 87 two-bedroom-units for veterans and their families. [14] Elizabeth Wood revealed to Fernwood Park community members in May of 1947 that the project would welcome white and black veterans. [15] Since Fernwood Park was the only remaining white neighborhood in its immediate area, white residents recognized the promise of integration as a threat to the stability of their white homogenous environment. [16]
Unlike other race riots in Chicago history, there was no specific event or incident that sparked the rioting; Historian Arnold Hirsch suggests that the mob spontaneously organized outside of the housing project the evening after the families moved in on August 13, 1947. [17] Scholars have estimated that anywhere from 500 to 5,000 white rioters gathered to reclaim the neighborhood. [18] The violence lasted three full days, during which white gangs damaged property belonging to African Americans. Rioters threw stones both the residents of the project and the project itself, shattering windows, then set fire to it. Members of the mob also pulled black people out of automobiles to beat them with clubs. [19] Approximately 100 cars were attacked,[19] and at least 35 black people were wounded. [18] Police set up barricades in order to identify and isolate the area of violence, which stretched from 95th Street to 130th Street going north/south, and from Michigan Avenue to Vincennes Avenue going east/west. [20]
Hirsch argues that police contributed to the violence against black occupants. Nearly 1,000 police officers were ordered to protect the Fernwood Park project residents, but overall, the Chicago police did little to stop or disperse organized mobs or gangs, assumedly because policemen who protected black residents were also the subject of mob violence. [19] Additionally, the police reportedly failed to stop the motor attacks as well. Since the largest number of police officers were ordered to protect the housing project and its inhabitants, there were no available reinforcements to safeguard both the project and the black motorists. [21] Instead of sending squad cars to the streets where violence against drivers occurred, police redirected traffic from four-lane main street Halsted Ave. to a two-lane side street only one block from Halsted, which meant that "traffic became hopelessly snarled, [and] black motorists remained within easy reach of the mob.
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Riot
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2000 ASA Pesada Antonov An-24 crash
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The 2000 ASA Pesada Antonov An-24 crash occurred on 15 November 2000 when an Antonov An-24 registered as D2-FCG operated by Angolan airliner ASA Pesada crashed shortly after taking off from Quatro de Fevereiro Airport in Angola's capital Luanda. The aircraft was carrying 52 passengers and 5 crewmembers and was heading to Yuri Gagarin Airport in Namibe Province, Angola. All 57 people on board were killed in the crash. The crash was the third deadliest plane crash in Angola, the second deadliest plane crash involving an Antonov An-24 and the second plane crash to occur in the country in just less than 3 weeks. On 31 October, another Antonov An-24 carrying 49 people operated by ACA-Ancargo Air crashed on the northern part of the country, killing all 49 people on board with UNITA rebels claimed to have shot down the plane. [1]
The aircraft took off from Luanda's Quatro de Fevereiro Airport to Namibe Airport, around 420 miles south from the capital. The aircraft was planning to pick up a Portuguese soccer team for a tour in the country. Shortly after takeoff, the aircraft then banked to the left and crashed onto a field in Golfe II district of Luanda. The aircraft exploded on impact. Search and rescue team didn't find any survivors on the crash site. All 57 passengers and crews on board were killed. Authorities evacuated 40 badly burned bodies from the crash site, including women and children. [2]
An investigation was opened on the crash. Many eyewitnesses stated that during the crash, the Antonov An-24 was on fire. The black boxes were recovered by investigators. Transport Minister Andre Luis Brandao stated that technical failure was the most likely cause of the crash. According to the findings of a preliminary investigation the accident was caused by engine failure; the report also accused ASA Pesada of negligence for failing to keep accurate records of the amount of fuel and number of passengers on board. [3]
Angolan authorities immediately grounded all Antonov An-24 in the country indefinitely due to the crash. Before the crash, Antonov aircraft had been prohibited to fly in the country as another Antonov had crashed in Angola on 31 October, which killed 49 people on the northern part of the country. Even though it was prohibited by the country, the Antonov were still permitted to fly on the coast. A statement by the National Civil Aviation Authority said none of the planes would now be allowed to fly on civilian services. The Angolan Air Force was exempted from the prohibition, but their planes cannot carry civilians. [4]
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La Girona: Investigation over suspected shipwreck theft
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The authorities are investigating the alleged removal of artefacts from a protected wreck of the Spanish Armada off the County Antrim coast. Reports were received that divers may have taken objects from La Girona, an Armada warship, which sank off Portballintrae in 1588. Access to the site of La Girona is restricted under the Protection of Wrecks Act (1973). Anyone diving the restricted area without a licence may be prosecuted. A marine patrol vessel will be doing regular inspections of the dive site over the rest of the summer to prevent any repeat. Stormont's Department for Communities, which looks after historic monuments, said it was investigating the incident. "Over the July holiday period the department received a report of diving activity within the restricted area around La Girona and the removal of potential artefacts from the site," it said. La Girona is one of two wrecks in Northern Ireland waters that have special levels of protection under the law. The other is the World War One cruiser HMS Drake, which was torpedoed by a German U-boat and sank in Rathlin Bay in 1917. Diving the HMS Drake does not require a licence but the removal of artefacts without the proper authorisation may constitute an offence. People diving wrecks around the coast have been asked to check the rules on the various wrecks. Anyone who sees people diving in the waters around La Girona is asked to contact the police on 101.
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Shipwreck
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Tunisian bread riots
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The Tunisian bread riots were a series of violent demonstrations in Tunisia that occurred from December 1983 to January 1984, triggered by a rise in the price of bread due to an IMF-imposed austerity program. President Habib Bourguiba declared a state of emergency and the riots were put down by force. Over 100 rioters were killed. The regime was weakened by the upheavals and their aftermath. Three years later General Zine El Abidine Ben Ali seized power in a coup. The European economy in 1983 had been stagnant for some years. This had affected Tunisia since its economy relied on exports to Europe and tourists from Europe. The government was struggling to meet rising expenses when a fall in the price of oil towards the end of 1983 further reduced revenue. President Bourguiba agreed to seek a loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).The IMF loan was conditional on government spending cuts, removal of exchange controls, elimination of protective tariffs and devaluation of the currency.
The government decided to end subsidies on wheat and semolina, the main ingredients of bread. At the time, food subsidies accounted for 3.1% of gross domestic product and 10% of the state budget. The subsidies favored the wealthy as much as the poor. The decision was announced on 29 December 1983, and led to an immediate rise in the price of bread and flour. Prices went up by over 100%. The increase, the first in fifteen years, directly affected the poor. Some Tunisian families spent 80% of their food budget on bread and semolina.
The subsidies were removed at a time of growing political tension. Leftist parties were becoming more popular, as were the Islamist movements, while members of the political elite were jostling for position in anticipation of the aging president's death or resignation
The southern region had been suffering from a drought, which caused a poor harvest. Many of the men in this region traditionally left to work in the coastal towns of Tunisia or as migrant laborers in Libya, and were having difficulty finding work.
Open political opposition to the government had recently been expressed in the south, which the government blamed on "foreign-inspired agitators", pointing the finger at Libyans and Lebanese.
The first riots were on Thursday 29 December 1983 in the semi-desert region of Nefzaoua in the south.
Riots began in the poverty-stricken and marginalized oases of this region. Although the price rise was the trigger, underlying causes were growing social and economic difficulties.
There was speculation that the disturbances were in part fueled by grievances among Islamist groups.
Most of the rioters were young and poor, including farmers, seasonal workers and the unemployed.
Women supported the rioters, and in some cases participated. Thus in the small southern town of Al-Mabrouka a group of women workers in a textile factory marched into the town chanting slogans against the price rise.
They were joined by men, students and even children, and the mob went on to storm the police station, party headquarters, town hall and National Guard headquarters. Security forces fired on the protesters, killing several people.
The riots spread to the industrial center of Kasserine by Sunday, and to Gafsa and Gabès by Monday. On Tuesday 3 January 1984 a state of emergency was declared after the unrest had spread to Tunis and Sfax.
The rioters were supported by students, who went on strike in solidarity.
The demonstrators roamed the streets yelling anti-government slogans and attacking symbols of power, encouraged by onlookers in the windows and on rooftops. The rioters looted and burned shops, destroyed street signs, attacked cars and buses and attacked public buildings. [8]
Local observers of the riots said the protesters showed "rage" or "hatred" against the rich as well as the authorities. They attacked shops that sold luxury goods, rampaged through wealthy neighborhoods and set fire to luxury cars.
There was a feeling that the elite were wealthy only because of their political connections. They took the wealth of the country and spent it on imported goods, contributing little if anything to the country.
Islamist slogans included "There is but one God and Bourghiba is the enemy of God. "
A dusk-to-dawn curfew was imposed, all schools were closed and public gatherings of over three people were banned. Bus service was suspended and shops and cafes closed. Soldiers and riot police were deployed in the streets and at crossroads. [7]
The rioters hurled rocks at policemen, who responded with tear gas.
In Tunis "Barricades went up everywhere. Again and again, troops opened fire on the crowds with automatic weapons. Tanks and armored personnel carriers rumbled through the streets, often firing on anything that moved. Many protestors were killed, and many more wounded, including women and children. "
The army even used helicopters against the protesters.
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Riot
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Gas manufacturing firm, CEO fined over lab explosion that killed chemist in 2015
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SINGAPORE — A gas manufacturing firm’s safety lapses led to a laboratory fire at its Jurong factory more than five years ago, killing a 30-year-old chemist and injuring other employees.
Singapore Civil Defence Force
The Leeden National Oxygen laboratory in Jurong after the fire on Oct 12, 2015.
By
The explosion in 2015 at a Leeden National Oxygen lab killed a 30-year-old chemist
The blaze also injured other employees
The company and its chief confessed to several failings, including not putting in place precautions
SINGAPORE — A gas manufacturing firm’s safety lapses led to a laboratory fire at its Jurong factory more than five years ago, killing a 30-year-old chemist and injuring other employees.
The firm, Leeden National Oxygen (Lnox), was on Tuesday (Jan 26) fined S$340,000. Its chief executive officer Steven Tham Weng Cheong was handed a S$45,000 fine.
The firm and Tham pleaded guilty last month to one charge each of failing to take the necessary steps to ensure the safety and health of employees under the Workplace Safety and Health Act.
The chemist who died, Lim Siaw Chian, then 30, was carrying out gas analysis on a cylinder on Oct 12, 2015, when a blast rocked the specialty gas centre quality control lab at the factory.
Multiple explosions went off at Lnox’s premises along Tanjong Kling Road.
Based on court documents, the initial explosion injured two of Lim’s colleagues who were performing similar tasks at the lab. It also killed Lim, who had just returned from maternity leave.
The resulting blaze injured seven other employees. Their injuries included abrasions, ruptures of the outer membranes of the eye, and brain haemorrhage.
Lim was last seen touching a regulatory valve assembly, which controls gas flow.
The company and Tham confessed to several failings, including not putting in place precautions that included ensuring unsafe, modified regulatory valve assemblies were not used when testing combustible gases.
The device that Lim last touched had an unqualified weld joint in it, which was not approved by a manufacturer. It resulted in the leakage of flammable gases such as methane and nitrogen. This, in turn, led to the gas cylinder exploding.
Investigations also showed that Lnox was not authorised to store petroleum and flammable material at the lab, but cylinders of combustible gases were kept there for easy access and retrieval during calibration or gas analysis.
A year before the fire broke out, an employee conducting a routine inspection had raised concerns over the facility’s gas leakage indicator lights because they were blinking occasionally without obvious triggers. They were deemed unreliable, should a gas leak occur.
The employee got a quotation from a contractor for his proposal to revamp the gas detection system in May 2015, but the work was not done. The employee was told that the firm had no budget to perform such work and the proposal would be delayed until the following year.
The accident happened before the firm put up its budget proposal for the following year.
The firm and Tham also failed to review safety procedures after the merger of two entities, Leeden and National Oxygen, led to Lnox’s formation in October 2014. They also failed to announce and appoint a staff member to assume the safety portfolio after an employee originally performing that task resigned in August 2015.
In passing sentence, District Judge Adam Nakhoda said that the lapses by the firm and Tham put a large number of employees at risk. He noted, though, that the firm has since rolled out the necessary precautions.
Lnox could have been fined up to S$500,000, while Tham could have been jailed up to two years and fined up to S$200,000.
Aside from them, Gary Choo Pu Chang, a former director at the firm, has been charged with carrying out a negligent act that endangered his safety or health, or that of others. His case is still pending.
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Gas explosion
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Hit Hard by Pandemic, Philadelphia Orchestra and Kimmel Center to Merge
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By joining forces, the two institutions hope to bounce back from the severe losses brought by the coronavirus. By Javier C. Hernández The pandemic forced many American arts organizations to resort to mass layoffs and deep pay cuts as ticket sales vanished for more than a year. Now one of the nation’s most prominent ensembles, the Philadelphia Orchestra, is trying another tack as it seeks to recover from the crisis: It announced plans Thursday to merge with its landlord, the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts.
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Organization Merge
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Otto Lilienthal crash
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On August 9, 1896, he crashed and died. But why? Photographs, drawings, letters, and patents from flight pioneer Otto Lilienthal can now be viewed online as part of the digitalized collection of the museum named after him in the small northeastern German town of Anklam. Among the objects is the first-ever glider from 1894, which was eventually produced and sold commercially. It was known as a "Normalsegelapparat," or "normal sailing apparatus." Otto Lilienthal was born in 1848 in Anklam, near the Baltic Sea. As a boy, he and his brother Gustav would experiment with flying objects. It would be many years, however, until they would have success - namely, 1891. After years of theoretical exercises, Otto Lilienthal became the first human to fly a glider in 1891 - covering the modest distance of 25 meters (82 feet). What seemed like a small step would become a huge leap: Just 70 years later, the first human flew all the way to outer space, albeit with quite a different vehicle. Otto Lilienthal undertook over 1,000 flights in his career. He constantly made improvements to his glider - and it paid off. His longest flight took him over 80 meters. Finding a suitable hill was a prerequisite for Lilienthal's flights and proved to be a challenge. In 1894, he decided to solve the problem once and for all and built his own hill at the site of a former brickyard. The hill, located in the Berlin district of Steglitz-Zehlendorf, witnessed numerous flight attempts by the pioneer and still exists today. Starting in 1894, anyone could purchase a glider like Lilienthal's for the hefty sum of 500 Marks (around $7,000 today). Lilienthal produced the gliders in his factory in Berlin. One of the nine known buyers was Irish physician George Francis Fitzgerald, who purchased his own glider in March 1895. In addition to his standard glider, Lilienthal also developed two double-decker models. They had a wingspan of 5.5 to 7 meters (18 to 23 feet) and a surface area of 25 square meters (270 square feet). On August 9, 1896, Lilienthal crashed during a flight from Gollenberg mountain in Havelland in northeastern Germany. He died the following day at the University Clinic in Berlin. The pioneer had jump-started the development of human flight, which was pursued by others in the years after his death. Lilienthal's tombstone reads: "Sacrifices must be made." Author: Hans Joachim Hennig / kbm
Photographs, drawings, letters, and patents from flight pioneer Otto Lilienthal can now be viewed online as part of the digitalized collection of the museum named after him in the small northeastern German town of Anklam. Among the objects is the first-ever glider from 1894, which was eventually produced and sold commercially. It was known as a "Normalsegelapparat," or "normal sailing apparatus." Otto Lilienthal was born in 1848 in Anklam, near the Baltic Sea. As a boy, he and his brother Gustav would experiment with flying objects. It would be many years, however, until they would have success - namely, 1891. After years of theoretical exercises, Otto Lilienthal became the first human to fly a glider in 1891 - covering the modest distance of 25 meters (82 feet). What seemed like a small step would become a huge leap: Just 70 years later, the first human flew all the way to outer space, albeit with quite a different vehicle. Otto Lilienthal undertook over 1,000 flights in his career. He constantly made improvements to his glider - and it paid off. His longest flight took him over 80 meters. Finding a suitable hill was a prerequisite for Lilienthal's flights and proved to be a challenge. In 1894, he decided to solve the problem once and for all and built his own hill at the site of a former brickyard. The hill, located in the Berlin district of Steglitz-Zehlendorf, witnessed numerous flight attempts by the pioneer and still exists today. Starting in 1894, anyone could purchase a glider like Lilienthal's for the hefty sum of 500 Marks (around $7,000 today). Lilienthal produced the gliders in his factory in Berlin. One of the nine known buyers was Irish physician George Francis Fitzgerald, who purchased his own glider in March 1895. In addition to his standard glider, Lilienthal also developed two double-decker models. They had a wingspan of 5.5 to 7 meters (18 to 23 feet) and a surface area of 25 square meters (270 square feet).
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Maria Taylor to deliver Commencement address
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ESPN reporter and UGA alumna Maria Taylor will deliver the University of Georgia spring undergraduate Commencement address. Her live remarks on May 13 at 7:30 p.m. in Sanford Stadium will be recorded and shared with graduates at the May 14 and May 15 ceremonies.
David Lee, Vice President for Research at the University of Georgia, will deliver the address at the graduate ceremony on May 14 at 10 a.m. in Sanford Stadium.
Since graduating from UGA in 2009 with a degree in broadcast news from the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication, Taylor has risen through the ranks of sports journalism and is now in her seventh season as an analyst, host and reporter for ESPN. She later returned to the university to pursue her Master of Business Administration, which she completed in May 2013.
A native of Alpharetta, Taylor played collegiate volleyball and basketball for UGA. She was named to the All-SEC volleyball team three times and was also a member of the USA A2 National Volleyball team.
Prior to 2012, Taylor was a reporter and host for IMG College (now Learfield IMG College) at the University of Georgia for three years. She also appeared on various studio shows including “Dawg Report,” “SEC Men’s Basketball Tonight” and “SportsNite.”
In 2013, she was the sideline reporter on ESPN2’s weekly Saturday night prime-time college football telecast and covered the Orange Bowl for the second year. She also served as an analyst on the NCAA Women’s Basketball Selection Show, NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament Preview Show, and ESPN’s coverage of both the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament and Women’s Volleyball National Championship for the previous two years.
Taylor became the first African American woman to co-host College GameDay Built by The Home Depot in 2017. She was also tapped as the sideline reporter for ABC’s “Saturday Night Football.” She patrolled the sidelines for the College Football Playoff and National Championship games from 2018 through 2021. She previously served as the first female host of the SEC Network’s traveling college football show, “SEC Nation.” Prior to her role on “SEC Nation,” she helped launch the SEC Network as one of three studio hosts and worked as the SEC Primetime Saturday Night college football reporter.
Taylor also co-founded Winning Edge Leadership Academy, a nonprofit dedicated to improving networking opportunities and providing training and professional development to people of color and women pursuing careers in the sports industry. Since 2015, the academy has helped more than 40 students to become the next generation of leaders in sports business.
Lee received his B.S. in biology from Stanford University and his doctorate in biochemistry from the University of Washington. With the support of the Helen Hay Whitney Foundation, he completed postdoctoral fellowships in biochemistry at Washington University and in pharmacology at the University of Washington.
From 1983 to 1985, he was a senior scientist at Oncogen, a pharmaceutical company that was acquired by Bristol Myers Squibb during this period. In 1985, Lee joined the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as a member of the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center and a faculty member in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology. In 1991, he was appointed Scientific Program Leader for Cell Biology in the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, and he was appointed the head of the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics in 1998.
In 2005, Lee moved to the University of Georgia to become the vice president for research and executive vice president of the UGA Research Foundation, with an appointment as a professor of biochemistry and molecular biology.
Lee has overseen a period of significant growth in research activity at UGA, with the university’s total research and development expenditures increasing from just over $300 million to nearly $500 million.
He has encouraged the expansion of research centers, including the Willson Center for the Humanities and Arts, and championed the growth of biomedical sciences, with UGA emerging as a national leader in infectious disease research.
Under Lee’s leadership, UGA has developed an efficient and effective technology transfer program and has been consistently ranked as one of the nation’s top universities for the number of commercial products reaching the marketplace. In addition, Dr. Lee co-led the university’s Innovation District Task Force and serves on the Innovation District leadership team.
He has served on the boards of several national organizations, including the Southeastern University Research Association, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Center for BioEnergy Innovation and Oak Ridge Associated Universities. He was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2004.
For guests who are deemed at increased risk for severe illness from COVID-19 by public health officials or would like to view Commencement ceremonies remotely, the ceremonies will be streamed live at commencement.uga.edu.
Tickets are required for all ceremonies. The university’s Clear Bag Policy will be in effect. For more information on UGA’s Commencement ceremonies, visit https://commencement.uga.edu.
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Famous Person - Give a speech
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1969 EC-121 shootdown incident crash
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On 15 April 1969,[Note 1] a United States Navy Lockheed EC-121M Warning Star of Fleet Air Reconnaissance Squadron One (VQ-1) on a reconnaissance mission was shot down by a North Korean MiG-21 aircraft over the Sea of Japan. The plane crashed 90 nautical miles (167 km) off the North Korean coast and all 31 Americans (30 sailors and 1 Marine) on board were killed, which constitutes the largest single loss of U.S. aircrew during the Cold War era. [1]
The plane was an adaptation of a Lockheed Super Constellation and was fitted with a fuselage radar, so the primary tasks were to act as a long range patrol, conduct electronic surveillance, and act as a warning device. [1]
The Nixon administration did not retaliate against North Korea apart from staging a naval demonstration in the Sea of Japan a few days later, which was quickly removed. It resumed the reconnaissance flights within a week to demonstrate that it would not be intimidated by the action while at the same time avoiding a confrontation. [2]
The code name "Beggar Shadow" was used to describe the late-1960s Cold War reconnaissance program by the United States Navy that collected intelligence about and communications between Soviet Bloc nations while remaining safely (at least according to international laws) in international waters. At 07:00 local time of Tuesday, 15 April 1969, an EC-121M of the U.S. Navy's Fleet Airborne Reconnaissance Squadron One (VQ-1) took off from NAS Atsugi, Japan, on an intelligence-gathering reconnaissance mission. [3] The aircraft, Bureau number 135749, c/n 4316,[4] bore the tail code "PR-21" and used the radio call sign Deep Sea 129. Aboard were 8 officers and 23 enlisted men under the command of LCDR James Overstreet. Nine of the crew, including one Marine NCO, were Naval Security Group cryptologic technicians (CTs) and linguists in Russian and Korean. [2]
Deep Sea 129's assigned task was a routine Beggar Shadow signal intelligence (SIGINT) collection mission. [5] Its flight profile involved taking off from NAS Atsugi then flying northwest over the Sea of Japan until it came to an area off Musu Point, where the EC-121M would turn northeast toward the Soviet Union and orbit along a 120-nautical-mile (222 km) long elliptical track similar to that of a racetrack; once the mission was complete, they were to return to Osan Air Base, South Korea. [6] LCDR Overstreet's orders included a prohibition from approaching closer than 50 nautical miles (90 km) to the North Korean coast. VQ-1 had flown the route and orbit for two years, and the mission had been graded as being of "minimal risk." During the first three months of 1969 nearly 200 similar missions had been flown by both Navy and U.S. Air Force reconnaissance aircraft off North Korea's east coast without incident. [2]
These missions, while nominally under the command of Seventh Fleet and CINCPAC, were controlled operationally by the Naval Security Group detachment at NSF Kamiseya, Japan, under the direction of the National Security Agency. [2]
The mission was tracked by a series of security agencies within the Department of Defense that were pre-briefed on the mission, including land-based Air Force radars in South Korea and Japan. The USAF 6918th Security Squadron at Hakata Air Station, Japan, USAF 6988th Security Squadron at Yokota Air Base, Japan, and Detachment 1, 6922nd Security Wing at Osan Air Base monitored the North Korean reaction by intercepting its air defense search radar transmissions. The Army Security Agency communications interception station at Osan listened to North Korean air defense radio traffic, and the Naval Security Group at Kamiseya, which provided seven of the nine CTs aboard Deep Sea 129, also intercepted Soviet Air Force search radars. [2]
Very soon after arrival over the Sea of Japan, at 10:35., North Korea reacted to the presence of the EC-121, but not in a way that would jeopardize the mission. [6] At 12:34 local time, roughly six hours into the mission, the Army Security Agency and radars in Korea detected the takeoff of two North Korean Air Force MiG-21s from East Tongchong-ni[7] near Wonsan and tracked them, assuming that they were responding in some fashion to the mission of Deep Sea 129. [5] In the meantime the EC-121 filed a scheduled activity report by radio on time at 13:00 and did not indicate anything out of the ordinary, but this was the last message sent from the plane. Twenty-two minutes later the radars lost the picture of the MiGs and did not reacquire it until 13:37, where they were closing with Deep Sea 129 for a probable intercept. [2]
The communications that this activity generated within the National Security network were monitored by the EC-121's parent unit, VQ-1, which at 13:44 sent Deep Sea 129 a "Condition 3" alert by radio, indicating it might be under attack. LCDR Overstreet acknowledged the warning and complied with procedures to abort the mission and return to base. [3] Approaching from the northeastern coast at supersonic speed, the MiGs easily overtook the EC-121, who could do little with their "warning. "[6] The MiGs were armed with 23 mm cannons and AA-2 Atoll missiles; the EC-121 was unarmed and without a fighter escort. [7] At 13:47 the radar tracks of the MiGs merged with that of Deep Sea 129, which disappeared from the radar picture two minutes later. [2] The MiGs had attacked and shot the plane down, and while the details of the incident have never been released to the public, it is assumed that an air-to-air missile was used as the North Korean press mentioned that a "single shot" downed the aircraft. [6]
Immediately following the attack, the North Korean forces assumed a state of high alert. Their media broadcast its version of events two hours after the incident. Referring to the EC-121 as the "plane of the insolent U.S. imperialist aggressor army,"[7] the North Korean media accused it of "reconnoitering after intruding deep into the territorial air. "[7] The story cast it as "the brilliant battle success of shooting it down with a single shot by showering the fire of revenge upon it. "[7]
At first none of the agencies were alarmed, since procedures also dictated that the EC-121 rapidly descend below radar coverage, and Overstreet had not transmitted that he was under attack. When it did not reappear within ten minutes VQ-1 requested a scramble of two Air Force Convair F-106 Delta Dart interceptors to provide combat air patrol for the EC-121. [8]
By 14:20 the Army Security Agency post had become increasingly concerned. It first sent a FLASH message (a high priority intelligence message to be actioned within six minutes) indicating that Deep Sea 129 had disappeared, and then at 14:44, an hour after the shoot-down, sent a CRITIC ("critical intelligence") message (the highest message priority, to be processed and sent within two minutes) to six addressees within the National Command Authority, including President Richard M. Nixon and National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger. [2]
Nixon regarded the attack as a total surprise and remained at a loss to explain it. The U.S. bureaucracy and the member of the National Security Council were also unable to understand the attack. [6]
Despite being the height of the Cold War, the Soviet Union quickly provided assistance in the recovery efforts. Two Soviet destroyers were sent to the Sea of Japan, and their involvement highlighted Moscow’s disapproval of the attack on the EC-121. [7]
The US responded by activating Task Force 71 (TF-71) to protect future flights over those international waters. Initially, the Task Force comprised the aircraft carriers Enterprise, Ticonderoga, Ranger, and Hornet with a screen of cruisers and destroyers that also included the battleship New Jersey. The ships for TF-71 came mostly from Southeast Asia duty. This deployment became one of the largest shows of force in the area since the Korean War. [9]
Following the attack, some, including Representative Mendel Rivers responded to the attack by calling for retaliation against North Korea. [7] On April 16th, the United States National Security Council considered the following options:[6]
In addition to the NSC's ideas, the Joint Chiefs of Staff prepared several plans to bomb the airfield at Sondok and Wonsan. If all went according to plan, bombers would attack the airfields under cover of night. [6] CINCPAC proposed the positioning of ships, with missiles capable of taking down planes, in the Sea of Japan with orders to destroy North Korean aircraft, impound other North Korean vessels venturing into international waters (fishing boats, etc. ), and fire onto the shore (especially near Wonsan).
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April 2015 Nepal earthquake
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The April 2015 Nepal earthquake (also known as the Gorkha earthquake) killed nearly 9,000 people and injured nearly 22,000. It occurred at 11:56 Nepal Standard Time on 25 April 2015, with a magnitude of 7.8Mw[1] or 8.1Ms[9] and a maximum Mercalli Intensity of VIII (Severe). Its epicenter was east of Gorkha District at Barpak, Gorkha, and its hypocenter was at a depth of approximately 8.2 km (5.1 mi). [1] It was the worst natural disaster to strike Nepal since the 1934 Nepal–Bihar earthquake. The ground motion recorded in the capital of Nepal was of low frequency, which, along with its occurrence at an hour where many people in rural areas were working outdoors, decreased the loss of property and human lives. [13]
The earthquake triggered an avalanche on Mount Everest, killing 22,[14] making 25 April 2015 the deadliest day on the mountain in history. [15] The earthquake triggered another huge avalanche in the Langtang valley, where 250 people were reported missing. [16]
Hundreds of thousands of Nepalese were made homeless with entire villages flattened,[16][17][18] across many districts of the country. Centuries-old buildings were destroyed at UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the Kathmandu Valley, including some at the Kathmandu Durbar Square, the Patan Durbar Square, the Bhaktapur Durbar Square, the Changu Narayan Temple, the Boudhanath stupa and the Swayambhunath stupa. Geophysicists and other experts had warned for decades that Nepal was vulnerable to a deadly earthquake, particularly because of its geology, urbanization, and architecture. [19][20] Dharahara, also called Bhimsen Tower, a nine-storey 61.88-metre (203.0 ft) tall tower, was destroyed. It was a part of the architecture of Kathmandu recognized by UNESCO. Continued aftershocks occurred throughout Nepal at the intervals of 15–20 minutes, with one shock reaching a magnitude of 6.7 on 26 April at 12:54:08 NST. [3] The country also had a continued risk of landslides. [21]
A major aftershock occurred on 12 May 2015 at 12:50 NST with a moment magnitude (Mw) of 7.3. [22] The epicenter was near the Chinese border between the capital of Kathmandu and Mount Everest. [23] More than 200 people were killed and over 2,500 were injured by this aftershock, and many were left homeless. [24]
The earthquake occurred on 25 April 2015 at 11:56 am NST (06:11:26 UTC) at a depth of approximately 8.2 km (5.1 mi) (which is considered shallow and therefore more damaging than quakes that originate deeper in the ground),[25] with its epicentre approximately 34 km (21 mi) east-southeast of Lamjung, Nepal, lasting approximately fifty seconds. [26] The earthquake was initially reported as 7.5 Mw by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) before it was quickly upgraded to 7.8 Mw. The China Earthquake Networks Center (CENC) reported the earthquake's magnitude to be 8.1 Ms. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said two powerful quakes were registered in Nepal at 06:11 UTC and 06:45 UTC. The first quake measured 7.8 Mw and its epicenter was identified at a distance of 80 km to the northwest of Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal. Bharatpur was the nearest major city to the main earthquake, 53 km (33 mi) as the crow flies from the epicenter. The second earthquake was somewhat less powerful at 6.6 Mw. It occurred 65 km (40 mi) east of Kathmandu and its seismic focus lay at a depth of 10 km (6.2 mi) below the earth's surface. Over thirty-eight aftershocks of magnitude 4.5 Mw or greater occurred in the day following the initial earthquake, including the one of magnitude 6.8 Mw. [27]
According to the USGS, the earthquake was caused by a sudden thrust, or release of built-up stress, along the major fault line where the Indian Plate, carrying India, is slowly diving underneath the Eurasian Plate, carrying much of Europe and Asia. [25] Kathmandu, situated on a block of crust approximately 120 km (74 miles) wide and 60 km (37 miles) long, rapidly shifted 3 m (10 ft) to the south in a matter of just 30 seconds. [28]
The risk of a large earthquake was well known beforehand. In 2013, in an interview with seismologist Vinod Kumar Gaur, The Hindu quoted him as saying, "Calculations show that there is sufficient accumulated energy [in the Main Frontal Thrust], now to produce an 8 magnitude earthquake. I cannot say when. It may not happen tomorrow, but it could possibly happen sometime this century, or wait longer to produce a much larger one. "[29] According to Brian Tucker, founder of a nonprofit organization devoted to reducing casualties from natural disasters, some government officials had expressed confidence that such an earthquake would not occur again. Tucker recounted a conversation he had had with a government official in the 1990s who said, "We don't have to worry about earthquakes anymore, because we already had an earthquake"; the previous earthquake to which he referred occurred in 1934. [30]
Nepal lies towards the southern limit of the diffuse collisional boundary where the Indian Plate underthrusts the Eurasian Plate,[31][32] occupying the central sector of the Himalayan arc, nearly one-third of the 2,400 km (1,500 mi) long Himalayas. Geologically, the Nepal Himalayas are sub-divided into five tectonic zones from north to south and, east to west and almost parallel to sub-parallel. [33] These five distinct morpho-geotectonic zones are: (1) Terai Plain, (2) Sub Himalaya (Shivalik Range), (3) Lesser Himalaya (Mahabharat Range and mid valleys), (4) Higher Himalaya, and (5) Inner Himalaya (Tibetan Tethys). [34] Each of these zones is clearly identified by their morphological, geological, and tectonic features. [34]
The convergence rate between the plates in central Nepal is about 45 mm (1.8 in) per year. The location, magnitude, and focal mechanism of the earthquake suggest that it was caused by a slip along the Main Frontal Thrust. [1][35]
The earthquake's effects were amplified in Kathmandu as it sits on the Kathmandu Basin, which contains up to 600 m (2,000 ft) of sedimentary rocks, representing the infilling of a lake. [36]
Based on a study published in 2014, of the Main Frontal Thrust, on average a great earthquake occurs every 750 ± 140 and 870 ± 350 years in the east Nepal region. [37] A study from 2015 found a 700-year delay between earthquakes in the region. The study also suggests that because of tectonic stress buildup, the earthquake from 1934 in Nepal and the 2015 quake are connected, following a historic earthquake pattern. [38] A 2016 study on historical great (M ≥ 8) earthquake pairs and cycles found that associated great earthquakes are likely to occur in the West China region through the 2020s. [39]
According to the USGS website, the maximum intensity was VIII (Severe). [1] In most of Kathmandu the intensity was VI, as evidenced by the numerous undamaged water towers installed on top of undamaged multi story buildings. Tremors were felt in the neighboring Indian states of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Assam, West Bengal, Sikkim, Jharkhand, Uttarakhand, Gujarat, in the National capital region around New Delhi and as far south as Karnataka. [40] Damage was extensive in northern Bihar and minor damage was also reported from parts of Odisha. [40] Shaking was felt in high-rise buildings as far as Kochi in the southern state of Kerala.
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Earthquakes
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California drought takes toll on world’s top almond producer
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FIREBAUGH, Calif. (AP) — As temperatures recently reached triple digits, farmer Joe Del Bosque inspected the almonds in his parched orchard in California’s agriculture-rich San Joaquin Valley, where a deepening drought threatens one of the state’s most profitable crops. Del Bosque doesn’t have enough water to properly irrigate his almond orchards, so he’s practicing “deficit irrigation” — providing less water than the trees need. He left a third of his farmland unplanted to save water for the nuts. And he may pull out 100 of his 600 acres (243 hectares) of almond trees after the late summer harvest — years earlier than planned. “We may have to sacrifice one of them at the end of the year if we feel that we don’t have enough water next year,” said Del Bosque, who also grows melons, cherries and asparagus. “That means that our huge investment that we put in these trees is gone.” A historic drought across the U.S. West is taking a heavy toll on California’s $6 billion almond industry, which produces roughly 80% of the world’s almonds. More growers are expected to abandon their orchards as water becomes scarce and expensive. It’s a sharp reversal for the almond’s relentless expansion in California’s agricultural Central Valley, where dry Mediterranean-like climate and reliable irrigation system made it the perfect location to grow the increasingly popular nut. Almond orchards are thirsty permanent crops that need water year-round, clashing with a worsening drought and intensifying heat waves tied to climate change. Scientists say climate change has made the American West much warmer and drier in the past 30 years and will keep making weather more extreme. California almond production grew from 370 million pounds (nearly 168 million kilograms) in 1995 to a record 3.1 billion pounds (1.4 billion kilograms) in 2020, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. During that period, land planted with almond trees grew from 756 square miles (1,958 square kilometers) to 2,500 square miles (6,475 square kilometers). In May, the USDA projected that California’s almond crop would hit a record 3.2 billion pounds (1.5 billion kilograms) this year, but in July, it scaled back that estimate to 2.8 billion pounds (1.3 billion kilograms), citing low water availability and record heat. “A lot of growers are having to go through a stressful time to make the water they have last to keep their trees alive,” said Richard Waycott, president and CEO of the Almond Board of California, which represents more than 7,600 growers and processors. Almonds are California’s top agricultural export. The industry ships about 70% of its almonds overseas, fueled by strong demand in India, East Asia and Europe, according to the board. As almond prices rose during a previous drought that California declared from 2012 to 2016, farmers and investors planted hundreds of square miles of new orchards in areas that lack reliable water supplies. “All of this increase in almonds and this increase in water demand, it’s been done at a time when there’s virtually no increase in water supply,” said David Goldhamer, a water management specialist at the University of California, Davis. “The water embodied in the production of those almonds is being exported out of this country.” The almond boom has run into the second major drought that California has declared in a decade. The U.S. Drought Monitor reported that 88% of the state was in “extreme drought” as of last week, with the Central Valley facing the worst conditions. The drought has drained reservoirs that supply water to Central Valley farms. In early August, Shasta Lake, the state’s largest, was only 30% full, while Lake Oroville, the second largest, was only 24% full, according to the California Department of Water Resources. State and federal officials have reduced water for agriculture, forcing many farmers to leave fields fallow or switch to higher-value crops that use less water. Inside the processing facility of Stewart & Jasper Orchards, about a dozen women wearing hair nets and masks inspected almonds by hand as a river of nuts traveled over conveyer belts before they were packed into boxes and shipped to customers around the world. The Newman, California-based company processes about 60 million pounds (27 million kilograms) of almonds annually from more than 31 square miles (80 square kilometers) of orchards, including some 3 square miles (8 square kilometers) of its own. “The profitability of growing almonds is not the same as it was in the past,” said owner Jim Jasper, whose father co-founded the company in 1948. “The world is going to start to see less almonds.” Jasper estimates that about a third of California’s orchards are planted in areas with unreliable water supplies, and many of them won’t survive the drought. Some of his neighbors have stopped irrigating their orchards, and they’re letting the trees die. “As you can see, there’s one orchard here that’s drying up because they just didn’t have the money to buy the water. And we’re seeing this all over the valley,” Jasper said. As the drought drains reservoirs and Gov. Gavin Newsom calls on residents to voluntarily reduce water use by 15%, critics say the thirsty crop isn’t sustainable at current levels in California. “If we’re conserving in the cities so that they can grow more almonds, it’s simply not fair because it’s not benefiting the majority of Californians,” said Tom Stokely, a board member for the California Water Impact Network, a nonprofit group that advocates for sustainable water use. Stokely believes the state should ban permanent crops like almond orchards in areas that don’t have adequate water supplies. “With the climate change, the drought, the heat waves we’re having, something’s going to change very quickly or we’re going to literally see our state collapse,” Stokely said. “We need to do something about it.”
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Droughts
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Indonesia hails 'new era' for U.S. ties, hosts biggest joint military drills
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Indonesian army soldiers take part in Garuda Shield Joint Exercise 2021 at the Indonesian Army Combat Training Center in Martapura, South Sumatra province, Indonesia August 4, 2021. Antara Foto/Nova Wahyudi/via Reuters. JAKARTA, Aug 5 (Reuters) - Indonesia's foreign minister said on Thursday her nation had entered a "new era of bilateral relations" with the United States, as the countries' armed forces launched their biggest ever joint training exercise this week involving 3,000 troops. Speaking from Washington after meeting U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and other officials, Retno Marsudi welcomed more U.S. engagement in the region and expressed high hopes for closer ties with the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden. "As a democratic country and Southeast Asia’s largest economy, a strong strategic partnership with Indonesia will provide significant added value for U.S. engagement in the region," the minister told a news conference. The "strategic partnership" between the countries spanned trade, investment, security and public health, she said, with the U.S. announcing this week it would donate an additional $30 million in COVID-19 assistance to purchase oxygen and medical supplies and to boost Indonesia's vaccine rollout. Indonesia has been battling a surge in coronavirus infections since July, recording more than 3.5 million cases and 100,000 deaths since the start of the pandemic. The United States has been seeking to shore up its position in the region to counter the rising influence of China, and Retno's visit to Washington coincided with the countries' biggest ever joint military exercise. Indonesia also has good ties with Beijing, and during the pandemic has relied heavily on vaccines from China as part of its national inoculation programme. Indonesian army chief of staff General Andika Perkasa and Charles A. Flynn, commanding general of the U.S. Army Pacific, said on Wednesday they hoped the joint exercises would boost military capabilities and bilateral relations, according to a statement by the Indonesian military. The "Garuda Shield" joint exercise will run between August 1-14 and involve more than 3,000 soldiers. The Biden administration has invited Taiwan to its "Summit for Democracy" next month, according to a list of participants published on Tuesday, a move that infuriated China, which views the democratically governed island as its territory. Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan have held military drills near the former's border with Afghanistan, imitating a response to an incursion, the Uzbek defence ministry said on Wednesday.
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Military Exercise
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Guinea’s swift action in detecting, curbing Marburg
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Gueckedou – When a man in Temessadou M’Boket – a village in the densely forested southern Guinea region – died in early August 2021 after suffering fever, headache and haemorrhage, a medical team was quickly dispatched, and within hours of his death, laboratory analysis revealed that he had been ill with Marburg. This was Guinea’s and West Africa’s first case of Marburg virus disease. The quick detection is credited to a build-up of outbreak response expertise since the 2014–2016 West Africa Ebola crisis. Over the years, Guinea and its neighbouring countries have chalked up crucial know-how in disease surveillance, testing, treatment, vaccination, tracing of contacts and community outreach with support from World Health Organization (WHO) and partner organizations. Thanks to a decentralized system, the Marburg virus was first detected by a field laboratory in Gueckedou town in the south of Guinea and confirmed by the national laboratory in the capital Conakry as well as the Institut Pasteur reference laboratory in Senegal. Guinea declared having confirmed a case of Marburg virus disease on 9 August 2021. Training of health workers in the surveillance of outbreak-potential diseases also proved critical. Fassara Diawara, the head of a local clinic in southern Guinea, says that the timely detection of Marburg was possible due to health workers’ alertness to the warning signs of outbreak-prone diseases. Once we were notified “we quickly informed the prefectural health authorities so that they could come and collect samples,” he says of the patient who tested positive for Marburg posthumously. Dr Mamadou Kourouma, a WHO field coordinator in Guinea, explains that quickly deploying experts on the ground even as further analyses are carried out following the detection of an outbreak-potential disease is vital to boosting response and epidemiological knowledge. He notes that soon after being alerted to a possible case of Marburg, a WHO support team was sent to the field. “The objective was to evaluate the risk level as well as the [capacity of] health facilities in the region to step up disease surveillance,” says Dr Kourouma. In Temessadou M’Boket, a WHO team was also deployed to ensure safe burial, disinfect the health centre where the patient had sought treatment and identify, isolate and monitor the deceased’s contacts. More than 90 health workers were then rapidly trained in the standard precautions on outbreak-potential disease such as Marburg, and the patient triage and isolation system in Gueckedou hospital and local health centres in the region reinforced. Marburg is viral haemorrhagic disease transmitted to people from fruit bats and spreads among humans through direct contact with the bodily fluids of infected people, surfaces and materials. Illness begins abruptly, with high fever, severe headache and malaise. Many patients develop severe haemorrhagic signs within seven days. Case fatality rates have varied from 24% to 88% in past outbreaks depending on virus strain and case management. Although there are no vaccines or antiviral treatments approved to treat the virus, supportive care – rehydration with oral or intravenous fluids – and treatment of specific symptoms, improves survival. A range of potential treatments, including blood products, immune therapies and drug therapies, are being evaluated. Previous outbreaks in Africa have been reported in Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, South Africa and Uganda. In Guinea, to enhance community collaboration in the Marburg response, the national health authorities and WHO teams have been educating the public on the symptoms of the disease, preventive measures, the importance of seeking treatment immediately and other response measures. “We will continue to reinforce community surveillance in [Guinea’s] forest region as well as the capacity of health workers in the facilities,” says Dr Kourouma of WHO. No new cases have been reported since the virus was confirmed and a 42-day countdown to declaring the end of the outbreak began on 4 August. However, responding to Marburg, maintaining surveillance after the end of the February–June 2021 Ebola outbreak as well as tackling the COVID-19 pandemic is a tough task, says Dr Kourouma. “Gueckedou has not been spared from COVID-19 and many health workers have been mobilized to respond to the pandemic, Ebola and Marburg. This is a complex but not an impossible task.”
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Disease Outbreaks
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Bank robbery suspects in Colorado Springs now face charges including kidnapping
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COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- Three bank robbery suspects were arrested and face charges related to a series of robberies and one attempted robbery in Colorado Springs, according to police. Police say the robberies and one attempted robbery ranging from late February to mid-June showed a pattern where at least two suspects entered a local bank and demanded money from tellers. In multiple instances, the suspects stated they had weapons. However, no weapons were ever seen. The robberies were reported at the following locations:• 02/24/2021 Wells Fargo, 8620 North Union Boulevard• 04/27/2021 Wells Fargo, 560 West Garden of the Gods Road• 05/26/2021 ANB Bank, 4799 North Academy Boulevard• 06/08/2021 ANB Bank, 4799 North Academy Boulevard• 06/15/2021 UMB Bank, 290 East Cheyenne Mountain Boulevard• 06/18/2021 Wells Fargo, 8620 North Union Boulevard Following an investigation, CSPD detectives identified the suspects as 33-year-old Lawrence Wooten, 30-year-old Chad Williams, and 35-year-old Paris Toler- Anderson. Police arrest Wooten on July 12. He faces two counts of second-degree kidnapping, three counts of aggravated robbery, two counts of robbery, and one count of attempted robbery. Williams was arrest on June 30. He is charged with one count of aggravated robbery. According to police, Toler-Anderson was served an arrest warrant while he was already incustody at the El Paso County Criminal Justice Center for his alleged role in the June 17 homicide of Gwendolyn Watson. Toler-Anderson is charged with one count of second-degree kidnapping and one count of aggravated robbery. Lauren is an anchor and MMJ for KRDO and 13 Investigates. Learn more about Lauren here. Please choose a reason below: Some of Blm finest .and yet they wont protest this just when they are unconvinced. Wonder if Blm does matter I’m sure somehow it’s not their fault. It’s trumps or the cops or white people that made them do it. Can’t blame the guys for wanting a better life. Now they get 1 cot and 3 hots.
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Bank Robbery
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1985 Wuqia earthquake
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The 1985 Wuqia earthquake occurred on August 23, 1985, at 20:42 local time (12:42 UTC) near the border of Wuqia County and Shufu County, Xinjiang, China. It had a magnitude of Ms 7.4 and caused 71 deaths, 162 injuries, and left 15,000 homeless, as well as destroying 85% of buildings and highways. [1] The source of this earthquake is the Kazkeaerte Fault (卡兹克阿尔特断裂). The earthquake could be felt throughout much of the Fergana Basin, USSR, as well as in Pakistan.
The slipping of the earth during this earthquake caused a deformation zone along the Kezilesu River valley stretching 15 kilometres (9+1⁄3 miles) long and 800 metres (1⁄2 mile) wide. The zone is made up of smaller faults, fissures, and pressure ridges. [3]
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Earthquakes
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France canceled an event celebrating US-French relations amid outrage over a scrapped submarine deal
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France is upset with the US and others after it was cut out of a lucrative international defense deal. Amid tensions, France decided to cancel an event celebrating ties with the US in Washington, DC, The New York Times first reported Thursday afternoon. A spokesman for the French embassy told Insider "the celebration of the 240th anniversary of the Battle of the Capes has been made more sober," explaining that "a reception on Friday Sept. 17 at the Residence of France, in Washington D.C., has been canceled." The move comes after a submarine deal worth tens of billions of dollars went sideways. France and Australia agreed in 2016 for a fleet of French-built conventional submarines. A production contract was signed in 2019, and the multi-billion-dollar deal was reconfirmed by French and Australian leadership only two weeks ago. But, this week, the US, UK, and Australia announced a new security partnership that upended the deal with France and put Australia on a path to acquire nuclear-powered submarines elsewhere. French foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said Thursday that "the American choice to exclude a European ally and partner such as France" was "regrettable," adding in another discussion of the latest developments that "this brutal, unilateral, and unpredictable decision reminds me a lot of what Mr. Trump used to do." He also expressed frustration with Australia, which he said "betrayed" French trust. He called the Australian decision to scrap the original deal a "stab in the back." French officials in Washington told The New York Times that France was blindsided by the Biden administration's moves and that US actions undermine bilateral trust. US officials, however, have insisted that they were in contact with their French counterparts ahead of time. Under the current circumstances, an event commemorating the Battle of the Capes, a decisive naval battle that helped the Americans secure their independence from Great Britain, and the alliance between the US and has been canceled, a French official told The Times. The French official said that having an event celebrating ties between the US and France would have been "ridiculous" given the state of relations between them. France's top naval officer, who came to Washington for the celebration originally scheduled for Friday, is reportedly returning to Paris early. The French embassy said that while the reception in DC has been canceled, other parts of the celebration, including a wreath laying in Annapolis and port visits by two French naval vessels, will continue as planned. Speaking to reporters Thursday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said that "we value our relationship and our partnership with France on a variety of issues facing the global community." Update: This article has been updated to include details and comment from the French embassy in Washington, DC.
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Organization Closed
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The Weaponisation of Disease Outbreaks
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This brief examines how fear and anxiety during a disease outbreak can be exploited by state and non-state actors to further their political, strategic, or ideological agendas. Such fear, compounded by religious and cultural strife, or unfamiliarity with socio-cultural beliefs can provide fertile ground for the spread of misinformation from malicious actors. The brief illustrates these patterns using examples where information had been weaponised during an outbreak, such as those of HIV/AIDS, Ebola, Polio, and COVID-19. Attribution: Saurabh Todi, “The Weaponisation of Disease Outbreaks,” ORF Issue Brief No. 483, July 2021, Observer Research Foundation. The weaponisation of information during outbreaks of disease can impact large populations and its effects persist for a long time. Broadly defined, the ‘weaponisation’ of a disease outbreak refers to the exploitation of such crises by state and non-state actors to achieve their political, religious, or geostrategic agenda. This may take many forms, depending on local, regional, and global factors that include the vested interests of those who are weaponising the outbreak. Some of the strategies may include wielding disinformation to serve as propaganda against adversaries, use of violence to deny access to medical care, and spread of misinformation to generate political mileage. Conducting an analysis of how an outbreak has been in the past weaponised, can help create an understanding of how these tactics are often deployed and, consequently, how they can be arrested. One of the more successful disinformation[a] campaigns in modern times is related to the emergence of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) that causes AIDS, or the Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS). Although first identified in 1981, HIV is thought to have emerged between 1884 and 1924 in central and western Africa. [1] Researchers estimate that the virus began spreading around Africa in the late 1950s and slowly spread across the globe due to increasing urbanisation, travel, the practice of having multiple sexual partners, and intravenous drug use. In 1983, an Indian newspaper, The Patriot published an anonymous letter purportedly from an American scientist claiming that AIDS was the result of a US bioweapons research programme. [2] Subsequently, the KGB (the Soviet intelligence agency, or Committee for State Security) initiated propaganda measures as part of its “Operation Denver”[b] to amplify this assertion to promote anti-Americanism. [3] This claim was further bolstered when a retired biophysicist from East Germany, Jakob Segal concluded in a report that HIV was likely created at the US Army facility in Fort Detrick, Maryland. [4] Although Segal’s report was soon discredited by scientists from both the West and USSR, its use in propaganda continued. Building on these two sources, left-leaning and communist-sympathetic newspapers and magazines in various countries further claimed that the virus was being used as a tool to target minority populations within the US and across the globe. [5] Media outlets both from Western and non-aligned countries[c] picked up Segal’s report and the story received widespread coverage. [6],[7],[8] In Asia, in April 1987, the official Indian armed forces journal, Sainik Samachar published an article that reiterated the false connection between HIV and Fort Detrick. [9] The USSR in 1987 ended the disinformation campaign, as part of efforts to improve relations with the West. [10] Many years later, however, the narratives persisted amongst the target communities. In a 2008 survey of patients who were on antiretroviral treatment in Los Angeles in California, 42 percent of them believed that AIDS was created by the US government to “control” the African-American population. [11] Similarly, a 2009 survey of young adults in Cape Town in South Africa, found that 16 percent of Black respondents agreed with the statements, “AIDS was invented to kill black people,” and, “AIDS was created by scientists in America.”[12] Indeed, although such “conspiracy” theories tend to lose their acceptance over time, they can persist amongst a smaller but vocal section of the population and therefore continue to pose a challenge. At least initially, deep distrust of the government was exploited to ensure that the rumours were not dismissed by the people as being outside the realm of possibility. The AIDS epidemic was disproportionately affecting the homosexual and African-American communities in the US—they did not outrightly reject the rumours about HIV having originated in a US laboratory due to past experiences of medical malpractices committed against them. Ten years before HIV/AIDS was discovered in the US, the Tuskegee experiments were revealed: African-American farm workers were intentionally exposed to syphilis in order to study the effect of penicillin on the bacteria. [13] A US Congressional report in 1977 had found that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) tested the psychedelic drug Lysergic acid diethylamide, popularly known as LSD, on uninformed people. [14] Moreover, the US government failed to move swiftly enough to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS; this contributed to the lack of trust from the gay community. Similarly, the colonial legacy, and racism, was still around. As AIDS spread worldwide and took a greater toll on Africans, the notion of a conspiracy against them became more deeply entrenched in the continent; this was exploited by the KGB to promote anti-American sentiment. [15] The global effort to eradicate polio has failed to achieve its goal in Pakistan, Afghanistan and until recently, Nigeria, due to the spread of rumours and deliberate misinformation[d] about the polio vaccine in these countries. In the initial years following the 2001 US-led invasion of Afghanistan and the 2003 Iraq War, Muslim communities developed an impression that there was a religious crusade by Christian, ‘Western’ countries against Islam. [16] This was exploited by militant groups and religious extremist groups in some Muslim-majority countries of Africa and Asia to further their ideological agendas. The polio vaccine was one of the things around which they built certain narratives: these groups spread rumours that the polio vaccine contained ingredients that are haram, or prohibited in Islam—pig fat, for instance. They also projected polio vaccination as a conspiracy by Americans to make Muslims infertile, and thereby, reduce their population. These claims were readily accepted in the underdeveloped regions of Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Nigeria—often far from the reach of healthcare professionals, and where terrorists and religious clerics exercised considerable influence. The view of the immunisation drive against polio being an “anti-Muslim” pogrom was granted legitimacy after a physician, Ibrahim Datti Ahmed who headed the Nigerian Supreme Council of Shariah (SCSN) declared that polio vaccines were “corrupted and tainted by evildoers from America and their Western allies.”[17] In 2003, under the influence of Dr Ahmed and the SCSN, the governor of the Kano state in Northern Nigeria suspended polio vaccination campaigns for about a year due to the same rumours that Muslim communities were being sterilised using polio vaccine campaigns as a front. [18] This fear of polio vaccines had ripple effects in India—home to the third largest Muslim population in the world. The Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, in particular, became the epicentre of hesitancy amongst its large Muslim-minority population. Indian Muslims similarly viewed polio vaccination drives as a government agenda to systematically reduce the minority population; they believed that the vaccine had “questionable and religiously offensive” content in its formulation. [19] Such rumours changed polio vaccination from a public-health issue to a socio-religious one, setting back polio eradication efforts. Yet, the use of misinformation to further an agenda is not limited to religious fundamentalists. Political, ethnic, and religious strife allows disease outbreaks to be exploited for varied forms of political mileage. Muslim-majority residents of northern Nigeria had become wary of the US since the initiation of wars in Afghanistan and Iraq which they saw as an attack on Islam. [20] In the 2003 Nigerian presidential election, Olusegun Obasanjo, a Christian from southern Nigeria, defeated Muhammadu Buhari, a Muslim from the northern region. The election results made local Muslim politicians and religious officials apprehensive about the motivation of both the Nigerian federal government (then led by a Christian) and the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GEPI) which was receiving huge funding from organisations based in the West, including the US. Moreover, missteps by governments can inadvertently lend credibility to rumours. Soon after al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden was found and killed by US armed forces in Pakistan in 2011, terrorist organisations operating in Pakistan and Afghanistan stopped cooperating with local healthcare workers. An investigation by The Guardian newspaper revealed that American spies had posed as vaccinators to get close to Bin Laden’s home and collect information that aided the military operation that killed him. [21] Militant groups began assaulting healthcare workers in their areas of influence and prevented them from administering the polio vaccine. Efforts to eradicate the disease in Afghanistan and Pakistan have therefore been set back by several years and they remain the only countries in the world with wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) still in circulation. This is not to say that there has not been cooperation at all between governments, healthcare workers, and local populations, especially in fighting misinformation. In 2004, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) held a meeting in Nigeria with more than 150 Muslim clerics and tribal chiefs from neighbouring countries such as Chad, Cameroon, Niger, Togo, Benin, and Burkina Faso. The objective was to address vaccine skepticism due to religious and safety concerns, while discussing ways to push the polio immunisation campaign. [22] In India, too, similar outreach efforts have been undertaken, including educating and training madrasa teachers[e] to counter misinformation, and using religious leaders to build trust in the vaccine. These efforts significantly reduced the hesitancy amongst Indian Muslims about the polio vaccine. [23] Indeed, polio immunisation campaigns gradually picked up pace and India was finally declared free of polio in 2014. Nigeria would achieve this feat in 2020. In Pakistan, the consequences of the spying operations to hunt Bin Laden were soon addressed by the director of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). The agency instituted a new policy in 2013 that barred the use of vaccination programmes, including recruitment of vaccination workers, for spying operations. [24] Little has changed on the ground, however, and health workers are still being targeted by militants. In Pakistan, a terrorist group called Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) shot over 100 on-duty polio workers between 2012 and 2017. [25] Ebola is a viral haemorrhagic fever in humans and other primates caused by infection with a group of viruses within the genus Ebolavirus. It was first identified in 1976 near the Ebola River in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and has since become endemic to several other West African countries such as Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia. One of the most severe outbreaks of Ebola was reported in 2018 in the DRC, where outbreaks of the fever have been frequent. Widespread misinformation and an overall lack of trust in the government have made the people suspicious of public health initiatives; ethnic conflict compounds the situation by making it difficult for healthcare workers to do their work in a safe environment. [26] One can hardly blame the communities for not having trust in the national DRC government; after all, certain political leaders have used the Ebola epidemic for their own gain. For one, using an episodic outbreak as an excuse, the national electoral commission (CENI) postponed the voting for the 2018 presidential elections in some cities of North Kivu province. Critics, however, noted that electoral campaigning had been previously allowed in those cities despite the outbreak; they alleged that the commission decided to defer voting to give the incumbent more time as those cities were expected to vote for the opposition. This fueled suspicion about the motives of the government and hampered the Ebola vaccination efforts in North Kivu. There were reports of healthcare workers being attacked,[27] especially those associated with international organisations such as WHO and Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF, Doctors Without Borders). Despite the availability of a highly effective vaccine and drugs to reduce deaths, healthcare workers have struggled to gain the cooperation of people in affected communities. Misinformation and rumours about “foreigners experimenting on locals, taking organs, and filling the bodies with concrete” and Ebola being a mere fabrication have further fueled suspicion and panic. [28] There are reports that politicians have used fear of voter disenfranchisement to instigate people against the local government and that militias are hired as mercenaries to settle political scores at the expense of the local population. [29] WHO declared COVID-19 a global pandemic on 11 March 2020. There was widespread misinformation, especially during the initial months of the pandemic, on unknowns such as the origin of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19, what the illness exactly does to one’s body, and the effective treatment, if any. Economic anxiety caused by prolonged lockdowns added to the public’s fear and uncertainty, and the situation was ripe for disinformation. This includes theories on the origin of SARS-CoV-2. Although there is still no clarity on how the virus emerged, there are two leading hypotheses: that the virus naturally jumped from an animal host to infect humans; and that the virus accidently leaked into the environment from a virology laboratory in Wuhan that was engaged in research on coronaviruses. In the absence of scientific consensus in favour of either theory, these hypotheses have given birth to rumours, conspiracy theories, and disinformation campaigns. Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, China has sought to evade difficult questions related to the origin of the virus. The Chinese government barred scientists working on coronaviruses from working with or sharing any new information with their colleagues outside China. [30] Presumably to deflect domestic and international criticism of China’s initial pandemic response, officials have promoted conspiracy theories of their own. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Zhao Lijian, claimed that the members of the US Army contingent that visited Wuhan in October 2019 may have introduced the virus into the city. [31] Other Chinese officials have said that the virus may have been engineered at the US Army facility in Fort Detrick and called for an investigation into the facility. [32] Whenever international pressure for a fair and independent investigation into the origin of SARS-CoV-2 virus heightens, these theories are amplified by Chinese state media. [33] These have found broad support from the Chinese public. [34] China has also been accused of weaponising aid and relief materials during the COVID-19 pandemic to further its geopolitical aims: for instance, it threatened to withhold COVID-19 vaccine shipment to Ukraine if it supports a UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) motion demanding scrutiny of China’s Xinjiang policy, and Ukraine did withdraw its support from the resolution;[35] according to Taiwan, China offered vaccines to Paraguay, on the condition that it will establish diplomatic ties with it and sever ties with Taiwan;[36] European Union officials accused China of presenting itself as the only actor capable of delivering assistance to European countries by aggressively pushing false messages aimed at furthering the divide within the European Union;[37] and China has also been accused of trying to coerce Taiwan in a position where it may be forced to buy vaccines from a Chinese manufacturer instead of sourcing directly from foreign vaccine manufacturers. [38] There are other examples of countries using the COVID-19 pandemic to further their geopolitical agenda: the EU and the US have accused Russia and China of promoting covert online campaigns that amplify unfounded links between Western vaccines and deaths, while promoting Russian and Chinese vaccines;[39] Russia has blamed the West for attempts to discredit its domestically manufactured vaccine and for deliberately delaying its approval for use in Europe;[40] and China has accused the Western media of creating misleading narratives about China-made vaccines that seek to undermine confidence in them. [41] The COVID-19 pandemic has also provided an opportunity to non-state actors, including political parties, to deploy misinformation tactics. Anti-vaccination groups are highlighting reports of “adverse event following immunisation” (AEFIs), especially in countries like the US where the issue of vaccination has become deeply politicised. [42] AEFIs are an expected occurrence post-vaccination and are not unique to COVID-19 vaccines. Those who experience AEFIs usually report discomfort in the site of the jab, or mild fever lasting a day or two. [43] Anti-vaccination groups have sought to amplify the rare cases of severe AEFIs as a regular occurrence, thus misleading the public and fuelling vaccine hesitancy. In the United States, several politicians, including former president Donald Trump have fanned anti-China sentiment which have led to a rise in racist and xenophobic attacks against people of East Asian origin in the US. [44] Earlier in the pandemic, when there was not enough evidence to even hypothesise on the origin of SARS-CoV-2, many US politicians including the then US Secretary of State attacked China as responsible for the virus. [45] In India, certain sectors of society sought to vilify Muslims as “Covid spreaders” when an event organised by a Muslim religious sect and attended by thousands became an infection cluster during the initial weeks of the pandemic. [46] A member of parliament (MP) from the ruling party referred to the event as a planned “Corona Jihad”,[47] while another MP said members of the religious sect should be treated like terrorists. [48] Vaccine hesitancy in the country has also been fuelled by a popular yoga guru called Baba Ramdev, when he used the words “stupid science” to refer to allopathy, falsely alleged that thousands of doctors had died despite taking the vaccine, and tried to position Ayurveda[f] as an alternative to vaccines. [49] Among several examples where natural outbreaks were “weaponised”, misinformation and disinformation efforts seem to primarily exploit the lack of trust between the people and their government, unique socio-cultural factors, and the absence of credible information to push their narrative. Policymakers and law enforcement officials need to develop targeted strategies to reduce the impact of such attempts. Every disease outbreak and its socio-political challenges might be unique, but broad counter strategies may still be needed. As shown by the successes of Nigeria and India in becoming polio-free, engaging community members and religious leaders can help build trust and inspire confidence of vulnerable communities in public health initiatives, especially in rural areas. Collaboration between tribal leaders and health officials in West African nations also led to a welcome change in the Ebola prevention protocol which tried to balance people’s socio-cultural sensitivities and the need for science-informed containment measures. [50] The rise of social media and relatively cheaper internet access has made information dissemination simpler and faster than ever before. Widespread use of instant messaging applications makes it easier to exploit fear during a time of crisis such as an active disease outbreak. It is essential to develop mechanisms that can detect these efforts well before they start gaining credibility. Counterstrategies may include working with social media companies to weed out fake accounts and bots from their platforms and reduce the prevalence of inflammatory content. Similarly, media organisations can help educate the public on how to access reputable sources and identify fake news. Misinformation can also be countered by easily accessible and factual information. Often, in a situation of fear and panic, such as during an outbreak, paucity of reliable information can inadvertently push people to gravitate towards misinformation. Governments, international organisations, and non-government groups should strive for making information accessible through as many means of communication and in as many languages as possible. At the time of writing this brief, the COVID-19 pandemic continued to exact a heavy toll on lives and livelihoods, aided by the emergence of new and highly infectious variants. Although the availability of vaccines has been able to reduce the global fatality rate, equitable access to these vaccines remains a challenge. According to estimates, it may take several months to years for countries around the world to reach comfortable levels of vaccination coverage. Therefore, uncertainty associated with the risk of new COVID-19 variants, prolonged economic stress due to frequent lockdowns, and vaccine inequity continue to provide a fertile ground for the spread of misinformation. In efforts to weed out harmful and false information, it is important to ensure that the democratic and open aspect of the internet is not compromised. [51] As the recent censorship attempts on questions around COVID-19’s origin suggest,[52] the biggest challenge is to find the right balance between the need to preserve freedom of speech and expression, responsibility to respect the scientific process, and the urgency to prevent spread of misinformation. Finding such a balance is a difficult task.
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Disease Outbreaks
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Mine collapse kills two in Louisiana
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AVERY ISLAND, La. (WAFB) - On Wednesday, December 16, the Iberia Parish Coroner’s Office identified two miners killed Monday during a roof collapse at the Cargill salt mine on Avery Island.
The victims were identified as 27-year-old Lance Begnaud, II of Broussard and 41-year-old Rene Romero, Jr. of New Iberia.
Company representatives for Cargill say the collapse happened on Avery Island during the early morning hours of Monday, Dec. 14.
Sixteen other Cargill employees were evacuated without injury.
“Our sympathy is with the family who is mourning the loss of a loved one and we are offering support to them,” a company statement says.
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Mine Collapses
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Official: Israel army preparing for war on six fronts
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A senior Israeli military official said on Wednesday that the Israeli army is preparing for war on five fronts, in addition to another with Iran. Deputy Chief of Staff of the Israeli army, Aviv Kochavi, said: "Iran is fuelling many terrorist activities in the Middle East", adding that the Israeli army continues to grow and prepare for any future military confrontation. Israel, Lebanon tensions at the border – Cartoon [Latuff/MiddleEastMonitor] Speaking at the graduation ceremony of navy officers, Kochavi said the army anticipates war on five fronts but he did not name them. Meanwhile, Commander of the Israeli navy, General Eli Sharvit, said the navy has the ability to work in absolute secrecy, above and below the water which enables it to expand the scope of operations quickly. Read: Lebanon army says ready to confront Israeli aggression The Israeli army has recently intensified military training on the northern border with Lebanon and Syria and southern border with the besieged Gaza Strip. Israel is also holding joint military exercises with American troops on its ground this week. About 2,500 US soldiers and 2,000 Israelis are taking part in the drills, which will last for one week, the Sama news agency said. Hezbollah on Saturday raised its level of readiness in southern Lebanon to 100 per cent and summoned its troops to the region for the first time since Israel’s war on Lebanon in July 2006, local media reported. Lebanon’s Elnashra news site quoted private sources as saying that “Hezbollah has raised the level of readiness… The United States has put pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett not to change the rules of confrontation with the Iran-allied Lebanese Hezbollah movement as a new round of nuclear talks between Tehran and the world powers are set to begin in September, Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper reported. The paper quoted a… The Chief of Staff of the Israel Defence Forces, Aviv Kochavi, has cancelled his visit to the United States, during which he was scheduled to meet with American officials to mobilise them against rejoining the Iran nuclear deal, an IDF spokesperson announced on Sunday. According to the Jerusalem Post, this…
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Military Exercise
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Infectious disease
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Soap and water dispensers have been installed across Mexico City to encourage passers-by to wash their hands and listen to information about how to prevent contracting Covid-19. Our vision is a world in which escalating infectious diseases are under control in the communities most affected. Infectious diseases are estimated to cause around a quarter of all deaths in the world. The threat of new and re-emerging infectious diseases, drug-resistant infections and future epidemics will likely only add to this figure. No one knows when or where the next pandemic may start or why certain diseases increase in incidence or evade therapies. Over the past century, research has led to some extraordinary innovations, from the eradication of smallpox to the development of Covid-19 vaccines in record time. Yet a new infectious disease can still emerge and rapidly cross continents, potentially threatening all our lives. For many years, Wellcome has been committed to research in this area. We will bring together our diverse expertise across science, innovation and society to build a world that is better prepared to prevent and eliminate infectious diseases. We will engage globally and work with disadvantaged communities. Our ambition is to ensure the world is protected against different types of infectious disease, and the threat of disease-escalation now and in the future. Gordon Dougan Director, Infectious Disease (Interim) Wellcome Over the next 30 years, we want to reduce the risk and impact of infectious diseases. To determine how best to bring diseases under control and stop epidemics, we will support research tackling infectious diseases that are already on the rise and those with the potential to become future epidemics or evade current therapies. We will focus on the most affected communities, recognising that the overall burden of infectious diseases does not pose an equal threat to everyone’s health. Wellcome funds discovery research into a broad range of disciplines, including infectious diseases. Insights and tools from this research will contribute to solving this health challenge, as well as increasing broader understanding of life, health and wellbeing. the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations – to help fill critical gaps within vaccine funding and R&D which aims to fill the current shortage of investment by providing up to $500 million over the next five years to research, develop and bring effective treatments against Covid-19 to market quickly and accessibly by co-founding the Covid-19 Therapeutics Accelerator Effective research and coordinated action can stop infectious diseases from spiralling into global health emergencies. Wellcome has led the research response to Covid-19, as we did for recent Ebola outbreaks in 2014 and 2018, and advocated for policies built on scientific evidence.
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Disease Outbreaks
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1916–17 Nantou earthquakes
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The 1916–17 Nantou earthquakes (Chinese: 1916年南投地震系列; pinyin: 1916 nián Nántóu dìzhèn xìliè) affected central Taiwan in 1916 and 1917, causing heavy damage in sparsely populated Nanto Chō (modern-day Nantou County) and claiming 71 lives. The strongest quake registered at 6.8 ML and besides the loss of life caused widespread damage to agricultural and forestry industries in central Taiwan. The series consisted of four main damaging quakes and dozens of smaller quakes which were not so damaging. The first major quake, on 28 August 1916, was the strongest at magnitude 6.8, but the hypocentre was relatively deep in the earth's crust. The most deadly quake in the series came on January 5 of the following year, registering at 6.2 on the Richter scale with a shallow hypocentre, killing 54 people. [1]
Seismometers were installed in the area in 1898 shortly after the Japanese took control of Taiwan, but there was relatively little seismic activity in Nantou between then and 1916. [1]
According to Taiwan's Central Weather Bureau, there were 70 or 71 killed by the quakes, while 98 people were seriously injured and 208 lightly injured. There were 1,212 dwellings completely destroyed, while a further 1,821 dwellings were partially destroyed. The assessed cost of damage for just the August 28 quake was ¥130,393. [1] At the time the camphor industry was a major contributor to the Taiwanese economy, and the forested mountains of Nantou were where the majority of camphor trees were felled and processed. The earthquake destroyed 98 camphor extraction facilities, seriously affecting the local economy. [2]
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Earthquakes
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Woman injured in Dunwoody apartment explosion hires attorney
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Residents are trying to pick up the pieces after an explosion rocks a Dunwoody apartment complex. It happened at Arrive Perimeter apartments not far from Perimeter Mall. Four people are recovering from their injuries. About 50 people are out of their homes.
DUNWOODY, Ga. - A woman hurt in the explosion at a Dunwoody apartment complex is taking the first steps toward a possible lawsuit.
The Morgan & Morgan law firm tells FOX 5 Sherelle Baker has hired them to investigate her case.
Baker claims she was parked outside the Arrive Perimeter apartment complex located in the 2000 block of Asbury Square Sunday afternoon when the explosion occurred.
Her attorneys say debris from the blast broke through her windshield, knocking her unconscious.
"We are actively investigating the explosion to determine what happened and whether the complex’s recent change in management was a contributing factor. Our hope is to uncover all the facts about what caused this explosion, secure justice for Ms. Baker and all those impacted, and hold all responsible parties accountable for their possible actions and inactions," Baker's attorneys said in a statement to FOX 5.
SEE MORE: Dunwoody apartment explosion: Inspection finds leaks, gas shut off to complex
While the official cause of the blast remains under investigation, there were several reports of the odor of gas before it happened.
On Monday, the city inspected the remaining units and officials said they found at least two leaks in a building that wasn't involved in Sunday's explosion.
A city spokesperson said shutting off gas to the complex will allow time for repairs and additional inspections in all buildings.
Nearly 50 units were damaged in Sunday’s blast and four people were injured. Officials said one person was burned and another has a broken leg. Their conditions as of Monday evening were not immediately known.
DeKalb County Fire Rescue officials told FOX 5 Atlanta said two of the four people injured in the apartment explosion have more serious injuries than initially assessed.
Officials said one person was burned and another has a broken leg. Their exact conditions were unknown to DeKalb Fire officials on Monday morning. DeKalb County Fire Rescue Captain Jaeson Daniels said initially on Sunday four people were taken to the hospital with minor injuries.
Officials said all residents were accounted for by 6 p.m.
The American Red Cross of Georgia was at the scene to help those impacted by the explosion. Officials said they expect to help the residents of about 40 to 50 units.
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Gas explosion
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NDIS fines Integrity Care SA for failing to report death of Ann Marie Smith
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A Victorian man who flew from Brisbane to Hobart on flight VA702 today has tested positive to COVID-19 and has not been allowed to board a flight to Melbourne
A Watch & Act warning is in place for a fire in the northern parts of Mokine, in WA's Northam Shire. Keep up to date with ABC Emergency
National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) provider Integrity Care has been fined $12,600 for failing to report the death of Adelaide care recipient Ann Marie Smith.
The NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission said it was only made aware of Ms Smith's appalling death on April 20, a fortnight after she died.
The case was reported by the Public Advocate and the Health and Community Service Complaints Commissioner.
Ms Smith, 54, died on April 6 of severe septic shock, multi-organ failure, severe pressure sores, malnutrition and issues connected with her cerebral palsy.
Police believe she may have been stuck in a cane chair 24-hours-a-day for more than a year in her Kensington Park home and detectives have opened a manslaughter investigation.
Integrity Care suspended Ms Smith's carer and recently sacked her.
The NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission said Integrity Care, also known as Integrity Care SA, has been issued an infringement notice for failing to notify it of Ms Smith's death within 24 hours of becoming aware of it.
"By law, Integrity Care can choose to pay the infringement notice or not," NDIS Commissioner Graeme Head said.
"If they choose not to pay then we may initiate court proceedings seeking a civil penalty for the alleged contravention.
"The maximum penalty that a court could impose for a contravention of failing to notify us is $262,500."
Mr Head said reporting serious incidents is a "critical safeguarding mechanism" for people with a disability. "There have been clear failings in the support given to Ms Smith that warrant our thorough and careful investigation," he said.
The NDIS Commission has also issued a compliance notice to Integrity Care, requiring it to do a range of things to protect the safety of its other clients with disabilities.
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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Organization Fine
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Six-month sentence for former journalist, INM director Michel Venne
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Former director and founding member of the Institut du nouveau monde was convicted of sexual assault of Léa Clermont-Dion when she was 17. Former journalist Michel Venne was sentenced Tuesday to six months in prison for having sexually assaulted documentary filmmaker Léa Clermont-Dion, but won’t be behind bars for long. Venne’s lawyers quickly asked for Venne to be released pending an appeal of the guilty verdict rendered in June. The Court of Appeal agreed to hear the challenge in September. The former director and founding member of the Institut du nouveau monde, 61-year-old Venne was found guilty of sexual assault and sexual exploitation of Clermont-Dion when she was a 17-year-old intern at the institute in August 2008. The six-month sentence was a joint recommendation of the Crown and defence, and was accepted by Quebec Court judge Stéphane Poulin. Venne will also have to register as a sex offender for 20 years. After the sentencing, Venne was escorted, handcuffed, out of the courtroom. The date of the appeal of his sentence has not been set and could take several months. Venne’s lawyers say there were errors of law in Poulin’s ruling. Clermont-Dion asked for a standard publication ban to be lifted allowing her to publicly disclose her identity. After the guilty verdict, she issued a statement saying she wants for the “shame to change sides.”
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Famous Person - Commit Crime - Sentence
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Airborne Express Flight 827 crash
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Airborne Express Flight 827 was a functional evaluation flight (FEF) of an Airborne Express Douglas DC-8-63F (registration N827AX) that had undergone a major modification. On December 22, 1996, during the test flight, the aircraft stalled and crashed, killing all six people on board. Accident investigators determined the cause of the accident was improper crew control inputs. [2][3]
The aircraft involved was a Douglas DC-8-63 freighter registered as N827AX. The aircraft had been built in 1967 and was previously owned by KLM as a passenger aircraft (with registration PH-DEB) and then Capitol Air and National Airlines (registration N929R). In January 1986 the aircraft was converted into a freighter and delivered to Emery Worldwide (with the same registration). ABX Air (a subsidiary of Airborne Express) purchased the aircraft on June 17, 1996, more than six months before the accident. The aircraft was re-registered as N827AX. It underwent a major overhaul and was delivered to ABX Air on December 15 the same year, just a week before the accident. The aircraft was powered by four Pratt & Whitney JT3D-7 turbofan engines. At the time of the accident, the aircraft had flown 62,800 hours and nine minutes with 24,234 take off and landing cycles. [2]:7[4][5]
The aircraft's overhaul was performed by the Triad International Maintenance Corporation (TIMCO). During the major overhaul, the aircraft received major avionic upgrades, including the installation of an electronic flight instrument system (EFIS). All four engines were removed. Two of them were overhauled and reinstalled on the aircraft, while the other two were completely replaced by different JT3D-7 engines from ABX Air. Hush kits were installed on all of the engines for noise reduction. The aircraft's stall warning system was tested and declared functional. [2]:1,7–8
Rather than a captain, a first officer and a flight engineer, Flight 827 was crewed by two captains (one flying, one not flying/monitoring), and a flight engineer. There were also three aircraft technicians on board. [2]:4[6]
The captain who was the pilot not flying/pilot monitoring (though acting as pilot in command (PIC)) was 48-year-old Garth Dale Avery, who had worked for Airborne Express since 1988 and had 8,087 flight hours, including 869 hours on the DC-8. He was seated in the right seat. Avery was also a flight instructor with Airborne Express. [2]:4–5[7]
The captain who was the pilot flying (though acting as a co-pilot) was 37-year-old William Keith Lemming, who had worked for Airborne Express since 1991 and had logged 8,426 flight hours, with 1,509 of them on the DC-8. He was seated in the left seat. Lemming had previously been a pilot for Trans World Airlines. [2]:2,5
The flight engineer was 52-year-old Terry Waelti who, like captain Avery, had been with Airborne Express since 1988. Waelti had 7,928 flight hours, including 2,576 hours on the DC-8. [2]:5–6[8]
The three technicians were 48-year-old Edward Bruce Goettsch, 39-year-old Kenneth Athey, and 36-year-old Brian C. Scully. Goettsch and Athey both worked for Airborne Express, while Scully worked for TIMCO. [6][9][10]
Initially, Flight 827 had been scheduled to depart on December 16, but was delayed due to maintenance. An attempt on December 21, (operated by the same crew) was cut short due to a hydraulic problem. Flight 827 finally departed at 17:40 Eastern Standard Time at nighttime on December 22, 1996, after being delayed due to additional maintenance. The flight climbed to 9,000 feet (2,700 m) and then to 14,000 feet (4,300 m). [2]:1–2
The aircraft was operating under instrument flight rules (IFR) and was to fly Northwest over New River Valley Airport's VOR, in Pulaski County, Virginia, then to Beckley, West Virginia, followed by other way points in Kentucky and Virginia, and then return to Greensboro. The flight was expected to last two hours. [2]:2
Shortly after reaching 14,000 feet (4,300 m), the aircraft experienced atmospheric icing, which was indicated when the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) recorded captain Lemming saying, "we're gettin' a little bit of ice here," and "probably get out of this," at 17:48:34 and 17:48:37 respectively. [2]:2[11]
Several landing gear, hydraulic, and engine tests were performed without incident. At 18:05, flight engineer Waelti said, "next thing is our stall series." The next item was a clean stall maneuver test. The crew would slow the aircraft down until the stick shaker activated, record the stall speed and that of the stick shaker activation, and then recover control of the aircraft. In other words, the flight crew would deliberately stall the aircraft. Captain Avery stated that the stall speed was 122 knots (140 mph; 226 km/h), and Waelti stated that the stick shaker would activate at 128 knots (147 mph; 237 km/h), which was 6 knots (6.9 mph; 11 km/h) before the stall speed. The flight crew began gradually slowing the aircraft down by 1 knot (1.2 mph; 1.9 km/h) per second. [2]:2
At 18:07, engine power was increased. One minute later at 18:08, a buffeting sensation was experienced (which is considered normal during a stall test), followed by a rattling noise, and then flight engineer Waelti saying, "that's a stall right there… [unintelligible word] ain't no [stick] shaker." The aircraft was at 145 knots (167 mph; 269 km/h) and had entered a real stall. However, the stick shaker had failed to activate, as it was never heard on the CVR. The flight crew applied maximum engine power and pushed the aircraft's nose down in an attempt to get out of the stall. At 18:09, Air Traffic Control (ATC) asked the flight if they had initiated an emergency descent, with captain Avery replying, "yes sir." This was the last communication (and only distress call) from Flight 827.
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Air crash
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Wind turbine installation vessel capsizes in Southern China
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A wind turbine installation vessel capsized off the coast of South China’s Guangdong on Sunday morning local time, causing close to 70 people to fall into the sea. The accident took place at around 11,00 hrs local time, near the Honghaiwan wind measurement tower in the Red Bay area of Huizhou. The video (see below) shows the vessel, identified as Sheng Ping 001, formerly Teras Fortress 2, partially sunk next to the wind turbine transition piece. Rescue operations are underway and the number of casualties, as well as the cause of the accident, have not yet been reported. Chinese local media said that there were 67 people onboard. According to reports, 63 people have been safely transferred, and four people are still missing. The 2015-built vessel tilted and started flooding while working on the CGN New Energy offshore wind construction project. Hopefully all are safe. Courses will be more professional, Rates will come up for techs. They are so proud that don’t hire expats. However last time they asked step by step manual for jacking operations for one of Jack up vessel… That’s true. Chinese are so greedy and clueless in this business, that story of TF2 is just one of the case on media. Chinese will do everything, to get out of expats even by sacrificing if jack up rig Meanwhile, they are so “good” in shipbuilding, that in few month TF2 will be on same location in “newbuild” condition with 1 expirienced master/oim with knowledge on geotech, preload/predrive requirements
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Shipwreck
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1938 Kyeema crash
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The Kyeema airline crash occurred on 25 October 1938 when the Australian National Airways Douglas DC-2 Kyeema, tail number VH-UYC, flying from Adelaide to Melbourne, commenced final approach to Essendon Airport through heavy fog and crashed into the western slopes of Mount Dandenong, also known as Mount Corhanwarrabul, killing all 18 on board instantly. The flight took off from Adelaide at 11:22. As it entered the area around Melbourne, it came across a heavy cloud layer, extending from 1500 feet (457 m) to 400 feet (122 m) and making landmark navigation difficult. As a result, the flight crew mistakenly identified Sunbury as Daylesford through a gap in the clouds, leading them to believe that they were 30 kilometres (19 miles) behind where they actually were on their flight plan. Had the flight crew cross-referenced their ground speed with previous landmarks, they would likely have realised that they were not where they thought they were. Instead, they overshot Essendon and, unable to see through the heavy fog, crashed into Mount Dandenong a few hundred metres from the summit. Exactly what happened in the last few minutes before the crash is disputed. There are claims that the pilots may have seen the mountain coming and tried to turn the aircraft away, inadvertently making the situation worse by adjusting from a flight path through a gap between two peaks to a path directly into one of them. There is also strong evidence that the pilots were becoming unsure of their position. According to Macarthur Job's book, Disaster in the Dandenongs, the radio operator had requested the controller at Essendon give them a radio bearing. Essendon had acknowledged and told them to leave their transmitter on, but the signal stopped and no further contact was made. [1] It is thought that this is the moment that Kyeema hit the mountain. There were 18 people on board the DC-2: 14 passengers, the captain, the first officer, an air hostess, and a cadet pilot who operated the radio during the flight. Among the passengers was Australian Member of Parliament, Charles Hawker. [2]
By public demand a Royal Commission into the cause of the disaster was established, and the Australian Federal Government appointed an Air Accident Investigation Committee under the Chairmanship of Colonel T. Murdoch DSO, VCE with the public enquiry commencing on 30 October 1938. Because of the crash, regulations were passed which require flight checking officers to monitor the flights of aeroplanes and advise on such things as position, weather, and alternative landing options. Also implementation of a 33 MHz radio range system was recommended to provide pilots with accurate information on their course. Eric Harrison (RAAF officer) was a member of the court of inquiry into the crash on 25 October of the Douglas DC-2 airliner Kyeema. The inquiry's report singled out Major Melville Langslow, Finance Member on both the Civil Aviation Board and the RAAF Air Board, for criticism over cost-cutting measures that had held up trials of safety beacons designed for such eventualities. According to Air Force historian Chris Coulthard-Clark, when Langslow was appointed Secretary at the Department of Air in November the following year, he went out of his way to "make life difficult" for Harrison, causing "bitterness and friction within the department", and necessitating the Chief of the Air Staff, Air Vice Marshal Stanley Goble, to take steps to shield the safety inspector from the new Secretary's ire. [3]
It was not until 40 years after the crash that a memorial to the Kyeema and its eighteen passengers was created at the crash site.
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Air crash
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President Obama lifted a decades-long American arms embargo on Vietnam on Monday
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HANOI — President Obama lifted a decades-long American arms embargo on Vietnam on Monday and touted a new friendship with the United States' former enemy.
"Just a generation ago, we were adversaries and now we are friends," Obama said during a news conference in Hanoi with Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang 41 years after the end of the Vietnam War.
Obama also predicted eventual passage of another element of the emerging American-Vietnamese relationship: the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the proposed 12-nation trade deal currently stalled in the U.S. Congress. Vietnam is one of the member countries.
Other signs of cooperation between the former combatants include new business sales, more military cooperation, research programs involving universities in both countries and cultural exchanges that include the introduction of the U.S. Peace Corps to Vietnam, Obama said.
Obama, who arrived here Sunday night, was greeted by small but enthusiastic crowds at the airport and along the motorcade route to his hotel. The capital city of narrow alleys and wide colonial-era boulevards closed 30 streets Monday for the president's visit, creating a chaotic traffic snarl.
As Obama made the rounds, from a welcoming ceremony at the presidential palace to meetings with Vietnam's top government officials, he remained a popular topic of discussion among Vietnamese.
Le Van Mai, 84, said Obama's visit signaled a new era in relations between the former enemies. "The war is in the past now and everything is fresh between Vietnam and the U.S.," Mai said. Obama's "visit can show the bond between the two countries."
Mai said he fought as a soldier not against the U.S. but the French, who retreated from Vietnam in 1954 after a crushing defeat at Dien Bien Phu. He lived in Hanoi during the Vietnam War and recalled the bombing and suffering the Vietnamese endured. Yet all that is in the past, he added: "Our country has moved on. We agree that we want to ease the past and embrace unity between Vietnam and the U.S."
First-year accounting student Nguyen Thi Tu Trinh, 18, said she is proud Obama is visiting her country. "I think the U.S. and Vietnam should be closer and cooperate in so many aspects," she said.
Young Vietnamese are as Internet-savvy as their peers around the world, and Trinh said she has been following the president's visit on the local news and via social media, where friends posted their photos of sightings of Obama's motorcade around the city.
As word of the president's announcement that he was lifting the arms embargo spread, some residents welcomed the gesture in light of a contentious relationship with giant neighbor China, which is engaged in a territorial dispute with Vietnam in the South China Sea.
"Like everyone else, I don't want any conflict" said Nguyen Dinh Toan, 63, who drives one of the ubiquitous motorbike taxis known as xe om. "But if the U.S. can help us, that would be good. It's a big leap for both countries. I want the bond to be strengthened even more."
After a morning meeting with Vietnam's president, Obama signed a series of bilateral agreements, including the $11 billion purchase of 100 Boeing 737 aircraft by Vietnamese airline Vietjet Air. He then met with the recently elected chairwoman of Vietnam’s National Assembly, Nyguyen Thi Kim Ngan, at a rustic stilt house on the grounds of the presidential palace that was used as a residence by Ho Chi Minh, the iconic communist leader and president of former North Vietnam.
Obama described the arms embargo as "a lingering vestige of the Cold War" that is no longer necessary as the U.S. and Vietnam continue the process of normalizing relations.
Vietnamese eager to show off country to world when Obama visits
He said the decision to fully end the embargo, which the United States partially lifted in 2014, has nothing to do with the growing Chinese military presence in the region, though he also declared that the change will guarantee that Vietnam has "access to the equipment it needs to defend itself." Obama said that, as with any country, each weapons sale to Hanoi will be evaluated on a "case-by-case" basis.
"We examine what's appropriate and what's not," he said.
Obama also said the United States and Vietnam continue to have differences over human rights. His administration has protested the number of Vietnamese political prisoners.
In a nod to the war that ended in 1975, Obama thanked Vietnam's government for helping the U.S. locate the remains of missing soldiers, and he pledged to help the Vietnamese government with the ongoing removal of land mines and un-exploded ordnance left over from the conflict.
Obama, who met with Vietnamese leaders throughout the day in the capital of Hanoi, also hailed the more than $16 billion in new business agreements between the two nations, including plans by VietJet to also buy 135 advanced engines from Pratt & Whitney.
The president on Tuesday travels to Ho Chi Minh City, the nation's commercial center.
The biggest mutual investment between the two countries involves the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership.
While the trade deal has drawn opposition from the U.S. Congress — as well as presidential candidates Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders — Obama predicted to his audience in Vietnam that the pact will be approved, though "the politics of it will be noisy."
While critics say low-wage countries like Vietnam would take jobs from the United States under the trade deal, Obama said the TPP includes labor protections and will open up markets for American products throughout the Asia-Pacific region.
President Obama confirms death of Taliban leader
"This is the fastest growing part of the world," the president said.
Just before the news conference in Hanoi, Obama confirmed the death of Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansoor in a written statement issued by the White House.
"We have removed the leader of an organization that has continued to plot against and unleash attacks on American and Coalition forces, to wage war against the Afghan people, and align itself with extremist groups like al-Qaeda," Obama said.
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Diplomatic Visit
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2015 Men's EuroHockey Nations Championship
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The 2015 Men's EuroHockey Championship was the 15th edition of the men's EuroHockey Nations Championship, the biennial international men's field hockey championship of Europe organised by the European Hockey Federation. It was held from 21–29 August 2015 in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, London, England. [2]
The Netherlands defeated the defending champions Germany 6–1 in the final to capture their fourth title, while Ireland won their first-ever medal by beating the hosts England 4–2. [1] As the winners, the Netherlands qualified for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The eight teams were be split into two groups of four teams. The top two teams advanced to the semi-finals to determine the winner in a knockout system. The bottom two teams played in a new group with the teams they did not play against in the group stage. The last two teams were relegated to the EuroHockey Championship II. The points obtained in the preliminary round against the other team are taken over. Qualified for the 2016 Summer Olympics
Relegated to the EuroHockey Championship II
There were 118 goals scored in 20 matches, for an average of 5.9 goals per match. 10 goals
6 goals
5 goals
4 goals
3 goals
2 goals
1 goal
Source: FIH
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Sports Competition
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US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump have made an unannounced Christmas visit to US troops in Iraq
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US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump have made an unannounced Christmas visit to US troops in Iraq.
They travelled there "late on Christmas night" to thank troops for "their service, their success and their sacrifice", the White House said.
Mr Trump said the US had no plans to pull out of Iraq.
The trip came days after Defence Secretary Jim Mattis quit over divisions about strategy in the region.
The US still has some 5,000 troops in Iraq to support the government in its fight against what remains of the Islamic State (IS) group.
However, a planned meeting between Mr Trump and Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi was cancelled. Mr Mahdi's office said it was because of disagreements on how to conduct the meeting. A phone call between the two leaders was held instead and the White House said Mr Mahdi had accepted an invitation to visit Washington.
Mr Trump, his wife and National Security Adviser John Bolton travelled on Air Force One to al-Asad airbase, west of the capital Baghdad, to meet military personnel in the base's canteen.
It was his first visit to the region.
During the visit he got a standing ovation from troops as he entered a dining hall and walked around greeting them, posing for selfies and signing autographs.
He said the reason for the visit was to personally thank them for helping to defeat IS, adding: "Two years ago when I became president they were a very dominant group, today they're not so dominant any more. Great job."
.@FLOTUS Melania and I were honored to visit our incredible troops at Al Asad Air Base in Iraq. GOD BLESS THE U.S.A.! pic.twitter.com/rDlhITDvm1
The president told the soldiers he had secured a 10% wage increase for them, after learning their pay had been stagnant for "more than 10 years".
In fact armed forces personnel have received a pay rise in each of the past 10 years. The increase for 2019, approved by the president in August, will be 2.6%.
Mr Trump had planned to spend Christmas at his private golf club in Florida, but stayed behind in Washington because of the current partial government shutdown.
The visit to Iraq lasted about three hours. On the flight back, the president's plane refuelled at Ramstein Air Base in Germany and Mr Trump used the brief stopover to meet troops stationed there.
"We're no longer the suckers, folks," he told American service personnel. "We're respected again as a nation."
Mr Trump said the US could use Iraq as a forward base if it "wanted to do something in Syria", Reuters news agency reports.
He defended his decision to withdraw US troops from Syria during the visit, saying: "A lot of people are going to come around to my way of thinking.
"I made it clear from the beginning that our mission in Syria was to strip Isis [another name for IS] of its military strongholds.
"Eight years ago, we went there for three months and we never left. Now, we're doing it right and we're going to finish it off."
Mr Trump also spoke of his conversations with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan which are believed to have influenced his decision to pull US forces out of Syria.
"I will tell you that I've had some very good talks with President Erdogan who wants to knock them [IS] out also and he'll do it. And others will do it too," Mr Trump said. "We are in their region. They should be sharing the burden of costs and they're not."
He said there would be no delays in the withdrawal and added that the US could not "continue to be the policeman of the world".
"It's not fair when the burden is all on us, the United States," he said.
"We don't want to be taken advantage of any more by countries that use us and use our incredible military to protect them. They don't pay for it, and they're going to have to."
The president also said that security considerations had prevented him from visiting US troops in the region several weeks ago.
Mr Trump announced the decision to pull US troops out of Syria last week.
However, important allies including senior Republicans and foreign powers have disputed the claim that IS is defeated in Syria and say the US withdrawal could lead to a resurgence.
In his resignation letter, Gen Mattis said he did not share Mr Trump's views. One of the top US diplomats in the fight against IS, Brett McGurk, also resigned early. He reportedly described Mr Trump's decision as a "reversal of policy" that "left our coalition partners confused and our fighting partners bewildered".
A Kurdish-led alliance, the Syria Democratic Forces, has also warned that IS could recover.
US troops have helped rid much of Syria's north-east of the jihadist group, but pockets of fighters remain.
US envoy quits over Trump Syria pullout
Trump brings forward Mattis departure
US 'to pull 7,000 troops' from Afghanistan
Trump's Syria withdrawal plan stuns allies
US Syria pullout 'will enable IS return'
US ground troops 'withdrawing from Syria'
Hardliner Raisi set to win Iran election
Vote-counting shows Ebrahim Raisi - Iran's top judge - has so far received 62% of the vote.
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Diplomatic Visit
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Great Railroad Strike
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The Great Railroad Strike of 1877, sometimes referred to as the Great Upheaval, began on July 14 in Martinsburg, West Virginia, after the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) cut wages for the third time in a year. This strike finally ended some 69 days later, after it was put down by unofficial militias, the National Guard, and federal troops. Because of economic problems and pressure on wages by the railroads, workers in numerous other cities, in New York, Pennsylvania and Maryland, into Illinois and Missouri, also went out on strike. An estimated 100 people were killed in the unrest across the country. In Martinsburg, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and other cities, workers burned down and destroyed both physical facilities and the rolling stock of the railroads—engines and railroad cars. Local populations feared that workers were rising in revolution such as the Paris Commune of 1871. At the time, the workers were not represented by trade unions. The city and state governments were aided by unofficial militias, the National Guard, federal troops and private militias organized by the railroads, who all fought against the workers. Disruption was widespread and at its height, the strikes were supported by about 100,000 workers. With the intervention of federal troops in several locations, most of the strikes were suppressed by early August. Labor continued to work to organize into unions to work for better wages and conditions. Fearing the social disruption, many cities built armories to support their local National Guard units; these defensive buildings still stand as symbols of the effort to suppress the labor unrest of this period. With public attention on workers' wages and conditions, the B&O in 1880 founded an Employee Relief Association to provide death benefits and some health care. In 1884, it established a worker pension plan. Other improvements generally had to await further economic growth and associated wage increases. The Long Depression, beginning in the United States with the financial Panic of 1873 and lasting 65 months, became the longest economic contraction in American history, including the later more famous, 45-month-long Great Depression of the 1930s. [1][2] The failure of the Jay Cooke bank in New York, was followed quickly by that of Henry Clews, and set off a chain reaction of bank failures, temporarily closing the New York stock market. [3]:65
Unemployment rose dramatically, reaching 14 percent by 1876, many more were severely underemployed, and wages overall dropped to 45% of their previous level. [4] Thousands of American businesses failed, defaulting on more than a billion dollars of debt. [5] One in four laborers in New York were out of work in the winter of 1873-1874. [5]:167 National construction of new rail lines dropped from 7,500 miles of track in 1872 to just 1,600 miles in 1875,[6] and production in iron and steel alone dropped as much as 45%. [7][5]:167
When the Civil War ended, a boom in railroad construction ensued, with roughly 35,000 miles (55,000 kilometers) of new track being laid from coast to coast between 1866 and 1873. The railroads, then the second-largest employer outside of agriculture, required large amounts of capital investment, and thus entailed massive financial risk. Speculators fed large amounts of money into the industry, causing abnormal growth and over-expansion. Jay Cooke's firm, like many other banking firms, invested a disproportionate share of depositors' funds in the railroads, thus laying the track for the ensuing collapse. [citation needed]
In addition to Cooke's direct infusion of capital in the railroads, the firm had become a federal agent for the government in the government's direct financing of railroad construction. As building new track in areas where land had not yet been cleared or settled required land grants and loans that only the government could provide, the use of Jay Cooke's firm as a conduit for federal funding worsened the effects that Cooke's bankruptcy had on the nation's economy. [citation needed]
In the wake of the Panic of 1873, a bitter antagonism between workers and the leaders of industry developed. Immigration from Europe was underway, as was migration of rural workers into the cities, increasing competition for jobs and enabling companies to drive down wages and easily lay off workers. By 1877, 10 percent wage cuts, distrust of capitalists and poor working conditions led to workers conducting numerous railroad strikes that prevented the trains from moving, with spiraling effects in other parts of the economy. Suppressed by violence, workers continued to organize to try to improve their conditions. Management worked to break up such movements, and mainstream society feared labor organizing as signs of revolutionary socialism. Tensions lingered well after the depression ended in 1878–79. [citation needed]
Many of the new immigrant workers were Catholics, and their church had forbidden participation in secret societies since 1743, partially as a reaction against the anti-Catholicism of Freemasonry. But by the late 19th century, the Knights of Labor, a national and predominately Catholic organization, had 700,000 members seeking to represent all workers. In 1888 Archbishop James Cardinal Gibbons of Baltimore sympathized with the workers and collaborated with other bishops to lift the prohibition against workers joining the KOL. Other workers also took actions, and unrest marked the following decades. In 1886 Samuel Gompers founded the American Federation of Labor for the skilled craft trades, attracting skilled workers from other groups. Other labor organizing followed. [8]
The Great Railroad Strike of 1877 started on July 14 in Martinsburg, West Virginia, in response to the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad (B&O) cutting wages of workers for the third time in a year. Striking workers would not allow any of the trains, mainly freight trains, to roll until this third wage cut was revoked. West Virginia Governor Henry M. Mathews sent in National Guard units to restore train service but the soldiers refused to fire on the strikers. The governor in Charleston, West Virginia then appealed for federal troops. Meanwhile, the Strike also spread into western Maryland to the major railroad hub of Cumberland, county seat of Allegany County where railway workers stopped freight and passenger traffic. In Baltimore, the famous Fifth ("Dandy Fifth") and Sixth Regiments of the former state militia, reorganized since the Civil War as the Maryland National Guard, were called up by Maryland Governor John Lee Carroll, at the request of powerful B. & O. President John Work Garrett. The Fifth marched down North Howard Street from its armory above the old Richmond Market (at present North Howard and West Read Streets) in the Mount Vernon-Belvedere neighborhood and were generally unopposed heading south for the B. & O. 's general headquarters and main depot at the Camden Street Station to board waiting westward trains to Hagerstown and Cumberland.
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Strike
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MassMutual settles case involving ‘Roaring Kitty’ with $4 million fine
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A subsidiary of MassMutual has agreed to pay a $4 million fine to resolve accusations involving Keith Gill, the former employee who gained wide notoriety under the name “Roaring Kitty” on YouTube for his astronomical gains during the GameStop stock rally earlier this year.
MassMutual, the Springfield-based financial services giant, also agreed to overhaul its social media policies to better detect whether its employees are in compliance with company rules on social media as part of an agreement with the office of Secretary of State William Galvin.
In an 18-page consent order signed on Tuesday, the secretary of state’s office, which regulates the securities industry, portrayed MassMutual as repeatedly failing to detect Gill’s voluminous social media activities, including over 250 hours of YouTube videos in which he detailed investment strategy.
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Until his termination in late January, Gill, a licensed broker-dealer, was responsible for creating educational material used by MassMutual as a marketing tool to attract new customers, the consent order says.
At the same time, Gill, in his spare time, used a half-dozen social media platforms “almost exclusively” for “discussing, analyzing and promoting GameStop,” a brick-and-mortar video game, consumer electronics, and gaming merchandise retailer, the order says.
“Gill had gained tens of thousands of followers … and his social media posts were oft cited as a driving force behind the market volatility surrounding GameStop in late January,” the order says.
His overlapping roles caught the attention of the secretary of state’s office, which began an investigation into possible violations of securities laws and regulations.
The consent order filed this week focuses on MassMutual, not Gill, who was named as a “related person” in the secretary of state’s “statement of facts.”
Gill, responding to a subpoena, testified before the secretary of state’s Division of Securities earlier this year. He is still under investigation, a spokeswoman for the office said.
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Under longstanding rules, MassMutual prohibits its broker-dealers from discussing generic securities and company business on social media, including specifically YouTube and Twitter, the order says.
Gill, a Brockton native who is in his mid-30s, made at least 590 security-related statements on Twitter, the order says.
The secretary of state’s office also said MassMutual “failed to monitor or detect nearly 1,700 trades effected by Gill in the accounts of three other individuals,” an apparent violation of company rules, the order says.
In addition, the secretary of state’s office said MassMutual failed to detect that Gill made two transactions in amounts that exceeded the company’s limit of $250,000, the order says. Those two transactions totaled almost $1.5 million, the order says.
In an internal e-mail quoted in the order, a MassMutual employee wrote on the day of Gill’s termination: “It is clear that these actions were not in line with MassMutual’s code of conduct, ethics policies, and are potentially a violations of regulatory laws.”
Galvin, in his office’s press release, said “MassMutual was not as diligent as it should have been in supervising its employees. It took the media less than a day to identify the person behind the Roaring Kitty posts, while his own employer took no notice of his online persona.”
A spokesperson for MassMutual released this statement on Thursday: “MassMutual is pleased to put this matter behind us, avoiding the expense and distraction associated with protracted litigation.”
Gill’s lawyer could not immediately be reached for comment.
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During an appearance before a congressional committee in February, Gill testified that he did substantial research into GameStop before investing in it, but disputed any significant role in its market surge.
“The idea that I used social media to promote GameStop stock to unwitting investors and influence the market is preposterous,” he testified. “My posts did not cause the movement of billions of dollars into GameStop shares.”
He also testified that he was not a part of a coordinated effort to buy GameStop stock and he did not sell stocks as part of his job at MassMutual.
Gill, in a post on Reddit, at one point said the value of his GameStop holdings had grown as high as $48 million, the Globe has reported.
The order filed by the secretary of state’s office highlighted some of the wild fluctuations in the prices of GameStop’s stock, noting that on Jan. 20 its closing price was $39.12.
“The next two weeks the stock experienced unprecedented swings, reaching a high price of $483 on Jan. 29, and closing on Feb. 4 at $53.50,” the order says.
The secretary of state’s office characterized that period as a “meme stock run-up,” which it defined as “an increase in trading volume not because of the company’s performance but rather because of promotion on social media platforms and online forums such as Reddit.”
Known on YouTube as “Roaring Kitty” and on Reddit’s Wallstreetbets forum as “Deep [expletive] Value,” Gill amassed a large following of investors interested in pursuing his trading strategy, the Globe has reported.
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Under the order, MassMutual also agreed to an independent compliance review of its social media policies and trading by its broker-dealer agents, the office of Secretary of State said in a press release.
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Organization Fine
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Passing Wins Top Prize at LGBTQ+ NewFest 2021
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Rebecca Hall ’s acclaimed directorial debut, “ Passing ,” won the U.S. Narrative Feature Jury Award at the 33rd installment of NewFest, New York City's LGBTQ+ film festival. According to the jury's official statement, “The film’s expressive cinematography, beautiful performances, and clear directorial vision all come together in this devastating story of destabilized identity.” The movie is now in limited theatrical release and will premiere on Netflix on Wednesday, November 10th. "Passing," which premiered at this year's Sundance Film Festival, is an adaptation of Nella Larsen 's revelatory 1929 novel starring Oscar-nominee Ruth Negga ("Loving") and Tessa Thompson (" Dear White People ") as Clare and Irene, respectively—two African-American high school friends who reenter one another's lives as adults but who by then are living on opposite sides of the color line. Negga's character is passing as white but has an openly racist husband (Alexander Skaarsgard), who has no idea of the secret she is hiding. Thompson's character chooses to live as Black, and her rich social and family life in Harlem draws her friend back like a moth to a flame. Our website's publisher, Chaz Ebert , is an executive producer of the film, and says she supported it because she was familiar with Nella Larsen's book and knew it was all too rare to see two Black women and their emotional lives highlighted on the big screen this way. "In previous films about Black women passing for white, white actresses were cast for the role. Rebecca Hall said it was very important to her to cast Black actors and to look at the story from their points of view. Hall's film is exquisite." "Also," Chaz continues, "racial 'passing' is a little known phenomenon in today's world. However, when I was growing up you heard many stories about people 'passing,' but the word was whispered so as not to divulge anyone's secret by outing them. Hall's adaptation is faithful to Larsen's novella, but also adds elegant cinematic touches of her own. And let's face it, race is still one of the more difficult topics to talk about in our society. It becomes even more complicated when race intersects with gender and class. Perhaps the film will spark empathy and enlightening conversations." Hall's own family hid a racially mixed heritage. Her mother is American opera singer Maria Ewing, whose own father passed for white. Hall didn't know this growing up and making this film was a way for her to investigate it and come to her own conclusions. Her father is British theater impresario Peter Hall . So Hall grew up white and British, but always wondered about her mother's background. She has since had a chance to research it. Advertisement Hall shot this film (with cinematographer Eduard Grau ) in sumptuous black and white and a 4:3 aspect ratio to maximize the period look and feel. Serving as the the film's producer is Nina Yang Bongiovi , who formed Significant Productions with Oscar-winner Forest Whitaker . Together they have produced other Sundance hits such as " Fruitvale Station ," " Dope ," " Sorry to Bother You " and Chloé Zhao's first film, "Songs My Brother Taught Me." "I hope with a film like 'Passing,' filmmakers and creatives are inspired and emboldened to push the boundaries in narratives that don’t confine us," said Bongiovi. "Great storytelling transcends globally." Bongiovi's conviction has been further proven by the praise that "Passing" has received since its premiere. "In her gorgeously shot emotional gut-punch of a feature directorial debut, actress Rebecca Hall announces herself as a true force behind the camera and gifts stars Tessa Thompson and Ruth Negga with roles worthy of their formidable talents," wrote Geoff Berkshire in The Los Angeles Times. "Hall’s adaptation of the 1929 novel by Nella Larsen begins as an exploration of biracial people passing for white in the ‘20s and effortlessly expands to explore the nuances of class, gender and sexuality that overshadow an uneasy friendship." Our site's Managing Editor Brian Tallerico wrote that the film is "a subtle and nuanced examination of racial boundaries and definitions, amplified by issues of sexuality that would have been equally daring at the time this book was published. [...] It’s a conversation piece in every way, and those are always the films that matter most." In his three-and-a-half star review , our critic Odie Henderson wrote that "Hall, Grau, editor Sabine Hoffman , and composer Devonté Hynes do an excellent job of casting a hypnotic spell on the audience. "This is a deliberately paced film with enveloping moods that feel like symphony movements. There’s heavy material here, but 'Passing' doesn’t belabor its points. When [her husband] Brian rightfully tries to warn his sons about the racist trouble they’ll face in the world, Irene argues that they should have some innocence in their youth. We understand both arguments even though we know one of them is very, very naïve. The entire film exists in this perpetual state of a deceptively gentle push and pull. It’s a masterful balance of tone."
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Awards ceremony
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Archaeological Finds Shed Light on Battle of Salamis
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The Battle of Salamis, fought between the Persians and a vastly outnumbered Greek force in September of 480 BC, is considered by many historians to be one of the most decisive in history, and much archaeological evidence found there has shed light on the battle and its aftermath. Although the exact date in the month of September when the significant naval battle between the Greeks and Persians occurred is not known with exactitude, many scholars believe it took place at the end of the month. The Battle of Salamis is considered one of the most important in history. Had the Greeks not won the battle, many believe that the Persian invasion of Greece would have been successful, altering the course of history as we know it. Much like the Battle at Thermopylae, the heroics at the Battle of Salamis, an island off the coast of Attica, Greece, have risen to legendary status, as the allied Greek city-states used approximately 370 trireme ships, and the Persians had over 1,000, according to ancient sources. The Persians, under King Xerxes, planned to crush the outnumbered Greeks with the sheer force of their massive fleet. The leader of the Greek ships, Themistocles, aware of the number of Persian ships, lured the Persians to the narrow Strait of Salamis, where the Greek ships were waiting. Since the enormous Persian fleet could not fit in the strait, they quickly became disorganized, opening up a possibility for a Greek victory. While the Battle of Salamis is one of the most well-studied and famous battles in world history, archaeologists and experts continue to find new evidence that illuminates the decisive battle and what happened on the island in the wake of the Persian War. A team of 15 archaeologists, lead by Dr. Angeliki Simossi and Professor Yannos G. Lolos, discovered new evidence about ancient life on Salamis after the battle in April of this year. The latest excavations revealed a large part of the submerged sea walls running alongside the ancient city’s harbor, where the Greek fleet gathered for the epic battle against the Persians in 480 BC. Methods of both land and marine archaeology have been used to excavate through five layers down from ground level. Two distinct construction periods of the city walls were identified by the researchers, both dating back to the Classical era, starting from the 4th century BC. Other findings from the excavation have included various pottery and marble fragments as well as an unidentified copper coin. The marine excavation activities took place in September and October of 2020. This was the fifth consecutive year of research in the area, with the current three-year project scheduled to conclude in 2022. Scientific research, in addition to archaeological digs, has also yielded fascinating information regarding the battle. An article featuring research from the Center for Atmospheric Physics and Climatology Research at the Academy of Athens argues that the Greeks actually chose the site of Salamis after studying the area’s climactic conditions. This new hypothesis is a groundbreaking development regarding one of the most well-studied and famous battles in world history. It was not only the great military mind of Themistocles which led the Greeks to victory, but also a deep knowledge of the climate of Salamis, according to an article published in the scientific journal Atmosphere by researchers at the Academy of Athens. In the article, researchers, led by Professor Christos Zerefos, argue that current data gathered regarding wind conditions in the Strait of Salamis align with ancient eyewitness accounts. Additionally, the article contends that the Greeks must have been aware of these conditions, as Greeks planned a late-morning attack on the Persians, which aligned with wind conditions that made it more difficult for the Persians to retreat into the open sea in the early afternoon. Late-night and early-morning northwest winds, or Etesian winds, in the Saronic Gulf, combined with local south sea breezes in the late morning, trapped the Persian fleet in the narrow Strait of Salamis during the afternoon, leading to a Greek victory in the early evening. This particular wind pattern is still present today, and takes place mainly from May to September, when the sun is especially strong, heating up the atmosphere. The Battle of Salamis is traditionally believed to have taken place at the end of September in 480 BC, when this weather phenomenon is still in effect. Marine archaeologists announced in 2019 that they discovered underwater artifacts at the site where the naval battle of Salamis was fought in the Saronic Gulf in 480 BC. This major discovery was made during excavation work in the shallow waters off the coast of Salamis, according to an announcement by the Greek Ministry of Culture. The structure, which was standing in shallow water, is almost 50 feet long and was constructed on a north-south axis. Researchers believe it was a large public building which was used until the late Roman times, in the third century. The researchers said it would likely have been one of the main public buildings of the ancient city, located in the port. The team found ceramics, statues, columns or pillars and other features relating to the building, along with marble sculptures. One of the most spectacular archaeological finds from the site of the Battle of Salamis was the exquisite head belonging to a statue of an athlete or god, which the Ministry said appeared to be from the fourth century BC.
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New archeological discoveries
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Police find stolen car used in bank robbery
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A stolen car used during a bank robbery in Western Australia's south-west has been found by police near Mandurah. The robbery happened at a branch of the Bendigo Bank in Collie on Friday afternoon. Police say a man aged between 21 and 30-years-old entered the bank, threatening staff and demanding money. The man fled and drove away in a black Holden Commodore with the licence plate 'GET M OUT'. The car was located by detectives at Binningup, south of Mandurah. Police are still looking for the robber.
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Bank Robbery
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1897 Red River flood
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The 1897 Red River flood took place in April 1897, along the Red River resulting in significant damage to the city of Fargo, North Dakota. The conditions which led to the flood of 1897 were similar to the conditions behind the 2009 flood, however the 1897 flood was different in terms of the human response to it. [1] Although the river gauge was not installed on the Red River until 1901, other sources indicate that the crest of the 1897 flood at a site 1.5 miles (2.4 km) downstream from the present Fargo gauge would have been 40.10 ft (with a discharge rate of 25,000 ft3/s) according to the present datum. [2]
Until the 2009 flood, the 1897 flood was the highest water recorded in the Fargo-Moorhead area and has since served as the benchmark for which many other floods of the Red River were measured against. In the spring of 1897 R.M. Probesfield took a measurement of 5 feet (1.5 m) of snow on the ground in an area which was free from drifting; a value 2 feet (0.61 m) higher than one taken prior to the 1861 flood. [2] Due to the level of measured snowfall a flood in the spring was expected. This article related to a river in North Dakota is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. This article about a flood is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
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Floods
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Philippine Airlines Flight 434 crash
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Philippine Airlines Flight 434, sometimes referred to as PAL434 or PR434, was a flight on December 11, 1994 from Cebu to Tokyo on a Boeing 747-283B that was seriously damaged by a bomb, killing one passenger and damaging vital control systems. [1] The bombing was a test run of the unsuccessful Bojinka terrorist attacks. The Boeing 747 (tail number EI-BWF) was flying the second leg of a route from Ninoy Aquino International Airport (formerly Manila International Airport), Pasay in the Philippines, to Narita International Airport, in Tokyo, Japan, with a stop at Mactan–Cebu International Airport, Cebu, in the Philippines. After the bomb detonated, 58-year-old veteran pilot Captain Eduardo "Ed" Reyes was able to land the aircraft, saving it and the remaining passengers and crew. [2]
Authorities later discovered that Ramzi Yousef, a passenger on the aircraft's prior flight leg, had placed the explosive. [3][4] Yousef boarded the flight under the fake Italian name "Armaldo Forlani" in order to not get caught,[5] an incorrect spelling of the name of the Italian legislator[6] Arnaldo Forlani. Yousef was later convicted of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. [4]
The aircraft operating Flight 434 was a 15-year-old Boeing 747-283BM, registration EI-BWF, serial number 21575. [7]
It made its first flight on February 17, 1979, and was delivered to Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) on March 2, 1979 as SE-DFZ, operating the plane as "Knut Viking". The plane was then delivered to Philippine Airlines on April 1, 1992, after flying with Nigeria Airways, Lionair (Luxembourg), and Aerolineas Argentinas, from June 3, 1983, to March 30, 1992. Ramzi Yousef boarded the aircraft for the Manila to Cebu leg of the flight. The plane departed from Manila at 5:35 a.m. After the plane was airborne, he went into the lavatory with his toiletry bag in hand and took off his shoes to get out the batteries, wiring, and spark source hidden in the heel below a level where metal detectors in use at the time could detect anything. Yousef removed a modified Casio digital watch from his wrist to be used as a timer, unpacked the remaining materials from his toiletry bag, and assembled his bomb. He set the timer for four hours later, when he would be long disembarked and the plane would be far out over the ocean and en route to Tokyo during the next leg of its journey, put the entire bomb back into the bag, and returned to his assigned seat. After asking a flight attendant for permission to move to seat 26K, claiming that he could get a better view from that seat, Yousef moved there and tucked the assembled bomb into the life vest pocket underneath. He exited the aircraft in Cebu. [8] Philippine domestic Flight Attendant Maria De La Cruz noticed that Yousef had switched seats during the course of the Manila to Cebu flight and got off the plane in Cebu with the domestic cabin crew, but did not pass the information along to the international flight crew that boarded at Cebu for the trip to Tokyo. 25 other passengers also got off the plane at Cebu, where 256 more passengers and a new cabin crew consisting of Flight Purser Isidro Mangahas, Jr., Flight Stewards Fernando Bayot, Agustin Azurin, Ronnie Macapagal, E. Reyes, R. Santiago, Flight Attendants M. Alvar, Alpha Nicolasin, Cynthia Tengonciang, Andre Palma, Socorro Mendoza, E. Co, L. Garcia, N. dela Cruz, Adora Altarejos, L. Abella and Japanese interpreter K. Okada, boarded the plane for the final leg of the flight to Tokyo. [5]
Flight 434 landed in Cebu at 6:50 a.m., after a flight time of 1 hour 15 minutes. At 8:38 a.m., after a 38-minute delay due to airport congestion, the plane took off with a total of 273 passengers on board. Among them was 24-year-old Haruki Ikegami (池上春樹, Ikegami Haruki), a Japanese industrial sewing machine maker returning from a business trip to Cebu, occupying seat 26K. [5] At 11:43 a.m., 4 hours after Yousef planted his bomb, the device exploded underneath Ikegami, soon killing him and injuring an additional ten passengers in the adjacent seats in front of and behind seat 26K. [5] The blast also blew off a two-square-foot (0.2 m²) portion of the cabin floor leaving a gaping hole leading to the cargo hold, and the cabin's rapid expansion from the explosion severed a number of control cables in the ceiling that controlled the plane's right aileron, as well as cables that connected to the steering controls of both the Captain and First Officer. [5]
The severity of the disaster was reduced by several mitigating factors. One was that this particular 747 had a modified seating arrangement instead of the standard layout, making seat 26K two rows forward of the center fuel tank. The hole in the floor beneath the seat punched through to the cargo hold instead of the fuel tank, sparing the plane from exploding. [5] The bomb's orientation, positioned front-to-back and upward angled from horizontal, caused the blast to expand vertically and lengthwise. This spared the plane's outer structure, as Ikegami's body absorbed most of the blast force;[5] the lower half of his body fell into the cargo hold. Additionally, due to the 38-minute delay in takeoff from Cebu the plane was not as far out to sea as anticipated, which contributed to the captain's available options for an emergency landing. [5]
Masaharu Mochizuki, a passenger on the flight, recalled that passengers, both injured and uninjured, initially tried to move away from the blast site, but cabin crew told passengers to remain in place until an assessment of the situation could be made. [5] Assistant purser and lead economy class flight attendant, Fernando Bayot, moved an injured passenger named Yukihiko Osui away from the bomb site. Bayot then saw Ikegami and tried to pull him out of the hole, but soon realized that most of Ikegami's body below the waist was either damaged or missing entirely. In order to prevent additional panic, Bayot called another flight attendant over to give the appearance that they were tending to Ikegami's needs with a blanket and oxygen mask, then reported the extent of the passenger injuries to the cockpit. [5] Of the ten passengers who were injured, one needed urgent medical care. [5]
Immediately after the explosion, the aircraft banked hard to the right, but the autopilot quickly corrected the bank. [5] After the blast, Captain Reyes asked Systems Engineer Dexter Comendador to survey the blast site to check for damage. Reyes placed the Mayday call, requesting landing at Naha Airport, Okinawa Island, Okinawa Prefecture. [5] The Japanese air traffic controller experienced difficulty in trying to understand Reyes' request, so American air traffic controllers from a U.S. military base on Okinawa took over and processed Reyes' landing. [5] They directed a USAF Learjet towards PAL 434 to visually check for damage of the outer fuselage and to verify that the landing gear was in place. The autopilot had stopped responding to Reyes' commands and the aircraft flew past Okinawa. [5]
Reyes said in an interview for the Canadian television series Mayday that when he disengaged the autopilot he feared that the aircraft would bank right again and the crew would lose control of the aircraft; because of the pressing need to land quickly to attend to the injured and inspect the plane for additional damage, however, Reyes instructed Herrera to take hold of his own controls and then Reyes deactivated the autopilot. [5] The aircraft did not bank after the disengagement of the autopilot, but neither would it respond to steering inputs from either controller due to the control cable damage caused by the bomb. [5] The crew struggled to use the ailerons, which could allow the aircraft to roll but were still unable to change the plane's direction. After thinking through the different hypothetical methods of control, the crew settled on using asymmetric thrust to control the jet, in a very similar fashion to United Airlines Flight 232's crew five years earlier, because other methods of control were either deemed too risky to attempt, or would not have as much effect as other ways. [5]
By using the throttles to steer the plane, reducing air speed to both control the radius of turns and to allow the plane to descend, and dumping fuel to lessen the strain on the landing gear,[5] the Captain landed the damaged 747 at Naha Airport at 12:45 p.m., one hour after the bomb exploded. [6] The aircraft's other 272 passengers and 20 crew members survived. [5]
U.S. prosecutors said the device was a "Mark II" PETN "microbomb" constructed using Casio digital watches as described in Phase I of the Bojinka plot, for which this was a test. [9] On Flight 434, Yousef used one tenth of the explosive power he planned to use on eleven U.S. airliners in January 1995. [citation needed] The bomb was, or at least all of its components were, designed to slip through airport security checks undetected. The explosive used was liquid nitroglycerin, which was disguised as a bottle of contact lens fluid.
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Air crash
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Husband Of San Antonio Couple Found Dead, Wife Still Missing After Colorado Mudslide
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Updated at 7.28.21, 8:18 p.m. on Monday, July 26, to reflect additional details. David Brown — a longtime San Antonio resident — was killed in a mudslide that occurred 45 minutes outside of Fort Collins, Colorado, according to the Larimer County Coroner. The mudslide swept away six cabins in Poudre Canyon Tuesday night, according to the Larimer County Sheriff’s office. Heavy rains tore through a burned out swath of forest resulting in a flash flood that caused the mudslides, knocked out power to nearly a 100 residents and may have killed as many as four people. David Brown, 61, was at the cabin with his wife Diana, his sister Patricia, 59, and his father, Richard, 85. Richard Brown had owned the cabin for many years. Patricia Brown's body was found Wednesday by search and rescue personnel. She had drowned. David Brown was found Sunday evening and an autopsy had yet to be performed. The body of Richard Brown was found Monday morning. David and wife Diana had been missing after the mudslide, according to their adult son who is named Colorado. “I was told Wednesday that a flash flood had happened where they were and that they’d probably been killed,” said Brown in a message to TPR early Monday. “I don’t know much right now,” said Brown. The Larimer County Sheriff’s Department has spent days with dozens of search and rescue personnel searching the debris. They were often hindered by weather, with additional flash flood warnings delaying efforts. The sheriff announced initially that four people were missing — two males and two females. Diana Brown remains missing. The sheriff's office did not plan to deploy more search teams on Tuesday. "Our deepest sympathy goes out to the yet unidentified victim of this flooding and their family along with any other potential victims yet to be located," said Justin Smith, Larimer County Sheriff, in a Facebook post Wednesday. Rumors about the couple began circulating among the friends when news of the mudslide surfaced. According to friends, David, or “DB” as he was known, and his wife Diana traveled to the cabin each July for more than 30 years. “It was definitely his happy place, he talked about it like a refuge,” said Hilary Keahey, longtime friend of the couple, in a phone interview. David Brown has worked for Southwest Airlines for more than a decade. Keahey said Diana is known as a skilled jewelry craftsman by her friends. Both were well-known members of the theater community. DB was a founding member of the Oxymorons, an improv theater troupe founded in San Antonio in 1989 and extremely active in the ’90s “He was one of the funniest people I ever knew,” said Keahey, who joined the troupe in 1994. Keahey reminisced about DB’s generosity on stage as a collaborator. She spoke of Diana Brown’s support of DB, she was active in the San Antonio Theater Coalition, her active participation in her church theater and her devotion to their son, Colorado. She has maintained the friendship with the couple despite the troupe ending its run. The flash flood and mudslide have been linked to 2020’s catastrophic fire season. A section of the historic Cameron Peak fire has scorched large swaths of the area. When heavy rain pounded the barren area, it stripped the rock of its covering ground soil, creating a tumult of downed trees and debris. I never ever thought I would experience a personal loss like this, to severe weather," said Manny Pelaez, District 8 Councilman and another Oxymoron alumnus. Pelaez remembered an enormous man — Brown was around 6-foot-5 — who was very gentle and soft spoken. He called DB a "comedic mentor." "The guy did not have a mean bone in his body. He was generous onstage. He was generous offstage. It is hard to find someone who is 100% devoted to others," he said. While the couple has not been confirmed dead when TPR spoke to Keahey, she had resigned herself to the couple’s death. Keahey talked about scouring the news online Saturday and seeing the images of the carnage in Poudre Canyon. Keahey, who has worked in car sales for many years, spotted a familiar vehicle. A maroon 2016 Honda Odyssey minivan was mangled in the wreckage. “It was broken and scratched and twisted. I knew they were gone. Because I sold them that car,” Keahey said, battling back tears. “When you see something like that and you know it’s probably parked right next to the cabin. And it looks that way. And the reports are saying the cabin has been swept away,” she said “it’s hard not to come to terms with the fact that their souls are elsewhere now.”
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Mudslides
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California commits $500 million more to student housing: “A drop in the bucket”
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Gov. Gavin Newsom and the Legislature reached a deal that will provide $500 million toward affordable student housing this year and possibly up to $2 billion in future years. Experts say it’s “a drop in the bucket” compared to what’s needed. Lea este artículo en español. Free tuition is great, and California excels at that compared to the rest of the country. But with rents sky high, affordable housing has become the chief expense for most students – and relief is harder to come by. Lawmakers have a plan for that: They’ve poured $500 million into this year’s state budget so that public colleges and universities can build affordable housing or renovate existing property. The plan – part of a commitment of $2 billion over three years if the Legislature fully funds it – may seem like a massive sum, but the amount of housing the money can build is likely a rounding error in the total need for the state’s students. “It’s a drop in the bucket, but every drop counts,” said Dana Cuff, a UCLA professor and director of CityLab, an urban design research center. The housing program that lawmakers approved last week is new – part of the heap of surplus cash in the state budget this year. The governor initially proposed $4 billion for student housing but it got halved during negotiations with the Legislature. The deal: If the full-time requirement slows down applications from community colleges, “we can adjust in the future,” said Nancy Skinner, a Democrat and state senator from Oakland who chairs the Senate’s budget committee. That would require another act of the Legislature to change the terms of the housing program, but she doesn’t rule out that the promise of cheaper rent may compel more community college students to enroll full-time if their campuses take up the money. A full-time schedule means graduating faster, but often students can’t attend that many classes because of work obligations.
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Financial Aid
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Salmonella Outbreak Detected in 29 States; Experts Still Don’t Know Cause
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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a warning of a fast-growing Salmonella outbreak that has been detected in 29 states. It’s unclear what’s causing the Salmonella Oranienburg infections, but multiple cases have been traced back to restaurants. As of Sept. 21, 279 people have contracted an infection, according to an update released by the CDCTrusted Source. Twenty-six people have been hospitalized. There have been no deaths. The CDC suspects the case count is much higher but is being underreported since so many people who contract a salmonella infection recover at home without medical care. It typically takes 3 to 4 weeks for health officials to determine whether a salmonella infection is part of a larger outbreak. To determine the cause of these recent infections, state health officials have been interviewing people sick with a salmonella infection about the foods they ate and restaurants they visited. Many of the cases have been traced back to the same restaurant, which could help health officials identify the source of the outbreak. As of Sept. 21, 279 people from 29 statesTrusted Source have contracted an infection with the outbreak strain of Salmonella. The bulk of these cases, 81, have been reported in Texas. Oklahoma follows with 40 cases. Illinois, Minnesota, Virginia, and Massachusetts have seen between 10 and 25 cases. Dr. Louis Morledge, an internist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, said that the CDC looks at patterns of reported infections and outbreaks across the country. The agency partners with local health agencies to identify clusters of illnesses. More research is then conducted to identify potential sources. The bacteria causing the infections undergo whole genome sequencing by the CDC, according to Dr. Michael Lin, an associate professor of internal medicine with the division of infectious diseases at Rush University Medical Center. “This type of genetic fingerprinting allows public health to identify infections that could be linked to a common source, such as a contaminated food product,” Lin said. According to Morledge, salmonella infections are typically more common during summer months. “Warmer weather and unrefrigerated foods create ideal conditions for Salmonella to grow,” Morledge said. Careful preparation and storage of food is crucial. All perishable food items should be refrigerated or frozen. And all foods should be cooked thoroughly before consumption. Lin said eating anything uncooked or undercooked runs the risk of being contaminated with Salmonella. “Eating cooked food is generally safer when eating at restaurants,” Lin said. Salmonella causes diarrhea, and most people recover at home. But some people may develop more severe illness and require antibiotics or hospitalization. How sick a person gets depends on a few factors. “It may have to do with the initial quantity consumed of the food source and the amount of bacteria it contained,” Morledge said. The person’s immune system status also likely plays a role, along with their body’s ability to digest and eradicate the infection. People with compromised immune systems or underlying health issues may have more severe reactions to the bacteria. In certain instances, salmonella infections can become life threatening if left untreated. “For people with severe infection or in people at high risk for severe infection, antibiotics are warranted. With proper management and early diagnosis, most patients have a full recovery,” Lin said. Anyone experiencing prolonged diarrhea and fever should contact a healthcare professional immediately. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued warning of a fast-growing Salmonella outbreak that has sickened 279 people across 29 states. The source of the outbreak is unknown, but health officials are actively investigating clusters of infections. Most people with a salmonella infection recover at home, but those with more severe illness may require antibiotics or hospitalization. Noom helps you adopt healthy habits so you can lose weight and keep it off. Your program is customized to your goals and fitness needs. Just take a quick assessment and get started today. Salmonella food poisoning is one of the most common types of food poisoning. The Salmonella bacteria live in the intestines of humans and animals. Food poisoning typically comes from eating raw or contaminated foods, and Salmonella in particular is famously associated with raw chicken. But is… An outbreak of salmonella at a pork processing plant in Washington highlights the importance of proper food safety. Experts say it's important to understand food expiration date labels to avoid food poisoning and other illnesses. The FDA states that Wawona brand peaches should be discarded and not be sold, served, or eaten. Surfaces that the peaches have touched should also be… Various types of onions contaminated with Salmonella bacteria have been recalled. The onions were distributed and sold in all 50 states and have led… Experts say a food thermometer, not the color of the meat inside the chicken, is the best way to make sure cooked chicken is safe to eat. Most people who experience food poisoning don’t require a trip to the hospital, but you won’t want to venture too far from the bathroom either. Food… Both the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have issued alerts about Jimmy John’s sprouts
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Disease Outbreaks
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Latin America to Africa to Asia: U.S. military might on display through global military and naval exercises
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| The British Royal Navy’s Type 45 destroyer HMS Defender arriving at the Black Sea port of Odessa, Ukraine, on June 18. U.S and Moroccan special forces taking part in a drill as part of the military exercise African Lion 2021, in Tafraout base, near Agadir, Morocco, on June 14. Photo: Mosa’ab Elshamy/AP A still image taken from an animated graphic shows the HMS Defender off the Crimean coast in the Black Sea on June 23. It entered three kilometres into Russian territorial waters, where it met Russian patrol boats, which fired off warning shots. Photo: Marinetraffic/Handout via REUTERS In late May, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Queen Elizabeth II visited the carrier strike group led by a new aircraft carrier named HMS Queen Elizabeth. The ship set sail for the South China Sea. As the ship entered the Indian Ocean in July, the British armed forces announced that a hundred sailors on the ship had been diagnosed with COVID-19; the sailors had already had their two vaccines. The ship had not been idle while it went through the Straits of Gibraltar and the Suez Canal. In the Mediterranean Sea, the carrier group joined vessels from other North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) countries to participate in a war game called Exercise Gallic Strike. Some of the ships in the group entered the Black Sea, where they made a show of force against the Russian fleet that is based in Sevastopol in the Crimea. It is when the ships, led by the HMS Queen Elizabeth, entered the Arabian Sea that the COVID-19 cases were detected. Off the coast of Iraq, the ships fired missiles at ISIS in Syria and Iraq as part of Operation Inherent Resolve. In the Bay of Bengal, these ships will participate with the Indian Navy in the Konkan Exercises and then, after a stop in Singapore, will sail north-east into the South China Sea. Once in sight of the Chinese coastline, the HMS Queen Elizabeth and its ancillary vessels will join up with the United States Navy and the Japanese Maritime Self-Defence Force to conduct “freedom of navigation” exercises along Chinese territorial waters. The concept of “freedom of navigation” comes from the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Article 87.1). Interestingly, the U.S. has failed to ratify this convention but is one of the leading countries to exercise this “right”, particularly against those whom it considers its adversaries (such as China, Iran and Russia). Summertime in the northern hemisphere is filled with military exercises, most of them led by the U.S. In June, a massive U.S. military exercise, Tradewinds 2021, took place in Guyana, drawing in allied forces from Latin America and the Caribbean. That same month, across the Atlantic Ocean, the U.S. and Morocco held African Lion 2021 in Morocco, Nigeria, Tunisia and in occupied Western Sahara; this was the largest military exercise held on the African continent. These exercises, Tradewinds and African Lion, have become utterly routine, unremarked in the media. There is little concern about the extension of U.S. military power into the various continents of the world and of the use of these exercises to send aggressive messages to countries that refuse to buckle to orders from Washington, D.C. For instance, the U.S. exercises in Guyana touched the edge of Venezuela’s disputed borderline with Guyana in the Stabroek area. The U.S. is using this military exercise to test the waters about building a full-scale base in Guyana. The U.S. presence in Guyana, alongside the close U.S. alliance with Colombia, squeezes Venezuela on its western and eastern borders. That is why Venezuelan Defence Minister Vladimir Padrino López ordered the Hugo Chávez, the country’s most formidable naval vessel, to patrol the coastline. In Algeria, meanwhile, the military noted that the U.S. and others trained during African Lion to thwart an attack by an S-400 long-range missile, a Russian-made device that the Algerian military operates. The exercise danced along the Algerian-Morocco border, which sent its own message to Algeria, which has refused to participate in these U.S.-led exercises. Also read: Biden revives Western alliance, slams China & Russia In September 2020, China’s Vice Foreign Minister Luo Zhaohui made an important speech at a conference organised by the Foreign Ministry and the National Institute for South China Sea Studies. He said that the U.S. “has openly interfered in the South China Sea” and had “made repeated provocations in the South China Sea”. By “flexing its muscles”, Luo Zhaohui said, the U.S. “is trying to hijack regional countries…. A troubled South China Sea only serves the interests of the U.S. and its global agenda, while countries in the region have to bear the costs. It clearly shows that the U.S. has become the biggest threat to peace in the South China Sea and the entire region.” These are strong words from an official of the Foreign Ministry. Whether it is the “freedom of navigation” missions alongside the Chinese coastline or military exercises such as Tradewinds and African Lion, the U.S. force projection far from its own coastline is now a given fact. Between Taiwan and Crimea, Western naval forces continue to provoke a response from China and Russia. The USS John McCain, a guided missile destroyer, conducted a transit through the waters that divide the Chinese mainland from Taiwan. The U.S. Seventh Fleet said that the “United States military will continue to fly, sail, and operate anywhere international law allows”. Of course, this is the 1982 convention that the U.S. failed to join. U.S. warships are not doing these “freedom of navigation” runs by themselves. They are frequently joined by Australian and British ships, as well as German and Japanese ships. NATO has a new strategic document, NATO 2030, that implies that NATO will be exerting itself on a much larger global footprint than before. Threats have been made about the construction of an eastern NATO to challenge China. Japan’s Constitution of 1946 formally forbids the country from creating an aggressive military. The military in fact is called the Self-Defence Force. However, since 2015 the Japanese government has begun to loosen the constitutional restriction and send out its naval force to join U.S. vessels as they threaten the Chinese coastline. The immediate excuse given is that Chinese aircraft violate Taiwanese airspace. The tension between China and Taiwan goes back to 1949. China sees Taiwan as part of its territory, in the same way that India saw Goa as part of its integral territory. The U.S. and Japan have used the tension between China and Taiwan to militarise the waters. But all is not well either between Japan and Taiwan. Both of them, and China, dispute ownership of a chain of uninhabited islands in the East China Sea, which go by the name of Diaoyutai Islands (Taiwan), Diaoyudao Islands (China) and Senkaku Islands (Japan). Rather than a policy of negotiation, which China favours, the U.S. is pushing these countries to conflict. Also read: U.S. gathers allies to form a coalition against China Meanwhile, the British destroyer HMS Defender entered three kilometres into Russian territorial waters off the Crimean coast on June 23, meeting Russian patrol boats, which fired off warning shots. Yekaterina Berezovskaya, one of the hosts of the “Direct Line with Vladimir Putin” programme broadcast live on television on June 30, asked the Russian President whether she could ask him a question “… related to the British warship near Crimea. Do you think the world was on the brink of a Third World War, of all things?” He replied: “No, I don’t think so….” There might not have been a total war, but nonetheless, tensions rose in the region and in the Black Sea where NATO was amid its Sea Breeze exercises. On June 24, the Dutch frigate Zr. Ms. Evertsen had an encounter with Russian fighters in the Black Sea. This raised the ire of the Dutch government. NATO’s Sea Breeze is the largest operation of its kind to be held in the Black Sea. In his reply to Yekaterina Berezovskaya, Putin said: “It was not us who covered thousands of kilometres by air and sea towards them. It was them who approached our borders and entered our territorial sea, which is a crucial component in the overall situation.” Not that much of the world’s waters will be free of the U.S. Navy and its attempt to maintain dominance over waterways. In 2016, the U.S. began to plan for “freedom of navigation” operations through the Northern Sea Route in the Arctic Ocean. The U.S. Coast Guard warned at that time of the dangers of a clash along Russia’s northern coastline. In January 2019, Richard Spencer, the then U.S. Secretary of the Navy, said that the “freedom of navigation should be plied up there. We're going to try and do it.” A few months later, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told the Arctic Council that his country would be running frequent “freedom of navigation” missions in the Northern Sea Route, despite protests from Russia. The U.S. wanted to challenge Russia’s claim of control over the route. Also read: U.S. foreign policy under Joe Biden will not be greatly different from that of the past Later in 2019, the U.S. released a document (“Advantage at Sea: Prevailing with Integrated All-Domain Naval Power”) which said that the U.S. must contest Russian ships in the Northern Sea Route. More money went to the U.S. Coast Guard to purchase a new fleet of ice-breaker ships and better military vessels for the waters in the Barents Sea and Bering Sea. Along with NATO, the U.S. set up a Maritime Operations Centre in Keflavik, Iceland, and then discussed openly the prospect of reopening the Adak Island base in the Aleutian Island chain. Such a base would permit the U.S. to fly military aircraft and drones along the Arctic Ocean and down towards northern China. In early July, the U.S. sent a warship, the USS Benfold, into the waters of the Xisha Island chain. China has control of these islands, which are also claimed by Vietnam and Taiwan. The U.S. warship entered its waters and then was chased out by Chinese aircraft and naval vessels. There was no danger of any immediate firing by either side. However, patience runs thin. It takes a small accident to escalate into a major incident, which will develop its own dynamic. The U.S. has abandoned caution. Its navy remains paramount across the oceans, which are themselves being claimed by the U.S. in the name of international law.
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Military Exercise
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2009 French riots
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A series of riots took place in July 2009 in France. On Bastille Day in the commune of Montreuil, an eastern suburb area of Paris, French youths set fire to 317 cars. [1] Thirteen police officers were injured. [2] On July 9, many youths started a protest in Firminy near Saint-Étienne, after the death of a young Algerian man, Mohamed Benmouna, in police custody. [3][4] Benmouna's parents rejected the official account of suicide. [5] Riots on Bastille day are a frequent occurrence in France as the disaffected protest high unemployment rates and failed integration policies for minorities. [3][6] More than 240 people had been arrested near Paris. The injured officers suffered mainly from hearing difficulties after having been targeted by youths armed with fireworks and small-scale home-made explosives. [7]
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Riot
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Thai Q1 jobless rate at 12-year high amid virus outbreaks
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Explore what’s moving the global economy in the new season of the Stephanomics podcast. Subscribe via Apple Podcast, Spotify or Pocket Cast. Just as some patients recovering from Covid-19 suffer long-lasting symptoms, it’s becoming clear that the same will be true for the global economy once this year’s V-shaped rebound fades. While $26 trillion worth of crisis support and the arrival of vaccines have fueled a faster recovery than many anticipated, the legacies of stunted education, the destruction of jobs, war-era levels of debt and widening inequalities between races, genders, generations and geographies will leave lasting scars, most of them in the poorest nations. “It’s very easy after a gruelling year or more to feel really relieved that things are back on track,” said Vellore Arthi of the University of California, Irvine, who has examined the long-term health and economic hit from past crises. “But a lot of the effects that we see historically are often for decades and are not easily addressed.” The IMF predicts the world economy will expand 6% this year Source: International Monetary Fund All told, the decline in gross domestic product last year was the biggest since the Great Depression. The International Labour Organization estimates it cost the equivalent of 255 million people full-time jobs. Researchers at the Pew Research Centre reckon the global middle class shrank for the first time since the 1990s. The costs will fall unevenly. A scorecard of 31 metrics across 162 nations devised by Oxford Economics Ltd. highlighted the Philippines, Peru, Colombia and Spain as the economies most vulnerable to long-term scarring. Australia, Japan, Norway, Germany and Switzerland were seen as best placed. “Getting back to the pre-Covid standard will take time,” said Carmen Reinhart, the World Bank’s chief economist. “The aftermath of Covid isn’t going to reverse for a lot of countries. Far from it.” Not all countries will be affected equally. The International Monetary Fund sees advanced economies less affected by the virus this year and beyond, with low-income countries and emerging markets suffering more — a contrast to 2009, when rich nations were hit harder. With U.S. GDP next year forecast to be even bigger than projected before Covid-19, propelled by trillions of dollars in stimulus, the IMF’s projections show little residual scarring from the pandemic for the world’s No. 1 economy. An estimated 150 million slipped down the economic ladder in 2020, the first pullback in almost three decades Sources: Pew Research Center extrapolated income-distribution population sizes from 2014 and 2018 World Bank household surveys using the bank's January 2020 growth forecasts and January 2021 growth estimates for 2020; middle and upper-middle income defined as $10 to $20 and $20 to $50 a day, respectively. The World Bank warned in a January report of “a decade of global growth disappointments” unless corrective action is taken. It estimated global output was on course to be 5% lower by 2025 than its pre-pandemic trend and that the growth rate at which inflation ignites is set to drop below 2% in the next decade, having already declined to 2.5% in the 2000s from 3.3% in the prior decade. Experts, including Arthi, say there needn’t be a lost decade if the right policy steps are taken, especially in the areas of reskilling workers and putting a floor under those hit hardest by the crisis. One way out includes encouraging policies that create incentives for business to innovate and invest, particularly in climate change. Central banks and most governments are already signaling they will keep stimulus running hot. The right kind of policy mix could push the rebound towards a full recovery, according to Catherine Mann, chief economist at Citigroup Inc. “Innovation supports higher productivity growth, and new investment raises living standards,” she said. “Key too are strategies to keep and train workers to take advantage of the higher productivity opportunities.” Countries that were quick to control the virus are sending warning flares about the uneven road ahead. After initially enjoying a V-shaped recovery, New Zealand’s economy contracted in the final three months of 2020 as the absence of foreign tourists left a hole that locals couldn’t fill. Now, the country that consistently topped Bloomberg’s Covid resiliency rankings faces the prospect of a double-dip recession. In China, where the pandemic has been under control for almost a year, retail spending has lagged the broader recovery. “Focusing on headline GDP, with the U.S and China engines humming the world is set for a triumphant 'V' shape recovery. Beneath the surface, divergence between advanced and emerging markets, superstar firms and their smaller rivals, and high- and low-skill workers points to scars that will take longer to heal.” —Tom Orlik, chief economist How consumer confidence and spending patterns are shaped by ongoing concerns regarding health and hiring could end up being one of the crisis’ most important economic legacies, just as the Great Depression of the 1930s led to greater thrift. That’s a risk even though many people racked up savings during the past year. “There’s genuine uncertainty over how much people’s behavior in terms of consumption patterns changes as a result of this crisis,” said Adam Posen, president of the Peterson Institute for International Economics. “If people go back to eating in restaurants, doing leisure travel, working out in gyms then a lot of those industries will revive. But it’s also possible that people’s tastes just genuinely change, in which case there is going to be transitionally more unemployment and there’s no good government fix for that.” History shows that five years after country-specific recessions, long-term growth expectations were typically 1.5 percentage points lower than in those without recessions, according to the World Bank. The crisis has accelerated the use of robots in both manufacturing and in the services industry as workers and customers need to be protected from the spread of disease. While that’s spurring hopes for a revival in productivity growth, millions of jobs will be threatened with a question mark over whether enough new ones will be created in the process. Over 100 million people in eight of the world’s largest economies may need to switch occupation by 2030, according to McKinsey & Co. Those most likely to suffer skill gaps are the less educated, women, ethnic minorities and the young. The longer people are out of work the more their skills atrophy in a process known as hysteresis. “A lot of those jobs are gone forever,” said Eric Robertsen, Standard Chartered Plc’s global head of research. “Low-wage job in marginal companies or marginal sectors are gone as the companies have gone bankrupt or the sectors have been hollowed out. A lot of the more-adaptive companies will have filled the void but with fewer workers.” The top 1% in Latin America receive a greater share of national income than any other region Source: World Inequality Database Even where jobs aren’t lost, work patterns have shifted and it remains an open debate about how those changes will impact wage packets. Longer-term effects will also be evident in human capital after the pandemic locked out children and university students from classrooms for as much as a year in some countries.The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development calculated in September that even a loss equal to a third of a year for pupils affected by closures when the pandemic was declared could curb a country’s GDP over the remainder of the century. Students in grades 1-12 may see 3% lower income over their lifetimes, the OECD warned, with the poor or those from minority backgrounds hardest hit. How to finance a full recovery will be complicated by the extra $24 trillion in borrowing that the world took on in 2020, bringing total debt to a new high of $281 trillion, according to the Institute of International Finance. Even without a debt crisis, once interest rates start to rise both governments and companies will come under pressure, according to Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Analytics. “The global economy will get back to full employment after the pandemic much more quickly than it did after the financial crisis,” he said. “But once back to full employment the global economy will be stuck in the low gear that prevailed prior to the pandemic.”
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Financial Crisis
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9 celebrity couples who had two wedding ceremonies
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Why get married just once when it can be twice as nice (with the same person)? For some celebrity couples, it would mean their walk down the aisle was not one special occasion, but two. That’s double the ceremonies, double the bridal ensembles, double the pictures, and double the fun. In 2019 alone, a slew of stars including the Game of Thrones actor Sophie Turner and musician Joe Jonas, as well as supermodel Karlie Kloss and Joshua Kushner among many others, hosted two sets of nuptials. While the second wedding trend may seem like a relatively new practise, in India it’s not uncommon for cross-cultural couples to celebrate their marriages with separate ceremonies to reconcile religions, backgrounds and tenets. Here’s everyone from Bollywood and Hollywood who have jumped on the sequel wedding bandwagon. This reel and real couple’s 2018 wedding held at the Villa del Balbianello in Lake Como, Italy definitely qualifies as one of the most double tappable celebrations. Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh’s two wedding ceremonies were an homage to their distinct cultures. The duo’s Konkani ceremony on November 14, 2018, was a nod to the bride’s south Indian roots, and included traditional rituals like tikka, varmala, and the couple grinding black gram together. For the ceremony that went on for more than five hours, Padukone opted for a conventional Kanjeevaram sari. View on Instagram The next day saw an Anand Karaj as a nod to Singh’s Sindhi background. In keeping with the Sikh tenets, the ceremony included an ardaas (the final prayer of the ceremony) and four pheras. View on Instagram With their interracial backgrounds, Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas were bound to host two weddings. In December 2018, post a slew of pre-wedding ceremonies including haldi, mehandi and sangeet, the power pair first wed with conventional pheras on December 1, 2018. Over and above her conventional red Sabyasachi lehenga for the special occasion, Chopra had all the markings of a conventional bride—think bindi, sindoor, nath, maang tikka, traditional jewellery and kalira. View on Instagram The couple then said ‘I do’ in keeping with Nick Jonas’ faith with a Christian ceremony that was officiated by the groom’s father, Paul Kevin Jonas. “I think the most special moment was when the curtains opened and I saw him [Jonas] for the first time right at the altar and I was going to walk out... everything felt right. I think that for me was the most overwhelming moment, I was just like ‘Life's great, nothing to worry about',” Chopra had once revealed. View on Instagram The W Goa in Vagator Beach played host to the couple’s destination wedding celebrations on October 6, 2017. Samantha Akkineni and Naga Chaitanya got married as per south Indian traditions that saw rituals like the first look and find the ring. The bride wore an heirloom piece for the special occasion—the groom's grandmother Dr Rajeshwari's Kanjeevaram sari with a crimson Sabyasachi blouse, while the groom kept his look classic with an off-white mundu and kurta set. View on Instagram With sweeping views of the sea, the couple then exchanged vows in a white wedding ceremony. A Cinderella-esque white gown by Krésha Bajaj was the bride’s go-to for her walk down the aisle. View on Instagram Perhaps inspired by his brother Nick Jonas, Joe Jonas eloped with his fiancée Sophie Turner eight weeks before their destination wedding in France. The couple got married in a surprise Las Vegas ceremony complete with an Elvis Presley impersonator who officiated the ceremony, two hours after the Billboard Music Awards on May 1, 2019. The couple exchanged vows before sisters-in-law Priyanka Chopra and Danielle Jonas, DJ Diplo and Dan + Shay. Turner wore an ivory Bevza silk jumpsuit and veil for the special occasion, while fiancé Jonas waited for his bride at the altar beside his brothers and best men, Nick Jonas and Kevin Jonas. View on Instagram On June 29, 2020, the two hosted their formal wedding ceremony at Château de Tourreau, an 18-century private estate turned five-star property in the Provence region. From a performance by English singer Calum Scott to crates and crates of Coors Light lager at the reception printed with custom labels reading “Joe + Sophie 2019” and a custom classic white gown by Nicolas Ghesquiere for Louis Vuitton, the weekend affair was a personalised affair to say the least. View on Instagram That same month, the American model and Kushner, a renowned businessman and investor in the States, held their second wedding in Wyoming. The ceremony came eight months after the duo got hitched in a super-secret ceremony October 18, 2018, in upstate New York in front of only 80 guests. The discreet nuptials reportedly saw guests like the groom's brother Jared Kushner and his wife Ivanka Trump. The second wedding, dubbed “party on the prairie”, was a much more informal affair. Karlie Kloss documented the second ceremony on her social media channels, sharing footage from the vow exchange as well as the making of her custom Dior gown. Famous names, including Orlando Bloom and fiancée Katy Perry, actor Mila Kunis, and Kloss's longtime best friend, Derek Blasberg, all dressed up for the theme with cowboy hats and boho floral dresses. The star-studded weekend was filled with plenty of activities such as paintball, horseback riding, and an after-party. View on Instagram Then there's Justin and Hailey Bieber, who first married in a clandestine civil ceremony in September 2018 before throwing an elaborate bash. The couple made their union official at a courthouse in New York. Just about a year later, they went for round two at the Montage Palmetto Bluff in Bluffton in South Carolina. The duo walked down the aisle in front of 154 guests including models Kendall Jenner, Katy Perry, Kylie Jenner, Usher, Jaden Smith, Justine Skye, Dan Smyers and Shay Mooney of country duo Dan + Shay among others. From Swarovski crystal-encrusted champagne bottles to a performance by Grammy winner Daniel Caesar, it had it all. The glowing bride had three wedding ensemble changes—the main wedding dress made by her friend Virgil Abloh of Off-White, a white halter-neck Ralph & Russo reception dress, and a Vera Wang slip dress. View on Instagram After marrying in a private ceremony, Kravitz and Glusman hosted a larger celebration in June 2019 at the bride’s dad Lenny Kravitz’s mansion in Paris. This time, the pair invited all of their loved ones including Nicole Kidman and Reese Witherspoon. The Big Little Lies star opted for a white ballerina-esque, ankle-length dress designed by Alexander Wang, which was inspired by Audrey Hepburn's Givenchy gown in Funny Face. The Nocturnal Animals actor stepped into the venue hand-in-hand with his bride wearing a more traditional navy suit. View on Instagram The German supermodel and musician celebrated their love and marriage twice. The couple made their union legal with a civil ceremony, just two months after Kaulitz proposed to Heidi Klum in December 2018. In August 2019, the couple said their ‘I dos’ in the presence of friends and family aboard the Christina O, the yacht owned by Jackie Kennedy Onassis' second husband, Aristotle Onassis. The sea-front ceremony was followed by a weekend of festivities in Capri, Italy.
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Famous Person - Marriage
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NACE International, SSPC Merge to Form Association for Materials Protection and Performance
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To create a unified voice for the corrosion control and protective coatings industries, a new association launched Jan. 6 at a global virtual event. The new organization, the Association for Materials Protection and Performance (AMPP), was formed by a merger between Houston-based NACE International, The Corrosion Society, and Pittsburgh-based SSPC: The Society for Protective Coatings. AMPP’s name, logo and other brand elements were revealed at the event led by AMPP CEO, Bob Chalker and the organization’s executive leadership. “AMPP brings together the world’s leading corrosion prevention and protective coatings organizations under one umbrella,” said Chalker. “With a vision to create a safer, protected, and sustainable world, the new association will focus on the future of materials protection and performance.” With more than 40,000 members in 130 countries, AMPP consists of two governance structures — AMPP, a 501(c)(6), and AMPP Global Center, a 501(c)(3). AMPP provides services to members in the areas of certification, accreditation, membership, advocacy and public affairs and AMPP Global Center focuses on standards, technical and research activities, conferences, events, education, training, publications and pre-professional programming. “No other organization offers the depth and breadth of materials protection and performance information, standards, education, certification and contractor accreditation programming that AMPP now provides,” said Tim Bieri, chair of the AMPP board of directors and vice president for Materials & Corrosion Engineering, BP America, Houston. “Through AMPP, we will be able to raise the level of excellence of our professional community and have a greater impact on society through our expanded network of members worldwide.” “I’m looking forward to bringing together the expertise that’s been instrumental in developing standards, training, publications, and other technical resources that support our members and advance our industry,” said Joyce Wright, AMPP Global Center’s chair and trade manager for strategy and innovation, Huntington Ingalls Industries – Newport News Shipbuilding, Hampton, Virginia. “With one voice contractors, owners, craftsmen, manufacturers, corrosion experts, consultants, and industry stakeholders, will do more to protect society across the globe.” While the AMPP staff has been working together seamlessly since October, some program details such as accreditation and certification continue to evolve. For the near future, NACE and SSPC accreditations and certifications will remain as they are currently.
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Organization Merge
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Huge swarm of locusts descends on Mecca | Daily Mail Online
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The holiest site in Islam has been hit by a plague of locusts, forcing cleaners into action to drive the insects out.
Footage shared on social media showed the insects swarming around the Great Mosque in Mecca, which hosts millions of Muslim pilgrims every year. In one of the videos the insects can be seen clearly when the night sky is illuminated by the lights of the mosque. A closer-up view shows them swarming in all directions, over the heads of the cleaners in green uniforms attempting to deal with them.
Another shot shows the insects covering the walls of the mosque as they swarmed across the site.
Mecca authorities shared pictures on Twitter of the cleaners, wearing face masks, spraying insecticide as they tried to decontaminate the site.
Officials said the insects had been identified as 'black grasshoppers', according to CNN's Arabic website. The statement noted the videos shared on social media, saying they were dealing with the migratory insects.
'Specialised teams have been directed to work in the fight to eliminate these insects,' the statement said.
There were 138 people working in 22 teams with 111 pieces of equipment to eradicate the insects, according to the statement.
The focus was on the breeding sites near open water drains at the holy pilgrimage site, officials said.
According to Al-Araby, they said: 'We have harnessed all efforts available to speed up the eradication of the insects in the interest of the safety and comfort of guests to God's house.'
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Insect Disaster
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Trump Formally Abandons the Open Skies Treaty
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Friday on this date in 1963, CIA assassins killed JFK, a moment in time I vividly remember. At lunch with colleagues when the news broke, the work day halted. Five years later in April and June 1968 respectively, MLK and RFK met the same fate — by similar deep state assassins. Anyone of prominence against permanent wars and governance of, by, and for privileged interests at the expense of most others risks ending up the same way. That’s how the scourge of imperialism and predatory capitalism operates. After threatening to withdraw from the Open Skies Treaty earlier, Trump confirmed the move last May. At the time, he lied like countless other times, saying: “Russia didn’t adhere to the treaty (sic), so until they adhere we will pull out…” Effective January 1, 2002, 34 European states, the US, and Russia adopted the Open Skies Treaty (OST), other nations welcomed to join at the time. Last May, Pompeo said the Trump regime “will submit (formal) notice of its decision to withdraw from the” OST to other treaty signatories, the move effective six months from May 22. The OST permits unarmed aerial surveillance over the entire territory of signatory countries. It’s a confidence-building measure to promote openness, letting treaty members get information on military forces and activities for national security reasons. The US FY 2019 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) suspended funding related to OST cooperation with Russia. A Biden/Harris regime and 117th Congress most likely will be unwilling to restore it next year. NDAA legislation prohibits US military cooperation with Russia indefinitely. It’s filled with a litany of bald-faced Big Lies about Russia. In response to the Trump regime’s intention to abandon OST last May, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the following: “It is the Russian side that has clear and long-formulated claims against the Americans as to (non)compliance with this agreement.” “And today, right now, we will reiterate these claims, these thorny issues.” “We described (them) in detail. In particular in February, we put together on our resources all the claims that we had, making them publicly available.” “These are far from all claims, but (are) the most evident.” “For example, we said that since 2017 the US has tightened its approaches to fulfilling this treaty in regard to Russia, and since January 2018, several restrictions have been imposed against our country.” “This (includes) the refusal to grant permission to depart from US rules of air traffic and norms of aviation security and changing special procedures for performing observation flights over the Hawaiian Islands by limiting maximum range of flights from Hickam airbase, and the refusal to allow overnight stops on mainland US and many other things.” The OPT “has a format of implementation. (It) has commitments of parties, which were confirmed on paper.” Time and again, the US breaches international agreements and the rule of law. Last May, Russia’s Foreign Ministry Department for Non-Proliferation and Arms Control Vladimir Yermakov called Trump regime accusations of Moscow OST breaches baseless. Throughout nearly four years in office, Trump and hardliners in charge of his geopolitical agenda proved time and again that they’re deal-breakers, not makers. They abandoned the landmark 1987 INF Treaty with Russia, the 2016 JCPOA, the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement, and the 2016 Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a latter positive move unlike the regime’s other unilateral pullouts. It also withdrew from UNESCO and the UN Human Rights Council, threatened to leave the World Trade Organization (WTO), and suspended US funding to the WHO. New START — the last remaining arms control agreement with Russia — is virtually dead unless Biden/Harris revive it. For his part, Trump broke virtually every positive promise made — time and again saying one thing, then going another way. He won’t be missed. At the same time, an incoming Dem regime is likely to be more belligerent and as indifferent toward the rights and welfare of ordinary Americans as the outgoing one. Both right wings of the one-party state made the country of opportunity I grew up in long ago unsafe and unfit to live in today. Based on the current trend, the next four years are likely to exceed the worst of past times. It’s the wrong time for ordinary Americans when its leadership and lawmakers are hostile to their rights and welfare. That’s the disturbing state of the nation. The one I grew up in long ago is gone, likely never to reappear again. VISIT MY WEBSITE: stephenlendman.org (Home – Stephen Lendman). Contact at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. My two Wall Street books are timely reading: “How Wall Street Fleeces America: Privatized Banking, Government Collusion, and Class War”
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Withdraw from an Organization
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Sanxingdui relics: Bronze altar replicated from 100 broken pieces
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The 3,000-year-old Sanxingdui ruins site in Southwest China's Sichuan province has yielded some quite extraordinary archaeological finds. Over 100 bronze pieces were discovered in Pit No. 2 of the Sanxingdui ruins and were replicated into an altar. Three fragments of a bronze altar were discovered in 1986. Being severely crushed and burned intentionally, the fragments were broken into over 100 pieces, making them difficult to restore. It took archaeologists two years to make a replica of the altar based on their research. It is composed of three parts: the round animal-shaped base, the standing men with a crooked stick in hand, and the mountain-shaped top carved with a statue of a bird with a human head. There is also a bird in each corner. Experts say that the three-part structure reflects the ancient Shu people's understanding of the three layers of the world: the beast at the bottom represents the land, the man in the middle represents the world while the bird at the top represents the heaven. "To assemble over 100 bronze pieces into a possible altar is really difficult. Sometimes when we made a small mistake, everything had to be restarted all over again," Guo Hanzhong, an expert on cultural relic restoration at the Sanxingdui Museum, told Chengdu Business Daily. There're still many questions and even controversies over how the original altar should be like. As for its function, many people in the know speculate it was for sacrifice. Due to its complicated structure, many believe it's a sacrifice tool of significance.
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New archeological discoveries
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Eastern Air Lines Shuttle Flight 1320 crash
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Eastern Air Lines Shuttle Flight 1320, carrying passengers from Newark to Boston, was hijacked around 7:30 p.m. on March 17, 1970, by John J. Divivo who was armed with a .38 caliber revolver. [1] Captain Robert Wilbur Jr., 35, a former United States Air Force pilot who had only been promoted to captain six months prior, was shot in his arm by the suicidal hijacker. Despite his wounds, he flew his aircraft safely to a landing while talking to the tower, telling them his copilot was shot (but not himself) and needed an ambulance. His copilot, First Officer James Hartley, 30, was shot without warning by Divivo and collapsed. Despite being mortally wounded, Hartley recovered sufficiently to rip the gun from Divivo's hand, and shoot the would-be hijacker three times before lapsing into unconsciousness, and eventually death. Although wounded and slumped between the seats, Divivo arose and began clawing at Captain Wilbur, attempting to force a crash. Wilbur hit Divivo over the head with the gun he had retrieved from the center console. [2] The pilot was able to land the plane safely at Logan International Airport, and the hijacker was arrested immediately. [3] On October 31, 1970, DiVivo hanged himself while awaiting trial at Charles Street Jail.
The incident was the first aircraft hijacking in the United States to end with a fatality. [6]
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Air crash
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Chilean miner trapped underground a decade ago recalls the day he saw the light
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SANTIAGO (Reuters) - The spectacular rescue a decade ago of 33 miners trapped for two months underground in Chile´s far-flung Atacama desert made headlines around the world. One of the survivors recalled in an interview with Reuters on Monday the drama of the last few moments before his escape, when rescuers threaded him through a narrow gap in the rock in a capsule designed for the purpose. Mario Sepúlveda, the group’s leader and the second man to be rescued, remembered his fear as the capsule hauled him upwards out of the darkness, not knowing if the plan would work. “On the way out, it was terrible, terrible,” Sepúlveda said. “I screamed. I just wanted to get out, to see the light.” He and other miners were trapped by a mine collapse on Aug. 5, 2010 at the San José mine, a small deposit nestled among dusty, desert hills near the city of Copiapó, about 800 kilometers (500 miles) north of Santiago. No one knew whether the miners, far beneath the surface, were alive or dead until they were able to convey a note to the surface in a probe sent down by authorities on Aug. 22. “We are fine in the shelter, the 33 of us,” said the note, written in red ink. The final rescue, broadcast live around the globe, took place on Oct. 13 of that year with each man emerging alive. The miners have since become stars. Their story prompted a movie, with Spaniard Antonio Banderas starring as Mario Sepúlveda. On Tuesday, Chilean President Sebastián Piñera, whose first government oversaw the rescue operations, led a commemoration ceremony at the La Moneda presidential palace. “We should remember and learn the lessons of the miracle of the San Jose Mine, to confront with the same willpower, faith, unity and strength...the great new challenges of coronavirus before us,” Pinera said in a televised speech.
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Mine Collapses
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AdvancED l Measured Progress Is Changing Its Name to Cognia.
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ALPHARETTA, Ga.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--AdvancED | Measured Progress, which was formed as a result of two leading education nonprofits merging in November 2018, announced today that it is changing its corporate name to Cognia™. “Education is ever evolving and so are we” The new name comes from the Latin word cognitio, which means knowledge. The name change reflects the nonprofit’s belief that knowledge is the key to helping people reach their aspirations—regardless of circumstance or background. Cognia was established to fill a crucial gap in education: the need to bridge school evaluations with student assessments in order to see a full picture and improve education in a more comprehensive and holistic way. Cognia offers accreditation and certification, assessment, professional services, and consulting to help schools drive continuous improvement. The organization focuses on innovation to provide more agile solutions for school improvement and to drive better outcomes for all students. In recent years, the organizations that merged to become Cognia introduced new technology solutions and applications in large-scale and local assessment solutions, low-cost mobile classroom observation tools, and high-powered data dashboards. These innovations support quick access to data on student achievement and engagement, facilitate analysis, and have a positive impact on real-time improvement efforts. “Education is ever evolving and so are we,” said Dr. Mark Elgart, president and CEO of Cognia. “In addition to our new name and brand identity, we are introducing advancements in how we deliver improvement services to our global network. Cognia clients now have better insights into how to improve school quality, create engaging environments for students, and assess student learning more effectively.” Today, Cognia also announced initiatives to upgrade its diagnostic improvement platform to include formative assessments for classroom use, plans to enable new options for accreditation, and efforts to expand its diagnostic tools to guide institutions in their improvement efforts. Thanks to technological improvements in capturing meaningful data related to school quality and student performance, Cognia is developing new accreditation offerings that will transform the experience from an event that happens every five years to one that is integrated into the work of institutions on an ongoing basis. To promote sustainable growth, the new offerings will be tailored to each institution, rather than employing a one-size-fits-all approach. Schools and educational systems that are accredited by AdvancED or its regional accrediting agencies will begin to receive accreditation seals with the new Cognia name. Cognia is also filling new leadership positions that will continue to build the organization’s capacity for innovation. To be announced in 2020, Cognia’s innovation strategy will help schools and districts accelerate improvement through solutions and tools born from Cognia’s research, field testing, and emerging partnerships. About Cognia Cognia has the knowledge to help schools improve. Cognia offers accreditation and certification, assessment, professional services and consulting within a framework of continuous improvement. The result of the merger of AdvancED and Measured Progress, Cognia was formed to bridge the gap between school evaluation and student assessment. As a global non-profit working in over 80 countries, our 36,000 institutions serve and support nearly 25 million students and 5 million educators every day, Cognia is an undeniable force for enhancing schools, engaging students, and driving better outcomes for all.
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Organization Merge
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Ukraine holds military drills with US, Poland, Lithuania
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Servicemen from Poland take part in a large military exercise entitled "Three Swords-2021" involving more than 1,200 servicemen and more than 200 combat vehicles from Ukraine, U.S., Poland and Lithuania at Yavoriv training ground in Lviv region, Ukraine July 27, 2021. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich LVIV, Ukraine, July 27 (Reuters) - Helicopters provided air support, armoured personnel carriers rolled through fields, and soldiers fired at enemy targets on Tuesday as part of a large military exercise hosted by Ukraine and also involving the United States, Poland and Lithuania. The drills, called Three Swords-2021, will involve more than 1,200 servicemen and more than 200 combat vehicles and will last from July 17 to 30 at Yavoriv training ground in Lviv region. "You have seen several tactical exercises," said Yevhen Moysyuk, commander of the Ukrainian air assault forces. "They show a high level of preparedness and the readiness of our partners to jointly repel aggression," he told a briefing. The drills come amid increased tensions between NATO and Moscow, which said in June it had fired warning shots and dropped bombs in the path of a British warship to chase it out of Black Sea waters off the coast of Crimea. Relations between Kyiv and Moscow plummeted after Russia seized Crimea and over Russia's support for separatist forces in the conflict in Ukraine's eastern Donbass region. Ukraine and the United States in June held a separate military exercise, Sea Breeze, involving more than 30 countries in the Black Sea and southern Ukraine, despite Russian calls for the drills to be cancelled. Russia traded barbs with Western members of the U.N. Security Council on Thursday over a crisis on the border between Belarus and Poland, with Russia's deputy U.N. envoy suggesting his European colleagues have "masochist inclinations."
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Military Exercise
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The Drought In The Western U.S. Is Getting Bad. Climate Change Is Making It Worse
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Warmer temperatures are leading to emptier reservoirs across the West, such as Lake Oroville in Northern California. Warmer temperatures are leading to emptier reservoirs across the West, such as Lake Oroville in Northern California. By almost every measure, the drought in the Western U.S. is already one for the record books. Almost half the country's population is facing dry conditions. Soils are parched. Mountain snowpacks produce less water. Wildfire risk is already extreme. The nation's largest reservoir, Lake Mead, is headed to its lowest level since it was first filled in the 1930s. The past year has been the driest or second driest in most Southwestern states since record-keeping began in 1895. Farms and cities have begun imposing water restrictions, but Western states are facing a threat that goes deeper than a single bad year. The hotter climate is shrinking water supplies, no matter what the weather brings. Warming temperatures make it less likely for a raindrop or snowflake to reach a reservoir due to increased evaporation. As a result, the people who manage the West's complex water systems are realizing that with climate change, they can no longer rely on the past to predict the future. That's creating a fundamental threat to the way Western water systems operate, because they were built around the idea that the climate would remain constant. Historical climate data such as river flows and rainfall totals told engineers how big to build reservoirs and canals. The data also told them how much water was available to divide up among cities and farms. Climate change is putting that system under increasing stress, shrinking water supplies for tens of millions of people and for the farmland that produces most of the country's fruits and vegetables. Water cutbacks are reverberating through California's $50 billion agricultural industry, which employs tens of thousands of people in many small towns. Southwestern states recently negotiated a temporary agreement to use less water as reservoirs keep falling. But tough conversations remain about how the West and its complex system of water rights will adapt to a future for which it wasn't designed. "We can really no longer look at the past and say: The amount of water we've had in the last 100 years is what we can expect in the future," says Eric Kuhn, an author who worked on water policy for decades at the Colorado River Water Conservation District. "That is no longer true because of climate change." As the West grew, states divided up water held behind the Hoover Dam, outside Las Vegas, but they allocated more water than the Colorado River typically provides on average. Ansel Adams/National Archives hide caption "A painful reduction" The Colorado River is the main source of water for much of the Southwest. In late April, Arizona water management officials held a public meeting that everyone had hoped to avoid. The Central Arizona Project, which supplies Colorado River water to millions of people in the state, announced it expects to take 30% less water than usual. Lake Mead, the largest reservoir on the Colorado River, just outside Las Vegas, has been falling rapidly, and was just 38% full by late April. When water supplies get so low, some states are required to cut back on use. Arizona's reductions will primarily hit farmers. Some will be made up through groundwater pumping or with water previously stored in reservoirs and banked for future use. The cuts are "a painful reduction to Arizona," says Tom Buschatzke, director of the Arizona Department of Water Resources. "If the reservoir continues to decline, more aggressive actions will be taken by the lower basin users, including California, to slow the decline in the system." That decline in the Colorado River's flow is exacerbated by both a 20-year drought and climate change. But it has been a century in the making. As cities from Denver to Los Angeles began growing in the early 1900s, planners knew they'd need to secure a reliable water supply in such an arid region. Engineers drafted plans to build a massive reservoir in a steep rock canyon that is now Lake Mead. But with seven states vying for Colorado River water, officials met in 1922 to negotiate how they would share it. The first step was determining how much there was to share. The officials looked at the previous 20 years of the Colorado River's flow, which was high due to above-average precipitation. They divided up the river water anyway based on those atypical numbers despite warnings from a hydrologist. "They ended up appropriating more water than the river could actually produce," Kuhn says. "Once the commissioners negotiated the compact, which was very difficult, they just didn't want to hear that they'd overstated the amount of water supply." The promise of that water spawned a vast network of reservoirs and canals, carrying it hundreds of miles through the desert and eventually reaching millions of homes. Anyone in the U.S. who eats lettuce during winter has likely tasted Colorado River water, which irrigates the fields in Arizona and California that produce most of the season's crop. Yet since the water was divided up, the Colorado River has been shrinking. Average flows have been drier, compounded by a drought beginning in 2000. The water level in Lake Mead has fallen around 140 feet, leaving a telltale white "bathtub ring" around its perimeter. Climate amplifying bad luck Like a run-of-the-mill streak of bad luck, droughts are normal in the West. Now, climate change is exacerbating their effects. "Over the last 22 years or so, there's been quite a bit of bad luck because precipitation totals have on average been low," says Park Williams, associate professor of hydroclimatology at UCLA. "But the effect of that bad luck has been really amplified because of warmer temperatures." As farmers in California's Central Valley face drought restrictions, some are removing almond trees to reduce water use, especially in aging orchards. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images hide caption As farmers in California's Central Valley face drought restrictions, some are removing almond trees to reduce water use, especially in aging orchards. A hotter atmosphere is thirstier, drawing water out of plants and soils and into the air. Snowpacks melt earlier, which in turn boosts that evaporation, because without the reflective surface that snow creates, soils heat up faster. And when soils are dry, they act like a sponge. They need to soak up more moisture before they're saturated enough for the water to run off into rivers and streams. Studies show that since 2000, about half the reduction in the Colorado River's flow has been due to warmer temperatures. For every degree Celsius of warming, the river's flow is expected to shrink by 9%, according to another study. The same climate impacts are being felt elsewhere in California, where a massive network of reservoirs and canals connects the water-rich Northern California mountains to the Bay Area and Southern California, where most people live. That water also flows to the Central Valley and other agricultural areas, which grow two-thirds of the country's fruits and nuts. The state's snowpack in the Sierra Nevada up north is a vital source of water. But in a hotter climate, it's shrinking and melting earlier in the season. And as in the Colorado River basin, less of that snowpack is turning into water supply. "We're getting a lot less streamflow coming off the same amount of snowpack," says Andrew Schwarz, climate action coordinator at California's Department of Water Resources. "We're not seeing as much water showing up in our rivers as we would have expected with the same amount of rain or snow that we had gotten historically." According to state research, California's water supply, which reaches 25 million residents through two state and federal water projects, will shrink with every degree of warming, even if the state gets more rain than average. Bumpy road ahead With long-term decline on the horizon, water managers across the West are grappling with a system that wasn't built with flexibility in mind. Water rights follow a pecking order of "first in time, first in right," with the oldest water rights taking priority over others. For many, those rights are considered untouchable, and any effort to curtail them spawns numerous lawsuits. Seeing the writing on the wall, states on the Colorado River negotiated a hard-fought plan in 2019 to deal with water shortages. As Lake Mead drops, Arizona and Nevada face cutbacks first. If water levels continue to fall, other states such as California will also face restrictions. The solution is temporary, however. States will need to negotiate another plan that would start in 2026, and reservoirs are projected to keep dropping over the next two years. Reexamining the water allotments in the original agreement in 1922 is a far thornier prospect. It was ratified by both states and Congress, making it federal law. "It's difficult," Kuhn says. "It creates a lot of legal conflicts. It's a bumpy road, but we'll get there because we have to." Western snowpacks are melting earlier, which in turn boosts evaporation and leads to less runoff reaching reservoirs such as California's Lake Oroville. Kelly M. Grow/California Department of Water Resources hide caption California has its own system of rights where water users have claimed more water than is available on average. During the state's last drought, some water users challenged the state's authority to regulate them. California officials released a report this year identifying a need to have more adaptable water rights in a changing climate as well as better water use data. "California's water system was designed for a climate we don't have anymore," says Alvar Escriva-Bou, a research fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California. "What we are seeing, especially in some parts of California, is that we have been using more water than we have. And that's causing problems. So the reality here is that we have to make a reduction of water use over the long term." Conservation will be critical in a hotter climate. The vast majority of water used in the West goes to agriculture, and some regions have conserved by investing in more efficient irrigation. Other regions, with older water rights less at risk, have had less incentive to do so. The good news is that some drought measures seem to stick. Since California's last drought from 2012 to 2016, residential water use has remained lower than it was before the drought hit. It's more than just shorter showers. Residents made investments such as water-efficient fixtures and low-water landscaping that lock in water savings for years to come.
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Droughts
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Aeroflot Flight 1036 crash
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Aeroflot Flight 1036 (Russian: Рейс 1036 Аэрофлота Reys 1036 Aeroflota) was a domestic scheduled passenger flight operated by Aeroflot that crashed during takeoff from Sochi International Airport on 1 October 1972. All 109 people aboard the Ilyushin Il-18V perished in the crash. It is the second worst accident involving an Ilyushin Il-18 and it was the worst accident involving one at the time. [1]
The aircraft involved in the accident was an Ilyushin Il-18V with four Ivchenko AI-20K engines, registered CCCP-75507 to Aeroflot. The aircraft rolled off the assembly line on 3 August 1963. At the time of the accident the aircraft had a total of 15,700 flight hours and 7,900 pressurization cycles. [2]
There were eight crew members aboard the fatal flight. The cockpit crew consisted of:[3]
Flight 1036 crashed during the initial climb phase of takeoff from the Sochi-Moscow route. On the flight were 100 adult passengers, one child, and eight crew members. Psychologist Vladimir Nebylitsyn and his wife were among the passengers of Flight 1036. The weather of the day of the accident was clear, with visibility over 5 kilometers, mild winds, and an air temperature of 17 °C. [5]
At 19:21 local time the IL-18 departed from Sochi Airport at a bearing of 240°. At 19:22 the flight crew contacted air traffic control for further instructions. The air traffic controller instructed the flight to make a right turn with a climb of up to 3000 meters to Lazarevskoye; the crew of the Ilyushin Il-18 confirmed hearing the instructions. At an altitude of 150–250 meters, the pilots began to perform the right turn when the aircraft unexpectedly veered into a steep left turn with a sharp nosedive, and then crashed into the Black Sea. [5]
At 19:40 air traffic control received a message from warships in the area that a plane crashed, describing the route; witnesses reported the aircraft turned onto a bearing of 220° about 10.5 km from the shore before it veered off and crashed. At 23:52 about 5-6 kilometers from the shore debris from the aircraft and fragments of bodies were found floating on the surface of the sea. All 109 people aboard the airliner died. [5]
Investigators proposed several hypotheses for the cause of the accident. No traces of explosives were found on any wreckage or human remains. Mechanical failure was also suggested but not able to be proven beyond a reasonable doubt. The most investigated hypothesis was the possibility of birdstrikes damaging the aircraft, specifically by migrating birds. Due to the aircraft crashing into the Black Sea to a depth of 600 meters and into the mud, limiting the investigation, it was impossible to determine for certain the cause or causes of the crash. [5]
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Air crash
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1988 Library of the USSR Academy of Sciences fire
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The 1988 fire in the Library of the USSR Academy of Sciences (now Library of the Russian Academy of Sciences) broke out on Sunday, February 14, 1988, in the newspaper section on the third floor of the library; the cause of which is still unknown. According to the library's acting director Valeriy Leonov, the fire alarm sounded at 8:13 pm, when the library was closed for visitors. By the time the fire was extinguished the following afternoon, it had destroyed 298.000[1] books of the total 12 million housed, two to three million more were damaged by heat and smoke. About 734,465 copies volumes initially became damp due to firefighting foam. [2]Many of the lost volumes were part of the Baer Collection of foreign scientific works: 152,000 were lost. The rest 146.000 were Russian books. [1]
The lost fund was partially restored, large batches of books and individual rare editions came from more than 700 domestic libraries to replenish the lost funds. [1]
Many of the lost books were foreign scientific works. [3]
The first fire engines arrived eight minutes after the fire alarm went off. However, it took nearly two hours for the firefighters to reach the fire itself. [4] The fire was initially tackled by the Ninth Fire Company that was joined by the crews of seven other fire engines. [3]
The damp books damaged by fire extinguishment were initially frozen. Then a radio appeal was broadcast for citizens to dry the damp books in their homes. By late March 1988 93% of the damp books had been dried in that way and returned to the library. [3] However, about 10,000 books became moldy. [3]
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Fire
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Supergame (association football)
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The SuperGame (Swedish: SuperMatchen) is an annual football match at Nya Ullevi in Gothenburg, Sweden. Starting in 2012, it is usually played as a game between two top club teams in July or August. While mostly being an exhibition game it's given major attention, as its played between major clubs. Draws are followed up by penalty shootouts. SuperGames which involve Manchester City are known as Super Matches. This association football article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
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Sports Competition
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Voghera train crash
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The Voghera train crash is considered one of the most serious incidents in the history of the Italian railways. It happened at track three of Voghera railway station, on the night of 31 May 1962. Sixty-four people lost their lives, and 40 were seriously injured. [1]
At 2.35 on 31 May 1962, freight train №. 8151, from Milan, hauled by an E626 class electric locomotive, entered Voghera station at high speed, against protection signals set to 'danger'. It then collided with the rear of passenger train №. 1391, which was stationary on Track 3, and about to depart for Genoa. The locomotive of train 8151 became wedged in the last carriage of train 1391, killing 60 people instantly and injuring over 40, four of whom later died in hospital. All of the victims were in the last carriage. They were mostly holidaymakers bound for the Ligurian Riviera. Examination of the wheel speed sensor date from the locomotive at the head of train 8151 revealed that the train appeared to have been travelling at between 70 km/h (43 mph) and 75 km/h (47 mph) all the way from Milan Rogoredo, except for a brief slowdown near Pavia. The train's speed had not diminished even upon arrival at Voghera, except during the nine seconds immediately before the collision, when it had fallen sharply from 72 km/h (45 mph) to about 60 km/h (37 mph). [2]
This speed was not in any way acceptable, regardless of the danger setting displayed by the signal, given that the train was due to stop at the station for a change of traction. At that time, the Milan–Voghera was energised with DC electric current, and the Voghera–Genoa section with three-phase AC current, imposing a requirement for a change of locomotive at Voghera. [2]
The train braking on train 8151 had been activated only about 170 m (558 ft) from the rear of the train 1391. Given the characteristics of the brake, and its time of entry into operation, it can be assumed that it was activated in response to stop signals given by hand by station staff, as in fact was admitted by the driver. [2]
On 31 May 2002, the 40th anniversary of the accident, a marble commemorative plaque was placed on a wall of Voghera railway main station (facing platform 1 near the newsstand). The plaque bears the following inscription: "The distressing horror of the time of trouble lives again today and will live forever in the memory and silence of all Vogherese. 31 May 1962 - 31 May 2002." The ceremony was attended by representatives of local authorities.
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Train collisions
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2011–2013 Russian protests
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The 2011–2013 Russian protests, which some English language media referred to as the Snow Revolution,[14] began in 2011 (as protests against the 2011 Russian legislative election results) and continued into 2012 and 2013. The protests were motivated by claims by Russian and foreign journalists, political activists and members of the public that the election process was flawed. [15] The Central Election Commission of Russia stated that only 11.5% of official reports of fraud could be confirmed as true. [16]
On 10 December 2011, after a week of small-scale demonstrations, Russia saw some of the biggest protests in Moscow since the 1990s. The focus of the protests have been the ruling party, United Russia, and its leader Vladimir Putin, the current president, previous prime minister, and previous two-term president, who announced his intention to run again for President in 2012. Another round of large protests took place on 24 December 2011. These protests were named "For Fair Elections" (Russian: За честные выборы) and their organizers set up the movement of the same name. By this time, the "For Fair Elections" protesters had coalesced into five main points: freedom for political prisoners; annulment of the election results; the resignation of Vladimir Churov (head of the election commission) and the opening of an official investigation into vote fraud; registration of opposition parties and new democratic legislation on parties and elections, as well as new democratic and open elections. [17]
Initial protest actions, organized by the leaders of the Russian opposition parties and non-systemic opposition sparked fear in some quarters of a colour revolution in Russia, and a number of counter-protests and rallies in support of the government were held. On the first days following the election, Putin and United Russia were supported by rallies of two youth organizations, the government-organized Nashi and United Russia's Young Guard. On 24 December Sergey Kurginyan organised the first protest against what was viewed as "orange" protesters in Moscow, though the protest also went under the same slogan "For Fair Elections". [18] On 4 February 2012, more protests and pro-government rallies were held throughout the country. The largest two events were in Moscow: the "anti-Orange protest"[19] (alluding to the Orange Revolution in Ukraine, the most widely known color revolution to Russians), aimed against "orangism", "collapse of the country", "perestroika" and "revolution",[20] the largest protest action of all the protests so far according to the police;[9][20][21] and another "For Fair Elections" protest, larger than the previous ones according to the police. [20][22]
On 6 May 2012, protests took place in Moscow the day before Putin's inauguration as President for his third term. Some called for the inauguration to be scrapped. The protests were marred by violence between the protesters and the police. About 400 protesters were arrested, including Alexei Navalny, Boris Nemtsov and Sergei Udaltsov[23][24] and 80 were injured. [25] On the day of the inauguration, 7 May, at least 120 protesters were arrested in Moscow. [25] In June 2012, laws were enacted which set strict boundaries on protests and imposed heavy penalties for unauthorized actions. As of January 2013, interviews by Ellen Barry of The New York Times of working class elements which had supported the protests revealed an atmosphere of intimidation, discouragement, and alienation. [26]
In the 2000s, due to increased restrictions in the election legislation and the takeover of large media under state control, a non-system opposition emerged, which was barred from participation in elections. This time, it included both left and right organisations as well as nationalists. The largest protests and main opposition events include rallies to support the old NTV staff (2001), mass protests against Mikhail Zurabov's reforms (2005), including the 2004-2005 Russian protests, Dissenters' March (2005–2008), Russian Marches, "I am free! I forgot what it means to fear" rallies for freedom of the press (2005–2006 and 2008), Vladivostok mass protests (2008–2010), Kaliningrad mass protests (2009–2010), Day of Wrath (Left Front actions) (2009–2011), Putin.Results and Putin.Corruption campaign, Putin must go campaign, Strategy-31 (for freedom of assembly) (2009–), etc. Committee 2008, wide coalition The Other Russia, Yabloko, Union of Right Forces, Vanguard of Red Youth, Left Front, Russian People's Democratic Union, United Civil Front, movement for Khimki forest, Solidarnost, TIGER, Society of Blue Buckets, Coalition "For Russia without Lawlessness and Corruption", etc. were among the main opposition groups within disorganized 2000s protest movement. According to RIA Novosti, there were more than 1,100 official reports of election irregularities across the country, including allegations of vote fraud, obstruction of observers and illegal campaigning. [16] Members of the A Just Russia, Yabloko and Communist parties reported that voters were shuttled between multiple polling stations to cast several ballots. The Yabloko and LDPR parties reported that some of their observers had been banned from witnessing the sealing of the ballot boxes and from gathering video footage, and some were groundlessly expelled from polling stations. [27] The ruling United Russia party alleged that the opposition parties had engaged in illegal campaigning by distributing leaflets and newspapers at polling stations and that at some polling stations the voters had been ordered to vote for the Communist party with threats of violence. [27] There were several reports of almost undetectable vote fraud—swapping of final polling station protocols just before final accounting by station chairmen—that happened late at night when most observers were gone. [28][29]
The Central Electoral Commission issued a report on 3 February 2012, in which it said that it received the total of 1686 reports on irregularities, of which only 195 (11.5%) were upheld after investigation. A third (584) actually contained questions about the unclear points of electoral law, and only 60 complaints were claiming falsifications of the elections results. [16] On 4 February 2012 the Investigation Committee of the Office of the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation announced that the majority of videos allegedly showing falsifications at polling stations were in fact falsified and originally distributed from a single server in California, and the investigation on that started. [30]
Despite the official findings, protests carried on up to and beyond 4 March presidential election. According to The New York Times, the leading element has consisted of young urban professionals, the well-educated and successful working or middle class people[31] such as workers in social media. [32] These groups had benefited from substantial growth in the Russian economy until the 2008 economic crisis but have been alienated by increasing political corruption as well as recent stagnation in their income. The number of such individuals is large and growing in urban centers and is thought to represent a challenge to continuation of authoritarian rule. [33] According to Putin the legitimate grievances of this young and active element of Russian society are being exploited by opportunistic elements which seek to destabilize Russia. [34] Nationalist elements play a significant role in the coalition which is organizing and participating in the protests. [35]
On 4 November 2011, during the annual Russian March event, representatives of "The Russians" movement declared a protest action planned for election day after polling districts closed. [36] As there was no official rally permit, the action by "The Russians" was unapproved and took place on 4 December at 21:00 in Moscow. The statement of non-recognition of electoral results spread widely. Сitizens were called upon to create self-governing institutions reflecting national interests and were told of falsifications and frauds said to have occurred during the elections. Alexander Belov declared the beginning of the "Putin, go away!" campaign. [37] The protest action, in which several hundreds persons participated, led to running battles with riot police. Leaders of "The Russians" Alexander Belov, Dmitry Dyomushkin, George Borovikov were arrested along with dozens of other nationalists. The head of the banned Movement Against Illegal Immigration organization Vladimir Yermolaev was detained at a voting station where he was an observer. Mass detentions of other public organizations occurred in Moscow.
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Protest_Online Condemnation
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Atlanta Bicycle Coalition, PEDS formalize merger
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The Atlanta Bicycle Coalition and PEDS — two of the Southeast’s leading organizations dedicated to sustainable transportation advocacy —recently announced they have formally merged as of June 17, 2021, according to a press release. This merger comes after the two groups first entered into talks in February of this year. By joining forces, the two organizations will gain efficiencies that will bolster advocacy to reclaim Atlanta’s streets as safe, inclusive, and thriving spaces for people to ride, walk, and roll. Over the years, the Atlanta Bicycle Coalition and PEDS have partnered often to achieve milestones that make the city a safer, more convenient place for people to walk, use wheelchairs, bike, scoot, skate, and ride transit throughout Atlanta. In 2019, the Atlanta Bicycle Coalition expanded its mission beyond bikes to include all forms of sustainable transportation, further aligning the two organization’s advocacy efforts. In 2020, PEDS served as a critical partner to the Atlanta Bicycle Coalition’s successful Vision Zero campaign, which propelled the City of Atlanta’s Vision Zero legislation adoption — the resolution that reduced the default speed on Atlanta’s local streets to 25 mph with the goal of zero roadway fatalities. Additionally, for twenty-five years, PEDS led the way to prioritize pedestrians by advocating for safe sidewalks, including a campaign that urged the city to take financial responsibility for sidewalk maintenance. PEDS has also focused on sidewalk closures in construction zones, which influenced the Atlanta Bicycle Coalition to advocate for solutions that keep multimodal lanes open for people to safely bike, scoot, and use wheelchairs in areas with ongoing construction. In the next year, the merged organization will unveil a new name in alignment with the Atlanta Bicycle Coalition’s new strategic direction.
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Organization Merge
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10 Of The Most Expensive Celebrity Divorces That Prove Love Does Cost A Thing After All
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ENTERTAINMENT Srishti Magan Breakups are never easy. And at times, they ain't cheap either. At least that was the case with these hella expensive divorce settlements:
1. Jeff Bezos and MacKenzie Bezos: $38 billion
When Jeff Bezos and MacKenzie split, after 25 years of marriage, their divorce settlement made news for being the most expensive settlement ever. Despite the massive settlement, Jeff Bezos remained the world's richest man at the time, with an estimated net worth of $121 billion.
2. Rupert Murdoch and Anna Mann: $100 million and secured property claims
Media Mogul Rupert Murdoch's second divorce, with journalist Anna Mann, his wife of over 30 years, was reported to have cost a whopping $1.7 billion, making it the most expensive settlement at the time. However, though the figure of $1.7 bn is widely reported, according to The Guardian, it's 'mythical'. Reportedly, the actual settlement was $100 mn in cash to Mann, along with a secured property claim for her 3 children with Murdoch.
Murdoch married his third wife, Wendi, just 17 days after his divorce from Mann was finalized.
3. Mel Gibson and Robyn Moore: $425 million
After 26 years of marriage, Gibson and Moore seperated in 2004 and 5 years later, filed for a divorce in 2009. Gibson, who has 7 children with Moore, paid half of his entire net worth ($850 mn at the time) to Moore in the settlement.
4. Michael Jordan and Juanita Vanoy: $168 million
Former basketball player Michael Jordan's marriage to Juanita Vanoy almost ended in 2002, when the two first filed for divorce. However, they reconciled, only to ultimately divorce four years later, in 2006 after being married for 17 years. Vanoy received $168 million from Jordan as part of the settlement.
5. Tiger Woods and Elin Nordegren: $110 million
After Woods' publicized admissions of infidelity, Nordegren and he divorced in 2010. Elin received a sum of $110 million in the settlement, along with a fixed amount (monthly) for child support, for their two children.
6. Steven Spielberg and Amy Irving: $100 million
The E.T director split with his wife of 4 years, actress Amy Irving in 1989. At the time, a judge did not accept their prenup 'agreement', because it was scribbled on a napkin. Seems fair. Irving still received $100 million in the divorce settlement.
7. Harrison Ford and Melissa Mathison: Between $85 million and $118 million
In 2000, Harrison Ford and Melissa Mathison separated after 17 years of marriage, and three years later, filed for divorce. As per the reports, in the absence of a prenup, Mathison received somewhere between $85 million and $118 million in the settlement.
Mathison passed away after a battle with cancer in 2015, aged 65.
8. Madonna and Guy Ritchie: $10 million
After 8 years of marriage, Madonna and Ritchie split in 2008. Ritchie received the couple’s English country estate, Ashcombe, and $10 million in the settlement. However, initially, it was widely reported that Ritchie received between $75 million to $92 million in the settlement. But soon after, Madonna and Ritchie released a joint statement, stating that the financial details of the divorce were to remain private.
9. Heidi Klum and Seal: $70 million
After 7 years of marriage, Heidi Kulm and Seal filed for divorce. In the absence of a prenup, the divorce settlement amounted to $70 million.
10. James Cameron and Linda Hamilton: $50 million
Director James Cameron and actress Linda Hamilton were married for 2 years before they decided to part ways. As part of the divorce settlement, Hamilton received a total sum of $50 million.
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Famous Person - Divorce
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Ten years after the financial crisis, business journalism awaits its reckoning
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Ten years ago, Lehman Brothers, the venerable Wall Street firm, shut down after a failed rescue effort by the US Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve. Panic spread, along with rumors that other Wall Street banks were next. Stock markets plummeted as regulators and central bankers scrambled to save one big financial institution after another. The collapse of Lehman was the watershed moment in the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. It prompted a wave of coverage, and business journalists, who often work in the shadow of colleagues who cover politics, took center stage. It was, for a moment, business journalism’s finest hour. But the moment didn’t last. Almost immediately, everyone from bank customers to policy makers to Queen Elizabeth herself, began to ask a painful question: How is it that no one saw this coming? Today, the question once again resonates, and not just because of the one-decade anniversary of the crisis (which is being widely chronicled, including in a special pull-out section of The New York Times over the weekend). Many of the banks that helped create the crisis are as dominant as ever, and some of the reforms enacted to prevent a repeat have been rolled back. Beyond economics, questions about how the press missed the crisis—and, in fact, continued to lionize financial executives even as it was beginning to unfold—echo in our current politics, as journalism continues to grapple with its failures around the 2016 presidential election and the rise of Donald Trump. “The regulators didn’t put it together. The big institutions didn’t put it together. A whole lot of smart people could see the pieces, but they couldn’t see the whole,” says Allan Sloan, who has won a record seven Gerald Loeb Awards for Distinguished Business and Financial Journalism at magazines like Fortune and Forbes and as a newspaper columnist. ”And then there’s all of this breast beating, ‘Oh, we journalists, we failed, we failed!’ Well, you know what? It’s not as if this is a failure of journalism. This is a failure of everything.” ICYMI: The Outline and the curse of media venture capital In the years before the crisis, business and financial journalists got big pieces of the story—but nowhere near the full extent. Most of the financial media failed to connect the housing bubble and the explosion of subprime mortgage loans to the big Wall Street banks that were packaging and selling them. That nexus of Big Finance and corrupt, unscrupulous lenders was the toxic swamp in which the financial crisis brewed, yet few journalists understood what was going on, let alone passed it along to their readers and viewers. “You had the chairman of the Federal Reserve saying in May of 2007 that the subprime crisis would be contained. . . and it would not spill over into the overall economy, which was, of course, stupendously wrong,” says Gretchen Morgenson, a Pulitzer Prize winner for her coverage of Wall Street in The New York Times and now an investigative reporter for The Wall Street Journal. “The regulatory failure that brought on the crisis was certainly not a failure of journalism.” And yet journalism did fail: It failed to alert its readers to the coming disaster, to appreciate the complicity of the Wall Street banks, and to understand the inability or unwillingness of regulators to grasp the problem. That business journalists are still defending their role in a meltdown that happened ten years ago speaks to how deep the criticism cut and how raw the debate still is. I was editor of Barrons.com before the crisis and didn’t see it coming, either. It also speaks to the future. After the 2016 election, which Trump won despite a near-universal belief among members of the press that Hillary Clinton would be the victor, political reporters and editors realized they had missed one of the biggest stories of their careers and pledged to devote more resources to cover people and regions of the country they, too, had left behind. And while the parallels are obvious—the financial crisis was the business equivalent of the 2016 political quake—there was no similar, widespread reckoning then. That business journalists are still defending their role in a meltdown that happened ten years ago speaks to how deep the criticism cut and how raw the debate still is. “Not that much, no, to be honest,” says Gillian Tett, US managing editor of the Financial Times. “There wasn’t nearly enough sense of, we need to start trying to look beyond what I call the tip of the iceberg—a bit more, but not nearly as much as there could be.” “My sense is, no, there wasn’t a reaction that said, ‘We screwed up and we need to get new people here,’” says Paul Steiger, who was managing editor of The Wall Street Journal from 1991 through 2007 (he left right before the crisis), and is now chairman emeritus of ProPublica. So, if business journalists missed critical parts of the story before the crisis hit and didn’t see the need for fundamental change in its wake, what are the odds they’ll spot the next crisis, before it comes? The crisis that nearly toppled Wall Street began on Main Street. Since the end of World War II, owning your own home has been a central pillar of the American Dream. Politicians of both parties encouraged home ownership as a path to financial security. By 2004, a record 69.2 percent of US households were owner-occupied, according to the Census Bureau. Technology and financial innovation helped make home ownership more accessible, or at least they appeared to do so. In the 1970s and 1980s, government-sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac combined the huge volume of mortgages they bought from banks and savings and loans into securities and sold them to investors. This took the risk of holding individual mortgages off their own (and banks’) balance sheets and made Fannie and Freddie huge players in the housing market. Wall Street responded by creating a market for mortgage-backed bonds. The system largely worked until the dot-com bust of 2000, which also marked the end of income growth for many middle-class Americans—a stagnation that continues to the present day. Investors who had lost money betting on internet stocks flocked to real estate, which, they believed, never declined in value. Soon, lightly regulated independent mortgage companies jumped in to offer “subprime” and other exotic mortgages to borrowers who couldn’t qualify for the conventional mortgages Fannie and Freddie typically bought from lenders. The subprime factories churning out these mortgages, such as Countrywide Financial, Ameriquest Mortgage, and New Century Financial, had to sell the dicey loans to somebody, and Wall Street, seeing a money-making opportunity, jumped in. The banks issued some $2.1 trillion worth of securities backed by subprime mortgages from 2000 to 2007. But housing prices peaked in early 2006, and as the speculative fever broke, prices plummeted by more than 50 percent in former boom towns like Phoenix, Las Vegas, and Miami. As housing values dropped, borrowers struggled to repay, and more than 9 million Americans lost their homes. The housing collapse eventually swamped Wall Street. Two hedge funds run by investment firm Bear Stearns that invested in exotic securities linked to subprime mortgages imploded in the summer of 2007. By the following March, Bear itself, on the verge of collapse, was purchased by JPMorgan Chase with a $29 billion backstop from the Federal Reserve. When Lehman failed in September 2008, the Great Recession was well underway. The scale of the crisis, and the obscure nature of it, was a lot for business journalists to take in. Dean Starkman, a former reporter for the Journal then working for The Audit, a business journalism project affiliated with CJR, tracked more than 700 stories published by leading media organizations about the housing market, mortgage lenders, and Wall Street from 2000 to mid-2007. He chronicled his findings in a 2009 CJR cover story, called “Power Problem,” which included a detailed spreadsheet of relevant stories in the mainstream business media, and a 2013 book, The Watchdog That Didn’t Bark: The Financial Crisis and the Disappearance of Investigative Journalism. Starkman concluded that business journalists did a good job covering the emerging housing bubble and the abuses of the mortgage industry from 2000 to 2003, but then dropped the ball from 2004 to 2006 as the bubble inflated and the abuses grew. By failing to connect the dots between the housing bubble, subprime mortgage debt, and the big Wall Street firms at the center of the money machine, financial journalists failed to fulfill their watchdog role, he says. “Mainstream business coverage of major financial institutions from 2004 to 2006 was trapped in old narratives, trapped in New York, trapped in the Wall Street paradigm, trapped on a spinning hamster wheel of increased productivity requirements, trapped in a comfort zone,” he wrote in his book. The stories on Starkman’s spreadsheet about Wall Street firms were overwhelmingly positive, including puffy profiles of soon-discredited CEOs like Stanley O’Neal of Merrill Lynch and Charles Prince of Citigroup, who infamously declared in July 2007, “As long as the music is playing, you’ve got to get up and dance.” Even Richard Fuld, the CEO who oversaw the collapse of Lehman, got his fair share of encomiums. Among them was a Times piece by Jenny Anderson on October 28, 2007, which depicted a Pattonesque Fuld girding his troops for “war.” The story, headlined “The Survivor,” said Lehman “has offered proof, at least for now, that its risk management is sound.” Less than a year later, the company was gone. The fundamental problem, Starkman says, was a split between accountability and access journalism—the latter of which became a far more powerful force in business journalism, he contends. “No one ever argued that business reporters weren’t diligent and adversarial in their way and sophisticated. . . . and yet look what happened, right? To me it was all about how their task was defined and how they approached the job,” says Starkman, now a fellow at the Center for Media, Data, and Society and a lecturer at Central European University. “It’s not that people didn’t care; of course they cared. They were asking the wrong questions and to me, coming up with the wrong answers.” The problem, according to many prominent business journalists, was the inability to show how closely subprime mortgages were tied to the big Wall Street firms that packaged, bought, and sold them. That combustible mixture brought on the global crisis. “The colossal failure of the financial media in the run-up to the crisis was that we failed to understand the rise of complex mortgage securities, of derivatives and of the excesses on Wall Street and in the major money center banks,” says Jesse Eisinger, the Pulitzer Prize–winning former columnist for the Journal who is now a senior reporter and editor for ProPublica. “We really did not understand how vulnerable the financial system was, and we did not raise nearly enough alarm bells about it.” But there were real barriers to reporting on the crisis, including the inherent difficulty of understanding Wall Street’s complex, arcane derivatives, in which thousands of mortgages were packaged and sold to investors. “In 2005, you couldn’t even get prices,” says Tett, who was editor of the Financial Times’ capital markets team at the time of the crisis. “I had to call up brokers one by one and say, ‘What are you quoting on this and what are you quoting on that?’” “I mean, the central bankers couldn’t get it,” she continued. “I remember the BIS (Bank for International Settlements, a leading global banking regulator) calling me up once and saying, ‘Where do you get your data from?’” TV was an even tougher nut to crack. Money manager Barry Ritholtz, a columnist for Bloomberg Opinion who wrote the book Bailout Nation about the financial crisis, recalls one appearance on CNBC warning about the crisis to come. “I will never forget coming off the set of CNBC with [money manager] Peter Boockvar after both of us had talked about subprime and housing, and [how] it’s clearly unsustainable and will eventually collapse, and the anchors literally laughed at us,” Ritholtz tells CJR. “And it wasn’t like we were saying, ‘Hey, the market’s going to zero tomorrow.’ It was, the house is on fire, and nobody has seen the smoke yet. I [said to Boockvar]: ‘Are we the only two people who see this?’ It was quite amazing.” “I will never forget coming off the set of CNBC with [money manager] Peter Boockvar after both of us had talked about subprime and housing, and [how] it’s clearly unsustainable and will eventually collapse, and the anchors literally laughed at us.” Nor were there whistleblowers like short seller James Chanos, who alerted Bethany McLean to accounting anomalies at Enron before she wrote her story, “Is Enron Overpriced?” for Fortune in 2001. McLean subsequently wrote All the Devils Are Here: The Hidden History of the Financial Crisis with Joe Nocera, now of Bloomberg Opinion. “Even when I went through everything for my book with Joe, we didn’t find anybody who had predicted it,” McLean says. “There are people who got pieces of it and said this could be a huge problem, but I don’t think there was anybody saying, ‘Here’s the mechanism by which this is going to bring down every firm on Wall Street.’” “It wasn’t like there was a source journalists could have called who was skeptical and saw this coming and we just failed to call them,” she says. “Journalists are really only as good as our sources.” That standard journalistic defense can come across as a bit of a rationalization, however, given the fact that business journalism has largely failed to own up to the shortcomings of its pre-crisis coverage. “I don’t think that there was a paroxysm of soul-searching about how badly we behaved,” says Paul Steiger. “If you asked a typical journalist who deserved the blame for the crash, it was a combination of bankers and government officials.” But although there has been no great reckoning, business journalists say they’ve learned some important lessons. “There was this growing sense that we just have to ask tougher questions about everything, especially when it comes to finance, given how complicated it has become,” says Lawrence Ingrassia, who was deputy managing editor and business editor of the Times from 2004 through 2014. “There was a failure to imagine the worst possible scenario.” Adds Eisinger: “I think that the coverage of the financial world has gotten more sophisticated, people are warier of the dangers of the big banks and of financial complexity. And so you’re seeing an improved coverage of the banks and Wall Street and hedge funds.” Unfortunately, 10 years after the crisis, Starkman says the dire financial situation of many business media outlets—particularly the collapse of advertising-supported media, which doomed Time Inc.—has made it even harder for them to carry out their watchdog role. Scoops are at an even greater premium, the hamster wheel is spinning faster, and access journalism is more dominant than it was a decade ago. “I think the thing pushing in the other direction is just budgets, right?” says McLean. “Places like Fortune and Forbes have been really hollowed out.” Tett worries that as commercial pressures on the mainstream media rise and resources shrink, journalists may be tempted to ignore so-called geeky topics, as they did with credit derivatives before the crisis. Where will the next crisis come from? Speculative buying of stocks with borrowed money led to Black Monday in 1929; computerized “portfolio insurance” and index arbitrage triggered the crash of 1987; the dot-com boom turned into the dot-com bust in 2000, and the housing bubble, subprime mortgages, and speculation in exotic derivatives caused the most recent financial crisis and Great Recession. “I think that the next crisis is not going to come from mortgage-backed securities. It’s not necessarily going to come from the banks,” says Tett. “I think the longer we get away from the last crisis, the greater the danger of complacency.” A cursory review of financial media over the last couple of months revealed many stories about potential stock market overvaluation; the threat from tariffs and trade wars; potential dangers from subprime auto loans, student loan debt and too much government and household borrowing; underfunded state and local pension funds; deteriorating credit quality in both high-yield and investment-grade corporate bonds; loosening credit standards in private equity buyouts, and rising instability in emerging stock and bond markets. Any of these could bring on the next crisis—or not. “I think that it was such a shattering moment for so many people who lived through it that it’s hard to shake that, so I think that people are looking for indications of problems that might lie ahead,” says Morgenson. Business journalism and the public that relies on it need to hope she’s right. Editor’s note: Kyle Pope, CJR’s editor and publisher, is married to Kate Kelly, who has worked as a business journalist at The Wall Street Journal, CNBC, and, now, The New York Times. He also previously served as an editor for Jesse Eisinger, who is mentioned in this piece.
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Financial Crisis
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Best Solar Eclipse Photos: See A Spooky ‘Crescent Sunrise’ And ‘Ring Of Fire’ As Moon Bites The Sun
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A annular (partial solar) eclipse is seen as the sun rises over Scituate Lighthouse in Scituate, ... [+] Massachusetts on June 10, 2021. - Northeast states in the U.S. will see a rare eclipsed sunrise, while in other parts of the Northern Hemisphere, this annular eclipse will be seen as a visible thin outer ring of the sun's disk that is not completely covered by the smaller dark disk of the moon, a so-called "ring of fire". (Photo by Joseph Prezioso / AFP) (Photo by JOSEPH PREZIOSO/AFP via Getty Images) Did you see the solar eclipse? A weird-looking partial eclipse of the Sun for many in North America and Europe—and a rare “ring of light” for some in Canada, Greenland and Siberia—proved a dramatic spectacle that was expertly captured by photographers around the world. With the Moon looking like the “Death Star” taking a bite out of the Sun, it was surely the highlight of the summer for stargazers. PROMOTED Here are the best eclipse photos for your enjoyment along with a rundown of exactly what happened, where, and when is the next eclipse: The moonrise eclipses the sunrise as hundreds gathered on the Eastern Beaches of Toronto, some with ... [+] homemade eclipse viewers others with high tech cameras and telescopes to view a sunrise eclipse. The morning of the eve of Ontario moving into Stage One of COVID-19 reopening is marked with a solar eclipse as viewed from the Beaches in Toronto. June 10, 2021. Close to 80 percent of the sun was covered by the moon at 5:40 am, about five minutes after sunrise. (Steve Russell/Toronto Star via Getty Images) The highlight of the event came from photographers positioned within a “path of annularity” up to 327 miles wide stretching from Canada to Siberia in Russia, from where it was possible to se an “annular” or ring-shaped solar eclipse. It was visible at sunrise just north of Lake Superior in Canada and at sunset close to Seymchan in Siberia. From this path about 89% of the Sun was blocked for a maximum of 3 minutes and 51 seconds. The sun rises next to the Statue of Liberty during an annular eclipse on June 10, 2021 in New York ... [+] City. Northeast states in the U.S. saw a rare eclipsed sunrise, while in other parts of the Northern Hemisphere, this annular eclipse will be seen as a visible thin outer ring of the sun's disk that is not completely covered by the smaller dark disk of the moon, a so-called "ring of fire". (Photo by Gary Hershorn/Getty Images) Between those two extremes the “ring of light” crossed northern Greenland and also the North Pole. In doing so it became the only solar eclipse in the 21st century to do so. It was therefore a solar eclipse whose shadow across Earth first traveled north across Baffin Island in Canada and Qaanaaq in Greenland, then south into Siberia. A partial solar eclipse rises over the Baltimore skyline, Thursday, June 10, 2021, seen from ... [+] Arbutus, Md. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez) Travel restrictions meant it was virtually impossible for many to travel to see the rare “ring of light,” though there was some consolation for those in northeast U.S. states from where it was possible to see a rare “crescent sunrise” that was around 70-75% eclipsed. A partial solar eclipse is seen over the Houses of Parliament on June 10, 2021 in London, England. ... [+] Viewers in the UK will witness a partial solar eclipse this morning with around a fifth of the Sun's light blocked in London. In other parts of the Northern Hemisphere, this annular eclipse will be seen as a visible thin outer ring of the sun's disk that is not completely covered by the smaller dark disk of the moon, a so-called "ring of fire". (Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images) Although observers using solar eclipse glasses had to find themselves positions that offered clear views of the eastern horizon, it was possible from a line going from the northeast corner of North Dakota southeast to to the South Carolina-Georgia border to see at least some of the phenomenon. Solar eclipse is seen during early hours of morning in New York, United States on June 10, 2021. ... [+] (Photo by Islam Dogru/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images) Northeast of that line a partially eclipsed Sun was viewed slightly higher in the sky. Early-risers lined the beaches of the Atlantic coast from South Carolina to Maine to try for a glimpse of an eclipse sunrise or even a “crescent sunrise.” Hamza Qureshi looks towards the skies from Eclipse Road, in east London, during a partial solar ... [+] eclipse. Picture date: Thursday June 10, 2021. (Photo by Luciana Guerra/PA Images via Getty Images) A great view was had from Hampton Beach, New Hampshire and streamed live on YouTube by the Solar Eclipse Task Force. NASA Video also streamed some incredible images of the crescent sunrise in the U.S. as did TimeAndDate.com from Sudbury, Canada. A partial solar eclipse rises behind clouds, Thursday, June 10, 2021, in Arbutus, Md. (AP ... [+] Photo/Julio Cortez) Those in New Jersey and New York arguably had an even stranger sight. In the moment that Sun rose, eclipsed, on the horizon it was possible to see two limbs of the Sun—the so-called “red devil horned” eclipse—poking above the horizon. In this handout image provided by NASA, a partial solar eclipse is seen as the sun rises behind the ... [+] Delaware Breakwater Lighthouse on June 10, 2021 in Lewes, Delaware. The Empire State Building in Manhattan held an exclusive eclipse-viewing event for 25 socially distanced guests on its observation deck on the 86th floor. Elsewhere in the world it was possible to see far smaller partial solar eclipse later in the day, local time. In Reykjavik, Iceland a 60% eclipse was observed and in Tromso, Norway 50%, while in London, England 20% of the Sun was covered in mid-morning. Paris and Berlin both saw a 13% eclipse, Amsterdam 18%, Brussels 15% and Madrid 5%, with the limit crossing the Mediterranean south of Spain but north of Rome, Italy. Moscow saw a 15% partial solar eclipse, with obscuration increasingly the further west towards Siberia, where the “ring of light” was viewable. Kazakhstan, Mongolia and northwestern China also saw small partial solar eclipses. An annular solar eclipse is caused by an apogee New Moon, which is when the Moon is at its furthest from Earth on its monthly orbit. Since it was at its smallest possible, the New Moon on June 10, 2021 didn’t completely cover the Sun, with the Moon’s cone-like shadow not quite reaching the Earth’s surface. That’s quite unlike a total solar eclipse, where those standing in a miles-wide ‘path of totality’ experience the entirety of the Sun blocked by the New Moon and watch naked-eye from within its deep umbral shadow for a few minutes 10 June 2021, North Rhine-Westphalia, Cologne: Only a small part of the sun is covered by the moon ... [+] during a partial solar eclipse. The picture was taken with a telescope with 2000mm focal length and a Nikon Z6. Photo: Henning Kaiser/dpa (Photo by Henning Kaiser/picture alliance via Getty Images) By coincidence the Sun was also close to its smallest apparent size for the year. Our star is at aphelion on July 5, 2021, the point of the Earth’s slightly elliptical orbit that is farthest away from the Sun. Thursday's partial solar eclipse as seen through cloud in Cardiff, Wales where the obscuration ... [+] reached 22% as this photo was taken with a smartphone through a telescope. When is the next “ring of fire” annular solar eclipse? On 14 October, 2023 a ‘ring of fire’ lasting 5 minutes 17 seconds will cross the American southwest via some fabulous national parks in Orgeon, Utah Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico (such as Bryce Canyon, Arches and Canyonlands). It will also cross Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula and Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Columbia and Brazil. Disclaimer: I am the Editor of WhenIsTheNextEclipse.com and the author of several eclipse travel guides. Wishing you clear skies and wide eyes. I'm an experienced science, technology and travel journalist and stargazer writing about exploring the night sky, solar and lunar eclipses, moon-gazing, astro-travel, astronomy and space exploration. I'm... Read More I'm an experienced science, technology and travel journalist and stargazer writing about exploring the night sky, solar and lunar eclipses, moon-gazing, astro-travel, astronomy and space exploration. I'm
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New wonders in nature
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Space weather forecast: Solar storm expected to hit Earth on Sunday
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Yesterday, the Sun released a powerful solar flare in the direction of Earth. Astronomers who have been tracking the flare said the bombardment of particles are currently making their way across the solar storm. Experts predict it could hit our planet on Sunday, April 25. The particles from the Sun were released as a coronal mass ejection (CME). A CME is a large expulsion of plasma and magnetic field released from the surface of the Sun. The current solar storm has been marked as being a G2 class. These storms can disorientate satellites which may require "corrective actions to orientations." Space Weather said: "NOAA forecasters say that G2-class geomagnetic storms are possible on April 25th when a coronal mass ejection (CME) is expected to hit Earth's magnetic field. "The CME was hurled in our direction yesterday by a C3.8-class flare from sunspot AR2816. "If the geomagnetic storm occurs as predicted, auroras could dip into northern-tier US states from Maine to Washington." Auroras, which include northern lights – aurora borealis – and southern lights – aurora australis - are caused when solar particles hit the atmosphere. READ MORE: NASA's Perseverance rover creates OXYGEN on Mars As the planet's magnetosphere gets bombarded by solar winds, stunning lights of various hues can appear in the northern and southernmost regions. While this storm is expected to have little effect on Earth, scientists have warned that a major technology-crippling solar storm could happen on average every 25 years. Research from the University of Warwick and the British Antarctic Survey analysed the last 14 solar cycles, dating back 150 years. The analysis showed that "severe" magnetic storms occurred in 42 out of the last 150 years, and "great" super-storms occurred in six years out of 150. The last great solar storm came in 1989 when a major power outage occurred in Quebec, Canada. And another major storm triggered by a large coronal mass ejection (CME) from the Sun narrowly missed our planet in 2012. Researchers believe if the storm had hit Earth, it could have downed technology on our planet. Lead author Professor Sandra Chapman, from the University of Warwick’s Centre for Fusion, Space and Astrophysics, said: “These super-storms are rare events but estimating their chance of occurrence is an important part of planning the level of mitigation needed to protect critical national infrastructure. “This research proposes a new method to approach historical data, to provide a better picture of the chance of occurrence of super-storms and what super-storm activity we are likely to see in the future.”
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New wonders in nature
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Partly false claim: “Every election year has a disease”
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A claim on social media alleges that “every election year” has had a major disease outbreak. The claim lists the diseases SARS, Avian flu, Swine flu, MERS, Ebola, Zika, and the coronavirus, matching them up to the years 2004, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018 and 2020 (presumably meaning U.S. election years and some midterm election years). The claim has at least 500 shares on Facebook (example here) and at least 5,946 retweets on Twitter as of March 4, 2020 (example here). The claim misleadingly dates these notorious disease outbreaks to match with election years. It is worth noting that the claim does not specify if this is referring to the year with the greatest number of cases, when the outbreak started or when it was declared a health emergency by the World Health Organization (WHO). The claim appears to originally have been tweeted by user @BillyBoysDaddy (see here) on February 27 2020, where it also included a broken link to the WHO website (“www.who.int/csr/don/archi“) . The tweet has over 172 retweets as of March 4, 2020. It may have gained further attention after user @me_think_free reposted the claim (see tweet here). This tweet has over 3,800 retweets as of March 4, 2020. The claim specifically reads: “Every election year has a disease SARS 2004, AVIAN 2008, SWINE 2010, MERS 2012, EBOLA 2014, ZIKA 2016, EBOLA 2018, CORONA 2020 Coincidences?” Since then, the information has been not only retweeted, but also copy and pasted on individual posts (see Facebook example here and Twitter example here) and shared as a screenshot of the claimed tweets (here). A more recent similar post can be observed here. Reuters looked into the dates for the outbreaks of each of the diseases in this claim to determine the statement’s accuracy: “SARS, 2004” The Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) epidemic did not develop or peak in 2004. According to the WHO, the outbreak happened between 2002 and 2003, affecting 26 countries and resulting in more than 8,000 cases in 2003. The first case was registered in southern China in November 16, 2002. (More information on SARS here) . In April 2004, the Chinese government confirmed 8 possible SARS cases in China (here). No cases of SARS have been reported since 2004, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (here). “AVIAN, 2008” While it is unclear which strain of Avian influenza the claim is referring to, the most well known, Influenza H5N1, does not trace back to 2008. According to the WHO, the first cases of this strain were registered in 1997 in Hong Kong, then in 2003 in China. Cases have been counted and presented by the WHO from 2003 onward in a document visible here. The deadliest year was 2006, with 115 cases and 79 deaths. Only 44 cases and 33 deaths were registered in 2008. “SWINE, 2010” Swine flu, caused by the H1N1 influenza virus, developed as a pandemic between 2009 and 2010. The novel influenza emerged in April 2009 in Mexico and the United States. On June 11, 2009 the WHO declared the influenza a pandemic. The post-pandemic period was declared on August 10, 2010 (here). (See Reuters reporting on swine flu here) “MERS, 2012” It is true that the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) first emerged in 2012, in Saudi Arabia. However the largest amount of cases were registered in 2014 and 2015 (see WHO infographic here). According to the WHO, there were a total of 2,494 laboratory-confirmed cases and 858 deaths by the end of November 2019. “EBOLA, 2014 AND 2018” The Ebola virus (EVD) first appeared in 1976, but it is correct that the largest outbreak was registered from 2014 until 2016 in West Africa, killing at least 11,300 people and infecting 28,616 (here) . The epidemic began in eastern Guinea in December 2013 and swept through Liberia and Sierra Leone. The world’s second-biggest Ebola outbreak started on 2018 in the Democratic Republic of Congo. According to the WHO, there were a total of 3,444 cases and 2,264 deaths as of March 3, 2020 (here). (See more on the 2017 Ebola outbreak here). “ZIKA, 2016” The WHO declared Zika a public health emergency on February 1, 2016, but the outbreak started in Brazil in 2015. In 2007 and between 2013 and 2014, there were also two relevant Zika outbreaks that are not mentioned in the claim such as in Micronesia and Oceania. Reuters has a timeline on the Zika outbreak visible here. “CORONA, 2020” The first case of the new Coronavirus (COVID-19), which the claim refers to as “Corona”, was first reported in Wuhan, China, on December 31, 2019. On January 30 2020, the WHO declared the coronavirus epidemic in China constituted a public health emergency of international concern. here According to the WHO, there were 90, 870 confirmed cases by March 3, 2020 (see WHO’s COVID-19 report here. The claim that “every election year has a disease”, along with the list given, is partly false. While it is true some of the major disease outbreaks developed during the years presented, this claim misleadingly suggests a connection between disease outbreaks, or peaks, and the years listed. To claim that pandemics or virus outbreaks can be planned or timed does not have scientific basis. Scientists have been working with data and viral testing to help predict outbreaks – see here, here, here and here – but any connection to election years is coincidental, and many years that haven’t seen U.S. elections have also seen developments relating to global diseases. Partly false: The diseases listed in this claim can not all be linked specifically to the years presented alongside and there is no evidence of a pattern between disease outbreaks and election years.
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Disease Outbreaks
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1936 Gulf Coast maritime workers' strike
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The 1936 Gulf Coast maritime workers' strike was a labor action of the splinter union "Maritime Federation of the Gulf Coast" lasting from October 31, 1936 to January 21, 1937. The strike's main effects were felt in Houston and Galveston. The Gulf Coast strike was parallel to a similar West Coast maritime strike, called almost simultaneously. Both strikes were catalysts for the formation of the National Maritime Union under union leader Joseph Curran. In Houston, New Orleans, and other major docks along the Gulf Coast, strikes and other labor conflict had been a regular annual occurrence through the 1930s. [1] In July 1934, three black longshoremen had been shot to death in a firefight on the Houston docks during a strike. [2] In 1935, longshoremen along the entire coast had struck from October 1 through November 27 to little avail except for 14 more killings. [3]
Nationally, maritime workers had suffered declining wages and increasingly untenable working conditions under the leadership of the International Seamen's Union, which was perceived as corrupt and inefficient. [4] One response was increasing numbers of wildcat strikes. In March 1936, Joseph Curran led a spontaneous four-day work stoppage on the docked SS California in San Pedro, California, attracting personal attention and a degree of support from U.S. Labor Secretary Frances Perkins. [5]
Also by March 1936, seamen and longshoremen of the Gulf Coast port cities had organized themselves as the "Maritime Federation of the Gulf Coast". In a New Orleans conference they named Wobbly Gilbert Mers of Corpus Christi as leader. The rejection of the ISU set the stage for street tension between unions and a long list of beatings and violent incident, throughout the year. [6]
By his own description, in a letter to West Coast leader Harry Bridges, the biggest challenge facing Mers as head of this new organization was maintaining union solidarity across racial lines. Purportedly, a ban against black dockworkers in the ports of Brownsville and Port Isabel dated back to the Brownsville Affair of 1906. [7] Nevertheless, another inspiration for the impending action was a small strike of black stewards on the SS Seminole of the Clyde-Mallory lines, who had refused to work in Galveston on June 13, and upon returning to New York prevented all the company's liners from sailing. [8]
Joseph Curran came to Texas in August. His first organizing meeting with local workers at a club was unexpectedly raided by the Houston police, with Curran escaping police custody through a bathroom window. On October 31 strikers of the Maritime Federation acted against an array of opponents. Their own former leadership in the International Seamen's Union not only disowned them, and had "beef gangs" chasing them through the street after dark since April,[9] but eagerly branded them as Communists. In many cases, that was true. The Maritime Federation also were confronted by their primary targets, the shipowners, as well as the unco-operative International Longshoremen's Association and law enforcement, which had taken "a decidedly anti-labor position". [10] Houston Police had put former Texas lawman Frank Hamer on permanent payroll as strikebreaker. Hamer's installation of a ring of labor informants triggered complaints to the National Labor Relations Board. [11]
In late November, the offices of the ISU moved to Houston's Cotton Exchange Building. The building became the scene of pickets and police arrests. Strikers were particularly interested in an ISU official, Wilbur Dickey, holed up there, and said to be sharing rank-and-file member information with police. On December 4, an attempt to flush out Dickey ended with him fatally shooting a striker, Johnny Kane, and Dickey and two companions were then beaten by a street mob before their rescue by police. [12] Kane died on the 15th. The other known fatality was an Alaskan striker named Peter Banfield, a tanker seaman fatally stabbed in a fight in Galveston on December 9. [13]
Two melees between strikers and Houston police on the 23rd and on Christmas Eve brought at least 18 strikers to hospitalization and brought disapproving public attention to the police. Many had seemed to be drunk. Ending the strike became a priority for incoming Mayor Richard Fonville By appointing a new police chief and eliminating all "special officers," Fonville set the conditions for the violence to subside. The strike ended by union vote in New York City on January 21, 1937. [14]
The Gulf Coast strike was parallel to other US maritime strikes called at the same time. As wildcat strikes, they were not tightly co-ordinated. A West Coast "Fall Strike" began on October 29, lasted 96 days, and was led by Harry Lundeberg as president of the Maritime Federation of the Pacific. [15]
The ISU's policy and behavior towards rank-and-file members became a major factor in the founding of the National Maritime Union in May 1937. By its first convention in July, some 30,000 workers had joined. Reportedly, "From 1936 to 1938, 28 (National Maritime) union members were killed and more than 300 were injured in strikes"[16]but not, as some sources suggest, only in the 1936 Gulf Coast strike. [17]
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Strike
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Earth's shadow creeps across moon ahead of super blood moon
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WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Earth's shadow crept across the moon on Wednesday night as people in New Zealand and around the world waited for a cosmic event known as a super blood moon. As the eclipse deepened, it appeared as though half the moon had vanished. The other half looked fuzzy in the center with a bright outer edge, the last remnants of the glittering orb that had earlier risen above the horizon. A super blood moon is when a full lunar eclipse coincides with a supermoon, which is when the moon is particularly close to Earth and appears brighter than normal. A yacht sails past as the moon rises in Sydney Wednesday, May 26, 2021. (AP Photo/Mark Baker) For about 15 minutes, as the moon moves fully into Earth's shadow, the moon will appear to turn red. The eclipse began as the moon edged into the Earth's outer shadow, called the penumbra. The full eclipse was due to take place between 11:11 p.m. and 11:25 p.m. Rowe likes to imagine it as if he's standing on the moon. The Earth would come across and block out the sun. The reddish light around the edges would be the sunsets and sunrises happening at that time on Earth, projected onto the moon's surface. Pretty cool, he reckons. He said it's hard to know ahead of time the exact color the moon will appear because it depends on the amount of dust in the atmosphere, global weather and other factors. The Earth's shadow falls partly across the full moon at the start of a total lunar eclipse above Sydney Wednesday, May 26, 2021. (AP Photo/Mark Baker) New Zealand, Australia and some other places in the Pacific and East Asia will see the show before midnight, while night owls in Hawaii and the western part of North America will be able to see it in the early morning hours. Sky gazers along the U.S. East Coast will be out of luck because the moon will be setting and the sun rising. Europe, Africa and western Asia will miss everything. In Hong Kong, Dickson Fu left work early to watch the eclipse from a seaside promenade in the Sai Kung neighborhood. Fu, who is president of Hong Kong's Sky Observers' Association, picked that particular spot because it would give him an unobstructed view of the eclipse. For those living in places where the eclipse isn't visible, there will be livestreams available. And everyone around the world will be able to soak in the brighter-than-usual moon, weather permitting. It's the first total lunar eclipse in more than two years. While the total eclipse will be just 15 minutes, the entire show will last five hours, as Earth's shadow gradually covers the moon, then starts to ebb. A couple watch the lunar eclipse at Sanur beach in Bali, Indonesia on Wednesday, May 26, 2021. (AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati) The color is the result of the sunrises and sunsets in Earth's atmosphere projected onto the surface of the eclipsed moon. The moon will be more than 220,000 miles (357,460 kilometers) away at its fullest. It's this proximity, combined with a full moon, that qualifies it as a supermoon, making it appear slightly bigger and more brilliant in the sky.
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New wonders in nature
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1833 Bihar–Nepal earthquake
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The 1934 Nepal–India earthquake or 1934 Bihar–Nepal earthquake was one of the worst earthquakes in India's history. The towns of Munger and Muzaffarpur were completely destroyed. This 8.0 magnitude earthquake occurred on 15 January 1934 at around 2:13 pm IST (08:43 UTC) and caused widespread damage in northern Bihar and in Nepal. [2]
The epicentre for this event was located in eastern Nepal about 9.5 km (5.9 mi) south of Mount Everest. [3] The areas where the most damage to life and property occurred extended from Purnea in the east to Champaran in the west (a distance of nearly 320 km or 200 mi), and from Kathmandu in the north to Munger in the south (a distance of nearly 465 km or 289 mi). The impact was reported to be felt in Lhasa to Bombay, and from Assam to Punjab. The earthquake was so severe that in Kolkata, around 650 km (404 mi) from epicenter, many buildings were damaged and the tower of St. Paul's Cathedral collapsed. [4]
One noteworthy phenomenon of this earthquake was that sand and water vents appeared throughout the central vents of the earthquake area. The ground around these sand fissures subsided, causing more damage. [4] Extensive liquefaction of the ground took place over a length of 300 km (called the slump belt) during the earthquake, in which many structures went afloat. [5]
In Muzaffarpur, sand fissures erupted at several places in town. The wells were choked with sand, while water levels in tanks became shallower due to sand deposited in the tank beds. Most of the buildings in Muzzafarpur were damaged. All the kutcha (ramshackle) buildings collapsed, while other pukka (solidly built) buildings suffered damage due to sinking and cracking of the ground. [4]
The three major towns of the Kathmandu Valley in Nepal—Kathmandu, Bhaktapur and Patan—were severely affected and almost all the buildings collapsed. Large cracks appeared in the ground and several roads were damaged in Kathmandu; however, the temple of Pashupatinath, the guardian deity of Nepal, escaped any damage. [6]
In Sitamarhi, not a single house was left standing. In Bhagalpur district many buildings collapsed. In Patna, many buildings in the bazaar were destroyed and damage was particularly severe along the river. [4] In Rajnagar, near Madhubani, all the Kutcha buildings collapsed. The buildings of Darbhanga Raj, including the famous Navlakha Palace, were severely damaged. [6] In Jharia the earthquake led to further spread of underground fire. [7] The town of Birgunj was destroyed, along with its telephone line to Kathmandu. [8]
The number of deaths was 10,700 to 12,000[3][9] with 7,253 recorded in Bihar. [6]
A 1935 work by Major General Brahma Shamsher documenting the event, Nepalko Maha Bhukampa 1990, stated that this was Nepal's most destructive earthquake in living memory, and praised the Nepalese Army for its work in relief efforts. [8][10]
Mahatma Gandhi visited the Bihar state. He wrote that the Bihar earthquake was providential retribution for India's failure to eradicate untouchability. [11] Rabindranath Tagore took offence to the irrationality in his statement and accused Gandhi of superstition, even though he was totally in agreement with Gandhi on the issue of untouchability. [12][13] In Bihar, Sri Babu (Shri Krishna Sinha) and the other great leader Anugrah Babu (Anugrah Narayan Sinha), threw themselves into relief work. [14]
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Earthquakes
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Switel Hotel fire
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The Switel Hotel fire took place on 31 December 1994 during a New Year's Eve party in the Switel Hotel at the Kievitplein in Antwerp, Belgium. On New Year's Eve in 1994 about 450 guests were attending a party at the hotel. At about 22:50 a fire began in the Tenerife party hall when the party decorations caught fire. The fire destroyed the hall in only 30 seconds creating mass panic and confusion. [1] Fifteen people died[2] and 164 people were severely injured. [3] An eyewitness stated that all of the lights went out, and another reported that; "From the entrance, among the Christmas trees, there suddenly was this great ball of fire that went through the room like a whirlwind. "[4]
Dutch singer Lee Towers was one of the guests at the party, he escaped unscathed but his wife Laura got severe burns. [5] Twenty to twenty-five individuals were admitted into hospitals that night. [4] A trumpet player who survived the fire, stated that they ran in the opposite direction of other victims, and managed to escape through the small kitchen in the rear of the ballroom. [6]
Luk Serré, the hotel's catering manager, was indicted for being responsible for the fire but later released from prosecution. Fifteen years later he released a book about his experiences. [2][3]
In October 2003 a permit was issued for the demolition of the hotel. [7] To better understand the fire and prevent future instances a report was created and published by researchers from Lund University. [8]
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Fire
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A longtime Methuen police officer and his wife are the victims of a carbon monoxide leak in the couple's home, according to the Methuen Police Department.
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A longtime Methuen police officer and his wife are the victims of a carbon monoxide leak in the couple's home, according to the Methuen Police Department. The Essex District Attorney's Office said an 86-year-old man and 85-year-old woman were victims of carbon monoxide poisoning. On Sunday, the Methuen Police Department identified the victims as retired Officer William Rayno and his wife, Matilda.
The Methuen Fire Department reports that it responded at about 11 a.m. Saturday to the couple's home on Holly Street, where the victims were found.
"With something like this, you think inward about yourself and your family, and if this happened. Then you look at their family and what they're going through now. It's just terrible, and you don't think you're going to go that way," said neighbor Jay Landry.
"They were community-oriented. They were very much civil servants," said neighbor Dee Landry.
According to police, Rayno served the city of Methuen for 32 years as a patrolman and was known as the "father of the police department."
"He was very well respected throughout the community. He was truly one of the best and his legacy will live on," reads a post on the Methuen Police Department's Facebook page.
Family members declined to speak with NewsCenter 5 Saturday night.
The victims have not been officially identified by the district attorney.
Officials say foul play is not suspected in the victims' deaths, but it remains unclear what caused the carbon monoxide leak.
According to fire officials, the carbon monoxide detectors in the couple's home were functioning, but that hearing them was an issue.
Hearst Television participates in various affiliate marketing programs, which means we may get paid commissions on purchases made through our links to retailer sites.
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Mass Poisoning
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NRL St George Illawarra players fined $305,000 after breaching COVID-19 orders
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The NRL has fined St George Illawarra players $305,000 and issued match suspensions for breaching COVID-19 stay-at-home orders after attending a gathering at a home on the weekend.
The league says Dragons prop Paul Vaughan invited 12 teammates to his home on Saturday.
All 13 players players were slapped with sanctions by the NRL, as well as fines of $1,000 each by NSW Police for the breach.
"It's alleged a number of players hid or fled the residence when NSW Police attended the home after complaints from neighbours," the NRL said in a statement.
"It’s also alleged that a number of players gave or were involved in giving misleading information about the event during the NRL’s investigation into the breaches and that some of the players conspired to withhold key information."
Among those fined include Paul Vaughan, Corey Norman, Jack Bird, Matt Dufty and Jack de Belin who recently returned to the Dragons after the jury was dismissed in his rape trial.
A breach notice issued to Vaughan by the NRL proposes an eight-match suspension and a fine of $50,000 for the player.
The Dragons prop was stood down last year for 14 days after breaching the NRL bubble to have breakfast in an Illawarra cafe.
The proposed sanctions for all other players who attended the gathering include one-match suspensions and fines ranging from $2,000 to $42,000, based on their salary and past indiscretions.
The suspensions will be split across a minimum of two rounds and a maximum of four rounds to ensure the Dragons have enough players to field each week.
NRL chief executive Andrew Abdo said the players knew the COVID-19 protocols and "deliberately chose to ignore them".
Travellers on buses, trains and planes are being asked to check their routes, as more than a dozen services are identified as hotspots and the list of NSW COVID-19 exposure sites continues to grow.
He said the punishments were intended to make an example of players breaching public health orders.
"This sort of conduct will not be tolerated," Mr Abdo said.
"There are many people working incredibly hard to keep the competition going — it's a privilege to play football, not a right.
"I want to stress that there are almost 900 players and officials following strict biosecurity measures and the overwhelming number are doing the right thing, as they did last year."
Dragons chief executive Ryan Webb said he was dismayed by his player's conduct.
"The 13 players' arrogance and ignorance to both the NRL biosecurity protocols and the state government's public health order is upsetting and infuriating," Mr Webb said.
"The Dragons hold no reservations over the punishments handed down by the NRL Integrity Unit or NSW Police given the players' complete disregard for both the game and community's expectations."
The players each have five days to respond to the breach notices.
Last week, the Canterbury Bulldogs were fined $50,000 by the NRL after five players went to hotels in Coogee and Bondi despite being in lockdown.
See our full coverage of coronavirus
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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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Organization Fine
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Maharashtra reports 3,741 new Covid-19 cases, 52 deaths
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MUMBAI: Maharashtra on Monday reported 3,741 new cases of coronavirus and 52 deaths. With that, the total case count surged to 64,60,680 and the number of fatalities to 1,37,209. The official said 4,696 patients were discharged from hospitals across the state in the last 24 hours, taking the cumulative number of recovered patients to 62,68,112. The state, which now has 51,834 active cases, has 2,88,489 people in home isolation and another 2,299 in institutional quarantine, he said. Maharashtra's Covid-19 recovery rate stands at 97.02 per cent, while the fatality rate is 2.12 per cent. The cumulative number of coronavirus tests conducted in the state climbed to 5,38,12,827, of which 1,63,214 were conducted in the last 24 hours, the official said. Coronavirus tests are generally low over the weekends as compared to other days and this translates into a drop in positive cases on Mondays. Eight districts namely Dhule, Jalgaon, Hingoli, Akola, Yavatmal, Wardha , Gondia, Chandrapur, and six municipal corporations - Dhule, Jalgaon, Malegaon, Parbhani, Nanded and Chandrapur (their urban centres) - did not report any fresh Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours, he said. The official said Ahmednagar district reported the highest 770 new infections, followed by Satara at 446, while Solapur was the only district in the state that reported deaths in double digits at 19. Among the eight regions of Maharashtra (comprising multiple districts), the Pune region reported the highest cases at 1,512 followed by 888 in Nashik. Among the other regions, the Mumbai region reported 650 new cases, Kolhapur 521, Latur 113, Aurangabad 27, Akola 21 and the Nagpur region nine, the official said. According to the official, among the 52 fatalities from the eight regions, the highest 22 were reported from Pune followed by 14 from the Mumbai region. Significantly, Akola and Aurangabad regions did not report any fresh fatalities, while the Kolhapur region reported 12 deaths, Latur 2 and Nashik and Nagpur regions one each. The official said Mumbai registered 333 new COVID-19 cases and two deaths, while Pune city reported 168 infections, but no fresh fatality. Among the 51,834 active cases in the state, Pune district has the highest at 12,717, according to the official. He said among the 62,68,112 recovered patients across the state, the highest - 10,85,720 - were from Pune district. Coronavirus figures for Maharashtra are as follows: Total cases 64,60,680; new cases 3,741; total deaths 1,37,209; recoveries 62,68,112; active cases 51,834; total tests 5,38,12,827.
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Disease Outbreaks
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Two health information exchanges from different states have joined together to form a regional organization
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Two health information exchanges from different states have joined together to form a regional organization with the aim of driving growth, innovation and sustainability. Named Contexture, the organization was formed through an affiliation agreement between CORHIO and Health Current, which are HIEs based in Colorado and Arizona respectively. The newly combined organization includes nearly 200 employees and oversees the information needs of approximately 1,800 healthcare facilities. Promoted The team behind the World Without Disease Accelerator, part of Janssen Research & Development, one of the Janssen Pharmaceutical companies of Johnson & Johnson, is embracing an ambitious paradigm focused on disease prevention, interception and cure. Stephanie Baum “[CORHIO and Health Current] were both growing at a rapid pace,” said Melissa Kotrys, CEO of Health Current and Contexture, in a phone interview. “So we recognized that by coming together we could innovate more, we could bring more expertise to the table, we could grow and do different things for our community, and all of that really leads to sustainability for our organization overall.” Initially, CORHIO and Health Current will continue to provide services in their respective states as usual. But over the next year, the HIEs will integrate their teams, IT systems and services. The ultimate goal is to enhance data flow from one state to another, Kotrys said. Currently, both the HIEs are active participants in the Patient Centered Data Home, an initiative of SHIEC. While the initiative allows for admission-discharge-transfer data to flow across state lines, Contexture will eventually allow for more robust cross-state data sharing for Arizona and Colorado patients. In addition to advancing interoperability, Contexture will bring together diversified services, Kotrys said. CORHIO and Health Current offer some similar services, like real-time patient alerts and basic bi-directional exchange of data, but they each also have unique capabilities. Promoted BetterHealthcare is laser-focused on improving the first stage of the patient journey while collecting critical data to help providers retain patients and improve referrals within their physician networks. Stephanie Baum For example, Health Current has been bringing behavioral health data, including general mental health and substance abuse treatment information, into the HIE. This requires a lot of additional consents and structures, Kotrys said. Through the regional organization, Health Current hopes to bring that behavioral health data infrastructure to CORHIO. Another key goal of the merger is to expand the types of data available to both HIEs. The organizations are combining datasets to make a wide array of information available to their participants, including social determinants of health data. “We’re bringing additional information so we can provide a complete picture of health and wellness to our participants,” Kotrys said. The merger between CORHIO and Health Current is the second in the country after the formation of CRISP DC, where CRISP, a Maryland-based HIE collaborated with District of Columbia partners to implement HIE services. CRISP and CRISP DC served as a model for CORHIO and Health Current as they worked out the details of Contexture, Kotrys said. These types of affiliations and mergers are key to the evolving healthcare landscape, helping to support private stakeholders and public health entities. “This movement towards regionalization, and the debut of Contexture as our regional organization, it really is an evolution,” Kotrys said. “And we have a huge opportunity as an industry, as a community and as a country to advance unique [affiliations] as we figure out what the future of interoperability is.” Microsoft seeks to change the way pharma industry companies use technology to navigate human resource challenges and restore confidence in drug development supply chains.
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Organization Merge
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Great Baltimore Fire
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The Great Baltimore Fire raged in Baltimore, Maryland, United States from Sunday, February 7, to Monday, February 8, 1904. More than 1,500 buildings were completely leveled, and some 1,000 severely damaged, bringing property loss from the disaster to an estimated $100 million. [1] 1,231 firefighters helped bring the blaze under control, both professional paid truck and engine companies from the Baltimore City Fire Department (B.C.F.D.) and volunteers from the surrounding counties and outlying towns of Maryland, as well as out-of-state units that arrived on the major railroads. It destroyed much of central Baltimore, including over 1,500 buildings covering an area of some 140 acres (57 ha). From North Howard Street in the west and southwest, the flames spread north through the retail shopping area as far as Fayette Street and began moving eastward, pushed along by the prevailing winds. Narrowly missing the new 1900 Circuit Courthouse (now Clarence M. Mitchell, Jr. Courthouse), fire passed the historic Battle Monument Square from 1815 to 1827 at North Calvert Street, and the quarter-century-old Baltimore City Hall (of 1875) on Holliday Street; and finally spread further east to the Jones Falls stream which divided the downtown business district from the old East Baltimore tightly-packed residential neighborhoods of Jonestown (also known as Old Town) and newly named "Little Italy". The fire's wide swath burned as far south as the wharves and piers lining the north side of the old "Basin" (today's "Inner Harbor") of the Northwest Branch of the Baltimore Harbor and Patapsco River facing along Pratt Street. It is considered historically the third worst conflagration in an American city, surpassed only by the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, and the San Francisco Earthquake and Fire of 1906. Other major urban disasters that were comparable (but not fires) were the Galveston Hurricane of 1900 and most recently, Hurricane Katrina that hit New Orleans and the Gulf of Mexico coast in August 2005. One reason for the fire's long duration involved the lack of national standards in firefighting equipment. Despite fire engines from nearby cities (such as Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. as well as units from New York City, Virginia, Wilmington, and Atlantic City) responding with horse-drawn pumpers, wagons and other related equipment (primitive by modern-day standards, but only steam engines were motorized in that era) carried by the railroads on flat cars and in box cars, many were unable to help since their hose couplings could not fit Baltimore's fire hydrants. Much of the destroyed area was rebuilt in relatively short order, and the city adopted a building code, stressing fireproof materials. Perhaps the greatest legacy of the fire was the impetus it gave to efforts to standardize firefighting equipment in the United States, especially hose couplings. In centuries past, fires regularly ravaged cities, frequently destroying large areas within. Close living quarters; lax, unenforced, or non-existent building codes; and a widespread dearth of firefighting services were all contributing factors to the frequency and extent of urban fires. The rapid expansion of American cities during the nineteenth century also contributed to the danger. [citation needed]
In addition, firefighting practices and equipment were largely unstandardized, with each city having its own system. As time passed, these cities invested more in the systems that they already had, increasing the costs of any conversion. In addition, early equipment was often patented by its manufacturer. [2] By 1903, over 600 sizes and variations of fire hose couplings existed in the United States. [2] Despite efforts to establish standards being made since the 1870s, they had little effect: no city wanted to abandon its system, few saw any reason to adopt standards, and equipment manufacturers did not want competition. [2]
Fire was reported first at the John Hurst and Company building on West German Street at Hopkins Place (modern site at the southwest corner of the Baltimore Civic Center of 1962, currently the Royal Farms Arena) in the western part of downtown Baltimore at 10:48 a.m. on Sunday, February 7, and quickly spread. Soon, it became apparent that the fire was outstripping the ability of the city's firefighting resources to fight it, and calls for help were telegraphed to other cities. By 1:30 p.m., units from Washington, D.C. were arriving on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad at Camden Street Station. To halt the fire, officials decided to use a firebreak, and dynamited buildings around the existing fire. This tactic, however, proved unsuccessful. Not until 5:00 p.m. the next day was the fire brought under control, after burning for thirty hours. One reason for the fire's duration was the lack of national standards in firefighting equipment. Fire crews and fire engines came from as far away as Philadelphia and Washington that day (units from New York City were blocked by a train accident; they arrived the next day – Monday, February 8). The crews brought their own equipment. Most could only watch helplessly after discovering that their hoses could not connect to Baltimore's gauge size of water hydrants, although a machine shop in the Locust Point area of the city did start making coupling rings to overcome this problem. High winds and freezing temperatures further contributed to the fire's extent and firefighters' difficulties. [3] As a result, the fire burned over 30 hours, destroying 1,545 buildings[3] spanning 70 city blocks—amounting to over 140 acres (57 ha). [4]
While Baltimore was criticized for its hydrants, this problem was not uniquely its own. During that era, American cities had more than six hundred different sizes and variations of fire hose couplings. "[5] As outside firefighters returned to their home cities, newspapers published interviews that condemned Baltimore and exaggerated locals' response during the crisis. In addition, many newspapers published accounts by travelers who, in actuality, had only seen the fire as their trains passed through Baltimore. Nonetheless, the responding agencies and their equipment did prove useful, since the uncouplable hoses only represented a small part of the transported equipment. Ultimately, the tragedy led to the standardization of hydrants nationwide. [6][7]
In addition to firefighters, outside police officers, as well as the Maryland National Guard and the Naval Brigade, were utilized during the fire to maintain order and protect the city. Police and soldiers not only kept looters away, but also prevented civilians from inadvertently interfering with firefighting efforts. The Naval Brigade secured the waterfront and waterways to keep spectators away. Officers from Philadelphia and New York also assisted the City Police Department. Thomas Albert Lurz (b. January 9, 1874), a Baltimore native and letter carrier with the U.S. Post Office, rescued tons of mail from the burning Central Post Office on the east side of Battle Monument Square, on North Calvert Street, between East Lexington and Fayette Streets. Lurz gathered a group of men who loaded bags of mail onto horse–drawn wagons, took them to North and Pennsylvania Avenues, and stood guard until the Maryland National Guard arrived (for which he later received a commendation). [citation needed] Meanwhile, back at the General Post Office, employees kept spraying water on the building's sides and roof and were able to minimize damage and save the 1889 Italian Renaissance edifice with its nine towers and central tall clock tower (later razed and replaced by the current 1932 building, later converted to city use as Courthouse East). In the aftermath, 35,000 people were left unemployed. [8] Over $150 million (in 1904 USD) worth of damage was done, which is approximately $3.84 billion in 2014 dollars.
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Fire
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Air Rhodesia Flight 827 crash
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Air Rhodesia Flight 827, the Umniati, was a scheduled civilian flight between Kariba and Salisbury in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) that was shot down soon after take-off on 12 February 1979 by Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army (ZIPRA) guerrillas using a Strela 2 missile. The circumstances were very similar to the shooting down of Air Rhodesia Flight 825 five months earlier. As of 2021[update] it remains the deadliest aviation incident in Rhodesia/Zimbabwe. The flight's departure from Kariba had been delayed, so it did not take the time to climb over the lake to get above the ceiling of shoulder-launched anti-aircraft missiles before heading for Salisbury. [citation needed] ZIPRA had information that the Rhodesian Security Forces Commander General Peter Walls was on board, and they tried to assassinate him. However he and his wife missed the flight and caught a later one, which landed safely in Salisbury. The aircraft was damaged by a SAM-7[1] missile and came down in rough terrain in the Vuti African Purchase Area east of Lake Kariba. [2] None of the 59 passengers or crew survived. [3]
Following the second incident, Air Rhodesia added shrouding to the exhaust pipes of their Viscount aircraft to reduce their infrared signature, and painted the aircraft with a low-radiation paint as countermeasures against heat-seeking missiles. [citation needed]
On 25 February 1979, the Rhodesian Air Force, with covert assistance from the South African Air Force, launched Operation Vanity, a retaliatory bombing raid against a ZIPRA camp near Livingstone, Zambia. [4]
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Air crash
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Saguenay flood
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The Saguenay flood (French: Déluge du Saguenay) was a series of flash floods on July 19 and 20, 1996 that hit the Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean region of Quebec, Canada. It was the biggest overland flood in 20th-century Canadian history. [1]
Problems started after two weeks of constant rain, which severely engorged soils, rivers and reservoirs. The Saguenay region is a geological graben, which increased the effect of the sudden massive rains of July 19, 1996. In two days, rainfall accumulated that was "equivalent to the volume of water that tumbles over Niagara Falls in four weeks. "[2]
Over 8 feet (2.4 m) of water flooded parts of Chicoutimi and La Baie, completely levelling an entire neighbourhood. More than 16,000 people were evacuated. The official death toll was ten, but other sources (notably Canadian Geographic[2]) cite ten. Estimates reach CA$1.5 billion in damages, a cost made greater by the disaster's occurrence at the height of the tourist season. Post-flood enquiries discovered that the network of dikes and dams protecting the city of Chicoutimi was poorly maintained. In the end, 488 homes were destroyed, 1,230 damaged, and 16,000 people evacuated from the entire area. An additional ten persons died in the mudslides produced by the incredible rain. [1]
A small white house (referred to in French as La petite maison blanche, "The little white house") stood nearly unharmed in Chicoutimi while torrents of water rushed in every side, and it became the symbol of surviving the flood. It was owned Mme Jeanne d'Arc Lavoie-Genest. With its foundation still highly exposed after the flooding, it has been preserved in Saguenay (the city name has changed) as a historical park and museum commemorating the flood. [3]
An unexpected effect of the flood was to cover the heavily contaminated sediments at the bottom of the Saguenay and Ha! Ha! Rivers with 10 to 50 centimetres (3.9 to 19.7 in) of new, relatively clean sediments. Because of this, research has shown that the old sediments are no longer a threat to ecosystems and the river will not have to be dredged and treated to control contamination. [4]
The Ha! Ha! Pyramid was created to memorialise the flood. Coordinates: 48°25′30″N 71°04′34″W / 48.42500°N 71.07611°W / 48.42500; -71.07611
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Floods
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1953 Torud earthquake
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The 1953 Torud earthquake occurred at the northeastern border of the Great Salt Kavir in Torud, Semnan, Iran on 12 February. The shock had a moment magnitude of 6.6 and had a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe). At least 800 people were killed. Sources
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Earthquakes
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WestConnex contractor CPB fined for 'offensive odours' emitting from Sydney St Peters M5 interchange
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A Victorian man who flew from Brisbane to Hobart on flight VA702 today has tested positive to COVID-19 and has not been allowed to board a flight to Melbourne
A Watch & Act warning is in place for a fire in the northern parts of Mokine, in WA's Northam Shire. Keep up to date with ABC Emergency
A WestConnex contractor has been forced to pay $445,000 for "causing an offensive odour" after failing to properly manage the pungent smells emitted out of a Sydney construction site.
The Land and Environment Court convicted CPB Contractors on Thursday and ordered it to pay $295,000 to the Environmental Trust instead of a fine and $150,000 to the NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA) for investigative and legal costs.
Between March and July 2017, the EPA investigated 33 community complaints relating to odours being emitted from the St Peters M5 interchange in Sydney's inner-west.
Prior to their investigation, the authority had received hundreds of complaints from residents and businesses from across St Peters, Alexandria and other nearby suburbs.
One resident, Kate Hafey, said she had smelled a "rotten egg, farty smell" while she was picking up her children from a nearby school which gave her a tight chest feeling, like her throat was closing up.
Another local said the smell was so bad it almost made her vomit, while one woman said it made her believe her colostomy bag had broken, causing her "considerable embarrassment".
The EPA found the odour was a result of untreated leachate — generated when waste comes in contact with water — or contaminated water pooling at the interchange site.
"[It] caused substantial harm to the community and impacted human health," EPA regional director metropolitan Giselle Howard said, adding CPB acknowledged in court the harm was foreseeable.
"The odours or smells that came off the construction site were causing physical pain so people were feeling ill.
"They had breathing difficulties including asthma attacks and felt nauseous so it was really awful for these communities."
The EPA said the construction was occurring over an old tip site and the emissions were released when the builder excavated the contaminated rainwater.
The court had found because CPB was the holder of an environmental protection license throughout the complaint period, it had failed to seek "qualified expert advice" for managing leachate before construction at the interchange.
CPB had pleaded guilty to four offences of "emission of offensive odour" from the construction site and was ordered to send a letter of apology to residents in the area.
The court also ordered the contractor to publish details of the offences in the Australian Financial Review, the Sydney Morning Herald and the Inner West Courier as well as on their social media and website.
The company would also be required to publish the offences in the next annual report of its parent company, CIMIC Group.
CPB has been contacted for comment.
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Organization Fine
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Whaleback Fire
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The Whaleback Fire was a wildfire that burned on Whaleback Mountain in Spaulding, approximately 20 miles northwest of Susanville in Lassen County, California, in the United States. First reported on July 27, 2018, the Whaleback Fire burned 18,703 acres (76 km2), before it was fully contained on August 7. The fire caused evacuations in the community of Spaulding and led to closures of portions of Lassen National Forest. The Whaleback Fire was reported on July 27, 2018 around 1:30 p.m. PDT, on Whaleback Mountain, on the west side of Eagle Lake, in the community of Spaulding, in Lassen County, California. [1] Mandatory evacuations were put in place for Spaulding on July 28. By July 30, the fire had grown significantly, to over 14,000 acres (57 km2) with 20 percent containment. Select country roads were closed and five campgrounds, Gallatin Marina and Beach, and the Camp Ronald McDonald were evacuated and closed. Helicopters began using Eagle Lake for dipping water. The Assembly of God Church in Susanville was opened as an evacuation center. [2] A request for a mobile retardant base was put in by the US Forest Service to Canada, as no bases are available in the US. Fire crews focused on building containment lines, using bulldozers, retardant and back-firing. Construction began on a containment line north of the fire to protect Buck's Bay and Stones Landing. [3] As of the evening of July 31, the Whaleback Fire had burned 16,850 acres (68 km2) and was 32 percent contained. [1]
As the fire continued to burn into August, it had grown over 1,400 acres (6 km2) and was 40 percent contained. The growth was due to unburned fuels burning out in the middle of the fire. The fire met the edge of Eagle Lake as it grew. By the morning of August 2, the Whaleback Fire had burned 18,703 acres (76 km2) and was 55 percent contained. [1] On August 7, the Whaleback Fire was fully contained. [1]
The Whaleback Fire has impacted the community of Spaulding and recreational activities in Lassen National Forest. On August 2, the following mandatory evacuations were in effect:[1]
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Fire
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Famine Stela
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The Famine Stela is an inscription written in Egyptian hieroglyphs located on Sehel Island in the Nile near Aswan in Egypt, which tells of a seven-year period of drought and famine during the reign of pharaoh Djoser of the Third Dynasty. It is thought that the stele was inscribed during the Ptolemaic Kingdom, which ruled from 332 to 31 BC. The Famine Stela was inscribed into a natural granite block whose surface was cut into the rectangular shape of a stela. The inscription is written in hieroglyphs and contains 42 columns. The top part of the stele depicts three Egyptian deities: Khnum, Satis and Anuket. In front of them, Djoser faces them, carrying offerings in his outstretched hands. A broad fissure, which already was there at the time of creating the stela, goes through the middle of the rock. Some sections of the stela are damaged, making a few passages of the text unreadable. [1][2]
The story told on the stela is set in the 18th year of the reign of Djoser. The text describes how the king is upset and worried as the land has been in the grip of a drought and famine for seven years, during which time the Nile has not flooded the farmlands. The text also describes how the Egyptians are suffering as a result of the drought and that they are desperate and breaking the laws of the land. Djoser asks the priest staff under the supervision of high lector priest Imhotep for help. The king wants to know where the god of the Nile, Hapi, is born, and which god resides at this place. Imhotep decides to investigate the archives of the temple ḥwt-Ibety (“House of the nets”), located at Hermopolis and dedicated to the god Thoth. He informs the king that the flooding of the Nile is controlled by the god Khnum at Elephantine from a sacred spring located on the island, where the god resides. Imhotep travels immediately to the location (Ancient Egyptian: jbw). In the temple of Khnum, called “Joy of Life”, Imhotep purifies himself, prays to Khnum for help and offers “all good things” to him. Suddenly he falls asleep and in his dream Imhotep is greeted by the kindly looking Khnum. The god introduces himself to Imhotep by describing who and what he is and then describes his own divine powers. At the end of the dream Khnum promises to make the Nile flow again. Imhotep wakes up and writes down everything that took place in his dream. He then returns to Djoser to tell the king what has happened. The king is pleased with the news and issues a decree in which he orders priests, scribes and workers to restore Khnum´s temple and to once more make regular offerings to the god. In addition, Djoser issues a decree in which he grants the temple of Khnum at Elephantine the region between Aswan and Tachompso (Koinē Greek: Ταχομψώ) with all its wealth, as well as a share of all the imports from Nubia. [1][2]
Since the initial translation and examination by French Egyptologist Paul Barguet in 1953, the Famine Stela has been of great interest to historians and Egyptologists. The language and layout used in the inscription suggests that the work can be dated to the Ptolemaic period, perhaps during the reign of king Ptolemy V (205 – 180 BC). Egyptologists such as Miriam Lichtheim and Werner Vycichl suggest that the local priests of Khnum created the text. The various religious groups in Egypt during Ptolemaic Dynasty jostled for power and influence, so the story of the Famine Stela could have been used as a means to legitimise the power of Khnum's priests over the region of Elephantine. [2][1][3][4]
At the time of the first translation of the stela, it was thought that the story of a seven-year-famine was connected to the biblical story in Genesis 41, where a famine of seven years also occurs. More recent investigations have shown that a seven-year famine was a motif common to nearly all cultures of the Near East: a Mesopotamian legend also speaks of a seven-year-famine and in the well known Gilgamesh-Epos the god Anu gives a prophecy about a famine for seven years. Another Egyptian tale about a long-lasting drought appears in the so-called “Book of the Temple”, translated by German Demotist Joachim Friedrich Quack. The ancient text reports about king Neferkasokar (late 2nd dynasty), who faces a seven-year-famine during his reign. [5][1][6][7]
The Famine Stela is one of only three known inscriptions that connect the cartouche name Djeser (“lordly”) with the serekh name Netjerikhet (“divine body”) of king Djoser in one word. Therefore, it provides useful evidence for Egyptologists and historians who are involved in reconstructing the royal chronology of the Old Kingdom of Egypt. [3][4]
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Famine
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Aeroflot Flight 141 crash
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Aeroflot Flight 141 was an international flight from Moscow to Prague. On February 19, 1973, the Tupolev Tu-154 crashed half a kilometer short of runway 25 (today's 24) of Prague Ruzyně Airport. Most of the passengers survived the crash, but many died in the fire that followed. Out of the 87 passengers and 13 crew members, 62 passengers and 4 crew members perished with 18 occupants having serious injuries and the remaining 16 with either minor or no injuries. The crash was the first loss of and first fatal accident involving the Tu-154. [1] [2]
The cause of the incident was not officially determined. The crew did not report any defects or troubles between the ATC frequencies. One theory stated wind shear, while another theory was that the pilots incorrectly set a horizontal stabilizer, yet another stated on unexpected atmospheric turbulence. The investigation of the accident also showed that controlling of the stabilizers was complicated. This was solved when the Tu-154 aircraft was being modernized to the Tu-154A. The aircraft involved was a Tupolev Tu-154, registered as CCCP-85023 was produced by the Kuibyshev Aviation Plant in September 1972. The airliner was then handed over to the customer - the USSR Ministry of Civil Aviation (operated under the Aeroflot brand ), to which it (according to some sources) arrived on October 6. It was operated in the 207th flying squadron as part of the Sheremetyevo Joint Air Squadron of the Central Directorate of International Air Communications (TSUMVS). For a short period of time, there were individual comments on the operation of the equipment and systems of the aircraft, but these comments were small and quickly eliminated, that is in general, the airliner was technically sound. On the day of the disaster, it completed 261 take-off-landing cycles and flew 459.1 hours, including 4.1 hours from the last repair. [3]
The plane was flown by an experienced crew, the composition of which was as follows:[3]
The Tu-154 (i.e. CCCP-85023) performed Flight 141 on the Moscow-Prague route and at 06:50 (09:50 MSK ) on February 19 took off from Sheremetyevo airport. In total, there were 87 passengers on board (85 adults, one 12-year-old child and one infant), 13 crew members, 1549 kilograms of luggage, 2223 kilograms of cargo and 410 kilograms of mail. The amount of fuel in the tanks at departure was about 27,000 kilograms, and the total take-off weight of the airliner was estimated at 86,316 kilograms with a maximum allowable weight of 90,000 kilograms. The plane Alignment fluctuated within the range of 19,3-22,0% MAR when installed for the Tu-154 ranges from 16.5 to 28.0% MAC, i.e. also was normal. Flight over the Soviet Union took place at FL330 (10,000 meters), then in the viccinity of Poland, the crew climbed to FL350 (10,650 meters). After the overflight of Warsaw, Air Traffic Controller (ATC) permission was given to descend to FL310 (9450 meters) and on the approach to Czechoslovakia - FL290 (8850 meters). The Polish-Czechoslovak border was completely crossed at FL220 (6,700 meters), and at 08:54 from flight 141 they reported on the passage of Frýdlant (OKX) and the completion of the descent from 7,200 meters to 6,700 meters (FL220). In response, the dispatch center in Prague instructed to continue the descent to an altitude of 2440 meters in the direction of Radnice (RCE), and at 08:56 - maintain direction along the center line of the air corridor. At 09:00, the crew reported over Radnice, flying at an altitude of 2440 meters, to which it was instructed to switch the communication with the approach controller at a frequency of 121.4 MHz. At that time there was an anti-cyclone over Czechoslovakia, accompanied by relatively good weather conditions without turbulence or icing. However, occasionally there were light snowfalls. Having switched to the communication with the "Prague-approach", the crew immediately received instructions to follow through the EHO until the approach radio beacon was captured, and then to descend to 1200 meters with a report on the passage of an altitude of 1500 meters. At 09:02 the plane reported on the passage of 1,500 meters with a course of 135°, for which an order was given to switch to the communication with the "Prague-circle". After the transition to a new frequency, Flight 141 was instructed by the radar controller to continue to follow the approach radio beacon, information that they were the first in line to land on ILS on runway 25 (Currently Runway 24), as well as permission to descend to 500 meters by airfield pressure - 730.1 mm Hg. Art. At 09:04 the crew received permission to descend to 350 meters at the level of the airfield and were warned that the plane may have deviated a couple of kilometers from the route. After 40 seconds, the dispatcher transmitted that Flight 141 was 15 kilometers from the airport and was following exactly the landing course, and at 09:05 he instructed to switch to the communication with the take-off and landing dispatcher (i.e. Prague-tower). Being 7 kilometers from the airport, the crew switched to the communication with Prague-Tower and announced the approach to the airport with the intention of landing and visual observation of the runway. To this, the controller gave permission to Flight 141 to land on Runway 25, and also reported a ground wind of 250°@4 m/s. (counter). At 09:06 the crew requested and received information about the braking coefficient, which was "5", as well as a re-landing clearance. At 09:06:30 the crew confirmed receipt of the information, which was the last known message from Flight 141. The airliner was following exactly on the glide path, when in the area of the near-drive radio beacon Libots (L), when they suddenly lowered their nose at an angle of 4.62°, to which the aircraft began descending rapidly. Not knowing the cause of the situation, the pilots increased engine power and began to pull the controls towards themselves. Thus, trying to raise the nose and take the plane out of the descent, but these measures did not have a significant effect. Flight 141 managed to fly over the R7 expressway, after which about 60 meters behind it and 467 meters from the end of Runway 25 with a slight right bank crashed and immediately the right main landing gear strut into the frozen ground. The contact was hard and the landing gear collapsed from the impact, after which, at a distance of 320 meters from the runway end, the airliner crashed into the ground. At a distance of 257m the airliner scattered parts across the runway and immediately then, the jet fuel leaking from the ruptured fuel tanks ignited, causing a fire, which immediately began to flare up. Finally, 50 meters from the end of Runway 25 and 75 meters to the right of the extension of its axis, Flight 141 finally came to a halt, after which the rapidly spreading fire completely destroyed the airliner. According to the airport's meteorological service, at that time there was a light snowfall, partly cloudy with a lower boundary of 1200 meters and with gaps at an altitude of 2400 meters, wind 260°@ 6-8 m/s, sometimes increasing to 11 m/s, stood over the airport, the air temperature 0°C, visibility 5 kilometers. The disaster occurred at 09:07 (10:07 local time), and just after, the fire service announced an alarm. Subsequently, the landing dispatcher also gave an alarm.
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Air crash
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1912 Brooklands Flanders Monoplane crash
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The 1912 Brooklands Flanders Monoplane crash was the first aviation accident in which an investigation was made into the cause of the accident and a report subsequently published, thus marking the start of aviation accident investigation worldwide. A Flanders F.3 Monoplane crashed at Brooklands, Surrey, United Kingdom, killing the pilot and his passenger. The cause was determined to be pilot error. The accident aircraft was a Flanders F.3 Monoplane. It was powered by a 60 horsepower (45 kW) Green D.4 engine. [1]
On 13 May 1912, the aircraft took off from Brooklands Aerodrome with the pilot and a passenger on board. Two circuits of the aerodrome were flown before the aircraft was seen to side-slip, stall and crash from an altitude of 200 feet (61 m). [2] The pilot was thrown clear, but the passenger remained in the wrecked aircraft, which caught fire. Both were killed. The aircraft had been flying in a tail-low attitude before the turn was initiated. [1] The accident was witnessed by a crowd of about 200 people. [2] A Coroner's inquest was held in Weybridge. The jury returned verdicts of "accidental death" in both cases. [3]
The accident was investigated by the Public Safety and Accidents Investigation Committee of the Royal Aero Club. The committee had been established on 27 February 1912. [4] The cause was determined to be pilot error. The committee published its report on 4 June 1912 and recommended that the main committee of the Royal Aero Club publish the report in extenso. Thus the first report into an aviation accident was published in Flight on 8 June,[1] marking the start of the science of aviation accident investigation. [4] The report established a format of facts, analysis, conclusions and recommendations that is still in use a century later. [5]
5
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Air crash
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Drinking water repeatedly contaminated with pathogens in rural NSW towns
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NSW Health documents obtained by the ABC reveal areas where deadly pathogens are regularly detected at dangerous levels in unfiltered drinking water pumped from rivers, lakes and dams.
The water safety reports, obtained after a lengthy freedom-of-information battle, also show more than 100,000 NSW residents were issued protective boil-water alerts in the last five years.
Grafton, Kempsey, Scone, Jindabyne and Bega are cited as the five worst-performing areas, with repeated "contamination incidents" triggering "potential health risks".
Around Grafton, a population of 40,000 are at risk from cryptosporidium, a parasite that causes gastrointestinal illness.
Residents have faced 10 boil-water alerts since 2006, issued "in response to the inability of the water supply system to manage risks".
The documents say faecal contamination from cattle, and even swimmers along the lower Clarence River catchment, is the parasite's source.
Similar problems plague the Bemboka River catchment, near Bega, with four boil-water alerts issued by Bega Valley Council in 10 years.
Deadly bugs originate in "onsite sewerage system discharges", "failures and presence of septic systems" and from dairy farms upstream.
The documents say "chlorine-resistant pathogens" — not killed by chemical treatments — are a threat to more than 40,000 people.
Around Kempsey, the risk identified is cyanobacteria — a toxic blue-green algae that can shut supply for 15,000 residents.
Grazing dairy cattle and raw sewage discharges near the Steuart McIntyre Dam trigger algae outbreaks here.
Alarmingly, the documents say "all pathogen groups" including e. coli are present in Kempsey water, and that a further "vulnerability assessment" should be undertaken.
In the Upper Hunter, more than 6,000 residents in Scone, Murrurundi and Aberdeen are rated at "very high risk" from dangerous pathogens flowing from an abattoir and septic tanks in the catchment.
The alpine towns of Jindabyne and Barry Way also face a "moderate risk from the presence of cryptosporidium" as well as toxic "blue-green algae" in their catchment.
Livestock faeces, and sewage, including from the Perisher ski resort are blamed.
The documents also identify other communities with one-off water concerns.
Last year boil-water alerts were issued in Dubbo, as well as villages including Toomelah, Gravesend, and Jubullum.
The documents say the use of filtration systems would lift rural water supplies up to a standard enjoyed by large cities.
Many country councils supply unfiltered surface water, taken from watercourses, lakes or dams and treated with chlorine or UV disinfection.
But the documents reveal this simple approach is increasingly ineffective against resistant parasites, such as cryptosporidium.
The cost of introducing filtration across rural NSW is estimated to be in the order of $1.5 billion to $2 billion.
The documents also reveal a letter from Kerry Chant, the state's chief health officer, to Gavin Hanlon, an executive in the Department of Primary Industries, warning that many unfiltered supplies would not meet Australian drinking water guidelines.
Dr Chant warned that in overseas incidents major waterborne outbreaks of cryptosporidiosis showed "the majority of consumers in a supply system became ill", and urged a whole-of-government approach to devising and funding local solutions.
The spokesperson says that since 2012, $7.3 million dollars has been invested in programs to improve drinking water quality.
A NSW Health spokesperson told the ABC it took health risks very seriously and worked closely with the water section of the Department of Primary Industries to make sure "health risks are assessed and effectively managed". "Ultimately, it is the responsibility of local water utilities to provide safe drinking water to their consumers."
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Environment Pollution
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Locust attack: Excessive pesticide use will take its toll on Thar ecology
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The strongest pesticides used to counter locust invasions will leech into waterbodies and crops, say experts Lethal pesticides used to counter locust swarms invading the Indian side of the Thar desert will irrevocablly harm the fragile desert ecology, experts have said. As there was no co-ordination with Pakistan when the swarms first invaded its side of the Thar, Indian officials did not prepare properly to tackle the insects. When they finally invaded India, the government was forced to use the most lethal pesticides, organophosphates (OPs), which will eventually leech into the desert’s waterbodies as well as the next crop, experts warned. Organophosphates are a group of chemicals that were initially developed as human nerve agents during the 1930s and 1940s to be used by Nazi Germany during World War II. They were later adapted for use as insecticides. OPs are known to leech into water bodies close to agricultural fields. This can spell disaster for humans, plants and animals. Officials in the 11 Rajasthan districts that have been affected — Barmer, Churu, Jodhpur, Nagaur, Jaisalmer, Jalore, Jhunjhunu, Sikar, Sriganganagar and Bikaner — admitted to Down To Earth that OPs were used. “We have not used such a high amount of Chlorpyrifos, an OP, in such a short span of time. This could potentially damage the environment,” Suwa Lal Jat, joint director at the agriculture department of Rajasthan, said. The Rajasthan government has already directed different departments to assess the damage and its future impact, he added. Wither procedure? Ten types of chemicals divided into three categories are recommended to be used for controlling locusts by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). The first category is mycoinsecticide (for instance, Metarhizium acridum). This is of low risk to non-target organisms including birds and reptiles which ingest the treated locusts. The second category is insect growth regulators (like diflubenzuron, teflubenzuron and triflumuron). It is very low human toxicity and is less hazardous in comparison to neurotoxic insecticides although there are some adverse effects on certain non-target organisms, especially aquatic arthropods. The OPs should be the last resort, according to the FAO. “The first two categories would have been effective if we would have detected locust infestations early and acted on them. But we acted late and ended up using OPs, that are effective but hazardous,” Chandrashekhar Sharma, a Jodhpur-based scientist trained in controlling locusts, said. Chlorpyrifos, the OP that Jat talked about, creates a motility rate by 50 per cent within three hours. Another 30 per cent locusts get paralysed and the remaining 10 per cent fall unconscious. The remainder die after flying within 2 km. Besides delayed government action, there are other reasons for the excessive use of OPs. The locust watch centres (LWCs), the designated government bodies to tackle locust attacks, are usually on the boards of farmer groups. Orders from the upper echelons of government to these LWCs are to use deadly insecticides to control locusts. OPs are also supplied free of cost. Last but not the least, farmers who are petrified by seeing the locust swarms devour their crops, want immediate action against the insects. “The locust is a robust pest. Farmers want immediate and effective solutions to deal with them,” Sharma said. Effects on the Thar The Thar desert is a rich ecosystem. It has a number of salty lakes like Tal Chhapar in Churu district, Lunkaransar in Bikaner, Gajner Jheel, Kheichan and Bap Thana area of Phalodi in Jodhpur, the Pachpadra, Tirsingdi, Korana, Navai villages of Barmer and the ponds of Jaisalmer. These are annually visited by migratory birds of many species. Indigenous birds also depend on them. “It is inevitable that birds will die in the next migratory season as these OPs must have leeched into the water bodies,” Madan Mohan, associate professor of Entomology, Agriculture University Jodhpur, said. Moreover, crops laced with chemicals can impact exports. “Our business of cumin export to European countries would be impacted if they found high level of chemical residue,” Dilip Kumar, a project manager working with a cumin exporting company in Barmer, said. “There should be a regular meeting with Pakistan every month to manage locust attacks,” Jat said. “If Pakistan would have controlled it better then it would not have created mayhem in India. We should have helped them in the management,” he added. This is the fourth and concluding part of a multi-part series We are a voice to you; you have been a support to us. Together we build journalism that is independent, credible and fearless. You can further help us by making a donation. This will mean a lot for our ability to bring you news, perspectives and analysis from the ground so that we can make change together.
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Insect Disaster
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2008 Skåne County earthquake
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The 2008 Skåne County earthquake occurred at 06.20am CET (05.20 UTC) on 16 December and affected the southern part of Sweden and eastern parts of Denmark. The epicenter was 5 km southwest of Sjöbo and 60 km east of Malmö. The earthquake was considered "moderately strong" with a moment magnitude calculated at 4.2–4.3 . [1][2] Strong shaking was reported widely in Sweden from Skåne to Östergötland, in Denmark, and in northern Poland. [3][4] The Skåne region is known for extremely low seismic activity, with only three small earthquakes (each less than 2.8) detected between 1970 and 2008, and only 14 earthquakes since 1375. [1] Roadways in Sweden and Denmark were reported with cracks but investigations did not determine if any were caused by the earthquake. [1]
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Earthquakes
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Huge Military Exercise Kicks Off in Australia Amid Tensions with China
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On its surface, Talisman Sabre is a chance for more than 17,000 troops from the Australian and U.S. militaries, as well as forces from the United Kingdom, Canada, Japan, New Zealand and the Republic of Korea, to practice operating together. However, the exercise also comes at a challenging time in U.S.-China relations. "Talisman Sabre is a major undertaking for all participants and demonstrates our capacity to achieve large-scale operational outcomes, while also dealing with a global pandemic," Maj. Gen. Jake Ellwood, commander of Australia's Deployable Joint Force Headquarters, said in a statement published by Australia's Department of Defence. Read Next: Security Is Lax at Major Arms Shipping Facilities, IG Finds Experts describe the biennial exercise as aiming to send a strong message to China about U.S. strength in the region and its close bonds with allies in the area. This year, Talisman Sabre begins just days after Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced that the U.S. would continue to follow a Trump-era rejection of nearly all of China's significant maritime claims in the South China Sea and warned its leaders that any attack on the Philippines would provoke a U.S. response under a mutual defense treaty. On July 13, just two days after Blinken's announcement, the destroyer Benfold conducted a freedom of navigation transit near the Paracel Islands -- territory China claims. The Chinese military said it "drove away" the warship, according to a Reuters report. The Navy denied that, calling the claim "the latest in a long string of [People's Republic of China] actions to misrepresent lawful U.S. maritime operations and assert its excessive and illegitimate maritime claims" in a statement from Indo-Pacific Command. Amid that backdrop, Talisman Sabre will conduct amphibious landings, ground force maneuvers, urban operations, and air combat and maritime operations. The last time the exercise was held, U.S. Marines, Australian soldiers, and Japan's then-brand-new amphibious force carried out a mock beach raid, giving a glimpse into how the three countries could unite to defend contested islands in the Pacific. The Australian announcement also notes that "a majority of these international forces will participate exclusively offshore, including about 5,000 who will participate as part of a US Navy Expeditionary Strike Group." In addition to naval forces, the exercise will involve 40 aircraft from the Royal Australian Air Force. Talisman Sabre will run until mid-August, but activities will peak from July 18-31, according to the Australian Department of Defence. -- Konstantin Toropin can be reached at konstantin.toropin@military.com. Follow him on Twitter @ktoropin. Related: The Marine Corps' 1st New Littoral Regiment Will Be Headquartered in Japan The Kremlin has rebuffed allegations that a buildup of Russian troops near Ukraine reflects Moscow’s aggressive intentions. Russia’s deputy U.N. ambassador pointed to what he called many threats from Ukraine and provocative actions by U.S. warships... Naval forces from the United States, Israel and two Gulf Arab states are taking part in a joint security drill in the Red Sea... Volcanic activity beneath Iwo Jima, site of a defining World War II battle, is pushing sunken naval vessels to the surface. A Montana Army National Guard soldier has become the first woman to complete the seven-week U.S. Army Sniper Course at Fort... Israel has warned that it would act with military force if needed to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons. At least five service members allegedly were part of the deadly pro-Trump mob that assaulted the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. The military's non-tactical vehicle fleet alone is the second largest in the federal government next to the U.S. Postal... Max Cleland, who lost three limbs to a hand grenade blast in Vietnam and went on to represent his native Georgia in the U.S... The Kremlin has rebuffed allegations that a buildup of Russian troops near Ukraine reflects Moscow’s aggressive intentions. Russia’s deputy U.N. ambassador pointed to what he called many threats from Ukraine and provocative actions by U.S. warships... Naval forces from the United States, Israel and two Gulf Arab states are taking part in a joint security drill in the Red Sea... Volcanic activity beneath Iwo Jima, site of a defining World War II battle, is pushing sunken naval vessels to the surface. A new hotline and a more comprehensive, comparative claims processing system are among the efforts to assist Gulf War and...
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Military Exercise
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