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Coronavirus disease 2019 outbreak in Beijing’s Xinfadi Market, China: a modeling study to inform future resurgence response
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A local coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) case confirmed on June 11, 2020 triggered an outbreak in Beijing, China after 56 consecutive days without a newly confirmed case. Non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) were used to contain the source in Xinfadi (XFD) market. To rapidly control the outbreak, both traditional and newly introduced NPIs including large-scale management of high-risk populations and expanded severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) PCR-based screening in the general population were conducted in Beijing. We aimed to assess the effectiveness of the response to the COVID-19 outbreak in Beijing’s XFD market and inform future response efforts of resurgence across regions. A modified susceptible–exposed–infectious–recovered (SEIR) model was developed and applied to evaluate a range of different scenarios from the public health perspective. Two outcomes were measured: magnitude of transmission (i.e., number of cases in the outbreak) and endpoint of transmission (i.e., date of containment). The outcomes of scenario evaluations were presented relative to the reality case (i.e., 368 cases in 34 days) with 95% Confidence Interval (CI). Our results indicated that a 3 to 14 day delay in the identification of XFD as the infection source and initiation of NPIs would have caused a 3 to 28-fold increase in total case number (31–77 day delay in containment). A failure to implement the quarantine scheme employed in the XFD outbreak for defined key population would have caused a fivefold greater number of cases (73 day delay in containment). Similarly, failure to implement the quarantine plan executed in the XFD outbreak for close contacts would have caused twofold greater transmission (44 day delay in containment). Finally, failure to implement expanded nucleic acid screening in the general population would have yielded 1.6-fold greater transmission and a 32 day delay to containment. This study informs new evidence that in form the selection of NPI to use as countermeasures in response to a COVID-19 outbreak and optimal timing of their implementation. The evidence provided by this study should inform responses to future outbreaks of COVID-19 and future infectious disease outbreak preparedness efforts in China and elsewhere. Although it has been more than 12 months since the first confirmed case of novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was reported, and vaccines have been approved and rolled out in some countries to protect high-risk populations for severe outcomes, for the time being non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) remain primary public health measures to slow the transmission and reduce the healthcare burden before vaccines are widely available and herd immunity can be achieved. Since the early stage of the pandemic, there have been a series of studies to understand the impacts of response policymaking and NPIs implementation on COVID-19, using mathematical modeling and simulations [1,2,3]. Different NPIs such as case isolation, close contact tracing and quarantine, social distancing, mask wearing, and travel restrictions have a varying effectiveness in controlling the transmission of COVID-19 across regions and time [4,5,6,7,8,9,10]. However, few studies investigated the resurgences of COVID-19 transmission and it is little known about the effectiveness of NPIs for controlling secondary waves in regions where the COVID-19 epidemic has been contained [11]. The COVID-19 outbreak in Beijing’s Xinfadi (XFD) Wholesale market occurred on June 11, 2020 after 56 consecutive days without a newly confirmed case in Beijing. The resurgence was brought under control in just 34 days from the onset of illness of the first known case (June 5, 2020) to zero new infections detected (July 10, 2020) [11]. It offers an exceptional opportunity to develop a model using real-world data and to quantitatively evaluate the timing and impact of integrated NPIs for containing COVID-19 resurgences. The source of this outbreak was identified as the virus spread from XFD market [12], the largest wholesale food market in Asia that has about 3000 workers and 50 000 visitors each day and provides about 80% of Beijing’s food supply. Within the massive XFD market complex, there are a total of 14 trading halls. One of which, the Beef and Mutton Trading Hall (BMTH), has been identified as the major infection source in this outbreak [12]. After the new outbreak was discovered on June 11, the municipal government have adopted a two-pronged approach—re-instating NPIs used during the initial wave in January–March 2020 and introducing new NPIs including: (i) large-scale tracing and management of high-risk populations identified by exposure risk levels, and (ii) expanded SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid screening in the general population in Beijing. The implementation of combining interventions have rapidly and successfully contained the resurgence and interrupted the transmission, and only 362 confirmed cases, 40 asymptomatic infections in Beijing and 34 linked infections outside Beijing were found, with zero deaths and less disruption to routine socioeconomic activities [11]. To assess the effectiveness of the response to the COVID-19 outbreak in Beijing’s XFD market and inform future response efforts of resurgence across regions, we developed a COVID-19 outbreak modeling framework to examine impacts of various identification timings and NPIs for this outbreak under hypothetical response scenarios. We constructed a modified susceptible–exposed–infectious–recovered (SEIR) model to evaluate the effectiveness of NPIs in containing COVID-19 after the outbreak in Beijing’s XFD market. We specifically modeled four scenarios for two key outcomes: the magnitude of transmission and the endpoint of transmission. Our methods and results were reported according to guidelines developed by Bennett and Manuel [13]. Ethical approval and informed consent requirements were waived by the Institutional Review Board and Human Research Ethics Committee of the Beijing Center for Disease Prevention and Control (Beijing CDC) because this study was considered a continuation of the public health investigation associated with an emerging infectious disease. The details of the Beijing XFD market outbreak and NPIs implemented in response, have been previously described [11, 14]. The data used in this study were extracted from the Notifiable Infectious Disease Reporting System (basic individual case-level demographics, location, and diagnostic data), the Epidemiological Investigation Information System (detailed individual case-level exposure, symptom, and clinical data), and the Close Contacts Tracing and Management System (individual contact-level demographics, exposures, location, and quarantine data) [14]. A summary of Beijing XFD outbreak data used in developing the model is presented in Table 2. The epidemiologic parameters such as incubation periods and contagious periods were calculated based on data from the epidemiological investigation and close contacts tracing and management. For incubation periods, we extracted 41 individual laboratory-confirmed records that have known dates of exposure. By combing the date of exposure with the date of symptom onset, we inferred the incubation periods for the 41 individual cases. We fitted the distribution of incubation periods to a Weibull distribution using a Maximum Likelihood Estimation method with R package fitdistrplus (https://www.jstatsoft.org/article/view/v064i04) [15]. The contagious periods were calculated as the average duration from symptom onset to laboratory confirmation, since once the infections were confirmed, they would be quarantined and not cause a secondary infection. These and other parameters and coefficients used for model simulation are based on the Notifiable Infectious Disease Reporting System and presented in Additional file 1: Table S1. Key populations in this model were defined as the assessed stratified risk groups by exposure level in the XFD outbreak. XFD workers who were in the XFD market were assessed to be at the highest risk. They were traced through traditional epidemiologic investigation methods (i.e., face-to-face interviews or home visits) and quarantined in centralized facilities. Attack rate was calculated as the number of cases (numerator) divided by the number of total persons (denominator) presented as a percent. Attack rate among this high-risk group was 5.1%. The attack rate among workers in the BMTH was highest at 14.2%. Visitors to XFD market on June 12 were designated medium risk and quarantined in centralized facilities. They were found to have an attack rate of 0.1%. By contrast, visitors to XFD market before the outbreak (May 30–June 11) were assessed as low risk, traced by big data, and were asked to quarantine at home. The attack rate among this low-risk group was 0.02% (Table 1). Close contacts were defined as persons who had direct contact within one meter with a confirmed case four days before or any time after their symptom onset without personal protective equipment. The close contact population was excluded from the key population. Our model categorized the whole population into five subpopulations, susceptible (S), exposed and infected (but not yet infectious; E), infectious (I), infectious and isolated (IS) and removed (R). Based on the actual situation in the XFD outbreak, we further divided E population into a subpopulation K indicating key population to the XFD market, a subpopulation C indicating close contacts of confirmed cases, a subpopulation N representing the infections detected by nucleic acid testing and a subpopulation O representing the infections identified by other methods. During this outbreak, a portion of the infected population was isolated early through close contact or key population tracing, or nucleic acid screening, so that it could not result in large scale secondary infection. Such infected population at the time of illness onset were classified as IS in our model. The IS group was further divided into two sub-populations according to the type of quarantine and became removed population R immediately: those who were quarantined in centralized facilities (ISC) and those who were in home-based quarantine (ISH). The removed population R additionally included the recovered (no deaths were reported during this outbreak). Under those assumptions, we developed a modified SEIR model illustrated in Fig. 1. The illustration of the modified SEIR model. The model categorized the whole population into five subpopulations, susceptible (S), exposed and infected (not yet infectious) (E), infectious (I), infectious and isolated (IS) and removed (R). The IS group was further divided into two sub-populations according to the type of quarantine: those who were centralized quarantined (ISC) or home-based quarantined (ISH). E was further designated into a subpopulation K indicating key population to the XFD market, a subpopulation C indicating close contacts of confirmed cases, a subpopulation N representing the infections discovered by nucleic acid testing and a subpopulation O representing the infections identified by other methods The equations are as follows: In the equation, Kt indicates the daily infections from the key population in XFD market, and {\alpha }_{t}^{1a}, {\alpha }_{t}^{1b},{\alpha }_{t}^{1c},{\alpha }_{t}^{1d},{\alpha }_{t}^{1e} and {\alpha }_{t}^{1f} are the proportions of the daily infections in group 1.1 to group 3.2 (Table 2) of the total daily number in key population, respectively. {C}_{t}= {\alpha }_{2}^{t}(\gamma {E}_{t}-{K}_{t}) indicates the daily infections discovered by close contact tracing, while parameter {\alpha }_{t}^{2} models the effect of the close contact tracing and management. It is the proportion of the daily infections of the daily total number from close contacts, excluding the cases from the key population of the XFD market. {N}_{t}= {\alpha }_{3}^{t}(\gamma {E}_{t}-{K}_{t}) indicates the daily infections found by expanded nucleic acid screening, while parameter {\alpha }_{t}^{3} models the effect of the expanded nucleic acid screening. It is the infection proportion of daily total number from expanded nucleic acid screening, excluding the cases from the key population of the XFD market. Parameter {\sigma }_{t} represents the speed of transition from the infectious to the removed. Since all the infectious cases/infections were isolated in designated hospitals or home once confirmed, {\sigma }_{t} represents the speed of transition from the infectious to the confirmed. It equals the reciprocal of the time difference between the disease onset and confirmation. Parameter {h}_{t}^{2} is the percentage of cases who were home-isolated among all the cases identified by closed contact tracing. These parameter values were abstracted from epidemiologic data (Tables 1, 2, Additional file 1: Table S1). Parameter \beta is the transmission rate. Parameter q denotes the reduction of infectiousness for home-quarantined patients compared to non-quarantined patients. We estimated \beta and q by Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) with the Adaptive Metropolis algorithm implemented in the Python package PyMC (version 2.3.8) [16, 17]. We used a non-informative flat prior of Uniform (9e-9, 5e-4) for \beta, and Uniform (0.01, 1.0) for q. We fitted the model with data of cumulative cases from June 6 to July 10, 2020, by the date of symptom onset. After a burn-in of 1,000 iterations, we ran the MCMC simulation for 30,000 iterations with a sampling size of each 10 iterations. The RMSE of cases from June 6 to July 10 between model prediction and observation is 16.61. All of these analyses were performed in Python (version 3.6.0 https://www.python.org/). We hypothesized that delays in the implementation of the NPI, infection source intervention, would result in higher magnitude of transmission and later endpoint of transmission. Therefore, we modeled a 3 day, 7 day, and 14 day delay or ahead of the timing of infection source identification. We compared these predicted results with the actual outcomes from the XFD outbreak response: 368-case transmission magnitude and July 10 transmission endpoint. We assumed that: (1) unlimited health resources, (2) all other NPIs implemented precisely as in the real outbreak response, and (3) the proportion of each group of key population in Table 2 remains unchanged. We also changed the timing of other NPIs accordingly in model simulation (timing of the closure of XFD market, quarantining of key population, close contact tracing, expanded nucleic acid screening). There were 224 confirmed infections identified in all managed key population. We simulated the epidemic development under quarantine protocols to the market workers or visitors to the market, respectively. In our simulation, for simplicity, we assumed that other NPI measures were independently unchanged when evaluating the effectiveness of each NPI measure of interest. There were 42 confirmed infections identified among close contacts group. For close contacts tracing, we compared the effect of centralized quarantine versus home quarantine. There were 28 confirmed infections identified from expanded screening in the general population. Expanded nucleic acid screening was expanded from the center of the XFD outbreak to surroundings among the general population. We simulated the effect of timing of nucleic acid test with 3 or 7 days delayed or in advance. For all scenarios, we repeated the simulations based on parameter values estimated by 30 000 MCMC iterations with sampling at each 10 steps (i.e., 3000 samples totally) to construct the 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) of the epidemic curve by the 2.5 and 97.5 percentiles at each time point. The simulation results were presented as mean values and 95% CI calculated from the 3000 MCMC samples in this study. All the analyses were conducted using Python software, version 3.6.0. The data used in this study are from public accessible database, internal databases from Beijing CDC, as well as news briefings. The mathematic model and code used for the analysis are available by addressing to the corresponding authors. According to our model, a 3 day delay from the actual timing with which combination NPI response measures were initiated (i.e., identification of XFD as the infection source and initiation of NPIs) would lead to a threefold increase in the magnitude of transmission (95% CI: 2.6–3.4; i.e., 1104 vs 368 cases). A 7 day delay would lead to a 7.5-fold increase in the magnitude of transmission (95% CI: 6.4–8.6; 2768 vs 368 cases) and a 14 day delay a 28.2-fold increase (95% CI: 23.2–33.3; i.e., 10 411 vs 368 cases). Finally, these delays would also lead to endpoints of transmission delayed by 31, 50, and 77 days, respectively (Table 3, Fig. 2a and a′). source of infection. (b) and (b’) daily and cumulated total case number simulated for management on the key population to the XFD market. (c) and (c’) daily and cumulated total case number simulated for the close contacts traced with different quarantine protocols. (d) and (d’) daily and cumulated total case number simulated for delayed or earlier expanded Nucleic acid screening on general population. Shading areas indicate 95% confidence intervals Scenario model simulation to assess the timing of intervention, management of key populations, contact tracing and expanded SARS CoV-2 Nucleic Acid screening. (a) and (a’) daily and cumulated total case number with the 3 day, 7 day, and 14 day delayed identification of XFD market as the Similarly, if no quarantine was instituted, the magnitude of transmission would be 5.5-fold greater (95% CI: 4.5–6.2; i.e., 1969 vs 368 cases) and the endpoint of transmission would be delayed 73 days compared to reality. If only the high- and medium-risk populations (i.e., Group 1 and Group 2) were quarantined, the magnitude of transmission would be 1.7-fold greater (95% CI:1.5–2.0; 640 versus 368 cases) and the endpoint of transmission would be delayed 39 days (Table 3, Fig. 2b and b′). If just the targeted key population is modeled, no quarantine would lead to 8.2-fold greater (95% CI: 6.8–9.5; i.e., 1825 vs 224 cases) magnitude of transmission and quarantine only for high- and medium-risk populations, a 2.2-fold greater (95% CI: 1.8–2.7; i.e., 496 vs 224 cases) magnitude of transmission (Table 3). According to our model, no quarantine for close contacts would result in twofold greater (95% CI: 1.7–2.3; i.e., 727 vs 368 cases) magnitude of transmission and a 44 day delay in the endpoint of transmission. A more rigorous all-centralized quarantine for close contacts would result in 1.0-fold (95% CI: 0.9–1.1; i.e., 361 vs 368 cases) the magnitude of transmission and a 5 day acceleration in the endpoint of transmission. By contrast, a less rigorous all-home quarantine for close contacts would result in 1.0-fold greater (95% CI: 0.9–1.2; i.e., 382 vs 368 cases) magnitude of transmission and a 4 day delay in the endpoint of transmission (Table 3, and Fig. 2c and c′). If just the targeted key population is modeled, no quarantine for close contacts results in 9.5-fold greater (95% CI: 6.7–12.3; 401 vs 42 cases) magnitude of transmission. More rigorous all-centralized quarantine for close contacts would result in 0.8-fold (95% CI: 0.1–1.6; 35 vs 42 cases) the magnitude of transmission whereas less rigorous all-home quarantine would result in 1.3-fold (95% CI: 0.3–2.3; 56 vs 42 cases) the magnitude of transmission (Table 3). According to our model, implementation of expanded nucleic acid screening 7 days earlier would result in 0.9-fold (95% CI: 0.8–1.0; 332 vs 368 cases) the magnitude of transmission and endpoint of transmission accelerated by three days. Three days earlier would result in 1.0-fold (95% CI: 0.9–1.0; 352 vs 368 cases) the magnitude of transmission and endpoint of transmission accelerated by two days. By contrast, a 3 day delay would result in 1.2-fold greater (95% CI: 1.0–1.3; 429 vs 368 cases) magnitude of transmission and an 8 day delay to the endpoint of transmission.
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Disease Outbreaks
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Northwest Airlines Flight 188 crash
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Northwest Airlines Flight 188 was a regularly scheduled flight from San Diego, California, to Minneapolis, Minnesota, on October 21, 2009, which landed over one hour late in Minneapolis after overshooting its destination by more than 150 miles (240 km) because of pilot error. As a result of the incident, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) revoked the pilot certificates of the involved pilots[1] and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) issued recommendations to air traffic control procedures and changes in the rules for cockpit crew and air traffic controllers. [2] The incident also caused American lawmakers to move to prevent pilots on U.S. airliners from using electronic devices while taxiing or flying. [3] Changes to flight deck automation have also been suggested, and prototype designs that could mitigate errors leading to similar incidents have been described. [4][5]
The Airbus A320 took off from San Diego International Airport at 5:01 p.m. CDT (3:01 pm in San Diego). It was scheduled to land at 8:01 p.m. CDT. [6] Just under two hours later, at 6:56 p.m. CDT, Air Traffic Control lost radio contact with the aircraft while it was over Denver. [7]
Per federal regulations, the Denver ARTCC (where contact was lost) instructed the pilots to contact the Minneapolis ARTCC to obtain an amended clearance to land in Minneapolis. However, the pilots did not do so. Both the Denver and Minneapolis ARTCC made several unsuccessful attempts to reach the pilots. At the request of the Minneapolis ARTCC, Northwest's dispatchers made at least eight attempts to reach the pilots and urge them to reestablish radio contact, without success. [8] When other pilots in the area got word of the situation, they tried to help the controllers and attempted to raise the pilots as well. Northwest also sent them a radio text message, which went unanswered. Authorities were concerned enough that NORAD readied fighter jets to check on the welfare of the plane. Officials at the White House Situation Room were alerted as well. [9]
Just as the fighter jets were about to scramble, air traffic control at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport reestablished radio contact with the plane at 8:14 p.m. CDT, by which time the flight was over Eau Claire, Wisconsin, roughly 100 miles (160 km) east of Minneapolis. Captain Timothy Cheney and first officer Richard Cole said that they were not aware of their location until a flight attendant asked them what time they were due to land. The overshoot concerned air traffic controllers enough that they had the pilots perform a series of maneuvers to confirm the pilots were in control of the plane, as well as to verify that the transponder target they were receiving on their radar was indeed Flight 188. The aircraft finally landed, over an hour late, at 9:04 p.m. CDT. [7]
During the investigation, Cheney and Cole told National Transportation Safety Board investigators that they were going over schedules using their laptop computers—a serious breach of piloting fundamentals, as well as a violation of Delta Air Lines policy (Delta had recently merged with Northwest). The pilots denied suggestions from some aviation safety experts that they had fallen asleep. [9]
In the United States, the FAA prohibits pilots from taking short naps,[10][11] but airlines from other countries allow short naps while outside of U.S. airspace. These airlines include British Airways, Qantas, and Air France. [12][13] The cockpit voice recorder was removed from the aircraft, but there was only 30 minutes' worth of information. [14] Over an hour's worth of information would have been needed for all of the information of the portion of the flight past Minneapolis to be available. [15]
On October 27, 2009, the FAA grounded the pilots. The FAA found that Cheney and Cole were out of radio contact with air traffic controllers for more than an hour and a half "while you were on a frolic of your own." It cited the pilots for acting in "total dereliction and disregard" for their duties, and were "disengaged and impervious" to the danger their actions posed to themselves, the passengers and the crew. Among other things, the FAA found that the pilots failed to comply with air traffic control instructions and clearances and failed to monitor the plane's air-ground radios. The FAA found that the pilots operated the plane in a careless and reckless manner, and thus showed that they lacked "the degree of care, skill, judgment and responsibility" to hold a pilot's license. The incident and subsequent investigation have led to some changes in the rules for cockpit crew and air traffic controllers. [2][8][16][17]
Another issue of concern was the over an hour long delay from the time air traffic controllers realized the plane was out radio contact until an alert on the Domestic Events Network (DEN) was created and NORAD was informed of the situation. The commander of NORAD, General Gene Renuart Jr., said in an interview that ideally an alert is created within 10 minutes of losing contact and if they had been alerted in time, fighter jets would have been scrambled to intercept. [18] By the time fighters were ready to launch, the flight crew were back in contact with ground controllers. An updated FAA notice effective November 10, 2010 called for an alert to be made within five minutes of last recorded radio contact. [19]
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Air crash
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EPS release photos, surveillance video of south Edmonton bank robber
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Police are asking for public help identifying a man who robbed a south Edmonton bank. On Aug. 3 around 4 p.m., police say a man entered a bank at 23 Avenue and 108 Street and presented a bank teller with a threatening note. The man left the bank with cash and ran eastbound on 23 Avenue, said EPS. He is described as white, 17 to 20 years old, with green eyes and dark curly hair. He was wearing a black hoodie with white and brown draw strings and a dark brown patch on the left breast, track pants with large grey rear pockets, a hat and a black mask. The robber was wearing a black hoodie with white and brown draw strings and a dark brown patch on the left breast, a hat and a black mask. (Source: EPS) It was reported to police that the suspect was attempting to speak in a deeper voice than his natural voice.
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Bank Robbery
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Singapore surge, France to extend pass use
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The French government is seeking to extend the compulsory use of its coronavirus pass while German authorities plan to halt sick pay for unvaccinated people as Singapore registers its record highest number of daily infections. French officials want to be able to impose use of the health passport after mid-November. In France, it is only possible to visit restaurants and museums or travel by long-distance train if one has a negative coronavirus test, has recovered from COVID-19 or has been vaccinated as documented in the health passport. The current regulation, however, is temporary. Government spokesman Gabriel Attal said in Paris on Wednesday that the possibility to use the health passport in case of an epidemic situation would have to be extended. In the fight against a fourth coronavirus wave, French President Emmanuel Macron had announced stricter measures in the summer, including the obligation to provide the health passport. Attal defended it as a very efficient tool. Without it, many facilities would have had to close in the middle of summer. Due to an improving infection situation, slightly looser rules are to apply from October 4. In districts with a seven-day incidence below 50, the obligation to wear a mask in primary school will be waived, Attal said. In addition, there will no longer be any upper limits at events or in buildings in these areas. The number of coronavirus infections in France has been declining for weeks. Most recently, approximately 74 new cases were reported for every 100,000 people infected within one week. More than 70 per cent of the population is fully vaccinated against the virus. Meanwhile, Germany will stop sick pay for unvaccinated people who have to go into quarantine because of COVID-19. Previously, people in the country could claim for income lost due to having to go into quarantine after returning from abroad or coming into contact with a positive case. Health Minister Jens Spahn said the move was a matter of "fairness," arguing that by the time the new rule comes into force on November 1, everyone who wants a vaccine will have had an opportunity to get the jab. Those who choose not to "will need to bear responsibility for this then, including the financial costs," he said. Germany has fully vaccinated 63.4 per cent of its population. The government said it wanted to achieve a vaccination rate of 75 per cent to prevent a sharp rise in cases during the winter months. Singapore's health ministry on Wednesday reported three coronavirus-related deaths and 1457 new infections, a record number for a single day. The fatalities took the death toll in the 5.7-million-population city-state to 68 while the new cases took the cumulative number to more than 81,000. The previous daily case record of just over 1400 was reported on April 20 last year during Singapore's sole pandemic lockdown. Two of the three people reported as dead on Wednesday were unvaccinated, the ministry said. Of the almost 1100 people hospitalised with the virus, 145 are getting oxygen support, the ministry added. Singapore had until recently avoided the worst of the Delta-variant coronavirus surge that has hit neighbouring countries such as Malaysia. More than 82 per cent of adults in Singapore have been double-jabbed, with more than 97 per cent of the roughly 14,000 people infected over the past 28 days displaying mild symptoms or none, the ministry said.
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Disease Outbreaks
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1987 Belize Air International C-97 Mexico City crash
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The 1987 Mexico City air disaster occurred on 30 July 1987, when a Belize Air International Boeing C-97G Stratofreighter, bound for Fort Lauderdale–Hollywood International Airport crashed onto the Mexico–Toluca highway during the late afternoon rush hour. A total of 49 people, including 44 on the ground, were killed in the crash. [1][2][3] At least 20 people were injured, with reports that the number could be much higher. The accident was caused due to cargo shift in the compartment, causing a shift in the center of gravity. A short circuit also caused the landing gear to extend, leading to the aircraft's rapid increase in drag. The crash was the second deadliest aircraft accident involving a Boeing C-97G Stratofreighter. [1]
The aircraft, a Boeing C-97G Stratofreighter, registered as HI-481, was operated as a cargo flight by Belize Air International. It was carrying 18 champion horses, for an equestrian competition in Miami, for Indianapolis for the 10th Annual Pan American Games. The aircraft took off from Mexico City International Airport at 5:01 p.m. Five minutes after takeoff, the aircraft suddenly had difficulty gaining altitude. The altimeter failed, and the crew tried to pull the plane up as it flew directly towards skyscrapers. The pilots managed to dodge several skyscrapers in the city, including the Mexicana Airlines Headquarters tower and the Hotel de Mexico. The crew then discussed a suitable place for an emergency landing. Due to the lack of time and controls of the plane, both pilots decided to land the plane at Toluca - Mexico highway. [4][5]
A problem developed on the plane's landing gear and caused a short circuit. The short circuit caused small fires on the aircraft, with smoke emitting from its engines. The aircraft then slammed onto the highway with its belly. The wings struck a high tension tower, causing a massive blackout in a nearby neighborhood. The aircraft flew under a pedestrian bridge and smashed into vehicles, killing some motorists instantly and horribly injuring others. The four engined plane skidded down the highway and broke into two sections. The tail of the plane separated from its main body and smashed into a three-story building, while the rest of the aircraft skidded and impacted the crowded Tras Lomita restaurant. It then exploded in what onlookers described as an "inferno". Parts of the aircraft then flew into a gas station and caused a massive fire. [3][6]
Emergency services immediately arrived at the scene and pulled several survivors from the wreckage. At least 7 people inside the plane were found alive, including pilot Frederick Moore, an American; co-pilot Robert Banty, also an American and the load master. Dead horses could be seen after the crash. Two out of 18 horses had to be shot by police, as they were too badly injured. At least one horse survived in good condition and was evacuated from the scene. 12 people were evacuated by helicopter to the Red Cross hospital with third-degree burns. Teresa Marquez of the federal Emergency Rescue Service said at least seven people on the ground were severely burned and taken to two hospitals. At least 25 vehicles were rammed and caught fire due to the crash, and a further 44 people on the ground were killed, bringing the death toll to nearly 50. [3] Officials estimated the plane left a 450-to-600 foot path of destruction as it skidded along the highway. [7]
In response to the crash, pilot Moore and co-pilot Banty were detained by Mexican authorities. The investigation found that during the climbout process, the horses inside the aircraft panicked and ran around inside the compartment, causing a shift of the aircraft's center of gravity. A short circuit later occurred and caused a gear malfunction, which caused small fires on the body of the aircraft and further panicked the horses. [3]
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Air crash
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Some Syracuse Families Suffer Generations of Lead Poisoning: First Report in Series on Lead Crisis
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Syracuse has one of the worst lead poisoning crises in the nation. One in 10 children have elevated blood lead levels, and this rate jumps to a staggering one-in-five in some of the lowest income neighborhoods, according to Onondaga County Health Department data.
Syracuse has been grappling with this problem for years, passing its first major lead poisoning prevention law last summer. But the impacts of this crisis are entrenched and complicated. In this series in collaboration with The Stand and The Newhouse School of Communications, Sydney Gold will explore the complexities of Syracuse’s lead crisis alongside community activists, academics and government leaders.
Oceanna Fair is no new comer to Syracuse’s lead crisis.
“My younger brother was lead poisoned when I was younger, him and my sister,” said Fair.
She recalls spending hours at Upstate medical center as a child, waiting for treatment. Today, her brother still needs significant help with daily tasks.
“I still have to be responsible for him because he could not function on his own.” But Oceana’s connection to the lead crisis doesn’t end there.
“We kind of figured things should be getting better 40 years later, fast forward. And then my own granddaughter gets poisoned in our home. For us it’s kind of like a slap in the face.”
Oceana’s family isn’t the only one still struggling against the ubiquity of lead in Syracuse’s homes. Darlene Medley is a mother of 9. Her two youngest, twins Devon and Rashad, were poisoned two years ago, likely from ingesting paint dust from a door hinge or window sill, the sort of surfaces kids can’t help but touch daily. Ever since Darlene’s struggled to find adequate support from the city.
“They don’t care about these babies. They really don’t because if they did, think about it. We have more kids in Syracuse, New York that are being poisoned by lead than they do in Michigan.”
Lead poisoning exists at the intersections of race and class, as well as health. The neighborhoods with the highest rates of poisoning also have the highest populations of low income children of color. In Syracuse, children of color make up 2/3rds of lead poisoned youth, and are twice as likely to be exposed according to Dr. Sandra Lane, professor of public health and Anthropology at Syracuse University But for Darlene, these aren’t just statistics.
“It’s the Black and the Latino kids that are being poisoned. So let’s really talk about it, you know.” And Syracuse’s lead crisis isn’t new; impacted families have been suffering for generations. There have been several efforts in the past to mitigate lead poisoning, but it wasn’t until summer 2020 when the Common Council passed Syracuse’s first lead ordinance.
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Mass Poisoning
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Biden repeats debunked Amtrak story for fifth time during presidency
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Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Market data provided by Factset. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Legal Statement. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper.
President Biden repeated a heartfelt yet factually challenged story about an Amtrak employee during a speech Monday in New Jersey.
For the fifth time during his presidency, Biden told a story dating back to when he was vice president about a lighthearted encounter with former Amtrak employee Angelo Negri.
BIDEN KEEPS TELLING BIZARRE AMTRAK STORY THAT WAS ALREADY DEBUNKED
"I commuted every single day, 263 miles a day, on Amtrak from the time I got elected United States senator," the president said. "I got to know all the conductors really well, they became my friends – I mean, really, my genuine friends, I’d have them at my home for Christmas and during the summer.
"And Ange walks up to me and goes, ‘Joey, baby,’ grabs my cheek and I thought the Secret Service was going to blow his head off," he said.
"I swear to God, true story," he recalled. "I said, ‘No, no, he’s a friend.’ I said, ‘What’s up, Ange?’ And he said, ‘Joey, I read in the paper you traveled 1,200,000 miles on Air Force planes.’"
Negri then informed the vice president that he had traveled 2,200,000 miles on Amtrak, according to Biden's telling.
"’So Joey, I don’t wanna hear this about the Air Force anymore,’" Biden recalled Negri joking.
"I’m a train guy," the president said, concluding his story and launching into his pitch on his Build Back Better agenda and bipartisan infrastructure bill.
Fox News has previously reported that the story does not add up.
Negri's obituary states he retired from Amtrak in 1993, while Biden was still a senator. Additionally, Biden's office celebrated him hitting 1 million miles on Air Force Two in 2015 and Negri passed away the year prior.
Biden's telling of the story has also varied.
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The president previously claimed it happened in the "fourth or fifth year" of his vice presidency, while he claimed as recently as last week that it happened in the seventh year of his tenure.
In another version of the story that Biden has previously told, he was going back to visit his sick mother when the interaction happened, even though his mother, Catherine Eugenia Finnegan, died in 2010.
Fox News’ Evie Fordham and Houston Keene contributed reporting.
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Famous Person - Give a speech
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Great Edinburgh Run
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The Great Edinburgh Run was an annual ten-mile road running event which took place in the city centre of Edinburgh in Scotland. The last event was in April 2017 and the organiser have no plans to reinstate the event at present. Part of the Great Run series of competitions, it was formerly a 10 km event, switching to the ten-mile distance in 2014. The event was first held in 1993 under the title of the Great Caledonian Run. [1] The race was moved from Edinburgh to the Balmoral estate in Aberdeenshire in 1998 and was hosted there for seven years as part of the Balmoral Road Races, a collection of race from 3 km to 10 km. [2] The Caledonian run became more of a national level competition in its stint in Balmoral as the 5-mile race. The race in Balmoral was voted as the nation's most scenic run by Runner's World magazine in 2004. [3] The competition was financially supported by Scottish Enterprise Grampian in a partnership to promote tourism in north-east Scotland, but after the BBC decided to stop televising the event the decision was made for it to return to Edinburgh in 2005. [4] During the seven-year period that the run was not held in the city, a separate and unrelated competition was held there under the title of the Capital City Challenge 10K. [5] The Great Edinburgh Run acquired its current title in 2006. [6]
Since 2005 the Great Edinburgh Run has been held on a course within the city centre. Starting in Holyrood Park, runners would see a number of the city's famous landmarks such as Edinburgh Castle, Greyfriars Bobby, Scott Monument and Arthur's Seat. The men's course record for the 10 km (28:03 minutes) was set by Martin Mathathi in 2011, while Florence Kiplagat is the women's course record holder with her time of 32:10 minutes from 2010. [7] At the second edition in 1994, amateur runner Dave Lewis won the men's race ahead of Olympians John Treacy and Gary Staines. [8]
Key:
Course record
8 km course
5-mile course
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Sports Competition
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US and India sign space agreement
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The space agencies of India and the US have signed an agreement on future co-operation at Mars and at Earth.
The nations have just put satellites in orbit around the Red Planet, and plan a joint radar spacecraft to study our home world in 2020.
But the charter signed by Nasa and the Indian Space Research Organisation will also examine additional opportunities. The agreement was signed by agencies' two leaders at the 65th International Astronautical Congress in Toronto.
India's Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM), also known as Mangalyaan, arrived in orbit at Mars on 24 September to image the planet and study its atmosphere.
It was preceded by the American Maven satellite by two days. the US orbiter will also investigate the Mars' atmosphere.
The Toronto charter sets up a working group, which, among its activities, will explore ways for the two Red Planet missions to work together. The joint Nasa-Isro Synthetic Aperture Radar mission (NISAR) will detail land change on Earth. Indian Mars probe sends first images
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Sign Agreement
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1971 United Kingdom postal workers strike
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The 1971 United Kingdom postal workers strike was a strike in the United Kingdom staged by postal workers between January and March 1971. The strike was Britain's first national postal strike and began after postal workers demanded a pay rise of 15–20% then walked out after Post Office managers made a lower offer. The strike began on 20 January and lasted for seven weeks, finally ending with an agreement on Thursday 4 March. After voting over the weekend, the strikers returned to work on Monday 8 March 1971. [1] The strike overlapped with the introduction of decimal currency in the UK. [2]
A wide range of officially licensed and unlicensed private posts operated during the strike to fill the gap left by the withdrawal of official postal services. Some were genuine commercial services that provided local, national and international deliveries, but many were set up by stamp collectors and stamp dealers to provide philatelic material for collectors. [3]
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Strike
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2016 Solomon Islands earthquakes
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On 9 December 2016 at 4:38 a.m. (UTC +11) local time (17:38:46 UTC), the Solomon Islands region was rocked by an Mww 7.8 earthquake, centered 30 km off San Cristobal Island, about 61 km southwest of Kirakira, the capital of Makira-Ulawa Province. [1] Initially registering magnitude 8.0, later downgraded to 7.8, the temblor prompted tsunami warnings that kept countries surrounding the Coral, Tasman and Solomon Sea on high alert, but was later cancelled. A large aftershock of magnitude 6.9 occurred shortly afterwards. This earthquake was largely felt, waking many residents who later ran to high ground for fears of a potential tsunami. [2] The earthquake killed a child and affected some 34,000 people in Makira, South Malaita and Guadalcanal Island where many had lost their homes or had no access to basic needs. [3] Earthquakes are common in this region, with little or no fatalities. This earthquake is tied with three other magnitude 7.8 earthquakes for the second largest earthquake of 2016. [4] On December 17, the Solomon Islands would be rattled again by a 7.9 magnitude earthquake, this time 54 km east of Taron, Papua New Guinea. [5]
The Australian Woodlark, Solomon Sea and Pacific Plates are converging at a rate of 97 mm/yr. [6] The earthquake was a result of interaction between the Australian and Pacific Plates along a subduction zone. Subduction of the Australian Plate has also given rise to volcanoes in the region. This region of the world lies along the Pacific Ring of Fire, where 90 percent of all earthquake and volcanic activity is concentrated here. [7]
The earthquake occurred along the boundary interface where the Australian and Pacific Plates make contact. Focal mechanism suggests that this earthquake was a result of oblique-reverse faulting. [8] The earthquake did not rupture to the trench, terminating at a depth of 20 km, with its epicenter at 40 km. An average slip has been estimated at 5 meters. [9]
The main earthquake triggered tsunami warnings directed at the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, Nauru, New Caledonia, Tuvalu and Kosrae in the Federated States of Micronesia, issued by the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center. [2] In New Caledonia, people were ordered to evacuate and leave for higher ground. Warnings for American Samoa and Hawaii were cancelled shortly after. [10] The International Tsunami Information Center warned of tsunamis between 1 to 3 meters. However, the highest waves were measured at only 0.43 meters (1.41 feet) on Marika Island. [11]
A 6.5 magnitude earthquake struck about four hours after the initial quake, and later a 6.9 one day after the mainshock. [12][13] The 6.9 aftershock prompted new tsunami warnings with forecasted waves of 0.30 meters (0.98 feet). [14]
Phone and electricity lines were cut-off throughout the country in the immediate aftermath. [15] On Malaita Island, there were reports that 35 to 40 buildings had been damaged. [16] In Guadalcanal, the collapse of a home killed one person. [17] In Kirakira, many homes, a hospital, a church, and the World Vision office sustained serious damage. [18] Damage at the hospital forced the evacuation of 20 people. [19] Two schools in Marika and Ugi were completely destroyed. Fissures and landslides were also seen in the affected region. [20] People who fled to higher ground continued to stay on the hills for fears of a large tsunami. Twenty-five houses were washed away from the moderate tsunami. [21] In total, over 1000 homes were damaged, along with 20 schools and four clinics. [22] More than 7,000 people were affected by the earthquake. Julie Bishop, the Australian foreign minister at the time said that the country is prepared to offer their support to the Solomon Islands. [23]
On December 17, the largest earthquake in the year 2016, a magnitude 7.9 earthquake struck Papua New Guinea. [5] It was centered between the islands of New Ireland and the Solomon Islands. The earthquake did not cause any major damage or casualties but did result in power outages. [24]
The earthquake had an intermediate depth of 94.5 km beneath the surface. The initial event was a result of thrust faulting within a subducting oceanic lithosphere which lasted for 30 seconds. [25] After the intraslab rupture, a deep portion of the subduction zone began to slip at a depth of 32 to 47 km, releasing energy comparable to the first event. The shallow megathrust rupture was evident in the large number of shallow aftershocks. Due to the two separate events occurring closely in timing and location, it was considered a doublet earthquake. [25]
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Earthquakes
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Romelu Lukaku: Inter Milan reach agreement to sign Man Utd striker
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Last updated on 8 August 20198 August 2019.From the section Man Utd
Inter Milan have reached an agreement with Manchester United to sign striker Romelu Lukaku for a fee that could rise to 80m euros (£74m).
In July, United rejected Inter's £54m bid for Lukaku, who was fined by the club after missing training on Tuesday.
Belgium international Lukaku, 26, has trained at his former team Anderlecht for the past two days.
Lukaku's agent, Federico Pastorello, flew to London on Wednesday in an attempt to resolve Lukaku's future.
Later that evening, Pastorello posted a photo on Instagram of them on board a private jet with the caption: "Ready to take off. Direction Milano."
United and Inter Milan had been some way apart in their valuation, with United wanting to recoup at least the £75m they paid Everton two years ago.
Inter and fellow Serie A side Juventus have been competing to sign Lukaku, who did not play in pre-season because of an ankle injury.
Inter manager Antonio Conte - who wanted to sign Lukaku when he was Chelsea boss - has said he remains his number one target, adding: "I consider him a player who could improve our team."
United have an interest in Juventus' Croatian forward Mario Mandzukic, 33, who could reinforce their forward options.
Lukaku moved to United from Everton in 2017 and at the time was only the fourth player to score 80 goals in the Premier League before turning 24 - after Michael Owen, Robbie Fowler and Wayne Rooney.
In his debut season, Lukaku became one of only 11 United players to score 25 goals or more in a campaign since 1992-93. Cantona, Andy Cole and current manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer (25 each) are among the strikers who never matched Lukaku's 27-goal tally in a United campaign.
However, 26% of his United goals - 11 out of 42 - came in the first two months of his Old Trafford career.
He has scored 42 goals in 96 appearances for United but was often overlooked in the second half of last season in favour of England striker Marcus Rashford.
Lukaku's impending departure leaves United with just three established forwards - Rashford, Anthony Martial and Alexis Sanchez - in addition to youngsters Angel Gomes, Mason Greenwood and Tahith Chong.
United have spent £140m this summer on Harry Maguire,Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Daniel James.
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Sign Agreement
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Elizabeth Quay faecal bacteria blamed on birds and rainfall
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Authorities say faecal bacteria discovered in Perth's new $440 million Elizabeth Quay inlet originated from birdlife and other animals following a rainfall event. Earlier this month a 400-metre swim leg of a triathlon due to be held in the inlet was cancelled after the water quality was found to be not of a satisfactory level for swimming. The Metropolitan Redevelopment Authority [MRA] said there had been a decrease in the faecal levels since that rainfall, but has confirmed testing is only completed monthly. The MRA has been criticised by the State Opposition for hiring a private contractor to undertake the testing, and for not publishing the results.
The rest of the Swan River is tested weekly by various Government departments with results available online.
The MRA said discussions to make the inlet results publicly available were ongoing.
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Environment Pollution
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3 volcanoes erupting across Aleutian Range
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Three volcanoes are erupting across the Aleutian Range — Great Sitkin and Semisopochnoi in the Aleutian Islands and Pavlof Volcano on the Alaska Peninsula. Hannah Dietterich, a research geophysicist with the Alaska Volcano Observatory, said three simultaneous eruptions may seem like a lot, but it’s not unheard of for the region. “Our average number of … volcanoes that erupt in a year in Alaska is only two. So this is unusually busy,” Dietterich said, “but all of these volcanoes have erupted in recent years as well.” Semisopochnoi is the westernmost of the active volcanoes, sitting near the far end of the Aleutian chain. The volcano has been erupting since 2018, but has seen increased explosions in recent weeks. Meanwhile, Pavlof Volcano on the Alaska Peninsula is also producing ash clouds. But Dietterich says the small puffs disperse quickly.
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Volcano Eruption
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Two Killed by Leak Aboard FPSO off West Africa
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The Maritime Executive BW Offshore, a provider of floating production services to the oil and gas industry, is reporting that two workers were killed in a gas accident aboard one of the company’s floating storage vessel off the coast of West Africa. According to a statement from the company, the incident occurred around mid-day while work was being performed on the FPSO Espoir Ivoirien. The two individuals were working inside one of the tanks on board when “there was a leak of hydrocarbons into the tank where the work was being performed.” Two fatalities were confirmed as a consequence of the incident. "This is a tragic day for the families of the men we have lost, and our hearts go out to them," said Marco Beenen, the CEO of BW Offshore. The 155,000 dwt vessel, which was built in 1975, was converted in 2001 for use as an FPSO with a capacity of 1,100 Mbbl. The FPSO is operated by BW Offshore for CNR International. It has been operating on the Espoir field off Ivory Coast with its current lease running till 2022. The company reports that all of the personnel aboard have been accounted for and the next of kin of the two that were killed have been informed. Production has been shut down on the FPSO and the leak has been contained within the cargo tank. Both companies are cooperating with local authorities. BW Offshore owns a fleet of 15 FPSOs operating worldwide. The company says over the past 35 it has executed 40 FPSO and FSO projects.
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Shipwreck
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bout one million people have packed the streets of Barcelona to celebrate Catalonia’s commemorative day and boost a bid for independence.
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bout one million people have packed the streets of Barcelona to celebrate Catalonia’s commemorative day and boost a bid for independence.
The city’s streets were filled with demonstrators flying red and yellow Catalan flags as they marched chanting and singing during a "Diada" celebration on Tuesday evening.
The massive protest comes after regional president Quim Torra and his predecessor Carles Puigdemont made calls for residents to show continued support for independence from Spain.
Socialist leader Pedro Sanchez, who took office in June, has stood firm against a move towards the region’s independence but debate over the issue remains heated.
Local police estimated that about million people in total descended on the city for the protest and celebration, which marks the fall of Barcelona to Spain in 1714.
Divisions over the question of secession are stark in a region, which makes up about a fifth of Spain's economic output and has a high level of autonomy in areas including education and health and its own police force.
A July poll showed 46.7 per cent of Catalans said they wanted an independent state while 44.9 percent did not. A separatist coalition won regional elections in December, although the fervently pro-unionist Ciudadanos emerged as the single largest party.
Ciudadanos's leader, Barcelona-born Albert Rivera, said on Twitter the Diada had been turned into "a day of exclusion, hatred and attack on Spain".
With the official slogan "Let's Make the Catalan Republic" printed on T-shirts and signs, protesters went silent at 5.14pm, which on a 24-hour clock is 1714 - the year when Barcelona fell in the Spanish War of Succession. A loud cheer and cries of "independence" and "freedom" followed, sweeping along a 3.7-mile stretch of the city's Diagonal avenue. In a giant symbolic wall, protesters toppled the image of a king of spades playing card, in an apparent rejection of the Spanish monarchy. This year's demonstration comes nearly one year after an illegal referendum on secession held by Catalan authorities led to an ineffective independence declaration that received no international recognition. Catalan separatist leaders and activists who pushed it, defying Spain's constitutional protection of territorial integrity, are either in prison awaiting trial or have fled the country.
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Protest_Online Condemnation
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1925 World Allround Speed Skating Championships
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The 1925 World Allround Speed Skating Championships took place on the 21st and 22 February 1925 at the ice rink Bislett Stadion in Oslo, Norway. Roald Larsen was defending champion but did not succeed in prolonging his title. Clas Thunberg became World champion for the second time. Source: SpeedSkatingStats.com[1]
Four distances have to be skated:
The ranking was made by award ranking points. The points were awarded to the skaters who had skated all the distances. The final ranking was then decided by ordering the skaters by lowest point totals. One could win the World Championships also by winning at least three of the four distances, so the ranking could be affected by this. Silver and bronze medals were awarded.
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Sports Competition
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3 Win Nobel Prize In Economics For Work In Reducing Poverty
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Updated at 9:55 a.m. ET
A trio of researchers from Cambridge, Mass., has been awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in economics for their work in addressing global poverty. Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo — a husband and wife team from MIT — share the prize with Michael Kremer of Harvard.
BREAKING NEWS:The 2019 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel has been awarded to Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Duflo and Michael Kremer “for their experimental approach to alleviating global poverty.”#NobelPrize pic.twitter.com/SuJfPoRe2N
"This year's Laureates have introduced a new approach to obtaining reliable answers about the best ways to fight global poverty," the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said in a statement. Kremer pioneered an experimental approach in Kenya in the 1990s, and he was soon joined by Duflo and Banerjee. Their key innovation has been in breaking the issues of global poverty into smaller questions that can be more easily addressed, the academy said.
Esther Duflo of France waves after receiving the Princess of Asturias award for Social Sciences from Spain's King Felipe VI at a ceremony in Oviedo, northern Spain. She is only the second woman to win the 2019 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences, sharing it with Abhijit Banarjee and Michael Kremer.
Jose Vicente/AP
hide caption
Esther Duflo of France waves after receiving the Princess of Asturias award for Social Sciences from Spain's King Felipe VI at a ceremony in Oviedo, northern Spain. She is only the second woman to win the 2019 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences, sharing it with Abhijit Banarjee and Michael Kremer.
"Our goal is to make sure that the fight against poverty is based on scientific evidence," Duflo told reporters Monday. "It starts from the idea that often the poor are reduced to caricatures and often, even people who try to help them do not actually understand what are the deep roots of the problem."
The Nobel committee said the experimental approach — now followed by hundreds of researchers and non-profits around the world — had been an important guide for policymakers. "It provides evidence of what works and why," said Jakob Svensson, an economist at Stockholm University. "Some interventions have been scaled up. Others have influenced policy more indirectly, and some policies have been abandoned simply because they were proven to be ineffective, thereby saving resources that governments or NGOs can use on more productive or effective policies." Duflo said the prize is a tribute to collective effort.
"I think the three of us stand for hundreds of researchers who are part of a network that work on global poverty that we created together 15 years ago," she said, also nodding to the thousands of partners in government and NGOs around the world. "It really reflects the fact that it has become a movement, a movement that is much larger than us."
Duflo is only the second woman to share in the economics prize, after Elinor Ostrom in 2009. She told reporters that she is "incredibly humbled" by the award, which comes at a time of some soul-searching in the profession about a less-than-welcoming atmosphere towards women.
"We are starting to realize in the profession that the way that we [treat] each other privately and publicly is not conducive all the time to a very good environment for a woman," Duflo said. "Showing that it is possible for a woman to succeed and to be recognized for success I hope is going to inspire many, many other women to continue working — and then many other men to give them the respect that they deserve, like every single human being."
The prize, officially known as the Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, was established in 1968 by Sweden's central bank, Sveriges Riksbank. Monday's award is the 51st Nobel in Economics.
The prize this year is worth 9 million Swedish crown ($915,300).
Asked how she plans to spend her share, Duflo recalled a story she'd read as a young girl about Marie Curie, who used the proceeds of her first Nobel prize to buy a gram of radium and continue her research. "I guess we'll talk between the three of us and figure out what is our gram of radium," Duflo said. NPR thanks our sponsors
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Awards ceremony
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1990 Temple Mount riots
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The 1990 Temple Mount riots, or the Al Aqsa Massacre, also known as Black Monday, took place at the Temple Mount, Jerusalem at 10:30 am on Monday, 8 October 1990 before Zuhr prayer during the third year of the First Intifada. Following a decision by the Temple Mount Faithful to lay the cornerstone for the Temple, mass riots erupted, In the ensuing clashes, 17 Palestinians died , more than 150 Palestinians were wounded by Israeli security forces, and more than 20 Israeli civilians and police were wounded by Palestinians. United Nations Security Council Resolution 672, which was rejected by Israel, "condemned especially the acts of violence committed by the Israeli security forces" and United Nations Security Council Resolution 673 urged that Israel reconsider its refusal to allow United Nations Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar to carry out an investigation.
The Temple Mount is the holiest place on earth for Jews, a place where God manifested, and where the First and Second Temple stood. The mount, in Jewish mystical belief, is also the beginning and the end of the world. In contrast, the Muslims view the site as holy and are apprehensive regarding a possible Jewish takeover. The mount has been a recurring flashpoint.
During the 1989 Sukkot festival, the Temple Mount Faithful first attempted to march with a foundation stone to the mount. Prevented by police, this still provoked a violent reaction from Muslim worshipers who hurled stones at Jewish worshipers at the Western Wall below.
During 1990, the Muslim waqf erected pulpits and gardens in previously empty locations on the mount in order to head off a presumed Jewish encroachment. The Temple Mount Faithful appealed to the Israeli high court so that the antiquities law would be enforced so that ancient artifacts would not be destroyed.
Due to the violent events of 1989, police placed strict restrictions on the planned 1990 Sukkot march with the foundation stone announcing in Jewish and Arab media that the Temple Mount Faithful would not be allowed near the mount. The faithful said they would march towards the mount nonetheless, and erect a Sukkah. Muslim authorities called on Muslim believers to stop the march with their bodies, and on October 7 masked men went door to door in an Arab neighborhood demanding that residents participate. Palestinian media and Hamas publicized the issue.
According to Anthony Lewis:
Palestinians on the Temple Mount began throwing stones at Jews worshiping, on a religious holiday, at the Western Wall below. The only security forces present, 40 men from the paramilitary Israeli Border Police, used live ammunition on the Palestinians. They killed at least 21. There were no Israeli deaths. The Israeli Government claimed that the Palestinians brought the stones with them and staged the incident as a political provocation. The Temple Mount is a paved plain that usually has few if any stones. But at this time construction work did provide material for missiles. Zeev Schiff, the respected defense correspondent of the newspaper Haaretz, said the Palestinians began throwing stones only after mosques in the nearby village of Silwan announced through loudspeakers that Jewish extremists had come there. The extremists were from the Temple Mount Faithful, who proposed to rebuild Solomon's Temple where the Al-Aqsa mosque now stands.
According to the Israeli "Report of the Commission of Inquiry into the Events on Temple Mount on 8 October 1990":
The members of the Wakf knew that the High Court had refused the Temple Mount Faithful petition to lay the cornerstone of the Third Temple, and did not respond to requests by Israel Police officers on the morning of the incident to calm the crowd. This, even after the police informed the Wakf that they would also prevent the Temple Mount Faithful, and anyone else, from visiting the area, though such visits are allowed by law. and
The incident itself began when, suddenly, violent and threatening calls were sounded over the loudspeakers "Allahu Akbar" [God is Great], "Ahad" [Holy War], "Itbah Al-Yahud" [Slaughter the Jews]). Immediately afterwards, enormous amounts of rocks, construction materials and metal objects were thrown at Israeli policemen who were present at the site. Many in the incited, rioting mob threw stones and metal objects from a very short range, and some even wielded knives. The actions of the rioters, and certainly the inciters, constituted a threat to the lives of the police, the thousands of worshippers at the Western Wall and to themselves. This was a serious criminal offense committed by masses who were incited by preachers over loudspeakers, and this is what led to the tragic chain of events. [...] Nineteen policemen were injured as well as nine Western Wall worshippers. According to Police statistics, 20 people were killed and 52 injured on the Temple Mount. On October 10, The United States proposed a resolution, supported by the United Nations Secretary General, Javier Perez de Cuellar, to investigate the al-Aqsa incident and to report back to the Security Council promptly. which was by far the most critical of Israel introduced by the United States. The UN issued the following resolution on October 12, 1990, referencing the event:
Res. 672 (Oct. 12, 1990) – "Expresses alarm at the violence which took place" on October 8, 1990, "at the Al Haram al Shareef and other Holy Places of Jerusalem resulting in over twenty Palestinian deaths and to the injury of more than one hundred and fifty people, including Palestinian civilians and innocent worshippers", "Condemns especially the acts of violence committed by the Israeli forces resulting in injuries and loss of human life", and "Requests, in connection with the decision of the Secretary-General to send a mission to the region, which the Council welcomes, that he submit a report to it before the end of October 1990 containing his findings and conclusions and that he use as appropriate all the resources of the United Nations in the region in carrying out the mission. "
Israel ended up rejecting the resolution, saying it did not pay attention to attacks by rocks on Jewish worshippers at the Western Wall. In turn, the UN Security Council unanimously backed UN Security Council Resolution 673 on Oct. 24, 1990 condemning Israeli rejection of the UN fact finding mission. Deplores the refusal of the Israeli Government to receive the mission of the Secretary-General to the region", and "Urges the Israeli Government to reconsider its decision and insists that it comply fully with resolution 672 (1990) and to permit the mission of the Secretary-General to proceed in keeping with its purpose.
Failing to get agreement from Israel, the Secretary-General Javier Pérez de Cuéllar on October 31 published his report. In the report, he stated:
The Secretary-General has thus been unable to secure independent information on the spot, about the circumstances surrounding the recent events in Jerusalem and similar developments in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Widespread coverage has, however, been given by the international press to the clashes that occurred at Al-Haram Al-Shareef and other Holy Places of Jerusalem on 8 October 1990. According to reports, which vary, some 17 to 21 Palestinians were killed and more than 150 wounded by Israeli security forces, and more than 20 Israeli civilians and police were wounded by Palestinians. While there are conflicting opinions as to what provoked the clashes, observers on the spot, including personnel of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), stated that live ammunition was used against Palestinian civilians. Attention is drawn, in this connection, to the fact that a number of inquiries have been conducted. Apart from the [Israeli] Commission of Investigation referred to in paragraphs 3, 4 and 7 above, several Israeli and Palestinian human rights organizations have conducted inquiries of their own. The findings of two of them, B'Tselem and Al-Haq, were communicated to the Secretary-General, on 14 Octoberand 28 October 1990, respectively, and are being issued separately as addenda to the present report. Following the report, United Nations Security Council Resolution 681 on 20 December 1990, referring to Resolutions 672 and 673, called on Israel to apply the Fourth Geneva Convention to Palestinians in the occupied territories.
In their Annual 1990 World Report Human Rights Watch condemned the Israeli report on the incident as "only mentioning in passing the 'uncontrolled use of live ammunition' by police, giving scant attention to what should have been a central issue: the use of excessive force, including shooting into a crowd with bursts of automatic-weapon fire.
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Riot
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Saudi authorities take action after locust swarm hits Mecca's ...
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Saudi authorities take action after locusts swarm Great Mosque
Saudi authorities take action after locust swarm hits Mecca's Great Mosque
The New Arab
08 January, 2019
Authorities at the holiest mosque in Islam have launched a campaign to clean up the religious site after it was hit by a plague of locusts.
The mosque is the focal point of the hajj pilgrimage [Twitter]
Authorities at the holiest mosque in Islam have launched a campaign to clean up the religious site after it was hit by a plague of locusts.
Social media users in recent days have posted images and videos of swarms of locust infesting the Great Mosque of Mecca in western Saudi Arabia.
Mecca's municipal authority issued a statement on Monday, announcing that it had tasked specialised teams of sanitation workers to tackle the infestation.
"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," it said.
The authority also posted images of cleaners spraying insecticide the mosque's sewage system and water drains around the Great Mosque.
The mosque, which is the focal point of the hajj, draws in millions of pilgrims each year. The Gulf region is occasionally hit by voracious locust swarms.
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Insect Disaster
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Evergrande Crisis and the Global Economy
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China’s crackdown on the tech giants was not much of a surprise. Sure, the communist regime allowed the colossus entities like Alibaba Group to innovate and prosper for years. Yet, the government control over the markets was never concealed. In fact, China’s active intervention in the forex market to deliberately devalue Yuan was frequently contested around the world. Ironically, now the world awaits government intervention as a global liquidity crisis seems impending. The Evergrande Group, China’s largest property developer, is on the brink of collapse. Mounding debt, unfinished properties, and subsequent public pressure eventually pushed the group to openly admit its financial turmoil last week. Subsequently, Evergrande’s shares plunged as much as 19% to more than 11-year lows. While many anticipate a thorough financial restructuring in the forthcoming months, the global debt markets face a broader financial contagion – as long as China deliberates on its plan of action. The financial trouble of the conglomerate became apparent when President Xi Jinping stressed upon controlled corporate debt levels in his ongoing drive to reign China’s corporate behemoths. It is estimated that the Evergrande Group currently owes $305 billion in outstanding debt; payments on its offshore bonds due this week. With new channels of debt ceased throughout the Mainland, repayment seems doubtful despite reassurances from the company officials. The broader cause of worry, however, is the impact of a default; which seems highly likely under current circumstances. The residential property market and the real estate market control roughly 20% and 30% of China’s nominal GDP respectively. A default could destabilize the already slowing Chinese economy. Yet that’s half the truth. In reality, the failure of a ‘too big to fail’ company could bleed into other sectors as well. And while China could let the company fail to set a precedent, the spillover could devastate the financial stability hard-earned after a strenuous battle against the pandemic. Recent data shows that with the outbreak of the delta variant, the demand pressure in China has significantly cooled down while the energy prices are through the roof. Coupled with the regulatory crackdown rapidly pervading uncertainty, a debt crisis could further push the economy into a recession: a detrimental end to China’s aspirations to attract global investors. The real question, therefore, is not about China’s willingness to bail out the company. Too much is at stake. The primal question is regarding the modus operandi which could be adopted by China to upend instability. Naturally, the influence of China’s woes parallels its effect on the global economy. A possible liquidity crisis and the opaque measures of the government combined are already affecting the global markets: particularly the United States. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) posted a dismal end to Monday’s trading session: declining by more than 600 points. The 10-year Treasury yields slipped down 6.4 basis points to 1.297% as investors sought safety amid uncertainty. The concern is regarding China’s route to solve the issue and the timeline it would adopt. While the markets across Europe and Asia are optimistic about a partial settlement of debt payments, a take over from state-owned enterprises could further drive uncertainty; majorly regarding the pay schedule of western bondholders amid political hostility. Economists believe that, while a financial crisis doesn’t seem like a plausible threat, a delayed response or a clumsy reaction could permeate volatility in the capital markets globally. Furthermore, a default or a takeover would almost certainly pull down China’s economy. While the US has already turned stringent over Chinese IPOs recently, a debt default could puncture the economic viability of a wide array of Chinese companies around the world. And thus, while the global banking system is not at an immediate threat of a Lehman catastrophe, Evergrande’s bankruptcy would, nonetheless, erode both the domestic and the global housing market. Moreover, it would further dent Chinese imports (and seriously damage regional exchequers), and would ultimately put a damper on global economic recovery from the pandemic. The Yuan versus the Dollar: Showdown in the Global Financial ArenaDecember 11, 2019In "Economy" Slowdown –Rather than Collapse– in Global Growth Anticipated for 2019January 23, 2019In "Reports" China’s Crypto Market: Digital Yuan as an Alternative to Private CryptocurrenciesAugust 15, 2021In "Economy" Finding Fulcrum to Move the World Economics Economy Contradicts Democracy: Russian Markets Boom Amid Political Sabotage The author is an active current affairs writer primarily analyzing the global affairs and their political, economic and social consequences. He also holds a Bachelor’s degree from Institute of Business Administration (IBA) Karachi, Pakistan. New US sanctions on China: enough is enough UN chief welcomes China-US pledge to cooperate on climate action Why India Will Never Be Part of U.S. Alliances Rafale ghost resurrected? Analysing the new American alternative project to Chinese Belt and Road Is China in a quandary over Quad and the AUKUS? Published How can a nation save itself from repeated mistakes? Why do huge opportunity losses for not having national mobilization of entrepreneurialism as a safety net and not creating highly skilled citizenry occur? The intents are always there but why manage differently? The funds are always spent but in which direction? How long will a trillion dollars relief injected into a money-addicted mentality last? What are some immediately deployable solutions? Erasing micro manufacturing and micro trading; while exporting industrial plants is what dragged once mighty nations to their knees. When numbers do not add up, smashing the calculator is one logical option. Needed today, dedicated formatting of talented productivity colliding with innovative excellence under entrepreneurial wisdom to push out global game-changers out of the garage doors? Is this rocket-science or common sense? Humankind’s problems are now searching for humankind’s solution; to decipher this Babel, deeper studies on such factum already neglected by scared academia are now prerequisites for better fine-tuning of mindsets, a cry of the time. Study the history of the ecommerce revolution. How brains and decorum left loose just to build. Open the garage doors wider. Climate change issues better served by innovative excellence out of job-creator mindsets and not by gazillion dollar PR and case studies proving who is right and who is wrong. They are all confused, while calamity is visible. The entrepreneurial age is once again a forlorn rise, The pandemic recovery is a harsh test on our civilization. Gummies flavored yummy vaccines are not the final answers yet. Fighting progressive business ideas on real tactical battlefields of real value creating enterprises and rolling wildly in sand boxes is where future growth hidden. Nouveau occupationalism as if professional hobbyist on the toboggan slides altering mindsets in real times and going all out adventuring. Of course, this is extremely scary for the traditionalist gold-watch-awaits but extremely fruitful for youthful masses without any direction. Study the last 100 greatest entrepreneurs how they tumbled upon an idea by mistake. Mistakes and failures are non-issues to entrepreneurs, as they never hide it, other mindsets do. Study deeply. After the Second World War, the survivors created the largest ever-entrepreneurial turnaround. Ecommerce revolution was not an academic case study, rather born in garages when thousands of youthful techies of the period like Jobs and Gates toyed with technologies and moved mountains. South East Asian entrepreneurship suddenly began after 2000, when experienced, educated and liberated minded immigrants went back to their own countries as America treated them with suspicious looks at airports, offices and society. This post pandemic assembly of displaced on the march is the largest ever in the history of humankind; most are already out of the box. Most have no idea of the future, an entrepreneurial trait of openness. Now to manage such narratives any academic psycho-mumbo-jumbo will fail. Which nations are bold and smart enough to harness their entrepreneurial powers? Leaving them to migrate from nation to nation, will only break and split host nations apart? Which nation has the frontline teams articulate enough on such agendas? Which nations are busier in acquiring more riot gear? What is stopping national debates and realistic assessment of the calamites? What are the next immediate gateways and pathways? Such advancements are not the intellectualism of political science primarily based on Machiavellian treachery and now morphed into crypto-tyrannies; this is more a common sense revolution based on rebuilding grassroots prosperity in addition, creating real value based economic development models. Despite its random invisibility, entrepreneurialism is far more disciplined behaviors of risky adventure into perfection. Such fine art of business expansion bearing battlefield scars with only straight lines mentality is a serious mistake. These undercurrent entrepreneurial movements are only visible to “job-creators” and now expanding towards “job-seekers” with positive options. Few selected leaderships and regions are aware of such transitions, the rest still on their gong-shows waiting for their moment. The COP26, G&, G20 all speak volumes. Best replay the events. The world economy is ready for a modest change where small business declared as big business, to bring a new perspective at the next Cabinet Meetings. Worshiping big business is good but to give them a full set of keys of the house, not wise. Why Brainwashing suddenly reversed; across the world, leaders of sorts, already believe they have mesmerized the global populace, but how wrong. The garbage-in-garbage-out social-media-education-systems designed for masses of the world are surprisingly now in reverse order dry-cleaning the brains. Finally, the public discovered their weaknesses and limitations but also their own hidden potentials while surrounded by broken systems. The 500-day-isolation created brand new wisdom. The whistle-blower-narratives further verified what the public already knew. Spanning decades, neither the mainstream education, nor the media and political narratives contributed anything significant to unite the citizenry. The bifurcation of all groups of societies, pushed into sequential events to entangle in foolish battles of their own inner sanctums while ignoring the root causes and crumbling realities. The masses are increasingly aware of misguided flamethrowers. Control the words; control the thoughts, actions and results. The billions, displaced, replaced, misplaced on the march are not amused. They now have better words of their own. Today, it is beyond words on coffee-mugs, t-shirt slogans and election buttons. This is also beyond the teleprompter rhetoric and election promises, because this is when humankind faces humankind-size problems. Truth the only sword left to the populace and common sense the only logical wisdom to guide. Duck is no longer the Swan. Degrees and bureaucratic experiences bring little or no value, more personality and attitude tests needed to match skills and capabilities, because now mindsets on fixing the future must demonstrate futuristic literacy. Failed and struggling nations showing their own self-inflicting damages are all queued in their respective lines of winners and losers. Technology did create the hyper-telescopic capabilities to observe and expose nation’s performance levels in the open in real time. It is those bureaucracies still frozen in the old time zone mindsets. The squeeze on performance demands will have skills road tested. Without diversity, tolerance and social justice, the societies will stay standstill under dark clouds. The entrepreneurialism is a proven trajectory for the job-creator mindsets. Job seeker mindsets will grow, build and create harmonious grassroots prosperity. Study deeply how national mobilization of entrepreneurialism creates uplifts on local regions and stabilizes economies. Why is this happening in 2022? Western Economies, the new world of officeless, workless societies now need a new mobilization strategy on how to transform millions once mighty office workers now either depressed or angry, slowly marching on main boulevards of the nations. The dark clouds over downtowns now juggling new working models, while the rise of populism in closed-door discussions a hot topic. There is no mass resignation, it is all about readjusting of mindsets and exploring new options, because Covidians now more experienced to evaluate better alternatives. What will help? As an economic survival strategy, in this vacuum no other than entrepreneurialism must occupy the center stage and fill voids where the art of national mobilization of entrepreneurialism on digital platforms economies turns into a science as a success model. Today, engaging the confused working citizenry with real value creation options with authoritative solutions and entrepreneurial blood to transfuse the lingering economies are the critically missing links. Who needs to understand mobilization of entrepreneurialism? Nations around the world have tried to create entrepreneurialism but frequently failed. However, these same nations were able to create well-trained armies and high-ranking officers because they all trained in tactical battlefield engagements and by veterans with real life experiences. Soldiers do not draw pictures of battlefields on whiteboards and run around with water pistols. They practice real life situations, repeat, practice and live the battles. The job-seekers mind build organizations but it is the job creator’s mindsets that originate the ideas and deployments necessary to create the existence of that organization in the first place.
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Financial Crisis
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Elaine Thompson-Herah of Jamaica wins the 100-meter dash.
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Elaine Thompson-Herah, center, defended her gold medal in the 100-meter dash after overtaking the two-time former champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, left.Credit...Doug Mills/The New York Times
By Scott Cacciola
Published July 31, 2021Updated Aug. 7, 2021
TOKYO — Elaine Thompson-Herah of Jamaica on Saturday repeated as the Olympic champion in the women’s 100 meters, outsprinting a field that included Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, a two-time former champion.
Thompson-Herah finished in 10.61 seconds, breaking Florence Griffith-Joyner’s Olympic record by a hundredth of a second in a time that made her the second-fastest woman in history.
Women’s 100 Meters
x x x x x x
By Rich Harris, Eden Weingart, Alice Fang, Nikolas Diamant and Ashley Wu
It was a Jamaican sweep of the medals: Fraser-Pryce took silver in 10.74, and Shericka Jackson won bronze.
Fraser-Pryce had been seeking her third Olympic gold in the event after winning back-to-back titles at the 2008 and 2012 Olympic Games. She won bronze in the 100 meters at the Rio Olympics in 2016, finishing behind Thompson-Herah and Tori Bowie of the United States.
On Saturday, Thompson-Herah edged ahead of Fraser-Pryce about halfway down the track and held her off, triumphantly raising her left arm as she crossed the finish line. She then fell to the track in apparent disbelief.
Image
Thompson-Herah finished in 10.61 seconds, breaking Florence Griffith-Joyner’s Olympic record by a hundredth of a second in a time that made her the second-fastest woman in history.Credit...Doug Mills/The New York Times
Teahna Daniels, the lone American in the race, finished seventh.
The final on Saturday was missing two notable figures: Sha’Carri Richardson, the U.S. champion, who recently served a monthlong suspension for testing positive for marijuana , a banned substance; and Blessing Okagbare of Nigeria, who was suspended by antidoping authorities on Saturday for testing positive for human growth hormone.
A deep pool of talent remained . Thompson-Herah seemed to send a message by winning her semifinal heat in 10.76 seconds, despite slowing a few meters from the finish.
Fraser-Pryce, meanwhile, came through her semifinal heat in 10.73. Both runners appeared primed for a showdown. They delivered.
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Break historical records
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1898 World Figure Skating Championships
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The World Figure Skating Championships is an annual figure skating competition sanctioned by the International Skating Union in which figure skaters compete for the title of World Champion. In 1898, the competition took place on February 15 in London, United Kingdom. It was won by Henning Grenander of Sweden. However, the second- and third-place contestants, Gustav Hügel and Gilbert Fuchs, who had won the championship in 1897 and 1896 respectively, filed a protest alleging biased refereeing: In their opinion, Judges Adams, Jenkin, and von Rosen strongly overestimated the Swede, and Hügel and Fuchs demanded that he should be deprived of his title. The organizers considered the protest, but rejected it as not substantiated. After this scandal, Grenander left figure skating and no longer performed at official competitions. [citation needed]
Judges:
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Sports Competition
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2019 Malawian protests
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The 2019 Malawian protests were a series of nationwide rallies and strikes about government pensions, the results of the 2019 Malawian general election and demands for democratic reforms. Anti-presidential unrest was met with police violence against demonstrators. Soon, they used live rounds, tear gas and batons to disperse protesters who protested for three months against the president. [1]
Malawi has a history of unrest and violence, yet drug trafficking and cigar rate trades are high. Many are now dying due to poverty and issues which has struck the country since the 1990s. After the 2005 Malawian food crisis, food security in Malawi became a concern for international aid groups and many have been frequently detained and criticising the government and its economic policies yet the handling of the deadlock inside of the poor nation. After nationwide pro-democracy demonstrations in 2009, the 2011 Malawian protests ultimately led to the 2012 Malawian constitutional crisis. The demonstrations are not just about the election results, but also over various issues that reflect a general lack of trust in the government. Mass protests began after the 2019 Malawian general election results were announced and demands for annulment for the elections were chanted as the military was sent in to keep the mass demonstrations from spreading. Soon, Peter Mutharika, president of Malawi, ordered troops to areas across the country to disperse the protesters. Rallies continued despite the military. [2]
Anti-government unrest escalated into violence, and water cannon and bullets were fired at demonstrators to disperse them. Many were killed in June 9 rallies when blockades and chants were made and heard. Lilongwe was a centre of protests, with all of its suburbs experiencing demonstrations. [3]
Spontaneous outbursts of protests exploded into rioting and peaceful demonstrations turned violent. Protesters demanded the resignation of the government and an end to police brutality and the resignation of the head of the election commission. Post-election protests continued, with clashes into July. [4]
The unrest prompted outcries from many governments across the world, asking the president Peter Mutharika to step down and hold new elections as soon as possible. As protests spread, a crackdown followed with many being shot, and hundreds injured. [5]
By the fall of 2019, when a wave of unrest was sweeping the world, mass protests turned larger and larger and thousands protested against president Peter Mutharika in August–September. A wave of anti-electoral body protests swept towns surrounding the capital and government buildings across the country. In October–November, a bulk of protests took place, with a movement by teachers, sanitation workers, airline staff and truck drivers taking place from October 2019-January 2020. Muslim and Christians clashed in November after a school run by an Anglican church banned girls from wearing hijabs. The regular anti-government protests and a widespread anti-irregularities movement was the biggest protests and deadliest since the 2011 Malawian protests. Students protested in November–March demanding the resignation of the government but they were soon met with force and brutality. Police stations and metro grounds[clarification needed] have also been torched in some areas, especially at the height of the movement in June and July. Farmers, miners, peasants, employees, retirees and university students marched and protested in the country throughout 2019 and into the first months of 2020. These fresh protests heated tensions with police, but they didn't respond as harshly in 2020 in 2019. Dozens were killed in the mass protests of May–July 2019. [6]
The results of the election were annulled after being sent to court, and the opposition won the 2020 Malawian general election after a new election was held. Women protested in October against violence against women and were met with tear gas. Several were killed in the last wave of protests in 2020 when police fired tear gas to disperse the civil unrest gripping towns and villages across the country. [7]
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Protest_Online Condemnation
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2014 Santos Cessna Citation accident crash
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On 13 August 2014, a Cessna Citation Excel business jet crashed while trying to land at Santos Air Force Base, near Santos, Brazil, killing all seven people on board. Among the victims was Brazilian Socialist Party presidential candidate Eduardo Campos. Eleven people on the ground were also injured. [1]
The accident investigation concluded that spatial disorientation in poor weather and pilot fatigue likely caused a low altitude loss of control of the aircraft, leading to the impact with the ground. The Cessna Citation 560 XLS+ had taken off from Santos Dumont Airport, Rio de Janeiro, en route to Santos Air Force Base. Due to poor weather at the destination, the first landing attempt was abandoned, and contact was lost at 9:23 am local time. Around 10:00 am, the aircraft crashed into a densely-populated area, about 4.3 km southwest of the Santos Air Force Base. [2]
Apart from Eduardo Campos, on board the aircraft were a pilot and a co-pilot, a camera operator, a photographer, one of Campos' campaign aides and one of his press aides; no-one survived. [3] Eleven people on the ground were injured. [4][5][6]
Brazil's Aeronautical Accidents Investigation and Prevention Center performed the investigation into the accident. The report identified several factors that contributed to the accident. Despite an annual maintenance inspection on 14 February 2014 which found that all maintenance was up-to-date, the aircraft's cockpit voice recorder had been inoperable since January 2013. [7]:140 By law, the aircraft could only fly without a functioning CVR if maintenance on it was scheduled within 15 days, or 30 in exceptional circumstances. [7]:140 The final report on the accident noted that the pilots' schedule complied with legal duty time and rest requirements, but that "expert examination of voice, speech and language parameters on the day of the accident...indicated...fatigue and somnolence on the part of the copilot in his communications with the ATS units. "[7]:141
The conditions at Santos Dumont Airport had deteriorated since the last meteorological report the pilots had received. The ceiling was 300 feet (91 m) below the safe ceiling for a circle-to-land approach, but allowed an approach using the ECHO 1 route. [7]:143 Despite informing air traffic control that they would use the ECHO 1 approach to Runway 35, the aircraft was far to the right of the ECHO 1 approach. After reviewing other approaches the captain had made using the flight management system on visual approaches, the investigators hypothesized that the captain was using a visual approach, aided by the FMS, with the intention of joining the ECHO 1 trajectory on final approach. The report notes that the captain used a similar approach in previous landings and that "it is possible that the captain’s experience of landing in runways of other countries with precarious infrastructure conditions, in addition to his mistaken assumption of the real meteorological conditions in the aerodrome, may have contributed to his feeling safe upon adopting such procedure. "[7]:144 However, such an approach, which saved five minutes, was not permissible in the meteorological conditions at the time of the crash, when aircraft could only use instrument only (IFR) approaches. [7]:144
The reason for abandoning the approach is unknown. Since the meteorological conditions were close to the minimum permitted for an IFR approach, the aircraft would need to approach close to the ECHO 1 approach trajectory. On the aircraft's improper approach, the investigation noted that there was a low probability that the aircraft could have stabilized its approach in order to land safely. [7]:146 With a wet runway and if the aircraft crossed the threshold at the reference speed, the aircraft would have a 385-metre (1,263 ft) safety margin to land on the wet runway. There was a 2 kn (3.7 km/h) tailwind at the time of the attempted landing. Additionally, a non-directional radio beacon (NDB) just before the runway (RR NDB) was non-functional on the day of the accident. Because the aircraft did not follow the ECHO 1 approach, it did not pass the only NDB available for determining the missed approach point, which was SAT NDB. The report concluded that "the fact that the crew did not follow the profile of the ECHO 1 [approach], along with their difficulty stabilizing the aircraft on a final approach, and the tail wind component condition may have contributed to their decision to discontinue the approach. "[7]:147
The proper missed approach procedure was to make a left turn at the missed approach point—the RR NDB, which was inoperable, or one minute and fifteen seconds past SAT NDB, which the aircraft didn't cross—and climb to 4,000 feet (1,200 m). However, the pilots made a low pass over the runway and began a gentle left turn at the end of the runway. Witnesses state that the aircraft made a low pass over the port before disappearing into the clouds. [7]:147 On this trajectory, the aircraft made a "tight" turn, with a bank angle up to 60° and g-force up to 2.0 G.[7]:148 The investigation hypothesized that the pilots were flying manually, therefore leading to a large workload for the pilot-in-command. The missed approach procedure required a significant amount of work that had to be performed in a short time. Investigators noted that "[t]he captain’s personal characteristics, indicating a person with a more impositive and confident posture, in opposition to the more passive posture of the copilot, in addition to the more limited knowledge of the equipment on the part of the latter and the possibility that he (the copilot) was fatigued, may also have hindered the dynamics of the crew in the management of the flight. "[7]:148 Investigators believe the combination of the meteorological conditions, the effect of the high g-forces on the pilots' sense of spatial perception, and that the pilot-in-command would have been rapidly switching his focus between the instrument panel and exterior caused "incapacitating" spatial disorientation, which led to an "abnormal attitude. "[7]:148
The aircraft did not respond to multiple calls from air traffic control after initiating the missed approach, suggesting the pilots were under a heavy workload managing the aircraft. Two images of the aircraft from different cameras moments before the crash show the aircraft at 35° (± 5°) and 22.4° dive angles. [7]:149–50 The report notes that "the aircraft could only have reached such speed and fly that trajectory[] if it had climbed considerably"[7]:149 after entering the clouds and that, in normal conditions, the pilots would not have deliberately placed the aircraft in such a steep dive. [7]:149
Of fracture surfaces examined, none showed signs of fatigue but were caused by stress overload at the moment of impact. There was no abnormality with engine function in the moments before the crash and no evidence of failure of any aircraft system. [7]:150
It also emerged that the on-board cockpit voice recorder did not record any of the conversations during the flight before it crashed. [8] Unlike bigger airplanes, the Citation Excel was not required by regulations to have a flight data recorder. [9]
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Air crash
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Adelaide woman Jane Gibson jailed for attempted bank robberies
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A woman who tried to rob two Adelaide banks and made a false bomb threat has been sentenced to seven years' jail. Jane Alison Gibson, 52, pleaded guilty to a charge of robbery and three of attempted robbery. The District Court heard she gave notes demanding money to tellers at a Bank SA branch at West Lakes and a National Australia Bank branch at Findon last October, but left empty-handed. At Findon, her note referenced Al Qaeda and a bomb, but none existed. The court was told Gibson later wrote to bank staff to apologise for her behaviour. Gibson also tried to rob three service stations and got about $250 from one, which she used to gamble. Judge Wayne Chivell said Gibson drank to "dangerous levels". "You said that you were very drunk when you committed the [service station] offences, but police only noted that you were slightly affected by alcohol," he said. He told Gibson the staff she threatened at various locations "were all traumatised by [your] behaviour and that cannot be tolerated". Judge Chivell told Gibson her rehabilitation prospects were promising and the likelihood of reoffending low, but only if she stopped drinking alcohol. "Obviously your ability to remain sober remains the issue," he said. "I accept that your offending was relatively unplanned but not completely spontaneous. "The fact that you reoffended while on bail calls for a custodial sentence." Judge Chivell imposed a two-year non-parole term. Outside court, Gibson's friend Pauline Lambert said the woman was truly sorry for her behaviour. "She regrets every moment of it, she is sympathetic, she realises that they would have thought it was real and the terror they went through and she regrets it," she said. Ms Lambert said she felt the sentence and low non-parole period were suitable and hoped her friend would get the treatment she needed in prison and emerge a better person. "If they support her in the prisons... that's my hope, that the prisons do help her and if they help her she'll be fine. I'll be there to love her and support her," she said.
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Bank Robbery
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Ghost net hotspot in Gulf of Carpentaria still in need of Government help to clear 'indiscriminate killer'
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Ghost net hotspot in Gulf of Carpentaria still in need of Government help to clear 'indiscriminate killer'
Environmental groups say a Federal Government plan that could save thousands of marine animals from harm and drowning in discarded fishing nets is not being implemented where it is needed the most.
Large nets, tangles of fishing line, and tonnes of plastic debris were discovered in a recent aerial survey of the Gulf of Carpentaria, a global hotspot for discarded fishing apparatus colloquially known as 'ghost gear'.
"There are just thousands and thousands of nets up there," said turtle researcher Jennie Gilbert.
"They're literally indiscriminate killers. They just float through the ocean and they capture everything."
Ms Gilbert has seen the impact of ghost gear first hand in her turtle rehabilitation centre on Fitzroy Island, off the coast of Cairns.
She said some turtles were so badly injured, they had to have major surgery and spend years in recovery.
One of those turtles is 'Lou', a 70-year-old olive ridley sea turtle that lost two flippers in a fishing net off Cape York.
He was flown more than 800 kilometres to the Cairns Turtle Rehabilitation Centre on the other side of the state where he has been recovering. "He's just amazing. I love him because of his fighting spirit," Ms Gilbert said.
After two-and-half years in care, Lou is about to be released back to the wild, but most turtles are not as lucky.
"We don't know exactly how many we're losing every year [in the Gulf], but we think it's in the thousands," Ms Gilbert said.
The Federal Government's marine Threat Abatement Plan (TAP) lists the Gulf of Carpentaria as a high priority target point for the removal of nets and other marine debris.
But World Animal Protection campaign manager Ben Pearson said strategies like setting up a taskforce to remove debris from the region were not being implemented. "They're certainly not being given much priority and that's a real problem," he said.
A spokesperson for the federal Department of Environment and Energy said Australia was engaging in a number of international forums to address marine debris, such as the Commonwealth Clean Ocean Alliance and the G20 Marine Litter Action Plan.
The spokesperson said the Government was also partnering with states and territories to "build and strengthen scientific knowledge and understanding of plastic pollution and its impacts on our oceans".
But Mr Pearson urged the Government to urgently fund ghost gear removal projects in the Gulf.
"It's like a pinch point. You can actually get the nets as they enter the Gulf of Carpentaria, around the port near Weipa," he said. "Intercept the nets there, drag them onshore, and dispose of them."
While necessary, cleaning up beaches is an expensive exercise, and Ms Gilbert said access was an issue.
"There's beaches up there that are so remote that you can't get to them. And also there's all the nets that are out there in the ocean," she said.
It would cost about $7,500 per kilometre to clean beaches in remote sites in Cape York, according to TAP.
That is compared with about $850 per kilometre in populated areas.
The Queensland Government planned to crack down on ghost gear in July with a sustainable fisheries policy where offenders would face fines and penalties.
Its Fisheries Minister Mark Furner said Queensland had "practically no legislation" addressing the dumping of ghost nets.
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Environment Pollution
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Halton officer facing sexual assault charge: SIU
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Ontario's Special Investigations Unit said Friday that the charges stem from an incident that allegedly occurred in Burlington on or around Sept. 9.
The SIU said they received a complaint about the incident on Oct. 3 and launched an investigation.
Halton police said Thursday that the officer was suspended from active duty when the force became aware of the incident.
Const. David Ardrey has been charged with one count of sexual assault and one count of breach of trust.
According to Halton police, Ardrey is a 14-year member of the service.
Neither Halton police nor the SIU provided any details about the incident, citing the court process.
The SIU refused to say whether Ardrey was on-duty at the time of the alleged offence.
The SIU is an arm's length provincial agency called in to investigate whenever police are involved in a death, serious injury or allegations of sexual assault.
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Famous Person - Commit Crime - Investigate
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17 Celebrity Women Who Have Much Younger Partners
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Age is nothing but a number for these stars with gaps ranging from seven to 32 years. For some, dating someone who is much younger doesn't sound ideal. What if they're not as mature? What if they don't want the same things out of life? What if they don't have similar interests? But these celebrity couples with big age differences are making it work. From new relationships to marriages that have lasted over a decade, all of these celebrity women have partners who are several years younger than them. And more power to them! Societal standards might mean that dating someone younger—especially a woman dating a younger man—is something that is still judged, but why? If the people in the relationship are happy, that's all that matters. These couple are helping change the narrative and showing that age doesn't have to be a big factor when it comes to love. Read on to find out more about these 17 celeb couples. And for romances that started on set, check out 15 Onscreen Couples You Totally Forgot Dated in Real Life. There are some people in Hollywood who are known for just not seeming to age, and Gabrielle Union is definitely one of them. So, you may be surprised to hear that at 49, she is almost ten years older than her husband, 39-year-old former NBA player Dwyane Wade. The couple got married in 2014 and welcomed daughter Kaavia in 2018. Union is also step-mom to Wade's three other children, Zaire, Zaya, and Xavier. For more on the Wade and Union family, check out Dwyane Wade's Kids Are Not Happy About His Revealing Birthday Photo. Britney Spears and her boyfriend Sam Asghari got together back in 2016 when he starred in her music video for the song "Slumber Party." Spears is now 39 years old, while actor and fitness trainer Asghari is 27. The 12-year age gap doesn't seem to be an issue for Spears and Asghari, but just to put things in perspective, Asghari is two years younger than Spears' little sister, actor and singer Jamie Lynn Spears. Read more from Asghari, check out Britney Spears' Boyfriend Just Slammed Her Dad on Instagram. One of the newest couples on this list is Olivia Wilde and Harry Styles, who are nine years apart. The 36-year-old actor/director and 27-year-old singer reportedly began dating around the start of the new year. They met on the set of the upcoming film Don't Worry Darling, which Wilde is directing with Styles as one of the stars. While they haven't commented on the relationship, they were spotted holding hands at a wedding. Kate Hudson and Danny Fujikawa have been together since 2017 and share a young daughter named Rani, who was born in 2018. Hudson also has two sons from previous relationships. Fujikawa, 34, is a musician who was in the band Chief, and also founded a record label called Lightwave Records, according to Harper's Bazaar. Fujikawa is seven years younger than 41-year-old Hudson. For more significant others with several years between them, here are 27 Celebrity Couples With Huge Age Gaps. Courteney Cox's partner is 12 years younger than she is. The 56-year-old Friends star is in a relationship with 44-year-old Snow Patrol musician Johnny McDaid. The couple first got together in 2013, split up for a while in 2015, and then got back together in 2016. Cox also had an age gap with her ex-husband, David Arquette, who is seven years younger. According to Arquette, that age gap did cause some issues in their marriage, however. Read more about it with David Arquette Has an Apology for His Daughter With Courteney Cox. Actors Holland Taylor and Sarah Paulson have the largest age gap on our list with 32 years between them. They started dating in 2015 after Taylor messaged Paulson on Twitter. Regarding the age difference, Paulson told Modern Luxury (via People), "If anyone wants to spend any time thinking I'm strange for loving the most spectacular person on the planet, then that's their problem." For more celebrity news delivered right to your inbox, sign up for our daily newsletter. Lisa Bonet and Jason Momoa have a 12-year age difference. Bonet is 53 while Momoa is 41. The acting couple met in 2004, got married in 2017, and share a 13-year-old daughter, Lola, and a 12-year-old son, Nakoa-Wolf. Bonet also has a 32-year-old daughter, actor Zoë Kravitz, from her previous relationship with musician Lenny Kravitz. Fans were surprised when Priyanka Chopra started dating Nick Jonas, but after about three years together, they're still going strong. The 38-year-old actor and 28-year-old singer got engaged in July 2018 only a couple months after they officially started dating, and got married only a few months after than in December of the same year. "I didn't expect the proposal at that point… It was two months!" she told Elle UK. "I thought it would happen, but it was still a complete shock." For more, check out Priyanka Chopra Just Shared an Adorable Throwback of Herself at 17. Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi have a 15-year age difference. DeGeneres is 63, while de Rossi is 48. The couple have been together since 2004 and got married in 2008, but they first met in 2000. And while de Rossi said it was love at first sight for her, she didn't reconnect with DeGeneres for a few more years, because she wasn't yet out as gay publicly. De Rossi is surely one of DeGeneres' favorite guests to have on her show. Who was one of the worst? Here's The One Guest Ellen DeGeneres Banned From Her Show. For the past two years, Heidi Klum has been married to a man 16 years her junior. The 47-year-old model and TV host is with 31-year-old musician Tom Kaulitz. "My boyfriend is many years younger than me, and lots of people are questioning that and asking about it," Klum told InStyle in 2018. "That's really the only time when age seems to be shoved in my face and I have to give an answer for it. I don't really think about it that much otherwise. You have to just live a happy life without worrying too much about what people think because worrying is only going to give you more wrinkles." For more on the supermodel's family, read Heidi Klum Just Posted a Rare Photo of All Four of Her Kids Together. Mariah Carey might be one of the most famous women on the planet, but her current relationship is kept pretty low-key. The 50-year-old singer is dating a 37-year-old choreographer named Bryan Tanaka. Us Weekly reports that, Carey and Tanaka started dating in late 2016, broke up for a while in 2017, but soon got back together, and have been dating ever since. Khloé Kardashian and Tristan Thompson's relationship has been a rocky one, but at the moment, the reality star and NBA player are together. The couple have an age gap of seven years—Kardashian is 36 and Thompson is 29. They share a two-year-old daughter named True, and in a preview for the new season of Keeping Up with the Kardashians, they discuss possibly having another child. Megan Mullally and Nick Offerman played exes on Parks and Recreation, but they're actually married in real life—since 2003. Will & Grace star Mullally is 62 while the man behind Parks and Rec's Ron Swanson is 50. "When we met, I was 41, and I'd always had younger guys pursue me, and I was really sick of it," Mullally told GQ in 2017. "And so I met Nick and I thought, Oh, great, 'cause this guy's like 38! Turns out he was 29. And I was pissed." Did you know that Gwen Stefani is seven years older than her The Voice co-star and fiancé Blake Shelton? That's right. Stefani is 51 while Shelton is 44. The singing pair got together in 2015 after they both went through divorces from other musicians. Stefani was married to Gavin Rossdale, with whom she shares three children, and Shelton was married to Miranda Lambert. Shakira wrote a song about her husband, soccer player Gerard Piqué, and it references their age gap. The track "23" includes the lyrics, "Hey, do you believe?/Do you believe in destiny?/'Cause I do as I did then/When you were only 23." The couple (who met when he was 23) have an age difference of ten years—exactly ten years, because they have the same birthday. She turned 44 and he turned 34 on Feb. 2. Dancing with the Stars has led to a number of relationships over the years, and a recent one is that between Chrishell Stause and her DWTS partner Keo Motsepe. Selling Sunset star Stause is 39 years old and professional dancer Motsepe is 31. Stause said the age difference was initially an issue for her during an Instagram Live with DWTS winner Kaitlyn Bristowe. "I had a little bit of a hang-up at first because I was worried because he's younger," she said (via People). "But a lot of guys my age and older still don't want what I am looking for." Lastly, we have Kris Jenner and Corey Gamble. The Keeping Up with the Kardashians star is 65 and her boyfriend is 40. This means that Gamble is younger than Jenner's daughter Kourtney Kardashian and the same age as her daughter Kim. Regardless, Gamble and Jenner have been together since 2014.
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Famous Person - Marriage
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US opioid crisis ruling leads to $845 million fine for drug maker Johnson & Johnson in Oklahoma
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US opioid crisis ruling leads to $845 million fine for drug maker Johnson & Johnson in Oklahoma
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 US state judge has found Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiaries helped fuel Oklahoma's opioid crisis, ordering the consumer products giant to pay $US572 million ($844 million) to clean up the problem.
Johnson & Johnson has a contract with poppy growers in Tasmania who produce a lot of the raw opium used to make the company's drugs. Cleveland County District Judge Thad Balkman's ruling followed the first state opioid case to make it to trial and could help shape negotiations over roughly 1,500 similar lawsuits filed by state, local and tribal governments consolidated before a federal US judge in Ohio.
"The opioid crisis has ravaged the state of Oklahoma," Mr Balkman said before announcing the verdict. "It must be abated immediately."
The companies are expected to appeal against the ruling to the Oklahoma Supreme Court with one of its lawyer, Sabrina Strong, calling the judge's decision "flawed".
Before Oklahoma's trial began on May 28, Oklahoma reached settlements with two other defendant groups — a $US270 million ($398.5 million) deal with OxyContin-maker Purdue Pharma and an $US85 million ($125 million) settlement with Israeli-owned Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.
Oklahoma argued the companies and their subsidiaries created a public nuisance by launching an aggressive and misleading marketing campaign that overstated how effective the drugs were for treating chronic pain and understated the risk of addiction.
Oklahoma Attorney-General Mike Hunter said opioid overdoses killed 4,653 people in the state from 2007 to 2017.
Mr Hunter has called Johnson & Johnson a "kingpin" company that was motivated by greed.
He specifically pointed to two former Johnson & Johnson subsidiaries, Noramco and Tasmanian Alkaloids, which produced much of the raw opium used by other manufacturers to produce the drugs. Tasmanian Alkaloids is Australia's largest processing company for opium poppy.
"[Johnson & Johnson] have been the principal origin for the active pharmaceutical ingredient in prescription opioids in the country for the last two decades," Mr Hunter said after the trial ended July 15.
"It is one of the most important elements of causation with regard to why the defendants … are responsible for the epidemic in the country and in Oklahoma."
Brad Beckworth — one of the state's lawyers — said Johnson & Johnson underestimated his team.
"We know that the root of this entire crisis began in Tasmania and New Jersey with Johnson & Johnson," Mr Beckworth said.
"And they can't laugh anymore, they can't call this case baseless anymore."
Art Van Zee's medical centre has become an unlikely rallying point for a class action against OxyContin's manufacturer.
Lawyers for the company have maintained they were part of a lawful and heavily regulated industry subject to strict federal oversight, including the US Drug Enforcement Agency and the Food and Drug Administration, during every step of the supply chain.
Lead lawyer Larry Ottaway said during closing arguments that opioid drugs serve a critical health need — to address chronic pain that affects thousands of Oklahomans every day.
"This problem of untreated chronic pain afflicts people here in Oklahoma," Mr Ottaway said.
Oklahoma pursued the case under the state's public nuisance statute and presented the judge with a plan to abate the crisis that would cost between $US12.6 billion ($18.6 billion) for 20 years and $US17.5 billion ($25.8 billion) over 30 years.
Lawyers for Johnson & Johnson have said that estimate is wildly inflated.
Also on Monday, the Kentucky Supreme Court declined to review an earlier ruling, making previously secret testimony from former Purdue Pharma president Rickard Sackler and other documents public.
The court record was sealed in 2015 as part of a $US24 million ($35.4 million) settlement between Purdue and Kentucky.
The 17 million pages of documents were being shipped on Monday from Frankfort to Pike County, where the case originated. The Pike County Circuit Court Clerk's office could not immediately say how and when they would be available.
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Organization Fine
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1983 Israel bank stock crisis
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The bank stock crisis was a financial crisis that occurred in Israel in 1983, during which the stocks of the four largest banks in Israel collapsed. In previous episodes of share price weakness, the banks bought back their own stocks, creating the appearance of constant demand for the stock, and artificially supporting their values. By October 1983, the banks no longer had the capital to buy back shares and support the prices. Bank share prices collapsed. The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange closed for eighteen days beginning October 6, 1983. [1] As a consequence, these banks were nationalized by the state. During the 1970s, Bank Hapoalim, and its dominant manager, Yaakov Levinson, began attempting to control the bank's stock price on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange. To this end they recommended to their customers to invest in the bank's stocks by fraudulently providing guarantees that the prices of shares in the banks would rise indefinitely. [1] These investments allowed the bank to increase its available capital for investments, loans, etc. The bank also gave out generous loans to allow the customers to continue their investments, also profiting from the interest. Other banks joined the practice, called adjustments. Eventually all major banks manipulated their stock price this way, among them Bank Leumi, Discount Bank, Bank Igud, Bank HaMizrachi, and Bank Clali (General Bank, now U-Bank). The only prominent bank not to join the adjustments frenzy was First International Bank of Israel (FIBI). [citation needed]
The adjustments were performed through the use of other companies. For example, Bank Leumi used the "Jewish Colonial Trust Holdings and Development Company". The funding for these actions originated in loans from the bank's pension funds and similar sources. Sometimes the banks would practice mutual purchases – one bank would sell its stocks to a second bank, and buy the second bank's stocks for a similar sum. Under pressure from the Israeli Securities and Exchange Commission, the banks reported the adjustments in their reports, but these reports were partial, misleading, and sometimes even false. Toward their clients the banks acted in a manner later described by the Bejski Commission as based on their own interests, ignoring the clients' interests. The adjustments were made possible, in large part, by the banks' ownership structure. Bank Hapoalim was controlled by the Histadrut labor union's Workers Company (Hevrat HaOvdim), and Bank Leumi by the "Jewish Colonial Trust". The Hapoel HaMizrachi organization had almost none of Bank HaMizrachi's ordinary stocks, but all of its controlling shares. The owners' representatives were usually members of the ruling political parties (especially the Alignment, and the National Religious Party, or close to them). The banks' managers ran the banks for owners who understood little of banking and did not involve themselves in these actions. The fourth major bank to join this practice, Discount Bank, was different, insofar as management and control had not been ceded to outside managers. [2]
Also contributing to the possibility of the adjustment was the capital structure of the Israeli market. During the years following the establishment of the State of Israel, the governments used the banks as a channel for procuring capital, and instructed them on how to invest their funds. This level of control, coupled with the control of interest rates, allowed the government to effectively "print money", by getting the banks to buy government bonds. Additionally, the banks usually assumed that since their investments and loans in major players of the Israeli market, such as the kibbutzim, were according to the government's wishes, the government would guarantee these loans. Due to these reasons, the banks used the adjustments to issue more and more stocks, until, during the 1980s, bank stocks accounted for more than 90% of all issued shares on the stock market. They used the capital thus gained to give out loans and make investments. The banks also grew exponentially, building hundreds of new branches and hiring thousands of new employees. [citation needed]
The large banks got addicted to the easy capital, but this method soon became a trap. Like the government, fearing recession, the banks avoided any move to limit their expenses. They feared for the pockets and jobs of the managers, but also the fact that the first bank to make such a move would appear inferior compared to the other banks. [citation needed]
All of the regulatory bodies were well aware of the adjustments regime, but aside from slight warnings, easily dismissed by the banks' managers, they did nothing, failing even to warn the public. The Minister of the Finance, Yoram Aridor, even remarked on television that had he had the funds to do so, he would invest in the stock market. The adjustments were based on the promise of a constant rise in the banks' stock prices, irrespective of the economic situation. The artificial prices thus achieved created an Economic bubble, where everyone involved continued to invest increasing sums of money for lesser returns. Every new issue of bank stocks further destabilized them, since more of the capital was invested in maintaining the adjustment regime instead of profitable loans. Also, as the market share of bank stocks grew, the adjustments became weaker, as every cent (agora, actually) invested by the banks became a smaller part of the total invested capital. The real return (i.e. over and above the Consumer Price Index) on investment in the banks' stocks diminished, from a 41% return in 1980, to 34% in 1981, to 28% in 1982. Other investment options, especially purchasing U.S. dollars became more appealing, and the banks had to transfer more and more funds from their offshore tax havens to keep maintaining the illusion of safety of investing in their stocks. In early 1983, share prices across all non-financial stocks on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange suffered from weakness. The banks invested heavily in all issues, hoping to maintain liquidity in the market. From January through March, some regulators, among them Finance Minister Aridor and Bank of Israel Governor Mendelbaum, approached the banks several times, trying to get them to gradually reduce their adjustments. Although some bank managers realized they could not continue this for long, they did not stop. Fearing a market collapse, Finance Ministry officials kept knowledge of this from the public. Failing to stop the banks, Finance Ministry officials wished to execute a large devaluation of the Shekel as an excuse to stop the adjustments.
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Financial Crisis
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2020 Western United States wildfire season
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In 2020, the Western United States experienced a series of major wildfires. Severe August thunderstorms ignited numerous wildfires across California, Oregon, and Washington, followed in early September by additional ignitions across the West Coast. Fanned by strong, gusty winds and fueled by hot, dry terrains, many of the fires exploded and coalesced into record-breaking megafires,[7] burning more than 10.2 million acres (41,000 square kilometres) of land,[2][3] mobilizing tens of thousands of firefighters, razing over ten thousand buildings,[3] and killing at least 37 people. [8][9] The fires caused over $19.884 billion (2020 USD) in damages,[2][3] including $16.5 billion in property damage and $3.384 billion in fire suppression costs. [2][3] Climate change and poor forest management practices contributed to the severity of the wildfires. [10]
Save for areas along the Pacific coast and mountain ridgetops, North America tends to be wetter in the east and drier in the west. This creates ideal conditions in the West for lightning sparked and wind driven storms to spread large-scale, seasonal wildfires. [11][12] Human societies practicing cultural burns developed in these conditions. Various Indigenous controlled fire practices,[12] as well as their adoption by settlers, were curtailed and outlawed during the European colonization of the Americas, culminating with the modern fire suppression era, signified by the Weeks Act of 1911, which formalized paradigmatic changes in ecosystem priorities and management. [11][better source needed][13] Land was protected from fire, and vegetation accumulated near settlements, increasing the risk of explosive, smoky conflagrations. Many indigenous tribes, including the Karuk, have passed down cultural memories of adaptations to fire-prone ecosystems, including cultural burning. In the last few decades, these have been acknowledged by the United States Forest Service, NOAA,[14] and other agencies in American colonial nations. [13][15]
While lightning sparked ignitions are typical of fire-prone ecosystems, higher human population and increased development in the wildland–urban interface has increased accidental and intentional sparking of destructive fires. [citation needed]
With the increased burning of fossil fuels the climate has changed, and the globe has heated by around 1 °C. The Northern Hemisphere January–August land and ocean surface temperature tied with 2016 as the warmest such period since global records began in 1880. The Southern Hemisphere had its third-warmest such period (tied with 2017) on record, behind 2016 and 2019. [16]
Record dry weather struck the Western United States in late 2019, extending to January and February 2020,Then brought rain in Early November, Then Driest December 2020 with no rain, prompting initial concerns from state governments and the press. [18]
California was the first to call out a warning. [19] On March 22, a state of emergency was declared by California Governor Gavin Newsom due to a mass die-off of trees throughout the state, potentially increasing the risk of wildfire. Oregon officially declared the start of their wildfire season that same month. [19][20] Despite light rain in late March and April, severe drought conditions persisted, and were predicted to last late into the year, due to a delayed wet season. [21] After fires began in Washington in April, several more fires occurred throughout the West Coast, prompting burn ban restrictions in Washington and Oregon, come July. [22]
United States agencies stationed at the National Interagency Fire Center in Idaho maintain a "National Large Incident Year-to-Date Report" on wildfires, delineating 10 sub-national areas, aggregating the regional and national totals of burn size, fire suppression cost, and razed structure count, among other data. As of October 21, "Coordination Centers" of each geography report the following:[3]
Note: Check primary sources for up-to-date statistics. This data is not final and may contain duplicate reports until the data is finalized around January 2021. April saw the beginning of wildfires in the west coast, as Washington experienced two fires: the Stanwood Bryant Fire in Snohomish County (70 acres (28 ha)) and the Porter Creek Fire in Whatcom County (80 acres (32 ha)). [24] The Oregon Department of Forestry declared fire season beginning July 5, 2020, signaling the end of unregulated debris burning outdoors, a major cause of wildfires. [25]
Between July 16 and 30, the Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and many county governments – including Mason, Thurston, King, Pierce and Whatcom Counties – issued fire safety burn bans due to elevated risk of uncontrolled fires. [26] In late July, a brush fire in Chelan County, the Colockum Fire, burned at least 3,337 acres (1,350 ha) and caused homes to be evacuated. [27] A fire on the Colville Reservation near Nespelem called the Greenhouse Fire burned at least 5,146 acres (2,083 ha) and caused the evacuation of the Colville Tribal Corrections Facility and other structures. [28][29]
Between August 14 and 16, Northern California was subjected to record-breaking warm temperatures,[30] due to anomalously strong high pressure over the region. Early on August 15, the National Weather Service for San Francisco issued a Fire Weather Watch[31] highlighting the risk of wildfire starts due to the combination of lightning risk due to moist, unstable air aloft, dry fuels, and hot temperatures near the surface. Later that day, the Fire Weather Watch was upgraded to a Red Flag Warning,[32] noting the risk of abundant lightning already apparent as the storms moved toward the region from the south. In mid-August, the remnants of Tropical Storm Fausto interacted with the jet stream, resulting in a large plume of moisture moving northward towards the West Coast of the U.S., triggering a massive siege of lightning storms in Northern California, and setting the conditions for wildfires elsewhere. [33] Due to abnormal wind patterns, this plume streamed from up to 1,000 miles (1,609 km) off the coast of the Baja Peninsula into Northern California. This moisture then interacted with a high-pressure ridge situated over Nevada that was bringing a long-track heat wave to much of California and the West. [34] These colliding weather systems then created excessive atmospheric instability that generated massive thunderstorms throughout much of Northern and Central California. Multiple places also experienced Midwest-style convective “heat bursts”–in which rapid collapse of thunderstorm updrafts caused air parcels aloft to plunge to the surface and warm to extreme levels, with one location near Travis Air Force Base going from around 80 to 100 °F (27 to 38 °C) in nearly 1–2 hours. [35] Additionally, much of these storms were only accompanied with dry lightning and produced little to no rain, making conditions very favorable for wildfires to spark and spread rapidly. [36]
As a result of the fires, on August 19, Governors Kate Brown and Jay Inslee declared a state of emergency for Oregon and Washington respectively. [37][38]
By August 20, the Palmer Fire near Oroville, Washington – which started August 18 – had reached 13,000 acres (5,300 ha) and forced evacuation of up to 85 homes. [39][40] The largest of the fires in the Olympics reached 2.4 acres (0.97 ha) by August 20. [41]
The Evans Canyon Fire, a few miles north of Naches, began around August 31 and expanded to tens of thousands of acres, shut down Washington State Route 821 in the Yakima River Canyon, burned several homes and caused hundreds of families to evacuate, and caused unhealthy air quality in Yakima County. [42] By September 6, it had burned almost 76,000 acres (31,000 ha). [43]
The August 2020 lightning fires include three of the largest wildfires in the recorded history of California: the SCU Lightning Complex, the August Complex, and the LNU Lightning Complex. On September 10, 2020, the August Complex became the single-largest wildfire in the recorded history of California, reaching a total area burned of 471,185 acres (1,907 km2). Then, on September 11, it merged with the Elkhorn Fire, another massive wildfire of 255,039 acres (1,032 km2), turning the August Complex into a monster wildfire of 746,607 acres (3,021 km2). [44]
In early September 2020, a combination of a record-breaking heat wave, and Diablo and Santa Ana winds sparked more fires and explosively grew active fires, with the August Complex surpassing the 2018 Mendocino Complex to become California's largest recorded wildfire. [44] The North Complex increased in size as the winds fanned it westward, threatening the city of Oroville, and triggering mass evacuations. [45] During the first week in September, the 2020 fire season set a new California record for the most area burned in a year at 2,000,000 acres (810,000 ha).
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Fire
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Bank robbery, shooting leave family with questions
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OLD FORGE, Pa. (AP) — The smiling face of a man who hated being photographed stares up from dozens of pictures glued to three sheets of poster board splayed across Charlene Modlesky’s dining room table in Edwardsville. A wobbly-kneed child attempts to roller skate. A couple poses in garish Christmas sweaters. A man at water’s edge teaches a young boy to fish. On Friday, friends and family of John Souder, killed Dec. 7 in Old Forge after robbing a bank in Luzerne County, prepared to remember the man they loved as they grapple with the question of why he would do something they said is so out of character. “That’s what makes it extremely difficult. Extremely,” Modlesky, Souder’s sister, said. “We’re mad, we’re angry, we have all the emotions and we don’t know why. We may never know why, but we know the person that John was and it just doesn’t add up.” Souder, 40, of Old Forge, robbed the M&T Bank in the Midway Shopping Center in Wyoming shortly before 1:30 p.m., then led police on a chase that snaked through Pittston and north to Old Forge. Souder stopped his fiancée’s PT Cruiser in the parking lot of the Old Forge Animal Hospital, and, according to a witness in the animal hospital, fired six to eight times before a volley of bullets from law enforcement killed him. Lackawanna County District Attorney Shane Scanlon, who is investigating if the use of force by police is justified, said he does not yet have forensics to confirm if Souder fired his weapon. An autopsy confirmed Souder died of two gunshot wounds to his head. Coroner Tim Rowland ruled his death a homicide. A still undisclosed number of unidentified state troopers and municipal police officers are on administrative leave while the investigation proceeds. That Souder, who has no offenses to his name more serious than a traffic citation, would rob a bank came as a deep shock to his family and overshadowed the gentle and joking family man that they knew. His death has cast a shadow over his life. “I have so many unanswered questions that I’ll never get the answer to. Never,” his fiancée, Beth Hunsicker, said. “I want to know why he did it, what was running through his mind, what made him do it.” Hunsicker met Souder as she shopped for groceries in Kingston Twp. eight years ago. Souder, who drove a truck at the time, saw Hunsicker and started staring. “Weirdo,” Hunsicker thought. “He asked me for my number, I was like no and he goes ‘Can I give you mine?'” Hunsicker, 40, said. “I was like, ‘sure’…and I called him, then it was … if he could have married me the day he met me, he probably would have.” Souder, who loved children and wanted to be a father, got along with Hunsicker’s children and became family, Hunsicker said. The couple said they loved each other every time he left the house, no matter what. “I wish people could have known the John that we knew,” Hunsicker said. Summer evenings were spent around the fire pit at Modlesky’s home in Edwardsville, telling jokes and sharing stories. They won’t be the same without Souder, she said. Souder loved dogs. His own dog, a Great Dane mix named Sarge, now sits at the foot of Souder’s chair, cries and looks for him, said Modlesky, 37. Souder told people Hunsicker was his wife. Hunsicker responded that there was no ring on her finger. Then they got engaged. They were to be married New Year’s Eve and planned to get a marriage license Dec. 7. Souder worked for a paving company and often worked 14 hours a day, Hunsicker said. Souder and Hunsicker were by no means rich, but they got by. He worried about money sometimes but not to a point where he would do something so “extreme,” Souder’s mother, Joan McDonald, said. His family said that they were aware of no struggles Souder may have had that would have led him to commit a bank robbery. “I don’t think he thought it through because he left a lot of people devastated,” McDonald, 58, said. McDonald said she knows what her son did was wrong and feels bad for the police officers involved. “I’m just hoping that when their investigation’s over, they. … I don’t know what I hope,” McDonald said. “I just wish it didn’t happen.”
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Bank Robbery
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The United States Withdraws From UNESCO
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On October 12, 2017, the Department of State notified UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova of the U.S. decision to withdraw from the organization and to seek to establish a permanent observer mission to UNESCO. This decision was not taken lightly, and reflects U.S. concerns with mounting arrears at UNESCO, the need for fundamental reform in the organization, and continuing anti-Israel bias at UNESCO. The United States indicated to the Director General its desire to remain engaged with UNESCO as a non-member observer state in order to contribute U.S. views, perspectives and expertise on some of the important issues undertaken by the organization, including the protection of world heritage, advocating for press freedoms, and promoting scientific collaboration and education. Pursuant to Article II(6) of the UNESCO Constitution, U.S. withdrawal will take effect on December 31, 2018. The United States will remain a full member of UNESCO until that time.
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Withdraw from an Organization
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Taquan Air Flight 20 crash
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Taquan Air Flight 20 is a regularly scheduled commuter flight operated by Taquan Air from Ketchikan Harbor Seaplane Base to Metlakatla Seaplane Base. On 20 May 2019, the de Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver floatplane operating the flight overturned in the harbor in Metlakatla, Alaska, United States during a water landing, destroying the aircraft and killing both persons aboard. The cause of the crash is under investigation. [1][2]
The accident aircraft was a de Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver floatplane, FAA aircraft registration number N67667, serial number 1309, registered to Blue Aircraft, LLC and operated by Venture Travel, LLC, dba Taquan Air, Ketchikan, Alaska. The aircraft carried mail and freight bound for Metlakatla in addition to passengers. [1][2]
At about 3:56 PM local time, the aircraft initiated a landing in the Metlakatla harbor in a westerly direction. Two witnesses reported that as the aircraft descended, it rocked to the left, and then to the right. As it touched down, one witness reported that the right float "dug in" to the water, and another reported that the right wing struck the water. The aircraft nosed over and came to rest inverted with the passenger cabin submerged. [2] Volunteers from the Metlakatla Volunteer Fire Department and the Ketchikan Volunteer Rescue Squad responded in rescue boats, and the crash was reported to the U.S. Coast Guard at 4:10 PM. [3] First responders were able to hoist the aircraft partially out of the water by the empennage and extract the occupants, airplane seats, mail and packages. The crash tore away the right wing and wing strut; these components, along with the removed passenger seat, remained missing when the preliminary accident report was issued. [2] Local volunteers subsequently towed the stricken aircraft to shore. [3] The weather at the time of the crash was reportedly clear, with light winds and light chop,[4][3] and winds from the southeast at 13-15 mph (21–24 km/h). [2]
The aircraft carried a single pilot and a single passenger, both of whom perished in the crash. The victims were identified the following day. The passenger was an epidemiologist who was commuting to an Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium clinic in Metlakatla. [4][3] The pilot was a seasonal hire and held a commercial pilot certificate with single-engine land, single-engine sea, and an instrument ratings. He had 1,606 hours of total flight time with 5 hours in float-equipped airplanes. [2]
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) immediately began an investigation of the accident. [4][3] The NTSB also initiated a separate overall investigation of Taquan Air; the airline declined to comment. [5]
The accident occurred one week after the 2019 George Inlet, Alaska mid-air collision, another multiple-fatality air crash involving a Taquan flight, and the airline suspended all flights the following day. [4][3] Amid increased oversight by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Taquan resumed limited cargo service on 23 May,[6] scheduled passenger flights on 31 May, and on-demand sightseeing tours on 3 June. [7]
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Air crash
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Deadly volcano eruption in Japan confounds forecasters
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TOKYO -- A volcano in central Japan ski country erupted without warning Tuesday morning, killing one person, injuring 11 others and sending authorities scrambling to determine the nature of the surprise blast. Mount Kusatsu-Shirane, about 150km northwest of Tokyo, is one of 50 active volcanoes under constant watch by the Japan Meteorological Agency. But the eruption occurred near a lake about 2km from one the agency had deemed more dangerous and kept under video surveillance. Falling rocks killed a member of the Ground Self-Defense Force undergoing a ski training exercise and injured five other service members, two gravely, the Ministry of Defense said. Around 80 people, many skiers, stranded at a lodge near the mountain's peak were evacuated, some by helicopter. "I thought I was going to die here," said a 28-year-old woman on a family skiing trip. The volcano blew as they were heading up the mountain on an aerial tramway. "You could hear the volcanic rocks hitting the car as it shook," she said. The debris shattered windows on the tramway and tore through the ceiling of one of the stations. Further explosions were unlikely, the meteorological agency said, but it warned of the possibility of falling rocks within a 2km radius of the eruption site. Popular hot springs in the area, including Kusatsu Onsen, lie further away and are not at risk, according to the agency. An avalanche was reported at an area ski resort, but what if any connection there is to the eruption remains unclear. Caught off guard The site of Tuesday's blast last erupted about 3,000 years ago, scientists say. But the turquoise blue caldera lake the meteorological agency was observing erupted in the 1980s, and recent conditions had suggested another explosion there was likely. That the explosion came where it did was "unexpected," said Yoshikazu Kikawada, a professor at Tokyo's Sophia University who studies volcanic activity. "The observation network was set up to encircle" the lake that was considered the more likely blast site, Kikawada said. An immediate warning was not possible because the meteorological agency could not initially confirm that an eruption had taken place. It has since raised the alert level to 3 on a scale of 5, imposing restrictions on entering the area, but that would have been difficult to do before the eruption, the agency's director of volcanology, Makoto Saito, told reporters Tuesday. The agency has dispatched a team to survey the rocks expelled in the blast, which were detected more than 1km from the eruption point. Reports of volcanic ash in a town 8km to the northeast were also confirmed. The mountain, which consists of multiple volcanic cones, straddles Gunma and Nagano prefectures. The agency is working to get a clearer understanding of the blast, but suspects it was a phreatic or "steam-blast" eruption of surface or ground water heated by magma. Such eruptions give fewer telltale signs than magma ones, which can be preceded by active expulsions of smoke or gas. A 2014 phreatic eruption at Japan's Mount Ontake killed 58 people and left five missing.
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Volcano Eruption
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Nairobi airport fire
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The Nairobi airport fire occurred when, on 7 August 2013, a fire broke out inside the main terminal building at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi, Kenya, destroying two of the three units contained in the building. No one was killed, but two people were hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries. [1] Incoming flights were diverted to Uganda, Tanzania, and other airports in Kenya. [2]
At approximately 4:30 am local time,[3] a fire originating in the immigration section of Unit I (used for international departures) rapidly spread to adjoining Unit II, which is used for international arrivals. The construction of the building (it was completed in 1978), a roof collapse in Unit I, and heavy traffic in the area hindered initial efforts to extinguish the blaze. Initial media reports showed some firefighters using buckets to fight the fire. [4] Several groups, including the Kenya Army and firefighters from private companies, assisted in fighting the fire. After six hours, on-scene officials indicated that the fire had been contained. [4]
After the fire had been extinguished, businesses affected by the fire reported that items were missing from their businesses. Various reports indicated that first responders had looted fire-damaged businesses during and after the fire, leading some to believe that the fire could have been put out sooner had all the firefighters kept their focus on extinguishing the blaze. [5] Tourists who were displaced by the fire also reported that they were assaulted by thugs who blocked access to the main gate, where the tourists were attempting to retrieve their belongings. [4]
A spokesman for Kenya Airways, the primary tenant at the airport, indicated that two of its employees had been transported to a local hospital for observation. One of the individuals was treated for smoke inhalation. There were no immediate reports of injuries to firefighting personnel or other airport employees. [6]
After the fire was extinguished, a preliminary investigation was started. Possible terrorism was an initial concern because the fire occurred on the fifteenth anniversary of the terrorist bombings of United States embassies in Kenya and Tanzania plus the fact that Kenya has been involved in an armed conflict with Al-Shabaab in neighboring Somalia. Investigators, however, soon ruled out terrorism as the cause of the fire. [7]
The international arrival and departure units were completely destroyed in the fire. Airport officials have elected to use Unit III (used for domestic arrivals and departures) to handle some international traffic. Operations were partly reestablished on 8 August. [8] A new unit (Unit IV) is under construction and was scheduled to open in August 2013,[9] but the new unit was opened on 1 July 2014 and renamed as Terminal 1A. Unit IV was not damaged in the fire.
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Fire
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PGA Tour still planning for Japan event, but sources say China event will be canceled
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Players were notified last week the Zozo Championship outside Tokyo was still on the schedule, and they faced a deadline for visa applications in case they decide to go. But that will be the only stop, assuming it happens. Two people aware of the decision say the HSBC Champions in Shanghai has been canceled. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the Tour hasn’t announced the decision. The PGA Tour lost its Asia Swing to the COVID-19 pandemic last year. The HSBC Champions, a World Golf Championships event since 2009, was canceled. The CJ Cup in South Korea moved to Shadow Creek north of Las Vegas, while the Zozo Championship moved to Sherwood Country Club in Thousands Oaks, California. The LPGA Tour said in a statement Wednesday that the Buick LPGA Shanghai tournament scheduled for October has been canceled. The CJ Cup already has announced it is returning to Las Vegas, this time at the prestigious Summit Club. Japan-based Zozo does not have a U.S. presence, and it was a big step for the company to hold its tournament in California. Patrick Cantlay, who already is particular with his travel time and schedule, won last year at Sherwood. It was not clear if he planned to return to defend. Spectators were not allowed at Kasumigaseki for the Olympics. The Zozo Championship is scheduled for Narashino Country Club in the Chiba prefecture. Oddly enough, it is not listed on the Japan Golf Tour website, even though the tournament is co-sanctioned with the PGA Tour. If anyone was looking to spend two weeks in Japan, the following week is the ISPS Handa, which has one of the smallest prize funds on the Japan Golf Tour. The Tour schedule for the fall goes from Las Vegas to Japan to Bermuda. The Bermuda Championship typically is held opposite the HSBC Champions and last year received full status, meaning Brian Gay earned a spot in the Masters by winning. BY Associated Press
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Organization Closed
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The nullification of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) agreements by Australian foreign affairs minister Marise Payne were deemed necessary actions
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A persistent theme in Australia’s Morrison government has been to assume that electors are mugs and unaware of its schemes. And just to keep that theme going, the specific tearing up of agreements made between China and the state of Victoria was supposedly not meant as a slight against Beijing, writes Binoy Kampmark.
The nullification of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) agreements by Australian foreign affairs minister Marise Payne were deemed necessary actions: the agreements were contrary to the national interest, a term so rubbery it often lacks shape. In the words of the senator, the agreements were “inconsistent with Australia’s foreign policy or averse to our foreign relations”. Wise heads might well make use of such initiatives without…
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Ad cum cibo nominati delicatissimi, quis singulis lobortis in est.In etiam utamur feugiat vis, pri autem maiestatis in. Ex ceteros gloriatur mediocritatem per, sit minim accumsan in. Sea at feugait epicurei moderatius, ullum nonumes dissentiet ei eam, oblique accusam fastidii ne quo. Quot patrioque ad quo, at dicant regione mel.Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, mel ei nihil nostrum. Eruditi intellegebat te quo, cu nec veniam laudem deleniti. Usu ne adhuc semper delicata, latine legimus id vis. In ipsum feugait consetetur vim. Id saepe consul tractatos vel, at esse propriae mel, choro noster oportere vel in.Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, mel ei nihil nostrum. Eruditi intellegebat te quo, cu nec veniam laudem deleniti. Usu ne adhuc semper delicata, latine legimus id vis. In ipsum feugait consetetur vim. Id saepe consul tractatos vel, at esse propriae mel, choro noster oportere vel in.In etiam utamur feugiat vis, pri autem maiestatis in. Ex ceteros gloriatur mediocritatem per, sit minim accumsan in. Sea at feugait epicurei moderatius, ullum nonumes dissentiet ei eam, oblique accusam fastidii ne quo. Quot patrioque ad quo, at dicant regione mel.Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, mel ei nihil nostrum. Eruditi intellegebat te quo, cu nec veniam laudem deleniti. Usu ne adhuc semper delicata, latine legimus id vis. In ipsum feugait consetetur vim. Id saepe consul tractatos vel, at esse propriae mel, choro noster oportere vel in.In etiam utamur feugiat vis, pri autem maiestatis in. Ex ceteros gloriatur mediocritatem per, sit minim accumsan in. Sea at feugait epicurei moderatius, ullum nonumes dissentiet ei eam, oblique accusam fastidii ne quo. Quot patrioque ad quo, at dicant regione mel.Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, mel ei nihil nostrum. Eruditi intellegebat te quo, cu nec veniam laudem deleniti. Usu ne adhuc semper delicata, latine legimus id vis. In ipsum feugait consetetur vim. Id saepe consul tractatos vel, at esse propriae mel, choro noster oportere vel in.Nusquam corpora mea in, delicata imperdiet et mea. Eam prima rationibus comprehensam cu. Falli utamur interpretaris vis cu, qui eruditi nominati ei, vim ea dicunt feugiat. Et reque docendi nec. Usu no soluta accumsan, regione vulputate vel eu. Ad cum cibo nominati delicatissimi, quis singulis lobortis in est.Et veniam alterum nec. Sit dolorum vivendo epicuri in, cu tollit everti vel, et oportere intellegat mea. Ei mei hinc nullam. Ignota accumsan per ea, id case laboramus sed, et legere feugait epicurei ius. Ne qui soleat consulatu.Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, mel ei nihil nostrum. Eruditi intellegebat te quo, cu nec veniam laudem deleniti. Usu ne adhuc semper delicata, latine legimus id vis. In ipsum feugait consetetur vim. Id saepe consul tractatos vel, at esse propriae mel, choro noster oportere vel in.Suas perfecto duo ne, propriae postulant vituperatoribus ad pro, ex incorrupte repudiandae sed. Ut aliquid dolores ocurreret pro. Ut vel solum mollis. Qui ei vide dicunt, duo tollit omnium ei. Sea ullum delicata urbanitas ei, lobortis disputationi duo ut. Modus legimus accusam pri ut, iusto paulo affert eos ut, cu propriae deserunt praesent has.Nusquam corpora mea in, delicata imperdiet et mea. Eam prima rationibus comprehensam cu. Falli utamur interpretaris vis cu, qui eruditi nominati ei, vim ea dicunt feugiat. Et reque docendi nec. Usu no soluta accumsan, regione vulputate vel eu. Ad cum cibo nominati delicatissimi, quis singulis lobortis in est.Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, mel ei nihil nostrum. Eruditi intellegebat te quo, cu nec veniam laudem deleniti. Usu ne adhuc semper delicata, latine legimus id vis. In ipsum feugait consetetur vim. Id saepe consul tractatos vel, at esse propriae mel, choro noster oportere vel in.Nusquam corpora mea in, delicata imperdiet et mea. Eam prima rationibus comprehensam cu. Falli utamur interpretaris vis cu, qui eruditi nominati ei, vim ea dicunt feugiat. Et reque docendi nec. Usu no soluta accumsan, regione vulputate vel eu. Ad cum cibo nominati delicatissimi, quis singulis lobortis in est.Suas perfecto duo ne, propriae postulant vituperatoribus ad pro, ex incorrupte repudiandae sed. Ut aliquid dolores ocurreret pro. Ut vel solum mollis. Qui ei vide dicunt, duo tollit omnium ei. Sea ullum delicata urbanitas ei, lobortis disputationi duo ut. Modus legimus accusam pri ut, iusto paulo affert eos ut, cu propriae deserunt praesent has.Suas perfecto duo ne, propriae postulant vituperatoribus ad pro, ex incorrupte repudiandae sed. Ut aliquid dolores ocurreret pro. Ut vel solum mollis. Qui ei vide dicunt, duo tollit omnium ei. Sea ullum delicata urbanitas ei, lobortis disputationi duo ut. Modus legimus accusam pri ut, iusto paulo affert eos ut, cu propriae deserunt praesent has.Nusquam corpora mea in, delicata imperdiet et mea. Eam prima rationibus comprehensam cu. Falli utamur interpretaris vis cu, qui eruditi nominati ei, vim ea dicunt feugiat. Et reque docendi nec. Usu no soluta accumsan, regione vulputate vel eu. Ad cum cibo nominati delicatissimi, quis singulis lobortis in est.
Dr. Binoy Kampmark was a Commonwealth Scholar at Selwyn College, Cambridge. He lectures at RMIT University, Melbourne. Email: bkampmark@gmail.com
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Tear Up Agreement
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Julia Creek cattle grazing after 2015 acid spill
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Cattle are grazing again on Garomna Station a year after a train derailment and subsequent acid spill made the water on a station dam undrinkable.
The 26-carriage train carrying 800,000 litres of sulphuric acid derailed about 20 kilometres east of Julia Creek on December 27 last year, spilling about 31,500 litres.
Some of the spillage flowed into the Garomna Station dam about 200 metres from the crash site, making the water too acidic for cattle to drink.
Garomna Station manager Nigel Simmons said after a year of working with Incitec Pivot, they had been able to make the dam water drinkable again.
"Our biggest concern was not knowing what long-term effects were going to be on our country and whether it would be detrimental to the dam," Mr Simmons said.
"Over time they reassured us they would be able to fix the problem, which they have done and the dam's useable now for cattle water."
Mr Simmons said after the initial clean-up, which took about two months, the company had been coming to the station quarterly to monitor the water and soil.
"It took a fair while to clean it all up and since then, they've been monitoring it about four times a year," he said.
"We were hoping for a two-year period to [monitor it] every quarter to know that it's staying at a good level to be used by the cattle."
Mr Simmons said the water recorded a pH level of two, which is a long way below the neutral level of seven.
"Anything between six and eight is fine but a pH of two is very bad and they were saying don't even touch the water," he said. Such a significant event required an equally significant response from Queensland Rail, Aurizon, and Incitec Pivot.
Julia Creek Motel owner Rita McDonald said she was booked out for about six weeks across January and February, which are usually quiet months.
"Most of the businesses that people that are staying in accommodation are associated with have done well out of this," she said.
"Most of the time we were full. There were three companies involved and we had people from each one."
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Environment Pollution
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Wragg Fire
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The Wragg Fire was a wildland fire that started just off California State Route 128 near Lake Berryessa in Napa County, California in the United States. The fire started on July 22, 2015. [1] The cause was an idling vehicle's car exhaust. The vehicle came into contact with dry grass and sparked the fire. [2] Mandatory evacuations for 136 homes and 200 residents took place. Six roads were closed temporarily as a result. [1]
The fire began on July 22, 2015 at 2:24 PM on California State Route 128 near Lake Berryessa in Napa County, California. [1] Parts of both Highway 128 and Interstate 505 were closed. On July 24, the highway and interstate were reopened. [3] Stebbins Cold Canyon Reserve was closed and evacuation orders were called off. The fire was fought by 1,825 firefighters,[3] 75 fire engines and 6 helicopters. [6]
As of July 28, the fire was 80% contained. [6] That day the fire reignited over 500 acres, going over the containment line, in Wildfire Canyon near Vacaville in Solano County around 1:30PM. [7] Seven roads were closed and 136 homes and 200 residents were required to evacuate as a result of the flare-up. [8][9] An evacuation center was created in Vacaville. [9] The fire was caused by an idling car's exhaust. The car came into contact with dry grass and the car exhaust ignited the fire. In total, the fire burned 8,051 acres. [2]
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Fire
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Indian famine of 1899–1900
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The Indian famine of 1899–1900 began with the failure of the summer monsoons in 1899 over Western and Central India and, during the next year, affected an area of 476,000 square miles (1,230,000 km2) and a population of 59.5 million. [1] The famine was acute in the Central Provinces and Berar, the Bombay Presidency, the minor province of Ajmer-Merwara, and the Hissar District of the Punjab; it also caused great distress in the princely states of the Rajputana Agency, the Central India Agency, Hyderabad and the Kathiawar Agency. [1] In addition, small areas of the Bengal Presidency, the Madras Presidency and the North-Western Provinces were acutely afflicted by the famine. [1]
The population in many areas had barely recovered from the famine of 1896–1897. [2] As in that famine, this one too was preceded by a drought. [2] The Meteorological Office of India in its report of 1900, stated, "The mean average rainfall of India is 45 inches (1,100 mm). In no previous famine year has it been in greater defect than 5 inches (130 mm). But in 1899 the defect exceeded 11 inches. "[2] There were also large crop failures in the rest of India and, as a result, inter-regional trade could not be relied upon to stabilise food prices. [3]
The resulting mortality was high. 462,000 people died in the Bombay Presidency, and in the Deccan Plateau, the estimated death toll was 166,000. [4] In the Presidency, the famine of 1899–1900 had the highest mortality—at 37.9 deaths per 1000—among all famines and scarcities there between 1876–77 and 1918–19. [5] According to a 1908 estimate of The Imperial Gazetteer of India, in the British-administered districts alone, approximately one million people died of starvation or accompanying disease; in addition, as a result of acute shortage of fodder, millions of cattle also perished. [2] Other estimates vary between one million[6][a] and 4.5 million[7] deaths. In the Central Provinces and Berar, an area that had suffered extreme distress during the famine of 1896–1897, the year 1898 had been favourable agriculturally, as was the first half of 1899; however, after the failure of the summer monsoon of 1899, a second catastrophe began soon afterwards. [8] There was a rapid rise of prices and the autumn kharif harvest failed completely. [8] After public criticism of the famine relief effort in the previous famine, this time an improved famine relief effort was organised; by July 1900, one-fifth of the province's population was on some form of famine relief. [8] The summer monsoon of 1900 produced moderately abundant rainfall, and by autumn, agricultural work had begun; most famine-relief works were consequently closed by December 1900. [8] Overall, the famine of 1899–1900 was less severe in this region than the famine of two years before. [8] In the Bombay Presidency, the reverse was the case: the famine of 1899–1900, which affected a population of 12 million, was more acute, especially so in the Kathiawar Agency. [9] The recovery from the famine in the Presidency was also very slow. [9]
Both 1896 and 1899 were El Niño years—years in which the monsoon rainfall was considerably less than average. [10] The year following the El Niño, also called a Niño+1 year, has historically been recognised to have not only higher than average rainfall, but also a much higher probability of malaria epidemics. [10] For example, in the Punjab province of British India, of the 77 years from 1867 to 1943, there were 21 El Niño years, 11 of whose Niño+1 years produced malaria epidemics; in contrast, there were only six malaria epidemics in the remaining 56 non-El Niño years. [10] "Fever years follow famine years" had become a popular saying in the Punjab long before Sir Ronald Ross, working in the Presidency General Hospital in Calcutta, showed in 1898 that the malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum, is transmitted by mosquitoes. [11] It had also been noted, by R. Christophers in 1911, that years in which the monsoon was abundant, but which had not been preceded by famine years, were not likely to be epidemic years. [12] These observations had prompted some scholars to theorise that the increased malaria mortality in a post-famine year was the result of lowered resistance to malaria caused by the malnutrition. [11] However, it is now thought likely that the dry famine years decreased human exposure to mosquitoes, which thrive in stagnant water, and consequently to Plasmodium falciparum; the decreased exposure resulted in lowered immunity among the population, thereby making subsequent exposures all the more devastating. [11]
In 1900, a Niño+1 year, malaria epidemics, occurred in the Punjab, Central Provinces and Berar, and the Bombay Presidency, with devastating results. In the Central Provinces and Berar, the death rates were initially quite low. The Report on the Famine in the Central Provinces in 1899–1900 noted the "extreme healthiness of the first four months of the famine, September to December 1899. "[13] The low mortality indicated the absence of malaria in 1899; however, by the summer of 1900, an epidemic of cholera had begun, and soon the monsoon rains of 1900 brought on the malaria epidemic. [14] Consequently, the death rate peaked between August and September 1900, a full year after the famine began. [14] In the Bombay Presidency, the same pattern of pre-monsoon cholera followed by post-monsoon malaria in 1900 was repeated. [9] The Report on the Famine in the Bombay Presidency, 1899–1902 pronounced the epidemic to be "unprecedented," noting that "It attacked all classes and was by no means confined to the people who had been on relief works ..."[15]
Parts of Punjab region, specially Bagar tract, were also affected. [16]
The British had established control over Western India in the early decades of the 19th century; this consisted of direct administration of the conquered territories in the expanded Bombay Presidency as well as in the British outpost of Ajmer-Merwara farther north. [17] The middle decades of the 19th century saw not only the implementation of a new system of land revenue and land rights in these areas, but also the establishment of new civil law. [17] Under the new land rights system, peasants could be dispossessed of their land if they failed to pay the land-revenue (or land-tax) in a timely fashion. [17] The British, however, continued to rely on local Baniya usurers, or Sahukars, to supply credit to the peasants. [18] The imposition of the new system of civil law, however, meant that the peasants could be exploited by the sahukars, who were often able, through the new civil courts, to acquire title-deeds to a peasant's land for non-payment of debt. [18]
The mid-19th century was also a time of predominance of the economic theories of Adam Smith and David Ricardo, and the principle of laissez-faire was subscribed to by many colonial administrators; the British, consequently, declined to interfere in the markets. [18] This meant that the Baniya sahukars could resort to hoarding during times of scarcity, driving up the price of food grain, and profiteering in the aftermath. [18] All this occurred in Western India during the famine of 1899–1900. [18]
In Kaira District in present-day Gujarat, many peasants were forced to hand over their lands to the sahukars as security for meager loans that not only didn't grant them much relief, but that they later couldn't repay on account of exorbitant interest. [19] The sahukars were to foreclose on these loans in the years after the famine; in the princely state of Baroda, for example, the recorded land-transfers were to jump from an average of 13,000 per year during the decade of the 1890s, to over 65,000 during the year 1902–1903. [19]
The sahukars, in their effort to drive up prices, were even able to export grain out of areas of scarcity using the faster means of transport that came in with British rule. [19] Here again the colonial administrators declined to intervene, even though they themselves often disapproved of the practice. [19] This happened, for example, in the Panchmahals—one of the worst famine-afflicted areas in 1900—where a railway line had been built in the 1890s. [19] A British deputy district collector recorded in his report, "The merchants first cleared large profits by exporting their surplus stocks of grain at the commencement of the famine, and, later on by importing maize from Cawnpore and Bombay and rice from Calcutta and Rangoon. "[20] He went on to record that the sahukars were building new houses for themselves from these windfall profits.
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Famine
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NLM CityHopper Flight 431 crash
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NLM CityHopper Flight 431 refers to a Fokker F-28-4000, registration PH-CHI, that was due to operate an international scheduled Rotterdam–Eindhoven–Hamburg passenger service. On 6 October 1981, the aircraft encountered severe weather on the first leg, minutes after taking off from Rotterdam Airport, and crashed 15 miles (24 km) south-southeast of Rotterdam. All 17 occupants of the aircraft – 13 passengers and crew of 4 – died in the accident. [1]:183[2]
The aircraft involved in the accident was a Fokker F28-4000, registration PH-CHI, that was built in 1979 with c/n 11141. At the time of the accident the airframe had accumulated 4,485 flight hours and 5,997 cycles. [2]
The captain was 33-year-old Jozef Werner, who had been with NLM CityHopper for nearly 11 years. He had 4,900 flight hours, including 309 hours on the Fokker F28. The first officer was 28-year-old Hendrik Schoorl, who had been with the airline for three years and had 2,971 flight hours, with 2,688 of them on the Fokker F28. [3]
During the weather briefing 44 minutes before takeoff, the crew was apprised to an area of strong thunderstorms with 3/8 (37.5%) sky coverage of cumulonimbus at a base of 1,200 feet (370 m), south-southwest winds 15 to 25 knots (28 to 46 km/h; 17 to 29 mph) strong, and 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) visibility at Rotterdam Airport (IATA: RTM). [2] The aircraft took off at 5:04 p.m. CET (UTC +1) from RTM. [2] The crew noted heavy rain in thunderstorms on the airplane's weather avoidance radar at 5:09 p.m., receiving clearance to avoid the area. [2] At 5:12 p.m. the aircraft entered a tornado while flying through clouds. [2] The weather system the aircraft entered into was apparently the same "tornado-like" system that Zeeland locals described as being responsible for considerable property damage. [4] Meteorologically, these vortices are indeed tornadoes, and the disintegrating airliner was seen exiting cloud cover. A police officer first photographed the tornado, then smoke from the burning plane a few minutes later. An investigation concluded that a sharp increase in altitude registered on the altimeter was not a change in altitude, rather a pressure drop associated with the tornado. [5][6]
Stresses experienced by the airframe owing to severe turbulence (due to a "downburst" or "mircroburst" of a few seconds)[7] resulted in loads of +6.8 g and −3.2 g causing the starboard wing to detach. [2][8] The Fellowship was designed for a maximum G-load of up to 4 g.[7] The aircraft spun down into the ground from 3,000 ft (910 m), crashing some 400 m (1,300 ft) from a Shell chemical plant on the southeastern outskirts of Moerdijk. [4] All 17 occupants of the aircraft perished in the accident. [2] While observing the unfolding incident from the ground, a firefighter suffered a fatal cardiac arrest. [3]
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Air crash
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5 shortest marriages in Bollywood that shocked everyone
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Marriage is a blissful experience. It's the union of two souls! When one decides to get married, he/she takes into consideration a lot of things and then plans their future. Celebrity couples have been shelling out major marriage and relationship goals and whenever one needs any inspiration, they look up to them. There are a few celebs who have been together for years and have survived the test of time. But, there are also a few, who tied the knot with their partners only to get separated from them in a short span of time. If you are wondering who these stars are, then read on as we share with you 5 such marriages in Bollywood that lasted for barely few months. Take a look. Manisha Koirala- Samrat Dahal Bollywood actress Manisha Koirala tied the knot with Samrat Dahal in Nepal in 2010. Post their wedding, Manisha, as reported, realised that she is not happy with Samrat and suffered from fits of rage. Once, she even took to her Facebook page and wrote, "My husband is my biggest enemy." The two got divorced in 2012. Pulkit Samrat- Shweta Rohira After dating each other for a few years, Pulkit Samrat and Salman Khan's rakhi sister Shweta Rohira tied the knot in November 2014. While many thought that they are an ideal couple in Bollywood, the two parted ways within 11-months of their wedding. The reason behind their separation was reportedly the actor's alleged closeness with co-star Yami Gautam. Karan Singh Grover- Shraddha Nigam Karan Singh Grover and Shraddha Nigam were the IT couple before they tied the knot. They got married on December 2, 2008, but within 10-months of their wedding, the two got divorced. Reportedly, Shraddha filed for divorce after Karan was linked with his female friends. Reports of Karan dating his Jhalak Dikhla Ja choreographer had also made waves at that time. Post which, Karan tied the knot with actress Jennifer Winget, but even their wedding lasted for a short span and the two went their separate ways after getting divorced within 2-years of their wedding. Mandana Karimi- Gaurav Gupta Actress Mandana Karimi got married to businessman Gaurav Gupta on January 25, 2017, in a lavish wedding in Mumbai. But within 6-months of their wedding, Mandana filed a domestic violence case against Gaurav. It was also reported that Mandana's in-laws were not happy with her profession, and hence the two got divorced. Kishore Kumar- Yogita Bali In 1976, singing legend Kishore Kumar tied the knot with Yogita Bali. Yogita was Kishore's third wife, but even their marriage lasted for a short period. Two years after their wedding, the two got divorced as it was reported that Yogita had found love in Mithun Chakraborty, whom she got married to, soon after leaving Kishore Kumar.
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Famous Person - Marriage
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FBI searching for Bank of the West robbery suspect
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DENVER — Authorities are asking for help identifying a suspect accused of using a weapon while robbing a bank in Denver on Monday. It happened at a Bank of the West located at 2050 S. Downing St. in the early afternoon on Monday, according to the FBI Rocky Mountain Safe Streets Task Force and the Denver Police Department. Authorities said he displayed a weapon and described the suspect as a Caucasian male, approximately 6 feet tall with a medium to heavy build. He was wearing a black hooded sweatshirt with a large pug on the front with the words “PUG LIFE,” a black knitted hat and blue jeans, police said. Anyone who recognized this suspect or has information about this or any other bank robbery is asked to call the FBI Rocky Mountain Safe Streets Task Force at 303-629-7171. Anyone with information can also call Crime Stoppers at 720-913-7867 or visit metrodenvercrimestoppers.com. Tipsters can remain anonymous and may be eligible for a reward of up to $2,000. Metro Denver Crime Stoppers works by assigning a code to people who anonymously submit a tip. Information is shared with law enforcement, and Crime Stoppers are notified at the conclusion of the investigation. From there, an awards committee reviews the information provided and, if the information leads to an arrest, the tipster will be notified. Rewards can be collected using the code numbers received when the tip was originally submitted. > More information about Metro Denver Crime Stoppers can be found here. > Additional Crime Stoppers bulletins can be found here. More bank robberies have been reported in Colorado this year than in the same time period last year, according to the FBI. As of Feb. 12, the FBI said 25 bank robberies had occurred in the Denver metro area. Ten of those were reported within a five-day period.
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Bank Robbery
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Colorado Freeway Closed From Mudslides, Opens Limited Lanes
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State transportation officials say the reopening is set for Saturday for a vital Colorado interstate highway corridor blocked for weeks by mud and debris slides in a wildfire burn scar. Colorado Freeway Closed From Mudslides, Opens Limited Lanes DENVER (AP) — The reopening of a vital Colorado interstate highway corridor blocked for weeks by mud and debris slides in a wildfire burn scar is set for Saturday, state transportation officials said. Cleanup operations have been focused on sweeping, removing thousands of tons of debris and re-paving sections of Interstate Highway 70 in preparation for the reopening, according to the state Department of Transportation. On Saturday, the highway will have a 1-mile stretch with one lane of traffic in each direction. There is no set time yet, but Shoshana Lew, executive director at Colorado’s Department of Transportation said Friday they expect the roadway to open “no later than tomorrow afternoon.” Officials said the mudslide destruction in the canyon area was historic and they are monitoring heavy rains for further damaging impacts on the roadway. Lew also cautioned drivers on the major highway, which connects Denver to the West Coast, to drive with reduced speeds and extra care. “We’re not out of the clear. We have to get very good cooperation from Mother Nature and make sure she is not establishing more events that place material down on the viaduct,” said Keith Stefanik, deputy incident commander for the state's transportation department. However, Stefanik said that officials completed several inspections which found some of the concerning and damaged sections of the roadway are “structurally sound" and ready to go for Saturday. On Wednesday, Gov. Jared Polis said both lanes in each direction of the highway will open most likely in November. Stefanik said the department is looking to hire an emergency contractor by next Friday and have them start construction and repairs on Aug. 23 in order to get the two-lane traffic opened by the department's Thanksgiving goal. The interstate, which winds through the narrow, 18-mile-long (29-kilometer-long) canyon, has been closed since July 29, when a series of mud and debris slides triggered by heavy rain buried parts of the highway. It marked the latest in a string of closures over the past two years for an area that serves as a key transportation corridor between the Rocky Mountains and the West Coast. Each forced long detours for semitrailers that deliver fuel and food, and inflicted economic pain on businesses that cater to tourists in the popular summer destination of Glenwood Springs. Mudslides have become more frequent and intense since the Grizzly Creek Fire scorched about 50 square miles (130 square kilometers) in the canyon last summer, worsening conditions for debris flows in burn-scarred terrain. Scientists have long warned mudslides can follow wildfires made worse by climate change. Such slides have caused deaths and destruction in recent years in California and other parts of the U.S. West. The July 29 mudslides stranded more than 100 people in their vehicles overnight, capping several weeks of perilous conditions in the scenic canyon carved by the Colorado River. The 46-mile-long (74-kilometer-long) closure has forced commercial and personal vehicle traffic to make hours-long detours, and state transport officials even recommended long-haul commercial trucks take Interstate 80 to the north in Wyoming as an alternate route. One section of the east-bound lane sustained a 15-foot-deep hole and a barrier wall along the westbound lanes was also significantly damage. In several areas, crews removed 10 to 15 feet (3 to 4.5 meters) of debris in order to inspect the roadway's damage underneath. The Federal Highway Administration has authorized an initial $11.6 million in repair funding. Polis has requested $116 million in emergency federal aid. Scientists say special calculations are needed to determine how much global warming is to blame, if at all, for a single extreme weather event such as the debris flows. But a historic drought and recent heat waves tied to climate change have, no doubt, made wildfires harder to fight in the American West. A recent study led by U.S. Geological Survey researchers mapped landslide vulnerability in Southern California and found the area can now expect small, post-wildfire landslides almost every year, and major events roughly every 10 years. It said the state faces increased risks of both wildfires and landslides caused by climate change-induced shifts in its wet and dry seasons. One particularly devastating post-fire slide occurred in Southern California in 2018, when a river of mud, trees and boulders slammed into the town of Montecito. More than 20 people died, and hundreds of homes were destroyed. Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Tags: Colorado, Associated Press Recommended Articles
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Mudslides
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5 most expensive South Indian celebrity weddings of all time
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South Indian politician, the infamous Janardhana Reddy, married off his daughter, Brahmani Reddy in what was an extravagant 5-day fiesta in Bangalore. One of the most expensive South Indian celebrity weddings, the splendid event was everything bling and bright. In fact, if it were to happen in today’s time, it would easily fit among the larger-than-life weddings shown in Netflix and Conde Nast videos collaboration, The Big Day – which recently released its second collection. Tracking back, let’s take you through some of the most outrageous South Indian celebrity weddings and their details. Brahmani Reddy and Rajeev Reddy Anil Kapoor and Harshvardhan Shoot for GQ's June 2017 Magazine Issue Cover G Janardhan Reddy, who, according to ET, was arrested for illegal mining activities in 2011, hosted one of the biggest (and most expensive) Indian weddings in 2016. His daughter, Brahmani married Rajiv Reddy in a luxurious 5-day affair, which witnessed over 50,000 guests. The Bangalore Palace Grounds were revamped to look like the Vijayanagar Empire. The bride’s trousseau featured a Rs 17 crore Kanjeevaram saree and diamond jewelry worth Rs 90 crore. The total expenses of the wedding were clocked at Rs 550 crore, per ET. Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao Junior aka South Indian actor NTR Junior married Lakshmi Rao, daughter of famous businessman Mr. Narne Srinivas Rao in another expensive South Indian celebrity wedding ceremony. According to New Indian Express, only Lakshmi’s sarees for the ceremony cost more than Rs 1 crore. The daily further stated that the mandap for the nuptials was set up for a price of Rs 18 crore, with 300 workers completing the project. The daily further reported that the grand ceremony was estimated to cost Rs 100 crore. Allu Arjun and Sneha Reddy One of the most popular and beautiful couples in the South Indian film industry, Allu Arjun and Sneha Reddy, also tied the knot in a magnificent affair. Held at Hitex Grounds in Madhapur, the wedding was photographed by Joseph Radhik, a popular celebrity wedding photographer. While speaking to WeddingSutra, he said, “The wedding had more than 40 photographers and we were capturing the candid and behind-the-scenes moments only.” It was an event that was overcrowded with people and almost brought Hyderabad to a standstill, Joseph Radhik further told WeddingSutra. Ram Charan Teja and Upasana Kamineni Actor-turned-politician Chiranjeevi's Son Ram Charan Teja married his childhood friend and then-girlfriend, Upasana Kamineni in a grand ceremony in 2012. Celebrities like Amitabh Bachchan, Sridevi and Boney Kapoor were in attendance, with a few big names from the political world too, per News18. The wedding was held at a farmhouse in the capital city. Surya and Jyothika South Indian actors Surya and Jyothika exchanged vows in a grand and dreamy ceremony that was dominated by expenses on the bride’s outfit and larger-than-life erections for the wedding. Jyothika’s outfit was estimated to be priced over Rs 3 lakhs, per DNA. With the likes of Kamal Hassan, Dhanush and Aishwarya among many other celebs in attendance, the wedding was a grand affair.
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Famous Person - Marriage
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Downend air crash
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The Downend air crash occurred on 6 November 1957 when a prototype Bristol Britannia aircraft crashed in woods near Overndale Road in Downend, a suburb of Bristol, England, on its landing approach at Filton airport during a test flight. All fifteen on board, four crew and 11 technicians, died in the crash. [1]
The exact cause of the crash was never determined, but was suspected to be a malfunction of the autopilot, possibly due to faulty wiring. The company which manufactured the autopilot system issued a statement claiming it was not due to the autopilot system, but still altered the system in newer aircraft; the official report states unknown cause but "the autopilot system cannot be ruled out as the likely cause". Another source cites the cause as "...an instrument failure which ultimately led to a loss of control. "[2]
All 15 aboard died in the crash. Despite the aircraft coming down in a residential area, nobody on the ground was killed. One woman, a resident of Overndale Road, was taken to hospital after being hurt by the impact blast when one of the engines and part of the wing landed next to her house while she was hanging washing on the line in the garden. [1]
Another man, who at the time was tiling the roof of a nearby house, broke his arm after falling having been shocked by the aircraft's low flight path. A memorial service was held at Bristol Cathedral on 19 November 1957. Commemorative events were held on 25th and 34th anniversaries, when the first memorial plaque listing the names of the dead was erected at Downend Folk House. [3] Downend Local History Society holds its meetings in the building, which have one of its rooms named Britannia Room. [4]
A memorial plaque at the crash site, now called Britannia Wood, was unveiled on 3 November 2007 by Beryl Statham, the pilot's widow. [5]
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Air crash
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South32's legal Wollongong creek discharge 'exceeds safe levels' of heavy metals, scientist says
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The levels of waste containing heavy metals that mining company South32 is licenced to release into a Wollongong creek is causing heartache in sections of the community.
A scientist has taken samples from the thousands of litres of brine waste water trucked 40 kilometres from the mine to Allens Creek up to 17 times a day.
Water scientist Ian Wright from the University of Western Sydney said the "inappropriate" discharge contains nickel, zinc, copper, arsenic and cobalt and "exceed safe levels".
"I looked up the conditions, and that's probably the biggest surprise — that the [NSW Environment Protection Authority] actually permits this discharge at this sensitive point," he said.
"It did meet the conditions, because the conditions in that licence allow for very, very dangerous levels of those pollutants."
But Dr Wright said the licence did not regulate cobalt at all, which was a separate concern.
"As it has accumulated at very high concentrations in Port Kembla inner harbour and outer harbour, and Allens Creek itself," he said.
"The elevated levels contribute to an estuary already containing elevated levels in the sediment.
"Their EPL licence does not name cobalt."
South32 said its testing showed it was operating within the boundaries.
"All of our recent monitoring at Allens Creek has shown that the substances we test for were at levels beneath the thresholds permitted by the NSW Environment Protection Authority," a spokesperson said.
The company said it conducted regular monitoring and published the results online.
The NSW EPA said it was common and accepted for brine from reverse osmosis treatment plants to be discharged into the ocean.
"The EPA has licence limits for arsenic, copper, nickel and zinc," a spokesperson said.
"That licence does not allow ecologically hazardous discharges into Allens Creek.
"Cobalt is not on the licence because monitoring has shown its it not elevated downstream of the discharge in Allens Creek."
But Wollongong Greens councillor Cath Blakey said she was appalled by the amount of wastewater being trucked to the creek every day.
"I saw one this morning a tanker that takes 34,000 litres and comes down from Appin to Unanderra 10 to 17 times a day," she said.
"That is a lot of water that they are sending down Allens Creek."
Environmental campaigner and Port Kembla resident Jess Whittaker said she was shocked by what was going into the harbour, particularly given the array of wildlife living nearby.
"If we had a bridge from this outlet point, you could walk to the ecologically significant habitat of Martin Island, the Five Islands, where we have got seals, we have got dolphins, everything is living out there and we are just treating this place like a drain for toxic pollution," she said.
Fishing is banned in both the inner and out harbours at Port Kembla and in Allens Creek.
The ABC has sought to clarify whether this is due to heavy metal concentrations or other factors.
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Environment Pollution
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Two Maynard police officers and a local firefighter were also injured in the blaze but have since been released from the hospital, officials said.
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Two Maynard police officers and a local firefighter were also injured in the blaze but have since been released from the hospital, officials said.
Dozens of Eversource workers were on scene Thursday night and Friday morning, digging a hole in front of the home. Fire officials said Friday evening the utility was inspecting supply lines throughout the town as a precaution.
"We are deeply saddened by the tragic loss of a resident and the injuries suffered by the emergency responders in the Park Street fire yesterday," Eversource said in a statement Friday. "We will remain in the area to continue monitoring and will work with state and local agencies as we investigate what happened."
The investigation by state and local fire officials, among other agencies, found that a gas line outside the home leaked, then spread into the basement crawl space in front of the home, where it ignited.
Two days after the explosion, two leaks were reported in Maynard , Stowers said Saturday. Neither of those leaks were believed to have posed a risk to the public.
In a statement Saturday, Eversource called the two gas leaks "minor," committed to continued inspections and referred to Thursday's deadly fire:
Eversource crews have remained in the Maynard area since Thursday afternoon’s event working with state and local agencies as we investigate what happened. During our check of the system, our crews discovered and repaired two minor gas leaks, and they will continue inspections throughout the area.
We are deeply saddened by the loss of a resident in the Park Street fire on Thursday and thank the first responders for their heroic efforts.
We will continue reaching out to neighbors and customers to update them as we complete our check of the system over the coming days.
The Maynard Fire Department told town residents that Eversource would be making precautionary inspections to look for gas leaks.
In a Facebook post, the department noted the approach from Eversource was precautionary, adding, "This is not the same type of problem that occurred in the Merrimack Valley."
The post was referring to a series of gas explosions that devastated Lawrence, Andover and North Andover in 2018, killing one person, injuring dozens and displacing thousands.
Columbia Gas, the utility behind the deadly gas explosions that rocked Lawrence, Andover and North Andover more than a year and a half ago was sentenced Tuesday to pay a $53 dollar fine and serve three years probation.
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Gas explosion
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Hyesan residential housing complex set alight after gas explosion
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The local fire department failed to arrive at the scene until two hours after the fire began
By
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2021.07.05 2:04pm
A gas explosion set off a major fire recently at a residential housing complex in Hyesan, Yanggang Province. This is the second gas-related fire in the area since last August.
According to a Daily NK source in Yanggang Province on July 1, the explosion took place at 1 PM on June 27 due to a gas (liquified petroleum gas, LPG) leak at the home of a man in his 40s, surnamed Choi, in the Hyegang District of Hyesan. More than 20 homes were engulfed by powerful flames caused by the explosion.
The area has a large number of two-story buildings divided into small apartments (called “harmonica houses” in North Korea). The close proximity of each apartment in these complexes has created the opportunity for small fires to turn into conflagrations in the past.
Just like in August , the local fire department failed to arrive at the scene until two hours after the fire began – and after local residents had already subdued the blaze.
Video capture of explosions in Hyesan on Aug. 3, 2020. / Image: Daily NK
While North Korean authorities did apologize for responding late to the fire last August, the fire department’s failure to respond promptly this time suggests that the authorities have not taken concrete steps to improve response times.
Although the incident did not cause any casualties, the 20 or so houses affected by the fire have suffered extensive damage.
“It was impossible to retrieve anything – clothing, food, or other possessions – due to the violent flames, so [the victims] ended up on the streets,” the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity. “Despite these circumstances, [the authorities] have yet to provide them with emergency essentials, like food or blankets.”
Back in January, North Korean authorities forced people to take up “home and family property insurance,” offering to provide them with compensation for incidents involving fires or explosions, or natural weather events, such as floods.
“Those who suffered property damage this time around are preparing to claim their compensation in accordance with their ‘insurance agreements,’” the source said. Based on the terms and conditions of these agreements, people paying an annual premium of KPW 4,000 can be provided up to KPW 1 million in compensation.
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Gas explosion
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Tucker Fire
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The Tucker Fire was a wildfire that burned near Clear Lake National Wildlife Refuge in Modoc County, California in the United States. [2] The fire ignited on Sunday, July 28, 2019 along Highway 139 and went on to burn an estimated 14,217 acres of land. [3] As of August 15, the fire was 95% contained. Officials say the wildfire was caused by traffic on Highway 139. [4]
The Tucker fire ignited on Sunday, July 28, along Tucker Butte Road, east of California State Route 139 near the Perez Overpass and immediately grew to over 2,000 acres (809 ha) of land its first several hours of burning. [5] Throughout its run, the fire did not impact any structures of note however did directly impact large transmission lines within the fire area. [5]
Early Monday, July 29, the fire had grown to an estimated 2,461 acres (996 ha). Later that day, the fire spotted outside of control lines and proceeded to balloon in size to over 11,000 acres (4,452 ha) throughout that afternoon due to warm and dry weather conditions, burning predominantly northeast towards Clear Lake Reservoir. [6] During that time, residents along County Road 114/202, Coyote Butte and the Horse Mountain areas were put under a fire warning, but not under any evacuation warning. [6] At the time, the Tucker Fire was regarded as the largest blaze to burn on National Forest Land during the 2019 fire season as the blaze had grown to upwards of 12,973 acres (5,250 ha) in what had been regarded as an unusually inactive fire season for the state. [7][8] Late Monday evening, as the blaze made its way to a nature fire break in the Clear Lake Reservoir, fire crews conducted burn-out operations to corral the flare up wherever necessary. [9] By this time over 500 firefighters where actively engaging the fire. [10]
By Tuesday, July 30, the Tucker Fire had not displayed any erratic behavior as it had the previous two days of burning and was estimated to be 14,419 acres (5,835 ha) with at least 10% containment. [10] Within the following days, the fires containment would grow to 95% as the estimated acreage would be slightly downgraded to 14,217 acres (5,753 ha). [11]
The U.S. Forest Service cited that, much like two previous fires in the Modoc County area during the summer fire season, the Tucker fires ignition was directly human-caused, however unintentionally. [12] No further details have been reported on the specifics of the fires ignition as of this time.
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Fire
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2019–2020 French pension reform strike
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Édouard PhilippePrime Minister of France
A strike began on 5 December to protest against broad changes to France's pension system proposed by President Emmanuel Macron. [1][2][3][4][5] Reforming the pensions was one of President Macron's promises and there are three primary proposals of the pension reform plan. The first is to create a universal state retirement plan, which would replace the 42 individual retirement plans that exist in France. The second is a "points system", to give a pension in proportion to the contributions paid. The third is to "improve the pensions of the most disadvantaged. "[6] The result of the system would increase the retirement age of many jobs in France. The 2019 French pension reform plan follows the prior pension reforms in 1993, 2003, 2010, and 2013, but is far more comprehensive in that rather than adjusting the system. In September 2017, Jean-Paul Delevoye was appointed as High Commissioner for Pension Reforms, and was ordered to review the pensions system. In July 2019, he delivered a report of his recommendations, outlining the basics of a bill to be proposed to the National Assembly for pension reform. He resigned on 16 December after the press revealed he forgot to disclose 13 volunteer activities including a remunerated one for the French Federation of Insurances. [7] Jean-Paul Delevoye was replaced by Laurent Pietraszewski, former employee of the French multinational retail group Auchan. [citation needed][unreliable source?] If the bill becomes law, it will only come into force in 2025. Government ministers have claimed that the pension reforms will simplify a complex system, as well as making it fairer. Unions claim that the system will increase inequality between pensions and decrease the general level of the pensions. This is the longest strike in modern French history. [8] After a month of protest, polling reported in January 2020 a 61% support in favour of the strikes in the French population. [9]
The strikes, led in part by the CGT but also by the UNSA, the FSU and Solidaires unions, began prior to the disclosure of the details of President Emmanuel Macron's plan to merge France's current 42 different pension schemes into one state-managed system. [10] The French government maintains that merging the variety of profession dependent schemes is crucial. Unions say introducing a single system will mean millions of workers will end up working beyond the legal retirement age of 62 or receiving a far lower pension. [11]
The project itself was officially announced on 11 December 2019. The mandatory impact study of the reform is to be released on 24 January with the submission of the project to the ministers. [12] The government opted for an accelerated procedure with a submission to the House on 17 February. [13]
The new system will essentially work in the following way:
The new system is criticised because of its differences with the current system:
Initially designed to create a unique pension funds system in France, following the protest of the unions, the project has introduced 8 special plans[17] for policemen, aeroplane pilots and stewards, train drivers, firemen, jailmen, truck drivers, fishermen and teachers. These plans were introduced to avoid strikes in critical sectors (police, air traffic) or to try to end ongoing strikes. French information website France 24 reported that women may be the "biggest losers" with the pension reform. [18]
Strikes began on 5 December 2019 as more than 30 unions launched strike actions with the intention to shut down the country and force President Emmanuel Macron to reevaluate his plans for pension reform. Actions resulted in the Eiffel Tower being shut down along with most of the light rail lines in Paris. [19] 6000 police were deployed in Paris alone in anticipation of the protests, particularly around the Élysée Palace which was barricaded. [20]
The protests became violent in the east of Paris where protesters were seen lighting fires and smashing windows. [20][21]
The police reported 65,000 people had demonstrated in Paris, while the CGT labour union suggested 250,000 people had turned out. [22]
While across the country the Interior Ministry said more than 800,000 people were protesting the CGT said the figure was 1.5 million. [22]
Strikes and protests continued on 6 December as unions said there would be no let-up. While some schools reopened, almost all high-speed train services were cancelled, most of the Paris metro remained shut down, and hundreds of flights were cancelled. [11]
Transport across the country remained paralysed on 8 December as strikes by state rail company SNCF and Parisian public transport group RATP continued into their fourth day. Unions announced they were planning another large demonstration on 10 December. [23]
On 12 December French Prime Minister Édouard Philippe unveiled the government's proposal for raising the retirement age from 62 to 64 and harmonizing the 42 different retirement schedules. [24] The next day, the CFDT announced that it would be calling for its members to join the demonstrations on 17 December. [25]
To protest against the loss of their special regime, ballerinas from the Paris Opera performed Swan Lake in frontcourt of Palais Garnier on 23 December. [26]
Union workers from the electricity company EDF conducted operations to cut power of symbolic companies such as Amazon or deputies from Emmanuel Macron's party LREM,[27] while also performing "Robin Hood" operations to put electricity back on to homes unable to pay their bills. [28]
In Caen, on 8 January 2020, dozens of lawyers threw their robes in front of the ministry of justice Nicole Belloubet as a sign of protest. [29] Lawyers are also on strike protesting against the destruction of their profitable pension regime. [30]
During union demonstrations, the level of violence exhibited by the police, as already condemned by the United Nations during the yellow vests demonstrations,[31] was extremely high with videos allegedly reporting a police officer firing point-blank at the protesters with a riot control gun on 9 January. [32]
On 25 January, French firefighters joined the protests. People rally on the street with Hong Kong anarchist flags, Antifa and Palestinian flags while together sang "L'Internationale" then shouted "Overthrow Capitalism! "; "Revolution now!" and there were several violent clashes with the police. Jean-Paul Delevoye, the High Commissioner for Pension Reforms, was revealed to be funded by the French Federation of Insurances,[7] which has a direct interest in the pension reform. Moreover, being funded by a private company while being a member of the government is illegal according to the French constitution. [33]
Articles have also pointed out the proximity between Emmanuel Macron and BlackRock, one of the world's largest asset management funds, which is interested in having the billions of euros of the French pension fund enter the financial market.
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Strike
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George H.W. Bush Birthplace
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What do you think of when you think of George H.W. Bush? Of course, he was America’s 41st President, the Vice-President under Reagan, and the former director of the Central Intelligence Agency. But what about his life before public life? Famously, Bush owned and operated a gigantic oil company, the Bush-Overbey Oil Development Company, in Texas . It was here he amassed his fortune and first gained notoriety. Texas would also be where he first began his career in government, being elected as a representative in 1966 for Texas’ 7th Congressional District, the densely-populated greater Houston area. Texas would even be where Bush’s son, George W. Bush (eventually our 43rd President) would be raised. To many, Texas and the Bush family are synonymous. Thus, it may come as a surprise Bush was born in the cozy suburban burough of Milton , directly outside of the famously liberal Boston . In fact, one wouldn’t be at fault for not knowing this—Bush seemed to downplay where he was born, so as not to seem like a traitor to his adopted home turf of the Lone Star State. In fairness, Bush spent only a year of his life in Milton, with the family moving to Connecticut in 1925, while the future president was but an infant. But this wouldn’t deter Milton residents from being proud of their resident-turned-President. In 1997, a stone and plaque were unveiled outside of his birthplace home to signify the site’s historic significance. Bush, who was in attendance, beamed proudly, proud, and comfortable with his status as a child of the Commonwealth, even if only for a day. After the Bush family left Massachusetts in 1925, the house Bush was born in would switch hands dozens of times, remaining a private residence to this day. While the property is not accessible to the public, the marker does serve as an interesting historical footnote in the legacy of the Bush dynasty. While many Presidential homes have become sacred heritage sites that attract visitors from across the globe, Bush’s modest marker serves as a quaint and respectful way to commemorate the Miltonite’s legacy.
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New archeological discoveries
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Indian rocket suffers catastrophic failure during launch, Earth-watching satellite lost
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An Indian rocket carrying a new Earth-observation satellite for the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) suffered a catastrophic failure shortly after launching early Thursday (Aug. 12) from the country's Satish Dhawan Space Centre on Sriharikota Island in eastern India. The liftoff occurred at 5:43 a.m. local time in India (8:13 p.m. EDT Aug 11/0013 GMT). The launch failure, the first for India since 2017 , occurred sometime past the six-minute mark when the mission's rocket, the 12-story-tall Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle, was expected to have ignited its cryogenic third stage. That third stage ignition did not happen, ISRO officials said. Video: Watch India's GSLV rocket lift off on ill-fated launch An Indian GLSV rocket carrying the EOS-O3 Earth observation satellite for the Indian Space Research Organisation lifts off from Second Launch Pad of the Satish Dhawan Space Centre on Sriharikota Island, India on Aug. 12, 2021. It failed to reach orbit. "Performance of first and second stages was normal. However, Cryogenic Upper Stage ignition did not happen due to technical anomaly," ISRO officials wrote in an update on Twitter. "The mission couldn't be accomplished as intended." The launch "could not be fully accomplished" because of a "technical anomaly observed in the cryogenic stage, ISRO chair K. Sivan said in a brief televised statement after the failed mission. Lost with the GSLV rocket was the EOS-03 Earth observation satellite designed to be a state-of-the-art tool for ISRO to study our planet. The satellite was expected to last at least 10 years working to provide near real-time images of India, track natural disasters and other short-term events and collect data to assist agriculture and forestry by monitoring crop health, according to an ISRO mission description . The GSLV launch failure breaks a streak of 14 successful launches for ISRO, the launch tracking site Spaceflight Now reported. It began after the the 2017 failure of a different Indian rocket, a smaller Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, carrying a satellite for the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System. That 2017 failure was the first in 20 years for India's PSLV, according to SpaceNews . Related: India's human spaceflight plans coming together despite delays An Indian Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle carrying the EOS 3 satellite rolls out to its launchpad at the Satish Dhawan Space Center ahead of a planned launch at 8:43 p.m. EDT on Aug. 11, 2021. It was Aug. 12 local time at launch. (Image credit: ISRO) The last year has been a trying one for India's space program. After the launch of EOS-01 in January 2020, the country's launches were placed on hold during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. The resumed late that year with two missions, one each in November and December. That November launch successfully placed the EOS-01 Earth observation satellite into orbit. The delays from the pandemic prompted ISRO to move the launch of EOS-03 ahead of the EOS-02 mission, originally targeted to fly in March 2021, according to a report by the Indian Express news site. That mission had been rescheduled for no earlier than September and ISRO had planned to launch at least four more missions by the end of 2021, the report stated. All five of those missions will likely be on hold as ISRO investigates the cause of the GSLV launch failure. Editor's note: This story was updated Aug. 12 at 7 a.m. EDT to include a statement from ISRO on the GLSV launch failure and the fact that its upper stage did not ignite.
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New achievements in aerospace
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Whitmer executive order creates Michigan forensic science task force
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Governor Gretchen Whitmer has signed an executive order creating a Michigan Task Force on Forensic Science — a move advocates for the wrongfully convicted and some state lawmakers have long called for. This new task force is charged with reviewing the current state of forensic science in Michigan, and providing its findings and recommendations to the governor by the end of the year. "A fair trial is at the core of the American criminal justice system,” Whitmer said in a statement. “While forensic science is an important tool, misapplication of forensic science can deprive a person of a fair trial. We must ensure that Michigan adheres to the highest standards of evidence, and that practitioners throughout our criminal justice system understand how to apply forensic science properly.” The executive order states that “studies have demonstrated that the misapplication of forensic science is the second most common contributing factor in wrongful convictions in the United States. Even though this state’s world-class forensic science laboratories reliably deliver sound results, forensic science goes well beyond the work of our labs…. “It is vital that the State of Michigan and its courts rigorously adhere to best practices for the use of forensic science within the criminal justice system. Moreover, these practices are evolving faster than ever with the advancement of new technology and scientific practices.” The task force will be housed within the Michigan State Police. State Police Director Col. Joe Gasper, and State Supreme Court Chief Justice Bridget Mary McCormack will serve as co-chairs. Other members include medical practitioners, lawyers, government officials, and academics. According to the governor’s office, their findings will recommend, among other things, methodology improvements, processes to address misconduct, and procedures to update stakeholders on developments in forensic science. Several recently-exonerated people in Michigan were convicted based on faulty or fraudulent forensic science. State Senator Stephanie Chang (D-Detroit), the co-sponsor of bills that called for the creation of a Michigan Forensic Science Conviction, called the task force an exciting step. Other innocence advocates applauded it too. “We know that so many wrongful convictions are the result of faulty forensic science,” Chang tweeted on Friday. “This task force is a needed step to ensure our justice system works properly and to prevent wrongful convictions.”
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Organization Established
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2020 Chuhuiv An-26 crash
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On 25 September 2020, an An-26Sh military transport plane crashed during a training flight[1] in Chuhuiv, Kharkiv Oblast, Ukraine. [2] Of the 27 people on board, 26 died, and one survived. The aircraft was destroyed. The aircraft had tail number 76 and belonged to the 203rd Training Aviation Brigade (A4104 military unit). According to an official government investigation both pilot errors and technical malfunctions of the aircraft caused the crash. [3]
From 18:50 25 September 2020, there were flights on the An-26Sh training of flying and navigating cadets of the Ivan Kozhedub National Air Force University to gain skills in flying and piloting aircraft. The flights went according to plan and were to last until 10:50 pm. In the time before the crash, the plane had made six successful take-offs and five successful landings. [4][5][6][7]
The crew consisted of 7 people. The crew was commanded by Bohdan Kyshenia, an instructor pilot, a second-class pilot who had flown more than 700 hours. The cadets took turns sitting in the right chair to gain piloting skills. [8][5][9]
According to official data, the following course of events was previously established:[6][7][8]
The plane crashed near the M03 Kyiv-Kharkiv-Dovzhansky highway. The fire, which broke out after the plane crash, was extinguished at 9:55 pm by the State Emergency Service brigades and other the Ministry of Internal Affairs units that arrived on the site. [10] During the crash, the plane nearly hit one of the cars traveling on the highway. Drivers and passengers called rescuers to the crash site and provided first aid to the people who survived the crash: one of them was on fire and extinguished with a fire extinguisher, and the other had a broken head and a cut on his leg, but he was conscious and could speak. [11][12] Eyewitnesses also reported that the cadets jumped without parachutes. [13][14]
There were 27 people on board – 20 cadets of the Ivan Kozhedub National Air Force University and seven officers. [1] One cadet wasn't allowed to board the flight at the last moment. Twenty-five bodies were found at the crash site. Two cadets survived the accident, but one of them, having received burns to 90% of his body, died on 26 September in an ambulance hospital in Kharkiv. A total of 26 people died in the plane crash – 19 cadets and seven crew members. [15][16][17][18][19] The bodies of the dead were badly burned and mutilated, and a DNA examination was required to identify them, which took 2–3 weeks. [20]
One cadet survived and is in the Military Medical Clinical Center of the Northern Region "with numerous bruises and concussions.". [21] It was later reported that his condition was stable, he had injured his leg and received multiple bruises, but he will soon be discharged from the hospital. [22][23] He later said that everything happened quickly, "like in a computer game," and after he woke up, he helped put out the person who was on fire. [24][14]
Throughout the 25 September evening, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Defense, and the Kharkiv Oblast State Administration called different numbers of people on board the plane at the crash time. [25][26][27][10]
The plane wreckage is located at 533–534 kilometers of the M03 Kyiv-Kharkiv-Dovzhansky highway, which complicates the vehicles movement that passes through one free lane. [28]
There are no certainties yet as to what caused the plane crash. [29] The Geneva-based Bureau of Aircraft Accidents Archives suggested that since 2017, at least 10 Antonov An-26 aircraft are said to have crashed. [30]
According to the Minister of Defense of Ukraine Andriy Taran, the plane was in good condition, had enough flight resources, but for unknown reasons caught the wing on the ground. According to preliminary estimates, the failure of one of the engine sensors had been considered, but the engine itself did not appear to have failed. [5][4] At the same time, the mother of the pilot, Ashraf Msuia, told journalists that her son mentioned that the aircraft itself was not in good shape at all, and that the aircraft's engines were constantly failing. [31]
The An-26Sh (tail number 76, serial number 56-08, issued on 21 October 1977) had a total flight time of 5985 hours and made 3450 landings. In July 1996, it was renovated at the Aircraft Repair Plant 410 (Kyiv). Since the repair time, it has flown 1,800 hours and made 2,160 landings. For aircraft of this type, the service life limit is set at 20,000 flight hours and 14,000 landings. In August 2020, under the Antonov specialists' supervision, the service life was extended until 21 June 2022, and the next overhaul was to take place in July 2022. AI-24VT engines were installed on the plane. The service life of the right engine (released in the fourth quarter of 1974) before the next repair was until 11 October 2020, and the left (released in December 1977) – until 5 June 2021. [6][32][8]
The plane was ready for flight and no major repairs were planned for 2020. The information on the Prozorro public procurement website, which was published in July 2020, on the conclusion of the contract for the aircraft repair, one of which was the An-26Sh with tail number 76, related to the work performed by Antonov in full and Antonov extended the aircraft service life by two years. [33][34]
On 26 September 2020, Ivan Kozhedub National Air Force University published on its Facebook page the names of officers and cadets who died in the plane crash. [35] Two people survived the crash, one of them died later in a hospital. [36]
A farewell ceremony for 20-year-old cadet Vitaliy Vilkhovy, who died at the hospital from severe injuries in a plane crash, took place on 29 September at the Memorial of Glory in Kharkiv. [37]
On 26 September, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky created a commission for investigation of the circumstances of the tragedy and providing all necessary assistance. [1] The State Commission for Investigation of the Circumstances of the Tragedy and Providing All Necessary Assistance to the Victims included: Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Colonel-General Ruslan Khomchak, Head of the Security Service of Ukraine Ivan Bakanov, First Deputy NSDC Secretary Mykhailo Koval, Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Arsen Avakov, Minister of Health Maksym Stepanov, Deputy Head of Office of the President of Ukraine Oleh Tatarov, Head of State Aviation Administration of Ukraine Oleksandr Bilchuk, Chairman of State Emergency Service of Ukraine Mykola Chechotkin, Kharkiv Oblast State Administration Head Oleksiy Kucher and other officials. The State Commission is headed by Deputy Prime Minister Oleh Urusky, Minister of Defense, and deputy head, Andriy Taran. [38]
The Mourning Day was declared in Ukraine on 26 September. [39] In Kharkiv, citizens carried flowers and lanterns to the Ivan Kozhedub National Air Force University's main building. [40] On the same day, Zelensky instructed to suspend the flights of all An-26s and their analogues until the crash causes were clarified and to provide information on the technical condition of military equipment.
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Air crash
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A Viking Archaeologist Shares 6 of the Most Fascinating Finds From a Slew of Recent Discoveries Made in Melting Ice
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Global warming has unlocked hundreds of Viking artifacts from the ice of the Norwegian mountains in recent years. In November, archaeologists from the Secret of the Ice project, part of Norway’s Glacier Archaeology Program, discovered 68 arrows spanning a period of 6,000 years—a record for any frozen archaeological site—on the Langfonne ice patch, an ancient Viking hunting ground. A few months earlier, scientists announced discoveries that had been frozen in the rapidly melting Lendbreen ice patch, which was once part of a Viking trade route. Ice patches tend to preserve artifacts frozen inside them, but they grow and shrink with the seasons, allowing melt water to displace objects from where they were originally lost. “We get angry reactions to our finds from climate science deniers all the time,” Lars Pilø, the lead archaeologist on the Secret of the Ice project, told Artnet News. “The whole idea that one can disprove the climate science behind global warming with archaeological finds shows a stunning level of ignorance.” A 1,300-year-old arrow from the peak period of hunting at the Langfonne ice patch. Photo courtesy of Secrets of the Ice. The newest arrows were the best preserved, while the oldest arrows had been displaced due to seasonal melting over the millennia and were heavily damaged from exposure to the elements. The ice patch, which first formed around 5,600 BC, currently measures just 30 percent of the area it covered 30 years ago, and 10 percent of its size during the Little Ice Age that ended in the mid 1800s. As melting accelerates, archaeologists are in a race against time to recover artifacts as they are freed from the ice, before they dry out and rapidly begin to deteriorate. We spoke to Pilø about some of the most interesting artifacts recovered from the ice in recent years, how Vikings used the items, and what they tell us about the mountain pass and the people who traveled over it. A tinderbox found in the Lendbreen pass. Photo by Espen Finstad, courtesy of Secrets of the Ice. “The tinderbox contained a wooden stick and small bits of resin-filled wood. It is not dated or analyzed yet. It is probably an accidental loss, since it is complete. We think that it is likely to date to the Viking Age or the Medieval Period (500 to 1000 years old), but it could also be younger—or older.” The horse snowshoe found in the Lendbreen pass. Photo by Espen Finstad, courtesy of Secrets of the Ice. “Horse snowshoes are known from historical sources. However, to our knowledge, this is the first horse snowshoe found on an archaeological site. We have two more such snowshoes from Lendbreen that are less well preserved. The snowshoe was used when the snow was either powdery or rotten, so winter or spring/early summer. They are not necessary when the snow is firm. Losing one of them would make crossing the snow more difficult, depending on the snow conditions.” The Lendbreen tunic, which dates to the year 300, is the oldest piece of clothing ever found in Norway. Photo courtesy of Secrets of the Ice. “The tunic is made from wool, which was spun and woven. It survived because it has been inside the ice for most of time since it was lost. Clothing is also known from glaciated mountain passes in the Alps. One reason they were left there could be hypothermia. When people are freezing to death, they become very warm in the final stage, which can lead to undressing—a paradoxical behavior.” A wooden whisk, radiocarbon-dated to the 11th century AD found in the Lendbreen pass. It was perhaps secondarily used as a tent peg, as such whisks were rarely pointed. Photo courtesy of Secrets of the Ice. “The whisk is a kitchen utensil used for stirring [foods like] porridge. It is probably an accidental loss on the route between the main farm and the summer farm. Such whisks are still made today, but they are usually not pointed, so this artifact may have been used secondarily for another purpose, perhaps as a tent peg.” A wooden bit for a goat kid or lamb, radiocarbon-dated to the 11th century AD, found in the Lendbreen pass. Photo courtesy of Secrets of the Ice. “It is a bit for young animals, mainly goat kids and lambs, to stop them from getting milk from their mothers. Identified by local elders, who used such bits (in juniper) until the 1930s. Ours is also in juniper, but radiocarbon-dated to the 11th century AD. It is a testimony to farm animals having used the Lendbreen pass” A distaff found in the Lendbreen pass. Photo by Espen Finstad, courtesy of Secrets of the Ice. “This distaff is made from birch and is 1200 years old. It’s from the pass area at Lendbreen. A similar distaff has been found in the Oseberg Viking ship burial. Distaffs are tools used to hold the wool while it is being spun. Perhaps someone was spinning wool while walking the long route between the farm and the summer farm? Or it could have been an accidental loss.”
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New archeological discoveries
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An Archaeologist Discovered a Trove of Ancient Catholic Relics Under the Floorboards of a Tudor Manor in England
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An illuminated manuscript and prayer book were among the items hidden centuries ago by secretly-practicing Catholics. , August 18, 2020 When workers lifted floorboards to repair the joists of a 500-year-old historic home in England, they inadvertently revealed a once-in-a-lifetime discovery. Under the attic floor of Oxburgh Hall, a moated manor house in Norfolk, were pieces of Elizabethan-era textiles and the relics of centuries-old Catholic books, which were likely hidden by the owners following Elizabeth I’s outlawing of the religion in 1558. The discovery was announced this week by the National Trust, a UK governmental body tasked with protecting historic sites. The house, built by Sir Edmund Bedingfeld after he inherited the estate in 1476, was undergoing a $7.8 million renovation to its roof at the time. English archaeologist Matt Champion, who works with National Trust, was on site to explore the site will visitors were away during lockdown and made the discovery. A fragment from a 15th-century illuminated manuscript. Courtesy of the National Trust. Photo: Mike Hodgson. “When the boards came up, we could see a wave pattern in the debris which showed it had been undisturbed for centuries,” said National Trust curator Anna Forest in a statement. “The peak of each wave of dust, debris, and objects was highest under the crack between the boards. It was often inches thick and lay on top of a layer of lime plaster, which drew out the moisture from the debris and resulted in much of it being perfectly preserved over the centuries.” Highlighting the group of discovered artifacts was a fragment of a 15th-century illuminated manuscript, the gold leaf of its text still intact. A medieval manuscripts specialist at Cambridge University’s library identified the fragment as belonging to psalm 39 from an early Latin translation of the bible called the Vulgate. It likely belonged to a small prayer book, the specialist explained, which may have been used for secret Catholic masses before being stashed when the queen’s men came knocking. In a similar vein was a remnant from a 16th-century Spanish romance book, the type of which English Catholics of the period would often read as religious material wasn’t available in their home country. Oxburgh Hall. Courtesy of the National Trust. Scraps of more than 200 fine textiles dating between the late 16th century and the 18th century were found among two long-abandoned rats’ nests in the northwest corner of the home, as were scraps of handwritten music. Cigarette packets and an empty box of chocolates, both of which hailed from around World War II, were also found in the attic, suggesting someone had been trying to hide their vices. “[T]hese finds are far beyond anything we expected to see,” added Russell Clement, general manager at Oxburgh Hall, in the announcement. “This is a building which is giving up its secrets slowly. We don’t know what else we might come across—or what might remain hidden for future generations to reveal.” A once-prominent citizen, Sir Bedingfeld was ostracized after refusing to sign the Queen’s Act of Uniformity, which acknowledged the banning of Catholic mass. For generations after, he and his family continued to practice the illegal form of faith secretly, even going so far as hiding priests in a dedicated “priest hole.”
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New archeological discoveries
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UEFA Euro 2016 riots
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The UEFA Euro 2016 football championships in France saw several recorded instances of football hooliganism and related violence between fans, both at the venues where matches took place, and in cities near the participating stadiums. The violence started immediately before the tournament began, and involved clashes between several countries. Some of the rioting came from established gangs and football hooligan organisations, which deliberately intended to provoke violence. They clashed with riot police who controlled the crowds using tear gas and a water cannon. Both the organisers and government officials in several countries condemned all violence, and recommended various sanctions up to and including removal from the tournament and a ban on alcohol. Russian politicians later said the country had been singled out for unfair treatment and protested against a suspended disqualification. On 10 June, English fans at Marseille clashed with police, who used tear gas to break up the crowd. One fan and one local man were arrested. [1] Fans later complained that the police were unnecessarily confrontational, and provoked further problems. [2] Six English fans were later arrested and charged with throwing bottles at the police or other fans. [3] One English fan was hospitalised, while dozens of other fans were injured in the clashes. [4][5] England striker Jamie Vardy's wife Rebekah was hit by tear gas during the disruption. [6] The first two England fans tried for throwing bottles at police were each given a three-month prison sentence and a two-year ban from France. [7]
The next day, English and Russian fans clashed before that evening's game between the two teams. The police again used tear gas and a water cannon to control crowds. Immediately after the match, which ended in a 1–1 draw, around 150 Russian fans at the Stade Vélodrome charged towards England supporters in a neighbouring terrace. Russian fans set off flares and climbed over fencing to attack the opposing supporters. [8] Two Russian supporters were also arrested over a pitch invasion during the game. [7] Two England fans were left in comas after being attacked with hammers and iron bars by Russian hooligans. [9][10] Video footage was later released showing the Russian hooligans attacking English fans with chairs and metal bars. The chief prosecutor in Marseille called the group "hyper-rapid and hyper-violent". [11]
A week later at the Stade Vélodrome, before the match between Iceland and Hungary, Hungarian fans clashed with stewards. A report in The Guardian said some supporters tried to climb a fence and a flare was thrown, but otherwise the match was peaceful. [12]
The whole thing is a disaster waiting to happen. It's like a massive tinder box waiting to go off any minute
-- Fan response to the atmosphere at Euro 2016[13]
German and Ukrainian fans clashed in Lille before their group stage game on 12 June, with further violence and street battles. [14] UEFA later said they had "serious concerns" over security in the city. [15] An additional 4,000 police were drafted in, in preparation for matches featuring Russia and England (the latter in nearby Lens). [16]
Russian and English fans clashed again on 15 June, requiring the police to use tear gas to break up crowds following Russia's game against Slovakia in the Stade Pierre-Mauroy. French riot police used tear gas and charged at hundreds of England fans, as flares were set off. [13] Fans were herded by riot police away from the main square, and the atmosphere calmed. [17] A minor scuffle between English and Russian fans broke out in the city centre around midnight. [16] At least 36 people were arrested following brawling between England and Russia fans; a total of 16 people were hospitalised. [18]
On 12 June, violence broke out between French hooligans and Northern Irish supporters, who had been drinking amicably with their Polish counterparts in Nice, ahead of a match of Northern Ireland against Poland. News reports later showed the attack had been provoked by the local French hooligans. Six Northern Irish and a Polish supporter were injured, one of them seriously. [19][20]
Several Spanish fans, wearing neo-Nazi insignia, were arrested for robbery with violence before the Spain–Turkey group match at the Allianz Riviera on 17 June. [21]
Before the Croatia versus Turkey match on 12 June, members of Kop of Boulogne (PSG group) attacked groups of Turkish supporters. [22][23] During the match itself at Parc des Princes, KoB fans were seen holding banners "Turkish fans are not welcome". [24]
In the hours before the 10 July final between Portugal and France at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, there were clashes between fans trying to access the Eiffel Tower fan zone and police who were attempting to prevent overcrowding. [25] Police carried out a controlled explosion on a package left outside the stadium complex, while fans set litter bins alight. The disruption was under control by the second half of the match, but after Portugal beat France 1–0, fights broke out between fans outside the stadium. Police advised people not to travel to the Eiffel Tower or the Champs-Élysées as the area was not safe. [26]
On the evening of 16 June, Russian hooligans attacked three Spanish tourists in the German city of Cologne. The attack was apparently sparked when the Spaniards, two men and one woman, put stickers with anti-fascist slogans on a lamppost. According to the police, the group of Russians were members of a right-wing group. In their possession authorities found tickets to the Euro 2016 games of the Russian team against England and Slovakia as well as disguises such as masks. Six attackers were detained, five of them immediately after the attack and one at the airport. [27]
These are not Croatian fans, they are terrorists. What hurts me is that the state does not want to deal with that. This is a terrorist act.
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Six fined after Charles Sturt University campus party breaches public health orders
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NSW Police are expecting "a significant number more" people will be fined as investigations continue into an alleged illegal party at a university campus in the state's south.
Four men and two women, aged between 18 and 20, have each been fined $1,000 in relation to the party at Charles Sturt University's Wagga Wagga campus.
Police were told there was a gathering of up to 40 people in the campus' accommodation blocks, which dispersed after two security guards attended.
In regional areas currently not impacted by a COVID-19 lockdown, residents are only allowed to have five visitors to their home.
Riverina Police Commander Bob Noble said investigations were ongoing.
"I suspect a significant number more are going to find themselves receiving a fine over that matter," Superintendent Noble said.
"So we do take it seriously, it's not a joke. It would be nice if it was a joke.
"We need to get to a point where enough people are vaccinated, then we can get back to normal.
"Then you can have all your parties and you can do all the things that you want to do, but playing up in the meantime is just going to push that back and that's not in anyone's interest.
The University's Interim Vice-Chancellor Professor John Germov said security staff "shut the party down" and notified police as soon as it was reported to them.
Professor Germov said in a statement that the university was "extremely disappointed in the actions of these students".
''We support the zero tolerance approach to breaches of public safety orders and will continue to work with students and staff to ensure the safety of our campuses and communities.
"Charles Sturt is conducting its own investigations into the matter and will take appropriate disciplinary action against any students found to have breached public safety orders."
Superintendent Noble said 34 infringements relating to the public health orders have been issued in the past four weeks.
He said officers were "tirelessly" patrolling highways and indoor venues to make sure masks were being worn and no one from lockdown areas were coming into the area illegally.
"We cannot have them coming into this area unless they have a very good reason to do so, and flimsy excuses will not be accepted," Superintendent Noble said.
"Anyone coming up with a nonsense story about coming to visit someone that needs their support had better be able to substantiate it.
"If they say they're coming for medical treatment, they had better be able to substantiate that they're here for a valid, bona fide reason and not just something they've concocted."
See our full coverage of coronavirus
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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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2019 California wildfires
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The 2019 wildfire season was a fire season in California, United States. As of December 22, 2019[update], over 7,860 fires have been recorded according to Cal Fire and the US Forest Service, totaling an estimated of 259,823 acres (105,147 hectares) of burned land. [1] Although the 2019 fire season had been relatively quiet in California through mid-September as compared to past years, October through December was still expected to have the greatest fire potential as the Diablo and Santa Ana winds pick up. [3][4]
In late October, the Kincade Fire became the largest fire of the year, burning 77,758 acres (31,468 ha) in Sonoma County by November 6. Massive preemptive public safety power shutoff events have been controversial. Pacific Gas & Electric, Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric had preemptively shut off power to 800,000 electric customers to reduce the risk of wildfires by preventing electrical arcing in high winds from their above-ground power lines. [5][6] While large areas were without power for days, people in fire danger areas had trouble getting information, and critical life support equipment would not work without backup power. [7]
Fire behavioral experts and climatologists have warned that heavy rains from months early in the year have produced an excess of vegetation that would become an abundance of dry fuel later in the year as the fire season gets underway. [8] According to the US Forest Service and US Department of the Interior officials, early projections indicated that the fire season would possibly be worse than the year prior, stating that "if we're lucky, this year will simply be a challenging one." This assessment was written on the basis of noting that the state has recently been seeing consistently destructive fires more often than ever before. [9]
The following is a list of fires that burned more than 1,000 acres (400 ha), or produced significant structural damage or casualties. Three people were injured during the Moose Fire (August 12–17). [78] Two people were injured and four structures were destroyed during the Country Fire (September 3–6). [79] Four people were injured during the Lopez Fire (September 21–27),[80] and one during the Electra Fire (September 25). [81] A small brush fire ignited in Pacific Palisades in Los Angeles County on October 21. The fire burned 42 acres (17 hectares) within a few hours, forcing the evacuation of 200 homes. [82] Three firefighters suffered injuries while one civilian was treated for respiratory illness. [82][83]
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Fire
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2013 May Day protests
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The 2013 May Day protests were a series of international protests involving hundreds of thousands of people that took place worldwide on May Day (1 May 2013) over the ongoing global economic crisis including austerity measures and poor working conditions. Thousands of garment factory workers protested poor working conditions following the 2013 Savar building collapse. [1]
Five thousand garment workers marched in Phnom Penh demanding better working conditions and wage increases. [1]
Over 120,000 people from Jakarta and the surrounding cities of Depok, Bogor, Tangerang and Bekasi gathered at Hotel Indonesia and marched to Merdeka Palace, disrupting business activity in Jakarta. [2]
Eight thousand people marched at Manila. [1]
Six thousand rallied at Hong Lim Park to protest immigration policy and high living costs. [3]
Police clashed with protesters in Istanbul trying to reach Taksim Square. Twenty people were arrested. [1]
Comparatively muted protest in central London compared to the violence of previous years. It received very little mainstream news coverage. [4]
Protesters marched in Athens and Thessaloniki. The communist party-affiliated PAME organised a large strike demonstration in Syntagma Square, while GSEE union and the public sector union ADEDY had their rally at Kafthmonos Square. The Athens May Day demonstration was saluted by Bangladeshi workers' representative as well as by Gilda Chacov Bravo, Cuban member of the Secretariat of the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU). [5]
Protesters marched in Madrid and Barcelona. [6] In Barcelona, protesters clashed with police, while activists smashed dozens of bank and shop windows and destroyed bus stops, telephone boxes and trash bins. [7]
Protests were held in Seattle, Los Angeles, Manhattan and Chicago. [8]
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Protest_Online Condemnation
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1951 New Zealand waterfront dispute
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The 1951 New Zealand waterfront dispute was the largest and most widespread industrial dispute in New Zealand history. During the time, up to twenty thousand workers went on strike in support of waterfront workers protesting against financial hardships and poor working conditions. Thousands more refused to handle "scab" goods. The dispute was sometimes referred to as the waterfront lockout or waterfront strike. It lasted 151 days, from 13 February[1] to 15 July 1951. During the strike, the Watersiders' Union was deregistered and its funds and records were seized, and 26 local watersiders' unions were set up in its place. [2]
The lockout has been described[by whom?] as "a key element in the mythologies of the industrial left in this country". [3]
The distance of New Zealand and Australia from their traditional markets, meant that ports played a pivotal role in the economies of the countries. The waterfront inevitably became a point of conflict between workers and their unions on one side, and the employers and the state on the other. During the Second World War due to labour shortages, watersiders and other workers worked long hours, often as much as 15-hour days. Following the war, on the wharves working hours continued to be high. In April 1950 the Waterside Workers' Union lead a walk out of the Federation of Labour (FOL) and set up their own Trade Union Congress, unwittingly isolating themselves from the general union movement. Shortly afterwards severe stoppages on the wharves occurred, infuriating most of the general population. The government threatened to declare a state of emergency before Labour Party leader Peter Fraser intervened and opened the way to a settlement. [4] In January 1951 the Arbitration Court awarded a 15% wage increase to all workers covered by the industrial arbitration system. This did not apply to waterside workers, whose employment was controlled by the Waterfront Industry Commission. [5] The shipping companies that employed the watersiders instead offered 9%. The watersiders then refused to work overtime in protest, and the employers placed the men on a two-day penalty. The men said it was a lock-out, the employers said it was a strike. When the Waterside Workers' Union refused to accept arbitration the government could make a stand on the principle of defending industrial law and order. [4]
The lockout was a major political issue of the time. The National government, led by Sidney Holland and the Minister of Labour Bill Sullivan, introduced heavy handed emergency regulations,[6] and brought in the navy and army to work the wharves and also deregistered the Waterside Workers' Union under the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act. Under the emergency regulations Holland's government censored the press, made striking illegal and even made it illegal to give money or food to either strikers or their families. The proclamations have been described as "the most illiberal legislation ever enacted in New Zealand". [7]
In a surprise move, the FOL, which was supported by the majority of unions, backed the government. FOL President Fintan Patrick Walsh was of the opinion that the manner of the strike threatened the existing arbitration system necessitating their defeat. [8] The watersiders held out for 22 weeks, supported by many other unions and sympathy strikers, but ultimately conceded defeat. The miners and seamen who held sympathy strikes were likewise beaten. As a result, the Waterside Workers' Union was split up into twenty-six separate "port unions" to deliberately diminish its influence. [9] Many watersiders and other unionists involved were blacklisted (e.g. Jock Barnes and Toby Hill) and prevented from working on the wharves for years afterwards. Holland condemned the action as "industrial anarchy", and explicitly sought a mandate to deal with the lockout by calling a snap election. The opposition Labour Party, now led by Walter Nash, attempted to take a moderate position in the dispute, with Nash saying that "we are not for the waterside workers, and we are not against them". Labour's neutral position merely ended up displeasing both sides, however, and Nash was widely accused of indecision and lack of courage. The government was re-elected with an increased majority in the ensuing 1951 election. Holland was seen as opportunistically using the strike to distract voters from the other issue of rapidly rising inflation which could have made the scheduled election in 1952 harder for him to win. [10]
Militant unionism in New Zealand was crushed and the union movement remained fractured for years between the FOL and the defeated militants. The Labour Party was likewise split between the ardent anti-Communists, led by Bob Semple and Angus McLagan, and the moderates, such as Walter Nash and Arnold Nordmeyer. There was a concurrent tension between the FOL and the Labour Party for many years following the strike. [4]
Much later it emerged that the families of both Keith Locke and Mark Blumsky were under surveillance by the Police Special Branch (now the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service). [11]
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Strike
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Southminster, Essex double fatal crash police referred to watchdog
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An investigation into a crash that killed two people when a car became partially submerged in a pond has been referred to the police watchdog. A grey BMW Four Series Coupe was found in Southminster, Essex by officers at 08:20 BST on Tuesday. Police said two people inside were pronounced dead at the scene. The force has referred itself to the Independent Office of Police Conduct (IOPC) over its response to concerns for a vehicle earlier that morning. The car was found in a pond near to Southminster Road and officers believed the car left the road near to the junction with Foxhall Road. "We are currently carrying out inquiries to establish the circumstances which led up to the collision and these are ongoing," a force statement added. A spokesman for the IOPC said: "We can confirm that we have received a mandatory referral from Essex Police in relation to this incident. "We are now carrying out an assessment to determine what further action may be required from us."
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Road Crash
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Defence tells Oakey residents toxic pollutants no health risk, just don't eat the local produce
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A Darling Downs resident is accusing the Defence Department of destroying his livelihood and says a report into the impact of the Oakey firefighting foam contamination scandal does not go far enough.
On Wednesday night, the Defence Department held a meeting in Oakey to tell residents there are no likely health impacts from PFAS, a chemical used in a toxic firefighting foam on the Oakey Army Aviation Base that has leeched into nearby groundwater. But a technical expert also said produce from the contamination zone is not fit for human consumption.
About 480 Oakey residents are involved in a class action seeking up $200 million in damages from the Defence Department for declining property values.
At the behest of the department, results from groundwater, soil and blood testing were reviewed by an independent company, AECOM, which compiled a health and environmental report and presented it to Oakey residents.
AECOM technical officer Amanda Lee said home-grown meat, vegetables, fish from Oakey Creek and eggs laid on local properties should not be eaten by residents living close to the contamination zone where high PFAS levels detected.
The environmental report showed PFAS had been detected in underground water up to 4 kilometres from the base.
Oakey resident Bernie Earsman, who attended the meeting and has not joined the class action, said the Defence Department had destroyed his dream of retiring on his small rural property with his wife Margorie.
Mr Earsman said the value of his land had fallen from $270,000 to $120,000 and the Federal Government needed to compensate affected residents.
"My ambition was that I'd die one day bringing up a bucket of fruit and vegetables to Margorie ... and then came along their Department of Defence and all their rot," he said.
"I have got enough money in the bank to pay for my funeral, Margorie has enough in the bank to pay for her funeral ... that's it."
He said the stress of the contamination problems had exacerbated his epilepsy and his wife's glaucoma.
Before the meeting, Defence Department spokesman Chris Birrer told the ABC he sympathised with affected residents.
"We understand there's a lot of frustration in the community and we understand that there's a lot of stress and anxiety, and we very much understand that the uncertainty has created a lot of anxiety," he said.
Mr Birrer said Defence had started two remediation projects, including work on the surface drains and a water treatment facility.
"Over the next 12 months the plant ... will treat 100 million litres of groundwater that's treated and then reinjected back into the aquifer, removing PFAS mass from the environment which could otherwise move out to the community," he said.
Defence would also expand a plan to connect residents to reticulated water from Toowoomba.
AECOM technical officer Paul McCabe said the contamination zone was still growing and authorities were still learning about the chemical.
"PFAS is an unusual contaminant compared to most of the things we normally deal with because it does affect soil, it affects groundwater," he said.
"It migrates very easily in surface and groundwater and it's taken up by plants and animals — there aren't many other contaminants that do all of those things."
We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Australians and Traditional Custodians of the lands where we live, learn, and work.
This service may include material from Agence France-Presse (AFP), APTN, Reuters, AAP, CNN and the BBC World Service which is copyright and cannot be reproduced.
AEST = Australian Eastern Standard Time which is 10 hours ahead of GMT (Greenwich Mean Time)
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Environment Pollution
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Fire on the Lüneburg Heath
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The fire on the Lüneburg Heath was a major forest fire in 1975 on the southern part of the Lüneburg Heath in north Germany, with various points of origin near Gifhorn, Eschede and Meinersen. To this day, it is the largest known forest fire in the Federal Republic of Germany. The fire was aided by a long period of drought with hot summer weather and dried-out coniferous forests. Additionally, there was a lot of storm-damaged wood left in the wake of Hurricane Quimburga on 13 November 1972 that had not been cleared. The sources of the fire could only be reached with difficulty by the fire services over the unmetalled forest and heath tracks. Assisted by the monoculture of the area with its uniform stands of pines, the fire was able to spread rapidly and developed into a giant forest fire in parts of the districts of Gifhorn and Celle. The actual cause of the fire was only clarified in a few cases. At one place it was reckoned that the fire was started by sparks from the railway, in other places by carelessness or arson. On 8 August 1975 a heath fire near the village of Stüde on the Südheide got out of control. The fire quickly spread and jumped across the Elbe Lateral Canal. In addition to the forest and bog fires between Stüde and Neudorf-Platendorf further fires broke out in the next few days in the districts of Gifhorn and Celle in the area of the Südheide Nature Park, which were only extinguished with difficulty. Plumes of smoke rose up to four kilometres high above the heath. About 15,000 fire fighters from across Germany fought the fire. A total of 3,800 fire engines were deployed. Other authorities such as the police, Bundesgrenzschutz, customs, Technisches Hilfswerk and Forestry Commission as well as aid organisations like the German Red Cross, St. John's Ambulance, Malteser Hilfsdienst and Arbeiter-Samariter-Bund were engaged in fighting the forest fires in Lower Saxony. But only when around 11,000 Bundeswehr soldiers with cross-country capable vehicles and heavy clearance equipment (including armoured recovery tanks with dozer blades) were deployed could the fire be contained by the creation of firebreaks. In addition there were many British troops deployed in particular AVRE's (Assault Vehicles Royal Engineers) from 26 Armoured Engineer Squadron from Hohne garrison. For the first time, three aerial firefighter aircraft of the Canadair CL-215 type from France were used in support. These were exclusively used to protect small hamlets and farmsteads in the fire zone. They picked up water from the Steinhuder Meer. Airport fire appliances from the Rhineland were stationed at a Bundeswehr barracks in Wesendorf north of Gifhorn. Firefighting was made more difficult by the weather conditions, the poor going on the tracks and constantly changing winds. The biggest problem however was an acute lack of water to fight the fire. Most of the natural water sources such as ponds, gravel pits or rivers were a long way from the sites of the fire. Water tenders had to travel long distances in order to refill their tanks. During the emergency a railway firefighting train was deployed. The Hanover Railway Fire Service had stood by on 12 August 1975 for deployment to the disaster area. Four tank wagons and a flat wagon were made available for the firefighting train. Each tanker held 45,000 litres of water. The Hanover Railway Fire Service put out fires by the railway track between Eschede and Garßen. The flat wagon carried the Hanover Fire Service's TLF 16 fire appliance; two tank wagons provided it with water. So that water would be continuously available, the two other tank wagons were also filled with water. Once the diesel locomotive had delivered two full tank wagons, it would then return to Uelzen with the empty ones in order to refill them at the water crane there. The deployment of the fire train ended on 16 August 1975. For future incidents the Deutsche Bundesbahn has stationed four water wagons along the railway line from Hanover to Celle. The fire destroyed 7,418 hectares (18,330 acres) of forest and caused damage assessed at more than 18 million euros. Immediately after the fire the chief executive (Oberkreisdirektor) responsible for the district of Celle, who was not felt to have handled the problem well, was replaced. At the site where five firemen died a memorial was erected; it lies in a wooded are east of Meinersen by the B 188 federal road and is signed. It consists of a walled enclosure with a large memorial stone and five smaller ones, symbolising each of the victims. A commemorative medal and certificate was awarded to all those deployed during the fire disaster in August 1975. The fire services have been better equipped since the fire:
A consequence of the fire disaster has been that fire protection on the Lüneburg Heide, as well as Germany-wide, has been considerably improved. For example, at particularly endangered places when the risk of forest fire is heightened an aerial firefighting service is deployed to provide aerial observation of the forests, which enables early warning. In order to be better equipped for future forest fires, metalled tracks were built for fire engines. At lakes, fish ponds or gravel pits in the area, water take-off points were installed. In particularly endangered areas, special ponds were dug in order to provide rapid and efficient water collection by fire engines. Where there are no rivers for water collection, old heating oil tanks were used as water supply tanks each with between 20,000 and 100,000 litres of water in the ground. In reforesting the areas destroyed by storm and forest fire, it was initially thought that pine monocultures should be abandoned and more deciduous trees (oaks and beech) should be planted. Soil investigations revealed, however, that deciduous trees would only be able to establish in a few places due to the poor sandy soil. The forest fire had also destroyed much of the available humus soil. On the edge of the forests, larch was planted in places in order to act as fire protection.
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Fire
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2018 IIHF World Championship Division I
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The 2018 IIHF World Championship was an international ice hockey tournament hosted by the Danish cities of Copenhagen and Herning. The IIHF announced the winning bid on 23 May 2014. [1][2] South Korea made its debut at the World Championship, having played in the lower divisions previously. [3]
Sweden won their second consecutive and eleventh overall title after defeating Switzerland in the final. [4] The United States won the bronze medal game, defeating Canada 4–1. The official mascot of the tournament was a duck, inspired by the Danish writer and poet Hans Christian Andersen's fairytale about The Ugly Duckling. [5]
There were two bids to host this championship. [6]
The decision was announced on 23 May 2014. The final tally was 95-12 in favor of Denmark. [1][2]
The seeding in the preliminary round was based on the 2017 IIHF World Ranking, which ended at the conclusion of the 2017 IIHF World Championship. [8]
Denmark and Sweden played in separate groups, Denmark at the Jyske Bank Boxen while Sweden at the Royal Arena in Copenhagen. [9]
Each team's roster consisted of at least 15 skaters (forwards, and defencemen) and 2 goaltenders, and at most 22 skaters and 3 goaltenders. All 16 participating nations, through the confirmation of their respective national associations, had to submit a "Long List" no later than two weeks before the tournament, and a final roster by the Passport Control meeting prior to the start of tournament. 16 referees and linesman were announced on 21 March 2018. [10][11]
The schedule was released on 8 August 2017. [12]
List shows the top skaters sorted by points, then goals. GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/− = Plus/Minus; PIM = Penalties in Minutes; POS = Position
Source: IIHF.com
Only the top five goaltenders, based on save percentage, who have played at least 40% of their team's minutes, are included in this list. TOI = Time on Ice (minutes:seconds); SA = Shots Against; GA = Goals Against; GAA = Goals Against Average; Sv% = Save Percentage; SO = Shutouts
Source: IIHF.com
Source: IIHF.com
Source: IIHF.com
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Sports Competition
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Post-2008 Irish economic downturn
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The post-2008 Irish economic downturn in the Republic of Ireland,[2][3][4][5][6] coincided with a series of banking scandals, followed the 1990s and 2000s Celtic Tiger period of rapid real economic growth fuelled by foreign direct investment, a subsequent property bubble which rendered the real economy uncompetitive, and an expansion in bank lending in the early 2000s. An initial slowdown in economic growth amid the international financial crisis of 2007–2008 greatly intensified in late 2008 and the country fell into recession for the first time since the 1980s. Emigration, as did unemployment (particularly in the construction sector), escalated to levels not seen since that decade. The Irish Stock Exchange (ISEQ) general index, which reached a peak of 10,000 points briefly in April 2007, fell to 1,987 points—a 14-year low—on 24 February 2009 (the last time it was under 2,000 being mid-1995). [7] In September 2008, the Irish government—a Fianna Fáil–Green coalition—officially acknowledged the country's descent into recession; a massive jump in unemployment occurred in the following months. Ireland was the first state in the eurozone to enter recession, as declared by the Central Statistics Office (CSO). [8] By January 2009, the number of people living on unemployment benefits had risen to 326,000—the highest monthly level since records began in 1967—and the unemployment rate rose from 6.5% in July 2008 to 14.8% in July 2012. [9] The slumping economy drew 100,000 demonstrators onto the streets of Dublin on 21 February 2009, amid further talk of protests and industrial action. [10]
With the banks "guaranteed",[11] and the National Asset Management Agency (NAMA) established[12] on the evening of 21 November 2010, then Taoiseach Brian Cowen confirmed on live television that the EU/ECB/IMF troika would be involving itself in Ireland's financial affairs. Support for the Fianna Fáil party, dominant for much of the previous century, then crumbled; in an unprecedented event in the nation's history, it fell to third place in an opinion poll conducted by The Irish Times—placing behind Fine Gael and the Labour Party, the latter rising above Fianna Fáil for the first time. On 22 November, the Greens called for an election the following year. [13] The 2011 general election replaced the ruling coalition with another one, between Fine Gael and Labour. This coalition continued with the same austerity policies of the previous coalition, as the country's larger parties all favour a similar agenda, but subsequently lost power in the 2016 General Election. Official statistics showed a drop in most crimes coinciding with the economic downturn. Burglaries, however, rose by approximately 10%[14] and recorded prostitution offences more than doubled from 2009 to 2010. [15][16] In late 2014 the unemployment rate was 11.0% on the seasonally adjusted measure, still over double the lows of the mid-2000s but down from a peak of 15.1% in early 2012. By May 2016, this figure had fallen to 7.8%,[17] and had returned to a pre-downturn level of 4.5% by June 2019[18]
The economy of the Republic of Ireland expanded rapidly during the Celtic Tiger years (1995–2007) due to a low corporate tax rate, low ECB interest rates, and other systemic factors (such as soft surveillance of banking supervision including against observance of Basel Core Principles, underdeveloped public financial management and anti-corruption systems and adoption of poor policies including a corporate tax system that fostered non-tradable goods and services through the construction industry). At the end of the third quarter of 2010, German banks had between US$186.4 billion[19] and $208.3 billion in total exposure to Ireland with $57.8 billion in exposure to Irish banks. [20][21] This led to an expansion of credit and a property bubble which petered out in 2007. Irish banks, already over-exposed to the Irish property market, came under severe pressure in September 2008 due to the global financial crisis of 2007–08. The foreign borrowings of Irish banks rose from €15 billion to €110 billion in 2004–08. [22] Much of this was borrowed on a three-month rollover basis to fund building projects that would not be sold for several years. When the properties could not be sold due to oversupply, the result was a classic asset–liability mismatch. At the time of the bank guarantee the banks were said to be illiquid (but not insolvent) by €4 billion; this turned out to be an enormous underestimate. The economy and government finances began to show signs of impending recession by the end of 2007 when tax revenues fell short of the 2007 annual budget forecast by €2.3 billion (5%), with stamp duties and income tax both falling short by €0.8 billion (19% and 5%) resulting in the 2007 general government budget surplus of €2.3 billion (1.2% of GDP) being wiped out. [23][24] An imminent recession became clear by mid-2008. [25] Subsequently, government deficits increased, many businesses closed and unemployment increased. The Irish Stock Exchange (ISEQ) fell and many immigrant workers left. Anglo Irish Bank was exposed to the Irish property bubble. A hidden loans controversy in December 2008 led to a further drop in its share price. The ISEQ dropped to a 14-year low on 24 September 2009, probably triggered by the unexpected resignation of former Anglo Irish Bank director Anne Heraty from the board of the Irish Stock Exchange the night before. [26]
Due to the ending of the bubble, the residential and commercial property markets went into a severe slump with both sales and property values collapsing. Developers such as Liam Carroll began to fall behind on their loan repayments. Due to the financial crisis, banks such as ACC pushed for their revenue recovery and requested liquidation of the development firms. [citation needed]
The Irish economy entered severe recession in 2008, and then entered into an economic depression in 2009. [27] The Economic and Social Research Institute predicted an economic contraction of 14% by 2010. [28] In the first quarter in 2009, GDP was down 8.5% from the same quarter the previous year, and GNP down 12%. [29] Unemployment rose from 8.75%[30] to 11.4%. [31][32] The economy exited recession in the third quarter of 2009, with GDP growing by 0.3% in the quarter, but GNP continued to contract, by 1.4%. The economy grew by 1.9% in Q1 and by 1.6% in Q2 of 2011 but contracted by 1.9% in Q3. The unemployment rate rose from 4.2% in 2007 to reach 14.6% in February 2012. [33]
The Central Statistics Office estimated that 34,500 people left the country from April 2009 to 2010, the largest net emigration since 1989. However, only 27,700 of these are Irish nationals, an increase of 12,400 since 2006. It's also notable that more people went somewhere other than the UK, EU or US, traditional destinations for Irish emigrants. [34]
Following the May 2008 appointment of Brian Cowen as Taoiseach, the ruling Fianna Fáil party had been polling close to their 41% levels of the 2007 election but the party began to fall in the polls from September 2008. Their support fell to third place for the first time ever behind both leading opposition parties in a national opinion poll published in The Irish Times on 13 February 2009, polling only 22%. [35][36] A 27 February poll, indicated that only 10% of voters were satisfied with the Government's performance, that over 50% would like an immediate general election. [37] They gained about 24% of the vote in the June 2009 local elections and continued to languish as the crisis intensified during the remainder of the year, reaching a new low of 17% support in September 2009. During the 2009/2010 period opposition calls for an early election intensified and some of their own TDs resigned from the party supporting the calls and reducing the Government majority to single digits. The Government was urged by the courts to hold a long-delayed Donegal South by-election.
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Financial Crisis
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Colgan Air Flight 3407 crash
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Colgan Air Flight 3407, marketed as Continental Connection under a codeshare agreement with Continental Airlines, was a scheduled passenger flight from Newark, New Jersey, to Buffalo, New York, which crashed on Thursday, February 12, 2009. The aircraft, a Bombardier Q400, entered an aerodynamic stall from which it did not recover, and crashed into a house in Clarence Center, New York, at 10:17 pm EST (03:17 UTC), killing all 49 passengers and crew on board, as well as one person inside the house. [2]
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) conducted the accident investigation and published a final report on Tuesday, February 2, 2010, which found the probable cause to be the pilots' inappropriate response to the stall warnings. [3] As of August 2021[update], Flight 3407 is the most recent aviation incident resulting in mass casualties involving a U.S.-based airline. [4][5]
Families of the accident victims lobbied the U.S. Congress to enact more stringent regulations for regional carriers, and to improve the scrutiny of safe operating procedures and the working conditions of pilots. The Airline Safety and Federal Aviation Administrative Extension Act of 2010 (Public Law 111–216) required some of these regulation changes. [6]
Colgan Air Flight 3407 (9L/CJC 3407) was marketed as Continental Connection Flight 3407. It was delayed two hours, departing at 9:18 pm Eastern Standard Time (02:18 UTC), en route from Newark Liberty International Airport to Buffalo Niagara International Airport. [3]
The twin-engine turboprop Bombardier Q400, FAA registry N200WQ, was manufactured in 2008 for delivery to Colgan. [3]:15–21[7] It was delivered to Colgan on April 16, 2008. [8]
This was the first fatal accident for a Colgan Air passenger flight since the company was founded in 1991. One previous repositioning flight, with no passengers, crashed offshore of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, in August 2003, killing both of the crew on board. The only prior accident involving a Colgan Air passenger flight occurred at LaGuardia Airport, when another plane collided with the Colgan aircraft while taxiing, resulting in minor injuries to a flight attendant. [9]
Captain Marvin Renslow, 47, of Lutz, Florida, was the pilot in command, and Rebecca Lynne Shaw, 24, of Maple Valley, Washington, served as the first officer. [10][11][12] The cabin crew consisted of two flight attendants. Captain Renslow was hired in September 2005 and had accumulated 3,379 total flight hours, with 111 hours as captain on the Q400. [3]:6–11 First Officer Shaw was hired in January 2008, and had 2,244 hours, 774 of them in turbine aircraft, including the Q400. [3]:11–14[13]
Two Canadian passengers, one Chinese passenger, and one Israeli passenger were on board. The remaining 41 passengers, as well as the crew members, were American. [14]
Shortly after the flight was cleared for an instrument landing system approach to runway 23 at Buffalo Niagara International Airport, it disappeared from radar. The weather consisted of light snow and fog with wind of 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph). The deicing system had been turned on 11 minutes after takeoff. Shortly before the crash, the pilots discussed significant ice buildup on the aircraft's wings and windshield. [15][16][17] Two other aircraft reported icing conditions around the time of the crash. The last radio transmission from the flight occurred when the first officer acknowledged a routine instruction to change to tower radio frequency. The plane was 3.0 mi (4.8 km) northeast of the radio beacon KLUMP (see diagram) at that time. The crash occurred 41 seconds after that last transmission. Since ATC approach control was unable to get any further response from the flight, the assistance of Delta Air Lines Flight 1998 and US Airways Flight 1452 was requested. Neither was able to spot the missing plane. [18][19][20][21][22][23]
Following the clearance for final approach, landing gear and flaps (5°) were extended. The flight data recorder (FDR) indicated the airspeed had slowed to 145 knots (269 km/h; 167 mph). [3] The captain then called for the flaps to be increased to 15°. The airspeed continued to slow to 135 knots (250 km/h; 155 mph). Six seconds later, the aircraft's stick shaker activated, warning of an impending stall, as the speed continued to slow to 131 knots (243 km/h; 151 mph). The captain responded by abruptly pulling back on the control column, followed by increasing thrust to 75% power, instead of lowering the nose and applying full power, which was the proper stall-recovery technique. That improper action pitched the nose up even further, increasing both the g-load and the stall speed. The stick pusher activated (The Q400 stick pusher applies an airplane-nose-down control column input to decrease the wing's angle of attack (AOA) after an aerodynamic stall. ),[3] but the captain overrode the stick pusher and continued pulling back on the control column. The first officer retracted the flaps without consulting the captain, making recovery even more difficult. [24]
In its final moments, the aircraft pitched up 31°, then pitched down 25°, then rolled left 46° and snapped back to the right at 105°. Occupants aboard experienced g-forces estimated at nearly 2 G. The crew made no emergency declaration, as they rapidly lost altitude and crashed into a private home at 6038 Long Street,[25] about 5 mi (8.0 km) from the end of the runway, with the nose pointed away from the airport. The aircraft burst into flames, as the fuel tanks ruptured on impact, destroying the house of Douglas and Karen Wielinski, and most of the plane. Douglas was killed; his wife Karen and their daughter Jill managed to escape with minor injuries. Very little damage occurred to surrounding homes, though the lots in that area are only 60 ft (18.3 m) wide. [26] The home was close to the Clarence Center Fire Company, so emergency personnel were able to respond quickly. Two firefighters were injured; 12 nearby houses were evacuated. [16][23][27][28][29][30][31]
A total of 50 people died, including the 49 passengers and crew on board when the aircraft was destroyed, and one resident of the house that was struck. Four injuries happened on the ground, including two other people inside the home at the time of the crash. Among the dead were:
The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) began their inquiry on February 13, with a team of 14 investigators. [19][20][47] Both the flight data recorder (FDR) and the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) were recovered and analyzed in Washington, DC.
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Air crash
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Doug Ford’s cancellation of green energy deals costs Ontario taxpayers $231 million
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The government cancelled the contracts last July, saying the move would save ratepayers $790 million — a figure industry officials have disputed TORONTO — Premier Doug Ford’s decision to tear up 750 renewable energy contracts shortly after winning the election last year is costing Ontario taxpayers more than $230 million.
The Progressive Conservative government said the final figure, which includes the cost of decommissioning a wind farm already under construction in Prince Edward County, Ont., has yet to be established.
Associate energy minister Bill Walker blamed the previous Liberal government for signing the deals while the province had an oversupply of electricity.
“We inherited a heck of a mess from the Liberal party,” he said on Tuesday. “We should have never gone ahead with the power we didn’t need.”
The government cancelled the contracts last July, saying the move would save ratepayers $790 million — a figure industry officials have disputed.
At the time, the government also said it would introduce legislation that would protect hydro consumers from any costs incurred from the cancellation.
Walker acknowledged Tuesday that taxpayers, not hydro customers, will be on the hook for the $231 million the government has earmarked to pay for the cancellations.
“(The Liberals) allowed these contracts to be written stringently (and) that at the end of the day these companies do have the ability to come back and ask for costs,” he said.
A spokeswoman for Energy Minister Greg Rickford said the decommissioning of the White Pines Wind Project — a controversial development in Social Services Minister Todd Smith’s riding that was halted last summer — is still ongoing, and final costs have not been determined.
WPD Canada, the company behind that green energy project, has said that wind farm was under development for nearly a decade, and its cancellation could cost more than $100 million.
The $231-million figure was first uncovered by the Opposition New Democrats in documents detailing spending in the 2018-2019 fiscal year. The government filings list the allocation as “other transactions” but when an NDP researcher dug into the issue, the earmarked funds were revealed in more detail.
NDP energy critic Peter Tabuns criticized the government for burying the earmarked funds and said the government is wasting money.
“The contracts were written,” he said. “You can respect contracts, you can ignore contracts. This is a government that’s decided to ignore contracts and it’s very pricey to do that.”
Interim Liberal Leader John Fraser said the Ford government should not have cancelled the deals.
“They’re tearing up contracts and that’s costing money and hurting our reputation,” he said. “It’s bad for business.”
Green party Leader Mike Schreiner said the government is wasting money and sending the wrong signal to international investors who might want to build projects in the province.
“What does it say to those investors when Ontario is ripping those kind of contracts up?” he said.
The following is a list of the most commented articles in the last 7 days.
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Tear Up Agreement
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Indonesia's Most Active Volcano Erupts
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Mount Merapi, Indonesia's most active volcano, erupted Wednesday, emitting a river of lava onto the mountain below and gas clouds into the sky. The eruption set off the volcano's longest lava flow since the danger level for Merapi was raised in November, Hanik Humaida, the head of Yogyakarta's Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation Center, told The Associated Press. Sounds of the eruption could reportedly be heard almost 18 miles away. The 9,737-foot Mount Merapi volcano sits on the densely populated island of Java. No residents were evacuated Wednesday morning, but officials are closely monitoring the volcano's activity. The 9,737-foot Mount Merapi volcano sits on the densely populated island of Java. No residents were evacuated Wednesday morning, but officials are closely monitoring the volcano's activity. The 9,737-foot volcano sits on the densely populated island of Java and near the ancient city of Yogyakarta. It has repeatedly erupted recently, keeping local officials and residents living nearby on a state of alert. In November, local authorities evacuated nearly 2,000 people who lived in the Java mountain districts of Magelang and Sleman after Merapi erupted. Earlier this month, authorities evacuated more than 500 people in Magelang after the volcano spewed hot clouds of ash. No residents were evacuated as of 5:30 a.m. EST, but Indonesian authorities are closely monitoring the volcano's activity. People were told to stay out of the 3-mile danger zone around the crater.
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Volcano Eruption
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EPA fines Flinders Power $2,200 for ash plume that covered Port Augusta
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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 company which let potentially toxic dust blanket Port Augusta early last year has been fined $2,200 by South Australia's Environment Protection Authority [EPA].
The penalty has been described by the Spencer Gulf city's mayor as adding "insult to injury" and "weak" by a member of the Port Augusta Dustbusters group.
Ash from the former Flinders Power-owned coal power station covered Port Augusta in January 2017 following its closure in 2016.
Heavy rain and then wind caused it to blow over the city.
Port Augusta Mayor Sam Johnson told ABC Radio Adelaide the EPA had agreed to a $2,200 out of court settlement with Flinders Power over the pollution.
"I thought someone was pulling my leg and had to read it myself," Mr Johnson said.
"Let's face it, if you get done… doing 120 or 130 [kilometres] down the highway you almost feel like you [would] get more for speeding than polluting 14,000 people, which was probably the biggest insult to injury."
He said how exactly the fine was calculated would likely never be known because the prosecution never went to trial.
"No one really knows [what] the dealings were, what the conversations were or what the trade-offs were because it wasn't done in a public domain," he said.
EPA chief executive Tony Circelli said the agency worked out the penalty using a legislated formula.
"It has no relationship to the amount of dust that was actually caused, it was a legal issue as to what could have been done differently to prevent the issue from actually occurring or what could they have done differently once the issue actually occurred to prevent it actually occurring or to mitigate it," Mr Circelli said.
Mr Circelli said the rain and wind was an "unforeseen extreme weather event" and there was "nothing that would have worked" to prevent the dust plume altogether.
An EPA order issued last January said the dust had the potential to cause "adverse human health effects and discomfort".
At the same time, SA Health said the ash could be harmful to people, especially to those with breathing problems, even though concentrations of toxic metals in the dust were low.
Residents complained of increased respiratory problems, including asthma.
Mr Circelli said Flinders Power had spent more than $1 million on mitigation, putting a layer of soil over the ash dam which meant the pollution would not be repeated.
"My real goal is to get something sustainable, that will be aesthetically pleasing long-term for the people of Port Augusta, but will also be there long-term and get to that point as quickly as possible," he said.
Port August Dustbusters member Brett Prentis — who worked at the power station for 29 years — said the fine was "fairly weak" considering Flinders Power knew it needed to put saltwater on the dam but didn't in the time between when the plant closed and the plume.
"It was seven months that they didn't put any saltwater on there and they knew there was going to be a dust problem — it was only a matter of time," Mr Prentis said.
In a statement, Finders Power said it had subjected itself to a process put in place by the EPA and "co-operated fully with that process".
The company was once part of Alinta Energy but was split off as a separate business to oversee the power station's closure and remediation.
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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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Pesticides leading cause of poisoning in India: Study
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Pesticides are the leading cause of poisoning in India, with two in every three cases of poisoning happening because of pesticide consumption either intentionally or unintentionally, a new research on the prevalence of various types of poisoning in India has shown.
The research involved analysing 134 research studies done between January 2010 and May 2020, including more than 50,000 participants. It revealed that pesticides were the main case of poisoning, with an overall prevalence of 63 per cent due to widespread use of pesticides for agricultural and household activities.
The prevalence of pesticide poisoning in the adult population was 65 per cent and 22 per cent in children, according to the study published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) May 24, 2021. It was titled Toxicoepidemiology of poisoning exhibited in Indian population from 2010 to 2020: A systematic review and meta-analysis.
Other types of poisoning included corrosives, venoms, drugs and miscellaneous agents. The second most common cause of poisoning was miscellaneous agents, followed by drugs, venoms and corrosives.
An analysis of the region-wise distribution of the prevalence of poisoning showed that it was the highest in north India at 79 per cent (more than three-fourths of the total cases of poisoning), followed by south India (65.9 per cent), central India (59.2 per cent), west India (53.1 per cent), north east India (46.9 per cent) and east India (38.5 per cent).
The reasons for pesticide poisoning were the co-existence of poverty and agricultural farming and thus, the easy availability of pesticides, the study said.
The research has once again brought to fore the issues regarding the unabated use of pesticides in India and how they still continue to be a great threat to human health. Thousands of farmers and farm labourers die every year due to unsafe use of hazardous pesticides.
Deaths of farmers and the general public across Maharashtra , Kerala , Punjab , Karnataka and Bihar among other states in the last few years due to pesticide consumption have highlighted the need to regulate their use.
Easy access to pesticides has also led its consumption becoming the leading cause of suicides worldwide.
The research said:
The World Health Organization and its member countries initiated a programme of safe access of pesticides, which has resulted in a decrease in the prevalence of fatal poisoning by 10 per cent across the world. However, pesticides remain the leading cause of poisoning in south Asian countries including India and in south east Asia and China.
It also pointed out that many studies had concluded that the strict restriction of highly lethal pesticides by legal mechanisms or policy actions drastically reduced deaths.
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Mass Poisoning
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China and Russia hold large-scale joint military drills
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Exercise in north-central China to feature 10,000 ground troops and air forces as Beijing and Moscow eye closer ties. Russia and China have begun holding a large-scale joint military exercise in China’s north-central Ningxia region, drills which come as the pair spar with Washington and its Western allies over a range of issues, including human rights and regional security concerns. The Sibu/Cooperation-2021 exercises launched on Monday and will run until Friday. They will involve more than 10,000 ground troops and air forces. The Russian military said that it had sent Su-30SM fighter aircraft, motorised rifle units and air defence systems to China as part of the exercise. The drills mark the first time Russian soldiers are using Chinese weapons, with the pair having conducted joint exercises since 2005, Russia’s Kommersant newspaper reported. The exercises aim to “deepen … joint anti-terrorism operations” and “demonstrate the firm determination and strength of the two countries to jointly safeguard international and regional security and stability”, China’s official Xinhua News Agency reported, citing Chinese and Russian officials. “It reflects the new height of the China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination for a new era and of the strategic mutual trust, pragmatic exchanges and coordination between the two countries,” Xinhua said. Richard McGregor, a China expert at the Australia-based Lowy Institute think-tank, said the burgeoning relationship between Beijing and Moscow was more than a “marriage of convenience”. “That [phrase] underestimates the depth of their shared interests, and of course the biggest one is opposing the US and undermining the US and the West,” McGregor told Al Jazeera. The Ningxia region borders Xinjiang, where China is accused of detaining more than one million Uighurs in internment camps. Critics, including the US, have said those held have been subjected to human rights violations, including arbitrary detention, forced labour, torture, forced sterilisation and family separation. China has denied the allegations and claimed the camps are “re-education” centres set up to fight “separatism and terrorism” and boost economic development. Xinjiang shares a narrow frontier with Afghanistan, and Beijing is concerned about violence spilling over its border if the Taliban continue their advance and take control in the country amid intense fighting sparked by the withdrawal of US troops. Separately, Russia on Tuesday completed joint drills in Tajikistan with Uzbek and Tajik forces near the Afghan border. Moscow also said it was bulking up its military base in Tajikistan with assault rifles and other weapons. The Russia-China relationship grew stronger in 2014 as Moscow’s political ties with the West sank to post Cold-War lows over the annexation of Crimea from Ukraine. China is Russia’s biggest trade partner. Moscow has backed Beijing in its claim to virtually the entire South China Sea, over which China clashed with the US on Monday at a high-level UN Security Council meeting on maritime security. China, Taiwan and ASEAN members Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam have overlapping claims in the disputed waters and have been locked in increasingly tense territorial standoffs for decades. China built seven disputed reefs into missile-protected island bases in recent years, ratcheting up tensions with rival claimants, along with the US and its allies. This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. End of dialog window. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken responded to China’s increasingly assertive claims to the strategic waterway by warning that any conflict there or in any ocean “would have serious global consequences for security and for commerce”. The area has seen “dangerous encounters between vessels at sea and provocative actions to advance unlawful maritime claims” that seek to “intimidate and bully other states lawfully accessing their maritime resources”, Blinken said. China’s deputy ambassador, Dai Bing, accused the US of becoming “the biggest threat to peace and stability in the South China Sea” and calling its “hype” in the Security Council “entirely politically motivated”. China has refused to recognise an international arbitration ruling in 2016 that invalided most of its claims in the South China Sea. Tsirkon hypersonic cruise missile hit ground target more than 350 kilometres away, Russian defence ministry says. Day after NATO and Ukraine began Black Sea exercises, Moscow says it has tested Crimean air defence systems. US Navy says its guided-missile destroyer USS Curtis Wilbur conducted a routine transit through the sensitive waterway.
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Military Exercise
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2020 Dijon riots
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The "2020 Dijon Riots" took place in Dijon, in the French region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté for four consecutive days. On June 10th, a 16-year-old Chechen boy was assaulted by French-Arab drug dealers from low-income district of Grésilles in Dijon which has a predominant population of North Africans. [1] Members of the Chechen community reportedly posted about the incident on social media and urged people to come to the city in the boys defense. [2] The incident amplified tensions between the Chechens and North Africans because both communities have opposing drug-trades. [3]
In retaliation of the assault, approximately 150-200 Chechens from France, Belgium, and Germany stormed the neighborhood of Grésilles. [4][5] The people participating wore hoods to conceal their identity and brandished clubs as well as firearms. [6] They shot in the air, destroyed surveillance cameras, and set garbage bins as well as vehicles on fire. [1] Videos of the individuals were posted on social media, with some videos depicting people walking the street armed with machine guns, baseball bats and metal rods. [7]
These tensions continued throughout the weekend, but on Monday the interior minister ordered police reinforcements to terminate the situation and announced that the government would manage the crisis. There were helicopters, dozens of police vans, and firefighters attempting to deescalate the violence. However, in their attempts to break up the fighting and end the riots, police did not un-holster their guns. [2] The administration approximated that ten individuals had been injured. [1][3]
Dijon prosecutor Eric Mathais, issued a statement that investigators were trying to identify the participants. [8]
On the following Thursday, six people were arrested with their connection to the four-day long riots. Two men; a Russian and Frenchman were charged with criminal association and intent and with gathering to perpetrate violence as well as damage property. The consequences of their crimes could be ten years in jail. The other suspects have similar charges in addition to aggravated assault. [5]
The Head of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov expressed support for the Chechen rioters, stating they had decided to take matters into their own hands against the drug dealers, after the French police failed to act against those who assaulted the 16-year old Chechen boy. His comments were echoed by several Chechen individuals who claimed that the destruction was a good thing. [9] The father of the assaulted teenager, issued a statement asking individuals to stop rioting and for calm within the neighborhood. [8]
French Interior Minister Christophe Castaner defended the police's reaction to the riots claiming that the police had been outnumbered by "a savage horde", while Marine Le Pen, leader of the far-right National Rally party claimed the streets had been thrown into chaos by gangs waging ethnic wars. [2]
Outrage was pointed at French police by local officials due to the lack of firearm use, with some officials claiming that it had allowed ethnic groups to settle anger and disputes on the street. Other French authorities and policing experts have highlighted the response to the riots as instead a textbook showing of police restraint, during a time of high profile protests against police use of lethal force in both the United States with the death of George Floyd and in France with the death of Cédric Chouviat. [2]
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Riot
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A message from John Furrier, co-founder of SiliconANGLE:
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UPDATED 15:19 EST / AUGUST 27 2021 by Maria Deutscher Cybersecurity provider IronNet Inc. today announced that it has completed its merger with special-purpose acquisition company LGL Systems Acquisition Corp. and is now publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange. IronNet was founded in 2014 by former National Security Agency director General (Ret.) Keith Alexander. The company provides a cybersecurity platform that uses artificial intelligence to detect malicious activity. The platform also includes features that allow cybersecurity analysts to investigate breaches surfaced by the AI, map out the full scope of an incident and then take action to address the issue. IronNet uses an approach called Collective Defense to help information technology teams respond to cyberattacks more effectively. Collective Defense allows a group of organizations to share data with one another about new cyberthreats they encounter. If one of the organizations in the group is targeted by a previously unknown hacking tactic, it can share information on the cyberattack with the other members so they can prepare their network defenses accordingly. IronNet displays intelligence on threats in a visual dashboard that allows cybersecurity analysts to find compromised systems with point and click commands. An analyst can, for example, select their company’s Microsoft Access deployment in the dashboard to identify if there have been any hacking attempts targeting the system. They can access threat intelligence collected via IronNet’s Collective Defense technology in the same way. IronNet’s platform is used by organizations in areas such as financial services, healthcare, telecommunications and energy. The company also has a presence in the commercial space sector. In July, IronNet launched Collective Defense Community for Space, which enables commercial space companies to share intelligence on cyber threats with one another. IronNet raised gross proceedings of approximately $136.7 million through the newly completed merger with LGL Systems Acquisition. The company will use the capital to support growth initiatives. Mergers with special-purpose acquisition companies, or SPAC mergers as such deals are commonly known, have in recent years become a popular way for tech firms to list their shares. A SPAC is an organization set up by investors specifically to take another business public. The SPAC lists on a stock exchange through an initial public offering and uses the proceeds from the listing to buy an established private company. Once the deal is completed, the private company becomes publicly traded. IronNet is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol IRNT.
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Organization Merge
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Aeroflot Flight 505 crash
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Aeroflot Flight 505 crashed just after takeoff in Tashkent on 16 January 1987. Flight 505 was an early morning flight from Tashkent to Shahrisabz, both in the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic, now the Republic of Uzbekistan. The flight took off just one minute and 28 seconds after an Ilyushin Il-76, thus encountering its wake vortex. The Yakovlev Yak-40 then banked sharply to the right, struck the ground, and caught fire. All 9 people on board died. [1][2]
The aircraft involved, a Yakovlev Yak-40, was registered to Aeroflot as CCCP-87618. At the time of the accident the aircraft had sustained 17,132 flight hours and 20,927 cycles (one cycle equals one takeoff and landing). [2]
The crew consisted of the following:[3]
The plane was scheduled to ferry cargo from Tashkent to Shakhrisabz. On board were 1,200 kilograms of mail and 35 kilograms of personal luggage, along with four passengers seated in the cabin. Takeoff weight was 14.4 tons, within the acceptable range. The crew was in a hurry to depart because the cargo was not loaded until 6:00 local time and they were scheduled to depart Tashkent at 5:55; hence the crew took less than a minute to complete the preflight checklist instead of the usual five minutes. They proceeded to start taxiing on taxiway three to Runway 8L. At 6:09:40 the Il-76 (CCCP-76482) took off from the runway. Immediately they contacted the control tower and requested clearance for takeoff. After receiving permission to taxi onto the runway, and at 6:10:58 they took off without explicit permission to take off, in violation of procedure. The crew put the engines to full power accelerating at 124.2 knots; but at 6:11:04 when the aircraft was no more than 20 meters off the ground it started to bank sharply to the right and at 6:11:15 it crashed into the ground, killing all nine people aboard. [4]
The Yak-40 took off 1 minute and 28 seconds after an Ilyushin IL-76. When investigating the causes of the disaster the commission found that despite the IL-76's position it still would have left wake turbulence. The wind was only 1 mph, leading to the conclusion that the behavior of the aircraft Yak-40 can be explained only by hitting the wake turbulence of a much heavier Il-76 taking off from the same runway in just 1 minute 15 seconds before the Yak-40. Tashkent Airport had a minimum takeoff interval of only one minute, regardless of aircraft type, leading to the relatively small Yak-40 quickly losing control and crashing upon encountering the wake vortex. [4]
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Air crash
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Pittston Coal strike
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The Pittston Coal strike was a United States strike action led by the United Mine Workers Union (UMWA) against the Pittston Coal Company, nationally headquartered in Pittston, Pennsylvania. The strike, which lasted from April 5, 1989 to February 20, 1990, resulted from Pittston's termination of health care benefits for approximately 1,500 retirees, widows, and disabled miners. The strikers also cited the refusal of the company to contribute to the benefit trust established in 1950 for miners who retired before 1974 and the refusal of the company to bargain in good faith as grounds for their action. The company cited declining coal prices, decreasing demand, and recession as its reason for limiting health care benefits. The strike affected production in mines mostly in Virginia, but a few in West Virginia and Kentucky as well. Mine workers and their families engaged in acts of civil disobedience, work stoppage, protests, and rallies. At its peak in June 1989, the strike involved approximately 2,000 miners daily staying at Camp Solidarity with thousands more sending donations and holding wildcat walkouts that involved around 40,000 people. The participation of women in the labor action through the ad hoc formation of the Daughters of Mother Jones—reminiscent of the early days of union organization—proved an essential element of the successful strike. During the 1980s, the real (inflation-adjusted) price of coal declined,[1] putting economic pressure on coal companies. Many coal companies began employing non-union workers who would work for less money so that the coal company could maintain a profit. By 1987 Pittston Coal had dropped from being the seventh largest coal operator[when?] in the United States to the 15th, and coal production was at an all-time low. [2] The Pittston Coal Company had worked with the Bituminous Coal Operators (BCOA), which regulated health and retirement benefits offered to Pittston workers. The Pittston mines continued to lose money, though, and in 1987 the Pittston Coal Company terminated its contract with the BCOA to establish its own health and retirement benefit contract with the UMWA. Through collective bargaining, the UMWA and the Pittston Coal Company established two different retirement plans for the miners: one for those who retired before 1974 and one for those who retired after 1974, in the hopes that this would help the company gain a profit. [2]
In 1988, Pittston still felt the strain of providing benefits, with the cost per miner increasing by $3,746 from the 1979 amount. [3] The company was still going into debt and having a difficult time paying for the miners' benefits. To avoid losing more money, Pittston doubled health deductibles, lowered the coverage from 100% to 80%, and discontinued benefits to miners who retired before 1974. [3] This change in the health care plan was still not enough for the company to gain a profit, so they decided to keep the mines running 24 hours a day and seven days a week, with no overtime for the workers. Pittston also did away with successorship clauses, which meant that the miners of Pittston would not have job security or transfer of job rights in mines that were leased or sold. [3] Miners were now working longer hours with more expensive health care plans, while the mine was losing no production time because it was never closed. The UMWA took action against Pittston's new plan of operation and offered to reach a settlement. The coal company stayed quiet, and when the time came to renew the health care and retirement benefit plans for its workers, Pittston refused. [4] The refusal to renew the contract left about 1,500 people without health care. These people were not just miners employed by Pittston, but also families, widows, and disabled miners in the Virginia area. [5]
In April 1989, after the miners had worked 14 months without benefits, UMWA president Richard Trumka declared a strike against the Pittston Coal Company. [6] Around 2,000 UMWA members who worked for Pittston walked out of the mines and reported to the picket line. Pittston responded to the strike by hiring replacement workers. To ensure that production would continue, Pittston also had help from the state police to escort the replacement miners and coal trucks across the picket line. [4]
The UMWA used civil disobedience to attract attention to the needs of the miners. The union stressed that all actions of the strike must remain peaceful. However, many miners still used violent methods during the strike. The strike gained the media's attention. People came from all across the country to support the UMWA's cause, and around 50,000 people went to southwest Virginia during the course of the strike. [7]
During the strike, Pittston's production was reduced by about one third. [8] Low production could have been a result of the strike taking place in several mines owned by Pittston. The main mine involved was the Clinchfield Coal Company in Dickenson County, Virginia. [9] Some of the other mines that participated in the strike of 1989 were the Moss 3 Preparation Plant in Russell County, Virginia, McClure mine, and the Westmoreland Coal Complex. [10] Pittston refused to give in to the UMWA's demands, although operating at a loss, and the strike continued. Unable to meet the financial needs of the strikers, the UMWA started to suffer as well. As the strike progressed, members of the union were paid less than $210 a week on average; less than a third of the average salary of $640 a week. [8]
Although the union members were getting less pay than promised, they did not lose their faith in the UMWA's ability to negotiate a settlement. Due to Trumka's efforts, the miners were able to keep their spirit and morale up during the strike. He knew that giving into the demands of Pittston would only lead to other mine companies revoking health care benefits. [8] On August 20, 1989 Trumka was questioned by B. Drummond Ayers Jr., a local reporter from the New York Times, about how long he expected the strike to continue. Trumka responded to the question by saying, "People keep asking how long we can hold out. The answer: one day longer than Pittston. "[11] The strike continued until February 1990, when a settlement was agreed upon by both parties. The settlement was reached after taking the demands to court several times and after many ratifications were made. [12] The miners of the Pittston Coal Company were able to once again receive health and retirement benefits.
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Strike
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1978 LAV HS 748 accident crash
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The 1978 LAV HS 748 accident occurred on 3 March 1978 when Hawker Siddeley HS 748 YV-45C, of LAV (Línea Aeropostal Venezolana), crashed into the sea close to Caracas-Maiquetía Airport (CCS/SVMI), Venezuela. [1] All 46 on board were killed. [1]
Two minutes after takeoff from Caracas-Maiquetía Airport (CCS/SVMI), on a domestic flight to Cumaná Airport (CUM/SVCU) the pilot declared an emergency and said he was returning to the airport due to problems with an attitude indicator. [2] The aircraft crashed into the sea killing all 43 passengers and three crew. Due to the depth of the water it was not possible to recover major parts of the aircraft. [2]
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Air crash
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This Is the New No. 1 Cause of Food Poisoning, CDC Study Says
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Our content is fact checked by our senior editorial staff to reflect accuracy and ensure our readers get
sound information and advice to make the smartest, healthiest choices.
We adhere to structured guidelines for sourcing information and linking to other resources, including
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If you have any concerns about the accuracy of our content, please reach out to our editors by e-mailing
editors@bestlifeonline.com.
The foods have led to a surprising number of E.coli and salmonella outbreaks.
It's common knowledge that handling or preparing certain foods the wrong way can get you pretty sick if you eat them after. Typically, this involves washing fruit and veggies before cooking them, storing items at the appropriate temperature, and being sure to clean surfaces and your hands when they've been in contact with raw ingredients. But now, a new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has uncovered that there may be some new surprising items in your kitchen that could lead to food poisoning.
The comprehensive research, released in the CDC's Emerging Infectious Diseases journal on Sept. 8, examined data from the Foodborne Disease Outbreak Surveillance System (FDOSS) that is used to collect reports of foodborne disease outbreaks from federal, state, local, and territorial health departments across the United States. Researchers tabulated outbreaks recorded between 2007 and 2016, which they describe as "nationally notifiable and defined as two or more cases of a similar illness resulting from ingestion of the same food." Items that were the source of outbreaks were then compared with outbreak data from 1973 to 2006 to determine which "novel" foods were responsible for reported illnesses in more recent years.
Results found that there were 36 outbreaks linked to 28 novel foods between 2007 and 2016, with the largest involving 272 illnesses reported across 45 states. The most commonly reported foodborne pathogens were salmonella and E. coli, which were responsible for 53 percent and 14 percent of cases, respectively. The agency also noted that 33 percent of the outbreaks were caused by foods imported from another country, half did not require refrigeration after purchase, and two-thirds did not require cooking before consumption.
According to experts, such findings could mean that it may be ultimately tricky or impossible to remove the risk of foodborne illness altogether from some of the items on the list. "I think the main takeaway is to continue practicing good food safety and to be aware of where the foods are coming from," Jennifer Cholewka, the advanced clinical coordinator of metabolic and nutrition support at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, told NBC's Today. "You want to make sure the foods you are purchasing are as fresh as possible."
So, which items made the list? Read on to see the newest foods found to cause food poisoning most often, according to the CDC.
RELATED: Never Make This One Food With Your Instant Pot, CDC Says.
Number of food items that caused outbreaks: 3
Everyone knows how important it is to properly handle your beef, pork, and chicken when preparing them for a meal. But according to the CDC's study, bison, frog, and goose meat were all "novel" foods responsible for outbreaks.
While waterfowl like geese and red meat like bison may be obvious red flags for food poisoning, it may come as a surprise that frogs are considered a high-risk food item. "Essentially, all amphibians are contaminated, often with salmonella," Cynthia Sears, MD, an infectious disease specialist and professor of medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, told Today. "Eating any amphibian that is not thoroughly cooked is a risk."
Number of food items that caused outbreaks: 3
Vegetables are a vital part of a healthy diet, but they can still harm your body if they're not cleaned properly before consumption. The study found that kale, lima beans, and mini peppers were items that had been responsible for novel outbreaks of foodborne illnesses.
To be on the safe side while preparing produce, both the CDC and FDA recommend cutting out any parts of your fruits or vegetables that appear to be bruised or otherwise damaged. "Bruises and cuts may allow pathogens to enter a fruit or vegetable, and damaged produce typically spoils faster," Rebecca Dittmar, coordinator of the Food Protection Management Program at the Texas A&M University College of Agriculture & Life Sciences explained in an interview with AgriLife Today.
RELATED: If You Notice This on a Potato, Don't Eat It, Experts Warn.
Number of food items that caused outbreaks: 4
From berries to bananas, fruits are an essential part of a balanced diet that can be as delicious at breakfast as they are as an after-dinner dessert. However, just because your fruit arrives frozen or processed doesn't mean you're in the clear when it comes to potential food poisoning risks.
The study found that apples, blueberries, papaya, and pomegranate were all responsible for outbreaks of foodborne illnesses. According to Claire Panosian Dunavan, MD, a professor of medicine emeritus in the division of infectious diseases at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles, the pomegranates noted in the study were linked to a frozen drink mix that used fruits imported from all over the world.
"Smoothies are one of the foods that people can get into trouble with," she told Today. "Freezing doesn't kill salmonella or norovirus or various other viruses."
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Number of food items that caused outbreaks: 6
Nuts and seeds are an unsung hero of the dietary world, providing plenty of nourishment as a powerful snack option, an addition to salads, or part of a recipe. But they can also sneakily create a high-risk situation for food poisoning as an item that rarely gets washed during preparation. According to the study, novel foods responsible for outbreaks included pistachios, pine nuts, hazelnuts, and sprouted nuts.
RELATED: The One Vegetable You Should Never Eat Raw, CDC Warns.
Number of food items that caused outbreaks: 6
Fish may be a fantastic option for healthy eating, but it's also widely known to be a finicky ingredient when it comes to freshness. Unfortunately, according to the CDC, five of the six outbreaks counted in the study were "caused by naturally occurring toxins that cannot be destroyed through cooking or freezing," meaning the ingredients were risky without even being mishandled. The report lists almaco jack, carp, lionfish, monchong, skate, and swai as sources of reported illnesses.
Here's the key difference, official says.
This may be your best bet for spotting it early. These could be bringing pests into your cellar.
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Mass Poisoning
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Queensland state school closed after girl, 4, tests positive to COVID-19 as close contact of truck driver
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A state school in Windaroo, south of Brisbane, has been closed for a fortnight following the discovery of a COVID-19 case at a nearby education facility. The move came after a four-year-old girl who attended the Boulevard Early Learning Centre at Mount Warren Park tested positive as a close contact of a 46-year-old truck driver from Logan, confirmed with the Delta variant earlier this week. In the past 24 hours: Queensland's vaccine rollout (percentage of those aged 16+): The early learning centre is used as after-school care for Windaroo State School. Windaroo principal Alisha LeBrese said in an email to parents the school would need to be shut for 14 days from Saturday. "I am writing to let you know that several members of our school community have been exposed to someone diagnosed with COVID-19," Ms LeBrese wrote. "All school, school events and activities are closed and postponed. "The health, safety and welfare of your children, our students, continues to be my number one focus." Children, staff and visitors who were at the early learning centre on Tuesday and Wednesday are being urged to immediately come forward for testing then quarantine at home for 14 days, even if they test negative to COVID-19. Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young said about 960 families at Windaroo school had been placed in quarantine for 14 days, along with staff and visitors who were at the school from Tuesday to Friday. About 100 families of children who attend the early learning centre are also in quarantine. Dr Young said the next few days were critical. “This is a really high risk period for us,” she said. Dr Young said the child's viral load was low, and her main concern was the truck driver's visit to shops in Beenleigh. "I am actually not as worried about this child because it's in hand. We have got it under control," she said. "[Lockdown] depends if we find cases who went to the Beenleigh Marketplace, and have since then been out infectious in the community in an uncontrolled situation. "That would lead me to think that we need to consider a lockdown." The Stylish Nails salon in the marketplace was of particular concern. "I just hope that we get everyone, so we have been working very, very closely with the owner of the nail salon and we have been looking at CCTV footage, we have been trying every way we can to find those people who attended," Dr Young said. "That's critical. So anyone who was there on that Monday morning, I need them to come forward." There was just one other new COVID case recorded yesterday, in hotel quarantine. The truck driver is thought to have been infectious from August 27, prompting several contact tracing alerts on Brisbane's southside. Visitor restrictions are in place for aged care facilities, disability services and hospitals in the Logan local government area. Health Minister Yvette D'Ath said compliance with the Queensland Check-In app at Beenleigh Marketplace had been low. "Sadly what we have seen is that people were not checking in. There was one person during that time checked in with the check in app at the nail salon," she said. "But we know there was at least eight customers there in addition to this gentleman and the child and of course four staff. "Similarly, 600 people checked into the Beenleigh marketplace. They have 900 car spots there, and they have over 30 shops." The Queensland Health exposure sites list names Stylish Nails at Beenleigh Marketplace as a close contact point between 10:30am and 11:35am on Monday, along with Total Tools Beenleigh between 9:20am and 10:00am on Sunday. Anyone who was at those sites at the exposure times needs to come forward for testing and go into 14 days' quarantine – even after a negative result. Household contacts are also required to quarantine for 14 days. Close contacts also need to complete an online tracing form on the Queensland Health website. There's also a casual contact alert for Beenleigh Marketplace on Monday between 9:00am and 11:45am, and anyone who attended should come forward for testing and then isolate at home until they receive a result. Anyone in Queensland, but particularly in the Beenleigh and Gold Coast areas, is urged to come forward for testing if they have even the mildest of COVID-19 symptoms. Ms D'Ath said she was pleased to see that one in three eligible Queenslanders was now fully vaccinated. "We had 20,635 vaccinations [yesterday]," she said. "So well done everyone again for coming out and continuing to be vaccinated which puts us at 52.17 per cent first dose, and excitedly, 33.55 per cent second. "So let's keep that great work going and coming out and getting vaccinated." See our full coverage of coronavirus
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Organization Closed
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Afghanistan could have taken B’desh route to prosperity; US didn’t allow it
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While Bangladesh, which shares a struggle similar to Afghanistan, emerged as an Asian economic bull from a basket case while thwarting a possible takeover by Islamic radicals, Afghanistan will be ruled by a radical conservative Islamist regime 6:30 AM, 3 September, 2021 Updated 9:08 AM, 3 September, 2021 President Carter was the one who authorised 'Operation Cyclone' that started the whole cycle of violence and war that has ravaged Afghanistan and reduced it to where it stands today The US and its allies, the beacon light of Western democracy, sponsored the counter-revolution in both Afghanistan and Bangladesh in the 1970s to prevent a socialist takeover, ending up ruining one and failing to ruin the other. According to multiple accounts, the latest by the iconic journalist John Pilger (The Great Game of Smashing Nations), the CIA initiated ‘Operation Cyclone’ with hardline Islamist mullahs who mobilised mujahideen immediately after the bloody Saur (Sowr) Revolution, by which the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) overthrew Afghan President Mohammed Daoud Khan on April 27-28, 1978. Daoud – a cousin of King Zahir Shah – who had himself taken power in the 1973 Afghan coup d’état, and most of his family were killed at the presidential palace by military officers in support of the PDPA. Foreign journalists in Kabul, reported The New York Times, were surprised to find that “nearly every Afghan they interviewed said [they were] delighted with the coup.” The Wall Street Journal reported that “150,000 persons … marched to honor the new flag … the participants appeared genuinely enthusiastic.” The Washington Post reported that “Afghan loyalty to the government can scarcely be questioned.” Also read: Comparing Biden with Carter is convenient but only for now Secular, modernist and, to a considerable degree, socialist, the government declared a program of visionary reforms that included equal rights for women and minorities. Political prisoners were freed and police files were burned publicly. Under the monarchy, the average life expectancy was 35; one in three children died in infancy. Ninety per cent of the population was illiterate. The new government introduced free medical care. A mass literacy campaign was launched. For women, the gains had no precedent: by the late 1980s, half the university students were women, and women made up 40 per cent of Afghanistan’s doctors, 70 per cent of its teachers and 30 per cent of its civil servants. Though the PDPA government was no Soviet lackey, it was backed by the Soviet Union. President Jimmy Carter’s Secretary of State, Cyrus Vance, later wrote in his memoir: “We had no evidence of any Soviet complicity in the coup.” But Carter was the one who authorised ‘Operation Cyclone’ that started the whole cycle of violence and war that has ravaged Afghanistan and reduced it to where it stands today. The Soviets intervened militarily to save the ‘Saur Revolution’, the US went ahead with Pakistan and Islamist regimes like Saudi Arabia to give the Soviets their ‘own Vietnam’. The rest is history. Also read: Can you trust the US as an ally, after Afghanistan? Cut back to Bangladesh, whose emergence as a free sovereign nation after the bloody 1971 Civil War was seen by the US as a defeat because its Seventh Fleet intervention failed to save East Pakistan for the military regime of Gen Yahya Khan, which Nixon had used so effectively for his China outreach. Again multiple accounts, the most prominent being that of American journalist Lawrence Lifschultz (Bangladesh: The Unfinished Revolution), point to CIA involvement in the 1975 coup that killed Sheikh Mujibur Rahman with much of his family. Disgruntled military officers were involved in the coup that led to two successive Bangladesh military regime, strongly backed by US and China. It is during these military regimes that Bangladesh’s secular democratic polity was dumped and successive constitutional amendments ended up making Islam a state religion. Again Mujib was seen in US as an Indian and Soviet stooge, hence a legitimate target for the Cold Warriors like Zbigniew Brzezinski. But Indira’s India did not make the Soviet mistake of military intervention after the 1975 coup. It perhaps helped Bangladesh’s political parties like the Awami League reorganise and fight to bring down the Ershad military regime. Towards the end of the highly unpopular BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami regime, when Sheikh Hasina barely escaped a grenade attack, the US backed a military-backed caretaker and tried to promote Nobel laureate Mohammed Yunus to form a political party to take charge. As US and India drew closer following the nuclear accord into a strategic partnership, Delhi prevailed on Washington to push for a free and fair poll in Bangladesh. Also read: At this critical moment, India should not shut doors on Afghans Former president Pranab Mukherjee has recounted these details in his book, his long arguments with Hilary Clinton and his persuasion of army chief Gen Moeen U Ahmed to pave the way for an election. Hasina’s Awam League convincingly won the December 2008 polls and has now presided over Bangladesh’s Golden Decade of Development. But all through this decade, beginning with the World Bank’s dillydallying over financing the country’s mega infrastructure project, the Padma river railroad bridge, to rattling her regime on other counts, the US has been ill at ease with the present Bangladesh government. Even as the western media lauds Hasina for her leadership in ensuring an amazing economic turnaround to promoting gender rights, inclusive distributive justice and fight against terrorism, the US has been less than supportive of the Hasina regime. In 2013, as its envoy Dan Mozena openly advocated the need for a change of government, the US suspended GSP facility for Bangladesh exports to inconvenience the Hasina government. The list is long and US’ National Endowment for Democracy’s backing for overseas-based Bangladesh specific media outlets ceaselessly attacking the Hasina government with fake news is just one of them. Jeff Richelson (US Intelligence Community) does expose on the NED as an US intelligence funded institution to ensure regime change. So the US deep state never quite gave up an attempt to topple Hasina. The recent human rights stink by US Congressmen coincides, not accidentally, with Kamal Hossain’s call for an alliance to oust Sheikh Hasina. Interestingly, his son-in-law David Bergman’s Netranews is funded by the NED. The regime change architecture is well and truly in place. Afghanistan is a country ravaged by four decades of war and deprivation, now going to be ruled by a radical conservative Islamist regime that grew out of the US Great Game of Smashing Nations, to quote Pilger. Bangladesh, by contrast and also a Muslim majority nation, is a success story in organic national growth, both in its emergence as an Asian economic bull from a basket case and also in thwarting the possible takeover of political power by a radical Islamist ecosystem. Some Western or Bangladesh-based apologists conveniently overlook the ‘foreign element’ in backing local radical Islamist forces and cry wolf over tough policing as an unforgivable violation of human rights. Even as the hasty US withdrawal from Afghanistan paved the way for a Taliban takeover, some US Congressmen resumed needling of the Hasina government over ‘forced disappearances’ and ‘extra-judicial murders’ of regime opponents. The UK High Commissioner joined in by painting Bangladesh as a corrupt country where doing business was not easy. Also read: Afghan exit shows limits to US power; provides valuable lessons for India A simple question to these Western guardians of human rights: Do you dialogue with fundamentalist elements who want an end to women education, sodomise children in madrassas they control, and want blasphemy laws in place or do you hit them when they create mayhem on the streets to pave the way for regime change? A dialogue with these elements, as the Awami League itself discovered ahead of 2019 polls, can only lead to compromising the secular democratic polity created out of the 1971 Liberation War and undermining its values. If the West fails to realise that Bangladesh-type homegrown secular democratic polity is the only alternative in the Islamist world and it pursues either a parachute democracy model as in Ghani’s Afghanistan or backing oppressive monarchies like Saudi Arabia, it will soon pay dearly for consequences in its own shores with more 9/11s. (The Federal seeks to present views and opinions from all sides of the spectrum. The information, ideas or opinions in the articles are of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Federal) (The writer is a former journalist and author of Midnight Massacre. He covered Bangladesh and Afghanistan in the 1970s and ’80s).
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Regime Change
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Trump administration begins formal withdrawal from World Health Organization
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The Trump administration has notified Congress and the United Nations that the United States is formally withdrawing from the World Health Organization, multiple officials tell CNN, a move that comes amid a rising number of coronavirus cases throughout the Americas over the past week. The withdrawal, which goes into effect next July, has drawn criticism from bipartisan lawmakers, medical associations, advocacy organizations and allies abroad. Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden vowed Tuesday to reverse the decision "on (his) first day" if elected. Sen. Robert Menendez, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee tweeted the news Tuesday. "Congress received notification that POTUS officially withdrew the U.S. from the @WHOin the midst of a pandemic. To call Trump's response to COVID chaotic & incoherent doesn't do it justice. This won't protect American lives or interests—it leaves Americans sick & America alone," he wrote. A State Department official also confirmed that "the United States' notice of withdrawal, effective July 6, 2021, has been submitted to the UN Secretary-General, who is the depository for the WHO." The spokesperson for Secretary-General António Guterres said he had received the notice and "is in the process of verifying with the World Health Organization whether all the conditions for such withdrawal are met." Those conditions "include giving a one-year notice and fully meeting the payment of assessed financial obligations." Read More Republicans urge Trump not to terminate relationship with World Health Organization The letter addressed to the UN is very short, around three sentences, a source briefed on the correspondence told CNN, and it triggers a one-year withdrawal timeline. However, this source also cautioned that they cannot confirm they saw the final version of the letter. Among its current functions, the WHO is attempting to coordinate efforts to get personal safety and medical equipment, like ventilators, to hospitals around the world. Elizabeth Cousens, the president and CEO of the UN Foundation, said the organization is "indispensable" in the fight against Covid-19. Loyce Pace, president and executive director of Global Health Council, echoed that point, telling CNN: "Thousands of people have spoken, from health experts to heads of state and heroes on the frontlines: the world needs WHO. This move signals a dangerous gamble in the midst of a pandemic we have yet to conquer, and without a viable alternative to WHO." Some have warned that withdrawal in the current environment could also interfere with clinical trials essential for developing vaccines, as well as efforts to trace the spread of the virus globally. 'Short-sighted, unnecessary, and unequivocally dangerous' President Donald Trump said he was halting funding to the organization in mid-April and announced his intention to withdraw from the WHO in May after he said it "failed to make the requested and greatly needed reforms." Trump had denounced the US' contribution to the WHO -- $400-500 million -- in comparison to China's and consistently accused the organization of aiding China in allegedly covering up the origins of the virus and allowing its spread. While lawmakers from both parties have long cited systemic problems with the WHO, many have also denounced the President's decision to withdraw during a once-in-a-century global pandemic. Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called it "is an act of true senselessness." Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander, chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said he disagreed with Trump's decision. "If the administration has specific recommendations for reforms of the WHO, it should submit those recommendations to Congress, and we can work together to make those happen," he said. Last month, despite alleging that the World Health Organization "enabled" the Chinese government's sweeping cover-up of the coronavirus pandemic's origins, members of the GOP China task force urged Trump to reconsider his decision to terminate relations with the international body, arguing that the US can do more to affect change as a member. Cousens, the head of the UN Foundation, called the decision "short-sighted, unnecessary, and unequivocally dangerous" and said that the US' "ability to lead and shape an agenda for reform is drastically diminished when they step out of the field of play." "There's no question but that working within an institution like the World Health Organization allows the United States and others to leverage their resources to have much greater impact," she told CNN. She pointed to the WHO's work in "distributing millions of pieces of personal protective equipment to medical facilities around the world, millions of diagnostic tests, tracking the virus' spread across borders, coordinating global efforts to develop a vaccine, ... coordinating research among over 100 countries ... along with all of the work that they do in low resource and more humanitarian settings." Move comes as virus is surging The heads of the American Medical Association, American Academy of Pediatrics, American Academy of Family Physicians and American College of Physicians condemned the move to withdraw from the WHO, saying in a statement that it "puts the health of our country at grave risk." "This dangerous withdrawal not only impacts the global response against COVID-19, but also undermines efforts to address other major public health threats," they said in a joint statement. "We call on Congress to reject the Administration's withdrawal from the WHO and make every effort to preserve the United States' relationship with this valued global institution. Now is the time to invest in global health, rather than turn back." The number of coronavirus cases continues to surge across the US and in various countries around the world. There are at least 2,953,423 cases of coronavirus in the US, and at least 130,546 people have died from the virus in the country, according to Johns Hopkins University's tally. In the span of a week and a half, the number of US coronavirus cases reported each day has doubled, and officials are saying this is still the first wave of the pandemic. Brazil's Jair Bolsonaro tests positive for Covid-19 after months of dismissing the seriousness of the virus Trump has repeatedly insisted that the rise of cases in the US is purely the result of increased testing, but a WHO official knocked down that claim on Monday. WHO scientists and experts are scheduled to travel to China this weekend to investigate the origins of the novel coronavirus, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced on Tuesday. Specifically, experts will be seeking to trace the narrative of how the coronavirus might have spread from the wild to possibly farm animals to humans, said Dr. Mike Ryan, executive director of WHO's Health Emergencies Program. Biden vows to reverse decision The Trump administration has already diverted funding from the WHO and the process to formally withdraw will take a year to complete. Critics of the decision hope that the withdrawal decision will be reversed if Trump loses the presidential election in November. In a tweet Tuesday, Biden vowed to do so if elected. "Americans are safer when America is engaged in strengthening global health. On my first day as President, I will rejoin the @WHO and restore our leadership on the world stage," he wrote. US allies have rallied to the support of the WHO, with a top diplomat from Germany calling for global solidarity and Italy's Health Minister criticizing Trump's decision as "serious and wrong". Trump's decision to permanently terminate the US relationship with the WHO follows a years-long pattern of railing against global organizations, with the President claiming that the US is being taken advantage of. The President has questioned US funding to the United Nations and NATO, withdrawn from the Paris climate accord and repeatedly criticized the World Trade Organization.
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Withdraw from an Organization
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Airstan incident crash
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The Airstan incident was an international incident involving Russia and the Taliban of Afghanistan in 1995 and 1996. On 3 August 1995, Taliban-controlled fighter aircraft intercepted an Airstan Ilyushin Il-76TD transport aircraft, with seven Russian nationals on board, forcing it to land at Taliban-occupied Kandahar International Airport. The men were held prisoner for over a year before making their escape; after overpowering their captors they re-possessed their aircraft, flying it to freedom. In 1995, Afghanistan was in a state of civil war. In late 1994 the Taliban movement sprang out of Kandahar and by early 1995 had taken control of most of the country south of Kabul, forcing other Afghan groups to abandon territory. In August 1995 the Russian crew of the Ilyushin Il-76 was working for Tatarstan-based[1] Airstan, which was in turn leasing their plane to Rus Trans Avia Export, a Russian company that was based in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. On board the plane were Russian nationals: Vladimir Sharpatov (commander), Gazinur Khairullin (second pilot), Alexander Zdor (navigator), Askhad Abbyazov, Yuri Vshivtsev, Sergei Butuzov and Viktor Ryazanov. [2] They were transporting 30 tons of weapons from Albania to the besieged Afghan President Burhanuddin Rabbani. [1][3]
On 3 August 1995 a Taliban Air Force MiG-21 aircraft forced the Russian aircraft to land at Kandahar. [1][4] Negotiations between the Russian government and the Taliban to free the men stalled for over a year and efforts by American senator Hank Brown to mediate between the two parties broke down over a prisoner exchange. [2] The Taliban stated that they would free the airmen if the Russians released Afghans held by the Russian government. However the Russians denied holding any Afghan citizens. Brown was able to get the Taliban to agree that the Russian crew should be allowed to maintain their aircraft. [2] This request paved the way for their escape. [2]
The Russians had been planning their escape for over a year. [5] After Hank Brown secured visits to their aircraft for the whole crew they secretly not only did routine maintenance but prepared it for flight. On each trip the crew would be guarded by six Taliban guards but on 16 August 1996, half of the guards left the crew for afternoon prayers. [2] Seizing the opportunity, the Russians overpowered the remaining guards and the pilot was able to start one engine from the auxiliary power unit (itself started with a battery). [2] With one engine running, the remaining three could easily be started. The aircraft, with all seven of the crew aboard, quickly taxied down the runway. The Taliban tried to block the runway with a fire truck but the aircraft was able to take to the air thus avoiding the obstacle. [6] The escapees were able to quickly exit Taliban controlled airspace and charted a course to the United Arab Emirates. The crew's escape was greeted with excitement and relief by the Russians and Russian President Boris Yeltsin telephoned the crewmen to congratulate them as they flew to Russia on a Russian government aircraft. [7]
As of November 2019, the Ilyushin Il-76TD involved in the escape, RA-76842, is still in service, but is now operated by Aviacon Zitotrans. [9]
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Air crash
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Ohio State distributes another $46 million in student aid
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To assist students with financial challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, The Ohio State University is distributing another $46 million in federal assistance for students. The university notified more than 25,000 students this week that they are receiving block grants as part of the third round of emergency grants supported with federal relief funds. Eligible undergraduate, graduate and professional students who enrolled in summer or autumn semester 2021 will receive grants of $250 to $3,000, depending on their level of financial need. Students on all Ohio State campuses are eligible. “We know that the pandemic continues to take a financial toll on individuals and families across our university community,” President Kristina M. Johnson said, “and we are deeply committed to doing what we can to ensure that these difficulties do not derail our students from achieving their academic goals. We are grateful that our federal partners have continued to prioritize relief for students, so Ohio State can again offer this important monetary support this academic year.” Since the pandemic began, Ohio State has distributed more than $87 million to students in pandemic-related assistance from the federal Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund, which was initially created after the passage of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. In all, more than 39,500 students have received emergency grants. The latest grants are funded through $57.8 million that Ohio State received for emergency student aid from the American Rescue Plan. The funds distributed this week are based on financial need, in alignment with Department of Education guidance. Students may use the funds toward any component of the cost of attendance, or for emergency costs that arise due to coronavirus such as tuition, food, housing, health care (including mental health care) or child care. Ohio State will use remaining funds to support students through the Together as Buckeyes emergency grant program, which uses an application process that considers students’ individual circumstances. In addition, a portion of the funding has been set aside to assist families who have experienced a significant change in financial circumstances since filing their FAFSA. To apply for a Together As Buckeyes emergency grant, students need to complete a one-page emergency request form. Student Financial Aid will process applications after determining eligibility based on each student’s circumstances and guidance from the U.S. Department of Education.
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Financial Aid
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China rebukes Australia for “Cold War mentality” after Belt and Road accords cancelled
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SYDNEY, April 22 (Reuters) - Australia said on Thursday that it cancelled two accords between Victoria state and China on the Belt and Road Initiative because they were out of line with the federal government’s foreign policy, which sees a “free and open Indo Pacific” as a key goal. A Chinese foreign ministry spokesman responded by urging Australia to abandon its "Cold War mentality and ideological bias" and "immediately correct its mistakes and change course". The Chinese embassy earlier criticised the move by Foreign Minister Marise Payne to veto two agreements signed by Victoria state as "provocative" and said it would further damage ties. Prime Minister Scott Morrison told reporters on Thursday the accords were cancelled because his federal government didn't want other levels of government to enter into agreements that conflict with Australia's foreign policy. "We will always act in Australia's national interest to protect Australia, but to also ensure we can advance our national interest in a free and open Indo Pacific and a world that seeks a balance in favour of freedom," he said. Under a new process, states must consult with the foreign minister before signing agreements with other nations. Payne earlier told local radio the policy was "not aimed at any one country". Wang Wenbin, a spokesman at the Chinese foreign ministry, expressed doubt over that claim during a regular news conference in Beijing. "The Australian side reviewed more than 1,000 deals and only decided to cancel four, and two of them were agreements with China, so Australia's claim that the decision doesn't target any particular country does not hold water," Wang said. The spokesman warned Australia against travelling "further down the wrong path to avoid making the already strained China-Australia relations worse." Speaking to reporters in New Zealand after meeting with her counterpart Nanaia Mahuta, Payne said Australia sought a clear-eyed and practical engagement with China, particularly as the world emerged from COVID-19. "We also have to acknowledge that China's outlook, the nature of China's external engagement, both in our region and globally, has changed in recent years, and an enduring partnership requires us to adapt to those new realities," she said. China is the largest trading partner of New Zealand and Australia. Mahuta on Thursday repeated comments that New Zealand valued the Five Eyes security alliance - which also includes Australia, Britain, Canada and the United States - but questioned whether it was the right platform for New Zealand to speak out on human rights issues. read more The comment, first made on Monday, has been widely interpreted as referring to recent Five Eyes joint statements criticising China. In a joint written statement that did not mention China, Payne and Mahuta said they had "reaffirmed their intent to work together to preserve the liberal international order that has underpinned stability and prosperity in the region, and to foster a sustainable regional balance where all countries- large and small – can freely pursue their legitimate interests". Australia's conservative coalition government had declined to agree to a country-level MOU with China on the Belt and Road Initiative. But Victoria Labor Premier Dan Andrews signed an MOU to promote the infrastructure development initiative in 2018 and a framework agreement in 2019，saying it would bring Chinese investment to his state. Hans Hendrischke from the University of Sydney Business School said the cancellation of the agreements would have minimal commercial impact because no projects had begun. "It had no legal force and there were no specific deals," he told Reuters. Diplomatic relations between Australia and China have worsened since Canberra called for an international inquiry into the origins of the coronavirus, prompting trade reprisals from Beijing. Fitch Ratings said economic co-dependencies between Australia and China will restrain Beijing from targeting major exports such as iron ore.
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Tear Up Agreement
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Guardiola signs new City deal!
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Manchester City are pleased to announce that Pep Guardiola has signed a new two-year deal with the Club.
The contract, which now runs to the summer of 2023, sees Guardiola ’s commitment to City extended to seven years from his arrival in 2016.
Since joining Manchester City, Pep has had a transformational effect on the Club’s playing style and has guided the team to eight major trophies, setting a series of significant records along the way. In total, the team has won 181 of the 245 matches under his in charge – a win rate of 73.87 percent – winning a piece of silverware every 31 games he has overseen.
Pep’s current five-year stay is already the longest commitment he has made to a football Club since becoming a manager in 2008 – and this extension will see him overtake Joe Mercer and put him second on the Club’s list of longest-serving post-war managers.
Confirming the news, Chairman Khaldoon Mubarak said: “It is testament to the qualities of the man that Pep Guardiola ’s passion and intelligent approach are now woven into the very fabric of the football we play and our culture as Club. That impact has been central to our success during his tenure and it is why I am delighted that he shares our view that there is so much more to be achieved both on and off the field.
“Pep’s contract extension is the natural next step in a journey which has evolved over many years. It is a product of the mutual trust and respect that exists between him and the entire Club. It also goes to the stability and creativity at the heart of our football operations. Importantly it is a validation of the football structure and philosophy that has been built over more than a decade and to which he has contributed so much.
“I’m sure all City fans share my delight in this new agreement and in anticipating the exciting opportunities that, with continued hard work, are there to be taken.”
And Guardiola spoke of his delight at signing the deal, saying: “Ever since I arrived at Manchester City I have been made to feel so welcome in the Club and in the city itself- from the players, the staff, the supporters, the people of Manchester and the Chairman and Owner. Since then we have achieved a great deal together, scored goals, won games and trophies, and we are all very proud of that success.
“Having that kind of support is the best thing any manager can have. I have everything I could possibly want to do my job well and I am humbled by the confidence the Owner, Chairman, Ferran and Txiki have shown in me to continue for two more years after this season.
“The challenge for us is to continue improving and evolving, and I am very excited and about helping Manchester City do that.”
Everyone at Manchester City is absolutely delighted Pep has extended his stay with us and we wish him every success in the remainder of his time here.
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Sign Agreement
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1956 Scottish Airlines Malta air disaster crash
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The 1956 Scottish Airlines Malta air disaster was an air accident that happened on 18 February 1956. A Scottish Airlines Avro York crashed after takeoff from RAF Luqa in Malta on a trooping flight from the Suez Canal Zone to London Stansted Airport. [1][2] The disaster killed all 50 passengers and crew on board the aircraft; all passengers except one (a British Army private) were Royal Air Force personnel. [2]
The accident happened on 18 February 1956 when the Avro York, registration G-ANSY, took off from Malta International Airport at 12:21 UTC time on a flight to London Stansted Airport with 45 passengers and five crew aboard. Shortly after becoming airborne, the boost enrichment capsule in the carburetor of the number one engine failed, and the engine caught fire. The pilots failed to feather the propeller as the aircraft slowly climbed to 700–800 feet; they then made a left turn to return to the airport. Shortly after retracting the flaps, the aircraft went into a nose-up attitude at very low speed. This resulted in a stall, which caused the aircraft to enter an unrecoverable dive. It crashed into the ground near Zurrieq, Malta, killing all 50 passengers and crew on board. [3]
The reported mechanical cause was failure of the number one engine. However, this was compounded by a loss of speed and consequent loss of control through pilot error. There is memorial at the National Memorial Arboretum a British site of national remembrance at Alrewas, near Lichfield, Staffordshire. [4] Near the place of crash at town Żurrieq in the Southern Region of Malta there is memorial monument in Il-Gibjun Gardens. [5]
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Air crash
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1980 St Pauls riot
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The St Pauls riot occurred in St Pauls, Bristol, England on 2 April 1980 when police raided the Black and White Café on Grosvenor Road in the heart of the area. After several hours of disturbance in which fire engines and police cars were damaged, 130 people were arrested, 25 were taken to hospital, including 19 police and members of the press. The riot occurred against a background of increasing racial tension, poor housing and alienation of black youth. As a result of the disturbances local authorities and the national government began to pay attention to these issues. The Black and White Café was closed in 2004 and eventually demolished. Bristol in the 1970s had seen an increase in unemployment and a deterioration of race relations as the right-wing National Front party campaigned in local and national elections. St Pauls was blighted by the development of the M32 motorway, which split the area from the neighbouring district of Easton. Much of the housing in the area was in a poor state and local education services failed to cater adequately for the needs of either ethnic minorities or indeed many working class white communities.
Increasing use by the police of Sus laws to stop and search youths, predominantly those from the Afro-Caribbean community, raised tension. There was also an increase in racial harassment on local council housing estates, which was largely ignored by the housing department.
It is unclear why the riot started; some sources suggest that it was as a result of police ripping a customer's trousers and refusing to pay, others that they were attacked as they removed alcohol from the café which did not have a drinks licence. According to The Guardian newspaper, 100–200 black and white youths were involved.
However other sources estimate the size of the crowd at about 2000. [4] The riot continued for many hours and caused much damage to a branch of Lloyds Bank and a post office. Several fire engines and 12 police cars were also damaged. At one point a police chief famously remarked: "Surely we should be advancing, not retreating?" 130 people were arrested and 90 were charged. The next day, The Daily Telegraph carried a headline stating "19 Police Hurt in Black Riot" and blamed lack of parental care.
Nineteen policemen and six other people were taken to hospital, including a cameraman and a photographer from the Western Daily Press. 16 of those arrested were prosecuted for riot, but all were either acquitted, had the charges dropped or were discharged after the jury failed to reach a verdict.Copycat riots in Southmead, a predominately white working-class council estate, occurred soon after the St Pauls disturbance.
Later commentators suggested that poverty and the sus laws were more important causes of the riots than race. The House of Commons Home Affairs Select Committee held a session in Bristol and Home Secretary William Whitelaw came to the city to hold meetings with the local authorities and representatives of the black community. Relations between police and the local community remained tense and reached a low point in 1986 when 600 police raided the Black and White Café again in an action named Operation Delivery. It took intervention by local Member of Parliament William Waldegrave to persuade the police to scale down their policy of containment.
The Black and White Café had long had a reputation as a drug den and was allegedly raided more times by the police than any other premises in the country. [11] In 2003 Bristol City Council used its powers of compulsory purchase and in 2005 the building was demolished[12] and has now been replaced by new homes.
When cabinet papers were released 30 years later, they showed that Home Secretary William Whitelaw had reported that the Chief Constable "accepted that the police had made errors in the initial stages of the incident but [his] subsequent decision to withdraw all officers from the area for several hours had been the only one open to him at the time". Whitelaw said that a full public inquiry was undesirable as it would only lead to the police being criticised for no good purpose, and that not every controversial matter should lead to such an inquiry.
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Riot
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Asbestos Strike
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The Asbestos strike of 1949, based in and around the town of Asbestos, Quebec, Canada, was a four-month labour dispute by asbestos miners. It has traditionally been portrayed as a turning point in Quebec history that helped lead to the Quiet Revolution. [1] It also helped launch the careers of Jean Marchand, Gérard Pelletier, and Pierre Trudeau. At midnight on February 14, 1949, miners walked off the job at four asbestos mines in the Eastern Townships, near Asbestos, Quebec and Thetford Mines. Though these mines were owned by either American or English-Canadian companies, almost all the workers were francophones. The largest company was the American Johns-Manville firm. The union had several demands. These included the elimination of asbestos dust inside and outside of the mill; a fifteen cent an hour general wage increase; a five-cent an hour increase for night work; a social security fund to be administered by the union; the implementation of the Rand Formula; and "double time" payment for work on Sundays and holidays. These demands were radical in Quebec at the time, and they were rejected by the owners. On February 13, 1949, the workers voted to strike. The workers were represented by the National Federation of Mining Industry Employees and the Canadian Catholic Federation of Labour. Jean Marchand was the general secretary of the latter and is often seen as the de facto leader of the strike. [citation needed]
The strike was illegal. Quebec Premier Maurice Duplessis sided strongly with the companies, largely due to his hostility to all forms of socialism. The provincial government sent squads of police to protect the mines. Duplessis' Union Nationale party had long been closely allied to the Catholic Church, but parts of the church would move to support the workers. The population and media of Quebec were sympathetic to the strikers. The lead reporter for Le Devoir was Gérard Pelletier, who was deeply sympathetic to the cause of the workers. Pierre Elliott Trudeau also covered the strike in a sympathetic manner. Six weeks into the strike, Johns-Manville hired strikebreakers to keep the mines open. The community was deeply divided as some of the workers crossed the picket lines. The strike turned violent as the 5000 strikers attacked, destroying the property of the "scabs" and intimidating them through force. More police were sent to protect the strikebreakers. The striking miners and police fought on the picket line and hundreds of miners were arrested. Some of the incidents included: On March 14, a dynamite explosion destroyed part of a railroad track that led into the Johns-Manville Corporation Canadian subsidiary property. On March 16, strikers overturned a company jeep, injuring a passenger. Strikers had the support of Canadian unions and some of the Catholic Church in Quebec. The Catholic Church, which had until that time been largely supportive of the Union Nationale government of Duplessis, profoundly affected the strike. Some priests backed the companies, but most sided with the strikers. On March 5, Archbishop Joseph Charbonneau delivered a fiercely pro-union speech asking all Catholics to donate to help the strikers. Premier Duplessis asked the church to transfer the archbishop to Vancouver because of his encouragement of the strike. The church refused, signaling a dramatic change in Quebec society. Charbonneau did resign and became the chaplain at a hospital in Victoria, British Columbia. On May 5, the strikers launched an effort to shut down the mine in Asbestos by barricading the mine and every road into and out of town. Police attempts to force their way through the barricades failed. The strikers backed down when the police pledged to open fire on the strikers. The next day, the riot act was read and mass arrests of the strikers had begun, including a raid on the church. The arrested strikers were beaten and their leaders severely battered. [citation needed]
After the arrests, the unions decided that they must compromise, and began negotiations with the company. Archbishop Maurice Roy, of Quebec City, served as mediator. In June, the workers agreed to return to work with few gains. When the dispute ended, miners received a small pay increase, but many never regained their jobs. One of the most violent and bitter labour disputes in Quebec and Canadian history, the strike led to great upheaval in Quebec society. [citation needed] The strike was in large part led by Jean Marchand, a labour unionist. Journalist Gérard Pelletier and future Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau, then a journalist, also played significant roles. Marchand, Pelletier and Trudeau would eventually become prominent Canadian politicians and were known later in their political careers as Les Trois Colombes (the Three Wise Men). They would largely establish the direction of Quebec federalism for a generation. [citation needed]
Trudeau edited a book, The Asbestos Strike, that presented the strike as the origin of modern Quebec, portraying it as "a violent announcement that a new era had begun." Some historians[who?] argue that the strikers were simply pursuing better conditions and that the resulting change in society was an unintended byproduct.
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Strike
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1950 British Columbia B-36 crash
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Sometime after midnight on 14 February 1950, a Convair B-36B, Air Force Serial Number 44-92075 assigned to the 7th Bombardment Wing, Heavy at Carswell Air Force Base, crashed in northwestern British Columbia on Mount Kologet after jettisoning a Mark 4 nuclear bomb. [1] This was the first such nuclear weapon loss in history. [2] The B-36B had been en route from Eielson Air Force Base near Fairbanks, Alaska to Carswell AFB in Fort Worth, Texas, more than 3,000 miles southeast, on a mission that included a simulated nuclear attack on San Francisco. [2]
Convair B-36B 44-92075 was flying on a simulated nuclear strike combat mission against the Soviet Union. [3][4] The B-36 took off on 13 February 1950 from Eielson AFB with a regular crew of 15 plus a Weaponeer and a Bomb Commander. The plan for the 24-hour flight was to fly over the North Pacific, due west of the Alaska panhandle and British Columbia, then head inland over Washington state and Montana. Here the B-36 would climb to 40,000 feet (12,000 m) for a simulated bomb run to southern California and then San Francisco, it would continue its non-stop flight to Fort Worth, Texas. The flight plan did not include any penetration of Canadian airspace. The aircraft carried a Mark 4 atomic bomb, containing a substantial quantity of natural uranium and 5,000 pounds (2,300 kg) of conventional explosives. [5] According to the USAF, the bomb did not contain the plutonium core necessary for a nuclear detonation. [2]
Cold weather (−40 °F/−40 °C on the ground at Eielson AFB) adversely affected the aircraft involved in this exercise, and some minor difficulties with 44-92075 were noted before takeoff. Seven hours into the flight, three of the six piston engines began shooting flames and were shut down, and the other three piston engines proved incapable of delivering full power. The subsequent investigation blamed ice buildup in the carburetor air intakes. [2]
The crew decided to abandon the aircraft because it could not stay aloft with three engines out of commission while carrying a heavy payload. The atomic bomb was jettisoned and detonated in mid-air, resulting in a large conventional explosion over the Inside Passage. The USAF later stated that the fake practice core on board the aircraft was inserted into the weapon before it was dropped. [2]
The aircraft had been in constant radio contact with Strategic Air Command headquarters at Offutt AFB, Nebraska, and within minutes of the bailout the Royal Canadian Air Force launched Operation Brix to find the missing men. Poor weather hampered search efforts; nevertheless 12 of the 17 men were eventually found alive. One of the five deceased, the weaponeer, was rumored to have been recovered four years later (1954) at the crash site. The remaining four airmen were believed to have bailed out of the aircraft earlier than the surviving crew members, and it was assumed that they landed in the ocean and died of hypothermia. Canadian authorities were never told that the aircraft was carrying a nuclear weapon. [2]
To search for the B-36, aircraft were pulled off the search for a Douglas C-54 that had disappeared three weeks earlier. A more exhaustive search was not launched for the B-36, as it was believed to be at the bottom of the Pacific. Three years later, an RCAF flight searching for the missing de Havilland Dove aircraft of Texas millionaire oilman Ellis A. Hall spotted the B-36's wreckage. [6] It was found on the side of Mount Kologet, about 50 miles (80 km) east of the Alaskan border, roughly due east of the towns of Stewart, British Columbia, and Hyder, Alaska, on the east side of the isolated Nass Basin northwest of Hazelton, British Columbia. [2]
The USAF immediately began an investigation. A team was sent in September 1953, as the effort was given a high priority, but they failed to reach the site after 19 days of trudging through the wilderness. The effort was resumed the following year with better equipment, and in August 1954 a new team of USAF personnel accompanied by a local guide reached the wreckage. They recovered important components and then used explosives to destroy what was visible above the snow. [7]
In 1956, two civilian surveyors chanced on the wreck and noted its exact location, which otherwise remained unknown for the next 40 years. [8] In 1997 one of the surveyors provided the coordinates[8] to two distinct expeditions, one American and one led by the Canadian Department of National Defence, seeking to conduct an environmental analysis of the site. Both expeditions reached the wreck around the same time, and members were apparently the first humans to set foot in the area since 1956. The Canadian-led mission found no unusual radiation levels. [9] In late 1998, the Canadian government declared the site protected. [10] A portion of one of the gun turrets is on display at The Bulkley Valley Museum in Smithers, British Columbia. [11]
In late October 2016 a diver reported he had discovered something that looked like a segment of the partially disarmed Mark IV nuclear bomb that the co-pilot said they had dumped before the crash. The location near Pitt Island in the Inside Passage was mistakenly reported as off Haida Gwaii. The Royal Canadian Navy later confirmed that the item was not the Mark IV bomb. [12][13][14]
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Air crash
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Mitchell jail fire
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On Friday, May 3, 2002, a fire broke out at the Mitchell County jail in Bakersville, North Carolina. Bakersville is located northeast of Asheville, North Carolina, and has a population of less than 500. The jail, built in the 1950s, held 17 inmates; some were serving time for misdemeanors and others were awaiting trial on felonies. Jailer Diane Greene smelled smoke and called for help around 10:05 p.m. Greene and an inmate trustee, Melissa Robinson, tried to rescue trapped inmates, but heavy smoke forced them out of the building. The jail's four cells only could be opened manually, one at a time with keys. Two deputies, Stacy Hughes and Charles Vines Jr., freed eight inmates on the ground floor, but they were not able to reach the men upstairs. By 11:30 p.m., about 100 firefighters from four counties had extinguished the fire. Eight inmates died of smoke inhalation. Seven were trapped on the second floor, and one was in a holding cell on the ground floor. Thirteen others — nine inmates, three jail employees, and one firefighter — were injured and hospitalized. The SBI originally classified the fire as an accident, saying it began in a storage room on the jail's ground floor when cardboard boxes stacked against a heater ignited creating heavy smoke that quickly spread through the two-story brick and wood building. The site of the former jail has been turned into a memorial. The men who died in the fire:
The following tort claims from the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Resources to pay for pain and suffering incurred because of the fire have been settled:
The following claims are still pending:
The claims remain pending because the department is counterclaiming the amounts, saying Robinson conspired with Jesse Davis and his wife Denise in starting the fire. Since 2007 the state has compiled 16 depositions from friends of Robinson, inmates that survived the fire, and investigators and paramedics responding to the fire. The state alleges Robinson, in return for drugs and money, planned to make a smoke diversion to give way for the escape. In a motion, the state says Robinson let Denise into the jail on May 3, 2002. In a back storeroom, Denise and Robinson piled cardboard boxes near a wall heater to make the fire look like it was sparked accidentally. They set the fire and doused the boxes with fingernail polish remover. A date for the trial has not been set. The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation has reopened its investigation.
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Fire
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Pan Am Flight 923 crash
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Alaska
USA
Pan Am Flight 923 was a Douglas DC-4 operating from Seattle, Washington to Juneau, Alaska, which crashed into Tamgas Mountain on Annette Island, Alaska, on October 26, 1947. All 18 passengers and crew on board were killed. The crash was the worst in Alaskan commercial aviation at the time, as well as the first crash of a Pan Am four-engine aircraft. An investigation by the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB, the precursor to the NTSB) was unable to determine probable cause and it remains unknown to this day. Be the first to add a review to the Pan Am Flight 923. Problem with this listing? Let us know. Click to discover a great deal! Anything you plan or save automagically syncs with the apps, ready for you to hit the road! Tall tales, trip guides, & the world's weird & wonderful. Did you know: If you use the Roadtrippers mobile app, your trips will instantly auto-sync over... Ready for navigation and good times! These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable information. These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not know when you have visited our site, and will not be able to monitor its performance. These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising. This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media and analytics partners.Roadtrippers Privacy/Cookie Policy
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Air crash
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2013 Bushehr earthquake
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The 2013 Bushehr earthquake occurred with a moment magnitude of 6.3 on April 9 in Iran. The shock's epicenter was in the province of Bushehr, near the city of Khvormuj and the towns of Kaki and Shonbeh. At least 37 people were killed, mostly from the town of Shonbeh and villages of Shonbeh-Tasuj district, and an estimated 850 people were injured. Iran lies within the complex zone of collision between the Arabian Plate and the Eurasian Plate. The rate of convergence between the plates near the epicentre is about 30 millimetres (1 in) per year, of which only part is taken up within the Zagros fold and thrust belt. The earthquake was the result of thrust faulting on a NW-SE trending fault plane, consistent with continuing shortening of the Arabian Plate. [1]
At 16:22 IRDT (11:52 UTC) on April 9, 2013, an earthquake with a magnitude of 6.3 struck the southwestern coast of Iran, in Bushehr Province. It struck at a depth of 10 kilometres (6.2 mi), near the towns of Khvormuj and Kaki. [2] "Dozens" of aftershocks followed, most within the first hour of the main quake. The strongest aftershock had a magnitude of 5.6. [5]
The area is home to ten thousand people and fifty villages. [3] The United States Geological Survey (USGS) estimated that 80,000 people experienced strong tremors while several million felt light shaking. [3] The earthquake was felt in many countries around the Persian Gulf, including Qatar, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.
At least 37 people were killed and an estimated 850 were injured by the earthquake. [2] Most of those killed were in the town of Shonbeh and villages of Shonbeh-Tasuj District. [2] Of the injured, 100 required hospitalization. [2]
Two villages in the Khvormuj district were reported to have been "levelled". [3] Landslides caused by the earthquake were reported in Kaki City. [7] According to provincial governor Fereydun Hasanvand, 700 homes were damaged, affecting 200 families. [3] Many residents in the Shonbeh District lost power and water services. [4] Residents took to the streets in search of safety as aftershock after aftershock hit. [3] A report by Iran's International Institute of Earthquake Engineering and Seismology stated that most of the buildings damaged were adobe buildings constructed in the last 50 years; and that 100 houses were destroyed, 1,000 people were left homeless, and that about $50 million in damage occurred. [8]
The Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant was not damaged, according to its operator and the governor of the province. [2] It was built to withstand a magnitude 8 earthquake, according to an official. [4]
Iran's Red Crescent Society and the Iranian Navy sent teams to Bushehr Province on the first night to deliver first aid. Several helicopters from nearby provinces helped airlift in emergency supplies. [2] Temporary shelters were erected in the first week after the earthquake. [8]
Three days of national mourning were announced on April 9. [4]
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Earthquakes
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Farmers fearful of China retaliation as Australia tears up Victoria's Belt and Road deal
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Farmers are not confident of a quick resolution to the trade dispute with China after the Commonwealth Government tore up Victoria's Belt and Road deal with Beijing.
Australia has been in a trade dispute with China for more than a year with major agricultural exports like barley, wine, meat, lobster, and last month hay all affected.
There is concern that this latest decision by the federal government could mean more restrictions will be placed on Australian exports to China.
"I think as far as the wine industry is concerned — whether it's the Victorian or the Australian industry — it's not going to make a difference at all … it can't make things worse," said Alister Purbrick from Tahbilk winery in central Victoria.
Mr Purbrick lost one quarter of his business when Chinese authorities took anti-dumping action against Australia by lumping tariffs of more than 200 per cent on his wine imports to China.
"It hurts, there is no doubt about that," he said.
The family-owned wine business is now trying to find a home elsewhere in the world for wine already packaged for the Chinese market.
"I think there could be a retaliation and that retaliation could be to an industry that hasn't been affected thus far," Mr Purbrick said.
Director of the Australia China Relations Institute at University of Technology Sydney, James Laurenceson, said the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) agreement did not mean a lot, but the fallout would flare tensions that had been quiet in recent months.
"Let's be clear, what has been cancelled was a non-legally binding agreement that didn't commit the Victorian government to anything, let alone the national government," he said.
"Canberra could have allowed this agreement to lapse in time and not approve new agreements, but instead it chose to blow it up and send a message to Beijing."
Professor Laurenceson said China had already placed restrictions on the "easy targets" and any further restrictions on other agricultural sectors by China would create major problems.
"There is no doubt that is a real risk," he said.
"You can imagine a couple of industries might still be vulnerable, dairy, and further moves the Chinese government could take when it comes to beef."
The grains industry also lost access to the China market for barley.
China was the largest export market for Australian barley before the government in Beijing placed anti-dumping tariffs on Australian exports, effectively ending the trade overnight.
Brett Hosking farms at Quambatook in Victoria's north-west and is chair of peak body Grain Growers Limited.
He supports the federal government decision to tear up the BRI with China, but is bracing for the fallout.
"Having one voice speaking on behalf of Australia is probably the sensible way to go rather than multiple agreements across the country," Mr Hosking said.
"I understand the ambition but it's not to say it won't cause hiccups along the way."
The dispute between Australia and China over barley tariffs has been escalated to the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
On April 30, Australia will ask for a panel to be formed to determine whether the tariffs are fair.
Mr Hosking believes the ending of Victoria's BRI agreement would not change the outcome of that dispute, but he will be watching the fate of other grain exports to China.
"As far as barley is concerned the damage is already done," he said.
"We still currently have some wheat trading into China, and obviously any trade with China comes with a sense of nervousness, but at the moment the vessels are still going there."
Exporters are wary and and wondering what the next commodity to be placed on the China trade chopping block might be.
The Chinese Government is inviting world leaders to Beijing to sell them its hugely ambitious, signature One Belt One Road project.
But it is not just exports that stand to take a hit.
China is a big investor in Australian agriculture and Professor Laurenceson warned those funds are drying up.
"What is at risk is new investment. We have seen from numerous data sources that new Chinese investment inflows into Australia have absolutely tanked," he said.
"There is no improvement on the horizon as far as I can see."
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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Tear Up Agreement
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Melbourne beach gastro risk amid Port Phillip Bay faeces contamination
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Authorities are warning of high levels of faecal pollution at some of Melbourne's most popular beaches after recent flash flooding, sparking concerns about gastroenteritis. EPA Victoria is forecasting poor water quality — indicating unsuitable conditions for swimming — at 21 of the 36 beaches it monitors in Port Phillip Bay.
The affected beaches span from Werribee South on Melbourne's south-western fringe to Frankston, about 40 kilometres south-east of the Melbourne CBD.
Dr Anthony Boxshall, the EPA's manager of applied sciences, said last week's heavy storms and other recent rainfall had washed waste into the bay from the Yarra River.
"We have indicators we look for which is an indicator of faecal contamination, which is a nice way of saying poo," he told ABC News 24.
"It's bird poo, horse poo, cow poo and people poo, and that's everything that washes in from the streets coming through the storm system."
For its forecasts, the EPA samples water for a bacteria known as enterococci. A poor quality forecast suggests levels of 400 or more enterococci per 100 millilitres of water, representing between 5 and 10 per cent risk of illness.
During dryer periods, levels are generally under 40 organisms per 100ml — representing a risk of illness of less than 1 per cent.
Dr Boxshall said the swimmers or other beachgoers who ingested contaminated water were at risk of getting gastroenteritis and other illnesses.
"What we know from international research from the World Health Organisation … is that if you swim in that kind of water with these levels and ingest the water, you can get sick," he said.
"It's mainly gastro … for some people it can get serious, and that's why we put out these warnings."
Children and the elderly were most at risk of falling ill from contaminated water.
Beaches on the Mornington Peninsula south of Frankston currently have a "good rating" and are still suitable for swimming.
The EPA forecasts for water quality are based on weather, 25 years of water quality history, recent bacterial sampling results and pollution reports.
Forecasts are available on the Yarra and Bay website and on signs at 28 Life Saving Victoria clubs around Port Phillip Bay.
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Environment Pollution
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2013 China–Russia floods
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:84 dead, 105 missing, 840,000 displaced
During mid-August 2013 parts of eastern Russia and northeastern China were stricken by heavy flooding. At least 85 people died from the floods and more than 105 others were left missing as of August 19. [4] More than 60,000 homes were destroyed and 840,000 people evacuated from Heilongjiang, Jilin, and Liaoning provinces due to flooding which happened at the same time as flooding in China's southern Guangdong province. [5][6]
From the end of July to mid-August 2013, unusually heavy rainfall occurred near the Amur River, which marks the dividing line between China and Russia. Starting on August 10, 2013, areas of northeastern China began to experience flooding. [7] From August 15 to 17, heavy rainfall worsened the problem, causing the worst flooding in the region in more than a decade. [4][8] Nankouqian Township, one of the hardest-hit areas, saw 44.9 centimetres (17.7 in) of rain, half the average annual total, on August 16 alone. [9] By August 18, water levels at 61 reservoirs surpassed the "danger" level. Fushun city in the Liaoning province was especially hard hit as rainstorms caused several rivers in the city to overflow. [8] Across the border in eastern Russia, heavy flooding was also reported, with Amur Oblast, Jewish Autonomous Oblast and Khabarovsk Krai the hardest hit. [7] More than 140 towns were affected by what Russia authorities described as the worst flooding in 120 years. [10] The Amur River reached a record 100.56 metres (329.9 ft), surpassing the previous record set in 1984, and was still rising as of August 19, threatening to flood the major city of Komsomolsk-on-Amur. [9][10]
In China, more than 60,000 homes were destroyed and numerous roads were blocked or damaged. More than 787,000 hectares of farm land were ruined in the region which depends heavily on farming. [4] Power and communications lines were downed in several townships. [8] Total damaged was estimated at 16.14 billion yuan (approx. US$2.6 billion/€1.94 billion). [4] In Russia, 3.2 billion rubles (approx. US$97 million/€73 million) was allocated for relief efforts. [7]
China's Liaoning province was the hardest hit with 54 reported deaths and 97 people missing as of August 19, 2013. [11] In Jilin province, 16 deaths were reported. Heilongjiang province experienced 11 deaths. [9] Across the region 360,000 people were displaced and 3.74 million affected in some way. [4] No casualties were reported in Russia, but 20,000 people were evacuated. Two captive brown bears were rescued via helicopter. [10]
Unrelated flooding resulting from Typhoon Utor in south China occurred simultaneously, causing the death tolls from the two floods to be combined in official reports. Typhoon Utor floods killed at least 33 people. [11]
In Russia, more than 30,000 volunteers helped distribute 53 tons of food and supplies to flood victims. Officials are considering delaying the mayoral elections in Amur which are scheduled for September 8. A decision on the elections will be made August 27. [10]
Chinese Communist Party general secretary Xi Jinping called for "all-out efforts" as relief work got underway. [4] More than 120,000 people, including 10,000 soldiers, helped with relief and rescue efforts. [9]
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Floods
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Ansett Airlines Flight 232 crash
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Ansett Airlines Flight 232, on Wednesday, 15 November 1972, was a trip from Adelaide, South Australia aboard a Fokker Friendship bound for Alice Springs, Northern Territory. It was Australia's second aircraft hijacking (after the first in 1960), and resulted in the perpetrator's death by suicide. A male passenger, subsequently identified as Miloslav Hrabinec, a Czech migrant, had boarded the flight in Adelaide with a concealed sawn-off .22 ArmaLite rifle and a sheath knife strapped to his leg. About a half-hour before the scheduled landing time, as the flight was making its descent into Alice Springs Airport, he emerged from the lavatory, produced the gun and said to a flight attendant named Kaye Goreham, "This is a hijack". Hrabinec then forced his way into the cockpit, however the captain informed Hrabinec that he was unable to speak to him as he was too busy landing the plane. Hrabinec was informed by Goreham that he needed to be seated for landing and he complied. After the plane landed police commenced negotiations with the hijacker. According to Goreham's account, Hrabinec stated his motive was not financial (he asked for no money) but that he wanted to commit suicide in a spectacular way by parachuting into a remote location and surviving for as long as he could before killing himself. To this end he demanded a light aircraft, a parachute and a jumpsuit. [1]
A civilian pilot and flying instructor, the local Aero Club manager Ossie Watts, volunteered himself and his Cessna aircraft. An undercover police constable Paul Sandeman, posing as Watts' navigator, was also on board the Cessna. According to Kaye Goreham, Hrabinec became suspicious upon seeing Sandeman and requested Goreham search Sandeman for weapons. Goreham did so but did not inform the hijacker when she felt a small firearm Sandeman had hidden. Goreham states that the policeman "went for his gun" and the hijacker shot Sandeman in the hand and stomach. The hijacker ran off and Watts, who had been shown how to use a gun minutes earlier, began shooting. Police marksmen also opened fire and Hrabinec was wounded. Hrabinec then retreated to a ditch where he fatally shot himself. [2][3]
Hrabinec was not identified as the hijacker until May 1973. [4]
Constable Sandeman was awarded the Queen's Commendation for Bravery. [5][6][7]
Coordinates: 23°48′08.43″S 133°54′02.92″E / 23.8023417°S 133.9008111°E / -23.8023417; 133.9008111
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Air crash
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Man previously charged with capital murder released from jail, charges dismissed
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by: Roland Richter Albert Love, who at one time had been on death row and who had been waiting for his appeals court ordered new trial has now been released from jail after the McLennan County District Attorney’s Office filed a motion to dismiss the charges against him, saying the office would not be able to go to trial against him at the present time. The motion noted that a combination of things had led to the decision. The motion noted that two crucial items of evidence supporting the case against Love that were available during the initial trial are now now longer available for the new trial that had been scheduled to begin October 25th. District Attorney Barry Johnson had sought a delay of the trial but that motion has been denied. Text messages that were critical evidence in the original trial have been ruled inadmissible by the Court of Criminal Appeals. In addition, a witness who had provided a recorded statement and who was anticipated to testify at trial that Love was present at the murders of Keenan Hubert and Tyrus Sneed on March 28, 2011, bearing an AK-47 style rifle and wearing a red hoodie and red sweatshirt, has now recanted his statement and asserts his recorded statement was false. DNA processing of a red hoodie and red sweatshirt recovered at the murder scene that might have provided evidence of Love’s presence at the time and place of the murders was begun, but would not be complete in time for the scheduled trial. Forensic examination of ammunition recovered from the car of one of the co-defendants in the case was also underway with DNA being sought. Cell phone tower data was also being studied,. But it was noted that the processing of all that potential evidence would not be completed for at least 90 days, and the motion to dismiss noted that prior to the processing of that potential evidence, that the prosecution felt it could not safely proceed to trial. It was noted that dismissal avoids prejudicing the State’s right to proceed as appropriate in the future against Albert Love or others who may be incriminated by additional evidence. A spokesman for the DA’s office said that further indictments in connection with these murders would be considered in the future as appropriate when all necessary evidence is available. A jury convicted Love and his friend Rickey Cummins of capital murder and sentenced them both to death in 2013. McLennan County District Attorney Barry Johnson had earlier decided not to ask for the death penalty when Albert Love, Jr. was to be re-tried for Capital Murder. The cost of the trial and the possible appeals was one reason Johnson decided to take the death penalty off the table.
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Famous Person - Commit Crime - Release
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