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2017 Serbian protests
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Anti-government protesters;
President of SerbiaGovernment of Serbia
up to 20,000 in Belgrade,[1]
The 2017 Serbian protests against perceived dictatorship were ongoing mass protests organized across Belgrade, Novi Sad, Niš and other cities and towns in Serbia, against Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić, as a result of the presidential election. The election was marred by accusations of voter intimidation and a near total domination of Serbia's media by Vučić and his populist conservative Serbian Progressive Party. [4] The protests started on 3 April and thousands of people had been gathering on the streets of Serbia's cities on a daily basis. They informed themselves via official Facebook protest pages. The leading participants were university students, however on Saturday, 8 November, they were joined by the police syndicate, the army syndicate, taxi drivers, lawyers, postal office workers and other organizations who are protesting against the president-elect's authoritarian regime. Protests erupted on 3 April when Nemanja Milosavljević, member of the hip hop group Middle Finger Kru under the stage name German, posted an event called Protest Against Dictatorship 2017 saying "Sloba also won an election, remember that", referring to the overthrow of Slobodan Milošević. [5] On the first day, media reported up to 10.000 participants. Popular chants included "Vučić, you fag" and "Av av av" (Vučić's initials, also represents a barking sound). [6] A group of protesters threw eggs at the National Assembly building and a makeshift wall displaying victims of the Kosovo War called the Serbian Wailing Wall was severely damaged causing public outrage. [7]
During the 8 April protest, according to president of the Army union, there were more than 80.000 people in Belgrade walking against dictatorship. [8] A set of demands have been presented to endorse a democratization of the country, including measures to limit and oversee the President-elect's firm control. [9] Portestors also demand independent monitoring and a new assessment of the recent presidential election, with responsibility to be shouldered by "those responsible for any irregular campaign, as well for [any] irregularities during voting and counting." They also called for all "corrupt public officials" to quit, and for all media editors not respecting the press code to be held accountable. [10]
On 11 April, protests were joined by NKPJ and left-wing union "Sloga". They protested against "bad situation of worker class" and against expulsion of their members from one Kruševac factory. [11]
The largest protest so far was on 12 April. The protesters have called for a break due to the Easter in the demonstrations; the deadline for their ultimatum to the government was 17 April. Since their demands were not fulfilled, the demonstrations are continued after the Easter holidays. [12] The media reported that there is a possibility of protest radicalization by blocking the major city streets, bridges and universities. [13]
On 1 May, several thousand members of unions and left-wing parties, including New Communist Party of Yugoslavia, protested on International Workers' Day and supported the student protests. They protested against worker law and the International Monetary Fund, and for higher pay and better workers rights. In the meantime, the union "Sloga" also protested in Kruševac. [14]
On 31 May, the day of Vučić inauguration, there was opposition protest, as well the pro-government rally. There were large number of incidents on government rally, including attacks on journalists and anti-government protesters by SNS supporters and, so called, party parapolice members. [15] On opposition protest were few thousand people from Belgrade, and on government rally was 10 000 people from entire Serbia. [16][17]
Protests were held without formal organization and leadership. Anyone could participate in deciding and voting via a Facebook group concerning next steps of protests. Walking routes were posted on the Facebook page and discussed on the spot. Due to a decline in number of people walking and "loss of meaning", group of protesters in Belgrade made a separate faction called "With Culture Against Dictatorship" which will continue in protesting. [18] Another fraction called "Seven Demands" has been formed. An informal group of students
dissatisfied with protesters who expressed a will to cooperate with the opposition in achieving the protest goals broke out of main group. They stated their will to pursue action for "Seven Demands" but without implications for political parties and politicians. [19] In early May, a faction "Against Dictatorship" announced via their official Facebook page that they would protest once a week instead of every day. [20]
Protests broke out on 3 April. [21] A few thousand protesters spontaneously gathered at Trg Kralja Milana to support the Belgrade protest which had been held earlier that day. On 5 April, at National Theatre in Niš, plato protesters announced a set of demands,[22] the same as those in Belgrade. On the same day, protesters had been throwing eggs at a billboard from Aleksandar Vučić's presidential election campaign. [22] On 13 April, protesters set local demands including stronger budgetary control of institutions, introduction of participatory budgeting at the municipal level, criminal prosecution of corrupt judicial officials, fiscal transparency, and stopping nepotism. [23] On 17 April, protesters began funny chants towards the controversial[24] disability pension of city major Darko Bulatović. [25] On 18 April, protesters organized a performance by giving away fake PhD degrees to citizens,[26] referring to plagiarism affairs involving public officials in Serbia. [27][28]
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Protest_Online Condemnation
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2014 Cameron Highlands mud floods
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The 2014 Cameron Highlands mud floods took place in Cameron Highlands, Pahang, Malaysia on 5 and 6 November 2014. More than 20 houses in Ringlet town, Ringlet new village, Kampung Ulu Merah Ringlet and Bertam Valley are submerged in knee-deep flood waters. [1] At least three people were killed while other five injured according to official reports. [2][3][4] Electricity supply to the affected villages was inevitably cut off for several weeks. About 90 victims from 28 families were evacuated to relief centre in Ringlet. [5] This was the second time that mud floods of this magnitude had ravaged the Bertam Valley since the 2013 mud floods. The mud floods had been largely attributed to illegal land clearing by foreign illegal immigrants who were involved in the rapidly expanding agricultural industry there. [6] Pahang Sultan Ahmad Shah has orders to stop the illegal farming and there is a claimed of corruption involving the illegal land clearing. [7][8]
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Floods
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Ancient city discovered underneath Hangzhou
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The ancient Yijin City excavated in Hangzhou’s Lin’an District was shortlisted in the top 10 archeological discoveries in China last year following a rigorous debate among professionals, experts and project leaders in Beijing. Buried underground for centuries, the ancient city finally saw the light of day thanks to the Zhejiang Archeology Institute. Yijin City was discovered in 2017 when Lin’an government was building a parking lot inside the government compound. During construction, an ancient architectural foundation was unearthed, with century-old bricks, porcelain, artifacts and coins. During the construction of a parking lot in Lin’an District, an ancient architectural foundation was unearthed thanks to the Zhejiang Archeology Institute. After months of research, the foundation was identified as a relic belonging to the Wuyue Kingdom (AD 907-978) which reigned during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period (AD 907-979). The Wuyue’s territory once spread across present-day Zhejiang Province, Shanghai, the southeastern part of Jiangsu Province, including Suzhou, and the northeastern part of Fujian Province. Archeologists consider it an important site, because its location is near the graveyard of Qian Liu (AD 852-932), the first king of Wuyue, and the thoroughfares of the original Lin’an City. The scale of all the unearthed relics testifies the importance. Bricks were engraved with the Chinese character guan (官) which means they were used only for courts or other official buildings. Extensive foundations pointing to the complexity of Yijin’s city design have been unearthed. However, the occupiers of these buildings were disputed. Some archeologists believed they belonged to the imperial court, while others thought it was part of ancient Yijin City. Local authorities have continued to explore the land surrounding the government compound. In 2019, a new discovery was made near Chengnan Primary School in Lin’an, and archeologists were immediately summoned. The excavation lasted through 2020, with discoveries of a variety of relics and antiques. One was an unearthed city wall measuring 149 meters in length and 8.23 meters in width. In the middle of the wall is the door to the city with 17.4 meters long and 10.5 meters wide. In addition, archeologists unearthed three streets, building foundations, wells and drainage pipes, indicating that the city was designed with a well-ordered layout and perfect drainage system. A relic of the drainage system of the Wuyue Kingdom indicates that the city was designed with a well-ordered layout and perfect drainage system. After conducting more research, Zhejiang Archeology Institute verified the new discovery and the relics inside the government compound were part of Yijin City. Yijin was a vital city for the Wuyue Kingdom. Emperor Qian Liu built it with military, administrative and ritual functions. The institute has discovered more relics that point to the existence of Yijin City, including imperial mausoleums and temples used for royal rituals. The Wuyue Kingdom was established in the valley plain of the Tiaoxi and Jinxi rivers, and Yijin is believed to be the center of the kingdom. It laid the foundation for the present-day Lin’an District where there is a street named after the ancient city. According to historical archives, Qian established the Wuyue Kingdom and kept the area peaceful at a time when a large part of China was in turmoil. A tile used in the construction of Yijin City was discovered. While the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127) established its imperial power in northern China, the Wuyue Kingdom thrived in southern China. Usually such powers would wage war against one another. However, the Wuyue peacefully paid allegiance to the Northern Song Dynasty, as Qian didn’t want people to die needlessly. Qian and his successors built a hydraulic infrastructure and encouraged the development of local farming. They helped people cope with the roaring waves on the Qiantang River and eventually built their own “Great Wall” between the river and the city. Buddhism and ceramic craftsmanship boomed during that period. Last year, archeologists discovered a variety of celadon from Yijin City, emblematic of the fine porcelain craftsmanship during the period. The ancient Yue Kiln in Zhejiang Province was the main celadon manufacturing center throughout the history, and its peak of productivity came during the Wuyue Kingdom period. Connoisseurs consider celadon from this period to be among the best ever produced.
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New archeological discoveries
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June 2011 Christchurch earthquake
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The June 2011 Christchurch earthquake was a shallow magnitude 6.0 Mw earthquake that occurred on 13 June 2011 at 14:20 NZST (02:20 UTC). It was centred at a depth of 7 km (4.3 mi),[1] about 5 km (3 mi) south-east of Christchurch,[7] which had previously been devastated by a magnitude 6.2 MW earthquake in February 2011. The June quake was preceded by a magnitude 5.9 ML tremor that struck the region at a slightly deeper 8.9 km (5.5 mi). The United States Geological Survey reported a magnitude of 6.0 Mw and a depth of 9 km (5.6 mi). The earthquake produced severe shaking, registering at VIII on the Mercalli scale in and around Christchurch. It destroyed several structures and caused additional damage to many others which had been affected by previous earthquakes. The damaged tower of the historic Lyttelton Timeball Station collapsed before dismantling work could be completed. The earthquake downed phone lines and cut off power to 54,000 households. Restoration costs in Christchurch following the February earthquake were estimated to increase by NZ$6 billion (US$4.8 billion) because of the additional damage from this event. Forty-six people suffered injuries, two of which critical, and one elderly man died after being knocked unconscious. New Zealand lies along the boundary between the Australian and Pacific Plates. In the South Island most of the relative displacement between these plates is taken up along a single dextral (right lateral) strike-slip fault with a major reverse component, the Alpine Fault. In the North Island the displacement is mainly taken up along the Kermadec subduction zone, although the remaining dextral strike-slip component of the relative plate motion is accommodated by the North Island Fault System (NIFS). [8] A group of dextral strike-slip structures, known as the Marlborough Fault System, transfer displacement between the mainly transform and convergent type plate boundaries in a complex zone at the northern end of the South Island. [9] This zone of deformation is now known to be expanding south and east into the Canterbury region. Beneath the northern and eastern Canterbury Plains, a series of active SW-NE trending thrust faults have been recognised, linked by W-E trending strike-slip faults that at least in part reactivate Cretaceous age extensional faults. [10]
New Zealand has a history of earthquakes. Since the European settlement, the largest on record was a magnitude 8.2 ML major earthquake that occurred on 23 January 1855 near the Wairarapa plains of the North Island. [11] Another destructive magnitude 7.8 ML earthquake struck the region near Hawke's Bay on 3 February 1931; it is the deadliest earthquake recorded on the island to date, greatly affecting much of Napier and Hastings. [12]
In comparison, the South Island has experienced fewer large earthquakes. The magnitude 7.1 Mw event of 4 September 2010 produced by far the strongest ground motions ever recorded in the Canterbury region,[13] triggering a large number of aftershocks. Although similar aftershock sequences have historically occurred around the world, such occurrences were extremely unusual in the region, which had shown low levels of seismic activity for thousands of years. The event has led to the discovery of previously dormant geological faults across central-eastern South Island, in particular beneath regional plains and the adjacent seabed. [14]
The magnitude 6.0 Mw earthquake occurred inland on 13 June 2011 at 14:20 NZST, (02:20 UTC) at a shallow depth of 7 km (4 mi),[1] about 5 km (3 mi) to the south-east of Christchurch, New Zealand. [7] Owing to the interaction of the major Pacific and Australia Plates, much of the regional plate boundary along central South Island is characterised by land deformation. The earthquake was a direct result of strike-slip faulting at the eastern end of the rupture zone of a strong magnitude 6.2 MW earthquake, which occurred on 22 February 2011 along the Port Hills Fault. [15] The June earthquake was preceded by a magnitude 5.9 ML tremor with a similar focal mechanism that struck 1 hour and 20 minutes earlier. [16] Experts believe the quakes were triggered by a previously undiscovered fault in the region, located several kilometres south of the Port Hills Fault. [17] The United States Geological Survey reported a magnitude of 6.0 Mw and a focal depth of 9 km (5.6 mi) for the earthquake, while the precursor tremor was assigned a magnitude of 5.2 Mw at a similar depth. [18][19]
Seismologists reported that the earthquakes were part of a prolonged aftershock sequence associated with the major magnitude 7.1 earthquake of September 2010, which includes the February 2011 event. [15] They were succeeded by multiple lighter aftershocks; the strongest, a moderate magnitude 5.1 ML struck a minute after the event. Another tremor 5.0 ML struck the region two days later. [20] Despite significant energy release, the earthquakes were believed to have increased the risk of an additional aftershock of similar magnitude; calculations from GNS Science indicated a 23 percent probability of a magnitude 6.0–6.9 ML earthquake occurring in the Canterbury aftershock zone within the 12 months following the event. [17] Weeks later, a magnitude 5.4 ML tremor jolted Christchurch overnight on 22 June, causing additional damage and prompting evacuations. [21]
Focused only several kilometres below the surface, the earthquake resulted in significant shaking over a large portion of central-eastern South Island. Maximum ground motions registered at VIII (severe) on the Mercalli intensity scale in Christchurch, while strong shaking (MM VI) was felt in adjacent populated areas such as Rolleston and Lincoln. The landforms of Sumner recorded intensified shaking due to the effects of its topographic setting. [22] Widespread lighter motions were observed throughout much of the remaining region,[23] with slight property damage reported from as far afield as Dunedin. The earthquake was felt as far away as New Plymouth and Invercargill. [3]
The earthquake and the precursor tremor struck during the afternoon near a populated area, where most buildings had been left in precarious conditions by the February 2011 event. The June earthquake affected roughly 400,000 people, most of whom may have experienced strong (MM VI) shaking. [23] It caused damage to buildings and infrastructure alike, collapsing or otherwise destroying several homes. [24] There were at least 46 injuries: falling debris struck several people, and two others were hospitalised in critical condition. [6] In the city centre, two workers were brought to hospital after being rescued from a collapsed church. The following morning, officials confirmed the death of an elderly man who had been knocked unconscious from a fall in his nursing home. [5][25]
In the wake of the earthquake, multiple phone lines were down, and scattered power outages affected about 54,000 households. The tremor had damaged 70 underground 11,000 volt cables, contributing to the outages,[26] and ruptured water mains, resulting in widespread street flooding. [27] Officials ordered the precautionary closure of bridges in the area,[28] as one bridge had already succumbed to the strong shaking. [27] Several days after the tremor, dislodged electrical wiring from the ongoing aftershocks sparked a small fire in a control panel at Christchurch Hospital. [29]
Strong ground motions caused many secondary effects, including gas leaks and widespread soil liquefaction.
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Earthquakes
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2011 Musselshell River flood
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The 2011 flooding on the Musselshell River in Montana began about May 21, affecting large parts of central Montana. [1][2] At Mosby, Montana, the river crested at 16 feet (4.9 m) on Monday, May 23. The flood level at Mosby is 8 feet (2.4 m) and the record crest at that point along the Musselshell is 17.7 feet (5.4 m), set in 1993. [3] The flooding was caused by up to 8 inches (200 mm) of rain combined with snowmelt. [2]
On May 24 at Shawmut, near Harlowton, a record pace was set, with a flow rate of 3,670 cubic feet per second (104 m3/s). The average flow is 183 cu ft/s (5.2 m3/s) at that spot for May 24. The prior record at Shawmut was set in 2005 with a rate of 802 cu ft/s (22.7 m3/s). Several roads in the Musselshell watershed were already closed by this date. [1]
The town of Roundup suffered the most damage of any community along the Musselshell. Potable water, food, and medicine were major concerns. [4] Flood waters along the Musselshell near Roundup were as much as 6 feet (1.8 m) deep,[2] cresting over the weekend. [5] Flooding near Roundup was at least 2 feet (0.61 m) above record flood level and forced the evacuation of dozens of homes. On Thursday, May 26 the flooding inundated portions of Roundup,[5] At Highway 87 the floodwaters were flowing at over 3,670 cu ft/s (104 m3/s), more than 10 times the normal rate. On May 26 the Musselshell crested near Roundup at 14.16 feet (4.32 m). Its flood stage there is 10 feet (3.0 m). The previous record for that location was set in 1975 at 12.89 feet (3.93 m). [6] In Petroleum County alone damage costs were estimated at US$1.5 million. [4]
By June 23, the Musselshell had receded back below its banks, FEMA had assessed damage to public lands and was back in Roundup to assess damage to private lands and properties. [7]
Flooding on the unconnected Yellowstone River to the south prompted the closing of a 20 miles (32 km)portion of Interstate 90 from Livingston to Springdale. [5] Floodwaters from the tributary Pryor creek led to closing of Pompeys Pillar National Monument. [5] The Little Bighorn River and related tributaries flooded the area around Crow Agency and shut down Interstate 90 from Hardin to the Wyoming line for several days. [8] Montana counties that were affected by the state-wide flooding in Spring 2011 include: Big Horn, Carbon, Garfield, Granite, Jefferson, Judith Basin, Missoula, Musselshell, Petroleum, Sanders, Wheatland, and Yellowstone. A state of emergency was declared in 51 Montana counties, cities, and Indian reservations. [2] Flood waters from the Musselshell, Yellowstone, and several other Montana rivers flow into the Missouri River and Mississippi River, exacerbating the 2011 flooding in states such as North Dakota and South Dakota. [2]
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Floods
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BOAC Flight 777 crash
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BOAC Flight 777-A was a scheduled British Overseas Airways Corporation civilian airline flight from Portela Airport in Lisbon, Portugal to Whitchurch Airport near Bristol, England. On 1 June 1943, the Douglas DC-3 serving the flight was attacked by eight German Junkers Ju 88 fighter planes and crashed into the Bay of Biscay, killing all 17 on board. There were several notable passengers, among them actor Leslie Howard. One theory suggests that the Germans attacked the aircraft because they believed that British Prime Minister Winston Churchill was aboard; another suggested that it was targeted because several passengers were British spies, including Howard. During the Second World War, British and German civilian aircraft operated from the same facilities at Portela, and Allied and Axis spies watched the incoming and outgoing traffic. The Lisbon–Whitchurch route frequently carried agents and escaped POWs to Britain. Aircraft flying the Lisbon–Whitchurch route were left unmolested at the beginning of the war, and both Allied and Axis powers respected the neutrality of Portugal. However, in 1942 the air war had begun to heat up over the Bay of Biscay, north of Spain and off the west coast of France; the Douglas DC-3 lost in this attack had survived attacks by Luftwaffe fighters in November 1942 and April 1943. When war broke out in Europe, the British Air Ministry prohibited private flying and most domestic air services. Imperial Airways and British Airways Ltd, in the process of being merged and nationalised as BOAC, were evacuated from Croydon Aerodrome and Heston Aerodrome to Whitchurch Airport, outside Bristol. After the fall of Norway, and the entry of the Netherlands, Belgium, France, and Italy into the war, only neutral Sweden, Ireland, and Portugal remained as European destinations for BOAC. [note 1] Over the UK, civil aircraft were restricted to between 1,000 feet (300 m) and 3,000 feet (910 m) and could fly only during daylight to ease identification. The British government also restricted flights to diplomats, military personnel, VIPs, and those with government approval. [1]
For several weeks prior to the German invasion of the Netherlands, Dutch airline KLM, operated a direct, over-water, twice-weekly DC-3 service from Amsterdam to Portugal avoiding French, British, and Spanish airspace to connect with the new Pan American flying boat service from the US to Lisbon. When Germany invaded in May 1940, KLM had several airliners en route outside the Netherlands. [2] Some managed to fly to Britain while others stranded east of Italy continued to link British and Dutch territories from Palestine to Indonesia and Australia. The British government interned the Dutch aircraft at Shoreham Airport. After negotiations, the Air Ministry and the Dutch government-in-exile contracted to use the KLM aircraft and crews to replace de Havilland Albatross aircraft on a scheduled service between Britain and Portugal, which BOAC started in June 1940 from Heston Aerodrome. [3][N 1]
After the initial reservations about using Dutch crews were overcome, all-Dutch crews were used, although the flights used BOAC flight numbers and passenger handling. The KLM contingent was housed at BOAC's Whitchurch base. The UK–Lisbon service operated up to four times per week. From 20 September 1940, passengers were flown from Whitchurch (although Heston continued as the London terminus for KLM from 26 June till 20 September 1940), and for Lisbon, the pre-war grass airfield at Sintra was used until October 1942, when the new runway was ready at Portela Airport, on the northern edge of Lisbon. [1][4] By June 1943, over 500 KLM/BOAC flights had carried 4,000 passengers. [5]
Originally, five Douglas DC-3s and one Douglas DC-2 airliner were available, but with the loss of a DC-3 on 20 September 1940 in a landing accident at Heston, and the destruction of another DC-3 in November 1940 by Luftwaffe bombing at Whitchurch, only four aircraft remained: DC-2 G-AGBH Edelvalk (ex-PH-ALE), DC-3 G-AGBD Buizerd (ex-PH-ARB), DC-3 G-AGBE Zilverreiger (ex-PH-ARZ), and DC-3 G-AGBB Ibis (ex-PH-ALI). [4] In 1939, with war tensions in Europe increasing, KLM had painted their DC-2s and DC-3s bright orange to mark them clearly as civilian aircraft. BOAC repainted the aircraft in camouflage, with British civil markings and red/white/blue stripes like all BOAC aircraft, but without the Union Flag. They were later marked with their Dutch bird names under the cockpit windows. The interiors remained in KLM colours and markings. British and German civilian aircraft operated from the same facilities at Portela and Allied and Axis spies, including British, German, Soviet, and American, watched the traffic. This was especially the case for the Lisbon–Whitchurch route, which frequently carried agents and escaped POWs to Britain. German spies were posted at terminals to record who was boarding and departing flights on the Lisbon–Whitchurch route. Harry Pusey, BOAC's operations officer in Lisbon between 1943 and 1944 described the area as "like Casablanca [the film], but twentyfold. "[1] According to CIA archives: "Most OSS operatives in Spain were handled out of Lisbon under nonofficial cover because the diplomatic staff in Madrid made a practice of identifying intelligence agents to the Spanish police. "[6]
The aircraft flying the Lisbon–Whitchurch route were left unmolested after the beginning of the war. Both Allied and Axis powers respected the neutrality of countries such as Portugal, Sweden, and Switzerland and refrained from attacking flights into and out of those nations. The war over the Bay of Biscay, which is north of Spain and off the west coast of France, began to heat up in 1942. In 1941 the Germans created Fliegerführer Atlantik (Flying Command Atlantic) at Merignac near Bordeaux and Lorient to attack Allied shipping. [citation needed] In 1943, fighting over the area intensified and the RAF and Luftwaffe saw increased losses. [5] This meant increased danger for BOAC aircraft flying between Lisbon and Whitchurch. On 15 November 1942 G-AGBB Ibis was attacked by a single Messerschmitt Bf 110 fighter, but was able to limp on to Lisbon where repairs were carried out; damage sustained by included the port wing, engine nacelle, and fuselage. [4][N 2]. On 19 April 1943, the aircraft was attacked at 46N 9W by six Bf 110 fighters. Captain Koene Dirk Parmentier evaded the attackers by dropping to 50 ft (15 m) above the ocean and then climbing steeply into the clouds. [7] The Ibis again sustained damage to the port aileron, shrapnel to the fuselage, and a punctured fuel tank. A new wingtip was flown to Lisbon to complete repairs. [4] Despite these attacks, KLM and BOAC continued to fly the Lisbon–Whitchurch route. [8]
Although there were three other aircraft – two KLM DC-3s and one KLM DC-2 – in use by BOAC on the same route, G-AGBB Ibis was the only one attacked three times. The Douglas DC-3-194 was the first DC-3 delivered to KLM on 21 September 1936. It originally carried the aircraft registration PH-ALI and was named Ibis, the bird venerated in the ancient world. [7][8] In the afternoon of 9 May 1940, the day before the German invasion of the Netherlands, the DC-3 arrived in Shoreham on a scheduled flight from Amsterdam under captain Quirinus Tepas.
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Air crash
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Atlas Air Flight 3591 crash
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Atlas Air Flight 3591 was a scheduled domestic cargo flight operating for Amazon Air between Miami International Airport and George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston. On February 23, 2019, the Boeing 767-375ER(BCF) used for this flight crashed into Trinity Bay during approach into Houston, killing the two crew members and one passenger on board. The accident occurred near Anahuac, Texas, east of Houston, shortly before 12:45 CST (18:45 UTC). This was the first fatal crash of a Boeing 767 freighter. [5]
Investigators attributed the accident to pilot error, finding that the first officer experienced spatial disorientation and inadvertently placed the aircraft in an unrecoverable dive, while the captain failed to adequately monitor the first officer's actions and the flight path of the aircraft. Flight crew training issues at Atlas Air and across the U.S. commercial aviation industry were also implicated. The Boeing 767-375ER(BCF) (MSN 25865/430) aircraft was registered N1217A and was nearly 27 years old at the time of the accident, having been built in 1992. It was originally ordered by Canadian Airlines, but first placed into service by China Southern Airlines through GPA, an aircraft leasing company. [6] In 1997, it was transferred to LAN Airlines and flew for 19 years before being stored in January 2016. It was converted into a freighter in April 2017, and placed into service for Amazon Prime Air by Atlas Air. [7] In August 2018, Amazon named two aircraft in its fleet, including N1217A as CustomAir Obsession. The name, painted on the aircraft just aft of the cockpit windows,[8] was a near homonym of "customer obsession," an Amazon leadership principle. [9] The aircraft had accumulated more than 91,000 hours over 23,300 flights[10][11][12] and was powered by two GE CF6-80 turbofan engines.
There were three people onboard the aircraft. [14] Captain Ricky Blakely of Indiana (60), First Officer Conrad Jules Aska of Antigua (44), and Mesa Airlines Captain Sean Archuleta of Houston (36; a jumpseater aboard the flight), who was in his final week of employment at Mesa Airlines, and was traveling home before beginning new-hire pilot training with United Airlines, scheduled for the following week. [15]
Captain Blakely joined Atlas Air in 2015 and became a Boeing 767 captain in 2018. Before being hired by Atlas Air Blakely had previously been an Embraer ERJ-145 captain for ExpressJet. He had also been a Beechcraft 1900 first officer for CommutAir, and a flight instructor for FlightSafety International. [12]:5 Blakely logged a total of 11,172 flight hours, including 1,252 hours on the Boeing 767.
First officer Aska joined Atlas Air on July 3, 2017 and received his type rating on the Boeing 767 two months later. He had logged 5,073 flight hours with 520 of them on the 767. Aska had previously been an Embraer E175 first officer with Mesa Airlines (and served with five other airlines prior to that) and also had experience on Embraer's EMB 120 Brasilia and ERJ aircraft families.
Both pilots had previous experience in landing at George Bush Intercontinental Airport. [16]
Atlas Air 3591 departed Miami at 10:33 CST (11:33 EST), with first officer Aska as the pilot flying and captain Blakely monitoring the controls. At 12:36, Aska transferred control of the aircraft to Blakely, telling him that the electronic flight instrument (EFI) switch on his side had malfunctioned. This issue was resolved a minute later, with the following being recorded on the cockpit voice recorder (CVR):
Flight 3591 was on approach towards Houston when it flew through the forward edge of a cold front, which produced an area of instrument meteorological conditions (IMC) with clouds and turbulence, with cloud tops varying from approximately 19,500 feet (5,900 m) to 27,300 feet (8,300 m) of altitude and cloud bases varying from 2,000 feet (610 m) to 3,000 feet (910 m) above ground level. The pilot of another nearby airliner reported IMC, and a video taken by a ground witness showed a shelf cloud passing over the area at the time.
First officer Aska then requested radar vectors to the West side of the airport to avoid the inclement weather. The controller accepted though advised the crew to expedite their descent to 3,000 feet (910 m) and said, "I'm gunna get ya west of this weather and northbound for a baseleg." Blakely then transferred control of the aircraft back to Aska:
The flight crew then started to configure the aircraft for landing and set up the flight management system (FMS). At 12:38:02.2 CST first officer Aska called out "flaps one," and the slats were extended. 29 seconds later, the aircraft's go-around mode was activated. At 12:38:40.3, the following was heard on the CVR:
The accident aircraft made a sharp turn south before going into a rapid descent. Witnesses to the crash described the plane entering a nosedive; some also recalled hearing "what sounded like lightning" before the Boeing 767 hit the ground. [17][18]
At 12:36 CST (18:36 UTC) radar and radio contact was lost. There was no distress call. [19] At 12:39:03.9 CST (18:39:03.9 UTC), the time the CVR recorded ended, Flight 3591 crashed into the north end of Trinity Bay at Jack's Pocket. [3] The area of water is within Chambers County, Texas, and is in proximity to Anahuac. [20]
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued an alert after radar and radio contact was lost around 30 miles (50 km) southeast of its destination. [21] Air traffic controllers tried at least twice to contact the flight, with no response. Controllers asked pilots aboard two nearby flights if they saw a crash site, both of whom said they did not; the crash site was located after ground witnesses called local police to report having seen the aircraft dive into the bay. The United States Coast Guard dispatched a helicopter and several boats to search for survivors; other agencies responded as well. The crash site was mostly mud marsh, with water varying in depth from zero to five feet (1.5 m) deep, and airboats were needed to access the area. Searchers found human remains and many small fragments of the aircraft and its cargo; the largest recovered piece of the aircraft was 50 ft (15 m) in length. The local sheriff described the scene as "total devastation" and surmised that the crash had not been survivable.
On February 24, Atlas Air confirmed that all three people on board died. [4][24] The victims were first identified on social media by friends and family. By February 26 the bodies of all three had been recovered, and by March 4 all had been positively identified. [25]
Investigators from the FAA, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) were dispatched to the accident site with the NTSB leading the accident investigation. [26] A dive team from the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) was tasked with locating the aircraft's flight recorders and dive teams from the Houston and Baytown police departments were also on-scene assisting in the search.
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Air crash
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1955 MacArthur Airport United Airlines crash
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On April 4, 1955, a United Airlines Douglas DC-6 named Mainliner Idaho crashed shortly after taking off from Long Island MacArthur Airport, in Ronkonkoma, Islip, New York, United States. The flight was operated for the purpose of maintaining the currency of the instrument rating of two of the airline's pilots. Shortly after takeoff and only seconds after climbing through 150 feet (46 m), the plane began banking to the right. It continued to roll through 90 degrees; the nose then dropped suddenly and moments later it struck the ground. All three members of the flight crew were killed upon impact. A subsequent investigation found a simulated engine failure procedure was being conducted, which involved a member of the crew pulling back the throttle lever for engine No. 4 prior to taking off. Investigators found that if the throttle lever was pulled back too far, it would cause the propeller to reverse—a feature designed to slow the aircraft upon landing. Once the landing gear was raised, the crew would have to raise a metal flag in the cockpit to bring the propeller blades back into the correct position, since a safety device prevented electric power from operating the rotating mechanism at the roots of the blades unless the aircraft was on the ground or the flag was manually raised. The Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) concluded one of the flight crew applied full power to No. 4 engine, thinking this would bring the aircraft out of the increasing bank. Because the blades were reversed and the flag was not raised, that increased the reverse thrust from No. 4 engine, causing the DC-6 to spiral out of control. Since the plane was so close to the ground, the suddenness of the bank and dive meant the flight crew had no chance to recover the aircraft before impact. In the aftermath of the accident, the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) issued an Airworthiness Directive ordering all DC-6 and DC-6B aircraft to be fitted with a manual device which could prevent the inadvertent reversal of the propeller blades. United Airlines also stated they had begun installing reverse thrust indicator lights in the cockpits of their DC-6 aircraft, which would warn pilots when a propeller had reversed. On April 4, 1955, a United Airlines check captain, Stanley C. Hoyt, age 45, was carrying out instrument rating checks on two of the airline's pilots. Hoyt had been employed by United Airlines since 1937, and had 9,763 flying hours experience, 549 of which were in a DC-6. [5] He was training the two pilots, Henry M. Dozier, age 40, and Vernis H. Webb, age 35,[5] so they would be able to retain an instrument rating qualification, allowing them to fly under instrument flight rules. [3] The aircraft was a Douglas DC-6, registration N37512, serial number 43001. The airframe had flown 22,068 flying hours, and had undergone an inspection 105 hours before the accident. The aircraft was powered by four Pratt & Whitney R2800-CB16 engines, fitted with Hamilton Standard 43E60-317 propellers. [5]
The weather on the day of the accident was clear, although there was a strong wind of about 20 knots (37 km/h) hitting the airfield from the southwest, with occasional gusts of wind as fast as 30 knots (56 km/h). [3] The aircraft made several circuits, taking off and landing again, before eyewitnesses observed the aircraft standing at the end of the runway and then taking off at about 15:50 Eastern Standard Time. [3][4] The takeoff weight was around 61,000 pounds (28,000 kg), far below the aircraft's maximum permissible weight and the center of gravity was within the prescribed limits for the model of aircraft. [3][5]
Between 1,500 feet (460 m) and 1,800 feet (550 m) down the runway, the aircraft reached take-off speed, lifted off the ground, and began climbing normally as the crew retracted the landing gear. Upon climbing through 50 feet (15 m), the aircraft began banking to the right. The climbing bank continued to increase at a rate which alarmed witnesses, and soon after the aircraft rolled through 90° (at which point the wings were vertical to the ground). [3][5] At a height of around 150 feet (46 m), with all four engines producing take-off thrust, the nose began to fall. Moments later the right wing and nose impacted the ground, causing the fuselage to cartwheel over, before the aircraft came to rest, with the correct side up. It was immediately engulfed in flames. All three members of the flight crew were instantly killed. Although emergency services at Long Island MacArthur promptly responded to the crash, the aircraft was destroyed by the post-crash fire. [3][5]
The Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB), charged with investigating the accident, examined the wreckage at Long Island MacArthur Airport. Reports from witnesses of the crash indicated the aircraft appeared to have made a normal takeoff and began climbing normally. But, moments later it began banking sharply to the right. Investigators examined the four charred engines and concluded all were producing power at the point of impact. [3][5] They could not conclusively determine the amount of power being produced, but stated there was no evidence found in the wreckage that suggested the engines might have suffered an operational failure. [5][6]
They were also able to determine all of the flight control surfaces, including the elevators, ailerons and rudder, were functioning properly at the point of the crash, and there were no faults in the flight control system. The flaps were extended to between 15° and 20°, the standard setting for take-off. The propeller blades of No. 4 engine— on the far right side of the aircraft—were reversed—minus 8°, while the blades of Nos. 1, 2 and 3 engines were at 34° positive pitch (also standard for take-off). [5][6]
The propellers of a DC-6 are designed to provide reverse thrust after the aircraft touches down. The pilot then retards the throttle levers to a point below idle speed and that directs the electric mechanisms in the propeller hub to rotate the blades to a position in which they will provide reverse thrust. [6] Should the pilot need to perform a go-around, he moves the thrust levers forward to a positive position again and that will produce forward thrust, enabling the pilot to execute a go-around maneuver. [6]
The Douglas Aircraft Company designed a system that would prevent the accidental reversal of propeller blades in-flight. During development of the DC-6, the company installed a system that cut electrical power to the mechanisms which rotated the blades while the airplane was in the air. When there was enough weight on the landing gear (which would only be the case when the aircraft was on the ground), a switch which supplied electrical power to the mechanisms was closed—meaning that when the aircraft touched down the blades could be reversed and thus the airplane could be slowed. When the switch was closed, a red flag would swing into view in the cockpit of the aircraft, warning the crew that the blades could be reversed.
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Air crash
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1963 Intercontinental Cup
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The 1963 Intercontinental Cup was a two-legged football match contested between 1962–63 European Cup champions Milan and 1963 Copa Libertadores winners Santos. It was the fourth edition of the competition. The first leg was played at the San Siro in Milan, on 16 October 1963. Milan won the home game 4–2. The return leg was held the following month, on 14 November, at the Maracanã in Rio de Janeiro. As Santos won the match 4–2, the two teams were level on points. Therefore, a playoff had to be contested two days later, and Santos won 1–0, thus assuring the trophy. Bold indicates winning years
After Milan's 4-2 victory at the San Siro stadium, the return leg took place at the Maracanã in Rio de Janeiro. The match saw some controversies related to the refereeing by Juan Brozzi. Milan led 2-0 at half-time. However, the behaviour of the Santos players changed in the second half: they became aggressive towards their opponents, with the referee failing to punish their foul play. While the Italians complained not to manage to even cross the midfield line. Milan's Gianni Rivera commented afterwards, "Each time we touched the ball, the referee stopped us. Inconceivable. Unchained spectators, people on the pitch, everything happened". [1]
The fouls from the Santos players were very hard, with goalkeeper Ghezzi and striker Rivera sustaining injuries. Santos scored four goals, three of which from free kicks, and won the game. There were later rumours that the referee had been bribed by the Santos management during the half-time break, others cite the relevance of referee's profession: He was in fact, a travel agent, who was often in contact with Brazilian teams when they had to travel to Argentina for games. [2]
As both teams had won a game each, a play-off game was necessary. The game took place two days later at the Maracanã again, as stated by the regulations, with Brozzi named as the referee again. Milan contested the latter decision, but the federation ignored the Italian's protests and confirmed Brozzi's appointment. [3] The game began in the same manner as the previous one ended, with Santos pushing forward and attacking strongly. They also continued their physically aggressive play of the previous game, with their fouls again going largely unpunished. After half an hour, Brozzi awarded Santos a penalty for what a lot of reporters judged as being simulation by Dorval Rodrigues. Milan captain Cesare Maldini was sent off for his protests about the decision. The penalty kick was converted by Dalmo Gaspar to put Santos 1–0 up. Milan's subsequent attacks forward to the Santos box were fruitless, and Santos ran out winners in a controversial but undoubtedly legendary final. Afterwards, Juan Brozzi was kicked out by his same federation because of that events, and opened a luxurious flower and gardening shop in Buenos Aires. [4]
The player of Santos Almir Pernambuquinho declared years later in his book to have taken before the decisive game of Maracana a "bola", term given to a stimulant (Dexamyl) commonly used by athletes in the 50s, 60s and 70s.
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Sports Competition
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President’s Task Force for Green Agriculture formed
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COLOMBO : President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has set up a Presidential Task Force for Green Agriculture, by virtue of the powers vested in him by Article 33 of the Constitution. This was announced in a Gazette Extraordinary published by the Secretary to the President, P.B. Jayasundera on Friday (October 15). The 14-member task force is chaired by the Chairman of Wild Holidays (Pvt.) Ltd. Vijith Welikala. The remaining members of the panel are as follows: 1. Lalith Senevirathna 2. S.K.B. Kasun Tharaka Amal – Director, Biogenic Green Technology Research Institute 3. Malinda Senevirathna – Director, Hector Kobbekaduwa Agrarian Research and Training Institute 4. R.B. Rasika Thusitha Kumara – Climate Smart Agriculture Co-ordinator, Vavuniya and Mannar Districts Eco Friendly Farming Training Consultant 5. Dr. B.K.J. Kavantissa – Chief Executive Officer “Siyapatha” International Education and Training Institute (Pvt.) Ltd 6. Samantha Fernando – Kangara Holdings (Pvt.) Ltd. 7. Samuditha Kumarasinghe – Lanka Bio Fertilizers (Pvt.) Ltd. 8. Ajith Randunu – Green Force Agriculture (Pvt.) Ltd. 9. N.M. Khalid – Lanka Nature Power (Pvt.) Ltd. 10. Shammi Kirinde – Bio Foods (Pvt.) Ltd. 11. Ms. Nirmala Karewgoda – Hysoung ONB (Pvt.) Ltd 12. Chaminda Hettikankanamge – R.K.G. Bio Green Farm 13. Nishan de Silva – Lorance’s Liquid Fertilize They are tasked with formulating a systematic programme for sustainable maintenance of green agriculture, identifying the organic fertilizer required for various crops and improving the quality of such fertilizer production and producing pesticides and weedicides locally. Further, the task force members will identify methodologies and monitoring mechanisms for importing the limited scale possible shortages with high standards on the approval of the Sri Lanka Standards Institute in meeting the requirements through local production. Additionally, enhancing the communication in transmitting to the public the health-related socio-economic benefits to be accrued from organic food production and consumption and enlisting the active support of the Public Service in this process and broadening the organic agriculture extension services at field level are also among their tasks. President Rajapaksa has appointed the Additional Secretary to the President, Vernon Perera as the Secretary of the said task force. The task force has been directed to liaise with the Economic Revival and Poverty Alleviation Task Force and the Presidential Task Force for the creation of a Green Sri Lanka with sustainable solutions for climate change.
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Organization Established
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40 dead, 300 estimated missing after dam holding back waste bursts in Brazil
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The death toll from the collapse of a dam holding back mine waste in southeastern Brazil rose to 40 on Saturday as searchers flying in helicopters and rescuers laboring in deep mud uncovered more bodies. An estimated 300 people were still missing and authorities expected the death toll to increase during a search made more challenging by intermittent rains. Scores of families in the city desperately awaited word on their loved ones, and Romeu Zema, governor of Minas Gerais state, promised that those responsible “would be punished.” Employees of the mining complex owned and operated by Brazilian mining company Vale were eating lunch Friday afternoon when the dam gave way, unleashing a sea of reddish-brown mud that knocked over and buried several structures of the company and surrounding areas. The level of devastation quickly led President Jair Bolsonaro and other officials to describe it as a “tragedy.” WATCH: Roughly 300 people are missing in Brazil after a dam at an iron mine burst, devastating the local mining town where the death toll is expected to be severe. The flow of waste reached the nearby community of Vila Ferteco and an occupied Vale administrative office. On Saturday, rooftops poked above an extensive field of the mud, which also cut off roads. After the dam collapse, some were evacuated from Brumadinho. Other residents of the affected areas barely escaped with their lives. “I saw all the mud coming down the hill, snapping the trees as it descended. It was a tremendous noise,” said a tearful Simone Pedrosa, from the neighbourhood of Parque Cachoeira, about 5 miles (8 kilometers) from where the dam collapsed. WATCH: Survivors of a deadly dam collapse in the Brazilian town of Brumadinho are struggling to cope with the scale of the tragedy, with at least 40 people dead and hundreds missing. Pedrosa, 45, and her parents dashed to their car and drove to the highest point in the neighbourhood. “If we had gone down the other direction, we would have died,” Pedrosa said, adding that she had a feeling “that this was the end of my life.” “I cannot get that noise out of my head,” she said. “It’s a trauma … I’ll never forget.” In addition to the 40 bodies recovered as of Saturday afternoon, 23 people were hospitalized, said authorities with the Minas Gerais fire department. There had been some signs of hope earlier Saturday when authorities found 43 more people alive. Company officials also had said that 100 workers were accounted for. But the company said in a statement Saturday afternoon that more than 200 workers were still missing, while fire officials at one point estimated the total number at close to 300. Vale CEO Fabio Schvartsman said he did not know what caused the collapse. About 300 employees were working when it happened. WATCH: Brazilian president Bolsonaro sees devastation of Brazil dam burst during air tour Emergency workers suspended their search shortly after nightfall. They planned to resume at first light Sunday morning. For many, hope was fading to anguish. “I don’t think he is alive,” said Joao Bosco, speaking of his cousin, Jorge Luis Ferreira, who worked for Vale. “Right now I can only hope for a miracle of God.” Vanilza Sueli Oliveira described the wait for news of her nephew as “distressing, maddening.” “Time is passing,” she said. “It’s been 24 hours already. … I just don’t want to think that he is under the mud.” The rivers of mining waste raised fears of widespread contamination. WATCH: Brazilians evacuated as miner Vale’s dam breaks According to Vale’s website, the waste, often called tailings, is composed mostly of sand and is non-toxic. However, a U.N. report found that the waste from a similar disaster in 2015 “contained high levels of toxic heavy metals.” On Friday, Minas Gerais state court blocked $260 million from Vale for state emergency services and told the company to present a report about how they would help victims. On Saturday, the state’s justice ministry ordered an additional $1.3 billion blocked. Brazil’s Attorney General, Raquel Dodge promised to investigate, saying “someone is definitely at fault.” Dodge noted there are 600 mines in the state of Minas Gerais alone that are classified as being at risk of rupture. WATCH: Brazilian protesters demand justice after Vale dam burst contaminates river (2015) Another dam administered by Vale and Australian mining company BHP Billiton collapsed in 2015 in the city of Mariana in Minas Gerais state, resulting in 19 deaths and forcing hundreds from their homes. Considered the worst environmental disaster in Brazilian history, it left 250,000 people without drinking water and killed thousands of fish. An estimated 60 million cubic meters of waste flooded rivers and eventually flowed into the Atlantic Ocean.
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Mine Collapses
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Kweilin incident crash
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The Kweilin incident occurred on August 24, 1938 when a Douglas DC-2 airliner (the Kweilin) carrying 18 passengers and crew was destroyed by Japanese aircraft in China. There were fourteen fatalities. It was the first civilian airliner in history to be shot down by hostile aircraft. [2] The pilot was American and the crew and passengers Chinese. As it was unprecedented for a civilian aircraft to be attacked, there was international diplomatic outrage over the incident. In the United States, it helped solidify the popular view that Japan was morally wrong in their war against China,[3] but the incident was not enough to spur the US into action against Japan despite Chinese entreaties. [4] The Kweilin was re-built, and destroyed by the Japanese a second time two years later. DC-2 number 32 Kweilin[note 1] was owned by China National Aviation Corporation (CNAC), one of the first commercial airlines in China. It was operated under contract by Pan American pilots and management who were mostly American in 1938. [5] The plane was on a routine civilian passenger flight from the British colony of Hong Kong to Wuchow, the first stop en route to Chungking and Chengtu in Szechwan province. From Hong Kong, Chengtu was over 750 miles (1,210 km) to the northwest. The flight had fourteen passengers, plus a steward,[6] radio operator Joe Loh,[note 2] copilot Lieu Chung-chuan,[note 3] and American pilot Hugh Leslie Woods. [7]
The Kweilin left Hong Kong at 8:04 am. [7] At 8:30 am, soon after entering Chinese airspace, Woods spotted eight Japanese pontoon-fitted planes in what he believed to be an attacking formation. Woods took evasive maneuvers by circling into a cloud bank and was fired upon by the Japanese planes, their intentions made clear. As the DC-2 was unarmed, Woods put it into a fast dive to find a place to make an emergency landing, but the fields were rice paddies crisscrossed with dikes. Woods saw a river and made a perfect water landing with no injuries or damage; the plane was designed to float. However, Woods soon discovered he was the only person aboard who knew how to swim and the swift current bore the plane into full view of the circling Japanese planes. [8] They began to strafe it with machine gun fire. Woods saw an unused boat on shore and swam to retrieve it. During the swim he was repeatedly strafed with machine gun fire but was not hit. [9] On reaching shore, he saw the plane had drifted far down river and was so riddled with bullets it was sinking with only the tail and wing still visible. After about an hour of continuous attacks the Japanese planes left. [2] The survivors were Woods, the radio operator Joe Loh and a wounded passenger, Lou Zhaonian. [note 4] The dead included two women, a five-year-old boy and a baby. One victim had been hit thirteen times. [11]
It was speculated that the reason for the attack was to assassinate Chinese President Sun Yat-sen's only son, Sun Fo, who was expected to be on the Kweilin. [12] In fact Sun Fo had taken an earlier flight that day with a different airline, Eurasia. Sun Fo later claimed a secretary had made a mistake and had publicly announced the wrong flight. It was speculated that Sun Fo intentionally announced his departure on the wrong plane, in effect sacrificing the Kweilin so that his real flight could travel unmolested. [11] While the Japanese government never officially acknowledged why or if they attacked the Kweilin, they said henceforth that while they took care they would not accept responsibility for civilian aircraft flying in a war zone. [13][14] The Japanese Foreign Office claimed not to have fired on the aircraft but to have chased it as it was behaving suspiciously. [14] A Japanese-language newspaper, The Hong Kong Nippo, admitted that although Sun Fo was the object of the attack, "our wild eagles intended to capture [him] alive. "[15]
Three prominent Chinese bankers were among the passengers killed in the incident. They were Hu Yun,[note 5] Chairman of the Bank of Communications, Singloh Hsu [zh],[note 6] General Manager of The National Commercial Bank, and Wang Yumei,[note 7] an executive of the Central Bank of the Republic of China. Their deaths were a significant loss to the Chinese banking industry. [1]
The incident was widely reported, due, in part, to its novelty as the first time a civilian airliner had ever been brought down by hostile aircraft. [2] A popular newsreel, titled Kweilin Tragedy, showed to sell-out crowds for weeks in Hong Kong. [16] It had an interview with Woods and showed the "mutilated airplane, scattered mail bags, and bullet-riddled corpses. "[16] After the incident, CNAC and other carriers began making night flights over China, using a new technology developed in Germany, "Lorenz", that allowed pilots to follow an auditory radio homing-beacon to the destination. [17] There was diplomatic outrage over the incident. In the United States, it helped solidify the popular view the Japan was morally wrong in the war against China,[3] but the incident was not enough to spur the US into action against Japan despite Chinese entreaties. [4]
On 6 September an aircraft of the Sino-German Eurasian Aviation Company was attacked near Liuchow by Japanese fighters while flying from Hong Kong to Yunnan. The company had already stopped flights to Hankow after the Kweilin attack. [18]
The Kweilin was retrieved from the river bottom, re-built, and put back into service as DC-2 number 39, the Chungking. [note 8][19] Its former name was not advertised in order to assuage superstitious passengers who might not want to fly in an unlucky plane. [20] On October 29, 1940, American pilot Walter "Foxie" Kent landed Chungking at the rural Changyi Airfield in Yunnan with 9 passengers and 3 crew including himself. Unknown to Kent, who was low on fuel,[19] the airstrip had been attacked by five Japanese fighters minutes before and they were still circling nearby. The Japanese saw the DC-2 land and attacked it just as it rolled to a stop. The first bullet to enter the plane killed Kent instantly.
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Air crash
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Aer Lingus Flight 712 crash
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Aer Lingus Flight 712 crashed en route from Cork to London on 24 March 1968 killing all 61 passengers and crew. The aircraft, a Vickers Viscount 803 named "St. Phelim", crashed into the sea off Tuskar Rock, County Wexford. Although the investigation into the crash lasted two years, a cause was never determined. [1][2][3] Causes proposed in several investigative reports include possible impact with birds, a missile or target drone, or mechanical and structural failures. [4]
Aer Lingus still uses this flight number for a daily flight from Cork to London Heathrow,[5] contrary to airline convention of discontinuing a flight number following a crash. [6] The route is operated with an aircraft from the Airbus A320 family. [5]
The flight left Cork Airport at 10:32 hours for London. The flight proceeded normally until a call was heard with the probable contents "twelve thousand feet descending spinning rapidly". There was no further communications with the aircraft and London ATC informed Shannon ATC that they had no radio contact with EI-AOM. London ATC requested Aer Lingus Flight EI 362 (flying Dublin-Bristol) to search west of Strumble. This search at 500 ft (150 m) in good visibility saw nothing. At 11:25 a full alert was declared. By 12:36 there was a report of wreckage sighted at position 51°57′N, 06°10′W. Searching aircraft found nothing and the report cancelled. Aircraft and ships resumed the search the following day and "wreckage was sighted and bodies recovered" 6 nautical miles (11 km) north-east of Tuskar Rock with more wreckage scattered "for a further 6 nautical miles north-west". Thirteen bodies were recovered over the next few days. Another body was recovered later. The main wreckage was located on the sea bed by trawling 1.72 nautical miles (3.19 km) from Tuskar Rock at 39 fathoms. [7]
The aircraft was a Vickers Viscount 803 which flew under tail-number EI-AOM and had been in service since 1957 with a total of 18,806 lifetime flight hours. [8] Aer Lingus operated approximately 20 Viscount aircraft in the 1950s and 1960s, of which two others were involved in serious incidents. The year before the Tuskar Rock crash, in June 1967, an 803 Viscount on a training flight crashed (due to a stall) with the loss of 3 crew lives. [9] Also in 1967, in September, an 808 Viscount was damaged beyond repair during a crash landing (due to pilot error in fog) that caused no serious casualties. [10]
The crew of EI-AOM Flight 712 included Captain Bernard O'Beirne,[11] 35, who had joined Aer Lingus after three years in the Air Corps. [12] His total flying time was 6,683 hours, 1,679 of them on Viscounts. He was endorsed for command on Viscount aircraft and passed a medical in January 1968. The first officer was Paul Heffernan, 22, who had training with Airwork Services Training at Perth and joined Aer Lingus in 1966. That year, he received an Irish Commercial Pilots licence with Viscount endorsement and instrument rating. His total flying time was 1,139 hours, of which 900 was on Viscounts. [12] The two stewardesses on board were Ann Kelly and Mary Coughlan. [13]
All 61 of the persons aboard the aircraft died. In total, only 14 bodies were recovered from the St George's Channel following the crash. An investigation report was produced in 1970. A review was undertaken between 1998 and 2000. An independent study was commissioned in 2000. [citation needed]
Of the several reports issued on the potential causes of the crash, several causes were proposed. These included possible bird strike, corrosion or similar structural failure, or collision with a target drone or missile. [4] The latter causes were based on the proximity of Aberporth in west Wales – at the time the most advanced missile testing station in Britain. In the years following the crash, several witnesses came forward in support of the missile theory. These include a crew member of the British ship HMS Penelope who alleged that part of the recovered wreckage was removed to the UK. [14]
However, in 2002 a review process conducted by the AAIU (Air Accident Investigation Unit) disclosed that Aer Lingus paperwork relating to a routine maintenance inspection carried out on the aircraft in December 1967 was found to be missing in 1968. [15] Moreover, a large body of research was done by the investigators after the accident, regarding the maintenance operating plan used for EI-AOM and defects on the aircraft found during analysis of the maintenance records. This research was not referred to in the 1970 report. A new board of investigation was set up by the Irish Government and found that the crash was likely the consequence of a chain of events starting with a failure to the left tail-plane caused by metal fatigue, corrosion, flutter or a bird strike, with the most likely cause being a flutter-induced fatigue failure of the elevator trim tab operating mechanism. In March 2007, retired RAF Squadron Leader Eric Evers made an unsupported claim that the accident was caused by a mid-air collision between the Aer Lingus Vickers Viscount and a French-built military aircraft which was training with the Irish Air Corps. Evers maintained that he had evidence that a Fouga Magister trainer accidentally collided with the Aer Lingus aircraft as it was checking the status of the Viscount's undercarriage, which he claimed had failed to lock in position correctly. According to Evers, the Magister's two pilots survived by ejecting and parachuting to safety; however Magisters do not have ejector seats. Evers' claims, including that French and Irish authorities colluded in a cover-up,[16] have been strongly refuted by other commentators. For example, Mike Reynolds, an aviator and author of Tragedy at Tuskar Rock, disputed Ever's claims and supports the findings of the 2002 French/Australian investigation – which ruled-out an impact with another aircraft or missile. [16] This study, on which Reynolds worked as Irish assistant, concluded that the cause may have been as a result of structural failure of the aircraft, corrosion, metal fatigue, flutter or bird strike. [16] An Irish Defence Forces spokesman similarly described the Evers' claims as "spurious", noting that there was no evidence that an Irish Air Corps plane was in the vicinity at the time, and that Magisters did not actually enter service with the Irish Air Corps until 1976.
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Air crash
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NorthShore HealthSystem to merge with west-suburban Edward-Elmhurst
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NorthShore University HealthSystem and its six area hospitals officially announced Wednesday, Sept. 8, its intention to merge with Edward-Elmhurst Health, a three-hospital group that serves the western suburbs. According to a release from the organizations the merger should be complete by the end of year. “NorthShore and Edward-Elmhurst Health share a vision of delivering expanded access to a transformative patient care experience,” said J.P. Gallagher, NorthShore president and CEO, in a statement. “By working together, we’ll connect patients and communities to personalized care, advanced clinical solutions and innovative technologies through improved access, expertise and services.” Gallagher will reportedly lead the combined organization once it is approved, the release say, and it will be governed by a merged board of directors. Under the NorthShore umbrella are: Skokie, Evanston, Glenbrook (Glenview), Highland Park, Northwest Community (Arlington Heights) and Swedish (Chicago) hospitals. Edward-Elmhurst operates Edward Hospital in Naperville, Elmhurst Hospital and Linden Oaks Behavioral Health in Naperville. Both institutions manage a number of immediate-care and specialty facilities. The health systems also announced they are committing $100 million each in community investment funds to support their respective communities. The release does not give details on how or when those funds will be made available. “These funds will each generate millions of dollars in annual interest that will directly support partnerships with organizations working to enhance health equity and well-being and advance local economic growth,” the release says. With the merger, the combined organization will staff 25,000 employees, including 6,000 physicians, and serve an area of more than 4.2 million suburban residents. “NorthShore’s approach is aligned with Edward-Elmhurst in so many ways,” said Mary Lou Mastro, Edward-Elmhurst Health president and CEO, in the release. “We share values and a vision for the future that gives us a strong foundation to create a needed regional alternative offering vibrant, community-connected healthcare.”
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Organization Merge
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Officials in Hong Kong are investigating carbon monoxide poisoning in a restaurant that left 14 people needing hospital treatment.
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Officials in Hong Kong are investigating carbon monoxide poisoning in a restaurant that left 14 people needing hospital treatment.
The Centre for Health Protection (CHP) of the Department of Health reported that the group ate a “hot pot” dinner using charcoal as cooking fuel in one room at a restaurant in Wan Chai. Hot pot is a shared meal that involves a pot of broth in the middle of the table with items such as vegetables and meat put in it to cook.
The six men and eight women developed symptoms including loss of consciousness, dizziness, vomiting, nausea, headache, shortness of breath and palpitation about two hours after the dinner started.
Ten of the 14 patients, aged between 23 and 39, are in a stable condition while the other four have been discharged from hospital.
Investigations found that while the air conditioner was on, the dining room windows were closed and the door was also shut for a long time during the hot pot meal, which may have caused the carbon monoxide level in the room to increase.
Carbon monoxide is a colorless, odorless and tasteless gas that is a by-product from incomplete combustion of any fuel that contains carbon, such as wood, natural gas, gasoline and charcoal. The CHP reminded the public to use vented fuel-burning appliances in a well-ventilated area to cook.
Seizure of meat
Meanwhile, also in Hong Kong, the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) has raided certain shops suspected of selling chilled meat as fresh.
FEHD officers marked and sealed about 270 kilograms of suspected chilled pork at two licensed fresh provision shops at Kowloon City Road and Lok Shan Road, To Kwa Wan for further investigation.
The agency also started prosecutions against the licensees of three shops for suspected violations of the regulation on cleanliness of premises and placing of open food.
A FEHD spokesman said if sites are found to breach licensing conditions for the sale of chilled meat as fresh, the department will consider cancellation of their license.
“Anyone selling chilled meat without permission commits an offence and is liable to a maximum fine of HKD $50,000 (U.S. $6,400) and six months’ imprisonment on conviction. The department will continue to closely monitor the sale of fresh meat at the retail level and take stringent enforcement action to safeguard food safety and public health.”
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Mass Poisoning
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Gigi Hadid & Zayn Malik & All the Celebrity Splits of 2021
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We might only be a few days in 2021, but we’re already seeing a few celebrity relationships come to an end — and are sure to see more surprising splits as the year goes on. Zoë Kravitz was the first to catch our eye with a new year’s divorce filing from husband of 18 months Karl Glusman, and we hadn’t even enjoyed a week of 2021 before Kim Kardashian lawyered up to split from husband of seven years Kanye West. With Hollywood couples as iconic (and chaotic) as these, can you really blame us for getting overly invested?
Last year was full of long-term marriages and star couples who shocked us with the news that they had decided to call it quits — and honestly, a few were devastating for us, like Kelly Clarkson’s newly nasty divorce and Christina and Ant Anstead calling it quits after two years. In the end, we want these famous folks to be happy and we wish them the best, even if it means breaking our celeb-obsessed hearts.
If you’re a celebrity romance superfan like us, you’re in luck: We’ll be tracking all the celebrity breakups of 2021 right here and we’re giving you all the deets (that are made public anyway).
A version of this article was originally published January 2021.
Gigi Hadid and Zayn Malik reportedly ended their relationship following an alleged argument between the former One Direction singer and Gigi’s mom, Yolanda Hadid. “They are not together right now. They are both good parents though,” a Hadid family friend shared with People.
“They co-parent. Yolanda is of course very protective of Gigi. She wants the best for her daughter and grandchild.” Gigi and Zayn welcomed their daughter, Khai, in September 2020.
After three years together, artist Grimes and SpaceX founder Elon Musk have made the decision to amicably go their separate ways. “We are semi-separated but still love each other, see each other frequently and are on great terms,” Musk shared with Page Six.
The couple welcomed their first child together, X Æ A-Xii Musk, in May 2020.
After three years of marriage, Kaley Cuoco and Karl Cook have decided to go their separate ways. The couple confirmed to People on September 3 that they made the decision to end their marriage, and released a joint statment expressing how difficult the decision was.
“Despite a deep love and respect for one another, we have realized that our current paths have taken us in opposite directions,” the two shared to People. “We have both shared so much of our journey publicly so while we would prefer to keep this aspect of our personal life private, we wanted to be forthcoming in our truth together. There is no anger or animosity, quite the contrary.”
Cuoco and Cook began dating in 2016. They became engaged in 2017, on Cuoco’s 32nd birthday, and wed in June 2018.
Matthew Perry and Molly Hurwitz have called it off just six months after getting engaged this past November. There relationship has always been kept under wraps, and even Perry’s recent surge in publicity in connection to the Friends reunion had not brought much about their relationship to light.
“Sometimes things just don’t work out and this is one of them,” Perry told People in a statement. “I wish Molly the best.”
After 27 years of marriage, Blair Underwood and wife Desiree DaCosta are going their separate ways. They raised three children together, sons Paris, 24, and Blake, 19, and daughter Brielle, 22. The couple put out a joint statement on Instagram about their “beautiful journey” together and asked for privacy during “this new season of change.”
“Our proudest achievements are our three incredible children. Three souls to which God entrusted us. We continue to be awed & humbled by the blessings of parenting,” the couple wrote. “We have always put their best interests first & will continue to do so. We will continue to be the best of friends and co-parents and have the utmost respect for one another as we embark upon this new chapter of our lives, separately.”
Everyone’s favorite New York City PDA couple is officially done. A spokesperson for Katie Holmes confirmed ti Us Weekly that she and restaurateur Emilio Vitolo Jr. are no longer seeing one another after reports earlier this month that the pair was taking some distance.
“The pair have parted ways amicably but remain friends,” Holmes’ representative shared on her behalf.
John Mulaney and wife Anna Marie Tendler are reportedly divorcing after six years. In a comment to Page Six, a spokesperson for artist Tendler said this on her behalf: “I am heartbroken that John has decided to end our marriage. I wish him support and success as he continues his recovery.”
In December 2020, comedian Mulaney entered a rehabilitation program from drug and alcohol addiction. Asked about his split, his representative gave this comment to Page Six: “John will not have any further comment as he continues to focus on his recovery and getting back to work.”
Bill and Melinda Gates announced their split via a soberly-worded statement posted to Twitter in early May of 2021.
“After a great deal of thought and a lot of work on our relationship, we have made the decision to end our marriage. Over the last 27 years, we have raised three incredible children and built a foundation that works all over the world to enable all people to lead healthy, productive lives,” the Gates’ statement read. “We continue to share a belief in that mission, and will continue our work together at the foundation, but no longer believe we can grow together as a couple in this next phase of our lives. We ask for space and privacy for our family as we begin to navigate this new life.”
Their assets will be divided according to a pre-arranged separation agreement.
Jana Kramer has filed for divorce from Mike Caussin after six years of marriage in which they welcomed two children: daughter Jolie Rae and son Jace Joseph. After they first separated in 2016 amid reports that Caussin had cheated, the couple reconciled, but Kramer admitted things were rocky again come 2019.
“‘It’s over.’ As I try to make sense of a reality I never wanted to believe could be possible again, those words have now become a reality,” Kramer wrote on Instagram. “I’ve fought y’all. I’ve loved hard. I’ve forgiven. I’ve put the work in. I’ve given everything I have, and now I have nothing else to give.”
Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez confirmed the end of their two-year engagement and four-year relationship in a joint statement to Today on April 15.
“We have realized we are better as friends and look forward to remaining so. We will continue to work together and support each other on our shared businesses and projects,” they said. “We wish the best for each other and one another’s children. Out of respect for them, the only other comment we have to say is thank you to everyone who has sent kind words and support.”
This split came a few months after rumors first circulated that Rodriguez had been in a flirty DM relationship with Southern Charm reality star Madison LeCroy.
Elliot Page has filed for a contested divorce from wife of three years Emma Portner, just a few months after coming out as transgender. Portner supported him at the time, writing “Elliot’s existence is a gift in and of itself” on Instagram. So far, neither party has publicly commented on the split.
THE BACHELORETTE – “1604” – Clare’s romantic situation is close to the tipping point as 16 of her remaining men are hopelessly confused about where they stand with the Bachelorette. Chris Harrison pays Clare a visit and cautions her that her journey cannot continue on its current path, only to have her make a stunning revelation. Chris shares the startling news with the guys that the cocktail party and rose ceremony are canceled. A nervous Clare is about to embark on an unprecedented path to find her happy ending. Will she get her wish or will Dale, the man of her dreams, walk away? Will the other men be left with dashed hopes of a happily ever after with Clare? Find out on “The Bachelorette” on a special night, THURSDAY, NOV. 5 (8:00-10:01 p.m. EDT), on ABC. (ABC/Craig Sjodin)
DALE, CLARE CRAWLEY
Ben Affleck and Ana de Armas split up after nearly a year of dating, with one source saying the Knives Out star took the lead in the breakup. The couple met while filming Deep Water together in early 2020 and struck up a pandemic romance, but it seems they’re at different places in their lives.
Andie MacDowell’s daughter Margaret Qualley and Shia LaBeouf have split ways after a brief, high-profile romance. A source tells People that the couple have decided to go their separate ways not because of LaBeouf’s ex FKA Twigs coming forward with sexual battery and abuse claims against the actor, but because “they’re just in different places in their lives.”
While it’s unclear how serious Qualley and LaBeouf’s relationship became, they first met shooting music video Love Me Like You Hate Me in the fall and were PDA-heavy through the end of 2020, even as Qualley faced backlash in light of FKA’s claims. Now, however, it seems she’s taking that distance.
Nearly ten years after they first started dating and over six years after their 2014 wedding, Kim Kardashian and Kanye West are reportedly calling it quits. The couple have lived separately for some time, with West staying at his Wyoming residence, and Kim has hired divorce lawyer Laura Wasser to move forward.
After 18 months of marriage, Zoë Kravitz and Karl Glusman have made the decision to go their separate ways. In court records obtained by People, Kravitz reportedly filed for divorce from Glusman on December 23. A rep for Kravitz has also confirmed the news to the outlet.
The two began their relationship in 2016 after being introduced by mutual friends at a bar and wed in June 2019 at the Paris home of the actress’ father Lenny Kravitz.
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Famous Person - Divorce
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Bengali language movement
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The Bengali Language Movement (Bengali: ভাষা আন্দোলন Bhasha Andolôn) was a political movement in former East Bengal (renamed East Pakistan in 1952) advocating the recognition of the Bengali language as an official language of the then-Dominion of Pakistan in order to allow its use in government affairs, the continuation of its use as a medium of education, its use in media, currency and stamps, and to maintain its writing in the Bengali script. When the Dominion of Pakistan was formed after the separation of the Indian subcontinent in 1947 when the British left, it was composed of various ethnic and linguistic groups, with the geographically non-contiguous East Bengal province having a mainly Bengali population. In 1948, the Government of the Dominion of Pakistan ordained Urdu as the sole national language, sparking extensive protests among the Bengali-speaking majority of East Bengal. Facing rising sectarian tensions and mass discontent with the new law, the government outlawed public meetings and rallies. The students of the University of Dhaka and other political activists defied the law and organised a protest on 21 February 1952. The movement reached its climax when police killed student demonstrators on that day. The deaths provoked widespread civil unrest. After years of conflict, the central government relented and granted official status to the Bengali language in 1956. The Language Movement catalysed the assertion of Bengali national identity in East Bengal and later East Pakistan, and became a forerunner to Bengali nationalist movements, including the 6-Point Movement and subsequently the Bangladesh Liberation War and the Bengali Language Implementation Act, 1987. In Bangladesh, 21 February (Ekushey February) is observed as Language Movement Day, a national holiday. The Shaheed Minar monument was constructed near Dhaka Medical College in memory of the movement and its victims. In 1999, UNESCO declared 21 February as International Mother Language Day,[1] in tribute to the Language Movement and the ethno-linguistic rights of people around the world. The current nations, Pakistan and Bangladesh, were part of an undivided India during the British colonial rule. From the mid-19th century, the Urdu language had been promoted as the lingua franca of Indian Muslims by political and religious leaders, such as Sir Khwaja Salimullah, Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, Nawab Viqar-ul-Mulk and Maulvi Abdul Haq. [2][3] Urdu is an Indo-Aryan language of the Indo-Iranian branch, closely related to Hindi and belonging to the Indo-European family of languages. It developed under Persian, Arabic and Turkic influence on apabhramshas (last linguistic stage of the medieval Indian Aryan language Pali-Prakrit)[4] in South Asia during the Delhi Sultanate and Mughal Empire. [5] With its Perso-Arabic script, the language was considered a vital element of the Islamic culture for Indian Muslims; Hindi and the Devanagari script were seen as fundamentals of Hindu culture. [2]
While the use of Urdu grew common with Muslims in northern India, the Muslims of Bengal (a province in the eastern part of British Indian sub-continent) primarily used the Bengali language. Bengali is an Eastern Indo-Aryan language that arose from the eastern Middle Indic languages around 1000 CE[6] and developed considerably during the Bengal Renaissance. As early as the late 19th century, social activists such as the Muslim feminist Roquia Sakhawat Hussain were choosing to write in Bengali to reach out to the people and develop it as a modern literary language. Supporters of Bengali opposed Urdu even before the partition of India, when delegates from Bengal rejected the idea of making Urdu the lingua franca of Muslim India in the 1937 Lucknow session of the Muslim League. The Muslim League was a British Indian political party that became the driving force behind the creation of Pakistan as a Muslim state separate from British India. [7]
After the partition of India in 1947, Bengali-speaking people in East Bengal, the non-contiguous eastern part of the Dominion of Pakistan, made up 44 million of the newly formed Dominion of Pakistan's 69 million people. [8] The Dominion of Pakistan's government, civil services, and military, however, were dominated by personnel from the western wing of the Dominion of Pakistan. [9] In November 1947, a key resolution at a national education summit in Karachi advocated Urdu and English as the sole state languages. [10] Opposition and protests arose immediately. Students from Dhaka rallied under the leadership of Abul Kashem, the secretary of Tamaddun Majlish, a Bengali Islamic cultural organisation. The meeting stipulated Bengali as an official language of the Dominion of Pakistan and as a medium of education in East Bengal. [11] However, the Pakistan Public Service Commission removed Bengali from the list of approved subjects, as well as from currency notes and stamps. The central education minister Fazlur Rahman made extensive preparations to make Urdu the only state language of the Dominion of Pakistan. [12] Public outrage spread, and many Bengali students met on the University of Dhaka campus on 8 December 1947 to formally demand that Bengali be made an official language. To promote their cause, Bengali students organised processions and rallies in Dhaka. [8]
Leading Bengali scholars argued why Urdu should not be the only state language. The writer Abul Mansur Ahmed said if Urdu became the state language, the educated society of East Bengal would become 'illiterate' and 'ineligible' for government positions. [13] The first Rastrabhasa Sangram Parishad (National Language Action Committee), an organisation in favour of Bengali as a state language was formed towards the end of December 1947. Professor Nurul Huq Bhuiyan of the Tamaddun Majlish convened the committee. [8][14] Later, Parliament member Shamsul Huq convened a new committee to push for Bengali as a state language. Assembly member Dhirendranath Datta proposed legislation in the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan to allow members to speak in Bengali and authorise its use for official purposes. [8] Datta's proposal was supported by legislators Prem Hari Burman, Bhupendra Kumar Datta and Sris Chandra Chattaopadhyaya of East Bengal, as well as the people from the region. [8] Prime minister Liaquat Ali Khan and the Muslim League denounced the proposal as an attempt to divide the Pakistani people, thus the legislation was defeated. [8][15]
Students of the University of Dhaka and other colleges of the city organised a general strike on 11 March 1948 to protest the omission of Bengali language from official use, including coins, stamps and recruitment tests for the navy. The movement restated the demand that Bengali be declared an official language of the Dominion of Pakistan. Political leaders such as Shamsul Huq, Shawkat Ali, M Sirajul Islam, Kazi Golam Mahboob, Oli Ahad, Abdul Wahed and others were arrested during the rallies. Rally leader Mohammad Toaha was hospitalised after attempting to snatch a rifle from a police officer. Student leaders, including Abdul Matin and Abdul Malek Ukil took part in the procession. [8]
In the afternoon of 11 March, a meeting was held to protest police brutality and arrests. A group of students marching towards the chief minister Khawaja Nazimuddin's house was stopped in front of the Dhaka High Court. The rally changed its direction and moved in the direction of the Secretariat building. Police attacked the procession injuring several students and leaders, including A. K. Fazlul Huq. [17] Continuing strikes were observed the following four days.
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Protest_Online Condemnation
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Erskine Fire
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The Erskine Fire was a wildfire that was burning in the Lake Isabella area of Kern County. [1] It was the second-largest wildfire of the 2016 California wildfire season. It was also the first fire of the year to have fatalities and is the 15th most destructive fire in state history. [3]
The fire, which was first reported around 4:00pm on Thursday, June 23, quickly grew to over 8,000 acres (32 km2) and destroyed over 100 structures, including at least 80 residences, in the first few hours. [4]
By mid-day Friday the fire had grown to over 19,000 acres (77 km2) and is still 0% -contained. [2] By 6:00pm on Friday, officials confirmed that the fire had grown to over 30,000 acres (120 km2) with 5% contained. [5]
Friday evening Governor Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency for Kern County. [6]
On June 28, Kern County Fire Department confirmed that 257 homes had been destroyed by the fire. [7]
Two Red Cross Shelters were set up north of Lake Isabella [8]
On July 11 the fire was 100% contained. [3]
On Friday, June 24, officials confirmed that 2 people had been killed by the fast moving fire. [2] Officials also stated that cadaver dogs were being used to search for possible additional victims. [5] The deceased victims were an elderly couple who died while attempting to flee their home. [9]
On Saturday June 25, a third set of remains was found, though the body had been burned so badly that it is unclear on whether or not the remains belong to a human or an animal. [10] Monday morning, the Kern County Sheriff's Office confirmed that the remains belonged to an animal and not to a human. [11]
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Fire
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Aeropesca Colombia Flight 217 crash
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Aeropesca Colombia Flight 217 was an internal scheduled passenger flight in Colombia from La Vanguardia Airport, Villavicencio to El Dorado International Airport, Bogotá. [1] On 26 March 1982 the flight was operated by a four-engined Vickers Viscount turboprop registered HK-2382 which collided with a mountain at 7,700 feet 130 km south east from Bogotá near Quetame in bad weather. [1] The storm hampered rescue attempts. All 21 on board were killed. [1]
The aircraft was a Vickers Viscount 745D four-engined turboprop that had been built in the United Kingdom in 1956 for Capital Airlines of the United States. [2] First flown on 15 December 1956 it was bought by Aeropesca Colombia in March 1976. [2]
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Air crash
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Locust swarms: South Sudan latest to be hit by invasion - BBC
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Efforts to control the locust infestation have so far not been effective. Aerial spraying of pesticides is the most effective way of fighting the swarms but countries in the region do not have the right resources.
Media caption,
How East Africa is battling devastating locust swarms
There are now fears that the locusts - already in the hundreds of billions - will multiply further.
'Reconnaissance mission'
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said about 2,000 adult insects had entered South Sudan via Uganda into the southern county of Magwi.
"These are deep yellow, which means that they will be here mostly looking at areas in which they will lay eggs," the AFP news agency quotes FAO South Sudan representative Meshack Malo as saying.
Agriculture Minister Onyoti Adigo Nyikuac said the government was training people to spray.
"Also we need chemicals for spraying and also sprayers. You will also need cars to move while spraying and then later if it becomes worse, we will need aircraft," he said, AFP reports.
About 60% of South Sudan's population is facing food insecurity - and destruction of harvests by locusts could lead to a drop in nutrition levels in children, rights group Save the Children warns.
More world's newest nation, South Sudan:
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Insect Disaster
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Off-the-shelf rat poisons killing owls too - and Bunnings asked to act
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It was probably a painful death for the eastern barn owl that Blairgowrie resident Kent Stannard found while walking on the Mornington Peninsula in September.
The owl lay on its stomach with its pale, heart-shaped face turned towards the sand, and next to it lay the body of its intended prey, a dead rat.
A dead owl, and its rat prey, found on the Mornington Peninsula by a local resident, believed to have died after eating anticoagulant rodent poison.
When Stannard shared the image on social media the next day, other residents also said they had come across the bodies of dead birds of prey in the area, and one posted a photo of a dead goshawk.
The dead owl and rat lying together offered Stannard, a marine researcher, a clue about the likely cause of death: the lethal effect of anticoagulant rodenticides, also called second-generation rat poisons, which kill birds of prey like owls and kites.
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“I’ve grown up on the coast, and it’s the first time I’ve seen a dead owl,” said Stannard. “It was even more bizarre to find the owl and its prey side by side – very disturbing.”
The anticoagulant poisons have been restricted from general sale in the US, Canada and European Union but can be bought in supermarkets and hardware shops in Australia.
They take a hidden toll because birds of prey can devour many rats and mice that have taken bait and the poison takes some time to work.
BirdLife Australia, the largest bird advocacy group in the country, has been campaigning against anticoagulant rodenticides for years, and is now calling on Australia’s largest hardware chain, Bunnings Warehouse, to stop stocking them.
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There are about 25 rat poisons available at Bunnings stores, and all but two are second-generation anticoagulant poisons, BirdLife says.
BirdLife recently commissioned an analysis of the livers of 38 deceased endangered powerful owls found in Sydney and on its urban fringes to check for rodenticide poisoning.
A dead masked owl in Victoria.
Powerful owls are a threatened species that live across the eastern seaboard, including in the suburbs of Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney.
The testing found 37 of the 38 samples showed anticoagulant rodenticide was present, and nearly 60 per cent had levels high enough to cause impairment (making them more susceptible to traffic accidents). Ten per cent had levels high enough to kill the birds outright.
The samples were collected largely before the peak of the mouse plague earlier this year, so reflect the “usual” contamination of the food chain for these birds.
Dr Holly Parsons, the urban bird program manager at BirdLife, said other products were available to trap rats and mice, including traps and first-generation anticoagulant rodenticides that don’t travel as far up the food chain.
A powerful owl with an eye injury.
Credit:Beth Mott
Even if the rodenticide didn’t kill the birds outright, it made them vulnerable to being struck by a car because they were disorientated, said Dr Parsons.
“These birds are flying around not at their best and in an urban environment where there are lots of risk from roads and people that is a dangerous state to be in,” Dr Parsons said.
In recent years anticoagulants rodenticides have been found in the bodies of dead Tasmanian eagles, which shows how far the chemicals travel up the food chain because the eagles don’t eat rodents but the birds who prey on them.
Dead owls have also been discovered near Wollongong, south of Sydney, where Monty Madden, 10, and Millie Schulz, 12, found a dead endangered sooty owl under a bush in their backyard. Shortly afterwards, a neighbour discovered a dead tawny frogmouth.
Bon Madden, Millie Schulz and Monty Madden with a dead tawny frogmouth.
A number of dead birds of prey have been found in the area, according to local wildlife rescue volunteers. “It was very sad to see that this amazing bird had been killed,” said Millie.
The children made an owl-themed “spoonville” village in their front yard to raise awareness of the issue of anticoagulant rodenticides, and have also written to Bunnings asking it to stop selling them.
“To Bunnings,” says Monty’s letter. “We found a dead sooty owl in our back garden which has been killed by your stupid rat poison.”
The animal-themed spoonville dedicated to the owls.
Adrian Pearce, the Bunnings general manager of merchandise, said the company recently met with BirdLife Australia and had been working with suppliers to include additional information on packaging about which products are first or second generation rodenticides.
The company is training staff and will separate the different varieties of rodenticides on shelves, he said.
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Mass Poisoning
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Transocean Air Lines Flight 512 crash
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On July 12, 1953, Transocean Air Lines Flight 512, a Douglas DC-6A operated by Transocean Air Lines from Guam to Oakland, California, crashed into the Pacific Ocean roughly 630 km (340 nmi) east of Wake Island while en route to Honolulu for a planned stopover. All 58 passengers and crew on board were killed. [1][2]
On July 12, Flight 512 was scheduled to fly from Guam to Oakland, California, stopping at Wake Island and Honolulu. The aircraft departed Guam at 00:04 GMT[nb 1] and arrived at Wake Island at 05:39 without incident. After boarding one additional passenger, Flight 512 departed at 06:58 for an estimated nine-hour flight. The aircraft radioed a 100-nautical-mile position report at 07:29, and another scheduled position report at 08:29 (19°48′N 171°48′E / 19.800°N 171.800°E / 19.800; 171.800). [3]
When Flight 512 missed its next scheduled position report, an alert was issued by Wake Island at 10:01. An incoming aircraft reported seeing a green flare en route from Honolulu at approximately 08:41. A preliminary accident notice was filed at 16:43. Within 24 hours, a complete listing of the aircraft's passenger and crew manifest was published in a California newspaper. [4] The United States Navy dispatched 19 ships from Pearl Harbor, including the USS Epperson and USS Walker, along with 12 US Navy P2V Neptunes. [5]
On July 13, 1953, at 06:08, the USNS Barrett reported debris and an empty inflated life raft from Flight 512 at 19°49′N 172°25′E / 19.817°N 172.417°E / 19.817; 172.417. Additional search support was summoned to the area. At 20:44 the Barrett reported discovering bodies in the water at 19°55′N 172°18′E / 19.917°N 172.300°E / 19.917; 172.300 and eventually 14 bodies were recovered. [6] Eleven additional bodies were spotted but could not be recovered due to rough seas and the presence of sharks. The search was ended at 00:00 on 15 July 1953. [6]
The fuselage was not recovered; therefore conclusions about mechanical or structural failure cannot be made. The aircraft had received regular maintenance and servicing, and there were no complaints of mechanical difficulty. Based on the recovered bodies and debris, there was no evidence of fire in flight and impact occurred with great force. [7] Maintenance and inspection records were unremarkable. [nb 2]
The Douglas DC-6A’s design provides for the storage of fuel in the wings of the aircraft. Precise sequences for fuel loading were established by the manufacturer so as not to exceed design limitations and place excess stress on the airframe. It was determined that the fuel was properly loaded in Guam. [9]
Another commercial aircraft flying approximately 30 miles north of the scheduled route for Flight 512 reported “an extensive thunderstorm area accompanied by heavy turbulence was encountered.” [10] The weather briefing provided to Flight 512 prior to departure did not indicate any significant turbulence. Sabotage was considered and ruled out. [10]
Given the lack of physical evidence, The Civil Aeronautics Safety Bureau was unable to determine probable cause. [11]
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Air crash
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UPS Airlines Flight 6 crash
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UPS Airlines Flight 6 was a cargo flight operated by UPS Airlines. On September 3, 2010, the Boeing 747-400F flying the route between Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Cologne, Germany, developed an in-flight fire which caused the aircraft to crash, killing both crew members, the only people on board. [1][2][3] It was the first fatal air crash for UPS Airlines. [4] The crash prompted a re-evaluation of safety procedures protecting airliners from cockpit smoke. Flight 6 departed from Dubai International Airport at 14:53 UTC on September 3, 2010, bound for Cologne Bonn Airport. At the controls were Captain Douglas Lampe, 48, of Louisville, Kentucky, and First Officer Matthew Bell, 38, from Sanford, Florida. [5][6]
At 15:15 the EICAS message FIRE MAIN DK FWD appeared on the upper EICAS display, and the crew reported the fire in the cockpit when the aircraft was around 120 nautical miles (138 mi; 222 km) west-northwest of Dubai. An emergency was declared shortly afterwards. [7] The pilots were under the control of Bahrain's air traffic control (ATC), and they could not initially contact Dubai ATC due to the thick smoke in the cockpit obscuring the radio panel. [8] Although they were offered a diversion 100 nautical miles (115 mi; 185 km) to Doha, Qatar,[9] Captain Lampe made the decision to return to Dubai. The thick smoke required the pilots to communicate with nearby planes over VHF to relay messages to Bahrain ATC, as Bell was unable to see the radio through the smoke. The aircraft involved in relaying messages from UPS 6 included three Boeing 737-800s operated by flydubai, and the Dubai Royal Air Wing's own 747-400, callsign Dubai One. Lampe elected to disengage the autopilot and fly the plane manually. Upon doing so, he discovered that he had no elevator control. The fire had burnt through the protective fire-resistant liner that covered the cargo hold and destroyed the primary flight control system, crippling the 747. At 15:20, Lampe's oxygen mask failed and he relinquished command of the plane to First Officer Bell. Lampe left his seat to get the Emergency Reserve Oxygen System (EROS) oxygen mask, which was stowed behind his seat, but was incapacitated by the acrid smoke and lost consciousness, collapsing to the cockpit floor. It was believed that the fire had also cut off the oxygen supply to the EROS mask, leaving Lampe with no oxygen left to return to the pilot seat and fly the plane. Bell was instructed to land on the airport's runway 12L. [7]
The aircraft was too high on the approach and the gear did not extend. The aircraft passed over the airport before making a tight turn. Bell attempted to turn towards Sharjah International Airport but unknowingly turned in the wrong direction. Radar contact was lost shortly thereafter at 15:42 UTC. The aircraft finally struck the ground at a shallow angle and at high speed in an unpopulated area between the Emirates Road and Al Ain Highway, barely missing Dubai Silicon Oasis. The right wing hit the ground first and the burning 747 skidded a few meters, and exploded in a fireball, killing Bell instantly. [10] Other than ATC, many initial reports came from pilots working for Emirates who were living in the community. The aircraft involved in the accident was a Boeing 747-400F with registered N571UP, delivered to UPS Airlines in 2007. [11] It had flown for more than 10,000 hours, and had a major inspection performed in June 2010. [12] The aircraft was powered by four General Electric CF6-80C2B5FG01 turbofan engines. [13][14] Before the crash, it was among the newest (#1,393 of 1,418; the 26th from the last)[15] Boeing 747-400s built before the introduction of the succeeding 747-8. In October 2010, the FAA issued a Safety Alert for Operators highlighting the fact that the cargo on board Flight 6 contained a large quantity of lithium type batteries. [7] The FAA issued a restriction on the carrying of lithium batteries in bulk on passenger flights. [16] Boeing announced that the 747-400F fire checklists were to be modified to instruct pilots that at least one of the three air conditioning systems must be left in operation in order to prevent excessive smoke accumulation on the flight deck. [17]
The accident revived concerns about the effects of smoke in the cockpit, raising the question of whether smoke hoods or inflatable vision units should be introduced in commercial aviation. [4][18][19] Around the time of the crash, the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) had asked the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to mandate the installation of automatic fire extinguisher systems in the holds of cargo aircraft. UPS Airlines followed FAA regulations, which stated that pilots should depressurize the main cabin and climb to an altitude of at least 20,000 feet (6,100 m) upon detection of a fire so as to deprive the flames of oxygen. [20]
The United Arab Emirates General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) opened an investigation into the crash, assisted by the NTSB. [21][22] The government of Bahrain decided to conduct its own investigation into the accident. [23] UPS also sent its own investigation team. [6] The flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder were recovered and sent to the United States for analysis by the NTSB. [9]
The GCAA released its final investigation report in July 2013,[24] The report indicated that the fire was caused by the autoignition of the contents of a cargo pallet, which contained more than 81,000 lithium batteries and other combustible materials. The shutdown of air conditioning pack 1 for unknown reasons led to smoke entering the cockpit. [25]
The investigation also revealed that the cargo liner failed when the fire started and this contributed to the severity of the damage. [25]
The crash was featured in the 15th season of Mayday (or Air Crash Investigation) on 11 January 2016. The episode aired on the National Geographic Channel in the United Kingdom and the rest of the world and is entitled "Fatal Delivery".
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Air crash
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Great Belt Bridge rail accident
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The Great Belt Bridge rail accident occurred on 2 January 2019 on the Great Belt Fixed Link in Denmark when a passenger train collided with a semi-trailer from or on a passing freight train. The Great Belt Fixed Link is an 18 km (11 mi) long bridge–tunnel connection between the Danish islands of Zealand and Funen, and the accident happened on the West Bridge, near Funen. The accident happened during a storm, which had closed down the bridge for road traffic, but not for rail traffic. Eight passengers were killed, all Danish citizens, and 16 were injured, making it the deadliest rail accident in Denmark since 1988. [1]
An early investigation found that in some cases, wagons similar to the one involved in the accident failed to lock the semi-trailers in place. A full investigation was published several months later and it confirmed the earlier results. The Danish Transport Authority temporarily banned this kind of wagon until extra locking procedures were put in place, and have tightened the rules for freight on the bridge during windy weather. Shortly after, temporary measures to avoid similar accidents were introduced throughout Europe and permanent measures will be introduced in early 2020. [2]
In January 2021 the use of pocket wagons was again suspended in Denmark, following an incident on the same bridge when a semi-trailer had shifted position, and had protruded beyond the side of its freight wagon. [3]
Due to Storm Alfrida,[1] which hit Denmark on 1 January 2019, the Danish Road Directorate closed the Great Belt Bridge for all road traffic on the night between 1 and 2 January. It was expected to reopen at 11:00 on 2 January. [4] Rail traffic was not restricted. [5] Both road and rail traffic travel by the West Bridge, a low box girder bridge, but the more wind-exposed East Bridge, a suspension bridge, is only for road traffic, as trains here travel by tunnel. [6]
At 07:11, InterCity express ICL 210 departed from Odense headed for Copenhagen. Operated by DSB, it was carrying 131 passengers and a crew of three when it arrived at the western end of the bridge. [7][8] Meanwhile, a freight train operated by DB Cargo with a crew of one,[9] loaded with semi-trailers carrying crates of empty bottles belonging to Carlsberg, was heading in the opposite direction[5] towards the Carlsberg brewery at Fredericia, 72 kilometres (45 mi) to the north west of the crash site. [10]
Shortly before 07:35,[7][11] on the West Bridge of the Great Belt Fixed Link, between the islands of Sprogø and Funen, the passenger train collided with an object initially believed to be a tarpaulin from the freight train,[8] but later that same day identified by Accident Investigation Board Denmark to be an empty semi-trailer from the freight train. [12] The train driver has since said that he noticed sparks lower than usual (i.e. not from the overhead catenary) and that "something big" was hanging from the approaching freight train. [13][14]
The storm and the location of the accident complicated the emergency operation. [1][15] Initially, six casualties were confirmed while the trains were still on the bridge, but after they had been moved to a secluded area, two more bodies were found in the passenger train. [16] Both in relation to the accident and the ongoing storm, the government crisis management organization, the National Operative Staff (NOST) decided to convene. [17]
Eight passengers were killed, five women and three men, and 16 were injured in the accident. [18] None of the wounded had life-threatening injuries: 14 had minor injuries, and 2 had moderate injuries. [19] On 4 January, all victims had been identified as Danish citizens, between 27 and 60 years old. [20]
The bridge reopened for road traffic at approximately 12:20 on 2 January. Later that afternoon, the westbound carriageway was briefly closed due to queueing by curious drivers. [21] Rail traffic was restarted at 10:40 on 3 January, when one track opened,[22] and all traffic was normal by the evening. [23]
The investigation was handled by the Accident Investigation Board Denmark. [24] On 2 January, shortly after the accident, investigator Bo Haaning said the accident was caused by a collision between the passenger train and an empty semi-truck from the freight train. However, he stated that details surrounding this were still uncertain: "It [the trailer] either hit the train, or the train drove into it". [12] The full investigation could take up to a year. [25]
Initial media speculation focused on the weather conditions. At the time of the accident, the wind gusts were measured to be up to 20.9 m/s (69 ft/s), a gale, with average wind speeds lower. [26][27] The wind was coming from the north, perpendicular to the bridge. [28] If the average wind speeds, as measured over 10 minutes, had exceeded 21 m/s, the speed limit for freight trains would be decreased from 120 to 80 km/h (75 to 50 mph), and by 25 m/s (82 ft/s), all traffic would have to be cancelled. Since no limits were exceeded, no restrictions were imposed. [29][30] Both Banedanmark, operators of the Danish railways, and Sund & Bælt, operators of the bridge, said that all procedures had been followed. [31][29] According to Jacob Mann, professor in wind energy at DTU, the wind can not be the only cause of the accident. [28]
The media also focused on whether the semi-trailer was properly secured to the rail wagon. On this type of wagon, a pocket wagon, the front of a semi-trailer is fixed only with its kingpin. The back of the semi-trailer is kept in place as the wheels are lowered into a "pocket". [32] Following the accident, operator DB Cargo temporarily suspended all freight trains carrying bottle crates. [33] The accident resembled an incident in Hamburg, Germany, where a semi-truck that was not properly secured had been dislodged and collided with a bridge pier. [34][35] The European Union Agency for Railways is supposed to forward information relating to serious incidents, but Danish authorities had not been informed about the German accident prior to the Danish accident. [35][36]
On 5 January, the Danish Transport Authority issued a warning about pocket wagons used to transport semi-trailers, on the recommendation of the Accident Investigation Board Denmark, stating that the locking mechanism securing the trailer could pose a safety risk. [37][38] It also requested the Joint Network Secretariat (JNS) to open a formal procedure. [39] On 7 January, a test at DB Cargo showed that, after a semi-trailer had been loaded and secured, it could still be lifted off the wagon. [40] The freight train had been checked prior to departure, and seemed to have been properly secured. [41] The following day, the national transport authority temporarily prohibited the use of pocket wagons to transport semi-trailers until extra locking procedures were put in place, and tightened the rules for freight trains crossing the Great Belt, with respect to wind conditions.
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Train collisions
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A manhunt is underway for a gunman who shot and seriously wounded presiding Travis County, Texas State District Judge Julie Kocurek at the driveway of her home in West Austin, Texas.
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A police manhunt was underway Saturday for a suspect who shot and seriously wounded the presiding state district judge of the Texas county that includes Austin.
Travis County State District Judge Julie Kocurek, was gunned down in the driveway of her home in West Austin on Friday night. She was listed in serious condition at University Medical Center Brackenridge in Austin but was expected to recover.
Police said the shooting occurred as Kocurek and her family arrived home, and it was unclear whether the shooter was targeting the judge or the incident was a botched robbery. A neighbor told the Austin American-Statesman about hearing four "pops." "This injury, although extremely serious, does not appear to be life-threatening," said Austin Police Department Commander Mark Spangler.
Spangler told reporters that because the shooting was at night and in the dark, there was little information available to police about the gunman, and it was unclear how many suspects might be involved. Police arrived about five minutes after the shooting was reported. Police conducted a search for the gunman late Friday and handed out flyers Saturday seeking information related to the shooting. The judge lives in a wealthy area of $1 million and $2 million homes, according to the Austin American-Statesman. Kocurek is a former prosecutor who was appointed presiding judge of the 390th District Court by then-Gov. George W. Bush in 1999. She has overseen several high-profile murder cases. She became the only Republican elected to a state district judgeship in the heavily Democratic and later switched parties to become a Democrat. Contributing: KVUE-TV, Austin
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Famous Person - Recovered
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'Nothing but Problems': Shipwreck Teardown Now in Its Fifth Month
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When salvage crews in early November began cutting apart the capsized Golden Ray, a shipwreck the size of a 70-story office building with 4,200 cars within its cargo decks, they predicted the demolition could be wrapped up by New Year's Day. Months later, the job remains far from finished. Both ends of the cargo ship have been cut away and carried off by barges in a pair of giant chunks. But roughly three-fourths of the vessel remains beached on its side off St. Simons Island on the Georgia coast, where the South Korean freighter overturned soon after leaving port September 8, 2019. What caused the ship to flip is still being investigated, but an unstable load is suspected. "It's been nothing but problems out here," said Andy Jones, a St. Simons Island resident who heads to the wreck site in his small fishing boat most days to monitor the demolition and post updates to a YouTube channel. "It's a disappointingly slow pace." Salvage experts decided more than a year ago that the Golden Ray, measuring 656 feet (199 meters) long, was too big to remove intact. They settled on a plan to carve the ship into eight massive chunks, each weighing up to 4,100 tons (3,720 metric tons). They straddled the wreck with a towering crane with a winch and pulley system attached to 400 feet (122 meters) of anchor chain that acts as a dull sawblade, tearing through the ship's hull with brute force. Start to finish, each individual cut was supposed to take a single day. Taking into account time needed to load each severed ship section onto a barge and prepare for the next slice, the multiagency command overseeing the effort predicted the job would take eight weeks. It's turned out to be a lot harder. The first cut began November 6 and took three weeks. Lifting the ship's bow section revealed battered cars and SUVs in neat, layered rows on the interior decks. The second cut started a month later, on Christmas Day, and was finished in a week. Crews spent all of February attempting a third cut through the ship's engine room, a section fortified with thicker steel. After strain on the cutting apparatus forced extensive maintenance, the salvage crew stopped with the cut only about half finished. They spent days moving the crane to the other end of the ship, where they began cutting a new section while rethinking plans to complete the unfinished one. The ship's steel has proved tougher than anticipated, slowing the process, and crews have taken pauses to perform extra inspections and maintenance, said Coast Guard Petty Officer 2nd Class Michael Himes, a spokesman for the multiagency command overseeing the demolition. "If people are wondering when it is going to be done, we're doing it as quickly and as safely as can be done," Himes said. "But quick takes a back seat to safety." He said it's possible the last chunk of the ship could head to the scrapyard by June, the first month of the Atlantic hurricane season. Workers have taken steps to make the cutting more efficient, using torches to remove strips of the ship's hull plating and form a guide for the cutting chain. They're also using a big mechanical claw to pluck cars from inside the ship to shed weight before sections are cut and lifted. Conservationists worry the longer the shipwreck stays in St. Simons Sound, the greater pollution threat it poses to the area's waterways, beaches and saltwater marshes. The wreck site is surrounded by a mesh barrier intended to contain debris for cleanup once the big sections get removed. Boats equipped with skimmers and absorbent booms stay on standby to mop up any leaking oil or other pollutants. Still, bumpers, tires and other car parts falling from the ship have been found on beaches. Birds have been found coated in oil. And though most fuel has been drained from the ship's tanks, there's concern that an estimated 44,000 gallons (166,500 liters) remaining could come gushing out once the cutting chain severs the ship's fuel line. "The longer anything sits in the water, the ship or these cars, it breaks down," said Susan Inman, coast-keeper for the Altamaha Riverkeeper conservation group. "You have lead paint on your ship. You have all these plastic pieces, hydraulic fluid. A lot of this stuff is just going to be around for years."
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Shipwreck
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American Airlines Flight 191 crash
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American Airlines Flight 191 was a regularly scheduled domestic passenger flight in the United States operated by American Airlines from O'Hare International Airport in Chicago, Illinois, to Los Angeles International Airport in Los Angeles, California. On the afternoon of May 25, 1979, the McDonnell Douglas DC-10-10 operating this flight was taking off from runway 32R when its left engine detached, causing loss of control, and it crashed less than a mile (1.6 km) from the end of the runway. All 258 passengers and 13 crew on board were killed, along with two people on the ground. With 273 fatalities, it is the deadliest aviation accident to have occurred in the United States. [2][3][4]
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) found that as the aircraft was beginning its takeoff rotation, engine number one (the left engine) separated from the left wing, flipping over the top of the wing and landing on the runway. As the engine separated from the aircraft, it severed hydraulic fluid lines that lock the wing's leading-edge slats in place and damaged a 3-foot (0.9 m) section of the left wing's leading edge. Aerodynamic forces acting on the wing resulted in an uncommanded retraction of the outboard slats. As the aircraft began to climb, the damaged left wing – with no engine – produced far less lift (stalled) than the right wing, which had its slats still deployed and its engine providing full takeoff thrust. The disrupted and unbalanced aerodynamics of the aircraft caused it to roll abruptly to the left until it was partially inverted, reaching a bank angle of 112°, before crashing in an open field by a trailer park near the end of the runway. The engine separation was attributed to damage to the pylon structure holding the engine to the wing, caused by improper maintenance procedures used at American Airlines. [5][6][7]
The aircraft involved was a McDonnell Douglas DC-10-10 registered as N110AA. It had been delivered on February 25, 1972, and at the time of the crash, it had logged just under 20,000 hours of flying time over seven years. The jet was powered by three General Electric CF6-6D engines. A review of the aircraft's flight logs and maintenance records showed that no mechanical discrepancies were noted for May 11, 1979. On the day of the accident, in violation of standard procedure, the records were not removed from the aircraft, and were destroyed in the accident. [1]:76
Captain Walter Lux (age 53) had been flying the DC-10 since its introduction eight years earlier. He had logged around 22,000 flying hours, of which about 3,000 were in a DC-10. He was also qualified to pilot 17 other aircraft, including the DC-6, the DC-7, and the Boeing 727. [1]:75 First Officer James Dillard (age 49), and Flight Engineer Alfred Udovich (56) were also highly experienced: 9,275 hours and 15,000 hours, respectively; between them, they had 1,830 hours' flying experience in the DC-10. [8]
On the accident flight, just as the aircraft reached takeoff speed, the number-one engine and its pylon assembly separated from the left wing, ripping away a 3 ft (0.9 m) section of the leading edge with it. The combined unit flipped over the top of the wing and landed on the runway. [1]:2 Robert Graham, supervisor of maintenance for American Airlines, stated:
As the aircraft got closer, I noticed what appeared to be vapor or smoke of some type coming from the leading edge of the wing and the number-one engine pylon. I noticed that the number-one engine was bouncing up and down quite a bit and just about the time the aircraft got opposite my position and started rotation, the engine came off, went up over the top of the wing, and rolled back down onto the runway... Before going over the wing, the engine went forward and up just as if it had lift and was actually climbing. It didn't strike the top of the wing on its way; rather, it followed the clear path of the airflow of the wing, up and over the top of it, then down below the tail. The aircraft continued a fairly normal climb until it started a turn to the left. And at that point, I thought he was going to come back to the airport. [9]
What was said in the cockpit in the 50 seconds leading up to the final impact is not known, as the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) lost power when the engine detached. The only crash-related audio collected by the recorder is a thumping noise (likely the sound of the engine separating), followed by the first officer exclaiming "Damn! ", at which point the recording ends. This may also explain why air traffic control was unsuccessful in their attempts to radio the crew and inform them that they had lost an engine. This loss of power did, however, prove useful in the investigation, serving as a marker of exactly what circuit in the DC-10's extensive electrical system had failed. [1]:57
In addition to the engine's failure, several related systems failed. The number-one hydraulic system, powered by the number-one engine, also failed, but continued to operate through motor pumps that mechanically connected it to hydraulic system three. Hydraulic system three was also damaged and began leaking fluid, but maintained pressure and operation until impact. Hydraulic system two was undamaged. The number-one electrical bus, whose generator was attached to the number-one engine, failed, as well, causing several electrical systems to go offline, most notably the captain's instruments, his stick shaker, and the slat disagreement sensors. A switch in the overhead panel would have allowed the captain to restore power to his instruments, but it was not used. The flight engineer may have been able to reach the backup power switch (as part of an abnormal situation checklist—not as part of their take-off emergency procedure) in an effort to restore electrical power to the number-one electrical bus. That would have worked only if electrical faults were no longer present in the number-one electrical system. To reach that backup power switch, the flight engineer would have had to rotate his seat, release his safety belt, and stand up. Since the aircraft did not get any higher than 350 ft (110 m) above the ground and was only in the air for 50 seconds between the time the engine separated and the moment it crashed, the time was not sufficient to perform such an action. In any event, the first officer was flying the airplane and his instruments continued to function normally. [1]:52
The aircraft climbed to about 325 ft (100 m) above ground level while spewing a white mist trail of fuel and hydraulic fluid from the left wing. The first officer had followed the flight director and raised the nose to 14°, which reduced the airspeed from 165 kn (190 mph; 306 km/h) to the takeoff safety airspeed (V2) of 153 kn (176 mph; 283 km/h), the speed at which the aircraft could safely climb after sustaining an engine failure. [1]:53–54
The engine separation severed the hydraulic fluid lines that controlled the leading-edge slats on the left wing and locked them in place, causing the outboard slats (immediately left of the number-one engine) to retract under air load. The retraction of the slats raised the stall speed of the left wing to about 159 kn (183 mph; 294 km/h), 6 knots higher than the prescribed takeoff safety airspeed (V2) of 153 knots. As a result, the left wing entered a full aerodynamic stall. [citation needed] With the left wing stalled, the aircraft began banking to the left, rolling over onto its side until it was partially inverted at a 112° bank angle (as seen in the Laughlin photograph) with its right wing over its left wing. As the cockpit had been equipped with a closed-circuit television camera positioned behind the captain's shoulder and connected to view screens in the passenger cabin, the passengers may have been able to witness these events from the viewpoint of the cockpit as the aircraft dove towards the ground. [10][11][12] Whether the camera's view was interrupted by the power loss from the number-one electrical bus is not known.
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Air crash
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Woman, 45, receives S$100,000 compensation for severe burns from hotpot explosion after 6 years
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A diner suffered severe burns when a stove suddenly exploded at a hotpot restaurant back in 2015.
Six years later, the 45-year-old victim finally reached a settlement agreement with the hotpot restaurant this month to be compensated S$100,000.
Woman suffered severe injuries from hotpot explosion
According to the report by Lianhe Wanbao , the accident happened on Apr. 4, 2015, at around 3am.
The explosion of the hotpot stove at Chong Qing Steamboat & BBQ Hotpot along Beach Road had injured five diners.
The diner who suffered the most severe injuries is 45-year-old Linda Er. Er suffered burns on 13 per cent of her total body surface area, including third-degree burns on her face and arms, Straits Times (ST) reported.
Left photo: Recent photo of Linda Er; Right photo: Er after hotpot explosion. All photos by Lianhe Wanbao.
Speaking to Wanbao, Er confirmed that both parties have reached a settlement agreement this month. Both the hotpot restaurant and its insurance company Liberty Insurance have to compensate her S$100,000 and foot her lawyer fees.
Pay medical bills & debts
Er accepted the settlement agreement as she wanted to move on, her lawyer Jogesh Doshi told ST.
According to Wanbao, Er shared, S$100,000 of compensation is insufficient to make up for the losses she had incurred over the past few years, including the costly medical bills, lawyer fees and the inability to work for quite sometime.
Er added that she was unable to work normally in the past six years and had to raise her son who is now serving National Service. Thus, she had to borrow money from her mother and relatives.
"I have to return the money, especially since my mother is already 68 years old. I do not wish to bring her more trouble," she told Wanbao.
If the stalemate persists, both the court and lawyer fees will continue to increase, which she may not be able to afford.
There will not be much left of the S$100,000 compensation after she covers the expenses and debts she had incurred from the past years. However, Er "felt relaxed for the first time because everything is behind [her]", she told ST.
Why did the settlement take so long?
According to Wanbao, Er had filed a lawsuit against the hotpot restaurant for negligence in the same year after the incident happened. However, the hotpot restaurant blamed the stove supplier instead.
It turns out that the incident happened because a server had stuffed some tissue paper into the switch of the gas stove to prevent it from tripping.
However the tissue paper hindered the safety mechanism from working, resulting in the explosion as pressure built up in the gas canister. Hence, the judge believed this incident has nothing to do with the diner or the stove supplier.
Furthermore, evidence has shown that the stove sold by the stove supplier adheres to safety standards and testing and is not liable for any compensation.
As the hotpot restaurant was insured, the insurance company was expected to cover the full compensation cost.
However, the insurance company insisted that the hotpot restaurant failed to supervise their employees, which allowed such an accident to happen in the first place, and therefore rejected to provide any compensation.
The judge pointed out that the hotpot restaurant did not tell the server to stuff tissue paper into the switch of the stove.
Hence, it was unfair to say that it was solely the hotpot restaurant's negligence.
As a result, the judge ruled that the insurance company has to provide compensation for the hotpot restaurant as well.
Fear of gas canisters
While the lawsuit has come to an end, the incident has left an emotional scar on Er.
Until now, Er still has a fear of gas canisters and does not dare to visit hotpot restaurants for meals.
She recalled that in the previous year, the lawyer brought three portable stoves to court and placed one in front of her.
"When I saw that stove, it gave me a fright. I felt uncomfortable and immediately asked the lawyer to place the stove further away from her," Er told Wanbao.
Six years on, she still feels a lingering fear when she sees stoves with gas canisters.
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Gas explosion
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Lake Ontario shipwreck photos captured by Greece photographer
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Since 1974, when he was 13 years old, Jim Montanus has been fascinated by the Laura Grace, a wood tugboat that sank in Lake Ontario during a winter storm in 1918. But rarely had he glimpsed the 76-foot vessel, built in 1901 in Collingwood, Ontario, Canada, through anything but murky water. And never had he gotten a full view of the wreckage, mostly embedded in the lake floor about ¼ mile offshore from where Edgemere Drive and Long Pond Road meet in Greece — a site he said he’s snorkled to “dozens and dozens of times” throughout his life. Last week, though, the photographer said “a perfect storm” formed to give him an unobstructed view of the craft's remains, which are around 12 feet below the lake’s surface, from stem to stern. Actually, it was more of an anti-storm: a combination of relatively calm waters, dry conditions — which reduced runoff into the lake from the sediment-laden Genesee River — and an offshore breeze that allowed cold, clear water to push to the surface. All those circumstances created “perfect viewing conditions,” he said, “where you could see the outline of the entire boat so clearly. It’s amazing that so much of it is still there.” Montanus is known for his lakeside photography — “usually of sailboats or the Charlotte Pier at sunset. That sort of thing.” He had shot images and video of the Laura Grace before, both from the lake’s surface and beneath it, but only had been able to capture portions of the boat, like its prominent steam boiler. Jim Kennard, a shipwreck explorer who lives in Perinton, has chronicled 600 Lake Ontario shipwrecks and authored the book Shipwrecks of Lake Ontario, remembered diving to the Laura Grace during the 1970s, at which point, he said, “You could stand on the boiler and your head would be out of the water.” But as Montanus looked down at it from his small fishing boat, the Greece resident pondered a wider view. “It just occurred to me,” he said, “‘Why don’t I fly my drone?’” The next day, on June 9, amid more stellar weather, he did. From his fishing boat, he sent up his DJI Mavic 2 Pro over the wreckage site, and in about 20 minutes shot video and six or so stills. When he saw the results, “I was thrilled,” he said. “I was completely excited. I knew immediately they were the best pictures I’d ever gotten of that shipwreck.” He asked a couple of paddle-boarders who happened by to get into the frame to help illustrate the tugboat’s scale. “It was perfect,” he said. “They loved it.” Montanus used a polarizing filter on his drone's camera lens to reduce reflection from the water, but he didn't do much to enhance the images after the fact, he said. “I just went through the normal process that most photographers go through with color correction and brightness and contrast. All the normal standard adjustments that most photographers do.” The experience was a far cry from his first encounter with the Laura Grace, whose small crew is said to have survived, and which he learned about from a childhood friend he described as a “science nerd.” “When we were kids, a bunch of us went out to the lake in an attempt to find it,” he said. “We put on masks and snorkels and fanned out and swam around in a pattern trying to locate the ship. And I remember the first time I came upon it, seeing the big hull. It was kind of scary to come across something like that when you’re kind of young.”
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Shipwreck
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Bible scroll fragments among dazzling artifacts found in Dead Sea Cave of Horror
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In a stunningly rare discovery, dozens of 2,000-year-old biblical scroll fragments have been excavated from Judean Desert caves during a daring rescue operation. Most of the newly discovered scroll fragments — the first such finds in 60 years — are Greek translations of the books of Zechariah and Nahum from the Book of the Twelve Minor Prophets, and are written in two scribal hands. Only the name of God is written in Hebrew in the texts. The fragments from the Prophets have been identified as coming from a larger scroll that was found in the 1950s, in the same “Cave of Horror” in Nahal Hever, which is some 80 meters (260 feet) below a cliff top. According to an Israel Antiquities Authority press release, the cave is “flanked by gorges and can only be reached by rappelling precariously down the sheer cliff.” Along with the “new” biblical scroll fragments from the Books of the Minor Prophets, the team excavated a huge 10,500-year-old perfectly preserved woven basket — the oldest complete basket in the world — and a 6,000-year-old mummified skeleton of a child, tucked into its blanket for a final sleep. Since 2017, the IAA has spearheaded an unprecedented rescue operation to salvage ancient artifacts from caves throughout the Judean Desert against the rampant looting that has occurred in the area since the much-heralded — and lucrative — discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls by Bedouin shepherds some 70 years ago. On Tuesday morning, a sample of the dazzling discoveries were unveiled for the first time. “The desert team showed exceptional courage, dedication and devotion to purpose, rappelling down to caves located between heaven and earth, digging and sifting through them, enduring thick and suffocating dust, and returning with gifts of immeasurable worth for mankind,” said Israel Antiquities Authority’s director Israel Hasson, who led the widespread rescue operation, in an IAA press release. “The newly discovered scroll fragments are a wake-up call to the state. Resources must be allocated for the completion of this historically important operation. We must ensure that we recover all the data that has not yet been discovered in the caves before the robbers do. Some things are beyond value,” Hasson said. In an optimistic attempt to be one step ahead of looters, the inter-departmental national project was launched in 2017 to survey Judean Desert caves. A few promising caves were subsequently excavated at some colorfully named locations, including the Cave of Horror — where over 40 skeletons have thus far been uncovered — and the Cave of Skulls. About 20 more promising caves could be excavated in the next stage of the operation, provided the budget is allocated. The operation was undertaken by the IAA, in cooperation with the Staff Officer of the Archaeology Department of the Civil Administration in Judea and Samaria, and funded by the Ministry of Jerusalem Affairs and Heritage. About half of the Judean Desert, including the original source of most of the Dead Sea Scrolls at Qumran, is located in the West Bank beyond the Green Line. “For years we chased after antiquities looters. We finally decided to pre-empt the thieves and try reaching the artifacts before they were removed from the ground and the caves,” said Amir Ganor, head of the IAA’s Theft Prevention Unit. So far, some 80 kilometers (50 miles) and 500 caves have been systematically surveyed by three teams led by IAA archaeologists Oriah Amichai, Hagay Hamer and Haim Cohen. Ganor estimates that about 25 percent of the Judean Desert has not yet been surveyed. Using drones and high-tech rappelling and mountain-climbing gear, archaeologists and a team of volunteers from pre-military academies have been able to access many hitherto “unreachable” caves — some of which hadn’t been entered by a human being for almost two millennia. The biblical scrolls are among the highlights of the newly excavated artifacts, but are by no means the only extraordinary discoveries: Looters and archaeologists alike have combed the Judean Desert since the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls some 70 years ago. Aside from two silver scrolls engraved with the biblical Priestly Blessing (from the late 7th to early 6th century BCE) discovered in Ketef Hinnom in Jerusalem, the Dead Sea Scrolls are considered the earliest known copies of the biblical books and span from circa 400 BCE to 300 CE. The latest identified finds, two dozen 2,000-year-old biblical scroll fragments from the books of Zechariah and Nahum, were discovered in clumps and rolled up in the Cave of Horror. The conservation and study of the fragments was conducted by the IAA’s Dead Sea Scrolls Unit under Tanya Bitler, Dr. Oren Ableman and Beatriz Riestra. The team has so far reconstructed 11 lines of Greek text that was translated from Zechariah 8:16–17, as well as verses from Nahum 1:5–6. They join nine, much more extant fragments that were discovered by Yochanan Aharoni, who first surveyed the Cave of Horrors in 1953. On the new fragments, as well as in the Greek translation scroll discovered by Aharoni, only the name of God appears in Hebrew. It is written in the Paleo-Hebrew script used during the First Temple period, as well as by some adherents of the Bar Kochba revolt (132–136 CE), including on coinage, and in the Qumran community. Among the academic fruit already born of the new discovery is the realization that the “new” Greek translation is different from the traditional Masoretic texts. “These differences can tell us quite a bit regarding the transmission of the biblical text up until the days of the Bar Kochba Revolt, documenting the changes that occurred over time until reaching us in the current version,” said the IAA. IKEA would do well to take note of the craftsmanship shown on a stunning woven basket dating from some 10,500 years ago — some 1,000 years prior to the first known pottery vessels — which was hailed by the IAA as “currently unparalleled worldwide.” The massive 90-100 liter (24-26 gallon)-volume receptacle was discovered by youth volunteers from the Nofei Prat pre-military leadership academy. The exciting discovery took place in one of the Muraba’at Caves, which have previously offered up caches of Roman-era papers and Bar Kochba Revolt remnants, which are found in the Nahal Darga Reserve. The basket is being studied by the IAA’s Dr. Naama Sukenik and Dr. Ianir Milevski and was dated using carbon-14, by Prof. Elisabetta Boaretto of the Scientific Archaeology Unit of the Weizmann Institute of Science. Due to the arid climate of the region, the huge Pre-Pottery Neolithic period basket, woven in a unique style from plant material, was preserved whole. “As far as we know, this is the oldest basket in the world that has been found completely intact and its importance is therefore immense,” said the IAA. Unfortunately, the basket was discovered empty. “Only future research of a small amount of soil remaining inside it will help us discover what it was used for and what was placed in it,” said the IAA. Some 6,000 years ago, a parent tucked his child in with a blanket for its eternal sleep. The complete skeleton is being researched by the IAA’s Ronit Lupu and Dr. Hila May from the Tel Aviv University School of Medicine, who estimate it was 6-12 years old, based on a CT scan. Fittingly, the cloth-wrapped child was discovered in the Cave of Horror. According to prehistorian Lupu, after moving two flat stones, the team discovered that a shallow pit had been intentionally dug beneath the stones that held the child’s skeleton, which was placed in a fetal position and covered with a cloth around its head and chest. “It was obvious that whoever buried the child had wrapped him up and pushed the edges of the cloth beneath him, just as a parent covers his child in a blanket. A small bundle of cloth was clutched in the child’s hands,” said Lupu. Due to the arid conditions in the cave, the child was naturally mummified. The cloth and other organic materials, including hair and even skin and tendons, were likewise preserved. Several of the caves offered random finds left behind by Jewish rebels who fled to the caves at the end of the Bar Kochba Revolt, including a cache of coins that were overstruck with Jewish rebels’ symbols such as a harp and a date palm, an array of arrowheads and spearheads, pieces of woven fabric, sandals and lice combs, which illustrated the everyday items taken by the fleeing Jews. Ofer Sion, head of the IAA’s Surveys Department, said, “The high cliffs of 300-400 meters [985-1,300 feet] in a single drop with these enigmatic ravines that no one reaches were the ultimate haven. And in one period in human history, families fled to the caves in the Judean Desert, and we really don’t know anything else.” Archaeologist Oriah Amichai explained that the families clearly planned what they would be taking from home, “when one day, when the war will be finished, what they will be able to use to build a new life. We come here and reconstruct the lives of those who didn’t survive in the end,” she said. The ongoing operation intends to continue searching for vestiges of the past that connect with all Israeli citizens, regardless of creed. As emphasized by Avi Cohen, the CEO of the Ministry of Jerusalem and Heritage, “These finds are not just important to our own cultural heritage, but to that of the entire world.”
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New archeological discoveries
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1967 United Kingdom foot-and-mouth outbreak
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The 1967 United Kingdom foot-and-mouth outbreak was a major outbreak of foot and mouth disease in the United Kingdom. The only centre of the disease, in contrast to the three concentrated areas in the 2001 crisis, was on the Wales border with Shropshire. [1] France and other European countries were also affected by the crisis. [1]
There were three official inquires into the foot-and-mouth epidemics and the Governments response in the fifty years prior to the 1967 outbreak. These occurred in 1922, 1923-1924, and 1953. [2] In the 1950s, there was a substantial outbreak across the United Kingdom. Of the thirteen years leading up to the 1967 outbreak, there were only two years that there was no reported outbreak. [2] During this period, foot-and-mouth was prevalent across Europe. [citation needed]
In October 1967, a farmer from Bryn Farm in the county of Shropshire, concerned by the health of one of their sows, sought veterinary advice and the animal was found to have contracted foot-and-mouth disease. Bryn Farm was immediately put into quarantine and general animal movement was banned. The virus rapidly spread to the nearby Ellis Farm. Two cows from the latter had already been sent to market, leaving the farmers in a vulnerable position. [3] In the following months, over 2,364 outbreaks were detected in the United Kingdom. [4] Ninety-four percent of the cases occurred in North-West Midlands and North Wales. [2]
The Minister for Agriculture, Frederick Peart, appointed a committee to investigate the outbreak. The Report of the Committee of Inquiry on Foot-and-Mouth Disease part 1 and part 2 were published on 7 March 1969 and 3 November 1969. [2] This report became more commonly known as the Northumberland Report. It provided recommendations to keep the disease out of the country and plans for fighting the foot-and-mouth disease. [2]
Origins of the 1967-8 Foot-and-Mouth Disease Epidemic was published by the Chief Veterinary Officer, John Reid, on 7 February 1968. This report described the lessons learned from the outbreak. [2]
After the outbreak, the United Kingdom adopted a policy to control imports from countries where foot-and-mouth is endemic. After creating this policy, the only outbreak to occur until 2001 was in 1981 on the Isle of Wight. [2]
According to John Bennett, a young farmer at the time of the crisis at Manor Farm in Worcestershire, the disease was introduced into the county "when a local farmer fed skimmed milk, bought from Shropshire where the disease was raging out of control, to his pigs". [5]
Over the course of six months, 430,000 animals across 2300 farms were slaughtered. [1] The average number of animals that were slaughtered in each confirmed case was around 200. [citation needed]
The 1967 crisis saw the last reported case of human foot-and-mouth disease. The victim was a farm-worker who was believed to have contracted the virus by consuming contaminated milk. The disease was not life-threatening and they were able to recover within several weeks. [6]
The outbreak was referenced by the villain Ernst Stavro Blofeld in the 1969 James Bond film On Her Majesty's Secret Service. It also featured in the drama series Heartbeat.
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Disease Outbreaks
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Niue joins the ADB
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The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is an Asia regional development organization dedicated to reducing poverty in Asia and the Pacific. Photo: AFP/ Jay Directo
The Asian Development Bank says Niue faces serious challenges in achieving sustained social and economic development.
Niue has become the Bank's latest member.
The ADB said this new relationship would help the Bank work closely on building and strengthening Niue's economic growth.
The Bank said the economy grew by an average of 3.6 percent each year from 2012 to 2016.
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Join in an Organization
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Great Fire of 1846
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The Great Fire of 1846 occurred in St. John's, Newfoundland, a colony of the United Kingdom on 9 June 1846. The fire started at the shop of a cabinetmaker named Hamlin, located on George Street off Queen Street, when a glue pot boiled over. The fire spread along Water and Duckworth Streets destroying all of the buildings in its path aided by the large quantities of seal oil that were stored in the merchants' premises. The fire was also aided by an attempt to blow up a house on Water Street which scattered burning embers across the city. In total, the fire killed one artilleryman and two civilians. The artilleryman died as a result of the demolition of the house on Water Street. One civilian died while trying to return to his house to gather his possessions. The other civilian was a prisoner in the court house jail and died when the court house burnt. In addition, two men died several days after the fire while clearing rubble. The fire destroyed almost all of the buildings on Water and Duckworth Streets as well as Kings Road, about 2000 buildings in total. Included in the destroyed buildings was the Anglican Church, the largest private home in the city (belonging to Robert Prowse) and all but one mercantile warehouse in the Riverhead area. [1] A total of 12,000 people (57% of the city's population) were left homeless. The damage was estimated at £888,356 of which £195,000 was covered by insurance. Coordinates: 47°33′37″N 52°42′43″W / 47.5602°N 52.7120°W / 47.5602; -52.7120
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Fire
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Richmond Hill explosion
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The Richmond Hill explosion took place on November 10, 2012, in the Richmond Hill subdivision in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. The home of Monserrate Shirley was the center of the explosion that resulted in the deaths of next-door neighbors John "Dion" Longworth and his wife Jennifer (née Buxton), the injuries of seven others, and $4 million in property damage. Prosecutors alleged that the natural gas explosion was intentionally set to collect insurance money. Shirley, her boyfriend Mark Leonard, and three others were convicted and sentenced to prison on various charges, including felony murder for Leonard. At about 11:10 p.m., on November 10, 2012, a large explosion occurred in Richmond Hill, a subdivision on the southeast side of Indianapolis. The explosion leveled 8349 Fieldfare Way, the home at the center of the explosion, and severely damaged a number of other residences, including several (on either side) which were damaged by the ensuing fire. Dion and Jennifer Longworth, two occupants in the house at 8355 Fieldfare Way, died in the explosion; seven others were injured. [1] Thirty-three homes were damaged severely enough to require demolition. [2] Over sixty firefighters responded to the blaze. [3][4] Damage to homes in the neighborhood was estimated at $4 million. [5]
Monserrate "Moncy" Shirley, a nurse, owned the home at the center of the explosion. She and her boyfriend, Mark Leonard, who also lived at the residence, told authorities they had left Friday night for a weekend at Hollywood Casino in Lawrenceburg, Indiana. [6] They had arranged for Shirley's 12-year-old daughter to stay with friends and had boarded their cat, Snowball, for the weekend. [7] Shirley told the police she never smelled any natural gas, but that her daughter had thought she did recently. [7]
An investigation involving the Indianapolis Division of Homeland Security, the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the Indianapolis Fire Department was begun. On November 19, it was announced that the investigation had become a criminal investigation. [8]
Prosecutors alleged that on the Friday before the explosion, Leonard and his brother Bob spoke with a neighbor who was a Citizens Energy employee, asking that person about the differences between natural gas and propane. On the day of the explosion, another neighbor saw a white van pull into the driveway of Shirley's residence between 2:00 and 3:00 p.m. The men were reportedly in the home briefly and hurriedly left. Bob Leonard's son told investigators that several items were in the van that had been taken from the home, including photos and financial documents. Police became suspicious when they uncovered evidence that the couple had taken similar steps the previous weekend; the cat had been boarded and Shirley's daughter had been placed with a babysitter overnight before the couple went to the casino. [6] Investigators said personal insurance on the home had recently been increased to $300,000. [5]
The most damning piece of evidence was a witness statement from one of Mark Leonard's associates, who told investigators that the weekend before the explosion, Leonard told him that "the house blew up". He reportedly said, "[T]he tsunami winds came down the chimney, blew out the fire in the fireplace and the gas kept running and the house blew up. "[6] The witness also told investigators that Leonard talked about buying a Ferrari with the insurance money from the house. [9]
Investigators discovered a number of allegations of insurance fraud and other scams by Leonard prior to the blast, particularly involving stolen or wrecked automobiles. [10] Included on the probable cause affidavit were complaints from several women claiming that Leonard scammed them out of thousands of dollars. Many of the women reported that they met him on dating sites and that he soon began asking them for money. [6] One woman had previously won a $70,000 judgment against Leonard in a civil suit after lending him $53,000, which he never repaid. Another woman reported that she had loaned him about $5,000 for a construction job, which he had yet to pay back. [11]
Monserrate Shirley, Mark Leonard, and Bob Leonard were initially charged with two counts of murder and arson in the deaths of Dion and Jennifer Longworth. [12] Though the trio was eligible for the death penalty under Indiana law, prosecutors chose to pursue life sentences without parole because they believed a jury would be unlikely to impose the death penalty without any evidence that the suspects intended to cause the deaths. [13] A fourth person, Gary Thompson, was charged in January 2015 on the same charges. [14] In April 2015, a fifth man, Glenn Hults, was charged with conspiracy to commit arson. Hults and his then-fiancée babysat Shirley's daughter on the night of the explosion. Shirley alleged that Hults was who initially came up with the idea. [15]
Prosecutors contended that the trio filled the house with natural gas and then used the spark from a microwave which could be set in advance to detonate it. [16][17] The alleged motive for the arson was to collect insurance money to ease financial strain. Shirley would receive over $300,000 in insurance money for the replacement of the home as well as personal items. Investigators found that the couple had substantial debt, including $63,000 in credit card debt, and were in bankruptcy proceedings. [6] A friend of the couple reported that Mark Leonard had lost $10,000 at the casino approximately three weeks before the explosion. A second mortgage had been taken out on the home for $65,000 in addition to the original mortgage of $116,000. [18]
Prosecutors initially sought to try the suspects together, but the defendants were granted the right to separate trials. Prosecutors then proposed an unusual strategy involving one trial, but three separate juries, one for each defendant. This type of trial is unusual but not unheard of, and had been used in the trial of the Menendez brothers. [19] Judge Shelia Carlisle rejected the proposal, noting that no Indiana law authorizes the use of concurrent jury trials. [20] The trials started in 2015. The defendants requested that the trials be moved over concerns they would not receive a fair trial in Central Indiana due to the high-profile media coverage received by the case. [21] Mark Leonard was granted a change of venue and was tried in South Bend. [22]
On January 16, 2015, Shirley agreed to a plea deal with prosecutors.
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Gas explosion
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2013 Grand Rapids flood
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The 2013 Grand Rapids flood lasted from April 12 to 25, 2013, affecting multiple areas in the Grand Rapids metropolitan area. [2][3] Sudden heavy rainfall, saturation of the ground from rainwater and the flow of tributaries caused the Grand River to rise dramatically, with the river cresting at 21.85 feet (6.66 m) in Grand Rapids on April 21, 2013. [4] The flooding caused thousands of residents in the area to evacuate their homes. [5]
In April 2013, heavy rain throughout the Midwest caused severe flooding in the region. [4] In a period between April 8 and 15, Grand Rapids received 3.50 inches (89 mm) of rain, while the upriver community of Comstock Park received about 5.04 inches (128 mm) of rainfall. [6] Within that period on April 13, the National Weather Service stated that floodwaters in Comstock Park rose from minor to moderate, with the flood stage beginning at 12 feet (3.7 m) and that day's level at 13.3 feet (4.1 m). [3]
On April 17, Grand Rapids received about 0.83 inches (21 mm) of rain. [7] Rainfall broke a 104-year-old record on April 18 with 9.1 inches (230 mm) of rain falling by 9:30 a.m. EDT. [8]
On April 21, in Comstock Park, the Grand River crested at 17.8 feet (5.4 m), 5.8 feet (1.8 m) above the 12-foot (3.7 m) flood level while in Grand Rapids, the river rose to 21.85 feet (6.66 m), or 3.85 feet (1.17 m) above the 18-foot (5.5 m) flood level. [4] A storm deemed "catastrophic" that had the potential to drop 3 to 4 inches (76 to 102 mm) of rain had also barely missed the Grand Rapids area on the day that the water crested in the Grand River. [9] Rain totals for the month of April were about 11.10 inches (282 mm). [10]
On April 21, Mayor of Grand Rapids, George Heartwell, declared a state of emergency. [4] Evacuations of homes were reported along with some reports about boat rescues from houses in the area. [11] In Kent County, about 700 people were evacuated while 1,000 people alone were evacuated from the Plaza Towers in downtown Grand Rapids. [5] Some buildings in Grand Rapids near the riverfront had the Grand River's waterline go over their windows with some individuals able to see fish and ducks swim by through the windows.
Flood walls and bridges in Grand Rapids caused some increased flooding in cities up and downstream from the Grand River since they impeded the flow of the river, causing water to stand and rise. [9] Wastewater treatment plants in Grand Rapids, Grandville and Wyoming had partially treated wastewater overflow from their facilities. [13] The Grand Rapids wastewater plant had about 429 million US gallons (1.62×10^9 l) of the partially treated water spill into the Grand River. [13]
The American Red Cross of West Michigan deployed to heavily affected neighborhoods in the area. [5] During the floods, thousands of residents in the Grand Rapids area volunteered to fill over 100,000 sand bags that were to be used throughout the territory. [4] Near the Grand Rapids wastewater facility, a 1.25-mile (2.01 km) wall of sandbags were placed. [14] CSX Transportation also placed train cars full of salt on a 110-year-old trestle bridge that crossed the river near Wealthy Street in order to weigh down the bridge from the rising floodwaters below it. [9]
The state of emergency declared by Mayor Heartwell lasted until May 24 in order to give more time for officials to gather information about the impact of the flooding. [15]
Following the flooding, thousands of sandbags had to be removed with some possibly being stored for future use for other floods. [14] Discussions were also held on whether to turn the wall of sandbags near the Grand Rapids wastewater facility into a permanent berm for future protection. [14]
In the spring of 2014, Grand Rapids and Walker started a $703,000 contract to install flap gates and to perform repairs to existing flood walls. [16] In August 2014, Grand Rapids also released plans to remove obstructions in the Grand River and to raise the berm near their wastewater plant. [16] After initial claims by Grand Rapids officials that the flood walls in the city were adequate, in November 2014, city officials decided to look at ways to heighten flood walls due to factors involving Federal Emergency Management Agency, climate change and a proposed river restoration project. [17]
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Floods
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Israel hit by worst locust plague since 1950s - ReliefWeb
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Israel hit by worst locust plague since 1950s
Format
21 Nov 2004
By Megan Goldin
JERUSALEM, Nov 21 (Reuters) - Millions of locusts swarmed through Israel's Red Sea resort town of Eilat on Sunday, devouring crops and flowers in the country's south.
Israeli agriculture officials sent crop dusters into the air to spray against the locusts that swept in from North Africa in the first such invasion since 1959. Eilat residents reported clouds of locusts eating palm trees bare and wiping out entire gardens.
"You watch as trees that are covered with flowers are devoured. They ate everything, even a grassy roundabout which is covered with locusts," said Meir, an Eilat resident.
Curious residents swatted locusts as long as 10 cm (3.9 inches) which filled the air as they walked outside to inspect the damage. "It's like the plagues of Egypt," said one resident.
In the Bible, locusts were the eighth of 10 plagues that God inflicted on the ancient Egyptians before Pharaoh, their leader, let the Israelites go.
Locusts ventured across the Negev desert as far north as the Dead Sea where farmers worried that larger numbers of insects said to be heading their way might eat through their crops.
"They have landed to sleep for the night ... tomorrow we are expecting greater numbers," explained farmer Shalom Shoshana who feared for his tomato and pepper crops. "It's frightening."
But agriculture officials said they were not overly concerned as a cold front forecast on Monday would prevent the locusts from breeding and would keep them grounded where they would be easy prey for crop dusters.
"The question is whether the locusts know that," piped up Shoshana.
The locusts were heading east towards Jordan and Saudi Arabia and were not expected to move to Israel's more fertile north as well as the West Bank and Gaza Strip where Palestinian farmers are less equipped to deal with the scourge.
The last major invasion of African locusts 45 years ago ravaged crops in the Jewish state.
But some Israelis as well as labourers from Thailand, where locusts are a delicacy, made the best of the current outbreak by collecting the insects and taking them home for dinner.
"Delicious," said one Israeli man in Eilat, licking his lips after picking a locust off the ground and eating it raw. "They're a delicacy fit for a king."
A website in Eilat listed recipes for locusts including locust shish-kebab, locust chips (French fries) and stir-fried locusts. The recipes said it was essential to cook the insects while alive "as otherwise they become bitter".
The locust is the only type of insect that is kosher and permissible for religious Jews to eat under Jewish law.
Reuters - Thomson Reuters Foundation
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Insect Disaster
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Civil Air Transport Flight 10 crash
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Civil Air Transport Flight 10 was a passenger flight from the now-closed Kai Tak Airport in Hong Kong to Songshan Airport in Taipei, Taiwan. The flight was operated by a Boeing 727-92C with registration B-1018 and named "Super Cuihua." On 16 February 1968,[1] the aircraft crashed into Hunan village in Linkou Township, Taipei County (now Linkou District, New Taipei City),[2] killing 21 of the 63 people on board as well as one person on the ground. [3] 42 people were injured. On the evening of February 16, 1968, B-1018 was flying from Hong Kong to Taipei Songshan Airport under the command of captain Stuart E. Dew, an unnamed first officer, and an unnamed flight engineer. Captain Hugh Hicks, the director of the airline's flight operations, was initially in the cockpit jumpseat, though Dew later let him perform the landing. [4] Taipei's approach control cleared Flight 10 for an ILS approach and then transferred the flight to the tower control. The direction and heading of the plane were normal and the weather was clear. However, Captain Hicks suddenly noticed that the aircraft's altitude had dropped too low, and immediately pushed the throttles in an attempt to perform a go-around. As the plane touched ground, the cockpit voice recorder recorded him screaming: "Go to hell!" The aircraft then crashed into houses and burst into flames. Firefighters and the United States military assisted in the rescue. Taiwan's Civil Aeronautics Administration released the final report on 4 March. It concluded that the cause of the accident was pilot error, stating:
The 727 involved was leased from Southern Air Transport, and was Civil Air Transport's only aircraft that flew international routes. [5] The crash resulted in the demise of the airline. International flights were taken over by China Airlines, and Civil Air Transport ceased operations in 1975. Exactly 30 years after this accident, China Airlines Flight 676, a flight from Bali, Indonesia to Taipei, crashed in Dayuan Township, Taoyuan County, (now Dayuan District, Taoyuan City) killing 203 people (all 196 on board and seven more on the ground). [6]
Since the air traffic control radar at the time did not track the altitude of the aircraft, it was impossible to understand why Flight 10 suddenly dropped in altitude. It was only after the crash of Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 on December 29, 1972, in Miami, the United States, that the Federal Aviation Administration began to introduce improved radar systems that displayed a flight's altitude. [7]
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Air crash
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As Resistance To Myanmar's Coup Grows, The Country Slips Further Into Chaos
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As Resistance To Myanmar's Coup Grows, The Country Slips Further Into Chaos More than 800 civilians in Myanmar have been killed by security forces since the February coup. Members of the U.N. Security Council were told Myanmar stands at the brink of state failure. As Resistance To Myanmar's Coup Grows, The Country Slips Further Into Chaos More than 800 civilians in Myanmar have been killed by security forces since the February coup. Members of the U.N. Security Council were told Myanmar stands at the brink of state failure. STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: Myanmar's ousted leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, appeared in court in person for the first time since the military seized power February 1. She's facing several charges and the most serious could see her jailed for up to 14 years. Resistance on the streets to this coup has grown, even though security forces have killed more than 800 people in a bid to hold on to power. Michael Sullivan reports from neighboring Thailand. MICHAEL SULLIVAN, BYLINE: Last month, members of the U.N. Security Council heard a sobering assessment of the situation in post-coup Myanmar. (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING) RICHARD HORSEY: To put it simply, Myanmar stands at the brink of state failure. This is not hyperbole or rhetoric. It is my sober assessment of a likely path forward. SULLIVAN: That's Richard Horsey, the International Crisis Group's longtime Myanmar analyst who left after the coup. He added this stark warning. (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING) HORSEY: The vast majority of the population does not want military rule and will do whatever it takes to prevent that outcome. (SOUNDBITE OF GUNFIRE) SULLIVAN: Increasingly, that's meant attacks like this one in Myanmar's Shan State over the weekend, where a newly formed local group overran a Myanmar police station, leaving several dead. In western Chin state, another civilian group has been fighting and killing soldiers for months now in and around the town of Mindat. UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Speaking Burmese). SULLIVAN: "If others could do like we've done in Mindat," this fighter says, "if other towns and cities defended themselves like us, we could end the dictatorship and everything would be better," he says. "And we would have the democracy we want." DAVID MATHIESON: It's normal people actually taking these first steps towards an armed resistance. SULLIVAN: David Mathieson is another Myanmar-based analyst, now living in Thailand after the coup. MATHIESON: We use our homemade guns to attack and then we get war weapons and then slowly - I mean, it's basically like the very fundamental first steps of an insurgency. SULLIVAN: University of Washington professor Mary Callahan has lived in Myanmar on and off for more than a decade. An expert on Myanmar's military, she says this resistance is proving a problem for the military, or Tatmadaw. MARY CALLAHAN: The Tatmadaw is pretty well spread out. I mean, it's fighting against a resistance that changes tactics every single day. There are dozens, maybe hundreds, of these local militia force. And so, you know, the military is pretty overstretched. SULLIVAN: Overstretched, especially given the ongoing fighting with some of Myanmar's more established armed minority militia groups along its borders, some of whom are offering training to citizens who want to fight. And in urban areas, David Mathieson says, the resistance is active as well. MATHIESON: They've been taking out local government officials and then what they refer to in Burmese as balan or informants or collaborators. So this is going to get very, very nasty. And it's also happening nationwide. It's happening in lots of different places. SULLIVAN: That doesn't necessarily mean the resistance poses an existential threat to military rule. And, in fact, the Tatmadaw appears to be confident it will prevail, seemingly oblivious or indifferent to the fact that nationwide strikes protesting the coup have crippled the economy, with supply chain issues threatening even worse. Mary Callahan. CALLAHAN: We're already seeing significant drops in calorie intake in peri-urban areas in central Burma. There are no jobs. There is no cash. There is no health care. This is a crisis of epic proportions. SULLIVAN: The most likely outcome, she says, is that the simmering conflict continues with no clear winner; mayhem, she says, for months, if not years to come.
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Regime Change
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Everbridge Wins 2021 Top Tech Award for Company Culture
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BURLINGTON, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Everbridge, Inc. (NASDAQ: EVBG), the global leader in critical event management (CEM), today announced recognition as a Tech Top 50 company by the Massachusetts Technology Leadership Council (MassTLC) for its Company Culture. MassTLC honored Everbridge for the array of resources and opportunities the company offers its “Bridger” workforce – from wellness workshops and volunteer time off to employee resource groups and virtual social events.
“Maintaining a strong company culture for our Bridgers, as many work remotely during this post-pandemic period, remains a priority for us”
MassTLC previously named Everbridge Growth Company of the Year, and recognized the company for its business accomplishments and significant impact on helping organizations respond to the coronavirus pandemic
“The resiliency of the tech ecosystem in this region enables the innovation and leadership that makes Massachusetts so special,” remarked MassTLC CEO Tom Hopcroft. “It is an honor to recognize companies like Everbridge, a thriving local leader with a global footprint that prioritizes the health and wellbeing of its team.”
Since the beginning of 2020, and the onset of the pandemic, Everbridge ensured a safe, global workplace environment while continuing to bolster company culture through virtual workshops and new channels for employees to communicate with one another remotely. Everbridge employees, or “Bridgers,” across the globe leverage volunteer time off (VTO) to participate in community-service activities with organizations including Team Rubicon, Cradles to Crayons, Habitat for Humanity, as well as supporting the CDC Foundation, which Everbridge partnered with in April 2020. As part of its Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging initiatives, Everbridge employee resource groups celebrate and empower its many communities across the company.
“Maintaining a strong company culture for our Bridgers, as many work remotely during this post-pandemic period, remains a priority for us,” said Cara Antonacci, VP of Global People & Culture at Everbridge. “We’re learning and adapting every day to meet and exceed the needs of our team and are thrilled to receive this recognition for our efforts.”
In 2020, Everbridge became a signatory for MassTLC’s Tech Compact for Social Justice, committing to make continued change towards equality and belonging in its organization.
In 2019, MassTLC named Everbridge the Growth Company of the Year, selecting the company from hundreds of nominations across 16 award categories, and recognizing it for revenue growth, customer acquisition and employee hiring.
The latest MassTLC award caps off a broader period of recognition for Everbridge including winning eight Comparably Awards and ranking as the third highest-rated public cloud computing company to work for during COVID-19 by global investment firm Battery Ventures. Additional recognition for Everbridge includes winning a 2021 Service to the CitizenTM: Champions of Change Award in the Industry category for the deployment of its Return to Work and vaccine distribution software solutions across the U.S. over the prior year. Everbridge also received Best Customer Experience Award from The Help Desk Institute (HDI), Frost & Sullivan’s Critical Event Management (CEM) Technology Leadership Award, and certification as a Great Place to Work® for the second consecutive year by the Global Authority on Workplace Culture.
About Everbridge
Everbridge, Inc. (NASDAQ: EVBG) is a global software company that provides enterprise software applications that automate and accelerate organizations’ operational response to critical events in order to Keep People Safe and Organizations Running™. During public safety threats such as active shooter situations, terrorist attacks or severe weather conditions, as well as critical business events including IT outages, cyber-attacks or other incidents such as product recalls or supply-chain interruptions, over 5,800 global customers rely on the Company’s Critical Event Management Platform to quickly and reliably aggregate and assess threat data, locate people at risk and responders able to assist, automate the execution of pre-defined communications processes through the secure delivery to over 100 different communication modalities, and track progress on executing response plans. Everbridge serves 8 of the 10 largest U.S. cities, 9 of the 10 largest U.S.-based investment banks, 47 of the 50 busiest North American airports, 9 of the 10 largest global consulting firms, 8 of the 10 largest global automakers, 9 of the 10 largest U.S.-based health care providers, and 7 of the 10 largest technology companies in the world. Everbridge is based in Boston with additional offices in 25 cities around the globe. For more information visit https://www.everbridge.com/
Cautionary Language Concerning Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the “safe harbor” provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including but not limited to, statements regarding the anticipated opportunity and trends for growth in our critical communications and enterprise safety applications and our overall business, our market opportunity, our expectations regarding sales of our products, our goal to maintain market leadership and extend the markets in which we compete for customers, and anticipated impact on financial results. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this press release and were based on current expectations, estimates, forecasts and projections as well as the beliefs and assumptions of management. Words such as “expect,” “anticipate,” “should,” “believe,” “target,” “project,” “goals,” “estimate,” “potential,” “predict,” “may,” “will,” “could,” “intend,” variations of these terms or the negative of these terms and similar expressions are intended to identify these forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which involve factors or circumstances that are beyond our control. Our actual results could differ materially from those stated or implied in forward-looking statements due to a number of factors, including but not limited to: the ability of our products and services to perform as intended and meet our customers’ expectations; our ability to successfully integrate businesses and assets that we may acquire; our ability to attract new customers and retain and increase sales to existing customers; our ability to increase sales of our Mass Notification application and/or ability to increase sales of our other applications; developments in the market for targeted and contextually relevant critical communications or the associated regulatory environment; our estimates of market opportunity and forecasts of market growth may prove to be inaccurate; we have not been profitable on a consistent basis historically and may not achieve or maintain profitability in the future; the lengthy and unpredictable sales cycles for new customers; nature of our business exposes us to inherent liability risks; our ability to attract, integrate and retain qualified personnel; our ability to maintain successful relationships with our channel partners and technology partners; our ability to manage our growth effectively; our ability to respond to competitive pressures; potential liability related to privacy and security of personally identifiable information; our ability to protect our intellectual property rights, and the other risks detailed in our risk factors discussed in filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), including but not limited to our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020 filed with the SEC on February 26, 2021. The forward-looking statements included in this press release represent our views as of the date of this press release. We undertake no intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing our views as of any date subsequent to the date of this press release.
All Everbridge products are trademarks of Everbridge, Inc. in the USA and other countries. All other product or company names mentioned are the property of their respective owners.
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Awards ceremony
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2013 Hong Kong dock strike
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The 2013 Hong Kong dock strike was a 40-day labour strike at the Kwai Tsing Container Terminal. It was called by the Union of Hong Kong Dockers (UHKD), an affiliate of the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions (HKCTU) on 28 March 2013, against contracting companies to whom workforce management had been out-sourced by the Hongkong International Terminals Ltd. (HIT), subsidiary of Hutchison Port Holdings Trust (HPHT), which is in turn owned by Hutchison Whampoa Ltd (HWL), flagship company of Li Ka-shing, Hong Kong's richest man. The strike workers demanded better pay and working conditions. [1] The strike ended on 6 May 2013 when the strikers accepted the offer of 9.8% pay rise. [2] It was the longest running industrial action in Hong Kong in years. [3] Public support and media attention on the strike were unprecedented in the city's history. Some observers marked this as the rejuvenation of political engagement. [4]
Earlier before the strike, the dockers demanded a 12 percent pay hike, plus overtime pay at 1.5 times the basic wage in January 2013. [5] The demand was not fulfilled. On 28 March, some 450 crane operators and stevedores went on strike inside the Kwai Tsing Container Terminal, for better pay and conditions. [6] They demanded a $1.60 per hour raise. More workers joined the action, but they were forced outside the port after the local court granted HIT a temporary injunction on 1 April banning unionists and their supporters from entering any of the four Kwai Tsing container terminals. [1]
Dockers complained that they have had a minimal rise in income in the last 10 years. Mr Lee, a dock worker for more than 20 years, said there had been two very low adjustments. "Basically, there's no fringe benefits, we only had paid leave in recent years. My monthly income isn't steady. I earn HK$15,000–$16,000 (US$2,000) during the high season, and less than HK$10,000 (US$1,300) for the low season. "[7] The workers demanded a 20% pay rise to a daily wage of HK$1,600, equivalent to a monthly salary of HK$24,000 based on 15 working days. [8] Chan Chiu-wai, an organiser of the Confederation of Trade Unions, said that dock workers earned $167 a day for 24 consecutive hours' work, less than they received in 1997. Chan said staff often work shifts of up to 72 consecutive hours during high-season. "For this work, the salary is very low, the working conditions are very poor and the hours are very long, so we are often in the position of being understaffed and the workers have to work many hours overtime," Chan added. [1]
According to the strike leader, Lee Cheuk-yan general secretary of the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions and also the Labour Party legislator and said the checker and lashing man was receiving only HK$1,310 per 24 hours. They had to station in the terminal for 24 hours and work; crane operators would often continuously work 12 hours in the crane; they would eat and answer calls of nature inside the booth. [9][10] Workers said whilst HIT had granted increases to the contractors over the years, the latter had not passed on increases to the workers. "We are overworked, not given enough rest time, and we don't have proper toilet breaks. We have to shit in newspapers in our cranes. "[11]
HIT dismissed claims that workers were being paid less now than they were in 1997. "It's also wrong that their pay is now lower than in 1997 or during SARS," HIT general manager Gerry Yim Lui-fai told the South China Morning Post. [1] Several long-serving stevedores working for Lem Wing Transportation and Everbest dismissed the strikers' claims as exaggeration. A 7-year veteran crane driver said "It's not that we can't go to the toilet or don't have time for a meal... In fact, we have short breaks of two to three minutes between vessels berthing at the terminals. Very rarely can I get 15 to 30 minutes. We also take turns to have meals so that we have around 15 to 20 minutes for mealtimes." He said that he enjoyed a pay increase in 2011. Two Everbest employees said that, by working as a pair and managing their time during a 24-hour shift, they can alternate and work six or twelve hours. They said they took home HK$1,315 and HK$1,441, (between US$170 and $185) per shift, averaging HK$20,000 ($2,560) per month. They also said that some of their colleagues wanted to return to work, but were worried they would be chastised as spineless. [12]
Hong Kong International Terminals, subsidiary of Hutchison International, operates the port with a number of directly employed staff supplemented by employees hired via four subcontractors. Subcontractors – who are not genuinely independent companies – are intermediaries used to put distance between HIT and workforce, to hold down wages and provide operational flexibility. [13] HIT refused to negotiate with the workers, saying that such matters were subcontractors' responsibility. [14]
The CTU insisted that it would refuse to talk with individual contractors, and would talk only if all the contractors were present. [15] The first meeting between the Union of Hong Kong Dockers and contractors were held under the mediation of the Labour Department on 10 April but broke off without any immediate progress. The representative of the Beijing-loyalist Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions (FTU) which did not join the strike and the rival union of the pro-democratic Confederation of Trade Unions said they would only look for a 12-percent rise, compared to the 23 percent increase demanded by the Confederation of Trade Unions as they claimed. [16]
A second round of talks between striking dock workers and the contractors, mediated by the Labour Department, ended without agreement on 11 April, but both sides said they would consider each other's proposals. [17] Another negotiation failed to reach agreement on 12 April. The two unions present at the meeting were the Federation of Trade Unions, whose members are not on strike, and the Federation of Hong Kong and Kowloon Labour Unions, representing the Hong Kong Docks and Ports Industry Unions whose 300 workers are employed directly by the port operator, HIT, and who were staging a work-to-rule. The FTU says it will not accept a five percent pay-rise and a two percent increase in welfare benefits. The two unions insisted on 12 percent. [18]
On day 18 of the strike, Hongkong International Terminals issued a statement declaring optimism that operations were returning to normal, with "more workers returning to their posts". HIT said that the terminal was running at 86 to 90 percent handling capacity over the previous weekend.
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Strike
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Lunar eclipse 2021: Rare Super Blood Moon to be seen on 26 May
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The first lunar eclipse 2021 is going to take place in the early hours of 26 May. This will be a superlunar event, as it will be a supermoon, a lunar eclipse and a red blood moon all at once. In India, the eclipse will only be visible partially at a few places in the eastern parts of the country. It will be best seen from Australia, parts of the United States, western South America, the Pacific and South-East Asia. According to NASA, a series of celestial events that have been taking place since 17 May will culminate in the lunar eclipse on Wednesday. What’s a super moon? A supermoon occurs when a full or new moon coincides with the moon’s closest approach to the Earth. The moon’s orbit around Earth is not perfectly circular. This means the moon’s distance from Earth varies as it goes around the planet. The closest point in the orbit, called the perigee, is roughly 28,000 miles closer to Earth than the farthest point of the orbit. A full moon that happens near the perigee is called a supermoon. So why is it super? The relatively close proximity of the moon makes it seem a little bit bigger and brighter than usual, though the difference between a supermoon and a normal moon is usually hard to notice unless you’re looking at two pictures side by side. How does a lunar eclipse work? A lunar eclipse happens when the Earth’s shadow covers all or part of the moon. This can only happen during a full moon, so first, it helps to understand what makes a full moon. Like the Earth, half of the moon is illuminated by the sun at any one time. A full moon happens when the Moon and the Sun are on opposite sides of the Earth. This allows you to see the entire lit-up side, which looks like a round disc in the night sky. If the moon had a totally flat orbit, every full moon would be a lunar eclipse. But the moon’s orbit is tilted by about 5 degrees relative to Earth’s orbit. So, most of the time a full moon ends up a little above or below the shadow cast by the Earth. But twice in each lunar orbit, the moon is on the same horizontal plane as both the Earth and Sun. If this corresponds to a full moon, the sun, the Earth and the moon will form a straight line and the moon will pass through the Earth’s shadow. This results in a total lunar eclipse. To see a lunar eclipse, you need to be on the night side of the Earth while the moon passes through the shadow. Why does the moon look red? When the moon is completely covered by Earth’s shadow it will darken, but doesn’t go completely black. Instead, it takes on a red colour, which is why total lunar eclipses are sometimes called red or blood moons. Sunlight contains all colours of visible light. The particles of gas that make up Earth’s atmosphere are more likely to scatter blue wavelengths of light while redder wavelengths pass through. This is called Rayleigh scattering, and it’s why the sky is blue and sunrises and sunsets are often red. In the case of a lunar eclipse, red light can pass through the Earth’s atmosphere and is refracted – or bent – toward the moon, while blue light is filtered out. This leaves the moon with a pale reddish hue during an eclipse. Is eclipse linked to cyclone? The lunar eclipse will not trigger any tidal waves and cannot be linked to the cyclone that is in the forecast, a senior astrophysicist has said. People can be deprived of witnessing the cosmic phenomenon if the sky is overcast, Director of MP Birla Planetarium Debiprasad Duari told news agency PTI. If there is any swelling of rivers and water bodies, or high tide in the sea that cannot be linked with any planetary positions, he said. "If there is flooding of areas or swelling of waterbodies that will be due to storm surge which is typical of such cyclonic formation caused by the system," he said.
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New wonders in nature
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‘Memoria’ wins top award at Chicago film festival
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Director Apichatpong Weerasethakul, a School of the Art Institute grad, says he’s ‘overjoyed’ by the prize.
The 57th Chicago International Film Festival on Friday gave its top award — the Gold Hugo in its International Competition — to “Memoria” by Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethakul. Tilda Swinton stars as a woman mystified by “a rumble from the core of the earth” and seeks its meaning in the Colombian jungle.
The festival announced this year’s awards on its YouTube channel. Artistic director Mimi Plauché hosted the live-streaming of jurors and winners.
“We are overjoyed,” Weerasethakul, a former School of the Art Institute of Chicago grad student, said via Zoom. “Chicago was like my second home where I discovered another kind of cinema in the classroom, at Chicago Filmmakers, the Film Center, Facets and the Music Box and of course at the Chicago International Film Festival.” He also saluted the projectionists here.
Japanese director Ryuske Hamaguchi won two awards: a Silver Hugo Jury Prize for “Drive My Car” and a Silver Q-Hugo (honoring LGBTQ+ films) for “Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy” in the OutLook Competition.
Other Gold Hugo awards include “Brother’s Keeper” in the New Directors Competition and “Skal” in the International Documentary Competition. “Great Freedom” earned a Gold Q-Hugo in the Outlook Competition.
The Chicago Award for films in the City & State program was bestowed on Margaret Byrne’s “Any Given Day,” a documentary on Cook County mental health issues. The recognition comes with two in-kind donations of film production services valued at $45,000.
Two Silver Hugos went to “Nobody Has to Know”: Bouli Lanners for Best Male Performance and Michelle Fairley for Best Female Performance.
Other Silver Hugos went to “Babi Tar. Context” in the International Documentary Competition, “107 Mothers” for Best Director, “Amparo” in the New Directors category, “What Do We See When We Look at the Sky?” for Best Screenplay, and “The Worst Person in the World” for Best Cinematography.
“Memoria” screens again on Saturday at 1 p.m. at AMC River East 21. “Drive My Car” screens there at 2 p.m. “Any Given Day” screens at 12:15 p.m.
Five Best of Fest screenings are scheduled for Sunday night, the festival’s last. Titles and times will be announced at chicagofilmfestival.com
Billing itself as “North America’s longest-running competitive film festival,” the annual event is presented by the nonprofit Cinema/Chicago.
Know about breaking news as it happens. We follow the stories and update you as they develop.
Check your inbox for a welcome email.
The jury of 12 deliberated for a full day Tuesday without reaching a decision. Several appeared tired as they walked into the courtroom Tuesday evening and indicated with a show of hands that they were ready to go home.
Presta has faced a federal indictment since August 2020 charging him with bribery, filing false tax returns and lying to the FBI and IRS. Presta lied about whether an envelope he took during a March 2018 meeting had been stuffed with $5,000 cash, according to the indictment.
The Hilltoppers don’t just have a star player. They have a superstar—Gonazaga recruit Braden Huff—leading a team that blew the doors off all its opponents this summer.
A freight train struck the Chevrolet sedan Tuesday morning near Miller Avenue and Howard Street, police say.
These side dishes can add a twist or two when it comes to side dishes for your holiday celebrations.
The group was standing outside in the 1200 block of West Randolph Street when a black Jeep Cherokee drove past and someone inside opened fire. police said.
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Awards ceremony
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To infinity and beyond: After Space Station, China has plans for a kilometer-long mega spaceship
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Every 92.2 minutes, 400 kilometres in the sky, there is a Chinese Space Station circumnavigating the earth marking Beijing's challenge to US domination of space. Over the last two decades, China has been on an overdrive to catch up with and overtake every other space-faring nation, which has seriously alarmed strategists in Washington. The annual US national security report, released on April 9, 2021, devoted much space to how China is a threat to the US in space. The report said, Beijing is working to match or exceed US capabilities in space to gain the military, economic, and prestige benefits that Washington has accrued from space leadership. 20 days later, on April 29, China launched Tianhe aboard its massive heavy-lift Long March-5B rocket. Tianhe or 'Harmony of Heavens' is the core module of the space station, Tiangong, that China is building in low earth orbit (LEO) about 400 Kilometres above the surface of the planet. The US security threat report had surmised that it expected a Chinese space station to be operational between 2022 and 2024. China proved the timeline wrong because the Space Station's core module is already up and running in 2021 itself. A powerful central computer is already processing data from experiments and beaming them back to Earth. Tiangong's core module, the 55-foot Tianhe containing life support and control systems, is designed as the living quarters and since June 2021 it has been host to the 3 Taikonauts who have taken up residence and have been conducting research experiments and doing spacewalks. In May, before the humans docked with the module, China had sent the unmanned Tianzhou-2 or Heavenly Ship to deliver cargo to Tianhe. The Tiangong is being built on the modular design just like the International Space Station (ISS) and by 2022 Tianhe will be joined by Wentian - Quest for Heavens and Mengtian - Dreaming of Heaven modules, which will mainly house scientific experiments. Another couple of years after that, Tiangong is expected to have 14 experiment racks and 50 external probes. Chinese space officials say that there are at least a thousand experiments that are already planned and have been booked by various scientific organisations from around the world. One of them will be the Spectroscopic Investigation of Nebula Gas (SING) an experiment jointly proposed by researchers from the Indian Institute of Astrophysics and the Institute of Astronomy of the Russian Academy of Sciences. When the year 2021 began, there was only one space station, the ISS, jointly run by the US, Russia, Europe, Japan and Canada, which since 1998 has been conducting thousands of experiments for different nations of the world, but not China. Since 2011, China has officially been barred from the ISS because the US Congress, fearing for national security, passed a law prohibiting official American contact with the Chinese space program. The China National Space Agency (CNSA) in the past 20 years has developed heavy launch vehicles like the nine-storied tall Long March rocket, sent humans to space, deployed station, explored the far side of the moon and successfully landed an orbiter, lander and a rover on the surface of Mars - the only nation to have done so in a maiden attempt. It is also set to soon launch Xuntian China's space telescope, which will be the same size as the Hubble Space Telescope but with 300 times the field of view. China also has bigger plans in the works for spacecraft as it is now exploring ideas on how to build one that is ten times the size of the ISS or about 1 kilometre in length. According to the South China Morning Post, the National Natural Science Foundation of China called on scientists to join a five-year project to study the mechanics of an “ultra-large spacecraft spanning kilometres” and that this spacecraft will be "a major strategic aerospace equipment for the future use of space resources, exploration of the mysteries of the universe and staying in long-term." With the ageing ISS on its last leg of operations very soon, there might again be just one Space Station in the sky above the earth and this time it will be Chinese. CNSA is well on its way to replace Nasa and Roscosmos as the world's leading space agency, no wonder that Washington and Moscow are both worried that Beijing is becoming the force that will drive the next generation of human endeavour in space.
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New achievements in aerospace
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Celebs Who've Opened Up About Life During & After Divorce
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"I was just going through the motions and I wasn't happy," she told Vogue in October 2021. "Neither of us did anything wrong ... It just wasn't … It just wasn't right for me anymore. I didn't want to end up like a lot of other people I knew."
Appearing on the covers of both Vogue and Vogue U.K., the British singer opened up about her separation from Konecki, to whom she was married for about a year.
"Neither of us hurt each other or anything like that. It was just: I want my son to see me really love, and be loved. It's really important to me," she continued. (Adele shares 9-year-old Angelo with the charity magnate, whom she started dating in 2011.) "I've been on my journey to find my true happiness ever since."
Adele attended therapy, which helped her heal some of the wounds caused by her own father.
Saying Konecki is "not one of my exes. He's the dad of my child," Adele added, "If I can reach the reason why I left, which was the pursuit of my own happiness, even though it made Angelo really unhappy — if I can find that happiness and he sees me in that happiness, then maybe I'll be able to forgive myself for it."
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Famous Person - Divorce
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Air Canada Flight 621 crash
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Air Canada Flight 621 was an Air Canada Douglas DC-8, registered as CF-TIW, that crashed on July 5, 1970, while attempting to land at Toronto Pearson International Airport. It was flying on a Montreal–Toronto–Los Angeles route. [2] It crashed in Toronto Gore Township, now part of Brampton. [3]
All 100 passengers and 9 crew on board were killed, and at the time it was Canada's second-deadliest aviation accident. [2][4][5]
The aircraft involved was a Douglas DC-8 60 series, powered by four Pratt & Whitney JT3D engines and delivered new to Air Canada just three months prior to the accident. [6] At the time of the incident the aircraft had only accumulated 453 hours of flight time. [7] The aircraft was registered CF-TIW[8] and was the 526th DC-8 built at the Long Beach assembly plant. [6] The 60 series was a stretched version of the DC-8 that was 36.7 feet longer than the DC-8 series models 10 through 50. [9]
Captain Peter Cameron Hamilton and First Officer Donald Rowland[10] had flown on various flights together before, and had an ongoing discussion on when to arm the ground spoilers. [4] They agreed that they did not like arming the spoilers at the beginning of the final approach, as specified in the checklist, fearing it could lead to an inadvertent spoiler deployment. The captain preferred not arming them at all, but directly deploying them once on the ground, while the co-pilot preferred arming them during the landing flare. Neither procedure was approved, as the spoilers should have been armed in the pre-landing check. The flight engineer, Harry Gordon Hill,[11] correctly called for the spoiler deployment as evidenced in the CVR transcript. When executed just above the runway, the landing flare procedure arrests the aircraft's descent just prior to touchdown. By raising the aircraft's nose (pitching up), lift momentarily increases, reducing the descent rate, and the main wheels may then gently contact the runway. During the flare, pilots normally retard the throttles to idle to reduce engine thrust. A squat switch within the main landing gear then signals the touchdown and automatically deploys the spoilers, if armed. This destroys any remaining lift and helps the aircraft slow down. [12]
The pilots made an agreement that, when the captain was piloting the aircraft, the first officer would deploy the spoilers on the ground as the captain preferred, and when the first officer was piloting the aircraft, the captain would arm them on the flare as the co-pilot preferred. [4]
In this particular instance, the captain was piloting the landing and said, "All right. Give them to me on the flare. I have given up. "[4][13] This was not the pilots' usual routine. Sixty feet from the runway, the captain began to reduce power in preparation for the flare and said "Okay" to the first officer. The first officer immediately deployed the spoilers on the flare instead of just arming them. The aircraft began to sink heavily and the captain, realizing what had happened, pulled back on the control column and applied full thrust to all four engines. [4] The nose lifted, but the aircraft still continued to sink, hitting the runway with enough force that the number four engine and pylon broke off the wing, and the tail struck the ground. Realizing what he had done, the first officer began apologizing to the captain. Apparently unaware of the severity of the damage inflicted on the aircraft, the crew managed to lift off for a go-around, but the lost fourth engine had torn off a piece of the lower wing plating and the aircraft was now trailing fuel, which ignited. The first officer requested a second landing attempt on the same runway but was told it was closed (because of the debris the DC-8 had left earlier) and was directed to another runway. [13]
Two and a half minutes after the initial collision, the outboard section of the right wing above engine number four exploded, causing parts of the wing to break off. Six seconds after this explosion, another explosion occurred in the area of the number three engine, causing the pylon and engine to both break off and fall to the ground in flames. Six and a half seconds after the second explosion, a third explosion occurred, destroying most of the right wing, including the wing tip. The aircraft then went into a violent nose dive, striking the ground at a high velocity of about 220 knots (410 km/h; 250 mph) and killing all 100 passengers and the nine crew members on board. [4]
Wreckage, body parts, bits of clothing and personal effects were strewn for more than 90 metres (100 yards) beyond the impact spot. The plane dug a furrow eight or ten feet deep, less than 60 metres (200 ft) from the home of the Burgsma family, in which 10 persons lived, with the crash explosion blowing in their windows. The crash occurred in a farm field located near what is now Castlemore Road and McVean Drive in Brampton, Ontario. Memorial and witness accounts at the time reported the crash was in Woodbridge. This was because in 1970, prior to urban sprawl and changes in municipal boundaries, the site was closer to Woodbridge than Brampton. This was the first Air Canada accident involving fatalities and the first hull loss of a DC-8 series 63. In November 1963, another DC-8 of Trans-Canada Air Lines (the precursor to Air Canada) Flight 831, also bound from Montreal to Toronto, had crashed with a loss of 118 lives. [14]
A board of inquiry was established to investigate the crash. The board published its official report on January 29, 1971, in which the accident was attributed to pilot error. [15] Eight recommendations were provided, including that the activating lever for the spoilers should be designed in such a way that it could not be activated while the DC-8 is in flight, that the manufacturer should reinforce the structural integrity of the DC-8's wings and fuel tank and that Air Canada training and operating manuals should clarify the operating procedures regarding spoiler arming and deployment. [16]
Recovery and identification of bodies proceeded slowly after the crash because of the need to excavate the crash crater to a significant depth. More than 20 of the passengers were United States citizens, all of them listed as being from Southern California. On July 30, 1970, 52 victims, 49 of whom were identified, were buried at Mount Pleasant Cemetery, and in May 1971 an obelisk and stone monument were erected (Plot 24-1) at the site, with all 109 victims' names inscribed. [17] In 1979, Air Canada added an additional memorial at the cemetery. [18]
In June 2002, Castlemore resident Paul Cardin, who had been inspired by a November 2001 Toronto Sun article revisiting the Flight 621 crash scene, discovered aircraft wreckage and possible human bone shards at the site. The Peel Regional Police investigated the findings, and it was later determined that the bones were not of recent origin, and had indeed come from the crash.
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Air crash
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2007 Pan American Junior Athletics Championships
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The 14th Pan American Junior Athletics Championships were held in São Paulo, Brazil at the Estádio Ícaro de Castro Melo on July 6 to July 8, 2007. A detailed report on the
results was given. [1]
Detailed result lists can be found on the CACAC,[2] on the CBAt,[3] on the Tilastopaja,[4] on the USA Track & Field,[5] and on the "World Junior Athletics History"
website. [6] An unofficial count yields the number of about 432
athletes from about 34 countries:
Anguilla (2), Argentina (20), Bahamas (12), Barbados (9), Bermuda (3), Bolivia
(2), Brazil (70), British Virgin Islands (1), Canada (45), Cayman Islands (3),
Chile (17), Colombia (28), Costa Rica (1), Cuba (9), Dominica (2), Dominican
Republic (3), Ecuador (17), El Salvador (3), Guatemala (5), Guyana (3),
Jamaica (22), Mexico (17), Netherlands Antilles (2), Panama (1), Paraguay (9),
Peru (7), Puerto Rico (8), Saint Kitts and Nevis (7), Saint Lucia (1),
Trinidad and Tobago (20), United States (60), Uruguay (2), U.S. Virgin Islands
(2), Venezuela (19). Medal winners are published. [1]
Complete results can be found on the CACAC website,[2] on the CBAt website,[3] on the USA Track & Field website,[5] on the Tilastopaja website,[4] and on the "World Junior Athletics History" website. [6]
The medal count has been published. [3]
* Host nation (Brazil)
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Sports Competition
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Austin's Pecan Street Festival canceled because of COVID-19 pandemic
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The delta variant is one of the most contagious respiratory illnesses. Find out why it’s easily transmissible. Just the FAQs, USA TODAY An Austin tradition has been called off this fall because of the coronavirus pandemic. Pecan Street Festival recently announced the "difficult, but necessary decision" to cancel its fall event, scheduled for Sept. 18 and 19. "With the Delta Variant numbers on the rise in Austin, along with the lack of ICU beds, it does not feel the responsible choice to move forward with an in-person event," an announcement from organizers read. According to a Facebook post from Pecan Street Festival , the city of Austin also denied a special event permit for the September gathering. COVID in Austin: Austin-area hospital data improve over holiday, but critical care remains strained The nonprofit Pecan Street Association typically presents two festivals in the Sixth Street district each year: the first Saturday and Sunday in May and the last Saturday and Sunday in September. The Pecan Street Festival "attracts hundreds of local and national artisans offering original handcrafted creations in a variety of mediums, from metal, wood, fiber, clay, leather, glass and stone to repurposed materials of all kinds," according to the event's website, as well as live music and food vendors. The September event would have marked an in-person return for the festival, which was founded in 1978, after more than a year of pandemic-related pivots. The spring 2020 festival was canceled at the outset of the pandemic, and the fall 2020 and spring 2021 events took place virtually.
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Organization Closed
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China’s Military Exercises Near Taiwan: The Lowdown on an Uptick
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Since August, the PLA has carried out exercises aimed at testing its alongshore air defenses. A P-8A Poseidon assigned to the Fighting Tigers of Patrol Squadron (VP) 8 takes off from a runway at Kadena Air Base, Japan, November 29, 2017 . On October 9 — one day before Double Tenth Day, the National Day of Taiwan — the Gulei Port Economic Development Zone Administrative Committee in Zhangzhou, China and People’s Liberation Army (PLA) jointly issued an announcement for a ban on navigation. The reason: Live-fire exercises would be conducted on the Chinese internal waters in the east part of Gulei Peninsula from October 13 to 17. This is geographically the closest live-fire exercise to Taiwan since the Chinese Ministry of Defense announced on August 13 that it would demonstrate “Multi-units and multi-directional systematized actual combat drills” on the Taiwan Strait and both at the north and south ends. However, PLA exercises in the Yellow Sea, East China Sea, and South China Sea have been much more frequent since July. It is generally believed that this is Chinese military swagger against Taiwan. It is much more probable, however, that the PLA exercises point to weaknesses in its military capability. As to the Yellow Sea, an area roughly resembling an isosceles triangle with sides around 215 kilometers was first demarcated on the southern coast in mid-July, which is fit for HQ-22 (HongQi-22) and HQ-9B (HongQi-9B) long-range air defense missiles exercises. This was followed by six navigational warnings, beginning with LYG0043 issued for August 25-27 and ending with LYG0057 issued for September 28-30. Six rounds of live-fire drills were executed back-to-back at the same location on the west side of the port of Lianyungang. It is evaluated that such a cone littoral target region — around 12.5 kilometers long and 5.5 kilometers wide — is only for anti-aircraft artillery and short-range air defense missiles. Yellow Sea exercise areas In the East China Sea, live-fire was brought into practice in the Huangdayang waters of the Zhoushan Islands, Daishan Waterway, and Baisha Island in Taizhou (all of which are in Zhejiang province) in mid-August. Between September 8-10, military operations were further carried out near Queer’ao Island, Yijiangshan Island, and Dachen Islands in the East China Sea. Navigation warnings ZJG0722 and ZJG0726 were issued for live-fire exercises on Yushan Islands in late September. This range of target area is the same as that in the Yellow Sea exercises, with dimensions not surpassing the range of anti-aircraft artillery and short-range air defense missiles. As to these military activities in the East China Sea, from Dachen Island to the southernmost end of this target area, there is still a depth of around 120 kilometers where it is possible to hold to a mid- and long-range HQ-9 air defense missile exercise. East China Sea exercise areas (Source: Lu Li-Shih) In the South China Sea, the exercises were focused on Woody Island of the Paracels. In early July, drills were conducted within the surrounding waters about 120 km from the Paracel Islands. The navigation warnings HN0087 and HN0088 were both announced on the same day, on September 28. The rectangular area in the southwest and sector area in the northeast at a distance of 12.5 kilometers from the Woody Island were delineated for military training. South China Sea exercises area (Source: Lu Li-Shih) It is not difficult to come to the conclusion that the purposes of summer military exercises in the Yellow Sea, East China Sea, and South China Sea are analogous. All of them would fit with mid- and long-range (of over 120 kilometers) air defense missiles, anti-aircraft artillery with a range of 12.5 kilometers, and short-range air defense missiles. In short, the PLA’s successive exercises this summer focus on carrying out comprehensive drills for “arming islands and consolidating alongshore air defense.” What kinds of threat from enemies make the PLA feel a thorn in its side, so that it has to strengthen islands and alongshore air defense? The U.S. military deployments in the Indo-Pacific since this year, and Taiwan’s potential new arms purchases. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi frankly noted at the 10th East Asia Summit Foreign Ministers’ Video Meeting in September that U.S. military aircraft conducted more than 3,000 activities in the South China Sea in the first half of this year. The “close-in reconnaissance” from various types of U.S. electronic reconnaissance aircraft and P-8A maritime patrol aircraft is the main reason why the PLA felt the need to carry out the recent exercises. The Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Rafael Peralta (DDG 115) inshore cruised in the Yellow Sea, East China Sea, and South China Sea from February to July. Furthermore, U.S. aerial and naval vehicles deployed in these areas in the future would be equipped with drones as well as “loyal wingmen” (drones accompanying manned aircraft) in the future. Beyond that, Taiwan is under talks to purchase unmanned reconnaissance aircraft MQ-9B (SeaGuardian) from the U.S.; these drones pose threats to the PLA’s air defense and military security. The PLA, therefore, launched these “arming islands and consolidating alongshore air defense” exercises to counter these threats. Enjoying this article? Click here to subscribe for full access. Just $5 a month. It nonetheless exposed restrictions on the PLA’s air defense of internal waters. It is not a small matter that these anti-aircraft artillery fire and short-range air defense missiles exercises were held after sunrise and before sunset, displaying the PLA’s deficiency in night combat. The PLA’s summer military exercise this year is nothing but a commencement. Going forward, it would further bolster its night vision capabilities and make them a regular part of defense against close-in reconnaissance from the United States’ and Taiwan’s unmanned vehicles. Many interpret the PLA’s intensive military exercises over the past few months as an omen, a prelude to a Taiwan invasion. However, based on the analysis above, it is clear that the exercises are not part of the PLA’s preparations for an armed invasion on Taiwan; rather they are just to bridge its own combat gaps.
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Military Exercise
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Changes in the climate system caused by anthropogenic climate change make locust plagues more likely
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Changes in the climate system caused by anthropogenic climate change make locust plagues more likely. The 2019/2020 desert locust plague in Eastern Africa, the worst of its kind in more than 70 years, was likely exacerbated by shifts in rainfall patterns and intensity, as well as high cyclone activity in late 2019. Due to higher than usual average temperatures, conditions for desert locusts have become more conducive to plague development in recent years. This climate and desert locust study examines the interconnections between climate and weather parameters, locust breeding, and spread over Kenya. The initial context was that shifts in temperature and the hydrological cycle, already being observed and linked to a changing climate, are believed to create a more conducive environment for desert locusts. The key question addresses the conditions that allowed desert locust to thrive in Kenya from the end of 2019 to mid-2020. The analysis is thus based on the dekadals that show the highest frequency of sightings within the relevant time period (December 2019 - May 2020). In light of different favorable growth and development conditions for each lifecycle stage (hoppers, adults, bands, swarms) and behavioral stage (solitarious vs. gregarious), the central finding of this analysis is that although many of the observed highest-frequency sightings are indeed within the favorable desert locust thresholds, there are noticeable deviations from literature that warrant further exploration. This study adds value to literature established by WMO and FAO by further exploring the relationship between soil moisture, cloud cover, NDVI, and locust sightings. Locusts were most observed in the counties of Turkana, Marsabit and Isiolo. Continued research of these counties could serve as an informative entry point for the development of an early warning system.
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Insect Disaster
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Cats midfielder sidelined after knee surgery
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MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - JUNE 29: Sam Menegola of the Cats celebrates kicking a goal during the round 15 AFL match between the Western Bulldogs and the Geelong Cats at Etihad Stadium on June 29, 2018 in Melbourne, Australia. Geelong midfielder Sam Menegola will miss a large portion of the pre-season after undergoing knee surgery. The club revealed on Thursday that the 29-year-old consulted with medical professionals shortly after the season's conclusion, with Menegola requiring attention for a meniscal repair in October. The setback will see his preparations for the new season delayed, with the Cats eyeing a chance to redeem themselves following their disappointing finals exit this year. SAM MENEGOLA Geelong football boss Simon Lloyd revealed the surgery on Menegola's troubled knee was a success, with the Cats star set to remain in Western Australia until 2022. “Sam and the medical team were pleased with the outcome post-surgery,” Lloyd said. “Sam is totally professional in all aspects of his football, and he will tackle the rehabilitation process with gusto. Sam has started his rehab in Perth and will return to Geelong in the new year.” MELBOURNE , AUSTRALIA - MAY 05: Sam Menegola of the Cats handballs whilst being tackled by Jake Stringer of the Bombers during the round seven AFL match between the Geelong Cats and the Essendon Bombers at Melbourne Cricket Ground on May 05, 2019 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images) Menegola missed three matches early into this year due to a shoulder injury, playing the final 22 games of the season for Geelong. The East Fremantle product will join defender Tom Stewart in recovering from injury this summer , with the All-Australian backman having had his 2021 campaign cut short due to a foot injury.
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Famous Person - Recovered
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Oldest and Best Preserved Shipwreck in Adriatic Discovered Near Ilovik
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September the 10th, 2021 - Did you know that the best preserved shipwreck is from the 2nd century BC and was found in the waters surrounding Losinj near the island of Ilovik? This important archeological discovery was discovered at a depth of only two and a half metres, and previously undertaken research has confirmed that it is indeed the oldest ancient ship ever discovered in the Adriatic. As Morski writes, this ancient wooden ship was built using the technique of "joining grooves and tabs", and in the process of its creation, the formwork was first constructed, and then the skeleton of the ship was placed onto it, all of it connected by wooden wedges. It is merchant ship that sailed along an important maritime route, right next to the island of Ilovik in Croatia. The ship is between 20 and 25 metres long, and given that it sank into its watery grave at a depth of a mere two and a half metres, it is a real miracle that it remained so well hidden for centuries. The ship was discovered quite by accident by Slovenian archaeologist Milan Eric while anchoring in this particular Ilovik bay. After that, the research started, which has been being conducted since 2018 by the Department of Underwater Archeology of the Croatian Restoration Institute, in cooperation with French colleagues from the University of Marseille (Aix-Marseille University, the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), and the Camille Jullian Centre), and the Losinj Museum. This is all being done with the logistical support of the Diving Centre of the Special Police of the Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Croatia (MUP) and the Subseason Diving Centre. The research procedure in the waters surrounding Ilovik was carried out by the most modern methods of documentation, using photogrammetric techniques. The movable archeological material found on the ancient sunken ship confirms the dating of the ship's wood, which undoubtedly belongs to the older horizon of ships sailing the Adriatic, and testifies to the importance of the Losinj archipelago in the context of ancient waterways. The site of this ship near Ilovik is extremely significant because of the shipbuilding tradition to which we attribute it, its dating, the ship's cargo and the very shallow working conditions that both facilitate and complicate research and pose a challenge to preserve the site. Since it is a site on loose sand, the archeological excavation itself was difficult due to the constant backfilling of the site, so a dam was built in parallel with the excavation,'' they said from the Losinj Museum. Upon completion of the research and the preparation of documentation, the remains of the ''Ilovik ship'' were covered with sand, geotextiles, then again with sand and with iron nets, which are connected by concrete blocks. The movable archeological finds discovered there were brought back up to the surface, added to the list of finds, and were stored in the premises of the Croatian Air Force in Split during the desalination process. Upon the completion of the conservation and restoration works, the findings from the Ilovik wreck will be stored in the Losinj Museum.
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Shipwreck
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2019 Saha Airlines Boeing 707 crash
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On 14 January 2019, a Boeing 707 operated by Saha Airlines on a cargo flight crashed at Fath Air Base, near Karaj, Alborz Province in Iran. Fifteen of the sixteen people on board were killed. This aircraft was the last civil Boeing 707 in operation. [1]
The aircraft involved was a Boeing 707-3J9C, c/n 21128, registration EP-CPP. [2] The aircraft was owned by the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force and had been leased to Saha Airlines. [3] The aircraft was 42 years old at the time. [4] The aircraft had first flown on 19 November 1976 and was delivered that month to the Imperial Iranian Air Force as 5-8312. It had been transferred to Saha Airlines on 27 February 2000, and was re-registered EP-SHK. It was substantially damaged by an uncontained engine failure on 3 August 2009, whilst on a flight from Ahvaz International Airport to Mehrabad International Airport, Tehran. An emergency landing was made at Ahvaz; the aircraft was subsequently repaired. It was returned to the IRIAF in December 2015 and returned to Saha Airlines in May 2016, registered EP-CPP. [5]
The aircraft was on an international cargo flight carrying meat from Manas International Airport in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, to Payam International Airport[6] in Karaj, Iran, but the flight crew actually landed at Fath Air Base. The crew probably mistook Fath Air Base's runway with the much longer Payam International Airport runway,[2][4] as the two runways are just a few kilometres apart, and on an almost identical alignment. A 707 generally requires a runway length more than 2,500 m (8,200 ft),[7] but the runway at Fath Air Base is only 1,300 metres (4,300 ft). [8] Poor weather conditions were also reported. [9]
The aircraft overran the runway, crashed through a wall, and came to rest after colliding with a house in the neighbourhood of Farrokhabad, Fardis County, Alborz Province. The houses involved were empty at the time of the crash,[9][10] and no one on the ground was injured. [9] Following the crash, a fire developed. Early reports gave the number of people on board as either 16 or 17 (one a woman[10]), all but one of whom died. [11][9] The sole survivor was Farshad Mahdavinejad, the aircraft's flight engineer, who was taken to Shariati Hospital in a critical condition. [4]
In a possibly related incident from 16 November 2018, a Taban Airlines MD-88 carrying 155 people twice attempted to land on this runway, mistaking it for the longer 3,659 m (12,005 ft) Payam runway, which is nearly in line. On its first approach, the plane reached an altitude of 1 m (3.3 ft) before aborting the attempt, but eventually continued on for a safe landing at Payam after an aborted second attempt at Fath. [12][13]
An investigation was opened into the accident. [4] The cockpit voice recorder was recovered from the wreckage on 14 January. [9] The flight data recorder and the control display unit were also recovered. [2]
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Air crash
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Climate change and drought threaten a way of life for Arizona farmers
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U.S. officials on Monday declared the first-ever water shortage from a river that serves 40 million people in the West, triggering cuts to some Arizona farmers next year amid a gripping drought. Nancy Caywood recalls the days when the white tufts on the cotton plants on her family’s 255-acre farm popped out against the stark blue desert sky, and their alfalfa fields were a sea of green yielding eight to 10 cuttings a year. “To walk out and smell the fresh hay, there’s nothing like it,” the third-generation Casa Grande, Ariz., farmer told Yahoo News. This year, thanks to the extreme drought that experts say is exacerbated by climate change, all they’ve been able to grow successfully is weeds. “My grandfather may have experienced rough times, but never a mega-drought. He’s never had to tear out his entire farm,” said Caywood. “We’re scared to death.” The water situation is dire in the state of Arizona, which is facing its 22nd year of drought. Despite some relief from the annual monsoons, daily temperatures in the state are still hitting record highs, and local rivers are running dry. In mid-August, the federal government announced its first-ever water shortage declaration for the Colorado River, triggering cuts in the amount of water Arizona will be allowed to draw from it, starting in January. It’s a reality that scientists say is a result of a warming planet caused by the burning of fossil fuels, and Arizona’s farmers are facing what could be a make-or-break moment for their industry. But while agriculture is well represented in the state’s Republican-majority Legislature, many in the party have refused to acknowledge a link to climate change or pass bills to address it. “They talk about drought, but don’t talk about the fact that climate change is intensifying the drought. They don’t acknowledge it relative to fires and the fact that fires are larger relative to climate change,” said Sandy Bahr, Grand Canyon chapter director for the Sierra Club. “They are just not in touch with science at all. Or any of the reports that come out that point to climate change as exacerbating many of these issues.” Arizona was once a national environmental leader. In 2006, then-Gov. Janet Napolitano signed an executive order to create a climate action plan, making it one of the first states to do so. But there’s been a strong reversal since then. In 2010, the next governor, Jan Brewer, signed a law that forbade any state agencies from monitoring greenhouse gas emissions, and it remains on the books today. In 2015, Arizona’s Legislature prohibited cities from requiring any energy benchmarking in commercial structures. And in 2019, it passed a bill that prevents Arizona’s cities and towns from banning any natural gas or other fossil fuel hookups in buildings. The state’s current governor, Doug Ducey, came close to acknowledging climate change in 2019, nearly four years into his term, saying: “Nobody knows better than the governor of a state like Arizona, that has such an arid climate and has had to make so many plans and sacrifices to have the rich and abundant water resources that we have, that we have to pay attention to our environment.” Despite its “arid climate,” agriculture is one of Arizona’s biggest industries. Yuma County, near the southern border, is often referred to as the country’s “salad bowl,” due to its output of leafy greens in the winter. But the impact of the drought is likely to hurt farming in an outsized way. Politicians in the state are considering desperate measures to help aid the industry, including an expensive water-desalination alternative, as well as a proposal to build a cross-state pipeline to drain water from the ever-flooding Mississippi River. But agriculture is also a top consumer of water, using nearly 74 percent of the water in the state, according to a 2018 University of Arizona economic impact study, and that fact has created tension between municipalities and environmentalists who believe water conservation, not growing crops, should be the state’s main focus. State Sen. Juan Mendez, a Democrat, said the bills that have so far been considered by the Legislature focus on conserving the “status quo,” instead of on a true solution. That’s because, he believes, the only real solution to Arizona’s problem is to restrict water allocation. Mendez himself has introduced and co-sponsored a number of bills on climate change in the state. “No one wants to consider the idea of using less water. They want to throw money at a desalination plant. Now they are honestly considering moving water from another state,” Mendez said. “They are just keeping Pinal County farmers happy. There’s not going to be one answer that solves the drought problem or climate change — or all of these environmental disasters.” Agriculture nets Pinal County $2.4 billion in annual profits, according to Chelsea McGuire, the Arizona Farm Bureau's government relations director. It’s anticipated to be one of the first regions in Arizona to see its access to Colorado River water cut off, and instead will have to rely on limited groundwater supply and rain. Water shortage is expected to create a $66 million loss in crop sales there, and it’s causing farmers in the area to think deeply about the industry’s future. But there is also no obvious solution to their plight, says McGuire. “No one is seeing this as temporary. We are seeing a dryer future. ... I think everything is going to have to change, from what I’m growing, to how I’m growing it, to where I’m growing it,” she said. Paul Ollerton grew up farming in Pinal County. His father, uncle and grandfather were also farmers. He said he’s facing a tough decision this year: He doesn’t have enough Colorado River water to grow all of his crops, nor the capacity to pump enough of it from the ground. “We knew for a long time that this day was probably coming, and we just didn’t know when,” he said. A partner and owner of Tierra Verde Farms in Casa Grande, Ollerton estimates he’ll have to leave nearly 25 percent of his fields fallow this year due to lack of water. “Without really sounding negative and a Debby Downer, I don’t see a lot of future — it’s a tough battle here,” he said. Many farmers’ frustration lies largely with the local municipalities, which get first choice of the water and then allocate the remaining surface water to farmers. But not all farmers lay the larger blame on climate change. “I think there might be some things related to it, but I’m not saying climate change is the way to address all of these issues,” Ollerton said. “I don’t think it’s totally responsible for what’s happening. I don’t think I buy some of the theories or science. I think it’s just weather patterns. I think we’re just in a dry cycle.” Caywood finds it equally hard to know where to place blame, though she says many in her town have pointed a finger at farmers. “People don’t respect where their food is coming from. This growing in the desert has been done for decades, and we have ideal growing conditions,” she said. “Everybody asks if it’s climate change. I believe it’s cyclical. I believe it’s like climate change. ... Whatever is happening, it’s happening fast. I thought something like this would happen over 100 years — this is happening over 20.” Caywood says her family doesn’t expect to make any profits this year, and as that uncertainty plays out, she’s watched the worry lines grow on the face of her 40-year-old son Travis, also a farmer. She’s not sure what her family will ultimately do with their acreage, but many neighbors have already sold their land to a new growing industry in the state: solar. “I’m losing my toughness over this. I want to be resilient and bounce back from this, but unfortunately, I am becoming an island surrounded by solar panels,” Caywood said. She said there’s a chance her farm could be the next sale. “My dad passed away in January. I was on my way to the farm in April. I drove over the canal and there was low water in it, and I just burst into tears, knowing that that was my livelihood drying up,” she said.
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Droughts
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U.N. warns catastrophe looms in Ethiopia's north, urges government to end de facto aid blockade
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Ethiopian porters unload food aid bound for victims of war after a checkpoint leading to Tigray in Mai Tsebri town, Ethiopia June 26, 2021. Picture taken June 26, 2021. REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo NAIROBI, Sept 2 (Reuters) - A de facto blockade on aid to the Tigray region in Ethiopia's north is bringing millions of people to the brink of famine, the United Nations humanitarian agency said on Thursday, warning of "looming catastrophe". The U.N. agency OCHA called on all parties in a 10-month-old war in Tigray to allow the movement of aid into the region where it said 5.2 million people, or 90% of the population, urgently need humanitarian assistance. Those include 400,000 people who are already facing famine conditions, it said. War broke out in November between Ethiopia's federal troops and forces loyal to the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), which controls the Tigray region. Thousands have died and more than two million people have been forced to flee their homes. The agency called on the Ethiopian government in particular to allow aid supplies and personnel to move into and within the country by "lifting bureaucratic impediments" and clearing other hurdles to aid getting through. There is only one road into Tigray that the U.N. and aid groups can currently use, and logistical and bureaucratic obstacles make passage "extremely difficult", OCHA said, adding that 172 trucks are stranded in the town of Semera near Tigray. At a news conference on Thursday, the Prime Minister's spokesperson Billene Seyoum once again dismissed allegations that the Ethiopian government is blocking aid. She said trucks were "en route" to Tigray, adding that the number of checkpoints on the road referred to by the U.N. had been reduced to three from seven. She did not immediately respond to a request for additional comment. At a press briefing last month, Billene dismissed what she referred to as allegations that the government is “purposely blocking humanitarian assistance”, saying the government is concerned about security. A spokesperson for the TPLF did not immediately respond to a request for comment OCHA also said in its statement that, although the U.N. estimates a minimum of 100 trucks of food, non-food items, and fuel must enter Tigray each day to sustain the population in the region, not a single truck has entered since Aug. 22. "Food stocks already ran out on 20 August," it read. It also urged the Ethiopian government to restore electricity, communications and banking services in the region, which were shut down after the TPLF recaptured the regional capital, Mekelle, from federal forces in late June. The U.N. children's agency said in July that more than 100,000 children in Tigray could suffer life-threatening malnutrition in the next 12 months. Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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Famine
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Albany police release photos of suspect in July 2 Key Bank robbery
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Updated: July 15, 2021 08:56 PM Created: July 15, 2021 01:30 PM Albany police are asking for your help as they investigate a bank robbery from earlier this month. Police put out pictures Thursday of a suspect in the New Scotland Avenue Key Bank robbery from July 2 around 2 p.m. Bank employees told police the robbers implied he had a gun. If you have information, you are asked to call Albany police at (518) 462-8039, or submit an anonymous tip to Capital Region Crime Stoppers. Albany police are looking for this man in connection with a robbery at Key Bank on July 2.
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Bank Robbery
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1998 Sudan famine
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The famine in Sudan in 1998 was a humanitarian disaster caused mainly by human rights abuses, as well as drought and the failure of the international community to react to the famine risk with adequate speed. [1] The worst affected area was Bahr el Ghazal in southwestern Sudan. In this region over 70,000 people died during the famine. [2]
The famine was caused almost entirely by human rights abuse and the war in Southern Sudan. [3] Despite the Sudanese government's claims that only the rebel groups were to blame, drought also played a significant role. [4] Human Rights Watch blamed the following groups:[1]
The government and Kuanyin Bol are blamed for their role in destroying the local agriculture during their attempt to take the city of Wau. [5] The SPLA are blamed for their maintenance of slavery and pilfering of aid. [4]
This was worsened by the late arrival of the rainy season[3] and a failure to respond to the situation by the international community. [6]
The effects on the region were enormous, with the excess mortality estimated at about 70,000 people. [7] Many more are thought to have been displaced, with over 72,000 people reported as migrating from the threatened rural zones to Wau alone from May 1998 to August 1998. [8]
Effects on the country included – indirectly – famine as expenditure was concentrated on the materials of war, i.e. weaponry, medical supplies etc., rather than the assistance of agriculture and farming. The situation in Bahr El Ghazal was compounded by a lack of strong government intervention, with the government in the North failing to cooperate with the government in the South. A ceasefire was signed on July 15, 1998, some eight months after the Sudanese government had first warned of a possible famine. [6] After numerous extensions, this ceasefire lasted nearly a year, until April 1999. However, the Baggara militia continued to ignore the ceasefire, reducing the ability of aid agencies to help. [9] Thanks to a good crop and this ceasefire, however, the situation was brought under control by the end of 1998. [10] However, the area has remained in trouble and a number of famine warnings have come since the end of 1998.
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Famine
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Cornwall's Stithians Community Primary School forced to close for ten days due to Covid
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A primary school in Cornwall has been forced to close after coronavirus caused more than a quarter of its pupils to self-isolate. Stithians Community Primary School has announced it is closing for 10 days from Wednesday 22 September. It will reopen again on Monday 4 October. The site is moving to online teaching only due to a rising number of confirmed Covid-19 cases. In an email sent to parents, staff and governors, the school said there were nine confirmed cases with a number of PCR tests yet to come back. It also said 46 children were absent, equating to more than a quarter of all pupils. Headteacher Nick Illsley wrote: "In consultation with Public Health, the local authority and the school governors we have decided to close the school for ten days to create a fire break to transmission. "This will mean that home learning will begin from tomorrow via [Microsoft] Teams. This has been a hard decision to make but he current rates of transmission mean it is the only way in which we can reduce the spread through the school. "We have followed the Covid-19 outbreak management plan and based on the health and safety and safeguarding requirements needed for our school closure for a time limited period is the only option left to us." Mr Illsley added the number of those off sick "would no doubt rise tomorrow so the effective teaching and learning is not possible". He also confirmed schoolchildren would be sent home with books and logins for Teams and those needing a laptop to access online teaching could borrow one from the school. In a statement, Cornwall Council said: "As a precaution, the school has taken the decision to close until Monday 4 October, with all students moving to a high-quality online learning platform until then." Rachel Wigglesworth, Director of Public Health for Cornwall Council, added: "The school has taken the difficult decision to close temporarily to ensure the safety of staff, pupils and families. "We appreciate this may cause childcare issues with children being at home unexpectedly, but this decision has not been taken lightly. “The school reacted quickly and responsibly to the confirmed cases and implemented a robust Covid action plan. Our teams will continue to work with them to provide advice and guidance and support. "You or your child need only book a test if you develop one of the three main Covid symptoms: a new continuous cough - that is a cough that lasts for more than an hour, or three coughing sessions in 24 hours - a high temperature (this does not need to be measured but feeling hot on the chest or back) or a change to or loss of taste or smell.”
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Organization Closed
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NASA has announced that it will launch Psyche in August 2022 to reach the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter
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Carl Sagan, the legendary astronomer, once imagined a solar sailer, a starship that uses sunlight to propel itself through the solar system. Decades later, we are witnessing the development of such spacecraft - Psyche, which will travel across space using a "solar electric propulsion" system. NASA has announced that it will launch Psyche in August 2022 to reach the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. But there is something unique about this spacecraft—it will travel across space using a "solar electric propulsion" system. Annibale de Gasparis, an Italian astronomer, found an asteroid called Psyche in 1852. The space rock was named after the Greek goddess of the soul. It is noteworthy because it has a significant amount of metal, in contrast to other asteroids with icy or stony compositions. Asteroid Psyche orbits the Sun at a distance ranging from 235 million to 309 million miles from the brightest star of our solar system. One orbit takes five years to complete. Scientists have speculated that Psyche, the space rock, would be a remnant of an old planet whose crust and mantle mysteriously vanished over time. Since scientists are unable to approach, view or measure Earth's core directly, the Psyche mission provides them with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to study and comprehend the origins of terrestrial planets like Earth. The Psyche spacecraft, named after the asteroid, will travel to the asteroid for more than three years to conduct a thorough inspection. After arriving at the asteroid—most probably by 2026—the spacecraft will enter orbit around it and deploy a range of sensors to study the celestial body. NASA said: “The spacecraft will rely on the large chemical rocket engines of the Falcon Heavy launch vehicle to blast off the launchpad and to escape Earth’s gravity. But the rest of the journey, once Psyche separates from the launch vehicle, will rely on solar electric propulsion.” As explained by the space agency, large solar arrays turn sunlight into electricity and provide the power source for the spacecraft's thrusters in this type of propulsion [solar electric propulsion]. They're called Hall thrusters, and the Psyche spacecraft will be the first to utilise them beyond Moon's orbit, stated NASA. Psyche spacecraft will carry xenon, the same neutral gas used in vehicle lamps and plasma TVs, as a propellant. Electromagnetic fields will be used by the spacecraft's four thrusters to accelerate and expel charged atoms, or ions, of that xenon. As the ions are ejected, propulsion is created, moving the spacecraft into space and generating blue ionised xenon beams. The Hall thrusters on Psyche could run for years on end without running out of fuel. Psyche's tanks will hold 2,030 pounds (922 kilogrammes) of xenon; engineers believe that if the mission were to rely on standard chemical thrusters, it would burn through approximately five times that amount of fuel. Arizona State University’s Lindy Elkins-Tanton, who as principal investigator leads the mission said: “Even in the beginning when we were first designing the mission in 2012, we were talking about solar electric propulsion as part of the plan. Without it, we wouldn’t have the Psyche mission. And it’s become part of the character of the mission. It takes a specialised team to calculate trajectories and orbits using solar electric propulsion.” However, Carl Sagan, the legendary astronomer, once imagined a solar sailer, a starship that uses sunlight to propel itself through the solar system, similar to how a boat uses the wind. Decades later, now we are witnessing the development of such spacecraft. For example, the idea triggered by Sagan became a reality through Japan’s IKAROS—took flight in July 2010—which was an experimental satellite designed by the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency to demonstrate the latest solar sail propulsion techniques and later, the LightSail project. The LightSail 2 spacecraft, which launched in June 2019, uses only sunlight to change its orbit and is currently on an extended mission to advance solar sailing technology.
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New achievements in aerospace
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2019 São Paulo helicopter crash
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On 11 February 2019, a Bell 206B helicopter crashed while trying to land on the Rodoanel Mário Covas highway, following an unspecified malfunction. Among the victims was journalist Ricardo Boechat. The pilot, Ronaldo Quatrucci, was also killed and one person on the ground was injured. [1] The aircraft crashed around 12:15 pm (UTC−02:00) and the journalist and pilot were pronounced dead shortly after. [2] The helicopter was owned by RQ Serviços Aéreo Especializados Ltda. [3]
The aircraft was a Bell 206B, manufactured in 1975, registered PT-HPG. [1][4] The pilot, Ronaldo Quatrucci, was one of the owners of the aerial shuttle company operating the aircraft. [3]
Journalist and news anchor Ricardo Boechat, from Rede Bandeirantes, was on his way to the head office of the broadcaster in São Paulo after speaking at an event for pharmaceutical company Libbs in Campinas, which is located about 100 km from the head offices. [3] The helicopter crashed near kilometer 8 of the Rodoanel, on the Anhanguera highway, after attempting to make an emergency landing on one of the highway locks, following low-altitude flight and an unspecified malfunction. It collided with a semi truck unable to brake on time, burst into flames, and eventually exploded. [1][3]
Preliminary information published by the National Civil Aviation Agency of Brazil (Anac) showed that the helicopter had a valid flight certificate until May 2023. [3] However, RQ Serviços Aéreos Especializados Ltda was not authorized to provide air taxi services, only specialized air services such as aerial photography, airborne and aerial transport. [5] Anac has announced that it has opened an investigation on the case. [5] In 2011, RQ had paid a fine of 8,000 BRL (2506.74 USD) for offering panoramic flights without air taxi certification. [6]
RQ Serviços Aéreos Especializados Ltda., owner of the helicopter, had been contracted by Zum Brazil, an event company that, in turn, rendered services to the pharmaceutical company Libbs, which promoted its annual sales agreement. [5]
CENIPA (Aeronautical Accidents Investigation and Prevention Center) issued their investigation report in October 2020. [7] The report identified an airworthy compressor module was refitted to the engine. [8]
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Air crash
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Hampshire news: Five top stories you might have missed including an exploding van in Aldershot
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There has been a lot going on in Hampshire so you can be forgiven for missing some of the top stories online.
Megan Stanley covered the distressing news that two teenage boys had been found with stab wounds in Aldershot on Monday. The boys suffered serious injuries and were taken to hospital to be treated.
In another incident in Aldershot led to a woman being injured after a van exploded. The cause was thought to be leaking gas cylinders.
READ MORE: Person taken to hospital after Alton glider crash as air ambulance is called
In lighter news, readers have also been interested to learn more about the best restaurants in the county as well as about some of Hampshire's biggest names from sport and television. Here is a summary of the top stories from across HampshireLive:
Readers have been particularly keen to find out which restaurants have been named the best in Hampshire, according to reviews from TripAdviser.
Those commenting on their dining experience on the review website are asked to rank the food, service value for money, and atmosphere of the venues they visit and many of the county's restaurants have proved a hit with foodies.
The Golden Lion in Winchester, Huis in Portsmouth, and Tim's Bistro in Southampton all made it onto the list of best eateries.
Read the full list here.
On Monday, two teenagers were taken to hospital after being found with stab wounds in Aldershot.
The two boys, aged 17 and 16, were described as having "serious injuries" when they were found at around 11pm.
They were taken to St George's Hospital in London for treatment.
Hampshire Constabulary have now launched an investigation and are asking anyone who may have witnessed the attack to come forward.
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Gas explosion
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Georgian weightlifter breaks three world records, lifts nearly 1,100 pounds at Olympics
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U.S. 400m hurdler Sydney McLaughlin earned gold in world record time. Thursday may be the last time we see several USWNT players in the Olympics.
Sandy Hooper, USA TODAY
TOKYO – The only way Lasha Talakhadze wasn’t winning the Olympic super-heavyweight competition was if he missed the bus.
But the Georgian weightlifter didn’t just win – he broke three world records on his way to lifting nearly 1,100 pounds.
The five-time world champion and defending Rio Olympic gold medalist set new world records in Wednesday’s +109 kg final in the snatch (223 kg) and clean & jerk (265 kg) for a total lift of 488 kg – or just more than 1,075 pounds.
“My coaches, my trainers, they are doing everything and they are giving the strength to go to the proper direction,” Talakhadze said.
Talakhadze did not make his first attempt in either lift until after all other competitors were done. He came into the snatch at 208 kg, which was 8 kg more than any weightlifter attempted. And he did not make his first attempt on the clean & jerk until 245 kg, or four more than any competitor.
That meant he made three consecutive lifts in each round, and he did not miss any of his six attempts. He set new Olympic records with each lift and broke his own world records on each lift by one kilo on his final attempt.
Talakhadze has won every major competition he’s entered since returning from a doping suspension in 2015, a streak that includes five European titles as well.
For all he accomplished, Talakhadze is not done. At 27, he’s aiming to be back on an Olympic platform in three years.
“It will be of course one of my goals to set as many records as possible,” he said. “I will take part in the Paris Olympic Games, of course. This is my major goal.”
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Break historical records
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1980 Panorama Fire
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The Panorama Fire was a wildfire which began on November 24, 1980 and was 100% contained December 1, 1980. The fire was set by an unknown arsonist about 10:50 a.m. near Panorama Point,[1] a county equipment depot along SR-18 in the San Bernardino Mountains in California. The fire's growth was exacerbated by 90 mph Santa Ana Winds which pushed the flames into populated areas in Waterman Canyon and the City of San Bernardino. 325 structures were destroyed, including 310 homes. Four people died as a result of the fire: Earl Welty, 83, and his wife, Edith, 82, who were caught in the fire; Joseph Benjamin, 54, who collapsed while watering his roof; and Rosa Myers, 64, who suffered a heart attack while being evacuated. [2]
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Fire
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John Mulaney and Olivia Munn: A Gossip Blindside
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Gossip has been buck wild lately, all the pent-up energy of the pandemic bursting out with hookups and breakups and “what the f-cks?”
In the latter category is this: the Internet’s best boy John Mulaney and fashion blog nemesis Olivia Munn are dating, per PEOPLE, which broke the story yesterday afternoon.
Apparently, they met at church. But let’s get a little more specific: they reconnected at church because back in 2015, she talked about meeting him and his fiancé (now estranged wife) at a wedding.
Me finding out that John Mulaney asked for a divorce 3 days ago, fast forward to today, finding that he is dating Olivia Munn who he met at church when the man made it a whole thing that he DOESNT EVEN GO TO CHURCH pic.twitter.com/sabTDSWXUX
The source for PEOPLE is deliberately laying out a story for us here, with details like “This is very new, they're taking it slowly” (well he announced his divorce earlier this week, so it could be a touch slower). There are suspicions that this is a PR play offensive from them (are we about to see the first pap shots of them?), which is why the people are not exactly buying all the details laid out in PEOPLE.
There’s been a lot of chatter on Twitter about the timing of it all. John checked out of rehab in late February. On May 10, John and his wife Anna Marie Tendler announced their divorce. His rep said he was focused on recovery, while through her rep she said, “I am heartbroken that John has decided to end our marriage. I wish him support and success as he continues his recovery.”
That’s pretty deep. “Heartbroken that John has decided to end our marriage” - there’s no need to interpret or speculate about what that means because it’s a very frank statement, particularly for a celebrity divorce. John decided to end the marriage, per Anna’s direct words.
me when my parents got divorced vs. me when john mulaney and anna marie got divorced pic.twitter.com/SbrAzpOaXn
And just three days later, this story in PEOPLE drops. Three days!!! I have leftovers in my fridge older than that.
This is why social media has been so agog at the announcement. Scandalized. Breathless. And ruthlessly funny. Both Olivia Munn and John Mulaney were trending last night on Twitter.
john mulaney & olivia munn being together have me SHOOK pic.twitter.com/Dm7ktzJjk9
john mulaney got out of rehab, divorced his wife, and started dating olivia munn lmao this dude said white boy summer with his whole chest
Ok now the CDC is saying John Mulaney and Olivia Munn are dating
John spoke about his wife a lot in his standup which is why people have become emotionally attached to them. Immediately after John went to rehab, there was a lot of concern expressed for Anna (who deleted her social media). But what we’re not going to do is blame Olivia Munn for whatever went down here, right? Whatever our feelings about the timing, it’s John’s timing, not hers.
I never thought twitter would turn on John Mulaney but him dumping his wife for olivia munn is certainly gonna test that theory
What we can enjoy is the gossip part of it, the start of a new story that could go anywhere. They could break up in a week or be engaged by Labour Day. The chaos and excitement of an unexpected couple is invigorating and a collective social media bonding experience.
It’s also funny how timing works. Though unrelated, we have two big stories this week: one centers around a much-wished-for reconciliation (Bennifer) and the other is a new couple NO ONE saw coming (John and Olivia). This must mean we are careening toward an inevitable conclusion: Ben Affleck and Olivia Munn. That would be a gossip apocalypse.
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Famous Person - Divorce
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Suspect sought: Man walked up to Abbotsford bank teller, passed a note demanding money, fled with cash
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Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Copy Url Police in Abbotsford are investigating after a bank robbery in the city Tuesday evening. Officers were called to the TD Bank at 30788 Fraser Hwy. at 5:50 p.m., according to a news release from the Abbotsford Police Department. Police said a male suspect walked up to a teller, produced a note and demanded cash. The teller complied, and the man fled the scene. No one was injured in the incident. According to police, the suspect is a white man in his 30s with a medium build. He was wearing a black baseball hat, black sunglasses, "a blue zip-up sweater jacket," black pants and a blue mask that covered his nose and mouth, police said. A photo provided by Abbotsford police shows the man wearing the sunglasses on top of the brim of his hat, rather than over his eyes. Investigators are asking anyone who was near the 30700 block of Fraser Highway between 5:30 and 5:50 p.m. on Aug. 3 and saw someone matching this description to get in touch with them. They're especially interested in dash cam or other surveillance video from the area.
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Bank Robbery
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Hanging Lake Trail To Close Indefinitely Due To Damage From Mudslides
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Due to damage sustained by mudslides in the Grizzly Creek burn scar area, Hanging Lake will be closed for the foreseeable future, officials announced Wednesday. The lake itself is fine, although it looks a little murky due to mud. However, debris from the July 29 mudslide caused major damage to the trail leading up to the lake. The flash flood that triggered the mudslide also mangled part of Interstate 70 in Glenwood Canyon, trapping more than a hundred motorists and causing more than $100 million in damage. “We've had bridges completely washed out and much of the trail as you go up is under a debris field of some sort or another,” White River National Forest supervisor Scott Fitzwilliams said. Photos provided by the Forest Service show the trail covered by fallen trees, mud, and rocks. In some areas, the river has overflowed, covering walking paths. A “complete reconstruction” is needed before the popular tourist attraction can reopen, which will close the trail for the rest of the season and potentially next year’s season. Officials could not give an estimate of how long it would take or how much it would cost. Fitzwilliams said there is no contingency fund for emergencies like this. Ken Murphy, who runs the reservation system for the lake, said about 15,000 reservations will have to be cancelled due to the closure. He said Hanging Lake’s closure is a significant economic hit to the area but reminded people that other local tourist attractions remain open. The National Forest Foundation is starting a fund to which individuals and companies can donate to restore the Hanging Lake trail. With rain still in the forecast, Hanging Lake may still see additional damage if there are more mudslides in the area.
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Mudslides
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329-pound bull shark caught off Florida coast wins top spot in contest
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DESTIN, Fla. ( WKRG ) — Some fishermen may say it’s beginner’s luck when they hear angler Shelby Wagner’s shark story. Wagner claimed the top prize for private and overall shark fishing in the 73rd annual Destin Fishing Rodeo for a 329.2-pound bull shark. ‘Resolution reached’ after teen shot and killed at Tampa cop’s home “I still didn’t believe how big it was going to be until we got it in the boat,” Wagner said. Wagner said she and two friends decided spur of the moment to go hunt down a shark on Oct. 15 after seeing a 226-pound bull weigh-in for the tournament. “Every day after work in October go down and watch the weigh-in and get a beer and that type of thing but this is the first year I have participated in it,” Wagner said. The massive marine animal was caught about 30 miles off the Florida coast, marking the largest shark weighed in in more than 20 years. Some Florida state websites reporting issues and outages “We got lucky because one of our friends, we had some friends who were actually out diving, and they spotted the shark that we ended up catching,” said Wagner. Wagner considers herself new to saltwater fishing, but with Capt. Kyle Howard and his wife to help, the trio managed to wrangle in the bull shark in under an hour. Some of the pictures below could be considered graphic to some readers: “We kept the tail the head, or the jaws anyway and kept what we could. But the rest did kind of go back into the circle of life,” said Wagner. The Destin Fishing Rodeo came to a close on Oct. 31 with an award ceremony being held Friday, Nov. 5. The tournament takes place on the docks outside AJ’s Oyster Bar every year. You can learn more and see ways to sign up for next year by clicking here . See the full list of this year’s winners here. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) says bull shark fishing is allowed in state and federal waters. The limit is one shark per person each day and a limit of two sharks in one vessel.
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Awards ceremony
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1983 Ice Hockey World Championships
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The 1983 Ice Hockey World Championships took place in West Germany from 16 April to 2 May. The games were played in Munich, Dortmund and Düsseldorf. Eight teams took part, with each playing each other once. The four best teams then play each other once more with no results carrying over this time, and the other four teams played each other again to determine ranking and relegation. This was the 49th World Championships, and also the 60th European Championships. The Soviet Union became world champions for the 19th time, tying Canada, and won their 22nd European title. Promotion and relegation was effective for 1985 as the IIHF did not run a championship in Olympic years at this time. Nations that did not participate in the Sarajevo Olympics were invited to compete in the Thayer Tutt Trophy. Italy was relegated to Group B. Played in Tokyo 21–31 March. The United States was promoted to Group A, and both Romania and Yugoslavia were relegated to Group C. Additionally, the USA, Poland and Austria earned berths in the Olympics. Fourth place Norway had to play off against the Group C winner (the Netherlands) to fill the final Olympic spot. [1][2]
Played in Budapest 11–20 March. The champion earned the right to playoff against Group B fourth place for a berth in the Olympics. The Netherlands and Hungary were both promoted to Group B,
The final standings of the tournament according to IIHF:
The final standings of the European championships according to IIHF:
List shows the top skaters sorted by points, then goals.
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Sports Competition
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The explosion on Sunday evening targeted members of the minority sect leaving a mosque in this port city, and underlined the increasing threat faced by Shiites as Sunni militant groups target them in ever-bolder attacks.
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Members of Pakistan's Shiite community were digging Monday through the rubble of a massive car bombing in Karachi looking for loved ones as the death toll from the blast the day before reached 45, a Pakistani doctor said.
The explosion on Sunday evening targeted members of the minority sect leaving a mosque in this port city, and underlined the increasing threat faced by Shiites as Sunni militant groups target them in ever-bolder attacks.
At least 146 people were also wounded in the explosion and 32 of them remain in serious condition, said Pakistani surgeon, Jalil Qadir.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility but Sunni militant groups who do not consider Shiites to be true Muslims have carried out such attacks in the past.
This was the third mass casualty attack since the beginning of the year against Shiites. The first two killed nearly 200 people in the southwestern city of Quetta, which is home to many Hazaras. They are an ethnic group, mostly made up of Shiite Muslims, who migrated from Afghanistan more than century ago.
Those attacks were claimed by Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, a Sunni militant group known for its virulent hatred of Shiite Muslims.
Last year was one of the most deadly for Shiites in the country's history. According to Human Rights Watch, more than 400 Shiite Muslims were killed in targeted attacks across Pakistan in 2012. But with nearly 250 Shiites killed in the three attacks so far, this year is shaping up to be even more dangerous.
Pakistan's intelligence agencies helped nurture Sunni militant groups like Lashkar-e-Jhangvi in the 1980s and 1990s to counter a perceived threat from neighboring Iran, which is mostly Shiite. Pakistan banned Lashkar-e-Jhangvi in 2001, but the group continues to attack Shiites.
Karachi shut down on Monday for a day of mourning to honor the dead. Markets, gas stations and transportation were closed as security officials patrolled the streets.
At the site of the blast, family and friends were looking through the rubble for family members missing after the explosion.
"I am here to look for my relative," said Farzana Azfar. "People say he was here. But people say they have no idea about him. It appears that some bodies are still in the rubble."
With three massive attacks against Shiites in as many months this year, many Pakistanis are questioning why the government does not seem able to protect them.
"Go ask the sleeping government to wake up. Our brothers and sisters are dying every day. But the government is doing nothing. This government is sleeping," said Shagufta Rasheed.
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Armed Conflict
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1977 Aviateca Convair 240 crash
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The 1977 Aviateca Convair 240 airplane crash was a scheduled Aviateca passenger flight that crashed near Guatemala City, Guatemala on April 27, 1977. All 28 people on board survived, but the aircraft was destroyed. [1][2]
The aircraft, a Convair 240, took off from La Aurora International Airport (GUA/MGGT) in Guatemala City as scheduled. During the initial climb to cruise altitude, the number one engine suffered a failure due to oil loss. [citation needed] The crew was unable to feather the propeller, and was forced to attempt an emergency landing in rough terrain. [citation needed] The plane was destroyed in the attempt, but none of the 22 passengers and six crew on board were killed. [2]
The government of Guatemala initiated a full investigation. It found that the aircraft had undergone maintenance shortly before the flight. In order to perform the maintenance, it was necessary to disconnect a high-pressure oil hose from the engine cylinders. The hose was not correctly reattached, thus starving the engine of oil. [2]
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Air crash
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Continental Airlines Flight 1883 crash
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Continental Airlines Flight 1883 was a Boeing 757 that mistakenly landed on a taxiway at Newark Liberty International Airport on the evening of October 28, 2006. There were no reported injuries or damage, but the narrowly averted disaster was investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board, and caused the Federal Aviation Administration to reevaluate and modify air and ground safety procedures at and around Newark Airport.
Continental Airlines Flight 1883 was a regularly scheduled domestic passenger flight to Newark from Orlando International Airport in Orlando, Florida. On October 28, 2006, the flight was operated using a Boeing 757-224, a narrow-body twin-engine jet airliner (registration number N17105). Flight 1883 had 148 passengers and 6 crew on board. [4]
The first officer was flying the aircraft for the approach to Newark; it was his first time landing at Newark on runway 29. [5]
Flight 1883 approached Newark from the north, initially planning to land on runway 22L using an ILS instrument approach. As the flight descended to an altitude of about 8,000–9,000 feet (2,400–2,700 m), air traffic controllers instructed Flight 1883 to circle to land on runway 29. This required descending toward runway 22L, followed by a low altitude circling maneuver that required a right turn at only 900 feet (270 m) to line up for runway 29. [5]
As the flight crew descended and turned toward the airport, they observed four white path indicator lights, which they believed were located to the left of the runway. This was incorrect; the instrument procedures for Newark described these indicator lights as being to the right of the runway. [5] Keeping the indicator lights to their left, the pilots landed on 75 feet (23 m) wide taxiway Z at 18:31 EDT. The Boeing 757 jetliner, with a wingspan of 124 feet (38 m), touched down at 130 knots (240 km/h) near the intersection of taxiways Z and R, rolled out and came to a stop without incident. The aircraft then taxied to the gate where all passengers were deplaned. [4] According to the FAA, all lighting systems associated with runway 29 and taxiway Z were operating normally at the time. Runway 29, the intended landing runway, is 150 feet (46 m) wide and 6,800 feet (2,100 m) long. [2][6]
The incident was investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). [1]
As part of its investigation, the NTSB conducted a flight around the airport, to evaluate the lighting and visibility of the runways and taxiways. With the lighting of runway 29 and the taxiway set to the same brightness levels used during the incident, the NTSB noted that the lights for taxiway Z appeared slightly brighter than the lights for runway 29. During testing, however, the difference in lighting color (green centerline lights used on Z to indicate a taxiway, white centerline lights used on 29 to indicate a runway) was clearly visible to planes on approach. [4]
In its final report, the NTSB described the probable cause of the incident as:[5]
The flight crew's misidentification of the parallel taxiway as the active runway, resulting in the flight crew executing a landing on the taxiway. Contributing was the night lighting conditions. This rare event caused a reassessment of differential runway and taxiway lighting, as well as arrival procedures at Newark airport. [2][7] The NTSB noted in its report that as a result of the incident, the FAA instituted two types of changes in its procedures, in the air and on the ground, to reduce the chance of a recurrence. [1][4] In the air, the FAA added two new arrival procedures, GIMEE 19-7-1 and GRITY 19-7-1A, which it expects will provide improved navigational guidance to the runway under similar conditions. On the ground, the FAA and airport officials increased the difference between the lighting intensities of taxiways and runways, to enable pilots to better differentiate between them under low light conditions. [5][6]
Both pilots were grounded by the airline after the incident but were returned to duty after retraining. [2][6]
N17105 was later transferred to United Airlines in 2010, following their merger with Continental. It is still in service with United as of January 2021.
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Air crash
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Aeroflot Flight 101/435 crash
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Aeroflot Flight 101/435 was a Soviet domestic passenger flight that was hijacked on 19 December 1985 by the co-pilot en route from Takhtamygda to Chita. Co-pilot Shamil Alimuradov, who was a member of the Lezgian ethnic group and who was armed with a hatchet, demanded that captain Vyacheslav Abramyan divert the Antonov An-24 aircraft to China. [1]
The Soviet authorities allowed the crew to land in China and gave Abramyan the radio frequency of Qiqihar Airport. [1] The hijacker, however, demanded that the aircraft fly to Hailar, but due to a fuel shortage it landed in a rice field. While Alimuradov was apprehended by the Chinese, the passengers were allowed to travel to Hailar and Harbin. On 21 December the crew and all 46 passengers returned safely to the Soviet Union. According to the TASS news agency, the aircraft "had to alter its course as a result of forcible actions of an armed criminal on board and landed in the northeastern part of the People's Republic of China". [2] In 1970, following the hijacking of Aeroflot Flight 244, aircraft captains in the Soviet Union were allowed to possess arms on board; but Abramyan, despite being armed, decided not to resist as it required unbuckling his seat's safety harness. [1] However, he managed to contact air traffic control through a concealed button and report the hijacking. [1]
When the aircraft landed in China, it ran out of food and the temperature outside the aircraft was −25 °C (−13 °F). [1] The Chinese did not allow the crew to warm the cabin because it required starting the engines. [1] Later the passengers were given food and accommodation in a Hailar hotel. [1] The Soviet embassy in Beijing was notified of the incident. [1]
The next day the passengers were given questionnaires with only name and purpose of visit to be filled out. [1] The passengers were advised to write "tourist trip" as the purpose of the visit. [1] Then they visited Qiqihar, ate in a local restaurant and received Chinese vacuum flasks as gifts. [1]
The passengers returned from Harbin to Chita on a Tupolev Tu-134. [1] Shamil Alimuradov was found guilty after a one-day trial in the Harbin Intermediate People's Court, where he was represented by a Chinese lawyer,[3] and sentenced in March 1986 to eight years in prison. [1] After three years he was returned to the Soviet Union, where he was sentenced to five more years under Soviet laws. [1] The hijacked aircraft was flown back to the Soviet Union in January 1986.
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Air crash
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StanChart robber David Roach sentenced to jail in Singapore 5 years after high-profile bank heist and escape
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David Roach stole more than S$30,000 from a Standard Chartered bank branch in Holland Village. (Photo: Singapore Police Force) SINGAPORE: A man who robbed the Standard Chartered branch in Holland Village of S$30,450 before fleeing the country five years ago was sentenced by a Singapore court on Wednesday (Jul 7). Canadian David James Roach, 31, was given five years' jail and six strokes of the cane. He pleaded guilty to one charge of robbery and a second charge of transferring the criminal proceeds out of Singapore. The sentence came exactly five years after Roach robbed the bank on Jul 7, 2016, by handing over a note to a pregnant bank teller and placing his hand in a black sling bag on the counter, pretending it was a gun. The court heard that Roach entered Singapore on a social visit pass on Jun 29 that year in what was his first visit to the country. He had been travelling to various countries before that, his lawyer Anand Nalachandran told the court. After arriving in Singapore, he hatched a plan to rob a bank. He made reconnaissance trips to the targeted bank to familiarise himself with the environment and facilitate a smooth exit. He also selected a specific outfit to be used only for the robbery so he could dispose of it to evade detection. Roach stayed at three different hostels in the Chinatown area before the day of the robbery. On Jul 7, 2016, he left his hostel wearing dark jeans, a shirt and slippers and carrying a black haversack. Before entering the bank at Holland Avenue, he put on a grey sweater that he had bought at Bugis Junction for the robbery, a black cap and changed his slippers to shoes. He took out a black sling bag from his haversack and entered the bank with it. Roach approached the victim's counter at about 11am, placed his sling bag on the countertop and handed her a piece of paper that read: "This is a robbery. I have a gun in my bag." The woman read the note and looked at Roach, who put his hand into his bag to give the impression that he had a weapon. Closed-circuit television footage played in court on Wednesday showed Roach with his hand in his black bag on the counter, pointed towards the woman. There were other people in the bank at the time, including a colleague who was on the victim's left. Roach told the victim not to give him S$2 or S$5 notes. She believed that he had a gun and gave him cash of S$30,450 in an envelope, but also pressed the panic button to call for help. After Roach left, the victim stood up and shouted that Roach was a robber. Two of her colleagues gave chase but could not catch up with him. Roach changed his attire and took a taxi back to his hostel where he discarded the envelope and kept the cash. He went to Changi Airport, where he bought an AirAsia ticket for Bangkok and left at about 2.40pm. Thai authorities told Singapore police a few days later that they had detained Roach and charged him for carrying cash worth more than US$20,000 into Thailand. He was given other charges in Thailand for bringing in Singapore currency, which are restricted goods in the country, as well as converting the currency into Thai baht. He pleaded guilty in Thailand and was sentenced to 14 months' jail. He was released on Jan 10, 2018, and was taken to the United Kingdom en route to Canada a day later. Roach was detained while transiting through Britain as the Singapore Police Force had put in an arrest request. After several failed attempts to resist extradition, Roach was handed over to the Singapore Police Force. This was after Singapore authorities agreed to a request from the UK not to cane Roach if he was found guilty. The UK would not have extradited Roach otherwise, the Attorney-General's Chambers (AGC) and the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said in a joint statement on Wednesday night. "This is because the UK’s extradition laws would prohibit the extradition of Roach to Singapore in the absence of such an assurance," the agencies said. "This assurance given to the UK is in recognition of the differing views that countries have on corporal punishment and does not affect Singapore’s long-held view that such punishment does not constitute torture, or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, or contravene international law." The statement added: "The assurance was given solely to secure Roach’s extradition to Singapore to face justice for his crimes." While the punishment for robbery includes mandatory caning, "the Singapore Government is working through the necessary procedures to fulfil the assurance given to the UK Government", said the agencies. He was charged in court in March 2020 and has been in remand for more than a year. PROSECUTION ASKED FOR 6 YEARS' JAIL, 9 STROKES Deputy Public Prosecutor Marcus Foo asked for six years' jail and nine strokes of the cane, calling the case "a brazen act of robbery". The accused was "entirely unremorseful by virtue of repeatedly challenging extradition proceedings", he added. He objected to the defence's request to consider the time Roach had spent in custody in other jurisdictions, saying that a signal must be sent to those who want to abscond in hope of evading justice. He also pointed to aggravating factors in Roach's case, including his "precisely orchestrated plan". Defence lawyer Mr Nalachandran asked instead for four years' jail and the mandatory minimum of six strokes of the cane. He said Roach was having a major depressive episode at the time of the offences and presented an email from his travelling companion describing the state Roach was in before he came to Singapore from Thailand and before that, Nepal. He argued against the prosecutor's submissions that Roach had specifically targeted Singapore, saying that Roach had travelled for about a year before the offences to multiple countries. While acknowledging that no causal link was found between Roach's condition and the offences, the lawyer urged the court to consider the contributory link his depression had. "We are saying the state of mind he was in at the time prevented him from understanding what his options were," said Mr Nalachandran. "The clearer and simpler solution if he needed money was to ask for help or to work, but that didn't occur to him." The lawyer added that no physical harm was caused to anyone and that Roach did not have the intention to physically hurt or harm anyone. He also said Roach did not make any restitution not because he did not want to but because Thailand has seized the cash. The bank's losses were covered by insurance, he added. HE WAS AFRAID TO BE EXTRADITED: DEFENCE Mr Nalachandran said the fact that Roach challenged his extradition to Singapore from the United Kingdom did not mean he is not remorseful. "He was contemplating at that point in time what could have been 20 years in prison, and based on information he received about prison conditions, he was afraid. He didn't think he would survive, and in fact, at that point of his remand in the UK, he attempted to harm himself," he said. Mr Nalachandran said his client looks back and regrets the decisions he made. He has spent five years in custody since and urged the court to consider his "unique mitigating factors". A FUGITIVE FROM OUR LAWS: JUDGE District Judge Luke Tan said it is clear that Roach committed daylight robbery "in a brazen, yet calculated and targeted manner". He was "a fugitive from our laws" for five years, and while he did not actually have a gun at the time, the victim did not know that. "Placing his hand in a bag that would purportedly have contained a lethal weapon placed on the counter mere metres from the victim's body ... carries a menacing message," said Judge Tan. "The threat to the victim's life and limb was a real and immediate one. The victim was traumatised and suffered psychological harm as a result of the accused's actions." The victim felt fearful for some time after. She would sit in a room all by herself and cry for about three weeks, the court heard. Whenever she is reminded of the case, she feels uneasy and becomes scared again, the court heard. "Not a single cent was recovered nor restitution made," said the judge. "While counsel argued this was not possible because the money was seized and the loss ... was borne by insurers, this does not mean that no loss has been suffered. In this case, rather than the bank, it's the insurer that suffered the short end of the straw." He said Roach's depressive episode should not be seen to have much of an impact on his culpability and hence his sentence, and that his actions showed that the robbery was clearly deliberate and not committed on impulse. The judge backdated the jail term to the date of Roach's remand in Singapore in March 2020. For robbery, Roach could have been sentenced to between two and 10 years' jail and at least six strokes of the cane. For taking his criminal proceeds out of the country, he could have been jailed up to 10 years, fined up to S$500,000, or both.
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Bank Robbery
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Fatal crash on Bussell Highway in Ludlow claims two lives, three seriously hurt
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Two women have died and three people have been seriously injured after a crash on a notorious stretch of road on the Bussell Highway near Ludlow, in Western Australia's South West. Police said two cars and a truck were involved in the horrific collision about 3:45pm (WST) on Friday. It is not clear how the tragedy happened. One person was taken by helicopter to hospital in Perth and two others were transported to a local hospital. It's the second fatal crash on the highway in the past fortnight. Earlier this month, a married couple died in a crash on the same stretch of road, leaving their four children orphaned, while just days ago a two-year-old and a 57-year-old woman died in a double fatality on the nearby South West Highway. In an update on Saturday, police said the two women who died were aged 51 and 58. South West Police Superintendent Geoff Stewart said it was still not clear how the tragedy happened. "Two of the vehicles were travelling in opposite directions and that resulted in two people losing their lives," he said. "These crashes happen for a reason because of what people do, so please drive safely and drive to the conditions of the road." Superintendent Stewart said a number of locals stopped to help at the scene which he described as "confronting". Three people sustained non-life-threatening injuries in the crash. The Bussell Highway is the major road linking Bunbury to the popular holiday destinations of Busselton and Margaret River. A 2019 survey compiled by insurer RAC labelled the Bussell Highway the most dangerous road in regional WA due to its lack of overtaking opportunities and traffic separation. Road works are currently underway to widen a section of the highway between Capel and Busselton that is notoriously dangerous and busy, particularly on weekends and during holidays. Earlier this month, Superintendent Stewart told the ABC he was concerned about the coming tourist season, which was expected to be busier than usual. "We're going to see more vehicles and it concerns me greatly," he said. He urged people to drive to the conditions, avoid distractions, wear seatbelts and to avoid taking risks behind the wheel. The crash comes as thousands of school leavers head to the South West this weekend along the same stretch of road. Superintendent Stewart urged parents to talk to their teenagers about road safety before they left. "We're about to be inundated with thousands of novice drivers coming down here for leavers, " he said. "Mum and dad — tell them to drive safely, drive to the conditions. "We've got a number of extra police in the area — particularly on the roads — to make sure that people are doing the right thing and they're going to go home."
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Road Crash
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Guinea declares end of Marburg virus disease outbreak
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Brazzaville/Conakry – Guinea today declared the end of the Marburg virus disease outbreak having recorded no new cases over the past 42 days—two incubation periods, or the time between infection and the onset of symptoms. The virus was confirmed on 9 August, marking the first time the disease emerged in the country and in West Africa. Only one case—the index patient who was diagnosed with the virus posthumously—was recorded and more than 170 high-risk contacts monitored for 21 days. The disease, a highly infectious virus that causes haemorrhagic fever, was detected in southern Guinea, the same region where the initial cases of the February—June Ebola 2021 outbreak as well as the 2014—2016 West Africa Ebola outbreak were detected. Guinea’s health authorities, with support from World Health Organization (WHO), promptly mounted emergency response, deploying expert teams to carry out further investigations, step up disease surveillance, assess the risks and bolster community mobilization, testing, clinical care as well as infection prevention and control measures. “Without immediate and decisive action, highly infectious diseases like Marburg can easily get out of hand. Today we can point to the growing expertise in outbreak response in Guinea and the region that has saved lives, contained and averted a spill-over of the Marburg virus,” said Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa. While the outbreak has been declared over, flare-ups can occur. WHO continues to support Guinea in its efforts to remain vigilant, maintain surveillance and build capacity to respond quickly to a possible resurgence of the virus. Guinea’s health authorities, WHO experts and scientists are deepening investigations into the source of the Marburg outbreak, including analysis on bats as well as undertaking serological surveys to not only help understand how the virus emerged, but also help prevent potential future outbreaks. Marburg, which is in the same family as Ebola, is transmitted to people from fruit bats and spreads among humans through direct contact with the bodily fluids of infected people, surfaces and materials. Although there are no vaccines or antiviral treatments approved to treat the virus, supportive care – rehydration with oral or intravenous fluids – and treatment of specific symptoms, improves survival. A range of potential treatments, including blood products, immune therapies and drug therapies, are being evaluated. In Africa, previous outbreaks and sporadic cases have been reported in Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, South Africa and Uganda.
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Disease Outbreaks
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Mexican Indignados Movement
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The Mexican Indignados Movement (Movimiento por la Paz con Justicia y Dignidad) is an ongoing protest movement that began on 28 March 2011 in response to the Mexican Drug War, government and corporate corruption, regressive economic policies, and growing economic inequality and poverty. The protests were called by Mexican poet Javier Sicilia in response to the death of his son in Cuernavaca. [1] The protesters have called for an end to the Drug War, the legalization of drugs, and the removal of Mexican President Felipe Calderón. Protests have occurred in over 40 Mexican cities, including an estimated 50,000 in Cuernavaca and 20,000 in Mexico City. [2]
The protests continued in Cuernavaca on 5 May, when over 600 marched against the Drug War. [3]
The movement headed by Javier Sicilia may have had a role in the rejection in 2011 of a reform to the National Security Act that would have granted more attributions related to public security to the Mexican Armed Forces. [4]
Following Javier Sicilia's sons death on 28 March, and open letter "To Mexico's Politicians and Criminals"[5] a silent protest took place in Zócalo, Mexico City on 8 May. The protest began in Cuernavaca, Morelos where more than 200,000 protesters walked 100 km to Mexico City. [6] Some protesters were covered in blood, while others carried pictures of their dead family members. The slogans in these protests include "Estamos hasta la madre!" ("We've had it!") and "No más sangre" ("No more blood"). [7]
On September 5, 2011, President Felipe Calderon gave the fifth state of the nation address since his contested election in 2006. More than 50,000 people attended a demonstration to the Zócalo main square in Mexico City. More than half the square has been occupied since May 2011. [8]
Demonstrations occurred throughout Mexico as part of the 15 October 2011 global protests. Hundreds of people marched at the Monument to the Revolution at one of the smaller protests of the day. This protest was connected to the world Occupy Movement, which although centres around the world financial imbalance, carries multiple causes. The protest held in Mexico contained signs that read; No blood or STOP the war on drugs. [9]
The organizers of the main protests, also known as the Movement for Peace with Justice and Dignity were able to voice their concerns to the Federal Cabinet in June 2011. [10] In response to the protests anti-military concerns Calderon explained "Violence does not occur in a particular place because the Federal Forces are there. The opposite is true: the Federal Forces are there because that is where there is violence. It is the violence of criminals that kill and abduct rather than the state's response to combat them that has caused this situation. "[10]
The main goals of these protests are to 'pull the army off the streets',[11] decrease the death number specifically of innocent bystanders by ensuring the safety of citizens. [12] The protesters are not in favour of President Calderon's drug-cartel dismantling policies, namely his national security strategy creating 'militarization of the war on drugs', where cities became reminiscent of battle grounds between battling cartel and government militia. [7]
Despite the many deaths of political figures, the protesters brought to light the heavy civilian death toll, carrying pictures of loved ones who have been killed in the country's drug related violence. The numbers are not concrete due to lack of police records and discrepancy but estimates but the number to the tens of thousands. [13] This discrepancy points to police corruption as authorities are being accused of "under-reporting the number of deaths or deliberately changing the details of those killed to make it appear that the victims are criminals rather than civilians". [11]
Additionally, Calderon's National Security Strategy was heavily debated as it sanctions 'warrantless searches, the detention of suspects without charges; the collection of intelligence and counterintelligence "using any method; and electronic surveillance of citizens". [7]
A Nation Pact, signed 14 June was a collaborate effort to set out an outline for the civilians demands. These demands follow the outline of the goals of the protests and include ' giving more visibility to the victims of violence and their families, ending the administration's "militarized approach" to combating crime, punishing corruption and impunity, working to address the social and economic causes of organized crime. '[14]
The influence and growth of these protests have led to smaller demonstrations held in cities all over the world. Cities with Mexican sub-communities such as Barcelona, Buenos Aires, Madrid, Montreal, The Hague, and Frankfurt have held their own protests in support of crisis in Mexican cities. Protests were also coordinated in Washington, D.C., as U.S. policy supports and supplies Calderon's policies. [15]
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Protest_Online Condemnation
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Florida Commuter Airlines crash
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The Florida Commuter Airlines crash occurred on September 12, 1980, when Flight 65 operating from West Palm Beach, Florida to Freeport, Bahamas, crashed into the Atlantic Ocean near West End Settlement on Grand Bahama Island. The Douglas DC-3A used on the flight was not recovered and all 34 persons on board were killed. [1][2][3]
Investigators were unable to determine the cause of the crash, but determined that factors likely contributing to the crash included flight into a thunderstorm, unreliable instruments due to discrepancies in the pitot-static system, and lack of proper operational oversight by airline management. [1]
Florida Commuter Airlines Flight 65 was a scheduled passenger flight from Palm Beach International Airport in West Palm Beach, Florida to Grand Bahama International Airport in Freeport, Bahamas. [1]:1The flight was operated using a Douglas DC-3A (registration number N75KW). The aircraft had not been flown for about five weeks prior to the accident, and the pitot tubes were left uncovered during that period. [1]:6
The flight was operated by Captain William Selva Jr. (44), and First Officer Diana Leonard (25). The captain was described as an excellent pilot and very familiar with the route; the first officer had experience on the route and with flying the DC-3. [4] Two flight attendants and 30 passengers were also on board. [1]:1
A passenger had initially booked the flight for 13 friends and colleagues[5][6] on the airline's much smaller Piper Navajo, paying $400 for the trip. As the Navajo seats a maximum of 7 passengers, the airline decided to use the larger DC-3 aircraft. In order to fill the excess seats, the airline informally sold tickets for as low as $18 to airline business partners. [2] This resulted in large numbers of passengers who were acquaintances. [7][8]
Flight 65 was originally scheduled to depart at 19:30 Eastern Daylight Time. [a] At 19:40, Flight 65 attempted to depart, but the pilots aborted the takeoff because they had no airspeed indication. Passengers were deplaned. Maintenance determined that mud dauber nests were blocking the pitot tube openings for the plane's pitot-static system (which is used to measure airspeed). Maintenance cleared the nests, and a high speed taxi run verified the fix. Passengers reboarded, and the plane departed West Palm Beach at approximately 20:35. [1]:3
At 20:49, Flight 65 flew beyond the range of Miami radar. At 20:55, Flight 65 made contact with approach controllers at Freeport. At 20:58, the approach controller cleared Flight 65 to descend to 1,400 feet, and the first officer acknowledged the transmission. That was the last communication from the plane. [1]:4
The plane had no radar and no way to know how bad the weather was ahead of them. The control tower tried to radio the plane at 21:15, but received no response. [4] At 22:43 a United States Coast Guard C-131 reached the area and spotted debris and bodies floating in the water. There were heavy thunderstorms in the area. 16 bodies were recovered prior to the termination of the search on September 15, 1980. There were initial reports that some of the bodies were wearing life jackets, but later reports from the US Coast Guard indicated none of the recovered passengers were wearing life jackets. [5]
Eyewitness accounts state that the plane was flying low and plunged into the ocean shortly after passing through a cloud. [5]
The crash was investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). Wreckage from the aircraft was not recovered, except for seat cushions and plywood bulkheads found floating near the accident site. Regulations at the time did not require flight recorders to be installed on the aircraft, and no cockpit voice recorder or flight data recorder was installed. [1]:9 Due to lack of evidence, the NTSB was unable to determine the probable cause of the accident. [1]:1
However, the NTSB did identify factors which may have contributed to the crash. Such factors included "known thunderstorm activities and turbulence, preexisting discrepancies in the pitot-static system of the aircraft and their effect on the reliability of the flight instruments, and lack of operational control exercised by the airline's management." The originally scheduled pilot was unable to fly and the replacement pilot informed flight operations for Florida Commuter Airlines that he was not qualified to operate Part 135[b] flights since he was overdue for a 6-month instrument check. The Director of Operations assured the replacement pilot that the flight was to be conducted under Part 91[c] and he was not required to have a current 6-month instrument check. The pilot then agreed to fly a Part 91 flight. [1]
The NTSB determined that the method used to clear the pitot tubes was an "...improper maintenance procedure"[1] and may have contributed to the crash. The chief mechanic, Sam DeThomas, used a small screwdriver and a coat hanger instead of the required procedure to remove the mud dauber nest. DeThomas said the reason he didn't follow the proper procedure (which required disconnecting instruments from the panel and blowing compressed air through the pitot tubes) was passenger impatience. DeThomas told investigators that "I had the problem of people screaming that they wanted to get back on the airplane – not get back on the airplane, but they wanted to go. "[11]
During the investigation, investigators received "specific allegations" of the possibility of sabotage. [12] However, in its final report, the NTSB noted "Sabotage, or foul play, has been discounted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and has not been considered in this evaluation". [1]:13
A committee called the Raise the Plane Committee made plans to locate the aircraft and recover it from an estimated depth of 1800 feet. The recovery effort was abandoned after the committee was unable to secure enough money to locate the plane. [13]
The Airline was insured by Aviation Insurance Co., a representative of Lloyd's of London. Coverage included aircraft liability, property damage, bodily injury to passengers, and damage to passenger's property. [14] Several of the passenger's families sued the airline, but later settled for $35,000 per passenger.
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Air crash
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Archaeologists surveying the construction site at Xi’an Xianyang International Airport discovered more than 4,600 historical relics, including some 3,500 tombs
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Experts say the recent discovery will help to better understand thousands of years of Chinese civilization. An airport expansion project in China’s northwestern Shaanxi province is likely to provide historical context about the country’s past, after thousands of ancient artifacts were found in the area in recent weeks. Archaeologists surveying the construction site at Xi’an Xianyang International Airport discovered more than 4,600 historical relics, including some 3,500 tombs, domestic media reported Wednesday, citing a statement from the Shaanxi Provincial Cultural Heritage Administration earlier this week. The report included no details on the expansion plan, said to be the province’s largest-ever aviation project. “The scale of the archaeological site is huge,” said the statement, which did not specify the size but added that some 900 workers were involved in the excavation operations Feb. 4-17. Officials and workers at the excavation site in Xi’an, Shaanxi province, February 2021. From the website of the Shaanxi Academy of Archaeology Shaanxi is well-known for its archeological sites, including the famed terra-cotta army. The provincial capital, Xi’an, has also served as the seat of government for 13 royal lineages in Chinese history, including the Qin (221 B.C.-207 B.C.), Han (206 B.C.-220 A.D.), and Tang (618 A.D.-908 A.D.) dynasties. Li Ming, a researcher at the Shaanxi Academy of Archaeology, told Sixth Tone the area has been home to several important archaeological discoveries, and could have been a cemetery dating back to 2,000 years ago. The tombs, from the Warring States period as well as the Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties, can greatly enrich our knowledge of ancient cultures, he said. “The excavation area is quite big. … This kind of concentrated, large-scale excavation doesn’t happen often,” Li said. “There might be important archaeological discoveries and even some findings that may change the structure of our archaeological research.” In addition to this latest discovery, some 1,356 ancient tombs have been found around Xi’an since April during work on a new metro line, according to the city’s cultural relics bureau. This month, local archeologists also unearthed about 140 ancient items, including ceramic figurines, bronzes, and porcelain. In recent years, archeologists have made significant discoveries in Shaanxi that have provided important clues to civilizations dating back thousands of years. In just the past five years, more than 16,000 tombs and sites of historical significance have been discovered in the province, with over 40,000 cultural relics unearthed. (Header image: Workers at the excavation site in Xi’an, Shaanxi province, February 2021. From the website of the Shaanxi Academy of Archaeology)
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New archeological discoveries
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TEAM Linhas Aéreas Flight 6865 crash
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TEAM Linhas Aéreas Flight 6865 (TIM6865) was a short-haul domestic passenger service between Macaé and Rio de Janeiro that flew into a mountain on 31 March 2006. The aircraft, a Let L-410 Turbolet, was conducting a VFR approach to Macaé Airport with 17 passengers and 2 crew on board when it hit the top of Pico da Pedra Bonita in Brazil. Everyone on board was killed in the crash. Brazilian investigative team CENIPA concluded that the VFR approach was inadequate, stating that the visibility at the time was not good enough for a VFR approach. TEAM Linhas Aéreas Flight 6865 was operated by TEAM Linhas Aéreas, a domestic airline based in Rio de Janeiro. It was a daily scheduled domestic flight from Macaé in the Brazilian state of Rio de Janeiro to the city of the same name. The Let L-410 bore the Brazilian registration of PT-FSE and was carrying 19 people, consisting of 2 crew and 17 passengers. [1]
The flight took off from Macaé at 17:19 local time. At the time, it was operating under instrument flight rules (IFR) with an estimated time of arrival at 18:02. After taking off from Macaé, the crew stated their intention to cancel their IFR flight plan and added that they wanted to continue the flight under visual flight rules (VFR). This cancellation was approved by an air traffic controller. [1]
As bad weather approached, the crew descended to 2,000 ft. The crew had banked the aircraft to the left when it struck tree tops and slammed into the top of Pico da Pedra Bonita, near the municipality of Rio Bonito. The impact killed everyone on board. [1]
Brazilian investigation team CENIPA was involved in the investigation and conducted a 12-month-long investigation into the crash. The final report was released on 19 March 2007, concluding that the crash was categorized as Controlled Flight Into Terrain and was caused by pilot error. The condition of the weather in the area at the time was bad, and it was impossible to make a VFR flight, according to CENIPA. However, the crew of Flight 6865 intentionally changed from IFR to VFR while the visibility was limited. Before the flight, the crew didn't know the weather ahead of them. CENIPA also blamed the crew's poor decision-making, stating that there was inadequate assessment which caused them to fly at a lower altitude than a safe limit. [1]
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Air crash
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Worker trapped in Tasmanian gold mine named
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The worker trapped underground by a collapse at the Henty gold mine on Tasmania's west coast has been named as 44-year-old Cameron John Goss. Mr Goss was working in the Henty Gold Mine, near Zeehan and Queenstown in Tasmania's west, on Thursday when a section of the mine collapsed about 4:00am. His colleagues raised the alarm, with search teams using thermal imaging and a drone with 3D laser technology to survey the area where Mr Goss was working in a loader machine. On Friday, police said an assessment of the imagery led them to the conclusion that "with the amount of debris that has fallen into that scene, we think highly unlikely the missing miner has survived". Chief executive of mining services contractor PYBAR Brendan Rouse said rescuers on Friday had determined from scans that the loader was "half covered in rock", with the "cabin completely underneath the rock … [it is] unlikely someone could have survived that." Today, in a statement, police said: "Mr Goss, a local Queenstown resident, was well-loved on the West Coast, was experienced in the mining industry". "His loss is devastating to his family, friends and the local community, together to the wider mining industry across Australia." Police said the "recovery efforts continue at the mine site". The Henty mine operations extend to a depth of around 800 metres — it is unclear at what depth Mr Goss was trapped. The Henty Gold Mine opened in 1996 and is near the towns of Zeehan and Queenstown in Tasmania's West Coast region. The mine went into care and maintenance in 2015, but reopened in 2016 with 120 workers after being bought by Diversified Minerals. Queenstown cafe owner Stephen Daft said the loss of Mr Goss would be felt by the community. "It has a very sad rippling effect right through the community, we certainly all feel the pain of the family." "We always pull through it, but yeah … it can be pretty tough for families." The accident follows the deaths of three local miners at the Mount Lyell copper mine in Queenstown six years ago and the death of a Queensland man at the Grange resources mine in 2017. Mr Daft said the tragedy at Henty was a further blow for the mining town. "It never gets any easier, always a difficult time emotionally for those concerned." In a statement, police said the family of Mr Goss were "coming to terms with their loss and they request continued privacy at this time as they grieve".
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Mine Collapses
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Egypt hopes new discoveries from ancient times will tempt post-pandemic tourists
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CAIRO (AP) — Workers dig and ferry wheelbarrows laden with sand to open a new shaft at a bustling archaeological site outside of Cairo, while a handful of Egyptian archaeologists supervise from garden chairs. The dig is at the foot of the Step Pyramid of Djoser, arguably the world’s oldest pyramid, and is one of many recent excavations that are yielding troves of ancient artifacts from the country’s largest archaeological site. As some European countries re-open to international tourists, Egypt has already been trying for months to attract them to its archaeological sites and museums. Officials are betting that the new ancient discoveries will set it apart on the mid- and post-pandemic tourism market. They need visitors to come back in force to inject cash into the tourism industry, a pillar of the economy. But like countries elsewhere, Egypt continues to battle the coronavirus, and is struggling to get its people vaccinated. The country has, up until now, received only 5 million vaccines for its population of 100 million people, according to its Health Ministry. In early May, the government announced that 1 million people had been vaccinated, though that number is believed to be higher now. In the meantime, authorities have kept the publicity machine running, focused on the new discoveries. In November, archaeologists announced the discovery of at least 100 ancient coffins dating back to the Pharaonic Late Period and Greco-Ptolemaic era, along with 40 gilded statues found 2,500 years after they were first buried. That came a month after the discovery of 57 other coffins at the same site, the necropolis of Saqqara that includes the step pyramid. “Saqqara is a treasure,” said Tourism and Antiquities Minister Khaled el-Anany while announcing the November discovery, estimating that only 1% of what the site contains has been unearthed so far. “Our problem now is that we don’t know how we can possibly wow the world after this,” he said. If they don’t, it certainly won’t be for lack of trying. In April, Zahi Hawass, Egypt’s best-known archaeologist, announced the discovery of a 3,000-year-old lost city in southern Luxor, complete with mud brick houses, artifacts and tools from pharaonic times. It dates back to Amenhotep III of the 18th dynasty, whose reign (1390–1353 BCE) is considered a golden era for ancient Egypt. That discovery was followed by a made-for-TV parade celebrating the transport of 22 of the country’s prized royal mummies from central Cairo to their new resting place in a massive facility farther south in the capital, the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization. The Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh is now home to an archaeological museum, as is Cairo’s International Airport, both opened in recent months. And officials have also said they still plan to open the massive new Grand Egyptian Museum next to the Giza Pyramids by January, after years of delays. Entrance fees for archeological sites have been lowered, as has the cost of tourist visas. The government has for years played up its ancient history as a selling point, as part of a yearslong effort to revive the country’s battered tourism industry. It was badly hit during and after the popular uprising that toppled longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak and the ensuring unrest. The coronavirus dealt it a similar blow, just as it was getting back on its feet. In 2019, foreign tourism’s revenue stood at $13 billion. Egypt received some 13.1 million foreign tourists — reaching pre-2011 levels for the first time. But in 2020, it greeted only 3.5 million foreign tourists, according to the minister el-Anany. At the newly opened National Museum of Egyptian Civilization, Mahmoud el-Rays, a tour guide, was leading a small group of European tourists at the hall housing the royal mummies. “2019 was a fantastic year,” he said. “But corona reversed everything. It is a massive blow.” Tourism traffic strengthened in the first months of 2021, el-Anany, the minister, told The Associated Press in a recent interview, though he did not give specific figures. He was optimistic that more would continue to come year-round. “Egypt is a perfect destination for post-COVID in that our tourism is really an open-air tourism,” he said. But it remains to be seen if the country truly has the virus under control. It has recorded a total of 14,950 deaths from the virus and is still seeing more than a thousand new cases daily. Like in other countries, the real numbers are believed to be much higher. In Egypt, though, authorities have arrested doctors and silenced critics who questioned the government’s response, so there are fears that information on the true cost of the virus may have been suppressed from the beginning. Egypt also had a trying experience early on in the pandemic, when it saw a coronavirus outbreak on one of its Nile River cruise boats. It first closed its borders completely until the summer of 2020, but later welcomed tourists back, first to Red-Sea resort towns and now to the heart of the country — Cairo and the Nile River Valley that hosts most of its famous archaeological sites. Visitors still require a negative COVID-19 test result to enter the country. In a further cause for optimism, Russia said in April that it plans to resume direct flights to Egypt’s Red Sea resort towns. Moscow stopped the flights after the local Islamic State affiliate bombed a Russian airliner over the Sinai Peninsula in October 2015, killing all on board. Amanda, a 36-year-old engineer from Austria, returned to Egypt in May. It was her second visit in four years. She visited the Egyptian Museum, the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization and Islamic Cairo, in the capital’s historic center. She had planned to come last year, but the pandemic interfered. “Once they opened, I came,” she said. “It was my dream to see the Pyramids again.” El-Rays, the tour guide, says that while he’s seeing tourists starting to come in larger numbers, he knows a full recovery will not happen overnight. “It will take some time to return to before corona,” he said.
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New archeological discoveries
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Battle of Blair Mountain
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United States Army
The Battle of Blair Mountain was the largest labor uprising in United States history and the largest armed uprising since the American Civil War. [3] The conflict occurred in Logan County, West Virginia, as part of the Coal Wars, a series of early-20th-century labor disputes in Appalachia. Up to 100 people were killed, and many more arrested. The United Mine Workers saw major declines in membership, but the long-term publicity led to some improvements in working conditions. For five days from late August to early September 1921, some 10,000 armed coal miners confronted 3,000 lawmen and strikebreakers (called the Logan Defenders)[4] who were backed by coal mine operators during the miners' attempt to unionize the southwestern West Virginia coalfields when tensions rose between workers and mine management. The battle ended after approximately one million rounds were fired[5] and the United States Army, represented by the West Virginia Army National Guard led by McDowell County native William Eubanks,[6] intervened by presidential order. [7]
Since the founding of the United Mine Workers union in 1890, coal mines in Mingo County, West Virginia and its surrounds hired only non-union workers, and strictly enforced employment contracts that included union membership as grounds for immediate termination. [8] As miners in the area lived almost exclusively in company towns, termination also meant eviction. In 1920, the UMW's new president John L. Lewis sought to finally end the three-decade resistance[9] to unionization in the area. He was under increased pressure to do so from both miners elsewhere participating in the United Mine Workers coal strike of 1919, and from affected mine operators who were now being undercut by nonunion mines in West Virginia. [10]
This unionization push included efforts from Mother Jones, who gave fiery speeches at the age of 83, and Frank Keeney, president of the local union district. [11] Over 3000 Mingo County miners joined the union — and were summarily fired. [12] The coal companies then hired agents of the Baldwin–Felts Detective Agency to evict the families of their former employees. On May 19, 1920, a dozen Baldwin-Felts detectives, including Lee Felts, arrived in Matewan and connected with Lee’s brother Albert Felts. Albert and Lee were the brothers of Thomas Felts, the co-owner and director of the private detective agency. Albert had already been in the area and had tried to bribe Mayor Cabell Testerman with $500 to place machine guns on roofs in the town; Testerman refused. [13] That afternoon Albert and Lee along with 11 other men set out to the Stone Mountain Coal Co. property. The first family they evicted was a woman and her children; the woman's husband was not home at the time. They forced them out at gunpoint and threw their belongings in the road under a light but steady rain. The miners who saw it were furious, and sent word to town. [14]
As the agents walked to the train station to leave town, Police Chief Sid Hatfield and a group of deputized miners confronted them and told them they were under arrest. Albert Felts replied that in fact he had a warrant for Hatfield's arrest. [15] Testerman was alerted, and he ran out into the street after a miner shouted that Sid had been arrested. Hatfield backed into the store and Testerman asked to see the warrant. After reviewing it, Mayor Testerman exclaimed, "This is a bogus warrant." With these words, a gunfight erupted and Chief Hatfield shot the agent Albert Felts. Testerman and Albert and Lee Felts were among the ten men killed (three from the town and seven from the agency). [15]
This gunfight became known as the Matewan Massacre, and its symbolic significance was enormous for the miners. The seemingly invincible detective agency Baldwin-Felts had been beaten. [16] Chief Sid Hatfield became an immediate legend and hero to the union miners, and a symbol of hope that the oppression of coal operators and their hired guns could be overthrown. [17] Throughout the summer and into the fall of 1920 the union gained strength in Mingo County, as did the resistance of the coal operators. Sporadic shootouts occurred up and down the Tug River. In late June state police under the command of Captain Brockus raided the Lick Creek tent colony near Williamson. Miners were said to have fired on Brockus and Martin's men from the colony, and in response the state police shot and arrested miners, ripped the canvas tents to shreds and scattered the mining families' belongings. [18] Both sides were bolstering their arms, and Sid Hatfield continued to fuel the resistance, specifically by converting Testerman's jewelry store into a gun shop. [19]
On January 26, 1921, the trial of Hatfield for killing Albert Felts began. It was in the national spotlight and brought much attention to the miners' cause. Hatfield's stature and mythical status grew as the trial proceeded. He posed and talked to reporters, fanning the flames of his own legend. All men were acquitted in the end, but overall the union was facing significant setbacks. [20] Eighty percent of mines had reopened with imported replacements and ex-strikers who signed yellow-dog contracts to return to work. [21] In mid-May 1921 union miners launched a full-scale assault on non-union mines. In a short time the conflict had consumed the entire Tug River Valley. This "Three Days Battle" was finally ended by a flag of truce and the implementation of martial law. [22] From the beginning, the miners perceived the enforcement of martial law as one-sided. [23] Hundreds of miners were arrested; the smallest of infractions could mean imprisonment, while those on the side of "law and order" were seen as immune. [24] The miners responded with guerrilla tactics and sabotage. [24]
In the midst of this tense situation, Hatfield traveled to McDowell County on August 1, 1921 to stand trial on charges of dynamiting a coal tipple. Along with him traveled a good friend, Ed Chambers, and their wives. [25] As they walked up the courthouse stairs, unarmed and flanked by their wives, a group of Baldwin-Felts agents standing at the top of the stairs opened fire.
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Strike
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Trump threatens to rip up Iran nuclear deal unless US and allies fix 'serious flaws'
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Donald Trump has threatened to terminate the 2015 Iran nuclear deal if Congress and US allies fail to amend the agreement in significant ways.
In a vituperative speech on Friday that began by listing Iran’s alleged crimes over the decades, Trump announced he would not continue to certify the agreement to Congress, but stopped short of immediately cancelling US participation in the deal.
“Based on the factual record I have put forward, I am announcing today that we cannot and will not make this certification. We will not continue down a path whose predictable conclusion is more violence, more terror and the very real threat of Iran’s nuclear breakout,” Trump said at the White House.
Trump put the onus on Congress and US allies to agree to means to toughen the conditions on Iran – and to make restriction on the country’s nuclear programme permanent. He made clear that if those negotiations fail to reach a solution – which is almost certain – he would unilaterally pull the US out of the international agreement, a move likely to lead to a return to nuclear confrontation in the Middle East.
“In the event we are not able to reach a solution working with Congress and our allies, then the agreement will be terminated,” Trump said. “It is under continuous review and our participation can be cancelled by me, as president, at any time.”
The president also announced he had ordered the US Treasury to impose new sanctions on Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a backer of terrorist groups in the region, although the state department did not designate the IRGC as a terrorist group itself. The international backlash to Trump’s speech was immediate. The leaders of the UK, France and Germany – also signatories of the nuclear deal – issued a statement vowing their commitment to the agreement.
The EU foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, insisted that the agreement, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) was working, and that no single country or leader could terminate it.
“The president of the United States has many powers, but not this one,” Mogherini told reporters in Brussels.
Yukiya Amano, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN’s nuclear watchdog, issued a statement restating the agency’s finding that Iran was abiding by its obligations.
Within minutes of Trump’s speech, Iran’s president, Hassan Rouhani, went live on state television.
He said: “What we heard tonight was a repeat of the same baseless accusations and insults that we’ve heard over the past 40 years. It had nothing new; we weren’t surprised because for 40 years we’ve got used to these words. With your baseless speech you made our people more united.”
Rouhani went on: “Today, the US is more isolated than ever against the nuclear deal, [more] isolated than any other time in its plots against people of Iran.”
The Iranian president shrugged off Trump’s call for constraints on Iran’s ballistic missile programme.
“Our missile and defence activities have always been important to us for our defence, and today it’s more important,” Rouhani said. “We have always made efforts to produce weapons that we need, and from now on we will double our efforts. These weapons are for our defence and we will continue strengthening our defence capabilities.”
Trump received rapid support, meanwhile, from Israel and Saudi Arabia, who have emerged as his own major allies on the world stage.
Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said he wanted to “congratulate President Trump for his courageous decision today” and for “boldly confront[ing] Iran’s terrorist regime”.
For European diplomats seeking to salvage the JCPOA, the days leading up to Trump’s long-awaited speech were a roller-coaster. Initially fearful that Trump could immediately trigger a possible collapse of the deal, the Europeans were buoyed when they were briefed that Trump would not call for the reimposition of sanctions by Congress. However, in the wake of the president’s speech on Friday, the JCPOA’s survival looked tenuous.
In the speech, Trump declared: “I am directing my administration to work closely with Congress and our allies to address the deal’s many serious flaws so the Iranian regime can never threaten the world with nuclear weapons.”
He noted that congressional leaders were already drafting amendments to legislation that would include restrictions on ballistic missiles and make the curbs on Iran’s nuclear programme under the 2015 deal permanent, and to reimpose sanctions instantly if those restrictions were breached.
However, any such changes would need 60 votes in the US Senate to pass, and Democrats are high unlikely to give them their backing. Even if they did pass into law, the restrictions would represent a unilateral effort to change the accord that would not be acceptable to the other national signatories.
Hours earlier, the US secretary of state, Rex Tillerson had acknowledged that it was very unlikely that the JCPOA agreement could be change, but suggested that the issue of Iran’s ballistic missile programme and the time limits on some of the nuclear constraints in the deal, could be dealt with in a separate agreement that could exist alongside the JCPOA.
Trump, however, made no reference to such a way out of the looming impasse.
He appeared to go out of his way to goad Iran, even linking Tehran with al-Qaida and the attacks on US embassies in 1998. He referred to Tehran as a “fanatical regime” and a “dictatorship”. He even referred to the body of water almost universally known as the Persian Gulf as the Arabian Gulf.
“How come a president has not yet learned the name of a famous gulf in the world, the same Persian Gulf that US vessels always pass through aimlessly?” a riled Rouhani said in his response.
“He needs to study geography, but also international law. How come an international agreement that is endorsed by a UN resolution, which is a UN document … how a US president can annul such an international document?”
The exchange of insults mirrored Trump’s continuing spat with the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, adding personal animus to already tense situations on opposite sides of the world.
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Tear Up Agreement
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America’s biggest companies are flourishing during the pandemic and putting thousands of people out of work
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As the coronavirus pandemic devastated small businesses and plunged millions of Americans into poverty this summer and fall, executives at some of the country’s largest corporations sounded surprisingly upbeat. “I don’t think we’ve ever been more excited or energized about our prospects,” PayPal finance chief John Rainey said on a November conference call. “These are times when the strong can get stronger,” Nike chief John Donahoe told analysts in September. “With all that’s happening around the world, it’s really unfortunate,” said Jensen Huang, chief executive of graphics chip maker Nvidia, during an August earnings call. “But it’s made gaming the largest entertainment medium in the world.” With few exceptions, big businesses are having a very different year from most of the country. Between April and September, one of the most tumultuous economic stretches in modern history, 45 of the 50 most valuable publicly traded U.S. companies turned a profit, a Washington Post analysis found. [Stimulus nears finalization, days before government shutdown] Despite their success, at least 27 of the 50 largest firms held layoffs this year, collectively cutting more than 100,000 workers, The Post found. The data reveals a split screen inside many big companies this year. On one side, corporate leaders are touting their success and casting themselves as leaders on the road to economic recovery. On the other, many of their firms have put Americans out of work and used their profits to increase the wealth of shareholders. When the coronavirus struck, big companies promised to help battle the crisis. Dozens of prominent chief executives, who last year signed a public pledge to focus less on shareholders and more on the well-being of their employees and broader communities, appeared eager to make good on that promise. Many suspended payments to investors and vowed not to hold layoffs. Then, 21 big firms that were profitable during the pandemic laid off workers anyway. Berkshire Hathaway raked in profits of $56 billion during the first six months of the pandemic while one of its subsidiary companies laid off more than 13,000 workers. Salesforce, Cisco Systems and PayPal cut staff even after their chief executives vowed not to do so. Companies sent thousands of employees packing while sending billions of dollars to shareholders. Walmart, whose CEO spent the past year championing the idea that businesses “should not just serve shareholders,” nonetheless distributed more than $10 billion to its investors during the pandemic while laying off 1,200 corporate office employees. Kirk Hanson, an author and longtime professor of business ethics, says it’s incumbent upon the United States’ top corporations to help pull the country through the worst recession in decades, particularly given the outsized profits they’re enjoying. “There is an obligation on the part of the largest and most successful businesses to help buffer the human impact of the crisis,” said Hanson, who now is a senior fellow at Santa Clara University’s Markkula Center for Applied Ethics. Instead, Hanson said, they have contributed to the country’s growing economic divide. The Post contacted all 27 large firms that held layoffs this year. Many said the cuts were not related to the pandemic, but instead a necessary part of broader “restructuring” plans, where companies shift spending from declining lines of business to growing ones. In some cases, these plans were decided before the pandemic. Several emphasized that they hired more people this year than they let go. Anne Hatfield, a spokeswoman for Walmart, said everyone the retailer laid off during the pandemic was offered another job in the company, though she declined to say whether the new roles held the same level of pay and responsibilities as the jobs that were eliminated. Others pointed to the work they have done to help ease the pain in their communities, such as expanding health and family benefits to employees and distributing personal protective equipment to front-line workers. Cisco gave $53 million in cash and PPE to vulnerable populations and PayPal pledged $530 million in investments in minority-owned small businesses. In an email, Berkshire Hathaway chief executive Warren Buffett said he leaves all decisions at his subsidiary companies to the management of those companies. Airplane parts maker Precision Castparts, which Berkshire Hathaway acquired in 2015, was forced to cut staff due to a severe drop in demand for new planes, he said. Buffett added that he has given $2.9 billion of his personal wealth to charitable causes this year. The majority of the largest American corporations have prospered in the coronavirus economy. Millions of consumers spent more time and money online during government-mandated lockdowns, watching Netflix, viewing ads on Google and Facebook pages, filling Amazon shopping carts and turning the video game business into a bonanza for Nvidia, Microsoft and others. (Amazon founder and chief executive Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post.) Shoppers began splurging on cleaning supplies, hobbies, home cooking and home improvements, driving record growth at big-box stores including Home Depot and Walmart. Even in the hardest-hit sectors, such as restaurants, travel and hospitality, the biggest companies were largely insulated from the worst of the virus’s reckoning. While independent restaurants struggled to survive, McDonald’s ramped up its takeout and drive-through operations, rolling out new apps and technology catering to on-the-go orders. In many industries, the giants devoured market share ceded by small businesses, who lacked the resources to keep stores open during unpredictable swings in customer demand. While the 50 largest companies averaged 2 percent revenue growth over the first nine months of 2020, small business revenue shrank 12 percent over the same period, according to data collected by software provider Womply from thousands of small firms. Economists estimate at least 100,000 small businesses permanently closed in the first two months of the pandemic alone. “Once you kill competition, it’s always hard to restore it,” said Matt Stoller, director of research at the left-leaning American Economic Liberties Project. “This is an extinction-level event for small businesses.” As the pandemic wore on, many companies kept their promises not to lay off staff. Others saw the recession as a good excuse for trimming labor costs. In April, cigarette maker Philip Morris International made a public commitment to forgo layoffs during the pandemic to help support the “job security and peace of mind” of its 73,000 workers. “The company will not terminate the employment of any [Philip Morris] employee during this crisis period, unless for cause, and the company has also put on hold any restructuring plan,” Philip Morris said in a news release. But in June, as infection rates continued to rise, Philip Morris said in a regulatory filing it would eliminate up to 440 workers in New York and Switzerland as part of a restructuring. In a statement, Philip Morris spokesman Sam Dashiell said the company resumed the restructuring at its Swiss operations center because it determined “prolonging it further would be unfair to everyone.” He declined to explain why the New York layoffs resumed. Current and former employees at some of these companies say they weren’t surprised to see their leaders renege on promises to retain staff through the pandemic. They didn’t put too much faith in those promises in the first place. “The choices that they make are governed by, essentially, maximizing shareholder value,” said Gary Walker, a systems engineer who was one of 1,000 employees Salesforce cut in late August. At the onset of the pandemic, Chuck Robbins described the need to keep workers employed as a moral imperative. The chief executive of Cisco, a $180 billion software and networking giant, said large companies like his shouldn’t lay off workers during a global crisis because, even in a bad year, they had the resources to maintain payrolls. “Why would we contribute to the problem?” Robbins asked in an interview with Bloomberg News published in April. “To me, it’s just silly for those of us who have the financial wherewithal to absorb this, for us to add to the problem.” Four months later, Cisco began implementing a plan to lay off thousands of employees. The majority of Americans who lost jobs this year were laid off from small businesses, many of which had no option but to cut workers to stave off financial collapse. But larger companies actually laid off a greater portion of their workforces over that period — 9 percent for large firms vs. 7 percent for smaller firms — despite having more resources to survive the downturn. Their layoffs were quietly acknowledged in regulatory filings and shrouded in corporate jargon, like an “involuntary reduction of associates” at Coca-Cola; and “operating model changes to streamline and speed up strategic execution” at Nike. The Salesforce layoffs punctuated one of the software giant’s fastest periods of growth and followed frequent pledges by its chief executive to assist with coronavirus relief. Marc Benioff, a self-styled leader of the corporate philanthropy movement, said in a series of tweets in late March that Salesforce pledged “not to conduct any significant lay offs over the next 90 days.” He suggested all CEOs should take a similar “90 day pledge” and encouraged all Salesforce employees to keep supporting hourly workers, such as housekeepers and dog walkers, who do work for them. Making good on that pledge was not hard for Salesforce, a company sitting on more than $9 billion in cash and short-term investments. It generated $2.7 billion in profit during the first six months of the pandemic, as businesses flocked to Salesforce’s tools for helping them manage operations remotely. The layoffs, about five months after Benioff’s tweet, were part of a plan to “reallocate resources” including “eliminating some positions that no longer map to our business priorities,” the company said in a statement. They were announced one day after the software giant announced its biggest quarter of profit and revenue in history, sending its stock soaring 30 percent. “Of course I’m cheesed about it. How could you not be?” said Walker, who was laid off after 12 years at the company. “It’s not great timing.” Walker, 48, who lives with his wife and two dogs in Herndon, Va., said he appreciates Salesforce giving him generous severance benefits and understands large companies sometimes have to cut labor costs to please investors. Cheryl Sanclemente, a Salesforce spokeswoman, said in a statement the company offered to help all of the people who were affected find new jobs, including in some 12,000 openings it expects to fill over the next year. She added that the company has provided protective equipment to health-care workers throughout the pandemic and gave $30 million to organizations fighting the covid-19 crisis. Salesforce pointed out that the company did make good on his promise not to hold layoffs within 90 days of his tweet. Similarly, Wells Fargo explained that it never committed to a time frame when it pledged to pause layoffs — which the company referred to in a statement as “job displacements” — back in March. “At that time, we said we would continue to evaluate and did not pledge to pause job displacements for a specific period of time,” spokeswoman Beth Richek said in an email. “Starting in early August, we resumed regular job displacement activity.” She declined to comment on the number of workers who were affected, though sources told Bloomberg News the San Francisco-based bank was cutting the first 700 workers in what is expected to be a massive restructuring impacting tens of thousands of jobs over the coming years. [LinkedIn cut nearly 1,000 jobs as pandemic pain comes to white-collar workers] Then there’s Cisco, which started the year determined not to “add to the problem” of pandemic unemployment, in the words of its CEO. Despite benefiting from a quarantine-fueled boom in videoconferencing tools including its Webex software, the company lost ground to Zoom and reported slowing growth in its cloud computing business. Robbins, who spent the first few months of the pandemic repeatedly reassuring staff that their jobs would be safe, by summer acknowledged a round of cost-cutting was needed, according to three former employees who were in meetings with Robbins this year and left the company within the past three months. The former employees — two who left voluntarily, one who was laid off — all spoke on the condition of anonymity while discussing their former employer. Cisco began a restructuring plan to eliminate $1 billion in costs, including a campaign to ask employees to take voluntary retirement packages or a 20 percent pay cut in exchange for working four days a week, the people said. In addition to the voluntary departures, Cisco began conducting involuntary layoffs in the early fall. Jennifer Yamamoto, a Cisco spokeswoman, said the company is increasing its investments in certain business areas and reducing investments in others. Before publication of this story, Yamamoto declined to specify the number of people the company laid off. After publication, she revealed Cisco had “restructured” about 3,500 workers. However, two of the former employees said they heard directly from managers at the company that Cisco planned to cut at least 8,000 employees, or more than 10 percent of its workforce. Asked about Robbins’s statements from earlier this year, Yamamoto said the CEO “did not commit to no layoffs, but rather said we would preserve what we could depending on how the pandemic played out, and he would then assess the needs of the business every 60 days before making any decisions. As the pandemic continued, things changed in the macro landscape and we had to make some tough choices.” Nowhere has the disparity between big and small businesses ballooned during the pandemic the way it has for restaurants. Just ask Dave Mainelli. For more than two decades Mainelli and his family have owned and run Julio’s Restaurant, a Tex-Mex joint in Omaha. His wife headed operations, his brother was a manager, and his son, a bartender. Customers held birthday parties and family reunions, plus wedding and funeral receptions there. When the pandemic hit and business started to falter, Mainelli said he tried to keep Julio’s open because of the difficulty of telling many of his longtime employees that it was over. He cut back on hours and eventually on staff, dropping from 40 to a dozen as he tried to survive on delivery and pickup. But with thin margins and debts beginning to mount, he closed Julio’s for good in June, after 25 years in business. “There were a lot of tears. It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever been through and I‘ve been through a lot of hard stuff,” he said. While 1 in 6 restaurants permanently closed during the first months of the pandemic, according to the National Restaurant Association, big chains have ramped up their drive-through operations and rolled out new apps and menus catering to on-the-go orders. Maybe no one has done this better than McDonald’s, which was battered by the pandemic in the spring but has since been gobbling up more business by the day, using its scale to outpace hundreds of thousands of competing restaurants. Analysts say McDonald’s has leveraged its advantages by quickly simplifying its menu, allowing its locations to serve more customers in a shorter time without them having to enter its restaurants. Deliveries and mobile app use is growing. Drive-through orders grew to account for 90 percent of McDonald’s sales during the pandemic, up from two-thirds of sales before this year. “The large companies have these asset bases that the smaller companies cannot compete with, particularly now,” said Lauren Silberman, an analyst at Credit Suisse. Contrast that with the options available to Mainelli. To boost delivery sales he partnered with a local service in Nebraska, but it cut into profits dramatically. “When you rely on delivery, your margins get shrunk because you’re paying them a chunk,” he said. McDonald’s and other chains have long focused on data analysis and app development, capabilities they are now employing during the pandemic. Its digital drive-through menus allow restaurants to customize menu items for factors such as time of day, the weather and current restaurant traffic. It is also testing tools for tailoring menus more specifically to customers as they arrive. So, if you have been ordering a Big Mac meal with fries and a large Sprite since the beginning of the pandemic, McDonald’s could begin identifying you through the app running on your phone and start displaying that meal more prominently when you pull up to the drive-through. [Walmart and McDonald’s have the most workers on food stamps and Medicaid] Not every McDonald’s franchise has flourished. But for those facing a cash crunch, the company put up nearly $1 billion to allow franchise owners to defer rent and royalty payments until their business returned, a luxury few other restaurant owners enjoy. “Because of our scale and financial stability, we were able to quickly provide franchisees with financial support when they needed it most,” Kevin Ozan, McDonald’s chief financial officer, told investors in November. Company spokespeople declined to comment further. The result for McDonald’s shareholders has been a gift better than the plastic toy at the bottom of any Happy Meal. In October, shares of its stock reached an all-time high — up 27 percent since the beginning of March — and the company increased its dividend 3 percent. The gulf between McDonald’s and most independent restaurants is staggering. Restaurant employment is down 17 percent during the pandemic, according to the Independent Restaurant Coalition, with more than 2 million restaurant workers out of a job heading into winter. Many of the owners that are permitted to remain open are doing so by slashing staff and costs and focusing on takeout as much as possible. At Kayla’s Kitchen and Closet, located in tiny Park Falls, Wis., the menu offers soups, salads and a spicy blackberry bacon panini. Owner Kayla Myers also operates a clothing store next door offering Levi’s jeans, Minnetonka moccasins, children’s clothing and tuxedo rentals. She said she has been boosting sales with Facebook posts. But she closed off half of her six tables for social distancing measures and cut hours. “You don’t have any point in opening if people can’t even come in,” she said.
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Organization Closed
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Swarm of Bees Invade Dodger Stadium, Blanket Left Field
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Stadium security will gladly take down a grown, naked man running on the field, but nobody—I repeat, nobody—wants to deal with a throng of buzzing bees at the stadium.
A swarm of the insects descended on Dodger Stadium on Sunday night, camping out near the left field pavilion prior to the Dodgers ’ matchup against the Pittsburgh Pirates .
Matt Fisher of FanSided.com reports further details of the bee invasion and its removal:
Another swarm was picked up by ESPN cameras hanging out near the Dodgers dugout and actually surrounding one of the field mics. The bees were taken care of via the usual methods, spray guns with insecticide and water being wielded by a couple of brave souls, but this isn’t the first time bees have played havoc with a Major League Baseball game.
Indeed, this is isn't the first time this season the insects have visited an MLB game. Bees managed to delay a game between the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox in spring training. Boston left fielder Mike Carp alerted officials to the sudden infestation, and a team of stadium employees went in to treat the area with insecticide. Mark Teixeira wanted to take the appeasement route and forestall the insects' wrath with honey.
Screenshot via MLB.com
A similar swarm attacked Dodger Stadium in 2009 , covering the left field bleachers during a Dodgers- Cubs game and forcing security to clear the area.
These invasions leave more questions than answers: Why baseball stadiums? Is it the sweet smell of Cracker Jack? And why always left field?
We may never know, but if you’re heading out to the bleachers at an outdoor ballpark this summer, prepare a will and bring an economy-size can of bug spray. There’s no such thing as being over-prepared when it comes to bees.
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Insect Disaster
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‘South Park’ Creators Sign Massive New $900 Million Deal With ViacomCBS
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The creators of “South Park” have signed a new deal with ViacomCBS Inc. that will pay them more than $900 million over the next six years, one of the richest deals in TV history.
Trey Parker and Matt Stone will use the money to make new episodes of “South Park” for Viacom’s Comedy Central network and to create several spinoff movies for the company’s Paramount+ streaming service, the parties said Thursday. Their first project under the new deal will be a movie set in the world of “South Park” that will debut some time before the end of the year.
The deal with Parker and Stone is the clearest sign yet of ViacomCBS’s growing commitment to Paramount+. The streaming service trails the likes of Netflix and Disney+, but has added millions of subscribers since it rebranded in March. ViacomCBS is looking to the addition of “South Park” movies to accelerate its growth. The series remains the most popular TV show on Comedy Central.
Chris McCarthy, president and chief executive officer of the MTV Entertainment Group, approached Parker and Stone about extending their deal with Comedy Central and getting some “South Park” programming that would be exclusive to Paramount+. The company’s current strategy is to use its biggest hits on cable to lure customers to its streaming services. Earlier this year, McCarthy signed a new deal with Taylor Sheridan, the creator of the hit cable show “Yellowstone,” to create a spinoff show that will stream on Paramount+.
At the end of June, ViacomCBS had more than 42 million subscribers across its streaming services, which include Paramount+, BET+ and Showtime.
As giant media and technology companies compete in the streaming wars, the value of franchises like “South Park” has soared to record heights. Few, if any, production teams have managed to capitalize on the changes in the home entertainment landscape better than Parker and Stone, who own 50% of all online rights to the show.
Their new deal, which runs through 2027, covers six more cycles of “South Park” and includes 14 made-for-streaming movies.
“We did a ‘South Park’ movie in 1999, and we’ve never done another one because the show has been so satisfying,” Stone said in an interview from his home in New York. “Now we’re older, and the idea of what streaming movies can be is pretty promising.”
When Parker and Stone first created “South Park,” based on a short film they made in college, they were nervous that nobody would watch — or, alternately, that they’d be run out of town due to its outlandish humor. But the show, which debuted in 1997, was an instant hit, delivering millions of viewers and putting Comedy Central on the map. By the third season, they had stopped getting any notes from the network on how to improve it.
“We do whatever we want, and they are pretty supportive of it,” Stone said. “We’re the luckiest guys in TV in that way.”
“South Park” has now been on the air for 24 years, making it one of the longest-running series in TV history, outliving every program on Comedy Central except for “The Daily Show.” Along the way, Parker and Stone have maintained the quality of the series, not to mention their sanity, in part, by sticking to a schedule. They only make between 6 to 10 episodes a year. Each season is produced over the course of a few months in Los Angeles.
The onset of the pandemic upended their routine. Last year, Parker and Stone didn’t produce a new season of “South Park.” They did manage to produce a pair of specials, which inspired them to think through some bigger ideas for “South Park.” They hadn’t made a movie since 2004’s “Team America: World Police.” But what if they made a bunch of longer-form “South Park” episodes? Stone is reluctant to use the phrase “cinematic universe,” a term worn thin by Marvel and its many imitators. But, in many ways, that is what Parker and Stone are now creating. The coming Paramount+ movies will expand on the existing world of “South Park” and introduce new concepts and characters.
Parker and Stone have always seen themselves as part independent filmmakers, part entrepreneurs. Early on, they were quick to recognize the power of the internet. While negotiating a new deal with Viacom in 2007, Parker and Stone proposed creating a website where fans could watch recent episodes of the show for free. Stone credits the resulting site, South Park Studios, with keeping their young fan base engaged while also curbing piracy.
As part of that arrangement, negotiated by their long-time lawyer Kevin Morris, Parker and Stone secured a 50% stake in all future online deals for the show. Their stake, once worth pennies, is the basis of Park Country, a company which they own outright, that is now valued at more than $1 billion.
Parker and Stone eventually shut down South Park Studios when Viacom licensed the streaming rights for the show to Hulu in an $87.5 million deal. Hulu later reupped that agreement for about $110 million.
In 2018, the streaming rights to “South Park” once again came up for auction. At the time, Viacom was in the process of merging with CBS, which operated All Access — the streaming service that would later be rebranded as Paramount+. HBO Max swooped in and outbid All Access, offering $500 million over five years.
The deal with HBO Max sent one of Viacom’s most popular shows to one of its fiercest streaming competitors. It also increased the value of the “South Park” library to a level few shows ever reach.
“That was one of the better things that happened in our financial life,” Stone said. “We took it to market and established its worth. That’s rarely done right now.”
The team at Park County is now focused on their next big deal overseas. Over the years, Viacom has licensed the rights to “South Park” to different streaming services in different territories — a hodgepodge of arrangements that currently generates more than $10 million a year in sales. Park County’s chief financial officer, Keith Pizzi, is aiming to consolidate everything in one massive overall deal for the international streaming rights.
Earlier this year, Stone and Parker established a $600 million credit facility with HPS Investment Partners LLC that appraised their library at close to $1 billion, according to people familiar with the terms of the deal. In addition to the movies for Paramount+, Parker and Stone are going to use that money to invest in a wide range of creative endeavors, including a documentary series, a weed company and a 3D video game that is set in the world of “South Park.”
Stone and Parker are also currently building a team of “deep fake artists,” who specialize in creating media in which an image that looks like a real person is inserted into an existing video clip. They have spent the past couple of years working on a “deep fake” movie, one of several films they have in development, including a musical.
“‘South Park’ pays the bills and then some,” Stone said. “Trey and I have used that to pay for other stuff we want to do.”
Stone said the long-term plan is to sell their stake in “South Park,” as well as other assets like “The Book of Mormon.” In the current frenzied market, such a package would likely fetch a high price. Recently, Reese Witherspoon sold a majority stake in her production company Hello Sunshine to a new firm run by former top Walt Disney Co. executives in a deal valued at about $900 million — without any assets on par with “South Park” changing hands.
“We’re proud of the fact that years ago we said, ‘Let’s put the show online and build that audience,’” Stone said. “What a great time to be an independent dealer. This is something we’ve worked on a long time, and life did come our way.”
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Sign Agreement
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Connellan air disaster crash
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The Connellan air disaster was a suicide attack at Alice Springs Airport, Northern Territory, Australia, on 5 January 1977. The attack was carried out by a disgruntled former employee of Connellan Airways (also known as Connair), who flew a Beechcraft Baron into the Connair complex at the airport. The attack killed the pilot and four other people and injured four more, two of them seriously. [1][2]
The disaster is one of only two aircraft suicide attacks in Australia's history, the other being in 1982 at Bankstown Airport. [3][4]
The perpetrator, Colin Richard Forman, was 23 years old at the time of the attack. [1] He had migrated from the United Kingdom to Australia alone in the mid 1960s, but had trouble adjusting and, in 1974, tried to forge a Qantas ticket back to England. The forgery was detected and Forman had a conviction recorded against him. [1]
Forman obtained a commercial pilot's licence in November 1975, and he started flying for Connair in January 1976. [1] The ticket forgery soon came to light and he was dismissed after seven weeks. He then found another job at Ord Air Charter in Wyndham, Western Australia, but was soon fired from there as well. Forman apparently believed that Roger Connellan, his boss at Connair, had informed Ord Air about his forgery conviction. [5]
In late 1976, Forman was living in Mount Isa, Queensland, eking out a living flying occasional charter flights in a single-engine Cessna for freight and tourists, and where he was a member of the Mount Isa Aero Club. In about October 1976, he told a fellow member and local North West Star journalist, "If I don't get a job by Christmas then you will get to know, and through you most of the world will know". He attended the club's 1977 New Year's Eve party. Early on the morning of 3 January 1977, Forman trashed his one-bedroom flat in Mount Isa in a fit of rage, piled up the remnants in a corner of his lounge room and created what was later described as an altar. On the top was a trophy for topping his course (Blue Flight) at the former Cessnock, New South Wales, Nationwide Aviation Space Academy, and in front of the trophy was his pilot's log book, laid open. On the date of Forman's sacking from Connair, an entry read: "Sentenced to death this date", and the final page of his log book contained the date, aircraft type, call sign, destination and "Suicide Mission". The final words were "THE END" on the left and right pages respectively. [6][7]
Forman drove 2,000 km (1200 miles) to Wyndham, stopping overnight at Katherine, Northern Territory. On 5 January he stole a Beechcraft 58 Baron (Aircraft registration VH-ENA) from Wyndham Airport after discovering the larger aircraft he had wanted to use was being used by the Royal Flying Doctor Service that day. Alice Springs is four hours flying time from Wyndham in a Beechcraft Baron: Forman had planned to strike at 10 am during Connair's morning break, but he did not account for the time difference between Western Australia and the Northern Territory, and arrived at 11 am. [1]
As he reached Alice Springs Airport, Forman broadcast a final message by radio: "It is better to die with honour than live without it – Echo – November – Alpha. "[1] Forman then set full power on both engines and aimed at the Connellan complex before plunging the aircraft into the centre of the building. [1] Four people were killed on impact, including Forman's former manager. [8] A secretary was badly burned and died of her injuries in hospital five days later. Four other Connair employees were injured. [9]
During the investigation, letters addressed to the Department of Transport were found which explained Forman's motivations. In them he related his court appearance, described his seven weeks working at Connair as the happiest in his life, and his employment issues following dismissal. He also detailed his plan and his aim to "cause Connair the maximum amount of loss and hardship" and "to kill and maim as many employees of Connair Pty Ltd as possible". [10] This latter comment was erroneously attributed to the final entry in his log book by some media outlets. Connellan Airways was sold to East-West Airlines in 1980. [11]
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Air crash
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Four jailed over botched bank robbery
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Four people have been jailed for the botched robbery of an Auckland bank which police have likened to a scene from the comedy movie Dumb and Dumber. Those arrested include the bank's manager, who helped hatch the plot for the heist then pretended to be a victim. Former US Marine and Gulf war veteran Mark Scott was sentenced to six-and-half years and his wife Vanessa and two accomplices five-and-half years each for the bungled robbery in June. Scott was holding a meeting with members of his staff when the other three burst into the building armed with filleting knives and a drink bottle containing petrol. They tied up the tellers with masking tape and tried to escape with thousands of dollars in cash, but the police, alerted by a passer-by, had already surrounded the bank. Their investigations quickly established a link between the manager, his wife and the other bandits.
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Bank Robbery
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Pentagon to launch task force to investigate UFO sightings
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The Pentagon is forming a new task force to investigate UFOs that have been observed by US military aircraft, according to two defense officials. Deputy Secretary of Defense David Norquist will help oversee the task force, which is expected to be officially unveiled in the next few days, according to the officials. Previous efforts to look into what the Pentagon dubs unidentified aerial phenomena were led by the US Navy as many of the documented encounters involved their aircraft. The Department of Defense did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Members of Congress and Pentagon officials have long expressed concerns about the appearance of the unidentified aircraft that have flown over US military bases, posing a risk to military jets. There is no consensus on their origin with some believing they may be drones potentially operated by earthly adversaries seeking to gather intelligence rather than extraterrestrials. The Senate Intelligence Committee voted in June to have the Pentagon and intelligence community provide a public analysis of the encounters, following the official Pentagon release of three short videos showing US aircraft encountering these phenomena. "We have things flying over our military bases and places where we are conducting military exercises, and we don't know what it is and it isn't ours, so that's a legitimate question to ask," the chairman of that committee, Sen. Marco Rubio, told a local Miami news station, WFOR-TV in July. "Frankly, if it's something from outside this planet, that might actually be better than the fact that we've seen some sort of technological leap on behalf of the Chinese or the Russians or some other adversary," he added. The videos released by the Pentagon appear to show unidentified flying objects rapidly moving while recorded by infrared cameras. Two of the videos contain service members reacting in awe at how quickly the objects are moving. One voice speculates that it could be a drone. President Donald Trump in April called the footage "a hell of a video" and told Reuters he wonders "if it's real." In May CNN obtained "hazard reports " detailing encounters between US Navy aircraft and "unidentified aerial phenomena" from the Navy Safety Center. Trump calls newly released UFO footage 'a hell of a video' "The unknown aircraft appeared to be small in size, approximately the size of a suitcase, and silver in color," one report describing an incident from March 26, 2014, said. The reports describe the observed phenomena as "Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS)" -- the Pentagon's official terminology for drone aircraft. The Navy videos were first released between December 2017 and March 2018 by To The Stars Academy of Arts & Sciences, a company co-founded by former Blink-182 musician Tom DeLonge that says it studies information about unidentified aerial phenomena. The Pentagon had previously studied recordings of aerial encounters with unknown objects as part of a since-shuttered classified program that was launched at the behest of former Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada. That program was launched in 2007 and ended in 2012, according to the Pentagon, because they assessed that there were higher priorities that needed funding. The former head of the program Luis Elizondo told CNN in 2017 that he personally believes "there is very compelling evidence that we may not be alone."
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Organization Established
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Severe drought led to not only a shortage of water, but of funding to address its impacts
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This year’s severe drought caught elected officials and state environmental agencies off guard which led to not only a shortage of water, but of funding to address its impacts. Today, the entirety of Washington state is abnormally dry, and three-quarters of the state is experiencing drought, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. It was the second-driest March through July period on record, and the third warmest as temperatures were nearly three degrees above normal, on average. In other areas of the state, the situation is even worse. More than half the state is under severe drought, nearly 50% is under extreme drought, and 38% is under exceptional drought, which is uncommon in Washington. To compound the situation, the water and snowpack outlook — which lawmakers and the Washington State Department of Ecology use to forecast drought — was either normal or above average this spring when the Legislature was in session. The Department didn’t ask for additional drought funding during the 2021 session, and the Legislature didn’t provide any. “At the time we left session in March, it looked like we were going to be very well-cared for as far as our water supply,” said Sen. Judy Warnick (R-13th)during a meeting of the Joint Legislative Committee on water supply during drought on Aug. 16. “We didn’t appropriate money during that session. So we learned a lesson. It caught us off guard.” But temperatures began rising over the summer, including a severe heat wave in late June and early July, which saw temperatures across the state soar above the 100 degree mark. A second heat wave hit in mid-August. This year’s drought is relatively friendly to irrigation farmers in places like the Yakima Valley, but dryland farmers are suffering, said Jeff Marti, an environmental planner with the Department of Ecology. In places like Ritzville, Washington State Climatologist Nick Bond said there’s a roughly 1% chance that the groundwater supplies will be able to recharge by next spring, even with a projected wet and cold winter. Because there was no additional funding set aside for drought this year, the Department of Ecology has scraped together an estimated $750,000 in funding from its operating funds drought account and the capital funds drought account. These accounts can be filled by the Legislature, but lack a dedicated funding mechanism. The Department could also raise an additional $400,000 by not filling job vacancies, said Dave Christensen, policy and program manager for the Department of Ecology. Of the first $1 million in drought funding, $388,000 will go to the Department of Fish and Wildlife for antibiotics, medicine, and fish passages; $266,000 will go to the Department of Health for emergency water supplies and distribution; and $96,000 to the Conservation Commission. But looking forward, a dedicated funding source could help get drought funds out more effectively. “Looking forward, we may want to look at these last two years,” Christensen said. “Maybe we need to be thinking about planning and responding to drought differently.” During the previous two droughts in 2015 and 2019, the state put general fund money or state bonds directly into the account. There’s a few ways lawmakers could create reliable drought funding, said Jim Cahill, senior budget assistant for natural resources with the Office of Financial Management. The first is by increasing funding in the Department of Ecology’s operating or capital budgets for drought response. Similar approaches have been taken with the Department’s oil spill response account or the Department of Natural Resources fire fighting fund. Secondly, emergency drought response funding could be appropriated to the Office of Financial Management in the operating or capital budget. This funding would only be used for response when a drought is declared, similar to the Office of Financial Management’s emergency repair fund. Finally, the Legislature could allow the Department of Ecology to charge unbudgeted drought costs to a non-appropriated drought response account. As climate change continues to pressure local ecosystems, it’s anticipated that droughts and other natural calamities will become more common, more intense, or both. A report on the 2015 drought from the Department of Agriculture estimated that it caused up to $733 million in damages to crops. Smaller water systems are also stressed by drought, and run the risk of going dry in some parts of the state, said Mike Means with the Department of Health. Rep. Tom Dent (R-13th) said he was concerned about communities near his district in Moses Lake and others experiencing drought. “Especially when I look at the chart that showed us the moisture in the ground, the water level in the ground, it’s pretty bleak … If we don’t see some relief from this drought in the next couple of months, we could be seeing an issue in November even.” The Department of Health could begin conducting a survey of water utilities to measure their water levels. Water rights will continue to be a problem into the future as well. Carl Schroeder, government relations advocate with the Association of Washington Cities, said there are 56 cities across the state that will need more water to grow within the next two decades. Of these, more than a dozen will need additional water rights within the next five years.
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Droughts
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e-CAB provides proposals to resolve e-commerce crisis
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e-CAB believes that the Digital Commerce Cell under the Ministry of Commerce needs to be activated. Furthermore, the ministry should increase the manpower in the cell The e-Commerce Association of Bangladesh (e-CAB) has given six proposals to the Ministry of Commerce and relevant regulatory bodies to resolve the current situation of the e-commerce sector in Bangladesh. The proposals are: Activating Digital Commerce Cell and increasing its efficiency e-CAB believes that the Digital Commerce Cell under the Ministry of Commerce needs to be activated. Furthermore, the ministry should increase the manpower in the cell. The new manpower should have the necessary technological knowledge. There might also be a different unit named “Artificial Intelligence Unit”. Forming committees based on Digital Commerce Policy-2018 The organisation recommended forming three different committees based on the Digital Commerce Policy of 2018. The committees are: Risk Factor Management Committee: e-CAB recommended making a risk factor management committee in coordination with the Public Administration Ministry, ICT Division, Commerce Ministry, Competition Commission, Directorate of National Consumer Rights Protection, (DNCRP) Bangladesh Bank and other relevant organisations. This committee will monitor and control the risky behaviours of e-commerce platforms. Technical Committee: Bangladesh Bank may form a technical committee to monitor the financial transactions of the e-commerce platforms. Advisory Committee: This committee has already been formed based on the Digital commerce Policy of 2018. However, the activities of the committee should be regularised. Introducing Escrow service via Bangladesh Bank e-CAB proposed introducing an automated Escrow system via Bangladesh Bank. According to Investopedia, Escrow is a legal concept describing a financial instrument whereby an asset or escrow money is held by a third party on behalf of two other parties that are in the process of completing a transaction. Besides the central bank, card issuers, payment aggregator merchants, delivery agents and customers can be given access to dashboards so that they can cancel purchase orders anytime they want. DNCRP can also be given access for monitoring purposes. Delivery or logistics aggregator platform connected with the postal department According to existing laws, one needs to get a license from the postal department in order to provide courier service. However, if one decides not to take a license from the postal department, the couriers do not fall under any surveillance. That’s why the whole process should be automated. Under this service, merchants, consumers and delivery agents will connect and confirm deliveries using PIN or OTP. The Escrow service will release the merchant fund based on the report. Forming Central Digital Complaint Management System with Commerce Ministry or DNCRP An automated system needs to be implemented under the Commerce Ministry or DNCRP which will monitor the complaints. Currently, consumers can complain to the DNCRP via letter or e-mail. However, the complaints need to be checked manually. If a Digital Complaint Management System is formed, it will be possible to add e-CAB and other concerned authorities to this process and e-CAB will be able to provide technical assistance in this regard. A charge can be specified for each complaint, which will eventually be used to maintain the cost of the system. Implementation of law DNCRP or Competition Commission can punish companies by instantly implementing current laws. While taking actions under e-commerce law can take time, the current law can ensure a speedy trial.
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Financial Crisis
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United States withdraws from UNESCO (again)
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UNESCO’s recognition of the Hebron Tomb of the Patriarchs in 2017 pushed the U.S. to abandon the organization. As of January 1, 2019, the United States has officially withdrawn from the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization ( UNESCO ), one of the world’s best-known global cultural heritage and preservation organizations. The withdrawal was first announced in October 2017 after UNESCO recognized the old city of Hebron in the West Bank as a Palestinian World Heritage Site amid fierce resistance from the United States and Israel . The old city of Hebron is home to, among other relics and cultural sites, the Tomb of the Patriarchs, a sacred religious site known as the Cave of Machpelah to Jews and as the Sanctuary of Abraham to Muslims. At the time, the United States and Israel complained that the UN was engaging in “anti-Israeli bias” stemming from the recognition of Palestine as a member state of the UN in 2011. Previously, the UN had criticized Israel’s occupation of East Jerusalem, according to Al Jazeera . When the UN elevated Palestine to membership status in 2011–during the Obama administration—the United States stopped paying its membership dues to UNESCO in protest. By 2017 the past-due fees had grown to $570 million, The Washington Post reported , and then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson decided to initiate the process of formal withdrawal from the organization. As of 2019, the outstanding balance due to UNESCO has risen above $600 million. Following the withdrawal, Irina Bokova, director-general of UNESCO, said , “At the time when the fight against violent extremism calls for renewed investment in education, in dialogue among cultures to prevent hatred, it is deeply regrettable that the United States should withdraw from the United Nations leading these issues.” The current episode marks the second time the United States has left UNESCO, following President Ronald Reagan’s withdrawal from the group in 1984 in an effort to thwart the recognition of Soviet historical sites. The United States rejoined the group in 2002 under President George W. Bush following the attacks of 9/11 amid a push to boost international solidarity by the U.S. The United States now hopes it can participate as an “observer state” on “non-politicized issues,” including the protection of World Heritage sites. The body is due to take up this new role for the United States when it next meets in April 2019.
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Withdraw from an Organization
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With growing COIVD-19 cases and falling employment, the incoming Biden administration will be facing a mounting — not waning — crisis
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“‘With growing COIVD-19 cases and falling employment, the incoming Biden administration will be facing a mounting — not waning — crisis.’” — Elise Gould, senior economist at the EPI Some 1.2 million people applied for unemployment insurance benefits last week, up 304,000 on the previous week; that included 965,000 people who applied for regular state benefits and 284,000 who applied for pandemic unemployment Assistance. This increase was described as “troubling” by the Economic Policy Institute, a progressive think tank. On Thursday evening , President-elect Biden said he will call for $1,400 stimulus checks and more vaccine funds in $1.9-trillion COVID-19 relief plan. Congress is expected to debate the package, and analysts say the final agreement is unlikely to be as generous as currently proposed. “The latest congressional relief bill is an important step toward addressing some of this pain, but it is not at the scale of the problem. I’m hopeful that more relief measures are on the horizon for increasingly desperate workers and their families. Senate Republicans forced the December bill to be far too small,” said Elise Gould, senior economist at the EPI. Last week was also the 43rd straight week total initial claims were greater than the worst week of the Great Recession. (If that comparison is restricted to regular state claims—because we didn’t have PUA in the Great Recession—initial claims last week were still greater than the worst week of the Great Recession.) There were 10.7 million unemployed workers, but only 6.5 million job openings in November. “This translates into a job seeker ratio of about 1.6 unemployed workers to every job opening,” Gould said, “for every 16 workers who were officially counted as unemployed, there were only available jobs for 10 of them. That means, no matter what they did, there were no jobs for 4.2 million unemployed workers.” “The U.S. economy is seeing a significantly slower hiring pace than we experienced in May or June — roughly where it was before the recession, which is a big problem given that we have only recovered just over half of the job losses from this spring,” the EPI said. “And job openings are now substantially below where they were before the recession began.” The Bureau of Labor Statistics data only covers through November, so is likely rosier than the actual jobs landscape, according to EPI. “It doesn’t even capture December’s job losses, which were substantial. With hiring and job openings at these levels, the economy is facing a long, slow recovery without additional action from Congress,” Gould added. The job losses, thus far, have been concentrated in the services sector, signaling a two-tired economic and jobs recovery. The White House pointed to states’ efforts to contain the coronavirus and shuttering of businesses as the reason for the job losses in a statement released Monday. “Leisure and hospitality industry has been generally more susceptible to changes in the prevalence of COVID-19 than other industries, reflecting the regressive nature of government-mandated closures and the reduction in economic activity that occurs when individuals are subject to and make decisions based on these restrictions,” it said. “As witnessed in the early days of the pandemic, employment in the leisure and hospitality industry fell by almost 50% between February and April, while employment in all other industries fell by a much smaller but still substantial 10%,” the White House added. It added that, with the reopening of businesses and rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine, “Employees in the leisure and hospitality industry are those most likely to see employment gains as a result.” But people are, of course, suffering economically. At the height of the pandemic in March, more than 30 million Americans were laid off or furloughed when the economy shut down to curb the spread of COVID-19. The unemployment rate at that point was 14.7%; it has since come down to 6.7% . The leisure and hospitality industries have been particularly hit hard by the pandemic. U.S. bars and restaurants got crushed again in December. Eating and drinking establishments lost 372,000 jobs last month, marking the first decline since April, when they laid off a whopping 5.4 million people, according to separate data released last week. California and New York have limited restaurant hours of operation, restricted the number of customers or bar indoor dining altogether.
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Financial Crisis
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Taiwan Row: China Sets-Up ‘Strategic Defense Perimeter’ To Repel Attack By Foreign Forces – Military Experts
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Amid tensions with Taiwan, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has conducted more than 100 drills in major “Chinese seas” in the past three months, according to the state-controlled media. The revelation comes at a time when the US military is conducting month-long war games in the Indo-Pacific region with its allies such as India and Japan. Chinese military experts said that the PLA has set up a “strategic defense perimeter” and is now fully prepared to face simultaneous battles in multiple directions. Along with this, China’s Maritime Safety Administration on August 23 announced three separate navigation restriction zones in the South China Sea, the northern Yellow Sea, and the Bohai Strait for live-fire military exercises in the coming few days. Earlier, China held at least 120 military exercises in the said maritime regions. “In the Bohai Sea and the Yellow Sea, the PLA hosted at least 48 drills since late May, making the area the most exercise-intensive among others, probably because the two seas are home to some of the PLA’s maritime weapon test sites and gateways to the country’s capital Beijing”, observers told the Global Times. Apart from these, the Taiwanese armed forces also reported 39 PLA drills that were held near the island in the past three months. According to analysts, these drills have become common since last year as they show the PLA’s preparedness to deter the Taiwan secessionists and foreign forces. Beijing claims Taiwan as part of its territory and insists on unifying the island with mainland China. They also said that the real number of such exercises might be higher than what has been reported by Taiwan’s defense authorities. According to reports, the South China Sea hosted at least 26 PLA exercises in these three months, the highlight being the large-scale exercise held in early August whose exclusion area was larger than that of the island of Hainan. The disputed South China Sea also witnessed foreign military presence, which included the frequent US close-in reconnaissance exercises, US warship’s transit into China’s territorial waters and aircraft carrier voyages of both US as well as the UK, according to the monitoring of the South China Sea Strategic Situation Probing Initiative, a Beijing-based think tank. PLA conducted at least seven exercises in the East China Sea, situated north of Taiwan and home to the Diaoyu Islands, which is claimed by both China and Japan as part of their territory. The PLA exercises showcased a variety of warships and warplanes, some of which are of the most advanced types. “By holding exercises in all major Chinese sea areas, the PLA is preparing to face simultaneous combat from different directions should a military conflict break out”, Song Zhongping, a military expert and TV commentator said. “This also means that the PLA has established a strategic maritime defense perimeter off the coastlines so that hostile forces must think twice before taking any action”, Wei Dongxu, a Beijing-based military expert was quoted as saying by Global Times.
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Military Exercise
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Ursus rail crash
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Ursus rail crash (Polish: Katastrofa kolejowa w Ursusie) was a major accident, which occurred at 6:20 a.m. on 20 August 1990 near the Warszawa Ursus railway station on the western part of Polish capital in which 16 people died and 43 were injured. At 6:20 am, InterExpress no. 41008 Silesia from Praha hl.n. to Warszawa Wschodnia ran into the last carriage of train no. 6114 from Szklarska Poręba to Warszawa Wschodnia; there was a mist with very low visibility. The train from Szklarska was travelling at 12 mph (17 km/h) while InterExpress Silesia (with Tadeusz Mościcki as its driver) was travelling at nearly 75 mph (120 km/h). From circa 80 passengers travelling in the last carriage of Szklarska's train, telescoped by Silesia locomotive, 15 were killed at the moment of collision and one gravely injured person died later in hospital. 43 people were injured. Two commissions: one from Scientific Railroading Institute and Regional Laboratory of Automatic and another formed by members of National Labour Inspectorate never ruled with 100% certainty whether Mościcki passed signal at danger indeed or it was malfunction of signalling. According to driver of train from Szklarska Poręba, block signal no. 94 showed a red signal, which orders to stop; however, because it was an automatic block signal, the driver could proceed after two minutes with maximum speed of 13 mph (20 km/h). Mościcki stated throughout the legal case, that the same block signal had showed green signal. There was no ATP-like system on PKP at that time. One year after the accident, a similar dangerous situation as in 1990 has happened on the same line, but accident was avoided due to good visibilty at the time. The cause was determined to be signal fault. [3] Eventually, Silesia driver was found not guilty of the accident because of lack of evidence that signal had a red aspect ("all stop" signal) which would inform that there would be a train on preceding rail block ("in dubio pro reo" rule – "when in doubt, for the accused"). He never returned to work in PKP.
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Train collisions
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2012 North Belfast riots
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During the 2012 North Belfast Riots sectarian disorder and rioting between loyalists and republicans occurred when rival parades, authorised by the Parades Commission, took place. The first incident occurred on 12 July 2012 during "The Twelfth" Loyalist celebrations. There was also violence in the Bogside area of Derry, where petrol bombs were thrown at police and a car set alight. In south and east Belfast there were five arrests for a variety of offences including disorderly behaviour. [1]
On 18 July 2012, a 47-year-old man was charged with attempted murder of the police officers. [2] The PSNI blamed the violence on "thugs" and made a further 26 arrests across Northern Ireland relating to the trouble. [3]
In another incident during a different parade, a Shankill Road-based loyalist band "The Young Conway Volunteers" was filmed by a Sinn Féin activist playing "The Famine Song" outside St Patricks Catholic Church in Ardoyne. [4] The activist filming the incident was attacked by band members who tried to snatch the phone from him. [4] The incident brought condemnation, with Sinn Féin declaring it "provocative. "[4] Protestant church leaders also condemned the incident as "blatantly sectarian". [5] It was this incident that was believed to have ignited tensions in the area which continued over the next few months. [6]
In the days that followed strong loyalist criticism was levelled at the Parades Commission blaming them for the violence. Nigel Dodds of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) accused the Parades Commission of making a "bizarre, crazy, and mad decision" to allow the nationalist parade to coincide with the Orange parade while Sinn Féin's Gerry Kelly blamed the Orangemen for violating regulations set out by the Parades Commission. [7] The Parades Commission denied responsibility, explaining "We have to balance the rights of everybody concerned in parades, not just the rights of paraders, but the rights of people who live in the areas and the rights of police officers. "[1]
In the buildup to the Royal Black Institution March, also taking place in Ardoyne, the Parades Commission banned the loyalist band "The Young Conway Volunteers", who played the controversial Famine Song outside St Patrick's Catholic Church during the 12 July parade. During the march, however, the Young Conway Volunteers still marched past St. Patrick's in defiance of the ruling, leading to more rioting by nationalist youths. [8] Seven PSNI officers were injured (one female officer suffered minor head injuries) and three people, including a 13-year-old, were arrested for the riotous behaviour. [8]
The DUP and Sinn Féin again blamed opposite sides for the violence: the DUP's Nigel Dodds blamed nationalist protestors for the disorder and a Sinn Féin Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA), Carál Ní Chuilín, condemned loyalist bands for breaching regulations set out by the Parades Commission. [9]
On 2 September 2012, a Republican parade, organised by the Henry Joy McCracken Flute Band and Republican Network for Unity which took place in North Belfast was deemed "uncontentious" by the Parades Commission. Tensions, however, between the Loyalist and Nationalist communities of North Belfast were still high leading to the worst rioting since July 2012. As the parade passed through the Loyalist Carlisle Circus area, about 350 Loyalist youths attacked Republican marchers and PSNI lines with bricks, golf balls, fireworks, and petrol bombs. Loyalists launched attacks from Clifton Nursing Home whose residents were evacuated when windows were smashed and their bins were set on fire and used as barriers by Loyalists. [10] Nationalist "Network For Unity" claimed, "Republicans were showered with a barrage of bricks, stones, golf balls and bottles," and that women and children were injured as well. [11] However, during the parade, as supporters passed an Orange Hall at Clifton Lane, Nationalists hurled golf balls and bricks at the building. On 3 September 2012 violence flared up again between the PSNI and Loyalist youths when about 100 Loyalists gathered at Denmark Street and about the same number of Nationalists at Antrim Road, both reported to be attacking police lines with petrol bombs, bricks and other missiles. [12] Eyewitnesses report that loyalists hijacked a bus and set fire to it near the scene of the previous nights rioting and that the PSNI have deployed water cannon in an effort to quell the violence[13] Reports say that in the Monday night violence 15 PSNI officers were injured, it has also been reported that the PSNI started to fire baton rounds to quell the violence. [12]
The next day, Assistant Chief Constable Kerr of the PSNI challenged politicians of Northern Ireland to "sort this out and sort it out now" in the run up to a loyalist march in honour of the 100th anniversary of the Ulster Covenant on 29 September, fearing someone may be killed in the coming days and weeks. "Collectively, we cannot afford night after night of violence in our streets." Sporadic retaliatory attacks between Loyalists and Nationalists, in the Denmark Street and Antrim Road areas, continued until at least 2:00 am the following morning. The PSNI used water cannons to keep Loyalists at bay in Denmark Street[14] and separated rival gangs of Loyalists and Nationalists at Antrim Road, Carlisle Circus. [15] The violence extended to other areas of Belfast when Sinn Féin's Gerry Kelly alleged that a Catholic home in West Belfast had been attacked by Loyalists with petrol bombs. [16] Forty-seven PSNI officers were injured in the rioting; four required hospital treatment. So far seven men including a 19-year-old teenager in Denmark Street have been arrested in relation to the incident. [13][17]
In the aftermath, Gerry Kelly (Sinn Féin) claimed that the Loyalist paramilitary group, Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), was responsible for orchestrating the violence in North Belfast: "There was clearly a well-planned and orchestrated attempt yesterday to further heighten tensions in North Belfast around parading and it was, in my view, planned and orchestrated by the UVF. "[18] Billy Hutchinson, leader of the Progressive Unionist Party (PUP) furiously denied this claim: "I just don't know where he got this from. I can categorically state that there was no involvement from the UVF in any way in this violence. The UVF are committed to the principles of the Good Friday agreement. "[19] However, later the PSNI Chief Superintendent George Clark commented, "The violence did come from both sides of the community but initially, certainly, it came from within Loyalism. There was clearly orchestration, there's no doubt about that." However, he said it was too early to know whether Loyalist paramilitaries like the UVF were responsible for the orchestration. [20] Alban Maginness of the Social Democratic and Labour Party(SDLP) also claimed that paramilitary involvement was to blame for the trouble, but wasn't specific as to whether he suspected Loyalist or Nationalist paramilitaries. [21]
On 4 September 2012 The Guardian reported that "Loyalist Sources" were claiming that members of the UVF and Ulster Defence Association (UDA) were involved in the violence. [22] Constable Kerr of the PSNI later said "We have no evidence that the UVF officially sanctioned or orchestrated the violence over the past couple of nights but you cannot have violence take place in those areas and not have members of Loyalist paramilitary groups involved." He added, "Undoubtedly there were people from those groups involved in the disorder but equally there were people from those groups trying to quell and restore order". [21] Deputy First Minister Martin Mcguinness issued a statement urging people to obey the rules set out by the Parade Commission. Disorder continued for a third night in North Belfast on 4 September when a crowd of around 200 loyalists gathered in the troubled Denmark Street and pelted police lines with fireworks, bricks and stones. 3 PSNI officers sustained minor injuries in the trouble including a police inspector. However, on this night the police succeeded in dispersing the loyalist crowd, and water cannon which moved into the area, were withdrawn later without being used. [23][24]
On 5 September, Northern Ireland First Minister Peter Robinson issued a public statement, condemning those involved in the violence in North Belfast, and stated that he wanted to see the end of the Parades Commission. Whilst Deputy first minister Martin Mcguinness also condemned the riots as "deplorable, disgraceful, and shameful" and accused the Loyal Order of showing a "distinct lack of leadership."
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Riot
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Xuxa Park fire
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The Xuxa Park fire was a flash fire that erupted on a Brazilian TV soundstage in Rio de Janeiro during a 2001 taping of the children's television show Xuxa Park. There were no casualties. The incident was captured on videotape. [1]
On January 11, 2001, a taping of Xuxa Park was in progress on a soundstage of the Brazilian network Rede Globo with a live audience of about 300 people (most of whom were children) in attendance. As Xuxa and her dancers were performing a show-closing musical number, a small fire started in the set's mechanical "spaceship" (through which Xuxa would normally have exited the stage in another 2 minutes). For a few seconds, they continued their musical number, unaware of what was happening behind them. An alert stagehand quickly appeared with a small fire extinguisher and attempted to extinguish the flames, but suddenly the fire erupted violently, engulfing the "spaceship," and he was forced to retreat as others on stage also began to flee. The fire grew and spread quickly and intensively as children, dancers, stagehands, and audience members fled towards the exits to escape the heat, smoke, and melting plastic. Within less than a minute, the entire set was engulfed in flames. Children were removed from the ferris wheel, which was a part of the scenery. The only one who failed to get out was Thamires. Leonilson, Xuxa's bodyguard, came back to remove her. Though camera operators and other technicians fled with the others, the cameras continued to operate and feed the videotape machines as the conflagration grew before the cameras were pulled out of the burning soundstage by staff. [2] The footage was shown frequently on Brazilian news shows for days after the fire. Although no one died as a result of the fire (which was ultimately attributed to an electrical short circuit), many were treated for minor smoke inhalation, and four individuals were seriously injured by smoke inhalation and burns. These included Leonilson (nicknamed "Léo"), Xuxa's personal bodyguard; the show's resident clown Topetão; and two of the children. The two men helped save many of the children (including one who had become stuck in one of the on-set rides). All eventually recovered from their injuries. Xuxa, who was not injured, nevertheless was strongly affected by the fire, and reportedly spent quite some time afterwards in a deep depression. She visited the fire victims and their families in the hospital frequently. Xuxa Park went on hiatus after the fire, and was ultimately cancelled. For a time, Xuxa felt unable to perform at all, especially with children. Eventually, she recovered from her malaise and returned to the public eye. In 2015, the location became Monica Park.
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Fire
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1974 Leningrad Aeroflot Il-18 crash
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On 27 April 1974, an Aeroflot Il-18 airliner crashed while operating a charter flight from Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) to Zaporizhzhia, continuing to Krasnodar, Russia. The plane crashed shortly after takeoff from Pulkovo Airport in Leningrad. None of the 109 people on board survived. [2]
The aircraft had been in service since 1964, and had sustained 7,501 cycles (takeoffs and landings) at the time of the crash. [3]
The flight was led by Captain Nikolai Danilov, with 4 other pilots and two flight attendants. There were 102 passengers on board. [3]
The aircraft's number four engine caught fire two minutes after takeoff due to a faulty compressor disk. The crew elected to return to the airport. Upon extending the flaps for landing, an asymmetrical flap condition occurred, causing the aircraft to dive sharply about two and a half kilometers from the runway. [2][4]
Strong vibrations in the number four engine had been reported on the flight before the crash. [5]
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Air crash
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2002 Burica earthquake
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The 2002 Burica earthquake occurred on July 30 at 19:16:48 local time off the coast of Panama. It had a magnitude of Mw 6.5. [5] The epicenter was located off the southeastern coast of Burica Peninsula, close to the Costa Rica–Panama border. Some homes collapsed and at least 11 people were reported injured, both in Panama and in Costa Rica. The strongest intensity reached VII (Very strong) in Puerto Armuelles, Panama. It was felt with III (Weak) to IV (Light) around San Jose, Costa Rica. Shops in the center of Puerto Armuelles suffered from loss such as fallen merchandise and broken window glass. This earthquake occurred along the Panama Fracture Zone. [6]
To the northwest of the border area between Panama and Costa Rica oceanic crust of the Cocos Plate is being subducted beneath the Caribbean Plate along the Middle America Trench. To the southeast the Nazca Plate is being subducted. The boundary between the Cocos and Nazca plates is formed by the Panama Fracture Zone, which is a right lateral transform fault that intersects with the Middle America Trench to form a triple junction. The geometry of the subduction zone differs markedly either side of this triple junction. [7] Previous destructive earthquakes along this fracture zone that affected Puerto Armuelles include events in 1934 (Ms 7.7) and 1979 (Ms 6.5). [6]
The earthquake had an epicenter close to Punta Burica. The estimated magnitude was in the range 6.2–6.5 Mw . [6][1] The observed focal mechanism, strike-slip faulting, the location and the hypocentral depth of 4.2 km are all consistent with movement on the Panama Fracture Zone. [6] The mainshock was followed by a series of aftershocks, the largest of which was a Mw 6.0 event on August 7 at 23:59 UTC. [4]
Several buildings were destroyed by the earthquake, although these were in a poor condition before the shaking started. At Puerto Armuelles, the banana dock was badly affected and some houses of wooden or unreinforced masonry construction had to be abandoned, due to either their collapse or the degree of structural damage suffered. [6] Generally light injuries were reported, with a total of between 8 and 15 people affected.
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Earthquakes
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Trump Discussed Pulling U.S. From NATO, Aides Say Amid New Concerns Over Russia
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President Trump with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, left, and the national security adviser, John R. Bolton, at the NATO summit meeting in Brussels last year. Mr. Trump’s threats to withdraw from the alliance had sent officials scrambling to prevent the annual gathering from turning into a disaster. By Julian E. Barnes and Helene Cooper Jan. 14, 2019 WASHINGTON — There are few things that President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia desires more than the weakening of NATO , the military alliance among the United States, Europe and Canada that has deterred Soviet and Russian aggression for 70 years. Last year, President Trump suggested a move tantamount to destroying NATO : the withdrawal of the United States. Senior administration officials told The New York Times that several times over the course of 2018, Mr. Trump privately said he wanted to withdraw from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Current and former officials who support the alliance said they feared Mr. Trump could return to his threat as allied military spending continued to lag behind the goals the president had set. In the days around a tumultuous NATO summit meeting last summer, they said, Mr. Trump told his top national security officials that he did not see the point of the military alliance, which he presented as a drain on the United States. At the time, Mr. Trump’s national security team, including Jim Mattis, then the defense secretary, and John R. Bolton, the national security adviser, scrambled to keep American strategy on track without mention of a withdrawal that would drastically reduce Washington’s influence in Europe and could embolden Russia for decades. Now, the president’s repeatedly stated desire to withdraw from NATO is raising new worries among national security officials amid growing concern about Mr. Trump’s efforts to keep his meetings with Mr. Putin secret from even his own aides, and an F.B.I. investigation into the administration’s Russia ties. A move to withdraw from the alliance, in place since 1949, “would be one of the most damaging things that any president could do to U.S. interests,” said Michèle A. Flournoy, an under secretary of defense under President Barack Obama. “It would destroy 70-plus years of painstaking work across multiple administrations, Republican and Democratic, to create perhaps the most powerful and advantageous alliance in history,” Ms. Flournoy said in an interview. “And it would be the wildest success that Vladimir Putin could dream of.” Retired Adm. James G. Stavridis, the former supreme allied commander of NATO, said an American withdrawal from the alliance would be “a geopolitical mistake of epic proportion.” “Even discussing the idea of leaving NATO — let alone actually doing so — would be the gift of the century for Putin,” Admiral Stavridis said. Image President Bill Clinton, along with other world leaders, at the NATO 50th anniversary summit meeting in 1999. This year’s 70th anniversary meeting was downgraded to a foreign ministers gathering, as diplomats feared that Mr. Trump could use it to renew his attacks on the alliance. Senior Trump administration officials discussed the internal and highly sensitive efforts to preserve the military alliance on condition of anonymity. After the White House was asked for comment on Monday, a senior administration official pointed to Mr. Trump’s remarks in July when he called the United States’ commitment to NATO “very strong” and the alliance “very important.” The official declined to comment further. American national security officials believe that Russia has largely focused on undermining solidarity between the United States and Europe after it annexed Crimea in 2014. Its goal was to upend NATO, which Moscow views as a threat. Russia’s meddling in American elections and its efforts to prevent former satellite states from joining the alliance have aimed to weaken what it views as an enemy next door, the American officials said. With a weakened NATO, they said, Mr. Putin would have more freedom to behave as he wishes, setting up Russia as a counterweight to Europe and the United States. An American withdrawal from the alliance would accomplish all that Mr. Putin has been trying to put into motion, the officials said — essentially, doing the Russian leader’s hardest and most critical work for him. When Mr. Trump first raised the possibility of leaving the alliance, senior administration officials were unsure if he was serious. He has returned to the idea several times, officials said increasing their worries. Mr. Trump’s dislike of alliances abroad and American commitments to international organizations is no secret. The president has repeatedly and publicly challenged or withdrawn from a number of military and economic partnerships, from the Paris climate accord to an Asia-Pacific trade pact. He has questioned the United States’ military alliance with South Korea and Japan, and he has announced a withdrawal of American troops from Syria without first consulting allies in the American-led coalition to defeat the Islamic State. NATO had planned to hold a leaders meeting in Washington to mark its 70th anniversary in April, akin to the 50-year celebration that was hosted by President Bill Clinton in 1999. But this year’s meeting has been downgraded to a foreign ministers gathering, as some diplomats feared that Mr. Trump could use a Washington summit meeting to renew his attacks on the alliance. Leaders are now scheduled to meet at the end of 2019, but not in Washington. Mr. Trump’s threats to withdraw had sent officials scrambling to prevent the annual gathering of NATO leaders in Brussels last July from turning into a disaster. Cyberattacks. “Little green men.” Frozen conflicts. These are just a few of the tactics Russia and its leader, Vladimir V. Putin, have used to try to disrupt the world order. These are the members of NATO, a military alliance formed in 1949 to protect European countries against the Soviet Union. “Only a strong defensive alliance could deter them from further adventures.” NATO now includes 29 countries, including three that are former Soviet states. “Estonia … Latvia … Lituania.” The Soviet Union may have collapsed, but Russia is still trying to wield influence over the region and undermine nations who get in its way. How? By trying to destabilize America and Europe, and damage their relationship. The goal: to weaken alliances so Russia can more freely pursue its interests. From cybermeddling to mind games, here’s how the country and its leader, Vladimir Putin, excel at geostrategic trolling. One tactic? The method: Invade a foreign nation, reject the outcry and hold the territory. Exhibit A: Just as Ukraine was embarking on a pro-Western course and possibly joining NATO, Russian-backed rebels seized Crimea. They’ve been there ever since. And Russia even built a massive bridge to connect to the area. Method: Stoke instability, claim innocence. Exhibit A: “Little green men.” Russia claimed the insignia-free forces who took over strategic locations in Crimea were not the Russian military, but instead were “separatists.” Putin eventually admitted that the men were his troops, once Crimea was under control. Method: Posture the military in provocative ways. Exhibit A: Deploying next generation nuclear-capable missiles at NATO’s doorstep. Method: Undermine elections, trigger power outages — “Ukraine.” — leak emails. Exhibit A: Cozy Bear and Fancy Bear. These were Russia-linked hacking entities accused of attacking America’s elections. The U.S. has indicted 12 Russian military officials for the interference. Use soft power to hide ugly truths. Method: Host international sporting events to show you’re a good global citizen. Exhibit A: the World Cup, which allows Russia to gloss over charges of human rights abuses and international isolation. Method: Find a useful megaphone for your message. Exhibit A: Donald Trump. The U.S. president has been reluctant to criticize Putin for his country’s actions. “And I might even end up having a good relationship, but they’re going: ‘President Putin is K.G.B,’ and — you know what, Putin‘s fine.” That’s made it easier for Russia to achieve its aim of weakening the world order. Cyberattacks. “Little green men.” Frozen conflicts. These are just a few of the tactics Russia and its leader, Vladimir V. Putin, have used to try to disrupt the world order. Senior national security officials had already pushed the military alliance’s ambassadors to complete a formal agreement on several NATO goals — including shared defenses against Russia — before the summit meeting even began, to shield it from Mr. Trump . But Mr. Trump upended the proceedings anyway. One meeting, on July 12, was ostensibly supposed to be about Ukraine and Georgia — two non-NATO members with aspirations to join the alliance. Accepted protocol dictates that alliance members do not discuss internal business in front of nonmembers. But as is frequently the case, Mr. Trump did not adhere to the established norms, according to several American and European officials who were in the room. He complained that European governments were not spending enough on the shared costs of defense, leaving the United States to carry an outsize burden. He expressed frustration that European leaders would not, on the spot, pledge to spend more. And he appeared not to grasp the details when several tried to explain to him that spending levels were set by parliaments in individual countries, the American and European officials said. Then, at another leaders gathering at the same summit meeting, Mr. Trump appeared to be taken by surprise by Jens Stoltenberg, the NATO secretary general. Backing Mr. Trump’s position, Mr. Stoltenberg pushed allies to increase their spending and praised the United States for leading by example — including by increasing its military spending in Europe. At that, according to one official who was in the room, Mr. Trump whipped his head around and glared at American officials behind him, surprised by Mr. Stoltenberg’s remarks and betraying ignorance of his administration’s own spending plans. Mr. Trump appeared especially annoyed, officials in the meeting said, with Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany and her country’s military spending of 1 percent of its gross domestic product. By comparison, the United States’ military spending is about 4 percent of G.D.P., and Mr. Trump has railed against allies for not meeting the NATO spending goal of 2 percent of economic output. At the summit meeting, he surprised the leaders by demanding 4 percent — a move that would essentially put the goal out of reach for many alliance members. He also threatened that the United States would “go its own way” in 2019 if military spending from other NATO countries did not rise. During the middle of a speech by Ms. Merkel, Mr. Trump again broke protocol by getting up and leaving, sending ripples of shock across the room, according to American and European officials who were there. But before he left, the president walked behind Ms. Merkel and interrupted her speech to call her a great leader. Startled and relieved that Mr. Trump had not continued his berating of the leaders, the people in the room clapped. In the end, the NATO leaders publicly papered over their differences to present a unified front. But both European leaders and American officials emerged from the two days in Brussels shaken and worried that Mr. Trump would renew his threat to withdraw from the alliance. Image Congressional Republicans criticized Mr. Trump’s news conference with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia in Helsinki, Finland, just days after the NATO leaders summit meeting in Brussels.Credit...Doug Mills/The New York Times Mr. Trump’s skepticism of NATO appears to be a core belief, administration officials said, akin to his desire to expropriate Iraq’s oil . While officials have explained multiple times why the United States cannot take Iraq’s oil, Mr. Trump returns to the issue every few months. Similarly, just when officials think the issue of NATO membership has been settled, Mr. Trump again brings up his desire to leave the alliance. Any move by Mr. Trump against NATO would most likely invite a response by Congress. American policy toward Russia is the one area where congressional Republicans have consistently bucked Mr. Trump, including with new sanctions on Moscow and by criticizing his warm July 16 news conference with Mr. Putin in Helsinki, Finland. Members of NATO may withdraw after a notification period of a year, under Article 13 of the Washington Treaty . Such a delay would give Congress time to try blocking any attempt by Mr. Trump to leave. “It’s alarming that the president continues to falsely assert that NATO does not contribute to the overall safety of the United States or the international community,” said Senator Jeanne Shaheen, a New Hampshire Democrat who is among the lawmakers who support legislation to stop Mr. Trump from withdrawing from the military alliance. “The Senate knows better and stands ready to defend NATO.” NATO’s popularity with the public continues to be strong. But the alliance has become a more partisan issue, with Democrats showing strong enthusiasm and Republican support softening, according to a survey by the Ronald Reagan Institute. Kay Bailey Hutchison, Washington’s ambassador to NATO and a former Republican senator, has sought to build support for the alliance in Congress, including helping to organize a bipartisan group of backers. But even if Congress moved to block a withdrawal, a statement by Mr. Trump that he wanted to leave would greatly damage NATO. Allies feeling threatened by Russia already have extreme doubts about whether Mr. Trump would order troops to come to their aid. In his resignation letter last month, Mr. Mattis specifically cited his own commitment to America’s alliances in an implicit criticism of Mr. Trump’s principles. Mr. Mattis originally said he would stay through the next NATO meeting at the end of February, but Mr. Trump pushed him out before the new year. Acting Defense Secretary Patrick M. Shanahan is believed to support the alliance. But he has also pointedly said he thinks that the Pentagon should not be “the Department of No” to the president. European and American officials said the presence of Mr. Mattis, a former top NATO commander, had reassured allies that a senior Trump administration official had their back. His exit from the Pentagon has increased worries among some European diplomats that the safety blanket has now been lost.
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Withdraw from an Organization
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CDC: No Warning Issued for Acute Flaccid Myelitis in 2021
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Posted on September 9, 2021 | Updated on September 13, 2021 The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been tracking outbreaks of acute flaccid myelitis — a serious condition mainly affecting children — since 2014. The CDC hasn’t seen a reason for concern this year, but Facebook posts have wrongly claimed that the agency has issued a “warning of polio-like outbreak” this fall. The claim seems to have originated from an outdated news article. Acute flaccid myelitis, or AFM, is an uncommon but serious neurologic condition whose symptoms can look similar to those of polio. AFM can be caused by enteroviruses, which are common and usually cause mild illness. AFM affects the nervous system, specifically the area of the spinal cord called gray matter, which causes the muscles and reflexes in the body to become weak. Sudden onset of arm or leg weakness, loss of muscle tone and loss of reflexes are the most common symptoms. It can also lead to permanent paralysis. More than 90% of AFM cases occur in young children. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been tracking AFM since 2014. Outbreak cases of AFM have occurred in the U.S. in 2014, 2016, 2018 and 2020. The largest number of AFM cases occurred in 2018, when there were 238 confirmed cases in 42 states. In 2020, there were 32 confirmed cases out of 59 reported cases. In 2021, as of Aug. 31, there have been 15 confirmed cases of AFM in nine states out of 36 reported cases. Despite the lower numbers this year, posts on social media are wrongly claiming that the CDC is “warning of polio-like outbreak coming in children this fall.” The claim seems to have originated from a year-old news article written by Sputnik, a state-owned Russian news service, on Aug. 4, 2020. The story — “CDC Warns of New Outbreak of Polio-Like Illness in Children Later This Year in US” – was correctly based on an actual CDC warning for the fall of 2020. A year later on Aug. 19, Asian News International, a wire service, mistakenly posted a version of the outdated CDC warning, crediting Sputnik for the report. Zenger News, a Texas-based wire service, ran an article a day later with the headline, “US Warns Of Polio-Like Illness Outbreak In Four Months,” adding that its story was written “[w]ith inputs from ANI.” Zenger News deleted the outdated article from its website and “terminated its relationship with ANI after this episode,” Zenger told us in an email. But the inaccurate story remains on the ANI website. The claim also has been shared by other social media users, and publications in Florida, Georgia and Tennessee have reposted the article, wrongly attributing the article to Zenger. The article that ran on Zenger – and those attributed to Zenger on other websites – claimed that on Aug. 17, the CDC “alerted of an expected outbreak of the polio-like disease Acute Flaccid Myelitis (AFM) in the next four months.” But a spokesperson for the CDC’s AFM team — which maintains an official channel for AFM information — told us in an email that while monitoring the disease “remains a priority for CDC,” the CDC “has not issued an official warning such as a [Health Alert Network] or an [Epidemic Information Exchange] alert to clinicians in 2021.” “At this time, CDC has not received reports of an increase in suspected cases of AFM,” the spokesperson said. “In collaboration with our partners, we continue to closely monitor the situation and are prepared to respond to any increase in cases. CDC’s AFM Team continues to work with state health departments and professional medical organizations to educate clinicians about AFM in case we do see an increase in cases this year. Early recognition and hospitalization of patients suspected to have AFM is critical, as AFM can lead to respiratory failure.” The latest CDC alert for AFM came in August 2020, when the CDC anticipated a “peak year” in AFM cases, because “the disease has peaked every two years between August and November in the United States since 2014.” The alert — which was the basis for the Sputnik story a year ago — also questioned how protective measures put in place for the COVID-19 pandemic would affect the circulation of viruses that can cause AFM, stating, “AFM cases may be fewer than expected or the outbreak may be delayed” if “social distancing measures decrease circulation of enteroviruses.” In 2018, Robert R. Redfield, then director of the CDC, ordered the AFM Task Force to assist an investigation into the origin, treatments and outcomes of the disease. The task force is working to learn why a few people develop AFM after having a virus. The CDC says since it doesn’t know what triggers AFM, “there is no specific action to take to prevent AFM.” However, the CDC says, you can take steps to prevent getting sick from a virus by: There is no specific treatment for AFM, but a clinician who specializes in diseases such as AFM may recommend certain interventions on a case-by-case basis. Although the symptoms of polio and AFM look similar, none of the AFM cases in the U.S. have been caused by the poliovirus. Poliomyelitis, or polio, is a disabling and life-threatening disease caused by the poliovirus. The virus spreads from person to person and can infect a person’s spinal cord, causing paralysis. The first polio vaccine was available in the U.S. in 1955. Because of widespread vaccinations, the U.S. has been “polio-free since 1979,” according to the CDC. Update, Sept. 10: Our original story incorrectly said that reports of an upcoming AFM outbreak seem to have originated from Zenger. We updated this story after getting a statement from Zenger News spokesman Nate Miller. The statement said: “The story in question was published by Asian News International, a wire service in India. Zenger carried it in syndication, in the same way other publishers carry wire services like the Associated Press and Reuters. Yahoo Finance carried the same piece, for instance (Google cache), and subsequently deleted it. “Accordingly, neither Yahoo nor Zenger ‘killed’ the story. That responsibility lies with ANI. We decided to remove it from syndication, as did Yahoo and others.” The statement continued: “A reader asked us to investigate the story’s claims, and we determined that the CDC hadn’t made a statement that was the basis of ANI’s reporting. ANI hasn’t retracted its story, which is still live on its website (Link). It appears ANI got its information from Sputnik, a Russian news service with a dubious reputation for accuracy (Link). Sputnik was reporting on a CDC release from 2020, not from this year (Link). Zenger terminated its relationship with ANI in late August. We place a high value on both accuracy in reporting and public transparency.” Update, Sept. 13: We have updated our article to provide more information about the origin of the claim – making it clear that Zenger picked up the story from ANI. Zenger told us that it terminated its relationship with ANI “more than two weeks before Zenger was contacted by FactCheck.org’s reporter.” Editor’s note: FactCheck.org is one of several organizations working with Facebook to debunk misinformation shared on social media. Our previous stories can be found here. The AFM team. Email from spokesperson sent to FactCheck.org. 3 Sept 2021. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “About Acute Flaccid Myelitis.” Updated 29 Dec 2020. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “Acute Flaccid Myelitis (AFM). Clinicians & Health Departments.” Accessed 9 Sep 2021. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “AFM Cases and Outbreaks.” Updated 3 Sept 2021. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “Causes of AFM.” Updated 29 Dec 2020. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “Symptoms of AFM.” 29 Dec 2020. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “Vaccines and Preventable Diseases.” Updated 4 May 2018. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “Vaccines and Preventable Diseases – Polio.” Updated 4 May 2018. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “Vital Signs of AFM.” Updated 11 Aug 2020. Mayo Clinic. “Acute flaccid myelitis (AFM).” 22 Sept 2020. Zenger News. “US Warns Of Polio-Like Illness Outbreak In Four Months.” Florida Star. 20 Aug 2021. Zenger News. “US Warns Of Polio-Like Illness Outbreak In Four Months.” Tennessee Tribune. 20 Aug 2021. Q: How do people who have not been vaccinated against COVID-19 pose a risk to people who have been vaccinated? A: An unvaccinated person who is infected with COVID-19 poses a much greater risk to others who are also unvaccinated. But vaccines are not 100% effective, so there is a chance that an unvaccinated person could infect a vaccinated person — particularly the vulnerable, such as elderly and immunocompromised individuals.
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