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2019 South Asia floods
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In mid-July 2019, monsoonal downpours caused widespread flooding and landslides across South Asia. As of 14 July, at least 89 people died across Bangladesh, China, India, and Nepal. Hardest-hit is Nepal, where at least 55 deaths occurred. Heavy rains battered Bangladesh since early July, with the monthly rainfall in Cox's Bazar reaching 585 mm (23.0 in) by July 14. [1] Throughout the Chittagong Division, 200 villages flooded affecting an estimated 500,000 people. [2] Hundreds of makeshift tents collapsed in the Kutupalong and Nayapara refugee camps in Cox's Bazar. At least two children drowned in floods and 40,000 families were affected in the camps. [3][4] Lightning killed at least 12 people, mostly rural farmers, on 13 July. [3]
Heavy rains in Guilin flooded the city; 300 people required rescue. Door-to-door searches were conducted in Xingping Town. [5]
In Assam, flooding along the Himalayan border with Nepal killed at least 14 people and affected approximately 1.5 million people. The Brahmaputra River overtopped its banks in numerous locations, flooding 1,800 villages. [5] The Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) stated on 16 July 2019 that flooding had affected 32 of the state's 33 districts, affecting 4.496 million people across 4,620 villages. The ASDMA stated that 19 people had died due to the flooding, including two people killed by landslides, and that over 101,000 people had taken refuge at 226 relief camps and 562 relief distribution centre had been established. Over 90% of Kaziranga National Park was flooded forcing animals to escape to the hills of Karbi Anglong district. Divisional Forest Officer Rohini B. Saikia stated that two one-horned rhinos and one elephant had drowned in the floods. Thirty animals were rescued and taken to the Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation for treatment. [6]
At least six people died in Arunachal. [3]
Heavy rains began on 12 July, causing flooding and landslides across Nepal. Rivers quickly eroded embankments and flooded nearby communities, notably along the Karnali, Mohana, Kandra Kanda, and Khutiya rivers. The Koshi river swelled to dangerous levels, threatening the community of Chilaiya. [7] During the overnight of 13–14 July, all 56 gates along the Koshi Barrage were opened, releasing water at 10,505 m3 (371,000 ft3) per second. [2] Numerous landslides blocked roads, leaving communities cut off and vehicles stranded. [7] At least 55 people died and 30 others were reported missing. Thirty-three people were treated for injuries. Adverse weather conditions and damaged infrastructure hampered rescue efforts. [2]
At least 1,100 people were rescued and an estimated 10,000 have been displaced from their homes. [5] Nepal police deployed 27,380 personnel nationwide. [8]
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Floods
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Cicadas Expected to Invade the Southeast in Mass Numbers ...
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Cicadas Expected to Invade the Southeast in Mass Numbers This Spring
By Pam Wright
Georgia and the Carolinas will be invaded by mass numbers of cicadas this spring.
The '17-year' locusts have a lifespan of about 4 to 6 weeks above ground.
It may seem like only yesterday to some, but it's time once again for the mass invasion of the "17-year locusts" known as cicadas to swarm the Southeast.
While the bugs are always around, every 17 years they hatch in mass numbers, causing serious damage to young trees, shrubs and various crops.
Groups of cicadas that emerge at the same time are known as broods , notes Live Science. The brood expected in the Southeast this year is Brood VI, which has been dormant since 2000. Sometimes, a brood of cicadas arrives in 13-year cycles.
A Great cicada (Lyristes plebejus).
(Jasius/Getty Images)
According to the Gardener's Network , residents in Georgia and the Carolinas can expect mass numbers of the buzzing creatures to hatch this spring and sing the peculiar cacophony associated with the bugs.
“Words seem inadequate to describe that vaguely menacing hum-whistle that seems to be everywhere but emanates from no single place in particular ,” David Snyder wrote in the Washington Post in 2004 about the insects.
Once a cicada emerges from the ground, its lifespan is relatively short. They spend only about four to six weeks above ground, where they lay eggs in tree branches before dying. The eggs hatch and the young nymphs fall from the trees and burrow into the ground, where they spend the next 17 years feeding on underground tree roots before it's time to reemerge.
While pines, firs, most flowers and vegetables are not impacted, fruit trees can be particularly vulnerable to damage by cicadas – bad news, considering the damage already incurred to fruit trees in the Southeast following the deep freeze earlier this month. Other trees that can be impacted by the cicadas include ash, beech, dogwood, hickory, oak and willow, among others.
To protect your trees, the Gardener's Network recommends covering them with quarter-inch mesh netting and notes that insecticides are ineffective against cicadas.
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Insect Disaster
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‘Vera Dreams Of The Sea’ wins top prize at Tokyo International Film Festival
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Kaltrina Krasniqi’s Vera Dreams Of The Sea was awarded the Tokyo Grand Prix at the close of the Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) on Monday night. Set in Kosovo, the film follows a woman who discovers she may lose her house after her husband dies by suicide. The film received its world premiere in the Horizons section of this year’s Venice film festival. The Tokyo Grand Prix / Governor of Tokyo Award comes with a cash prize of $30,000. La Civil, directed by Romanian filmmaker Teodora Ana Mihai and shot in Mexico, was awarded with TIFF’s special jury prize, while best director went to Kazakhstan’s Darezhan Omirbaev for Poet. Best actress went to Julia Chávez for her role in The Other Tom, a Mexico-US collaboration directed by Rodrigo Plá and Laura Santullo. The award for best actor was split between four actors in Kurdish filmmaker Bahman Ghobadi’s The Four Walls – Amir Aghaee, Fatih Al, Barış Yildiz and Onur Buldu. Crane Lantern, directed by Azerbaijan’s Hilal Baydarov, took the award for best artistic contribution. Just Remembering, directed by Japan’s Matsui Daigo, was presented with the Audience Award, as well as receiving a jury special mention. In the Asian Future competition for up-and-coming Asian filmmakers, the award for best film went to World, Northern Hemisphere, directed by Iranian filmmaker Hossein Tehrani. The debut feature revolves around a 14-year-old boy who is the breadwinner for his fatherless family. TIFF also announced two winners in its Amazon Prime Video Take One Award, which aims to discover new Japanese directors through an open call for short film submissions. Kim Yunsoo took the main award for Sunday & Calm Sea, while the special jury prize went to Sangoumi Midori for Under The Bridge. The awards come with cash prizes of Y1m and Y500,000, respectively, and the opportunity to explore the production of a feature film with Amazon Studios. The festival, which held physical screenings in the Hibiya-Ginza area, reported a total of 29,414 admissions for 126 films, compared to 40,553 admissions for 138 films at its 2020 edition. In addition to screenings, TIFF also held a series of masterclasses and the Asia Lounge Conversation Series in a hybrid format.
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Awards ceremony
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2020 Cuban protests
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The 2020 Cuban protests were a series of peaceful demonstrations nationwide in Cuba between June 29, 2020, and December 2, 2020, as a result of the death of Hansel Hernández, which took place on June 24, 2020, in the La Lima district, Guanabacoa, Havana, following an altercation with the local police. The reason for the altercation was that Hernández, an Afro-Cuban man, allegedly shoplifted. The latter, faced with the possibility of being arrested, tried to escape. During the 1.2 miles chase, the subject threw stones at the police officers, who opened fire on Hernández, dying of a shot in the back. [1] The government's official version is that it was only one police officer, wounded by stones thrown by the subject, who fired at Hernández. [2] The photo of the body was uploaded to Facebook by a local pedestrian, going viral in a short time. The National Revolutionary Police Force deplored the event but said the subject had a criminal record. The event was interpreted as an act of police brutality and racism by the Afro-Cuban community, for which Hernández was called "the George Floyd of Cuba", leading to demonstrations across the island. [3]
On June 29, 2020, peaceful demonstrations were held throughout the territory,[4] and in addition to demanding justice for Hernández, they also demanded the release of opponents such as Silverio Portal Contreras. The Cuban government accused the opposition of propagating fake news; on the other hand, the government was criticized for the sources used by related media coming from a YouTube channel with accusations of racism, homophobia, and transphobia. [5] On July 30, members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Cuba were transferred to various parts of Havana to control the demonstrations. [6] The Committee to Protect Journalists reported that the state company ETECSA cut off access to internet in Cuba to prevent an increase in demonstrations. [7]
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Protest_Online Condemnation
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SA's Schoenmaker wins GOLD, smashes world record to make history in Tokyo
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Star swimmer Tatjana Schoenmaker claimed South Africa's first Olympic gold medal in Tokyo as she won the women's 200m breaststroke final on Friday, setting a new world record in the process.
ALSO READ | Sparkling Schoenmaker stands tall as SA's new Olympic hero: 'It just doesn't seem real'
Swimming in lane 4, Schoenmaker timed her race to perfection, sitting behind American Lilly King for the first 100m before making her move over the last 100m.
It was a flawless display from the 24-year-old, who touched the wall in a time of 2:18.95.
The previous world record, set by Denmark's Rikke Moller Pedersen at the World Championships in 2013, was 2:19.11.
King took silver in 2:19.92 while American Annie Lazor rounded up the podium with the bronze medal (2:20.84).
South Africa's Kaylene Corbett finished 5th in a time of 2:22.06.
Tatjana Schoenmaker on smashing Olympic record: 'I gave it my all'
Star swimmer Tatjana Schoenmaker was delighted with her performance in the 100m breaststroke, where the South African set an Olympic record in Tokyo. Tokyo Olympics
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Schoenmaker makes history by becoming the first South African woman swimmer to win an Olympic gold medal since Penny Heyns at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games.
Her win takes Team SA's medal tally in Tokyo to three after she won silver in the women's 100m breaststroke earlier this week, while surfer Bianca Buitendag also won a silver medal on Tuesday.
02 Oct
The Sport Report - Weekly
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Break historical records
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Stay Ahead!
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August 5th 2021 at 03:15:19 GMT +0300 | Athletics Kenyan youngster Abel Kipsang set a new Olympic record as he raced to the final of the 1,500m.
Kipsang who raced in the second heat of the semi-finals broke off from the rest in the last 100m to set the new Olympic record in 3:31.65.
The old record of 3:32.07 was set by another Kenyan Noah Ngeny when he won the gold medal at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia. “I anticipate running an even faster race in the final,” Kipsang said after the race.
He, however, said he was running his own race and did not know he was going to set a new Olympic record.
World champion Timothy Cheruiyot who ran in the first heat of the semi-finals also qualified for the final set for Saturday.
Cheruiyot who controlled the race from the gun to the bell finished in third place with the top five finishers, to secure a place in the final. Cheruiyot clocked 3:33.95 in the race won by Great Britain and Northern Ireland’s Jack Wightman in 3:33.48, which was a season-best.
USA’s Cole Hocker was second in 3:33.87 which was also a personal best time. It was a disappointing outing for Kenyan Charles Simotwo, who failed to make the finals.
Simotwo was sixth in the first semi-final in 3:34.61, but unfortunately, the two fastest losers came from the faster second semi-final.
Meanwhile, World Athletics boss Seb Coe has reminded Kenyans that the Men 3,000m Steeplechase is still their event despite not winning gold at the Tokyo Olympics.
Coe was quick to point out that the other countries were closing the gap, not only in steeplechase but other events which have been dominated by one or two countries.
“Steeplechase is still your event, but be careful as other countries are quickly learning the tactics and winning races that you did not expect them to win. The show though is good for athletics and I am impressed with the good show by the athletes here in Tokyo,” Coe said.
He said the athletes have faced difficult times due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but he was impressed with them for overcoming adversity and giving their best.
“You can see there have been very good show by athletes. It makes me very happy when I see athletes setting new world records, area records and even setting new personal best times,” Coe said.
The former Olympic champion also said Kenya was capable of hosting the World Athletics Championships and that he was happy with the progress in Nairobi ahead of hosting the World Under-20 Championships.
“I know Kenya has the capacity to host the Senior World Championships, but unfortunately it is not down to me to pick a host of the World Championships, it is down to the World Athletics Council members,” Coe said.
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Break historical records
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US Withdraws From UN Human Rights Council
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Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley announced the US’ withdrawal from the UN Human Rights Council on Tuesday. The decision to leave the international body responsible for promoting and protecting human rights around the world, according to a US State Department official, was due in part to the administration's belief that the council “fails to address critical situations for political reasons — and undermines its own credibility," The Independent reports . Take Action: Sign The Petition To Stand For US Foreign Assistance Ambassador Haley said that the US had made clear a year ago that they would withdraw if they did not see progress within the council, which she has accused of failing to hold rights abusers to account and bias against Israel, a US ally. "For too long, the Human Rights Council has been a protector of human rights abusers, and a cesspool of political bias,” Haley said in a speech at the State Department. "The world's most inhumane regimes continue to escape its scrutiny, and the council continues politicizing scapegoating of countries with positive human rights records in an attempt to distract from the abusers in its ranks." Haley pointed to the massive abuses of rights in Venezuela, Iran, and the Democratic Republic of Congo — all of which are council members. US withdrawal from the council has been widely criticized by rights groups and activists. UN spokesman for the Secretary-General Stéphane Dujarric responded to the announcement , saying, “The Secretary-General would have much preferred for the United States to remain in the Human Rights Council. The UN's Human Rights architecture plays a very important role in the promotion and protection of human rights worldwide.” The US is the first serving member to voluntarily leave the UN Human Rights Council, bringing the total number of members on the council down to 46 countries. Since the creation of the council in 2006, Libya has been the only country to leave the council after being voted out for violence against protesters during the Arab Spring, which eventually led to the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi. Haley’s withdrawal announcement comes just after the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, condemned the forcible separation of approximately 2,000 children from their families at the US-Mexico border on Monday . “The thought that any State would seek to deter parents by inflicting such abuse on children is unconscionable,” he said. Read More: World Political and Religious Leaders Condemn US Policy of Separating Migrant Kids Bloomberg reported the withdrawal from the Human Rights Council was expected after the appointment of John Bolton as the National Security Adviser, who opposed the creation of the council as US Ambassador to the UN in 2006. And last year, Ambassador Haley accused the council of a “relentless, pathological campaign” against Israel — but also insisted that “America does not seek to leave the Human Rights Council.” Since the council’s creation, seven of 28 investigations have revolved around Israel, including the 2010 Israeli attack on a flotilla of ships carrying humanitarian assistance, which resulted in the killing of 10 Turkish activists. The council reported that the interception of the ships was illegal and accused Israel of violations of the Geneva Conventions . Global Citizen supports the Global Goals and believes that peace, justice, and strong institutions are necessary for promoting peaceful and inclusive societies. Take action here and sign the petition to stand for US foreign assistance. Update Wednesday, June 20, 11:30 a.m. ET: This post has been updated to reflect Haley's official announcement of the withdrawal.
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Withdraw from an Organization
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PFAS discovery in fish and water near Mackay Airport leads to concern for children's health
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Samples of fish and water taken from Mackay's Shellgrit Creek, an area popular with recreational fishers, show elevated levels of a substance used in firefighting foam.
The discovery has prompted a warning from Queensland Health that people not consume seafood caught in the area.
PFAS, or per- and poly-fluoroalkyl, is a chemical found in firefighting foam used at dozens of airports and Defence bases since the 1970s.
It has not been used in the Mackay region since 2010, but residual levels have remained in the soil and sediment in some locations.
A property owner, who did not wish to be named, told the ABC that part of her family's land, which is next to the airport, was previously used for aviation fire drills.
"I can remember them lighting up the barrel and putting it out in the middle of the paddock," the woman said.
"We've never been notified of any dramas, been given no warnings.
"It makes me very worried for my kids who've fished, crabbed and swum in the area for many years.
"We have livestock on the property [so] does that mean our livestock are contaminated?"
Federal Member for Dawson George Christensen said he had been advised by Air Services Australia (ASA) that the 45 landholders identified in the investigation area had been contacted prior to testing being done on their land.
The contamination was confirmed by the Queensland Department of Environment and Science after requests for information from the ABC in late July.
The department said it had been informed of the results of sampling by ASA, which had commissioned the tests.
In a statement, ASA said the contamination was unlikely to have been caused by its activities.
That's a claim rejected by lawyer Josh Aylward.
"There's no question it would have come through Air Services, and the community should be lobbying for them to be testing land, seafood, cattle and their blood," he said.
"The Australian Government is only offering testing in three communities — Williamtown, Oakey and Katherine — but there [are] up to 90 bases where they should be rolling out this regime."
Mr Aylward is critical of ASA's approach to what he said was widely acknowledged as one of the largest environmental problems in Australia's history.
"They're very lax in their approach and they should be doing much more than they are," he said.
"While they do these reports and investigations, there [are] people who are missing out on testing, people who have drains and underground and overland water affecting their properties, and they've never heard from anyone."
The detection has prompted a multi-agency response including the Department of Environment and Science, the Mackay Regional Council and Mackay Airport.
Groups like AFL Queensland are also monitoring the situation, with the home ground of Mackay's Eastern Swans backing onto the affected waterway.
The latest advice from the Federal Department of Health is that PFAS is a compound of concern that can accumulate in humans and animals.
It added that PFAS had not been proven to cause any specific illnesses in humans and there was not enough information available to say what, if any, health effects might be caused by exposure.
But according to Mr Aylward, that position is out of step with other agencies around the globe.
"The Australian Government will tell you blood levels of PFAS of 2,000 or higher are of concern," he said.
"In other Western nations they say levels of five and lower are safe, but they don't know what level above five is unsafe.
"It's like the Australian Government and Defence are saying the world is flat; it's like we're living in the Stone Age.
"People aren't stupid, they can look around the world and see that everywhere else is dealing with it in a much different way.
"There's a reason these chemicals have been banned around the globe."
The Mackay Regional Council said there was no concern about the town's drinking water supplies.
"Mackay Water periodically source from groundwater bores, but that is not sourced from this area near the airport," CEO Craig Doyle said.
"There's also no link between the detection and the old dump at the site.
"Stringent water quality tests are done quarterly and there's no impact on the adjacent waterway and separate testing for PFAS has also indicated no issues."
The Mackay mother said she was now considering testing for herself, her husband and her children.
"It makes me worried; you don't know what it's going to lead to down the track," she said.
"Considering our proximity to the airport, I would have thought that we would have been contacted."
Mr Aylward said anyone who had concerns about the detection should write to ASA and ask that their blood or their properties be tested.
"Knowledge is power and you need to know if there is contamination on your land, in your cattle, in your blood," he said.
"Once you've done that, you can inform yourself what that all means."
However, he did say there was no obligation for ASA to provide that testing.
"If they are unwilling, I would lobby their local member saying, 'Air Services has put this chemical on my land and they refuse to do testing, and I need your help'."
The preliminary report, commissioned by ASA, was prepared by consultants GHD in March, but was only made public about five months later, a week after ABC broke the news of the contamination.
PFAS contamination is emerging as a major ongoing Australian public health issue.
GHD found that the levels of PFAS in soil and sediment samples did not present an unacceptable risk to human health.
It said results higher than guideline values for human health or ecology did not mean the exposure or risk was above unacceptable levels but that further investigation was warranted.
Both Air Services Australia and Mackay Airport said more detailed investigations into the cause and extent of the contamination would be done later this year.
The investigation would also look to determine any potential human health or ecological risks.
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Environment Pollution
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Autopsy results released for 11-year-old who died during the Texas winter freeze
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CONROE, Texas — Conroe Police on Wednesday released the autopsy results for an 11-year-old boy who died Feb. 16 during the winter storm.
Police say Christian Pavon died of carbon monoxide poisoning. His family believed he died of hypothermia after their mobile home lost power.
Christian’s family is suing ERCOT and Entergy for $100 million, alleging gross negligence by the power grid operator and the electricity provider, saying it led to Christian’s death.
“The Conroe Police Department expresses our condolences to the family and friends who have been impacted by this tragic event,” the department said in a statement. “The criminal investigation into this tragic death is considered closed. The Conroe Police Department will have no further comment.”
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Mass Poisoning
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Death toll rises to 58 as hope dims after Brazil dam collapse
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Brazilian rescuers searched into the night on Sunday for hundreds of people missing after a burst mining dam triggered a deadly mudslide, as the death toll rose to 58 people and was expected to keep climbing more than two days after the disaster. Rescuers worked past sunset to search a bus that is thought to have bodies inside and a home where three dead were already discovered, state fire department spokesman Pedro Aihara told reporters. The collapsed dam at Vale SA's Corrego do Feijao mine buried mining facilities and nearby homes in the town of Brumadinho, killing dozens and leaving the community in shock. "Until the last body is found, the fire department is acting on the possibility there could be people alive," Aihara told reporters. "Obviously, given the nature of the accident, as time passes, this chance will go down." After announcing the latest number of confirmed dead, state civil defense agency spokesman Flavio Godinho told reporters he expected the death toll to continue rising. Just over 300 people were still missing, with the list of those unaccounted for being constantly updated, Godinho said. Most of the missing are presumed dead, officials said. The cause of the dam burst remained unclear. Recent inspections did not indicate any problems, according to the German firm that conducted the inspection. Avimar de Melo Barcelos, the mayor of Brumadinho, blasted Vale for being "careless and incompetent," and blamed the mining company for the tragedy and the state of Minas Gerais for poor oversight. He vowed to fine the miner 100 million reais ($26.5 million). Vale Chief Executive Officer Fabio Schvartsman said in a television interview on Sunday the disaster happened even after the company followed experts' safety recommendations. "I'm not a mining technician. I followed the technicians' advice and you see what happened. It didn't work," Schvartsman said. "We are 100 percent within all the standards, and that didn't do it." The CEO promised "to go above and beyond any national or international standards. ... We will create a cushion of safety far superior to what we have today to guarantee this never happens again." ECHOES OF SAMARCO In 2015, a tailings dam collapsed at an iron ore mine belonging to Samarco Mineracao SA, a Vale joint venture with BHP Group, less than 100 km (60 miles) to the east. The resulting torrent of toxic mud killed 19 people, buried a small village and contaminated a major river in Brazil's worst environmental disaster on record. Fears of another dam burst in Brumadinho on Sunday triggered evacuation sirens in the town before dawn, adding to the anxiety of residents waiting for word about lost relatives and friends. Firefighters halted searching and evacuated thousands from their homes until the afternoon when civil defense authorities ruled out the risk of another dam burst, calling off the evacuation and reinstating search-and-rescue efforts. Aihara initially said 24,000 people would be evacuated, but later lowered the total to 3,000. In all, 24,000 people have been affected by the disaster, he said. Renato Maia, a 44-year-old salesman whose best friend's daughter remained missing, fled his home in panic early on Sunday and waited for hours with his wife at a police barricade on the outskirts of town. "We're all fed up with Vale ... and this is really adding to the tension," he said. "It was a huge tragedy and now we don't know what might come next." The Brazilian government ordered Vale to halt operations at the Corrego do Feijao mining complex. On Sunday, courts nearly doubled to 11 billion reais the amount of Vale assets frozen in anticipation of damages and fines. Federal prosecutor Jose Adercio Sampaio told Reuters on Saturday that state and federal authorities had failed to apply more stringent regulation to the hundreds of tailings dams around the country. Schvartsman said all of Vale's tailings dams were checked after the 2015 disaster and periodic reviews carried out.
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Mine Collapses
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1931 Dogger Bank earthquake
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The Dogger Bank earthquake of 1931 was the strongest earthquake recorded in the United Kingdom since measurements began. It had a magnitude of 6.1 on the Richter magnitude scale, and it caused a shaking intensity of VI (strong) to VII (very strong) on the Mercalli intensity scale. [1][2] The location of the earthquake in the North Sea meant that damage was significantly less than it would have been had the epicentre been on the British mainland. The tremor began at around 1:30 am on 7 June 1931 with its epicentre located at the Dogger Bank, 60 miles (97 km) off the Yorkshire coast in the North Sea. The effects were felt throughout Great Britain as well as in Belgium and France. [3] The earthquake resulted in damage at locations throughout eastern England. The coastal town of Filey in Yorkshire was worst hit, with the spire of a church being twisted by the tremor. Chimneys collapsed in Hull, Beverley and Bridlington, and Flamborough Head suffered crumbling of parts of its cliffs. It was also reported that a Hull woman died as a result of a heart attack caused by the quake. In London the head of the waxwork of Dr Crippen at Madame Tussauds fell off. [4][5]
A small nondestructive tsunami wave was reported to have hit the east coast of England and other countries around the North Sea. [6]
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Earthquakes
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Cape Town water crisis
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The Cape Town water crisis in South Africa was a period of severe water shortage in the Western Cape region, most notably affecting the City of Cape Town. While dam water levels had been declining since 2015, the Cape Town water crisis peaked during mid-2017 to mid-2018 when water levels hovered between 15 and 30 percent of total dam capacity. In late 2017, there were first mentions of plans for "Day Zero", a shorthand reference for the day when the water level of the major dams supplying the City could fall below 13.5 percent. [1][2][3] "Day Zero" would mark the start of Level 7 water restrictions, when municipal water supplies would be largely switched off and it was envisioned that residents could have to queue for their daily ration of water. If this had occurred, it would have made the City of Cape Town the first major city in the world to run out of water. [4][5] The water crisis occurred at the same time as the still ongoing, as of 2021, Eastern Cape drought located in a separate region nearby. The City of Cape Town implemented significant water restrictions in a bid to curb water usage, and succeeded in reducing its daily water usage by more than half to around 500 million litres (130,000,000 US gal) per day in March 2018. [6] The fall in water usage led the City to postpone its estimate for "Day Zero", and strong rains starting in June 2018 led to dam levels recovering. [7] In September 2018, with dam levels close to 70 percent, the city began easing water restrictions, indicating that the worst of the water crisis was over. [8] Good rains in 2020 effectively broke the drought and resulting water shortage when dam levels reached 95 percent. [9]
The Cape Town region experiences a Mediterranean climate with warm, dry summers and winter rainfall. The Western Cape Water Supply System relies almost entirely on rainfall, which is captured and stored in six major dams situated in mountainous areas. [10] The dams are recharged by rain falling in the catchment areas, largely during the cooler winter months of May to August, and dam levels decline during the dry summer months of November to April during which urban water use increases and irrigation takes place in the agricultural areas. Urban and agricultural use consume approximately 70 percent and 30 percent respectively of total water supplied by the Western Cape Water Supply System, with significant seasonal variations. [11][12] In the post-Apartheid era, and under the Free Basic Water policy, the City of Cape Town adopted an increasing block tariff structure for water pricing, in which larger users of water were penalised with higher tariffs to discourage use, while tariff for the first block were set at (near) zero to ensure equitable access to a basic level of water for all South Africans. [13] Registered low-income households in Cape Town with a direct water and sanitation connection receive their first 6 000 litres per month of water free, and are only charged a tariff for consumption above that amount. [14] Households in informal settlements are supplied water from communal taps and use community toilets. [15] For farmers who get water from the Western Cape Water Supply System, they are metered and monitored by irrigation boards and water user associations. Many farmers also join shared irrigation distribution schemes (from a specific river flow), and have on-site private storage dams and boreholes. [16] The City claims that they make no profit on water sales, and that water pricing policy attempts to balance efficiency, equity and cost-recovery needs. [17]
Periods of low winter rainfall in 2000–2001 and 2003–2004 resulted in water restrictions. [18][19] In 2003, the City entered into an agreement with the then Department of Water Affairs and Forestry for the construction of the Berg River Dam and Supplement Scheme and also commenced water demand management. In 2009, the storage capacity of the dams supplying Cape Town was increased by 17 percent from 768 to 898 million cubic metres when the Berg River Dam and Supplement scheme were completed. [20]
In 2015, the City of Cape Town won a prestigious international award recognising their efforts at Water Conservation and Demand Management (WCWDM). Cape Town was particularly successful at reducing water loss through leaks, with a water loss rate of 14 percent, compared to a national average of 35 percent. The by-laws also specify that water efficient fittings approved by the South African Bureau of Standards should be provided for all new developments and renovations. [21][22]
After good rains in 2013 and 2014, the City of Cape Town began experiencing a drought in 2015, the first of three consecutive years of dry winters brought on possibly by the El Niño weather pattern and perhaps by climate change. [28] Water levels in the City's dams declined from 71.9 percent in 2014 to 50.1 percent in 2015. [23] On 1 January 2016, previous water restrictions of Level 1 from 2005 had been lifted to Level 2 by the City and on 1 November 2016 it elevated these to Level 3, when the Department of Water and Sanitation gazetted water restrictions for urban and agricultural use. Significant droughts in other parts of South Africa ended in August 2016 when heavy rain and flooding occurred in the interior of the country,[29] but the drought in the Western Cape remained. The City increased water restrictions to Level 3B on 1 February 2017 and by the end of the dry season in May 2017, the drought was declared the City's worst in a century, with storage in dams being less than 10 percent of their usable capacity. [30] Level 4 water restrictions were imposed on 1 June 2017, limiting the usage of water to 100 litres per person per day. [31] Overall rainfall in 2017 was the lowest since records commenced in 1933. [32]
With the dry summer season approaching, the City increased its existing water restrictions to Level 4B on 1st July 2017, and to Level 5 on 3 September 2017, banning outdoor and non-essential use of water, encouraging the use of grey water for toilet flushing, and aiming to limit the overall per person water usage to 87 litres per day, for a total consumption of 500 million litres per day. [11] However, the Level 5 restriction was accompanied by an ambiguous statement on household usage limits, which had the unintended consequence of increasing usage for some. [5]
By early October 2017, following a low rainfall winter, Cape Town had an estimated five months of storage available before water levels would be depleted. [11] In the same month, the City of Cape Town issued an emergency water plan to be rolled-out in multiple phases depending on the severity of the water shortage. Phase 1 comprising "water rationing through extreme pressure reduction" was implemented immediately. In Phase 2, post "Day Zero", water would have been shut off to most of the system except to places of key water access. Phase 3 would have been the point at which the City would no longer be able to draw water from surface dams in the Western Cape Water Supply System and there would have been a limited period of time before the water supply system fails. [33][34][35]
On 1 January 2018 the City declared Level 6 water restrictions of 87 litres per person per day. In February 2018, the City increased restrictions to Level 6B limiting usage to 50 litres per person per day. [11] The Provincial Cabinet also announced that it was drawing up plans with the South African Police Service for a strategy to deploy officers at water distribution points across the City after "Day Zero". [36]
In mid-January 2018, previous Cape Town Mayor Patricia de Lille announced that the City would be forced to shut off most of the municipal water supply if conditions did not change. Level 7 water restrictions, "Day Zero", would be declared when the water level of the major dams supplying the City reached 13.5 percent. Municipal water supplies would largely be switched off, and residents would have to rely on 149 water collection points around the City to collect a daily ration of 25 litres of water per person. [37][38] This would further affect Cape Town's economy, because employees would have to take time off from work to wait in line for water. [39] Water supply would be maintained in the City's CBD, in informal settlements (where water is already collected from central locations) and to essential services such as hospitals. At the time of the announcement, "Day Zero" was projected to take place on 22 April 2018, but soon thereafter this was revised to 12 April. [40][41][42] The "Day Zero" projections were based on the fortnightly changes in dam storage levels, assuming that the rates of decline would continue unchanged, with no further rainfall or change in water demand.
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Droughts
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Air France Flight 358 crash
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Air France Flight 358 was a regularly scheduled international flight from Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris, France, to Toronto Pearson International Airport in Ontario, Canada. On the afternoon of 2 August 2005, while landing at Pearson Airport, the Airbus A340-313E operating the route overran the runway and crashed into nearby Etobicoke Creek, approximately 300 m (980 ft) beyond the end of the runway. All 309 passengers and crew on board the Airbus survived, but twelve people sustained serious injuries. The accident highlighted the vital role played by highly trained flight attendants during an emergency. Due to inclement weather, 540 flights departing and arriving at Pearson were cancelled. Many small and mid-sized aircraft due to arrive were diverted to other Canadian airports in Ottawa, London, Hamilton, and Winnipeg. Most of the larger aircraft were diverted to Montreal,[1] Syracuse, New York,[2] and Buffalo, New York. Flights from Vancouver were turned back. The crash of Air France Flight 358 was the biggest crisis to hit Toronto Pearson since the airport's involvement in Operation Yellow Ribbon. Jean Lapierre, the Canadian Minister of Transport, referred to Flight 358 as a "miracle" because all of the passengers survived, despite the aircraft getting completely destroyed. [3] Other press sources described the accident as the "Miracle in Toronto",[3][4] the "Toronto Miracle",[5] the " 'Miracle' Escape",[6] and the "Miracle of Runway 24L". [7]
The accident was investigated by the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB), with a final report issued on 13 December 2007. The unfavourable weather conditions, and the poor landing decisions made by the flight crew, were found to be major factors leading to the crash. The visibility was poor, the assigned runway was short (the airport's shortest), the plane touched down nearly halfway through the runway and the thrust reversers weren't on full power until 17 seconds after touchdown. The aircraft operating Flight 358 was an Airbus A340-313E, with Manufacturer's Serial Number (MSN) 289 and registration F-GLZQ; it was powered by four CFM International CFM56 engines. [8] The aircraft made its first flight on 3 August 1999, and was delivered to Air France on 7 September 1999. It had made 3,711 flights[citation needed] for a total of 28,426 flight hours. [9] Its last maintenance check was carried out in France on 5 July 2005. There were twelve crew members on board the Airbus. The flight crew consisted of 57-year-old Captain Alain Rosaye, a seasoned pilot with 15,411 total flight hours, and the co-pilot was 43-year-old Frédéric Naud, who had accrued 4,834 hours of flight time. [10]
Of the 297 passengers on board the Airbus, there were 168 adult males, 118 adult females, eight children and three infants. There was a mix of different nationalities, including 104 Canadian citizens, 101 French, 19 Italian, 14 American, 8 Indian, and 7 British. [11] The passengers consisted of businesspersons, vacationers and students. [12] Three of the passengers were seated in crew seats, one in the third occupant seat of the flight deck and two in the flight crew rest area. [13]
At 16:02 EDT (20:02 UTC) on 2 August 2005, Air France Flight 358 overshot the end of the runway after landing at Toronto Pearson International Airport, and came to rest in a small ravine just outside the airport perimeter. All 297 passengers and twelve crew members successfully evacuated the aircraft. [11] Twelve major injuries resulted from the accident and there were no fatalities;[10] the other occupants suffered minor or no injuries. The aircraft was destroyed in a post-crash fire. The flight landed during exceptionally poor weather[11]—severe winds, heavy rain, and localized thunderstorms near the airport (see Weather conditions below)—and touched down farther along the runway than usual. Some passengers reported that the plane was rocking from side to side before landing, possibly due to turbulence and gusting winds associated with the storm systems. One passenger described the crash as like a "car accident, but it keeps going and going, non-stop. "[14]
The plane had been cleared to land at 16:01 EDT on Runway 24L, which, at 2,700 metres (8,900 ft) in length, is the shortest runway at Pearson Airport. After touchdown, the aircraft did not stop before the end of the runway, but continued on for another 300 metres (980 ft) until it slid into the Etobicoke Creek ravine at a speed of 148 km/h (92 mph), on the western edge of the airport near the interchange of Dixie Road and Highway 401. After the aircraft had stopped, the crew saw fire outside and began evacuation. When the emergency exits were opened, one of the right middle exit slides (R3) deflated after being punctured by debris from the aircraft, while one of the left slides (L2) failed to deploy at all for unknown reasons. The two rear left exits remained closed due to the fire. [9] A number of passengers were forced to jump from the aircraft to escape. The actions of the flight attendants, who ensured that all of the passengers were able to exit the plane quickly, contributed to the safe evacuation of everyone on board. [15] The first officer was the last person to leave the plane, which was evacuated within the required 90-second time frame. Emergency response teams arrived on site within 52 seconds of the accident occurring. [16] The TSB official report states that "the first response vehicle arrived at the scene within one minute of the crash alarm sounding". [9]
After the accident, some of the passengers, including those who were injured, scrambled up the ravine onto Highway 401[11] which runs almost parallel to the runway. Peel Regional Police located the first officer and several passengers along the highway, receiving assistance from motorists who had been passing the airport at the time of the crash. Some of the injured passengers and the co-pilot were taken directly to hospitals by motorists, and the uninjured passengers were transported by motorists to the airport. [11] The main fire continued to burn for two hours, dying out just before 18:00 EDT. All of the fires were extinguished by the early afternoon of the following day, when investigators were able to begin their work. The accident led to the cancellation or diversion of hundreds of flights, with ripple effects throughout the North American air traffic system. Four of the five runway surfaces at Pearson Airport were back in service by the night of 2 August, but the flight and passenger backlog continued through the next day. The accident also caused heavy traffic congestion throughout Toronto's highway system. Highway 401 is one of the world's busiest highways, and is the main route through the Greater Toronto Area; the crash occurred near the highway's widest point where eighteen lanes of traffic are directed toward major intersections with Highway 403 and Highway 410 to the southwest and Highway 427 to the northeast.
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Air crash
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Judge ignores plea agreement, sentences pursuit driver to 4 years in prison
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A man who confessed to authorities he was trying to get law enforcement to shoot and kill him during a pursuit on Interstate 77 earlier this year, was sentenced to four years in prison Monday in the Guernsey County Common Pleas Court. Emerson Jeffrey, 31, of Jefferson, previously plead guilty to single counts of failure to comply with the order or signal of a police officer, a third-degree felony, and an amended count of obstructing official business, a fifth-degree felony, as part of a negotiated plea. The plea agreement requested Judge Daniel G. Padden impose a three-year sentence for the failure to comply conviction and a consecutive year for the obstructing conviction, and suspend the prison term in favor of five years of community control sanctions. Citing a need to protect the public from future crimes by Jeffrey and other criminals, Padden ignored the request and ordered the defendant to serve the full prison term. "These types of cases are difficult," said Padden, while acknowledging Jeffrey's long history of mental health issues. "They are hard and they have competing interests. But, the prison term is not suspended because of the need to protect the public." The judge told Jeffrey that Ohio law requires him to first protect the public from future crimes and then punish the offender and promote their effective rehabilitation. Padden pointed to lengthy criminal history in Ohio and Florida as a factor in determining the sentence. "This is his sixth felony case," said Padden. Prior offenses reportedly included multiple theft charges, a burglary conviction and drug-related offenses in both states. Jeffrey served a prison sentence for the third-degree felony burglary conviction in Hardin County. Ohio law also required the court to sentence Jeffrey to consecutive prison terms based on the conviction for failure to comply with the order or signal of a police officer. Padden imposed a 99-year driver's license suspension and ordered Jeffrey to pay court costs, although no fine was imposed. Jeffrey was given 70 days credit for time served since his arrest on Jan. 20 following a lengthy stand off with authorities along I-77 near the Guernsey-Noble county line. In court Monday, Jeffrey admitted he told State Highway Patrol Trooper Adam Masinelli that officers would have to shoot and kill him after initially being stopped for a traffic violation. "He said please don't do this, but I drove away," Jeffrey told the judge. Masinelli and other law enforcement pursued Jeffrey south at approximately 65 mph until he allegedly accelerated to 109 mph upon approaching a spike strip deployed by a trooper. More:Ohio man arrested after pursuit, stand-off on I-77 Jeffrey said he was trying to harm himself. "I was only trying to get them to kill me," said Jeffrey in court. "If I was trying to hurt anybody else, I would have swerved at the cop instead of swerving to hit the spike strip. I wanted to flip my car to hurt myself and I jerked the steering wheel after hitting the spikes, but it just spun on the road." The vehicle slid off the right side of I-77 and came to rest in a wooded area along the highway where Jeffrey refused to exit the car while surrounded by troopers and sheriff's deputies from Guernsey and Noble counties. After crashing, Jeffrey consumed a significant amount of pills before finally exiting the vehicle some time later. But instead of surrendering, Jeffrey emerged brandishing a knife and held authorities at bay until a Taser was eventually used to gain control of him approximately three hours after the crash. "I really was on a mission to die," said Jeffrey. Guernsey County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Kent Biegler and defense attorney Matthew Mollica asked Paden to suspend the maximum four-year sentence in favor of community control sanctions Monday. Both attorneys cited Jeffrey's lengthy mental health history and the need for treatment as reasons for the request. "The charges he pled (guilty) to absolutely fit what he did," said Biegler. "He has mental health issues ... ongoing mental health issues that will continue to be ongoing unless he receives treatment. He didn't try to assault the officers. He had knives that he held out trying to get them to shoot him." Biegler and Mollica praised Patrol Lt. Melanie Appleman for taking control of the scene and preventing Jeffrey from being harmed. "Because of her patience, he was not killed or harmed," said Biegler. Mollica explained Jeffrey's mental condition in the days following his arrest. "He stabbed himself with a pen at the initial hearing and he wrapped a cord around himself in an attempt to harm himself," said Mollica of his client's desire to die in January. "He had toilet paper jammed tightly in his ears at the jail to stop the voices." Mollica told Padden his client is better because he is taking his medication and attending mental health counseling appointments. "I fear if he goes to prison and then gets out, what happens then," said Mollica. "He is not the same person as when this offense occurred. Give him a chance." Jeffrey also asked Padden to give him a chance when called upon by the judge. "I have insurance to get meds and a place to live with food and someone who loves me," said an emotional Jeffrey. "Please give me a chance to show you." Jeffrey said he started drinking alcohol at age 6 and smoking marijuana with his mother at age 7. He was removed from his home at age 11 after allegedly being sexually assaulted by his father, according to court testimony. He was reportedly in and out of multiple foster homes and group homes over the next several years. Following the arrest, Mollica filed a motion seeking a competency evaluation and filed a not guilty by reason of insanity plea on March 4. Dr. Daniel Hrinko of the Forensic Diagnostic Center of Region 9 determined Jeffrey was competent to stand trial following an evaluation, according to report revealed during a competency hearing on May 25. More:Judge: Ohio man competent to stand trial An initial indictment of felonious assault, a second-degree felony, returned by a grand jury on Feb. 18 was amended to the obstructing official business on Aug. 19 when Jeffrey entered the negotiated pleas. A sentencing hearing slated for Oct. 27 was continued to Monday after Jeffrey was arrested and charged with persistent disorderly conduct following an altercation with a female relative four days earlier in Belmont County. Jeffrey was incarcerated in the Belmont County Jail at the time of the sentencing hearing, but was released after pleading no contest to the fourth-degree misdemeanor offense. He was sentenced in Belmont County Western Court to 30 days in jail with four days credit for time served and 26 days suspended. He was ordered to pay a $200 fine and court costs totaling $105. Jeffrey was remanded into the custody of the Guernsey County Sheriff's Office for transport to the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections' Reception Center in Orient to begin serving the prison sentence.
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Famous Person - Commit Crime - Sentence
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1962 Godthab Catalina crash
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On 12 May 1962, an Eastern Provincial Airways Canso amphibian flying boat sank at Godthåb (now Nuuk) in Greenland, causing the death of 15 passengers. [1]
The Catalina was operating a scheduled flight from Kangerlussuaq Airport to Godthåb for Greenlandair with 21 on board, while landing on the water at Goodthab harbour it sank with 15 passengers being killed. [1] Initial reports were that the aircraft had hit debris on the water. [2]
The aircraft CF-IHA was a Canadian-built variant of the Consolidated Catalina built by Canadian-Vickers in 1944. [1] It was built for the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) with serial number 11058 until it was sold in 1947. A technical investigation concluded that the nose wheel doors had not closed properly probably due to mechanical failure. [1] With a gap of 70mm, the doors were torn off on landing letting water into the nose wheel bay, the pressure of water caused a bulkhead to fail and the aircraft to sink. [1]
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Air crash
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People's Uprising rally, 2013
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The People's Uprising rally or Himpunan Kebangkitan Rakyat (Malay) was a rally that was held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on 12 January 2013. The rally was held by various Malaysian opposition friendly non-governmental organisations and opposition parties in opposition to many of the government policies and decisions that have been claimed by left wing supporters to be unfair and affecting the Malaysian populace. The main venue which the organisers have chosen for the rally is Stadium Merdeka. The event was also known as the KL 112 rally, where the numbers indicate the date of the event. [1][2]
According to social activist and icon Hishamuddin Rais, the grievances against the government are many and varied[3] The following lists of grouses:
The election watchdog group Bersih which organised a number of rallies calling for electoral reform in Malaysia namely the rallies in the Bersih rallies in 2011 and 2012 has revealed that it is not amongst the organisers of the latest rally but has said that many of members will be attending the rally on their own capacity. The opposition coalition Pakatan Rakyat has made a 10-point declaration:[4][5]
The police have advised the organisers of the rally to hold the rally in Bukit Jalil stadium instead of having it in Stadium Merdeka. [6]
In anticipation of the protests the government began the closure of Dataran Merdeka to prevent protesters from gathering at that location. [7]
The government has also warned against civil servants from attending the rally. [8]
Various public universities in Malaysia echoed the government's warning telling students and teachers not to attend the rally. [9][10]
The government-controlled mainstream media gave scant coverage on the rally. [11]
This is the chronology of the people's uprising rally 2013 or (KL112) that was held in Stadium Merdeka, Kuala Lumpur, Saturday 12 January 2013. [12] (Chronology sorted from down to upward)
The Malaysian human rights watchdog Suhakam and the Malaysian Bar Council will be monitoring the rally. The Bar Council will be sending in a team of lawyers to anyone who needs legal assistances should they be arrested by the police. [14] Former Bar Council president K Ragunath criticised the Bar Council for showing a tendency to support the opposition. [15]
There were fears by a Malaysian NGO Solidariti Anak Muda Malaysia (SAMM) that there would be some provocations by the police during the demonstration. [16] After the rally ended, the PDRM or the Malaysian Royal Police was praised as they shown tremendous amount of patience and restraint. According to different estimates there were about 100,000 to 150,000 people who attended the rally, which was quite peaceful compared the previous rallies. [17][18][19] Many of the rally goers gathered at various points of the city before making their way to Stadium Merdeka where the rally organisers conducted a number of speeches in support of their ideals. [20][21]
The police was commended for the way they handled the rally by both government as well as opposition leaders and from the general public. [22]
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Protest_Online Condemnation
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On Sunday, August 19, 1962, a group of six men, with help of a bank’s safe-keeper, robbed a local branch of the National Bank of Poland, located in the town of Wołów in Lower Silesian Voivodeship (southwestern Poland).
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On Sunday, August 19, 1962, a group of six men, with help of a bank’s safe-keeper, robbed a local branch of the National Bank of Poland, located in the town of Wołów in Lower Silesian Voivodeship (southwestern Poland). Altogether, 12,531,000 złotys were stolen,[1] which in late 2000s (decade) prices, would make some 18 million złotys. It was the biggest bank robbery in the history of the People's Republic of Poland,[1] to the point that the Polish government for a while considered withdrawing all 50-złoty and 100-złoty bills from the market, which would help find the robbers. [2]
The robbery was described with details in a local newspaper Głos Pracy, which dedicated large part of its October 19, 1962, issue to the "job". According to the article, which was written two months after the robbery, on Sunday, August 19, 1962, a group of robbers approached a guard, who was entering the bank to work the night shift. The guard was bound, and left in the cellar, while the robbers entered the main hall, quickly finding the safe. The robbers got into the safe through a hole cut in the wall by a jack-screw. [3] They stole 12,531,000, all in 500-, and 100-złoty notes. The loot was staggering for these times, as back then, the biggest lottery jackpots were up to 1 million złotys. [2]
According to Colonel Stanisław Gorniecki of the local police department, the guard spent the whole night in the cellar, and was found on the next day at 4:30 a.m., by a cleaning lady, who upon entering the building noticed that the main door had not been locked. The woman then heard moaning coming from the cellar, and she went down to spot the guard. Soon afterwards the police were informed, and all local roads were closed, and the officers checked all trunks. Criminals and thieves known to the police were investigated, and on the same day (Monday, August 20), a group of police experts came by plane from Warsaw. The investigation was dubbed W-62. [2]
The experts found out that the robbers had used a Warszawa car, also, due to several traces left on the ground, they managed to tell the type of tires. Also, the vehicle hit a pile of broken bricks, so search immediately started. Furthermore, on the ripped safe there were traces of paint of the tools used. It looked like all tools were painted in the same color, so the detectives tried to locate a shop or a workshop to which the tools belonged. As the robbery was very quick, it was suggested that one of the criminals was a person associated with the bank, who knew the details of the inside. Therefore, all employees were investigated. Finally, it was established that all stolen banknotes belonged to the AP and AR series (for 500 złoty notes), and DI, DK and DR series (100 złoty notes). All bank tellers and cashiers in the country were informed about it. [citation needed]
Hundreds of tip-offs came to the police from uninvolved individuals around the country, and the first significant information came from Pruszcz Gdański, where a woman came to a bank to deposit 18,000 złotys. Among the money, there were a lot of bills from the marked series, and the teller immediately informed the police. A short investigation concluded that the woman was related to a person from Wołów, who was a customer of the bank, and turned out to be one of the robbers. [citation needed]
The second tip came from Ostrów Wielkopolski, where a bank teller noticed that a 500-złoty note was very damaged and probably fake. The manager of the bank checked it - the note was real, but it was purposely tattered to look old and worn. Altogether, there were nine such notes in the Ostrów Wielkopolski bank. All were taken to the laboratory, which confirmed that the money was new, and probably washed in a laundry machine. [citation needed]
One day later, on October 1, 1962, a woman entered a textile store in the Kluczbork. She picked an expensive carpet, and handed the seller a 500-złoty bill. The female employee immediately realized that it was the wanted note, but at the same time the customer sensed she was in trouble. She wanted the money back, but also suggested a bribe. The seller would not hear of it, locked the store and called the police. [3] The customer was the wife of a man from Wołów, who turned out to be one of the brains of the gang. A search of their house resulted in finding a great deal of stolen money that belonged to the marked series. It was a breakthrough moment of the investigation, and in the next three days, all the robbers were caught. [citation needed]
The police were shocked to learn that none of the robbers were seasoned criminals, but a group of otherwise law-abiding citizens of the town. [3] Their brains was an electrician Stanisław J., who had worked for the bank, and who had ordered his comrades to stay quiet for a while, and avoid any big purchases, not to bring heat on the gang. All were sentenced to 25 years, but left prison after 17 years, in 1979. [2] The police recovered almost all the money stolen in the heist. [citation needed]
In 1975, film director Mieczysław Waskowski made a movie Hazardzisci (The Gamblers), which is dedicated to the 1962 robbery. [4]
Also, in 2008, Polish Radio Wrocław created a radio show, telling the story of the robbery,[5] and Polish TV Wroclaw, together with Gazeta Wyborcza filmed a documentary titled Napad na bank. [6]
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Bank Robbery
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1981 Sirch earthquake
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The 1981 Sirch earthquake occurred at 00:22 local time (17:22 UTC) on July 28. It had a magnitude of 7.1 on the surface wave magnitude scale and a maximum perceived intensity of IX (Violent) on the Mercalli intensity scale. The epicentre was in the province of Kerman in eastern Iran. The earthquake caused the destruction of Kerman and serious damage to towns and villages in the surrounding area. The estimated number of deaths is 1,500, with a further 1,000 injured, 50,000 homeless, and extensive damage in the Kerman Region. This is the largest event in the Kerman province since the 1981 Golbaf earthquake that killed 3,000 people. The 2003 Bam earthquake was the most significant earthquake in the Kerman Province.
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Earthquakes
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Brazil dam disaster death toll mounts as arrests warrants issued
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Rio de Janeiro -- Brazilian authorities have issued arrest warrants for five people in connection with a dam collapse that killed at least 65 people as it plastered part of a city with reddish-brown mud and mining waste. Police issued the warrants on Tuesday in Sao Paulo and in the state of Minas Gerais, where the collapse happened. They came as rescue crews worked for the fifth day to search for survivors or bodies. Local media reported the warrants were for employees of Vale, the mining company that owned and operated the waste dam that collapsed. In a statement, Vale said it was working with authorities. However, a spokeswoman couldn't immediately confirm that those being sought worked for the company. An Associated Press photographer saw police bringing back one of the alleged suspects in Sao Paulo. Lt. Col. Flavio Godinho of the civil defense department in Minas Gerais said late on Monday that 279 people were still missing. Officials have said the death toll could still grow "exponentially," as no has been rescued alive since Saturday. In a sign of the risks posed by the deep mud, Col. Alexandre Ferreira, a doctor with the military police of Minas Gerais, advised rescue crews, volunteers and journalists to take antibiotics to prevent cholera, the bacterial infection leptospirosis and other diseases. Search efforts were extremely slow because of the treacherous sea of reddish-brown mud that surged out when the mine tailings dam breached Friday afternoon. The mud was up 24 feet deep in some places, forcing searchers to carefully walk around the edges of the muck or slowly crawl onto it so they would not sink and drown. Teams focused their searches Monday morning in areas where a bus was immersed and where many workers were eating lunch at the mine cafeteria when the dam ruptured. The mine's owner, Vale SA, is the world's largest producer of iron ore, the raw ingredient for making steel. The Brazilian company's American depository shares plunged 18 percent Monday on the New York Stock Exchange. At the scene of the disaster, helicopters looking for bodies took off and landed nonstop. On the ground, dozens of rescuers with tracking dogs were searching for bodies through the mountains of mud. An Associated Press photographer witnessed at least 10 helicopters each carrying one body.
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Mine Collapses
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Super Junior’s Shindong Halts Activities After Being Diagnosed With COVID-19
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On November 12, Super Junior’s agency Label SJ officially confirmed, “On November 11, Shindong’s COVID-19 test results came back positive, and he is currently in self-quarantine.”
According to the agency, after learning that he had come into close contact with someone who was later diagnosed with COVID-19, Shindong underwent PCR testing on November 10. The next day, he learned that he had also tested positive for the virus.
However, because Shindong has not recently come into contact with any of his bandmates, the other Super Junior members will not be undergoing testing.
“[Shindong] hasn’t crossed paths with any Super Junior members,” stated the agency. “The other members have no plans to get tested.”
Although Shindong will temporarily be halting his activities, he has not recently crossed paths with the other cast members from his variety shows such as JTBC’s “Knowing Bros,” so it is reportedly unlikely that his diagnosis will affect his castmates.
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Famous Person - Sick
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1959 Uruguayan flood
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In April 1959, Uruguay suffered floods (Spanish: Inundaciones de abril de 1959 en Uruguay) that were the most severe in the modern history of Uruguay. Rainfall lasted from March 24 till April 23 and as a consequence the Río Negro suffered an overtopping. Waters passed over the Dam of Rincón del Bonete.
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Floods
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Deadly Lumpy Skin Disease outbreak spreads to cattle in 5 Gujarat districts
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Gujarat is the latest victim of the emerging viral disease outbreak in cattle, Lumpy Skin Disease (LSD), which has already been reported in at least 12 other States in the country. According to sources in the State animal husbandry department, several cattle in at least five districts have been infected with the incurable disease caused by pox virus and spreads through the blood-feeding insects. The spread of the infection is currently reported in the districts of Surat, Navsari, Bharuch, Anand and Ahmedabad. First reported in 2019 in Odisha’s Mayurbhanj, the disease has so far spread to Karnataka, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Assam, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. While there is no specific vaccine for prevention in the country, experts are advising use of goat pox vaccine as a prophylactic measure. Australia’s Victoria government says LCD morbidity varies between five and 45 per cent, though the mortality rate is below 10 per cent. In May this year, Bihar issued an alert on LCD, which came from Bangladesh, with reports saying hundreds of cattle had died last year in five districts of the State. Speaking to BusinessLine, Ramsinh Parmar, Chairman of Anand’s Amul Dairy (Kaira District Cooperative Milk Producers’ Union), confirmed the presence of LSD infections in various parts of the district. “The initial infection was found from Khambhat taluka about three months ago. It started spreading from there to other parts of the districts. But we have pressed into action all our medical teams and vets to conduct vaccinations and take isolation measures for the infected animals,” Parmar said. “There is not going to be any impact on the milk production,” he said. The disease is feared to cause direct economic impact on the dairy farmers, who will have to spend more money on getting their animals treated with increased use of antibiotics. The LSD virus is closely related to the pox viruses of sheep and goats and causes nodular skin lesions on the animal’s body. It is characterised by chronic debility in affected animals, reduced milk production, poor growth, infertility and abortion. The apex dairy institution, National Dairy Development Board (NDDB), confirmed that the disease has affected thousands of dairy animals in most of the States. The sick animals are advised to be removed from the herd. Meenesh Shah, Chairman, NDDB, informed that the Board has been propagating the use of traditional and Ethno-Veterinary Medicine (EVM) for management of LSD with encouraging results. Hester Biosciences Limited is the only Indian player to have developed a LSD vaccine. It has completed the trials of the vaccine, which was originally registered as goat pox vaccine. It would require an approval to repurpose it for LSD.
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Disease Outbreaks
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Oakey contamination: Land valuations decreased after public backlash
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The Queensland Government has decreased land valuations on almost 30 properties near a contaminated aviation base on the Darling Downs after a public backlash. Many residents living near the base have been unable to use or build on their land after groundwater near the Oakey Army Aviation Base was contaminated by toxic firefighting foam containing the chemicals PFOS and PFOA.
The contamination plume is expected to spread for the next 100 years.
Landholders who owned properties in the contamination zone were stunned earlier this month when the state's valuer-general increased their property values for rates purposes, despite private valuers listing some blocks as "worthless".
Residents who received a higher land value also received a rate increase from the Toowoomba Regional Council. But after a public backlash and several complaints, valuer-general Neil Bray revealed he reduced the value of 28 properties — in some cases by $20,000. "Oakey property owners who lodged an objection to their 2016 land valuation were notified of the outcome of the State Valuation Service's review," Mr Bray said.
"This review included consideration of other land valuations in the Oakey area and led to reductions in valuations for a total of 28 properties.
"The reductions were made taking into account the specific grounds raised in the individual objections as well as consideration of comparative land valuations."
Mr Bray said he could not confirm if all the properties that received a value reduction were inside the contamination zone.
Kirsty Banks owns four properties in Oakey, one of which is in the contaminated area. She had not contested her elevated March valuation but received a letter this week detailing a $20,000 drop in the value of the property inside the zone.
"The values from when I bought it back in 2006 only went up on the property," she said.
"My last valuation was $109,000 and I got a letter to say that it's been brought back down to $89,000."
She said her property's bore had not tested positive for the chemicals PFOA and PFOS, despite lying inside the contaminated area. "Mine and my parents' bores are not affected, they don't have any contamination in the bores, so [the re-valuation] is really strange," she said. She said it was odd that land valuers were only being affected now. "We've known about this for three years — for what the Army have done — and they've continually put the rates up and now they've all of a sudden dropped it quite a substantial amount," she said. Resident Jenny Spencer, whose property is about a kilometre from the Oakey Army Aviation Base, contested her March valuation and also received a reduction. Ms Spencer said her valuation had returned to its previous rate, which was determined in 2014. The letter sent to residents said the reduction in value did not necessarily mean the Toowoomba Regional Council would charge owners less for rates. The Toowoomba Regional Council has been contacted for comment.
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Environment Pollution
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Rare Natural Event in Alaska: 3 Volcanoes Erupted at The Same Time
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Three volcanoes in the Alaskan chain of Aleutian islands are currently erupting, and two others are rumbling with disquiet. According to a report by NBC, it's been at least seven years since three Aleutian volcanoes erupted simultaneously. This increased volcanic activity, at this point, is not causing any disruptions, but it is an interesting situation; since volcanoes can be unpredictable, scientists are keeping a careful watch. The Great Sitkin volcano, Mount Pavlof, and the Semisopochnoi volcano are all at an orange volcano alert level as of Sunday 15 August, according to the Alaska Volcano Observatory. This means that eruptions are currently underway, but they're relatively small, rumbly ones with minimal ash. Only minute amounts of ash have been detected at Mount Pavlof and Semisopochnoi, and none from Great Sitkin. However, lava is flowing from Great Sitkin, and large seismic tremors and several explosions have been detected at Semisopochnoi. In addition, Mount Cleveland and the volcanic complex on Atka have been showing signs of activity - increased heat under Mount Cleveland, and small earthquakes under Atka. Both are at a yellow volcano alert level. Although such simultaneous volcanic activity in the Aleutians is uncommon, it's not unheard of. The Aleutian Arc is a chain of volcanoes spread along the subduction boundary between two tectonic plates - the Pacific Plate pushing beneath the North American Plate. The chain stretches from the Alaskan Peninsula to the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia. Often when volcanoes erupt, other nearby volcanoes in close proximity can be roused, but it's not always clear why. The Aleutian Arc is home to a different kind of mystery. In 1996, volcanic and seismic activity was spread across 870 kilometers (540 miles) of the arc, which scientists concluded had to be more than coincidental, although the trigger is unknown. In this case, it's not entirely clear what's going on either. Nearly 290 kilometers (180 miles) span between the two outermost volcanoes in this spate of activity, Great Sitkin and Semisopochnoi. Last year, researchers found that a collection of volcanoes along the Aleutian Arc may be part of a larger supervolcano, but only one of the currently rumbly beasts, Mount Cleveland, is among the specified group. Although there's nothing to worry about at this point, the event could turn out to be very scientifically interesting.
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Volcano Eruption
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Aeroflot Flight 63 crash
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Aeroflot Flight 63 was a scheduled Antonov An-24 flight from Kiev-Zhulhyany Airport to Vinnitsa Airport. The flight proceeded routinely through takeoff and cruise, but started to enter trouble when on final approach due to the bad weather; this included freezing rain with fog and low clouds. The first landing attempt was aborted. The pilots attempted a second approach, but couldn't land and initiated a go-around. During the go-around, the aircraft went nose-high and stalled before crashing 850 m (2,790 ft) short of the threshold. All 48 passengers and crew onboard were killed. [1] The aircraft had been operating for 10,658 flight cycles and had a total of 11,329 flight hours. [2]
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Air crash
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2013 Castelar rail accident
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The 2013 Buenos Aires rail disaster occurred on 13 June 2013 at about 07:30 local time (10:30 UTC), in Castelar, Buenos Aires Province, about 30km (19 miles) west of Buenos Aires, Argentina. A passenger train travelling in the morning rush hour hit a stationary train that was empty. At least 3 people were killed and another 315 were injured. [1][2][3] This crash took place on the Sarmiento line between Once railway station and Moreno, the same line which was the scene of the 2012 Buenos Aires rail disaster. [4]
Following official investigations which determined that the brakes were in working order and that the conductor sped through three warning signals without attempting to apply them,[5] the conductor, Daniel López, was formally charged with negligent homicide on October 2. [6]
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Train collisions
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The Future of Pandemics
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In December 2019, a novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2 ) was identified in Wuhan, China. By the 11th of March of 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic. A year later, more than 2.5 million deaths worldwide have been attributed to infection of the new viral strain and over 113 million cases have been confirmed in the lab. The pandemic has impacted life as we know it around the globe. Healthcare systems have been tested, human behavior has been altered to curb the spread of the virus, economies have been stalled, and the norms of the modern workplace have been forced to shift. The numerous negative impacts on human health, the strain of isolation, uncertainty and chronic stress, together with the delayed vital surgeries and therapies and reduced funding to essential disease research has provoked scientists, policy-makers, and global governments to consider what the future of pandemics may look like in order to prepare to cope with any future outbreaks of infectious disease. Here, we discuss what the future of pandemics may look like and how they may be avoided. Back in December 2019, the SARS-CoV-2 viral strain had not been previously identified in humans. However, it was not the first coronavirus outbreak to impact humans. Recent years have witnessed outbreaks of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in 2003 and the Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) in 2012. Being the third coronavirus outbreak in just two decades, it is important for scientists to understand how the strain arose and how it first entered the human species. Currently, the origin of COVID-19 is not agreed upon. Several mammals have been implicated in previous outbreaks of coronavirus, but the exact origin of SARS-CoV-2 is still debated. However, a recent paper published in January 2021 in the journal Science of the Total Environment has presented evidence that the virus emerged from bat populations. Additionally, the paper stresses that climate change directly influenced environmental changes that allowed bat species to flourish where they otherwise would not have, resulting in the infiltration of dozens more species in China and surrounding areas. Given that number of coronaviruses in a particular environment is associated with the number of bat species that inhabit that area, the proliferation of bats in China because of climate change has been called out as a probable cause of the COVID-19 pandemics. Scientists are calling for climate change to be tackled, not only to save the future of the planet but to simultaneously address the threat of future pandemics. COVID-19 is not alone in being an infectious disease outbreak linked to climate change. Therefore, if climate change is not addressed, numerous future pandemics could be around the corner. While the approval of several vaccines for COVID-19 has sparked hope that the end of the pandemic may be approaching, the vaccine will not be the end of the COVID-19 story. There is the chance of the virus evolving and evading the protection of the vaccine. Therefore, the future will likely heavily depend on how governments manage restrictions on social behavior. Data shows us that different countries have addressed the pandemic in a variety of ways, and the unequal responses have generated unequal impacts. There are many lessons to learn from how social distancing strategies have been effective and ineffective at reducing the spread of the virus. While much has been learned about SARS-CoV-2 in a short space of time, there remains a great deal of uncertainty about how the virus may evolve. Although COVID-19 vaccines are being rolled out with much speed and urgency in numerous countries, it is likely that strategies that impact human behavior will continue to play a role in the future of the COVID-19 pandemic and other potential pandemics that may follow. Many scientists consider us moving onto a new phase of the pandemic rather than the end of the pandemic and stress the need to fine-tune government-implemented restrictions so that they are effective but also tolerable. It is likely that restrictions, to some extent, will continue to be enforced into the future not only to tackle Covid-19 but to also prevent future pandemics. What will the world look like post-COVID-19? With restrictions to some extent expected for the foreseeable future, a return to ‘normal life’ will unlikely occur. It is predicted, rather, that there will be a shift in the ‘norm’ in order to get ahead of potential future pandemics to avoid the significant impact on life that the COVID-19 pandemic caused. Workplaces will likely continue to embrace some form of remote working and the structure of the modern workplace will adapt. Modern technology is ready to facilitate remote working and there are many benefits to both employees and employers to be taken advantage of. The pandemic likely induced a change in working that would have happened in some years anyway, it has simply been brought forward. Travel is another industry that we likely see a long-term impact. Wearing face coverings on transport and preventing overcrowding will continue to be a focus. In addition, international travel will continue to be under scrutiny. It can be predicted that infectious disease outbreaks will continue to be closely monitored across the world, with travel corridors continuing and border restrictions enforced in order to prevent future pandemics. Finally, intermittent lockdowns may be part of the ‘new norm’. Governments will have learned from their previous strategies and those of others. We may arrive at a place where effective measures may be enforced temporarily to curb the potential spread of infectious disease before it becomes out of hand.
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Disease Outbreaks
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1985 Nahanni earthquakes
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The 1985 Nahanni earthquakes is the name for a continuous sequence of earthquakes that began in 1985 in the Nahanni region of the Northwest Territories, Canada. [1] The largest of these earthquakes occurred on December 23, reaching 6.9 on the moment magnitude scale. [1] This is one of the most significant earthquakes in Canada during the 20th century. [2] The earthquakes had a long succession of aftershocks and jolts. [1] The earthquakes amazed both the general public and the earth science community and have been felt in the Yukon, Alberta, Saskatchewan, British Columbia, and southeastern Alaska. [1]
Sources
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Earthquakes
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1947 BSAA Avro Lancastrian Star Dust accident crash
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On 2 August 1947, Star Dust, a British South American Airways (BSAA) Avro Lancastrian airliner on a flight from Buenos Aires, Argentina, to Santiago, Chile, crashed into Mount Tupungato, in the Argentine Andes. An extensive search operation failed to locate the wreckage, despite covering the area of the crash site, and the fate of the aircraft and its occupants remained unknown for over 50 years, giving rise to various conspiracy theories about its disappearance. In the late 1990s, pieces of wreckage from the missing aircraft began to emerge from the glacial ice. It is now believed that the crew became confused as to their exact location while flying at high altitudes through the (then poorly understood) jet stream. Mistakenly believing they had already cleared the mountain tops, they started their descent when they were in fact still behind cloud-covered peaks, and Star Dust crashed into Mount Tupungato, killing all aboard and burying itself in snow and ice. [1][2]
The last word in Star Dust's final Morse code transmission to Santiago airport, "STENDEC", was received by the airport control tower four minutes before its planned landing and repeated twice; it has never been satisfactorily explained. The aircraft, an Avro 691 Lancastrian 3, was built as constructor's number 1280 for the Ministry of Supply to carry 13 passengers, and first flew on 27 November 1945. Its civil certificate of airworthiness (CofA) number 7282 was issued on 1 January 1946. It was delivered to BSAA on 12 January 1946, was registered on 16 January as G-AGWH and given the individual aircraft name "Star Dust". [3][page needed]
Star Dust carried six passengers and a crew of five on its final flight. The captain, Reginald Cook, was an experienced Royal Air Force pilot with combat experience during World War II as were his first officer, Norman Hilton Cook, and second officer, Donald Checklin. Reginald Cook had been awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) and the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC). The radio operator, Dennis Harmer, also had a record of wartime as well as civilian service. Iris Evans, who had previously served in the Women's Royal Naval Service ("Wrens") as a Chief Petty Officer was the flight attendant. [4]
Star Dust's last flight was the final leg of BSAA Flight CS59, which had started in London on an Avro York named Star Mist on 29 July 1947, landing in Buenos Aires on 1 August. [5] The passengers were one woman and five men of Palestinian, Swiss, German and British nationality. One was a UK diplomatic courier, a King's Messenger. [6] Marta Limpert, a German émigré, was the only passenger known for certain to have initially boarded Star Mist in London[7] before changing aircraft in Buenos Aires to continue on to Santiago with the other passengers. [8]
Star Dust left Buenos Aires at 1:46 PM on 2 August[9] and was apparently uneventful until the radio operator (Harmer) sent a routine message in Morse code to the airport in Santiago at 5:41 PM, announcing an expected arrival of 5:45 PM. [10] However, Star Dust never arrived, no more radio transmissions were received by the airport, and intensive efforts by both Chilean and Argentine search teams, as well as by other BSAA pilots, failed to uncover any trace of the aircraft or of the people on board. [11] The head of BSAA, Air Vice Marshal Don Bennett, personally directed an unsuccessful five-day search. [12]
A report by an amateur radio operator who claimed to have received a faint SOS signal from Star Dust initially raised hopes that there might have been survivors,[11] but all subsequent attempts over the years to find the vanished aircraft failed. In the absence of any hard evidence, numerous theories arose —including rumours of sabotage (compounded by the later disappearance of two other aircraft also belonging to British South American Airways);[13] speculation that Star Dust might have been blown up to destroy diplomatic documents being carried by a passenger;[13] or even the suggestion that Star Dust might have been taken or destroyed by a UFO (an idea fuelled by unresolved questions about the flight's final Morse code message). [10]
In 1998, two Argentine mountaineers climbing Mount Tupungato—about 60 mi (100 km) west-southwest of Mendoza, and about 50 mi (80 km) east of Santiago—found the wreckage of a Rolls-Royce Merlin aircraft engine, along with twisted pieces of metal and shreds of clothing, in the Tupungato Glacier at an elevation of 15,000 ft (4,600 m). [11]
In 2000, an Argentine Army expedition found additional wreckage—including a propeller and wheels (one of which had an intact and inflated tyre)—and noted that the wreckage was well localised, a fact which pointed to a head-on impact with the ground, and which also ruled out a mid-air explosion. [14] Human remains were also recovered, including three torsos, a foot in an ankle boot and a manicured hand. By 2002, the bodies of five of the eight British victims had been identified through DNA testing. [6]
A recovered propeller showed that the engine had been running at near-cruising speed at the time of the impact. Additionally, the condition of the wheels proved that the undercarriage was still retracted, suggesting controlled flight into terrain rather than an attempted emergency landing. [15] During the final portion of Star Dust's flight, heavy clouds would have blocked visibility of the ground. It has therefore been suggested that, in the absence of visual sightings of the ground due to the clouds, a large navigational error could have been made as the aircraft flew through the jet stream—a phenomenon not well understood in 1947, in which high-altitude winds can blow at high speed in directions different from those of winds observed at ground level. [16] If the airliner, which had to cross the Andes mountain range at 24,000 feet (7,300 m), had entered the jet-stream zone—which in this area normally blows from the west and south-west, resulting in the aircraft encountering a headwind—this would have significantly decreased the aircraft's ground speed. [citation needed]
Mistakenly assuming their ground speed to be faster than it really was, the crew may have deduced that they had already safely crossed the Andes, and so commenced their descent to Santiago, whereas in fact they were still a considerable distance to the east-north-east and were approaching the cloud-shrouded Tupungato Glacier at high speed. [13] Some BSAA pilots, however, have expressed scepticism at this theory; convinced that Cook would not have started his descent without a positive indication that he had crossed the mountains, they have suggested that strong winds may have brought down the craft in some other way. [17] One of the pilots recalled that "we had all been warned not to enter cloud over the mountains as the turbulence and icing posed too great a threat. "[12]
A set of events similar to those that doomed Star Dust also caused the crash of Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 in 1972 (depicted in the film Alive), though there were survivors from that crash because it involved a glancing blow to a mountainside rather than a head-on collision. [18]
Star Dust is likely to have flown into a nearly vertical snow field near the top of the glacier, causing an avalanche that buried the wreckage within seconds and concealed it from searchers. As the compressed snow turned to ice, the wreckage would have been incorporated into the body of the glacier, with fragments emerging many years later and much farther down the mountain. Between 1998 and 2000, about ten per cent of the total expected wreckage emerged from the glacier, prompting several re-examinations of the accident. More debris is expected to emerge in future, not only as a result of normal glacial motion, but also as the glacier melts. [13]
A 2000 Argentine Air Force investigation cleared Captain Cook of any blame, concluding that the crash had resulted from "a heavy snowstorm" and "very cloudy weather", as a result of which the crew "were unable to correct their positioning". [1][2]
The last Morse code message sent by Star Dust was "ETA SANTIAGO 17.45 HRS STENDEC". [10] The Chilean Air Force radio operator at the Santiago airport described this transmission as coming in "loud and clear" but very fast; as he did not recognise the last word, he requested clarification and heard "STENDEC" repeated twice in succession before contact with the aircraft was lost.[19]. [20] This word has not been definitively explained and has given rise to much speculation. [10]
The staff of the BBC television series Horizon—which presented an episode in 2000 on the Star Dust disappearance—received hundreds of messages from viewers proposing explanations of STENDEC. These included suggestions that the radio operator, possibly suffering from hypoxia, had scrambled the word DESCENT (of which STENDEC is an anagram); that STENDEC may have been the initials of some obscure phrase or that the airport radio operator had misheard the Morse code transmission despite it reportedly having been repeated multiple times. The Horizon staff concluded that, with the possible exception of some misunderstanding based on Morse code, none of these proposed solutions was plausible. [10] It has also been suggested that WWII pilots used this seemingly obscure abbreviation when an aircraft was in hazardous weather and was likely to crash, meaning "Severe Turbulence Encountered, Now Descending Emergency Crash-landing". [21] It is also known that all the crew including the flight attendant had prior WWII air service experience. [citation needed] However, this theory does not match with the rest of the message, which was reporting the flight's estimated arrival time.
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Air crash
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This Week's Total Lunar Eclipse: When to Watch (And What to Look for) in San Diego County
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“Early Wednesday morning we’ll start to see the Earth’s shadow stretching over the moon. Now, the first shadow is the Earth’s penumbra, that’s not really seen very easily, but it’s kind of the outer shadow – the lighter shadow – and that’s going to be just before 3 a.m.,” Parveen explained. The entire process will last 4 hours, 4 minutes, and 26 seconds, Parveen said. The duration of the totality – the real, visible action – will be 14 minutes and 28 seconds. What is the so-called "Flower Super Moon" happening this week? NBC 7 and Telemundo 20 meteorologist Ana Cristina Sanchez explains. Here Are the Best Viewing Times in San Diego County: 1:47 a.m.: Penumbral part of eclipse begins 2:44 a.m.: Partial part of eclipse begins 4:11 a.m.: Full part of eclipse begins 4:18 a.m.: Maximum part of eclipse visible 4:25 a.m. (and 54 seconds): Full part of eclipse ends 5:52 a.m.: Moonset Parveen said the best viewing times are seven sweet minutes – between 4:11 a.m. to 4:18 a.m. “It’s not long-lasting, and it will be gone before the Sun comes up,” Parveen explained. “There’s the Sun, there’s the Earth, there’s the moon – in that order – the Earth is in the middle. What’s happening here is now the Earth is casting a perfect shadow over the moon, from where we’re going to be in San Diego. It’s not everywhere in the entire Earth that’s going to be able to see this.” NBC 7's Sheena Parveen explains where the best spot in San Diego is to stargaze, as well as the best time to look up. For the best visibility of the total lunar eclipse, our local weather, of course, will have to cooperate. Parveen said there may be some patchy fog and scattered clouds early Wednesday but good places to view the total lunar eclipse will be areas that are further inland, and at slightly higher elevation. As always, she said the best place for any kind of viewing like this are San Diego’s deserts.
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New wonders in nature
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2019–2020 Catalan protests
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Kingdom of Spain
Police forces:
Supporters of Catalan independence or referendum
Government of Catalonia
The sentencing of nine Catalan independence leaders in a 2019 trial by the Supreme Court of Spain triggered protests in Catalonia. They were convicted of sedition and other crimes against the Spanish state for their role in the organization of the 2017 Catalan independence referendum. [6]
The Spanish autonomous community of Catalonia has a long established independence movement, which seeks to establish Catalonia as an independent and sovereign republic, thus breaking off from the Kingdom of Spain. A non-binding 2014 Catalan self-determination referendum resulted in a victory for proponents of Catalan independence (although with a turnout of 37%), which emboldened Catalan authorities to conduct the 2017 Catalan independence referendum, which they deemed would be binding and result in the independence of Catalonia. The Spanish Government, then led by Mariano Rajoy, however, considered this an act of illegal separatism and appealed to the Spanish Supreme Court to block the referendum. The Supreme Court concurred and ordered Catalonia to cancel the referendum. The autonomous Catalan government, however, refused and held the referendum despite the Supreme Court's binding order. The Spanish Government launched Operation Anubis, in which it attempted to forcefully stop the referendum from taking place by raiding polling stations, preventing the printing and publication of electoral materials, taking down websites advocating or providing information for the referendum and prosecuting its organizers. The Catalan government resisted the police operation and carried through with the referendum. By the end of the polling day, the Catalan government had declared that the referendum had been successfully held and announced that over 90% of voters had voted for independence with a 43% voter turnout. Nine days later, citing the result of the referendum, the Parliament of Catalonia voted for and issued the Catalan declaration of independence, which declared an independent Republic of Catalonia. The declaration, however, was in direct contradiction to Article 115 Spanish Constitution, as well as the orders of the Spanish Supreme court and Spanish Government. For this reason, the Spanish government ended the region's autonomy and imposed direct rule over Catalonia, seizing control of the entirety of the autonomous government's institutions and infrastructure. The Spanish Government, along with the far-right Vox Party, then began to prosecute a case against several of the autonomous region's leaders, as well as the organizers of the referendum. They were brought before the Spanish Supreme Court in the trial of Catalonia independence leaders. On 14 October 2019, nine of the Catalan independence leaders were sentenced to between nine and 13 years in prison, with another three being fined. The demonstrations erupted to protest the Supreme Court's ruling shortly thereafter. [6][7][8][9][10]
Protests against the sentencing of the Catalan independence leaders began on 14 October at Barcelona-El Prat Airport just hours after the Spanish Supreme Court announced its verdict. By the afternoon, thousands of protesters had already gathered at the airport, effectively forcing the airport to close. Clashes erupted between protesters and police forces after the latter charged at and attempted to disperse the former with police batons. The Catalan Government, led by the pro-independence Quim Torra called for both the amnesty of the convicted leaders and a renewed attempt to realize Catalan independence. [9][11]
Clashes erupted into open violence, as protesters reacted violently at police efforts to end the demonstration, with some demonstrators reportedly throwing rocks and using fire extinguishers against police officers. The Catalan Law Enforcement agency Mossos d'Esquadra, which had previously been accused of aiding the independence movement, replied by firing tear gas at the demonstrators. The pro-independence speaker of the Catalan Parliament condemned the violent incidents and called for peaceful protests against the ruling. [12] The protests grew larger, as more and more Catalans took to the streets. Some demonstrators attempted to storm buildings belonging to the Spanish Government and clashed with police forces. [13] The Spanish Police announced that 51 protesters had been arrested. [14]
On 17 October, the pro-independence President of the Catalan Autonomous government, Quim Torra, called for an immediate halt to violence and disassociated himself from violent protesters, while at the same time calling for more peaceful protests. Nevertheless, the situation in Barcelona had evolved into open street battles between protesters and police, as both violent demonstrators attacked and provoked police forces, and police officers charged peaceful protesters for their proximity to violent ones. [15]
Shortly thereafter, the Catalan President attempted to rally the crowd by stating that he will push for a new independence referendum as large scale protests continued for the fourth day. [16]
On 18 October, Barcelona became paralyzed, as tens of thousands of peaceful protesters answered the Catalan President's call and rallied in support of the jailed independence leaders. [17] The demonstration grew quickly, with the Barcelona police counting at least 525,000 protesters in the city. [1]
By late 18 October, minor trade unions (Intersindical-CSC and Intersindical Alternativa de Catalunya [ca]) linked to pro-independence movement called for a general strike. However, major trade unions (UGT and CCOO) did not endorse the event as well as representatives of the latter contested its very nature as "strike". [18] Five peaceful marches converged on Barcelona's city center, essentially bringing the city to a halt. Protesters further blocked the road on the French-Spanish border. At least 20 other major roads were also blocked. Clashes nevertheless took place, with masked protesters confronting riot police by throwing stones and setting alight rubbish bins. [19] 25,000 university students joined in the protest movement by declaring a peaceful student strike. [20]
As a result of the strike, trains and metro lines saw a reduction to 33% of their usual capacity, while buses saw a reduction to 25-50% of their usual capacity. The roads to the French border remained blocked and all roads leading into Barcelona were also cut. 190 flights in and out of the city were cancelled as a result of the strike. Spanish car manufacturer SEAT further announced a halt in the production of its Martorell plant and most of Barcelona's tourist sites had been closed and occupied by pro-independence demonstrators waving estelada independence flags and posters with pro-independence slogans. [20] The El Clásico football match between FC Barcelona and Real Madrid CF was postponed due to the strike. [21]
By the end of the day, just like the previous days, riots developed in the centre of Barcelona. Masked individuals blocked the boulevard close to the city's police headquarters. Withdrawn to the vicinity of the Plaça Urquinaona, protesters erected barricades setting trash bins in fire and hurled rubble (shattered from the pavement) and other solid objects at riot policemen. [22] The riot units responded with non-lethal foam and rubber bullets, tear gas and smoke grenades. The Mossos used for the first time the water cannon trunk acquired in 1994 from Israel in order to make way across the barricades. [23] The clashes spread to cities outside Barcelona, with Spain's acting interior minister stating that 207 policemen had been injured since the start of the protests, while also noting that 128 people had been arrested by the nation's police forces.
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Protest_Online Condemnation
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Iowa girl dies of carbon monoxide poisoning while cleaning Iowa hog confinement building
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Carbon monoxide is an invisible, odorless, colorless gas created when fossil fuels burn. In the home, heating and cooking equipment are possible sources of carbon monoxide.
USA TODAY
ALGONA, Ia. — A 17-year-old Iowa girl who died after helping to clean a hog confinement building in Kossuth County was overcome by carbon monoxide poisoning, authorities said Thursday.
Victoria Marie Parra-Lerdo, of Rockwell City, was found unconscious Monday night in the building in rural Swea City. She was taken to the Kossuth Regional Health Center in Algona, where she was pronounced dead, the Kossuth County Sheriff's office said.
Autopsy results from the Iowa Medical Examiners Office said Parra-Lerdo's death was accidental. She was a junior at South Central Calhoun High School in Lake City.
A power washer was being operated in the building's hallway near where Parra-Lerdo was working, and inadequate ventilation caused her to be overcome by the fumes, authorities said.
More:
Carbon monoxide poisoning: How to identify it, how to prevent it
In Iowa, an average of 35 deaths and 300 emergency department visits relate to carbon monoxide exposure each year, according to the Iowa Department of Public Health.
Property tax records show the deed holder of the facility is Cottonwood Investment Company, and it is managed by Christensen Farms of Sleepy Eye, Minnesota, the Mason City Globe-Gazette reported .
Parra-Lerdo was not employed at Christensen Farms. Her mother owns the company that was cleaning the facility.
Parra-Lerdo's funeral will be 2 p.m. Sunday at South Central Calhoun High School. Masks are required, according to her obituary .
South Central Calhoun High School principal Randy Martin recalled Parra-Lerdo singing in the hallways with her friends, and said he'd remember her for her positive attitude.
"I don't know if I ever saw her in a bad mood. She's just a sweet kid," he said.
How to identify, prevent carbon monoxide poisoning
Carbon monoxide poisoning can be deadly, and because the gas is colorless and odorless, it's important to know how to identify signs of danger and how to respond.
Appliances fueled with natural gas, LP gas, oil, kerosene, coal, wood or charcoal all produce carbon monoxide.
Symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning usually include headache, fatigue, shortness of breath, nausea, dizziness, fainting, impaired vision and coordination, confusion and chest pains in people with heart or respiratory disease.
Prolonged exposure or high levels of carbon monoxide can cause unconsciousness and death.
Other clues that would suggest poisoning:
Entire family is sick at the same time.
Flu-like symptoms decrease while away from the house.
Illness is present when gas appliances are in use.
Excess moisture on the interior windows.
UnityPoint Health offers these safety tips:
Have your fuel-burning appliances checked by a trained professional at the beginning of every heating season. This includes having your chimney and flue inspected and cleaned.
Don't use a gas oven to heat your home, and never use a charcoal grill indoors.
Never sleep in any room with an unvented gas or kerosene space heater.
Never leave your vehicle running in your garage, even with the garage door open.
Always provide necessary upkeep to your vehicle, especially when it relates to the exhaust system. A faulty exhaust system actually sucks back into the vehicle causing high levels of carbon monoxide in your car.
If you experience symptoms, get fresh air immediately. Go to an emergency room or call 911 from a neighbor's phone. Tell the health care professional you suspect carbon monoxide poisoning.
Install a carbon monoxide detector that meets the requirements of the current UL standard. Check the packaging for the UL seal of approval, and always follow the installation instructions on the package.
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Mass Poisoning
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Gas company Cadent remain on scene of explosion at Argyle Industrial Estate Birkenhead
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At around 5am on Wednesday, September 15, police and firefighters were called to Argyle Industrial Estate, Appin Road, following reports of a blast. Once on scene they confirmed there had been an explosion in a unit approximately 50m by 10m in size.
READ MORE:Man suffers life changing injuries in city centre bar attack
Cadent said it was too early to know what the cause of the explosion was.
A spokesperson told the ECHO that they remain on the scene to carry out routine inspections. They stressed that while they are inspecting the area and a cordon remains in place around the affected unit, the rest of the industrial estate is back open.
In a previous statement, they said: "We were called to a report of an explosion at 05:53 (Wednesday, September 15) by the fire service.
"We are carrying out our usual safety checks in the area and assisting the fire service with their investigation.
"It is too early to know the cause of the explosion.
"We have checked our records and there have been no reports of a smell of gas to the national gas emergency service in this area of Tranmere recently.
"If you ever smell gas, act fast and report it immediately to the national gas emergency service 0800 111 999*."
Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service and Merseyside Police were called to the scene and closed of the area.
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Gas explosion
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Fagradalsfjall volcano (Reykjanes peninsula, Iceland): eruption continues with regular pulses of lava fountains
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The Icelandic Institute of Natural History(IINH), an agency of the Ministry for the Environment and Natural Resources, published a new model of the eruption so far, based on imagery collected 8 Aug 2021: Fagradalsfjall volcano update: New lava erupts from small side vent next to main crater The eruption picked up again this morning after a pause of visible activity since yesterday afternoon. A new vent opened near the rim, but outside of the main crater, producing a small lava fountain and lava flow, observers noticed on webcam recordings. Fri, 6 Aug 2021, 18:39 Fagradalsfjall volcano (Reykjanes peninsula, Iceland): eruption picks up in intensity again After 3 days of apparent calm if not a pause in the eruptive activity, lava returned to the crater yesterday, filling it with a lava lake that fed new surface flows from its main outlet channel as the attached pictures show, a friend of our took yesterday ( link to original post on facebook ). ... Read all Fagradalsfjall volcano (Reykjanes Peninsula, Iceland): monthly eruption summary, activity seems to have slowed down The University of Iceland's Institute of Earth Sciences reported a summary of eruption parameters today documented since 26 June. Parameters showed lava area, lava volume, lava flow discharge rate, rock geochemistry, and volcanic gases. The graph below depicts an overview of the results. ... Read all Fri, 2 Jul 2021, 18:09 Fagradalsfjall volcano update: Lava overflows building shield around main vent, ash venting Although activity might seem to have been less vigorous during much of the past week compared to earlier stages, the eruption continues. Lava effusion rate has been at least stable if not following an overall slowly increasing trend, as last week's published data from the Icelandic Meteorological Office shows (see previous post). ... Read all Show more Fagradalsfjall volcano (Reykjanes Peninsula, Iceland): monthly eruption summary On 26 June, the University of Iceland's Institute of Earth Sciences reported a summary of eruption parameters documented since May 10. The parameters showed lava flow discharge rate, lava area, lava volume, rock geochemistry and volcanic gases. The graph below depicts an overview of the results. ... Read all Wed, 16 Jun 2021, 16:27 Fagradalsfjall volcano update: Lava flows and flows... The eruption goes on with no significant changes. Today, long-lasting periods occurred when lava flows were erupted from the main vent onto the immediate surrounding areas, creating beautiful surface flows and adding to the height of the central part of the growing lava shield. Read all
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Volcano Eruption
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Biblical locust plague: Swarms in East Africa spark global food catastrophe panic
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Swarms of locusts are sweeping across countries in East Africa, sparking panic on the ground in these regions. Last month, a state of emergency was declared in Somalia as the country struggled to contain the locust swarms of biblical proportion. Kenya is now suffering the brunt of the locusts, as farmers fear another wave of the insects. The recent invasions are prompting renewed fears of food shortages. There is concern among farmers that locusts could again destroy their maize and tea harvest. Mary Mwatha, a local official in Kenya, told DW: "The moment these locusts come in, you find that they are consuming everything, everything that is green that they find. "I am actually very afraid, and I am pleading for any assistance." JUST IN: Italy blocked AstraZeneca vaccine for over-65s just weeks ago In early January, the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) issued a warning over a new wave of locust swarms returning to Kenya. Last month, FAO suggested that favourable weather conditions and widespread seasonal rains had led to a jump in locust breeding in eastern Ethiopia and Somalia, an effect even made worse by Cyclone Gati. In a statement, the UN body warned that "rains and winds are two of the most favorable conditions for desert locusts to multiply rapidly and spread to areas where they had been under control". Dominique Burgeon, the FAO's director of emergencies and resilience, warned that the 2021 swarms could be even deadlier than the 2020 swarms. Countries such as Somalia are already facing a humanitarian crisis following a COVID-19 outbreak and floods. Other East African countries including Uganda, South Sudan, Eritrea and Djibouti are also at risk of devastation from locust invasions. The locusts could also impact the food security of millions from the Horn of Africa to Yemen. DON'T MISS: Royal Family rift: Meghan and Harry threaten 'real damage' to Queen [INSIGHT]Nicola Sturgeon told to quit as anti-SNP group flies 'resign' banner [VIDEO]POLL: Is a one-percent pay rise for NHS nurses enough? [POLL] Another locust swarm outbreak, which first hit Kenya in December 2019, triggered the worst locust outbreak the country has experienced in 70 years. During this outbreak, one swarm in Kenya was estimated to cover an area the size of Moscow. Swarms of that size can eat as much as 80,000 people in one day. Various parts of Kenya were again hit by a second wave of the insects last November.
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Insect Disaster
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IMA Establishes Sustainable Business Management Global Task Force
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Last month IMA (Institute of Management Accountants) announced the establishment of a Sustainable Business Management Global Task Force (IMA.SBM.GTF) to speak on behalf of the management accounting profession, accountants, and finance professionals in business. This comes as governments, regulators, and standard-setters debate the future of accounting and a range of new corporate reporting requirements ahead of the November 2021 UN Conference of Parties 26 in Glasgow, with major announcements expected from several authoritative bodies. “Just about all of the emphasis today with respect to sustainable business is on external ESG reporting,” said Brigitte de Graaff, CMA, CSCA, Chair of the IMA.SBM.GTF. “While this is important, it is not the whole story. We want to lead by emphasizing the role of management accounting and finance in facilitating the building of resilient, sustainable businesses. We aim to be the voice of the profession to make sure management’s perspective in these significant changes to accounting are not overlooked but prominent.” As one of its primary objectives, the Task Force is defining a set of fundamental principles for building a successful and sustainable accounting ecosystem. In fully supporting the formation of the task force, Jeff Thomson, IMA President and CEO, said, “As the world continues to change, so too must business change to focus more holistically on sustainable business management for long term value creation. IMA is making the case that sustainable business is good business in a complex, uncertain, and multi-stakeholder environment. We’ve shown the world accountancy for the 21st century -- how the CMA certification is different because the body of knowledge emphasizes strategic thinking, analytics, decision making, and business leadership across an organization for both tangible and intangible value creation.” The Task Force will look to: • Advocate on behalf of the profession before governments, regulatory authorities, and other organizations on sustainable business management and the perspectives of accountants and financial professionals in business. • Educate IMA members and the global business community on the role of accounting and finance professionals with respect to sustainable business information and management. “IMA is uniquely positioned to address the critical role of the profession in building sustainable businesses,” said Shari Littan, IMA director of corporate reporting research and policy. “As this area continues to evolve, we will develop thought leadership and education to support our professionals, who will be assuming important responsibilities for meeting these evolving demands. We aim to support this in a way that builds value for all stakeholders, promotes trust, and facilitates meaningful action.” IMA is one of the largest and most respected associations focused exclusively on advancing the management accounting profession. Globally, IMA supports the profession through research, the CMA (Certified Management Accountant) and CSCA (Certified in Strategy and Competitive Analysis) programs, continuing education, networking, and advocacy of the highest ethical business practices. IMA has a global network of about 140,000 members in 150 countries and 350 professional and student chapters. Headquartered in Montvale, N.J., IMA provides localized services through its four global regions: The Americas, Asia/Pacific, Europe and Middle East/India.
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Organization Established
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Barcelona tram strike
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The Barcelona tram strike was a strike in Barcelona, Spain, that took place on March 1, 1951. [1] During the strike, citizens boycotted the Barcelona tram service, protesting a plan by local authorities to increase tram fares by up to 40%. [2] Although the strike did not achieve all of its goals, it was successful in having the fare increase withdrawn. It was considered "the last battle of the generation that lost the war. "[3]
Francoist Spain prohibited the organization of strikes. The Spanish dictator, Francisco Franco, considered strikes an unchanging part of the "law of the jungle in primitive societies." The Barcelona tram strike was the first strike organized since the Spanish Civil War, and it also represented one of the first large scale demonstrations against the Francoist regime. In Barcelona, slogans began to circulate urging people to refrain from tram usage, such as:
"Be a good citizen, show your courage. Starting March 1, hoof it to work. ""If you want your morning jolly, stay away from the trolley. "[4]
The cause was a proposed hike in ticket prices, which was perceived as unfair in comparison with prices in Madrid. Additionally, there was a feeling of deep malaise among the population due to the harsh living conditions in Catalonia since the end of the Civil War. [5] The strike had political repercussions, particularly abroad. [6]
For two weeks, citizens refused to use public transport, making their journeys on foot and participating in numerous protest demonstrations. Some protesters resorted to violence, and one tram was set on fire. Although some authors consider the strike a spontaneous movement, others indicate that it was a result of the leftist tradition of the city, given the fact that it was later supported by militants of the CNT, FNC, FNEC [es] and others; even the leader of the PSUC Gregorio López Raimundo [es] was arrested. ...When the day of the boycott arrived, on March 1, trams ran empty through the streets of the city while minor incidents took place in the markets – about three hundred people, including numerous Falangists, went down the central Via Laietana shouting: "Long live Franco!" and "Death to the Governor!" He ordered the rapid concentration of Falangists while asking that the Syndicate remain discreet, stating that the working class had remained calm and it was better not to touch it...[7]
The civil governor, Eduardo Baeza Alegría [es], knew that many Falangists had been acting in concert with the protestors, to the point of using their vehicles to transport pedestrians who supported the boycott. Faced with this insubordination, he attempted to set the Party against the population, but the Falangists refused to obey, on days three, four, and five, the dictates of their theoretical Provincial Chief. The governor used the Civil Guard in clashes that resulted in deaths on March 12. Finally, both he and the Mayor of Barcelona, José María de Albert Despujol [es], were dismissed and the price hike was revoked. The conflict extended to Madrid on 2 April, but the "National Day of Protest" organized for 20 May was a failure. The Government of Spain decided to act moderately in repressing the strikes. It attributed them publicly to the actions of Communist elements, who, having failed in their armed struggle, had changed their tactics, trying to use the existing discontent of the working class in their favour. [8]
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Strike
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Asian Project Market: Jero Yun’s ‘Secret of My Father’ Wins Busan Award
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“Secret of My Father,” by Busan-native filmmaker Jero Yun was announced Thursday as the winner of the Busan Award, the top prize at the Busan International Film Festival ’s Asian Project Market . Calling the project, the “last story in a family trilogy,” Yun said: “I have been dealing with the essential questions of the meaning of family, through individual trauma, conflict and reconciliation, through documentaries and fiction, for over ten years. This will be the last question on this long journey.” The long-running APM selects new film projects and facilitates meetings between the creatives and film investors, producers and distributors. This year’s edition ran for three days (Oct 12-14, 2021) and adopted a hybrid format that was mostly online, but also allowed the onsite participation of local participants. Organizers said that they had arranged some 500 meetings for the 25 projects (4 up from last year) that hailed from 14 countries and regions. The seven winners variously earn cash prizes and sponsorship. New this year, are the KB Award and the Nutrilite Award, both offering cash prizes of KRW10 million ($8,400), and the Pop Up Film Residency Award, a three-week long dedicated project development program in Europe.
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Awards ceremony
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Contractor to pay millions as death toll spirals from tragedy offshore India
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Afcons and operator ONGC compensate for lives lost from vessels sinking at Mumbai High field while relatives reportedly consider legal action India’s state-owned Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and barge charterer Afcons are to pay compensation to the families of the victims and to the survivors of last week’s vessel sinking offshore India that has claimed the lives of at least 70 workers. Sixteen people are still missing as the Indian Navy, Coast Guard and ONGC continue their search operations for those still unaccounted for after Cyclone Tauktae slammed into the Mumbai High asset offshore India’s west coast. Afcons will give between 3.5 million rupees ($48,065) and 7.5 million rupees to families of those deceased and the offshore contractor said it would also establish a trust to support the education of their children. “The families of the deceased would receive a total compensation equivalent to balance period of service up to 10 years salaries through a combination of ex gratia pay-outs and insurance compensation,” said a statement from Afcons Infrastructure. ONGC said it would also pay immediate compensation of 200,000 rupees to the families of the deceased workers and those missing and 100,000 rupees compensation to survivors. However, unconfirmed local media reports claimed families of those impacted are considering legal action as they believe compensation of up to 30 million rupees ($412,000) could be awarded. "We are saddened by the events and express our deep sorrow at the loss of life and pay our tributes to the BNVs (brave nature’s victims)," said ONGC.
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Shipwreck
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Covid LIVE: Kerala CM rules out complete lockdown for economic reasons
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Last Updated at September 3, 2021 23:22 IST #COVID19: Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan has ruled out a complete lockdown in the state stating that it will create a huge crisis for the economy and livelihoods, as per CMO (File photo) pic.twitter.com/ack5M6r1q2 Over 1.53 lakh anti-Covid vaccine jabs were administered in Delhi on September 2 and the present stock of doses will last another two days, according to the city government's vaccination bulletin issued on Friday. As on Friday morning, Delhi had a balance stock of 5,16,720 coronavirus vaccine doses, of which 3,73,370 are Covishield and 1,43,350 are Covaxin, according to the government data. Maharashtra on Friday reported 4,313 new coronavirus infections and 92 fatalities, which pushed the caseload to 64,77,987 and death toll to 1,37,643, the state health department said. Pune region recorded the highest 35 deaths during the day. Karnataka reported 1,220 fresh COVID-19 cases and 19 deaths on Friday, pushing the total number of infections to 29,53,064 and the toll to 37,380. The day also saw 1,175 discharges, taking the total number of recoveries in the state so far to 28,97,254. Nagaland's COVID-19 tally rose to 30,244 on Friday as 40 more people tested positive for the infection, while two fresh fatalities pushed the northeastern state's coronavirus death toll to 626, a health bulletin said. Dimapur district registered the highest number of new cases at 15, followed by Kohima (11), and Mokokchung and Phek (three each), it said, adding that the fresh fatalities were registered in Dimapur and Kohima districts.
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Disease Outbreaks
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1909 European Figure Skating Championships
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The World Figure Skating Championships is an annual figure skating competition sanctioned by the International Skating Union in which figure skaters compete for the title of World Champion. Men's competitions took place on February 7–8 in Stockholm, Sweden. Ladies' competitions took place on January 23–24 in Budapest, Austria-Hungary. Lily Kronberger was the only competitor. Pairs' competition took place on February 8 in Stockholm, Sweden. Judges:
Judges:
Judges:
O. C. Thorstensen voted the top two couples exactly the same (each 1.5 placings) and the other three couples also exactly the same (each 4 placings).
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Sports Competition
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Rescuers are searching for scores of migrants missing in the Mediterranean after their boat capsized off the south Italian island of Lampedusa.
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Rescuers are searching for scores of migrants missing in the Mediterranean after their boat capsized off the south Italian island of Lampedusa.
Italian coast guards rescued 48 and three were saved by a fishing boat, but 20 deaths were confirmed and at least 130 people are unaccounted for.
Officials say the boat left two days ago from western Libya.
Lampedusa has struggled to cope with thousands of migrants arriving by boat from north Africa.
The Italian coast guard responded to a distress call from the boat, which was in Maltese waters some 70km (40 miles) from Lampedusa, at about 0400 local time (0200 GMT) on Wednesday. Three coast guard vessels were dispatched along with at least one helicopter, which spotted the bodies in the water. A Maltese plane was reportedly also involved in the operation.
Lifejackets and lifeboats were cast into the water to help any survivors.
Coast guard spokesman Vittorio Alessandro told AFP news agency the boat, just 13m (42 ft) long, had been caught in high seas caused by strong winds and had overturned after passengers panicked.
Coast guards said the boat had been carrying around 200 people but the International Organisation of Migration (IOM) put the figure at 300.
Teams of rescuers, working in conjunction with the Maltese authorities, battled heavy seas, a force six storm and winds of up 30 knots (35 mph; 55 km/h) all day.
The captain of the fishing boat described what he said was a terrifying scene.
"What we saw was incredible: heads were coming in and out [of the water] and people were screaming," Francesco Rifiorito told Italy's Ansa news agency.
"We did all we could."
Lampedusa's small field hospital has been overwhelmed, the survivors lying on beds around electric heaters to combat hypothermia.
The coast guard said the boat had left two days ago from the town of Zuwara in western Libya, which is embroiled in a civil war.
Those on the boat were mostly Eritreans and Somalis, they added. However, according to the IOM, the migrants and asylum-seekers came from Bangladesh, Chad, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Somalia and Sudan.
Among them there were five children and 40 women - of whom only two survived, the organisation said.
The European parliament held a minute's silence to mark the tragedy. Hundreds of refugees from Libya, many of them migrant workers, have landed in Italy in recent days.
Italy and Tunisia agreed measures on Tuesday to stop large numbers of illegal immigrants arriving on Lampedusa from Tunisia, which has also been in turmoil since a revolution in January. Italy says it will give six-month residency papers to some 20,000 migrants already in Italy, but new arrivals will be deported. The accord followed talks between Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and Tunisian ministers in Tunis on Monday. Mr Berlusconi also visited Lampedusa last week and pledged to tackle the island's migrant influx.
Italy has moved many migrants from Lampedusa to the mainland, because they outnumbered locals and overwhelmed the holding facility there. Unhygienic conditions, with dozens of migrants sleeping rough outdoors, created a health risk.
Italy moves migrants to mainland
Berlusconi visits migrant island
Hewitt: Huddled masses
IOM
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Shipwreck
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Brexit is complete: Britain officially breaks from European Union
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LONDON — Britain’s long and sometimes acrimonious divorce from the European Union ended Thursday with an economic split that leaves the EU smaller and the U.K. freer but more isolated in a turbulent world. Britain left the European bloc’s vast single market for people, goods and services at 11 p.m. London time, midnight in Brussels, completing the biggest single economic change the country has experienced since World War II. A new U.K.-EU trade deal will bring its own restrictions and red tape, but for British Brexit supporters, it means reclaiming national independence from the EU and its web of rules. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, whose support for Brexit helped push the country out of the EU, said it was “an amazing moment for this country.” “We have our freedom in our hands, and it is up to us to make the most of it,” he said in a New Year’s video message. The break comes 11 months after a political Brexit that left the two sides in the limbo of a “transition period” — like a separated couple still living together, wrangling and wondering whether they can remain friends. Now the U.K. has finally moved out. Read more: The U.K. is finally quitting the EU. Here’s how it came to this It was a day some had been longing for and others had been dreading since Britain voted in a 2016 referendum to leave the EU, but it turned out to be something of an anticlimax. U.K. lockdown measures to curb the coronavirus curtailed mass gatherings to celebrate or mourn the moment, though Parliament’s huge Big Ben bell sounded 11 times on the hour as it prepared to ring in the new year at midnight. A free trade agreement sealed on Christmas Eve after months of tense negotiations ensures that Britain and the 27-nation EU can continue to buy and sell goods without tariffs or quotas. That should help protect the 660 billion pounds (US$894 billion) in annual trade between the two sides, and the hundreds of thousands of jobs that rely on it. But companies face sheaves of new costs and paperwork, including customs declarations and border checks. Traders are struggling to digest the new rules imposed by a 1,200-page trade deal that was agreed just a week before split. The English Channel port of Dover and the Eurotunnel passenger and freight route braced for delays as the new measures were introduced, though the coronavirus pandemic and a holiday weekend meant cross-Channel traffic was light, with only a trickle of trucks arriving at French border posts in Calais as 2020 ended. The vital supply route was snarled for days after France closed its border to U.K. truckers for 48 hours last week in response to a fast-spreading variant of the virus identified in England. The British government insisted that “the border systems and infrastructure we need are in place, and we are ready for the U.K.’s new start.” But freight companies were holding their breath. Youngs Transportation in the U.K. suspended services to the EU until Jan. 11 “to let things settle.” “We figure it gives the country a week or so to get used to all of these new systems in and out, and we can have a look and hopefully resolve any issues in advance of actually sending our trucks,” said the company’s director, Rob Hollyman. The services sector, which makes up 80 per cent of Britain’s economy, does not even know what the rules will be for business with the EU in 2021 — many of the details have yet to be hammered out. Months and years of further discussion and argument over everything from fair competition to fish quotas lie ahead as Britain and the EU settle into their new relationship as friends, neighbours and rivals. Hundreds of millions of individuals in Britain and the bloc also face changes to their daily lives. Britons and EU citizens have lost the automatic right to live and work in the other’s territory. From now on, they will have to follow immigration rules and obtain work visas. Tourists will not need visas for short trips, but new headaches — from travel insurance to pet paperwork — still loom for Britons visiting the continent. Read more: U.K. says ‘bumpy moments’ still ahead for businesses despite Brexit trade deal For some in Britain, including the prime minister, it’s a moment of pride and a chance for the U.K. to set new diplomatic and economic priorities. Johnson said the U.K. was now “free to do trade deals around the world, and free to turbocharge our ambition to be a science superpower.” Conservative lawmaker Bill Cash, who has campaigned for Brexit for decades, said it was a “victory for democracy and sovereignty.” That’s not a view widely shared across the Channel. In the French president’s traditional New Year’s address, Emmanuel Macron expressed regret. “The United Kingdom remains our neighbour but also our friend and ally,” he said. “This choice of leaving Europe, this Brexit, was the child of European malaise and lots of lies and false promises.” France’s European affairs minister, Clement Beaune, said the promises made by Brexiteers — “a sort of total freedom, a lack of restrictions, of influence — I think will not happen.” Many in Britain felt apprehension about a leap into the unknown that is taking place during a pandemic that has upended life around the world. “I feel very sad that we’re leaving,” said Jen Pearcy-Edwards, a filmmaker in London. “I think that COVID has overshadowed everything that is going on. But I think the other thing that has happened is that people feel a bigger sense of community, and I think that makes it even sadder that we’re breaking up our community a bit, by leaving our neighbours in Europe. “I’m hopeful that we find other ways to rebuild ties,” she said.
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Withdraw from an Organization
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U.S. abandons Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty
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President Donald Trump hopes to sign the new agreement; he said Russia was ready to take steps in this direction as well 09:33, 2 August 2019 Deutsche Welle August 2, the United States left the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty . Voice of America quoted president Donald Trump who addressed the topic. "Russia would like to do something on a nuclear treaty and that’s OK with me. They would like to do something and so would I," the U.S. leader said. "We didn’t discuss the INF," Trump noted speaking about the recent negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin . Related: Russia terminates INF Treaty In July, the Russian leader signed the law on termination of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty was signed on December 8, 1987, by Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and U.S. President Ronald Reagan. If the agreement is broken, both Moscow and Washington will again have the opportunity to deploy such weapons, build up nuclear potential and frighten the whole world with its use. Donald Trump on October 21, 2018, announced his intention to withdraw from the treaty, which was signed 30 years ago. After some time, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that on February 2, the United States would suspend participation in the INF Treaty with Russia. Putin signed a decree suspending the participation of the Russian Federation in the INF Treaty on March 4.
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Withdraw from an Organization
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Cops Facing Murder Charges Booked In, Released In Dead of Night
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ATLANTA — A pair of law enforcement officers indicted last week on murder charges turned themselves in early Wednesday morning while Atlanta recovered from Braves revelry and election watching. Eric Heinz, a U.S. Marshals assistant chief inspector, and Clayton County Police officer Kristopher Hutchens both were charged with two counts of felony murder, aggravated assault, first-degree burglary, making false statements (two counts for Hutchens), and violation of oath by a public officer. Court records say that both men lied to a Georgia Bureau of Investigations agent during the inquest following the officer-involved shooting. Hutchens and Heinz were part of a U.S. Marshals fugitive task force team sent to serve an arrest warrant to Jamarion Robinson in August 2016. Details of the incident remain unclear, but the 26-year-old Robinson, who is Black, had been accused at some point of pointing a gun at an officer. The officers are white. Hutchens was booked into the Fulton County Jail at 12:32 a.m., according to jail records. Heinz was booked in at 1 a.m., records show. Both were released by 2:40 a.m., each on $50,000 bonds. A lawsuit claiming the two officers and eight other policemen used excessive force is pending in the U.S. Court of Appeals.
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Famous Person - Commit Crime - Release
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15 people killed in Guinea gold mine collapse
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At least 15 people were killed in a landslide at a gold mine in the West African nation of Guinea, according to officials.
PHOTO: BBC
At least 15 people were killed in a landslide at a gold mine in the West African nation of Guinea, according to officials.
The Tatakourou mine collapsed on Saturday, killing the miners instantly, said Sekou Biniou Simagan, a local councillor.
On Sunday, rescuers were still digging through the rubbles, searching for survivors.
The bodies of the 15 artisanal miners, who were all male and between the ages of 14 and 40 were retrieved by Saturday evening.
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Mine Collapses
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Aeroflot Flight 36 (1960) crash
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Aeroflot Flight 36 was a regularly scheduled passenger flight operated by Aeroflot from Cairo International Airport to Bykovo Airport. On 17 August 1960, the Ilyushin Il-18 operating this flight crashed after an engine fire. All 27 passengers and seven crew members were killed. The Air Accident Investigation Commission determined that an externally leaking fuel injector was the root cause of the accident. Flight 36 was at cruising altitude and had just passed the check point at Codra, Kiev, when at 15:52 the crew reported to air traffic control (ATC) that they had feathered the propeller of engine No. 4 and requested an emergency landing attempt at Boryspil International Airport. At 15:57 Flight 36 reported the No. 4 engine and right wing were on fire. ATC recommended landing at Kyiv International Airport (Zhuliany) which was closer, but then at 1557:30 the crew made a final radio transmission "We’re falling, falling, goodbye, falling, falling, falling ...”. The airliner crashed approximately 41 km north of Kyiv International Airport. There were no survivors. [1][2][3][4]
Construction of the Il-18B involved, serial number 189001702 017-02, was completed at Moscow Banner of Labor production factory in 1959 and it was transferred to the civil air fleet. It was powered by four Ivchenko AI-20 turboprop engines and at the time of the accident, the aircraft had sustained a total of 407 flight hours and 117 takeoff/landing cycles. [1][3][4]
For the length of the investigation all Il-18's in the Soviet Union were grounded. Investigators found part of the right wing and engines No. 1 and 4 some distance away from the main crash site. After eight months the Air Accident Investigation Commission were able to determine that the No. 4 engine detached from the right wing due to fire damaging its supporting structure. The fuel tanks inside the right wing ruptured causing a fireball which demolished the right wing. The aircraft began an uncontrolled descent, during which, the No. 1 engine also separated from its wing. Completely out of control, the aircraft with landing gear and flaps extended, crashed near Tarasovichi, 41 km north of Kyiv International Airport. [1][2][4]
The Commission discovered the number seven fuel injector of engine No. 4 began leaking fuel onto the engine, accumulating in the housing. This fuel eventually ignited after contact with high temperature components. A contributing factor to the accident was a lack of engine fire extinguishing systems. [1][4]
As a result of the accident and investigation several changes to the Il-18's engines were implemented. An engine fire suppression system with provisions for the flame retardant to be sprayed directly onto the engines rear support was developed. The engines firewall construction was changed to titanium and plumbing material was changed from an aluminum alloy to steel. [1][2][4]
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Air crash
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Badrashin railway accident
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The Badrashin railway accident took place near Badrashin station in Giza, Egypt, on 15 January 2013. A train en route to Cairo from Sohag derailed, leaving at least 19 people dead and 120 injured. [1][2]
Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi visited victims of the crash on 15 January, pledging to hold those responsible to account. Meanwhile, witnesses said the last carriage of the train jumped the tracks and crashed into another train parked nearby. The 12-carriage train was carrying more than 1,300 Egyptian soldiers, and according to reports, had to stop several times during the journey to fix an apparent technical problem. [3]
The same stretch of railroad was the site of a head-on collision that killed more than 40 people in 1992. [4]
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Train collisions
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COVID-19 outbreak prompts school closure in Chilliwack
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An elementary school in Chilliwack, B.C., is shifting to online classes effective immediately as a result of an outbreak of COVID-19 among staff and students. An announcement on Promontory Heights Elementary School's website Wednesday said the school will be temporarily closed and in-person learning will be paused. Fraser Health has since officially declared an outbreak at the school. A statement said 20 students and staff have tested positive for the illness. "Promontory Heights Elementary School will be closed to in-person instruction while Fraser Health undertakes case and contact management," an emailed statement read. The school's medical health officer said cases have risen over the past 10 days. In-person learning is expected to return on Monday, Oct. 4. The superintendent of the Chilliwack School District, Rohan Arul-pragasam, declined an interview on Thursday. But in a statement, he said he believes Chilliwack schools are safe. "It is key to note that COVID-19 cases in our schools directly reflect community transmissions in Chilliwack, and we must continue to be vigilant as a larger community," he said. He said it is important that the public follows provincial health guidelines, including getting vaccinations. "These steps will ensure that we work together to keep our vulnerable populations, including our children, safe," said Arul-pragasam. Fraser Health said "it is critically important" for people living in the Fraser Health region to get tested as soon as they have COVID-19-like symptoms, even if they're mild ones. "Please don't wait," the statement said. On Wednesday, 214 new cases of COVID-19 were reported in the Fraser Health region, where there are now 1,734 active cases of the virus. Stephanie Higginson, president of the B.C. School Trustees Association, told CBC's The Early Edition on Thursday that she supports the decision to close the school and switch to online learning. "I'm really proud of the way the Chilliwack School District has responded so quickly," she said. The outbreak declaration comes just days after B.C. officials reversed their previous decision not to notify parents of COVID-19 exposures in schools. Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said Tuesday feedback from parents and teachers made it clear they wanted to be informed about transmission of the virus. A new plan is expected to be in place by the end of this week. "We have asked our team to get together right now to make sure that we can notify schools in a timely, less intrusive and more sustainable way and that parents will have access to that information rapidly," she said during a Tuesday press briefing. Parents and educators are still waiting to learn what the province's new notification system will be. "We're not sure what Dr. Bonnie Henry means when she says less intrusive and more sustainable," said Gord Lau, chair of the Vancouver District Parent Advisory Council. Higginson is also in the dark on the details. "We do not know what it's going to look like yet," she said. "We look forward to understanding more about it." With files from The Early Edition
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Organization Closed
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Remote South Pacific island has highest levels of plastic rubbish in the world
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A remote and uninhabited island wilderness in the South Pacific is literally a garbage dump.
The beaches of World Heritage-listed Henderson Island, in the Pitcairn Group off South America, contain an estimated 37.7 million items of debris together weighing 17.6 tonnes, a new study has revealed.
Australian researcher Dr Jennifer Lavers said it meant the island had the highest density of plastic rubbish anywhere in the world.
"I've been fortunate in my career as a scientist to travel to some of the remote islands in the world, but Henderson was really quite an alarming situation … the highest density of plastic I've really seen in the whole of my career," she said.
She said the finding, published on Tuesday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, was a wake-up call to the world that plastic pollution was as grave a threat to humanity as climate change.
Annual production of plastic has increased from 1.7 million tonnes in 1954 to 311 million tonnes in 2014.
This has resulted in an estimated five trillion plastic items — mostly less than five millimetres in size — circulating in the surface layer of the world's oceans.
To understand how much debris was accumulating on the remote island, Dr Lavers, a conservation biologist at the University of Tasmania's Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, and Dr Alexander Bond at the Centre for Conservation Science in the UK surveyed the island's North and East Beach for three months in 2015.
Dr Lavers said the 17.6 tonnes of plastic debris estimated to be on Henderson Island accounted for just 1.98 seconds' worth of the current annual global production of plastic.
She said the amount of rubbish was such that it took a five-person team six hours to survey a 10-metre section of the beach.
The team calculated there were 671.6 items per square metre on the surface of the beaches, with approximately 68 per cent of debris buried less than 10 centimetres in the sand.
Each day, 17 to 268 new items washed up on a 10-metre section of North Beach, representing a daily accumulation rate of 1.7 to 26.8 items per metre.
The scale of the pollution at Henderson Island shocked Dr Lavers, despite a career visiting many ocean "garbage patches" and tracking plastic pollution in marine environments.
"In addition to just blowing my mind with the sheer volume of plastic that was there, what amazed me was the majority of the debris was not shipping waste," she said.
Henderson Island is in an area of the ocean that is rarely traversed and is not near any shipping lanes or fisheries, with no major land-based industrial facilities or cities within 5,000 kilometres.
"The majority of items appear to be coming from land originally, which made its way into the ocean and that really falls on our shoulders to make a difference and to reduce our demand for these products," she said.
The nearest settlement is Pitcairn Island with a population of 40 people.
Dr Lavers said only around 7 per cent of the junk on the beach was connected to fishing-related activities.
She said most of the items found on the beaches were everyday household items such as cigarette lighters, plastic razors, toothbrushes, plastic scoops used in detergents or baby formula, and babies' dummies.
"It speaks to the fact that these items that we call "disposable" or "single-use" are neither of those things, and that items that were constructed decades ago are still floating around there in the ocean today, and for decades to come," Dr Lavers said.
Dr Lavers said their study showed "there is nowhere left in the world that is safe — plastic is ubiquitous".
Just over a quarter of the rubbish came from South America and was the result of the movement of currents in the South Pacific gyre, which flows anti-clockwise after travelling north up the continent.
The estimates were "alarmingly" conservative, as the survey did not include items buried deeper than 10 centimetres or debris on cliff areas or rocky sections.
Plastic pollution was a major threat to marine species, Dr Lavers said, with a study released in the past two months suggesting about 1,200 species were negatively impacted.
On Henderson Island the rubbish created a barrier for sea turtles attempting to enter the beach and led to a reduction in sea turtle-laying numbers, while also affecting two native seabird species.
How big is the problem and what can we do about it?
However, Dr Lavers said plastic pollution was also a major threat to human health as the toxic impact of plastic-related chemicals in the food chain were well documented.
"At a very minimum, 25 per cent of world's marine fish species are consuming plastic and we know with that plastic comes a suite of chemical pollutants," she said.
"Those fish are the base of the food web ... and we know humans are at the top of the food web. "It is not a big leap to say the whole of the marine food web is contaminated and we are putting ourselves at grave risk."
Dr Lavers said the solution was a broad, sweeping education campaign and societal change, driven by public demand.
"Politicians don't make decisions based on what scientists say — when decisions are made it is because the public demands it," Dr Lavers said.
"That won't happen until the whole of the population recognises that this is the equivalent of climate change. We need to move now and we need to move fast.
"I need the public to give me their voice [for] a global movement, so we can break our plastic addiction here and now."
Get all the latest science stories from across the ABC.
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Environment Pollution
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Jayuya Uprising
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The Jayuya Uprising, also known as the Jayuya Revolt or El Grito de Jayuya, was a Nationalist revolt that took place on October 30, 1950, in the town of Jayuya, Puerto Rico. The revolt, led by Blanca Canales, was one of the multiple revolts that occurred throughout Puerto Rico on that day against the Puerto Rican government supported by the United States. The Nationalists were opposed to US sovereignty over Puerto Rico. The Puerto Rican Nationalist Party was formed in 1922 to work for Puerto Rican Independence. By 1930 Pedro Albizu Campos, a lawyer who was the first Puerto Rican graduate from Harvard Law School, was elected president of the party. [1]
In the 1930s, the United States-appointed governor of Puerto Rico, Blanton Winship, and the police colonel, a former U.S. Army Colonel named Elisha Francis Riggs, applied harsh repressive measures against the Nationalist Party. [2] In 1936, Albizu Campos and the leaders of the party were arrested and jailed at the La Princesa prison in San Juan, and later sent to the Federal prison in Atlanta. On March 21, 1937, the police opened fire on the crowd at a Nationalist parade, killing 19 people in what came to be known as the Ponce massacre. Albizu Campos returned to Puerto Rico on December 15, 1947, after spending ten years in prison. [3]}
On May 21, 1948, a bill was introduced before the Puerto Rican Senate which would restrain the rights of the independence and Nationalist movements on the archipelago. The Senate, controlled by the Partido Popular Democrático (PPD) and presided by Luis Muñoz Marín, approved the bill that day. [4] This bill, which resembled the anti-communist Smith Act passed in the United States in 1940, became known as the Ley de la Mordaza (Gag Law) when the U.S.-appointed governor of Puerto Rico, Jesús T. Piñero, signed it into law on June 10, 1948. [5]
Under this new law it would be a crime to print, publish, sell, or exhibit any material intended to paralyze or destroy the insular government; or to organize any society, group or assembly of people with a similar destructive intent. It made it illegal to sing a patriotic song, and reinforced the 1898 law that had made it illegal to display the Flag of Puerto Rico, with anyone found guilty of disobeying the law in any way being subject to a sentence of up to ten years imprisonment, a fine of up to US$10,000 (equivalent to $108,000 in 2020), or both. [3]
According to Dr. Leopoldo Figueroa, a member of the Partido Estadista Puertorriqueño (Puerto Rican Statehood Party) and the only member of the Puerto Rico House of Representatives who was not a member of the PPD,[6] the law was repressive and in violation of the First Amendment of the US Constitution guaranteeing Freedom of Speech. As such, the Law was seen as an assault on the civil rights of every Puerto Rican. [7]
On June 21, 1948, Albizu Campos gave a speech in the town of Manatí that explained how this Gag Law violated the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Nationalists from all over the island had gathered to hear Albizu Campos's speech and to prevent the police from arresting him. [3]
From 1949 to 1950, the Nationalists in the island planned and prepared an armed revolution. The revolution was to take place in 1952, on the date the United States Congress was to officially approve the Estado Libre Associado ("Free Associated State") political status for Puerto Rico. [8][9][10]
Albizu Campos called for an armed revolution because he considered the "new political status" to be a colonial farce. Albizu Campos picked the town of Jayuya as the headquarters of the revolution because of its location and because weapons were stored in the home of Blanca Canales. [8][9][10]
On October 26, 1950, Albizu Campos was holding a meeting in Fajardo, when he received word that his house in San Juan was surrounded by police waiting to arrest him. He was told that the police had already arrested other Nationalist leaders. He escaped from Fajardo and ordered the revolution to start. On October 27, the police in the town of Peñuelas intercepted and fired upon a caravan of Nationalists, killing four. [8][9][10]
On October 30, the Nationalists staged uprisings in the towns of Ponce, Mayagüez, Naranjito, Arecibo, Utuado (Utuado Uprising), San Juan (San Juan Nationalist revolt), and Jayuya. [8][9][10]
In the pre-dawn hours of October 29, the Insular Police surrounded the house of the mother of Melitón Muñiz Santos, president of the Peñuelas Nationalist Party, in Barrio Macaná, where they were storing weapons for the Nationalist revolt. Without warning, the police fired on the house and a gunfight ensued. Two Nationalists were killed and six police officers were wounded. [11] Nationalists Melitón Muñoz Santos, Roberto Jaume Rodríguez, Estanislao Lugo Santiago, Marcelino Turell, William Gutierrez and Marcelino Berríos were arrested and accused of participating in an ambush against the local Insular Police. [11]
Members of the Nationalist Party had stored weapons in Canales's house in Jayuya. Canales and the other leaders, including her cousin Elio Torresola and Carlos Irizarry, led the armed Nationalists into the town and invaded the police station. Shots were fired, one officer was killed, three were wounded, and the other officers surrendered. The Nationalists cut the telephone lines and burned the U.S. post office. Canales led the group into the town square where, in defiance of the Ley de la Mordaza (Gag Law), they raised the Flag of Puerto Rico. [12] In the town square, Canales declared Puerto Rico a free Republic. Torresola had a brother, Griselio Torresola, living in New York City, who was outraged by the attacks. The governor, Luis Muñoz Marín, declared martial law. The Puerto Rico National Guard, under the command of the Puerto Rico Adjutant General, Major General Luis R. Esteves,[13] used P-47 Thunderbolt attack aircraft, land-based artillery, mortar fire, and grenades to counterattack the Nationalists. The planes machine-gunned nearly every rooftop in the town. After the Nationalists were forced to surrender, the Puerto Rican government made mass arrests. Although an extensive part of Jayuya was destroyed, news of the military action was prevented from spreading outside of Puerto Rico. Instead, the American media reported President Truman saying it was "an incident between Puerto Ricans. "[12][3]
Nationalists in New York City as well as Puerto Rico were outraged by the counterattack. Griselio Torresola and Oscar Collazo, among other Nationalists in the city, made a quick plan to assassinate the U.S. President, Harry S. Truman. He was reported as staying at Blair House while the living quarters of the White House were under renovation. After traveling south by train, on November 1, 1950, they attacked guards at the Blair House, seeking to gain entry. Torresola and White House police officer Leslie Coffelt were killed in the attempt; Collazo and two American officers were wounded. [3]
The top leaders of the Nationalist party were arrested, including Albizu Campos and Blanca Canales, and sent to jail to serve long prison terms.
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Protest_Online Condemnation
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Kano air disaster crash
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The Kano air disaster was a chartered Boeing 707 passenger flight on 22 January 1973 that crashed while attempting to land at Kano International Airport. It is the deadliest aviation disaster ever to take place in Nigeria,[1] as 176 passengers and crew perished in the crash. There were 26 survivors. The aircraft involved in the accident was a 2 year old Boeing 707-3D3C, JY-ADO, owned by Alia Royal Jordanian Airlines, operating on behalf of Nigeria Airways. It first flew in 1971 and was powered by 4 Pratt and Whitney JT3D engines. It had a manufacturer serial number (MSN) of 850. [1][2]
The Boeing 707, operated by Alia, had been chartered by Nigeria Airways to fly pilgrims back from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia to Lagos, Nigeria. Bad weather at Lagos caused the crew to divert to Kano. Kano International Airport was experiencing high winds at the time. The aircraft landed nose wheel first, and the nose wheel collapsed after hitting a depression in the runway. [3] The right main landing gear leg subsequently collapsed. The 707 turned 180 degrees, excursed from the runway and caught fire. Of the 202 passengers and crew on board, 176 died. At the time it occurred, the Kano air disaster was the deadliest-ever aviation accident,[4] a dubious distinction it only held for about 14 months when Turkish Airlines Flight 981 crashed in France killing 346 people. [5] It was also the deadliest aviation disaster involving a Boeing 707 at the time until an Alia Royal Jordanian plane crashed in Morocco two years later. [6]
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Air crash
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China break world record in women's team sprint
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China successfully defended their Olympic women's team sprint title by defeating Germany in the final as the track cycling programme got underway at the Izu Velodrome on Monday. * Get DStv or Showmax for unrivalled access to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics * Bao Shanju and Zhong Tianshi, who broke China's own world record mark in the first round, finished in 31.895 seconds, edging the German pairing of Lea Friedrich and Emma Hinze by 0.085 seconds.
The result marked a second consecutive Olympic gold for Zhong, who took the Rio title with Gong Jinjie five years ago.
"Going into the final we thought, 'Just do it'. Don't think of the result," said Zhong, who has battled with a knee injury and fractured ribs over the past two years.
"It (victory) feels very good because for the last few years I've been feeling very bad, and I've had a lot of problems."
In the race for third place, the Russian Olympic Committee's Daria Shmeleva and Anastasiia Voinova beat the Dutch duo of Laurine van Riessen and Shanne Braspennincx to add a bronze to their name, after winning silver five years ago in Rio.
Earlier, Bao and Zhong trimmed off over a tenth of a second to improve China's world record with a time of 31.804 in their first round victory over Lithuania.
Both China's Olympic cycling golds have come in the women's team sprint event.
At the 2012 London Games, the Chinese team of Gong and Guo Shuang broke the world record twice but lost out in the final as Germany claimed the event's first gold medal.
There were no mistakes this time around, however, as Bao and Zhong stormed out of the blocks and led by 0.325 seconds at the halfway mark.
Friedrich and Hinze recovered on the second lap but the Chinese duo held on to secure the first gold medal of the track cycling programme the Games.
"Of course, we wanted the gold medal and it was so close," Hinze said. "But we are still pretty proud. We tried our best and they were just super fast."
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Break historical records
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American Railway Union
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The American Railway Union (ARU) was briefly among the largest labor unions of its time and one of the first industrial unions in the United States. Launched at a meeting held in Chicago in February 1893, the ARU won an early victory in a strike on the Great Northern Railroad in the summer of 1893. This successful strike was followed by the bitter 1894 Pullman Strike in which government troops and the power of the judiciary were enlisted against the ARU, ending with the jailing of the union's leadership for six months in 1895 and effectively crushing the organization. The group's blacklisted and dispirited remnants finally disbanded the organization via amalgamation into the Social Democracy of America (SDA) at its founding convention in June 1897. Volition for a formation of an industrial union uniting all branches of the railroad industry began in the early 1890s with the failure of an attempt at loose federation of several railway brotherhoods by Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen Secretary-Treasurer and Locomotive Firemen's Magazine editor Eugene V. Debs. A new union bringing together all railway workers, regardless of craft or service, was constructed in a series of meetings held in Chicago, Illinois,[1] beginning with a four-hour session held at the Leland Hotel on February 9 and 10, 1893. [2] Headquarters for the new union were to be rented in Chicago. [2]
This preparatory meeting, chaired by George W. Howard of Oshkosh, Wisconsin, former Grand Chief of the Brotherhood of Railway Conductors, elected a three-person committee to write a constitution and by-laws for the new organization,[2] which was formally launched at a week-long convention attended by 24 delegates representing many of the numerous railway brotherhoods held at Chicago's Greene Hotel from April 11–17, 1893. [3] This gathering formally elected officers for the new union, including Debs as President, Howard as Vice President and Sylvester Keliher (Secretary-Treasurer of the Brotherhood of Railway Carmen) as Secretary-Treasurer of the ARU. [4]
Day-to-day governance was by these three officers as part of a nine-member Board of Directors, which also included W.S. Missemer of the Brotherhood of Railway Carmen, W.H. Sebring of the Order of Railroad Conductors, Frank W. Arnold of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen, Henry Walton of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, James A. Clark of the Railway Telegraphers and Louis W. Rogers of the magazine Age of Labor. [5]
A convention to introduce the new union to the broader public and to build organizational momentum was scheduled and held in Chicago on June 20, 1893. A mass meeting of railroad employees was held in conjunction with the gathering, meeting at Uhlich's Hall in Chicago at 8 pm, where it was addressed by Eugene Debs and others. [6]
The ARU was to be divided into 12 regional districts, each of which maintained a headquarters office in a local urban center. [7] These districts were to in turn be subdivided, apparently on a state basis, with the organization to be governed by annual state conventions and a quadrennial national convention of the entire organization. [7] These national conventions were to choose a governing Board of Directors for the organization and to elect officers. [7]
Only one official national convention of the ARU was held; this convened at Fisher's Hall in Chicago at 10 o'clock on the morning of June 12, 1894. [8] About 400 delegates were in attendance—too many for the venue, which caused the gathering to be immediately moved after convocation to the more spacious room at Uhlich's Hall. [8] There the assembled delegates heard a lengthy keynote address delivered by ARU President Gene Debs before adjourning for additional meetings in secret session. [8]
Beginning in August 1893, the Great Northern Railway enacted a series of wage cuts for its workers, reductions amounting to $146,500 per month. [9] The American Railway Union organized all classes of employees of the road in a strike action lasting 18 days and forcing the company to arbitration of its unilateral wage cuts. The arbitrators, consisting of businessmen from St. Paul and Minneapolis, Minnesota, found in favor of the Great Northern workers, thereby pressuring the company to roll back its wage cuts. [10] It was the ARU's first and only victory. Buoyed by the success of the Great Northern strike, railway workers on other lines sought similar redress of their grievances through strike action. Debs and other union officials were concerned that other disruptions were inopportune, with the union needing a brief respite to better organize itself and to restore its finances. [11] However, this was not to be because on May 11, 1894, the workers of the Pullman Palace Car Company launched a wildcat strike against their employer. [11]
The Pullman Company had begun a company town on the outskirts of Chicago called Pullman, Illinois, incorporated into the city of Chicago in 1889. The company and town were namesakes of its millionaire owner, George Pullman. The town of Pullman was his "utopia". He owned the land, homes and stores. Workers had to live in his homes and buy from his stores, thereby ensuring virtually all wages returned directly back into his pockets. Although initially opposed to the strike, Debs responded to notice of the strike of the Pullman workers by traveling to Chicago to investigate the situation in person. [11] Debs later recalled in sworn testimony:
I found that the wages and expenses of the employees were so adjusted that every dollar the employees earned found its way back into the Pullman coffers; that they were not only not getting wages enough to live on, but that they were daily getting deeper into the debt of the Pullman company; that it was impossible for many of them to leave there at all... Wages had been reduced, but the expenses remained the same, and no matter how offensive the conditions where they were compelled to submit to them. After I heard those statements I satisfied myself that they were true and I made up my mind, as president of the American Railway Union, of which these employees were members, to do everything in my power that was within law and within justice to right the wrongs of those employees. [12]
An effort was made by the ARU to engage the Pullman Company and its workers in arbitration, but the officers of the company refused to submit to the proposal, instead claiming that they had nothing to arbitrate. [12] Railway workers had lost confidence in the existing network of craft-based railway brotherhoods—which were essentially fraternal benefit societies—to resist an industry-wide wage reduction campaign coordinated by the railway managers' association and looked to the fledgling ARU as a mechanism to stem the tide. Sympathy for the Pullman Company workers was widespread among other workers in the railroad industry. The ARU's constitutionally-required biannual convention was forthcoming and delegates representing the 465 locals of the union—which claimed a total membership of about 150,000—assembled in the city to take up matters of concern to the organization. [12] During the course of the proceedings, the situation of the Pullman workers came before the assembly, which appointed a committee of Pullman employees to study the situation. [13]
On June 21, 1894, two days prior to adjournment of the convention, the Pullman Committee reported that the company continued to refuse to arbitrate its unilateral wage cuts. [14] The committee recommended that an ultimatum be delivered that unless the Pullman Company began arbitration within 5 days, a boycott of railroad workers should be launched under which no member of the ARU would handle a train to which Pullman cars were attached. [14] After discussion this proposal was accepted by majority vote of the convention and a strike deadline was scheduled for June 26. [14]
The June 26 deadline came and still the Pullman Company refused to arbitrate its wage reductions. Railway employees began to refuse to handle trains pulling Pullman cars. [15] The ARU established temporary strike headquarters in Chicago to keep more closely abreast of the situation. [15] Chicago became a constant mass of meetings as workers of the various railway crafts gathered to discuss the strike situation. [15] The railway switchmen were the first to act, refusing to attach Pullman cars to trains. [16] When one switchman would be fired for insubordination, all the others in the shop would quit, in accord with a previously agreed upon plan. [16]
The railway managers took to the courts for relief, gaining a sweeping injunction against the ARU which was served upon union president Debs on July 2.
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Strike
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The Only Total Lunar Eclipse of 2021 Is Coming Next Month
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A total lunar eclipse will be visible in less than one month, and it's a sight that you won't want to miss: We'll have to wait until 2024 to see another total solar eclipse again. Want to make sure you catch this? Mark your calendar for Wednesday, May 26, 2021, when the total lunar eclipse will be visible from the western half of North America. A total lunar eclipse occurs when the Earth comes perfectly in line between the moon and the sun , casting a shadow that makes the moon take on a darker, almost reddish hue. This phenomenon has caused some to refer to these solar eclipses as "blood moons." Next month's total lunar eclipse will be visible from southern and eastern Asia, South America, Australia, and the western half of North America. The eclipse is expected to begin at 1:46 a.m. PDT and the moon will enter the darkest part of the Earth's shadow around 2:45 a.m. PDT. If you want to catch totality—which is the period when all of the moon's surface is blanketed by the Earth's umbra—look up at the sky between 4:11 a.m. and 4:26 a.m. PDT. total lunar eclipse blood moon There are two types of eclipses: solar and lunar. A solar eclipse occurs when the moon passes directly in front of the Sun, partially or entirely blocking out its light, according to the Farmers' Almanac . Solar eclipses are visible only in certain areas and require eye protection to be viewed safely (you may recall the phenomenon that was the 2017 solar eclipse ). On the other hand, a lunar eclipse occurs when the full moon enters the shadow of Earth, cutting off all or at least some of the sunlight reflected off the moon . The eclipse will reach totality for less than 15 minutes, so be ready to catch this mesmerizing display when it happens, or else be prepared to wait three long years to see one again.
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New wonders in nature
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Stockton train wreck
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The Stockton train wreck occurred on August 4, 1944 at 11.45 p.m. on the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad at Stockton, Georgia and killed 47 people, mostly black labourers returning home to Alabama for the weekend. [2][3]
The 14 car train, en route from Waycross, Georgia, to Montgomery, Alabama, was traveling westbound on a single track line through Stockton at a speed of 65 mph, when a broken rail beneath the 9th car derailed the 10th-14th cars into a siding where they collided with a freight train which had been standing there to let the passenger train pass. All the fatalities occurred in the 10th car which was "sheared practically its entire length diagonally from the floor on the right hand side to the juncture of the roof and side sheets on the left hand side". [1] The rescue operation was hampered initially by lack of light before Army trucks from Moody Field at Valdosta arrived with searchlights. [3]
The resulting investigation "found that this accident was caused by a broken rail, as a result of the presence of transverse fissures". It noted also that this railroad had reported 61 accidents during the previous 4½ years caused either directly or indirectly by broken rails. [1]
Coordinates: 30°57′00″N 82°58′20″W / 30.95000°N 82.97222°W / 30.95000; -82.97222
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Train collisions
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2 Killed, 2 Hospitalized After Gas Explosion in Collin County
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Two people are dead and two others are injured after an explosion Monday afternoon in Collin County, officials say.
Two people are dead and two others are injured after a natural gas explosion Monday afternoon in Collin County, officials say.
The explosion happened at about 3:35 p.m. in the 14000 block of Farm-to-Market 2756, just north of Farmersville, Collin County Sheriff's Office Assistant Chief Nick Bristow said.
Bristow said Atmos Energy subcontractors, employees of Bobcat Contracting and Fesco Petroleum Engineering, were doing pipeline maintenance when the explosion took place.
Two people were confirmed to have died at the scene and have been identified as 22-year-old Ethan Knight of Mesquite, Texas and 35-year-old Deric Tarver of El Campo, Texas. The latest news from around North Texas.
Two other people were taken to area hospitals, Bristow said.
“Honestly, I’m praying for their families and peace right now, because that was just out of nowhere, and for me, I’m just very thankful that it didn’t explode my whole neighborhood because that’s always been one of my fears," said Skylah Spradlin, whose home backs up to the property where the explosion happened.
She said was in her front yard at the time and heard the explosion. "It lasted as long as a gunshot wound, but it was really close. It was like a really loud 'boom' like an explosion, but I honestly didn't expect it to be that. No screams, nothing, no smell, nothing," Spradlin said.
She was told to leave her home just in case, but came back after about 45 minutes.
"It really caught me by surprise, I was so shook, and I'm still kind of nerve wrecked right now to know that two people died out there, that's really sad," she said. “I was in my living room watching TV just relaxing I heard an explosion and I felt the shock wave also and it was simultaneous," said Stephen Coplen, whose property is also close by.
The explosion appeared to be an accident, Bristow said, but Collin County Sheriff Jim Skinner asked the FBI to assist in processing the area because of their expertise handling post-blast scenes.
Atmos Energy issued the following statement Monday night."Our prayers are with those who were affected by the events in Farmersville, Texas today. Out of respect for their privacy, we are not releasing any names or additional details at this stage."Our highly trained technicians continue to work with the fire departments and emergency first responders to monitor the situation and make sure the area is safe. Our number one priority continues to be the safety of the public, our employees, our contractors, and our natural gas distribution system."
Officials said the scene was secure by 5:30 p.m. Monday, but asked people to avoid the area.
The Wylie Fire Department, Collin County Sheriff's Office, Farmersville Police Department, Collin County Fire Marshall, Texas Department of Public Safety and the FBI all responded to the incident.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has "an open and ongoing investigation into this incident," U.S. Department of Labor spokesman Juan Rodríguez told NBC 5, adding that no other information will be available until the investigation is completed.
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Gas explosion
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Verizon Strike of 2000
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The Verizon strike 2000 took place on August 5, 2000, in New York. Nearly 85,000 unionized Verizon workers went on strike to protest Verizon's plan to shut down their factory and move to non-union areas. [1]
On August 5, 2000, 85,000 union workers walked out on Verizon and began to strike. There were two union groups that went on strike, the Communication Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. There were different reasons why the two union groups went on strike. The first reason was due to the merger of Bell Atlantic and GTE; these two companies merged and created Verizon. The problem with the merger was that Verizon had the idea to move their shops and factories to nonunion areas,[1] which would mean workers either losing their jobs or being forced to relocate. Extra hours added to mandatory overtime was another reason. On top of the already unbearable work and stress, workers were forced to work more hours during their already mandatory overtime. One worker described the workload as "a level of stress that can only be described by someone who handles more than 1,000 service calls in an eight-hour shift and is trying to cold-sell the callers $60,000 worth of extras—like three-way calling and Caller ID—each month. "[2]
Although the strikes had little effects on Verizon, the strike did have a negative effect on competitors. The Verizon strike hurt competitive local exchange carriers (CLECs) that relied on Verizon to help with the connection of their new customers to the network. CLECs are valuable in the market for every new customer they bring in, so without help from union workers on strike, CLECs suffered. [1]
Three days into the strike Verizon managers claimed to have counted 455 acts of vandalism, which they attributed to union members. Managers blamed unionists for throwing rocks, eggs, and bottles at workers and managers who crossed picket lines, as well as disrupting service by cutting cables and wires. [1]
After 18 days of striking, the Verizon strike came to an end with the agreement that Verizon would cut some requirements from the workers' mandatory overtime. The new rules were workers are to work at least 7.5 hours of overtime a week, and the most overtime they can work is 10 hours. Also, workers who are bilingual and have to do jobs that require being fluent in another language are to be paid a little bit more than the average worker. [3]
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Strike
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1973 International Seven-a-side Tournament
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The 1973 International Seven-a-side tournament was the first rugby sevens tournament to feature national representative teams,[1] predating the first official Rugby World Cup Sevens by twenty years. Held in Scotland as part of the Scottish Rugby Union's centenary celebrations, the tournament featured players from all eight of the members of the IRB. Although not sanctioned by the IRB as an official world cup the winners, England, were hailed by the press as the world seven-a-side champions. [2]
1973 was the centenary year of the Scottish Rugby Union ("SRU") and as part of the centenary celebrations the SRU decided to hold an international Rugby sevens tournament. The president of the SRU at the time, A.W. Wilson, later wrote of the decision to hold a sevens tournament, "It seemed most appropriate to us, in our Centenary Year, that we should pay some regard to a part of the game which has proved exhilarating and entertaining to us. One might say, a part of the heritage of Scotland and, of course, especially the Borders. An international Seven-a-side Tournament was the answer. All the countries taking part were and are thrilled at this prospect." The tournament was not advertised as a world cup but rather was styled "The International Seven-a-side tournament". It was held on 7 April 1973 in Edinburgh, and all the International Rugby Football Board countries were represented, with the exception of South Africa. There was, however, South African representation in the form of several players in the eighth side in the tournament, the President's VII. As in 1883 when the Scots invented Rugby Sevens, the tournament was to lead a trend. However, even though sevens had been established for 90 years, even the event program recognised its contemporary status by the inclusion in the inside front cover of an advertisement for Peter Scott Knitwear, featuring a man and woman in sweaters, looking amazed and accompanied by the caption: "International Seven-a-sides. What next?". The programme for the event also sported the new coat of arms of the SRU that was granted by the Lord Lyon King of Arms on 28 February 1973, for the centenary season. The coat of arms is still in use today, but in the main the SRU use the commercial thistle logo on jerseys and stationary. The coat of arms has the motto "Non Sine Gloria", meaning "Not Without Glory". The eight teams were divided into two pools of four as follows with each team playing each other within their pool once. The winners of each Pool went through to contest the final:
The eight teams were divided into two pools of four as follows:
Source: The primary source for the squads below is the Official programme for the tournament. Wherever it is known that the players who played on the day differ from the programme details, this takes precedence, and is noted. The teams put forward by the various nations featured many names with test-status fifteen-aside careers. The Scottish side had a number of sevens specialists, many from the Gala club that itself had for a number of years previous had an excellent run of form. The three Browns, all unrelated, Frame and Gill all from the Gala club joined a former Galalean in Stan Davidson and Colin Telfer, as the main Scottish side. Another Gala player, Nairn MacEwan, was on the bench for the President's VII. [4] In the group stages, the tournament had a huge upset when a star-studded Welsh team including Gareth Edwards, Gerald Davies, Phil Bennett, and JPR Williams were beaten by an England side that included a number of Loughborough Colleges students. [1]
The groups were dominated by Ireland and England who both emerged with a perfect 3 wins out of 3. The final was an extremely close affair and Ireland missed out on the title by the smallest of rugby margins. In injury time, Ireland were leading 18-16 and were in the England 22. Fergus Slattery needed only to hold on to the ball to preserve this lead but instead let loose an errant pass, which was intercepted and the England full international winger, Keith Fielding, was able to run in the long try. [5] The England side was a strong one, with all players to be full internationals. Loughborough Colleges' Fran Cotton was the captain and in the final both Keith Fielding and Andy Ripley scored. Mike Gibson, of Ireland, was selected the tournament's outstanding player. [5]
The tournament was held twenty years before the first official world cup, yet in a number of quarters was referred to as a world championship. The SRU itself did not advertise it as a world cup but rather it was styled "The International Seven-a-side tournament". Additionally, it was not officially endorsed by the International Rugby Football Board as anything other than an international tournament. However, elements of the press referred to it variously as bestowing the World Sevens Crown[6] or conferring the status of world sevens' champions[5] or World Seven-a-side Champions,[7] and even modern press reports, in the era of the fully sanctioned World Cup, have referred to the competition in comparable terms to modern World Cups. [8]
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Sports Competition
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1949 Olympia earthquake
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The 1949 Olympia earthquake occurred on April 13 at 11:55:44 local time with a moment magnitude of 6.7 and a maximum Mercalli Intensity of VIII (Severe). The shock was located in the area between Olympia and Tacoma, and was felt throughout the state, as well as parts of Oregon, British Columbia, Idaho, and Montana. It is the largest recorded earthquake to occur in the Puget Sound region of Washington. Eight people were killed, a minimum of 64 people were injured, and the total damage is estimated at $25 million. Damage in Olympia from the earthquake was estimated between $500,000 and $1 million by Governor Arthur B. Langlie. [5] Eight buildings on the State Capital campus were damaged by the earthquake, as well as the Old Capitol Building in downtown Olympia. [6] A 23-ton cradle on the east tower of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge fell 500 feet, injuring two men.The earthquake caused geysers to explode along the railroad track in the Tacoma tidal flats and in Puyallup. Chimneys throughout western Washington collapsed. [7] In Seattle, nearly every building in the Pioneer Square neighborhood was affected in some way, with damage ranging from lost parapets to entire floors and in some cases entire buildings needing to be demolished over the following years. Most buildings still show the scars of earthquake damage and the mostly hasty repairs made to them. [citation needed]
Eight people were killed, including young crossing guard Marvin Klegman who shielded a second-grader from falling bricks. [7] At least 64 people were injured, and the total damage is estimated at $25 million. This Washington-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. This article about an earthquake in the United States is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
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Earthquakes
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Alleged Plumpton bank robber to face court today
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A 20-year-old man is due to face Parramatta Local Court today charged over a bank robbery in Sydney's west yesterday. The man allegedly entered a Commonwealth Bank branch at a shopping centre in Plumpton and took a female staff member hostage before stealing cash. Police say that when some members of the public realised he was unarmed they tackled him to the ground and held him until officers arrived. He has been charged the man with aggravated robbery. Police have praised the actions of the men who allegedly chased and caught him. Chief Inspector Wayne McMahon of Mount Druitt police said the man had been gesturing under his disguise that he had a weapon. "But they satisfied themselves that they didn't believe that to be the case," he said.
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Bank Robbery
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A four-day joint China-Russia military exercise at the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) training base in China’s northwest Ningxia province
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A four-day joint China-Russia military exercise at the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) training base in China’s northwest Ningxia province will Photo: Xinhua A four-day joint China-Russia military exercise at the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) training base in China’s northwest Ningxia province will conclude today. The military drill is part of a China-Russia bilateral anti-terrorism initiative, Zapad/Interaction 2021. The exercise involved more than 10,000 Chinese and Russian personnel. The drills also put into practice the PLA’s new combat tactics, aircraft, drones and armored vehicles in northern China’s Gobi Desert. Additionally, they facilitated Russia’s exposure to the PLA’s modernizations and China’s coordination with Russian personnel to strengthen the readiness of both militaries. In the short-term, the exercise will act as a strategic operation in response to the Afghan Taliban’s capture of neighboring border crossings, including their potential movement into China’s Xinjiang province. China and Russia’s response to the Taliban is likely due to the group’s potential to empower regional separatists, a particularly salient fear given Taliban leader Sirajuddin Haqqani’s close ties to al-Qaeda. Since 2018, China and Russia have been engaging in large-scale strategic exercises as a bilateral force to train their respective top-level command to work together, building towards long-term regional military cooperation. Nevertheless, the joint exercises may potentially expand into the Arabian Gulf, the Indian Ocean and Africa in the future.
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Military Exercise
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North West Afghanistan hit by plague of locusts - Times of Malta
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Afghan authorities are examining the extent of an unprecedented locust infestation that has prompted local officials in some areas to offer wheat as a reward to residents for killing the insects.
Some 300 tonnes of locusts have been killed by people in the northwestern province of Badghis alone in recent weeks, Abdul Ghafar Ahmadi, a senior official from the agriculture ministry, said on Saturday, citing provincial officials.
Local officials in Badghis and neighbouring Herat have promised residents seven kilos of wheat in return for killing one kilo of locusts, amid a global surge in food prices that has hit Afghanistan hard, Mr Ahmadi said.
"The infestation of locusts has been unprecedented in Afghanistan. It is pretty bad here in Badghis which is also suffering from drought," he told Reuters from Badghis.
"I have heard from local officials that residents have killed 300 metric tonnes of locusts."
He could not say how many hectares of cultivated land had been destroyed by the infestation, but said a mechanical campaign to kill the insects has been going in several parts of the region, which border Turkmenistan.
"This is a regional problem and is not limited only to Afghanistan," he said.
Independent journalism costs money.
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Insect Disaster
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Ray J divorces Princess Love for the third time | Celebrity
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1,700 units of housing are set to vanish in the next 5 years. There’s little Philly officials can do | Local News Ray J reportedly filed for a third divorce from Princess Love while fighting pneumonia.
The “One Wish” singer is currently hospitalized in the COVID-19 ward, but is not believed to be infected with the coronavirus. TMZ reports that court documents have been filed to end the marriage to the Los Angeles Superior “Love and Hip Hop” star. Wednesday court (06.10.21).
Ray J submitted documents to end his marriage to a 37-year-old actress in September last year, shortly after the settlement following the May 2020 princess divorce petition, but they tried romance again. I decided to try it.
The two moved to Miami with their 3-year-old daughter Melody and their 21-month-old son Epik to make things work.
Meanwhile, 40-year-old star manager David Weintraub revealed that his client is currently being monitored by a doctor after a severe fall in pneumonia.
He told people that Ray J was “in the hospital because of pneumonia, but it’s not a contagious type.” [The doctors] I wanted to keep him there for a few more days to watch over him. “
And in a message to his fans, the television personality said: Thank you for keeping me in your prayer, and I will run back soon. “
Ray J said at the time of their decision to move their family from Los Angeles to Florida: I think we will be back in Los Angeles soon. We have taken care of our children. They love it here and it gives us a different mood and outlook on life. God is good, we are taking one day at a time. “
And while Ray believes he and the princess “meaning they’re together,” he couldn’t say that their romance was completely back on track.
“We are together. Are we back together? I think it’s a journey we have to take.
“I think it’s a journey we have to take, but we’re together. We love to be together.
“I think we intend to be together, so we understand how to keep it consistent, enjoy life together, and get better together.”
Ray J divorces Princess Love for the third time | Celebrity
Source link Ray J divorces Princess Love for the third time | Celebrity
1,700 units of housing are set to vanish in the next 5 years. There’s little Philly officials can do | Local News
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Famous Person - Divorce
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2005 Hindu Kush earthquake
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The 2005 Hindu Kush earthquake hit northeastern Afghanistan with a magnitude of 6.5 on December 12 at 21:47 (UTC). According to the United States Geological Survey's ShakeMap and Did You Feel It? products, the maximum Mercalli intensity was V (Moderate) at Chitral. Five people were killed in the Hindu Kush region and landslides blocked several roads near Bagh, Kashmir. [4] The earthquake occurred some 65 miles away from Faizabad, a city in the Hindu Kush mountains,[5] but it could be felt in many neighboring areas. [6] It could even be felt about 200 miles away in Islamabad, Pakistan. [5] The quake was strong enough to trigger panic among survivors of October's devastating earthquake, who came out from their makeshift shelters in freezing temperatures. [7] Although magnitude-6 earthquakes typically cause severe damage, this quake caused relatively little due to the fact that it occurred deep underground (224.6 km (140 mi)). [5]
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Earthquakes
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Crown Heights riot
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The Crown Heights riot was a race riot that took place from August 19 to August 21, 1991, in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn, New York City. Black residents turned against Orthodox Jewish Chabad residents, resulting in a deterioration of already tense racial relations in the densely populated community. The riots began on August 19, 1991, after two children of Guyanese immigrants were accidentally struck by a car running a red or yellow light while following the motorcade of Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the leader of Chabad, a Jewish religious movement. One child died and the second was severely injured. In the wake of the fatal accident, some black youths attacked several Jews on the street, seriously injuring several and fatally injuring an Orthodox Jewish student from Australia. Two weeks after the riot, a non-Jewish man was killed by a group of black men; some believed that the victim had been mistaken for a Jew. The riots were a major issue in the 1993 mayoral race, contributing to the defeat of Mayor David Dinkins, an African American. He was blamed for an ineffective police response. Ultimately, black and Jewish leaders developed an outreach program between their communities to help calm and possibly improve racial relations in Crown Heights over the next decade.
At approximately 8:20 pm on Monday, August 19, 1991, Yosef Lifsh, 22, was driving a station wagon with three passengers west on President Street, part of the three-car motorcade of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, leader of the Chabad Lubavitch Hasidic movement. The procession was led by an unmarked police car with two officers, with its rooftop light flashing.
The police car and Schneerson's automobile crossed Utica Avenue on a green light and proceeded along President Street at a normal speed, but Lifsh's vehicle had fallen behind. Not wishing to lose sight of Schneerson's car, Lifsh either crossed Utica Avenue on a yellow light or ran a red light. There was no indication of the exact speed of his vehicle. Lifsh's vehicle struck a car being driven on Utica Avenue, veered onto the sidewalk, knocked a 600-pound (275 kg) stone building pillar down and pinned two children against an iron grate covering the window of a first-floor apartment in a four-story brick building . Seven-year-old Gavin Cato, the son of Guyanese immigrants, who was working on his bicycle chain while on the sidewalk near his apartment on President Street, died instantly. His seven-year-old cousin Angela Cato, who was playing nearby, survived but was severely injured.
Lifsh believed he had the right of way to proceed through the intersection because of the police escort. Lifsh said he deliberately steered his car away from adults on the sidewalk, toward the wall, a distance of about 25 yards (23 m), in order to stop the car. Lifsh later said that the car did not come to a full stop when it hit the building, but slid to the left along the wall and hit the children. Accounts differ as to the next sequence of events. After the collision, Lifsh said that the first thing he did was to try to lift the car in order to free the two children beneath it. Members of the EMS unit, who arrived on the scene about three minutes after the accident, said that Lifsh was being beaten and pulled out of the station wagon by three or four men. A volunteer ambulance from the Hatzolah ambulance corps arrived on the scene at about 8:23 pm, followed by police and a City ambulance. The latter took Gavin Cato to Kings County Hospital, arriving at 8:32 pm; Cato was pronounced dead shortly thereafter. Volunteers from a second Hatzolah ambulance helped Angela Cato, until a second City ambulance arrived and took her to the same hospital.
Two attending police officers, as well as a technician from the City ambulance, directed the Hatzolah driver to remove Lifsh from the scene for his safety, while Gavin Cato was being removed from beneath the station wagon. According to The New York Times, more than 250 neighborhood residents, mostly black teenagers, many of whom were shouting "Jews! Jews! Jews! ", jeered the driver of the car and turned their anger on the police.
Some members of the community were outraged because Lifsh was taken from the scene by a private ambulance service while city emergency workers were still trying to free the children who were pinned under the car. Some believed that Gavin Cato died because the Hatzolah ambulance crew was unwilling to help non-Jews. There was a rumor at the time that Lifsh was intoxicated. A breath alcohol test administered by police within 70 minutes of the accident indicated this was not the case. Other rumors circulating shortly after the accident included: Lifsh was on a cell phone, Lifsh did not have a valid driver's license, and that police prevented people, including Gavin Cato's father, from assisting in the rescue of the children.
Later that evening, as the crowds and rumors grew, people threw bottles and rocks. Someone reportedly shouted, "Let's go to Kingston Avenue and get a Jew! "A number of black youths set off westward toward Kingston Avenue (0.7 miles (1.1 km) away from Utica Avenue), a street of predominantly Jewish residents several blocks away, vandalizing cars, and throwing rocks and bottles as they went.
After the death of Gavin Cato, members of the black community believed that the decision to remove Lifsh from the scene first was racially motivated. They also said that this was one example of a perceived system of preferential treatment afforded to Jews in Crown Heights. The preferential treatment was reported to include biased actions by law enforcement and uneven allocations of government resources, amongst others. Many members of the black community were concerned that the number of Jews in the community had increased and that they were buying all of the property in the crowded area.
A number of studies focused on the allegation that law enforcement habitually favored Jews over African Americans. A writer for City Journal criticized the allegation. An interview with Rabbi Shmuel Butman, published in 1991, mentions a police directive to Hatzolah to transport Lifsh, along with Jews already injured by rioters, without transporting either of the Cato children. "We did exactly what the police officers wisely advised us. "
Based on protesters' statements and actions during the rioting, Butman said, "We were always hoping that after World War II no Jew would ever be killed just for being Jewish, but this is what happened in the city of New York. "In his eulogy at the funeral, the Rev. Al Sharpton referred to "diamond dealers" (a Jewish business) and said, "It's an accident to allow an apartheid ambulance service in the middle of Crown Heights.
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Riot
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President Pedro Castillo to face questioning over corruption allegations
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Today, federal prosecutors are set to investigate Peruvian President Pedro Castillo for a scandal involving improperly promoting military officials. Elected
Photo: Gian Masko/AFP
Today, federal prosecutors are set to investigate Peruvian President Pedro Castillo for a scandal involving improperly promoting military officials.
Elected only four months ago, Castillo has been suffering from a 25% approval rating and rampant social unrest. Last week, a motion to begin impeachment proceedings over allegations of corruption failed, garnering only 76 out of 130 votes. The Peruvian Congress would need 87 votes for a final impeachment.
As the fifth president in five years, expect Castillo to struggle to retain his base of rural voters and boost Peru’s economy at the same time. A major flashpoint is the copper mining industry, of which Peru is the world’s second largest producer and makes up 62% of national exports. In response to protests by activists decrying the environmental degradation, Castillo’s government tried to revoke four mining licenses, only to end up caving to pressure from the mining industry. In line with today’s questioning, expect continued investigations into the numerous allegations of corruption, including collusion between the Castillo administration and private mining interests. While lawmakers have put the possibility of impeachment to rest for now, right-wing opposition will likely seize any opportunities in the future to highlight Castillo’s poor governance.
Wake up smarter with an assessment of the stories that will make headlines in the next 24 hours. Download The Daily Brief.
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Famous Person - Commit Crime - Investigate
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2008 Cameroonian anti-government protests
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The 2008 Cameroon protests were a series of violent demonstrations in Cameroon's biggest cities that took place from 25 to 29 February 2008. The protests followed on the heels of a strike by transport workers, who were opposing high fuel prices and poor working conditions. Further political turmoil had been caused by President Paul Biya's announcement that he wanted the constitution to be amended to remove term limits; without such an amendment, he would have to leave office at the end of his term in 2011. Large groups of youths, whom the opposition Social Democratic Front (SDF) political party and the government blame one another for organising, took to the streets of Douala, Yaoundé, Bamenda, and other major cities, looting and vandalising property. The government sent in troops to crack down on the unrest, and protesters and troops alike were killed. The official government tally is that 40 people were killed, but human rights groups claim that the total is closer to 100. Government figures place damage to property at tens of billions of francs CFA (15.2 million euros or US$23.4 million). In response to the protests, President Biya reduced the cost of fuel, raised salaries of civil servants and military personnel, reduced the duties paid on cement, and suspended duties on essential goods such as cooking oil, fish, and rice. Government forces also claimed to have arrested more than 1,600 people, including government officials, and to have prosecuted 200. Human rights groups and defense attorneys, on the other hand, claimed that more than 2,000 people had been arrested in Douala alone and decried the trials as overly swift, secretive, and severe. The government has also cracked down on artists, media outlets and journalists it accuses of threatening national stability. The protests grew out of a strike by the urban transport union, which consists of bus, taxi, and lorry drivers. The union was angered over the rise in fuel prices and poor working conditions in Cameroon;[1][2] so they scheduled a strike for 25 February 2008. [3] Further unrest was fomented in response to generally high cost of living in Cameroon,[1] high unemployment among youths,[4] and President Paul Biya's proposal that the constitution be amended to abolish term limits on the presidency and allow him to run in the 2011 election. Biya has been president of Cameroon since 1982. [1][2] On 23 February, an unauthorised protest of several hundred Cameroonians in the Douala suburb of Newtown, opposing Biya's proposed constitutional reforms, was broken up by police who allegedly turned tear gas and water cannons on the demonstrators, killing at least one. Conditions in Douala were peaceful the following day until that evening, when gunfire was heard near Douala International Airport. [3]
According to Hamidou Yaya Marafa, Minister of State, Minister of Territorial Administration and Decentralisation, the Cameroonian government learned in January that the Social Democratic Front (SDF), the main opposition to the ruling Cameroon People's Democratic Movement (CPDM) political party, had formulated a plan they dubbed "Operation Kenya" to bring instability to Douala, Cameroon's biggest city and chief port. In response, the government indefinitely banned street demonstrations in the Littoral Province, where Douala is located. Undeterred, SDF leaders met at the Bamenda home of party chairman John Fru Ndi in late January, government officials claim, with the aim of organising street demonstrations across the country. Marafa says that the SDF planned to have members from both the government and civil sectors participate in the protests. Meanwhile, the SDF allegedly offered training to young people in how to stage an effective street demonstration. [5]
Fru Ndi and the SDF have rejected the government's claims, citing several peaceful SDF-led protests in the past. Fru Ndi told the government to look at their own policies as the cause of the unrest. Fru Ndi said that he had information that implicated government officials with "[manipulating] the State apparatus and its information system" in a bid to deflect attention from their own corruption. [6]
The protests began on 25 February 2008 in Douala. [7] Because of the transport strike scheduled for that day and general fear, the streets were empty of all traffic but the transport used by government forces. [2][3] Heavy gunfire was reported that morning, and youths burnt cars, tyres, and vegetation to block off major roads and bridges; the city was filled with plumes of smoke. [3] Meanwhile, groups of young people looted and vandalised property, including petrol stations and a retail store. [1][2][3] Reports on national radio said that a finance ministry building, a town hall, and other government structures were aflame. IRIN reported seeing a firefight between protesters and police at the airport and witnessing victims of gunshot wounds in the city. Police responded with widespread arrests. [3]
On 26 February, the government agreed to a reduction in petrol prices of 6 francs CFA (less than 1 US¢) per litre, and the transport union called off its strike that night. The head of the taxi union, Jean Collins Ndefossokeng, told Radio France International that "it is no longer a good time for the strike with the current vandalism. "[8] Nevertheless, violence had already gotten out of hand by this point and continued. [9]
By 2 February, the protests had spread to other Cameroonian cities. [8] Government figures show that the protests eventually spread to 31 municipal areas in five of Cameroon's ten provinces: the Centre, Littoral, Northwest, Southwest, and West. [7] Marafa claims that the SDF collected and transported youths between hot points, including Bafoussam, Bamenda, Douala, and Yaoundé. Government forces allegedly stopped such convoys outside major cities on 25 and 27 February. [5]
Witnesses reported heavy gunfire in Yaoundé on 27 February. One resident reported rioters looting and burning a market. [8] The government flooded the streets of the capital with soldiers. [1] Demonstrators threw stones and erected flaming barricades. Government forces responded with tear gas. [9] Troops were stationed throughout the city and at petrol stations,[1] and barricades were set up. [4] Similar methods were used in other cities, and troops in Douala used water cannons. [9] Meanwhile, looting and burning continued in Douala, where witnesses reported victims of gunshot wounds lining the streets. [8]
According to a BBC reporter, troops confronted about 2,000 demonstrators on a bridge in Douala, and some 20 individuals fell into the river. [9]
In Kumba, demonstrators marched with posters demanding Biya's resignation and for the government to reduce the cost of fuel and petroleum products. [8] In Bamenda, some reportedly targeted boarding schools, where the nation's elite send their children.
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Protest_Online Condemnation
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2nd unofficial Chess Olympiad
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The second unofficial Chess Olympiad was a team chess tournament held in Budapest from June 26 to July 15, 1926, during the third FIDE Congress. [1] Six teams applied to contest the team tournament but Austria and Czechoslovakia withdrew before the start. Hungary won the tournament ahead of Yugoslavia, Romania and Germany. Several individual tournaments which also featured international participation were held at the Congress. Ernst Grünfeld of Austria and Mario Monticelli of Italy won the strongest individual event, a sixteen-player round robin sometimes referred to as the first "FIDE Masters" tournament. Another sixteen players of mixed local and international backgrounds competed in a second round robin, won by Max Walter of Czechoslovakia. Edith Holloway of the UK won the women's tournament, and Sandor Zinner won an open tournament contested by the local Hungarians. [2]
The final results were as follows:
Max Walter of Bratislava won this sixteen-player round robin with a score of 11½ out of 15. Balázs Sárközy of Budapest finished in second place with a score of 10½, and Anatoly Chepurnov of Vyborg scored 9½ to finish third. [3]
Eight women from London, Vienna and Budapest competed in a round robin. Edith Holloway of London won the tournament scoring 6½ out of 7, while Paula Wolf-Kalmar and Gisela Harum of Vienna both scored 5½ to tie for second and third places. [3]
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Sports Competition
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Man, 25, diagnosed with leukaemia after tiredness then developed into a bleeding gums
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A Surrey woman has described the moment her family's world was turned upside down when her 25-year-old brother was diagnosed with leukaemia.
Kinga Esperger, who lives in Reigate, said her brother Szilard was "fit and healthy" before he was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia in August - just a week after he had been dancing at their stepbrother's wedding.
The Hungarian national, who is being treated back home at a hospital in Budapest, enjoys playing football and worked in construction until he took time away to concentrate on his treatment, which has included three rounds of chemotherapy.
READ MORE: Surrey woman, 49, claims she was spiked in Esher bar and not believed by authorities
His best hope of beating the disease completely is through a stem cell transplant from his older sister, Zita, and the family are raising money for a sterile room at the family home in which he can recover from treatment safely. It will also mean he can spend more time out of hospital with his family.
Acute myeloid leukaemia can see symptoms come on all of a sudden. Other than tiredness, Kinga said there weren't any symptoms at first.
She said: "Before [he was diagnosed] we were at a wedding, having so much fun, dancing until the morning.
"We were thinking of everything when he had a temperature and his gums started bleeding, but nothing like this. His vision started to get blurry.
"When you put in the symptoms, it comes up as leukaemia, but I thought 'it can't be that, it can't be that'. But then it came back from the lab and it was that, unfortunately. We wouldn't think [that it was leukaemia] - it changes your life."
As a result of the chemotherapy, Szilard lost his hair, which had to be shaved off. Kinga added that he found it difficult mentally, too.
She also described how he changed colour as a side effect of the chemotherapy.
"One day he was unbelievably red, then the next day he was green. It was really crazy, you could see his body changing. There were patches in different colour, it was so scary," Kinga said.
Kinga described the moment they found out Zita was a perfect match for Szilard's stem cell transplant which, it is hoped, will reboot his immune system and clear the remnants of the leukaemia.
Szilard is awaiting a stem cell transplant as part of his treatment (Image: Kinga Esperger)
"It's just amazing. We were so lucky to have that in the family because this is the best chance he can have to get this out of his life.
"It is so overwhelming how we can be strong together [as a family] for one person. But it's been a challenging time and it still is.
"We are hoping it will be better now because we see something on the other side. So we know what to aim for. But it is constant stress and worry, which is really exhausting."
The family set up a GoFundMe page to help fundraise for Szilard's sterile room and they have exceeded the target of £5,000. At the time of writing they have fundraised over £7,000.
Speaking of the donations, Kinga thanked everyone who has helped them out: "It's so overwhelming how many people want to help us and him, it's crazy. He's a very lovely guy and I can see everyone wants to help him as much as they can."
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Famous Person - Sick
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Delta Air Lines Flight 821 crash
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On March 25, 1969, Luis Antonio Frese hijacked a Delta Air Lines flight 821 (DC-8) from Dallas, Texas to Havana, Cuba. [1][2] Frese was indicted in Texas but never returned to the United States to face prosecution. [2] He reportedly died in Cuba in 1975. [1][2]
The plane was en route from Newark to Los Angeles with stop overs in Atlanta, Dallas and San Diego. [3] There were 114 people on board: seven crew and 107 passengers,[3] which included 26 Marine recruits en route to San Diego and additional military personnel. [4] This was the 14th hijacking of a US airliner in the year 1969. After being hijacked to Havana, the flight diverted to Miami before continuing on its planned route. [4]
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Air crash
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1971 January 31 Surgut Aeroflot Antonov An-12 crash
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The 1971 January 31 Surgut Aeroflot Antonov An-12 crash occurred on 31 January 1971, when an Aeroflot Antonov An-12B, aircraft registration CCCP-12996, flying from Roshchino International Airport, Tyumen, in the Soviet Union's Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic (RSFSR), crashed 13.6 km (8.5 mi) short of the runway on approach to Surgut International Airport, Surgut, RSFSR. An investigation found the aircraft's loss of control was caused by icing. [1]
The aircraft involved in the incident was an Antonov AN-12B with the aircraft registration number 12996 (Factory number - 00347403, a serial number giving some basic information about the aircraft: 00 for the last digit of the year of manufacture - 1970, 34 for the factory of origin - the Tashkent aviation factory, 74 for the production batch and 03 for the individual aircraft within that batch[2][3]), this aircraft left the production line of the V. P. Chkalov Tashkent aviation production association on the 31st of August 1970 and handed over to the main directorate of the civil air fleet (the governmental organ tasked with overseeing aviation throughout the soviet union), which then sent the aircraft to the 2nd Tuman aviation department of the territorial directorate of the civil air fleet. At the time of the crash the aircraft had completed a total of 391 flying hours. [4]
CCCP-12996 was sent to transport goods from Tyumen to Surgut, the aircraft's load consisted of 12 metric tons of fresh seafood; Pacific herring packed in boxes. The aircraft was piloted by a crew from the 259th flying squadron, consisting of:
Also on board was a loadmaster. At 01:25 Moscow time the airliner took off from Tyumen airport and, after gaining height, occupied a flight level of 6,000 m (19,685.0 ft). [4]
At Surgut the sky was fully covered by layered cloud down to an altitude of 240 m (787.4 ft), a fresh breeze was blowing from the South-South-West, visibility was 6 km (3.7 mi), the air temperature was −7 °C (19.4 °F). At 02:30 Moscow time and 120 km (74.6 mi) from their destination, the crew made radio contact with the radar controller at Surgut airport and received a weather report. When the AN-12 was 100 km (62.1 mi) away from Surgut the radar controller gave permission for the aircraft to descend to an altitude of 4,500 m (14,763.8 ft). Having achieved this new altitude and now at a distance of 80 km (49.7 mi) from the airfield, the crew transferred communication to the approach controller who gave permission to descend to an altitude of 1,200 m (3,937.0 ft). Whilst descending to this new altitude the crew switched over to the landing controller and at 02:34:30 reported reaching an altitude of 1,200 m (3,937.0 ft). In response the landing controller informed them that the landing would be at 180° and that the airfield pressure altitude was 766 millimetres of mercury. At this point the crew began to descend to the altitude of the airfield traffic pattern. [4]
Passing through an altitude of 800–900 m (2,624.7–2,952.8 ft), the crew reported strong icing conditions and a minute later very strong icing conditions. The transcript of the crew's communications with the ground controllers records that the aircraft's de-icing system was switched on. At 02:37:12 the crew reported that they had descended to an altitude of 600 m (1,968.5 ft), a couple of minutes later at 02:39:35 the crew began the third turn (to the left) of the airfield traffic pattern at an altitude of 400 m (1,312.3 ft). 10-15 seconds before completing this turn the aircraft began to behave abnormally and at 02:40:25 someone in the cabin said "the engines are starting to shake". In this case it is highly likely that the this shaking was caused by a condition close to flow separation on the wing of the aircraft. When the third turn was completed at 02:40:39, the captain gave the order to set the flaps to 15°, but 5 seconds later he was forced to give the command to return them to their previous position since the crew had noticed that the speed of the aircraft had dropped from 330 km/h (205.1 mph) to 310 km/h (192.6 mph), despite an increase in engine thrust. [4]
When the AN-12 had exited the left turn, a few seconds later the aircraft again independently entered a slight left turn. The crew countered the left turn with a small steering input to the right, but were quickly forced to steer to the left and then back to the right again since the aircraft had begun to roll from side to side causing a decrease in lift and causing the aircraft to fall. At this point the aircraft was experiencing a force of 1.8 - 1.9g, at 02:41:04 Moscow time (04:41:04 local time) at a speed of 395 km/h (245.4 mph) and at a severe left hand tilt, the AN-12 crashed into the ground 16.5 km (10.3 mi) North of Surgut airport, close to one of the lakes in the area, the aircraft was completely destroyed and burst into flames. Part of the wreckage including the tail section fell into the lake. All 7 people on board were killed. [4]
The commission that investigated the accident concluded that:
The stall during the final approach immediately after completion of the third turn was the result of icing on the wing tips. The formation of ice on the wing was the result of incomplete opening of the air bleed valves from the engine and extreme icing conditions. Other factors:
In the span of 9 days (22nd and 31st of January 1971) two AN-12 aircraft crashed at Surgut, CCCP-11000 and CCCP-12996. Both crashes occurred under similar circumstances, whilst carrying out the third turn of their landing circuit both aircraft suffered spontaneous rolls due to flow separation on the wing caused by a drop in aerodynamics because of icing, which in turn was caused by ineffective de-icing systems since the hot air intake valve from the engine was not fully open. In order to prevent further catastrophes of the same nature significant improvements were made to the air bleed control systems including an indicator to show the fully open position of the valves. Special tests were also carried out, the results of which helped to clarify the aerodynamic characteristics of the AN-12 during icing. It also lead to changes in many civil aviation governing documents. [4]
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Air crash
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'African Lion': Hundreds of National Guard troops from Georgia to train in Morocco
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ATLANTA — More than 700 Georgia Army National Guard troops will go to North Africa in June for a training exercise in Morocco. The training program will be called "African Lion 21" and it will be conducted between June 7-18 in Tantan, Morocco. The exercise will also take the troops into Tunisia and Senegal, a release said. It will include 740 Georgia Guard troops out of a total of about 4,000 U.S. service members and 5,000 members of the Royal Moroccan Armed Forces, Tunisian Armed Forces, Senegalese Armed Forces, as well as participants from Italy, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. According to the release, the Georgia Guard units participating will include the Fort Benning-based Headquarters, 648th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade; the Cumming-based 420th Signal Company, 648th MEBl the Elberton-based 1st Battalion, 214th Field Artillery, 648th MEB; and the Forsyth-based 2nd Battalion, 121st Infantry Regiment, 48th Infantry Brigade Combat Team. According to the Guard, the exercises will include "operating a tactical command post, conducting situational training exercise lanes, conducting field training exercises and conducting indirect fire gunnery table qualification." "The exercise culminates with a combined and joint live-fire exercise," the release said. "African Lion offers the opportunity to improve interoperability and cooperation while demonstrating the strong military bond that exists between the participating nations," the Guard said in a statement. "It is designed to provide training for U.S., Moroccan, Tunisian, Senegalese, and other regionally-based African partnered forces while simultaneously reinforcing lessons learned from past African Lion exercises, and provides a foundation and structure for future military cooperation and engagements." It's the first African Lion exercise to be held since 2019, after last year's was canceled due to COVID-19. The Guard says it has taken safety measures, including testing and quarantines prior to travel, to mitigate the risk of an outbreak among the forces.
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Military Exercise
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1877 St. Louis general strike
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The 1877 St. Louis general strike was one of the first general strikes in the United States. It grew out of the Great Railroad Strike of 1877. The strike was largely organized by the Knights of Labor and the Marxist-leaning Workingmen's Party, the main radical political party of the era. The Long Depression, sparked in the United States by the Panic of 1873, had extensive implications for US industry, closing more than a hundred railroads in the first year and cutting construction of new rail lines from 7,500 miles (12,100 km) of track in 1872 to 1,600 miles (2,600 km) in 1875. [2] Approximately 18,000 businesses failed between 1873 and 1875, production in iron and steel dropped as much as 45 percent, and a million or more lost their jobs. [3][4] In 1876, 76 railroad companies went bankrupt or entered receivership in the US alone, and the economic impacts rippled throughout many economic sectors throughout the industrialized world. [5]
In mid-1877, tensions erupted in stoppages and civil unrest across the nation in what would become known as the Great Railroad Strike or the Great Strikes. Violence began in Martinsburg, West Virginia and spread along the rail lines through Baltimore and on to several major cities and transportation hubs of the time, including Reading, Scranton and Shamokin, Pennsylvania; a bloodless general strike in St. Louis, Missouri; and a short lived uprising in Chicago, Illinois. In the worst case, rioting in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania left 61 dead and 124 injured. Much of the city's center was burned, including more than a thousand rail cars destroyed. What began as the peaceful actions of organized labor attracted the masses of discontented and unemployed workers spawned by the depression, along with others who took opportunistic advantage of the chaos. In total, an estimated 100,000 workers participated nationwide. [6]
In East St. Louis, Illinois, on July 22, train workers held a secret meeting, resolved to call for an increase in wages, and strike if their demands were not met. Following this initial meeting, a subsequent outdoor meeting was held, with about 200 members of the Workingmen's Party in attendance. The enthusiastic crowd supported various speakers who expressed their sympathy and solidarity with the workers. A third meeting was held that night, in Turner's hall, limited to railroad workers. After several more speeches, they further clarified the demands by adopting a series of resolutions:[7]
Whereas, The United States government has allied itself on the side of capital and against labor; therefore,
Resolved, That we, the workingmen's party of the
United States, heartily sympathize with the employes of all the railroads in the country who are attempting to secure just and equitable reward for their labor. Resolved, That we will stand by them in this most righteous struggle of labor against robbery and oppression, through good and evil report, to the end of the struggle. The demand was made and rejected that same night, and so effective at midnight, the strike began in East St. Louis,[9][a] and within hours strikers virtually controlled the city. [11] The following morning strikers announced they would allow passenger and mail trains passage through the city, but intended to stop all freight traffic. The workers were initially described as "quiet and orderly", and the rail companies initially made no effort to challenge the embargo on freight. When the Chicago & Alton attempted to start one of their freight trains on the morning of the July 23, it was stopped by the strikers and returned to the rail yard. At the Union Railway & Transit Company yards, one stock train was allowed to cross the bridge, while employees of the Transit company struck in East St. Louis, and did not in St. Louis. Even after removing the wage reduction, workers at the Transit company continued to strike. Throughout the day, many other major railroads did not see strikes, and strikes were far less prevalent outside of East S. Louis. Feed was allowed to be brought to livestock, and passenger trains continued to be allowed through. [9] The strike was compared by city officials to the Paris Commune of 1871. [11]
On the morning of July 24, the strikers resolved to stop the movement of passenger trains in addition to freight. An eastbound train with 125 passengers was stopped, and after about an hour of argument, the decision was made to let it through. The next train that entered did not fair equally as well, and was decoupled from its passenger cars. At 11:00 AM, a group of 25 strikers led by an Ohio and Mississippi Railway engineer entered the Union depot, the first time strikers moved outside of East St. Louis. They seized two Missouri Pacific Railroad steam engines, and went to the Missouri Pacific engine shops. The 250 workers at the engine shops continued work and could not be persuaded to leave. The strikers then returned to the Union depot and stopped a train from leaving, allowing it to pass two hours later. [12]
A total of 3,000 to 4,000 people gathered at the depot, and unrest swelled, particularly following the announcement that six companies of infantry were on route to St. Louis. The police cleared and ordered the salons closed in the region around the depot. At 4:00 PM, flatcars loaded with 400 strikers arrived. They marched to the Missouri Pacific Shops, arriving with about 2,000 people. The machinists announced that while they were not going to strike, they would stop working in solidarity with the strikers. The men then traveled to the North Missouri Railroad track and, taking an engine and ten flat cars, went to the North Missouri's roundhouse and persuaded the workers to join the strike. [13]
As a result of the strike, various federal receivers and then Secretary of the Interior Carl Schurz urged Secretary of War George W. McCrary to intervene. Schurz wrote that "no United States Marshal, unless backed by Federal troops, can restore order or protect men willing to work...the presence of Federal troops will form a rallying point and do much to restore order." John Pope was directed to protect railroads and promote peace. At 6:00 PM six companies (consisting of about 350 soldiers), led by Colonel Jefferson C. Davis arrived from Fort Leavenworth. Davis stated that "I have been ordered here with general instructions to protect the property of the United States, and shall participate in no movement looking to anything else without I have specific orders from army headquarters," and marched his soldiers to an arsenal barracks. Six additional companies were directed to St. Louis from the 16th and 19th Infantry regiments to leave posts in Kansas, Colorado, and the Oklahoma Territory. Three arrived later on July 24, and the rest on July 25, for a total of 42 officers and 410 soldiers. As the soldiers were only directed to protect federal property, the strikers were largely unaffected by the arrival of troops, and gathered at the Union depot, where they would spend the night. [13][14]
The people of St. Louis were apprehensive about the strike, and many expected some sort of bloodshed. On the night of July 24, Communist leaders held meetings across the city.
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Strike
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The Northern Lights May Come Out This Weekend
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Remember that mountaintops and fire lookouts—and the roads you use to reach them—are likely coated with snow. More exciting than a sunny weekend after a bomb cyclone full of Seattle rain: The northern lights might be making a Halloween appearance. The Space Weather Prediction Center from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration—say that five times fast—issued a strong (G3) geomagnetic storm watch for Saturday and Sunday. What does that mean? Nature might be dressing up for Halloween exactly like my five-year-old niece: in a burst of color. The sun spat out a big solar flare and Coronal Mass Ejection on Thursday, which should hit the earth on Saturday and affect the atmosphere through Sunday. NOAA notes that “impacts to our technology from a G3 storm are generally nominal,” which sounds like something a minor character says at the beginning of a superhero movie and turns out to be totally wrong. But it might also drive the aurora borealis over the Northeast, upper Midwest, and Washington state. The northern lights are a tricky phenomenon, given that they are caused by solar activity but show up in the night sky near the poles—and are generally difficult to predict. When they do show, the lights can appear as anything from a slight haze to a multicolor, dancing show in the sky. So while there are no guarantees, there are a few ways to increase your chances of spotting the northern lights if they do come out to play. First, get away from city lights (and clouds if they do settle in); you’ll want a clear view to the north. It helps that we’re in the waning phases of the moon, so there should be little additional light from up high. Start scanning the sky just after sunset—this is a reason to celebrate that sunset has slipped before 6pm, oof—and check NOAA’s 30-minute aurora forecast. The northern lights are celebrated around the world as a natural phenomenon but also as a good omen or sign of ancestors come back to visit. Photographers use various shutter speeds to capture them, so don’t be surprised if the in-person experience looks a little different from professional photos. And bundle up—even without the rain, the weekend should prove chilly at night.
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New wonders in nature
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1997 Harnai earthquake
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The 1997 Harnai earthquake occurred on February 27 at 21:08 UTC near Harnai, Pakistan, and felt throughout much of central Balochistan,[3] with a magnitude estimated at 7.0 on the Mw scale. [4] A 2016 study[5] determined that this was a doublet earthquake, the Ms 6.4 shock that hit 22 minutes later being a continuation of the initial main shock. The earthquake was caused by the collision between the Indian Plate and the Eurasian Plate. [6]
The mountainous villages near Quetta, the capital of Balochistan province, suffered most of the damage. Small villages in Sibi District, with mostly adobe dwellings, were completely destroyed, and the town of Harnai alone had 75 fatalities. The total number of deaths due to the earthquakes was over 100. [7]
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Earthquakes
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The Pentagon launched a task force to investigate UFO sightings by military aircraft
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The Pentagon launched a task force to investigate UFO sightings, according to a Friday Department of Defense news release. Deputy Secretary of Defense David Norquist will assist in overseeing the task force. Previously, the US Navy led any efforts to investigate unidentified aerial phenomena because many of the encounters involved their aircraft, CNN said. Visit Insider's homepage for more stories. The Pentagon is launching a task force dedicated to investigating UFO sightings by military aircraft, according to a Friday Department of Defense news release, which establishes the Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force (UAPTF). CNN first reported the story earlier this week. "The Department of Defense established the UAPTF to improve its understanding of, and gain insight into, the nature and origins of UAPs," the DoD said in a release. "The mission of the task force is to detect, analyze, and catalog UAPs that could potentially pose a threat to US national security." "The Department of Defense and the military departments take any incursions by unauthorized aircraft into our training ranges or designated airspace very seriously and examine each report," the DoD added. "This includes examinations of incursions that are initially reported as UAP when the observer cannot immediately identify what he or she is observing." Politicians and Pentagon officials have previously expressed concerns about the appearance of "unidentified aerial phenomenon" flying over US military bases. In April the Pentagon declassified three videos of "unidentified aerial phenomena." The next month, the Navy released several incident reports from encounters with unidentified flying objects (UFOs) - a generic term for any aerospace asset that is unidentifiable, rather than confirmation as an actual aerial object piloted by extraterrestrials. In response, US lawmakers called on intelligence agencies and the Pentagon share information on these kinds of sightings, including whether the incidents could be the work of foreign adversaries, with the public, Business Insider previously reported. "The US needs to take a serious, scientific look at this and any potential national security implications," former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid tweeted at the time. The UAPTF will be lead by the "Department of the Navy, under the cognizance of the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security," the DoD said. In the past, efforts to investigate these unexplained aircraft were led by the Navy, CNN reported. Read more: Lawmakers want to know if the US military's UFO sightings are the work of foreign adversaries The Pentagon released 3 videos of UFOs spotted by Navy aircraft The US Navy has finally confirmed that mysterious videos showing pilots spotting UFOs
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Organization Established
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Locust and coronavirus crises are threatening to drive large-scale famine in Africa
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The arrival of locusts is an ominous and eerie sight. It's like a cloud has moved across the sun. The sky starts to darken, you hear a "clackety-clack" sound, and millions of locusts fly overhead. There are an incredible 80 million insects in a one kilometre swarm — and some stretch for several kilometres. They look rather innocuous on their own, just like a grasshopper. But in their millions these voracious eaters can consume as much food in one day as 35,000 people. In East Africa, millions of people are battling to save their livelihoods on multiple fronts. Some of the poorest rural communities are not only facing a growing hunger crisis due to the invisible threat of coronavirus, they're also struggling to save their crops from a far more visible threat: locusts. The locusts arrived in Kenya in late December and since then they have been multiplying by 20 times every three months. They can fly up to 150 kilometres a day, which makes eradicating them a mammoth task. Restrictions imposed to contain coronavirus — such as border closures and lack of access to pesticides — have made the task even harder. Kenya hasn't seen these numbers of locusts for more than 70 years, and it's clear that climate change is helping to create ideal breeding conditions. It's an absolutely spectacular country but it's also ravaged by extreme inequality. Eighty percent of the households in the north of Kenya are living well below the poverty line, whereas in the capital, Nairobi, some parts are reminiscent of neighbourhoods in Melbourne. Mother-of-10 Mama Fatuma Muhumed Kanyare lives in the rural north, where she grows mangoes, watermelons, hot chilis, green grams, paw paws, and tomatoes. In recent months, she's faced the triple threat of flooding, locusts and coronavirus. She told us how she watched helplessly as a seething mass of locusts devoured all of her crops. "When they attack a farm, they literally take every green thing with them and leave huge trees such as mangoes as empty shells. Some crops were ready for market." She told us flooding cut off access to their farms, destroyed crops and swept away precious machinery and equipment. And now coronavirus has dealt another blow. Mama Fatuma's eldest child, who was supporting the family, lost his job as a result of the economic downturn caused by the pandemic. "I can no longer enjoy three meals because of corona, floods and locusts. Sometimes we forgo lunch or even breakfast because of the hardship," she said. An Oxfam partner organisation is now supporting Mama Fatuma and her family with cash payments as a stop-gap solution. The strategy to deal with both COVID-19 and locusts is similar — to track and trace. Using apps and community monitoring systems, we are gathering information on where the locusts are hatching, developing and flying, and then aerial sprayers are sent in. But as new generations of locusts hatch, it's becoming increasingly difficult to stop them in their tracks. Whilst in Kenya the battle is almost won, these desert locusts are now spreading beyond East Africa through Somalia and Ethiopia, to the Arabian peninsula, and onto South Asian countries such as India and Pakistan. This is such a big problem that it has required a whole of society approach. We are working with local communities to track where the locusts are, with UN agencies who are providing some of the pesticide and governments that are spraying the locusts. But it's not enough. Meanwhile, the situation with coronavirus is equally worrying. Since mid-March we've had more than 26,400 confirmed cases and 420 deaths, but those cases are likely to be the tip of the iceberg as there is simply not enough testing. Most concerning is the situation in the slums, where 80 per cent of people don't have enough food to eat and up to 30 per cent of children are already stunted, as the economy tanks and the average monthly income has dropped to just $AU16. What's more, it's virtually impossible to socially distance in a slum, water costs a lot and it's not piped to the houses. We are doing what we can, distributing soap, improving access to water and distributing cash to help people buy food. But it's not enough. In Kenya alone, there are already more than three million people without enough food to eat. In the wider Horn of Africa — including countries such as Ethiopia and Somalia — that figure is close to 30 million. We are now fearful that the locust and coronavirus crises could combine to produce large-scale famine, or at the very least, leave hundreds of thousands more people hungry, which will have intergenerational impacts. Preventing this will require a huge effort on everyone's part. We — and our governments — must stand in solidarity with the most vulnerable communities wherever they are in the world by doing our fair share to provide lifesaving assistance.
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Famine
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Australia’s Emma McKeon and Brendon Smith break Oceania records as Tokyo Olympics swimming begins
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Australia’s Emma McKeon and Brendon Smith have broken Oceania records in heats of their respective events on the first day the Tokyo Olympics swimming schedule.
Smith qualified fastest for the final of the men’s 400m individual medley after swimming 4:09.27 on Saturday, which eclipses his national record of 4:10.04 he set in the Olympic trials in Adelaide last month.
Compatriot Se-Bom Lee (4:15.76) missed the medal race despite finishing second in his heat.
Four-time Olympic medallist McKeon swan 55.82 in the women’s 50m butterfly to tie first in her heat with China’s Yufei Zhang and reach the semi-finals of the event as the equal fastest qualifiers.
Australian Brianna Throssell clocked 58.08 in the same heat to sneak the final position of the 16-competitor semis.
Meanwhile, Australians Elijah Winnington and Jack McLoughlin have tied for first in their heat (3:45.20) to reach the final of the men’s 400m freestyle.
They’re equal-fourth quickest into Sunday’s final.
Australia will go into Sunday’s 4x100m freestyle relay final as overwhelming favourites for gold.
The team of Bronte Campbell, Madi Wilson, Mollie O’Callaghan and Meg Harris blitzed the field to qualify fastest for the medal race.
They clocked 3:31.73, almost two seconds faster than second qualifier the Netherlands (3:33.51).
“It’s always an incredible team to be a part of,” Campbell told Seven.
“It’s amazing to have these new guys come in an bring energy and fresh faces.”
McKeon and flagbearer Cate Campbell, who hold the fastest 100m freestyle times in the world this year, will race in Sunday’s final with Wilson and triple Olympian Bronte Campbell.
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Break historical records
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Farmers fight back: Making animal feed from a locust plague
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Kenya is battling locust plagues, spurred on by unusual weather patterns, caused by climate change, which have created ideal breeding conditions.
Start-up 'The Bug Picture' is helping local communities profit from the pests.
The Bug Picture is paying local communities to harvest the insects and mill them, turning them into protein-rich animal feed and organic fertilizer.
The insects are collected at night, when they are resting on shrubs and trees.
Kenya is battling some of the worst locust plagues in decades, but start-up The Bug Picture hopes to transform the pests into profits and bring “hope to the hopeless” whose crops and livelihoods are being destroyed by the insects.
Unusual weather patterns exacerbated by climate change have created ideal conditions for surging locust numbers, which have destroyed crops and grazing grounds across East Africa and the Horn.
Fresh waves of locusts threaten to decimate farms across eastern Africa
Scientists say warmer seas are creating more rain, waking dormant eggs, and cyclones that disperse the swarms are getting stronger and more frequent.
The Bug Picture is working with communities around the area of Laikipia, Isiolo and Samburu in central Kenya to harvest the insects and mill them, turning them into protein-rich animal feed and organic fertilizer for farms.
“We are trying to create hope in a hopeless situation, and help these communities alter their perspective to see these insects as a seasonal crop that can be harvested and sold for money,” said Laura Stanford, founder of The Bug Picture.
In central Kenya’s Laikipia, clouds of locusts are devouring crops and other vegetation. The Bug Picture is targeting swarms of 5 hectares or less in inhabited areas not suitable for spraying.
Swarms can travel up to 150 km (93 miles) a day and can contain between 40-80 million locusts per square kilometre.
“They destroy all the crops when they get into the farms. Sometimes they are so many, you cannot tell them apart, which are crops and which are locusts,” said farmer Joseph Mejia.
The Bug Picture pays Mejia and his neighbours 50 Kenyan shillings ($0.4566) per kilogram of the insects. Between Feb. 1-18, the project oversaw the harvest of 1.3 tons of locusts, according to Stanford, who said she was inspired by a project in Pakistan, overseen by the state-run Pakistan Agricultural Research Council.
The locusts are collected at night by torchlight when they are resting on shrubs and trees.
“The community ... are collecting locusts, once they (are collected) they are weighed and paid,” said Albert Lemasulani, a field coordinator with the start-up.
The insects are crushed and dried, then milled and processed into powder, which is used in animal feed or an organic fertiliser.
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Insect Disaster
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USGS Raises Volcano Alert; More Explosive Activity Possible
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A volcano that has been exhibiting off-again, on-again seismic activity this year is exhibiting significant unrest once again, forcing scientists with USGS and the Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO) to raise the volcano alert level of the Semisopochnoi Volcano. According to the AVO, “Detection of multiple, discrete, energetic explosion signals on local seismic and infrasound stations has characterized the unrest over the past day.” It also appears an explosion occurred last night and more may be on the way. AVO reports: “Last night at about 10:15 PM AKDT (06:15 UTC, 8/3/2021) an explosion and an intense burst of seismic and acoustic tremor lasting for roughly 15 minutes was detected on the local network. This activity produced a small ash cloud that was visible in satellite data until about 9:20 UTC (01:20 AKDT).” Based on its location on the globe at 179°46′ East, Semisopochnoi is the easternmost land location in the United States and North America, located just 9.7 miles west of the 180th Meridian in Alaska. Semisopochnoi is part of the Aleutian Islands, a chain of 14 large volcanic islands and 55 smaller other islands. These islands, with their 57 volcanoes, make the northernmost part of the Pacific Ring of Fire. The Ring of Fire is a region around the rim of the Pacific Ocean where many volcanic eruptions and earthquakes occur. Caused by plate tectonics, lithospheric plates under and around the Pacific Ocean move, collide, and/or are destroyed, creating the seismic activity the Ring of Fire is famous for. Volcanoes in this portion of the Ring of Fire are monitored by the Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO), which is a joint program of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the Geophysical Institute of the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAFGI), and the State of Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys (ADGGS). The AVO is similar to the Hawaii Volcano Observatory (HVO) which monitors Hawaii’s three active volcanoes: Kilauea, Mauna Loa, and Hualalai. In the case of AVO, they monitor Cleveland, Semisopochnoi, and Veniaminof too. Alaska is home to many volcanoes, though; there are more than 130 volcanoes and volcanic fields which have been active within the geologically young last 2 million years. 50 have been active since the mid 1700s and AVO studies those too. AVO is responsible for issuing Aviation Codes and Volcanic Activity Alert Levels. Aviation Codes are green, yellow, orange, or red. When ground-based instrumentation is insufficient to establish that a volcano is at a typical background level of activity, it is simply “unassigned.” While green means typical activity associated with a non-eruptive state, yellow means a volcano is exhibiting signs of elevated unrest above known background levels. When a volcano exhibits heightened or escalating unrest with the increased potential of eruption, it jumps to orange. Finally, when an eruption is imminent with significant emission of volcanic ash expected in the atmosphere or an eruption is underway with significant emission of volcanic ash into the atmosphere, the code becomes red. Volcanic Activity Alert levels are normal, advisory, watch, or warning. As with aviation codes, if data is insufficient, it is simply labeled as “unassigned.” When the volcano is at typical background activity in a non-eruptive state, it is considered normal. If the volcano exhibits signs of elevated unrest above background level, an advisory is issued. If a volcano exhibits heightened or escalating unrest, a watch is issued while a warning is issued when a hazardous eruption is imminent. For now, the AVO is keeping the code / alert level to “ORANGE / WATCH” for Semisopochnoi. The AVO says additional explosions and ash plumes are possible, which could be problematic for trans-Pacific Jets that fly near the volcano on their Asia – North America routes. Volcanic ash can create significant harm to jet engines that fly through them or boat and automobile engines that ingest ash-filled air. Volcanic ash is hard and abrasive, and can quickly cause significant wear to various airplane parts such as propellers, turbo-compressor blades, and even cockpit windows. Because volcanic ash particles have a low melting point, it can melt in the combustion chamber of a jet engine, creating a ceramic or glass-like glaze that then sticks to turbine blades, fuel nozzles, and combustors. A jet engine that ingests just a small amount of ash could suffer from total engine failure. Overheating and engine failure is also possible in cars and trucks since volcanic ash can infiltrate nearly every opening in a vehicle. Ash is also very abrasive; ash caught between windshields and wiper blades will scratch and permanently mark the windshield glass, and windows are susceptible to scratching each time they are raised, lowered, and cleaned. According to AVO, small eruptions producing minor ash deposits within the vicinity of the active north crater of Mount Cerberus and ash clouds under 10,000 ft above sea level are typical of recent activity at Semisopochnoi. If ash remains at or below this altitude, trans-Pacific aviation won’t be impacted. But if a larger eruption ejects matter higher into the atmosphere, it could create problems for aviators. Semisopochnoi is monitored by local seismic and infrasound sensors, satellite data, regional infrasound, and lightning detection instruments. Semisopochnoi is the second volcano in Alaska to be at an elevated ORANGE / WATCH level in recent weeks. On July 23, USGS elevated the alert level and color code to ORANGE / WATCH for the Great Sitkin Volcano. Alaska also saw an impressive 8.2 earthquake on July 29, which prompted the issuance of many tsunami warnings and watches. Scientists are concerned that any explosive eruption at any of the volcanoes in the state could trigger an earthquake and/or tsunami threat for Alaska and beyond.
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Volcano Eruption
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EU welcomes 10 new members
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EU welcomes 10 new members
Prodi: Largest-ever expansion heals Cold War divisions
Fireworks and searchlights light up Malta's harbor Friday night.
RELATED
Read Richard Quest's Web log as he travels across new EU states
SPECIAL REPORT
Are you excited by the expansion of the European Union from 15 to 25 countries?
BRUSSELS, Belgium -- Capitals across Europe celebrated Friday night and into Saturday morning as the European Union marked the largest expansion in its history.
Ten new members, eight of them formerly under communist rule, joined the EU at midnight CET (2200 GMT), but celebrations began earlier in countries farther east. The accession unites Eastern and Western Europe, patching rifts left by World War II and the Cold War.
The new member states are Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia. The additions bring the EU's population to 450 million, making it the world's largest trading bloc.
At the Italian-Slovenian border, European Commission President Romano Prodi presided over a reunification ceremony in the Italian town of Gorizia and the Slovenian town of Nova Goricia, divided by an iron fence since the end of World War II.
Prodi said, in Italian, "Today's enlargement is the fifth and the largest in the history of the union, and I am convinced that it will not be the last. Other European countries and nations will decide to join our undertaking until the whole continent is unified in peace and democracy," Reuters reported.
In Poland, the largest new EU member, a chorus sang in a Warsaw square and a video screen showed scenes of Poland's climb from post-World War II destruction through communist domination to democratic rule.
President Aleksander Kwasniewski told the crowd, "Ladies and gentlemen, we are making history ... Today our dream is becoming reality. Poland is returning to its European family," Reuters reported.
At the German-Polish border, the hoisting of the EU flag was accompanied by fireworks and the "Ode to Joy" from Beethoven's Ninth Symphony.
A two-hour concert at the Berliner Konzerthaus and an open-air stage in Warsaw symbolically linked the two cities, and featured performers from the newest EU states.
In Malta, part of "Ca Ira (It Will be Fine)," a new opera by former Pink Floyd singer Roger Waters, was accompanied by lasers, floodlights and fireworks. Giant images were projected on the city's historic fortress walls, and boats with sails representing EU members' flags floated below.
The Berlin, Warsaw and Malta concerts were part of the celebration arranged by the EU, and were carried on live television in 30 countries.
"We are not expecting charity," one Lithuanian reveler speaking English told Reuters. "We are hard-working people, and we will work, we will catch up with the rest of Europe, and quite soon we will do it."
In Cyprus, Greek Cypriots celebrated the event, but Reuters reported that reaction was muted in the island's north, where the breakaway Turkish cypriot state was left behind after a reunification vote failed last week.
On Saturday, the leaders of all 25 EU countries will gather for a largely ceremonial summit in Dublin. The Republic of Ireland holds the six-month rotating EU presidency.
On the eve of the celebrations, Prodi declared that the divisions of the Cold War had been removed once and for all.
"We are bringing into the EU family 10 new member states and 75 million new EU citizens," the UK Press Association quoted Prodi as saying.
"Five decades after our great project of European integration began, we are celebrating the fact that Europeans are no longer kept apart by artificial ideological barriers.
"We share the same destiny and we are stronger when we act together. I urge all Europeans to join in celebrations of this astonishing achievement."
The commission is spending about 6 million euros ($7 million) on the enlargement celebrations.
The EU began with six member states, becoming nine in 1973 with the arrival of the UK, Ireland and Denmark.
Greece followed in 1981, and Portugal and Spain in 1986. Austria, Sweden and Finland made in 15 in 1995.
"May 1 will be a milestone in the history of Europe," EU Enlargement Commissioner Guenter Verheugen said.
"It is Europe's response to the end of the Cold War and an opportunity to heal the wounds of the past, wounds of war and dictatorship," Reuters quoted Verheugen as saying in Warsaw.
The enlargement crowns efforts by Poland and Germany to overcome the past. They are the largest old and new members of the EU, with about 80 million and 40 million citizens, respectively.
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Join in an Organization
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AeroUnion Flight 302 crash
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AeroUnion Flight 302, operated by an Airbus A300B4-203F cargo aircraft, crashed in poor weather on final approach at General Mariano Escobedo International Airport, Monterrey, Mexico around 23:18 CDT on 13 April 2010, after a flight from Mexico City. All five people on board were killed, as well as one on the ground. [1][2]
The aircraft involved was built in 1979 and after service with a number of operators was leased to Aerounión – Aerotransporte de Carga Unión in April 2002 and registered as XA-TUE. At the time of the accident, the aircraft had flown for 55,200 hours and made 27,600 landings. [3]
The captain was 56-year-old Adolfo Muller Pazos, who had 16,754 flight hours, including 5,446 hours on the Airbus A300. The first officer was 37-year-old José Manuel Guerra, who had 3,114 flight hours, with 1,994 of them on the Airbus A300. The flight engineer was 34-year-old Humberto Castillo Vera, who had 3,038 flight hours, 1,461 of them on the Airbus A300. Also on board was an observer pilot, 25-year-old Manfred Muller, who had 206 flight hours, and 36-year-old aircraft technician Érick Guzmán. [4][5]
At about 23:18 local time on 13 April (04:18 UTC on 14 April),[1] AeroUnion Flight 302 executed a missed approach after a landing attempt and crashed[6] The Airbus A300B4-203F was on a scheduled international freight service from Mexico City International Airport via General Mariano Escobedo International Airport, Monterrey, to Los Angeles International Airport, Los Angeles. The crew had been cleared to land the aircraft on runway 11 at Mariano Escobedo Airport, but it crashed onto the Avenida Miguel Alemán motorway, almost 2 km short of the runway threshold. It struck a car, killing the driver. The airplane broke up and burst into flames. All five occupants of the aircraft were killed. [1]
There was a storm that caused windshear and heavy rain, with a ceiling varying between 500 and 800 feet. [6] The METAR in force at the time of the accident stated visibility of 7 miles with light rain. Cloud cover was "broken" at 2,500 ft, overcast at 5,000. with intra-cloud lightning observed. [1]
The Direction General of Civil Aeronautics (DGAC) of the Ministry of Communications and Transportation of Mexico (SCT) opened an investigation into the accident. Assistance was provided by Airbus, the aircraft's manufacturer; and by France's aircraft accident investigation body, the Bureau d'Enquêtes et d'Analyses pour la Sécurité de l'Aviation Civile (BEA). [3]
The investigation noted that on final approach the speed decreased to 110 knots (more than 20 knots below typical final approach speed) followed by the crew pulling the control column which resulted in further speed decay and increased angle of attack. The stick shaker, stall warning and Alpha Floor protection activated and caused the engines to accelerate to maximum thrust. In response to the pitch up moment produced by the accelerating engines the control column was pushed forward however the trim was at 10.25 degrees nose up and was not adjusted. The aircraft pitched up reaching an angle of attack of 41 degrees, the speed decayed to 70 knots, the stick shaker and stall warning activated again, the control column was at its forward stop, and the aircraft began to descend. During the last 10 seconds of flight the control column was reversed to its backward stop while the aircraft was losing height until impact. [4][7]
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Nobel UN food agency warns 2021 will be worse than 2020
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The head of the World Food Program says the Nobel Peace Prize has given the U.N. agency a spotlight and megaphone to warn world leaders that next year is going to be worse than this year UNITED NATIONS -- The head of the World Food Program says the Nobel Peace Prize has given the U.N. agency a spotlight and megaphone to warn world leaders that next year is going to be worse than this year, and without billions of dollars “we are going to have famines of biblical proportions in 2021.” David Beasley said in an interview with The Associated Press that the Norwegian Nobel Committee was looking at the work the agency does every day in conflicts, disasters and refugee camps, often putting staffers’ lives at risk to feed millions of hungry people -- but also to send “a message to the world that it’s getting worse out there ... (and) that our hardest work is yet to come.” “It was so timely because we’ve been fighting to get above the choir,” Beasley said of last month's award, pointing to the news being dominated by the U.S. elections and the COVID-19 pandemic, and the difficulty of getting global attention focused on “the travesty that we’re facing around the world.” “So this was really a gift from above,” Beasley said, recalling the surprise and delight of WFP's 20,000 staffers worldwide, and his own shock at being interrupted during a meeting in Niger in Africa's Sahel region with the news. Beasley recalled his warning to the U.N. Security Council in April that as the world was dealing with the coronavirus pandemic, it was also “on the brink of a hunger pandemic” that could lead to “multiple famines of biblical proportions” within a few months if immediate action wasn’t taken. “We were able to avert it in 2020 ... because the world leaders responded with money, stimulus packages, deferral of debt,” he said. Now, Beasley said, COVID-19 is surging again, economies are continuing to deteriorate particularly in low- and middle-income countries, and there is another wave of lockdowns and shutdowns. But he said the money that was available in 2020 isn’t going to be available in 2021, so he has been using the Nobel to meet leaders virtually and in person, talk to parliaments, and give speeches to sensitize those with power to “this tragedy that we are facing -- crises that really are going to be extraordinary over the next, who knows, 12 to 18 months.” “Everybody now wants to meet with the Nobel Peace Prize winner," Beasley said, explaining he now gets 45 minutes instead of 15 minutes with leaders and is able to go into depth and explain how bad things are going to be next year and how leaders are going to have to prioritize programs. “And the response has really been good," he said. “I’m telling them you’re not going to have enough money to fund all the projects you historically fund,” he said. “Those are important things," Beasley said, but he likened the upcoming crisis to the Titanic saying “right now, we really need to focus on icebergs, and icebergs are famine, starvation, destabilization and migration.” Beasley said WFP needs $15 billion next year -- $5 billion just to avert famine and $10 billion to carry out the agency’s global programs including for malnourished children and school lunches which are often the only meal youngsters get. “If I could get that coupled with our normal money, then we avert famine around the world” and minimize destabilization as well as migration. he said. In addition to raising extra money from governments, Beasley said, his other “great hope” is that billionaires that have made billions during the COVID-19 pandemic will step up on a one-time basis. He plans to start pushing this message probably in December or January. In April, Beasley said 135 million people faced “crisis levels of hunger or worse.” A WFP analysis then showed that COVID=19 could push an additional 130 million people “to the brink of starvation by the end of 2020.” He said in Wednesday’s virtual interview from Rome, where WFP is based, that while famine was averted this year, the number of people facing crisis levels of hunger is increasing toward 270 million. “There’s about three dozen countries that could possibly enter the famine conditions if we don’t have the money we need,” Beasley said. According to a joint analysis by WFP and the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization in October, 20 countries “are likely to face potential spikes in high acute food insecurity” in the next three to six months, “and require urgent attention.” Of those, Yemen, South Sudan, northeastern Nigeria and Burkina Faso have some areas that “have reached a critical hunger situation following years of conflict or other shocks,” the U.N. agencies said, and any further deterioration in coming months “could lead to a risk of famine.” Other countries requiring “urgent attention" are Afghanistan, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo, Ethiopia, Haiti, Lebanon, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Sierra Leone, Somali, Sudan, Syria, Venezuela, Zimbabwe, they said. Beasley said a COVID-19 vaccine “will create some optimism that hopefully will help jump the economies around the world, particularly the Western economies. But the WFP executive director said there’s already been $17 billion of economic stimulus this year “and we're not going to have that globally." “We’re very, very, very concerned” that with deferred debt payments for low- and middle-income countries resuming in January, new lockdowns and the rippling economic impact, “2021’s going to be a very bad year,” Beasley said.
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Dozens dead and hundreds missing after dam ruptures at Brumadinho mine in Brazil
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A dam that held back mining waste has collapsed in Brazil, inundating a nearby community with reddish-brown sludge, killing at least 34 people and leaving hundreds of others missing. About 300 people are still missing, while firemen running the rescue effort in the town of Brumadinho say nearly 200 people have been rescued. Nearly a full day since the disaster happened, it was looking increasingly unlikely many more survivors would be found. "Most likely, from now on we are mostly going to be recovering bodies," said Romeu Zema, the governor of the state of Minas Gerais. This marks the second dam burst in just over three years from Brazilian mining company Vale SA in the mining-heavy state. Vale chief executive Fabio Schvartsman said only one-third of the roughly 300 workers at the site had been accounted for. He said a torrent of sludge tore through the mine's offices, including a cafeteria during lunchtime. The death toll was expected to rise sharply. Parts of Brumadinho were evacuated and local firefighters were rescuing people by helicopter and ground vehicles. Local television channel TV Record showed a firefighters' helicopter hovering inches off the ground as it pulled people covered in mud out of the sludge. Photos showed the rooftops of structures poking above an extensive field of the mud, which also cut off roads. The National Mining Agency ordered Vale, the largest producer of iron ore in the world, to halt operations at the Corrego do Feijao mine. State prosecutors requested that 5 billion reais ($1.85 billion) in Vale's assets be frozen to help pay for damages while the environmental agency issued a 250 million reais fine over the dam collapse. President Jair Bolsonaro sent a tweet saying he lamented the incident and was sending three Cabinet Ministers to the area. Mr Schvartsman said the dam had a capacity of 12 million cubic metres and was being decommissioned. He said equipment had shown the dam was stable on January 10 and it was too soon to say why it collapsed. "The environmental impact should be much less, but the human tragedy is horrible," he told journalists at Vale's offices in Rio de Janeiro. Another dam administered by Vale and Australian mining company BHP Billiton collapsed in Mariana, Minas Gerais, in 2015, resulting in 19 deaths and forcing hundreds of people out of their homes. That was considered the worst environmental disaster in Brazilian history, with 60 million cubic meters of waste flooding rivers and eventually reaching the Atlantic Ocean. The rivers of mining waste are raising fears of widespread contamination. Fire brigade spokesman Lieutenant Pedro Aihara said the torrent of mud stopped just short of the local Paraopeba river, a tributary of Brazil's longest river, the Sao Francisco. "Our main worry now is to quickly find out where the missing people are," Mr Aihara said on GloboNews cable television channel. Scores of people were trapped in nearby areas flooded by the river of sludge released by the dam failure. Helicopters plucked people covered in mud from the disaster area, including a woman with a fractured hip who was among eight injured people taken to hospital, officials said. The Inhotim Institute, a world-famous outdoor contemporary art museum a few miles from downtown Brumadinho, evacuated visitors and closed its doors out of precaution. This article contains external content that failed to load. It may have been removed or is no longer available. The Feijao mine is one of four in Vale's Paraoeba complex, which includes two processing plants and produced 26 million tonnes of iron ore in 2017, or about 7 per cent of Vale's total output, according to information on the company's website. Feijao alone produced 7.8 million tonnes of ore in 2017. Brazil's recently inaugurated President Jair Bolsonaro dispatched three ministers to survey the disaster area and will visit himself on Saturday, his chief spokesman said. Former environmental minister and presidential candidate Marina Silva said Brazilian authorities and private miners had not learned anything from the 2015 Samarco disaster near Mariana and called it unacceptable. Operations at Samarco remain halted over new licensing, while the companies have worked to pay damages out of court, including an agreement that quashed a 20 billion reais ($7.376 billion) civil lawsuit last year. Federal prosecutors suspended the case but have still not closed an even larger lawsuit. "Three years after the serious environmental crime in Mariana, with investigations still ongoing and no-one punished, history repeats itself as tragedy in Brumadinho," Ms Silva said on Twitter. Iron ore prices are likely to rise in the wake of the disaster as there may be less supply on the market for the short term, said Chris LaFemina, a Jefferies mining industry analyst. That could boost the share price of rivals Rio Tinto Plc and Anglo American Plc, while weighing on Vale, he said. US-listed shares of Vale closed 8 per cent lower on Friday. "While we hope the reports of fatalities are inaccurate, we do believe this is a material negative for Vale," Mr LaFemina said. "The full extent of the damage and the potential impact on iron ore markets are not clear." Mr Schvartsman declined to comment on how output would be affected. ABC/wires
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Mine Collapses
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1966 NASA T-38 crash
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The 1966 NASA T-38 crash occurred when a NASA Northrop T-38 Talon crashed at Lambert Field in St. Louis, Missouri, on February 28, 1966, killing two Project Gemini astronauts, Elliot See and Charles Bassett. The aircraft, piloted by See, crashed into the McDonnell Aircraft building where their Gemini 9 spacecraft was being assembled. The weather was poor with rain, snow, fog, and low clouds. A NASA panel, headed by the Chief of the Astronaut Office, Alan Shepard, investigated the crash. While the panel considered possible medical issues or aircraft maintenance problems, in addition to the weather and air traffic control factors, the end verdict was that the crash was caused by pilot error. In the aftermath of the crash, the backup crew of Thomas Stafford and Eugene Cernan were moved up to the primary position for the Gemini 9 mission, scheduled for early June. Jim Lovell and Buzz Aldrin, who had formerly been the backup for Gemini 10, became the mission's backup crew, and through the normal rotation were assigned as prime crew for Gemini 12. Without the Gemini experience, it is unlikely that Aldrin would have been assigned to the Apollo 11 mission, during which he became the second man to walk on the Moon. See and Bassett were the prime crew assigned to the Gemini 9 mission. They and the backup crew for the mission, Tom Stafford and Gene Cernan, were flying to St. Louis from their normal training base in Houston, Texas, for two weeks of simulator training for rendezvous and docking procedures at McDonnell Aircraft, the prime contractor for the Gemini spacecraft. It was a routine flight that they had made many times previously. [1]
See and Bassett flew in one Northrop T-38A Talon jet trainer, tail number NASA 901 (Air Force serial number 63-8181), with See at the controls and Bassett in the rear seat. A second T-38, NASA 907, carried Stafford and Cernan in the same configuration. The two aircraft took off from Ellington Air Force Base in Texas at 7:35 a.m. CST, with See in the lead and Stafford in wing position. [2] Weather at Lambert Field in St. Louis was poor, with rain, snow, and fog, broken clouds at 800 feet (240 m) and a cloud ceiling of 1,500 feet (460 m), requiring an instrument approach. When the two aircraft emerged below the clouds shortly before 9 am, both pilots realized that they had missed the outer marker and overshot the runway. [3]
See then elected to perform a visual circling approach, a simplified landing procedure allowing flight under instrument rules, as long as the pilot can keep the airfield and any preceding aircraft in sight. The reported weather conditions at the airport were adequate for this type of approach, but visibility was irregular and deteriorating rapidly. Stafford began to follow See's plane, but when he lost sight of it in the clouds, he instead followed the standard procedure for a missed approach and pulled his aircraft up, back into the clouds for another attempt at an instrument landing. [4]
See completed a full circle to the left at an altitude of 500 to 600 feet (150 to 180 m), and announced his intention to land on the southwest runway (24). [1][4] With landing gear down and full flaps, the plane dropped quickly but too far left of the runway. [5][6] See turned on his afterburner to increase power while pulling up and turning hard right. [7] Seconds later, at 8:58 a.m. CST,[4] the plane struck the roof of McDonnell Building 101 on the northeast side of the airport. It lost its right wing and landing gear on impact, then cartwheeled and crashed in a parking lot beyond the building which was in use as a construction staging area. [7]
Both astronauts died instantly from trauma sustained in the crash. See was thrown clear of the cockpit and was found in the parking lot still strapped to his ejection seat with the parachute partially open. Bassett was decapitated on impact; his severed head was found later in the day in the rafters of the damaged assembly building. [8]
Inside Building 101, 17 McDonnell employees and contractors received mostly minor injuries from falling debris. [9][4] The crash set off several small fires inside the building,[9][10] and caused minor flooding from broken pipes and sprinklers. [1] See and Bassett died within 500 feet (150 m) of the spacecraft that they were to have flown in orbit, which was in the final stages of assembly in another part of Building 101. [5] Spacecraft S/C9 was undamaged, but a piece of debris from the T-38's wing struck the unfinished S/C10 spacecraft. [11]
Stafford and Cernan, still circling in the clouds in the second T-38, had no idea what had happened to their flight partners. Air traffic controllers were confused by the two planes in flight attempting different abort actions after the initial missed approach,[7] and no one on the ground knew who was in the crashed plane. [2] After some delay, Stafford and Cernan were asked to identify themselves and given permission to land, but they were not informed of the crash until on the ground. [11][12] Although personally distraught over the loss of his close colleagues and friends, Stafford acted as NASA's chief contact on the scene until other personnel arrived to relieve him later in the day. [13]
NASA immediately appointed a seven-member panel to investigate the crash, headed by their Chief of the Astronaut Office, Alan Shepard. While the panel weighed possible medical issues, aircraft maintenance problems, weather conditions, and air traffic control factors, their end verdict was pilot error, citing See's inability "to maintain visual reference for a landing" as the primary cause of the crash. [4] See was described as a "cautious and conservative" pilot in the accident report. [14] In his memoir, chief astronaut Deke Slayton was less diplomatic, calling See's piloting skills "old-womanish. "[11][15][16] Others, including Neil Armstrong, who had worked with See on the backup crew for Gemini 5, have since defended See's piloting ability. [8][11]
Since the crash did not affect space flight operations and the spacecraft itself was undamaged—it was shipped to NASA two days after the crash—the accident caused neither delays nor engineering changes in the U.S. space program. [17] However, the loss of the Gemini 9 crew did cause NASA to reshuffle the crew assignments for subsequent Gemini and Apollo missions; Stafford and Cernan were moved up to the primary position for Gemini 9, re-designated Gemini 9A. Jim Lovell and Buzz Aldrin, who had formerly been the backup for Gemini 10, became the back-up crew for Gemini 9A, and through the normal rotation were then assigned as prime crew for Gemini 12. Without experience during the Gemini mission, Buzz Aldrin would have been an unlikely choice for the Apollo 11 mission, during which he became the second man to walk on the Moon. [11]
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Air crash
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South Sudan joins World Bank, IMF
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WASHINGTON: Oil-rich South Sudan, the world's newest nation and one of the least developed countries, has joined the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund.
The country's formal inclusion in the IMF and the World Bank Group took place yesterday after South Sudan Minister of Finance and Economic Planning Kosti Manibe Ngai signed the Articles of Agreement and Conventions here.
"Even before we became members, the World Bank has already been collaborating closely with us... So today we are very pleased that the formalities have finally been completed, and we look forward to a long-term partnership with the World Bank Group as we work together on the much-needed development of South Sudan," Ngai said.
South Sudan became the world's newest country on July 9, 2011, after decades of conflict.
It has some of the lowest education, health, and other human development results in the world, and more than half of the population lives below the poverty line.
The country, however, has rich agricultural and forestry potential, and significant oil reserves.
In addition to becoming a member of International Bank of Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), South Sudan joined the International Finance Corporation (IFC), International Development Association (IDA), the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA).
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Join in an Organization
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Italians aghast as mafia boss convicted of murder released from prison
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FILE PHOTO: Anti-Mafia police wearing masks to hide their identity, escort top Mafia fugitive Giovanni Brusca. 01 Jun 2021 06:24PM (Updated: 02 Jun 2021 09:02AM) LinkedIn ROME: Italians were outraged on Tuesday (Jun 1) after a notorious mob boss was released from prison, where he served 25 years for a string of grim crimes, including assassinating a famous prosecutor and dissolving a boy's body in acid. Giovanni Brusca, 64, was released on Monday from Rome's Rebibbia prison after serving a 25-year sentence, during which he became a state's witness. He will now serve four years of probation. "Brusca freed - the cruellest boss," wrote La Repubblica daily. But while some politicians and relatives of his victims denounced his release, others defended it given his cooperation with the authorities. Brusca was a key figure within the Cosa Nostra, the Sicilian mafia group. In 1992, he detonated the bomb that killed Giovanni Falcone, Italy's legendary prosecuting magistrate who dedicated his career to overthrowing the mafia. Falcone's wife and three bodyguards were also killed in the attack after their car drove over a section of highway outside Palermo packed with 400 kilos of explosives, detonated by Brusca nearby. The wife of one of the bodyguards killed, Tina Montinaro, told Repubblica she was "indignant" at Brusca's release. "The state is against us - after 29 years we still don't know the truth about the massacre and Giovanni Brusca, the man who destroyed my family, is free," Montinaro said. Falcone's sister, Maria, told the paper she was distressed by the news. But she added: "It's the law, a law moreover wanted by my brother and that should be respected." DISSOLVED IN ACID Brusca, who went by the nickname 'the Pig', was one of the most loyal operators of the head of Cosa Nostra, Salvatore "Toto" Riina. Arrested in 1996, he decided to cooperate with the authorities, admitting to hundreds of murders, Italian news media reported. One of the most grisly was the killing of 12-year-old Giuseppe Di Matteo, the son of a mafia turncoat, who was kidnapped in 1993 in retaliation for his father having collaborated with authorities. After being held in a house for over two years in squalid conditions, the boy was strangled and his body thrown into acid in what police have called "one of the most heinous crimes in the history of the Cosa Nostra". "The law cannot be the same for these people," the boy's father Santino told the Corriere della Sera newspaper. "Brusca does not deserve anything." "These people are not human," he added, recalling how Brusca "as well as my son, also killed a 23-year-old pregnant woman" who had nothing to do with the mafia, "after torturing her boyfriend". He hoped he would never meet him in the street, he added. "I don't know what might happen." Di Matteo himself still lives in a secret location for fear of mafia retribution. There were protests, too, from both sides of Italy's political divide. The leader of the centre-left Democratic Party, Enrico Letta, described the news as a "punch in the stomach that leaves one speechless". Far-right leader Matteo Salvini called Brusca a "wild beast" who "cannot get out of prison". 'NO SCANDAL' But Pietro Grasso, a leftist politician and former Senate president who was once on the killer's hit-list, saw "no scandal". Grasso served as a magistrate and was Italy's chief anti-mafia prosecutor before switching to politics in 2013. He said he had little sympathy for Brusca, especially since the assassin and his aides had plotted to kill him and kidnap his son. But he insisted that it was right to offer jail term reductions to mobsters who turn state informants. "The indignation of many politicians who understand very little about the penal code and the fight against the mafia scares me," he wrote on Facebook. "We need heavy jail term reductions for those who help the state, and the prospect of life imprisonment, with no reductions, for those who do not cooperate," Grasso said.
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Famous Person - Commit Crime - Release
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Flagship Airlines Flight 3379 crash
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Flagship Airlines Flight 3379 was a scheduled American Eagle flight from Piedmont Triad International Airport to Raleigh–Durham International Airport during which a British Aerospace Jetstream crashed while executing a missed approach to the Raleigh-Durham airport on the evening of Tuesday, December 13, 1994. The two pilots and 13 passengers died in the crash, five passengers survived with serious injuries. [1][2]
The flight route from Greensboro to Raleigh is about 70 miles (110 km). Observers at the crash scene said it was foggy and sleeting. The airport reported a temperature of 37 °F (3 °C) with steady drizzle. [2]
The crew for Flight 3379 were Captain Michael Hillis, 29, and First Officer Matthew Sailor, 25. [3]
At 18:05, Flagship 3379 took off from Greensboro running late due to baggage loading. The aircraft climbed to a 9,000 feet (2,700 m) cruising altitude and contacted Raleigh approach control at 18:14, receiving an instruction to reduce the speed to 180 knots (330 km/h; 210 mph) and descend to 6,000 feet (1,800 m). Raleigh final radar control was contacted at 18:25 and instructions were received to reduce the speed to 170 knots (310 km/h; 200 mph) and to descend to 3,000 feet (910 m). At 18:30 the flight was advised to turn left and join the localizer course at or above 2,100 feet (640 m) for a runway 5L ILS approach. Shortly after receiving clearance to land, the no. 1 engine ignition light illuminated in the cockpit as a result of a momentary negative torque condition when the propeller speed levers were advanced to 100% and the power levers were at flight idle. Captain Hillis suspected an engine flame out and eventually decided to execute a missed approach. The speed had decreased to 122 knots (226 km/h; 140 mph) and two momentary stall warnings sounded as the pilot called for max power. The aircraft was in a left turn at 1,800 feet (550 m) and the speed continued to decrease to 103 knots (191 km/h; 119 mph), followed by stall warnings. The rate of descent then increased rapidly to more than 1,000 feet per minute (300 m/min). The aircraft eventually struck some trees and crashed about 4 miles (6.4 km) southwest of the runway 5L threshold at 18:34. The aircraft was manufactured in 1991 and had logged 6,577 flying hours. [4]
On October 24, 1995, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) released their report on the crash. The crash was blamed on Captain Hillis assuming that an engine had failed. Hillis also failed to follow approved procedures for engine failure single-engine approach, go-around, and stall recovery. Flagship Airlines management was blamed for failing to identify, document, monitor, and remedy deficiencies in pilot performance and training. [5][6]
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Air crash
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Japan to hold first drills with UK aircraft carrier off Africa
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TOKYO -- Japan will hold joint exercises with the British aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth for the first time in waters off the coast of the Horn of Africa, likely next week, Japanese Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi told reporters Friday. Japan's Maritime Self-Defense Force will partner with the U.K. carrier strike group for drills in the Gulf of Aden off the coast of Somalia, ahead of a planned port call in Japan this summer. Naval forces from the U.S. and the Netherlands accompanying the strike group are expected to join in as well. The focus will be on counter-piracy exercises, with destroyers involved in anti-piracy operations in the area set to participate on the Japanese side. "We will take on the global security challenge of piracy together with the U.K.," Kishi said. "We will show we have the will and ability to ensure safe maritime transit." Commissioned in 2017 and the U.K.'s largest-ever aircraft carrier, the Queen Elizabeth carries state-of-the-art F-35B stealth fighter jets. The strike group departed in May on a long-term deployment to the Pacific region. Japan and the U.K. agreed on the joint exercises in a "two-plus-two" meeting of top defense and diplomatic officials in February. The upcoming drills are set to be the first of multiple during the Queen Elizabeth's stint in the region. In addition to Japan, the carrier is scheduled to make port calls in India, Singapore and South Korea. It is slated to engage in joint drills with Japan again around the time of its port call there, showcasing unity between two countries with shared values in the face of Beijing's active military presence in the East and South China seas. The U.K., Hong Kong's former colonial ruler, has soured on China amid Beijing's clampdown there under the territory's security law, on top of concerns about its early handling of the coronavirus outbreak and alleged human rights abuses in Xinjiang. The Pacific deployment aims to demonstrate its engagement in regional security. Germany is set to send a naval frigate to the Pacific region this year, reinforcing the message of European cooperation with Japan and the U.S.
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Military Exercise
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At least 36 people are now known to have died in a landslide that struck a village in southern China on Tuesday.
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At least 36 people are now known to have died in a landslide that struck a village in southern China on Tuesday. State-run local media also report that 15 people have been missing since a wave of mud buried more than 20 houses in the province of Guizhou. Chinese authorities told Xinhua news agency that another 40 people had been rescued from the landslide in Shuicheng county.
It comes as heavy rains continue to batter parts of the country. Two children and a mother with a baby are reportedly among the dead, but details are still unclear.
Footage from state broadcaster CCTV show rescue workers using diggers to unearth survivors from a huge mound in the village.
A local school has also been commandeered as a emergency medical and rescue centre for victims.
According to Xinhua, the government has reportedly set aside 30 million yuan ($4.4m; £3.5m) for rescue efforts and the relocation of victims.
Landslides are common in rural and mountainous areas of China, especially after heavy rain.
Last month, footage emerged of a landslide in Fujian province in the country's southeast.
Several other people have also been killed and thousands have been evacuated from their homes this year as a result of rain and flooding.
Thousands stranded after record China rainfall
China country profile
Setback for EU in legal fight with AstraZeneca
But the drug-maker faces hefty fines if it fails to supply doses of Covid-19 vaccine over the summer.
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Mudslides
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Flow-on effect of Williamtown contamination fishing ban hurting people outside red zone
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Almost a year after chemical contamination originating in the New South Wales Hunter region was revealed, a commercial fisherman says the effects of a fishing ban could see him lose half his income for a second year running.
In September 2015, chemical contamination around the Williamtown Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) base, north of Newcastle, was made public.
The NSW Environment Protection Authority warned that chemicals — perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) — which were historically used in fire fighting foam at the RAAF base, had been found in surface water, groundwater and some fish species in nearby waterways.
A subsequent ban on fishing in the 'red zone', including the popular Tilligerry Creek, remains in place.
John Verdich has fished in Port Stephens for about 40 years, and focuses on mud crab trapping and some fish catching.
The mud crab season is about to begin, with Tilligerry Creek and the Karuah River traditionally the two main areas for fishermen to catch the seafood.
Mr Verdich said last season, because of the Tilligerry Creek fishing ban, fishers who would usually have trapped there came to the Karuah River, increasing competition.
As a result, last year he lost about 50 per cent of his income — equivalent to between $50,000 and $60,000.
Mr Verdich expected the same outcome from this year's season.
"You can't blame the blokes from the Hunter, but they step sideways and come and work on top of you [and] that cuts your income down [from] what you can make," he said.
"When the marine park came in here many years ago, we lost about 75 per cent of our productive mud crab ground.
"We've only virtually got two areas left now — Karuah River and Tilligerry [Creek].
"With Tilligerry gone, you're taking 50 per cent of it away so everybody jumps ship to the one corner, nobody makes any money.
"If everybody gets pushed into the one corner, the river won't sustain it."
Mr Verdich said he received a government support payment of $20,000, but it was "not a great help" considering the amount of money he had lost.
Mud crab season starts around Father's Day for Mr Verdich, when he loads his wire traps onto his boat and lowers them to a depth of 10 metres in Port Stephens' shimmering blue waters.
As the weeks pass and the water warms, the traps are repositioned at shallower depths.
Early in the season he can haul 5-10 kilograms of crab each day, but as the season progresses he can catch up to 50 kilograms per day.
Mr Verdich is a sole operator, working from his Swan Bay property, and does not work with a fish co-op.
"Price-wise [mud crab are] a good product to chase; prices [at the Sydney fish market] sometimes can get up as high as $60 and $70 a kilo," he said.
Mr Verdich said the flow-on effect of the fishing ban was threatening his longevity in the industry.
"Financial is probably the biggest [impact], but you've got the pressure of other people around you, so you've got to get along with them working in 'your' ground," he said.
"It does make it difficult, because it's not only impacting on them; you've got to share with the recreational sector as well."
Mr Verdich said he was unhappy with the level of communication and information being provided to fishermen by authorities.
"They've sort of kept us in the dark, they pass the buck from one to the other; and at the end of the day, they're getting paid, we're not," he said.
"They've got to get these human health reports done, come up with where it's going to go, instead of stringing everybody out.
"You can't keep going in to your next season and be wondering whether you're going to have to spend money or sit on the bank."
With the commercial fishers having been in limbo for a year, Mr Verdich said he feared the local industry would crumble if the contamination issue continued to drag on.
"It's buggered them completely," he said.
"[The fishers have] got to shift sidewards to here; then if the pressure gets too hard here, then where do we go?
"We've got to shift sidewards up to Wallis Lake and then put pressure on [those] blokes up there. It's never ending.
"[I'm] very concerned it could wipe us out here. It could wipe us right out in Port Stephens and the Hunter if this keeps going, down to very, very small-scale indeed."
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Environment Pollution
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Madagascar on brink of famine caused by climate crisis
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Madagascar is facing a famine caused by the climate crisis, as United Nations warns over 500,000 children are already malnourished. Get the latest news straight to your inbox with our daily newsletter According to Arduino Mangoni, the World Food Programme's (WFP) Deputy Country Director in Madagascar, pockets of famine are being reported. Labelled the first climate crisis induced famine, the UN are deeply concerned about the situation on the world's second largest island. On a video call with the world's media, Mr Mangoni said: "I have been working with the WFP in several countries in this continent, in several emergencies, including DRC, the Central African Republic, in Darfur, I have never seen kids in the situation they are in." Unlike famines in Yemen, South Sudan and Ethiopia which killed over 1.5 million people, the impending famine in Madagascar is not conflict driven. It has been caused by the climate crisis. The UN estimates over 500,000 children are already malnourished and this just the beginning. Plagued by decades of drought and hunger for decades, Madagascar is at particular risk as much of the country has been deforested to make way for agriculture. When masses of trees are cut down, rainfall plummets and the crops planted in place of the forests fail. 75 percent of Madagascar's 28 million population depend on subsistence farming and the forests for survival. With millions upon millions of trees being cut down each year for slash-and-burn agriculture, pasture, firewood, or construction materials - famine has become increasingly likely. David Beasley, executive director of the World Food Program has said: "To me, Madagascar is a wake-up call to the rest of the world of what is to be expected in the future from other nations." “Madagascar is not an isolated incident, the world needs to look to Madagascar to see what is coming your way and (to) many other countries around the world." The Indian Ocean island nation is used to occasional droughts, but rainless periods like this are unprecedented, catastrophic and undeniably caused by the man-made climate crisis. This is not an isolated incident, with 11 million people in Afghanistan 'marching toward starvation,' Beasley said. Meanwhile, in Ethiopia the World Food Program estimates that 5.2 million people are in need of of emergency food assistance in Tigray, Ethiopia's northern region struck by fighting.
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Famine
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2008 Conviasa Boeing 737 crash
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Updated on 30th January 2010
The Boeing 737-200 owned by Venezuela's state-owned airline Conviasa took off from Caracas's Maiquetia airport, Venezuela, and was bound to Latacunga, Ecuador, 80 kilometers (50 miles) south of Quito. Three crew members (a captain, a first officer and a mechanic) were onboard. The plane crashed in mountainous area in Ecuador’s Andes, killing all the three people onboard. The Boeing 737 had been stored for a while at Caracas. It was being ferried to Latacunga, reportedly underway to a new owner. The plane lost contact with Ecuadorian ground controllers after it began its descent to Latacunga. The wreckage was found the next day. Wreckage location suggests that the airplane flew into the side of the Iliniza Volcano (elevation approx. 17000 feet), near Toacaso. The impact with the ground completely destroyed the aircraft. Go to top
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'Starving to death': Pollution blamed for killing off Florida's manatees in record numbers
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More manatees have died in waters around Florida this year than at any previous time on record, according to conservationists.
Florida’s Fish and Wildlife Research Institute said 841 of the marine mammals had died so far this year.
"Most deaths occurred during the colder months when manatees migrated to and through the Indian River Lagoon, where the majority of seagrass has died off,” the institute said in a statement.
The previous record for annual manatee deaths was in 2013, with 830 deaths caused by a toxic red tide outbreak.
Florida is estimated to be home to around 8,000 manatees.
Senior Florida representative at Defenders of Wildlife, Elizabeth Fleming, said authorities needed to take action.
"This catastrophic die-off foreshadows the manatee’s future unless we take immediate and effective action,” she said.
"They’re starving to death."
Experts blame water pollution and algal blooms for killing off the manatees' staple food, seagrass.
"This situation cannot continue,” Ms Fleming said.
Manatees were classified as endangered by the US federal government in the 1970s, but were reclassified as threatened in 2017 after their numbers increased.
Now environmentalists want the government to classify manatees as endangered again.
"Quick action will be critical to prevent ongoing losses of manatees," Ms Fleming said.
“Without greater oversight in how we steward our lands and waters in Florida, we can expect to continue to see annual mortality events affecting manatees and many other species.
“We must reduce pollution in our waterways and invest in protecting and restoring vital habitat, such as the Great Florida Riverway."
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Environment Pollution
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South of Madagascar teetering on the brink of starvation
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Media Contact: Claire Garmirian +1.203.209.8545 (M) FAIRFIELD, Conn. (Aug. 1 2021)—Children in Madagascar are wasting away as families in the South teeter on the brink of starvation, with the country facing its worst hunger situation in two generations, Save the Children said today. The agency is warning that without urgent intervention, mothers like Tsaravolae (19) will be unable to feed herself or her baby, Rovasoa. Tsaravolae currently collects and sells water and sweet potatoes, but the money she makes is barely enough for one meal a day. Tsaravolae’s father, Nerake, 58, told Save the Children that following a short bout of rain he had collected rainwater to sell to other farmers and used the money earned to buy bean seeds. However, shortly after he had planted the seed, a swarm of locusts destroyed his crops, leaving nothing to harvest. Nerake’s wife, Voatsazoe, approximately 45, has nine children, the youngest just two years old. She said: “Sometimes, when we get no money [during] a day, we can’t afford food and we don’t eat. We were so malnourished so it is difficult for me to breastfeed my son Manolantsoa but he still suckles.” Madagascar is currently facing its worst drought in 40 years, caused by years of failed rains and intensified by a series of sandstorms and locust attacks. One in six children under five are now suffering from acute malnutrition, with numbers rising to one in four children in the six most affected districts. Many families who used to depend on agriculture have now left their homes for nearby towns, putting pressure on already stretched resources. Save the Children has deployed a team to southern Madagascar to provide cash support to 1,600 households in Ambovombe, with an aim to support at least 30,000 people, including at least 18,000 children. The organization will focus on ensuring children and their families have access to nutritious food and to child protection. Save the Children’s Country Director for Kenya & Madagascar, Yvonne Arunga, said in response to the situation: “We are seeing people fetching water from puddles on the road or using water from stagnant ponds for drinking and cooking. Parents and children are sometimes walking for miles every day to collect whatever water is available. Just to sell it, in order to get a bowl of rice or a few tuber vegetables on the table. One meal a day is not enough for an adult, and it certainly is not enough for growing kids. The high birth rate and many teen pregnancies make households even more vulnerable. “This is a forgotten and very underfunded crisis, and it’s hitting children hardest—not only are they missing the nutrients to develop properly, they are missing school due to hunger and the inability of their parents to pay for school fees. Cash and food distributed is just enough to help people survive and stand on their feet, but barely enough to help them recover or consider alternative livelihoods. “We are seeing many hungry, dead-eyed young children, scrounging for a scrap to eat. How can the world look away?” Save the Children is calling on donor governments to urgently fund the response in Madagascar and support health and nutrition services for children in the worst hit districts, including the treatment of acute malnutrition. The organization is urging donors to prioritize humanitarian cash and voucher assistance for families to avoid a total collapse of livelihoods and save lives. Critically, Save the Children is also calling on donors to ensure children are kept safe during this crisis, and to recognize the increased risk of violence and abuse against children as a result of rising pressures on families. The crisis in Madagascar comes at a time when the world is facing its biggest hunger crisis of the 21st century, with an estimated 5.7 million children under five on the brink of starvation across the globe. A further 13 million children under 18 are facing extreme food shortages, the organization said. A deadly combination of COVID-19, conflicts, and the impacts of climate change have pushed hunger and malnutrition levels to a record global high. Without urgent action, the world could see tens of thousands of children starving to death, reversing decades of progress. Save the Children believes every child deserves a future. Since our founding more than 100 years ago, we’ve changed the lives of more than 1 billion children. In the United States and around the world, we give children a healthy start in life, the opportunity to learn and protection from harm. We do whatever it takes for children – every day and in times of crisis – transforming their lives and the future we share.
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Famine
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Aeropesca Colombia Flight 221 crash
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Aeropesca Colombia Flight 221 was an internal scheduled passenger flight from Florencia Airport to Neiva Airport in Colombia. On 26 August 1981 it was being operated by a Vickers Viscount turboprop airliner registered in Colombia as HK-1320 when it collided with Mount Santa Elana, an Andean mountain peak, destroying the aircraft and killing all 50 on board. [1]
The investigation by the Colombian authorities concluded the probable cause was "continuing VFR in meteorological conditions below the minimum laid down in the Manual of Colombian air routes". [1]
The aircraft was a four-engined Vickers Viscount 745D turboprop airliner registered HK-1320 with Vickers construction number 112, it first flew on 22 February 1956 in the United Kingdom and was delivered to Capital Airlines in the United States on 3 March 1956. [2] After service with Capital, Austrian Airlines and Aloha Airlines it was bought by Aeropesca Colombia in 1971. [2]
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Air crash
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Matei Balș hospital fire
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On 29 January 2021, a fire broke out at the COVID-19 facility in Matei Balș hospital in Bucharest, Romania, killing five people. [1] On 4 February 2021, the death toll on the fire was reported to have risen to 12. [2][3] The death toll rose again to 14 on 6 February 2021,[4] with one more death added to the death toll on 8 February 2021. [5]
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Fire
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City of Austin cancels festival, charity run days before events begin
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by: Billy Gates, Tahera Rahman AUSTIN (KXAN) — Bat Fest 2021, an outdoor celebration of the famed Mexican free-trailed bats that reside underneath the Congress Avenue bridge, was canceled Wednesday after the City of Austin denied event organizers a special event permit. French Smith, the owner of Roadway Productions, the company putting on the event, said the cancelation came “out of nowhere with zero warning and no concrete explanation.” The event, featuring two music stages along with food vendors and arts and crafts booths, was scheduled for Saturday. Smith said his problem isn’t that the city denied the permit itself, it’s that they did it so close to the event. He said on Monday he received an email from the city saying everything with the event was good to go. “They led me to believe I would have no problem holding the event,” Smith said. Sunshine Run organizers say they were also notified by the city they had to cancel their in-person event last-minute. Organizers decided to go virtual. Smith said the COVID-19 safety plan associated with the event was already approved by the city, Austin Police Department, Austin Fire Department and Austin-Travis County EMS. He reduced the original capacity of the event by half, bought hand sanitizer and masks and hired a sanitation company to disinfect areas of the event. He also removed a carnival to allow vendors more space to social distance, bought 14 temperature scanners to do checks and printed signage to remind people of COVID-19 protocols. “It’s just me and my wife, she’s pregnant, we have two kids and, you know, we’re left with the burden of this,” he said, saying that he’s lost hundreds of thousands of dollars. “We are shocked and devastated as this is a huge financial blow and harmful to our reputation as event producers,” Smith said in a statement on his company’s website. “Our livelihood was taken away with a single permit denial just shy of 72 hours prior to the event, a permit we filed for two years ago.” Smith said he also had alcohol permits from the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission in hand before the city denied the permit. He said the cancelation also has ripple effects for the more than two dozen vendors scheduled to set up at his festival– most of them local. “This was going to be my launch of my product line, my cards, for consumers,” said Harlow Russell, owner of Awesome 3D Cards, who has so far been focusing on business clients. He’s been handcrafting bat-themed cards for weeks, spending thousands of dollars on them as well as his booth for the festival. He said he supports COVID-19 safety protocol but he’s sad and mad by the sudden cancelation. When asked by KXAN for a response, the City of Austin said in a statement it denied the event’s permit “out of an abundance of caution” due to “public health conditions within the City of Austin.” Here’s the city’s statement, in full: “Due to public health conditions within the City of Austin, Austin Public Health (APH) and the Austin Center for Events (ACE) continue to evaluate the implementation of special events with due regard for safety. As we have seen over the last month with surging cases, the COVID-19 Delta variant is easily spread. In this current environment, some events cannot provide for or implement sufficient safety and health protocols necessary to prevent the spread. Additionally, public health conditions continue to strain local medical services, including hospital resources with Intensive Care Unit (ICU) capacities. These strains can impact the City’s delivery of emergency-related services and the provision of City services required to support government functions. For these reasons, APH and ACE have moved to deny the permit application for Bat Fest out of an abundance of caution. We must continue to work together to ensure that our community is protected during these trying times. Each and every person can do their part by protecting themselves and their loved ones by wearing masks and getting vaccinated.” After a follow-up to ask the city how many other special events permits it had denied, a city spokesperson replied with one example, Austin Pride. The Austin Center for Events helps facilitate events along with Austin Public Health and the city. On ACE’s website, it tells event organizers to fill out the required permitting paperwork and to “encourage their patrons to follow Health Authority guidelines and the recommendations outlined in the Bringing Events Back: Austin-Travis County COVID-19 Safety Guide for Venues & Special Events where possible.” Smith said he loves events, but doesn’t understand why other larger events have been allowed to continue and his was denied. He even asked the city if he should cancel his event when Austin Pride was called off. The city continued to say his event was still on, he said. “I love all events, but it is not right to shut down one and let the others continue,” he said. Smith said the event has been rescheduled for next year, and he’s in the process with his ticketing vendor to get refunds to everyone. He said an email with instructions on how to do that would go out to ticket holders Thursday. Russell hopes he can find another opportunity to expand his business. “I will find another way to launch my awesome 3D cards,” he said. When asked why an Austin FC match is still scheduled for this weekend, the city said those aren’t required for the stadium per the Special Events Ordinance. They say that’s also the same for events at Circuit of the Americas and Moody Amphitheatre at Waterloo Greenway. Live music venues are also holding events that don’t require special permits because they have annual sound permits, the city said. “One of the great things about the festival in the district is that we have the infrastructure, we have live music venues and comedy spaces that do this 24/7, day after day,” explained Cody Cowan, executive director of the Red River Cultural District hosting Hot Summer Nights. “And we don’t need any additional permits because they’re happening in already-licensed spaces.” He adds that they feel excited to be able to pull of their events this weekend when they know many others have been canceled. They’ve been working with the TABC to figure out what safety measures they can and cannot require in order to keep their liquor license. They are recommending attendees be vaccinated and wear masks everywhere, but are only requiring masks for indoor shows. “We have local musicians and local workers that have been largely unemployed for 18 months so, it’s going to be so great to get people back to work, help people pay rent this month– especially with all the cancellations that have happened,” he said. “As for ACL, we are monitoring the situation. It’s still over a month away and as we have seen things can change, for the better or worse, in a short amount of time,” a city spokesperson said. The city says for 2021, they’ve so far denied 26 permits. Most were due to not being submitted on time, code violations on the property and/or a wrong application submitted. They say they also rejected 29 others “for various reasons including, application not being required for activity/property or duplicate application.”
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Organization Closed
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U.S. says to withdraw from arms control treaty in six months
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States announced on Friday it will withdraw from the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty with Russia in six months unless Moscow ends its alleged violations of the landmark 1987 arms control pact.
The United States would reconsider its withdrawal if Russia, which denies violating the treaty, came into compliance with the agreement, which bans both nations from stationing short- and intermediate-range land-based missiles in Europe.
Announcing the move, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the United States would cease to regard itself as being bound by the treaty starting Saturday, which is when Washington will formally inform Moscow of its intent to withdraw, a senior U.S. official told reporters.
The announcement may aim to pressure Russia to come to terms during the next six months but it also raised fears of a new U.S.-Russian nuclear arms race in Europe as well as one between the United States and China in Asia.
U.S. President Donald Trump repeated U.S. allegations that Russia had violated the INF treaty, which limited only U.S. and Russian arsenals, and he held out the prospect of negotiating a wider agreement, possibly including other nations.
“I hope that we’re able to get everybody in a big and beautiful room and do a new treaty that would be much better. Certainly I would like to see that,” Trump told reporters.
Trump’s tenure has been dogged by allegations that Russia interfered in the 2016 U.S. election to help his candidacy, which Moscow denies. The dispute over INF has contributed to U.S.-Russia frictions, now at their worst since the Cold War ended in 1991 despite Trump’s stated desire for better ties.
“If Russia does not return to full and verifiable compliance with the treaty within this six-month period by verifiably destroying its INF-violating missiles, their launchers, and associated equipment, the treaty will terminate,” Pompeo told reporters.
(Graphic: U.S. nuclear arsenal - tmsnrt.rs/2sYZOpw)
Russian officials accused the United States of inventing a false pretext to exit a treaty that it wants to leave anyway so it can develop new missiles.
Speaking before the announcement, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia regretted the expected U.S. move and accused Washington of failing to negotiate to avoid such an outcome.
“The unwillingness of the Americans to listen to any arguments and to hold substantive negotiations with us shows that the decision to break this treaty was taken in Washington a long time ago,” Peskov told reporters.
The United States alleges a new Russian cruise missile violates the pact. The missile, the Novator 9M729, is known as the SSC-8 by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
The treaty required the parties to destroy ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges of between 500 and 5,500 km (310 to 3,420 miles). Last week, the head of Russia’s military’s missile and artillery forces said the new missile’s maximum range fell short of the treaty’s lower limit.
Russia has rejected the U.S. demand to destroy the new missile.
NATO “does not have any intention to deploy new land-based nuclear weapons to Europe,” Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told Reuters on Friday, saying the Western security alliance had intelligence from the United States and other allies confirming that Russia had violated the treaty.
“We don’t have to mirror what Russia does. But at the same time we have to make sure that we maintain credible and effective deterrence,” he said, without giving specifics on military options NATO is considering.
France and Germany both emphasized the importance of using the six-month window to keep talking.
Formal U.S. withdrawal could give the Pentagon new options to counter Chinese missile advances but experts warn the ensuing arms race could greatly escalate tensions in the Asia-Pacific.
The United States will notify Russia on Saturday of its plan to pull out in six months, a senior U.S. official said, describing this as “one final chance” to comply with the agreement but saying Washington doubted Moscow would do so.
He said the administration is weighing whether to extend the “New Start” arms control treaty, which went into effect in 2011 and required both nations to cut deployed strategic nuclear warheads to no more than 1,550, the lowest level in decades.
That treaty, which also limits deployed land- and submarine-based missiles and nuclear-capable bombers, expires in February 2021, can be extended by five years if both sides agree.
Reporting By Makini Brice, Susan Heavey, Steve Holland, Jonathan Landay, Arshad Mohammed and Lesley Wroughton; Additional Reporting by Gabriela Baczynska in BRUSSELS, Andrey Kuzmin and Andrew Osborn in MOSCOW and Gwladys Fouche in OSLO; Writing by Arshad Mohammed; Editing by Bill Trott
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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