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Great Barrier Reef: Coal spillage discovered from ship loader at mining port, Government says
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A Queensland Government investigation has found a large spillage of coal at a mining port in waters near the Great Barrier Reef.
The investigation, which found the spillage from a ship loader at the Port of Hay Point, was launched after complaints that coal and fine black dust were washing up at East Point beach near Mackay.
Coal was also found at Louisa Creek Beach near Hay Point's two export terminals.
Hay Point is the largest coal port alongside the Great Barrier Reef, housing two separate export terminals.
Scientists say coal dust can kill coral and damage the growth of seagrasses.
Environment Minister Steven Miles confirmed to the ABC that he has seen photos and video footage sent in by local people.
"I will seek advice about how this coal could be impacting on local marine life," he said.
"The footage I've seen suggests it's in a pretty solid state and is washing up onto the beach."
Officers from the environment department conducted two inspections of the two bulk coal terminals at Hay Point last month.
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"That investigation has found one larger and one smaller source of coal spillage," Dr Miles said.
"But it's not possible yet to say if [Hay Point] is the source of the coal that has washed up on those beaches."
The ABC understands that during the inspection of Hay Point, departmental officers saw significant spillages of coal from one of the ship loaders at one of the terminals.
Other, smaller spillages were noticed from trestles transporting the coal to the ship loaders at both terminals.
Coal samples found on the beach have now been sent to a laboratory to try to confirm the origin of the coal.
"There are multiple terminals, multiple ships running through those terminals," Dr Miles said.
"So we do need to see this investigation proceed. I am seeking and receiving regular briefings.
"So nobody should doubt that this is being taken very seriously, and when the source is identified then the environment department will take appropriate action."
The Australian Maritime Safety Authority, which has jurisdiction offshore, is also being brought into the investigation.
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Environment Pollution
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Abrolhos Islands attracts Clean Up Australia Day volunteers to try return it to its pristine best
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Abrolhos Islands attracts Clean Up Australia Day volunteers to try return it to its pristine best
At a glance the crystal-clear waters and rugged coral coastlines of the Abrolhos Islands are some of the most pristine in the world, but when you scratch the surface the archipelago is suffering the effects of pollution. The Abrolhos is a chain of 122 individual islands that lie scattered in the Indian Ocean, 80 kilometres off the coast of Geraldton, in Western Australia. Every year, pearl farmer Pia Boschetti takes a group of volunteers to the Pelsaert Island group to collect thousands of pieces of rubbish — wood, glass bottles, and fishing waste in what she has named the Flotsam and Jetsam clean-up. "We have got a pearl farm over here, and as part of having that I wanted to give back," she said. "Flotsam and Jetsam was a really good name for it because they are things that get discarded by boats, fishing gear that has gone astray, bits of wood that are floating around the ocean — anything that washes ashore. "When I was young I always loved walking along the edge of the beach and seeing what you could find, I always wanted to find a message in a bottle.
"Now of course there is so much plastic that washes ashore, so doing the clean-up on Clean Up Australia Day was my way of giving back."
Walking along the bare islands, all you should expect to see is coral-lined shores, some of the 90 species of seabirds, and maybe the occasional crab or seal. But instead, every couple of metres are pieces of plastic made brittle by the sun, bits of rope and shards of glass.
Ms Boschetti said people did not realise what affect their rubbish had on the planet, until they saw it stacked up on the back of a cray-fishing boat. "They think it is really great. We are cleaning up so much and I love it that we are really making a big difference," she said.
"But it is quite sad when you see on a global basis the amount of plastics going into our ocean.
"There are huge orbs floating around in the Pacific Ocean and you hear about yachties who can actually land on these things."
She said the impacts of pollution on the Abrolhos, when compared with the rest of the world, were minimal. "In places like Indonesia, rubbish keeps washing up every day and they can clear probably five times as much as what I am taking home from three days," she said. "We are looking after ourselves here and making sure that, coming from a fishing industry, we want to be sustainable. "There is going to be lost fishing gear, but if you want to eat seafood and if we are going to feed everybody there is going to be a small price to pay. "So it is how we minimise the risk."
This year marks 400 years since Dutchman, Frederick de Houtman, discovered the Abrolhos — 150 years before Captain James Cook set his sights on Botany Bay. Seventeen birds and mammals are likely to disappear in the next 20 years unless Australia improves its protection of threatened species.
Since then, Europeans have battled the treacherous landscape, which has claimed dozens of ships including the Batavia famous for its tragic story of brutal mutiny. Chairman of the Maritime Heritage Association, Howard Gray, is writing a book on Houtman and offered to lend a hand in the weekend clean-up. He said he found many pieces that would have been more than 50 years old. "It is remarkable how long it lasts, particularly glass bottles that will probably be there forever," he said. "Most of the rubbish does seem to be local rather than coming from other places in the world."
Last year, the State Government announced it would create the Abrolhos Islands National Park, which would include $10 million of infrastructure to open the area to more tourism opportunities. Mr Gray said it was all the more important that people took responsibility for their rubbish. "It is 400 years since the islands were first noted by Europeans and since that time we have had Europeans living here on and off since the 1840s," he said.
"There are some really devastating impacts … this recognition that the environment is really so important and keeping it as pristine as we can is part of the islands' survival."
When the rubbish returned to Geraldton, it did not go straight to the tip — instead it was piled on the wharf and hundreds of artists dug through the remains of lost possessions to find the perfect piece. Sea monsters, furniture, paintings and sculptures will be formed out of the debris that would have sat collecting on islands for years to come. Ms Boschetti said it was incredible to see the pieces that had been painstakingly collected and recycled into professional artwork, which will be displayed in her pearl jewellery shop. "We did not know how good it was going to be," she said. "It has kind of gotten bigger than what I imagined it would to begin with; we did not expect to be doing it every year.
"We did miss one year and the public got really cranky about it."
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Environment Pollution
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The Egyptian army has intensified the military exercises and drills recently as a “deterrent message” to some regional powers
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The Egyptian army has intensified the military exercises and drills recently as a “deterrent message” to some regional powers, and an assurance of the armed forces’ readiness against any threats, according to political and military experts. “The four strategic directions of Egypt, the Mediterranean at north, Sinai at east, Libya at west and the headwaters of the Nile at south, made the joint exercises very important now,” said Samir Farag, an Egyptian military expert. “The conflicts over the natural gas in the eastern Mediterranean need a military force to maintain the sea wealth,” Farag, also former manager of the defense ministry’s moral department, told Xinhua. From November until now, the army has conducted nine joint drills according to official statistics posted by the armed forces on its Facebook page. Those training activities included seven in the Egyptian regional water with the participation of forces from France, Cyprus, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia, Britain, Jordan and Sudan. Some countries like Greece, France, the UAE and Bahrain have participated in more than one drill, while the United States, Italy and Germany have taken part as observers. Egypt has also taken part in military joint maneuvers outside its territorial borders like the air forces exercise in Sudan and the maritime activities in Russia since November. The diversity of the activities promotes the experience of the armed forces because each country has different fighting methods and techniques, Farag explained. According to Gamal Mazloum, a retired army general, Egypt conducts a yearly average of 40 joint exercises. The armed forces said that the trainings come in light of the growing partnership and military cooperation between the Egyptian army and friendly countries. The participating forces implement several joint naval and air combat tasks to enhance the skills of commanders and officers in managing joint operations, the statement said. Mazloum said that the drills help exchange expertise to reach higher levels of efficiency and readiness to implement joint tasks under different circumstances, especially amid the rapid regional and international changes. He added that some naval maneuvers designed to secure maritime traffic in the Red Sea included air defense operations to intercept potential maritime assaults. The southern Red Sea falls directly within Egypt’s regional security sphere and any tensions there will affect maritime activity off Egypt’s Red Sea coast and the security of ships crossing the Suez Canal, he explained. Meanwhile, Mokhtar Gobashy, vice chairman of the Cairo-based Arab center for political studies, said that Egypt is a regional pivotal country that is located in inflammable surroundings and has to be fully prepared at all fronts. “The Libyan crisis hasn’t been resolved yet. The situation in the Eastern Mediterranean is still tense, and no settlement has been reached for the controversial Ethiopian dam,” Gobashy explained. “Advance in the international arms technologies and developments left Egypt with no choice other than diversifying its military activities and sources,” he said, adding that the modern concept of national security must study threats emanating from immediate neighbors to further ones.
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Military Exercise
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JMBG protests
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The JMBG protests were demonstrations in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina between June–July 2013. The acronym JMBG stands for Jedinstveni matični broj građana (English: Unique Master Citizen Number), the identification number granted to citizens. Due to political bickering along ethnic lines, the assignment of JMBG was allowed to expire in February 2013 by the politicians representing the ethnic groups that constitute Bosnia. As a result, children born after February were not assigned a JMBG number and, therefore, could not obtain medical cards or passports. The protests have been called Bebolucija (English: the Baby Revolution) and the JMBG protests. In May 2011, the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina declared the law on Unique Master Citizen Numbers (JMBG), which is needed to request passports and other administrative documents, was unconstitutional, due to the fact that one of its articles did not contain the new names of a handful of municipalities in the Serb entity, Republika Srpska. [1]
The Serbs perhaps desire to have the Serb-majority Republika Srpska entity half of the country secede from Bosnia and become its own country. [2]
The Court ordered the Bosnian Parliament to amend the law within six months. But as the six-month period elapsed and no decision was reached by parliament members, the Court suspended the law altogether in January 2013. As a result of the blocked legislation, babies born after February 2013 did not have passports or health insurance because those demand a personal ID number. [2]
The protests started on 5 June 2013 when a group of citizens gathered in front of the Parliament building to protest. As the protest grew, thousands more arrived, determined to stay until the issue was resolved. [2] By 11 June, an estimated 10,000 protesters were present around parliament. [3]
Continuing protests urged lawmakers to pass a law to prevent such situations in the future by passing legislation to put in place a new identification system. The government began issuing temporary identification documents, but protesters demanded a more permanent solution. [2]
Young mothers with babies without personal documents pushed their carriages between protesters and special police forces, while Sarajevo cabdrivers blocked streets around the building. [2]
At the midst of the protests, on 16 June 2013, three-month old Berina Hamidović died as a result of being denied entry into neighboring Serbia for emergency medical care because the infant couldn't get a passport due to not being granted an identification number. [4] Protesters held a candle-lit vigil outside parliament to mourn her death and demand change. [5] Protesters set the deadline of 30 June 2013 for a new law. Amnesty International released a statement saying the "delay in adopting a new law in Bosnia and Herzegovina, assigning personal identification numbers to the new born citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina constitutes an illegal attack on the country's citizens' basic human rights. "[4]
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Protest_Online Condemnation
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Death toll in Brazil dam collapse rises to 40, many feared buried in mud
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The death toll from the collapse of a dam holding back mine waste in southeastern Brazil rose to 40 on Saturday as searchers flying in helicopters and rescuers labouring in deep mud uncovered more bodies. AP | Brumadinho (Brazil) | January 27, 2019 10:13 am People from the community of Alfredo Torres look at the mud-hit area a day after the collapse of a dam at an iron-ore mine belonging to Brazil's giant mining company Vale near the town of Brumadinho in the state of Minas Gerias in southeastern Brazil, on January 26, 2019. (Photo by Mauro Pimentel / AFP) The death toll from the collapse of a dam holding back mine waste in southeastern Brazil rose to 40 on Saturday as searchers flying in helicopters and rescuers labouring in deep mud uncovered more bodies. An estimated 300 people were still missing and authorities expected the death toll to increase during a search made more challenging by intermittent rains. Scores of families in the city desperately awaited word on their loved ones, and Romeu Zema, governor of Minas Gerais state, promised that those responsible “would be punished”. Employees of the mining complex owned and operated by Brazilian mining company Vale were eating lunch Friday afternoon when the dam gave way, unleashing a sea of reddish-brown mud that knocked over and buried several structures of the company and surrounding areas. The level of devastation quickly led President Jair Bolsonaro and other officials to describe it as a “tragedy”. The flow of waste reached the nearby community of Vila Ferteco and an occupied Vale administrative office. On Saturday, rooftops poked above an extensive field of the mud, which also cut off roads. After the dam collapse, some were evacuated from Brumadinho. Other residents of the affected areas barely escaped with their lives. “I saw all the mud coming down the hill, snapping the trees as it descended. It was a tremendous noise,” said a tearful Simone Pedrosa, from the neighbourhood of Parque Cachoeira, about 8 kilometres from where the dam collapsed. Pedrosa, 45, and her parents dashed to their car and drove to the highest point in the neighbourhood. “If we had gone down the other direction, we would have died,” Pedrosa said, adding that she had a feeling “that this was the end of my life”. “I cannot get that noise out of my head,” she said. “It’s a trauma … I’ll never forget.” In addition to the 40 bodies recovered as of Saturday afternoon, 23 people were hospitalised, said authorities with the Minas Gerais fire department. There had been some signs of hope earlier Saturday when authorities found 43 more people alive. Company officials also had said that 100 workers were accounted for. But the company said in a statement Saturday afternoon that more than 200 workers were still missing, while fire officials at one point estimated the total number at close to 300. Vale CEO Fabio Schvartsman said he did not know what caused the collapse. About 300 employees were working when it happened. Emergency workers suspended their search shortly after nightfall. They planned to resume at first light Sunday morning. For many, hope was fading to anguish. “I don’t think he is alive,” said Joao Bosco, speaking of his cousin, Jorge Luis Ferreira, who worked for Vale. “Right now I can only hope for a miracle of God.” Vanilza Sueli Oliveira described the wait for news of her nephew as “distressing, maddening.” “Time is passing,” she said. “It’s been 24 hours already. … I just don’t want to think that he is under the mud.” The rivers of mining waste also raised fears of widespread contamination. According to Vale’s website, the waste, often called tailings, is composed mostly of sand and is non-toxic. However, a UN report found that the waste from a similar disaster in 2015 “contained high levels of toxic heavy metals”. On Friday, Minas Gerais state court blocked USD 260 million from Vale for state emergency services and told the company to present a report about how they would help victims. On Saturday, the state’s justice ministry ordered an additional USD 1.3 billion blocked. Brazil’s Attorney General, Raquel Dodge, promised to investigate, saying “someone is definitely at fault”. Dodge noted there are 600 mines in the state of Minas Gerais alone that are classified as being at risk of rupture. Another dam administered by Vale and Australian mining company BHP Billiton collapsed in 2015 in the city of Mariana in Minas Gerais state, resulting in 19 deaths and forcing hundreds from their homes. Considered the worst environmental disaster in Brazilian history, it left 250,000 people without drinking water and killed thousands of fish. An estimated 60 million cubic metres of waste flooded rivers and eventually flowed into the Atlantic Ocean. Schvartsman said what happened Friday was “a human tragedy much larger than the tragedy of Mariana, but probably the environmental damage will be less”. Sueli de Oliveira Costa, who hadn’t heard from her husband since Friday, had harsh words for the mining company. “Vale destroyed Mariana and now they’ve destroyed Brumadinho,” she said. Daily Folha de S.Paulo reported Saturday that the dam’s mining complex was issued an expedited license to expand in December due to “decreased risk”. Preservation groups in the area alleged that the approval was unlawful. On Twitter, President Bolsonaro said his government would do everything it could to “prevent more tragedies” like Mariana and now Brumadinho. The far-right leader campaigned on promises to jump-start Brazil’s economy, in part by deregulating mining and other industries. Environmental groups and activists said the latest spill underscored a lack of regulation, and many promised to fight any further deregulation by Bolsonaro in Latin America’s largest nation. “History repeats itself,” tweeted Marina Silva, a former environmental minister and three-time presidential candidate. “It’s unacceptable that government and mining companies haven’t learned anything.
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Mine Collapses
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1932 European Rowing Championships
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The European Rowing Championships is an international Rowing regatta organised by FISA (the International Rowing Federation) for European rowing nations, plus Israel which, though not a member of the European federation is treated as a European nation for competition purposes. [1]
The championships date back to 1893, the year after FISA was founded. Over time, the competition grew in status and as it was not restricted to European countries, became regarded as the quasi-world championships. The World Rowing Championships were commenced in 1962 and the last European Championships were held in 1973 as from 1974, the World Championships became an annual event. The European Championships were re-introduced in 2007 but with a narrower focus on Europe. The first regatta held as a European Rowing Championships was held in 1893 and these continued annually until 1913; the 1914 to 1919 events did not occur due to World War I. The annual schedule was next interrupted in 1928 when the Amsterdam Olympics were regarded as a replacement event; the 1920 Antwerp Olympics or the 1924 Paris Olympics had previously not been a reason for skipping the European Championships. The next time the Olympics were held in Europe, i.e. the 1936 Berlin Olympics, again saw the European Championships skipped. World War II saw the 1939 to 1946 regattas cancelled. The next European event was held in 1947, with subsequent years skipped due to Europe-based Olympics in 1948 (London) and 1952 (Helsinki). The 1951 European Rowing Championships is notable as the first test event for international women's rowing organised by the International Rowing Federation (FISA). Regattas continued under that name until 1973. From 1962, the event was replaced (one year in four) by the World Rowing Championships, which then became an annual event from 1974. Women's events were introduced in 1954, the first international races for women,[2][3] but even then men's and women's events were held on different days, and in some years at different venues. On 27 May 2006 the FISA members voted to re-introduce a separate European Rowing Championships in its own right. In the first regatta there were only three events (men's single, coxed four and eight) and only ten entries. Races were 3,000 m long, except for singles – which were only 2,000 m. Coxed pair was first raced in the following year and double scull was added in 1898. Coxless pair was added in 1924 and coxless four was added the year after. [4] The next change after that was the inclusion of women's rowing. In 2007, when the European Rowing Championship was re-introduced, there were 14 Olympic boat classes racing over 2,000m. Historically the leading European nations, notably Great Britain and Germany, had taken a haphazard approach to attending the championships. Following the 2012 Summer Olympics, however, both fully committed to the event going forward, and from that date, the championships have progressed rapidly to represent one of the key events in world rowing; given the historic and modern strength of European rowing, they rank behind only the Olympic Games, World Championships and World Cup Series. In Olympic years, when World Championships are not held, they provide a key test ahead of the Olympic regatta, in addition to a significant competitive opportunity in their own right. In 2015, European Rowing announced that the 2018 edition of the championships would form part of the first European Championships, a co-branded multi-sport event organised by, and consisting of the European championships of, the individual European sports federations. The first regatta held as a European Rowing Championships was held in 1893. [5][6][7][8] [a]
Total of medals from 1893 to 2020. Alsace-Lorraine won one gold, three silvers and nine bronzes which are added to Germany's total medals. [citation needed]
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Sports Competition
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Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 protests
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The Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 protests were anti-government protests that swept Iran in January 2020 after it was revealed that Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 was shot down by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of Iran while the Iranian government covered it up. On 8 January 2020, the Boeing 737-800 operating the route was shot down shortly after takeoff from Tehran Imam Khomeini International Airport;[1][2][3] all 176 passengers and crew were killed. [4] Initially, Iranian aviation authorities said that the plane crashed due to a technical error, while Ukrainian authorities, after initially deferring to Iran's explanation, said a shoot-down of the flight was one of their main working theories. Investigation by western intelligence agencies later revealed the aircraft had been shot down by a Tor-M1 surface-to-air missile launched by Iran. Three days later, on 11 January, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said they had shot down the aircraft after mistaking it for a cruise missile. [5] Soon after, vigils in Iran, planned to pay respect to the victims, turned into protests, first at universities in Tehran and then across other Iran cities. [6] Protests began at the Amirkabir University of Technology, with Iranians chanting "Death to the dictator," calling for Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei to leave the country. [7]
Protesters in Iran refused to walk on Israeli and American flags which had been painted on the road. [8][6] Pictures of Soleimani were torn down across Iran and protesters chanted, "Our enemy is right here; They lie to us [when they say] that it's America. "[9]
Since April 2018, protests against the current government of the Islamic Republic have been constant. Originally against government corruption and economic deficiency, the protests quickly grew as fuel prices increased by 200% in Iran and the aim of the protests broadened into calling for the overthrow of the current Iranian government. According to The New Yorker, Iranians are extremely nationalistic of their nation’s history before the rise of Islam and the 1979 Revolution. The International crisis group claims the Islamic Republic’s shoot down of the Ukrainian flight carrying Iranians enraged the nation’s nationalist population resulting in the widespread protest. [6] The frequency of protests in Iran has rapidly increased in recent years due to government mismanagement and corruption. Meanwhile the Iranian government's responses to protest have become considerably more violent. [6]
Iran has experienced many protests including the 2016 Cyrus the Great Revolt, 2017–2018 Iranian protests, 2018–2019 Iranian general strikes and protests, and 2019–2020 Iranian protests. Students at the Amirkabir University of Technology in Tehran where students issued a manifesto in the name of "the children of Iran" against the Iranian regime. Videos of the protest revealed police beatings, gunshots, blood over the floors, and the use of tear gas. The full extent to which the government repressed the protests are largely unknown due to censorship of reporting in Iran. Days of protests were followed by heavy police presence across Iran resulting in little signs of opposition. [10]
Discontent has been growing in Iran with citizens increasingly displaying frustrations years prior to the protest. When regime representatives chant "Death to America" and "Death to Israel" Iranians have chanted "Death to Russia" and "Death to China" as a sign that they don't agree with the Islamic’s republic's political views. [8] On 11 January 2020, after Iranian authorities had stated that Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 had been shot down by Iranian military forces, killing all 176 passengers and flight personnel,[11] two thousand people protested in Tehran, with chants including "Death to the dictator". Police used tear gas on the protestors. [12] Officials reported that 82 Iranians among several other Iranians with dual citizenship were among the victims of the crash. [13] Two hundred people protested in front of Amirkabir University of Technology. [14] The protestors called for the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei to resign, chanted "Death to the liars" and called "for the IRGC to leave the country". [15] Protests also took place at the Sharif University of Technology and in Amol, Isfahan, Rasht, Sari, and Hamedan. Protesters chanted against the Revolutionary Guards, the Supreme Leader, and the entire political system of the Islamic Republic. [16]
On 12 January, similar protests took place around Iran. In the morning, students gathered at the dormitories of the University of Tehran and chanted against the Supreme Leader. [17] There were around 3,000 participants in the main demonstration in Tehran according to the Iranian Labour News Agency. [12] In online social media videos posted in the evening of a location near Azadi Square in Tehran, there were sounds of gunshots, pools of blood on the ground, wounded people being carried and security personnel with rifles. Hossein Rahimi of the Tehran police stated the following day that police had "been given orders to show restraint" and didn't shoot during the protests. [18] The Iranian daily Etemad wrote "Apologise and resign" in a banner headline. [12] The Iranian president described the missile attack as an unforgivable error. [19]
Protests continued in Tehran on 13 January, including 40 students at a Tehran university who chanted "They killed our elites and replaced them with clerics", in reference to the Iranian students who had died on flight UA752. [20]
In the video surfacing on the internet, many Tehran university students openly refused to walk over the American and Israeli flags which was the symbol of the country’s foreign policy of anti-Americanism and anti-Zionism since the inception of the Islamic Republic. [21][8] The flags had been painted on the road so that protesters would walk over them as they marched. [22]
Several Iranian celebrities showed support of the protests by canceling planned events. [23][24]
On 14 January, demonstrations took place in Iran for the fourth consecutive day. Students at various universities in Tehran, and other Iranian cities continued protesting against the regime and Ali Khamenei. At Amirkabir University of Technology, protesters and the Basij clashed violently. Students at the University of Tehran chanted "We will die to reclaim Iran" and "Death to the concept of a [Supreme Leader]". [25]
On 15 January, students in Isfahan and other Iranian cities held their fifth day of protests, after the government of Ayatollah Khamenei admitted downing the Ukrainian passenger plane. Students held banners showing 1500+176 meaning 176 innocent passengers was added to the 1500 killed in November uprising. [26]
On 16 January, protesters planned to head to the IRIB headquarters, however, due to a high persistence of the anti-riot police in the entire Valiasr Street which protesters planned to use as their main way to the headquarters, the demonstrations didn't take place. There was also a high persistence of police in several key points of the capital city of Tehran, to prevent any gatherings to form due to the funerals that took place for those dead in the UA752 flight, nevertheless, many mourners attended the funerals. [27]
Protesters frequently chanted "The Supreme Leader is a murderer.
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Protest_Online Condemnation
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Driver who fled Trenton crash before deputy’s death charged
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TRENTON, Maine (WABI) - A man involved in a crash in Trenton that lead to the death of Hancock County Sheriff’s Deputy Luke Gross is facing charges. State police say 20-year-old Thorin Smith of Bar Harbor is charged with leaving the scene of an accident, illegal use of drug paraphernalia and illegal possession of alcohol by a minor. Deputy Gross responded to the crash off Route 3 about 4:30 a.m. Thursday. We’re told Smith had already driven off by the time Gross arrived. Gross started gathering crash debris on the side of the road when he was hit by a pickup truck from behind and killed. Authorities say Gross had parked his cruiser in the westbound breakdown lane with his emergency lights activated. He was also wearing a high visibility traffic vest. About 9 a.m. Thursday, State Police found Smith not far from the crash site, sleeping in his car.
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Road Crash
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Karsten Warholm sets Tokyo on fire with world record
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Karsten Warholm of Norway celebrates next to the scoreboard showing his world record as he wins the gold medal in the final of the men's 400-meter hurdles at the 2020 Summer Olympics. - AP He had broken Kevin Young's 29-year-old world record last month and everybody expected Karsten Warholm to repeat it at the Tokyo Olympics.
But none was ready for such an awesome performance. The Norwegian 400m hurdler, who had clocked 46.70s last month, became the first man to go under 46s for a sparkling gold which came in 45.96s. That was 0.76s better than his old record!
Incidentally, a third of the field in the 400m flat heats clocked 46s or more in Tokyo.
Apart from a brief phase early on the home straight where he came under a bit of pressure from American Rai Benjamin, son of former West Indian fast bowler Winston Benjamin, it was all Warholm and he produced a near-perfect show. Incidentally, Warholm, the 2013 octathlon champion at the under-18 Worlds, was a multi-eventer and was doing the decathlon till 2015 before moving to the hurdles seriously.
The final was such a breathtaking affair and while Benjamin also went below the previous WR with his 46.17s for silver, four others bettered national records.
Meanwhile Sweden's Armand Duplantis attempted to raise his World record by a centimetre to 6.19m, after taking gold with 6.02m, but narrowly missed it. American Chris Nilsen (5.97m) and Rio Olympic champion Thiago Braz (5.87m) took silver and bronze.
And then, Poland's Anita Wlodarczyk made history while winning the hammer throw (78.48m), becoming the first woman to win three Olympic golds in the same discipline, a feat that eluded Jamaican sprinter Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Croatian discus thrower Sandra Perkovic earlier.
Jamaican Elaine Thompson-Herah, the fastest woman in Tokyo, completed the double-double by taking the 200m gold in 21.53s to repeat her 100-200 gold show in Rio. And American Athing Mu and Britain's Keely Hodgkinson, both juniors, made it an impressive 1-2 in the women's 800m while German Malaika Mihambo pipped American Brittney Reese with a last-round 7m for the women's long jump title.
But there was nothing to celebrate for India. A day after discus thrower Kamalpreet sent the country on a bit of a high, Indians were back on familiar territory at the Olympics with discus thrower Annu Rani and shot putter Tajinderpal Singh Toor posting poor marks in the qualification round and crashing out.
Annu, the 2019 Worlds finalist and a consistent 60m-plus thrower, was last overall with just 54.04m while Toor, who produced a national record (21.49m) recently, disappointed with 19.99m, his lone legal effort and finished 13th in his group and 24th overall. Only 12 make the final in throws.
The focus now shifts to Neeraj Chopra, the Asian Games and Commonwealth Games champion, who will be in action in the qualification round on Wednesday morning.
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Break historical records
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Volcanoes of the world
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Ever since our distant ancestors roamed the Earth, volcanoes have been feared for death and destruction they bring, wreaking havoc on a local, regional and occasionally global scale. Major number of volcanoes are located in developing countries and are poorly studied. But now volcanologists, from around the world are keeping vigil on world's active volcanoes, aiming reducing disasters in populous world. Around 50 volcanoes erupt every year - during 2021, January to June, 12 volcanoes have erupted in seven countries – Indonesia four, US three, and one each in Iceland, Russia, France, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica, in addition, in Barren Island - uninhabited, volcano, Andaman Sea, India small ash emissions were seen in satellite images in February 2021; some of which like Mediterranean island of Stromboli - are constantly active, while others like Etna and Vesuvius in Italy or Krafla & Hekla in Iceland may not have erupted for years or decades. The most concerning volcanoes are those who have not erupted for century or more like Hood, Shanta in western US along with hundreds of dormant volcanoes in Southeast Asia - India has such few, Central, South America and around Pacific Rim. It is likely that next big eruption will occur at a volcano which has demonstrated no activity during historic times. These gigantic explosive eruptions eject thousands of cubic kilometres of debris into the atmosphere devastating the surrounding regions and dramatically modifying global climate. At TOBA, Indonesia, this type of eruption has occurred about 74,000 years ago. Analysis of frequencies of such eruptions suggest that they occur, on an average, twice every one lakh years, so there should be another along anytime soon. Volcanoes are not randomly distributed but occur mainly along well-defined chains, hundreds to thousands of kilometres long. They exist in chains around the Pacific Ocean, in the Caribbean, through Europe's Mediterranean countries and along the eastern half of the African continent. Beneath the oceans, volcanic ridges rundown the middle of the Atlantic, through the Indian Ocean and around the rim of Antarctica. The whole planet has a network of volcanoes. The hard crust of Earth's surface layer from about 100 km thick, is composed of a set of large and small plates. These lithosphere-rigid outer layer of Earth, plates move across the Earth's surface, interact along their boundaries, diverging, converging or slipping past each other. These plate boundaries are the sites of volcanic activity. Looking at major volcanic eruptions, Asia teems with the most explosive and dangerous volcanoes. In Indonesia - having highest concentration, during 1815, eruption of Tambora volcano, the biggest eruption since ice age, resulting in 12,000 deathss from direct effect and 80,000 starved or succumbed to diseases as crops died and water was contaminated. In Europe, concentration of biggest and deadliest volcanoes is there in Italy. In Vesuvius volcano,the most recent eruption was in 79 CE. Flourishing towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum were buried from the sight by pyroclastic flows. Stromboli is one of the most active volcanoes on Earth. It has been active for last 2000 years and its lava is visible from long distances at night, it is known as the 'Lighthouse of Mediterranean'. In 1912, Novarupta volcano (considered extinct) Alaska, erupted - a black cloud settled over 10,000 sq. km, removing all traces of sunlight for three days. Noxious gases filled the atmosphere, is reported to be the largest eruption of last century. Mt. St. Helens, US, which has been quiet for 100 years became active in 1980. A landslide exposed pressurized magma within volcano, triggering a massive blast and pyroclastic flows that devastated 600 sq. km including prime Douglas Fir forest. In 1985, Ruiz volcano, Colombia erupted and pyroclastic flows were spewed over the ice cap, they were hotter than 900 degrees Celsius, rapidly melting the ice. A wave of 40 m high mudflow swept through the town of Armero killing over 35,000 people. In the Caribbean, the worst volcanic disaster, St Pierre town of Martinique island - the Paris of West Indies, was wiped out from the face of the Earth within 2-3 minutes. The Mt Pelee volcano - the bald mountain erupted in 1902, gigantic volcanic explosion like a blast from shotgun, driven by volcanic gases, glowing clouds of molten fragments and superheated steam flowed down the flanks of Pelee, battering town by hurricane force and flattening buildings in seconds, killing 29,000 people. Volcanoes are being monitored and the first volcano observatory was established on the slope of Vesuvius volcano in 1847. As such volcanologists are continuously monitoring more than 600 world's active also most dangerous volcanoes and are saksham enough to predict eruption with remarkable precision, accordingly contingency plan like evacuation and other measures are activated so as to minimize human and other impending losses. Mostly known for destruction and deaths, volcanoes accrue some benefits as well in many parts of the world the solidified lavas are used for building purposes. Volcanoes are also an immense source of cheap power. In Iceland volcanically-derived hydrothermal power heats the glass houses which keep the population in fresh fruits and vegetables. Volcanic scenery is often spectacular and attract tourists in some parts of the world. The volcanoes of Iceland, Hawaii, New Zealand and Canary Islands of Spain accrue major economic benefits to their regions through attraction of large number of tourists. (The author is a retired IFS officer)
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Volcano Eruption
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See 2021’s Only Total Solar Eclipse. It’s Over The World’s Newest Ocean
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Eclipse-watching is on the minds of many given June 10’s “ring of fire” annual solar eclipse. The most spectacular eclipses are total solar eclipses and the entire decade of the 2020s will have only six. The next one is on December 4, 2021 and there’s only one place in the world where you’ll be in the path of totality: Antarctica, over the world’s newly recognized Southern Ocean. A total solar eclipse over water and mountains On 2021’s World Ocean Day, June 8, National Geographic announced that the earth now has five oceans. The Arctic, Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans are now officially joined by the Southern Ocean. The new name is because the Southern Ocean’s water are geographically and ecologically different from the southern parts of the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans. The Southern Ocean includes the waters around Antarctica to a latitude of 60 degrees south. While the other four oceans are defined by the land that surrounds them, the Southern Ocean is defined by a current—the Antarctic Circumpolar Current. Boating by icebergs, Yalour Islands, Antarctica Seth Sykora-Bodie, a National Geographic Explorer and marine scientist at the National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration, explained it like this to National Geographic: “Anyone who has been there will struggle to explain what's so mesmerizing about it, but they'll all agree that the glaciers are bluer, the air colder, the mountains more intimidating, and the landscapes more captivating than anywhere else you can go.” The most mesmerizing time to see the Southern Ocean will be during the next total solar eclipse. Total solar eclipses are rare—there are only six for the whole decade of the 2020s—and rarer still at the bottom of the planet. The first time humans were known to witness one in Antarctica was November 23, 2003. Iceberg floats in Andord Bay on Graham Land, Antarctic in November The next Antarctic total solar eclipse will be December 4, 2021. The world’s next one after that will be in East Timor, Indonesia on April 20, 2023. Unless you’re flying above it or in Antarctica doing scientific research, the only way to see the eclipse over the Southern Ocean is aboard an Antarctic cruise. The eclipse will be best seen between the South Orkney Islands and South Georgia, northeast of the Antarctic continent and southeast of the Falkland/Malvinas Islands. A group of penguins standing on an icy beach, ship in the water in the background, Antarctica There will be less than two minutes of totality during this eclipse. It will be unusual not only because of the spectacular Southern Ocean location, but because the eclipse will move in the opposite direction—from east to west—than a normal eclipse. Eclipses outside the Earth’s polar regions move from west to east. The eclipse will also be low on the horizon and therefore possibly framed by dramatic icebergs, assuming there’s not a lot of cloud cover blocking the view. PONANT's "The Bougainville". (Photo by LOU BENOIST/AFP via Getty Images) Several cruise lines are offering eclipse cruises, including Abercrombie & Kent, Atlas Ocean Voyages, Hurtigruten, Intrepid Travel, Lindblad, Pura Aventura, PONANT, and Quark Expeditions. The Covid pandemic means they’re not all sold out yet. PONANT is a good choice; their eclipse cruise will be aboard the new hybrid electric vessel, Le Commandant-Charcot. PONANT is known for its luxurious small ships and exceptional land excursions, and undertakes environmental and social impact studies when it crafts new itineraries. The goal is involving local communities and Indigenous Peoples and protecting the natural environment and cultural heritage of the destinations it visits. Cruise Industry News reported that PONANT was named 2020’s most environmentally-friendly cruise line. PONANT’s eclipse cruise is 15 days and leaves from Ushuaia, the capital of Argentina’s Tierra del Fuego. Weather-permitting, the cruise plans to allow its passengers to watch the eclipse on top of the thick Weddell Sea ice pack. Another option is to charter a ship. Naia is a 12-passenger yacht by EYOS Expeditions, the world’s leader in private yacht charters. The yacht will be in the Southern Ocean for the 2021-22 season. I love to encourage travel that’s culturally, economically, and environmentally sustainable. Whether I’m writing about a once-in-a-lifetime trip or the restaurant down the... Read More I love to encourage travel that’s culturally, economically, and environmentally sustainable. Whether I’m writing about a once-in-a-lifetime trip or the restaurant down the
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New wonders in nature
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Gulf of Sidra incident (1981) crash
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In the first Gulf of Sidra incident, 19 August 1981, two Russian-made[1][2] Libyan Su-22 Fitters fired upon and were subsequently shot down by two U.S. F-14 Tomcats off the Libyan coast. Libya had claimed that the entire Gulf was their territory, at 32° 30' N, with an exclusive 62 nautical miles (115 km; 71 mi) fishing zone, which Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi asserted as "The Line of Death" in 1973. [3] Two further incidents occurred in the area in 1986 and in 1989. In 1973, Libya claimed the Gulf of Sidra as a closed bay and part of its territorial waters. [4][5][6] This prompted the United States to conduct Freedom of Navigation (FON) operations in the area since the claim did not meet the criteria established by international law. [7][8] Libya often confronted U.S. forces in and near the gulf, and on two occasions its fighter jets opened fire on U.S. reconnaissance flights off the Libyan coast; once in early 1973[5][9][10][11][12] and again in late 1980. [4][9][13][14] FON operations intensified when Ronald Reagan came to office. In August 1981, Reagan authorized a large naval force led by a pair of aircraft carriers, USS Forrestal and USS Nimitz, to deploy to the disputed area. [15] The two carriers had embarked a total of four interceptor squadrons: VF-74 "Be-Devilers" and VMFA-115 "Silver Eagles", flying F-4 Phantoms from Forrestal, and VF-41 "Black Aces" and VF-84 "Jolly Rogers", flying F-14 Tomcats from Nimitz. The Libyan Air Force responded by deploying a high number of interceptors and fighter-bombers. Early on the morning of 18 August, when the U.S. exercise began, at least three MiG-25 'Foxbats' approached the U.S. carrier groups, but were escorted away by American interceptors. The Libyans tried to establish the exact location of the U.S. naval force. Thirty-five pairs of MiG-23 'Floggers', MiG-25s, Sukhoi Su-20 'Fitter-Cs', Su-22M 'Fitter-Js' and Mirage F1s flew into the area, and were soon intercepted by seven pairs of F-14s and F-4s. [16][17] U.S. Naval Intelligence later assessed that a MiG-25 may have fired a missile from 18 miles away at U.S. fighter aircraft that day. [18]
On the morning of 19 August, after having diverted a number of Libyan "mock" attacks on the battle group the previous day, two F-14s from VF-41 "Black Aces",[19] Fast Eagle 102 (CDR Henry 'Hank' Kleemann/LT David 'DJ' Venlet) (flying BuNo 160403)[20] and Fast Eagle 107 (LT Lawrence 'Music' Muczynski/LTJG James 'Luca'[21] Anderson) (in BuNo 160390),[20] were flying combat air patrol (CAP), ostensibly to cover aircraft engaged in a missile exercise. [22] However, U.S. Navy Commander Thompson S. Sanders wrote in Air & Space/Smithsonian that his S-3A Viking's mission was the real precursor to this incident. Sanders was ordered to fly his Viking in a racetrack orbit inside Gaddafi's claimed zone but outside the internationally recognized 12-mile territorial water limit to try to provoke the Libyans to react. An E-2C Hawkeye alerted Sanders that two Sukhoi Su-22 fighters had taken off from Ghurdabiyah Air Base near the city of Sirte. [23][24]
The Hawkeye directed the F-14s to intercept while Sanders dove to an altitude of 500 feet and flew north to evade the Libyan aircraft, an experience Sanders found stressful because the S-3A was not equipped with a threat warning receiver, nor with any countermeasures, a deficiency later remedied on the S-3B. [25]
The two F-14s set up for an intercept as the contacts headed north towards them. [23][26] Only a few seconds before the crossing, at an estimated distance of 300 m, one of the Libyans fired an AA-2 "Atoll" at one of the F-14s, which missed. [23][26] Then the two Su-22s split as they flew past the Americans, the leader turning to the northwest and the wingman turning southeast in the direction of the Libyan coast. [22][23][27] The Tomcats evaded the missile and were cleared to return fire by their rules of engagement, which mandated self-defense on the initiation of hostile action. [23][28] The Tomcats turned hard port and came behind the Libyan jets. [23] The Americans fired AIM-9L Sidewinders; the first kill is credited to Fast Eagle 102, the second to Fast Eagle 107. [23][29] Both Libyan pilots ejected. Prior to the ejections, a U.S. electronic surveillance plane monitoring the event recorded the lead Libyan pilot report to his ground controller that he had fired a missile at one of the U.S. fighters and gave no indication that the missile shot was unintended. [30][31] The official U.S. Navy report states that both Libyan pilots ejected and were safely recovered, but in the official audio recording of the incident taken from USS Biddle, one of the F-14 pilots states that he saw a Libyan pilot eject, but his parachute failed to open. [32]
Less than an hour later, while the Libyans were conducting a search-and-rescue operation of their downed pilots, two MiG-25s entered the airspace over the Gulf, headed towards the U.S. carriers at Mach 1.5 and conducted a mock attack in the direction of USS Nimitz. [33] Two VF-41 Tomcats headed towards the Libyans, which then turned around. The Tomcats turned home, but had to turn around again when the Libyans headed towards the U.S. carriers once more. [33] After being tracked by the F-14s' radars, the MiGs finally headed home. One more Libyan formation ventured out into the Gulf towards the U.S. forces later that day. [34]
Fast Eagle 102 (BuNo 160403) is now on display at the Commemorative Air Force Museum in Midland, Texas. The restored F-14 was unveiled in a ceremony on August 26, 2016. Vice Admiral Dave Venlet cut the first tape. Fast Eagle 107 (BuNo 160390) was destroyed in an accident on 25 October 1994.
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Air crash
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2018 U.S. Air National Guard C-130 crash
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On May 2, 2018, a Lockheed WC-130H transport aircraft of the Puerto Rico Air National Guard crashed in the US state of Georgia, shortly after departing from Savannah Air National Guard Base (which is located at Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport). [2][3] The aircraft crashed on Georgia State Route 21 at 11:26 local time. [2][3] All nine airmen (five crewmen and four passengers) were killed in the accident. [1][4] All nine were members of the Puerto Rico Air National Guard. [5]
The aircraft was a Lockheed C-130H Hercules more than fifty years old, with tail number 65-0968 and serial number 4110, that had been converted to a WC-130H for weather reconnaissance operations. It was assigned to the United States Air National Guard and operated by the 156th Airlift Wing of the Puerto Rico Air National Guard. [6]
The aircraft was being flown to retirement at the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group, the US military aircraft storage facility at Davis–Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona. [1] The aircraft was in its initial climb out of Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport, when it went into a left bank before losing altitude and crashing. [7][8] Eyewitnesses have reported that the aircraft appeared unstable after takeoff, and that one engine was shut down during the flight. [8] The aircraft impacted on Augusta Road (part of Georgia State Route 21), then a fire ignited that destroyed the entire airframe, apart from the tail. [1][8] All personnel on board the aircraft were killed, but nobody on the ground was killed or injured as a result of the accident. [8] A video of the accident was recorded by a nearby surveillance camera. [9]
The accident investigation was within the jurisdiction of the active duty United States Air Force (USAF), which assembled an investigation board. [10]
As a precautionary measure, the governor of Puerto Rico, Ricardo Rosselló, ordered all WC-130 aircraft to remain grounded until the conclusion of the accident investigation. The governor also ordered an assessment of the WC-130 fleet in the Puerto Rico Air National Guard. [11] Additionally, commanders of the active duty USAF were directed to observe a one-day pause in operations, to review and identify potential safety concerns that may lead to mishaps. [12]
A section of highway 21 at the impact site was closed immediately after the accident, and the Air National Guard provided funds to the United States Army Corps of Engineers for repairs and cleanup. [13] Traffic was diverted around the crash site to adjacent road SR 307 through a temporary detour, until the completion of repairs. [14] The closed section of highway 21 was reopened for public use on June 8, 2018. [15]
The aircraft’s wreckage was recovered and moved to a storage facility in Joint Base Charleston, South Carolina by mid-May. [13]
The investigation carried out by the USAF found the root cause of the crash to be pilots error following an engine malfunction. [16]
During the takeoff roll, engine number 1 (the left outboard engine) experienced performance fluctuations which went unnoticed until after takeoff. The engine power dropped from nearly 4000 horsepower to under 300, causing the aircraft to pull to the left, nearly departing the runway. The investigation found that the takeoff should have been aborted but was not. Furthermore, the investigation determined that the flight crew had failed to adequately prepare for emergency actions, and the maintenance technicians failed to properly diagnose and repair the malfunctioning engine before flight. [16]
After the flight crew retracted the landing gear, they identified that the engine No.1 was malfunctioning but did not perform the takeoff continued after engine failure procedure or follow the engine shutdown checklist, nor did they complete the after takeoff checklist. The flaps had been set to 50% for takeoff and were not retracted. The approved method of maneuvering a multi engine aircraft in such a situation is to bank the aircraft so that the malfunctioning engine is on the high-side wing. In this case, the pilot incorrectly applied both left bank and rudder, instead of banking to the right. At an air speed of 131 knots, these incorrect inputs ultimately led to a left wing stall resulting in a total loss of control. The maximum altitude was 900 ft, which was insufficient to regain control of the aircraft. [16]
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Air crash
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2006 Gulf of Mexico earthquake
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The 2006 Gulf of Mexico earthquake occurred in the eastern Gulf of Mexico on September 10 at 10:56 AM Eastern Daylight Time. The intraplate earthquake measured 5.9 on the moment magnitude scale and its epicenter was located about 250 miles (400 km) west-southwest of Anna Maria, Florida. The event was felt throughout much of the Gulf Coast of the United States and was the second earthquake of magnitude 5 or greater in the Gulf during 2006. Felt intensities, as measured on the Mercalli intensity scale, were as high as IV (Light) in Florida, with parts of Georgia at III (Weak). The quake was reportedly felt along the gulf coast and as far north as Georgia. The earthquake was the strongest in the Gulf of Mexico in 33 years and was an intraplate earthquake, an event that takes place away from the borders of tectonic plates (where most tectonic activity takes place). Earthquakes in the Southeastern United States are not common, but several strong events have occurred in the region. In 1879 close to St. Augustine, Florida an earthquake damaged plaster and knocked dishes off counters, and in South Carolina the 1886 Charleston earthquake caused severe damage and was responsible for the deaths of sixty people. [3]
The event occurred near the Cuba Fracture Zone and was well away from the edge of the North American Plate. Randy Cox, an associate professor of earth science at the University of Memphis in Tennessee stated that the source of strain was the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, where seafloor spreading was causing compression of the North American Plate. A magnitude 5.2 event in February 2006 may have been associated with the same fault zone. [3]
The epicenter of the earthquake was too far offshore for it to be well covered by onshore seismographs and the event's characteristics are therefore poorly constrained. The focal mechanism indicated reverse faulting. The focal depth of between 14–31 km show that it occurred within the seismogenic zone, rather than on any of the many shallow growth faults in the area. The earthquake led to a reassessment of the geohazard for hydrocarbon exploration and production facilities in the Gulf. [4]
Several thousand people reported the event to the United States Geological Survey but none reported any damage from the 20 second earthquake. [1] Items were knocked from shelves and seiches were observed in swimming pools in parts of Florida where felt intensities were reported as high as IV, including Brooksville on the west coast, Titusville on the east coast, and Panama City on the panhandle. In Atlanta, Georgia, the intensity was reported to be at level III. [5]
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Earthquakes
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South32's Dendrobium Mine coal sludge discharge reinforces concern around mine transparency
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A pollution incident that saw black sludge wash down a suburban creek in the centre of suburban Wollongong has raised wider concerns about the transparency around mining.
On August 8 and 9 heavy rainfall caused pockets of flooding around the Illawarra.
But at the Dendrobium coal mine, owned by South32 and located at Mount Kembla, the heavy rain "led to a release of water from the sediment pond … containing fine coal particles," a company spokesman said in a statement.
"Clean up activities to-date have involved the removal of coal fines found in the two creeks", the company said.
While this has been welcomed by environmentalists and local residents concerned by the pollution, questions around what went into the creek, in what quantities, and how much was removed in the clean up continue to linger.
Not satisfied with answers provided in the last three weeks since the spill occurred, Wollongong Greens councillor Cath Blakey is calling for clear answers.
Cr Blakey won backing from her council on Monday night for a motion calling on the Environment Minister to initiate a robust and comprehensive investigation into the Dendrobrium water discharge licence breach.
She wants this to include a comprehensive clean up of pollution residue, and public and transparent reporting on the quantity and quality of the spill.
"I think if they are testing there should be that disclosure," she said.
"I know the residents of Figtree want to know and I know that council as a stormwater manager need to know.
"I mean, they're our creeks. We don't just consider them as drains."
In response to questioning by the ABC, the Environmental Protection Authority issued a statement outlining their actions.
"The EPA understands that approximately 10 megalitres [10 million litres] of water was discharged into the creek," the statement said.
The mining company's licence states South32 is required to provide an Environment Assessment Report to the EPA, including:
The mining company released its report to the EPA on Monday but the report is not yet public.
The company said in a statement:
"The report found there has been limited measurable impact on stream ecology and there was no evidence of fish or fauna mortality. The coal fines were considered to be non-toxic.
The EPA said the report will help it to form a view on "the nature and extent of any environmental and human effects impacts from the incident."
Water from Brandy and Water Creek runs into America's Creek, then Allans Creek — one of the most polluted waterway in Wollongong.
Wollongong University academic Michael Adams, in his account of a black marlin swimming into the creek from the ocean to the astonishment of onlookers in 2017, wrote:
"The most polluted creek in the Illawarra region of south-east Australia, Allans Creek flows through the steelworks, its banks lined with concrete and weeds, its waters littered with plastic, broken glass and rusting steel."
The pollution incident at Figtree has re-ignited wider concerns about industrial impacts on the environment at a time when South32 is under scrutiny over its plans for new longwalls underneath special catchment areas.
It adds to existing concerns around the close monitoring of nearby proposals for a Russell Vale coal mine expansion, and the Hume Coal Project — a new mine proposed for the Southern Highlands.
"If this is what happens in streams we can access through our residential areas, it is really concerning what is happening in the special catchment area where humans are not allowed to walk," Cr Blakey said.
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Environment Pollution
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Harlem riot of 1943
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A race riot took place in Harlem, New York City, on August 1 and 2 of 1943, after a white police officer, James Collins, shot and wounded Robert Bandy, an African-American soldier; and rumors circulated that the soldier had been killed. The riot was chiefly directed by black residents against white-owned property in Harlem. It was one of six riots in the nation that year related to black and white tensions during World War II. The others took place in Detroit; Beaumont, Texas; Mobile, Alabama; and Los Angeles. In Harlem, Bandy had witnessed a black woman's arrest for disorderly conduct in a hotel and sought to have her released. According to the police, Bandy hit the officer, who shot the soldier as he was trying to flee from the scene. A crowd of about 3,000 people gathered at police headquarters, after a smaller crowd had followed Bandy and the officer to a hospital for treatment. When someone in the crowd at police headquarters incorrectly stated that Bandy had been killed, a riot ensued in the community that lasted for two days and resulted in six deaths and hundreds injured, with nearly 600 arrests. The riot had a pattern mostly of vandalism, theft, and property destruction of white-owned businesses in Harlem, resulting in monetary damages, rather than attacks on persons. New York City Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia ultimately restored order in the borough on August 2 with the recruitment of several thousand officers and volunteer forces to contain the rioters. City units cleaned up and repaired buildings. The mayor also supplied food and goods afterward to compensate for the closed businesses. The underlying causes of the riot stemmed from resentment among black residents of Harlem of the disparity between the vaunted values of American democracy and the social and economic conditions they were forced to live under, including brutality and discriminatory treatment by the mostly white city police force. They resented the segregation of black troops serving with the United States, and wartime shortages created more difficult conditions in Harlem housing and supplies. African Americans suffered discriminatory practices in civil and private employment, and city services, which created tension as they tried to improve their lives. Bandy symbolized the Black soldiers who were segregated in the Army, even as the United States promoted the national fight for 'freedom.' Collins represented the white discrimination and suppression black residents had to deal with on a daily basis. The riot became a subject of art and literature: it inspired the "theatrical climax" of Ralph Ellison's novel Invisible Man, winner of the 1953 National Book Award, it frames the events recounted in James Baldwin's memoirs Notes of a Native Son, and it appears in artist William Johnson's painting Moon Over Harlem. On Sunday, August 1, 1943, a white policeman attempted to arrest an African-American woman for disturbing the peace in the lobby of the Braddock Hotel. By the 1940s, the hotel, which had hosted show business celebrities in the 1920s, had become known for prostitution. The Army designated the area as a "raided premise", and a policeman was stationed in the lobby to prevent crime. [1]
Various accounts detail how Marjorie (Margie) Polite, the African-American woman, became confrontational with James Collins, the white policeman. According to one, Polite checked into the hotel on August 1, but was dissatisfied and asked for another room. When she switched rooms and found the replacement did not have the shower and bath she wanted, Polite asked for a refund, which she received. [2] Afterward, however, she asked for return of a $1 tip ($15 in 2020)[3] that she gave to an elevator operator. The operator refused; Polite began to protest loudly, which caught the attention of Collins. According to another account, she became drunk at a party in one of the rooms, and confronted the officer as she attempted to leave. [4]
After Collins told Polite to leave, she became verbally abusive of the officer and Collins arrested her on the grounds of disturbing the peace. Florine Roberts, the mother of Robert Bandy, a black soldier in the U.S. Army who was also present, observed the incident and asked for Polite's release. The official police report held that the soldier threatened Collins; in the report, Bandy and Mrs. Roberts then attacked Collins. [2] Bandy hit the officer and, while attempting to flee, Collins shot Bandy in the shoulder with his revolver. [2] In an interview with PM, the soldier said that he intervened when the officer pushed Polite. According to Bandy, Collins threw his nightstick at Bandy, which he caught. When Bandy hesitated after Collins asked for its return, Collins shot him. [5] Bandy's wound was superficial, but he was taken to Sydenham Hospital for treatment. Crowds quickly gathered around Bandy as he entered the hospital, and also around the hotel and police headquarters, where a crowd of 3,000 amassed by 9:00 pm. [6][7] The crowds combined and grew tense, as rumors that an African-American soldier had been shot soon turned to rumors that an African-American soldier had been killed. [6][7]
"The rumor is false that a Negro soldier was killed at the Braddock Hotel tonight. He is only slightly wounded and is in no danger. Go to your homes! [...] Don't destroy in one night the reputation as good citizens you have taken a lifetime to build. Go home – now!" Message White spoke to rioters[8]
At 10:30 pm, the crowd became violent after an individual threw a bottle off a roof into the crowd aggregated about the hospital. The crowd dispersed into groups containing between 50–100 members. The groups first broke windows of white businesses as they traveled through Harlem: if the mob was told the business was owned by blacks, they left it alone. If it was owned by whites, the store would be looted and vandalized. [7] Rioters broke streetlights and threw white mannequins onto the ground. [9] In grocery stores, the rioters took war-scarce items, such as coffee and sugar; clothing, and liquor; and furniture stores were also looted. [7] Estimates put the total monetary damage between $250,000–$5,000,000, which included 1,485 stores burglarized and 4,495 windows broken. [10][11]
When Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia was informed of the situation at 9:00 pm, he met with police and visited the riot district with black authority figures such as Max Yergan and Hope Stevens.
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Riot
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1907 Sydney bathing costume protests
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The 1907 Sydney bathing costume protests were a response to a proposed ordinance by the Waverly Shire Council to require the wearing of a skirt-like tunic by male bathers. On the morning of Sunday 20 October, thousands of surf bathing enthusiasts poured onto the sands of Bondi, Manly, and Coogee beaches in various types of feminine dress enacting a humorous mockery of the proposed regulations. The protest at Bondi was reportedly the largest of the three, with a "swarm of humanity" participating in and observing the protests. The positivity with which the protests were regarded by both the general public and the media proved the end for the Waverly council's costume proposal; the tunic/skirt ordinance was not included in the beach ordinances promulgated in the following months. [1]
This protest was separate to the 1935 NSW state ordinance relating to the Spooner bathing costume mostly directed at male wearers as bathing trunks were considered 'disgraceful'. As beachgoing, and especially swimming in the ocean, became more popular at the end of the Victorian era, there arose a question as to proper dress for participants. [2] While some concessions had to be made to allow for movement, the abbreviated clothing brought out a backlash by those offended by such "exhibitionism". [3] Numerous localities passed and enforced laws setting minimum standards for beach attire. [4]
The Waverley Municipal Council decided that male surf bathers should be as well clothed in the surf as females. Their proposal was to require that a skirt reaching at least to the knees must be added and the arms concealed to near the elbows. The mayor of Waverley described the costume as: "A combination, consisting of guernsey with trouser legs and reaching from near the elbow to the bend of the knee, together with a skirt not unsightly but simply attached to the garment and covering the figure below the hips to the knee." Loitering on the beach was also to be prohibited and all communication between bathers and the general public forbidden. The penalties for a breach of the regulation were proposed to be from £1 to £20. [5][6]
The protests against the skirt proposal marked the first representative actions of the Surf Bathing Association of New South Wales, the precursor to Surf Life Saving Australia, formed only days before on 18 October. Members of the Association, outraged by what they saw as their impending emasculation at the hands of the new bathing costume laws, organised the protest in less than two days. The rushed preparations undoubtedly accounted for the dishevelled state of dress in which many of the "ladies" appeared on the day. The beach protests were described as having a "carnival atmosphere", especially at Bondi. In a procession from the northern end of Bondi Beach, men wearing their sisters' or grandmothers' underwear, ballet frills, curtains or tablecloths followed a banner upholding a dead seagull. [7]
The Skirt Scare at Manly by "Crow's Nest"
In the land of Topsy-Turvy
The women are donning shirts
And the men in the sea-side places
Have taken to wearing skirts... Sing hey, for the whiskered women
In trailing skirts encased
Sing ho, for the dainty fellows
And clasp them round the waist. [8]
Opposition to the proposal has been described as "prompt, universal and absolute" and it was quickly dropped. [9] The Sydney Morning Herald declared the regulations to be "an instance of the official mind run mad", arguing that if "both male and female bathers of all ages must be clad in a species of skirt [it] would be too ridiculous for comment were it not that many thousands of persons will immediately become the sufferers, some by the legal penalty, others by abandoning the surf, unless public opinion is enabled to express itself quickly and forcibly". [10]
Councils beyond Sydney also found themselves referring to the skirt for men proposal as they deliberated on appropriate clothing for both sexes at the beach. One Councillor at Euroa, Victoria for example, suggested the enforcement of a proper costume, from neck to knee, but "did not go as far as the Bondi mayor in New South Wales, in advocating a short skirt in addition". [11]
Both individuals and city councils took the opportunity in different forms of writing to laugh at themselves and the absurdities associated with regulating such matters. One person was moved to write a comic poem and councillors in Victoria, for example, bantered. It was pointed out that while "a regulation was in force dealing with the whole matter – hours, costume, etc., ... 'proper costume' varied so much that it was well nigh impossible to get a proper legal definition." Councillor Cole said that he "had defended youngsters who had produced little trunks; but such small articles adorning the fine manly physique of a gentleman of Cr [Councillor] Eddy's Herculean proportions for instance would probably not be deemed at law to be adequate covering. They might, perhaps, emulate the Sydney example of requiring such cases to be met by the adoption of frilled skirts (laughter) – something of the neck and knee order might be more indecent than skirts. "[12]
People generally agreed with strict regulations about dress but the idea of men wearing women's clothing was "going altogether too far", especially as male bathers were considered the "most manly of men" and sea-bathing both pleasurable and healthy. [13] The "skirt" ordinance and the consequent demonstrations culminated decades of protest from conservative beach goers who decried the 'exhibitionism' of scantily clad surf bathers. However, the demonstration against the proposal by three Sydney mayors to introduce skirted bathing costumes on Sydney's main beaches showed the resistance particularly of middle-class men who were members of the newly established Surf Bathers Association of New South Wales. [14]
The spirit in which the protests were conducted contributed greatly to a general acceptance of surf bathing on Sydney's beaches. It was also indicative of changing attitudes toward body image and masculinity in a fledgling nation. [1]
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Protest_Online Condemnation
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Northern lights may be visible in Virginia this weekend, forecasters say
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The National Weather Service in Omaha provided this graph detailing the visible range of the northern lights Saturday evening. Soon a ghostly wisp will stretch across the night sky. Forecasters say the astral phenomenon known as the aurora borealis will appear this weekend and may be visible as far as Virginia. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Space Weather Prediction Center issued a geomagnetic storm watch following the eruption of a solar flare around 11:35 a.m. on Oct. 28. That eruption sent a wave of charged, magnetic particles towards the earth in what’s known as a coronal mass ejection event. The storm will likely affect the planet’s magnetic field, according to the SWPC. Normally the northern lights can only be seen close to the earth’s poles. However, analysts say the aurora may be seen over the far Northeast, upper Midwest, and the state of Washington. Advertisement Forecasters say the lights are not visible during daylight hours but can be observed from as far as 621 miles away. The best chance to witness this cosmic anomaly is Saturday night, though the storm could potentially linger into Sunday, forecasters said.
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New wonders in nature
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October 1999 Mexico floods
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In October 1999, severe flooding affected portions of eastern Mexico and Central America. Rainfall in September preceded the primary event in Mexico, which moistened soils. On October 4, Tropical Depression Eleven developed in the Gulf of Mexico, which drew humidity from the gulf and the Pacific Ocean to produce torrential rainfall in mountainous regions of eastern Mexico, reaching 43.23 in (1,098 mm) in Jalacingo, Veracruz. This was the third-highest tropical cyclone-related rainfall total in Mexico from 1980–2006, and the event caused the highest rainfall related to tropical cyclones in Veracruz, Hidalgo, and Puebla. In some locations, the daily rainfall represented over 10% of the annual precipitation total. The heaviest rainfall occurred in mountainous regions that were the mouths of several rivers. A broad trough absorbed the depression on October 6, and rainfall continued for the next few days. Additional rainfall occurred in Tabasco state on October 18. The floods were estimated as a 1 in 67 year event in one location, although such floods are expected to affect eastern Mexico twice per century, the last time being 1944. Throughout Mexico, the floods killed at least 379 people, according to the federal government, and as many as 600 according to relief agencies; the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters later estimated there were 636 deaths, and damage in Mexico was estimated at $451.3 million (4.3 billion pesos). Nationwide, the floods damaged or destroyed 90,000 houses, which left about 500,000 people homeless. Flooding caused thousands of landslides, many in more populated areas than the flooding in 1944. The floods also caused 39 rivers to overflow, and the combination of floods and landslides destroyed bridges, houses, widespread crop fields, schools, and electrical networks. Impact was worst in Puebla, where damage totaled $240 million (2.1 billion pesos) and many roads were washed out. Landslides in the state killed 107 people in Teziutlán. Elsewhere in the country, the floods washed crocodiles into the streets of Villahermosa, the capital of Tabasco, and in Oaxaca, the rainfall occurred after an earthquake left thousands homeless. Flooding also extended into Central America in late September through early October, causing $40 million (385 million pesos) in crop damage and 70 deaths. After the floods receded, Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo ordered the Department of National Defense to utilize all resources to assist the people affected by the floods. More than 94,000 people stayed at 896 shelters after being evacuated due to the floods. The federal government allocated $234 million (2.34 billion pesos) in relief, which was smaller than the damage total. Widespread medical teams assisted tens of thousands of homes, and due to prevention measures, there were no outbreaks of diseases. Roads and electrical systems were gradually restored, and students returned to school after repairs were made. Residents throughout Mexico sent supplies to the Mexican Red Cross, including 500 tons of food and water, and international agencies sent money and supplies to the flood victims. Beginning around September 10, heavy rainfall occurred sporadically in southern Mexico and into Central America,[2] influenced by a broader storm system related to Hurricane Floyd. [3] Toward the end of September, heavy rainfall occurred in the mountains of northeastern Mexico, which prompted officials to open flood gates. [4] The rains occurred throughout Mexico for about two weeks before the worst of the precipitation began,[3] and saturated soils before the heaviest rainfall in October. [5]
On October 4, Tropical Depression Eleven developed in the Bay of Campeche about 145 mi (233 km) northeast of Veracruz, having originated from a tropical wave. Due to weak steering currents, the depression moved erratically, initially to the south and later to the west-northwest. It failed to intensify due to a surface trough over the central and eastern Gulf of Mexico,[6] connected to a cold front. While the depression was drifting, it produced large areas of convection over eastern Mexico,[7] aided by high humidity from the gulf and from the Pacific Ocean. [8] On October 6, the circulation was absorbed into the trough,[6] although rainfall continued to occur through October 9. [4] A week later, Hurricane Irene affected southern Mexico with strong rains. [9] Additional rainfall occurred on October 18 in Tabasco, causing further flooding; the waters in the state began receding on October 28. [10] The wet conditions in eastern Mexico, occurring at the same time as hot, dry conditions elsewhere in the country, were possibly related to La Niña conditions. [11]
Due to easterly wind shear and the convection along the storm's western periphery, the tropical depression dropped heavy rainfall in the states of Puebla, Tabasco, Hidalgo, and Veracruz, peaking at 43.23 in (1,098 mm) in Jalacingo, Veracruz. [4] This was the highest rainfall total in Veracruz from 1981 to 2010; statewide record peaks were also reported in Puebla and Hidalgo. [12] The depression was the third wettest tropical cyclone in Mexico from 1983 to 2006, after Hurricane Wilma in 2005 and Tropical Storm Frances in 1998. [4] The heaviest of the rainfall occurred along the Sierra Madre Oriental, which is a mountain range in eastern Mexico and the source for several regionally important rivers. Tuxpan, Veracruz recorded 6.2 in (157.7 mm) in a 24‑hour period on October 4, which was greater than the average October rainfall there and was about one-ninth of the annual total. A station in Hidalgo reported 4.02 in (102 mm) on October 4, which was also greater than the average October rainfall and was about one-eighth of the annual total. The return period was estimated as high as a 1 in 67 year event at Xicotepec, Puebla, and it was estimated that such floods in Mexico occur only twice per century;[5] similar floods occurred in September 1944 in the same region, although the area was less populated then. [8]
Across eastern Mexico, the heavy rainfall caused mudslides and floods,[13] which damaged or destroyed 90,000 houses,[14] and damaged or destroyed about 3,088,000 acres (1,250,000 hectares) of crop fields;[15] thousands of livestock were also killed. [16] The floods affected 819 Municipalities of Mexico in 17 states and the federal district,[17] leaving about 500,000 people homeless, of whom half were in Tabasco and Veracruz states. [18] Several ports were closed due to the floods. [19] Although power lines were downed, most electrical systems were not damaged, and power was quickly restored within a week in most areas. [20] A total of 39 rivers overflowed,[5] which washed away bridges, roads, dams, and some entire houses,[3][21] and there were thousands of landslides, mostly in unpopulated areas. [5] Collectively, 28 federal highways and 300 rural roads were closed or damaged. [14] The federal highway network sustained damage in 1,237 locations as a result of 1,164 landslides or mudslides and 28 damaged bridges. [22] Damage was estimated at $451.3 million (4.3 billion pesos). [23]
The death toll was 61 as of October 6,[24] and a day later it reached about 250.
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Floods
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2002 Khankala Mi-26 crash
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On 19 August 2002, a group of Chechen separatists armed with a man-portable air-defense system brought down a Russian Mil Mi-26 helicopter in a minefield, which resulted in the death of 127 Russian soldiers in the greatest loss of life in the history of helicopter aviation. It was also the most deadly aviation disaster ever suffered by the Russian Armed Forces,[2] as well as its worst loss of life in a single day since 1999. [3]
On 19 August 2002, Chechen separatist fighters launched a Russian-made 9K38 Igla shoulder-fired, heat-seeking surface-to-air missile which hit an overloaded Mil Mi-26 heavy transport helicopter, causing it to crash-land and burn at Khankala military air base near Chechnya's capital city of Grozny. The helicopter was ferrying 142[1] soldiers and officers belonging to various units, from the Russian Air Force base at Mozdok, Republic of North Ossetia–Alania. [4][5]
According to Pavel Felgenhauer,
The missile hit one of the engines as the Mi-26 was approaching Khankala, and the helicopter crash-landed in a minefield that made up part of the federal military headquarters' perimeter defenses. Some of the survivors, attempting to abandon the wrecked Mi-26, are reported to have been killed by 'friendly' anti-personnel mine explosions. [4]
The interior of the helicopter flooded with fuel and its jammed doors could not be opened. [2] Only the crew of five and 29 passengers managed to escape through the small cockpit exit hatch. Fourteen of the survivors died over the next few days from severe burns. [6]
Russian forces from Khankala launched a search for the attackers immediately after the crash, but only managed to recover the spent tube that had contained the Igla missile. [6]
On 21 August 2002, a national day of mourning was declared for the following day by the Russian President Vladimir Putin in connection with the catastrophe, which the media called "the second Kursk". [7] The separatist news agency Kavkaz Center described the crash as the "greatest act of sabotage by Chechen fighters in two years". Some Russian media, including Izvestiya, voiced anger at an apparent cover-up attempt, accusing the military of "as usual" trying to conceal the casualties. [8] The crash led to the suspension of the Russian Army's Aviation commander, Colonel-General Vitaly Pavlov, who later resigned from his post in September. [9]
On 24 September,[10] footage of the helicopter downing was obtained by the Associated Press from a Turkish news agency along with a statement by separatist Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov announcing: "Here is a helicopter that is on fire and falling near Khankala. It was hit by our Igla anti-aircraft missile." It was also the first video that showed Maskhadov using Islamic insignia and flag, instead of Chechen ones, and referring to the fighters around him as "our mujahideen", in what was seen as his apparent and abrupt turn towards Islamism. [6] In an undated tape, Maskhadov recalls the Russian investigators' early official version that the helicopter crashed because of technical difficulties before announcing that it was shot down; he then presents a handgun to the fighter said to have downed the helicopter. [11] The tape was also aired on television in Chechnya when the separatists used the REN TV frequency to broadcast it locally during that same month. [12]
It was believed that the missile that destroyed the helicopter was launched from one of the many battle-damaged five-story apartment blocks on the outskirts of Grozny. The Russian military responded to the loss of the Mi-26 by demolishing several blocks in the already half-destroyed Khankala residential area adjoining the base in November, in spite of protests from the pro-Russian Chechen administration. It was initially flatly denied by Colonel Boris Podoprigora, but later admitted by the Russian military spokesman Major-General Ilya Shabalkin, who said that the action was carried out with the goal of preventing the fighters from using the area to lay ambushes close to the base. As a result, around 100 families were left homeless and NTV reported they were given barely any time to leave and could take only some personal belongings. Regarding this, General Shabalkin commented that the local residents "had been watching the bandits preparing terror attacks and failed to inform law enforcers of their plans" which "is considered to be abetting illegal armed formations, and complicity in a criminal plot". In response, the Russian State Duma deputy for Chechnya, Aslambek Aslakhanov, demanded an explanation from the top military command in Chechnya. The area had been also shelled in August following an unrelated crash of a Mil Mi-8 helicopter carrying two high-ranking Russian military officials, killing everyone on board, which was allegedly caused by a missile launched from the Oktyabrsky district of Grozny. [13]
The Mi-26 helicopter was designed to carry 80 troops, while the one that was destroyed was loaded with 142 passengers (according to Timur Aliyev, "an indication in itself that the Russian military is reluctant to travel by road, even in areas like northern Chechnya far from the rebel heartlands"[14]). According to the BBC, citing Kommersant, "The Mi-26 often flies to Khankala with 100–110 people on board, plus a huge amount of cargo, including cheap Ossetian vodka. "[8] Felgenhauer wrote: "I once had a ride on a Mi-26 from Mozdok to Grozny, together with some 50 service personnel and journalists on top of a stockpile of crates with tons of artillery shells and other munitions. "[4] In 2003, the Russian officer in charge of dispatching the helicopter, Lieutenant-Colonel Alexander Kudyakov, was charged and convicted of negligence and violating flight regulations. [5][15] Pravda commented that he "had to become a scapegoat" and according to Kudyakov himself the judge told him that he should have refused to go to Chechnya in the first place. [16]
A Chechen accused of transporting the missile, preparing it for launching, and filming the attack, 27-year-old Grozny resident Doku Dzhantemirov, was found guilty of planning and carrying out "an act of terror" in April 2004. He was sentenced to life imprisonment for "terrorism, premeditated murder with special cruelty, banditry, and attempted murder of servicemen",[17] and was also ordered to pay 100,000 rubles ($3,500) to the relatives of each victim and 50,000 rubles ($1,720) to each of the survivors. [5] At his trial, Dzhantemirov maintained that he was not a terrorist but a soldier of the State of Ichkeria. Four other Chechens accused of taking part in the attack were still being sought. [2][18]
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Air crash
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GBI investigates officer involved shooting in DeKalb County
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LITHONIA — The Georgia Bureau of Investigation was called in Wednesday to investigate the 89th officer involved shooting in Georgia this year. The incident took place in Lithonia. One man died in the incident, and two deputies were injured.
According to the GBI, preliminary information indicates that at around 7:30 a.m. on Dec. 1 deputies with the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office were attempting to locate and arrest Edward Gatling, 38. Police had issued arrest warrants in DeKalb County charging Gatling with aggravated assault and domestic violence. Police had information that Gatling was at an apartment complex in Lithonia. As the deputies approached the apartment, shots were fired from the apartment, hitting two of the deputies. Gatling ran from the apartment into woods nearby carrying a rifle and backpack. Responding officers rendered aid to the injured deputies and began setting up a perimeter to contain Gatling. The injured deputies were taken to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
Police carried out an extensive multi-agency search effort and Gatling was eventually spotted at around 1:15 pm along a creek that passes under Covington Highway. Police approached Gatling, ordered Gatling to put his rifle down and show his hands. Gatling fired at the officers. Officers from multiple agencies fired shots at Gatling. Gatling was hit by gunfire and died at the scene.
No officers were injured in the exchange of gunfire.
The GBI will continue to conduct an independent investigation of the officer involved shooting incident. Once completed, the case will be given to the DeKalb County District Attorney’s Office for review.
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Famous Person - Commit Crime - Investigate
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Heysham explosion: Cut gas pipe caused fatal blast, say police
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An explosion that killed a child was caused by a gas pipe being cut inside a neighbouring house, police said.
Two-year-old George Hinds died in the blast in Mallowdale Avenue in Heysham, Lancashire, on 16 May.
Four other people were also hurt in the explosion which destroyed two homes and seriously damaged a third.
Lancashire Police said it was investigating how and why the pipe became severed and treating it as a criminal investigation. Detectives said they had identified, along with gas experts, the cause of the explosion as a cut gas pipe inside a property on Mallowdale Avenue. George's parents, Vicky Studholme and Stephen Hinds, who were also injured in the explosion, have been discharged from hospital, police said.
Two others, a man, 44, and a 50-year-old woman, remain in hospital with critical injuries.
Cadent North West had said earlier the gas mains and service pipes were "sound and did not contribute to or cause the explosion at Heysham".
Det Ch Insp Jane Webb, of Lancashire Police, said "an incredible amount of work" had been done at the scene "in a relatively short space of time" and officers had been able to identify the source. "We have also managed to recover some items of George's, which I know means a lot to his parents," she said. She said the focus was now on establishing how and why the pipe came to be cut and that investigation would be "complex and lengthy".
Forensic examination of the scene had been completed, the force said, and it had been handed over to the local authority.
The blast caused debris to cover nearby streets and fields and residents described it as sounding "like a bomb going off".
George was described as a "beautiful little angel" by his parents who said they were devastated by his death.
"He was so precious to us," they added.
Why not follow BBC North West on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram? You can also send story ideas to northwest.newsonline@bbc.co.uk
Fatal house explosion 'not caused by gas mains'
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Boy killed and four adults injured in explosion
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North West Ambulance Service
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Blackburn named one of the worst places to live in England – but locals disagree
Man accused of involvement in child's death released on bail
Information about BBC links to other news sites
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Divisions remain over continuing subsidies for fossil fuels and financial help to poorer nations.
Steve Bannon charged with contempt of Congress
Britney released from 13-year conservatorship
BBC's John Simpson in Taliban territory 20 years on. VideoBBC's John Simpson in Taliban territory 20 years on
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Gas explosion
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Japan, US, France hold military drill eyeing China presence
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Dozens of Japanese, American and French troops have continued to hold their first-ever joint drills on Japanese soil KIRISHIMA TRAINING AREA, Japan -- Dozens of Japanese, American and French troops landed amid pouring rain from a CH-47 transport helicopter onto a grassy field at a training area in southern Japan, part of Saturday's joint scenario of defending a remote island from an enemy invasion. The three nations’ first joint drills on Japanese soil — dubbed “ARC21” and which began Tuesday — come as they seek step up military ties amid growing Chinese assertiveness in the region. Japanese soldiers and their counterparts from the French army and the U.S. Marine Corps also conducted an urban warfare drill using a concrete building elsewhere at the Japanese Self-Defense Force’s Kirishima Training Area in the southern Miyazaki prefecture. Around 200 troops took part in Saturday's exercises. On Saturday, the three countries were also joined by Australia in an expanded naval exercise involving 11 warships in the East China Sea, where tensions with China are rising around the island of Taiwan. The drills come as Japan looks to bolster its military capabilities amid a deepening territorial row with China in regional seas. Japan is increasingly concerned about Chinese activity in and around Japanese-claimed waters surrounding the Japanese-controlled Senkaku islands, which Beijing also claims and calls Diaoyu. Since the end of World War II, Japan’s constitution has limited the use of force to self defense. Japan in recent years has continued to expand its military role, capability and budget. Japan's Vice Defense Minister Yasuhide Nakayama, who observed the exercise, stressed the significance of French participation in the joint exercises regularly held between Japan and the U.S., and often with Australia. “It was a valuable opportunity for the Japanese Self-Defense Force to maintain and strengthen its strategic capability necessary to defend our remote islands,” Nakayama said. “Together we were able to show to the rest of the world our commitment in defending Japanese land, territorial seas and airspace.” France, which has territories in the Indian Ocean and the South Pacific, has strategic interests in the region. "It is obviously very important for us because we need to be side by side with people who are sharing this part of the world,” Lt. Col. Henri Marcaillou from the French army told reporters after Saturday's exercise. U.S. Marine Corps Lt. Col. Jeremy Nelson said the three countries showed they can work together “for a common goal or common cause.” Britain, which recently adopted a policy of deeper engagement in the region, is sending the aircraft carrier Queen Elizabeth and its strike group, due to arrive in the region later this year. Germany is also set to deploy a frigate to the region. Japan and the U.S. have been promoting a free and open Indo-Pacific vision of defense and economic framework based on democratic principles in the area in a group known as the Quad, which also includes Australia and India, seen as a move to counter China's escalating influence in the region. China has criticized the U.S.-Japanese framework as an exclusionist bloc based on a Cold War-era mindset.
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Military Exercise
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The Biggest Celebrity Splits Of All Time
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Women's Health may earn commission from the links on this page, but we only feature products we believe in. Why trust us? Still not over Channing Tatum and Jenna Dewan. Celebrity breakups happen all the time, so it's hardly mind-blowing when you hear another famous couple has called it quits. Still, some famous couples seem like they'll defy the odds—and it's truly shocking when those pairs don't make it, even years after the breakup. People are still trying to get over these splits. Jen and Brad were the It couple of the early '00s, so it shocked everyone when they announced in 2005 that they were splitting. The two claimed in a joint statement at the time that their breakup was not the result of "speculation reported by the tabloid media." Brad started publicly dating Angelina Jolie not long after. Brangelina got some criticism when they went public following Brad's split from Jennifer Aniston and later confirmed that they fell in love while Brad was still married. But the couple proved they had staying power. They eventually had six children and married in 2014 after 10 years together. However, Angelina filed for divorce from Brad just two years later in 2016. While the two had been plagued with breakup rumors for months, it still shocked the world when Diana and Charles announced their separation. After all, royals weren't supposed to divorce. Diana went on to focus on her charity work and raising the couple's two sons before her death. Charles eventually married his mistress, Camilla Parker Bowles. Channing and Jenna always seemed solid, so it was a surprise to fans when the couple announced in 2018 that they were separating. "We have lovingly chosen to separate as a couple," they said in a joint statement on Instagram. "We fell deeply in love so many years ago and have had a magical journey together. Absolutely nothing has changed about how much we love one another, but love is a beautiful adventure that is taking us on different paths for now. There are no secrets nor salacious events at the root of our decision—just two best-friends realizing it's time to take some space and help each other live the most joyous, fulfilled lives as possible." These two megastars starred together on Shanghai Surprise and married in a quickie wedding in 1985. They divorced four years later after Penn reportedly struggled with their lack of privacy. They seem to have a great relationship now, though, with Sean recently saying on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert that "I love my first wife very much." When these powerhouse stars got together, it just seemed...right. But after seven years of marriage and two children, the couple decided to call it quits. Now, the two are friendly exes and often publicly support each other. Sonny and Cher were a singing powerhouse in the '60s and '70s, selling 40 million records and making several hit TV shows together. But their career as a rockstar duo came to a halt in 1975 with their divorce. Still, they seemed to be on friendly terms until Sonny's death in 1998. Anna and Chris met and fell in love on the set of the 2007 movie Take Me Home Tonight. The two eventually married, and fans loved how normal and relatable they were. It seemingly came out of nowhere when they announced in 2017 that they were splitting. The playwright and iconic actress married in 1956 (it was her third marriage and his second), but it didn't last long. Marilyn converted to Judaism for Arthur and stepped out of the spotlight for a while, but their marriage fell apart while they were filming The Misfits, which he wrote and she starred in. They divorced before the movie was released. It just seemed to make sense when Ben Affleck got together with all-American girl Jennifer Garner after dating Jennifer Lopez. The two married and had three kids together, but split in 2015. A source told People that Ben's struggles with alcohol led to the split. The two continue to coparent, though, and are often spotted together by the paparazzi. People were floored when Ashton and Demi got together, largely due to their 15-year age difference. But the two seemed like a good match and publicly supported each other during their six-year marriage. The couple eventually split in 2011, after Ashton was plagued by cheating rumors—which Demi didn't exactly deny. "It is with great sadness and a heavy heart that I have decided to end my six-year marriage to Ashton. As a woman, a mother, and a wife there are certain values and vows that I hold sacred, and it is in this spirit that I have chosen to move forward with my life," she said in a statement at the time. It was Diana and Charles all over again when Sarah (a.k.a. Fergie) and Andrew got together. The couple seemed like a great match, but they were quickly plagued by rumors that they were having issues because Andrew, who was in the Navy, was away from home a lot. The couple eventually separated in 1992 after rumors that Fergie had cheated on Andrew. Bruce and Kris Jenner regularly appeared like your standard mother and father (who just so happened to have mega-famous kids) on Keeping Up with the Kardashians, but it soon became clear that their marriage was not going well. Bruce got a separate home in Malibu, which the family wrote off as him needing some time away from the chaos of home. But in October 2013, the couple announced that they were separating. Two years later, Bruce publicly came out as a transgender woman and changed her name to Caitlyn. Chris and Rihanna were the It couple of R&B, so it was completely shocking when news broke in 2009 that Chris had been arrested for assaulting his girlfriend after a pre-Grammys party. The two split, eventually reconciled, and finally broke up for good, to the relief of fans. It was the scandal of the decade when news broke in 2009 that squeaky clean golf legend Tiger Woods had cheated on his wife Elin Nordegren, the mother of his two children. Over the next few days, more than a dozen women claimed to have had affairs with Tiger during his marriage. The two divorced the following year. Ellen and Anne met at an Oscars party in 1997 and quickly became a couple—Ellen's first public relationship since she came out earlier that year. They dated for nearly four years and it didn't end well. "I think being the person I am now, if I met her tomorrow I probably wouldn't be with her," Ellen later told the Los Angeles Times. "But I was a different person then, and I've learned a whole lot." People loved Heidi and Seal for how fun, in love, and compatible they seemed. Seal adopted and raised Heidi's daughter Leni, and the couple had three biological children together. The couple separated in 2012 after seven years of marriage, with sources telling TMZ that Heidi couldn't take Seal's "volcanic" temper anymore. Orlando and Miranda were quite possibly the world's most gorgeous couple when they got together in 2007. The couple got engaged and married in 2010, and welcomed their son Flynn in early 2011. But it wasn't meant to last. The couple separated after just three years of marriage. People raised eyebrows when Mariah and Nick first got together, given that she was 11 years his senior. But Nick seemed so smitten with Mariah (he even tattooed her name across his back) that it looked like it was destined to work. The two got married in 2008, just months after they revealed that they were dating, and had twins Monroe and Moroccan together. They announced their separation in 2014. Nick later said on The Wendy Williams Show that the former couple are "the best of friends." Fans were obsessed with Gwyneth and Chris when they first got together. They were gorgeous! They were cool! They eventually got married in 2003, and had two children together. But in 2014, the couple announced that they were "consciously uncoupling," a term that seemed weird at the time. They've proven doubters wrong, successfully coparenting their kids and regularly cheering each other on in public. Desi and Lucy were a huge couple in the '40s and '50s—both onscreen and off, costarring in the hit TV show I Love Lucy. However, the couple was volatile offscreen and Lucy filed for divorce in 1944, but they reconciled. Apparently it didn't stick: They later divorced for good in 1960. There was no bigger couple in the late '90s and early '00s than Britney and Justin, thanks to their pop star statuses. They regularly hit red carpets together, and even showed up in matching ensembles at times. But after three years of dating, the two split, reportedly because Britney cheated. Justin later releaseds the cheating anthem "Cry Me a River," with a music video that featured a Britney lookalike—that didn't exactly dispute the rumors. Elvis and Priscilla became an iconic couple when they got married in 1967. The two met when she was just 14 and, by the time they got hitched, he was one of the biggest rockstars in the world. Their marriage didn't last long, though: They had one child, Lisa Marie, nine months after their wedding and split in 1973 after they both had affairs. Teenyboppers everywhere freaked out when these two—who costarred in the Twilight series—got together. But they broke up after three years together when Kristen was photographed by paparazzi kissing married director Rupert Sanders. "I'm deeply sorry for the hurt and embarrassment I've caused to those close to me and everyone this has affected," Kristen said in a statement at the time. "This momentary indiscretion has jeopardized the most important thing in my life, the person I love and respect the most, Rob. I love him, I love him, I'm so sorry." These two just couldn't stay away from each other. Elizabeth and Richard met on the set of Cleopatra in 1963 when (oops) they were both married to other people. They got married the following year and starred in 11 movies together. They divorced a decade later. It didn't stick, though. The couple got married again in 1975, but divorced for the second time in 1976. Ryan and Reese played polar opposite lovers who had a tragic ending in Cruel Intentions, and the two actually got together offset during filming. They got married in 1999 and had two children together, but split in 2007. Ryan later told Larry King that they were just "so young" when they got married. Nick and Jessica met in the late '90s at the Hollywood Christmas Parade. "After we met, I found myself looking through the crowds for her all night," Nick later told People. The two got together and dated for several years before Jessica reportedly called things off. But they reconciled soon after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, and got married in 2002. They starred in the hit reality show, Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica, but in 2005 the couple announced their separation. He was a rock star; she was a top model—it seemed like fate when Mick and Jerry got together in the late '70s. The couple ended up having four children together and stayed together until 1999 after Mick allegedly cheated on Jerry. People were shocked when squeaky clean pop star Whitney Houston started dating bad boy Bobby Brown in the late '80s, but the couple proved they had staying power. They got married in 1992 and had a daughter, Bobbi Kristina. The couple divorced in 2007, and Bobby later said in his memoir that they both had affairs. People were obsessed with Ryan and Rachel's romance in The Notebook, and were thrilled when they got together in real life. The two started dating in 2004 and split three years later. Ryan later had this to say to GQ about their relationship: "God bless The Notebook. It introduced me to one of the great loves of my life. But people do Rachel and me a disservice by assuming we were anything like the people in that movie.
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Famous Person - Divorce
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Patients in Germany 'infected with UK COVID-19 variant in November'
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The long-awaited post-Brexit trade deal has been signed by EU heads and was overwhelmingly approved by British MPs.
UK lawmakers backed the agreement on Wednesday afternoon by 521 votes to 73.
Officially called the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement, it has taken months of negotiation to agree.
European Council President Charles Michel and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen signed on behalf of the European Union on Wednesday morning.
It was then flown to London by a Royal Air Force plane where Prime Minister Boris Johnson signed for the UK at 10 Downing Street.
“The agreement that we signed today is the result of months of intense negotiations in which the European Union has displayed an unprecedented level of unity,” Michel said.
“It is a fair and balanced agreement that fully protects the fundamental interests of the European Union and creates stability and predictability for citizens and companies," he added.
Von der Leyen stressed after signing the document that "it has been a long road" to get a Brexit trade deal.
"It's time to put Brexit behind us," she added.
European leaders have welcomed the deal, describing it either as a moment of "historical importance", an "important milestone", or a "major step forward".
But most have also reiterated warnings that despite the deal, changes to the current relationship will come into force on January 1.
Hours later, the UK Parliament overwhelmingly approved the trade agreement by a majority of 448.
It was backed by the ruling Conservative party — including the eurosceptic European Research Group — as well as the main opposition Labour party.
Keir Starmer, Labour's leader, said in his address prior to the vote that he had instructed his MPs to vote for the deal, despite it being "imperfect" and "thin" because "this treaty is the only way to ensure that we avoid no deal".
"A thin deal is better than no deal and not implementing this deal would mean immediate tariffs and quotas with the EU which will push up prices and drive businesses to the wall. It will mean huge gaps in security, a free for all on workers' rights and environmental protections and less stability for the Northern Ireland Protocol.
"So we will vote for this Bill today but I do hope that this will be a moment where our country can come together and look to a better future," he added.
Smaller opposition parties including the Scottish National Party, the Liberal Democrats and Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) voted against.
Johnson signed the treaty after the vote, saying that by doing so "we fulfill the sovereign wish of the British people to live under their own laws, made by their own elected Parliament".
The agreement eventually needs approval from the EU’s legislature, which is not expected to take up the deal for weeks.
The leaders of the European Parliament’s political groups said they would not seek full approval until March because of the specific and far-reaching implications of the agreement.
The overwhelming expectation is that EU lawmakers will approve the deal.
Three separate agreements have been signed. Their full names are as follows:
1) Trade and Cooperation Agreement between the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
2) Agreement between the European Union and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland concerning security procedures for exchanging and protecting classified information.
3) Agreement between the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the European Atomic Energy Community for Cooperation on the Safe and Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy.
Two copies of each agreement will be signed. Once both parties have put their names to the documents, one of the two original copies of each agreement will be sent to the EU where they will go to the Archives of the Council and the other to the United Kingdom.
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Sign Agreement
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2012 Catalan independence demonstration
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The 2012 Catalan independence demonstration was a protest march which occurred in central Barcelona in Catalonia, Spain, on 11 September 2012 during the National Day of Catalonia. [4][5][6] The protestors demanded the independence of Catalonia and its establishment as a sovereign state under the slogan "Catalonia, new state in Europe"It was organized by the Catalan National Assembly (ANC) and headed together with the Association of Municipalities for Independence as the final and the most prominent of a series of events known as "March towards Independence" which began on 30 June 2012 in Lleida. [10][11]
The estimated number of participants ranges widely, from 600,000 people quoted by some media,[12] statisticians such as Llorenç Badiella from the Autonomous University of Barcelona[13] or the delegation of the Spanish government in Catalonia[14][15][16] to 1.5 million according to Catalan public sources such as Barcelona's Municipal Police or Catalonia's Department of the Interior, with a maximum estimate of about 2 million according to the organizers. [12]
The city centre was crowded for hours and it was feared that the massive influx of people might bring the mobile phone network to a standstill. [17][18] Many newspapers and other news agencies described it as a "historic" demonstration and considered it to be the biggest protest march ever held in Catalonia since the restoration of democracy in Spain,[19][20][21][22][23][24] surpassing other major demonstrations, including the 2010 Catalan autonomy protest. [25][26]
The 2010 Catalan autonomy protest was a demonstration held in central Barcelona on 10 July 2010 against the limits set to the autonomy of Catalonia within Spain, and particularly against a then recent decision of the Spanish Constitutional Court to annul or reinterpret several articles of the 2006 Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia. [26] The estimates regarding the number of people taking part in the demonstration ranged widely, from 425,000 estimated by some media[27] to 1.1 million according to the local police, with a maximum estimate of 1.5 million according to the organisers. [28][29] A private company specialising in reporting demonstration attendance numbers, Lynce, made an estimate of 56,000–74,400 by measuring a single street at 20h30, 15 minutes after the demonstration had finished,[30] judging from the circumstances and other estimates in the hundreds of thousands, this was likely a gross understimate. The mobilisation was described as "unprecedented" by the mayor of Barcelona. [31] Barcelona daily El Periódico de Catalunya described it as "without a doubt one of the biggest protest marches that have ever occurred in Catalonia, and possibly the biggest". [28]
The demonstration was led by a banner with the Catalan slogan Som una nació. Nosaltres decidim. (in English, "We are a nation. We decide."). [32]
Several analysts believe that the demonstration on 10 July was a turning point in relations between Catalonia and Spain. [33] An election to the Catalan Government was held on 28 November 2010 with Artur Mas (CiU) emerging as president. A general election was held in Spain the following year in which the People's Party won an absolute majority with 187 of the 350 seats in the chamber. Party leader Mariano Rajoy was sworn in as president of the Spanish Tenth Legislature shortly afterwards. Catalonia saw several local referenda for independence take place in hundreds of villages between 13 September 2009 and April 2011, with an overwhelming number of "yes" votes being cast. However, turnout was low at 27.41%. Several citizens' initiatives arose in 2011 and 2012 in response to perceived slights by Spain, such as the No vull pagar ("I don't want to pay") campaign, which protested against toll fees by private companies present in Catalonia that were seen as abusive compared with those in other parts of Spain. The protest began in early April 2012 in Catalonia, with minor extensions in Valencia and the Balearic Islands by the following month. [34][35]
At an institutional level, several municipalities of Catalonia came together to create the Associació de Municipis per la Independència ("Association of Municipalities for Independence"), an organisation officially established on 14 December 2011 in Vic which brings local organisations together to further the national rights of Catalonia and promote its right to self-determination. [36]
Changes in support for independence in Catalonia through time can be seen by comparing the results of a survey conducted by Spain's Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas in 1996, which asked: "Personally, would you support or reject Catalonia becoming independent?" with more recent surveys carried out in 2011 and 2012, revealing the level of support in a referendum on the independence of Catalonia. During the morning, like every year, wreaths were laid on the monument to Rafael Casanova in Barcelona's Ronda Sant Pere. An official ceremony was then held in Parc de la Ciutadella where, according to government spokesman Francesc Homs, "our national sentiment" and especially "the Catalan language, after the recent attacks" would be celebrated. The event was led by playwright John Ollé and emceed by the previous director of the Catalan public TV, journalist Mònica Terribas. The official ceremony began with a parade by the Catalan police, the Mossos d'Esquadra. Then, the town Capmany—symbolising the "fight against fire" after its comarca of Alt Empordà suffered a serious wildfire this summer—delivered the Catalan flag to President Artur Mas. [56]
During the ceremony, several local bands played songs and read poems by Catalan authors. Portuguese singer Maria de Medeiros performed as guest artist, singing a poem by Ausiàs March, a Valencian medieval author. The Government also commemorated several anniversaries, including those of Antoni Maria Alcover, Montsalvatge, Eduard Toldrà and Pere Calders. The official image of the National Day was a reproduction of the painting The Catalan Spirit (1971), by Antoni Tàpies. [57]
The march officially began at the intersection of Gran Via and Passeig de Gràcia (near Plaça de Catalunya) at 6:00 pm, descending Pau Claris street to the Via Laietana, finally ending, near the Parliament of Catalonia building in the Parc de la Ciutadella, at the intersection of Marquès de l'Argentera street and Passeig de Picasso, where a stage was set up. Núria de Gispert, the President of the Catalan Parliament, received a delegation from the Catalan National Assembly (ANC), the organisers of the march, who called for the process leading to secession from Spain to be started. [58]
A banner with the slogan "Catalonia: New European State" led the march. The banner was presented on 5 September in the central Plaça Catalunya, the same day that Carme Forcadell, in the press conference for the presentation, said "The people are prepared, and we need the government and our institutions to take a step forward, because we want a free and sovereign country, we want independence. "[59]
The banner was carried by 10 representatives of the territorial regions of the ANC and by 10 representatives of the Association of Municipalities for Independence (AMI). Directly behind them was the president of the ANC, Carme Forcadell and the vicepresident, Carles Castellanos. They were accompanied by Joan Rigol and Ernest Benach. The third group was formed by a group of representatives of both the ANC and the AMI. [60]
Next in the march came the political parties who confirmed that they would attend: (CDC, UDC, ICV, ERC, SI, RI) and other entities like Òmnium Cultural, Plataforma Pro Seleccions, Sobirania i Progrés, and Sobirania i justícia, among others. The Popular Unity Candidates (CUP) and the Independentist Left went ahead with their own demonstration on 11 September and did not participate in the march in an official capacity, while allowing their members to join it if they wanted to. [61]
The other political parties with representation in the regional parliament of Catalonia at the time –PSC, PP and Ciutadans– had refused to participate in demonstration due to its secessionist intent, making it the first time in modern times since these rallies started by the Spanish transition to democracy when not all of the Catalan political parties participated in this kind of rally. The fifth and largest group was formed by the public. Organisations, municipalities and institutions from all over Catalonia booked buses to bring people to the event. The anticipation of a massive turnout led the organisers to change the route several times. [62] The mayors of Girona, Manresa and Figueres organised special Renfe trains to Barcelona.
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Ransomware attack leads to shutdown of major U.S. pipeline system
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A ransomware attack led one of the nation’s biggest fuel pipeline operators to shut down its entire network on Friday, according to the company and two U.S. officials familiar with the matter. While it is not expected to have an immediate impact on fuel supply or prices, the attack on Colonial Pipeline, which carries almost half of the gasoline, diesel and other fuels used on the East Coast, underscores the potential vulnerability of industrial sectors to the expanding threat of ransomware strikes. It appears to have been carried out by an Eastern European-based criminal gang — DarkSide, according to a U.S. official and another person familiar with the matter. Federal officials and the private security firm Mandiant, a division of FireEye, are still investigating the matter, they said. The Cybersecurity 202: A group of industry, government and cyber experts have a big plan to disrupt the ransomware crisis “We are engaged with the company and our interagency partners regarding the situation,” said Eric Goldstein, executive assistant director of the cybersecurity division at the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, or CISA. “This underscores the threat that ransomware poses to organizations regardless of size or sector. We encourage every organization to take action to strengthen their cybersecurity posture to reduce their exposure to these types of threats.” President Biden was briefed on the incident on Saturday morning, a White House statement said. It said the federal government is working to assess the incident’s implications, avoid disruption to supply and help Colonial Pipeline restore operations “as quickly as possible.” Colonial Pipeline said in a statement on Friday that it had temporarily shut down all its pipeline operations after learning it had been hit by a cyber attack on some of its “information technology” or business network systems that day. As a result, the firm said, it “proactively took certain systems offline to contain the threat.” Early on Saturday afternoon, the company confirmed that the attack “involves ransomware.” It said it had notified law enforcement and other federal agencies. Colonial’s 5,500 miles of pipelines carry fuel from refineries on the Gulf Coast to customers in the southern and eastern United States. It says it transports 45 percent of the fuel consumed on the East Coast, reaching 50 million Americans. Ransomware attacks, in which hackers lock up computer systems — usually by encrypting data — and demand payment to free up the system, are a global scourge. In recent years, they have affected everyone from banks and hospitals to universities and municipalities — almost 2,400 organizations in the United States were victimized last year alone, one security firm reported. But the attackers are increasingly targeting industrial sectors because these firms are more willing to pay up to regain control of their systems, experts say. “The downtime for industrial companies can cost millions,” said Robert M. Lee, the chief executive of Dragos, a major cybersecurity firm that handles incidents in the industrial control sector. U.S. officials and experts in industrial control security said such attacks are more common than is publicly known and that most just do not get reported. “There are absolutely cases in industrial operations where ransomware impacts operations,” but often the stories don’t hit the news, Lee said. “There are lots of industrial control companies that are battling ransomware around the United States.” The Cybersecurity 202: Lawmakers scramble for legislative solutions to a growing ransomware crisis The trend exploded in the last three years after the WannaCry and NotPetya computer worms showed cyber criminals how targeting companies in critical industrial sectors is more likely to make companies pay out, Lee said. The DarkSide group has hit utility firms before, said Allan Liska, intelligence analyst at the cyber threat research firm Recorded Future. In February, ransomware attacks disrupted operations at two Brazilian state-owned electric utility companies, Centrais Eletricas Brasileiras (Eletrobras) and Companhia Paranaense de Energia (Copel), he said. Private firms that investigate cyber intrusions say they are handling cases involving DarkSide using ransomware to target American industrial companies. But there are many other ransomware groups that seem to be targeting such firms in greater numbers than ever before, analysts said. Carrying off a ransomware attack does not require great technical sophistication, Liska said. In the world of criminal ransomware operations, some crews specialize in gaining access and others pay for that access and then lock up the data, he said. DarkSide generally falls into the lock up crew category, he said. “The last few years have been incredibly busy” because the proliferation of vulnerabilities in firewalls and virtual private networks have allowed ransomware criminals to gain access to networks at an unprecedented scale, Lee said. “To put it simply, we are on the cusp of a global digital pandemic driven by greed,” former top DHS cyber official Christopher Krebs told Congress on Wednesday. He called the ransomware emergency a “digital dumpster fire.” Last year, CISA warned pipeline operators about the threat of ransomware. CISA responded to a ransomware attack on a natural gas compression facility in which the attacker gained access to the corporate network and then pivoted to the operational network, where it encrypted on various devices. As a result, the firm shut down operations for about two days, CISA said. The DHS warning to operators came after members of Congress in 2018 urged the agency to do more to protect pipelines from cyber attacks. Though there is as yet no known foreign government nexus to the Colonial Pipeline incident, the U.S. government has in the past asserted links between Russian spy services and ransomware rings. Last month, the Treasury Department stated that the Russian internal security service, FSB, “cultivates and co-opts criminal hackers, including” a group called Evil Corp., “enabling them to engage in disruptive ransomware attacks.” Treasury sanctioned Evil Corp. in late 2019. Cybersecurity researchers believe that DarkSide operates mostly out of Russia, which U.S. officials and cybersecurity experts have accused of harboring cyber criminals. These criminals avoid targeting victims in Russia, experts say. In January 2019, the Director of National Intelligence, Daniel Coats, warned at an annual worldwide threat briefing that China has the ability to launch cyber attacks that cause temporary disruptive effects on critical infrastructure, “such as disruption of a natural gas pipeline for days to weeks” in the United States. He did not specify what type of cyber tool or mention ransomware explicitly. A task force of more than 60 experts from industry, government, nonprofits and academia last month urged a series of coordinated actions by industry, government and civil society. Their recommendations include mandating that organizations report ransom payments and requiring them to consider alternatives before making payments. Governments, they said, could provide support to help firms hold out longer. The recommendations also call for global diplomatic and law enforcement efforts to induce countries from providing safe havens to ransomware criminals. “Proposing this framework is merely the first step,” the task force said, “and the real challenge is in implementation.” The Biden administration is expected in the coming weeks to issue an executive order aimed at shoring up the cybersecurity of federal civilian agencies. Though it will not specifically address private critical infrastructure, it is expected to drive standards for federal contractors that experts hope will ripple across the private sector. Last month, the White House and Energy Department launched a 100-day action plan focused on boosting the cybersecurity of electricity sector industrial systems. The idea is to eventually expand that effort to gas pipelines and water systems. Prices for refined oil products are slumping on the Gulf Coast because of the shutdown. Analysts say that depending on how long the pipelines are out of service, prices for gasoline and jet fuel could rise in the New York area, as they did in 2017 when a hurricane forced a shutdown. Bob McNally, founder of the Rapidan Energy Group, said although the shutdown of the Colonial system is “massive,” if the company is able to restart operations within a couple of days, he does not expect an impact on fuel prices. “The critical thing now is the duration,” he said. “Right now, everything depends this weekend on news that the market gets about the duration of the outage.” Storage in both the Gulf Coast region and the Northeast “can largely mitigate the impact of a short-term event,” said Bernadette Johnson, senior vice president of power and renewables at a company called Enverus. But if the shutdown lasts much longer than a few days, there could be a cascade of dramatic impacts, including higher prices and consumer hoarding of gasoline supplies, McNally said. Gasoline prices have been edging higher in recent weeks, in line with typical seasonal trends. The Colonial pipeline system “is an irreplaceable, vital jugular for fuel supply to the East Coast,” McNally said. “It’s the major artery and there are no real other good options to replace it.” One of Colonial’s two pipelines ruptured last summer in North Carolina, spilling 1.2 million gallons of gasoline, the largest spill in the state’s history. On March 29, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), a division of the Department of Transportation, informed Colonial that its investigation of the North Carolina spill raised serious concerns about safety. “PHMSA’s ongoing investigation indicates that conditions may exist on the Colonial Pipeline System that pose a pipeline integrity risk to public safety, property or the environment,” it said in a proposed safety order. “The conditions that led to the failure potentially exist throughout the Colonial Pipeline System. Further, Colonial’s inability to effectively detect and respond to this release, as well as other past releases, has potentially exacerbated the impacts of this and numerous other failures over the operational history of Colonial’s entire system. ... It appears that the continued operation of the Colonial Pipeline System without corrective measures would pose a pipeline integrity risk to public safety, property, or the environment.” In 2016, a Colonial pipeline exploded and released 4,400 barrels of gasoline into a pond in Shelby County, Ala. One worker was killed. Recovery and repair procedures were hampered by dangerous clouds of gasoline and benzene vapors, PHMSA reported. Later that year, an underground leak of more than 7,000 barrels was discovered by a mine inspector in Alabama. That leak was attributed to pipe fatigue caused by improper preparation of the soil beneath it. For both incidents, the company agreed to pay the state $3.3 million to cover damages and penalties. The most important news stories of the day, curated by Post editors and delivered every morning.
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Organization Closed
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1990 Dushanbe riots
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The 1990 Dushanbe riots were an anti-government unrest in Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan, from February 12–14, 1990. In 1988, in the aftermath of the Sumgait pogrom and anti-Armenian riots in Azerbaijan, 39 Armenian refugees from Azerbaijan were temporarily resettled in Dushanbe. [1] In 1990, the Armenian influx became a subject of the rumour that triggered riots in Dushanbe. [2] The rumour inflated the number of refugees to 2,500–5,000. [1] According to rumour Armenians allegedly were being resettled in new housing in Dushanbe,[1] which was experiencing an acute housing shortage at that time. [1][3] Despite the fact that Armenian refugees resettled not in public housing but with their relatives, and by 1990 had already left Tajikistan for Armenia,[1] official denouncement of the rumours was not able to stop the protests. Assurances by First Secretary of the Communist Party of Tajikistan Qahhor Mahkamov that no resettlement of Armenians was taking place were rejected by the demonstrators. [4]
Soon, demonstrations sponsored by the nationalist Rastokhez movement turned violent. [4] Radical economical and political reforms were demanded by the protesters. [4] Government buildings, shops and other businesses were attacked and looted. Armenians, Russians,[5] and other ethnic minorities were targeted. Abuse of Tajik women wearing European clothes in public also took place. The riots were put down by Soviet troops called into Dushanbe[6] by Mahkamov. However Mahkamov's over-reliance on military force was criticized by Buri Karimov, a deputy chair of Council of Ministers, who called for the resignation of the leadership of the Tajik Communist Party. On February 14, 1990 Mahkamov and Prime Minister of Tajikistan Izatullo Khayoyev submitted their resignations, but they were not accepted by the Central Committee of the Tajik Communist Party. [4]
During the Dushanbe riots, a period lasting a couple of days, 26 people were killed and 565 were injured. [4] Among the Tajik youth activists convicted for participation in the riots was a future minister of the interior of Tajikistan Yaqub Salimov. [7]
Smaller scale anti-Armenian incidents were also recorded in neighboring Turkmenistan. [8]
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Riot
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2020 Malian protests
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National Committee for the Salvation of the People[1]
Government of Mali
Protests in Mali began on 5 June 2020 when protesters gathered in the streets of Bamako, calling for Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta to resign as president of Mali. The protests ended after a coup d'état on 18 August. Both the president and prime minister of Mali were detained that afternoon, and in the evening they announced their resignations. [2][3][4][5][6]
Numerous factors led to the formation of the 5 June Movement and the August coup d’etat. Tensions had been seething ever since irregularities were reported during the 2018 Malian presidential election. [7] The on-going Mali War in the Tuareg-controlled northern region intensified the situation. Human Rights Watch (HRW) reports have documented army abuses against civilians in the central Mopti and Segou regions,[8] dozens of attacks by armed groups in 2019 that resulted in 456 civilian deaths and hundreds of injuries. [9] Another twelve people were killed due to dissident Fulani in Mopti attacks in April. [10]
Dissidents also questioned the government's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. The first two cases were reported on 25 March 2020,[11] and by the end of May, there were 1,265 cases and 77 deaths. [12]
After repeated postponements,[13][14][15] the first round of the 2020 Parliamentary election was finally held on 29 March 2020. Opposition leader Soumaïla Cissé and members of his electoral team were kidnapped by jihadists three days before the election. [16] He was released on 6 October. [17] Polling stations were ransacked, village leaders were kidnapped, and a roadside bomb killed nine people including three soldiers on election day, 29 March. [18] Voter turnout was only 12% in Bamako. [19]
At least 25 soldiers were killed in an attack on a military base in the northern town of Bamba, Gao Region, on 6 April,[20] and concerns about violence dominated the second round of the elections. [7]
Incidents on 19 April prevented some people from casting votes, and on 30 April the Constitutional Court overturned the results in 31 districts, giving Rally for Mali, which is led by President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta, ten more seats than originally expected. [7] Opposition parties led by Iman Mahmoud Dicko established the Mouvement du 5 juin - Rassemblement des forces patriotiques (in French) (5 June Movement - Rally of Patriotic Forces) on 30 May, and thousands took to the streets in protest on 5 June. [7]
French forces fought the Battle of Talahandak, killing Abdelmalek Droukdel of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb near Tessalit, Kidal Region, 20 kilometres (12 mi) from the Mali-Algeria border. [21]
Boubou Cisse was reappointed Prime Minister on 11 June, when he was instructed to form a new government. [7]
Tens of thousands of Malians protested again on 19 June, demanding the resignation of President Keïta. [22]
On 20 June, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) called for new elections to be held. [22]
President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta and Imam Mahmoud Dicko met on 5 July,[23] but the opposition continued to call for civil disobedience to force Keïta's resignation and the dissolution of Parliament. [7]
Protests turned violent on 10 July. [7] For the next three days, protesters in Bamako clashed with security forces,[24] and security forces reportedly fired live rounds at the protesters, killing at least 11 and injuring 124. [25]
On 23 July, Presidents Muhammadu Buhari (Nigeria), Mahamadou Issoufou (Niger), Nana Akufo-Addo (Ghana), Alassane Ouattara (Côte d'Ivoire), and Macky Sall (Senegal) arrived in Bamako to meet with President Keïta and opposition leaders after a failed ECOWAS mediation mission. [26]
On 27 July, ECOWAS called for the creation of a unity government and warned of sanctions. [7]
Nine new judges, said to be Keïta supporters, were appointed to the Constitutional Court on 10 August, in response to ECOWAS' demands for reform. [7]
Thousands gathered in Independence Square in Bamako on 11 August, where they were met with tear gas and water cannons. [27]
The opposition announced daily protests starting 17 August. [7]
Mutinying soldiers arrested President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta and Prime Minister Boubou Cissé after taking over a military camp near Bamako on the morning of 18 August. [28]
Early in the morning of 19 August, President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta announced his resignation and dissolved parliament. [29] Mahmoud Dicko announced that he was leaving politics. [30] Colonel Assimi Goïta is appointed to head the new government, the Comité national pour le salut du peuple (in French) (National Committee for the Salvation of the People, CNSP). [31][32]
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February Strike
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The February Strike (Dutch: Februaristaking) was a general strike in the German-occupied Netherlands in 1941, during World War II, organised by the then-outlawed Communist Party of the Netherlands in defence of persecuted Dutch Jews and against the anti-Jewish measures and activities of the Nazis in general. The direct causes were a series of arrests and pogroms held by the Germans in the Jewish neighbourhood of Amsterdam, the Jodenbuurt. It started on 25 February 1941 and lasted for two days; on 26 February, 300,000 people joined the strike. The strike was harshly suppressed by the Germans after three days. [1]
The 1941 February Strike is considered to be the first public protest against the Nazis in occupied Europe,[2] and the only mass protest against the deportation of Jews to be organized by non-Jews. [3]
The Netherlands surrendered to Nazi Germany in May 1940, and the first anti-Jewish measures (the barring of Jews from the air-raid defence services) began in June 1940. These culminated in November 1940 in the removal of all Jews from public positions, including universities, which led directly to student protests in Leiden and elsewhere. At the same time, there was an increasing feeling of unrest amongst workers in Amsterdam, especially the workers at the shipyards in Amsterdam-Noord, who were threatened with forced labour in Germany. As tensions rose, the Dutch pro-Nazi movement NSB and its streetfighting arm, the WA ("Weerbaarheidsafdeling" - defence section), were involved in a series of provocations in Jewish neighbourhoods in Amsterdam. This eventually led to a series of street battles between the WA and Jewish self-defence groups and their supporters, culminating in a pitched battle on 11 February 1941 on the Waterlooplein in which WA member Hendrik Koot was badly wounded. He died of his injuries on 14 February 1941. On 12 February 1941, German soldiers, assisted by Dutch police, encircled the old Jewish neighbourhood and cordoned it off from the rest of the city by putting up barbed wire, opening bridges and putting in police checkpoints. This neighbourhood was now forbidden for non-Jews. On 19 February, the German Grüne Polizei stormed into the Koco ice-cream salon in the Van Woustraat. In the fight that ensued, several police officers were wounded. Revenge for this and other fights came in the weekend of 22–23 February, when a large-scale pogrom was undertaken by the Germans. 425 Jewish men of age 20–35 were taken hostage and imprisoned in Kamp Schoorl and eventually sent to the Buchenwald and Mauthausen concentration camps, where most of them died within the year. Of 425, only two survived. Following this pogrom, on 24 February, an open-air meeting was held on the Noordermarkt to organise a strike to protest against the pogrom as well as the forced labour in Germany. The Communist Party of the Netherlands, made illegal by the Germans, printed and spread a call to strike throughout the city the next morning. The first to strike were the city's tram drivers, followed by other city services as well as companies like De Bijenkorf and schools. Eventually 300,000 people joined in the strike, bringing much of the city to a halt and catching the Germans by surprise. [4] Though the Germans immediately took measures to suppress the strike, which had grown spontaneously as other workers followed the example of the tram drivers, it still spread to other areas, including Zaanstad, Kennemerland in the west, Bussum, Hilversum and Utrecht in the east and the south. [5] The strike did not last long. By 27 February, much of it had been suppressed by the German police. Although ultimately unsuccessful, it was significant in that it was the first and only direct action against the Nazis' treatment of Jews in Europe. The next strike would be student strikes in November 1941, and after that the large April–May strikes in 1943 that ushered in a period of armed covert resistance on a national scale. In the rest of Nazi-occupied Europe the Greeks in April 1942,[6] the Danes starting in the summer of 1943, the Luxemburgers in August 1942, the Belgians in May 1941, the Norwegians in September 1941 and the North French miners in May–June 1941 also went on strike, but not as early as the Dutch strike of February 1941 and it has to be noted that the February strike in Amsterdam was the only strike against the way Jews were treated by the Germans in Nazi-occupied Europe. The book De Februari-staking ("The February strike") by historian Ben Sijes was published in 1954. The strike is remembered each year on 25 February, with a march past the De Dokwerker [nl], the memorial made for the strike in 1951 and first unveiled in December 1952. This statue was made by Dutch sculptor Mari Andriessen. All political parties, as well as the city public transport authorities and organizations of Holocaust survivors, participate in the remembrance. Although three communist organisers were shot to death after the strike and 12 communist organizers were sent to jails in Germany, during the Cold War the communists were forced to remember the strike separately from other political groups. For many years after the war, Dutch officials publicly denied contributions by the communists to the strike. [citation needed]
Media related to February strike at Wikimedia Commons
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Strike
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Sri Lanka, World Bank Sign Agreement to Expand Water Supply and Sanitation Coverage for More than 1 Million People
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COLOMBO, September 10, 2021 - The Government of Sri Lanka and the World Bank recently signed a $40 million additional financing for the ongoing Water Supply and Sanitation Improvement Project (WaSSIP), to increase access to the piped water services and improved sanitation. This additional financing will expand water supply, sanitation, and hygiene services in seven districts, reaching more than one million people.
Sajith Atygalle, Secretary to the Ministry of Finance, virtually signed on behalf of the government and Faris Hadad-Zervos, World Bank Country Director for Sri Lanka, signed on behalf of the World Bank.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the urgent need for safe water and sanitation facilities in every home,” said Faris Hadad-Zervos, World Bank Country director of Maldives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka. “The WaSSIP has demonstrated that community-operated water supply schemes can deliver strong and sustainable results, and this additional financing will help expand coverage of water and sanitation schemes to reach many more households.”
The project aims to increase the coverage of piped water by constructing new urban, rural and estate water supply schemes and rehabilitating existing schemes to provide households with a continuous supply of safe water. The project operates in Kegalle, Rathnapura, Monaragala, Badulla, Nuwara Eliya, Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu districts. Under this additional financing, septage treatment plants are planned in two additional districts - Galle and Kurunegala.
“We are extremely happy with the on-going WASSIP and its impact on the local community,” said Hon. Vasudeva Nanayakkara, Minister of Water Supply. “The additional financing will help accelerate the government’s “Water for All” pledge to cover 4.7 million people within the next four years.”
The project will continue to strengthen community-based organizations (CBO) in rural and estate areas and aims to establish a strong federation of CBOs to operate and maintain the water supply services. The project includes specific actions to promote women’s participation and decision-making in CBOs such as skills development to strengthen women’s capacity to take on leadership roles and enhance women’s voice through mentorship from female leaders.
The project will be implemented by the Ministry of Water Supply. The World Bank support of $40 million builds on the existing WASSIP project of $165 million.
There are 18 active projects in the World Bank’s portfolio in Sri Lanka amounting to $2.3 billion in a variety of sectors including transport, urban, water, education, and health.
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Sign Agreement
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Below Deck’s Captain Lee Recovers From Surgery –‘This Will Pass’
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Captain Lee Rosbach from Below Deck is recovering from surgery to repair severe spinal stenosis. Rosbach, who usually comments during Below Deck episodes, was sidelined and in the hospital this week, sharing that he’s still recovering. The surgery comes after he arrived late to the season after having routine heart surgery. “I have a condition that I was born with called AFib, and it’s when your heart will just randomly go into an irregular heartbeat,” Rosbach shared when he arrived on the boat. “They hospitalized me, and they actually burn off parts of your heart that are trouble spots.” Captain Lee was hospitalized for serious spinal surgery Fans wondered where Rosbach was this week , which is when he shared he had surgery. “I have been in a hospital bed all week recovering from a serious spinal surgery,” he shared on Twitter when a fan started questioning him about the latest Below Deck episode. Captain Lee Rosbach from Below Deck appeared on WWHL |Charles Sykes/Bravo/NBCU Photo Bank Rosbach hinted that he was dealing with a medical issue after the Below Deck episode aired. “Ok peeps, have a very busy day tomorrow, thanks so much for tuning in tonight and to anyone I missed, I will catch you on the flip side. Got a date with the Doc in the am. Be well and fair winds and following seas,” he tweeted . He also shared that he was recovering and starting to feel a little better. “I’m doing ok Cindy B,” he replied to a fan who asked how he was feeling. “Just trying to get thru it a have it done. Doc say operation went really well. I’m a bit dopy from meds. But this will pass.” What is spinal stenosis? According to the Mayo Clinic : “Spinal stenosis is a narrowing of the spaces within your spine, which can put pressure on the nerves that travel through the spine. Spinal stenosis occurs most often in the lower back and the neck.” Wishing you a speedy and uneventful recovery! Gentle hugs from from Leah and me. RELATED: ‘And Just Like That …’ Below Deck’s Captain Sandy Says Mr. Big’s Heart Attack Hit Home (Exclusive) The condition is usually a result of “wear-and-tear changes in the spine related to osteoarthritis.” Symptoms include numbness and tingling. Also neck pain and even balance issues. Surgery is often the best way to treat spinal stenosis. Doctors may also attempt to treat the condition using medication and physical therapy. Captain Sandy Yawn wished Rosbach a speedy recovery. “Wishing you a speedy and uneventful recovery! Gentle hugs from Leah and me,” she tweeted along with a sweet photo. “Join us in sending Capt Lee and Mary Anne good thoughts as he get back to feeling better!” Captain Lee went under the knife for rotator cuff surgery in the past Rosbach endured more painful surgery in the past when he had surgery to repair a bicep and rotator cuff . He posted about the impending surgery in 2019 when he shared a photo leaning on his red Corvette. “See that shoulder I’m leaning on, going in tomorrow morning to get it fixed,” he wrote. “Surgery’s at 6 AM. Can’t wait to have it back to normal and back in the gym full bore. Thanks Dr Levy. Rotator Cuff x 2 and bicep repair. All is good. Catch everyone on the flip side.” Back at the wheel, better late than never. This week’s episode left me in as much shock as you guys. — Captain Lee (@capthlr) November 10, 2021 He joked about throwing out the first pitch at a Miami Marlins baseball game before he had the surgery. “Sorry i one hopped it to home plate, I hope I get another chance to do it again after the surgery. I will not disappoint,” he tweeted . When a fan asked if he practiced his pitch ahead of time he shared why he didn’t. “I couldn’t much, 3-4 pitches at the most, I have two tears in my rotator cuff and a torn bicep which I’m getting operated on in the am,” he replied.
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Famous Person - Recovered
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Anchorage man’s magic mushroom selling leads feds to swastika stickers, charges say
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The Anchorage Police Department released photos of a person of interest in its investigation into the placement of swastika stickers on two Anchorage buildings in May. While similar stickers were allegedly found in Luke Foster’s possession, it’s unclear if Foster is the man in the photo or whether he’s been linked to the May sticker investigation. (Photo provided by APD)
An Anchorage man allegedly using an Instagram account to sell hallucinogenic mushrooms was found in possession of swastika-emblazoned stickers similar to those pasted on a Jewish museum and a prominent gay bar in the city last summer.
Luke Edward Foster, 27, faces federal drug dealing and weapons charges. The stickers, along with a black-and-white swastika flag, were allegedly found in Foster’s possession, but are so far not part of the criminal allegations against him.
According to a charging document filed in federal court in November, Foster was the Instagram user behind an account called “FrostyFungi,” which posted pictures of psilocybin mushrooms and their production but claimed none were for sale.
As it turned out, the mushrooms were for sale, according to the charges.
Here’s what federal investigators say in the charging document:
It was in early November that an undercover investigator contacted the Instagram account about buying a sticker with the FrostyFungi logo. The account user suggested meeting in an Anchorage Walmart parking lot.
The investigator met Foster in the parking lot, where he saw Foster with a Glock handgun sitting on his lap. The investigator gave Foster $20, and Foster said he had something for him.
Foster showed the investigator a chocolate bar laced with mushrooms he said he’d made. And he gave the investigator some psilocybin tablets from a bag in the back of his vehicle.
“Foster told the (investigator) how one had to watch how much one takes, otherwise one would be tripping ‘hard,’” the charges say. “Foster told the (investigator) how the psychedelic mushrooms could help medicinally, and how ‘big pharma’ was going to try and take over. Foster said his purpose was spreading information and helping people.”
In a later meeting, the investigator bought more mushrooms from Foster, and the two discussed growing techniques, as well as firearms. At one point, Foster described spending his Permanent Fund dividend on a 3D printer that he planned to use to print guns. Before they parted, Foster told the investigator he was going home to make a “Tannerite-stuffed dog.”
Tannerite is a compound used, in some cases, to make targets that explode when hit by a bullet. As the charges explain, discussions among online subcultures have included the idea of stuffing Tannerite into toy dogs, “as a solution to a perceived problem of police officers killing pet dogs during enforcement actions. The discussion(s) theorize that a police officer will shoot the stuffed dog, causing the Tannerite to explode, injuring, maiming, or killing the officers nearby.”
About two weeks after that encounter, federal agents were executing search warrants on Foster’s home, vehicle and person. That’s when they allegedly found more psilocybin mushrooms, dozens of capsules, some LSD and multiple firearms, including one that appeared to be equipped with a silencer.
The agents also found a one-wheeled scooter with yellow trim, a black flag with a white swastika on it, as well as the swastika stickers, which read, “We are everywhere.”
Since last May, Anchorage police have been on the lookout for a suspect who put stickers like those allegedly found in Foster’s possession on the Anchorage Jewish Museum, as well as Mad Myrna’s, a gay bar in downtown Anchorage.
A rabbi at the museum said surveillance video showed a tall, thin man wearing a hood and mask pasting the stickers, having arrived and left on a one-wheel scooter.
At the time, the FBI said it was investigating the case alongside police as a potential civil rights crime.
The federal drug and gun charges don’t say anything else about the stickers or flag, and a federal prosecutor assigned to the case declined to comment Thursday.
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Famous Person - Commit Crime - Investigate
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Street of Dreams arson fires
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On March 3, 2008, four multimillion-dollar homes were set on fire in Echo Lake, Washington, on Echo Lake Road, off State Highway 522. [1] Slogans spray-painted on one of the burned houses' fences attributed the arson to the Earth Liberation Front, with words such as "Built Green? Nope black! McMansions in RCDs r not green. ELF." ELF is a collective name for anonymous and autonomous individuals or groups that, use "economic sabotage and guerrilla warfare to stop the exploitation and destruction of the natural environment". [2]
The houses were built in the summer of 2007 as part of "Seattle Street of Dreams" project, an annual luxury home showcase offered across the United States and parts of Canada. The 2007 theme was "green and sustainable building"; one property had won an award from a local group known as BuiltGreen. [3]
Residents and drivers within the area immediately called nearby fire departments, who were able to save one of the four houses set on fire. The fire caused $7 million worth of damage. [4] No one was injured in the fire, as the homes were unoccupied at the time. The homes were rebuilt after the fire. The FBI, police, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are currently investigating[needs update] the incident. Some question whether the arson was an ELF action or an act of insurance fraud. [5][6] The developer of one of the houses destroyed in the fire has since pleaded guilty to multiple counts of first-degree theft associated with his construction projects. [7]
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Fire
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Now that prosecutors have put Doc Gallagher in prison for life, focus turns to his mistress
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Now that prosecutors have put Doc Gallagher in prison for life, focus turns to his mistress Watchdog Dave Lieber reveals evidence prosecutors have that allegedly shows Debra Carter was deeply involved in Gallagher’s Ponzi scheme. Doc Gallagher, whose real name is William Neil Gallagher, is escorted to his sentencing hearing on Nov. 1, 2021 at the Tarrant County Courthouse by a sheriff's deputy. He was sentenced to three life terms on top of another 25 year sentence. He's 80 years old. Known as the "Money Doctor" on North Texas AM radio stations, he swindled millions from 190 victims in the Dallas-Fort Worth region. Now details emerge about his alleged accomplice, his mistress. By Dave Lieber 12:46 PM on Nov 5, 2021 CDT Attention in one of the biggest financial swindles in Dallas-Fort Worth history now shifts from the con man to a woman described in court testimony as his mistress. Prosecutors allege that Debra Mae Carter received $1.6 million from William Neil “Doc” Gallagher and used the money to invest in real estate. Prosecutors say they hope to prove Carter hid property from authorities who are working to collect assets to pay back victims of Gallagher’s Ponzi scheme. Gallagher, the AM radio financial guru who called himself the Money Doctor even though his doctorate was in philosophy, was sentenced last week in Tarrant County to three life sentences, plus 30 years. Since he’s 80, he’ll die in prison. Add to that a 25-year sentence he received in Dallas County , plus an order to pay $10 million back to victims (which will never happen). Gallagher avoided a trial by pleading guilty to fraud. Cort Thomas, the court-appointed receiver placed in charge of Gallagher’s shuttered business, says he believes Gallagher stole at least $23 million from 190 Dallas-Fort Worth victims. Gallagher never invested the money, but instead shoveled it into his ongoing Ponzi scheme. William Neil "Doc" Gallagher in a radio show promotion photo(Courtesy) Victims testify Last week, for the first time, victims testified how he ruined their lives by wiping out their life savings. Gallagher, who has been in jail for two years, wore a striped jail jumpsuit. His gray hair is long, and he has a beard. He did not speak at the sentencing hearing. He stared straight ahead and did not look at his victims. Most said they were attracted to Gallagher because of his devotion to God and his presence on area radio stations, including KLTY, a Christian station. He bought time on the stations to promote his investment company. ‘Done nothing wrong’ Carter, 62, whom prosecutors allege was his accomplice, faces fraud charges in a criminal trial next year. They cite her purchase of a 900-acre Comanche County ranch for $4 million after she had previously promised that she listed all assets she received. That was a surprise to Cort Thomas, the court-appointed receiver in the case. He is trying to recoup as much money as possible and return it to victims. Carter was not available to The Watchdog, but her lawyer, Michael J. Todd of Dallas, says he will prove her innocence in court. “She’s done nothing wrong,” he told me. “She was trying to be cooperative and give back properties.” “Miss Carter was not involved in any Ponzi scheme that Doc Gallagher was involved in.” Search warrant Carter, who lives in Carlton in Comanche County, was indicted for theft, money laundering and exploitation of the elderly. Her Tarrant County jury trial date is unscheduled. She remains free on bond. A search warrant of her home reveals that Carter worked for the Christian TV network Daystar as a donor liaison. Her job was to cultivate donors. Prosecutors will argue that Carter steered donors away from Daystar and towards the Gallagher Financial Group. For that, she allegedly received $1 million in referral fees from Gallagher. Todd, her lawyer, says there is “no proof” of that. Prosecutors say they have witnesses who can prove it. She was fired from Daystar earlier this year due to her alleged involvement in Gallagher’s scam. During the search of her property, Carter told investigators she kept gold and silver in a travel trailer. The gold and silver, worth about $200,000, were seized. Her lawyer says that treasure trove had nothing to do with Gallagher’s scam: “She’s been buying gold and silver for 20 years,” he explained. Prosecutors charge that Gallagher tried to hide Carter’s role in his scheme. He never volunteered information on her, testimony showed. But eventually as the receiver worked to put together the puzzle, her prominent role emerged. Witnesses One by one last week, victims took the witness stand to tell how their financial losses ruined their lives. Most described shame and embarrassment. Some said they would no longer trust anyone. Notably, two veteran police officers were victims, too. Retired Watauga policeman Steven Hickman, a 29-year veteran, testified that he lost $245,000. “We erroneously thought the radio stations vetted these individuals,” he testified. “Obviously, they don’t.” Ed Gordon, chief investigator for the Erath County district attorney’s office, lost $175,000. He testified that Carter vouched for Gallagher. Under questioning from Lori Varnell, chief of Tarrant County DA’s elder financial fraud unit, Gordon said of Gallagher, “He knew what my occupation was, and he had the gall to think he could do this with that kind of impunity — and was able to get away with it. “I no longer trust anything being advertised or endorsed by the radio on any other investment.” Varnell asked for life sentences for Gallagher. She got them. Tarrant County Assistant District Attorney Lori Varnell hugs a victim after a sentencing hearing for Doc Gallagher on Nov. 1, 2021. Cort Thomas, the court-appointed receiver who shut down Gallagher's business, is at left Hoverlink investment Testimony showed that Gallagher gave Carter $400,000 in shares for a company called Hoverlink. At first, Hoverlink was to be a rink where people could ride hoverboards. Then it morphed into a pharmaceutical company with a supposed cancer cure. From there, it expanded to sell body armor for law enforcement. But the most ambitious plan for Hoverlink was that a satellite would shine holographic advertising down to Earth. Nothing ever came of these ideas. Hoverlink was called a fake shell company in testimony from Tarrant County forensic financial analyst Justin Driscoll. For Gallagher, now divorced from his wife, Gail, the only numbers that will matter to him is his state prison number: 02328785. The mistress, meanwhile, is trying to avoid a conviction and her own prison number. Carter’s lawyer, Todd, told me he has a strong defense: “Like I told Debra, we’ve got a lot to work with in this case.” To learn more and follow the case, visit the court-appointed receiver’s website: gallagherfg.com . Staff researcher Erin Sood contributed to this report. Lori Varnell, the Tarrant County district attorney’s chief of the elder financial fraud unit, photographed in her office at the Tim Curry Criminal Justice Center in Fort Worth on Wednesday, Nov. 3, 2021.
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Famous Person - Commit Crime - Sentence
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Delaware Humane Association, SPCA to merge
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DELAWARE – Two organizations in the First State are teaming up in an effort to help take care of more animals in the state and help them find a loving home. The Delaware Humane Association and The Delaware SPCA announced they’ll be merging together this year, creating one organization dedicated to serving animals. Patrick Carroll, the Executive Director of the Humane Association, says the merger will give both organizations more physical space to help animals, more hands on staff, and potentially more grants and funding. He says when they looked at the work both teams were doing, this was an easy answer. “Just several months ago we just kind of came to the recognition that we’re both trying to do the same thing, our missions are very similar, we’re very similar in size, and it just makes sense to combine our strengths and our assets,” Carroll said. Carroll says the two organizations will work on the integration process this summer and they hope to be fully merged by this fall. In the meantime, he says both organizations rely a lot of donations and community support and they’re hoping they still receive that support after the merger.
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Organization Merge
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Disease outbreaks more likely in deforestation areas, study finds
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Tree-planting can also increase health risks if it focuses too narrowly on small number of species, paper says Last modified on Fri 29 Oct 2021 13.28 BST Outbreaks of infectious diseases are more likely in areas of deforestation and monoculture plantations, according to a study that suggests epidemics are likely to increase as biodiversity declines. Land use change is a significant factor in the emergence of zoonotic viruses such as Covid-19 and vector-borne ailments such as malaria, says the paper, published on Wednesday in Frontiers in Veterinary Science. Even tree-planting can increase health risks to local human populations if it focuses too narrowly on a small number of species, as is often the case in commercial forests, the research found. The authors said this was because diseases are filtered and blocked by a range of predators and habitats in a healthy, biodiverse forest. When this is replaced by a palm oil plantation, soy fields or blocks of eucalyptus, the specialist species die off, leaving generalists such as rats and mosquitoes to thrive and spread pathogens across human and non-human habitats. The net result is a loss of natural disease regulation. “I was surprised by how clear the pattern was,” said one of the authors, Serge Morand, of the French National Centre for Scientific Research. “We must give more consideration to the role of the forest in human health, animal health and environmental health. The message from this study is ‘don’t forget the forest’.” The researchers examined the correlation between trends for forest cover, plantations, population and disease around the globe using statistics from international institutions such as the World Health Organization, the World Bank, the Food and Agricultural Organization and the Gideon epidemic database. Over the period of study from 1990 to 2016, this covered 3,884 outbreaks of 116 zoonotic diseases that crossed the species barrier and 1,996 outbreaks of 69 vector-borne infectious diseases, mostly carried by mosquitoes, ticks or flies. The paper shows outbreaks increased over time, while plantations expanded rapidly and overall forest cover declined gradually. By itself, a correlation is not proof of causality because other factors may be involved, such as climate disruption. The authors bolster their argument with multiple references to individual case studies that highlight the links between epidemics and land use change. In Brazil, scientists have demonstrated that deforestation increases the risks of outbreaks of malaria. In south-east Asia, studies have shown how forest clearing favours the mosquito Anopheles darlingi, which is a vector for several diseases. Loss of primary forests has also been identified as a factor in the emergence of Ebola in west Africa and the re-emergence of arthropod-borne leishmaniasis. The new study adds to a growing body of evidence that viruses are more likely to transfer to humans or animals if they live in or near human-disturbed ecosystems, such as recently cleared forests or swamps drained for farmland, mining projects or residential projects. This is shaped by trade patterns and consumer behaviour. A quarter of global forest loss is driven by the production of commodities such as beef, soy, palm oil and wood fibre. Mining adds to this problem by contaminating rivers and streams that are vital for a resilient ecosystem, carbon sequestration and soil quality. Morand said his study showed that disease risks needs to be added to risk-benefit analysis of new projects. “We should take the costs of public health into account when considering new plantations or mines. The risks are first to local people, but then worldwide because we have seen with Covid how quickly diseases can spread.” He is particularly concerned about the deteriorating environmental health of the Amazon rainforest. Under the Brazilian president, Jair Bolsonaro, deforestation has surged to levels not seen in more than a decade and public health systems have been so mismanaged that the country now has the worst Covid death rate in the world. “Everyone in the field of planetary health is worried about what is happening to biodiversity, climate and public health in Brazil,” Morand said. “The stress there is growing. The Amazon is near a tipping point due to climate change, which is not good at all for the world ecosystem. If we reach the tipping point, the outcomes will be very bad in terms of drought, fires and for sure in terms of disease.” Other areas of concern include the rainforests of the Congo basin and south-east Asia, and monoculture afforestation projects in China, Europe and the US. “Our results clearly suggest that it is not only forest clearance that is responsible for outbreaks of infectious diseases, but also reforestation or afforestation, particularly in countries outside the tropical zone,” the paper notes. Morand is now working on a more detailed study that will use satellite analysis of forest cover to examine links with disease. With more information, he believes it may be possible to predict future outbreaks and to work with local communities to build ecologically diverse and economically productive landscapes that reduce the risks. As the author of a 2016 book called The Next Plague, he says it is only a matter of time until the next pandemic. “The risks are very high. It’s just a case of when and where. We need to prepare.”
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Disease Outbreaks
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Grunwick Dispute
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The Grunwick dispute was a British industrial dispute involving trade union recognition at the Grunwick Film Processing Laboratories in Chapter Road, Dollis Hill in the London suburb of Willesden, that led to a two-year strike between 1976 and 1978. [1]
During a decade of industrial unrest, the Grunwick dispute became a cause célèbre of trade unionism and labour relations law, and "at its height involved thousands of trade unionists and police in confrontations, ... with over 500 arrests on the picket line and frequent police violence". [2][3][4] The total of 550 arrests made during the strike was at the time the highest such figure in any industrial dispute since the General Strike of 1926. [5] Journalist Paul Foot described the dispute as "a central battleground between the classes and between the parties". [6](1:15) The dispute was reported nightly on the national television news, depicting the often violent clashes between the supporters of the strikers and the Metropolitan Police's Special Patrol Group. [7] Grunwick was the first time that this paramilitary police unit had been deployed in an industrial dispute. [8][9] The mostly female, immigrant, East African Asian strikers – dubbed "strikers in saris" by the news media – were led by Jayaben Desai, whose membership of the union was later suspended following her hunger strike outside the Trades Union Congress (TUC) headquarters in November 1977. [10] This was also the first dispute where the majority of strikers were from an ethnic minority and still received widespread support from the labour movement – previous disputes involving immigrant workers which had taken place in Leicester and Southall had "remained marginalised" and had even led to "open and ugly racism on the part of white union members and their leaders". [11][12][13]
The incumbent Labour government commissioned the Scarman Inquiry, chaired by Lord Scarman, which recommended both union recognition and re-instatement of the workers, but the employer, backed by the right-wing National Association For Freedom (NAFF) and the Conservative Party, rejected the recommendations. The TUC subsequently withdrew their support and the workers' strike committee announced the end of the dispute in June 1978. The repercussions of the strike for British industrial relations were far-reaching, significantly weakening the British trades union movement. The Conservative Party and other members of the right wing saw this as a major political and ideological victory, preparing the ground for Conservative success in the 1979 general election and their subsequent curbing of the unions' power in the 1980s. [8]
Grunwick Film Processing Laboratories was a photographic finishing and processing business, trading under a variety of brand names including Bonusprint, Doubleprint and Tripleprint, founded in 1965 by George Ward, John Hickey and Tony Grundy. [14] At the time of the dispute, the firm operated on a postal basis, in which customers mailed undeveloped films and payment to the laboratory and received finished photographs back through the postal service. The growth of amateur colour photography meant that small High Street chemists which had previously serviced this market "could no longer afford the equipment to develop family snapshots, and the photo-processing field was left wide open for larger, specialist companies" such as Grunwick. [15]
In 1973, there had been a previous dispute over union recognition at Grunwick, and a number of workers who joined the Transport and General Workers Union (TGWU) were subsequently laid off. [1] Shirley Williams described it as employing "a great many Asian women on fairly long hours and pretty low wages" – the average pay at Grunwick was £28 per week while the average national wage was £72 per week and the average full-time wage for a female manual worker in London was £44 per week. [6](3:16)[15] Overtime was compulsory and often no prior notice would be given. Of the company's 440 employees, 80% were of Asian origin and 10% of Afro-Caribbean origin, and application forms for employment at Grunwick asked for passport numbers and "date of arrival in the UK. "[12][16][17] The MP for Brent South, Laurence Pavitt, said that in his dealings with the company over "many years" prior to the dispute, the management had been rude and intransigent, failing to respond to his letters, and treated the workers in a "deplorable fashion. "[18]
MP Joe Ashton accused the firm of "exploiting coloured workers", and writer and political activist Amrit Wilson asserted that Grunwick's management "made use of the poverty of Asians" and would turn away non-Asian applicants. [16][18] Grunwick strikers explained: "Imagine how humiliating it was for us, particularly for older women, to be working and to overhear the employer saying to a younger, English girl 'you don't want to come and work here, love, we won't be able to pay the sort of wages that'll keep you here' – while we had to work there because we were trapped. "[16] Jayaben Desai said: "The strike is not so much about pay, it is a strike about human dignity. "[19] The 1977 Scarman Inquiry would ultimately conclude that "physical working conditions in the company before the strike were good; although the rates of pay were low prior to the strike, the company increased financial benefits paid to workers in November 1976 and April 1977 [until] the rates of pay were broadly comparable with, and in some respects, slightly better than, those paid by comparable firms in the industry... and employees understood and accepted the requirement of compulsory overtime during busy periods. "[20] A claim by the Socialist Workers Party alleging that Grunwick was a "racist" employer was also later withdrawn as "completely untrue and unfair". [21] In fact, George Ward was himself of Anglo-Indian extraction born in New Delhi in 1933, the son of a wealthy accountant - although this in itself does not preclude his actions being motivated by institutional racism and the belief that Indian workers should be paid less by virtue of their race. Although there were allegations that the working conditions at Grunwick resembled those of a sweatshop, other contemporary writers described the premises as "clean and well lit but frugal. "[15][22] However, the dispute began during the hottest summer in the UK since records began, when the air-conditioning at the premises was not then in operation, and no allowance was made for this in terms of the employees' productivity. [15]
The strike was sparked by the dismissal of Devshi Bhudia, at the firm's Chapter Road premises, on Friday 20 August 1976 for working too slowly. Three others, Chandrakant Patel, Bharat Patel and Suresh Ruparelia, walked out in support of him. At 6:55 pm Jayaben Desai put on her coat to leave and was called into the office, where she was dismissed for doing so. [23] Her son Sunil walked out in support of her. [24] On 23 August 1976 the six began picketing outside Grunwick, and were advised by the Citizens Advice Bureau to contact a trade union to represent them. They were then advised by the TUC to contact APEX, the Association of Professional, Executive, Clerical and Computer Staff, described by Shirley Williams, who was at the time sponsored by APEX, as "famous throughout the trade union movement as the most determinedly moderate and fundamentally anti-communist union of them all. "[6](5:31) Others called it the "least dynamic and most right-wing of trade unions", and pointed out that as a "white-collar" union it was not well-disposed to draw upon support from its members, often "isolated groups of workers" employed in small offices. [15]
Having signed up as members of APEX, the pickets returned to Grunwick where 50 more workers walked out demanding the right to join the union. The pickets also headed to Grunwick's nearby Cobbold Road premises where a further 25 workers walked out and joined the strike. [1] According to APEX's subsequent testimony at the Scarman Inquiry, their grievance with the company consisted of "low pay, long hours with compulsory overtime, petty restrictions imposed on working people, a bullying attitude on the part of supervision, and frequent dismissals and threats of dismissals," leading to "the expressed intention of bringing in trade union representation. "[6](7:33) On 24 August 1976 Grunwick made an offer to reinstate all striking employees if they dropped their demand for union representation, which was rejected. On 2 September 1976 all 137 striking workers were dismissed from the company's employ. In the intervening period, APEX had declared the strike "official" and sought a meeting with Grunwick management, as did, informally, the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas). The company refused to meet with APEX or ACAS. [3] On 5 September 1976 the general secretary of APEX, Roy Grantham, requested that the Secretary of State for Employment, Albert Booth, establish a court of inquiry into the dispute. On 7 September Grantham addressed the TUC's Annual Congress regarding the Grunwick dispute. As a result, on 7 October 1976 Len Murray, General Secretary of the TUC, requested trade unions give "all possible assistance" to the strikers, including "boycotting Grunwick's services. "[1][15] Acting on the advice of Albert Booth, on 15 October 1976 APEX formally requested ACAS to take up the case under section 11 of the Employment Protection Act 1975 (c.71). [15][18]
When the strike began, members of the Union of Post Office Workers (UPW) refused to cross the picket line to deliver mail, but allowed representatives of the firm to collect it from the local sorting office at Cricklewood. [17] This arrangement ended on 1 November, when UPW agreed to stop handling all mail in or out of Grunwick and refused to allow Grunwick staff to collect it themselves. [1][17] This had an enormous impact on the business, and on 3 November 1976 Ward claimed that the company faced going into liquidation at the end of the week if the mail continued to be withheld. [25] Ward received backing from his local Conservative MP, John Gorst, who called for an emergency debate about the matter in the House of Commons.
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Penrith Panthers handed NRL breach notice, fined $25,000 after incident in Parramatta semi-final
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Penrith has come to the defence of Pete Green, insisting the club trainer and physiotherapist was just doing his job when he stopped play in the dying minutes of the Panthers' NRL semi-final win.
The Panthers have been fined $25,000 and Green suspended for the rest of the season for breaching NRL rules in the controversial 8-6 win over Parramatta.
The NRL handed down a breach notice to the Panthers and head trainer Green, who stopped play when he saw Mitch Kenny in agony with an ankle injury in the 76th minute of Saturday night's match in Mackay.
NRL rules state trainers must not signal to the referee to stop play until an initial assessment has been performed, which was not done on the field, and only then it should be stopped for serious injury.
At the time the Eels, two points down, were riding a surge of momentum and had a numbers overlap 10 metres out from Penrith's line.
But the stoppage in play to attend to Kenny's injured ankle — which will keep him out of Saturday's preliminary final against Melbourne Storm — allowed the Panthers to adjust their defensive line and hold on for the win.
The Panthers maintain it was not a deliberate ploy to stop the match, but merely an action of a physio concerned for an injured player.
"I'm not across the ruling as such, but Greeny is a terrific physio and a great bloke who is honestly just doing his job," Panthers forward Kurt Capewell said.
"As you can see Mitch Kenny has a serious injury in his ankle and he won't be playing this week, so [Green] definitely made the right call in stopping the game.
"The NRL obviously has rules in place to stop people abusing those situations but Greeny wasn't thinking about that, he's all about the welfare of the player."
The sanction is a significant penalty for the Panthers, given Green was also issued a show-cause notice for a similar incident involving Viliame Kikau earlier in the season.
The Panthers claimed they responded to the breach notice by explaining the seriousness of Kikau's hamstring injury.
The club said it received no response from the NRL.
Believing the incident had been sufficiently explained and waived, they were shocked by the severity of Tuesday's breach notice.
It has also left them scrambling to find a replacement physio for the preliminary final at Lang Park, given all clubs are operating on skeleton staff within the NRL bubble in Queensland.
Penrith now has five days to respond to the breach notice.
AAP
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Organization Fine
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Issue Briefs
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"[The Arms Control Association is an] 'exceptional organization that effectively addresses pressing national and international challenges with an impact that is disproportionate to its small size.'"
Iran
Nuclear Nonproliferation
Volume 10, Issue 5, April 30, 2018
President Donald Trump’s unrealistic demands that Congress and Washington’s European partners “fix” the effective 2015 multilateral nuclear agreement with Iran is setting the United States up to violate the deal, jeopardize its future, and undermine U.S. credibility and leverage in the region.
Despite the success of the nuclear deal in verifiably blocking Iran’s potential pathways to a nuclear bomb, Trump has threatened not to renew U.S. sanctions waivers May 12, as required by the nuclear deal, if the E3 (France, Germany, and the United Kingdom) and Washington do not conclude a supplemental agreement designed to address what he terms are “flaws” in the accord.
Although E3 and U.S. negotiators have been meeting since Trump issued his ultimatum in January, it looks increasingly likely that Trump will choose not to renew sanctions waivers May 12, putting the United States in violation of the nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
While there has been progress in areas outside of the nuclear deal that Trump wants to address, such as on ballistic missiles, his demand that an agreement changing the so-called "sunsets"—those provisions of the deal that expire over time—has proven contentious and may prevent the E3 and the United States from finalizing an arrangement. Trump’s claim—that the deal paves the way to an Iranian nuclear weapon in 10 years—is based on a flawed analysis that discounts the value that the permanent monitoring mechanisms and prohibitions put in place by the deal have as a bulwark against nuclear weapons development.
Trump also disregards the fact that his solution, making permanent some of the limitations that expire in 10-25 years under the threat to reimposing sanctions, would violate the accord. Congress and the E3 have rightly resisted agreeing to make demands that would abrogate, or otherwise recast, the terms of the JCPOA. These fundamental differences make an arrangement between the E3 and the United States that addresses Trump’s areas of concerns without violating the agreement difficult to negotiate.
Additionally, given Trump’s record of hostility toward the accord, his campaign pledge to tear up the deal, and his unpredictability, there is no guarantee that even if an agreement on a supplemental arrangement is reached, Trump will accept it or abide by it.
After meeting with Trump and floating the idea of a new agreement that keeps the 2015 nuclear deal in place and, in separate arrangements, addresses regional issues, ballistic missiles, and options for how to address Iran’s nuclear program after the deal expires, French President Emmanuel Macron predicted April 26 that Trump “will get rid of this deal on his own, for domestic reasons.”
While it behooves the E3 to continue pursuing negotiations with the Trump administration on an arrangement that satisfies Trump without violating the deal, the E3, Russia, China, Iran, and the U.S. Congress should now prepare to pursue “plan B”–implementation of the JCPOA without the United States. That must include denouncing Trump’s failure to renew sanctions for what is a clear violation of the deal —and taking steps to sustain the nuclear accord.
For as EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini stated in October, the nuclear agreement is multilateral and it is “not up to a single country to terminate it.”
A Clear Violation of the DealReimposing sanctions is a twofold abrogation of U.S. commitments under the JCPOA and it is critical that members of Congress and Washington’s P5+1 partners recognize it as such. Not only did the United States commit not to reimpose sanctions, Washington also committed not to interfere with the full realization of sanctions relief.
To the first point, Paragraph 26 of the JCPOA clearly states that the United States “acting consistent with the respective roles of the president and Congress, will refrain from reintroducing or reimposing the sanction specified in Annex II that it has ceased applying under this JCPOA.”
Reimposing sanctions lifted by the deal, particularly when even top U.S. officials and critics of the deal admit that Iran is in compliance with its commitments, clearly abrogates U.S. commitments under this paragraph.
Additionally, the reimposition of U.S. sanctions, given the extraterritorial nature of the measures, will interfere with foreign companies and banks conducting legitimate business with Iran that is permitted by the JCPOA.That would directly inhibit Iran from realizing the benefits of sanctions relief.
For instance, the United States also committed in Paragraph 26 to “make best efforts in good faith… to prevent interference with the realization of the full benefit by Iran of the sanctions lifting.” In paragraph 28, the United States committed to “refrain from any policy specifically intended to directly and adversely affect the normalization of trade and economic relations with Iran.”
Even if the administration claims that it is not implementing the sanctions and therefore not violating the deal, failing to renew the waivers will make certain transactions with Iran illegal. Additionally, entities are not going to wait for the Trump administration to start implementing the measures to take actions to comply with the restrictions and avoid being penalized by the United States. The risk of sanctions penalties alone will result in a certain amount of self-enforcement, particularly for the sanctions measures that are due to be renewed May 12.
The Impact of Reimposing Oil Measures
The sanctions that will be reimposed May 12 if Trump does not renew waivers come from the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2012. The sanctions in the NDAA require states purchasing oil from Iran to make significant reductions in imports every 180 days or risk being sanctioned. While “significant reduction” was not defined in the legislation and it is unclear what standard the Trump administration will use, it was understood by the Obama administration to mean an 18 percent decrease in the total price paid for oil purchases every 180 days. If the sanctions are reimposed, compliance would be assessed Nov. 8, 2018. Failure to meet the “significant reduction” standard would result in sanctions on the foreign banks that process the transactions.
Key U.S. allies will be affected if this measure is snapped back. Right now the top five purchasers of Iranian oil include China, Japan, South Korea, India, and the European Union. Some of these states have already begun reducing purchases of Iranian oil in anticipation of the reimposition. South Korea’s purchases of Iranian oil products were down 40 percent in March 2018, when compared to prior year, although that is partially due to a decrease in the supply of certain oil products.
Reimposing these measures will also have a negative impact on support in Iran to maintain the deal, given the central role that oil sales play in Iran’s economy. The increase in oil sales after the JCPOA was implemented constitutes a significant portion of the sanctions relief Iran has experienced under the JCPOA.
In addition to higher sales since the agreement was implemented in 2016, Iran’s production of oil has also rebounded to 4 million barrels per day, up from the approximately 2.6 million barrels per day during the period from 2012-2016 when the EU oil embargo and the U.S. sanctions from the 2012 NDAA were in place. Crude oil sales are up from 1.1 million barrels per day during the negotiations from 2013-2015, when further reductions were capped, to about 2.5 million barrels per day.
Options for Congress If Trump fails to renew the sanctions waivers, it is critical that members of Congress immediately denounce his action as a clear violation of the nuclear deal and call upon Washington’s partners in the agreement to sustain the accord.
Failure to call out Trump for violating the deal could be interpreted as an implicit endorsement of his approach and, more broadly, a rejection of multilateral efforts to address issues of proliferation concern. For this reason, it is also critical that members of Congress call on the remaining P5+1 to continue to implement the nuclear deal with Iran.
At a time when the overarching nonproliferation and disarmament architecture is under considerable stress, the nuclear deal with Iran was widely viewed in the international community as a nonproliferation success that averted a nuclear crisis and brought Iran back into compliance with the nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.
Now, with the deal under threat from Trump, Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, Ali Shamkhani, opened the door to Iranian withdraw from the NPT in response to a U.S. violation of the JCPOA, an action which would have grave consequences for the treaty and remove the binding legal prohibition on developing or acquiring nuclear weapons. Such an action would not only undermine international security, but it would severely undermine Iran’s own security and standing.
Demonstrating that Trump’s extreme view is outside of the mainstream and the deal still has support from policymakers in the United States may help persuade Tehran from making such a drastic move in response to the U.S. violation.
Members of Congress would also be right to point out that Trump will be responsible for the consequences if the U.S. violation ultimately causes the deal to collapse and the damage that would be done to U.S. credibility.
The International Atomic Energy Agency has reported Iran’s compliance with the accord in 10 consecutive reports and Trump’s own Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, a critic of the Iran deal, testified to Congress that there is no evidence of Iranian noncompliance with the accord, there is no legitimate reason for Trump to violate the agreement. Given Iran’s full implementation of the JCPOA, a decision by Trump to violate the accord and risk the future of the nuclear deal should be denounced by responsible members of Congress.
EU Measures to Sustain the Deal Washington’s P5+1 partners, particularly the EU, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom, have committed to the continued implementation of the JCPOA, irrespective of U.S. actions. To sustain the deal, however, the E3 and the EU must do more than just denounce U.S. actions as a violation and detrimental to the future of the nuclear deal.
The EU can, and should, take actions to block the application of U.S. secondary sanctions and seek to assure Iran that the rest of the P5+1 remain committed to Iran realizing sanctions relief under the deal.
The EU has experience responding to U.S. extraterritorial sanctions. In the 1990s, the EU issued blocking regulation to protect its banks and businesses from U.S. sanctions targeting Cuba by instructing the entities not to comply with U.S. sanctions. In that case, the EU had an assurance from the United States that Washington would not target EU businesses for violating the sanctions.
While a handshake agreement that the United States will not seek to penalize EU businesses in the Iran case is highly unlikely, the EU should still pursue the blocking regulation. The blocking regulation probably will not provide enough guarantee that banks and businesses will be shielded from U.S. sanctions that business with Iran will continue–the penalty of being cut off from the U.S. financial system is likely too high a risk—but it will send an important political signal to Iran that the EU supports the deal. Equally important, it sends a message to the United States the decision to reimpose sanctions on Iran is unacceptable and the EU will not be pressured into abiding by U.S. measures.
The EU could also consider setting up channels to facilitate business transactions with Iran that do not rely on the U.S. dollar. Isolating such transactions from the U.S. financial system could provide an avenue for doing business with Iran and demonstrate to Tehran that the EU is still serious about implementing the deal.
These actions will be critical to try and continue sanctions relief. Failure to do so might push Iran to resume troublesome nuclear activities halted by the JCPOA, such as enrichment to 20-percent uranium-235, an activity currently prohibited by the deal until 2031.
As Zarif told CBS April 22, if “benefits of the deal for Iran start to diminish, then there is no reason for Iran to remain in the deal.”
The EU also has other channels for supporting the JCPOA. One often overlooked benefit of the nuclear deal is the technical cooperation for nuclear research and assistance in advancing nuclear safety and security. The EU and Iran have conducted several meetings to date and the results over some clear benefits to Iran. Pledging to continue to help Iran realize the full benefit of Annex III of the JCPOA is another way the EU can show its commitment to the deal.
Russia and China have also indicated support for sustaining the JCPOA and denounced Trump’s threats to the deal. At a meeting on the NPT in Geneva, Russia and China circulated a statement affirming their "unwavering support for the comprehensive and effective implementation" of the deal and invited all states present to sign on to the agreement. The Russian envoy to the meeting called upon states “not to remain silent in hopes that this situation will somehow blow over by itself but rather to take serious steps to preserve the JCPOA.”
Washington’s P5+1 partners should also use the dispute resolution mechanism set up by the JCPOA to present a united front in the face of the U.S. violation or support Iran if Tehran chooses this path. While the dispute resolution might push the E3 and the EU into the unattractive position of siding with Russia and China against the United States, it would send a strong signal to the Trump administration that the United States is isolated in its rejection of the deal.
Beyond the P5+1 The world is looking to the E3 to save the multilateral nuclear deal with Iran–but it is not just the responsibility of the other P5+1 states to avert the nonproliferation crisis that would follow if Trump reimposes sanctions. States beyond the P5+1 have an obligation to contribute to efforts to sustain the deal and uphold nonproliferation norms.
The UN Security Council endorsed the JCPOA in a 2015 resolution that “calls upon all Member States” to “take such actions as may be appropriate to support the implementation of the JCPOA” and “refraining from actions that undermine the implementation of commitments” under the deal. The preamble of the Resolution 2231 also emphasizes the importance of a diplomatic resolution to the Iranian nuclear issue “would benefit nuclear-nonproliferation.” The Security Council resolution statements may be nonbinding, but they underscore the global importance of the deal for nonproliferation and the responsibility that all UN member states have toward supporting the agreement.
States like South Korea, Japan, and India also have a stake in the economic consequences of any U.S. decision to violate the deal and reimpose sanctions. Not only would they be subject to restrictions on oil purchases from Iran, but banks and entities in these countries engaged in legitimate trade with Iran risk penalties if they do not cut ties with Tehran.
Like the EU, these states may think about what measures they can take to shield businesses and entities from U.S. sanctions. Pursuing strategies similar to the EU blocking regulation would send a strong signal of support for the Iran deal and demonstrate to Washington that there are consequences for blatantly disregarding multilateral accords.
ConclusionIf Trump fails to renew sanctions waivers May 12 it will be a clear violation of the multilateral nuclear deal with Iran. Withholding waivers would be irresponsible, dangerous, and risk a nuclear agreement that is verifiably restricting Iran’s nuclear activities. Trump’s action may not cause the deal collapse, but it certainly jeopardizes the future of the JCPOA and isolates the United States from key allies.
It is critical that members of Congress, Washington P5+1 partners, and the broader international community denounce Trump for violating the agreement if he fails to renew the sanctions waivers. Collapse of the agreement would have international consequences. Defending the JCPOA must be a global responsibility.—KELSEY DAVENPORT, director for nonproliferation policy
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Tear Up Agreement
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Oxygen leak leaves 22 covid patients dead at a hospital in India
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NEW DELHI — At least 22 covid-19 patients died Wednesday at a hospital in India after an oxygen tank ruptured, leaving critically ill patients gasping for breath.
A faulty valve in the hospital’s oxygen tank caused the leak, said Suraj Mandhare, a senior district official in Nashik, the city in western India where the deaths took place.
India’s devastating outbreak is driving the global coronavirus surge
At the time of the incident, the hospital was treating more than 150 covid patients, Chhagan Bhujbal, a minister in the state government, told reporters. Nearly all the patients were receiving oxygen support, he said, including 15 who were on ventilators. Local officials said the death toll in the incident could rise.
The accident comes as India confronts a devastating second wave in the coronavirus pandemic that has pushed daily cases and deaths to record highs. Hospitals in several states have been overwhelmed with patients, and demand for oxygen has soared.
In New Delhi, India’s capital, officials have issued stark warnings about looming oxygen shortages. Several major hospitals told the local government on Tuesday that they were hours away from depleting their stocks, the city’s health minister said. Fresh supplies ultimately arrived, but the pressure on hospitals remains immense.
In Nashik, about three hours by road northeast of Mumbai, an oxygen tank at Dr. Zakir Hussain Hospital burst around 12:30 p.m., Bhujbal said. Local television stations showed plumes of white gas inside and outside the hospital. Technicians rushed to the spot and managed to stop the leak by 1:45 p.m., said Bhujbal.
Relatives told local media that the oxygen supply was cut off. A woman interviewed by TV9, a local television channel, said her mother began to gasp after the oxygen was disrupted. “She died, and so did everyone in her ward,” the daughter said. The grandson of one of the victims told another channel that his grandmother died within 10 minutes of the break in supply.
Television channels aired footage of hospital staff frantically trying to resuscitate patients and relatives wailing as they hugged the dead.
India grapples with vaccine shortages as infections surge to record
The oxygen supply was later restored, and some patients have been shifted to other hospitals. Deepak Pandey, Nashik’s commissioner of police, said the death toll could rise. The patients who survived are “in shock,” he said.
Patients who are severely ill with covid-19 can require up to 100 liters of oxygen per minute, said Amit Thadani, a doctor and managing director of a hospital in Mumbai. For those on ventilators, the requirement is even higher. The fact that so many patients died in the Nashik incident suggests they required high amounts of oxygen, Thadani said.
Tanvi Deshpande in Nashik and Taniya Dutta in New Delhi contributed to this report.
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What It’s Like to Hike to See Iceland’s Erupting Volcano
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On May 24, 2021, hikers could watch the Geldingadalsgos eruption in Iceland from just hundreds of feet away. One way to break out of that pandemic funk: watching lava flow in Iceland right now. Despite this being an otherworldly experience, it begins, like many adventures, in a car park. Ever since the Gerlingadalur eruption began on March 19, 2021, Icelanders—and now vaccinated international visitors such as myself and my husband—have made pilgrimages to see the lava spew, bubble, and flow across this stretch of the Reykjanes Peninsula in southwestern-most Iceland. What’s astonishing is that this once-in-800-years display of nature’s force is only a 45-minute drive south of Reykjavík. It’s even closer to Keflavík Airport, the largest airport in the country—a mere 20 minutes by car. Imagine that: an active volcano one would deem “accessible.” You could land in Iceland in the morning from the United States (there are flights from Boston, JFK-NYC, and Washington, D.C., as of May), await your negative COVID test results at a nearby hotel, and once cleared, see the volcano erupt in the same day. “It’s the best tourist eruption in the world. You can walk to it,” says Ryan Connolly, our Hidden Iceland guide, a native Scot who moved to Iceland five years ago to become a glacier guide. (File that one under #lifegoals.) With boots tied tightly and nerves running high, we drive toward the Fagradalsfjall volcano near the fishing village of Grindavík, and park in a new lot that’s been created in the last month to keep up with visitor demand. Article continues below advertisement Iceland Tourism says a record 6,032 tourists were at the eruption on March 28, though many trekkers are locals who come back week after week to track the volcano’s progress. The numbers have gone down since that initial surge in interest, dropping into the hundreds in June (you can track foot traffic to the hour on this site). Given that this is an effusive eruption—which means the lava flows slowly and steadily, and the volcano could continue to erupt for weeks, months, even years—volcano seekers can safely get within feet of the a’a lava (the slower, rockier stuff), if they so choose. From noon until midnight, Icelandic Coast Guard personnel keep daredevils in check and warn hikers if the conditions become unsafe. After Connolly uses a device to confirm that gas readings are low enough to proceed (a shift in the wind could end your journey), we begin the hike on a newly widened gravel path that’s now the two-lane highway equivalent of what was once a rocky scramble over uneven terrain. A steady saunter leads to a relatively steep incline, up and over a crest; about an hour and 15 minutes later, as we pass boulders covered in moss while navigating loose volcanic rock, the main crater comes into view. It may seem asleep; it may simmer and bubble like a pot about to boil over; or you may catch it during one of its truly awesome displays. Article continues below advertisement Words don’t do justice to the sensory overload: Lava rockets out of the crater’s maw, like an overzealous science experiment by the gods. Even from hundreds of feet away, you can feel the heat, as strong as a shield. Up close, the air seems to shimmer. The change in pressure, the warmth, the disbelief that you’re that close to lava—it’s almost too much to process. Listen closely and you’ll hear the lava’s progress: it sounds like a fireplace crackling, or glass breaking. Is the lava moving toward you? Ever so slightly, imperceptibly. Look closely and you’ll swear the lava is exhaling. People have called it hell on earth, but also heaven; with its fields of charcoal-colored lava and fire-y crackle in the distance, it’s easy to compare this to Tolkien’s Mordor. The site of Geldingadalsgos (the Gerlingadalur eruption) is growing rapidly and changing constantly, so your visit will always be entirely unique. Could it get more epic than that?
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After Months Of A Racing Heart And Burning Feet, A COVID Long-Hauler Gets A Diagnosis
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Jennifer Minhas had been a nurse for years when she contracted COVID-19 in 2020. Since then, lingering symptoms — what's known as long-haul COVID-19 — made it impossible for her to work. For months, she and her doctors struggled to understand what was behind her fatigue and rapid heartbeat, among other symptoms.
Tara Pixley for NPR
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Jennifer Minhas had been a nurse for years when she contracted COVID-19 in 2020. Since then, lingering symptoms — what's known as long-haul COVID-19 — made it impossible for her to work. For months, she and her doctors struggled to understand what was behind her fatigue and rapid heartbeat, among other symptoms.
In the months after she first got sick with COVID-19 in March 2020, Jennifer Minhas developed a cluster of mysterious symptoms.
"I had profound fatigue," she says, along with brain fog, headaches and a rapid heartbeat, especially when she changed positions from lying down to standing up.
"Just standing up to make a sandwich, my heart rate would be 120," recalls Minhas, a 54-year-old nurse who lives in San Diego. A normal heartbeat for an adult ranges between 60 and 100 beats per minute. Doctors ordered tests to rule out heart disease. They all came back normal. The doctors couldn't find anything, Minhas says. About the same time she developed another strange symptom that offered a clue to her condition.
"I would wake up in the middle of the night with burning hands and feet, and I would look down and my feet would be bright red," Minhas says. In addition, she continued to feel a tightness in her chest, and the brain fog was so intense at times, she says, she couldn't remember a four-digit code for her phone.
Her symptoms became so severe that she stopped working. "Normally I'm very active. I used to play tennis and go to the gym," she says. But all this activity came to a halt. Yet doctors could not explain what was wrong. At first, her primary care doctor thought it was anxiety. "It was disconcerting," Minhas says, and "lingering way too long without a proper answer." But she persevered, determined to "dig in and look for answers."
And months later, in late 2020, a breakthrough: A group of cardiologists at the University of California, San Diego helped lead her to a diagnosis of a mercurial and little-known condition: postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, or POTS, a blood circulation disorder. A growing number of people are facing mountains of frustration over health problems that linger after COVID-19 with no clear path to improvement. But for a subset of people with what's known as "long COVID" — mostly women such as Minhas — a POTS diagnosis offers a road map to treatment options and relief from their often-debilitating symptoms.
COVID-19 brings new cases, new awareness
The doctors told Minhas that they had begun to see other patients after COVID-19 who had developed similar symptoms. They explained to her that an issue with her nervous system was causing her heart to race, usually upon standing — a signature feature of the syndrome — and the circulatory problems.
POTS is a type of dysautonomia, which stems from dysfunction in the autonomic nervous system. That's the part of the nervous system that works automatically to regulate body functions such as breathing, heart rate, blood pressure and digestion.
Don't be surprised if you've never heard of POTS. "There's been a lack of awareness" of the condition, even within the medical community, says Dr. Tae Chung, a POTS specialist at Johns Hopkins Medicine in Baltimore. The syndrome is estimated to affect about 1 million to 3 million people in the U.S. — most commonly women, young adults and adolescents. But the COVID-19 pandemic has brought new attention and many new diagnosed cases. Absolute numbers of long-haulers aren't known, but a recent survey in the U.K. found about 13% of people who had COVID-19 continued to have symptoms three months after their initial infection. Experts say a small slice of people with long-haul COVID-19 have symptoms of dysautonomia, though its prevalence is unknown.
What is known, though, is that there is a backlog of patients waiting to be seen, Chung says. As part of the Johns Hopkins Post-Acute COVID-19 clinic team, he sees many patients who have POTS-like symptoms that need to be evaluated, though not all will be diagnosed with the condition.
POTS experts at other academic medical centers — including UC San Diego, where Minhas is being treated — also are reporting an uptick in cases.
Long road to diagnosis
POTS predates the pandemic. It was first named in the 1990s, though it existed – unrecognized – long before, experts say. POTS often comes on suddenly following viral infection, though there are also other triggers, such as a concussion, for instance.
The encouraging news is there are a host of medications and physical therapy that can help. "Many patients do get better, significantly better," says Dr. Pam Taub, a cardiologist who treats Minhas at UC San Diego. But in many cases, POTS is a chronic condition, says Dr. Mitch Miglis, an autonomic disorder specialist at Stanford University, and patients require ongoing care. Symptoms can wax and wane over time, but he agrees that "most people get better with treatment." POTS has overlapping features with chronic fatigue syndrome, including fatigue and brain fog, and experts who treat it say POTS has had some of the same challenges as CFS in gaining recognition. But this has begun to change as researchers "have shown that there is real biology behind POTS," Taub says. Still, even before COVID-19, there were often long delays between the onset of symptoms and getting a diagnosis. Many patients see five or more doctors before they're diagnosed. "Even though 90% of people with POTS are females, males actually get diagnosed with POTS an average two years faster than females," says Lauren Stiles, who was diagnosed with POTS in her early 30s and is the co-founder and president of Dysautonomia International, a nonprofit patient advocacy and research group. "Young women complaining about multiple symptoms are often told 'it's all in your head' before an autonomic nerve disorder like POTS would even be considered," Stiles says. The connection between COVID-19 and POTS
A leading theory for why COVID-19 long-haulers develop the syndrome is that "the antibodies produced after COVID may attack the autonomic nervous system," says Taub, the UC San Diego cardiologist. Chung at Johns Hopkins agrees that the onset of POTS following COVID-19 is likely "autoimmune" in nature. "The immune system is confused," he says, causing the misdirected attacks.
As a result, the ability of the autonomic nervous system to regulate blood flow is damaged. In POTS patients, the nerve that regulates blood flow isn't working, Chung says, and not enough blood circulates to the brain. That accounts for the brain fog among POTS patients. And exercise is tough, too, because "exercise requires a lot of blood flow to the muscle," he explains.
Chung uses a combination of tests and symptom history to diagnose POTS, including a tilt-table test. Patients are secured to the table and go from lying to standing up as the head of the table is raised. If a patient's heart rate jumps significantly when the table goes up and the symptoms are reproduced with that movement, that's a strong indicator of POTS, Chung says. Another diagnostic test is a cutaneous nerve biopsy to look at the small fiber nerve in the skin — which makes up the autonomic nervous system — to look for nerve damage.
Medication, physical therapy, diet can all bring relief
After a POTS diagnosis, there are a few treatment routes. Physicians can prescribe various medications to treat symptoms, and there's some new evidence that a drug called ivabradine can help lower heart rate. A small double-blinded, placebo-controlled study published this year in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology found ivabradine significantly lowered the heart rate of patients, including 22 people with POTS.
The drug has helped Minhas, the nurse in San Diego, although she pays for it out of pocket because her insurance company denied coverage. "Within a couple of days, I started feeling better," she says. "I was able to stand up without feeling a racing heart. I was able to do more activity." Minhas, with her 8-month-old puppy Murphy, says she felt relief after getting diagnosed with POTS, a blood circulation disorder, and her health is improving slowly with treatment.
Tara Pixley for NPR
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Minhas, with her 8-month-old puppy Murphy, says she felt relief after getting diagnosed with POTS, a blood circulation disorder, and her health is improving slowly with treatment.
Patients can use ivabradine as "a bridge," explains Taub, who is the author of the JACC study and has been a consultant to Amgen, a pharmaceutical company that makes the drug. Some patients are so disabled by POTS that it's hard for them even to stand up. But ivabradine enables them to start moving aground again, Taub says. Once their exercise tolerance improves, "they no longer need to rely on the drug," she says.
Chung says he prescribes ivabradine to some patients, but it's not right for everyone, since it may exacerbate fatigue, lightheadedness or other typical POTS symptoms. The same goes for beta blockers, another class of drugs that also lowers heart rate, he says.
Other medicines can help, depending on which symptoms are present. For instance, research shows that POTS patients tend to have a lower than normal level of plasma and red blood cells. Patients with these symptoms might benefit from fludrocortisone, which helps to expand blood volume. Mestinon can help prevent increases in heart rate and improve symptoms, too. Given that POTS is a syndrome with a range of symptoms, Stanford's Miglis says he chooses medications that are tailored to each patient. "Some patients with brain fog benefit from stimulant medication, for instance," he says.
Another recommended treatment for POTS patients is to drink lots of fluids. "I am up to drinking a gallon of water a day," says Michaelene Carlton, 47, who was recently diagnosed with POTS by Chung. The extra water helps to expand the volume of plasma, which can help tamp down symptoms. Extra salt is recommended, too, since it can help the body retain fluids. Before her COVID-19 infection about a year ago, Carlton, who lives in Magnolia, Del., was active. She practiced yoga four to five times a week and ran 15 to 20 miles a week. But now, she's now on long-term disability and has stopped working as a middle school paraeducator, a job she says she loved. She spends much of the day in bed or on the sofa, because the fatigue, headaches and lightheadedness have been so intense. "It's slow going," Carlton says. She has begun physical therapy to regain strength and muscle mass, especially in her core and legs. The PT regimen emphasizes floor exercises and strength training to avoid sudden positional changes that may exacerbate her symptoms. She's also pedaling on a recumbent bike to regain some aerobic capacity. "Little by little" is her motto, she says.
Carlton is also trying a new diet that emphasizes fruits, vegetables and proteins, including lean meats. She has cut out refined grains and sugar. Her approach fits with some preliminary research from Vanderbilt University that found POTS symptoms get worse after meals rich in carbohydrates. That research suggests that "eating small meals throughout the day, and following a low-carb diet, low in refined-grains and sweets could be beneficial, as a complementary approach," says Dr. Cyndya Shibao, a researcher at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
It's been known among POTS patients that eating high-carb meals can make you feel worse, says Stiles of Dysautonomia International. She says this is an example of how people in the POTS community "advise each other" and share information. As for Minhas, she says pinning down a diagnosis has made her more optimistic.
"I definitely felt a sense of relief," she says, "somehow we could explain what was going on." And as she slowly improves, she has become involved in efforts to raise awareness about the condition, and the need for research to understand better all of the post-COVID-19 illnesses. The National Institutes of Health recently announced a $1.15 billion investment to study long-haul COVID-19. NIH Director Francis Collins says the goal is to "identify the causes of long COVID, to develop ways of treating individuals who don't fully recover, and, ultimately, to prevent the disorder." Advocates in the POTS community such as Stiles say that given the significant number of cases related to COVID-19, it's essential that some of these research dollars be dedicated to understanding autonomic disorders. "Millions of long-haulers and people living with other forms of post-viral dysautonomia are counting on the research community to figure this out so they can get back to living their lives," Stiles says.
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Famous Person - Sick
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Broadlands: Fears over ticket refunds for postponed concert
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The organiser of a star-studded concert on a Hampshire estate has not paid refunds nearly two months after the event was postponed, some ticket-holders have said. Park Proms at Broadlands, Romsey, was due to feature Pixie Lott, James Morrison and other well-known artists. Ticket-holders say they had a five-day window to claim money back and the organiser has been hard to contact. The event's directors have not responded to BBC requests for comment. Singers Aled Jones and Laura Wright, as well as the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra and pop group Scouting For Girls, were also due to perform at the shows on 27 and 28 August. Organiser Podium Event Group advertised displays from the Red Arrows and the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight. However, the shows were cancelled on 25 June "owing to the continued uncertainty around Covid-19". In July, the firm announced a five-day window for ticket-holders to apply for refunds if they were unable to attend new dates in 2022. Helen Campbell, who paid £470 for two upgraded "hospitality" tickets, said she was still waiting for a refund after applying on 21 July and receiving an acknowledgement eight days later. She said: "My emails have bounced back, the phone lines are not working and the messaging is off on Facebook. "It's an absolute disgrace. I'm very disappointed." Molly Bevan, who paid £240 for four tickets, said: "Originally they had said once processed my refund would take 3-5 days. "They have turned off... their phone lines and are no longer responding to emails." Ms Bevan said she had received an acknowledgement on Instagram but no money. Moira Lynch said she only received her tickets after she had applied for a refund. She said: "I paid £120 for two tickets for my friend's birthday. I can't afford to lose that sort of money." Thirty people said they were awaiting refunds on 17 August, while one person had been reimbursed, according to a community Facebook page. Adam French, a rights expert at the Consumers' Association, said the five-day refund application window was "pretty terrible" and "unnecessarily restrictive", although not illegal. He said there was no legal time limit on processing refunds, although he would have expected payments within two weeks. Podium Event Group's sole director is Michael Hlavaty, 29, who created the firm in September 2020. A BBC reporter was denied access to Mr Hlavaty's Facebook page shortly after messaging him. A recorded message on his firm's phone line says: "Our team are processing refund applications as quickly as possible. We thank you for your patience." Broadlands Estates declined to comment.
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Organization Closed
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Qantas Flight 1 crash
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Qantas Flight 1 (QF1, QFA1) was a Qantas passenger flight between Sydney and London that was involved in a runway overrun accident at Don Mueang International Airport in Bangkok on 23 September 1999 as it was landing for a stopover. [2]
Qantas flights travel between London and Australia on a route known as the "Kangaroo Route". The Kangaroo Route traditionally refers to air routes flown between Australia and the United Kingdom, via the Eastern Hemisphere. This flight was operated by a Boeing 747-438[a] S/N 24806, delivered new to Qantas in August 1990 and registered VH-OJH. It departed Sydney earlier that day at 16:45 local time, and after more than eight hours of flight time, was approaching Don Mueang International Airport at 22:45 local time. During the approach to Bangkok, the weather conditions deteriorated significantly, from 5 statute mile visibility half an hour before landing to nearly one half statute mile visibility at the time of landing. [1]:1 The flight crew observed a storm cloud over the airport and ground reports were that it was raining heavily. However, these conditions are common at Bangkok. Seven minutes prior to Flight 1's landing, a Thai Airways Airbus A330 landed normally, but three minutes before Flight 1's landing another Qantas Boeing 747 (QF15, a Sydney-Rome via Bangkok service), conducted a go-around due to poor visibility during final approach. [1]:3 The crew of Qantas Flight 1, however, were unaware of this. The first officer was flying the aircraft during the final approach. The aircraft's altitude and airspeed were high, but were within company limits. The rain was now heavy enough that the runway lights were visible only intermittently after each windscreen wiper stroke. Just before touchdown the captain, concerned about the long touchdown point (over 3000 feet past the runway threshold) and unable to see the end of the runway, ordered the first officer to perform a "go-around" and the first officer advanced the throttles but did not engage the takeoff/go-around switch (TO/GA). At this point, visibility improved markedly and the landing gear contacted the runway, although the aircraft continued to accelerate. The captain then decided to cancel the go-around by retarding the thrust levers, even though he was not flying the aircraft. This caused confusion as he did not announce his actions to the first officer who still had formal control. When over-riding the first officer's actions, the captain inadvertently left one engine at TO/GA power and as a result cancelled the preselected auto-brake settings. The landing continued, but manual braking did not commence until the aircraft was over 5,200 feet down the runway. The aircraft then began to aquaplane and skid its way down the runway, departing substantially from the runway centreline. Company standard operating procedures mandated that idle reverse thrust should be used for landings and that flaps should be set at 25 degrees,[1]:17 not the maximum of 30 degrees. The combination of flaps 25, no auto-braking, no reverse thrust, a high and fast approach, a late touchdown, poor Cockpit Resource Management, and the standing water on the runway led to a runway overshoot. The aircraft gradually decelerated, ran off the end of the runway over a stretch of boggy grassland, colliding with a ground radio antenna as it did so, and came to rest with its nose resting on the perimeter road. The ground on the other side of the road forms part of a golf course. There were no significant passenger injuries during an orderly evacuation of the aircraft carried out some 20 minutes after the rough landing. Thirty-eight passengers reported minor injuries. The collision with the antenna caused the nose and right wing landing gear to collapse, the nose landing gear being forced back into the fuselage. The aircraft slid along in a nose-down, right wing low attitude, causing some further damage to the nose and damage to the two right engines and their mountings. The intrusion of the nose landing gear also caused the failure of the cabin intercom and public address system. The damage was such that the aircraft was initially a write-off, but to preserve its reputation Qantas had it repaired at a cost of less than $100 million. (the exact figure was never disclosed by Qantas. )[3] By returning the aircraft to service, Qantas was able to retain its record of having no hull-loss accidents since the advent of the Jet Age, and also proved to be the more economical option for the time, as a new 747-400 was listed close to $200 million. [3][b]
Qantas still uses the flight number 1 for the Sydney - London route, but now it stops at Singapore instead of Bangkok and is now operated by an Airbus A380. Accident description at the Aviation Safety Network
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Pakistan Navy Atlantic shootdown crash
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Indian Air Force
Pakistan Navy
Other conflicts
Border skirmishes
Strikes
Pakistan Navy Atlantic shootdown incident happened on 10 August 1999, when a Breguet Atlantic maritime patrol aircraft of the Pakistan Naval Air Arm was shot down by a MiG 21 fighter of the Indian Air Force over the Rann of Kutch, on the border between India and Pakistan. The episode took place just a month after the Kargil War, aggravating already tense relations between the two countries. Foreign diplomats based in Pakistan escorted to the site by the Pakistan Army noted that the plane may have crossed the border. They also believed that India's reaction was unjustified. [2] Pakistan later lodged a compensation claim at the International Court of Justice, blaming India for the incident, but the court dismissed the case, ruling that the Court had no jurisdiction in the matter. [3][4][5]
The French-built Breguet Br.1150 Atlantic, c/n 33, flight Atlantic-91, of 29 Squadron, was one of the Pakistan Navy's frontline aircraft, used primarily for patrol and reconnaissance. [6] Atlantic-91 left Mehran naval base in Pakistan at 9:15 am PKT (9:45 IST). Indian Air Force ground radar picked up the plane as it approached the India-Pakistan border. [7] Two IAF MiG-21 interceptor aircraft of No. 45 Squadron, from the Indian airbase at Naliya in the Kutch region, were scrambled. [8] After a series of manoeuvres—with conflicting versions of events from both sides—the two jets were given clearance to shoot down the Pakistani plane. [7] At 11:17 am IST (10:47 am PKT), nearly two hours after takeoff from Pakistan, the Atlantic was intercepted and an infrared homing R-60 air-to-air missile was fired at it by Squadron Leader P.K. Bundela, hitting the engine on the port side of the plane. [9]
The event immediately sparked claims and counter-claims by both nations. Pakistan claimed that the plane was unarmed and the debris was found on Pakistan's side of the border,[10] and there was no violation of Indian airspace. According to the official Pakistan version of events, the plane was on a routine training mission inside Pakistan air space. [11] The Pakistani Prime Minister stated during the funeral service of the airmen that the shooting was a barbaric act. [12]
The Indian Air force claimed that the aeroplane did not respond to international protocol and that it acted in a "hostile" manner,[13][14] adding that the debris of a downed aircraft could fall over a wide radius. [15] Indian sources also stated that Pakistan's Information Minister, Mushahid Hussein, was initially quoted as saying that the aircraft was on a surveillance mission. [15]
India also alleged that the plane violated a bilateral agreement, signed by India and Pakistan in 1991, under which no military aircraft were to come within 10 km of the border[16] (although Pakistan claimed the Atlantic was not a combat aircraft). [2] Indian experts also questioned why a training mission was being carried out so close to the border, when all air forces conduct training flights in clearly demarcated training areas located well away from international boundaries. [17] According to them, the Pakistani claim was untenable since the primary role of the Atlantic is for operations over the sea and that to carry out a training flight over land deep inside foreign territory was an indication of its use in a surveillance role. [17] India displayed part of the wreckage of the Pakistani naval aircraft at New Delhi airport the next day. Pakistan stated that the wreckage was removed from its side of the border by Indian helicopters. [10]
While Pakistan said that the plane was unarmed and the debris was within Pakistani territory, India maintained that warnings had been given to the Atlantic and that its flight trajectory meant it could have fallen on either side of the border. According to the Indian version of events, the MiGs tried to escort it to a nearby Indian base, when the Pakistani aircraft turned abruptly and tried to make a dash for the border; it was only then that it was fired upon. India claimed that the debris was found in a radius of 2 km on either side of the border and that the intrusion took place 10 km inside the Kori Creek, which is Indian territory. Pakistan requested that the matter be taken up in the UN. Indian officials claimed that there had been previous violations in the area and pointed out that in the previous year a Pakistani unmanned surveillance aircraft had intruded 150 km inside the Indian border, coming close to the Bhuj air base before the IAF spotted it and brought it down with several missiles. [15]
Indian analysts state "flare-ups" in the Rann of Kutch region were routine, and despite bilateral agreements, both India and Pakistan had conducted air intrusions in the past. Thus, the fact that the Atlantic was shot down, despite coming close to the Indian border, came as a surprise. [15] Indian officials add that Pakistan military aircraft had violated Indian airspace at least 50 times since January 1999, showing videotapes of Pakistani Atlantics "buzzing", or flying provocatively near the Indian Navy's warships in the Indian Ocean. [18] Some Indian analysts stated that the Atlantic was nearly destroyed in 1983 on a similar encounter and noted other close encounters and violations from Pakistani naval planes. [19][20][21]
Some experts stated that the Atlantic was probably conducting a "probe" on India's air defence system, mainly the radar equipment in the border area; they advised that it was not part of any planned aggressive military action by Pakistan. [18] Foreign diplomats who visited the crash site noted that the plane "may have strayed into restricted space", and that Islamabad was unable to explain why it was flying so close to the border; they added that India's reaction to the incident was not justified. [2] Many countries, the G8, the permanent members of the UN Security Council, as well as the western media questioned the wisdom behind Pakistan's decision to fly military aircraft so close to the Indian border. [22]
On the day following the attack, an IAF helicopter carrying journalists to the site of the attack was attacked by the Pakistan Marines with a surface-to-air missile. Pakistani officials asserted that two Indian jets had intruded into Pakistani airspace near the Atlantic wreckage site, along the border between the Indian state of Gujarat and Pakistan's Sindh Province, and were then fired upon by Pakistan marines. No damage was recorded as the missiles miss the target. The IAF thus aborted their mission and could safely return. The helicopter carrying the journalists also returned without any damage. [18]
Following this, and the rising tensions in the area coupled by the fact that the Sir Creek was a disputed territory, both the countries' militaries near the Rann of Kutch and nearby were put on high alert. [12] Pakistan sent a company of marines, equipped with both laser guided and infrared homing shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles, to the site near the border. [23] Coming barely weeks after the Kargil Conflict where both nuclear armed countries fought high altitude warfare, this incident was seen with growing concern around the world. The US State Department termed the subcontinent as being in a state of "continued high-stakes tension. "[12]
On 21 September 1999, Pakistan lodged a compensation claim at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, accusing India of shooting down a military aircraft. Pakistan sought about US$60 million in reparations from India and compensation for the victims' families. India's attorney general, Soli Sorabjee, argued that the court did not have jurisdiction,[24] citing an exemption it filed in 1974 to exclude disputes between India and other Commonwealth States, and disputes covered by multi-lateral treaties. [25] In the buildup to the case, India also contended that Pakistan had violated the 1991 bilateral agreement between Pakistan and India on air violations, which states: "Combat aircraft (including, Bombers, Reconnaissance aircraft, Jet military trainers and Armed helicopters) will not fly within 10 km of each other's airspace including air defence identification zone. "[16]
On 21 June 2000, the 16-judge Bench headed by Gilbert Guillaume of France ruled, with a 14–2 verdict, upholding India's submission that the court had no jurisdiction in this matter.
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Oil washed up on Fraser Island identified as from large trading ship, investigation continues
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The type of oil that washed ashore polluting Fraser Island off Queensland's coast last month has been identified as being from a large trading ship but pinpointing the culprit will be difficult, the Queensland Government says. An analysis was done of samples taken from small oil patties that washed up along a 50-kilometre stretch of the World Heritage Listed island's eastern beaches in October.
It took a week for the spill to be completely cleaned up but there were no reports of environmental damage or harmed wildlife.
Queensland Ports Minister Mark Bailey said the analysis confirmed the oil was the same type used by large trading ships. "We identified it as being from the principle shipping lanes that go along the coast from Brisbane to Asia," Mr Bailey said.
"It's going to be difficult we think to identify the ship responsible because of the volume of trade along there but we're doing ... everything we can to identify it. "Whoever did this absolutely deserves to be prosecuted."
The owner of the ship responsible could face a maximum fine of almost $12 million.
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Environment Pollution
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BBC Celebrity MasterChef: Gregg Wallace's four wives including 'probably shortest marriage ever'
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MasterChef's Gregg Wallace has been enjoying his summer holiday in Ireland with his wife Anne-Marie Sterpini. But the TV host has been several relationship struggles before meeting his current partner, having been married four times and divorced three times. Here's a lookback at Gregg's rocky road to love. Read more:John Torode's life away from TV, from mum's tragic death aged 4 to marriage with EastEnders star Anne-Marie is a caterer who first made contact with Gregg, 56, online to discuss ingredients back in 2013. The 35-year-old, whose parents are Italian, tweeted the former greengrocer to ask if rhubarb really went with duck, after seeing him try the recipe on a cooking TV show. Gregg told HELLO! Magazine: "I just looked at Anna's photo and thought, 'Wow, she's pretty'. So yes, rhubarb, which was considered an aphrodisiac in medieval times, brought us together." They married in August 2016 and MasterChef co-host John Torode served as best man at the wedding at Hever Castle, Kent. Gregg and Anne-Marie welcomed their son, Sid Massimo Wallace, in May 2019. The 55-year-old also met his third wife Heidi Brown via Twitter. Heidi, a biology teacher, exchanged messages with Gregg on the social networking site, and their relationship moved quickly. Just four months later they were living together, and they married the following year. However, the marriage was short-lived, and they separated just 15 months after their lavish nuptials at Coworth Park in Berkshire. Gregg met Denise, a pastry chef, in 1993, and they welcomed their son Tom together the following year. Their daughter Libby was born in 1997, but didn't tie the knot until 1999. The couple were married for five years but divorced in 2004 when Denise discovered the MasterChef star was having an affair with one of his employees. Gregg was a 24-year-old greengrocer when he met his first wife Christine, who he married in an impromptu ceremony which they celebrated with a meal in a pie and mash shop nearby. Their marriage lasted just six weeks, and in his autobiography Gregg joked that the marriage was "possibly the shortest marriage in the world", and said he knew it was a mistake even before they married.
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Famous Person - Marriage
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United Airlines Flight 663 crash
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The United Airlines Flight 663 incident was a "minor international incident" in 2010 involving Qatari diplomat on the leg of a United Airlines flight from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (Washington, DC) to Denver International Airport (Denver, Colorado). [1] The diplomat prompted a mid-air terrorism alert after smoking in the aircraft lavatory, which led the Qatari government to recall him two days later. United no longer uses Flight 663 as a DCA-DEN-LAS route. UA663 is now used on the Houston-Edmonton route, flown by an Airbus A320. [2]
Flight 663 was a flight between Ronald Reagan National Airport in Washington, DC and Denver International Airport, continuing on to Las Vegas International Airport using an aircraft different from the one that operated the Washington–Denver sector. [3] On 7 April 2010, a disturbance involving a passenger happened en route from Washington, DC to Denver. [3][4] Officials identified the passenger as Mohammed al-Madadi, a diplomat from the Embassy of Qatar in Washington, D.C.[5][6] Officials took al-Madadi into custody, and the plane landed safely in Denver. [7] The North American Aerospace Defense Command scrambled two F-16 fighters to intercept and escort the aircraft into Denver. [8] Officials said the incident was a misunderstanding after al-Madadi attempted to smoke a pipe in the lavatory, then made "an unfortunate remark" after being confronted by two members of the Federal Air Marshal Service. [9][10] Law enforcement officials said al-Madadi mentioned "lighting his shoes", taken as a reference to shoe bomber Richard Reid. [11]
Qatari Ambassador to the United States Ali Bin Fahad Al-Hajri issued a statement on the Embassy website:
Press reports today regarding an incident aboard a commercial flight from Washington, DC to Denver, CO indicate that a Qatari diplomat was detained for suspicious behavior. We respect the necessity of special security precautions involving air travel, but this diplomat was traveling to Denver on official Embassy business on my instructions, and he was certainly not engaged in any threatening activity. The facts will reveal that this was a mistake, and we urge all concerned parties to avoid reckless judgments or speculation. [12][13]
The Associated Press reported that al-Madadi was traveling on official Embassy business to visit Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri, a jailed al-Qaeda conspirator held at United States Penitentiary, Florence. [14][15] Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano praised the air marshals, who had been deployed in greater numbers following the attempted in-air bombing by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab on December 25, 2009. [16]
Felony charges would be applicable for non-diplomats. [17] U.S. officials said al-Madadi would not face criminal charges because of diplomatic immunity. [18] The suspect was released following interviews with law enforcement officials. [19] United States Department of State officials said al-Madadi was removed from the country by Qatar, rather than being declared persona non grata by the U.S. government and expelled from the United States. [20][21][22] Al-Madadi left the United States on April 9, 2010. [23] Qatar's Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Ahmed bin Abdullah Al Mahmood said that al-Madadi would be disciplined. [24][25]
The incident sparked international debate about how a matter of this nature should be handled. [26][27][28][29] In the United States, some analysts objected that Qatar would not be asked to reimburse taxpayers, inconvenienced passengers, and the airline for costs of the incident. [30] Though smoking was banned aboard U.S. commercial airliners in 1990, the cases brought by the Federal Aviation Administration rarely lead to more than a fine. [31] Because of this, the Washington Post reported that some diplomats felt that the incident was a case of racial profiling of Arabs and Muslims. [1] A Wall Street Journal editorial asserted that new profiling techniques based on behavior enjoy "widespread public support. "[32] A Scripps News editorial agreed, stating "the success so far of preventing a reprise of 9/11 may just depend on the highest-level reaction and then sorting it all out later. "[33] One passenger, author Michael Lind, argued in the Financial Times that "there should have been a debate about overreaction to false alarms. I am as angry as anyone at the Qatari diplomat who escaped prosecution thanks to diplomatic immunity. But the incident was the result of the toxic interaction between his arrogance and foolishness and an airline security system that is irrational as a whole. "[34]
In Qatar, the incident provoked criticism of the foreign ministry. An editorial by Ahmad Al Sulaiti in the daily Al-Watan called the event "embarrassing," adding, "While I do not intend to give lessons to the foreign ministry, I wish [Minister] Al Mahmood would tell me if our diplomats are properly groomed before they are sent to our embassies abroad and whether they acquire skills from our veteran ambassadors. "[35] Al Mahmood replied that the incident was "an individual misjudgment that should not be over-generalised. "[35]
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Peloton and celebrity yoga instructor Kristin McGee files for divorce
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According to court records, celebrity fitness instructor Kristin McGee has filed for divorce from her husband. Kristin McGee
Peloton and celebrity yoga instructor Kristin McGee has filed for divorce from her investment-banker husband, Manhattan court records show.
McGee — whose website touts famous clients including Emilia Clarke, Tina Fey and Bethenny Frankel — filed for divorce from Timothy O’Shea in Manhattan Supreme Court on Thursday, according to court records.
McGee met O’Shea in 2007 after a pilates client set them up, she wrote in Pilates Style . In 2009, the couple tied the knot in Idaho, McGee’s home state.
The pair has three sons — and have been featured in photos on her website including as recently as last June .
The 47-year-old fitness guru helped launch Peloton’s yoga program, her website says. She also authored the book “Chair Yoga: Sit, Stretch, and Strengthen Your Way to a Happier, Healthier You” and has made appearances on TV shows including “Access Hollywood,” “Good Morning America” and the “Today” show. She also has appeared on “Fox News.”
Both McGee and her lawyer did not immediately return requests for comment. O’Shea declined to comment.
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Famous Person - Divorce
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Cammell Laird Shipyard Occupation
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The Cammell Laird Shipyard occupation was a 1984 labour dispute that took place at the Cammell Laird shipyard in Birkenhead, England. The despute was result of compulsory redundancies at the shipyard and involved the occupation of two vessels to prevent them being removed. The protestors were arrested and later jailed for their actions. May 1984 saw just under a thousand redundancies announced at the shipyard, prompting hundreds of workers to down tools in protest. [1] During the despute, some of the workers occupied a partially built gas rig, AV-1. By August, the number of protestors occupying the vessel had dropped to 37 but they were facing increasing pressure to leave the site. Their wives received letters warning of prison sentences if the protestors refused to leave the site. A writ was posted in September charging them in absentia with trespassing. Government minister Geoffrey Howe had used antiquated law originating from the monks of Birkenhead Priory hundreds of years before. Police arrested 37 men who were sentenced in their absence to 30 days' imprisonment for contempt of court after defying a judge's orders to leave the rig. The workers lost their right to redundancy and a pension. [2]
Responding to questions from four MPs in parliament in April 2017, government Justice Minister Phillip Lee agreed to look into the case if re-elected in the forthcoming June election. [3]
Labour MEPs took the fight to clear the worker's names to the European Parliament in July 2013, having had a petition successfully accepted in December 2012 by the petitions committee in Strasbourg. [4] Labour MEP Judith Kirton-Darling claimed that no law was broken and the protestors were never told why they were arrested, and called for the government to release the official documents relating to the incident. An early day motion was submitted to the UK Parliament in April 2021 which called for an enquiry and the release associated offical documents. [5]
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Strike
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This man got Rs 10 lakh compensation after wife died in gas cylinder blast
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"Since the manufacturer is vicariously liable and the opposite parties have failed to discharge the burden of any negligence on part of the complainants (Sanjeev and his family members), I am of the considered opinion that IOCL and Alok Gas Agency are guilty of 'deficiency in service'," the commission's member N P Kaushik said.
The Delhi state consumer commission has asked the Indian Oil Corporation Ltd and one of its distributors to pay over Rs 10 lakh to a man for selling a gas cylinder which caused an explosion at his house leading to his wife's death.Read more
Besides this, the commission also directed IOCL and its distributor Alok Gas Agency to pay Rs 1,75,000 to the man's mother who suffered severe burn injuries in the incident.
The Delhi State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (SCDRC) has asked IOCL and the distributor to pay Rs 10,46,734 to Sanjeev Kumar Jhamb for the death of his wife.
"Since the manufacturer is vicariously liable and the opposite parties have failed to discharge the burden of any negligence on part of the complainants (Sanjeev and his family members), I am of the considered opinion that IOCL and Alok Gas Agency are guilty of 'deficiency in service'," the commission's member N P Kaushik said.
The state commission asked the gas manufacturer and its distributor to pay the amount jointly and severally within 30 days.
According to the complaint, Sanjeev's wife Neena and his mother Kanta were cooking in the kitchen when they felt the gas cylinder had been finished. Another gas cylinder which was filled up and kept at some other place in the house was brought to the kitchen to connect it to the gas stove.
When Kanta removed the cap of the cylinder, there was a leakage of gas in the form of shower of liquid gas.
Both the women attempted to leave the kitchen, but the cylinder blasted when they started moving out.
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It was claimed in the complaint that the kitchen's window panes were broken and the whole place was set on fire.
They both received severe burn injuries. While Kanta received 65 per cent burns, Neena received 90 per cent burns.
Neena succumbed to her injuries in the hospital and Kanta recovered after eight days.
The IOCL contended that it was a case of manhandling of the cylinder by the customer.
The state commission noted that in normal course after lifting of the plastic cover, the valve closes the aperture, avoiding any type of leakage and it is only when some pressure is put by the regulator on the valve that a way for the gas to come out is made.
"Complainants have been able to discharge their initial burden that the valve and the lid upon it were not properly placed. Now the burden is shifted on the IOCL and its distributor to prove that opening of the lid in a particular manner not prescribed could cause the accident. A vague allegation that it was a case of manhandling is of no avail to them," the commission added.
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Gas explosion
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LDH: Carbon monoxide poisoning increasing, 4 people have died, 141 taken to the hospital
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BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) - The Louisiana Department of Health has released new, eye-opening details this week. Since Hurricane Ida passed and left behind a path of destruction, four people have died from carbon monoxide poisoning.
They said 141 people have been taken to a hospital for the same thing.
Fire crews cannot stress the importance of generator safety enough. The state health department has some generator safety reminders for you from the State Fire Marshal’s office:
Place generators at least 20 feet away from your home.
Look for any air entry points into the home near your unit and ensure that those are properly closed and sealed off, such as windows or doors, air intakes, nearby dryer vents or crawl spaces.
Have a CO alarm
Give these generators breaks that allow for any concentrated exhaust to clear away from the area.
Open your windows and doors during this break to air out any concentration that may have collected in your home.
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Mass Poisoning
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Kyōhō famine
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The Kyōhō famine (享保の大飢饉, Kyōhō no daikikin), was a famine on the Japanese island of Kyushu during the reign of Emperor Nakamikado in the Edo period. It is estimated that 12,172-169,000 people died from starvation. [1] The famine, named after the Kyōhō era (1716–1736), is considered to have begun in 1732 and lasted until 1733. The ruling shōgun during the famine was Tokugawa Yoshimune. The cause of the famine is not known. [2] The Kyōhō Reforms ruling in 1728 increased taxes from 40% to 50% may have reduced agricultural productivity and food stocks. The 1730 ruling, introducing obligatory rice buying quotas for Han estate owners and wealthy merchants, turned rice into a cash crop and reduced diversity of Japanese crops. The scarcity of sesame oil and whale oil for treating seeds may have contributed to the severity of the later insect infestation. [3]
Starting in December 1731 heavy rains damaged the winter cereal crops (wheat and barley) and communities had difficulty re-planting fields because seed reserves had been diminished by years of marginal harvests. From May–June 1732, the cold, wet weather continued for two months in Chūgoku, Shikoku and Kyushu regions, resulting in favourable conditions for proliferation of insects and rotting of rice seedlings. Either Unka (insect) [ja] or locust infestation, appeared in Seto Inland Sea region and proceed to destroy rice paddies across West Japan, leaving only 10% of crops unaffected. The total rice harvest in Japan in 1732 was 630,000 koku - only 27% of average. Also, the epizooty killing draft animals broke out in July 1732 in Fukuoka Domain. [4] The prices of rice soared, reaching 5 to 7 times the normal value during the peak of the famine. Consequently, fishing villages relying on cash products to purchase food were hit hard, losing up to one third of the population. Average population die-off reported in Fukuoka Domain was 20% (66,000 of 320,000), while inland villages suffered less than 10% deaths. The majority of deaths were among children. Southern Kyushu was affected, but the mortality was less than in Northern Kyushu. At least 5919 deaths from starvation were recorded in Iyo-Matsuyama Domain, where people resorted to eating bracken and kudzu roots, straw and wood flour. [5] During the New Year celebrations of 1733, the household utensils and rice sacks of merchant Takama Denbii (高間伝兵衛) were thrown into the river by a farmer mob of 1,700 men enraged by rumours of him hoarding food, in the event known in Japan as Kyōhō housebreaking [ja] - Japan's first recorded strike action. The famine gradually ended in March 1733. According to official records, the death toll was 12,172. Actual death toll may have reached 169,000. The number of 969,900 deaths provided in Tokugawa Jikki [ja] is likely an exaggeration and is not confirmed by other sources. The role of sweet potato (smuggled in 1711 by Asami Kichijūrō Hidetaka [ja] from Satsuma Domain) in averting famine at Ōmishima [ja] in Seto Inland Sea region was noted and the sweet potato was consequently widely adopted across Japan. The Shogunate implemented in 1735 reforms to diversify crops. Peasants were allowed to grow cash crops or technical crops (oil or fiber plants) in exchange for paying extra taxes. It is speculated that the Sumidagawa Fireworks Festival was established in response to the Kyōhō famine. [6]
The Kyōhō famine had a large negative impact on the Kyōhō Reforms. [7]
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Famine
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Police say the vehicle blew up in al-Sadriya district as people bought food ahead of a night-time curfew.
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Police say the vehicle blew up in al-Sadriya district as people bought food ahead of a night-time curfew. It shattered stalls and left a huge crater in the street, in the heavily populated, predominantly Shia area.
Only the Sadr City bombings in November, which killed more than 200 people, have claimed more lives.
Regular targets
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki blamed loyalists of the executed former leader Saddam Hussein for the al-Sadriya attack.
"The Iraqi people and the world is shocked by this... The Saddamists have returned to commit a new crime," he said.
Everybody knows the necessity for us to stand together and reject the sectarian tension
Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani
In pictures: Iraq violence
"We reassure the population that we will put an end to these crimes."
The White House in Washington called it another atrocity aimed at innocent people.
Maj Gen Jihad al-Jaberi of the interior ministry told state television the lorry was carrying one tonne of explosives that were detonated by a suicide bomber.
Rescuers pulled the dead and injured from the rubble of the blast and loaded them on to pick-up trucks to be ferried to hospital.
Wards and corridors overflowed at the nearby Ibn al-Nafis hospital, with relatives screaming for help for their loved ones.
One injured man at Ibn al-Nafis told Reuters news agency: "I was in my shop and there was a great explosion and the roof fell in on me. I woke up here in hospital."
The same market was hit by car bombs on 2 December that killed more than 50 people.
Another attack, on the Haraj market in Baghdad on 22 January, killed 88 people.
BBC world affairs correspondent Mike Wooldridge says the attacks on markets are widely seen as militant groups deliberately stepping up their activities before a new joint Iraqi-US security operation for Baghdad gets under way.
The US is to deploy an extra 21,500 troops.
Kirkuk attacks
On Saturday, Iraq's most prominent Shia cleric, Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, made a new appeal to all Iraqis.
"Everybody knows the necessity for us to stand together and reject the sectarian tension to avoid stirring sectarian differences," he said.
Seven bombs also went off in Kirkuk in the north
Earlier, seven car bombs in the ethnically mixed northern city of Kirkuk killed five people and injured 40.
Two of the bombs targeted the headquarters of two Kurdish parties - the Kurdish Democratic Party led by of Massoud Barzani, head of the northern Kurdish region, and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, headed by Iraq's President, Jalal Talabani.
Razqar Ali, a Kurdish leader and head of Kirkuk provincial council, accused militants of trying to destabilise the city amid efforts by some Kurds to include it in the autonomous Kurdish region. A curfew was imposed after the blasts and would run from 1600 (1300 GMT) to 0600 on Sunday, AFP news agency said.
Earlier, police said gunmen attacked a checkpoint near Samarra, killing six police and injuring another six.
Samarra is a mainly Sunni town 125km (80 miles) north of Baghdad where an attack on an important Shia shrine last February sparked Iraq's current sectarian violence.
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Armed Conflict
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Japan Airlines Flight 472 (1977) crash
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Japan Airlines Flight 472 was an aircraft hijacking carried out by the Japanese Red Army (JRA) on 28 September 1977. The Douglas DC-8, en route from Paris to Haneda Airport in Tokyo with 156 people on board, stopped in Bombay, India. Shortly after taking off from Bombay, five armed JRA members, led by Osamu Maruoka, hijacked the aircraft and ordered it flown to Dhaka, Bangladesh. At Dhaka, the hijackers took the passengers and crew hostage, demanding US$6 million and the release of nine imprisoned JRA members. On 1 October Prime Minister Takeo Fukuda announced that the Japanese government would accept the hijackers' demands, on the principle that "the life of a single person outweighs the earth." Six of the imprisoned JRA members were then released. [1]
A chartered Japan Airlines flight carried the money and the six released JRA members to Dhaka, where the exchange took place on 2 October. The hijackers released 118 passengers and crew members. On 3 October, they flew to Kuwait City and Damascus, where they released eleven more hostages. Finally, the aircraft was flown to Algeria, where it was impounded by authorities and the remaining hostages were freed. [1]
The incident contrasted Europe and the United States' approach of non-negotiation with terrorists to Japan's approach of appeasing terrorists if necessary. Shortly after the incident, Japan's National Police Agency established a Special Assault Team to deal with future acts of terrorism. Several of the JRA terrorists involved in the hijacking have yet to be apprehended and their current whereabouts are unknown. [3]
Osamu Maruoka, who also led the hijacking of Japan Air Lines Flight 404 in 1973, escaped and remained a fugitive until 1987 when he was arrested in Tokyo after entering Japan on a forged passport. Given a life sentence, he died in prison on 29 May 2011. [4] Another of the hijackers, Jun Nishikawa, eventually returned to Japan, was arrested, convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment. [5]
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Air crash
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2019 Northrop N-9M crash
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On April 22, 2019, a Northrop N-9MB aircraft crashed in Norco, California, United States, killing the pilot. The aircraft was the last survivor of four built. It was destroyed in the post-crash fire. Shortly after take-off from Chino Airport,[1] the aircraft was reported to have crashed into the grounds of the California Rehabilitation Center, Norco, California at 12:10 local time. [2] The aircraft was reported to have sustained substantial damage in a post-crash fire. [3] Although the pilot was killed, no ground casualties were reported. [2]
The aircraft involved was the Northrop N-9MB, the sole remaining Northrop N-9M, registration N9MB. One of four built, it was operated by the Planes of Fame Air Museum, Chino, California. [2][3]
The National Transportation Safety Board opened an investigation under accident number WPR19FA118 into the accident. [2]
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Air crash
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Dunbeath air crash
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The Dunbeath air crash involved the loss of a Mark 3 Short S.25 Sunderland that crashed in the Scottish Highlands on a headland known as Eagle's Rock (Creag na h-Iolaire) near Dunbeath, Caithness, on 25 August 1942. [1][2] The crash killed 14 of 15 passengers and crew, including Prince George, Duke of Kent, who was on duty as an Air Commodore in the Royal Air Force on a mission to Reykjavik;[3] a message of condolence was proposed in Parliament by the British Prime Minister. [4] A Royal Air Force Board of Inquiry determined that the crash was the result of a navigational error by the crew. [5]
The aircraft, assigned to 228 Squadron, was based at RAF Oban. [6] 228 Squadron was part of 18 Group, involved in long range maritime operations and particularly anti-submarine warfare, reconnaissance and long range liaison flights. The aircraft and crew were assigned a VIP transport mission to RAF Reykjavik, specifically to transport Prince George, Duke of Kent, to Iceland. [7] The aircraft departed from a seaplane base at RAF Invergordon on the Cromarty Firth at 1305 GMT on Sunday 25 August 1942 into foggy weather. The Sunderland (flying on instruments) veered off its flight plan track and crashed into the remote Eagle's Rock[8] at 13:42 GMT. [9] Fourteen of the fifteen crew and passengers, including His Royal Highness The Duke of Kent, died in the crash. [10][11]
Passengers
Crew
The official board of inquiry concluded that the plane crashed into the hillside due to an error of navigation; i.e. there was not enough allowance made for wind that caused the aircraft to drift off its planned track up the eastern coast of Scotland. [5][12]
The Board noted that investigation at the crash site suggested that all four engines were at full power at the time of impact. [5]
Sergeant Andrew Jack, the aircraft's Wireless Operator/Air Gunner, survived. Jack recovered from the injuries he sustained in the accident, was later commissioned as a Pilot Officer in the General Duties Branch on 12 January 1945,[13] and served in the RAF up until 1964; retiring as a Flight Lieutenant. [6][14] Jack died in Brighton in 1978 aged 56. [15]
Some of the 228 Squadron crew's remains were interred at Pennyfuir Cemetery in Oban. [16] The Duke of Kent, the first member of a British Royal Family to die on active military service since the death of James IV of Scotland at the Battle of Flodden in 1513,[17] was buried in the Royal Burial Ground, Frogmore.
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Air crash
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Saint John City Hall fire
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The Saint John City Hall fire also known as the Saint John jail fire was a building fire which occurred in Saint John, New Brunswick's city lockup on June 21, 1977—which at that time was located on the ground floor of the Saint John City Hall. The fire, which had been started by prisoner John Kenney, killed 21 men who were trapped in confinement. The fire caused outrage as many of the people who were killed were jailed for offences that many[who?] deemed trivial. Further scorn was also directed at elements of the lockup's design such as padding in the cells which many claimed was highly flammable. [1][2]
Coordinates: 45°16′24″N 66°03′46″W / 45.2732°N 66.0629°W / 45.2732; -66.0629
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Fire
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Poinsettia Fire
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The Poinsettia Fire was the second most destructive of the May 2014 San Diego County wildfires. [4] It caused property damage estimated at $22.5 million,[3] as well as the only reported fatality in the San Diego County series of wildfires. As of July 10, 2014, the cause of the fire is listed as "undetermined", which allows for further investigation if more information comes to light. [5]
The Poinsettia Fire started on May 14, around 10:40 AM PDT, in the city of Carlsbad. Burning in dry brush north of El Camino Real, it began near the intersection of Poinsettia Lane and Alicante. After the fire crossed El Camino Real, evacuation orders were issued to 11,600 homes and businesses in Carlsbad. Two elementary schools and a middle school were also evacuated. [6] By the end of the day on May 14, the fire had destroyed eight homes, an 18-unit condominium complex, and two commercial buildings. [7] The Carlsbad Unified School District closed all schools May 15 and 16. [8]
At 5 PM PDT on May 14, the fire covered more than 400 acres (160 ha). Firefighters said they had stopped its spread, but it was only 10% contained and additional structures were threatened. [7] By May 16, the fire had burned 400 acres (160 ha) and was 85% contained. The increased containment let to the lifting of all evacuation orders. [9] Later that day the fire was reported to be 100% contained, after reaching a size of 600 acres (240 ha). During the evening of May 15, firefighters found a badly burned body near the site of a known transient encampment in Carlsbad. [10] The victim has not been identified, and the cause of death has not yet been determined. [11]
No official cause for the fire has been determined, however multiple theories exist. What is known is that the fire started on the 7th hole of the La Costa Resort and Spa's golf course. Speculation points to cigarette or cigar being thrown into the dry grass along the course. [12] A report from the Carlsbad Fire Department has also speculated that the blaze may have been ignited by a spark from golf club striking a rock. [12]
A lawsuit filed in October 2014, alleges the resort was responsible for the fire due to "negligent maintenance and operation of its property and equipment" as well as for "failing to safeguard against the fire spreading into neighboring residential communities" once it had started. [13] The lawsuit has multiple plaintiffs, including homeowners who lost their homes, businesses that were damaged as well as those who suffered injuries in the fire.
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Fire
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Navy to launch new unmanned and AI systems task force in the Middle East
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An MQ-9 Sea Guardian unmanned maritime surveillance aircraft system flies over Independence-variant littoral combat ship USS Coronado during U.S. Pacific Fleet’s Unmanned Systems Integrated Battle Problem 21 on April 21, 2021. (Shannon Renfroe/U.S. Navy) WASHINGTON — The Navy will launch its first task force dedicated to unmanned systems and artificial intelligence in the Middle East on Thursday as the U.S. military continues to shift its counterterrorism forces within the region, the service announced. Naval Forces Central Command will oversee Task Force 59, which will concentrate unmanned and AI capabilities from across the Navy and roll them out for sailors to use in a real-world, complex setting, said Vice Adm. Brad Cooper, the commander of NAVCENT and 5th Fleet. “We need to get unmanned systems out into the fleet into the hands of operators, so this is exactly what we're doing here at NAVCENT with Task Force 59,” he said Wednesday. Cooper declined to say whether the new task force would be involved with counterterrorism missions, though he said NAVCENT has “been very involved with Afghanistan from a [noncombatant evacuation] standpoint.” The establishment of the Navy task force in the Middle East comes as the U.S. boosts its reliance on unmanned capabilities in the region after withdrawing all American forces from Afghanistan last week and ending 20 years of military involvement in that country. U.S. Central Command has said it will continue to conduct “over-the-horizon” counterterrorism strikes in Afghanistan if needed. That included two drone strikes on Islamic State fighters in Kabul in the final days of U.S. evacuation efforts from the city. The Task Force will employ some technologies that have not yet been used in daily operations. The idea is to evaluate the systems in a real-world setting, which “is exactly what will help us accelerate the technology development and integration across the fleet," Cooper said. “This effort is really to get the unmanned systems in the hands of the operators so they can put it against real problems and determine whether it helps solve those problems and if it doesn't, perhaps we should look for [other options,]” he said. Task Force 59 will integrate the Navy’s arsenal of aerial, surface and undersea drones and AI systems “as a means to do two things: enhance our maritime domain awareness and to increase our deterrence,” Cooper said. Among those unmanned and AI technologies are those used in the Pacific Fleet’s Unmanned Battle Problem 21, a weeklong exercise in April that tested manned and unmanned capabilities in invented scenarios, Cooper said. The initiative comes as the Pentagon pushes to further integrate AI and unmanned capabilities into the forces as it focuses on confronting near-peer adversaries such as China. In its 2022 budget, the Defense Department requested $112 billion for development, testing and evaluation — its largest-ever request for the category that includes AI and autonomous systems development. “Beijing already talks about using AI for a range of missions, from surveillance to cyberattacks to autonomous weapons,” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence in July. “China’s leaders have made clear they intend to be globally dominant in AI by the year 2030.” Primarily, the drones and AI systems will be used to offer a more complex picture of the surrounding environment, from above and below the surface, Cooper said. “An unmanned surface vessel nested with five or six or 10 other unmanned surface vessels patrolling a certain area in this region offers us the ability to see what's happening in that region and would obviously deter malign activity that would happen there,” he said. The 5th Fleet region, which spans from the Red Sea to parts of the Indian Ocean, offers benefits to testing the equipment in operational settings as “the waterways are ripe for real-world evaluation” with its 5,000 miles of coastline and “three critical choke points,” including the Strait of Hormuz, the only passage from the Persian Gulf to the open ocean, and the Suez Canal, which connects the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea, Cooper said. “I think that environment really suits us well to experiment and move faster,” he said. “Our belief is if the new systems can work here, they can probably work anywhere else.”
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Organization Established
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Four dead, 141 treated in hospitals for carbon monoxide poisoning since Ida, Health Department says
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The Louisiana Department of Health announced Monday afternoon that four people have died of carbon monoxide poisoning and 141 people have been treated for inhalation of the deadly, odorless gas since Hurricane Ida.
When the storm left nearly 600,000 people without power, many looked to the portable generator — a tried and true way to get at least some power their homes. It's unclear how many of the carbon monoxide poisoning incidents are directly related to generator use, but there was a major spike in cases after the storm.
Generators powered by gasoline, diesel fuel or natural gas all emit a colorless, odorless gas can be lethal in enclosed spaces. It's a kind of poisoning that can take anyone by surprise.
The health department's website recommends the following precautions to make sure you're safely running your generator:
Place generators at least 20 feet away from your home.
Look for any places air can enter into the home near your unit and ensure that those are properly closed and sealed off. This includes windows or doors, air intakes, nearby dryer vents or crawl spaces.
Have a CO alarm
Give these generators breaks that allow for any concentrated exhaust to clear away from the area.
Open your windows and doors during this break to air out any concentration that may have collected in your home.
Check the manufacturing specs to verify the installation meets those requirements.
If there's a concern that the installation standards have not been met, get an appropriate party, like the installer, out to inspect it.
Ensure that your generator is being appropriately maintained, including regular oil changes.
"The most common symptoms of CO poisoning are headache, dizziness, weakness, upset stomach, vomiting, chest pain and confusion. CO symptoms are often described as 'flu-like.' If you breathe in a lot of CO it can make you pass out or kill you. People who are sleeping or drunk can die from CO poisoning before they have symptoms.
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Mass Poisoning
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Pet Helpers spay/neuter clinic temporarily closed due to understaffing
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by: Chase Laudenslager Puppies are shown at the Tuscaloosa Metro Animal Shelter in Tuscaloosa, Ala., Thursday, May 5, 2011. A constant flow of people searching for their lost animals following last weeks tornado visit the shelter each day. (AP Photo/Dave Martin) CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCBD) – Pet Helpers on Monday announced that their spay/neuter clinic is temporarily closed as they struggle with a staffing shortage. According to the organization, vital positions such as associate veterinarian and veterinary assistant are currently vacant. Executive Director, Melissa Susko, explained that the organization’s top priority “is to ensure the safety of the animals that come through [the] clinic doors,” and that is not possible without “experienced support staff.” Understaffing in spay/neuter clinics causes what Susko described as a domino effect that has a significant impact on the rate at which animals are adopted out: “It ripples down tot he shelter as animals’ length of stay is extended due to an overworked veterinary team trying to juggle 120 shelter animals, on top of performing low-cost spay/neuter surgeries weekly for community cats brought in through [the] Trap Neuter Release program (TNR).” According to Susko, the scarcity of qualified veterinary staff is an issue that shelters across the state have been facing amid an ongoing capacity crisis. Despite the challenges, Pet Helpers will continue operating their vaccine clinics on Thursdays from 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Appointments can be made by emailing spay@pethelpers.org.
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Organization Closed
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1821 Holmfirth floods
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The Holmfirth floods refers to a number of instances when severe flooding had occurred in the Holme Valley, West Yorkshire, England affecting Holmfirth and other settlements in the valley. The earliest record dates from 1738 and the latest from 1944. The most severe flood occurred early on the morning of 5 February 1852, when the embankment of the Bilberry reservoir collapsed causing the deaths of 81 people. It is recorded as the 23rd most serious, worldwide, in terms of loss of life from floods and landslides in human history. Rainstorms caused the River Holme to burst its banks and flood the valley. [1] Though there was damage to farmland there was no loss of life. Following a severe storm on Wednesday 21 July 1777 the River Holme burst its banks and flooded the valley. Three people were drowned and a stone church built in 1476 was swept away. It was rebuilt the following year with funding from local clothiers. The River Holme again flooded the valley around Holmfirth, following rainstorms on 21 September 1821, with no loss of life. The 1852 flood occurred when the embankment of the Bilberry reservoir collapsed, releasing 86 million gallons of water down the River Holme. It caused 81 deaths and a large amount of damage to property in the valley leaving many homeless and without work. The buildings and structures destroyed included four mills, ten dye houses, three drying stoves, 27 cottages, seven tradesmen’s houses, seven shops, seven bridges crossing the River Holme, ten warehouses, eight barns and stables. The collapse occurred at about 1.00 am on 5 February 1852 following a period of heavy rain. The story of the flood made the front page of the London Standard newspaper. [2]
An inquest after the disaster concluded that the reservoir was "defective in its original construction" and that "the Commissioners, in permitting the Bilberry reservoir to remain in a dangerous state with the full knowledge thereof, and not lowering the waste pit, have been guilty of great and culpable negligence". On Whit Monday, 29 May 1944, flash flooding following a severe thunderstorm,[3] caused the deaths of three people in the Holme Valley. [4] Due to reporting restrictions in place because of World War II, it was not widely reported and was overshadowed by the invasion of Normandy a week later. This led to some confusion as to the exact cause of the flood but it was confirmed that Bilberry reservoir was not to blame. It was suggested that the reservoir prevented the flood from being more severe. German prisoners of war, housed in the area, assisted with the rescue of local residents and property. There was extensive damage to properties in the valley: 17 mills, 61 shops and 109 homes were flooded. Geoffrey Riley (1929–2005), who was aged 14 at the time of the event, was awarded the George Cross in recognition of his attempts to save the life of an elderly woman caught in the flood. The woman and Geoffrey's father, who also tried to save her from drowning, both lost their lives in the flood. Geoffrey was initially awarded the Albert Medal. However, the Royal Warrant was discontinued in 1971 and he exchanged this for the George Cross at Buckingham Palace on 6 March 1973. [5]
Coordinates: 53°33′34″N 1°50′44″W / 53.55944°N 1.84556°W / 53.55944; -1.84556
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Floods
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2021 Dutch curfew riots
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The 2021 Dutch curfew riots (Dutch: avondklokrellen) were a series of riots in the Netherlands that initiated as protests against the government's COVID-19 prevention measures and specifically the 21:00–4:30 curfew that was introduced on 23 January 2021. The police have described the events as the "worst riots" in the country since the 1980 coronation riots.
The proposal to introduce a nationwide curfew to curb the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) had been put on the table by the Outbreak Management Team (OMT) as early as September 2020, but did not gain the support of the House of Representatives at the time, because of its strong association with World War II.
Four months later, however, the measure was deemed necessary as the number of infections was not declining fast enough, despite the fact that the Netherlands had been in a full lockdown since 14 December 2020. Furthermore, the more transmissible B.1.1.7 variant of the virus continued to spread across the country, raising concerns for a potential "third wave" of infections.
Demissionary Prime Minister Mark Rutte announced his plan to introduce a 20:30–4:30 curfew at a press conference on 20 January 2021. On 21 January, a majority in the House of Representatives voted to support the proposal, after a motion to postpone the curfew to 21:00 had been adopted. The curfew would be in effect from 23 January to at least 10 February 2021.
Non-violent protests against the government's COVID-19 prevention measures had taken place on several occasions prior to the announcement of the curfew. However, on 24 January 2021, illegal demonstrations against the curfew in Amsterdam and Eindhoven escalated into violent riots in response to police interventions. Calls to riot were subsequently spread on social media, leading to riots in other places as well. [2]
During the first night of the curfew, the police issued 3,600 fines for being outside after 21:00 without a valid reason. Anti-lockdown protesters gathered in Amersfoort, Rotterdam, IJmuiden and Stein to demonstrate.
On Urk, a former island in the province of Flevoland, groups of youths began to riot in protest against the curfew. The rioters vandalised police cars, and threw stones and fireworks at police officers. Later that evening, a COVID-19 testing site of the Municipal Health Service (GGD) was set on fire.Two suspects have subsequently been arrested.
On 24 January in the afternoon, hundreds of protesters gathered on Museumplein in Amsterdam, despite the fact that Mayor Femke Halsema, the chief police officer and the chief public prosecutor had prohibited the demonstration. The police used water cannons and police dogs to disperse the crowd, in response to which the protesters began throwing firework bombs towards police officers.
Similarly, in Eindhoven, rioters – who had come to the city centre to protest against the lockdown measures – attacked the police by throwing stones, golf balls, fireworks and knives. They also set vehicles on fire and looted a supermarket in the city's central station. According to ProRail, hundreds of thousands of euros in damage was inflicted to the railway station.
In the evening, riots also took place in Enschede, Helmond, Roermond, The Hague, Tilburg and Venlo. [30] In Enschede, rioters attempted to break the windows of the local hospital, Medisch Spectrum Twente. [31] More than 300 people were arrested. 150 people were arrested during the night from 25 to 26 January in Amsterdam and Rotterdam. Shops were looted and vandalized. The cities of Den Bosch, Zwolle, Amersfoort, Alkmaar, Hoorn, Gouda, Haarlem, and Veenendaal experienced troubles, including cars being burned and police attacked with stones.
Den Bosch, Sittard-Geleen, Stein and Capelle aan den IJssel issued an emergency decree for the upcoming night. Beek and Echt-Susteren will have an emergency decree until the 10th of February, which will allow the police to do stop-and-frisk without reason. Zwolle declared an emergency order, which is one step below an emergency decree in Dutch law. Dutch police designated Den Bosch, Almelo en Haarlem as potential hotspots. The Ikazia Hospital in Rotterdam also advised its patients not to come during the evening hours, as police designated the nearby Zuidplein as a potential hotspot.
The riots that took place on 26 January were less heavy than the previous days. Despite some small riots in Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Hilversum, and some disturbances in The Hague, Schijndel and Julianadorp, the situation in these six cities and villages was under control within about an hour.
Many cities also saw massive support coming from their locals. Cities such as Maastricht, saw its hardcore fanbase of its local football club, the angel side, gather as a reaction to the threats made by supposed rioters. A couple hundred supporters marched through the city, eventually making their way to the city centre to make a statement: "we will not tolerate destruction and looting". Most of them went home around 21.00 to adhere to the curfew rules. On 27 January, there were no major riots, only small disturbances in The Hague and Rotterdam. In Rotterdam a theatre was set on fire.
Apart from a relatively large group of youths who were shooting fireworks in Tiel, there were no more riots or disturbances reported throughout the Netherlands as of 28 January.
On 31 January, protests against the curfew were held in Amsterdam and Apeldoorn. There were no major riots, but dozens of people were arrested after the police had ended the demonstrations.
Demissionary Prime Minister, Mark Rutte, told reporters that the recent events "have nothing to do with protests, this is criminal violence and we will treat it as such".
Minister of Finance Wopke Hoekstra said that the riots will not make the government "capitulate to a few idiots". [41] Minister of Justice and Security Ferdinand Grapperhaus said the same. "Apparently small groups find it necessary to riot. But that is not because of the corona policy, because you don't have to loot a shop for that", he said. Grapperhaus added that the police and Koninklijke Marechaussee are cracking down on the rioters.
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Riot
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Protests against Faure Gnassingbé
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Protests against Faure Gnassingbé have occurred throughout Togo, starting when President Faure Gnassingbé assumed power after the death of his father Gnassingbé Eyadéma in February 2005. Opposition protesters have called on the Togolese government to establish presidential term limits according to the 1992 constitutional referendum, and have called on Gnassingbé to resign. Opposition parties contested the results of the 2010 and 2015 presidential elections. From 2012 until the 2013 Togolese parliamentary election, opposition supporters protested certain electoral reforms believed to favour the ruling regime. Starting in August 2017, the opposition has held anti-government protests on a near-weekly basis, leading to a long-term period of domestic instability. Gnassingbé Eyadéma helped lead two military coups, one in 1963 and another in 1967, in which he became the president of Togo. Opposition to Eyadéma's regime grew in the late 1980s as many people believed he was only working to benefit cronies from the army, his tribesmen, and his political allies. [1] Inspired by anti-communist revolutions throughout Europe starting from 1989, and sparked by the trial of students for distributing anti-government material, Togolese students held demonstrations and strikes on 5 October 1990. [1][2] This protest marked the start of a protest movement against Eyadéma's military regime. [3]
During a wave of protests against Eyadéma, the government established a curfew, and announced it on 10 April 1991, one hour after it went into force. The next day, inhabitants of Lomé found 28 bodies on the lagoon of Bé. The National Human Rights Commission determined that the Togolese Armed Forces had carried out the massacre. [4]
The Togolese government held a constitutional referendum in 1992 which included a two-term presidential limit, and Togo started holding multi-party elections in 1993. In December 2002, Eyadéma removed the presidential term limits, allowing him to run indefinitely. [5]
Eyadéma died on 5 February 2005, and the Togolese military immediately installed his son Faure Gnassingbé as president. The Army Chief of Staff, Zakari Nandja, said this was meant to avoid a power vacuum. [6] The Togolese government initially banned all protests for two months. [7] However, about 1,000 people attended an anti-government rally in Lomé on 11 February 2005. The next day, about 3,000 people attended the protest. Security forces used tear gas, batons, and stun grenades on the protesters, killing at least three people and wounding dozens. The Togolese government said the security forces fired because the protesters tried to steal their weaponry. [8]
Gnassingbé lifted the government's ban on protests on 18 February and announced that there would be a presidential election in 60 days. [7] Opposition groups called on Gnassingbé to step down and held large protests in Lomé, Aného, Sokodé and Sinkanse. [9] On 25 February, Gnassingbé, citing growing domestic and international pressure, announced he would resign as president. [10] Opposition supporters objected to the appointment of Bonfoh Abass as interim president instead of Fambaré Ouattara Natchaba, accusing Abass of being too close to the Gnassingbé regime. Protesters threw stones at the police, who fired tear gas back at them to drive them back. [11]
The presidential election was held on 24 April 2005, with the two frontrunners being Faure Gnassingbé and Emmanuel Bob-Akitani. Gnassingbé was declared the winner on 26 April. The Economic Community of West African States declared the results were fair, though opposition supporters heard reports of fraudulent ballot practices and vote rigging. Hundred of people rioted in the streets and clashed with the police and military. [12] Young men reportedly threw Molotov cocktails at the police, and the opposition formed barriers in Bé. According to hospital sources, 11 people died and about 100 people were injured in the riot. [13] Opposition supporters broke into a police station in Aného, attacked police officers, and attempted to burn the station. The police killed nine people and injured 61. [14]
The Togolese government claimed that only 22 people died during the post-election violence. Amnesty International however reported a death toll of more than 150. [15] The United Nations estimated that between 400 and 500 people were killed in electoral violence and mass riots. [16] In May 2017, around 35,000 Togolese citizens fled to Benin and Ghana, citing abductions and forced disappearances, which were believed to be politically motivated. [17]
Gnassingbé defeated Jean-Pierre Fabre in the 2010 Togolese presidential election held on 4 March. Fabre's supporters ignored a government ban on protests on 7 March 2010 and faced off with security forces who blocked their access to the Bé neighbourhood. [18] Opposition supporters held a demonstration on 9 March 2010. Those who resisted the security forces were sprayed with tear gas. Some demonstrators threw stones at the police and burned cars. [19]
On 12 February 2011, about 15,000 opposition protesters marched through Lomé and called for the resignation of Gnassingbé's administration and the holding of free and fair elections. Claude Améganvi of the Workers' Party said the march was also in support of the Egyptian revolution of 2011 as part of the wider Arab Spring in Northern Africa. [20] On 17 March 2011, security forces fired tear gas and rubber bullets on protesters in Lomé, who threw stones at them and burned tires. [21]
In early June 2012, the Togolese parliament amended the country's electoral code. The opposition criticised these changes, saying they favoured the ruling party. [22] Thousands of protesters gathered in Lomé on 12–14 June 2012, forcing the city's main market to close. Protesters threw stones and vandalized buildings, and police fired tear gas at them.
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Protest_Online Condemnation
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2003 Iran Ilyushin Il-76 crash
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The 2003 Iran Ilyushin Il-76 crash occurred on 19 February 2003, when an Ilyushin Il-76 crashed in mountainous terrain near Kerman in Iran. The Aerospace Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps aircraft, registration 15-2280, was flying from Zahedan to Kerman when it crashed 35 kilometres (22 mi; 19 nmi) southeast of Kerman. [1] The aircraft was carrying members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard, a special force that is independent from the Iranian Army, on an unknown mission. [2]
Strong winds were reported in the region of the crash when the aircraft disappeared from the radar screens; approximately at the same time, villagers in the area described hearing a loud explosion. [3] There were no survivors among the 275 occupants on board the aircraft. [1][nb 1] As of January 2021[update] the crash remains the second deadliest on Iranian soil (behind Iran Air Flight 655) and the deadliest crash of an Il-76. [1]
The IL-76 was flying a route from Zahedan Airport to Kerman Airport carrying members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on an unspecified mission. The four-engine Russian transport aircraft with a crew of 18, lost contact with air traffic control at 5:30 pm after flying into poor weather conditions. The aircraft crashed into the Sirch mountains, southeast of Kerman, about 500 miles southeast of Tehran, killing all aboard. Investigators believe it was a controlled flight into terrain, citing the deteriorating weather conditions and high winds. [1][5]
Immediately after the crash, members of the Revolutionary Guards and Red Crescent were sent to the accident scene. Two helicopters attempting to reach the scene turned back due to bad weather. [6] A cordon of the area was completed as well, limiting access to journalists and the public. [5][7]
President Mohammad Khatami's cabinet sent a message of condolence to families of the victims about the "tragic event in which a group of IRGC brothers — Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps — were killed. [8] The Iranian government also blamed U.S. sanctions against Iran for playing a part in the crash since the restrictions make it more difficult for Iran to maintain its aircraft. [9]
There was speculation that the accident was the result of a mid-air collision due to the high number of fatalities (the Il-76 normally carries fewer than 200 passengers). A terrorist organization called the Abu-Bakr Brigades also claimed responsibility for the crash. [10]
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Air crash
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Shropshire Star
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Ireland’s Foreign Affairs Minister criticised the UK Government’s approach to negotiations on the Irish Sea trade arrangements.
A UK move to suspend parts of the Northern Ireland Protocol could see the EU doing likewise with the Brexit trade deal, Ireland’s foreign minister has warned.
Simon Coveney said it appeared the UK was set to follow through with its threat to trigger the Article 16 suspension mechanism within the post-Brexit arrangements for Irish Sea trade.
He said it looked as though the UK was laying the foundations to make the move when the Cop26 conference in Glasgow was over.
Mr Coveney said the EU would respond in a “very serious way” to such a unilateral act.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs expressed hope a trade war could be avoided.
He minister insisted the EU was in “solutions mode” and could go a “little further” in terms of trying to streamline checks required on goods moving from Great Britain to Northern Ireland.
However, he warned there was a limit to the EU’s flexibility and criticised the UK Government for adopting a tactic of asking for a lot while offering nothing in return.
Noting potential retaliatory action the EU could take if the UK triggers Article 16, Mr Coveney highlighted that the Trade and Co-Operation Agreement was contingent on implementation of the Withdrawal Agreement, including the protocol arrangements.
“I believe that if the British government essentially refuses to implement the protocol, even with the extraordinary flexibilities that are now on offer, and instead looks to set it aside then I think the EU will respond in a very serious way to that,” he told RTE Radio One.
He said that did not mean the introduction of a hard border on the island of Ireland.
The minister added: “It means that the Trade and Co-operation Agreement that was agreed between the British government and the EU was contingent on the implementation of the Withdrawal Agreement, which includes the protocol.
“One is contingent on the other. So if one is being set aside, there is a danger that the other will also be set aside by the EU.”
This would be a significant act that would damage relationships between Britain and Ireland, and would put extraordinary pressure on parties in Northern Ireland also
Mr Coveney said he hoped the UK and EU were not set for a trade war.
“I certainly hope we’re not,” he said.
“I think it is important that people like me and others who’ve been involved in this process make it very clear to the British Government the consequences of what they’re considering doing in the context of the triggering of Article 16.
“I think I have a responsibility to perhaps set aside the diplomatic language that I’m expected to use as a foreign minister and be a bit more direct in relation to the consequences of that, as the Taoiseach (Micheal Martin) has done this week.
“This would be a significant act that would damage relationships between Britain and Ireland, and would put extraordinary pressure on parties in Northern Ireland also.”
The minister said Northern Ireland only works when the UK and Ireland work in partnership with each other.
Mr Coveney insisted the EU would remain united in the face of any UK move on Article 16.
“We act and we have always acted together on this in solidarity, and I believe that solidarity will hold,” he said.
Negotiations between London and Brussels over the protocol remain deadlocked and there is mounting speculation that the UK Government is poised to trigger Article 16 later this month.
The Government has repeatedly warned it will move to unilaterally suspend elements of the protocol if an agreed outcome is not reached.
The oversight role of the European Court of Justice in policing the operation of the protocol remains a key sticking point in the talks to resolve issues with its operation.
Mr Coveney suggested the EU could offer more flexibilities around reducing checks on agri-food products but he did not mention any potential movement on the thorny ECJ stand-off.
“I think the EU can go a little further on some of these issues and have indicated that their package is not the final word from the EU, but they want the UK Government to work with them in partnership to try to actually bottom out the remaining concerns,” he said.
Mr Coveney criticised the UK strategy in talks with the EU and said London was essentially asking to rewrite the protocol entirely.
“The negotiating tactic of the British Government, of the Prime Minister and of Lord Frost, has been very consistent – it has been to offer nothing and to continue to ask for more,” he said.
“In the short term that is a successful negotiating tactic because throughout this year, each month that passes, the EU has tried to provide new solutions, new answers, new compromises, more flexibility and so on.
“But, at some point, the EU says ‘enough, we are not negotiating with a partner here that is acting in good faith’.”
Earlier, Sinn Fein President Mary Lou McDonald said the entire Withdrawal Agreement could be endangered if the UK triggers Article 16.
On the prospect of the UK activating the suspension mechanism, Ms McDonald said: “It would demonstrate just again colossal bad faith and demonstrate again that Ireland, the north of Ireland in particular, is collateral damage in the Tory Brexit as they play games and play a game of chicken with the European institutions.
“I would also say that if the British Government imagine that they hold all of the cards they are wrong and they’re playing a very, very dangerous game, up to and including perhaps jeopardising the entire withdrawal agreement.”
Ms McDonald said the EU proposals for addressing issues with the protocol had gone further than many had anticipated.
“But, you know, everything has its elastic limit,” she told BBC One NI’s Sunday Politics programme.
“The reality now is the ball is at the foot of Boris Johnson and his Government, and they need to act in good faith and they need to adopt a position that is serious and that has a long-term view.
“If they don’t, well, then the consequences, I think, will be very grave indeed.”
The trade arrangements that have created economic barriers on the movement of goods between Great Britain and Northern Ireland were originally agreed between the EU and UK as part of the Brexit withdrawal deal.
The protocol’s purpose was to avoid the creation of a hard border on the island of Ireland post-Brexit.
It has achieved that by effectively keeping Northern Ireland within the EU’s single market for goods, an arrangement which has led to the checks on products crossing the Irish Sea from Great Britain.
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Tear Up Agreement
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TACA Flight 390 crash
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TACA Flight 390 was a scheduled flight on May 30, 2008, by TACA Airlines from San Salvador, El Salvador, to Miami, Florida, United States, with intermediate stops at Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula in Honduras. [2] The aircraft, an Airbus A320-233, overran the runway after landing at Tegucigalpa's Toncontín International Airport and rolled out into a street, crashing into an embankment and smashing several cars in the process. [3]
The aircraft was an Airbus A320-233 (registration EI-TAF, c/n 1374). It was built in 2000 and entered service with TACA in 2001. The aircraft was leased twice to Cubana de Avación and Martinair in 2001 and 2007 respectively. [4][5]
The flight crew included Salvadorans Captain Cesare Edoardo D'Antonio Mena (40) and First Officer Juan Rodolfo Artero Arevalo (26). [6][7] All cabin crew members operating on the flight were Hondurans. Captain D'Antonio had 11,899 flight hours, including 8,514 hours on the Airbus A320, and first officer Artero had 1,607 hours with 250 of them on the Airbus A320. Both pilots had previously experience in landing at Toncontín International Airport; captain D'Antonio had landed at the airport 52 times, and first officer Artero had landed there 5 times. [8]
Flight 390 departed from San Salvador at 9:05 local time. At 09:40, the flight landed on runway 02 at Toncontín International Airport. Although both thrust reversers were deployed and the spoilers were activated, the aircraft overshot the runway at a speed of 54 knots (62 mph; 100 km/h), crossed an embankment, and crashed into a road beside the airport. [9] A survivors account of the accident can be found at https://samchui.com/2021/08/15/my-taca-flight-390-crash-in-tegucigalpa-honduras/#.YRrRWd9lCCg
A list of passengers was provided in the fifth press release on the crash from TACA Airlines. This list was in the Spanish and English sections. [11]
Five people died as a result of the accident, including Captain D'Antonio. [12] The deceased passengers were later confirmed as Jeanne Chantal Neele, the wife of Brian Michael Fraser Neele [de] (Brazil's ambassador to Honduras, who was also on board), and Nicaraguan businessman Harry Brautigam, president of the Central American Bank for Economic Integration; Brautigam died from a heart attack. [13] Ambassador Fraser Neele sustained injuries in the crash. The former head of the Honduran armed forces was also injured. There were two fatalities on the ground, one a taxi driver, in one of three vehicles crushed on the street by the aircraft. One of the survivors said that the business class passengers sustained the most serious injuries. [1]
Honduran authorities delegated the investigation of the accident to the Civil Aviation Authority of El Salvador as per the Convention on International Civil Aviation. [14] The accident report stated that the airplane had landed with a 12-knot tailwind, 400 meters from the displaced approach end of the runway. Since this was the first intermediate stop on a long transcontinental flight, the aircraft was near its upper landing-weight limit (63.5t vs. 64.5t maximum allowable). In addition, the runway was wet, due to the passage of Tropical Storm Alma. [9][8]
The Aviation Herald retrieved a copy of the final report in 2017. The report itself has not been made public. The Civil Aviation Authority concluded the cause of the accident was the flight crew's inappropriate decision to continue the landing despite not assessing the conditions of the runway, which did not follow standard operating procedures. The lack of grooving in the runway and the aircraft landing at a high speed of 160 knots (180 mph; 300 km/h) were also contributing factors. [8]
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Air crash
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10 years after tsunami: A Japanese town rebuilds its homes and heart
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When the most powerful tsunami in Japanese history struck, few places were hit as hard as Minamisanriku. A wall of water obliterated the town, claiming the lives of 820 people. After the unthinkable human loss and almost total physical destruction, some wondered whether Minamisanriku would continue to exist as a town at all. But today the village hums with a quiet rhythm. Many fishing villages along Japan’s northern coast have an intimate and fraught relationship with the sea. Minamisanriku has become a symbol of resolve as it resurrects itself after the 2011 tsunami. The recovery began with what Minamisanriku residents know best – fishing. In April, a few short weeks after the disaster, the seafood market reopened one day a month in a makeshift tent. Since then, a soba noodle restaurant, offices, park, and shopping center have been rebuilt as the town was moved to higher ground. As Japan marks the 10th anniversary of the 2011 tsunami, many will focus on what was lost. But lifelong resident Chouko Haga is choosing to focus on something that he says can never be fully taken away: hope. “If you have your life, if you are still alive, then there is hope and the potential to do something, to carry on,” he says. “That is what I felt then and what I feel most strongly to this day, looking back at these 10 years.” Blisteringly cold gusts blow in off the ocean and sweep across the boat landing. A snowstorm warning has been issued but there is no sign of flakes in the slate gray sky. Still, the temperature is low enough to chill even the hardy fishermen and women who toil on the water off this mountainous stretch of Japan’s northeast coast. It is a Saturday afternoon and many of the people who work the sea have finished for the day, but a few still tend to boats and nets. Tomoaki Saito is carrying crates from his 20-foot shrimp boat to a small, white truck parked on the quay. Mr. Saito goes shrimping every day – and has the weathered face and calloused hands to prove it – making his living from the briny waters as generations before him have done in Minamisanriku. The craggy inlet that leads into this fishing port is banked by steep slopes blanketed with trees. Similar terrain continues inland through the hills that surround the town on three sides. This striking tableau helped make Minamisanriku a popular tourist destination. Some of those who work the cobalt waters run bed-and-breakfasts to supplement their income, though fishing has always been the lifeblood of the town. Many fishing villages along Japan’s northern coast have an intimate and fraught relationship with the sea. Minamisanriku has become a symbol of resolve as it resurrects itself after the 2011 tsunami. Minamisanriku hums with a quiet rhythm, which in itself is perhaps remarkable. Ten years ago the town was struck by the most powerful tsunami in Japanese history. A magnitude 9.0 earthquake triggered waves that inundated more than 200 miles of coastline, killing 18,500 people and setting off a nuclear disaster at the Fukushima nuclear plant that reverberated around the world. Few places were hit as hard as Minamisanriku. “This town was buried by [52-foot] waves in five minutes. They had power beyond human imagination,” says Chouko Haga, who has spent all of his 72 years in Minamisanriku, 47 of them working for the local fishing cooperative. The soft-spoken Mr. Haga now dedicates his time to giving talks on what happened that day and how the town is working to revive itself. After the unthinkable human loss and almost total physical destruction, some wondered whether Minamisanriku would continue to exist as a town at all. Residues of that fateful day remain. Empty lots and open spaces dot parts of the landscape, in between the soba noodle restaurant, offices, park, and shopping center that have been rebuilt as the town was moved to higher ground. But much of the activity of daily life has returned. Minamisanriku, in that sense, mirrors the rest of Japan a decade later. Most of the destruction has been repaired, the more than 200,000 people who lost homes have largely been resettled, and work is progressing on the long decommissioning process at the badly damaged nuclear plant. Yet even in this country, with its culture of stoicism in the face of adversity and emphasis on the collective, the people of the Tohoku region stand out for their resilience amid such a wrenching moment. March 11, 2011, was unfolding like most any day in Minamisanriku. Kazuhiko Endo was thinking about what he was going to do on the weekend while working his wakame seaweed beds. Then, shortly before 3 p.m., the earth began to rumble. Soon, it was shaking violently. Like many people who live on this disaster-prone coastline, he knew what would eventually follow – a wall of water. He grabbed what equipment he could and spirited it off to the building where he dries seaweed, about a half-mile uphill from the dock. Then he headed for even higher ground. The picturesque slopes of Minamisanriku’s inlet compressed the surging waters, amplifying the already immense power of the tsunami. Wave after wave hurtled over the 18-foot sea wall, obliterating the town. Though 820 people here lost their lives that day, many more were likely saved by Minamisanriku’s disaster emergency team. Members heroically stayed at their posts issuing desperate warnings, closing floodgates, and contacting evacuation centers until the waves engulfed their building. The immediate response to the disaster was hampered by the devastating casualties and infrastructure damage suffered by the local police, fire department, government, and hospital. The main road in and out of town, which became congested as many of Minamisanriku’s 17,500 residents attempted to flee after the tsunami warning sounded, was destroyed. With the road and nearby railway line gone, and cellphone networks down, the town was effectively cut off. Supplies, rescuers, and medical personnel could only reach Minamisanriku by air. Among those unable to make contact in the aftermath was Mr. Saito, the shrimp fisherman, who was attending a fishing cooperative meeting 25 miles south in Ishinomaki, which was also devastated. “I called my wife about 100 times but couldn’t get through,” he says. “She was safe, and so was my son because he was at the high school, which is up on high ground.” More than a dozen of his relatives in Minamisanriku and other communities along the coast didn’t survive. For survivors, the early weeks in the shelters were particularly tough: Food and clean water shortages affected the more than 10,000 evacuees. Poor sanitation led to outbreaks of disease, and radiation was leaking from three reactors at the Fukushima nuclear plant to the south. The spirit of pulling together was crucial as the town began the long, arduous task of resurrecting itself. In some ways, the bonds of this close-knit community grew tighter. The recovery began with what Minamisanriku residents know best – fishing. In April, a few short weeks after the disaster, the seafood market – a vital piece of the town’s identity – reopened one day a month in a makeshift tent. With much of their fleet destroyed, fishermen and women banded into small groups the first few years after the tsunami, sharing boats, equipment, and catches. “Fishing is a hard life, even tougher than farming,” says Mr. Haga. “It was pretty competitive before the disaster. There was quite a lot of rivalry between the fishermen. But after what they went through, and then working together, they are much more cooperative now.” The equipment Mr. Endo thought he had carried to safety was washed away, as were his boats. “But with money donated through a 24-hour TV charity program, fishermen in Chiba [north of Tokyo] bought me a new boat and brought it here,” he says. “People here now find it easier to talk to each other, because of that experience we shared.” Mr. Endo’s wife, Kurumi, survived the earthquake that struck Kobe in 1995, killing nearly 6,500. Living through that disaster prompted her to volunteer in Minamisanriku, helping to revive the farming of seaweed, for which the area is famous. The folks of Minamisanriku are “quiet, kind, and calm,” says Ms. Endo. “They don’t show their sadness.” Returning in 2013, she met Kazuhiko and they married shortly afterward. Now they work the seaweed beds together. Approximately 20% of the globe’s major earthquakes strike the Japanese archipelago, many of the strongest along its northern Pacific coast. The area near Minamisanriku was battered by tsunamis triggered by massive tremors in 869, 1896, and 1933. The 1960 Great Chilean Earthquake is one of only three recorded as more powerful than the 2011 temblor. It caused a tsunami that traveled for nearly 24 hours across the Pacific and hit Minamisanriku with 16-foot waves, killing 41. Mr. Haga was in elementary school and remembers the day clearly. “Because of that, we had tsunami drills every year,” he notes. “And that is why the town’s three schools were built on high ground. That saved most of the children in 2011, and the schools were able to be used as evacuation centers.” Yet the sea wall built in response to the 1960 tsunami gave some a false sense of security. “My older brother and his wife thought they would be safe as their place was high up and the 1960 tsunami hadn’t reached it,” says Mr. Haga. “But the waves hit the house and they both died. My wife went [to their house] at first, but decided to go further up the mountain and somehow escaped.” He shows a picture of himself standing on the foundation of his former home, all that was left of the house that had stood in the center of the town. “I found nothing, not a single photo, a dish, a piece of clothing, that I could keep as a memory,” he says. “But I used a piece of the foundation as a rock in the garden of my new house.” Under Minamisanriku’s reconstruction plan, authorities decided that only commercial buildings would be built on the site of the old town center. Residences would be placed on higher ground, presumably beyond the reach of the next tsunami. The basic elevation of the town has been raised more than 32 feet using rock cut from the encircling mountains. Construction continues on the flatlands where the old town stood, but like the emotional scars quietly borne by so many, evidence of the destruction is not easily erased. At the heart of the town’s physical renaissance is the Sun Sun Shopping Village. Moved from a temporary location to its current spot in 2017, it houses dozens of shops and eateries in two broad rows of wooden buildings. The restaurants all serve local seafood. Even pizza is topped with harvests from the sea: One outlet’s signature dish is wakame seaweed pizza. Along with other elements of the rebuilding plan, the shopping village was designed by internationally renowned architect Kengo Kuma (designer of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic stadium), a source of local pride. A footbridge connects the shopping village to the Minamisanriku Memorial Park, which opened in October 2020. At its center is the shell of the three-story disaster emergency building, its reddish-brown steel girders the most visible standing remnant of March 2011. The building and what happened there have been a source of friction in this town still working through its pain. For some, the sight of the building is too raw a reminder of that ominous day. Even among the families of the 41 government workers and citizens who died there, opinions are divided. For now, the town has decided to keep it as a memorial until 2031, and then look again at whether to demolish it. Recriminations have also surfaced over whether the disaster team should have been ordered to evacuate. Mr. Haga is convinced that the actions of Miki Endo helped save the life of his wife and many others. She is the young team member who broadcast warnings over the town public-address system for 30 minutes after the earthquake struck, until the waves engulfed her. In fact, dozens of others also died doing vital work, but it was the story of Ms. Endo that captured the public imagination. Her self-sacrifice made her a posthumous national hero, but the singular focus on her caused resentment among some who had also lost loved ones. Like many in the town, Mieko Endo, Miki’s mother, has kept herself busy the past 10 years as a way of not dwelling on the loss. She avoided news in the aftermath of the tsunami and was unaware that her daughter’s actions had become known even beyond Japan’s shores. Ms. Endo empathizes with the trauma experienced by all those who suffered loss, but criticism of the attention given to her daughter clearly stings. “After the earth had shaken that much, can you imagine how terrified she was? She was only 24,” says Ms. Endo, her eyes filling with tears. “She must have wanted to run away. I wanted her to run away. I’m proud of what my daughter did, of who she was.” When Ms. Endo opened a small guesthouse behind her home in 2014, there was only one candidate for its name, “Miki no Ie” – Miki’s House. Minamisanriku’s population is now 12,500, almost a third smaller than when the tsunami struck. Many of those who were evacuated to other cities and towns never returned. The disaster accelerated the demographic trends impacting much of Japan, particularly in rural areas: a shrinking population and the drift of young people to big cities. The Japanese often used to say they suffered from heiwa-boke, a self-deprecating phrase that translates to something like “peace-foolishness.” It spoke to the relative ease of life in the decades from the 1960s onward, when Japan enjoyed prolonged economic prosperity after rising from the destruction of World War II. It’s not a term heard often since the 2011 triple disasters of the quake, tsunami, and nuclear disaster. The major rebuilding on the northeast coast is almost done; the 10-year program is reaching the end of its cycle. The last few hundred people in temporary housing are due to move into new homes by the end of March.
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Tsunamis
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Two people trapped in multiple car crash along Forrest Highway, Eaton
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One person has been airlifted to Perth while another has been taken to Bunbury hospital after a car rolled in head-on collision just outside Eaton in WA’s South West. The incident occurred along Forrest Highway near the intersection of Hynes Road, just before 10.30am. Emergency services rushed to the scene with initial reports that two people were trapped in a vehicle and four people had been hurt. The RAC Rescue helicopter was dispatched and three St John Ambulance crews were sent to the scene to treat those involved in the crash. A DFES spokeswoman said Career and Volunteer Fire and Rescue Service firefighters from Eaton, Australind and Bunbury attended the incident and freed one person from a car. She also said one person was flown to Royal Perth Hospital for treatment while another was taken to Bunbury Regional Hospital by road.
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Road Crash
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Charlotte Pride Parade, concert, festival canceled, changed to hybrid virtual/in-person smaller events due to COVID-19
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Charlotte Pride says they will transition those larger events in October and November to hybrid virtual/in-person smaller events. By WBTV Web Staff Published: Sep. 20, 2021 at 3:17 PM EDT Share on Facebook Share on Pinterest Share on LinkedIn CHARLOTTE, N.C. (WBTV) - The Charlotte Pride Parade, concert and festival, scheduled for October, has been canceled because of the continuing rising of COVID-19 and Delta variant cases, organizers announced on Monday. Charlotte Pride says they will transition those larger events in October and November to hybrid virtual/in-person smaller events. According to organizers, all previously planned events like the Charlotte Pride Parade, Pop-Up Pride Festival and concert event, and others will be transitioned into unique virtual broadcasts, with the ability of community members to gather in smaller-scale events and watch parties hosted by individuals and local establishments. “Charlotte Pride organizers had long held out hope that its in-person festival and parade could return to Uptown in 2021, initially designing their events to take place over a four-month period. In August, the organization postponed its events until October and asked community members to continue getting vaccinated and taking precautions to slow the spread of the virus,” Charlotte Pride said in a statement. At the time, organizers said higher vaccination rates, lower positivity rates, and decreased community spread were essential for hosting any events in 2021.” Organizers say their transition to these hybrid virtual and in-person events balance community health precautions with Charlotte Pride’s desire to see a city-wide celebration of Pride. Organizers say the virtual and small-scale in-person events will give community members the option to stay safe at home with family or friends or gather in much smaller and safer activities which allow for masking and social distancing. Here is the schedule of Charlotte Pride events: Charlotte Pride Pop-Up Shops Saturday, Oct. 16 // Select locations citywide Join Charlotte Pride all afternoon and evening on Saturday, Oct. 16 at select locations across Charlotte for your opportunity to gather together with Pride. Pick up your Pride swag, limited edition 2021 Charlotte Pride T-shirts, and more as we make a toast to Pride in the Queen City. Pop-Up Shop locations and times will be announced soon online. Charlotte Pride Scavenger Hunt Saturday, Oct. 16-Sunday, Oct. 24 // Plaza Midwood Explore Plaza Midwood and its bounty of LGBTQ-owned and -friendly businesses as you search for prizes and fun Charlotte Pride swag. Hosted on the Charlotte Pride Mobile App, the Charlotte Pride Scavenger Hunt is a unique way to explore one of the city’s queerest neighborhoods, meet friends, and support local businesses who give back. Coming soon to the Charlotte Pride Mobile App. Charlotte Pride Drag Pageant Friday, Oct. 22, 8-10 p.m. // Watch parties hosted citywide Gather with your friends in an at-home watch party or head out to select community establishments across the city to tune in to this year’s Charlotte Pride Drag Pageant. After a year off in 2020, local drag artists will compete to be crowned and reign with their peers in the 2021 Charlotte Pride Drag Court. Want to host a watch party? Let us know and get watch party hosting tips online at charlottepride.org/watchparties/ . Livestream links and more details will be announced soon. Mask-Queerade Bar Crawl Benefitting Time Out Youth & Charlotte Pride Saturday, Oct. 23, 1 p.m. // South End, various locations Join Time Out Youth and Charlotte Pride on Saturday, October 23rd as they join forces to produce a one-of-a-kind Mask-Queerade Bar Crawl! Tickets are $20 in advance, $25 day-of. Learn more and get tickets now at maskqueeradeclt.eventbrite.com . The Charlotte Pridestream Broadcast live from the iHeartRadio Charlotte Studios Saturday, Oct. 23, 7-10 p.m. // Watch parties hosted citywide The Charlotte Pridestream will bring you the best of local community entertainers, leaders, and speakers to empower and uplift the LGBTQ community in Charlotte and the Carolinas. Special live performances, tributes, and remarks. Join a watch party at select community establishments across the city or team up with friends to host your own at-home watch party! Want to host a watch party? Let us know and get watch party hosting tips online at charlottepride.org/watchparties/ . A full entertainment line-up, livestream links, and more details will be announced soon. Charlotte Pride Interfaith Service Sunday, Oct. 24, 6 p.m. // Broadcast live from St. John’s Baptist Church The annual Charlotte Pride Interfaith Service returns with remarks and special musical offerings, broadcast live from the sanctuary at St. John’s Baptist Church, featuring keynote speaker, the Rev. Clifford Matthews, Jr., Senior Pastor, St. Luke Missionary Baptist Church. Livestream links and more details to be announced soon. Reel Out Charlotte Friday, Nov. 5-Sunday, Nov. 6 // Camp North End / Virtual Reel Out Charlotte, the Queen City’s Annual LGBTQ Film Festival, will host an in-person, outdoor, double-feature film screening and later that weekend unveil its annual short films screenings and competition in a live special broadcast online. More details will be announced soon. In November, Charlotte Pride will host two additional events to round out its Charlotte Pride Season. The Charlotte Pride Job Fair and Community Conference will be hosted on Saturday, Nov. 13. The unique virtual event will bring together people seeking to learn more about the community and those actively seeking employment with community experts and local employers, as well as opportunities for those not seeking employment to engage with our broader LGBTQ community through workshops and community caucuses. On Sunday, Nov. 14, the Charlotte Pride Free Store will be hosted to provide essential needs including clothing to community members free of charge. More details will be announced soon. All event details, livestream links, in-person event and watch party locations, and more will be announced at charlottepride.org .
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Organization Closed
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Dolphins sign first player; ex-Dogs star’s career lifeline finally emerges: Transfer Whispers
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The Dolphins have made their first signing in club history and it’s no marquee man - this young gun hasn’t even played in the NRL.
Dylan Napa’s time in the NRL is all but over with the star prop likely to ink a deal with a Super League club, while the Sharks and Warriors are in a tug of war over a 22-year-old rookie.
Despite the links between Luke Brooks and the Knights growing stronger and stronger, the star halfback has reportedly reaffirmed his commitment to the Wests Tigers.
Meanwhile, axed Raider Curtis Scott’s career is far from over with four clubs said to be interested in him and a retired player is preparing to dust off his boots for an NRL comeback.
Read on for the latest NRL Transfer Whispers.
DOLPHINS MAKE HISTORIC FIRST SIGNING
Former Queensland under-18 representative Harrison Graham has reportedly become the first player signed by NRL expansion side the Dolphins. There was plenty of talk linking the Dolphins to marquee men Cameron Munster and Kalyn Ponga, but it’s 20-year-old Graham who has etched his name into the club’s history books.
Graham has been touted as one of the best young hookers in the game and can also play lock. The young gun has been signed on a development contract with scope to upgrade him, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. However, he has a train-and-trial contract with the Broncos for the upcoming pre-season and could be picked up by Brisbane for the 2022 NRL season.
Graham played for the underage Maroons when he was 17. He came off the bench in a team that included Cowboys winger Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow, Warriors fullback Reece Walsh, Sydney Roosters halfback Sam Walker, Broncos fullback Tesi Niu, Melbourne recruit Xavier Coates and Wests Tigers hooker Jake Simpkin.
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Sign Agreement
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2012 Guerrero–Oaxaca earthquake
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The 2012 Guerrero–Oaxaca earthquake struck southern Mexico with a moment magnitude of 7.4 at 12:02 local time on Tuesday, 20 March. Its epicenter was near Ometepec, in the border between the states of Guerrero and Oaxaca. With a shallow focus of 15 to 20 km, the earthquake caused strong shaking over a large area along the Oaxaca–Guerrero border and the adjacent Pacific coastline. Significant tremors were felt in areas up to several hundred kilometers away, including Mexico City and also in Guatemala. Two people were killed and over 30,000 houses were damaged or destroyed. The states of Guerrero and Oaxaca lie above the convergent boundary where the Cocos Plate is being subducted below the North American Plate at a rate of 6.4 cm/yr (2.5 in/yr). The dip of the subducting slab is about 15° as defined by focal mechanisms and hypocenters of previous earthquakes. Seismicity in this area is characterized by regular megathrust earthquakes along the plate interface. In addition, there have been a series of historic normal fault events within the subducting slab. [11]
According to the National Seismological Service (NSS) of Mexico, the epicenter was located in the Oaxaca-Guerrero border, about 30 km south of Ometepec and 8 km southeast of Cuajinicuilapa. [3] The United States Geological Survey (USGS) reported the epicenter in the state of Oaxaca, about 23 km east of Ometepec and 6 km northwest of San Juan Cacahuatepec. [2] The depth was reported as 15 km by NSS[3] and 20 km by the USGS. [2] The slip of the earthquake was compactly distributed in an area of about 30 km × 30 km. [12]
The focal mechanism and depth of the earthquake indicate that it was a result of thrust faulting along or close to the plate interface. Similar earthquakes have struck the area before, including the 1932 Jalisco earthquake, the 1985 Mexico City earthquake, the 1995 Colima–Jalisco earthquake and the 2003 Colima earthquake. [2]
The earthquake coincided with an earthquake drill in Chiapas. The earthquake drill, simulating an earthquake of magnitude 7.9 on the Richter scale, was implemented by the Protección Civil of Chiapas on 20 March. The earthquake drill started at 12:00, and the real earthquake occurred just minutes later. [13]
The airport of Mexico City was closed for a short time and reopened after no damage had been observed. [14] The trading of Mexican Stock Exchange (BMV) was suspended. [15] The earthquake caused power outage in central and eastern Mexico and affected 2.5 million users according to Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE). [16] On 22 March it was announced that two people were killed in Cuajinicuilapa because of the earthquake, one direct and one indirect. The first died due to the injuries caused after a wall collapsed on him in El Tamale community, while the second suffered a heart attack, in San Nicolás. [8]
The earthquake struck during the midday in a moderately populated region, with a mix of earthquake-resistant and vulnerable structures. [17] The strongest ground motions registered at very strong (MM VII) on the Mercalli intensity scale, affecting smaller cities and towns near the epicenter such as San Juan Cacahuatepec, Cuajinicuilapa, Ometepec and Pinotepa Nacional. Many other areas in the states of Guerrero and Oaxaca experienced strong (MM VI) shaking, while larger cities—such as Huajuapan de León, Oaxaca, Tehuacán, Puebla, and Acapulco, Guerrero—experienced moderate (MM V) tremors. Lighter ground motions(MM IV–III)spread through much of south-central Mexico. [17] The earthquake could be felt in the federal entities of Guerrero, Mexico City, State of Mexico, Morelos, Querétaro, Michoacán, Puebla, Tabasco, Tlaxcala, Hidalgo, Oaxaca, Chiapas, Veracruz, Colima, Jalisco, San Luís Potosí, Guanajuato, Campeche, and Sinaloa of Mexico, and also in Guatemala. The intensity in Mexico City was MM VI–VII, which was stronger than the surrounding area because of local topography and soil conditions. [26] Part of a pedestrian bridge collapsed on a small passenger bus in Azcapotzalco, Mexico City, with no injuries reported. The service of Mexico City Metro Line A was interrupted because of track damage. [28]
Multiple aftershocks have been reported in the Guerrero–Oaxaca region. According to the NSS, 828 aftershocks have occurred,[29] the strongest of them was felt on 2 April 2012. It was a magnitude 6.0 MW earthquake that struck at 12:36 local time (18:36 UTC).
According to Asociación Mexicana de Instituciones de Seguros (AMIS), it was estimated that insurance companies would have to pay 2070 million pesos due to this earthquake. 80% of the loss was concentrated in Guerrero, followed by Mexico City, Oaxaca, and Puebla. [32]
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Earthquakes
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2021 South Kalimantan floods
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The 2021 South Kalimantan floods were a series of floods in the South Kalimantan province of Indonesia. It was the worst flood to affect the region in the last ten years, and the first major flood in the past fifty years. [1] Most of the region affected had never experienced such a flood before. [2] As of 18 January 2021, there were 15 deaths while many still missing. Landslides were also triggered by the floods. The most affected regions were Banjarmasin, Central Hulu Sungai Regency, and Tanah Laut Regency. More than 100,000 people were evacuated.
Indonesian National Armed Forces had begun distributing aid to victims of the flooding. [13]
The flood is thought to have been caused by high rainfall intensity, which triggered river overflows that began on January 9, 2021. [14] However, the Director of Indonesian Forum for Environment for South Kalimantan, Dwi Cahyono, argued that the flood was caused by environmental degradation in the form of hundreds of mining holes that were not reclaimed and nearly fifty percent of the 3.7 million hectares of land were controlled by mining and oil palm companies.
Indonesian netizens criticized lack of coverage on national media about the floods. President Joko Widodo posted on social media that Indonesia currently struggles against two natural disasters; 2021 Sumedang landslides and 2021 West Sulawesi earthquake, but did not mention the floods. Consequently, hashtag "#KalselJugaIndonesia" (South Kalimantan is also Indonesia) trended on Twitter as protest of government's lack of coverage.
Environment activists and opposition argued that floods happening in South Kalimantan were the result of uncontrolled and unsustainable investments resulting destruction of the nature, and criticized the provincial government that blamed the floods solely on weather. Later president post a video on the disaster that he already received direct report from South Kalimantan governor, Sahbirin Noor and urged all government personnel to provide aids necessary for the victims especially inflatable boat. [22] Later, president visited the affected region directly on 18 January together with regent of Banjar Regency. [1]
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Floods
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Swarms of locusts attack crops across Saudi Arabia | Arab News
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Swarms of locusts attack crops across Saudi Arabia
The huge number of locusts and the speed of the wind helped the swarms to spread in regions such as Al-Qassim, Hail and the Eastern Province
Updated 20 February 2020
MAKKAH: Locusts have invaded every region across the Kingdom. The insects arrived from nearby countries, which have struggled to limit the spread of the vast swarms.
Saudi authorities have doubled the daily aerial sprayings to combat the locusts.
Mohammad Al-Shammrani, director of combating locusts and plagues at the Ministry of Environment, Agriculture and Water, told Arab News that the swarms came from East Africa.
Red locusts can be ferocious and eat crops.
The swarms attacked crops in Jazan, Asir, Al-Baha, Al-Leith, Qunfodah and Makkah and were combated by specialized teams. The environmental conditions in these regions allowed the locusts to mature quickly and lay eggs.
“We’ve combated locusts on a daily basis from the beginning of January to the end. We exterminated the first generation of the swarms, which attacked Jazan all the way to the Makkah region. We targeted two swarms of locusts in Qunfodah and Al-Leith,” he said.
New swarms entered the Kingdom from nearby countries such as Eretria, Ethiopia, Somalia, Yemen, Oman and India. The swarms entered Najran from Yemen and few of them reached the Asir and Riyadh regions, he explained.
The huge number of locusts and the speed of the wind helped the swarms to spread in regions such as Al-Qassim, Hail and the Eastern Province.
Combat teams are working relentlessly to monitor the movement of swarms and carry out aerial sprayings.
The effects of locusts on crops can be detrimental if no swift interventions are made. The swarms can wipe out crops in a few minutes. That is why Al-Shammrani said the sprayings have been intensified in the spring and winter seasons and from the south coast to the west coast as well as the north coast of the Red Sea.
“We use spraying aircraft in rugged areas and terrain. All the insecticides are approved by the Food and Agriculture Organization,” he said.
Locusts tend to multiply during rains and flaky weather, especially in desert and high-humidity areas. There are seven countries that are infamous for having large swarms of locusts: Eritrea, Ethiopia, Sudan, Yemen, Oman, Saudi Arabia and Somalia.
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Insect Disaster
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PM Modi pays tribute to Georgia's Saint Queen Ketevan, lauds Goa for preserving her relics
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Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday paid tributes to Georgia's Saint Queen Ketevan during his monthly Mann ki Baat program pointing out how "extremely emotional" the people of the country are for her. India's External minister Dr S Jaishankar had visited the country earlier this month and handed over the relics of St Ketevan who was martyred in Iran in 1624. PM recalling the "very interesting and very emotional event" of handing over the relics said that the development imparts "new strength to India-Georgia friendship" and "the words that were said in praise of India in this ceremony are indeed very memorable." The ceremony that took place at the Sameba Holy Trinity Cathedral saw the participation of Georgia's top political and religious leaders including the President, PM, and His Holiness and Beatitude Ilia II, the Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia. St Queen Ketevan's relics were found in St. Augustine Convent in Old Goa, India in 2005. DNA analysis by the CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad at the instance of the Archaeological Survey of India confirmed its authenticity. It is believed her relics were brought to Goa in 1627. PM said that the "ceremony has not only strengthened the relations between the two nations but as well as between Goa and Georgia." He explained that "this is an extremely emotional topic for the people of Georgia. That is why keeping in mind their historical, religious, and spiritual sentiments, the Government of India decided to gift a part of these relics to the people of Georgia." The relics have reached Georgia back after more than 390 years. In the past, in September 2017, relics were sent to Georgia for almost a year and were returned to India in September 2018. Lauding Goa, PM said, "I would like to thank the people of Goa for preserving this unique side of the shared history of India and Georgia. Goa has been the land of many a great spiritual heritage. Saint Augustine Church is a UNESCO's World Heritage Site – a part of the Churches and Convents of Goa." EAM's visit was the first visit by an Indian external affairs minister to the country since it became independent in 1991. Georgian Foreign Minister Irakli Menagarishvili and External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh had met in New Delhi on 11 May 2000.
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New archeological discoveries
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Air Tahoma Flight 185 crash
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Air Tahoma Flight 185 was a scheduled cargo flight from Memphis to Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport conducted by Air Tahoma as part of a contract to freight parcels for courier firm DHL. On August 13, 2004, the flight crashed during approach to landing just one mile short of the runway. The Convair 580, which is a twin engine turboprop, was destroyed upon impact. The first officer was killed and the captain received minor injuries. [1][2]
On August 13, 2004 at about 00:49 Eastern Daylight Time, Air Tahoma, Inc., Flight 185 crashed about one mile south of Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG), in Florence, Kentucky while on approach to runway 36R. The crash was heard by a nearby Florence Police officer. Shortly after, first responders found the plane. The first officer was killed and the captain received minor injuries. The airplane was destroyed by impact forces. The flight was operating as a cargo flight for DHL Express from Memphis International Airport to CVG. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the flight, which operated on an instrument flight rules flight plan. [1]
The National Transportation Safety Board determined that the probable cause of this accident was fuel starvation resulting from the captain's decision not to follow approved fuel crossfeed procedures. Different output pressure settings on the fuel boost pumps coupled with the open crossfeed valve resulted in both engines drawing fuel from the left tank. All of the fuel from the airplane's left tank that was not used by the engines was transferred into the right tank due to the pressure differential between the boost pumps. During the airplane's descent to landing, the fuel in the left fuel tank became exhausted. Both engine-driven fuel pumps drew air from the exhausted left tank into the fuel system, resulting in a dual-engine flameout. [1]
Contributing to the accident were the captain's inadequate preflight planning, his subsequent distraction during the flight, and his late initiation of the in-range checklist. Further contributing to the accident was the flight crew's failure to monitor the fuel gauges and to recognize that the airplane's changing handling characteristics were caused by a fuel imbalance. [1]
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Air crash
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Chicago flood
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The Chicago flood occurred on April 13, 1992, when repair work on a bridge spanning the Chicago River damaged the wall of an abandoned and disused utility tunnel beneath the river. The resulting breach flooded basements, facilities and the underground Chicago Pedway throughout the Chicago Loop with an estimated 250 million US gallons (1,000,000 m3) of water. [1]
The remediation lasted for weeks, and cost about $2 billion in 1992 dollars, equivalent to $3.69 billion in 2020. The legal battles lasted for several years, and disagreement over who was at fault persists to this day. Rehabilitation work on the Kinzie Street Bridge crossing the Chicago River required new pilings. However, when the City of Chicago specified that the old pilings be extracted and replaced by the new ones, the Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Company reported back that the old pilings were too close to the bridge tender's house, preventing proper removal without risking damaging or destroying the house. The City of Chicago then gave permission to install the new pilings 3.5 feet (1.1 m) south of the old pilings. The crew members who began work at the site did not know that beneath the river was an abandoned Chicago Tunnel Company (CTC) tunnel that had been used in the early 20th century to transport coal and goods. One of the pilings on the east bank was driven into the bottom of the river alongside the north wall of the old tunnel. The pilings did not punch through the tunnel wall, but clay soil displaced by the piling eventually breached the wall, allowing sediment and water to seep into the tunnel. After some weeks, most of the clay between the water and the breach had liquefied, which rapidly increased the rate of flooding in the tunnel. The situation became problematic because the flood doors had been removed from the old tunnels after they fell into disuse. In the spring of 1992, city workers in Chicago began drilling and working near the Chicago River. One of their drills damaged the roof of a long-forgotten tunnel system. Over the next month, mud and then water began leaking into the large abandoned train tunnels below the river. Soon, a car-sized hole opened up, and a flood of water filled several miles of the old tunnel, as well as all the nearby underground buildings, storage areas, and basements in the big city. No one knew where the floodwater had come from, but something had to be done quickly. Some of the underground structures already had 40 feet of water. A reporter spotted a spiral of water in the river, and soon city workers rushed to fill the hole with sand, mattresses, and cement. After 3 days, the water leak was blocked, and the water was drained from the businesses and tunnels. This man-made “leak” cost the city about 1.95 billion dollars. A skilled telecommunications worker inspecting a cable running through the tunnel discovered the leak while it was still passing mud and forwarded a videotape to the city, which did not see anything serious and began a bid process to repair the tunnel. The CTC tunnels were never formally a public responsibility, as most of them had been dug clandestinely, many violated private property[2] and the collapse of the operator had failed to resolve ownership and maintenance responsibilities. Meanwhile, the mud continued to push through until the river water was able to pour in unabated, creating an immediate emergency. The water flooded into the basements of several Loop office buildings and retail stores and an underground shopping district. The Loop and financial district were evacuated, and electrical power and gas were interrupted in most of the area as a precaution. Trading at the Chicago Board of Trade Building and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange ended in mid-morning as water seeped into their basements. At its height, some buildings had 40 feet (12 m) of water in their lower levels. However, at the street level there was no water to be seen, as it was all underground. At first, the source of the water was unclear. WMAQ radio reporter Larry Langford reported that city crews were in the process of shutting down large water mains to see if the water flow could be stopped. Monitoring police scanners, Langford heard security crews from Chicago's Merchandise Mart (near the Kinzie Street Bridge) report that the water in their basement had fish. Langford drove to the Merchandise Mart, then reported over the air that water was swirling near a piling in a manner similar to water going down a bathtub drain. Within minutes emergency services were converging on the bridge. A car-sized hole opened up, and a flood of water filled several miles worth of the old tunnel, as well as all the nearby underground buildings, storage areas, and basements in the big city. No one knew where the floodwater had come from, but something had to be done quickly. Some of the underground structures already had 40 feet of water. Workers attempted to plug the hole, by then about 20 feet (6.1 m) wide, with 65 truckloads of rocks, cement and old mattresses. [citation needed] In an attempt to slow the leak, the level of the Chicago River was lowered by opening the locks downstream of Chicago,[citation needed] and the freight tunnels were drained into the Chicago Deep Tunnel system. The leak was eventually stopped by placing a specialized concrete mixture supplied by Material Service Corporation (MSC) and placed by Kenny Construction. The concrete was designed by Brian Rice of MSC and was to set up so quickly that the concrete delivery trucks were provided police escorts. The concrete was placed into drilled shafts into the flooded tunnel near Kinzie Street and formed emergency plugs. It took three days before the flood was cleaned up enough to allow business to begin to resume and cost the city an estimated $1.95 billion (equivalent to $3.25 billion in 2019[3]). Some buildings remained closed for a few weeks. Parking was banned downtown during the cleanup and some subway routes were temporarily closed or rerouted. Since it occurred near Tax Day, the IRS granted natural disaster extensions to those affected. Eventually, the city assumed maintenance responsibility for the tunnels, and watertight hatches were installed at the river crossings. Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Co. sued the City of Chicago arguing that the city had failed to tell it about the existence of the tunnels. [4]
Insurance battles lasted for years, the central point being the definition of the accident, i.e., whether it was a "flood" or a "leak". Leaks were covered by insurance, while floods were not.
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Floods
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GPS data reveal possible earthquake, tsunami hazard in northwestern colombia
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Data from a GPS network in Colombia have revealed a shallow and fully locked part on the Caribbean subduction zone in the country that suggests a possible large earthquake and tsunami risk for the northwest region. The locked patch south of Cartagena city is capable of generating a magnitude 8.0 earthquake every 600 years, said Sindy Lizarazo of Nagoya University in Japan, who presented the study at the Seismological Society of America (SSA)'s 2021 Annual Meeting. Colombia lies in the middle of a complex tectonic zone, where the Caribbean, Nazca and South American tectonic plates and other smaller tectonic blocks converge. The Caribbean plate is very slowly converging with the northern part of Colombia--moving at 7 millimeters per year--which may in part be the reason for the long time between large earthquakes in northwest Colombia. "The only recent historical record of a disastrous [magnitude 6.4] earthquake in the Colombian Caribbean region was on May 22, 1834 close to Santa Marta," said Lizarazo. "However, there is no seismic event that meets the magnitude estimated by our study, nor tsunamis in the historical record on the northern part of Colombia." To better understand the complex movements and crustal deformation taking place in the region, Lizarazo and colleagues analyzed data from the nationwide GPS network called GeoRED (GEOdesia: Red de Estudios de Deformación in Spanish). The network has been operated by the Geological Survey of Colombia since 2007 and has 150 permanent stations in continuous operation. GPS data can be used to estimate the movements and crustal deformation of the tectonic plates interacting against each other. The data analyzed by Lizarazo and colleagues revealed motion of the northern part of the North Andean Block--a "microplate" squeezed between the Nazca and South American plates--that causes it to interact with the subducting Caribbean plate. Using these data along with a realistic slab configuration, the researchers estimated the extent and degree of interplate locking along this boundary, where stresses may build without being released in an earthquake. The study "provides the first evidence of a shallow locked region south of Cartagena," Lizarazo said. "This indicates that this segment of the Caribbean-South America plate boundary in northwestern Colombia can be the locus of significant earthquake and tsunami hazard." To fully evaluate this hazard potential, researchers need to conduct large-scale geological mapping, and look for evidence of past tsunamis and large earthquakes in the region, among other studies. "It is also necessary to continue with the densification of the GPS network in the country, increasing its coverage and operation in real time," Lizarazo said.
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Tsunamis
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The massive, yet invisible cost of keeping schools closed
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The impact of school closures on children and young people across the world is gigantic. The prolonged closures of schools since March 2020 resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic have led to the most serious education crisis in the last 100 years. As Chile's Minister of Education Raul Figueroa said when he explained his government's efforts to restore learning, "we have had an earthquake in education." My World Bank colleague, Indermit Gill, accurately likens the school closures impact on education to a bomb which destroys only one capital - the human capital. I wonder if societies and governments have internalized the magnitude of the shock. In countries with extensive school closures in South Asia, the Middle East and Latin America, the number of school days lost reaches 200. Such immense learning shocks are akin to a raging forest fire that must be put out. The World Bank, UNESCO and UNICEF conceived the Mission: Recovery of Education 2021, as an urgent task for this year. If governments and societies want to “walk the talk” and demonstrate that the well-being of children and young people is indeed a political priority, urgent and decisive action is needed to open schools safely where they remain closed and to prioritize policies to ensure recovery of lost learning. Do school closures help combat the pandemic? Since the beginning of the pandemic, school closures were almost universally viewed as a mechanism to prevent contagion. The idea was based on presumptions rather than evidence. In the early stages of the pandemic, governments were navigating fearfully in a sea of ignorance. Even if children were not susceptible to getting seriously ill, they were presumed to be efficient transmitters of the virus. For some countries, including Sweden, such presumptions were not enough, and schools remained open. But those were exceptions. Now we have evidence suggesting that those presumptions were misplaced. A synthesis of epidemiological surveys and household-level analysis indicates that children transmit the virus less efficiently than adults. Evidence from school reopening initiatives suggest that with precautions and strategies to minimize transmission in place, schools are not a major source of transmission, nor high-risk environments for staff. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control has concluded that for adults, the risk of infection in a school setting is no greater than at home or in the community, and also that despite new variants of the virus the negative impacts of proactive schools closures outweigh the benefits, so they should be used only as the last resort. Studies in Germany and the United States and the experiences of countries where schools have reopened between the first and second waves suggest that with appropriate mitigation strategies, reopening has not led to an increase in infections among students, teachers or in the community, even prior to the start of the vaccination processes. The bottom line is that there is no scientific evidence to presume that schools are at greater risk than other occupational or recreational environments of similar density. Nothing can justify keeping schools closed when at the same time restaurants, bars or shopping malls reopen. The protracted closure of schools was meant to protect adults who are at greater risk of falling severely ill - perhaps to no avail. And given the experiences of safe reopening in countries prior to vaccine development, education systems don't need to wait for widespread community vaccination before reopening. What has been the cost of school closures? There are no estimates of the benefits of school closures. In contrast, the cost of keeping schools closed in terms of children's learning, mental health, and socio-emotional development is extortionate. Despite countries’ laudable and indispensable efforts to provide remote education, which involved rapid adjustments, many countries are aware that remote learning has been a weak, unequal, and very partial compensation for face-to-face education. The evidence of that is mounting. The World Bank's simulations at the end of 2020 showed that the Learning Poverty indicator – the percentage of ten-year-olds who cannot read and understand a simple text – would likely increase from 53 percent before the pandemic to 63 percent. That figure may be an underestimate as the calculations were based on a length of school closures that have been now vastly exceeded in many countries. We now have data on the actual huge learning losses emerging in both developed and developing countries. Evidence from the Netherlands, Belgium and the United Kingdom, countries that were able to measure learning when students returned to the classroom after the first wave of the pandemic, shows that despite short school closures and high internet penetration, there were significant learning losses. More recently, a study in Sao Paulo, where data was collected at the beginning and the end of 2020, shows that students learned 27.5 percent of what they would have learned if face-to-face classes had continued. In South Africa, where early grade students missed on average 60 percent of school days in 2020, Grade 2 students incurred learning losses equivalent to 57-70 percent of a year of learning. In Chile, initial assessments show that in 2020, in grades 6 through 12, despite a partial reopening, students mastered only 60 percent of curriculum content in reading and between 47 and 27 percent in math. Losing the most important tool to equalize opportunities Moreover, with schools closed the main space to equalize opportunities was lost. In all available studies, there is evidence of much larger losses the lower the socio-economic status. The school, despite its limitations in poor and in middle-income countries, is the main mechanism to equalize opportunity. For countless children and young people, school is the only safe space for stimulation, socialization, and meaningful learning. That space has disappeared for too many and for too long. While schools were closed, children’s opportunities for educational stimulation were defined by conditions at home. For the fortunate ones, those conditions included an internet connection, access to books, a space to work and parents to provide guidance. Under such conditions, some learning is possible. Others lacked those prerequisites for learning, and consequently lost their entire learning experience. The stark differences between children’s home learning environments during the pandemic epitomizes inequality of opportunity. What are education systems most concerned with recovering learning doing? First, we see concern about students’ learning losses. It is critical to have information about the magnitude of learning losses at the national and local levels. If education systems do not measure learning, they are flying blind. Choosing to measure current learning levels is not an easy decision, because in many cases the measurement of learning will bring bad news. However, grasping the reality at hand and understanding the extent of the loss of learning is vital to design apt remedial education and acceleration policies throughout the country. Secondly, we observe judicious efforts to reopen schools safely. The re-opening process must be an evidence-based decision. Hence, the main recommendation is ensuring schools have several prevention strategies in place to minimize the spread of COVID-19. These include physical distancing, wearing facemasks, testing, frequent handwashing and improving ventilation. Another key element is the early warning system and communication campaigns to bring back the students who have disengaged from the education system. Safety will be even greater if teachers’ vaccinations are prioritized; according to the Global Education Recovery Tracker, of Johns Hopkins, UNICEF and the World Bank, just over half of countries have prioritized teachers in national vaccination strategies. Finally, is advisable to start with primary schools as evidence shows that the risk of transmission is lower among younger children. It is also more challenging to compensate for face-to-face education through remote instruction with young children. Thirdly, we note a flexibility to adapt and meet the current needs of each child in order to recover learning losses. School calendars need to be adjusted to make up for lost time and the curriculum must be adapted to prioritize foundational learning, with flexibility at the local level in accordance with the needs of students. Flexibility may imply a staggered return to school, staggered arrival times, with students on alternating attendance schedule to reduce the number of students per classroom. To facilitate the return, teachers should be provided with tools to assess the level of learning of each student, both from an academic and socio-emotional point of view. Every child is different, and their experience during the pandemic may have been different; even within the same classroom, a child may have been in a home with books, access to the internet, a space to work and parents who stimulated him, while his classmate may have been completely disconnected from the learning process. This makes for a complex recovery process which will require remedial strategies on foundational learning, socioemotional support to students, as well as intense support and training programs for teachers. School openings must be safe, flexible, and voluntary. But I would add an additional feature: they must also be urgent. The return to face-to-face learning is urgent. Decisions about school openings as well as policy actions for accelerated learning need to be underpinned by the available evidence, not be influenced by political considerations. We must all acknowledge that the pedagogical, administrative, and logistical tasks involved in the reopening process are extremely challenging. But we must also remember that even if we make every effort to recover learning, we cannot turn back time, and that lost learning, lost play and lost stimulation in childhood and adolescence are difficult to recover. No one is 6 or 7 years old again. Protecting and recovering learning for this generation of children and youth is a moral imperative, like defusing a ticking bomb that threatens to evaporate the human capital that countries and their economies need to ensure more equitable and prosperous societies in the future. Every single day matters, which is why we must act now to protect our children’s future.
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Organization Closed
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Crews use dogs, drones, dive teams in Poudre Canyon search for woman still missing in July mudslide
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Crews use dogs, drones, dive teams in Poudre Canyon search for woman still missing in July mudslide KMGH By: The Denver7 Team , Pattrik Perez Posted at 3:39 PM, Sep 18, 2021 and last updated 2021-09-18 19:14:12-04 DENVER – A crew of 120 people searched an 18-mile stretch of Poudre Canyon Saturday for the woman missing for nearly two months after flash floods and mudslides swept through the area in July, killing three others. Search efforts to find Diana Brown started around 8 a.m. Saturday and will continue until she is found. At least a dozen agencies were stretched out along parts of Highway 14 in the canyon. “We’re trying to do a full-court press today and touch the 16 miles of river and hopefully put closure for the family and recover the body,” said Operations Captain Joe Shellhammer with the Larimer County Sheriff’s Office. Crews searched Poudre Canyon between Black Hollow Road and Steven’s Gulch Picnic Site. The searchers included dive teams, cadaver dogs, and drones. Her body has not been located as of Saturday afternoon. Brown and three members of her family, including her husband, were killed July 20 when flash flooding swept through the canyon. They were staying in a cabin when the water rose. “It’s pretty rough when you lose four members of the same family in one tragic accident,” said Shellhammer. Two of the other victims have been identified previously as Patricia Brown, 59, of Madison, Wisconsin and David Brown, 61, of San Antonio, Texas. Another man was also killed when a mudslide tore down Black Hollow Road and spilled into the Poudre River on July 20. Crews suspended search operations on July 28. A family friend, Hilary Keahey, said the family went to the cabin every July together. "I want people to remember them as beautiful, loving, generous people," Keahey said. 'They had such good souls and hearts. And I think that those of us who are still here feel a little empty, and heaven is a better place certainly now." The Larimer County Sheriff’s Office says it will not stop until it recovers the body of Diana Brown.
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Mudslides
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2014 Jinggu earthquake
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The 2014 Jinggu earthquake occurred on October 7, 2014 at 21:49 (UTC+8). The epicenter was located in Jinggu, Pu'er, Yunnan, People's Republic of China. The earthquake killed at least 1 person and injured at least 324 others. [4] The magnitude of the earthquake was placed at Ms 6.6 by the China Earthquake Data Center with a focal depth of 5.0 kilometres (12 mi). [1] It was measured at Mw 6.0 by the United States Geological Survey with a focal depth of 10.9 kilometres (6.7 mi) [2] and Mw 6.1 by the European Alert System. [3]
As of October 9, 2014, Jinggu had centralized resettlement of 37,000 people, received 13,000 tents and 2,300 quilts. The earthquake damaged 7 reservoirs to varying degrees: the largest Changhai reservoir sprouted bad leaks. High voltage power lines were repaired, tap water supply returned to normal, and village roads were opening. [5]
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Earthquakes
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2018 Hokkaido Eastern Iburi earthquake
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An earthquake measuring 6.6 MW on the moment magnitude scale struck Iburi Subprefecture in southern Hokkaido, Japan, on 6 September 2018 at 3:08 a.m. JST. The earthquake's epicenter was near Tomakomai and occurred at a depth of 35.0 kilometers (21.7 mi). The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) registered a magnitude of 6.7 Mj and a maximum intensity of 7 on the shindo scale. [4]
Shaking from the earthquake was felt strongly in Hokkaido and Aomori Prefecture, and shaking was felt as far away as the Kantō region. [5][6] Long period ground motion (LPGM) during the earthquake reached maximum of class 4 on the JMA LPGM intensity scales. [7] The earthquake disrupted electrical service throughout Hokkaido, leaving 5.3 million residents without power. Forty-one people were confirmed dead and six hundred and ninety-one were injured. [3] The event is officially known as Heisei san-jū-nen Hokkaidō Iburi tōbu jishin (平成30年北海道胆振東部地震, "Hokkaido Eastern Iburi Earthquake of Heisei 30"). The central area of Hokkaido where the earthquake was centered is prone to earthquakes despite not being located on any plate boundary. According to a survey conducted by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, there are several active seismic zones in the central part of Hokkaido, including the Furano and Ishikari fault zones. Studies have shown that earthquakes occurred in 1910, 1974, 1981, 1982, and 2000 in the region. Among them, the 7.1 Mj 1982 earthquake off the coast of Urakawa was the largest earthquake in the history of the region. The earthquake caused casualties and damage in Tomakomai and Sapporo. [8]
There are many volcanoes located near the earthquake's epicenter. The volcanoes distributed pumicite throughout the area which was later covered with a layer of heavier soil. The volcanic material is theorized to have caused landslides after being inundated during heavy rains due to its slippery nature. The wet pumice and the soil on top of it slid away after the shear forces of the earthquake ruptured the strata, causing the landslides that led to most of the casualties of the earthquake. [9]
On 21 February 2019, a magnitude 5.7 MW aftershock struck 10 km north of the epicenter of the main earthquake. [10] This has been the strongest recorded aftershock of the earthquake. No major damage was reported, but there were small disruptions to rail systems such as the Hokkaido Shinkansen and the Sapporo Municipal Subway. [11] In total four people, from Sapporo, Tomakomai and Noboribetsu, got injured and an avalanche was triggered in the town of Atsuma. [12]
Overall, damage in Hokkaido was estimated to be at least 367.5 billion yen ($3.32B). The earthquake crippled multiple industries and public facilities in the region. [13]
The earthquake cut power to all 2.95 million households in Hokkaido. This was because the Hokkaido Electric Power Company's coal-fired power plant in Atsuma was heavily damaged by fires that broke out during the earthquake. The damage to the plant caused an imbalance in the supply and demand of electricity throughout Hokkaido; this resulted in the blackout. [20] By 6:30 p.m. JST on the day of the earthquake, power was restored to 340,000 households in Hokkaido. Hospitals were forced to function on emergency backup power, due to the blackout. Many hospitals had to turn away emergency patients because of the outages. [21]
All flights to New Chitose Airport were cancelled on the day of the quake. NHK World-Japan announced the airport resumed business at 11:00 a.m. JST the day after the quake. All public transport, including rail, subway, and bus services was shut down in Hokkaido due to the loss of electricity and damages. [22][23]
The earthquake caused many roads in Hokkaido to become impassable. Some roads were blocked by debris from landslides, others were destroyed by soil liquefaction as far away from the epicenter as Kiyota-ku, Sapporo. [20]
Near the earthquake's epicenter in Atsuma, emergency services could not take emergency calls after the quake due to the heavy damage. [24]
The East Nippon Expressway Company reported these expressways in Hokkaido were subject to closures after the quake:[25]
The blackout had a severe impact on the farming and fishing industries in Hokkaido. The prefecture provides half of Japan's raw milk, but without power for refrigeration or operating the milking equipment, the cows could not be milked and the product was wasted. Other produce, such as onions and potatoes, could not be kept cool or shipped away due to the closure of the rail network. As a result, an estimated 13.6 billion yen worth of perishable goods had to be discarded. [13][26]
The tourism industry in Hokkaido was hit hard by the immediate effects of the earthquake including delays and cancellations caused by the quakes' impact to transportation infrastructure; moreover, perceptions of the area as being dangerous due to aftershocks and general fear of earthquakes caused a decrease in tourism to the area. The total impact of the earthquake was estimated to cost the tourism industry approximately 35.6 billion yen as of October 2018. [13]
The earthquake was the first to have ever reached a maximum level of 7 on the Japan Meteorological Agency seismic intensity scale, or Shindo scale, in Hokkaido[27] and the sixth in Japan since the system was put in place in 1949. [citation needed]
There were 41 confirmed deaths resulting from the earthquake. 691 people were reported to be injured, 17 of which were reported to be serious cases. Thirty-six of the deaths were in Atsuma. [3] The region was inundated by Typhoon Jebi, the strongest typhoon to hit Japan in a quarter of a century, the day before the earthquake struck. The earthquake triggered landslides in the wet soil the typhoon left behind which killed multiple people. [29]
Prime Minister Shinzō Abe announced that 25,000 members of the Japan Self-Defense Forces would be deployed to Hokkaido to assist in disaster relief efforts. Also, he announced that he would temporarily suspend his campaign to be re-elected as President of the Liberal Democratic Party. His competitor, Shigeru Ishiba, also postponed some campaign activities.
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2010–11 Southern Africa floods
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The 2010–2011 Southern Africa floods were a series of floods across three countries in Southern Africa. Linked to a La Niña event, above-average rains starting in December led to widespread flooding. Thousands of people were displaced and evacuations of more continued. As of 24 January 2011[update], at least 141 people are known to have been killed, including 88 in KwaZulu Natal. [1][2][3][4][5] The South African government declared 33 disaster zones. [3]
In December 2010, a global weather pattern known as La Niña resulted in increased rainfall over Southern Africa. [6] Similar events related to the La Niña took place in several other countries around the world, including Australia, Sri Lanka, Brazil, Pakistan and the Philippines. In South Africa more than 6,000 people have been displaced and 70 known to have been killed due to the floods. [4][6] This number is expected to rise as police continue to search for an unknown number of missing persons. [7] Eight of the country's nine provinces have been declared disaster areas, allowing for national funds to be distributed. [4][5] Preliminary estimates placed crop damage at R1 billion ($145 million US$). [8] Property damage was also estimated at $52 million. [4] An estimated 20,000 hectares (49,000 acres) of agricultural land has been affected by the floods. [9]
The South African Air Force was brought in to aid in evacuating residents through air lifts by 15 January. [7] In a statement Co-operative Government Minister Sicelo Shiceka, displaced residents were told not to return to their homes. [4]
Vereeniging, South Africa
Barnyard theatre, Vereeniging, South Africa
Throughout Mozambique, red alerts were issued along several of the country's rivers as they neared flood stage. An estimated 13,000 people have been evacuated and at least 13 are known to have been killed. [5] Fearing a repeat of the 2000 Mozambique floods, residents living along the Limpopo River began evacuating on 19 January as the river rose to its alert level. In some areas, the river has topped its banks, flooding dozens of hectares of crops. According to Chokwe district administrator Alberto Libombo, the rise in the river was mostly attributed to increased discharges at dams upstream where heavy rains fell. [10]
In Zimbabwe, some areas recorded their heaviest rainfall in over 30 years, leading to fears of deadly floods across the country. A flood-related bus crash killed four people and flooding in another location claimed another victim in Masvingo. [2] The nation's Civil Protection Unit director Madzudzo Pawadyira urged that any residents living in low-lying areas evacuate to higher ground. [8] Similarly heavy rains also affected portions of Zambia and Malawi; however, it is unknown if flooding has taken place in these areas. [4]
In southern Botswana, thousands of people are threatened by the possibility of widespread flooding that could submerge entire villages. Two rivers, the Shoshong and Mpolonyane, have already burst their banks and have inundated nearby areas. Daily activity in Shoshong and Kalamare was disrupted as residents were faced with rising flood waters, forcing schools to close. [11] Parts of Namibia were also faced with floods, but the government is taking extreme caution due to a recent flood, three years ago, which devastated parts of the country. [12]
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Toa Domestic Airlines Flight 63 crash
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Toa Domestic Airlines Flight 63, registration JA8764, was a NAMC YS-11A-217 en route from Chitose Airport near Sapporo, Japan to Hakodate Airport. The plane left Chitose Airport on a scheduled flight at 08:30. After arriving in Hakodate airspace, the plane was descending below 1800 metres when it crashed at 09:05 into the south face of Yokotsudake (Yokotsu Mountain). All 64 passengers and four crew on board perished. The cause of the crash was determined to be pilot error that followed strong winds pushing the plane off course. The Aircraft and Railway Accidents Investigation Commission (AAIC) was formed soon after the crash.
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Air crash
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Bhoja Air Flight 213 crash
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Bhoja Air Flight 213 was a domestic scheduled passenger flight operated by the Pakistani airline Bhoja Air from Karachi to Islamabad. On 20 April 2012, the Boeing 737-200 aircraft serving the route crashed in bad weather during its final approach to land. All 121 passengers and 6 crew members aboard were killed. It was the inaugural flight of Bhoja Air's second daily service on this route. [1]
The aircraft was operating a domestic scheduled flight from Jinnah International Airport, Karachi, to Benazir Bhutto International Airport, Islamabad, which was the airline's first evening flight in almost 12 years. (Bhoja Air was earlier closed down amidst financial difficulties in the year 2000, but restarted operations in March 2012). There were six crew and 121 passengers on board. [2] The flight departed from Karachi at 17:00 PST (12:00 UTC) and was due to land at Islamabad at 18:50 (13:50 UTC). At 18:40 PKT,[3] the aircraft crashed 3 nautical miles (3.5 mi; 5.6 km) short of its destination,[2] near the village of Hussainabad, Rawalpindi. All 127 people on board were killed. [1] The landing was attempted during heavy rain and a thunderstorm. [4][5][Note 1]. Initial reports suggested that as the pilots attempted to land amidst rain and strong winds, the aircraft may have flown into an unexpected wind shear, which smashed it onto the ground below. [6] However, eyewitnesses stated that the aircraft may have been struck by lightning prior to the crash, describing it as a "ball of fire. "[3] A following Airblue flight landed safely five minutes after the accident occurred. [2]
The airport was closed for three hours after the accident due to a lack of fire cover. The emergency crews based at the airport went to the crash site to assist in the firefighting operations there. [2] Flights affected by the closure were diverted to Allama Iqbal International Airport, Lahore. [5] Despite the fact that the crash occurred in a residential area, there were no casualties on the ground. [7]
The aircraft was a Boeing 737-236,[8] registered AP-BKC,[2] Built as msn 23167, it first flew on 13 December 1984 and was delivered to British Airways on 7 January 1985 (registration G-BKYI), it was subsequently acquired by codeshare operation Comair (registered as ZS-OLB) in June 1999. [8] The aircraft operated South African domestic routes until late 2010 when Comair retired its 737-200 fleet and it was sold to Bhoja Air in January 2012. [9]
On board were six crew, 110 adult passengers, six children and five infants. [10]
Flight 213 was on approach to Benazir Bhutto International Airport piloted by Captain Noor Afridin (58) and First Officer Javid Malik (53). [Note 2] Airport AFIS told the crew of Flight 213 that the weather in the area was thundery with heavy precipitation. The crews acknowledged the report and continued the approach. Flight 213 had only experienced some turbulence while approaching therefore it continued the approach. The Flight crew was still at normal mood condition, as Captain Noor's jokes and laugh were heard in the CVR. But a few minutes later, the flight finally encountered bad weather conditions. The flight crew entered bad weather, but still continued the approach, even though Bhoja Air's operational manual told crews to discontinue approach if bad weather was encountered. They continued the approach until finally they realized that they had entered an active cell. At this time, Captain Noor was worried about the condition, but continued the approach. Autopilot was later disengaged by flight crews. Islamabad Tower then told Flight 213 to land on Runway 30. The landing checklist was completed and done. Flight crews followed the landing procedure on ILS approach. The autopilot later engaged again. [11]
The plane continued to approach the airport and leveled off with landing gear retracted. At this time, Captain Noor had been in extreme anxiety, as the plane was in an active bad weather cell. However, First Officer Javid seemed to be ignorant and unaware of the extreme precipitation and bad weather, and did not recommend the Captain to discontinue the approach. As the plane continued the approach, Captain Noor became pre-occupied with anxiety, as he saw erroneous readings in flight parameters on some instruments from the effect of bad weather. At this point, the approach was still normal as usual. [11]
The plane was descending and followed the approved glide path. At this point the plane was on final approach and began descent on the glide path. Flaps then retracted to 5, which was actually incorrect as the flaps should be at 30. The plane suddenly encountered a microburst in the approach, causing the pitch angle to increase and the computed airspeed to decrease significantly as the autopilot tried to maintain the glide slope beam. [11]
The aircraft had to pitch up and consequently, lost airspeed as the result. These are the indications that a microburst had occurred. [11]
The computed airspeed remained decreased. A few seconds later the wind shear alarm occurred. Surprisingly, neither pilot took any remedial action to recover it as per Boeing procedures with auto-throttle and autopilot engaged.
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This list of earthquakes in Taiwan
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This list of earthquakes in Taiwan charts significant earthquakes which have affected the island of Taiwan. Taiwan is in a seismically active zone, on the Pacific Ring of Fire, and at the western edge of the Philippine Sea Plate. [1] Geologists have identified 42 active faults on the island, but most of the earthquakes detected in Taiwan are due to the convergence of the Philippine Sea plate and the Eurasian Plate to the east of the island. [1][2] Most of the earthquakes registered in Taiwan actually occur off the east coast and cause little damage, whereas smaller quakes beneath the island itself have historically proven more destructive. The first recorded earthquake in Taiwan was in 1624, the founding year of Dutch Formosa. [3] Between 1901 and the year 2000 there were 91 major earthquakes in Taiwan, 48 of them resulting in loss of life. [4] The most recent major earthquake was the 921 earthquake, which struck on 21 September 1999, and claimed 2,415 lives. Many modern buildings in Taiwan are constructed with earthquake safety in mind, including Taipei 101, which had to cope with the dual challenges of being flexible enough to withstand earthquakes, yet rigid enough to resist wind shear. The High Speed Rail system incorporates an automatic safety device to safely bring all trains to a halt when a significant earthquake is detected. [5] Nevertheless, poor construction standards have been blamed for casualties in a number of major earthquakes, including the 1906 Meishan earthquake and the 921 earthquake. Inside Taiwan the Central Weather Bureau is the organisation responsible for monitoring and reporting on earthquakes. Large earthquakes are also assessed by the United States Geological Survey. Scientific studies of the seismology of the island started in the Japanese era, when the first seismograph was installed in Taipei by Fusakichi Omori's company. [6]
Significant earthquakes are listed here from 1736 to the present. Starting with the Japanese era in 1895 there were major improvements in detection technology, allowing more detailed gathering of data. Sources:
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Aussie swimmer McKeown breaks Olympic record to win women's 100m backstroke
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Australian swimmer Kaylee McKeown claimed the women's 100m backstroke gold in an Olympic record time of 57.47 seconds at the Tokyo Olympic Games here on Tuesday.
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Olympics 2021 qualification: Indian swimmers may compete in Europe in June
Australian swimmer Kaylee McKeown claimed the women's 100m backstroke gold in an Olympic record time of 57.47 seconds at the Tokyo Olympic Games here on Tuesday.
The result was 0.02 seconds behind her own world record, but enough for her to beat second-placed Kylie Masse of Canada, who finished in 57.72 seconds.
The bronze went to 19-year-old Regan Smith of the United States.
Tom Dean and Duncan Scott led a one-two finish for Britain in the men's 200m freestyle.
The 21-year-old Dean sprinted for the gold in one minute and 44.22 seconds, with Worlds bronze medallist Scott 0.04 seconds behind.
Brazilian Fernando Scheffer took the bronze in 1:44:66.
Russian (ROC) swimmers dominated the men's 100m backstroke as Evgeny Rylov and Kliment Kolesnikov claimed the gold and silver, edging defending champion Ryan Murphy to third.
Finishing sixth at Rio 2016, Rylov touched first this time in 51.98 seconds, setting a new European record. His compatriot Kolesnikov was 0.02 seconds behind, taking home the silver in his Olympic debut.
World record holder Murphy had to settle for a bronze, unable to catch up with the two Russians after the first 50m, clocking 52.19.
China's reigning world champion Xu Jiayu finished fifth in 52.51.
Lydia Jacoby of the United States won the women's 100m breaststroke in her Olympic debut. The 17-year-old beat South African Tatjana Schoenmaker to second in the final sprint, clocking one minute and 04.95 seconds for the gold.
Schoenmaker, leading for the majority of time, had to settle for silver in 1:05.22. Olympic and world champion Lily King took the bronze in 1:05.54.
--IANS
akm/
(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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Break historical records
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1942 Ruislip Wellington accident crash
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The 1942 Ruislip Wellington accident occurred on 18 October 1942 when a Vickers Wellington 1C medium bomber of No. 311 Squadron RAF crashed near South Ruislip station, Middlesex, on approach to RAF Northolt. The crash killed all 15 people aboard the aircraft, and six civilians on the ground including four children. [1]
311 Squadron was a Coastal Command unit based at RAF Talbenny in Pembrokeshire, Wales. Almost all of its personnel were Free Czechoslovaks serving in the RAF Volunteer Reserve. After a successful operation by the squadron they were invited to London for a de-brief. [2] On 18 October 1942 Wellington serial number T2564, code letters KX-T,[3] was flown by P/O František Bulis with a crew of six and nine passengers. Everyone aboard was Czechoslovak, apart from one Belgian technician. [4]
On approach to RAF Northolt at 16:08 the Wellington crashed near South Ruislip station, bursting into flames on impact. [5] All the crew and passengers were killed, along with six civilians on the ground: two adult sisters, each with two children. [6]
All but one of the crew are buried in the Czechoslovak section of Brookwood Military Cemetery in Surrey. The women and children are buried in St Nicholas' parish churchyard, Brockenhurst, Hampshire. [7]
As well as a service inquiry an inquest was held at Uxbridge, Middlesex into the deaths of the two sisters and their four children. The aircraft was deemed to have been serviceable and not overloaded. A witness at Northolt said it was flying quite normally: "It made a quarter circle, gradually losing height. Then it appeared to lose height rather more quickly and disappeared behind some houses". The Coroner recorded a verdict of accidental death. [8]
Coordinates: 51°33′23″N 0°24′14″W / 51.55639°N 0.40389°W / 51.55639; -0.40389
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Air crash
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The worst speech of Biden's presidency
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Updated 1327 GMT (2127 HKT) July 10, 2021 JUST WATCHED MUST WATCH Biden defends pulling US out of Afghanistan as Taliban advances Peter Bergen is CNN's national security analyst, a vice president at New America and a professor of practice at Arizona State University. He is author of the forthcoming book "The Rise and Fall of Osama bin Laden." The views expressed here are his own. View more opinion at CNN. (CNN) On Thursday President Joe Biden spoke in defense of his ill-considered, hasty withdrawal from Afghanistan, in remarks peopled with straw men and littered with false assertions. First, Biden contended that he was bound by a 2020 Trump administration agreement with the Taliban to withdraw all US troops by May 2021. But that was an agreement conducted by a previous administration -- so it's not binding -- and it was predicated on the Taliban breaking with al-Qaeda. They didn't, according to the UN in a report released just last month. Peter Bergen It was also predicated on the Taliban engaging with the Afghan government in real peace negotiations. They haven't, according to Abdullah Abdullah, an Afghan official who leads the High Council for National Reconciliation. He told CNN a week ago that there has been " very little progress " in those negotiations. Read More A comparison with the Iranian nuclear agreement, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, is instructive. It was negotiated by the Obama administration with a sovereign government and was a deal that, after it was consummated in 2015, was being observed by the Iranians: they were not enriching nuclear fuel, according to both international inspectors and the US intelligence community . That deal was also brokered, together, with three of the US's closest allies, Britain, France and Germany. Afghans who aided US forces now desperately need help in return Yet, the Trump administration pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal, while Biden is now honoring an agreement with an insurgent/terrorist group that is not abiding by the terms of the deal that was negotiated last year by the Trump team. Second, Biden claimed in his speech that the US Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation, Zalmay Khalilzad, would "work vigorously" for a negotiated solution between the Taliban and the Afghan government. This is a fanciful notion, as this is the same Zalmay Khalilzad who, while working under the Trump administration, ceded much of Afghanistan to the Taliban with the "peace" negotiations he spearheaded -- based on the farcical premise the Taliban would renounce al Qaeda and also engage with real peace talks with the Afghan government. In any event, Afghanistan leaders accused Khalilzad of cutting them out of his negotiations with the Taliban. Trump administration officials denied the allegations. The Khalilzad-led peace process hasn't worked for the past three years. Why would it suddenly work now? The lies that were told to sustain the US and UK mission in Afghanistan Third, Biden said that the US can't be in Afghanistan "indefinitely," yet there are some 28,000 US troops in South Korea three-quarters of a century after the end of the Korean War, because the US has a strategic interest in defending the country against the nuclear armed North Korean despot, Kim Jong Un. So too, the US could have left its 2,500 troops in place in Afghanistan, a force that is less than 10% of the American service personnel in South Korea, to enable the Afghan government to fight the Taliban and its jihadist allies, such as al Qaeda. Fourth, Biden speciously implied that if the US has troops in Afghanistan then somehow it won't be strong enough to "meet the strategic competition with China and other nations." The US military consists of 1.3 million active-duty personnel and yet it can't leave 2,500 troops in Afghanistan? To use a trademark Biden expression: C'mon man ! After his speech, Biden told reporters that it's " highly unlikely " that the Taliban will take over Afghanistan, which is not what his own intelligence community is warning .
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Famous Person - Give a speech
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Nacogdoches Sheriff’s Office releases IDs of 3 dead of apparent carbon monoxide poisoning
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Updated: Feb. 21, 2021 at 10:53 AM CST
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UPDATED 10:20 A.M., FEB. 22, 2021
NACOGDOCHES COUTNY, Texas (KTRE) - The Nacogdoches County Sheriff’s Office has released the names of the three Melrose residents who died of apparent carbon monoxide poisoning.
The victims have been identified as Deborah Wright, 63, and James Harkness Jr., 60, both of Nacogdoches, and Richard Woodard, 42, of Mt. Enterprise.
“(We) would like to extend their deepest condolences to the family members and loved ones that have been affected by this terrible tragedy,” the Nacogdoches County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement released on Facebook.
Authorities said the investigation is ongoing and an autopsy has been ordered by the Nacogdoches County Justice of the Peace Precinct 3, Judge Goerner.
NACOGDOCHES COUNTY, Texas (KTRE) - Three people have died as a result of apparent carbon monoxide poisoning after they ran their electric generator too close to their house, according to Nacogdoches County Sheriff Jason Bridges. The victims are two men and a woman.
Bridges posted a video about the tragedy on the NCSO Facebook page.
“I just came from a horrific, gruesome scene,” Bridges said. “It’s one that will stay with me a long time. It’s just a terrible situation.”
Bridges said the sheriff’s office will put out a press release with more information on Monday. He added that the sheriff’s office is still in the process of notifying the victims’ next of kin. He said the victims included two men and a woman, all adults.
A justice of the peace has ordered that autopsies be performed on the victims.
“I just wanted to use this to educate our citizens,” Bridges said in the video. “I know it’s been a tough week and that there are a lot of people without power or water. Do not run generators inside your home or inside your garage.”
Bridges said the victims in Etoile were using a generator for electricity, and they had put it on their porch. He explained it was too close to the house, and its exhaust got hot enough that it burned a hole into the home’s siding.
The carbon monoxide then leaked into the home and caused the deaths of three people. Bridges did not give any details about their ages or whether they were related to each other.
“We don’t want to see another one of these deaths,” Bridges said. “If you’re running a generator, please be smart about it. Get it away from your house and don’t put it in your garage. Use them at a safe distance from your homes.”
Bridges said carbon monoxide is a silent killer and that it should be taken seriously.
“It will kill you,” Bridges said.
The Cy-Fair Volunteer Fire Department in the Houston area has responded to 18 incidents of carbon monoxide poisoning in the last week or so. In all, they transported 26 people to Houston-area hospitals.
“Carbon Monoxide (CO) is found in fumes produced any time you burn fuel in cars or trucks, small engines, stoves, lanterns, grills, fireplaces, gas ranges, or furnaces,” a post on the Cy-Fair VFD Facebook page stated. “CO can build up indoors and poison people and animals who breathe it. Please keep you and your family safe when staying warm.”
According to another C-Fair VFD Facebook post, the symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning include dizziness, headaches, disorientation, nausea, and vomiting. If you experience any of these symptoms, call 911.
The Facebook post cautioned people to never use a grill, oven, or stove to heat a home because they produce carbon monoxide, a colorless and odorless gas.
Carbon monoxide poisonings have spiked this week according to reports from the Texas Poison Center Network and the state health department.
The family told East Texas News that the deaths illustrate the desperation many Texans faced during the extreme cold.
“We’re not prepared for the kind of weather that we got this week,” said Traci Benge, who is related to two of the victims. “I’m not sure if you’re freezing cold and you’re just trying to get some heat. It’s a tragedy. It happened. It sucks. It’s awful. I just came here to find some kind of closure.”
Benge is Richard Woodard’s sister and JJ James Harkness’ niece.
Family members said paying for the multiple funerals will be difficult. A funeral account will be set up at Bancorp South in Nacogdoches.
“Please be careful,” Bridges said. “I hope everyone’s power is back on soon.”
The sheriff said if anyone has an elderly friend or relative that needs to be checked on, they can call the Nacogdoches County Sheriff’s Office dispatch at 936-559-2600. He added that the shelters in Nacogdoches are still open and the people who are running them are hoping they will get more supplies today.
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Mass Poisoning
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Woman donates carbon monoxide detectors after family members die of CO poisoning
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After losing five family members to carbon monoxide poisoning, a Louisiana native is making sure no one else falls victim to the deadly gas.
Brundidge's relatives made it through Hurricane Laura last August, but says the next day a gust of wind blew the garage door shut, trapping a generator and its fumes inside and killing the family.
READ MORE: Lake Charles family died of carbon monoxide poisoning after surviving Laura
After Sheletta Brundidge lost her loved ones, she knew she never wanted anyone to feel the pain she and her relatives felt.
Now she is bringing awareness to having carbon monoxide detectors.
"I was just crying thinking about my aunt, my cousins, and this loss for my father. He lost two siblings at once," she explained. "I heard my aunt's voice say, 'Don't go down there and grieve, go down there and give.'"
The tragic loss is now motivating Sheletta Brundidge to help others.
Brundidge, a Lake Charles native, now lives in Minnesota, but that isn't stopping her from visiting her hometown.
Along with hosting donation drives, she’s doing her part to prevent another CO death from happening again. She's teamed up with First Alert to give away CO detectors for families who can't afford them.
"They just don't have the money for extras and right now for some carbon monoxide detectors is an extra. When they don't that's where I come in. I'm so glad that the people at first alert trusted me enough with their product to send it to me to give it away to the people who needed them," Brundidge explained.
She's created a PSA with the Minnesota Fire Marshal’s office on the importance of carbon monoxide detectors.
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Mass Poisoning
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1953 Nutts Corner BEA Vickers Viking accident crash
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On 5 January 1953, a Vickers Viking airliner operated by British European Airways crashed on approach to Belfast Nutts Corner Airport, Northern Ireland. [1][2] The aircraft was on a domestic flight from London Northolt Airport with 31 passengers and 4 crew on board. Twenty-four of the passengers and three crew members died in the accident. [1][2]
The Vickers Type 610 Viking 1B airliner, powered by two Bristol Hercules 634 14-cylinder radial engines, was registered G-AJDL with manufacturer's serial number 262. [3] It was delivered to British European Airways in March 1949. Originally named Vortex by the airline, it was renamed Lord St Vincent around 1951. [3]
G-AJDL left Northolt at 07:27, 25 minutes late. Two hours later it was on approach to Nutts Corner. When the aircraft was 3 miles (4.8 km) out from the runway threshold it was 90 feet (27 m) above the glideslope. The aircraft then rapidly lost height and hit the pole supporting an approach light a short distance from the aerodrome. [1] Following the initial impact the aircraft hit further poles; it then hit a mobile standard beam approach van before striking a brick building housing equipment operating the instrument landing system about 200 yards (180 m) from the runway. This impact caused the aircraft to break up. There was a slight fire after the accident. [4][5]
A board of inquiry was formed to investigate the accident, chaired by David Scott Cairns, QC. It opened in London on 14 April 1953. [6] After hearing evidence, the board concluded that the pilot, Captain Hartley, made "errors of judgement" but that no moral blame was to be attached to him regarding the accident. [5] The board mentioned that hitting the van stopped any chance of the aircraft reaching the runway, and then hitting the building made a tragedy inevitable. [5] The approach lights were found to not be at the top of the poles, to ease maintenance; although that was not judged a factor in the crash, the lights were moved to the top of the poles following the accident. [5] It was also recommended that when the ILS building was rebuilt that it should be offset from the approach path, or that it should be sited underground. [5]
Eastwood, Tony; John Roach (1991). Piston Engine Airliner Production List. The Aviation Hobby Shop. ISBN 0-907178-37-5.
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Air crash
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Kalamazoo ‘Bark in the Park’ event canceled amid parvo outbreak
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Updated: Aug. 25, 2021, 4:33 p.m. | Published: Aug. 25, 2021, 4:33 p.m. July 29 2011 Kerry, a seven-year-old lab, jumps through an obstacle at the grand opening of Fairmount Dog Park on July 29, 2011. The park previously required membership fees, but effective March 2019, the park is free to use. (Jonathon Gruenke / Kalamazoo Gazette)Kalamazoo Gazette By Skyla Jewell-Hammie | SJewell-Hammie@mlive.com KALAMAZOO, MI — Dog lovers were looking forward to uniting this week for the Bark in the Park event at Fairmount Dog Park in Kalamazoo, but the event has since been canceled. Kzoo Parks, the city’s parks department, joining with the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals of Southwest Michigan had planned to host the event at the local dog park, located at 1108 N. Prairie St. Around 5 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 24, the SPCA of Southwest Michigan posted on Facebook with information on canceling the event this weekend. Related: Parvo outbreak at homeless camp triggers warnings about contact with Kalamazoo River “We can’t with good conscience have an event that puts our loved ones at risk,” the SPCA of Southwest Michigan stated on Facebook. “If an organization is in need of help with these sick dogs or a person in need with one, please let us know. We want to help in any way we can.” Recently, a dog died from the highly contagious virus and was reportedly disposed of near the Kalamazoo River. Once news broke, organizations like Animals Best Friend Fund began warning the community on Facebook. According to SPCA of Southwest Michigan Executive Director Katie Timber, the issue arose at one of the homeless encampments near downtown Kalamazoo. Timber said the organization visited the site of the encampment in Kalamazoo Wednesday morning, and is in discussions with other local leaders about a path forward. “There are several dogs at the encampment and they were very receptive to having a vaccination clinic, and getting those animals veterinary care,” Timber said. “That is the goal of this meeting and we will try to work in concert together for the best interest of our pet friends involved.” Plans for the event, originally set for Thursday, Aug. 26, included a puppy parade and SPCA demonstrating obstacle courses, sharing training tips for dog owners and hosting an adoption event with several dogs available for adoption from their shelter. Kzoo Parks will continue to follow guidance from Kalamazoo County Animal Services and Enforcement for Fairmount Dog Park. According to Kzoo Parks, it has not been advised to close the dog park due to the outbreak. The park is currently open for use, at each dog owner’s discretion. Dogs who are showing signs of parvovirus or who have been exposed should stay at home. The Fairmount Dog Park recently eliminated their membership fee for the community. To enter the park, dogs must be at least four months, have a valid Kalamazoo County Dog License, and be up-to-date on vaccinations.
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Organization Closed
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Sealand Youth Training Center Fire
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The Sealand Youth Training Center was a summer educational camp for young children, located near Hwaseong, South Korea. In the early morning hours of June 30, 1999, the dormitory, housing approximately 430 children and their teachers, was consumed by fire. Nineteen children and four adults died. Eighteen of the children, including all of those sleeping in room 301, were from the Somang Kindergarten in Seoul. One child in Room 223 died. [1] Most of the victims were between five and seven years of age, and were either killed by the flames or by toxic fumes. The victims' bodies were burnt beyond recognition. [2]
Two other children and an adult were injured. [3]
The previous year, Hwaseong Council had approved the youth center as a steel-framed reinforced-concrete one-story structure. Fifty-four cargo containers had been stacked atop the concrete base and covered with wood and corrugated iron to provide additional space. [4] The cargo containers had been given ceilings made of styrofoam, a highly flammable material which gives off toxic gas when burning. There was no fire sprinkler system, and most of the center's fire extinguishers were not working. The dormitory had two exits, both narrow stairways that hampered evacuation. Survivors said that they never heard a fire alarm. [5]
Hwaseong Council inspectors carried out two safety inspections in the year prior to the blaze, and had passed the center both times. The council had approved the access road, which was too narrow to admit fire engines. [5]
The fire, which was eventually blamed on a lit mosquito coil,[4] broke out shortly after midnight. Due to the abundance of flammable materials, the entire structure was quickly engulfed in flames. Though the fire started at about 12:30 a.m., firefighters in neighboring Sosin did not receive the alarm until around 1:30. By the time they arrived at around 2:00 a.m., the structure was already beginning to collapse. Crews from 50 fire engines fought for over three hours to bring the fire under control. Fire department officials blamed the delay in calling for help on the fact that the center's staff lacked adequate training in how to respond to emergencies. [2] Others attributed the delay to the fact that the fire damaged the center's phone line. [6]
Kang Kwon-Soo, the president of a kindergarten in Bucheon, was at the center with his students. He described fleeing the blaze: "[T]he hall ways were too narrow, dark and covered in smoke. This resulted in great chaos. Teachers and students scurrying to escape the inferno got entangled with each other and tumbled to the ground. Some were screaming in terror while others were crying in agonised pain. It was like hell on earth. "[7]
Twenty-four-year-old Kim Young-ho, an instructor at the camp, stated that he ran from door to door to announce the fire, but he could not open the door into Room 301. [8]
Six-year-old Kang Yu-Jong, who was hospitalized for burns, said: "I woke up in the middle of the night because of the hot floor. I saw furniture burning in the corner and the room filled with smoke. A teacher helped me and other kids out of the room but four other children could not get out because the flames were too fierce. As soon as we got outside, burning windows fell to the ground from the second and third floors. "[5]
The bodies of the children in room 301 were found huddled together and hugging one another, cornered by the flames that were near the door. [9] It took forensic scientists two weeks to identify all the bodies. [10]
Sealand owner Park Jae Chun and six Hwaseong council members were charged with involuntary manslaughter and violation of building laws, in addition to bribery charges. [9] Park was also charged with bribing council officials in order to get the necessary clearance to build and operate the center. He was also alleged to have paid a construction designer 14 million won (c. $14,000 U.S.) in order to borrow his construction license. Four architects and builders were also arrested. [11]
Thirty-five-year-old Chun Kyong-ja,[8] the head of the Somang Kindergarten in Seoul, along with her husband and another teacher, were also arrested and charged with involuntary homicide for their role in the children's deaths. Rather than overseeing their charges in room 301, they were elsewhere, drinking. [4] Reports differ as to whether they were in another room or outside the building. The deaths led to a public outcry for greater enforcement of safety standards. [10]
Kwon Yang-sook, the first lady of South Korea, held a reception for relatives of the victims on July 3, 2003. [12]
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Fire
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Alight highlights world-class board of directors for post-merger public company
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LINCOLNSHIRE, Ill.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Alight Solutions, a leading cloud-based provider of integrated digital human capital and business solutions, today highlighted the full board of directors of Alight, Inc., which will be effective at the closing of Alight’s business combination with Foley Trasimene Acquisition Corp. (NYSE: WPF)(“Foley Trasimene”), and was previously announced in Alight, Inc.’s final S-4 filing. The post-merger board, led by Chairman William P. Foley, II, is comprised of eight (8) directors, bringing decades of industry experience across cloud, payments, finance, technology, enterprise services, legal and regulatory affairs, capital markets and M&A. Mr. Foley commented, “I could not be more enthusiastic about my role as chairman of Alight following the business combination with Foley Trasimene. Alight is the preeminent employee engagement platform for workplace health, wealth, wellbeing and global payroll. The opportunity is to transform Alight into a Business Process as a Service (BPaaS) enterprise where we can leverage its existing leading industry position to substantially grow revenue and EBITDA. Alight serves a large multi-trillion dollar industry that offers tremendous potential and I look forward to working with this outstanding group of directors and management to help drive growth and long-term shareholder value upon completion of the merger.” Stephan Scholl, CEO of Alight, added, “We are thrilled to have the support of this incredible group of leaders as we navigate the next chapter in Alight’s history. Combined with our strong management team and industry-leading data and analytics, we are well positioned to bring impactful solutions to our clients that power their workforce and drive better outcomes across health, wealth, wellbeing and global payroll.” The post-merger Alight, Inc. board nominees are: William P. Foley, II Best-in-class manager with decades of value creation in the public markets Mr. Foley to lead the board as chairman. Mr. Foley is the founder of Foley Trasimene Acquisition Corp. and previously served as its chairman, leading the business combination of Foley Trasimene and Alight. Mr. Foley is also chairman of Cannae Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: CNNE) (“Cannae”) since 2017 and Paysafe Limited (NYSE: PSFE) since 2021. He has more than 30-years of experience as a board member and executive officer of public and private companies in a wide variety of industries, and a strong track record of building and maintaining stockholder value and successfully negotiating and implementing mergers and acquisitions. Mr. Foley has driven favorable outcomes due to his operational expertise, disciplined industry consolidation and rapid execution on cost-reduction opportunities in connection with mergers and acquisitions. Mr. Foley is also founder of Fidelity National Financial, Inc. (NYSE: FNF) (“FNF”) and has served as the chairman of the board of directors of FNF since 1984 and previously served as its chief executive officer and president. Mr. Foley currently serves as the managing member and a senior managing director of Trasimene Capital Management, LLC, a private company. He also serves as chairman of Cannae portfolio company Dun & Bradstreet (NYSE: DNB). After receiving his Bachelor of Science degree in engineering from the United States Military Academy at West Point, Mr. Foley served in the U.S. Air Force, where he attained the rank of captain. Stephan Scholl A transformational leader, passionate about customer success and delivering value through cloud-based solutions As CEO of Alight Solutions, Stephan Scholl is responsible for the strategy, growth and business performance of Alight, a leading provider of next level human capital and business solutions. Over his more than 25-year career, Stephan has created a reputation as a transformational leader, passionate about customer success. He is focused on driving results, delivering value, and improving business processes for global organizations by harnessing the full power of leading cloud-based solutions. Before joining Alight, Stephan served as president at Infor Global Solutions. During his eight-year tenure, Stephan served in a variety of leadership roles and helped transform the company into a preeminent provider of industry-vertical cloud solutions, doubling revenue to $3B and establishing it as the third-largest ERP software vendor in the world. In addition, Stephan served in various senior roles at both Oracle and Peoplesoft for more than a decade, including leading Oracle’s North America Consulting Group, one of the company’s largest organizations, and leading its Tax and Utilities Global Business unit. Stephan serves on the boards of Avaya and 1010 Data, a leader in analytical intelligence and alternative data. He holds a bachelor’s degree from McGill University in Montreal. Daniel Henson Daniel Henson currently serves as the non-executive chairman of Tempo Holding Company, LLC, the current parent company of Alight Solutions (“Tempo Holdings”). He has occupied this role for four years from 2017 to present. Mr. Henson also serves as non-executive chairman of IntraFi Network (formerly Promontory Intrafinancial Network), a leading provider of deposit placement services operating in the Washington D.C. area, and Exeter Finance, a leading auto finance company headquartered in Irving, TX. Prior to serving in these roles, Mr. Henson had served as a director of Healthcare Trust of America and OnDeck Capital. Mr. Henson worked with the General Electric Company for 29 years and held a variety of senior positions at GE and GE Capital, including Chief Marketing Officer of GE and Six Sigma Quality Leader at GE Capital. He also served as the CEO of several GE Capital’s financial services businesses in the U.S. and internationally. Starting in 2008, Mr. Henson was responsible for all GE Capital commercial leasing and lending businesses in North America. From 2009 to 2015, Mr. Henson also oversaw capital markets activities at GE Capital and GE Capital’s industrial loan company bank in Utah. Mr. Henson holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in marketing from George Washington University. David Kestnbaum David N. Kestnbaum is a senior managing director in Blackstone’s Private Equity Group. He currently focuses on investments in the media & entertainment, communications, business services, and transportation & logistics sectors. Since joining Blackstone in 2013, Mr. Kestnbaum has been involved in Blackstone’s current investments in Alight Solutions, Ancestry, Merlin Entertainments, PSAV, SERVPRO, SESAC, and Tradesmen, as well as prior investments in AlliedBarton Security Services, AVINTIV, Cloverleaf Cold Storage, DJO Global, and Outerstuff. Before joining Blackstone, Mr. Kestnbaum was a vice president of Vestar Capital Partners, and was previously a member of J.P. Morgan’s Financial Sponsor Group. Mr. Kestnbaum is a director of Alight Solutions, Ancestry, PSAV, SERVPRO, SESAC, and Tradesmen. He is currently representing Blackstone as a Partnership for New York City Rockefeller Fellow, and was previously a member of the Associates Council of Prep for Prep, a New York-based non-profit organization. Mr. Kestnbaum holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Richard N. Massey Richard N. Massey has served as chairman of Foley Trasimene since April 2021, as chief executive officer of Foley Trasimene since March 2020 and as a member of the Foley Trasimene Board since May 2020. In addition, he serves as a senior managing director of Trasimene Capital Management LLC and has served as chief executive officer of Cannae since November 2019. Mr. Massey has also served as the chief executive officer of Austerlitz Acquisition Corp. I and Austerlitz Acquisition Corp. II since January 2021 and as a director of each company since February 2021. Mr. Massey also served as chief executive officer of Foley Trasimene Acquisition Corp. II from July 2020 until March 2021 and as a director of Foley Trasimene Acquisition Corp. II from August 2020 until March 2021. Mr. Massey served as the chairman and principal shareholder of Bear State Financial, Inc., a publicly traded financial institution from 2011 until April 2018. Mr. Massey has served on the board of directors of Cannae since June 2018 and of Cannae’s portfolio company Dun & Bradstreet since February 2019. He also previously served on Black Knight Inc.’s board of directors from December 2014 until July 2020 and as a director of FNF from February 2006 until January 2021. Mr. Massey has been a partner in Westrock Capital, LLC, a private investment partnership since January 2009. Prior to that, Mr. Massey was chief strategy officer and general counsel of Alltel Corporation and served as a Managing Director of Stephens Inc., a private investment bank, during which time his financial advisory practice focused on software and information technology companies. Mr. Massey also formerly served as a director of Fidelity National Information Services Inc., Bear State Financial, Inc. and of FGL Holdings. Mr. Massey is also a director of the Oxford American Literary Project and the chairman of the board of directors of the Arkansas Razorback Foundation. Mr. Massey has a long and successful track record in corporate finance and investment banking, a financial, strategic, and legal advisor to public and private businesses, and identifying, negotiating, and consummating mergers and acquisitions. Erika Meinhardt Erika Meinhardt has served as a member of the board of directors of Cannae since July 2018. Since January 2018, Ms. Meinhardt has served as executive vice president of FNF. She previously served as president of National Agency Operations for FNF’s Fidelity National Title Group from February 2005 until January 2018. Prior to assuming that role, she served as division manager and National Agency Operations manager for FNF from 2001 to 2005. Ms. Meinhardt has also served as a member of the board of directors of Austerlitz Acquisition Corp. I and Austerlitz Acquisition Corp. II since February 2021. Ms. Meinhardt previously served as a director of Foley Trasimene Acquisition Corp. II from August 2020 to March 2021. Ms. Meinhardt’s qualifications include her experience as an executive of FNF and in managing and growing complex business organizations as president of FNF’s National Agency Operations. Regina M. Paolillo Regina M. Paolillo serves as executive vice president, chief administrative and financial officer of TTEC Holdings, Inc. (“TTEC”). Ms. Paolillo joined TTEC in 2011. Between 2009 and 2011, Ms. Paolillo was an executive vice president for Enterprise Services and Chief Financial Officer at Trizetto Group, Inc., a privately held professional services company serving the healthcare industry. Between 2007 and 2008, Ms. Paolillo served as a senior vice president, Operations Group for General Atlantic, a leading global growth equity firm. Between 2005 and 2007, Ms. Paolillo served as an executive vice president for Revenue Cycle and Mortgage Services at Creditek, a Genpact subsidiary. Prior to Creditek’s acquisition by Genpact, between 2003 and 2005 and during 2002 and 2003, Ms. Paolillo was Creditek’s Chief executive officer and chief financial officer, respectively. Ms. Paolillo also served as the chief financial officer and executive vice president for Corporate Services at Gartner, Inc., an information technology research and advisory company. Ms. Paolillo is a member of the board of directors of Unisys Corporation, and Welltok, Inc., a private consumer health SaaS company. Ms. Paolillo holds a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting from University of New Haven. Peter Wallace Peter Wallace has served as member of the board of directors of Tempo Holdings since May 2017. Mr. Wallace is a senior managing director and serves as co-head of U.S. Acquisitions for Blackstone’s Private Equity Group. Since joining Blackstone in 1997, Mr. Wallace has led or been involved in Blackstone’s investments in Alight, AlliedBarton Security Services, Allied Waste, American Axle & Manufacturing, Centennial Communications, Centerplate (formerly Volume Services America), CommNet Cellular, GCA Services, LocusPoint Networks, Michaels Stores, New Skies Satellites, Outerstuff, Ltd., Pinnacle Foods/Birds Eye Foods, PSAV, SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment (formerly Busch Entertainment Corporation), Service King, Sirius Satellite Radio, Tradesmen International, Universal Orlando, Vivint, Vivint Solar, and The Weather Channel Companies. Mr. Wallace serves on the board of directors of Michaels Stores, Outerstuff, Ltd., Service King, Tradesmen International, Vivint and Vivint Solar. Mr. Wallace received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Harvard College, where he graduated magna cum laude. About Alight Solutions With an unwavering belief that a company’s success starts with its people, Alight Solutions is a leading cloud-based provider of integrated digital human capital and business solutions. Leveraging proprietary AI and data analytics, Alight optimizes business process as a service (BPaaS) to deliver superior outcomes for employees and employers across a comprehensive portfolio of services. Alight allows employees to enrich their health, wealth and work while enabling global organizations to achieve a high-performance culture. Alight’s 15,000 dedicated colleagues serve more than 30 million employees and family members. Learn how Alight helps organizations of all sizes, including over 70% of the Fortune 100 at alight.com. Follow Alight on Twitter: https://twitter.com/alightsolutions About Foley Trasimene Acquisition Corp. Foley Trasimene Acquisition Corp. is a blank check company whose business purpose is to effect a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses or entities. For more information please visit https://www.foleytrasimene.com/. Forward-Looking Statements This press release includes certain “forward-looking statements” that are provided for illustrative purposes only and are not intended to serve as, and must not be relied on by any investor as, a guarantee, an assurance, a prediction or a definitive statement of fact or probability. Foley Trasimene’s and Tempo Holding Company, LLC’s (“Alight”) actual results may differ from their expectations, estimates, and projections and, consequently, you should not rely on these forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. Words such as “expect,” “estimate,” “project,” “budget,” “forecast,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “plan,” “may,” “will,” “could,” “should,” “believes,” “predicts,” “potential,” “continue,” and similar expressions (or the negative versions of such words or expressions) are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements include, without limitation, Foley Trasimene’s and Alight’s expectations with respect to future performance and anticipated financial impacts of the proposed business combination, the satisfaction or waiver of the closing conditions to the proposed business combination, and the timing of the completion of the proposed business combination. These forward-looking statements involve significant risks and uncertainties that could cause the actual results to differ materially, and potentially adversely, from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements. Most of these factors are outside Foley Trasimene’s and Alight’s control and are difficult to predict. Factors that may cause such differences include, but are not limited to: (1) the occurrence of any event, change, or other circumstances that could give rise to the termination of the definitive business combination agreement (the “Agreement”); (2) the outcome of any legal proceedings that may be instituted against Foley Trasimene and/or Alight following the announcement of the Agreement and the transactions contemplated therein; (3) the inability to complete the proposed business combination, including due to failure to obtain approval of the stockholders of Foley Trasimene, certain regulatory approvals, or satisfy other conditions to closing in the Agreement; (4) the occurrence of any event, change, or other circumstance that could give rise to the termination of the Agreement or could otherwise cause the transaction to fail to close; (5) the impact of COVID-19 on Alight’s business and/or the ability of the parties to complete the proposed business combination; (6) the inability to obtain or maintain the listing of the combined company’s common stock on the New York Stock Exchange following the proposed business combination; (7) the risk that the proposed business combination disrupts current plans and operations as a result of the announcement and consummation of the proposed business combination; (8) the ability to recognize the anticipated benefits of the proposed business combination, which may be affected by, among other things, competition, the ability of Alight to grow and manage growth profitably, and retain its key employees; (9) costs related to the proposed business combination; (10) changes in applicable laws or regulations; and (11) the possibility that Foley Trasimene or Alight may be adversely affected by other economic, business, and/or competitive factors. The foregoing list of factors is not exclusive. Additional information concerning certain of these and other risk factors is contained in Foley Trasimene’s most recent filings with the SEC as well as in the Form S-4 (as defined below) and the definitive proxy statement/prospectus/consent solicitation statement filed in connection with the proposed business combination. All subsequent written and oral forward-looking statements concerning Foley Trasimene or Alight, the transactions described herein or other matters and attributable to Foley Trasimene, Alight or any person acting on their behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by the cautionary statements above. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance upon any forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made. Each of Foley Trasimene and Alight expressly disclaims any obligations or undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect any change in their expectations with respect thereto or any change in events, conditions, or circumstances on which any statement is based, except as required by law. Additional Information about the Business Combination and Where to Find It In connection with the proposed business combination, a registration statement on Form S-4 (File No. 333-254801, as it may be amended or supplemented from time to time, the “Form S-4”) has been filed by Alight, Inc., a Delaware corporation (“Alight Pubco”), with the SEC. The Form S-4 includes a proxy statement that was distributed to holders of Foley Trasimene’s common stock in connection with Foley Trasimene’s solicitation of proxies for the vote by Foley Trasimene’s stockholders in connection with the proposed business combination and other matters as described in the Form S-4 and consent solicitation statements that were distributed to certain direct and indirect holders of Alight, as well as a prospectus of Alight Pubco relating to the offer of the securities to be issued in connection with the completion of the business combination. The Form S-4 was declared effective by the SEC on June 3, 2021, and on June 4, 2021, Foley Trasimene filed its definitive proxy statement and Alight Pubco filed its definitive prospectus with the SEC. Foley Trasimene commenced mailing of the definitive proxy statement to Foley Trasimene’s stockholders on or about June 4, 2021. Each of Foley Trasimene and Alight Pubco will also file other relevant documents with the SEC regarding the proposed business combination. This document is not a substitute for the Form S-4, the definitive proxy statement, the definitive prospectus, or any other document that Foley Trasimene or Alight Pubco may file with the SEC. Foley Trasimene, Alight Pubco and Alight urge investors, stockholders and other interested persons to read the Form S-4, the definitive proxy statement and definitive prospectus, as well as any other documents filed with the SEC in connection with the proposed business combination, as these materials contain important information about Alight Pubco, Foley Trasimene, and the proposed business combination. Such persons can also read Foley Trasimene’s Annual Report on Form 10-K/A filed with the SEC on April 29, 2021 for additional information about Foley Trasimene, including a description of the security holdings of Foley Trasimene’s officers and directors and their respective interests as security holders in the consummation of the proposed business combination. Stockholders will also be able to obtain copies of such documents, without charge, once available, at the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov, or by directing a request to: Foley Trasimene Acquisition Corp., 1701 Village Center Circle, Las Vegas, NV 89134, or (702) 323-7330. Participants in the Solicitation Foley Trasimene and Alight and their respective directors, executive officers and other members of their management and employees, under SEC rules, may be deemed to be participants in the solicitation of proxies of Foley Trasimene’s stockholders in connection with the proposed business combination. Investors and security holders may obtain more detailed information regarding the names, affiliations and interests of Foley Trasimene’s directors and executive officers in the Foley Trasimene’s Annual Report on Form 10-K/A filed with the SEC on April 29, 2021. Information regarding the persons who may, under SEC rules, be deemed participants in the solicitation of proxies of Foley Trasimene’s stockholders in connection with the proposed business combination is set forth in the definitive proxy statement/prospectus/consent solicitation statement for the proposed business combination. Information concerning the interests of Foley Trasimene’s and Alight’s participants in the solicitation, which may, in some cases, be different than those of Foley Trasimene’s and Alight’s equity holders generally, is set forth in the definitive proxy statement/prospectus/consent solicitation statement relating to the proposed business combination.
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Organization Merge
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1998 Occidental Petroleum Boeing 737 crash
|
On 5 May 1998 a Boeing 737-282, leased from the Fuerza Aérea del Perú (Peruvian Air Force) and servicing a charter flight for Occidental Petroleum, crashed in rainy weather while on approach to Andoas Peru, killing 75 people on board; eleven passengers and two crew members survived. [1]
Occidental Petroleum chartered the aircraft to transport workers to the Andoas oil field. [2] The aircraft was registered as FAP-351 (c/n 23041 / m/n 962) and had only entered service with the Peruvian Air Force a few weeks before the crash. [1]
The aircraft crashed around 21:30 local time while on an NDB approach to Alférez FAP Alfredo Vladimir Sara Bauer Airport at Andoas. The aircraft crashed 3 miles short of Andoas. [2] It was scheduled to arrive at Andoas at 21:17 local time. [1]
Medical teams were delayed more than a day in reaching the crash site due to poor weather, with the survivors being carried on stretchers in torrential rain to a medical post in Andoas because the weather prevented their evacuation by helicopter. [3] Later, a Peruvian Air Force Boeing 737 rescue aircraft flew to Andoas, carrying a medical team, crash experts and police investigators. [3]
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Air crash
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2013 European Mixed Curling Championship
|
The 2013 European Mixed Curling Championship was held from September 14 to 21 at the Murrayfield Curling Rink in Edinburgh, Scotland. [1] Due to an issue with the ice chilling plant, play was postponed from Saturday night until Sunday night. [2]
Germany's Andy Kapp defeated defending champion Scotland's Ewan MacDonald with a score of 5–4. The game was tied after four ends, but Scotland gave up a steal of two in the sixth end after a draw by MacDonald came up light. Scotland scored two in the seventh end, but Germany were able to get one point in the final end to win the title. [3]
The teams are listed as follows:[4]
Skip: Alina Pavlyuchik
Third: Dmitry Kirillov
Second: Ekaterina Kirillova
Lead: George Kirillov
Skip: Miloš Hoferka
Third: Lenka Kitzbergerová
Second: Martin Štěpánek
Lead: Michaela Nádherová
Skip: Lionel Roux
Third: Hélène Grieshaber
Second: Xavier Bibollet
Lead: Florence Richard
Skip: Andy Kapp
Third: Petra Tschetsch
Second: Holger Höhne
Lead: Pia-Lisa Schöll
Skip: György Nagy
Third: Ildikó Szekeres
Second: Zsolt Kiss
Lead: Ágnes Szentannai
Alternate: Jakab Zoltán
Skip: Arnis Veidemanis
Third: Iluta Linde
Second: Rihards Jeske
Lead: Sabīne Jeske
Fourth: Michal Janowski
Skip: Aneta Lipinska
Second: Szymon Molski
Lead: Florek Lajna
Skip: Allen Coliban
Third: Cristina-Teodora Adumitroaei
Second: Valentin Anghelinei
Lead: Zsuzsanna Berecki
Skip: Ewan MacDonald
Third: Kay Adams
Second: Euan Byers
Lead: Karen Barthelemy
Skip: John Sharp
Third: Lorna Rettig
Second: Nigel Patrick
Lead: Alison Hemmings
Skip: Erkki Lill
Third: Maile Mölder
Second: Harri Lill
Lead: Küllike Ustav
Skip: Hans Roger Tømmervold
Third: Marte Bakk
Second: Olav Helge Storli
Lead: Pia Trulsen
Skip: Roman Kutuzov
Third: Valeria Shelkova
Second: Vadin Raev
Lead: Mariia Duiunova
Third: Irantzu García
Second: Alberto Vez
Lead: Estrella Labrador
Fourth: Towe Lundman
Skip: Gustav Eskilsson
Second: Anna Gustafsson
Lead: Jesper Johansson
Skip: Marc Pfister
Third: Carole Howald
Second: Kevin Wunderlin
Lead: Nora Baumann
Skip: Adrian Meikle
Third: Dawn Watson
Second: Andrew Tanner
Lead: Laura Beever
Skip: Mathias Genner
Third: Andrea Höfler
Second: Constanze Hummelt
Lead: Sebastian Wunderer
Skip: Joel Ostrowski
Third: Camilla Jensen
Second: Søren Jensen
Lead: Pavla Rubasova
Skip: Tomi Rantamäki
Third: Anne Malmi
Second: Pekka Peura
Lead: Tiina Suuripää
Skip: Robin Gray
Third: Louise Kerr
Second: John Jo Kenny
Lead: Hazel Gormley-Leahy
Skip: Federica Apollonio
Third: Marcello Pachner
Second: Stefania Menardi
Lead: Malko Tondella
Skip: Pavol Pitoňák
Third: Daniela Matulová
Second: Frantisek Pitoňák
Lead: Zuzana Axamitová
Fourth: Irena Manček
Third: Matevž Javornik
Second: Gaja Palzl
Skip: Urban Zelinka
Skip: Alican Karataş
Third: Öznur Polat
Second: Muhammet Oǧuz Zengin
Lead: Elif Kızılkaya
Final Round Robin Standings
All draw times are listed in Greenwich Mean Time (UTC+0). [2]
Draw 1
21:00
Draw 2
8:30
Draw 4
16:30
Draw 6
8:30
Draw 8
16:30
Draw 10
8:30
Draw 12
16:30
Draw 14
10:00
Draw 16
19:00
Draw 3
12:30
Draw 5
20:30
Draw 7
12:30
Draw 9
20:30
Draw 11
12:30
Draw 13
20:30
Draw 15
14:30
Draw 1
21:00
Draw 2
8:30
Draw 3
12:30
Draw 4
16:30
Draw 5
20:30
Draw 6
8:30
Draw 8
16:30
Draw 9
20:30
Draw 10
8:30
Draw 11
12:30
Draw 12
16:30
Draw 13
20:30
Draw 14
10:00
Draw 15
14:30
Draw 16
19:00
Saturday, September 20, 10:00
Friday, September 20, 14:30
Friday, September 20, 19:00
Saturday, September 21, 10:00
Saturday, September 21, 15:00
Saturday, September 21, 15:00
|
Sports Competition
| null | null |
Trump was planning to withdraw US from Nato and ditch South Korea alliance, according to new book
|
Trump was planning to withdraw US from Nato and ditch South Korea alliance, according to new book July 14, 2021, 2:35 AM 46th and current president of the United States Trump threatened to withdraw from Nato, according to new book Donald Trump was considering pulling out of Nato and cutting the US’s alliance with South Korea if he won the 2020 election, according to an account of his private meetings with top aides. I Alone Can Fix It: Donald J Trump’s Catastrophic Final Year is a behind-the-scenes account of Mr Trump’s last year in the White House, authored by Pulitzer Prize-winning reporters Phil Rucker and Carol Leonnig. In an excerpt published in the Washington Post , Mr Trump is said to have lost the confidence of Defense Secretary Mark Esper . According to the book, Mr Esper confided in colleagues that he was rooting for Joe Biden to win the election because he believed he cared about national security. “Esper couldn’t say the same about Trump. In fact, Trump had privately indicated that he would seek to withdraw from Nato and to blow up the US alliance with South Korea, should he win reelection. When those alliances had come up in meetings with Esper and other top aides, some advisers warned Trump that shredding them before the election would be politically dangerous. “Yeah, the second term,” Trump had said. “We’ll do it in the second term.” According to the excerpt, episodes recounted in the book are based on interviews with senior Trump administration officials, friends and advisers to the president. White House scenes from election night are described in detail, including Mr Trump’s reaction to seeing Arizona called for Mr Biden on Fox News. “Trump, who had been watching Fox, was livid. He could not fathom that the conservative news network he had long considered an extension of his campaign was the first news organization to call Arizona for Biden. This was a betrayal. His top advisers, who had been in the Map Room at the time, rushed upstairs to see the president.’ ‘What the f--- is Fox doing?” Trump screamed. Then he barked orders to Kushner: “Call Rupert! Call James and Lachlan!” And to Jason Miller: “Get Sammon. Get Hemmer. They’ve got to reverse this.” The president was referring to Fox owner Rupert Murdoch and his sons, James and Lachlan, as well as Bill Sammon, a top news executive at Fox. Trump’s tirade continued. “What the f---?” he bellowed.”
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Withdraw from an Organization
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