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Catalina affair crash
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The Catalina affair (Swedish: Catalinaaffären) was a military confrontation and Cold War-era diplomatic crisis in June 1952, in which Soviet Air Force fighter jets shot down two Swedish aircraft over international waters in the Baltic Sea. The first aircraft to be shot down was an unarmed Swedish Air Force Tp 79, a derivative of the Douglas DC-3, carrying out radio and radar signals intelligence-gathering for the National Defence Radio Establishment (Försvarets radioanstalt, FRA). None of the crew of eight survived. The second aircraft to be shot down was a Swedish Air Force Tp 47, a Catalina flying boat, involved in the search and rescue operation for the missing DC-3. The Catalina's crew of five were saved. The Soviet Union publicly denied involvement until its dissolution in 1991. Both aircraft were located in 2003, and the DC-3 was salvaged. The first aircraft involved was a Swedish Air Force Douglas DC-3A-360 Skytrain,[2] a military transport derivative of the DC-3 known in Swedish service as Tp 79. It carried the serial number 79001. In the media coverage following the event, it became known simply as "the DC-3." The aircraft was manufactured in 1943 with original US serial number 42-5694, and was delivered to USAAF 15th Troop Carrier Squadron (61st Troop Carrier Group). It saw action in northern Africa before being stationed at RAF Barkston Heath. It was flown on 5 February 1946, from Orly Air Base via Hanau Army Airfield to Bromma and was registered as SE-APZ on 18 May 1946 as a civil aircraft to Skandinaviska Aero AB. [7][8]
On 13 June 1952, it disappeared east of the isle of Gotska Sandön while carrying out signals intelligence-gathering operations for FRA. [9] The aircraft was lost with its entire crew of eight in the incident. Three of the eight crew members were military personnel from the Swedish Air Force, and the other five were civilian signals intelligence (SIGINT) operators from the FRA. [10]
Three days after the initial incident, on 16 June 1952, two Consolidated PBY-5 Catalina flying boats, known in Swedish service as Tp 47, searched for the DC-3 north of Estonia. One of the aircraft, carrying airframe serial no. 47002,[9] was shot down by Soviet aircraft, but the crew of five ditched near the West German freighter Münsterland and were rescued. [11][12][13]
Sweden maintained for nearly 40 years that the plane was undertaking a navigation training flight. [14] Only after pressure from crewmembers' families[15] did Swedish authorities confirm that the DC-3 was equipped with British equipment and had been conducting surveillance for NATO. [16]
In 1991, General Fyodor Shinkarenko (ru), a colonel in the early 1950s, admitted he had ordered the DC-3 shot down in 1952 by scrambling a MiG-15bis to intercept it. [17]
On 10 June 2003, airline captain and former Swedish Air Force pilot, Anders Jallai, and historian Carl Douglas with the Swedish company Marin Mätteknik AB found the remains of the downed DC-3 by using sonar at 126 m (413 ft) depth. [2][16][18][19]
After 52 years, the remains of the DC-3 were lifted to the surface on 19 March 2004. Debris from the area was also recovered by freeze dredging. 200 m3 (7,100 cu ft) of surrounding sediment was frozen, and lifted together with the object on and in it. [20] The wreck was transferred to Muskö naval base for investigation and preservation, and was finally put on display at Swedish Air Force Museum, Linköping on 13 May 2009. [21] A 1:12 scale model of 79001 was loaned to the Air Force Museum on 5 May 2009. [22]
Bullet holes on 79001 showed that the DC-3 was shot down by a MiG-15bis fighter. The exact splashdown time was also determined, as one of the clocks in the cockpit had stopped at 11:28:40 CET. [23] The remains of four of the eight-man crew have been found and positively identified. [24]
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Air crash
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BOJ keeps monetary policy steady policy proposals amid COVID-19, supply concerns
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TOKYO - Japan's financial watchdog said Wednesday it requested Mizuho Financial Group Inc. and its banking arm Mizuho Bank to submit a work plan for system maintenance after a series of system failures this year, in a rare move to effectively oversee the system of a major bank. The Financial Services Agency made the request as part of its business improvement order issued amid lingering concerns over the security of the financial group's system after it experienced seven failures this year. ---------- Quad leaders to oppose attempts to change status quo in East China Sea WASHINGTON - Leaders of the United States, Japan, Australia and India are expected to signal their opposition to China's attempts to change the status quo in the East and South China seas when they meet in Washington later this week, sources familiar with the matter said Wednesday. According to the sources, a draft of a joint leaders' statement uses tougher language than before regarding the situation in the waters where China is stepping up its territorial claims, saying that the Quad members "oppose challenges to the maritime rules-based order," particularly in the East and South China seas. ---------- China's Xi calls for dialogue, cooperation amid tensions with U.S. BEIJING - Chinese President Xi Jinping, in a video speech at the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday, called on world leaders to resolve their differences and problems through "dialogue and cooperation," as his country's tensions with the United States have shown few signs of improving soon. Xi also urged other nations not to create a small circle targeting China, in an apparent reference to the so-called Quad, comprising the United States, Japan, India and Australia, as well as a new security partnership involving Australia, Britain and the United States. ---------- U.S. lifts post-Fukushima import restrictions on Japan farm products TOKYO - The United States has lifted all of its restrictions on imports of food products from Japan established in the wake of the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster, Japan's farm ministry said Wednesday. Under the restrictions, U.S. imports of a total of 100 agricultural products produced in 14 Japanese prefectures including Fukushima had been suspended. ---------- BOJ keeps monetary policy steady amid COVID-19, supply concerns TOKYO - The Bank of Japan on Wednesday kept its ultraeasy monetary policy intact to help the economy weather curbs to combat COVID-19 and supply chain disruptions in Southeast Asia. At the end of a two-day policy-setting meeting, the BOJ stuck to its overall assessment of the economy as picking up even in a "severe" situation. But it acknowledged the impact of supply-side constraints on exports and industrial production, key drivers of the world's third-largest economy. ---------- Biden vows "new era" of diplomacy with allies, focus on Indo-Pacific WASHINGTON - U.S. President Joe Biden on Tuesday pledged the start of a "new era of relentless diplomacy" involving working with allies and partners to tackle challenges such as the coronavirus pandemic and defending human rights, while signaling the country's shifting of focus to the Indo-Pacific amid increasing competition with China. Biden's first speech to the U.N. General Assembly since taking office largely highlighted multilateralism in contrast to his predecessor Donald Trump's "America First" unilateralist policies, even though Biden himself has recently faced criticism for upsetting allies over some key foreign policy moves. ---------- LDP president candidates vow to double spending on children TOKYO - All four contenders in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's presidential election vowed Wednesday to double Japan's budget for children if they are elected the successor to Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga as the country struggles to address its persistently low birth rate. Former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida, vaccination minister Taro Kono and LDP executive acting secretary general Seiko Noda also agreed on the need to create an agency for spearheading policies on children during a debate held ahead of the Sept. 29 vote that effectively decides the country's next prime minister. ---------- China Evergrande vows to make coupon payment on bonds due Sept. 23 BEIJING - The main unit of major Chinese property developer Evergrande Group said Wednesday that it will make a coupon payment on bonds due Thursday amid mounting fears that the firm would soon go into default. Financial market participants had become worried that a possible bankruptcy of Evergrande, whose liabilities have swelled to around 2 trillion yuan ($309 billion), could cause another global financial crisis like the one of 2008.
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Financial Crisis
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Zika spreads to Lucknow, 2 diagnosed with virus isolated
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TNN / Updated: Nov 12, 2021, 06:44 IST
AA
Govt employee arrested for sexually harassing contractual staff in Lucknow after video goes viral
Image used for representational purpose only
LUCKNOW: Two persons were diagnosed with Zika in Lucknow on Thursday, making the duo the first to contract the virus in the state capital after over 100 patients, including pregnant women tested positive in Kanpur and one in neighbouring Kannauj district, reports Yusra Husain.
A 24-year-old woman from LDA Colony (Kanpur Road) and a 32-year-old man from Phoolbagh in Hussainganj area, have tested positive for Zika.
They were asymptomatic with no travel history prior to contracting the virus, which is spread by the dengue-causing Aedes Aegypti mosquito.
Samples of four contact persons were taken by health department on Thursday night and anti-larval spray and fogging exercise conducted with the municipal corporation.
Soon after Zika outbreak in Kanpur, chief medical officer's (CMO) team in Lucknow district had begun random sampling of fever patients coming to Lokbandhu Raj Narayan Combined Hospital, Balrampur Hospital and SPM Civil hospital. From November 3, more than 250 random samples were sent to King George's Medical University ( KGMU ) for tests.
“Two patients tested positive, but they are asymptomatic. Their samples were collected at Lokbandhu hospital and Civil hospital between November 8 and 9, when they had mild fever,” said, district surveillance officer Dr Milind Vardhan. While the woman patient is in currently isolated in Lucknow, the male patient went to attend a wedding in Ambedkarnagar, before the test result was announced on Thursday. “The health team in Ambedkarnagar has been told to isolate the patient. It’s important to curb movements of Zika patients to avoid virus spread,” said Dr Vardhan. Since there is no specific treatment or vaccine available, only symptomatic treatment is administered, Dr Vardhan appealed to people to remove stagnant water that makes it conducive for mosquitoes to breed. “There is no need to panic since this is not a serious disease. Most are asymptomatic and very few symptomatic patients need hospitalisation. Mortality rate is almost negligible. But the virus is caused by the mosquito, which breeds in clear stagnant water mostly found around homes and gardens. People should regularly drain out stagnant water from coolers, from under the pots and tyres,” he said.
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Famous Person - Sick
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1942 Guatemala earthquake
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Earthquakes are relatively frequent occurrences in Guatemala. [1] The country lies in a major fault zone known as the Motagua and Chixoy-Polochic fault complex, which cuts across Guatemala and forms the tectonic boundary between the Caribbean plate and the North American plate. In addition, along Guatemala's western coast line, the Cocos plate pushes against the Caribbean plate, forming a subduction zone known as the Middle America Trench located approximately 50 km off Guatemala's Pacific coast. This subduction zone led to the formation of the Central America Volcanic Arc, and is an important source of offshore earthquakes. [2] Both these major tectonic processes have generated deformations within the Caribbean plate and produced secondary fault zones, like the Mixco, Jalpatagua, and Santa Catarina Pinula faults. [3]
The most destructive earthquake in recent Guatemalan history was the 1976 quake with a magnitude of 7.5 Mw and a hypocenter depth of just 5 km. This shallow-focus earthquake, originating from the Motagua Fault, caused 23,000 fatalities, leaving 76,000 injured and causing widespread material damage. Surprisingly, the 7.9 Mw earthquake of 1942, though higher in magnitude, was much less destructive, in part because of its substantially deeper hypocenter depth of 60 km. [4]
A number of earthquakes with low magnitudes caused major damage in very localized areas, which may in part be explained by their relatively shallow depth. This was the case with the 1985 Uspantán earthquake of 5.0 Mw with a depth of 5 km, which destroyed most buildings in the town of Uspantán, but caused little or no damage in the rest of the country. [5]
Guatemala is in constant earthquake activity. However, there are some earthquakes that are more notable due to the damage they've caused. Notable earthquakes in recent Guatemalan history include the following:[4]
MM = Intensity on the Modified Mercalli scale
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Earthquakes
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Farm dams 'hotspots' for greenhouse gases, but so are traffic jams
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Farm dams are steaming hotspots for greenhouse gas emissions despite their small size, research has found.
Hungry microbes thrive in the niche aquatic habitats and release carbon dioxide and methane gases into the atmosphere, potentially making farm dams one of the highest freshwater system emitters in the world, the paper suggests.
The Deakin University study sampled 77 farm dams in western Victoria and found that combined, they produced the ''same daily emissions as 385,000 cars''.
Researcher and PhD candidate Quinn Ollivier said the small bodies of water dotted across agricultural land had slipped "under the radar" when it came to man-made climate change discussions.
In Victoria there are 375,000 farm dams with a combined volume greater than the Sydney Harbour, making them "absolute hotspots" for emissions, Mr Ollivier said.
"Put simply, the freshwater in farm dams creates a unique environment for microbes," he said.
"When all these little microbes munch on the plant and animal matter coming into the dams, they breathe out potent greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide."
Former United Dairy Farmers of Victoria president Adam Jenkins — also a farmer in South Purrumbete — said the findings were "intriguing".
He said farmers had trialled using effluent pond bioproducts as compost or energy but investigating "normal dams" was something new.
Mr Jenkins said agriculture was an "easy target" in the climate change debate.
"We are massive landholders and stakeholders in the environment," he said.
"We could put the spotlight back on city people driving crappy cars and sitting on the West Gate [bridge] in traffic jams for one and a half hours.
"But we are also stewarding the land, we try to do the right thing and we are open to solutions."
Satellite imagery has made it possible to assess the distribution of farm dams over the past decade.
In taking a bird's eye view of the land, Mr Ollivier said farm dams resembled "a kind of chicken pox across the entirety of agricultural Australia".
The study was based in the Corangamite catchment area in western Victoria, between Ballarat and Geelong. A portable laser machine measured the gases coming off the surface of the water.
Mr Ollivier said the findings suggested farm dams in Victoria produced more than three times the greenhouse gas emissions than reservoirs, despite covering less area.
While the findings have put farm dams and agricultural practices in the spotlight, Mr Ollivier said he "highly doubted" it would force immediate change.
He said there were simple solutions for mitigating the problem, like planting native vegetation and managing animal waste run-off.
"We estimate that by reducing nitrate nutrient levels by 25 per cent — through activities like minimising excess fertilisation and containing animal effluent — we may be able to reduce the emissions of some farm dams by up to half," Mr Ollivier said.
Jamie Pittock, an associate professor at the Fenner School of Environment and Society at Australian National University, hopes the study encourages a revision of national and international carbon budgets to include farm dams.
"Many farm dams are abandoned or are not needed for agriculture production, perhaps we need a program to remove them," he said.
But Dr Pittock said small freshwater dams near cities were also of concern.
"It's very worrying the vast numbers of hobby farmers around major cities who are putting in virtually ornamental farm dams which are having negative impacts on stream flow and greenhouse gas emissions," he said.
We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Australians and Traditional Custodians of the lands where we live, learn, and work.
This service may include material from Agence France-Presse (AFP), APTN, Reuters, AAP, CNN and the BBC World Service which is copyright and cannot be reproduced.
AEST = Australian Eastern Standard Time which is 10 hours ahead of GMT (Greenwich Mean Time)
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Environment Pollution
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1986 Aerovías Guatemala air crash
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The 1986 Aerovías Guatemala air crash occurred on 18 January 1986 and involved a Sud Aviation SE-210 Caravelle III that crashed into a hill on approach to Santa Elena Airport, Flores, Guatemala after a short flight from Guatemala City's La Aurora International Airport. All 93 passengers and crew on board were killed,[1] making it the worst air disaster in Guatemalan history. The aircraft involved was a Sud Aviation SE-210 Caravelle III built in 1960. It was converted to a series 6N standard in 1962. SAETA purchased the aircraft in 1975. Aerovías in Guatemala leased it from SAETA in 1985 in response to the increasing number of tourists visiting Guatemala. [2]
This 40-minute flight was taking Guatemalan and foreign tourists from Guatemala City to Santa Elena Airport, in Flores, some 270 kilometres (170 mi) northeast of Guatemala City. Flores is a common staging point for visits to the ancient Maya city of Tikal. The aircraft took off on Saturday morning at 7:25 local time from La Aurora International Airport in Guatemala City with 87 passengers and 6 crew on board. [2] After approximately 30 minutes the aircraft was cleared to land at Santa Elena Airport. [1] However the first approach was too high and the aircraft overshot the runway. [3]
On its second approach the aircraft crashed and caught fire about 8 km from the airport. The control tower's last contact with the crew occurred at 7:58, 33 minutes into the 40-minute flight, with no reports of any anomalies. [3] The accident killed all 93 people on board: 87 passengers and 6 crew members. [1][2] The aircraft was completely destroyed in the accident. [1]
[4]
An investigation carried out into the crash was unable to determine the exact cause of the accident. [2] Low cloud cover may have caused the pilots to lose orientation and crash. [5]
Former Venezuelan Foreign Affairs Minister, Mr. Arístides Calvani, his wife and two daughters perished in the crash [6]
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Air crash
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Lufthansa Group plans on reducing its total in-service fleet by 650 aircraft over the next two years
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Lufthansa Group plans on reducing its total in-service fleet by 650 aircraft over the next two years, the German airline said in its annual report published on March 4. "Last year, the number of employees fell by around 28,000. In Germany, a further 10,000 jobs will be reduced or the corresponding personnel costs will have to be compensated. The Group fleet will be reduced to 650 aircraft in 2023," the airline says in the report. Carsten Spohr, CEO of Deutsche Lufthansa AG, said the group is also considering whether all aircraft within its fleet that are 25 years or older will remain grounded permanently. Spohr expects passenger travel demand to start picking back up in the second half of 2021. "From the summer onwards, we expect demand to pick up again as soon as restrictive travel limits are reduced by a further roll-out of tests and vaccines. We are prepared to offer up to 70 percent of our pre-crisis capacity again in the short term as demand increases," Spohr said. The National Transportation Safety Board published an investigative update on the United Airlines 328 engine failure. (NTSB) The National Transportation Safety Board published an investigative update Friday for its ongoing investigation of the Feb. 20, 2021, United Airlines Flight 328 engine failure. UAL flight 328 experienced a failure of the right Pratt & Whitney PW4077 engine shortly after takeoff from Denver International Airport, Denver. There were no injuries reported, and the airplane sustained minor damage, NTSB said in the release. Facts gathered to date in the investigation, and provided in the update, include: The full investigative update is available here. A computer rendering of Overture, the $200 million supersonic airliner that Boom will use 3DExperience to digitally design. Photo: Boom Supersonic American Express Ventures made a strategic investment in Boom Supersonic, the company announced in a March 4 press release. Boom is developing the supersonic commercial airliner Overture. "We're proud that Amex Ventures shares our commitment to making the world more accessible by bringing sustainable supersonic travel to passengers everywhere," Blake Scholl, Boom founder and CEO, said in a statement. "2021 is a pivotal year for Boom. As we prepare to fly our supersonic demonstrator, XB-1, we are also accelerating Overture development." Overture will run on 100 percent sustainable fuel and have a 65 to 68 seat capacity, according to Boom. The company predicts it will begin commercial flights by 2029. "Boom is building a supersonic passenger aircraft that will make travel faster and more sustainable," Harshul Sanghi, Global Head of Amex Ventures, said in a statement. "Travel has been a key part of American Express' heritage and it remains an integral part of our Card Members' lifestyles. We are excited to support Boom's development and invest in the future of travel." In a March 5 press statement, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said a recent discussion with U.S. President Joe Biden lead to the two sides agreeing to suspend tariffs imposed in the ongoing Airbus and Boeing trade dispute for an initial period of four months. "As a symbol of this fresh start, President Biden and I agreed to suspend all our tariffs imposed in the context of the Airbus-Boeing disputes, both on aircraft and non-aircraft products, for an initial period of 4 months," von der Leyen said in a pair of tweets acknowledging the call with Biden. "We both committed to focus on resolving our aircraft disputes, based on the work our respective trade representatives," von der Leyen said in the press statement. Volocopter expects to launch eVTOL operations in Singapore within the next three years. (Volocopter) Urban Air Mobility (UAM) company Volocopter raised €200 in Series D funding, the company announced in a March 3 press release. “Volocopter is ahead of the curve in the UAM industry, and we have the achievements to prove it,” Florian Reuter, CEO of Volocopter, said in a statement. “No other electric air taxi company has publicly performed as many flights in cities around the world, with full regulatory approval, as Volocopter has. Our VoloCity is the fifth generation of Volocopter aircraft and has a strong path to being the first certified electric air taxi for cities. Volocopter already has the extensive partnerships necessary to set up the UAM ecosystem for launching both our company and the industry into commercial operations. We are called the pioneers of UAM for a reason, and we plan to keep that title.” The new funding brings Volocopter’s total raised capital to €322 million, according to the release. The funding will be used to advance the company’s air taxi certification and accelerate the launch of its first commercial routes. Rolls Royce's Spirit of Innovation all-electric test aircraft is part of the ACCEL programme, short for ‘Accelerating the Electrification of Flight’ includes key partners YASA, the electric motor and controller manufacturer, and aviation start-up Electroflight. (Rolls Royce) Rolls-Royce has successfully completed the first taxiing of its ‘Spirit of Innovation’ all-electric aircraft, the company said in a March 1 press release. For the first time, the plane powered along a runway propelled by its powerful 500hp [400kw] electric powertrain and the latest energy storage technology, according to Rolls Royce. The taxiing of the plane is a critical test of the integration of the aircraft’s propulsion system, ahead of actual flight-testing. The first flight is planned for the Spring and when at full power the combination of electrical powertrain and advanced battery system will power the aircraft to more than 300mph. Rolls Royce is using the aircraft as a research and development platform for next electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) vehicles. "For the first time, the plane propelled itself forward using the power from an advanced battery and propulsion system that is ground-breaking in terms of electrical technology. This system and the capabilities being developed will help position Rolls-Royce as a technology leader offering power systems to the Urban Air Mobility market," Rob Watson, Director – Rolls-Royce Electrical, said in a press statement. BAE Systems has begun low-rate initial production of the company's Eagle Passive Active Warning and Survivability System (EPAWSS) for Boeing F-15Es under a $58 million subcontract from Boeing. BAE Systems said on March 2 that it has begun low-rate initial production of the company’s Eagle Passive Active Warning and Survivability System (EPAWSS) for Boeing [BA] F-15Es under a $58 million subcontract from Boeing. Last Dec. 31, the U.S. Air Force awarded Boeing a $189.2 million contract for “government furnished property repair as well as acquisition of Group A and B kits, support equipment, mod line standup, technical orders and interim contractor support efforts for the LRIP of the EPAWSS systems.” The Air Force tasked Boeing with EPAWSS integration on the F-15E and BAE Systems with developing the system under a 2015 contract, and the service finished the first round of EPAWSS testing in 2019. EPAWSS is to replace the F-15’s Tactical Electronic Warfare System (TEWS) self-protection suite, a 1970s-era system which is “functionally obsolete” and costly to sustain, the Air Force has said. The Army Aviation Association of America (AAAA) said Thursday it has canceled this year’s Army Aviation Mission Solutions Summit. The in-person event was scheduled for April 21 to 23 in Nashville, Tenn. As recently as last week, the organization was still considering holding the event, saying it would make a final decision by March 8. On Thursday, the association told exhibitors that the final decision was made after Army officials notified event organizers the service would not be able to support the conference based on a health risk assessment with the ongoing pandemic. “We are cancelling the Army Aviation Mission Solutions Summit based on this decision, as we depend on the Army for our key speakers and leader attendance, aircraft displays, and general attendance,” Ret. Maj, Gen. Jeff Schloesser, president of AAAA, said in a statement. “Be safe, be careful, and we hope to see you at future AAAA events as conditions allow.” CoreAVI will be provided with access to technical data, Intel Airworthiness Evidence Package, and Functional Safety essential Design Package for the processor. (CoreAVI) Core Avionics & Industrial Inc. (CoreAVI) announced new safety-critical software and hardware based on the 11th Gen Intel Core processor, the company announced in a March 2 press release. CoreAVI’s platform will provide safety-critical cockpit displays, mission computing, and safe autonomous systems. With this new software and hardware, customers will be able to achieve RTCA DO-178C and DO-254 DALA, ISO 26262 ASIL D and IEC 61508 SIL three safety certifications, according to the release. “We are excited to announce this partnership with Intel to bring to market a true safety critical compute and graphics platform based on Intel’s latest Core processor,” Dan Joncas, Chief Sales and Marketing Officer at CoreAVI, said in a statement. “This partnership ensures that our customers are able to harness the full performance of Intel’s latest generation of graphics and compute processing capabilities coupled with rigorous safety certification that spans multiple markets and applications.” Through Intel and CoreAVI’s partnership, CoreAVI will be provided with access to technical data, Intel Airworthiness Evidence Package, and Functional Safety essential Design Package for the processor, according to the release. “Avionics applications continue to demand the highest levels of performance and safety capabilities that are being met more frequently with multi-core processors,“ Tony Franklin, General Manager of Federal and Aerospace IoT Markets at Intel Corporation, said in a statement. “With our 11th Gen Core processor, we provide compelling compute performance together with the Intel Airworthiness Evidence Package, which provides safety artifacts to enable and simplify the certification of safety-critical avionics systems.” A Gulfstream G280. (Gulfstream) Gulfstream’s G280 has met the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) new Stage 5 standards for noise limits for subsonic aircraft, the company announced in a March 4 press release. “The Gulfstream team continues its commitment to the future of the G280 program, ensuring adherence to the most stringent standards, whether for safety, performance or noise emissions,” Mark Burns, president of Gulfstream, said in a statement. “Aircraft noise abatement goals are vital to ensuring the livelihood of the aviation and aerospace industries and demonstrating our efforts to be good neighbors to those who live or work near airfields, airports or flight paths.” SpaceX successfully launched another 60 Starlink satellites on a Falcon 9 rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center early Thursday. This is the 20th batch of satellites that SpaceX has put into orbit since the project began and the 5th successful launch since the beginning of the year. This particular mission, designated “Starlink L17,” was supposed to be the 17th Starlink launch, but was pushed back behind its scheduled 18th and 19th launches due to weather issues and delays associated with its droneship recovery system. This was SpaceX’s third attempt at launching Starlink L17, after two delays in February. The new satellites will join now more than 1,000 Starlink satellites operating in Low-Earth Orbit (LEO). While SpaceX said that it could provide global coverage with about 1,200 satellites, the company plans to launch up to 30,000 satellites for the complete constellation. SpaceX Founder Elon Musk said he hopes to take the Starlink business public once the company has enough subscribers to push it into positive cash flow territory. Telesat headquarters in Ottawa, Canada.(Telesat) Telesat reported its 2020 financial results on Thursday, with a 10 percent decline in revenue compared to the prior year, and forecasted a $356 billion total addressable market (TAM) for its business in the future with the Lightspeed constellation. For the year, Telesat reported consolidated revenue of $820 million Canadian dollars ($648 million). The company cited a variety of factors that contributed to the revenue decrease, but CEO Dan Goldberg said on Thursday’s investor call that roughly 60% of the decline was due to the non-renewal of North American Direct-to-Home (DTH) customer Shaw Direct and the completion the amortization of WildBlue prepayment. Other factors include lower revenue on short-term services provided to other satellite operators and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Telesat customers serving aeronautical and maritime markets. Wavestream’s In-Flight Connectivity (IFC) high-power transceiver, the AeroStream 40Ku, has been successfully tested by Global Eagle Entertainment, achieving DO-160G certification. Wavestream is a subsidiary of Gilat Satellite Networks, which announced Wednesday that production units are planned to be shipped for usage in commercial aircraft, starting in the second quarter of 2021. Wavestream’s AeroStream 40Ku transceiver is designed for high reliability, with a field-reported mean time before failure of greater than 30,000 flight hours. Wavestream said the high-power transceiver incorporates Gallium Nitride technology and enables more return bandwidth from the plane back to the satellite than previous generations. Mike Pigott, executive vice president of Connectivity at Global Eagle said this certification extends the company’s lead in Ku-band IFC. “Wavestream ensured that the unit is both backwards compatible with traditional modems and is future-proof to operate with the next generation of satellite modem technologies,” he commented.
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New achievements in aerospace
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Capitol rioter who tweeted she was ‘Definitely not going to jail’ gets sentenced to prison
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by: The Associated Press, Nexstar Media Wire A statement of facts document from the FBI in support of bringing charges against Jennifer Leigh Ryan of Frisco, Texas, is photographed on Nov. 4, 2021. The Texas real estate agent who bragged she wasn’t going to jail for storming the U.S. Capitol because she is white, has blond hair and good job has been sentenced to two months behind bars. The judge who sentenced Ryan on Nov. 4 questioned whether she is remorseful. (AP Photo/Jon Elswick) (AP) – A real estate agent from suburban Dallas who flaunted her participation in the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol on social media and later bragged she wasn’t going to jail because she is white, has blond hair and a good job was sentenced on Thursday to two months behind bars. While some rioters sentenced for the same misdemeanor conviction have received only probation or home confinement, prosecutors sought incarceration for Jennifer Leigh Ryan of Frisco, Texas, saying she has shown a lack of candor and remorse for her actions when the pro-Trump mob attacked the Capitol building and delayed Congress’ certification of Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory. They also said Ryan’s belief that she’s shielded from punishment shows she doesn’t grasp the seriousness of her crime. Ryan wasn’t facing a felony for more serious conduct, but U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper said she was still among the mob who overnumbered police in an attack that led to the deaths of five people and will have a lasting effect on government institutions. Though Ryan said she was sorry for her actions, Cooper questioned whether she is remorseful and has respect for the law. “Your actions since Jan. 6 make me doubt some of those things,” the judge said. Prosecutors said Ryan traveled to Washington on a jet chartered by a Facebook friend, described Trump’s rally before the riot as a prelude to war, livestreamed her entry into the building as alarms sounded, participated in chants of “Fight For Trump,” tweeted a photo of herself next to broken windows outside the Capitol and later said she deserved a medal for what she did. Her lawyer responded that she was in the building for only two minutes, didn’t act violently and has a First Amendment right to speak up on social media. “Definitely not going to jail. Sorry I have blonde hair white skin a great job a great future and I’m not going to jail. Sorry to rain on your hater parade. I did nothing wrong.” The judge then referred to Ryan’s March 26 tweet in which she wrote, “Definitely not going to jail. Sorry I have blonde hair white skin a great job a great future and I’m not going to jail. Sorry to rain on your hater parade. I did nothing wrong.” In a letter to the judge, Ryan denied believing she was immune to punishment, saying she was responding to people who made fun of her appearance and called for her to be imprisoned. She said her attorney told her at the time that prosecutors would be recommending a sentence of probation. “I was attacked and I was answering them,” Ryan said in court. She is the 10th person charged in the Jan. 6 attack to get a jail or prison sentence. More than 650 people have been charged for their actions at the Capitol. Prosecutors said Ryan has since downplayed the violence at the Capitol and falsely claimed to probation authorities that she didn’t know there was a riot until she came to the Capitol, even though she had recorded herself in a hotel room watching news coverage of rioters climbing the walls of the Capitol. After the riot, Ryan said she faced a backlash that included death threats, public heckling and graffiti painted on her real estate signs. She said she had to change her name and disguise herself in public. Ryan tweeted a photo of herself next to broken windows and holding her fingers in a V sign, with a caption saying, “Window at The capital. And if the news doesn’t stop lying about us we’re going to come after their studios next…” Shortly afterward, Ryan posted another tweet about a crowd damaging equipment belonging to news organizations, including The Associated Press. She tweeted it was a “cool moment” when rioters “went to town on the AP equipment.” Ryan is expected to start serving her sentence in January. Also on Thursday, an Air Force veteran was sentenced to three years of probation for breaching the Capitol and taking photos and videos while inside the rotunda for about 10 minutes. Jonathan Ace Sanders, 61, of Vincennes, Indiana, served 20 years in the military and was awarded a Purple Heart, but said he failed his training on Jan. 6. “I wasn’t tricked, I wasn’t pushed, that was my failure … I am sincerely sorry,” he said. Sanders is among dozens of veterans and active-service members charged in connection with the insurrection. As they have in other cases, prosecutors argued that should mean a tougher sentence for Sanders because his training should have told him to leave as other rioters attacked Capitol police officers and vandalized the building. U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols declined to impose the two months of home confinement that prosecutors recommended. The judge said Sanders’ military career was commendable service to his country, but also should have kept him away. “In my view, his service cuts both ways,” Nichols said. “It should have been obvious to him this was a violent riot.” Earlier on Thursday, a Maryland woman who joined the mob’s attack also was sentenced to three years of probation, including two months of home detention. Brittiany Angelina Dillon said her actions at the Capitol were “inexcusable and unacceptable.” Judge Dabney Friedrich said text messages show Dillon clearly anticipated violence when she went to Washington on Jan. 6 and seemed intent on doing her part to stop Congress from certifying Biden’s victory. According to prosecutors, Dillon pushed through a crowd of rioters to approach an entrance to the Capitol but was pushed back before she could make it beyond the building’s threshold. The judge said she was troubled by statements that Dillon made before and after the riot, including her reference to law enforcement officers as “devils.” “The attack she participated in was an attack on our institutions of government, the rule of law and our democratic process,” Friedrich said.
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Famous Person - Commit Crime - Sentence
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Latvia becomes Associate Member State of CERN
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Today, the Republic of Latvia became an Associate Member State of CERN, following official notification that the country has completed its internal approval procedures in respect of the Agreement granting it that status and has acceded to the Protocol on Privileges and Immunities of the Organization.
Latvia’s relations with CERN date back to the early 1990s, when the country’s leading research institutions started participating in activities ranging from accelerator and detector technology to robotics. In 1996, the country’s Institute of Electronics and Computer Science contributed to the Hadron Calorimeter of the CMS detector at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The relationship with CERN later intensified with the conclusion of a Framework Collaboration Agreement between CERN and Riga Technical University in 2012 and a Cooperation Agreement between the Organization and the Government of Latvia in 2016. Latvian institutions were involved in the study group for the Future Circular Collider in 2015 and in the CMS collaboration in 2017. Latvian scientists have also pursued PhD theses and project associateships at CERN.
As an Associate Member State, Latvia is entitled to appoint representatives to attend meetings of the CERN Council and the Finance Committee. Its nationals are eligible to apply for limited-duration staff positions and fellowships, and its industry is entitled to bid for CERN contracts, increasing opportunities for industrial collaboration in advanced technologies.
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Join in an Organization
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Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission to Investigate All Elections Commission Commissioners
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It is being rented from Tuma Enterprise and expected to perform non-contact automatic body temperature detection, brush human face, and perform high-precision infrared human temperature acquisition, and high effect.
According to reports, the NEC rented each of the equipment for US$9,166 though a single piece cost not more than US$1,500.
According to the LACC, The Executive Chairperson as saying the LACC was deeply concern about the reports and it is determined to understanding all elements of the transaction.
At the same time, the NEC has been accused of secretly outsourcing the contract to Tuma Enterprise, a company with an alleged “link to Floyd Sayor,” a Commissioner at NEC, without a bidding process.
A proforma invoice, dated September 9, 2021, shows a breakdown of costs for all the equipment and accompanying services for setup and installation, totalling 182,320 for 20 units of the equipment.
The Daily Observer reported this week that the proforma invoice details include “customizable COVID-19 preventive measures, contactless temperature check with accuracy within 0.5 degrees and facial detection indicating mask-wearing,” among others.
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Famous Person - Commit Crime - Investigate
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Second Ebola outbreak officially over in Guinea, announces WHO
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The second Ebola outbreak in Guinea is officially over, the World Health Organization announced on Saturday. The disease outbreak had erupted in the west African state on February 14. Marking the end of disease outbreak, WHO official Alfred Ki-Zerbo on Saturday said, "I have the honour of declaring the end of Ebola", reported news agency AFP. Zerbo was addressing a ceremony in the southeastern Nzerekore region where the disease surfaced at the end of January. In its first deadly wave in 2013-2016, the Ebola outbreak killed 11,300 people in West Africa's Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. The country is set to announce an end to the Ebola epidemic in the West African state this weekend, the health minister Remy Lamah said on Saturday. Lamah, on Thursday, credited the speed of the health response for getting the outbreak under control. Lamy confirmed the viral epidemic will be declared over on Saturday -- barring the discovery of new cases. The health minister was addressing a webinar hosted by the WHO. The outbreak was officially confirmed in Guinea this year on February 14, sending waves of panic and reminders from the deadly first outbreak. Ebola is a highly contagious hemorrhagic fever that causes a range of symptoms including fever, vomiting, diarrhoea, generalized pain or malaise and in many cases internal and external bleeding. The disease is transmitted through close contact with bodily fluids, and people who live with or care for patients are most at risk. In the second wave, at least 16 people were infected by the disease and five died since February in Guinea, the WHO said. The disease is known to have made a comeback in the forested Nzerekore region in the southeast of the impoverished nation. New outbreaks of the deadly Ebola virus disease in the two African countries are sending fresh jitters to Africa as the continent is still grappling with the Covid-19 pandemic. Soon after the disease reappeared, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in March called on all African countries to enhance their cross-border surveillance efforts by mapping population movements to identify all potential crossing points where there is a risk of disease spread.
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Disease Outbreaks
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Chinese swimmers break world record in freestyle relay event at Tokyo
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Team China had to fend off a challenge from veteran Ledecky in the last leg to win the gold. Photo: IANS
Topic | Other Sports
Tokyo: China broke the world record to win women's 4x200m freestyle relay at Tokyo Olympics here on Thursday.
Team China clocked seven minutes and 40.33 seconds, 1.17 faster than the previous record of 7:41.50 held by the Australians.
The United States finished second in 7:40.73, thanks to a fast 200m from six-time Olympic gold medalist Kathleen Ledecky. The Aussies took the bronze in 7:41.29, reports Xinhua.
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Tokyo 2020: Dressel wins 100m butterfly gold with world record
Yang Junxuan set an early lead for China and Tang Muhan recovered the advantage though Australian challenger Emma McKeon caught up in the middle.
Zhang Yufei, fresh from her 200m butterfly gold just an hour earlier, maintained a 0.43 second advantage over second-place Australia before Li Bingjie jumped into the water.
Li, 19, fended off the challenge from her idol Ledecky to win the gold for China.
Zhang shatters Olympic record
Earlier, China's Zhang Yufei won her first Olympic gold in Tokyo, rewriting the Olympic record in the women's 200m butterfly.
Zhang led the field from the beginning, winning gold in two minutes and 03.86 seconds and slicing 0.2 seconds off the Olympic record set by compatriot Jiao Liuyang at London 2012.
This is the second medal for the 23-year-old, who claimed silver in the 100m butterfly earlier this week.
Americans Regan Smith (2:05.30) and Hali Flickinger (2:05.65) took silver and bronze respectively.
In the first-ever Olympic men's 800m freestyle event, 21-year-old Robert Finke of the United States took the spoils in 7 minutes 41.87 seconds, ahead of Italy's Gregorio Paltrinieri and Mykhailo Romanchuk of Ukraine.
"The best time I had going in [before Tokyo 2020] was 7:47, and prelims I dropped down to 7:42 and here [in the final] I dropped another second. I had no idea I was going to do that," said Finke.
Caeleb Dressel won the U.S. a gold in the men's 100 freestyle with a new Olympic record time of 47.02, having also triumphed in the event at the World Championships in 2017 and 2019.
Australia's Rio 2016 winner Kyle Chalmers settled for silver in 47.08, while Russian Olympic Committee swimmer Kliment Kolesnikov took the bronze in 47.44.
Izaac Stubblety-Cook of Australia topped the podium in the men's 200m breaststroke with a time of 2:06.38.
"You can only be an underdog once and I had that luxury today. It was an experienced field, but I stepped it up through the heat and the semi. It was quite exciting to know I had more to give. I'm happy to be here but even happier with the result," said Stubblety-Cook.
Arno Kamminga of the Netherlands claimed silver in 2:07.01, ahead of bronze medalist Matti Mattsson of Finland in 2:07.13. All three swimmers outpaced the previous Olympic record time of 2:07.22, with world record holder Anton Chupkov only ranking fourth.
Emma McKeon of Australia qualified as the top seed for the women's 100m freestyle final, with Siobhan Haughey from Hong Kong China qualifying second and lowering her own Asian record time to 52.40.
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Break historical records
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College Students Shoulder The Financial Burden As State Funding For Higher Ed Dwindles
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In years past, photos show students tanning by the poolside or playing an impromptu game of water volleyball. It was like a slice of spring break in Cancún made its way back to Colorado. During the winter, the pool sits empty and unused. But due to the pandemic, it may stay that way for the rest of the school year. Most of the other amenities on CU’s campus will stay shut as well. On-campus dorms, classrooms and more closed when the university shifted to a completely remote operation in an attempt to keep COVID-19 cases down. When in-person classes resume in mid-February, several student services, like libraries, tutoring centers and mental health programs will remain closed or offer remote resources only. As the state reduced the share of funding taxpayers provided for higher education, students stepped up to fund many of those amenities through mandatory fees, and they are still being charged for them, even as they are barred from using them during the pandemic. The pool is part of a $63.5 million Rec Center renovation project funded by a student fee approved in 2011. When Regents convened to approve the student government’s plan, some expressed concerns about how it would hike up student fees by hundreds of dollars per semester. Nearly a decade after the vote to renovate the Rec Center passed, students are still footing the bill. On top of tuition and other fees, students taking more than one class are required to pay about $107 per semester to help pay off construction bonds. Increases in direct costs to students mean larger student loans, and students and their families worry those costs also further restrict access to advanced degrees. In Boulder, the renovations to the student center were long overdue. The old center was described as “outdated” and “overcrowded” as a result of the university’s decision to defer needed maintenance for years. That has been a money-saving strategy used by universities across the state. And even as buildings and amenities go unused in the pandemic, those maintenance costs keep rising. University of Northern Colorado Chief Financial Officer Michelle Quinn said their campus has about $260 million of deferred maintenance, which the university is attempting to fund using a student capital fee. “I think that was a significant consideration, a significant process on the part of the university to decide to do that,” she said. “Really, what was happening is that based upon the revenue in the state of Colorado, their ability to fund the facility deferred maintenance was volatile. And we couldn't rely upon that.” Since 2018, tuition at UNC hasn’t changed for in-state students who qualify for the College Opportunity Fund. What has changed, however, is the number of student fees paid, including the capital fee. Someone taking a full course load in spring 2021 is responsible for student fees that are now 11 percent higher than two years ago. A 2020 report commissioned by the Colorado Department of Higher Education found Colorado colleges and universities receive less budget allocation than their peers in other states. They make up for that absence through a heavy reliance on tuition and fees. Compared to other similarly sized colleges in different states, tuition and fee revenue in Colorado is collectively 18 percent higher. The Colorado State University system and the CU system are 15 percent and 34 higher, respectively. The increasing reliance on student-supplied dollars is dangerous, according to Metro State University Denver Vice President George Middlemist. He said when keeping affordability in mind, introducing new fees or tuition hikes to fund renovations or programs comes with consequences. “If we increase our tuition by a dollar, that doesn't sound like a lot, but for that student that was struggling to pay the tuition at the level we had, that may take them so they can't come to school,” Middlemist said. “And so we're constantly having those debates, which is why we have students involved in our tuition and fee conversations.” Alaura Ward is one of those students. Like many of her classmates, she’s a first-generation student of color, who commutes from outside of Denver to make it to class. As student trustee, she represents her peers at Board of Trustee meetings. She said she spends a lot of time trying to keep tuition and student fees down. Last semester, the board wanted to raise tuition, a recommendation Ward took issue with. “I was like, guys, we have people that can't even have access to computers and we can't raise tuition right now. If we do like, we need to be able to provide sufficient resources, that'll help students stay in school and make sure that they're taken care of,” Ward said. Ward said existing fees make it hard for a lot of her peers to afford tuition payments. She finds herself having to take out extra student loans in order to pay those bills. “When I see all of these different fees and I see how they stack up, and then I see that my financial aid won't cover it completely, or the loans won't cover it, I'm then having to go to a bank and try to vouch and be like, hey guys, I'm 23. Can you guys give me an extra, like $2,000 to pay my tuition bill?” she said. Student leaders in other campuses are also wary of the issues surrounding student fees. Isaiah Chavous is the external student body president at CU Boulder. During his term, which started last spring, he’s focused on assisting students who are struggling to afford tuition and raising graduation rates for students of color through funding scholarships or campus centers serving underrepresented student populations. But doing that will require getting his peers to approve yet another student fee. “I think that can be a conversation, but I also think what we're doing at that point is further pressuring our students to pay for the resources that I think should be inherent to the university experience,” Chavous said. “And so whether that comes from the university itself through their endowment or whether that's coming from the state or the federal government, it needs to happen.” Universities can’t wait forever for the state to free up more budget for them. As more time goes on, deferred maintenance fees go up. CU’s University Memorial Center, a hub for student activity and engagement, was quoted at needing around a $106 million renovation. Greg Allan, who chairs the student Finance Board, said someone gets trapped in the elevator of the building at least once a semester. “There are lots of needs in that building and we've been doing what we can in the meantime, taking on what's considered small projects, but still cost us about $1 to $2 million,” Allan said. “We've renovated different parts of the building that really weren't up to code and needed to be fixed. But at the same time, there are larger issues that exist that aren't going to be addressed with just a $2 million project every couple of years.” The money will be hard to find. With the CU system holding over $1.6 billion of outstanding debt, they’re not in a position to take on additional large maintenance projects. Plus, CU uses a guaranteed tuition model, which means student fees are the most easily changed figure in a student’s bill. Chavous, CU President Mark Kennedy, and administrators from other local universities have gone in front of the state Joint Budget Committee to advocate for an increase in state funding, which remains a contentious topic in the legislature. “Over time, we hope the state can close the per-student funding gap,” Kennedy said. “This year's funding recommendation from the higher education presidents, which CU supports, is a modest step that you can prioritize during these challenging times.” With coronavirus still devastating the state’s economy, Kennedy and other presidents know it’s a tough ask. Just last May, as college students were wrapping up their first pandemic-stricken semester, 58 percent of the higher education budget was slashed in an attempt to fill the state’s revenue shortfall. Gov. Jared Polis included a restoration to pre-pandemic levels and then some in his budget proposal, which will be debated this spring.
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Financial Aid
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Man charged over 1999 police shooting but $500k reward still on offer in search for two more men
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Man charged over 1999 police shooting but $500k reward still on offer in search for two more men Keep up to date with the latest COVID-19 exposure sites in Queensland Queensland police have had a major breakthrough in "Australia's only unsolved police shooting", where an officer was shot during a 1999 bank heist. A 49-year-old Brisbane man was arrested in the Logan area yesterday, after a search of seven properties in Logan, Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast. The man appeared in Brisbane Magistrates Court this morning charged with a total of 13 offences, including attempted murder, armed robbery with violence and deprivation of liberty. He was denied bail and is due to face court again on February 8. Police are still pursuing two other people believed to have been involved in the robbery, which occurred at the National Australia Bank branch at Browns Plains, in Logan, in March 1999. Senior Constable Neil Scutts and his partner responded to the robbery. The offenders allegedly held staff and customers at gunpoint and opened fire as the officers arrived. Senior Constable Scutts was shot in the groin and was unable to walk for months. Speaking in Brisbane today, Detective Inspector Tod Reid said the officers who responded to the robbery were "very, very happy with the result" when told of the arrest. "It was quite an emotional call to those officers to pass on that message," Detective Inspector Reid said. The man's arrest was a result of information received when a $500,000 reward was announced last month. Detective Inspector Reid described the man's arrest as "a major breakthrough in Australia's only unsolved police shooting case". We offer tailored front pages for local audiences in each state and territory. Find out how to opt in for more Queensland news. He said investigations were continuing, with police close to locating and charging two other people. He reissued an appeal for information, pointing out the $500,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of person/s responsible, remained on the table. Detective Inspector Reid delivered a strong message to the offenders who remained at large. "We're never going away, if there is a time now to admit what you've done and come forward this would be it," he said. "We're ready and waiting for you, if you'd like to come forward and surrender yourself to custody and admit what you've done."
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Bank Robbery
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10yrs jail for bank robber
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A 43-year-old Canberra man has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for a bank robbery and two attempted robberies last year. Michael Virgil Tresize from Curtin used a replica gun and silencer cut from foam and painted black, and a knife in the first attempted robbery at the Hughes post office. A shop assistant was stabbed as he struggled with Tresize. In the other incidents two days later, Tresize used an item designed to look like a bomb. He attempted to rob the Commonwealth Bank in Fyshwick, but a teller refused to hand over money. He then robbed the robbed the CPS Credit Union at Manuka, handing a note to the teller demanding money. He escaped with just over $1,000. Police identified him from fingerprints on the note he left behind. Tresize blamed his addiction to ICE for the crimes. He will not be eligible for parole until 2019.
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Bank Robbery
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Iraqi bank robbers sentenced to death
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In Iraq, four security force officers have been sentenced to death for their part in a multi-million dollar bank robbery in Baghdad. Eight police guards were killed in the raid. The robbers seized about $US4 million in a raid on a bank branch in Baghdad in late July. The cash was later recovered and police arrested four men, including two former bodyguards of Iraq's Vice-President. The judge found one of them had killed six of the eight guards found dead at the bank. The accused men have 30 days in which to lodge an appeal. Another four men are still on the run and were tried in absentia, but are yet to be sentenced. The case could have political ramifications - with opponents of the Vice-President questioning whether he or his political party had any involvement. Iraq holds national elections in January.
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Bank Robbery
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2014 Hrushevskoho Street riots
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18–23 February 2014 (revolution)
In response to anti-protest laws in Ukraine (announced on 16 January 2014[14] and enacted on 21 January 2014), a standoff between protesters and police began on 19 January 2014 that was precipitated by a series of riots in central Kyiv on Hrushevsky Street, outside Dynamo Stadium and adjacent to the ongoing Euromaidan protests. During a Euromaidan rally which gathered up to 200,000 protesters, participants marched on the Verkhovna Rada and were met by police cordons. Following a tense stand-off, violence started as police confronted protesters. Protesters erected blockades to prevent the movement of government forces. Four protesters were confirmed as having died in clashes with police, three of whom were shot. On 28 January 2014, 9 of the 12 anti-protest laws were repealed and Prime Minister Mykola Azarov tendered his resignation and a bill offering amnesty to arrested and charged protesters was issued. [15][16] On 14 February 2014, groups responsible for organizing the standoff agreed to partially unblock the street to restore traffic, but maintain the barricades and ongoing protests. Following the amnesty of protesters on 16 February 2014, police and protesters mutually receded while allowing a corridor for traffic. This lasted until 18 February 2014, when thousands marched on parliament once again, reestablishing Hrushevskoho Street and related streets in a new standoff with police. By 19 February 2014, all barricades had been cleared from the streets and protesters pushed back. On 19 January, a Sunday mass protest, the ninth in a row, took place gathering up to 200,000 in central Kyiv to protest the new anti-protest laws, dubbed the "Dictatorship laws". [17][18] The rally was attended by opposition leaders, but was also the first public appearance of Tetiana Chornovol since her alleged attack by the authorities. [19] Many protesters ignored the face concealment ban by wearing party masks, while others wore hard hats and gas masks. [19] AutoMaidan leader Dmytro Bulatov demanded a single oppositional candidate be named, and the crowd also chanted against leaders to comply with this action. [19] Batkivshchyna leaders Arseniy Yatsenyuk and Oleksandr Turchynov declared that a new, alternative parliament would be created. [19]
Euromaidan activists appealed to the military for its "solemn allegiance to the Ukrainian people" rather than the "criminal regime", and for members of the military and police to not carry out "criminal orders", most notably in the use of force against civilians; they promised those who would be fired for refusing orders of violence would be reinstated once a new government for Ukraine was installed. [19] Former Ukrainian Navy chief, Rear Admiral Ihor Tenyukh, who was removed by President Yanukovych in 2010, warned of the dangers posed by the "coup d'état planned by the current authorities" and called for members of the armed forces to defy "illegal" orders from those in power. [20] "Tomorrow the regime will enslave you too. Therefore we are calling on you to fulfil your military oath of loyalty to the Ukrainian people and not to the authorities who have gone off the rails," he was quoted as saying. [20]
Clashes began as thousands descended upon parliament via Hrushevskoho Street, and were met by police cordons, and a blockade of military cars, mini-vans and buses. [19][20] Police warned over loudspeaker, stating, "Dear citizens, your actions are illegal and are against the state." They also warned that advancing within three meters of police would be considered a threat to police officers' rights and will prompt a response. [19] Tensions eventually developed, and the sides exchanged projectiles as protesters attacked the police barricade armed with sticks, pipes, helmets, and gas masks. They were met with stun and smoke grenades. [21][22]
Opposition leader Vitali Klitschko (who attempted to bring calm)[nb 1] was sprayed with a fire extinguisher by a protester from the crowd, and shouted down as a traitor. Following this, live TV pictures showed protesters attempting to overturn a bus used by police, which was later set on fire after petrol bombs were thrown. [20] At least three buses were overtaken by rioters. [19] Water cannons used to douse the flames were also directed at protesters; an illegal use of force due to freezing temperatures. [19] Later, rubber bullets were used against protesters as more police vehicles were set ablaze. [19][24] Up to 10,000 rioters remained near the Valeriy Lobanovskyi Dynamo Stadium by 10 p.m. as rioting and clashes continued with smoke filling the air from the burning vehicles. [19] The entire line of police buses used in the blockade was set on fire,[25] and as midnight approached, nearly everything in the square by the Dynamo Stadium was burning. [26] Commenting on the situation, opposition MP Lesya Orobets stated, "War has finally started, laws don't apply anymore. "[26] Reports from Lviv indicated that demonstrators in Lviv, Kalush, and Ivano-Frankivsk blocked military units from deploying to Kyiv;[19][27][28] with a similar situation occurring in Rivne, blocking Berkut troops. [29] Lviv troops later thanked protesters for blocking their deployment. [30] Automaidan activists by 3 a.m. blocked all roads exiting Yanukovych's Mezhyhyria mansion. [19] In the early morning, protesters in central Kyiv continued supplying molotov cocktails and advanced on police cordons while fortifying barricades to their rear as police continuously used water cannons, fired rubber bullets, and jammed cell phone signals. [31]
By the evening, Vitali Klitschko had arranged a night-time meeting with President Viktor Yanukovych at his presidential mansion Mezhyhirya in an attempt to argue for snap elections in order to defuse the situation from escalating into further violence. [19] The meeting ended with Yanukovych promising to resolve the crisis with a 'special commission' that includes representatives of the administration (including the president), Cabinet of Ministers, and political opposition. [19][32] Arseniy Yatseniuk took to the Euromaidan stage at about 9:30 p.m. to explain that he received a telephone call from the President telling him the administration wants to start negotiations to end the political crisis. [19] On Monday, 20 January, the commission was announced by Party of Regions MP Hanna Herman, but that it would convene without the presence of the President and be led by National Security and Defense Council secretary Andriy Klyuyev. [33][34][35][nb 2] Opposition leaders refused to take part in the government's proposed commission provided the president abstained from them himself. [37]
Clashes continued into the second day, with thousands remaining on Hrushevskoho Street, continuing to exchange explosives and rocks with police. [31] Of the 5,000 protesters present in the conflict area at the gates of the Dynamo Stadium near Mariinskyi Park, 200 were seen engaging the 500 riot police without stopping by the afternoon. [31] Berkut riot police were filmed by Radio Liberty throwing rocks at protesters while making obscene gestures towards them. [38] Later in the day, a group of protesters assembled an 8-foot high trebuchet to hurl rocks and other projectiles at police ranks. [39] In retaliation, police lobbed flash grenades, rocks, and Molotov cocktails at protesters. Police snipers scattered over the rooftops in the area but were exposed with fireworks and lasers. [31] By 10:45 p.m., the protestors near Dynamo Stadium numbered 10,000 and they continued to skirmish with thousands of police. [31] According to the Ukrainian Interior Ministry, representatives of the opposition in the Ukrainian parliament were providing weapons to attack the police. [40]
In the twilight hours of 21 January, after the anti-protest laws had taken legal effect, President Yanukovych ordered a 'bloody crackdown',[41] with police warning over loudspeakers that they may use weapons.
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Riot
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Damian Warner wins gold in men’s decathlon at Tokyo, sets Olympic record
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Damian Warner of Canada celebrates his gold medal in men's decathlon at the Tokyo Olympics on Thursday. August 5, 2021Melissa Tait/The Globe and Mail
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About an hour after he’d won the Olympic decathlon in record fashion on Thursday night, someone asked Damian Warner if he’d ever regretted becoming a decathlete.
“All the time,” Mr. Warner said, stepping on the end of the question. “All. The. Time.”
He was joking. Sort of.
Mr. Warner’s main competition, France’s Kevin Mayer, said the same thing, but more French: “The decathlon is pain. That’s why we do it.”
For a gifted athlete, choosing decathlon makes no sense. There are too many things to learn and not enough time or physical capacity to learn them. You won’t make real money. Sprinters are out there for 10, 15 minutes a day, tops. A decathlete is out there for seven, eight hours.
“Kevin and [bronze medalist] Ashley [Moloney],” Mr. Warner said, gesturing over his shoulder. “We’ve had the bad luck to be good at decathlon.”
Mr. Warner started off as a basketball player. He became a long jumper. And then, under the guidance of a couple of his high-school teachers in London, Ont., he became a decathlete.
Damian Warner has won Canada’s first gold medal in the decathlon and set a new Olympic record in Tokyo. Other events saw Canada's Laurence Vincent-Lapointe win silver in the women’s canoe sprint and Lauriane Genest bronze in the keirin cycling event.
The Globe and Mail
At the beginning, none of them had any idea what that actually meant. They got tactical and training tips from YouTube videos. But sign-posted by Mr. Warner’s remarkable talent, they figured out a path to the big time.
It’s a long way from a high-school track to the Olympic Stadium. Hell, it’s a long way from the derelict ice rink Mr. Warner trained in during COVID to here.
But on Thursday, Mr. Warner didn’t just realize his vision. He ran through it.
Driven by several incredible showings – most notably, a long jump that would have won him a bronze medal in the individual competition – Mr. Warner posted one of the highest scores in the history of the discipline.
He is only the fourth man to surpass 9,000 points (with 9,018) and the first to do it in an Olympic Games. Some people here are breaking records. Mr. Warner just broke decathlon’s sound barrier.
He came out well afterward looking energized and depleted at the same time. In fairness, that’s how all decathletes look all the time. Mr. Warner finished work close to midnight on Wednesday night. He took an ice bath, got some treatment, ate a bit, went back to the hotel, got five hours sleep and was back at it at 9. Decathlon is the closest pro sports gets to having a day job.
Damian Warner recovers after running the 1500-metre, the final event in the decathlon at the Tokyo Olympics on Thursday August 5, 2021.Melissa Tait/The Globe and Mail
The camaraderie of the brotherhood of pain is such that before the final event, the 1,500 metres, Mr. Mayer came over to Mr. Warner and congratulated him.
Mr. Warner said he spent some time on the start line thinking back to the beginning. Maybe a little too much time.
Mr. Warner is a sprinter and jumper by inclination. Endurance running in temperatures still lingering in the mid-30s two hours after sundown is not his idea of fun.
The gold medal was in the bag as long as he didn’t fall over. But 9,000 points was still going to take some work.
He had a target in mind – to be at 3:39 by the 1,200-metre mark.
“I went through in like 3:43 and I was like, ‘What are you doing?’ and I had to just kick it.”
So remember, the next time you want to be within shouting distance of the best middle-distance runners alive, it’s easy. Just set yourself a target, miss it by a good margin and then “kick it.”
“It’s one of those moments where, like, all the dreams you had as a kid finally come true,” Mr. Warner said, and then looked around for some help. “I don’t know how to react to it.”
Canada knows.
Damian Warner after making history as Canada’s first Olympic decathlon champion.Melissa Tait/The Globe and Mail
This country has a love of sports that are masochism by different means, pastimes such as hockey, lacrosse and local politics. Decathlon is the distillation of that idea.
Mr. Warner bunted when asked if his gold now made him the greatest athlete alive, as is often said about decathletes. How about the king of the romantics? Because what else would you call it when you, a genuine hopeful as a hurdler or a high-jumper, decide you’re going to learn how to throw the javelin in your non-existent spare time. And the discus. And just for kicks, do a little pole vault.
None of these things will lead to a proper career, not unless you are very, very lucky (and good). But in order to find out if that’s possible, first you have to put in a decade or so of ridiculously hard work.
It’s madness. Which makes it a perfectly Canadian thing to do. Based on a fifth-place finish by Warner’s debutant understudy, Pierce LePage, Canada might be doing it at a best-in-world level for the foreseeable future.
So what now?
“After this decathlon, I’m not going to eat any healthy food. It’s just going be ice cream and cakes and pastries for the next 48 hours,” Mr. Warner said. He held up the bottle of water he was holding: “I’m tired of water.”
Mr. Warner was really working his audience at this point, getting laugh lines at will. When someone asked if female heptathletes should shift to the men’s 10-sport discipline, Mr. Warner dodged by saying he’d prefer it if instead he had to do one less – by eliminating the 1,500.
“How about we start a petition for that?” he said.
In a more just world, someone like Mr. Warner would be the biggest thing going. The combination of talent, achievement and charisma are unparalleled on the Canadian sporting scene.
If you were his marketing manager, you’d tell him to become a hurdler, like, tomorrow. Hurdling is cool. They can put you on a cereal box hurdling the word, “Wheaties.” Boom. That’s a down payment on a cottage right there.
Instead, Mr. Warner will continue down the quixotic path he’s been walking, running and jumping for half his life.
“As you get near the end of a decathlon, you think, ‘Why do I do this?’ ” Mr. Warner said. “And then it ends, and you think, ‘I can’t wait to do this again.’ ”
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Break historical records
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The torrential rains triggered floods, landslides and mudflows in many of the country’s districts
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The torrential rains of 7 – 12 May 2021 triggered floods, landslides and mudflows in many of the country’s districts. The largest number of losses and destructions are faced by districts and cities of Khatlon province. Disasters affected following cities and districts: Kulob city and districts of Vakhsh, Jomi, Vose, Shamsiddini Shohin, Yovon, Dusti, Muminobod, Qushoniyon, Dangara and Khuroson. Assessment of the damage is on-going by the authorities. Up to date, assessment reports confirm the destruction of at least 128 houses and significant damage to around 400 houses. Damages caused by disasters to private and social infrastructure have disrupted the livelihoods of over 14,500 people, according to initial estimations. (OCHA/UNCT Tajikistan, 19 May 2021) The Committee of Emergency Situations and Civil Defence under the Government of the Republic of Tajikistan (CoES) reported the death of nine people caused by the disaster. Preliminary estimates indicate that households were displaced and 907 houses were damaged to different extents. Very modest estimations indicate that the damages to private and social infrastructure caused disruptions to the livelihoods of more than 25,010 people. The floods and subsequent landslides and mudflows affected districts to various extents, causing different levels of damage. Kulob town appeared to be the worst affected area, with the death of 3 people and an estimated 15 streets covered by mud. Up to date, the Government Assessment Teams identified 586 households with different levels of damage. As of 19 May , updated estimates report over 850 households as affected and in need of assistance. Most of the affected population have lost their assets and food stocks, as well as access to clean drinking water, as water supply system has been damaged by the mudflow. Sanitation conditions are severely worsened, as latrines are damaged and flooded. (IFRC, 24 May 2021)
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Mudslides
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Sabena Flight 571 crash
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International incidents
Sabena Flight 571 was a scheduled passenger flight from Brussels to Lod via Vienna operated by the Belgian national airline, Sabena. On 8 May 1972 a Boeing 707 passenger aircraft operating that service, captained by British pilot Reginald Levy, DFC,[1] was hijacked by four members of the Black September Organization, a Palestinian terrorist group. Following their instructions, Captain Levy landed the plane at Lod Airport (later Ben Gurion International Airport). [1] The hijackers demanded that Israel release Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the hostages. The standoff was ended by an Israeli commando raid in which all of the hijackers were killed or captured. The attack, planned by Ali Hassan Salameh, was carried out by a group of two men and two women who pretended to be two couples: the group’s leader Ali Taha Abu Snina, plus Abed al-Aziz Atrash, Rima Tannous and Theresa Halsa. [2] They were armed with two handguns, two hand grenades and two belts of explosives. Twenty minutes out of Vienna, the hijackers entered the cockpit. "As you can see," Captain Levy told the 90 passengers, "we have friends aboard." He concealed from the hijackers that his wife was a passenger on the plane. [2]
Soon after taking command, the hijackers separated the Jewish hostages from the others and sent them to the back of the aircraft. [3] When the plane had landed, the hijackers demanded the release of 315 convicted Palestinian terrorists[4][page needed] imprisoned in Israel, and threatened to blow up the airplane with its passengers. Captain Levy managed to send the Israelis a coded message requesting help. Defense Minister Moshe Dayan and Transport Minister Shimon Peres, who would become Prime Minister and later President of Israel, conducted negotiations with the hijackers while preparing a rescue operation, code-named "Operation Isotope. "[5] Captain Levy said he talked to the hijackers about everything "from navigation to sex" while the passengers and crew waited to be rescued. [6]
On 9 May 1972 at 4:00 p.m. the rescue operation began: a team of 16 Sayeret Matkal commandos, led by Ehud Barak[1] and including Benjamin Netanyahu,[1] both future Israeli Prime Ministers, approached the aircraft[7] disguised as aircraft technicians in white coveralls. [1] Having immobilized it during the preceding night, they convinced the hijackers that its hydraulic system needed repair. They then stormed the aircraft,[2] killing both male hijackers within two minutes. [8] They also captured the two female hijackers[1] and rescued all 90 remaining passengers. Three passengers were wounded in the exchange of fire, one of whom later died of her injuries. Netanyahu was also wounded during the rescue when another commando, Marko Ashkenazi, accidentally discharged his gun as he used it to hit Theresa Halsa. The bullet passed through her and penetrated Netanyahu's bicep. [2]
Halsa and Rima Tannous were eventually sentenced to life imprisonment—Halsa for 220 years. [2] They were freed in November 1983, in a prisoner exchange after the 1982 Lebanon War. [2]
Sabena continued to operate the aircraft for another five years, until it was purchased by Israel Aircraft Industries. It was eventually sold to the Israeli Air Force, and served as a spy plane for many years, participating in most of the Air Force's long-range operations. [9][10]
Captain Levy, a Royal Air Force veteran who took part in strategic bombing missions over Germany during World War II[1] and also in the Berlin airlift,[1] had joined Sabena in 1952. [1] He retired in 1982[1] and died of a heart attack, at a hospital near his home in Dover on 1 August 2010. [1] The hijacking took place on his 50th birthday. [1]
‡ indicates the terrorist attack which caused the greatest amount of Israeli casualties during the 1970s
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Air crash
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The University of Alabama distributed funds for students
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The University of Alabama is distributing funds to students through the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund III based on need as determined by the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. Eligible students will receive an email at their UA crimson email from Student Financial Aid. Funds are distributed on a first-come first-served basis. “The University of Alabama recognizes the unique challenges the COVID-19 pandemic created for students and their families,” a UA News email said. “Please know resources may be available to students with exceptional financial need.” Funds will be distributed by Student Financial Aid and Student Care and Well-Being based on Estimated Family Contribution from FAFSA. To qualify for aid, students must be graduate or undergraduate students enrolled at least half time for fall 2021 and be eligible for Title IV funding. Students who have not completed a FAFSA can apply for aid with Student Care and Well-Being.
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Financial Aid
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1964 Baihe earthquake
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The 1964 Baihe earthquake (Chinese: 1964年白河大地震; pinyin: 1964 nián Báihé dà dìzhèn), also known as the Great Baihe earthquake, measured 6.3 local magnitude,[1] and occurred at 20:04 CST (UTC+8) on 18 January in Baihe Township of Tainan County (now part of Tainan City), Taiwan. The hypocenter of the earthquake was 20 kilometers deep. [2] The earthquake killed 106 people, destroyed 10,924 buildings, and caused a great fire in Chiayi City. [3] It was the sixth deadliest earthquake in 20th century Taiwan, and the third deadliest post-World War II, after the 921 earthquake and the 2016 Taiwan earthquake. The earthquake struck at 20:05 on Saturday 18 January 1964, affecting the heavily populated Chiayi-Tainan plain (Chianan Plain) area of central-southern Taiwan. The epicentre was near the town of Baihe, in northeastern Tainan County and at a focal depth of 20 km. [4] It was the most serious historical quake resulting from a rupture in the Chukou Fault (Chinese: 觸口斷層; pinyin: Chùkǒu duàncéng). [5]
According to Taiwan's Central Weather Bureau, the casualties and damage were as follows:[4]
The cost of repairing the damage to public buildings in Tainan County alone was estimated at NT$191 million (in 1964 New Taiwan Dollars). [4]
The effects of the quake depended on the ground on which buildings stood. On the softer ground of Baihe and Dongshan, Tainan, concrete structures fared better than wooden ones, whereas on the harder earth of Nansi and Yujing the reverse was true, with concrete buildings suffering more damage. [4]
In Chiayi City the damage from the earthquake was not so severe, however there was some damage, mainly to older, structurally weak wooden houses. The main cause of disaster in Chiayi was the fire that resulted from the quake. Aftershocks meant that residents and firefighters feared to approach the blaze to tackle it, thus letting it spread until it consumed 174 households in central Chiayi. [4]
There was no official disaster management policy in effect in Taiwan at the time – relief and reconstruction was carried out on an ad hoc basis by the military and police forces. The earthquake forced a rethink of this lack, and the following year the Standard Procedure for Natural Disaster Assistance was promulgated by the Taiwan Provincial Government. [6]
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Earthquakes
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Australian prime minister attacks French president’s credibility over scrapped submarine deal
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Australian Prime Scott Morrison attacked the credibility of French President Emmanuel Macron as a newspaper quoted a text message that suggested France anticipated “bad news” about a now-scuttled submarine deal.
An Australia newspaper cast doubt on President Joe Biden’s explanation to Macron last week that the U.S. leader thought the French had been informed long before the September announcement that their 90 billion Australian dollar ($66 billion) submarine deal with Australia would be scrapped.
Macron this week accused Morrison of lying to him at a Paris dinner in June about the fate of a 5-year-old contract with majority French state-owned Naval Group to build 12 conventional diesel-electric submarines. Australia canceled that deal when it formed an alliance with U.S. and Britain to acquire a fleet of eight nuclear-powered submarines built with U.S. technology.
Read more of CNBC’s politics coverage:
Morrison told Australian reporters who had accompanied him to Glasgow, Scotland, for a U.N. climate conference that he made clear to Macron at their dinner in June that conventional submarines would not meet Australia’s evolving strategic needs.
Two days before Morrison, Biden and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the nuclear submarine deal, Morrison attempted to phone Macron with the news, but the French leader texted back saying he was not available to take a call, The Australian newspaper reported.
Macron asked: “Should I expect good or bad news for our joint submarines ambitions?” the newspaper reported Tuesday.
A journalist asked why Morrison decided to leak the text message after Macron accused him of lying, but the prime minister did not directly answer.
“I’m not going to indulge your editorial on it, but what I’ll simply say is this: We were contacted when we were trying to set up the ... call and he made it pretty clear that he was concerned that this would be a phone call that could result in the decision of Australia not to proceed with the contract,” Morrison said.
French officials said their government had been blindsided by the contract cancellation which French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian described as a “stab in the back.”
Macron said this week the nuclear submarine deal was “very bad news for the credibility of Australia and very bad news for the trust that great partners can have with Australia.”
Morrison said Macron’s accusation of lying, which the prime minister denies, was a slur against Australia. Most Australian observers see it as a personal insult against Morrison.
“I don’t wish to personalize this, there’s no element of that from my perspective,” Morrison said.
“I must say that I think the statements that were made questioning Australia’s integrity and the slurs that have been placed on Australia, not me — I’ve got broad shoulders, I can deal with that — but those slurs, I’m not going to cop sledging of Australia. I’m not going to cop that on behalf of Australians,” Morrison said. Sledging is a cricketing term for abusive needling of opponents.
Biden told Macron that the handling of the Australian submarine alliance was “clumsy” and “not done with a lot of grace.”
“I was under the impression that France had been informed long before that the (French) deal would not go through. I honest to God did not know you had not,” Biden told Macron.
But a 15-page document negotiated by the White House National Security Council with Australian and British officials detailed to the hour how the world would be told about the trilateral submarine deal, The Australian reported.
“Everything was timed and understood completely,” an unnamed Canberra source told the newspaper.
Malcolm Turnbull, the Australian prime minister who signed the French submarine contract and considers Macron a personal friend, has accused News Corp newspapers, including The Australian, of being biased toward Morrison’s conservative government.
Morrison “can twist and turn and leak a text message here and leak a document there to his stenographic friends in the media, but ultimately the failure here was one of not being honest,” Turnbull told Australian Broadcasting Corp.
“Scott Morrison should apologize ... because he did very elaborately and duplicitously deceive France,” Turnbull added.
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Tear Up Agreement
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1994 Karamay fire
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The 1994 Karamay fire (simplified Chinese: 克拉玛依大火; traditional Chinese: 克拉瑪依大火; pinyin: Kèlāmǎyī Dàhuǒ, literally "Karamay Big Fire") is considered one of the worst civilian fires in the history of the People's Republic of China. On 8 December 1994, a fire began in a theatre hosting 1,000 children and teachers in Karamay, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. [2] During the fire, the students and teachers were ordered to remain seated to allow Communist Party officials to walk out first. [3] The fire killed 325, including 288 schoolchildren. [4]
On 8 December 1994, 500 schoolchildren were taken to a special variety performance at a theatre in Karamay at Friendship Theatre (友谊馆). Most aged between 7 and 14. [3] From the accounts of survivors, it appears that spotlights near the stage either short-circuited or fell. The curtain caught fire, then exploded, and fire engulfed the auditorium within a minute or two. [3]
A total of 325 deaths were reported, with 288 of them being school children. [3] Most of the 36 adults were teachers. About 100 corpses were heaped up outside the cloakroom. In 1995, 300 families of the dead and injured sent representatives to the National People’s Congress in Beijing, supposedly the venue for Chinese citizens to seek justice and a fair hearing. They were led off by security guards to a walled government compound, where five buses took them back to the airport. The group were then escorted through special channels to a plane bound for Xinjiang. [3]
A court convicted a total of 14 people. Four of them, senior officials, were convicted of dereliction of duty and sentenced up to five years in prison. [3]
Families received compensation of up to 50,589 yuan. [3]
One week after the fire, city officials in Karamay announced plans to demolish the burned out Friendship Theater. This plan was quickly scrapped following protests by residents of Karamay and parents of the deceased children. Three years later, in September 1997, the theater portion of the building was torn down, leaving only the front hall. This unmarked memorial still stands in what is now the People's Park in the center of Karamay. [5]
There is no plaque or memorial anywhere in Karamay that references the deadly fire. The first few seconds are the most crucial and controversial of the disaster. Survivors insist[citation needed] that a female official immediately stood up and shouted, "Students sit down; do not move. Let the leaders walk out first." (同学们坐下、不要动、让领导先走) The order "Let the leaders walk out first" (让领导先走) has since become a popular Internet catch phrase, meaning the government officials have priority over ordinary folks in times of emergency. [citation needed] She has since been identified in online articles as Kuang Li (况丽), who was vice-director of the state petroleum company’s local education centre, though there has been no official confirmation of this. [3] The teachers obeyed, and the children remain seated. By the time the about 20 Communist Party officials had filed out through the only opened emergency exit, when all the other exits remained locked, it was too late. Teachers hurried the pupils out of their seats to other exits, only to find that the emergency exit doors were locked. Parents and survivors alleged that Kuang took refuge in a ladies’ cloakroom that could have sheltered 30 people and barred the doors behind her. A 10-year-old boy said "My teacher asked me to run out of the theatre, but when I stood up the hall was smothered in smoke and fire. The power then cut out. People could see nothing. The place was full of crying and shouting. "[3]
Popular Chinese folk singer Zhou Yunpeng (周云蓬) has compiled a list of Chinese man-made disasters and turned it into a song, and the Karamay fire incident was mentioned in the song, as was the internet catch phrase, "Let the leaders walk out first." (让领导先走)
Coordinates: 45°36′03″N 84°52′05″E / 45.60083°N 84.86806°E / 45.60083; 84.86806
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Fire
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Police launch manhunt after Coventry bank robbery
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Detectives have appealed for the public’s help to find a bank robber who targeted a Coventry Barclays branch this afternoon. The lone robber struck at the Barclays branch in Ball Hill shortly after 3pm on Friday (December 11). The masked man approached a cashier and demanded money. No weapons were seen during the incident at the Walsgrave Road bank and no one was hurt, according to police. The robber escaped with a quantity of cash. Detectives are examining CCTV footage and have urged any witnesses, or anyone with information, to come forward. A West Midlands Police spokesman said: “A man entered Barclays Bank, Walsgrave Road, just after 3pm today (11 Dec) and approached a cashier to demand money. The man was wearing a mask and gloves. “It’s understood he left with a quantity of cash. No weapons were seen and no one was hurt.
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Bank Robbery
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At least 1,000 schools in 35 states have closed for in-person learning since the start of the school year: COVID-19 updates
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At least 1,000 schools across 35 states have closed for in-person learning because of COVID-19 since the beginning of the school year, according to Burbio, a New York-based data service that is tracking K-12 school reopening trends. Schools listed in the company's tracker have closed for anywhere from one day to several weeks. Most temporarily moved to remote learning. Others temporarily closed with no instruction. And a small number delayed the start of school or shifted into hybrid learning, according to Burbio. The rising number of closures comes amid a battle over mask mandates in schools and a surge in pediatric COVID-19 cases largely because of the highly contagious delta variant. Late last month, President Joe Biden's administration announced it is investigating five states that are banning districts from mandating masks , on the grounds that such policies violate the civil rights of children with disabilities and underlying health conditions. "The department will fight to protect every student’s right to access in-person learning safely and the rights of local educators to put in place policies that allow all students to return to the classroom full-time in-person safely this fall," Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said in a statement. Also in the news: ► Tom Brady contracted COVID-19 in early February, according to the Tampa Bay Times. ►New Zealand reported its first COVID death in over six months on Saturday – a woman in her 90s who had underlying health conditions, according to authorities. New Zealand remains in a lockdown that began last month after one positive case. ►A German man attacked health care workers at a vaccination site after he demanded a vaccination certificate without receiving a shot, and they refused to give it to him. Police said he became violent and injured two workers, who were treated in a hospital and later released. ►A 116-year-old woman in Turkey has survived three weeks in an intensive care unit with COVID-19, according to her son, making her one of the oldest patients to beat the disease. "Her health is very good now and she’s getting better,” Ayse Karatay's son, Ibrahim, told the Demiroren news agency. ►As the delta variant continues its run, how theater owners woo patrons in a politicized climate remains a cliffhanger question as Labor Day weekend brings out Marvel's first Asian superhero epic, "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings." ? Today's numbers: The U.S. has recorded more than 39.9 million confirmed COVID-19 cases and more than 648,400 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data. Global totals: More than 220.5 million cases and 4.56 million deaths. More than 175,9 million Americans – 53% of the population – have been fully vaccinated, according to the CDC . ? What we're reading: After 18 months of the pandemic, hospitals find themselves in a prolonged battle against a relentless enemy, fighting with tired, disheartened and depleted troops. Many states have lost hundreds to thousands of hospital workers to burnout, early retirement and job transfers. Read more here . Fauci: Moderna boosters might not be ready by Sept. 20 The Biden administration has said that come Sept. 20, anyone who wants a third dose of a COVID-19 vaccine will be able to get one, as long as they are at least eight months past their second shot. But pulling that off may be challenging, and experts have raised questions about whether it's a good idea at all. Dr. Anthony Fauci, President Joe Biden's chief medical adviser, told CBS' Face the Nation on Sunday that booster shots for Americans who received Moderna's two-dose vaccine may not be ready by that date as it awaits the green light from regulators. "We were hoping that we would get both products, Moderna and Pfizer, rolled out by the week of the 20th. It is conceivable that we will only have one of them out, but the other will likely follow soon thereafter," Fauci told CBS. Moderna filed initial data for booster-shot authorization Wednesday and may not get cleared by Sept. 20. "Looks like Pfizer has their data in, likely would meet the deadline,'' Fauci said. "We hope that Moderna would also be able to do it so we could do it simultaneously, but if not, we'll do it sequentially. So the bottom line is very likely, at least part of the plan will be implemented, but ultimately the entire plan will be." Read more here . Hospitals in crisis in Mississippi, the least vaccinated state in US As patients stream into Mississippi hospitals one after another, doctors and nurses have become all too accustomed to the rampant denial and misinformation about COVID-19 in the nation’s least vaccinated state. People in denial about the severity of their own illness or the virus itself; visitors frequently trying to enter hospitals without masks. The painful look of recognition on patients’ faces when they realize they made a mistake not getting vaccinated. The constant misinformation about the coronavirus that they discuss with medical staff. Mississippi’s low vaccinated rate – about 38% of the state’s 3 million people are fully inoculated – is driving a surge in cases and hospitalizations that is overwhelming medical workers. The workers are angry and exhausted over both the workload and refusal by residents to embrace the vaccine. "This is the reality that we’re looking at and, again, none of these individuals were vaccinated," state health officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs. Paralympics marks closing ceremony amid COVID-19 The final act of the delayed Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics came Sunday, almost eight years to the day after the Japanese capital was awarded the Games. The Paralympics ended a 13-day run in a colorful, circus-like ceremony at the National Stadium overseen by Crown Prince Akishino, the brother of Emperor Naruhito. The Olympics closed almost a month ago. These were unprecedented Olympics and Paralympics, postponed for a year and marked by footnotes and asterisks. No fans were allowed during the Olympics, except for a few thousand at outlying venues away from Tokyo. A few thousand school children were allowed into some Paralympic venues. Like the Olympics, the Paralympics went ahead as Tokyo was under a state of emergency because of the pandemic. Like the Olympics, testing athletes frequently and isolating them in a bubble kept the virus largely at bay, though cases surged among a Japanese population that is now almost 50% fully vaccinated. This week was another reminder of how widely misinformation spreads, and how tech companies are scrambling to push back . Reddit shut down a popular anti-vaccine subreddit that had been connected to pushing misinformation about the pandemic and vaccine. The platform also placed 54 other COVID-19 denial communities under a quarantine, which means posts won't appear in search results on Reddit, and users must explicitly approve entering the subreddit before seeing any of its content. Meanwhile, Amazon said it plans to block some autocomplete results linked to ivermectin – an anti-parasite drug the Food and Drug Administration has advised people not to take to treat COVID-19 – after it appeared once users started typing "iv" into the search bar. Read more here . – Brett Molina The White House is preparing for future pandemics The Biden administration unveiled a plan Friday to upgrade the country's ability to respond to biological threats, comparing its scope to the Apollo Program, which was initiated to put a man on the moon. "We need better capabilities because there's a reasonable likelihood that another serious pandemic that could be worse than COVID-19 will occur soon and possibly even within the next decade," said Eric Lander, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. The cost? $65.3 billion over the next decade. A good chunk of that money will go toward vaccine development and distribution, the White House said. Administration officials are hoping an initial $15 billion will pass through Congress as part of the massive $3.5 trillion spending package on the table for this fall. The plan includes: Dramatically expanding the arsenal of vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics. Strengthening public health systems both in the U.S. and internationally. Improving the ability of the U.S. to produce personal protective equipment and other vital supplies. Improving early detection of pandemic threats. Creating a centralized “mission control” to be in charge of an effort that will draw on multiple federal agencies. Hawaii struggles with delta surge, begs travelers to stay away Hawaii has already reported more than twice as many coronavirus cases this year as it did in all of 2020, Johns Hopkins University data show. The Aloha State had 66,778 COVID-19 cases through Saturday afternoon, triple its 22,007 infections in all of 2020, prompting Gov. David Ige to ask tourists not to visit until after October. "It is a risky time to be traveling right now," he said. The annual comparisons don't begin to tell how much Hawaii struggled with a wave of cases caused by the delta variant. In just the last month, Hawaii has had more cases than in all of last year.
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Organization Closed
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9 people hospitalized due to carbon monoxide poisoning from generator
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Officials said a generator used in a garage caused several people to be affected by carbon monoxide.
Author: WWL Staff
Published: 9:17 AM CDT August 31, 2021
Updated: 9:20 AM CDT August 31, 2021
ST. TAMMANY PARISH, La. — St. Tammany Fire officials said nine people were taken to the hospital with carbon monoxide poisoning overnight Monday.
The individuals were affected by carbon monoxide after using a generator in a garage, officials said. Their conditions are not yet known.
Fire crews also responded to a person who was flash burned while refueling a generator.
Two families were displaced Monday night after a generator in between their homes caught on fire and spread to their houses. No one was injured in the fires.
In the aftermath of Hurricane Ida, officials have emphasized generator safety as almost all of the New Orleans metro area is without power and generators are in widespread use.
State officials are warning residents to follow generator safety tips:
Always follow manufacturer instructions when setting up a generator.
Never use a generator inside your home or garage.
Only use a generator outside in a well-ventilated area.
Place your generator at least 20 feet away from your home.
Double-check that the exhaust is pointed away from any doors or vents.
It’s important to take precautions when operating a generator because they produce carbon monoxide gas. Breathing in too much carbon monoxide could cause fainting or death. According to the CDC, more than 20,000 Americans visit the emergency room and more than 400 die from unintentional carbon monoxide poisoning each year.
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Mass Poisoning
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Volcano eruption on New Zealand's White Island left at least five dead.
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The eruption on White Island is viewed from the Bay of Plenty coastline on December 9. Earlier, Tims said it was unsafe to send emergency crews to search for those missing. "The island is unstable ... the physical environment is unsafe for us to return," Tims told reporters. Police said in a statement that a New Zealand Defense Force ship will approach the island at first light "to further assess the environment," on Tuesday and Police Disaster Identification were awaiting deployment in the nearby port town of Whakatane. New Zealand is located in one of the world's most tectonically-volatile regions. Vulcanologists said that while the eruption was relatively small compared to other past disasters, anyone close to the site would have been in serious danger. Emergency services at the Whakatane Airfield after the volcanic eruption. Tourist Michael Schade and his family had been on the volcano just 20 minutes before it erupted. They were waiting on a boat, about to leave, when the eruption occurred. Schade took videos of the ride leaving the island, showing giant plumes of thick black smoke as the boat quickly departed. "Boat ride home ... was indescribable," Schade wrote on Twitter. "Those are some of the people (our) boat picked up. Praying for them and their recovery. Woman my mom tended to was in critical condition but seemed strong by the end." Casualties from a 'range of nationalities' Initial information in the wake of the eruption was scarce, as New Zealand emergency helicopters and ambulances rushed to the town of Whakatane. "Whakaari/White Island is erupting. More information soon," announced GeoNet in a notice on their official Twitter. Photos from New Zealand's official geological hazard information site Geonet showed a huge plume of white smoke rising above the island on Monday afternoon, local time. Images from cameras run by the Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences (GNS) of a crater on the island appeared to show a group of people inside the smoking center just minutes before the eruption. Both locals and tourists have been caught up in the disaster, police said in a statement earlier in the day. More than 30 tourists from the Ovation of the Seas were on White Island at the time of the eruption, New Zealand Cruise Association chief executive officer Kevin O'Sullivan told CNN. "Our hope is that everyone will be recovered quickly and unharmed," he said. The Ovation of The Seas is one of the largest cruise vessels in the world, according to operators Royal Caribbean. Deputy Commissioner Tims said out of the 23 people who had been evacuated from the island earlier in the day all were injured, with some suffering severe burns. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison confirmed on Twitter Monday that Australians were involved in the volcanic eruption. "Australians have been caught up in this terrible event and we are working to determine their wellbeing," he wrote. Rescuers evacuate people from the island, minutes after the volcano erupted. Most active cone volcano The White Island, or Whakaari volcano, is New Zealand's most active cone volcano according to the GeoNet website. It has been built up by more than 150,000 years of volcanic activity. A cone volcano is the most immediately recognizable mountain-shaped variety, as opposed to shield volcanoes or calderas which are far more flat in shape. White Island is also dubbed as "one of the world's most accessible active volcanoes" on a White Island Tours website, which offers ocean cruises near the island and a guided tour depending on the status of the varying volcanic alert levels. According to the GeoNet website, more than 10,000 people visit the island every year. Injured from White Island volcanic eruption are ferried into waiting ambulances in Whakatane, New Zealand, Monday. Following the eruption, a volcanic ash advisory was issued at 2:30 p.m. local time (8:30 p.m. ET Sunday) by MetService, New Zealand's meteorological service. New Zealand Police called for people in the affected ashfall areas to stay indoors. The Volcanic Alert Level was raised to 4 shortly after the eruption, and the Aviation Color code is orange, according to GeoNet. Two hours later it was lowered to level 3, due to "diminished" activity in the area of the volcano. Speaking at a news conference on Monday afternoon, GNS expert Ken Gledhill said that while the volcanic eruption hadn't been that large, it would have been hugely dangerous for anyone nearby. "(The plume) went up 12,000 (feet) into the sky, and so on the scheme of things for volcanic eruptions, it's not large, but if you were close to that, it's not good," Gledhill said. The scientist added he couldn't predict whether there would be another eruption within 24 hours.
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Volcano Eruption
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2014 IIHF World Women's U18 Championship
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The 2014 IIHF World Women's U18 Championships was the seventh World Women's U18 Championship. The tournament was played at two Icecenter Rinks in Budapest, Hungary, from 23 to 30 March 2014. [1][2][3]
The teams played a best-of-three series. Hungary are relegated to the 2015 Division I.
GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/− = Plus-minus; PIM = Penalties In MinutesSource: [1]
(minimum 40% team's total ice time)
TOI = Time On Ice (minutes:seconds); GA = Goals Against; GAA = Goals Against Average; Sv% = Save Percentage; SO = ShutoutsSource: IIHF.com
Best players selected by the directorate:
Source: [2]
The Division I "A" tournament was played in Füssen, Germany, from 29 March to 4 April 2014. [4]
The Division I Qualification tournament was played in Krynica-Zdrój, Poland, from 18 to 23 March 2014. [5]
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Sports Competition
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Nyrstar fined $35,000 for toxic acid spill into waterways near Port Pirie lead smelter
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A Victorian man who flew from Brisbane to Hobart on flight VA702 today has tested positive to COVID-19 and has not been allowed to board a flight to Melbourne
A Watch & Act warning is in place for a fire in the northern parts of Mokine, in WA's Northam Shire. Keep up to date with ABC Emergency
The owners of Port Pirie's lead smelter have been fined $35,000 for a series of failures that led to 700 litres of "toxic" sulphuric acid leaking from the plant into waterways and mangroves near the town.
Nyrstar caused material environmental harm by polluting the environment through toxic waste leakage between January 31 and February 2, 2019 — the extent of that harm could not be quantified.
The Environment, Resources and Development Court previously heard the company did not respond for about eight hours as it made "a wrong assumption" that the leak only contained weak acid.
Judge Paul Muscat said the case was not a "flagrant disregard" by Nyrstar and sat at the lower end of the scale.
"An incident of this general nature was not entirely unforeseeable and effective mechanisms to prevent it could — and should — have been implemented," he said.
"The incident was not caused by a single error but a combination of small failures in processes and human error that led to environment harm.
"These systems and processes were clearly insufficiently designed and not implemented to the required standard.
"The harm in this case is to be limited to potential environmental harm that is not trivial."
The acid leak occurred when the systems the Nyrstar had in place to prevent a spillage "failed", with sulphuric acid corroding a wrongly installed valve on the very system designed to safeguard against leakage.
It led to "a slug" of acid filtering into the waterways.
The Environment Protection Authority previously — in seeking a penalty of up to $120,000 — told the court the leak increased the presence of heavy metals in the natural and manmade waterways that were toxic to aquatic life, but it could not be "conclusively proven" that the acid leak was responsible for killing fish, as there was an algal bloom present at the same time.
A spokesperson for Nyrstar said quick action was taken after the spill to replace the affected valve.
"Nyrstar also made adjustments and upgrades to ancillary equipment to reduce the likelihood of further spills, and improved its monitoring and response processes to better manage potential spills," the spokesperson said.
"Nyrstar has fully cooperated from the outset with the EPA investigation and subsequent court proceedings.
"In addition, it undertook its own investigation and shared its data and findings with the EPA.
"Since the date of the spill, Nystar's new management has driven further significant environment- and safety-related upgrades at the Port Pirie site."
Judge Muscat gave Nyrstar credit for addressing the inefficiencies in its systems.
The company has also been ordered to pay costs of $5,000.
We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Australians and Traditional Custodians of the lands where we live, learn, and work.
This service may include material from Agence France-Presse (AFP), APTN, Reuters, AAP, CNN and the BBC World Service which is copyright and cannot be reproduced.
AEST = Australian Eastern Standard Time which is 10 hours ahead of GMT (Greenwich Mean Time)
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Organization Fine
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Truckee Police looking for Wells Fargo Bank robber
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TRUCKEE, CA. (News 4 & Fox 11) — Truckee Police officers are looking for a man who robbed a Wells Fargo Bank on Tuesday morning. On April 13th around 11:20 am, Truckee Police officers were called to Wells Fargo Bank upon receiving an 9-1-1 call of an in-progress bank robbery. Prior to their arrival, the officers were told that the suspect had fled the location through the parking lot. Over the course of the investigation, officers and detectives learned that a man was initially circling the parking lot on his bicycle for a few minutes before he walked into the bank and demanded money from the teller. The man then fled the location westbound through the Safeway parking lot on a black bicycle. According to witness statements and surveillance footage, the suspect was described as a white man in his 40’s, about 5’6” in height with a slender build. At the time of the robbery, he was wearing a plaid blue flannel shirt, blue jeans, a black hat, grey shoes and wearing a grey facemask. He has a distinct mole near the right side of the bridge of his nose. This incident is currently under investigation and anyone with additional information is urged to contact the Truckee Police Department at (530)550-2330 and reference Truckee Police Department case number T2100346.
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Bank Robbery
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Baruwa gas explosion victims write Sanwo-Olu, demand N4bn compensation
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Over 30 persons, who lost loved ones, got injured or lost properties in the gas explosion that happened in the Baruwa area of Lagos on October 8, have written a pre-action letter to the Governor of Lagos State, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, demanding N4bn as compensation for their losses.
The victims made the demand in an October 19, 2020 letter written to the governor by their lawyer, Akeem Fadun.
Fadun, who said the incident was blamable on government’s failure to act when the residents raised an alarm back in February 2018, said his clients should be compensated so they could get their lives back on track.
“Our clients have suffered varying degrees of damage, including death of family and kin, maiming and burning of loved ones, complete destruction of properties, such as shops, schools and homes.
“As it stands, many of the victims sleep in makeshift sheds amid the ruins left behind by the inferno, and others roam hopelessly, having lost their means of livelihood to the inferno.
“One of our clients lost his wife and three children at a go; another lost his brother and son; another, his brother and benefactor. Others have spouses with third-degree burns that will require further surgery, if they survive, to try to lessen the scarring and contracture; the list goes on. Some of the victims have had to assign permanent guards to other victims who have displayed symptoms of severe depression, anxiety attacks and even made suicidal utterances,” Fadun said.
The lawyer, while describing the explosion as man-made and a clear case of government systemic failure to delivery on its statutory function to protect citizens’ lives and property, recalled how upon writing a save-our-soul letter to the government back in 2018 calling for the removal of Best Roof Gas Station from the neighbourhood, the response of the Lagos State Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development was to demand payment of N689,500 from the residents for the likely removal of the gas station.
Fadun said rather than being proactive and show responsibility to the citizens it had sworn to protect, the government sought to shift the liability for the removal of the gas station to the residents, which, he said, was a violation of Section 65 of the Urban and Regional Planning and Development Law of Lagos State.
He said, “This was a gas station in a purely residential area, with a primary and secondary school directly opposite it. It would have been expected that as soon as the petition was received, all manner of red flag would have been set off and the Lagos State Physical Planning and Permit Authority would have immediately proceeded to seal up the gas plant. But instead, a monstrous, callous and deleterious excuse of a letter was issued, which has now left death, tears and blood in its wake.
“Our clients are mourning their preventable losses and the burn victims will require extensive medical care and rounds of plastic surgery to regain a semblance of normal life. Those who have lost everything would need to restart life once again. The action of the Lagos State Government has gravitated beyond negligence, considering the facts preceding the unfortunate occurrence.
“The death toll currently stands at 10 with 45 houses destroyed alongside several shops and surrounding schools. We are demanding N4bn on behalf of our clients as damages for their varying losses.”
The lawyer said the Lagos State Government had only seven days to meet the demands, failing which the victims would head for court.
All rights reserved. This material, and other digital content on this website, may not be reproduced, published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed in whole or in part without prior express written permission from PUNCH.
Copyright PUNCH.
All rights reserved. This material, and other digital content on this website, may not be reproduced, published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed in whole or in part without prior express written permission from PUNCH. Contact: theeditor@punchng.com
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Gas explosion
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Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani get marriage license
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The couple received their marriage license on Tuesday in Oklahoma — where the country singer, 45, has his own ranch — Page Six can confirm. Stefani, 51, and Shelton have 10 days from when they filed for the marriage license to say “I do,” per Oklahoma law, meaning a wedding is imminent. And it could be as soon as this weekend: Sources told TMZ that Shelton, Stefani and her three sons flew out to Shelton’s home state on Friday after he finished filming for “The Voice” and that they’ll be sending their private plane to pick up the rest of Stefani’s immediate family. In December, a source close to the couple explained that Shelton — with some help —built a chapel on the grounds of his ranch with the express purpose of using it for their wedding ceremony . But the pair threw something of a red herring out earlier this month when Stefani was snapped wearing what appeared to be a diamond wedding band next with her engagement ring in photos exclusively obtained by the Post. This, after posting a photo of herself online just the day before captioned, “SHE’S GETTING MARRIIIEEEED.” Stefani and Shelton began dating in 2015 following their splits from Gavin Rossdale and Miranda Lambert , respectively. Shelton quietly proposed to the “Hollaback Girl” singer in October with a huge, 6- to 9-carat, round solitaire diamond set on what appeared to be a platinum band.
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Famous Person - Marriage
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Protests against Emmanuel Macron
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President (2017–present)
Co-Prince of Andorra (2017–present)
Minister of Economy and Industry (2014–2016)
Since Emmanuel Macron was elected President of France on 7 May 2017, a series of protests have been conducted by trade union and left-wing activists in opposition to what protesters consider to be neoliberal policies,[1][2] his support of state visits by certain world leaders,[3][4] his positions on French labour law reform,[5][6][7] as well as various comments or policy proposals he has made since assuming the presidency. [8][9]
According to Amnesty International, French authorities have used the state of emergency, which was in effect from the November 2015 Paris attacks until November 2017, to suppress protests, employing their emergency powers. They "imposed 639 measures preventing specific individuals participating in public assemblies. Of these, 574 were targeted at those protesting against proposed labour law reforms". [10]
On 8 May 2017, only a few hours after Macron was announced the winner of the 2017 French presidential election, union protesters began clashing with French authorities in Paris under fears that Macron's economic program would take away workers’ rights. [11][12] The protest was organised by "Social Front", which had already staged protests before the second round to protest the two frontrunners, Marine Le Pen and Emmanuel Macron. [13] One specific protest organized by the Social Front had 950 to 1,500 protesters[6] with individuals trying to occupy publicly owned buildings like a railway station in Rennes. [14] Nearly 150 protesters were arrested after reports of missiles being thrown at the police and mass vandalism being done. [15]
The 8 May protest was supported by the CGT and SUD unions. [7]
After Macron was inaugurated on 15 May 2017, there were numerous warnings from Labour unions about the prospect of a large organized protest. [16][17] The CGT Union has attempted numerous times to organise a large-scale demonstration against Macron with one taking place on 12 September 2017. [18] Macron has actively tried to prevent this by opening Labor code reform negotiations with trade unions. [7] The reception among the unions has been mixed with the head of the FO union supporting the negotiations,[19] the CFDT deciding to stay neutral, not participating in the 12 September protests[20] and the CGT denouncing the negotiations alongside its ally SUD. [5] Jean-Luc Melenchon from La France Insoumise has spoken in support of the 12 September protest encouraging members to attend. Melenchon himself organized a protest on 12 July 2017. [21][22]
US President Donald Trump's state visit to France during Bastile Day was met with protests, protesters gathered around Place de la République to create a "No Trump Zone". [23] Protesters were reportedly protesting about the Trump visit and Macron's policies; with the ranks of the protesters being made up of socialists, pro-Palestinian groups, migrants’ rights activists, environmentalists and anti-fascists. [3] Despite mass protests, 59% of French people approve of Trump's visit. [24]
Following Prime Minister Edouard Philippe's announcement of the plans for immigration reform, a small protest was led by a group of LGBT activists in Paris holding up a sign reading "Macron starves migrants, queers without borders"[8]
A series of protests by wine producers in the South of France have been ongoing since Francois Hollande's presidency. These demonstrations generally involve arson, sabotage and assault. [9] These protests are caused by the importation of wine rather than buying it from French producers and the loss of culture. These protests have led to a 25% decrease in sales for Spanish wine producers. [25] Spanish tankers transporting wine are usually the target of these attacks. [26][27]
Pro-Palestinian protesters began to demonstrate against Macron offering Israel Prime Minister Netanyahu a place at the Paris Holocaust Ceremony. [28] The French Communist Party also opposed Netanyahu's visit. The organizers of the protest were unknown but Le Muslim Post, a religious radioshow promoted the demonstration, encouraging listeners to attend. [29]
200,000 rallied against Macron nationwide. [30]
Tens of thousands of striking rail workers, public sector staff and students rallied across France against President Emmanuel Macron. The SNCF and CGT were the major unions in the protests against plans by Macron to remove job-for-life guarantees and pension privileges for new recruits. [31]
Transport workers continued to protest against rampant privatisation efforts in France. Key SNCF services were reduced on Sunday. [32]
A day after the Emmanuel Macron "suggested he could be close to victory in a public battle over his reform agenda,"[33] several thousands people across France, led by CGT trade union and some 80 other organizations protested against Macron's reforms of the public sector, described by the organizers as imbalanced and "brutal. "[34] According to CGT 80,000 people participated in the protest in Paris, and 250,000 came out across the country. However, France Police said that 21,000 people participated in the Paris protests and that 35 protesters were detained for various "offences". [35] Police fired tear gas and deployed 2000 officers to the event and the demonstrators were holding placards reading "Stop Macron!". [36]
In October 2018, Macron announced that the carbon tax would rise in 2019. This was seen as a move crippling the rural class who had no other choice than to use the car and could not afford more expensive fuel. On 17 November 2018, protests occurred in most major cities, and highways were blocked. Protests started again next Saturday and are still occurring on every Saturday as of June 2019. This movement is noticed for having no official leader and its independence, in spite of appropriation attempts by the France Insoumise (Unsubmitted France) and the Rassemblement National (National Rally) parties. A general strike to protest changes to France's pension system proposed by French President Emmanuel Macron. More than 800,000 people protested across the country. [37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47]
Thousands of protesters marched peacefully in a small group against the legislative bill that will criminalise the publish & circulation of the photograph of police office, which the opponent says would limit the press freedom. The protest is also organised to show the anger over the footage where a music producer Michel Zecler [fr] a black man, being beaten by three police officers in Paris on November 21, 2020. Some small group of masked protesters dressed in black, burnt down two cars, a motorcycle and a cafe and smashed the windows of the local shops. In response police fired tear gases and stun grenades to disperse the crowd. They also used fired water cannon. The interior ministry said that 46,000 protesters participated in the protest in Paris and nine were arrested. [48]
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Protest_Online Condemnation
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Sydney McLaughlin breaks world record in 400m hurdles at Olympic Trials
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Sydney McLaughlin crushed the 400m hurdles world record to win the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials and supplant now former record holder Dalilah Muhammad as the gold-medal favorite.
On the final night of Trials, world champion Noah Lyles won the 200m, while 17-year-old Erriyon Knighton was third. Knighton, who turned pro in January, is set to become the youngest U.S. male track and field Olympian since miler Jim Ryun in 1964.
Athing Mu, 19, ran the second-fastest women’s 800m in U.S. history. Rio gold medalist Matthew Centrowitz qualified in the 1500m, but 2016 Olympic long jump champ Jeff Henderson failed to qualify.
McLaughlin clocked 51.90 seconds, bettering Rio gold medalist Muhammad’s previous record of 52.16 from the 2019 World Championships. McLaughlin finished second at those worlds in 52.23, making her the second-fastest woman in history at the time.
“I will cherish this for the rest of my life,” said McLaughlin, who was eliminated in the semifinals in Rio (with a cold) at age 17 as the youngest American to compete in track and field at an Olympics since 1972.
McLaughlin covered her mouth and crouched after crossing the finish line and seeing the time inside Hayward Field. Muhammad, who ran in an adjacent lane, was the first athlete to shake her hand and hug her.
“There’s no animosity or hard feelings,” McLaughlin said. “We have to have each other to have these world records.”
ON HER TURF: Step by step to McLaughlin’s world record
In February, McLaughlin announced she changed coaches from 2004 Olympic 100m hurdles champion Joanna Hayes to Bobby Kersee. Kersee, the husband of Jackie Joyner-Kersee, has coached his wife, plus Florence Griffith Joyner and, since 2005, Allyson Felix.
McLaughlin prepared differently this season, doing five 100m hurdles races before her first 400m hurdles three weeks before Trials.
“It’s truly just faith and trusting the process,” McLaughlin told Lewis Johnson on NBCSN. “I’m really happy I chose to go with [Kersee].”
Muhammad, who dealt with a COVID infection and a hamstring injury this year, finished second in 52.42 to make the team on Sunday. As of two years ago, it would have tied the second-fastest time in history. Now it’s the joint sixth-fastest time ever and Muhammad’s third best.
Muhammad, who was so set back this spring that she considered making Trials her first meet of the season, said she saw McLaughlin’s world record coming.
“Makes it exciting for fans, but nerve-racking for me,” she said. “I think there’s more in store for me, and Tokyo will be good for me.”
Anna Cockrell, who won the NCAA 100m hurdles and 400m hurdles titles earlier this month, was third in 53.70.
TRACK AND FIELD TRIALS: Results | U.S. Olympic Roster
The evening session was pushed back several hours due to extreme heat (temperatures approaching 110 degrees and nearly 150 degrees on the track).
Heptathlete Tayliah Brooks was one of two athletes wheeled off the track in a chair in the afternoon, according to the NBC broadcast. Brooks was taken via ambulance to a hospital and deemed OK. She was in fourth place after five events and did not start the sixth event, the javelin, which was completed in the afternoon before the evening session was delayed.
Brooks returned to Hayward Field but was not medically cleared to compete after a medical personnel discussion, according to the broadcast. USA Track and Field announced that she withdrew.
Annie Kunz won the heptathlon with 6,703 points, improving her personal best by 550 points to easily get the Olympic standard. She’s joined on the team by Rio Olympian Kendell Williams and Erica Bougard. Kunz is ranked first in the world this year, and her total would have taken silver at 2019 Worlds.
Lyles took the 200m, one week after not making the team in the 100m. He clocked 19.74 seconds (fastest in the world this year), prevailing by .04 over Kenny Bednarek. Knighton, who broke Usain Bolt‘s U18 record last month and Bolt’s U20 world record on Saturday, lowered his personal best again to 19.84.
No U.S. man or woman made the team in both the 100m and the 200m, marking the first time none will double at an Olympics since 1928, according to Olympedia.org.
Mu won the 800m in the second-fastest time in American history, 1:56.07. Only Ajee’ Wilson has gone faster (1:55.61). Wilson took third, just behind Raevyn Rogers, to make the team. Rogers and Wilson took silver and bronze at the 2019 Worlds.
Mu, who turned pro after her freshman season at Texas A&M, ran the fastest time in the world since the start of 2019, among athletes who will be in Tokyo, to assume Olympic favorite status.
Two-time Olympic champion Caster Semenya of South Africa has gone faster, but she will not race the 800m in Tokyo (and perhaps not any event) due to a new rule requiring her and other runners to reduce her testosterone to compete in the event. Semenya refuses to do so and moved up to the 5000m, where she doesn’t have to reduce testosterone, but hasn’t run an Olympic qualifying time.
Centrowitz made his third Olympics by placing second in the 1500m. Centrowitz was run down by rising Oregon junior Cole Hocker in the final straight. Hocker does not have the Olympic standard, but could get in via world ranking later this week. Another collegian, Notre Dame’s Yared Nuguse, took third.
Henderson failed to make the long jump team, placing sixth. Instead, JuVaughn Harrison is set to become the first U.S. man to compete in the high jump and long jump at the same Olympics since Jim Thorpe in 1912, according to Olympedia. Harrison won both events Sunday and is ranked second in the world in both.
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Break historical records
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nzherald.co.nz
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Instead, she showed a level of composure that belied her lack of senior international experience, a quality that complemented the tactical nous and undeniable speed she had displayed in the Keirin.
As she had attempted with mixed results against more experienced opponents in her earlier two races, Andrews opted to cede the lead in her showdown against Bao, backing her power to come over the top of her foe on the final lap.
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It was a strategy that worked well against McCulloch but was then negated by Starikova, with the Ukrainian extracting a measure of revenge after finishing fourth in the Keirin.
But Andrews shook off the disappointment and returned to her favoured game plan to seal a spot in the 1/8 finals, where she will face Canadian Kelsey Mitchell at 6.33pm (NZT).
Andrews' status as a serious sprint contender was established in the sprint qualifying when, needing only a top-24 time to progress to the next round, her blazing speed was immediately on display.
The Kiwi recorded a qualifying time of 10.563 seconds to briefly set a new Olympic mark, break the national record and book her spot in the 1/32 finals.
Andrews' Olympic record was surpassed by 10 subsequent riders - led by German Lea Friedrich in a time of 10.310s - but she had much more to come.
Compatriot Kirstie James was unable to join Andrews in the 1/32 finals, however, with the talented endurance rider struggling in sprint qualifying to stop the clock at 11.116s and finish 27th.
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Ellesse Andrews' hopes of a second Olympic medal are still alive. Photo / Getty Images
New Zealand were also off the pace in the first women's Olympic Madison race, as the untested combination of Jessie Hodges and Rushlee Buchanan finished 11th.
British pair Katie Archibald and Laura Kenny dominated the 120-lap race from start to finish, winning all but two of the 12 sprints to rack up 78 points.
The Kiwis were unable to factor in the sprints and were lapped twice, recording a tally of minus-40 points to finish ahead of only Germany (-40) and three teams who crashed out of a chaotic race.
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Break historical records
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1911 Guerrero earthquake
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The 1911 Michoacán earthquake occurred on June 7 at 04:26 local time (11:02 UTC). [3][4] The epicenter was located near the coast of Michoacán, Mexico. The earthquake had a magnitude of 7.6 on the moment magnitude scale. [5] 45 people were reported dead. [6] In Mexico City, 119 houses were destroyed. [7] Cracks were reported in Palacio Nacional, Escuela Normal para Maestros, Escuela Preparatoria, Inspección de Policía, and Instituto Geológico. [8] Ciudad Guzmán, the seat of Zapotlán el Grande, Jalisco, suffered great damage. [9]
The earthquake occurred hours before the revolutionary Francisco I. Madero entered Mexico City on the same day, and it was also known as "temblor maderista". On June 7, 2011, a ceremony was held in Ciudad Guzmán commemorating the centenary of this earthquake. [10]
This earthquake was a megathrust earthquake along the Middle America Trench (MAT), a major subduction zone. [11]
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Earthquakes
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4 dead, 6 missing after mining pit collapsed in Cebu
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Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, December 22) — At least four were confirmed dead on Tuesday, while six others remain missing after the collapse of a mining pit in Barangay Biga, Toledo City, Cebu on Monday afternoon. According to Carmen Copper Corporation, the company behind mining operations in the area, the death toll was updated as of 1 p.m. of Tuesday. The company said in a statement that it is continuously looking for the six missing workers. “As of this time we are in close coordination and communication with the affected immediate families and will continue to extend the needed support and assistance,” the statement read. The corporation said it is also coordinating with concerned government agencies as all mining operations are now suspended to “ensure the safety of its employees and contractors.” Meanwhile, all mining operations of Carmen Copper Corporation has been suspended by the Mines and Geosciences Bureau of the Environment Department in Central Visayas. Regional Director Armando L. Malicse issued the suspension on Tuesday, following the landslide incident. ADVERTISEMENT Biga Barangay Captain Pedro Sepada said he has already complained about the mining activities near residential areas in his village to the Mines and Geosciences Bureau last year. However, he claimed that the complaint fell on deaf ears. The collapse of the mining pit occurred around 4:15 pm on Monday. CCC said "incessant rains for the past several months and aggravated by Typhoon Vicky which hit parts of the Visayas" caused the collapse.
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Mine Collapses
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Report01 Aug 2021
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Italy’s Lamont Marcell Jacobs, a former long jumper appearing in his first Olympics, stunned the field on Sunday (1) to claim the first men’s 100m gold medal of the post-Usain Bolt era.
Overlooked as a serious medal contender, the 26-year-old Jacobs clocked a European record of 9.80 to win Italy’s first ever Olympic 100m gold and claim the unofficial title of the world’s fastest man.
The Italian pulled in front after 60 meters and glanced to his right as he crossed the line in front of the USA's Fred Kerley, who took silver in a personal best 9.84, and Canada’s Andre De Grasse, who earned his second consecutive bronze in a PB of 9.89.
Three other runners also ran sub-10 seconds in the final: South Africa’s Akani Simbine finished fourth in 9.93, the USA's Ronnie Baker was fifth in 9.95 and China’s Su Bingtian was sixth in 9.98.
The pre-Olympic favorite, US champion and world-leader Trayvon Bromell, failed to qualify for the final.
In a race with no obvious favourites, Jacobs was still a major surprise.
The bald-headed, barrel-chested Italian did not come completely out of nowhere. He is the European indoor 60m champion and broke the Italian 100m record in May with a time of 9.95. But he chose the right time and place to announce himself on the world’s biggest stage.
“It’s a dream, it’s fantastic,” Jacobs said. “Maybe tomorrow I can imagine what people are saying, but today it is incredible.”
It was the first time since 2004 that gold in the marque event was won by someone other than Bolt, the Jamaican great who swept three consecutive 100m titles in Beijing, London and Rio de Janeiro, as well as three straight 200m crowns.
Few would have predicted that the man to succeed Bolt on the top podium would be Jacobs, who became the first European to win the 100m at the Olympics since Britain’s Linford Christie in Barcelona in 1992.
Even his race rivals didn’t see Jacobs as much of a threat.
“I really didn’t know anything about him,” Kerley said.
De Grasse added: “I didn't expect that. I thought my main competition would have been the Americans, but definitely he came to play. He executed. He did his thing so congrats to him."
Jacobs is the first Italian to win a sprint event since Pietro Mennea took gold in the men’s 200m in 1980. And his time? The fastest in the men’s 100m by an athlete not from the US or Jamaica.
Jacobs’ victory capped a golden night for Italy, coming minutes after another Italian, Gianmarco Tamberi, shared gold in the men’s high jump with Qatar’s Mutaz Essa Barshim. The two Italians embraced and celebrated together on the track.
“Being here together is something spectacular," Jacobs said. “I believe in him and I believed in myself.”
Jacobs’ story may not be known by the general public: He was born in El Paso, Texas, to an American father and Italian mother. He moved to Italy with his mother when he was one-year-old. Jacobs started out as a long jumper but, after a series of injuries, he changed to the sprints.
Signs that something special was about to happen in the final came earlier during the semifinals, which produced some stunning results, including a record-breaking heat in which three men ran under 9.85.
Su blazed to victory in the third heat in an Asian record 9.83 to become the first Chinese sprinter to reach an Olympic 100m final. Baker finished second with a personal best 9.83 and Jacobs was third in a European record 9.84. For good measure, Simbine clocked 9.90 to finish fourth in that heat.
Only twice previously had three men gone inside 9.85 in the same 100m race – the Olympic final in 2012 and the 2009 World Championships final in 2009.
Kerley (9.96) and Britain’s Zharnel Hughes (9.98) won the other two semifinals. Hughes was disqualified from the final after a false start.
Bromell missed out after finishing third in his heat in 10 seconds flat. He got off to a quick start and took the early lead but never found a second gear and was passed in the final metres by Nigeria’s Enoch Adegoke and Hughes.
There were signs that Bromell was not in medal-winning form a day earlier when he finished only fourth in his first-round heat in 10.05.
It was a stunning fall for Bromell, who had made a remarkable comeback to the top of the sport after tearing his achilles during the 4x100m relay at the 2016 Rio Games and being carried off the track in a wheelchair.
After two years out of the sport, Bromell worked his way back and established himself as the world’s top 100m sprinter. He clocked a world-leading 9.77 in June, the seventh-fastest time in history, then sealed his spot in Tokyo by winning the 100m at the US Olympic Trials in 9.80.
But since then he has not been his dominant self. Bromell’s 14-race winning streak was snapped when he finished fifth in Monaco in June in 10.01, his first race in Europe since 2016. He bounced back four days later with a victory in Gateshead, England, in 9.98 but still looked far from his best.
“I want to say thank you to everyone who's been with me on this journey,” Bromell said on Twitter on Sunday after failing to reach the Olympic final. “Lord knows how much I wanted to be in that final. BUT I walk away with a smile because I know I showed many that after four years out, you can still fight and make dreams come true.”
The day also marked the end of the Olympic career of Jamaica’s 31-year-old Yohan Blake, the 2011 world 100m champion who won silver at the 2012 Olympics and is a two-time Olympic relay gold medallist. Blake finished sixth in his semi-final in 10.14.
“Definitely my last Olympics,” Blake said. “You know track is not easy. I won't be ungrateful. I've gained a lot. I'm still the second fastest man in history, no one can take that away from me.”
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Break historical records
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Aviaco Flight 118 crash
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Aviaco Flight 118 was a Sud Aviation SE 210 Caravelle operated by Aviaco that crashed in the village of Montrove, Spain on 13 August 1973, while attempting to land at Alvedro Airport in heavy fog. [1] The aircraft crashed into an abandoned farmhouse approximately 2 kilometres (1.2 mi; 1.1 nmi) from the airport. All 85 persons on board perished in the crash and subsequent fire. One person in the village also died. [2]
Flight 118 was a seasonal daily flight from Madrid to A Coruña favoured by tourists. [3] Local news reports indicated that AV-118 was a special "vacation flight" run by Aviaco during the summer season, so as to provide easy access to Galicia's numerous ocean-side resorts. [3]
The aircraft had taken off normally from Madrid at 9:14 a.m. CEST. After an uneventful journey, the commander contacted the control tower at La Coruña Airport at 10:14, and was informed of the poor visibility in the area at that time. Despite being advised to stand by in anticipation of an early improvement in weather conditions, the crew began a first approach at 10:23 to check the actual visibility. The manoeuvre was frustrated, and the aircraft returned to an altitude of 2000 metres. After a second unsuccessful approach, at 11:20 the tower warned Flight 118 that the fog was lifting, and that the horizontal visibility had increased to about 1500 meters and the vertical visibility was close to 300 meters. At 11:39, the crew reported that they had begun a new approach, this being the last communication received by the airport control tower. Shortly afterwards the aircraft hit eucalyptus trees, struck the ground and collided with the abandoned farmhouse before bursting into flames. The collision and fire killed 84 of the aircraft's 85 occupants immediately. The only survivor, who was taken to the Hospital in La Coruña, died a few hours later as a result of the serious injuries suffered. In addition, one person on the ground was reported to have been killed
The official cause of the accident was the pilot's violation of air safety rules by landing in poor visibility. This fact was considered even more serious considering that at Santiago de Compostela Airport the visibility was good at the time of the accident, and being only 45 km away. [4]
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Air crash
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Sichuan Airlines Flight 8633 crash
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Sichuan Airlines Flight 8633 was a flight from Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport to Lhasa Gonggar Airport on 14 May 2018, which was forced to make an emergency landing at Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport after the cockpit windshield failed. [3] The aircraft involved was an Airbus A319-100. The incident has been adapted into the 2019 film The Captain. Sichuan Airlines Flight 8633 was being operated by an Airbus A319-133, serial number 4660, registration B-6419. [4] It first flew on 11 July 2011 following roll-out from Airbus Tianjin final assembly line, and was delivered to Sichuan Airlines on the 26th of the same month. [5] It was powered by two IAE V2524-A5 engines. As of 14 May 2018, the aircraft had recorded more than 19,900 flight hours and 12,920 cycles before the incident. [1] In addition to the 3 pilots, the jetliner also carried 6 cabin crew and 119 passengers. The pilots were: pilot-in-command Liu Chuanjian (Chinese: 刘传健), second-in-command Liang Peng (Chinese: 梁鹏), and the first officer Xu Ruichen (Chinese: 徐瑞辰). Before Liu joined Sichuan Airlines in 2006, he worked as a flight instructor for ten years in Sichuan's Second Aviation College of People's Liberation Army Air Force. [6]
On 14 May 2018, Flight 8633 took off from Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport at 6:25 CST (22:25 UTC). Approximately 40 minutes after departure while over Xiaojin County, Sichuan at the altitude of 9 km, the right front segment of the windshield separated from the aircraft followed by an uncontrolled decompression. [7][8] As a result of the sudden decompression, the flight control unit was damaged, and the loud external noise made spoken communications impossible. The co-pilot however, was able to use the transponder to squawk 7700, alerting Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport control about their situation. Because the flight was within a mountainous region, the pilots were unable to descend to the required 8,000 ft (2,400 m) to compensate for the loss of cabin pressure. About 35 minutes later, the jetliner made an emergency landing at 7:42 CST (23:42 UTC) at Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport. [9] The aircraft was overweight on landing. As a result, the plane took a longer distance to come to a stop and the tires burst. [10]
Despite wearing a seatbelt, first officer Xu was partially sucked out of the aircraft. [11] He suffered facial abrasions, a minor right eye injury and a sprained wrist. [12][13] One of the flight attendants on the aircraft, Zhou Yanwen (Chinese: 周彦雯), also suffered a wrist injury and received treatment. [14] Owing to the insulation design of the Airbus A319, the temperature did not drop immediately for the passengers, despite the cockpit's exposure to the outside environment, saving them from frostbite. The flight crew remained conscious and did not experience asphyxia or frostbite. No other crew member or passenger was injured. [3][14]
The incident was investigated by the Civil Aviation Administration of China, Airbus and Sichuan Airlines. In accordance with the Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation's Annex 13 regulation, Airbus refrains from any further comments on their progress. [15] On 2 June 2020, the final report was released. The root cause of the accident was damage to the seal on the right side of the windshield as a result of moisture. Temperature changes from takeoff and landing led to further damage to the windshield's layers as a result of pressure difference. This culminated in the windshield bursting open. [16][17]
The crew of Sichuan Airlines Flight 8633 were hailed heroes by the public media and the captain, Liu Chuanjian was given a prize of 5 million yuan (£569,400). [18]
No other measures have been taken as a result of the incident. A similar incident would happen onboard a United Airlines A320 two years later, caused by a hailstorm. [19]
The crew and pilots continue to work for Sichuan Airlines and the airline continues to keep flight 3U8633 in operation, flying the same route. [20]
The aircraft B-6419 was repaired and returned to service with Sichuan Airlines on 18 January 2019. [21]
The incident has been adapted into the film The Captain, directed by Andrew Lau. The film, released during the 70th anniversary of the People's Republic of China in 2019, ranked second in box office during the national holiday. [22]
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Air crash
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The UK's Covid-19 unemployment crisis in six charts
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The number of people being made redundant in the UK is rising at the fastest pace on record as the second wave of Covid-19 and tougher lockdown measures put increasing pressure on businesses and workers. Unemployment has hit the highest level for four years, while millions more workers have been placed on furlough. Although the jobs crisis has not been as bad as feared earlier in the pandemic, the government’s independent economics forecaster – the Office for Budget Responsibility – expects the jobless rate to more than double from pre-pandemic levels to 7.5% this summer after furlough ends, representing more than 2.6 million people out of work. Here are the key charts for the UK jobs outlook in 2021. The latest official figures for unemployment from the Office for National Statistics cover the three months to November 2020. Reflecting the jobs market during the second English lockdown and as tough restrictions were imposed in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, the data shows unemployment reached 5% – representing more than 1.7 million people. Unemployment was 4% in February before the pandemic struck. There are some promising signs, including a slowdown in redundancy rates. Economists believe unemployment would be far higher without furlough, while joblessness on a par with the 1980s of about 12% – forecast early in the pandemic – has so far been avoided. Younger workers are bearing the brunt of the jobs crisis inflicted by the Covid-19 pandemic. This is largely because they tend to work in sectors of the economy that have suffered most from physical-distancing restrictions and shutdowns – such as retail, hospitality and leisure. Low-paid staff, and workers from black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds have also suffered a disproportionate impact, stoking fears that a lasting legacy of the crisis will be to entrench inequalities. Preventing a shaper rise in unemployment during the pandemic, the government’s furlough scheme has topped up the wages of almost 10 million workers at more than 1.2m companies since the crisis began. The number of people on furlough hit a peak of almost 9 million in May during the first lockdown, and gradually fell as the economy reopened last summer. However, at its intended closure date in October, more than 2 million workers were still receiving support. Their numbers swelled further during renewed lockdowns after the scheme was extended, reaching almost 4 million by the end of 2020. The scheme, now due to run until the end of April, has cost the Treasury almost £50bn so far. Billions more has been spent subsidising lost income for self-employed workers, but millions of people have fallen through the cracks and received no emergency Covid support. The impact of the pandemic has been felt most by companies and workers in the hospitality, leisure, arts and entertainment sectors, as well as in travel and retail, where physical distancing and the shift to online sales during the crisis has cost thousands of workers their jobs. The fallout from rising job losses and a sharp drop in income from work for UK households has been a surge in the numbers of people claiming unemployment-related benefits. The government increased the value of universal credit benefits by £20 a week at the start of the crisis, but this is temporary and due to be cut again from the end of March. Charities have warned this would trigger a sharp rise in poverty levels across Britain. Britain’s economy has been plunged into the deepest recession for more than 300 years by the crisis. With repeat lockdowns, a lack of clarity about the future and continued Covid restrictions, fewer companies are advertising to hire new staff. There have been reports of hundreds of people applying for single job openings, including almost 1,000 for a receptionist job in a Manchester diner. Job vacancies have started to recover, but remain scarcer than before the pandemic.
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Financial Crisis
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Pentagon task force will investigate UFO incidents
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The Pentagon has announced the establishment of a task force to review "unexplained aerial phenomena," or UFOs, that have been observed by the U.S. military, according to a Pentagon statement. The move continues an effort begun in recent years to investigate incidents in which the U.S. military has encountered such phenomena, including those captured on Navy fighter videos that the Pentagon declassified in April. The new Defense Department task force will investigate incidents of unexplained aerial phenomena encountered by the U.S. military, whether it be by pilots or other means. "On Aug. 4, 2020, Deputy Secretary of Defense David L. Norquist approved the establishment of an Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) Task Force (UAPTF)," said the Pentagon statement. "The Department of Defense established the UAPTF to improve its understanding of, and gain insight into, the nature and origins of UAPs, it continued. "The mission of the task force is to detect, analyze and catalog UAPs that could potentially pose a threat to U.S. national security." "As DOD has stated previously, the safety of our personnel and the security of our operations are of paramount concern," said the statement. "The Department of Defense and the military departments take any incursions by unauthorized aircraft into our training ranges or designated airspace very seriously and examine each report. This includes examinations of incursions that are initially reported as UAP when the observer cannot immediately identify what he or she is observing." Since 2018, a Navy task force has been informally investigating UFO incidents involving its pilots as well as personnel of other military services and has coordinated information with U.S. intelligence agencies. The new UAP task force will be run by the Navy and report to the under secretary of defense for intelligence, formalizing the work that it has been doing in recent years, said a U.S. official. Another U.S. official said that the task force is intended to be a long-term effort as UFO incidents arise in the future. CNN was first to report the details of the new Pentagon task force. The task force’s work will remain classified, though that could change if the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence’s proposal for an unclassified report on UFOs is adopted by the full Senate and House of Representatives. In April, the Defense Department declassified three previously leaked videos recorded by Navy fighter aircraft in 2004 and 2015 that showed "unexplained aerial phenomena" flying at high speed off the coast of California. The release of the videos sparked renewed interest in UFOs and what else the U.S. military may know about similar incidents.
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Organization Established
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Leyden riot
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The Leyden riot occurred on April 3, 1915 in Haverhill, Massachusetts following the cancelation of a controversial lecture by Dr. Thomas E. Leyden at Haverhill City Hall. In March 1916, Haverhill Mayor Albert L. Bartlett refused to grant Dr. Thomas E. Leyden a permit to use City Hall for a lecture regarding the appropriation of state money for parochial schools, called "Why the Roman Hierarchy Is Opposed to the Public Schools", which was seen as anti-Catholic.The lecture instead was instead given at the First Parish Unitarian Church's Unity Hall. Following the meeting, Leyden was attacked and he canceled the rest of his engagements in the city.
The Haverhill Ministers' Association, which was made up of ministers from all of the city's Protestant churches, held a protest meeting and adopted a resolution objecting to Bartlett's decision to deny Leyden use of City Hall "irrespective of our several opinions of the issues to be discussed by Dr. Leyden".
The board of aldermen overruled Bartlett's decision and granted Leyden permission to use City Hall for his lecture. On April 2 his lecture was disrupted by mock applause and he retreated to the police station until the crowd over 1,000 dispersed. Leyden was scheduled to give the lecture again the following night and elected to do so.
On April 3, roughly 10,000 people took to the city streets. Anticipating trouble, the entire 40-man police force had been called out for duty. [5] About 150 people were granted admission to the hall to hear the lecture, but due to the presence of the mob outside, police commissioner Charles M. Hoyt appeared on stage to announce that the meeting had been canceled. However, Leyden and Rev. Robert Atikinson appeared and Atikinson requested that Leyden be allowed to speak. Leyden attempted to speak but was jeered so loudly he gave up. Atkinson attempted to quiet the crowd again, but was grabbed and rushed down the stairs by angry attendees. A glass door on the fire escape was broken and about 100 people surged into the hall. [2] Hoyt promised those who had paid admission that they would be refunded, however Leyden and his secretary, Clarence Howland were nowhere to be found and it was believed that they had already left with the door receipts, which resulted in increased anger from those in the hall (Leyden was actually under guard in the aldermen's room at city hall). Bricks and stones were hurled at City Hall and the police station and a crowd of thousands attempted to force their way pass police into the hall. A revolver was fired at the police station and a group broke into the basement of the police station to demand the arrest of Leyden and Howland.
The mob also ransacked the National Club and looted a coal pocket so that the coal could be used as projectiles. A police officer who attempted to prevent entry into city hall was trampled and an officer who attempted to arrest a youth who had been throwing stones was assaulted by the crowd. Another man was beaten in the National Club. A portion of the crowd went to Leonard House, where Leyden was said to have been staying, but they were turned away by City Marshal John J. Mack, who told them Leyden was not there. Another group stoned the home of commissioner Hoyt. Another went to stone the home of Dr. Herbert E. Wales, a member of the committee that had organized the meeting. However, as no one in the group knew which home was Wales', a number homes were stoned before they found the Wales residence.
At 10 pm, Bartlett, arrived at the police station and asked the crowd outside to quietly disperse. The crowd fell back for a time, but the unrest continued. He eventually decided to sound the militia alarm, which alerted members of local command (Co. F of the 8th Regiment), who had been expecting trouble. They assembled the Haverhill armory and marched towards City Hall. They were ordered to charge the crowd with fix bayonets, which scattered the crowd. Two militiamen were injured by a projectiles. At 1 am, 15 officers from the Lawrence, Massachusetts police department arrived to assist the Haverhill police. The crowd was eventually dispersed and no arrests were made.
Leyden was eventually able to exit City Hall through a rear door and was taken by car to Newburyport, Massachusetts. The following day he returned to his home in Somerville, Massachusetts. Upon Leyden's departure from Haverhill, City Marshal Mack told him not to return and if he did he would be arrested for inciting to riot.
After the riot, Alderman Charles M. Hoyt and the Haverhill Ministers' Association requested a grand jury investigation into the riot. State detectives Arthur G. Wells and Fred F. Flynn spent several weeks investigating the case. On July 12, 1916, Essex County District Attorney Louis S. Cox issued 53 summons to Haverhill residents to appear before the grand jury investigating the case.
On July 18, Mayor Bartlett and all four members of the board of aldermen (Roswell L. Wood, Albert E. Stickney, Charles M. Hoyt, and Christopher C. Cook) were all indicted on a charge of neglect to suppress an unlawful assembly. They were the first to ever be charged with this crime. On September 13, four more men were indicted in connection with the case. They were:
The trial against the Bartlett and the aldermen began on October 23, 1916. The other four defendants were tried separate from the city officials. On October 28, the jury returned not guilty verdicts on the all of the charges against Charles M. Hoyt and on one of the two charges against Mayor Bartlett. They were unable to come to an agreement on the charges against Cook, Wood, and Stickney.
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Riot
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Nauru joins IMF and World Bank
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Nauru has become the 189th member of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
The World Bank says Nauru faces challenges in sustaining growth and ensuring fiscal and debt sustainability over the medium term - challenges faced by many other Pacific countries.
By joining the World Bank, Nauru gains access to financial and technical support and special expertise in issues such as water, sanitation, disaster risk management and climate change mitigation.
The IMF says Nauru can benefit from the crisis lender's advice on managing government finances and monetary policy.
Nauru applied for membership in the Washington-based organisations in April 2014.
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Join in an Organization
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1955 Cincinnati mid-air collision crash
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The 1955 Cincinnati mid-air collision occurred on January 12, 1955, when a Trans World Airlines Martin 2-0-2 on takeoff from Boone County Airport (now the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport) collided in mid-air with a privately owned Douglas DC-3 that had entered the airport's control space without proper clearance. None of the occupants of either plane survived the collision. The TWA plane, flown by Captain J. W. Quinn and co-pilot Robert K. Childress, with air hostess (flight attendant) Patricia Ann Stermer, was a regularly scheduled flight bound for Dayton, Ohio, en route to Cleveland. Ten passengers were aboard. [1][2]
The DC-3 was piloted by Arthur "Slim" Werkhaven of Sturgis, Michigan, with co-pilot Edward Agner of Battle Creek, Michigan, and was being flown from Battle Creek en route to Lexington, Kentucky. They were to pick up Mr. and Mrs. Fredrick Van Lennep. Mrs. Van Lennep, the former Frances Dodge, was an officer of the firm that owned the plane and founded the Dodge Stables at Meadow Brook Farm, later moving Dodge Stables to Castleton Farm in Lexington. The plane would have carried the Van Lenneps to Delray Beach, Florida. The Martin 2-0-2A had just taken off from the airport on Runway 22 and was climbing in a right turn through a cloud base at 700–900 ft when the collision occurred about 9:00 am. [3] The DC-3 was en route from Michigan flying VFR heading roughly south towards Lexington. The right wing of the Martin 2-0-2 struck the left wing of the DC-3, which caused the right wing of the Martin to separate and the DC-3 experienced fuselage, rudder, and fin damage. Following the collision, both aircraft crashed out of control, hitting the ground about two miles apart. The wreckage of one of the aircraft fell along Hebron-Limaburg Road, two miles northeast of Burlington, Kentucky. The crash had no survivors from either aircraft. The control tower, operated by the Civil Aeronautics Authority (CAA), reported that it had no record of a flight plan for either aircraft. A CAA spokesman said that radio messages from the TWA plane shortly after takeoff indicated the pilot was "alarmed and excited". [4] The spokesman also said the pilot was cleared for takeoff and to make a right turn out. TWA later filed a $2 million damage suit against the Castleton Corporation of Kentucky. [5]
The probable cause was determined to be operating the DC-3 in a controlled zone with unknown traffic, i.e. no clearance received and no communication with the airport tower. [6]
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Air crash
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Africa’s #1 Infectious Disease is Cholera
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The World Health Organization (WHO) African region is often characterized by the largest infectious disease burden in the world, such as the current Ebola Zaire virus outbreak. A team of researchers conducted a retrospective analysis of all infectious disease outbreaks in Africa formally reported to the WHO in 2018. On November 11, 2019, this new study found 96 new disease outbreaks were reported across 36 of the 47 African Member States. The most commonly reported disease outbreaks were: These disease outbreaks led to 1,221 related fatalities, which is a mean case fatality ratio of 1.14 percent. According to this study, about 25 percent of these outbreaks were initially reported through the media. This non-governmental reporting mechanism led to a median delay between the disease onset and WHO notification of 16 days. Under a 2005 agreement, WHO Member States have the obligation to immediately notify all events that may constitute public health emergencies of international concern, including outbreaks of infectious diseases. Since the WHO’s African region remains prone to infectious disease outbreaks, it is therefore critical that the Member States improve their capacities to rapidly detect, report, and respond to public health events. An example of how poor communications can lead to health response confusion is the 2014–2016 Ebola virus disease (EVD) outbreak in West Africa. The late detection of that Ebola epidemic revealed the weaknesses of the disease surveillance systems in several African countries. And, this could have impacted the total number of Ebola fatalities, which exceeded 11,000. Since then, the WHO regional office for Africa has increased its efforts in supporting the Member States to rapidly detect public health events of international concern and rapidly implement effective public health actions. This is being done through the implementation of the integrated disease surveillance and response strategy by ministries of health and the establishment of an epidemic intelligence unit at the WHO regional office. Epidemic intelligence is a conceptual framework within which the WHO can fulfill its mandate of strengthening surveillance and guiding public health control strategies in order to enhance health security. This process relies on the systematic collection and assessment of both structured data gathered from routine surveillance systems and unstructured data gathered from formal and informal sources in order to rapidly detect future disease outbreaks. Sponsored Links: Regarding cholera outbreaks in Africa, the Global Task Force on Cholera Control partners launched a global strategy to eliminate cholera by 2030. It is anticipated that the implementation of this strategy, which targets 47 cholera-affected countries, could result in the elimination of cholera as a public health threat from at least 20 countries, as well as a 90 percent decline in the number of cholera-attributed deaths by 2030. ‘Ensuring early detection and prompt comprehensive control measures to cholera outbreaks is crucial to achieving this goal,’ concluded these researchers. Cholera is an acute, diarrheal illness caused by infection of the intestine with the toxigenic bacterium Vibrio cholerae. The infection is often mild or without symptoms, but can sometimes be severe. Without treatment, severe cholera cases can become fatal within hours, says the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Because cholera is spread through contaminated food and water, it is easily prevented by sticking to safe eating and drinking habits and regularly washing hands. Furthermore, the Vaxchora cholera vaccine prevents diarrhea caused by the most common type of cholera bacteria. This vaccine is recommended by the CDC for adults traveling to areas with active cholera transmission. However, even with an improvement in disease outbreak reporting, a recent study says no country is prepared for an epidemic. On October 25, 2019, the new Global Health Security (GHS) Index suggests that not a single country in the world is fully prepared to handle an epidemic or pandemic. The inaugural GHS Index found severe weaknesses in all 195 countries’ abilities to prevent, detect, and respond to significant disease outbreaks. The average overall GHS Index score for 2019 is slightly over 40, out of a maximum score of 100. Among the 60 highest-income countries assessed, the DHS average score is 51.9.
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Disease Outbreaks
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1982 Thunderbirds Indian Springs Diamond Crash crash
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The 1982 Diamond Crash was the worst operational accident to befall the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds Air Demonstration Team involving show aircraft. [1] Four Northrop T-38 Talon jets crashed during operational training on 18 January 1982, killing all four pilots. The Thunderbirds were practicing at Indian Springs Air Force Auxiliary Field, Nevada (now Creech Air Force Base) for a performance at Davis–Monthan AFB, Arizona. [2] Four T-38As, Numbers 1–4, comprising the basic diamond formation, hit the desert floor almost simultaneously on Range 65, now referred to as "The Gathering of Eagles Range". [3] The pilots were practicing the four-plane line abreast loop, in which the aircraft climb in side-by-side formation several thousand feet, pull over in a slow, inside loop, and descend at more than 400 mph. The planes were meant to level off at about 100 feet (30 m); instead, the formation struck the ground at high speed. [4]
The four pilots died instantly: Major Norm Lowry, III, leader, 37, of Radford, Virginia; Captain Willie Mays, left wing, 31, of Ripley, Tennessee; Captain Joseph "Pete" Peterson, right wing, 32, of Tuskegee, Alabama; and Captain Mark E. Melancon, slot, 31, of Dallas, Texas. Col. Mike Wallace, of the Public Information Office at nearby Nellis AFB, home of the demonstration team, said that Major General Gerald D. Larson, the head of an Air Force investigation board, arrived at Nellis that night. "Larson and a team of 10 to 15 experts are expected to spend three weeks studying the wreckage of the four T-38s – the worst [training] crash in the 28-year history of the Air Force aerial demonstration team. The jets crashed almost simultaneously with what near-by Indian Springs residents described as an earthquake-like explosion that looked like a napalm bomb. Wreckage was strewn across a 1-square-mile area of the desert 60 miles north of Las Vegas. "[5]
Initial speculation was that the accident might have been due to pilot error, that the leader might have misjudged his altitude or speed and the other three pilots repeated the error. [4] However, the Air Force concluded that the crash was due to a jammed stabilizer on the lead jet. The other pilots, in accordance with their training, did not break formation. [6]
"At the speed they were going when they came out of the loop, I just thought, "That's the end of that for them fellows,'" said W. G. Wood of Indian Springs, who witnessed the crash as he drove along US 95. "It happened so fast I couldn't tell you if one hit sooner. It looked like all of them hit at the same time. "[2]
Construction worker George LaPointe watched the jets disappear behind tree tops, "They didn't come back up," he said. "They were going full tilt, really screaming, and at the time I thought they were too low. "[2]
The airframes involved were all T-38A-75-NO Talons, serial numbers 68-8156, -8175, -8176 and -8184. [7]
Technical Sergeant Alfred R. King filmed the accident from the ground. His footage helped to determine the cause for the AFR 127-4[8](Air Force Regulation covering "Investigating and Reporting US Air Force Mishaps") accident investigation. On 26 January 1982, Congress passed Resolution 248, stating that "The Congress hereby affirms its strong support for continuation of the Thunderbirds program." Nonetheless, the 1982 season was cancelled for the Thunderbirds while they rebuilt the team. Former demonstration-unit members still on active duty were recalled to help rebuild the squadron. [2]
A five-page report of the mishap was published by Aviation Week & Space Technology in their issue dated 17 May 1982. The Thunderbirds next flew a public demonstration in early 1983, more than 18 months after their last public air show. [9]
On 2 April 1984, at the direction of Gen. Wilbur Creech, Commanding General, USAF Tactical Air Command, the two authorized and only known copies of the crash videotape were destroyed, with Creech himself erasing the portion of the master tape that showed the final impact and subsequent fireball of the four aircraft. At the time of the destruction, the families of the pilots and NBC had already demanded access to the tapes as part of a suit against Northrop and a FOIA request, respectively. Creech did not seek JAG guidance prior to destroying the tapes, and asked two of the three personnel who had been involved in reviewing the tapes to leave the room prior to his partial erasure of the master tape. He stated that he erased the tape because it would likely be used for sensationalism purposes and he was concerned about the privacy of the victims' families. [10]
The Thunderbirds switched back to front-line jet fighters after the accident. The Air Force team, like the U.S. Navy's Blue Angels, had switched to smaller aircraft after the 1973 oil crisis (the Navy switched from F-4 Phantoms to smaller A-4 Skyhawks). The first F-16A Fighting Falcon in Thunderbird colors arrived at Nellis AFB, Nevada, on 22 June 1982. [9]
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Air crash
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Yare prison riot
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On 20 August 2012, armed prisoners in the Yare I prison complex, an overcrowded Venezuelan prison in Miranda state near Caracas, Venezuela, rioted. A shootout between two groups[1] resulted in the deaths of 25 people, one of them a visitor. Among those injured during the incident were 29 inmates and 14 visitors. [2]
Venezuela's prison system is heavily overcrowded; its facilities have capacity for only 14,000 prisoners, yet house over 50,000 inmates. [3] More than 300 prisoners die every year, and not all of it is due to overcrowding. Prisoners have easy access to machine guns, grenades, and narcotics. [3] According to the Venezuelan Prisons Observatory, in the first half of 2012 clashes between prison gangs left 304 dead – a 15% increase from the same period last year. [4]
Following the 2011 riots in El Rodeo I and El Rodeo II prisons, where dozens of inmates were killed respectively,[5] President Hugo Chávez announced a program to reduce the violence and the overcrowding in Venezuela's prison systems. [4]
With an upcoming presidential election, the prison chaos in Venezuela was a politically sensitive issue for Venezuela's president. [5] Chávez blamed the past regimes before he took office in 1999 for the current problems in Venezuela's prison system, while Henrique Capriles Radonski, the opposition leader, stated on Twitter after the prison riot that Chávez's administration has been oblivious of reforms. [5]
The deadliest prison massacre in Venezuela's history occurred in 1994 at Maracaibo National Jail, where around 130 inmates were burned to death or butchered with machetes during a gang fight and ethnic feud. [5][6]
Inside the Yare I prison complex near Caracas on 20 August 2012, a clash between two prison gangs left 25 dead and 43 wounded. [7] The brawl started after a gunshot was fired during a discussion between the gang leaders of the two factions, although the shot did not hit anyone. [7] The gun battle between the two gangs vying for the control of the prison lasted over four hours, bringing the death toll to over 500 since the Government of Venezuela implemented a Prison Ministry to reform the country's prison system since July 2011. [8][9] About 980 women were on a visit trip at the prison when the riot occurred, and some of the relatives decided to stay inside because they were scared of how the security forces outside the prison would react. [10]
Local media reports indicated that the tension inside the prison may have started after several inmates were transferred to Yare I from La Planta, an overcrowded prison near Caracas that was closed after a series of violent incidents back in May 2012. [7]
Security experts believe that Venezuela's penitentiary system remains a "cauldron of violence" because the prison gangs rule the facilities, have easy access to weapons, and are too powerful for the corrupt and ineffective prison authorities. [7]
Venezuelan Prisons Minister Iris Varela responded that "we will make them answer for this." Opposition leader and presidential candidate Henrique Capriles tweeted, "The transformation of the Venezuelan prison system is another big lie that we've been told by this government. How many more will die? "[11]
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Riot
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US Withdrawal From the UNESCO led Current Crisis in the Organization
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The UNESCO has been in crisis recently because of the US withdrawal from this organization. The recent crisis has its origin in 2011 when UNESCO voted to admit Palestine as a full member state. Since then the US has significantly reduced its funding to the institution. Further, UNESCO’s actions like criticizing Israel’s occupation of East Jerusalem and naming ancient Jewish sites as Palestinian heritage sites has led to deteriorating relations between USA and UNESCO. Israel is USA’s closest ally so recently the USA chose to express its discontentment against UNSECO’s alleged Israel bias by quitting the institution. By withdrawing its membership, USA has possibly attempted to reassert its geopolitical influence in the entire world. UNESCO is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) based in Paris, France. The main purpose of the UNESCO is to promote international collaboration in education, sciences, and culture to increase universal respect for justice, the rule of law, and human rights along with fundamental freedom. UNESCO is a subsidiary organization of the United Nations Organization. Many organizations are attached to the United Nations Organization. In order to promote the International stability, United Nation established many agencies including, WHO (World Health Organization), WFO, International Labour Organization along with United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization. Any countries who are interested in membership of UNESCO can get into this organization. UNESCO functions in consonance with three bodies include The General Conference, The Executive Board and The Secretariat. The General Conference is held after every two years and adopt various programmes. While the executive Board supervises the execution of the programmes, and the secretariat carries out the programmes. It conducts studies in the member states with the collaboration of non-governmental organization on per capita expenditure on education and public expenditure on education as a percentage of National Income. And, then publish materials of the educational development of its member state on the basis of these studies. UNESCO works to provide each citizen access to quality education, promotes cultural heritage and equal dignity of all cultures. Some of its main works include designating World Heritage sites in countries across the world and sponsoring cultural and intellectual activities in different nations. It helps in strengthening bonds among nations, helps countries adopt international standards and manages programmes that enable the free flow of ideas and knowledge sharing. UNESCO plays a significant role in various international programmes through its financial assistance like in the field of education. It has implemented various projects like Universalization of Elementary Education, Projects for Educating the blind and other handicapped children in various countries of the world. UNESCO has also made available and provided different teaching-learning aids and technical services to its member. So, it helps the countries to get the quality as well as quantity of education for the development of the citizens as well as the country. Anti-Israel bias Since Israel is the closest ally of the US, therefore this step has been taken in support of Israel’s protest. When UNESCO recognized Palestine as an independent state in 2011, USA and Israel were the 14 out of 194 countries that had voted against admitting Palestine. The US has felt that the organization did not support the US stand and show biased against Israel issue. The US has also cited bias by the UNESCO when it went on to designate cultural heritage sites in Jerusalem and the territories of Palestine and did not heed to similar requests by Israel. Concern Over-Functioning US has also shown its concerns over the functioning and working of the UNESCO. It cited immediate reforms in its, especially with respect to spending in programs. US alleged that UNESCO had promoted fake history when it designated Hebron and the two adjoined shrines-the Jewish Tomb of the Patriarchs and the Muslim Ibrahimi Mosque as ‘Palestine World Heritage Site in Danger.’ The US withdrawal from the UNESCO has led to a recent crisis in the Organization. The recent crisis has negatively affected the UNESCO. It has to cut various programs due to crunching in budgets. (a) The institution has been influenced by world powers. This has been used as a political stage to showcase their enormous power and influence. (b) USA learn that UNESCO owes minimal support on certain issues, especially Israel-Palestine issue, even after being the largest contributor. © When UNESCO criticized the move of the USA to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, the US felt that UNESCO is not owed support and taking an anti-Israel stand. (d) Thus, by leaving UNESCO and by suspending fund wants to send message to all other organizations regarding the consequences of the anti-US stand. Therefore, the US wants to ascertain its influence on most of the global organizations including UN, WTO, UNICEF, etc. (f) Lack of funding has led to freezing various programmes and have paralysed the UNESCO’s working structure. (a) It has been forced to cut programs, freeze hiring and fill gaps with voluntary contributions as it employs a huge workforce worldwide. (b) Its current budget is now almost half of what it was ten years ago. It has huge implications for the working of the organization and its aim of building a peaceful world. (c) UNESCO protects cultural heritage around the world. So, reduced in funding would force UNESCO to cut down heavily on its conservation programs, thereby endangering and ignoring world cultural heritage. (e) It also has been playing a vital role in environmental conservation with initiatives like UNESCO MAN and BIOSPHERE Programme which will be affected. (f) It will negatively affect the cultural sphere protection of endangered languages and cultures. It is unfortunate that such productive works have taken a backseat due to the politicization of UNESCO. The nations now using their financial dues to influence UNESCO’s Programs which aim at making the world a peaceful, prosperous and humanly by reinforcing the values of education, science and culture. What is Water Stress? How and Why does it Differ Regionally in India? Coastal Sand Mining, whether Legal or Illegal and Its Impact along the Indian Coasts. Enhancing India and Japan Strategic Partnership that will Have a Great Significance for India and the World as a Whole
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Withdraw from an Organization
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2005 Toledo riot
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The 2005 Toledo riot, on October 15, 2005, occurred when the National Socialist Movement (NSM), a neo-Nazi organization, planned a march to protest African-American gang activity in the North End of Toledo, in the U.S. state of Ohio. The appearance of the group sparked a four-hour riot by elements within the assembled protesters, and caused a citywide curfew to be implemented for the remainder of the weekend. The anti-fascist organization Anti-Racist Action helped to assemble the counter-demonstration. Several weeks before the rally, members of the National Socialist Movement went door-to-door through a North Toledo neighborhood, and discussed with residents the possibility of addressing gang activity. The NSM claimed that a local resident invited the group, but the named individual refuted this, saying that the group misrepresented themselves and that he did not invite the NSM. The NSM planned to march through the North End of Toledo, Ohio. The group stated that the purpose of the march was to protest gang activity in the area. Approximately fifteen supporters of the NSM, including Bill White (neo-Nazi), gathered under police guard in preparation to march. They began an impromptu rally at the staging point for the march, shouting insults and other racial slurs at black members of the community.
Responses had been organized during the week leading up to the rally. Neighborhood residents, the Toledo chapter of the International Socialist Organization, local anarchist organizations, and Anti-Racist Action groups from other cities coordinated in planning a massive protest aimed at forcing the NSM rally to be cancelled. The protesters directed aggression against the police, who responded by arresting dozens. This set off a four-hour conflict between over 500 protesters and the Toledo police force. Police cancelled the NSM march as the situation between police and the crowd escalated. Members of the NSM and their supporters were told to leave town with a police escort.
While the neo-Nazi group had already left the park, most of the community members and protesters were unaware of this and began rioting. Eleven police personnel suffered injury, and one paramedic suffered a concussion after a brick smashed through the side window of her vehicle, hitting her in the head. Police, media vehicles and emergency vehicles were all targeted. A number of stores in the community were targeted by the crowd, including a local bar, believed by many locals to be a regular hangout for police and politicians, which was broken into and set on fire. A local gas station was also looted. Police arrested several dozen rioters, most of whom were residents of the North End. According to the mayor, a number of protesters were wearing gang colors.
Although disturbed by the NSM's intentions to march, the city's mayor, Jack Ford, was extremely critical of the riot, saying that it was "just what they [the neo-Nazis] wanted. "Ford declared that a state of emergency existed, and imposed an 8 pm curfew on the entire city. Police officers from several jurisdictions, local SWAT team members, and private security firms patrolled the North End that evening. The NSM were granted permission to rally at the Government Center in downtown Toledo on December 10, 2005. The Ohio State Highway Patrol was responsible for security at the Center. The stated purpose of the rally was to protest how the city dealt with the previous planned march. Approximately 45 people participated in the one-hour rally, separated from 170 observers and counter-protesters by approximately 700 law-enforcement personnel. The assembled police forces - which included local, state, and federal officers - had at their disposal additional support as mounted patrols, armored personnel carriers, and rooftop snipers. In addition, a last minute injunction was granted by Judge Thomas Osowik on December 9, barring public gatherings of any kind for the following two weeks. Aggressive policing of the counter-protesters, which included the reported use of police Tasers, resulted in a total of 29 arrests. Three of those arrested were photojournalists covering the event. People entering the rally zone, including members of the media, were subject to searches, and police engaged in videotaping all persons near the rally site for what was termed as "intelligence gathering for future investigations. " The majority of arrests occurred in the police controlled observation area; however, several people were arrested near public libraries for violating a court order banning unauthorized protests. [8] Local attorneys and civil rights activists protested the unusually strict police tactics, summed up by one attorney: "What you have in Toledo is martial law for a day. "
None of the neo-Nazis who participated in the rally were arrested, but they were escorted from the rally site in buses protected by police. In retaliation, a local tattoo parlor that had allegedly been used as a base of operations for the NSM rally was vandalized later that night. The front window was smashed out with a rock marked with the anarchist circle "A" symbol. The owner of the parlor blamed the attack on an anarchist group called "The A Project. "
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Riot
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1971 Colorado Aviation Aero Commander 680 crash
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The 1971 Colorado Aviation Aero Commander 680 crash claimed the life of decorated American World War II veteran Audie Murphy and five other people on May 28, 1971. The aircraft's passengers were on a business trip from Atlanta, Georgia to Martinsville, Virginia, aboard an Aero Commander 680 Super twin engine aircraft owned and operated by Colorado Aviation Co, Inc.[1] The aircraft crashed into the side of Brushy Mountain, fourteen nautical miles northwest of Roanoke, Virginia, during conditions of poor visibility. [2]
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) concluded that the crash was caused by the pilot's decision to continue operating under visual flight rules (VFR) into instrument meteorological conditions (IMC), combined with his lack of experience in the aircraft type. [2]
On the morning of May 28, 1971, an Aero Commander 680 Super prepared to depart DeKalb–Peachtree Airport in Atlanta, operating as a non-scheduled passenger air taxi flight under visual flight rules to its destination of Blue Ridge Airport in Martinsville, Virginia, located 284 nautical miles northeast. The estimated flight time was one hour forty-six minutes. [3]
Before takeoff, the Aero Commander's pilot requested a weather report by phone and decided weather along the route was safe for visual flying. [2] No flight plan was required and none was filed. [2] Air traffic control at Peachtree cleared the flight and the aircraft departed at 09:10 EDT. As the flight continued, weather conditions deteriorated, and two hours twenty minutes after take off, at 11:30, witnesses in Galax, Virginia (sixty miles due west of Martinsville) reported seeing the plane flying circles in and out of the clouds at approximately 150 feet above ground level (AGL). [3] Shortly afterward the aircraft unsuccessfully attempted to land on a four-lane highway northwest of Galax. [2] After making a pass over the town at near treetop level, the aircraft left the area heading west towards the Blue Ridge Mountains. [3]
The last communication with the aircraft was at 11:49, when the pilot contacted the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Flight Service Station at Roanoke's Woodrum Airport asking for a weather report and saying he intended to land there. [2]
At this point the aircraft had flown past its destination of Martinsville and was west of and below the peaks of the Blue Ridge Mountains. The latest weather report radioed by Roanoke was "measured ceiling 1,000 feet broken, 2500 feet overcast, visibility 3 miles in light rain and fog, with mountain ridges obscured". [2] The pilot did not indicate he was in any kind of trouble or report the aircraft's current position. At 12:08 the aircraft impacted the west side of Brushy Mountain at the 2,700-foot level while flying at "high speed level attitude" on a heading of 100 degrees to the Roanoke VORTAC navigation beacon. [2] The collision into the heavily wooded slope and post crash fire destroyed the aircraft, and all six people on board received fatal injuries. Registered as N601JJ, the aircraft was a fourteen-year-old 680 Super seven-seat light twin, type certified on October 14, 1955, and manufactured in 1957 by Aero Commander. [4]
Serial number 680-491-161 was equipped with 340 hp Lycoming GSO-480-B1A6 supercharged engines, turning Hartzell 3-bladed feathering propellers. [4][5] Maximum takeoff weight was 7,000 lb (3,200 kg) with a total fuel load of 225.5 US gal, giving a 1,480-mile range at a cruise speed of 230 mph. Because of these features the 680 Super is considered a complex multiengine airplane. [6][7]
The single crewmember was 43-year-old pilot Herman Butler, who held a valid private pilot license with airplane single- and multi-engine land rating, but was not rated to fly under instrument flight rules (IFR). [2] Butler had over 8,000 hours of flight experience, but only six hours logged in the newly acquired Aero Commander. He was also the secretary of Colorado Aviation Co., Inc., of Denver, Colorado, which owned the plane. [3]
Among the five passengers was Audie Murphy, the most decorated U.S. veteran of World War II and a director of Colorado Aviation's parent company, Telestar Leisure Investments. [3]
When the aircraft failed to arrive in Martinsville, awaiting friends were told the flight had changed destinations to Roanoke. However, by late that afternoon it became clear the aircraft was missing and a search was initiated. [3] Civil Air Patrol in Danville began searching with help from units in Martinsville, Roanoke, Buckingham, Hillsville, and Lynchburg. The Eastern Air Search and Rescue Center at Robins Air Force Base also launched thirty-one aircraft in support of the search. [3]
Due to poor weather conditions and the lack of a flight plan, the crash site was not located until May 31. Colonel Hale and Major Slusser of the Virginia Wing of the Civil Air Patrol discovered the site approximately 300 feet below the summit of Brushy Mountain at 2:30 in the afternoon. [3] Later that day rescue workers were able to reach the area after hiking up four miles of steep terrain. [3] Three passengers, including Murphy, had been thrown uphill from the wreckage and were identified on site. The remaining three were found within the cabin of the aircraft and were badly burned. [8]
The accident was investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and centered on the weather at the time of the crash and the pilot's abilities. There was no evidence of any pre-impact malfunction of the aircraft, and in their final report, issued on June 15, 1972, the NTSB determined the following official probable cause for the accident: "[T]he pilot's attempt to continue visual fight into adverse weather conditions at an altitude too low to clear the mountainous terrain. The Board also finds that the pilot attempted to continue flight into instrument weather conditions which were beyond his operational capabilities. "[2]
In December 1971, Murphy's widow and two sons hired attorney Herbert Hafif and filed a $10 million lawsuit in Los Angeles District Court alleging negligence in the operation and maintenance of the aircraft. The thirteen defendants included the estate of pilot Herman Butler, the estates of passengers Claude Crosby and Jack Littleton, Aero Commander, Colorado Aviation, and Telestar. In December 1975 a jury awarded the Murphy family $2.5 million in damages to be paid by the aircraft's owner, Colorado Aviation. [9]
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Air crash
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Superstition Hills and Elmore Ranch earthquakes
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The 1987 Superstition Hills and Elmore Ranch earthquakes were a pair of earthquakes Mw 6.2 and 6.6 that rattled the Imperial Valley of California. The earthquakes caused damage to places in California and Mexico, and was felt as far as Las Vegas and Phoenix. Both main shocks were larger than the deadly earthquake that struck Los Angeles on October 1, which was a magnitude 5.9. [1]
Both mainshocks were situated in the Salton Trough, a pull-apart basin caused by extension between offset strike-slip faults. The Brawley Seismic Zone is an area of extension and small divergent plate boundary that connects the Imperial Fault with the San Andreas Fault. Earthquake swarms are common in the fault zone, with the last one in 2021. [2][3] The San Jacinto Fault is a long, active strike-slip fault in Southern California that is part of the San Andreas Fault which accommodates the motion between the North American and Pacific Plate. The Imperial Valley is one of the most seismically active areas in California. There have been earthquakes of M 6 or greater in 1915, 1940, and 1979, with the strongest, an M 6.7 quake that killed seven people in 1940. The geological forces that caused the November 23-24, 1987, earthquakes are the same ones that rifted Baja California from Mexico to form the Sea of Cortez. The earthquakes consisted of two main shocks; the Mw 6.2 that was followed by an Mw 6.6 eleven hours later. Both epicenters are located within Imperial County, near the Salton Sea. The first shock occurred at 5:53 pm along a previously undetected north-east striking structure. It was associated with left-lateral (sinistral) fault rupture and had a maximum offset of 12.5 cm. The epicenter was located in a sparsely populated area 22.5 km north of Westmorland. [4]
The second main shock was larger and it was caused by movement on the Superstition Hills and Superstition Mountain faults, which are part of the San Jacinto Fault Zone, along which ground rupture was observed. [5] This event occurred at 5:16 am, nearly 12 hours later and centered 9.7 km southwest of the first quake. Right-lateral (dextral) rupture that was seen for 27 km. A maximum of 65 cm of dextral offset was measured on December 2, 1987. [4]
The first earthquake forced the closure of a runway at the Naval Air Facility, El Centro but no damage was found after inspection. [6] Telephone services were affected because the earthquake had destroyed some lines. The shaking triggered an "unusual event" declaration at the San Onofre nuclear plant, but the facility was unaffected. Damage was reported at El Centro, Imperial and Westmorland. Fallen chimneys, pipes, and windows were seen in properties. Some roads needed to be replaced because they were offset or cracked from liquefaction. About 40 mobile homes were wrenched from their stands. The Southern California Irrigation District estimated $600,000 to $750,000 worth of damage to canal facilities. [7] The initial earthquake resulted in minor buckling of the canal concrete reinforce while the second shock collapsed many of the concrete. [7] In Calexico, the wall of a furniture store collapsed on automobiles, and in El Centro, another brick wall fell onto a car. Many homes and businesses lost power following the earthquake. Fifty people were injured in Imperial County. California 86 between Westmorland and El Centro was damaged and closed off. California 98 was closed at Ocotillo at the junction with Interstate 8 after a road buckled. The entry station between Mexicali and Calexico was closed for damage inspection. [8]
Tremors were felt but there was no damage. Los Angeles County fire dispatcher reported calls from residents asking if there had been an earthquake. [6] Many people were frightened by the earthquake, in the wake of the Whittier Narrows quake two months earlier. In Orange County, people started stoking up in survival appliances such as water purification tablets and water bottles for their earthquake preparedness kits. The California Department of Transportation began inspecting freeways for possible damage. [8] This region experienced a deadly earthquake that killed eight on October 1 the same year. The first event struck while city councils were having a conference on the 12th floor, shaking caused some turmoil in the room. [6] The San Diego Fire Department reported minor cracks to five of their stations. [8]
Forty-four were injured in Mexico. The injuries included broken bones, sprains, cuts, and some heart attacks. In Mexicali, hundreds evacuated from buildings, and 35 were damaged, including several hospitals. [8] Structural damage and fires were reported. [9] Two people, a woman and her child were killed as they were fleeing a factory and was struck by an oncoming vehicle.
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Earthquakes
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America's next solar eclipse comes in 2024
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Updated on: August 21, 2017 / 8:06 PM / CBS/AP If you missed the solar eclipse on Monday, you won't need to wait another 99 years to see one. NASA says the next total solar eclipse visible from the U.S. will take place seven years from now, on April 8, 2024. But the next full coast-to-coast eclipse won't appear until 2045. During the 2024 eclipse, the moon's shadow will cross the U.S. border in southern Texas and move up into the eastern half of the country, passing over Dallas-Fort Worth; Cleveland, Ohio; Buffalo, New York; and on to Montreal. Curiously, it will also cross directly over Carbondale, Illinois, near the spot that experienced the longest stretch of totality during the 2017 eclipse. Millions of Americans who managed to catch the eclipse Monday saw the sun in the first solar eclipse visible in the U.S. since 1979 and the first to sweep the entire country from coast to coast in nearly a century. "It's really, really, really, really awesome," said 9-year-old Cami Smith as she watched the fully eclipsed sun from a gravel lane near her grandfather's home at Beverly Beach, Oregon. The temperature dropped, birds quieted down, crickets chirped and the stars came out in the middle of the day as the line of darkness raced 2,600 miles across the continent in about 90 minutes, bringing forth oohs, aahs, shouts and screams. David Avison of Lake Oswego, Oregon, began looking for a place to watch the eclipse six years ago in 2011. That's when his wife's British third cousin emailed them to announce they would be visiting for the eclipse. Avison's wife tried to make reservations at a nearby resort that same day but they were already booked. Instead, they took an overnight train Monday from Avison's home in his Portland suburb to the Oregon State Fairgrounds. He says people who want to see the next eclipse in 2024 ought to make reservations now. In Boise, Idaho, where the sun was more than 99 percent blocked, people clapped and whooped, and the street lights came on briefly, while in Nashville, Tennessee, people craned their necks at the sky and knocked back longneck beers at Nudie's Honky Tonk bar. At the Nashville Zoo, the giraffes and rhinos started running around crazily when the sun came back. Several minor-league baseball teams -- one of them, the Columbia Fireflies, outfitted for the day in glow-in-the-dark jerseys -- briefly suspended play. At the White House, despite all the warnings from experts about the risk of eye damage, President Trump took off his eclipse glasses and looked directly at the sun. It was the most-observed and most-photographed eclipse in history, with many Americans staking out prime viewing spots and settling onto blankets and lawn chairs to watch, especially along the path of totality -- the line of deep shadow created when the sun is completely obscured except for the delicate ring of light known as the corona. The shadow -- a corridor just 60 to 70 miles wide -- came ashore in Oregon and then traveled diagonally across the Midwest to South Carolina, with darkness from the totality lasting only about two to three wondrous minutes in any one spot. Students from Central Washington University in Ellensburg planned to launch a weather balloon intended to capture live video and photos of the eclipse. The CWU students were among 52 teams from 31 states taking part in a NASA project to document the eclipse. A $680,000 grant from NASA is paying for the work, the Yakima Herald-Republic reports. Professor Darci Snowden told the Yakima Herald-Republic that the balloon, launched from Culver, Oregon, will reach near the edge of the atmosphere of Earth. The rest of North America was treated to a partial eclipse, as were Central American countries and the top of South America. "We're all part of something celestial -- so much bigger than us, so mysterious," said Ed Sullivan, who traveled from Richmond, Virginia, to Glendo Reservoir in Wyoming. "There is so much to ponder I don't even know what questions to ask, but I enjoy just feeling the mystery." With 200 million people within a day's drive from the path of totality, towns and parks saw big crowds. Skies were clear along most of the route, to the relief of those who feared cloud cover would spoil this once-in-a-lifetime moment. "The show has just begun, people! What a gorgeous day! Isn't this great, people?" Jim Todd, a director at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, told a crowd of thousands at an amphitheater in Salem, Oregon, as the moon took an ever-bigger bite out of the sun. NASA reported 4.4 million people were watching its TV coverage midway through the eclipse, the biggest livestream event in the space agency's history. "It's like nothing else you will ever see or ever do," said veteran eclipse-watcher Mike O'Leary of San Diego, who set up his camera along with among hundreds of other amateur astronomers gathered in Casper, Wyoming. "It can be religious. It makes you feel insignificant, like you're just a speck in the whole scheme of things." John Hays drove up from Bishop, California, for the total eclipse in Salem, Oregon, and said the experience will stay with him forever. "That silvery ring is so hypnotic and mesmerizing, it does remind you of wizardry or like magic," he said. More than one parent was amazed to see teenagers actually look up from their cellphones. Matt Nagy, of Laramie, Wyoming, said that the eclipse made him "whoop and holler" and that even his two teenage daughters were impressed: "It takes a lot to get a teenager excited about something." Astronomers were giddy with excitement. A solar eclipse is considered one of the grandest of cosmic spectacles. NASA solar physicist Alex Young said the last time earthlings had a connection like this to the heavens was during man's first flight to the moon, on Apollo 8 in 1968. The first, famous Earthrise photo came from that mission and, like this eclipse, showed us "we are part of something bigger." NASA's acting administrator, Robert Lightfoot, watched with delight from a plane flying over the Oregon coast and joked about the NASA official next to him: "I'm about to fight this man for a window seat." Hoping to learn more about the sun's composition and activity, NASA and other scientists watched and analyzed from telescopes on the ground and in orbit, the International Space Station, airplanes and scores of high-altitude balloons beaming back live video. Citizen scientists monitored animal and plant behavior as day turned into twilight. Thousands of people streamed into the Nashville Zoo just to watch the animals' reaction and noticed how they got noisier at it got darker. The Earth, moon and sun line up perfectly every one to three years, briefly turning day into night for a sliver of the planet. But these sights normally are in no man's land, like the vast Pacific or Earth's poles. This is the first eclipse of the social media era to pass through such a heavily populated area. The moon hasn't thrown this much shade at the U.S. since 1918, during the nation's last coast-to-coast total eclipse. The last total solar eclipse on the U.S. was in 1979, but only five states in the Northwest experienced total darkness. The path of totality passed through 14 states, entering near Lincoln City, Oregon, at 1:16 p.m. EDT, moving over Casper, Wyoming; Carbondale, Illinois; and Nashville, Tennessee, and then exiting near Charleston, South Carolina, at 2:47 p.m. EDT. Shawnee National Forest in southern Illinois saw the longest stretch of darkness: 2 minutes and 44 seconds. Kim Kniseley drove overnight from Roanoke, Virginia, arriving in Madisonville, Tennessee, before dawn to get a parking spot at Kefauver Park, where by sunrise dozens of folks had claimed benches and set up tents. He said he could have stayed home in Roanoke and seen a partial eclipse of 90 percent, but that would have been like "going to a rock concert and you're standing in the parking lot."
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New wonders in nature
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2008 Namibia floods
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The 2008 Namibia floods took place in early February 2008, a rapid onset of heavy rains triggered floods in northern Namibia, leading to one of its worst floods in 50 years. [1] The floods had killed 42 people by early March[2] and an estimated 65,000 people were affected, primarily in the regions of Omusati, Oshikoto, Oshana, Ohangwena and Caprivi. [3] 40,000 people were assisted by the Namibian Red Cross[1] with 4,600 in relocation camps. [4] Over-crowding and insanitary conditions caused health concerns in relocation camps[3][5] and an outbreak of cholera was announced in March. [5] On 14 March, the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs triggered the International Charter for "Space and Major Disasters". [6] Staple crops were devastated and 52,000 people from flood-affected areas were considered in need of immediate of assistance to cover their basic food needs. [7][page needed] Deputy Prime Minister Libertine Amathila declared that the government would spend 65 million Namibian dollars to assist the displaced. [8] Long-term impacts included damage to farmland, housing, schools, roads and infrastructure across the region. [7][page needed] The floods reduced the resilience of the population who were left vulnerable to further flooding which occurred in 2009. [9]
The floods hit the northern Namibian regions of Omusati, Oshikoto, Oshana, Ohangwena, and Caprivi. [7][page needed] These regions are the most densely populated in the nation with an estimated 859,975 people, almost half of the total population. [7][page needed] Northern Namibia has a semi-arid climate with high temperatures. [10] The rain patterns are unpredictable, with varying amounts and timing, although the rainy season tends to fall from November to April. [10] The majority of the people living in the rural areas of northern Namibia rely on subsistence farming, but the poor soil, largely composed of clay and sand mixture, is not ideal for crop production. This results in high levels of chronic food insecurity in these regions. [7][page needed][11] These threats are exacerbated by poor health outcomes, as large swaths of the population do not have access to adequate medical services. [7][page needed] HIV/AIDS is especially prevalent in the area, with an estimated 23% of Namibians aged 15 to 49 testing HIV-positive. [7][page needed]
An estimated 65,000 people were affected by the floods. [3] 71 casualties were reported by March 2008 of which there were 42 deaths. [2][7][page needed] Deaths were predominantly children and the elderly who drowned crossing oshonas[what language is this?] (flood plains) at night. [12] Wounds resulting from walking in water were a problem in Caprivi. [7][page needed] Outreach clinics in rural areas were cut off by the flooding. [7][page needed]
Relocation camps were set up in the Engela District and Oshana Region and housed over 4,600 of the displaced. [4] Camps had limited or no access to latrines, waste disposal and clean tap water, and some camps were overcrowded. [11][3] An outbreak of cholera at Engela in the Ohangwena Region was announced in March. [5] An assessment undertaken 19–20 March by the World Health Organization (WHO) identified that the case fatality rate (CFR) for cholera may be under recorded and reported common acute diseases in the under fives to include malaria, diarrhea and respiratory infections. [11] Cholera cases were also reported at Odibo and Okatope. [11]
By the 16th of April, 958 cases of cholera, including four deaths, had been reported. [13] Engela Hospital, which was inaccessible by road, opened a cholera treatment centre. [13] WHO figures for cholera in Namibia for 2008 were 3,496 with 38 deaths (1.09% CFR)[14] compared to 14 cases in 2007 with 0 deaths (0% CFR). [15]
The floods significantly reduced yields of mahangu, the staple cereal food for the majority of the population in the Northern Central regions[7][page needed]. [16] The household stocks of mahangu were not expected to last beyond next the harvest, forcing the household to use savings to purchase food. [7][page needed] As low-income households could not easily compensate by lowering already minimal non-food expenditure, they were likely to shift food consumption towards lower calorie and less nutritious foods or simply reduce their food intake. [17]
The European Food Safety Authority mission estimated that compared to the previous agricultural season, there was an average 59% drop in production in the North Central Regions and 46% in affected areas of Caprivi. [7] As a result, 16.4% of the flood affected households in the Northern Central regions were food insecure rising to 32.5% in Caprivi, an area with a high prevalence of HIV/AIDS. [7][page needed] These households were unable to meet their daily nutritional requirements. [7][page needed] The population affected by the floods went from chronically food insecure[16] to acutely food insecure. [7][page needed] An estimated 52,000 people were in immediate need of assistance to cover their basic food needs in flood-affected areas. [7][page needed]
The Namibian government declared a state of emergency on 5 March 2008[18] and appealed to international community for assistance. [19] Working jointly with humanitarian agencies including UN, the government assessed damage extent and established critical needs in the affected areas. [18] The government of Namibia provided food supplies worth N$221,000 and non-food commodities worth N$5.3 million[3] and pledged N$65 million to assist the displaced. [8] The Emergency Management Unit in the Office of the Prime Minister delivered necessary food items to the affected regions using helicopters following roads damage. [18] Flood victims were evacuated to relocation centres in the Engela District and Oshana Region. [13]
The Namibian Red Cross supported over 40,000 people, who were moved back to their homes by end of August 2008. [1] The Red Cross distributed blankets, hygiene kits, water makers, mosquito nets, bar soaps in North-western regions. [1] In partnership with the Swedish Red Cross the Red Cross also provided agricultural items such as millet, sorghum, goats and chicken to improve food security among the most vulnerable in Ohangwena region. [1]
The United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs triggered the International Charter "Space and Major Disasters" to help the country battle against floods and the subsequent cholera outbreak that ravaged the country. [6] UNICEF trained community health activists, produced radio messages on cholera prevention and distributed water purification tablets in the affected areas. [13]
Since 2008, when the first serious Namibia floods disaster occurred, they have become a devastating, almost annual event that finds most households hardly recovered from the previous flood.
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Floods
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Aero Caribbean Flight 883 crash
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Aero Caribbean Flight 883 was a domestic scheduled passenger service from Port-au-Prince, Haiti to Havana, Cuba with a stopover in Santiago de Cuba. On 4 November 2010, the ATR 72 operating the route crashed in the central Cuban province of Sancti Spíritus, killing all 61 passengers and 7 crew members aboard. [1]
The aircraft departed Santiago de Cuba en route to Havana around 16:50 local time (20:50 UTC). [2] It was the last flight out of Santiago de Cuba airport before it was closed because of the approach of Hurricane Tomas. [3] At 17:42, the aircraft crashed near the village of Guasimal in Sancti Spíritus province, some 210 miles (340 km) southeast of Havana, after issuing a distress call. [2] Witnesses said the plane was "flying low and appeared unstable ... pouring out smoke and fire", before hearing an explosion. [4]
Medical facilities in Guasimal were put on alert to prepare for emergency patients. However, by midnight they were told to stand down as no survivors were expected. [4]
The aircraft involved was a twin-turboprop ATR 72-212 with Cuban registration CU-T1549,[5] in use with Cuba-based Aero Caribbean since October 2006. [4] It was delivered from the production line in 1995 to its first owner, Simmons Airlines and also with Continental Express as the second one. [6] According to the manufacturer, the plane had accumulated almost 25,000 flight hours in more than 34,500 flights. [4] Aero Caribbean is wholly owned by the government of Cuba. [7]
The passengers and crew were of various nationalities. In order to allow access to the crash site, rescue workers had to use bulldozers to plow through thick vegetation. [13] The aircraft was completely destroyed by the impact and resulting explosion, and all the victims' bodies were badly burned. [14] Investigators believe that the passengers had no time to react because all bodies were found in their own seats, which helped investigators with identifications. [15] The wreckage burned for hours after the crash. [16] The recovered bodies were to be sent to Cuba's Institute of Legal Medicine for identification. [4]
The day after the crash, on 5 November, rescue workers recovered the flight data and cockpit voice recorders. They were turned over to investigators for inspection and analysis. [4]
Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner sent a plane with relatives of the victims to bring home the bodies. [4] Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero,[4] South African President Jacob Zuma,[17] Polish President Bronisław Komorowski[18] and French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, in a message addressing Cuban Foreign Affairs Minister Eduardo Rodriguez Parrilla,[19] all sent condolences. The Civil Aviation Institute of Cuba (IACC) investigated the accident with assistance from aircraft manufacturer ATR and the French Bureau of Enquiry and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety (BEA). [20][21]
In December 2010, the IACC stated that the analysis of the flight recorders did not highlight any technical problem with the ATR 72. The airplane encountered severe icing conditions at 20,000 ft, which were not handled properly, leading to the crash. [3]
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Air crash
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Grandmother given 12 months to live makes emotional plea for funding of clinical cancer trial
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Gaynor van der Walt was “enormously surprised” when she was diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer in February this year and given only 12 months to live.
The 71-year-old grandmother of three had no related possible risk factors, like smoking, poor diet and lifestyle or family history of cancer.
She felt an “unbearable, “persistent” pain in her epigastric region, around her ribs and back and also lost about 10kg from a loss of appetite.
With the cancer being so difficult to detect, the Kensington Gardens resident saw a number of medical professionals in the year before her diagnosis.
Nine months on from her prognosis, Mrs van der Walt hopes to be selected for phase 1 clinical trials, run by the University of South Australia, for an experimental drug called Auceliciclib that targets certain enzymes and kills cancer cells without damaging healthy tissue.
“If I could leave one legacy in my life it would be (to get) people who are able to donate towards this research and dig deep in their pockets. It would be wonderful,” she said.
Gaynor van der Walt was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and given 12 months to live. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Naomi Jellicoe
“I’m aware it’s a stubborn tumour and it doesn’t respond to chemo(therapy) like it should and this looks like groundbreaking research.
“I would be very grateful to be part of the trial … but it’s about making people aware of the difficulty of treating pancreatic cancer and that more research needs to be done.”
The former nurse said all she wanted to do was to see her grandchildren grow up and watch them choose their path in life.
“I have to accept that now. I wouldn’t have the healthy mindset I have if I dwelled too much on everything that’s been taken from me. I have to live in the now,” she said.
“There have been times where I thought ‘why me when I’ve taken such good care of myself?’ but it’s just bad luck.
“It’s devastating for both my girls. We don’t have easy lives and I’ve been the centre and core of keeping all of us going, so the disappointment to me is letting everyone down.”
Johan van der Walt said there was an ‘uncertainty’ around their future and he would be ‘very keen’ for his wife to participate in the trial. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Naomi Jellicoe
Her husband of 25 years, Johan, 78, said it was “awful” having to watch his wife in pain but called her “an absolute star”.
“If Gaynor is a suitable candidate and meets the criteria for the trial, I’d be very keen for her to participate,” Mr van der Walt said.
“When she got the diagnosis, she was incredibly sick in the beginning.
“It’s now nine months later (since the prognosis) and the fact she’s so well at the moment is a real gift, but it signifies we live in a bubble and it could burst at any time.
“There is uncertainty about our future … it’s an absolute game changer.”
UniSA head of drug discovery and development Professor Shudong Wang is one of the researchers who developed Auceliciclib. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Kelly Barnes
About 90 per cent of pancreatic cancer patients die within the first five years of their diagnosis.
Just last year, 466,003 people around the world succumbed to the disease.
Auceliciclib, developed by UniSA head of drug discovery and development, Shudong Wang, was successfully trialled in animals and the researcher is hoping to recruit up to 10 pancreatic cancer patients for a human clinical trial.
The trial is subject to $350,000 being raised by the end of the year.
“Pancreatic cancer is extremely difficult to diagnose at an early stage as there are very few symptoms,” Professor Wang said.
“If it is caught early the malignant tumour can be surgically removed. However, once it spreads into other organs it is lethal, and chemotherapy and radiotherapy only buy patients a little extra time.”
The drug, taken as an oral tablet, has shown promising results in clinical trials to treat glioblastoma, the most aggressive form of brain cancer.
UniSA is launching a campaign to help fund this clinical trial and is accepting donations .
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Famous Person - Sick
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Queenslanders urged to dispose of masks properly as the mandated PPE clogs waterways
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Masks have helped us protect ourselves from COVID-19 for months now, but with the single-use PPE making its way into gutters and waterways, Queenslanders are being reminded to protect the environment as well.
Health Minister Yvette D'Ath has thanked the public for wearing them, but urged the community to properly dispose of their masks after use.
"We've been seeing a fair bit of littering of those disposable masks," Ms D'Ath said.
"Can we ask everyone to be responsible and dispose of your disposable masks in rubbish bins so they are not littered all over our streets and potentially going into our waterways."
Every month an estimated 130 billion masks are thrown into landfill around the world, which equates to 3 million masks every minute, according to study from the University of Southern Denmark.
Not long into the paramedic, images of birds and sea life tangled in the elastic of disposable masks acted as sobering reminder that it was not just human life threatened by the pandemic.
Mask wearers have been encouraged to cut or snap the strings on disposable masks before putting them in a bin, to ensure they cannot entangle wildlife.
Healthy Land and Water (HLW) is an independent organisation that collects data and rubbish from waterways in south-east Queensland, servicing the Brisbane River and tributaries, Logan River, Bremer River, Caboolture River and Pine River.
In the past 24 hours:
Queensland's vaccine rollout (percentage of those aged 16+):
HLW spokesperson Rachel Nasplezes said masks were now being found among the plastics and packaging her team collected.
"Our clean-up crew continue to find masks in areas where we have never seen them before, right across the four major catchments in south-east Queensland that our program services," Ms Nasplezes said.
"To add to the issue, we believe people are unlikely to pick up masks when they see them in the environment because of contamination risks, further increasing the opportunity of this litter pollution entering our waterways."
She said masks were more commonly found in waterways near hospital precincts, like Breakfast Creek and Norman Creek.
"Because [masks] are so lightweight, they lend themselves into being blow into storm water drains, which empty into our creeks, or blow directly into the local environment or waterways."
Ms Nasplezes said for the most part, people did not deliberately litter and awareness about the harm masks can cause the environment would help change behaviours.
Clean Up Australia told the ABC surgical masks could take up to 450 years to break down in the environment.
Researchers at RMIT University have been working on technology to enabled disposable masks to be used in making road materials including bitumen, asphalt and concrete.
"Basically, what we can do is shred the face masks and use them as road material," RMIT reseacher and engineer Mohammad Saberian said.
We offer tailored front pages for local audiences in each state and territory. Find out how to opt in for more Queensland news.
"Based on our study we found that the addition of face masks to road pavements … can provide stronger roads and also flexible roads for us.
"What we found is that to make 1 kilometre of a two-lane road, about 3 million masks can be used up."
While the preliminary studies have shown promising results, the technology has not yet been developed.
Before masks can be put in our roads the focus remains on keeping them out of our natural environments.
See our full coverage of coronavirus
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Environment Pollution
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Wrawby Junction rail crash
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The Wrawby Junction rail crash was a train crash which occurred on 9 December 1983, at Wrawby Junction, near Barnetby station in North Lincolnshire, England. It happened when a freight train collided at low speed with the side of a local passenger train. The first carriage of the passenger train was derailed and turned over onto its side, and one passenger was killed instantly. In the subsequent inquiry,[1] the accident was deemed to have been caused by a signalman failing to secure a set of points that he had operated manually after an equipment failure. Approximately half an hour before the accident, the signalman in charge of Wrawby Junction signal box had changed a set of points (No.89) to send a freight train into a siding, when he noticed a failure of a track circuit, which prevented him from re-setting the points to their normal position (and also meant that the signal closest to the signal box was stuck at "danger"). He thus made the decision that he and another railwayman would walk to the points and move them to the normal position manually, which they did. Upon returning to the signal box, he noticed that the indicator for No.89 points appeared to be malfunctioning - normally it would show the points set to one position or the other, but the lights that showed which position the points were set to were both extinguished. Meanwhile, the 15.02 freight train from Drax power station to Lindsey oil terminal, composed of a Class 47 diesel locomotive (47299) and nine empty 100-ton oil wagons, had drawn up to the signal which was stuck at danger, and received a green hand-signal from the signal box. At this point, the driver of the freight train should have drawn up to the signal box to receive instructions, but on seeing the next signal clear, started to pull away. At the same time, the 17.32 Cleethorpes to Sheffield local train, composed of a 2-carriage Class 114 diesel multiple unit, had left the nearby Barnetby station. The driver stopped at the Wrawby Junction home signal, which was at danger, but then he too saw the green hand-signal from the signal box and started to pull forwards slowly to stop at the signalbox for instructions. At some point between the railwaymen manually setting No.89 points, and the freight train reaching them, they had become reset to the previous position. The freight train, upon reaching the points, thus took the incorrect route and collided with the side of the passenger train. Despite the low speed of the collision, the heavy locomotive caused serious damage to the front coach of the passenger train, and one passenger, 19-year-old Rachel Taylor, was killed. The Department of Transport inquiry found the accident to be due to the railwaymen failing to secure the points in the position in which they had set them. The report suggested that the signalman (though he had no recollection of doing so) had attempted to set the points lever in his cabin to the position matching that to which they had set them. This would have reset the circuit so that the points actually moved to the original position. The driver of the freight train was also held partially responsible, as he should have stopped his train at the signal box to receive further instructions. The incident was later given a stranger twist by the claim that the locomotive involved had been re-numbered in order to prevent a psychic's premonition that a locomotive numbered 47216 would be involved in a fatal accident. [2] The freight train locomotive, 47299, had been renumbered from its previous designation of 47216 two years earlier, causing some confusion in rail enthusiast circles, as locomotives were only usually renumbered when some major mechanical alteration had been made to them, which was not the case. [3] A British Rail source described the issue as "an amazing coincidence". [4]
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Train collisions
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States as far south as Pennsylvania, Iowa and Oregon could experience a stunning light show in the skies on Saturday
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That means states as far south as Pennsylvania, Iowa and Oregon could experience a stunning light show in the skies on Saturday. Solar flares typically are detected after they happen and cannot be forecasted. An "X-class" flare is the most significant classification NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center also warned of a possible geomagnetic storm that could hit Earth Saturday. These can cause interference with high-frequency radio activity and GPS systems. A CME associated with Thursday's solar flare is expected to reach earth tomorrow. A G3 (Strong) Geomagnetic Storm Watch is in effect for Saturday and Sunday, and may drive the aurora over the Northeast, to the upper Midwest, to WA state. This isn't the furthest south the lights have been seen. In 2003 , the aurora borealis were visible in Texas and Florida. How to watch the show The northern United States could see the northern lights late Saturday night into Sunday morning, as far as 100 miles south of the Canadian border. The skies across the northeast may be covered in clouds due to a weather system passing through, but astronomers say it's still worth trying to catch the show. In Philadelphia, scattered showers are forecasted Saturday night, which could make it difficult to view the lights. It will remain mostly cloudy, but is expected to clear up into Sunday morning, according to the National Weather Service . To view the lights, find a patch of land that offers an unobstructed view of the northern horizon. If you can see the stars, you're in a good spot that isn't experiencing too much light pollution. Cameras can also detect the lights before the human eye can. If you miss the lights or cannot see them, there's a chance they could come back later this season. Earth is entering solar maximum — a period of increased solar activity — and more aurora borealis events are likely.
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New wonders in nature
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1912 Brisbane general strike
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The 1912 Brisbane General Strike in Queensland, Australia, began when members of the Australian Tramway and Motor Omnibus Employees' Association were dismissed when they wore union badges to work on 18 January 1912. They then marched to Brisbane Trades Hall where a meeting was held, with a mass protest meeting of 10,000 people held that night in Market Square (also known as Albert Square, now King George Square). The Brisbane tramways were owned by the General Electric Company of the United Kingdom. Despite this they were managed by Joseph Stillman Badger, an American, who refused to negotiate with the Queensland peak union body, then known as the Australian Labour Federation. After this rebuff a meeting of delegates from forty-three Brisbane based Trade Unions formed the Combined Unions Committee and appointed a General Strike Committee. The trade unionists of Brisbane went out on a general strike on 30 January 1912, not just for the right to wear a badge but for the basic right to join a union. Within a few days the Strike Committee became an alternative government. No work could be done in Brisbane without a special permit from the Strike Committee. The committee organised 500 vigilance officers to keep order among strikers and set up its own Ambulance Brigade. Government departments and private employers needed the Strike Committee's permission to carry out any work. The Strike Committee issued strike coupons that were honoured by various firms. Red ribbons were generally worn as a mark of solidarity, not only by people but also on pet dogs and horses pulling carts. Daily processions and public rallies were held to keep strikers occupied. On the second day of the strike over 25,000 workers marched from the Brisbane Trades Hall to Fortitude Valley and back with over 50,000 supporters watching from the sidelines. The procession was described as being led by Labor parliamentarians, with the procession being eight abreast and two miles (3 km) long, with a contingent of 600 women. The strike spread throughout Queensland with many regional centres organising processions through their towns. The strike committee regularly issued an official Strike Bulletin to counter the expected anti-union bias in mainstream newspapers. It was only when the strike spread to the railways that the Queensland government became concerned about the situation. At this juncture it banned processions, swore in special constables and issued bayonets to its police force. Commonwealth military officers and spare-time troops volunteered as special constables, and many of the specials wore their commonwealth uniforms into action. An application by the strike committee for a permit for a march on 2 February 1912 was refused by Police Commissioner William Geoffrey Cahill – the day came to be called Black Friday for the savagery of the police baton charges on crowds of unionists and supporters. Despite the refusal of a permit, a crowd estimated at 15,000 turned up in Market Square. Police and Specials attacked crowds in Albert Street under the direction of Cahill, who shouted, "Give it to them, lads! Into them." Meanwhile, Emma Miller, a pioneer trade unionist and suffragist, led a group of women and girls to parliament house and, while returning along Queen Street, were batoned and arrested by a large contingent of foot and mounted police. Emma Miller, a frail woman in her 70s barely weighing 35 kilograms, stood her ground, pulled out her hat pin and stabbed the rump of the Police Commissioner's horse. The horse reared and threw off the Police Commissioner, giving him an injury resulting in a limp for the rest of his life. There is some debate that Miller's hatpin stabbed Cahill in the leg. [1][2]
The riding down and batoning of peaceful people, many of them being elderly and women and children on the footpath, was widely condemned, not only in union papers such as the Worker, but also in the more conservative papers such as Truth. It was initially called Baton Friday, but later came to be popularly known as Black Friday. Conservative Queensland Premier Digby Denham, viewed the strike committee as an opposing alternate administration and said there were "not going to be two governments" and opposed all further permits for processions. When he attempted to enlist support of the Federal Government in the use of the military, he was rebuffed by the Labor Prime Minister, Andrew Fisher, member for the Queensland seat of Gympie. Fisher had also received a request for military support from the Combined strike committee, but declined this offer preferring to send a monetary donation in support of the strike. Justice H.B. Higgins in the Federal Arbitration Court ruled that the precipitating event was a lockout rather than a strike, and that the regulation refusing tramwaymen the right to wear their union badges on duty was both unauthorised and unreasonable. Higgins could not intervene in restoration of jobs. [3]
When the Employers Federation agreed on 6 March 1912 that there would be no victimisation of strikers the strike officially ended. The savagery of the baton charges by the Queensland Police Service and specials on Black Friday created a bitterness and hatred of the police which would last for several decades. The strike reinforced solidarity and collective identity of the Australian labour movement in Queensland. The Denham government immediately won an ensuing election on a "Law and Order" platform and passed the Industrial Peace Act of 1912 ushering in compulsory arbitration specifically to deter strikes in essential services. Employees of the tramway company who had struck were sacked. The tramway company refused to ever re-hire these workers. When the tram system was acquired by the Queensland Government in 1922 the sacked workers were reinstated. Badges on uniforms – the cause of the strike – were forbidden even when the tram system (and later bus system) was under government and later Brisbane City Council control and were to remain forbidden until 1980. In the aftermath of the strike three years later there was an electoral swing to Labor all over Queensland, and the second Queensland Labor Government was elected in 1915, led by T. J. Ryan. The play, Faces in the street : a story of Brisbane during the general strike of 1912 : a play in two acts written by Errol O'Neill was performed for the first time in 1983 by La Boite Theatre. [4]
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Strike
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Police investigate financial crime allegation at North Norfolk District Council
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Updated: 7:17 PM November 21, 2020
The North Norfolk District Council offices at Cromer. Photo: Archant - Credit: © ARCHANT NORFOLK PHOTOGRAPHIC
Detectives have been called in to investigate an allegation of financial irregularity at North Norfolk District Council (NNDC), we can reveal.
The allegation dates from last year and involves how a contract was awarded by NNDC to a consultant to carry out a review into the way it was operating.
Last December, the council concluded that there was no need to take any action about the way it had, under its new Liberal Democrat leadership, awarded the contract to carry out a “Capability Review”.
But an allegation was later made to Norfolk police which was then passed on to Cambridgeshire police to look at.
A spokesman for the force confirmed: “We are investigating an allegation of criminal financial irregularity within NNDC in 2019.
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Famous Person - Commit Crime - Investigate
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Developing AI based predictive technologies for epidemic management and preparedness
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Artificial Intelligence (AI) companies like BlueDot and Metabiota were able to correctly identify unusual cases of pneumonia in Wuhan, China more than a week before the World Health Organization (WHO) formally warned about the impending COVID-19 epidemic. Interestingly, these American companies were situated far away from the epicentre. They relied on local Chinese news outlets and health reports as data for their sophisticated Natural Language Processing (NLP) algorithms to make these early predictions. However, predicting the evolutionary course of a pandemic becomes increasingly difficult, as the pandemic progresses in time and geography, due to lack of availability of reliable data. Effective surveillance at the epicentre of a potential outbreak becomes imperative. The challenge is that often the location of an outbreak is a moving target. Future technologies will include detecting pathogenic agents at the most vulnerable of places, eg. hospitals and clinics, in a round the clock manner. Especially for airborne diseases, bio-degradable sticker based patches will be affixed on the outer surfaces of masks, face shields and PPE suits of frontline health workers that will collect airborne pathogens periodically. The intensity of pathogenic material captured by these devices will serve as an indicator for the severity of the epidemic prevailing at that time in the immediate geographical neighbourhood. This data will be stored dynamically in a centralised cloud-based server and will populate the probability entries of a certain stochastic matrix. The severity level of the prevailing disease outbreak (eg. mild, moderate or severe) will constitute the state space of this stochastic matrix. The entries of this matrix will denote the transition probabilities between any two states (severity levels). In this manner, a provincial model of the epidemic can be developed in the form of these probability matrices using a computer. A detailed mathematical analysis of such matrices using AI will give us predictive capabilities about the changing landscape of the epidemic over time. Provincial heat maps can be constructed based on the predictions of this stochastic model and resource optimisation (eg. drug and vaccine delivery, availability of PPE kits for health workers, oxygen supply, etc.) can be conducted by public health administrators in a scientifically cohesive and efficient manner. This will reduce resource wastage. Further, in many countries, and especially while under duress from a surge in caseloads, effective testing strategies become paramount. One of the successful methodologies is to perform pool testing whence many samples are mixed together and tested. If such a pooled test comes negative, then all patient samples in the specific pool may be deemed to have tested negative. Concomitantly, machine learning algorithms can be fed with demographic, personal and historical (eg. travel history of people) data to select optimal grouping strategies for pool testing by winnowing out high risk individuals. Pool testing with low risk individuals will speed up testing and increase its efficiency. Thus, AI based machine learning algorithms can be effectively used in tandem with pool-testing methods to scale up testing and quickly expand the scope of disease surveillance. Epidemiological forecasts and smart testing strategies, described above, are not the only avenues where AI can play a major role in future pandemics. Computational models of protein structures are often based on state of the art AI technologies that will play a leading role in drug design and delivery. For example, a free modelling methodology based on deep learning techniques of the AlphaFold system of DeepMind (a Google subsidiary) was successfully used in predicting protein folding mechanisms, without relying on prior templates, to design new drugs that neutralised the viral proteins. Such technologies enable rapid discovery and prototyping of drugs 4 and vaccines that are necessary in the event of a sudden epidemic outbreak. One of the frustrating unknowns about a pandemic like the COVID-19 is the unpredictable course of disease progression in affected people – while some patients have managed to escape with mild symptoms, others with seemingly similar physical traits have suffered from severe disease. At the peak of an outbreak, this unknown factor makes the task of doctors difficult in prioritising treatment to patients presenting themselves at hospitals with SARS-CoV2 symptoms, and especially those who will progress to severe disease eventually and may have benefitted from early aggressive intervention. AI based technologies will play a major role in early prognosis of severe disease in patients that will in turn enable medical practitioners to undertake scientifically informed decisions about the treatment strategy for individual patients. This will save many 5 precious lives. As history suggests, intermittent occurrences of epidemics are something we will have to deal with in the foreseeable future. In such scenarios, what will progressively become a game changer in our ability to effectively combat the disease is an effective multi-pronged approach. This will include artificial intelligence technologies powered by state of the art mathematical models, reliable data, and effective surveillance mechanisms. (The author is Faculty, Plaksha University. Views expressed are personal and do not reflect the official position or policy of the Financial Express Online.)
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Disease Outbreaks
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Tasmanian fishing company fined record amount for diesel spill at Hobart wharf
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A fishing company has been given a record fine for a discharge of oil into Tasmanian waters.
Australian Longline was fined $40,000 and the captain of its boat, the Janas, was fined $5,000.
The ship spilt 400 litres of diesel into the River Derwent on November 5, 2015.
The previous biggest fine given to a company in Tasmania for the same offence previously was $9,000.
The Hobart Magistrates Court heard the spill created a 400-metre slick in an area inhabited by the endangered spotted handfish and Derwent sea star.
The spill occurred while the boat was refuelling at Hobart's Macquarie Wharf Number 3.
Magistrate Simon Cooper found the crew had failed to put the bung into the tank, which is designed to catch any spillage.
"I accept this offending is not the worst of its type, however a simple basic precaution could have prevented the offence for occurring in the first place," Mr Cooper said.
There's no evidence of actual environmental harm, but the potential of harm was present and is the reason for such legislation."
The maximum penalty for the offence is $397,500 or four years jail for the individual and $1.59 million for a company.
"The penalties just show how seriously Parliament views offences of this type," Mr Cooper said.
The court heard the Tasmanian-based international fishing company fished in some of the world's most environmentally sensitive waters.
Including Macquarie Island and Antarctica and has plans to expand into waters off South America, South Africa, New Zealand and the United States.
Australian Longline leased the Janas from New Zealand company Talley's after its toothfish quota doubled in 2015, and as part of that agreement its crew were largely from New Zealand.
The court was told the agreement made Australian Longline and not Talley's responsible for the spill and that the Tasmanian company had to pay tens of thousands of dollars to indemnify Talley's after the spill.
)
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Environment Pollution
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2008 Vietnam floods
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The 2008 Vietnam floods affected north and central Vietnam, as well as southern parts of the People's Republic of China after three days of heavy raining. [1] The rainfall, which began October 30, is the heaviest in 24 years, a state meteorological official told the Vietnam News Agency,[2] and were the worst floods in Hanoi since 1984. [3][4] At least 66 in Vietnam[5] and 34 in China[6] have been killed because of the flooding. Overall, 15,000 families evacuated their homes, and almost 100 schools, 100,000 houses, 241,000 hectares of crops, and 25,400 hectares of fish farms were submerged or damaged in the floodwaters. [1][7]
The floods killed a total of 66 people in Vietnam. In Hanoi, 20, including 3 children,[8] were found dead after 13 more bodies were recovered. [4] Up to one meter of water flooded the city's streets, and transportation was halted. [9] Food prices, especially those of meat and vegetables, reached exorbitant highs in the city, as the rains ruined many crops. [9] Schools were closed on November 3,[10] and damage in Hanoi exceeded 3 trillion Vietnamese đồng ($US 177 million). [11]
Elsewhere in Vietnam, 10 people, including 4 children were killed in Nghệ An Province from the floods. [9] 17 were killed in Hà Tĩnh Province,[7] 4 each in Quảng Ngãi Province and Quảng Bình Province,[12] 3 in Bắc Giang Province,[13] 2 each in Hòa Bình Province,[11] Thái Nguyên Province,[13] and Vĩnh Phúc Province,[14] and 1 each in Ninh Bình Province,[13] Phú Thọ Province,[13] Quảng Nam Province,[15] and Phú Yên Province. [15] In addition water levels on the Cả River, Hoang Long, the upper Ma River were very high. [8] The Vietnamese Army and Vietnamese Red Cross using boats and amphibious Military vehicles to rescue survivors. Military helicopters delivered food and water supplies to residents of flooded villages cut off by the floods. Most roads leading to these areas had been washed away. 1,000 Vietnamese soldiers led rescue work, searching for bodies. [16]
The heavy rains affected southern parts of the People's Republic of China as well, causing mudslides and floods, and killing a total of 34 there. [6] Yunnan Province was hit the hardest, where 26 were killed and 45 remain missing. [6] 8 were killed in Pingguo, Guangxi. [6] Overall, 410,000 were affected in China, and 3,200 homes there were damaged or destroyed. [17]
Media related to 2008 Hanoi floods at Wikimedia Commons
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Floods
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Malaga: Driver suffers critical injuries after crashing into pole, roads closed
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A crash in Perth’s north has caused traffic mayhem this afternoon, closing down an intersection in Malaga. Emergency services were called to the horrific crash site at the intersection of Beach and Camboon roads where a white car collided with a pole. The soul occupant of the vehicle received critical injuries in the crash, which unfolded just after 1.30pm. St John Ambulance remain at the scene. No other injuries have been reported. Roads have been closed in the area with traffic blocks in place. The intersection has been shut down for several hours now while police investigate. It is expected to remain closed for several more hours and motorists are advised to avoid the area as traffic is heavy. Today’s crash comes after a young woman died Wednesday after an incident in Lesmurdie. Emergency services were called after a gold Hyundai Accent crashed into a power pole along Welshpool Road East, near Melaleuca Road, in the Perth Hills about 11.25am. A 23-year-old passenger received critical injuries and was rushed to Royal Perth Hospital, where she died a short time later. The male driver, aged in his 30s, was taken to St John of God in Midland for treatment on minor injuries. Major Crash detectives are investigating today’s crash. Anyone with information is asked to contact Crime Stoppers or make a report online. Sign up for our emails
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Road Crash
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Marie Curie is still remembered with great respect among the world's greatest scientists.
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Marie Curie is still remembered with great respect among the world's greatest scientists. She did not even care for her life for science and continued to experiment with radioactivity after it became a dangerous form after it was discovered, and regardless of her life, she is the only woman in the world to have been awarded the Nobel Prize twice. But she is called more for serving an excellent personality and humanity. She is still remembered on her birthday on November 7. Their radioactive discoveries are said to be the basis of modern science.
Work Mass: Madam Curie preferred to work in the Age Lab and spent most of her time in the lab. Not only that, but she also spends her life around studies. She also worked as a governing worker in the early days and studied tuition because of her interest in studies. Between studies and even after that she faced economic challenges in life. In Paris, she had so few clothes that she wore all her clothes in winter to escape the cold. Yet her highest expenditure was on experiments.
Nobel Prize records: Madam Curie also holds many unique records about the Nobel Prize that no one has ever broken. She was the first woman to win the Nobel Prize. Even today, she is the only woman to have won two Nobel Prizes and won Nobel prizes in two different fields. In 1955, her daughter Irene also won the Nobel Prize. She is thus the only woman whose children won the Nobel Prize. Not many people know that Madam Curie won the first Nobel with her husband.
Two special discoveries: Madam Curie discovered two new elements Polonium and Radium. After receiving the Nobel Prize in the purification of radium in 2011, she devoted her time to the development of X-ray radiography during World War I. After which she devoted a lot of her time to the use of radioactivity in the medical field.
Raima Sen turned 42, still a virgin
Bipin Chandra Pal, the father of revolutionary ideas
Chandrashekhar Venkataraman made India famous in the world of science
News Track is a leading provider of news, information and entertainment across broadcast television, mobile platforms, digital media and Print media serving consumers and advertisers in strong local markets, primarily in the Madhya Pradesh & Chhattisgarh states. The company's operations include India's First ON WHEEL NEWS CHANNEL, News Paper, Event Management, and Marketing and their associated digital and mobile media services.
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Awards ceremony
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MSF: US withdrawal from the World Health Organization would be dangerous and self-defeating
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NEW YORK, JULY 8, 2020—The Trump Administration’s decision to withdraw from the World Health Organization (WHO) could have life-threatening consequences for people around the globe, said the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). The WHO, while in need of reforms, plays a vital role in coordinating global medical research, producing evidence-based guidelines, and supporting national governments to respond to urgent public health crises. The COVID-19 global pandemic is certainly no time to walk away from this global health agency, of which the US is a founding member. The WHO provides a forum for countries to work together to address international health emergencies—something that is needed more than ever as COVID-19 tears through communities everywhere. The Trump Administration sent an official notice of withdrawal to the United Nations, dated July 6, 2020, which could take effect one year from now and only after the US pays its current debts to the WHO. The US is the WHO’s largest funder, contributing $426 million to its 2018-2019 budget. MSF does not receive any financial support from the WHO or the US government and is not directly affected by the potential withdrawal. Avril Benoît, MSF-USA executive director, said of this week’s action: “The Trump Administration’s decision to withdraw from the WHO is extremely dangerous and self-defeating—particularly as we are engaged in the fight of our lives to contain a global pandemic. We can’t end the COVID-19 pandemic without ending it everywhere, and that requires strengthening international cooperation, not gutting it. Responding to this emergency requires pooling our knowledge and skills, sharing evidence and information—all critical functions supported by the WHO. The US cannot afford to abandon its leadership on global public health and retreat into isolationism in the midst of this crisis. And for the US to walk away from the table at a time when the public health needs are so immense is dangerous for everyone, everywhere. "The US has long enjoyed extraordinary leverage within the WHO, as its largest financial backer and a major source of expertise. US institutions—especially the Centers for Disease Control and the National Institutes of Health—have benefited from important collaborations with the WHO. The US has worked with the agency on lifesaving initiatives, including on disease eradication, vaccinations, child malnutrition, HIV/AIDS, and tuberculosis. "The WHO provides an international forum to help bring attention to public health issues and increase access to care. "MSF has been critical of the WHO and recognizes the need for reforms. However there is a big difference between constructive and destructive criticism. The US would only lose its ability to push for any changes at the WHO by surrendering its membership. A pandemic is certainly not the time to play politics with public health. "The WHO has a clear role to play in the places where MSF teams work to help people struggling to access health care. We see WHO teams in countries with shattered health systems in desperate need of support, in war zones, in the midst of natural disasters, and while responding to epidemics. From Yemen to Bangladesh to Brazil, we share the same goals to protect the health of vulnerable people who are often forgotten. "By choosing not to support the WHO, the US would be hurting the millions of people whose lives and health depend on the agency's work—which includes technical assistance to governments on the ground during an outbreak, conducting clinical trials for much-needed drugs, managing the surveillance of diseases to enable quick and effective outbreak response, and developing guidelines for the treatment of deadly illnesses. This would be a devastating legacy.”
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Withdraw from an Organization
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PICS: From Varun Dhawan To Dia Mirza, Bollywood Celebs Who Recently Got Married
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It’s the season of weddings in tinsel town. Several Bollywood celebs including Varun Dhawan, Dia Mirza and Priyaank Sharma have recently got hitched to their partners. Many B-town stars opted for a low-key ceremony due to the COVID-19 crisis. Dia Mirza, who was last seen in 'Thappad', got hitched to private equity professional Vaibhav Rekhi in an intimate ceremony on February 15 in Mumbai. The couple's marriage ceremony was solemnised by a female priest. Varun Dhawan and Natasha Dalal's wedding became the talk of the town as a Bollywood A-lister got married after a long time. The couple tied the knot in the presence of their loved ones on January 24 at Alibaug. The likes of Karan Johar, Shashank Khaitan and Manish Malhotra attended their wedding. Veteran actress Padmini Kolhapure's son Priyaank Sharma got hitched to his long-time girlfriend Shaza Morani in a court marriage on February 4. The newly married couple hosted a wedding bash in Mumbai, which was attended by Shraddha Kapoor and her rumoured boyfriend Rohan Shrestha. Shamata Anchan, who played the lead role in Ashutosh Gowariker's 'Everest', got married to Gaurav Verma on February 8. The couple took nuptial vows according to North and South traditions and customs. The actress was seen in the film 'Darbar', which starred Rajinikanth in a lead role. Bollywood singer Shilpa Rao, who has crooned songs like 'Ghungroo' and 'Bulleya', tied the knot with Ritesh Krishnan in a hush-hush ceremony on January 25. The talented singer later posted her first selfie with hubby to announce her wedding. (All PICS Credit: Instagram)
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Famous Person - Marriage
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2007 South American Junior Championships in Athletics
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The 37th South American Junior Championships in Athletics (Campeonatos Sudamericanos de Atletismo de Juveniles) were held
at the Estádio Ícaro de Castro Melo in São Paulo, Brazil from June
30-July 1, 2007. The Champions for
men's 10,000m, both Race Walking and Combined Events were extracted from the
classification of the 2007 Pan American Junior Athletics Championships held at the
same site one week later from July 6 to July 8, 2007. [1]
A detailed report on the results was given. [2] Best performances were the two South American Junior records by Alonso Edward from Panamá in 10.28s in the men's 100m competition, and Jorge McFarlane from Perú who achieved 13.76s (0.0 m/s) in the first heat in 110m hurdles men. Detailed result lists can be found on the CBAt website,[3] and on the "World Junior Athletics History"
website. [4] An unofficial count yields the number of about 224
athletes from about 12 countries: Argentina (20), Bolivia (3), Brazil (72),
Chile (34), Colombia (28), Ecuador (17), Guyana (3), Panama (3), Paraguay (9),
Peru (10), Uruguay (2), Venezuela (23). Medal winners are published on the CACAC website,[5] on the IAAF website[2]
Complete results can be found on the CBAt website,[3] on a session by session base[1][6][7][8][9]
and on the "World Junior Athletics History"
website. [4]
The medal count was published. [1]
* Host nation (Brazil)
The placing tables for team trophy (overall team, men and women categories) were published. [1]
The trophies for the most outstanding performance were awarded to Juan Pablo Maturana (Colombia), gold medalist in the men's 400m, 400m hurdles,
and 4 × 100 m relay events, and to Giselle Marcolino de Albuquerque (Brazil),
gold medalist in the women's 100m hurdles and triple jump events.
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Sports Competition
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Trump is more a deal breaker than observer of international law, treaties and agreements
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Throughout his time in office, Trump proved he's more a deal breaker than observer of international law, treaties and agreements. He abandoned the landmark 1987 INF Treaty with Russia, the 2016 Security Council adopted JCPOA, the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement, and the 2016 Trans-Pacific Partnership, a latter positive move unlike his other unilateral pullouts. He also withdrew from UNESCO and the UN Human Rights Council, threatened to leave the World Trade Organization, and suspended US funding to the WHO. New START with Russia is next on his list to abandon, the nuclear arms control treaty expiring in February 2021. Effective January 1, 2002, 34 European states, the US, and Russia adopted the Open Skies Treaty (OST), other nations welcomed to join. After threatening to withdraw from the OST earlier, Trump on Thursday confirmed that he's abandoning the treaty, falsely saying: "Russia didn't adhere to the treaty (sic), so until they adhere we will pull out…" On the same day, Trump regime assistant war secretary Jonathan Hoffman falsely accused Moscow of "flagrantly and continuously violat(ing) its obligations under Open Skies (sic)," adding: Russia "contribute(s) to military threats against the US and our allies and partners (sic)." Fact: Russia threatens no other nations. It pursues cooperative relations with world community member states, at war against none. Fact: The same reality is true about all nations on the US target list for regime change. Fact: Since Truman preemptively attacked North Korea in June 1950, the US has been at war against one nation after another, along with waging war against many more countries by other means. On Thursday, Pompeo said the Trump regime "will submit (formal) notice of its decision to withdraw from the" OST to other treaty signatories, the move effective six months from May 22. The OST permits unarmed aerial surveillance over the entire territory of signatory countries. It's a confidence-building measure to promote openness, letting treaty members get information on military forces and activities for national security reasons. The US FY 2019 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) suspended funding related to OST cooperation with Russia, the measure stating: "None of the funds authorized to be appropriated by this Act…may be obligated or expended to carry out any activities to modify any United States aircraft for purposes of implementing the Open Skies Treaty" with Russia – until the president certifies to Congress that penalties have been imposed on the Kremlin for alleged treaty violations that don't exist. At the time, Moscow strongly denied the false accusation, again after Thursday's Trump regime announcement. See below. The NDAA prohibits US military cooperation with Russia indefinitely. It falsely accused the Kremlin of annexing Crimea and failing to the implement Minsk I and II — ceasefire agreements to end US-supported Ukraine aggression against its own Donbass citizens in the country's southwest. Annual NDAA measures have nothing to do with protecting the US from threats to its security. None exist. They have everything to do with waging endless wars by hot and other means against sovereign nations the US wants transformed into vassal states. Abandoning OST based on Big Lies moves the US a step closer toward rupturing relations with Russia. In response to the Trump regime's action, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the following: "Let me draw your attention. It is the Russian side that has clear and long-formulated claims against the Americans as to (non)compliance with this agreement." "And today, right now, we will reiterate these claims, these thorny issues." "We described (them) in detail. In particular in February, we put together on our resources all the claims that we had, making them publicly available." "These are far from all claims, but (are) the most evident." "For example, we said that since 2017 the US has tightened its approaches to fulfilling this treaty in regard to Russia, and since January 2018, several restrictions have been imposed against our country." "This (includes) the refusal to grant permission to depart from US rules of air traffic and norms of aviation security and changing special procedures for performing observation flights over the Hawaiian Islands by limiting maximum range of flights from Hickam airbase, and the refusal to allow overnight stops on mainland US and many other things." The OPT "has a format of implementation. (It) has commitments of parties, which were confirmed on paper." "In view of this, this public debate or public commentaries, mildly speaking, are not enough to draw conclusions on US plans." "There are mechanisms of their implementation. Namely, there is a respective commission, where one can come and announce claims." "There are also diplomatic channels, upon which we expect certain clarification of the US side in order to shape our attitude to their position." "This is routinely and normally done by diplomats. I believe that after this we will formulate our approach." Separately, director of Russia's Foreign Ministry Department for Non-Proliferation and Arms Control Vladimir Yermakov stressed that Trump regime accusations of OST breaches by Moscow are baseless. The treaty aims to build and maintain transparency relating to arms control agreements — in the interest of world peace and stability. In response to the Trump regime's Thursday announcement, Russia's envoy to the UN in Vienna Mikhail Ulyanov said the following: "It is easier to break than to build. The treaty worked for two decades and ensured transparency, a higher level of trust on military issues in the transatlantic region." "But the decision to leave, apparently, explains the US idea of a 'new era' of arms control. The 'new era' seems to mean no control." The Trump regime "decided to cut down one more multi-party treaty on arms control…" It wants to operate unrestrained in developing and deploying weapons of mass destruction, the US perhaps intending to use them one day. Today's infinitely more powerful thermo-nukes make Fat Man and Little Boy atom bombs look like toys by comparison. In December 2016, Popular Mechanics said thermo-nukes "are more than 3,000 times (more) powerful (than) the bomb dropped on Hiroshima." Current nukes may exceed this destructive force. The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) is dedicated to the elimination of these WMDs before they eliminate us and all other life forms.
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Withdraw from an Organization
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Drugged SA man jailed over fatal crash
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A drugged and disqualified driver who killed a friend in a car rollover in South Australia's Riverland has been jailed for almost four years. Jason Kyle Ramsay pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated causing death by dangerous driving and one count of aggravated causing harm in relation to the crash in May last year. Sentencing the 21-year-old on Wednesday, District Court Judge Ian Press said Ramsay should not have been behind the wheel as he was already banned from driving. "That you also decided to drive so soon after consuming methylamphetamine suggests a complete disregard for your obligations and responsibilities on the road," the judge said. Immediately prior to the crash, Ramsay had looked "out of it" according to a passenger in the car who hit him two or three times to get him to come to. "But it was too late. You were about halfway through a sweeping curve but you continued in a straight line and left the road," Judge Press said. "You crashed into a concrete drain and the vehicle flipped onto its roof." Adrian Hobinchet, 24, was killed in the crash while another man suffered serious injuries including a broken ankle, lung contusions and a perforated bowel. The court heard that victim impact statements from the dead man's family spoke of their dreadful sense of loss and their struggles to find a way to move forward. "Whilst I doubt you need to be reminded, it is clear that your actions on that day are having long-term consequences for other people," Judge Press told Ramsay. "It is to your credit that you have written to Adrian's family. It is to be hoped that the understanding and compassion each of them have shown towards you is something you will keep at the forefront of your mind upon your eventual release." Ramsay was jailed for three years and 11 months with a non-parole period of three years and six days. He was also disqualified from driving for 10 years. Judge Press said it was important to stress that the sentence could not purport to represent the worth of the dead man's life or the pain his family felt.
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Road Crash
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1995 Alaska Boeing E-3 Sentry accident crash
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The Alaska Boeing E-3 Sentry accident was the 22 September 1995 crash of a United States Air Force Boeing E-3 Sentry airborne early warning aircraft with the loss of all 24 crewmembers on board. [2] The aircraft, serial number 77-0354 with callsign Yukla 27, hit birds on departure from Elmendorf Air Force Base in Alaska, United States. With the loss of thrust from both of the left engines the aircraft crashed into a wooded area less than a mile from the end of the runway. [1]
The Sentry was being operated by the 962d Airborne Air Control Squadron and was scheduled for a training sortie with the callsign Yukla 27. The aircraft was to depart from runway 06 and was waiting while a Hercules transport aircraft took off ahead of it. With its crew unaware that the Hercules had disturbed a flock of Canada geese, the Sentry lined up and started its departure roll. As the E-3 rotated it ingested multiple birds into its number 1 and 2 engines . The crew started to dump fuel and initiated a turn to the left to return to the airfield, but with a full fuel load and having lost two engines on the same wing, it was unable to maintain altitude. After the aircraft reached 250 feet it descended and crashed into a hilly, wooded area, and exploded. [1]
The investigation concluded that the probable cause was the ingestion of Canada Geese into the number 1 and 2 engines. Other factors included the insufficient efforts of the air base to deter the birds, and the failure of the air traffic control tower to report to both the Sentry and the airfield management that birds were present on the airfield. [1]
The sequence of events during impact was also determined. The aircraft struck the ground nose first and slid to the top of a hill, where the empennage (tail section) broke off. "As the [aircraft] cleared the second hill, it rolled over. The fuselage broke up as the [aircraft] rolled. The outboard right wing impacted on the left side of the wreckage, the right-hand wing broke off and the rotodome section impacted on its back, breaking up the rest of the aircraft. "[3]
Investigators reviewed the flight and wreckage path of the accident aircraft. "The [aircraft] lifted off and flew approximately [1.28 kilometers (0.8 mile)] before contacting trees," the report said. "The [aircraft] then flew approximately [0.72 kilometers (0.45 mile)] before making contact with the ground and crashing in a fireball. "[3]
The Boeing E-3 Sentry serial number 77-0354 was built as an E-3A variant with the Boeing construction number 21554 and line number 933. It first flew on 5 July 1978 and was delivered to the United States Air Force on 19 January 1979. It was later modified by Boeing to E-3B standard. [2]
This aircraft was used on the first day of the Desert Storm air war, with its crew controlling the intercept and shootdown of four Iraqi fighter aircraft in far western Iraq. [citation needed]
The aircraft was also involved in the 14 April 1994 Black Hawk shootdown incident in Iraq, during which its crew were controlling two F-15 fighter aircraft that shot down a pair of US Army UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters, killing 26 military and civilian personnel. [citation needed]
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Air crash
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2005 European floods
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The 2005 European floods hit mainly Romania, Switzerland, Austria and Germany, as well as several other countries in Central Europe and Eastern Europe during August 2005. The disaster came at a time when Portugal was suffering from intense forest fires which left 15 dead and days before the powerful Hurricane Katrina hit the United States. The death toll was 62, with 31 dead in Romania, 20 in Bulgaria, 6 in Switzerland, and 5 in Austria and Germany. Thousands were evacuated from their homes; the rains were the worst flooding to hit Europe since the 2002 floods. Romania was the most affected by the 2005 floods, as it was faced with the most powerful and widespread floods and also the highest loss of life, with 31 dead. Total damages are estimated to be valued at more than 5 billion lei (€1.5 billion). In mid August, the North-East region of Romania was heavily affected, with 1,473 evacuated from their homes in Iaşi, Suceava and Botoşani starting from August 16. In Suceava county, 555 km of roads were affected, while nearly 600 bridges were flooded, resulting in the flooding of 520 houses, 16 of which were significantly destroyed. Several communications networks, particularly electric cables and optical fibres, were also affected. Before it had ended, on August 22, 2005 the Ministry of Interior was reported as saying that floods and landslides affected over 500 villages in 31 districts: 200 homes completely destroyed, 2,000+ other structures affected, 11,000 households flooded, 9,000 wells flooded with rainfall and groundwater displacement, 34,000+ hectares of farmland and 2,000+ hectares of forests and grasslands destroyed, 9 kilometers of highway, 265 kilometers of county roads and 906 other roads were all severely damaged, and 25 cities lost power. [1]
Floods were particularly acute in the central county of Harghita, where flooding hit the town of Odorheiu Secuiesc and surrounding localities in mid-to-late August. The flooding was most intense in the period from 24 to 25 August, when ten people were killed, a further five were declared missing and 1,400 households were flooded. Other counties significantly affected in late August were Mureş, Prahova and Bistriţa. The city of Târgu Mureş, an important regional centre, was also affected by the rising of waters on the Târnava River, even though there wasn't a significant amount of damage caused to infrastructure. [2][3]
In northwestern Romania, the counties of Bihor and Cluj were also affected, although on a smaller scale than Harghita. In Cluj county, over 100 houses were flooded, with the flooding centred on the town of Turda. Railway lines in the county were also closed. The localities of Popeşti, Suplacu de Barcău and Valea lui Mihai were affected in Bihor county. The Swiss capital of Bern was also heavily hit after the Aar burst its banks, and the town of Brienz saw 400 residents evacuated. The village of Lauterbrunnen in the Bernese Alps was completely cut off. The only exit from the town is by a very narrow gorge just wide enough to take the river, road and railway, and the river expanded to fill the entire gorge. This stranded thousands of tourists in the village, and the only way out was by helicopter or by crossing one of the high Alpine passes. The Tyrol and Vorarlberg states of Austria saw many areas cut off by flooded roads. The lower part of the Rhine overflowed, affecting the Swiss Graubünden Canton, as well as parts of Vorarlberg. The river Danube and its tributaries overflowed in many places, flooding parts of Germany, Bavaria in particular. Several floodings and landslides were reported in Lower Austria and Styria. The floods also meant the temporary closure of many mountain passes, amongst them the Gotthard in Switzerland, and the Arlberg in Austria. On a section of the Arlberg, the road and rail were washed away. Austrian Federal Railways have issued a statement (in German) that the rail line reconstruction will take at least a month. The main phone and data line between Vorarlberg and the rest of Austria was destroyed and had to be replaced by a radio communication. With rain and flood waters subsiding on August 27, people started to return to their homes, rail and road routes reopened and the cleanup began. Town of Jaša Tomić in Serbia was devastated by floods. Poland, where seven bridges collapsed, and Slovenia were was also affected by flooding in August. Bulgaria and Moldova were also affected, though to a lesser extent. In Bulgaria, three months of rain and flooding killed 20 people and left 14,000 homeless. The country was hit by further floods in August (normally a very dry month), though these did not cause such widespread damage, but caused damage to the year's crops, causing an increase in the price of fruit and vegetables. Moldova was also hit by torrential rains in August.
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Floods
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Humberto Vidal explosion
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The Humberto Vidal explosion (sometimes also referred to as the Río Piedras explosion) was a gas explosion that occurred on November 21, 1996 at the Humberto Vidal shoe store in Río Piedras, Puerto Rico. The explosion killed 33 and wounded 69 others when the building collapsed. [3] It is one of the deadliest disasters to have occurred on the island. The explosion occurred at about 8:35 a.m. on Thursday, November 21, 1996 in the middle of a bustling commercial sector of Río Piedras. The six-story building that housed the Humberto Vidal shoe store, a jewelry store, a music shop store and the head offices of Humberto Vidal was virtually destroyed; it was later demolished. [4]
The immediate theory was that the explosion was caused by a bomb planted by clandestine paramilitaries or even arson because of previous deliberate acts. [5] However, there was no trace of explosives, nor were there flammable materials an arsonist could have used. United States President Bill Clinton declared Puerto Rico a disaster area, which ensured the receipt of federal aid to help the victims, including the assistance of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), which launched an investigation. San Juan Gas Company, owned by Enron Corporation, denied any responsibility, claiming that the building had no gas service at the time of the explosion. [citation needed]
The explosion killed 33 victims and wounded 69 others. [6] Most of the victims were inside the building at the moment of the explosion, but others were in the streets surrounding the building. After the explosion, bodies of victims were placed on the pavement in front of the nearby La Milagrosa church, where Cardinal Luis Aponte Martínez administered last rites. [7] "There were just parts of bodies lying in the street, torsos, bones, cars blasted against the building," Police Chief Pedro Toledo said. The owners of the shoe store claimed that they had reported a gas leak to the San Juan Gas Company several days before the explosion. [8]
The NTSB's investigation revealed that several persons had reported a gas leak in the building in the days leading up to the explosion, complaining about a bad smell in the store's basement. [9] The store had no gas supply, so another nearby gas line appeared to be the culprit. It was discovered that a gas pipe carrying the heavier-than-air propane gas was broken. A few years earlier, a water main was installed below, which bent the pipe in the process. When the pipe had been installed, it was tightly bent, adding to its stress levels. The addition of the water main caused it to break. [citation needed]
The explosive gas reached the shop basement by migrating around and over pipes, causing the foul odor. However, gas company technicians were unable to detect the gas before the blast. Investigators discovered that holes used to detect gas below ground were only 46 centimetres (18 in) deep when the gas was about 120 centimetres (47 in) down; therefore, there was no way that the gas could be detected in this manner. Perhaps the most crucial error in detection occurred when a technician turned on his equipment while in the building rather than in fresh air as required, causing a failure to detect gas. [10] The ignition source was found to be an air-conditioning switch with heated wiring. [citation needed]
The San Juan Gas Company vehemently denied responsibility and suggested that the blast could have been caused by sewer gas. [citation needed] However, the lighter-than-air sewer gas collects in the ceiling, while propane collects on the floor. The investigation showed that stored shoes were tossed up by the explosion, meaning that the fuel had to be at ground level. An upward-bent beam was also crucial to determining that the blast had come from below. [citation needed]
The San Juan Gas Company was sued by the victims' families and owners of the businesses affected. There were a total of 1,500 lawsuits presented. Through the process, the company admitted no wrongdoing. Of all the lawsuits, 725 were settled out of court, while 101 were ruled against the company. The remaining lawsuits were settled in 2002 for $28 million. There was also criticism of the company's training practices, which management promised to rectify. [11]
According to a city resolution, all underground gas lines in Río Piedras were removed to avoid further tragedies. [6] The area of the explosion now has a mural in remembrance of those who died. The disaster was examined in the "Puerto Rico Gas Explosion" episode of the documentary series Seconds From Disaster on the National Geographic Channel. [12]
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Gas explosion
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South Africa's Schoenmaker wins gold in Tokyo, breaks world record in swimming
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Tatjana Schoenmaker on Friday won a gold medal in the Tokyo 2020 women's 200-meter breaststroke with a world record time of two minutes, 18.95 seconds.
The previous world record holder was Dane Rikke Moller Pedersen in 2013, with a time of 2:19.11.
South African Schoenmaker also held the previous Olympic record for the event with her time of 2:19.16.
American swimmer Lilly King won the silver in the Olympic event with 2:19.92, and Annie Lazor bagged the bronze.
In the women's 100-meter freestyle, Australian swimmer Emma McKeon won the gold with her Olympic record-breaking performance of 51.96 seconds, besting her own previous record of 52.13 seconds.
Bagging the silver, Siobhan Bernadette Haughey of Hong Kong made another record-breaking time with the Asian record of 52.27 seconds.
Australian Cate Campbell won the bronze medal in the event.
Men's aquatics
Evgeny Rylov of the Russian International Committee (ROC) won the gold medal with an Olympic record time of 1:53.27 in the men's 200-meter backstroke on Friday.
Ryan Murphey of the US won the silver with 1:54.15, while British swimmer Luke Greenbank bagged the bronze.
Chinese swimmer Shun Wang got the gold with the Asian record time of 1:55.00 in the men's 200-meter individual medley.
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Break historical records
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Hotel Polen fire
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The Hotel Polen fire occurred on 9 May 1977 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The conflagration destroyed the Hotel Polen (Hotel Poland), a five-story hotel in the centre of the city which had been built in 1891, as well as the furniture store on the ground level and a nearby bookstore. Many of the tourists staying at the hotel (of whom the majority were Swedes) jumped to their deaths trying to escape the flames. Upon their arrival, the fire department used a life net to help people escape, but not everyone could be saved. The incident resulted in 33 deaths and 21 severe injuries. The cause of the fire is unknown. In 1986 the Polish-born artist Ania Bien created a photographic installation based on the fire which compared it to the Holocaust. The hotel was located between the Kalverstraat (no. 15–17) and the Rokin (no. 14), near the present day Madame Tussauds. Its place is now occupied by the Rokin Plaza, originally an office building, which today houses several fashion shops. In the beginning of the 16th century, there was an inn on the site where the Hotel Polen was later located. [1] At the end of the 18th century, the Poolsche Koffiehuis (Polish Coffee House) was established, which began offering guest accommodation in 1857. [2] In 1891, after the adjacent space on the Rokin was bought, the Hotel Polen was established by the Maatschappij tot Exploitatie van het Poolsche Koffiehuis (Polish Coffee House Society),[2] and a building was constructed there which was possibly designed by the architect Pierre Cuypers,[3] who also designed the Amsterdam Central Station and the Rijksmuseum. [4] Another source lists Eduard Cuypers as the architect. [2] The hotel was five stories high and a café-restaurant was opened on the ground level. [1]
The Hotel Polen was once known as a fashionable place to stay. [5] The café-restaurant was closed at the end of 1974 and its location was subsequently rented to the furniture store Inden. [1] The hotel remained open as a part of the Krasnapolsky Concern. [6]
The building, including the load-bearing elements, was constructed of wood. [7] It had 94 rooms. [8] There were 10 fire extinguishers and 11 fire hoses in the hotel. Only a few escape routes had proper emergency lighting and directions to the emergency exits,[9] and the hotel was also not on a hotline with the emergency centre of the fire department. [10] The building had been inspected by the fire department, first in February 1976, and later in the beginning of 1977, after which the hotel's management was notified in writing that there were severe fire safety defects. A list of improvements which the hotel should implement included complying with the building regulations and the regulations for residence facilities. [11][12]
On the night of Sunday 8 May to Monday 9 May 1977, about 100 people were staying in the Hotel Polen,[13][14] including a large group of Swedish tourists. [15] At about 6:20 am, the hotel staff were preparing for breakfast service when one of them noticed smoke that seemed to be coming from the freight elevator (which had not been used since the café-restaurant on the ground floor had closed the previous evening). [citation needed] The night porter was alerted. Contrary to instructions, he did not call the fire department immediately; instead, he poured some buckets of water into the shaft, in an attempt to subdue the fire. By the time he decided to call the fire department, the hotel was filling with smoke. He was unable to reach the phone at the front desk because the fire had already reached it; he then ran outside, where he stopped the driver of a laundry truck serving the hotel, and instructed him to drive to the Hotel Krasnapolsky to warn them[16] and to call the fire department. [6]
By 6:30 am the fire was spreading very quickly through the building,[17] although from the outside nothing was visible. Because of the wooden construction, the building was soon engulfed in flames. The guests on the top level could not escape and stood panicked in the windows. When the fire reached some guests' rooms, they leapt out of the windows to escape. At 6:42 the first large fire engine arrived. On the street lay several dead and injured people who had jumped from their hotel room windows. On the lower floor, the furniture store Inden was also on fire. The fire fighters tried to unfold a life net in the Papenbroekssteeg, an alley which runs between the Rokin and the Kalverstraat,[18] but it was too narrow. [19]
At the front of the hotel, in the Rokin, rescue operations were also hampered. There were so many people standing on the window ledges screaming that the fire fighters did not know whom to save first. Time was also lost because some people threw their luggage into the life net and then jumped into it themselves, causing injuries. [19] Some people fell to the side of the net and were severely injured. [20] Just before 7:00 am the part of the hotel facing the Kalverstraat collapsed. [21] The burning debris landed on the fire engine there, and the fire fighters barely escaped to safety. The nearby book store was also burned out,[22] and fires broke out in several buildings on the other side of the Kalverstraat; these were quickly brought under control. [21]
At about 8:30 am the wooden construction of the main part of the building also burned through and collapsed. [21] Although there were still people in the building and more people were lying around the building severely injured, the fire fighters decided to withdraw. [19] The smoking debris was extinguished, and at 9:30 am the fire was declared under control. [23] The building's collapse left a gaping hole; of the hotel, the furniture store and the book store, almost nothing remained.
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Fire
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Biosecurity breaches a major factor in disease outbreaks
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On 30 January 2021, Japanese authorities in both the Chiba and Miyazake prefectures confirmed a case of high pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI). It was the seventh outbreak since December 2020 for the Chiba-based farm and led to the culling of some 1.5 million birds. According to a news report in Japan Times, most poultry farms hit by avian flu since last year could attribute the outbreaks to human error, including insufficient protection from wild birds and rodents. Inspectors said that in 63% of barns the people working there did not take sufficient disinfection measures. Sadly, this human negligence is not an isolated incident. Around the world, disease outbreaks can most often be attributed to biosecurity breaches and human error. Biosecurity measures are designed to protect livestock from infection but must be applied consistently in order to be successful. In a 2011 study, researchers Manon Racicot, a veterinary epidemiologist at the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and professor at the University of Montreal, and Jean-Pierre Vaillancourt, University of Montreal professor, used video cameras to investigate biosecurity compliance on 8 poultry farms in Quebec, Canada. The results revealed that there was much work to be done. AI prevention and innovative biosecurity measures Lasers are being trialled on a Dutch free-range poultry farm to see if they can remove the threat of avian influenza contamination from wild birds. Read more... Vaillancourt, who advises farmers and farm managers in Canada and other nations, including Mexico and France, said that not much has changed. The 2011 study recorded 44 different mistakes, many made repeatedly, over 883 visits by 102 individuals. Of the 44 possible errors:- 27 (61.4%) were related to area delimitation; - 6 to boots (13.6%); - 5 to hand washing (11.4%); - 3 to coveralls (6.8%); - 3 to logbooks (6.8%). The nature and frequency of the errors made suggested a lack of understanding of biosecurity measures. Education was seen as a means to bring about improvement. In a second project, Racicot and Vaillancourt used RFID tags, like those used in hospitals by healthcare workers, to monitor compliance on a layer farm with 8 employees in Canada. The tags were placed in the shoes of the workers, as well as in farm boots. When the worker’s personal shoes entered a clean zone in the barn the system generated a beeping sound. The same system was used to alert employees when they did not use hand sanitizer, Vaillancourt explained in a recent interview. Boots are a major source of contamination, he said. In a study where they used modified bacteria that glowed in the dark, unclean boots distributed bacteria 10 metres from the point of entry. Contrary to popular thinking, the boots did not get any cleaner as the employee walked from one side of the barn to the other, said Vaillancourt. Once spread on-farm, it doesn’t take much for a pathogen to spread further on from one farm to another. When working with producers in France, Vaillancourt pointed out the issue of carcass collection by the rendering industry where, in one case, a collector visited as many as 44 farms in a single day. The spread can happen quickly, said Vaillancourt, and when response time is slow – in France, it took 8t days before the industry responded – the contamination can become widespread as well. Biosecurity is designed to deal with endemic conditions, including HPAI, said Vaillancourt. “But once you have a case of a serious condition like that, normal biosecurity is not going to be sufficient,” he said. “You need to be able to react quickly, you need to be able to communicate with the right people immediately, and you need to have the industry prepared to slaughter birds even before the government decides that it is necessary.” New disease spread mitigation technology from Canada could not only improve on-farm biosecurity, but shorten response times as well. The innovative platform, called Farm Health Guardian, quickly and accurately tracks in real time and shuts down disease spread within minutes of receiving a disease symptom report. The technology could be a disease game-changer if it’s widely adopted by the industry and its partners. Farm Health Guardian uses multiple technologies – geofencing, smartphones and GPS – to track and record the movement of staff, visitors and vehicles in and out of production facilities in real time. The different technologies communicate with an app and provide contactless digital pre-screening, paperless check-in, vehicle passport and GPS tracking. Tim Nelson, founder and president of Be Seen Be Safe Ltd. and creator of Farm Health Guardian, said the tracking tool offers many benefits. It’s touchless, which eliminates transfer risk by hands. In the event of an outbreak, reaction time isn’t slowed by the illegibility of visitor logs due to poor penmanship, and it’s quick and easy for visitors to use. When an individual in the network approaches the farm, questions – from whether or not the visitor is sick, if they’ve visited another farm in the past few days, or if they’ve recently travelled abroad – are sent directly to their phone. If that visitor doesn’t meet all the protocols, they receive a message saying that entry has been denied. That same message is sent to the system administrator and the barn manager. The system also works in drive-on drive-off situations as it remembers where the visitor has been before and when. Denial can, of course, be overridden at the administrator’s discretion. During the trial and development stage, Nelson received valuable feedback from the poultry sector in Alberta, Canada. Many farmers, he said, were nervous about being tracked. Because of that feedback, a digital manual check-in option was also developed. The manual option doesn’t rely on GPS coordinates but records entry details only. Canadian farmers were also concerned that they’d be blamed for carrying a disease onto their farm. But Nelson said the only people who would know about the issue are the people who are or may be affected by it. In an ideal world the network would include all moving players, including producers, feed suppliers, catching crews, egg collectors, manure haulers, barn cleaners, rendering companies and veterinarians. If someone in the network gets hit with disease, in just a few minutes the system can see where visitors went before and after the point of concern. It can flag warnings and alert others within the network as well. A manual track-and-trace method would have taken 4-5 days to complete, said Nelson. This past summer, Farm Health Guardian identified the point where a disease broke out on a Canadian hog farm in less than 10 minutes. The farm in question was locked down within 60 minutes. “So it does save money, it’s proven to work and it’s very fast,” said Nelson. While an alert system such as Farm Health Guardian offers an excellent solution once an outbreak occurs, producers’ true aim is prevention. In Belgium, University of Ghent researcher, Jeroen Dewulf, developed Biocheck, a system that helps producers around the world improve on-farm biosecurity. After answering a series of questions about on-farm biosecurity, participants receive a score and a report that shows where they can make improvements. In Belgium, on average, farmers received a score of 68% under the ‘visitors and farmworker’ category. This means that measures have been taken but that there is quite some room for improvement. Dewulf said there are 3 golden rules for entrance and they apply to everyone entering the facilities: - Use herd-specific footwear - Use herd-specific clothing - Wash hands upon entering. ”...it is necessary to change your clothes when entering a stall or barn....” The Biocheck results show that 74% of Belgian farms use herd-specific footwear and 65% have disinfection baths at the entrance to the stalls for footwear. The use of herd-specific clothing, such as coveralls, is implemented in 59% of cases. “It is quite obvious that clothes can carry infectious agents and therefore, it is necessary to change your clothes when entering a stall or barn, or at least put on a coverall,” said Dewulf. “These measures are quite easy to implement.” Biocheck statistics show that, on average, 65% of visitors to Belgian broiler farms wash their hands before entering. Although this is not a bad number, hands can typically carry pathogens and it’s an easy enough parameter to control. Biocheck data shows that only 42% of farms have a central hygiene lock, an area to change clothes, and on farms with multiple housing units, only 61% have a separate hygiene lock per barn, said Dewulf. Biosecurity by military design Belgian broiler farmer Henk Ghyselen’s farm is located at an airbase in Koksijde, Belgium. Its airstrip also functions as the driveway to his farm. When he wants to expand he needs a municipal permit and NATO permission. Read more... “Moreover, in the hygiene locks that are present, very often no clear separation is provided between the ‘clean’ and the ‘dirty’ area,” he added. These results appear to be even worse on Belgian layer farms. Herd-specific clothing received a score of 54%, while herd-specific footwear received a score of 57%. Hand hygiene received a score of 58%. Having a contingency plan in place can ease the stress when outbreaks occur. UK-based Livetec Systems offers this service, helping partnering operations develop a management plan that supports farmers if and when an outbreak occurs. They also offer equipment for humane slaughter and training solutions. In a recent interview, technical director, Julian Sparrey, offered these tips for improving on-farm biosecurity during high-risk periods. People are usually the problem, he said. During high-risk periods, producers should limit the number of visitors on-farm. Those who have to visit – egg pick-up and feed delivery trucks, for example – should park well away from the main barn. Farmers, said Sparrey, should provide visitors with a portal to change clothing and footwear before walking on-farm. All visitors should be recorded, including part-time staff. Dead bins, he said, should be placed on the perimeter of the farm. Vehicles that pick-up dead birds should never enter the farm, especially during an outbreak. If a vehicle does enter the farm, producers need to clean up after it, said Sparrey. Having a concrete parking spot near the feed silo is ideal for thorough cleaning. “The endless phone calls are what keep farmers up at night.” If an outbreak does occur, government inspectors will come to the farm to complete a 40-page questionnaire. This causes a lot of anxiety and usually requires many follow-up calls. The endless phone calls are what keep farmers up at night, said Sparrey. To prepare farmers, Livetec Systems walks them through the document before an incident occurs. That way the paperwork is already prepared for when the inspectors visit the farm. Sparrey advises producers to keep digital records off-farm, preferably outside biosecure areas. In the event of an outbreak, Livetec Systems will act as an intermediary between the government and the farmer. They manage the proofs of cleaning and re-certification to re-open as well. “We might not be able to the stop the disease but we can reduce the impact on individual farmers, because it’s devastating,” said Sparrey. “Farmers are not producing birds to be killed on-farm. They don’t like to see this sort of thing happening and anything we can do to prevent it or make the process go a bit more smoothly, then that’s good.”
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Disease Outbreaks
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4 hospitalized after Chandler explosion expected to survive, recover from injuries
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Four people hospitalized Thursday morning after a potential gas leak and explosion in Chandler are expected to survive their injuries, Valleywise Health said.
Battalion Chief Keith Welch, a spokesperson for the Chandler Fire Department, said crews were called to the scene near Ray and Rural roads at around 9:30 a.m. after receiving reports of an explosion and fire at Platinum Printing.
Upon arrival, crews found four people with burn injuries and took them to a hospital.
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On Thursday afternoon, Valleywise Health said that they were expected to survive their injuries.
Dr. Kevin Foster, director of the Arizona Burn Center at Valleywise Health, said in a news conference Thursday afternoon that two of the four were in ICU because of the extent and depth of their burns but that they were expected to be released from the unit "fairly quickly."
Foster said the patients are "young males" who suffered burns on 16-30% of their bodies, mostly on their hands, arms, thighs and legs. Their injuries are consistent with a propane flash burn, he said.
Firefighters initially on the scene identified an underground gas leak, prompting the evacuation of surrounding houses were done out of caution due to the leak, but all residents have returned to their homes, Welch said.
Due to the magnitude of the incident, hazmat crews were called to the scene late Thursday morning to evaluate the gas leak, Welch said.
Hazmat crews did not find any significant chemicals that could have caused the blast, Welch added, but the cause behind the explosion is under investigation.
As of 5 p.m. on Thursday, Welch and Sgt. Jason McClimans of the Chandler Police Department confirmed the area to be safe.
“We are not actively looking for a suspect,” said McClimans. Police are not treating the incident as a criminal investigation he said.
Just before 10:30 a.m., the Police Department said children at the Maxwell Preschool Academy, northeast of Ray and Rural roads, had been evacuated to Sunrise Preschools' location northwest of the intersection.
Minutes later, the department said all businesses on the northeast corner of the intersection were being evacuated "out of an abundance of caution."
Welch said authorities also evacuated about 25 homes adjacent to the parking lot where they were checking for a gas leak, according to The Associated Press.
Ray Road, from Rural Road to McClintock Drive, was closed as officials investigated.
On Thursday evening, Welch said that the parking lot and the surrounding businesses will be closed for the next few days.
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Gas explosion
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Azerbaijan Mud Volcano Erupts in Fiery Display
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A mud volcano erupted on an island in the Caspian Sea about 46 miles off the coast of Azerbaijan’s capital Baku on July 4, generating a blaze that lit up the night sky and took social media by a storm. The eruption began at 9:51 p.m. local time (GMT+4) and lasted for eight minutes, says Gurban Yetirmishli, a seismologist at the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences, to Chingiz Safarli of the Trend News Agency in Azerbaijan. There are currently no reported injuries or fatalities related to the blast. Initial reports speculated that an explosion happened at a nearby oil platform, but the State Oil Company (SOCAR) quickly debunked these claims, confirming no equipment was damaged, reports the Azeri-Press Agency (APA). Mud volcanoes aren’t like typical volcanoes that spew molten rock or magma from the mantle. If classic volcanoes vomit the Earth’s churning guts, then mud volcanoes are more like a burp. Pressure from underground hydrocarbon gases builds up, and eventually, the gases force their way to the surface. On their way up and out, these gases may mix with water and react with mineral deposits to create a muddy slurry. The Caspian Sea is rich with oil and gas fields, which makes it a hotspot for mud volcanoes. In fact, this area has the world’s densest distribution of mud volcanoes, with some 400 dotting both the land and sea. Sunday’s mud volcano eruption occurred on Dashli Island, which itself was formed by a past eruption, Yetirmishli tells Trend. The core of the volcano is just shy of a mile in depth, he says. The flames towered an impressive 1,600 feet into the air. “This is most likely due to the fact that the volcano did not erupt for a long time and accumulated a lot of energy,” says Orxan Abbasov, a geophysicist at the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences, to APA. Mud volcanoes erupt naturally, but how they light up on fire is still debated among scientists. Colliding rocks kicked up during the eruption could create sparks and ignite the escaping gases, suggests geomechanicist Mark Tingay of the University of Adelaide, Australia, in a Twitter thread. Other scientists have said that the rapid change in pressures alone can also trigger an explosion, he explains. Dashli Island’s fireball display is not typical of other mud volcanoes in the rest of the world and their daily routines. Mud volcanoes are generally not dangerous to people and occur far from city centers, writes Dylan Thuras for Atlas Obscura. "Unlike other volcanoes, the temperature of a single mud volcano remains fairly steady. However, from mud volcano to another, temperatures can range from as high as [212 degrees Fahrenheit] to as low as [35 degrees Fahrenheit]," AccuWeather senior meteorologist Tyler Roys tells Mary Gilbert in an AccuWeather article. Lower temperature mud volcanoes have even been used as mud spas. The recent eruption isn’t Dashli Island’s first. According to Tingay, the volcano also experienced major eruptions in 1920 and 1945. Given Azerbaijan’s plentiful oil and gas reserves, more fiery blasts are likely to continue in the region.
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Volcano Eruption
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1924 Women's Olympiad
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The 1924 Women's Olympiad (formally called Women's International and British Games,[1] French Grand meeting international féminin) was the first international competition for women[2] in track and field in the United Kingdom. [3] The tournament was held[4][5] on 4 August[6][7][8] 1924[9][10] in London,[11][12][13] United Kingdom. After the successful first 1922 Women's World Games in Paris and the three Women's Olympiads (1921 Women's Olympiad, 1922 Women's Olympiad and 1923 Women's Olympiad) in Monaco the interest for women's sports also grew internationally. In 1922[2] the "Women's Amateur Athletic Association" (WAAA) was founded in the UK: the WAAA organised the first official British women championships[3] in track and field (WAAA Championships) on 18 August 1923 at the Oxo Sports Ground in Downham outside London. In the US the "Amateur Athletic Union" (AAU) organised the first official American women championships in track and field on 29 September 1923 at Weequahic Park in Newark, New Jersey. The 1924 Women's Olympiad was organised in cooperation with the newspapers[3] News of the World, Sporting Life and Daily Mirror in cooperation with the WAAA and the Fédération Sportive Féminine Internationale[1] (FSFI) under chairwoman Alice Milliat. The games were attended by participants from 8[3] nations: Belgium, Canada (exhibition events only), Czechoslovakia, France, Italy, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the USA (exhibition events only). The tournament was a huge promotion for women's sports. The athletes[14] competed[11] in[9] 12 events:[3] running (100 yards, 250 metres, 1000 metres, Relay race 4 x 110 yards and 4 x 220 yards and 120 yards, Racewalking 1000 metres, high jump, long jump, discus throw, shot put and javelin. The tournament also held exhibition events in cycling (two-thirds of a mile bicycle sprint),[10] netball and gymnastics. The multi-sport event was held[14][10][12] at "Stamford Bridge"[6][7][5] in Fulham in southwest London. [13] The games attended[1] an audience of 25,000 spectators. [6][2]
Almost all medals went to athletes from France and the United Kingdom. During the games[14] 7[4][8] world records [3][10] were set: Mary Lines in hurdling 120 yd and running 250 m,[6] Edith Trickey in running 1000 m, Albertine Regel in walking 1000 m, Elise van Truyen[12] in high jump, Violett Morris in discus and Louise Groslimond in javelin. Poorly[4][11] performed measuring[13][9] however led to that only 2 records, Trickey in running 1000 metres and Regel in walking 1000 metres, later were ratified. [14]
Results[11][9] in[3][7] each[4] event:[12]
The tournament was a huge promotion for women's sports,[3] a follow-up was held in 1925 ("Daily Mirror Trophy"[4]) also at Stamford Bridge. In 1926 the second regular Women's World Games were held at Gothenburg.
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Sports Competition
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Shipwreck off Senegal: 1 dead, 11 rescued, 48 missing
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Dozens of people are still missing and feared dead after a wooden boat capsized off the coast of Senegal last week. It's the latest tragedy in a country where thousands have tried to migrate to Spain's Atlantic Canary Islands by sea. According to the AFP news agency citing a military statement and a local official, the Senegalese navy was carrying out a search and rescue (SAR) mission on Saturday (August 28) after a boat capsized earlier last week. AFP reported that "the boat flipped over" around 15 kilometers off the northern port city of Saint Louis, according to the official, who asked not to be identified. The accident happened on Wednesday night (August 25), the navy statement said. According to AFP, rescue crews picked up eight Senegalese and three Gambians Saturday night and found the body of one person who had drowned. Some 60 people were thought to have been on board at the time of the shipwreck. "Senegalese migrants have long risked their lives at sea aboard small fishing boats for a chance to reach Europe, and the economic hardships brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic have led to a resurgence of attempts," the Associated Press (AP) news agency reported. Many are headed to the Canary Islands, the Spanish archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean off the northwestern coast of Africa. According to the UN migration agency IOM, Senegalese were the second-largest group of migrants arriving on the Canaries last year. People from Mauritania made up the largest group. Also read: Leaving Senegal: 'Three of my friends died at sea. I set off the day after they died.' In the last four months of 2020 alone, almost 20,000 African migrants landed on the shores of the Canaries, overwhelming authorities and arrival facilities. After initially being put up in hotels and other touristic facilities, mostly empty due to the coronavirus pandemic, thousands were moved to camps whose conditions have been criticized by rights groups. The risks of crossing the Atlantic are very high. The ocean has strong currents, and attempting to cross it is a lot more dangerous than crossing the Mediterranean. According to the latest official figures released by the IOM, almost 300 people have died so far this year on the route to the Canary Islands. Unofficially, that figure could be much higher: More than two thirds of those who go missing at sea are never recovered, the IOM says. "Those traveling by sea have often been refused visas for European countries but take the risk of a perilous voyage for the chance to earn enough money to support their families back home," AP reported. Senegalese authorities have been trying to discourage people from leaving, for which the country received assistance from the EU. Among other things, Spain last November promised to increase its police presence in Senegal in order to be better able to crack down on migrant smuggling networks. It also announced it would send additional patrol vessels and a maritime observation plane to support the existing Spanish forces. Many boats departing in the dark makes detecting and stopping them difficult, though.
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Shipwreck
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2017 London Bridge attack
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Coordinates: 51°30′29″N 0°05′16″W / 51.50806°N 0.08778°W / 51.50806; -0.08778
On 3 June 2017, a terrorist vehicle-ramming and stabbing took place in London, England. A van was deliberately driven into pedestrians on London Bridge, and then crashed on the south bank of the River Thames. Its three occupants then ran to the nearby Borough Market area and began stabbing people in and around restaurants and pubs. [8] They were shot dead by City of London Police officers, and were found to be wearing fake explosive vests. [9] Eight people were killed and 48 were injured, including members of the public and four unarmed police officers who attempted to stop the assailants. British authorities described the perpetrators as "radical Islamic terrorists". [7]
The Islamic State (ISIS) claimed responsibility for the attack. In March 2017, five people had been killed in a combined vehicle and knife attack at Westminster. In late May, a suicide bomber killed 22 people at an Ariana Grande concert at Manchester Arena. [10] After the Manchester bombing, the UK's terror threat level was raised to "critical", its highest level, until 27 May 2017, when it was lowered to severe. [10][11]
The attack was carried out using a white Renault Master hired earlier on the same evening[12] in Harold Hill, Havering by Khuram Butt. He had intended to hire a 7.5 tonne lorry, but was refused due to his failure to provide payment details. The attackers were armed with 12-inch (30 cm) kitchen knives with ceramic blades, which they tied to their wrists with leather straps. They also prepared fake explosive belts by wrapping water bottles in grey tape. [13]
At 21:58 BST (UTC+1) on 3 June 2017, the van travelled south across London Bridge, and returned six minutes later, crossing over the bridge northbound, making a U-turn at the northern end and then driving southbound across the bridge. It mounted the pavement three times and hit multiple pedestrians, killing two. [14] Witnesses said the van was travelling at high speed. [15][16][17] 999 emergency calls were first recorded at 22:07. [18] The van was later found to contain 13 wine bottles containing flammable liquid with rags stuffed in them along with blow torches. [13]
The van crashed on Borough High Street,[19] after crossing the central reservation. The van's tyres were destroyed by the central reservation and the attackers abandoned the vehicle, armed with knives. Then the three attackers ran down the steps to Green Dragon Court, where they killed five people outside and near the Boro Bistro pub. [20][21][14] After attacking the Boro Bistro pub, the attackers went back up the steps to Borough High Street and attacked three bystanders. Police tried to fight the attackers, but were stabbed, and Ignacio Echeverría helped them by striking Redouane and possibly Zaghba with his skateboard. Echeverría was later killed outside of Lobos Meat and Tapas. [14] Members of the public threw bottles and chairs at the attackers. Witnesses reported that the attackers were shouting "This is for Allah". [22][23][24][25]
People in and around a number of other restaurants and bars along Stoney Street were also attacked. [23][24][25] During the attack, an unknown man was spared by Rachid Redouane, but despite many efforts the man was never found. [26] A Romanian baker hit one of the attackers over the head with a crate before giving shelter to 20 people inside a bakery inside Borough Market. [27]
One man fought the three attackers with his fists in the Black and Blue steakhouse, shouting "Fuck you, I'm Millwall", giving members of the public who were in the restaurant the opportunity to run away. [28] He was stabbed eight times in the hands, chest and head. He underwent surgery at St Thomas' Hospital and was taken off the critical list on 4 June. [29] A British Transport Police officer armed with a baton also took on the attackers, receiving multiple stab wounds and temporarily losing sight in his right eye as a consequence. [30] Off-duty Metropolitan police constables Liam Jones and Stewart Henderson rendered first aid to seriously injured members of the public before protecting 150+ people inside the Thameside Inn and evacuating them by Metropolitan marine support unit and RNLI boats to the north shore of the Thames. [31]
The three attackers were then shot dead by armed officers from the City of London and Metropolitan police services eight minutes after the initial emergency call was made. [19] CCTV footage showed the three attackers in Borough Market running at the armed officers; the attackers were shot dead 20 seconds later. [32] A total of 46 rounds were fired by three City of London and five Metropolitan Police officers. [33]
The Metropolitan Police issued 'Run, Hide, Tell' notices via social media during the attack,[34] and asked for the public to remain calm and vigilant. [35]
All buildings within the vicinity of London Bridge were evacuated,[36] and London Bridge, Borough and Bank Underground stations were closed at the request of the police. [37] The mainline railway stations at London Bridge, Waterloo East, Charing Cross and Cannon Street were also closed. [38] The Home Secretary approved the deployment of a military counter terrorist unit from the Special Air Service (SAS). [39] The helicopters carrying the SAS landed on London Bridge to support the Metropolitan Police because of concerns that there might be more attackers at large. [40]
The Metropolitan Police Marine Policing Unit dispatched boats on the River Thames, with assistance from the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI), to contribute to the evacuation of the area and look for any casualties who might have fallen from the bridge. [41]
A stabbing incident took place in Vauxhall at 23:45, causing Vauxhall station to be briefly closed;[42] this was later confirmed to be unrelated to the attack. [43]
At 01:45 on 4 June, controlled explosions took place of the attackers' bomb vests, which were found to be fake. [16]
An emergency COBR meeting was held on the morning of 4 June. [20][44] London Bridge mainline railway and Underground stations remained closed throughout 4 June,[45] while Borough tube station reopened that evening. A cordon was established around the scene of the attack. [46] London Bridge station reopened at 05:00 on Monday 5 June.
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Road Crash
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2012 Summer Paralympics
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The 2012 Summer Paralympics, the 14th Summer Paralympic Games, and also more generally known as the London 2012 Paralympic Games, were a major international multi-sport event for athletes with disabilities governed by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), that took place in London, United Kingdom, from 29 August to 9 September 2012. These Paralympics were one of the largest multi-sport events ever held in the country after the 2012 Summer Olympics, and until the date the largest Paralympics ever: 4,302 athletes from 164 National Paralympic Committees participated, with fourteen countries appearing in the Paralympics for the first time ever. The lead-up to these games prominently emphasized the return of the Paralympic movement to its spiritual birthplace: in 1948, the British village of Stoke Mandeville first hosted the Stoke Mandeville Games, an athletics event for disabled British veterans of the Second World War held to coincide with the opening of the Summer Olympics in London. They were the first-ever organized sporting event for disabled athletes and served as a precursor to the modern Paralympic Games. [1][2] Stoke Mandeville also co-hosted the 1984 Summer Paralympics with Long Island, New York, after its original host, the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, pulled out due to financial issues. [3]
Organizers expected the Games to be the first Paralympics to achieve mass-market appeal, fuelled by continued enthusiasm from the British public following the country's successful performance at the Summer Olympics, awareness of the United Kingdom's role in the history of the Paralympics, public attention surrounding South African sprinter Oscar Pistorius (who had recently become the first double amputee to compete in the Summer Olympics alongside able-bodied athletes), a major marketing campaign instituted by the Games' local broadcaster, and growing media coverage of Paralympic sport. The games ultimately met these expectations, breaking records for ticket sales, heightening the profile of the Paralympics in relation to the Olympics, and prompting IPC president Philip Craven to declare them the "greatest Paralympic Games ever. "[1][4]
A total of 503 events in 20 sports were held during these games; for the first time since their suspension after the 2000 Paralympics, events for the intellectually disabled were also held in selected sports. For the third Summer Paralympics in a row, China won the most medals overall, with a total of 231 (95 of them being gold), followed by Russia and Great Britain. As part of a formal agreement between the International Paralympic Committee and the International Olympic Committee established in 2001, the winner of the bid for the 2012 Summer Olympics was also to host the 2012 Summer Paralympics. [5] At the 117th IOC Session in Singapore, the rights to host the 2012 Summer Olympics and Paralympics were awarded to London. [6][7]
As with the Olympics, the 2012 Summer Paralympics were overseen by LOCOG and the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA). LOCOG was responsible for overseeing the staging of the games, while the ODA dealt with infrastructure and venues. [8][9]
The Government Olympic Executive (GOE) within the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) was the lead Government body for co-ordinating the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics. The GOE reported through the DCMS Permanent Secretary to the Minister for Sports and the Olympics Hugh Robertson. It focused on oversight of the Games, cross-programme management and the London 2012 Olympic Legacy. [10]
The 2012 Summer Paralympics used many of the same venues as the 2012 Summer Olympics, along with two new locations such as Eton Manor for wheelchair tennis and Brands Hatch for road cycling. [11] London's purpose-built Olympic venues and facilities, including the Olympic Village itself, were designed to be accessible as possible so they could easily accommodate the Paralympics. Some venues also contained additional accessible seating areas during the Paralympics. [11][12]
Transport for London (TfL) operated the Paralympic Route Network (a downsized version of the Olympic Route Network operated during the Summer Olympics) to facilitate road traffic between venues and facilities. The network provided 8.7 miles (14.0 kilometres) of lanes specifically reserved for Paralympic athletes and officials. [13] TfL continued to operate its Get Ahead of the Games website during the Paralympics, which provided updates and advice for commuters during the Games. [14] Prior to the Games, concerns were raised by TfL commissioner Peter Hendy that London's transportation system might not be able to handle the Paralympics adequately. He feared that the end of the school summer holiday (which fell during the Games) would result in increased traffic, and that commuters might not heed traffic warnings or change their travel behaviour as they had during the Olympics. [15]
Sevenoaks railway station was designated as the preferred station for spectators travelling to watch the cycling at Brands Hatch. Organisers chose Sevenoaks over the closer Swanley railway station because of its "existing step-free access and excellent transport links", and because Swanley did not yet have a wheelchair lift. Whilst organisers did not believe that Swanley would be able to have wheelchair lifts installed by the start of the Paralympics, the station finished their installation by early August 2012. [16]
The formal handover occurred during the closing ceremony of the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing, when Mayor of London Boris Johnson received the Paralympic Flag from Mayor of Beijing Guo Jinlong. This was followed by a cultural presentation by Britain, which was similar to its presentation during the Olympics' closing ceremony. It featured urban dance group ZooNation, the Royal Ballet, and Candoco, a physically integrated dance group, all dressed as London commuters and waiting for a bus by a zebra crossing. A double-decker bus drove around the stadium, guided by Ade Adepitan, to music composed by Philip Sheppard. The top of the bus was open and folded down to show a privet hedge featuring London landmarks such as Tower Bridge, The Gherkin and the London Eye. Cherisse Osei, drummer for Mika, and Sam Hegedus then performed, before the top of the bus folded up into its original form, sporting multi-coloured Paralympic livery. [17] Both the Paralympic and Olympic flags were formally raised outside of London's City Hall on 26 September 2008. British Paralympians Helene Raynsford and Chris Holmes raised the Paralympic flag. [18][19]
On 8 September 2011 Trafalgar Square staged International Paralympic Day, hosted by Rick Edwards, Ade Adepitan and Iwan Thomas, to coincide with a visit to London by representatives of the IPC. The event featured showcases and demonstrations of the 20 sports that would feature during the Games, with some sessions also made inclusive to people with hearing disabilities. It also included appearances by Paralympic athletes Oscar Pistorius, Ellie Simmonds and Sascha Kindred, and the unveiling of a bronze statue of Pistorius by Ben Dearnley. British Prime Minister David Cameron and London's mayor Boris Johnson also appeared. [20][21]
Two days later on 10 September, supermarket chain Sainsbury's and Channel 4 presented Sainsbury's Super Saturday, a family event at Clapham Common. The event featured showcases of Paralympic sports, and a concert featuring pop music acts including Nicola Roberts, Olly Murs, The Wanted, Will Young, Pixie Lott, Dappy, Sugababes, The Saturdays, Chipmunk and Taio Cruz. [22][23]
Channel 4—broadcaster of the 2012 Summer Paralympics in the United Kingdom—held a multi-platform advertising campaign to promote its coverage. The broadcaster sought to change the public perception of the Paralympics, encouraging viewers to see them as an "event in its own right", rather than as an afterthought to the Olympics. The campaign included television adverts, online content, and billboard advertising, some of which carrying the slogan "Thanks for the warm-up". [24]
As part of the campaign, Channel 4 produced a two-minute-long trailer for its coverage entitled Meet the Superhumans, which was directed by Tom Tagholm with input from Deborah Poulton, 2012 Paralympic Project Leader and Alison Walsh, Editorial Manager of Disability, both at Channel 4. The trailer, set to Public Enemy's song "Harder Than You Think", focused on the competitive and "superhuman" aspects of Paralympic sport, while acknowledging the personal events and struggles that reflected every athlete's participation in the Games. Meet the Superhumans premiered on 17 July 2012, airing simultaneously on 78 different commercial television channels in the UK (which included rival channels ITV and Sky1). [25][26]
The advert was met with critical acclaim: Adweek's Tim Nudd declared it "the summer's most stunning sports commercial",[25] while Simon Usborne of The Independent felt it was "an act of branding genius" and "a clear bid to bring the Paralympics from the sporting wings to centre stage. "[26] The advert was seen by an estimated audience of 10 million viewers; Channel 4's marketing and communications chief Dan Brooke estimated that reaction to the advert through social media was double that of the première of the BBC's trailer for its Olympics coverage. [25][26]
Meet the Superhumans won a Golden Lion award at the Cannes Lions Festival in June 2013, losing the overall award to the railway safety PSA Dumb Ways to Die.
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Sports Competition
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2015 Villa Castelli mid-air collision crash
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On 9 March 2015, two Eurocopter AS350 Écureuil helicopters collided mid-air near Villa Castelli, Argentina, killing all ten people on board both aircraft. The helicopters had just departed together from the same spot and collided during the initial climb-out. They were transporting production staff and guests for the French reality TV series Dropped, and among the victims were French sailor Florence Arthaud, swimmer Camille Muffat and boxer Alexis Vastine. The French television channel TF1 was filming an episode of Dropped, a reality TV show that takes celebrities to a hostile environment by helicopter and films their efforts to survive. [1] The cast comprised various Olympic medallists and international sportspeople, including French athletes Alain Bernard, Philippe Candeloro, Jeannie Longo, and Sylvain Wiltord, plus Arthaud, Muffat and Vastine; Swiss athlete Anne-Flore Marxer was also taking part. [2]
Filming began in late February 2015 in Ushuaia, in the far south of Argentina, before moving to Northwest Argentina, in the province of La Rioja, about 1,170 kilometres (730 mi) from the capital Buenos Aires. [1] At the time of the accident, Wiltord had already been eliminated from the competition and was back in France. [3]
Each helicopter was carrying four passengers in addition to the pilot. [4] Seconds after taking off together, at about 17:15 local time (20:15 UTC), the two helicopters collided while climbing away at a height of about 100 metres (330 ft), and both crashed to the ground. [5]
A video of the accident appears to show the lower of the two helicopters climbing at a higher rate than the other one, colliding with it from below. Weather conditions at the time were reported as good. [6]
The two aircraft involved were both Eurocopter AS350B3 Écureuil; one was registered LQ-CGK, the other LQ-FJQ. [7][8] LQ-CGK was manufactured in 2010 and was owned by the provincial government of La Rioja. [9] LQ-FJQ was manufactured in 2012 and was owned by the provincial government of Santiago del Estero. [10]
All ten people on board both aircraft were killed in the accident, including French athletes Florence Arthaud, Camille Muffat and Alexis Vastine. [2] The others killed were the two Argentinian pilots and five French members of the production team, Adventure Line Productions. [1][4] The other show contestants were reported to have been waiting on the ground nearby when the accident occurred. [1]
The Junta de Investigaciones de Accidentes de Aviación Civil (JIAAC), Argentina's state body in charge of air accident inquires, opened an investigation, assisted by the French counterpart Bureau d'Enquêtes et d'Analyses pour la Sécurité de l'Aviation Civile (BEA). [8][12] French prosecutors also opened a case. [1]
The deputy leader of the Radical Civic Union party stated that LQ-CGK was an official helicopter of La Rioja province, only meant to be used for medical emergencies. Governor Luis Beder Herrera confirmed this statement and stated that the helicopter had been "lent" to a tourism company. [9][13]
The final report, released in Spanish, English and French,[14] determined the factors related to the accident as:
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Air crash
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New COVID-19 pills may keep recently diagnosed patients out of hospital, company says
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Molnupiravir, an antiviral, could reduce people's risk of dying from the virus. New COVID-19 pills may keep recently diagnosed patients out of hospital
Taking a course of a particular antiviral pill over five days, shortly after COVID-19 diagnosis, may slash the risk of being hospitalized or dying of the virus by 50%, according to preliminary results announced by pharmaceutical companies Merck and Ridgeback.
If this pill -- called molnupiravir -- is ultimately authorized by the Food and Drug Administration, it would be the first antiviral pill people can take at home to reduce their risk of winding up in the hospital from the coronavirus. The medication would require a prescription and likely be for people with mild or moderate symptoms of COVID-19.
"This is the first oral antiviral that will be available to combat COVID-19 and why that's so important, if you think of it if you're someone who is unfortunate enough to get the news that you've contracted COVID-19, this is the pill, you can take it home and will significantly reduce the risk that you either ultimately are hospitalized or more importantly that you would ever face the unfortunate outcome of death," Robert M. Davis, the chief executive officer and president of Merck told "Good Morning America" Friday.
"It's really exciting," Dr. Carlos Del Rio, the executive associate dean and a global health expert at the Emory School of Medicine, said.
Right now, most COVID-19 patients are sent home and told to monitor their symptoms. Having an effective pill to offer them would "make a difference," Del Rio added.
Merck Thursday morning announced the results of an ongoing Phase 3 study are so compelling that an independent monitoring board recommended, in consultation with the FDA, ending the trial early so the companies can swiftly seek authorization. The full set of data would become available to the public at that time.
"This is an oral antiviral. So it's a pill. You take it. It's a five-day course of therapy and by taking the pill it actually inserts into the RNA of the virus and stops it from working and that really is the magic of how this works and really allows you to significantly reduce the risk of hospitalization or death," Davis said.
The vaccine status of the trial volunteers was not disclosed in the press release, but doctors say pills like this should never be taken as an alternative to vaccines, which have been tested in hundreds of thousands of people across massive clinical trials, and are the most powerful way to dramatically reduce the risk of being hospitalized or dying of COVID -- and reduce the risk of becoming infected in the first place.
Other companies, including Pfizer and Roche, are also working on antiviral pills for patients already diagnosed with COVID-19 that could become available soon. Merck plans to seek emergency authorization in the U.S. "as soon as possible" so that it can start mass distributing its antiviral pill.
The company has started producing the pills with the goal of having 10 million courses of the medication by the end of the year. The U.S. has already asked for 1.7 million doses, at a cost of over $1 billion.
Currently, doctors have some treatments to help those who are already sick with the virus, but those treatments are cumbersome, as they're typically administered via intravenous infusion and usually reserved for patients who are hospitalized or have a high risk of becoming so.
"What we really need is the Tamiflu, if you will, for COVID-19," Dr. Todd Ellerin, the director of infectious diseases at South Shore Health and an ABC News Med Unit contributor, said. "It's possible that molnupiravir could be the agent."
Molnupiravir is an antiviral drug, meaning it works by slowing the replication of the virus that causes COVID-19.
In an early analysis of 775 volunteers in a late-stage clinical trial, people who tested positive for COVID-19 within the last five days were split into two groups. The first group got the drug and the second got a placebo pill.
About 14% of people who got the placebo were hospitalized or died, compared to just over 7% of those who got the real drug.
"I think this is exciting," Ellerin said, "because we need an oral antiviral. We desperately need an oral antiviral that can be given early in the course."
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Famous Person - Sick
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Crews finish 'first cut' on Golden Ray salvage effort, experts still concerned about environmental risks
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BRUNSWICK, Ga. — The salvage efforts of the MV Golden Ray, which capsized in 2019, has progressed to an important milestone. The Golden Ray left the coast of Brunswick on Sept. 8, 2019 heading towards the Port of Baltimore. After only 23 minutes, the ship began to list and eventually capsized. The entire crew survived the capsizing, thanks to the extraordinary efforts to the US Coast Guard. However, the ship was a total loss. Almost right after the ship's crew was saved, there were plans put in place for the ship's salvaging. However, it would be no easy task. RELATED: “I’m losing her,” Golden Ray captain describes moments before ship capsizes "It's just mind-blowing, the size and scope of this," one St. Simon's Island resident said about the Golden Ray salvage. Crews have cut the bow of the Golden Ray, a major milestone in the salvaging effort. Officials estimated it would take 24 hours for each cut to be made. However, due to several setbacks, including the cutting chain being broken, delays due to Tropical Storms, it took more than 20 days. RELATED: One year later, Brunswick community recalls rescue of capsized Golden Ray’s crew Still, this is the first time people can see the ship’s interior since the wreck. “it’s bigger than what you think it would be, I’m surprised the cars are intact, smashed but intact,” Connie Brogan, who drove out to Mayors Point to see the wreck, said. The first cut was completed this weekend. The bow was taken to a site near the Port of Brunswick at Mayors Point. However, adding to the difficulty of salvaging the wreck are pieces of debris that have washed up on the shores. “This morning I found 30 or so pieces, [Sunday] I found 50 pieces,” Fletcher Sams, Executive Director of the Altamaha Riverkeeper group, said. Officials ask that people call the debris reporting hotline at (912) 944-5620. There is a 200-yard safety zone around the environmental protection barrier for recreational vessels. Any unauthorized usage of drones around the wreck site is prohibited. Another major concern many have during the salvage effort is the environmental risk of the salvaging effort. Sams said he is specifically concerned what might happen when workers cut into the ship’s fuel tanks as well as whatever pollutants in more than 4,000 cars still on board the ship. “We’re seeing on the Georgia coast something we’ve never seen before," Sams said. "Hopefully it’s one of the more successful salvage operations in US history, but we’re preparing for the worst case." For months, Sams has advocated for a complete environmental damage assessment of the St. Simons Sound and surrounding areas to be done. Officials say there is ongoing monitoring of the ship and the surrounding environment. Locals like Brogan say the wreck has become a small attraction at the island. However, they are ready for it to be gone. “It’s been such a slow process and I’m hoping the process to cut up the rest of the ship isn’t as slow as this first piece," Brogan explained. "It’s been there for such a long time, we’d like to see it out of there." Michael Himes, spokesperson for the Unified Command incident response team, said the stern is next in line to be cut. “The inner sections which hold the majority of the cars," Himes said. "Our plan shifts to instead of using barges to receive, we’ll be using dry dock barges, so we can lift them minimally and slip the dry docks underneath, seal them and take it to a local sight for dismantling." “The irregular shape can be acted upon by the tides here and the waters so the methodology and the plan of removing the end sections," Himes added. "We don’t want to leave them if they can be acted upon by water moving in the sound."
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Shipwreck
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Capital Airlines Flight 300 crash
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On May 20, 1958 a Vickers Viscount airliner operating Capital Airlines Flight 300 was involved in a mid-air collision with a United States Air Force T-33 jet trainer on a proficiency flight in the skies above Brunswick, Maryland. All 11 people on board the Viscount and one of the two crew in the T-33 were killed in the accident. Flight 300 was the second of four fatal crashes in the space of two years involving Capital Airlines Vickers Viscounts; the other were Capital Airlines Flight 67 (April 1958) Capital Airlines Flight 75 (May 1959) and Capital Airlines Flight 20 (January 1960). An investigation of the accident concluded that the pilot in command of the T-33 failed to see and maintain a safe distance from other air traffic. Capital Airlines Flight 300 was a regular scheduled flight from Chicago, Illinois to Baltimore, Maryland with an intermediate stop at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The flight from Chicago was uneventful and at 10:50 local time the airliner departed Pittsburgh bound for Baltimore. At 11:25 while cruising at 11,000 feet Washington Air Traffic Control cleared Flight 300 to descend and maintain 7,000 feet. At 11:26 the Viscount crew reported descending through 10,000 feet over Martinsburg and radar contact was made by ATC. 48 seconds later flight 300 reported leaving 9,000 feet with clearance to 5,000 feet. This was the last radio transmission from the Viscount. [1]
The T-33 jet trainer launched from Martin State Airport at 11:07 for a VFR familiarization flight. The T-33's air speed was significantly higher as it approached the Viscount from the left and behind. The Viscounts indicated air speed was 235 knots while the T-33's was 290 knots with a closing rate of approximately 195 knots. While slowly climbing through 8,000 feet at 85 percent engine power, the jet banked slightly to the right and impacted the left side of the airliner forward of the wing. The airliner pitched up, its air speed decreasing, then the nose dropped and the aircraft entered a steep spin to the right, slowing to a flat spin before it struck the ground. The T-33 pilot was thrown clear of the flaming jet and parachuted safely to the ground but was badly burned. The jet disintegrated after the collision and the passenger was fatally injured. [1][2][3]
The four engine Viscount V.745 British medium-range turboprop airliner, serial number 108, first flew from Hampshire, England on 6 January, 1956. Powered by Rolls-Royce Dart RDa3 Mark 506 engines turning four blade square tipped constant-speed propellers, it was delivered to Capital Airlines on 15 January, 1956 as fleet number 329. [1]
The pilot in command of Flight 300 was Captain Kendall Brady, age 38. He had a valid airman certificate and was rated to fly single/multi-engine land aircraft as well as the Douglas DC-3, DC-4 and the Vickers Viscount. Brady's total flying hours were 12,719 with 1,432 of those in the Viscount. He was hired by Capital Airlines on 11 June, 1945. [1]
Paul Meyer, age 26, served as co-pilot and started flying for Capital Airlines on 25 May, 1956. He was certified to operate single/multi-engine land aircraft and had an instrument rating. Meyer's total flight hours were 2,467, of which 1,596 were in the Viscount. [1]
The two-place Lockheed T-33A Shooting Star subsonic American jet trainer aircraft involved was manufacture serial number 580-9528 and registered 53-5966. It was maintained by the Maryland Air National Guard and equipped with an Allison J33-A-35 turbojet engine. [1]
The pilot and sole survivor of the accident was Captain Julius McCoy, age 34. He was rated as a military pilot August 4, 1944 and joined the Maryland Air National Guard in 1952. He had a total of 1,902 hours in single- and multi-engine and single-engine jet aircraft 210 were in the T-33. [1]
The Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) investigated the accident and released a report on January 9, 1959. It determined that the collision happened during VFR conditions, and that both aircraft would have been in clear cloud free air nine-tenths of the time. The report noted that it is the overtaking aircraft's responsibility to see and avoid a collision. A contributing factor in the accident was that the small size of the T-33 made it difficult to pick up on radar. The board attributed no blame to the Viscount crew and stated in conclusion that "The Board determines the probable cause of this accident was the failure of the T-33 pilot to exercise a proper and adequate vigilance to see and avoid other traffic. "[1][nb 1]
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Air crash
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2010 Var floods
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The 2010 Var floods were the result of heavy rainfall in southern France that caused severe floods in the department of the Var in the evening of 15 June 2010. As well as generalized flooding, there were also flash floods. Meteorologists say the floods are the worst in the region since 1827,[1] with more than 400 mm (16 in) of rain falling in less than 24 hours. [2] At least 25 people have been killed. [3] The worst hit municipalities were Les Arcs, Figanières, Roquebrune-sur-Argens, Trans-en-Provence, and the subprefecture of Draguignan. [4]
Over 1,000 people were evacuated from their houses, and 175,000 houses were left without electricity. In Draguignan, 236 inmates had to be evacuated when two floors of the prison were flooded. [5] All 440 inmates from the prison were later transferred to other prisons in Cannes, Grasse, Metz, Marseille and Nice. [6] Helicopters were used to evacuate people from the rooftops of their houses. [1] In Frejus, over 1,500 people were rescued by the use of inflatable boats or helicopters. Many tourists were trapped in campsites along the Argens river. [5] People were urged to drink bottled water as it was feared that water supplies in the area were contaminated by the floodwater. [7]
Prime Minister François Fillon announced on 18 June that a declaration of natural catastrophe would be issued "as soon as possible": it will concern the cantons of Besse-sur-Issole, Callas, Cotignac, Draguignan, Fayence, Fréjus, Lorgues, Le Luc and Le Muy. [7][8]
Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux stated that he expected the death toll to rise further. [2] President Nicolas Sarkozy expressed his condolences to the victims' families and his support for the rescue teams. [5] He stated that he planned to visit the area on 21 June 2010. [2][8]
The French Red Cross launched an appeal, stating that the appeal was strictly for cash donations and not for clothing or furniture. [9]
A total of 25 people died: twelve people were killed in Draguignan, four in Trans-en-Provence, three at La Motte, two in Roquebrune-sur-Argens and Saint-Aygulf (in the commune of Fréjus) and one each Montauroux and at Le Luc. [3][7]
The floods also killed about 3000 sheep and about 100 horses, leading to problems in disposing of the carcasses, many of which had been swept into a wooded area and were trapped in trees. [8]
A High Speed Train travelling between Nice and Lille was stranded by the floodwaters near Le Luc. [10] There were over 300 people on board. The railway between Toulon and Fréjus was closed. [1] Services were reinstated between Toulon and Les Arcs and also between Nice and Saint-Raphaël on 17 June 2010. A bus service replaced trains between Les Arcs and Saint-Raphaël. [7] Air travel in the region was also disrupted. [1] Toulon-Hyères Airport closed in the evening of 15 June 2010, and reopened the following morning. [11]
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Floods
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2023 World Athletics Championships
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The 2023 World Athletics Championships (Hungarian: 2023-as atlétikai világbajnokság), the nineteenth edition of the World Athletics Championships, are scheduled to be held from 18 August to 27 August 2023 in Budapest, Hungary. [2][3]
* Indicates the athletes only competed in the preliminary heats and received medals. * Indicates the athletes only competed in the preliminary heats and received medals. * Indicates the athletes only competed in the preliminary heats and received medals. The championships will be held in the National Athletics Centre in Budapest, which will be built, and have a capacity of 36,000. In the United States, television rights to the championships belong to NBC Sports. [4]
This athletics and track and field article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
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Sports Competition
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Capitol rioter with ties to White supremacist gang pleads guilty and is sentenced to 6 months in jail with credit for time served
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Capitol rioter with ties to White supremacist gang pleads guilty and is sentenced to 6 months in jail with credit for time served Updated 1955 GMT (0355 HKT) July 12, 2021 Michael Curzio (CNN) A US Capitol rioter who joined a white supremacist gang while in prison for attempted murder pleaded guilty Monday to a misdemeanor related to the January 6 insurrection . The rioter, Michael Curzio, was sentenced to six months in jail but will be released Wednesday because he has been in jail since mid-January and will receive credit for time already served. "Mr. Curzio should be sentenced to the six-month statutory maximum," federal Judge Carl Nichols said at a hearing. "I am not in a position to be able to impose a longer sentence than that. I think that six-month sentence is appropriate here. Mr. Curzio will have, in two days, served that entire sentence." Curzio is now the second Capitol rioter to learn his fate. More than a dozen rioters have pleaded guilty and are awaiting sentencing later this summer and in the fall. As fence comes down, Capitol security forces face funding crunch It's highly unlikely that other rioters who plead guilty to the same charge will receive the full six-month maximum sentence. Curzio's case is unique, given his attempted murder conviction, and the fact that he has been incarcerated while awaiting trial since his arrest on January 14. Curzio, 35, pleaded guilty to one count of unlawfully protesting inside the Capitol and agreed to pay $500 to repair damages to the complex. This has become the standard plea deal that the Justice Department has offered to many Capitol rioters who didn't act violently. He has been in jail since his arrest on January 14 due to his past criminal history. He previously served time in prison for shooting his ex-girlfriend's new boyfriend in the chest. While behind bars, Curzio joined a White supremacist gang, which he says he did for his own protection. Curzio has previously said he is no longer an active member of the gang, he still has gang-affiliated tattoos including swastikas and other Nazi symbols. During the virtual court hearing on Monday, Curzio admitted his actions. "I'm gonna own up," he said. "I did parade, demonstrate and picket (inside the Capitol). I can't deny that. You have it on video. I'm not gonna contest it." The Justice Department said Curzio was part of a group of rioters that breached the Capitol Visitors Center. Police blocked them from going further, and after they didn't follow their orders to leave, they were arrested. "Well, I didn't hear (the police) telling us to leave," Curzio said, when asked if he agreed with the prosecutors' description of his behavior. "When law enforcement came in and started arresting people, they grabbed me. And obviously, I was in the wrong on that part. Once the officer told me I was under arrest, I was compliant." As the hearing wrapped up, Curzio asked to speak, and told the judge, "I accept responsibility for my actions and what I did. I want to thank you for being fair."
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Famous Person - Commit Crime - Sentence
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Malls listed under HIDE adhere to closure order
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KUALA LUMPUR: Shopping malls listed under the Hotspots Identification for Dynamic Engagement (HIDE) early warning system have temporarily closed their premises starting today until Tuesday (May 11). The malls concerned issued a notice via their social media platforms to inform of the temporary closure. The closure was in line with the latest announcement by Senior Minister (Security Cluster) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob, who announced that premises flagged under HIDE would be closed for three days with immediate effect to curb the spread of Covid-19. 1 Utama Shopping Centre, in a Facebook post, said the mall would undergo sanitisation exercises during the period. "1 Utama remains continuously compliant to strict safety standard operating procedures, and every care is taken to ensure our unwavering commitment to you. "We shall be monitoring the situation closely and welcome you back to 1 Utama when we announce our reopening. "Till then, keep your spirits up, and we shall see you soon in good health." Also temporarily closed its premises were Suria KLCC and Sunway Pyramid. Suria KLCC, in a Facebook post, has thanked its patrons for their cooperation, as the shopping mall actively focuses on the evolving health and safety procedures. Meanwhile, Sunway Pyramid said during the period; the mall will undergo deep sanitisation as part of the HIDE's requirement. "We will continue to work closely with the authorities and provide the latest updates from time to time. Please stay tuned to Lion's FB updates for the latest developments. "We're in this together, and together, we can get through this." Yesterday, the government published the first list of premises flagged as potential Covid-19 hotspots that were identified through HIDE. Science, Technology, and Innovation Ministry Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said the list's publication would help the public make reasonable travel plans and decisions before heading to a location or venue to avoid risks of getting infected by Covid-19. Among the shopping malls in Kuala Lumpur that were also in the list include Bangsar Shopping Centre, Bangsar Village 2, KL Eco City Mall, Melawati Mall, Mid Valley Megamall, Sungei Wang Plaza and Sogo Complex, among others. In Selangor, among the shopping malls in the HIDE's list were Aeon Mall Rawang, Central i-City Mall, Main Place Mall, Plaza Shah Alam, Paradigm Mall and Subang Parade.
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Organization Closed
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Human remains found at Williamsburg archaeology dig
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Human remains have been discovered in an archaeological dig at the site of a historic African American church in Colonial Williamsburg, experts announced Monday. A worn upper front tooth and what is probably a finger bone were unearthed during excavation at the site of the old First Baptist Church, one of the oldest such churches in the country and the earliest African American church in Williamsburg, experts said. The remains were found in what was left from an excavation at the site in the 1950s and probably came from a grave that was inadvertently disturbed in that process, experts said. The current dig has located what appear to be two graves. Archaeologists believe there may be more. The grave shafts have not yet been explored, but descendants of the church’s earliest members said they want the archaeology to continue to try to learn who the deceased were, and honor them. The church was organized in 1776, and had buildings on the site in 1855, and perhaps as early as 1818. Colonial Williamsburg bought the old church and tore it down in 1955. A new church funded by the sale was built about eight blocks away in 1956. The original site was paved over in 1965. The bell from the old church was used to dedicate the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington in 2016. Descended from the enslaved, this family helped open the African American museum The remains were discovered this month, Jack Gary, Colonial Williamsburg’s director of archaeology, said Monday. The spot is an area where oral tradition holds that past church members were probably buried behind the old structure on Nassau Street. The announcement came during an online meeting with Gary; Michael Blakey, director of the Institute for Historical Biology at William & Mary; Connie Matthews Harshaw, president of the church’s Let Freedom Ring Foundation; and descendants of church members. “We would like to know as soon as possible how many grave shafts there are,” Harshaw said. “At the end of the day we want to find out who they are and if possible connect any surviving descendants to those burials.” Gary and Blakey said that could be difficult but they were honored to have the community’s go-ahead to continue the dig. Community member Donald Hill asked whether the experts knew when the graves were dug. One way to tell would be “to excavate down to the remains themselves and see what materials are inside the grave shafts,” Gary said. “Looking at things like coffin hardware, the handles that are on coffins, they can give us dates.” “Looking at, also, any clothing remains on the individual could give us a potential date for when they were buried,” he said. Dennis Gardner, who was born two blocks from the dig site and attended the old church, said, “I think we should explore for additional graves and see what we … find and then after that I think we should determine what we want to do with the remains.” Blakey said about 70 small bone fragments had been recovered from the site. In most cases it was not clear whether they were human or animal. “These are … unidentifiable, tiny fragments,” he said. But they also found what is probably a finger bone, “very likely a human bone,” and the lone upper front tooth, he said. Wear on the tooth was “extreme,” he said. Tulsa mass grave might be from 1921 race massacre The dig at the site began last September. In November, archaeologists announced that they had found evidence of at least two graves, along with artifacts such as a fragment of an ink bottle, a porcelain piece of a doll’s foot and a building foundation. In 1953, when the church planned to build an adjacent annex, a member of the congregation, “Sister Epps” (most likely Mrs. Fannie Epps) said her great-grandfather was buried where the annex was supposed to go, researchers have written. The graves were found right where the annex was started, but never finished. The dig paused for several weeks in late fall 2020 and resumed in January. Gary said Monday that it would continue “as soon the rain stops.” According to the congregation’s tradition, the church goes back to the time when enslaved and free Black people began meeting secretly in the woods nearby to pray and listen to a minister named Moses. Williamsburg was the capital of Virginia from 1699 to 1780, and by 1775, more than half of its 1,880 residents were Black, most of them enslaved, according to the late historian Linda Rowe. The church congregants had to meet in remote locales outdoors because it was dangerous for Black people to gather in numbers anywhere, for fear of arousing White suspicions of revolt. Church tradition has it that a local White businessman, Jesse Cole, while walking his lands one day, came upon the congregation meeting and singing in an outdoor shelter made of tree limbs and underbrush. Moved by the scene, he offered them a carriage house he owned on Nassau Street, according to Rowe. On that spot in 1855, a stately new brick church was built with a steeple and Palladian windows. On that site, the archaeologists are now trying to resurrect a vanished past. Read more: Archaeological dig unearths one of earliest remains of the enslaved in Delaware DNA on ancient tobacco pipe links Maryland enslaved site to West Africa Hundreds died on World War II ‘hell ships.’ Now there’s an effort to identify the dead.
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New archeological discoveries
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CAP condemns inhumane act of poisoning monkeys
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GEORGE TOWN: The Consumers' Association of Penang (CAP) has condemned an incident where some 10 monkeys were poisoned to death in a forest near a residential area in Paya Terubong here. Video footage and photos of the monkeys, some lying motionless while others in their last breath, have since found their way into social media. CAP education officer N.V. Subbarow described the act of poisoning and killing the monkeys as ruthless and cruel. "God will not forgive those who killed the 10 monkeys. CAP condemns such inhuman and sinful actions. No one has the right to poison a living being. What is the reason to poison monkeys living in the forest? "We are destroying forests and building houses in the name of development. The monkeys have nowhere to go, and as such, they are forced to come out in search of food," he said today. Subbarow said if the monkeys were making noise, they could be chased away rather than poisoned to death. "If the monkeys are harassing the nearby residents, they can lodged a complaint with the Wildlife Department, which can catch the monkeys and release them back into the wild. "But to poison the monkeys, it is a heinous act," he said. Subbarow also appealed the person responsible not to repeat such an act. A police report has been lodged over the incident.
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Mass Poisoning
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The U.S withdraw from U.N. Human Rights Council
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“For too long the Human Rights Council has been a protector of human rights abusers and a cesspool of political bias,“ said U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley. U.S. withdrawing from U.N. Human Rights Council The United States will withdraw from the U.N. Human Rights Council, an entity it has long accused of being biased against Israel and giving cover to rights-abusing governments, the Trump administration announced on Tuesday. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, announced the decision, a move that essentially reverts the U.S. to the stance it took during the George W. Bush administration, which declined to join the council. Haley and Pompeo‘s announcement came a day after the U.N.’s human rights chief, in a speech to the council, criticized President Donald Trump’s immigration policy decisions that have led his administration to separate families apprehended after entering the U.S. illegally. “For too long the Human Rights Council has been a protector of human rights abusers and a cesspool of political bias,“ Haley said. It wasn‘t immediately clear whether the U.S. would cooperate with the council in any form or would continue to at least observe its sessions, and neither Haley or Pompeo mentioned the U.N. criticism of Trump‘s family separation practice as being a factor. The move will nevertheless add to concerns that the United States is, under Trump, retreating from its leading position as an international advocate for human rights. It‘s also the latest example of the Trump administration‘s quitting multilateral institutions and agreements, coming on the heels of its withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal, the Paris climate agreement and the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal.
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Withdraw from an Organization
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A record 12,200 U.S. stores closed in 2020 as e-commerce, pandemic changed retail forever
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Ravaged by a pandemic that shuttered stores for weeks in the spring—driving more spending online—retailers big and small closed 12,200 stores in the U.S. last year, according to a compilation released on Wednesday by commercial real estate firm CoStar Group. In all, that amounted to 159 million square feet of retail space. In 2019, the tally was 10,000 stores. Some of the boldface retail names to have closed stores in big numbers last year include J.C. Penney, which filed for bankruptcy in the spring and emerged with a fraction of its store count of just a few years ago, GameStop, Gap, and Macy’s. Many of the closings came from retailers that shut down altogether last year, such as Pier 1 Imports and its 950 stores. The pain was concentrated among mall-based retailers, which had been struggling long before COVID-19 made its appearance. CoStar estimated that one-third of the store closings were by department stores, clothing chains, or other mall-oriented companies, which represent only about 8% of total retail revenue. Early in the pandemic, some big retailers like Walmart, Costco, and Target, as well as drugstore chains CVS and Walgreens were deemed essential by authorities and allowed to stay open, giving them an edge over the likes of Macy’s, Kohl’s, Nordstrom, and Abercrombie & Fitch. While those companies have so far weathered the storm, the pressure pushed many wobbly retailers over the edge, and led to a record number of bankruptcies in 2020. On Tuesday, S&P Global Market Intelligence said U.S. corporate bankruptcies reached a high last year of 603 companies, including 125 consumer goods and retail firms. That included J.C. Penney, J.Crew, and the parent companies of Ann Taylor and Men’s Wearhouse, among others, adding to the carnage. But even successful companies have put the breaks on store fleet expansion plans. Old Navy and Ulta Beauty, for example, are both recovering well from the shutdowns and still plan to open hundreds more stores in the coming year but are now giving themselves more time to do so.
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Organization Closed
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2010 United States foreclosure crisis
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The 2010 United States foreclosure crisis, sometimes referred to as Foreclosure-gate or Foreclosuregate,[1][2] refers to a widespread epidemic of improper foreclosures initiated by large banks and other lenders. The foreclosure crisis was extensively covered by news outlets beginning in October 2010, and several large banks—including Bank of America, JP Morgan, Wells Fargo, and Citigroup—responded by halting their foreclosure proceedings temporarily in some or all states. [3][4] The foreclosure crisis caused significant investor fear in the U.S.[5] A 2014 study published in the American Journal of Public Health linked the foreclosure crisis to an increase in suicide rates. [6]
One out of every 248 households in the United States received a foreclosure notice in September 2012, according to RealtyTrac. [7][8]
"Robo-signing" is a term used by consumer advocates to describe the rubber-stamp process of mass production of false and forged execution of mortgage assignments, satisfactions, affidavits, and other legal documents related to mortgage foreclosures and legal matters being created by persons without knowledge of the facts being attested to. It also includes accusations of notary fraud wherein the notaries pre- and/or post-notarize the affidavits and signatures of so-called robo-signers. On October 21, 2010, The Wall Street Journal reported that foreclosure lawyer/advocates Thomas Ice and Matthew Weidner were discussing the deposition testimony of mortgage company employees; Weidner recalled, "Tom and I were talking, and it was, 'Jesus, they're like robots!'" Weidner, a blogger, called them "robo signers" in a January 8, 2010 posting. [9]
In 2009, Maine attorney Thomas Cox pointed out the wide-scale practice of robo-signing in depositions taken of GMAC's Jeffrey Stephan and other robo-signers. [10][11] News outlets reported that on September 14, 2010, Jeffrey Stephan testified that he had signed affidavits which he hadn't actually reviewed on behalf of Ally Financial. [12] This revelation led to increased scrutiny of foreclosure documentation. The practice was apparently common in the mortgage industry. In the weeks following the robo-signing revelation, other large banks came under fire for employing robo-signers as well, including JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America. [13]
In the fall of 2010, major U.S. lenders such as JP Morgan Chase,[14] Ally Financial (formerly known as GMAC), and Bank of America[15] suspended judicial and non-judicial foreclosures across the United States over the potentially fraudulent practice of robo-signing. On September 21, 2010, HousingWire ran an article citing defects in affidavits used in some foreclosure cases at Ally Financial,[16] formerly known as GMAC Mortgage. "This situation with GMAC isn't limited to GMAC," Margery Golant, of Golant & Golant, a foreclosure law firm in Boca Raton, Florida, said in an interview with HousingWire reporter Jon Prior. "All the mortgage servicers do the same thing. They have people either on the inside or through outsourcers that we call Robo-signers. They just sign everything in sight, but the legal system requires that they actually know the information." On July 18, 2011, the Associated Press and Reuters[17] released two reports that robo-signing continued to be a major problem in U.S. courtrooms across America. The AP defined robo-signing as a "variety of practices. It can mean a qualified executive in the mortgage industry signs a mortgage affidavit document without verifying the information. It can mean someone forges an executive's signature, or a lower-level employee signs his or her own name with a fake title. It can mean failing to comply with notary procedures. In all of these cases, robo-signing involves people signing documents and swearing to their accuracy without verifying any of the information. "[18]
The Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, known as MERS, is a privately held company that operates an electronic registry designed to track servicing rights and ownership of mortgage loans in the United States. [19][20] Since the 2010 crisis, 62 million mortgages are held in the name of MERS,[21] and MERS has initiated thousands of foreclosures in the United States, claiming to be the mortgagee of record. Lawyers have contended in court that MERS has no legal right to initiate a foreclosure, because MERS does not own the loans in question. U.S. lending laws state that only the owner of a loan can initiate a foreclosure. [20][21] Class action law suits against MERS are pending in California, Nevada, and Arizona. State courts remain sharply divided on the propriety of this practice. State supreme courts in Maine, Arkansas, and Kansas have ruled against MERS right to file for foreclosures. MERS has however won court cases in other states such as Michigan,[22] affirming its right to initiate foreclosures in those states. [20] For example, the Third District Court of Appeals in Florida ruled, in 2007, that "... it is apparent - and we so hold - that no substantive rights, obligations or defenses are affected by the use of the MERS device, [so] there is no reason why mere form should overcome the salutary substance of permitting the use of this commercially effective means of business. "[23]
In an apparent attempt to resolve some of the issues with missing, lost, and sometimes fraudulent paperwork both the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate passed H.R. 3808 which would force courts to recognize out of state and electronic notarizations. The bill passed the Senate through a verbal vote, and wasn't publicly debated. President Barack Obama, fearing "unintended consequences on consumer protections"[24] utilized his veto powers, at first using a pocket veto by simply not signing the bill, and later by issuing a more formal protective-return veto. [25]
The Interstate Recognition of Notarizations (IRON) Act of 2010 would have required “any Federal or State court to recognize any notarization made by a notary public licensed by a State other than the State where the court is located when such notarization occurs in or affects interstate commerce.”[26] The bill, written by U.S. Rep. Robert Aderholt (R-AL) to help court stenographers in his district alleviate issues with getting courts in other states to accept depositions notarized in Alabama,[27] came under criticism in October 2010 from homeowner advocates[who?] who said it would have made it easier for mortgage processors to foreclose on homeowners without proper documentation or chain of title. [28]
The first version of the IRON Act (H.R. 1979), sponsored by Aderholt in 2005, passed the House of Representatives in December 2006. [29] The same bill was later sponsored by U.S. Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE) and introduced in the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee as S.2083 in 2007, but it ultimately stalled. [30] The bill was again sponsored by Aderholt (R-AL) and introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives as H.R. 3808 on October 14, 2009. It passed by voice vote in the House on April 27, 2010. The bill was co-sponsored by Rep. Bruce Braley (D-IA), Rep. Mike Castle (R-DE) and Rep. Artur Davis (D-AL). The bill was voted on in the U.S. Senate on Sept. 27 at the urging of Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT). Leahy's staff said that they had received calls from “constituents” pressing for passage of the bill. [31] But Leahy may have supported the bill after being lobbied by notaries at a September event in D.C. honoring President Calvin Coolidge.
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Financial Crisis
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Goulburn Murray Water's irrigation channel herbicide treatment sparks concern
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An ecologist says a herbicide that is about to be used in northern Victoria could turn irrigation channels into "biological deserts".
Goulburn Murray Water is set to use Acrolein to clear the Torrumbarry channels, near Cohuna this month, which Damien Cook fears will lay waste to native plants and animals.
"I know it's used to kill submerged aquatic plants … but I also know that it's quite toxic to aquatic life — it can kill fish and yabbies," he said.
"Ecologically it's not a great solution to the problem of trying to clear the channels and a lot of the stuff they are killing is actually indigenous wetlands vegetation." Mr Cook said the channels provided an important habitat for the Murray-Darling Basin's struggling ecosystem.
"A lot of the wetlands along the Murray Darling Basin have had their hydrology modified, so they don't flood nearly as often as they used to," he said.
"So those artificial wetlands – like irrigation channels – are an important habitat."
The exact date of the treatment will depend on weather conditions.
Farmers along the channel will be notified and there will be a non-water use period of 72 hours for stock and domestic purposes.
Mr Cook said he was worried about whether the period would be long enough for the herbicide to break down.
"I'm not confident about that at all," he said.
"As an ecologist I'm always pretty suspect of any chemicals going into the environment."
GMW west distribution assistant manager Tim Mitschke said the herbicide was harmful to some aquatic life, but after 72 hours it would break down and the water would be safe again.
He said GMW would conduct electrofishing to remove as many native fish as possible before to the treatment.
"We won't deny that Acrolein has an impact on fish and yabbies," Mr Mitschke said.
"It actually coats the gills of the fish and the yabbies and so it basically suffocates them, and that's why the fish die and the yabbies crawl out of the channel network.
"It doesn't actually poison them and kill them systemically.
"We've used this product extensively for many years and it won't kill emergent aquatic vegetation.
"There's also plenty of organisms that live within the water that aren't reliant on taking the oxygen out of the water that survive."
Mr Mitschke said a balance between treating the channels and delivering irrigation water to customers needed to be struck.
"We are always looking for alternative methods and we don't want to have an impact on the natural aquatic environment," he said.
"But at this point in time science has not delivered us any alternative methodology.
"If there's anyone out there in the community that knows of an alternative way of treating hornwort, milfoil or floating pond weed with any other product other than Acrolein during the season when we have flowing water – besides Diquat, which is also harmful to aquatic life – then I'd love to hear from them."
Cohuna hobby farmer Vicki Johnson said she was nervous about the treatment.
"You'd just think in this day and age that they might have come up with some other method," Ms Johnson said.
"Because our environment in this area has taken a massive beating since the Murray-Darling Basin Plan has gone into action."
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Environment Pollution
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Chilean Army Hosts Vector Control Practices Seminar
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Military doctors and veterinarians from the Chilean Army, U.S. Army, U.S Air Force and the Uruguayan Navy gathered in Santiago, Chile, for a Vector Control Practices seminar hosted by the Chilean Army Health Command and sponsored U.S. Army South. The primary focus for this professional military to military engagement is to keep Soldiers, service members and civilians safe in a variety of austere environments during wartime, humanitarian disaster response and peace keeping mission. The importance of identifying vector borne diseases early such as malaria, dengue fever, zika and others plays an important role in military planning and operations. U.S. Army South's Maj. Alejandro Bonilla, an Environmental Science Officer with the Army Chief of Staff -- Medical, explains that the threat of vector borne illnesses are very serious issues. A malaria outbreak can kill more people than any other disease. The Department of Defense is constantly proactive and is always looking for ways to improve in identifying and dealing with vector borne illnesses before a potential pandemic or outbreak occurs. "Sharing best practices and lessons learned with our military partners in this type of forum is important because we all bring a wealth of knowledge which strengthens our interoperability," said Bonilla. "We always benefit from these exchanges because each military has different methods and practices, so we all learn something new which makes our militaries stronger in the area of force health protection." Throughout the week, between presentations and lectures, soldiers from the Chilean Army Veterinary Service had the opportunity to apply what they learned during several practical pre-deployment risk assessment exercises in which they evaluated potential vector borne diseases. Together, they analyzed a variety of data and developed a list of recommendations for the best course of action to mitigate health risks. "The course information is very useful because here in Chile we have several vectors that we are aware of and it's important to help us identify and prevent a possible outbreak. It also will help us identify the development of any new disease," said Maj. Alex Betzhold, a veterinary advisor and planner from the Chilean Army Veterinary Service. "It's interesting to learn about new field sampling techniques and the process for analyzing that information and then taking appropriate measure to protect our military forces," he added. Presenters included U.S. Army Veterinarians from U.S. Army Medical Command, a medical doctor and infectious disease specialist from the U.S. Air Force Defense Institute for Medical Operations, DIMO, and a medical doctor and infectious disease specialist from the Uruguayan Navy. As the Army Service Land Component to U.S. Southern Command, U.S. Army South works closely with partner nation Armies and Defense Forces in Central, South America and the Caribbean to strengthen security cooperation throughout the western hemisphere.
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Military Exercise
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Capital Airlines Flight 20 crash
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Capital Airlines Flight 20 was a U.S. scheduled passenger flight from Washington, D.C. to Norfolk, Virginia. A Vickers Viscount flying the route crashed into a farm in Charles City County, Virginia, on January 18, 1960. The accident was the fourth fatal crash involving a Capital Viscount in less than two years; the first three were Capital Airlines Flight 67 (April 1958), Capital Airlines Flight 300 (May 1958) and Capital Airlines Flight 75 (May 1959). The plane was cruising at an altitude of 8,000 feet when it encountered icing. This caused two engines to fail. As the craft descended, the other two engines also failed, causing the propellers to autofeather. The crew tried and failed to restart the engines, and were unable to unfeather the propellers normally; they then put the plane into a dive in an attempt to force the propellers from their feathered position. Eventually they succeeded in restarting engine number four. They applied full power to this engine, which caused the craft to enter a circling descent until crashing into trees; at the time of impact it had almost no forward velocity. Five trees were driven through the fuselage, yet their trunks remained intact. The plane burned for hours after the crash, the police said at the time. They also indicated that they had not been able to approach it to make an effort at recovering bodies. In addition, treacherous underfooting made the use of firefighting equipment almost impossible. Heavy fog had closed many airports throughout eastern Virginia and had blanketed the area when the plane bearing 44 passengers and a crew of four came down on swampland near Sandy Gut, a tributary of the Chickahominy River about 30 miles southeast of Richmond. The plane was flying from Chicago to Norfolk - where the airport was open - by way of Washington. It had left Washington at 9:40 p.m. and crashed at 11 p.m. Capital Airlines in Washington identified the jet-prop aircraft's crew as Capt. James B. Fornasero, pilot; Philip Henry Cullom, first officer; and two hostesses, Diane Margaret O'Donnell and Brigitte Friede Helene Jordt. The crash was attributed to the fact that, as per airline policy, the pilots had delayed arming the engine ice protection systems even though they were flying in icy conditions; this caused the engines to lose too much power. Capital Airlines changed its emergency checklist after the crash, deleting the instruction that pilots were to descend to a warmer climate to relight the systems and instructing them that, provided that correct procedure was followed, the engine could be restarted at any height.
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Air crash
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