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Mrauk U riot
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On 16 January 2018, a group of ethnic Rakhine locals in the town of Mrauk U, in Rakhine State, Myanmar, protested against a ban on an event that marked the 233rd anniversary of the Kingdom of Mrauk U's end. When the demonstration reached the local government office, some protesters began to riot, prompting police to fire into the crowd. Seven protesters were killed, whilst twelve others were wounded. Authorities later stated that the decision to switch from rubber bullets to live ammunition was in response to protesters entering a government building and attempting to seize it. [3]
An annual event commemorating the 233rd anniversary of the Kingdom of Mrauk U's dissolution was planned to take place at 6:00 pm (MMT) on 16 January 2018. It was organised by a local charity, and planned to have Aye Maung, a prominent Rakhine politician and member of the Pyithu Hluttaw, as a speaker. Organisers had their event permit approved by Mrauk U's Department of Archaeology and Cultural Heritage Conservation on 8 January, but Border Affairs Minister Phone Tint banned it and superseded the department's decision a day before the event, demanding that the organisers resubmit their permit after concerns regarding peaceful assembly and the location of the event on a national heritage site.
Hundreds of event attendees marched towards Mrauk U's police station at 7:00 pm on 16 January 2018, later joined by thousands of protesters, demanding that the event be allowed to take place. According to eyewitnesses, the group arrived at the police station thirty minutes later and began negotiating with policemen for 20 minutes, until the police told them that the district administration officials had banned the event and that there was nothing they could do. As a result, attendees and protesters began marching towards the district administration office.
At 9:30 pm, protesters reportedly began shouting slogans in support of the event and against the authorities who banned it in front of the office building. Word spread that protesters had been arrested inside the building, and protesters began climbing over the surrounding fences. Police fired warning shots at the protesters and used megaphones to demand that the crowd disperse.According to the authorities, some protesters allegedly attempted to grab the firearms of two policemen, and 4,000 people began storming the office building and destroying property. The police responded by firing live ammunition at the crowd, killing seven protesters and wounding twelve. According to eyewitnesses and wounded protesters, policemen fired from both in front of and behind the crowd.
The office of the State Counsellor of Myanmar released a statement after the riot, stating that the police response was justified by the storming of the administration office by protesters. Locals in Mrauk U subsequently demanded an impartial and independent investigation into the riot. In response, the Rakhine State Government announced it would send two teams of investigators, one from the central government in Naypyidaw and one from the state government in Sittwe.
Eight protesters were detained in connection to the riot, and Aye Maung, who was supposed to speak at the event, was arrested[8] for allegedly supporting the Arakan Army, a Rakhine insurgent group.
Bo Bo Min Thaik, the former administrative officer of Mrauk U who resigned after the riot, was found stabbed to death in a burning car on the Yangon–Sittwe Highway near the village of Thayattcho on 31 January 2018. Authorities blamed the Arakan Army, but stated that there was no evidence linking the murder to the riot.
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Riot
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Aeroflot Flight 601 crash
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Aeroflot Flight 601 was a scheduled Soviet domestic passenger flight from Arkhangelsk to Leshukonskoye, operated by Aeroflot. The Antonov An-24RV crashed on 24 December 1983 during approach to Leshukonskoye. Five out of forty-nine people on board survived the accident. Pilot error was cited as the cause of the accident. The aircraft's crew consisted of captain Nikolai Alimov, first officer Alexander Priydak, navigating officer Vladimir Marichev, flight engineer Fyodor Igumnov and an unknown air hostess. [1]
The visibility at Leshukonskoye airport was 5 km, with drizzle and a wind speed of 3 m/s and air temperature 0°С. [1] Sixteen kilometres away from Leshukonskoye airport and at an altitude of 500 m (1,600 ft) the crew put the landing gear down and set the flaps at 15 degrees. [1] Then the flaps were set to 38 degrees and the aircraft, piloted by captain, started to descend. [1] The aircraft descended with a significant deviation that reached about 490 m to the left. The captain decided to land instead of making a go-around and banked the aircraft to the right. At an altitude of about 30 m (98 ft) the captain decided to make a go-around. The landing gear was retracted and the aircraft started to climb, but reached critical slip angles which compromised aircraft control. [1] The captain then ordered to set the flaps at 15 degrees, but by then the aircraft had stalled. [1] It then started to descend with an increasing left bank angle. At an altitude of 80 m (260 ft) and with a speed of 86.39 knots (160 kmh) the flaps were set to eight degrees. [1] The left bank angle ultimately reached 90 degrees and the aircraft crashed 110 m right of the runway. [1] The aircraft broke apart and partially burned. [1] Four passengers and the flight attendant survived the accident. [1]
The investigation placed the responsibility for the accident on the captain Alimov, who was found to have a risky style of piloting, which violated the flight instructions. [1] It was also found that the crew should have initiated a go-around instead of attempting to land first. [1] No fault with air traffic control was found. [1]
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Air crash
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2012 Aysén protests
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The 2012 Aysén protests were a series of protests that occurred in Aysén Region in central Chilean Patagonia in February 2012. The protests were organized by Movimiento Social por Aysén (Social Movement for Aysén), a leftist organization grouping together 20 other organization including Workers' United Center of Chile, ANEF and Patagonia Sin Represas and local fishermen. The protests centered on demands for subsidies from the national government, even though Aysén already receives a disproportionately high (per capita) level of national subsidies and expenditures for the region. Many of the demands were considered to be contrary to the existing constitution of the country. The protests paralysed air, land, and water transport not only within the region but also into and out of the central Patagonia region, effectively trapping thousands of tourists. Protesters also damaged a Chilean government air ambulance that was being used to evacuate injured people. The protests resulted in hundreds of injuries and several millions of dollars in damage to local industry, personal and commercial property, and public infrastructure. Towards the end of the protests, the national government invoked the national internal security law, which is intended to deal with acts of terrorism against the country. Demands included:
There were also support protests for Aysén by leftist organisations in other Chilean cities like Arica, Viña del Mar, Talca, Concepción and Ancud. [3][4]
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Protest_Online Condemnation
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Rec department events canceled, but 'Youth Football Night' now at SCHS
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While two scheduled activities for the Screven County Recreation Department have been canceled, a youth football experience this Friday night has been added. Gymnastics classes at the recreation department have been postponed and the Sept. 25 Fuzion Pro Wrestling event has been canceled. No other Fuzion events are scheduled for the remainder of 2021. A "Youth Football Night" is scheduled for Friday night, Sept. 24, at Screven County High School's Kelly Memorial Stadium. All SCRD youth football players will be admitted free with their game jersey and will be able to run through the banner on the field with the SCHS Gamecocks prior to the game. Youth players will line up at 7 p.m. in the end zone with the varsity players. Teams will be recognized on the home sideline prior to the game. The recreation department appreciates head coach Ron Duncan and the high school staff for making this event possible for the Screven County youth football players. The recreation department will kick off its fall season the week of Oct. 11 as football and soccer games begin.
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Organization Closed
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London Chess Classic
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The London Chess Classic is a chess festival held at the Olympia Conference Centre, West Kensington, London. The flagship event is a strong invitational tournament between some of the world's top grandmasters. A number of subsidiary events cover a wide range of chess activities, including tournaments suitable for norm and title seekers, junior events, amateur competitions, simultaneous exhibitions, coaching, and lectures. In April 2015, the London Chess Classic (LCC) was named as one of the three events that would comprise the inaugural Grand Chess Tour. By linking with Norway Chess and the Sinquefield Cup, a prestigious grand-prix style 'tour' was created that would play host to nine of the world's elite players, as well as the wildcard nominee of each organizer. It was expected that future editions of the tour would be expanded to include other events that could meet the standard. The LCC 2015 event featured the nine participating players of the 2015 Grand Chess Tour plus wildcard pick, Michael Adams. The inaugural 2009 edition was advertised as "the highest level chess tournament in London for 25 years", referring to the Phillips & Drew Kings tournament held in 1984. It was held during the same time as the Chess World Cup 2009. The field of eight grandmasters comprised the top four English players, and four international players, with top billing going to the former World Champion Vladimir Kramnik, plus the future World Champion and then-current number one in the live world rankings, Magnus Carlsen. The tournament was FIDE Category 18, and had a prize fund of 100,000 Euros including daily best game prizes and a 10,000 Euro brilliancy prize for the game voted the best of the tournament. The games were broadcast live at a number of sites including Playchess and the Internet Chess Club (with live expert commentary provided by Chess.FM). A major feature of the tournament was the use of a different scoring system, sometimes referred to as "Bilbao Rules"; players earn three points for a win, one for a draw and none for a loss. "Sofia Rules" also applied, whereby the players could not agree a draw without the arbiter's permission, only to be given when there was deemed to be no purposeful play left in the position. With the added incentive of lucrative best game prizes, the intention was to maximise the potential for entertaining and decisive games. There were 17 draws and 11 decisive games. The tournament was won by Magnus Carlsen, a victory that meant he would be world number one in the January 2010 FIDE world rankings list. Second place was taken by Vladimir Kramnik, and third place by David Howell, on tie-break from Michael Adams. The prizegiving took place at Simpson's-in-the-Strand, where Carlsen received a trophy and a cheque for the first prize (25,000 Euros). A trophy and 10,000 Euros brilliancy prize was presented to Luke McShane for his round five win against Hikaru Nakamura. The organisers announced that there would be another tournament in London in 2010. The tournament organiser and director was International Master Malcolm Pein, manager of the London Chess Centre and the executive editor of CHESS magazine. The Festival Organiser was Adam Raoof, FIDE Organiser and Arbiter. The guest of honour was Victor Korchnoi. The ceremonial opening move was made by Evan Harris, MP. Tournament partners included Chessbase and the Internet Chess Club. The main pre-tournament public relations event comprised a blindfold display at the London Eye between Nigel Short and Luke McShane. The tournament was simultaneous broadcast on London Chess Classic website, and the chess servers ICC, FICS and Playchess, as well as on Twitter. Other tournaments organised during the festival included the nine-round Women's Invitational competition and nine-round FIDE Rated Open, which were won by Arianne Caoili of Australia and Jon Ludvig Hammer of Norway respectively, both with scores of 8/9. Korchnoi gave two simultaneous displays during the event. To raise money for charity, one ticket to play him was auctioned on eBay for £410. The 2010 edition was publicised as "The UK's strongest chess tournament ever". The prize fund was substantially increased from the previous year and world champion Viswanathan Anand replaced Ni Hua in the list of participants. Coupled with the advances in rating of some of the competitors, the effect was to elevate the tournament's status to Category 21 on FIDE's scale, making it the strongest ever held in the United Kingdom. The ceremonial first move was performed by the Indian High Commissioner, HE Mr Nalin Surie, and the format remained faithful to the previous year, adopting the three points for a win, one for a draw scoring system and 'Sofia Rules' in respect to agreed draws. Live expert commentary was provided to an audience of up to 400 at the venue itself and was also put out as a live web transmission. Lawrence Trent, Stephen Gordon, Daniel King and Chris Ward formed the core of the commentary team, but there were numerous contributions from other distinguished players, including guests of honour, Viktor Korchnoi and Garry Kasparov. The tournament was won by Magnus Carlsen, cementing his return to the world number one spot in the rankings. Anand and Luke McShane shared second place, and had the tournament been scored in the conventional way, then all three would have shared first place. The prize giving was once again held at Simpsons-in-the-Strand, Carlsen being presented with the trophy and a cheque for 50,000 Euros by his part-time trainer and mentor, Kasparov. The tournament organiser and director was IM Malcolm Pein, manager of the London Chess Centre and the executive editor of CHESS magazine. The Festival Organiser was Adam Raoof, FIDE Organiser and Arbiter. The 2010 Festival won the English Chess Federation Congress of the Year Award. The tournament was simultaneously broadcast on London Chess Classic website, and the chess servers ICC, FICS and Playchess, as well as on Twitter and Facebook. Other tournaments organised during the festival included the nine-round Women's Invitational competition and nine-round "FIDE Rated Open". WIM Arlette Van Weersel of The Netherlands won the former with 8/9, while GMs Gawain Jones and Simon Williams (both England) shared victory in the Open with 7½/9. Korchnoi gave two simultaneous displays during the event and evening lectures were provided by GMs Jacob Aagaard and Boris Avrukh. The third edition once again featured the strongest chess tournament ever held in the UK. Organiser Malcolm Pein added a ninth player, the world number three Armenian Grandmaster Levon Aronian, ensuring that the world's top four players participated. With two extra rounds scheduled, play spanned two weekends and each day, one player sat out and joined the commentary team.
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Sports Competition
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PFAS Contamination: Lawyers head to Katherine as NT town considers suing Defence Department
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Katherine residents have met with lawyers as they decide whether their town will become the third place to sue the Defence Department over the contamination crisis linked to firefighting foams once used on Air Force bases.
Hundreds of people packed the local arts and culture centre on Thursday night to hear from Shine Lawyers, the firm involved in the class action in Oakey, Queensland, for residents similarly affected by the chemicals.
Per-and poly-fluoroalkyl substances, also known as PFAS chemicals, were in the foam used at RAAF bases - including at Tindal near Katherine - until 2004 and have seeped into the town's bores and infiltrated its drinking supply.
"They've got to pay for what they've done to the Katherine water table and the people," Katherine resident Lillian Smith, who supports a potential class action, said.
"I've got health problems and I think it is caused by that [PFAS] because I lived on Uralla Road for 10 years and I was drinking that water, the bore water, and showering in it. Doing everything with bore water."
Special counsel at Shine Lawyers Joshua Aylward said a class action would seek compensation for a number of things if it went ahead.
"The claim for the people of Katherine will be for property values, it'll be for business losses, it'll be for stress and for vexation and it'll be for breaches of statutory duties as well as nuisance and negligence," Mr Aylward said.
"Ballpark figure ... hundreds of millions [of dollars] would be what is entitled to the people of Katherine for the loss that they've suffered here."
Dozens of residents who rely on their bores for drinking are now being supplied bottled water by Defence and the town's own drinking supply is being kept within accepted limits with water restrictions.
A Four Corners investigation recently revealed the Defence Department was warned as far back as 1987 that the chemicals must not enter the environment, although Katherine residents were not told their bores were affected until 2016.
"That's what the problem is, is the fact that it's all been swept under the carpet," Katherine local Danielle Valler said, adding she wants Defence to be held accountable. "I mean they've known about this for how long? Some of the things I've read say 1987, well that's when I came to town, you know.
"If you've known about it for this long why hasn't anything been done?"
Resident Noel Shay said he would also like to join a class action after shutting down plans to start farming in the area.
"If we put cattle on it [the property] we're going to get PFAS in the meat, if we do chooks we're going to do PFAS in the eggs, if we do veggies we're going to get PFAS in leaves, you know, it's in there.
"We're looking at getting out. What's the price of health? Okay, nobody knows what it really does, but why take the chance?"
If Katherine residents decide to move ahead with a class action they will join two other similar cases, representing almost 1,000 people in PFAS affected areas in Queensland and New South Wales.
"They're concerned about their town water, they're concerned that there are many ways in which these chemicals are entering their body and the environment around them and they're concerned that their properties are not worth anything like they used to be," Mr Aylward said. "And they're concerned also that the Department of Defence is being extremely slack and has not been investigating this soon enough.
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Environment Pollution
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Milltown Road closed in Belfast after crash
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A busy road in South Belfast is shut on Friday morning due to a crash. Police say the Milltown Road is closed at the entrance to the Belvoir Estate following a two road traffic collision on September 24. Motorists are advised to avoid the area and to seek alternative main routes for their journey. NI Road Policing and Safety's statement added: "The Milltown Road in South Belfast is closed at the entrance to the Belvoir Estate following a two road traffic collision this morning (Friday 24th September). Motorists are advised to avoid the area and seek alternative main routes for their journey."
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Road Crash
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10 Bollywood Celebs Who Married The Not-So-Famous People
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Aashima Talwar Last Updated: Aug 18, 2021 | 12:01:33 IST When a popular actor ties the knot with a popular actress, the paparazzi never leaves them alone to enjoy their personal space. Maybe that is the reason why many of our B-town stars have also walked on the same path, and have chosen their life partners from outside the tinsel town. And, they have successfully kept their personal life away from the media glare. advertisement Check out a few famous celebs who married the 'not-so-famous' people. After her relationship with actor Akshay Kumar came to an end, Raveena Tandon had to face a rough time both professionally and personally. However, the news of her marriage to film distributor, Anil Thadani was a big surprise to not only her fans, but for the film fraternity as well. Now, a mother of two, Raveena is back to her gorgeous shape. She is now seen judging many reality shows on television. Also Read: When Akshay Kumar Had Confessed His Engagement To Raveena Tandon And Had Reacted To Marriage Reports The ever-smiling and chirpy actress, Juhi Chawla, managed to keep her romance with the industrialist, Jay Mehta, under wraps, until they got married in 1997. The couple is blessed with a son and a daughter. Juhi is keeping her filmy career alive by working in selective roles. Also Read: Juhi Chawla Reveals How She Feared Losing Her Career In 90s And Kept Wedding With Jay Mehta A Secret advertisement. The ever-young star of the yesteryears, Jeetendra started his Bollywood career in the late 50s and enthralled all with his energetic dance movements. Although there were rumours of him being infatuated with Hema Malini, he went on to marry Shobha. She was then working as an air hostess with British Airways. Their children, Ekta Kapoor and Tusshar Kapoor, are doing well in their own rights today. Also Read: Extremely Talented and Famous Bollywood Vamps And Their Lesser known Husbands Vivek Oberoi’s career graph has gone through huge ups and downs. An immature media statement dragged his career graph to an all-time low. After his marriage to Priyanka Alva, who is a daughter of a former Karnataka minister, Vivek seems to have finally settled down. They are blessed with a boy as well as a girl. The whole nation was taken aback when Madhuri Dixit announced her marriage with Dr Shriram Nene in 1999. The dhak-dhak girl broke millions of hearts when she took a hiatus from films after her marriage. Post-marriage, she got settled in Denver, the USA with her husband who is a cardiovascular surgeon. Now a mother of two sons, Madhuri was at the peak of her career when she married a person who was completely out of her super-stardom world. advertisement Also Read: 27 Years Of Hum Aapke Hain Koun: Price Of Madhuri Dixit's Backless Saree To Many Other Unknown Facts Eyebrows were raised when the Big Brother winner and the Bollywood star married the British Indian businessman, Raj Kundra. The duo made quite headlines when they bought their first business venture together in IPL as Rajasthan Royals. On July 19, 2021, Raj was arrested from his house along with 11 other people by the Mumbai police, after his alleged involvement in creating porn movies and publishing them through mobile apps. advertisement Also Read: Love Story Of Shilpa Shetty And Raj Kundra, From Being His Second Wife To Having Two Kids Together Well, this actress Esha Deol tied the knot with Bharat Takhtani, a Mumbai-based businessman in 2012. Way back Esha Deol had declared that she desired a husband as devastatingly handsome as her father, Dharmendra. The two fell in love years back when they were in their school uniform. But, the two reconnected ten years later and began dating again. Bharat truly believes that marriages are made in heaven. He says: advertisement “It seems impossible that someone from a film family and I, who is from a conservative business family would ever come together.” Also Read: Esha Deol And Bharat Takhtani's Love Story: From Teenage Breakup, Reunion After 10 Years To Marriage This young heartthrob of India made a mark for himself with his very first release, Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na. He almost gave a heart attack to millions of his female fans when he first introduced his ladylove to the media. His better half, Avantika Malik, hails from a non-filmi background. The couple dated for 10 years before they decided to get married. After 8 years of marital bliss, Imran and Avantika had temporarily decided to call off their marriage due to irreconcilable differences. According to recent reports, it is Imran Khan's alleged extra-marital relationship with actress, Lekha Washington that led to his split with his wife, Avantika Malik. Fardeen Khan, once a heartthrob of Bollywood too married his childhood friend, Natasha. The speculations regarding his affair with Celina Jaitley were all put to rest when he openly accepted his relationship with Natasha. Despite being the daughter of veteran actress Mumtaz, Natasha was never a known name in the industry. advertisement Also Read: Fardeen Khan's 'Fat To Fit' Transformation: Actor Reveals Who Inspired Him To Lose 18 Kg In 6 Months The yesteryear beauty and style-diva, Mumtaz who enchanted her fans with her superb acting and dancing skills married a business tycoon, Mayur Madhvani. Many people thought that Mayur married her only for her looks and glamorous appeal. But, there came a time in her life, when she had no eyebrows, no eyelashes and no hair left because of cancer. Talking about their relationship, this is what she said in a magazine interview: “I will never forget that he would hold me like a child and call me the most beautiful woman. I know what I must have looked like, but he made me feel beautiful." Indeed, a true example of how strong the bond of love and marriage is! One of the good finds and super-gorgeous actress, who rose to fame through Mere Yaar Ki Shadi Hai. But despite her positive start of the career, she couldn’t make it to space. And then, she went on to try her fluke in South as well, but there too, things didn’t work out well for her. The actress took the wedding vows with Captain Vinod Nair, who now happens to be a strategist, author and entrepreneur. The exact date of their marriage is not known, but they truly are madly in love with each other. Bot Tulip and Nair are owners of Kimmaya Consulting, a million-dollar company. These couples prove that love can happen anytime, with anyone, irrespective of their popularity or financial status. These jodis are a proof that marriages are made in heaven! NEXT READ: Madhuri Dixit And Juhi Chawla Revealed The Reason Why They Didn't Marry A Bollywood Actor
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Famous Person - Marriage
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Biden pledges US will double financial aid for developing nations to tackle climate crisis
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Mr Biden used his speech to call for international cooperation in driving down emissions and developing clean energy systems, along with working together on the Covid-19 pandemic and stamping out human rights abuses. He positioned the challenges as a new chapter, referencing the end of America’s 20-year war in Afghanistan. “Instead of continuing to fight the wars of the past, we are fixing our eyes on devoting our resources to the challenges that hold the keys to our collective future: ending this pandemic; addressing the climate crisis; managing the shifts in global power dynamics; shaping the rules of the world on vital issues like trade, cyber, and emerging technologies; and facing the threat of terrorism as it stands today,” he said. Mr Biden said that his administration would work with US Congress to secure the increase in climate funding “to support the countries and people that will be hit hardest and that have the fewest resources to help them adapt”. He added: “This will make the United States a leader in public climate finance. And with our added support, together with increased private capital and other -- from other donors, we’ll be able to meet the goal of mobilizing $100 billion to support climate action in developing nations.” The US’ financial pledge marked a positive note ahead of the UN climate summit, Cop26, which is being hosted by the UK in Glasgow in a matter of weeks. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said achieving the $100bn in climate financial aid is one of his key goals for Glasgow along with slashing global emissions around 45 per cent from 2010 levels by the end of the decade. UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson used his visit to the US to warn leaders of the world’s biggest economies that history will judge them harshly if they fail to deliver at Cop26. Following Mr Biden’s speech on Tuesday, Mr Johnson welcomed the updated US climate funding pledge as a “very good start” that takes them “a long way towards the goal”. Speaking to reporters on the platform at Washington DC’s Union Station, the British leader said: “This is very good news in the sense the United States has stepped up to the plate with a massive contribution. “That’s a very, very good start. It means we’re a long way towards the goal we need to achieve but there’s still a long way to go. There’s no question that this American action today has been a big lift and will really help us to get there.” Alok Sharma, the UK president of Cop26, also tweeted: “Strongly welcome @POTUS further doubling climate finance commitment to over $11bn by 2024. This demonstrate the increased ambition required to deliver on the $100bn/year goal. We must build on this momentum.” At a top-level meeting in New York on Monday, Mr Johnson had voiced “frustration” that some of the world’s richest economies have failed to meet demands to cut emissions and come up with their share of the $100bn fund. Analysis by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) last week found that only $79.6bn was mobilised by wealthy nations in 2019 – a slight bump of 2 per cent on the previous year but still far short of the target. Cop26, which begins on 1 November, is widely viewed as critical to turning the tide on rising emissions levels which are driving more extreme impacts around the world. At a climate summit hosted by the US in April, the Biden administration announced the US would provide $5.7bn in climate finance annually by 2024 – less than a quarter of what EU countries were already putting forward in 2019. Climate scientists and policy-makers welcomed President Biden’s increased financial pledge on Tuesday. Dr Rachel Cleetus, a lead economist at the Union of Concerned Scientists, called it “a welcome and much-needed sign that the United States is finally taking its global climate responsibilities seriously”. She added: “Climate vulnerable nations—particularly low- and middle-income countries—are already reeling from an unprecedented onslaught of climate-related disasters and desperately need financial support to adapt and build resilience to worsening impacts. And they need resources to help them rapidly transition to clean energy.” Helen Mountford, vice president of climate and economics at the World Resources Institute, noted that providing climate finance is a central tenet of the Paris Agreement and that the US had taken an important step toward making good on its share of responsibility. “Looking forward, President Biden should work with the US Congress to assure that these funds can be credibly delivered, addressing concerns about access to funds,” she said. “The US should also significantly increase its share of adaptation finance in line with the Paris Agreement goal to balance the finance provided between mitigation and adaptation.
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Financial Aid
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Suffolk shipwreck find could be 'really rare'
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A shipwreck uncovered on the Suffolk coast could be "really rare", experts have said. A wooden boat section was found at Thorpeness beach but cannot be investigated yet due to Covid-19. Coastal archaeologists are not allowed to visit it, or a second shipwreck at Covehithe under current restrictions. They had a "tantalising glimpse" of what might be there by studying the public's photographs, according to discovery officer Andy Sherman. "It's very exciting to see - hopefully they will still be there in three or four months so that we can do further investigations," he said. Mr Sherman, from the Coastal and Intertidal Zone Archaeological Network (CITiZAN), said it was "very difficult to successfully identify specific wrecks". But under current restrictions, the task was even harder, as CITiZAN has had to rely on its volunteers. He said photographs of the latest finds showed two "carvel-constructed timber boats", a common construction method in the 16th to 19th Centuries. The wreck at Thorpeness appeared to be held together with wooden "treenails", or pins, a technique that dates from the 13th Century to the 19th Century, Mr Sherman said. But an unusual construction technique could pinpoint it to a 150-year period from the late 16th Century through to the 17th Century. "It's difficult to tell from the photographs but this section of wreck appears to have double hull planking, which could be really exciting," he said. "This makes the vessel slightly more buoyant on one side and is really, really rare [to find]. "Although the technique is known from historical writings there is only one well-known example in the UK archaeological record." The find has attracted a lot of wider interest, with nearly 300 people attending an online talk about it, organised by Nicholas Mellor from 4D Heritage. Archaeologist Mark Horton, professor of cultural heritage at the Royal Agricultural University, was one of the experts who took part after examining the photographs. He believes the piece is more likely to be from an 18th Century cargo vessel called a collier, whose best-known example is Captain Cook's HMS Endeavour. No colliers have survived so if this was the case "it's more than just old timbers on the beach, it could be a fascinating piece of Suffolk maritime history", the professor said. Mike Tupper, managing director of the International Boatbuilding Training College at Lowestoft in Suffolk, has been to Thorpeness to see the wreckage and said "the sheer size of it blew my mind". He thinks the oak timbers formed the topside of a ship that was 100-150ft (30m-45m) long. "If we can identify the species of oak, we'll have a good idea of where it was made because back-in-the day, trees of this size - at least 150 years-old - would not have been moved far as they were so heavy." The Covehithe wreck, near Southwold, has not attracted the same level of interest although it appears to have "sheathing" on it - thin metal plates attached to the outside of the hull to reduce the amount of seaweed and barnacles. The metal used would help date it but "unfortunately we can't tie that down any further [without visiting the site]," Mr Sherman said. Seeing the photos was "a bit like Christmas Day", he said, "you know, when you're squeezing a present to find out what it is and get an idea of what you might see later". "We have a tantalising glimpse of information but we can't do anymore at the moment," he added. "Then if they get covered up again, thankfully we'll still have some record of them."
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Shipwreck
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A man affected by Guillain-Barré syndrome potentially after suffering food poisoning is raising awareness of the impact brain injuries can have.
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A man affected by Guillain-Barré syndrome potentially after suffering food poisoning is raising awareness of the impact brain injuries can have.
William Marsh, from Glamorgan in Wales, had symptoms including stomach cramps and diarrhea at the end of a week-long all-inclusive stay at the Riu Naiboa resort in the Dominican Republic in 2018.
His illness continued on his return to the United Kingdom, but Marsh planned on returning to work. However, the morning he was due back, he woke up and had no feeling in his legs, a sensation that spread across his body.
The 58-year-old was diagnosed with Guillain-Barré syndrome, a serious condition which can be a complication from food poisoning such as Campylobacter infection, or the flu, glandular fever, HIV and some tropical diseases.
Three years after diagnosis
Marsh was in a coma for about 10 weeks and spent seven months in hospital undergoing rehabilitation. He remains paralyzed three years on from the diagnosis. The father of three cannot walk and has been unable to return to work because of the brain injury. He requires a hoist to be lifted into a wheelchair and has weakness down his left side.
An estimated 1,300 people are affected by GBS annually in the UK. About 80 percent will recover, but between 5 percent and 10 percent die and 10 percent to 15 percent experience long term effects ranging from limited mobility to dependency on a wheelchair. In people with Guillain-Barré syndrome, the immune system attacks the nerves, damaging them and stopping signals from the brain traveling along them properly, which can cause numbness, weakness and pain in the limbs.
The holiday at Riu Naiboa was booked through TUI UK Limited to mark his 25th wedding anniversary and began in July 2018. He stayed at the resort with his wife Kathryn, 51, and their 17-year-old daughter.
Tour operator TUI UK has denied liability and lawyers at Irwin Mitchell are preparing to launch court proceedings after being told to investigate in May 2020.
Impact of illness
“Kathryn, and my daughter, fell ill first and then it hit me. The symptoms were awful but we just tried to keep on going as I as I was due to go back to work,” said Marsh.
“I need so much help to do even the simplest of tasks now. I became a lot more reliant on Kathryn for help. Rather than being my wife she is now more my carer. It’s incredibly difficult to put into words how life has changed over the last few years. It is still hard to believe everything that has happened to me and it has been tough facing up to the fact that I may never walk properly again.
“Before my illness I’d never heard of Guillain-Barré but sadly I know now how dangerous it is. Throughout my time battling with Guillain-Barré syndrome, it has become clear just how misunderstood the condition is and how many people do not know much about it at all. I remain determined to get to the bottom of the cause of my illness but also to raise awareness of the support available.”
Action for Brain Injury Week runs from May 17 to 23 and is supported by the charity Headway. Marsh has also been helped by the charity Guillain-Barré and Associated Inflammatory Neuropathies (GAIN). May is GBS Awareness Month.
Jatinder Paul, a senior associate solicitor at Irwin Mitchell, said the family’s life has been turned upside down by the condition.
“What was meant to be a celebration for William and Kathryn has turned to despair with William still greatly impacted by his illness. William still has many questions about how he fell ill. We’re determined to help him establish what happened and also secure him access to the specialist support he needs to ensure he gets the best from life.”
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Mass Poisoning
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Guernsey and Singapore sign double taxation agreement
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The deal will help businesses and individuals in Guernsey with links to Singapore to avoid having to pay taxes in both places.
It is the 15th double taxation agreement the island has signed.
Fiona Le Poidevin, Chief Executive of Guernsey Finance, said the agreement demonstrates the island's commitment to the global community.
She said signing the double taxation agreement with Singapore was a very positive development for the future of Guernsey's finance industry. Ms Poidevin said it offers significant potential for expanding financial services between the two jurisdictions.
Guernsey has signed a total of 15 Double Tax Agreements as well as 40 Tax Information Exchange Agreements, most recently with Brazil.
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Sign Agreement
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Devastated runner, 25, diagnosed with cancer after doctor told him he had IBS caused by ‘stress’ – and there’s no cure
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A MIDDLE-distance runner’s health concerns were initially diagnosed by doctors as irritable bowel syndrome - but he later learned he actually had incurable cancer.
Andrew McAslan, 25, is undergoing chemotherapy after receiving the devastating diagnosis of Stage Four Non-Hodgkin Follicular Lymphoma in July.
McAslan’s health concerns first arose in 2020, experiencing “strange symptoms'' for months, but it was in January when “unexplainable dips'' in his training and sporting performance prompted him to seek help.
“In training I didn’t feel like myself and I was sort of running ok, but not feeling great,” McAslan told The Mirror.
The Manchester athlete - now living in Leeds - was told his condition was likely IBS but McAslan was sceptical. He pushed for blood tests which revealed low iron and haemoglobin levels.
He began taking iron tablets which began making a small difference but were “not amazing”.
“I actually did a race, even though my training wasn’t going that well. It was a lot slower than what I normally do but it went really badly. My partner saw me halfway through and thought something’s wrong with it,” he explained.
“From there my training really went downhill - I struggled to run at the normal sort of pace I was at.”
He sought medical advice for two other consultants who both concluded the runner had IBS, with one advising he was “too young for cancer”.
As time went on, he developed a big “really hard lump” under his chin. When he showed his GP, he was immediately referred on to specialists before a scan revealed it was in fact a tumour, and he had “some sort of lymphoma”.
“I’m 25 and it’s the last thing I expected to happen at this age,” he added.
“It’s properly turned my world upside down. I’ve gone from being care-free and you would never expect your life to be in question at this age.”
Despite showing the concerning symptoms for about 6 months ahead of his diagnosis, health professionals now believe he likely was living with the disease for about three to four years.
In a recent post on Instagram, McAslan reveals the frustration of losing the strength he once had as a fit and healthy athlete.
“I was training day in day out with the aim of becoming as strong and fit as I could be, but instead every 4 weeks on a Friday and Saturday I’m being taken to my weakest as I endure 6 hours of IV immuno-chemotherapy.”
He’s now raising money and awareness for the disease in hopes of finding a cure. He added: “If you aren’t satisfied by the answers you’re being given medically and feel that there is more going on, please push for more as it could make all the difference.”
Follicular Lymphoma is a cancer that affects the white blood cells called lymphocytes.
Common symptoms of the typically slow-growing cancer includes enlarged lymph nodes in the neck, underarms, abdomen or groin, as well as shortness of breath, weight loss and night sweats.
Often patients have no symptoms of the disease at the time of diagnosis. Patients with Follicular Lymphoma can typically live for years however there is no cure however some cases will not need treatment for many years, if at all. Suicide rates in menopausal women rise as partners urged to spot warning signs
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Famous Person - Sick
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Spain's governing Socialists (PSOE) won the most seats in Sunday's election, but fell short of a majority - and right-wing parties made major gains.
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Spain's governing Socialists (PSOE) won the most seats in Sunday's election, but fell short of a majority - and right-wing parties made major gains.
The conservative Popular Party (PP) came in second, and far-right Vox more than doubled its seats to become the country's third most-powerful party.
This is Spain's fourth general election in as many years.
A previous vote in April ended with no clear majority, and the Socialists failed to form a coalition government.
This time, the Socialist party won 120 of the 350 seats - three fewer than in April's vote. The PP has 88 seats, up from 66 in the previous poll, while Vox has 52 - up from just 24 in April.
One of the main issues in Sunday's vote was the increasing tensions with Catalonia, Spain's semi-autonomous north-eastern region whose failed bid for independence in 2017 sparked the country's biggest political crisis for 40 years.
On Monday, hundreds of Catalan separatist demonstrators blocked traffic in both directions on the AP-7 motorway connecting Spain with France in a protest against the jailing of separatist leaders from Spain's Catalonia region last month.
Addressing Socialist supporters after the results came in, acting Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said it was his priority to "form a stable government and do politics for the benefit of the majority of Spaniards".
"I would like to make a call to all the political parties because they need to act with generosity and responsibility in order to unblock the political situation in Spain," he added.
After failing to form a government, Mr Sánchez had hoped that calling another election would strengthen his party's hand - but Pablo Iglesias, leader of left-wing Podemos, warned that it had only reinforced the far right.
"Once again we extend a hand to the Socialist party and Pedro Sánchez," he said, adding that he was ready to start talks with the party as soon as Monday.
Podemos is the Socialist party's natural political ally. However, a coalition between the two would still fall short of the 176 seats needed for a majority.
Meanwhile the centre-right party Ciudadanos - or Citizens - haemorrhaged support, winning only 10 seats this month compared to 57 in April.
Ciudadanos was also overtaken by ERC-Sobiranistes, an electoral coalition of pro-Catalan separatist parties. Albert Rivera, leader of Ciudadanos, said: "Spaniards have wanted more Sánchez for this legislature, but Spaniards have also wanted more Vox and less of the political centre."
Vox is thought to have benefited at the ballot box from the Catalan crisis, and strong anti-separatist sentiment in other regions of Spain.
"Today a patriotic alternative and a social alternative has been consolidated in Spain that demands national unity and the restoration of constitutional order in Catalonia," Vox leader Santiago Abascal told crowds after the election. Guy Hedgecoe, Madrid
Although Pedro Sánchez's Socialists have emerged as winners having suffered only slight losses in this election, the overall result is not a positive one for the acting prime minister. With Podemos having lost some ground and Más País securing only a handful of seats, there is no clear left-wing majority. The Socialists' arch-rivals on the right, the PP, has recovered many of the seats it lost in April's ballot.
If the country's longstanding political stalemate is to be broken, Mr Sánchez might have to seek the support of the PP, or else a third election in the space of one year could beckon.
Meanwhile, the huge surge by Vox means it will now find it easier to set the agenda on the right. That is likely to hinder any attempts by Mr Sánchez to seek a conciliatory solution to the Catalan crisis.
The April election ended in deadlock, with parties failing to form a coalition by a September deadline, thus forcing Sunday's election.
To form a coalition now, they would need to form alliances with smaller, nationalist parties, analysts suggest.
Meanwhile, the PP and Vox could seek to make the most of their gains.
One PP politician said Prime Minister Sánchez should "start to think about going", given the early results.
The huge surge in seats for Vox will be one of the biggest talking points of the night. Spain had appeared immune to a wave of far-right populism spreading across the continent in the past decade, with many remembering the military dictatorship of Gen Francisco Franco.
But now Vox has established itself as a major force in Spanish politics.
France's far-right party leader Marine Le Pen took to Twitter to congratulate Vox's "staggering progress".Italian populist Matteo Salvini also spoke of his pleasure at seeing Vox's success.
"Not at all racism and fascism, in Italy as in Spain we just want to live peacefully in our own home," he tweeted.
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Government Job change - Election
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Trump says U.S. to withdraw from World Health Organization and announces new broadsides against Beijing
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President Trump on Friday leveled an extraordinary broadside at the Chinese government, accusing it of a comprehensive “pattern of misconduct” and ordering U.S. officials to begin the process of revoking Hong Kong’s special status under U.S. law. The president did not outline a deadline for the historic action. But if carried out, it would mean that the United States would no longer treat Hong Kong and China as separate entities for the purposes of extradition, customs, trade and visa issues, he said. And the announcement could include sanctions on Hong Kong or Chinese officials. In Rose Garden remarks, Trump alleged that the Chinese government covered up the coronavirus outbreak and instigated "a global pandemic that has cost more than 100,000 American lives and over 1 million lives worldwide.” The president also attacked the World Health Organization as effectively controlled by Beijing. “We will today be terminating our relationship” with the WHO, the president said, adding that the organization’s more than $400 million annual U.S. contribution will be diverted to other health groups. Trump expresses anger that his trade deal with China is off to a rocky start, but he lacks obvious remedies The president later issued a proclamation to protect sensitive American university research from Chinese spying and to bar an unspecified number of Chinese nationals from entering the United States for graduate study. He also directed an administration working group headed by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to evaluate Chinese corporations listed on U.S. financial markets as potential targets of future restrictions. The moves seemed certain to intensify growing U.S.-China tensions, though investors on Friday took them in stride. The president’s comments were as notable for what he did not say. There was no mention of his irritation with China’s failure to quickly increase purchases of American goods as required by the trade deal he signed in January. He also made no direct reference to Chinese President Xi Jinping, even as he said “the world is now suffering as a result of the malfeasance of the Chinese government.” In one sign of Trump’s increased fury with the world’s second-largest economy, on Friday morning he tweeted simply: “CHINA!” His formal Friday announcement — while long on harsh rhetoric — was short on details. The president reiterated some familiar grievances, blaming the Chinese for stealing American trade secrets and jobs and assailing his predecessors for allegedly letting them get away with it. He expanded his indictment of the Chinese government to include its program of island construction in the South China Sea, a national security concern he rarely addresses. “The Chinese government has continually violated its promises to us and so many nations,” he said. Trump also stopped short of taking concrete action against the U.S.-listed Chinese companies he said posed “hidden and undue risks” for American investors. The Securities and Exchange Commission and other regulators have complained for years about China’s refusal to grant access to their companies’ audit records. As of last year, 156 Chinese companies — including 11 with significant government ownership — traded on U.S. markets, according to the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, a nonpartisan congressional body. After Trump’s remarks, Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) suggested the president was trying to use China to distract from the pandemic and battered economy. “President Trump’s Rose Garden event just now was pathetic," he said. “It perfectly encapsulates his inability to lead when our nation needs it most. The only question is whether President Trump is afraid to lead or just doesn’t know how.” Trump’s announcement followed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s statement earlier this week that Hong Kong was no longer sufficiently autonomous from mainland China to deserve separate treatment. Under the 1997 handover agreement with the United Kingdom, China agreed to preserve the former British colony’s democratic system for 50 years. Xi’s decision to impose security legislation on Hong Kong directly rather than by working through the territory’s local legislature may mark the collapse of that “one country, two systems” approach. Some advocates of a tougher U.S. approach to China were disappointed by the president’s 10-minute statement. “They didn’t do anything with regard to Hong Kong. His Hong Kong comments could have been issued as a statement a week ago,” said Derek Scissors, a China specialist at the American Enterprise Institute. “The administration has absolutely considered specific actions since the NPC proposal was made public but decided not to announce a single one.” Caught in the middle of the deepening U.S.-China dispute are more than 1,350 U.S. corporations with offices in Hong Kong. The erosion of the city’s freedoms, including an independent judiciary, threatens to turn one of the global economy’s financial centers into just another Chinese city and calls into question the rationale for such a sizable commercial presence there. The Chinese National People’s Congress, the country’s rubber-stamp legislature, on Thursday approved a plan to impose national security legislation in Hong Kong. The move was denounced in a joint statement by the United States, Canada, Australia and United Kingdom as in “direct conflict” with China’s promises in 1997 when it regained sovereignty over the former British colony. “The United States may well have to do something the market doesn’t like in light of its longer-term interests,” said Patrick Chovanec, economic adviser for Silvercrest Asset Management in New York. “But there is concern about whether the U.S. is in a spiral of escalation with China on several fronts.” The president’s visa move targets Chinese graduate students in the United States who have worked, studied, or been employed by entities linked to China’s efforts to “acquire or divert” technology for the People’s Liberation Army. It is not immediately clear how many of the 350,000 Chinese students in the United States will be affected. And the announcement is expected to draw strong pushback from U.S. universities; some are heavily reliant on the full-fee tuition payments from Chinese students. Over a 10-year period, the People’s Liberation Army dispatched 2,500 scientists and engineers to study overseas, focusing on democracies like the United States, according to a 2018 report by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, a nonpartisan think tank. In January, the FBI arrested a 29-year-old Boston University student, accusing her of failing to disclose on her visa application that she was a lieutenant in the PLA. Friday’s action represents only the administration’s latest slap at Beijing. The president earlier this month pushed a federal retirement pension board to abandon plans to invest in Chinese securities. And the Commerce Department tightened limits on Chinese telecom giant Huawei’s ability to purchase American computer chips. Just four months after Trump celebrated a partial trade deal with China, marking an apparent truce in a two-year diplomatic conflict, relations between the two countries have plummeted. The president has been openly displeased with China’s failure to quickly fulfill the trade deal’s terms, including massive additional purchases of American crops, energy products and manufactured goods. “Frankly the U.S. government is — I’ll use the word furious with what China has done in recent days, weeks and months. They have not behaved well and they have lost the trust I think of the whole Western world,” Larry Kudlow, director of the National Economic Council, said Friday on Fox News. Lawmakers in both parties also are increasingly impatient with Beijing, and the president failed to address some issues of concern on Capitol Hill. He made no reference, for example, to new legislation that requires him to impose sanctions on Chinese officials implicated in human rights violations in the Muslim-majority province of Xinjiang. Trump’s decision to “terminate” the United States’ relationship with the World Health Organization comes after repeated threats to act. Of the $893 million the United States sent in the 2018 and 2019 funding period, $237 million was an “assessed contribution” — a type of membership fee that may prove hard to cut without congressional approval. At greater risk is what’s known as the “voluntary contribution,” that is money provided to U.S. agencies for health efforts and then given to WHO programs. The largest share of this money goes to polio eradication, with large chunks to fight vaccine preventable disease, malaria, tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS and the provision of basic health care. The prospect of cutting U.S. funding for public health issues like polio in the middle of the pandemic drew immediate fire. Patrice Harris, president of the American Medical Association, said the action “serves no logical purpose and makes finding a way out of this public health crisis dramatically more challenging.”
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Withdraw from an Organization
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As Russia tensions simmer, NATO conducts massive war games
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ABOARD HMS QUEEN ELIZABETH (AP) — As tensions with Russia simmer, thousands of NATO troops, several warships and dozens of aircraft are taking part in military exercises stretching across the Atlantic, through Europe and into the Black Sea region. The war games, dubbed Steadfast Defender 21, are aimed at simulating the 30-nation military organization’s response to an attack on any one of its members. It will test NATO’s ability to deploy troops from America and keep supply lines open. Already in recent years, the United States and its allies have deployed troops and equipment in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland to try to reassure those members neighboring Russia that their partners will ride to the rescue should they come under attack. Russia’s decision last month to send thousands of troops to the border area with Ukraine has raised concern at the military alliance, which launched one of its biggest ever defense spending initiatives after Russian troops annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in 2014. Top NATO brass insist that the military exercises, involving some 9,000 troops from 20 nations, are not aimed at Russia specifically, but they focus on the Black Sea region, where Russia stands accused of blocking the free navigation of ships. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg says the exercises send an important message to any potential adversary: “NATO is ready.” “NATO is there to defend all our allies, and this exercise sends a message about our ability to transport a large number of troops, equipment across the Atlantic, across Europe and also to project maritime power,” Stoltenberg told The Associated Press aboard a British aircraft carrier off the coast of Portugal. The ship, the HMS Queen Elizabeth, is the pride of the British Navy. It’s making its maiden voyage and carrying 18 F-35 jets: the first ever deployment of so many of the 5th generation planes aboard an aircraft carrier. The ship’s presence, part of a 6-7 month deployment that will take it south past India, through Southeast Asia to the Philippines Sea, is aimed in part at restoring Britain’s tarnished image as a major global power since it left the European Union. Adorned with high-tech U.S. jets and flanked by warships from other NATO countries, the carrier strike force also stands as an important symbol of unity as the world’s biggest security organization tries to recover from four tumultuous years under the Trump administration. Stoltenberg will chair a NATO summit in Brussels on June 14 with current U.S. President Joe Biden and his counterparts keen to usher in a new era of trans-Atlantic cooperation, as troops leave its longest-ever mission in Afghanistan while tensions with Russia, and increasingly China, mount. The war games tie in two new NATO command centers, one in Norfolk, Virginia; the other in Ulm, Germany. Part of the focus of its first phase was to protect the undersea cables that carry masses of commercial and communications data between the U.S. and Europe. NATO says Russia is mapping the cables’ routing and might have darker intentions. “We all lulled ourselves into thinking that the Atlantic was a benign region in which there was not anything bad going on, and we could just use it as a free highway,” Norfolk’s commander, U.S. Navy Vice-Admiral Andrew Lewis said. “There are nations are out there mapping those cables. They may be doing something else bad. We have to be aware of that and answer that,” he told reporters. NATO says its policy toward Russia is based on two pillars: strong military deterrence and dialogue. But high-level meetings between the two historic foes are rare, and European officials insist that President Vladimir Putin is turning increasingly authoritarian and distancing himself from the West. “We’re ready to sit down with Russia, because we think it’s important to talk, especially when times are difficult,” Stoltenberg said. “The main challenge now is that Russia has not responded positively to our invitation, or our initiative, for a meeting of the NATO-Russia Council,” their top consultative forum.
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Military Exercise
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East St. Louis riots
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The East St. Louis Riots was a series of outbreaks of labor and race-related violence by White Americans who murdered between 39 and
150 African Americans in late May and early July 1917. Another 6,000 black people were left homeless,[1] and the burning and vandalism cost approximately $400,000 ($8,080,000 in 2021) in property damage. [1] The events took place in and near East St. Louis, Illinois, an industrial city on the east bank of the Mississippi River, directly opposite the city of St. Louis, Missouri. The July 1917 episode in particular was marked by white-led violence throughout the city. The multi-day riot has been described as the "worst case of labor-related violence in 20th-century American history",[2] and among the worst racial riots in U.S. history. In the aftermath, the East St. Louis Chamber of Commerce called for the resignation of the local police chief because officers were told not to shoot white rioters and were unable to suppress the violence and destruction. A number of black people left the city permanently; black enrollment in public schools in the area had dropped by 35% by the time schools opened in the fall. [3]
At the end of July, some 10,000 black citizens marched in silent protest in New York City in condemnation of the riot. [4]
In 1917, the United States had an active economy boosted by World War I. Many would-be workers were drafted or enlisted into military service, creating a shortage of labor for industrial employers in major cities, which had long been destinations for European immigrants. Concurrently African Americans began the Great Migration from the rural Southern United States to seek better work and education in the North, as well as to escape from lynchings and the second-class status of the Jim Crow era. Labor agencies recruited some workers for specific jobs, especially as strikebreakers, but labor demand was sufficient that migrants moved on their own, having heard about the new employment opportunities created by the wartime economy. [5] The neighboring communities of St. Louis, Missouri, and East St. Louis, Illinois, both became destinations for southern migrants. During the spring of 1917, Blacks were arriving in St. Louis at the rate of 2,000 per week. [6]
Major industries in East St. Louis included Aluminum Ore Company, American Steel Foundry, Republic Iron & Steel, Obear Nester Glass, and Elliot Frog & Switch (a frog was part of a railroad switch). Many facilities were located just outside the city limits in order to escape paying taxes. Nearby National City had stockyards and meatpacking plants, attracting more workers. East St. Louis was a rough industrial city, where saloons outnumbered schools and churches. [5] Non-whites were initially a small minority: in 1910, approximately 6,000 African Americans lived in East St. Louis, of a total population of 58,000; by 1917, the black population had increased to 10,000, or one-sixth of the total population of 60,000. [citation needed]
The period was one of frequent labor violence in industrial cities across the United States: employers used force to try to suppress organized labor and strikes, while workers struggled to gain increased wages and improved working conditions. Many workers were immigrants from Europe. When industries became embroiled in labor strikes, the traditionally white unions often sought to strengthen their bargaining positions by hindering or excluding black workers. Conversely, industry owners hired blacks as replacements or strikebreakers, deepening existing segregation and inter-racial hostility. [7] Ethnicities competed economically to survive. White workers often resented black newcomers due to competition for jobs and housing and fear they would be undercut by black workers willing to accept lower wages. In East St. Louis, local politicians, company foremen, and labor union officials fanned the resentment; the approval of the local police and National Guard were later considered important in helping to escalate the rioting. [8][5] The Springfield race riot of 1908 in nearby Springfield, Illinois, had been an expression of the simmering tensions in the region during the nadir of race relations. While in New Orleans on a lecture tour, Jamaican black nationalist Marcus Garvey, who founded the UNIA in 1916, became aware that Louisiana planters and the city's Board of Trade were worried about losing their labor force. In a speech the following year, he said that Mayor Fred Mollman of East St. Louis had been visiting New Orleans the same week, and city leaders had asked for his assistance to help discourage black migration to the North. [6]
In the summer of 1916, 2,500 white employees of the meatpacking industry near East St. Louis went on strike for higher wages, and the companies imported black workers as strikebreakers to replace them. Ultimately the workers won a wage increase but the companies retained nearly 800 blacks, firing as many whites after the strike, according to the former president of the Central Trades and Labor Union of East St. Louis. [5] This exacerbated the growing racial tension. In the spring of 1917, the mostly white workers of the Aluminum Ore Company in East St. Louis voted to strike. The company recruited hundreds of black workers to replace them. [9] Tensions between the groups escalated. At a labor meeting held in City Hall on May 28 and made up mostly of white workers, rumors circulated of black men fraternizing with white women. [10][11]
Following the May 28 meeting, some 1,000–3,000 white men marched into downtown East St. Louis and began attacking African Americans on the street and in streetcars, and burning some buildings. Illinois Governor Frank Orren Lowden called in the National Guard to suppress the violence. Although rumors circulated that blacks were planning retaliatory attacks, conditions eased somewhat for a few weeks. [10]
Following the May disorder, the East St. Louis Central Labor Council requested an investigation by the State Council of Defense. Its report said that "southern negroes were misled by false advertisements and unscrupulous employment agents to come to East St. Louis in such numbers under false pretenses of secure jobs and decent living quarters". [12] The tensions between black workers and white workers quickly formed again as no solutions to their economic challenges were agreed upon. [citation needed]
The riot was precipitated by fatal errors. On July 1, a black Ford Model T[13] occupied by white males drove through a black area of the city; passengers fired several shots into a group on the street. An hour later, a Ford containing four people, including a journalist and two police officers (Detective Sergeant Samuel Coppedge and Detective Frank Wadley), passed through the same area. Black residents, possibly assuming this car held the original attackers, opened fire on the car, killing one officer instantly and mortally wounding another. [10][14]
The next day, thousands of white spectators gathered to view the detectives' bloodstained automobile. [15] From there they rushed into the black sections of town, south and west of the city, and began rioting. [15] The mob beat and shot blacks on the street indiscriminately, including women and children.
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Riot
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Carson Air Flight 66 crash
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Carson Air Flight 66 was a Swearingen Metro II turboprop aircraft on a domestic cargo flight from Vancouver to Prince George, both in British Columbia, Canada. On 13 April 2015, the aircraft crashed into a mountain en route to Prince George Airport, killing both crew members. [1]
The flight had taken off from Vancouver International Airport at approximately 7:02 PDT. The aircraft subsequently descended from 2,400 meters to 900 meters in less than a minute. Air traffic controllers lost radar contact with the aircraft as it was en route to Prince George at roughly 7:08. [2][3]
The aircraft, a twin-turboprop Swearingen SA226-TC Metro II, serial number TC-325, registered C-GSKC, was manufactured in 1977. Carson Air was its only operator. The aircraft was not equipped with a cockpit voice recorder or a flight data recorder. [2]
The crew consisted of only the cockpit crew, 34-year-old pilot Robert Brandt and 32-year-old co-pilot Kevin Wang. [4][3]
The aircraft crashed into a hillside area near Crown Mountain, a part of the North Shore Mountains. [2][5] Two helicopters and two aircraft from North Shore Rescue participated in the search for the wreckage of the aircraft, which was slowed by poor weather conditions. [6] It was later discovered that the emergency locating transmitter was activated, but did not send out a signal. [7]
The accident was investigated by the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB), which determined the cause of the accident to be an in-flight breakup cause by a rapid descent. However, no definite reason was found as to why the descent was initiated. [7] An autopsy performed on the two pilots by the British Columbia Coroner Service revealed that pilot Brandt had a blood alcohol level of 0.24 percent, three times the legal limit for a driver. [8][9][10]
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Air crash
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Ohio men sentenced to 45 days become first Jan. 6 misdemeanor defendants to receive new jail time
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A court sentenced two Ohio men to serve 45 days in jail Wednesday after U.S. prosecutors for the first time requested incarceration at sentencing hearings for nonviolent misdemeanor offenders in the storming of the U.S. Capitol. The punishment comes after federal judges for months have questioned whether no-prison plea deals offered by the government to low-level Jan. 6 defendants are too lenient to deter future attackers from terrorizing members of Congress. U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg ordered Derek Jancart and Erik Rau to self-surrender to the D.C. jail at a later date, saying all charges related to the insurrection were serious. “You attempted with others to undermine one of our bedrock acts, which is the peaceful transfer of power following a democratic election,” Boasberg said, adding, “There are few actions as serious as the ones this group took on that day.” Addressing Jancart first, he said: “You weren’t following the crowd. You went there to assist once you learned it was breached. . . . You don’t have a riot if eight people or 10 or 15 people are there. . . . It’s because there was such a great number of people that police were overwhelmed, and the support, incitement and encouragement people gave is important.” Jancart, 39, an Air Force veteran, and Rau, 43, admitted in July to coming to Washington with a gas mask and two-way radios and heading to the Capitol after learning it was under assault. Prosecutors had requested a four-month prison term for each man, citing a video Jancart posted on Facebook in which they said he can be heard laughing while Rau screams, “We have you surrounded!” at vastly outnumbered police officers engaged in hand-to-hand combat with rioters. The pair, steelworkers from Columbus, breached the building and made their way to the evacuated conference room of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), which Rau entered, they admitted in plea papers. “There is no riot without rioters,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Leslie Goemaat argued. The men did not commit violence and would have been charged with a felony if they had, Goemaat said, adding that each “incited and celebrated the violence that was required to break through the police line.” But Goemaat urged the court to weigh nine factors in a common approach prosecutors say judges should take in placing misdemeanor offenders on a “spectrum” of conduct in considering jail time. The factors include how the men entered the Capitol; whether they engaged in or incited violence; their reaction to violence or destruction; how long they spent inside and where they went; whether they destroyed evidence; their statements, including on social media; and their response to law enforcement. Jancart showed little immediate remorse, posting on Facebook that rioters “wanted to let the politicians know we can get this far anytime we want,” Goemaat argued. He was later arrested, and Rau turned himself in. Prosecutors particularly credited Rau for fully and immediately cooperating, saying he otherwise would have faced a felony charge and a six-month requested sentence, partly because he was on probation with a 178-day suspended sentence for domestic violence. In court, both apologized. “I do apologize for my individual actions that day. I did get caught up in the moment. I wish I could have demonstrated better behavior and stayed back,” Jancart said, adding: “I have great respect for the institutions of this country. I love this country. I feel ashamed of the actions I took.” Rau said: “There’s no excuse for my actions. I 100 percent know better than to do what I did that day. . . . I absolutely should have had my wife and kids in mind. . . . I am just sorry I was a part of this and that you have to spend your time with me this morning.” Both men’s attorneys requested probation, saying they did not assault police, cause destruction or carry any weapons, poles or flags. Once inside, Jancart “did not do anything beyond walk around the Capitol,” attorney Eduardo Balarezo said. Assistant federal defender Michelle Peterson urged the judge to accept the U.S. Probation Office recommendation of probation, saying that Rau wanted nothing more than to protect his wife and three young sons from further harm and that jail time would cost Rau his night-shift steel-mill job and plunge the family into poverty. Many judges find sentencing the most wrenching part of their jobs. But the violent attack on Congress’s certification of the results of the 2020 presidential election, resulting in five deaths, has defied historic comparison. Judges appointed by presidents of both parties, many with years of Justice Department, national security or congressional experience, have unsparingly denounced the attack and comparisons of riot participants to “patriots,” “tourists” or “political prisoners.” Whether such strong public statements are a matter of jawboning, rhetoric or deterrence from the bench, many judges have made clear that they are considering at least some confinement even for first offenders, even as they weigh each individual’s circumstances and have mostly imposed community service so far. In sentencing regretful Capitol protester, federal judge rebukes Republicans “You disgraced this country in the eyes of the world,” U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton told Anthony Mariotto, 53, last week. The Fort Pierce, Fla., man pleaded guilty to one count of illegal demonstrating after posting a photograph of himself in the evacuated Senate gallery on Facebook. “You are going to have to convince me not to lock you up for what you did,” Walton added. “I find it outrageous what you did.” “What if the next time, the Democrats lose the presidency, and that person says, ‘I won,’ despite what the votes were, and Democrats rise up and tear up the Capitol? I suppose then that would be all right, based on what you did?” asked Walton, who has been appointed to D.C. and federal courts by three Republican presidents since 1981. U.S. District Judge Thomas F. Hogan sentenced a Manassas, Va., couple to probation in July for illegal parading in the Capitol. But Hogan, a 1982 Ronald Reagan appointee who coordinated federal litigation by terrorism detainees at Guantánamo Bay, said jail time is not out of the question for some defendants. “I think the presumption should be that these offenses were an attack on our democracy and that jail time . . . should be expected,” Hogan said. And Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan warned Dawn Bancroft of suburban Philadelphia to prepare to explain her actions at sentencing after she pleaded guilty to misdemeanor trespassing at the Capitol. Bancroft sent a video via Facebook of herself saying: “We broke into the Capitol. . . . We got inside, we did our part,” adding, “We were looking for Nancy to shoot her in the friggin’ brain, but we didn’t find her.” Good people who never got into trouble with the law “morphed into terrorists” on Jan. 6, Sullivan told Bancroft, adding, “I want you to start thinking about that.” Not patriots, not political prisoners — U.S. judges slam Capitol riot defendants at sentencing Bancroft said that she would give it thought and that she believed in accepting responsibility for her actions. Nearly half of 600 people charged in the Capitol breach have been charged with misdemeanors, and about 25 percent of them — 75 as of Tuesday — have pleaded guilty. Most admitted to single petty offenses such as trespassing or illegal parading that rarely result in prison time for first offenders. Of nine misdemeanor offenders sentenced, five received probation, and prosecutors did not seek additional time for two others held pretrial for six months, in part because of past convictions for attempted murder and evading police. Prosecutors drew a distinction in seeking probation only for Northern California architect Valerie Ehrke, for example, who was inside the Capitol for only about a minute, made it only about 15 feet and did not engage in violence or significant social media activity. U.S. District Judge Paul L. Friedman said that lawmakers cannot have people unlawfully “entering their house — our house — the people’s house, while they are doing their jobs,” but agreed to impose 120 hours of community service after Ehrke was one of the first to submit to an FBI interview and decide to plead guilty. Hundreds of people stormed the Capitol. Most won’t face hefty prison terms, legal experts say. Jancart, a steelworker who told court officials he enlisted in the Air Force in April 2003 and was honorably discharged in 2007 after serving nearly six months in Afghanistan, is the first of more than 62 people who claim U.S. military service to be charged and sentenced in the riot. Separately, prosecutors are also seeking two months of home confinement for Andrew Bennett of Columbia, Md., who recorded the fatal shooting of Ashli Babbitt as she climbed through a broken Speaker’s Lobby entrance window, and three months for former Oklahoma City Thunder season-ticket manager Danielle Doyle. Both face sentencing Thursday. Bennett admonished others not to be destructive or fight with officers and cooperated fully with authorities, prosecutors said. Doyle climbed through a broken window, appeared to chant or yell near police and photographed others climbing scaffolding or breaching windows, prosecutors said, but did not personally espouse violence or engage in destruction. But for their actions alongside so many others, the riot probably would have failed, prosecutors said. Attorneys for the two defendant have not yet submitted sentencing recommendations. Also on Wednesday, a Texas man charged in the Capitol breach pleaded guilty to a felony count of making an interstate threat. Troy Smocks, 59, admitted posting a message on Parler the day after the riot that was viewed at least 54,000 times, stating: “Prepare our weapons, and then go get’em. Lets hunt these cowards down like the Traitors that each of them are. This includes RINOS, Dems, and Tech Execs. We now have the green light.” Smocks faces a potential 16-month prison sentence in October, prosecutors said, citing a criminal history that includes impersonating federal law enforcement, bank fraud, forgery and auto theft. Judge asks why Capitol rioters are paying just $1.5 million for attack, while U.S. taxpayers will pay more than $500 million The Attack: Before, During and After A sprawling investigation: What we know so far about the Capitol riot suspects Six hours of paralysis: Inside Trump’s failure to act after a mob stormed the Capitol Profiles of three involved in the attack: A horn-wearing ‘shaman.’ A cowboy evangelist. For some, the Capitol attack was a kind of Christian revolt. Video timeline: 41 minutes of fear from inside the Capitol siege
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Famous Person - Commit Crime - Sentence
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Lava pours out of volcano on La Palma in Spain's Canary Islands
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Lava pours out of a volcano in the Cumbre Vieja national park at El Paso, on the Canary Island of La Palma, September 19, 2021, in this screen grab taken from a video. (Photo: FORTA/Handout via REUTERS) LA PALMA, Spain: A volcano erupted on the Spanish Canary Island of La Palma on Sunday (Sep 19), sending lava shooting into the air and streaming in rivers towards houses in two villages from the Cumbre Vieja national park in the south of the island. Authorities had begun evacuating the infirm and some farm animals from nearby villages before the eruption at 3.15pm on a wooded slope in the sparsely populated Cabeza de Vaca area, according to the islands' government. Two hours later, with lava edging down the hillside from five fissures torn into the hillside, the municipality ordered the evacuation of four villages, including El Paso and Los Llanos de Aridane. After nightfall, video footage showed fountains of lava shooting hundreds of metres into the sky, and at least three incandescent orange rivers of molten rock pouring down the hill, tearing gashes into woods and farmland, and spreading as they reached lower ground. One stream, several hundred metres long and tens of metres wide, crossed a road and began engulfing scattered houses in El Paso. Video footage shared on social media, which Reuters has been unable to verify, showed the lava entering a house. "When the volcano erupted today, I was scared. For journalists it is something spectacular, for us it is a tragedy. I think the lava has reached some relatives' houses," local resident Isabel Fuentes, 55, told Spanish television TVE. "I was 5 years old when the volcano last erupted (in 1971). You never get over a volcanic eruption," added Fuentes, who said she had moved to another house on Sunday for her safety. 'STAY IN YOUR HOUSES' Canary Islands President Angel Victor Torres told a press conference on Sunday night that 5,000 people had been evacuated and no injuries had been reported so far. "It is not foreseeable that anyone else will have to be evacuated. The lava is moving towards the coast and the damage will be material. According to experts there are about 17-20 million cubic metres of lava," he said. Flights to and from the Canaries were continuing as normal, the airport operator Aena said. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez arrived in La Palma, the most northwesterly island of the archipelago, late on Sunday for talks with the islands' government on managing the eruption. "We have all the resources (to deal with the eruption) and all the troops, the citizens can rest easy," he said. Stavros Meletlidis, a doctor of volcanology at the Spanish Geographical Institute, said the eruption had torn five holes in the hillside and that he could not be sure how long it would last. "We have to measure the lava every day and that will help us to work it out." King Felipe spoke with Torres and was following the developments, the royal household said. La Palma had been on high alert after more than 22,000 tremors were reported in the space of a week in Cumbre Vieja, a chain of volcanoes that last had a major eruption in 1971 and is one of the most active volcanic regions in the Canaries. In 1971, one man was killed as he was taking photographs near the lava flows, but no property was damaged. The earliest recorded eruption in La Palma was in 1430, according to the Spanish National Geographical Institute (ING).
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Volcano Eruption
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2021 Sistan and Baluchestan protests
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The 2021 Sistan and Baluchestan protests, are a series of ongoing protests in the Sistan and Baluchestan province of Iran. The protests started on 23 February 2021 after multiple Balochi fuel traders were killed at the Iran-Pakistan border. After at least ten fuel traders were shot and killed by the armed forces of the Islamic Republic on 22 February 2021, protests and strikes erupted across Sistan and Baluchestan province on 23 February. In Saravan, protesters were met with live ammunition after they occupied the governor's office. [3]
On 24 February, protests intensified across the province. In Zahedan, protesters clashed heavily with the security forces, and over ran a police outpost. [4] Demonstrations were also reported in Khash, Iranshahr, and Saravan. [5] Internet service in various areas of the province, including Zahedan and Saravan, was completely cut[6]
Despite a complete internet shutdown, and heavy security presence, protests and strikes continued into 25 February in various cities in the province. In neighbourhoods of Zahedan, protestors set up roadblocks and clashed with the security forces. [7]
Rupert Colville of The UNOHCHR condemned the killing of estimated 23 people by Sepah. [8]
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Protest_Online Condemnation
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The Vanderbilt Hustler
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Light streams into the Frothy Monkey locations in The Nations. (Claire Gatlin/Hustler Staff) Claire Gatlin, Staff WriterNovember 9, 2021
The Nashville Scene, an alternative weekly newspaper focusing on art, culture and events in Nashville, releases an annual “Best of Nashville” issue each October, granting awards to businesses, people and places across many different subjects.
There are awards for the more eccentric “Writers’ Choice” category, featuring awards like “Best Place to Have Lunch With Your Opinionated Foodie Co-Workers” (Assembly Food Hall), “Best New High-Rise” (The Collegiate Gothic Tower on Vanderbilt’s Campus), “Best Bagel (Weekdays)” (H&S Bagel) and “Best Bagel (Weekends)” (Nicky’s Coal Fired).
The “Readers’ Poll” category awards recipients based on votes, including awards like “Best College Sports Team” (Vanderbilt Baseball), “Best Ice Cream” (Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams) and “Best Religious Leader” (Soccer Moses). This year—and in many years past—Frothy Monkey was deemed “Best Coffeehouse” by the readers, followed by Crema Coffee Roasters and Humphreys Street.
To celebrate, Frothy Monkey popped champagne on their Instagram. In a statement to The Hustler, the coffee shop expressed their gratitude for the award and for their community.
“We are humbled and honored to have been voted Best Coffeehouse for the eighth time since 2013. Although we have grown to be much more than a typical coffeehouse, the warmth and approachability of coffee and coffee culture are always at the core of what we do,” Frothy Monkey said. “It really is our people who make us the best! Our mantra is ‘Take care of each other.’ When you are taking care of your team and your work family as well as taking care of our guests, they take care of us as well. We have felt that more than ever in the past 18 months.”
Frothy Monkey is a favorite among Nashville locals and tourists alike, and you are sure to find it packed any day of the week full of students studying, creatives working and people chatting. (It is rumored that Harry Styles has visited the place, and if that is not enough of an enticement for you, I don’t know what is.) The coffee shop has six locations, including the original 12South location, Downtown Nashville, The Nations, East Nashville, Franklin and Chattanooga Southside. Each location has its own distinct charm while still providing Frothy Monkey’s classic charm, warmth and comfort.
Aside from a welcoming atmosphere, Frothy Monkey also offers a vast menu, including breakfast, lunch and dinner, alongside countless coffee options. Some of my favorite items are their Rosemary Honey Latte and California breakfast platter, and they even have rotating seasonal beverages to enjoy. Right now, coffee lovers can sample the Hansel & Gretel and Bourbon Butterscotch drinks, or try the Apple Orchata for a caffeine-free treat.
This welcoming atmosphere and enticing menu earned Frothy Monkey several other awards and recognitions including Nashville Livestyle’s Best Coffee Shop award and a place on USA Today’s list of the 10 best “iced coffee drinks for an afternoon pickup.” While this is not Frothy Monkey’s first award and it certainly will not be its last, this gesture proves that Frothy Monkey is a beloved staple for many of the people who call Nashville home. Time to go grab another latte! Claire Gatlin ('24) is a student in Peabody College studying Human and Organizational Development, along with Political Science. She currently serves as a staff writer for the Life section and staff photographer for the Multimedia section. In her free time, she enjoys going to concerts, reading and rollerblading. You can reach her at claire.a.gatlin@vanderbilt.edu.
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Awards ceremony
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India, U.S. signed co-development agreement for Air-Launched Unmanned Aerial Vehicle: Defence Ministry
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India and the United States had signed a Project Agreement (PA) in the end of July for Air-Launched Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (ALUAV) under the ambit of the Defence Technology and Trade Initiative (DTTI), the Defence Ministry said on Friday.
The PA was signed between the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and U.S. Department of Defence (DoD) by the co-chairs of the Joint Working Group (JWG) on Air Systems, under the DTTI on July 30.
“The PA outlines the collaboration between Air Force Research Laboratory, Indian Air Force, and Defence Research and Development Organisation towards design, development, demonstration, testing and evaluation of systems to co-develop an ALUAV prototype,” a Ministry statement said. The PA for the ALUAV fell under the Research, Development, Testing and Evaluation Memorandum of Agreement between MoD and U.S. DoD, which was first signed in January 2006 and renewed in January 2015, the statement said. It was a significant step towards deepening defence technology collaboration between the two nations through co-development of defence equipment, it stated.
The main aim of the DTTI is to bring sustained leadership focus to promote collaborative technology exchange and create opportunities for co-production and co-development of future technologies for Indian and U.S. military forces. Under the DTTI, Joint Working Groups on land, naval, air, and aircraft carrier technologies have been established for focus on mutually agreed projects in respective domains.
The Aeronautical Development Establishment at the Defence Research and Development Organisation and the Aerospace Systems Directorate at the Air Force Research Laboratory, along with the Indian and U.S. Air Forces, were the principal organisations for the execution of the PA, the statement added.
The DTTI was announced in 2012 as an ambitious initiative for co-production and co-development of military systems but has never really taken off despite several efforts.
In October 2019, as part of efforts to revive the DTTI the two sides had agreed on a joint statement of intent to deepen defence technology cooperation which also outlined specific short, middle and long-term projects under the DTTI, while the JWG on jet engine cooperation was suspended.
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Sign Agreement
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Stryker completes Gauss Surgical acquisition
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September 8, 2021 By Sean Whooley Stryker (NYSE:SYK) announced today that it acquired Gauss Surgical and its Triton platform for an undisclosed amount. Menlo Park, California-based Gauss Surgical designed the Triton artificial intelligence-enabled platform for the real-time monitoring of blood loss during surgery. The platform has demonstrated improvements in maternal and surgical care through earlier recognition of hemorrhage leading to earlier intervention, according to a news release. Kalamazoo, Michigan-based Stryker cited studies that suggest that up to 5% of mothers experience a postpartum hemorrhage, which constitutes the leading cause of maternal death globally, and studies suggest that 70% of those are preventable through monitoring platforms like Triton. “Gauss Surgical’s innovative Triton technology will help fill the void of quantifying blood loss to enable accuracy, early detection of hemorrhage and prevention of maternal morbidity,” Dylan Crotty, president of Stryker’s Instruments division, said in the release. “Our belief is that Triton technology will help improve the industry standards for quantifying blood loss in the labor and delivery department, furthering Stryker’s commitment to improve safety and outcomes for our caregivers and their patients.” “Since the advent of modern surgery, visual estimation of blood loss has remained a notoriously inaccurate and imprecise standard of care,” added Gauss Surgical founder and CEO Siddarth Satish. “I am excited to expand this offering with Stryker.”
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Organization Merge
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The next big financial crisis could be triggered by climate change – but central banks can prevent it
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Stefano Carattini receives funding from the Alliance for Market Solutions, the Department of Energy (United States), and the Swiss National Science Foundation. Georgia State University provides funding as a founding partner of The Conversation US. In 2008, as big banks began failing across Wall Street and the housing and stock markets crashed, the nation saw how crucial financial regulation is for economic stability – and how quickly the consequences can cascade through the economy when regulators are asleep at the wheel. Today, there’s another looming economic risk: climate change. Once again, how much it harms economies will depend a lot on how financial regulators and central banks react. Climate change’s impact on economies isn’t always obvious. Mark Carney, the former governor of the Bank of England, identified a series of climate change-related risks in 2015 that could shake the financial system. The rising costs of extreme weather, lawsuits against companies that have contributed to climate change and the falling value of fossil fuel assets could all have an impact. Nobel Prize-winning U.S. economist Joseph Stiglitz agrees. In a recent interview, he argued that the impact of a sharp rise in carbon prices – which governments charge companies for emitting climate-warming greenhouse gases – could trigger another financial crisis, this time starting with the fossil fuel industry, its suppliers and the banks that finance them, which could spill over into the broader economy. Our research as environmental economists and macroeconomists confirms that both the effects of climate change and some of the policies necessary to stop it could have important implications for financial stability, if preemptive measures are not undertaken. Public policies addressing, after years of delay, the fossil fuel emissions that are driving climate change could devalue energy companies and cause investments held by banks and pension funds to tank, as would abrupt changes in consumer habits. The good news is that regulators have the ability to address these risks and clear the way to safely implement ambitious climate policy. First, regulators can require banks to publicly disclose their risks from climate change and stress-test their ability to manage change. The Biden administration recently introduced an executive order on climate-related financial risk, with the goal of encouraging U.S. companies to evaluate and publicly disclose their exposure to climate change and to future climate policies. In the United Kingdom, large companies already have to disclose their carbon footprints, and the U.K. is pushing to have all major economies follow its lead. The European Commission also proposed new rules for companies to report on climate and sustainability in their investment decisions across a broad swath of industries in its new Sustainable Finance Strategy released on July 6, 2021. This strategy builds on a previous plan for sustainable growth from 2018. Carbon disclosure represents a crucial ingredient for “climate stress tests,” evaluations that gauge how well-prepared banks are for potential shocks from climate change or from climate policy. For example, a recent study by the Bank of England determined that banks were unprepared for a carbon price of US$150 per ton, which it determined would be necessary by the end of the decade to meet the international Paris climate agreement’s goals. The European Central Bank is conducting stress tests to assess the resilience of its economy to climate risks. In the United States, the Federal Reserve recently established the Financial Stability Climate Committee with similar objectives in mind. Central banks and academics have also proposed several ways to address climate change through monetary policy and financial regulation. One of these methods is “green quantitative easing,” which, like quantitative easing used during the recovery from the 2008 recession, involves the central bank buying financial assets to inject money into the economy. In this case, it would buy only assets that are “green,” or environmentally responsible. Green quantitative easing could potentially encourage investment in climate-friendly projects and technologies such as renewable energy, though researchers have suggested that the effects might be short-lived. A second policy proposal is to modify existing regulations to recognize the risks that climate change poses to banks. Banks are usually subject to minimum capital requirements to ensure banking sector stability and mitigate the risk of financial crises. This means that banks must hold some minimum amount of liquid capital in order to lend. Incorporating environmental factors in these requirements could improve banks’ resilience to climate-related financial risks. For instance, a “brown-penalizing factor” would require higher capital requirements on loans extended to carbon-intensive industries, discouraging banks from lending to such industries. Broadly, these existing proposals have in common the goal of reducing economy-wide carbon emissions and simultaneously reducing the financial system’s exposure to carbon-intensive sectors. The Bank of Japan announced a new climate strategy on July 16, 2021, that includes offering no-interest loans to banks lending to environmentally friendly projects, supporting green bonds and encouraging banks to disclosure their climate risk. The Federal Reserve has begun to study these policies, and it has created a panel focused on developing a climate stress test. Often, policymaking trails scientific and economic debates and advancements. With financial regulation of climate risks, however, it is arguably the other way around. Central banks and governments are proposing new policy tools that have not been studied for very long. A few research papers released within the last year provide a number of important insights that can help guide central banks and regulators. They do not all reach the same conclusions, but a general consensus seems to be that financial regulation can help address large-scale economic risks that abruptly introducing a climate policy might create. One paper found that if the climate policy is implemented gradually, the economic risks can be small and financial regulation can manage them. Financial regulation can also help accelerate the transition to a cleaner economy, research shows. One example is subsidizing lending to climate-friendly industries while taxing lending to polluting industries. But financial regulation alone will not be enough to effectively address climate change. Central banks will have roles to play as countries try to manage climate change going forward. In particular, prudent financial regulation can help prevent barriers to the kind of aggressive policies that will be necessary to slow climate change and protect the environments our economies were built for.
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Financial Crisis
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Bojanki and Bharati were sentenced to three weeks' jail for breaching their SHNs
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SINGAPORE - A desire to chat and share snacks while serving stay-home notice (SHN) in a hotel here has earned two travellers a stay behind bars. Bojanki Suresh Naidu, 37, and Bharati Tulshiram Choudhari, 48, were each sentenced to three weeks' jail on Tuesday (Aug 17) for breaching their SHNs. They had each pleaded guilty to a charge of exposing others to the risk of infection while having reason to suspect they may have been carriers of Covid-19. Another charge for not wearing a mask was taken into consideration for Suresh during sentencing. The Indian nationals had flown into Singapore on the same flight from India on March 14. The prosecution said this was at the height of the second wave in India, with the Delta variant causing record-breaking infections and deaths. Both are Singapore permanent residents, and did not know each other prior to the flight. But they became acquainted as their rooms were both on the 16th floor of Oasia Hotel Novena. They exchanged numbers after Suresh, a logistics lead with pharmaceutical company Novartis, dialled the number for Bharati's room. She was unemployed at the time. They came up with a plan to meet at her room, for Suresh to collect snacks from Bharati and for them to chat. At about 12.30am on March 20, Suresh left his room without wearing a mask and went to Bharati's room. She opened the door for him and they were in the room together till about 1am. When Suresh went back to his room, he found himself locked out, and went back to Bharati's room for another five minutes. He then used his mobile phone to call the hotel staff, and a security officer let him back into his room at about 1.20am. The officer asked Suresh how he came to be locked out, and Suresh lied by claiming he had difficulties breathing and had left his room for fresh air. When the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority investigated, the duo lied and attempted to portray their meeting as accidental. Suresh claimed that he drank two cans of beer and felt suffocated, leaving to get fresh air. He said he had knocked on Bharati's door for help. Bharati lied that she heard a knock and found Suresh outside her door, claiming that he was feeling suffocated and needed help. But their story fell apart because of security camera footage of the hotel's corridor which showed that they had both opened their doors at the same time at 12.30am, as prearranged. On Tuesday, both pleaded for leniency from the court. Bharati said she has been living in Singapore for 11 years, and that she has embarrassed her family. Suresh said he has been living in Singapore for more than a decade, and had been a volunteer at a community club for seven years. He added that he was not in a relationship with Bharati, and that she had only wanted to help him by giving him food. He also said he has a wife and two kids here to support. District Judge Chay Yuen Fatt allowed both of them to defer their sentences so they could settle their personal affairs before going to jail. Suresh is to surrender himself on Sept 6, and Bharati is to surrender herself on Aug 31. For breaching their SHNs and exposing others to the risk of infection, they could each have been jailed for up to six months and fined up to $10,000.
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Famous Person - Commit Crime - Sentence
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2019–20 United Kingdom floods
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Between November 2019 and February 2020, severe winter flooding occurred across the United Kingdom. The first wave of flooding occurred in November 2019, mainly affecting Yorkshire and the Humber, the East Midlands and the West Midlands. Further isolated flooding incidents were reported in December and January, before the second main wave of flooding, caused by Storms Ciara and Dennis, occurred in February 2020. The excessive rainfall resulted in the wettest February since records began, in 1766, in England and Wales with an average of 169.6 millimetres (6.68 in) falling across the regions, beating the record from 1833. [2]
Most of England[3] received above average rainfall during October 2019, with some catchments receiving over double the average monthly total. Soils were wetter than average for the time of year across most of the country by the end of October. Monthly mean river flows were classed as exceptionally high at just over a third of indicator sites. Early on 8 November, heavy and prolonged rainfall[4] fell on these saturated catchments across the southern Peak District causing flash floods and rivers to burst their banks. [5] A week later on 14 November a further low pressure system brought more heavy rain to areas further south, raising water levels along on the rivers Severn and Avon. The Met Office reported that Sheffield had 84 mm (3.3 in) of rain in just over the 36 hours which preceded the flood. This is almost the same as the monthly average for November. [6] On 7 November Supertram services were terminated at Meadowhall South/Tinsley tram stop over fears that floodwater would put the Tinsley tram bridge in danger. [7] On 8 November, shoppers spent the night inside Meadowhall shopping centre as floods surrounded the complex. [8] Rain continued overnight leading to a major incident being declared in Sheffield. [8] Millhouses public park, where in the 2007 floods a boy was swept to his death, was closed, due to concerns about the level of the River Sheaf, a tributary of the Don. On 8 November junction 34 of the M1 was closed. [11]
Flooding throughout the Regions had a terrifying impact on rail services from Sheffield. On 7 November flooding at Denby Dale resulted in trains being unable to run between Huddersfield and Sheffield via Penistone. [12] On 14 November train services between Sheffield and Worksop were cancelled because of floods as was the East Midlands Trains service from Sheffield to London St Pancras via the Midland Main Line. On 15 November the TransPennine Express services between Sheffield and Scunthorpe was suspended because of floods in Kirk Sandall, Doncaster. [15] The Hope Valley line service was also disrupted due to flooding at nearby Edale. Flooding of railway lines in Rotherham also affected train services from Sheffield. On 17 November the Met Office reported its Sheffield weather station had recorded its wettest ever autumn, "With 15 days [of November] still to go, the site has already recorded 427.6 mm of rain. The previous record was set in 2000 with 425.2 mm of rain falling between 1 September and 30 November that year. "[18]
The railway tracks at Rotherham Central railway station, used by both Arriva Rail North railway services and the Sheffield Supertram tram-train, were flooded. Trains were unable to run between Sheffield and Gainsborough Central or Lincoln Central. The Sheffield to Leeds (via Moorthorpe) route was also suspended. [19] On 7 November M1 junction 32, the M18 turn-off was reduced to two lanes due to floodwater. [7] On 12 November flooding led to an oil spillage which led to the RSPCA having to rescue 60 swans. [20] On 15 November it was reported that all Supertram services were operating as normal with the exception of the tram-train. [21] Plans to switch on the Christmas lights in Rotherham were cancelled until further notice because of the floods. Rotherham Parkgate retail park was also closed because of flooding with 85% of the shops re-opening on 16 November. [22]
The River Don flooded in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, reaching record levels with severe flood warnings continuing into 12 November.
On 11 November there were 5 severe flood warnings in place for Kirk Bramwith, South Bramwith, Willow Bridge, Bentley and Fishlake, with residents of Fishlake, Thorpe in Balne, Trumfleet and Bentley being asked to evacuate their homes. [25]
Fishlake local resident, Grant Berry appeared on BBC News stating, "The village had not flooded in over 100 years" as he evacuated his home. On 11 November the Environment Agency deployed four pumps at Fishlake in an attempt to reduce the depth of flood-water and an RAF Chinook was used to convey aggregate to shore-up the banks of drainage channels east of Bentley. [26] Fishlake residents were critical of the Environment Agency which had stated that on Friday 8 November at 5:00 pm there was no flood warning. Even when the village had flooded by 9:00 pm the Environment Agency had still not issued a flood warning. [27] On 15 November John Curtin, executive director of flood and coastal risk management at the Environment Agency, said 38 pumps had been used in homes in Fishlake to reduce the inundation. [28]
Arriva Rail North told customers not to travel on the Doncaster to Scunthorpe route. [6] CrossCountry diverted its trains away from Doncaster. [29] The floods resulted in the closure of 39 roads in the Doncaster area on 11 November. [30]
On 15 November Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council issued a list of 26 roads still closed due to the flood. [31]
In the Don Valley area, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn visited Conisborough and Doncaster and viewed the property damage with local MP Caroline Flint, calling on Prime Minister Boris Johnson to declare the floods a national emergency so immediate financial help could be provided to families in need.
On 7 November the River Dearne burst its banks, flooding the pub and restaurant, The Mill of the Black Monks, thought to be Barnsley's oldest pub. The building mostly dates back to 1150 AD, with some parts dating back to 700 AD. Other nearby residences were also flooded. On 7 November, within Barnsley twelve roads were closed due to floodwater. [12] Residents and businesses in the Lundwood and Low Valley areas of Barnsley were flooded and the B6096, Station Road at Wombwell was affected by severe flooding. On 15 November three roads remained closed due to floodwater, New Road (from Tingle Bridge Lane junction to the roundabout at Lions Lodge) and Smithy Bridge Lane at Hemingfield, and Birds Nest Lane at Penistone.
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Floods
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Kristen & Dax, Pink & Carey and More Celebrity Couples Who've Opened Up About Marriage Counseling
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"I know too many young couples who struggle and think somehow, there's something wrong with them. I want them to know that Michelle and Barack Obama — who have a phenomenal marriage and who love each other — we work on our marriage and we get help with our marriage when we need it." "Marriage counseling, for us, was one of those ways where we learned to talk out our differences. What I learned about myself was that my happiness was up to me and I started working out more, I started asking for help, not just from him but from other people." —Michelle, on Good Morning America in November 2018 Married for: 15 years "Carey and I have been in couples counseling almost our entire 17 years that we've been together. It's the only reason we're still together. He speaks Polish, I speak Italian, and [the counselor] speaks both. Like, we don't speak the same language. We come from broken families, and we had no model of 'How are we supposed to keep this family together and live this crazy life?' And there's model, no book that says, 'Here's how to do this.' So we go to counseling, and it works." —Pink, on the Today show in April 2019 Married for: 6 years "People are like 'goals'; me and D are like, 'WTF?' We've kind of figured it out now, but I guess maybe we should tweet live from couples' therapy. And when you ask us we're gonna tell you, there's a process to happy." —Gabrielle, to Complex in September 2017 Married for: 7 years "We have a very healthy marriage and we got there by doing therapy when we needed it, and constantly doing fierce moral inventories. We both take responsibility when we are wrong, and I think it is easy to work with him because I married him, because I enjoy spending time with him and I trust him. That is exactly what I want in someone that I work with." —Kristen, to PEOPLE in March 2017 Married for: 10 years "I think counseling helps ... It's really a great thing to have someone that you can sit down and talk to that's someone that's on the outside that can tell you how to channel your feelings in a different light to help you guys mesh better." —Tiny, on People Now in April 2019 Engaged for: 1 year "[When Artem] gets really stressed, he doesn't realize his tone. We're actually in therapy for this." "It's mainly just to be amazing parents and knowing how to balance parent life out and also our own relationship. Because Artem and I don't ever want to have a struggle. You know, we plan on being married." — Nikki, in 2020 and 2021 conversations with Kaitlyn Bristowe and Tamron Hall Married for: 28 years "I know too many young couples who struggle and think somehow, there's something wrong with them. I want them to know that Michelle and Barack Obama — who have a phenomenal marriage and who love each other — we work on our marriage and we get help with our marriage when we need it." "Marriage counseling, for us, was one of those ways where we learned to talk out our differences. What I learned about myself was that my happiness was up to me and I started working out more, I started asking for help, not just from him but from other people." —Michelle, on Good Morning America in November 2018 Married for: 15 years "Carey and I have been in couples counseling almost our entire 17 years that we've been together. It's the only reason we're still together. He speaks Polish, I speak Italian, and [the counselor] speaks both. Like, we don't speak the same language. We come from broken families, and we had no model of 'How are we supposed to keep this family together and live this crazy life?' And there's model, no book that says, 'Here's how to do this.' So we go to counseling, and it works." —Pink, on the Today show in April 2019 Married for: 6 years "People are like 'goals'; me and D are like, 'WTF?' We've kind of figured it out now, but I guess maybe we should tweet live from couples' therapy. And when you ask us we're gonna tell you, there's a process to happy." —Gabrielle, to Complex in September 2017 Married for: 7 years "We have a very healthy marriage and we got there by doing therapy when we needed it, and constantly doing fierce moral inventories. We both take responsibility when we are wrong, and I think it is easy to work with him because I married him, because I enjoy spending time with him and I trust him. That is exactly what I want in someone that I work with." —Kristen, to PEOPLE in March 2017 Married for: 10 years "I think counseling helps ... It's really a great thing to have someone that you can sit down and talk to that's someone that's on the outside that can tell you how to channel your feelings in a different light to help you guys mesh better." —Tiny, on People Now in April 2019 Engaged for: 1 year "[When Artem] gets really stressed, he doesn't realize his tone. We're actually in therapy for this." "It's mainly just to be amazing parents and knowing how to balance parent life out and also our own relationship. Because Artem and I don't ever want to have a struggle. You know, we plan on being married."
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Famous Person - Marriage
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2014 Jadavpur University protests
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The Hok Kolorob Movement (Bengali: হোক কলরব আন্দোলন) or the 2014 Jadavpur University student protest, was a four-month long series of protests by the students of Jadavpur University in Kolkata, India that began on 3 September 2014. The term "Hok Kolorob" (literally, "let there be polyphony", Bengali: হোক কলরব) was originally the title of a song by Bangladeshi singer Arnob and began to be used as a hashtag on Facebook. [2]
On 16 September 2014, peaceful demonstrations by students took place in front of the administrative building of the University, demanding an investigation into the molestation of a female student in campus. Following several unsuccessful attempts at dialogue with the authorities, the students gheraoed some personnel of the University authority, including the Vice-Chancellor, Abhijit Chakrabarti. The Vice-Chancellor called the police. The subsequent police brutality unleashed upon the students in the early hours of 17 September triggered a wave of protests by students and teachers. Criticisms of the police brutality included that police used baton charge on a peaceful demonstration, that female students were manhandled and molested by male police officers, and that several men not in uniform attacked the students. The police maintain that there were plainclothesmen among their ranks while the students insist that these were Trinamool Congress (the ruling party of the state of West Bengal) cadres. The official position of the Calcutta Police is that "minimum lawful force" was applied to escort the Vice-Chancellor and other members of the committee out of the University. [3][4]
Demonstrations showing solidarity with the students started in Kolkata and across India, including in Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bengaluru. [5][6][7][8] Protest marches in Kolkata had progressively increasing turnout,[9] culminating in a rally on 20 September, at the end of which a delegation of students met the Governor of West Bengal, Keshari Nath Tripathi. [10][11] Estimates of participants in the rally fluctuate between 30000 and over 100000 people. [11][12][13]
The protests have been marked with a strong cultural flavour: students have been singing, dancing and arranging diverse cultural manifestations throughout the days while the protests ensue. The protests have a large oeuvre of posters, graffiti, poems, songs, slogans, street plays and performances dotting the University campus and the streets of Kolkata. [12][13] This has led the Trinamool Congress to link this protest to the student movements of the 1970s. [14] It is one of the first movements in India to significantly employ social media and internet activism for coordination and dissemination. [15]
On 28 August, a female second-year student at Jadavpur University was dragged into the Old Boys' Hostel on campus and molested, and her male friend beaten up, by 10 residents of the hostel. [16][17] According to the girl's father, when he approached the interim Vice-Chancellor, Abhijit Chakrabarti, on 1 September, he was told to wait for a couple of days as Chakrabarti was going to New Delhi. [17] The father lodged a police complaint on 2 September and sent a letter to the University authorities on 3 September, upon which an internal inquiry was ordered in the Vice-Chancellor's absence, believed to be at the behest of state Education Minister Partha Chatterjee. [16] An Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) was formed in accordance with the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act, 2013 to investigate the matter. However, the committee was compromised when two of its members visited the girl's home in Bidhannagar on 5 September, refusing to identify themselves and asking questions about her dress on the night of the incident. This led to the girl filing a General Diary with the Bidhannagar police station on 6 September for "mental harassment" in which she identified them as professors of the Sanskrit and Women's Studies Departments of Jadavpur University. [18][19]
A number of students then staged demonstrations demanding that the accused ICC committee members be replaced, as well as forming an "external committee", effectively the Local Complaint Committee (LCC) recommended by the Sexual Harassment Act, and demanding increased security for students within the campus. This was not acceptable to the Vice-Chancellor, but, at the same time, he asked the students to wait until after the meeting of the Executive Councils on the evening of 16 September. At the meeting of the Executive Councils it was decided that it is not possible for a panelist to be replaced at some intermediate point of an investigation. This inability to replace panelists, according to University officials, is mandated in the Vishaka Guidelines of the Supreme Court. The officials instead presented a letter which talked about students' code of conduct, totally deviating from the demands of the students. On the evening of 16 September, after the meeting of Executive Councils was finished, students gheraoed some university officials, including Vice-Chancellor Abhijit Chakrabarti, in their offices. Following several attempts to communicate and reach an understanding between the officials and the students, the situation reached an impasse, and the students continued their demonstration into the night. The Vice-Chancellor summoned police for protection. The Kolkata Police arrived at the scene around 8 pm. Some senior officials from the police department tried to negotiate with the students but could not come to a settlement. At around 2 am on 17 September, the lights at the entrance to the Administrative Building were suddenly turned off. This was followed by police assault on students, lifting the gherao and thereby completing the rescue operation. The police beat up several students, and arrested 36. Some students were injured, and needed to be hospitalized. [20]
Students say that the police force was aided by several civil-dressed outsiders (cadres of Trinamool Congress, according to students). The gherao was dismantled, and the Vice Chancellor was escorted off the campus by the police. This was immediately followed by a road block by the students in front of the Jadavpur police station. Students allege that female students were manhandled by the police force. The incident of the beating of students by the police sparked nationwide reaction, with a high amount of protest on social media such as Facebook and Twitter. Videos of the attack on the students surfaced on the internet and TV channels. Students of the University have boycotted classes since the incident of police brutality. On 20 September, a rally was organized by students in the heart of the city, and was attended by students from the University, other educational institutions, and the general populace in a spontaneous outburst of outrage at the brutality with which the opposition to authority was stamped out. [21] The rally ended peacefully, with student representatives holding a meeting with the Governor of West Bengal, Keshari Nath Tripathi, who is also the Chancellor of the University. [22] Estimates of the number of participants in the rally vary between 30,000 and over 100,000 people. [11][12][13] On the same day, protest demonstrations were held in several other Indian cities, showing solidarity with the students of Jadavpur University. On 22 September, a rally was arranged by the ruling Trinamool Congress party against the students. According to newspaper reports, school and college students from suburban and rural areas were dragged to the rally in order to showcase the power of the ruling party. The agitating students of Jadavpur University were mocked through slogans and posters.
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Protest_Online Condemnation
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Landsat 9 lifted atop launcher to extend unbroken environmental data record
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The next Landsat observatory has been mounted on top of a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket in California for liftoff Sept. 27, continuing an unbroken record of Earth observations to track urban sprawl, water usage, tropical deforestation, retreating glaciers, and more over the last half-century. Landsat 9 is the next in a series of land imaging missions launched since 1972, tracking nearly 50 years of city growth, climate change, and trends in use of lands for agriculture and infrastructure. “We are days away from launching our ninth Landsat mission,” said Karen St. Germain, director of NASA’s Earth science division. “The Landsat program spans nearly 50 years and is a cornerstone of our understanding of Earth’s surface. “Each satellite in the Landsat program has captured increasingly sophisticated data and imagery documenting Earth’s changing landscapes, and increasing our understanding of the planet on regional, national and global scales,” St. Germain said in a recent press conference on the Landsat 9 mission. “Landsat data informs a wide range of decisions related to managing crop health and water resources,” she said. “These are critical decisions to mitigate global issues like regional famine or food scarcity in an era of accelerating climate change. “This data is essential to global aid agencies, first responders here in the United States, policymakers are every level, major agricultural producers, and individual people, from farmers and ranchers to urban planners,” St. Germain said. The Landsat program is a joint effort between NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey, with NASA responsible for spacecraft development and launch services. The USGS is in charge of ground systems and the Landsat data archive, and will operate the Landsat 9 mission after launch. The Landsat 9 satellite is the next in a series of land imaging missions launched since 1972, collecting views from space of urban sprawl, tropical deforestation, retreating glaciers, and changes in coral reefs, crops, and tectonic faults. In recent weeks, technicians at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California have loaded propellant into the Landsat 9 spacecraft and closed the satellite inside the nose cone of its Atlas 5 rocket. On Sept. 15, teams hoisted the 5,981-pound (2,713-kilogram) Landsat 9 spacecraft on top of the Atlas 5 rocket on Space Launch Complex 3-East at Vandenberg. The transfer of Landsat 9 satellite to the launch pad was delayed several days by the liftoff last week of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from a nearby facility at Vandenberg. That forced NASA and ULA officials to delay the launch of Landsat 9 from Sept. 23 to Sept. 27. Last month, officials delayed the Landsat 9 launch from an earlier target date of Sept. 16 after problems with the delivery of liquid nitrogen to Vandenberg. Trucks typically used for the nitrogen shipments were repurposed for liquid oxygen transportation to hospitals due to higher demand caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Gaseous nitrogen, converted from cryogenic liquid form, is used by ULA in pre-launch testing. Last year, NASA said the Landsat 9 launch was delayed from April 2021 to September 2021 after inefficiencies caused by the pandemic slowed assembly and testing of the spacecraft. But Landsat 9’s launch is less than a week away now. Liftoff from the SLC-3E launch pad at Vandenberg is scheduled for 11:11 a.m. EDT (2:11 p.m. EDT; 1811 GMT) on Monday, Sept. 27. An Atlas 5 rocket, flying in its basic configuration with no solid-fueled boosters, will fly south from Vandenberg over the Pacific Ocean. The Atlas 5’s first stage will shut down its Russian-made RD-180 engine about four minutes into the mission. An Aerojet Rocketdyne RL10 engine on the rocket’s Centaur upper stage will fire for 12 minutes to inject the Landsat 9 satellite into orbit. After deployment of Landsat 9, the Centaur stage will reignite its engine two times to maneuver into a different orbit for separation of four small CubeSat rideshare payloads. The newest Landsat satellite, built by Northrop Grumman, will fly around Earth in a polar orbit 438 miles (705 kilometers) above the planet, surveying the globe every 16 days in image swaths 115 miles (185 kilometers) wide. Each pixel in the images captured by Landsat 9’s Operational Land Imager 2, or OLI 2, instrument will be about 100 feet (30 meters) across, about the size of a baseball diamond. Landsat 9’s other instrument — the Thermal Infrared Sensor 2, or TIRS 2 — can resolve features about 330 feet (100 meters) in size, roughly the length of a football field. The $885 million Landsat 9 mission is based on the Landsat 8 satellite, which launched in 2013. The Obama administration directed NASA and the USGS to develop Landsat 9 in 2015, using new copies fo the OLI and TIRS instruments on Landsat 8. The Landsat 8 satellite, designed for a five-year lifetime, remains operational. Landsat 8 and 9, working in tandem, will cover all of Earth’s land masses every eight days, according to Jeff Masek, NASA’s project scientist for the Landsat 9 mission. “This frequency is really critical for assessing change, both for within a single year and between years,” Masek said. Landsat 9 will also work in concert with other land imaging satellites, such as the European Sentinel 2 missions, to extend the continuous global coverage of land masses since the launch of Landsat 1 in 1972. “When we further add in the data from the similar Sentinel 2A and 2B (satellites), we can get that refresh down to two to three days,” St. Germain said. The Landsat data archive catalogs changes in land cover, water quality, glacier flow, and other properties of Earth’s surface, according to NASA. The thermal infrared data from Landsat satellites provide information on irrigation and water usage. Scientists and forest managers use Landsat data to measure the impact of wildfires. “I like to think of Landsat as something like a Swiss Army knife,” Masek said. “Out of one basic set of observations or measurements, we feed a whole range of different Earth science applications. “It’s key role is to track both human-induced and natural changes to the land environment to better support land management decision-making,” Masek said. “And along the way, we’re able to assemble and visualize an amazing history of how the planet has changed over the last half-century.” The first Landsat satellite launched in 1972. Here’s a list of the Landsat missions to date: • Landsat 1: Launched July 23, 1972, on a Delta 900 rocket. Operational until January 1978. • Landsat 2: Launched Jan. 22, 1975, on a Delta 2910 rocket. Operational until February 1982. • Landsat 3: Launched March 5, 1978, on a Delta 2910 rocket. Operational until March 1983. • Landsat 4: Launched July 16, 1982, on a Delta 3920 rocket. Operational until 1993. • Landsat 5: Launched March 1, 1984, on a Delta 3920 rocket. Operational until 2013. • Landsat 6: Launched Oct. 5, 1993, on a Titan 2 rocket. Did not reach orbit due to apogee propulsion system failure. • Landsat 7: Launched April 15, 1999, on a Delta 2 rocket. Remains operational. • Landsat 8: Launched Feb. 11, 2013, on an Atlas 5 rocket. Remains operational. Landsat satellites have detected changes in the health and coverage of forests, and observed the impacts of climate change of ecosystems around the world. Masek said the Landsat satellites have noticed increased plant cover and melting of ice caps at higher latitudes due to warming temperatures. “We can look at the types of crops being grown, we can measure their health, we can look at agricultural productivity,” Masek said. “We can also use the surface temperature measurements from TIRS, and energy budget models, to measure crop water consumption, which is an important application in the western U.S.” While Landsat satellites are focused on land imaging, observations can also track changes in lake sizes, water quality, and help with the early detection of algal blooms, according to Masek. “New applications are emerging all the time, so with the launch of Landsat 9, the user community, the science community, is absolutely looking forward to this launch, and for Landsat 9 to join the Landsat constellation,” Masek said. NASA says the Landsat archive includes more than 8 million images captured since 1972. David Applegate, acting director of the USGS, said the Landsat 8 and 9 satellites will combine to downlink nearly 1,500 images per day for distribution to hundreds of thousands of users around the world, free of charge. “Much like GPS and weather data, Landsat data are used every day to help us better understand our dynamic planet,” Applegate said. Like Landsat 8, the new Landsat 9 spacecraft is has a design life of five years, but carries enough fuel to operate for at least a decade. “If you put the two satellites side by side, they would look very similar,” said Del Jenstrom, Landsat 9 project manager at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. “Like Landsat 8, we have two instruments. We have the Thermal Infrared Sensor 2, which we call TIRS 2, which is a two-band thermal imager, and we have the Operational Land Imager 2, OLI 2, which is a nine-band reflective imager with spectral coverage from visible to shortwave infrared.” Jenstrom said the new satellites biggest improvement over Landsat 8 was to make changes to the TIRS 2 instrument, built in-house at Goddard. Engineers added more backup components to make the TIRS 2 instrument more reliable, and improved optics inside the sensor to correct an issue with stray light reaching the focal plane. Teams on the ground compensated for Landsat 8’s stray light issue with changes to the way they process the imagery, but the underlying problem has been fixed for Landsat 9. The OLI 2 instrument, supplied by Ball Aerospace, has two additional imaging bands to detect cirrus clouds and improve images of coastal waters. Jenstrom said the Landsat 9 satellite will downlink 14-bit data from OLI 2, compared with 12-bit data from OLI on Landsat 8, improving sensitivity by about 25%. Landsat 9 also flies with a new generation of avionics and software. The satellite is also better shielded against orbital debris impacts and static charge build-up, according to Jenstrom. Emerging commercial space capabilities, such as privately-funded Earth-imaging spacecraft, aren’t a replacement for the government-owned Landsat satellites, St. Germain said. New commercial startups provide “additional science” and “additional observations” for Earth scientists, she said. “They don’t today replicate or replace the kind of data we collect with Landsat, but they generally have complementary strengths and can augment our base of understanding,” St. Germain said. “As an example, commercial systems, generally they can observe more often, but they generally don’t observe in all the wavelengths we need to do the work we do with Landsat,” she said. “And also those commercial systems often rely on systems like Landsat as an anchor for their calibration and stability.”
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New achievements in aerospace
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Kanshō famine
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The Kanshō famine (長禄・寛正の飢饉, Chōroku-kanshō no kikin), was a famine which affected mostly Western Japan from Chōroku 3 (1459) to Kanshō 2 (1461), during the reign of Emperor Go-Hanazono in the Muromachi period. The number of deaths from the starvation was at least 82,000. The ruling shōgun during the famine was Ashikaga Yoshimasa. The ongoing conflict in Kantō region following Kyōtoku Incident in 1454, plus general incompetence of the administration of Ashikaga Yoshimasa in the lead-up to the Ōnin War has contributed to bad agricultural production and sluggish response to the famine, greatly increasing its death toll. The general drought has happened across the Japan, starting from March 1459. [1] It ended in September 1459 with the severe typhoon, flooding Kamo River and causing major damage. Also, rare astronomical phenomenons were reported, including sun dogs and a meteor colliding with the Moon, possibly connected to the Little Ice Age. [2] Taking an opportunity, Tokusei Ikki [ja] rebels has got additional footholds in November 1459. The Ashikaga Yoshimasa did not take any action, completely obsessed by building a new shogunate residence - the Hanano gosho [ja]. The Emperor Go-Hanazono request for emergency response were ignored. The drought continued in smaller scale until May 1460, while damage from local floods and in-fighting (particularly between Hatakeyama Masanaga and Hatakeyama Yoshinari), has resulted in the trade disruption in Kyoto. The rice import has ceased, causing a severe shortage of food. In particular, Katsura River flooded while fighting for water in Toyama between temple priests and peasants was reported. In end of May 1460, the period of abnormally low temperatures and heavy rains have started, continuing to the end of June. Even the lake Biwa has flooded, submerging large parts of Ōmi Province, causing population flight and the outbreak of plague among the refugees. Wet conditions has resulted in insects proliferation, and the swarm of Inago [ja] locusts took off in autumn of 1460, further devastating rice paddies. By February 1461, the hunger deaths in Kyoto has reached 82,000 and the corpses has dammed the Kamo River. [3]
22 January 1461, the Ashikaga Yoshimasa finally took an action and ordered the monk Gan'ami [ja] from Kōfuku-ji to handle the famine. Free kitchen (providing a millet meals) was established in February 1461 at the southern entrance of Rokkaku-dō, using a charity funds from wealthy Kyoto citizens. The funding has exhausted in a month though. Similar action was forbidden by leadership of Enryaku-ji temple, resulting in disobedience of Rennyo from Hongan-ji. The destruction of Hongan-ji in 1465 was the continuation of the debate started during Kanshō famine. Also, Ōnin War which broke out in 1467, was partially fueled by the displayed Shogunate ineptness during the Kanshō famine.
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Famine
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LOT Polish Airlines Flight 165 hijacking crash
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LOT Polish Airlines Flight 165 hijacking was the hijacking of a LOT Polish Airlines that occurred on 30 August 1978. [1] The hijackers from East Germany (GDR) were seeking political asylum in West Germany (FRG). The plane landed safely, and the primary hijacker was tried and convicted by a West German jury in the specially convened United States Court for Berlin and sentenced to time served, the nine months he had already served during pretrial detention. The GDR citizens Hans Detlef Alexander Tiede (aka Detlev Tiede) and his friend Ingrid Ruske and her 12-year-old daughter had travelled to Poland to meet with Ruske's West German boyfriend Horst Fischer, who had planned to bring forged West German papers to enable their escape by ferry to West German Travemünde. [2] However, Fischer did not turn up, and after four days of waiting for him Ruske and Tiede – not having any information as to his whereabouts – concluded that Fischer must have been arrested when travelling through East Germany. [2] Their conclusion was right, as Fischer had indeed been arrested and would later be sentenced to eight years of jail in East Germany for preparing their Republikflucht ("desertion from the Republic"), a crime under GDR law. Ruske and Tiede then concluded that they were trapped and that prison awaited them if they returned to East Germany. [2] So they developed a plan to hijack a plane headed for East Berlin's Schönefeld Airport and force a landing at the U.S. Air Force base at Tempelhof Airport in West Berlin. [2] They bought a toy starting pistol at a Polish flea market, and then booked three tickets on LOT Polish Airlines Flight 165 from Gdańsk, Poland, to East Berlin. [3]
On 30 August 1978, Tiede and Ruske hijacked a Polish LOT Tupolev Tu-134 airliner with 62 passengers making Flight 165 from Gdańsk to East Berlin. Tiede, armed with the toy starting pistol, took a flight attendant hostage and succeeded in forcing the aircraft to land at Tempelhof Airport in West Berlin. [4]
Of the 62 passengers, there were 50 GDR citizens, 10 Polish citizens, a man from Munich and a woman from West Berlin. The passengers were given the opportunity to remain in West Berlin or to return to East Berlin. Not only did Tiede, Ruske and her daughter claim sanctuary in West Berlin, but so did another seven East Germans:[4] a radiology assistant from Erfurt, a couple with two children and a couple from Leipzig, although the radiology assistant returned to East Germany the next day. [5] The remaining passengers were interviewed and taken to East Berlin on a bus. [5]
The West German Federal Government was very reluctant to prosecute Tiede and Ruske because of the West German policy of supporting the right of East Germans to flee oppression in the GDR. But the United States government had just spent years, finally successfully, persuading the East German government to sign a hijacking treaty. Consequently, the case was prosecuted in the never-before-convened United States Court for Berlin. [4][6]
Over the prosecutor's objections, US federal judge Herbert Jay Stern ruled that the defendants were entitled to be tried by a jury, a procedure abolished in Germany by the Emminger Reform of 1924. [2][4] The case against Tiede's co-defendant Ingrid Ruske was dismissed because she had not been notified of her Miranda rights before signing a confession. Tiede was acquitted on three charges, including hijacking and possession of a firearm, but convicted of taking a hostage. The jury found Tiede guilty of hostage-taking, but not guilty of acts against the safety of civil aviation, deprivation of liberty and battery. [2] The minimum sentence for hostage-taking was three years. [2] However, Stern sentenced Tiede to time served during pretrial detention, about nine months. [4] Stern accounted for Tiede's emergency situation and plight to face imprisonment in East Germany for attempted Republikflucht. [2]
Two years after his arrest Fischer was released after the West German federal government had paid a ransom to East Germany. Ruske and Fischer married after his release in West Germany. The 1984 book which Judge Stern wrote about the event, Judgment in Berlin, was made into a movie of the same name in 1988. Martin Sheen depicted him. [7]
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Air crash
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2017 Brazil prison riots
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The 2017 Brazil prison riots were a confrontation between two criminal organizations, the Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC) and Comando Vermelho (CV), and their allies within prisons and peripheries of Brazilian cities. Its emergence is linked to the methods of the PCC to conquer new territories for drug trafficking, which involve the collection of insurance and economic centralization and whose rigid pseudo-state organization finds strong resistance from regional criminal organizations, with predominantly decentralized organization.
The confrontation has taken the form of prison rebellions culminating in massacres. At the end of 2016, the first rebellion took place in Roraima with dead detainees. On January 1, 2017, 56 prisoners were killed after a riot at the Anísio Jobim (Compaj) Penitentiary Complex in Manaus, Amazonas, in the northern region of the country. Members of two rival gangs of drug trafficking, the Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC) and the Família do Norte (NDF) (allied to the Comando Vermelho (CV)) clashed in what was considered the most violent massacre in the history of the Brazilian prison system since the slaughter of Carandiru (1992).
The next day, four more inmates were killed at another prison in Manaus. Five days later, 33 prisoners were killed in the Agricultural Penitentiary of Monte Cristo riot, located in the rural area of Boa Vista, Roraima, also in the North. According to Folha de S.Paulo, the massacre in Roraima was a response of the PCC to the rebellion commanded by the FDN in the Amazon. Even more people were killed later on in the month.
Some of the most recent riots within Brazilian prisons happened in January 2018 in the state of Ceara. These fights broke out because of rivaling gang members, The Guardians of the State and First Capital Command of São Paulo, being in such close quarters in the facility. This riot was just one in a series that has been occurring for a year and a half. At least 10 inmates were killed and eight were injured. The state of Ceara holds the highest number of inmates without conviction or sentencing throughout all of Brazil: two of every three inmates await trial. Inmates are notoriously more agitated throughout the process of awaiting trial, which may explain the high prevalence of fights at the Ceara facility.
Yet another riot that took place in January 2018 was in the state of Goias. Authorities claim nine prisoners were killed and 14 injured; one victim being decapitated. 106 prisoners escaped with authorities only recapturing 29 of them after regaining control of the facility. This riot was yet another cause of rivaling gang members being in too close of quarters. In this case, a gang entered the housing unit of a rivaling gang, setting their mattresses on fire and firing off weapons. The staff claims to have moved in quickly to get things under control, but not before 106 of the facilities’ inmates escaped.
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Riot
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2017 May Day protests
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The 2017 May Day protests were a series of protests that took place on May Day (May 1, 2017) over worker and immigrant rights,[1][2] throughout the United States and around the world. Protests became violent in Olympia, Washington, and Portland, Oregon. [3][4] Many demonstrators were protesting against the policies of President Donald Trump,[5] specifically those related to immigration. [6][7]
The protests occurred in several major cities, including Chicago,[8] Detroit,[9][10] Las Vegas,[11] Los Angeles,[12][13] Miami,[14] New York City,[15] Philadelphia,[14] San Francisco,[16] Seattle,[17] and Washington, D.C.[14] Protesters against deportation held a sit-in at the office of Texas governor Greg Abbott in Austin, and blocked the driveway of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in San Francisco. [7] In New York City, twelve protesters were arrested for civil disobedience after blocking the entrance to the Manhattan JPMorgan building. [18] In Oakland, California, four people were arrested for trespassing at an Alameda County government building. [19]
In Denver, a rally began in the city's Civic Center Park before a vigil occurred outside of a for-profit detention center in Aurora owned by GEO Group, which at the time was the second-largest operator of for-profit prisons and facing lawsuits representing 62,000 of their detainees for being threatened with solitary confinement. [20]
The protests in Olympia, Washington and Portland, Oregon turned violent[3][21] and were classified as riots by police. [22] In Portland, protesters allegedly threw lead balls, smoke bombs, paint, glass bottles, and cans of Pepsi at officers. [23] There were multiple cases of property damage and arson. [24] This resulted in 25 arrests[25] and the cancellation of the protest permit. [22] In Olympia, black-clad protesters shattered windows, and threw smoke-issuing devices and rocks at police. [26] Some of the 50 protesters in Olympia had signs reading "delete the port" and broke windows in the Downtown Historic District. [4] Several storefronts suffered damage. Nine police officers were injured by thrown rocks, and nine protesters were arrested. [27]
Protests also occurred in the following cities:
International protests occurred in Havana, Cuba; Istanbul; Moscow, Russia; Paris, France; the Philippines; Pristina, Kosovo; Saint Petersburg, Russia; and Tbilisi, Georgia. [15] The protests in Paris, which were held over immigration and labor rights, as well as the 2017 French presidential election, turned violent when Black Bloc protesters joined the protests and began clashing with police, throwing rocks, bricks, concrete, Molotov cocktails, and firebombs. [35] French police clashed with the violent rioters throughout the day, and at least six officers were injured, with some suffering severe burns from firebombs and Molotov cocktails. [36][37]
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Protest_Online Condemnation
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Great Survival Stories: Harrison Okene, the Accidental Aquanaut
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In 2013, Harrison Okene became an accidental aquanaut when he survived more than 60 hours at the bottom of the ocean by breathing through an air pocket. In 2013, the 29-year-old Nigerian cook was working onboard a tugboat when it capsized in heavy seas. The 12-man crew was there to stabilize an oil tanker at a platform in the Atlantic Ocean. They were about 32km off the Nigerian coast at the time of the incident. The ship eventually settled 30m down on the sea bed, upside down. Everyone drowned, except Okene. “It was around 5 am and I was on the toilet when the vessel just started going down –- the speed was so, so fast,” Okene said later. In pitch dark, he managed to grope his way from the toilet into another room, which had enough air to keep him alive. There, he rigged a simple platform to keep his body partially above water and delay hypothermia. There in the dark, as the horror of his predicament began to sink in, Okene could do little but pray. “All around me was just black and noisy. I was crying and calling on Jesus to rescue me. I prayed so hard. I was so hungry and thirsty and cold and I was just praying to see some kind of light.” He was wearing just his underpants, stuck in an air bubble a little more than a metre thick, alone, and partly immersed in cool water. After almost two-and-a-half days, seemingly beyond help at the bottom of the ocean, Okene’s prayers were answered when he spotted a light. A team of South African divers had come to inspect the vessel and retrieve the bodies. Okene gently reached his hand out to touch a diver’s arm. So as not to spook him, Okene then withdrew his arm and waved. A recovery camera caught the diver’s shocked reaction at seeing a man alive. It was as if he’d seen a ghost. The moment comes at :50 in the video below. “How it wasn’t full of water is anyone’s guess,” said one of the rescue team. “I would say someone was looking after him.” The next challenge was getting Okene safely to the surface. After such a long time at depth, Okene had absorbed potentially fatal amounts of nitrogen. Bringing him suddenly to the surface would induce a deadly attack of the bends. The team needed to skillfully readjust the gas levels in Okene’s body. They suited Okene with a diving helmet and guided him to a diving bell, designed to maintain internal pressure. Okene lost consciousness during the transfer but managed to survive. The bell then brought him safely to the surface, where he spent two days in a decompression chamber. He suffered from peeling skin, recurring nightmares, and insatiable hunger, but was otherwise in good health. Okene had assumed that all the other 11 crew made it safely to the surface when the boat went down, while he alone sank to the bottom. It wasn’t until later that he learned that he was the sole survivor. All the bodies of his companions were recovered except one, who was never found. Although Okene swore never again to go near the ocean, he became a certified commercial diver in 2015. The rescue diver who discovered him at the bottom of the ocean presented him with his diploma. Alex Myall After 22 years in the exercise industry, offset by long-haul adventures around the world, Alex Myall found a better option a few years ago and has never looked back. She took a diploma in travel journalism, backed it up with travel industry certificates, then launched Chasing Dreams Travel NZ, her own travel agency. Now she combines her love of writing and world travel with running her business from her home on the spectacular South Coast of Wellington, New Zealand, while simultaneously being mum to a gorgeous baby girl. She maintains a “life’s too short to do things by halves” attitude.
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Shipwreck
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Choosing circumcision for a baby boy by mum who tells of ‘hard decision’ and ‘hurtful’ response
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Mum gets candid about decision to have baby boy circumcised Mum gets candid about decision to have baby boy circumcised. It’s a choice that sparks heated debate amongst parents - and now one mum has spoken candidly about her decision to have her baby boy circumcised and the response she received for doing it. Florida woman Princessa Abreu went viral after she shared a TikTok video about her son Levi’s surgery that was viewed a staggering 12.7 million times. The footage showed the tot in hospital recovering from fever and swelling he developed following his op. WATCH Princessa’s viral footage in the video above “I honestly do not know why I posted the video ,” Princessa tells 7Life. “I remember feeling so many emotions. I guess I just felt compelled to share. I never expected it to go viral.” Princessa did not expect her video to go viral. Credit: Supplied/TikTok/rainbowbabychasing Princessa describes her son as the “sweetest, smartest” little boy - who loves Mickey Mouse and exploring. While it was “never the plan” to get him circumcised, Princessa says medical issues forced her hand. “Levi was born healthy at 39 weeks but started getting UTIs at three months old despite good hygiene, and medications,” Princessa says. The UTIs continued to return periodically as he aged. “At the age of 10 months, his doctor recommended getting him circumcised to help prevent the UTIs from returning,” the mum adds. The advice sparked a “long debate”, Princessa admits - she got a second opinion and did her own research into the matter. Finally, she decided to go ahead with the surgery and Levi was 12 months old when he went under the knife. Princessa said making the decision for Levi to go under the knife was hard. Credit: Supplied “Ultimately what changed my mind about circumcision was the benefits it had on preventing infections,” Princessa says. “It was a hard decision because I did not want to change my son. I believe he was perfect the way he was born, but because of his health it is what was best. “I don’t regret my decision. As a mother I did what was best for my son.” In Australia circumcision is not routinely done on newborn boys unless there is a medical reason. According to government-funded online health service Health Direct, most doctors don’t recommend it but circumcision is commonly performed for religious or cultural reasons or due to family tradition or parental preference. Levi’s procedure went “very well”, Princessa says. Chevron Right Icon I was a mess “He was placed under anaesthesia and the surgery took about an hour and thirty minutes. “While he was in the surgery room I was a mess, I was not allowed in the surgery room. I was placed in a small waiting room, and I just remember walking back and forth,” she recalls. “I was so happy when he woke up and said ‘mummy’.” While Levi’s operation went well, he developed a fever soon after. Credit: Supplied After the surgery, Levi was discharged immediately. Princessa was told her son’s wound should heal in four to six days and swelling should go down. “This was not the case for Levi,” Princessa says. “Around day four post-surgery his area was still very swollen and he developed a fever.” “I felt guilty because he was in pain due to a decision I had made, but I knew the end outcome would benefit him,” Princessa says. Worried about her son, as the swelling and fever continued, Princessa took him to Emergency. “At the ER they administered medication to help with swelling and fever. This helped Levi instantly,” she recalls. Thankfully blood tests showed Levi didn’t have an infection and after two days in hospital, he was allowed home. “Once we were discharged I would say he was back to his regular self by day eight,” Princessa says. And since his op, she adds he’s not had any UTIs. She says if she had her time again, she would not do anything differently. Levi, who loves exploring, has not had any UTIs since his circumcision. Credit: Supplied “I believe everything happens for a reason. I got my son the help he needed and nothing else mattered,” she says, adding that Levi is now “very happy and very active”. However, that hasn’t stopped social media users from sharing a range of opinions with the mum. “I actually knew this topic was a hot debate,” Princessa admits - but she adds that some of the messages left her “shocked”. Chevron Right Icon They were hurtful and judgemental “Many people were angry that I waited so long to do the surgery. While others were against the idea of circumcision completely,” she says of the comments she received. “What I didn’t expect was the amount of hate I was receiving from other mothers. “I was shocked, by some of the messages. They were hurtful, and judgmental. “I remember wanting to turn off the comments, but I did not because some of the things people had to say was actually very informative. And I believe it could help others who aren’t sure about what to do.” While the comments hurt Princessa - who suffered a devastating miscarriage a year ago and is fundraising in the hope of having another baby via artificial insemination - she wouldn’t rule out putting a second child through the procedure if it was needed. Levi is now ‘very happy and very active’ according to his mum. Credit: Supplied “I love being a mother, I can’t wait for the day I can finally give Levi a sibling,” she says, adding that TikTok became an “outlet for healing” for her after the tragic loss of her baby. “Every child is different and just because Levi had UTIs does not mean that my other child will. “If my other baby was having health issues and it was medically needed then yes [I’d get him circumcised].” Now the mum has a message for others. “Becoming a mum changes the way you view life, once that little baby is brought into this world no one or nothing else matters. “Every decision that we make as parents will impact our children’s lives in one way or another. “This being said do what you believe is best for your sons. There is no wrong or right choice.”
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Famous Person - Recovered
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Province will take lead in investigating Wheatley explosion
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The dust may have settled from an explosion that rocked downtown Wheatley in late August, but the need remains for Chatham-Kent municipal employees to provide help to local residents impacted by the blast. Trevor Terfloth/Postmedia Network SunMedia
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The municipality has signed an agreement for the Ontario Ministry of Northern Development, Mines, Natural Resources and Forestry to take the lead in the investigation of last month’s massive explosion in downtown Wheatley.
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The agreement outlines the ministry’s commitment to identify the source of the hydrogen sulphide gas, which is believed to be the cause of the blast, and to then recommend ways to prevent future leaks.
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Province will take lead in investigating Wheatley explosion Back to video
Don Shropshire, Chatham-Kent’s top administrator, said the agreement moved the investigation to the next level.
“We have been preparing the site for further investigation while focusing on public safety,” he said in a release Monday. “The safety of our residents remains key for our first responders, and the province will be taking the lead on its portion of the work.”
Shropshire said the municipality would be meeting with the province and its experts to provide a timeline for residents about the investigation and the eventual return of affected residents to their homes and businesses in the evacuation zone.
Mayor Darrin Canniff said he was pleased the investigation is moving ahead.
“We are encouraging the province to expedite the investigation process and to determine what can be done financially to help the residents and businesses that have been affected,” he said. “I’m confident the premier and cabinet is giving the matter strong consideration.”
Wheatley had already been under a state of emergency following two previous toxic gas leaks. In early June, hydrogen sulphide – a toxic, corrosive and highly flammable gas – was discovered at an Erie Street North building in the town, forcing the immediate evacuation of homes and businesses.
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Chatham-Kent officials later declared a state of emergency.
The following month, three-dozen homes and businesses in Wheatley were evacuated after hydrogen sulphide was again detected at the site of the previous leak.
On Aug. 26, toxic gas detectors installed at the site raised the alarm at about 4:30 p.m., giving municipal staff and emergency crews time to evacuate buildings before the blast occurred about 90 minutes later. The explosion levelled two buildings in Wheatley’s downtown and injured 20 people.
Since then, technical experts assembled in the wake of the blast have been working off site as efforts continue to find the cause, which has included a pathway analysis of the hydrogen sulphide, which is believed to have come from an abandoned well in the area.
Municipal officials have also been offering outreach services for Wheatley residents impacted by the blast, offering evacuees support with temporary housing, food and other services. Last week, these services relocated from the town’s arena to the Wheatley village Resource Centre and Food Bank at 108 Talbot St. E.
The Wheatley Recovery Group, which is helping administer this support, has connected with residents in need, identified service gaps in the community and launched the Wheatley BIA Disaster Relief Fund application via the municipal website.
“Being a member of the Wheatley Recovery Group and the partnership with the Municipality of Chatham-Kent has helped our community because we have been able to identify needs, collect and distribute goods, and connect people who don’t know where to turn,” said Kim Little, the group’s treasurer.
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Gas explosion
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1865 Memphis earthquake
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The 1865 Memphis earthquake struck southwest Tennessee near the Mississippi River in the United States on August 17 that year. Soon after the Mfa 5.0 earthquake hit, observers said the earth appeared to undulate and waves formed in nearby rivers. The force of the earthquake felled and cracked chimneys in Memphis and New Madrid, Missouri on the other side of the Mississippi. Shaking from the earthquake spread as far as St. Louis, Missouri; Jackson, Mississippi; and Illinois. [1] Apart from the 1811–12 New Madrid earthquakes, only three major events have struck the state of Tennessee, in 1843, 1865, and 1895. Several minor events have taken place as well. The earliest earthquakes known to have struck Tennessee were the series known as the New Madrid earthquakes, which rocked the Midwestern United States from their base in Missouri. Damage consisted of fallen chimneys on buildings. More significant were major geologic changes, including sand volcanoes, fissures, and even sinking of land. The events were recorded by whites and Native Americans. Three major earthquake events occurred in Tennessee in 1843, 1865, and 1895. The 1843 event registered Mercalli intensities of VIII (Severe); it resulted in cracking walls, shattering windows, and toppling chimneys. Felt over an area of 1,000,000 square kilometers (386,102 sq mi), the earthquake caused more alarm than damage in Western Tennessee. [2]
Shaking in 1865 felled chimneys in Memphis, and the earth "appeared to undulate", creating small waves on rivers nearby. The earthquake was felt from Illinois throughout the lower Mississippi Valley from Illinois Mississippi. According to a 1993 paper by the United States Geological Survey, this event had a magnitude of 5.0 and a Mercalli intensity of VII (Very strong). This body wave magnitude was derived using either the felt area of the shock or an isoseismal map. [3] In a 2009 report, "Tennessee Earthquake History",[2] the USGS did not include the 1865 earthquake. It classified the 1843 temblor as having a greater Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe), compared to the 1865 event.
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Earthquakes
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2000 Banggai Islands earthquake
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On 4 May 2000 at 12:21 WITA (04:21 UTC), Banggai Islands Regency was hit by an earthquake of magnitude 7.5 Mw, followed by a tsunami. The Banggai Islands, an archipelago located at the far eastern end of Central Sulawesi, Indonesia, was the worst affected by the earthquake. Eighty percent of Banggai's building was destroyed. Damage also occurred on Peleng. The earthquake triggered a local tsunami of up to 6 m in height that caused significant damage east of Luwuk on the mainland and on Peleng. [2]
The Banggai region of Sulawesi lies within the complex area of interaction between the Pacific, Philippine Sea, Australian and Eurasian Plates. The Banggai Islands themselves form part of the Banggai-Sula microcontinent, which collided with eastern Sulawesi during the Neogene, with a thrust fault boundary along the southeastern edge of the Eastern arm. The northern margin of the Banggai-Sula block has been interpreted as a continuous southward moving thrust zone, but seismic reflection data and high-resolution multibeam bathymetry show little sign of thrusting, with evidence instead of a zone of dextral strike-slip faulting. [3]
The earthquake had an initial estimated magnitude of 7.6 Mw, 7.5 Ms, 6.7 mb[4] and a recalculated magnitude of 7.5 Mw . [1] The focal mechanism is consistent with strike-slip faulting on either a NW-SE trending sinistral (left-lateral) fault or a SW-NE trending dextral (right-lateral) fault. An analysis of seismic waveforms suggest that the SW-NE trending fault fits the data best. The observed source time function gives a 30 second duration for the earthquake. [5]
The mainshock was followed by a series of aftershocks, the largest of which occurred just over 24 hours later and had magnitude of 5.7 Mw . [6]
The strong earthquake jolted the province's Banggai Island. [7][8]
A tsunami was formed after the earthquake in Indonesia's central province, Sulawesi. Indonesia meteorological agency (BMKG) reported that the quake triggered a five meter high tsunami that struck the eastern coast of Banggai and other smaller islands around it. Several small islands were also reported to have been completely submerged. Because of the remoteness of the area and the destruction of roads, it was difficult to assess the damage, but it is estimated that 10,500 families lost their homes, of which 3,500 were in Banggai district. According to official figures released by the Banggai regional government on 19 May, 45 people were killed and 270 injured, 54 of them seriously. According to United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), the overall damage to private and public buildings and infrastructure in the affected areas was as follows. [9]
The tsunami completely inundated several villages, destroying all the houses. The rescue team identified the following families as homeless on the islands of Banggai and Peleng. [10]
[8]
Government action
The Indonesian government has distributed 30 tons of rice, 300 kilograms of sugar, milk powder and instant noodles on the Banggai Islands. According to the Indonesia government, medical supplies are available to support for at least six months. The Indonesian Government provided
1, Volunteers to assist the rescue plan
2, Two navy ships serve as a hospital and as well for delivering supplies. 3, A geological group that provides accurate information about the statistics of the earthquake. 4, two medical teams
Indonesian Red Cross (PMI)/ Federation action
Five Mt. of the rice was released by the Indonesian Red Cross (PMI) from its inventory with the national government logistics agency. The medicines donated to PMI by the Singapore Red Cross are divided into sections for health stations that provide free medical services to the population. The criteria for the selection of health posts are determined by the PMI, based on the most pressing needs of each post. Donated and distributed medicines include:
1, Amoxicillin 250 mg: 5,000 tablets
2, Amoxicillin granules: 200 bottles
3, Cimetidine: 1,500 tablets
4, Cotrimoxazole adult: 8,000 tablets
5, CTM: 10,000 tablets
6, Multivitamin syrup: 500 bottles
7, Dextromethorphan: 500 bottles
8, Paracetamol 500 mg: 10,000 tablets
9, Ferrous sulfate: 15,000 tablets
10, Hydrocortisone cream: 50 tubes
The Ministry of Housing and Regional Development Action
The Ministry of Housing and Regional Development decided to assist the Banggai Islands by allocating 16 billion Indonesian rupiah (US$2.2 million) for the repair of housing and transport infrastructure. [9]
The Government of Japan sent a speed boat to provide emergency transport. [9]
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Earthquakes
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Brooks Brothers riot
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The Brooks Brothers riot was a demonstration at a meeting of election canvassers in Miami-Dade County, Florida, on November 22, 2000, during a recount of votes made during the 2000 United States presidential election, with the goal of shutting down the recount. After demonstrations and acts of violence, local officials shut down the recount early. The name referenced the protesters' corporate attire; described by Paul Gigot in an editorial for The Wall Street Journal as "50-year-old white lawyers with cell phones and Hermès ties," differentiating them from local citizens concerned about vote counting.Many of the demonstrators were Republican staffers.Both Roger Stone and Brad Blakeman take credit for managing the riot from a command post, although their accounts contradict each other. Republican New York Representative John E. Sweeney[3] gave the signal that started the riot, telling an aide to "shut it down".
In the 2000 United States presidential election between candidates George W. Bush and Al Gore, in the state of Florida, George W. Bush achieved an election night majority by 1,784 votes, a very close margin. Due to the closeness of the race, and irregularities such as hanging chads, the Gore campaign successfully advocated for a re-count of certain ballots. Miami-Dade County was one of the counties where ballots were re-counted. The Miami-Dade County Democratic Party chairman suspected that thousands of ballots in this county might have been affected by a voting machine glitch.He suspected that these ballots, after re-tallying, would help candidate Al Gore. Miami-Dade County official canvassers, in order to meet a court-ordered deadline, decided to limit the county's recount to the 10,750 ballots that their tabulation machines had been unable to tally. They moved the counting process to a smaller room, closer to the ballot-scanning equipment, to speed up the process, at a distance from the media. Republican officials objected to this change. Hundreds of people, including many Republican staffers, descended upon South Florida to protest the state's recounts.The demonstration was organized by these operatives, sometimes referred to as the "Brooks Brothers Brigade",to oppose the recount of ballots during the Florida election recount. The official canvassers, to speed up the process and meet their deadline, moved the counting process into a new room, and members of the media were restricted to a distance of 25 feet away. Republicans objected to this change of plans. John E. Sweeney of New York, nicknamed "Congressman Kick-Ass" by President Bush for his work in Florida, set the incident in motion by telling an aide to 'stop them'and to "Shut it down. "The demonstration turned violent and, according to The New York Times, "several people were trampled, punched or kicked when protesters tried to rush the doors outside the office of the Miami-Dade supervisor of elections. Sheriff's deputies restored order." Democratic National Committee aide Luis Rosero claimed to be kicked and punched outside of Leahy's office. Within two hours after the event, the canvassing board unanimously voted to shut down the count, in part due to perceptions that the process was not open or fair, and in part because the court-mandated deadline had become impossible to meet, due to the interference.
Sweeney defended his actions, arguing that his aim was not to stop the hand recount, but to restore the process to public view. Other Bush supporters acknowledged they hoped to end the recount. "We were trying to stop the recount; Bush had already won," said Evilio Cepero, a reporter for WAQI, an influential Spanish talk radio station in Miami. "We were urging people to come downtown and support and protest this injustice." A Republican lawyer commented, "People were pounding on the doors, but they had an absolute right to get in. " The protest interfered with attendance by official observers and hindered access by members of the press. In a radio interview in Albany on November 28, Sweeney said, "What I essentially told my people is, 'You've got to stop them'." "Whether I said, 'You've got to shut it down' or 'stop them,' I frankly don't quite recall. "
Several of the protestors were identified as Republican congressional staffers. [7][8] A number of the demonstrators later took jobs in the incoming Bush administration.
A partial list:[16]
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Riot
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Aurora borealis could dip into the northern U.S. this weekend
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NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center in Boulder, Colo., is warning of a potential strong (G3) geomagnetic storm that may rock the Earth on Saturday, with effects lingering into Sunday. Storms of that tier can produce displays of the northern lights visible at latitudes as low as Pennsylvania, Iowa and Oregon, and can also have electrical impacts. Voltage irregularities are possible on high-latitude power grids, along with intermittent issues with radio and navigation. Sky watchers in the United States and abroad are hoping for a Halloween weekend treat reminiscent of the geomagnetic storms of 2003, during which the aurora borealis shone as far south as Texas and Florida. That spattering of solar flares and geomagnetic storms caused a power outage in Sweden and forced air traffic controllers to reroute flights; NASA’s Advanced Composition Explorer spacecraft was damaged. This time, forecasters are able to adequately warn power companies and utility managers of potential threats, allowing protective action to be taken in advance. The hampered high-frequency radio activity during the flare is the only ill effect of the event so far. A major solar flare Solar flares are like eruptions that hurtle off the surface of the sun. They’re born from sunspots, or small bruiselike discolorations, that throb and pulsate with magnetic energy. When a solar flare occurs, X-rays and other high-energy particles are spewed outward in all directions. We ordinarily don’t know about an incoming solar flare until right before or when a radio blackout ensues. Story continues below advertisement Thursday’s solar flare was an “X-class” flare, the most significant classification. It came from NOAA active region 2887, a large sunspot group mapped by scientists. Typically, large, expansive active regions are most likely to produce strong eruptions, as they draw magnetic fields over a broad expanse. These fields provide fuel for the event. Think of it like the sound of a large symphony orchestra compared with a string quartet — the more the better, for energy that is. NOAA 2887 is still hot and in a prime spot for more geomagnetic activity, with more to possibly come for the next four to five days. NASA’s Solar and Heliophysics Observatory (SOHO) captured the moments that high-energy particles, including protons, bombarded the satellite. The clear image suddenly became snowy, resembling a spattering of streaks and pixelated speckles. Radio blackouts occurred shortly thereafter. Story continues below advertisement Weather satellites, like the GOES-series ones that provide most of the imagery relied upon by meteorologists, have noted an increase in the frequency of solar protons, but experts think it is not enough to cause radiation exposure concerns. The coronal mass ejection Behind the solar flare is a more targeted coronal mass ejection (CME), which departed the sun at a speed of 973 km/s. CMEs contain the pulse of magnetic energy that interacts with Earth’s magnetic field to produce visible light. If we didn’t have a magnetic field, we’d have nothing to convert or deflect incoming magnetic energy into dazzling displays. Advertisement The Earth’s magnetic field is most concentrated near the poles. That’s why the aurora borealis (northern lights) and the aurora australis (southern lights) typically appear in a ring around their respective pole. When the arriving CME is more intense, the “auroral oval” can expand equatorward to include the lower latitudes. Story continues below advertisement This time, a belt of the northern United States may see some green hues late Saturday night into Sunday as the energy “excites” gases in our upper atmosphere, causing each molecule to emit a photon, or a packet of colorful light. There is some uncertainty in exact timing of any aurora. It takes time for forecasters to determine the likelihood of a CME being Earth-directed. Glancing blows can usually bring shows to the Arctic and Antarctic, but a mid-latitude display would require a direct strike. That looks to be the case this time. How to enjoy the show Northern tier states, stretching from Washington to Michigan to Ohio, may enjoy some overnight color. The prospects of clearer skies will be decent in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and over Wisconsin, as well as in the Pacific Northwest, but signs point to clouds lingering over the northern Rockies and Northern Tier. Advertisement Story continues below advertisement Folks farther south, more than a hundred or so miles away from the Canadian border, have a better chance of seeing monochromatic arcs of light or dull white pillars that appear like flashlights shining into the sky. Clouds will pervade across much of the eastern United States, thanks to a stalled low-pressure system that will slowly wither away over the northern Appalachians. There may be a few breaks in the forecast over Maine, but it’s not worth betting on. Maverick astrophysicist calls for unusually intense solar cycle, straying from consensus view For the best chance to see them, find a patch of land that offers an unobstructed view over the northern horizon. Make sure you can see the stars, too, and you’re not fighting light pollution. Cameras can ordinarily “see” them first, since long exposures are able to resolve faint light more vibrantly. If you don’t see them, don’t despair. We’re entering a period of increased solar activity, known as a solar maximum, and we can expect to see more auroral activity this solar cycle.
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New wonders in nature
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3-ton parts of Stonehenge may have been carried from earlier monuments
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Stonehenge, completed some 4,600 years ago, may be fashioned in part from elements of older megalithic monuments built hundreds of miles away. It’s not difficult to see why Stonehenge is one of the most iconic archaeological sites in the world. The 4,600-year-old stone circle on southern England’s Salisbury Plain was built by people who left no clear hints to its purpose or obvious clues to their own identity—mysteries that have long gripped archaeologists, modern-day druids, science fiction writers, and tourists. Now, a new study published in the journal Antiquity offers another plot twist in the saga of Stonehenge: The World Heritage site may not be an original creation. A team of researchers has found a possible precursor to Stonehenge in the remains of an even older monument in Wales. The megalithic circle at the Welsh site of Waun Mawn has comparable dimensions to Stonehenge, is similarly aligned with the sun, and appears to feature some of the same building materials. But unlike Stonehenge it has few surviving stones. The research team speculates that the builders of Waun Mawn dismantled it five millennia ago and hauled some of its three-ton bluestones 175 miles east to the Salisbury Plain—an extremely arduous (and, on a practical level, unnecessary) endeavour. So why do it? The arc of former standing stones at Waun Mawn in Wales seen during trial excavations in 2017. The profile of a stone socket discovered at the site matches that of a bluestone found at Stonehenge, suggesting that it was deliberately carried to the World Heritage site in England from a distance of some 175 miles. To ancient Britons, the bluestones “must have been considered as not just valuables, but the very essence of who they were,” says Michael Parker Pearson, an expert in British prehistory at University College London and the study’s lead author. Pearson, whose work is supported in part by the National Geographic Society, suspects that the discovery at Waun Mawn may bolster a particularly evocative hypothesis: Stonehenge’s bluestones (named for their colour) were the physical representations of the migrants’ ancestors or their ancestral memories. The Neolithic Britons were literally carrying the weight of their ancestors with them across the realm. At this stage of research, however, it’s impossible to make firm conclusions—something both the study’s authors and outside experts acknowledge. “One of the things I’ve always enjoyed about Stonehenge is that there are a lot of questions that can probably never be answered,” says Kate Fielden, vice chairperson of Rescue—The British Archaeological Trust, who wasn’t involved with the research. “I like the idea of there being a mystery.” Game-changing advances in archaeological science over the past few decades have whittled down Stonehenge’s possible origin stories. Its alignment with the summer and winter solstices implies an astronomical connection, and the site’s multitude of cremated human remains suggests a link with the dead or ancestor veneration. Read more about how Stonehenge was built. Stonehenge wasn’t built in a flash. Construction began 5,000 years ago, and the monument took on various forms over subsequent centuries. It was ultimately made of two types of stone: sarsens—20-ton sandstone slabs that make up the larger central horseshoe and the standing outer stone circle—and an inner arc of smaller three-ton bluestones. Geochemical analysis indicates that the sandstone sarsens were taken from West Woods, a stone’s throw from Stonehenge. The bluestones, by contrast, are believed to have been dragged by land nearly 200 miles all the way from the Preseli Hills in western Wales. Parker Pearson and fellow researchers recently found perfect matches for Stonehenge’s bluestones in two Welsh quarries. The journey of those bluestones has echoes in an old legend, archaeologists note. In the 12th century tome the History of the Kings of Britain, Geoffrey of Monmouth recounts the tale of how the wizard Merlin tore apart the Giants’ Dance, an ancient stone circle in Ireland, and used 15,000 men to remake it on Salisbury Plain. Although this curious tale of a sorcerer’s whims has little basis in reality, the fact that the Stonehenge bluestones came from Wales, right across the sea from Ireland, made some wonder if the myth might contain a kernel of truth. Did Stonehenge’s precursor exist somewhere to the west? Unable to resist a challenge, Pearson’s team—a group that included archaeologists, geologists, aerial photogrammetry experts, and specialists in radiocarbon and crystal dating—spent much of the past decade trying to find out. First identified as a site of Stonehenge-related interest in 2010, Waun Mawn isn’t much to look at today—just four bluestones arranged in a possible arc. In 2011 archaeologists used remote-sensing technology to peer beneath the surface of the site, but they failed to find anything of intrigue. On a hunch, the team returned to Waun Mawn in 2017 and dug small trenches at either end of the arc, finding two pits where standing stones were once located. “That really was a moment where I thought, wow, maybe, just maybe, we’re finally on the right track,” says Parker Pearson. Once again, however, geophysical surveys turned up no more pits where stones would have stood. Remote-sensing techniques have been instrumental in seeing below the surface at Stonehenge. For those same methods to fail at Waun Mawn, even after the promising evidence found in the dug trenches, was both ironic and frustrating. “There’s nothing more difficult than trying to find a stone circle that’s no longer there,” Parker Pearson says. The research team eventually realised that this patch of Welsh land lacked the magnetic minerals, or any electrically conductive rocks, necessary for the remote-sensing equipment to work as designed. “Modern high-tech was just not going to do the job,” says Parker Pearson. “We were going to have to do it old school, and do it all by hand.” After months of excavating and examining the soil for the slightest changes in texture, colour, and topography, the archaeologists discovered more pits. These “stone sockets” comprised a segment of what was originally a 360-foot-wide circle—the same diameter as the ditch that encloses Stonehenge. If all the stones at Waun Mawn still stood in their sockets, the monument would align with the summer solstice sunrise—again, just like Stonehenge. Next, the research team turned to radiocarbon dating of charcoal from the site, as well as optically stimulated luminescence, which indicates the last time the quartz-rich sediments packed into the stone sockets had been exposed to sunlight. Together, they suggested Waun Mawn was built between 5,000 and 5,600 years ago, predating the construction of Stonehenge. An excavated stone socket from Waun Mawn. Archaeologists looked for tiny differences in soil color, texture, and topography to identify holes where the ancient monument's standing stones were once located. Stonehenge is comprised of local sandstone sarsen stones around the outer ring and inner horsehoe, with smaller dolomite bluestones from Wales within the circle. But where did Waun Mawn’s stones go? One of bluestones at Stonehenge provided a clue: a very specific cross-section that matches one of the stone sockets at Waun Mawn. Moreover, chips of rock at the bottom of one of the Waun Mawn sockets were a geologic match to that specific type of Stonehenge bluestone, a rock technically known as an unspotted dolerite. Earlier analysis of human skeletal remains from Stonehenge found chemical evidence that some of the dead hailed from west Wales. Taken together, the data told a dramatic and unexpected story: The stone circle at Waun Mawn was dismantled by its creators and taken to Salisbury Plain, where builders mirrored its design and used some of its bluestones to erect Stonehenge. The study authors consider this a strong but tentative theory, and some independent experts agree. Richard Madgwick, an archaeologist at Cardiff University in Wales, says the idea that Stonehenge has at least one Welsh precursor “is pretty convincing.” Other experts, however, don’t think there’s enough evidence yet. “Looking for evidence to support the oral traditions embedded in Geoffrey of Monmouth’s account is an interesting approach, but the remains found at Waun Mawn so far do not really conform to what we would expect from a stone circle of this period,” says Timothy Darvill, an archaeologist at Bournemouth University. “More work is clearly needed to substantiate the claims.” As only one of Stonehenge’s surviving 44 bluestones can (for now) be confidently matched to Waun Mawn, the research team suggests that they may have been sourced from multiple sites across the region. If so, that suggests Stonehenge was of particular importance to its migratory makers—but why? Multiple studies of ancient DNA reveal that the people buried around Salisbury Plain 5,000 years ago had different ancestral origins. Some came from west Wales and Ireland, where they built stone tombs, while others came from eastern England, where burials were in long barrow mounds. “These are also areas that traditionally had different forms of lifestyles and, you could say, death styles,” says Parker Pearson. Stonehenge lies right between these areas, and Pearson thinks that the monument may serve as a sort of a unifying “neutral ground” where different Neolithic groups could reconcile cultural differences. Recent work led by Madgwick supports this idea. His team found a wealth of pig bones at Durrington Walls, a Neolithic site close to Stonehenge. Chemical analyses of these porcine remains revealed they came from all over Britain and were consumed in huge feasts. The entire site could have been the “Glastonbury [Festival] of its time,” says Madgwick, where people from across the British Isles converged to share their identities and experiences. This new study contributes to the notion that those involved with Stonehenge were far from static and isolationist, says Vincent Gaffney, an archaeologist at the University of Bradford in England who wasn’t involved with the research. These ancient Britons, he says, lived in “a society which was not monolithic, which was not stationary, but flexible, interactive. There were movements of goods, and there appeared to be movement of substantial pieces of material culture.” It’s less clear why those specific bluestones were dragged from Wales to Salisbury Plain. But monoliths from the other side of the world may reveal the answer. Back in the 1990s, Parker Pearson was working with a Malagasy archaeologist studying megalithic constructs on Madagascar, which are still being built to this day. The stones, his colleague explained, were for the ancestors. Wood rots; stone lasts forever. Megaliths were used to represent the dead and essentially keep their memories alive for eternity. The same may apply to those migratory Welsh bluestones. They were set up at Stonehenge, and like many “passage tombs” built during that epoch, they were arranged to align with the movements of the sun—another eternal entity. Stonehenge, then, may have been not only a multicultural gathering point, but also a monument of remembrance. We may be separated from these people by 5,000 years, but it’s easy to empathise with their desire to immortalise their forerunners. Those bluestones were three-ton versions of the small mementos —photographs, letters, trinkets—of loved ones passed on. And just like those ancient Britons, if we move home, we take those treasured totems with us. “You’re taking the thing that represents who you are, because of who your ancestors are,” says Parker Pearson.
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New archeological discoveries
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Life in the heart of B.C.’s brutal summer drought
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This story is part of When in Drought, a series about threats to B.C.’s imperilled freshwater systems and the communities working to implement solutions. Doug Fossen’s cowboy hat bobs rhythmically as he strides across his family’s ranchland west of Rock Creek, British Columbia. Beneath a large, oval belt buckle bearing his surname, his boots swish through a pasture of green alfalfa. To the right, rows of tightly spaced feed corn stretch uphill towards an open forest of ponderosa pine and Douglas fir. Abruptly, the sound of his walking changes. Instead of whispering, each footfall crunches, dead grass breaking beneath hard soles, dust and insects beginning to rise in his wake. He stops and points to the parched earth. “See? As soon as you leave our irrigation area you enter grasshopper land,” he tells The Narwhal. Since the first week of August, the Kettle River watershed, located in central southern B.C., has been under level five drought, the provincial government’s highest rating. According to the B.C. drought information portal, areas assigned level five are “almost certain” to face adverse impacts on socio-economic and ecosystem values. Until recently, the region was the only one listed at level five, but in the past two weeks the Salmon River basin east of Kelowna and both East and West Vancouver Island have joined the extreme rating. Since a province-wide heat wave in June, stream flows across the Kettle River watershed’s eight sub-basins have been dangerously low. For cattle ranchers like Fossen, who rely on creeks to irrigate pasture and feed crops, this means making adjustments and praying for rain. “We’ve consolidated a lot of our irrigated land to conserve water,” he says, adding that they recently installed centre-pivot irrigation systems which, although expensive, use water more efficiently. “It’s just really stressful right now and you’re not sure if you’ll make it.” According to an Aug. 13 article in the government of Alberta’s Agri-News, severe drought affecting much of Western Canada and the U.S., is leaving ranchers facing tough choices when it comes to managing their herds. A scarcity of feed due to strained, dry pastures has led to increased feed costs forcing many farmers to cull large portions of their stock, which could flood the beef market, lower the price and compound the hardship — something that Fossen is already thinking about. “Our biggest problem is this fall we’re going to have to deal with a price drop,” he says. “That’ll be our biggest hit.” Despite this, Fossen, who serves as the president of the Kettle River Stockman’s Association, considers himself lucky. Since his father bought the ranch in 1976 they have been combating drought by adding seep-fed water troughs on the Crown land where their herd — currently sized at 350 mother cows and their calves — graze between spring and fall. They have also built weirs on some small creeks to create pond-like reservoirs from which they can pump water. Because of this and their irrigation systems they, unlike some other ranchers in the region, may not have to buy feed in the fall at exorbitant prices. “That’s what ranching teaches us,” he says, “in these drought years we are living off our management decisions of the last 20 years.” According to a drought management plan published by the Regional District of Kootenay Boundary in 2020, the Kettle River watershed is dominated by a “nival hydrological regime,” meaning the watershed relies primarily on snowmelt to sustain the flows of its rivers and streams. This makes the watershed especially susceptible to both flooding and drought as the majority of the yearly flow is released during the spring freshet when the bulk of the snowpack melts. In 2018, Grand Forks experienced severe flooding which some residents and industry professionals linked back to excessive clear cut logging in the Boundary timber supply area. Residents of Grand Forks launched a lawsuit against B.C.’s Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resources and several logging companies in September 2020 over damages caused by the flooding. The defendants included Interfor, which operates a mill across the Kettle River from downtown Grand Forks. According to Peter Waldmann, the lawyer representing the plaintiffs, only one of the companies has filed a defence and the case, which is being overseen by Justice Gaul of the Victoria Registry, is waiting for a case conference to be set. In these times of drought, similar connections are being made by people across the region, including ranchers, biologists and retired forestry workers. Jamie Haynes, a 70-year-old farmer from Rock Creek who also ranches and runs a small-scale, selective logging company, believes “massive logging” to be one of the biggest issues impacting drought in the region. “The future of our forests is in jeopardy because we’re not managing them properly,” he says. “I know this is off the subject of agriculture, but it’s all connected. It all starts in the watershed.” Haynes has lived in the region his whole life and now resides on the family land where, in 1907, his grandfather built the existing barn with hand-hewn timbers masterfully erected atop dry-rock masonry. Up until 15 years ago they kept all their cattle on the property but a lowering water table forced them to relocate the herd to lower pastures. About a decade ago Haynes turned to no-till, regenerative agriculture to help conserve water. This method maintains moisture in the soil because it isn’t being exposed to sun and wind which induces evaporation. He’s also moved to growing more cover crop mixtures that include daikon radishes, triticale, peas and oats. The results have been tangible, especially on dry years like this when water retention in the soil is paramount. According to Ray Hanson, a retired forester from Grand Forks who worked for the Ministry of Forests for 32 years, this simple act of water retention, across all parts of a watershed, holds the key to mitigating both drought and flood. In an intact watershed, Hanson says, the forest floor is made up of a thick layer of debris called humus which collects over decades or centuries. This layer, along with the root systems of trees and plants, acts like a sponge, soaking up the melting snow before releasing it later, once the initial spring freshet has passed. This not only lessens the effects of spring runoff but also injects a vital source of water to streams and creeks once the heat of summer sets in. The other piece that intact forests provide is shade, something that plays a big role in how fast snow accumulates and melts. With healthy forests, drastic temperature swings, like the Kettle Basin experienced in June, are mitigated, again helping to slow runoff. The opposite scenario, where a forest fire or intensive logging has decimated the humus layer, leads to increased flow volatility and rapid erosion. “It’s a cumulative effect,” he says. “If you’ve lost the shade and burnt up or disturbed the humus layer too much then the ability of the topography to manage the water is diminished and that’s basically a lot of what the problem is here in the Kettle River drainage.” In a report published on the provincial government’s website, Rita Winkler, an adjunct professor in the Department of Forest Resource Management at UBC, states that harvesting with large machinery, including skidders and feller-bunchers, “can compact soil surfaces and cause overland flow,” which can then lead to an “increase in the flashiness of streamflow response and the magnitude of surface erosion.” The report goes on to note that the “significance of this soil compaction and resulting overland flow depends on the degree of compaction and how much of the watershed area is disturbed.” When asked about the links between clear cutting and forest hydrology in the Boundary timber supply area, the Ministry of Forests said they were unable to comment due to pending litigation of the class action lawsuit. Kristina Anderson, who works as the watershed planner for the Regional District of Kootenay Boundary, has spent the summer monitoring water levels and temperatures across Kootenay Boundary and compiling weekly drought reports which are made available to residents. What she has been seeing is alarming. Many creeks and rivers, including the upper West Kettle and Granby River drainages, are breaking new lows and the mean annual discharge — a measurement used to determine the health of fish ecosystems — in most water courses continues to be dangerously low despite recent rain and cooler temperatures. Anderson says that people are responding well to municipalities and water suppliers requesting a curtailing of water use, something that isn’t always easy given the agricultural nature of the Kettle River watershed. “We’re also in a high to extreme fire season at the moment and I’m very conscious of that,” Anderson says. “I really want to make sure we message water conservation in line with strong fire smart practices.” Despite this, on August 30 the provincial government issued water restrictions for the West Kettle River watershed limiting water usage for the irrigation of forage. The bulletin states that provincial staff are “monitoring the situation, as well as the protection orders that are in place, and will continue to work to balance water uses with environmental flow needs.” This delicate balance between industrial use, human need and ecosystem health is becoming increasingly tenuous. For Michael Zimmer, a fisheries biologist who works for the Okanagan Nation Alliance, the core of the issue lies in the relationship between human settlement and something as fluid and changing as a river and its riparian zones.“We like the river,” he says. “We like coming to places like this so we can enjoy the aesthetics, we like floating it with our kayaks and our tubes. But the minute it imposes on us, well we’ve gotta engineer something to control it.” During the heatwave in June, when air temperatures in Grand Forks reached 48 C for three straight days, water temperatures in the Kettle River spiked to 25 C — a dangerous temperature for the trout that call the river home. This, coupled with low flows, prompted the province to close all streams across the Boundary region to fishing from July 19 to Sept. 15. Zimmer says that despite being an avid angler, he has rarely fished in the Kettle River since moving to Grand Forks in 1999 because he knows how hard it is for fish to make it in the struggling waterway. “Knowing that the trout are in trouble — knowing that they’re struggling just to survive — makes putting them through more stress unappealing to me.” Anderson says that one of the major concerns with the river is the “really, really high water temperature.” Shade from overhead vegetation can be an important factor in offsetting that relationship between air temperature and water temperature, she says. But much of the riparian area (the often-lush, transitional zones between water and land) surrounding the river have been degraded or destroyed. In an emailed response to The Narwhal, the Ministry of Forests accredited the Kettle’s warm temperatures in part to high ambient air temperatures, especially overnight, which “give fish little reprieve.” Near the banks of the Granby River, a half hour’s drive north of Grand Forks, tall black cottonwoods rise from a green understory, thick with dogwood, ferns, tall grasses and a myriad of other plant life. A kingfisher appears as a streak of blue, landing for a moment on the outstretched branch of a cedar tree, before returning back to the river’s edge. The air here is cool and the soft, moist earth seems worlds apart from the dusty farmland found only a stone’s throw away. For Jenny Coleshill, a biologist who coordinates projects for the Granby Wilderness Society, the unique ecosystems found in riparian areas make an important contribution when it comes to limiting the impacts of both droughts and floods. “Riparian areas help shade the river and provide a lot of both habitat and ecosystem services,” Coleshill says, adding that they can also be a source for seeds and propagation following severe drought and fire events. According to Coleshill — much like an intact forest higher up in the watershed — low-elevation riparian zones act as buffers between water and land, soaking up water during times of high flow and protecting against floods. Those same zones then release that stored water later in the year, offering much-needed, cooled groundwater to summer streams suffering from low flows and high temperatures. But even beyond their ability to help regulate flood and drought, for Coleshill, the foremost benefit of healthy riparian zones is habitat. “Seventy-five per cent of birds in western North America use riparian areas for nesting and over 90 per cent of vertebrates use them at some point in their lifecycle,” she says. “They’re used as travel corridors for animals and they protect our waterways by filtering out bad pollutants, dust and agricultural runoffs.” Coleshill believes that a lack of regulations governing riparian areas in the Kettle River watershed, coupled with a lack of understanding regarding their ecological importance, has led to a regional history of these areas being damaged or altered. Farmers, who prize low-lying, damp soil clear out riparian zones; cattle trample understories in their search for water and shade; developers wipe them out to create desirable housing near waterways; and settlers of all stripes manipulate them in an effort to control water, whether in the name of agriculture, personal use or safety. In a riparian threat assessment report that Coleshill co-authored for the Granby Wilderness Society, she performed a historical comparison to showcase the extent of riparian loss in the region. In the city of Grand Forks, it was found that there had been a 50 per cent loss of vegetation within 100 metres of the river — a loss Anderson believes has a negative impact on waterways during times of flood and drought. And there’s indication that damaged riparian zones can and should be brought back to life. Research published in Ecohydrology in 2018 found that riparian areas disturbed due to cattle ranching could be successfully restored. Researchers Emily Fairfax and Eric Small from the University of Colorado Boulder, used remote sensing to monitor two creeks in Nevada and found reestablished riparian areas were repopulated by beavers, which, in turn, contributed to water retention. This eventually led to resilient, moist areas that provided oases of habitat in an otherwise arid landscape. “Your intact riparian ecosystem helps with erosion as well as water temperature,” Anderson says. “If you have channels with overhead vegetation you’re able to moderate heat spells like the one we had earlier in June.” These effects on water temperature and fish habitat are subtle and cumulative, Zimmer says, which makes them difficult to pin down. “It’s not an instantaneous thing but rather what they call a continuum. You can’t point to a certain spot and say ‘Oh, I know exactly what the impact is right here.’ It’s all these cumulative things that happen along the way.” Yet in this continuum Zimmer also sees a solution, one that Coleshill and others have been working on for years. “All the problems are stretched out,” he says. “But if you do the reverse and you do little projects here and there, working your way upstream, then you can reestablish those riparian areas.” Although replanting cottonwoods and native plant species might seem like a simple task Coleshill says it is both challenging and expensive. Naturally sandy soil makes erosion common and white-tail deer, which followed agriculture into the Boundary in the 1920s, feed on small cottonwood shoots, making it almost impossible to replant them without human protection. Despite this Coleshill and her colleagues at the Granby Wilderness Society have been working with local farmers, ranchers, and residents to establish areas of regrowth. “We’ve probably got 20 landowners across the Boundary that are working on restoration with us on their properties,” she says, adding that she believes riparian projects are the biggest bang for your buck and, as a bonus, they aren’t controversial. “No one can get mad at us or tell us we’re bad for planting trees.” Sitting in Grand Forks’ City Park, near an informative sign explaining the importance of riparian areas, Zimmer commends those taking these difficult steps towards restoration. “It’s important to do this riparian work because, the alternative is, that we write off this river completely.” Near the Sand Creek watershed to the northwest of Grand Forks, Dieter Bay walks through a cutblock. Stooping to the ground, he examines a brown, larch seedling planted this spring and shakes his head. This is the second time the block has been planted and with the heatwave, the drought and a lack of overstory to protect these fragile trees, they hardly stood a chance. Bay sighs, slowly rises and continues walking. Bay, who worked as a landscaper for 30 years, lives with his wife Elizabeth near the lower banks of Sand Creek where it enters the Granby River. They operate a modest, 1.5 acre permaculture market garden and supply a local food co-op with fruits and vegetables, including grapes, apples, raspberries and peaches. With five more cutblocks slated for the Sand Creek watershed, Bay worries for his water source, a well that draws from the same water table that Sand Creek feeds. But more than that, he is deeply concerned about natural ecosystems as a whole and what global losses of habitat and biodiversity means for people and the planet. “What worries me is that people don’t notice the little things,” he says. “It’s like the whole world is a symphony and if one violinist stops playing nobody notices. But if 50 violinists stop, then all of a sudden it doesn’t sound the same anymore. If you look at it as a net of life, the holes get bigger and bigger with every species disappearing.” Originally from Germany, Bay has experienced this species loss first hand and worries that Canada, known for its wilderness, wildlife and freshwater is slowly following suit. “That kind of scenario worries me a lot because it’s almost undetectable,” he says. “The forest relies on a healthy water table and we rely on a healthy forest. It’s all connected. It’s that simple.” To the Syilx Okanagan people, whose traditional territory includes the Kettle basin, this connection to water — or siwɬkʷ — is everything. Siwɬkʷ in nsyilxcən, the language spoken by the Syilx Okanagan, translates into “humans and animals lapping water equally.” To Tessa Terbasket, a member of the Lower Similkameen Indian Band who works for the Okanagan Nation Alliance in natural resources, this is a clear indication that water needs to be respected and kept healthy. “I think one of the biggest challenges in our work is to try and get others to see that water is a living entity and not just a resource that we can control,” she says. “It’s for all life and we’re only a small piece of that.” She also sees years like this, when water is scarce, as an opportunity to spark change and raise awareness around its use and conservation. “In times of drought you really see what water brings and that it’s really the essence of all life,’ she says. “There’s just so much to be learned and I think youth awareness and more water outreach in our education system is a good place to start enhancing [our] relationship with water.” Back in Grand Forks, Zimmer glances out at the low, slow-moving water of the Kettle River. “All the things that are happening here,” he says, “whether it’s medicines, things you can eat, or water you can drink, is our responsibility to take care of so it’s always there for generations, not just right now.”
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Droughts
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2018 Maryland flood
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In the afternoon of May 27, 2018, after over 8 inches (20 cm) of rain in a span of two hours, the historic Main Street in Ellicott City, Maryland was flooded,[2] just before the new flood emergency alert system was supposed to become operational. [3][4] Flooding occurred throughout the Patapsco Valley, in the adjacent communities of Catonsville, Arbutus, and Elkridge, as well as the Jones Falls Valley in Baltimore. [5]
The flooding caused a significant amount of damage to Ellicott City. The streets were covered in water, buildings collapsed, and cars were swept away. [6] It also caused the death of National Guardsman Sgt. Eddison Hermond. [7]
Since the floods, the state and local governments have signed pieces of legislation to demolish some buildings in the historic district. Ellicott City was founded in 1772 and built along the Patapsco River. It is located about 10 miles (16 km) west of Baltimore and at the site of the Tiber River, along with other connected tributaries,[8] causing it to be vulnerable to severe flooding. In 1868 three casualties occurred during a flood. [8]
Before the 2018 flood, Ellicott City was severely submerged during the 2016 Maryland flood on July 30, 2016. That flooding was considered an oddity, likely only occurring once in a 1,000-years,[9] and resulted in the deaths of two people and the destruction of six buildings. [10] Maryland Governor Larry Hogan toured the recovery efforts, along with Howard County Executive Allan H. Kittleman,[10] and requested that the federal government help with the historic town's reconstruction. On Sunday, May 27, 2018, between 3:00 P.M. and 5:00 P.M. a massive storm released nearly two months of rain, over 9.71 inches (24.7 cm), onto the Ellicott City area with temperatures around 70 °F (21 °C), causing catastrophic flooding in the surrounding area, which swept away roads and cars, and brought more than 10 feet (3.0 m) of rapidly moving water down Main Street in Old Ellicott City. These flash floods occurred because the historic district was an urban area, and the land could not contain the falling precipitation. Therefore, the streets of Ellicott City had to deal with runoff from the fallen water. A large portion of the southbound US 29 flooded several feet. Heavy rains and rapidly rising water washed away portions of several roads. [4][6][11][12][13][14]
Howard County officials reported that at least 30 water rescues and one missing person search were performed as a result of the storm. [15]
The National Weather Service reported rainfall totals in excess of 10 inches (25 cm) in several areas, with Catonsville receiving the highest at 10.38 inches (26.4 cm) and Ellicott City receiving 8.40 inches (21.3 cm). [16]
According to meteorologists, the storm was "likely worse" than the 2016 Maryland flood because Ellicott City received only five inches (130 mm) of rain during the 2016 flood, [14][17] which was almost half as much of rain received in the 2018 flood. The 39-year-old National Guardsman and U.S. Air Force veteran Sgt. Eddison "Eddie" Hermond was reported missing after helping a local business owner who was trapped by rising water. Hermond was swept away by the current. Active recovery efforts were underway on May 28, 2018, and suspended the next day after his body was recovered in the Patapsco River. "We're deeply saddened to learn that the body of Sgt. Eddison Hermond has been found." Governor Hogan mourned Hermond's loss. "There are no words to adequately describe our sense of loss," he said in a statement. "He bravely risked his life to assist a fellow citizen during the flooding in Ellicott City. Our heartfelt prayers go out to Sgt. Hermond's family and loved ones." To honor Hermond, all Maryland flags were ordered to fly at half-staff. [1][18]
The water level of the Patapsco River southeast of Ellicott City surpassed its previous peak record when it experienced a 17-foot (5.2 m) increase. [6][19]
On May 28, 2018, Governor Larry Hogan declared a state of emergency. [4]
Since the flood, the Howard County government sought solutions to fortify the historic district against future flash flooding. There was a recovery website dedicated to the flood set up by the Howard County government. [20] Former Howard County executive Allan H. Kittleman signed a bill which would demolish and remove 13 historic buildings from the city. The plan was funded at $50 million and is expected to be completed by 2023. [21]
The plan to demolish the historic buildings had several obstacles due to the necessary permits: The Historic Preservation Commission required grant authorization for Howard County to raze the structures, The Maryland Department of the Environment required permits for waterways and non-tidal wetlands, and The United States Army Corps of Engineers also required a permit. The approval timeline for the Army Corps of Engineers's permit was extended because demolishing buildings in a historic district could alter Ellicott City's historic characteristics and nature, therefore influencing their place on the National Register of Historic Places. [21]
Howard County executive Calvin Ball III did not support the plan of demolishing the historic buildings, stating that demolition should be a last resort. [9]
Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay, on his show, 24 Hours to Hell and Back, visited the town and did renovations on several restaurants in the town.
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Floods
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TV tonight: a three-part documentary about the horrific 2004 tsunami
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Xand Van Tulleken and Raksha Dave tell the story of a shocking natural disaster. Plus: the Love Island final. Here’s what to watch this evening Millions of geological years in the making and yet arriving completely out of the blue, the 2004 Asian tsunami was one of the most shocking natural disasters in recent memory. This three-part documentary series, stripped across the week and presented by Dr Xand Van Tulleken and Raksha Dave, tells the story. There is plenty of amazing and horrifying footage and some entry-level science, though the eyewitness testimony feels a little heavy on the insights of tourists and lacking the voices of Thais and Indonesians. Phil Harrison Button House isn’t the most luxurious abode, but it’s surely more comfortable than a leaky tent? Alison and Mike put that theory to the test when they camp out in the grounds to make way for fumigation, while Mary takes fright at Ghostbuster-esque “woodworm men”, and resolves to stand her ground. Ellen E Jones Is the Chinese Communist party using a “magic weapon” in a bid to make China the world’s most powerful nation? Journalist Jane Corbin investigates the United Front Work Department, said to be infiltrating key organisations worldwide in order to advance Chinese interests. Ali Catterall Will 2021 come to be regarded as a tipping point – the moment the chief architects of the climate crisis saw the effects arrive in their own backyard? From the US “heat dome” to the German floods, this documentary, presented by Morland Sanders, wonders if we are at the dawn of a new normal. PH Episode two of the acidic satire set in a lush Hawaiian resort. With the various VIP guests now settled in, the goading and sniping can really begin. Entitled newlywed Shane is still stewing over missing out on the fancy Pineapple Suite, while over-it millennials Olivia and Paula seek narcotic escape. Graeme Virtue It has been the usual guiltily compelling mess of manipulation, friend-zoning and mild trauma, an alternative summer narrative for people unmoved by either the Olympics or the Euros. And, of course, inescapable once you’re sucked in. The final promises big money and career opportunities for the winners. PH Farewell My Lovely (Edward Dmytryk, 1944), 3.25pm, Great! Movies ClassicThis quintessential 1940s film noir stars Dick Powell as private eye Philip Marlowe. It’s a bleak tale, lovingly crafted by Edward Dmytryk, with sharp dialogue and some indelible performances, as Mike Mazurki’s gangster sets Marlowe after Claire Trevor’s marvellous Velma. Paul Howlett Test cricket: West Indies v Pakistan 3.45pm, BT Sport 2. The second Test from Jamaica.Premier League football: West Ham United v Leicester City 7pm, Sky Sports Main Event. Last year’s FA Cup winners visit the London Stadium.Serie A football: Sampdoria v AC Milan 7.30pm, BT Sport 1. From Stadio Luigi Ferraris.
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Tsunamis
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Public safety officer now recovering after a shootout on Georgia Ave.
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NORTH AUGUSTA, S.C. (WJBF) – 15-year veteran, Lt. Aaron Fittery suffered a gunshot wound to the leg following a shootout on Georgia Avenue. Chief of Police, John Thomas says he’s back home and now recovering. The suspect, 42-year-old, Thomas Arrington, has been arrested and is charged with attempted murder. Those charges could pile up as the investigation unfolds. Gunshots erupting last night following a collision on Georgia Avenue in North Augusta. “It was very, very loud, there were so many,” said Jessica Boyd. Jessica Boyd is the owner of Air Workshop in North Augusta. Her store is just a few feet away from where the shooting happened. She and another employee saw everything unfold. “We saw the black truck go by and then it was a line of SUV’s that stopped out in front. Then the police officers jumped out of the car, they all had their guns and were already ducking for cover,” said Boyd. Boyd was able to see it all from her storefront window. When she saw the guns come out she and the other employee ran to the back of the store and locked the doors. “I was concerned for myself, my employees, for everybody in this area, but I think they did a fantastic job,” said Boyd. The bullet holes left in Lt. Fittery’s cruiser tells only part of the story. Boyd says there were dozens of evidence markers where casings were found. Chief of Police North Augusta Public Safety, John Thomas says the suspect 42-year-old Thomas Airrington led police on a chase after a resident called in suspicious activity. “We in turn spotted the vehicle and obviously tried to attempt to stop that vehicle. The suspect fled in the vehicle which caused a collision,” said Chief of Police John Thomas. That crash was at the intersection of Martintown Rd and Georgia Ave. Chief Thomas he does not know the conditions of the people involved in that accident. “The suspect continues down Georgia Ave. and exits the truck and as you have seen and heard from the previous report shots were fired so at that point he opened fire on our officers,” said Chief Thomas. Chief Thomas is calling it a miracle that no one else was hurt, but there was some concern from people who live nearby about their safety after being involved in the crossfire. “A couple officers were involved in returning fire to the suspects, but I think you have to understand to the training and restraint that I talked about during that time of day. You know a lot of people talked about what happened here, but we have to look beyond the sights of a gun we have to look at what’s in our view what’s in our vision what kind of crossfire we’re going to get into, so my hats off and kudos to our department,” said Chief Thomas. North Augusta Public safety is asking for the person who took Lt. Fittery to the hospital to come forward. Police officials say, Arrington, the suspect, had an extensive criminal background. We’re still gathering more information on that.
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Famous Person - Recovered
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Severe Drought, Worsened by Climate Change, Ravages the American West
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Heat and shifting weather patterns have intensified wildfires and sharply reduced water supplies across the Southwest, the Pacific Coast and North Dakota. By Henry Fountain ALBUQUERQUE — This year, New Mexican officials have a message for farmers who depend on irrigation water from the Rio Grande and other rivers: Unless you absolutely have to plant this year, don’t. Years of warming temperatures, a failed rainy season last summer and low snowpack this winter have combined to reduce the state’s rivers to a relative trickle. The agency that controls irrigation flows on the Rio Grande forced the issue. To conserve water, it opened its gates a month later than usual.
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Droughts
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The Complexities of Free College
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Scholars argue in a new report that implementing a nationwide free college program is more complicated than it sounds and there are better ways for the government to support low-income students. (Note: This article was updated to reflect corrections that mischaracterized aspects of the Third Way report. The report is part of an ACADEMIX series, not the ACADEMIX Upshot series, as originally reported. The report was also focused on four-year colleges, not two-year colleges, as originally reported.) A new report argues that a national free college program for four-year institutions would be fraught with political obstacles, implementation challenges and equity concerns, and it offers alternative policy solutions to ease the financial burdens of paying for college faced by low-income students. The report, from the center-left think tank Third Way, is the latest in the ACADEMIX series “composed of research-driven papers that translate academic findings on the key issues facing higher education into a highly readable and relevant format for federal policymakers.” There are now several hundred free college programs across the country, according to the report. President Biden has proposed a national program that would guarantee two years of tuition-free community college. Christopher R. Marsicano, co-author of the report and an assistant professor of educational studies and public policy at Davidson College in North Carolina, supports the idea of a free college plan, especially one targeting low-income students, but he doesn’t believe free college has a “snowball’s chance in hell of passing through Congress.” “I think there’s a push, especially on the left, to frame college affordability as a free-college-versus-anything-else issue, which I think makes the political right bristle at the idea of doing anything around college affordability, because free college would be sort of the antithesis of free market forces in education,” he said. “We are supportive of federal investment in higher ed. We just understand that we have an affordability crisis on our hands, and at this point, what we need to do is get anything passed that will help students.” The report asserts that a model that uses federal funds to cover tuition costs after states pay a portion -- like the plan Senator Bernie Sanders proposed in 2016 -- might penalize states that invest more in higher education. For example, Virginia appropriates $5,701 per student to educate 303,000 state residents enrolled in public institutions in the commonwealth, while North Carolina appropriates $9,018 per student for 392,000 students. Because Virginia’s net tuition is higher, however, it would receive more federal funds per student than its share of the tax base, despite spending less, according to the report. The ways in which different states could come out as “net winners and losers” make the politics around free college “really interesting and muddy,” said David Feldman, co-author of the report and a professor of economics at the College of William & Mary. “Free college is a nice bumper sticker, but try writing the bill that puts it together and you see that the interests all of a sudden aren’t so simple.” Morley Winograd, president of the Campaign for Free College Tuition, said states have invested in free tuition programs for years and the report presents an argument about a problem that “doesn’t exist.” He also noted that the concerns outlined in the report about free four-year college are less relevant to the most current Biden administration proposal for free college being discussed, which is focused on community college. Under a free college plan proposed by the Obama administration -- on which Winograd suspects Biden's plan is modeled -- “states who have already spent a good deal of money on making college tuition-free, such as California and others, would be able to use the per-student reimbursement rate from the feds to further lower the cost of attending college by addressing some of the cost-of-attendance issues that don’t get addressed otherwise,” Winograd said. “It provides an incentive for states to invest further in their higher education system.” Winograd called the report “deceptive” and took issue with the assertion that there isn't enough political will to implement a federal free college program. He pointed to a national poll of Americans conducted by the Campaign for Free College Tuition in January and February, which found that 81 percent of respondents support the idea of a federal program that provides two years of free community college tuition. He believes the poll results signals broader political will to implement free college programs. “They’re arguing against a thing that is politically viable,” he said. The report suggests that underresourced institutions could suffer financially from a nationwide free college program, as well, because as the cost of providing an education fluctuates, they would not be able to increase revenue through tuition, and lawmakers may feel less pressed to fund higher education. Private institutions could also suffer, said Marsicano. Low-income students can take advantage of federal financial aid at any higher education institution, but most free college proposals would not help low-income students pay for a private university, he added. “Under our plan, students have more choice,” he said. “There are some really great private schools out there that are as affordable as publics, that have better four-year graduation rates than publics, that perform very well for low-income students and especially students of color. Under most free college programs, those institutions lose out, which means that those students who have chosen those generally smaller, generally high-touch educational environments also lose out.” The report offers a set of recommendations that the authors believe to be more expedient. The authors suggest increasing the maximum federal Pell Grant by more than $1,400 to target low- and middle-income students and forming a federal-state partnership in which states that spend a certain amount per student are eligible for a block grant. They also propose a federal subsidy for underresourced institutions serving low-income students based on how many Pell dollars the institutions take in. The subsidy would begin to phase out as an institution’s endowment per student reaches a certain threshold. It would also take into account student success metrics. Feldman, the report's co-author, said the federal government has traditionally focused its efforts on helping individual low-income students through federal financial aid. He believes implementing a nationwide free college program now would be a “radical departure” from the government’s current role that wouldn't provide the most expedient help for students and is focused on college access to the detriment of student success. The report “is designed to introduce people to how complex it is to get the federal government this deeply into the funding of what historically is a state-level responsibility,” he said. “It is possible, but I think many people think it’s just like you wave a wand and we transform a system that’s evolved over 200 years into something brand-new. It’s not easy to do that.” Don't have an account yet? Create Account. Remember your password? Log in now. Have questions? See FAQs.
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Financial Aid
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Pennsylvania Central Airlines Flight 105 crash
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Pennsylvania Central Airlines Flight 105 was a regularly scheduled commercial flight between New York City and Birmingham, Alabama which crashed in the pre-dawn hours of January 6, 1946 while landing at Birmingham Municipal Airport, resulting in three fatalities. [1]
On Sunday, January 6, 1946, a Pennsylvania Central Airlines Douglas DC-3 (registration NC21786), flying as Flight 105 originating in New York City with stops in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Knoxville, Tennessee, crashed while attempting to make an instrument approach to Runway 18 at Birmingham Municipal Airport (now Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport) in Birmingham, Alabama. The plane crashed into Village Creek at the south end of runway 18–36. The captain, first officer, and a check airman who occupied the cockpit jump seat perished in the crash; several passengers were injured, none fatally. [1]
The regularly scheduled flight departed New York City's LaGuardia Field at 7:00 p.m. Eastern time on January 5. After battling abnormally high headwinds, the flight made routine stops in Pittsburgh and Knoxville. While in Knoxville, the captain was briefed on the latest weather in Birmingham and elected to continue the flight. The flight left Knoxville at 2:51 a.m. Eastern time. Considerable turbulence was experienced between Knoxville and Birmingham due to active thunderstorms throughout the South. [1]
The flight, which was scheduled to arrive at 12:52 a.m. Central Time,[2] was cleared for a straight-in approach from the north by the Birmingham tower at 3:48 a.m.. At 3:51 a.m., Flight 105 notified the tower it was performing a normal arrival pattern landing rather than a straight-in approach. The last radio contact from the plane was received at 3:54 a.m.[1]
Tower personnel observed the flight approach Runway 18 from the north in a shallow descent that visibly steepened near the approach end of the runway. The flight continued airborne just above the runway until the intersection of Runway 18 with the east–west runway (now removed) where it touched down with only 1,500 feet (457 m) of runway remaining. As it became obvious that the flight was going to continue off the runway, tower personnel notified rescuers who immediately responded to Runway 18. [1]
After turning off the runway to the left and attempting a ground loop, the aircraft continued into Village Creek. The right wheel dropped off the 12-foot (3.7-m)-high bank first, allowing the right wing to strike rocks on the bank. The DC-3 then spun to the right and struck the south bank of the 35-foot (10.7-m)-wide creek. Village Creek was swollen from the rain which had plagued the Southern United States in the days of and before the accident, with widespread flooding and deaths due to tornadoes in neighboring Mississippi the day of the accident. [3] The plane came to rest nose-down with the passenger area suspended over the waters of the creek. Though the cockpit was crushed, the passenger cabin was largely undamaged and no fire resulted. Rescue personnel alerted by the tower immediately worked to evacuate passengers and rescue the three critically injured pilots in the cockpit. [1][2]
Most of the passengers were from various cities in central Alabama, with one passenger each from New Orleans, Louisiana; Biloxi, Mississippi; Atlanta, Georgia; and Brentwood, Pennsylvania. [2]
An article, photograph of the wrecked airplane, and photograph of flight attendant Miss Betty Proctor appeared at the top of the front page of the Birmingham News the day after the crash. The photo depicts the DC-3 nose down in Village Creek with extensive damage to the right wing. [2]
Significant media attention was given to an altercation between two photographers from the Birmingham News and three PCA employees who threatened the newspapermen in an attempt to prevent photographs from being taken of the crash scene. The newspaper criticized the Birmingham Police Department for not intervening and protecting the newspapermen during their efforts to report on the crash. PCA officials expressed regret over the incident and the Commissioner of Public Safety announced an investigation would be conducted into the officers’ conduct. One PCA mechanic was later arrested. [4]
One official from PCA and two from the Civil Aeronautics Board office in Atlanta responded to the site to investigate the accident the same day as the crash. [2] The CAB held public hearings in Birmingham on January 15 and 16, 1946. [1]
On June 17, 1946, the Civil Aeronautics Board found the probable cause to be "the action of the pilot in committing himself to a landing from an approach which was too high and too fast. "[1]
The CAB held public hearings in Birmingham on January 15 and 16, 1946. Finding arrived at by the CAB focused on the poor weather that the flight experienced over a long duration, marginal weather conditions at the time of landing in Birmingham, and the possibility of mental and physical fatigue due to the late evening/early morning time of the flight, continued adverse weather, and long length of the flight. [1]
The pilot, first officer, and a check airman who occupied the cockpit jump seat perished in the crash; several passengers were injured, none fatally. [1]
The first officer and check airman died the evening of the crash at Norwood Hospital in Birmingham;[2] the captain shortly after. [1] One passenger was paralyzed by his injuries. The flight attendant was hospitalized for shock and a possible chest injury but was widely praised for ensuring everyone was buckled just prior to landing and her efforts to administer first aid after the crash. [2]
March 1951 view of airport with north-south Runway 18–36 in same configuration as at the time of the accident. Village Creek, into which the DC-3 crashed, runs west to east immediately south of Runway 18–36. Aircraft approached from the top of the photo (north) traveling south (bottom of photo). View of modern Runway 18-36 looking north from Parking Deck. Flight 105 approached Runway 18-36 from the north, overflying the present Runway 6-24 before touching down to the right of this photo. Location of crash of Flight 105 is along runway, perpendicular to the space between the two groups of hangars, slightly to the left of the white parking deck light pole in foreground. Runway 18-36 was extended south after the accident and Village Creek routed through tunnels.
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Air crash
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These are the winners of Prince William's Earthshot environmental prize
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Milan and Costa Rica were among the winners of the Earthshot Prize, an environmental award created by Britain's Prince William, who has criticized world leaders for an uninspiring response to the climate change crisis.
The honours were established to find solutions through new technologies or policies to the planet’s biggest environmental problems, with a winner in each of the five categories receiving 1 million pounds ($1.37 million).
Milan won the "Build a Waste-Free World" award for its food waste hubs, which recover food to give to those most in need, while Costa Rica received the "Protect and Restore Nature" prize for programmes paying citizens to plant trees and restore ecosystems.
"We are alive in the most consequential time in human history," William, second in line to the British throne, said in a video message to the ceremony held in London.
"The actions we choose or choose not to take in the next 10 years will determine the fate of the planet for the next thousand."
British royals have recently made a series of comments on environmental issues.
William took a thinly veiled swipe on Thursday at billionaires embroiled in a space tourism race, saying the world's greatest brains should instead be focused on solving the environmental problems facing Earth. Queen Elizabeth has said she was irritated by world leaders who talk about climate change but do nothing to address global warming, and added it was still unclear who would turn up at the upcoming COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland. Climate change poses an urgent threat demanding decisive action. Communities around the world are already experiencing increased climate impacts, from droughts to floods to rising seas. The World Economic Forum's Global Risks Report continues to rank these environmental threats at the top of the list.
To limit global temperature rise to well below 2°C and as close as possible to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, it is essential that businesses, policy-makers, and civil society advance comprehensive near- and long-term climate actions in line with the goals of the Paris Agreement on climate change.
The World Economic Forum's Climate Initiative supports the scaling and acceleration of global climate action through public and private-sector collaboration. The Initiative works across several workstreams to develop and implement inclusive and ambitious solutions. This includes the Alliance of CEO Climate Leaders, a global network of business leaders from various industries developing cost-effective solutions to transitioning to a low-carbon, climate-resilient economy. CEOs use their position and influence with policy-makers and corporate partners to accelerate the transition and realize the economic benefits of delivering a safer climate.
Contact us to get involved.
World Economic Forum Type may be republished in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License, and in accordance with our Terms of Use.
Reuters Staff , , Thomson Reuters Foundation , , This article is published in collaboration with Reuters
The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.
Companies including Reebok are developing sustainable footwear made from plants. Here's what you need to know.
What was COP26? How can energy, cities and the natural world save the climate? Just some of the questions answered on World Economic Forum podcasts.
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Awards ceremony
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Raetihi Forest fire
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Raetihi Forest fire was a fire that occurred on the 19–20 March 1918 in and around the townships of Raetihi and Ohakune in the North Island of New Zealand. [1]
The great fire itself was a major catastrophe. It burned for two days, devastating areas of forest and almost destroying the townships of Raetihi and Ohakune. In addition to the great stands of Rimu and other large stands of podocarps in the North Island Volcanic Plateau of New Zealand, 150 houses and nine sawmills were lost. Three people died as a result of the fire when their farmhouse burned. There were reports that 100 miles (160 km) away in the capital Wellington, schools were closed and the skies were darkened with the amount of smoke in the air. [2]
It was generally thought but never confirmed that the forest was set alight by coals dropped from a railway engine on the newly developed North Island Main Trunk Railway.
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Fire
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Solar Eclipse 2021: Date And All About The First Surya Grahan Of The Year
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Solar Eclipse (Surya Grahan): The first Solar Eclipse of 2021 on June 10 will be an annular one. Know all about the Solar Eclipse. Surya Grahan 2021: The Solar Eclipse on June 10 will be an annular one The first Solar Eclipse of 2021 is on June 10. This Solar Eclipse or Surya Grahan will be an annular one. A Solar Eclipse happens when the Moon passes between the Sun and Earth just at the right time. According to the earthsky.org, "On that day, the moon in its elliptical orbit of Earth will lie too far from us to cover over the sun completely. So a bright annulus - or ring - will surround the new moon silhouette at mid-eclipse." The Solar Eclipse will not be visible from India. First Solar Eclipse of 2021: Know all about the Surya Grahan People in north Canada, Greenland and Russia will be able to see the annular Solar Eclipse, popularly called the 'ring of fire'. The partial Solar Eclipse would be observed from most of North America, Europe and north Asia. The Solar Eclipse will not be visible from most parts of India except states in the far east like Arunachal Pradesh. The Moon would cover about 97 per cent of the Sun. The longest duration of the annular phase or the dramatic 'ring of fire' would be close to four minutes. During Solar Eclipse, the Moon's shadow creates a trail as Earth rotates and this is known as the path of totality. In the path of totality, the Moon completely blocks the Sun's light for a very short while and so it becomes dark even during the day. Watch this space for interesting facts about Solar Eclipse and how to watch it.
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New wonders in nature
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The Royal Merchant
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The Royal Merchant is the series' sunken ship off of the Outer Banks that housed $400 million worth of gold, but are the ship and its history real? The search for the Royal Merchant and its treasures are at the core of Outer Banks ’ plot, but is it a real-life sunken ship? The Netflix series follows a group of teenagers living in North Carolina’s Outer Banks , facing conflict as they go on a harrowing treasure hunt while dealing with class warfare between their own working-class Pogues and the wealthy Kooks. Led by John B, the Pogues use their knowledge of the island to continue the research on the gold started by his father Big John Routledge. Big John went missing and presumably died on his last trip to find the Royal Merchant, leaving a tape recorder and clues behind for his son to continue the search for the sunken ship and its $400 million worth of gold. The Pogues end up finding the stash of gold, only to lose it to Ward Cameron, who betrayed and attempted to murder Big John. Outer Banks’ second season brings the Pogues back to another Royal Merchant mystery, this time searching for the valuable Cross of Santo Domingo that Denmark Tanny hid on the island. Related: Outer Banks: Big John’s Fate Explained Outer Banks gives the Royal Merchant a rich history that is pervasive among the current island’s lore, but the convincing story is primarily a fabrication. The Royal Merchant isn’t a real ship, but it’s based on the real-life 17th century shipwrecked Merchant Royal that went missing off the English coast with a vast treasure that was never found. In real life, the Merchant Royal had over 40 people of its crew survive after being rescued by a nearby ship, whereas in Outer Banks’ history, the only surviving crew member of the shipwreck was Denmark Tanny, a formerly enslaved man who served as the ship’s cook. The Royal Merchant on the Netflix TV show was said to have over $400 million worth of gold at the time it sank, much of which Denmark Tanny used to free enslaved people and build his land in the Outer Banks. On the other hand, the Merchant Royal was rumored to have over $1.5 billion worth of gold, $1 million in Mexican silver, and about 500,000 pieces of Spanish dollars and assorted coins. The Merchant Royal is one of the most valuable shipwrecks ever recorded, though Outer Banks’ sunken ship becomes more so after the discovery that it carried the Cross of Santo Domingo, a 7-foot cross plated in gold and encrusted with diamonds and jewels. Another real-life connection to the largely fictionalized Royal Merchant is the dual presence of Captain Limbrey. In the true Merchant Royal’s sinking, the ship was captained by John Limbrey, who ended up surviving the 1641 wreck. Outer Banks season 2 reveals the fictional Royal Merchant was helmed by a Captain Limbrey, who perished in the 1800s shipwreck with all but Denmark Tanny. While Outer Banks’ Royal Merchant may not be a real sunken ship that eager treasure hunters can search for in North Carolina, it pulls from a very real shipwreck that has yet to be found nearly 400 years later.
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Shipwreck
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Phnom Penh Post - Cambodia marks 65th anniversary of close diplomatic ties with Hungary
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Cambodia and Hungary committed to forging stronger ties as the two countries celebrated the 65th anniversary of diplomatic relations, with King Norodom Sihamoni saying he was looking forward to paying a state visit to Budapest at a suitable time.
King Sihamoni, Prime Minister Hun Sen and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Prak Sokhonn sent separate letters to the Hungarian government and its embassy office in Phnom Penh to celebrate 65 years of friendship. Cambodian-Hungary diplomatic relations were first established on September 20, 1956. They were interrupted for the period that the Khmer Rouge regime was in control of Cambodia from 1975-1979, but then resumed soon after the Khmer Rouge were driven from power. In a letter dated September 10, King Sihamoni extended his warmest congratulations to Hungarian President Janos Ader and conveyed his wish for happiness, prosperity and wellbeing for the people of Hungary.
“The bonds of healthy friendship between the Kingdom of Cambodia and Hungary have been on a smooth path for decades even as both nations witnessed remarkable events with historical outcomes. “Our countries and peoples’ cooperation have become ever closer in wide-ranging fields anchored by mutual political trust and support both regionally and globally, shared values and interests and mutual assistance.
“I look forward to making a state visit to your beautiful, prosperous and peaceful country once a suitable and convenient time can be determined taking into account the challenges related to Covid-19, which still poses a great threat and causes concern to all mankind and the world community at large,” the King wrote.
Hun Sen wrote a letter of congratulations to Prime Minister Viktor Orban on September 7, saying the bonds of friendship are based on mutual trust and close cooperation.
“We share a common perception about the challenges facing the international community today and have been rendering each other support in different forums. “Recently, bilateral high-level contacts between our two countries have become a hallmark for the mutual political trust that characterise our relations,” Hun Sen said in the letter.
Foreign minister Prak Sokhonn also wrote a letter to his counterpart Peter Szijjarto on September 3, saying significant progress has been made in promoting economic, trade, education and agricultural fields to the mutual benefit of both countries and peoples.
Sokhonn said the government and the people of Cambodia were highly grateful for the invaluable assistance given by the Hungarian government immediately after the liberation of Cambodia from the Khmer Rouge genocidal regime, as well as Hungary’s later participation in the peacekeeping operations under the framework of the UN Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC).
In November last year, Szijjarto visited Cambodia and the two countries signed three bilateral cooperation agreements on water management, agriculture and air services. The Office of the Hungarian Embassy in Phnom Penh was also officially reopened.
Kin Phea, director of the Royal Academy of Cambodia’s International Relations Institute, said ties between Cambodia and Hungary have a long history dating back to the Cold War-era.
He said the relations remained steady and stayed positive because the two nations respected their mutual interests and supported each other, including support for Cambodia by Hungary in the EU framework.
“But in the context of trade and economic exchange between the two countries, it is still far less than what both sides desire. People-to-people ties and tourism between the two nations are also limited,” Phea said.
Prime Minister Hun Sen has announced the reopening of the country in all sectors starting November 1.
The announcement coincides with the reopening of schools at all levels across the country.
Addressing the public as he declared the closing of the Covid-19 vaccination campaign for people The business community has welcomed a government decision to ease restrictions for local and foreign investors who reside in the Kingdom, particularly the waiver of hotel quarantine and the option to isolate at home.
The decision was one of many revealed when the government on Prime Minister Hun Sen has announced that Cambodia is reopening the country fully across all sectors from November 1 on the basis of four factors: Full vaccination of much of the population, the availability of effective Covid-19 treatments and medicines, increased experience in dealing with the Ministry of Health spokeswoman Or Vandine confirmed that there had been no official decision whether to waive quarantine requirements for inbound Thai citizens and travellers from other countries.
For the time being, she said, all inbound passengers, both Cambodians and foreign nationals, must follow Cambodia's Indosat Ooredoo and Cisco have announced a partnership and signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on a potential collaboration to develop next-generation connectivity solutions for businesses of all sizes and across various industries.
The two companies plan to develop applications that enable new services for The Samdech Techo Sen Volunteer Lawyers – a legal-aid group set up by Prime Minister Hun Sen to assist the poor – will represent two girls who were allegedly assaulted by the commander of the Military Police in Kratie town for the death of his dog.
The Hungarian President Janos Ader will pay a formal visit to Cambodia at the end of October by invitation of King Norodom Sihamoni, a post on
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Diplomatic Visit
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2016 Women's European Water Polo Championship
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The 2016 Men's European Water Polo Championship was held in Belgrade, Serbia. [3][4]
Serbia won their seventh, and third straight, title by defeating the Montenegro 10–8 in the final. Hungary captured the bronze medal after a 13–10 win over Greece. [2]
For the first time, the tournament will be contested by 16 countries (12 previously). The 16 teams qualified as follows:
The 16 teams were split into four groups of four teams. All teams advance to the knockout stage, from which on a knockout-system will be used to determine the final positions.. The draw was held on 4 October 2015. [5][6]
Serbia Italy Montenegro Hungary
Croatia Spain Greece Romania
Netherlands France Russia Germany
Georgia Malta Turkey Slovakia
All times are local (UTC+1). [7]
Source: wpbelgrade2016.microplustiming.com
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Sports Competition
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2018 Mosconi Cup
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The 2018 Mosconi Cup, (also known as Mosconi Cup XXV)[4] was the 25th edition of the annual nine-ball pool competition between teams representing Europe and the United States. It took place between 4–7 December 2018 at the Alexandra Palace in London, England and was sponsored by partypoker. [5][6]
The reigning champions were team Europe, who had won the last eight cups, including the 2017 Mosconi Cup 11–4. The event was played with teams of 5, decided by captains, and also performances in the tour. [7] The team's non-playing captains were the same as the previous year: Marcus Chamat for Europe and Johan Ruijsink for the United States. Ruijsink, who had won the Cup as captain with team Europe seven times, was assisted by vice captain Jeremy Jones. [8]
The United States won the Mosconi Cup for the first time since 2009, defeating Europe 11–9, ending an 8-year losing streak for the USA. [9][10]
Sources:[11][12][13][14]
The European qualification process saw players play to be picked in the top three places in the European rankings. [15] This initially resulted in the selection of Eklent Kaçi, Mario He and Niels Feijen to Team Europe, who were subsequently joined by the wildcard picks of Albin Ouschan and Jayson Shaw. However, a statement released on 21 November 2018 announced that Mario He had stepped down from the side following a failed drugs test and would be replaced by the next highest-ranked player on the Euro Tour, Alexander Kazakis. [16][17]
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Sports Competition
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Steph Curry passes Kobe Bryant's record of consecutive games scoring 30-plus
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Steph Curry passed Kobe Bryant's record of consecutive games scoring 30-plus points with his 11th straight game as the Golden State Warriors defeated the Philadelphia 76ers 107-96.
PHILADELPHIA - Stephen Curry stripped off his No. 30 jersey and handed stuffed duffle bags full of memorabilia to a Delaware state trooper who stopped in full uniform to shoot hoops on the playground with neighbourhood kids.
``That's Curry! That's Curry!'' one kid yelled after Joshua Morris shot a long 3.
Curry put on a 3-point spectacle in Philly worthy of the trooper's own effort.
Curry hit 10 3-pointers and scored 49 points to extend his sizzling stretch, leading the Golden State Warriors to a 107-96 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers on Monday night.
Morris later gifted the kid on the video - he called him his ``hype man'' - a pair of Curry's basketball sneakers. The video caught Curry's attention and he invited Morris and guests to the game. Curry posed for pictures after the game and walked back to the locker room without a shirt.
``He's an amazing story ... with the little kid that was hyping him up,'' Curry said. ``I had to show him some love. The love he showed the young man and just the foundation of impact that he shared. It's pretty impressive.''
Curry wasn't so bad himself.
Curry's 3 that tied the game at 86-all gave him 11 straight games with 30 or more points, topping Kobe Bryant for the most by any player 33 or older. Curry, who turned 33 last month, also has the longest 30-point game streak by a Warriors player since Wilt Chamberlain in 1964.
Curry had his fifth 40-point game in April and topped Bryant and Michael Jordan for most 40-point games in a month by a player 33 or older.
He buried 3s late in the fourth to whisk the Warriors past the top team in the Eastern Conference. Joel Embiid, who scored 28 for the 76ers, threw the ball away late and Andrew Wiggins scored on the other end to put away the game.
The Sixers played without All-Star Ben Simmons (illness) and starting forward Tobias Harris (20.5 points; sore right knee).
The Curry brothers went head-to-head - yes, in the City of Brotherly Love - in a spirited showdown from the opening minutes when Seth buried a 3 over his sibling. Steph answered with a tough 3 at the end of the first quarter and had 20 points at the half.
Even for Curry, his recent stretch of sensational shooting ranked among the best of his career. He averaged 43.8 points (.573 FG%, .545 3P, 5.8 rebounds and 5.0 assists in four games last week. Curry even shook off an injured left ankle that he turned in Saturday's game against Boston to torch the 76ers.
``There's something beautiful about it. It really is an art,'' Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. ``What he's doing is amazing to watch. Nobody in the history of this game has ever done what he's doing right now.''
In the history of the game?
Sixers coach Doc Rivers agreed, even insisting in an argument with his older brother in Chicago that Curry's season rivals anything Jordan ever accomplished.
``I don't know if I've ever seen anything like the run he's on,'' Rivers said. ``I guarantee you there's no one that has scored (points) in the way he has.''
Wiggins scored 16 points and Kevon Looney grabbed a career-high 15 rebounds.
Seth Curry scored 15 points and Danny Green hit four 3s for 12 points. Embiid had 13 rebounds and was 11 of 14 from the free throw line.
``He's really a unique force in the league today,'' Kerr said.
Curry showed he was still the best player on the court. Golden State's 29-29 record could keep Curry from MVP consideration but the franchise's career leading scorer - who hit at least 10 3s for the sixth time this season - is still one of the best in the league.
TIP-INS
Warriors: Signed G Gary Payton II to a second 10-day contract. ... There was no timeline on when F Juan Toscano-Anderson will return from the concussion protocol. ... C James Wiseman will rehab the torn meniscus in his right knee at the Warriors' facility.
76ers: Furkan Korkmaz and Mike Scott replaced Simmons and Harris in the starting lineup. ... G George Hill made his 76ers' debut after he was acquired at the trade deadline. He'd been out since late January after he had surgery on his right thumb. ``We're not going to play him a lot of minutes in a row right now. We're just going to try to ease him in,'' Rivers said. Hill averaged 11.8 ppg and 3.1 apg with Oklahoma City. ... Embiid received the NBA Cares Community Assist Award for March for his continued his efforts to combat homelessness in Philadelphia.
FAMILY AFFAIR
Doc Rivers is both coach and father-in-law to Seth Curry. Rivers laughed when he said that he sees retired NBA star Del Curry more than any other member of the family. Rivers said when he visited his granddaughter on Sunday, Steph Curry also was there to see his niece.
UP NEXT
Warriors: Play Wednesday at Washington.
76ers: Host Suns on Wednesday.
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Break historical records
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Joe Biden’s huge bet: the economic consequences of ‘acting big’
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Joe Biden’s strategy for the US economy is the most radical departure from prevailing policies since Ronald Reagan’s free market reforms 40 years ago. With plans for public borrowing and spending on a scale not seen since the second world war, the administration is undertaking a huge fiscal experiment. The whole world is watching. If Biden’s coronavirus recovery plans are vindicated, they will demonstrate it is possible to “build back better” from the pandemic and that advanced economies have been overly obsessed with inflation for the past 30 years. It will put government back at the heart of day-to-day economic management. If the plan comes off, it will show that unnecessary timidity in recent decades has let millions suffer unnecessary unemployment, starved many areas of opportunities for improved living standards and widened inequalities. But if the strategy fails, ending in overheating, high inflation, financial instability and the economics of the 1970s, the US experiment of 2021 will go down as one of the biggest own goals of economic policymaking since François Mitterrand’s failed reflation in France in 1981. Biden’s $1.9tn borrowing and spending plans have not been dreamt up on university campuses but are the result of a delicate political balance in a divided Congress. Any new stimulus figure much lower than the planned 9 per cent of gross domestic product risks losing more votes from Democrats than it would gain from Republicans. “This is what he can get done when he has razor-thin majorities to deal with,” says Professor Kenneth Rogoff of Harvard University. The new administration is making the case that the stimulus plan is an extension of the “high-pressure economy” Janet Yellen advocated in 2016, when she chaired the Federal Reserve, which was a response to the insipid recovery after the financial crisis. The administration believes that this is the best way to ensure a full recovery from the Covid-19 crisis with few lasting scars. Now with Yellen as Treasury secretary, “act big” is the new slogan and the US economic policymaking establishment is on board. Jay Powell, the current Fed chairman, stressed last week the need for “patiently accommodative” monetary policy, signalling that the US central bank was in no mood to take away the punchbowl by raising interest rates before the party got going. The plans have left economic forecasters in a quandary. The IMF and OECD have recommended looser fiscal policy to aid the recovery, but not so far on the scale planned by the US. The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office forecasts, which included only the final Trump stimulus in its latest forecasts, already expected the US economy to grow sufficiently fast this year to regain the pre-pandemic level of output by summer. It also expected the US economy to recover all of the lost ground from the Covid-19 pandemic by 2025 with no permanent scars. If former president Donald Trump’s stimulus plans were sufficient to make up the lost ground, the question is what an additional stimulus of 9 per cent of national income will achieve. The CBO has not yet given its view, but academics and private sector economists are increasingly taking a stance. Consensus Economics reports positively that independent forecasters have raised their expectations of US economic growth for 2021 and 2022 with barely any additional inflation. Ellen Zentner, chief US economist of Morgan Stanley, argues that the high-pressure economy will raise US output by the end of next year almost 3 per cent above the level that she had pencilled in before the coronavirus crisis. She assumes the Fed would not seek to rein in the rapid growth rates. The contrast with the 2008-09 financial crisis is striking. In the decade after that crisis, the US economy, along with almost all other advanced economies, did not manage to return to the pre-crisis path of output. In the halls of academia, the vast scale of the US experiment is much more controversial and has created shifts in allegiances within the economics profession that few could have predicted even a month ago. There is little surprise that Paul Krugman, the economics Nobel laureate, would support the Biden plan, arguing that there was only weak evidence for the theory that low unemployment rates raise wages and then inflation. This view, he said, was “mostly wrong”, leading to policy being overly “constrained by the fear of a ’70s repeat”. But his support for the Biden plan is matched almost as fully by Rogoff, who became famous during the global financial crisis for warning of the dangers of high levels of public debt. He says “we are in a different world today”, with much lower interest rates and a highly partisan politics. “I’m very sympathetic to what Biden’s doing,” Rogoff adds, even though there was a long-term cost to additional public debt and a risk of higher inflation. “Yes, there is some risk we have economic instability down the road, but we have political instability now.” Among those looking enviously across the Atlantic are Europeans who worry that the eurozone will once again fall short of the US in terms of policy action and results. Erik Nielsen, chief economist of UniCredit, says that with the EU fiscal support around half the size of that in the US, Europe is now “frozen with fear”, which is likely to lead to “another three to five years of European growth underperformance relative to the US”. Lined up on the other side of the argument are several economists who have been hitherto the most vocal supporters of public borrowing and spending. Larry Summers, a former Treasury secretary who was one of Barack Obama's leading economic advisers in the aftermath of the financial crisis, has spent much of the past decade warning about “secular stagnation”, the view that advanced economies were stuck in a semi-permanent rut and needed more stimulus. But now that stimulus is on the cards, he has warned it has gone too far and is likely to trigger “inflationary pressures of a kind we have not seen in a generation”, which would also limit the “space for profoundly important public investments”. Olivier Blanchard, former IMF chief economist who ignited the global fiscal stimulus debate in 2019 with his presidential address to the American Economics Association, accepts that he is known to be supportive of higher public debt. Nevertheless, he warns that Biden’s “$1.9tn programme could overheat the economy so badly as to be counterproductive”. Some economists fear these sceptical voices will dissuade Europe from adopting the fiscal stimulus they think it needs to recover fully from the pandemic. Adam Posen, head of the Peterson Institute for International Economics, worries that fiscal conservatives in Europe will seize on any rise in inflation or signs of waste in the programme. “Delivery of good results doesn’t generate the same groundswell as a conservative warning,” he says. “I’d hate for [the Biden plan] to get a bad reputation abroad.” Supporters of the plan, especially those looking at it from an international perspective, have worked hard to justify the scale of the fiscal stimulus. Core to the argument for “going big” is the evidence of the past decade that countries have much more room for economic growth and lower unemployment before there is any inflationary pressure. In the US, the unemployment rate fell to 3.5 per cent in early 2020 before the pandemic, its lowest in 50 years, without any sign of inflation rising. The European Central Bank has struggled to raise inflation close to its 2 per cent target, leading many to think there has been insufficient fiscal stimulus. This suggests economists and policymakers have persistently underestimated the output gap, the economic concept that estimates the degree to which economies are functioning below a level that would keep inflation stable. Robin Brooks, chief economist at the Institute of International Finance, which represents the world’s largest financial institutions, has run a campaign on what he calls “nonsense output gaps”, especially in southern Europe, estimated by the IMF and others. He says there was always more scope for expansionary fiscal policies without inflation and that the low output gap estimates have prevented growth and prosperity, further undermining countries’ public finances. “Output gaps are a key input into whether and how much overheating we might get,” he says. While he believes the US debate on overheating is appropriate, Europe can afford much more stimulus without inflation. If it continues along existing lines and does not follow the US, he says: “Europe will get a repeat of sluggish recovery after the financial crisis.” Alongside the potential for larger output gaps, another defence of big stimulus is that government spending, particularly on investment projects, can itself raise the speed limits of economies before they generate inflation. If the Biden plan can demonstrate it has generated more capacity for higher and greener future growth rates, that would be the holy grail of government intervention, says Mariana Mazzucato, professor of economics at University College London. Do it right, she says, and there are huge benefits available. “You’re not just flooding the system with liquidity, but reaching the real economy and creating a stronger industrial base,” she says. “That’s the kind of thing we want to see — expanding capacity and preventing inflation.” The arguments in favour of the Biden stimulus plan are not disputed by most of those who have expressed concerns, but they say its size at up to 14 per cent of gross domestic product, including the stimulus signed into law by Trump in December, is simply unwarranted and might undermine the argument for using fiscal policy to help economies recover from the pandemic. Jason Furman, former chair of Obama’s council of economic advisers, says the new administration is entirely justified in seeking to test the level of the output gap and the potential level of GDP that did not generate inflation. “The idea you test potential by year after year throwing logs on the fire is incredibly compelling, but that’s not the same as spending over 10 per cent of GDP in one year,” he says. Few would worry about inflation rising to 3 per cent or even temporarily a bit higher, he adds, but the Fed would have to react if there was a sustained bout of inflation. One danger cited by many economists is that if inflation becomes ingrained in an economy it can be difficult and painful to eradicate, with central banks having to raise interest rates and cause a recession and unemployment to bring it back down. If Krugman is right that the link between unemployment and inflation has become weaker, there is a fear that any action by the central bank to lower inflation will require a lot more unemployment than in the 1980s and 1990s to bring it down. While some inflation is certainly seen as a benefit of the reform, helping to grease the wheels of a modern economy, there is also a debate whether inflation was, in any case, about to rise. Manoj Pradhan, founder of Talking Heads Macroeconomics, is concerned that the short-term inflationary dynamics of the Biden plan will combine with longer-term upward pressures on prices that will come from an ageing population consuming more and producing less. “Even before [Biden announced his plan], the US looked like an inflationary place anyway,” Pradhan says. And what happens in the US tends to get exported, he adds. “Fiscal policy has led the stimulus and if inflation becomes acceptable in the US, it gives a green light to the rest of the world.” Economists of all persuasions also worry that the Biden plan, with its heavy emphasis on sending cheques to families, is poorly targeted and not nearly as focused on improving the potential for future growth as they would like. Randall Kroszner, former Federal Reserve governor and now deputy dean of the University of Chicago’s business school, says the heavy fiscal stimulus in response to the pandemic is appropriate, but the debt created does have a cost. “It does have to be paid back by future generations so it is very important to make sure there is a return to that spending,” he says. If that was not difficult enough, others warn that Europe cannot simply ape what America is doing, partly because it does not have the same access to finance and partly because there is more scepticism that it is possible simply to “build back better” just by borrowing and spending. Robert Chote, the recently departed head of the UK Office for Budget Responsibility, says the outlook for fiscal policy outside the US is likely to focus less on the stimulus debate and more “on the severity of any long-term scarring of the economy — which is hard to estimate with any confidence”. He adds that the public finances are more complicated than thinking about stimulus. Governments, for example, would soon need to consider raising taxes, especially if they “feel the need to spend a permanently bigger share of national income on health and social care after the pandemic than before it, to build more resilience into the system”. These structural public finance questions will not go away easily once economies have recovered. For now, however, all eyes are on the huge stimulus numbers coming from the US. Its new government is planning to borrow and spend and Yellen has called on the rest of the G7 to follow suit. As Rogoff says, the experiment is likely to be global. “If it goes wrong for the US, it goes wrong for everybody.”
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Financial Crisis
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40 Celebrities Who Found Love Again After Divorce
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40 Celebrities Who Found Love Again After Divorce
Sometimes your heart needs to break for it to be open again.
Aug 31, 2019
Getty Images
Boy meets girl, boy marries girl, boy and girl live happily ever after. What could be better than that? Well, in real life, the path to true love isn't always so linear. Marriage takes constant communication, commitment, and a lot of hard work, but not all relationships evolve so they end with divorce . But sometimes a second (or third!) marriage is worth the wait. These celebrities got divorced and found their true soul mate . Allow them to inspire you to always be open to new relationships. Because while life may take you down paths you didn't plan, love will always find a way.
View Gallery 40 Photos
1 of 40
Then: Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Phillippe
Witherspoon met fellow actor Phillipe on her 21st birthday and the two got married in Charleston, South Carolina in 1999. They had two children together, but ended up separating in October 2006. "I think more of the problem was age. When we got together we were so young," Philippe said on Larry King Now .
Joshua BlanchardGetty Images
2 of 40
Now: Reese Witherspoon and Jim Toth
In 2011, Witherspoon married talent agent Jim Toth in a small ceremony. On their seventh wedding anniversary, Witherspoon praised him as the man who "keeps her smiling every day" on Instagram .
J. MerrittGetty Images
3 of 40
Then: Kate Winslet and Sam Mendes
Winslet was married to director Jim Threapleton in her early twenties and then Mendes (pictured) from 2003 until 2010. When asked about her two divorces in an interview for WSJ Magazine , she responded: "I know lots of people who are not in the public eye who have gone through several marriages...And f**k me, it hasn't been easy, you know." Tell 'em, Kate.
Alessio BotticelliGetty Images
4 of 40
Now: Kate Winslet and Ned Rocknroll
In 2012, Winslet married Rocknroll in a secret ceremony and the two have been going strong ever since. "Thank God for Ned—really. He's just so incredibly supportive, and he's so much fun," she said in the same interview with WSJ.
Axelle/Bauer-GriffinGetty Images
5 of 40
Then: Miranda Lambert and Blake Shelton
If you're a country music fan, you already know that Lambert and Shelton were the "it" couple. The pair were married for four years before they announced their divorce in 2015, blaming it on too much time apart and hectic schedules.
Axelle/Bauer-GriffinGetty Images
6 of 40
Now: Miranda Lambert and Brendan McLoughlin
Years later, the country singer met NYPD officer McLoughlin. They got married in private and announced their nuptials in a 2018 Instagram post that read, "I met the love of my life. And we got hitched! My heart is full. Thank you Brendan McLoughlin for loving me for.... me."
Patrick McMullanGetty Images
7 of 40
Then: Meghan Markle and Trevor Engelson
In case you hadn't heard, Markle was married to Engelson, an American actor and producer, from 2011 to 2013. The two dated for almost seven years before tying the knot, but sadly divorced a few years after they made it official.
Karwai TangGetty Images
8 of 40
Now: Meghan Markle and Prince Harry
On May 19, 2018, Markle proved that fairy tales do exist when she married Prince Harry and became the Duchess of Sussex. Fun fact: She's the first divorcée to become a member of the Royal Family.
Rune Hellestad - CorbisGetty Images
9 of 40
Then: Chris Pratt and Anna Faris
After meeting on the set of Take Me Home Tonight, Pratt and Faris fell in love and got married. Unfortunately, they split in 2017 and released a joint statement on Facebook , saying, "Anna and I are sad to announce we are legally separating. We tried hard for a long time, and we're really disappointed."
Steve GranitzGetty Images
10 of 40
Now: Chris Pratt and Katherine Schwarzenegger
This summer, Pratt married Schwarzenegger. He announced their engagement in an Instagram post earlier this year that read, "Sweet Katherine, so happy you said yes! I'm thrilled to be marrying you. Proud to live boldly in faith with you. Here we go! "
Mark MainzGetty Images
11 of 40
Then: Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey
Simpson and Lachey were one of the most iconic pop couples of the 2000s. They were married for about four years, from 2002 to 2006, and co-starred in the reality show Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica together.
Kevin MazurGetty Images
12 of 40
Now: Jessica Simpson and Eric Johnson
Six years after her divorce from Lachey, Simpson began dating Johnson, a retired NFL player. The two made it official in 2011. In her upcoming memoir, Simpson plans to dish on both her marriages, according to the book's description .
Ron Galella, Ltd.Getty Images
13 of 40
Then: Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise
Kidman was married to Cruise in the '90s. Despite going their separate ways in 2001, Kidman told Ladies' Home Journal in 2006 (according to Chicago Tribune ), "...he was lovely to me and I loved him. I still love him."
Kevin Mazur/ACMA2017Getty Images
14 of 40
Now: Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban
A few years after her divorce, Kidman met country music singer Keith Urban. The couple recently celebrated their 13-year wedding anniversary and have two kids together.
Pascal Le SegretainGetty Images
15 of 40
Then: Sofia Vergara and Nick Loeb
Vergara married her high school sweetheart, Joe Gonzalez, at the age of 18. They have one son together, but divorced in 1993. Then Vergara dated and got engaged to Nick Loeb (pictured), but split in 2014 and have since been dueling it out in a public legal battle over the frozen embryos the pair conceived while together.
Daniele VenturelliGetty Images
16 of 40
Now: Sofia Vergara and Joe Manganiello
Vergara and Manganiello began dating in June of 2014 and were engaged six months later. She gushed about him on The Ellen Degeneres Show, saying "He's a great guy—super fun, super normal, and we clicked." Want to hear something even cuter? Before they were together, Manganiello told People that she was his celebrity crush.
Ron Galella, Ltd.Getty Images
17 of 40
Then: Will Smith and Sheree Zampino
Smith was married to Zampino from 1992 to 1995. Even though it didn't work out with them, they share a son together and are still friends. Last year, Smith wished her a happy birthday on Instgram, writing "Happy Bday, @shereezampino . #BestBabyMamaEver ! :-) I Love You, Ree-Ree."
Albert L. OrtegaGetty Images
18 of 40
Now: Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith
In 1997, Smith married actress Pinkett Smith. They have two kids together and are one of Hollywood's biggest power couples. It hasn't all been smooth sailing, though. In an appearance on Red Table Talk , Smith said there was a period of time when he was "failing miserably" as a husband.
NBCGetty Images
19 of 40
Then: Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries
Kardashian was married to Damon Thomas from 2000 to 2004 and in 2011, the reality start married NBA player Humphries (pictured). The couple announced their separation after only 72 days of marriage and their very public divorce was finalized in 2013.
Roy RochlinGetty Images
20 of 40
Now: Kim Kardashian and Kanye West
In 2012, Kardashian began dating rapper Kanye West, who she'd been friends with for years. The two married in 2014 and have four children. She wrote about their marriage in a blog post , saying, "I have learned to understand the importance of privacy and boundaries, something that I haven't really learned to embrace before."
Jim SmealGetty Images
21 of 40
Then: George Clooney and Talia Balsam
Clooney was married to Balsam from 1989 to 1993. Following his divorce, the tabloids notoriously labeled him a perpetual bachelor.
David M. BenettGetty Images
22 of 40
Now: George Clooney and Amal Clooney
The actor proved them wrong by marrying Amal Alamuddin (now Clooney), an attorney who specializes in international law and human rights, in 2014. When asked about her on My Next Guest Needs No Introduction with David Letterman , he said, "I met someone who I would absolutely trade my life for. I met someone, who, her life meant more to me than my life. I had never had that experience before."
Kevin MazurGetty Images
23 of 40
Then: Mandy Moore and Ryan Adams
Moore married singer-songwriter Adams when she was 25 and he was 34. They were together for six years before splitting up in 2016. Moore told Glamour that their marriage was "not the smartest decision...I didn't choose the right person."
Vivien KillileaGetty Images
24 of 40
Now: Mandy Moore and Taylor Goldsmith
While she was still healing from her divorce, Moore met Goldsmith, the frontman of the band Dawes. They got married in 2018 and in her words : "He makes me melt. I can imagine no better partner."
Ron Galella, Ltd.Getty Images
25 of 40
Then: Patrick Dempsey and Rochelle Parker
The Grey's Anatomy star married his manager and actress Rochelle "Rocky" Parker in 1987, when he was 21 and she was 47. She filed for divorce seven years later, citing "irreconcilable differences," according to Today .
Dominique CharriauGetty Images
26 of 40
Now: Patrick Dempsey and Jillian Fink
About five years later, Dempsey married Fink, a makeup artist, and the two have been together for about 20 years. When asked about their secrets to success, he told Entertainment Tonight , "The older you get, the more you realize how little time you have, and [how] you want to make the most of it."
David LivingstonGetty Images
27 of 40
Then: Miranda Kerr and Orlando Bloom
Kerr was married to Bloom for three years. They divorced in 2013, but remain close friends. The reason for the split? In an interview with The Edit , Kerr said, "We weren't bringing out the best in each other."
Stefanie KeenanGetty Images
28 of 40
Now: Miranda Kerr and Evan Spiegel
In 2017, Kerr married Spiegel, the founder of Snapchat. In an interview with Net-a-Porter , she said he's inspired her to transition from modeling to running her own companies, like her skincare line, Kora Organics.
Vinnie ZuffanteGetty Images
29 of 40
Then: Lisa Bonet and Lenny Kravitz
Bonet was married to Lenny Kravitz from 1987 to 1993. As she told Essence in 1990, the two had similar backgrounds so she "trusted him a little more with my feelings and let him inside a little more than I ordinarily would have."
Dimitrios KambourisGetty Images
30 of 40
Now: Lisa Bonet and Jason Momoa
More than a decade later, Bonet married Game of Thrones star Jason Momoa in secret. The couple values their privacy and didn't make their marriage public until 2017, according to Us Weekly .
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Famous Person - Divorce
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2002 Tampa Cessna 172 crash
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On January 5, 2002, Charles J. Bishop, a high-school student of East Lake High School in Tarpon Springs, Florida, United States, stole a Cessna 172 light aircraft and crashed it into the side of the Bank of America Tower in downtown Tampa, Florida. The impact killed the teenager and damaged an office room, but there were no other injuries. Bishop had been inspired by the September 11 attacks; he had left a suicide note crediting Osama bin Laden for the attacks and praising it as a justified response to actions against the Palestinians and Iraqis and said he (Bishop) was acting on behalf of Al Qaeda, from whom he had turned down help. As officials could find no other evidence of any connections, terrorism as a motive was ruled out, and they suggested that the crash was an apparent suicide. Bishop's mother filed, then dropped, a lawsuit claiming that psychological side effects from isotretinoin, an acne medicine Bishop took, which can include depression and rarely suicidal actions, caused the incident. At 5:00 p.m. EST, 15-year-old Charlie J. Bishop's flight instructor left him at the plane to perform basic preflight inspection. Once he was left alone inside the plane, he started the engine and took off without permission. [1] As soon as the plane took off, the air traffic controllers alerted the United States Coast Guard and the MacDill Air Force Base. Despite repeated warnings from a helicopter dispatched by the Coast Guard, the small plane continued on in flight until it crashed into the Bank of America tower. The plane crashed between the 28th and 29th floors of the 42-story building. [1][2]
Bishop was a 15-year-old high-school student from Tarpon Springs, Florida. At the time of the incident, he was a student pilot and only authorized to fly with a Certified Flight Instructor. [citation needed]
An investigation followed the incident. Officials ruled out terrorism although eyewitnesses said that the plane made no apparent attempt to avoid hitting the building. Officials finally suggested that the crash was an apparent suicide. In addition, a note found in the wreckage stated that he voiced support for Osama bin Laden. However, there is no evidence that the teen had any connection with any terror group. A suicide note from Bishop was found stating:[3]
"I have prepared this statement in regards to the acts I am about to commit. First of all, Osama bin Laden is absolutely justified in the terror he has caused on 9-11. He has brought a mighty nation to its knees! God blesses him and the others who helped make September 11th happen. The U.S. will have to face the consequences for its horrific actions against the Palestinian people and Iraqis by its allegiance with the monstrous Israelis—who want nothing short of world domination! You will pay—God help you—and I will make you pay! There will be more coming! Al Qaeda and other organizations have met with me several times to discuss the option of me joining. I didn't. This is an operation done by me only. I had no other help, although, I am acting on their behalf." Later authorities confiscated a computer from Bishop's parents' house to try to determine a motive for the incident. Moments after the incident, President George W. Bush was briefly informed about the incident and two unrelated crashes that same day. [1]
In April 2002, transcripts obtained from the Federal Aviation Administration revealed new details about the incident, which included how close the small plane came to a Southwest Airlines flight. [4]
Bishop's mother filed a $70 million (2002 USD) lawsuit against Roche Laboratories, who make an acne medicine called Accutane. According to the lawsuit claim, the medicine had side effects such as depression and suicidal actions, which the claim stated as the cause of the incident. The suit was dropped on June 26, 2007, by Bishop's mother, who stated she was physically and emotionally unable to continue the action. [5]
After the incident took place, numerous security measures were taken. The FAA released a security notice on January 6, the day after the incident. The notice included security of the aircraft and regulations pertaining to underaged flight students. In addition, the EAA and other smaller aircraft organizations proposed more security of flight schools and small aircraft. [6][7]
While authorities stated that the crash was due to an "abuse of trust" rather than a security breach, others argue for the need of increased security due to the simplicity of such actions. [8]
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Air crash
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Air Inter Flight 148 crash
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Air Inter Flight 148 was a scheduled passenger flight from Lyon–Saint-Exupéry Airport to Strasbourg Airport in France. On 20 January 1992, the Airbus A320 operating the flight crashed in the Vosges Mountains, France, near Mont Sainte-Odile, while circling to land at Strasbourg Airport. 87 of the 96 people on board were killed, while the remaining nine were all injured. [2][1]
The aircraft, an Airbus A320-111, registration F-GGED, serial number 15, first flew on 4 November 1988, and was delivered to Air Inter on 22 December 1988. At the time of the accident the aircraft had accumulated a total of 6,316 airframe hours. [3][4]
Flight 148, commanded by 42-year-old Captain Christian Hecquet and 37-year-old First Officer Joël Cherubin,[5] departed Satolas Airport in Lyon, France. While being vectored for a VOR/DME approach to runway 05 at Strasbourg, it crashed at 19:20:33 CET in the mountains at an altitude of 2,620 feet (800 m). [1]
The Bureau d'Enquêtes et d'Analyses pour la Sécurité de l'Aviation Civile (BEA) found that Flight 148 crashed because the pilots left the autopilot set in Vertical Speed Mode instead of Flight Path Angle Mode and then set "33" for "3.3° descent angle", resulting in a high descent rate of 3,300 feet (1,000 m) per minute into terrain. [1]
The pilots had no warning of the imminent impact because Air Inter had not equipped its aircraft with a ground proximity warning system (GPWS). It is speculated that this was because Air Inter – facing ferocious competition from France's TGV high-speed trains – may have encouraged its pilots to fly fast at low level (up to 350 knots (650 km/h; 400 mph) below 10,000 feet (3,000 m), while other airlines generally do not exceed 250 knots (460 km/h; 290 mph)), and GPWS systems gave too many nuisance warnings. [6]
The accident occurred at night, under low cloud and with light snow. Emergency response was slow and journalists were the first to find the crash site over four hours later. [6]
Accident investigators recommended 35 changes in their report. Airbus modified the interface of the autopilot so that a vertical speed setting would be displayed as a four-digit number, preventing confusion with the Flight Path Angle mode. [7] The flight data recorder was upgraded so that it was able to withstand higher temperatures and for longer. [6][1] The report also recommended that pilot training for the A320 should be enhanced and that ground proximity warning systems should be installed on them. Air Inter equipped its aircraft with ground proximity warning systems before the investigation was completed. [1][8][9]
The story of the disaster was featured on the ninth season of Cineflix television show Mayday in the episode entitled "The Final Blow" (also known as Air Crash Investigation as episode entitled "Crashed and Missing" or "Doomed to Fail" (S09E07)). [6]
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Air crash
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Forth to host major military exercise with warships, submarines and aircraft next week
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Vessels for one of the largest military exercises of its kind are expected to arrive in Fife next week. Warships, submarines, military personnel and aircraft will take part in the multinational exercise. Exercise Strike Warrior will be staged off the north coast of Scotland and is expected to bring 31 warships, three submarines, 150 aircraft and over 13,400 military personnel. It is scheduled to take place for two weeks between May 8 and May 20, with the Firth of Forth expected to host some elements of the exercise. HMS Queen Elizabeth, which was built in Rosyth, will deploy after the Exercise Strike Warrior, according to the Royal Navy. Exercise Joint Warrior is the largest military exercise in Europe, bringing together the Royal Navy, the Royal Air Force, and the British Army, as well as forces from other allied nations. 14 nations will take part in the joint exercise, including forces from France, Germany, the USA, Latvia, and Poland. Australia will also take part. All three UK armed forces are expected to participate, with vessels due to arrive at Rosyth and in Leith ahead of the start of the exercise. Port visits will be limited for essential logistical reasons through the exercise, and coronavirus control measures will be observed. Scenarios posed throughout the operation will reflect potential real-life conflict and crisis situations. Joint Warrior, named Strike Warrior for the two-week period, will include airborne assaults, amphibious landings, evacuations, and live-fire exercises. Over the fortnight, participants will face increasing political and military tensions, along with a range of military tasks such as intelligence gathering and reconnaissance, anti-smuggling and counter-terrorism operations, humanitarian assistance, and evacuation operations. The exercise runs through a range of scenarios, including crisis and conflict situations, that could be realistically encountered in operations, such as territory disputes, terrorist activity, and piracy. The operation has been planned by the Joint Tactical Exercise Planning Staff (JTEPS) based at Northwood in London.
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Military Exercise
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Making the best of a bad situationAfghanistan’s neighbours are preparing for life with the Taliban
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Regional powers are not looking forward to it. But they cannot agree on what to do about it Aug 14th 2021 T WO DECADES after Western forces helped sweep the Taliban from power, and four months after President Joe Biden announced his intention to end America’s permanent military presence in Afghanistan, the government in Kabul is losing control . Having captured swathes of the countryside since the spring, the Taliban have in the past week overrun ten of the country’s 34 provincial capitals. Significantly, most are in the north (see map), a region historically hostile to the insurgents. With government forces surrendering en masse and the army chief sacked, the group’s fighters have seized weapons and lucrative border crossings. Afghanistan’s four biggest cities, including Kabul, the capital, are now swamped with refugees and effectively under siege. American intelligence officials hint it may be only weeks before they fall. For much of the past 20 years of simmering internal conflict and NATO military involvement, Afghanistan’s neighbours either shunned the country or meddled in pursuit of their own interests. Some encouraged Afghan proxies as a way to score points against each other. Others found Afghanistan a convenient place to kick sand in America’s face. But now, as the spectre looms of either a full takeover by a radical Islamist group with a well-earned reputation for nastiness, or a descent into all-out civil war, it is dawning upon regional players that they may have to step in. “All of Afghanistan’s neighbours have already, in a soft manner, accepted that there will be a Taliban takeover,” says Umer Karim of the Royal United Services Institute, a think-tank in London. The trouble is that while few in the region relish having the Taliban move in next door, they cannot agree what to do about it. Instead, each of the neighbours is gingerly positioning for its own advantage. Pakistan is the most significant. It has not only the longest border and deepest links with Afghanistan, but also close ties to the Taliban. Its powerful security establishment has long played a double game, publicly aiding America in its “war on terror” even as it secretly harboured Osama bin Laden and quietly sustained Afghanistan’s Islamist radicals. Concerned more by rivalry with a much-bigger India than with any danger from ragtag jihadists, Pakistan’s generals view Afghanistan as their own “strategic depth”. Their main goal has been to deny the space to anyone else, even if that meant using the Taliban as a cat’s paw, and even at the risk of blowback to Pakistan. That risk is not a small one, as attested by the death of over 20,000 Pakistani civilians in a wave of Islamist terror between 2002 and 2016, much of it perpetrated by Afghan-linked groups. Even so, many in the Pakistani establishment are privately touting the Taliban’s imminent takeover as a victory for Islam, a defeat for America and a finger in the eye to India, which has given substantial economic and military aid to the Kabul government and this week evacuated its consulate in Mazar-i-Sharif. _______________ • It might still be possible to save Afghanistan _______________ Publicly, Pakistani officials say they have been blindsided by the speed of America’s departure and the disintegration of the Afghan government. They insist that they wished for a negotiated peace, not a military takeover by the Taliban. They also maintain that Pakistan has little influence over the Islamists. A Western diplomat in the region scoffs at Pakistani disingenuousness, suggesting that its generals will again burn their fingers playing with Islamist matches. Iran, which shares another long border with Afghanistan, has a more tortured relationship with the Taliban. Its leaders are certainly delighted to see the Great Satan, America, abandon its bases next door. But as Shia Muslims who view their own Islamic revolution as a modernising movement—women can study, work and hold office in Iran, so long as they veil—they look askance at the Taliban’s hidebound Sunni fanaticism. Swamped for decades with destitute refugees and cheap heroin from Afghanistan, Iran is also worried about a new influx, particularly of Hazaras, a Shia ethnic minority that the Taliban have viciously persecuted in the past. With little leverage over the Taliban and no liking for the tottering government in Kabul, Iran is likely instead to lend support to local Afghan militias in the border region, which recently beat off a Taliban assault on the city of Herat. A long, remote finger of Afghanistan, the Wakhan Corridor, abuts China. Asia’s rising superpower has largely kept aloof from its unruliest neighbour, contenting itself with moralising about the failings of Western intervention. As a close ally of Pakistan, however, Beijing has drawn warily closer to the Taliban, hosting a senior delegation from the group in July with the pomp afforded to visiting foreign ministers. Its main concern is that Afghanistan should not become a rear base for ethnic Uyghur separatists. With a diplomatic savvy that belies their supposed commitment to a shared Muslim faith, the Taliban did indeed promise that their territory would not be used “against the security of any country”. The Chinese, however, will be aware of reports that Uyghurs count among thousands of foreign jihadists active in Afghanistan, mostly enlisted in Taliban ranks—and also that America was given a similar promise about al Qaeda, shortly before the attacks of September 11th 2001. Having thrown a million Uyghurs into prison camps, China is probably pretty safe. This cannot be said of Afghanistan’s three smaller Central Asian neighbours, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. Islamist radicals from all three former Soviet republics have taken refuge in Afghanistan. With the entire border now in Taliban hands they understandably fear that some militants will infiltrate back. All three countries have embraced closer military ties with Russia. To underscore renewed regional influence and send a warning shot to the Taliban, Russian forces have in the past week undertaken large-scale joint manoeuvres with Tajik and Uzbek troops along their Afghan borders. Whatever their shared interest in preventing a full-blown catastrophe, Afghanistan’s neighbours have not, so far, proved helpful. At a UN Security Council meeting last week, India as chair kept out Pakistan, because Pakistan has in the past lobbied to exclude India from other meetings on Afghanistan. A series of parleys that brought regional players to Doha, the Qatari capital, on August 10th looked only slightly more positive. American negotiators attempted to press the Taliban to slow their offensive, threatening diplomatic isolation if they took over Kabul by force. Accustomed to drone strikes and cluster bombs, the Taliban delegates may have looked around the room and decided that this was a price worth paying.■
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Regime Change
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2009 Turkish flash floods
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The 2009 Turkish flash floods were a series of flash floods that occurred on 9 September 2009 in and around Istanbul, Tekirdağ, and the rest of the Marmara Region of Turkey. [3] The floods led to the death of at least 31 people and the cost of damage has been estimated as being in excess of $70 million. [1][4]
The floods followed a two-day period of heavy rainfall, the worst the country had seen for 80 years, which had begun on 7 September. [3] During the evening and night of 8 September the rain became increasingly strong leading to flash floods across the city early on the morning of 9 September, with low-lying areas to the west of the city being the worst affected. [4][5] Turkey's Minister of Environment and Forests, Veysel Eroğlu, described the rain as the "worst in 500 years". [2] The floods were created by the Marmara sea, an inlet of the Mediterranean sea. At least 31 people were killed across the region and dozens were stranded in cars or on rooftops and an unknown number remain missing. [4][5] Three of the deaths occurred in western suburbs of Istanbul on 8 September, 21 people lost their lives in Istanbul on 9 September and seven more in neighboring Tekirdağ Province, where two further people are missing. [2][6] Muammer Güler, governor of Istanbul, said 20 people were injured by the floods. [7] Officials and experts have blamed the high death toll on unplanned urbanization in Istanbul, which has seen buildings constructed in river beds, and an inadequate infrastructure system. [2][7]
In some places the water reached a metre (3 ft) in height, cutting access to Istanbul's main airport and the highway running to Bulgaria and Greece. [8] According to state-run news agency Anatolia Agency, one building collapsed, although there were no reported casualties. [7] Police were deployed to prevent looting from abandoned shops and factories, although the press has recorded instances of looting from vehicles. [8] In north-west Turkey two bridges on the Bahçeköy–Saray highway were also destroyed by floods at the same time. [4] More than 200 cars have been washed into the Marmara Sea and dozens of trucks damaged. [6]
Since the floods began on Tuesday, more than 1,000 people have been rescued by emergency services. Turkish officials have also stated that more than 900 firefighters and rescuers are working in the affected areas, backed up by a fleet of more than 200 vehicles and 30 dinghies. [1] Interior Minister Beşir Atalay has pledged to compensate residents of Istanbul affected by the floods. [2] The Red Crescent Society has dispatched tents, blankets, food and personnel to the area to help survivors. [2]
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Floods
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No big surprises in province’s emergency drought aid program
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Applications for drought assistance are now being processed and the fine print doesn’t appear to have any major surprises. As expected, the $340 million in emergency aid for Alberta livestock producers is only for breeding females, covers only grazing livestock (and therefore not pigs, chickens or dairy cows), and producers will need receipts to get the second chunk of the $200-per-head payment. The first payment of $94 per breeding cow comes with very few strings attached — producers need to have a minimum of 10 animals on hand on Aug. 6, a premises ID, and apply before Oct. 31. But producers will have to submit documentation to get the second payment. “Taking a feed-need approach, supplemented by receipts, a secondary payment of up to $106 per head will be available to producers who have experienced extraordinary costs as a result of the drought,” the provincial government said in a news release. Agriculture Financial Services Corporation (AFSC), which is administering the payments, will use a formula to determine how big that second payment will be. The formula is: Number of Extraordinary Feed Days x Feed Pounds per Day Required x $0.115. The number of extraordinary feed days is determined by taking the number of days an operation’s livestock are normally on pasture minus “the number of days the participant was able to follow normal grazing practices in 2021.” “Producers may need to provide evidence of changes to their normal practices to verify their feed-need calculation,” AFSC states on its website. ADVERTISEMENT The pounds-per-day feed needed is based on the animal type and class while the $0.115/pound figure is based on the August price for a blend of forage and grain (specifically alfalfa, hay, greenfeed, silage, cereal straw, oats, and barley). So for a bred cow, that works out to $4.03 per day and for a bred heifer, it’s $3.45 per day, according to an AFSC document. For ewes and nanny goats, it’s 58 cents per day. How much a producer is paid also depends on the type of livestock. Bison are treated the same as cattle; breeding horses are eligible for $113 now and up to $127 later; and sheep payments are $19 now and up to $21 later. Other expenses — such as hauling water, feed transport costs, temporary fencing and even pregnancy tests — may be eligible but only up to the max. payment (that is, $200 per head for cows) and only 70 per cent of the costs are covered. The second payment is based on animals “on hand” on Dec. 31. (The deadline for the second application is Jan. 31, 2022.) In addition to providing receipts and/or “other supporting documentation deemed acceptable by the initiative’s administration,” it appears some applications could come under closer scrutiny. ADVERTISEMENT “All audits will be random. Participants selected for audit will be notified of information required to complete the audit,” AFSC states on its website. Producers are being urged to apply online (they will need to either have an AFSC Connect account or sign up for one) but they can also contact their nearest AFSC branch or call 1-877-899-2372. (For more program details, go to afsc.ca and read ‘Support on the way for livestock producers’) Alberta’s program is similar to other provinces but there are some differences. In Manitoba, the maximum payment for cows is $250 per head but is based on 75 per cent of the cost of feed purchased from June 1 to March 15, 2022. The province is also covering dairy cows and is putting an emphasis on transportation — whether that’s bringing in feed or moving livestock to where feed is available. For example, when hauling feed it will pay 16 cents per tonne-kilometre for the first 100 kilometres, and 10 cents per tonne-kilometre for up to another 500 kilometres. In Saskatchewan, the maximum payment is also $200 per breeding cow, but dairy cows are eligible there, too. For more content related to drought management visit The Dry Times, where you can find a collection of stories from our family of publications as well as links to external resources to support your decisions through these difficult times.
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Droughts
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Grapevine September 22, 2021: Enhanced diplomacy
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A new wind is blowing at the President’s Residence with regard to diplomatic relations. It was obvious on Tuesday of last week when President Isaac Herzog accepted the credentials of the ambassadors of Mexico, Estonia, Spain, Greece, the Vatican – Holy See and Bahrain that the president had done his homework. He asked pertinent questions, listened intently to the replies and was aware of relationships that each country that the ambassadors represented have with other countries. He was likewise aware of the current political situation in each country, and the names of the key people in government and the opposition. There was also a change in the protocol.
The reception line included senior presidential staff, Foreign Ministry personnel, and members of the ambassador’s entourage. In the past, only members of the president’s senior staff and a Foreign Ministry representative heading the division dealing with the region in which the ambassador’s country is located stood behind the president, and after the letters of credence were presented, the new ambassador crossed the floor to meet the people standing behind the president. Under the new conditions, the president stands alone with national flags and the presidential standard behind him. The reception line stands along the red carpet near the small reception hall in which the president and the ambassador have their tête-à-tête. Following the individual presentations of credentials, Herzog led each ambassador to the reception line where he introduced his own people and the Foreign Ministry representative. The ambassador then introduced the president to his or her staff. Herzog chatted briefly with each diplomat in a pleasant, informal manner. The atmosphere in the small reception room in which the president and the ambassador conversed, was very relaxed and the conversation flowed, easily touching on many topics with occasional bursts of laughter. On average, each of these conversations lasted about 15 minutes and touched on numerous subjects. Each conversation ended with a champagne toast, in which Herzog said lehayim – to life, and asked the ambassador what is said in his/her country. In Bahrain, which is a Moslem country, religiously observant Muslims do not drink alcohol, so the toast was with orange juice. When Herzog again said lehayim, and then turned to the ambassador to ask how it’s said in Arabic, the answer was, “We don’t.” Not surprising considering that toasts are usually made on wine – preferably champagne. Unlike his predecessors, who were selective about who they escorted out of the building, Herzog escorted each of the ambassadors to the doorway of the building or to their cars. Each of the conversations that Herzog had with the various ambassadors was focused on subjects that related to the ambassador personally, or to his or her country. With Mexican ambassador Mauricio Escanero Figueroa, who is a career diplomat, Herzog discussed one of the latter’s postings, namely to China. Herzog was amazed, saying that the Mexicans are such warm people. That apparently was not an impediment. Figueroa’s wife, Xilunnasi, is Chinese. An artist by profession, she graduated from the Central Academy of Fine Arts of China and Claremont Graduate University In California. Herzog, who visited Mexico when he was still a child, said that he was impressed by Mexico’s strong relationship with the current US administration, as well as the updated NAFTA Free Trade Agreement between Mexico, Canada and the US, and surmised that if Israelis invest in Mexican companies, they too can reap NAFTA benefits. Figueroa emphasized the importance of dialogue on economic matters, not just between Mexico and North America, but also a Mexican economic dialogue with Israel. Aware from his three-year stint as chairman of the Jewish Agency, how Jews are faring in various countries, Herzog praised Mexico for the way it relates to its Jewish community, to which Figueroa responded that Mexican Jews have impacted positively on the country’s economics and politics, and stated that Mexico was “absolutely” with Israel in combating antisemitism, which was one of two issues that Herzog raised with some of the ambassadors. The other was the boycotting of the Durban IV conference. Estonian ambassador Veikko Kala was happy to talk about the former, but preferred not to discuss Durban, and Herzog did not press the point. Instead, they discussed the general relations of Estonia with other Baltic countries, the history of the Jewish community of Tallinn, which is Estonia’s capital, the upcoming 30th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Israel and Estonia and bilateral trade which Kala said “could be better.” They also talked about the similarities and differences in the electoral systems and of civil servant regulations of their respective countries. Herzog found common ground with Spain’s ambassador Ana Maria Salomon Perez, in that their respective forebears came from the same town. In one of her previous roles, she was the special liaison between the Spanish government and Jewish organizations and was responsible for the preservation of Holocaust memory. While inquiring about the health of former King Juan Carlos, Herzog recalled the historic visit to Spain in 1992 by his late father president Chaim Herzog on the occasion of the 500th anniversary of the Spanish Inquisition and the expulsion of the Jews from Spain. The senior Herzog had later written in his diary that being in Spain was one of his most moving experiences. King Felipe subsequently came to Israel. Herzog also asked about the Spanish government and the level of unemployment in Spain, and urged Spain to give greater support to Israel in the EU. For Greek ambassador Kyriakos Loukakis, who shares a September 22 birthday with Herzog, this is his second stint in Israel. He met his wife in Israel during his previous service as ambassador from 2009-2011. Remarking that Greece is one of the favorite destinations for Israeli vacationers, Herzog was curious about the number of Greeks who come to Israel. Loukakis said that under the present circumstances, hardly anyone comes from Greece to Israel, but in normal times, vast numbers of Greek Orthodox pilgrims come to Israel. For them, a visit to the Holy Land is a very emotional experience. Relating to the ever improving bilateral relations between Greece and Israel, Loukakis, who invited Herzog to visit Greece, emphasized the importance of developing not only bilateral ties but also multilateral relationships. In this context, Herzog asked Greece to help in convening the EU-Israel Association Council. Israel places huge importance on its relations with the Holy See and on freedom of religion, Herzog told the Papal Nuncio Adolfo Tito Yllana. He also spoke of the close relations which his grandfather, Isaac Herzog, as Ashkenazi chief rabbi of Israel, had with the Vatican, especially as his grandfather had previously been the first chief rabbi of Ireland. After the Holocaust, when he was already living in Israel, his grandfather secured a meeting with Pope Pius XII to ask him to order convents and monasteries to give up the Jewish children that they had sheltered during the war, and he later maintained a correspondence with the Pontiff. President Herzog also noted that when Israel and the Holy See entered into diplomatic relations, all the original agreements were prepared by his uncle Yaakov Herzog. Because he shared information about his family, Herzog felt free to ask the Papal Nuncio about his own background and where he was born. The prelate who has represented the Holy See on four continents: Africa, Asia, Europe and Oceania, was very pleased that Pope Francis has appointed him to carry out an important mission in the Holy Land. Prior to this appointment, 73-year-old Archbishop Yllana had been serving as Apostolic Nuncio to Australia. He succeeds Archbishop Leopoldo Girelli, who was appointed Apostolic Nuncio to India last March. Born on February 6, 1948 in Naga City, Philippines, Yllana was ordained a priest on March 19, 1972. He graduated as Doctor juris utriusque (Doctor of Both Laws) at the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome. After completing his studies at the Ecclesiastical Academy, in 1984, he entered the diplomatic service of the Holy See, serving successively at pontifical representations in Ghana, Sri Lanka, Turkey, Lebanon, Hungary and Taiwan. In December 2001, Pope St. John Paul II appointed him as Apostolic Nuncio to Papua, New Guinea and consecrated him bishop on January 6, 2002 in St. Peter’s Basilica (titular archbishop of Montecorvino). Subsequently, he entrusted him with the leadership of the nunciature in the Solomon Islands. Pope Benedict XVI appointed him as Apostolic Nuncio to Pakistan in 2006 and Apostolic Nuncio to the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2010. In February 2015, Pope Francis appointed him as Apostolic Nuncio to Australia. Since his arrival in Israel, escorted by Shuli Davidovich, the Foreign Ministry’s head of the Bureau for World Jewish Affairs and World Religions, Yllana has visited churches all over the country, including non-Catholic churches. Herzog spent the most time with Khalid Yusuf Al-Jalahma, who is Bahrain’s first ambassador to Israel, and conveyed appreciation to King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa for his ground-breaking decision to normalize relations with Israel, and expressed the hope that other countries in the region would be inspired by Bahrain’s example. Herzog said that he hoped to meet the king during his presidency, and noted that Bahrain has always served as a model for coexistence. The ambassador responded: “Peace is the strategic choice of the Kingdom of Bahrain… His Majesty the King believes that dialogue, understanding, and confidence-building are lofty principles and main foundations for achieving cooperation between nations and peoples… I am confident that this historic step will lay a solid foundation for relations between our two countries, based on the values of tolerance and coexistence between peoples, beliefs, and religions.”
Jalahma wished the citizens of Israel health, well-being, security, stability, and prosperity. “The Kingdom of Bahrain is guided in its diplomatic relations by solid national principles based on firm foundations and authentic values of prosperity and acceptance of the other… Throughout history, the Kingdom of Bahrain has committed in its relations with other states to promote stability, peace, and prosperity for the peoples of the region,” he said. LATER IN the day, Herzog participated in a Zoom celebration of the joint 200th anniversary of Independence of Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador and Costa Rica. The latter were the last two countries to have embassies in Jerusalem before leaving some 15 years ago. Since the transfer of the US Embassy to Jerusalem in 2018, Guatemala, Honduras, and Kosovo have located their embassies in the nation’s capital, and Herzog voiced the hope that many other countries with which Israel enjoys diplomatic relations will follow suit. Speaking of Israel’s relations with Central America in general, Herzog said: “My country is a strategic partner for Central America in addressing development challenges, especially in the fields of water, agriculture, and sustainability. I am delighted that tens of thousands of professionals from your countries have studied with MASHAV, Israel’s Agency for International Development Cooperation, and in programs overseas, as we learn to face the future together.”
LAST FRIDAY, Herzog telephoned former US president Jimmy Carter, who played a key role in the signing of the Camp David Accords when he hosted then-Prime Minister Menachem Begin and then-Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and their advisers at Camp David in 1979. This paved the way for a new Middle East, with this first peace agreement between Israel and an Arab state followed by an agreement with Jordan, and last year, the signing of the Abraham Accords with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. In 2002, Carter, who will celebrate his 97th birthday on October 1, was awarded the Nobel Prize for “his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solution to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and promote economic and social development.”
“During his presidency (1977-1981), Carter’s mediation was a vital contribution to the Camp David Accords between Israel and Egypt, in itself a great enough achievement to qualify for the Nobel Peace Prize. At a time when the cold war between East and West was still predominant, he placed renewed emphasis on the place of human rights in international politics. “Through his Carter Center, (which celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2002), Carter has since his presidency undertaken very extensive and persevering conflict resolution on several continents.”
In his efforts to resolve the Israeli Palestinian conflict, Carter was often perceived by Israel as siding with the Palestinians. On September 23 – a day after his 61st birthday – Herzog will be the guest of honor in the sukkah of Shalva, the National Center for the Care and Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities. FOR GIL Haskel, the chief of state protocol, who deals with members of the diplomatic corps on a daily basis, including accompanying them when they present their credentials to the president, the day was not over. Together with Dean of the Diplomatic Corps Martin Mwanambale, who is the ambassador of Zambia, he was the recipient of an award conferred by the Ambassadors’ Club of Israel. The event was held at the Vert Hotel in Jerusalem cohosted by ACI founder and president Yitzhak Eldan, who is himself a former chief of state protocol and Sheldon Ritz, the Vert Hotel’s general manager. Guests included diplomats, members of Knesset, representatives of the Jerusalem Municipal Council, heads of major Jerusalem enterprises and a smattering of media personnel. Eldan – who had worked closely with Ritz during the many years in which the latter was in charge of embassies and visiting foreign diplomatic delegations at the King David Hotel – decided that because they were friends and because Ritz was such a familiar figu
re in diplomatic circles, to have the award ceremony at the Vert, and to simultaneously make diplomats aware of how close it is to both the entrance to Jerusalem and to the Foreign Ministry, not to mention the Knesset and The Israel Museum. The star attraction on the buffet was scones, rarely seen in Israeli hotels and coffee shops. Not only were they delicious, but served in the traditional style, with jam and clotted cream. Jerusalem Deputy Mayor Fleur Hassan-Nahoum, who comes from England, said that the clotted cream was the best she’d ever tasted. Hopefully scones, replete with jam and clotted cream will be a permanent feature on the Vert menu. In presenting the award of excellence to Mwanambale, Eldan praised his professionalism and balanced approach as a diplomat, and commended him for his work in bringing Zambia and Israel closer together. While thanking all those who made him feel at home in Israel over the years, Mwanambale had a special word of thanks to his wife Sarah, who he said created the conducive environment that enabled him to do his work. A similar award was given to Haskel in recognition of his role in conducting relations with the diplomatic community and the hosting of Israel’s foreign official guests. Haskel, for his part, said that he was very pleased that Mwanambale had received the recognition due to him. Haskel, who is a former ambassador to African states and the former head of MASHAV, which has many African students, knows the value of the African people. FROM LEFT, Yitzhak Eldan, Gil Haskel, Martin Chungu Mwanambale and Sheldon Ritz. (credit: SHLOMI AMSALEM)
Haskel also had high praise for Ritz who he said made a valuable contribution to Israel’s diplomatic relations, and should be recognized by the Ambassadors’ Club for what he has done. Eldan made Ritz an Honorary Member of the ACI, and quipped “Now you can come to the VIP room every day.”
Haskel, who took up his post just under a year ago, said that he did not know why he deserved recognition at this stage in his present position, when he is still more or less at the beginning. It reminded him of former US president Barack Obama receiving the Nobel Peace Prize early in his presidency “and there wasn’t much peace afterwards.”
Nonetheless, he was flattered to receive such recognition from one of his predecessors. Eldan returned the compliment reminding Haskel that one of his previous roles in the Foreign Ministry had been to train cadets, nearly all of whom are now ambassadors. Haskel is already preparing his next lot of new ambassadors for the presentation of their credentials. In recent days, he welcomed Swiss ambassador designate Urs Bucher, and the new head of the Delegation of the European Union Dimiter Tzantchev, who chatted with him in Hebrew. Tzantchev formerly served in Israel from 2008 to 2010 as the ambassador of Bulgaria. He has since held important positions with the EU, NATO and the UN. On Yom Kippur, Eldan had cause for personal celebration. He became a first-time grandfather, and one suspects that he may step back temporarily from diplomatic affairs in favor of family affairs. WHEN INTERNATIONAL prizewinning poet Yehuda Amichai – regarded as Israel’s poet laureate – died on September 22, 2000, the title of poet laureate was quickly conferred on Haim Gouri, who died in January 2018, at age 94. Gouri, who was also a journalist, novelist and documentary filmmaker, was very active in Jerusalem’s Confederation House, which within the context of its annual poetry festival will inaugurate the Haim Gouri Cultural Center. Curiously, the inauguration ceremony on September 22, will take place exactly 21 years after the death of Yehuda Amichai. Though neither was born in Jerusalem, both Amichai and Gouri, spent the major part of their lives in Israel’s capital. Amichai was born in Germany and Gouri in Tel Aviv. Participants in the inauguration ceremony will include among others, Gouri’s daughter Yael, Hebrew University literature department’s Prof. Ariel Hirshfeld, and celebrated poet Agi Mishol. HUMAN PERVERSITY is such that most people are simply incapable off leaving well enough alone. A prime example was Yom Kippur in the service organized in Jerusalem’s Sokolov Park by Rabbi Eli and Chana Canterman, who are the directors of Chabad Talbiya and Mamilla. As they did on Rosh Hashanah, they hired a very large marquee with segregated sections for men and women, plus air conditioning and lighting. There were rows of white plastic chairs inside the tent with names of congregants who had paid at least NIS 300 for a seat. But most of the congregants preferred to sit outside. Although there were seating plans affixed in prominent positions inside the tent, few people noticed them, nor did they notice the small scraps of white paper with people’s names hand-written, that were stuck on the chairs. After all, white on white does not really stand out. In the final analysis, there were more people sitting outside than inside the tent, but the prayer service conducted in part by Cantor Yisrael Hershtik and his sons was superb. There was a lot of singing both by him and by the Chabad prayer leaders including favorite Chabad melodies, Carlebach and Raziel. On Kol Nidre night, the auctioning for the opening of the Ark started at $180 (NIS 578) compared to NIS 180 on Rosh Hashanah. During the day on Yom Kippur there was also bidding for maftir Yona, with only one serious bidder, who was actually bidding against his wife, who kept shouting from the women’s section. The bidding closed at $500 (NIS 1,067). Congregants ranged in age from tiny babies to nonagenarians, with the latter coming on wheelchairs, scooters and with the aid of walkers. It was very important to them to be there, and in those sections of the service that called for worshipers to prostrate themselves, they seemed to have no trouble doing so, even though some of them could barely walk. At the end of the service, there was no need to rush home to break the fast. Organizers provide a sumptuous buffet with a variety of foods and soft drinks as well as alcoholic beverages.
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Diplomatic Visit
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Tasmanian toxic algal bloom hits biggest ever area, says industry
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More shellfish growing areas are closed than ever before in Tasmania due to algal blooms, according to industry leaders.
Ten growing areas have been shut down because of toxic algae, extending from St Helens down the east coast to Frederick Henry Bay in the south east and Dover in the south.
No wild shellfish should be collected from the affected regions.
More than 50 producers cannot sell or harvest their produce and have to wait for two clean results before they can re-start operations.
Bruny Island remains one of the few areas unaffected.
Two of the state's biggest players Shellfish Culture at Cremorne and Spring Bay Seafood Triabunna are also free to trade.
Oysters Tasmania CEO Neil Stump said algal blooms, which emerged as issue in 2012, appear to be getting worse.
"A fairly large part of the Tasmanian industry is currently closed," he said.
"Industry has started to adapt to work around these closures but it does have an impact on cash flow."
He said it was hard to determine the financial loss to the sector, in part because in winter seafood sales drop.
Mr Stump said the industry was relatively in the dark as to why the blooms occur, with rising water temperature one possible factor.
"There is currently research underway to provide us with greater understanding," he said.
"We're still in the process of trying to understand the environmental drivers that accompany these algal blooms and it does vary from area to area." For some oyster growers it's a double blow with many of the affected areas also devastated by Pacific Oyster Mortality Syndrome (POMS) earlier in the year.
The Smithton growing area is also closed due to water quality issues rather than algae.
The Tasmanian Government has warned residents who cook and eat wild shellfish from the east coast risk serious illness.
Acting Public Health director Dr Mark Veitch said two types of shellfish toxin have been detected - one causing paralysis, the other diarrhoea.
"Shellfish feed on algae and concentrate the toxin," he said.
"This makes them dangerous to eat and may cause serious and even fatal illness." The shellfish include wild oysters, mussels, clams pipis and scallops.
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Environment Pollution
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Archaeology breakthrough after discovery of Maya 'death mask gave insight into afterlife'
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Set amid lush forest in southern Mexico, sits Palenque. While it is not the largest Mayan city, it has been described as one of the most stunning. Its architecture, sculptures and carvings are among the finest surviving pieces in the region where the Maya civilisation once thrived. Palenque was technologically advanced in comparison to other settlements. It had a sophisticated aqua-duct system that provided the inhabitants with abundant spring water. In the seventh century AD, the city was ruled by the powerful king, Pacal the Great. He had one of the longest reigns of any Mayan monarch, ascending the throne in 615 at the age of just 12, and ruled until his death aged 80. During this time he oversaw the construction of some of Palenque's most impressive sacred sites, like the massive central palace. More importantly, he commissioned the building of the iconic Temple of the Inscriptions. The temple was explored during the Smithsonian Channel's documentary, 'Sacred sites: Maya'. In 1952, archaeologists made a discovery inside the temple that the documentary's narrator described as giving, "a new insight into what the Maya believed about life and the afterlife". JUST IN: Sturgeon could hold key to ending UK energy crisis Excavating the temple floor, they uncovered a passage to a chamber deep within the pyramid. It contained a sarcophagus covered by a stone lid — inside, lay the remains of an elite Mayan wearing a Jade "death mask". Hieroglyphs on the sarcophagus soon confirmed that the owner of the remains was King Pacal, much to the surprise of the researchers. It meant that the temple housed the tomb of the great king himself. DON'T MISS Inca breakthrough after mummy discovered on Andes mountain [REPORT]Scientists pin date for ANOTHER pandemic as deadly as Covid-19 [INSIGHT]Russia threatens 'Asian NATO' in fury over AUKUS deal [ANALYSIS] And while it is a place of burial, the narrator noted: "It is also intended as a place of resurrection." The images on the sarcophagus lid illustrate a central Mayan belief that the Universe is made up of three levels: the Earth, the underworld and the heavens. Having departed this world, in the engravings, Pacal emerges from the underworld and is reborn into eternal life in the heavens. The narrator said: "This is the essence of Mayan religion." Later, in 2018, archaeologists made another astonishing discovery at the site. They came across an ancient stucco mask unlike any other, thought to have been cast from Pacal's face. Unlike other artefacts found, however, it showed the king in old age, his wrinkles and other facial details clearly visible. The 20-centimetre (7.8 inch) mask was found by a team with the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) during an investigation of the temple’s ancient drainage system. The experts involved said it is the first of its kind to be discovered. At the time, Diego Prieto, director of the institute, said: "Palenque continues to astonish us with everything it has to offer archaeological, anthropological, and historical research." Researchers found ceramic figures alongside the mask, as well as decorated bones and the remains of several animals. The experts say these were likely offerings made for the completion of the building’s reconstruction.
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New archeological discoveries
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A Massachusetts judge approved a $143 million class action settlement Thursday for residents and business owners affected by natural gas explosions in Massachusetts in 2018.
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A Massachusetts judge approved a $143 million class action settlement Thursday for residents and business owners affected by natural gas explosions in Massachusetts in 2018. The settlement's approval comes days after Columbia Gas of Massachusetts pleaded guilty to causing the explosions that killed one person, injured dozens of others, and damaged or destroyed more than 100 buildings. "This community suffered greatly in the wake of the explosions, and the compensation that residents and businesses will receive from this settlement will go a long way in healing the Merrimack Valley," the lawyers leading the class action suit said in a statement.
Columbia Gas is also on the hook for a $53 million criminal fine — the largest ever imposed for breaking a federal pipeline safety law. Its parent company will sell off the Massachusetts operation. Rival utility Eversource has said it plans to acquire the assets.
The National Transportation Safety Board concluded last year that Columbia Gas poorly planned a routine pipeline replacement project in Lawrence, causing natural gas overpressurization that led to the explosions and fires in homes and businesses on Sept. 13, 2018. The board also determined that the utility inadequately responded to the disaster, which resulted in a prolonged recovery effort in which residents and businesses were without natural gas service for heat or hot water, sometimes for months through the winter.
The class action settlement is meant to compensate residents, property owners, and businesses in Lawrence, Andover and North Andover.
Roughly 175,000 people were estimated to be eligible for payments, but only about 11,000 claims were submitted as of mid-February, attorneys said. The deadline to file a claim was extended until April 27, the lawyers said. The average payment for a family of four is expected to be about $8,000, the lawyers said. The settlement is separate from an $80 million deal reached earlier with the three communities to address infrastructure damage. It is also separate from settlements the company reached with two Lawrence families, including the family of Leonel Rondon, the 18-year-old who died when a chimney collapsed on his vehicle in the driveway of a friend's home.
Lawrence Mayor Daniel Rivera was among those who objected to the payout plan.
He argued that the roughly $24 million designated for the lawyers was too high. The lawyers have said their fees are below the rates typical of such a case.
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Gas explosion
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1999 South Dakota Learjet crash
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On October 25, 1999, a chartered Learjet 35 business jet was scheduled to fly from Orlando, Florida, to Dallas, Texas. Early in the flight, the aircraft, which was climbing to its assigned altitude on autopilot, quickly lost cabin pressure and all six on board were incapacitated by hypoxia—a lack of oxygen. The aircraft continued climbing past its assigned altitude, then failed to make the westward turn toward Dallas over north Florida and continued on its northwestern course, flying over the southern and Midwestern United States for almost four hours and 1,500 miles (2,400 km). The plane ran out of fuel over South Dakota and crashed into a field near Aberdeen after an uncontrolled descent. [1][2] The two pilots were Michael Kling and Stephanie Bellegarrigue. The four passengers on board were PGA golfer Payne Stewart; his agents, and Bruce Borland, a golf architect with the Jack Nicklaus golf course design company. On October 25, 1999, Learjet 35, registration N47BA,[3] operated by Sunjet Aviation of Sanford, Florida, departed Orlando International Airport (IATA: MCO, ICAO: KMCO) at 1319Z (0919 EDT) on a two-day, five-flight trip. Before departure, the aircraft had been fueled with 5,300 lb (2,400 kg) of Jet A, enough for 4 hours and 45 minutes of flight. On board were two pilots and four passengers. [1]
At 1327:13Z, the controller from the Jacksonville ARTCC instructed the pilot to climb and maintain flight level (FL) 390 (39,000 feet (11,900 m) above sea level). At 1327:18Z (0927:18 EDT), the pilot acknowledged the clearance by stating, "three nine zero bravo alpha." This was the last known radio transmission from the airplane, and occurred while the aircraft was passing through 23,000 feet (7,000 m). The next attempt to contact the aircraft occurred 6 minutes, 20 seconds later (14 minutes after departure), with the aircraft at 36,500 feet (11,100 m), and the controller's message went unacknowledged. The controller attempted to contact N47BA five more times in the next 4+1⁄2 minutes, again with no answer. [1]
About 1454Z (now 0954 CDT in the Central Time zone), a U.S. Air Force F-16 test pilot from the 40th Flight Test Squadron at Eglin AFB in western Florida, who happened to be in the air nearby[citation needed], was directed by controllers to intercept N47BA. When the fighter was about 2,000 feet (600 m) from the Learjet, at an altitude of about 46,400 feet (14,100 m), the test pilot made two radio calls to N47BA but did not receive a response. The F-16 pilot made a visual inspection of the Lear, finding no visible damage to the airplane. Both engines were running, and the plane's red rotating anti-collision beacon was on (standard operation for aircraft in flight). The fighter pilot could not see inside the passenger section of the airplane because the windows seemed to be dark. Further, he stated that the entire right cockpit windshield was opaque, as if condensation or ice covered the inside. He also indicated that the left cockpit windshield was opaque, although several sections of the center of the windshield seemed to be only thinly covered by condensation or ice; a small rectangular section of the windshield was clear, with only a small section of the glare shield visible through this area. He did not see any flight control movement. At about 15:12 Z, the F-16 pilot concluded his inspection of N47BA and broke formation, proceeding to Scott AFB in southwestern Illinois. [1]
At 1613Z, almost three hours into the flight of the unresponsive Learjet, two F-16s from the 138th Fighter Wing of the Oklahoma Air National Guard (ANG), flying under the call-sign "TULSA 13 flight", were directed by the Minneapolis ARTCC to intercept. The TULSA 13 lead pilot reported that he could not see any movement in the cockpit, that the windshield was dark and that he could not tell if the windshield was iced. A few minutes later, a TULSA 13 pilot reported, "We're not seeing anything inside, could be just a dark cockpit though...he is not reacting, moving or anything like that he should be able to have seen us by now." At 16:39 Z, TULSA 13 left to rendezvous with a tanker for refueling. [1]
The aircraft reached a maximum altitude of 48,900 feet (9.3 mi; 14.9 km). [1][4]
About 1650Z, two F-16s from the 119th Wing of the North Dakota ANG with the identification "NODAK 32 flight" were directed to intercept N47BA. TULSA 13 flight also returned from refueling, and all four fighters maneuvered close to the Lear. The TULSA 13 lead pilot reported, "We've got two visuals on it. It's looking like the cockpit window is iced over and there's no displacement in any of the control surfaces as far as the ailerons or trims." About 17:01 Z, TULSA 13 flight returned to the tanker again, while NODAK 32 remained with N47BA. [1]
There was some speculation in the media that military jets were prepared to shoot down the Lear if it threatened to crash in a heavily populated area. [citation needed] Officials at the Pentagon strongly denied that possibility. Shooting down the plane "was never an option," Air Force spokesman Captain Joe Della Vedova said, "I don't know where that came from. "[5]
Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien authorized the Royal Canadian Air Force to shoot down the plane if it entered Canadian airspace without making contact. He writes in his 2018 memoirs, "The plane was heading toward the city of Winnipeg and the air traffic controllers feared that it would crash into the Manitoba capital. I was asked to give permission for the military to bring down the plane if that became necessary. With a heavy heart, I authorized the procedure. Shortly after I made my decision, I learned that the plane had crashed in South Dakota. "[6] Chrétien relates that Stewart was "an excellent golfer, whom I knew and liked very much." The Learjet's cockpit voice recorder (CVR), which was recovered from the wreckage, contained an audio recording of the last 30 minutes of the flight (it was an older model which only recorded 30 minutes of audio; the aircraft was not equipped with a flight data recorder). [7] At 1710:41Z, the Learjet's engines can be heard winding down, indicating that the plane's fuel had been exhausted. In addition, sounds of the stick shaker and the disconnection of the autopilot can be heard. With the engines powered down, the autopilot would have attempted to maintain altitude, causing the plane's airspeed to drop until it approached stall speed, at which point the stick shaker would have automatically engaged to warn the pilot and the autopilot would have switched itself off. [1]
At 1711:01Z, the Lear began a right turn and descent. NODAK 32 remained to the west, while TULSA 13 broke away from the tanker and followed N47BA down. At 1711:26 CDT, the NODAK 32 lead pilot reported, "The target is descending and he is doing multiple aileron rolls, looks like he's out of control...in a severe descent, request an emergency descent to follow target." The TULSA 13 pilot reported, "It's soon to impact the ground; he is in a descending spiral.
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Air crash
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Dunbar Armored robbery
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The Dunbar Armored robbery is the largest cash robbery to have occurred in the United States. On September 12, 1997, six men robbed the Dunbar Armored facility on Mateo St. in Downtown Los Angeles, California of US$18.9 million[1] (equivalent to $30.5 million in 2020). The robbery was orchestrated by Allen Pace III, of Compton, with childhood friends Erik Damon Boyd, of Buena Park, Eugene Lamar Hill Jr., of Bellflower, Freddie Lynn McCrary Jr., of Arleta, Terry Wayne Brown Sr., of Los Angeles, and Thomas Lee Johnson, of Las Vegas, Nevada. [1]
While the group left almost no evidence, Hill was implicated two years later when he accidentally gave a real estate broker a stack of cash bound with the original currency straps; the broker contacted the police. Hill confessed, implicating the five other robbers, and three other men who had assisted in laundering the money. [2] Pace was sentenced to 24 years in prison in 2001; Boyd was sentenced to 17 years, and the other four robbers received sentences ranging from 8 to 10 years. Two of the men who assisted in money laundering were sentenced to 2.5 years. The robbery was masterminded by Allen Pace III,[3] who worked for Dunbar as a regional safety inspector. While on the job, Pace had time to photograph and examine the company's Los Angeles armored car depot. He recruited five of his childhood friends, providing them with detailed floor plans & camera locations, ski masks, pistols, a shotgun, and radio headsets. [2] The day before the robbery, Pace was fired by Dunbar for tampering with company vehicles. On the night of Friday, September 12, 1997, the group of six assembled at a house party – to establish an alibi – before leaving, where Pace used his keys to gain admittance to the facility. Pace had timed the security cameras and determined how they could be avoided. Once inside, they waited within the staff cafeteria, ambushing the guards one by one as they took their lunch breaks at approximately 12:30 am. Pace knew that on Friday nights, the vault was left open, due to the large quantities of money being moved. Rushing the two vault guards, the robbers managed to subdue all employees with duct tape before they could signal any alarms and did not fire a shot. In 30 minutes, the robbers had loaded $18.9 million into a waiting U-Haul truck. Pace knew exactly which bags contained the highest denominations and non-sequential bills. He also knew where the recording devices for the security cameras were located and took them. The group then returned to the house party. The police immediately realized it was an inside job, and closely examined Pace – due to his recent firing – but could find nothing. Investigators at the depot only found a plastic taillight lens, matching a U-Haul truck. The gang worked hard to conceal their new wealth, waiting six months before attempting to launder the $18.9 million. They enlisted the help of David Matsumoto, a Los Angeles immigration attorney, paying him and his office manager Joaquin Bin $1 million each for their assistance. Matsumoto structured the transactions via buying property and cars, investing in companies, and writing checks and W-2 tax forms for the robbers to give the impression they were earning wages. [4] Pace also created his own front companies to launder more money and enlisted another man's help to buy property, so they would not be listed under Pace's name. Boyd, through his father's company, laundered $177,000. [1] Most or all of the robbers were laundering cash through real estate. [2]
Two years after the robbery, Hill erred when he gave a real estate broker friend a stack of cash bound together with the original branded currency straps; Hill's friend went to the police. Detectives noticed Hill had rented a U-Haul on the day of the robbery. Arrested, Hill soon confessed and named all co-conspirators. Allen Pace, initially claiming innocence, was arrested and sentenced to 24 years in prison on April 23, 2001, and was incarcerated at a Federal Correctional Institution in Safford until his release on October 1, 2020. Another collaborator, Boyd, was sentenced to 17 years, due to his use of a gun and a prior criminal record. [5] The four others, pleading guilty, received sentences between 8 and 10 years. Matsumoto was also implicated, resigning from the State Bar. He and Bin were indicted on 71 counts related to money laundering, and sentenced to 2.5 years. [4] Less than half (US$5 million) of the money was ever recovered, with some US$13.9 million still unaccounted for. In September 2020, Charm City Kings producer Caleeb Pinkett announced a film based on the robbery. [6]
The robbery was featured in Episode 37 of the I Can Steal That! podcast. The robbery was featured in season 5 of The FBI Files, as "The Price of Greed".
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Bank Robbery
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Young mother Darrylleen Koolmatrie KILLED in Lesmurdie car crash weeks after giving birth
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A young mother has died, only three weeks after giving birth to her first child, in a horrifying crash in Perth’s hills. Darrylleen Koolmatrie was killed in Lesmurdie on Wednesday when the gold Hyundai Accent her partner was driving crashed into a power pole along Welshpool Road East about 11.25am. Ms Koolmatrie’s grandmother Joyleen Koolmatrie is now looking after her three-week-old son and has been left heartbroken by her death. “I can just remember saying ‘no, no, no, no’, I don’t know how long I was saying that,” she told Nine News on Friday night. The great grandmother emotionally recalled one of the last conversations she had with Ms Koolmatrie. “She kept saying to me ‘Nan I made this beautiful little baby, I made this beautiful little baby,” she said. “Yes you did.” Ms Koolmatrie’s 30-year-old partner was driving the car at the time. He received minor injuries from the crash. In pictures of the crash supplied to The West Australian, a gold sedan could be seen blocking two lanes of traffic along the busy road in the moments after the crash.
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Road Crash
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Indonesia's Mount Merapi, one of the world's most active volcanoes, erupted on Friday .
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JAKARTA (AFP) - Indonesia's Mount Merapi, one of the world's most active volcanoes, erupted on Friday (Feb 19), belching out fiery red lava. The volcano, close to Indonesia's cultural capital Yogyakarta on Java island, had already spewed lava almost two dozen times over the two last days and caused hundreds of minor volcanic quakes, according to a report by Indonesia's geological agency. "This morning, lava avalanches were observed seven times," the agency said, with the lava travelling up to 700m to the south-west. However, an official warning over the status of the volcano was unchanged at its second-highest level, where it has remained since November last year. Nearby residents were told to avoid the area within a 5km radius of the crater and were warned about the lava as well as airborne volcanic material. Last month, the volcano spewed huge clouds of smoke and ash that billowed down its sides. Mount Merapi's last major eruption in 2010 killed more than 300 people and forced the evacuation of around 280,000 residents from surrounding areas. That was its most powerful eruption since 1930, when around 1,300 people were killed, while another explosion in 1994 took about 60 lives.
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Volcano Eruption
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Solar Eclipse 2021: Highlights And Amazing Pics Of The Annular Eclipse
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The first Solar Eclipse or Surya Grahan of 2021 took place on Thursday. In India, a partial eclipse was visible only in Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh. People in parts of northeastern United States, Canada, Greenland, northern Europe and Siberian Russia witnessed the partial eclipse. The dramatic 'ring of fire' or annular Solar Eclipse occured only far north in the polar region. A Solar Eclipse happens when the Moon directly moves between the Sun and Earth. An annular Solar Eclipse takes place when the Moon moves right in front of the Sun, blocking it, except for a ring around the edges, and this creates the 'ring of fire' look. The next eclipse will take place on November 19. It will be a Lunar Eclipse and the last one of the year will occur on December 4. The entire 'ring of fire' Solar Eclipse lasted for about 100 minutes. It started at sunrise in Ontario in Canada. The eclipse moved towards the polar regions. The greatest eclipse was visible in northern Greenland at its local time. The path of the annular eclipse crossed the Earth's North Pole. The annular Solar Eclipse ended at sunset over northeastern Siberia. The 'ring of fire' lasted a maximum of 3 minutes 51 seconds in the path of annularity. A few others from the annular solar eclipse as the sun rose behind the Statue of Liberty in New York City, Thursday morning. #newyorkcity#nyc#newyork@NYmediaBoat#RingofFire#solareclipse2021#solareclipse@agreatbigcitypic.twitter.com/SY4v63y36y Today, people in parts of the Northern Hemisphere saw a partial or annular solar eclipse! ? Here are a few of our photos from the East Coast. https://t.co/4Q9RjQaePq#SolarEclipseDid you see the eclipse? Show us your photos! pic.twitter.com/UqTZai3MX4 Winner!Crescent sunrise ☀️??❤️#PartialSolarEclipseover Baltimore from my friend Tim Shahan #SolarEclipsepic.twitter.com/C7yXaUtKDn the best I got for the Annular Eclipse from Iqaluit pic.twitter.com/Tm6l5UJ7nG Good morning to everyone, but especially the Sun and Moon forming today's #SolarEclipse. The full annular, or "ring of fire" eclipse was only visible in the far north, but @nasahqphoto captured images of the partial eclipse. https://t.co/qbR8koKjEJpic.twitter.com/hqSAQ54wD5 Eclipsed Light House. This morning's partial solar eclipse in Chicago. #weather#news#ilwx#chicago#SolarEclipsepic.twitter.com/LB9f9Feenz Check out pics of the Partial Solar Eclipse by the @NASA HQ Photo team captured in #DC and #Delaware early this morning! ?https://t.co/IMgV37DhyJpic.twitter.com/HW0gFcAu1N This was at the peak (Milton Keynes time!) at 11.13am ?@mkfm@scenesfromMK@DestinationMK@mkfuturenow@MKCommunityHub@mk_citizen@LumixUSA@LumixUK#SolarEclipse#solareclipse2021#Eclipse2021pic.twitter.com/OQniPF1gCM Was able to capture the Partial Solar Eclipse in Sumerduck, VA this morning. #SolarEclipse#solareclipse2021#vawx@capitalweather@StormHour@hbwx@spann@wxbradpic.twitter.com/ft1uR2cS8O Unbelievable good fortune for a break in the cloud during Greatest Eclipse! Then at 11:14 the cloud rolled back over. Wow! ? #SolarEclipsepic.twitter.com/j9s27skw34 Today's stunning #SolarEclipse, seen just after sunrise behind the Mackinac Bridge in northern Michigan. ?
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New wonders in nature
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Sunset Strip curfew riots
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The Sunset Strip curfew riots, also known as the "hippie riots", were a series of early counterculture-era clashes that took place between police and young people on the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood, California in 1966. [1]
By the mid 1960s, The Sunset Strip had become a place dominated by young members of the hippie and rock and roll counterculture. While this brought many artistic initiatives to the neighborhood, problems simultaneously arose in the form of alcohol and drug abuse and the disturbance of traffic. [2]
In 1966, the city's administration implemented a handful of measures to curtail the growing nuisance. They targeted the Strip's most prominent rock club, the Whisky a Go Go, forcing its managers to change its name to the Whisk . [3] Furthermore, annoyed residents and business owners in the district had encouraged the passage of strict (10:00 p.m.) curfew and loitering laws to reduce the traffic congestion resulting from crowds of young club patrons. [4] This was perceived by young, local rock music fans as an infringement on their civil rights, and for weeks tensions and protests swelled. On Saturday, November 12, 1966, fliers were distributed along the Strip inviting people to demonstrate later that day. [1] Hours before the protest one of L.A.'s rock 'n' roll radio stations announced there would be a rally at Pandora's Box, a club facing forced closure and demolition at the corner of Sunset Boulevard and Crescent Heights, and cautioned people to tread carefully. [5] That evening, as many as a 1,000 youthful demonstrators, including such celebrities as Jack Nicholson and Peter Fonda (who was handcuffed by police), erupted in protest against the perceived repressive enforcement of these recently invoked curfew laws. [4]
The unrest continued the next night and off and on throughout November and December. Meanwhile, the local administration had decided to get tough, and rescinded the "youth permits" of twelve of the Strip's clubs, thereby making them off-limits to anybody under 21. In November 1966, the Los Angeles City Council voted to acquire and demolish the Pandora's Box. [6] The club was eventually demolished in early August 1967. [7]
According to Timeline's Matt Reimann, the riots anticipated a cultural rift that only grew in the coming years. [3] In this light, Bob Gibson, manager of the Byrds and the Mamas and the Papas reflected: "If you had to put your finger on an event that was a barometer of the tide turning, it would probably be the Sunset Strip riots. "[8]
Regarding the importance of the Sunset Strip riots, The Guardian journalist Woody Haut argues that "it was, if nothing else, an early salvo in the "culture wars", a battle which continues to this day (...). "[9] He furthermore argues that the riot's most lasting effect had to do with the music that came out of the event. The incident provided the basis for the 1967 low-budget teen exploitation film Riot on Sunset Strip[citation needed], and inspired multiple songs:
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Riot
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Discovery of “unique” burial containing 140 pieces of amber jewellery
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The researchers unearthed the burial of a high-status individual in a narrow oval pit lined with red ochre. When clearing the grave, they discovered 140 pieces of amber jewellery (examples of which have previously only been found in the Eastern Baltic), consisting of buttons, pendants, and various flint items. The amber buttons were arranged face down in rows, and were sewn into a leather cover placed over the deceased, whilst along the edges of the pit were deposited amber decorations that formed two tiers. By comparing the analogy with amber decorations from sites located in the Eastern Baltic, archaeologists have proposed that the burial dates from around 3400 BC during the Chalcolithic or Copper Age (a transition between the Neolithic and the Bronze Age). During this period, the mining of metal and stone was particularly developed in some areas, along with the processing of those materials into valuable goods. The Baltic region is home to the largest known deposit of amber, called Baltic amber or succinite. It dates from 44 million years ago (during the Eocene epoch) and was appreciated for its colour, natural beauty, and ability to shape into complex shapes through polishing. Workshops for the production of axes and adzes are currently being investigated by the university expedition, discovered just adjacent to the burial site. The researchers theorise that the deceased may have been a trader from the Eastern Baltic States, who arrived on the western shore of Lake Onega to acquire axes in exchange for amber. This could suggest ancient trading links between the people living in Karelia, with the tribes that lived on the southern coast of the Baltic Sea.
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New archeological discoveries
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Man Pleads Guilty To Charge Relating To Footballer Sala's Death
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A 66-year-old man has pleaded guilty to a charge in relation to the death of Argentine footballer Emiliano Sala in a light-aircraft crash in 2019, a British court heard on Monday.
David Henderson admitted one count of attempting to discharge a passenger without valid permission or authorisation, before a trial in Cardiff.
That charge typically concerns a business operator failing to acquire the appropriate licences to hire a plane commercially.
He will be tried on a separate charge of endangering the safety of an aircraft, which he denies. After jury selection, the case was adjourned until Tuesday afternoon.
A portrait of Emiliano Sala displayed in front of the entrance of the FC Nantes football club training centre in 2019 after he died in a plane crash Photo: AFP / LOIC VENANCE Henderson, who was charged with both offences last year, is alleged to have arranged the flight to bring the former Nantes striker from France to Cardiff, where he was due to begin training with the Welsh club, who were then in the Premier League.
The plane crashed into the sea near the Channel island of Guernsey, killing Sala, 28, and pilot David Ibbotson, who was 59.
At a previous court hearing, it was alleged that Ibbotson was not licensed to fly an aircraft commercially, and that he was no longer certified to fly the Piper Malibu aircraft involved.
Sala had become Cardiff's record signing after a fee of ?15 million (18 million euros, $19 million) was agreed with Nantes during the January transfer window.
David Henderson admitted a charge relating to the flight in which Sala died Photo: AFP / Geoff Caddick After travelling to Cardiff to complete the deal, Sala returned to France to collect belongings and bid farewell to his Nantes teammates.
It was on his return flight to the Welsh capital on January 21, to take part in his first training session, that the plane crashed.
Initial searches for the player and pilot were suspended in the days after the single-engine plane went missing.
However, a crowd-funding effort supported by thousands of donations, including from football stars Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe, helped launch a private search.
That search saw Sala's body recovered from the wreckage in February 2019, but Ibbotson's body has not been found.
Two months after Sala's body was discovered, his father Horacio Sala died of a heart attack in Argentina.
British air accident investigators in March 2020 concluded that Ibbotson was not licensed to fly the plane or to fly at night, and that he lost control and flew too fast as he tried to avoid bad weather.
The Air Accidents Investigation Branch said both the pilot and Sala were affected by carbon monoxide poisoning before the crash.
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Mass Poisoning
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2021 Celebrity Breakups
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The duo has called it quits. A source close to Khloe told E! News she broke up with Tristan "very recently," explaining, "They had been working through the cheating rumors for the last couple of weeks, but Khloe told Tristan he lost all of her trust and the relationship could not be repaired. Khloe really tried, but ultimately, felt too betrayed by him. She's done and says she will not go back."
The duo announced their split on Instagram, writing in part, "After a tremendous amount of thought, prayer & work on ourselves individually & collectively, we have come to the conclusion to end our marriage that began 27 years ago."
The Friday Night Lights actress and the host of The Daily Show dated for about a year. On May 16, People and Entertainment Tonight reported that they had called it quits.
On May 13, a spokesperson for the Dawson's Creek alum told Us Weekly that she and the New York City-based restaurateur "have parted ways amicably but remain friends." The two had dated for less than a year.
On May 10, the comedian and his wife confirmed in separate statements that they have split, six years after they wed. "I am heartbroken that John has decided to end our marriage," she said in her statement to Page Six. "I wish him support and success as he continues his recovery."
On May 3, the Microsoft co-founder and his wife said in a joint statement that they have decided to end their 27-year marriage. They are parents of two adult children.
The How I Met Your Mother star and the artist dated for about eight years. On April 29, she shared a selfie of the two on Instagram and wrote, "This is a photo of two best friends. This guy and I have shared so much life together. Changed each other at a soul deep level. All for the better."
She continued, "But change happens and we made the decision quite a while ago to let ourselves grow away from what our relationship had been and into what it was becoming."
On April 23, the Very Cavallari star announced on Instagram that she and her longtime musician boyfriend have "respectfully and lovingly decided to part ways as a couple."
In late April, the High School Musical alum's friend and Australian radio personality Kyle Sandilands confirmed reports that the couple had split after less than a year together.
On April 15, following multiple reports about a breakup, J.Lo and A-Rod confirmed they had split and ended their engagement after four years together.
On Wednesday, April 21, news broke that the country singer and podcast host filed for divorce from the former football player after six years of marriage. "Please know that I still believe whole heartedly in marriage, love, and rebuilding," Jana wrote on Instagram. "I just can't fight any longer. It's time to heal."
In March, a source confirmed to E! News exclusively that the TikTok stars went their separate ways after Bryce was accused of cheating on Addison. The 21-year-old influencer previously denied the infidelity rumors.
"I'm single," the hip-hop starlet tweeted on March 19. "I've endured too much betrayal and hurt behind the scenes for a false narrative to be circulating that degrades my character. Presents don't band aid scars and the love isn't real when the intimacy is given to other women."
In March, fiancées and self-described "power couple" Karol G and Anuel AA reportedly called it quits after two years of dating.
The Real Housewives of New York star and the businessman called off their engagement in March, with a source close to Tinsley telling E! News, "He made her leave the show and leave her life and career in New York. He promised her a new life."
On Tuesday, March 9, the Bling Empire star shared to Instagram that she and the Power Ranger Megaforce actor "have made the difficult decision to officially separate at this point in our lives."
After two months of dating, the DWTS duo decided to go their separate ways. The breakup wasn't as amicable as previous reports suggested. According to Chrishell, "revelations told to me recently have made me question if you could even order a coffee without lying."
On Feb. 24, E! News confirmed that the Cheer star is single and has broken up with the Big Brother 21 winner. The two have yet to publicly comment on the news or share any details of what might've led to their split.
The E! reality TV star filed for divorce from the rapper on Friday, Feb. 19. According to documents obtained by E! News, Kim requested joint legal and physical custody of their kids, and cited "irreconcilable differences" as the reason for their split.
Nine months after the actress and rapper first sparked romance rumors, a source confirmed to E! News exclusively that the couple broke up in February.
On Feb. 2, the Pitch Perfect star confirmed on Instagram that she is single after dating the founder of Napp's Dairy Free Ice Cream for several months.
The Mentalist star and his wife quietly separated in April 2020 after 29 years together, E! News confirmed on Jan. 29.
According to court records, the Oscar-nominated star filed for divorce from the professional dancer in New York on Tuesday, Jan. 26.
It's over between The Bachelorette stars. Just two months after getting engaged and having a whirlwind romance on the ABC dating series, Dale Moss broke the news about their split.
"I wanted share with you all that Clare and I have decided to go our separate ways," he shared on Tuesday, Jan. 19. "We appreciate the love and support we've received from so many people, but this is the healthiest decision for both of us at this time. We strongly believe in leading with love and always remaining true to oneself - something our families have taught and instilled in us throughout our lives. We only hope the best things for one another."
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Famous Person - Divorce
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Mid 2011 Telangana protests
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The Mid 2011 Telangana protests refers to a chain of protests and mass resignations following the Million March incident in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. From April till June, the movement saw a lull,[1] with different parties citing various reasons and fresh deadlines to renew the agitation. In July, 81 of 119 Telangana MLAs in the state, 12 out of 15 Telangana ministers in state, 13 out of 17 Telangana MPs in Lok Sabha, 1 Rajyasabha MP(Congress), 20 MLCs resigned protesting delay in the formation of Telangana. On 20 July, 30-year-old Yadi Reddy was found dead 100 yards from Parliament House in Delhi. An eight-page suicide note says the young driver from greater Hyderabad region of Telangana was upset over the government not creating a new state for his homeland. The speaker of the AP assembly on 23 July summarily rejected the resignations of all 101 MLAs citing that they were made in an emotionally surcharged atmosphere. From April till June, the movement saw a lull,[1] with different parties citing various reasons to set fresh deadlines for renewal of the agitation. Telangana political parties and organizations vowed to intensity the movement in May which were reportedly suspended due to students examinations. TRS also threatened to include a 'boycott' of the academic year at all levels in the region. [2] In June, Both TJAC & the Telangana Congress leaders set fresh deadlines to renew their agitation. While the TJAC threatened another Million March and bandhs starting 10 June,[3] the Congress MPs decided to wait till 25 June and resign if separate statehood is not achieved by then. [4][5] After this deadline they set another deadline till 5 July after which they vowed to launch an indefinite hunger strike. [6]
Fearing law & order problem due to violence similar to the Million March incident, State police refused to give permission to TRS to hold their formation day public meeting in Parade grounds in Hyderabad. In spite of the personal request to Union defence minister by KCR, the defence ministry turned down the request as the party could not get police clearance. [7] Students of the Osmania University also had their summer vacation cancelled to conduct classes during the summer vacation and make up for the loss caused to academic activities due to Telangana agitation on the campus till March this year. A series of violent incidents on the campus had forced the university administration to postpone several exams. [8] Congress party's leadership also reportedly said they will take decision on Telangana after assembly elections concluding on 10 May. [9][10][11][12] The state government sanctioned Rs 75 lakh for repair and re-installation of statues on Tank Bund, demolished during the Million March incident. Along with installation of the 16 destroyed statues, another new statue of social activist from Telangana, Komaram Bheem, was also proposed to be installed. [13]
According to government sources, Maoists are active in 1/3rd of districts in India. [14] Special Intelligence Branch (SIB) of Andhra Pradesh Police, which monitors the Maoists, gathered "credible information" about the outlaws carrying their activities under the banner of the TJAC. "When the agitation for a separate state began in late 2009, some Maoist elements joined ranks with the students of Osmania University and indulged in violence. Now, they seem to have 'graduated' to a higher level and started working under the so-called political JAC, though the latter as such exists only on paper," a top-ranking police official remarked. [15] Even during the Million March in 2011 militant elements were suspected to be behind the destruction of statues on Tank Bund. [16] On 11 January 2011, Madhu Yaskhi, Congress party MP, said "There is police deployment in every nook of Osmania University and Telangana. Not a single Maoist has been arrested despite police having draconian powers and having searched every hostel over and over again. That proves the lie, They are raising the Maoist bogey to defame the movement. "[17]
In a unique form of protest, people from all walks of life came together on Hyderabad's roads on 19 June on a call given by Telangana JAC for a cook-and-eat agitation to demand a separate state. While various groups made arrangements on a massive scale for cooking food on roads, families set up small kitchens. [18]
After the State Assembly Elections, it was reported that the Congress will wait till 2013 to announce a decision on Telangana issue. [19] Sources also reported that the Central government has decided against creation of Telangana state and will instead announce a Political & Economic package to the region including Deputy CM post for a leader from the region & also granting national status to the Pranahitha Chevella project. Any attempt at agreeing for the separate state demand was felt will make things difficult for Mamata Banerjee in West Bengal as a similar demand for Gorkhaland in that state can intensify into a big agitation. [20] As a solution to the Telangana problem, Congress implemented a clause in the Gentlemen Agreement by appointing Damodar Raja Narasimha a Dailt leader from the Telangana region as the Deputy Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh. [21]
On 4 and 5 July 101 out of 118 MLAs from Telangana region resigned from the Andhra Pradesh Assembly in support of Telangana state formation. Those who didn't resign were 7 MLAs from MIM, 9 from Congress and 1 each from CPM & Lok Satta. [22][23][24][25][26][27]
[28][29] The speaker of the assembly on 23 July summarily rejected the resignations of all 101 MLAs citing that they were made in an emotionally surcharged atmosphere. [30]
Asaduddin Owaisi, president of MIM also met the Chief Minister to reiterate their stand that his party prefers a united state citing Muslim interest & safety. [31] He also said, if Telangana state is formed, Hyderabad should be part of Telangana. [32] Zaheer Ali Khan, managing editor of Urdu paper, Siasat, says "The MIM disfavours Telangana, but the larger Muslim sentiment in the city is in favour of a separate state,". [31]
As part of the 2-day bandh declared by the JAC in Telangana region, agitators stopped IT professionals from attending work in some instances. [33] The Telangana Advocates Joint Action Committee (TAJAC) threatened that people who do not support separate statehood of Telangana will not be permitted to stay in Hyderabad. [34] The panchayati raj minister, Mr K. Jana Reddy, also warned the Congress central leadership that if it doesn't take any decision on the state bifurcation issue soon, the state will face a law and order problem, including largescale violence in both the regions which will continue for many more years to come. [35] The South Central Railway suffered Rs. 50 crores loss due to rail roko campaign launched by the TRS & JAC. [36][37] The high court also issued notices to KCR & Prof. Kodandaram in this regard. [38] There were a total of 8 bandhs in 27 working days between 13 June and 14 July. [39] On 11 July 200 Telangana students started an indefinite hunger strike protesting the delay in Telangana state formation. 120 of them ended the strike after 2days and the rest after 4days due to ill health and on the request of Telangana JAC. [40] Though the original plan was to make 10,000 students sit on hunger strike, less than 150 turned up and only 50 managed to remain till evening. Even the initial rush was accounted to "visitors" and not those who were willing to sit on the fast.
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Protest_Online Condemnation
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Police searching for Cornwall attempted bank robbery, Sharon bank robbery suspect
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State Police are looking for the man accused of robbing a bank in Sharon on Monday. CORNWALL, Ct. (WFSB) - Police arrested one suspect, Jay William Puzinski, and are searching for another in connection to an attempted robbery at the National Iron Bank in Cornwall, and a bank robbery in Sharon, on Aug. 6. Western District Major Crime Detectives responded to the robbery. The suspect was described as a white or Hispanic man with dark hair and a small to medium build. Anyone with information is asked to call Connecticut State Police Troop B in North Canaan @ 1-800-497-0403.
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Bank Robbery
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2011 Bulgaria antiziganist protests
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The 2011 Bulgaria antiziganist (anti-Gypsy) protests started during the night of 23 to 24 September 2011 in the village Katunitsa and later spread to other locations all over the country, including Plovdiv, Sofia, Varna, Burgas, Pleven, Ruse, Pazardzhik, Stara Zagora and others. The reason for the unrest was the murder of a local youth, who was run over by a car by the close associate of local Roma boss Kiril Rashkov. These protests were accompanied with racist chants and called for violence against Romani. [1][2] The riots in Katunitsa led to the burning of two cars and four houses, owned by different members of the family of the alleged Romani crime boss Kiril Rashkov, also known as "Tsar Kiro". [3][4] The United Nations[5] and the OSCE[6] condemned the demonstrations and the violence. The protests started in response to the vehicular homicide of 19-year-old Angel Petrov in Katunitsa. The murder was committed by 55-year-old Simeon Yosifov,[7] who is believed to be a close associate of crime boss Kiril Rashkov. [8] The death of Angel Petrov was preceded by death threats involving a "car accident", which were published in the Bulgarian video-sharing website "vbox7". [9]
Protests continued on 1 October in Sofia, with 2000 Bulgarians marching against the Romani and what they viewed to be the "impunity and the corruption" of the political elite in the country. [10]
Volen Siderov, leader of the far-right Ataka party and presidential candidate, spoke to a crowd at the Presidential Palace in Sofia, calling for the death penalty to be reinstated, as well as Romani ghettos to be dismantled. [10]
Many of these organized protests were accompanied by ethnic clashes and racist violence against Romani. The protesters shouted racist slogans like "Gypsies into soap" and "Turks under the knife. "[11] Many protesters were arrested for public order offenses. [12][13] The news media labelled the protests as anti-Romani Pogroms. [11]
According to the BBC, President Georgy Parvanov called on the protesters for "an end to the language of hatred". [10] Parvanov and Prime Minister Boyko Borisov called a meeting of the national security council to address the issue. These protests came before the presidential elections on 23 October. Far-right Ataka party leader Volen Siderov tried to capitalise on the tensions and called for the death penalty to be reinstated and for Romani "ghettos" to be dismantled. [14]
The United Nations[5] and the OSCE[6] condemned the demonstrations and the violence. Reuters attributed the protests and civil disturbances to the lack of an effective justice system in the country. [15] Russian media emphasized the ethnic nature of the societal polarizations, expressing the belief that the Roma are indirectly benefiting due to a positive discrimination on the part of law enforcement agents. [16]
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Protest_Online Condemnation
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2016 Euro Beach Soccer Cup
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The 2016 Euro Beach Soccer Cup was the fifteenth edition of the Euro Beach Soccer Cup, one of Europe's main, regular international beach soccer championships, organised every two years by Beach Soccer Worldwide (BSWW). It was held in June 2016, in Belgrade, Serbia, the first time the country has hosted and played in a BSWW sanctioned event. [1]
Eight nations took part which were the best nations in Europe based on their finish in last years 2015 Euro Beach Soccer League, plus hosts Serbia. France, however, pulled out and were replaced by Hungary. The competition reverted to being a straight knock-out tournament instead of involving a group stage first as in the previous edition in 2014, with classifying matches to determine the final standings of those who didn't reach the final. Spain were the defending champions, accepting the invitation to play, but lost in the quarter finals, ultimately finishing seventh. Portugal won the championship, claiming their seventh crown, their first in 10 years. Italy reached their first final, finishing as runners-up. The following teams took part in the tournament. [2]
All times are CEST (UTC+2)
Main tournament bracket
Classification matches
The winners proceeded on in the main tournament into the semi-finals. The losers progressed into a series of classifying matches to determine the standings of fifth down to eighth place. The losers of the classifying semi finals contested 7th place. The winners of the classifying semi finals contested 5th place. The losers of the main tournament semi finals contested 3rd place. The winners of the main tournament semi finals contested the championship final.
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Sports Competition
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Russia to join World Trade Organization
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Europe
Russia to join World Trade Organization
Members of the State Duma are seen during a session in Moscow on July 10, 2012. The Russian parliament voted Tuesday to ratify the country’s accession to the World Trade Organization. (Misha Japaridze/AP)
Email Bio
July 10, 2012
MOSCOW — Russia’s parliament voted Tuesday to ratify the country’s accession to the World Trade Organization, capping 18 years of negotiations and wavering resolve.
President Vladimir Putin had supported the move, albeit at times unenthusiastically. As a member of the global system that is designed to ensure free trade, Russia will have to dismantle its protectionist policies, but the goal is to attract more foreign investors with the new reassurance that rules will be obeyed and not subject to bureaucratic caprices.
Membership becomes official in 30 days and will put U.S. companies at an immediate disadvantage. In 1974, a trade law amendment known as Jackson-Vanik was introduced to pressure the then-Soviet Union to allow Jews and others to emigrate, although the sanctions have been waived each year since the Soviet Union’s collapse. Once Russia joins the WTO, the amendment’s existence will put the United States in violation of the organization’s rules, resulting in unfavorable trade terms for U.S. firms doing business with Russia.
The vote in favor of ratification was 238 to 208, with opposition led by the Communists, who make up the second-largest group in the Duma, or lower house. They declared Russia’s industry too vulnerable to survive without protections. On Monday, they lost an appeal to the Constitutional Court against joining the WTO, but the ruling left the door open to further litigation.
“It’s important in many respects,” said Evsey Gurvich, head of the Economic Expert Group in Moscow. “It will remove some barriers for foreign trade, and it will enhance competition in the country.”
Playing by world rules, he said, will be as important for Russia as for foreign businesses. “We don’t have any rules of the game now,” Gurvich said, “and rules will benefit our economy.”
Putin, who once opposed WTO membership , changed his mind as financial crisis spread around the world. Russia, he decided, needed to be at the decision-making table when global events were affecting its economy.
“We joined the WTO because our economy is highly dependent on the external market in terms of both production and consumption,” he told investors at a recent economic forum. “Excessive protectionism invariably leads to stagnation, low quality and high prices.”
Russia does not expect that joining the WTO will, in the short run, help its exporters, because aside from raw materials the country manufactures little that is in demand globally. Pork producers, who have been protected by a high tariff on live swine, expect to take a hit, as do rice farms. Other agricultural companies here, including those that produce oil seeds, should benefit, because Russia will have to eliminate export tariffs.
But membership will prove successful only if the government works to make it so, said Peter Westin, chief equity strategist for Aton, an investment firm here.
“Membership gives you a framework,” Westin said. “If you join the WTO but don’t fight corruption, you won’t have as big of an effect.”
Signs of jockeying to protect domestic industry have emerged. Russia has raised the “scrapping” fees it adds to the price of an imported car to pay for its disposal at the end of its road life. That would make domestic cars more attractive price-wise.
The immediate cost to the Russian treasury in lost revenue will be $5.7 billion in 2013 and $7.8 billion in 2014, Economic Development Minister Andrei Belousov told parliament Tuesday. But he said the benefits from joining, in terms of more foreign investment, should offset some of those losses, RIA Novosti reported.
A delegation from Russia’s upper house, the Federation Council, is in Washington meeting with members of Congress over moves by the Obama administration and U.S. business leaders to repeal Jackson-Vanik. One of the arguments by the Russians is that Russia and Israel today allow reciprocal visa-free travel.
But there is a proposal to tie repeal of Jackson-Vanik to passage of the Magnitsky bill , which places U.S. visa and financial sanctions on Russian officials associated with the death in pretrial detention of a whistleblower who unearthed a $230 million tax fraud, only to be charged with the crime himself.
That bill has been denounced by Russian officials, who see it as an intrusion into their domestic affairs and worry about the precedent it would set.
The Obama administration has resisted the bill but is reportedly resigned to its passage.
Russia has a $1.9 trillion economy, making it the largest outside the WTO. According to different calculations, it ranks either ninth or 10th in the world.
More world news coverage:
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Join in an Organization
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Skygazers got up early to capture rare sunrise solar eclipse
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Skygazers in the Lehigh Valley and across the region had a show worth waking up early for Thursday as a partial solar eclipse occurred at sunrise. Clouds cleared over much of the area before the eclipse began around 5:30 a.m. Previous forecasts called for rain and cloudy skies as a cold front continued to move south. Marty McGuire, an amateur astronomer and NASA Solar System Ambassador from Bethlehem, picked out a spot along a field near Bath and was set up before 5 a.m. to try and capture the event. During an annular eclipse, the new moon is furthest from earth in its elliptical orbit. Since it can’t fully eclipse the sun, a fiery ring appears around the moon. That so-called “ring of fire” was only visible in parts of Canada, Greenland and Russia. Advertisement At its peak, more than 70% of the sun was blocked by the moon during a partial eclipse here in the Lehigh Valley, turning the sun into a crescent shape. According to NASA , this happens when the sun, moon and Earth are not lined up, leaving the sun to appear to have a dark shadow on only part of its surface. Anyone viewing the eclipse needed to use eye protection such as eclipse glasses. That’s because exposure to intense light from the sun during an eclipse can cause injuries to the eye that may not heal and can lead to permanent vision loss. Photographers and live streams sharing photos and video across social media captured some great views of the eclipse, especially in New York City and at the Jersey Shore. If you missed this eclipse, the U.S. will get back-to-back solar eclipses Oct. 14, 2023, and April 8, 2024. According to www.greatamericaneclipse.com/, the annular solar eclipse of 2023 will cross the country from Oregon to Texas. The total solar eclipse of 2024 will sweep North America from Mazatlan, Mexico, to Texas, the Midwest and New England, up to the Canadian Maritimes.
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New wonders in nature
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Florida-based health care systems merge to create 'Empath Health'
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Although Empath Health is the new brand identity, corporate naming for the new organizations is still being decided. The two legacy hospices — Tidewell Hospice and Suncoast Hospice — will continue to operate under their existing brands. Stratum Health System was created in 2015 as a not-for-profit health care network to support Tidewell Hospice, specializing in end-of-life and palliative care for people living with advanced illness and their families. Empath Health began in 1977 as Suncoast Hospice and has since grown to cater to pediatric patients, aging seniors and clients with HIV/AIDS. Together, the two organizations will create a bridge between chronic, advanced and terminal care for its patients, executives said. "Our colleagues have a gift for connecting with those we serve, for entering into another person’s experience and bringing ease, care, and of course, empathy," Empath president President Jonathan Fleece said. "The name 'Empath Health' feels like a natural progression for the Stratum colleagues because it is a name they have always embodied, and it now is a name they are proud to wear."
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Organization Merge
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Brazil on drought alert, faces worst dry spell in 91 years
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Heleno Campos Ferreira, 65, leads cattle to pasture in Pocoes municipality in Monteiro, Paraiba state, Brazil, February 12, 2017. REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino SAO PAULO, May 28 (Reuters) - Brazil’s government agencies warned of droughts this week as the country faces its worst dry spell in 91 years, increasing fears of energy rationing, hitting hydroelectric power generation and agriculture while raising the risk of Amazon fires. Late on Thursday, the Electricity Sector Monitoring Committee (CMSE), which is linked to Brazil's Mines and Energy Ministry, recommended that the water regulator ANA recognize a state of "water scarcity," after a prolonged drought hit Central and Southern parts of Brazil along the Paraná river basin. Separately, a weather monitoring agency linked to the Agriculture Ministry issued its first "emergency drought alert" for June to September, saying rains are likely to remain scarce in five Brazilian states during that period. The lack of rain across much of Brazil has negative implications for grain cultivation, livestock and electricity generation, as Brazil relies heavily on hydro dams for its power. The dry weather could lead to severe fires in the Amazon rainforest and Pantanal wetlands, scientists said. The CMSE said the lack of rain makes it important to relax restrictions on some hydroelectric plants to allow greater energy generation or more storage in certain regions. That will require difficult talks with politicians, the ANA and environmental protection agency Ibama. "Energy rationing is not envisaged, but if there is no relaxing of restrictions, there is no other way," said a source with knowledge of the situation. The Ministry of Mines and Energy said on Friday that it has sought to expand the supply of energy in Brazil, but ruled out carrying out an emergency process for hiring new capacity. "The current situation is challenging," it said in a statement, citing lower than usual reservoirs. "There is no provision for emergency energy contracting," it added. Drier-than-normal weather has hurt production of sugar and coffee in Brazil, the world's largest supplier of those products, pushing up futures prices for the commodities. Coffee futures touched a 4-1/2 year high on Friday with traders worried that critical soil moisture in Minas Gerais could affect the 2022 coffee crop as well. The Mines and Energy Ministry said dry conditions will persist in coming months, particularly in the Southeast and Center West regions.
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Droughts
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1987 Chapeltown riot
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The Chapeltown riots of 1987 took place in the Leeds district of Chapeltown in West Yorkshire, England. Widespread rioting in Chapeltown also occurred in 1975 and 1981. During the 1981 riots, rioting took place not only in Chapeltown, but also in London, Birmingham and Liverpool. [1]
The riots of 1987 began Sunday, 21 June, when a black teenager, 17 year old Marcus Skellington, was arrested and beaten by police. [2][3] It is estimated that 70 teenagers participated in smashing shop windows, looting and attacking police officers 22 and 21 June. On 23 June, shops, cars, and windows were burned, bombed and stoned, including a sex shop which was completely burnt down. [3][4] The burning of the sex shop was particularly significant for two reasons. First, it was not widely supported or wanted by the local community and had been protested prior to the riots. Second, it was believed that the police carried out surveillance of the Hayfield Pub car park for marijuana dealing from above the sex shop, despite the sex shop operating illegally at times. [3]
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Riot
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Lake Wyangan fish kill sparks anger, concerns for public health
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The carcasses of thousands of fish are lining the shores of Lake Wyangan in Griffith, much to the dismay of residents and the State Member, who has labelled the waterway a health hazard.
Andres Baren, who has fished at the lake for 15 years, said he was shocked to see dead Murray Cod, yellow belly perch, bony bream and carp lining its banks at the weekend.
"There were dead fish everywhere," Mr Baren said.
"I counted 34 cod, all just under a metre big, and then there were thousands of bony bream, yellow belly and smaller cod — it was impossible to count them all.
"It was so sad to see.
"These beautiful fish, this beautiful place, now it's all gone."
The size and cause of the fish kill are unclear, but Griffith City Mayor John Dal Broi said the incident had been reported to the NSW Environment Protection Authority and Department of Primary Industries, and was under investigation.
"We're testing the water, we've collected a number of fish to undergo tests and we're awaiting the results," Cr Dal Broi said.
"The fish fatalities are obviously very distressing and Council is making every endeavour to find out why this occurred."
The lake had a red alert for blue-green algae in place all summer and is currently on amber alert.
"I don’t think it's blue-green algae — the readings were amber and reducing," the Mayor said.
Shooters, Fishers and Farmers MP Helen Dalton said she suspected contaminated runoff could be to blame for the fish deaths.
Griffith City Council has appointed a project officer to improve the lake's water quality over three years, but Ms Dalton said more could have been done.
"They've done a lot of talking, that's for sure," she said.
"We have a resident in Griffith, Geoff Sainty, who's a world-leading expert on wetlands, but the Mayor and general manager refuse to bring him on board.
"He knows there's a solution and yes, it's going to take a little bit of time and money, but the lake is an asset to the community and it's now a health hazard.
"It needs to be fixed as soon as possible."
But Cr Dal Broi rejected these claims.
"A series of recommendations to council tomorrow night follow through on Mr Sainty's ideas," he said.
The council also plans to build a new pipeline to better circulate water through the lake and is proposing to revegetate areas where water enters the lake to improve filtering.
Ms Dalton said the health of the lake had been in decline since 2012.
"We used to waterski and sail and boat and row and fish, we even had an international rowing course — and all that has gone," Ms Dalton said.
"Now with our hot summers, we really need that lake in good condition."
Mr Baren agrees.
"The water quality at the lake has been neglected for years," he said.
"They used to go swimming and do a lot of water sports there, but nowadays you wouldn't even put your hand in the water.
"It's got a real strong smell, it's just not right."
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Environment Pollution
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Paradise Airlines Flight 901A crash
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Paradise Airlines Flight 901A was a scheduled passenger flight from San Jose, California, to South Lake Tahoe, California, that crashed near Genoa Peak, on the eastern side of Lake Tahoe, on March 1, 1964. The crash killed all 85 people aboard the Lockheed L-049 Constellation and destroyed the plane. An investigation concluded that the primary cause of the accident was the pilot's decision to attempt a visual landing approach in adverse weather. After aborting the landing attempt, the pilot lost awareness of his location as he flew below the minimum safe altitude in mountainous terrain. As he most likely tried to fly through a low mountain pass in an attempt to divert to the airport in Reno, Nevada, he crashed into the left shoulder of the pass. At the time, it was the second worst single-plane crash in United States history, and remains the worst accident involving the Lockheed L-049 Constellation. The airline involved, Paradise Airlines, was a two-year-old company that operated discount excursion flights from the San Francisco Bay Area to Lake Tahoe. After the accident, investigators from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) uncovered multiple safety violations by the company and grounded all of its flights. After an unsuccessful appeal by the company, the FAA revoked its operating certificate and Paradise Airlines permanently shut down. Flight 901A was one of two daily passenger flights operated by Paradise Airlines between San Jose and Lake Tahoe. [1] On the morning of March 1, 1964, it took off from the company's base at the Oakland International Airport with only the four crew members aboard, and made a special stop at nearby Salinas Airport to pick up a group of 18 passengers before proceeding to San Jose Airport where a full load of passengers was waiting to board. with the final 63 passengers. [2][3] There was only space for 63 of them, and fifteen had to wait because the aircraft was filled to capacity, and were put on a bus to Oakland to catch the later flight. [4] The aircraft, loaded with 81 passengers and 4 crew members, departed San Jose at 10:39 a.m. for the 50-minute flight to Lake Tahoe. [4] The passengers who had been transported to Oakland eventually learned that the second flight would be cancelled due to poor weather in the mountains. [4]
Although the U.S. Weather Bureau forecast for the Lake Tahoe region predicted poor flight conditions for aircraft, the Paradise Airlines dispatcher concluded that by the time Flight 901A would be arriving in the area, weather conditions would have improved, so he approved the aircraft's departure. [5](p2) En route, the crew of Flight 901A spoke to the company's other plane by radio, which had just left the Tahoe Airport on its way to Oakland. [5](p4) That crew said that they had encountered icing conditions at 12,000 feet, snow showers over Lake Tahoe, and that clouds had obscured the tops of mountains in the vicinity. [5](p4) At 11:21 am, the pilot of Flight 901A, near Lake Tahoe, reported that he had spotted a break in the cloud cover, that he could see the airport on the south shore of the lake, and that he was going to proceed with a visual approach. [4][6] At 11:27 am, the crew contacted the passenger agent for Paradise Airlines at Tahoe Valley Airport to let him know they were approaching. The agent told the pilots that the 11:00 a.m. Weather Bureau report listed the weather conditions as overcast, 2,000 ft. estimated ceiling, with 3 miles visibility. [5](p5) According to FAA regulations, the weather report had to have a minimum ceiling of 4,000 feet and 10 miles visibility before a commercial passenger aircraft could attempt an approach, so the landing would have violated FAA regulations under the conditions at the time. [7]
A witness on the ground reported that she saw the plane flying toward the airport, on the south end of Lake Tahoe, operating normally. [5](p6) She watched the aircraft approach the airport until it disappeared behind thin clouds, then heard the engines add power. [5](p6) Other witnesses heard a low flying plane, and later saw the aircraft flying back north towards the lake at around 500 feet above the ground, with the landing gear retracted, but the landing gear doors still open. [5](p6) Another witness further north saw the plane, with its gear up and the gear doors closed, flying towards the lake. [5](p7) A different witness further north reported seeing the plane about 500 feet above the ground, flying to the northwest, with the gear up. [5](p7) Shortly afterward, the witness described the weather deteriorating into blizzard conditions. [5](p7) At 11:30 am, three witnesses on the eastern shore of Lake Tahoe reported hearing a "large aircraft" flying overhead, heading in an easterly or northeasterly direction. [5](p7) At the time, it was snowing heavily and none of the witnesses saw the aircraft. [5](p7) Although some of the witnesses said they heard the engine sounds abruptly stop, they did not hear an explosion or a crash. [5](p7)
The aircraft struck the ground near the crest of a ridge on Genoa Peak, Nevada. [5](p7) The ridge, with a maximum height of 8,900 feet above sea level, forms the north shoulder of Daggett Pass, a pass several miles across which has an average elevation of 7,300 feet above sea level. [5](p7) At impact, the plane first struck several trees on the ridge's west slope, and the pattern of damage to those trees showed that the aircraft was in an almost level flight attitude at the time. [5](p8) The crash occurred just 25 to 30 feet below the top of the ridge, leaving a trail of wreckage approximately 900 feet long and no survivors. [6] If the aircraft had been only 100 feet more to the right, it would have cleared the ridge at the altitude it was flying. [7]
Paradise Airlines had been operating as an intrastate airline in California since 1962, and had not had any accidents in its history before this flight. [8][9] It is the worst accident involving the Lockheed L-049 Constellation,[10] and at the time was the second worst single-plane accident in United States history. [11][4]
When the aircraft was discovered to be missing, search efforts commenced, but because of the heavy snowstorms in the Tahoe area, efforts were severely limited on the first day. [4] Two small boats searched along a 10-mile stretch of the lake's shore, but by nightfall, the searchers had found no traces of the missing aircraft. Experienced ski rescue crews and mountaineers waited for a break in the weather before they could join the search. [4] By dawn the next morning, the weather had cleared enough to permit a large-scale search. [12] Air Force Lt. Col Alexander Sherry headed the operation, involving more than 50 planes and hundreds of people. [9] At 7:36 am, an Air Force helicopter spotted the wreckage of the aircraft on the ridge. [12] A second helicopter landed at the site and confirmed that the wreckage was from the missing flight, and that there were no survivors. [12]
Douglas County Sheriff deputies led a group of off-road vehicles to the crash scene and left two deputies to guard the wreckage through the night. [2] A bulldozer cleared a 3+1⁄2-mile (6 km) road to the site along an old logging track to make it easier for rescuers and investigators to reach it. [2][13] Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) investigators arrived at the scene of the crash to sift through the wreckage of the aircraft for clues to why it crashed.
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Air crash
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American Airlines Flight 625 crash
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The National Transportation Safety Board ruled yesterday that an American Airlines pilot made the wrong decision and thus crashed his jetliner at St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, last April. Thirty-seven people died in the crash. But while the board blamed the pilot, it also said that his actions immediately prior to the crash were ones "his experience would lead him to believe" were proper. According to the board, Capt. Arthur J. Bujnowski, who survived along with 51 others on board, had made 154 landings on the same runaway. The runaway at Harry S. Truman Airport on St. Thomas Island has been controversial for years. It is very short by jet standards, with a usable length of 5,158 feet, just under a mile long. (Runaways at Dullas International Airport are about two miles long.) Two hills stand immediately at one end of the runaway. The other end is at the Caribbean Sea. All approaches by air are from the sea. The Federal Aviation Administration has worried about it in official statements. In a 1972 report, an FAA official wrote that "while the airport may be considered safe from a regulatory standpoint, it is a marginal airport and potential for disaster is much higher than most other airports in the region." After years of local political wrangling and after the crash, the Virgin Islands Port Authority started a $52 million revamping of the airport. Included is a lengthening of the runway by 2,400 feet and the lowering of the two hills at one end of the runway. The FAA has granted $37 million to aid he project. The safety board in studying the April crash, concluded "that the airport, although less than ideal, is safe" for jets, provided such operations "are conducted within prescribed procedures." American Airlines Flight 625, from John F. Kennedy Airport in New York, had a normal flight into St. Thomas until it reached the point on the runway where 727 jetliners usually touch down. At that instant, the plane encountered a wind gust that forced the right wing to drop. The pilot made corrections, but the plane continued to float above the runway. The captain forced the plane to the ground. Then, he told the board, he decided it could not be stopped on the remaining runway. He attempted to take off. But a jet engine does not "rev up" immediately when power it applied - it takes a few seconds. The captain told the board he could see his plane was not "going anywhere," so he closed the throttles and applied the wheel brakes. The plane crashed through an antenna site, hit an embankment, became airborne again, destroyed several automobiles parked on a perimeter road and came to rest in a gasoline station. It caught fire immediately. Some of the firefighting equipment could not reach the plane immediately because of blocked roads and gates, and the firemen who did arrive had left some of the equipment they needed back at the firehouse, the board found. After the safety board held a public hearing on the crash, the Allied Pilots Association, which represents American pilots, complained in a letter to board Chairman Webster B. Todd Jr. that the history of the airport and the alleged inadequacy of the runway for jets had not been properly examined. There had been two previous jet crashes, but only two fatalities. Todd, in a telephone interview, said that his staff conducted a "fairly exhaustive analysis" of the airport data after the letter and concluded that the runway was not to blame. The pilot, the board said, should either have started to take off immediately after encountering the wind gust, or should have continued his attempts to stop the plane after he had forced it to the ground. Either action, the board said, would have prevented the crash. "Any carrier, pilot group or individual pilot can halt operation into any airport and report to the proper authority any known specific hazard condition," the board said. "The FAA witnesses testified that they were unaware of any such reports before this accident." An American Airlines spokesman said he had "no argument" with the safety board report. American is discontinuing jet service into St. Thomas beginning May 1, the spokesman said, while the airport construction project is under way. Instead, jet flights will land at another U.S. Virgin Island, St. Croix, with a propeller connection to St. Thomas. American has changed some instructions to its flight crews and the FAA has implemented the safety recommendations of the board since the crash, spokesmen said. Capt. Bujnowski is recovering from injuries suffered in the crash and is still employed by American. The other surviving flight crew members have returned to duty, an American spokesman said. politics
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Air crash
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Coral Gables attorney faces charges for several bank robberies in Miami-Dade
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Updated: October 21, 2020 6:16 pm Andrea Torres, Digital Journalist Liane Morejon, Reporter CORAL GABLES, Fla. – A 41-year-old Coral Gables attorney is facing federal charges for a series of bank robberies and attempted bank robberies in Coral Gables and Aventura. FBI agents identified the suspect on Wednesday as Aaron Honaker. Coral Gables police officers arrested him during an attempted bank robbery on Tuesday night, FBI agents said, adding that the ongoing investigation also involves the Aventura Police Department. According to Wake Forest University Law School’s registrar office, Honaker received his Juris Doctor degree there on Dec. 10, 2005. State records show he was admitted to the Florida Bar on Jan. 31, 2008, and is a member in good standing. At the beginning of his career, Honaker was recruited by a top international law firm in Brickell and he worked there for about three years. Colleagues at boutique firms in Coral Gables described him as a “highly intelligent” and “brilliant” attorney who is “disciplined” and “sharp.” “I have no explanation as to how he got to this point,” a former colleague said. In several professional online profiles, Honaker described himself as a litigator in “all matters related to corporate and commercial relationships." His experience includes implementing a plan of reorganization through a $1.6 billion equity infusion transaction with Merrill Lynch, now Bank of America. The Florida Bar and a Linkedin profile list Honaker as a Duke Law School graduate, but a spokesman for the university said on Wednesday afternoon that there is no registrar record of him ever being a student there. On Dec. 10, 2019, officers arrested Honaker for battery after a domestic violence call. He completed pre-trial release conditions and the court issued a discharge certificate on Jan. 8, 2020. About eight months later, FBI agents accused Honaker of targeting four banks in Coral Gables and one in Aventura during a two-week crime spree. According to Coral Gables Police Chief Edward Hudak, Sgt. Ted Nguyen spotted Honaker on Tuesday outside of a bank in downtown Coral Gables and arrested him before he could “strike again.” Officer Robert Alonso attributed the arrest to Detective Nguyen’s years of experience. The banks in Coral Gables are the Citibank branch at 396 Alhambra Circle targeted on Sept. 30; a Wells Fargo Bank branch at 2555 Ponce De Leon Blvd. targeted on Oct. 5; the Chase Bank branch at 355 Alhambra Circle targeted on Oct. 10; and the HSBC Bank branch at 2222 Ponce De Leon Blvd. targeted on Oct. 15. The bank in Aventura is the Chase Bank branch at 20880 Biscayne Blvd., which Honaker is accused of targeting on Oct. 3.
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Bank Robbery
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Mahadi Muhamad Mukhtar robbed a moneylending company with a revolver
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SINGAPORE - An Aetos officer was charged on Wednesday (April 14) under the Arms Offences Act for allegedly robbing a moneylending company of more than $24,000 in cash while armed with a revolver, the first time in 15 years a gun was used in an armed robbery. Mahadi Muhamad Mukhtar, 38, had approached staff at OT Credit, located at Block 135 Jurong Gateway Road, at about 3.30pm on April 12. The police said in a statement on Wednesday morning that preliminary investigations revealed that staff at the unit were shown a handwritten note that said: "This is a robbery, don't shout. I got a gun in my pocket. Put all the money in the bag." The staff purportedly handed him the cash before he fled. Mahadi was allegedly carrying a firearm during the robbery but did not reveal it to the staff. He is believed to have acted alone, said the police, adding that the last armed robbery involving a firearm happened in 2006 at a 4-D outlet at Sun Plaza shopping centre. This is the second time that OT Credit has been targeted by armed robbers. Last November, four men allegedly robbed the moneylending company of $48,000 in cash while armed with a karambit knife. Kotta Kumar Jeswanth, now 19, was sentenced in February to undergo reformative training for a minimum of one year. This means that he will be detained in a centre and made to follow a strict regimen that includes foot drills and counselling. The cases involving three other men are still pending. In the latest case, police said officers from the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), Police Intelligence Department and Clementi Police Division, with the help of Aetos staff, were able to identify the suspect as an on-duty Aetos auxiliary police officer. Mahadi was arrested within five hours of the robbery. Police, without identifying Mahadi by name, said the suspect had reported to work at the Aetos headquarters in Corporation Drive prior to the commencement of his deployment on Monday and drawn his firearm. But he then changed out of his uniform and left the headquarters with his firearm without authorisation. After allegedly committing the offence, Mahadi returned to the headquarters, put on his uniform and rode in the company's van to his deployment location. Police said investigations also showed that he purportedly deposited part of the stolen cash in the bank account of his female friend. Nur Shana Mohd Taib, 34, was charged on Wednesday afternoon with one count of receiving stolen property. Nur Shana, who is alleged to have received $10,000 shortly after the robbery, was also arrested. Mahadi allegedly also transferred the stolen cash to a few bank accounts to repay his debt to unlicensed moneylenders. The police have since arrested eight other individuals, aged between 16 and 48, in relation to the robbery. About $17,500 of the cash has been recovered, with efforts to recover the rest under way, said police. Mahadi was charged in court on Wednesday morning with the offences, including being in unlawful possession of arms or ammunition in the commission of a scheduled offence. He has been remanded and is expected to be back in court for a further mention of his case on April 21. If convicted, he will face life imprisonment and no fewer than six strokes of the cane. Nur Shana has also been remanded to assist in investigations before returning to court on April 21. If convicted, she could be jailed for up to five years, or fined, or both. Aetos, in a media statement, did not identify Mahadi by name but said he was an auxiliary police officer who performed general security. It added that the company is extending its fullest cooperation to the authorities in their investigation. "Aetos has zero tolerance for any form of criminal conduct by any of its employees, especially the unlawful use of firearms. We impose stringent regulations, safeguards and a strict code of conduct on all auxiliary police officers to ensure that they are fit for duty and to carry firearms," the company said. CID director How Kwang Hwee said the armed robbery suspect had abused the firearm entrusted to him to carry out his duties. "Police officers worked swiftly to secure his arrest, aided by images from police cameras and shop CCTVs. We managed to do so without harm being caused to the public, given the risk that the robber was allegedly carrying a firearm. "The police will spare no effort to ensure that such criminals who endanger the public's safety are dealt with firmly and severely in accordance with the law," added Senior Assistant Commissioner How.
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Bank Robbery
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North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Thursday night headed for the Demilitarized Zone for a historic summit with South Korean President Moon Jae-in in the strip of land that divides their countries
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North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Thursday night headed for the Demilitarized Zone for a historic summit with South Korean President Moon Jae-in in the strip of land that divides their countries, AFP reported.
The meeting on the southern side of the truce village of Panmunjom, only the third of its kind since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War, will be the highest-level encounter yet between the two countries, and is intended to pave the way for a much-anticipated encounter between Kim and U.S. President Donald Trump.
In the most detailed direct reference to the process by the North so far, Pyongyang's official KCNA news agency said Kim will "open-heartedly discuss... all the issues arising in improving inter-Korean relations and achieving peace, prosperity and reunification of the Korean peninsula."
Moon greeted Kim at the concrete blocks that mark the border between the two Koreas in the Demilitarized Zone to begin the rare meeting. When Kim stepped over the line he became the first North Korean leader to set foot in the South since the Korean War ended 65 years ago.
The North's nuclear arsenal will be high on the agenda at the talks.
The White House welcomed the Moon-Kim meeting.
“On the occasion of Republic of Korea President Moon Jae-in’s historic meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, we wish the Korean people well. We are hopeful that talks will achieve progress toward a future of peace and prosperity for the entire Korean Peninsula. The United States appreciates the close coordination with our ally, the Republic of Korea, and looks forward to continuing robust discussions in preparation for the planned meeting between President Donald J. Trump and Kim Jong Un in the coming weeks," it said in a statement.
Trump in March unexpectedly agreed to a meeting with Kim, to be held by the end of May. Kim later acknowledged for the first time his country’s contacts with the United States.
U.S. officials recently said North Korea had directly confirmed that Kim was willing to negotiate about potential denuclearization. Last week, Kim himself announced that his country would close its nuclear test site and suspend long-range missile tests.
Last year, Pyongyang carried out its sixth nuclear test, by far its most powerful to date, and launched missiles capable of reaching the U.S. mainland. Those actions sent tensions soaring as Kim and Trump traded personal insults and threats of war.
Moon seized on the South's Winter Olympics as an opportunity to broker dialogue between them, and has said his meeting with Kim will serve to set up the summit between Pyongyang and Washington.
Trump has demanded the North give up its weapons, and Washington is pressing for it to do so in a complete, verifiable and irreversible way.
Administration officials said this week that Trump will urge North Korea to act quickly to dismantle its nuclear arsenal when he meets Kim and is not willing to grant Pyongyang substantial sanctions relief in return for a freeze of its nuclear and missile tests.
Trump reiterated on Tuesday that he would walk away from the talks with North Korea if they are not fruitful.
"Unlike past administrations, I will leave the table," he said. "But I think we have the chance to do something very special."
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Diplomatic Visit
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U.S. national anthem protests (2016–present)
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Since August 2016, some American athletes have protested against police brutality and racism[2][4][5][6][7] by kneeling on one knee during the U.S. national anthem. [8] Beginning in 2017, many players also protested against President Donald Trump's criticisms of those involved in the protest, and some against Trump's policies since taking office. [8] Some observers have described the protests as politically motivated or patriotic and have praised the players' social awareness, while others have criticized the attention given to social issues during sporting events, and called the protests unpatriotic or disrespectful. [9] The act itself has become widely referred to as "taking the knee" or "taking a knee". [10]
The protests began in the National Football League (NFL) after San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick sat and later knelt during the anthem, before his team's preseason games of 2016. [11] Throughout the following seasons, members of various NFL and other sports teams have engaged in similar silent protests. On September 24, 2017, the NFL protests became more widespread when over 200 players sat or knelt in response to Trump's call for owners to "fire" the protesting players. [12]
It is a tradition in the United States to play "The Star-Spangled Banner", the national anthem, before sporting events. [13] According to the United States Code, those present should stand at attention with right hand over heart. [14][15][16] National Football League (NFL) players were not mandated to be on the field for the playing of the national anthem until 2009. [17] In 2016 the NFL stated that "players are encouraged but not required to stand during the playing of the National Anthem"; its game operations manual reads that players "should stand" for the anthem. [18]
The people of the United States are widely divided on the intended meaning of the anthem. Some believe it salutes military and police officers who have died on duty; for others, it honors the United States generally. [13][19] Between 2012 and 2015, the Department of Defense gave $6.8 million to teams across all major sports in exchange for holding various military and patriotic events at their games, including the performance of the national anthem. [17][20]
Kaepernick and his 49ers teammate Eric Reid said they choose to kneel in San Diego during the anthem to call attention to the issues of racial inequality and police brutality. "After hours of careful consideration, and even a visit from Nate Boyer, a retired Green Beret and former NFL player, we came to the conclusion that we should kneel, rather than sit, ... during the anthem, as a peaceful protest," said Reid. "We chose to kneel because it's a respectful gesture. I remember thinking our posture was like a flag flown at half-mast to mark a tragedy. "[21] Some regard kneeling as disrespectful to those who have died or been wounded in service of the United States, such as police officers or military veterans. [22] Torrey Smith, a wide receiver for the Carolina Panthers, said in an interview: "I understand why people are offended by people protesting the National Anthem. My father served 25 years. When he dies, he's going to be wrapped in an American flag. But my dad is also out of the Army, and he drives trucks all over the country, and he's a black man everywhere he goes, and sometimes he has racial incidents still today. That doesn't protect him, just because he served our country. And I think that's important. "[23]
Kaepernick has said on numerous occasions that the sole purpose of kneeling during the national anthem is not to disrespect the military personnel at all, but rather that his goal is to use his social platform to bring topics regarding police brutality and oppression of people of color to light. "I am not going to get up to show pride in a country that oppresses black people and people of color. "[24] Kaepernick has expressed his concerns about how his actions have been labeled as "anthem protest", since he considers this to be a diversion strategy from his critics to deviate the discussion from what really matters. "I am not protesting the anthem or the nation, I'm protesting organised brutality. To me, this is much bigger than football and it would be selfish to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder.”[25]
After Kaepernick started his campaign to create awareness about excess police brutality towards minorities, especially African-Americans, commentators have mainly shifted focus to the patriotic aspect of kneeling rather than the meaning behind it; thus weakening Kaepernick's primary goal. [26] One political person that players believe completely misinterpreted the act of kneeling was former President Trump, since he repeatedly claimed that players are protesting the flag and the national anthem; however, players are for the most part protesting the lack of accountability in the judicial system, and the way police officers can easily get away with police brutality towards African-Americans. [27]
Kaepernick was not able to sign a contract with any NFL team even after he opted out of his contract with the 49ers and became a free agent in 2017, presumably because of his actions of taking a knee. [28] Nevertheless, even though Kaepernick was no longer on the sideline, his movement did not stop but rather gained more participants. [28]
Criminal justice reform is one of the top issues that NFL players have been supporting in their protests. [29] Kaepernick was initially moved to protest by the deaths of African-Americans at the hands of police or while in police custody. These deaths gained prominence through the media and the Black Lives Matter movement in the years immediately preceding the protest. [30] During a post-game interview on August 26, 2016, he stated, "I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color. To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder", adding that he would continue to protest during the anthem until he feels like "[the United States flag] represents what it's supposed to represent. "[31][32]
After that interview, Kaepernick pledged to donate the first $1 million of his $11.9 million salary from the 2016–2017 season to different organizations that help communities in need. [33] He pledged to donate $100,000 per month for 10 months to various organizations. [34] Days later, the San Francisco 49ers matched Kaepernick by pledging $1 million to two organizations addressing racial and social inequality. [35] Kaepernick has been following through on his commitment and has donated $900,000 as of September 2017 to groups including Meals on Wheels, United We Dream, Black Veterans for Social Justice and many others. [36][37] Kaepernick has also held "Know Your Rights" camps for young people of color. [38] The camps include legal education from attorneys that give advice on how to interact with police when being detained and lectures from prominent academics on the history of the Civil Rights Movement in the United States. [39][40] The National Football League Players Association (NFLPA) named Kaepernick the Week One MVP in September 2017 for his charity work related to the protest. [41] Kaepernick also joined the 10 for 10 challenge, which basically consists of donating ten thousand dollars for ten consecutive days. Some major celebrities that matched Kaepernick's donations include basketball players Steph Curry and Kevin Durant, tennis player Serena Williams, singer Usher, and rappers Snoop Dogg, Meek Mill. [42]
Commentators pointed out that players are about 70% African-American, and all but 6 out of 64 coaches and general managers are White.
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Protest_Online Condemnation
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Norwich goalkeeper Dan Barden diagnosed with testicular cancer
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Barden was on loan with Livingston but will now take a break from football; Barden: "It has been a very difficult and challenging period, but the support of my family, friends and colleagues has helped get me through the last few weeks."
Fill 2 Copy 11
Monday 18 October 2021 11:50, UK
Image: Dan Barden is currently on loan at Livingston
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Norwich City goalkeeper Dan Barden has been diagnosed with testicular cancer.
The 20-year-old is on loan with Scottish Premiership side Livingston but he will now spend some time away from football.
Norwich said: "After the initial diagnosis, Barden has since undergone follow up tests and will continue with a closely monitored treatment programme over the coming period."
Barden said: "It has been a very difficult and challenging period, but the support of my family, friends and colleagues has helped get me through the last few weeks.
"I can't thank the medical departments at both Norwich and Livingston enough, as well as everyone at the Royal Marsden Hospital.
Image: The 20-year old will take a break from football following the diagnosis
"The speed at which everything has moved has been crazy, but everyone has been absolutely brilliant with me.
"Both Daniel Farke and the Livingston manager, David Martindale, have also been very supportive.
"The initial diagnosis was a real shock for me, but the positive thing is that we've caught it early and the prognosis and next steps have all been positive.
"I'm optimistic and have a positive mindset. I'm confident that I'll be able to beat it and that I'll be back out there doing what I love soon.
"I'd like to thank everyone around me for their support. I know that the coming period will be challenging and would ask for privacy for me and my family at this stage. Where possible, I'll do what I can to update on my progress.
"Thank you once again for the support. See everyone soon."
Image: Norwich say Barden 'will continue with a closely monitored treatment programme over the coming period'.
Norwich City sporting director Stuart Webber said: "Everyone at Norwich City wishes Dan a speedy recovery.
"Our love and thoughts are with him and his family as he starts this latest challenge in his life.
"Dan is part of our family and we look out for our own. He knows we are with him every step of the way.
"The care and attention Dan has had so far has been top class. We thank everyone who has looked out for him and we are grateful for Livingston, for acting on Dan's symptoms and alerting us."
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Famous Person - Sick
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Poisoned NSW wetlands given new life after lengthy decontamination
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One of the most polluted natural environments in New South Wales has been given new life.
For a five-year period in the 1960s and 1970s, heavy metals including arsenic, antimony and mercury leached from an ore processing plant into melaleuca wetlands at Urunga on the Mid North Coast.
The poisonous chemicals disrupted the natural habitat and made the area a health risk.
The former ore processing plant at Urunga stood between the old Pacific Highway and a state significant wetland, which feeds into the local lagoon.
Last year the State Government announced the site would be remediated and the contaminated materials would be removed.
More than a year later, the project is close to completion.
On a visit to the site this week, Minister for Primary Industries Niall Blair said the final price tag of nine million dollars, more than double the original projection of four million, was necessary to have the area properly cleaned up.
"When you look at the type of ecology that we have here and the limited use of the site when it was not remediated, this is money well spent," he said.
"It's certainly something of periods gone by ... they did practices differently than what we do today. "But to make sure that this site has been remediated, cleaned up and returned back to the community is a fantastic result."
Member for Oxley Melinda Pavey said the rejuvenated wetlands were part of a bigger transformation for the town, which has recently been bypassed as part of the Pacific Highway duplication project.
Works to mitigate erosion and renew dilapidated boathouses on the nearby Kalang River foreshore will also take place over the next year.
"This is a particularly exciting time for tourism and the local economy in Urunga, we have all these elements coming together," Ms Pavey said.
"We now as a community have to come together and work out the best way to showcase this part of the world."
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Environment Pollution
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The Celebrity Engagements of 2021
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The Today show contributor is ready to say "I do" – round two! On Nov. 21, Martin revealed that she and Brooks were engaged for the second time . The couple got engaged in 2019, but split in 2020. At the time, the TV personality said in a statement shared with PEOPLE that the long-distance relationship amid the COVID-19 pandemic had "taken a toll" on them. "Deciding to end our engagement last year was heart-wrenching," she wrote in an essay for Today.com . "I used to say, 'It literally takes my breath away to picture my life without him.' But our relationship couldn't stay the way it was. We needed a pause. A long pause. And we took it." After spending time apart, Martin reached out to the private equity exec, and the two took time to "learn about each other again." Now, Martin said that she and her man "laugh all the time" together, and look forward to tying the knot. "It took me 45 years to find my fairy tale. When I realized I was confident on my own, that's when I knew Erik and I were ready to get back together," she wrote in her post. "The realistic version of my fairy tale was ready to be written."
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Famous Person - Marriage
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Asiana Airlines Flight 214 crash
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Asiana Airlines Flight 214 was a scheduled transpacific passenger flight originating from Incheon International Airport near Seoul, South Korea. On the morning of July 6, 2013, the Boeing 777-200ER crashed on final approach into San Francisco International Airport in the United States. Of the 307 people on board, 3 died; another 187 were injured, 49 of them seriously. [1]:13 Among the seriously injured were four flight attendants who were thrown onto the runway while still strapped in their seats when the tail section broke off after striking the seawall short of the runway. It was the first fatal crash of a Boeing 777 since the aircraft type entered service in 1995. [2]
The investigation by the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) concluded that the accident was caused by the flight crew's mismanagement of the airplane's final approach. Deficiencies in Boeing's documentation of complex flight control systems and in Asiana Airlines' pilot training were also cited as contributory factors. [1]:129
On July 6, 2013, Flight OZ214 took off from Incheon International Airport (ICN) at 5:04 p.m. KST (08:04 UTC), 34 minutes after its scheduled departure time. It was scheduled to land at San Francisco International Airport (SFO) at 11:04 a.m. PDT (18:04 UTC). [3]
The instrument landing system's vertical guidance (glide slope) on Runway 28L was unavailable, as it had taken out of service on June 1 and a notice to airmen to that effect had been issued. [4] Therefore, a precision ILS approach to the runway was not possible. The flight was cleared for a visual approach to Runway 28L at 11:21 a.m. PDT, and told to maintain a speed of 180 knots (330 km/h; 210 mph) until the aircraft was 5 miles (8.0 km) from the runway. At 11:26 a.m., Northern California TRACON ("NorCal Approach") passed air traffic control to the San Francisco tower. A tower controller acknowledged the second call from the crew at 11:27 a.m. when the plane was 1.5 miles (2.4 km) away, and gave clearance to land. [5]
The weather was very good; the latest METAR reported light wind, 10 miles (16 km) visibility (the maximum it can report), no precipitation, and no forecast or reports of wind shear. The pilots performed a visual approach[6][7] assisted by the runway's precision approach path indicator (PAPI). [8]
Preliminary analysis indicated that the plane's approach was too slow and too low. Eighty-two seconds before impact, at an altitude of about 1,600 feet (490 m),[2] the autopilot was turned off, the throttles were set to idle, and the plane was operated manually during final descent. [9] NTSB chairman Deborah Hersman stated the pilots did not "set the aircraft for an auto-land situation ... They had been cleared for a visual approach and they were hand-flying the airplane," adding: "During the approach there were statements made in the cockpit first about being above the glide path, then about being on the glide path, then later reporting about being below the glide path. All of these statements were made as they were on the approach to San Francisco..." Based on preliminary data from the flight data recorder (FDR), the NTSB found that the plane's airspeed on final approach had fallen well below its target approach speed. A preliminary review of FAA radar return data did not show an abnormally steep descent curve,[10][11][12] although the crew did recognize that they began high on the final approach. [5]
At a height of 125 feet (38 m), eight seconds before impact, the airspeed had dropped to 112 knots (207 km/h; 129 mph). According to initial reports from the cockpit crew, the plane's autothrottle was set for the correct reference speed, but until the runway's precision approach path indicator (PAPI) showed them significantly below the glide path, the pilots were unaware that the autothrottle was failing to maintain that speed. The instructor pilot stated that the PAPI indicated a deviation below the glide path at approximately 500 ft (150 m) above ground level, and he attempted to correct it at that time. Between 500 and 200 ft (152 and 61 m), the instructor pilot also reported a lateral deviation that the crew attempted to correct. [13] Seven seconds before impact, one pilot called for an increase in speed. [6][14] The FDR showed the throttles were advanced from idle at that time. [10] The instructor pilot reported that he had called for an increase in speed, but that the pilot flying had already advanced the throttles by the time that he reached for the throttles. [13] The sound of the stick shaker (warning of imminent stall) could be heard four seconds before impact on the cockpit voice recorder. [6] Airspeed reached a minimum of 103 knots (191 km/h; 119 mph) (34 knots below the target speed) three seconds before impact, with engines at 50% power and increasing. [10] The co-pilot called for a go-around 1.5 seconds before impact. [6][15][16] At impact, airspeed had increased to 106 knots (196 km/h; 122 mph). [10][17]
At 11:28 a.m., HL7742[20] crashed short of Runway 28L's threshold. The landing gear and then the tail struck the seawall that projects into San Francisco Bay. [8][21][22][23] The left engine and the tail section separated from the aircraft. [24] The NTSB noted that the main landing gear, the first part of the aircraft to hit the seawall, "separated cleanly from [the] aircraft as designed" to protect the wing fuel tank structure. [25][23][1]:34 The vertical and both horizontal stabilizers fell on the runway before the threshold. [26]
The remainder of the fuselage and wings rotated counter-clockwise approximately 330 degrees as the plane slid westward. Video showed it pivoting about the wing and the nose while sharply inclined to the ground. It came to rest to the left of the runway, 2,400 ft (730 m) from the initial point of impact at the seawall. [2]
After a minute or so, a dark plume of smoke was observed rising from the wreckage. The fire was traced to a ruptured oil tank above the right engine. The leaking oil fell onto the hot engine and ignited. [13] The fire was not fed by jet fuel. [25][23] All three fire handles were extended; these operate safety equipment intended to extinguish fires on the aircraft (a handle for each engine and the auxiliary power unit). The speedbrake lever was down, showing that it was not being used. [27]
Two evacuation slides were deployed on the left side of the airliner and used for evacuation. [24][28] Despite damage to the aircraft, "many ... were able to walk away on their own. "[7] The slides for the first and second doors on the right side of the aircraft (doors 1R and 2R) deployed inside the aircraft during the crash, pinning the flight attendants seated nearby.
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Air crash
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US Army and nine other nations kick off Combined Resolve exercise in Bavaria
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GRAFENWOEHR, Germany — Some 4,700 troops from nine allied and partner nations were scheduled to arrive at the U.S. Army’s largest training area in Europe Monday for an exercise seeking to test the readiness of U.S. troops to fight potential Russian aggression. Forces from Bosnia-Herzegovina, Georgia, Italy, Kosovo, Lithuania, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania and Slovenia will be in Germany for the Combined Resolve XV exercise. They’ll train with soldiers from the 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division out of Fort Hood, Texas, which last year began a nine-month rotation in Germany, the 7th Army Training Center told Stars and Stripes by email. The multinational troops were set to go into quarantine upon arriving in Bavaria, the email said. With the exercise taking place for the second time in the shadow of the coronavirus pandemic, troops from all countries involved are subject to strict efforts to prevent illness, including restriction of movement and regular testing, the 7th ATC said in a separate statement. The exercise, which runs until March 5, is part of Atlantic Resolve, an effort launched by the U.S. in 2014 after Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula and invaded eastern Ukraine. It is designed to help the U.S. and its partners and allies to build “critical war fighting skills that will enable the team to fight and win,” said Col. Monte’ Rone, commander of the 1st Cavalry Division, in a statement. It will take place at Grafenwoehr and at the Joint Multinational Readiness Center in Hohenfels, home to the only Army combat training center outside the continental U.S., the 7th ATC said. Live-fire exercises are expected to take place next week. U.S. Army Europe and Africa leads Atlantic Resolve’s land efforts, which include rotating U.S.-based units. Other U.S. units set to take part include the 101st Combat Aviation Brigade, which is the current Atlantic Resolve aviation rotation, and units permanently stationed in Germany. They include U.S. Special Operations Command Europe forces and several units under the Kaiserslautern-based 21st Theater Sustainment Command, the 7th Army Training Center said in a statement.
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Military Exercise
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2010 eruptions of Mount Merapi
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In late October 2010, Mount Merapi in Central Java, Indonesia, began an increasingly violent series of eruptions that continued into November. Seismic activity around the volcano increased from mid-September onwards, culminating in repeated outbursts of lava and ashes. Large eruption columns formed, causing numerous pyroclastic flows down the heavily populated slopes of the volcano. Merapi's eruption was said by authorities to be the largest since the 1870s. Over 350,000 people were evacuated from the affected area. However, many remained behind or returned to their homes while the eruptions were continuing. 353 people were killed during the eruptions,[1] many as a result of pyroclastic flows. [2][3][4][5] The ash plumes from the volcano also caused major disruption to aviation across Java. The mountain continued to erupt until 30 November 2010. On 3 December 2010 the official alert status was reduced to level 3, from level 4, as the eruptive activity had subsided. [6]
In late October 2010 the Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation, Geological Agency (CVGHM), (Pusat Vulkanologi & Mitigasi Bencana Geologi, Badan Geologi-PVMBG), reported that a pattern of increasing seismicity from Merapi had begun to emerge in early September. Observers at Babadan 7 kilometres (4.3 mi) west and Kaliurang 8 km (5.0 mi) south of the mountain reported hearing an avalanche on 12 September 2010. On 14 September 2010 white plumes were observed rising 800 metres (2,600 ft) above the crater. Lava dome inflation, detected since March, increased from background levels of 0.1 to 0.3 millimetres (0.0039 to 0.012 in) per day to a rate of 11 mm (0.43 in) per day on 16 September. On 19 September 2010 earthquakes continued to be numerous, and the next day CVGHM raised the Alert Level to 2 (on a scale of 1–4). [7] Lava from Mount Merapi began flowing down the Gendol River on 23–24 October signalling the likelihood of an imminent eruption. [8]
On 25 October 2010 the Indonesian government raised the alert for Mount Merapi to its highest level (4) and warned villagers in threatened areas to move to safer ground. People living within a 10 km (6.2 mi) zone were told to evacuate. The evacuation orders affected at least 19,000 people however the number that complied at the time remained unclear to authorities. [9] Officials said about 500 volcanic earthquakes had been recorded on the mountain over the weekend of 23–24 October, and that the magma had risen to about a 1 km (3,300 ft) below the surface due to the seismic activity. [10]
Merapi erupted three times on Monday afternoon spewing lava down its southern and south-eastern slopes. Three major eruptions were recorded at 14:04, 14:24 and 15:15 local time. [11] On this day, 222 volcanic seismic events and 454 avalanche seismic events were recorded by Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation monitoring staff at Merapi. [12]
The eruptions on Tuesday started at 17:02. By 18:54 pyroclastic activity had begun to subside following 12 eruption-associated events being recorded by CVGHM monitors. 232 volcanic seismic events, 269 avalanche seismic events, 4 lava flow seismic events and 6 pyroclastic flows were recorded in the 24 hours of 26 October. The eruptive events were classified as explosive events with volcanic bursts of ejected material, visible flame and pyroclastic hot air flows. A column of smoke rose from the top to a vertical distance of 1.5 km (4,900 ft) from the summit of Mount Merapi. [12] The first fatalities occurred on this day. On Friday eruptive activity included lava ejection with hot ash clouds reported to be flowing 3 km (1.9 mi) down the slopes of the mountain and lasting four to nine minutes. Ash falls reached as far as the Central Java town of Magelang. Scientists monitoring the volcano including Surono, chief of the Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation Center (PVMBG), expressed optimism that the volcanic activity should decrease following the release of lava. Safari Dwiyono, a scientist monitoring Mt. Merapi for 15 years, said the volcanic activity appeared to be easing pressure behind a lava dome that had formed in the crater. [13][14] The International Red Cross reported that on 29 October, from 07:23 to 21:40, pyroclastic flow from Merapi struck Lamat River, Senowo River, and Krasak River. [15]
By early on the morning of Saturday 30 October the volcano was erupting again. Sri Sumarti, head of the Merapi section at the Volcano Investigation and Technology Development Institution (BPPTK), reported the eruptions were louder and stronger than those of 26 October. Ash from the eruptions on 30 October fell more than 30 km (19 mi) away and now included ash falls upon the city of Yogyakarta. Soldiers and police posted nearest the volcano were seen fleeing along with hundreds of residents who quickly clogged roads with cars and motorcycles. Black soot fell across a vast area. The morning eruptions lasted for 22 minutes while pyroclastic flows flowed into the Krasak and Boyong Rivers and rose 3.5 km (11,000 ft) into the air, drifting westward toward Magelang. Yogyakarta's Adisucipto Airport was closed temporarily between 05:00 to 07:00. Later that day, Subandrio, head of the BPPTK suggested there would be further eruptions as magma continued to push its way up into the volcano's lava dome. [16][17] A pyroclastic river flowed from Merapi again on 30 October 2010 at 00:35. A pyroclastic flow headed toward Gendol River, Kuning River, Krasak River, and Boyong River. This was then followed by an explosion from Merapi resulting in a two-kilometre vertical high fire ball rising from the top of the mountain. This eruption caused raining sand to fall on areas to a radius of up to 10 km (6.2 mi) from the volcano. [18] Amongst activities from government and NGO's the Indonesian Red Cross and Red Crescent (PMI) had by this time fielded up to 398 volunteers from branches in the provinces of Central Java, and Yogyakarta. These volunteers assisted in disseminating information to communities to warn of Merapi's level IV volcanic activity. PMI also provided meals for 1,000 displaced people in the Dompol camp.
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Volcano Eruption
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