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Longest lunar eclipse of the century coming on Nov 19; may last up to 3.28 hours
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Longest partial lunar eclipse of this century will be witnessed this November as reported by the space agency, NASA. New Delhi: According to NASA, the longest partial lunar eclipse of this century will be seen on November 19 and will be most visible in North America. In 2 weeks from now, Earth will pass between Sun and Moon, creating a shadow on the Moon’s surface. Reportedly, the eclipse would remain up to 3.28 hours. During this time 95% of the moon will appear in red. Likely, the eclipse will stay longer than other eclipses between 2001 and 2100. The phenomenon will have its peak at 4 AM ET (1:30 PM IST). People residing in northeastern states of India including Assam and Arunachal Pradesh may witness the longest lunar eclipse. Besides, people in North America will have a clear view of the event. The night gazers, astronomers, and amateur skywatchers on the east coast of America will get the best view from 2 AM to 4 AM ET. All 50 states in the US and Mexico will be able to witness the change. Apart from America, South America, Eastern Asia, the Pacific region and Australia will also be able to see the phenomenon. NASA stated that the Earth will experience a total of 228 lunar eclipses in the 21st century. Probably, there will be two lunar eclipses in a month and also three other eclipses. “A partial lunar eclipse is on the way, taking place overnight on November 18th and 19th, when the Moon slips into Earth’s shadow for a couple of hours. Weather permitting, the eclipse will be visible from any location where the Moon appears above the horizon during the eclipse. Depending on your time zone, it’ll occur earlier or later in the evening for you,” NASA wrote on their website. “Now that’s a huge swath of the planet that’ll be able to see at least part of the eclipse, including North and South America, Eastern Asia, Australia, and the Pacific Region. So check the timing of its visibility for your area,” it added. NASA also reported that the frost moon will be accompanying the partial lunar eclipses this month. Frost moon is known as the last full moon of autumn.
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New wonders in nature
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11 And Counting, Cristiano Ronaldo Is All-Time Top Scorer At Euros
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It took 87 minutes, three shots and a little help from a friend but, on Monday night in Budapest, Cristiano Ronaldo did what he does best - score goals and break records. Ronaldo's goals - he scored a late brace - lifted Portugal to a deserved (if cruel on the opposition) 3-0 win over Hungary in their opening Euro 2020 group stage match. And with France and Germany - the winners of the last two World Cups - also in the group, this was a vital win.
The Portugal and Juventus forward is now the all-time top scorer in European Championships with 11 goals - two ahead of French great Michel Platini's nine goals. Monseiur Platini, though, can still claim moral superiority because all his goals came in just one tournament - Euro '84.
And for added spice, Ronaldo also holds the records for playing in the most Euros (5) and in the most matches (22), and could finish Euro 2020 with the all-time international scoring record too.
Ronaldo's 10th and 11th goals of the Euros were his 105th and 106th for Portugal. Only Ali Daei of Iran has scored more goals for his country - 109.
That said, for a long time it seemed as if tonight would not be Ronaldo's night.
For all the talent they had going forward, Portugal were frustrated, time and again, by a resilient and well-organised Hungary defence. The defending European champions did start strongly, with two excellent chances inside the first ten minutes.
Both fell to Liverpool's Diogo Jota; the first was a scuffed shot that missed the target and earned a furious reprimand from Ronaldo, who was wide open to his left. The second was a high toepoke.
As the first half wore on though, the chances dried up. Hungary were well-drilled in defense and dangerous on the counter, with former Real Madrid youth striker Adam Szalai a handful.
The biggest chance of the first half fell to Ronaldo two minutes before half-time but he shot high, wide and not-so-handsome from six yards out.
The second half started much the same way, and the match appeared set to finish an entertaining but goalless draw, when Hungary substitute Szabolcs Schon thought he'd done the unthinkable - nick a goal at the end for a famous win.
The goal - a fine right-footed strike that slid in past the near post - was rightly ruled out for offside.
And, as the clock ran down Hungary's players began tiring, a ruthless Portugal stepped up the pace and the gaps started appearing.
In the 84th minute left-back Raphael Guerrero's strike ricocheted past a helpless goalkeeper into the far corner. Two minutes later Rafa Silva burst through on goal and was fouled by centre-back Willi Orban. It was a definite penalty, and it was time for Ronaldo to shine.
CR7 stepped up and slammed it home, sending Peter Gulacsi the wrong way. And five minutes after that, with just seconds left to play, he thumped home his second and Portugal's third.
Promoted
The win wasn't as routine as Portugal would have liked but it is a win... it is three points... and it sets the stage very nicely for their remaining two games.
As for Hungary, on paper this was their best shot at getting at least a point. After this display, though, France and Germany will be on alert; the magical Magyars may not beat them, but they will, certainly, make life very, very hard.
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Break historical records
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1953 New York Central Railroad accident
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The 1953 New York Central Railroad accident occurred on the four-track mainline 2.4 miles east of Conneaut, Ohio at 10:02 P.M. on March 27, 1953. The accident sequence began when an improperly secured load of large pipes broke loose from a gondola car on an eastbound freight train. The loose pipe, dragged by the moving train, damaged the westbound passenger track. A passing westbound freight train crew notified the first train and stopped to assess what had happened. A fast westbound passenger train could not stop and derailed from the damaged track, colliding with the westbound freight on the adjacent track. Finally, an eastbound fast passenger train struck the derailed equipment from the first two trains. There were 21 deaths and 49 people were injured. This accident holds the record for the most trains involved in a single accident. [1]
The accident occurred on the mainline[2] of the Erie Division at a point 2.4 miles east of Conneaut and 1861 feet from the Ohio - Pennsylvania state line. This was on the famous Water Level Route, a four-track mainline where fast passenger trains from the Midwest ran on an almost gradeless route to New York. [3] The main tracks here, from south to north, were designated as No. 4, eastward freight; No. 2, eastward passenger; No. 1, westward passenger; and No. 3, westward freight. It was raining at the time of the accident. The distance between the center-lines of adjacent tracks was 13 feet. [4]
The accident site was isolated from any main road. Only a muddy dirt lane led from the crash site to a major road two miles south, and it soon became blocked by vehicles mired in the mud. The injured were either carried on stretchers or moved by hand car to the nearest road. Some waited up to four hours for help. About 100 persons were treated on the scene and 62 were transported to hospitals. [5][6][7]
The Interstate Commerce Commission investigated the accident. Their findings indicated that the lading of Baltimore and Ohio car 254645 on Train Extra 1871 East was not properly secured for movement when loaded because the high tension bands were not properly sealed. Because the load was not properly secured, nine sections of pipe fell from the car while in transit. When the pipes fell from the car in question, one piece wedged between the track structure of track No. 1 and the next car, a boxcar. As the train proceeded at a speed of 36 miles per hour the resultant thrust transmitted by the pipe to track No. 1 moved track No. 1 northward a distance of about 18 inches before the pipe fell clear of the cars. The damaged condition of the track was not observed before passenger train No. 5 arrived at the point of the accident. The track was sufficiently damaged to cause the derailment of train No. 5 which in turn caused the derailment of Extra 1736 West. Passenger train No. 12 struck the derailed equipment of passenger train No. 5 before protection could be provided. [4]
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Train collisions
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Pacific Tsunami Museum aims to reopen late summer
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A new sign gives more context to the tsunami that hit Hilo in 1960 and destroyed Waiakea Kai school. Kelsey Walling/Tribune-Herald A new sign gives more context to the tsunami that hit Hilo in 1960 and destroyed Waiakea Kai school. Kelsey Walling/Tribune-Herald A new sign gives more context to the tsunami that hit Hilo in 1960 and destroyed Waiakea Kai school. The Pacific Tsunami Museum will reopen by the end of summer after completing substantial renovations. The downtown Hilo museum closed in the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and has remained shuttered. The museum delayed reopening after leadership decided to take the time during the pandemic to renovate and revamp many of the exhibits. Renovations will not be completed until late summer. The museum is working on relocating and renovating the Japan exhibit, which focuses on the tsunami of 2011. The new exhibit will focus on the 2011 tsunami while also covering the history of tsunamis in Japan with new photos and information gathered from the last 10 years. The museum also is adding a new natural hazards exhibit. The new area will step away from tsunamis and focus on hurricanes, flooding, earthquakes and volcanic activity, which can all be experienced on Hawaii Island. “The museum’s main focus will always be on tsunamis, but this will give people visiting an opportunity to learn more about Hawaii Island,” said Marlene Murray, director of the museum. The museum also is updating the Big Island tsunamis exhibit with new interviews from survivors and more photos from the most recent tsunami that hit the island in 1975. “I always felt the local tsunamis exhibit is one of our most important exhibits, because it is informative for people living here,” Murray said. “We wanted to add more information to that section.” To commemorate all tsunami survivors, the museum will be installing a large mosaic that will show portraits of more than 200 survivors from around the world. With help from Hawaii County Parks and Recreation, the museum will be installing informational signs at tsunami landfall sites across the county. The signs will be located throughout East Hawaii and will share the stories and photographs that are relevant to the particular spot. Through the pandemic, the museum has benefited greatly from Paycheck Protection Program loans and money from the CARES act. The museum also has applied for one of the Shuttered Venues grants. “Luckily, we’ve had some wonderful people out there that have been renewing their memberships and sending donations specifically to keep supporting us,” Murray said. “We wish we could open earlier, but I’m excited for everyone to see all the changes.” Before reopening, the museum is looking for local artists to feature in its gift shop as well as volunteers to be docents when the museum reopens. Anyone interested can email director@tsunami.org.
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Tsunamis
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Polytechnic University to distribute $8.5M in financial aid to students
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The Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico announced that it will distribute a little more than $8.5 million in financial aid among its students in the San Juan, Orlando, and Miami campuses. These funds were assigned to the college as part of the 2021 American Rescue Plan. Each student will receive about $ 2,000 for the 2021-2022 academic period. They will be distributed in partial checks during each of the enrolled quarters. This process will be automatic, and the students do not have to request this aid, school officials said. A check will be sent to the student’s mailing address. “We understand that the COVID-19 pandemic has represented great challenges for our students, and we trust that this aid will ease their financial needs,” said Ernesto Vázquez-Martínez, executive vice president of the Polytechnic University. “Our staff is committed to expediting this process to disburse these funds as soon as possible,” he said.
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Financial Aid
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Searchers probe deep mud from Brazil dam breach; 65 dead
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BRUMADINHO, Brazil (AP) — Brazilian firefighters and Israeli rescue workers poked sticks into treacherous mud Monday looking for bodies as pressure mounted on the mining company responsible for a dam that burst and spilled a flood of iron ore waste. By late in the day, the death toll rose to 65, with 279 people still missing, said Lt. Col. Flavio Godinho of the civil defense department in the southeastern state of Minas Gerais. In a sign of the risks posed by the deep mud, Col. Alexandre Ferreira, a doctor with the military police of Minas Gerais, advised rescue crews, volunteers and journalists to take antibiotics to prevent cholera, the bacterial infection leptospirosis and other diseases. Officials said the death toll was expected to grow “exponentially,” since no had been rescued alive since Saturday. Search efforts were extremely slow because of the treacherous sea of reddish-brown mud that surged out when the mine tailings dam breached Friday afternoon. The mud was up 24 feet (8 meters) deep in some places, forcing searchers to carefully walk around the edges of the muck or slowly crawl onto it so they would not sink and drown. Teams focused their searches Monday morning in areas where a bus was immersed and where many workers were eating lunch at the mine cafeteria when the dam ruptured. The mine’s owner, Vale SA, is the world’s largest producer of iron ore, the raw ingredient for making steel. The Brazilian company’s American depository shares plunged 18 percent Monday on the New York Stock Exchange. At the scene of the disaster, helicopters looking for bodies took off and landed nonstop. On the ground, dozens of rescuers with tracking dogs were searching for bodies through the mountains of mud. An Associated Press photographer witnessed at least 10 helicopters each carrying one body. More than 100 Israelis equipped with specialized rescue technology joined the 200 Brazilian firefighters in the search. Areas of water-soaked mud appeared to be drying out, which could help firefighters get to areas previously unreachable. Still, it was slow going for the search teams, residents were on edge and some started searching on their own for relatives. A Catholic priest for a church now being used as a command center for rescuers said many of his parishioners are believed to be buried in mud. “It’s going to be difficult to rebuild our hearts,” said the priest, Rene Lopez. “This won’t take a month or a year. It’s an open wound for all of the people in Brumadinho.” And there was mounting anger directed at Vale amid questions about the area’s largest employer following an apparent lack of a warning siren ahead of Friday’s collapse. “The company didn’t take care of the people,” said Josefa de Santos, who has friends and neighbors among the missing. “I heard the cries of people asking for help, everyone was running and screaming. The siren didn’t go off at all, it was horrible.” In an email, Vale told The Associated Press that the area has eight sirens, but “the speed in which the event happened made sounding an alarm impossible” when the dam burst. Sen. Renan Calheiros called for Vale’s board of directors to step down and Attorney General Raquel Dodge told reporters that Vale executives could be held responsible. Vice President Hamilton Mourão said a Brumadinho crisis committee established by the president was “studying” the possibility of removing Vale’s board of directors. His office later told AP that the government wouldn’t intervene, as Vale is a private company. Over the weekend, courts froze about $3 billion from Vale assets for state emergency services and told the company to report on how it would help victims. The carpet of mining waste also raised fears of widespread environmental contamination and degradation. According to Vale’s website, the waste is composed mostly of sand and is non-toxic. But a U.N. report found that the waste from a similar Brazil disaster in 2015 “contained high levels of toxic heavy metals.” That dam owned by Vale and Australian mining company BHP Billiton collapsed in the city of Mariana in Minas Gerais, killing 19 people and forcing hundreds from their homes. About 250,000 people were left without drinking water thousands of fish died. An estimated 60 million cubic meters (646 million square feet) of waste flooded nearby rivers and eventually flowed into the Atlantic Ocean.
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Mine Collapses
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1 child, 2 adults hospitalized with carbon monoxide poisoning in Humboldt Park
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A child and two adults were transported to area hospitals all in serious to critical condition, fire officials said.
May 2, 2021, 7:39am CDT
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Two adults and one child were hospitalized with carbon monoxide poisoning May 2, 2021, in Humboldt Park.
Sun-Times file photo
Two adults and a child were hospitalized with carbon monoxide poisoning early Sunday in Humboldt Park on the West Side.
The Chicago Fire Department responded to reports of high carbon monoxide readings Sunday morning in the 2500 block of West Cortez Street, fire officials said.
Carbon monoxide levels were over 500 parts per million (ppm) in the building, according to fire officials.
A child and two adults were transported to area hospitals all in serious to critical condition, fire officials said. The age of the child was not immediately known.
People’s Gas was notified to shut off gas in the building, fire officials said. The Building Department was also called to the scene.
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Mass Poisoning
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Golden Ray Shipwreck Dismantling Reveals Thousands of Cars (PHOTOS)
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Type at least three characters to start auto complete. Recently searched locations will be displayed if there is no search query. The first option will be automatically selected. Use up and down arrows to change selection. Use escape to clear. The removal of the Golden Ray is underway, and the first cut into the shipwrecked vessel exposed several of the more than 4,000 cars that were aboard when the ship capsized on Sept. 8, 2019, on Georgia's St. Simons Sound near the Port of Brunswick. Onlookers watched as the first piece was dismantled Saturday morning. The removed chunk measured 104 feet and weighed 3,100 metric tons, the Brunswick News reported. The first cut into the Golden Ray's bow actually began Nov. 6 and took three weeks to complete due to several setbacks, including a broken cutting chain and delays due to tropical storms, according to First Coast News. On Saturday, the country's largest crane vessel transported the huge piece of steel onto the largest barge in the United States and sent it down the Brunswick River to a local site where the scrap will be further secured for sea transport to Louisiana for recycling. (MORE: Inside Golden Ray, Crew Members Survived 'Hellish Conditions') An SUV fell off during Saturday's transport but was caught by the mesh-net barrier spread underneath in forethought of such an incident, the Brunswick News also reported. Photographer Betty L. Haynes snapped photos of the partially dismantled Golden Ray, noting the visible water line on the removed chunk of the ship. Haynes was at the scene at 6 a.m. the morning the ship capsized and has spent the year documenting the story for her community. "[I] was in disbelief and shock that this cargo ship that we see every day going by was now laying there," Haynes told weather.com in an interview. "And smoke was coming out from all the chemicals mixing together from the cars. People started showing up and in a few hours, the whole pier/village was packed with news crews. "A couple days later, the first cargo ship was able to pass. Such a normal thing that happens every day turned into [a] joyful moment to have the port open and all of the people that work there can continue to have their jobs – [it] really put things into perspective." (MORE: Renowned Radio Telescope Collapses in Puerto Rico) The Golden Ray's failed journey to Baltimore began shortly after midnight on Sept. 8, 2019, and lasted just 23 minutes. The ship capsized shortly after unberthing, and all 24 crew members were rescued unharmed after the ship tipped over, according to the Georgia Recorder. The cause of the 2019 incident has not yet been formally established, but in September of this year, a naval architect with the Coast Guard's Marine Safety Center testified that unstable loading left the Golden Ray susceptible to capsizing. Coast Guard Lt. Ian Oviatt testified that according to analysis, the ship required an additional 1,500 gallons of water in the ship’s ballast tanks as counterweight. Otherwise, rearranging the cars on the deck might have kept the boat from tipping.
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Shipwreck
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Red Sox's Brock Holt hits first cycle in MLB playoff history
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The Boston Red Sox infielder became the first player in MLB history to hit for the cycle in a postseason game.
He completed the feat in the ninth inning of the Red Sox's 16-1 Game 3 rout of the rival New York Yankees, hitting a two-run homer off Austin Romine – a catcher who was called on to throw the final inning of the blowout.
“You get a little antsy when a position player is on the mound. I told everyone, ‘Get me up. I need a home run for a cycle,’” Holt said. “I scooted up in the box a little bit, and I was going to be swinging at anything and try to hook anything. Obviously, you don’t expect to hit a home run, but I was trying to. I was trying to hit a home run. That’s probably the first time I’ve ever tried to do that. I rounded the bases, and seeing everyone going nuts in the dugout was a pretty cool moment for me.”
“He wasn’t shy about (trying to get the cycle),” outfielder Andrew Benintendi said. “Everybody was rooting for him.”
Holt got an RBI ground-rule double in the eighth inning and a single as well as a two-run triple in the Red Sox's big fourth inning, which busted the game open .
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Break historical records
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Coronavirus: Week of Sept. 19 to Sept. 25, South Korea daily cases top 3,000 for 1st time
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10:35 a.m. South Korea's daily coronavirus cases exceed 3,000 for the first time since the start of the pandemic, as people returned home from the Chuseok holiday. The country reported an all-time high number of daily cases for the second consecutive day by adding 3,273, including 3,245 local infections, raising the total caseload to 298,402, according to Yonhap News Agency, citing the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency. Friday, Sept. 24 5:30 p.m. More than half of Australia's adult population was fully vaccinated against COVID-19 as of Friday, authorities say, as they step up inoculations in the hope of easing restrictions at a time when cases are lingering near record daily levels in the state of Victoria. 5:00 p.m. Tokyo reports 235 new cases, down from 531 from a day earlier. The seven-day average of new cases in the Japanese capital is 469, falling below the 500 mark for the first time since June 29. 4:00 p.m. Sinovac's vaccine is highly effective against serious illness, although rival shots from Pfizer/BioNTech and AstraZeneca show better protection rates, a large real-world study from Malaysia shows. The vaccine has been under scrutiny following reports of infections among health care workers fully immunized with Sinovac in Indonesia and Thailand. The Malaysian government study found 0.011% of about 7.2 million recipients of the shot required treatment in intensive care units for infections. By contrast, 0.002% of about 6.5 million recipients of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine needed ICU treatment for infections, while 0.001% of 744,958 recipients of the AstraZeneca shot required similar treatment. 2:57 p.m. Indonesia has shed its undesirable tag as Southeast Asia's COVID-19 epicenter , and now has the least daily infections per capita in the region. Daily infections topped 50,000 at their peak in July, now number less than 5,000 per day, with 3,263 new cases recorded on Thursday. The positivity rate has fallen below 5%, according to Our World in Data, below the threshold the World Health Organization has said was conducive to governments reopening their economies. 2:14 p.m. India posts 31,382 new cases for the past 24 hours, slightly down from 31,923 the previous day and pushing the cumulative tally to about 33.6 million. Deaths rose by 318 to 446,368. On the vaccine front, the country has administered 7.22 million shots since Thursday morning, bringing the total number to 841.5 million. Of India's 940 million adults, 66% have received at least one dose, and 23% two, according to health ministry data. India has been averaging over 8 million shots this month, up from about 6 million in August and about 2 million in May. November is the new target for allowing vaccinated foreign tourists on Phu Quoc as Vietnam scrambles for vaccines to inoculate the resort island's residents. © Reuters 1:30 p.m. Vietnam has pushed back a plan to re-open the resort island of Phu Quoc to foreign tourists until November, after failing to meet targets for inoculating residents due to insufficient vaccine supplies. Authorities had initially planned to allow vaccinated foreign tourists onto Phu Quoc in October. "We have to inoculate residents here for herd immunity, but vaccine supplies are falling short," Huynh Quang Hung, the chairman of Phu Quoc City's People's Committee, told the state-run VTC newspaper. 11:39 a.m. After the market was closed on Thursday for a national holiday, Japan's Nikkei Stock Average catches up to global markets, at one point gaining more than 600 points, or 2.1%, on dissipating worries over China Evergrande Group's debt problems. The U.S. Federal Reserve's two-day monetary policy meeting also remained within market expectations, with Fed Chair Jerome Powell signaling that the central bank could start cutting back on bond purchases and start tapering in November. 10:30 a.m. Japan's core consumer prices were flat in August from a year earlier with a record drop in mobile phone charges offset by sharply higher accommodation fees and surging energy prices as the economy gradually recovers from the pandemic, government data shows. The latest CPI, coming after 12 months of decline, does not change expectations that the Bank of Japan will maintain its monetary easing as its 2% inflation target remains far off. 10:15 a.m. Australia's New South Wales reports 1,043 new locally acquired cases, down from 1,063 a day earlier, as first-dose vaccinations of the state's adult population near 85%. The state reports 11 new deaths from the virus; 10 were unvaccinated. A total of 1,186 patients are in the hospital, with 232 in intensive care and 110 on ventilation. Holiday crowds like this one at Gimpo airport in Seoul are being blamed for South Korea's latest virus battle. © AP 9:50 a.m. South Korea's new daily infections hit a record 2,434, bringing cumulative cases to 295,132, with 2,434 deaths. Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum said the Chuseok holidays, which ended Wednesday, helped the delta variant rapidly spread. 9:30 a.m. Australia's Victoria state reports 733 new daily cases, forcing authorities to step up their efforts to get more people vaccinated. More than half the country's adult population is already fully vaccinated. Friday's tally represents the second biggest daily tally but is down from a record 766 on Thursday. Most cases were detected in Melbourne. Thursday, Sept. 23 11:43 p.m. Singapore's health ministry reports 1,504 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, the highest since the beginning of the pandemic. 10:31 p.m. Novavax and its partner Serum Institute of India say they have applied to the World Health Organization for an emergency use listing of Novavax's COVID-19 vaccine, reports Reuters. 5:02 p.m. The Philippine central bank leaves key interest rates steady Thursday as it continues to support an economy grappling with recent COVID-19 curbs, even as raised inflation forecasts for 2021-2023. The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) kept the rate on the overnight reverse repurchase facility at 2.0%. 2:22 p.m. India reports 31,923 new cases in the last 24 hours, up from 26,964 the previous day, pushing the country's total infections to 33.56 million. Deaths rose by 282 to 446,050. Meanwhile, the country has administered more than 7 million COVID-19 vaccine shots since Wednesday morning, bringing the total number of doses given to people nationwide to about 834 million. 12:52 p.m. The price of used corrugated cardboard shipments to Vietnam have soared roughly 60% so far this year as coronavirus restrictions slash the amount of the material available from the Southeast Asian country's factories and households. Used cardboard is a major input in paper product production. But as the usual sources dry up, prices have risen 20% since April. Imports are also on the rise, with Japan seeing the volume it exports to Vietnam rise around 60%. 12:29 p.m. Domestic car sales in Thailand fell 38.8% in August from a year earlier to 42,176 vehicles, Reuters reports, citing the Federation of Thai Industries. In July, sales dropped 11.62%, year-on-year. Thailand imposed stricter measures to contain its most severe coronavirus outbreak in July and August, slowing economic activity. 12:09 p.m. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says the country should aim for a 90%-plus rate of inoculation, and could drop strict coronavirus lockdown measures once enough people were vaccinated, according to Reuters. New Zealand eliminated COVID-19 last year and remained largely virus-free until an outbreak of the highly infectious Delta variant in August led to a nationwide lockdown. Authorities reported 15 new cases on Wednesday, all in Auckland, taking the total number of new infections in the current outbreak to 1,123. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has authorized booster shots of the Pfizer and BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for those 65 and older. © Reuters 10:57 a.m. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized a booster dose of the Pfizer and BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines for people 65 and older, people at high risk of severe disease and others who are regularly exposed to the virus. The decision paves the way for a quick rollout of booster shots as soon as this week for millions of people who had their second dose of the vaccine at least six months ago. 4:00 a.m. Japan plans to give other countries 60 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines, Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga says, doubling the target from the previous pledge of 30 million doses. Of the first 30 million, Japan has already provided about 23 million doses mostly in Asia, including Taiwan, Vietnam and Indonesia. 2:31 a.m. The U.S. promises to buy 500 million more COVID-19 vaccine doses to donate to other countries, bringing its total contribution to more than 1.1 billion doses. "To beat the pandemic here we need to beat it everywhere," U.S. President Joe Biden said, kicking off a virtual summit hosted from the White House. Global health experts say 5 billion to 6 billion doses are needed by poorer countries. Wednesday, Sept. 22 7:57 p.m. Vaccine maker Serum Institute of India (SII) will invest 50 million pounds ($68 million) in Oxford Biomedica to help fund the development of a plant that manufactures COVID-19 shots, the British company announced on Wednesday. Serum, the world's largest vaccine manufacturer, and Oxford Biomedica both produce AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine. Serum Life Sciences, a unit of India-based SII, will pick up a 3.9% stake in Oxford Biomedica as part of the deal. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson visits an Oxford Biomedica lab where batches of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine are tested. Serum Institute of India will invest $68 million in Oxford Biomedica. 7:15 p.m. South Korea will donate more than 1 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine to Vietnam next month in what would become Seoul's first direct cross-border sharing of its vaccine stockpile, according to Reuters. Vietnam, a major manufacturing hub for many South Korean companies including technology company Samsung Electronics, has fully vaccinated only about 7% of its 98 million people, one of Asia's lowest inoculation rates. 3:00 p.m. The debut in September of Nanocovax, the front-runner COVID-19 vaccine project in Vietnam , has become uncertain after Vietnam's National Ethics Committee in Biomedical Research issued a statement on Sunday. It said the committee would send vaccine documents to the Advisory Council for the Registration of Circulation of Drugs and Medicinal Ingredients for review. 2:58 p.m. As Prime Minister Narendra Modi this week heads to a Quad summit in the U.S., where COVID-19 vaccines are expected to top the agenda, India says it will resume exporting coronavirus jabs in the quarter starting next month thanks to a significant production jump. India, the world's largest vaccine maker, suspended overseas shipments in April as it fought its second COVID wave. The nation intends to fully immunize its eligible adult population of over 940 million by the end of the year. 12:24 p.m. The Bank of Japan keeps monetary policy steady but offers a bleaker view on exports and output, reinforcing expectations it will maintain its massive stimulus even as major counterparts eye a withdrawal of crisis-mode support. The gloom hanging over manufacturers, hit by Asian factory shutdowns caused by the coronavirus pandemic, adds to woes for Japan's fragile recovery, which has been hobbled by weak consumption. 10:35 a.m. China's northeastern city of Harbin, with a population of 10 million, went into semi-shutdown after reporting new locally transmitted COVID-19 cases for the first time since early February, according to Reuters. Three of 16 new local cases reported in China for Sept. 21 were in Harbin, the provincial capital of Heilongjiang. The last reported locally transmitted cases in the city were on Feb. 4. Harbin on Tuesday swiftly told residents to avoid leaving town unless essential. Indoor venues such as cinemas, gyms and mah-jong parlors were also shut, and tourist sites were ordered to limit visitor-traffic to half their capacity, state television reported on Tuesday. 10:00 a.m. Southeast Asia's economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic will be much slower than initially expected, the Asian Development Bank said in a report on Wednesday, as the region continues to wrestle with the highly infectious delta variant. Southeast Asia's gross domestic product is expected to grow 3.1% this year before expanding by 5% next year, according to an update to Asian Development Outlook, ADB's widely followed economic publication. The new 2021 outlook is lower than the 4% forecast in July, which was already a downward revision from the bank's original projection of 4.4% in April. 9:38 a.m. Canada is extending restrictions on all direct commercial and private passenger flights from India until Sept. 26, the federal transport ministry said on Tuesday. Travelers eligible to enter Canada will be able to board direct flights from India once the restrictions expire as long as they have proof of a negative COVID-19 molecular test. 3:00 a.m. A second shot of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine boosts protection against symptomatic and severe COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, the drug company says. In a clinical trial, researchers found that two doses of the vaccine delivered 94% efficacy against mild to severe COVID-19 in the U.S., up from 74% conferred with a single shot, the company reports. Tuesday, Sept. 21 11: 00 p.m. Japan plans to offer coronavirus vaccine booster shots to those 65 and older from early next year, says vaccination czar Taro Kono. Medical workers could start receiving the shots before the end of the year, Kono added. The announcement comes after the health ministry presented to experts a plan to start giving booster shots to people eight months after their second dose. Because the eight-month time frame determines the dates for the third shots, Kono says he does not expect the rush for reservations seen when vaccinations were first opened up to the general public in early summer. Vaccination czar Taro Kono says Japan will start offering booster shots to the elderly from early next year. (Photo by Uichiro Kasai) 6:30p.m. Tokyo's new daily cases hit the lowest number in three months as the Japanese capital appears to have got the latest delta variant outbreak under control. The city reported 253 new cases, down from 302 a day earlier, while the seven-day average in Tokyo fell to 663, down about 46% from a week ago. Tokyo is still under the state of emergency through Sept. 30. 5:20 p.m. New Zealand announces higher fines of up to NZ$12,000 ($8,400) for individuals who breach coronavirus restrictions amid concerns that the current outbreak may spread beyond Auckland to other regions. A person who intentionally fails to comply with a COVID-19 order, such as traveling without permission, will be deemed guilty of a criminal offence and liable on conviction for a fine of up to 12,000 New Zealand dollars, up from NZ$4,000, or six months imprisonment. 5:00 p.m. Property prices in Japan fell 0.4% in the year to July, following last year's 0.6% decline, as the country's closed its borders and imposed emergency curbs to combat the pandemic hit demand for new restaurants and hotels, an annual government survey shows. In a sign the pandemic is reshaping the economy, land prices for industrial areas rose for the fourth straight year on booming demand for warehouses for electronic appliances and other goods catering to stay-at-home demand. 4:40 p.m. Indonesia's central bank holds its benchmark rates unchanged at a record low as it seeks to prop up the economy after a recent devastating COVID-19 wave without adding pressure on the currency, the rupiah. Bank Indonesia held the benchmark seven-day reverse repurchase rate steady at 3.50% for a seventh straight monetary review. 4:00 p.m. Spas, cinemas and mahjong salons in the Chinese city of Harbin were ordered to close to prevent COVID-19 from spreading in poorly ventilated spaces, state television reports. The temporary shutdowns were part of a range of restrictions imposed on the northeastern city after one case of community transmission was detected. Religious activities were also suspended, tourist attractions were ordered to operate at half capacity, and visits to retirement homes were banned. (photo by Takaki Kashiwabara) 3:20 p.m. Japan will start administering a third dose of vaccines to the elderly early next year, vaccination minister Taro Kono says. The government decided last week to give booster shots to people who have gone at least eight months since receiving their second dose. Health care workers are expected to receive booster shots by the end of the year, as they were the first to be vaccinated in Japan starting in February. The vaccine rollout expanded to people aged 65 and older in the spring, followed by those with underlying conditions such as diabetes and finally the general population. 2:16 p.m. India reports 26,115 new cases in the last 24 hours, down from 30,256 the previous day, pushing the country's total to 33.5 million. Deaths rose by 252 to 445,385. Meanwhile, the country administered 9.65 million vaccine shots since Monday morning, bringing the total number of doses given to people nationwide to 818.5 million. 11:30 a.m. China reports 42 new locally transmitted cases, all in the southeastern province of Fujian.
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Disease Outbreaks
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1979 Garuda Fokker F28 crash
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The 1979 Garuda Fokker F28 crash occurred on July 11, 1979 when a Garuda Indonesia Fokker F28 airliner on a domestic flight in Indonesia from Sultan Mahmud Badaruddin II Airport, Palembang, to Polonia International Airport, Medan, struck Mount Sibayak at 5,560 ft (1,690 m) on approach to landing, with no survivors. [1]
The aircraft had departed Palembang 80 minutes earlier, and had been cleared for an approach to runway 05 at Medan Airport. The aircraft was asked to report passing the nondirectional beacon (NDB) "ON" at 2,500 ft (760 m). The pilot then reported he was maintaining a height of 9,300 ft (2,800 m) as the NDB was unreliable. The approach controller then asked them to maintain that height until after they had passed the NDB. The pilot then reported they were at 6,000 ft (1,800 m). The aircraft struck the 7,200 ft-high (2,200 m) volcano Mount Sibayak at 5,560 ft (1,690 m). [1]
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Air crash
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Thompson-Herah breaks Flo Jo's Olympic record in women's 100
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TOKYO (AP) — Streaking down the track, with only six steps to go until she reached the finish line, Elaine Thompson-Herah stuck out her left arm and started pointing at the clock.
She knew she had the win.
It was only a matter of what else would come with it.
With a time of 10.61 seconds, the latest in the long string of Jamaican speed stars defended her Olympic title in the 100 meters Saturday. She broke a 33-year-old Olympic record held by none other than Florence Griffith Joyner. And, as a more-than-fitting bonus, she revisited a debate first triggered by the fastest Jamaican of all — Usain Bolt. Yes, the gold medal and Flo Jo's venerable record were great. But the question could not be avoided: Just as people wondered what Bolt might have given up when he hotdogged his way to the finish line in his first Olympic victory in 2008, how much faster might Thompson-Herah have gone had she run hard for 100 meters, not just 90 or 95?
“I think I could have gone faster if I wasn’t pointing and celebrating, really,” she said. “But to show you that there’s more in store. Hopefully, one day I can unleash that time.”
As it was, she finished the night as the second-fastest woman in history. Flo Jo's world record of 10.49 is only mark left to beat. As it was, she beat a two-time Olympic champion, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, and joined bronze medalist Shericka Jackson in the first Jamaican podium sweep at the Olympics since 2008. “The legacy we have in Jamaica is incredible,” Fraser-Pryce said. Yet, with all that swirling around, it felt more than fitting that Thompson-Herah was drawing comparisons to Bolt, who redefined the sprint game with his antics, to say nothing of his speed, and left a hole in track and field after he left the Olympic scene in 2016 with nine victories in nine sprints.
In the first win, the 6-foot-5 speedster was well clear of the field in Beijing when he brought his hands out to his sides and started his celebration before he reached the finish line. His time, 9.69, was a world record. But the world went crazy — even then-IOC President Jacques Rogge leveled a sharp critique of the move — wondering what might have been had Bolt busted it through the line.
He answered the question a year later when he lowered the mark to 9.58 at the world championships in Berlin. Thompson-Herah thinks she'll get another chance like that, too. “I have more years,” she said. “I'm just 29. I'm not 30. I'm not 40. I'm still working.”
On a sultry night in the near-empty Olympic Stadium in Tokyo, Thompson-Herah started pulling away from her top rival, Fraser-Pryce, early. By the 50-meter mark, it was a runaway. She won by .13 seconds, or about three body lengths, a veritable rout in a 100-meter final. Jackson, a bronze medalist five years ago at 400 meters who moved to the shorter sprints for the Tokyo Olympics, took bronze in this one, as well, in 10.76.
Flo Jo's old mark of 10.62 came at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, not long after she ran the 10.49 on a breezy day in Indianapolis. For decades, debate has raged about whether the marks are legit, and the longer they held up, the more amazing the records seem. No Olympic champion had even broken 10.7 since Flo Jo back in the day. Thompson-Herah insisted she wasn't sure she would either as she approached the finish. But, she said, “I knew that I won.”
“The pointing, I don’t know what it means. To show that I was clear," she said.
Thompson-Herah is now firmly entrenched in a long list of Jamaican women track stars — a string some say is even more impressive than the men's. The Caribbean island was putting greats such as Merlene Ottey and Veronica Campbell-Brown out there long before Fraser-Pryce moved to center stage as a brace-faced 21-year-old in Beijing.
She finished on top in that 2008 race, and this second-place finish completed her Olympic set in the 100, where she now has two golds (′08, ′12), this silver and a bronze from 2016.
But she looked a bit stunned to finish that far behind her main rival on a track that has produced fast times over the first two days of competition.
After seeing Thompson-Herah hotdog it to the finish, the woman they call “Mommy Rocket” — she has a 3-year-old son, Zyon — stared, stone-faced, at the scoreboard and stood on the track with her hands on her hips. She had been the favorite coming in, largely on the strength of a 10.63 she ran in June that showed she remained in top form some two years after winning the world championship title in 2019.
“Of course you're disappointed,” said Fraser-Pryce, whose title in Doha was a comeback story, only two years removed from her pregnancy. “The only aim an athlete lines up for is to win.”
Not even the defending Olympic champion saw this coming. While Fraser-Pryce was at peak form, Thompson-Herah was something less, battling an Achilles injury that slowed her all the way through Jamaica's national championships last month.
“Two months ago, probably a month and a half, I didn’t think I’d be here today,” Thompson-Herah said. "I held my composure. I believed in myself.” Even without American Sha'Carri Richardson, at home because of a doping positive for smoking marijuana at the U.S. Olympic trials, the women’s 100 shaped up as potentially the best race of the Olympics, ahead of the Bolt-less men’s sprint.
As if to accentuate that point, the favorite in the men’s race, American sprinter Trayvon Bromell, finished fourth in his qualifying heat earlier in the evening and had to wait nearly an hour to see if he’d get one of three wild-card spots into Sunday’s semifinal round.
He did, and said, “Honestly, I have no words for it,” when asked to explain the lackluster run.
Another surprise came in the Olympic debut of the mixed 4x400 relay, where Poland won the gold and Alexander Ogando of the Dominican Republic sprawled over the line to edge the Americans for second.
The evening’s other medal event was men’s discus, where Daniel Stahl and Simon Pettersson led a 1-2 Swedish finish. The Swedes draped flags over their shoulders and jogged on the grass down the backstretch during a celebration in front of the empty stands.
Not long after, the real running began, and Thompson-Herah found herself in a spot she was familiar with — first at the Olympics — but with a time no woman had ever seen on this stage: 10.61.
Next is the 200, where Thompson-Herah is also the defending champion. It's not hard to imagine her walking out of the Olympics the same way Bolt always did — with three gold medals, a few unanswered questions and leaving track fans wanting more.
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Break historical records
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Sindh Liberation Organization hopes for Sindh province merger with India
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Nagpur: Last week a webinar was organized by the Nagpur-based Sindh Liberation Organization (SLO) that had various dignitaries expressing their vision about the future of Sindh Provice in Pakistan, which included either freedom on merger with India. The webinar was attended by Union minister Nitin Gadkari, MLC Nago Ganar among others. Vijay Kewalramani, president of SLO, said, “Without Sindh, India is incomplete and one day we will realize our dream. We cannot even dream of preserving the Sindhi language and culture till we have our own state. Under the Pakistani regime, our people are facing a lot of difficulties and hardships.” Gadkari congratulated Kewalramni and his organization for preserving the ethos of Sindhi culture in India. Ganar also said that the Sindhi community has made major contributions in the development of the nation. The others who attended the webinar included Dr Varsha Khushlani, Dr Vinky Rughwani, Amit Khushwah, Raju Hindustani, Kailash Kewalramani, Neelam Ahuja, Rashmi Wadhwani, Purshottam Ranglani, Ashok Khiyani and Krishnadev Jha.
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Organization Merge
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Somalia Starts Aerial Spraying to Stop Desert Locust Invasion
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Somalia Starts Aerial Spraying to Stop Desert Locust Invasion
Somali officials say they have deployed helicopters to spray new swarms of desert locusts that are eating crops and threatening the country’s fragile food supply.
In an interview with VOA, Somalia’s Minister of Agriculture Sa’id Hussein Iid said that “hired Canadian experts will engage with the swarms by spraying bio-organic pesticides from the air, using three helicopters.”
This is one of the three helicopters that Canadian experts will use to spray pesticides in an effort to kill locusts that are eating crops in Somalia. (Somali Disaster Ministry photo)
Iid said the spraying, which began Thursday, is funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development.
Experts have said the desert locust invasion that began last year is the worst East Africa has seen in at least 25 years. Neighboring Ethiopia also began spraying locust-infested areas this week.
“Before we have been conducting hand-spraying and using machines mounted on vehicles, but we have realized that is not enough to fight with the pest and avoid devastation to our pasture and agricultural land,” said Iid.
This aerial spraying will focus on areas in the central Somali region of Galmudug, Puntland in the northeast, and the self-declared republic of Somaliland, the minister said.
Conflict limits efforts
But, security experts say, due to conflict and chaos in much of Somalia, there are limits to spraying pesticide by airplane.
“We know there are areas where al-Shabab militant group controls, where a ground co-ordination is impossible. I think this shows the limitation of the power of the government when it comes fulfilling its mandate and responsibilities,” said Hussein Moalim Mohamud, Somalia’s former national security adviser.
Both Somali officials and the international aid agencies have been warning of a humanitarian catastrophe in Somalia due to combined COVID-19, flooding, and locust which threatens the livestock and the food of millions of Somalis.
Early this year, after extreme rainfall that created favorable breeding conditions, swarms of desert locusts from the Arabian Peninsula began rampaging across East African countries.
In February, the pests traveled to Somalia and were seen flying over land used for grazing animals in a remote part of Somalia, forcing the country to declare a national emergency.
Somalia’s minister of agriculture says the pests have been laying eggs, meaning the swarms could get bigger and spread farther.
“It posed the threat to us, a country in the east Africa region, since December last year, but our particular fear has been the damage it can cause if the situation is not brought under control” before this year’s crops can be harvested, the minister said.
According to the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization, FAO, desert locusts can travel up to 150km in a day. Each adult insect can eat its own weight in food daily.
Abdulkadir Mursal contributed to this story.
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Insect Disaster
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2013 Baku protests
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A protest took place on January 12, 2013 in Baku, Azerbaijan after Azerbaijani Army soldier Ceyhun Qubadov was found dead on January 7, 2013. It was first reported that the cause of death was heart attack. Qubadov's family asked for an investigation as they believed it was a murder. [1][2]
On January 10, 2013, a Facebook event was created. A day later about 13,600 joined it, the next day the number of users joined was 20,000. [1][3]
Hundreds of protesters gathered at the Fountains Square on January 12 with demands of resignation of Safar Abiyev, the Azerbaijani Defense Minister. [1] They held slogans such as "Stop killing our soldiers" and "You must answer to us. "[1]
Immediately after the investigation the Azerbaijani Defense Minister Safar Abiyev was fired by the order of the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev. Colonel General Zakir Hasanov took his place.
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Protest_Online Condemnation
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1936 Jersey Air Disaster crash
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The 1936 Jersey Air Disaster occurred on 31 July 1936 when the Cloud of Iona, a Saro Cloud flying boat of Guernsey Airways, went missing on a flight between Guernsey and Jersey. All ten on board were assumed to have died. Guernsey Airways was formed in 1934 as a subsidiary of Jersey Airways to operate services between St Peter Port, Guernsey and St Brelade's Bay in Jersey. [1] On 31 July 1936 the Cloud of Iona failed to arrive in Jersey. It had departed around 19:00 and the journey should have taken 20 minutes. [2] The weather was poor and visibility was reduced by drizzle. [2] At 22:00 the St Helier lifeboat was launched to search for the flying boat, it searched all night without finding anything. [2] In the morning a number of French military aircraft from Cherbourg and Royal Air Force aircraft joined the search from the air, an RAF seaplane reported sighting fabric and plywood in the sea. [3] On 2 August three motorboats from Jersey returned with wreckage including wood, cushions and fabric which was identified as coming from the Isle of Iona. [3] An official from Channel Islands Airways the parent company of both Jersey and Guernsey Airways made a statement:
Prolonged search by every means at the disposal of the company has failed to locate the actual place at which the missing air liner disappeared. Wreckage verified as part of the flying-boat has been found near the Minquiers Rocks, which indicates that the disaster took place between that position and Jersey. The search continues. The company expresses its deep regret to the relatives of those who must now be presumed to have lost their lives. [3]
Two passengers on the Great Western Railway mailboat St Helier reported seeing an aircraft in the sea about half a mile away from the ship. They reported that the aircraft propellers were turning and they expected it was going to take off. [3] The two passengers crossed to the other side of the boat as they realised the aircraft would pass across the bows. They didn't see the aircraft on the other side and assumed it had taken off in the mist. [3] Officials checked the bow of the ship to see if it had hit the flying boat but no marks were found. [3]
On 3 August it was reported that an 18 ft long wing section had been found near Minquiers Reef and a float had washed up on a French beach at Annonville. [4] The following few days bodies were washed ashore on the French coast. [5] Two weeks later, on the 14 August, two Jersey fisherman found the wreckage (fuselage and engines) of the Cloud of Iona on the rocks 10 miles from Jersey. [6]
It was concluded that, following total engine failure, the pilot was able to land safely on the sea and, although everyone onboard had time to put on their lifejacket, the aircraft was overturned and broken up by the sea and everyone drowned. [7]
The aircraft involved was a twin-engined Saro Cloud flying boat built in 1932 and registered as G-ABXW. [8] It was original operated by British Flying Boats Limited who named it the Cloud of Iona, before it was sold to Guernsey Airways in September 1934. [8]
The inter-island seaplane service was suspended and did not operate again after the accident. [1] The Cloud of Iona was to have been fitted with wireless equipment the week after the accident. [3] In January 1937 the airline was prosecuted, in that they permitted the machine to be used on July 29, 30 and 31 without an approved wireless installation. They were fined £300. All on board were killed, they included five English holidaymakers and three people from Guernsey as well as the two crew (a pilot and mechanic).
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Air crash
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WANTED: FBI asks for help after ‘takeover’ robbery in Colorado where bank teller was pistol whipped
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THORNTON, Colo. (KKTV) - Authorities believe three bank robberies in Colorado are connected, and now they are hoping the public can help them identify the suspects involved. On Tuesday, the FBI is reporting a Bank of the West in Thornton along Colorado Boulevard was hit in a “takeover” robbery. Three suspects rushed into the bank armed with handguns and the pistol-whipped a teller. Similar robberies happened on Nov. 19 in Englewood at the First Bank at 4600 S. Broadway and on Dec. 2 at the FirstBank at 3594 S. Logan St. In each of those robberies there were four suspects, described as white or Hispanic men about 20 to 30 years of age.
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Bank Robbery
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Prime Minister Theresa May is holding talks at the White House with US President Donald Trump.
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Prime Minister Theresa May is holding talks at the White House with US President Donald Trump.
They posed for photographs in front of a bust of Sir Winston Churchill - which Mr Trump pointed to, saying it was "a great honour" to have it back.
The new president had the bust restored to the Oval Office after it was removed by former president Barack Obama.
Mrs May smiled and told him: "Thank you, we were very pleased that you accepted it back."
They will spend about an hour together during the first visit by a foreign leader since Mr Trump became president. Strengthening US-UK ties, trade and foreign affairs are likely to be high on the agenda.
Although the UK cannot begin to negotiate trade deals until it leaves the EU, Mr Trump has said he wants a "quick" deal after that.
Chancellor Philip Hammond stressed the UK would abide by EU rules on trade talks, when he arrived in Brussels for talks on Friday.
"Of course we want to strengthen our trade ties with the very many partners we have around the world but we are very mindful of our obligations under the treaty and we will follow them precisely," he said.
Mrs May laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery ahead of her talks with President Trump.
In a speech to US Republicans on Thursday, Mrs May said she wanted to "renew the special relationship" between the UK and America. She said the two countries "must always stand up for our friends and allies in democratic countries that find themselves in tough neighbourhoods too", to applause from her audience.
But she told US Republicans the UK and US could not return to "failed" military interventions "to remake the world in our own image".
Tony Blair's former chief of staff Jonathan Powell said Mrs May "seemed to contradict herself" by warning against foreign intervention, but then saying the US and UK must uphold their values around the world.
He said "it would be a mistake to encourage Donald Trump to be isolationist" when he was already talking about "America first", he said.
But Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "What she's made clear, in future, is that where we are going to commit British troops, there has to be a very real threat to our country. "It has to be in the British national interest that we intervene in these countries... We should not simply embark on foreign adventures for the sake of it."
Last night Theresa May signalled a turn away from US and British foreign policy of recent years - military interventions into countries like Afghanistan and Iraq. But also, she urged President Trump not to turn America's back on the world and not to allow the rise of Asian nations to "eclipse the West". For the president who has vowed again and again to put "America First", it was an effort to persuade - if not outright criticism. Yet she also heaped praise on Donald Trump's victory. Well aware of the dangers, Theresa May is nothing if not ambitious for her relationship with her new political friend. US Congressman Kevin Cramer, who was in the audience for Mrs May's speech on Thursday, told the BBC: "As I was watching her, and listening to her, I thought, 'Is this Donald Trump's long lost sister?'
"There were real similarities, while at the same time, clearly a different take on certain global issues."
The speech followed comments by UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson to a House of Lords committee on Thursday that Bashar al-Assad should be allowed to run for election to remain in power in Syria - a reversal of UK foreign policy. Mr Johnson told the committee that Britain might have to "think afresh" about how to handle the Syrian crisis and had failed to enforce its "mantra" that "Assad must go".
He said: "I see downsides and I see risks in us going in, doing a complete flip flop, supporting the Russians, Assad. "But I must also be realistic about the way the landscape has changed and it may be that we will have to think afresh about how to handle this." On Thursday, the prime minister also spoke in support of Nato - which Mr Trump has called "obsolete" - and the Iran nuclear deal, which Mr Trump threatened to scrap during his campaign.
On dealing with Russia's President Putin, Mrs May said: "My advice is to engage but beware."
For Labour, Shadow Health Secretary Jonathan Ashworth said Mrs May had not ruled out including health services in any future trade deals.
He added: "Labour will oppose any attempt to sell off our health service. The prime minister needs to urgently confirm that a rushed trade deal with President Trump will not be a Trojan horse for NHS privatisation." Asked about whether the NHS was off the table in any trade talks, Mrs May told journalists: "As regards the NHS, we're very clear as a government that we're committed to an NHS that is free at the point of use."
The visit comes amid controversy over comments by President Trump about waterboarding.
He told ABC News on Wednesday that after he asked intelligence officials if torture "works" he was told, "'Yes, absolutely.'" Mrs May has said the UK condemns torture and told journalists: "My view on that won't change - whether I am talking to you or talking to the president."
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Diplomatic Visit
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1990 Scotland RAF Shackleton crash
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On 30 April 1990, a Royal Air Force Avro Shackleton AEW Mk II aircraft, of No. 8 Squadron RAF, based at RAF Lossiemouth, crashed into a hill on the Isle of Harris whilst attempting to land at RAF Benbecula. All ten crew on board died in the crash, which included the wing commander who was in charge of No. 8 Squadron at the time. The Shackleton was the last of the fleet to be involved in a fatal accident, and the type was withdrawn from RAF service in 1991. A Board of Inquiry (BoI) later determined the accident as a controlled flight into terrain, but could not ascertain as to why. WR965 was introduced into RAF service in 1957, originally sent to RAF Khormaksar, and served on No.s 37, 38, 203, 204, 205 and 224 Squadrons before its conversion to an Airborne Early Warning (AEW) aircraft in the early 1970s. [1] The need for an AEW platform was brought about by the retirement of the Royal Navy Fairey Gannet airframe. No. 8 Squadron RAF, started flying the Avro Shackleton aircraft in 1971. [2] The Shackleton itself, was a stop-gap measure that was developed from the MR2 Shackleton variant, which was developed from the original bomber type from Avro which had descended from their Lancaster and Lincoln aircraft. [3] The Nimrod AEW was to have assumed the role of the Shackleton's in the mid-1980s, but the technological problems proved "insurmountable", and so that programme was cancelled in favour of the Boeing E-3 Sentry aircraft in December 1986. [4][5]
The squadron was based at RAF Lossiemouth at the time of the crash, and all of their aircraft were named after characters in the children's TV programme, The Magic Roundabout. [6] The aircraft as a whole were collectively referred to as Growlers, on account of the engine noise, and the Old Grey ladies, due to their colour scheme. [7] The engines were noisy due to their contra-rotating propellers. [2]
WR965, had taken off from RAF Lossiemouth in Moray, Scotland, at 8:00 am on 30 April 1990, with a callsign of Gambia Zero 8 and had flown 150 miles (240 km) to the Outer Hebrides. [8][9] The aircraft had been partaking in a military exercise (Ex Bushfire) when the accident occurred. The radar on board the aircraft had been turned off due to the parameters of part of the exercise, which involved "mutual training" with a Tornado F3 aircraft. [10] Early reports by eye-witnesses lead to accusations that a missile strike was responsible for bringing the aircraft down, something which the RAF denied. [11]
Just before 12:00, the pilot radioed ahead to RAF Benbecula to ask for an approach, stating that the aircraft was 20 miles (32 km) out. Permission was given for a landing from the west and the aircraft was seen to circle at least twice by RAF personnel on the island before it crashed into Maodal, an 800-foot (240 m) high peak near the village of Northton, (at grid reference NF998907). [12][13] The weather was described as "poor" and WR965 was said to have been flying at a low altitude,[14] (one witness claimed that had the aircraft been 2 feet (0.61 m) higher, then it would have cleared the peak easily). [15]
Despite the remote landscape, emergency services and members of the public were quickly on the scene, but the first police officer said "We came across debris and then some bodies and we knew it was really bad. Helicopters arrived from Lossiemouth and it was a very, very busy scene. We could only account for nine from the plane and some of us were sent to the back of the hill to see if someone had survived and had walked off in a daze. We were later told there was nobody alive. "[16]
A normal operational sortie for a Shackleton in the AEW role, consisted of a crew of ten; a pilot, a co-pilot, a flight engineer and seven other personnel operating the equipment on board (three navigators, a fighter controller, two air electronics operators and a corporal technician). [7] One of the crew was Wing Commander Stephen Roncoroni, who was the officer commanding No. 8 Squadron at the time. [17]
Two days later, a private notice question in the House of Commons discussed the matter with some stating that cutbacks in the number of aircraft had led to operational inefficiencies. Allan Rogers, then opposition MP for defence, stated that "It is with these cutbacks that we get such tragedies as this. It is a task which has been made extremely difficult in recent years because of cutbacks in operational Shackletons from eleven to six in this squadron. "[18]
Three days later, ten coffins were taken across the island to be flown by RAF Hercules, from RAF Stornoway, back to the base at RAF Lossiemouth. [17] More than 2,500 people lined the streets on the isle of Harris to witness the event. [19] On 31 May 1990, a memorial service was held in one of the hangars that No. 8 Squadron operated from at RAF Lossiemouth. [20]
A Board of Inquiry determined that the Shackleton had its radar turned off as part of the exercise with a Tornado F3 aircraft. It radioed RAF Benbecula for an approach, stating they were 20 miles (32 km) west of the airfield, however, it was determined they were actually 12 miles (19 km) north of Benbecula. [13][21] At 11:34 am, the crew radioed Benbecula tower to inform them that the weather was too bad for an approach, and that they were turning right and climbing to try again; this was the last transmission from the aircraft before the crash. Benbecula tower asked them to relay their last message again as the transmission was distorted. [13]
The aircraft crashed 30 feet (9.1 m) below the summit with all four engines "developing cruise power" (what is known as Controlled Flight Into Terrain). Meteorological evidence from the day suggests that the cloudbase extended from 200 feet (61 m) above sea level to 3,000 feet (910 m) for the tips of the clouds. [13] The official conclusion of the board of inquiry was;
...that the accident was caused because the aircraft was flown below a safe altitude in unsuitable weather conditions; the board were unable to determine the reasons for this. [22]
The Shackleton fleet was due to be replaced by an upgraded Nimrod variant aircraft, but this was dropped in favour of the Sentry AWACS platform. [23]
A memorial is located on Maodal (at grid reference NF997904) and includes the Orange Harvest ESM receiver that was affixed to the top of WR965 Dylan when it crashed. [24] The crew are remembered on Panel 201 of the Armed Forces Memorial, at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire. [25]
Besides the Shackleton crash, two other RAF aircraft crashed on the same day, though without fatalities. A Tornado GR1 (ZA454) crashed at Goose Bay in Canada after an engine fire, and a Phantom FGR2 (XV402) suffered a damaged wheel and fire on the underside of the aircraft on landing at RAF Valley. [26][27][28]
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Air crash
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One trapped after 'B-train' truck rolls, blocks state highway near Otorohanga
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One person has been seriously injured after a large truck rolled in the South Waikato, partially blocking State Highway 39. The crash involving the ‘B-train’ truck happened near Kawhia Rd in Tihiroa, Otorohanga, at 7.45am on Saturday. Details remain sketchy, however the injured person was understood trapped by his legs. A Fire and Emergency NZ heavy rescue unit was scrambled from Hamilton to assist the Otorohanga-based crews already at the scene. The trapped man has been extricated and has been taken to Waikato Hospital by St John ambulance with serious injuries.
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Road Crash
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Trump to withdraw US from 'Open Skies' treaty
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President Donald Trump said he will pull the United States out of the Open Skies Treaty with Russia, accusing Moscow of breaking its commitments under the defense pact President Donald Trump said he will pull the United States out of the Open Skies Treaty with Russia, accusing Moscow of breaking its commitments under the defense pact May 22, 2020, 8:05 AM Donald Trump 45th President of the United States Washington (AFP) - President Donald Trump announced Thursday he plans to withdraw the United States from the Open Skies Treaty with Russia, the third arms control pact Trump has abrogated since coming to office. The US leader said Moscow had not stuck to its commitments under the 18-year-old pact, which was designed to improve military transparency and confidence between the superpowers. "Russia did not adhere to the treaty," Trump told reporters at the White House. "So until they adhere, we will pull out." Moscow quickly countered that the pullout would damage European security and harm the interests of US allies. Ambassadors to NATO, whose members are also party to the treaty, called an urgent meeting Friday to assess the consequences of the move, which could impact European security. Germany's Foreign Minister Heiko Maas urged Washington to reconsider, saying that Germany, France, Poland and Britain had repeatedly explained to the US that the problems with the Russians in recent years "did not justify" pulling out. The treaty "contributes to security and peace in almost all of the northern hemisphere," Maas said. "We will continue implementing the treaty and do everything to preserve it." - Six month countdown - US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Trump would formally notify the parties to the treaty on Friday of US plans to withdraw, which will start a six-month countdown to pullout. "Effective six months from tomorrow, the United States will no longer be a party to the Treaty," Pompeo said in a statement. "We may, however, reconsider our withdrawal should Russia return to full compliance with the Treaty." The Open Skies agreement permits each signatory country's military to conduct a certain number of surveillance flights over another member country each year on short notice. The aircraft can survey the territory below, collecting information and pictures of military installations and activities. Including Russia and the United States, the treaty has 35 signatories, though one, Kyrgyzstan, has not yet ratified it. The idea is that the more rival militaries know about each other, the smaller the chance of conflict. But the flights are also used to examine vulnerabilities of the other side. - Russian violations 'flagrant' - Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman said Russia "flagrantly, continuously violates its obligations" under the pact. Moscow "implements the treaty in ways that contribute to military threats against the United States and our allies and partners," he said. He cited Russia's refusal to allow flights over areas where Washington believes Moscow is deploying medium-range nuclear weapons that threaten Europe, including the Baltic Sea city of Kaliningrad and near the Russia-Georgia border. Last year Moscow also blocked flights meant to survey Russian military exercises, normally allowed under the pact. The New York Times said Trump was also unhappy about a Russian flight over his golf resort in Bedminster, New Jersey three years ago. "In this era of great power competition, we are looking to advocate for agreements that benefit all sides, and that include partners who comply responsibly with their obligations," Hoffman said. - New START treaty talks loom - It will be the third important arms control pact that Trump has withdrawn from since coming to office in January 2017. He has also dropped the 2015 JCPOA agreement to prevent Iran from advancing its nuclear weapons program, and the 1988 Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces Treaty with Russia. In both cases Trump accused the other side of violating treaty requirements. It also added to the question marks over another pact, the New START which limits the number of nuclear missiles the United States and Russia can deploy, and needs to be renewed by early 2021. US officials said the Trump administration had studied the issue for eight months and canvassed allies' opinions before reaching the decision to withdraw from Open Skies. By its actions, "Russia has systematically destroyed conventional arms control in Europe," said Marshall Billingslea, Trump's special envoy for arms control. Benjamin Friedman of the liberal Defense Priorities think tank said the move would only accelerate competition between world powers. "The Open Skies Treaty is not particularly important to US security, but it does build trust worth preserving," he said in a statement. "Along with the US exit from other major arms control treaties, this move reveals a disconcerting pattern of pointless hostility to treaties which will make future accords more difficult to negotiate." Our goal is to create a safe and engaging place for users to connect over interests and passions. In order to improve our community experience, we are temporarily suspending article commenting
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Withdraw from an Organization
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US Secretary of State John Kerry said on Sunday he and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov had reached a provisional agreement
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US Secretary of State John Kerry said on Sunday he and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov had reached a provisional agreement on terms of a cessation of hostilities in Syria and the sides were closer to a ceasefire than ever before.
But he indicated there were still issues to be resolved and he did not expect any immediate change on the ground. In Syria's Homs, twin car bombs claimed by Islamic State killed at least 57 people on Sunday, and bombings killed at least 30 in a suburb of Damascus.
Russian air strikes launched in September against rebels fighting President Bashar al-Assad have exacerbated suffering and destruction in Syria, where a five-year-old civil war has killed more than a quarter of a million people.
Assad's fate has been one of the main points of difference between Washington and Russia, the Syrian leader's main international backer. AP
Assad said on Saturday he was ready for a ceasefire on condition "terrorists" did not use a lull in fighting to their advantage and that countries backing insurgents stopped supporting them.
The Syrian opposition had earlier said it had agreed to the "possibility" of a temporary truce, provided there were guarantees Damascus's allies including Russia would cease fire, sieges were lifted and aid deliveries were allowed country-wide.
"We have reached a provisional agreement in principle on the terms of a cessation of hostilities that could begin in the coming days," Kerry told a news conference in Amman with Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh.
"The modalities for a cessation of hostilities are now being completed. In fact, we are closer to a ceasefire today than we have been," said Kerry, who was also to meet King Abdullah.
He declined to go into detail about the unresolved issues, saying the two sides were "filling out the details" of the agreement.
But he repeated the US position that Assad had to step down. "With Assad there this war cannot and will not end," he said.
Assad's fate has been one of the main points of difference between Washington and Russia, the Syrian leader's main international backer. Russia recently has begun to say Syrians should decide on whether Assad should stay or not, but it continues to support Damascus with air strikes.
Kerry said he had spoken to Lavrov on several occasions, including earlier on Sunday, and that he anticipated US President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin would talk in the coming days to complete the provisional agreement in principle.
The Russian Foreign Ministry confirmed Lavrov and Kerry had spoken by phone on Sunday about conditions for a ceasefire. It said discussions were on ceasefire conditions which would exclude operations against organisations "recognised as terrorist by U.N. Security Council".
These are groups including Islamic State and the al Qaeda- linked Nusra Front.
Despite the provisional agreement, Kerry did not see an imminent change in fighting on the ground.
"I do not believe that in the next few days, during which time we try to bring this into effect, there is somehow going to be a tipping point with respect to what is happening on the ground ... The opposition has made clear their determination to fight back," he said.
In Homs at least 57 people were killed and 100 people wounded by the car bombs, one of the deadliest attacks in the city in five years of civil war, a monitoring group said.
At least 30 people were killed by car bombs and suicide attacks on Sunday in a southern suburb of Damascus where Syria's holiest Shi'ite shrine is located, pro-government media outlets and the monitoring group said.
Suicide attacks last month in the same district, claimed by Islamic State, killed 60 people.
Kerry said any deal would take a few days to come together, while the two sides consulted with other countries and the Syrian opposition. Russia had to speak to the Syrian government and Iran, and the United States had to speak to the Syrian opposition and its partners, Kerry said.
Russia's RIA news agency said on Sunday that Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu had arrived in Tehran, quoting a source in the Russian Embassy in Iran. It did not give a reason for the visit.
Reuters
After the Financial Review reported plans by Barnaby Joyce to make a run for the leadership as early as Monday, David Littleproud also emerged as a contender.
Momentum is building inside the Nationals for a leadership spill as early as Monday with Barnaby Joyce poised to depose Michael McCormack.
Remote learning contains some useful lessons for students, teachers, school administrators and the wider community.
Values play a huge part in the way students develop life skills and the particular values emphasised make a vital difference.
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Sign Agreement
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Sifan Hassan narrowly misses her mile world record in Brussels
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Sifan Hassan went after her own mile world record of 4:12.33 at the final Diamond League meet in Brussels on Friday. She came up just short, crossing the line in 4:14.75, the fourth-fastest time in history. Axamawit Embaye was second (4:21.08) and Linden Hall was third in 4:21.38, an Australian national record.
From the start of the race, Hassan was on her own, being paced through the 1,000m mark in 2:33. She reached this point three seconds earlier than her record-breaking effort at Monaco in 2019. Two weeks ago, announced she would attempt to break the 5,000m world record at the Pre Classic before the race even started. In Brussels, she avoided sharing her attempt with the media before the race.
The women’s 200m lived up to expectations. Christine Mboma took control of the race over the last 100m and won in 21.84 seconds. 100m bronze medallist from Tokyo Shericka Jackson finished second in 21.95, just ahead of 2019 world champion Dina Asher-Smith (22.04 SB). U.S. sprinter Sha’carri Ricardson was fourth in 22.45.
RELATED: Weekend recap: W60 woman runs 2:52 marathon, Sha’Carri Richardson drops 10.72 100m
Michael Cherry made a statement in the men’s 400m, running the fifth-fastest time this year in 44.03 seconds. Tokyo bronze medallist Kirani James finished second (44.51), after leading for three-quarters of the race. 400m veteran Isaac Makwala was third (44.83).
RELATED: Marco Arop beats Olympic medallists again to win Lausanne Diamond League
It was a battle between Hellen Obiri and Francine Niyonsaba in the women’s 5,000m. Canadian 5,000m Olympian Kate Van Buskirk paced the field through two kilometres at 2:51/km. Niyonsaba took the lead and signalled for Obiri to help with the pace. There were four athletes in the mix with 400m to go, Obiri leading the charge from the front. Niyonsaba was in the fourth position with 200m to go, but used her middle-distance experience to her advantage, delivering a lethal kick out of lane four. Niyonsaba set a 29-second personal best to win the 5,000m in 14:25.34 (breaking her own national record for Burundi). Ejgayehu Taye of Ethiopia was second (14:25.63), Obiri third (14:26.23).
Stewart McSweyn finally got his 1,500m win at a Diamond League meet. It could be because his rival, Jakob Ingebrigtsen, was not there. Mohamed Katir of Spain challenged McSweyn with 400m to go, but ran out of gas late, as McSweyn surged past him in 3:33.20. Fellow Australian Olli Hoare finished just behind McSweyn in 3:33.79. Indoor 1,500m world record holder Samuel Tefera, who many thought would challenge McSweyn in this race, finished 10th (3:36.20).
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Break historical records
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Karsten Warholm smashes 400m hurdles world record in one of greatest races in history
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Once jaws had stopped plummeting after this 45.94sec symphony of destruction, the search for superlatives began. Michael Johnson, who knows a thing or two about destroying world records on the path to Olympic gold and glory, reckoned it was “one of the most impressive performances in the history of the sport”. Others hailed it as one of the greatest Olympic races of all time. Perhaps even the greatest of all time. If everyone sounded dizzy, that is because they were.
But those fortunate enough to see Karsten Warholm and Rai Benjamin duke it out, breaking the 400m hurdles world record by a street in the midday Tokyo heat, will remember it to their dying breath. There was barely a stride between them as they sprinted like cheetahs and jumped like stags over 10 hurdles. But, with the legs and lungs protesting, Warholm found just a little more.
As the Norwegian crossed the line, he looked at the clock and screamed. No wonder. He had obliterated his own world record by a staggering 0.76sec. No wonder he tore his track vest open like Superman.
“In the last 20 metres I couldn’t feel my legs,” he said. “I just ran for my life.”
What was the first thing you thought when you saw the results on the screen, he was asked. “I thought ‘this is sick’.”
Benjamin was second, in a time – 46.17 – that would have scarcely sounded believable a minute or two before. “There’s a lot to process,” he said. “I’m really happy to be part of history. It was probably the best race in Olympic history. I don’t even think Bolt’s 9.64 can beat that. I ran 46.1 and lost. That’s the nature of the beast.”
Some reckoned it ranked alongside Usain Bolt’s first 100m race in Beijing, when his victory in 9.69sec catapulted him to global superstardom. Others compared it to David Rudisha winning the 800m in 1min 40.91sec in London four years later. But those were beautiful processions. This was a proper slugfest, with the outcome in doubt even as the athletes cleared the final hurdle.
Benjamin thought a hurdle he clipped on the back straight had cost him. Warholm’s response? “Well, he shouldn’t have hit a hurdle in an Olympic final then,” he said, joking.
“I was coming, I just ran out of space,” said Benjamin. “It was a phenomenal race. We tore the old record to pieces. If you would have told me that I was going to run 46.1 and lose, I would probably beat you up and tell you to get out of my room. This is the greatest race in Olympic history. It’s undeniable.”
Brazil’s Alison dos Santos took bronze in 46.72 – a time that had it happened five weeks ago would have been the fastest in history. He finished a distant third.
Warholm and Benjamin talked eloquently and intelligently about the race and each other. The mutual respect was obvious.
“The kid’s amazing, you can’t be mad at that at all,” said Benjamin. “As a competitor it hurts. I couldn’t sleep last night, there were 10 million emotions in the call room. We’re cool with each other but we weren’t talking.”
The only moment of sharp disagreement came when Warholm suggested the springy Nike spikes used by Benjamin and hundreds of other athletes at these Games were unfair. “If you put a trampoline in there, I think it’s bullshit and takes credibility away from our sport,” was the Norwegian’s punchy assessment.
Not that Warholm was wearing plimsolls. His carbon-plated spikes were the result of a collaboration between Puma and the Mercedes Formula One team. Unlike Nike’s spikes, however, they do not contain air pods and a special slab of Pebax foam.
Clearly the track, which its makers Mundo claim is 1-2% quicker than any in history, was also a factor. Kyron McMaster, who was fourth in 47.08, described the experience as like “running on air”.
But as Benjamin said, this generation of hurdlers is special. “I don’t care who you are,” he said. “Could be Kevin Young, Edwin Moses, respect to those guys, but they cannot run what we just ran.”
The crazy thing is, they may not be finished.
“I can’t believe the time, it’s so fast,” said Warholm. “A lot of the time I am asked about the perfect race. I said it didn’t exist but this is the closest I’ve ever come.”
The greatest race in track and field history? “Your words not mine,” said Warholm, smiling. “But I think it’s up there.”
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Break historical records
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2011 Afghanistan Boeing Chinook shootdown crash
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On 5 August 2011, a U.S. CH-47D Chinook military helicopter operating with the call sign Extortion 17 (pronounced "one-seven") was shot down while transporting a Quick Reaction Force attempting to reinforce a Joint Special Operations Command unit of the 75th Ranger Regiment in the Tangi Valley in Maidan Wardak province, southwest of Kabul, Afghanistan. [1][2][3][4] The resulting crash killed all 38 people on board – 23 US Navy SEALs, 2 United States Air Force Pararescue, 1 United States Air Force Combat Control Team member, one pilot and two crewmen of the United States Army Reserve, one pilot and one crewman of the United States Army National Guard, seven members of the Afghan National Security Forces, and one Afghan interpreter, as well as a U.S. military working dog. [1][5][6][7][8] At 31 U.S. military personnel killed, the shoot down of Extortion 17 represents the greatest single-incident loss of U.S. lives in Operation Enduring Freedom – Afghanistan, surpassing the sixteen lost in the downing of Turbine 33, a 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne) MH-47, during Operation Red Wings on 28 June 2005. [2]
In March 2009, the U.S. 10th Mountain Division established a base in Tangi Valley after increased Taliban activity in the area. U.S., French and Afghan National Police forces carried out a three-day sweep of the area after which the area was deemed secure. In April 2011, U.S. forces turned over control of Combat Outpost Tangi to Afghan government forces. However, the Afghan government forces did not occupy the base, which was seized by the Taliban shortly after the departure of U.S. forces. U.S. forces continued to carry out operations in the area (mostly via helicopter and using special forces), encountering resistance from Taliban fighters on several occasions. For example, on 8 June 2011 a Boeing CH-47 Chinook helicopter was engaged from five to six locations (i.e., points of origin) with 14 rocket-propelled grenades, forcing the crew to abort the mission. [9][10]
After US intelligence services discovered in 2011 that senior Taliban leader Qari Tahir was possibly in Tangi Valley, Wardak province, Afghanistan, local US forces launched a mission to apprehend or kill him. [11] At 10:37 (local time) on the night of 5 August, a platoon of 47 U.S. Army Rangers left at forward operating base in Logar Province via two CH-47D transport helicopters, one of which would later be involved in the accident. [9][10][11] After a twenty-minute flight (around 11pm), the two Chinook helicopters landed near the compound ostensibly containing Tahir, offloaded the Ranger platoon, and returned to base. [11]
The mission was deemed high risk; two AH-64 Apache helicopters, an AC-130 gunship, and other additional intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft (ISR) supported the troop transports on their approach, and remained with the ground forces afterwards. [11] 17 U.S. Navy SEALs remained in reserve at the forward operating base. [11][12]
As the Rangers approached the target compound, ISR aircraft observed several people leaving the compound. This group grew in number over the course of the night, but US forces were—at first—too preoccupied to engage. At 11:30, one of the Apache support helicopters engaged in a brief skirmish with a different group of eight Taliban fighters 400 m (440 yd) north of the compound, killing six. [11]
Separately, ISR aircraft continued to observe the un-engaged group from the compound. Originally just two people, the group eventually accumulated a total of 9–10 fighters, and the special-operations task-force commander and the Immediate reaction force commander became concerned that it might include Qari Tahrir. At 1 AM, they decided to engage the group with the SEAL reserves. [9][11]
Almost an hour later (1:50 am), the Aviation Brigade Commander approved a new landing zone for infiltration of the SEAL team. The landing zone had been examined for a previous mission, but had not yet been used. [11]
At 2:00, the special operations task force commander and the Immediate Reaction Force commander decided to add additional (non-SEAL) reinforcements, increasing the size of the team to 33. In order to speed disembarkation, all troops were loaded on a single CH-47D helicopter for transport; the other Chinook would approach the landing zone second as a decoy. Around 2:23, the two helicopters departed the forward base. [9][11]
Meanwhile, the group of Taliban fighters split in two. At 2:15, one group of three Taliban fighters took a position in a stand of trees; the remaining 6–7 men entered a building located some 2 km (1.2 mi) from the target compound. [11] Going forward, the two AH-64 Apache helicopters would be engaged in tracking those two groups of Taliban, and hence unable to provide surveillance or fire support to the inbound helicopter carrying the SEAL team. [12][13]
Six minutes prior to reaching the landing zone, the empty CH-47D left formation as planned. The helicopter carrying the SEALs proceeded to the landing zone alone, without external lighting. During the Ranger insertion earlier that night, the CH-47D had approached from the south; this time, it approached from the northwest. The helicopter made its last radio transmission stating it was one minute away from the landing zone, then descended to an altitude of 100–150 ft (30–46 m) and slowed to a speed of 50 kn (58 mph; 93 km/h) as it approached the landing zone. [9][11]
Around 2:38, the helicopter was fired upon and shot down by a previously-undetected group of Taliban fighters approximately 220 m (240 yd) south of the helicopter. The group fired 2–3 RPG rounds from a two-story building, the second of which struck one of the three aft rotor blades of the helicopter. The resulting explosion destroyed the aft rotor assembly. In less than five seconds, the helicopter crashed, killing all occupants; and approximately 30 seconds later one of the AH-64 Apache helicopters radioed in the crash. [9][11]
Six minutes later, the Rangers concluded securing the compound, detained several people, and then began to move (on foot) towards the crash site. They reached the crash site at 4:12, and found no survivors. Several minutes later a 20-man Pathfinder team (specializing in downed-aircraft rescue and recovery) arrived at the site as well. [11]
By 16:25 all of the remains were taken from the crash site via ground convoy and transported to Combat Outpost Sayyid Abad. Recovery of wreckage from the crash site lasted until 9 August 2011. [11]
"The U.S. military helicopter carrying special operations forces to a night-raid in the Tangi Valley of Wardak Province, was most likely brought down by a rocket-propelled grenade, according to military officials. "[14][15]
A spokesman for the Taliban, Zabiullah Mujahid, confirmed that eight of the movement's fighters had been killed in the assault on the compound. He said: "They wanted to attack our Mujahideen who were in a house, but our Mujahideen resisted and destroyed a helicopter with a rocket-propelled grenade. "[5]
In the afternoon of 6 August, a flash flood swept through the area washing away parts of the wreckage. Early media reports suggested the Army had been tardy to recover flight recorders from the downed Chinook, and, as a consequence, the recorders had been swept away by the flood. [11][16] These reports were erroneous; the CH-47D airframe does not contain "black boxes" (although the MH-47 variant does have a flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder). [17][original research?] Subsequent reports stated that on the night the U.S. military helicopter had been delivering reinforcements to personnel of the 75th Ranger Regiment, another special operations unit engaged in a night raid on a compound to kill or capture a senior Taliban leader. [7][18][19] During the battle US forces observed a small group of Taliban trying to flee the scene.
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Air crash
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Hawaii volcano raises concerns of eruptions along West Coast
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SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — The eruption of a Hawaii volcano has people warily eyeing volcanic peaks on America’s West Coast. The West Coast is home to an 800-mile (1,300-kilometer) chain of 13 volcanoes from Washington state’s Mount Baker to California’s Lassen Peak. They include Mount St. Helens, whose spectacular 1980 eruption in the Pacific Northwest killed dozens of people and sent volcanic ash across the country, and massive Mount Rainier, which towers above the Seattle metro area. The peaks are part of the “Ring of Fire,” volcanoes that sit on tectonic plates. Hawaii is not part of the Ring of Fire. “There’s lots of anxiety out there,” said Liz Westby, geologist at the U.S. Geological Survey Cascades Volcano Observatory in Vancouver, Washington, in the shadow of Mount St. Helens. “They see destruction, and people get nervous.” Kilauea, on Hawaii’s Big Island, is threatening to blow its top in coming days or weeks after sputtering lava for a week, forcing about 2,000 people to evacuate, destroying two dozen homes and threatening a geothermal plant. Experts fear the volcano could hurl ash and boulders the size of refrigerators miles into the air. Here are some key things to know: WHAT IS THE RING OF FIRE? Roughly 450 volcanoes make up this horseshoe-shaped belt. The belt follows the coasts of South America, North America, eastern Asia, Australia and New Zealand. It’s known for frequent volcanic and seismic activity caused by the colliding of crustal plates. Outside of Hawaii, America’s most dangerous volcanoes are all part of the Ring of Fire, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. They include: Mount St. Helens and Mount Rainier in Washington; Mount Hood and South Sister in Oregon; and Mount Shasta and Lassen Volcanic Center in California. Images of lava flowing from the ground and homes going up in flames in Hawaii have stoked unease among residents. But experts say an eruption in Hawaii doesn’t necessarily signal danger on the West Coast. “These are isolated systems,” Westby said. WHEN WILL THE WEST COAST VOLCANOES ERUPT? No eruption seems imminent, experts say. The Cascades Volcano Observatory monitors volcanoes in the Pacific Northwest and posts weekly status reports. All currently register “normal.” But the situation can change fast. “All our mountains are considered active and, geologically speaking, things seem to happen in the Northwest about every 100 years,” said John Ufford, preparedness manager for the Washington Emergency Management Division. “It’s an inexact timeline.” Some geologists believe Mount St. Helens is the most likely to erupt. But six other Cascade volcanoes have been active in the past 300 years, including steam eruptions at Mount Rainier and Glacier Peak and a 1915 blast at Lassen Peak that destroyed nearby ranches. WHAT KIND OF DAMAGE COULD THEY DO? The Big Island scenes of rivers of lava snaking through neighborhoods and sprouting fountains are unlikely in the Pacific Northwest. “Lava is not the hazard, per se, like in Hawaii,” said Ian Lange, a retired University of Montana geology professor. Cascade volcanos produce a thicker, more viscous type of lava than Hawaiian volcanoes, so it doesn’t run as far, Lange said. The Cascade volcanoes can produce huge clouds of choking ash and send deadly mudslides into rivers and streams. Two of the most potentially destructive are Mount St. Helens, north of the Portland, Oregon, metro area, and 14,000-foot (4,270-meter) Mount Rainier, which is visible from the cities of Seattle and Tacoma. Mount Rainier eruptions in the distant past have caused destruction as far west as Puget Sound, some 50 miles (80 kilometers) away. The volcano hasn’t produced a significant eruption in the past 500 years. But it remains dangerous because of its great height, frequent earthquakes, active hydrothermal system, and 26 glaciers, experts said. An eruption on Mount Rainier could rapidly melt glaciers, triggering huge mudflows — called lahars — that could reach the densely populated surrounding lowlands, Westby said. Another major danger from a Cascade volcano eruption would be large amounts of ash thrown into the air, where it could foul aircraft engines. WHAT ARE COMMUNITIES DOING TO PREPARE? The closest settlement to a West Coast volcano may be Government Camp, on Oregon’s Mount Hood. Lava could conceivably reach the town, but the greater threat is an eruption triggering a so-called pyroclastic flow, which is a fast-moving cloud of hot ash and gas, experts said. But Lange believes California’s Mount Shasta is the most dangerous, in part because it is surrounded by towns. The town of Mt. Shasta has numerous response plans for emergencies, including a volcano eruption, Police Chief Parish Cross said. But the plan for a volcano is pretty fluid, he said. “We don’t know the size or scope of the event,” Cross said, including which direction the eruption would occur. This is not an issue in Orting, Washington, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) west of Mount Rainier. Orting would be directly in the path of a lahar, and local officials each year conduct drills in which children move from school to higher ground to escape the flow. Students usually take about 45 minutes to walk the 2 miles (3 kilometers) to higher ground, which should be fast enough to escape, officials said. “Our concern is ice and snow melting rapidly on Mount Rainier,” said Chuck Morrison, a resident of the town of 7,600 who has long been involved in evacuation planning. “We need a quick way off the valley floor.” Orting is the town most vulnerable to lahar damage from Mount Rainier, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Scientists say that in the worst case, a 30-foot-high (9-meter-high) lahar with the consistency of wet concrete could rumble through Orting at 50 mph (80 kph) if volcanic activity suddenly melted snow and ice on Rainier.
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Volcano Eruption
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In Firozabad, people flee or send kids away as 5 diseases are identified as ‘mystery illness’
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Two boys suffering from dengue at their home in Firozabad's Nagla Amaan village Firozabad: Spiders and lizards have cosied up in the abandoned houses of Nagla Amaan, a village in UP’s Firozabad district. Meanwhile, Nagla Mavasi, another village, doesn’t echo with the playful screams of children anymore. In both these villages, two of Firozabad’s 152 rural settlements and located close to the city, residents have either packed up and left, or sent their children away. Reason: An outbreak of five infectious diseases that has racked up a double-digit toll since 20 August. Dengue, malaria, viral fever, scrub typhus and leptospirosis make up the “mystery fever” outbreak that has been wreaking havoc in the district for over a month, according to Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Dinesh Premi. Official figures peg the toll at 62 — 80 per cent of them children — but some media reports claim more than 200 children and adults have died of the infections so far. Premi said dengue is the dominant infection with 3,593 samples testing positive for the vector-borne disease. There have been 61 malaria cases, 51 of scrub typhus, and 23 of leptospirosis. While malaria is a viral infection spread through female anopheles mosquitoes, scrub typhus and leptospirosis are bacterial infections spread through mites and urine of animals, respectively. The CMO didn’t have a cumulative figure for the total number of samples tested by the district. Occurring amid a pandemic, this outbreak has local residents more worried than Covid. Its sudden onslaught has also stumped authorities in Firozabad, where, according to the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) website (where every district is mandatorily supposed to give updated figures on disease outbreaks every week), the district hadn’t reported an outbreak — a sudden increase in the incidence of a disease over expected levels in a certain area — of any of these five diseases in the preceding three years (2018, 2019 and 2020). None was reported in the first 25 weeks of 2021 either, the latest period for which data is available on the IDSP portal. While residents fault the authorities’ poor hygiene maintenance for setting the stage for the current situation, the CMO blamed the dengue and malaria outbreak on improper water storage by the public that allows mosquitoes to breed. Also Read: What is scrub typhus, one of the infections suspected to be behind Firozabad ‘mystery’ deaths People flee villages The atmosphere is tangibly sombre when one enters Nagla Amaan and Nagla Mavasi villages near Firozabad city. Residents of these villages say each and every house in the area has been affected by dengue. “Covid claimed one life in the village. This dengue has claimed 14, most of them children. Yahan hahakaar macha hua hai (there is pandemonium here). Everyone is scared. We don’t even go to people’s houses if anyone dies,” said 60-year-old Netra Pal, a resident of Mavasi, which has a population of 10,000. At Nagla Mavasi, not a single child is in sight outdoors. This is because, residents say, the deaths of several local children forced many parents to send their kids away to relatives’ houses elsewhere. Others, they add, are hospitalised or just back home from treatment. “This experience has been traumatising for the village. We’ve buried our children almost every day this past one month. I’ve sent my three kids off to Etawah to live with their bua (aunt),” said Kuldeep Singh, a resident. “Other villagers have done the same. The only children in the village are the ones who’ve come back from hospital. Rest all have left.” The situation appears more dire at Nagla Amaan, where many residents don’t even have pucca houses. ThePrint couldn’t obtain an assessment about the estimated population because the sarpanch was away tending to his critically ill son in Agra. Many people have fled Nagla Amaan amid the outbreak | Shubhangi Misra | ThePrint Asked about the outbreak, villagers pointed to white larvae breeding in drains and stagnant water in their houses, and scourges of mosquitoes dancing above them. According to villagers, 15 families have left their houses for good in Nagla Amaan. Ramveer, 39, a farm labourer, pointed to one house and said, “This house is owned by three brothers. They lost a child, and once they came back from the hospital, they packed up and fled out of fear. We don’t think they’ll come back.” At many homes, young children with high fever lay in bed, crying in agony. Their families told ThePrint they don’t have the money to take their children to hospitals. “I have nine children. All of them suffered from dengue. I am in a debt of Rs 60,000. I spent Rs 60,000 over and above this, which were my life savings. And now so many loans have been taken that people have simply stopped giving loans,” said Ishwar Dayal, who works as a driver. “You can see my infant son lying inside. I have no money to take him to a doctor anymore.” When asked why villagers don’t go to government facilities, they cited a lack of trust. “Nobody listens to you there. You just lie down in a corner for hours and nobody listens to you. Some of the serious cases are anyway referred to Agra. Private ones are expensive but at least they save lives. So we go to private facilities or don’t go to the hospital at all,” Dayal added. Despite the spate of infections, villagers alleged they’ve never seen an anti-larva spray and were only “greeted” by a fogging machine once. “Tell me, sister, does one bout of fogging kill all the mosquitoes?” asked a resident of Nagla Amaan. Nagla Mavasi sarpanch Jitendra Singh said he’s had to do fogging and spray anti-larva medicines at his own expense, adding that the government has been unhelpful. “The government gave me nothing but 200 ml of anti-larva spray. We asked for more but they didn’t have it. There’s only so much I can do in my personal capacity,” he said. Residents of both villages blamed stagnant water for the outbreak. “Just see this still water. We’ve complained to the tehsildar at least 20 times about this dirty pond in the middle of the village. We even launched a complaint on the chief minister’s portal. But they’re not ready to hear us out. And the cost of their negligence has been our children,” said 65-year-old Krishna Yadav, a resident of Nagla Amaan. ThePrint reached Firozabad District Magistrate Chandra Vijay Singh by text and calls for a comment, but there was no response by the time of publishing this report. Disease in Firozabad Since 2019, Uttar Pradesh has reported 11 dengue outbreaks, and only 1 death from the disease, according to the IDSP. The last outbreak reported in Firozabad was in 2019, of acute diarrhoea dysfunction, which claimed three lives. Unchlorinated water was the reason behind this outbreak, the IDSP portal states. When asked why children were particularly affected by this new outbreak, CMO Premi said: “This is the D2 strain of dengue which is very virulent and more dangerous. The virus keeps evolving and new strains keep emerging. Like you can see with Covid-19. Dengue is anyway more dangerous for children and with this strain they’re at a higher risk.” While open drains, potholes and garbage pits dot the areas of the district visited by ThePrint, improper water storage was squarely blamed by the administration for the outbreak. “I’ll tell you what, Firozabad has one problem: Running water comes for only one hour a day. So, people resort to storing water in huge containers, and they don’t even cover them. All kinds of larvae breed in such water,” he said. “Heavy and continuous rains have added to the problem this year. Plus Firozabad is primarily a city of labourers who aren’t very educated. They’re not getting tested on time. This is why there are such high casualties.”
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Disease Outbreaks
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A earthquake triggered a tsunami
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Updated information on damages and impacts of the disaster. On 28 September 2018, a series of strong earthquakes struck Central Sulawesi Province. The strongest of which measured at 7.4 magnitude and 10km deep with the epicenter in Donggala Regency, close to the provincial capital Palu. The earthquake triggered a tsunami which reached up to three meters in some areas, striking Talise beach in Palu and Donggala shores. The earthquakes, tsunami and resulting liquefaction and landslides caused significant damage and loss of life in affected areas. As of 18 July 2019, the government reported that 4,140 people died in the disaster, of which 1,016 were not identified; and a further 705 people remain missing. More than 4,400 were seriously injured and more than 100,405 houses destroyed, damaged or lost due to the earthquake, tsunami or liquefaction. Of these, 30,148 houses were severely damaged while more than 4,050 were lost (mainly due to liquefaction). In its wake, almost 173,000 people were displaced. According to the shelter cluster updates (link) published on 28 February 2020, 66 governmental and non-governmental agencies constructed temporary shelter (collective and individual) for 23,672 households. More than 320 districts and community-based health facilities plus 1,300 schools were also damaged. The focus of government response is on the recovery phase. COVID-19 in Indonesia and Central Sulawesi province On March 2020, the government declared a state of emergency for COVID-19 as a non-natural disaster in Indonesia. The number of confirmed cases has continued to increase significantly since the announcement of the first two cases in March 2020. Based on Indonesia Ministry of Health data until 10 June 2020, 34,316 people have tested positive, of which 1,959 cases have been fatal. The Indonesian Ministry of Health activated 132 referral hospitals in 33 provinces for COVID-19 case management. The government also established an emergency hospital for COVID-19 quarantine and treatment in Galang Island of Riau Islands Province. The declaration allows the government to invoke powers to ease of entry of international aid, as well as to generate or allocate funds to respond to the pandemic. The president also formed the COVID-19 acceleration Task Force, with the Head of BNPB (National Agency of Disaster Management) as leading the task force. BNBP stated a 91-day emergency status on the pandemic starting from 29 February until 29 May 2020. Task forces have also been established for 25 provinces, of which 11 provinces have declared an emergency status. The task force is assigned to lead the prevention, response and recovery activities, as well as to employ experts to support the responses. The task force is also required to consult the policy plan with the head of the national task force. On 16 March 2020, the Ministry of Internal Affairs issued a temporary restriction to export antiseptics, materials for masks manufacturing and personal protective equipment (PPE). On 3 April 2020, the Ministry of Health released guidelines to large-scale social restrictions (Pembatasan Sosial Berskala Besar, PSBB). The guidelines restrict public activities in certain provinces that have been hit by COVID-19. The regulation also became the basis for closing of schools and offices; restrictions on religious activities in communal areas, activities in public spaces and facilities, social and cultural activities; limitation of public transport modes and private vehicles and other restrictions concerning defence and security aspects. On 10 April 2020, Jakarta, with the highest number of positive cases in Indonesia, became the first province that implanted PSBB. On 21 April, the government also banned the traditional “Mudik” or mass exodus of people to go to home provinces, starting on 24 April 2020 until 1 June 2020. All 34 Provinces in Indonesia identified with positive cases: the top five highest numbers being in DKI Jakarta, West Java, Banten, East Java and South Sulawesi provinces. In Central Sulawesi, the number of positive cases of COVID-19 has steadily increased. Several hospitals have been appointed by the Provincial Health Office as COVID-19 referral hospitals. The testing capacity in the province remains low. The Sulawesi Government maintains information related to COVID-19 through daily release from Central Sulawesi Data and Information Centre and the website of Provincial Health Office of Central Sulawesi https://dinkes.sultengprov.go.id/category/covid-19/. The provincial governor also decreed various regulations on the COVID-19 situation management specifically on population movements in attempt to stem the transmission of the virus. Roads, airports and seaports have been regulated with crossboundary movements allowed only from 06:00 to 22:00 and submission of valid PCR test. Physical distancing regulations are also in place, particularly in public places and markets. The gatherings should be approved by SATGAS (provincial emergency health body). Wearing facial masks is obligatory at all times in public. NGOs present in the area, most of which have been responding to the 2018 earthquake and tsunami, are coordinating COVID19 responses to track activities and provide support to the provincial government. Requests to reactivate the health cluster, including for psychosocial support, have been raised by NGOs to provide a formal coordination mechanism for all the actors in the province.
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Tsunamis
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1935 Helena earthquake
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The 1935 Helena earthquake occurred at 22:48:02 MDT on October 18 in Montana, with an epicenter near Helena. [2] It had a magnitude of 6.2 on the surface wave magnitude scale and a maximum perceived intensity of VIII (Severe) on the Mercalli intensity scale. The temblor on that date was the largest of a series of earthquakes that also included a large aftershock on October 31 of magnitude 6.0 and a maximum intensity of VIII. [3] Two people died in the mainshock and two others died as a result of the October 31 aftershock. Property damage was over $4 million. [4]
Helena lies within the northern part of the Intermountain Seismic Belt (ISB). This area of relatively intense seismicity runs roughly north-south from northwestern Arizona, through Utah, Idaho, and Wyoming, before dying out in northwestern Montana. [5] It shows a marked deflection to the northwest near Helena, where it intersects with the Lewis and Clark fault zone, a zone of older WNW-trending faults. [6] The ISB is characterized by normal faulting of late Quaternary age, indicating active extensional tectonics, as recognized throughout the Basin and Range province to the south. The focal mechanism of the two largest earthquakes of the 1935 sequence are consistent with right lateral strike-slip faulting on faults similar in trend to two major mapped NW-SE faults, the Bald Butte and Helena Valley Faults. [7][8]
The sequence began with a small earthquake on October 3. [9] It was followed by a damaging earthquake on October 12 (magnitude 5.9, intensity VII), the mainshock on October 18 (magnitude 6.2, intensity VIII), the large aftershock on October 31 (magnitude 6.0, intensity VIII) and a further large aftershock on November 28 (magnitude 5.5, intensity VI). [10] There were a total of 1800 temblors recorded between October 4, 1935, and April 30, 1936. [4]
There was widespread damage to unreinforced masonry structures in the Helena area with more than 200 chimneys being destroyed. The strongest effects were seen in the northeast, where buildings were constructed on alluvial soil, and in the southern business district, which contained many brick buildings. The most extensively damaged building was the Helena High School, which was completed in August 1935[2] and had just been dedicated in early October. [11] The school buildings, which had cost $500,000, had not been designed to be earthquake resistant. [11] Another building that was totally destroyed and had to be rebuilt was the Lewis and Clark County Hospital. [12] The October 18 earthquake caused an estimated $3 million of damage to property. [2]
The aftershock of October 31 caused an estimated $1 million of further property damage, particularly to structures already weakened by the October 18 shock. [3]
Two people were killed by falling bricks in Helena during the October 18 shock. [2] Two brick masons died as a result of the October 31 aftershock, while removing a brick tower. [11]
A temporary camp was set up by the Red Cross and Federal Emergency Relief Administration on land at the Montana Army National Guard's Camp Cooney. The first night saw 400 people staying there, but most had found space with friends or family outside of the damaged area by the end of the week. Many other people lived in tents around the town for the next few weeks, either due to damaged property or for fear of aftershocks. The National Guard were deployed in Helena to keep sightseers away from the damaged buildings, there was no looting. [11]
A computer simulation performed for the Lewis and Clark County office of Disaster and Emergency Services estimated that a 6.3 magnitude earthquake today would result in property damage over $500 million. [4] Another concern for future earthquakes in the area is soil liquefaction, especially in the area north of the city where there are alluvial soils and a high water table. [4][13]
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Earthquakes
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2008 IAAF World Cross Country Championships
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The 2008 IAAF World Cross Country Championships took place on March 30, 2008. The races were held at the Holyrood Park in Edinburgh, United Kingdom. [1] Four races took place, one for men, women, junior men and junior women respectively. All races encompassed both individual and team competition. This was the year in which Kenenisa Bekele became the first athlete in World Cross history to win six individual long course titles, breaking his tie with John Ngugi and Paul Tergat who had each won five. Reports of the event were given in The New York Times,[2] in the Herald,[3] and for the IAAF. [4][5][6][7]
Complete results for senior men[8][9][10] and for senior men's teams[11][12][13] were published. Complete results for junior men[14][15][16] and for junior men's teams[17][18][19] were published. Complete results for senior women[20][21][22] and for senior women's teams[23][24][25] were published. Complete results for junior women[26][27][28] and for junior women's teams[29][30][31] were published. According to an unofficial count, 448 athletes from 57 countries participated. This is in agreement with the official numbers as published. [1] The announced athletes from Moldova, Nepal, and Nigeria did not show. [8][9][10]
Coordinates: 55°57′06″N 3°10′05″W / 55.95167°N 3.16806°W / 55.95167; -3.16806
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Sports Competition
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1952 Winter Olympics
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The 1952 Winter Olympics, officially known as the VI Olympic Winter Games (Norwegian: De 6. olympiske vinterleker; Nynorsk: Dei 6. olympiske vinterleikane) and commonly known as Oslo 1952, was a winter multi-sport event held from 14 to 25 February 1952 in Oslo, the capital of Norway. Discussions about Oslo hosting the Winter Olympic Games began as early as 1935; the city was keen to host the 1948 Winter Olympics, but that was made impossible by World War II. Instead, Oslo won the right to host the 1952 Games in a contest that included Cortina d'Ampezzo in Italy and Lake Placid in the United States. All of the Olympic venues were in Oslo's metropolitan area, except for the alpine skiing events, which were held at Norefjell, 113 km (70 mi) from the capital. A new hotel was built for the press and dignitaries, along with three dormitories to house athletes and coaches, creating the first modern athlete's village. Oslo bore the financial burden of hosting the Games in return for the revenue they generated. The 1952 Winter Games attracted 694 athletes representing 30 countries, who participated in four sports and 22 events. [1] Japan and Germany made their returns to Winter Olympic competition after being forced to miss the 1948 Games in the aftermath of World War II. Germany was represented solely by West German athletes after East Germany declined to compete as a unified team. Portugal and New Zealand made their Winter Olympic debuts, and women were allowed to compete in cross-country skiing for the first time. Norwegian truck driver Hjalmar Andersen won three out of four speed skating events to become the most decorated athlete of the 1952 Winter Olympics. Germany resumed its former prominence in bobsleigh, with wins in the four- and two-man events. Dick Button of the United States performed the first triple jump in international competition to claim his second consecutive men's figure skating Olympic title. The popular Nordic sport bandy featured as a demonstration sport, but only three Nordic countries competed in the tournament. Norway dominated the overall medal count with 16 medals, including seven golds. The Games closed with the presentation of a flag that would be passed to the host city of the next Winter Olympics. The flag, which became known as the "Oslo flag", has been displayed in the host city during subsequent Winter Games. Oslo had unsuccessfully bid to host the 1936 Winter Olympics, losing to Germany, which had hosted the 1936 Summer Olympics. At that time, the nation that hosted the Summer Olympics also hosted the Winter Olympics. [2] After the 1936 Games, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) decided to award the Winter and Summer Games to different countries, but the Games were suspended during World War II. London hosted the first post-war Games, the 1948 Summer Olympics, and recommended Oslo as the host city for the 1948 Winter Games, but the city council declined. [2] Instead, the 1948 Winter Olympics were held in St. Moritz, Switzerland. [3]
Norwegians were undecided about hosting a Winter Olympics. [4] Culturally, they were opposed to competitive winter sports, particularly skiing events, despite the success of Norwegian athletes at previous Winter Games. [5] But the organizers believed the 1952 Games could be an opportunity to promote national unity and to show the world that Norway had recovered from the war. [6] Vying with Oslo for the right to host the Games were Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, and Lake Placid, New York, United States. [2] The IOC voted to award the 1952 Winter Games to Oslo on 21 June 1947 at the 40th IOC Session in Stockholm, Sweden. [7] Later, Cortina d'Ampezzo was awarded the 1956 Games, and Lake Placid—which had hosted the 1932 Winter Olympics—was chosen to host the 1980 Winter Games. Norway became the first Scandinavian country to host a Winter Olympics,[2] and the 1952 Winter Games were the first to be held in a nation's capital. [1]
A special committee was assigned to organize the 1952 Games, which consisted of four Norwegian sports officials and four representatives from the municipality of Oslo, including mayor Brynjulf Bull. [7] The committee was in place by December 1947. [9] The city of Oslo funded the Games entirely, in exchange for keeping all the revenue generated. [10] To accommodate the influx of athletes and coaches, quarters for competitors and support staff were designed and constructed, with three new facilities (forerunners of the athlete's villages of later Games) built. [11] The city of Oslo paid to have a new hotel constructed, the Viking, used for IOC delegates, out-of-town dignitaries, and as the communication hub of the Games. [12][13] For the first time in a Winter Games, an indoor ice hockey arena was constructed, which hosted the eight-team tournament. [14][15] Oslo's existing central arena, Bislett Stadium, was used for the opening and closing ceremonies, and for speed skating events. Improvements to the arena included better sound and lighting systems, remodeled club house and press rooms, and the addition of a medical center. [16]
In the aftermath of the German occupation of Norway during World War II, anti-German sentiment began to affect preparations for the 1952 Olympics. [17] Discussions were held to consider whether Germany should be allowed to participate in the Games. [18] When in 1950, the West German Olympic Committee requested recognition by the IOC, it raised the question of whether their participation would cause political boycotts in the upcoming Games. [19] Once the IOC recognized the West German Olympic Committee, West Germany was then formally invited to compete at the 1952 Winter Games. [20] East Germany was invited to participate with West Germany, as a unified team, but they declined. [21]
At first Norway was reluctant to welcome German athletes and others considered Nazi sympathizers. For example, Norwegian speed skater Finn Hodt was not allowed to compete in the Norwegian speed skating team because he collaborated with the Nazis during the war. Eventually, despite the concern, Norway agreed to allow German and Japanese athletes to compete. [18] The Soviet Union sent no athletes to Oslo, despite being recognized by the IOC. [22][23]
Medals were awarded in 22 events contested in four sports (eight disciplines). The opening ceremonies were held in Bislett Stadium on 15 February. [14] King George VI of Great Britain had died on 6 February 1952 with his daughter Elizabeth II took the throne as queen, eight days before the start of the Games. [24] As a result, all national flags were flown at half-mast, and Princess Ragnhild opened the Games in place of her grandfather, King Haakon VII, who was in London attending the funeral.
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Sports Competition
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Huge Solar Storm To Hit Earth Today, Warn Scientists: What Do We Know
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A large solar flare is expected to hit Earth anytime today, making auroras visible in the night sky in many parts of the world. A warning was issued by the US' National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration over a geomagnetic storm for Earth's northern hemisphere for Monday/Tuesday, depending on which part of the world you're in. In India, the storm is hitting on Tuesday. iStock The giant solar flare emanating from the Sun was detected on Sunday. The new coronal mass ejection (CME) marks a new period in Sun's life cycle. The central star in our solar system is expected to spew out more such storms in the future, as it enters a period of increased activity. Also read: What Is Solar Flare? How Is It Different From Solar Storm & Coronal Mass Ejections All solar storms are marked based on their intensity, ranging from G1 to G5. The G1 classification represents a mild storm while G5 represents danger. The wave currently headed our way is a G2 event. Reuters All solar storms produce some kind of effect on Earth based on their intensity. This particular one could cause power grid fluctuations and voltage alarms especially in countries latitudinally higher up than the rest. In addition, Earth's satellites could be affected from these solar flares, causing orientation issues and longer lingering periods in low orbit of the Earth. Owing to the storm, the US city of New York could bear witness to the magical auroras that generally appear in the north and south poles when solar flares bend Earth's magnetic waves. Also read: Solar Storms: Here’s How Badly Three Massive Solar Storms Wreaked Havoc On Earth Reuters The current G2 solar storm is nothing especially compared to the Carrington Event - the largest solar storm recorded to hit Earth. In 1859, the Carrington Event caused visible auroras in the sky even in countries close to the equator. Such solar storms are expected to become common as Sun becomes more active again, leaving behind its dormancy stage which has kept life on Earth somewhat unaffected from our solar positioning. While solar storms could cause minor communication disruptions on Earth, a large G5 solar flare could expose human beings to radiation which could cause sickness among many, especially those on board a flight. Even then, scientists are convinced that solar flares do not pose any considerable harm to humans on the ground.
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New wonders in nature
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Transbrasil Flight 303 crash
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Transbrasil Flight 303 was a flight from Congonhas-São Paulo Airport in São Paulo, Brazil, to Hercílio Luz International Airport in Florianópolis, Brazil, on April 12, 1980. It crashed on approach to Hercílio Luz International Airport. Only three of the 58 people on board survived. [1][2]
The aircraft involved was a Boeing 727-27C, registration PT-TYS. It had first flown on August 14, 1966. It was delivered to Braniff Airways, which leased it to Transbrasil in 1975, and sold it to Transbrasil in 1976. The aircraft was on a night instrument approach to Hercílio Luz International Airport in a severe thunderstorm when it went off course, struck the hill Morro da Virgínia, and exploded. Probable causes were misjudgment of speed and distance, inadequate flight supervision, failure to initiate a go-around, and improper operation of the engines.
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Air crash
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Pakistan marble mine collapse kills 22; dozens battling for life
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Army rescuers take part in a rescue search for miners after a rock slide at a marble mine in Kyber-Pakhtunkhwa province on September 8, 2020. | Photo Credit: AFP At least 22 people have been killed and dozens were battling for their lives after six units of the famed marble mines in Pakistan’s Ziarat Ghar mountain collapsed, causing large boulders to fall on them, according to media reports on Tuesday. The mines collapsed on Monday night, instantly killing 12 miners, the Geo News reported. The death toll rose after 10 more succumbed to injuries at the District Mohmand Hospital. Majority of the deceased include labourers and few others who had gathered at the foothill in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Safi town near the Afghanistan border, about 85 km from provincial capital Peshawar. Mohmand District Police Officer Mohmand Tariq Habib told Geo News that people are still buried under the rubble. He said the rescue operations were hit due to darkness on Monday night and that heavy machinery had been mobilised on Tuesday for rescue operations. Deputy Commissioner Iftikhar Alam said the death toll is expected to rise, according to the daily. Around 45 labourers were busy in excavation operations when the mine collapsed, the Dawn newspaper reported. The Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) said nine people have been rescued, it reported. Rescue Officer Bilal Faizi said most of the injured were in serious condition. “An operation to rescue those trapped underneath the rubble is currently underway. Five ambulances and one recovery vehicle have been sent to Mohmand from Peshawar,” Dawn News reported, quoting a PDMA statement. Mohmand district is a tribal agency area. It is famous for its marble reserves. The rockslide incident brought back memories of a similar mine collapse incident in 2015 in Mohmand which killed 12 labourers.
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Mine Collapses
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Actress Jun Ji Hyun and husband spark divorce rumours after alleged separation in last year
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Actress Jun Ji Hyun and husband spark divorce rumours after alleged separation in last year
By -
Updated: Jun 3, 2021, 09:48 IST
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Popular Korean actress Jun Ji Hyun became the talk of the town after her divorce rumours with banker husband, Choi Joon Hyuk spread like a wildfire. It all started when the hosts of the Garo Sero Institute Youtube channel claimed that the couple has been separated since December last year, however, it’s Jun Ji Hun who is refusing to proceed with the divorce arrangements while her husband has already moved out of their residence.
According to the live stream, the ‘Legend Of The Blue Sea’ actress isn’t favouring legal divorce due to its possible negative impact on her career, including her signed projects, commercials and other brand campaigns.
Apart from bringing bad press to the bands, the actress is also likely to avoid the divorce because of her two children with Choi Joon Hyuk. However, things are different for Jun Ji Hyun’s husband as he is reportedly seeking a divorce because of his affair.
Reports also added that the 39-years-old actress is now allegedly considering moving abroad.
.Jun Ji Hyun tied the knot with her non-celebrity husband, Choi Joon Hyuk in April 2012 at the Shilla Hotel in Jangchung-dong province of Seoul , South Korea. Later the couple was blessed with two sons who are 3 and 5 years of age currently.
Choi Joon Hyuk is the grandson of ace hanbok designer Lee Young Hee and the son of designer Lee Jung Woo.
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Famous Person - Divorce
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Draconid meteor shower reaches climax
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Friday night will kick off the first of many natural light shows to illuminate the sky this fall. The Draconid meteor shower is expected to reach its climax Oct. 8-9 in the Northern Hemisphere. The latest breaking updates, delivered straight to your email inbox. Friday night will kick off the first of many natural light shows to illuminate the sky this fall. The Draconid meteor shower is expected to reach its climax Oct. 8-9 in the Northern Hemisphere. Friday night will kick off the first of many natural light shows to illuminate the sky this fall. The Draconid meteor shower is expected to reach its climax Oct. 8-9 in the Northern Hemisphere. You'll want to have your eyes to the sky at nightfall on Friday, Oct. 8. This chart from Earthsky is a good guide to help you spot some shooting stars. This chart faces northward at nightfall in October. Those in the mid-latitudes can expect to see the Big Dipper sitting low in the northwest sky. The Little Dipper is to the north and east. A little farther to the North and West (like here in Louisville), you should be able to spot the stars, Eltanin and Rastaban. The Draconid meteors radiate from near these stars, which are known as the Dragon’s Eyes. In general, the Draconids typically produce about five meteors per hour. However, according to Earthsky.org, this shower has been known to rain down hundreds or even thousands of meteors in an hour when its parent comet is nearby. This isn't expected to occur again until 2025. Hey, five meteors an hour is better than zero! Fortunately, the thin waxing crescent moon sets before nightfall and won’t hinder this year’s Draconid shower, according to EarthSky. For the best viewing conditions, find a location away from street lights and other sources of light pollution. You don't need any special equipment, just your eyes. And if you happen to miss the Draconids, there's another shower coming up later in October! More on the upcoming Orionid Meteor Shower, HERE.
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New wonders in nature
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2007 Peru earthquake
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The 2007 Peru earthquake, which measured 8.0 on the moment magnitude scale,[3] hit the central coast of Peru on August 15 at 23:40:57 UTC (18:40:57 local time) and lasted two minutes. The epicenter was located 150 km (93 mi) south-southeast of Lima at a depth of 39 km (24 mi). [3] The United States Geological Survey National Earthquake Information Center reported that it was a Very strong earthquake. The Peruvian government stated that 519 people were killed by the quake. This earthquake occurred at the boundary between the Nazca and South American tectonic plates, which are converging at a rate of 78 mm (3.1 in) per year. [5] The earthquake occurred as thrust faulting on the interface between the two plates, with the South American Plate moving up and seaward over the Nazca Plate. Experts say this kind of earthquake is produced about once every 100 years. [6]
Coastal Peru has a history of very large earthquakes. The August 15th shock originated near the source of two previous earthquakes, both in the magnitude 8 range, which occurred in 1908 and 1974. This earthquake is south of the source of a magnitude 8.2 earthquake that occurred in northern Peru on October 17, 1966, and north of a magnitude 8.4 earthquake that occurred in 2001 near Arequipa in southern Peru. The largest earthquake along the coast of Peru was a magnitude 9 that occurred in 1868 in Arica. It produced a tsunami that killed several thousand people along the Peruvian coast and also caused damage in Hawaii. [3]
The cities of Pisco, Ica and Chincha Alta in the Ica Region, and San Vicente de Cañete in the Lima Region were most affected. The earthquake was also felt in the capital Lima, where the quake broke windows in downtown sectors of the city, as well as various other Peruvian cities, including Pucallpa, Iquitos, Contamana, Trujillo and Cajamarca. They were attending mass at the time the earthquake started. The city of Pisco, which is 260 km (160 mi) southeast of Lima, suffered the most damage, with its buildings about 85% destroyed, and as many as 430 residents died; 148 of those deaths occurred when the cathedral collapsed in the city's main square. [7]
On August 16, the government reported 510 deaths. As of August 28, losses were the following in total:
A magnitude 5.8 aftershock occurred at 19:02 local time, centered 113 km (70 mi) northeast of Chincha Alta. [11] At 19:19 local time, another 5.9 magnitude aftershock occurred, centered 48 km (30 mi) south-southwest of Ica. [11] At least a dozen aftershocks of magnitude 5.0 or greater have been recorded.
The day after, survivors who could not be accommodated in local hospitals in Pisco were taken to Lima by airplane, arriving there later that night. On Sunday, August 19, the President of Colombia, Álvaro Uribe, arrived in Ica. [citation needed]
A tsunami warning was issued for Peru, Ecuador, Chile, Colombia and even as far as Hawaii following the earthquakes, but was later cancelled. [14] Some areas of the port city of Callao were evacuated. Tsunami warnings were also made for Panama and Costa Rica, and a tsunami watch was posted for Nicaragua, Guatemala, El Salvador, Mexico and Honduras. All alerts were cancelled after a 25-centimetre (10 in) wave came ashore. [15] A tsunami did occur on the Peruvian coast. It flooded part of Lima's Costa Verde highway, and much of Pisco's shore. It has been reported that the tsunami reached as high as 5 m (16 ft) in the zone of Lagunillas in Pisco neighbourhood's town Paracas. [4]
The Japan Meteorological Agency issued a tsunami warning, projecting that waves higher than 20 cm (7.9 in) could reach Japan's northern island, Hokkaidō, on Thursday, August 16, around 19:00 UTC (Friday, 04:00 JST). [16]
The Government of Peru led the response to the earthquake through the National Civil Defence System (Instituto Nacional de Defensa Civil [es] – INDECI). It was supported by the military, the private sector (local, national and international) and by contributions from civil society and the international community, including governments, international NGOs and UN agencies. The initial response entailed searching for survivors, evacuating the injured, removing rubble, ensuring security and meeting the needs of affected people. Shelter was provided for those that had lost their homes, latrines were installed, clean water and medical services were established, food aid was distributed and education and psychosocial support was offered, especially to children. A Consolidated Appeals Process (CAP) in the wake of the earthquake raised approximately $37 million, $9.5m of which was provided by the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF). Despite the considerable relief effort, the initial response was chaotic, marked by a lack of coordination and inadequate information on the needs of people on the ground. It was hindered by a lack of capacity at the regional level and consequent political wrangling (particularly between the local, regional and national governments). [17] Many local authorities were personally attacked for the earthquake, as survivors tried to find close relatives or overcome the traumatic shock of losing so many family members. As time passed the response became better organised, particularly once an OCHA coordination office was established in Pisco and a UN Disaster Assessment and Coordination (UNDAC) team arrived to support coordination and provide technical advice. Several years on, Pisco is still feeling the effects of the earthquake and is struggling to recover. Many families who lost their homes are still living in temporary housing or tents. The social/economic impacts of the quake may take many years to heal. [18]
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Earthquakes
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2004 Kumbakonam School fire
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The 2004 Kumbakonam school fire incident happened in a school in Kumbakonam in the Thanjavur district of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. On 16 July 2004, the day of the accident, a total of 94 students of the Krishna English Medium School's primary section were burnt to death in their classroom as the thatched roof caught fire. [2][3] The accident was one of the four most significant fire accidents and the most significant school accident in the history of Tamil Nadu, and the second-largest school fire in India in terms of casualties, the first being the Dabwali fire accident. A committee set up under the retired Judge Sampath found out that the heavy casualties were due to the management's wrong tactics to admit extra students to a primary school and mislead the authorities about the student-teacher ratio. The Chief Minister who visited the site ordered the withdrawal of the recognition of the three schools, prosecution of the school authorities, the correspondent, and the suspension of the Chief Educational Officer, the District Elementary Educational Officer, and the Assistant Elementary Educational Officer of the Thanjavur school district. A compensation of ₹ 1,000,000 was provided to the next of the kin of the deceased, ₹ 25,000 to the severely injured, and ₹ 10,000 to other injured victims from the Chief Minister’s Public Relief Fund. The district administration arranged another primary school in Natham village and accommodated 46 students under the government's Educational Guarantee Scheme. After a long delay, a trial began on 24 September 2012 in the Thanjavur district court. The case had 21 accused and 488 witnesses that included 18 children who survived the accident. The headmaster Prabharan and three others were charged in the case. Charges were also filed against 17 others, including Pulavar Palanichamy, his wife and correspondent of the school Saraswati, three teachers, six officers of the Elementary Education Department, the Kumbakonam Municipal Commissioner, the town planning officer, and four assistants of the education department. On 30 July 2014, the court sentenced the school founder Pulavar Palanichamy to life imprisonment and fined ₹51,65,700. Ten others, including school staff and officials from Kumbakonam and the state education department, were sentenced to five years imprisonment. Eleven of those accused, including three teachers, were acquitted. There were three schools, namely, Sri Krishna Aided Primary School, Saraswathy Nursery and Primary School, and Sri Krishna Girls High School, operating in the same building in Kasiraman street in Kumbakonam, a town in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The school was located amidst residential buildings, 15 m (49 ft) away from the main road. [4] The school had a small gate 4 ft (1.2 m) wide, immediately beyond which the classrooms were located. The classrooms did not have any partition, and there was a stage at the end of the classroom. On the northwest side of the stage were the noon meal kitchen and a cycle stand, both of which were thatched structures. [5] The northern wing in the ground floor accommodated the Saraswathy Nursery and Primary School, which had six classes, one each for LKG (Lower Kinter Garden), UKG (Upper Kinter Garden), I, II, IV, and V. There was another entrance to the school on the eastern side. On 16 July 2004, a fire broke out, with the school's thatched roof structure catching fire initially. The school started at 9:15 a.m., and during one of the breaks at 10:30 a.m., one of the girl students noticed the fire and alerted the teacher, and the news spread to other classes. [6] The fire sparked from the midday meal kitchen thatch and spread to the upper level, which also had a thatched roof and spread rapidly. The narrow staircase had sundry material that prevented the exit of children. The staircase was also located close to the kitchen. The kitchen used fire logs for cooking unlike other schools, which had gas stoves. The school was overcrowded, having 900 children enrolled. [6][7][8] The thatch and the supporting bamboo poles caught fire, fell on the children, and also blocked the exit. The buildings in the nursery and primary schools had no ventilation. Near the eastern entrance, there was a narrow staircase 4.5 ft (1.4 m) wide leading to the first floor of the building. The layout of the first floor was similar to the ground floor, where classes had no separation, and the exit was through a narrow collapsible door. The lower end of the class on the western side was connected to the noon meal kitchen thatched roof and the cycle stand roof, where the accident occurred. The Sri Krishna Girls High School had 179, Sri Krishna Aided Primary School had 477, and Saraswathy Nursery and Primary School had 126 students in their roles, totaling 782 students in the three schools. The second floor measured 62.5 ft (19.1 m) * 13 ft (4.0 m) and had classes for standards VI, VII, VIII, and IX of the girls' high school. The third floor had an open terrace having a water tank. [9]
The fire service was informed at 11 a.m., and the personnel arrived in a few minutes. But since they were unprepared for such a large-scale fire, the rescue services were not effective. The locals also helped by breaking the concrete window. [6] The injured children were admitted to the Government hospital in Kumbakonam and some of them later got shifted to Thanjavur Medical College hospital. The deceased children were taken to the government hospital for postmortem. By the end of the day of the accident, 76 children were reported killed, and their bodies had been handed over to their families by the district administration. The Collector of the district administration arranged for temporary wards in the Government hospital for the parents to identify their children. The digging of graves for 56 bodies went on until 2 a.m. the next morning, with the help of additional diggers arranged by the district administration. On 16 July, additional doctors arrived from Kilpauk Medical College, JIPMER Medical College Hospital, C.M.C., Vellore, Salem, and Coimbatore to treat the injured. The casualty increased to 90, 89 of whom were identified and handed over to the parents. Some of the injured were shifted to private hospitals in Kumbakonam, Madurai, and Chennai as requested by the parents. There were 65 who were still undergoing treatment on 16 July, although four of them later died, increasing the total death toll to 94. [10]
"Oh dear little ones! Oh dear little ones! For you, parents had glorious dream!
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Fire
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Toddler killed in gas explosion remembered with touching Paw Patrol themed convoy
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George Hinds, two, was killed in an explosion at his family home in Heysham, Lancashire, on May 16, with hundreds of mourners gathering today for a convey inspired by his favourite TV show Paw Patrol
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Convoy for George Hinds - who was killed in Heysham explosion
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A toddler killed in a gas explosion has been remembered with a touching Paw Patrol-themed convoy.
George Hinds, two, died at the scene after a blast tore through his family's home in Heysham, Lancashire, earlier this month.
Hundreds of mourners gathered on Morecambe Promenade earlier today to pay their respects to the tragic little boy.
The motorcade was inspired by the popular kids show - and George's favourite - and included cars, bikes, tractors and horse-drawn carriages.
Co-organiser, Sandra Cottam-Shea, told ITV the day was bitter-sweet, behind "a huge world of sadness", but it was a good chance to support the family through their loss.
George's parents Vicky Studholme, 42, and Stephen Hinds, 41, survived the blast, with the latter recently posting a filmed tribute on Facebook of his son reading a book about animals, next to the caption: “My little boy”.
George Hinds, two, died in the blast at his home on May 16 (
Image:
Lancashire Live / MEN Media)
Explosion that killed boy, 2, and destroyed two houses caused by cut gas pipe
The tragic tot was two months short of his third birthday.
Firefighters, police and paramedics scrambled to Mallowdale Avenue at around 2.30am on May 16 after residents were woken by the sound of a blast.
Two homes completely collapsed as a result of the explosion, while another was seriously damaged.
Hundreds of mourners gathered for the convoy today (
Image:
Sharon and Darren Greenham were badly wounded and remain fighting for their lives in hospital.
George’s parents were also injured and rushed to hospital but have since been discharged and are recovering as they reel from the loss of their boy.
In a heartbreaking tribute, Stephen said: “Nothing I can say or do will bring him back, I really wish I could. Why didn’t it happen to me and keep him playing here with his mum?
The motorcade included tractors and horse-drawn carriages (
Image:
Organiser Sandra Cottam-Shea said the day was bitter-sweet (
Image:
George's Prom Convoy WS)
“Please everyone don’t take life for granted and look after your kids and yourselves. I really mean that.
“My little angel George sleep tight son, mummy and daddy is with you always. Love you so so so so much x.”
Lancashire Police previously confirmed the explosion was caused by a gas pipe being cut inside a neighbouring house.
Detective Chief Inspector Jane Webb, of the Force Major Investigation Team, said: “Our focus now is on trying to establish how and why the pipe inside No. 20 came to be cut and those enquiries are complex and lengthy."
The force is urging anyone with information to come forward.
Anyone with any information should contact police on 101 quoting log 0180 of May 16 or on the Major Incident Portal at https://mipp.police.uk/operation/0401020121W04-PO1
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Gas explosion
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Sudan: UN agency sounds alarm over locust infestation
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Originally published
15 Nov 2007
NAIROBI, 15 November 2007 (IRIN) - The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has warned that a dangerous infestation of locusts could emerge along the Red Sea in November and December following an outbreak of the insects in northern Sudan.
"Recent field reports indicate that locust numbers have increased in the summer breeding areas in Sudan, primarily north and east of Khartoum where ground surveys could be conducted," FAO said in a statement on 12 November.
Desert locusts are migratory grasshoppers that often travel in vast swarms. According to FAO, they live for about three to five months, and one adult consumes roughly its own weight in fresh food per day - about two grams. A small swarm eats as much food in one day as about 2,500 people.
The agency said unusually favourable breeding conditions had caused wingless hoppers (the second phase in a grasshopper's life) to concentrate and form small bands, while adults (locusts) had formed several small swarms.
The Sudanese government mobilised aerial and ground control teams and had already treated more than 11,000 hectares, FAO said.
However, it said finding and treating all locust infestations in the remote desert areas of northern Sudan was difficult.
"Consequently, more swarms could form in the interior and move to the Red Sea coastal plains in Sudan during November," the agency added.
Although the risk of infestations spreading from Sudan to adjacent countries remained low, small locust populations had been reported along the Red Sea coastal plains in Yemen and northern Eritrea.
"If good rains fall along the coast this winter, locust numbers are likely to increase dramatically and significant infestations could develop by February that would require substantial control operations," FAO said. "Once conditions dry out along the coast, locust swarms could form and move towards the east to the Arabian Peninsula and towards the west to Darfur by early summer."
In August, Yemen was hit by the worst infestation of locusts for almost 15 years after heavy rains. The density of the locusts was high, posing a serious threat to agricultural land in both the north and south of the country.
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Insect Disaster
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1 person hospitalized with burn injuries from house explosion in Akron
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CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) - The Akron Fire Department said one person was transported to an area hospital with burn injuries following a house explosion on Monday morning.
“It was awful,” said Kayla Watkins, who saw the rubble left from the blast this morning.
The explosion was first reported around 8:30 a.m. on Edwin Avenue near Westmoreland Street, according to Akron fire investigators.
Brian Osborn, a neighbor who lives down the street from the blown house, managed to pull the elderly neighbor from the house. He recalls how ran to the property only to realize the elderly neighbor was still inside.
“I said, ‘I’m coming, I’m coming,’ so I threw debris away from the door,” he explained. “It was a miracle he made it.”
A spokeswoman with the Akron Fire Department said gas is suspected to be a factor in the explosion, but the Dominion Gas company has been called to the scene to investigate.
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Gas explosion
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Perth traffic: Man changing tyre seriously injured in Mitchell Freeway crash
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A young man is fighting for life in hospital after a being hit by a car on Mitchell Freeway. It is understood the 21-year-old man was trying to change a tyre on a white Mitsubishi Outlander on the side of the freeway when he was struck just after 5am. Police said a white Toyota Prado was travelling north on the freeway when it ploughed into the Outlander, which was stopped in the northbound emergency lane near the Karrinyup Road overpass. The driver of the Outlander, a 32-year-old man, was uninjured, however his 21-year-old male passenger — who was changing the tyre — suffered serious injuries. He was rushed to Royal Perth Hospital by paramedics, where he remains in a critical condition in the ICU. The 38-year-old male driver of the Prado was uninjured. The crash has forced the closure of northbound lanes. Major Crash investigators are conducting an examination of the scene and are appealing for any witnesses to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or report the information online at crimestopperswa.com.au.
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Road Crash
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George Hinds: Morecambe convoy tribute to gas blast victim
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More than 100 vehicles have driven in convoy in tribute to the toddler George Hinds, who died in a gas blast.
The two-year-old was killed in the explosion in Heysham, Lancashire, on 16 May.
Hundreds of people watched the vehicles, decorated with characters from George's favourite cartoon Paw Patrol, drive from Morecambe Football Club to the resort's promenade.
"This convoy would have been a dream come true for George," his family said.
Hundreds of vehicles including lorries, the coast guard and ice cream vans drove down Morecambe Prom as part of a remembrance convoy for two-year-old George Hinds.
George died in the blast that also destroyed two homes in Heysham earlier this month. https://t.co/qNEau0WJrK pic.twitter.com/K4f9Q1NY9Z
— BBC North West (@BBCNWT) May 30, 2021
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. View original tweet on Twitter
The convoy of vehicles was also raising funds for a memorial garden and the child bereavement charity Tigerlily Trust.
George's family, who described him as "our little angel", earlier thanked "everyone for their overwhelming support".
Image source, Kestral Aerial
Image caption,
Bystanders watched the convoy travel to Morecambe promenade
George's parents, Vicky Studholme and Stephen Hinds, were injured in the explosion but have been discharged from hospital.
A man, aged 44, and a 50-year-old woman were also taken to hospital with critical injuries.
Image caption,
Police said the explosion was caused by a cut gas pipe
The blast destroyed two homes and badly damaged a third.
Debris fell on to nearby streets and fields, while local residents said it sounded "like a bomb going off".
Earlier this week, Lancashire Police said the explosion was caused by a gas pipe being cut inside a neighbouring house.
The force is investigating how and why the pipe became severed and is treating it as a criminal investigation.
Why not follow BBC North West on Facebook , Twitter and Instagram ? You can also send story ideas to northwest.newsonline@bbc.co.uk
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Gas explosion
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Barwon Water ordered to fix Otways water acidification due to pumping of key groundwater aquifer
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A water authority in south-west Victoria has bowed to public pressure and abandoned plans to pump more groundwater from an area where it caused major environmental damage.
Barwon Water has been pumping water out of the Barwon Downs bore field, located south of Colac in the Otways, on-and-off for about 40 years as a back-up water supply for Geelong residents.
But studies have now shown the pumping drained waterways, exposing toxic soil and causing fish kills, leading to the State Government ordering Barwon Water to remediate the damage.
The water authority recently sought to renew its licence to pump water from the aquifer when it expired in June this year, but abandoned that plan this week in the face of community pressure.
Local residents are calling this a victory, but say there is a much bigger war to be won.
In 2008, a group of residents living in the areas of Barongarook and Kawarren, south of Colac, began investigating issues impacting Boundary Creek — a river that flows into the Barwon River, one of the major watercourses in the Otways and Geelong area.
Among them was Malcolm Gardiner, a former teacher who has lived in the area since 1972.
"We knew that there were problems because of the acid levels further [downstream] near the Barwon River," he said.
"Under the bridge down there, we'd gone in and there was this beautiful crystal clear water. So I scooped it up, had a sip, had to spit it out.
"I had diarrhoea the next morning and [the skin on] my hands started to peel."
The locals followed Boundary Creek upstream to Big Swamp.
What had once been a prominent wetland area home to fish, birdlife, platypuses and other creatures year-round was now a bone-dry wasteland of acidic soil devoid of animal life.
The residents had long suspected that Barwon Water's on-again off-again pumping of the aquifer below Boundary Creek and Big Swamp was having a major impact but were met with repeated rebuttals from Barwon Water.
Unsatisfied, the locals formed a group called Land and Water Resources Otway Catchment (LAWROC) and over the past decade they have raised more than $200,000 to fund independent research into the impacts of Barwon Water's actions.
They were able to prove Barwon Water had lowered the water table, which changed the chemical composition of the ground at Big Swamp, releasing acids previously trapped in the soil that were then flushed into surrounding waterways.
"The acid sulphate soils have come out with acids at battery acid levels, then that goes into the Barwon River," Mr Gardiner explained.
"We had a 30-kilometre fish kill in 2016 from this acid."
Barwon Water said it was unsure whether its water extraction led to the 2016 fish kill in the Barwon River, but Corangamite Catchment Management Authority representatives disagreed, telling Geelong newspapers at the time that Barwon Water was responsible.
Mr Gardiner said LAWROC-funded studies showed the acids and heavy metals that had been seeping into the Barwon River were "seeping back into the depleted aquifer".
"We know that aluminium levels in [Big Swamp] were 2,335 times the drinking water standard," he said.
"We know that the arsenic was 114 times above drinking standard, the chromium it was 8.2 times, the iron was 4,397 times, the manganese 13.8, and nickel 101. "When this happens and you have a pH level of 1.9 — that's 100,000 times more acidic than drinking water standards — [and] it goes into the [river] system … it just kills it. Everything dies."
It took many years of community agitation before Barwon Water began studying the damage it caused.
When the water authority's results came back about two years ago, the studies backed-up what the community had been saying.
The State Government finally stepped in and Barwon Water was ordered to "discontinue any [water] extraction" and carry out a "legally enforceable remediation plan [for areas] impacted by past groundwater extraction at Barwon Downs".
But the scope of the damage is the source of a new battle between the water authority and residents.
A professor engaged by LAWROC said the pumping had impacted on about 200 square kilometres, but Barwon Water argues the scope of the damage is small and limited to Boundary Creek and Big Swamp.
Barwon Water managing director Tracey Slatter said they did not have any information to suggest a wider area has been affected, but that such concerns were "certainly worth listening [to] and exploring".
"Barwon Water is very concerned and shares the community concerns for the environmental health and the remediation of Boundary Creek and Big Swamp," Ms Slatter said.
"I think we can always look back and think maybe there were better things we could have done."
Ms Slatter said Barwon Water had withdrawn its application for a licence to continue pumping water from the bore field to address "concern and confusion about why Barwon Water would be applying for a licence while we are still in the very early stages of the remediation process".
But LAWROC said the fight was far from over.
"A battle may have been won but the war has only just started," Mr Gardiner said.
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Environment Pollution
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Queenstown locals say mine leakage has turned Queen River into 'Pumpkin Soup Creek'
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.
Residents of Queenstown on Tasmania's west coast believe there has been an extraordinary polluting event that has turned the Queen River an even deeper shade of orange.
The Queen River, in all her glory. pic.twitter.com/6IoQhJNpaI
From the 1880s, and for almost a century, the river was used by the nearby Mt Lyell copper mines as a drain. An estimated 100 million tonnes of sulfidic tailings were dumped into the river — the worst case of acid mine drainage in Australia.
The river's water is typically clear but rusty in colour, but Queenstown locals are saying the colour has intensified dramatically in recent months.
They believe a significant acid drainage event from the Mt Lyell copper mine has occurred.
They spoke to the ABC on condition of anonymity because they feared repercussions for speaking out against the mine, now owned by Copper Mines of Tasmania.
The mine has been in care and maintenance mode since 2014 after three miners were killed.
The owners are hoping to reboot operations — and rehire some of those workers they had to let go — when conditions suit. "I can't remember ever seeing it this bad, and I've been living in Queenstown on and off for 12 years," said one.
"This is the worst I've seen it in 13 years," said another
"We locals are beginning to call it 'Pumpkin Soup Creek'."
The ABC shot video of the Queen River last weekend and sent footage to Tasmania's Environmental Protection Agency.
The EPA said it had launched an investigation and would collect water samples for "testing and ongoing discussion with Copper Mines of Tasmania".
"Further information will be available next week, once the laboratory analysis of water samples has been done," the EPA said.
Copper Mines of Tasmania has been approached for comment. )
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Environment Pollution
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2008 Los Roques archipelago Transaven Let L-410 crash
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On 4 January 2008, a scheduled domestic Transaven flight from Simón Bolívar International Airport to Los Roques Airport, 118 kilometres (64 nmi) north of the departure airport and over water, radioed that both engines had failed and that they were descending through 3,000 feet. The crew was going to attempt a ditching as close as possible to the Los Roques archipelago. Shortly thereafter, radio contact was lost and the plane disappeared from radar. [1]
The aircraft operating this flight was a Let L-410UVP-E3, registration YV2081, built in Czechoslovakia in 1987. Another Transaven Let L-410 flew over the area the aircraft was thought to have crashed, but found no trace, other than a spot of liquid on the surface of the water that soon after dissipated. [citation needed]
Active sea and air searches were called off without finding any trace of the aircraft. [2]
On 12 January 2008, some fishermen found the body of a man 12 kilometres off the coast of Venezuela. After having performed the autopsy, the doctors determined that it was the corpse of the co-pilot, the 37-year-old Osmel Alfredo Avila Otamendi. [3]
At a short distance from the place of discovery of the corpse of the co-pilot his life vest was found. In April 2008, a Venezuelan navy vessel, using a sonar, was able to identify the presumed wreckage of an aircraft, located approximately 300 metres deep. The wreckage was recovered, but it didn't belong to the disappeared aircraft. Subsequently, search were suspended. [citation needed]
On 20 June 2013, more than five years after the accident, the wreckage of the aircraft was located in the sea at a depth of 970 metres (3,180 ft), nine kilometres south of Los Roques. It was discovered by the US flagship Sea Scout which was working in the area for days. The ship was looking for the wreckage of another crashed aircraft which went down five years to the day of this incident. [4]
The crew consisted of one Venezuelan pilot and a copilot. The Italian passengers were:
Along with them, there were four other passengers: a Swiss citizen and three Venezuelans.
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Air crash
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Ulster Workers' Council Strike
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The Ulster Workers' Council (UWC) strike was a general strike that took place in Northern Ireland between 15 May and 28 May 1974, during "the Troubles". The strike was called by unionists who were against the Sunningdale Agreement, which had been signed in December 1973. Specifically, the strikers opposed the sharing of political power with Irish nationalists, and the proposed role for the Republic of Ireland's government in running Northern Ireland. The strike was organised and overseen by the Ulster Workers' Council and Ulster Army Council, which were formed shortly after the Agreement's signing. Both of these groups included Ulster loyalist paramilitaries such as the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) and Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF). [1] These groups helped to enforce the strike by blocking roads and intimidating workers. [1][2][3][4] During the two-week strike, loyalist paramilitaries killed 39 civilians, of whom 33 died in the Dublin and Monaghan bombings. The strike succeeded in bringing down the power-sharing Northern Ireland Assembly and Executive. Responsibility for the government of Northern Ireland then reverted to the Parliament of the United Kingdom at Westminster under the arrangements for 'Direct Rule'. The successful strike was later described by the then Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Merlyn Rees, as an "outbreak of Ulster nationalism". A debate was held in the Northern Ireland Assembly on a motion condemning power-sharing and the Council of Ireland, a group established under the terms of the Sunningdale Agreement to facilitate co-ordination between the governments of Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom. The motion was defeated by 44 votes to 28. Following the Assembly debate, Harland and Wolff shop steward and Ulster Workers Council (UWC) central organiser Harry Murray told a group of journalists that a general strike would begin the following day in response. [5] The date had been agreed by the UWC some time in advance as they wanted it to coincide with the vote, which they had expected to end in defeat for the hard-line unionist motion. [6]
The strike had a slow start with many workers simply going to work anyway, but after a number of workplace meetings, workers began leaving their workplaces after lunchtime. [5] Murray would later admit that the start of the strike had been poorly organised to the extent that on the first day even his own wife asked him why he was not at work. [7] By the end of day one, the port of Larne was sealed off, with a significant UDA and UVF presence helping to ensure that no ships were allowed to enter or leave the harbour. [6] Elsewhere roadblocks were set up and manned by loyalist paramilitaries under the Ulster Army Council. [5] Hijacked vehicles were often used to block the streets. [5] Electricity supplies were also disrupted when workers at the Ballylumford power station went on strike. [5] The power cuts forced some factories to close and send workers home. The UWC issued a statement that it would ensure that essential services would continue. [5]
During the evening there was a meeting at Stormont Castle between Stanley Orme (then Minister of State at the Northern Ireland Office) and the representatives of the various groups active in UWC, namely Harry West, Bill Craig and Ian Paisley (the leaders of the three political parties – Ulster Unionist Party, Vanguard Unionist Progressive Party and Democratic Unionist Party – that formed the pro-strike United Ulster Unionist Council), Andy Tyrie and Tommy Lyttle of the UDA and the UVF's Ken Gibson. Orme attempted unsuccessfully to persuade the leaders to abandon the strike although it would not be until the 19th that West followed Craig and Paisley in publicly endorsing the strike. [8]
The strike began to impact upon agriculture as milk that had not been collected or processed had to be dumped whilst fresh food was similarly not transported to market. [5] However a group of essential services were defined by the UWC, who permitted these to continue as normal, issuing a phone number for anyone involved in these professions. The full list of services deemed essential by the UWC was as follows: bakeries, groceries, dairies, chemists, butchers, confectioners, electricity, gas, water, sewage, hospitals, animal feed, farmers, wages, banks, schools, medical services, hospital and school transport, solicitors, newspapers, normal recreational activities, coal supplies and postal service. [9] Bars were not included in this list, with the UWC ordering pub closures. [5] This decision, which was made in the evening of 16 May, several hours after the initial list had been published, was strongly influenced by the wives of striking workers, who had complained that many of their husbands were using the strike as an excuse for heavy drinking sessions. [10]
Attempts by significant sections of the workforce to carry on at leading Belfast factories such as Mackies on the Springfield Road and Gallahers on York Road were thwarted when loyalist paramilitaries turned up at the premises ordering everybody out and throwing petrol bombs. [11] Workers were largely untouched in predominantly Catholic towns such as Strabane as the loyalist paramilitaries had no structure in place to launch an intimidation campaign but even in these locations work was severely disrupted as electricity supplies proved highly unreliable. [9]
A political response to the strike began to develop slowly. In the British House of Commons at Westminster the UWC strike featured as the main subject of Northern Ireland 'question time'. [5] Merlyn Rees met with loyalists leaders at the Northern Ireland Parliament but insisted that he would not negotiate with the UWC. [5] Meanwhile, Executive member Paddy Devlin threatened to resign over the continuing use of internment. [5]
A Catholic civilian, Maureen Moore (21), was shot dead by a loyalist sniper as she stood at the corner of Stratheden Street and Edlingham Street in Belfast. [12] A witness said the gunman, believed to be from the UDA, emerged from the Protestant Tiger's Bay area. One woman said there had been sporadic trouble in the area that day and complained that the British Army had done little to stop UDA activity. [13] The army was also engaged in the New Lodge are of north Belfast, breaking up riots between Catholic residents and their Protestant neighbours in Tiger's Bay. [10]
Dublin and Monaghan bombings – the UVF exploded four car bombs in the Republic of Ireland. The attacks killed 33 civilians and wounded almost 300 – the highest number of casualties in any single day during "the Troubles". No warnings were given before the bombs were detonated. Three exploded in Dublin during rush hour (killing 26 people and an unborn child) and one exploded in Monaghan 90 minutes later (killing 7 people). Most of the victims were young women, although the ages of the dead ranged from five months to 80 years. There are allegations that British Intelligence colluded in the bombings. Sammy Smyth, then press officer of both the UDA and the UWC Strike Committee, said "I am very happy about the bombings in Dublin. There is a war with the [Republic of Ireland] and now we are laughing at them". [14]
In the strike itself postal delivery services were halted following intimidation of Royal Mail workers. However the Executive put in place arrangements to ensure that Social Security benefits were paid to claimants. [5]
A statement was issued by the UWC indicating that they favoured escalating the strike, calling for an all-out stoppage to commence at midnight on Sunday 19 May.
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Strike
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Cargo ship owners and master charged over large oil spill in Darwin Harbour
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The master and owners of a cargo ship have been charged and will soon face court, following a large oil spill in Darwin Harbour two years ago.
The Northern Territory Department of Environment and Natural Resources allege that on August 19, 2016, the cargo ship Antung leaked oil into the harbour as it was leaving East Arm Wharf. DENR director environmental operations Peter Vasel said the legal proceedings followed a complex, two-year investigation into the spill. "In line with expert evidence no other vessel could have been responsible for the oil spill into Darwin Harbour on this particular day, and this will be laid out further in the Northern Territory Local Court," Mr Vasel said.
The master of the ship was charged with four offences:
The owners of Antung were charged with the first two and will face court on Monday October 1.
The DENR alleges that mangroves, intertidal mud flats and coastal zones were impacted by the oil spill, which provide habitat for various marine and bird species such as turtles, mud crabs, spawning fish and the critically endangered far eastern curlew. It also alleged the incident caused alarm amongst the community and users of Darwin Harbour, as the oil impacted a very large area.
Mr Vasel said the legal proceedings will send a message to other potential polluters.
Anyone with information about any pollution events should contact the NT EPA Pollution Hotline on 1800 064 567.
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Environment Pollution
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Joint naval military exercise code-named Mosi in South Africa
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On November 28, 2019, local time, the joint naval military exercise code-named Mosi, which is held by China, Russia and South Africa in waters of southern Africa, entered the sea operation phase. The South African navy hosts a welcoming ceremony for frigate Weifang of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy in Cape Town, South Africa, Nov. 24, 2019.(Picture source China MoD) On November 28, 2019, morning during the drills, the formation consisting of Chinese, Russian, and South African naval vessels changed from the single column to a circular formation, upon receiving information from the South African Navy frigate Amatola in waters near the Port of Cape Town. Formation maneuver is the first subject of this joint fleet exercise. The three naval forces also conducted other training subjects including surface gunnery exercise, helicopter cross-deck landings on Thursday and Friday. "The multilateral exercise emphasizes protecting navigation and the security of maritime economic activities, which covers various military forces. Prior to this, the three navies had conducted consultations on the joint exercise schemes and carried out pre-training for marines to rescue hijacked ships. They enhanced coordination and cooperation abilities during the drills, laying a solid foundation for the following actual combat training", said Dong Fangliang, Captain of guided-missile frigate Weifang (Hull 550) of the PLA Navy. This is the first trilateral exercise of Chinese, Russian and South African navies in the southern waters off Africa. The participating forces include the PLA Navy’s Type 054A frigate Weifang (Hull 550), the Russian Navy’s Slava-class missile cruiser Marshal Ustinov, Kaliningradneft-class medium seagoing tanker Vyaz’ma, and rescue tug SB-406, as well as the SAS Amatola (F145), South Africa’s Valour-class frigate, and SAS Drakensberg (A301), a fleet replenishment ship (AOR)
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Military Exercise
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Under junta rule, Thailand pivots towards China
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Bangkok (AFP) - Chinese fighter jets thunder through blue skies above an air force base in northeast Thailand, a symbol of the blossoming military and political ties between the junta-run country and its authoritarian northern neighbour. For the last two weeks Thai and Chinese planes have been taking part in the inaugural joint air force drill, an exercise culminating later this week with a performance by Beijing's acrobatic air team. For Group Captain Chanon Mungthanya, a Royal Thai Air Force spokesman involved in the drill at Korat, it is a valuable opportunity to interact with his Chinese counterparts. "Our relationship will go up a level during this exercise," he told AFP. Historically, Thailand has been one of Washington's staunchest military allies in Southeast Asia and could have expected to see that relationship blossom under US President Barack Obama's "pivot" to Asia. But the May 2014 coup, the second in the last decade, and the junta's subsequent rights crackdown has strained those ties. Meanwhile Thailand is doing a pivot of its own. "The junta is obviously much more comfortable with China because they speak the same language and commit the same practices: authoritarianism," said Puangthong Pawakapan, a Thai politics expert at Chulalongkorn University. - China critics deported - Beijing swiftly recognised junta chief General Prayut Chan-O-Cha and is pushing plans for a multi-billion dollar Chinese-built rail network through the kingdom. Thailand is also considering whether to spend $1 billion on Chinese submarines. But rights groups say this closeness has unpleasant consequences inside Thailand, with the junta seemingly happy to do Beijing's dirty work. In July more than 100 Uighur refugees were deported to China, despite warnings from the United Nations that the Muslim minority faced the risk of persecution. Thai authorities insist the deadly August Bangkok shrine blast was not a revenge attack, even though the majority of victims were ethnic Chinese and two Uighurs have been charged. Three weeks after those deportations, in comments that caused much media merriment, Thailand's then foreign minister General Tanasak Patimapragorn lavished praise on Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi. "If I were a woman I will fall in love with his excellency," he said. Earlier this month two Chinese dissidents who had been granted refugee status by the UN, one of whom had been living in Thailand for years, were abruptly arrested and sent to Beijing. A third has gone missing in Thailand. "Thailand is no longer a safe place for anyone with anti-CPC (Communist Party of China) views," professor Puangthong said. Paul Chambers, director of the Institute of South East Asian Affairs, said the junta is "playing the realist... juggling connections with China, Japan and the US to obtain the highest dividend for the Thai state". But Chambers believes the recent deportations are something new. "It does show the Chinese that the Thai military is willing to take enormous flak to help Beijing out." - Delicate balance for US - For the United States, events in Thailand create a quandary. Obama has made reasserting American influence in the Asia-Pacific region a flagship of his foreign policy. But the "pivot" has fallen victim to diplomatic distractions in the Middle East and other trouble spots. It has also struggled to gain traction at a time when democratic progress across Southeast Asia shows signs of stagnation. Thailand chafes under a junta seemingly in no rush to hold elections. Cambodian strongman Hun Sen retains his grip after more than 30-years of rule. Vietnam and Laos remain intolerant one-party states. Washington cancelled some military aid after the Thai coup and continues to call for a return to democracy. But it is also wary about pushing away a regional ally. Earlier this year it pressed ahead with the Cobra Gold exercise, Asia's largest military drill, conducted annually in Thailand. "Thailand has pivoted toward China but Bangkok's edging toward Beijing is not at all a total plunge," said Chambers. Washington, he says, still holds significant influence, especially if the recently agreed Trans-Pacific Partnership becomes a reality and Thailand chooses to join. A spokeswoman at the US embassy in Bangkok said Washington's close relationship with Thailand has "endured and flourished through many challenging times". "This does not prevent us from addressing issues of concern, including about democracy and human rights," she said. Back on Korat airbase, new friendships between Thai and Chinese soldiers are being forged. "We can chat, we can have our military help each other out," said Group Captain Chanon. "We eat together, get to know one another, become tired and practise together". Red Notice star held title of People’s Sexiest Man Alive in 2010 How the coronavirus pandemic has spread across Michigan, including information on COVID-19 vaccine rollout and cases and deaths throughout the state. Michigan has now confirmed a total of 1,172,800 COVID-19 cases and 22,684 deaths. The defense rests its case at the murder trial of Kyle Rittenhouse in Kenosha, Wisconsin (Nov. 11) A former NBA player has issued an apology after his daughter was seen at a youth basketball game in Orange County throwing a vicious sucker punch that left another girl with a concussion. Kesha ditched her clothes on Thursday as she communed with nature while on vacation in Hawaii For a hack that seems relatively simple, this little eyeliner trick has gone viral.View Entire Post › The rapper also pledged to offer full refunds to everyone who attended the concert. In an exclusive clip from Friday's "The Graham Norton Show," Howard said while Richie was "the undeniable lead," Winkler was "remarkable" as the Fonz. Paris Hilton and fiancé Carter Reum wed at a private estate in Los Angeles on Thursday Find out how many millions he's earning now. Lewis Hamilton conceded Thursday that he may have to take a new engine and, with it, a five-place grid penalty at the Brazilian Grand Prix – a setback that might wreck his diminishing title hopes. The Duchess of Sussex told reporters that she is "always proud" of her husband Richard Williams’ days of making a star may not be over. The ambitious father who turned his two daughters Venus and Serena Williams into tennis […] And we just learned where it came from Warning: As the headline suggests, the article below reveals which character dies in Thursday’s Station 19/Grey’s Anatomy crossover. Now that we know the identity of the Station 19/Grey’s Anatomy character for whom Thursday’s crossover episodes would be the last, we kinda want to go back to when we were still in the dark. Why? Because […] Edmond hunter kills possible state record deer in Logan County Jennifer Garner shares a photo of herself from 20 years ago, looking almost exactly the same. Steph had a great reaction as Anthony Edwards told him he was chasing a milestone in Wednesday night's Warriors-T-Wolves game. Bob Myers believes the Warriors will benefit from situations like the one between Draymond and Jordan Poole on the bench Wednesday.
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Military Exercise
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India registers 34,403 new Covid infections, 320 deaths in last 24 hours
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Active cases comprises 1.03% of the total infections and national recovery rate has been recorded at 97.64%, according to the health ministry data. PTI 17 September, 2021 1:08 pm IST File photo of a health worker administering a dose of Covid-19 vaccine to a beneficiary at a vaccination centre in Gurugram | PTI New Delhi: With 34,403 more people testing positive for COVID-19, India’s overall infection tally has increased to 3,33,81,728, while the count of active cases has dipped to 3,39,056, according to Union health ministry data updated on Friday. The death toll due to the disease has climbed to 4,44,248 with 320 more fatalities being recorded, it said The number of active cases now comprises 1.03 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has been recorded at 97.64 per cent, according to the data updated by the ministry at 8 am. It said that active COVID-19 cases in the country decreased by 3,867 cases in a span of 24 hours. Also, 15,27,420 tests were conducted on Thursday, taking the total cumulative tests conducted so far for detection of COVID-19 in the country to 54,92,29,149, the data showed. The weekly positivity rate has been recorded at 1.97 per cent. It has been below three per cent for the last 84 days, the ministry said. The number of people who have recuperated from the disease is 3,25,60,474, while the case fatality rate has been recorded at 1.33 per cent, it said. The cumulative number of doses administered in the country so far under the vaccination drive has exceeded 77.24 crore, according to the ministry. India’s COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7 last year, 30 lakh on August 23, 40 lakh on September 5 and 50 lakh on September 16. It went past 60 lakh on September 28, 70 lakh on October 11, crossed 80 lakh on October 29, 90 lakh on November 20 and surpassed the one-crore mark on December 19 last year. India recorded two crore cases on May 4 and three crore cases on June 23. The 320 new fatalities include 178 from Kerala, 45 from Maharashtra and 25 from Tamil Nadu, the ministry said. It said that 4,44,248 deaths have been reported so far in the country, including 1,38,322 from Maharashtra, 37,555 from Karnataka, 35,271 from Tamil Nadu, 25,084 from Delhi, 23,165 from Kerala, 22,886 from Uttar Pradesh, and 18,620 from West Bengal. The health ministry said that more than 70 per cent of the deaths occurred due to co-morbidities. “Our figures are being reconciled with the Indian Council of Medical Research,” the ministry said on its website, adding that state-wise distribution of figures is subject to further verification and reconciliation.
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Disease Outbreaks
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2007 United Kingdom floods
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A series of large floods occurred in parts of the United Kingdom during the summer of 2007. The worst of the flooding occurred across Scotland on 14 June; East Yorkshire and the Midlands on 15 June; Yorkshire, the Midlands, Gloucestershire, Herefordshire and Worcestershire on 25 June; and Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Worcestershire, Oxfordshire, Berkshire and South Wales on 28 July 2007. June was one of the wettest months on record in Britain (see List of weather records). Average rainfall across the country was 5.5 inches (140 mm); more than double the June average. Some areas received a month's worth of precipitation in 24 hours. [2] It was Britain's wettest May–July period since records began in 1776. [3] July had unusually unsettled weather and above-average rainfall through the month, peaking on 20 July as an active frontal system dumped more than 4.7 inches (120 mm) of rain in southern England. [4]
Civil and military authorities described the June and July rescue efforts as the biggest in peacetime Britain. The Environment Agency described the July floods as critical[9] and expected them to exceed the 1947 benchmark.
June 2007 started quietly with an anticyclone to the north of the United Kingdom maintaining a dry, cool easterly flow. From 10 June the high pressure began to break down as an upper trough moved into the area, triggering thunderstorms that caused flooding in Northern Ireland on 12 June. Later that week, a slow-moving area of low pressure from the west of Biscay moved east across the British Isles. At the same time, an associated occluded front moved into Northern England, becoming very active as it did so with the peak rainfall on 15 June. Rainfall records were broken across the region,[11] leading to localised flooding. As it weakened, the front moved north into Scotland on 16 June and left England and Wales with a very unstable airmass, frequent heavy showers, thunderstorms and cloudy conditions. This led to localised flash flooding and prevented significant drying where earlier rains had fallen. On 25 June, another unseasonably low pressure (993 hPa / 29.3 inHg) depression, Cyclone Uriah,[12] moved across England. The associated front settled over northern and eastern England and dumped more than 3.9 inches (100 mm) of rain in places. The combination of high rainfall and high water levels from the earlier rainfall led to extensive flooding across many parts of England and Wales, with the Midlands, Gloucestershire, Worcestershire, South, West and East Yorkshire the most affected. Gales along the east coast also caused storm damage. RAF Fylingdales on the North Yorkshire Moors reported rainfall totals of 4.1 inches (103 mm) in 24 hours, an estimated 3.9 inches (100 mm) in Hull and 3.0 inches (77 mm) on Emley Moor in West Yorkshire. Until 2007, the average monthly total for June for the whole UK was 2.86 inches (72.6 mm). [13]
On 27 June, the Met Office released an early warning of severe weather for the approaching weekend, stating that 0.79 to 1.97 inches (20 to 50 mm) of rain could fall in some areas, raising the possibility of more flooding within the already saturated flood plains. On 20 July, another active frontal system moved across Southern England. Many places recorded a month's rainfall or more in one day. The Met Office at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire reported 4.98 inches (126.6 mm): a sixth of its annual rainfall. The college at Pershore in Worcestershire reported 5.60 inches (142.2 mm),[14] causing the Environment Agency to issue 16 further severe flood warnings. [15] By 21 July, many towns and villages were flooded, with Gloucestershire, Worcestershire, Warwickshire, Wiltshire, Oxfordshire, Berkshire, London and South Wales facing the brunt of the heavy rainfall. Climate researchers have suggested that the unusual weather leading to the floods may be linked to this year's appearance of La Nina in the Pacific Ocean,[16] and the jet stream being further south than normal. [17]
England was affected by the June and July floods, with the North badly hit in June, the West badly hit in July, and many areas hit in both. It was England's wettest July on record. [18] Gloucestershire was the worst affected county – with both some minor flooding in June, and major flooding in July. [9] Non-administrative counties[19] and administrative counties[20] affected by the flooding are given below. By 25 July, a number of low-lying parts adjacent to the river in Bedford and Luton were flooded and one man drowned attempting to swim across the River Great Ouse in Bedford.
Parts of Felmersham[24] and Turvey[25] were also flooded. On 20 July, the M4 was closed after a landslide caused by flooding between Junctions 12 and 13 eastbound. [26] Approximately 1,100 properties in Thatcham were affected by flash flooding. [27]
By 21 July, Newbury and Maidenhead town centres were flooded, the shopping mall in Maidenhead was closed and parts of the Glade Festival were flooded. Officials warned that the River Thames, the River Ock, and its tributaries from Charney could burst their banks. [28] Trinity School was badly affected by the flooding as well due to Vodafone's HQ nearby. Vodafone's ornamental lake overflowed due to the sudden downpour and badly damaged Trinity School's astro turf to the front of the school as well as some damage to inside the school. In Reading, rail services to the southwest were affected and westbound trains from Paddington could go no further. The flood waters affected the Atomic Weapons Establishment at Burghfield, which handles Britain's nuclear warheads, resulting in a suspension of work for almost a year. [29]
On 3 June, Stoke Goldington suffered flash flooding affecting 25 homes. [30] Stoke Goldington was affected again on 3 July, with 10 houses being flooded. [31]
By 21 July, seventy homes and businesses were flooded by the River Ouse in Buckingham and 30 people spent the night in the town's Radcliffe centre,[28] but 10 miles (16 km) away a system of balancing lakes prevented Milton Keynes from suffering significantly, apart from a flash flood of Stony Stratford High Street from the River Ouse.
On 24 July, four bridges in St Neots, Cambridgeshire were shut when the river level peaked, and the Environment Agency warned residents in the St Neots, Paxton and Offords areas to expect flooding that night. [34] By 25 July, parts of St Ives were flooded. [35] Later the same day, the Environment Agency advised residents near the River Great Ouse that the peak had passed and further flooding was unlikely.
On 15 June, heavy rainfall caused the postponement of the fourth test match between England and the West Indies at the Riverside Ground, Chester-le-Street.
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Floods
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Aeroflot Flight 2808 crash
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Aeroflot Flight 2808 (Russian: Рейс 2808 Аэрофлота Reys 2808 Aeroflota) was a scheduled domestic passenger flight from Mineralnye Vody to Ivanovo, both in Russia, with a stopover in Donetsk, Ukraine on 27 August 1992. While attempting to land at Ivanovo airport, the Tupolev Tu-134 crashed into a group of buildings in the village of Lebyazhy Lug. Investigators determined the cause of the accident was errors made by the crew and the air traffic controller. There were no fatalities on the ground, but all 84 people on board the flight died in the crash. [1]
The aircraft involved in the accident was a Tupolev Tu-134A registered RA-65058 to Aeroflot. [a] At the time of the accident the aircraft had sustained 26,307 flight hours and 16,388 pressurization cycles. [2]
The cockpit crew consisted of the following:[3]
The two flight attendants in the cabin were S. Ermilova and T. Mokrova. [3]
The second phase of the flight took off from Donetsk at 21:03 Moscow Time. On board the aircraft were the seven crew members and 77 passengers, of whom 21 were children. No issues in flight from Donetsk were reported. At 22:27 and at an altitude of 10,100 meters the flight began to descend 6,000 meters on a bearing of 60° in preparation for the approach, which was to be carried out by the pilot in command. The decrease in altitude occurred approximately 100 kilometers from the airport and approximately 40 kilometers from the point where the flight was due to turn for the approach. After the descent the flight remained at its current altitude for two minutes at a speed of 440 km/h. [3]
After the Tu-134 passed Dobrynskoe as designated by air traffic control, while at a distance of 75 kilometers from the airport, the crew contacted the air traffic controller who gave them permission descend to an altitude of 1,800 meters and set them on a bearing of 292° for landing. At 22:39:20 the flight reported to be 28 kilometers from the airport and at an altitude of 1,800 meters when they were actually at an altitude of 2,000 meters. As instructed the flight flew level for 25 seconds, decreasing airspeed from 580 km/h to 525 km/h. At 22:39:40 while 25 km from the airport the controller gave the flight permission to descend to 1,500 meters and transferred the flight to another controller in the tower. When communications with the new controller began the flight reported their altitude to be 1,500 meters and proceeded with level flight for 25 seconds. [3]
When the flight was 2.5 kilometers to the right of the cut-off point of the glideslope they requested permission to enter landing mode. The flight, having deviated 9 kilometers from the route, had reached the transition level at 22:40. Upon receiving permission to reduce their altitude to 500 meters and execute a fourth turn at 20°, they flight executed the procedure through a transition level of 1,200 meters and a 17 kilometer radial distance. The flight was then 3 kilometers from the aerodrome and flying at a speed of 450 km/h when it had still not released the landing gear; in the preparations for landing the navigator forgot to set his altimeter to the correct pressure. During the third turn the aircraft reduced speed to 390 km/h at a consistent altitude. During the beginning of fourth turn the landing gear was released and the flaps adjusted only when the aircraft
was 2,600 meters from the glideslope, while at an altitude of 1,200 meters and a speed of 410 km/h. The fourth turn started with a roll of 20° at a distance of 12.5 kilometers from the entrance to the runway; due to previous lateral deviations the roll would have had to reach 30° in order to proceed with the route. [3]
At 22:41 the air traffic controller informed the flight crew of weather conditions with visibility being 1,200 meters and mild fog. Having lost two minutes of needed time to execute the planned route, there was not enough time to sufficiently reduce speed to 330 km/h, adjust flaps to 20°, and reach an altitude of 500 meters safely to continue with the landing. Nevertheless, the crew continued with the landing and the air traffic controller did not give the crew any warnings. The aircraft exited the fourth turn at a distance of 8,600 meters from the entrance to the runway with a speed of 390 km/h and an altitude 100 meters above the limit but with the stabilizer, flaps and slats in the correct positions. At a distance of 7,500 meters from the runway and an altitude of 320 meters the navigator picked up on the deviation and asked the captain about correcting the deviation to which the captain initially refused. While descending to the glidepath at an altitude of 270 meters the copilot corrected the left bank by adjusting the horizontal stabilizer in one procedure (changing the stabilizer required fulfilling three procedures); doing so caused the aircraft to become less stable. [3]
At a distance of 4,500 meters from the runway, the aircraft held a lateral deviation ranging from 200–300 meters and an altitude of 200 meters. To enter the glidepath, the captain began to turn to the right causing the aircraft to roll up to 35°. The procedure was carried out uncoordinated fashion, causing the vertical speed to increase to up to 15–16 m/s. After passing the Non-directional beacon at an altitude of 170 meters (which should have been 210 meters) while 40 meters to the left of the correct position relative to the runway, the navigator again warned the captain but was ignored. At an altitude of approximately 100 meters the captain attempted to take the aircraft out of the bank but did not attempt to slow down the vertical speed. After the navigator's last attempt to convince the captain to abort the landing and make a go-around, the aircraft banked sharply to the right 10°. [3]
The aircraft struck foliage to its right at a distance of 2,962 meters from the start of the runway while on a bearing of 295° and 60 meters to the left of the intended path. The aircraft crashed into the ground 512 meters after first striking the trees; several brick buildings and cars were damaged by debris but no one on the ground was killed. All 84 passengers and crew were killed in the crash. Investigation showed that there were no mechanical issues with the aircraft itself and the aircraft was intact until it had crashed. [3][4]
The primary cause of the accident was the captain's decision to continue the route under unsuitable parameters for landing. [4] Insufficient crew communication and poor cockpit resource management also led to periodic loss of control compounded by failure to follow guidelines for maximum rate of descent as outlined in the Tu-134's flight manual. [3]
The air traffic controller at Ivanovo airport acted in violation of aviation guidelines by not notifying the crew about their deviations from the course and glide path. [3]
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Air crash
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20022004 SARS outbreak among healthcare workers
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The rapid spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in healthcare workers (HCW)most notably in Toronto hospitalsduring the global outbreak of SARS in 2002C2003 contributed to dozens of identified cases, some of them fatal. [1] Researchers have found several key reasons for this development, such as the high-risk performances of medical operations on patients with SARS, inadequate use of protective equipment, psychological effects on the workers in response to the stress of dealing with the outbreak, and lack of information and training on treating SARS. [2] Lessons learned from this outbreak among healthcare workers have contributed to newly developed treatment and prevention efforts and new recommendations from groups such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). [3]
SARS spread around the world from the Guangdong Province of China, to multiple locations, like Hong Kong and then Toronto, Canada from 2002C2003. [4] The spread of SARS originated from a doctor residing in a hotel in Hong Kong to other tourists staying in the same hotel, who then travelled back home to locations like Toronto (without knowing that they had the disease). [5] The growing number of cases in Toronto gave HCWs a significant challenge, as they were tasked with stopping the spread of the disease in their city. Unfortunately, this unprepared-for challenge led several hospitals in the city and in the surrounding Ontario region to see dozens of cases of SARS arise not only in typical patients but also in HCWs themselves. [6]
Noticing this development, on March 28, 2003, the POC (Provincial Operating Centre) in Ontario established a set of SARS-specific recommendations and suggestions for all hospitals in Toronto in order to guide them on how to best avoid the transmission of SARS among HCWs. [7] They hoped that these initiatives would protect HCWs from the disease, allowing them to continue treating other SARS-infected patients without putting themselves at risk. A study published in 2006, however, suggests that these directives were not fully practiced and/or enforced, causing many HCWs to still get the disease. [8][9] The study followed 17 HCWs in Toronto hospitals who had developed the disease and interviewed 15 of them about their habits and practices during the time of the outbreak. [9] Specifically, the study involved asking the HCWs questions regarding the amount of training they had received on dealing with SARS cases in a cautionary way, how often they used protective equipment, etc. [9] In the end, results showed that the practices of these HCWs did not fully meet the recommendations set forth by the POC, providing greater evidence that these poor practices (described below) led to the development of the disease in HCWs more than anything else. [8]
Many HCWs became more susceptible to contracting the disease due to their operations and high-risk interactions with SARS patients. [9] Many of these interactions, such as caring for a patient directly or communicating with the patient, create high-risk scenarios in which the HCWs have many ways of becoming infected. [9] There are three main categories of High-Risk Performance: direct contact by patient, indirect contact by patient, and high-risk events. [9][10]
Direct contact and resulting transmission of the disease "occurs when there is physical contact between an infected person and a susceptible person". [10] This direct contact can be various types of contact involving blood or bodily fluids,[10] but some SARS-specific examples include when a patient receives supplemental oxygen or mechanical ventilation with the aid of HCWs. [9] These require the direct contact of a patient with a HCW, making it a viable method of SARS transmission. [9] As direct contact is the most common form of high-risk performance, all seventeen HCWs participating in the study encountered some sort of direct contact with a patient in the 10 days before getting the disease. [9]
High-risk procedures include intentional actions that are taken by the HCW in order to help a patient. [9] They are considered high-risk because the chances of a disease being transmitted during these procedures are far greater than typical direct or indirect contact with a patient. [9] While there are myriad high-risk procedures, those that are SARS-specific include intubation, manual ventilation, nebulizer therapy, and several others. [9] As was highlighted in the study, fourteen of the seventeen HCWs taking part in the study were involved in some high-risk procedure in the 10 days before getting the disease. [9]
While direct contact involves the physical contact of two people, indirect contact does not. [10] Instead, indirect contact "occurs when there is no direct human-to-human contact," and it can involve contact of a human with a contaminated surface,[10] which are known as fomites. [11] The most plausible cases of transmission through indirect contact are when an HCW or healthy person touches a surface contaminated with droplets from an infected patient's sneeze or cough or inhales those droplets themselves. [12] At the same time, if the droplets come in contact with the healthy person's mouth, eye, or nose, the healthy person also risks becoming ill.[10] Other types of high-risk events include diarrhea and vomiting, which can very easily contaminate a HCW with bacteria or fluid that contains the SARS disease through indirect contact. [9] Regarding coming into contact with contaminated surfaces or fomites, many HCWs had habits of wearing jewelry, eating lunch on site or in designated cafeterias, wearing glasses, using makeup, etc., which are all potential new fomites that could foster the transmission of disease. [9] Just like with direct contact, all seventeen HCWs participating in the study encountered some type of high-risk event in the 10 days before getting the disease. [9]
One large guideline for HCWs in Toronto hospitals was the use of sufficient and protective equipment to avoid transmission of the disease. [8] The most widely suggested and used pieces of equipment were masks, gowns, gloves, and eye protection. [9] While these pieces of equipment were used by most HCWs, they were not always usedif at allby everyone, allowing SARS transmission to take place more easily. [7]
Surgical masks were suggested to be used by both HCWs and patients. This is because the specifically recommended type of masks do a good job of preventing one's own bacteria and fluid from escaping into the airkeeping both a patient and a HCW's bacteria and fluid to themselves. [13] Less intentionally but also important, these masks discourage patients and HCWs from putting their fingers or hands in contact with the nose and mouth, which could usually allow bacteria to spread from the hand to these areas. [9] Contrary to popular belief, some types of masks do little to prevent fluid and bacteria from coming in contact with the wearer of the mask, but they can still help prevent airborne infection. Therefore, it is important that both the patient and the HCW wear the mask. However, the aforementioned study's results indicate that HCWs wore them much more often than the patients themselves; in fact, fourteen of the HCWS always wore their mask, while only 1 of the patients always wore his/her mask. [9]
Hospital gowns are another piece of equipment used by HCWs during the outbreak. [9] Used mostly for those who are having trouble changing/moving their lower body, gowns are easy for patients to put on when they are bedridden. [14] They are also helpful for HCWs to attempt to avoid contamination, as the gowns can be removed and disposed of easily after an operation or interaction with a patient. [15] While seemingly less critical than masks, gowns were worn nearly the same amount by HCWs as masks. [9]
Medical gloves, like masks and gowns, also serve the purpose of preventing contamination of disease by blocking contact between the hands and the various bacteria, fluid, and fomites that carry the disease. [16] HCWs can again, like gowns, easily dispose of and change gloves in order to help improve and maintain good sanitary conditions. [17] Compared to all of the other pieces of equipment, gloves were worn the most often by HCWs who contracted the disease. [9]
HCWs used and continue to use a variety of eye protection, like personal and safety glasses, goggles, and face shields, but most relied on face shields and goggles when dealing with SARS patients. [7] In general, eye protection is most helpful in blocking any harmful particles (in this case bacteria or fluid from a patient) from entering the eye of a HCW. One distinction between eye protection and the other types of equipment, however, is that eye protection is often reusable. This characteristic of eye protection therefore makes understanding the methods used to clean the eye protection equipment a factor when assessing the success of using eye protection to prevent disease transmission.
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Disease Outbreaks
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Bashar al-Assad’s Unlikely Comeback
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Regional governments that once shunned Damascus are mending fences with a murderous regime—showing human rights abusers everywhere how to commit atrocities with impunity. | December 15, 2021, 5:18 PM Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is seen during an interview in Damascus, Syria, on Feb. 11, 2016. JOSEPH EID/AFP via Getty Images Things are looking up for Bashar al-Assad. Jordan’s King Abdullah II spoke to him for the first time in 10 years after reopening the border with Syria; United Arab Emirates Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed recently visited the Syrian capital Damascus and agreed to increase economic cooperation with Assad’s regime; Saudi intelligence chief Khalid bin Ali Al Humaidan met with his Syrian counterpart Hussam Luka in Cairo as part of an Egyptian effort to restore Syria’s place in the Arab League; and Egypt has been making friendly overtures of its own. Ten years after Assad started violently crushing a peaceful uprising, the tide appears to have turned. With the best-documented war in history, confirmed crimes against humanity, and proven use of chemical weapons in breach of international conventions, how did Assad find his way back into the world’s good graces? There are the obvious factors, including Russia and China’s diplomatic cover in the United Nations Security Council and the massive military support provided by Russia and Iran, without which the Syrian Army, which was reduced to half its size by 2013, would have collapsed. The regime was also helped by the failure of interventions in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya, even though these episodes happened under different conditions. Such precedents were invoked to dismiss intervention as an option even before the Syrian opposition demanded it. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is seen during an interview in Damascus, Syria, on Feb. 11, 2016. JOSEPH EID/AFP via Getty Images Things are looking up for Bashar al-Assad. Jordan’s King Abdullah II spoke to him for the first time in 10 years after reopening the border with Syria; United Arab Emirates Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed recently visited the Syrian capital Damascus and agreed to increase economic cooperation with Assad’s regime; Saudi intelligence chief Khalid bin Ali Al Humaidan met with his Syrian counterpart Hussam Luka in Cairo as part of an Egyptian effort to restore Syria’s place in the Arab League; and Egypt has been making friendly overtures of its own. Ten years after Assad started violently crushing a peaceful uprising, the tide appears to have turned. With the best-documented war in history, confirmed crimes against humanity, and proven use of chemical weapons in breach of international conventions, how did Assad find his way back into the world’s good graces? There are the obvious factors, including Russia and China’s diplomatic cover in the United Nations Security Council and the massive military support provided by Russia and Iran, without which the Syrian Army, which was reduced to half its size by 2013, would have collapsed. The regime was also helped by the failure of interventions in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya, even though these episodes happened under different conditions. Such precedents were invoked to dismiss intervention as an option even before the Syrian opposition demanded it. Given those precedents, military inaction against Assad may be understandable. But the creeping diplomatic rapprochement is harder to explain—or justify. Trucks enter Syria from Jordan through the Naseeb-Jaber border post on the day of its reopening on Sept. 29. LOUAI BESHARA/AFP via Getty Images In my 2013 book The Wisdom of Syria’s Waiting Game, I predicted that, faced with a crisis, Bashar al-Assad would act as his father did—resist international demands for change and instead wait for others to change their priorities, which, in the Assads’ experience, they inevitably do. The only deviations from this pattern have occurred when the regime has been faced with an existential crisis, as in 1990 when it lost the Soviet Union as a patron, or in 1998 when, fed up with the sanctuary and support the regime was providing to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, Turkey threatened intervention. There were times during Syria’s decade-long war when it looked like the regime had overplayed its hand. It seemed the chemical attack in August 2013, which killed over 1,400 civilians , might change the equation. After all, once the world was watching, there was a declared “red line,” and this breach of international norms had consequences beyond Syria. The common expectation was that this might finally force Assad to step down. Yet, not only did Assad succeed in waiting out the crisis and spurning the obligations placed on him by the 2013 Kerry-Lavrov deal, which required the elimination of Syria’s chemical weapons program, he escalated the war and continued to use chemical weapons. The effectiveness of Assad’s waiting game can be explained only in part by the perception cultivated by his supporters that the regime represents the “lesser evil” in Syria. This notion could hold only from 2013 until the defeat of the Islamic State, whose spectacular atrocities made some forget that the Syrian regime was using the same techniques of torture and murder, albeit more systematically and on a much larger scale. If the regime can present itself as a rational actor willing to engage in strategic dialogue, it can wait out the tide of negative attention. The regime’s success has been in convincing international actors that it is interested only in ruling the country and that its violence is a necessary if heavy-handed way to preserve the state. If it can present itself as a rational actor willing to engage in strategic dialogue, it can wait out the tide of negative attention. This of course only works because of the wishful thinking and will to believe of some international actors. They assume that Assad will engage constructively at some point without credible external pressure; that the choice is between Assad and instability, or Assad and the Islamic State; and that political transition can occur only through Assad’s cooperation. Ever since 2011, the regime has made the U.N. the primary focus of its diplomacy. It chooses highly visible forums because it doesn’t trust its own personnel and restricts their travel. Syria’s foreign policy has always been multi-pronged. To be taken seriously on the regional level, the Assads have developed different tools. Hafez al-Assad for many years cultivated relationships with nonstate actors from Palestine, Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq, and Jordan, which he could activate to gain leverage in diplomacy. This continued with his son, Bashar. The transfer of jihadists to Iraq in 2003 and subsequent years, and the political assassinations in Lebanon from 2005 until today, are the best-documented examples. Due to its wish to be accepted as a legitimate power crucial for regional stability, the regime paradoxically engages in destabilizing strategies—and it pays off. The strategy has worked in Lebanon, and even successive U.S. administrations have been willing to overlook the regime’s infiltration of jihadists into Iraq to target U.S. troops. Of Syria’s neighboring states, only Israel and, to a limited extent, Turkey have been able to defend themselves against these methods. Protesters against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s use of chemical weapons gather outside the U.S Capitol in Washington on Sept. 9, 2013. Win McNamee/Getty Images Like most authoritarian states, the regime was willing to tolerate an internal opposition as long as it remained small and divided and worked within acceptable parameters. Confronted with a revolutionary movement that was creative, neither infiltrated nor compromised by outside forces, and that held an authentic interest in political change and advocating for a peaceful alternative, the government turned aggressively against the opposition, seeing their popularity and credibility as a threat. In 2011 and 2012, the Assad regime assassinated charismatic representatives of nonviolent resistance such as Ibrahim Qashoush or Ghiath Matar, while deliberately overlooking jihadists, who were able to use this reprieve to expand their influence. Whatever alternatives to Assad may have existed, however democratic their vision, however well-meaning their activities, faced an orchestrated campaign to eliminate them or at least their reputation. This worked particularly well with Syria’s Civil Defense, the first responders better known as the “White Helmets.” All this was meant to create confusion and leave audiences with the impression that there were no good guys—to make diplomats, politicians, and others fearful that they might be sacrificing stability for a worse alternative. There were mysterious terrorist acts in Syria and neighboring Turkey and Lebanon that were used to spook domestic and foreign audiences. In a number of terrorist attacks in the Turkish town of Reyhanli, those convicted had close ties to the Syrian regime. In Lebanon, it was easier for the Assad regime to use its shady connections to scare the country it had occupied until 2005. In August 2012, the former Lebanese cabinet minister Michel Samaha was arrested over a plot to place more than 20 bombs during a visit by the Maronite Patriarch Bechara al-Rai in northern Lebanon. This was meant to be portrayed as an Islamist attack against Christians: “This is what Bashar wants,” Samaha was quoted as saying. Behind this plan to exacerbate sectarian tensions and plunge Lebanon into a civil war was Ali Mamlouk, chief coordinator of the various Syrian intelligence services and special security advisor to Bashar. Had his plan succeeded, this would most likely have incited hatred against Syrian refugees in Lebanon. On top of that, the message to the Lebanese government and people was clear: If Syria goes down, so will you. Meanwhile, the regime was drawing on Lebanese manpower, namely Hezbollah. The Syrian Arab Army was a mess by 2013, lacking discipline, order, or manpower. For blunt violence, the regime had the “ shabiha ” and special Tiger Forces, but for battlefield experience, it had to rely on the well-trained and hierarchical Hezbollah. But hundreds of Hezbollah fighters dying in Syria created resentment in Lebanon, where Hezbollah had cultivated its image as a resistance to Israel. Many of its members and supporters did not see a point in killing and dying for Assad. Yet Assad did not even feel compelled to ease the internal Lebanese pressure on Hezbollah—furthered by popular discontent over the more than one million Syrian refugees in Lebanon. There are millions of Syrians who have fled to Turkey, Jordan, and Lebanon. Despite living in miserable conditions, hardly any have returned to Syria. Assad is aware of the burden these neighboring countries are shouldering and has tried to use it as leverage. He has used new offensives in Idlib, Syria, where two million to three million displaced people are stuck, to pressure Turkey, where growing domestic anti-refugee sentiment and demands for the government to solve the problem led to tangible repression of refugees after Erdogan’s ruling party suffered losses in the 2019 local elections. Such pressure also deepens Ankara’s rift with the EU. Arab states’ creeping rapprochement with Assad is also exposing the limits of the United States’ complacent and misguided approach. The influx of refugees to the EU has also contributed to the rise of right-wing populism in Europe and the Turkish president announced he’d “open the gates and send 3.6 million refugees” to Europe when criticized for the occupation of parts of northern Syria. Intensifying the chaos then allows the regime to present itself as the stable default. For years now, the Assad regime has been participating in the U.N.-brokered Geneva peace process, a series of conferences starting in 2012 that aimed to end violence in Syria and find a solution to the conflict. The U.N.’s aim is to achieve a political transition, as agreed to by the U.N. Security Council. But this is an outcome that the regime is committed to avoiding. None of the negotiation rounds have delivered any tangible improvement for Syrian citizens. The committee, which recently held its sixth round of talks, could not even reach an agreement on constitutional principles. Rather than a forum for the regime to negotiate, the Geneva process and its sub-elements have served more as theater and occasions for regime officials to go shop in Europe. Even the very patient U.N. Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen described the meeting as a “big disappointment.” Arab states’ creeping rapprochement with Assad is also exposing the limits of the United States’ complacent and misguided approach. Since the start, diplomatic initiatives have floundered in the absence of a credible threat of force. The regime has been more than willing to participate in the charade as long as it remains free to continue its violent repression. By contrast, the only time it made some concessions was in September 2013, when it was briefly faced with the threat of intervention. (Airstrikes by the Trump administration in 2017-18 did not frighten Assad or pose a genuine threat to his rule.) People walk in front of a giant billboard of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus, Syria, on Dec. 15. LOUAI BESHARA/AFP via Getty Images The regime has so far given no reason to assume that diplomacy alone will get it to change its behavior. Nor has it given any indication that it is willing to make concessions for a lasting peace. It could have offered or honored amnesties, but there isn’t one example of successful reconciliation from any province in Syria. The local cease-fires strategy embraced by the U.N. under then-Special Envoy to Syria Staffan de Mistura delivered much of Syria to the regime without securing any lasting commitments, according to an Atlantic Council report . In areas retaken, the regime has been meticulously investigating any citizen suspected of being politically active, along with their family members. Those arrested have disappeared. The issue of the more than 100,000 forcibly disappeared people is pressing and the regime’s way of addressing this significant matter is particularly relevant. When family members insisted on their right to know the whereabouts of their loved ones, Russia pressured the regime to disclose their fate. The regime’s response was a few hundred carelessly issued death certificates , many stating natural causes. This is characteristic of the regime’s approach: It will cooperate formally but not substantively. The regime’s weaponization of aid also reveals its approach toward dealing with the international community. During the sieges of East Aleppo until 2016 and Ghouta until 2018, the regime did not even respond to U.N. demands for aid relief. It allowed only a limited number of convoys and arbitrarily removed items from the trucks that had been approved. Citizens waiting for the distribution of U.N. aid were bombarded; in one instance an entire convoy was destroyed. This raises a red flag: Any diplomacy that adapts to Assad’s intransigence merely licenses further human rights violations. And there is even less reason for hope considering the actors driving the current push towards rapprochement. Human rights are not a concern for these states. A more plausible reason for the thaw is that those mending fences, especially those neighboring Syria, want to create a pretext for forcing refugees back to the country. In so doing, these states are showing disregard for refugees’ safety; they are also assuming that the regime is willing to take the refugees back. As Lebanese politicians trying to normalize relations with Damascus to facilitate the return of refugees learned in 2017, the regime is happy to be rid of citizens it considers troublesome. The regime is effectively saying: What makes you think we’ll take them back? Lebanese authorities confirm that only 20 percent of the refugees who have registered as willing to return to Syria were given a permit by the regime. Another plausible reason for the rapprochement is that, by creating a wave of normalization, these states hope to benefit from a likely flow of Western reconstruction money. Yet it is unclear who would be willing to invest. Europe has so far abided by its commitment that reconstruction will be funded only after signs of a serious and substantial transition. Unlike Western states, China is less concerned with conditionality; but while it has made some tentative moves toward such investment, those moves are unlikely to take substantial form. Given the Assad regime’s known corruption, even China seems uncertain that it could benefit from such investment. For all the talk of rapprochement, so far no government has put its money where its mouth is. All the states trying to mend fences with Assad are autocracies, which gives them natural sympathy for a fellow dictatorship facing a popular revolt. Yet, ironically, because they are autocracies they have a better understanding of the regime’s character, which makes them reluctant to make any material investments in Syria. Autocracies admire Assad because he has added a chapter to the autocrats’ guide to survival: how to get away with literally everything. A dictator in distress can hope for the support of those who have something to lose if he falls or something to gain if he stays. Iran supported Assad, because it would have lost regional influence; Russia, because Syria provided an opportunity for it to regain great power status. Now that Assad is back on his feet, the forces of status quo are also returning to the fold. The UAE and other autocracies admire Assad because he has added a chapter to the autocrats’ guide to survival: how to get away with literally everything. And others are learning.
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Regime Change
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Mystery of ‘Butter Boat’ shipwreck solved 250 years after sinking
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The mystery of a shipwreck off the coast of Ireland has been solved 250 years after it sank. The skeletal remains of the large vessel on Streedagh Strand in Co Sligo, known locally as the Butter Boat, become visible at low tide as the sands shift. It is a well-known landmark and a popular tourist attraction but its origin was not known. It had been thought to be part of the fabled Spanish Armada in the 16th century but, thanks to new archaeological and archival research by Ireland’s National Monuments Service, that theory was ruled out and the true identity of the ship has been uncovered. Samples from timbers off the shipwreck place the construction of the vessel firmly in the first half of the 18th century, some time after 1712. They also indicated the timber was probably sourced from the English Midlands, possibly Yorkshire. Further research into 18th-century historical accounts led to the vessel being identified as the Greyhound, a coastal trading ship out of Whitby port in Yorkshire in England, owned by a Mrs Allely. Twenty people died when it sank on the night of December 12 1770. The Greyhound was caught in a storm off the coast of Mayo and, unable to seek safe harbour in Broadhaven Bay, it was driven to anchor in a perilous position beneath the towering cliffs off Erris Head. The crew was forced to abandon ship. But in a tragic oversight, a cabin boy was left on board. On learning of the plight of the cabin boy, some crew members, the crew of a passing ship, Mary from Galway, and local volunteers from Broadhaven Bay attempted to rescue the boy and the stricken ship. While the rescue team did manage to board the Greyhound and move the vessel away from the cliffs, the ship was driven further out to sea by the force of the storm with some of the volunteer crew and the cabin boy still on board. Later that night, she was wrecked at Streedagh Strand, 100 kilometres to the east, with the loss of 20 lives. Just one man – a Mr Williams “from Erris” – survived the wrecking. Last Saturday, December 12, the 250th anniversary of the event, locals and members of the National Monuments team who uncovered the story held a ceremony on Streedagh Strand to pay tribute to those who died. Minister of state for heritage at the Department of Housing, Malcolm Noonan, welcomed the uncovering of the full and tragic story of the Greyhound and the events that led to its loss 250 years ago. Mr Noonan said there had been a huge amount of local interest in the wreck and he was very pleased that the National Monuments Service had been able to finally confirm the wreck’s identity, adding the use of scientific data and local stories, passed down through generations, bore fruit. “In particular I am struck by the value of folklore archives along with applied archaeological research in uncovering the full and tragic story of the Greyhound and those caught up in the tragedy,” he said. “Its calamitous story illustrates starkly the perils of the sea but also highlights how in times of trouble, the common bond of the sea brings people from different backgrounds together in an attempt to save lives. “I am proud that my department has been able to bring to light this story of tragedy and loss but also of extraordinary bravery, compassion, selflessness and heroism.”
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Shipwreck
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Government names 60 agencies to be merged
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Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Government has listed its agencies, commissions and authorities that were approved for mergers or being transferred back to their mother ministries as departments or directorates. David Karubanga, the Minister of State for Public Service told journalists at the Uganda Media Centre that a team that was set up by the government reviewed 157 entities and came up with recommendations on how to make them more responsive to the needs of Ugandans. The government adopted some of the recommendations of the committee while in some cases it overruled them. In some of the changes, the Equal Opportunities Commission will be abolished, and its services transferred to the Uganda Human Rights Commission, since according to the report, equal opportunities are human rights. The Uganda Investment Authority, Enterprise Uganda Foundation Limited, Uganda Exports Promotions Board, Uganda Free Zones Authority, Private Sector Foundation of Uganda and the Privatization Unit have been merged into one entity, while the Management Training and Advisory Centre has been merged with Nakawa Vocational Training Institute. Also, the Uganda Wildlife Education Centre, Uganda Tourism Board, and Uganda Wildlife Authority will be merged into one. The National Youth Council, National Women’s Council, National Council for Children, National Council for Disability and the National Council for Older Persons have also been consolidated into one authority, and the National Council of Higher Education will be merged with the National Curriculum Development Centre, and Kyambogo Teacher Curriculum centre. The other entities include the Uganda Allied Health Examinations Board and Uganda Nurses and Midwifery Examinations Board that have been merged to form one entity, the Uganda Nurses and Midwifes Council, Allied Health Professional Council, Medical and Dental Practitioners Council will now be merged into one council, and the Population Secretariat will now be merged with the Metropolitan Physical Planning Authority, Town and Country Planning Board, National Physical Planning Board and the National Planning Authority. The Public Service Commission, the Health Service Commission, and Education Service Commission are to also be merged into one Service Commission with specialized Departments to recruit for specialized areas, while the Uganda National Roads Authority, the body in charge of roads will now become a department in the Ministry of Works and Transport. The Uganda Registrations Services Bureau, the National Identification Registration Authority, and the Uganda Non-governmental Registration Board will now be consolidated under one agency. In the energy sector, the Uganda Electricity Generation Company Limited, Uganda Electricity Transmission Company Limited and Uganda Electricity Distribution Company Limited will be consolidated to form one electricity company. On the other hand, the Rural Electrification Agency is to go back to the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development as a department. The Uganda Warehouse Receipt System Authority was mainstreamed as a department under the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives while the Amnesty Commission and the National Citizenship and Immigration Control are to be departments under the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Other agencies that have been affected include, the Centre for Alternative Disputes, Law Reform Commission and the Electricity Disputes Tribunal which will be units under the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs. The National Agricultural Advisory Services, Uganda Trypanosomiasis Control Council, the Uganda Cotton Development Organization, Uganda Coffee Development Authority and the Dairy Development Authority were approved to be departments under the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries. The other entities that have seen their status change include; the Students Financing Board, the National Library of Uganda that have been put back under the Ministry of Education and Sports, the National Forestry Authority and the Uganda National Meteorological Authority which will now be directorates under the Ministry of Water and Environment, the National Roads Safety Board, the Transport Licensing Board and the Uganda Road Fund will be departments in the Ministry of Works and Transport. According to the list, almost 100 government entities were retained as they are while others were either merged with others or taken back to their mother ministries. One company; Kinyara Sugar Works where government has interest was approved for total privatization. The minister says this was done in fulfillment of a February 22, recommendation by cabinet to improve the efficiency of service delivery to the country and also do away with wasteful expenditures.
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Organization Merge
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Alrosa Flight 514 crash
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Alrosa Flight 514 was a Tupolev Tu-154 passenger jet on a domestic scheduled flight from Udachny to Moscow, Russia, that on 7 September 2010 made a successful emergency landing at a remote airstrip after suffering an in-flight total electrical failure. All 81 people on board escaped unharmed. The Tupolev was en route at cruise altitude when the failure occurred, which disabled the fuel system and all navigational and radio equipment, meaning that the aircraft would not have been able to reach its destination. The crew decided to attempt an emergency landing at the disused Izhma Airport. The aircraft overran the end of the runway and came to rest among the vegetation, damaged but still on its landing gear. The crew of Flight 514 were subsequently decorated for their actions, and the aircraft was successfully repaired and flown out of the airfield to resume service with Alrosa. [1]
Flight 514 was over Usinsk,[2] at an altitude of 10,600 m (FL 348) when the first signs of a problem were noticed at about 06:59 local time (02:59 UTC). Shortly after, the aircraft suffered a complete failure of the electrical system, which resulted in the loss of navigational systems and electric fuel pumps. [3] The loss of the pumps prevented the transfer of fuel from the wing tanks to the engine supply tank in the fuselage,[4] leaving the aircraft with only 3,300 kilograms (7,300 lb) of usable fuel,[2] enough for 30 minutes of flight. [5]
At about 07:47, the emergency authorities at Izhma were informed that the aircraft could make an emergency landing at the local airport. Izhma Airport is a former airfield that is now used only for helicopters,[3] and the 1,325-metre-long (4,347 ft) runway is closed but not abandoned. [3][4] The airfield, having closed to fixed-wing aircraft in 2003,[5] was not marked on aeronautical charts any more. [6]
The passengers were moved to the front of the aircraft. The electrical failure also caused a loss of the radio system, flaps and slats. [2] Two attempts to land were aborted. On the third attempt,[4] a successful emergency landing was made at 07:55 local time. [3] The aircraft overran the runway by 160 metres (520 ft),[2] and sustained some damage in the process. The aircraft landed at a speed of 350 to 380 kilometres per hour (190 to 210 kn), faster than normal, due to the lack of flaps. Although the flaps are powered by hydraulics, the switches operating them are electrical. [3] All nine crew and 72 passengers evacuated using the aircraft's evacuation slides. No injuries were reported. [3]
The aircraft operating the flight was a tri-jet Tupolev Tu-154M with registration RA-85684 and serial number 90A-851. It was built in 1990. [4]
After evacuating the aircraft and while awaiting rescue, some of the passengers searched for mushrooms, a popular pastime in Russia. [6] The survivors were temporarily housed in a sports complex at Izhma, due to a lack of hotel space locally. [7] They were later flown by Mil Mi-8 helicopter to Ukhta Airport,[8] where a replacement Tupolev Tu-154 flew them on to Moscow. Two passengers decided to continue their journey by rail instead. [3] The passengers of Flight 514 called for the flight crew to be honoured for their actions. [2] The crew remained in Ukhta to assist authorities with their investigation into the accident. [9] The successful emergency landing was hailed as a miracle by Russian aviation experts. [2] Russian Transport Minister Igor Levitin met the crew and thanked them for their "heroic, decisive and professional actions" in the accident. He also paid tribute to their courage. [3]
The pilots of Flight 514, Captain Yevgeny Novoselov and First Officer Andrei Lamanov,[10] were made Heroes of the Russian Federation. The other seven crew members were awarded the Order of Courage. [11] The order awarding the decorations was signed by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. [10]
The landing could only be successful because the airport superior, Sergey Sotnikov, even after the airport was closed to traffic in 2003, was keeping the landing strip free of trees and bushes. Sotnikov was later decorated by the President of Russia. [12]
Russian authorities launched an investigation into the accident. A preliminary report was expected to be published after 10 days. [2] On 14 September 2010, the report indicated that the batteries had self-overheated, suffering a thermal runaway. This affected the entire electrical system, navigation system and radio system. [3]
The aircraft suffered considerable damage during the runway excursion, but after an assessment by aircraft manufacturer Tupolev, Alrosa decided that it could be repaired and returned to service. After having two of its three engines replaced, the Tu-154 was stripped of all unnecessary weight and loaded with the minimal necessary amount of fuel. Test pilots from the Russian State Scientific Research Institute of Civil Aviation (GosNII GA) were selected to fly the jet out of the airfield. [1][13]
On 24 March 2011, six months after the incident, the jet successfully took off from Izhma to fly 160 km (100 mi) to Ukhta Airport for refuelling and inspection, and then on to Samara Airport for further repairs. Despite the Tu-154 normally requiring around 2,500 m (8,200 ft) of runway to take-off,[5] the RA-85684 managed to lift off after only 800 m (2,600 ft), well within Izhma's 1,300 m (4,300 ft) runway. [1][14]
Repair work was completed in June 2011, after which RA-85684, having been given the name Izhma, resumed regular service with Alrosa. It remained in service until September 2018, when its certificate of airworthiness expired and the airline considered its renewal uneconomical. [15]
On 29 September 2018, Izhma was flown for the last time from Mirny Airport, Alrosa's base, to Novosibirsk Tolmachevo Airport in Siberia, to become part of the collection of the local aviation museum. Lamanov, the first officer on the accident flight, was at the controls as pilot in command, and was met on arrival on the ground by captain Novosyolov.
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Air crash
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Risk for Carbon Monoxide Poisoning Increases in Winter
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Each year, carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning is responsible for more than 50,000 emergency department visits, resulting in more than 400 deaths according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Americans ages 65 and older are among the highest fatalities. In Utah, there were 176 emergency department visits and four deaths reported in 2018 for CO poisoning. As winter approaches, the risk for CO poisoning increases. The agencies noted in this press release are collaborating to remind Utahns about the symptoms of CO poisoning and provide tips to prevent it.
What is CO?
CO is an odorless, invisible gas produced when gasoline, natural gas, propane, kerosene, and other fuels are not completely burned during use. Automobile exhaust is the most common source of CO, but small gas engines, camp lanterns and stoves, charcoal grills, gas ranges, and furnaces also produce it. When appliances and furnaces are improperly adjusted and used in poorly ventilated areas, dangerous amounts of CO can build up in the blood, replacingoxygen, and may cause asphyxiation.
Recognizing CO Poisoning Symptoms
Although everyone is susceptible to CO poisoning, unborn babies, infants, the elderly, and people with respiratory problems are particularly at risk. Because CO is invisible and odorless, it is important to know the symptoms of CO poisoning and to immediately seek medical help if those symptoms occur.
The most common symptoms include:
If the presence of CO is suspected based on these symptoms, evacuate all persons from the structure and call the Utah Poison Control Center (UPCC) at 1-800-222-1222 or 911.
CO Prevention
People can avoid CO poisoning through simple prevention measures and common sense. For example, most fire-related CO poisoning can be prevented by the proper installation and maintenance of smoke detectors. Here are some other tips for preventing CO poisoning:
Knowledge is the key to preventing carbon monoxide poisoning. Anyone who thinks they have had CO poisoning should call the UPCC at the above number or call 911.
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Mass Poisoning
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Protests against Executive Order 13769
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In January and February 2017, during protests against Executive Order 13769, thousands of people gathered at various airports in the United States and around the world to prevent the returning of refugees and other visitors from seven countries considered unsafe. [1] According to various sources, more than two thousand people were at the protest at John F. Kennedy International Airport in Queens, New York City[2][3] with other protests appearing at significant international airports and other important sites around the United States. Protests continued daily and internationally through February 6. [4][5][6][7] Protests also continued after a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order against parts of the travel ban. [8]
On January 27, President Trump signed an executive order which created a suspension of admissions of all refugees entering the United States for 120 days and an indefinite block for Syrian refugees. [9] The order also blocked citizens from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen from entering the U.S. for 90 days. [9] Green card holders from these countries were also affected. [10]
Approximately 27 air passengers coming into airports around the United States were either detained or sent home on January 28. [10] By January 29, an estimated 375 travelers had been affected by the order. [11] Two Iraqi detainees were released from the JFK airport, and as of 6 p.m. (local) 11 remained. [10] On January 29, there were still two detainees left inside the airport. [12] One was Hameed Jhalid Darweesh, an Iraqi interpreter for the United States Army. [13] Darweesh was held for twelve hours without being allowed to see his lawyers. [14] Two elderly and disabled Iranian citizens with green cards were detained for hours at Washington Dulles International Airport. [15] President Trump told the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) that Christian refugees will be given priority in terms of refugee status in the United States. [16]
The first protest started at New York City's John F. Kennedy International Airport. [17] Protests quickly started at other airports nationwide, including Chicago's O'Hare International Airport,[18] Los Angeles International Airport (LAX),[19] San Francisco International Airport,[18][20] Seattle's SeaTac Airport,[21] and in airports in Indianapolis, Boston, Denver, Albuquerque,[22] Hartford,[23][24] Newark,[25] Albany, New York,[26] and San Diego. [27] Also planned were Atlanta, Houston, Las Vegas,[28] Orlando, Greenville and Philadelphia. [25]
Protesters were mobilized mainly through the use of social media. [29]
Protests and walkouts continued in February. On February 2, thousands of Comcast employees in Portland, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia and Sunnyvale walked off the job in protest of the executive order. [30]
A later series of protests occurred in Europe and Asia on February 4. [31]
The protest started January 28, with a small group[17] of around thirty people[32] sometime near 11 a.m. EST. [33] Protesters gathered in front of Terminal 4, where international arrivals take place. [13] As advocacy groups, such as the New York Immigration Coalition, called out to protesters on social media, the crowd grew. [28] The protesters were gathered to denounce Trump's executive order and to show support for refugees and immigrants. [34] The demonstration grew large enough by sunset that it spread into the parking deck near the terminal. [17] Demonstrators brought signs, chanted slogans and called the action a "Muslim ban". [28] The protesters marched from terminal to terminal. [35] Throughout the day, state representatives, Nydia Velázquez and Jerry Nadler were present to help constituents affected by the ban. [32]
A companion protest sprang up on Staten Island in the evening, taking place in Port Richmond. [36] Another protest took place at Battery Park on Sunday. Chelsea Clinton was one of the protesters at that location. [37] There were several thousand protesters at Battery Park. [38] Protests continued at the JFK airport on Sunday as well. [32]
Other groups involved in the protest included Make the Road New York, Jews for Racial and Economic Justice (JFREJ), Black Latino Asian Caucus members. [39] The Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS) was also involved in the protests, having expressed anger that the executive order, which would have harmed the prospects of Muslim refugees, was signed on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, and groups of Jews broke Sabbath to join the protests. [40][41] From 6 to 7 p.m., taxi drivers of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance (NYTWA) stopped picking up passengers at the JFK airport in protest of those detained. [42][43] The taxi boycott resulted in increase Uber pricing as a result of its dynamic pricing model. [44] In the evening, the police were turning away anyone without airplane tickets from using the AirTrain. [17] After 8 p.m., Governor Andrew Cuomo asked that people be allowed to board the Air Train once again. [17]
Late in the evening on January 28, Ann Donnelly, a Federal District court judge in Brooklyn for the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York,[9] blocked part of the executive order, "providing immediate relief to dozens stranded at airports around the country. "[45] In the U.S. District Courts in Seattle and Virginia, similar rulings were made. [45] This emergency stay will allow affected individuals with valid visas to stay in the US. [46] However, lawyers from the American Civil Liberties Union and Zachary Manfredi from Yale's Worker and Immigrant Rights Advocacy Clinic caution that individuals detained at the airports could still be transferred to different detention facilities. [46] Reports coming from midnight, January 28, indicated that Legal Aid lawyers were still not given access to clients being held inside of JFK. [35] In Brooklyn, demonstrators waited outside the Federal District court as the case was being decided. [9] Additionally, two Iraqi men who had been detained have filed lawsuits on January 28 against both Trump and the United States government over the issue. [39][a]
President Donald Trump was quoted as saying that his executive order's ban is "working out very nicely.
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Protest_Online Condemnation
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Hotel Caledonien fire
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The serious Hotel Caledonien fire took place at the 12-story Hotel Caledonien in Kristiansand, Norway, on September 5, 1986. The fire alarm was received at 04:40 in the morning. There were 14 fatalities, and more than 100 people were rescued. [1] Rescue operations included a helicopter lifting persons off the roof and off upper story windows stories. This Norway-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
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Fire
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Drvar uprising
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The Drvar uprising (Serbian: Устанак у Дрвару) was the World War II uprising of the Serb population of Bosnian Krajina (modern-day Bosnia and Herzegovina). Italy supported it, both politically and in arms, in its struggle against the fascist puppet state of the Independent State of Croatia between 27 July and 26 September 1941. The genocidal activities of the Independent State of Croatia forced the Serb population to organize an uprising. It had no ideological background and was simply a struggle for physical survival, with rebels considering themselves guerilla. Italy used the uprising to create an opening to establish its influence beyond the zones of Croatia it already occupied per formal agreements. A group of Serb nationalist rebels first attacked Croatian military units on 26 July 1941 in Pasjak near Drvar. This attack and subsequent conflicts later that day sped up the mass uprising of Serbs from the region of Bosnian Krajina and Lika. The uprising started with the attack of four rebel detachments on the Drvar garrison of the Croatian army, which consisted of 400 Ustaše and Home Guard soldiers, early on 27 July. The rebels captured Drvar that afternoon, along with nearby Oštrelj and Bosansko Grahovo. The uprising had an immediate influence on other regions of Bosnian Krajina and the nearby region of Lika. When Serbs from Lika were informed about the uprising in Drvar, they decided to start the Srb uprising on the same day. On the first day of uprising, the Serb rebels from Bosnian Krajina and Lika managed to seize control over territory 270 kilometres (170 mi) long and 45 kilometres (28 mi) wide. The communists gradually forged their Partisan republic, and on 30 July, they established the Military-Revolutionary Council, which became the supreme governing institution for the entire region. During the next two months, rebels managed to capture additional territory including Mrkonjić Grad, Kulen Vakuf and many other Western Bosnian towns. Several retaliatory massacres of Muslim and Croatian war prisoners and civilians were committed by rebels, including the Trubar massacre, Bosansko Grahovo massacre, Krnjeuša massacre and Kulen Vakuf massacre. The number of victims is estimated to be between 1,000 to over 3,000 people. Based on agreement with non-communist rebel leaders, the Second Italian Army peacefully took control over the region and temporarily shielded local Serbs from the Independent State of Croatia on 26 September 1941. The communists were dissatisfied and continued armed attacks, primarily against other non-communist rebels. To fight against Chetniks who gained substantial support of the local population, the communists established two Anti-Chetnik Battalions in March and April 1942 and reestablished their control over the region of Drvar at the beginning of July 1942. The Independent State of Croatia (NDH) was founded on 10 April 1941 during the invasion of Yugoslavia by the Axis powers. The NDH consisted of most of modern-day Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, together with some parts of modern-day Serbia. It was essentially an Italo-German quasi-protectorate, as it owed its existence to the Axis powers, who maintained occupation forces within the puppet state throughout its existence. [1]
According to the Treaties of Rome between Benito Mussolini and Ante Pavelić, Italy annexed Zone I, and Zone II was demilitarized. [2] After that, Italy pulled out the bulk of its army from Zones II and III. [3]
In the weeks following the invasion, the Communist Party of Yugoslavia (Serbo-Croatian Latin: Komunistička partija Jugoslavije, KPJ) managed to tie up its cells. Some members of the KPJ and the Union of Communist Youth of Yugoslavia (Serbo-Croatian Latin: Savez komunističke omladine Jugoslavije, SKOJ) were returnees from the defeated Royal Yugoslav Army, including Zdravko Čelar, Slavko Rodić, and Rajko Bosnić. There were also students like Ilija Došen, and workers and refugees from Hungarian-occupied Bačka, including Milutin and Pero Morača. [4] KPJ committees in Drvar and Bosansko Grahovo succeeded in obtaining rifles, light machine guns, and ammunition belonging to the surrendered Royal Yugoslav Army, and hid them from German, Italian and later Ustashe searches. [5] Independent of the efforts of the KPJ, local peasants also hid arms. [6]
During late April and early May, Ustashe couldn't easily consolidate their rule in an area with a predominantly Serbian population. They were only able to achieve that with Italian support and a Ustashe squad brought in from Herzegovina. [5] Italian units left Drvar area in the beginning of June. [5]
After the NDH consolidated its rule in Drvar at the end of May 1941, Ustaše imprisoned many Serbian men from Drvar and began with preparation to imprison and indiscriminately kill all Serbs from Drvar. [7][non-primary source needed]
Through June, communists across Bosanska Krajina continued to prepare for an uprising. Ljubo Babić was chosen to be the head of the military committee for Drvar, and Ilija Došen was chosen for Bosanski Petrovac. [8] Axis invasion of the Soviet Union encouraged locals to accelerate preparations. [9] Ustashe authority anticipated rebellion, so reinforcements were brought to the area. The Party advised Drvar workers who were in danger of being arrested to leave Drvar and hide in nearby villages. [10] On 17 July, communists set up the Headquarters of Guerilla Detachments for Bosanski Petrovac with Zdravko Čelar in command, Vaso Kelečević as his deputy and Ilija Došen as the political commissar. [11] The following day, the Headquarters for Drvar was established, with Babić as commander and Milutin Morača as his deputy. [11] Between 20–26 July, the first detachment of fifty men was formed in the village of Kamenica (commander Jole Marić, political commissar Nikola Kotla). In the following days, new detachments were formed in the villages of Javorje (commander Mile Kecman, deputy Slavko Rodić) and Crvljivci (commander Vlado Morača). [12] In Bosansko Grahovo, a detachment was formed, with Simo Bajić as commander. In the village of Trubar, a detachment was formed, with Nikola Rodić as commander and Pero Boltić as commissar. [12] There were also smaller detachments. [12]
The Ustaše genocidal policy resulted in a mass uprising of Serbs which began on 27 July 1941 in Bosnian Krajina (Western Bosnia) and Lika simultaneously. [citation needed]
The uprising in Drvar was inspired by Orthodox priest Ilija Rodić, worker Ilija Desnica and teacher Uroš Drenović. [13][non-primary source needed] Since 22 June 1941, more than 2 months after Axis invasion of Yugoslavia, the communists also planned to organize an uprising in Bosnian Krajina on 1 August 1941. [14][non-primary source needed] Notably, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Croatia pushed for rebellion only after the uprising was in its advanced stages in an attempt to shape the character of the uprising into one that pushed for communist ideals rather than mere survival. [15][attribution needed]
Initially, the Serbian uprising had no ideological background because it was a struggle for physical survival.
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Protest_Online Condemnation
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Not workingSpain has a two-speed economy with high unemployment
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This is an audio transcript of the FT News Briefing podcast episode: Evergrande’s troubles loom over global markets Marc FilippinoGood morning from the Financial Times. Today is Tuesday, September 21st, and this is your FT News Briefing. [MUSIC PLAYING] The financial crisis at Chinese property developer Evergrande has investors super worried. We’ll take a look at whether the impending collapse will stay contained. Plus, we’ll hear how foreign investors are propping up the US treasury market, why Royal Dutch Shell is selling off a big chunk of its fossil fuel business and how Coinbase has caved into pressure from US securities regulators. I’m Marc Filippino, and here’s the news you need to start your day. [MUSIC PLAYING] Global stock markets appear to be really nervous about the Chinese property developer Evergrande. Yesterday, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq were both down around two per cent. Things weren’t much better in Europe. Now, Evergrande is the world’s most indebted property developer, and all that debt is coming home to roost. Investors are increasingly nervous that the company will default and trigger a domino effect through global financial markets. Here’s the FT’s Katie Martin. Katie MartinYou can line it up against the scale of all the crises that have been globally important and systemic to the entire financial ecosystem. You can compare it to things like Lehman Brothers. You can compare it to things like the Greek crisis. You can compare it to the subprime crisis in the States. But what was different about those crises is that they had little links, little roots into the global banking system. And that’s what means that a crisis that happens in one place can have a really severe impact somewhere else. And in this case, the bet up to now has been that’s not going to happen in the case of Evergrande, and chances are that’s still the right analysis, that the chances are the right analysis is still the central bank in China, the People’s Bank of China, will step in to (inaudible) take further actions to dull the impact of this horrible unravelling of Evergrande on the rest of the Chinese economy, on the rest of the Chinese property sector. Marc FilippinoKatie, are there other ways an Evergrande default or any crisis in China’s property market, really, could affect global markets? Katie MartinSo, for example, the Chinese property sector is an enormous consumer of commodities, and so if there is a really severe pullback in the entire Chinese property sector, that means there’s going to be less demand for things like steel and copper. Could this affect miners elsewhere? Could this affect bunch of different companies elsewhere? That’s what’s starting to eat into the rest of the system. The big question is, is this the start of something really huge and horrible or is this still a crisis that is contained within China? You know, this is probably just a bit of an opportunity for a pause. It’s a loss of momentum. It’s a pullback. It’s not, you know, a full-blown crisis. It’s not sort of thing that we saw in March 2020. So if there is a way for this for Evergrande to take down a big international bank, I’m yet to hear it. Marc FilippinoKatie Martin is the FT’s markets editor. [MUSIC PLAYING] Investors are also keeping an eye on the Federal Reserve. This week, top officials at the US central bank will meet, and investors are looking for clues about when they’ll start tapering the pandemic bond purchasing programme. The move could drag down government bond prices given the loss of demand. But the FT’s Kate Duguid reports there’s a big demand for US treasuries coming from elsewhere. Kate Duguid So we’re seeing evidence that a lot of this demand is coming from China and Japan. Both of those countries are already the two biggest holders, overseas holders of US debt, but demand has been ramping up. Marc Filippino Yeah, why is that? Kate DuguidSo the first thing is that the US Treasury market is the safest and the most liquid market in the world. So there’s always, you know, a large amount of demand for US debt. But it’s also the case that the yields on US debt is higher at the moment. And so we’ve seen demand from all over the world, but in particular from from China and Japan, who always have a certain amount of demand for US debt increasing in order to maximise their returns on the safest possible debt. It’s also the case that expectations for growth in the US are slightly higher than in some other G10 countries. And so higher economic expectations also drives yields on government debt higher. And so there’s also demand from foreign investors for that reason. Marc Filippino So what does this mean for bond markets, Kate, if Treasury prices and yields stay steady? Kate DuguidWhat it could mean in the longer term is that when the Fed begins to wind down its pandemic era monetary policy, that this demand might prove a counterbalance. So typically, when the Fed withdraws its support, yields would rise. Right, that there’s a huge amount of supply, that the Fed isn’t buying as many assets. And so a lot of assets are available to normal investors and that would typically drive prices lower and yields higher. But given that demand is so strong, we might not see those effects. It might be the case that yields continue to stay low, prices continue to stay high. It also means that the returns on US government debt are going to stay somewhat limited. Marc FilippinoKate Duguid is the FT’s US capital markets correspondent. [MUSIC PLAYING] Royal Dutch Shell is making another move as part of its shift away from fossil fuels. Yesterday, Shell agreed to sell its business in a US oil drilling region known as the Permian Basin. Rival ConocoPhillips will buy the operations for nine and a half billion dollars in cash. The area is in west Texas and southeastern New Mexico, and it’s the biggest oilfield in the US. In May a court in the Netherlands ordered Shell to slash its net carbon pollution. Shell said $7bn from the sale will go to shareholders and the rest will be used to pay down debt. [MUSIC PLAYING] Financial regulators around the world are grappling with cryptocurrency companies. The top US regulator, the Securities and Exchange Commission, has taken a tough stance and in one case threatened to sue the country’s largest cryptocurrency exchange called Coinbase if Coinbase went ahead with plans to launch a lending product. Regulators considered it an unregistered security. Now Coinbase has backed down. The FT’s Hannah Murphy calls the move more of a symbolic loss for Coinbase. Hannah MurphyIt sounds like they first went to the SEC and then the SEC said, no, we don’t want you to do this. At that point, they decided to press ahead anyway. And then it was later that the SEC said, you know, we will sue you if you do keep on pressing ahead. So it sounds like they did have sort of not one but two warnings and eventually they will have consulted with lawyers, one imagines, and decided the best way forward is just to step back. There’s one other aspect to this, which is that state regulators are pursuing some of their peers in the crypto space. So on Friday Celsius, which also offers crypto lending sort of interest-bearing products, was ordered to stop by the state of New Jersey, stop ordering those products, and BlockFi, another lending platform also has similar actions being pursued by the three states. So that does seem to be a sort of regulatory momentum around these particular lending products. Marc FilippinoSo, Hannah, what does Coinbase’s decision mean for other cryptocurrency companies? Hannah Murphy So I think this will be concerning to other crypto lenders or cryptocurrency exchanges, which also offer these lending products. It may send a bit of a chill round the industry. Those who offer existing products or planning to offer existing products will have to reassess, you know, do we continue to do this? What are the next steps that we should take? It’s important to remember that the SEC didn’t say you can’t do this at all. The SEC told Coinbase, you know, if you were going to do this, you would have to register with us. Now, that involves sort of extra disclosures, a lot of paperwork, more bureaucracy. So one can understand why particularly smaller, more innovative players in the space don’t necessarily want to do that, but that’s still an option for Coinbase. Marc FilippinoThat’s the FT’s tech correspondent Hannah Murphy. [MUSIC PLAYING] And before we go, a toast to the beer industry going green (sound of beer can opening). And it’s an interesting alliance. Russia’s aluminium group, Rusal, is teaming up with the US beer behemoth Budweiser to produce ultra-low carbon beer cans. Rusal will provide Bud with five million cans made from aluminium that eliminates carbon dioxide from the smelting process. The cans will be filled in two breweries in the UK that are powered by renewable electricity. It’s only a tiny fraction of all the beer cans that are made. But a top official with Rusal’s parent company called it the first commercial roll out of a near-zero carbon aluminium that’s been done at scale.
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Financial Crisis
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2001 Bradford riots
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The Bradford Riots were a brief period of violent rioting which began on 7 July 2001, in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. They occurred as a result of heightened tension between the large and growing British Asian communities and the city's white majority, escalated by confrontation between the Anti-Nazi League and far right groups such as the British National Party and the National Front.
Similar ethnic riots had occurred earlier in other parts of Northern England, such as Oldham in May and Burnley in June.
Bradford is historically a working class city. Since its rapid growth in the 19th century, there have been several significant waves of immigration, notably Irish (19th century), Poles (1940s–50s) and South Asian people since the 1950s. At the time of the riot, Bradford had the second largest population of South Asians of any UK city, with approximately 68,000 Pakistanis, 12,500 Indians, 5,000 Bangladeshis and 3,000 other Asians. However, the majority of people in the city were white (Ethnicity: 78.3% White, and 19.1% S.Asian according to the 2001 census).
While the South Asian population in Bradford had grown, and there were areas which were still predominantly white and other areas which were predominantly South Asian, it is disputed whether segregation had grown over time, whether the phenomenon of white flight applies to Bradford, and whether one can accurately talk of ghettos in Bradford. At the time of the riot, Bradford Moor was 67% South Asian, Toller was 64% South Asian. [7] Of the 17,512 people of Manningham 13,049 (74.5%) were South Asian. Tong was 93 percent white,[9] and Wibsey was 91 percent white.
On 22–24 June, there were riots in Burnley; two months previously, there had been riots in Oldham. Tensions rose after the National Front attempted to organise a march in the city which was banned by Home Secretary David Blunkett under the Public Order Act 1986. The Anti Nazi League organised a rally in Centenary Square in the centre of the city, which was allowed to proceed. During the course of the rally, held on Saturday 7 July, a rumour was spread by some of the marchers that National Front sympathisers were gathering at a pub in the centre of Bradford. A confrontation then occurred outside the pub in the city centre during which an Asian man was stabbed. According to the appeal court, this incident almost certainly triggered the riot. However, subsequent research amongst eyewitnesses contests this view with no single event being identifiable as a flashpoint.
The riot was estimated to have involved 1,000 youths. On the nights of 8 and 9 July 2001, groups of between thirty and a hundred white youths attacked police and Asian-owned businesses, in the Ravenscliffe and Holmewood areas. Initially there were 500 police being involved, but later reinforcements increased this to almost 1,000. [ What began as a riot turned into an ethnic-related disturbance, with targeting of businesses and cars, along with numerous attacks on shops and property. A notable point of the rioting was the firebombing of Manningham Labour Club, at the time a recreational centre. A 48-year-old Asian businessman was jailed for 12 years for the arson attack. The club reopened in the spring of 2006 on a different site, approximately one and a half miles away, on Bullroyd Lane, Four Lane Ends (The original site has now been redeveloped into a health and community centre and chemist). The most expensive act of the riot was the arson attack of a BMW dealership, which had previously been attacked in a 1995 disturbance.
More than 300 police officers were hurt during the riot. There were 297 arrests in total; 187 people were charged with the offence of riot, 45 with violent disorder and 200 jail sentences totalling 604 years were handed down. The last rioter was sentenced six-and-a-half years after the events. The number of convictions for riot was unprecedented in English legal history; the next highest amount was five for an investigation in London. The estimated damage was put at £7 million. The heaviest sentence handed out in connection with the riots was that of the aforementioned Mohammed Ilyas, a 48-year-old local businessman, who was found guilty of arson and being reckless as to whether life was endangered. He was sentenced to 12 years in prison on 3 July 2003.
The Ouseley Report released 7 March 2005 recommended a "people's programme" to bring harmony to the city. The government subsequently commissioned the Cantle report which made 67 recommendations. In 2006 Channel 4 produced a non-fictional drama, Bradford Riots, directed by Neil Biswas. The film tells the story of 2001 riots from the perspective of an Asian family.
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Riot
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Helwan riots (1945)
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The Helwan riots were protests by South African soldiers in Helwan, Egypt over their housing conditions and treatment while being repatriated at the conclusion of the Second World War. Property damage in the range of millions of Pounds sterling was caused to local businesses, but after placating the unhappy soldiers, they were repatriated to South Africa. By the beginning of April 1945, it had become obvious that the war was coming to a close and that the 6th South African Armoured Division as well as many other South African troops serving as divisional, corps and army troops would require transportation back to South Africa for demobilisation. On 1 May, the Union Defence Force realised that no plans had yet been made to get all men back and instructions were prepared, whereby No. 1 and 5 Wings of the South African Air Force (SAAF) were to be merged to form No. 4 Group. This Group was to be used in an Intensified Transport Service/Shuttle Service to move 5,000 troops per month by air commencing 1 July 1945. A further 15,000 men were to be transported home by sea during the second half of the year, resulting in the repatriation of 45,000 soldiers by the end of the year. In addition to the 6th South African Armoured Division and other troops in Italy, there were thousands of recently released South African prisoners of war who had been held in Italy. These men were from the 2nd South African Infantry Division and had been captured at the Sidi Rezegh and Tobruk battles in the western desert. Their numbers had not been factored into the demobilisation plans. [2]
The staging depot at Helwan north of Cairo was soon overcrowded and by 20 August 1945, the depot, designed to hold 5,000 men was holding 9,000. An official announcement on 9 August stated that 3,000 to 5,000 men were expected to be repatriated by sea at the end of the month, but less than a week later it was announced that the expected shipping had been delayed, and that further announcements would be made later. Food was in short supply and the lack of adequate numbers of chefs caused extended queues and delays at meal times. The standard of discipline deteriorated further as the men arriving at the depot were split up alphabetically by surname, and then according to their demobilisation categories (A, B, C, etc., based on their initial date of volunteering for service abroad). This meant that men were grouped together with fellow soldiers and NCOs whom they did not know and unit structures were lost. Morale declined even further when it was decided that 500 volunteers would go home as a top priority to assist in the demobilisation process back in South Africa, their return home irrespective of their demobilisation category. In addition, all trading rights except those of the NAAFI were controlled by Egyptians; the men felt that they were being exploited by inflated prices charged by these traders. There was also unhappiness over the two cinemas, when men who had bought tickets frequently found that they were unable to get in due to lack of space. [2]
A protest meeting was held on 20 August where a crowd of 1,500 men were addressed by various individuals. As the size of the crowd increased, the meeting became violent. The usually disciplined soldiers became a mob bent on trashing, looting and burning and their first objectives were the two Egyptian owned cinemas which were set alight. The mob then split up and further Egyptian premises, blocks of shops, motor cars, bungalows and book stalls were set alight. They also set fire to one of their own messes and broke down and looted the NAAFI store.
Major General Evered Poole of the 6th Armoured Division, flew in from Italy to address the troops, promising that immediate steps were to be taken to speed up the rate of repatriation. To tighten up on discipline and improve morale at Helwan, the housing of troops on a unit basis was instituted and a brigadier was appointed to command the depot. A public address system was installed to keep everybody in camp up to date on the latest news and free outdoor film-shows were implemented. On 26 August, the Director General Officer - Administration (DGQ-A Italy & Egypt), appointed a court of enquiry to investigate; their report detailed the frustration and despondency related to overcrowding which had been one major contributing factor, as had the failure of the airlift to repatriate the published number of troops per day. The first official statements on 24 and 31 May declared that the repatriation rate by air would be 500 a day. From 1 July, this figure was amended to 300 a day. The average daily number of men repatriated during the first twenty days of July was only 108. The court assessed the total cost of the damage at £22,768,431. By 25 January 1946, 101,676 men had been ferried back to South Africa. The last aircraft left Egypt on 26 February 1946 included Major General Poole; it arrived in Durban on 2 March 1946.
There were reports that the South African Government suppressed the news of these events and that they were prohibited from being published in local press reports.
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Riot
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2012 Sudan Antonov An-26 crash
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On 19 August 2012, an Antonov An-26 airplane of Alfa Airlines crashed near the town of Talodi, Sudan, killing all 32 occupants on board. The aircraft was carrying a Sudanese government delegation, and among the victims were members of the Sudanese government, several high-ranking members of the Sudanese Armed Forces and other officials, and a television crew. The aircraft had taken off from Khartoum International Airport at around 6:02 a.m. local time. [1] Approximately at 8 a.m.,[2] the plane crashed into the Hajar Al-Nar Mountain[3] of the Nuba Mountain range near Talodi, a small town about 600 km (370 mi) southwest of Khartoum. [4] A television statement said that the weather had prevented the aircraft from landing on its first attempt, and on its second attempt, the plane crashed into a mountain. [4] Talodi airfield features a single paved, unmarked runway of 1800 m (5900 ft) length. [5]
Although some early media reports mistakenly announced the crash as a helicopter crash,[6][7][8] the aircraft involved was a twin turboprop Antonov An-26-100, registration ST-ARL,[5][9] chartered by the Sudanese Government and operated by the Sudanese private air carrier Alfa Airlines (ICAO code AAJ). [2]
The aircraft was built in 1974 at the Ukrainian "Aviant" aircraft plant in the Soviet Union. [9] It flew on Soviet and Russian regional routes until July 1998. [9] It was sold to an Armenian air carrier, and then to Trans Attico, Air Libya, Ababeel Aviation, and other air companies in Africa. [9] It was acquired by Alfa Airlines in July 2009 and was modified from Antonov An-26 to Antonov An-26-100 standard at Kiev Aircraft Repair Plant 410 in Ukraine in 2010. [9]
There have been several deadly plane crashes in Sudan in recent years. [4] All Sudanese airlines, including Alfa Airlines, are banned for safety reasons from flying in European airspace. [10] The Sudanese authorities complain that it is difficult to get spare parts because of sanctions the United States has imposed against Khartoum. [4] This crash was the first accident in the history of Alfa Airlines, which was founded only in 2009. [11]
The chartered plane was carrying a Sudanese government delegation, from the capital of the country, Khartoum, to the town of Talodi in South Kordofan, a war-torn state with ongoing fighting between Sudan's army and rebel groups,[12] for an Eid al-Fitr celebration, to mark the end of the holy month of Ramadan. [4]
Among the victims were Guidance and Religious Endowments Minister Ghazi al-Sadiq Abdel Rahim. [13]
The aircraft, with a crew of six, was flown by a senior Russian captain,[14] assisted by a Sudanese first officer, a 43-year-old navigator from Tajikistan and a 42-year-old Armenian flight engineer. [5][15]
An official with Sudan's Civil Aviation Authority said that bad weather was responsible for the crash. [6] The official news agency of Sudan, SUNA, also said the crash happened "due to the bad weather conditions". [3] Minister of Information Ahmed Bilal Osman also added that the plane was attempting to land in bad weather conditions in Talodi, as seasonal heavy rains left the pilots with "zero visibility,"[16] when it crashed into a mountain. [17]
Rebel spokesman Arnu Ngutulu Lodi denied that his rebel forces were involved with the crash, which happened outside of rebel territory. [18]
Two days after the crash, on 21 August, Sudan Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) chief Mohammad Abdul-Aziz tendered his resignation to the President of Sudan Omar al-Bashir. [19] However, President Bashir rejected his resignation, urging the chief to continue a newly approved program of reforms to the development and supervision of the CAA. [20]
On 24 August, the local government reported the flight recorders have been found and recovered from the crash site. [5]
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Air crash
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2010 Colombo floods
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The 2010 Colombo floods were an isolated incident that took place between 10 November and 11 November 2010 in Colombo, Sri Lanka. As a low-pressure area developed over the city, up to 490 mm (19.3 in)[1][2] of rain fell during the short period of 15 hours overnight, causing widespread damage and flooding in the area; the highest amount of rainfall in 18 years. [3] A joint Government-UN assessment was launched on the 13th to understand the level of damage in the affected areas. [4]
According to the Disaster Management Centre, the heavy rains displaced over 260,000 people in Colombo and suburbs. [3] Heavy rains also submerged the parliament under 4 ft (122 cm) of water,[1][5][6] and damaged 257 houses, while completely destroying 11. [7] Current death toll stands at 1. [8]
The Ministry of Education have also requested all schools to be closed during the period.,[8] while the Ministry of Labour Relations entitled paid-leave for government employees. [1]
Multiple grid substations were also shut down by the Ceylon Electricity Board in various locations in Colombo, due to the risk of being submerged. Leading to power outages in multiple areas. [1][8]
The government deployed Air Force Bell 212 helicopters to assist in aerial assessments and missions to rescue stranded people. [9] 1,800 Sri Lankan Army troops were deployed to relief flood victims on the ground, while the Navy deployed trawlers to provide food and transportation in the affected areas. The DMC also disbursed Rs.20 million (≈180,000 USD) to relief efforts. [7]
The Sri Lanka navy and army also made public appeals asking flood victims to contact them for relief assistance. Television and radio stations repeatedly broadcast their contact numbers. [1]
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Floods
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The 20 biggest celebrity divorces that defined the decade
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It’s been a whirlwind decade for high-profile celebrity divorces, with Hollywood’s elite golden couples breaking the hearts of millions upon going their separate ways. In some cases, these celebrities’ dissolving marriages created buzz (and protracted court battles) that lasted longer than their unions and served up plenty of fodder for gossip blogs and mags. They also generated their own pop-culture lexicon, with terms such as “conscious uncoupling,” TomKat and Bennifer entering and exiting the vernacular — and the all-too-familiar “irreconcilable differences” popping up in nearly every divorce petition. Although far from all-inclusive, our list includes the major celebrity divorces that defined the decade and kept news outlets’ entertainment ink flowing. It’s organized by the date the erstwhile couple announced their split, separation or intention to divorce. Before he became Deadpool and she embodied Black Widow, this super pair was married for just over two years. They announced their split in 2010 after rumors they’d grown apart. Their joint statement even bore some of Reynolds’ signature wit: “While privacy isn’t expected, it’s certainly appreciated.”
How they’ve moved on: They both remarried with kids, and Johansson divorced again (baby daddy Romain Dauriac in 2014). Reynolds married actress Blake Lively, with whom he costarred in 2011’s “Green Lantern,” and they have three daughters. Johansson is engaged to “Saturday Night Live’s” Colin Jost. Coming off her triumphant Oscar win, Bullock learned that her reality-star husband of five years had cheated on her with multiple women. She stayed essentially admirably silent during the scandal and filed for a Don’t Mess With Texas-style divorce that was finalized in only 60 days. How they’ve moved on: James got engaged to tattoo artist Kat Von D, but they called off the wedding, and he’s since married his fourth wife; Bullock has adopted a son and a daughter, was nominated for a second Oscar and is in a relationship with photographer Bryan Randall. On the weekend of their sixth anniversary, Moore premiered a new movie in New York and Kutcher, her 15-years-younger husband, cheated on her in San Diego. Moore announced the next month that they were divorcing. The split was finalized in late 2013, with him paying her a bit more than was legally required. How they’ve moved on: Kutcher married his “That ’70s Show” costar Mila Kunis in 2015 and now has two kids. In September, Moore, who released a buzzed-about memoir this year, told WSJ Magazine, “I’m focusing on my relationship with myself.”
The Latin-pop power couple married in 2004 and reportedly clashed over personal and professional issues before announcing their split in 2011. However, they’ve remained amicable in the public eye as they co-parent twins Max and Emme. How they’ve moved on: Their divorce wasn’t finalized until 2014, which gave both stars ample time to begin other significant relationships. Anthony married model Shannon de Lima in 2014 and divorced her in 2017. The “Hustlers” star dated former backup dancer Casper Smart on and off and is now engaged to baseball legend Alex Rodriguez. Kardashian’s marriage to NBA player Humphries, her second partnership, came and went in 2011, lasting only 72 days. Humphries accused Kardashian of fraud and wanted an annulment but ultimately agreed to a divorce. Finalized in 2013, the split took eight times as long as the union. How they’ve moved on: Well before her divorce was final, Kardashian announced she was pregnant with Kanye West’s child. They married in 2014 and have four kids. Humphries auctioned off Kardashian’s engagement ring in 2013 and announced his retirement from the NBA this year. Perry and Brand hit it off in September 2009 while rehearsing for the MTV Video Music Awards. They started dating and he popped the question that New Year’s Eve during a trip to India. A traditional Hindu wedding, also in India, came in October 2010, followed relatively swiftly by the couple’s reported realization that they had different priorities in life. So yeah, they clashed, and she was out on her California Dreams tour for almost all of 2011. Two years to the day after getting engaged, Brand texted Perry to say he was filing for divorce. How they’ve moved on: Brand declined to take any of the $44 million Perry had earned during their marriage, despite being entitled to half. In 2017, Brand married Laura Gallacher, whom he had dated on and off since 2007, and they have two daughters. Perry dated John Mayer and Diplo before meeting Orlando Bloom in 2016. They got engaged in February and said they would marry in December. Cruise and Holmes got engaged after dating for a whirlwind seven weeks in 2005, then welcomed daughter Suri and had a Scientologist wedding ceremony in Italy the next year. Five and a half years later, Holmes surprised him by filing for divorce. The couple, who had a prenup, had a signed settlement 11 days later. How they’ve moved on: Holmes, who has returned to the Catholic Church, has primary custody of Suri and was romantically linked to Jamie Foxx on and off for six years; since his third divorce, Cruise has released eight movies, with a “Top Gun” sequel set for 2020. After more than two decades of marriage, the “momager” and the 1976 Olympic gold medalist known as Bruce Jenner announced in late 2013 that they had been living apart for a year. Their union was over. The next year the terms of their split were set, and in early 2015 they were officially unmarried. How they moved on: Caitlyn Jenner announced her transition in April 2015, did two seasons of the docuseries “I Am Cait” and stayed part of “Keeping Up With the Kardashians” into 2017. Kris Jenner has been dating Corey Gamble, 25 years her junior, since meeting him at a 2014 party in Ibiza, Spain. The two dated for a month and were married for four years, then Kardashian filed to end her marriage to Odom after the former NBA star’s struggles with drugs and women got to be too much. But two years later, after he almost died at a Nevada brothel and was looking at a long rehabilitation, they retracted the divorce papers, which had been stuck awaiting a judge’s signature. The divorce was eventually finalized at the end of 2016. How they moved on: Kardashian had a daughter with basketball player Tristan Thompson in 2018 then broke up with him this year amid a cheating scandal involving half-sister Kylie Jenner’s former best friend. Odom, who had had a couple of relapses after his 2016 trip to rehab, got engaged in November to health and life coach Sabrina Parr after three months of dating. Paltrow and Martin’s split introduced the widely panned term “conscious uncoupling” to millions. The Oscar winner and Coldplay frontman announced their unorthodox split after more than 10 years of marriage on Paltrow’s website Goop in a very Goopy way: “We have always conducted our relationship privately, and we hope that as we consciously uncouple and co-parent, we will be able to continue in the same manner.”
How they’ve moved on: The two remain publicly amicable, even sibling-like, as they co-parent daughter Apple and son Moses. He’s since dated a bevy of stars, including actresses Jennifer Lawrence and Dakota Johnson, and she married “Glee” and “The Politician” showrunner Brad Falchuk in 2018. They of the repeated, over-the-top vow-renewal spectaculars went their separate ways in 2014. The Grammy-winning songstress and the former “America’s Got Talent” host wed in the Bahamas on April 30, 2008, weeks after they started dating. Exactly three years later, they welcomed “dem babies” — twins Moroccan and Monroe. How they’ve moved on: The Queen of Christmas is busy setting all kinds of Guinness World Records. She was also briefly engaged to billionaire James Packer. He seemingly hasn’t moved on too much, publicly professing his love for his ex-fiancee this year by saying that he’d only ever remarry his “dream girl” Carey. The picture-perfect “Daredevil” costars announced their split nearly 10 years after tying the knot. The actors, who are parents to daughters Violet and Seraphina and son Sam, had been separated long before a nanny scandal erupted and questions about Affleck’s sobriety surfaced. Garner has continued to help the “Justice League” actor through a few stints in rehab. They’ve remained amicable even when she infamously shaded him in a 2016 Vanity Fair interview, saying, “When his sun shines on you, you feel it. But when the sun is shining elsewhere, it’s cold. He can cast quite a shadow.”
How they’ve moved on: Garner keeps endearing the at-home cooks with her “Pretend Cooking Show” on Instagram and has been linked to businessman John Miller since 2018. Affleck has dated “Saturday Night Live” producer Lindsay Shookus on and off. It was the abrupt and unexpected divorce that shook the country-music community to its boots — and a Twitter-verse that had grown accustomed to the longtime couple, married for four years, playfully shutting down tabloid rumors about their relationship online. Many questioned if love was even real after this split and pointed fingers at a bevy of unsubstantiated cheating rumors. How they’ve moved on: Mama’s (and papa’s) broken heart didn’t last all that long. Shelton quickly began dating his “The Voice” costar Gwen Stefani, who was also going through a high-profile split, and is still dating her. Lambert secretly married NYPD Officer Brendan McLoughlin in early 2019. O’Donnell began dating executive-search consultant Rounds in mid-2011, and that December the talk-show host announced to her studio audience that they were engaged. The couple married in New York the following June, right before Rounds got surgery to remove gastrointestinal tumors, but separated in November 2014. O’Donnell filed for divorce, and it was settled by October 2015. After a court battle, the comic had full custody of the child they’d adopted together. How they’ve moved on: In late 2019, after a one-year engagement, O’Donnell split from Elizabeth Rooney, the Army veteran 23 years her junior whom she’d been quietly dating since 2017. Rounds married Krista Monteleone in late 2016 and had a child with her, then died by suicide in September 2017. Not long after Shelton and Lambert called it quits, this ’90s music power couple announced their breakup after nearly 13 years of marriage. The No Doubt frontwoman and the Bush rocker came to the mutual decision that although they would “no longer be partners in marriage, we remain partners in parenthood and are committed to jointly raising our three sons in a happy and healthy environment.”
How they’ve moved on: Stefani was quickly linked to her “The Voice” costar Shelton, who has stepped into the pseudo-stepdad role quite nicely. The two also released a few duets together, including “Nobody but You” earlier this month. Rossdale has been linked to model Natalie Golba. Just as Pitt and Jolie’s A-list pairing began with a bang on the set of 2005’s “Mr. & Mrs. Smith,” the union abruptly dissolved in the same manner. The longtime couple got engaged in 2012 and wed at their French chateau in 2014 — at the behest of their six children. But the union devolved, was dissected along with Jolie’s 2015 directorial effort “By the Sea” (that costarred the couple) and was capped by allegations of abuse in 2016. The decision to divorce was made “for the health of the family,” they said. How they’ve moved on: They really haven’t. Not completely anyway. When she filed for divorce in 2016, Jolie requested full physical and joint legal custody of their brood, which Pitt objected to. The mega celebrities have yet to finalize the complicated split despite saying they would do so privately. Depp and Heard were married for only 15 months when she filed for divorce in May 2016. Days later she got a temporary restraining order, alleging he’d physically abused her. The TRO expired and the couple reached an agreement in August, with Heard announcing she would donate her $7-million divorce settlement to two charities. Then she got upset when Depp sent it directly to the charities himself. Their divorce was official in January 2017. How they’ve moved on: Heard has dated several people since the split, including Elon Musk, the Tesla and SpaceX founder. Depp, 55, was reportedly dating Polina Glen, a 24-year-old Russian dancer he met last year, but she dumped him in November. He has also sued his ex-wife for defamation, seeking $50 million in damages. This one hurt all the goofballs and fans of “Take Me Home Tonight” out there. The “Mom” star and “Parks and Recreation” alum announced their separation in August 2017 after about eight years of marriage and settled their divorce in late 2018. They share a son, Jack. How they’ve moved on: Faris was linked to cinematographer Michael Barrett shortly after announcing her split and has repeatedly shared her reluctance to remarry. Pratt has continued his ascent into superstardom, headlining major franchises such as “Jurassic World,” “The Lego Movie” and Marvel’s “Guardians of the Galaxy” films. He officially joined the Kennedy dynasty last summer when he married Katherine Schwarzenegger, the daughter of Maria Shriver and Arnold Schwarzenegger. After 15 months of dating and a three-year engagement, Aniston and Theroux got hitched in August 2015 at a birthday party for him that turned out to be a surprise wedding. The marriage didn’t last as long as the engagement, but they said they were still “best friends” when they announced their split in December 2018. How they’ve moved on: They’ve remained good friends. The East Coast guy and the West Coast girl follow each other on Instagram. He was at her “Friendsgiving” party the day before Thanksgiving this year. And their individual dating lives, if they exist, haven’t been made public. It’s all good. Cyrus and Hemsworth started dating in 2008 when they costarred in the Nicholas Sparks movie “The Last Song,” then dated off and on until they got married in December 2018, just a month after the Malibu wildfire destroyed their home. The next August they split, announcing that they “still remain dedicated parents to all of their animals they share.” How they’ve moved on: Hemsworth has moved back to the Australian town where older brother Chris lives and has been spotted with several women. Cyrus had a fling with Kaitlynn Carter, Brody Jenner’s ex-wife, and is now coupled with singer Cody Simpson, another Aussie. The complete guide to home viewing
Get Screen Gab for weekly recommendations, analysis, interviews and irreverent discussion of the TV and streaming movies everyone’s talking about. You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times. Follow Us
Nardine Saad covers breaking entertainment news, trending culture topics, celebrities and their kin for the Los Angeles Times. She joined The Times in 2010 as a MetPro trainee and has reported from homicide scenes, flooded canyons, red carpet premieres and award shows. Follow Us
Christie D’Zurilla covers breaking entertainment news.
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Famous Person - Divorce
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OPP issue carbon monoxide safety reminders following death of Bayham woman
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Oxford County OPP are warning the public to beware of the dangers of carbon monoxide following the death of a 20-year-old Bayham woman on Monday.
The unidentified woman was found unresponsive inside a vehicle parked in the parking lot of a business on Charles Street West in Ingersoll, Ont., at roughly 7 a.m. Monday.
Read more: People hospitalized due to carbon monoxide leak at Calgary grocery market
The death is not being treated as suspicious and no foul play is suspected, police say.
Police tell Global News that the death is “attributed to carbon monoxide poisoning” and that “the OPP will not be identifying the deceased.”
The OPP and Office of the Chief Coroner have issued a warning about “the dangers of sitting inside a running vehicle for extended periods of time.”
Police say that in older vehicles, small leaks can develop in the exhaust system and potentially lead to a deadly build-up of carbon monoxide inside the vehicle.
In situations where someone is off the road in a winter storm, police recommend making periodic checks to make sure the tailpipe is free of snow. In vehicles older than five years, police suggest having a mechanic check the exhaust system annually.
Additionally, police say you should “never run your car or truck inside a garage that is attached to a house even with the garage door open.”
In detached garages, police say you should “always open the door” to let in fresh air when running a car or truck inside.
Read more: Texas mayor quits after saying ‘only the strong will survive’ snowstorm
The warning comes the same week that NBC News reported that two people were found dead from carbon monoxide poisoning in Texas after using their car for heat during a winter storm that’s left millions without power.
Carbon monoxide is a gas that has no taste, smell or colour and can lead to headaches, dizziness, drowsiness, nausea and death.
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Mass Poisoning
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Study: Tsunami from Cascadia mega-quake would submerge Puget Sound waterfront
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OLYMPIA, Wash. – A 9.0 magnitude subduction earthquake off the Washington coast would generate a tsunami capable of submerging not only coastal areas but also most of the Puget Sound shoreline with churning waves of seawater several feet high for up to 14 hours, says a newly released study. The study, by the state Department of Natural Resources' Washington Geological Survey division, found that it's only a matter of time before such a huge quake strikes the region. “Millions of people live along the Salish Sea, and knowing what to expect is critical to creating response plans so that we can be ready when - not if - an inevitable Cascadia mega-quake hits,” said Commissioner of Public Lands Hilary Franz. Tsunami waves would range from a high of about 13 feet at the Vashon Island ferry terminal and the town of Belfair at the tip of Hood Canal to a low of about 6 inches at the Port of Olympia, the study found. Elsewhere, waves would reach an estimated height of about 10 feet in the Port of Bellingham, 3.7 feet at Seattle's Harbor Island, about 5.7 feet at the Snohomish River delta, and about 3.5 feet at the Port of Tacoma. No part of the Puget Sound shoreline would be unaffected. Maps showing wave heights at specific locations can be found here >> The tsunami would first arrive as a trough, with sea levels gradually receding in all inner coastal waterway locations, then rapidly rising as torrents of seawater come roaring into Puget Sound from the Pacific Ocean. The first tsunami waves would reach Whidbey Island within one hour and 30 minutes after the earthquake, and strike more inland locations of Puget Sound some two to four hours after. The devastating effect could be worsened by local tsunamis triggered by earthquake-induced landslides, with local crustal faults potentially posing a larger threat for some communities. Wave activity is likely to inundate shorelines for about 14 hours, with strong currents remaining in inland waters for more than 24 hours, the study found. The last Cascadia subduction quake of that magnitude was 321 years ago, and experts estimate a 10% to 17% chance that Washington state will experience another in the next 50 years. The new DNR study was conducted to help develop preparation and response plans for those in the most heavily populated areas that a Cascadia earthquake and tsunami would affect. “It’s our duty to put the training and knowledge of our highly-trained geologists to work to make sure our communities can be prepared and safe," Franz said.
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Tsunamis
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CAAC Flight 3303 crash
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CAAC Flight 3303 was a domestic flight from the former Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport to Guilin Qifengling Airport in China operated by CAAC Airlines that crashed into a mountain on 26 April 1982, killing all 112 people aboard the Hawker Siddeley Trident. There were 104 passengers and 8 crew members on board the Hawker Siddeley Trident with the registration B-266.The captain, Chen Huaiyao, was an experienced Chinese Air Force Trident pilot who had joined the Guangzhou General Administration of Civil Aviation of China in 1982. It was his first flight to Guilin. Co-pilot Chen Zaiwen, 31 years old, was the third son of General Chen Xilian, and had served in the army in his early years and in the Air Force. The dead included American entomologist Judson Linsley Gressitt and his wife. At 16:45, as Flight 3303 was on approach to the airport in heavy rain the crew wanted an approach to the Qifengling Airport from north to south. The airport had no radar and the air traffic controller misjudged the distance of the aircraft from the airport and directed the aircraft to descend and it flew into a mountain near the town of Yangshuo, China, breaking up on impact. The accident killed all 112 people on board. The possible reason was that the crew resource management was poor, was communication from the air traffic control. The captain had no experience in flying the Guilin route and Guilin is noted for limestone cliffs that make landing hazardous.
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Air crash
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2012 Indonesian Air Force Fokker F27 crash
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On 21 June 2012, a Fokker F27 military transport aircraft of the Indonesian Air Force crashed into a housing complex near Halim Airport in Jakarta, Indonesia, while conducting a training flight. All seven people on board were killed; four people on the ground were also killed, and 11 more injured. [1][2]
The F27 was on a training flight when it crashed while trying to land. [3] Officials previously said that the aircraft crew had been conducting a touch-and-go exercise before the crash. [4] The aircraft was not equipped with flight data recorders. The plane was built in 1958 and used by Air Force for the past several years. [3] TNI has said that it is in the process of procuring CN-295s to replace its Fokker F27s. [4]
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Air crash
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Lake Cathie waterway health concerns increase, but locals say town still open for business
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The lake at the heart of the seaside town of Lake Cathie, on the NSW Mid North Coast, continues to deteriorate, with locals keen to remind people the town is still open for business.
The poor state of the lake has impacted local businesses, with calls for people to keep visiting the town
Acid sulphate soils are having a visible impact in the lake and causing health risks.
Meanwhile, just four months after the local council opened the lake entrance to the ocean — for flood mitigation — the estuary has this week closed again.
Wendy Dunn owns a retail store opposite the lake and said visits to the formerly popular town virtually ground to a halt last summer.
"We had a shocker … there was no water [in the lake], so nobody came, it was probably the worst summer I have seen ever, no-one in the carpark, so it just made us cry," she said.
"We had the bushfires, then the drought obviously as well, then we had COVID-19.
"So just like everybody else, we are a little small town and we would love everybody to keep supporting us, and they do try.
"People can still come down and have a picnic and play. Lake Cathie is still open for business."
Kate Aston is with community group Revive Lake Cathie and said acid sulphate soils in the lake were a big concern.
She said the opening of the lake entrance in May had contributed to a rapid change in water levels, which exposed the soils to oxygen. "You can see the orange scum that is coming from the reaction of the acid sulphate soil up in Lake Cathie and Lake Innes in the estuarine system," Ms Aston said.
"It has a health impact on fish and marine life … the signs are up, don't eat any fish.
"There's certainly no swimming in there, we don't know what can happen if people take in the water."
Ms Aston said Revive Lake Cathie had several priorities. "One of those is grading across the berm regularly so the sandbar doesn't build up too high but doesn't go too low," she said.
"You want big tides to flow over and any rains above a certain level to flow out to keep the equilibrium of the whole system."
Debbie Archer from Port Macquarie Hastings Council said the council's responsibilities for Lake Cathie were limited to flood mitigation to protect infrastructure and for the safety of the community.
"Any actions outside of this scope, including public health issues and natural processes such as water quality … fish kills, fish health, ecology, salinity, acid sulphate soils … are the primary responsibility of the NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment as crown land, and National Parks and Wildlife for Lake Innes," she said.
"Council's Coastal Management Program, which is currently under development, aims to set the strategic direction and clarify agency responsibilities for the future management of the Lake Cathie/Lake Innes estuarine system." Revive Lake Cathie has achieved grant funding and is about to start regular water quality monitoring.
The Department of Planning, Industry and Environment said it had been providing technical advice to Port Macquarie-Hastings Council on the issue regarding acid sulphate in the waterway at Lake Cathie.
A spokesperson said some of the problems with acid sulphate soils in NSW were a result of drainage and flood-mitigation and while the council was the managing authority of the waterway at Lake Cathie, the department would "continue to assist."
See our full coverage of coronavirus
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Environment Pollution
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Garuda Indonesia Flight 708 crash
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Garuda Indonesia Airways Flight 708 was a scheduled passenger flight on February 16, 1967 which crashed upon landing at Sam Ratulangi Airport, Manado, North Sulawesi, Indonesia. 22 of the 84 passengers on board were killed. All eight crew members survived. Flight 708 departed Jakarta for a flight to Manado via Surabaya and Makassar. On the second leg of the flight bad weather at Makassar forced the crew to return to Surabaya. The flight continued the next day to Makassar and on to Manado. The weather at Manado was cloud base at 900 feet and 2 km visibility. An approach to runway 18 was made, but after passing a hill 200 feet above runway elevation and 2720 feet short of the threshold, the pilot realized he was too high and left of the centerline. The nose was lowered and the aircraft banked right to intercept the glide path. The speed decreased below the 125 knots target threshold speed and the aircraft, still banked to the right, landed heavily 156 feet short of the runway threshold. The undercarriage collapsed and the aircraft skidded and caught fire. The probable cause of the accident was determined to be an awkward landing technique resulting in an excessive rate of sink on touchdown. Among the contributing factors were the uneven pavement of the runway and marginal weather at time of the landing. [1]
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Air crash
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On Abraham Accords anniversary, finally there’s accord on calling them ‘Abraham’
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WASHINGTON (JTA) — Wrapping up the feel-good-fest that marked the first anniversary of the Abraham Accords, the normalization agreements between Israel and four Arabs states, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken gave a shout-out to the big guy who started it all.
No, not Donald Trump, but Abraham himself.
“Abraham, in our Bible, had the temerity to engage God, to argue with God, to ask why, and maybe more important, to ask why not,” Blinken said at the virtual get-together Friday that marked the September 15, 2020, anniversary (a day or so late, but Yom Kippur got in the way).
“And I think each of you and each of your countries asked, ‘Why not?’ And the answer now we see before us with the accords, with normalization, and with the manifest benefits that it’s bringing to people not just in the countries concerned, but I think increasingly more broadly.”
By invoking Abraham, Blinken put to rest any concerns that President Joe Biden was anything less than fully committed to the accords, despite the fact that they happened under Trump.
The friendly back-and-forth between Blinken, who is Jewish; the foreign ministers of Israel and Morocco; the former holder of that post in the United Arab Emirates; and the Bahraini ambassador to the United States covered what has become familiar territory: Praising the gains already made and pledging to expand the agreements.
But it was the tone that stood out, down to Blinken not just saying Abraham’s name, but in his assigning a quasi-religious significance to the accords by noting the shared Jewish and Muslim investment in the original founding father. Blinken and the Arab diplomats also made sure to wish Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, in attendance, a happy new year.
This was a shift from how the Biden administration has discussed the accords to date. Previously, Biden officials appeared to hesitate even to use the term “Abraham Accords,” which has rankled the deals’ architects under Trump. Insiders told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that Biden’s team had been hesitant to bring religion into any diplomatic brokering.
The Trump administration’s architects of the Abraham Accords had been worried, given Democratic revulsion for all things Trump, that Biden would scupper the deals altogether, even though he had made clear while campaigning that normalizing ties between Israel and its Arab neighbors was a rare point of agreement between himself and Trump.
Those worries receded as Biden pledged to uphold the incentives for the accords: the sale of F-35 stealth combat jets to the UAE, the recognition of Morocco’s claim to the Western Sahara and the repeal of terrorist designations that have inhibited relations between Sudan and the international community.
Friday was also the 43rd anniversary of the Egypt-Israel Camp David peace agreement brokered by President Jimmy Carter, a Democrat who was not shy about mixing religion and diplomacy. Blinken noted the coincidence and said that part of the Biden administration’s agenda would be to deepen the existing peace treaties between Israel, Egypt and Jordan.
“We’ll work to deepen Israel’s longstanding relationships with Egypt and Jordan – partners critical to the United States, Israel and Palestinians alike,” Blinken said. He noted that Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett this week traveled to Cairo to meet Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi, the first such visit between Israeli and Egyptian heads of state in a decade. “The negotiations between Israel and Jordan around new agreements on water and trade show how these relationships continue to build on the trailblazing agreements signed decades ago.
While those agreements are decades older than the Abraham Accords, what’s missing from Israel-Egypt and Israel-Jordan relations are the people-to-people interactions — the normalization — that has flourished since the Abraham Accords signing. Blinken detailed the gains so far of normalization and its opportunities.
“The United Arab Emirates has pursued significant investments in strategic sectors in Israel, including energy, medicine, technology, healthcare,” he said. “Private firms across your countries are working together on everything from desalinization to stem cell therapies.”
Blinken even made mention of the recent establishment of ties between Kosovo and Israel, which the Trump negotiating team had taken to including in the Abraham Accords package despite key differences in context, including that it was Kosovo that hankered for years for Israeli recognition, not the other way around.
Missing from the get-together was Sudan, where there have been signs of unease with its new Israel relationship (including a Sudanese Olympic athlete dropping out of competition this summer to avoid facing an Israeli opponent). A Sudanese diplomat has said the country would need to have a formal signing agreement at the White House before establishing further public ties with Israel.
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Diplomatic Visit
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Coping with Holiday Stress & Anxiety: Tips for Those with Mesothelioma
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Written By: Tamron Little , December 14, 2021 Well, it’s that time of year again. The holidays are pretty stressful for everyone, but especially those affected by mesothelioma . For the record, stress is something we all deal with, so don’t be so hard on yourself if it is affecting you this holiday season. As a mesothelioma survivor , I know firsthand how difficult the holidays can be. I remember the Christmas right after I had the HIPEC treatment . It was my first Christmas as a new mom, a new wife, and I was two months post-surgery. It was definitely stressful. When you’re a new mom you’re always thinking about how perfect you want your child’s first Christmas to be. I wasn’t working at the time since I was still recovering from major surgery , and so many things were running through my head. When life isn’t going the way you planned, it’s easy to get caught up in negative thoughts that remind you of where you’re falling short. Then you start comparing yourself to others and begin feeling sorry for yourself. There are five words to remember if you find yourself going down this path: Be grateful for every day. Surviving Another Pandemic Holiday Season After being diagnosed with peritoneal mesothelioma , I made it my purpose to enjoy each and every moment, especially around the holidays. I processed my situation and accepted it for what it was. I may not have had everything I wanted, but I was cancer-free, enjoying time with my husband and baby boy. The memories we make with family are what matter the most. We’ve been in this COVID-19 pandemic for almost two years now, and I’m sure it’s placed a damper on everyone’s holiday and added much stress and anxiety – especially given the unknowns. When the pandemic first began, we had the fear of not knowing what was going to happen next. Our normal life as we knew it was transformed into a season of isolation. The holidays didn’t feel the same. This year, as the holidays approach again, I’ve heard numerous people say that it feels different. You can still celebrate your holiday traditions with some precautions, as well as create new ones. 10 Ways to Cope During the Holidays As someone who has experienced anxiety myself, I’ve come up with some tips to help you cope with the stress you may feel around the holidays. Give yourself some grace. Look how far you have come within your journey and the strides you’ve made. Don’t sweat the small stuff. This is good advice any time of year, but it’s especially important around the holidays. Take things one day at a time. Don’t feel as if you have to rush to do anything. One thing I’ve noticed is that when I’m rushing or feel as if I have to hurry to do something, it can lead to anxiety. Refrain from slipping into “social comparison.” This is when we compare ourselves to people we think are doing better than we are. Talk about your feelings. Find a health care professional, therapist or even a close friend and express to them how you’re feeling. Take some time out for self-care. Self-care is the best care and it is whatever you make it. Pray. I believe that prayer works. Take a social media break. Social media is great for connecting with family and friends, but it can also trigger stress and anxiety. Get your happy back. Do something spontaneous that brings you joy. Live in the moment. However you celebrate the holidays, enjoy each minute and make some great memories. One thing to note: You’re not alone. It’s important to try to stay positive and take life one day at a time. Things will work out, just keep the faith! And have a happy holiday.
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Famous Person - Recovered
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Water New South Wales facing unprecedented drought management challenges
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A New South Wales government agency says it is in uncharted territory regarding management of the state's water supply because of the drought.
Water New South Wales said in previous years it had relied on modelling from past droughts to guide its response to future dry spells.
However, it has never experienced the type of conditions currently affecting the state.
Adrian Langdon from Water NSW said they had taken "exceptional measures" to try to preserve water storages because of record low rainfall and inflows.
"What we are seeing, especially in the last 18 months is some of the lowest inflows on record," Mr Langdon said.
"We haven't seen this type of situation before."
Burrendong Dam near Wellington is sitting at about 10 per cent and is expected to drop to below five per cent this summer.
The dam has been supplemented by a bulk water transfer from the nearby Windamere Dam in the Mudgee district.
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Water NSW has also had to impose quarantines on water licence holders in the Macquarie Valley who rely on Burrendong Dam.
They have held a meeting with irrigators in the Macquarie Valley to discuss how it will manage the dwindling water supply.
It described the drought in the valley as the worst on record and warned that Burrendong Dam would run dry in March 2020 if there were no significant inflows.
Macquarie Valley irrigator Steward Dentson said many people had significantly scaled back operations.
"It is making the management of our businesses very difficult," Mr Dentson said.
"The flow-on effect to the towns that provide services and inputs to our farm services is a big challenge as well."
It is a similar story in the Gwydir and Namoi catchments in the state's north-west where long stretches of the Namoi River have run dry and Keepit Dam near Gunnedah has dropped to 0.04 per cent.
Minister for Regional Water and Primary Industries Niall Blair visited the dam, which has the capacity to hold nearly as much water as Sydney Harbour, to announce infrastructure to boost oxygen levels of fish amid several kills across the state.
In what has been described by the water authority as a "new drought of record", unrelenting conditions have seen Keepit Dam all but dry up.
"We are behind the eight ball when we see the types of inflows we should be seeing in a dam like this," Mr Blair said on Tuesday.
The area is usually brimming with sail and speed boats and children making their way out to its recognisable pontoon in the summer months, but it has been reduced to a quagmire.
In far western NSW, a series of fish kills in the Barwon-Darling River system is attracting national and international attention.
Federal Agriculture and Water Resources Minister David Littleproud said the fish deaths were the result of cool weather which killed off blue-green algae and sucked the oxygen out of the water.
He has organised a meeting of federal and state water managers and environmental water holders this week to discuss the issue.
Water NSW said the greatest concern were the valleys, which are drying up, and meeting the needs of communities, industry, and the environment.
We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Australians and Traditional Custodians of the lands where we live, learn, and work.
This service may include material from Agence France-Presse (AFP), APTN, Reuters, AAP, CNN and the BBC World Service which is copyright and cannot be reproduced.
AEST = Australian Eastern Standard Time which is 10 hours ahead of GMT (Greenwich Mean Time)
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Environment Pollution
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Two proposals to resurrect the Banking Union: The Safe Portfolio Approach and SRB+
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Two proposals to resurrect the Banking Union: The Safe Portfolio Approach and SRB+ Luis Garicano 17 December 2020 Without completion of the Banking Union, Europe’s Economic and Monetary Union will continue to be fragile and exposed to a return of the doom loop. This column provides a politically and economically viable solution based on first, creating a model ‘Safe Portfolio’ and, through a reform of the regulatory treatment of sovereign exposures, incentivising banks to move towards it; and second, reforming the resolution framework to empower the Single Resolution Board while simultaneously setting up, within it, a European deposit insurance based on the emerging consensus around a ‘hybrid model’. A few days ago, the Eurogroup agreed to a reform of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) and to accelerate the establishment of the ESM as backstop to the Single Resolution Fund. This is excellent news for Europe, as these reforms are essential to ensure a credible crisis management framework, particularly given the enormous economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and the likelihood of a banking crises once the unprecedented support measures are withdrawn. But these measures are not sufficient. The Banking Union is incomplete – its second ‘pillar (resolution) does not really work, and the third ‘pillar’ (deposit insurance) does not exist. As a result, the banking market is more fragmented now than at the inception of the Banking Union. Mergers only seem to happen within member states, and home and host regulators continue to fight to ensure sufficient capital and liquidity in each national market in which a bank might operate. Without completion of the Banking Union, our Economic and Monetary Union will continue to be fragile and exposed to the return of the doom loop. What needs to be done? In a recent CEPR Policy Insight (Garicano 2020), I seek to provide a politically and economically viable answer. This path rests on two legs. The first is creating a model ‘Safe Portfolio’ and, through a reform of the regulatory treatment of sovereign exposures, incentivising banks to move towards it. The second is reforming the resolution framework to empower the Single Resolution Board while simultaneously setting up, within it, a European deposit insurance based on the emerging consensus around a ‘hybrid model’. Read "Two proposals to resurrect the Banking Union: The Safe Portfolio Approach and SRB+", CEPR Policy Insight No. 108, here Both of these legs are economically necessary as they break both aspects of the doom loop – deposit insurance cuts contagion from banks to sovereigns, while the Safe Portfolio approach, by diversifying bank balance sheets, cuts the link from sovereigns to banks. Politically, both legs are complementary: Northern countries insist against any risk sharing through a common deposit insurance unless there is also risk reduction through the diversification of bank’s sovereign exposures; Southern countries and their treasuries do not want to give up their reliance on their own banks without having a true third pillar of the banking union in place. The usual proposals to induce a diversification of bank sovereign debt portfolios revolve around either credit risk-based requirements (eliminating the 0% risk weight) or quantitative limits on sovereign exposures, as proposed by the German Council of Economic Experts (2015). Such proposals are lacking both political and economically. Politically, because highly indebted member states will never accept an asymmetric treatment of their debt that may endanger their ability to fund themselves. Economically, ratings-based risk weights have been found to be unreliable due to the arbitrariness of the whole rating system, and hard concentration limits are even less effective as banks would be able to arbitrage within the caps to increase their risky (and profitable) exposures (Alogoskoufis and Langfield 2019). In October of 2019, the German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz proposed that a reform of regulatory treatment of sovereign exposures by establishing a “Safe Portfolio” – a portfolio of sovereign bonds deemed safe – and incentivising banks to move toward it (Scholz 2019). However, he left this Safe Portfolio largely undefined; with my proposal, I try to build on this idea. I propose that we define the Safe Portfolio as a portfolio of sovereign bonds with shares matching the capital contribution key of the ECB – Germany constituting 26%, France constituting 20%, Italy 17%, and so on – and that we set capital (or ‘concentration’) requirements, based on how far the sovereign debt portfolio of a bank is from this Safe Portfolio. To calculate ‘how far’ the portfolio is from the Safe Portfolio, I would suggest a distance metric (perhaps using the vector difference between the ECB’s capital key and the bank’s portfolio). Thus, banks would be subject to marginal risk weight add-ons that would increase along with this distance. As illustrated below, the marginal penalty could be graduated to start small and increase over a transition period (see Garicano 2020 for details). Figure 1 Capital risk charges as a function of concentration This proposal has two key advantages that could allow it to overcome the political deadlock. First, it is in keeping with the demands of high-rated countries to reduce the degree of sovereign exposures of all European banks. Second, the proposal would end the preferential risk-free treatment of sovereign exposures, while ensuring that demand for all sovereign issuances is be maintained. However, as the simulations by Alogoskoufis and Langfield (2019) show, quantity- and price-based measures to reduce credit risk will increase concentration risk, and quantity and price measures targeting concentration risk will increase credit risk. They conclude that, in order to reduce credit risk, a new ‘safe’ asset must be part of a proposal targeting concentration. To avoid this problem, safety could be ensured through tranching the asset into a senior and a junior tranche, in the manner of the ESBies (Brunnermeier et al. 2011, 2016) proposal I made in 2011 with a group of co-authors and which was, under the name of SBBS, adopted by the European Parliament in April 2019. Doing so would overcome two key constrains: it would ensure that there is no implicit or explicit cross-country guarantee (no country is ‘on the hook’ for the bad decisions of others), and it would ensure that the asset is provided by the market. Figure 2 The path towards a European Safe Asset Since the approval of the Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive (BRRD) and the Single Resolution Mechanism Regulation (SRMR) five years ago, numerous cases have laid bare the weaknesses and ambiguities of our current regime. Since then, member states have provided €17.3 billion in capital injections and €17.7 billion in guarantees to banks in controversial bailouts. The cases of the Veneto banks and NordLB – where Italian and German authorities, respectively, circumvented the resolution framework and undertook substantial bailouts of politically sensitive banks – were particularly troubling given their large size. Last month, the Commission officially announced a review of the crisis management framework (overall three regulations), and a proposal is expected by the end of 2021. The areas for reform are plenty, ranging from the role of the SRB before a bank is declared failing to the compatibility of our state aid framework with our resolution framework. However, I believe the review should focus on three key aspects for reform: The Veneto banks have set a worrying precedent for the SRB’s Public Interest Assessment. Now it is vital to add predictability and legal certainty. The aim should be for the assessment to cover the bank ‘middle class’, as identified by Restoy (2018) – i.e. banks that are too small to be resolved by the current SRB but too large to be liquidated under national law without causing serious problems for member states. Specifically, the assessment should be positive, at least by construction, for all SSM-supervised banks, as well as all banks operating in more than one member state. Part of the difficulty of the ‘middle class’ problem is that these banks rely mostly on depositor funding and are too small to raise MREL instruments in the market (these are the debt instruments that are subject to bail in). Thus, to prevent senior bondholder and depositor bail-in, the main challenge that the SRB+ would confront, should it need to resolve these institutions as proposed, would be a lack of funding. To solve this, the SRB+ would obtain co-decision and coordination powers over national DGSs and resolution authorities and even (like the ECB right now) to take over if the competent national authorities fail to effectively deliver on their mandates. To fully ensure that the SRB+ has sufficient funds to resolve banks, and that national DGSs and regulators have incentives to cooperate with them, the above reforms would have to be implemented along with a European deposit insurance. Towards this, we must start from a ‘hybrid’ model that would see the coexistence of national deposit guarantee schemes and a European compartment. Such a model would build on the little consensus achieved in the Council and also would be in line with the resolution reform outlined above. I believe that my proposal is achievable in a short-term horizon (as opposed, for example, to proposals to harmonise liquidation in all member states, which would take decades). Moreover, after last week’s agreement by the Eurogroup, the window for implementing these proposals is wide open. The first leg, the Safe Portfolio Approach, could be implemented along with the transposition of the Basel III standards, with the Commission expected to present a proposal next year. The second leg, a deposit insurance within a stronger SRB, could be implemented along with the review of the resolution framework, for which the Commission is expected to present proposal next year too.
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Financial Crisis
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ESPN
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Food poisoning 'took a big toll' on Denzel Mims, as New York Jets WR lost 20 pounds
Longtime Jets beat writer for New York Daily News
Syracuse University graduate
print
FLORHAM PARK, N.J. -- New York Jets wide receiver Denzel Mims used to enjoy salmon, but not anymore. In the spring, he ate a plate of bad salmon that triggered a bout of food poisoning that caused him to lose 20 pounds.
"I haven't touched salmon ever since then," Mims said Wednesday.
Mims, a 2020 second-round pick, missed most of the offseason practices as he dealt with the severe effects. He vomited for two weeks and required antibiotics because of an intestinal infection. He didn't say where he ate the salmon (he wasn't asked), but a source said it was served in the Jets' cafeteria. His weight plummeted from 217 to 197, such a dramatic decline that he's only back to 208 after two months of healthy eating.
"It took a big toll on me," the former Baylor standout said.
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Not coincidentally, he got off to a slow start in training camp, slipping down the depth chart and fueling speculation about his future. He has perked up in recent days -- he made a fingertip catch for a long touchdown in a 7-on-7 period on Wednesday -- but he's no better than fifth or sixth in the Jets' significantly improved receiving corps.
Asked if the organization would consider giving up on Mims, coach Robert Saleh said, "No, absolutely not."
Mims' rookie season was sidetracked by a different type of ailment -- a pair of hamstring injuries in training camp that caused him to miss the first half of the season. When he got on the field, he showed promise, finishing with 23 catches for 357 yards (no touchdowns) in nine games. He became only the sixth rookie wide receiver in NFL history to post at least 40 receiving yards in his first six games.
It was assumed that he'd return as a starter, but the Jets signed Corey Davis and Keelan Cole as free agents and drafted Elijah Moore in the second round. Suddenly, the competition was better. That, combined with the illness and the transition to an offense that requires a different route-running technique, resulted in fewer reps over the first 10 days of training camp.
"I feel like I'm catching up and I'm almost there," Mims said.
When he got over the food poisoning, he flew to Florida in late June to work out with quarterback Zach Wilson and other skill-position players. During idle time in training camp, he makes sure to play pitch-and-catch with one of the quarterbacks.
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Polystyrene waffle pods cause pollution headache, calls for regulation of the cheap building material
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With tens of thousands of new homes planned for construction south-west of Sydney and across the Illawarra over the next decade, the New South Wales Government is being urged to either regulate or ban the use of polystyrene waffle pods.
Waffle pods are polystyrene blocks used by the building industry as void fillers in concrete slabs.
They reduce construction costs and the amount of concrete required and can help with insulation.
On the South Coast, community groups and Wollongong Council have raised concerns about the use of the plastic material and its management.
Because they are light-weight, the blocks are easy to store and work with, but they are also vulnerable to being blown away in strong winds.
In July 2019, hundreds of waffle pods were blown off building sites in West Dapto and Wongawilli, Wollongong Council was left to manage the clean up on public land and in local waterways.
In response to the pollution Greens Councillor, Cath Blakey, won support from Wollongong Council to call on the State Government to introduce a compulsory code of conduct for storage and use of the pods.
Soon after, the council won support from Local Government NSW to lobby the State Government for better management of waste from construction sites.
In November 2019, the industry body Expanded Polystyrene Australia (EPSA) released a voluntary code of practice for management of the pods.
The advice included asking suppliers and contractors to conduct reasonable due diligence of product usage and storage, an awareness of weather especially on days of high wind and recommended using netting and pegs to for on-site stacking.
Over the weekend of November 28–29, wind gusts of more than 70 kilometres per hour saw pods once again blown off constriction sites at West Dapto and further south at Shell Cove.
Nicole Colquhoun, from Plasticwise Thirroul, said it caused pollution all over Integral Energy Park and down local streets — and Wollongong Council and the community was once again left to clean up the pollution.
"We contacted the developer and they said 'we just sell the land it is not our problem', then we contacted the builders and they said it was the concreter's issue, everyone is just passing the buck," she said.
Ms Colquhoun said the event proves the industry's voluntary code of practice is failing and the State Government needs to control the product's use.
"At the very least they should be bringing in a mandatory code of practice to ensure that if this product is used that it is handled and secured properly," she said.
"But we'd like to see poly banded al together it's just a noxious product that we should be getting rid of them looking at other more sustainable options."
Councillor Cath Blakey said with major housing expansion expected in the Greater Macarthur region, south-west of Sydney and west of Wollongong the industry must seek alternatives.
"And they can be done with completely recyclable or compostable material that breaks down, when it needs to," she said.
"When we have an industry that fails to take responsibility then we need legislation."
In Shell Cove, resident Emma Grima said she has been actively cleaning up waffle pods and other plastics around the area for the last 12 months.
"And now I am just finding them everywhere, normally when grass is being mowed and then it is munched up and it's even worse, it's a nightmare to extract from the environment," she said.
"I would 100 per cent back it all the way if the State Government introduced a ban on them.
"It's such an old-school product, even when they deliver them off the truck and rip off the plastic from the waffle pods that is protecting them from travelling, little particles escape into the environment.
"And in 100-plus an hour gust winds like we had last weekend, when I found more while going on my walk, I wasn't looking for them, and I come across all the waffle pods again."
NSW Greens Environment spokeswoman Cate Faerhman said next year she will move in the state's parliament to eliminate use of the product.
"Waffle pods are cheap, nasty and polluting.
"The 'voluntary code of practice' clearly isn't enough.
"There are better alternatives like cardboard or even hard plastic.
"We need to be phasing out these sorts of solutions, that's why I'll be including waffle pods in the products prohibited in the Single-Use Plastics Bill which I will be introducing next year."
The ABC understands the NSW Government is working to release its plastic plan and 20-year waste strategy early in 2021.
The ABC also contacted EPSA but received no response.
Industry experts and engineers contacted by the ABC also did not want to offer comment, but acknowledged the industry's growing interest in alternatives, but cost remains the hurdle.
Some companies have developed recycled plastic void formers, some recycled polypropylene, and a number have created honeycomb cardboard solutions.
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Environment Pollution
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Houston riot of 1917
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The Camp Logan Mutiny (also called the Houston Riot of 1917) occurred on 23 August 1917. It was a mutiny and riot by 156 soldiers of the Third Battalion of the all-black Twenty-fourth United States Infantry Regiment. The events of the riot occurred within a climate of overt hostility from members of the all-white Houston Police Department against members of the local black community and black soldiers stationed at Camp Logan during the era of Jim Crow Laws. Following an incident, where police officers arrested and assaulted some black soldiers, many black soldiers at Camp Logan mutinied and marched to Houston, where they opened fire and killed numerous people. The events took place over a single night, and resulted in the deaths of 11 civilians and five policemen. Four soldiers were also killed and Sergeant Vida Henry, who led the mutineers, died by suicide. In accordance with policies of the time, the soldiers were tried at three courts-martial for mutiny. Nineteen were executed, and 41 were sentenced to life imprisonment. Gregg Andrews, author of Thyra J. Edwards: Black Activist in the Global Freedom Struggle, wrote that the event "shook race relations in the city and created conditions that helped to spark a statewide surge of wartime racial activism".
Shortly after the United States declared war on the German Empire in the spring of 1917, the War Department rushed to construct two new military installations in Harris County, Texas — Camp Logan and Ellington Field. On July 27, 1917, the Army ordered the Third Battalion of the Twenty-fourth United States Infantry Regiment to Houston to guard the Camp Logan construction site. The regiment traveled to Houston by train from their camp at Columbus, New Mexico, accompanied by seven commissioned officers.
Almost from the arrival of the Twenty-fourth Infantry in Houston, the presence of black soldiers in the segregated Texas city caused conflict. :10 Jim Crow laws were in place when the Twenty-fourth was deployed in Columbus, New Mexico,and as a result, in Houston the soldiers encountered segregated street cars and white workers at Camp Logan who demanded drinking water facilities be separated by race into "white" and "colored". Prior to the riot, the soldiers from the Twenty-fourth were involved in a number of "clashes" with city police, several of which resulted in the soldiers sustaining injuries after being beaten and attacked.:10
Around noon August 23, 1917, Lee Sparks and Rufus Daniels, two Houston police officers, disrupted a gathering on a street corner in Houston's predominantly-black San Felipe district by firing warning shots.:12 Sparks, pursuing those who fled the gunshots, burst into the home of a local woman, Sara Travers. [6] He did not find any of the citizens he was chasing and after refusing to believe Travers protestations that she had no knowledge of the whereabouts of anyone fleeing, struck her and dragged her outside dressed only in a nightgown and arrested her.
As Sparks and Daniels called in the arrest from an area patrol box, they were approached by Private Alonzo Edwards. Edwards offered to take custody of Travers, but instead was pistol-whipped repeatedly by Sparks and then arrested himself. Later that afternoon, Corporal Charles Baltimore approached Sparks and Daniels in the same neighborhood to inquire about the status of Edwards. Sparks struck Baltimore with his pistol and fired three shots at him as he fled into a nearby home. Sparks and Daniels pursued Baltimore, eventually finding him under a bed. They pulled him out, beat him, and placed him under arrest. :10
A rumor reached the camp of the Twenty-fourth that Baltimore had been shot and killed. The soldiers immediately began meeting in small groups to vent their anger and eventually a plan to retaliate for the constant harassment and abuse by initiating a battle with the Houston police was formed and set into motion.:1390 An officer from the Twenty-fourth retrieved the injured Baltimore from the police station, which seemed to calm the soldiers for the moment.:126
The officers of the Twenty-fourth received reports of impending trouble and violence at the hands of an angry white mob. Major K.S. Snow revoked all passes for the evening and ordered the guard around the camp to be increased, but later that evening stumbled upon a group of men attempting to arm themselves from one of the supply tents.:39 He ordered the men to assemble without arms and warned them that it was "utterly foolish, foolhardy, for them to think of taking the law into their own hands. ":40 One of the men, who had smuggled his rifle into the formation, fired it and cried out that a mob was approaching the camp. At this point, order broke down completely and the soldiers mobbed the supply tents, grabbing rifles and ammunition in order to protect themselves.:1292
The soldiers began firing indiscriminately into the surrounding buildings. After several minutes of shooting at the camp, Sergeant Vida Henry ordered the men in the area – about 150 – to fill their canteens, grab extra ammunition, and fall in to march on Houston.:1295 The group marched through neighborhoods on the outskirts of the city, firing at houses with outdoor lights. They fired on a car with two white occupants, but let a second car with black occupants pass.:1214 They marched nearly two and a half miles, all the way to the San Felipe district before they encountered any police officers. Due to the disorganization of the police department and the belief that the black soldiers would be unable to arm themselves, officers had only been sent out in small numbers,:141 expecting to quickly subdue unarmed men. The first police casualties occurred when a group of six officers stumbled upon large numbers of armed soldiers. Two policemen (including Rufus Daniels) were killed immediately, and one later died of wounds he had sustained. :527
As the soldiers moved through the town, an open-topped car carrying a man in an olive-drab uniform approached them. Believing this to be the uniform of a Houston mounted policeman, the soldiers opened fire only to discover later that they had killed Captain Joseph W. Mattes of the Illinois National Guard.:651 The killing of a military officer drove home the seriousness of their uprising and of the consequences faced by black men for attacking white people.:162
At this point, soldiers began to desert the group, and Sergeant Henry led the remainder on a march to return to camp. Just outside the San Felipe district, Henry shook hands with the remaining soldiers and informed them that he planned to kill himself after they left. :1322 Despite this vow, Henry's body was found in the area the next day, with a crushed skull and bayonet wound to the shoulder.
By the time the firing ceased, 17 people were dead (four police officers, nine civilians, and two soldiers). One soldier and a police officer later died from wounds sustained during the riot, and one soldier died from wounds sustained during his capture the next day. The next morning, Houston was placed under martial law.
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Riot
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1958 European Athletics Championships
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The 6th European Athletics Championships were held from 19–24 August 1958 in the Olympic Stadium of Stockholm, Sweden. Contemporaneous reports on the event were given in the Glasgow Herald. [1][2][3][4][5][6]
Complete results were published. [7]
According to an unofficial count, 629 athletes from 26 countries participated in the event, three athletes more than the official number of 626 as published. [8] A joint German team comprising athletes from both East and West Germany was competing. Assignment of the athletes to East or West Germany was accomplished using the database of Deutsche Gesellschaft für Leichtathletik-Dokumentation 1990 e.V. [9]
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Sports Competition
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Dibbles Bridge coach crash (1925)
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On 10 June 1925, a coach crashed at the bottom of a steep hill at Dibbles Bridge, near Hebden in North Yorkshire, England. Seven people were killed and 11 others injured. The accident occurred when a 30-seater coach carrying a party of members of the York Municipal Employees' Guild and their families on an outing to Bolton Abbey from York suffered brake failure as it travelled down a 1:6 (9.5°) (16.67%) gradient from Fancarl Top to the bottom of the valley downstream of Grimwith reservoir. It gained considerable speed and failing to negotiate the sharp bend at the bottom crashed through the parapet of Dibble's Bridge, landing on its roof. Many of the passengers were pinned beneath the vehicle, five being killed instantly, whilst two others died within half an hour. A number of other passengers were injured.
A witness at the inquest described how a man from the coach took a stone from a wall and put it under a wheel, the driver then got out to "do something underneath the vehicle". Later the witness saw that the coach was moving, and it went down the hill at speed until it hit the right hand side of the bridge, before striking the left hand side and falling a distance of 16 feet from the bridge. One of the witnesses from the coach testified that the driver had said "the brake has been burnt out" before he hit it two or three times with hammer, and later saying "It's all right now". A motor engineer explained that the condition of the brakes was caused by the lining of the brakes being slowly burnt away. The brake lining and had been changed recently and this was only the second trip since. A consulting engineer who examined the coach after the accident said the brake drums were oily and in his opinion the primary cause of the accident was oil on the rear brakes and the burning of the linings on the front brakes. The jury returned a verdict of accidental death, and suggested that a sign be placed at the top on Fancarl Hill saying that heavy vehicles must change to low gear and advise the passengers to walk down; and that steps be taken to widen the bridge.
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Road Crash
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Two Toronto police officers in hospital, two suspects arrested after bank robbery in Mimico
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Two Toronto police officers are in hospital after they were injured while responding to a bank robbery in Mimico Friday evening. Police were called to a TD Bank in the area of Lake Shore Boulevard West and Allen Avenue just after 7:15 p.m. Speaking to reporters at the scene, Insp. Andy Singh said the bank was held up by two suspects armed with knives. Two plainclothes officers who were investigating a separate incident nearby arrived at the bank and confronted the suspects inside, Singh said. He noted that an altercation then ensued between the officers and the suspects. Police are investigating a bank robbery in Mimico that left two police officer injured. Singh said one of the suspects led police to a brief foot pursuit but was shortly apprehended. The other suspect was arrested inside the bank. During the incident, one of the officers was stabbed while the other sustained cuts. Singh said both were transported to hospital and are now in stable condition. No other injuries were reported. Two knives were recovered at the scene. Singh noted that the suspects are believed to be responsible for other robberies in the area. He said Toronto police interim Chief James Ramer has attended the hospital and spoke to the officers. "Whatever the supports we have, we're providing to everyone, not only the officers that are injured but officers that are here that obviously were part of the investigation," Singh said. "It truly showcases how dangerous and how quick these situations and how they can quickly escalate." Police said there is no threat to public safety, and there are no outstanding suspects. "We're continuing with the investigation, interviewing witnesses, and canvassing for video," Singh said. "If there's anybody that has any information in the public that was here that saw any of the ongoings, we asked them to come forward and contact Toronto police."
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Bank Robbery
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Best restaurants, cocktails, chefs and more in Food&Wine Awards
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The Food&Wine Restaurant of the Year Awards have finally been revealed, in a night dedicated to celebrating the dynamic food scene thriving in Dublin.
The awards took place last night at The InterContinental Hotel in Ballsbridge, and were the magazine's first award ceremony since the outbreak of Covid-19. With two years to make up for – during which the Irish food scene transformed in order to survive, and became even more exciting as a result – it was sure to be a night to remember.
And that it was, as awards for best restaurant, best chef, best cocktail and more were doled out. The sold-out event featured stunning food from head chef Alberto Rossi to keep the guests' mouths from watering over the nominees.
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Aimsir, the renowned restaurant at Cliff at Lyons in Kildare, won the award for Best Restaurant, after a sensational few years for the establishment. Celebrated for its focus on foraging, sustainability, seasonality and fresh produce, the restaurant has won praise from all corners of the food scene, both home and abroad.
This award, according to the publication's Instagram post, "rewards the restaurant that has it all - wonderful food, a warm welcome, and a great atmosphere", and certainly two Michelin-starred Aimsir ticks all those boxes.
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Chapter One's head chef Mickael Viljanen won the award for Chef of the Year, with the publication praising him for being "innovative, continuously strives to improve, and is conscious of getting the best from their team".
It added: "Their cooking can run the gamut from classics to more daring dishes, but whatever is on their menu, they produce it with heart, a genuine love for what they do, and respect for every member of their team."
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Meanwhile, Gráinne O'Keefe, of Mae Restaurant and BuJo Burger Joint, went home with the award for Young Chef of the Year, which highlights excellent chefs who are 35 years old or younger. "Her work ethic is unparalleled and she is renowned for her culinary skills - we are so excited to see her career continue to progress", the publication said.
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The award for Casual Dining of the Year went to the always thrilling Uno Mas on Dublin's Aungier Street, a spot that specialises in delicious small plates and fine wines, while the award for Best Cocktail Experience went to the Tack Room in Limerick's Adare Manor.
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Awards ceremony
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US withdraws from UNESCO over 'anti-Israel bias'
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Updated 1817 GMT (0217 HKT) October 12, 2017 UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova calls the move a "loss to the United Nations family" UNESCO currently has 195 members and eight associate members Washington (CNN) The US is withdrawing from the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization, the US State Department announced on Thursday, citing anti-Israel bias and mounting membership dues owed to the international body. The "Department of State notified UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova of the US decision to withdraw from the organization and to seek to establish a permanent observer mission to UNESCO," State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert said. "This decision was not taken lightly, and reflects US concerns with mounting arrears at UNESCO, the need for fundamental reform in the organization, and continuing anti-Israel bias at UNESCO," she added. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel is also planning to withdraw from the body, according to a statement from the Prime Minister's office. In the statement, Netanyahu hailed the US move as a "courageous and moral decision." He said UNESCO had "turned into a theatre of the absurd; instead of preserving history, it twists it." The US stopped paying dues to the international body in late 2011 after the agency voted to accept a Palestinian bid for full membership and now owes approximately $550 million, a State Department spokesperson said. "The purpose of UNESCO is a good one," US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said in a statement. "Unfortunately, its extreme politicization has become a chronic embarrassment." Haley called the decision to classify the Tomb of the Patriarchs as a UNESCO World Heritage Site "just the latest in a long line of foolish actions, which includes keeping Syrian dictator Bashar al Assad on a UNESCO human rights committee even after his murderous crackdown on peaceful protestors." The Tomb of the Patriarchs, along with the Hebron's Old City, were designated as UNESCO World Heritage Sites in July, despite opposition from the United States and Israel. The site is regarded as sacred by Jews, Christians and Muslims. Israel has accused UNESCO of making a politically motivated move , part of what it says is an attempt to deny the Jewish character and heritage of certain key sites in the Holy Land. United Nations Secretary General António Guterres expressed deep regret over the US decision to leave UNESCO, according to Deputy UN Spokesperson Farhan Haq. The UN General Assembly President Miroslav Lajčák is also "concerned that the decision by the United States to withdraw could have adverse impacts upon the important work of UNESCO," according to a statement from his spokesperson. UNESCO is a body of the United Nations that promotes international cooperation in education, science, culture and communication, though it is perhaps best known for its designation of "world heritage" sites -- locations with particular cultural significance. It was founded in 1945 as allied countries "were looking for ways and means to reconstruct their systems of education once peace was restored" in the wake of World War II, according to the organization -- which currently has 195 members and eight associate members. "Among other efforts, UNESCO is committed to building the capacity of various individuals and stakeholders to develop and amplify innovative responses against extremism; all while promoting the protection of freedom of expression, privacy and other fundamental freedoms," Bokova wrote in a CNN op-ed in September. In a statement released via her official Twitter handle, Bokova called the withdrawal "a loss to UNESCO. This is a loss to the United Nations family. This is a loss for multilateralism." To prevent violent extremism, we must teach peace She paid tribute to what she said had been a meaningful relationship between UNESCO and the US, saying: "since 2011, we have deepened the partnership between the United States and UNESCO, which has never been so meaningful. Together, we have worked to protect humanity's shared cultural heritage in the face of terrorist attacks and to prevent violent extremism through education and media literacy." "At the time when the fight against violent extremism calls for renewed investment in education, in dialogue among cultures to prevent hatred, it is deeply regrettable that the United States should withdraw from the United Nations agency leading these issues," Bokova said in the statement. "At the time when conflicts continue to tear apart societies across the world, it is deeply regrettable for the United States to withdraw from the United Nations agency promoting education for peace and protecting culture under attack," the statement said.
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Withdraw from an Organization
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Far Eastern Air Transport Flight 104 crash
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Far Eastern Air Transport Flight 104 was a short-haul flight from Kaohsiung International Airport to Taipei Songshan Airport, Taiwan using a Handley Page Dart Herald aircraft that crashed on 24 February 1969 upon its approach for an emergency landing in Tainan Airport in Taiwan. On February 24, 1969, the B-2009 aircraft carried out the FE104 flight that ended the Spring Festival holiday and flew from Kaohsiung International Airport to Taipei Songshan Airport. The flight took off at 12:03 pm, after a 13-minute delay from 11:50 am. Ten minutes after take-off, the captain told the Tainan Airport Tower that an engine failure had occurred. The aircraft's port-side engine had failed, leaving its propeller windmilling and the aircraft in a shallow descent. The flight crew decided to divert to Tainan Airport in Tainan City. Moments after receiving clearance for an emergency landing, however, the aircraft passed over a wooded area, belly-landed in a small clearing and skidded into a creek. The aircraft broke into three parts and caught fire, killing all on board. The right engine had been severely damaged, causing the aircraft to quickly lose altitude.
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Air crash
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2019 Ridgecrest earthquakes
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The 2019 Ridgecrest earthquakes (more commonly referred to in scientific literature as the 2019 Ridgecrest earthquake sequence) of July 4 and 5 occurred north and northeast of the town of Ridgecrest, California located in Kern County and west of Searles Valley (approximately 200 km [122 mi] north-northeast of Los Angeles). They included three initial main shocks of Mw magnitudes 6.4, 5.4, and 7.1,[7] and many perceptible aftershocks, mainly within the area of the Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake. Eleven months later, a Mw 5.5 aftershock took place (the largest aftershock of the sequence) to the east of Ridgecrest. The first main shock (now deemed to be a foreshock) occurred on Thursday, July 4 at 10:33 a.m. PDT, approximately 18 km (11.2 mi) ENE of Ridgecrest, and 13 km (8.1 mi) WSW of Trona,[8] on a previously unnoticed NE-SW trending fault where it intersects the NW-SE trending Little Lake Fault Zone. [9] This quake was preceded by several smaller earthquakes, and was followed by more than 1,400 detected aftershocks. The M 5.4 and M 7.1 quakes struck on Friday, July 5 at 4:08 a.m. and 8:19 p.m. PDT approximately 10 km (6 miles) to the northwest. The latter, now considered the mainshock, was the most powerful earthquake to occur in the state in 20 years (after the 1999 Hector Mine earthquake). [10] Subsequent aftershocks extended approximately 50 km (~30 miles) along the Little Lake Fault Zone. Relatively minor damage resulted from the initial foreshock, though some building fires were reported in Ridgecrest near the epicenter. The main quake on July 5 cut power to at least 3,000 residents in Ridgecrest. [11][10] Effects were felt across much of Southern California, parts of Arizona and Nevada,[12] as far north as the San Francisco Bay Area and Sacramento, and as far south as Baja California, Mexico. An estimated 20 million people experienced the foreshock, and approximately 30 million people experienced the mainshock. [13]
At 10:02 a.m. PDT (17:02 UTC) on July 4, 2019, a 4.0 Mw foreshock occurred about 6.8 mi (10.9 km) southwest of Searles Valley, California. [14][15] A foreshock registering 6.4 Mw occurred at 10:33 a.m. PDT (17:33 UTC) 7.5 mi (12.1 km) southwest of Searles Valley. [16] The most populated area near the epicenter was Ridgecrest, home to 28,000 people. [17] The foreshock originated along a strike-slip fault in the Eastern California Shear Zone, a region frequented by earthquake swarms, near the edge of Death Valley National Park. [17][18] The rupture occurred along a 10 mi (16 km) section of an unspecified fault. Earth on either side of the fault was deformed, with lateral shifts of 6–8 in (15–20 cm) in the immediate vicinity. [19] The exact fault it occurred on is uncertain with many small faults encompassing the region, though United States Geological Survey (USGS) seismologist Susan Hough stated it may have been the Little Lake Fault. [20] Focused at a relatively shallow depth of 6.6 mi (10.7 km), the foreshock affected a large region populated by 20 million people. [16][17] Residents near the epicenter reported that shaking lasted approximately 30 seconds. [20] Shaking was felt as far north as Sacramento, California, eastward to Phoenix, Arizona, and as far south as Baja California, Mexico, with evacuations taking place in Mexicali and Tijuana. [17][21]
At 8:19 p.m. PDT on July 5, a larger 7.1 Mw earthquake occurred in the Ridgecrest area after being preceded by a 5.0 Mw foreshock 3 minutes prior,[22] revealing the previous day's 6.4 Mw earthquake to have been a foreshock. All three earthquakes have been described by the United States Geological Survey as occurring via shallow strike-slip mechanisms. Subsequent seismic activity occurred along two intersecting faults in the Little Lake Fault Zone. [23]
A significant series of additional earthquakes followed the foreshock, with the majority of magnitudes ranging approximately 2–4 Mw . [24] By the evening of July 5, more than 1,400 earthquakes occurred,[25] the strongest of which measured 5.4 Mw at 4:07 a.m. PDT (11:07 UTC) on July 5. [26] Shaking from this aftershock was felt as far north as Fresno, as far south as Laguna Hills (including Los Angeles), and as far east as Las Vegas, Nevada. No additional damage occurred from any of the aftershocks. [19] The number of aftershocks within hours of the earthquake were unusually high, but not unprecedented. [27]
Thousands more aftershocks occurred following the 7.1 Mw event, with the total number of aftershocks exceeding 3,000 by the morning of July 7. [28] Geologists at the USGS estimate an additional 34,000 aftershocks in the six months following the earthquakes. [29]
On June 3, 2020, at 6:32 PM PST, a 5.5 Mw aftershock was recorded 11 miles south of Searles Valley. This aftershock is tied for the strongest aftershock following the 7.1 Mw mainshock. Structural damage and two building fires—one of which destroyed half of a home—occurred in Ridgecrest. [17][60] One mobile home was knocked off its foundation and deemed uninhabitable. [19] Around 20 injuries were reported, primarily from shattered glass and falling debris. [61][60] Some gas lines broke, prompting utility companies to shut off service. Businesses experienced product loss, with goods falling off shelves. [62] Emergency personnel responded to nearly two dozen incidents in the city and opened two shelters. [17] Fifteen patients at Ridgecrest Regional Hospital and residents in several apartment buildings were evacuated. [63] Approximately 6,900 customers lost power near the epicenter: 6,000 in Ridgecrest and 900 in Searles Valley. [64] A 4 in (10 cm) wide crack occurred along State Route 178 near Searles Valley and debris covered part of U.S. Route 395. [65][60] In Trona, several buildings sustained damage, water and gas lines broke, and power lines fell. Rockslides covered multiple roads around the community, blocking off mountain roads, including the section of State Route 178 that connects Bakersfield with Lake Isabella. [27] In Los Angeles proper, power outages affected the Fashion District and Granada Hills. [66]
One person died in Pahrump, Nevada, when a lifted Jeep he was working under collapsed. [5]
Several fires broke out and five injuries were reported after the mainshock hit, most of them in Ridgecrest and Trona. [67][68] 3,000 people were left without power in Ridgecrest and the rest of Kern County. In Trona, severe damage was reported, with houses knocked off their foundations and numerous gas leaks.
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Earthquakes
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India reports 45,352 Covid-19 cases in 24 hrs; active case count nears 4 lakh
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With 45,352 people testing positive for COVID-19, India's total tally of cases rose to 3,29,03,289, while active cases have increased to 3,99,778, according to Union health ministry data updated on Friday. The death toll has climbed to 4,39,895 with 366 more fatalities, according to the data updated at 8 am. The number of active cases comprise 1.22% of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has been recorded at 97.45%, ministry said. It said that active cases increased by 10,195 in a span of 24 hours. The weekly positivity rate has been recorded at 2.66%. It has been below 3% for the last 70 days, it said. The number of people who have recovered from the disease has increased to 3,20,63,616. On the Covid vaccination front, a total of 67.09 crore vaccine doses have been administered so far under Nationwide Vaccination Drive. The surge in cases has come when the government has expressed concern about the virus spreading from the most affected Kerala state and the start of the festival season. Kerala accounts for nearly 70% of the 45,352 new infections and a third of death, a week after it celebrated its biggest festival during which family and social gatherings were common. Yesterday, the Kerala health bulletin informed that the state witnessed 32,097 new infections and 188 deaths. There are currently 5,68,087 people under surveillance in various districts of Kerala. Of these, 5,34,805 are in the home or institutional quarantine and 33,282 in hospitals. As Covid cases escalate in Kerala, the Karnataka government has made institutional quarantine must for people entering from the southern state. Dakshina Kannada district bordering Kerala has become a major hotspot in Karnataka with 264 fresh infections and five fatalities reported in a day. While Karnataka's cumulative Covid case count has jumped to 29.52 lakh On the other hand, Maharashtra's cumulative caseload of the state mounted to 64,73,674 while the recoveries touched 62,81,985. A total of 1,37,551 persons have succumbed to COVID-19. The state reported 4,342 new Covid cases and 55 death in a day. Its capital Mumbai logged 441 new Covid-19 cases, 205 discharges, and three deaths in the last 24 hours. The active cases recorded in the state are 3,418. Whereas national capital Delhi recorded 39 fresh Covid-19 cases and zero deaths in a day. Meanwhile, the Centre has informed that India's Corbevax coronavirus vaccine is most likely to launch in October this year. Dr VK Paul, Member (Health), NITI Aayog said Hyderabad-based Biological E Limited is expected to launch its vaccine against Covid-19 in October. Biological E's anti-coronavirus shot, Corbevax, which is an RBD protein sub-unit vaccine is currently undergoing phase 2/3 clinical trials on adults. The 'Made in India' Covid-19 vaccine is for children aged between 5 and 18 years. So far, indigenously developed Zydus Cadila's needle-free COVID-19 vaccine ZyCoV-D has received Emergency Use Authorisation from the drug regulator, making it the first vaccine to be administered in the age group of 12-18 years in the country.
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Disease Outbreaks
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Regional Politics Impact African Lion 2021 as Spain Withdraws From the Exercise
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Exercise African Lion 2021, U.S. Africa Command’s (AFRICOM) joint annual exercise, began for the 17th time on June 7. The annual exercise, which was canceled last year due to COVID-19, will run until June 18. With more than 7,800 troops participating, including 5,000 from the United States and nine other nations and NATO, African Lion is AFRICOM’s largest exercise. The training is focused on enhancing readiness for U.S. and partner nation forces. Major General Andrew M. Rohling, the U.S. Army Southern European Task Force, Africa commander, and the U.S. Army Europe and Africa deputy commanding general said during the launch ceremony at Agadir that African Lion 2021 is “the largest U.S. military exercise ever conducted on this continent.” “This exercise has undoubtedly reached a degree of maturity that attests to the strength of cooperative relations between our respective armies,” said General Belkhir El Farouk, commander of the Moroccan Army’s Southern Zone. However, Spain, which is traditionally one of the exercise’s major participants, has withdrawn its support this year. Madrid has officially cited “budgetary constraints” as its reason for withdrawing from the 2021 African Lion, the Spanish newspaper El Pais wrote. Nevertheless, the actual reason was the Spanish government’s disagreement about Rabat legitimizing “the occupation of Western Sahara.” Spain has decided that “sending soldiers to these exercises would legitimize the Moroccan occupation,” El Pais wrote. Adding to the rift with Spain was the inclusion of the town of Mahbes in the exercise (although U.S. AFRICOM did not mention the town as part of the exercise). The town is the location of a 1985 battle over Western Sahara. Mahbes is about 100km away from the town of Tindouf in Algeria where the headquarters of the Algerian-backed Polisario Front military forces are. The Polisario Front is the resistance group that wants to split Western Sahara from Morocco. The issue of Western Sahara is just the latest in the confrontational relationship between Madrid and Rabat. Morocco has grown to view Spain as no longer a viable strategic partner. Just recently, Morocco allowed several thousand people to cross over to Spain’s North African enclave of Ceuta, over which Morocco claims sovereignty. The exercise carries on despite the Spanish absence. “African Lion 2021 is U.S. Africa Command’s premier, joint and multi-national annual exercise. African Lion is an excellent example of the United States’ long-term commitment to Africa and recognition of Africa’s strategic importance to the United States,” said U.S. AFRICOM’s commander, U.S. Army Gen. Stephen Townsend. “This exercise is all about readiness. Readiness of our partners, and readiness of our forces. It brings together various ideas, experiences, and capabilities — ultimately making us stronger partners and a more capable multi-national force,” added Townsend. “COVID-19 has not changed our focus on engaging with our Africa partners. Due to last year’s cancellation of African Lion, we had a head start in planning this year’s exercise,” said Townsend. “We understand how important this training is to our forces and our partners and how to better operate in a degraded COVID environment. We will ensure successful training while taking necessary COVID-19 precautionary measures in order to do so.” The exercise takes place in several locations in Morocco, including Agadir, Tifnit, Tan Tan, Mahbes, Tafraout, Ben Guerir, and Kenitra, as well as in Senegal, Tunisia, and Germany. U.S. and Royal Moroccan Forces (FAR), have been joined by the armed forces of Brazil, Canada, Great Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, Senegal, and Tunisia. In addition, military observers from 30 countries are present.
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Military Exercise
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Great Brink's Robbery
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The Great Brink's Robbery was an armed robbery of the Brink's Building at the east corner of Prince St. and Commercial St. in the North End of Boston, Massachusetts, on January 17, 1950. Today the building is a parking garage located at 600 Commercial Street. [1][2]
The $2.775 million ($29.9 million today) theft consisted of $1,218,211.29 in cash and $1,557,183.83 in checks, money orders, and other securities. It was then the largest robbery in the history of the United States, and remained so until 1984. The robbery, skillfully executed with few clues left at the crime scene, was billed as "the crime of the century". It was the work of an eleven-member gang, ten of whom were later arrested. [3]
Joseph "Big Joe" McGinnis was the originator of the heist, according to information later gleaned from Joseph "Specs" O'Keefe. He brought in Anthony Pino and Stanley "Gus" Gusciora. O'Keefe and Gusciora secretly entered the Brink's depot; they picked the outside lock with an ice pick and the inner door with a piece of plastic. They later temporarily removed the cylinders from the five locks, one at a time, so that a locksmith could make duplicate keys for them. Once this was done, Pino recruited seven other men, including Pino's brother-in-law Vincent Costa, Michael Vincent "Vinnie" Geagan, Thomas "Sandy" Francis Richardson, Adolf H. "Jazz" Maffie, Henry Baker, James "Guillemets" Faherty, and Joseph Banfield. The gang decided to wait for the optimal time for their heist. Pino studied schedules and was able to determine what the staff was doing based on when the lights in the building windows were on. O'Keefe and Gusciora stole the plans for the site alarms. The gang members entered the building on practice runs after the staff had left for the day. Costa monitored the depot from a room of a tenement building across Prince Street from the Brink's building. By the time they acted, the gang had planned and trained for two years. On January 17, 1950, after six aborted attempts, the robbers decided that the situation was favorable. They donned clothing similar to that of a Brink's uniform with navy pea coats and chauffeur's caps, along with rubber Halloween masks, gloves, and rubber-soled shoes. While Pino and driver Banfield remained in the getaway truck, seven other men entered the building at 6:55 PM. With their copied keys, they came to the second floor through the locked doors and surprised, bound, and gagged five Brink's employees who were storing and counting money. They failed to open the storage box containing the payroll of the General Electric Company's Lynn works (according to one account, this was due to precautions that included removing the exterior portion of the lock from the box before transport), but scooped up everything else. The robbers walked out at 7:30 p.m. They had taken money and four revolvers from the employees. The gang rapidly counted the loot and gave some of the members their cut. Then robbers scattered to establish their alibis. Brink's Incorporated offered a $100,000 reward for information. The only clues police could initially find were the rope that the robbers had used to tie the employees and a chauffeur's cap. Any information police could get from their informers initially proved useless. The truck that the robbers had used was found cut to pieces in Stoughton, Massachusetts, near O'Keefe's home. In June 1950, O’Keefe and Gusciora were arrested in Pennsylvania for a burglary. O’Keefe was sentenced to three years in Bradford County Jail and Gusciora to 5-to-20 years in the Western State Penitentiary at Pittsburgh. Police heard through their informers that O'Keefe and Gusciora demanded money from Pino and MacGinnis in Boston to fight their convictions. It was later claimed that most of O'Keefe's share went to his legal defense. FBI agents tried to talk to O'Keefe and Gusciora in prison but the two professed ignorance of the Brink's robbery. Other members of the group came under suspicion but there was not enough evidence for an indictment, so law enforcement kept pressure on the suspects. Adolph Maffie was convicted and sentenced to nine months for income tax evasion. After O'Keefe was released he was taken to stand trial for another burglary and parole violations and was released on a bail of $17,000. O'Keefe later claimed that he had never seen his portion of the loot after he had given it to Maffie for safekeeping. Apparently in need of money he kidnapped Vincent Costa and demanded his part of the loot for ransom. Pino paid a small ransom but then decided to try to kill O'Keefe. After a couple of attempts he hired underworld hitman Elmer "Trigger" Burke to kill O'Keefe. Burke traveled to Boston and shot O'Keefe, seriously wounding him but failed to kill him. The FBI approached O'Keefe in the hospital and on January 6, 1956, he decided to talk. On January 12, 1956, just five days before the statute of limitations was to run out, the FBI arrested Baker, Costa, Geagan, Maffie, McGinnis, and Pino. They apprehended Faherty and Richardson on May 16 in Dorchester. O'Keefe pleaded guilty January 18. Gusciora died on July 9. Banfield was already dead. A trial began on August 6, 1956.
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Bank Robbery
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Courvoisier Cognac’s 1828 Foundation Aims to Support Black-Owned Business Adversely Affected by the Pandemic
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The Courvoisier Cognac brand has long been synonymous with good vibes, but now they’re stepping up to offer substantive support to Black businesses impacted by the pandemic. They recently announced the launch of its global philanthropic platform Foundation 1828™ under its first formal action toward its $1 million financial commitment over five years to aid Black and minority small business owners and entrepreneurs adversely economically affected by COVID-19. Additionally, Courvoisier forged a multi-year partnership with National Urban League, a historic civil rights organization dedicated to economic empowerment, equality, and social justice. The partnership with National Urban League aims to equip the Black business community with critical resources – from educational programs and mentorship opportunities to financial support – exemplifying the very mission of Foundation 1828. “Entrepreneurs come in many different forms, from all walks of life and varying income levels. Courvoisier recognizes the importance of nurturing that drive, passion and creativity in these individuals around the globe – especially for those who may have the odds stacked against them,” said Jon Potter, Managing Director of Maison Courvoisier in a news release. “Foundation 1828 is designed to unify our mission and make a lasting impact by assessing the critical needs of underserved communities in our key global markets to build authentic programming that will provide long-lasting benefits to entrepreneurs for years to come.” Courvoisier will sponsor a virtual session as part of the Small Business Matters Entrepreneurship Day during the upcoming National Urban League Conference taking place on Thursday, September 30, 2021, allowing the brand to interact directly with entrepreneurs in underserved communities. As part of this year’s programming and the brand’s overall financial pledge, Courvoisier will award $200,000 in monetary grants and provide critical educational support to Black entrepreneurs and small business owners. This year’s virtual session entitled Marketing Your Business in the New Normal with Courvoisier Cognac includes a virtual pitch competition and educational marketing panel discussion. Led by Courvoisier Curators Chris Roy (Los Angeles) and Kwabena “K. Botchey” (Atlanta), panelists will provide marketing strategies and social media guidance to help minority small business owners and entrepreneurs re-engage with their audiences as they navigate an ever-changing landscape.
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Financial Aid
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1975 Philadelphia Gulf refinery fire
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A refinery owned by Gulf Oil Corporation in Philadelphia, located[1] at Girard Point on the Schuylkill River in South Philadelphia, caught fire on Sunday, August 17, 1975. This incident grew into an 11-alarm fire, not brought under control until 24 hours later, and resulted in the death of eight firefighters of the Philadelphia Fire Department (PFD), injuries to 14 other firefighters, and the loss of four PFD vehicles. [2]
At the height of this fire, the loss of the huge, sprawling refinery complex was regarded as a real possibility as a tremendous firestorm enveloped two storage tanks, travelled through portions of the on-site piping, and destroyed the refinery's administration building. [3]
The Girard Point Refinery, built in 1905, occupied 723 acres (2.93 km2) of land located on the east bank of the Schuylkill River, from Girard Point in the south to Penrose Avenue in the north, with the ARCO Point Breeze Refinery located on the north side of Penrose Avenue and extending toward Passyunk Avenue. [4] An elevated section of Penrose Avenue passes between the refineries site, leading to the Penrose Avenue Bridge, connecting the east and west sides of the Schuylkill River. At the time of 1975 fire, the Girard Point Refinery (the refinery) produced 180,000 barrels (29,000 m3) per day of refined petroleum products. Prior to August 17, 1975, the refinery had been the scene of ten extra-alarm fires since 1960. On September 9, 1960, several storage tanks were struck by lightning at the height of severe thunderstorms and resulted in an eight-alarm fire. On May 16, 1975, a six-alarm fire struck the refinery. At 12:45 a.m. on the morning of Sunday, August 17, 1975, the tanker M/T Afran Neptune, tied up at one of the Gulf Refinery docks, began pumping reconstituted Venezuelan crude oil (with an additional 5 percent naphtha) into Gulf Refinery Tank No. 231. Tank No. 231, built in 1929, of riveted seam construction, had a capacity of 75,000 barrels (11,900 m3) and had recently been renovated with an internal floating roof. Within the refinery's road system, the tank was located at Avenue “Y” and 4th Street. Avenue “Y” is an east-west street running parallel to and just to the north of the Penrose Avenue Bridge, while 4th Street is a north-south street running perpendicular to the Penrose Avenue Bridge and Avenue Y. Located just west of Tank No. 231 was Boiler House No. 4, the site of a four-alarm fire on April 22, 1967. A brick chimney arose from Boiler House No. 4 and this stack was a familiar sight to westbound motorists on the Penrose Avenue Bridge, as the word “GULF” was painted in large, white letters. Hydrocarbon vapors, emanating from Tank 231, accumulated in the area of the boiler house and were ignited by an unknown ignition source. A flame front followed the vapors back to Tank 231, causing fire at the tank's vents and an explosion within the outer shell of the stack. These events began to unfold at 5:57 a.m. Shortly thereafter, a second explosion occurred within Tank 231. Burning petroleum spilled from the tank's vents into a diked area surrounding the tank. Within the diked area, a second tank (No. 114) just north of Tank 231, containing No. 6 grade fuel oil, also ignited as pipelines within the diked area began to fail. The initial explosion also damaged the pipe manifold outside of the dike wall and petroleum pouring out under pressure ignited. At 6:04 a.m., upon receiving the report of fire from the Gulf Refinery, the Philadelphia Fire Department transmitted the refinery's fire alarm box: Box 5988, Penrose and Lanier Avenues. Upon leaving their station, Engine 60 (the assigned first-due engine company) could see fire and smoke conditions at a distance, and before arriving at the refinery, Engine 60 ordered the second alarm at 6:09 a.m.
First arriving companies had large clouds of heavy black smoke emanating from Tank No. 231, fire on top of Tank No. 114, and fire showing from the 150-foot (46 m) stack at Boiler House No. 4. The third and fourth alarms were ordered in quick succession by Battalion Chief 1, Arthur Foley, at 6:11 a.m. and 6:14 a.m. Acting Assistant Fire Chief Dalmon Edmunds ordered the fifth alarm at 6:34 am. The sixth alarm was ordered by Fire Commissioner Joseph Rizzo at 6:52 a.m.
Over the next several hours, firefighters utilized deluge guns and master streams to cool down surrounding exposures, and applied foam directly to the burning tanks and piping in an effort to extinguish the fire. By 8:44 a.m., it appeared that the fire was well contained and the situation sufficiently stabilized to declare the fire under control. Commissioner Rizzo remained on the firegrounds throughout the warm, muggy August day to continue to oversee the firefighting operation. Philadelphia's two foam pumpers, Engines 160 and 133, along with the Gulf Refinery's foam pumper, continued to apply foam to the burning tank, piping and manifolds. Additional foam was acquired throughout the day from the fire department's warehouse and the nearby Atlantic Richfield refinery. It was also obtained from the National Foam Company in West Chester, Pennsylvania. However, as the firefighting operation progressed, it became apparent that the refinery's sewage system was not up to the task of properly draining the foam, water and petroleum-naphtha product mixture that was accumulating on the ground along Avenue Y, between 4th Street and 5th Street to the east, running in front of the refinery's administration building. These drainage problems were further exacerbated by a decision by refinery personnel to shut off drainage pumps. These pumps were shut off as part of a decision to de-energize overhead power lines that ran adjacent to Tank 231 along 4th Street. As the liquid mixture continued to build up in Avenue Y, Engines 16 and 40 were sent to Avenue Y and 5th Street to draft from a sewer intake and pump the material to a diked area some distance away. Engine 133 was set up on the east side of Tank No. 231 at Avenue “Y” at 4th Street, applying foam to the tank. Three members were attending to the apparatus and wading in the foam-water-petroleum mixture which was accumulating on the ground. Commissioner Rizzo and Gulf Refinery manager Jack Burk were on an overhead catwalk nearby observing the fire-fighting operation. Without warning, and in full view of Commissioner Rizzo and Burk, the accumulating liquid surrounding Engine 133 ignited, immediately trapping the three firefighters working at Engine 133.
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Fire
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2001 Fishtail Air Eurocopter AS350 crash
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On 12 November 2001, a chartered Fishtail Air Eurocopter AS350 helicopter crashed on a flight from Gamgadhi Army Base to Surkhet in Western Nepal. The accident killed all 6 passengers and crew on board, including Princess Prekshya Shah of Nepal. The helicopter involved with the accident was a Eurocopter AS350 Écureuil, which Princcess Prekshya chartered from Nepalgunj. [2]
On board the helicopter was Princess Prekshya Shah of Nepal, the younger sister of Queen Aishwarya of Nepal and Queen Komal of Nepal as well as her doctor and security personnel among other acquaintances of the Princess. [3][4]
The helicopter took off at 11:25 NPT on 12 November 2001 from Gamgadhi Army Base. Shortly afterwards, the helicopter plunged into Rara Lake. [5] Two passengers were flung out of the aircraft mid air. [1] According to the Nepali Times, the Princess asked the pilot to "circle over Rara so she could get a better view of the lake when the craft dropped down into the lake while turning". [1]
Personnel from a nearby army base took 45 minutes to reach the crash site. Rescue helicopters were deployed and the Princess's body was recovered from the water. [6] At first, authorities assumed that there was only one survivor,[2] however, two passengers could be saved and were flown into hospitals in the Nepalgunj. [7][1][3]
In 2009, then Prime Minister of Nepal Pushpa Kamal Dahal alleged that the helicopter crash was directly linked to the Nepalese royal massacre. [8] However, this could not be proven. [citation needed]
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Air crash
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Kamome goes to the Olympics
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NBC Sports aired a documentary about the boat Kamome, a small boat ripped from Japan in the March 2011 tsunami that beached in California’s northern Del Norte County two years later, as part of their Olympic Games coverage on NBC stations throughout the country. The small training boat was traced to Takata High School in Rikuzentakata, Japan. Del Norte High School students in Crescent City, California decided to clean up the boat and send it back to the school in Japan. This small act of kindness began a series of improbable events, resulting first in student exchanges between the two schools, a sister school agreement and, in 2018, a formal Sister City relationship between Crescent City and Rikuzentakata. The connection also resulted in a children’s book now available in eight languages, an online school curriculum and animated versions of the story in English, Japanese, and Spanish. NBC always chooses at least one story to highlight a special relationship between the host country and the United States. Lori Dengler and Kamome in Crescent City on April 8, 2013, the day after the boat beached. The 23-minute NBC Kamome documentary features the remarkable similarities between Rikuzentakata and Crescent City. Both are small cities far from commercial centers and have had economic challenges in the decades before the tsunami. Both are dependent upon fisheries and timber industries. Both are renowned for rugged coastlines and spectacular scenery. And both share similar earthquake and tsunami hazards. The small City of Rikuzentakata, located in Iwate Prefecture about 250 miles NNE of Tokyo, was home to about 24,000 people before the 2011 Great East Japan earthquake and ensuing tsunami. It was hard hit by the tsunami. The entire downtown area, including City Hall and the schools, was destroyed. Surviving students were relocated to attend schools in available spaces outside of the city. 2011 was not the first time Rikuzentakata suffered tsunami damage. The great Sanriku tsunami of 1883 and the tsunami spawned by the 1960 Chile earthquake also ravaged the City’s coastal areas. Crescent City, California also has a long tsunami history. The worst historic tsunami was in 1964 when 29 city blocks were flooded by the Great Alaska earthquake. Eleven people in Del Norte County died. Tsunamis in 1957, 1960, and 2006 also caused some damage to the harbor. The 2011 Japan tsunami reached Crescent City nine and a half hours after the earthquake, destroying boats and docks. Fortunately, the tsunami warning systems alerted officials and most of the commercial fishing fleet was able to safely exit the harbor before the surges hit. Del Norte High School students visit Kamome in Rikuzentakata, January 2014.The return of Kamome to Rikuzentakata 31 months after the earthquake brought joy to a community struggling with loss and the hard work of recovery. The small boat became a symbol of resilience, not only in Rikuzentakata but during display tours at the Tokyo National Museum, Nagoya, and in the Kyoto area. The first student exchange occurred in February 2014 when six Del Norte High School students visited Japan. Eleven months later, 14 Takata High School students made the visit to Crescent City. A formal Sister City agreement was signed by officials of both cities in April of 2018 in Crescent City and, two months later, in a signing ceremony in Rikuzentakata. Officials from the two cities have involved not only cultural and business exchanges, but emergency preparedness as well. The Rikuzentakata experience has opened the eyes of Del Norte officials about the impacts of a tsunami generated from nearby and how important community education is to preparedness efforts. Sister City signing ceremony in Rikuzentakata, June 2018.The NBC Sports documentary shows how Kamome has become a symbol of resilience in both Japan and California. The documentary features footage in both Crescent City and Rikuzentakata and interviews with students involved in the exchange, City officials, and HSU retired Geology Professor Lori Dengler, who was instrumental in connecting Kamome to Rikuzentakata. The little boat that survived a tsunami and traveled nearly 5,000 miles to California has returned home. Two communities, separated by the Pacific Ocean, language and culture, have discovered that they are far more similar than they are different. The documentary can be viewed for free on NBC’s PeacockTV streaming service. Information on how to access PeacockTV is available at this website, along with other links as to the story of the boat, tsunami debris, the exchange, and Sister City relationship.
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Tsunamis
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Six-fold increase in people suffering famine-like conditions since pandemic began
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A new Oxfam report today says that as many as 11 people are likely dying of hunger and malnutrition each minute. This is more than the current global death rate of COVID-19, which is around seven people per minute. The report, "The Hunger Virus Multiplies" says that conflict remains the primary cause of hunger since the pandemic, pushing over half a million people into famine-like conditions ―a six-fold increase since 2020. Overall, 155 million people around the world are now living in crisis levels of food insecurity or worse – that is 20 million more than last year. Around two out of every three of these people are going hungry primarily because their country is in war and conflict. The report also describes the massive impact that economic shocks, particularly worsened by the coronavirus pandemic, along with the worsening climate crisis, have had in pushing tens of millions more people into hunger. Mass unemployment and severely disrupted food production have led to a 40 percent surge in global food prices - the highest rise in over a decade. Oxfam’s Executive Director Gabriela Bucher said: “Today, unrelenting conflict on top of the COVID-19 economic fallout, and a worsening climate crisis, has pushed more than 520,000 people to the brink of starvation. Instead of battling the pandemic, warring parties fought each other, too often landing the last blow to millions already battered by weather disasters and economic shocks.” Despite the pandemic, global military spending rose by $51 billion - enough to cover six and a half times what the UN says it needs to stop people going hungry. Meanwhile, conflict and violence have led to the highest ever number of internal displacement, forcing 48 million people to flee their homes at the end of 2020. “Starvation continues to be used as a weapon of war, depriving civilians of food and water and impeding humanitarian relief. People can’t live safely, or find food, when their markets are being bombed and crops and livestock destroyed.” Bahjah, a mother of eight from Hajjah governorate in Yemen, who had to flee multiple times, told Oxfam: “My husband is very old to work, and I am sick. We had no choice but to send our children to ask people for food or collect leftovers from restaurants. Even the food they managed to collect was not enough.” Bucher said: “The pandemic has also laid bare the deep inequality in our world. The wealth of the 10 richest people – nine of whom are men - increased by $413 billion last year. This is 11 times more than what the UN says is needed for its entire global humanitarian assistance.”Some of the world’s worst hunger hotspots, including Afghanistan, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Syria, and Yemen continue to be battered by conflict, and have witnessed a surge in extreme levels of hunger since last year. More than 350,000 people in Ethiopia's Tigray region are experiencing famine-like conditions according to recent IPC analysis - the largest number recorded since Somalia in 2011 when a quarter-million Somalis died. More than half the population of Yemen are expected to face crisis levels of food insecurity or worse this year. Hunger has also intensified in emerging epicentres of hunger ―middle-income countries such as India, South Africa, and Brazil― which also saw some of the sharpest rises in COVID-19 infections. Some examples of the report hunger hotspots include: Mulu Gebre, 26, who had to flee her hometown in Tigray, Ethiopia while 9 months pregnant, told Oxfam: “I came to Mekele because I heard that food and milk were offered for infants. When I arrived here, I couldn’t find food even for myself. I need food especially for my child, who is now only four months –and already born underweight.” Bucher said: “Informal workers, women, displaced people and other marginalized groups are hit hardest by conflict and hunger. Women and girls are especially affected, too often eating last and eating least. They face impossible choices, like having to choose between traveling to the market and risking getting physically or sexually assaulted, or watching their families go hungry.” “Governments must stop conflict from continuing to fuel catastrophic hunger and instead ensure aid agencies reach those in need. Donor governments must immediately and fully fund the UN’s humanitarian appeal to help save lives now. Security Council members must also hold to account all those who use hunger as a weapon of war.” “To prevent unnecessary deaths and millions more people being pushed to extreme poverty and hunger, governments must stop this deadly disease; a People’s Vaccine has never been more urgent. They must simultaneously build fairer and more sustainable food systems and support social protection programs.” Since the pandemic began, Oxfam has reached nearly 15 million of the world’s most vulnerable people with food, cash assistance and clean water, as well as with projects to support farmers. We work together with more than 694 partners across 68 countries. Oxfam aims to reach millions of people over the coming months and is urgently seeking funding to support its programmes across the world. Download "The Hunger Virus Multiplies: How the coronavirus is fuelling hunger in a hungry world". The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification is a scale measuring severety of acute food insecurity into five categories IPC Phase 1 to IPC Phase 5, with the most catastrophic level being IPC Phase 5. Oxfam calculated the percentage increase in those suffering famine-like conditions by dividing the total number of people in IPC 5 as of mid-June 2021 (IPC data, including current projections): 521,814, by the those in IPC 5 at end of 2019 (GRFC 2020): 84,500 - which amounts to a 517% increase, or just over 6 times more. Oxfam has applied the IPC crude death rate for IPC3 Phase to the Global Report on Food Crises (GRFC) 2021 global figure of 155 million people in IPC3+ to calculate the number of people who could die from hunger every minute. This will equal 7,750-15,345 per day (5-11 per minute). This is a conservative rate since Oxfam applied only the crude death rate for IPC Phase 3, which is lower than the expected crude death rates for people in IPC Phase 4 and 5. The global observed daily mortality rate for COVID-19 reached nearly 9,967 deaths per day for the week ending 14 June 2021, which is equivalent to 7 deaths per minute according to data from Johns Hopkins University and Oxford University “Our World in Data” database. Conflict is the primary factor pushing nearly 100 million people in 23 conflict-torn countries into crisis or worse levels of food insecurity. Source: GRFC 2021. While there are no officially declared “famines” in the world, four countries – namely Yemen, Ethiopia, South Sudan and Madagascar – are classified as suffering "famine-like conditions". For more information on how the IPC classifies famines please check here. Except for Madagascar, all countries facing famine-like conditions are torn by conflict. Most countries facing IPC Phase 4 (including Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Syria and Nigeria) are also hit by conflict. 20 out of the 25 countries mentioned in this report were impacted by the collective three drivers of hunger, covid, conflict and climate. India diet data is based on a survey conducted by the Center for Sustainable Employment at Azim Premji University on 4,879 people across 12 states during April and May 2020. Hunger figures in the West African Sahel countries are based on Cadre Harmonise’ IPC3+ records for Jun-Aug 2019 compared to the same period in 2020. According to Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) 2020 Global Report, 48 million people were living in internal displacement as a result of conflict and violence in 59 countries and territories as of 31 December 2020. This figure is the highest ever recorded. Stories, pictures, and video highlighting the impact of conflict, Covid-19 and climate on hunger across the globe are available on request. COVID-19 is deepening the hunger crisis in the world’s hunger hotspots and creating new epicentres of hunger across the globe. While governments must act to contain the spread of this deadly disease, Oxfam is also calling for urgent action to end this hunger crisis and build fairer, more robust, and sustainable food systems. A year and a half since Covid-19, deaths from hunger are outpacing the virus. Ongoing conflict, combined with the economic disruptions of the pandemic and an escalating climate crisis, have pushed millions people into extreme levels of food insecurity, some to the brink of starvation. Join us in helping communities overcome the #HungerVirus. The Covid-19 vaccines are owned by big pharmaceutical corporations who are refusing to share the science and tech that could speed up affordable mass production and distribution for the entire planet. Join people from around the world to call for a #PeoplesVaccine, available to all, everywhere, free of charge.
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Famine
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US existing home sales fall in August; price appreciation slowing
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WASHINGTON: The US home sales fell slightly more than expected in August as supply remained tight, but there are signs that the sharp acceleration in house prices and the Covid-19 pandemic-fueled demand have probably run their course. Still, the housing market remains hot. The report from the National Association of Realtors on Wednesday showed the smallest share of first-time homebuyers in more than 2-1/2 years and houses continuing to be snapped up after only 17 days on the market. "There is a suggestion here in the moderation of price gains and sales, and a declining share of first-time buyers, that a considerable portion of the stock adjustment of demand for homes to low rates and pandemic-driven population moves has taken place," said Conrad DeQuadros, senior economic advisor at Brean Capital in New York. Existing home sales dropped 2% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.88 million units last month. Sales fell in all four regions, with the densely populated South seeing a 3% decline. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast sales would fall to a rate of 5.89 million units in August. Single-family sales fell 1.9%, while condo/co-op sales dropped 2.8%. Home resales, which account for the bulk of US home sales, fell 1.5% on a year-on-year basis. The annual comparison was distorted by the pandemic-driven surge in sales in August 2020. Sales are up 16% so far this year compared to the same period in 2020. The housing market boomed early in the coronavirus pandemic amid an exodus from cities as people worked from home and took classes online, which fueled demand for bigger homes in the suburbs and other low-density areas. The surge, which was skewed towards the single-family housing market segment, far outpaced supply. Expensive building materials as well as land and labor shortages have made it harder for builders to boost production. Government data on Tuesday showed single-family homebuilding fell for a second straight month in August. Though the pandemic tailwind is fading, demand for housing remains strong thanks to near record low mortgage rates and rising wages from a tightening labor market. Mortgage rates could rise, with the Federal Reserve expected at the end of a two-day policy meeting later on Wednesday to clear the way to trimming its monthly bond purchases later this year. The US central is expected to keep its benchmark overnight interest rate near zero for a while. US stock indexes rebounded from recent losses as concerns over a default by China's Evergrande eased. The dollar was steady against a basket of currencies. US Treasury prices rose. Tight supply The median existing house price increased 14.9% from a year ago to $356,700 in August. The pace of increase is, however, slowing and bidding wars are subsiding. House prices soared by at least 23% in May. Sales remained concentrated in the upper price end of the market. Sales of homes below the $250,000 price range continue to experience double-digit declines. Residential investment contracted in the second quarter after three straight quarters of double-digit growth. August's sales decline implies less brokers' commissions. This together with the drop in housing starts suggests a further decrease in residential investment this quarter. There were 1.29 million previously owned homes on the market last month, down 13.4% from a year ago. At August's sales pace, it would take 2.6 months to exhaust the current inventory, down from 3 months a year ago. A six-to-seven-month supply is viewed as a healthy balance between supply and demand. Economists do not believe another housing bubble is developing as the acceleration is being mostly driven by a mismatch between supply and demand, rather than poor lending practices, which triggered the 2008 global financial crisis. In August, properties typically remained on the market for 17 days, unchanged from July, but down from 22 days a year ago. Eighty-seven per cent of the homes sold last month were on the market for less than a month. First-time buyers accounted for 29% of sales, the lowest since January 2019, down from 30% in July and 33% a year ago. All-cash sales accounted for 22% of transactions, down from 23% in July and up from 18% a year ago.
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Financial Crisis
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Locust attacks crops on 62,000 acres, PA told
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LAHORE:Provincial Minister for Disaster Management Khalid Mehmood on Friday told Punjab Assembly that the government conducted a locust survey on 2.6 million acres of land out of which 62,000 acres were found affected by the locust attack. Speaking during the question hour session in Punjab Assembly, the Provincial Minister stated that it was true that no compensation had been given to the farmers whose crops were attacked by locust because under the law, the compensation amount could only be paid when the loss was less than 50 percent. The session was chaired by Deputy Speaker Mir Dost Mohammed Mazari and later by Chairman of Panel Mian Mohammed Shafi. During the session, Suhaib Bhert, the PMLN MPA from Sargodha exchanged heated arguments with Parliamentary Secretary Syed Ghazanfar Hussein Shah for allegedly receiving inappropriate and incomplete answers. The chair on the occasion admonished the PMLN legislator and asked him to leave the House for using objectionable language. Besides, Parliamentary leader of PPP Hassan Murtaza grilled the govt for its inability to control the price hike. The PA session was adjourned after it failed to meet the quorum pointed out by an Opposition member.
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Insect Disaster
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FedEx Express Flight 1478 crash
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FedEx Express Flight 1478 was a scheduled domestic cargo flight from Memphis International Airport to Tallahassee International Airport. On July 26, 2002, the Boeing 727-232F aircraft flying this route crashed during landing at Tallahassee. All three flight crew members survived the accident with serious injuries, but the aircraft was destroyed. [1]
The aircraft involved was a Boeing 727-232 freighter registered as N497FE (serial number 20866 - line number 1067), that had its first flight on September 3, 1974. The aircraft was delivered to Delta Air Lines on September 13, 1986, and it was transferred to FedEx on December 2 of the same year. It was then transferred to TAP Air Portugal which leased it to Air Atlantis. In December 1987 the aircraft was subleased to Gulf Air Transport. The aircraft was later returned to FedEx and on December 13, 1989, it was converted into a freighter. [2]:18[3][4]
The three flight crew members were the aircraft's only occupants. [5][6] The captain was 55-year-old William Walsh who had been with FedEx Express since 1989 and had a total of 13,000 to 14,000 hours of flight experience, including 2,754 hours on the Boeing 727. His latest medical certificate issued by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) required him to wear corrective lenses in flight. [2]:13–15
The first officer was 44-year-old William Frye, who had been with FedEx Express since 1997, having previously served as a United States Navy pilot for 16 years. He had 8,500 flight hours, with 1,983 of them on the Boeing 727. According to his recent medical certificate, Frye was color blind but passed the Navy's color vision tests a total of 13 times. [2]:15–17[7]
The flight engineer was 33-year-old David Mendez, who had been with FedEx Express for less than a year and had 2,600 flight hours, including 346 hours on the Boeing 727. [2]:17–18
Flight 1478 departed at 4:12 AM EDT, with first officer Frye as the pilot flying. The flight was initially intending to land on runway 27 due to wind gusts. However, after receiving a weather update at 5:24, the flight crew changed to a straight-in visual approach to Runway 09. [1][8] Since the air traffic control (ATC) tower at Tallahassee did not open until 6:00, Flight 1478 was monitored by air traffic controllers in Jacksonville. [9]
At 5:30, first officer Frye said, "okay, I think I got a runway now." The flight crew then discussed the runway and the position of the aircraft. At 5:36, Flight 1478 was descending through an altitude of 1,000 feet (300 m) and turning towards runway 09 from the airfield traffic pattern. At this time the precision approach path indicator (PAPI) lights displayed one red light and three white lights. The aircraft was slightly low at the final approach fix, but the crew failed to notice. 30 seconds before impact the aircraft was at 500 feet (150 m), all four PAPI lights were red, indicating the aircraft was well below the glideslope. At the same time the ground proximity warning system (GPWS) sounded a "five hundred" feet above ground level warning. Captain Walsh responded, "stable" while first officer Frye said "gonna have to stay just a little bit higher... I'm gonna lose the end of the runway. "[2] At 5:37, with the landing gear lowered and the flaps at 30 degrees, the aircraft impacted 50-foot (15 m)-high trees located 3,650 feet (1,110 m) short of the runway. The aircraft remained airborne for 1,000 feet (300 m) and then crashed into the ground sliding 1,100 feet (340 m), striking a construction vehicle in the process and rotating 260 degrees before coming to a stop. [1][7] Tallahassee International Airport was closed until 10:35. [10][11]
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) conducted an investigation into the accident, determining that the cause of the accident was the flight crew's failure to maintain an appropriate flight path during a visual approach at night. The flight crew were also fatigued and did not adhere to standard operating procedures (SOP). [1][2][12]
The flight crew testified the approach was normal until the last moment, and none of the crew verbalized that all four PAPIs were red. The approach was not stabilized by 500 feet (150 m) above ground level and the flight crew failed to initiate a go-around. First officer Frye also underwent an eye test after the accident, revealing that it was difficult for him to distinguish between red, green and white. The NTSB concluded that based on the results this made it difficult for Frye to distinguish between the color of the PAPI lights. [7]
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Dirgantara Air Service Flight 5940 crash
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Dirgantara Air Service Flight 5940 was a domestic scheduled passenger flight, operated by military-owned airline Dirgantara Air Service, from South Kalimantan's provincial capital of Banjarmasin to Sampit, the capital of the East Kotawaringin Regency. On 7 December 1996, a CASA C-212 Aviocar registered as PK-VSO crashed onto a gas factory shortly after take off from Syamsudin Noor International Airport. 17 people, including one on the ground, died at the scene, 12-year-old child died on the way to the hospital while a worker died at the hospital. One passenger, identified as 40-year-old Irianto, was the only one who survived the crash. Official investigation determined that the crew lost control of the plane after its right engine malfunctioned. [1]
The flight took off from Syamsudin Noor International Airport around 15:30 local time with 15 passengers and 2 crew members and was heading to Sampit, a city known for its strategic location and economy in South Kalimantan. The aircraft was piloted by Captain Herybert and was co-piloted by First Officer Sofyan Noor. Approximately one minute after take off, the right engine malfunctioned. The crew then reported to the tower, but instead of reporting the malfunctioning engine, the crew accidentally reported the other engine was working normally. The crew then stated that they would "return to base", but whilst making an emergency landing they lost control of the aircraft and it crashed through the rooftops of PT. Barox Utama Jaya, a factory producing oxygen tanks and acetylene. The crash site was located 3 km (1.9 mi) from the airport. [2]
13 passengers and both crew members were killed. A factory worker was also killed and 3 others were injured due to the subsequent explosions. Two passengers of Flight 5940, identified as 40-year old Irianto and 12-year old Rusdiana survived the impact. Both were rushed to nearby hospitals. Rusdiana however succumbed to her injuries while on the way to the hospital. A worker who initially survived the crash in critical injuries, died due to the severity of his injuries. [3]
The aircraft was carrying 15 passengers, including a 12-year-old child, and 2 crew members. Little is known about the crews' flying experience. The bodies were evacuated to Syamsudin Noor Hospital in Banjarmasin. The repatriation and identification progress were observed by the then South Kalimantan Governor Gusti Hanan Aman. The sole survivor was a 40-year-old man identified by authorities as Irianto. He suffered bone fractures and facial injuries and underwent a 4-hour surgery in Dr. Soeharsono Military Hospital. The surgery was conducted by Lieutenant Colonel Dr. Dedi Zamhuri from the nearby Indonesian Air Force Military Hospital. [3]
Immediately after the crash, the Indonesian Ministry of Transportation appointed the NTSC to conduct an investigation into the cause of the crash. As the plane was a produced both by the Indonesian IPTN and the Spanish CASA, they expected the Spanish investigation team to join and assist the NTSC. [3]
According to the ATC worker in Syamsudin Noor Airport, Captain Herybert had announced the engine failure and had stated his intentions to make an emergency landing. According to the Indonesian Transportation Minister, Haryanto Dhanutirto, the procedure the crew took was correct, and this claim was also correct. Observation on the crash site revealed that the plane's wreckage was heading towards the airport, meaning that the crew did attempt to return to the airport. [3]
In response to the crash, the Governor of South Kalimantan visited the survivor and the injured shortly after hearing the news. Indonesian Minister of Transportation Haryanto Dhanutirto visited the crash site. He, alongside with the South Kalimantan Governor, made a condolence statement to the families affected by the crash. Haryanto later added that the local government should make a regulation on industrial location around the airport and its risks. [3]
The insurance company told the media that there would be compensation for each passengers and crew members at Rp 40 million each person. They stated that they would only compensate the surviving passenger's hospital bill, up to a maximum of Rp 10 million. The insurance company, however, would not compensate the victims on the ground. [2]
The General Manager of PT. Barox Utama Jaya, Ranius, stated that he demanded a compensation from the airliner. He stated that his company suffered a Rp 500 million loss due to the crash, specifically a loss of a Fuso truck, an electrical generator, and the shutdown of the factory for three consecutive days. He later added that he would file a lawsuit if the airliner dismissed his demands. [3]
The CASA C-212 Aviocar was produced by the Spanish CASA and the Indonesian IPTN. The head of IPTN Bacharuddin Jusuf Habibie claimed that the plane was "tough" in its class. For example, he noted the crash of a CASA C-212 in 1991 in Tihengo Mountain when the plane flew onto a tree and became stuck. Habibie stated that the plane didn't suffer any substantial damage. The same year a Pelita Air Service CASA C-212 crashed into the sea off Lampung. This crash later caused a public debate on the worthiness of the plane. [4]
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