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300 million yen robbery
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The 300 million yen robbery (三億円事件, San Oku En Jiken), also known as the 300 million yen affair or incident, was a robbery that occurred on December 10, 1968 in Tokyo, Japan. A man posing as a police officer on a motorcycle stopped bank employees transferring money and stole 294 million yen. [1] It was the single largest heist in Japanese history at the time. Half a century later, the case remains unsolved. [2][3][4][5]
On the morning of December 10, 1968, four Kokubunji branch employees of the Nihon Shintaku Ginko (Nippon Trust Bank) transported 294,307,500 yen (about US$817,520 at 1968 exchange rates) in the trunk of a company car. The metal boxes contained bonuses for the employees of Toshiba's Fuchu factory. They were stopped in the street next to Tokyo Fuchū Prison by a young uniformed officer on a police motorcycle. They were a mere 200 meters from their destination. [6][7] The police officer informed them that their branch manager's house had been blown up, and they had received a warning that dynamite had been planted in the transport car. The four employees exited the vehicle while the officer crawled under the car to locate the bomb. Moments later, the employees noticed smoke and flames under the car as the officer rolled out, shouting that it was about to explode. When the employees retreated to the prison walls, the police officer got into the car and drove away. Although commonly known as the 300 million yen robbery, the event would be considered as a theft instead of a robbery under Japanese criminal law. The bank employees believed the thief was a police officer, and accepted his story about the bomb because threatening letters had been sent to the bank manager beforehand. The smoke and flames turned out to be the result of a warning flare he had ignited while under the car. At some point, the thief abandoned the bank's car and transferred the metal boxes to another car, stolen beforehand. That car too was abandoned, and the boxes transferred once again to another previously stolen vehicle. There were 120 pieces of evidence left at the scene of the crime, including the "police" motorcycle, which had been painted white. However, the evidence was primarily common everyday items, scattered on purpose to confuse the police investigation. A 19-year-old man, the son of a police officer, was suspected just after the robbery. He died of potassium cyanide poisoning on December 15, 1968. He had no alibi. However, the money was not found at the time of his death. His death was deemed a suicide and he was considered not guilty, according to official record. A massive police investigation was launched, posting 780,000 montage pictures throughout Japan. The list of suspects included 110,000 names, and 170,000 policemen participated in the investigation — the largest investigation in Japanese history. [citation needed] This includes an examination of the fingerprints gathered from the scene and comparison of them to those on file. Six million fingerprints on file were compared individually, however no matches were found. [8]
On December 12, 1969, a 26-year-old man was suspected by the Mainichi Shimbun. He was arrested on an unrelated charge, but he had an alibi; the robbery occurred on the day he was taking a proctored examination. As the arrest was made based on false pretenses, the arresting police officer, Mitsuo Muto, was accused of abuse of power. A friend of the 19-year-old suspect was arrested on an unrelated charge on November 15, 1975, just before the statute of limitations. He had a large amount of money and was suspected of the robbery. He was 18 years old when the robbery occurred. The police asked him for an explanation for the large amount of money, but he did not say anything and they were not able to prove that his money had come from the robbery. After a seven-year investigation, police announced in December 1975 that the statute of limitations on the crime had passed. [9] As of 1988, the thief has also been relieved of any civil liabilities, allowing him to tell his story without fear of legal repercussions. The case was profiled in 2001 on the show Project X, a NHK-TV series focusing on the accomplishments of Japanese of the Greatest Generation. The episode profiled fingerprint specialist Uhei Tsukamoto's attempt to solve the case and another robbery. [8]
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Bank Robbery
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1998 IAAF World Road Relay Championships
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The 1998 IAAF World Road Relay Championships was the fourth and final edition of the global, international marathon relay competition, organised by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF). [1] The event took place on 18–19 April in Manaus, Brazil with the participation of 222 athletes from 28 nations. The women's race took place on Saturday 18 April, starting at 9:00 AM Amazon Standard Time, and featured twelve national teams comprising a total 72 athletes. [2] The men's race took place on Sunday 19 April, also starting at 9:00 AM Amazon Standard Time, and featured 25 national teams comprising a total 150 athletes. [3]
Each national team consisted of six athletes, who alternately covered six stages to complete the 42.195 km marathon distance. The first, third and fifth stages were of 5 km, the second and fourth stages were of 10 km, and the final stage covered the remaining 7.195 km. [4] Rather than using the traditional baton associated with relay races, athletes passed a wrist band to their compatriots at end of each leg. [5] Prize money totalling US$420,000 was awarded to the athletes of the medal-winning teams: $120,000 for the winning team, $60,000 for the silver medallists and $30,000 for third place, with the winnings split evenly between the team's six athletes. [6][7]
The Ethiopian and Kenyan teams took the top two spots in both races, with the Ethiopian women being victorious in a time of 2:21:15 hours and the Kenyan men coming out on top in a time of 2:01:13 hours. These represented two title defences, as both teams won those races at the previous edition in 1996. Romania took the bronze medals in the women's race and the host nation, Brazil, came third in the men's race – the second time it reached the podium after being men's runners-up at the 1996 championships. [8][9]
The women's race took place in difficult weather conditions, with high humidity and a temperature around 34 degrees Celsius (93° Fahrenheit). Kenya's Jackline Maranga led the pack in the first stage at 15:39 minutes, with Ethiopia's Yimenashu Taye 19 seconds in arrears and Japan's Takako Kotorida another 20 seconds back. On the second leg Gete Wami overhauled Kenya's Jane Omoro to put Ethiopia in first place, while Alina Tecuţă had the second fastest time to bring Romania into third place. Ethiopia extended its lead in the third leg through stage winner Genet Gebregiorgis and Miyo Nakano brought Japan to third again. [6]
A strong leg four by Cristina Pomacu returned Romania to third place and Alla Zhilyaeva won the stage to bring Russia back up the ranks. Ayelech Worku cemented Ethiopia's lead by completing the fifth stage eleven seconds faster than Kenya's Naomi Mugo, now over a minute behind, while Romania's Constantina Diță pulled further away from fourth-placed Japan. Kenya's Sally Barsosio attempted to close down Ethiopia's Merima Denboba in the final leg, but was unable to do so, finishing over half a minute behind the Ethiopian despite her leg of 24:09 minutes. The conditions severely affected some of the teams: Russia trailed by three and a half minutes in the first leg due to Yelena Motalova struggling,[6] Mexico's Judith Ramirez took nearly seven minutes longer than Russia's Zhilyaeva to finish her 10K fourth leg, and Ecuador's Sara Nivisela took nearly four minutes longer to complete the 5-kilometre fifth leg than did Ethiopia's Ayelech Worku. [8]
The following morning, the weather conditions proved a little more amenable to the male runners, with humidity dropping to 85% and the temperature falling to 28 degrees Celsius (82° Fahrenheit). John Kibowen led off the Kenyan team as front runner and was narrowly edged out by Ethiopia's Million Wolde in the first stage, with both recording 13:44 minutes for the 5 km, and a battle for third emerged between Brazil's Elenilson da Silva and Portugal's Hélder Ornelas some 15 seconds adrift. Stage two saw Kenya emerge as clear leaders as Paul Koech gained 49 seconds on his Ethiopian rival Ayele Mezgebu. Behind them, Japan's Tomoaki Kunichika pulled level Alberto Maravilha (Portugal) and Tomix da Costa (Brazil) in the chase for third as the athletes neared the mid-point. [9][7]
Benjamin Limo completed the fourth leg 24 seconds faster than the rest of the field to keep Kenya's lead. Brazil's Ronaldo da Costa gained a ten-second gap in third, with Japan (Masatoshi Ibata) and Portugal (Angelo Pacheco) both slowing in fourth and fifth. Tom Nyariki made it three consecutive stage wins for Kenya in the fifth leg, gaining over 40 seconds over second placed Ethiopian Tesfaye Tolla. Elijah Mutandiko's 33-minute 10K leg (second fastest of the stage) brought Zimbabwe into fifth place, as Portugal fell back. Ethiopia rallied in the fifth stage with Fita Bayisa running 5 km in 14:16 minutes to draw nearer to Kenya's John Kosgei. A poor run from Ethiopia's Alene Emere saw Kenyan Paul Malakwen Kosgei ease to victory with over two and a half minutes to spare. Consistentcy saw Brazil claim third place, with Sergio Goncalves da Silva finishing around a minute after the Ethiopian. Zimbabwe's Abel Chimukoko had the second fastest time of the final stage, which saw his mostly-barefooted team overhaul Japan for fourth place by a margin of three seconds. Denmark's Jorgen Gamborg failed to complete his last leg – the only athlete at the competition to do so – meaning his team was eliminated. [9][7]
Key:
Fastest in stage
Key:
Fastest in stage
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Sports Competition
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1991 M4 motorway crash
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On 13 March 1991, a multiple-vehicle collision occurred during foggy conditions on the eastbound carriageway of the M4 motorway near Hungerford, Berkshire, between the Membury service station and junction 14. Ten people were killed in the pile-up, which involved 51 vehicles, making it one of the deadliest crashes in the history of Britain's motorway network. A van driver claimed something flew up in front of him, believed to be jackdaws, startling him and causing him to skid into the central reservation, but it was later reported that he fell asleep at the wheel. A car travelling behind the van changed lanes to avoid contact but other vehicles behind, which were travelling at speeds averaging 70 miles per hour, failed to avoid the crashed van and skidded into the other lanes of the carriageway. Others took evasive action by driving onto the hard shoulder and up the sides of the cutting. An articulated lorry then jack-knifed across all three lanes of the eastbound carriageway. One driver – Alan Bateman – freed himself from his car and ran back down the central reservation to warn approaching motorists, but was ignored or hooted by some drivers as they continued towards the crash. [1] In a period of 19 seconds, 51 vehicles became involved in a pile-up. Car fuel exploded along with the highly combustible material being carried in one of the vans (possibly deodorant) and the resultant series of explosions closed the carriageway for four days as the charred wrecks were removed and the road surface replaced. Ten people were killed and 25 others were injured, making it one of the worst pile-ups on a motorway in Britain. There were three minor collisions caused by distracted drivers on the opposite carriageway of the motorway. It was particularly noted at the time that there were more people killed and injured in the crash than in the British Army from enemy fire in the Gulf War. [2]
In parliament, MP Michael McNair-Wilson asked why the Thames Valley and Wiltshire police forces had not activated the motorway hazard lights to warn drivers of the patchy fog, but the under-secretary for transport, Christopher Chope, stated that these signs were only used for hazards not readily apparent to drivers and not for adverse weather conditions. [3] The crash led to warning signals being introduced on British motorways to warn drivers of fog. The accident took place at the time of year when daffodils bloom in Southern England. After the accident, some police officers who attended the scene planted daffodil bulbs in the bank on the side of the road next to the accident. For many years in the middle of March, the site was marked by a patch of yellow. Coordinates: 51°28′11″N 1°31′15″W / 51.4696°N 1.5209°W / 51.4696; -1.5209
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Road Crash
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‘Great Freedom’ wins top prize at Sarajevo Film Festival
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Sebastian Miese’s Austrian-German drama Great Freedom has won the Sarajevo Film Festival’s top prize, the Heart of Sarajevo for best feature film.
The 2021 winners were announced at an awards ceremony last night (August 20). The film received its world premiere at Cannes last month, where it played in Un Certain Regard and won the jury prize.
The love story tracks the persecution of homosexuality in Germany over the decades following the Second World War. It is the Austrian director’s second film following Still Life and is sold by The Match Factory. The award comes with a prize of €16,000 ($18,700).
Austria’s Georg Friedrich won Sarajevo’s best actor prize for his role in Great Freedom as an imprisoned convicted murderer who forms a relationship with his long-time cellmate, who has been jailed for being gay. Friedrich is known for winning the Berlinale’s Silver Bear in 2017 for his performance in Thomas Arslan’s Bright Nights.
Great Freedom also won the CICAE Award during the festival.
Serbia’s Milica Tomović picked up the best director award and €10,000 ($11,700) for her comedy drama Celts, which premiered in the Berlinale’s Panorama strand in March.
The best actress award was shared by the three leads of The Hill Where Lionesses Roar - Flaka Latifi, Era Balaj and Urate Shabani, who each made their feature debut in the Kosovo-set drama. French-Kosovan filmmaker Luàna Bajrami directed the feature, which premiered in Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes.
The awards were chosen by a jury that comprised US writer/director Mike Cahill, Hungarian writer/director Lili Horvát, Viennale artistic director Eva Sangiorgi and Austrian Film Commission executive director Martin Schweighofer, presided over by Serbian actress Jasna Duricic.
Marta Popivoda’s Germany-France co-production Landscapes Of Resistance took the best documentary prize while the special jury award went to Stefan Pavlovic’s Looking For Horses. Sarajevo’s Human Rights Award went to Ahmet Necdet Cupur’s documentary Les Enfants Terribles.
The festival previously awarded an honorary Heart of Sarajevo to director Wim Wenders.
The 27th Sarajevo Film Festival opened on August 13 with the world premiere of Danis Tanovic’s Not So Friendly Neighbourhood Affair and closes tonight with Dragan Bjelogrlic’s Serbian feature Toma.
Best feature film – Great Freedom (Ger-Austria)Dir: Sebastian Miese
Best director – Milica Tomović, Celts (Serb)
Best actress – Flaka Latifi, Era Balaj and Urate Shabani, The Hill Where Lionesses Roar (Kos-Fr)
Best actor – Georg Friedrich, Great Freedom (Ger-Austria)
Best documentary – Landscapes Of Resistance (Ger-Fr)Dir: Marta Popivoda
Special jury award – Looking For Horses (Neth-Fr-B&H)Dir: Stefan Pavlovic
Special jury mention – The Same Dream (Rom)Dir: Vlad Petri
Human rights award – Les Enfants Terribles (Tur-Ger-Fr)Dir: Ahmet Necdet Cupur
Best student film – Summer Planning (Rom)Dir: Alexandru Mironescu
17 November 2021
10 projects will receive €10,000 HBF Script and Project Development support.
17 November 2021
Greece’s Thessaloniki International Film Festival (TIFF) took place as a hybrid event from November 4-14.
17 November 2021
The ninth edition of Doha Film Institute’s youth and family-focused festival ran November 7-13.
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17 November 2021
Harris takes over from Greg Dyke.
17 November 2021
UK’s Brilliant Pictures is producing and selling the title.
17 November 2021
The film will receive the awards for best cinematography and best original score at the ceremony in December.
Screen International is the essential resource for the international film industry. Subscribe now for monthly editions, awards season weeklies, access to the Screen International archive and supplements including Stars of Tomorrow and World of Locations.
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Awards ceremony
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Korean Air Lines Flight 902 crash
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Korean Air Lines Flight 902 (KAL 902) was a scheduled Korean Air Lines flight from Paris to Seoul via Anchorage. On 20 April 1978, the Soviet air defense shot down the aircraft serving the flight, a Boeing 707, near Murmansk, Soviet Union, after the aircraft violated Soviet airspace. [2][3]
Flight 902 had veered off course over the Arctic Ocean and entered Soviet airspace near the Kola Peninsula, whereupon it was intercepted and fired upon by a Soviet fighter jet. The incident killed two of the 109 passengers and crew members aboard and forced the plane to make an emergency landing on the frozen Korpijärvi lake near the Finnish border. [4]
Flight 902 departed from Paris, France, at 13:39 local time on a course to Seoul, South Korea. [5] The plane's only scheduled stop was in Anchorage, Alaska, US, where it would refuel and proceed to Seoul, avoiding Soviet airspace. [5] It was commanded by Captain Kim Chang Kyu, with Co-pilot Cha Soon Do and Flight Engineer Lee Khun Shik making up the other flight deck crew. [6][7] The aircraft made regular radio check-ins as it flew northwest, the last of which, five hours and twenty one minutes after takeoff, placed it near CFS Alert on Ellesmere Island. [5] The aircraft's flight path took it almost directly over the North Magnetic Pole, causing large errors in the aircraft's magnetic compass-based navigation systems. Its course then turned to the southeast and it flew over the Barents Sea and into Soviet airspace, reaching the Soviet coast an estimated three hours and 1,500 miles (2,400 km) after its southward turn. [5]
Soviet air defence radar spotted the plane at 20:54, when the plane was approximately 400 kilometres (250 mi) away from Soviet territorial waters. [8] At 21:19 the plane entered Soviet airspace. As the plane did not respond to multiple requests from the ground, a Su-15 interceptor, piloted by Alexander Bosov, was dispatched to intercept the airliner. Having approached KAL902, Bosov waggled the Su-15's wings multiple times, using the international signal for the airliner to follow the interceptor. Instead KAL902 made a 90 degree turn towards the Soviet-Finnish border. Bosov reported the attempted escape from Soviet airspace to the Air Defence Command Officer Vladimir Tsarkov, and the latter, based on internal instructions, commanded Bosov to shoot down KAL902. [citation needed]
According to Kim's account of the attack, the interceptor approached his aircraft from the right side rather than the left as required by International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) regulation. [8] Kim decreased his speed and turned on the navigation lights, indicating that he was ready to follow the Soviet fighter for landing. [8]
According to Soviet reports, the airliner repeatedly ignored commands to follow the interceptor. [9] Flight 902's co-pilot, S.D. Cha, said that the crew had attempted to communicate with the interceptor via radio, but did not receive a response. [6]
Bosov tried to convince his superiors that the plane was not a military threat, but after receiving orders to shoot it down[10][8] at 21:42 he fired an R-60 missile[citation needed]. The missile flew past the target. [8] The second one hit the left wing, knocking off approximately 4 metres (13 ft) of its length. The missile also punctured the fuselage, causing rapid decompression and jamming one of the plane's four turbines. [8] Korean passenger Bahng Tais Hwang died in the missile strike, which wounded several others. [6]
After being hit, the airliner quickly descended from an altitude of 9,000 m (30,000 ft). [8] It fell into a cloud, disappearing from Soviet air defence radars. Soviets mistook the part of the wing that had fallen off Flight 902 for a cruise missile and dispatched another Su-15 interceptor to fire at it. [8] Bosov's Su-15 had to return to airbase due to low fuel. Accounts of the time between the missile strike and Flight 902's landing differ. According to Soviet media the airliner flew across the whole Kola Peninsula at a low altitude for about 40 minutes, searching for a place to land. After several unsuccessful attempts at landing, Kim brought the plane down on the ice of the frozen Korpijärvi lake in Karelian ASSR, located approximately 140 kilometres (87 mi) from the Finnish border. [8][11] According to the diary of a passenger on board Flight 902, an account supported by other passengers, an hour and 40 minutes elapsed before the landing. [6] About two hours after the crash landing, Soviet troops reached the plane to begin the rescue effort, by which time Japanese passenger Yoshitako Sugano had died. [6]
Finnish sources stated that Soviet air defense did not have any information on the plane's whereabouts after it disappeared from the radar. [8] However, Tsarkov stated that another Soviet pilot, Anatoly Kerefov, had located Flight 902 and led it to the Afrikanda air base. [8] Tsarkov went on to say that Kim fell behind and landed on the lake. [8] Kerefov said he practically forced the plane to land on the ice of Korpijärvi. [8]
Soviet helicopters rescued the survivors and transported them to the city of Kem in Karelia. The passengers were quartered in the garrison's Officers' Lodge. [8]
On 22 April, the survivors, except the pilot and navigator, were transported via Aeroflot from Kem to Murmansk, then by Pan American World Airways to Helsinki-Vantaa Airport in Finland, where a Korean Air Lines aircraft departed on 23 April for Seoul with the group of Flight 902 survivors and the bodies of those killed. [12]
On 29 April, the pilot and navigator of Flight 902 were released. [7] TASS, the official news agency of the Soviet Union, said that they had confessed to violating Soviet airspace and disregarding orders from the intercepting aircraft to land. [7] According to TASS, the pair had appealed for clemency to the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, which pardoned and expelled them. [7]
The Soviet Union billed South Korea US$100,000 ($396,800 today) for its caretaking of the passengers; however, the bill was never paid by South Korea. [13]
The Soviet Union refused to cooperate with international experts while they investigated the incident and did not provide any data from the plane's "black box". [8] The airplane was dismantled and all equipment transferred by helicopter onto a barge in Kandalaksha Gulf. [8] The deputy chief commanding officer of Soviet air defense, Yevgeny Savitsky, personally inspected the aircraft's cockpit. [8]
The crew of Flight 902 blamed navigational error for the plane's course.
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Air crash
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Harlan County War
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The Harlan County War, or Bloody Harlan, was a series of coal mining-related skirmishes, executions, bombings, and strikes (both attempted and realized) that took place in Harlan County, Kentucky, during the 1930s. The incidents involved coal miners and union organizers on one side, and coal firms and law enforcement officials on the other. [1] The question at hand: the rights of Harlan County coal miners to organize their workplaces and better their wages and working conditions. It was a nearly decade-long conflict, lasting from 1931 to 1939. Before its conclusion, an indeterminate number of miners, deputies, and bosses would be killed, state and federal troops would occupy the county more than half a dozen times, two acclaimed folk singers would emerge, union membership would oscillate wildly, and workers in the nation's most anti-labor coal county would ultimately be represented by a union. In the throes of the Great Depression, Harlan County coal owners and operators, in an effort to expand national dependency on their fuel, chose to sell below cost. [citation needed] On February 16, 1931, in order to prevent operating at a loss, the Harlan County Coal Operators' Association cut miners' wages by 10%. Reacting to the unrest created within Harlan's already-impoverished labor force, the United Mine Workers of America (UMW) attempted to organize the county's miners. [2][3] Employees who were known by their bosses to be union members were initially fired and evicted from their company-owned homes. However, before long, most of the remaining workforce had gone on strike out of sympathy. [4] Only three of Harlan's incorporated towns were not owned by mines, and hungry and evicted workers and their families sought refuge in them, primarily in the town of Evarts. They found sympathy there with spurned politicians and business owners who wished to see the company stores vanish. [4]
At the peak of the first strike, 5,800 miners were idle and only 900 working. [5] The strikebreakers were protected by private mine guards with full county deputy privileges, who were legally able to exercise their powers with impunity outside the walls of their employers. [5][6] They operated under sheriff J.H. Blair, a man who made his allegiance to the mine owners clear: "I did all in my power to aid the operators ... there was no compromise when labor troubles swept the county and the 'Reds' came to Harlan County. "[7] The citizens of Harlan, for their part, lost any illusions they may have held about impartiality in law enforcement. Songwriter Florence Reece reported:
Sheriff J.H. Blair and his men came to our house in search of Sam – that's my husband – he was one of the union leaders. I was home alone with our seven children. They ransacked the whole house and then kept watch outside, waiting to shoot Sam down when he came back. But he didn't come home that night. Afterward I tore a sheet from a calendar on the wall and wrote the words to 'Which Side Are You On?' to an old Baptist hymn, 'Lay the Lily Low'. My songs always goes to the underdog – to the worker. I'm one of them and I feel like I've got to be with them. There's no such thing as neutral. You have to be on one side or the other. Some people say, 'I don't take sides – I'm neutral.' There's no such thing. In your mind you're on one side or the other. In Harlan County there wasn't no neutral. If you wasn't a gun thug, you was a union man. You had to be. [8]
Strikers exchanged gunshots with private guards and local law enforcement, and strikebreakers were set upon and beaten. [9][10][11] The most violent attack by mine workers occurred on May 5, 1931, and became known as the Battle of Evarts. The miners lay in ambush for cars delivering materials to strikebreakers, and shot at them. Three company men and one striker were killed in the exchange of gunfire. In response to the violence, the Kentucky National Guard was called in. The strikers expected protection, but upon replacing deputized mine guards, the National Guard broke the picket lines instead. [12] On May 24 a union rally was tear-gassed, and Sheriff Blair rescinded county members' right to assemble. By June 17, the last mine had returned to work. No concessions were given by the mine operators, and UMW membership plummeted. [13]
In the wake of the UMW failure, the openly Communist National Miners' Union (NMU) made a brief play for Harlan County. Though most workers felt disillusioned with organized labor structure, the NMU's radical ideology gained some traction: ten local lodges sprang up before the Harlan County NMU was officially chartered. The smaller but more passionate NMU made greater relief efforts than the UMW had, opening several soup kitchens throughout the county. [14] Ultimately, their attempts at strikes, while weak in surrounding counties, were utter failures in Harlan, where only a fraction of the workforce walked out in 1931 and 1932. [15] Ultimately, a combination of events broke the NMU's foothold: local labor organizers, many of them clergy, learned of the Communist leadership's animosity toward religion and denounced the organization, Young Communist League organizer Harry Simms was killed in Harlan, and the American Red Cross and local charities, who had been unwilling to take sides in a labor dispute, began giving aid to blacklisted miners who were unemployable as the NMU's financial troubles necessitated the closing of its soup kitchens. [16]
Under the auspices of the National Industrial Recovery Act, which promoted the right to organize one's workplace and outlawed discrimination and firing based on union membership, approximately half of Harlan's coal mines, those in the Harlan County Coal Operators' Association, were run as open shops from October 27, 1933 – March 31, 1935. An open shop allows union membership but does not mandate it.
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Strike
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6 die in collapse of abandoned mine in northeast India
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Officials say six miners have died after being trapped in an abandoned coal mine that collapsed in India’s remote northeast On Location: November 16, 2021 GAUHATI, India -- Six miners died after being trapped in an abandoned coal mine that collapsed in India’s remote northeast, a state official said Friday. Their bodies were recovered on Friday, a day after the six were trapped in the mine in Meghalaya state, said E. Kharmalki, district magistrate of the East Jaintia Hills district. Meghalaya has scores of small “rat hole” mines where workers extract coal in hazardous conditions. The coal is placed in boxes which are hoisted to the surface with pullies. India’s Green Tribunal has banned coal mining in Meghalaya state to protect the environment, but some villagers continue to mine illegally. In December 2018, 15 miners were killed inside one such mine in the Ksan area of Meghalaya. ——— This story has been corrected to remove details of 2018 accident which were incorrectly linked to recent collapse.
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Mine Collapses
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Persian famine of 1870–1872
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The Great Persian famine of 1870–1872 was a period of mass starvation and disease in Iran (Persia) between 1870 and 1872 under the rule of Qajar dynasty. The best documented famine in the Iranian history, it affected almost the whole country, however some cities managed to avoid the catastrophe, including Shahrud, Kerman and Birjand. [2]
Xavier de Planhol comments that the famine was a result of "combined climatic catastrophes made worse by poor administration and the human factors". [2]
Shoko Okazaki maintains that the two consecutive years of severe drought was the principal factor and rejects that the increase in production of opium and cotton contributed to the famine. He also blames "senior bureaucrats, landlords, grain dealers and high-ranking religious officials who engaged in hoarding and market manipulation". [3] Cormac Ó Gráda endorses the latter reason. [4]
There is no agreement among scholars as to the total number of deaths during the famine, although it is believed that it resulted a considerable decline in Iran's population. [5]
Among contemporary observers, Frederic John Goldsmid gave the figure of 0.2–0.3 million deaths, while Oliver St. John put the total loss at 0.5 million. James Bassett suggested that 3 million lives were lost and J. Belleu who was
travelling in Iran during the period, cited 1.5 million. Badaye-negar, a Persian scholar of the time, estimated 2.5 million deaths. [5]
Fereydun Adamiyat calculates the death toll around 2 million deaths. Another calculation attributes a decline in the estimated population from 10 million in 1850 to 6 million in 1873, to the catastrophe. [5] Gad G. Gilbar's estimation of 1.5 million deaths, which could be between 15% to 20–25% of the population, is acknowledged by Shoko Okazaki and Charles P. Melville. [1][3]
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Famine
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2 Kent County banks robbed within 20 minutes
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WYOMING, Mich. — Two banks in Kent County were robbed within 20 minutes of each other Thursday afternoon, according to Fox 17 reporters at the scene. One happened at the Fifth/Third Bank on Chicago Drive in Grandville at 11:13 a.m. and the other at Macatawa Bank on Clyde Park in Wyoming at 11:33 a.m. Recent Stories from fox17online.com Police are looking for a suspect they described as a dark-skinned Black man wearing a skirt, a raincoat and carrying a purse. Witnesses told police he appeared to be in his 20s or 30s, 5'5" to 5'9" with a thin build. Law enforcement was at the scene at both banks. A perimeter was established in the area of 32nd/34th and Woodward, near Peppercorn Apartments, though it was later taken down once law enforcement was confident the suspect was not within it.
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Bank Robbery
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Austral Líneas Aéreas Flight 901 crash
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Austral Líneas Aéreas Flight 901 was a scheduled passenger flight that crashed in a river near Buenos Aires, Argentina on May 7, 1981, after flying into a thunderstorm. All 31 people on the BAC 1-11 were killed in the accident. Flight 901 had departed from Teniente Benjamín Matienzo International Airport in Tucumán at 9:11 a.m. on May 7, 1981, bound for Jorge Newbery Metropolitan Airport. [1] The flight was uneventful until final approach. The weather conditions in Buenos Aires were awful, with heavy rain and winds. At 10:42, Flight 901 was cleared to land on runway 13 of Aeroparque Jorge Newbery. Shortly before 11 a.m., the pilots made an approach intending to land, but due to the rain and wind they could not see the runway and decided to abort the landing. They then conducted a go-around and started a second approach. At the suggestion of the air traffic controller, they headed south to wait over the city of Quilmes, believing that the weather would be calmer there and that the storm would cease quickly. [2] However, when they got closer they noticed that there was Cumulonimbus, so the pilot informed the control tower of Aeroparque that they would turn towards the river to return to Buenos Aires, where they would try a different approach. After receiving authorization from the controller to fly at 600 meters high, the plane turned northward, straight into the center of the storm. From there, the Aeroparque control tower was unable to contact the crew again. [2]
Shortly after, the crew lost control of the plane, and it crashed into a river. All 26 passengers and 5 crew were killed. [3][4]
After losing contact with Flight 901, ships from the Prefectura Naval Argentina and the Argentine Navy began to search for the plane. At 2:40 p.m., more than three hours after the accident, a Prefectura helicopter was the first to sight the aircraft's wreckage. Rescuers headed there, hoping to find survivors, but their efforts were futile. The search and recovery of bodies took several days. The Civil Aviation Accident Investigation Board was in charge of the investigation. Only a little more than half of the plane's wreckage was removed from the water. The Flight Data Recorder (FDR) and Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR), although intensively searched for 42 days, were never found. [1] The JIAAC investigation, due to the lack of the black boxes, could not determine with certainty the cause of the accident, although it concluded as probable cause the "loss of control of the aircraft and impact against the water due to an error of appreciation of the pilot when evaluating the meteorological conditions when crossing through the zone of influence of a cumulonimbus of extremely violent activity". [1]
Investigations were hampered by the fact that only 55-65% of wreckage was recovered. Even after 42 days of searching, the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder were not recovered. The final investigators' report blamed the pilots for underestimating the intensity of the storm. [3]
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Air crash
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'Extraordinary Discovery': Archaeologists Find Neanderthal Remains In Cave Near Rome
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The Italian Culture Ministry said the Guattari Cave in San Felice Circeo was "one of the most significant places in the world for the history of Neanderthals." The Italian Culture Ministry said the Guattari Cave in San Felice Circeo was "one of the most significant places in the world for the history of Neanderthals." Archaeologists discovered the fossilized remains of nine Neanderthals at a prehistoric cave site south of Rome, the Italian Cultural Ministry announced on Saturday. The oldest of the remains date from between 90,000 and 100,000 years ago, while the other eight are believed to be younger, dating from 50,000 to 68,000 years ago. The findings include skulls, skull fragments, two teeth and other bone fragments. The fossilized bones were found at the Guattari Cave in San Felice Circeo, which is roughly 56 miles southeast of Rome. A Neanderthal skull was discovered there in 1939, according to The Associated Press. The ministry said the latest discovery confirms Guattari Cave as "as one of the most significant places in the world for the history of Neanderthals." Neanderthals died out roughly 40,000 years ago, but small traces of their DNA still exist in modern humans. The excavation work at the site started in 2019 and explored parts of the cave that hadn't been studied before. Italian Culture Minister Dario Franceschini called the finding "an extraordinary discovery that will be the talk of the world." Archaeologists said the cave, which had been closed off by an ancient earthquake or landslide, perfectly preserved the environment of 50,000 years ago. In addition to the Neanderthal bones, the team of researchers unearthed many fossilized animal remains, including those of hyenas, elephants, rhinoceros and giant deer, among others.
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New archeological discoveries
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Supreme Court conservatives appear ready to endorse death sentence for Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev
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Eight years after the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing , which led to the deaths of three spectators and a police officer, the Supreme Court seemed ready Wednesday to reinstate the death sentence of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, one of the two brothers involved in the attack. The justices appeared to be divided along familiar ideological lines, however, as they considered a federal appeals court decision that had wiped away the sentence citing errors made by the district court concerning the admissibility of a piece of evidence. Conservatives on the bench suggested that the evidence was unreliable and should not have been presented to the jury. But the three liberal justices said it pertained to the heart of Tsarnaev's argument: that he should not receive the death penalty, because it was his brother who took the lead in executing the bombing. Tsarnaev was convicted in 2015 in the deaths of Krystle Campbell , Martin Richard and Lingzi Lu at the marathon and Massachusetts Institute of Technology police Officer Sean Collier several days later, among other charges. Hundreds were injured after Tsarnaev and his brother Tamerlan set off two shrapnel bombs near the finish line, leaving the sidewalks strewn with BBs, nails, metal scraps and glass fragments. Read More Tamerlan Tsarnaev would later die in a gunfight with police. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is being held in federal prison in Florence, Colorado, after a guilty verdict and a jury recommendation of death. This Boston Marathon bombing survivor is on a mission to give fellow amputees the prosthetic legs insurance won't cover In July 2020, a federal appeals court said that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev would remain in prison for the rest of his life for "unspeakably brutal acts" but that he should be given a new penalty-phase trial, citing issues concerning juror selection and pretrial publicity as well as the exclusion of evidence that may have helped his case. The 1st US Circuit Court of Appeals vacated the death penalty with directions to hold a new penalty-phase trial but warned: "Make no mistake" -- Tsarnaev "will spend his remaining days locked up in prison." "A core promise of our criminal-justice system is that even the very worst among us deserves to be fairly tried and lawfully punished," the court held. A lawyer for the Biden administration on Wednesday called Tsarnaev a "terrorist" who acted in "furtherance of Jihad" and urged the justices to restore the jury's recommendation of death after the "carnage at the finish line." The justices spent most of their time focusing on the evidence that a district court excluded from the penalty phase of the trial. Tsarnaev's lawyers sought to compel discovery about an unsolved triple murder that had occurred in 2011 in Waltham, Massachusetts. Investigators came to suspect a friend of Tamerlan, Ibragim Todashev, as being involved in the crime. Todashev initially denied involvement to agents, but eventually asked for a deal. He said he had been involved but that Tamerlan had actually committed the murders by slitting the throats of the victims. Todashev had begun to write a confession but then attacked the agents who shot and killed him. Dzhokhar's lawyers sought to include the evidence because they argued it supported their proposition that their client did not deserve the death penalty, because he was only acting under the direction of his older brother who played a much greater role in executing the bombings at the marathon, as evidenced by his past experience. In court Wednesday, Tsarnaev's lawyer Ginger Anders said it was "central to the mitigation case" demonstrating that the brothers were not equal partners in the crime. She said that the district court's error compromised safeguards needed to ensure that her client received an appropriate penalty. But Deputy Solicitor General Eric Feigin called the evidence "unreliable hearsay" from a "dead man with a powerful motive to lie" and said the information was not central to the jury's final verdict. He said the 2011 murders remain unsolved and that there was insufficient evidence to describe Tamelan's true role in the crime to the jury. Feigin said that the jury decided to recommend death because Dzhokhar positioned himself "behind a group of children, putting down his backpack." In court, conservative justices seemed to agree with Feigin suggesting that the district court had been correct to exclude the 2011 evidence because it had never been proven and could be misleading to the jury. Justice Samuel Alito asked sarcastically at one point whether a district court had to adopt a policy of "anything goes" when it comes to admitting testimony. Justice Brett Kavanaugh said he viewed a district court judge as having a "gatekeeping role" to keep out unsubstantiated evidence, and Justice Amy Coney Barrett noted that rules allow information to be excluded if it is "misleading." But liberal justice Elena Kagan said that the evidence was the kind that should be admitted, especially because it was so central to Tsarnaev's case. She wondered if it didn't represent a "classic case" of evidence that might be "highly relevant." She said the jury should have been able to consider it during its own deliberations -- "that's what a jury is supposed to do." Her liberal colleague Justice Stephen Breyer seemed to agree, noting that Tsarnaev "had no other defense." Justice Sonia Sotomayor also said that the district court hadn't done enough to make sure jurors hadn't been influenced by pre-trial media reports. "There was a whole lot of different kinds of publicity," she said. It is unclear whether, even if Tsarnaev's death penalty is reinstated, he would actually be put to death. In July, Attorney General Merrick Garland imposed a moratorium on federal executions while the Justice Department reviews policies and procedures. Barrett brought up that question in court asking: "What is the government's end game here?" "So the government has declared a moratorium, but you are here defending death sentences," she said. Over the years, survivors and family members have split on whether Tsarnaev should get the death penalty. In 2015, Bill and Denise Richard penned an op-ed for The Boston Globe after losing their 8-year-old son, Martin. "We know the government has its reasons for seeking the death penalty, but the continued pursuit of that punishment could bring years of appeals and prolong reliving the most painful day of our lives," the Richards wrote. Jennifer Kauffman said she was watching the race when the first bomb detonated and she suffered hearing loss, heart arrhythmia, internal bruising and swelling. She said she is against allowing another penalty phase to proceed. "I know there are some people who do not agree with me and that is okay," she told the Globe . "I believe we all have the right to speak up, share our voices, and we each have the freedom to speak our truths even though we may disagree. I only hope we can do so from a place of compassion, kindness and respect for one another." In a statement to CNN, Mikey Borgard, another survivor, said he thought the lower court was right to overturn the death penalty. "It identified serious problems regarding jury selection and exclusion of crucial mitigation evidence," he said. He also called the death penalty "barbaric." "I cannot bear the thought of a human life extinguished on my behalf," he said. But Helen Zhao, the aunt of victim Lingzi Lu , said the court "should not have overturned the verdict." She said she hopes the "next one will come to the same verdict" because "if we give up, basically we lost to him."
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Famous Person - Commit Crime - Sentence
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Dr Jeffery Chew helps fit a lighter, more robust knee brace called the X-Brace onto 72-year-old Teo Lee Lee
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Dr Jeffery Chew helps fit a lighter, more robust knee brace called the X-Brace onto 72-year-old Teo Lee Lee. SINGAPORE - Resembling a sleek knee brace used by Batman in movie The Dark Knight Rises, a new aid called X-Brace offers a leg up to those who suffer from knee problems. The lighter and more robust knee brace, which is targeted at the elderly, was developed in a collaboration between a local engineering firm, knee surgeons and 3D printing specialists from Nanyang Technological University (NTU). Knee braces are typically prescribed to elderly patients to alleviate the burden on their joints, and assist patients who have undergone knee surgery - such as for torn ligaments. Dr Jeffrey Chew, an orthopaedic surgeon at the Centre for Orthopaedics, noted that a common condition among elderly patients is knee osteoarthritis - "wear and tear" of the knee joints - which affects 40 per cent of people above 70. "Knee osteoarthritis can significantly affect quality of life, causing daily pain, weakness and instability," he said at a media preview of the knee brace on Wednesday (Dec 15). Conventional knee braces weigh around 1kg and are designed to restrict one's movement by preventing the knee from bending beyond a certain angle, Dr Chew noted. "So we wanted to create a knee brace which is lighter - but also provides the patient with support when they move, especially for those who have difficulty standing up, walking or climbing stairs due to weak and painful knees," he added. In 2017, Dr Chew approached Mr Fabian Ong, executive director of local engineering firm Delsson Singapore, to come up with a design. Delsson worked with NTU on the prototyping process and product design iterations using 3D printing. The team eventually reduced the weight of the brace to around 720g - 30 per cent lighter than the traditional exoskeleton knee brace. It is made of plastic, instead of the typical metal orthopaedic braces that weigh more than 1kg. The X-Brace includes a spring which provides a 3kg to 6kg lift to the user when standing or walking, said Mr Ong. "The support given is twofold - on the one hand, (users) are given a lift which compensates for their lack of strength, and on the other hand, they're also given the confidence to walk again, which helps them to recover faster," he added. The brace can be customised to each patient's needs. The brace is made from plastic, instead of the typical metal orthopaedic braces that weigh more than 1kg. ST PHOTO: MARK CHEONG Dr Chew said: "The idea is to gradually wean the patient off the brace, so the doctor or physiotherapist can also adjust the strength of the brace when (the patient is) recovering." Dr Ho Chaw Sing, co-founder and managing director of the National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Cluster (Namic), a platform led by NTU's innovation and enterprise company NTUitive, said 3D printing is extremely useful for the rapid creation of prototypes and lightweight intricate designs, making the technique helpful for this particular project. He added that Namic has supported more than 240 projects in the last six years, of which more than 60 are focused on healthcare . S'pore firm pivoted from making 3D printers for dental use to making swabs for Covid-19 tests NTU assistant professor Chan Wai Lee from the School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, who is the principal investigator of this project, said 3D-modelling was heavily used to validate the various design ideas that led to the weight reduction in the brace. Mr Joel Lim, a PhD student in Prof Chan's team, led the design efforts in discussion with Delsson and 3D-printed the prototype for real-life validation tests. "Light weight and strength are crucial to this project. We first analysed conventional knee braces and their current bill of material. "We decided to change to a plastic material with an optimised structure... then designed new structures and joints that are strong enough to withstand the flex of the knee and still assist it to move in the correct direction," said Mr Lim. (From left) Madam Teo Lee Lee, Mr Fabian Ong, Dr Jeffery Chew and Dr Ho Chaw Sing. ST PHOTO: MARK CHEONG At least 10 people have tried the brace so far, one of whom is Madam Teo Lee Lee, 72, who has osteoarthritis and needed two knee replacements last year. After surgery, her right leg was still very weak, and she had difficulty walking. None of the conventional knee braces worked for her, until she tried X-Brace. "I feel a lot more confident walking with the brace, and have less difficulty standing up compared with before," said the retiree. The X-Brace is expected to be available on the market soon for $1,000 - equivalent to the cost of conventional knee braces - though the price may differ depending on the user's needs. The team is working on its next product iteration - to lower the weight of the brace to 600g by incorporating a sleeker design that can be worn under one's clothes. The new version will likely be launched in the first quarter of next year, said Mr Ong. "In the future, we hope to... come up with a smart knee brace - fitted with electronic sensors to measure quantitatively if the patient is improving," he added.
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Famous Person - Recovered
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2017 Berkeley protests
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The 2017 Berkeley protests were a series of protests and clashes between organized groups that occurred in the city of Berkeley, California, in the vicinity of the University of California campus. Violence occurred predominantly between protesters opposed to then-President Donald Trump, including activists such as antifa groups and socialists;[1][2] and pro-Trump groups such as Republican, alt-lite, alt-right, neo-Nazis, and white nationalists. The majority of the participants on both sides were people who wanted to listen to the speakers peacefully, and peaceful protesters against the speakers. [3][4][5][6][7]
The first event occurred on February 1, when Trump supporter Milo Yiannopoulos was scheduled to give a speech at the university. Two later incidents on March 4 and April 15, were pro-Trump rallies met by protesters. Another rally occurred on April 27, hosted by Kyle "Based Stickman" Chapman, Brittany Pettibone, Lauren Southern, and others at Martin Luther King Jr. Civic Center Park. This was scheduled after a planned speech by Ann Coulter was canceled. A "Say No to Marxism" rally planned to be held in the same park on August 27 was officially canceled by the organizers, but still drew both Trump supporters and protesters. Protests and clashes continued into the month of September, with a campus visit from conservative radio host Ben Shapiro and the return of Yiannopoulos for "Berkeley Free Speech Week". Security for the September events, though "Free Speech Week" was officially canceled by the organizers, cost the university hundreds of thousands of dollars. On February 1, Milo Yiannopoulos was scheduled to make a speech at the University of California, Berkeley at 8 p.m. Prior, more than 100 UC Berkeley faculty signed a petition urging the university to cancel the event. [8]
Over 1,500 people gathered on the steps of Sproul Hall to protest the event. The protest had been a non-violent, student gathering until a group of 150 black bloc protesters slowly entered the crowd and interrupted the protest. [9][8] The interrupting protesters claimed to be antifa activists and members of the left-wing group By Any Means Necessary,[10][11] however this group was later uncovered to be members of the alt-right white nationalist group called the Rise Above Movement[12][13] The group of interrupting protestors set fires, damaged property, threw fireworks, attacked members of the crowd, and threw rocks at the police. [8][9] Within twenty minutes of the start of the violence, the Yiannopoulos event was officially canceled by the university police department due to security concerns, and protesters were ordered to disperse. [9][14] The interrupting protesters continued for several hours afterwards, with some protesters moving into downtown Berkeley to break windows at several banks, a Starbucks, a Target, a Sprint store, and a T-Mobile store. [15][11] Among those assaulted were a Syrian Muslim, who was pepper sprayed and hit with a rod by an interrupting protesters who said "You look like a Nazi",[16] and Kiara Robles, who was pepper sprayed while being interviewed by a TV reporter. [17] One person was arrested for failure to disperse, and there was an estimated $100,000 in damage. [18]
A march in support of then-President Donald Trump in Berkeley on March 4 billed as "March 4 Trump" resulted in seven injuries and ten arrests after confrontations with protesters. Police confiscated several weapons from attendees of the rally, including baseball bats, bricks, metal pipes, pieces of lumber, and a dagger. [19][20]
On April 15, several groups, including approximately 50 members of the right-wing group Oath Keepers, held a pro-Trump rally and were met by protesters, including antifa activists. [21][10] Planned speakers included Brittany Pettibone and Lauren Southern. [22] The event was organized as a free speech rally by Rich Black, who also organized the March 4 Trump event. [23][24]
At Martin Luther King Jr. Civic Center Park a "large number of fights" broke out, smoke bombs and fireworks were thrown into the melee, and pepper spray was used in the crowd. [25][26] According to the Los Angeles Times, "Both groups threw rocks and sticks at each other and used a large trash bin as a battering ram as the crowd moved around the perimeter of the park. "[25] Eleven people were injured, six of whom were hospitalized, including one person who was stabbed. [25] Police "seized a handful of cans of peppers [sic] spray, some knives, and dozens of sign and flag poles, skateboards, and other blunt objects" from members of the crowd. Twenty people were arrested. [26]
A Reuters reporter estimated that between 500 and 1,000 people were in the park at the peak of the rally. [27] Various far-right activists in the crowd held up antisemitic signs,[28][29] and some made Nazi salutes and used other Nazi/neo-Nazi symbolism such as the Black Sun / Sonnerad[30][26] The neo-nazi Rise Above Movement (RAM) also attended and some of their members were arrested. [31]
During the event, Nathan Damigo—a 30-year-old California State University, Stanislaus student and the founder of the white supremacist, alt-right group Identity Evropa punched a female protester in the face and then ran into the crowd. The attack was captured on video and prompted calls for Damigo's arrest or expulsion. [32][33] Cal State Stanislaus stated that they would investigate Damigo. [33]
Also during the event, a man covering his face with a bandanna attacked three protesters with a bike lock, hitting one them on the head and causing "significant injuries". He was later identified by 4chan's /pol/ users as a former Diablo Valley College professor, named Eric Clanton, and subsequently arrested on three counts of assault with a deadly weapon, and ultimately sentenced to probation after pleading no contest to all charges. [34][35][36][37]
On April 18, 2017, administrators at UC Berkeley canceled a planned April 27 appearance on the campus by conservative columnist Ann Coulter, citing safety concerns. Coulter tweeted on April 19 that she would be coming to Berkeley to speak on that date regardless. [38][39] On April 20, the University stated that they would host Coulter on May 2 at a "protected venue" that would be disclosed at a later date. [40] Coulter declined to reschedule, noting that she was unavailable on May 2 and that UC Berkeley had no classes scheduled for that week, and said she would hold her speech on April 27 with or without the university's consent. She later said that she did not intend to speak, but said she might attend the April 27 event. [41][42] Right-wing activist Brittany Pettibone delivered remarks promising that conservatives will refuse to stand down, which was met with applause from the crowd. Vice and Proud Boys co-founder Gavin McInnes read Ann Coulter's planned speech at the event. [43] Other speakers at the rally included the conservative-libertarian writer Lauren Southern. [44][45][46][47] There was concern the gathering would turn violent based on "social media feeds of militant left-wing and right-wing activists abuzz with plans to proceed with demonstrations over the Coulter-Berkeley controversy. "[48]
The International Socialist Organization organized an "Alt-Right Delete" rally at Sproul Plaza. About 150 people attended the rally and 70 police officers monitored the situation. [43] Several hundred attended a "Freedom of Speech" rally at the Martin Luther King Jr. Civic Center Park in Berkeley. The demonstrations were relatively peaceful; however, there was some tension as five were arrested, one for a weapons violation and another for drug possession. [49]
Between 2,000 and 4,000 people attended a "Rally Against Hate" protest against a far-right "Say No to Marxism" rally scheduled for Martin Luther King Civic Center Park in Berkeley on August 27.
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Protest_Online Condemnation
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Mohawk Airlines Flight 121 crash
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Mohawk Airlines Flight 121 was a scheduled passenger flight from Rochester-Monroe Airport in Rochester, New York to Newark International Airport in Newark, New Jersey. On July 2, 1963, the aircraft operating the flight, a Martin 4-0-4 with a total of 15,970 operational hours, crashed during takeoff. The accident killed 7 people (2 crewmen and 5 passengers) and injured 36. Flight 121 attempted to take off on Rochester's runway 28 into a heavy thunderstorm. The co-pilot was unable to maintain control of the aircraft, and it fell to earth two minutes after takeoff. The plane struck the ground left wing-first. It then cartwheeled wing-over-wing and caught fire. The co-pilot, as pilot flying, had attempted to keep the plane aloft, keeping a tight grip on the controls even after recovery was impossible. The captain managed to assume control and managed to guide the plane down to save most of the passengers. The NTSB found the cause of the accident to be the pilot's decision to take off in bad weather, and cited the weather itself as a contributing factor. The captain had initially refused to take off, but was told he would be demoted if he did not commence the flight, as he had twice previously refused to take off in bad weather.
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Air crash
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Bank robber who shot himself during metro Atlanta standoff linked to 2 more heists
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A Newnan man who robbed an Alabama bank Wednesday morning before shooting and killing himself hours later during a police standoff in metro Atlanta is now linked to two 2018 robberies, police said. Oxford, Ala., police responded to a Regions Bank along Quintard Drive about 9 a.m. after receiving a call about a robbery, police said. Officers got a description of the suspect and his vehicle, identifying him as Mark Garniss within 30 minutes, police said. After the robbery, Garniss returned to his Newnan apartment, where his pickup truck was discovered at the Stillwood Farms complex just before 1 p.m., Newnan spokeswoman Ashley Copeland said. After seeing police outside the building, Garniss went back inside his apartment, police said. An hourslong standoff ensued, with the robbery suspect refusing to surrender, Copeland said. It finally came to an end just before 4 p.m. when officers heard a muffled gunshot from inside the apartment, Copeland said. Police entered the home to find the man dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, authorities said. On Thursday, two Georgia police departments said Garniss was responsible for two unsolved bank robberies last year. LaGrange police said Garniss robbed the Charter Bank along South Davis Road on Aug. 21, and West Point police believe he’s responsible for a Dec. 21 robbery with a similar M.O. In both cases, a man wearing a surgical mask entered the bank and handed a note to the teller demanding cash, authorities said. “It was a typed note presented to the teller,” LaGrange Detective Ley Wynne said, adding that in Wednesday’s Alabama robbery, Garniss also wore a surgical mask and covered his fingertips with bandages to avoid being identified. Garniss also reportedly wore the same pair of white tennis shoes that he wore in his two previous heists, detectives said.
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Bank Robbery
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Images released of Scone bank robber
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Police have released security images of a man responsible for holding up a Scone bank with a shotgun. The man entered the Kelly Street bank on Friday November 27 at about 11.15 (AEDT), threatening staff with the gun. He stole cash before fleeing and was last seen getting into a blue vehicle seen heading west on Kingdon Street. Police say the man was carrying a green bag, was about 183cm tall, wearing grey long pants, white joggers and a black-and-grey camouflage hooded jacket. Anyone with information on the robbery is urged to contact Hunter Valley police or CrimeStoppers.
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Bank Robbery
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Hollywood Black Friday
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Hollywood Black Friday or "Bloody Friday"[1] is the name given, in the history of organized labor in the United States, to October 5, 1945. On that date, a six-month strike by the set decorators represented by the Conference of Studio Unions (CSU) boiled over into a bloody riot at the gates of Warner Brothers' studios in Burbank, California. The strikes helped the passage of the Taft-Hartley Act in 1947 and led to the eventual breakup of the CSU and reorganization of the then-rival International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) leadership. [2]
The Conference of Studio Unions was, at the time, an international union belonging to the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners and represented the carpenters, painters, cartoonists, and several other crafts working for the studios in Hollywood. Seventy-seven set decorators broke away from IATSE to form the Society of Motion Picture Interior Decorators (SMPID) and negotiated an independent contract with the producers in 1937. The SMPID joined the CSU in 1943, and the CSU represented the SMPID in their contract negotiations. After the producers stalled the negotiations for nine months, IATSE questioned CSU jurisdiction over the set decorators, which led to a further five-month delay while the CSU and IATSE fought over jurisdiction. When the producers refused to acknowledge an independent arbitrator appointed by the War Labor Board's assessment that the CSU had jurisdiction over the set decorators in February 1945, it set the stage for the strike. An estimated 10,500 CSU workers went on strike in March 1945 and began picketing all the studios resulting in delays of several films, including Selznick's epic Duel in the Sun and the Cole Porter story Night and Day. Unfortunately for CSU, the studios had some 130 films on the shelves at the time and were able to comfortably sit out a strike for the time being. Regardless, Disney, Monogram and several independents bargained with CSU while Columbia, Fox, MGM, Paramount, RKO, Universal, and Warner did not. Despite orders from their leadership and threatened with fines and revocation of their cards, many members of IATSE refused to cross the picket lines or do work normally filled by members of the CSU. By October, money and patience were running low as some 300 strikers gathered at Warner Brothers' main gate on October 5, 1945. Temperatures were abnormally warm for the already hot LA autumn. When non-strikers attempted to report for work at 6:00 in the morning, the barricades went up and tensions flared. As replacement workers attempted to drive through the crowd, their cars were stopped and overturned. Reinforcements arrived on both sides as the picket increased to some 1,000 people and Glendale and Los Angeles Police came to aid the Burbank Police and Warner Security attempting to maintain the peace. When more replacement workers attempted to break through to the gate, a general melee ensued as strikers mobbed them and strikebreakers responded by attacking the strikers with chains, hammers, pipes, tear gas, and night sticks. Warner security rained more tear gas down from the roofs of the buildings adjoining the entrance. Warner firefighters sprayed the strikers with fire hoses. By the end of the day, some 300 police and deputy sheriffs had been called to the scene and over 40 injuries were reported. The picketers returned the following Monday with an injunction barring the police from interfering with the strike while Warner retaliated with its own injunction limiting the number of pickets at the gate. Although the violence would continue through the week, national exposure forced the parties back to the bargaining table and resulted in an end to the strike one month later but the CSU victory was a Pyrrhic one, where contentions over wording dictated by an AFL arbitration team would lead to further questioning as to CSU and IATSE jurisdiction on the set. After meetings between IATSE and representatives of the studios in early September 1946 guaranteed IATSE workers to fill the positions of existing CSU employees, the studios came up with a plan to force CSU out of the studios once and for all. On September 23, the studios reassigned all the CSU members from construction supervisors, foremen and maintenance men to work as journeymen carpenters on "hot set", a position many of these men had not worked in many years and a violation of their job descriptions and cause for a union grievance. These men protested and refused at which point they were given preprepared paychecks for their time and effectively sent home and subsequently locked out. The pickets went back up, and the CSU was forced to assume the crushing burden of another strike. Despite a walk-out by members of IATSE 683 film laboratory technicians in solidarity with CSU, open fighting between CSU members and studio security forces and a vote by the Screen Actors Guild to effectively turn their back on CSU hampered the CSU's efforts. This was a strike that the CSU would never recover from, lasting some 13 months before it voted to permit long-unemployed, impoverished members and supporters to cross the picket line and return to work. The CIO also came to the aid of the struggling CSU members and assisted them in finding jobs in other CIO industries. The disorder in Hollywood helped prompt the Taft-Hartley bill which was passed in part with the studios' lobby and accusations of Herb Sorrell's (the leader of the CSU during the time of the strike) alleged Communist Party membership which prompted Sorrell and CSU's slow descent into obscurity. Thomas Pynchon later would use some of these events as backstory in his novel Vineland.
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Strike
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1961 Ndola United Nations DC-6 crash
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The Ndola United Nations DC-6 crash occurred on 18 September 1961 in Northern Rhodesia. The crash resulted in the deaths of all people onboard including Dag Hammarskjöld, the second Secretary-General of the United Nations, and 15 others. Hammarskjöld had been en route to cease-fire negotiations with Moise Tshombe during the Congo Crisis. Three official inquiries failed to determine conclusively the cause of the crash, which set off a succession crisis at the United Nations. In September 1961, during the Congo Crisis, Hammarskjöld learned about fighting between "non-combatant" UN forces and Katangese troops of Moise Tshombe. On 18 September, Hammarskjöld was en route to negotiate a cease-fire when the aircraft he was flying in crashed near Ndola, Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia). Hammarskjöld and fifteen others perished in the crash. [4] The crash set off a succession crisis at the United Nations,[5] as Hammarskjöld's death required the Security Council to vote on a successor. [6]
The aircraft involved in this accident was a Douglas DC-6B, c/n 43559/251, registered in Sweden as SE-BDY, first flown in 1952 and powered by four Pratt & Whitney R-2800 18-cylinder radial piston engines. [7] It was flown by Captain Per Hallonquist (35); First Officer Lars Litton (29); and Flight Engineer Nils Goran Wilhelmsson. [8]
A special report issued by the United Nations following the crash stated that a bright flash in the sky was seen at approximately 01:00. [8] According to the UN special report, it was this information that resulted in the initiation of search and rescue operations. Initial indications that the crash might not have been an accident led to multiple official inquiries and persistent speculation that the secretary-general was assassinated. [9]
Following the death of Hammarskjöld, there were three inquiries into the circumstances that led to the crash: the Rhodesian Board of Investigation, the Rhodesian Commission of Inquiry, and the United Nations Commission of Investigation. [3]
The Rhodesian Board of Investigation looked into the matter between 19 September 1961 and 2 November 1961[3] under the command of Lt. Colonel M.C.B. Barber. The Rhodesian Commission of Inquiry, under the chairmanship of Sir John Clayden, held hearings from 16–29 January 1962 without United Nations oversight. The subsequent United Nations Commission of Investigation held a series of hearings in 1962 and in part depended upon the testimony from the previous Rhodesian inquiries. [3] Five "eminent persons" were assigned by the new secretary-general to the UN Commission. The members of the commission unanimously elected Nepalese diplomat Rishikesh Shaha to head an inquiry. [3]
The three official inquiries failed to determine conclusively the cause of the crash that led to the death of Hammarskjöld. The Rhodesian Board of Investigation sent 180 men to search a six-square-kilometer area of the last sector of the aircraft's flight path, looking for evidence as to the cause of the crash. No evidence of a bomb, surface-to-air missile, or hijacking was found. The official report stated that two of the dead Swedish bodyguards had suffered multiple bullet wounds. Medical examination, performed by the initial Rhodesian Board of Investigation and reported in the UN official report, indicated that the wounds were superficial, and that the bullets showed no signs of rifling. They concluded that cartridges had exploded in the fire in proximity to the bodyguards. [3] No evidence of foul play was found in the wreckage of the aircraft. [10] The Rhodesian Board concluded that the pilot flew too low and struck trees, thereby bringing the aircraft to the ground. [11]
Previous accounts of a bright flash in the sky were dismissed as occurring too late in the evening to have caused the crash. The UN report speculated that these flashes may have been caused by secondary explosions after the crash. Sergeant Harold Julien, who initially survived the crash but died five days later,[2] indicated that there was a series of explosions that preceded the crash. [3][12] The official inquiry found that the statements of witnesses who talked with Julien before he died in hospital five days after the crash[13] were inconsistent. The report states that there were numerous delays that violated established search and rescue procedures. There were three separate delays: the first delayed the initial alarm of a possible plane in trouble; the second delayed the "distress" alarm, which indicates that communications with surrounding airports indicate that a missing plane has not landed elsewhere; the third delayed the eventual search and rescue operation and the discovery of the plane wreckage, just miles away. The medical examiner's report was inconclusive; one report said that Hammarskjöld had died on impact; another stated that Hammarskjöld might have survived had rescue operations not been delayed. [3] The report also said that the chances of Sgt. Julien surviving the crash would have been "infinitely" better if the rescue operations had been hastened. [3]
On 16 March 2015, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appointed members to an independent panel of experts to examine new information related to the tragedy. The three-member panel was led by Mohamed Chande Othman, the Chief Justice of Tanzania. The other two members were Kerryn Macaulay (Australia's representative to ICAO) and Henrik Larsen (a ballistics expert from the Danish National Police). The report was handed over to the secretary-general on 12 June 2015. [14]
Despite the multiple official inquiries that failed to find evidence of assassination or other forms of foul play, several individuals have continued to advance a theory of the crash being deliberately caused by hostile interests. [9] At the time of Hammarskjöld's death, the Central Intelligence Agency and other Western agencies were actively involved in the political situation in the Congo,[9] which culminated in Belgian and U.S. support for the secession of Katanga and the assassination of former prime minister Patrice Lumumba. The Belgian government had a vested interest in maintaining their control over much of the country's copper industry during the Congolese transition from colonial rule to independence. Concerns about the nationalisation of the copper industry could have provided a financial incentive to remove either Lumumba or Hammarskjöld. [9]
The official inquiry has come under scrutiny and criticism from historians, who point to a number of conclusions made which they claim were done to steer focus away from the assassination angle. [9][15] The official report dismissed a number of pieces of evidence that would have supported the view that Hammarskjöld was assassinated. [3] Some of these dismissals have been criticized, such as the conclusion that bullet wounds could have been caused by bullets exploding in a fire. Expert tests have questioned this conclusion, arguing that exploding bullets could not break the surface of the skin.
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Air crash
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Poison Hemlock overspreading in Ohio
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TOLEDO, Ohio (WTVG) - Poison Hemlock is invasive, brought to the US from Europe centuries ago. But experts say its coverage is exploding, and so is the danger.
Amy Stone is an Extension Educator of Agriculture and Natural Resources with the Ohio State University. “It’s very toxic to mammals, to humans and animals,” she tells 13abc. “It’s a concern, both in urban areas, and then also in rural areas where people may have livestock.”
Stone says that this species thrives in wet conditions, and our wet summer may be why the population is growing. Poison Hemlock is found in ditches and along the sides of roads and paths. She says it can look similar to parsley in its first year, and Queen Anne’s Lace when it flowers in its second year. Dead or alive, from the roots to the seeds, it won’t cause a rash or burn but it can kill you.
“The plant has to be ingested, and that could be through eating parts of the plant, it could be through your nose or eyes,” Stone explains.
It can lead to respiratory failure and Poison Hemlock is rapidly spreading across the country and in Toledo.
Paul Rasmusson is the Director of Public Service for the City of Toledo. “We started getting some concerned calls in our public spaces,” he tells 13abc. “We’ve got a lot of walking trails and parks and boulevards that people walk in. This is actually the first year we’ve received calls, at least to my knowledge.”
This time of year, you can find either the short herbaceous plants or the tall, hollow stems with small purple splotches. Either way, don’t pull it.
“If it’s individual plants, you can carefully dig it out, trying to get as much of the root system as possible,” explains Stone. “Where you have large expanses of it, a chemical treatment with an herbicide is recommended.”
Rasmusson expects even more Poison Hemlock to pop up next year because of how much he’s seen this year.
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Mass Poisoning
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RusAir Flight 9605 crash
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RusAir Flight 9605 (operating as RusLine Flight 243) was a passenger flight which crashed near Petrozavodsk in the Republic of Karelia, Russia, on 20 June 2011 while attempting to land in thick fog. The aircraft involved, a Tupolev Tu-134, was operating a RusAir scheduled domestic flight from Moscow. Of the 52 people on board, only 5 survived.
The RusAir Tu-134 was on a service for RusLine from Domodedovo Airport in Moscow to Petrozavodsk Airport. While on final approach, the aircraft crashed onto the A-133 federal highway, about 1,200 m (3,900 ft) short of the runway. [1][4] The crash happened shortly after 23:40 local time (19:40 UTC), when contact with the jet was lost. At the time, thick fog was present in the area. [5][6][7] The head of the federal air transport agency said the plane had hit a 15-metre (49 ft) tall pine tree before it crashed, adding that there was no fire or explosion on board the aircraft before the incident. [8]
According to airport officials, the plane was flying off-course by about 200 metres (660 ft) and started its descent much earlier than appropriate. Petrozavodsk ground control said they recommended the pilots take a second approach due to the low visibility and bad weather conditions. The pilot, according to the official, replied that he would attempt the first approach and said he could land the plane. [citation needed]
The aircraft involved was a twin-engine Tupolev Tu-134A-3, registration RA-65691, c/n 63195. It was manufactured and first flown in 1980. [1]
There were 43 passengers and nine crew members on board, a total of 52, of which 47 were killed and the remaining 5 injured. [1][8] Of the survivors, one was a flight attendant. The other crew members were among the fatalities. [9][10] Three people who survived the initial crash later died of their injuries. [11]
Among the victims was FIFA football referee Vladimir Pettay,[12] as well the CEO and chief designer of Gidropress Sergei Ryzhov, and the deputy CEO and chief designer, Gennady Banyuk, also the chief designer of the Russian VVER-1000 for the Koodankulam Nuclear Power Plant in India and Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant in Iran, Nikolai Trunov.
By around 01:00 on 21 June, the fire at the crash site was extinguished. Those injured were initially sent to local hospitals, but it was planned to transport them on to Moscow via an Ilyushin Il-76 with doctors and psychologists on board. [1]
On 23 June, at a conference of senior Russian government officials, it was announced that as a result of the incident the government planned to remove all Tu-134s from commercial service, as well as ban the operation of aircraft carrying more than nine people or weighing more than 5,700 kilograms (12,600 lb) lacking a ground proximity warning system. [15]
In September 2011, the Interstate Aviation Committee published its report into the crash. The primary cause of the accident was found to be the decision by the crew to conduct the approach in meteorological conditions that were below the minimum allowed for the airfield, the aircraft, and the pilot in command. The failure of the crew to go-around and their descent below the minimum safe altitude in absence of visual contact with the approach lights or ground resulted in the collision with trees and the ultimate impact with the ground.
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Air crash
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India's Marine Power & Blue Economy
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The Blue Economy, with its untapped seabed minerals and renewable ocean energy, could prove that light at the end of the tunnel for Covid-19 afflicted India. The nation’s strategic location in the IOR and its potentials as a maritime power is a blessing for both the security of the region and the Indian economy. INDIA’S ROLE AS A MARITIME power is crucial as 90 per cent of trade by volume and over 74 per cent by value takes place via sea routes. More than 80 per cent of India’s energy supplies also arrive along these sea lanes. For many years, we argued that our development planning must be premised on our being a maritime economy. Still, our plans, investment and defence program have remained dominantly focused on our land-based resources. The Indian peninsula is ensconced by seas & oceans. The country’s location in the Indian Ocean, jutting out 1000 miles into it as it does, is of strategic advantage. The peninsula straddles some of the most critical sea lines of communication. A great deal of global trade travels along these routes. India’s two island territories, the Andaman and Nicobar islands, are of great strategic importance too. India has an Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of over 2.3 million square kms and has deep seabed mining rights in the southern Indian Ocean region. An active presence in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) is necessary for India to be able to protect its vast 7,500 kilometre coastline. Simultaneously, the country needs to ensure open sea lines of communication. If India has to thrive and recover its growth momentum in the post Covid-19 world of ultra geo-economic activities, the country must trade with the world. Maritime Power and the Blue Economy could be a way out of the abyss the pandemic induced slowdown has hurled India into. On Navy Day in 2019, Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke of the Navy of the Chola kingdom of ancient India as one of the strongest navies of its era, accounting for the economic supremacy of the regime. India aspires to be a maritime power once again. The Indian Ocean Region is vital for India. As the legendary Admiral Alfred T. Mahan, had summed up succinctly, “Whoever attains maritime supremacy in the Indian Ocean, would be a prominent player on the international scene.” “However, India cannot call itself a maritime power,” laments Commodore Anil Jai Singh, Vice President, Indian Maritime Foundation. “While the Indian Navy is the most powerful navy in the Indian Ocean and is amongst the top five navies in the world, the other elements of maritime power are lagging. India’s share of global shipbuilding is less than one per cent. And its 13 major and almost 200 non-major ports are not globally competitive and in need of modernisation,” says he. India’s marine-based economy is way behind in terms of standard global practices and needs focus. As Commodore Jai Singh points out, “Its 200 million strong coastal community, which depends on the sea for a livelihood continues with archaic practices of fishing etc. The potential of the island territories remain untapped. Seabed exploration for mineral and other resources has barely begun.” These pertinent issues about the country’s maritime power and Blue Economy need top priority now. An infinite swathe of the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) is India’s responsibility and maritime power and a Blue Economy can be a possibility with the right allies and through strategic international outreach. Beyond the IOR, $3 trillion worth of trade passes through the South China Sea, over which China attempts to keep a hold. Importance of the Indian-ocean-trade, security & norms (Credit Laxman Kadirganar Institute)The concept of the ‘Blue Economy’ is spreading fast through the globe and aims at transforming the world’s economy, habits and the planet itself during the 21st century. A Blue Economy is about oceans, seas and the resources they hold. India’s Blue Economy In the Indian context, a Blue Economy would be the sum total of economic activities involving marine resources. Fisheries, deep sea mining and offshore oil and gas make up a large part of India’s Blue Economy. It is necessary for India to tap into the enormous potential of the ocean-based resources, which could propel the nation into a higher growth trajectory. The development of the Blue Economy can serve as a growth catalyst in realising the vision to become a $10 trillion economy by 2032. Most of the country’s oil and gas is imported through sea routes, a dependence that is expected to rise exponentially by the year 2025. Of the 2.3 million square kilometres available to India in the EEZ, 1.5 million has been explored across both the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea. India has filed a claim in 2009 to raise its approved claim of 200 nautical miles to 250 nautical miles – the maximum permissible limit. Chief of Naval Staff (CNS)Admiral Karambir Singh In 2010 the Indian government released a 10-year maritime agenda (2010-2020) with ambitious plans to develop the maritime sector. Thereafter, the present government in its first term initiated Sagarmala, a multi-crore programme aimed at revitalising India’s ports and maritime infrastructure, including inland marine transportation and coastal shipping. The Sagarmala Programme has identified over 600 projects, entailing an investment of around Rs 8 lakh crore ($120 billion) by 2020. This will save the country nearly $6 billion per annum in logistics costs, besides creating 10 million new jobs and boosting port capacity by 800 million metric tonne per annum (MMTPA) to an overall 3,500 MMTP. Yet, halfway through 2020, there is no mention of the 10-year maritime agenda. The ambitious Sagarmala programme is also not progressing at an ideal pace. As Commodore Anil Jai Singh points out, “One of the problems in India is the multitude of departments and ministries linked with the maritime sector with no central empowered authority to synergise or even coordinate their activities. This has been highlighted many times in the context of maritime security, but has found little resonance with the government.” This special focus area was recognised at the 14th Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) Ministerial Meeting in Perth, Australia, on 9 October 2014. As an economic model the Blue Economy comprises: Indo-Pacific & the QUAD India’s Blue Economy is poised for growth. According to the IORA charter, while the region is not yet a hub of Global Value Chains (GVC) oriented trade and investment – the kind that has driven East Asian industrial success in the past four decades – trade in parts and components is increasing. This is currently concentrated among Southeast Asian IORA members, and in a few sectors, notably electrical machinery with $231.4 billion of exports, road vehicles ($77.1 billion of exports), office machines ($64.5 billion), and telecommunication equipment ($31.8 billion). The charter says cooperation among the IORA members could result in greater intra-regional services trade. Weak regional institutions and formal legal structures to effectively support regional trade and investment-related cooperation that create tariff and non-tariff barriers, prove a problem, however. In November 2017, India, the US, Japan and Australia formed the “Quad” coalition to build up a cohesive strategy to keep critical sea routes in the Indo-Pacific free and open under the international maritime code of conduct. And in 2018, the United States’ National Defense Strategy (NDS) prioritised the Indo Pacific command. Initially, India was slow to respond, but the developments in Ladakh and the South China Sea have necessitated the urgency of the alliance. These developments have necessitated both immediate response and long term perspective planning to counter similar designs by China in future. The India-Australia Virtual Leaders’ Summit between Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Prime Minister Modi held on 4 June was a breakthrough, elevating Comprehensive and Strategic Partnership, especially in defence and security. Australian Minister for Defence, Senator Linda Reynolds (see interview) told this correspondent, “I am also open to exploring the possibility of trilateral cooperation with India and other countries in our region, including Indonesia.” Though relatively late to start, the India-Australia Mutual Logistics Support Agreement (MLSA) has finally been signed. Since 2015 cooperation between the two nations had been confined to the bilateral naval exercise, AUSINDEX. Will it gather momentum by including Australia into the Malabar naval exercise? Defence Minister Linda Reynolds said, “It will also enable greater crossservice military activity, building from the success of our most complex exercise to date, AUSINDEX 2019, which focused on anti-submarine warfare. More than half of Australia’s global trade – including oil – crosses the Indian Ocean.” India is now considering Australia’s interest in being part of the Malabar exercise which will be the bedrock of India’s international collaboration. For the United States too, the Indo-Pacific Strategy has already assumed utmost prominence. It is well defined as the region that spans from the Pacific Ocean to the Indian subcontinent. "The American people and the whole world have a stake in the Indo-Pacific’s peace and prosperity,” US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo said in 2018 when he set the initiative in motion. It is the reason why the Indo-Pacific must be free and open. No country invests more in the Indo-Pacific than the United States, which had $940 billion in foreign direct investment fueling growth in the region as of 2018, he had pointed out. India’s Marine Muscle &Shrinking budget Marine power has the true potential to augment India’s economic strength. So far that is not the case, however, as speed is missing in enhancing India’s marine power. On Navy Day, the Chief of the Indian Navy, Admiral Karambir Singh, raised the red flag on the dwindling Navy budget. The budget, which was increased by 18 per cent in 2012, has been raised by a paltry 13 per cent in 2019-20. Though predominantly a Maritime Nation, among the three forces, the Indian Navy gets the lowest share of the defence budget. While the Indian navy has long articulated a need for 20% share of the defence budget, in 2019-2020 Government allocated 23,156 crore, landing a big blow to its ambitious plan to be among the best in the world. Budgetary constraints hamper the critical modernization plan of the Indian Navy. Despite such constraints, Indian navy has been ahead of the curve as far as indigenization is concerned. The thrust on indigenisation has led to 88 per cent orders for Indian vendors and shipyards, however, and 50 ships and submarines are currently under construction. On India’s security strategy in the Indo-Pacific region, Admiral Singh said the Indian Navy was ready to work with like minded nations based on common interests to ensure safe and secure seas and to promote a rules-based order. IAC Vikrant at Cochin Shipyard Even as Lieutenant General-level dialogues are taking place between Indian and Chinese armies in an effort to resolve the month-long standoff in eastern Ladakh, the Indian Navy has been reporting Chinese naval presence closer home in the Indian Ocean Region. According to a former Rear Admiral of the Indian Navy, “Within the IOR region, the Chinese interests are far greater than a mere border dispute.’’ The South China Sea is already wellknown as disputed waters, with China always on an aggressive stance. Large traffic of Chinese ships and submarines have been recently reported by the Indian Navy in the ocean from the Malacca Straits to the Gulf of Aden to the Red Sea. These submarines were both conventional and nuclear types, which are obviously covert activities. China has, moreover, been sending off Unmanned Underwater Vehicles (UUV) in the IOR and has completed 3,400 observations lately. String of PearlsLast year, India exercised its composite combat capability through the Navy’s largest biennial war game, Theatre Level Operational Readiness Exercise (TROPEX-19), Admiral said. The Indian Navy has also upped the operational dimensions with Friendly Foreign Countries(FFCs). “From a conservative figure of eight exercises in 2015, we are now participating in close to 30 bilateral/multilateral exercises,” he said. In addition, under the Government of India’s overall ambit of ‘Neighbourhood First’ policy, the Navy also undertook Joint EEZ patrols of Maldives, Seychelles and Mauritius as well as Coordinated Patrols (CORPATs) with Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand and Indonesia," CNS highlighted. ( See below the Photo Indian Ocean) As per Maritime Capability Perspective Plan, the Indian Navy initially planned to have 200 warships, 500 aircraft and 24 attack submarines where the warships were cut to 175. At present, the Navy has around 132 ships, 220 aircraft and 15 submarines. Currently, the Indian Navy has only one aircraft carrier, INS Vikramaditya & we require at least three aircraft carriers. Gaps are widening as some of the key projects turn tardy. The Project 75I (6 new diesel-electric submarines) is still scouting for foreign partner and the induction of the indigenously built Scorpene class continues after years of delay. A visible threat warrants a comparison and a closer look at China from the naval perspective. China’s People Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) currently has some 400 naval ships and gearing up for 100 submarine by 2030. A veteran navy Cmde Anil looks at the critical capability gaps points out: “Carrier capability is being compromised, the undersea warfare dimension is in need of immediate attention, the naval air arm is deficient in numbers, expeditionary capability has had a setback with the delay in the LPD programme, and mines counter measure capability is virtually non-existent.” While he also points out the clear and present dangers in the prevailing security environment said: “This is compounded by the fact that all navies in the region are augmenting their naval forces, with our major adversaries on overdrive in their naval expansion.” Notwithstanding its budgetary constraints, the Indian Navy is deemed to be the seventh most powerful navy in the world. India has an opportunity to harness its marine power and supporting the region for its Blue Economy initiatives. It is a net security provider in the IOR and the pillar that could propel India into a maritime power. Australian Defence Minister Linda Reynolds ( credit-Australian Department of Defence)
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Military Exercise
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Motorists urged not to panic buy fuel; ‘10 days’ to save Christmas – as it happened
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The COVID-19 pandemic has illustrated what happens when the government fails to deliver on what Americans expect and need. Americans believe that it is the responsibility of the U.S. government to keep its people safe and sound, invest for the future, and be good stewards of taxpayer dollars and well-regulated markets—in short, to create a fair system that gives everybody a shot at the American dream. Sadly, in recent years, the federal government has failed on most of these issues, as the concurrent public health crisis and deep recession wreak massive hardship for millions of families.1 Unsurprisingly, Americans are frustrated across the board, with 69 percent stating in a recent poll that the United States is on the wrong track when it comes to fiscal policy management.2 Budgets reflect values. And the Trump administration has shown its cards clearly regarding the federal budget. Three years ago, rather than actually address the dual problems of slow productivity growth and massive economic inequality, the administration, then-Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-WI), and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) rammed through Congress a massive tax cut, one that was heavily weighted toward the largest corporations and the wealthy. The legislation, known as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), was packed with budget gimmicks intended to mask its significant costs.3 In the process, it kept income and wealth inequality at record high levels and left unaddressed many issues that plagued families long before the pandemic: low wage growth, high health care and education costs, and growing indebtedness. Yet today, in the face of a devastating pandemic, many of the same congressional leaders are delaying the next legislative package of economically essential coronavirus relief on the grounds of the very deficits that the TCJA helped create.4 This is despite the overwhelming economic and popular consensus that fiscal policy must do “whatever it takes” to address the pandemic and take far bolder actions to build resilience in the face of coming climate shocks and systemic inequalities.5 Putting bare-knuckle politics aside, this issue brief considers how U.S. policymakers should assess fiscal policy in the era of COVID-19—and for at least the foreseeable future beyond the pandemic. In short, responsible fiscal policy in today’s economic reality may be best demonstrated by a government that serves taxpayers by investing in higher productivity, more financial security, expanded opportunity, and greater worker power; by securing inequality-reducing revenues; and by protecting the economy against likely financial, climate, and public health crises.6 The Center for American Progress’ recent research on budgets and fiscal policy focuses squarely on how policymakers can secure productivity growth, expand opportunity, and reduce inequality.7 Pursuing these goals can help create a virtuous cycle, whereby faster growth in the present, equitably shared, contributes to faster growth in the future. These investments are a top priority; when they are made with an eye toward increasing productivity growth and expanding opportunity, the stronger economy can itself make paying any interest on those investments easier. Consider the example of when doctors take out loans to attend medical school: Their higher future earnings from a lucrative career make it easier for them to pay off incurred loan debt. Investments in education, research, and infrastructure are just a few examples of taxpayer dollars that government puts toward future productivity and that yield expanded opportunity and reduced inequality. The combination of faster productivity growth and more economic equality will ultimately translate into a lower burden on taxpayers for any debt-financed investments. More people will have higher incomes than would otherwise be the case, increasing federal government revenue in the process. This does not mean that deficits will pay for themselves, but deficit-financed, well-designed investments will substantially lighten the load of the additional debt. The GI Bill that financed education for millions of veterans after World War II; the interstate highway system; government research that helped build the internet; federal research funding for pharmaceutical research to eradicate diseases and find new treatments; and the construction of the Tennessee Valley Authority, which broke the utility monopolies and lowered energy costs for millions of families and businesses, are just a few examples of investments that yielded productivity returns far beyond their upfront costs.8 However, it must be recognized that too many of America’s past investments have excluded people of color, undermining the broadly shared prosperity essential for long-term fiscal responsibility.9 Analogies to household borrowing are unavoidable tools for helping people understand financial matters, but they have significant limitations and even downsides when it comes to truly appreciating the operation of government borrowing. In particular, households often face obstacles in borrowing the money necessary to invest in their own futures, as the example of student loans amply highlights. They also have finite life spans where they borrow money to invest in education and housing early in their career; increase their earnings and savings if all goes well; and eventually enter retirement. Households typically aim to pay off all or most of their debt by the time they retire. Limited access to affordable debt and finite investment horizons mean that households cannot fully address all their needs and are left with a lot of financial risks. For example, many households, especially African American and Latinx households, end up with significant high-cost student and auto loan debt early in their careers, hampering their ability to buy a house or start a business.10 The federal government, in contrast, can borrow on highly favorable terms to finance necessary investments and has a much longer time horizon. It can thus address large, known but longer-term risks by temporarily increasing its borrowing. The federal government can borrow on more favorable terms for a number of reasons, including the size of the U.S. economy, the dollar’s role as the global reserve currency, and the role of public debt as the foundational asset of the financial system for liquidity, credit pricing, and other purposes. The federal government’s capacity and necessity to borrow are not only far larger than those of households but also fundamentally different. It can address key challenges such as borrowing and spending to counter the boom-and-bust cycles of the economy, for example, by supporting households and businesses hurt by the pandemic. It can also respond to financial, public health, and climate crises in its fundamental role of protecting people, boosting financial stability, and increasing productivity growth. When addressing federal budget matters, policymakers therefore should be cautious in using household analogies that drive questions such as, “Where will the money come from?” or “How will we pay it back?”—not because those questions cannot be asked or answered, but because the answer in the governmental context is so different from the answer in the household context.11 Protecting the country in times of national crisis—such as wars—has historically justified exceptionally heightened levels of debt, usually expressed as a ratio of debt held by the public to gross domestic product (GDP). And in fact, while wars waste a great many things—not the least of which is life—they have also resulted in productivity booms that are due in part to government investment in technological and manufacturing capacity and to productivity innovations that arise from what are commonly extremely tight labor markets during those periods.12 Indeed, the years following World War II saw the nation’s biggest boom in middle-class opportunity for workers—not including, by intentional policy design, Black workers.13 Public debts as a percentage of GDP declined as the economy grew more quickly, a reasonable level of worker wage growth and inflation were maintained, and the wealthy paid their fair share in taxes. Today, the pandemic-related economic crisis, systemic racism, and climate change all pose similar existential crises, and each demands a similarly robust response—one that increases technological and manufacturing investment and tightens labor markets by addressing the nation’s needs.14 Recent economic research highlights in particular the importance of investing, including through short-term deficits, to support workers’ productivity growth and a more equitable distribution of economic resources. This combination of faster growth and more equality could allow the nation to avoid the economic scarring that can come when a crisis dislocates workers for extended periods.15 The country is suffering from a deep and prolonged recession that is hurting families and businesses. Even though GDP growth rebounded from July 2020 to September 2020 and recovered most of the ground lost in the preceding months, people had 10.7 million fewer jobs in September 2020 than in February 2020, and the employed share of people ages 25 to 54 was only 75 percent—far below the 80.5 percent share in February and below any levels recorded from 2011 to 2019.16 Moreover, the labor market recovery is showing signs of slowing. Financially strapped households are already out of options when it comes to paying their bills. The U.S. Census Bureau reports that 15.1 percent of renters had fallen behind on their rent at the end of September.17 The widespread and lingering economic pain from the recession will eventually hurt all kinds of businesses and further slow the recovery, unless Congress quickly enacts another large and well-targeted fiscal stimulus. The COVID-19 pandemic presents precisely such a case for a robust fiscal response to save lives and prevent the kind of sustained job loss that occurred for too many workers in the years following the 2008 financial crisis and Great Recession, when fiscal austerity returned far too soon. The International Monetary Fund recently praised fiscal policy for doing “whatever it takes to save lives and livelihoods” as countries go through COVID-19 lockdowns, but it continued to emphasize the importance of smart investment: When the health crisis is contained, the emphasis will shift to exiting from exceptional government interventions and to ensuring the sustainability of public finances while building resilience against future shocks and addressing preexisting challenges such as inequalities and global warming.18 In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, the United States will need to make significant investments to support job creation in so many hard-hit communities; build small-business opportunity nationally, especially in communities of color where the racial wealth gap has left families vulnerable to the dual onslaught of the public health crisis and the deep recession; address the climate crisis and so many other problems that have been neglected for far too long; and much more.19 Empowering worker power to collectively secure fair wages would also support the advancement of responsible fiscal policy. Because unions help raise wages, they support both economic security for workers and higher productivity, both of which have positive fiscal impacts.20 More fundamentally, worker power is important because unions have proved to be powerful tools in focusing workers on their essential interests as citizens in a democracy.21 Vibrant multiracial unions have also been essential to countering the threats of racism and racial division, which are proving to be dangerously powerful forces that undermine the very tenets of the United States’ economic and national strength nearly every day in President Donald Trump’s America.22 Consider systemic racial inequality. The protests against police brutality this summer have once again laid bare how any federal government response addressing the massive inequities highlighted by the pandemic will need to wrestle with the persistent and widespread racial wealth gap. The gap between Black and white families’ wealth serves as a key example. Black households typically own a fraction of the wealth of white households. In 2019, the last year for which data are available, the median wealth of Black families amounted to $24,100, or 12.8 percent of white families’ median wealth of $188,200.23 This lack of wealth has left Black families especially vulnerable in the pandemic as they are more likely to experience layoffs24 and higher health care costs due to a greater exposure to the coronavirus.25 They have fewer resources to cover the loss of income and higher health care costs, resulting in greater financial vulnerabilities and fewer opportunities to invest in their children’s remote learning.26 The pandemic thus made an already massive economic inequality much worse.27 Federal efforts to shrink the Black-white wealth gap must be part of any responsible fiscal policy and need to take several forms. First, the federal government should do no harm and avoid a return to fiscal austerity. Aggressive reductions in public services hurt many people of color in two ways: They lose access to stable, well-paying jobs with decent benefits that are often unavailable to them in the private sector, and they lose vital services in health care, education, transportation, and other areas.28 Next, the federal government needs to address the persistent exclusion of Black entrepreneurs and inventors from federal funding for research and development.29 Third, the federal government must make direct investments in raising wealth for Black families so that they can enjoy the same economic opportunities as white families. These direct investments can include regular savings for children until they reach age 18, commonly known as baby bonds; debt-free college; easier access to low-cost, low-risk savings options; and full enforcement of anti-discrimination and civil rights legislation in mortgage and housing markets.30 Without such investments, a large and growing share of the population will continue to face much harder and more widespread financial struggles than is the case for white families, and persistent and systemic inequality will continue to hamper inclusive, broad-based growth and drive social fracture and conflict—all of which is deeply harmful to fiscal policy. Climate change’s economic impacts are similarly stark. Communities of color will be the hardest hit when it comes to the effects of the climate crisis, but those impacts extend widely across the economy and all the way to the most powerful: The risk of a climate change-driven financial crisis grows every day that markets and regulators refuse to act on climate change.31 Already, weather-related natural disasters have taken thousands of lives and cost nearly half a trillion dollars in the past three years alone.32 This year’s fire season was so intense in the West that the skies of major American cities were darkened in broad daylight.33 Farmers, ranchers, fishermen, and others in the agricultural sector are feeling the pain of nature’s punishingly fast changes.34 The necessity of an overwhelming response on climate—one focused on a 100 percent clean energy target, a worker-centered approach, and environmental justice—grows more pressing by the day.35 Indeed, precisely because there is no silver bullet, trillions of dollars in federal investments need to be deployed across a wide range of initiatives—including research and development; safe and healthy infrastructure; worker and community transitions; rural conservation and sustainable agriculture; and special efforts to target communities that have historically carried an unfair burden from pollution. This is critical to addressing the existential challenge that is the climate crisis.36 Ultimately, smart investments that enhance productivity and protect people and the planet are fundamentally in furtherance of responsible fiscal policy in that they bolster the economic, social, and environmental foundations for growth and prosperity. This is not to say that structural deficits do not pose potential economic risks over the long term. As such, policies that undermine the country’s revenue base heighten those risks. Unfortunately, the mistakes of recent years have added up. In particular, the 2017 TCJA was predicated on cut-and-grow mythology that has time and again been proved wrong. The law also ignored independent scorekeepers and relied on budgetary gimmicks, leading it to be deficit-financed and have an effective price tag well north of the roughly $2 trillion official price tag should core features of the law get extended.37 The bulk of those funds were redistributed upward, going to the wealthy and to the largest, most profitable corporations, which have used their tax cuts not to invest in job creation or workers through new economic capacity or productivity, but instead to finance share buybacks and mergers and acquisitions.38 Quite simply, the tax cuts were a missed opportunity to make productivity-enhancing investments to build America’s future.39 And while billed as tax reform, the bill left untouched some of the most wasteful tax expenditures—such as the private equity so-called carried interest loophole. It even created some large new ones, such as the 20 percent deduction for business income earned through pass-through entities, the foreign-derived intangible income deduction that actually contains incentives to offshore production, and the opportunity zone tax shelter that provides extraordinary capital gains reductions for the wealthy but few guardrails to ensure that the investment funds benefit existing populations in underserved communities.40 More broadly, greater revenues are needed not only to support economic investments in middle-class job creation, climate change mitigation, and more, but also to play a role in directly reducing inequality. A return to more progressive rates of tax on high incomes, capital gains, and wealthy estates; stronger tax enforcement, especially with respect to the wealthy; and more are all important tools to create a fairer tax system.41 Closing irresponsible business loopholes, such as the pass-through tax loophole, and reversing the tax cuts for corporations that have brought corporate revenue well below historic and international norms are equally critical to countering the extraordinary accumulation of wealth and power at the very top.42 These changes will also generate more revenue to support vital programs that many American families need for their financial security and to enjoy equal economic opportunity. The 2008 financial crisis and the Great Recession laid bare the connection between the banking system and fiscal responsibility: Not only did millions of Americans lose their jobs and homes, but the public debt and the Federal Reserve System’s balance sheets both rose dramatically. Essentially, America saw the socialization of much of the private sector debt that the banking system and capital markets had created but mismanaged, while unemployment and the real economy slowdown caused more fiscal outlays and a collapse in federal and state tax revenue.43 None of this was news to experts, who for years understood that financial fragility has strongly negative impacts on employment and macroeconomic outcomes, which in turn further exacerbates weaknesses in the financial system. Unfortunately, COVID-19 presents the risk of another financial crisis that requires sustained attention in order to avoid it.44 Critical funding markets broke down in March, and the Federal Reserve System has deployed extraordinary levels of emergency lending to support the financial system, corporations, and municipalities, acting in ways that even exceed what was done during the 2008 financial crisis.45 Moreover, banks remain exposed to homeowners who cannot pay their bills, to commercial real estate owners whose incomes depend on renters and small businesses that cannot pay the rent, and to other losses that may ripple through the economy. At particular risk are financial institutions and markets exposed to an increasingly highly indebted corporate sector, which includes an oil and gas industry that has struggled for years.46 If these issues are not addressed and financial risks become too large, the costs of a financial crisis fall squarely on the taxpayer, not only through the immediate draws on the federal government safety net but also through the real economy implications for recessions: a macroeconomic slowdown, more unemployment, fewer revenues, and higher expenditures. As the negative interaction between real economy downturns and financial sector fragility can produce unexpectedly large outcomes for employment and other macroeconomic variables, fiscal responsibility during the COVID-19 economic crisis demands a prudent approach to financial regulation.47 In simple terms, prudent financial regulation starts by ensuring core components of the financial system are regulated to take the risks necessary to serve their important real economy functions and not more. These include deposit-taking and lending for banks; securities underwriting and customer-focused trading for securities firms; and business and consumer insurance services for insurance companies. Banking organizations, for example, should not be engaged in taking high-risk, swing-for-the-fences bets on the ups and downs of the market, which do little more than fill the bonus pools of traders and executives at the expense of their customers and clients.48 All financial firms should maintain robust buffers in the form of loss-absorbing capital and high-quality liquid assets to help them weather the inevitable storms in the financial markets.49 Additionally, specific financial products and the markets in which they may operate—be they consumer loans, securities, derivatives, or otherwise—should be transparent and well-regulated to protect consumers and investors; to ensure fair and efficient markets for all market participants; and to otherwise support the maximum possible long-term alignment between those markets and the public interest, such as relating to worker empowerment, climate change efforts, racial justice, and more general environmental, social, and governance (ESG) matters.50 In essence, prudent financial market regulation is a way to ensure that the federal purse will not be unduly taxed by another foreseeable and preventable crisis. To date, many of the reforms to bank capital, risk-taking, swaps, consumer protection, and more put in place by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 have helped to insulate the financial system from the pandemic’s economic impacts.51 Yet the Federal Reserve Board and other financial regulators have chipped away at the Dodd-Frank Act’s capital and other regulatory foundations in the years since its passage, exposing taxpayers to heightened risks of failed banks.52 Real-time choices made by regulatory leadership matter, too: Irresponsible capital releases for dividends or share buybacks, amazingly, were permitted to continue well into the beginning of the pandemic lockdown.53 Although the situation appears calm at the moment, continued attention is critical, as financial markets seem to be pricing in far higher losses in the corporate sector than they normally do.54 Additionally, the failure of Congress to pass sufficient fiscal support for families, small businesses, and states and local governments presents a continued risk to the financial system.55 Nor do the immediate risks to the financial system end with COVID-19. As was highlighted in a recent unanimous report by a climate-related risk advisory committee to the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the already present harms of climate change, and the ensuing risks of a climate-related financial crisis, only make it more urgent that financial regulators get their houses in order.56 Key tools to address this challenge include enhanced climate-related corporate transparency, including the emissions financed by the financial sector; bank stress tests and capital regulation; transparency regarding ESG approaches by asset managers and asset owners; and a range of tools to promote the clean energy transition and small-business resiliency.57 Despite all the mistakes and wastefulness of recent years, America retains extraordinary fiscal advantages. The dollar remains the global reserve currency, and U.S. debt forms the foundation of the financial system and central banks around the world. In fact, in an era of low inflation and secular growth challenges, fiscal capacity may be far more robust than previously fathomed.58 But that does not mean it should be wasted. Instead, America’s taxpayer dollars should be deployed to create jobs, boost productivity, and address long-term challenges—and in doing so, secure America’s economic growth, social inclusion, and, indeed, fiscal strength. Paired with an approach to revenues that reduces inequality and a prudent approach to financial regulation, this would be a truly different path forward than the reckless one that America has been traveling—because at the end of the day, a responsible approach to fiscal policy means having a government that is accountable to, investing in, and faithfully protecting the American people. Andy Green is the managing director of Economic Policy at the Center for American Progress. Christian E. Weller is a senior fellow on the Economic Policy team at the Center and a professor of public policy at the University of Massachusetts Boston’s McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies.
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Financial Crisis
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Seven miners killed as a gold mine collapsed in Northern State
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Seven miners were killed when a gold mine collapsed in Northern State on Wednesday. People from the area told Radio Dabanga that the accident occurred in the mines east of Semna, 60 km south of Wadi Halfa. Twelve men, originally from West Bara in North Kordofan, were working in the mine when it collapsed. Seven of them died instantly. Four others were seriously wounded, and were transferred to the hospital of Wadi Halfa. The 12th man was not injured. “He was the one who reported the collapse of the mine,” , the sources reported. The bodies have been buried in the cemetery of Wadi Halfa. The Wadi Halfa Public Prosecution Office and the Police Department have started an investigation into the accident. Gold exchange Sudan is reportedly the second-largest producer of gold in Africa and the ninth in the world. Gold mines are scattered across Sudan, including Darfur, South Kordofan, and Blue Nile. Artisanal mining has also drawn hundreds of thousands of gold seekers to the deserts of Sudan’s northern and eastern states. The total gold production of Sudan in 2020 reached 36.6 tons. The revenues amounted to SDG 22.5 billion, of which SDG 16.6 billion was deposited at the Ministry of Finance. As the production was driven by unregulated, artisanal (individual subsistence) mining, the transitional government began to regulate the mining and export of the precious metal two years ago. In October 2019, the government officially took over control the Jebel Amer gold mines in North Darfur. In March this year, the government established state control over gold exports. It was also decided to establish a Sudanese gold exchange. Toxics Traditional gold mining is carried out by excavating the soil that contains gold. The soil is then treated with mercury and cyanide to extract the gold. The highly toxic waste is often poured directly into valleys and streams, leading to heavy pollution. Protests against traditional gold mining have increased in recent years in several states in the country, especially South Kordofan, North Kordofan, North Darfur, and Northern State. In South Kordofan, at least 10 gold mining plants in have been closed by activists during the past few years. In October 2019, the government prohibited the use of mercury and cyanide in gold mining.
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Mine Collapses
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WA Afternoons
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Listen
On WA Afternoons
with Christine Layton
Local Perth waterways are filled with a wide variety of animals; fish, frogs, long neck turtles are just a few of them. But when those waterways become polluted via stormwater drains, it can cause not only harm to the animals, but also to humans as the toxins transfer up the food chain.
Earlier this week the Banister Creek Catchment Group submitted claims that Banister Creek which runs into the Canning River is being polluted by someone upstream. Over the last few weekends they have witnessed toxic foam and oil slicks tracing down the river and endangering local wildlife.
Julie Roberts, Founder of Banister Creek Catchment Group and City of Canning Mayor Patrick Hall join Christine Layton on Afternoons
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Environment Pollution
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Scott Morrison on the defensive over French submarine deal, after brief run in with Emmanuel Macron
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Scott Morrison on the defensive over French submarine deal, after brief run in with Emmanuel Macron
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has crossed paths with French President Emmanuel Macron for the first time since Australia tore up its $90 billion submarine contract with French shipbuilder Naval Group.
It came a day after US President Joe Biden expressed deep concerns about the handling of the secret plan to dump Naval Group from the future submarine project, labelling it as "clumsy" and "not done with a lot of grace".
"I was under the impression that France had been informed long before that the deal was not going through," Mr Biden told President Macron in Rome.
"I honest to God did not know you had not been," he said.
The Australian and French leaders met briefly on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Rome — two days after their first tense phone call since the AUKUS announcement, where Australia opted for nuclear-powered submarines in partnership with the United States and the United Kingdom.
"I said g'day, I said g'day," Mr Morrison told reporters in Rome.
Are you wondering why there's so much fuss about Australia's decision to acquire nuclear submarines? We've broken it down for you.
"He was having a chat to someone, I went up and just put my arm on his shoulder and just said 'g'day, Emmanuel,' and 'look forward to catching up over the next couple of days.'
"That's the way these events tend to work and he was happy to exchange those greetings."
Mr Morrison refused to be drawn on whether Mr Biden had thrown him under a diplomatic bus.
"He's had a candid conversation with the French President and I'll leave his remarks for him," Mr Morrison said.
Mr Morrison has spent much of the last month dealing with French fury at being kept in the dark over the decision, with officials in Paris informed Australia was scrapping the contract just hours before Mr Morrison, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Mr Biden hosted a tri-continental press conference to spruik their new security and defence pact.
The French government responded with fury to the AUKUS pact. What might Paris do in retaliation, and can Australia do anything to appease it?
The French government recalled its ambassador in Canberra and Mr Macron described the incident as breaking the trust between the two nations.
"Australia made the right decision in our interests to ensure we have the right submarine capability to deal with our strategic interests," Mr Morrison said.
"There was never an easy way for us to get to a point where we had to disappoint a good friend and partner in France that we wouldn't be proceeding with that contract.
"That was always a difficult decision for Australia, it was the right decision for Australia."
Mr Morrison insisted his AUKUS partners were informed of how Australia was looking to get out of the French contract.
"We work closely with the United States and the United Kingdom, and we kept them up to date, the administration, with where we're at in our various discussions with France," he said.
"France will pursue its interests, we'll pursue ours — and there's a great deal of overlap between those two things."
Mr Morrison also met with Mr Johnson, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and briefly chatted to Mr Biden at the summit.
Earlier he was warmly welcomed by Indonesian President Joko Widodo, who thanked the Australian Government for the supply of vital COVID-19 vaccines.
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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Tear Up Agreement
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The Western United States Is a Hotspot for Snow Droughts
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A new study compares snowpack across the world and offers a tool to help scientists pinpoint where this critical resource is waning — and what that means for ecosystems and economies. Climate Change February 1, 2021 - by Tara Lohan Wild, Incisive, Fearless. A new study compares snowpack across the world and offers a tool to help scientists pinpoint where this critical resource is waning — and what that means for ecosystems and economies. Most of us know a bad drought when we see one: Lakes and rivers recede from their normal water lines, crops wither in fields, and lawns turn brown. Usually we think of these droughts as being triggered by a lack of rain, but scientists also track drought in other ways. “The common ways to measure droughts are through precipitation, soil moisture and runoff,” says Laurie S. Huning, an environmental engineer at the University of California, Irvine. Her most recent work adds another dimension to that by looking at water stored in snowpack. Huning is the co-author of a study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, with U.C. Irvine colleague Amir AghaKouchak, which developed a new framework for characterizing “snow droughts.” These can occur when there’s an abnormally low snowpack, which may be triggered by low precipitation, warm temperatures or both. Their research is timely. This winter, southwestern states have received just a quarter to half of the average snow-water equivalent —the amount of water held in the snowpack — the key metric for determining a snow drought. And that can have sweeping impacts. The water content of a snowpack can change the amount and timing of when runoff occurs, and that has implications for wildlife, ecosystems, water resources, flood control, hydropower and drought mitigation. Snow droughts can also have far-reaching effects on agriculture — and economies. California’s Central Valley, the heart of its agriculture industry, relies on snow melt from the Sierra Nevada. The state saw $2.7 billion in losses in the sector following low precipitation and warm temperatures during 2014-2015. Snow droughts can also make conditions dire in regions that are already stressed by conflict and resource shortages. A snow drought in Afghanistan in 2017-2018 triggered crop failures and livestock loses that left 10 million people food insecure. The concept of a “snow drought” has been around for several years, and it’s been studied in certain key locations, but until now scientists and water managers lacked a worldwide method to assess them. The study aims to solve that. Huning and AghaKouchak have developed a standardized snow-water equivalent index in an effort better characterize and compare the duration and intensity of snow droughts around the world. The results already reveal some areas of concern. Looking at data from 1980 to 2018, the researchers found a few hotspots where snow-droughts became longer and more intense during the 21st century. The most notable area was the western United States, which saw a 28% increase in the length of periods of snow drought. Eastern Russia and Europe also saw increases, though less severe. And on the flip side, some areas saw a decrease in snow drought duration, including the Hindu Kush, Central Asia, greater Himalayas, extratropical Andes and Patagonia. “It’s important to remember that not only does the snowpack vary but the impact that it has differs across the world,” says Huning. Huning hopes the framework developed for the study can help water managers better understand the amount and timing of snowmelt, and to integrate that with drought monitoring systems to recreate better resiliency and management of resources. “We know that the snowpack is highly variable,” she says. “Further development of this framework can improve our near real-time monitoring of drought.” The study didn’t delve into the specifics of why snow droughts may be becoming more severe in certain places, but other studies have found that climate change is playing, and will play, a role in reducing snowpack in some areas — including western U.S. states. A study by UCLA climate scientists published on Aug. 10 found that in California warmer temperatures will cause more rainfall and less snow during the winter in coming decades. This will likely increase flood risks and reduce the snowpack that usually melts slowly over the spring months. Earlier research found that a decrease in Arctic sea ice leads to changes in atmospheric circulation that creates a high-pressure system, known as an atmospheric ridge, off the Pacific coast. These ridges deflect storms, pushing them northward and leaving the region high and dry. A particularly stubborn system that developed in 2013, nicknamed the “ridiculously resilient ridge,” had a big hand in California’s five-year drought, which extended until 2017. Better understanding of how to measure and track snow droughts can give water managers another tool to help plan for similar droughts and to better manage this changing resource. “Snow is a natural resource and, given the warming temperatures that some parts of the world will see, the amount of snow is changing,” says Huning. “We need to recognize that there are so many different ways the environment and humans will be affected.”
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Droughts
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Millions in Yemen ‘a step away from starvation’
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The crisis in Yemen, now in its seventh year of war, continues unabated, with thousands of people displaced and millions “a step away from starvation”, the UN Humanitarian Relief Coordinator said on Wednesday during a high-level side event on the margins of the 76th General Assembly. “The country’s economy has reached new depths of collapse, and a third wave of the pandemic is threatening to crash the country’s already fragile health-care system”, Humanitarian Affairs chief Martin Griffiths told world leaders at the meeting: Yemen: Responding to the crises within the world's largest humanitarian crisis. Underscoring that the most vulnerable always “bear the highest cost” of the crisis, he said that females were more likely to be hungry, sick or exposed to gender-based violence and, with little access to essential services, millions of internally displaced people face “a daily struggle to survive”. In Yemen, conflict has continued to push millions into displacement and starvation.Funding has prevented the worst but without additional support, this critical lifesaving assistance – including food supplies – will have to be reduced in the coming weeks and months. In a positive development, the UN official credited the international community for stepping up support to the country’s humanitarian aid operation. Thanking the world leaders, he said that Yemen’s Humanitarian Response Plan is “among the most well-funded”, with 98 per cent of the pledges made at an event in March fulfilled. With over $2 billion received, the UN and its partners were able to “prevent famine and pull people back from the brink of despair”, delivering assistance to “every single one of the country’s 333 districts”. Despite these important achievements, Mr. Griffiths acknowledged that the work there is “far from done”, as many sectors still face “alarming funding gaps” and humanitarians are working with less than one-fifth of the money needed to provide health care, sanitation, and shelter. “Without additional funding, these and other forms of critical life-saving support – including food assistance – will have to be reduced in the coming weeks and months”, he warned. The UN relief chief asked global leaders to continue generously supporting Yemen’s humanitarian operation; respect international humanitarian law and protect civilians; and address the root drivers of the crisis, including restrictions on imports, which elevate the prices of essential goods. He urged them to do “everything in our collective power to stop this war”, saying, “at the end of the day, peace is what will provide Yemenis the most sustainable form of relief”. The war has robbed too many of Yemen’s children of safety, education and opportunities. “Each day, the violence and destruction wreak havoc on the lives of children and their families”, Henrietta Fore, Executive Director of the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), told the meeting. She painted a grim picture of 1.7 million displaced youth, 11.3 million youngsters depending on humanitarian assistance to survive and 2.3 million under-five “acutely malnourished” – nearly 400,000 of whom are at “imminent risk of death”. “Being a child in Yemen means you have probably either experienced or witnessed horrific violence that no child should ever face”, said the UNICEF chief. “Quite simply, Yemen is one of the most difficult places in the world to be a child”. In his address, World Food Programme (WFP) chief David Beasley said that in a nation of 30 million people, food rations are needed by 12.9 million; while 3.3 million children and women need special nutrition, together with 1.6 million school children. “We’re literally looking at 16 million people marching towards starvation”, he said. With one thousand people a week dying from a lack of food and nutrition, the senior WFP official warned that if $800 million is not received in the next six months, the need to cut rations could lead to the death of 400,000 children under the age of five next year. “We have a moral, obligation, to speak out and step up”, he stated, appealing to the world leaders to “put the pressure on all parties…to end this conflict”. “These are our children; these are our brothers and sisters we need the donors to step up immediately otherwise children are going to die. Let’s not let them down. Let’s do what we need to do”, concluded Mr. Beasley. The complexities of the years-long war in Yemen “multiply as the conflict drags on”, the country’s new UN envoy told the Security Council on Friday, adding that he was “under no illusions about the difficulty of the task” at hand. There has been no let-up in more than six years of conflict in Yemen, as a growing “climate of fear” among civilians continues, a panel of UN-appointed independent rights experts said on Wednesday.
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Famine
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Masked man robbed bank in Baker Wednesday morning
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BAKER - Police say a man claiming to have a gun robbed a bank in East Baton Rouge Parish Wednesday. The Baker Police Department confirmed to WBRZ it was investigating a robbery at a Chase Bank on Main Street. Police said the robber walked into the bank around 9 a.m. wearing a head covering and mask. The man reportedly slid a bank teller a note demanding money and warning that he was armed with a gun. The robber fled the bank before authorities arrived. It's unclear how much money the man took.
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Bank Robbery
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Chad’s ‘covert coup’ and the implications for democratic governance in Africa
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The recent spate of military coups in Africa, which were intended to be transitional, might instead be a risk for democracy in the long term. There might be a short term need to maintain security. But the military may not necessarily be a credible partner to build democratic governance. Military intervention could mean that people might continue to be in a state of stagnant democracy. Chad is the most recent example of this. Soon after the death of President Idriss Deby , the military swiftly took over power. They immediately installed his 37-year-old son Mahamat , a military commander, as interim president. He will now lead an 18-month Transitional Military Council. Parliament and the government have been dissolved and the constitution suspended. Upon the death of the president, the constitution stipulates that his duties should be provisionally exercised by the president of the National Assembly. The military has ignored these arrangement. By suspending the constitution it has effectively overseen an unconstitutional change of government. The military has stated that the dissolution of Parliament and suspension of the constitution are provisional. It claims that these measures are intended to maintain stability. And to ensure a peaceful and democratic transition of power. These arguments are not particularly convincing. First, the military government has already created an atmosphere of fear . It has banned demonstrations and dispersed protesters using disproportionate and repressive force. Second, it has refused calls for a ceasefire and dialogue with the Front for Change and Concord in Chad, the rebel group alleged to be responsible for Derby’s death. This goes against the tenets of a peaceful transition to civilian government, which should rightly consider an inclusive dialogue with all stakeholders. Third, the military junta has appointed a civilian prime minister , Albert Padacke. The new prime minister was the runner up during the April 11 presidential elections . He is seen as a Deby ally and is, therefore, not a credible civilian stakeholder. But Chad isn’t the first African country to go down this path. Recent examples of military coups include Mali in August 2020, Sudan in April 2019, Zimbabwe in 2017, and Egypt in February 2011 and July 2013. In these cases, transitional military councils were established to oversee smooth and peaceful democratic transitions. They took over under the guise of restoring democratic governance by maintaining order and temporarily overseeing political transitions. But early signs are not particularly promising. Military coups and democracy in Africa In Mali , after pressure from regional bodies like the Economic Community of West African States, the transitional military council was dissolved and a civilian-led transitional government was put in place. But the country’s civilian vice president, Assimi Goita, is the military commander who led the coup . Other cabinet ministers are also military commanders. So, the military still wields significant influence over a so-called transitional civilian government. Sudan also presents a particularly tenuous case. Since the ouster of former president Omar al-Bashir , some progress has been made to appoint a more inclusive cabinet. But the country’s transitional agreement also secures the military’s dominant role in political and economic life for the foreseeable future. Egypt and Zimbabwe which have completed their transitions from popular uprisings to civilian leadership, have already shown how much influence the military can wield over democratically elected governments. In both cases, the military stepped in under the guise of restoring democratic governance following popular uprisings. Zimbabwe managed to transition from military to civilian rule. However, the military is embedded in government. Egypt remains a military state. Even with these examples, the risks of Africa returning to the widespread military rule of the late 60s to early 80s is low. Nevertheless, there is a potential risk of sliding into a culture of military ‘siege’ on democratic governance. The danger here is that democratically elected governments can become dependent on the military. Civilian governments, which are installed by a military process, may seek to please the military in order to remain in power. In the process, the military can become the key determinant of civilian governments’ legitimacy. Eventually, they may become more and more autonomous and less accountable to oversight from government. And may begin to make demands on the government, such as demands for increased wages, better housing, expensive military equipment. They could also demand that governments divert resources to the military to consolidate its power. Because these governments depend on the military for their legitimacy, they would be hard-pressed to resist these demands. Eventually, governments that are propped up by the military can easily become authoritarian. With the support of the armed forces, they can crack down on political opposition or any form of anti-government protest. This undermines democracy because political freedoms are suppressed. The political space becomes increasingly restricted, which can lead to a replication of the same conditions which precipitated the military take-over. Going forward Military interventions may be deemed necessary in the short term to maintain peace and security. But, they are inherently unconstitutional. No doubt, Chad is still in its initial stages of a military led transition, but it may yet become another example of how democratic progress can be subverted by the military. What eventually happens will be significant not only for the Chadian democracy, but for what can become an uncomfortable path to democratic governance in Africa. The task of democratic development and entrenchment in Africa is enormous. There are no quick fixes. The current wave of military interventions or ‘covert coups’ can be viewed as a movement to protect and support democracy in Africa. But it remains to be seen whether the military is a credible partner to achieve this objective.
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Regime Change
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Graham Hill plane crash
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On 29 November 1975, former Formula One champion and team owner Graham Hill died when the Piper Aztec light aircraft he was piloting crashed near Arkley in Hertfordshire, United Kingdom, while on approach to Elstree Airfield. The other five passengers on board, forming the core of his Embassy Hill Formula One team, were also killed. The group was returning from a trip to southern France to test the new Hill GH2, one month after the end of the 1975 Formula One season. The accident occurred at night, and at the time foggy conditions prevailed in the area. [1] An investigation into the crash was inconclusive, but pilot error was deemed the most likely explanation. On 28 November, the day before the accident, Hill had flown his Aztec to Le Castellet Airport, next to the Paul Ricard Circuit in southern France. On board were five other members of the Embassy Hill team: mechanic Tony Alcock, team driver Tony Brise, team manager Ray Brimble, mechanic Terry Richards and car designer Andrew Smallman. The group were at the Paul Ricard Circuit to test the team's new Hill GH2 racing car. [2][3] They were scheduled to return on 30 November, but the test was curtailed. [4] Photographer Antony Armstrong-Jones (Lord Snowdon) had considered flying with the group, but did not go as he felt that he had already taken enough photographs. [5]
At 15:30 GMT on 29 November, the group departed from Le Castellet and flew to Marseille-Marignane Airport. Hill visited the self-briefing room and obtained weather reports for the London area. An IFR flight plan was filed for a flight to Elstree Airfield, with Luton Airport as alternate. The Piper Aztec took off from Marseille at 17:47. Contact was made with London Air Traffic Control Centre at 20:45 and a weather report for Elstree was obtained, giving a visibility of 2,000 metres and a cloud base of 300 ft AGL. At 21:19, the aircraft was passed to London Heathrow Approach and Hill was informed that visibility at Elstree was 1,000 metres. At 21:21, having descended to 4,000 ft (1,200 m) passing south of Lambourne VOR, Hill was informed that visibility at Elstree had reduced to 800 metres. The aircraft was subsequently cleared to descend to 1,500 ft (460 m), below which any further descent was at the pilot's discretion. At 21:28, the London Approach controller contacted N6645Y to pass further information; there was no reply. Shortly afterwards, radar contact was lost. The Aztec, already with its landing gear and flaps extended, brushed the top of a large tree at an elevation of 460 ft (140 m) AMSL within Arkley Golf Course, 3 nmi (5.6 km) to the east and 130 ft (40 m) above Elstree airfield. It then descended further, colliding with more trees, rolling to the right, striking the ground with its wing tip and finally crashing into a copse. An intense fire developed after the impact, which destroyed most of the aircraft. All six occupants were instantly killed. [6][7]
Elstree's runway was equipped with edge lights and a low-intensity visual slope indicator, but lacked any radio aid and there were no published instrument approach procedures for the airfield, making it unsuitable for low-visibility operations. Witnesses near the crash site reported that weather conditions at the time were thick fog, with a visibility of 50 to 100 metres. [6]
Around three hours earlier, a pilot of another light aircraft had attempted three approaches into Elstree, assisted with radar headings and distances to the airfield provided by London Approach. On all three attempts, descending to as low as 300 ft (90 m) AGL, the airfield lights either remained not visible or were spotted too late to proceed with the landing. The pilot eventually diverted to another airport. Visibility above the cloud layer at 1,000 ft (300 m) AMSL, was reported as very good. [6]
The accident aircraft was a Piper PA-23-250D Aztec built in 1968 and registered N6645Y. [8] It was sold by Melridge Aviation in April 1972 to Grand Prix (Bahamas) Ltd and a request was made to remove the aircraft from the FAA register. This did not actually take place until August 1974. The aircraft was legally stateless from April 1972, although its former registration N6645Y continued to be displayed. The aircraft was operating without a certificate of airworthiness as that held had ceased to be effective when the aircraft was removed from the FAA register. At the time of the accident, the aircraft had flown 1,131 hours. [6]
The Accidents Investigation Branch (now Air Accidents Investigation Branch) conducted the investigation. Their report was published on 29 September 1976. It revealed that the aircraft was unregistered and stateless, although it had been well maintained. It also determined that Hill's night flying and instrument flying ratings had expired and were therefore invalid, as well as other licence irregularities. No mechanical defects were discovered that would have contributed to the accident. Pilot fatigue was not considered to be a factor, and post-mortem toxicological exams on all six victims were all negative. [9] The exact cause of the accident could not be determined. The investigators offered three possible reasons for the pilot allowing the aircraft to descend into the ground:[6]
The Times reported that Hill may have over-estimated his flying ability. [10]
Hill's widow, Bette, was sued for damages by the administrators of Smallman's estate. A High Court writ was issued in June 1977. [11] As Hill was uninsured, settling the case took a large portion of his money. [12]
Because the crash killed the majority of Graham Hill's own Formula One team Embassy Hill (including Hill himself and driver Tony Brise), this left the team with only the deputy team manager and two mechanics as its members. Embassy Hill could not continue to compete and soon the team closed down. [13][14]
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Air crash
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Lakanal House fire
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The Lakanal House fire occurred in a tower block on 3 July 2009 in Camberwell, London. Six people were killed, and at least twenty injured, when a high-rise fire developed and spread through a number of flats in the twelve-storey building. Lakanal House is a 14-storey tower block that forms part of the Sceaux Gardens Estate, Camberwell. [1] It contains 98 flats,[2] and is 137 feet 6 inches (41.91 m) high. [3] The building dates from 1959. [4] It is made up of two-bedroom maisonettes of a two-storey interlocking design. [citation needed] The flats are entered from the right or left side of a central access corridor. On the access level, there are two bedrooms and a bathroom. There are stairs to the upper level where a lounge and kitchen stretch across the full width of the block. This means that the lounge for each flat is above one of the bedrooms of that flat and one of the bedrooms of the flat on the opposite side of the access corridor. [3] The flats were built with fire exits from the lounge and the kitchen to 'exit balconies' on either side of the building, and also a fire exit from the largest bedroom into the central access corridor, separate from the front door. Southwark Council stated that it had recently spent £3.5 million on refurbishment to meet current fire safety standards. [5]
At 16:20 BST (15:20 UTC) on 3 July 2009, a fire broke out in one of the flats of Lakanal House. London Fire Brigade responded with a total of eighteen fire engines attending the incident. [1] The source of the fire was a faulty television in a flat on the ninth floor. [6][7]
The central stairwell, the only way in and out of the building was filled quickly with thick dark smoke, and an operational command centre was erected on the seventh floor. [4] First responders repeatedly urged 999 callers to remain in their flats instead of attempting to flee, based on the theory of compartmentation, in which the flats would help protect the families while the blaze was contained. [8]
London Fire Brigade rescued a number of people from the flats. The injured were taken to Guy's Hospital, King's College Hospital and Lewisham. One person admitted to Guy's Hospital and two people admitted to King's College Hospital later died, in addition to three people who died in the fire. Nine other people were treated at an emergency centre set up by Southwark Council. [1] One of the firemen was also admitted to hospital after being injured while fighting the fire. [9]
The dead were three adults and three young children, aged 20 days to 34 years. [8] One of the adults, a 31-year-old fashion designer, spent 40 minutes on the phone with 999 responders who urged her to stay in her flat; at the end of the call the responder could no longer hear her breathing. [10]
The Metropolitan Police launched an investigation into the fire, which was initially treated as "suspicious"[6] but was later said to be due to an electrical fault in a television set. [11][12]
The London Fire Brigade also opened an investigation into the fire. [9][needs update] It was revealed that Lakanal House had been identified as being at risk of enabling a fire to spread if one should occur in one of the flats. Southwark Council scheduled the building for demolition in 1999, although later it was decided not to demolish it. Although it was originally reported that some of the windows were uPVC, the windows in the block were in fact made of metal. [13]
An inquest into the deaths at Lakanal House found that the rapid spread of the fire had trapped people in their homes. The exterior cladding panels had burned through in less than five minutes. [14] As in the case of the Grenfell Tower fire eight years later, residents were advised to remain in their homes in the event of a fire. The inquest concluded that substandard renovations had removed fire-stopping material between flats, and safety inspections carried out by Southwark council had not uncovered this problem. [14]
London Fire Brigade assistant commissioner Nick Collins described the event as "one of the most significant fires in some time in terms of lives lost". [15] Around 150 people were evacuated or rescued from the flats,[15] with fifty people being evacuated to nearby Welton Hall. [1] The fire brigade was also criticized for the confusion among the 999 operators that urged some of the deceased victims to stay within their flats, and confusion amongst controllers who failed to promptly search flats in time, as they were confused about the layout of the flats. [8]
Some of the residents found alternative accommodation with relatives although the majority were provided with accommodation by Southwark Council. [9] Residents of the flats criticised the layout of the flats, which did not provide easy egress in case of an emergency. The flats also lacked a central fire alarm system, which was not required by virtue of the current Building Regulations Approved Document B for England And Wales. The regulations prevalent at the time of the construction of buildings of this age was far removed from the current state of regulation and control under Building Regulations. There had been calls in 2006 for the flats to be demolished. [citation needed] It was claimed that the residents had been told that the block could not be demolished because it was a listed building. Harriet Harman, in whose constituency the flats lie, announced that there would be a thorough investigation into the cause of the fire, and whether or not there were adequate fire-prevention measures. A number of tower blocks of a similar design exist, such as the nearby Perronet House, also in Southwark. Perronet, however, has two staircases. Marie Curie House, also nearby, is of identical design to Lakanal. [16]
Residents were rehoused elsewhere after the fire, and Lakanal House was boarded up. Refurbishment work commenced in 2015 with the block expected to reopen in 2017. [9][17][18] Mayor of London Boris Johnson described the fire as an "horrendous incident" and announced an investigation into the design of the building, which has a single central staircase. [15] London Assembly Planning and Housing Committee chairwoman Jenny Jones called for a public inquiry into the fire.
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Fire
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King assassination riots
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The King assassination riots, also known as the Holy Week Uprising,[2] was a wave of civil disturbance which swept the United States following the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. on April 4, 1968. Many believe it to be the greatest wave of social unrest the United States had experienced since the Civil War. [1] Some of the biggest riots took place in Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Chicago, and Kansas City. The immediate cause of the rioting was the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.. King was not only a leader in the civil rights movement, but also an advocate for nonviolence. He pursued direct engagement with the political system (as opposed to the separatist ideas of black nationalism). His death led to anger and disillusionment, and feelings that now only violent resistance to white supremacy could be effective. [3][4]
The protesters were mostly black; not all were poor. Middle-class black people also demonstrated against systemic inequality. [5] Although the media called these events "race riots", there were few confirmed acts of violence between black and white people. White businesses tended to be targeted; however, white public and community buildings such as schools and churches were largely spared. [1]
Compared to the previous summer of rioting, the number of fatalities was lower, largely attributed to new procedures instituted by the federal government, and orders not to fire on looters. [6]
In New York City, mayor John Lindsay traveled directly into Harlem, telling black residents that he regretted King's death and was working against poverty. He is credited for averting major riots in New York with this direct response although minor disturbances still erupted in the city. [7] In Indianapolis, Indiana, Senator Robert F. Kennedy's speech on the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. is credited with preventing a riot there. In Boston, rioting may have been averted by a James Brown concert taking place on the night of April 5, with Brown, Mayor Kevin White, and City Councilor Tom Atkins speaking to the Garden crowd about peace and unity before the show. [8]
In Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Police Department and community activists averted a repeat of the 1965 riots that devastated portions of the city. Several memorials were held in tribute to King throughout the Los Angeles area on the days leading into his funeral service. [citation needed]
The Washington, D.C., riots of April 4–8, 1968, resulted in Washington, along with Chicago and Baltimore, receiving the heaviest impact of the 110 cities to see unrest following the King assassination. The ready availability of jobs in the growing federal government attracted many to Washington since the early 20th century, and middle class African-American neighborhoods prospered. Despite the end of legally mandated racial segregation, the historic neighborhoods of Shaw, the H Street Northeast corridor, and Columbia Heights, centered at the intersection of 14th and U Streets Northwest, remained the centers of African-American commercial life in the city. As word of King's murder by James Earl Ray in Memphis spread on the evening of Thursday, April 4, crowds began to gather at 14th and U. Stokely Carmichael led members of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) to stores in the neighborhood demanding that they close out of respect. Although polite at first, the crowd fell out of control and began breaking windows. By 11pm, widespread looting had begun. Mayor-Commissioner Walter Washington ordered the damage cleaned up immediately the next morning. However, anger was still evident on Friday morning when Carmichael addressed a rally at Howard, warning of violence. After the close of the rally, crowds walking down 7th Street NW and in the H Street NE corridor came into violent confrontations with police. By midday, numerous buildings were on fire, and firefighters were prevented from responding by crowds attacking with bottles and rocks. Crowds of as many as 20,000 overwhelmed the District's 3,100-member police force, and 11,850 federal troops and 1,750 D.C. National Guardsmen under orders of President Lyndon B. Johnson arrived on the streets of D.C. to assist them. Marines mounted machine guns on the steps of the Capitol and Army soldiers from the 3rd Infantry guarded the White House. At one point, on April 5, rioting reached within two blocks of the White House before rioters retreated. The occupation of Washington was the largest of any American city since the Civil War. Mayor Washington imposed a curfew and banned the sale of alcohol and guns in the city. By the time the city was considered pacified on Sunday, April 8, some 1,200 buildings had been burned, including over 900 stores. Damages reached $27 million. The riots utterly devastated Washington's inner city economy. With the destruction or closing of businesses, thousands of jobs were lost, and insurance rates soared. Made uneasy by the violence, city residents of all races accelerated their departure for suburban areas, depressing property values. Crime in the burned out neighborhoods rose sharply, further discouraging investment. On some blocks, only rubble remained for decades. Columbia Heights and the U Street corridor did not begin to recover economically until the opening of the U Street and Columbia Heights Metro stations in 1991 and 1999, respectively, while the H Street NE corridor remained depressed for several years longer. Mayor-Commissioner Washington, who was the last presidentially appointed mayor of Washington, went on to become the city's first elected mayor. On April 5, one day after King was assassinated, violence sparked on the West side of Chicago. It eventually expanded to consume a 28-block stretch of West Madison Street, with additional damage occurring on Roosevelt Road. The North Lawndale and East Garfield Park neighborhoods on the West Side and the Woodlawn neighborhood on the South Side experienced the majority of the destruction and chaos. The rioters broke windows, looted stores, and set buildings (both abandoned and occupied) on fire. Firefighters quickly flooded the neighborhood, and Chicago's off-duty firefighters were told to report for duty. There were 36 major fires reported between 4:00 pm and 10:00 pm alone. The next day, Mayor Richard J. Daley imposed a curfew on anyone under the age of 21, closed the streets to automobile traffic, and halted the sale of guns or ammunition. Approximately 10,500 police were sent in, and by April 6, more than 6,700 Illinois National Guard troops had arrived in Chicago with 5,000 regular Army soldiers from the 1st Armored and 5th Infantry Divisions being ordered into the city by President Johnson. The General in charge declared that no one was allowed to have gatherings in the riot areas, and he authorized the use of tear gas.
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Riot
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Members of Libya's two rival parliaments agreed to set a target date of Dec. 16 to sign a U.N.-sponsored agreement on forming a national unity government, the new U.N
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Members of Libya's two rival parliaments agreed to set a target date of Dec. 16 to sign a U.N.-sponsored agreement on forming a national unity government, the new U.N. envoy to the crisis-wracked country said Friday.
Martin Kobler told the U.N. Security Council in a video briefing from the Tunisian capital that some 40 lawmakers agreed at a two-day meeting in Tunis that ended earlier Friday that the text will not be reopened.
"Libya is in a race against time," Kobler said. "Its very social fabric, national unity and territorial integrity is directly endangered by the forces of extremism and terrorism."
He stressed that the Islamic State group is actively seeking to extend its influence beyond areas it now controls and a national unity government is critically important to help restore security and to mobilize international support to counter the extremists.
Libya slid into chaos following the 2011 toppling and killing of longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi. The oil-rich country has been torn between an internationally recognized government based in eastern Tobruk and an Islamist-backed government in the capital, Tripoli.
The United Nations and many countries concerned about Libyan crisis have redoubled efforts to get the rival government to accept the power-sharing agreement since both parliament rejected the deal in October.
Libya's U.N. Ambassador Ibrahim Dabbashi, representing the recognized government, told the council "the time has come to sign the agreement. I hope it will take place by Dec. 16."
It wasn't clear, however, whether the agreement will be signed by the target date.
Kobler warned the council that the "two political sides are beginning to show dangerous signs of internal fragmentation."
Both Kobler and the Security Council gave strong support to a high-level meeting on the Libyan crisis in Rome on Sunday co-chaired by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Italy's foreign minister.
The goal is to press Libya's feuding parties to form a unified government and address the growing Islamic State threat.
Dabbashi warned that if there is no power-sharing agreement, experts believe the Islamic State group could seize "the golden crescent of oil" next summer.
The Security Council welcomed the Dec. 16 target date and expressed "grave concern" at the expansion of Islamic State extremists and their threat to Libya and the region.
Council members "stressed that a unity government must be formed swiftly to counter this threat" and they again threatened sanctions against those impeding the restoration of peace and stability.
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Sign Agreement
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2018 Valencia, Venezuela fire
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On March 28, 2018, a fire broke out during a prison riot in the cells at the Carabobo state police headquarters in Valencia, Carabobo, Venezuela. The fire killed at least 68 people[1] and injured scores of others. [2] The fire is one of the deadliest incidents ever in a Venezuelan prison since the 1994 Sabaneta prison fire, in which more than 100 inmates died. [3]
Four prosecutors have been named to investigate the circumstances preceding the victims' deaths. [4] The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights requested an investigation and reparations for the families of the fire victims. [3]
Violence and overcrowding are problems in Venezuela's prison system. The Observatorio Venezolano de Prisiones (English: Venezuelan Observatory of Prisons) estimates that 6,663 prisoners have died between 1999 and 2015, with average overcrowding at over 200%. [5]
More than 60 prisoners died in the 2013 Uribana prison riot. The organization Human Rights Watch states that because of poor training and insufficient numbers of guards, corruption and deterioration of infrastructure, armed gangs have seized control of inmate populations. [5]
The fire began in the jail attached to the police station in Valencia, a city located about 160 km (100 mi) west of Venezuela's capital city, Caracas. [6] The jail was built to contain only 60 prisoners, but when the fire broke out, it housed about 200. [2]
The fire reportedly began when, during a riot, prisoners in the jail inside the police station lit their mattresses on fire in an attempt to escape. [3] Later reports stated that the fire began during a party thrown by the inmates. [7] Gunfire was also reportedly heard during the riot that preceded the fire. [5] However, the circumstances surrounding the fire have yet to be officially confirmed, and local officials initially only confirmed that some people had died in the fire. [3][5]
Later on the day of the fire, Tarek William Saab, Venezuela's lead prosecutor, stated that the death toll was 68, which included two women, most likely visitors; and Saab stated that an investigation would be started to “clarify” the incident. [8]
On the same day of the fire, relatives of the dead prisoners gathered at the police station where the fire occurred, but were dispersed by police using tear gas. [3] The gas was used after the protesters attempted to push their way into the station and detention center in question, the Carabobo state police headquarters, with one officer being injured by a stone. [9]
The governor of Carabobo, Rafael Lacava, stated his "consternation" over the events, and the human rights body of the United Nations called for an investigation. [9][8] In a released statement, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights also requested reparations for the victims' families. [10]
Political opponents of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro have seized on the fire as evidence that Venezuelan society has declined under Maduro's leadership. Venezuelan opposition leader Henrique Capriles tweeted "How many more times are we going to see the same Dantesque scenes with the prisoners of the country? "[11][12]
Many of the dead prisoners were buried side by side, and three deep, in a mass grave separated by cinder blocks and marked by crosses. [13]
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Fire
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The marriage that defined a generation: A love letter to Kimye
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Kim Kardashian and Kanye West have long drawn as much ridicule as sincere interest, but if reports the pair are "over" prove true it marks the end of a generation's ultimate celebrity couple. The pair’s ever-pending “divorce” has provided tabloid fodder for years, but months of prolonged rumours lent the New York Post’s report - that Kim had hired “divorce attorney to the stars, Laura Wasser” and that the couple were “in settlement talks” - some veracity. Kim Kardashian and Kanye West at the Met Gala in 2019. Credit:AP According to the Post’s sources, Kardashian - eager to become a lawyer and serious about her work campaigning for prison reform - had tired of West’s presidential fantasies, while West had become “increasingly uncomfortable and irritated by the Kardashians’ over-the-top reality star lives”. In a paragraph that perhaps summarises public perception of the couple’s tacky eccentricities, the writing on the wall had been there since Kanye’s no-show at Kim’s “$1 million-plus 40th birthday in Tahiti last October”. “He showed up late and left early, he wouldn’t appear in any of their Instagram shots,” a source told the Post. “All he did was bring over the hologram of her [dead] father Robert Kardashian, then got out of there as fast as he could.” What is it about Kimye that’s provoked such bizarre fascination? For starters, there's the scale. Happier times. Kanye West and Kim Kardashian in the Bound 2 video clip. “You have Kanye, this Grammy Award-winning artist who sold a lot of albums joining with a very high-profile celebrity family,” says Dr Chin Jou, senior lecturer in American history at the University of Sydney. “People have always been interested in celebrities, it’s just that now there are particular platforms to follow the minutiae of their daily lives on social media and Kim and that family obviously understood that with their reality show.” Advertisement With Kanye’s megalomaniac tendencies and Kim’s shameless exploitation of her private life in Keeping Up With the Kardashians, people have tended to look at their relationship as something grotesquely beyond reality. It’s telling that the overwhelming response to the divorce reports on Twitter was fevered anticipation from old-school Kanye fans for the renewed emotional depth of his next post-divorce album. Isn’t one 808s & Heartbreaks enough? Besides, Kanye’s a Christian now. The overriding perspective on Kimye has been negative, a punchline - two narcissists in union, indulging vanity in the service of their celebrity. It’s a view not without some backing: Kim’s segue from Paris Hilton sidekick to global icon was infamously launched by a sex tape; Kanye, for all his creative genius, earns more headlines off the stage. Kim Kardashian and Kanye West on their wedding day in 2014. Credit:Instagram “Kanye’s persona is a provocateur, from the very beginning of his work. His story is as old as the story of the romantic genius,” says Dr Theresa Senft, senior lecturer in media studies at Macquarie University. “And on the other side we have Kim Kardashian. I’m always fascinated when people start by saying the only reason she’s famous is for a sex tape, because there’s lots of people who’ve had a sex tape and you don’t know their names.” Personally, I’ve never understood the animosity. They’re obviously ridiculous and exceedingly too much, but who doesn’t want that from a celebrity couple? Imagine complaining that a superstar couple is too wild. These people would’ve lost their marbles about Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. Despite the circus, there were moments of tenderness that punctuated the supposed artificiality of their relationship, like the time West halted a concert in New York after learning Kardashian had been robbed at gunpoint in Paris, or in July when, following a raucous speech announcing his run for presidency that drew widespread ridicule, Kardashian publicly defended West’s behaviour amid his ongoing struggle with bipolar disorder and “the stigma and misconceptions about mental health”. It’s understandable that public fascination has centred on the pair’s outlandish excess, but as far as celebrity couples go, genuine love and support also marked their relationship. Did you forget about the time Kanye gifted Kim a roomful of roses and a live Kenny G solo for Valentine’s Day? Kanye West and Kim Kardashian on the red carpet in 2018. “They’re an American phenomenon,” says Dr Senft. “To some degree all celebrities are vehicles for having larger cultural conversations, but that particular marriage really exemplifies it, be it conversations about race, gender, political affiliations, class, religion or mental health. “The defining thing about that couple is that people love to hate them, but where you enter into that conversation says more about you than them.” Five Kimye moments we won’t forget The wedding: The pair’s May 2014 nuptials took place at a 16th century fort in Florence, but the rehearsal dinner was at Versailles. Happy Valentine’s Day: Kanye’s Valentine gift to Kim in 2019? Just a roomful of roses and a personal Kenny G solo. Bound 2: The music video for Kanye’s Yeezus single featured the pair dry-humping on a motorcycle. “I wanted to take white trash T-shirts and make it into a video,” West later explained. Taylor Swift feud: A pop feud went to new bizarre heights when Kim posted excerpts of a leaked phone call featuring Swift okaying West’s controversial Famous lyrics. Wouldn’t Leave: Kanye’s deeply emotional Ye tribute to Kim praised her for standing by him following his bipolar-induced TMZ fallout.
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Famous Person - Marriage
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For Farmers Facing India's Biggest Locust Attack, Govt Provides Insufficient Relief
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The relief amount is merely one-fifth of the total cost a farmer in Rajasthan incurs to cultivate a crop on one hectare of land. A locust swarm. Photo: Flickr/frank longwill CC BY NC ND 2.0 Rights 09/Feb/2020 Jaipur: Gujarat and Rajasthan, two states that share a border with Pakistan, are witnessing a massive locust attack, with estimates saying Rabi crops in more than 3.5 lakh hectares of land has been damaged. Crops of wheat, cumin, mustard, gram and psyllium have been devastated in the two states, affecting lakhs of farmers. While the government is trying to control the locust swarms, farmers in Rajasthan are also being provided relief as per the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) norms. The Rajasthan government in January announced compensation of Rs 13,500 per hectare per farmer, but with a ceiling at two hectares in four locust affected districts of Rajasthan: Barmer, Jaisalmer, Jalore and Jodhpur. However, farmers said this was insufficient, saying it is mere one-fifth of the total cost they incur to cultivate a crop on one hectare of land. According to the data of the agriculture department, the cost of cultivation per hectare for cumin crop in Barmer, Jaisalmer, Jalore and Jodhpur in the current Rabi season is Rs 36,500, Rs 41,000, Rs 41,840 and Rs 48,000 respectively. Similarly, for wheat, it is Rs 34,500, Rs 41,000, Rs 45,500 and Rs 40,000 respectively in the four districts. Also Read: How Should a Country Prepare for a Locust Swarm? This means that a farmer in Jaisalmer who would have spent Rs 41,000 per hectare to cultivate cumin crop this Rabi season, would receive only Rs 13,5000 as compensation for the crop loss suffered due to the locust attack. Siraj Hussain, former Union secretary of agriculture and farmers’ welfare, also said the compensation given to the farmer as per the relief norms is ‘definitely inadequate’. “If you see the cost of cultivation for a particular crop, a stark difference is evident. It is even inconsistent with the latest average monthly income of the farmers in India,” he said. Even, the compensation set by the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF)/State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF), at Rs 13,500 for a crop loss of 33% and above, was a result of a revision in 2015. Before this, farmers were entitled to relief only if more than 50% of their crop was damaged. Replying to a Lok Sabha question in 2013 on compensation for crop loss in various areas of the country due to natural calamities, the Government of India said it has formed guidelines for providing relief from NDRF/SDRF in the event of disasters including natural calamities like cyclone, drought, floods, earthquake, pest attack, etc. A man chases away a swarm of desert locusts in the bush near Enziu, Kitui County, some 200km east of the capital Nairobi, Kenya. Photo: Dai Kurokawa/EPA/The Conversation “Assistance is provided for entire holding of small and marginal farmers who have suffered crop loss of 50% and more, whereas assistance to other farmers is capped at one hectare per farmer, irrespective of the size of the holding. This assistance is for providing immediate relief and is not be construed as compensation for loss/damage to life and property,” the Centre wrote in its answer. The relief also doesn’t meet the average monthly incomes of farmers in India. According to NABARD’s All India Rural Financial Inclusion Survey (NAFIS) 2016-17, the average monthly income of agricultural households in India was Rs 8,931. For Rajasthan and Gujarat, the figure stood at Rs 9,013 and Rs 11,899 respectively. This means a farmer in Rajasthan earns on average about Rs 54,000 in a cropping season if there is no crop loss. However, in cases of even severe crop losses, the maximum relief provided by the government was Rs 27,000. No liability of PMFBY? According to the operational guidelines of the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY), coverage from locusts attack, to be read with the “widespread pests attack”, is provisioned only in the mid-season (from sowing to harvesting) adversity clause of the insurance policy. “This [mid-season adversity] provision can be invoked for a specific crop or group of crops in the notified insurance unit, by the state government through damage notification, wherein the expected yield during the season is likely to be less than 50% of the normal yield,” reads the guidelines. “The quantum of likely losses would be decided based on a joint survey conducted by the insurance company and the state government officials. The amount payable would be 25% of the likely claims, subject to adjustment against final claim,” the guidelines add. While the Rajasthan government say that a formal notification declaring locusts attack as mid-season calamity has been issued in the four affected districts, the percentage of farmers covered under PMFBY in the districts is substantially less. “This Jaisalmer-Barmer belt is a desert area and farmers mostly don’t take loans from banks to cultivate crops. Hence they are not insured under the PMFBY,” said an official of the agriculture department in Jaisalmer. Also Read: India Suffers Biggest Locust Attack in 25 Years, Not Fully Controlled Yet In fact, it is not sure whether the farmers would be entitled to mid-season adversity claim when they are already receiving relief under the SRDF’s guidelines. “We have already notified the locust invasion as a mid-season calamity. Whether the government’s relief and the 25% claim to be given by the insurance company would overlap or not, is a policy decision of the government,” R.B. Singh, deputy director at the revenue department in Jalore, told The Wire. The insurance companies also say that the mid-season adversity clause would be accepted only when the conditions laid in the guidelines are fulfilled. “One of the essential conditions to invoke the mid-season adversity clause is that the loss intimation order has to be issued within seven days from the adverse seasonal event. We still haven’t received any formal order as such,” regional manager of an empanelled insurance company in Rajasthan told The Wire on the condition of anonymity. Interestingly, the state premium share in Rabi 2018-19, Kharif 2019 and Rabi 2019-20, is still pending. Om Prakash, agriculture commissioner at the Rajasthan Pant Krishi Bhawan told The Wire, that a notification declaring the locust attack as a mid-season adversity has been issued in the four districts. “We are in talks with the insurance company and once we pay our instalment [premium], the 25% ad-hoc claim will be disbursed to the farmers,” he said.
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Insect Disaster
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Man arrested after bank robbery in Virginia Beach
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On September 4, at 12:14 p.m., Virginia Beach Emergency Communications (VBECCS) received a report that the Navy Federal Credit Union, located at 5193 Shore Drive had just been robbed. According to officials, the man had entered the bank, indicated he had a weapon, and demanded cash. He then fled with an undisclosed amount of cash. A person matching the description of the bank robbery suspect was seen in a vehicle that was stopped in traffic at the intersection of Independence Blvd. and Haygood Road shortly after. Multiple officers instructed the suspect to exit the vehicle. Police say he refused and brandished a large, edged weapon towards the officers. Officers successfully deployed "Stop Sticks" prior to the suspect fleeing again, puncturing two of the suspect vehicle tires. He continued driving until he was intercepted again by additional police units in the 4600 block of Haygood Road. Police say the man refused to comply with further directions and was still displaying the edged weapon. Officers ultimately utilized a Taser to take the suspect into custody. After receiving medical treatment for the Taser exposure, the man was taken to the Virginia Beach City Jail, where he remains in custody. The suspect is identified as 45-year-old Jonathan Dwayne Perry, of Norfolk, Va. He has been charged with robbery, use of a firearm in commission of a felony, eluding police, and obstructing justice.
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Bank Robbery
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2021 All England Open
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The 2021 All England Open (officially known as the Yonex All England Open Badminton Championships 2021 for sponsorship reasons) was a badminton tournament which took place at Arena Birmingham in England from 17 to 21 March 2021. It had a total purse of $850,000. The 2021 All England Open became the second tournament of the 2021 BWF World Tour following the postponement of the 2021 German Open due to the ongoing pandemic. It was part of the All England Open championships, which had been held since 1899. This tournament was organized by Badminton England and sanctioned by the BWF. [1]
This international tournament was held at Arena Birmingham in Birmingham, England. [1]
Below is the point distribution for each phase of the tournament based on the BWF points system for the BWF World Tour Super 1000 event. [2] This tournament would not be calculated in qualification ranking of 2020 Summer Olympics. The total prize money for this tournament was US$850,000. Distribution of prize money was in accordance with BWF regulations. [1]
On 17 March 2021 night local time, BWF stated that all Indonesian players competing in the tournament, including all three who had won in the first round, were withdrawn from the tournament after 20 of 24 people from the team were contacted by the NHS Test and Trace service via e-mail, and were required to enter 10-day isolation. They were contacted by the NHS after someone on the same inbound flight from Istanbul to Birmingham with the team was tested positive for COVID-19. [3][4] The entire team was forced to walk on foot from the arena to the hotel as their shuttle service was prevented from taking them to the hotel. [5]
This sparked controversy between Indonesian players and the BWF. The Indonesians protested because 3 Indian players who are tested positive before the tournament,[6] though 24 hours later tested negative after self testing,[7] were allowed to play on the tournament, while all of Indonesian team members had tested negative for the virus. [8] The start of the tournament itself had been delayed for five hours after 7 of COVID-19 results were deemed inconclusive. [9] The Badminton Association of Indonesia (PBSI) also stated that Turkish badminton player Neslihan Yiğit and her trainer who were on the same flight with the Indonesian team from Istanbul to Birmingham, but Yiğit was allowed to continue her tournament. [10] On 18 March noon local time, Yiğit was announced to had also been withdrawn from the tournament by the BWF. [11]
Earlier, the first round of the men's doubles between Indonesians Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan and English pair Ben Lane and Sean Vendy sparked backlashes because of an arrangement where the service judge on duty, Alan Crow, was also English. [12] However, according to the rules, BWF never explicitly prohibits a technical official to officiate a match involving athletes from the same country with the technical official against athletes from another country. [13]
Indonesian National Olympic Committee also alleged unprofessional and discriminatory treatment by BWF, as Indonesian team are not allowed to use lifts and take the bus by the organizers. [14] On 22 March, the president of BWF Poul-Erik Høyer Larsen officially apologizes to Indonesian Youth and Sports Minister for the circumstances faced by Indonesian team during the event. [15]
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Sports Competition
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‘30 killed in Afghanistan gold mine collapse’
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At least 30 people were killed when a gold mine collapsed in northeastern Afghanistan on Sunday, officials said, in the latest tragedy to strike the war-torn country. Another seven were injured in the incident in Kohistan district of Badakhshan province, district governor Mohammad Rustam Raghi told AFP. Villagers had dug a 60-metre (200-feet) deep shaft in a river bed to search for gold. They were inside when the walls fell in. It was not clear why the shaft collapsed, but the provincial governor´s spokesman Nik Mohammad Nazari told AFP the miners were not professionals. "The villagers have been involved in this business for decades with no government control over them," Nazari said. "We have sent a rescue team to the area, but villagers have already started removing bodies from the site."
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Mine Collapses
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Charing Cross (District line) tube crash
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The Charing Cross (District line) tube crash occurred on 17 May 1938 at about 09:55 hours, between Charing Cross (now Embankment) and Temple stations. Six people were killed when a Circle line service ran into the rear of a District line service held at an automatic signal. A wiring error had caused the preceding signal to incorrectly display a green aspect. The track circuits connected to the signal cabin at Charing Cross had been converted to alternating current on the morning of 8 May. As a result, there was some wiring which needed to be secured. This work was carried out during the engineering hours on 17 May. The signal wiring engineer had secured and reconnected all wires between the various circuit breakers in the cabin. However, one wire, which linked circuit breaker number 8 to circuit breaker number 9 had been put on the wrong terminal of circuit breaker number 9. This caused signal EH9, the eastbound starter signal, to clear even though the section ahead was occupied by a train held at automatic signal number 823. The cabin was put into automatic mode as this was how it was normally set, but no testing was carried out, and traffic began with no observation from the engineers. Manual working was only used when a train was to be reversed at Charing Cross. The problem did not appear until the line became busy. On arrival at Temple at 09:40, a motorman reported that he had nearly run into the train ahead. The message was conveyed to Charing Cross but no action was taken despite further reports that the signal was working incorrectly. By the time it became clear that there was a significant problem, it was too late to prevent the collision. The Ministry of Transport report held the Signal Installer and Chief Lineman responsible for the wiring error and the failure to test the signals thoroughly. The Station Foreman, Porter and Inspector were responsible for not acting promptly to prevent a collision. A similar accident involving a signal wiring error had occurred near the same station on the Northern line on 10 March.
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Train collisions
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Aeroflot Flight 3932 crash
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Aeroflot Flight 3932 was a flight operated by Aeroflot from Koltsovo Airport to Omsk Tsentralny Airport. On 30 September 1973 the Tupolev Tu-104 operating the route crashed shortly after takeoff from Sverdlovsk, killing all 108 passengers and crew on board. [1][2]
The aircraft involved in the accident was a Tupolev Tu-104B with two Mikulin AM-3M-500 engines, registered СССР-42506, originally to the Uzbekistan division of the state airline, Aeroflot. At the time of the accident the aircraft sustained had 20,582 flight hours and 9412 pressurization cycles. The aircraft had 100 passenger seats, hence it was at full capacity when it crashed. [1][3]
Eight crew members were aboard Flight 3932. The cockpit crew consisted of:[3]
Weather conditions at Sverdlovsk were reported to be mild; visibility was over 6 kilometers, and light northwest winds. [1]
Flight 3932 was on the Sverdlovsk-Knevichi route with stopovers at Omsk, Tolmachevo, Kadala, and Khabarovsk airports. The flight crashed shortly after takeoff on the Koltsovo-Omsk part of the route. [1][2]
The flight took off from Koltsovo Airport at 18:33 Moscow time and at 18:34:21 headed on a bearing of 256° for the route to Omsk. As a routine procedure, air traffic control instructed the crew to make a left turn and climb to an altitude of 1500 meters after takeoff; the crew responded that they would report when they reached the altitude. [2]
At 18:35:25 Moscow time, 5–6 seconds after setting the engines to standard power, with an altitude of 350–400 meters and a speed of 480 km/h the crew began the left turn while in the clouds, with a bank angle between 35-40°. At 20:37 local time (18:37 Moscow time), when the flight was at an altitude of 1200 meters, the bank angle reached 75-80°, after which the crew completely lost control of the aircraft. The plane crashed into a nearby forest at a speed of 270 km/h. [1][2]
The aircraft crashed due to incorrect indications by the main artificial horizon and the compass system, caused by a failure of the electrical supply, resulting in spatial disorientation of the pilots. The aircraft crashed approximately five miles from Koltsovo Airport. [1][4]
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Air crash
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Amerindian Affairs PS to face corruption charges over alleged kickback scheme
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Crime Chief Wendell Blanhum confirmed this afternoon that the Police Force has been advised to go ahead with filing corruption charges against the senior government official.
Two months after she was arrested following a sting operation by the Police, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs, Sharon Hicks, will have to face the Court to answer corruption charges.
Crime Chief Wendell Blanhum confirmed this afternoon that the Police Force has been advised to go ahead with filing corruption charges against the senior government official.
Hicks is expected in Court before the end of the week.
Just over two months ago, the Police started to investigate the Permanent Secretary after a government contractor complained that he was allegedly being forced by her to make payments to her monthly for a contract that he won from the Ministry that she managed.
The man claimed that he became tired of making the monthly payments to the official and needed it to stop.
As part of the investigations, the Police set up a sting operation and during that operation a quantity of marked money was delivered to the Permanent’s Secretary’s office as the alleged bribery payment.
She was arrested the same day with the money in her office.
The Permanent Secretary was initially held for demanding money by menace. She was granted station bail and remained off her job as the investigations continued and advice was sought from the DPP’s Office.
In the past two months, the DPP’s office requested additional information on the investigations before eventually deciding today to instruct that charges be filed in the matter.
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Famous Person - Commit Crime - Investigate
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Inside job bank robber jailed
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Justin Robert Lundberg, 35, was found guilty by a jury of aggravated robbery and false imprisonment. The Adelaide District Court heard the former Bank SA financial planner stole $120,000 from the Mannum branch, east of Adelaide, in December 2009. Half the money is still unaccounted for. The trial heard Lundberg had just $7 in his bank account in the days leading up to the robbery, but paid off a $41,000 debt within hours of the heist. Another $20,000 was found in a wardrobe at his home unit. Bank teller Jennifer Hosking was bound with cable ties and tape during the robbery. She said it was a frightening ordeal. "Especially the inside job, you have to trust your staff members that you work with ... and something like this happens and it's terrible," she said. Ms Hosking said she still had nightmares. "That's probably been one of the hardest things, [he showed] no remorse, just really cocky throughout the whole thing. Yeah it's been hard," she said. Judge Dean Clayton said during sentencing Lundberg had shown no remorse and imposed a sentence of nine years and 10 months' jail, with a non-parole term of five years and 10 months. Another employee, Anna Martha Hein, is due to stand trial for her alleged role in the robbery.
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Bank Robbery
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2006–2008 Lebanese protests
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March 14 Alliance
March 8 Alliance
The 2008 Lebanon conflict (Or the 7 May 2008 clashes, Arabic: أحداث 7 أيار) was a brief intrastate conflict in May 2008 in Lebanon between pro-government and opposition militias after its 18-month-long political crisis spiraled out of control, pitting both sides against each other in fighting along sectarian lines. [1]
The fighting between pro-government and opposition militias affiliated to respectively the Future Movement and PSP political parties on one side and Hezbollah, Amal, SSNP, LDP and the Arab Democratic Party on the other side, was sparked by a government move to shut down Hezbollah's telecommunication network and remove Beirut Airport's head of security after the discovery of a hidden remote-controlled camera monitoring one of the airport's runway and his alleged ties to Hezbollah. [2] Clashes first occurred on May 7 after a general strike called for by the country's union federation to demand higher wages and decry high consumer prices became overshadowed by the government's decisions and escalated into low-level violence between pro-government and opposition protesters. Violence severely escalated the next morning on May 8 after a televised speech by Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. In his speech, Nasrallah responded to the government's decision to declare the organization's telecommunication network illegal by calling it a declaration of war on the organization, shortly after which fighting between pro-government and opposition militias broke out in Beirut. [2] Within two days, Hezbollah-led opposition fighters had seized control of several West Beirut neighbourhoods from pro-government Future Movement militiamen. [3] In the following days, fighting between pro-government and opposition militias spread to other parts of the country with major clashes in the Aley District and Tripoli. [4] On May 15, an intervention by the Arab League brokered an immediate end to hostilities and a pledge from warring parties to send emissaries to Doha for a mediation process. [5] The resulting Doha Agreement, reached on May 21, 2008, brought an end to the 18-month political feud that exploded into fighting and nearly drove the country to a new civil war. [6]
On December 1, 2006, a series of protests and sit-ins began in Lebanon, led by the March 8 political coalition which opposed the government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora. Formed after the Cedar Revolution in 2005, the March 8 coalition was up of the Shiite Hezbollah and Amal, the Christian Free Patriotic Movement and a number of smaller parties such as the SSNP, LDP and the Arab Democratic Party. On the other side of the political divide stood the March 14 coalition, at the time holding the majority of cabinet and parliamentary seats. The March 14 coalition was made up of the primarily Sunni Future Movement and a number of smaller parties including the Druze Progressive Socialist Party and the Christian Lebanese Forces. [7]
At the core of commencement of the protests was the unhappiness of Hezbollah with the division of power under the current status quo and the pro-Western course of the Lebanese government. [8] It argued that too much executive power was in the hands of the Future Movement, the primary political party of March 14, which it in their view misused by too closely aligning with Western states, most notably the United States, thereby compromising Lebanon's sovereignty and security. [8] In addition, the period was marked by political strife between the March 8 and March 14 coalitions over the international investigation on the assassination of former prime minister Rafic Hariri, the creation of the future Lebanon Tribunal to prosecute the perpetrators this assassination and the question of Hezbollah's armed status. [9][10][11][12] Hezbollah was the only organization allowed to retain its weapons after the ratification of the Taif Agreement, which brought an end to the Lebanese Civil War, although UN Security Council Resolution 1559 of September 2004 denied the organization the right to retain its arms. [10][11] By 2008, the military strength of the organization had grown to such levels that it was widely considered to be stronger than the Lebanese Armed Forces. [10] To ensure its interests, Hezbollah demanded a new national unity government in which March 8 would have at least a third plus one of the cabinet seats in order to grant them the ability to veto cabinet decisions. [8][13]
After Shi'a ministers of Hezbollah and Amal had resigned from the cabinet in December 2006 in protest against a decision concerning the Lebanon Tribunal, the opposition demanded the immediate resignation of the cabinet as it now was unbalanced with regard to the proportional representation of religious groups as stipulated by the Lebanese Constitution and therefore was deemed illegitimate. [14][15] When Prime Minister Siniora refused to resign his cabinet, Hezbollah and its allies on March 8 called on its supporters in early December 2006 to protest against the perceived illegitimacy of the cabinet of Siniora to increase pressure on it. [13][16] In the face of massive protests, Siniora and the remaining ministers in his cabinet still refused to step down as long as they enjoyed the support of the majority of the parliament. [16] As protestors kept up the pressure on the government with their encampment near the Grand Serail, the prime ministerial office in downtown Beirut, Siniora and his minister were under virtual house arrest due to security concerns since the assassination of Pierre Gemayel, one of Siniora's ministers, in late 2006. [16][17] With Siniora not giving in, the opposition organized a general strike in January 2007, which ended in sectarian clashes leaving multiple dead and hundreds wounded. [16][18][10] Political deadlock took a new turn with the end of term of President Émile Lahoud in late 2007 as the March 8 and March 14 blocs could not agree on his successor, leaving the country in a presidential vacuum further worsening the political crisis. [19][20]
In May 2008, the tensions between the pro-government and opposition parties escalated when the cabinet announced a series of security decisions. Tensions began with revelations on Friday May 2 made by Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblatt, a key politician in the ruling March 14 alliance. He announced that a remote-controlled camera had been set up in a container park overlooking Beirut international airport's runway 17, which was frequently being used by March 14 politicians. [21][22] In March 14 circles, fear was that the monitoring could be used for a possible attack on its leaders, as Lebanon had faced a series of political assasIsinations in recent times. [23] Although Jumblatt did not accuse the party directly, he made clear that he thought March 8's Hezbollah was behind the monitoring system's installment. [21] Hezbollah dismissed the accusations, calling the allegation a product of Jumblatt's imagination and saying that those who leveled them were scaremongering and simply parroting a US campaign against it and other groups which are resisting Israel. [22][23] In addition to the monitoring system, Jumblatt stated that Hezbollah had laid down a fiber optic telecommunication network connecting its powerbase in Dahiya in South Beirut with cities and towns in South and East Lebanon in predominantly Shiite areas. [22] Although this was known to the government, it was now claimed that the network was being extended to the predominantly Christian and Druze areas of Mount Lebanon. [2][22]
In its response to these allegations, the Lebanese cabinet announced that it regarded the telecommunication network and the monitoring system as a breach of law, undermining the state's sovereignty and the security of its citizens. [21][2] Therefore, it declared that the matter would be referred not only to the Lebanese judicial system, but also to the Arab League and the United Nations. [21][2] In addition to infringing state sovereignty, the network was regarded by the government as an infringement on public funds since it claimed that it competes with its own and used the Lebanese infrastructure. [citation needed] The cabinet announced that it would uproot the telecommunication network and in addition also ordered the removal Brigadier General Wafic Shkeir, head of security at Beirut's international airport and considered to be sympathetic to Hezbollah and Amal, on account of failing to deal with the monitoring system. [2][24] These moves severely antagonized Hezbollah, bringing tensions between the March 8 and March 14 coalitions to a boiling point. [2]
Coincidentally, a day after the cabinet's decision, on Wednesday May 7, the Lebanese General Workers Union had planned a general strike to demand higher wages and decry high consumer prices. [25] The strike turned violent as the opposition threw their weight behind the strike, paralyzing large parts of Lebanon's capital Beirut. [25][26] Instigated by the recent developments and the strike, pro-government and opposition supporters took the streets coming into conflict with each other at multiple places. Clashes were first reported when government and opposition supporters in a pro-government sector of Beirut exchanged insults and began throwing stones at each other after Hezbollah supporters insisted on blocking the roads. [citation needed] Witnesses said security forces intervened and gunshots were heard, apparently troops firing in the air to disperse the crowds. [citation needed] In the afternoon, verbal violence and stone throwing turned into more violent clashes, with gunfire sporadically going off in the city. [25][27] Around the city, armed opposition supporters blocked roads including the strategic road towards Beirut international airport, cutting it off from the rest of the city, and roads to the city's sea port. [25][27]
After a tense night with sporadic gunfire, Hezbollah's secretary-general Hassan Nasrallah addressed the country in a speech televised on Hezbollah affiliated al-Manar station in the morning of May 8. [28] He referred to the cabinet's decisions of that week as "despotic" and having inaugurated a new phase in Lebanese history, similar to the assassination of former prime minister Rafic Hariri in 2005. [29][28] He stated that the telecommunication network was not a simple commercial operation aimed merely at generating profit for the organization, but "integral and fundamental" as part of its military apparatus. [29][28] He claimed that his opponents had already known about the existence of the telecommunication network years before and in drawing attention to the timing of the decision, insinuated that the cabinet's actions were aimed at obstructing the forces of the Resistance (against Israel) in the region. [29][28] Hezbollah had the right to defend itself, he argued, and metaphorically stated that they would cut-off the hand of anyone that would touch the Resistance.
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Protest_Online Condemnation
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2013 Madagascar locust infestation - Wikipedia
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2013 Madagascar locust infestation
Malagasy migratory locust (Locusta migratoria capito)
In 2012, Madagascar had an upsurge in the size of its Malagasy migratory locust (Locusta migratoria capito) populations. In November of that year, the government issued a locust alert, saying that conditions were right for swarming of the pest insects . [1] [2] [3] In February 2013, Cyclone Haruna struck the country, creating optimal conditions for locust breeding. [4] By late March 2013, approximately 50% of the country was infested by swarms of locusts, with each swarm consisting of more than one billion insects. The authorities changed the situation to plague status. [1] According to one eyewitness,"You don't see anything except locusts. You turn around, there are locusts everywhere". [5]
News of the infestation went global the week before Passover , inspiring comparisons with the Biblical Plagues of Egypt , one of which was a swarm of locusts. [2] [6] It is the worst locust outbreak in Madagascar since a 17-year-long outbreak which began during the 1950s. [4]
Contents
Pest control[ edit ]
A female migratory locust sitting on a branch with a juvenile in the background
On March 26, 2013, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations called for US$ 41 million of donations to fight the locusts. Under the proposed aid plan, $22 million would be delivered by June for pest control efforts and $19 million would be devoted to a three-year plan to keep the insect in check. [6] According to the FAO report, the infestation threatens 60% of the country's rice crop, as well as livestock pastures. [1] Rice is a staple crop in Madagascar, a nation where a large percentage of the population lives in famine conditions. [1] In the southwestern region of Madagascar, where the locusts are the worst, 80% of the population lives in poverty. [2]
The FAO plan calls for large-scale aerial operations to spray extra pesticides over 1.5 million hectares (3.7 million acres) of land from 2013 to 2014. [1] According to the national Locust Control Centre, 100,000 out of 130,000 hectares (257,000 out of 321,000 acres) of vulnerable crop land had not been treated at the time of the FAO proposal. [6] If no action is taken, the FAO estimates that two-thirds of Madagascar will be infested by September, and says the infestation could last for five to ten years. [1] [4] "Failure to respond now will lead to massive food aid requirements later on," said Dominique Burgeon, Director of the FAO Emergency and Rehabilitation Division. [1] Additionally, the infestation threatens the habitat of numerous endangered species , especially several species of lemur . [7]
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Insect Disaster
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Township could cancel Luke Bryan concert
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CONWAY TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WILX) - This summer’s Luke Bryan concert outside Fowlerville could be canceled. Conway Township trustees are asking their lawyer to send a letter to shut it down. The Kubiak Family Farm is the sixth and final stop of Bryan’s farm tour. At least one trustee is worried about liability issues. But people who live around the field where Bryan will be performing are looking forward to the concert. “I’m excited for it. I’m looking forward to it,” said Patty Arbor. “It’s very exciting for this small rural community. It’s very exciting to have somebody so famous in the area.” But right now, the Conway Township Board of Trustees is trying to stop it. Arbor lives around the corner from where the concert is happening and doesn’t get it. “I’m not sure why they would want to stop the concert. I just found out about it yesterday. I’m all for it,” she said. The township told News 10 Luke Bryan’s promoter hasn’t turned in all its paper work, including a letter making sure the township isn’t liable if something goes wrong. Bryan’s management said in a statement it’s been working with the township since may and turned in that paperwork. But the township said it’s only gotten an applications and fees associated with it. Arbor is holding out hope things will get sorted out. “I’m just hoping that everything runs smoothly and they are still going to continue have the concert,” said Arbor. The township is giving Luke Bryan’s team until August 18 to turn in all the forms and information. Tickets for the September 18 concert are already sold out.
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Organization Closed
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2016 Alfa Indonesia DHC-4 crash
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On 31 October 2016, a modified DHC-4 Caribou transport aircraft operated by Alfa Indonesia crashed in the Papuan jungle while en route to Ilaga Airport in Ilaga, Indonesia. The flight was operated by Alfa Indonesia as a chartered cargo flight with four people on board. There were no survivors among the four crew members on board. Infrastructure is still a big issue in Eastern Indonesia. For the past few years, the Indonesian Government had only concentrated its development on the island of Java and Sumatra, causing a massive difference in infrastructure of those on the west and those on the east. Gasoline and oil was far more expensive than those in Java. The government reigned by Joko Widodo then started to focus its infrastructure development in eastern Indonesia particularly in Papua, by adding more transportation so essential things like gasoline and oil could easily reach remote areas in Papua. On September 2016, to decrease the oil price in Puncak Regency, the government bought a DHC-4 Caribou to the region. [1]
The aircraft involved in the crash was a PEN Turbo DHC-4T Turbo Caribou, a de Havilland Canada DHC-4 Caribou modified with Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6-67A turboprop engines. Built in 1971, it first flew in modified form in September 2014. In May 2016 the aircraft was delivered to Indonesia, and entered service in September. [2][3] It was registered in Indonesia as PK-SWW. [4] It was jointly owned by the Indonesian government and the Puncak Regency local government. The four crew on board were Indonesians. [5][6]
The Caribou took off from Timika at 07:57 a.m. local time[7] with an estimated time of arrival at 08:22,[8][9] carrying construction materials. At 08:23, the crew made their first radio contact with Ilaga Tower and reported their position, which was on Ilaga Pass, a valley near Ilaga. After reporting their estimated time of arrival at Ilaga, contact with the tower was suddenly lost at 08:27 a.m.[10][11]
At 09:22 a.m., the crew of another aircraft reported to Ilaga that they had received a signal suspected to have come from the missing aircraft's emergency locator transmitter near Jila. [12] A search and rescue team was quickly assembled by the National Search and Rescue Agency. Local authorities and residents also joined the search operation. [13][14][15] However, heavy rain and limited visibility hampered the search and rescue operation and it was postponed. [16][17] The search and rescue team, consisting of personnel from the Indonesian Air Force, the National Search and Rescue Agency, the Indonesian Army and the Indonesian National Police along with two helicopters, set up three main camps in response to the disappearance. [18] Two fixed-wing aircraft were also deployed. [19]
On 1 November the smoldering wreckage was found on the side of Ilaga Pass, at an elevation of 12,800 feet (3,900 m)[20] in Jila District,[21] approximately 9 nautical miles (17 km; 10 mi) from Jila and 6 nautical miles (11 km; 6.9 mi) from Ilaga. The aircraft was totally burnt out with wreckage strewn over the valley. The impact was so severe that there were no chance of finding any survivors. [22] After the discovery, two helicopters were deployed to evacuate the bodies from the crash site and bring them to Timika, where a procession was held to honor the victims. [23]
The National Transportation Safety Committee was ordered to investigate the crash and had received the debris of the aircraft. Both the Flight Data Recorder and Cockpit Voice Recorder were still missing. [24] On 6 November, both the FDR and the CVR were found and were recovered by search team. Both later were sent to the NTSC facility in Jakarta for further analysis. [25]
[26]
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Air crash
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Rs 123cr bank scam: Court directs cops to continue probe in Mumbai
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Mumbai: The police has been directed to continue their probe in a Rs 123 crore financial irregularity case involving Mumbai District Central Cooperative Bank Ltd. BJP leader and former MLA Praveen Darekar, who was bank’s chairman, is among those named in the FIR filed in 2015.
The Esplanade Court recently rejected a ‘C summary’ report filed by the economic offences wing (EOW) of the Mumbai police in 2019. A ‘C Summary’ report is filed by the police to state that a person had been booked by mistake in a case or that an erroneous complaint was made.
The court has now directed the investigating officer to further probe the case and submit a report. Darekar did not respond to calls made and text messages sent by TOI.
A senior EOW officer on Monday confirmed having received the court order. “We will follow the [court’s] instructions,” the officer said.
There were allegations of irregularities in case of tenements taken on rent for bank branches and in purchase of land, distribution of loan to credit societies, purchase of computers and software assembling among others.
Advocate Vivekanand Gupta, a BJP secretary from Mumbai unit, had in 2015 filed an FIR of cheating, forgery and criminal conspiracy against the president and directors of the bank at MRA Marg police station. The EOW filed a C Summary report in the Esplanade court, contending that all allegations were civil in nature and there was no cognisable offence established against the accused.
After receiving the summary report, the court issued notice to the complainant. “He orally submitted that he has no objection to grant C summary,” the court order read. Later, one Pankaj Kotecha appeared and filed an application against the C Summary.
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Famous Person - Commit Crime - Investigate
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Aeroflot Flight 1668 crash
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Aeroflot Flight 1668 was a scheduled flight from Yakutsk to Novosibirsk with stopovers at Olekminsk, Lensk, Ust-Kut and Krasnoyarsk that crashed shortly after take-off from Olekminsk on 6 January 1968. All 45 people onboard died. The subsequent investigation was unable to determine the root cause of the accident. At 18:10 local time the flight departed Olyokminsk bound for Lensk in good weather conditions. Ten minutes later the crew contacted air traffic control (ATC) and reported their altitude as 4,500 meters. At 18:24 the flight requested a position report and ATC responded that radar showed the aircraft 75 kilometers from Olyokminsk on a heading of 271 degrees. At 18:28 radar contact with the aircraft was lost and attempts to communicate with the flight by radio were unsuccessful. Three hours and 22 minutes later the crew of an Antonov An-2 flying west of Olekminsk discovered several fires burning on the ground. Helicopters sent to investigate discovered the crash site. The next day at 16:00 search teams reached the wreckage of flight 1668. There were no survivors. [1][2]
Construction of the Antonov An-24B involved, serial number 69901001, was completed at the Antonov aircraft factory on 27 November 1966. At the time of the accident the aircraft had sustained a total of 1,543 flight hours and 1,083 takeoff and landing cycles. [3][4]
Members of the search and rescue team recorded their eyewitness accounts of the approximately 715 meters wide crash site:[2]
In the winter of 1968, we, the young aircraft technicians, were mobilized to search the area where the wreckage of the aircraft fell. There were severe frosts. Christmas was coming. The forest consisted of a thick fir grove, and all the trees were hung with small multicolored patches - the remnants of clothes torn from people, like Christmas trees. The sight was creepy ... But the young girl fastened to the miraculously surviving chair made the strongest impression on everyone. She apparently did not suffer in any way, and seemed to be a fabulous fairytale who had fallen asleep in this magical dressed up Christmas forest ... [5]
The accident was investigated by the State Supervisory Commission for Flight Safety. Concerns about crew training, preflight preparation of the aircraft and ATC operation were eliminated early in the investigation. The agency compiled data from ATC including recorded radio transmissions and radar plots in an attempt to determine the cause. Two minutes before the flight disappeared from radar the sound of a transmitter being switched on was heard. The source of this transmitter sound was never determined. Investigators discovered that the aircraft suddenly entered a steep descent followed by both wings and the empennage separating from the fuselage due to high aerodynamic loads. At about 18:27 the airliner was in an 80 degree nose down attitude on a heading of 270 with a left bank. The aircraft struck trees then crashed into the ground heavily and was completely destroyed by impact forces and fire. [1][2]
Investigations were unable to determine the exact cause of the accident but it was theorized that a part of the aircraft detached and damaged the tail or that an aircraft flight control system failed. Another theory was that the flight was brought down by a surface-to-air missile, but no evidence supporting this ever surfaced. [1][2]
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Air crash
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Ghatnandur train crash
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The Ghatnandur train crash occurred on 3 January 2003, when a passenger train travelling from Secunderabad to Manmad crashed into the rear end of a heavy goods train near Ambajogai tehsil Ghatnandur in Maharashtra, India. The accident happened in the early morning of the 3rd, when the passenger train, which was supposed to bypass the station on a loop line, was not transferred onto this line by the station officers at Ghatnandur, and so collided with the stationary freight train berthed on the main line of the station. Three carriages were derailed, thanks to the driver, who was killed, slowing the train down at the last minute. Rescue operations, initially carried out by local people, then by military and emergency services, were able to rescue most of the trapped and injured people quickly, helped by the wreckage not catching fire, as often happens in the circumstances. 18 passengers were killed instantly, and 41 badly injured, including several children who were airlifted to hospital in Hyderabad, over 300 km away, by the Indian Air Force. The rail authorities offered compensation to the victims and families of victims, as is customary, with the amounts decided with a sliding scale based on the severity of the injury. The station officials, realising what their mistake had caused, fled in panic, and remained in hiding for many days. Eventually, all were caught and suspended without pay for the duration of an investigation, which found that they had failed to change the track of the approaching train, and to warn the driver of the hazards ahead in sufficient time. They were Prashant Kumar Verma, Vinayak Neelakantha, Shesharao Sayedu, Srinivas Suryavanshi and G Krishnaih. Indian Railways minister, Nitish Kumar was quoted in the aftermath as saying:
"It was a human failure as the point was not set for the train which went ahead on the same track where another train was already stationed".
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Train collisions
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La Palma volcano eruption's infernal beauty visible from space in astronaut and satellite photos
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A close-up satellite view of lava gushing out of the crater of the Cumbre Vieja volcano on the Spanish island of La Palma. (Image credit: Maxar Technologies) New astronaut and satellite images of an active volcano on the island of La Palma reveal the frightening beauty of the eruption, as well as its dangerous proximity to humans. Lava began gushing out of the Cumbre Vieja crater on the island, which is located off the coast of northwestern Africa and governed by Spain, on Sunday (Sept. 19). On Wednesday (Sept. 22), European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Pesquet shared an image of the eruption as seen from his perch on the International Space Station. "Set against the blackness of the surrounding Atlantic Ocean the bright orange glow is even more impressive," Pesquet wrote in a tweet . Related: 10 incredible volcanoes in our solar system in photos A satellite image of La Palma before the eruption started. (Image credit: Maxar Technologies) Meanwhile, satellites have also been hard at work monitoring the eruption. New high-resolution images taken by a satellite operated by Earth-observation company Maxar Technologies on Tuesday (Sept. 21) at 11:54 p.m local time (6:54 p.m. EDT or 2254 GMT), show the volcano's geyser of lava. Maxar then combined this image with that of a wider view captured during daytime. The combined image reveals a dense patchwork of buildings and roads stretching up the flank of the volcano nearly to the edge of the crater. Scientists from all over the world continue to closely monitor the ongoing eruption, Cumbre Vieja's first since 1971 , and predict the effects the rest of the world might feel from the thick plumes of smoke and ash it spews spreading through Earth's atmosphere . Related: Satellites watch volcano erupt on La Palma after half a century of silence According to the European Union's Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS), the sulfur dioxide-rich smoke will continue spreading northwest over Morocco, Algeria and the rest of the Mediterranean region. The plume will move over Spain and reach central France by the end of this week, CAMS previously predicted. CAMS Senior Scientist Mark Parringron said in a new statement that the effects of the sulfur dioxide plume on weather and air pollution levels on the ground will likely be negligible. At ground level, the gas can irritate the respiratory tract and worsen conditions such as asthma. Sulfur dioxide can also react with other compounds in the atmosphere and form aerosol particles that contribute to particulate pollution. In combination with atmospheric water, it can cause acid rain, which can damage trees and plants. However, most of the sulfur dioxide coming from Cumbre Vieja is at high enough altitudes, 3 miles (5 kilometers) up, not to carry these threats. "Most of the emitted sulfur dioxide is much higher up in the atmosphere, especially as you get further away from the source," Parrington said. "[It] might just be visible as a light haze up in the sky." Related: Images: 10 incredible volcanoes in our solar system The predicted spread of the sulfur dioxide-rich plume from the Cumbre Vieja volcano on the island of La Palma off the coast of northwestern Africa. (Image credit: CAMS) The Volcanic Ash Advisory Center in Toulouse, France, is also monitoring the La Palma eruption for the spread of volcanic ash that could jeopardize airplanes. (In 2010, a six-month eruption of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano in Iceland caused the worst air traffic disruption in Europe since World War II.) For now, the center said , the ash can only be detected in the relative vicinity of the volcano. As Cumbre Vieja continues spewing lava and smoke, more residents are forced to leave their homes as the slow-moving but unstoppable lava river continues to spread down the volcano's western flank, bulldozing everything in its way. Geologists worry that the lava, up to 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit (1,000 degrees Celsius) hot, could trigger explosions and release toxic gases once it reaches the ocean and mixes with the sea water, which is expected to happen today (Sept. 23).
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Volcano Eruption
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Death Toll From Gas Explosion Near Moscow Rises To Seven
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MOSCOW -- The death toll from a gas explosion in a high-rise apartment block in the Moscow region has risen to seven.
Emergency officials in the city of Noginsk near Moscow said on September 9 that two more bodies had been recovered by rescue teams.
On September 8, when the explosion destroyed three floors in the nine-story residential building, officials said two persons were found dead at the site while at least five were missing.
Later in the day, rescue teams found three more bodies under the debris. Officials said 17 people were injured.
Personnel from the Emergencies Ministry continue to search for more possible victims.
Authorities in Noginsk announced a three-day mourning period to honor the victims.
Gas explosions occur with some frequency in Russia due to aging pipelines and infrastructure, as well as lax safety standards. RFE/RL's Russian Service is a multi-platform alternative to Russian state-controlled media, providing audiences in the Russian Federation with informed and accurate news, analysis, and opinion.
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Gas explosion
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Washougal man killed in head-on crash at Highway 14 roundabout
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A Washougal man was killed and a Vancouver man was injured Wednesday in a head-on collision at the roundabout on state Highway 14 at Washougal River Road. The fatal crash was reported around 9:45 a.m. A 2016 Honda Accord was traveling west on Highway 14 at Milepost 16 and entered the traffic circle the wrong way at Washougal River Road, striking an eastbound 1998 Dodge van head on, according to a Washington State Patrol crash memo. The driver of the Honda, identified as 60-year-old Michael L. Merwin, was pronounced dead at the scene. The other driver, identified as Thomas D. Wright, 64, was injured and taken to PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center in Vancouver. Both were wearing seat belts, the crash memo states. Wright was listed in satisfactory condition Thursday morning, according to a hospital spokesman. Troopers said it is unknown if drugs or alcohol were involved.
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Road Crash
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1939 Chillán earthquake
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The 1939 Chillán earthquake occurred in south-central Chile on 24 January with a surface wave magnitude of 8.3[1] and a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme). With a death toll of around 28,000,[4] compared to the 2,231–6,000 (official estimates vary greatly)[5][6] of the Great Chilean earthquake of 1960, it is the single deadliest earthquake in Chile. At 23:32, the earth began to shake strongly underneath Chillán, destroying more than half of it, including around 3,500 homes and the recently constructed Casa Rabié which then was in the city. Aftershocks followed, although they were less intense, which left the city completely destroyed. Until then, the Cathedral of Chillán had been one of the principal buildings of the area, but it was completely destroyed. The church that was built to replace it was designed specifically to withstand future earthquakes. At 23:35, Concepción was violently hit. Almost all of the buildings (around 95% of the houses) were completely destroyed. There was a show going on in the theater where the large chandelier started to swing. The people inside were terrified, so they fled down the stairs, but the spiral staircase cracked, causing many people to fall into the gap. In the intersection of O’Higgins and Aníbal Pinto avenue the bodies accumulated, which were later brought to the cemetery, and interred in large strips of land. The electricity was cut in all of the city and tens of fires were reported in various points of the city. The potable water supply was also seriously affected. The material damage in all of the city were evaluated to be more than three thousand million pesos. Various emblematic buildings of the city were destroyed, like the central market, Correos de Chile, but the most emblematic was the plaza of independence, which was seriously damaged. Its two towers leaned dangerously, and because of this they had to be demolished. Another building that was affected was the first building of the old Central Station of Concepción. In 1941, the construction of a second station building began. The community of Chillán is situated in the continental territory of Chile. The city of Chillán was built on a tectonic structure at the end of the Tertiary Period in the part of the Longitudinal Valley which is identified with the Central level. Morphologically, the land corresponds to an alluvial plain, which predominates with fluvioglacial sediments, conformed during the Cuaternario by the action of the Rivers Nuble and Cato in the north and the River Chillán in the south, both tributary streams of the large drainage basin of Itata. The natural flow of the enclave of Chillán is confirmed by later geological studies, found the root of the earthquake of 1939, when a prospection of more than 80 meters was carried out, without finding the bedrock. In the aftermath, the government created CORFO (Spanish acronym for Production Development Corporation) to help in the reconstruction of the country and to industrialize the country, mechanize the agriculture and help mining to develop. [7][8]
Concepción
"El Mirador Alemán", in Concepción
A memorial placard next to the cathedral in Chillán commemorates the victims 50 years later
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Earthquakes
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China General Aviation Flight 7552 crash
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China General Aviation Flight 7552 was a China General Aviation flight from Nanjing Dajiaochang Airport to Xiamen Gaoqi International Airport. On July 31, 1992, the Yakovlev Yak-42D overran runway 06 during takeoff and impacted an embankment at 210 kilometres per hour (110 kn; 130 mph), 420 metres (1,380 ft) from the threshold. [1]
The aircraft involved was a Yakovlev Yak-42D with registration B-2755 (factory no. 4520422116644, serial no. 14-02). The aircraft was released by the Saratov Aviation Plant on January 2, 1992 and was delivered to China General Aviation in the same month. [2]
Flight GP7552 was a passenger flight from Nanking to Xiamen. There were 116 passengers and 10 crew members. At about 3:05 pm the liner headed for the runway 06 and, after a minute delay, started its take-off roll. The Yak-42 started to lift off the ground and began to climb, however the aircraft lost control and slammed back down onto the runway. The aircraft then exited the runway, and continued rolling for on the ground 420–600 metres (1,380–1,970 ft). The aircraft then crashed into a two-meter (6.6-foot) fence and exploded. The fuselage broke into three parts, after which a post-crash fire erupted. Part of the wreckage fell into a nearby pond. 8 of the 10 crew members and 100 of the 116 passengers died. [note 1][1][3][4]
Investigators determined the cause of the crash was an improper horizontal stabilizer setting.
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Air crash
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When you're a celebrity, you're likely rich
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When you're a celebrity, you're likely rich. So it's no wonder that when the divorce settlement comes around, there's a lot of money involved!
Over the years, there have been some big celebrity divorces. Some of them have shocked us, while others didn't surprise us one bit. However, what did surprise us were some of the huge divorce settlements that came out of them. One would think that being a rich and famous celebrity, you'd be a little more cautious when it came to marrying without a prenuptial agreement. However, most of these celebrities don't really think that way.
RELATED: These Are The Longest-Lasting Celebrity Marriages
In fact, because most of these celebrity couples didn't have a prenuptial agreement, they resulted in big divorce settlement payouts. The most recent couple to make headlines for their very expensive divorce is none other than Jeff Bezos and his wife Mackenzie, as the billionaire Amazon CEO was forced to pay his now ex-wife $38 billion. We can only hope that celebrities can watch and learn from the mistakes of others, however, we know that's not true and maybe someone else will top this list one day.
10 James Cameron & Linda Hamilton - $50 Million
Linda Hamilton and James Cameron were only married for three years before they decided to call it quits and get a divorce. Unfortunately for James Cameron, the divorce was very expensive for him. Things didn't end amicably, in fact, they aren't even on speaking terms these days.
But the nasty divorce had to be settled, and as a result, Linda Hamilton got a small slice of James Cameron's fortune, as she walked away from the marriage with $50 million . It makes you think twice about getting married, huh?
9 Kenny Rogers & Marianne Gordon - $60 Million
Before he sadly passed away, Kenny Rogers was married quite a few times. In 1974, Kenny met Marianne Gordon, and the two got married a few years later in 1977. The two had a son together in 1981, before divorcing in 1993.
Unfortunately, Kenny and Marianne had a divorce settlement in which Kenny had to pay Marianne $60 million . Thankfully, it wasn't a bitter divorce, and Kenny was actually happy to pay Marianne the money, as he felt like she deserved it since she stood by him through some tough times in his life.
8 Kevin Costner & Cindy Silva - $80 Million
Kevin Costner met Cindy Silva when they were students at the University of California at Fullerton. They eventually got married in 1978 and went on to have three children together. When the two eventually decided to divorce, they had a complicated settlement.
Not only did they have the regular property assets that had to be handled, but they also had to think of their three children as well. As a result, when the couple finally settled, Kevin had to pay Cindy $80 million .
7 Steven Spielberg & Amy Irving - $100 Million
When Steven Spielberg divorced his wife Amy Irving back in the 80s, he, unfortunately, had to learn things the hard way. When they decided to proceed with their divorce, they approached the judge on their case with a prenuptial agreement that they had all figured out on a napkin.
The judge refused to accept the scribbled-on napkin as a legal document, and they had to settle things the hard way. As a result, Amy walked away from their marriage with $100 million of Steven's mone y.
6 Tiger Woods & Elin Nordegren - $110 Million
We all remember the infamous Tiger Woods infidelity scandal when Tiger was caught cheating on then-wife Elin Nordegren. The couple got married in 2004 and had two kids together.
Tiger had cheated on Elin multiple times which resulted in their unfortunate divorce in 2010. Their divorce was extremely messy and was all over the media and tabloids. We know that Tiger Woods is worth a lot of money, which was why he had to cough up a huge chunk of his fortune. They finally settled, and Elin received $110 million .
5 Neil Diamond & Marcia Murphey - $150 Million
When Marcia Murphey first met Neil Diamond, he was still married to his first wife, Jay Posner. That didn't matter though, as the two started dating. Eventually, he separated from his first wife and married Marcia. Neil and Marcia were married for 25 years before they decided to call it quits, and divorced.
RELATED: I Do, I Do, I Don’t: 10 Celebs With The Most Divorces In Hollywood
When it came to a settlement, it was a bit of a complicated one. It boiled down to Marcia getting half of his earnings, and she walked away with an insane $150 million . That sure is a lot of money, and most celebrities would most likely try to fight giving up half of their fortune. However, Neil wasn't bitter about it at all and said she deserved the money.
4 Michael Jordan & Juanita Vanoy - $168 Million
All-star basketball player Michael Jordan and his wife Juanita Vanoy were married for 17 years and had two sons and a daughter together before they ultimately called it quits and sought out a divorce. Michael had a number of affairs when the two were married, causing a very rocky marriage, however, it wasn't until the couple was blackmailed by a former mistress before Juanita decided that enough was enough and it was time for a divorce.
Of course, the two had a settlement, and at the time, it was one of the most expensive divorce settlements of all time, as Michael had to pay Juanita $168 million all because the two didn't have a prenuptial agreement.
3 Mel Gibson & Robyn Gibson - $425 Million
Actor Mel Gibson and his wife Robyn Moore were married for 31 years before the two called it quits and got a divorce. They had met in the 1970s and filed for divorce in 2009. The two also had seven children together, and a lot of investment that made the divorce very messy.
RELATED: 10 Of The Longest Married Couples In The Music Industry
Before getting married, the two never got a prenuptial agreement, and that really came back to bit Mel Gibson in the behind later on. As a result, Mel was forced to give up about half of his fortune, and Robyn was paid $425 million , which was the biggest divorce settlement at the time.
2 Rupert Murdoch & Anna Murdoch - $1.7 Billion
Rupert Murdoch and Anna Murdoch were together for more than 30 years and had three children together before they put an end to things and filed for divorce. Anna is Rupert's second wife. At the time, when the two were divorced, their settlement was the most expensive one in history.
Rupert is an extremely wealthy man, and as a result, he was forced to pay his ex-wife $1.7 billion , which makes you realize the importance of signing a prenuptial agreement when you're a wealthy celebrity. Things can get expensive and ugly, and Rupert Murdoch is proof of that.
1 Jeff Bezos & Mackenzie Bezos - $38 Billion
If you thought Rupert Murdoch's $1.7 billion divorce settlement was a lot, Jeff and Mackenzie Bezos ' settlement will blow you away. If you didn't know, Jeff Bezos is the founder of Amazon and is an extremely wealthy man. After rumors of infidelity on Jeff's part, the two decided to call it quits after being married for 25 years.
After reaching a settlement, Mackenzie received 25% of the couple's Amazon stock, which is a 4% stake in the company, which is a payout of $38 billion , the most expensive divorce settlement, ever. It's a lot of money to wrap your head around, and Mackenzie plans to give a lot that money to charity.
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Famous Person - Divorce
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Killer Colin Pitchfork to be released from prison after challenge fails
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The child killer and rapist Colin Pitchfork is to be freed from prison after the Parole Board rejected calls from the government to reconsider the controversial decision. Now 61, the double murderer was jailed in 1988 after raping and strangling 15-year-olds Lynda Mann and Dawn Ashworth in Leicestershire in 1983 and 1986. Pitchfork became the first man convicted of murder on the basis of DNA evidence in 1988 after admitting two murders, two rapes, two indecent assaults and conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. In early June the Parole Board ruled that Pitchfork could be released on licence, saying his behaviour in custody had been “positive and had included extensive efforts to help others”. Last month, the justice secretary, Robert Buckland, formally asked the Parole Board to reconsider the move on the grounds that there was an arguable case that the decision was “irrational”. But on Tuesday the Parole Board confirmed it had rejected the reconsideration request and Pitchfork’s release would proceed. A spokesperson said in a statement: “The Parole Board has immense sympathy for the families of Dawn Ashworth and Lynda Mann and recognises the pain and anguish they have endured and continue to endure through the parole process. “However, Parole Board panels are bound by law to assess whether a prisoner is safe to release. It has no power to alter the original sentence set down by the courts. Legislation dictates that a panel’s decision must be solely focused on what risk a prisoner may pose on release and whether that risk can be managed in the community. “As made clear in the reconsideration decision, release was supported by all of the secretary of state’s witnesses during Mr Pitchfork’s review.” The Ministry of Justice said it was disappointed but respected the decision. The threshold for a Parole Board decision to be reconsidered is the same as that required for a judicial review: that the decision was irrational or the process by which the decision was reached was flawed. Under the conditions of his release, Pitchfork would have to live at a designated address, wear an electronic tag, complete lie detector tests and disclose what vehicles he uses and to whom he speaks, with particular limits on contact with children. The families of the victims have criticised the board’s decision. “There are some crimes so horrendous that a reprieve is not appropriate. It is an affront to natural justice,” Dawn’s uncle, Philip Musson, previously said. “He took their lives in a way which is an absolute torment to those who cared and loved these girls.” Pitchfork was caught after the world’s first mass screening for DNA, when 5,000 men in three villages were asked to volunteer blood or saliva samples, although he initially evaded justice by getting a colleague to take the test for him. He pleaded guilty to two counts of murder, two of rape, two of indecent assault and one of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. The lord chief justice at the time, Lord Lane, said: “From the point of view of the safety of the public, I doubt if he should ever be released.” A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: “We are disappointed with this outcome given we felt there were grounds for the decision to be reconsidered, but respect the independent judge’s decision. “Our sympathies remain with the families of Lynda Mann and Dawn Ashworth but they can be reassured that Pitchfork will be subject to close probation supervision for life and faces an immediate return to prison if he fails to comply with his licence conditions. “The lord chancellor has launched a root and branch review of the parole system, which will report back later this year, and we are changing the law so that child murderers such as Pitchfork face life in prison without the possibility of parole as the default sentence.”
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Famous Person - Commit Crime - Release
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Formula 1: All teams sign up to sport's new Concorde Agreement
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Last updated on 19 August 202019 August 2020.From the section Formula 1
All 10 teams have signed up to the new Concorde Agreement which will govern Formula 1 from 2021 to 2025.
The contract, which sets out the commercial terms of the sport, was first introduced in 1981.
Ferrari, McLaren and Williams announced their support of the revised terms of racing on Tuesday, with the other seven constructors now following suit.
World champions Mercedes had reached an impasse with F1 over the new proposals, but they have now been resolved.
The new deal is designed to end what many consider to be an unfair revenue system, whereby the top teams earn disproportionately more prize money, a system that has created a disparity in competitiveness down the grid and locked in an advantage for Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull.
"This year has been unprecedented for the world and we are proud that Formula 1 has come together in recent months to return to racing in a safe way," F1 chairman Chase Carey said in a statement.
"We said earlier in the year that due to the fluid nature of the pandemic, the Concorde Agreement would take additional time to agree and we are pleased that by August we have been able achieve agreement from all 10 teams on the plans for the long-term future of our sport."
Carey added that the new agreement would "create an environment that is both financially fairer and closes the gaps between teams on the race track".
Jean Todt, president of motorsport's governing body the FIA, said the announcement marked "an exciting new chapter" for the sport.
"The conclusion of the new Concorde Agreement between the FIA, Formula 1 and all 10 of the current teams assures a stable future for the FIA Formula 1 World Championship," he added.
Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff had previously stated that the German manufacturer would be "the biggest victim in terms of revenue loss" but recent talks with Careyexternal-link produced a breakthrough on "the clarifications that we wanted to achieve".
Speaking on Tuesday, Ferrari chief executive Louis Camilleri said the new deal was "an important step to ensure the stability and growth of the sport", while McLaren chief executive Zak Brown said it was "the right deal at the right time".
Claire Williams, deputy team principal of Williams, added: "This next era will be characterised by closer and more exciting racing as a result of the new platform of regulations, which include more equitable revenue distribution and a first ever cost cap for our sport."
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Sign Agreement
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Israel releases the MV Mavi Marmara, the aid ship which it impounded after killing nine activists during May's Gaza flotilla raid
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Israel will on Thursday return to Turkey three ships which were commandeered by the navy during a deadly raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla, the defence ministry said.
"The defence ministry will today (Thursday), hand over, to Turkish representatives, the Turkish vessels that tried to violate the naval blockade on the Hamas regime in the Gaza Strip, and which are now anchored in Israel," a statement from the ministry said.
The move to return the ships, included the Mavi Marmara passenger ferry which was at the centre of the violence, comes after a decision by the political leadership, it said.
"Three Turkish towing ships will arrive in Israel today. Their crews will receive three vessels anchored in Israel along with the personal equipment that was aboard them," the ministry said, without saying when the handover would take place.
The Mavi Marmara is currently docked at the northern port city of Haifa, while the other two vessels are understood to be in Ashdod port in the south.
All three were part of a six-ship flotilla which tried to run Israel's naval blockade on the Gaza Strip on May 31.
Israeli navy commandos stormed all six ships in a botched raid which descended into violence and resulted in the deaths of nine Turkish activists and sparked a diplomatic crisis with Ankara.
Troops involved in the raid say they only resorted to lethal force after being attacked when they rappelled from helicopters onto the deck of the Mavi Marmara, which was carrying more than 600 passengers at the time.
But the activists onboard say the naval commandos opened fire as soon as they boarded the ship, which was in international waters at the time.
Earlier this week, the United Nations announced it was opening an inquiry into the flotilla raid which would include both Israeli and Turkish participation. Israel has said it would cooperate with the inquiry.
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Armed Conflict
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1946 C-53 Skytrooper crash on the Gauli Glacier crash
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The C-53 Crash on the Gauli Glacier in the Bernese Alps, (Switzerland) on 19 November 1946 was a turning point in alpine rescue and an international media event. The aircraft, coming from Tulln, Austria (near Vienna), bound for Pisa, Italy, collided with the Gauli Glacier in poor visibility. On board were eight passengers (among them two high-ranking officers of the U.S. armed forces, four women, and one 11-year-old girl) and four crew. Several people were injured, but there were no fatalities. The aircraft was found by a Lancaster bomber of 7th Squadron ( pathfinders) piloted by Flt Ltd Geoffrey Douglas Head. The initial sighting was made by his rear gunner. They were searching further north than the initial search area. The Americans initially claimed they found the aircraft first but later made a statement to the press to credit the RAF for finding it first. On 18 November 1946 the C-53 Skytrooper military transport aircraft, (serial no. 42-68846) – a military, passenger-only, variant of the civilian Douglas DC-3 airliner – took off from Tulln Air Base near Vienna, Austria, bound for Pisa, Italy. The route planning was affected by bad weather, so they chose a route (950 km) via Munich, Strasbourg, Dijon and Marseille-Istres, to arrive in Pisa two days later. Having already avoided several alpine peaks in instrument meteorological conditions, near Innsbruck, the crew became disoriented, and on 18 November at 2.45 PM, the aircraft crash-landed on the Gauli Glacier with a speed of 174 mph (280 km/h) at an altitude of 10,990 ft (3,350 m) because of the sudden onset of a Katabatic wind, the aircraft sliding over ice and snow upwards, slowing down rapidly. The crew thought the aircraft had crashed in the French Alps. An hour after the crash, the crew was able to send emergency radio messages which were received at Orly Airport and at the Istres-Le Tubé Air Base near Marseille, tri-angulating their position in the Airolo-Sion-Jungfrau triangle. A large search and rescue operation began immediately. Two days later, the control tower at Swiss Air Force Base Meiringen, 12.7 km (8 mi) away, received their radio calls, giving a new radio bearing, narrowing the search area to the Gauli Glacier. At 0931 hours on 22 November an RAF Lancaster, piloted by F/L G. Head, spotted the aircraft through a break in the cloud cover. The crew managed to plot the location by using radio plots. Later that day when the clouds cleared, search aircraft were sent to this location. A Boeing B-29 Superfortress sighted the aircraft by chance from an altitude of 16,000 ft (5 km) whilst en route to Munich, later confirmed by the crew of a Swiss Air Force (SwAF) EKW C-36. After the accident location was known, a large alpine rescue operation was begun. The United States Army (US Army) arrived on a train carrying equipment in Interlaken, where the normal gauge railway track ends. The U.S. response units were equipped with Willys MB jeeps and snowcats (some accounts describe the "snowcats" as being the amphibious-hulled versions of the American M29 Weasel[1] tracked vehicles)[2] but these were potentially useless in the alpine conditions (despite their intended design for wintertime use). The potentially cumbersome use of military gliders was contemplated but was not considered further,[citation needed] so rescue teams had to proceed on foot. On 23 November at 2:20 PM, two Swiss soldiers on skis reached the stricken aircraft and its passengers after a 13-hour ascent from Innertkirchen, but as it was too late for a descent on the same day, it was decided to wait at the wreck over night, enduring temperatures of −15 °C (5 °F). The next day, everyone descended towards the Alpine Club's Gauli hut at 7,234 ft (2,205 m), failing to make radio contact with the coordinators in the valley. At 10.20 AM, SwAF pilots Captain Victor Hug and Major Pista Hitz, managed to land two Fieseler Storch aircraft on the glacier beside the rescuers, and with eight flights, everyone was flown to safety. The Swiss army had tested snow landings and starts during the winter of 1944/45. [3]
After World War II, the diplomatic relationship between Switzerland and the United States was uncertain. But after the successful rescue, the political climate improved, in part because the rescue work was prominently covered by the international media. The rescue operation would have repercussions a decade later when the Swiss were asked to support the rescue and salvage efforts after the 1956 Grand Canyon mid-air collision. [citation needed]
A more lasting impact of the incident was that the rescue of aircraft passengers in alpine terrain became seriously considered by authorities. The crash on the Gauli glacier is seen as the birth of Swiss air rescue, and in 1952, the Swiss Air Rescue Guard (Rega) was founded. In 2012 & in 2018[4] remains of the machine that crashed in 1946 emerged on the Gauli Glacier, and subsequently the Swiss Army has been working to recover the wreck and clean up the site. [5][6]
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Air crash
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Driller killed, 2 other miners hurt in accident at southern Interior B.C. mine
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KAMLOOPS, B.C. -- The BC Coroners Service confirmed Tuesday a worker has died in a mining accident near Kamloops, B.C., and the mine owner reports two other workers were also hurt.
A statement from Toronto-based New Gold said the three workers at the New Afton gold and copper mine were hit by a flow of mud debris early Tuesday.
A person the company describes as a contract driller was killed and the New Gold statement said two of its employees have non-life-threatening injuries.
Sarah Morris with BC Emergency Health Services confirmed seven paramedic crews were called just after 2 a.m., and transferred two patients for further care.
She says both workers were released from hospital.
An RCMP spokeswoman says police secured the scene and are investigating to determine if there is anything criminal about the incident, while the coroner and WorkSafeBC are also at the scene.
The New Gold statement said further information could be released later and work at the mine was halted during the investigation.
Bruce Ralston, minister of energy, mines and low carbon innovation, said in a statement that he was saddened to hear of the tragic incident.
“A contractor was one of three workers at the mine who became trapped by an unexpected underground mudslide,” Ralston said.
He said the mine was familiar to him because it was one of the first sites he visited at the start of his tenure as minister.
“I send my sincerest condolences to the individual's family, friends and colleagues during this difficult time.”
New Afton is an open pit and underground mine that employs about 500 people and has been producing an average of 85,000 ounces of gold and 75 million pounds of copper annually since it opened in 2012.
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Mine Collapses
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Contractor Killed in Accident at Gulf of Mexico Offshore Facility -Operator
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STOCKHOLM, Nov 16 (Reuters) – Rock on the seabed may have gouged previously unknown holes in the hull of the ferry Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea in 1994. Philly Shipyard has won its first commercial newbuilding order since 2013 with an order for one Jones Act-compliant Subsea Rock Installation Vessel for U.S wind market from Great Lakes Dredge. The Offshore Marine Service Association (OMSA) has made its latest accusation of Jones Act violations, this time involving a foreign ship of “illegally” transporting cargo off Virginia in support of.
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Shipwreck
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Worker dies at underground mine in Western Australia's Goldfields
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A worker has died at the Mt Monger gold operations in WA's Goldfields —the third death at an underground mine in Western Australia in the past year. The mine owners, ASX-listed Silver Lake Resources, issued a statement that a contractor died in an incident at the Daisy underground mining complex this morning. Mining has been suspended and the Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety (DMIRS) has sent inspectors to the site. An investigation into the circumstances of the contractor's death is underway and DMIRS is working with WA Police. Macmahon Holdings owns contractor GBF Underground Mining, which has been working at Mt Monger since 2014 and last year won a $200 million, three-year contract extension until 2023. In a statement, Macmahon CEO Mick Finnegan extended the company’s “deepest sympathy to the deceased’s family, friends and colleagues”. “Macmahon will provide support and counselling to the site team and family members,” Mr Finnegan said. “As noted by Silver Lake, relevant authorities have been notified. “Macmahon will provide further updates as and when appropriate.” The fatality is the third death at an underground mine in WA in 12 months. Contractor Michael Johnson died in July at the Dervish underground mine, 120 kilometres north-east of Kalgoorlie-Boulder, after he drove a loader over the edge of an open stope, falling about 25 metres. Paige Taylor Counsell, 25, was hit by a truck in December at Big Bell underground mine, 24 kilometres north-west of Cue. The latest death comes as DMIRS prosecutes Silver Lake Resources over a separate incident at its Mt Monger operations, in which a worker drove his loader over the edge of a stope. Silver Lake is facing seven charges over that incident, including failing to maintain a working environment where workers engaged by a contractor were not exposed to hazards. The company is due back in the Kalgoorlie Magistrate's Court in July.
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Mine Collapses
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Today, NASA announced that eight countries have signed an international agreement known as the Artemis Accords
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Today, NASA announced that eight countries — including the United States — have signed an international agreement known as the Artemis Accords, forming what NASA calls a broad and diverse coalition of nations committed to standardized lunar exploration.
NASA announced its intention to create the Artemis Accords back in May, after working with the US State Department and the National Space Council to come up with a draft set of rules for exploring the Moon. The document’s name refers to NASA’s Artemis program, an ambitious initiative that aims to send the first woman and the next man to the Moon. NASA hopes to partner with multiple countries for the program, and the agency created the Artemis Accords to ensure that other nations could agree on best practices for sending robots and people to the lunar surface.
NASA released the draft of the accords to other space-faring countries, and after getting their input, the agency came up with the final document, which includes standards for things like lunar mining and how to handle conflicts on the Moon’s surface. NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine says the main goal is to get everyone on the same page about lunar exploration and head off any future international misunderstandings or conflicts. “When we think about the Artemis Accords, what we’re trying to do is establish norms of behavior that every nation can agree to,” Bridenstine said during a press call ahead of the announcement. The seven nations that have signed along with the US are: Australia, Canada, Japan, Luxembourg, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United Arab Emirates. NASA says that it has also spoken with other countries interested in signing, but these seven nations were able to go through the interagency process the fastest. That means more countries could be signing on to the accords very soon — even before the end of the year, according to NASA. “This first announcement is very much a beginning, not an ending to the nations joining the Accords,” Mike Gold, NASA’s acting associate administrator for the office of international and interagency relations, said during the briefing. Notably absent from the initial list is Russia, NASA’s biggest partner in human spaceflight and the International Space Station. Dmitry Rogozin, the head of Russia’s space program, has made it very clear that he is not a fan of the accords or of NASA’s Artemis program. When NASA first announced the accords, Rogozin likened it to a lunar “invasion.” And just yesterday, Rogozin said during a panel at the International Astronautical Congress that the Artemis program is “too US-centric.” China, another major space power, is also absent, though NASA has long been restricted from partnering or engaging directly with the country on space projects due to a law enacted by Congress. The law would have to change for NASA to approach China, says Bridenstine. “If China’s behavior were to be modified in a way that Congress — Republicans and Democrats — come together and say, ‘Look, we want to engage China,’ NASA stands ready,” said Bridenstine. “But at this point, it’s just not in the cards and we at NASA will always follow the law.”
Long before the creation of the Artemis Accords, countries around the world had already signed a major international agreement focused on how to explore space. Known as the Outer Space Treaty, the agreement entered into force in 1967, establishing that the exploration of space should be a peaceful exercise. It also said that countries should not put weapons of mass destruction in space and that nations should not lay claim to other worlds, among other provisions.
However, the Outer Space Treaty is pretty vague — purposefully so — which means there is a lot of room for interpretation on various clauses. The goal of the Artemis Accords is to provide a little more clarity on how the US wants to explore the Moon without going through the slow treaty-making process. “We are doing this in keeping with the Outer Space Treaty,” said Bridenstine, adding that NASA is trying to “create a dynamic where the Outer Space Treaty can actually be enforced.”
One big thing NASA wanted to make clear in the accords is that countries can own and use resources that are derived from the Moon. As part of the Artemis program, NASA hopes to extract lunar materials, such as the Moon’s dirt or water ice that’s thought to be lurking in the shadows of lunar craters. The Outer Space Treaty forbids nations from staking claim to another planetary body, but the policy of the US is that countries and companies can own the materials they extract from other worlds. “Article II of the Outer Space Treaty says that you cannot appropriate the Moon for national sovereignty,” Bridenstine said. “We fully agree with that and embrace it. We also believe that, just like in the ocean, you can extract resources from the ocean. But that doesn’t mean you own the ocean. You should be able to extract resources from the Moon. Own the resources but not own the Moon.”
It’s an interpretation of the Outer Space Treaty that not everyone may agree on. A pair of researchers writing in the journal Science last week have called on countries to speak up about their objections to this interpretation, and that the United States should go through the United Nations treaty process in order to negotiate on space mining. “NASA’s actions must be seen for what they are—a concerted, strategic effort to redirect international space cooperation in favor of short-term U.S. commercial interests, with little regard for the risks involved,” the researchers wrote in Science. The accords outline other things like “safety zones” — areas established where work on the Moon is being conducted and where other countries should not interfere. The accords also call for the protection of heritage sites, which could mean the regions where NASA’s Apollo landers touched down on the lunar surface. The document touches on issues of transparency, the sharing of data, registration of space objects, and more.
Another topic addressed by the accords is the idea of interoperability — that spacecraft from various countries should be designed and built to work with hardware from nations all over the world. This is something that even countries that haven’t signed on to the accords can agree on. Yesterday, Russia’s Rogozin called for NASA to design one of its main Artemis elements — a space station to orbit the Moon called the Gateway — so that future Russian vehicles could dock to the station. Ultimately, the Artemis Accords are still just a set of guidelines, without any defined enforcement mechanisms. There aren’t any real consequences if a country signs the agreement and violates one of the provisions. However, Bridenstine hopes that the involvement of other nations would be enough to ensure that countries behave in accordance with the accords. “I think that there’s a lot of pressure that can be brought to bear on countries that choose to be part of the Artemis program but then don’t play by the rules,” he said.
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Sign Agreement
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Thick C.O. smoke cancels Death Cab For Cutie concert, has impacts on restaurants, others
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'Tough as it was and heartbreaking as it is, the best thing was to cancel the show tonight.' BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- For the second night in a row, a concert at the Les Schwab Amphitheater was scrubbed on Monday due to thick smoke from the region's wildfires and resulting poor, even hazardous air quality. Beau Eastes, marketing director for the amphitheater, said both the venue and the band, Death Cab For Cutie, decided it was the safest move. "Tough as it was and heartbreaking as it is, the best thing was to cancel the show tonight,” Eastes said. Refunds are available, but another concert is not being planned. Brandi Carlile's second show was canceled Sunday due to smoke, but she happened to have another date, on Sept. 20, when she could come back and make up the concert. "With Death Cab, unfortunately, that just wasn't an option,” Eastes said. Eastes said there is no set Air Quality Index (AQI) level to cause cancellations, but it is up to the artist and the venue to come together and make an informed decision. "We're doing our best, and we're not the only industry that has to deal with this,” Eastes said. Alberto Rodrigue, manager at Hola in the Old Mill, said he believes the smoke has caused a significant drop in Labor Day tourism and business. "We have more customers trying to make a reservation inside, but it's a little bit difficult, because the restaurant is small. We don't have too much space,” Rodriguez said. He said the combination of COVID and smoke makes things difficult. "Because normally, everybody wants to sit outside -- even more with the pandemic, everyone tries to sit outside, so the smoke is too much," Rodrique said However, the smoke is not stopping everyone. NewsChannel 21 spoke with several people at Boss Rambler Beer Club on Galveston Avenue who are visiting Bend for the holiday weekend. Some said they rather sit in the smoke than sit inside with a mask. Others said they are choosing to tough out the rough air conditions, because they already made the trip and want to make the most of the holiday weekend. The smoke also prompted closure of the outdoor pool at Bend's Juniper Swim and Fitness Center. Monday's family and lap swimming were moved indoors, to the Larkspur Community Center.
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Organization Closed
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1991 riot in Zadar
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Ceasefire
Yugoslav Ground Forces
Yugoslav Air Force
Yugoslav Navy
Croatian National Guard
1992
1993
1994
1995
The Battle of Zadar (Croatian: Bitka za Zadar) was a military engagement between the Yugoslav People's Army (Jugoslovenska Narodna Armija, or JNA), supported by the Croatian Serb Serbian Autonomous Oblast of Krajina (SAO Krajina), and the Croatian National Guard (Zbor Narodne Garde, or ZNG), supported by the Croatian Police. The battle was fought north and east of the city of Zadar, Croatia, in the second half of September and early October 1991 during the Croatian War of Independence. Although the JNA's initial orders were to lift the Croatian siege of the JNA's barracks in the city and isolate the region of Dalmatia from the rest of Croatia, the orders were amended during the battle to include capturing the Port of Zadar in the city centre. The JNA's advance was supported by the Yugoslav Air Force and Navy. Fighting stopped on 5 October, when a cease-fire agreement was reached by the belligerents after the JNA reached the outskirts of Zadar and blocked all land routes to the city. Subsequent negotiations resulted in a partial withdrawal of the JNA, restoring road access to Zadar via the Adriatic Highway and the evacuation of JNA facilities in the city. The JNA achieved a portion of its stated objectives; while it blocked the Maslenica Bridge (the last overland route between the Croatian capital of Zagreb and Zadar), a road via Pag Island (relying on a ferry) remained open. The JNA Zadar garrison was evacuated as a result of negotiations, but the ZNG captured several relatively small JNA posts in the city. The port was never captured by the JNA, although it was blockaded by the Yugoslav Navy. The September–October fighting caused 34 civilian deaths in Zadar from the artillery bombardment. Croatia later charged 19 JNA officers involved in the offensive with war crimes against the civilian population; they were tried, convicted in absentia and sentenced to prison. After the 1990 electoral defeat of the government of the Socialist Republic of Croatia ethnic tensions between Croats and Croatian Serbs worsened, and the Yugoslav People's Army (Jugoslovenska Narodna Armija, or JNA) confiscated Croatia's Territorial Defence (Teritorijalna obrana, or TO) weapons to minimize resistance. [1] On 17 August an open revolt broke out among the Croatian Serbs,[2] centred on the predominantly Serb-populated areas of the Dalmatian hinterland near Knin[3] and parts of Lika, Kordun, Banovina and Slavonia. [4]
After two unsuccessful attempts by Serbia (supported by Montenegro and Serbia's provinces of Vojvodina and Kosovo) to obtain the Yugoslav Presidency's approval for a JNA operation to disarm Croatian security forces in January 1991[5] and a bloodless skirmish between Serb insurgents and Croatian special police in March,[6] the JNA (supported by Serbia and its allies) asked the federal Presidency to give it wartime powers and declare a state of emergency. The request was denied on 15 March, and the JNA was brought under the control of Serbian President Slobodan Milošević. Milošević, preferring the expansion of Serbia to the preservation of Yugoslavia, threatened to replace the JNA with a Serbian army and declared that he no longer recognized the authority of the federal Presidency. The threat caused the JNA to gradually replace plans to preserve Yugoslavia with Serbian expansion. [7] By the end of March, the conflict escalated after the first fatalities during an incident at Plitvice Lakes. [8] The JNA stepped in, supporting the insurgents and preventing the Croatian police from intervening. [7] In early April, leaders of the Serb revolt in Croatia declared their intention to integrate the area under their control with Serbia; this was seen by the Government of Croatia as an intention to secede from Croatia. [9]
At the beginning of 1991, Croatia had no regular army; to bolster its defence, the country doubled its police personnel to about 20,000. The most effective portion of the force was the 3,000-strong special police, deployed in 12 battalions with a military structure; an additional 9,000–10,000 regionally organized reserve police were grouped into 16 battalions and 10 independent companies. Although most were equipped with small arms, a portion of the force was unarmed. [10] In May the Croatian government responded by forming the Croatian National Guard (Zbor narodne garde, or ZNG),[11] but its development was hampered by a United Nations (UN) arms embargo introduced in September. [12]
In April and early May, ethnic tensions in Zadar and northern Dalmatia escalated after increased sabotage activities targeting communications, the power distribution grid and other property. [13] On 2 May, the situation continued to deteriorate after the killings of Croatian policemen at Borovo Selo and Franko Lisica (a member of the Croatian special police) in the village of Polača (near Zadar) by Serbian Autonomous Oblast of Krajina (SAO Krajina) troops. The news incited riots in Zadar that day, with crowds marching through the city centre demanding weapons to confront the Croatian Serbs and smashing the windows of shops owned by Serbian companies and Serbs living in the city. [14] Croat-owned businesses in Knin were destroyed in retaliation during the night of 7–8 May. [15] The JNA took an active role in events in nearby Benkovac on 19 May, distributing a leaflet with the names of 41 Croats targeted for immediate execution[16] and providing weapons to SAO Krajina forces in the area. [17] In late May, the conflict gradually escalated to exchanges of mortar fire. [18]
From late June through July, northern Dalmatia saw daily armed skirmishes but no actual combat; nonetheless, the conflict's increasing intensity in the region (and elsewhere in Croatia) caused residents of Zadar to build bomb shelters. [19] SAO Krajina authorities called up three TO units in the Zadar hinterland on 11 July (a day after the fatal shooting of a Croatian police patrol in the Zadar area),[20] and at the end of July the JNA 9th (Knin) Corps began conscripting the Serb population in Benkovac to strengthen its ranks. [21] On 1 August, Croatia deployed two battalions of the ZNG 4th Guards Brigade to Kruševo (near Obrovac); they were involved in combat with the SAO Krajina TO and police forces two days later, the first engagement of the Croatian War of Independence in the region. [22] Growing appetites of the SAO Krajina were announced in mid-August, when Milan Martić, one of its leaders, spoke of a planned conquest of Zadar. [23] Later that month, the JNA openly sided with the SAO Krajina. On 26 August the 9th (Knin) Corps troops and artillery (commanded by chief of staff Colonel Ratko Mladić) attacked the village of Kijevo, advancing with SAO Krajina forces to expel all Croats from the village. [24] Another regional setback for Croatia was the 11 September JNA capture of the Maslenica Bridge, cutting the last overland road link between Dalmatia and the rest of Croatia. [25]
On 14 September the ZNG and Croatian police blockaded and cut utilities to all accessible JNA facilities, beginning the Battle of the Barracks. [26] The move affected 33 large JNA garrisons in Croatia[27] and a number of smaller facilities (including border posts and weapons- and ammunition-storage depots),[26] forcing the JNA to change its plans for the Croatian campaign. [28]
The planned JNA campaign included an advance in the Zadar area by the 9th (Knin) Corps. The corps began its operations against the ZNG on 16 September; fully mobilised and prepared for deployment, it was tasked with isolating Dalmatia from the rest of Croatia. [29] To achieve this, its units advanced with its main axis directed at Vodice and supporting advances directed towards Zadar, Drniš and Sinj. The initial push was intended to create conditions favouring attacks on Zadar, Šibenik and Split. [30] The bulk of the JNA 221st Mechanised Brigade, with its battalion of World War II-vintage T-34 tanks replaced by a battalion of M-84 tanks from the corps reserve, was committed to the main axis of the attack and supported by elements of the SAO Krajina TO. The secondary advance (towards Biograd na Moru) was assigned to the 180th Mechanised Brigade (supported by the T-34 battalion detached from the 221st Brigade), the 557th Mixed Antitank Artillery Regiment and elements of the SAO Krajina TO. Further elements of the 221st Brigade were detached from the main axis and tasked with lifting the ZNG blockade of JNA garrisons in the Sinj and Drniš areas. The overall offensive was supported by the 9th Mixed Artillery Regiment and the 9th Military Police Battalion. [31] Despite its initial secondary role, the 3,000-strong 180th Brigade became the main attacking force deployed against Zadar. [32] The city was defended by elements of the 4th Guards Brigade, the 112th Infantry Brigade, the independent Benkovac–Stankovci and Škabrnja battalions of the ZNG and the police. [33][34][35] Although the JNA estimated Croatian troop strength at approximately 4,500,[36] the Croatian units were poorly armed.
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Riot
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Former Sydney floor trader admits to robbing banks during his lunchbreak after 'getting boozed'
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A former Sydney floor trader has admitted to leading a "double life" in which he would "get boozed at lunch time" and rob banks in the 1970s, court documents show. He stopped robbing banks and gambling after getting a "really good job" in 1979 Ross Oliver McCarty, 70, last week pleaded guilty in the Downing Centre to four robbery charges related to a string of hold-ups across Sydney in 1977 and 1978. But it wasn't until 2018 — more than 40 years later — that McCarty was charged after detectives re-opened the unsolved cases and used fingerprint analysis to track him down. A statement of agreed facts before the court reveals McCarty told detectives his work as a floor trader meant he did not keep strict hours. "So I'd get boozed at lunch time and go and do it," he is quoted as saying in the agreed facts. "Those were boozy days … everybody would drink at lunch time." Last week, two of his charges were withdrawn, while another four — for which he has not yet entered pleas — have been transferred to the District Court. McCarty was initially charged over eight robberies in which a total of $12,693 was stolen, usually between $1,000 and $2,000 at a time. The banks he targeted included ANZ, Commercial, the Bank of NSW, National Bank and the Rural Bank. The agreed facts said that McCarty, in his late 20s at the time, carried a water pistol and wore various disguises including sunglasses and moustaches. The documents also said he sported felt, tweed, straw or terry towelling hats and produced hand-written notes on withdrawal slips, warning tellers he was armed and demanding they give him sums of cash. "No funny business," one of the notes threatened. Detectives used fingerprint analysis on the notes in November 2018 and matched McCarty's prints to ones taken from him in relation to unrelated matters in 2011. He was arrested the following month at his home in Edgecliff and told police in an interview he was "not going to be clever about it" and would cooperate. According to the statement of agreed facts, McCarty said he robbed the banks because he was losing money gambling and needed to cover both that and living expenses. He said he would go to an illegal casino in Bondi to play blackjack and drink free alcohol. "I used to lap it up and it kind of snowballed … the more I did the worse I felt about the whole thing and [it] was leading a double life," he told police, according to the agreed facts. According to the court documents, when asked what he did with his robbery disguises McCarty explained he would "dump those and just walk back to the office". "Often I'd be passing as the hold-up squad went the other way," he is quoted as saying. According to the agreed facts, the only person McCarty had ever told about his crimes was his sponsor in Alcoholics Anonymous, who he claimed "took it with him to the grave". McCarty said he stopped robbing banks when he stopped gambling and got a "really good job" in 1979. He is due to face the NSW District Court next week.
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Bank Robbery
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Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 2 crash
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Northwest Airlines Flight 2 was a Lockheed Super Electra aircraft, registration NC17388, which crashed into the Bridger Mountains in Gallatin County, Montana, about twelve miles (20 km) northeast of Bozeman, on January 10, 1938. All ten on board were killed in the accident, which was the first fatal crash of a Lockheed Super Electra and of a Northwest Airlines aircraft.
Flight 2 was en route eastbound from Seattle to Chicago, with intermediate stops at Spokane, Butte, and Billings, Montana. [4] The Monday afternoon flight had just left Butte and was flying over Belgrade when it diverted to the north to avoid a dust storm over Bozeman Pass. The first officer contacted the Northwest Airlines radio operator[5] at 3:05 PM MST to advise that Flight 2 had reached the cruising altitude of 9,000 feet (2,740 m) at 2:53 PM. Ground witnesses reported that as it passed over the Bridger Mountain range (which at the point the aircraft passed over an elevation of approximately 8,500 feet (2,590 m) above sea level) the aircraft immediately dropped, went into a stall, glided for a short time, then spun into the ground. The wreckage burst into flames, and all ten aboard died immediately. The next day's edition of The New York Times carried the story on the top of its front page and reported in part: "BOZEMAN, Mont., Jan. 10 — A Northwest Airlines transport plane crashed on a snow-covered peak high in the Bridger Mountains fourteen miles northeast of here late today, carrying to their deaths ten persons listed as being aboard. Sheriff Lovitt I. Westlake of Bozeman, who led a party on bobsleds to the crash scene, said he counted nine bodies and they were charred beyond recognition. [3] Northwest Airlines officials reported eight passengers and a crew of two were aboard. The fuselage of the plane was burned into a twisted mass of steel. Sheriff Westlake said that the plane appeared to have plunged nose first into the mountainside in a small clearing. Two ranchers, cutting wood on the rugged mountain slope, said they saw the plane burst into flames as it hit the ground." Investigators with the Civil Aeronautics Authority (CAA), a predecessor organization of both the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), determined that both vertical fins and both rudders were missing from the twin-tailed aircraft. They believed that the empennage had failed due to flutter. Weather reports from surrounding communities as well as the existence of the dust storm in Bozeman Pass led investigators to believe that the aircraft likely encountered severe to extreme turbulence which may have initiated the flutter. [6]
Within 24 hours of the accident, the Department of Commerce (governing authority of the CAA) ordered that all Lockheed Super Electras be immediately grounded and that tests be performed to confirm that the figures obtained in the aircraft's original vibration tests were accurate. It was discovered that the machine used by Lockheed (and authorized by the Department of Commerce) to measure the natural vibration periods of the component parts of the aircraft had given Lockheed engineers misleading results. The Department ordered that the rudders of all Super Electras be modified so as to eliminate the possibility that flutter would cause an in-flight break-up. Northwest had been the first U.S. airline to take delivery of the Super Electra, but sold most of its remaining Electra fleet in 1939 after three subsequent accidents called the airworthiness and commercial potential of the aircraft into question. One Electra crashed in southern California while in the process of being delivered to the airline in Minnesota,[7] and the other two in eastern Montana. The second, Flight 4, crashed in Billings after the pilot stalled the aircraft on takeoff. [8] The third, Flight 1, crashed shortly after takeoff from Miles City after a design and manufacturing error allowed an intense fire to develop in the cockpit. Flight 2 was piloted by Nick Mamer, a well-known aviation pioneer in the Pacific Northwest who had flown over a million miles (1.6 million km). [1][2][9][10][11] The first officer (co-pilot) was Fred West, and two of the passengers were employees of the airline. [12]
In 1939, a large Moderne clock tower was erected at Felts Field in Spokane, Washington, as a memorial to the victims of the Flight 2 crash in Bozeman. Bridger Bowl Ski Area is just south of the crash site.
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Air crash
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2011 Azerbaijani protests
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The 2011 Azerbaijani protests were a series of demonstrations held to protest the government of President Ilham Aliyev. Common themes espoused by demonstrators, many of whom were affiliated with Müsavat and the Popular Front Party, the main opposition parties in Azerbaijan, included doubts as to the legitimacy of the 2008 presidential election, desire for the release of political prisoners, calls for democratic reforms, and demands that Aliyev and his government resign from power. Azerbaijani authorities responded with a security crackdown, dispersing protests and curtailing attempts to gather with force and numerous arrests. The European Union, the United States Department of State, Amnesty International, and other organizations called on the government to release political prisoners and allow for free assembly. Meanwhile, Azerbaijani Prosecutor General Zakir Qaralov vowed to "suppress" protests, comparing them to incidents in "other countries" and saying that the government would not allow them to go forward. [8]
On 29 January, more than 100 activists and politicians not affiliated with the Azerbaijani government gathered in Baku to urge President Ilham Aliyev to dismiss the government and call snap elections. Several critics compared Aliyev to then-President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt and warned that Azerbaijan could face popular protests as part of a regional wave of civil unrest, though leaders of the Azerbaijani Popular Front Party and Müsavat stopped short of threatening to lead them personally. [9]
Around the same time, 20-year-old web activist and APFP supporter Jabbar Savalan gained prominence for posting increasingly provocative invective against the government on Facebook and other social networking websites, eventually calling in early February for a "Day of Rage" modeled off the protests in Egypt, with major protests to be held in downtown Baku. Authorities reacted by arresting Savalanly in Sumqayit on 5 February and charging him with marijuana possession, a charge his supporters claimed was fabricated. Opposition groups called on authorities to release the young activist and compared his detention to the suppression of dissidents in Egypt and other countries, but police insisted the arrest was not political. [10][11]
On 6 February, an unsanctioned protest was held at the Egypt–Azerbaijan Friendship Park outside Baku, in the suburb of Xırdalan. Several dozen rally-goers, mostly young men and women,[12] waved signs and chanted slogans calling for Egyptian President Mubarak to step down, but also voiced dissent against several recently adopted Azerbaijani government policies, including price increases for services. Police dispersed the gathering within minutes, making no arrests. [13]
Youth activists Elnur Majidli, Bakhtiyar Hajiyev, and others called on Facebook for mass protests on 11 March 2011 to mark the one-month anniversary of both Hosni Mubarak's resignation and the detention of Savalanly on what they called are trumped-up charges. [14][15] In response, the government reportedly dispatched military forces to Baku to bolster security in the former Soviet republic's capital. Members of the opposition in the National Assembly indicated support for the demonstrators, demanded the release of political prisoners, and called on the cabinet, led by former Communist Party member Prime Minister Artur Rasizade, to resign over its failure to institute reforms. [3] The government claimed the demonstrations were organized by the parliamentary opposition under the guise of grassroots activism, but activists denied this, citing criticism from politically like-minded allies in the National Assembly over the date of the planned protests as an example of where they differ from the opposition parties. [15]
On 11 March, police foiled several attempted protests, arresting at least 43. [16] The New York Times reported that about 60 people gathered in Baku, the capital city, in response to the scheduled event on Facebook, but security forces quickly clamped down, preventing the demonstration from gaining much steam. [1]
A larger protest in Baku, the capital city, drew several hundred people on 12 March, The New York Times reported. The protest was led by Müsavat, in contrast to the smaller youth-led demonstrations of the previous day. Once again, however, police were prepared for the rally and began arresting people on the spot, including at least one person for speaking to a Western journalist, though media reported they had a more difficult time subduing the larger, better-prepared protest than they had on 11 March. About 50 people were arrested on this second day of protests. [1] Although most of the protesters appeared to be supporters of the secular, relatively pro-Western Müsavat and similar parties, a number of young protesters representing the Islamist opposition began chanting "Allahu Akbar", reportedly angering police on the scene. [17]
At least 30 people arrested in connection with the protests were sentenced to time in prison, the United States Department of State reported. Müsavat demanded that President Ilham Aliyev step down over the incident. [18] The Azerbaijani Human Rights House and the European Union, among others, criticised Aliyev's government and called on authorities to allow people to demonstrate peacefully. Reuters reported that at least 150 activists were arrested in Azerbaijan during March, including those detained 11–12 March. [4]
Opposition groups signaled their intention to hold additional protests in April in spite of warnings from authorities not to do so. Officials in Baku pushed government opponents to rally only in a designated part of Bebiheybat, outside the city center of Baku, but the opposition refused any deal by which protesters would not march in downtown Baku. Opposition leader Ali Karimli of the Azerbaijani Popular Front Party said that while activists intended to demonstrate peacefully, "In case of a provocation, however, we will not be responsible." Another protest was held on 2 April at Fountain Square in Baku's city center, with between 350 and 1,000 demonstrators in attendance. The APFP and Müsavat called the demonstration a "Day of Wrath" and led the rally downtown instead of holding it in a government-approved stadium on the outskirts of the city. [19] Police arrested well over 200 demonstrators,[4] detaining at least two Azerbaijani journalists covering the protest as well. [20] Isa Gambar, the leader of Müsavat, responded to the crackdown and the government's charging of four opposition leaders with "organizing mass unrest" by vowing to intensify protests. [21] On 10 October, four of the arrested activists were given sentences from 18 months to three years in prison. [22]
Police again dispersed an attempted demonstration in Baku's Fountain Square on 17 April, arresting activists chanting pro-democracy slogans, including a mother and her young daughter, and briefly detaining two or three Swedish journalists. The Swedes were later deported. [23] One woman reportedly warned police as they arrested her, "Don't think you'll be able to keep your government. A 30-year-old government collapsed in Egypt. "[24] Officials said they detained 65 people in total. While the government again attempted to confine demonstrations to a small area on the outskirts of Baku, Gambar and other opposition leaders have vowed to continue holding protests in the city center in defiance of the law,[5] as its requests to be allowed to gather in front of the Narimanov Cinema downtown were denied and the organizers rejected alternative settings proffered by the city council. [25] The crackdown came in defiance of an appeal from human rights watchdog Amnesty International to allow peaceful protests to go forward. [8]
To commemorate the four-year anniversary of Azerbaijani journalist Eynulla Fatullayev, 20 journalists held a one-day hunger strike to protest what they view as his unjust imprisonment. "We want to demonstrate our complaints against the arrest of Eynulla Fatullayev [by striking]," said editor Aynur Elganesh. [26]
Though action by the political opposition was subdued throughout the first half of the month, unrest continued in the capital of Baku. Police swiftly dispersed a protest on 6 May in Baku. Protesters called on the government to allow Muslim girls to wear the hijab in school. Several dozen were arrested, and police reportedly used batons and pepper spray to subdue some of the demonstrators. [27]
Youth activists rallied on Baku Boulevard to call for the release of "political prisoners", fellow activists imprisoned on what they believe are trumped-up charges.
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Protest_Online Condemnation
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Cocos Fire
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Cocos Fire, originally known as the Twin Oaks Fire,[3] was a wildfire that ignited on May 14, 2014 in San Marcos, California, in the hills south of California State University, San Marcos. [4] The Cocos Fire quickly spread into western Escondido. The fire destroyed more than 40 buildings, including a dozen single-family homes. [5] The Harmony Grove Spiritualist Association, a 13-acre spiritualist retreat founded in 1896, was particularly hard hit;[6] most of the buildings and residences on the property were destroyed, and the association's president said, "We're pretty much wiped out. "[7] Property damage from the fire is estimated at more than $5.7 million. Three minor injuries have been reported. [2] The Cocos Fire was the last of the May 2014 wildfires in San Diego County to be extinguished, with full containment on May 22, 2014. [1]
The Cocos Fire began at 5:38 PM PDT on May 14, and it had burned 400 acres (160 ha) by the evening of the same day. Flames were reported near homes, and the southeastern part of the city was ordered evacuated. [4] By the morning of May 15, the Cocos Fire was the top priority for county firefighters. The fire grew overnight to 800 acres (320 ha) and was only 5% contained. Additional evacuations were announced. [8] During the afternoon of May 15, the fire grew to 1,200 acres (490 ha). [1] By the morning of May 16, the fire was still only 5% contained. [9] At 6:30 PM PDT on May 22, the Cocos Fire was reported to be 100% contained, after it had reached 1,995 acres (8.07 km2). [1]
All schools in the San Marcos Unified School District were closed on May 15 and 16. [10] California State University, San Marcos, was evacuated on May 14, along with the surrounding neighborhoods, in the midst of administering spring finals, and remained closed for the rest of the week. Additionally, commencement exercises scheduled for the weekend were also cancelled. [13] Palomar College also closed May 15 and 16, and postponed its commencement ceremonies until the following week. [14]
On July 9, 2014, the San Diego County Sheriff's Department said that they believe the Cocos Fire was intentionally set by a 13-year-old juvenile. [15] She had a hearing set in February 2015, and the trial was held in March 2015. [16] On March 24, the then 14-year-old minor was found guilty of multiple counts of arson and one misdemeanor count of unlawfully allowing a fire to escape one's control. The judge concluded that she "intentionally and maliciously" set a fire in her Washingtonia Avenue backyard in San Marcos, and a blown ember from that Washingtonia Fire started the Cocos Fire. [17][18] On May 27, the teenager was sentenced to 400 hours of community service, ordered to write letters to all the victims, and pay at least $40,000 in restitution. [19] Additionally, the teen was ordered to enroll in a rehabilitation program known as Breaking Cycles 365, the goal of which is to prevent juveniles from becoming repeat offenders. [20]
Start of the Cocos Fire, on May 14. This photo was used in the trial of the juvenile found guilty of setting the fire. [citation needed]
View of Cocos Fire burning near Stone Brewery in Escondido, CA
View of Cocos Fire from eastbound Highway 78
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Fire
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July 2015 Gujarat flood
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Following heavy rain, Gujarat state of India was affected by the flood in July 2015. The flood resulted in at least 72 deaths. [1]
The monsoon in Gujarat typically start in mid-June every year. Following deep depression in Arabian Sea, there was heavy rain in the June 2015 which resulted in flood in the state. The deep depression over south-west Rajasthan and adjoining Gujarat resulted in heavy rain across north Gujarat and southern parts of Rajasthan. [2]
At least 72 people died in the flood; 40 in Banaskantha district, 6 in Patan district, 4 in Kutch district and others in other parts of the state. [1]
Over 81609 cattle died in three districts; Banaskantha, Patan and Kutch. It included 42609 were large cattle like cows and buffaloes, while 38871 were small cattle, such as goats and sheep. The property worth ₹ 2000 crore was completely damaged or washed away as per government estimate. The crops in about 2 lakh hectares failed. [1]
In three days, all talukas of Kutch and Banaskantha district recorded over 100 per cent of annual average rainfall. Some areas, like Suigam, recorded 510 per cent of the total annual average rainfall. In Mehsana district, as many as 585 villages lost the electricity supply. Several dams across Gujarat were flooded. [3]
Total 14 districts of the state and a population of about 4 million were affected. [3] The electricity supply was restored to more than 700 villages in four days. [4]
Three helicopter from Indian Air Force (IAF) and Border Security Force (BSF) were deployed for relief and rescue. A total of 28 relief teams, seven medical teams and seven Engineer Task Forces of the army was deployed. The 17 teams comprising 510 National Disaster Response Force and 180 BSF personnel were engaged in the relief and rescue. The seven columns of indian Army and 5 companies of State Reserve Police Force was deployed in affected areas. The army rescued more than 1000 people. The army engineer task forces restored railway line connecting Jodhpur and Bhuj which had a daily traffic of 12 passenger and 45 goods trains. The line was damaged between Dhanera and Ramsan due to soil erosion. [9]
2.5 lakh cusecs of water was released into the Sabarmati river from the Dharoi dam due to income of large amount of water. More than 1500 people were evacuated living near Sabarmati river in Ahmedabad and adjoining districts. [10]
The Government of Gujarat announced the relief package. The compensation for soil erosion was declared ₹ 25000 per hectare for small farmers while ₹ 50000 for farmers having land more than two hectares. The maximal assistance was set at ₹ 60000. For soil restoration, the government provided 5% interest subsidy for ₹ 1 lakh for small farmers and ₹ 2 lakh for big farmers. For crop damage, the assistance of ₹ 13600 for minor crop and ₹ 18000 for major crop up to one hectare land while for horticulture and banana, the assistance of ₹ 18000 up to one hectare land was announced. For cattle deaths, the assistance of ₹ 1,80,000 for death of five cows or buffalo was announced. The small traders were assisted with ₹ 10000 and shopowners with ₹ 35000. For household damage, ₹ 7000 were given as an assistance. [1][11]
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Floods
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Rare 'ring of fire' solar eclipse on the longest day of the year
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CHIAYI, Taiwan (Reuters) - A shimmering ring of light flashed into view on Sunday in parts of the eastern hemisphere as the moon drifted across the face of the sun in a rare eclipse on the longest day of the year. The path of the eclipse spanned East Asia, South Asia, the Middle East and Africa. Most locations saw only a partial eclipse, with just a handful witnessing the true “ring of fire”. Unlike in a total eclipse, the moon in an annular, or ring-like, eclipse is unable to completely cover the sun, leaving a thin halo of light at its maximum phase. Such an eclipse happens when the moon is farther away in its elliptical orbit around the Earth, appearing smaller as a result. Hundreds of skywatchers gathered in an open space in Chiayi in southern Taiwan, one of the locations in Asia where the annular eclipse was visible. “I’m more than 50 years old, so it’s great that I could see this,” said retiree Zhuang Yuhui, 56, who travelled to Chiayi from nearby Taichung city. “I’m beyond excited.” In Taipei, groups of people gathered to view the eclipse through tinted glasses and their phones as the sky turned eerily darker. “It’s an astronomical miracle,” said Elisa Chen, 29. Solar eclipses on the summer solstice are rare. The last one was in June 2001. But a “ring of fire” eclipse that falls exactly in midsummer - whether in the northern or southern hemisphere - is even more uncommon. There have been none in at least 100 years, according to Reuters calculations based on NASA data. The next one is in 2039, and then in 2392.
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New wonders in nature
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Outbreak of infectious diseases linked to change in forest cover, finds study
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Change in natural forest cover due to deforestation or afforestation and increase in commodity plantations like oil palm was correlated with outbreaks of infectious diseases globally, found a new study. Outbreaks of both vector-borne and zoonotic diseases linked to deforestation increased between 1990 and 2016, the study noted, proving right past theories. The report published in Frontiers in Veterinary Science March 24, 2021 said: Deforestation has caused malaria epidemics in South America and that forest clearing had favored the mosquito vector Anopheles darlingi in Southeast Asia for the species complex A. dirus, A. minimus, A. balabacensis Any disease caused by a virus, bacteria, parasite or fungi turns zoonotic if the infection jumps from animals to humans, like was the case with the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) Reforestation, especially in areas outside the tropical zone, also induced outbreaks of infectious diseases, the study confirmed. The research was the first of its kind on a global scale. Here, reforestation refers to the kind where forest area is expanded to replace grasslands, savannas and open-canopy woodlands. The authors of the report cited the example of case growth of a tick-borne disease in Italy: The increase in incidence of tick-borne encephalitis in humans in Italy was explained by the ratio of coppice (low woodland) to high stand forest in Italy with natural reforestation that may favor the abundance of the small mammal reservoirs of tick-borne viruses. They also found that in areas where palm oil monoculture increased, the residents were more exposed to infectious diseases. For instance, population of vectors for diseases like dengue, zika, chikungunya, and yellow fever increased in oil palm and rubber plantations, the report showed. Monoculture refers to the cultivation of a single variety of plant species in a large-scale, often replacing the natural growth of the area. The practice is known to cause loss of biodiversity and other ecological disturbances. The researchers analysed three data sets to illustrate this correlation. They collated country-wise data on forest cover between 1990 and 2006 from the World Bank and data on human infectious diseases from GIDEON, a repository of information on infectious disease epidemics in each country. Data on area under oil palm plantation was gathered from the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations, the report said. They juxtaposed the occurrences of the outbreaks with forest cover trends to arrive at the results.
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Disease Outbreaks
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Midwest Express Airlines Flight 105 crash
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Midwest Express Airlines Flight 105 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight that crashed into an open field in Milwaukee, Wisconsin shortly after taking off from General Mitchell International Airport on September 6, 1985. The airplane, a Douglas DC-9, was carrying 31 passengers and crew. None of them survived the crash. Multiple eyewitnesses reported that the plane was on fire shortly after it took off from the airport. The fire was caused due to a failure on the right engine where one of its removable sleeve spacers detached. The removable sleeve spacer suffered metal fatigue that caused the engine to explode. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), the investigation team who was responsible for the investigation of the crash, concluded that despite the plane suffering engine failure, it was still controllable, and instead the response of the crew to the failure was the main cause of the accident. The crew failed to properly control the plane during the emergency. Breakdown of the crew's coordination also contributed the crash. [1]
On September 6, 1985, Flight 105 was a Midwest Express Airlines flight scheduled to be operated using a Douglas DC-9-14 twin-engine, single-aisle jet airliner (registration N100ME). The DC-9 was manufactured in 1968 and delivered to Linea Aeropostal Venezolana. In 1976, it was sold to Aerovias Venezolanas, S.A., who then sold it to K-C Aviation (the owner of Midwest Express) in 1983. The aircraft had accrued a total of 31,892 operating hours and 48,903 cycles at the time of the accident. [1]:5[2][3]
Flight 105 departed Milwaukee carrying 27 passengers and 4 crew members. Most of the passengers were businessmen. [4]
The two stewardess of the flight were 24-year old Sharon Ann Herb and 21-year old Amy Marie Bain. Instead of a captain and first officer, Flight 105 was crewed by two captains. [1]:4
The first captain of the flight was 31-year old Captain Danny Watkin Martin. Captain Martin was employed by Midwest Express in 1984 as a First Officer. He was promoted as a Captain in 1985 and had accumulated a total of 4,600 flight hours, including 1,000 hours on the DC-9 (600 flight hours as a First Officer on the DC-9, and 500 hours as a captain). Before he was an employee of Midwest, he was a corporate pilot of a Beechcraft 90 King Air. [1]
The second captain (though acting as a first officer) was 37-year old Captain Roger William Weiss. Captain Weiss was employed by Midwest Express in 1984 and later received his DC-9 type rating. At the time, he had accrued 5,197 total flight hours, including 1,640 hours on the DC-9 (500 hours as a First Officer of the DC-9 and 1,140 hours as a captain). He was a former employee of KC Aviation, the parent company of Midwest Express. Captain Weiss was also a former US Air Force pilot, flying an F-4. [1]
Flight 105 took off at 15:20 with 27 passengers and 4 crew members. Flight 105 departed from Mitchell's Runway 19R en route to its destination of Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta Int'l Airport, Atlanta, Georgia. Before the flight, the plane had previously been operated as Flight 206 with the same flight crew. [1]
At 15:21, during its initial climb, at an altitude of 700 ft above the ground, the right engine exploded. Flight 105 swayed several times. Captain Martin heard the loud bang and reacted: "What the * was that? ", which was not responded to by First Officer Weiss. Flight 105 was then instructed by the ATC to turn towards heading 175. At this stage, the ATC worker could see that smoke and flames were emanating from the right engine, with parts of the plane falling to the ground. [1]
First Officer Weiss declared an emergency. [5] The plane then climbed with a high angle of attack. Due to the high angle of attack, the air speed decreased significantly. It began to roll to the right, and then stalled and rolled abruptly to an angle of 90 degrees, barrel-rolled at least once, and crashed into an open field in a wildlife preserve just several hundred meters from runway 19R. The aircraft was completely demolished by impact forces and fire, with nearly the entire structure fragmented. [1]
Roughly 100 eyewitnesses stated that they saw flames and smoke from the right engine shortly after the explosion and that some parts of the plane detached and fell to the ground. [6] They also stated that loud bangs were continuously heard during the accident. Shortly afterwards, the crew lost control of the plane and the plane crashed into the field. Investigators then constructed several possible scenarios as to what might have caused the plane to lose control. [1]
Investigators immediately examined the fragments of the engine. They stated that the explosion might have been powerful enough to propel fragments of the turbine with sufficient speed to penetrate the plane and damage the flight controls, which could explain why the plane suddenly pitched up and barrel-rolled immediately after the explosion. 5 years before the crash of Flight 105, in Poland an Ilyushin Il-62 crashed into a moat after its engine number 2 exploded and damaged the plane's elevator and aileron. Immediately after the explosion, the plane nosedived to the ground. [1]
The explosion was caused by a detached removable sleeve spacer inside the right engine. The detachment was caused by metal fatigue.
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Air crash
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Greater than winning!China's 100-meter female trapeze breaks the world record and takes the initiative to take a photo with the American runner-up
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On September 2nd, Beijing time, in the latest Tokyo Paralympic Games, in the women's 100-meter decisive battle, Wen Xiaoyan from China finally succeeded in killing the American star Roberts and winning the gold medal for the Chinese team. What was moved is that after the game, the Chinese and American team members raised their national flags together to celebrate and share the joy of victory.
In the competition, Xiaoyan Chinese performed very well, and finally beat her opponent to win the championship with a time of 13 seconds. Roberts of the United States ranked second only 0.16 seconds behind her. Another Chinese player Jiang Fenfen ranked third in 13 seconds and won the bronze medal. The Chinese team's double insurance won the gold and bronze medals and performed very well.
Not only that, Wen Xiaoyan also successfully broke the world record. The previous world record was set by Mandy Francois of France in Switzerland on May 24, 2019. The result was a record of 13.10 seconds at the Olympic Games. The Olympic record was set by Hermitage of the United Kingdom on September 9, 2016. The result was 13.13 seconds. As a result, Wen Xiaoyan broke these two records in one fell swoop and wrote the name of the Chinese in the Olympics. History.
What's more moving is that after the game, the Chinese and American athletes hugged and celebrated together. The two Chinese athletes stood with the US team athletes. They opened the flags to each other, then smiled happily and accepted the photographer's photo. This scene fully proved what is the real meaning of sports without borders. .
Wen Xiaoyan, 23, was born on October 12, 1997. In the last Olympic Games, she represented the Chinese team in the long jump and 4×100 meters. As a result, she was the Chinese team in both events. Won the gold medal, and also won the silver medal in the 400m event. Then in the past two years, she began to specialize in sprinting and made a big leap. At the 2019 World Championships in Dubai, she successfully won the gold medals in the 100m and 200m. At the time, she was in the 100m event. Both ran out of 13.20 seconds to win the world championship, and this time further improved his record.
This 100-meter gold medal is Wen Xiaoyan's third gold medal in the Tokyo Olympics. In her previous women's long jump finals, she successfully broke the world record with a 5.13 meters and won the championship in 200 In the rice event, she also ran 26.58 seconds, successfully breaking the world record and winning the championship, so in just four days, she had broken the world record three times and won three Olympic gold medals.
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Break historical records
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2016 Macedonian floods
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In August 2016, several rainstorms hit the western and northwestern parts of the Republic of Macedonia. On 6 August 2016, a storm with strong winds and flooding hit Skopje and the western parts of the country, leaving at least 21 people dead and dozens injured or missing. [2][1]
In the afternoon of 6 August 2016 at 5:30 pm CEST, a heavy rain began falling in the area of the country's capital Skopje, resulting in strong winds and floods. The rain was reported to have stopped around 9:30 am CEST the next day, with the peak of the storm in the middle of the night, around 3:30 am CEST. Macedonia's weather service reported that 93 litres per square metre (1.9 imp gal/sq ft) fell in two hours on Skopje, which is equivalent to the average for an entire month of August. The water level of some of the areas affected reached a height of 1.5 metres (4 ft 11 in), which was being combed by Macedonia's police and army for survivors and other victims. Meteorologists reported that more than 800 lightning strikes were recorded in the first two hours of the storm, which went on for about five hours in total. [3] At least 21 people died, with dozens of others injured or missing. [2] The local media reported that the ambulances were called 65 times in the city, more than 20 people were treated and the army were called in to help. Three villages to the northeast of the city were cut off due to landslides. [1]
The deputy prime minister Nikola Todorov called the storm a "catastrophe of unprecedented proportion". [2] Mayor of Skopje Koce Trajanovski said that the city never experienced such a disaster. [1] The government declared state of emergency and 8 August was declared national day of mourning. [2]
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Floods
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East Midlands police sign collaboration agreement
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Five East Midlands police forces have signed a formal agreement to share resources, aimed at saving £26m over four years.
The move will see the East Midlands Counter Terrorism Intelligence Unit (CTIU) combined with force special branches.
A new major crime unit is being created and the East Midlands Special Operations Unit expanded. Police said the move would help provide an integrated response in the region. The crime units in Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire will be centrally led and co-ordinated, but continue to be locally delivered.
The collaboration, which began last September, is being gradually phased in over a number of months.
All five forces' chief constables and police authority chairmen signed a formal agreement, which sets out the terms of the collaboration.
Police said the savings would be made by reducing the number of people dedicated to major crimes in the region from 315 to about 230, while those working on serious organised crime will fall from 350 to about 250.
Officers will be redeployed to their local forces but there will be an unknown number of civilian redundancies, said police.
Deirdre Newham, chairman of the East Midlands Police Authorities' joint committee, said: "Collaboration between police forces in the East Midlands presents a real opportunity to reshape our business.
"It will enable us to deliver the best possible police service, whilst making savings." Chief Constable Mick Creedon, of Derbyshire Police, who leads the specialist crime collaboration on behalf of the five forces, said: "We are already seeing the benefits of creating the country's largest multi-force crime unit.
"The results during the first few months of operation have had a significant impact on crime in the East Midlands." Police said that since the creation of the East Midlands Special Operations Unit - Major Crime in September 2011, the unit has dealt with 31 new inquires, including more than 20 murders and an investigation into the death of two girls in a Northampton nightclub. Police collaborate to save £26m
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Sign Agreement
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Great Flood of 1913
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The Great Flood of 1913 occurred between March 23 and March 26, after major rivers in the central and eastern United States flooded from runoff and several days of heavy rain. Related deaths and damage in the United States were widespread and extensive. While the exact number is not certain, flood-related deaths in Ohio, Indiana, and eleven other states are estimated at approximately 650. The official death toll range for Ohio falls between 422 and 470. Flood-related death estimates in Indiana range from 100 to 200. More than a quarter million people were left homeless. The death toll from the flood of 1913 places it second to the Johnstown Flood of 1889 as one of the deadliest floods in the United States. The flood remains Ohio's largest weather disaster. In the Midwest, damage estimates exceeded a third of a billion dollars. Damage from the Great Dayton Flood at Dayton, Ohio, exceeded $73 million. Indiana’s damages were estimated at $25 million (in 1913 dollars). Further south, along the Mississippi River, damages exceeded $200 million. Devastation from the flood of 1913 and later floods along the Mississippi River eventually changed the country's management of its waterways and increased federal support for comprehensive flood prevention and funding for flood control projects. The Ohio Conservancy Act, which was signed by the governor of Ohio in 1914, became a model for other states to follow. The act allowed for the establishment of conservancy districts with the authority to implement flood control projects. The storm system that produced the flood in late March 1913 began with a typical winter storm pattern, but developed characteristics that promoted heavy precipitation. Strong Canadian winds stalled a high-pressure system off Bermuda and delayed the normal easterly flow of a low-pressure system. In the meantime, moist air from the Gulf of Mexico moved into the Midwest through the Mississippi River valley as a second Canadian high-pressure system arrived from the west, creating a low-pressure trough that stretched from southern Illinois, across central Indiana, and into northern Ohio. At least two low-pressure systems moving along the trough caused heavy rain over the four-day period between March 23 and March 26. As the storm gained strength on Sunday, March 23, high winds, hail, sleet, and tornadoes arrived in the Great Plains, the South, and the Midwest. Major tornadoes hit Omaha, Nebraska; Lone Peach, Arkansas; and Terre Haute, Indiana. On Monday and Tuesday, March 24 and 25, 3 to 8 inches (76 to 203 mm) of rain fell in Ohio, Indiana, and southern Illinois. Major rivers in Indiana and Ohio experienced heavy runoff. Downstream, where the Ohio River enters the Mississippi River, the water level broke record highs to that time as the water flowed south to the Gulf of Mexico. By Tuesday, March 25, the Ohio River and its tributaries flooded cities such as Indianapolis, Indiana, and Cincinnati, Youngstown, and Columbus, Ohio. Dayton, Ohio, was particularly hard-hit. On Wednesday, March 26, the storm moved east into Pennsylvania and New York, while heavy rain continued in the Ohio River valley. The heaviest rainfall, 6 to 9 inches (150 to 230 mm) or more, covered an area from southern Illinois into northwestern Pennsylvania. As the storm continued eastward, flooding began in New York, Massachusetts, Vermont, and Virginia. The Potomac River overflowed its banks in Maryland. State and local communities handled much of their own disaster response and relief in 1913. The American Red Cross, a small organization at that time, focused its efforts in more than one hundred of Ohio's hardest-hit communities, including Dayton, and served six of Indiana’s hardest-hit counties. Ohio governor James M. Cox called on the state legislature to appropriate $250,000 (about $11 million in today's dollars) for emergency aid. Indiana governor Samuel M. Ralston appealed to Indiana cities and other states for relief assistance. Many communities cared for their own flood victims with Red Cross assistance, charitable donations, and contributions from local businesses, industries, and service organizations. The storms that created the floods in 1913 continued over several days and produced record-breaking rain. It remains Ohio's "largest weather disaster"[1] and triggered Indiana's worst flood on record. [2] Storm-related flooding affected more than a dozen states: Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Vermont, and Virginia. The same weather system caused major tornadoes in the Great Plains, the South, and the Midwest, most notably in Omaha, Nebraska; Lone Peach, Arkansas; and Terre Haute, Indiana. [1][3][4][5][6][7]
Between March 23 and 25, heavy rains and rising waters from the Great Miami River burst levees on Dayton's south side and flooded 14 square miles (36 km2) of the city. Dayton's downtown streets experienced water 10 feet (3.0 m) deep. [8] On March 26, as floodwaters reached their crest, Dayton's business district suffered more damage after an early morning fire and gas explosion. [9] An estimated 123 people were killed in Dayton. Downstream in nearby Hamilton, Ohio, about 100 people died after water 10 to 18 feet (3.0 to 5.5 m) deep flowed into its residential neighborhoods. [8]
In Columbus, the Near West Side and parts of downtown experienced severe floods. Approximately 93 people died in the flooding. The event was described by historian Ed Lentz as "the worst catastrophe in the history of Columbus". [10]
Approximately 6 inches (150 mm) of rain fell on Indianapolis over the period of March 23 through March 26, inundating nearly a 6-square-mile (16 km2) area and causing five known deaths. [11][12][13][14] On March 26, floodwaters estimated at 19.5 feet (5.9 m) above flood stage destroyed Indianapolis's Washington Street bridge, the main connection over the White River. [11] High water forced 4,000 to flee their homes on the city's near west side when an earthen levee failed and a 25-foot (7.6 m) wall of water flooded an area nearly a 1⁄2 mile (0.80 km) wide around Kentucky Avenue and Morris Street.
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Floods
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1936 KLM Croydon accident crash
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The 1936 KLM Croydon accident was the crash of a KLM airliner on 9 December 1936, shortly after taking off from the Croydon Air Port (as it was known at the time) on a scheduled flight to Amsterdam, Netherlands. The aircraft was destroyed and 15 of the 17 passengers and crew on board died as a result of the accident. [1] Two of the passengers who died were Arvid Lindman, a former Prime Minister of Sweden, and Juan de la Cierva, the Spanish inventor of the autogyro. [2][3]
The Douglas DC-2 involved in the accident had been delivered to KLM and registered as PH-AKL the previous April. [4]
On the day of the accident Croydon Air Port was shrouded in fog with visibility fluctuating at around 50 m (55 yd); and all aircraft were operating under so-called "QBI" (a Q code denoting that all operations have to be performed under instrument flight rules) conditions. [5][6] Crews of aircraft were following a white line laid out approximately East-West on the grass surface of Croydon's landing area during their take-off runs (a normal procedure at several airports in the United Kingdom at the time, that had been in use at Croydon since 1931). [5][7] A number of departures by this method had already been made that day by the time the KLM DC-2 took off, including a Swissair DC-2 about 25 minutes beforehand. [5]
The KLM DC-2 started its takeoff along the white line but after about 200 yd (183 m) veered off the line to the left and on becoming airborne headed south towards rising ground instead of in the normal westerly direction. [2][8][3] After flying over the southern boundary of the airport, the aircraft hit the chimney of a house on Hillcrest Road, Purley, then crashed into an empty house on the opposite side of the street. [2] The aircraft, the house and an adjoining house (also empty at the time) were destroyed in the crash and ensuing fire. [2] 14 of the passengers and crew were killed in the crash; the one surviving passenger found at the accident site later died at Purley Hospital, the flight attendant and radio operator survived. [1][2][3]
At the time this was the worst air crash in the United Kingdom in terms of the number of fatalities. [3] This was the second crash of an aircraft using the white line to take off at Croydon in fog. On 31 May 1934 an Air France aircraft carrying newspapers to Paris crashed after hitting the mast of an aircraft radio navigation beacon that had been erected off the end of the white-line takeoff path, killing the two crew. [9]
The official investigation into the accident was terminated on 16 December without reaching a verdict.
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Air crash
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Former social affairs minister Juliari Peter Batubara to 12 years in prison for taking bribes
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As a graft defendant, former social affairs minister Juliari Peter Batubara did not show any remorse during his trial and insisted that he was just an innocent victim of his subordinates. Shamelessly, he even asked the court to acquit him for the sake of his two children and his wife. Some may ask why he looked so confident — as if he had not committed a crime or suggested that he deserved protection. He apologized only to President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, who had given him the ministerial post, and to Megawati Soekarnoputri, his boss in the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggles (PDI-P). Juliari did not care about the fact that he had robbed millions of poor people of government assistance amid the devastating COVID-19 pandemic. In a plea to the panel of judges, Juliari whined: ”Please end our suffering by acquitting me of all charges. We pray that the kindness of the honorable panel of judges will receive a worthy reward from God Almighty”. He acted like he was free of guilt, though the evidence presented during his trial showed otherwise. The public was furious with Juliari for his gross violation; he stole the people’s money during a health disaster and should have received life in prison or perhaps the death sentence, according to the Corruption Law. The court sentenced Juliari to 12 years in prison, a year longer than the sentence demanded by Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) prosecutors, and gave him a fine of Rp 500 million (US$34,731). He was also ordered to repay Rp 14.59 billion in restitution or face an additional two years behind bars. Juliari was found guilty of accepting Rp 32.48 billion in bribes from vendors supplying COVID-19 staple food packages. He put into his own pocket Rp 10,000 from each package containing food, cooking oil and other supplies, while also receiving payment from the contractor. The project, which was supervised by the Social Ministry, was worth Rp 5.9 trillion. It was a tragedy that the KPK and the Jakarta Corruption Court showered Juliari with a merciful indictment and verdict. A KPK spokesman praised the verdict as a deterrence to other state officials who have thought about stealing state the people's money — which is clearly not the case in the trial of Juliari. Article 2 (2) of the 1999 Corruption Law allows for the death penalty if the act of corruption involves money used to mitigate a natural disaster or state of emergency. The COVID-19 pandemic has been declared a national-scale disaster, but both KPK prosecutors and the panel of judges failed to take that into consideration. To make amends for its mistake, the KPK should challenge the ridiculous, if not laughable, verdict and demand for a heavier sentence. Just recently, we witnessed graft convicts enjoying leniency in the forms of sentence remissions, light sentences and sentence cuts, which has only undermined our fight against corruption. True, the KPK is much less powerful now, thanks to the House of Representatives' political move to castrate the once-powerful and highly respected antigraft body. Juliari is just one of the beneficiaries of political maneuvering, and more crooks will follow his good fortune if we, the people, relent.
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Famous Person - Commit Crime - Sentence
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‘I’m afraid we’re going to have a food crisis’: The energy crunch has made fertilizer too expensive to produce, says Yara CEO
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The world is facing the prospect of a dramatic shortfall in food production as rising energy prices cascade through global agriculture, the CEO of Norwegian fertilizer giant Yara International says. "I want to say this loud and clear right now, that we risk a very low crop in the next harvest," said Svein Tore Holsether, the CEO and president of the Oslo-based company. "I’m afraid we’re going to have a food crisis." Speaking to Fortune on the sidelines of the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow, Holsether said that the sharp rise in energy prices this summer and autumn had already resulted in fertilizer prices roughly tripling. In Europe, the natural-gas benchmark hit an all-time high in September, with the price more than tripling from June to October alone. Yara is a major producer of ammonia, a key ingredient in synthetic fertilizer, which increases crop yields. The process of creating ammonia currently relies on hydropower or natural gas. "To produce a ton of ammonia last summer was $110," said Holsether. "And now it's $1,000. So it's just incredible." Food prices have also risen, meaning some farmers can afford more expensive fertilizer. But Holsether argues many smallholder farmers can't afford the higher costs, which will reduce what they can produce and diminish crop sizes. That in turn will hurt food security in vulnerable regions at a time when access to food is already under threat from the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change, including widespread drought. The company, whose largest shareholder is the Norwegian government, has donated $25 million worth of fertilizer to vulnerable farmers, Holsether said. But Yara isn't able to eat the costs of such a dramatic rise in energy prices, he says. Since September, it has been curtailing its ammonia production by as much as 40% due to energy costs. Other major producers have done the same. Reducing ammonia production will decrease the supply of fertilizer and make it more expensive, undermining food production. The delayed effects of the energy crisis on food security could mimic the chip shortage crisis, Holsether said. "That's all linked to factories being shut down in March, April, and May of last year, and we're reaping the consequences of that now," he said. "But if we get the equivalent to the food system…not having food is not annoying, that's a matter of life or death." Holsether pointed to efforts by the director of the UN World Food Program, David Beasley, the former governor of South Carolina, to raise $6 billion in aid to combat preventable famine by directly targeting outspoken billionaires, including Elon Musk, for donations to the program. Last week, Beasley called out Musk and Jeff Bezos, who appeared at COP26 on Tuesday, arguing that they could pony up the funds if they wanted to and barely feel the difference. In response, Musk tweeted that he was willing to sell $6 billion in Tesla stock if the World Food Program could explain "exactly" how that money would end world hunger. Food scarcity is already reaching desperate levels in many regions. On Wednesday, Frédérica Andriamanantena, the World Food Program's Madagascar program manager, appeared on a COP26 panel to describe the severity of the country's drought and resulting famine. Andriamanantena, who is from Madagascar, said drought had this year reduced the harvest to one-third of the average of the past five years. Where families had once had comfortable meals, children are now subsisting on foraged plants and cactus leaves. "That is where the situation is now," she said. This story has been updated to clarify Holsether's stance on a possible food crisis.
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Famine
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2019 Chilean Air Force C-130 crash
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On 9 December 2019, a Chilean Air Force Lockheed C-130 Hercules military transport aircraft crashed in the Drake Passage while en route to Base Presidente Eduardo Frei Montalva, a Chilean military base on King George Island in Antarctica. [1]
The crash site was located on 12 December 2019 after a three-day search, and no survivors were found. [2]
The aircraft was built in 1978 for the United States Air Force with tail number 77-0324 and serial number 382-4776, but was delivered to the United States Marine Corps as a KC-130R tanker for aerial refueling operations and assigned BuNo 160628. It operated in Cherry Point, North Carolina (VMGR-252) and in Iwakuni, Japan (VMGR-152). [3][4]
The aircraft was placed in storage at AMARG from 2009 until 2014. After being purchased by the Chilean Air Force for US$7 million, it was refurbished at Hill AFB, Utah, to C-130H standards and delivered in 2015 under the new tail number 990. [5][6]
The aircraft departed Punta Arenas, Patagonia, Chile, at 19:55 UTC (16:55 local time) bound for King George Island, Antarctica. [1] The flight was intended to provide supplies to a base in Chilean Antarctic Territory and to bring personnel to inspect a floating fuel supply line and other equipment at the base. The Chilean Air Force flies from Punta Arenas to King George Island monthly. [7][8] Radio contact with the plane was lost at 21:13 UTC. [1][9][10]
A search was conducted by aircraft from the Chilean Air Force, Argentina, Brazil, United Kingdom, United States and Uruguay. Also, two Chilean Navy frigates searched the area where the aircraft was last observed by radar. They were aided by a team of satellite imagery analysts from the Israeli Defense Forces' Unit 9900. [11][12] The search effort was hampered by rough seas and poor visibility. [13]
One day into the search, debris from an aircraft was found floating in the sea 31 kilometres (19 mi) from the last known position of the missing aircraft. Debris and personal items were recovered by Brazilian Navy polar research ship Almirante Maximiano. [14]
The crash site was located off the coast of South America on 12 December, 27 kilometres (17 mi) from the C-130's last known position. The aircraft fuselage and main components were identified along with human remains. [2] Chilean Air Force chief Arturo Merino confirmed that everyone on board was killed. [14]
The aircraft had 38 people on board, 21 passengers and 17 crew. Fifteen passengers were Chilean Air Force servicemen, three were Chilean soldiers, two were civilians employed by the Inproser engineering and construction firm, and one was a student at University of Magallanes. [15] The crew was composed entirely of Chilean air force personnel. [1][16]
An accident investigation is being conducted by the Chilean Air Force. As of December 2019[update], the cause of the crash is unknown, due in part to an insufficient quantity of recovered components. The aircraft experienced a complete break-up, either in-flight, or after crashing into the sea. [17]
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Air crash
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George Floyd protests
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The George Floyd protests are an ongoing series of protests against police brutality and racism that began in Minneapolis in the United States on May 26, 2020. [6] The civil unrest and protests began as part of international reactions to the murder of George Floyd, a 46-year-old African American man who was killed during an arrest after Derek Chauvin, a Minneapolis Police Department officer, knelt on Floyd's neck for 9 minutes and 29 seconds[7] as three other officers looked on and prevented passers-by from intervening. [8][9][10][11][12][13] Chauvin and the other three officers involved were later arrested. [14] On April 20, 2021, Chauvin was found guilty of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter. [15] He was later sentenced to 22.5 years in prison with possibility of supervised release after 15 years for second-degree murder on June 25, 2021. [16]
The George Floyd protest movement began hours after his murder as bystander video and word of mouth began to spread. [17] Protests first emerged at the East 38th and Chicago Avenue street intersection in Minneapolis, the location of Floyd's arrest and death, and other locations in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area of Minnesota. [18] Protests quickly spread nationwide and to over 2,000 cities and towns in over 60 countries in support of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement. [19][20][21] Polls in summer 2020 estimated that between 15 million and 26 million people had participated at some point in the demonstrations in the United States, making the protests the largest in U.S. history. [22][23][24]
While the majority of protests have been peaceful,[25] demonstrations in some cities escalated into riots, looting,[26] and street skirmishes with police and counter-protesters. Some police responded to protests with instances of notable violence, including against reporters. [27][28][29] At least 200 cities in the U.S. had imposed curfews by early June 2020, while more than 30 states and Washington, D.C. activated over 96,000 National Guard, State Guard, 82nd Airborne, and 3rd Infantry Regiment service members. [30][31][32][33] The deployment, when combined with preexisting deployments related to the COVID-19 pandemic and other natural disasters, constituted the largest military operation other than war in U.S. history. [34] By the end of June, at least 14,000 people had been arrested[3][35][36] and, by November 2020, 25 people had died in relation to the unrest. It was later estimated that between May 26 and August 22, 93% of individual protests were "peaceful and nondestructive"[37] and The Washington Post estimated that by the end of June, 96.3% of 7,305 demonstrations involved no injuries and no property damage. [38] Nevertheless, arson, vandalism, and looting between May 26 and June 8 were tabulated to have caused $1–2 billion in insured damages nationally—the highest recorded damage from civil disorder in U.S. history, surpassing the record set during the 1992 Los Angeles riots. [5][39]
The protests precipitated a worldwide debate on policing and racial injustice that has led to numerous legislative proposals on federal, state, and municipal levels in the U.S. intended to combat police misconduct, systemic racism, qualified immunity and police brutality,[40][41] while the Trump administration drew widespread criticism for what critics called its hard line rhetoric and aggressive, militarized response. [42] The protests led to a wave of monument removals and name changes throughout the world[43] and occurred during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and amid the 2020 U.S. presidential election season. [44][45] Protests continued through 2020 and into 2021,[46] most notably in Minneapolis at the 38th and Chicago Avenue street intersection where Floyd was murdered that activists have referred to as George Floyd Square. [47][48] Several demonstrations coincided with the criminal trial of Chauvin in March and April 2021 and the one-year anniversary of Floyd's death in May 2021. Cases of police misconduct and fatal use of force by law enforcement officers[49] in the U.S., particularly against African Americans, have long led the civil rights movement and other activists to protest against a lack of police accountability in incidents they see as involving excessive force. Many protests during the civil rights movement were in response to the perception of police brutality, including the 1965 Watts riots which resulted in the deaths of 34 people, mostly African Americans. [50] The largest post-civil rights movement protest in the 20th century was the 1992 Los Angeles riots, which were in response to the acquittal of police officers responsible for excessive force against Rodney King, an African American man. [51]
In 2014, the shooting of Michael Brown by police in Ferguson, Missouri resulted in local protests and unrest while the death of Eric Garner in New York City resulted in numerous national protests. After Eric Garner and George Floyd repeatedly said "I can't breathe" during their arrests, the phrase became a protest slogan against police brutality. In 2015 the death of Freddie Gray in Baltimore police custody resulted in riots in the city and nationwide protests as part of the Black Lives Matter movement. [52] Several nationally publicized incidents occurred in Minnesota, including the 2015 shooting of Jamar Clark in Minneapolis; the 2016 shooting of Philando Castile in Falcon Heights;[53] and the 2017 shooting of Justine Damond. In 2016, Tony Timpa was killed by Dallas police officers in the same way as George Floyd. [54] In March 2020, the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor by police executing a search warrant at her Kentucky apartment was also widely publicized. [55]
Measures taken against the COVID-19 pandemic, including closure of non-essential businesses[56] and implementation of stay-at-home orders,[57] had significant economic and social impact on many Americans as millions had lost their jobs and were made more economically vulnerable. [58]
According to a police statement, on May 25, 2020, at 8:08 p.m. CDT,[59] Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) officers responded to a 9-1-1 call regarding a "forgery in progress" on Chicago Avenue South in Powderhorn, Minneapolis. MPD Officers Thomas K. Lane and J. Alexander Kueng arrived with their body cameras turned on. A store employee told officers that the man was in a nearby car. Officers approached the car and ordered George Floyd, a 46-year-old African American man, who according to police "appeared to be under the influence", to exit the vehicle, at which point he "physically resisted". According to the MPD, officers "were able to get the suspect into handcuffs, and noted he appeared to be suffering medical distress. Officers called for an ambulance." Once Floyd was handcuffed, he and Officer Lane walked to the sidewalk. Floyd sat on the ground at Officer Lane's direction. In a short conversation, the officer asked Floyd for his name and identification, explaining that he was being arrested for passing counterfeit currency, and asked if he was "on anything". According to the report officers Kueng and Lane attempted to help Floyd to their squad car, but at 8:14 p.m., Floyd stiffened up and fell to the ground. Soon, MPD Officers Derek Chauvin and Tou Thao arrived in a separate squad car. The officers made several more failed attempts to get Floyd into the squad car. [60]
Floyd, who was still handcuffed, went to the ground face down. Officer Kueng held Floyd's back and Lane held his legs. Chauvin placed his left knee in the area of Floyd's head and neck. A Facebook Live livestream recorded by a bystander showed Officer Derek Chauvin kneeling on Floyd's neck. [61][62] Floyd repeatedly tells Chauvin "Please" and "I can't breathe", while a bystander is heard telling the police officer, "You got him down. Let him breathe.
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Protest_Online Condemnation
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2016 Pakistan flood
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After heavy rains and flash floods in Pakistan,[1][2][3] at least 71 people were killed[4][5] and another 34 hospitalized. Rain started at night of Saturday, April 3,[6] rainfall began to spur floods in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region in the northwest. [7] Heavy rainfall is common in Southern Asia during the pre-monsoon season. [8]
In response to floods, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government began to administer relief for those affected. [7] Rural areas with poor infrastructure were highly susceptible, and, consequently, some 150 homes were destroyed in the event. [6][9] The floods also caused deadly landslides that killed another 23 people. However, 5 survived and were rescued. [10] Furthermore, the rain washed away bridges and roads in the area, as well as causing crop loss. [10][11]
Another flood began in August. At least 82 people were killed during the floods, including a disaster involving a bus which resulted in the deaths of 27 people and the disappearance of four. [12]
This Pakistan-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. This article about disaster management or a disaster is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. This article about a flood is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
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Floods
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Flying Tiger Line Flight 66 crash
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Flying Tiger Line Flight 66 was a scheduled international cargo flight from Singapore Changi Airport, to Hong Kong's Kai Tak Airport via a stopover at Kuala Lumpur International Airport, Malaysia. On February 19, 1989, the FedEx-owned Boeing 747-249F-SCD crashed while on its final approach. The aircraft impacted a hillside 437 feet (133 m) above sea level and 12 kilometres (7.5 mi; 6.5 nmi) from Kuala Lumpur, resulting in all four crew members being killed. The aircraft, registered as N807FT, made its first flight on 1 November 1979 before being delivered new to Flying Tiger Line on 11 December 1979. Its manufacturer serial number was 21828 and its construction number was 408. At the time of the accident, it had flown over 9,000 flight cycles and 34,000 airframe hours. [3][4]
The crew consisted of Captain Francis "Frank" Halpin (53); First Officer John "Jack" Robinson (54); and Flight Engineer Ronald Penton (70). Leonard Sulewski (53), an aircraft mechanic, was also on board. [5][6][7]
The aircraft was assigned a non-directional beacon (NDB) approach to Runway 33 at Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport, Kuala Lumpur, after having flown 30 minutes from Singapore Changi Airport. [8] In descent, the flight was cleared to "Kayell" with a morse code of "KL" of which four separate points on the ground were commonly called by Malaysian ATC albeit with different frequencies. Two separate radio beacons were identically coded "KL" as well as the VOR abbreviation (Kuala Lumpur shortened to "KL") and the airport was also sometimes referred to as "KL" by local ATC (instead of the full "Kuala Lumpur"). The crew was unsure to which point they were cleared, and the cockpit voice recorder revealed that the crew argued about which radios should be set to which frequencies and which approach was actually going to be conducted. (Even in the last few moments of the flight, the captain referenced the ILS approach for runway 33 which was named as inop on the flight release and the ATIS, additionally the crew was told by ATC that the ILS approach was not available.) ATC radioed to the flight, "Tiger 66, descend two four zero zero [2,400 ft], cleared for NDB approach runway 33." Captain Halpin, who heard "descend to four zero zero" replied with, "Okay, four zero zero" (meaning 400 ft above sea level, which was 2,000 ft too low). The Cockpit voice recorder[9] also revealed several communication errors made by the flight crew prior to this miscommunication and a general casual nature of the Captain, who was the pilot-not-flying on this particular leg of the trip. During the final approach, numerous clear warnings were given by the on-board Ground Proximity Warning System which were all ignored entirely by the crew, and the aircraft impacted a hillside 437 ft above sea level, killing all four people on board; two pilots, a flight engineer and an aircraft mechanic. The subsequent fire burned for two days. [9]
The First Officer had complained that he did not have an approach plate in front of him and had not seen the approach. From a pilot's perspective, this alone would be considered the cause of the crash because the approach plate (chart) provides the pilot with the courses and minimum altitudes necessary to execute the approach without impacting terrain. The chart would have indicated the minimum descent altitude of 2,400 feet, preventing the accident. Flying an approach without referring to the approach plate is gross negligence. [opinion]
Additionally, the First Officer (FO), who was the pilot flying at the time, expressed concern about conducting the NDB approach and indicated a preference for the ILS for runway 15. However, the FO was not assertive and no further action was taken. The Captain dismissed his concern saying he was familiar with the airport and the approaches. A contributing factor to this accident was the non-ICAO phraseology used by Kuala Lumpur air traffic control and the Captain of the aircraft. This breakdown of communication contributed to the crew misinterpreting the instructions given. However, this particular controlled-flight-into-terrain accident ultimately resulted from a crew failure to adhere to the instrument approach procedure, poor crew resource management and poor situational awareness. [8]
The incident further stressed the need for increased awareness and training of crew resource management techniques and standard operating procedures. This accident is used as an example of 'what not to do' by flight training organizations such as FlightSafety International. The FAA video production[9] using the original CVR recording and transcript is still used to study the events and how to improve current techniques. Much of this information is derived from that video.
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Air crash
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Panic as locusts reach Uganda, Tanzania
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Authorities in Uganda are implementing plans that had been put in place to combat a locust invasion, following sightings of the dreaded pests in the North-east of the country. Uganda is one of the East African countries affected by what the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) describes as the worst outbreak to hit the region in over three decades. The locust swarms have already caused panic in Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya, while Uganda, South Sudan and Tanzania have been on high alert. Uganda’s prime minister on Sunday called for an emergency meeting in the night to activate the government’s plan to fight the locusts, after they were seen in Amudat district, Karamoja region. Uganda’s plan includes spraying the affected areas using planes, pickups and tractors mounted with motorised sprayers and use of manual hand sprays. The government plans to deploy soldiers to combat the locusts, and is working on cross-border spraying agreements between Uganda and Kenya. Meanwhile, authorities in Tanzania are also bracing themselves, following reports of locusts seen in the Moshi area. “When we got this news in the morning, we started checking our neighbours close to Taveta, but there were no signs of locusts, but this evening, there were reports showing that around Moshi, locusts were seen,” Kilimanjaro Regional Commissioner Anna Mgwira told BBC said on Sunday.
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Insect Disaster
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‘They took my brother’s life’: Two receive life sentences — one without parole — in Antioch road rage shooting
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March 20, 2021 at 9:35 a.m. RICHMOND — After noting the “unbelievable” nature of a 2019 drive-by murder motivated by a traffic dispute, a Contra Costa judge sentenced both defendants — including a woman who was pregnant at the time of her arrest and had been released from jail to take care of her newborn — to life in prison. Tearri Richard and Lakia Poles, both 26, were sentenced Friday morning to life in the 2019 murder of Raul Garcia, 57, of Antioch. Richard, the shooter, was given no possibility for parole. Poles will have a shot at parole after serving 25 years. Before the sentence was handed down, Raul Garcia’s brother, Rudy Garcia, delivered an emotional statement in which he berated, forgave, and at times mocked both defendants. Rudy Garcia in the car with Raul Garcia at the time of his shooting and wasn’t injured, but watched helplessly as his brother died minutes later. “They took my brother’s life,” Rudy Garcia said in court, Friday. “I was in that car, I could’ve got killed too…I shouldn’t say I forgive them, in my heart I don’t, but God with me, I do.” Rudy Garcia told Richard to “be a man” and face him while he was talking, and, turning to Poles, told her, “it’s too bad you made that call, huh?” He later said, “I wish this would’ve never happened.” “You can’t touch no baby no more,” Garcia said to Poles. “Just like I can’t touch my brother no more…You should’ve taken my advice and just walked away.” The Garcia brothers, and a third friend, were loading stuff into their truck from a storage unit in Pittsburg the day of the shooting. On the drive home, they got into an altercation at a red light, after a near-collision between their truck and Poles’ car. During the argument, Richard threatened the victims, prosecutors said at trial. What ensued was a frightening ordeal where Poles followed the Garcias’ truck onto Highway 4 and into Antioch, as they tried frantically to evade her. At one point, the Garcias exited the freeway, ran a red light, then doubled back on Highway 4 in the other direction, but Poles was able to keep up with them. As she called in their position, Richard went to his apartment nearby to retrieve a pistol, prosecutors said. With Poles’ assistance, Richard located the truck and opened fire, striking Raul Garcia. He died a short distance away, at an Antioch residence. “It is unfathomable that a man’s life could be taken over disagreement about a lane merger that didn’t even result in a collision, yet defendants Richard and Poles hunted Raul Garcia down in the street and killed him for something that trivial; they both deserve the life sentences they were given,” Deputy District Attorney Aron DeFerrari, who prosecuted the case, said after the sentences Friday. “The justice achieved today was only possible due to the outstanding investigation by the Antioch Police Department and their top notch Detective Division.” When Richard and Poles were arrested weeks later, Poles was pregnant, and gave birth while still in jail. She was given pretrial release while the charges were pending so she could care for her newborn, but re-arrested after she and Richard were convicted at trial last year. Her attorney, Adam Burke, asked Superior Court Judge Patricia Scanlon for “mercy” in and to grant probation, not prison, in light of the unique circumstances around Poles’ situation. “There would be no violations, she’d complete (probation) successfully, and she’d never be in court before a judge for the rest of her life,” Burke said. He later added, “her daughters need her.”
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Famous Person - Commit Crime - Sentence
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1960 New York mid-air collision crash
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On Friday, December 16, 1960, a United Airlines Douglas DC-8, bound for Idlewild Airport (now John F. Kennedy International Airport) in New York City, collided in midair with a TWA Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation descending into the city's LaGuardia Airport. [1] The Constellation crashed on Miller Field in Staten Island and the DC-8 into Park Slope, Brooklyn, killing all 128 people on the two aircraft and six people on the ground. It was the deadliest aviation disaster in the world at the time. The death toll would not be surpassed until a Lockheed C-130B Hercules was shot down in May 1968, killing 155 people. [2] In terms of commercial aviation, the death toll would not be surpassed until the March 1969 crash of Viasa Flight 742, which crashed on takeoff and killed all 84 people on board the aircraft, as well as 71 people on the ground. [3]
The accident became known as the Park Slope plane crash or the Miller Field crash,[4] after the crash sites of each plane respectively. The accident was also the first hull loss and first fatal accident involving a Douglas DC-8. [5][6]
United Airlines Flight 826, Mainliner Will Rogers, registration N8013U,[7] was a DC-8-11 carrying 84 people from O'Hare International Airport in Chicago to Idlewild Airport (now John F. Kennedy International Airport) in Queens. The crew was Captain Robert Sawyer (age 46), First Officer Robert Fiebing (40), Flight Engineer Richard Pruitt (30), and four stewardesses. [1]
Trans World Airlines Flight 266, Star of Sicily, registration N6907C,[8] was a Super Constellation carrying 44 people from Dayton and Columbus, Ohio, to LaGuardia Airport in Queens. The crew was Captain David Wollam (age 39), First Officer Dean Bowen (32), Flight Engineer LeRoy Rosenthal (30), and two stewardesses. [1][9] Star of Sicily's sister ship N6902C, Star of the Seine, was destroyed in another mid-air collision with a United Airlines flight in 1956. [citation needed]
At 10:21 A.M. Eastern Time, United 826 advised ARINC radio — which relayed the message to UAL maintenance — that one of its VOR receivers had stopped working. ATC, however, was not told that the aircraft had only one receiver, which made it more difficult for the pilots of flight 826 to identify the Preston intersection, beyond which it had not received clearance. At 10:25 A.M. Eastern Time, air traffic control issued a revised clearance for the flight to shorten its route to the Preston holding point (near Laurence Harbor, New Jersey) by 12 miles (19 km). That clearance included holding instructions (a standard race-track holding pattern) for UAL Flight 826 when it arrived at the Preston intersection. Flight 826 was expected to reduce its speed before reaching Preston, to a standard holding speed of 210 knots or less. However, the aircraft was estimated to be doing 301 knots when it collided with the TWA plane, several miles beyond that Preston clearance limit. During the investigation, United claimed the Colts Neck VOR was unreliable (pilots testified on both sides of the issue). [10] ("Preston" was the point where airway V123 — the 050-radial off the Robbinsville VOR — crossed the Solberg 120-degree radial and the Colts Neck 346-degree radial.) However, the CAB final report found no problem with the Colts Neck VOR. The prevailing conditions were light rain and fog (which had been preceded by snowfall). According to the DC-8's FDR, the aircraft was 12 miles (19 km) off course and for 81 seconds, had descended at 3,600 feet per minute (18 m/s) while slowing from more than 400 knots to 301 knots at the time of the collision. One of the starboard engines on the DC-8 hit the Constellation just ahead of its wings, tearing apart that portion of the fuselage. The Constellation entered a dive, with debris continuing to fall as it disintegrated during its spiral to the ground. The initial impact tore the engine from its pylon on the DC-8. Having lost one engine and a large part of the right-wing, the DC-8 remained airborne for another minute and a half. The DC-8 crashed into the Park Slope section of Brooklyn at the intersection of Seventh Avenue and Sterling Place (40°40′38″N 73°58′25″W / 40.67709°N 73.97368°W / 40.67709; -73.97368 (1960 New York mid-air collision DC-8 crash site)), scattering wreckage and setting fire to ten brownstone apartment buildings, the Pillar of Fire Church, the McCaddin Funeral Home, a Chinese laundry, and a delicatessen. Six people on the ground were killed. [11][1]
The crash left the remains of the DC-8 pointed southeast towards a large open field at Prospect Park, blocks from its crash site. A student at the school who lived in one of the destroyed apartment buildings said his family survived because they happened to be in the only room of their apartment not destroyed. The crash left a trench covering most of the length of the middle of Sterling Place. Occupants of the school thought a bomb had gone off or that the building's boiler had exploded. The TWA plane crashed onto the northwest corner of Miller Field, at 40°34′12″N 74°06′11″W / 40.57°N 74.103°W / 40.57; -74.103 (1960 New York mid-air collision Constellation crash site), with some sections of the aircraft landing in New York Harbor. At least one passenger fell into a tree before the wreckage hit the ground. [10][1]
There was no radio contact with traffic controllers from either plane after the collision, although LaGuardia had begun tracking an incoming, fast-moving, unidentified plane from Preston toward the LaGuardia "Flatbush" outer marker. [12]
The likely cause of the accident was identified in a report by the US Civil Aeronautics Board. United Flight 826 proceeded beyond its clearance limit and the confines of the airspace allocated to the flight by Air Traffic Control. A contributing factor was the high rate of speed of the United DC-8 as it approached the Preston intersection, coupled with the change of clearance which reduced the en-route distance along Victor 123 by approximately 11 miles. [1]
The only person to initially survive the crash was an 11-year-old boy from Wilmette, Illinois. He was traveling on Flight 826 unaccompanied as part of his family's plans to spend Christmas in Yonkers with relatives. He was thrown from the plane into a snowbank where his burning clothing was extinguished. Although alive and conscious, he was badly burned and had inhaled burning fuel. [11] He died of pneumonia the next day. [13]
In 2010, on the 50th anniversary of the accident, a memorial to the 134 victims of the two crashes was unveiled in Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn. The cemetery is the site of the common grave in which were placed the human remains that could not be identified. [14][15]
The collision is covered in the first episode of the fifth season of The Weather Channel documentary series Why Planes Crash. [16] The episode, titled "Collision Course", first aired in April 2013. [16]
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Air crash
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North Korea Tells Citizens to Prepare For a Famine Worse Than The 1990s
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Authorities in North Korea are warning residents to prepare for economic difficulties as bad as the 1994-1998 famine which killed millions, RFA has learned, but experts say the situation is dire, but not that extreme. The 1990's famine was the result of economic mismanagement and the sudden collapse of North Korea's patron the Soviet Union. As much as 10 percent of the North Korean population lost their lives, according to some estimates, while hundreds of thousands of people fled to China. The warning came as leader Kim Jong Un was quoted by the North’s official Korean Central News Agency as saying the country faced grim challenges. “Improving the people’s living standards ... even in the worst-ever situation in which we have to overcome unprecedentedly numerous challenges depends on the role played by the cells, the grassroots organizations of the party,” Kim said during an opening speech at a meeting of cell secretaries of the ruling Workers’ Party on Tuesday, KCNA reported. Sources in the country’s northwestern North Hamgyong province told RFA that authorities warned residents during special discussion sessions hosted by neighborhood watch units to prepare for a situation worse than the “Arduous March,” North Korea’s official depiction of the famine a quarter century ago. The current economic situation in North Korea is dire by most accounts. At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in Jan. 2020, Beijing and Pyongyang closed the entirety of the 880-mile Sino-Korean border and suspended all trade. North Korea was already pinched by U.S. and UN nuclear sanctions, but the border closure killed a major part of North Korean commerce: the purchase and sale of imported Chinese goods. Economic activity in entire towns came to a full stop, leaving people with no way to support themselves. U.N Special Rapporteur on North Korean Human Rights Tomás Ojea Quintana warned in a report last month that the closure of the border and restrictions on the movement of people could bring on a “serious food crisis.” “Deaths by starvation have been reported, as has an increase in the number of children and elderly people who have resorted to begging as families are unable to support them,” said the report. Sources told RFA that attendees at this week’s special discussion sessions expected that the government would tell them to stay the course and be patient as the plans laid out during the congress went into effect. “Today, each district held a discussion session for the women of each neighborhood watch unit about the Eighth Party Congress… but they were all shocked when the speaker said, ‘our economic difficulties are only beginning,’ a resident of North Hamgyong told RFA’s Korean Service April 5. “Most of the attendees were women who are responsible for the livelihood of their families. The speaker was an official of the Propaganda and Agitation department, who emphasized that our current economic difficulties pale in comparison for what lies ahead. How would these women feel?” said the source, who requested anonymity to speak freely. At the Eighth Congress of the ruling Korean Workers’ Party held in Jan. 2020, Kim Jong Un pushed the country’s founding Juche ideology of self-reliance as the solution to economic troubles – indicating that there were no plans to open the border with China any time soon. The source said a wave of anxiety spread among all the attendees when the speaker said that even the Arduous March was “nothing” compared to what lies ahead the country. “Attendees began to panic, wondering how many would starve to death if the Arduous March, where millions of people died from hunger, was nothing,” the source said. “The authorities have tried to push on us their propaganda that the lives of the people will be in ‘full bloom,’ referring to the full development of our style of socialism, but the residents are blaming the authorities, saying that the government has only prepared extreme hunger for us,” said the source. Residents who lived through the 1990s famine were the most fearful of the news. “They said we can’t just do nothing but starve to death if there is another Arduous March and vowed to come up with ways to stop it.” Another source, also from North Hamgyong, confirmed the special discussion session to RFA on April 6. “The speaker did not say a word about the improvement of the people’s lives like authorities had promised. Once again, they said we need to tighten our belts and carry out the decision of the Eighth Party Congress. This made the residents angry,” said the second source, who requested anonymity for security reasons. “They told us in the session to memorize and follow the directives laid out in the congress unconditionally, and to discuss them in a question-and-answer format. But as the session continued, the attendees were unable to hide their disappointment and resentment,” said the second source.The attendees were furious that they were being asked to be patient and to consent to sacrifices without specific details on how this would get them through the tough situation, according to the second source. “So now the people are all saying that a second Arduous March is imminent. On the surface, the authorities are saying that everything will be fine once the five-year economic development plan laid out in the party congress is completed,” said the second source. “But since they are not hiding the fact that the current economic crisis could lead to a situation more difficult than the Arduous March of the 1990s, the anxiety of the people is increasing,” International observers were skeptical that the current situation in North Korea was anything at all like the famine of the 1990’s. “This is not the famine of 1996-97. There is barely adequate food supply, but not what North Korea hoped it would be. And I don’t see North Korea to be in the midst of a demonstrable health crisis about COVID,” Mark P. Barry, associate editor of the International Journal on World Peace quarterly, told RFA. “Although things are very difficult economically and not good for food security, the greatest danger for North Korea is progressive loss of sovereignty through dependence on one country – China. This is an opportunity in the tenth year of Kim Jong Un’s leadership to not only internally strengthen his power but to reduce dangerously rising dependency on China,” Barry said. Barry said that Kim had hoped to achieve economic independence from China by striking a deal with the U.S. “Because [former U.S. President ]Trump left office without a deal Kim could accept and [U.S. President] Biden shows little promise to change long-held U.S. policy toward the DPRK regarding denuclearization, Kim is even willing to put his country through a possible second ‘Arduous March’ as a preferred alternative to succumbing to Chinese economic and political pressure,” said Barry. Troy Stangarone of the Washington-based Korea Economic Institute (KEI) said the situation was indeed dire in North Korea, but added that it was unclear if it was comparable to the 1990s. “In the last month or two, trade between North Korea and China, its primary trade partner, and even Russia has either fallen to zero or fallen to levels so low that it is essentially nonexistent. We've seen indications that prices for goods are beginning to rise as food and other key items become scarcer,” Stangarone said. “As long as North Korea continues to maintain these tight border controls, it's very hard to see the situation improving and instead it’s most likely to continue to deteriorate,” he said. Stangarone said Pyongyang would have a difficult time addressing the challenges ahead and recommended the government loosen border controls and more readily accept international aid. The Arduous March was particularly devastating for North Korea’s children. At the end of the famine in 1998, a nutritional survey conducted by UNICEF and the World Food Program found that among children in 3,600 North Korean households, 62.3 percent were stunted, and 60.6 percent were considered moderately or severely underweight. RFA reported in Nov. 2020 that a national literacy survey revealed that many of North Korea’s illiterate were of school age during the famine and could not attend school at the time. This led to fewer economic opportunities later in their lives.
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Famine
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Williamtown Air Force Base contamination class action heard in Sydney, Defence given until February to respond
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Williamtown Air Force Base contamination class action heard in Sydney, Defence given until February to respond
The Department of Defence has been given until February to reply to a class action put against them by the Williamtown community.
Law firm Gadens is representing more than 400 residents from Salt Ash, Williamtown and Fullerton Cove who are seeking compensation after their property values were affected by toxic firefighting chemicals which leached from the Williamtown Air Force Base into the groundwater.
Department of Defence lawyers asked the court whether they could reply to the class action in March, saying responding to the allegations was a "complicated matter".
They told the court this was to take into account the Christmas break but also that the claim "raises matters going back to the 1970s about what the Commonwealth did with this substance (fire-fighting foam)".
The court also heard of the potential for a cross claim, which the ABC understands could be against the manufacturer of the foam.
Outside of court, Rhianna Gorfine from the Williamtown and Surrounds Action Group said residents were disappointed Defence were trying to push out the timeline.
"An extra four weeks for Defence to get their act together when they've known about this for decades and they've known about what this community is doing for a long, long time up in Williamtown, four weeks can mean a change of a lifetime," she said.
"Imagine living on a property that you don't know could or could not be harming your family. How do you live with yourself, how do you move forward?"
Justice Jayne Jagot asked Defence to reply to the class action by the end of February, and the case is due back in court in April.
The court hearing coincided with a major development with one Williamtown family.
Jamie and Sam Kelly, who are taking part in the class action, have today moved out of their home in the red zone into inner city Newcastle.
Mrs Kelly said they made the decision to move after test results came back for their 10-month-old son William showing chemicals levels above hers.
"As a mother I have gone above and beyond everything that the Department of Defence and New South Wales Health have told me to do in terms of limiting his exposure. Yet I still haven't been able to protect him from contamination," she said.
"I am looking forward to being able to live in a house and put my son on the grass, I can put myself down on the grass and let him play in the dirt like any child has the right to do in Australia."
Mr Kelly says the contamination has also caused financial problems.
"We've been given advice that we are not in a position to sell our property, that it's very unlikely to sell and even if we were we were going to get a considerable loss on our asset," he said.
"We're having to downsize our life, we're having to make ends meet by any way that we can. For the types of things that any parent would do to protect their child."
Lawyer for the residents Ben Allen has said the case could influence how other cases play out — residents on Queensland's Darling Downs are preparing to pursue a class action against the RAAF for a similar contamination.
"Defence will be looking at this for a number of bases across Australia," he said.
"Currently there are 18 bases under investigation with another 20 being looked at after that, so this is a very serious issue for the Department of Defence and one for them to consider."
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Environment Pollution
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1948 Queensland Railway strike
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The 1948 Queensland railway strike was a strike which lasted nine weeks, from 3 February to 5 April 1948, over wages of workers at railway workshops and locomotive depots in Queensland, Australia. As head of the Commonwealth Security Service in Queensland, Bob Wake played an active role in watching the activities of the Communist Party of Australia during the strike. [1]
The main reason for the strike was the failure of the state Arbitration Court to hear claims the relevant unions lodged the previous year. [2] In these claims the unions sought wages comparable to those covering railway workers in other states. [2] The unions were also unhappy about the Court's apparent delay in hearing their further claim regarding weekend penalty rates, a claim which was linked to the 40-hour week campaign. [2]
The demands of World War II left Queensland's railways rundown and badly in need of maintenance, but there was a shortage of materials and skilled workers to deal with the demand. [2] Furthermore, because the Railways Department was unable to pay a competitive wage, they could not attract the number of workers they needed. [2] Eventually, the Department contracted some of the work out to private firms, but this further insulted the unions and railway workers because the tradesmen employed by these private firms were being paid more than the Department's own employees. [2]
These issues were inflamed by other issues Queensland was facing at the time: clothing, petrol and meat were still being rationed, while a severe drought had led to meat and milk shortages in Brisbane and a reduced sugar cane harvest in the North. [2] In March 1947, the Commonwealth statistician reported that more than half the country's unemployed were in Queensland, and that this number was rising. [2][3]
Amid this background, workshop and running shed tradesmen employed by the Queensland Railways Department officially stopped work at one minute past midnight on Tuesday 3 February 1948. [2]
On 9 Mar 1948, the Queensland Parliament, led by Premier Ned Hanlon, passed the Industrial Law Amendment Act of 1948, which gave police extraordinary powers to arrest without warrant and enter any home without cause. [2][4] The bill, described as “one of the most drastic bills ever brought before an Australian parliament”, was aimed at preventing picketing and ending the railway strike. [5]
On St Patrick's Day (17 Mar), in response to the passing of this legislation, a group of men and women carrying banners, placards and a fake coffin proceeded down Edward St from Trades Hall towards Central Street Station in order to protest the law. [2][6] Police soon closed in on the demonstrators, tore the placards from their grasp and attacked them with batons. [2][6] Five men were arrested and two were hospitalized. [6] One of the men who was hospitalized was Fred Paterson, Queensland Member of the Legislative Assembly for the seat of Bowen. [4][2][6] Patterson's injuries included scalp lacerations, brain damage, concussion and shock. [6] The incident was later known as the "St Patrick's Day Bash". [4][7][8]
In the following days there was mass protest over the incident with thousands of union sympathizers gathering in King George Square,[9][10] with other demonstrations held around the country. [11]
In June of that year, the so called "Picket Law" was repealed. [12][13]
On 1 April, following seven and a half hours of discussion, the Central Railway Disputes Committee recommended workers accept a wage rise of 12s.4d. a week, with proportionate increases for unskilled and semi-skilled workers. [14] While this was less than the unions had originally requested, it was substantially more than the Department had originally offered. [2] Following the recommendation of the Committee, the railwaymen accepted the government's offer, and the rail strike finally ended at midnight on 5 April 1948. [15]
Queensland paid a heavy economic toll for the work stoppage, with estimates it cost the state up to £20 million. [16]
The strike had a long-lasting impact on the Queensland labour movement, generating friction in the union ranks and exposing the struggle between the Communist Party of Australia and Queensland Labor for years to come. [2]
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Strike
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1953 Sabena Convair Crash crash
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The 1953 Sabena Convair Crash was the crash of a Convair CV-240 of the Belgian airline Sabena, 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) north of Frankfurt, West Germany, on 14 October 1953. None of the 44 people on board survived the incident. [1]
The Convair CV-240-12 involved was built in 1949 with serial number 154 and registration OO-AWQ and was used by the Belgian airline company Sabena from 1 April 1949 until its destruction in 1953. [2][3]
After having arrived from Salzburg Airport for her stopover, the Sabena flight was scheduled to depart from Frankfurt International Airport bound for Zaventem Airport with 40 passengers and four crew members on board at 15.20 pm on 14 October 1953. However shortly after takeoff, the crew noticed that both engines were losing power. The crew followed the normal procedures and raised the flaps while trying to keep control of their plane. The aircraft ultimately became uncontrollable and stalled, crashing in a wooded area near Kelsterbach about two miles north of the airport she departed from. Firefighters and four ambulances reached the crash scene after following the rising smoke plume but it was quickly discovered that all 44 onboard had perished in the flaming wreckage. [4][5][6]
The cause of the crash was determined to possibly be a heavy deposit of lead on the sparking plugs which reside in the engines. The investigation states that as the plugs warmed up during takeoff, the metal deposits formed a circuit which ended up short circuiting the plugs causing the fatal engine failure and subsequent stalling and crash of the aircraft. It is unknown whether the pilots actions contributed to the crash or if the fatal outcome was unavoidable. [7]
The aircraft was destroyed by the impact and post-crash fire with only pieces of debris scattered around the wooded area. The crash site was documented on film on 21 October by the German press. [1]
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Air crash
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Man, daughters suffer carbon monoxide poisoning on boat
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SEATTLE (AP) — A man and his two daughters were hospitalized in Seattle after suffering symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning aboard a boat. The family was off shore when the father called for help because his daughters were experiencing symptoms common to carbon monoxide poisoning, the U.S. Coast Guard told KOMO-TV. The father was complaining of dizziness, a young teenage daughter had delirium and loss of motor function and the youngest daughter was unconscious, the Cost Guard reported. Crews got the family into fresh air and performed first aid. The cause wasn’t immediately clear, but the Coast Guard says crews could smell significant exhaust on the family’s boat.
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Mass Poisoning
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Decoded | Scrub typhus, the mystery fever gripping parts of Uttar Pradesh
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A mystery fever has been reported from parts of Uttar Pradesh, which has claimed over 40 lives, mostly children in the past one week. The viral fever has been identified as Scrub typhus. Scrub typhus has been reported mainly from Firozabad, Agra, Mainpuri, Etah and Kasganj of Uttar Pradesh. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath visited the affected region and confirmed that 32 children and seven adults died of the disease. He said a team of experts from Lucknow’s King George's Medical University would probe that the deaths, particularly of children caused by scrub typhus and ascertain the reason for outbreak. The Uttar Pradesh government transferred the chief medical officer of Firozabad in the aftermath of the scrub typhus outbreak. An Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) team was called to take stock of the situation. The spread of scrub typhus in the region has caused widespread concern. Another team of 15 doctors from Lucknow visited the affected areas to get the ground reality. Scrub typhus is a re-emerging Rickettsial infection, earlier reported in India and other South Asian countries. It is a vector-borne disease. Its onset is marked by fever and rashes and it affects the central nervous system, cardiovascular system, renal, respiratory, and gastrointestinal systems. Also Read: India records 47,092 new Covid-19 cases, highest in two months The serious complications of the vector include pneumonia, meningo-encephalitis, acute renal failure, gastro-intestinal bleeding, and even acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). According to the US National Library of Medicine, the disease gets its name “scrub” because of the type of vegetation (terrain between woods and clearings) that harbours the vector. “Typhus” is a Greek word that means “fever with stupor” or smoke. Globally, over 1 billion people are at risk for scrub typhus and an estimated 1 million cases occur annually. Scrub typhus is caused by a bacterium called Orientia tsutsugamushi. The bacterium’s name is of Japanese origin and is derived Japenese word tsutsuga that translates to illness and mushi into insect. Also Read: Covid-19 breakthrough infections in India within expected numbers: Insacog Scrub typhus spreads through bites of infected chiggers (larval mites), according to the US Centre for Disease Control (CDC). The mite feeds on the serum of warm-blooded animals only once during its cycle of development. The bite marks are often found on the groin, axillae (armpits), genitalia or neck. According to the National Health Portal of India, a chigger bite leads to an ulcer that eventually heals with the development of a black eschar (a deposition of dead tissue that sheds off from the skin). According to the National Library of Medicine, scrub typhus took the form of an epidemic during World War II in some parts of the world. “During the Second World War, scrub typhus emerged out to be the most dreaded disease among the soldiers of the Far East.” “In India, scrub typhus broke out in an epidemic form in Assam and West Bengal during the Second World War. Gradually, the disease became prevalent in many parts of India.” The viral disease has its origin in what is called the tsutsugamushi triangle with the Persian Gulf, North Japan and North Australia forming the three vortices of the imaginary triangle. It is spread over an area of about 13 million square kilometers and is bound by Japan in the east, through China, the Philippines, tropical Australia in the south, and west through India, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Symptoms of the viral disease begin within 10 days of being bitten by infected chiggers. The first symptoms include fever and chills followed by headache, body aches and muscle pain. A dark, scab-like region at the site of the chigger bite (also known as eschar), mental disorientation, ranging from confusion to coma develop as the disease progresses. People with severe illness may develop organ failure and bleeding, which can be fatal if left untreated, the CDC said. The CDC’s scientific brief on the disease said symptoms of scrub typhus are similar to those of many other diseases making it difficult to diagnose. To diagnose scrub typhus, blood tests and laboratory testing are done to determine the presence the bacterium. While severe cases require treatment by doctors and even hospitalization, in normal cases symptoms generally disappear after two weeks even without treatment. No, there is no vaccine to guard an adult or a child from getting this infection. It is commonly treated with the antibiotic doxycycline. According to the CDC, doxycycline can be used in persons of any age and antibiotics are most effective if given soon after symptoms begin. People who are treated early with doxycycline usually recover quickly, it said. Is there any prevention protocol for scrub typhus? Heath agencies and experts suggest that avoid areas with lots of vegetation and brush where chiggers may be found should be avoided to save oneself from contracting this bacterial disease, which could be fatal in severe cases. If you are with children, dress them in clothing that covers arms and legs, or cover crib, stroller, and baby carrier with mosquito netting. Do not apply insect repellent onto a child’s hands, eyes, or mouth or on cuts or irritated skin. However, adults can spray insect repellent onto their hands and then apply it to the child’s face. Yes. According to the National Health Portal, scrub typhus is prevalent in many parts of India. There have been outbreaks in areas located in the sub-Himalayan belt, from Jammu to Nagaland. Outbreaks were also reported from Rajasthan. There were reports of scrub typhus outbreaks in Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim and Darjeeling in West Bengal during 2003-2004 and 2007. Outbreaks occur more frequently during the rainy season. However, in southern India, outbreaks were reported during the cooler months of the year. Scrub typhus is a re-emerging infectious disease in India.
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Disease Outbreaks
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Xiamen bus fire
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Coordinates: 24°29′N 118°10′E / 24.49°N 118.16°E / 24.49; 118.16
On 7 June 2013, a mass murder-suicide attack occurred on a bus in Xiamen, Fujian province, China. A bus operating for the Xiamen BRT caught fire and exploded on an elevated lane near the Jinshan stop; 47 people died and 34 were injured. [1][2][3]
Preliminary investigations conducted by the traffic police indicate that at around 6:22 p.m. CST, a Xiamen BRT bus, license plate 闽D-Y7396, carrying 90 passengers,[4] caught fire on an elevated roadway between the Caitang (Chinese: 蔡塘; pinyin: Càitáng) and Jinshan (Chinese: 金山; pinyin: Jīnshān) bus stops. [5] The fire broke out in the rear end of the bus and once it had spread to the fuel tank, the bus exploded. The fire was extinguished at around 6:50 pm CST (10:50 UTC), twenty minutes after the bus caught fire during the evening rush hour. [1][6] Following the fire, the entire BRT system was temporarily shut down, reopening the following day. [1]
Despite the bus running on diesel, investigators found traces of gasoline in the fire. This, and the fact that the oil tank and tires were intact in the wreckage, led investigators to believe the fire may have been deliberately lit. [2] The Ministry of Public Security stated that the fire is being treated as "a serious criminal case".
On 8 June, police identified the suspect as a man named Chen Shuizong (simplified Chinese: 陈水总; traditional Chinese: 陳水總; pinyin: Chén Shuǐzǒng), a local resident born on 1 March 1954. [7] According to a suicide note found in his home, Chen was unhappy with his life and had decided to light the fire to vent his anger. [8] Family members, speaking to reporters and posting in social media, indicated that Chen was quite angry with police officials who refused to correct an error in his identity documents and was denied social security benefits. [citation needed]
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Fire
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Cubana de Aviación Flight 9046 crash
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Cubana de Aviación Flight 9046 was a chartered Ilyushin Il-62M airliner (registered CU-T1281) operated by Cubana, which crashed on 3 September 1989, shortly after takeoff from José Martí International Airport. [2]
Flight 9046 was due to operate a non-scheduled international Havana–Milan–Cologne passenger service. The crash resulted in the deaths of all 126 occupants of the aircraft plus 24 people on the ground. [nb 1]
The aircraft took off in heavy rain and wind gusts of 30–50 miles per hour (48–80 km/h). [2][4] The crew retracted the flaps from their initial 30° position to 15°, in an attempt to gain speed, but this action reduced the ability of the wing to provide lift. [1] The aircraft climbed to about 53 metres (174 ft), where it was hit by a downdraft that caused the airframe to strike the end of the runway, subsequently hitting a navigational facility and a small hill before crashing into a residential area, about one minute after takeoff. [1][2][4] All 126 people on board —115 passengers, most of them Italian holidaymakers, and a crew of 11—[4][5] perished in the accident. An additional 24 people who were not aboard the aircraft and lived in the accident area also lost their lives as a result of the crash. [2]
Investigators attributed the crash of Flight 9046 to the pilot's decision to fly after an abrupt deterioration in the meteorological conditions. The pilot underestimated the risks of taking off, and misjudged the aircraft's performance in poor weather. [6]
Only one of the passengers, Luigi Capalbo, 22, of Parma, Italy, survived the crash initially. He fought for his life for 9 days but succumbed to his serious wounds on 12 September 1989. [7][8]
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Air crash
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Karachi rail crash
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The Karachi rail crash (also referred to as the Landhi rail disaster) was a train accident between the Fareed Express and the Bahauddin Zakaria Express that occurred on 3 November 2016 at 7:18 PST at Landhi station, in Karachi, Pakistan. The Fareed Express (from Lahore to Karachi) was parked at the Landhi station when the Bahauddin Zakaria Express, which was traveling from Multan to Karachi, collided with the Fareed Express from behind, killing 21 people and injuring 65 people. Minister of Railways Khawaja Saad Rafique originally attributed the crash to the engineers of the Bahauddin Zakaria Express for failing to see both yellow and red signals earlier en-route,[3][1] but Senator Saeed Ghani attributed the crash to a green signal being accidentally activated on the track the Bahauddin Zakaria Express was traveling on. [1][2]
Witnesses described that Zakaria Express from Multan rammed into Fareed Express from Lahore, which was parked there, with the roar of the crash swiftly followed by the screams of people trapped inside. At least two carriages from the trains overturned due to the collision. TV footage showed the trains had suffered heavy damage. The train operation came to a complete halt after the accident. Two bogies of Fareed Express and one bogie of Zakaria Express were completely destroyed due to the collision. Adviser to Sindh Chief Minister on Labour Senator Saeed Ghani said that railway officials gave a green signal to the train coming from behind by mistake, and it went on to hit the train at rest. [2]
A factory worker Ajab Gul told to media that he was on his way to work when the accident occurred. “Suddenly another train came speeding in and smashed into the parked train. [2]
Federal Minister for Railways Khawaja Saad Rafique pointed to the negligence of the driver and assistant driver of the train coming from behind as possible cause for the incident. He said the drivers were first shown a yellow signal — an indication to slow down — followed by a red signal, "the [standard operating procedure] of which is stop (the train) dead for a minute and then proceed very slowly". He said the drivers ignored both signals, which "apparently" led to the collision. [2]
Pakistan Peoples Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari visited those injured in the train accident at Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre. Zardari said there should be no politics on terrorism and accidents. Bilawal sympathised with families who had lost their loved ones. He also asked for the best medical treatment to be provided to the injured. He added there was not a single emergency centre in Pakistan and it would be the provincial government’s focus to build one in Sindh. Chief Minister Sindh Murad Ali Shah also paid a visit to the injured. There were 16 dead bodies and 40 injured people taken to Jinnah Hospital, according to Dr. Seemi Jamali, head of the Emergency Department at Jinnah Hospital. [1]
The injured were transferred to Jinnah Hospital, Abbasi Shaheed Hospital and Civil Hospital, where an emergency was declared. All train traffic between Karachi and the rest of the country was suspended after the collision. [4]
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Train collisions
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Cristiano Ronaldo adds to EURO all-time scoring record
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The Portugal forward has moved five goals clear of Michel Platini as EURO top scorer, the latest record in his already sizeable collection. And he has more in his sights.
Cristiano Ronaldo is now five goals clear as all-time EURO top scorer after taking his finals goals tally to 14 with two against France on Matchday 3 of UEFA EURO 2020. Ronaldo has enjoyed a phenomenal start to his fifth EURO finals (a record, of course), scoring twice against Hungary on Matchday 1 to overtake Michel Platini's long-standing record and also finding the net in the Matchday 2 game against Germany before his double against France. He has his sights on a few more milestones, too.
Here is a collection of the EURO records he has broken, the ones he can extend and the ones in his sights (even if he will have to wait a few more years).
Ronaldo marked his EURO debut against Greece on 12 June 2004 with a goal – his first for Portugal! – and coming into these finals he had registered eight more across 21 finals appearances. His two ensuing goals against Hungary in Portugal's UEFA EURO 2020 opener took him two clear of France's Michel Platini, whose entire haul came at EURO '84. He went further clear with his strikes against against Germany on Matchday 2 and France on Matchday 3.
14 Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal) 9 Michel Platini (France) 7 Alan Shearer (England)7 Antoine Griezmann (France)6 Ruud van Nistelrooy (Netherlands)6 Patrick Kluivert (Netherlands)6 Wayne Rooney (England)6 Thierry Henry (France) 6 Zlatan Ibrahimović (Sweden) 6 Nuno Gomes (Portugal)
Ronaldo moved top of a stellar list of 21 men who have appeared at four EURO tournaments, beginning with Lothar Matthäus and Peter Schmeichel back in 2000, when he started Portugal's opening win against Hungary on 15 June. He is also the last man standing of the 11 who notched up number four in 2016.
5 Cristiano Ronaldo, Portugal (2004, 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020)4 Lothar Matthäus, West Germany/Germany (1980, 1984, 1988, 2000)4 Peter Schmeichel, Denmark (1988, 1992, 1996, 2000)4 Alessandro Del Piero, Italy (1996, 2000, 2004, 2008)4 Edwin van der Sar, Netherlands (1996, 2000, 2004, 2008)4 Lilian Thuram, France (1996, 2000, 2004, 2008)4 Olof Mellberg, Sweden (2000, 2004, 2008, 2012)4 Gianluigi Buffon, Italy (2004, 2008, 2012, 2016)4 Petr Čech, Czech Republic (2004, 2008, 2012, 2016)4 Zlatan Ibrahimović, Sweden (2004, 2008, 2012, 2016)4 Andreas Isaksson, Sweden (2004, 2008, 2012, 2016)4 Kim Källström, Sweden (2004, 2008, 2012, 2016)4 Jaroslav Plašil, Czech Republic (2004, 2008, 2012, 2016)4 Lukas Podolski, Germany (2004, 2008, 2012, 2016)4 Tomáš Rosický, Czech Republic (2000, 2004, 2012, 2016)4 Bastian Schweinsteiger, Germany (2004, 2008, 2012, 2016)4 Darijo Srna, Croatia (2004, 2008, 2012, 2016)4 Giorgio Chiellini (Italy 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020)4 Sebastian Larsson (Sweden 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020)4 Luka Modrić (Croatia 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020)4 João Moutinho (Portugal 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020)4 Pepe (Portugal 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020)
Ronaldo has now surpassed Gianluigi Buffon's previous all-time high of 58 outings in EURO competition, qualifying and finals – the 36-year-old could end the tournament on 63 matches. These 59 games to date have resulted in 37 wins, 13 draws and nine defeats.
59 Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal) 58 Gianluigi Buffon (Italy) 51 Mario Frick (Liechtenstein)
Only seven men have scored EURO hat-tricks and, perhaps surprisingly, Ronaldo is not in their number. The Juventus forward has a decent collection of international match balls, though, bagging nine hat-tricks for Portugal including, on two occasions, four in a game.
Just one player aged over 30 has scored in a EURO final: Bernd Hölzenbein was 30 years and 103 days old when he headed West Germany's late equaliser against Czechoslovakia in 1976 to prompt extra time and, ultimately, Antonín Panenka's place in penalty posterity. Ronaldo will be aged 36 years and 156 days on 11 July, the date of the EURO 2020 decider.
If Portugal triumph at Wembley and Ronaldo keeps the armband then he will join Spain's Iker Casillas (2008 and 2012) as the only man to have captained sides to two EURO successes.
Ronaldo is in a league of his own having missed a solitary match in his nation's last five campaigns, EURO 2020 included – he sat out the final group game against Switzerland in 2008, with Portugal already through. His nearest rival is former Germany midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger, who made 18 appearances.
If Ronaldo occupies a league of his own for the previous category then he's on another planet for this one. His haul of 45 goals in EURO qualifying and finals is almost as many as the next two players combined: Zlatan Ibrahimović (25) and Robbie Keane (23).
Ronaldo managed two goals at EURO 2004, one in 2008, three in 2012 and three more in 2016 and is already on five in 2020. He remains the only player to score three or more in multiple EUROs, making it five with his double against Hungary.
Ronaldo will be 39 when EURO 2024 comes around. Would you bet against him being in Germany for it? If he is, these records will be up for grabs:
38 years 257 days Ivica Vastic (Austria, 2008)
39 years 91 days Lothar Matthäus (Germany, 2000)
38 years 232 days Jens Lehmann (Germany, 2008)
37 years 23 days Arnold Mühren (Netherlands, 1988)
* Ties decided in extra time or on penalties are classed as either wins or defeats.
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Break historical records
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PTT pays millions in compensation after Samut Prakan gas pipeline explosion
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on By The Thai petrol company PTT paid millions of baht in compensation to those affected by the Samut Prakan natural gas pipeline explosion last month which killed 3 people and injured more 60 people.
The explosion at an industrial estate in the Bang Bo district killed 3 people, including 2 elderly women, and severely injured 10 people. Another 21 people were admitted to the hospital for less severe injuries and 43 others were slightly hurt from the explosion. Homes and cars were damaged from the fire.
5 million baht was paid to each of the families of the deceased, according to PTT president and CEO Auttapol Rerkipoon, who met with the families as well as victims injured in the explosion to make the payouts. PTT paid 500,000 baht to those severely injured, 200,000 baht to those hospitalised for less severe injuries and 50,000 baht to those with only slight injuries.
SOURCE: Bangkok Post Catch up with the latest daily “Thailand News Today” here on The Thaiger.
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Mike White Wednesday, November 11, 2020 at 1:36 pm Are they going to replace homes personal belongings and vehicles
Martin Sunday, December 6, 2020 at 7:52 pm Yer rite
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Caitlin Ashworth is a writer from the United States who has lived in Thailand since 2018. She graduated from the University of South Florida St. Petersburg with a bachelor’s degree in journalism and media studies in 2016. She was a reporter for the Daily Hampshire Gazette In Massachusetts. She also interned at the Richmond Times-Dispatch in Virginia and Sarasota Herald-Tribune in Florida.
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Gas explosion
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