3 dead as building collapses in Italy
An apartment building collapsed early Saturday in southern Italy, killing three people in their sleep, police said.
Police said the building fell apart after 1 a.m. in Afragola, a small town near Naples.
The victims include a married couple and an elderly woman, said the deputy chief of Naples police, Paolo Iodice. Contradicting earlier statements, police said the woman's granddaughter, a 10-year-old girl, was still alive under the rubble and that rescuers were trying to pull her out.
Iodice said the girl was conscious and was talking to rescuers.
The couple were caught in their bed, their bodies found hugging each other, the ANSA news agency said.
The cause of the collapse was not immediately known. It was not clear if more people were missing.
Related info :
Italy (pronounced /ˈɪtəli/ (
listen); Italian: Italia [iˈtaːlja]), officially the Italian Republic (Italian: Repubblica italiana), is a country located partly on the European Continent and partly on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia. The independent states of San Marino and the Vatican City are enclaves within the Italian Peninsula, and Campione d'Italia is an Italian exclave in Switzerland. The territory of Italy covers 301,338 km² and is influenced by a temperate seasonal climate. With 60.2 million inhabitants, it is the sixth most populous country in Europe, and the twenty-third most populous in the world.
The land known as Italy today has been the cradle of European cultures and peoples, such as the Etruscans and the Romans. Italy's capital, Rome, was for centuries the political centre of Western civilisation, as the capital of the Roman Empire. After its decline, Italy would endure numerous invasions by foreign peoples, from Germanic tribes such as the Lombards and Ostrogoths, to the Normans and later, the Byzantines, among others. Centuries later, Italy would become the birthplace of the Renaissance,[7] an immensely fruitful intellectual movement that would prove to be integral in shaping the subsequent course of European thought.
Through much of its post-Roman history, Italy was fragmented into numerous kingdoms and city-states (such as the Kingdom of Sardinia, the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies and the Duchy of Milan), but was unified in 1861,[8] a tumultuous period in history known as the "Risorgimento". In the late 19th century, through World War I, and to World War II, Italy possessed a colonial empire, which extended its rule to Libya, Eritrea, Italian Somaliland, Ethiopia, Albania, Rhodes, the Dodecanese and a concession in Tianjin, China.[9]
Modern Italy is a democratic republic. It has been ranked the world's eighteenth most-developed country[10] and its Quality-of-Life Index has been ranked in the top ten in the world.[11][12] Italy enjoys a very high standard of living, and has a high nominal GDP per capita.[13][14] It is a founding member of what is now the European Union and North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Italy is also a member of the G7, G8 and G20. It has the world's seventh-largest nominal GDP, tenth highest GDP (PPP)[15] and the fifth highest government budget in the world.[16] It is also a member state of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, the Council of Europe, the Western European Union and the United Nations. Italy has the world's ninth-largest defence budget and shares NATO's nuclear weapons.
Italy plays a prominent role in European and global military, cultural and diplomatic affairs, and it is affiliated with worldwide organizations such as the Food and Agriculture Organization, World Food Programme, International Fund for Agricultural Development, Glocal Forum[17], and the NATO Defence College, which are headquartered in Rome. The country's European political, social and economic influence make it a major regional power, alongside the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Russia,[18][19][20][21][22] and Italy has been classified in a study, measuring hard power, as being the eleventh greatest worldwide national power.[23] The country has a high public education level, high labour force,[24] is a globalised nation,[25] and also has 2009's sixth best international reputation.[26] Italy also has the world's nineteenth highest life expectancy,[27] and in 2000 its healthcare system was ranked the second best in the world by the World Health Organization Report.[28][29] In 2007 it was the world's fifth most visited country, with over 43.7 million international arrivals,[30] and boasts a long tradition in the arts, science and technology, including the world's highest number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites to date
At least 80 dead after Congo boat disaster
A government spokesman says at least 80 people are dead in Congo after a boat capsized in the country's west.
Lambert Mende said Thursday rescuers were searching for dozens of missing people, and that there were around 200 passengers on board. Mende said 80 people had been confirmed dead.
Congo is a vast country of jungles and huge rivers in Central Africa with little more than 300 miles (480 kilometers) of paved road. Many people prefer to take boats even if they do not know how to swim.
The boats are often in poor repair and filled beyond capacity, and the industry is not well-regulated.
Related info :
The Republic of the Congo (French: République du Congo; Kongo: Repubilika ya Kongo; Lingala: Republiki ya Kongó), also known as Congo-Brazzaville, Little Congo, or simply the Congo, is a state in Central Africa. It is bordered by Gabon, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly known as Zaire), the Angolan exclave province of Cabinda, and the Gulf of Guinea.
The region was dominated by Bantu tribes, who built trade links leading into the Congo River basin. The republic is a former French colony.[4] Upon independence in 1960, the former French region of Middle Congo became the Republic of the Congo. The People's Republic of the Congo was a Marxist-Leninist single-party state from 1970 to 1991. Multiparty elections have been held since 1992, although a democratically elected government was ousted in a 1997 civil war.
Survivor of Mont. bear attack says she played dead
A woman who was attacked by a bear in the middle of the night at a busy campground was bitten on her arm and leg before she instinctively played dead so the animal would leave her alone, she said Thursday.
At least one bear rampaged through the campground near Yellowstone National Park on Wednesday, killing a man and injuring Deb Freele of London, Ontario, and another young man.
Appearing on the network morning talk shows from a Wyoming hospital, Freele said she woke up just before the bear bit her arm.
"I screamed, he bit harder, I screamed harder, he continued to bite," she said, adding that she could hear her bones breaking.
Her survival instinct kicked in, and she realized that the screaming wasn't working.
"I told myself, play dead," she said. "I went totally limp. As soon as I went limp, I could feel his jaws get loose and then he let me go."
Freele said the bear was silent.
"This, to me, was just an absolutely freaky thing," she said. "I have to believe that the bear was not normal. It was very quiet, it never made any noise. I felt like it was hunting me."
A frequent camper, Freele said that she was already prepared hours after the attack to go camping again, though she acknowledged that it will take time to recover both physically and emotionally.
She suffered severe lacerations and crushed bones from bites on her arms. The male survivor, thought to be a teenager, suffered puncture wounds on his calf.
The names and ages of the male victims have not been released.
On Thursday morning, it appeared a bear had triggered one of the three traps set near where the man was killed. An Associated Press reporter could hear two bears calling back and forth to one another down in the creek valley while Fish, Wildlife and Parks employees walked around the culvert trap, guns in hand.
FWP Warden Capt. Sam Sheppard declined to comment.
The bear attack was the most brazen in the Yellowstone area since the 1980s, wildlife officials said.
One camper said he heard the screams from two of the attacks early Wednesday.
Don Wilhelm, a wildlife biologist from Texas, thought the first scream was just teenagers, maybe a domestic dispute in the middle of the night. He tried to go back to sleep, stifling thoughts that a beast might be lurking outside his family's tent.
Minutes later, another scream — this one coming from the next campsite over, where a bear had torn through a tent and sunk its teeth into Freele's arm.
"First she said, "No!' Then we heard her say, 'It's a bear! I've been attacked by a bear!'" said Wilhelm's wife, Paige.
By that point, the bear already had ripped into another tent a few campsites away, chomping into the leg of a teenager who had been sleeping with his family. The solo camper who was killed was at the other end of the Soda Butte Campground.
Then, the screams stopped.
After a quick parental back-and-forth over whether to shield their 9- and 12-year-old sons with their bodies or make a break for it, the Wilhelms took advantage of the silence and darted to their SUV.
They drove around the campground, honking their horns and yelling to alert other campers. Along the way, the met with a truck leaving the campground with the teenage victim, who apparently tried in vain to fight off the bear by punching it in the nose.
"It was like a nightmare, couldn't possibly happen," Paige Wilhelm said later.
In 2008 at the same campground, a grizzly bear bit and injured a man sleeping in a tent. A young adult female grizzly was captured in a trap four days later and transported to a bear research center in Washington state.
The latest attack had residents and visitors to this national park satellite community on edge. Many were carrying bear spray, a pepper-based deterrent more commonly seen in Yellowstone's backcountry than on the streets of Cooke City.
"The suspicion among a lot of the residents is that the bear they caught (in 2008) was not the right one," said Gary Vincelette, who has a cabin in nearby Silver Gate.
Last year, another grizzly broke into three cabins in Silver Gate, said Vincelette. That bear was shot and killed by a resident when it returned to the area.
"Three attacks in three years — we haven't ever had anything like that and I've been coming up here since I was a kid," Vincelette said.
About 600 grizzly bears and hundreds of less-aggressive black bears live in the Yellowstone area.
The region is pasted with hundreds of signs warning visitors to keep food out of the bruins' reach. Experts say that bears who eat human food quickly become habituated to people, increasing the danger of an attack.
Yet in the case of the Soda Butte Campground attack, all the victims had put their food into metal food canisters installed at campsite, Sheppard said Wednesday.
"They were doing things right," Sheppard said. "It was random. I have no idea why this bear picked these three tents out of all the tents there."
The 10-acre campground in Gallatin National Forest has 27 sites.
Two other campgrounds were also closed while the attacking bear or bears remained at large.
Related info :
Bears are mammals of the family Ursidae. Bears are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans, with the pinnipeds being their closest living relatives. Although there are only eight living species of bear, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout the Northern Hemisphere and partially in the Southern Hemisphere. Bears are found in the continents of North America, South America, Europe, and Asia.
Common characteristics of modern bears include a large body with stocky legs, a long snout, shaggy hair, plantigrade paws with five nonretractile claws, and a short tail. While the polar bear is mostly carnivorous and the giant panda feeds almost entirely on bamboo, the remaining six species are omnivorous, with largely varied diets including both plants and animals.
With the exceptions of courting individuals and mothers with their young, bears are typically solitary animals. They are generally diurnal, but may be active during the night (nocturnal) or twilight (crepuscular), particularly around humans. Bears are aided by an excellent sense of smell, and despite their heavy build and awkward gait, they can run quickly and are adept climbers and swimmers. In autumn some bear species forage large amounts of fermented fruits which affects their behaviour.[1] Bears use shelters such as caves and burrows as their dens, which are occupied by most species during the winter for a long period of sleep similar to hibernation.
Bears have been hunted since prehistoric times for their meat and fur. To this day, they play a prominent role in the arts, mythology, and other cultural aspects of various human societies. In modern times, the bear's existence has been pressured through the encroachment on its habitats and the illegal trade of bears and bear parts, including the Asian bile bear market. The IUCN lists six bear species as vulnerable or endangered, and even least concern species such as the brown bear are at risk of extirpation in certain countries. The poaching and international trade of these most threatened populations is prohibited, but still ongoing.
Power outages hit Mid-Atlantic after storm; 4 dead
It could take days to restore power to hundreds of thousands of people around Washington after a storm downed power lines and trees and left four people dead, officials said Monday.
The Sunday storm brought cooler weather to the Mid-Atlantic region, which has been through a nearly two-week heat wave, but also left widespread damage in Washington and its suburbs.
Power outages affected more than 430,000 customers. Officials said they hadn't seen a similar outage since Hurricane Isabel in 2003.
Regional utility Pepco reported late Monday that about 182,000 customers were without power in Washington and neighboring Maryland counties. The widespread damage made it unclear when most would be restored, spokesman Bob Hainey said. Major power lines were down, electric poles were broken, and numerous transformers were damaged.
Other electric companies in the region predicted power would be mostly restored by Monday or Tuesday night.
Four deaths in the region were blamed on the storm.
Officials say 63-year-old Warren Douglas Smith died after encountering severe winds and choppy seas on the Chesapeake Bay while trying to return to land on personal watercraft.
In Beltsville, Md., a tree crushed a minivan, killing 44-year-old driver Michelle Humanick and injuring her passenger.
In Virginia, a 6-year-old boy also died after a tree fell on him while he was walking with his family. In Pennsylvania, police say a 53-year-old woman was apparently electrocuted by a fallen power line in her back yard.
Even as cleanup was going on, the power outages were causing disruptions. Numerous traffic signals were out. In Fairfax County, firefighters responded to 22 fires in the storm's aftermath, and nine car accidents were blamed on the storm. In Prince George's County, Md., darkened traffic signals caused about a dozen accidents.
In Washington, officials said there were more than 270 reports of damage from fallen trees or limbs. Fire department spokesman Pete Piringer said about half a dozen homes were significantly damaged by falling limbs. Three cars caught fire as a result of downed power lines.
Mike Allen, 22, was in the attic of his mother's home in Washington when he heard a loud boom. A three-story tall tree had fallen, uprooting a power pole, blocking the home's front entrance and cracking an attic wall.
"There are a lot of streets in the neighborhood where a similar thing has happened," he said. "It's pretty wacky."
Bethesda, Md., resident Mei Zhang initially enjoyed looking at the storm before her power went out.
"The storm hit. The trees were swirling. It was an incredible show outside my window ... It reminded me of 'Wizard of Oz,'" she said.
Officials warned residents of downed lines. Baltimore Gas & Electric said about 8,500 customers were without service late Monday, down from 112,000. The majority were expected to have power by Tuesday evening. Dominion Virginia Power reported about 1,600 customers without power, down from 94,000. Most of those should have power Monday night.
The Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission said the storm also cut off power at its filtration plant that provides water for nearly 2 million people in suburban Maryland. Mandatory restrictions on water use were lifted late Monday after power was restored.
Related info :
- Ice Storm - Ice storms are one of the most dangerous forms of winter weather. When surface temperatures are below freezing, but a thick layer of above freezing air remains aloft above ground level, rain can fall into the freezing layer and freeze upon impact into a "glaze". In general, 8 millimeters (1/4 in) of accumulation is all that is required, especially in combination with breezy conditions, to start downing power lines as well as tree limbs.[1] Ice storms also make unheated road surfaces too slick to drive upon. Ice storms can vary in time range from hours to days and can cripple both small towns and large urban centers alike.
- Blizzard - There are varying definitions for blizzards, both over time and by location. In general, a blizzard is accompanied by gale-force winds, heavy snow (accumulating at a rate of at least 5 centimeters (2 in) per hour), and very cold conditions (below approximately -10 degrees Celsius or 14 F). As of late, the temperature criterion has fallen out of the definition across the United States[2]
- Snowstorm - A heavy fall of snow accumulating at a rate of more than 5 centimeters (2 in) per hour that lasts several hours. Snow storms, especially ones with a high liquid equivalent and breezy conditions, can down tree limbs, cut off power, and paralyze travel over a large region.
Power outages plague DC area after storms; 2 dead
Hundreds of thousands of people were without electricity Monday in the Washington area and may not get power back for days after powerful storms toppled utility poles, power lines and trees and left two people dead.
A cold front that pushed through Sunday triggered the storm and took the edge off a nearly two-week heat wave, but highs up to 90 were still forecast as crews labored to restore the power grid in neighborhoods pummeled by gusty winds and torrential rains.
The storms knocked out power to more than 430,000 customers in the region.
On Monday, regional utility Pepco reported about 232,000 customers were still blacked out in Washington and neighboring Montgomery and Prince George's counties in Maryland. Because the damage was so widespread, there was no timetable for most places to be back on line, Pepco spokesman Bob Hainey said.
"This is going to be a multiple-day event," Hainey said, comparing the outages to those in the wake of Hurricane Isabel in 2003.
Not only were power lines down but electric poles were broken and numerous transformers were damaged, he said.
Two deaths were also attributed to the storm. In Loudoun County, a 6-year-old boy died after a large section of a tree fell on him while he was walking with his family, authorities said. In Beltsville, Md., a tree crushed a minivan, killing a woman in her 40s and injuring a woman in her 60s, Prince George's County fire spokesman Mark Brady said.
Traffic signals were knocked out, resulting in about a dozen car crashes, Brady said. In the most severe accident, two people were transported to a hospital with serious but not life-threatening injuries.
In Washington, officials said there were more than 270 reports of fallen trees or very large limbs and parts of trees that caused damage. Fire department spokesman Pete Piringer said about half a dozen homes were significantly damaged by falling limbs, and 10 boats overturned in the rivers that border the city. Three cars caught fire as a result of downed power lines.
"The dust is settling, and we're extremely busy," Piringer said.
Baltimore Gas & Electric said about 37,000 customers were without service early Monday, though a total of 112,000 lost power as a result of the storms. BGE expected the majority of customers to have power restored by Tuesday evening. Dominion Virginia Power reported that 10,700 customers were without power Monday, down from 94,000. The power company said it expected to have most of the power back on by Monday at midnight.
Power also went out at more than a dozen Metrorail stations and heavy rain flooded one station, the transit agency said. Officials said many generators were still in use early Monday.
The Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission said the storm also cut off power at its filtration plant that provides water for nearly 2 million people in suburban Maryland. The commission said although power had been restored Monday, mandatory restrictions on water use were still in place.
In Prince George's County, authorities say the storm damaged nearly three-dozen apartment buildings, displacing hundreds of residents.
In Washington on Sunday, wind blew off parts of Boy Scouts floats as police cars led a parade convoy away from the National Mall under darkened skies. Drenched tourists ran barefoot through puddles, struggling against the gusty winds to find shelter.
On Monday, some counties closed summer camps and other programs.
Before the storm, the area had been suffering in oppressive heat for almost two weeks with temperatures in the high 90s.
Related info :
A storm (from Proto-Germanic *sturmaz "noise, tumult") is any disturbed state of an astronomical body's atmosphere, especially affecting its surface, and strongly implying severe weather. It may be marked by strong wind, thunder and lightning (a thunderstorm), heavy precipitation, such as ice (ice storm), or wind transporting some substance through the atmosphere (as in a dust storm, snowstorm, hailstorm, etc).
Khmer Rouge jailer faces 19 years for 16,000 dead
A U.N.-backed tribunal sentenced the Khmer Rouge's chief jailer to 35 years for overseeing the deaths of up to 16,000 people — the first verdict involving a senior member of the "killing fields" regime that devastated a generation of Cambodians.
Victims and their relatives burst into tears after learning that Kaing Guek Eav — also known as Duch — will actually serve only 19 years after being convicted of war crimes and crimes against humanity after taking into account time already served and other factors.
That means the 67-year-old could one day walk free, a prospect that infuriated many who have been demanding justice for victims of the regime that killed an estimated 1.7 million people between 1975-79.
"I can't accept this," said Saodi Ouch, 46, shaking so hard she could hardly talk. "My family died ... my older sister, my older brother. I'm the only one left."
More than three decades after the ultra-communist Khmer Rouge killed a quarter of Cambodia's population while trying to turn the country into a vast agrarian collective, Duch is so far the only person to face justice. The group's top leader, Pol Pot, died in 1998 and four other senior Khmer Rouge leaders are awaiting trial for their part in the deaths from execution, starvation, medical neglect and slave-like working conditions.
The U.N.-backed tribunal — 10 years and $100 million in the making — said it took into consideration the historical context of the atrocities: The regime was the product of the troubled Cold War times.
It also recognized that Duch, who headed Tuol Sleng, a secret detention center for the worst "enemies" of the state, was not a member of the Khmer Rouge's inner clique and that he had cooperated with the court, admitted responsibility and showed "limited" expressions of remorse.
During the 77-day proceedings, Duch admitted to overseeing the deaths of up to 16,000 people who passed through the prison's gates. Torture used to extract confessions included pulling out prisoners' toenails, administering electric shocks and waterboarding.
Reuters
At least 100 people bled to death in medieval-style medical experiments.
One of the tribunal's international judges, Silvia Cartwright, said she understood that those who lived through the Khmer Rouge's reign of terror may be upset at the sentence.
"That's one of the reasons that we have an objective tribunal ... fixing as balanced a sentence as we can," she said. "If left to the victims to decide how to punish a person, then it would be, possibly, mob rule."
"You have to bear in mind that victims are very deeply hurt and traumatized," she added. "We can never give them what they lost ... so a sentence can only ever be symbolic in a way."
The prosecution and defense have one month to appeal.
Unlike the other defendants, Duch (pronounced DOIK) has several times asked for forgiveness, even offering at one point to face a public stoning. But his surprise request on the final day of the trial to be acquitted and freed left many wondering if his contrition was sincere.
"He tricked everybody," said Chum Mey, 79, one of just a few people sent to Tuol Sleng prison — code-named S-21 — who survived. The key witness wiped his eyes. "See ... my tears drop down again. I feel like I was victim during the Khmer Rouge, and now I'm a victim once again."
Duch, sitting rigidly in a crisp light purple shirt and starring into the distance, showed no emotion as he listened Monday to the judge talk about the court's findings.
Judges noted that the jailer was often present during interrogations at Tuol Sleng and signed off on all the tortures and executions, sometimes taking part himself. He said the court had rejected arguments that he was acting on orders from the top because he was under duress or feared for his own life.
"In carrying out his functions, he showed a high degree of efficiency and zeal," the judges wrote. "He worked tirelessly to ensure that S-21 ran as efficiently as possible and did so out of unquestioning loyalty to his superiors."
A former math teacher, Duch joined Pol Pot's movement in 1967, three years before the U.S. started carpet-bombing Cambodia to try to wipe out Northern Vietnamese troops and Viet Cong inside the border. By 1976, he was the trusted head of its ultimate killing machine, S-21.
After a Vietnamese invasion forced the Khmer Rouge from power in 1979, Duch disappeared for almost two decades, living under various aliases in northwestern Cambodia, where he had converted to Christianity. His chance discovery by a British journalist led to his arrest just over a decade ago.
Though the tribunal has been credited with helping the traumatized nation speak out publicly for the first time about atrocities committed three decades ago, it has been criticized as well.
The government insisted Cambodians be on the panel of judges, opening the door for political interference. It also sought to limit the number of suspects being tried — fearing, some say, it would implicate its own ranks. The prime minister and other current leaders were once low-level members of the Khmer Rouge.
Though most people doubted Duch would get the maximum life imprisonment, few expected he'd get less than 35 years in jail. The decision to shave 16 years for time already served and illegal detention in a military prison means he has 18 years and 10 months left.
That's around two days in prison for every person who died under his watch.
More than 1,000 villagers showed up for the verdict, some traveling more than 180 miles (300 kilometers) by bus.
"It's just unacceptable to have a man who killed thousands of people serving just 19 years," said Theary Seng, a human rights lawyer who lost both of her parents and has been working with others to find justice.
An international civil rights lawyer and associate fellow of the Singapore Institute of International Affairs also criticized the court's "unimaginative" reparation order, which was limited to simply publishing the judgment. Mahdev Mohan said the U.N.-backed tribunal could have ordered Duch to build a memorial to the victims and to do other work to deter future crimes against humanity.
Among those at Monday's verdict was New Zealander Rob Hamill, the brother of one of a handful of Westerners killed by the Khmer Rouge. Kerry, then 28, was sailing across Asia when his yacht was captured in Cambodian waters in 1978. He was taken to Tuol Sleng and killed.
Another brother committed suicide months later, and their mother died seven years ago.
"All I can say is my family, who are no longer here to see justice, would not want to see this man set free, even if it's in 19 years time," said Hamill, 46, struggling to contain his emotion. "It's reality but I'm not happy... he should not be a free man."
Related info :
The Khmer Rouge (Khmer: ខ្មែរក្រហម) was the name given to the followers of the Communist Party of Kampuchea, who were the ruling party in Cambodia from 1975 to 1979, led by Pol Pot, Ieng Sary, Son Sen and Khieu Samphan. The regime led by the Khmer Rouge from 1975 to 1979 was known as the Democratic Kampuchea.
This organization is remembered primarily for its policy of social engineering and the genocide this caused.[1] Its attempts at agricultural reform led to widespread famine, while its insistence on absolute self-sufficiency, even in the supply of medicine, led to the deaths of thousands from treatable diseases (such as malaria). Brutal and arbitrary executions and torture carried out by its cadres against perceived subversive elements, or during purges of its own ranks between 1976 and 1978, are considered to have constituted a genocide.[2]
The clandestine Communist Party of Kampuchea itself constituted the secret leadership of the Khmer Rouge, as its official name was known only to a few insiders: it called itself the Angkar (the organization) and only announced officially its existence in 1977, almost two years after the establishment of Democratic Kampuchea. After the fall of the Khmer Rouge regime, the organization's remaining guerrilla forces became known as the National Army of Democratic Kampuchea. In 1981 the party itself was dissolved, and substituted by the Party of Democratic Kampuchea.
One dead, 10 wounded in Bangkok bomb blast
A bomb exploded at a bus stop in central Bangkok on Sunday, killing one person and wounding 10 in an attack that reignited tensions two months after the end of deadly opposition protests.
The explosion came hours after polls closed in a closely watched by-election in the capital, with initial results suggesting a leader of the "Red Shirt" anti-government movement had lost to a member of the elite-backed ruling party.
The bomb went off in the early evening at a bus stop in front of a supermarket in the same central shopping district occupied by the Red Shirts during their two-month-long mass rally, which ended with an army crackdown in May.
"It was an attempt to injure innocent people," said government spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn.
"The authorities will have to increase preventative measures," he added, without elaborating.
The victim was a 51-year-old man who died in hospital, an official at the Erawan emergency centre told AFP.
The scene of the attack was sealed off by police and forensic experts were seen collecting wires and small batteries at the site.
The blast appeared to have been caused by a small time bomb "designed to create fear," a soldier at the scene told AFP.
The explosion shattered an uneasy calm that had returned to the capital since the military crushed the Red Shirts' two-month-long mass protests with an assault on their sprawling encampment in the heart of the capital.
Thai society remains deeply divided following the political violence, in which 90 people died and about 1,900 were injured in a series of street clashes between armed troops and demonstrators.
After the crackdown, enraged demonstrators torched major buildings around the capital, including a major shopping mall near the scene of Sunday's blast.
About one fifth of the country, including Bangkok, remains under a state of emergency which bans public gatherings of more than five people and gives security forces the right to detain suspects for 30 days without charge.
The protests by the Reds -- many of whom back fugitive ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra -- attracted up to 100,000 people demanding immediate elections, but most of the leaders are now behind bars.
They include a top Red Shirt who ran in a by-election in a suburb of the capital Sunday that was seen by many as a referendum on the authorities' handling of the political crisis.
Kokaew Pikulthong, who is in prison on terrorism charges and was not allowed out to campaign, appeared to have lost his bid for a seat in parliament, according to initial results from the Election Commission.
Ruling Democrat Party candidate Panich Vikitsreth looked set to clinch victory with 96,480 votes, ahead of Kokaew of the Puea Thai (For Thais) party on 81,776, the election body said.
Red Shirt lawmaker Jatuporn Prompan said his movement would not give up its struggle to replace Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva's government.
"Puea Thai's fight is not over yet. Puea Thai will keep fighting," Jatuporn said.
The Reds, who hail Thaksin's policies for the poor, view the current government as elitist and undemocratic because it came to power after a court ruling threw out the previous administration.
The vote was considered a litmus test of public opinion as it was the first poll since the Red Shirt protests ended in bloodshed.
The pro-establishment ruling party has traditionally enjoyed solid support in the capital while the Reds' main stronghold is in rural areas, particularly the impoverished northeast.
Related info :
Bangkok is the capital, largest urban area and primary city of Thailand. Known in Thai as Krung Thep Mahanakhon (Thai: กรุงเทพมหานคร, pronounced [krūŋtʰêːp máhǎːnákʰɔːn]( listen)), or กรุงเทพฯ Krung Thep (
[listen]) (help·info), meaning "city of angels" for short, it was a small trading post at the mouth of the Chao Phraya River during the Ayutthaya Kingdom. It came to the forefront of Siam when it was given the status as the capital city in 1768 after the burning of Ayutthaya. However, the current Rattanakosin Kingdom did not begin until 1782 when the capital was moved across the river by Rama I after the death of King Taksin. The Rattanakosin capital is now more formally called "Phra Nakhon" (Thai: พระนคร), pertaining to the ancient boundaries in the metropolis' core and the name Bangkok now incorporates the urban build-up since the 18th century which has its own public administration and governor.
Since its inception as the capital of Siam, it was at the center of European Colonial plans, but due to its strategic location in Indochina, it acted as a buffer-zone and brokered power between the European forces. Through this, it gained notoriety in the world as an independent, dynamic and influential city. And in the span of over two hundred years, Bangkok has grown to become the political, social and economic center of Thailand, Indochina and one of Southeast Asia.
As a direct result of the 1980s and 1990s Asian investment boom, numerous multinational corporations base their regional headquarters in Bangkok and the city has become a regional force in finance and business. Its increasing influence on global politics, culture, fashion and entertainment underlines its status as an Alpha global city.[1] In 2009, it was the second most expensive city in South-East Asia behind Singapore.[2]
The city's wealth of cultural landmarks and attractions in addition to its notorious entertainment venues has made it synonymous with exoticism. Its historic wealth coincides with its rapid modernization, reflected in the cityscape and the urban society. The Grand Palace, Vimanmek Palace Complex, its thousands of temples, and the city's notorious red-light districts combine draw in 11 million international visitors each year, trailing just Paris and London.[3]
Bangkok has a population of approximately 6,355,144 residents while the greater Bangkok area has a population of 11,971,000 (January 2008).[4] The capital is part of the heavily urbanized triangle of central and eastern Thailand which stretches from Nakhon Ratchasima along Bangkok to the heavily Industrialized Eastern Seaboard. Bangkok borders six other provinces: Nonthaburi, Pathum Thani, Samut Prakan, Samut Sakhon and Nakhon Pathom, and all five provinces are joined in the conurbation of the Bangkok Metropolitan Area. It is served by two international airports, Suvarnabhumi Airport and Don Mueang International Airport, four rapid transit lines operated by the BTS, MRT, and the SRT, with plans to add eight more by 2020.
Facebook fan page for dead UK killer disappears
A Facebook fan page that glorified a dead killer was removed by its creator Thursday after it drew sharp criticism from Britain's prime minister and put the social networking site in an uncomfortable situation.
The Facebook site "R.I.P. Raoul Moat You Legend" had attracted 38,000 fans, scores of comments praising Moat — and outrage from politicians. Facebook had refused to remove the page even after Prime Minister David Cameron had condemned it, saying there should be no public sympathy for a "callous murderer."
Shrugging off the mounting pressure, Facebook said the page, while controversial, did not violate its rules. But its creator, Siobhan O'Dowd, took it down, saying she was surprised by the negative reaction.
"To be honest, I didn't think this would be the kind of reaction I would get," O'Dowd said.
Facebook confirmed it had not removed the page. Another similar Moat tribute page remained, with more than 9,000 fans.
O'Dowd said she was planning to start a new Moat page, and did not explain how it would be different from the old one.
"We don't condone what he did, as what he did was wrong," she said. "I feel sorry for the families, but he was still a human being at the end of the day."
Moat, a former bouncer, had just been released from a prison term for assault when he shot his ex-girlfriend, killed her new lover and seriously wounded a policeman. After a week on the run, he took his own life Friday when cornered by police.
Cameron's spokesman, Steve Field, said the government had spoken to Facebook about the page, and Cameron praised Conservative lawmaker Chris Heaton-Harris for demanding that Facebook remove the page.
"I cannot understand any wave, however small, of public sympathy for this man," Cameron told the House of Commons on Wednesday. "It is absolutely clear that Raoul Moat was a callous murderer — full stop, end of story."
For many, however, that was not the end of the story. From 18th-century highwaymen to outlaws like Jesse James, criminals have long attracted romantic mythology and public support. The presence of Internet sites like Facebook allows those emotions be seen worldwide, and almost instantaneously.
Moat sparked one of Britain's biggest police manhunts and a media frenzy after his shooting attacks in northeast England. While on the run he "declared war" on police and vowed "I won't stop until I'm dead."
His hours-long standoff with police was carried live Friday on TV before he apparently shot himself. Police acknowledged firing stun guns at Moat in the final minutes and the police watchdog is investigating his death.
Dozens of bouquets and cards have been left at the spot where Moat died, many by strangers.
Many more wrote tributes on the now-vanished Facebook page. The comments ranged from angry to obscene to apparently heartfelt. Fans declared that Moat "one of the few remaining reasons Britain is still great," sympathized that "love got the better of you" and praised him for being someone who "would rather die like a soldier than live like a coward."
Some accused the police of persecuting Moat. Others blamed his ex-girlfriend, whom he shot and seriously wounded.
The page was not entirely pro-Moat — some posters condemn both the killer and his Facebook fans.
Aric Sigman, a psychologist who has studied the biological effects of social networking, said the online outpouring reflected a new and alarming phenomenon — "recreational, virtual grief."
He said sites like Facebook allow strangers to "hold hands virtually and amplify and consolidate their personal feelings, using this news item as a vehicle for their own emotional issues."
"It is being used to amplify and elevate views which in the real world we would all feel are not constructive or healthy," Sigman said.
Facebook defended the Moat tribute page, saying it could help provide a forum for debate.
"Facebook is a place where people can express their views and discuss things in an open way as they can and do in many other places, and as such we sometimes find people discussing topics others may find distasteful," the company said in a statement Thursday. "However that is not a reason in itself to stop a debate from happening."
Facebook regularly removes content that violates its terms, including material that breaks the law, incites violence or is "hateful, threatening, or pornographic."
In February, Facebook removed the profiles of 30 British prison inmates at the government's request after several incidents in which prisoners reportedly used the site to organize crime or taunt others.
Heaton-Harris said some of the comments on the Moat fan page incited hatred.
Related info :
The bottom of the iPhone sports a speaker (left) and a microphone (right) flanking the dock connector. One loudspeaker is located above the screen as an earpiece, and another is located on the left side of the bottom of the unit, opposite a microphone on the bottom-right. The iPhone 4 includes an additional microphone at the top of the unit for noise cancellation, and switches the placement of the microphone and speaker on the base on the unit—the speaker is on the left.[33] Volume controls are located on the left side of all iPhone models and as a slider in the iPod application.
The 3.5 mm TRRS connector for the headphones is located on the top left corner of the device.[34] The headphone socket on the original iPhone is recessed into the casing, making it incompatible with most headsets without the use of an adapter.[35][36] Other generations eliminates the issue with a flush-mounted headphone socket. Cars equipped with an auxiliary jack allow for handsfree use of the iPhone while driving as a substitute for Bluetooth.
While the iPhone is compatible with normal headphones, Apple provides a headset with additional functionality. A multipurpose button near the microphone can be used to play or pause music, skip tracks, and answer or end phone calls without touching the iPhone. A small number of third-party headsets specifically designed for the iPhone also include the microphone and control button.[37] The current headsets also provide volume controls, which are only compatible more recent models.[38] These features are achieved by a fourth ring in the audio jack that carries this extra information.
The built-in Bluetooth 2.x+EDR supports wireless earpieces and headphones, which requires the HSP profile. Stereo audio was added in the 3.0 update for hardware that supports A2DP.[28][29] While non-sanctioned third-party solutions exist, the iPhone does not officially support the OBEX file transfer protocol.[39] The lack of these profiles prevents iPhone users from exchanging multimedia files, such as pictures, music and videos, with other bluetooth-enabled cell phones.
Composite or component video at up to 576i and stereo audio can be output from the dock connector using an adapter sold by Apple.[40] iPhone 4 also supports 1024x768 VGA output via a dock adapter. The iPhone did not support voice recording until the 3.0 software update.[28][29]
6 dead in Mexico in floods caused by Alex
The death toll in Mexico from flooding caused by former Hurricane Alex has risen to six, authorities said Friday.
Nuevo Leon state Civil Defense Director Jorge Camacho said the victims died in and around the northern city of Monterrey.
President Felipe Calderon toured damaged areas of the city where the force of flood waters had tossed and flipped cars and pickup trucks, and nearly buried houses in mud and rocks.
Calderon said 1,200 soldiers had been dispatched to help in relief efforts.
The city was hit by heavy rain on Thursday that swelled the Santa Catarina river, which is normally dry.
The flooding damaged bridges in Monterrey as well as railway tracks in the region.
Alex hit Mexico's Gulf coast on Wednesday as a Category 2 hurricane before weakening into a tropical storm while moving inland. It dissipated on Thursday.
Alex had earlier battered Central America, causing flooding and rock-slides that killed two people in Guatemala and two in El Salvador.
Legal facts :
The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation (BCI) is an investigative law enforcement agency for the U.S. state of Ohio. The department was founded on July 9, 1921. It began as a minor records keeping facility in conjunction with the Department of Public Welfare. A few years later, it was moved to the Department of Mental Hygiene and Corrections. The Department of Corrections originally housed BCI in the basement of London Prison Farm until a fire in the 1930s. During those early years, inmate labor performed most of the work. Interestingly, archives show these inmates reviewing, indexing and sorting fingerprint records. In the 1940s, BCI also had a printing press, and used inmate labor to produce the book entitled, "The Science of Fingerprint Classification: As Taught and Used in the Ohio State Bureau of Identification and Investigation." Criminal investigations on a very small scale were carried out by the laboratory division. In 1959, an 11,350-square-foot (1,054 m2) structure was erected in front of London Prison Farm. At the same time, the Investigations Division was formally added, investigative field agents were hired and the name was changed from Bureau of Criminal Identification to Bureau of Criminal Identification & Investigation. In 1963, BCI was taken over by the Attorney General's Office and was given a broader range of activities. In 1972, Attorney General William Brown reorganized BCI into five separate divisions: identification, laboratory, investigations, administration, and data systems. In 1998 under the tutelage of former Attorney General Betty Montgomery, a $20.3 million dollar, 122,000-square-foot (11,300 m2) facility was erected which allowed BCI to be more visible to the community and expands its assistance to law enforcement. Since 1999, the Bureau has grown to staff more than 300 employees within its four main divisions: laboratory, investigations, administration, and identification.
1 dead, 28 hurt in Rwanda grenade attacks: police
Two hand grenade attacks in the Rwandan capital Kigali killed one person and wounded 28 others overnight, a police spokesman said on national Radio Rwanda on Sunday.
Similar attacks had hit Kigali on February 19, with two dead and about 20 wounded.
"Around 7:00 pm (on Saturday) a hand grenade exploded in the business district where 24 people were wounded and another person died," spokesman Eric Kayiranga said.
"At Nyabugogo (a Kigali district near the bus terminal), another hand grenade exploded wounding four people," he added.
Related information:
The Republic of Rwanda (English pronunciation: /ruːˈændə/ roo-AN-də or /rəˈwɑːndə/ rə-WAHN-də; Kinyarwanda pronunciation [ɾwanda] or IPA: [ɾɡwanda]), known as the Land of a Thousand Hills, is a landlocked country located in the Great Lakes region of eastern-central Africa, bordered by Uganda, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Tanzania.
Although close to the equator, the country has a cool temperate climate due to its high elevation. The terrain consists mostly of grassy uplands and gently rolling hills. Abundant wildlife, including rare mountain gorillas, have resulted in tourism becoming one of the biggest sectors of the country's economy.
Rwanda has received considerable international attention due to its 1994 genocide, in which an estimated 800,000 people were killed.[4] Since then the country has made a recovery and is now considered as a model for developing countries. In 2009 a CNN report labeled Rwanda as Africa's biggest success story, having achieved stability, economic growth (average income has tripled in the past ten years) and international integration.[5] The government is widely seen as one of the more efficient and honest ones in Africa. In 2007 Fortune magazine published an article titled "Why CEOs Love Rwanda." [6] The capital, Kigali, is the first city in Africa to be awarded the Habitat Scroll of Honor Award in the recognition of its "cleanliness, security and urban conservation model." [7] In 2008, Rwanda became the first country to elect a national legislature in which a majority of members were women.[8] Rwanda joined the Commonwealth of Nations on 29 November 2009 as its fifty-fourth member,[9] making the country one of only two in the Commonwealth without a British colonial past.[10]
