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Contents contributed and discussions participated by sarahbalick

sarahbalick

Geraldine Largay's Wrong Turn: Death on the Appalachian Trail - The New York Times - 0 views

  • She was afraid of being alone and prone to anxiety, a diminutive 66-year-old woman with a poor sense of direction, hiking the Appalachian Trail by herself, who wandered into terrain so wild, it is used for military training. She waited nearly a month in the Maine woods for help that never came
  • Her last entry reflected a strikingly graceful acceptance of what was coming.
  • “When you find my body, please call my husband George and my daughter Kerry,”
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  • t will be the greatest kindness for them to know that I am dead and where you found me — no matter how many years from now.”
  • Ms. Largay, a retired nurse from Tennessee, had survived nearly a month on her own
  • that Geraldine had a poor sense of direction,” the Warden Service’s investigative report said. “Ms. Lee said that Geraldine had taken a wrong turn on the trail, more than once,” and Ms. Largay “became flustered and combative when she made these kinds of mistakes.”
  • Her doctor would tell investigators that once she ran out of the medication she took for anxiety, she could suffer panic attacks.
sarahbalick

Euro 2016 football tournament in France could be terror target, US warns - BBC News - 1 views

  • Euro 2016 football tournament in France could be terror target, US warns
  • The US has warned that the Euro 2016 football championship being held in France next month could be a target of militant attacks.
  • "The large number of tourists visiting Europe in the summer months will present greater targets for terrorists," the State Department said.
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  • In March, 32 people died in neighbouring Belgium when suicide blasts hit Brussels airport and a metro station. So-called Islamic State said it was behind both the Paris and Brussels attacks.
  • The attacks could hit tourist sites, restaurants, commercial centres and transportation, it warns, with large events such as Euro 2016 singled out. @media only screen and (min-width: 1px) { .ns_datapic_stat--euro-2016-data .ns_outer_wrapper { background-image: none; } .ns_datapic_stat--euro-2016-data .ns_outer_wrapper .ns_inner_wrapper { max-width: 100%; padding: 0; } } @media only screen and (min-width: 480px) { .ns_datapic_stat--euro-2016-data .ns_outer_wrapper .ns_inner_wrapper { max-width: 40%; padding: 0.5em; } .ns_datapic_stat--euro-2016-data .ns_outer_wrapper { background-image: url(http://news.files.bbci.co.uk/vj/live/idt-images/data_pic-Euro_2016_data/marseille_r13sr.jpg); } } .ie8 .ns_datapic_stat--euro-2016-data .ns_outer_wrapper .ns_inner_wrapper { max-width: 40%; padding: 0.5em; } .ie8 .ns_datapic_stat--euro-2016-data .ns_outer_wrapper { background-image: url(http://news.files.bbci.co.uk/vj/live/idt-images/data_pic-Euro_2016_data/marseille_r13sr.jpg); }
  • An unnamed US official told the Reuters news agency they had no particular threat information that gave rise to the latest alert.
  • More than 90,000 police, soldiers and private security agents are being deployed as well.
sarahbalick

India hospital transfusions infect thousands with HIV - BBC News - 0 views

  • India hospital transfusions infect thousands with HIV
  • At least 2,234 Indians have contracted the deadly HIV virus while receiving
  • blood transfusions in hospitals in the past 17 months alone.
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  • India has around 2.09 million people living with HIV/Aids.The highest number of patients who had been infected with HIV as a result of contaminated blood in hospitals, were from the northern state of Uttar Pradesh with 361 cases, Mr Kothari's RTI (Right to Information) query revealed.
  • "This is the official data, provided by the government-run Naco. I believe the real numbers would be double or triple that," Mr Kothari told the BBC.
  • "But each such test costs 1,200 rupees ($18; £12) and most hospitals in India do not have the testing facilities. Even in a big city like Mumbai, only three private hospitals have HIV testing facilities. Even the largest government hospitals do not have the technology to screen blood for HIV," Mr Kothari said.
sarahbalick

Obama: World leaders 'rattled' by Trump - BBC News - 0 views

  • Obama: World leaders 'rattled' by Trump
  • US President Barack Obama has said that international leaders "have good reason to be rattled" by pronouncements made by the Republican White House contender, Donald Trump.
  • Mr Obama said foreign leaders were surprised by his nomination.
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  • There has so far been no response from the billionaire businessman.
  • "They are not sure how seriously to take some of his pronouncements, but they're rattled by him - and for good reason, because a lot of the proposals that he's made display either ignorance of world affairs or a cavalier attitude," the president said.
  • America's allies are not paying their fair share of defence costs, especially Nato and Asian countries benefitting from US military support (April 2016)
  • "[He only has] an interest in getting tweets and headlines instead of actually thinking through what it is that is required to keep America safe and secure and prosperous, and what's required to keep the world on an even keel."
sarahbalick

World Humanitarian Summit attacks 'broken' system - AJE News - 0 views

  • World Humanitarian Summit attacks 'broken' system Participants in UN summit in Istanbul call for better aid system and new focus on preventing trouble before it begins.
  • The way world powers respond to humanitarian crises has been labelled "broken" at a gathering of world leaders in Istanbul.
  • "It is shameful that rich countries are moaning, complaining, sending refugees back, cutting deals behind their backs ... We want to see rich countries step up to the plate, absorb refugees and give them opportunities in their countries," Winnie Byanyima, executive director of the aid group Oxfam International, told Al Jazeera.
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  • At the centre of the summit was a document that lists a number of core commitments - to use global leadership to prevent and end wars, to uphold the norms of humanitarian law, among others.
sarahbalick

Afghan Taliban announce successor to Mullah Mansour - BBC News - 0 views

  • Afghan Taliban announce successor to Mullah Mansour
  • The Afghan Taliban have announced a new leader to replace Mullah Akhtar Mansour who was killed in a US drone strike.
  • Analysts say it is unlikely the group will change direction under hardline religious scholar Akhundzada.
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  • Last year the Taliban were plunged into turmoil when Mansour replaced the group's founder Mullah Mohammad Omar.
  • It doesn't look as if there will be a major shift in the Taliban's approach to peace talks under the new leadership. Mawlawi Hibatullah Akhundzada was deputy to Mullah Mansour and held senior positions under the movement's founder Mullah Omar.
  • A Taliban statement said the new appointment had been unanimous, the same word the Taliban used when Mullah Mansour took over. Splits soon emerged after that - this time there could still be some disagreements, but probably not enough to challenge the new leader's authority.
  • Hibatullah Akhundzada has been appointed as the new leader of the Islamic Emirate (Taliban) after a unanimous agreement in the shura (supreme council), and all the members of shura pledged allegiance to him,"
  • "We invite Mula Hibatullah to peace. Political settlement is the only option for the Taliban or new leadership will face the fate of Mansour," Javid Faisal tweeted.
  • Separately on Wednesday, 10 people were killed and four injured in a suicide attack that hit a bus carrying court employees in Kabul, government officials told the BBC.
sarahbalick

Syria conflict: IS 'destroyed helicopters' at Russian base - BBC News - 0 views

  • Syria conflict: IS 'destroyed helicopters' at Russian base
  • New satellite imagery appears to reveal extensive damage to a strategically significant airbase in central Syria used by Russian forces after a reported attack by so-called Islamic State (IS).
  • Four helicopters and 20 lorries were destroyed in a series of fires inside the T4 base last week, the images from intelligence company Stratfor suggest
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  • he Russian military has denied reports that it had lost helicopters at the base as a result of an IS attack.
  • "Burning of four Russian attack helicopters and 20 trucks loaded with missiles inside T4 airport in eastern Homs [province] as a result of a nearby fire," it said in an urgent report, leading to speculation that it could have been accidental.
  • 'Not an accident'
  • "What the imagery tells us is that first of all this was not an accidental explosion, as some of the rumours kept saying,
  • "It shows very clearly that there are several different sources of explosions across the airport, and it shows that the Russians took a quite a bad hit.
  • "An entire combat helicopter unit was wiped out - four helicopters in total
  • Mr Tack described Amaq's account as "very accurate", and suggested the helicopters and depot were destroyed by IS attacks.
  • In this case, we haven't seen any of those materials come out yet. One possibility is that by making the statement they were intending to claim it while not necessarily phrasing it that way."
  • The province of Homs stretches out into the Syrian desert towards Raqqa, the capital of the "caliphate" proclaimed by IS in 2014, and Deir al-Zour, on the way to the border with Iraq, he notes.
  • A Kurdish-Arab alliance has announced the launch of a military campaign against IS north of Raqaa.
  • The assault will be supported by air strikes from the US-led coalition bombing IS in Iraq and Syria, it added.
  • "The regime and the Russians are facing notable challenges in trying to disconnect those two.
sarahbalick

West and Russia on course for war, says ex-Nato deputy commander | World news | The Gua... - 0 views

  • West and Russia on course for war, says ex-Nato deputy commander
  • A startling claim that the west is on course for war with Russia has been delivered by the former deputy commander of Nato, the former British general Sir Alexander Richard Shirreff.
  • In a chilling scenario, he predicts that Russia, in order to escape what it believes to be encirclement by Nato, will seize territory in eastern Ukraine, open up a land corridor to Crimea and invade the Baltic states.
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  • His scenario is specific, naming Latvia as the first of the Baltic countries to be invaded, in May next year. Such specifics open him to potential ridicule.
  • Faced with scepticism from journalists at the book launch – the Baltic states, unlike Ukraine, are members of Nato, and Russian action against any of them would in theory trigger a response – Shirreff said history was full of irrational decisions by leaders.
  • He describes Russia as now the west’s most dangerous adversary and says Putin’s course can only be stopped if the west wakes up to the real possibility of war and takes urgent action.
  • “However, formal action would have involved a court martial and, fortunately for the latter’s political reputation – it also seems he had not appreciated that I reported to Nato and not to him – wiser counsel had prevailed.”
sarahbalick

DEATH VALLEY: Three suspects ID'd in death of rare Devil's Hole pupfish (UPDATE) - Pres... - 0 views

  • DEATH VALLEY: Three suspects ID'd in death of rare Devil's Hole pupfish (UPDATE)
  • It only lives in one spot – the 93-degree waters of Devil’s Hole, part of a detached unit of Death Valley National Park in Nye County, Nevada.
  • Three men on a drunken spree killed one of the Devil’s Hole pupfish late last month. The men left behind beer cans, vomit and boxer shorts, according to National Parks Service surveillance footage.
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  • On Monday, May 9, the Center for Biological Diversity tripled the reward to $15,000 for information leading to an arrest and conviction in the case.Initially, the parks service had offered a $5,000 reward
  • Authorities released surveillance video Monday showing the men climbing a fence guarding Devils Hole on April 30. They fired at least 10 rounds from a shotgun, shooting the locks off of two gates, and left beer cans and vomit
  • “The last thing they need are these idiots running amok in the last place on Earth where they still survive,” she said.
sarahbalick

World's Oldest Person Dies in New York at Age 116 - ABC News - 0 views

  • World's Oldest Person Dies in New York at Age 116
  • Robert Young, a senior consultant for the Los Angeles-based Gerontology Research Group, said Jones died Thursday night at a public housing facility for seniors in Brooklyn where she had lived for more than three decades. He said she had been ill for the past 10 days.
  • Jones was born in a small farm town near Montgomery, Alabama, in 1899. She was one of 11 siblings and attended a special school for young black girls. When she graduated from high school in 1922, Jones worked full time helping family members pick crops. She left after a year to begin working as a nanny, heading north to New Jersey and eventually making her way to New York.
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  • After she moved to New York, Jones worked with a group of her fellow high school graduates to start a scholarship fund for young African-American women to go to college. She also was active in her public housing building's tenant patrol until she was 106.
  • "Ms. Jones was the very last American from the 1800s," said Young, whose group tracks and maintains a database of the world's longest-living people.
sarahbalick

Leading Hezbollah commander and key Israel target killed in Syria | World news | The Gu... - 0 views

  • Leading
  • Hezbollah
  • commander and key Israel target killed in Syria
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  • edia reports in Lebanon and Israel quickly suggested the blast had been caused by an Israeli airstrike, a suggestion to which Hezbollah gave weight, announcing it was investigating whether a “missile or artillery strike” had been responsible.
  • Badreddine was the most senior member of the organisation to have been killed since the
  • death
  • of his predecessor and brother-in-law, Imad Mughniyeh, who was assassinated by a joint Mossad/CIA operation in the Syrian capital in February 2008.
  • Announcing Badreddine’s death, Hezbollah said: “He said months ago that he would not return from Syria except as a martyr or carrying the flag of victory. He is the great jihadi leader Mustafa Badreddine, and he has returned today a martyr.”
  • The investigation will work to determine the nature of the explosion and its causes, whether it was due to an air or missile or artillery strike, and we will announce the results of the investigation soon.”
  • Hezbollah said he had been involved in nearly all the group’s operations since its inception in the early 1980s. Most had targeted Israel, which occupied Lebanon from 1982-2000. However, Badreddine had also been accused of leading a cell that was allegedly responsible for the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri on the Beirut waterfront in February 2005.
  • Despite Israeli protests, Russia has recently proceeded with a long-delayed sale to Iran of the advanced S-300 weapons system, which can shoot down most modern fighter jets. Israeli officials have said they would prioritise tracking the whereabouts of the systems, the position of which in southern Lebanon would pose a potent threat to their air force.
  • Tens of thousands of mourners are expected to pay their respects at a shrine site for Hezbollah dead, which includes the graves of Imad and Jihad Mughniyah. Nasrallah is also expected to make a public statement – his second within a week. More news Topics Hezbollah Lebanon Iran Israel Middle East and North Africa Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share via Email Share on Pinterest Share on LinkedIn Share on Google+ Share on WhatsApp Save for later Article saved <
sarahbalick

IS conflict: Dozens killed in Baghdad car bombings - BBC News - 0 views

  • IS conflict: Dozens killed in Baghdad car bombings
  • At least 93 people have been killed in three car bomb attacks in the Iraqi capital Baghdad, police and medics say.
  • he deadliest killed 64 people and wounded 87 in a market in the mainly Shia Muslim area of Sadr City.
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  • The so-called Islamic State (IS) group claimed the attacks - the worst day of violence in Baghdad so far this year.
  • olice and witnesses said the explosives were hidden under fruit and vegetables loaded on a pick-up trick.
  • "It was such a thunderous explosion that jolted the ground," Karim Salih, a 45-year old grocer, told the Associated Press. "The force of the explosion threw me for meters away and I lost consciousness for a few minutes."
  • IS said one of its suicide bombers had carried out the attack, and that it was aimed at Shia militiamen, an account that seems to be at odds with reports from the scene, our correspondent adds.
  • Both police officers and civilians were among the at least 17 people who died and 43 who were injured, officials said.
  • Our correspondent says the bombings come in the midst of an acute political crisis in the city, with parliament unable to meet and the government effectively paralysed by factional disputes.
  • "Politicians are fighting each other in parliament and government while the people are being killed every day," Hussein Abdullah, the own
  • er of an electrical appliances store who suffered shrapnel wounds, told AP.
  • The UN says at least 3,379 Iraqis were killed in acts of terrorism, violence and armed conflict in the first four months of this year. A total of 741 died in April.
sarahbalick

North Korea releases unretouched photos of Kim Jong-un | World news | The Guardian - 0 views

  • North Korea releases unretouched photos of Kim Jong-un
  • North Korean state media have released high-resolution headshots of more than two dozen top officials in the secretive country, including its leader, Kim Jong-un. Nothing unusual about that.
  • signs of retouching.
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  • Analyst Cho Han-bum, at the Seoul-based Korea Institute for National Unification, said North Korea might be trying to portray Kim as a young leader who is humble yet confident.
sarahbalick

US activates missile shield base in Romania - BBC News - 0 views

  • US activates missile shield base in Romania
  • The US has activated a land-based missile defence station in Romania, which will form part of a larger and controversial European shield.
  • The US says the Aegis system is a shield to protect Nato from short and medium-range missiles, particularly from the Middle East.
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  • Relations between the West and Russia have deteriorated since Moscow's annexation of Ukraine's southern Crimea peninsula in 2014.
  • The US is believed to have spent $800m (£554m) on radar and SM-2 missile interceptors since 2013.
  • The station will have a battery of SM-2 missile interceptors.
  • Nato and US officials say the system has been developed to track and intercept missiles fired from a "rogue" state. In the past Iran was mentioned in that context, but the US has also had North Korea in mind.
  • "Russia has repeatedly raised concerns that the US and Nato defence are directed against Russia and represents a threat to its strategic nuclear deterrent. Nothing could be further from the truth," he added.
  • "This decision is harmful and mistaken, because it is capable of upsetting strategic stability," said Mikhail Ulyanov, head of the Russian foreign ministry's department for proliferation and arms control issues.
  • He said the Americans' MK-41 launch system could also be used to fire cruise missiles, not just air defence missiles.
  • "From our viewpoint this is a violation of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty," he said.
sarahbalick

Penn State Settlements Tied to Jerry Sandusky Abuse Date Back to 1971 | NBC 10 Philadel... - 0 views

  • Penn State Settlements Tied to Jerry Sandusky Abuse Date Back to 1971
  • Penn State's legal settlements with Jerry Sandusky's accusers cover alleged abuse dating to 1971, which was 40 years before his arrest, the university said Sunday, providing the first confirmation of the time frame of abuse claims that have led to big payouts.
  • Responding to questions about the president's statement and claims against the school, university spokesman Lawrence Lokman told The Associated Press he could confirm that the earliest year of alleged abuse covered in Penn State's settlements is 1971.
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  • the school or lawyers for those who said Sandusky victimized them.
  • The settlements, including the one covering the 1971 allegation, were reached after Sandusky's 2012 conviction. But few details have been provided on the payouts by eithe
  • The university has paid out more than $90 million to settle more than 30 civil claims involving Sandusky, now 72 and serving a lengthy prison sentence for the sexual abuse of 10 children. The trial involved only allegations dating as far back as the mid-1990s.
  • The insurers cited an allegation that a boy had told the longtime Penn State football coach in 1976 that he had been molested by Sandusky. The court document also cited statements, from those claiming they had been Sandusky's victims, that two unidentified assistant coaches had said they witnessed inappropriate contact between Sandusky and children in the late 1980s.
  • Barron said those allegations, and others raised in some news reports in recent
  • days, are "unsubstantiated and unsupported by any evidence other than a claim by an alleged victim.""Coach Paterno is not alive to refute them. His family has denied them," Barron said.
  • Sue Paterno, who has defended her husband's legacy and said the family had no knowledge of new claims, also called for an end to what she called "this endless process of character assassination by accusation."
  • In 2001, Paterno told high-ranking university officials one of his assistant coaches reported seeing Sandusky acting inappropriately with a child in a team shower. In 2011, Paterno told a grand jury he did not know of any other incidents involving Sandusky, who retired from Penn State in 1999.
sarahbalick

BBC's Rupert Wingfield-Hayes and team expelled from North Korea - BBC News - 0 views

  • BBC's Rupert Wingfield-Hayes and team expelled from North Korea
  • Our correspondent, producer Maria Byrne and cameraman Matthew Goddard were stopped by officials on Friday as they were about to leave North Korea.
  • Wingfield-Hayes was questioned for eight hours by North Korean officials and made to sign a statement.
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  • The BBC team was in North Korea ahead of the Workers' Party Congress, accompanying a delegation of Nobel prize laureates conducting a research trip.
  • "Four BBC staff, who were invited to cover the Workers Party Congress, remain in North Korea and we expect them to be allowed to continue their reporting."
sarahbalick

John Kasich, last Republican Trump rival, quits race - BBC News - 0 views

  • John Kasich, last Republican Trump rival, quits race
  • Ohio Governor John Kasich has dropped out of the presidential race after struggling to gain traction against Republican front-runner Donald Trump.
  • "As I suspend my campaign today I have renewed faith, deeper faith that the Lord will show me the way forward,"
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  • Mr Trump holds a commanding lead and is closing in on the nomination
  • Several senior Republicans said on Wednesday they would not back him, with some saying they would prefer to vote for Mrs Clinton.
  • Ted Cruz's withdrawal from the race on Tuesday night meant John Kasich's long-shot path to the nomination - deadlocked delegates in a contested convention turning to him as a compromise candidate - was definitively closed.
  • Texas Senator Ted Cruz dropped out of the race on Tuesday after losing heavily to Mr Trump in the Indiana primary.
sarahbalick

Turkish PM Davutoğlu resigns as President Erdoğan tightens grip | World news ... - 0 views

  • Turkish PM Davutoğlu resigns as President Erdoğan tightens grip
  • The Turkish prime minister, Ahmet Davutoğlu, has announced his resignation after 20 months in office, consolidating Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s position as Turkey’s unrivalled political leader and highlighting concerns about the country turning increasingly authoritarian.
  • “After consultations with the president I decided that it would be more appropriate for the unity of [the AKP] to change the chairman,”
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  • “I have no sense of failure or regret in taking that decision.”
  • The announcement came one day after intense talks between Erdoğan and Davutoğlu, during which they did not manage to smooth out their differences. Tension had been simmering since shortly after Davutoğlu replaced Erdoğan as prime minister in August 2014 but recently intensified. Analysis Turkey-EU refugees deal may be biggest casualty of Erdoğan supremacy Forced departure of pro-EU PM comes at particularly bad time for Syria and will add to EU unease with strongman president Read more
  • The author, thought to be a journalist with close ties to Erdoğan, accused Davutoğlu of conspiring with Turkey’s enemies and western powers to sideline the president.
  • Erdoğan’s honour is my honour,” he said. “I will not accept any speculation concerning my relationship with President Erdoğan. We have always stood shoulder to shoulder.”
  • “This is a catastrophic situation,” said Levent Gültekin, a writer and columnist. “This is a decisive step towards one-man rule in Turkey. From now on the only Turkey we will be able to see is the Turkey of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.”
  • “Erdoğan does not want anyone in the party who does not fully agree with him, or anyone who would have their own opinion on any topic,” Gültekin explained. “Davutoğlu was one of the last AK party politicians who would make suggestions of change to Erdoğan’s policies.”
sarahbalick

Alberta wildfire: Emergency declared in Fort McMurray - BBC News - 0 views

  • Alberta wildfire: Emergency declared in Fort McMurray
  • A state of emergency has been declared in the province of Alberta in Canada
  • Officials say the fast-moving blaze could destroy much of the city.
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  • after a wildfire forced all 88,000 residents of Fort McMurray to flee.
  • gutted 1,600 buildings, including a new school.
  • Several firms have shut down some pipelines
  • So far there have been no reports of deaths or injuries, but two women gave birth in one evacuation centre
  • It was something you'd see in a movie probably. I was stuck between a concrete barrier and the fire and I thought 'You know what? I might not make it out'.
  • "There's whole neighbourhoods that are gone. A hotel burned down, a gas station exploded. One lady that I met she actually was sheltered behind like an electrical box when it actually exploded and she felt a shockwave."
  • "You could hear the pop, pop, pop because of the propane tanks,"
  • Fort McMurray itself is sealed off to all but the emergency services, but it is reportedly a scene of devastation.One police officer who lives and patrols in the city told the BBC that, in his assessment, around half of it had been destroyed.
  • "It's well known that one of the consequences of climate change will be a greater prevalence of extreme weather events around the planet,"
  • he said.
  • "However, any time we try to make a political argument out of one particular disaster…that can sometimes not have the desired outcome."
  • Officials said the size of the blaze was now more than 10,000 hectares (39 square miles) and it was being tackled by 100 firefighters.
sarahbalick

Bangladesh LGBT editor hacked to death - BBC News - 0 views

  • Bangladesh LGBT editor hacked to death
  • Bangladesh police say a top gay rights activist and editor at the country's only LGBT magazine is one of two people who have been hacked to death.
  • Another person was also injured when the attackers entered a Dhaka flat.
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  • The two men were murdered two days after a university teacher was hacked to death by suspected Islamist militants.
  • So-called Islamic State (IS) claimed responsibility - but the Bangladeshi government insists there is no IS presence in the country.
  • "I am devastated by the brutal murder of Xulhaz Mannan and another young Bangladeshi," said US Ambassador Marcia Bernicat."We abhor this senseless act of violence and urge the government of Bangladesh in the strongest terms to apprehend the criminals behind these murders," she added.
  • A British photographer who knew Mr Mannan and the other victim, known as
  • "Tonoy" and named in Bangladeshi media as Tanay Mojumdar, said they and other friends had set up Roopbaan with the aim of spreading tolerance.
  • Homosexuality is technically illegal in Bangladesh and remains a highly sensitive issue in society.
  • "Both were extremely gentle, non-violent and aware that being openly gay and active in their work was a personal danger," the photographer said.
  • "Until a year ago the only threat to coming out was shame of the family and having to start a new life elsewhere in Bangladesh. Now it's one of danger," he said.
  • Imran Sarker, who led major protests by secular activists in 2013 against Islamist leaders, said he had received a phone call warning that he would be killed "very soon".
  • Last year, four prominent secular bloggers were also killed with machetes.The four bloggers had all appeared on a list of 84 "atheist bloggers" drawn up by Islamic groups in 2013 and widely circulated.
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