Thursday, January 14, 2016

On Monday, Luis Enrique won the 2015 FIFA World Coach of the Year in Zürich, Switzerland.

In his first year as manager of FC Barcelona, Enrique won five trophies, including the 2015 FIFA Club World Cup. The other finalists were Pep Guardiola, a former Barcelona coach and current manager of the German giants Bayern Munich, and Argentine Jorge Sampaoli, the coach of Chile’s national football team.

Guardiola led Bayern to the Bundesliga title and under Sampoli, Chile won their first ever-Copa América, defeating Argentina 4–1 on penalties. Enrique won La Liga, the Copa del Rey, the UEFA Champions League — just the second time the club has won that treble — the UEFA Super Cup and the FIFA Club World Cup. Barcelona also defeated their arch-rivals Real Madrid 4–0 in November.

Barcelona technical secretary Robert Fernandez attended the ceremony and collected the award on behalf of Enrique, who did not attend the function. Fernandez said “It must have been a very difficult choice because the other candidates [are of] very, very high quality,”. He also added that Enrique wanted to share the award with all those people who “who have supported him in difficult times and good times. The staff, the president, the board, the fans and our players. This is an incredible dream team that has pushed us forward.”

Earlier in the ceremony, Jill Ellis, who coached the United States’s women’s football team to win the World Cup, was announced as the FIFA Football Women’s Coach of the year.

A compilation of brief news reports for Tuesday, December 9, 2008.

The United States media group Tribune Company has filed for bankruptcy protection on Monday as it struggled to sort out its US$13 billion debt. It is the second-largest newspaper publisher in the United States, responsible for the Chicago Tribune and the Los Angeles Times, among others.

The firm has been hit hard by the industry-wide slump in newspaper advert revenues this year. Sam Zell, the billionaire who owns Tribune, took out large loans in order to buy the firm back in June of 2007.

The United States Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection law states that a company can continue trading whilst it sorts out its finances.

Sources

• “US publisher in bankruptcy move” — BBC News Online, December 8, 2008
• “Tribune files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy” — MarketWatch.com, December 8, 2008

The Quebec general election is underway in the Canadian province of Quebec. Premier Jean Charest called the elections, saying he needed a majority to guide Quebec through a period of economic difficulties caused by the worldwide financial crisis.

Polls indicate that the Charest may obtain a majority, with support for his Quebec Liberal Party increasing to 45%, while support for the Parti Québécois remains at around 30%.

The polls will close at 01:00 GMT (20:00 local time), and the results will probably come in soon after that.

Sources

• “Quebec voters head to the polls” — BBC News Online, December 8, 2008
• “Quebec votes in provincial elections” — Agence France-Presse, December 8, 2008

The United States government is reportedly close to an agreement for a US$15 billion bailout plan for the country’s three largest auto firms.

According to a draft obtained by the Associated Press, the deal would give loans to Detroit‘s struggling Big Three automobile manufacturers — Ford, General Motors, and Chrysler — but under the condition that the auto industry restructures itself to survive. Another condition is that the incumbent US President, George W. Bush, would appoint an overseer to supervise the effort.

Analysts suggest that the agreement could be signed into law by the end of this week.

Sources

• “White House cool to plan for auto bailout” — MSNBC, December 8, 2008
• “US car bail-out nears agreement” — BBC News Online, December 8, 2008

Monday, April 12, 2010

A car bomb has exploded outside an army base in Northern Ireland that is the headquarters for MI5 domestic security services. The attack has been claimed by dissidents from the Real Irish Republican Army, a more radical splinter group of the IRA.

According to police, Real IRA members hijacked a vehicle from a taxi driver in Belfast; Al Jazeera reports it was commandeered at gunpoint. A bomb was planted in the car, which was then driven to the rear of the Palace Barracks.

The explosion comes several hours before the Northern Ireland Assembly was scheduled to appoint its first justice minister, and only minutes after the Belfast power-sharing administration regained control over justice and policing in the province for the first time in nearly four decades.

An Ulster Unionist member of the Belfast Policing Board, Basil McCrea, commented on the explosion, saying: “It’s obviously people trying to make a statement about the transfer of policing and justice powers. We are going to have to expect more of this over the next period of time […] There will be people who will try to disrupt the process,” as quoted by the BBC.

He commented that he believed the incident was a “one-off” occurrence, and said he tried to reassure concerned locals in the area.

Police said IRA dissidents held a Belfast taxi driver at gunpoint in his home and used his vehicle to carry the bomb to the rear of Palace Barracks. Witnesses report hearing an explosion shortly after midnight local time; Al Jazeera puts the precise time of the detonation at 00.24 local time (23.24 UTC). One man was hospitalised following the bombing, although there are no reports of deaths.

According to a local journalist, security has cordoned off the area near the explosion.

Monday, June 25, 2018

On Friday, former contractor for the United States’ National Security Agency (NSA) Reality Leigh Winner plead guilty to espionage in an Augusta, Georgia courtroom for leaking classified documents regarding alleged Russian hacking during the 2016 presidential election cycle to a online media outlet. 25-year-old Winner was arrested and charged under the 1971 Espionage Act when^{When exactly in the timeframe?} she allegedly removed classified documents from a secure facility and sought the publication through The Intercept, which carries up to a ten-year sentence.

Reporters from The Intercept request a statement from the NSA and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence prior to the article’s publication on June 5, 2017, prompting an investigation into the security breach. According to The Intercept, the source was anonymous but the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) quickly suspecting Winner, suggesting the reporters disclosed Winner as the source yet still remains unproven. As part of her duties, Winner obtained and maintained a Top Secret security clearance which requires her to understand the strict rules when handling such information. FBI Special Agent Justin C. Garrick claims in an affidavit, Winner printed, without authorization, the documents around May 9, 2017, removing them from an unknown secure facility in Georgia.

During an interrogation with Winner, Special Agent Garrick acknowledges Winner confessed to obtaining and distributing sensitive intelligence. A statement by Winner claimed, “I wasn’t trying to be a Snowden or anything”, referring to the former NSA contractor Edward Snowden releasing information about NSA data collection and analysis programs like PRISM and ECHELON. However, the FBI has Facebook messages originating from Winner’s account to her sister’s account with sympathetic statements towards Snowden and Julian Assange. No communication has ever been discovered directly connecting Snowden or Assange to Winner. However, Assange did announce a US$10,000 bounty for the reporter responsible for allegedly ousting Winner to the FBI. All of the documents Winner eventually made it to Assange’s WikiLeaks site, with the origin unknown due to the operation of the site.

According to a follow-up report by The Intercept earlier this month, the FBI has made unsubstantiated claims Winner also had a thumb-drive with more compromising information and claims Winner is being punished inconsistent of other notable leakers. Since her arrest, leakers of sensitive intelligence information have been arrested and released on bail, whilst Winner remained incarcerated.

Winner enlisted in the U.S. Air Force for six years before being honourably discharged, then joined the intelligence contractor Pluribus International Corp. During her enlistment, she acted as a linguist competent in Pashto, Farsi, and Dari, highly coveted skills by the intelligence community. After separating with the Air Force, she became a bodybuilder and instructor at a yoga studio in Augusta, alongside her work as a contractor. She was held on US$1 million for the last year, at the Lincoln County Jail in Augusta, GA^{[[|Avoid ambiguous acronyms]]}.

[edit]

Sunday, August 10, 2008

Authorities say that “violent terrorists” attempted to blow up sites in the Xinjiang province of the country. Police say at least 11 people were killed, all except one were reported to be the attackers responsible for the blasts. Police say three more were arrested and another three are “still at large.”

Monsters and Critics.com quote Deutsche Presse-Agentur as saying witnesses on scene reported a plane flying over the town of Kuqa which was followed by 20 large “flashes”, but “no fire or smoke” which was then followed by “sporadic” gunfire. According to Xinhua the explosions occurred at about 3:20 local time (19:20 GMT) and 4:00 (20:00 GMT).

Despite the claims by police, Xinhua stated that authorities sealed off the town where the attacks have occurred and exchanged gunfire with the terrorists killing at least one while another, strapped with explosives, detonated himself. One other terrorist was injured and one was arrested. Military personnel were also reported to have been dispatched to the area. One early report stated that the government offices in Kuqa are unaware of any bombings.

The explosions, which witnesses report as home-made, were directed toward shopping centers, government buildings, hotels and military offices. At least two police cars were also destroyed by the blasts. Xinhua reports that the bombs were “bent pipes, gas canisters and liquid gas tanks.” One attacker drove a three-wheeled bike packed with explosives into the public safety building in Kuqa, which killed one security official and injured two civilians. Hours later, while police were hunting for more suspects, several terrorists began to throw bombs at them. Police killed two, while three others who were strapped with explosives detonated themselves.

Police and government officials refuse to confirm or deny the reports by Xinhua.

The Xinjiang region has a strong independence movement, largely in the form of 8 million Muslim Uyghurs. The East Turkestan Islamic Movement wishes to create an independent Islamic state out of part of what is currently Xinjiang. China has stated that the Uyghur separatists are the biggest potential terrorist threat to the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

No one has claimed to be responsible for the blasts.

Saturday, August 12, 2017

Yesterday, the state government of Victoria, Australia announced their decision to trial self-driving vehicles on two of the state’s major connecting motorways, the CityLink and Tullamarine Freeway. The trial is to use autonomous vehicles from automobile companies including BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Volvo, and Tesla. The two-year trial is to have three phases.

The cars are to drive alongside commuters, but in public testing a driver is always to be present, as Victorian law requires drivers always keep a hand on the steering wheel. However, in occasional closures of the Burnley Tunnel, with no other drivers to endanger, the cars are to be tested with nobody in the vehicle.

Lane assist, cruise control, and recognition of traffic signs are in the trial’s first phase, expected to complete before the end of the year. This includes monitoring how the driver-less cars respond to road conditions, including lane markings and electronic speed signs.

“Victoria is at the forefront of automated vehicle technology — we’re investing in this trial to explore ways that this technology can be used to reduce crashes and keep people safe on our roads”, said Luke Donnellan, the Victorian Minister for Roads and Road Safety. He noted, “Ninety per cent of the fault of accidents is human error […] so we know that if we can take out human error we will have less accidents”.

Tim Hansen, Victoria Police’s Acting Assistant Commissioner, said that police had founded a project team to investigate how self-driving vehicles would change policing on roads. “Can we intercept vehicles more safely to avoid pursuits and ramming?”, he asked.

The trial is a partnership between the state government, Victoria’s road management authority VicRoads, owner of the CityLink toll road Transurban, and insurance company RACV.

Wednesday, February 22, 2006

Almost 600 desperate family members and others remained camped outside the Pasta de Conchos coal mine near San Juan de Sabinas, in the northern Mexico state of Coahuila where 65 Mexican miners were trapped by a gas explosion around 2:30 a.m. (0830 GMT) Sunday. Some are threatening to storm the mine while soldiers are trying to keep them calm and rescuers continue to pick through the rock and debris with hand tools, fearing that any power equipment might set off another explosion.

The local newspaper’s headline caused panic by quoting one of over a dozen surviving miners who were close enough to the exits to escape: “They are surely dead,” (La Prensa de Monclova). However, Arturo Vilchis, Civil Protection Director, refused to speculate on the condition of the miners, while Javier de la Fuente, an engineering contractor with mine owner Grupo México S.A. de C.V. also tried to hold out some hope.

The men were each supposed to be carrying oxygen tanks, each with a six hour supply, and there’s some hope that they could reach other oxygen supply tanks, or that some air might be reaching them through the ventilation shafts into which rescuers have been pumping more oxygen since shortly after the explosion.

Juan Rebolledo, vice president of international affairs for Grupo México, assured onlookers that U.S. mining experts were on the way, and officials at the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration have confirmed that they’ve sent a specialized equipment truck and several mining experts which should arrive at the mine site on Wednesday afternoon.

Meanwhile Consuelo Aguilar, a spokeswoman for the National Miners’ Union, called for an investigation into Grupo México’s responsibility for the disaster. Pedro Camarillo, a federal labor official, said nothing unusual was found during a routine evaluation in early February.