Latvia store collapse..[ 3180 ]

Latvia store collapse: Deaths rise as Riga rescue continues

Riga resident Gatis Smagars: "Bags of soil and cobblestones piled on roof"

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BBC /   22 November 2013 Last updated at 14:35 GMT

At least 45 people have been killed when the roof of a supermarket collapsed in the Latvian capital Riga.

Rescue efforts are continuing and police have launched a criminal investigation.
Three of those killed were emergency workers who were helping people trapped when more of the roof came down.
The number of deaths makes this the former Soviet republic's worst disaster since the country became independent in 1991.
Police say they expect the number to rise further.
It is unclear how many more people could still be inside.

Relatives were being asked to help find victims by ringing their phones

The cause of the collapse is unclear although reports say a garden was being constructed on the roof at the time.
British pilot Paul Tribble, 27, was shopping in the store with his partner Elizabeth when the roof fell in.
"I was taken down by shelving falling on me, which skimmed my shoulder and forced me to the ground but I was still able to move," he told the BBC.
"There were torrents of water coming down off the roof. We headed into the back of the supermarket, the aisles were covered in produce and concrete and people lying on the floor."
Mr Tribble said a crane had been loading sand and building materials onto the roof for the past few weeks. He said he believed a lack of drainage following heavy rains had contributed to the fall.
"The police have started the investigation already," said Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis after visiting the scene.
"The criminal process has started about violating building standards."
Interior Minister Rihards Kozlovskis told Latvian TV it was "clear" there had been a problem meeting building regulations.

 

The store was said to have been busy when the roof fell in

 

This photo was taken in the immediate aftermath of the collapse by a local resident

People have been waiting for news at the scene

 

A view from a nearby building revealed the extent of the damage

Latvian rescue services spokeswoman Viktorija Sembele said three firefighters were among those killed.
"We do not know the number of people who are still inside," she told the BBC.
She said people were being asked to call the mobile phones of relatives feared missing to help rescuers find them in the rubble.
More than 34 people were injured, 28 of whom were treated in hospital.
TV footage showed rescue workers using mechanical cutters to clear debris from the single-storey concrete and glass building. Cranes were brought in to remove slabs of concrete.
More than 60 soldiers were helping the rescue effort, the army said on its official Twitter feed.
The initial collapse happened just before 18:00 (16:00 GMT) on Thursday, when the store was busy with customers.
Walls and windows also crumbled, leaving the shell of the building piled with rubble, witnesses said.
About 20 minutes later another part of the roof caved in, trapping rescue workers who were trying to reach survivors.
Dangerous work The rescue services believe a total of about 500sq m (5,300sq ft) of roof caved in, according to reports.
Witnesses said customers tried to run out after the first part of the roof collapsed but the supermarket's electronic doors closed, trapping them inside.
Leta news agency said the collapse represented the largest loss of life from a disaster since the restoration of independence in 1991, worse than a fire at a nursing home in 2007 that killed 25.

Normunds Plegermanis, deputy head of rescue services, said emergency teams faced difficult conditions at the supermarket.
"Falls are happening from time to time... it is very dangerous to work inside," he said.
Local media said the store, part of the Maxima retail chain, had been awarded a national architecture prize when it was completed in 2011.
The reason for the collapse is not known. Some have blamed the weight of soil being used to plant a winter garden on the supermarket's roof.

Mars Probe Launch Over the Moon ..[ 3179 ]

Picture-Perfect' Mars Probe Launch Has NASA Over the Moon

by Miriam Kramer, Staff Writer   |   November 18, 2013 06:20pm ET-//Space.com

NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) spacecraft launches aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Space Launch Complex 41, Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 1:28 p.m. EST on Monday, Nov. 18, 2013. Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls View full size image

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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Scientists and NASA officials are euphoric today (Nov. 18) after the smooth launch of the space agency's next Mars probe, which is now streaking toward a date with the Red Planet in September 2014.
The Atlas 5 rocket carrying the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution spacecraft (MAVEN) launched on time and in spectacular fashion from here at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The rocket roared to life at 1:28 p.m. EST (1828 GMT) today, leaving car alarms blaring in its wake. The MAVEN probe was released into space a little more than 50 minutes later.
Today's launch felt especially good for MAVEN principal investigator Bruce Jakosky, who has been working on the mission to study Mars' upper atmosphere for the past decade. [Photos from NASA's MAVEN Launch to Mars]

"After 10 years of doing this, I don't have the words to describe what I’m feeling," Jakosky, of the University of Colorado, Boulder's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, told the press during a post-launch news conference today. "It's every possible emotion, but they're all positive. This is about the most exciting thing I can imagine happening, and this day has been picture-perfect from beginning to end."

NASA's MAVEN spacecraft lifts off atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V booster from Launch Complex 41 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, Nov. 18, 2013.
Credit: collectSPACE.com/Robert Z. Pearlman

View full size image

Best wishes to MAVEN
Before launch, an astronaut in space wished MAVEN luck on its mission to the Red Planet.
"Understanding the Red Planet's atmosphere is essential to NASA's goal of safely sending humans there one day," NASA astronaut Mike Hopkins said from aboard the International Space Station. "From the International Space Station, best wishes for a fabulous mission."
MAVEN is now on a 10-month journey to Mars, with arrival slated for Sept. 22, 2014. Once the probe gets into orbit around the Red Planet, it will peer deeply into the upper part of Mars' atmosphere from a highly elliptical orbit.
MAVEN is designed to try to solve the mystery of how the Red Planet lost its atmosphere to space by understanding the processes spurring the escape of volatile gases today. Scientists think that ancient Mars was probably a wet and warm world much like Earth, but the sun and other factors caused the planet to lose most of its atmosphere, turning the planet into a cold, dry desert.
"What a Monday at the office," David Mitchell, MAVEN project manager at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., said today. "You build something to go to Mars, and we're now flying to Mars today. Maybe I'm not showing it, but I'm euphoric."

Relay to Mars
Along with its eight scientific instruments, MAVEN also has the ability to help relay data from NASA's two currently operational Mars rovers — Opportunity and the 1-ton Curiosity rover — to their ground controllers on Earth.
NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, Mars Odyssey and the European Space Agency's Mars Express are already active in orbit around Mars.
"MAVEN joins our orbiters and rovers already at Mars to explore yet another facet of the Red Planet and prepare for human missions there by the 2030s," NASA chief Charlie Bolden said in a statement. "This mission is part of an integrated and strategic exploration program that is uncovering the mysteries of the solar system and enabling us to reach farther destinations."
The Indian space agency's first mission to Mars — launched on Nov. 5 — could also join the other probes in orbit as soon as Sept. 24, 2014, two days after MAVEN is scheduled to arrive in orbit.
On time, under budget
Because MAVEN launched on time, the $671 million mission actually came in under budget, NASA officials said.
"It's my projection that they will be under," said Jim Green, NASA's planetary science division director. "We haven't paid all of the bills … In the long run, we do anticipate that they will be under budget. They certainly won't exceed their $671 million tab, and for that, we're grateful for it. What will happen next, of course, is how that funding — if there is any that's left — will be used within the program itself."
Visit SPACE.com for the latest MAVEN news, photos and videos. You can also follow MAVEN coverage through the Mission Status Center at SPACE.com's partner, Spaceflight Now.
Follow Miriam Kramer @mirikramer and Google+. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on SPACE.com.

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A fake bomb...[ 3178 ]

Turkish police subdue man with fake bomb

November 21, 2013 - Updated 1757 PKT // From Web Edition

ANKARA: Turkish police on Thursday subdued a man who arrived near Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s office in the capital Ankara carrying a fake bomb, an official said.

Police fired two warning shots before overpowering the suspect and arresting him, said an aide to the prime minister. He spoke on condition of anonymity in line with government rules that bar civil servants from speaking to journalists without authorization.

Erdogan was not in his office at the time and no one was injured by the gunfire, the aide said.

The 53-year-old man, identified as Tugrul B., was carrying a device made to look like a bomb, the official said. The suspect was being questioned and the motive for his action was not immediately known.

Private NTV television, quoting unidentified officials, said the man had credit card debts and wanted to draw attention to his plight.

Initial news reports had said police had shot and wounded a suspected of being a suicide bomber. (AP)

Targeting the Iranian Embassy in Beirut ..[ 3177 ]

Iranian Embassy targeted in Beirut bombings; diplomat among dead

A Lebanese man runs in front of a burned car at the scene where two explosions occurred near the Iranian Embassy, killing at least 20 and injuring scores more. (Hussein Malla / Associated Press / November 19, 2013) -

Los Angeles Times / By Patrick J. McDonnell

November 19, 2013, 2:12 a.m.
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BEIRUT -- A pair of explosions apparently targeting the Iranian Embassy rocked a southern Beirut neighborhood early Tuesday, leaving at least 20 dead, including an Iranian diplomat, and close to 100 injured, authorities said.The casualty count was expected to rise.
The attacks appeared to be the latest spillover of violence from neighboring Syria, where a civil war has been raging for more than two years. Iran is a major ally of the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad.
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[Updated, 4:52 a.m. PST Nov. 19: In a series of posts on Twitter, an Al Qaeda-linked faction known as the Abdullah Azzam Brigades claimed responsibility for Tuesday’s twin blasts outside the embassy.
The group, based in Lebanon, described the incident as a double-suicide attack and demanded the release of prisoners from Lebanese jails and the withdrawal of Hezbollah, the Lebanese-based political and military organization, from Syria.]
Official Iranian media reported that among those killed was Ebrahim Ansari, Iran’s cultural attache to Lebanon.
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Iran's ambassador to Lebanon, Ghazanfar Roknabadi, was reported to be safe and was offered condolences by Lebanon's caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, who condemned the attack.
The blasts were the work of a pair of suicide bombers, one who detonated a payload while on foot and another while in a car, Lebanon's national news agency said.
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At the chaotic scene, ambulances were taking away casualties as residents manned hoses to put out several fires. Television images from the area showed cars ablaze, heavily damaged buildings, charred bodies on the ground and dark smoke rising into the sky.
Hospitals in the area put out appeals for blood, local media reported.
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The explosions took place in the Jnah district, where the Iranian Embassy is situated, along with several Iranian media outlets. Initial reports indicated that the embassy was the likely target. One report said that the car bomb went off about 10 yards from the embassy building.
The area near the embassy is heavily guarded, and the explosions would appear to indicate a major security breech.
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Analysts immediately linked the blasts to the war raging in neighboring Syria, which has deeply divided Lebanon along sectarian lines, between supporters and opponents of the government of Assad. Throughout the region, the Syrian conflict has heightened tensions between adherents of Islam’s two major branches, Shiite and Sunni.
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Shiite Iran and its Lebanese ally, Hezbollah, are key supporters of the Syrian government, and Hezbollah has dispatched fighters to assist Assad’s forces. Other Lebanese factions back the mostly Sunni Muslim armed rebellion seeking to overthrow the more than four-decade rule of the Assad family, who are members of the Alawite sect, regarded as a Shiite offshoot.
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Just last week, the leader of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, said that the group would continue to send its militiamen to Syria to fight alongside government forces. The announcement drew condemnation from anti-Assad groups in Lebanon and Syria.
Lebanese officials, keen to avoid their nation being drawn into Syria’s civil war, have declared a policy of neutrality in the conflict. Many in Lebanon fear the Syrian war could destabilize Lebanon’s fragile, multi-sectarian democracy, still brittle following Lebanon’s 15-year civil war, which ended in 1990.
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The bombings occurred as Syrian forces appear to be mounting major counterattacks against rebel positions throughout Syria, including opposition strongholds near the Lebanese border. Several thousand Syrians fleeing the fighting escaped last week to Lebanon, which is already home to nearly 1 million refugees from Syria.
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The blasts were the latest to hit Lebanon, which has been the site of a number of attacks linked to the Syrian conflict.
Last summer, a powerful car bomb killed more than two dozen people and injured hundreds in a southern Beirut neighborhood where Hezbollah is heavily supported. Hezbollah blamed militants fighting in Syria for the attack.

Philippines defends aid response..[ 3176 ]

Typhoon Haiyan: Philippines defends aid response

Typhoon Haiyan has presented huge logistical challenges for aid distribution, as Jon Donnison reports

 
BBC 13 November 2013 Last updated at 18:42 GMT
 

The Philippine government says it is facing its biggest ever logistical challenge after Typhoon Haiyan, which affected as many as 11 million people.

Cabinet Secretary Rene Almendras said the government had been overwhelmed by the impact of Haiyan, one of the most powerful storms on record.
The official death toll stands at more than 2,300, but local officials and aid workers say it could rise much higher.
Mr Almendras said the government had responded to the disaster "quite well".
Some residents have expressed anger at the slow speed of the government relief effort.

Aid at a glance

Asian Development Bank: $500m emergency loans and $23m in grants
Australia: $9.3m (£5.8m) package, including medical staff, shelter materials, water containers and hygiene kits
European Commission: $11m
Japan: $10m, including tents and blankets. 25-person medical team already sent
South Korea: $5m plus a 40-strong medical team
Indonesia: Logistical aid including aircraft, food, generators and medicine
UAE: $10m in humanitarian aid
US: $20m in humanitarian aid, 90 marines, aircraft carrier plus logistics support
UK: $16m (£10m) package including emergency shelter, water and household items
Donate to the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC)

But the BBC's Jonathan Head in Tacloban, a devastated city of 220,000 on Leyte island, says Wednesday brought the first signs of an organised response.

US military planes have been arriving at Tacloban's ruined airport, delivering World Food Programme supplies, which can be carried by helicopter to outlying regions, and a French-Belgian field hospital has been set up.
Many people have left Tacloban, says our correspondent, but among those left behind there is a growing sense of panic and fear, not just of food running out but of law and order breaking down.
On Tuesday, eight people died when a wall collapsed as thousands of desperate survivors mobbed a food warehouse.
And on Wednesday there were reports of shots being fired in the street and of a teenaged boy being stabbed in the stomach.
With warehouses empty, the main concern for people still in Tacloban was food and water. Some survivors resorted to digging up water pipes for supplies.
On a visit to the city, UN humanitarian chief Valerie Amos said aid was coming in but "the priority has got to be, let's get the food in, let's get the water in".
Health officials warn the worst-affected areas are entering a peak danger period for the spread of infectious diseases.

'Like never before'

Mr Almendras told the BBC he believed the administration was "doing quite well" in handling the crisis, especially as it came weeks after a major earthquake in the same region.

"We have never done anything like this before," he said.
Police spokesman Reuben Sindac denied there was a breakdown in law and order in Tacloban, telling the BBC there was a lot of rumour and misinformation spreading among people who were "in a state of shock".
He said security forces were now in control of key installations, preventing looting and ensuring the safety of aid deliveries.

Bodies are still in the streets of Tacloban on Leyte island, and many people have received no aid.

People in the city have been living in the open.

Harrowing scenes were witnessed at Tacloban airport as people were evacuated.

Hundreds of hungry and exhausted people gathered at the airport in the hope of getting aid, or a flight out.

Most of the damage has been concentrated on Leyte and the neighbouring island of Samar, above.

'More bodies' Typhoon Haiyan - one of the most powerful storms ever recorded on land - hit the coastal Philippine provinces of Leyte and Samar on Friday.
It swept through six central Philippine islands before going on to kill several people in Vietnam and southern China.
Disaster management officials in the Philippines have put the confirmed death toll there at 2,344, with another 3,804 injured as of 20:00 local time (12:00 GMT). They said 79 people were still missing.
However, a congressman in Leyte told the BBC he believed the government was giving conservative estimates of the death toll "so as not to cause undue alarm".

Gen Paul Kennedy, commander of US Marine Taskforce: Larger aircraft "will completely change the pace of our build-up of supplies"

"Just viewing the disaster's scope - its magnitude and the areas affected - we believe that the 10,000 figure is more probable," said Martin Romualdez.
The head of the Philippines Red Cross, Gwendolyn Pang, also said she expected the official death toll to rise.
Christine Atillo-Villero, a doctor from Cebu, managed to board a flight on a military plane to Tacloban, to reach her family home in San Jose, on the outskirts of the city.
"There were dead people lying around. In our backyard we have, I think, six corpses just lying there," she told Newsday on the BBC World Service.
"People are walking around like zombies just looking for food and water.
"My hometown will never be the same again. About 90% of the city is destroyed - nothing left."

Sara Pantuliano from the ODI says such an "immense" disaster would test the most seasoned governments in the developed world

The mayor of Tacloban, Alfred Romualdez said a mass grave had been dug on Tuesday. Bodies were still being processed by the authorities on Wednesday but he was hopeful they could be buried soon.
'No climate debate' The Philippines now puts the number affected at just over 8 million, but the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says 11.3 million people are in need of vital goods and services, because of factors such as lack of food, healthcare and access to education and livelihoods.
On Tuesday the UN launched an appeal for $301m (£190m) to help survivors. The UK's Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) has also launched its own appeal., raising £13m ($20m) in its first 24 hours.
US and British navy vessels have been sent to the Philippines and several nations have pledged millions of dollars in aid.
Speaking to CNN on Tuesday, Philippine President Benigno Aquino warned that storms like Haiyan were becoming more frequent, and there should be "no debate" that climate change was happening.
He said either the world was committed to action on climate change "or let us be prepared to meet disasters".
The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has said record sea levels this year combined with rising temperatures mean that coastal devastation such as that caused by Haiyan is likely to occur more frequently.
Interim figures released by the WMO show this year is heading towards being among the top ten warmest on record.