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  • In photos: Genoa motorway bridge cave in

    AN ENORMOUS dual carriageway suspension bridge has collapsed in the Italian port town of Genoa during bad weather.

    a minimum of 11 persons are said to have died but some resources say it will be so much higher.

    Live updates on the bridge collapse

    A large element of the bridge is missing

    Wide shot shows large sectiosn of bridge collapsed, with remaining part exposed Symbol copyright EPA

    One image displays a car dangerously on the subject of the threshold

    The collapsed section of bridge is seen in the Italian port city of Genoa Image copyright Reuters

    Particles has fallen onto rail tracks and nearby buildings

    Rescuers climb by foot over large pieces of road wreckage, amid rain and poor conditions Image copyright EPA

    Local ambulance and hearth officials are searching for survivors

    A rescuer climbs a ladder up into large slab of road concrete Image copyright EPA

    Crowds have gathered at the scene

    Crowd of people with umbrellas look on at the collapsed bridge Symbol copyright EPA

    All photographs copyrighted.

  • South Africa to get rid of pit latrine toilets in schools

    A row of pit latrines Image copyright Getty Photographs Symbol caption Many pit bogs are comprised of reasonable steel, are shoddily built and left uncovered

    South Africa is to get rid of all pit latrines in state faculties within two years after a five-12 months-old scholar drowned in a bathroom in March.

    “that is an initiative in order to retailer lives and repair the consideration of tens of hundreds of our nation’s children,” President Cyril Ramaphosa mentioned.

    Pit latrines are holes within the flooring coated with a platform – and lots of are shoddily constructed.

    greater than 4,500 state colleges in South Africa have pit latrines.

    Africa Live: More updates on this and different stories Why are children drowning in South Africa’s bogs?

    Lumka Mkhethwa’s loss of life in March in rural Jap Cape province came four years after some other 5-year-vintage, Michael Komape, had additionally died after falling right into a school bathroom in the northern province of Limpopo.

    Image copyright Gallo Symbol caption Five-yr-old Michal Komape died on this pit latrine at Mahlodumela Lower Primary School

    The case in March led President Ramaphosa to release an audit of sanitation facilities in the country’s 25,000 colleges.

    The Sanitation Appropriate for Education (Safe) programme might be funded in partnership with private groups together with the Nelson Mandela Basis and the UN children’s agency (Unicef).

    “The Safe initiative reaches beyond the bricks and mortar of water and sanitation. It seeks to contribute to construction a cohesive society in which schools are the pulse of wholesome communities,” Mr Ramaphosa stated.

    South Africa’s faculty pit latrines

    more than FOUR,500 faculties have pit latrine bathrooms, out of just about 25,000 nationwide Many are made from reasonable steel, are shoddily built and left exposed Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Limpopo provinces are a number of the worst, says Education Minister Angie Motshekga Eastern Cape has 61 faculties without a bogs at all, and 1,585 faculties with pit latrines Neighbouring KwaZulu-Natal province has 1,379 pit latrines in use Limpopo province, the place Michael Komape went to university, has at least 932 dangerous toilets

  • Tonga PM demanding situations Pacific Island leaders to drop a few pounds

    Leaders in matching shirts all sit in a line Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Pacific Island leaders pictured on the Pacific Islands Discussion Board in Samoa remaining year

    Tongan Top Minister Akilisi Pohiva has challenged other Pacific Island leaders to participate in a yr-long weight-loss challenge to set an example to their nationwide communities.

    Mr Pohiva informed an area newspaper he might suggest the competition whilst the leaders meet subsequent month.

    Ten of the islands take a seat on the best of the arena weight problems fee rankings.

    On a few, up to NINETY% of the inhabitants are overweight, in keeping with the world Well Being Service Provider (WHO).

    The region’s obesity epidemic has been blamed on traditional diets of fish and vegetables being avoided for processed meals imports and fatty meat.

    Image copyright Getty Photographs Symbol caption Mr Pohiva (right) warned that existence expectancy in Tonga had reduced considerably

    “It has the whole lot to do with our consuming conduct and our lifestyle and it’s advanced factor when it involves our Pacific other people,” he instructed the newspaper.

    How mutton flaps are killing Tonga Child and teen obesity spreading throughout the arena is this the food that is making us all fat?

    “And with Pacific Island Leaders, we meet and talk and discuss this factor, but projects in this factor isn’t making an affect, it does not appear to paintings.”

    He said he’ll suggest the vitamin festival thought to his fellow leaders the once a year Pacific Island Discussion Board adventure held later this month.

    Media playback is unsupported to your instrument

    Media captionThe BBC’s Katy Watson reports on the cause of Tonga’s obesity problem

    “It isn’t approximately who loses essentially the most kilos but in order to shake off the weight, you must devour gentle and having that wholesome mentality will go an extended way.

    “As Soon As the leaders are adapting to that attitude they’d be decided to get their other folks on the related aspect and move from there,” Mr Pohiva informed the newspaper.

    (more…)

  • IS warfare: AS MUCH AS 30,000 fighters in Syria and Iraq – UN

    Islamic State militants in Deraa province, Syria (July 2018) Image copyright Amaq/Twitter Image caption IS has defeated militarily in Iraq and so much of Syria

    Between 20,000 and 30,000 Islamic State (IS) militants remain in Syria and Iraq in spite of the group’s up to date losses, in step with a United Countries record.

    The document says that at the same time as many combatants, planners and commanders were killed, some IS participants continue to be absolutely engaged militarily.

    Among them is “a vital component to the various hundreds of active foreign terrorist opponents”, the record adds.

    A “lowered, covert version” of IS could survive in both countries, it warns.

    Last month, greater than TWO HUNDRED people had been killed and round 30 Druze women and children taken captive in an massive-scale attack by means of IS militants in south-west Syria.

    Syria’s Druze vow to loose those kidnapped by way of IS throughout the ruined ‘capital’ of the Islamic State group Why is there a conflict in Syria?

    In 2014, when IS seized keep an eye on of large swathes of Syria and Iraq and proclaimed the status quo of a “caliphate”, as many as 10 million other folks lived beneath its rule.

    However, the crowd was defeated militarily in Iraq and most of Syria during 2017.

    Media playback is unsupported in your tool

    Media captionRicardo Vilanova was held captive by means of Islamic State militants in Syria

    Iraqi pro-govt forces retook the northern town of Mosul in July 2017, at the same time as a US-subsidized alliance of Kurdish and Arab militias in Syria captured the jihadists’ de facto capital of Raqqa 3 months later.

    The UN file says continues to be controls small pockets of territory within the japanese Syrian province of Deir al-Zour, the place it has been able to extract and sell a few oil, and to mount attacks, together with across the border with Iraq.

    IS doesn’t totally control any territory in Iraq, however it remains active thru sleeper cells that have basically focused safety power bases.

    Up to FORTY,000 foreigners are envisioned to have travelled to fight in Syria and Iraq considering that 2011, however the float of combatants clear of the 2 countries within the prior yr has been “not up to expected”, in step with the report.

    Media playback is unsupported to your tool

    Media captionThe BBC’s Quentin Sommerville adopted Syrian rebels and police looking to prevent ex-IS combatants attaining Europe

    The report says IS continues “vital” affiliates in Afghanistan, Libya, South-East Asia and West Africa.

    The rival jihadist crew, al-Qaeda, in the meantime keeps a better presence in spaces reminiscent of Somalia and Yemen.

    The report also notes that there has been a fall in the choice of terrorist assaults in Europe considering the fact that overdue 2017, however warns that this drop could be temporary as “the underlying drivers of terrorism are all provide and maybe more acute than ever”.

    (more…)

  • Genoa bridge cave in

    Live Genoa bridge cave in
  • Lira difficulty: Turkey to boycott US digital goods over sanctions

    Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan Symbol copyright Reuters Image caption President Erdogan has accused the united states of trying to “stab Turkey within the again”

    Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has stated his usa will boycott US financial products, after Washington imposed punitive sanctions on Ankara.

    “If the US has the iPhone, there may be Samsung at the different facet,” Mr Erdogan stated, referring to Apple and its South Korean competitor.

    The Us doubled tariffs last week over Turkey’s refusal to extradite a US pastor who’s imprisoned there.

    Turkey’s weakened foreign money, the lira, plunged by means of a whole 20% in response.

    President Erdogan stated Turkey was once taking measures to stabilise the economic system, and may now not “supply in to the enemy” by means of investing in foreign currency.

    Turkey’s important bank has promised to provide banks with liquidity. The u . s . a .’s finance minister – who’s also Mr Erdogan’s son-in-law – will searching for to reassure around 1,000 international buyers in a teleconference scheduled for Thursday.

    The BBC Turkey correspondent Mark Lowen says Mr Erdogan’s boycott may stoke tensions with the us further – and Turks are ready nervously for Mr Trump’s response.

    Why all this fuss over a pastor?

    President Erdogan has accused the us of seeking to “carry Turkey to its knees via threats over a pastor”.

    But the us insists Andrew Brunson, a protracted-time Turkish resident who ran the tiny Izmir Resurrection Church, is “a victim of unfair and unjust detention”.

    Image copyright AFP/Getty Images Image caption US President Donald Trump has referred to as pastor Andrew Brunson “an innocent man of faith”

    An evangelical from North Carolina, he has been held in Turkey for nearly years over alleged links to the outlawed Kurdistan Staff Party and the Gulenist movement, which Turkey blames for a failed coup in 2016.

    White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said the united states had noticed “no proof that Pastor Brunson has done anything improper”.

    Mr Brunson has denied charges of espionage, but faces as much as 35 years in prison if found guilty.

    What’s the impact the world over?

    The ruckus between Turkey and the u.s. has impacted on other countries’ currencies, together with the Indian rupee, as buyers worry the lira’s wobbles could spread to developing international locations.

    India’s executive steered folks to not panic on Tuesday after the rupee slid to an all-time low towards the dollar.

    Russia, Brazil, Argentina, South Africa and Mexico have also observed their currencies fall over the closing week.

  • Highway bridge collapses in Genoa, Italy

    A bridge disappears into nowhere in this photo Symbol copyright Polizia di Stato Image caption Police shared this picture of the bridge after its cave in

    a huge bridge has collapsed close to the northern Italian city of Genoa, police say.

    The bridge, a component of the A10 motorway, is about ONE HUNDRED metres tall, Italian media say – and there are unconfirmed stories that automobiles can have been involved.

    Photographs from the scene display large sections of rubble at the flooring beneath the center of the bridge.

    One symbol shows a truck perched at the finish of the surviving bridge section right away sooner than the drop.

    Skip Twitter submit by @emergenzavvf

    #14ago #Genova 12:00, crolla parte del ponte Morandi sulla #A10. Le squadre #vigilidelfuoco stanno operando in massa, attivatinteam usar e cinofili pic.twitter.com/gjSJLvjw1K

    — Vigili del Fuoco (@emergenzavvf) August 14, 2018

    File

    End of Twitter put up by way of @emergenzavvf

    Emergency responders are at the scene, however there aren’t any details but on whether there are casualties.

    There are fears several automobiles may have fallen whilst the bridge collapsed, native media report.

    The bridge, inbuilt the sixties, is understood because the Morandi bridge. The missing phase is dozens of metres in duration, and run around the span of the Polcevera stream.

    Italian newspaper L. A. Repubblica described that part of the town as “densely inhabited”.

    Skip Twitter post via @BattelliSergio

    Disastro a #Genova. Crolla il ponte Autostradale. Stiamo cercando informazioni. pic.twitter.com/f2Z0c91JLZ

    — Sergio Battelli (@BattelliSergio) August 14, 2018

    File

    End of Twitter post via @BattelliSergio

  • Fukushima kid statue: Citizens whinge about radiation suit

    The Sun Child statue Image copyright AFP Image caption A Logo of wish or unhealthy PR for Fukushima?

    Fukushima residents have reacted angrily to the statue of a boy in protecting tools, announcing it gives the affect of a town still infected after the 2011 nuclear disaster.

    Fukushima’s nuclear plant used to be hit by way of a tsunami in 2011, inflicting the most severe such coincidence considering that Chernobyl.

    The statue was once erected in early August and its writer mentioned it was once approximately hope for a world free from nuclear crisis.

    Artist Kenji Yanobe has given that apologised for making citizens uneasy.

    According to Eastern information agency Kyodo, offended electorate took to Twitter and known as the authorities directly, demanding for the statue to be got rid of as it may harm the reputation of Fukushima.

    Symbol copyright AFP Image caption The nuclear plant continues to be infected and in ruins

    The 2011 Fukushima disaster saw 3 reactors of the nuclear power plant, a few 100km (SIXTY TWO miles) southeast of town of Fukushima, fail after it was broken and flooded within the tsunami.

    The accident compelled greater than 2 HUNDRED,000 other folks to leave their properties as a result of nuclear infection considerations.

    more than 18,500 folks had been killed or went missing after an earthquake induced the massive tsunami that resulted in the meltdown.

    Parts of the broken reactors are nonetheless extremely contaminated however such a lot of the prefecture has been declared secure once more.

    Authorities are working an training campaign in regards to the “revitalization” of Fukushima which aims to supply data and convey transparency to the clean-up process.

    But in many of the areas where evacuation orders have long been lifted, only a few former residents have again to their houses.

    Fukushima will even be one in all the venues for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Video Games, with hopes the development will showcase the region’s recovery from nuclear disaster.

    Unclear future for Sun Boy

    The artist Mr Yanobe stated he “must have paid extra attention to the fact that accurate knowledge about radiation is needed much more now than earlier than the crisis”.

    Image copyright AFP

    He additionally mentioned he wanted to speak about the future of his statue with town.

    The town’s mayor defended the decision to position up the statue, arguing it had been smartly won at exhibitions in Japan and around the global earlier than it was once installed permanently in Fukushima.

    On Twitter he called for working out saying that unlike technology, up to date artwork was summary.

  • Swedish gangs set EIGHTY automobiles on hearth in numerous towns

    Burned cars are seen in a row in Gothenburg, Sweden Image copyright EVN Symbol caption Dozens of vehicles had been set ablaze one after some other in western Swedish cities

    Dozens of automobiles were set alight in Sweden in a single day, in what police say is also a co-ordinated legal action.

    Up to 80 automobiles have been badly broken through gangs of black-clad youths, starting at about 21:00 native time (19:00 GMT).

    Most of the wear and tear came about within the western town of Gothenburg, however incidents have been also mentioned in cities as much as 100km (60 miles) away.

    High Minister Stefan Lofven stated: “It looks like very coordinated, just like a military operation.”

    Vehicles had been also broken in Trollhattan to the north of Gothenburg, and Falkenberg to the south.

    Image Copyright @ZagrosHama @ZagrosHama

    File

    Twitter post by @ZagrosHama: Symbol Copyright @ZagrosHama @ZagrosHama

    Record

    As distant as Stockholm, a handful of automobiles were additionally reported on hearth – however the link among those and the well-liked arson in western Sweden is not clear.

    The masked youth broke car home windows prior to pouring flammable drinks inside, Swedish media mentioned. They had been additionally observed throwing stones at police officers.

    Despite the wear and tear to assets, there were no stories of any injuries.

    Police stated they’d known some young people who have been within the space at the time and spoken to their parents – however officials couldn’t say which, if any, have been concerned in the fires.

    Speaking to Swedish Radio, Prime Minister Lofven addressed the attackers, simply asking: “What the hell are you doing?”

    there’s no transparent reason for the well-liked destruction, however the arson echoes the wear and tear performed during riots in Stockholm over a few nights in Might 2013.

    Stockholm riots throw spotlight on Swedish inequality How Sweden is preparing for Russia to hack its election

    They adopted the loss of life of an aged guy who threatened police – automobiles were set alight in poor immigrant neighbourhoods, additionally by means of masked youths.

    The 2013 riots sparked a debate approximately immigration in some circles, and unemployment and the widening gap among rich and terrible in others.

    Sweden is firmly in election season sooner than September’s polls, and immigration is still a key issue.

    Mr Lofven’s executive celebration, the Social Democrats, is facing the worst ballot numbers in its historical past, to the convenience of anti-immigration celebration the Sweden Democrats.