Monday, August 28, 2017

Hurricane Harvey much less damaging than Katrina, Sandy: Hannover Re

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Hurricane Harvey much less damaging than Katrina, Sandy: Hannover Re

Hurricane Harvey much less damaging than Katrina, Sandy: Hannover ReDamages from Harvey, the hurricane and tropical storm ravaging Houston and the Texas Gulf Coast, are estimated to be well below those from major storms that have hit New Orleans and New York, according to Hannover Re on Monday. Hannover Re, one of the world's largest reinsurers, said that insured losses for Katrina in 2005 were around $80 billion, while losses from Sandy in 2012 were $36 billion. "We are far from Katrina and Sandy in magnitude in the case of Hurricane Harvey," a spokeswoman for the company said.


German police raid homes of suspects planning to kill leftist politicians

German police raid homes of suspects planning to kill leftist politiciansGerman police on Monday raided the homes and workplaces of a policeman and another person suspected of planning to capture and kill left-wing politicians because of their views on immigration, authorities said. The suspects, who feared Germany's refugee policies would impoverish the country, had begun to stockpile food and ammunition and plan attacks, the federal prosecutor's office said in a statement. "The suspects see the crisis they fear taking hold as an opportunity to capture left-wing political representatives and kill them with their weapons," the statement said.


Houston convention center gives refuge to Harvey's survivors

Houston convention center gives refuge to Harvey's survivorsHOUSTON (AP) — Patricia Cain entered the George R. Brown Convention Center barefoot and carrying two oxygen tanks. The first was empty. The second was given to her by the Houston Fire Department after the U.S. Coast Guard rescued her from her flooded home.


Indian court jails self-styled 'godman' for 10 years for rape

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Indian court jails self-styled 'godman' for 10 years for rape

Indian court jails self-styled 'godman' for 10 years for rapeBy Adnan Abidi ROHTAK, India (Reuters) - An Indian judge sentenced a self-styled "godman", whose followers went on a deadly rampage after he was convicted of rape last week, to 10 years' jail on Monday. There were no reports of violence after Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh was sentenced. Ten of thousands of police enforced a lockdown in large parts of the northern states of Haryana and Punjab where Singh, 50, has a mass following.


How high is air pollution in your city and how does it compare to the most polluted cities in the world?

How high is air pollution in your city and how does it compare to the most polluted cities in the world?Pollution is a greater global threat than Ebola and HIV, according to warnings by the World Health Organisation.  According to its recent report, one in four deaths among children aged under five are now due to environmental hazards such as air pollution and contaminated water. Previously this year, air pollution levels in London were worse than those in Beijing for a brief period - with the UK capital's pollutants frequently breaking UK limits.  Now, the UK Government plans to tackle such dangers by banning diesel and petrol cars by 2040. But how bad is air pollution in other areas of the UK? Search for your postcode to see how bad air pollution is in your area How high is air pollution in your area? How does the UK compare to the world? According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), London is just a mid-table city when it comes to the international league table of polluted places. London only ranked 1,389th out of the nearly  3,000 cities and towns around the world monitored in the WHO's database of annual air pollution readings. Which cities have the worst air pollution levels? WHO guidelines state that cities should aim to have an annual average of no more than 10 micrograms of PM2.5 (very fine particulate matter) for every cubic metre of air. London had an annual PM2.5 average of 15 μg/m3 in 2013, far lower than Beijing's average of 85.2 μg/m3. These particles are very small in diameter and are classed as carcinogenic by leading health organisations. Thousands of deaths a year are attributable to air pollution in the UK. London pollution - what causes it and how can you stay safe? 01:33 Which cities have the highest air pollution levels worldwide? According to the WHO, the most polluted city in the world is Zabol in Iran. Zabol's PM2.5 measurements were found to average a massive 217 μg/m3 for the latest available year - more than 20 times higher than the recommended level. The next two entries on the list are both located in India (Gwalior and Allahabad) while the first non-Asian city on the list is Bamenda in Cameroon which came in eighth place.  Tetovo in Macedonia was the most polluted European city in the database, followed by Tuzla in  Bosnia and Herzegovina. The most polluted city in the UK isn't actually London. Glasgow topped that list, followed by Scunthorpe and Leeds with London in sixth place. However, given that these rankings are based on figures taken in 2013, the situation may have changed since. London may also experience greater peaks in air pollution but these figures are all annual averages. Table - The 100 most air polluted cities in the world Asian cities tend to be more polluted The WHO's database is by no means a comprehensive list of every city in the world - many places will simply not be able to provide air pollution figures of sufficient quality to be included. However, from the figures available, Asian cities were the likeliest to exceed the 10 μg/m3 guideline for PM2.5. Just four of the 632 Asian locations included in the data were found to be below this level, meaning that the equivalent of 99.4 per cent of Asian cities exceeded it. African cities were the next most likely to annually exceed their recommended levels of air pollution while towns and cities in Oceania were the least likely.


Houston News Station KHOU 11 Evacuates On Live TV As Harvey Floods Studio

Houston News Station KHOU 11 Evacuates On Live TV As Harvey Floods StudioNews station KHOU 11 was forced to evacuate on Sunday as flood waters from Hurricane Harvey entered the building’s first floor.


Sam Speights' desperate effort to stay alive during Harvey

Sam Speights' desperate effort to stay alive during HarveyROCKPORT, Texas (AP) — Sam Speights takes medication for extreme anxiety and panic attacks.


Security high before Indian court sentences guru for rapes

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Security high before Indian court sentences guru for rapes

Security high before Indian court sentences guru for rapesNEW DELHI (AP) — A curfew was in place Monday in a north Indian town where a spiritual guru who was convicted of rape last week was scheduled to be sentenced later in the day.


Jailed Samsung heir appeals against conviction

Jailed Samsung heir appeals against convictionLawyers for the jailed heir to the Samsung empire filed an appeal against his conviction on Monday as South Korean media divided on the ruling that put the country's top business leader behind bars. Lee Jae-Yong, the de-facto head of Samsung Electronics, was found guilty last week of bribing South Korea's ousted president Park Geun-Hye and sentenced to five years in prison. The official website of the Seoul Central District Court showed that Lee's lawyer Kim Jong-Hoon filed an appeal on Monday but gave no further details.


Sunday, August 27, 2017

Legendary 'Game Of Thrones' Theory Finally Goes Down On Season 7 Finale

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Legendary 'Game Of Thrones' Theory Finally Goes Down On Season 7 Finale

Legendary 'Game Of Thrones' Theory Finally Goes Down On Season 7 FinaleWarning! Spoilers below for “Game of Thrones” Season 7! Like the saying goes, what goes up, must come down in a hail of ice dragon fire.


Pain, anger, frustration at Charlottesville town hall

Pain, anger, frustration at Charlottesville town hallCHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) — Charlottesville residents told city leaders at an emotional community meeting Sunday they were traumatized by a white nationalist rally and dissatisfied with the way officials handled the event and the violence that unfolded.


Raqa children tormented by beheadings, bombs: charity

Raqa children tormented by beheadings, bombs: charityChildren escaping Syria's Raqa have been "tormented" by years of living under jihadist rule culminating in a ferocious bombing campaign on the city, a charity said on Monday. It could take decades for young people from the Islamic State group's stronghold to overcome their psychological injuries, Save the Children warned. The NGO interviewed children and their families who escaped the war-torn city, where a US-backed assault is battling to defeat IS.


Expedia chief Dara Khosrowshahi named to lead Uber: report

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Expedia chief Dara Khosrowshahi named to lead Uber: report

Expedia chief Dara Khosrowshahi named to lead Uber: reportExpedia chief Dara Khosrowshahi has been chosen to replace ousted Travis Kalanick as the next CEO at Uber, The New York Times reported Sunday, as the ride-hailing giant looks to move past a rough patch. Khosrowshahi emerged as the leader among three finalists for the job during company board meetings over the weekend, the Times reported, citing two people familiar with the decision. Uber spokespeople were not immediately available for comment.


AP PHOTOS: Palm oil kills orangutans in Indonesia peat swamp

AP PHOTOS: Palm oil kills orangutans in Indonesia peat swampTRIPA PEAT SWAMP, Indonesia (AP) — The Tripa peat forest has been called the orangutan capital of the world, but its great apes are under threat by palm oil plantations gobbling up thousands of acres of native vegetation to instead grow the trees that produce the most consumed vegetable oil on the planet.


Asahd Khaled In A Custom Gucci Suit Is Too Cute For Words

Asahd Khaled In A Custom Gucci Suit Is Too Cute For WordsAsahd Khaled is definitely a contender for best dressed at the 2017 MTV Video Music Awards.


Guatemala court suspends expulsion of U.N. anti-graft official probing president

Guatemala court suspends expulsion of U.N. anti-graft official probing presidentBy Sofia Menchu GUATEMALA CITY (Reuters) - Guatemala's Constitutional Court on Sunday suspended an order by President Jimmy Morales to expel the head of an influential U.N. anti-graft unit investigating campaign financing, setting the stage for political instability in the Central American nation. Speaking in a video published on his Facebook account earlier on Sunday, the president said Ivan Velasquez, head of the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala, or CICIG, must leave the country immediately. Morales' declaration that Velasquez was "persona non grata" came days after CICIG said the president should be investigated over alleged illicit funding during his election campaign, The move against the U.S.-backed anti-corruption unit triggered a rash of departures from Morales' government and was quickly criticized by the United Nations, the United States, Europe and Canada.


In a deal, remains of Lebanon soldiers held by IS located

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In a deal, remains of Lebanon soldiers held by IS located

In a deal, remains of Lebanon soldiers held by IS locatedBEIRUT (AP) — The remains of eight Lebanese soldiers kidnapped by the Islamic State group three years ago were located Sunday, a senior Lebanese official said, in a negotiated deal that followed a military offensive to drive the militants out of the border area with Syria.


As Tropical Storm Harvey rages in Texas, Trump drops hodgepodge of tweets

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As Tropical Storm Harvey rages in Texas, Trump drops hodgepodge of tweets

As Tropical Storm Harvey rages in Texas, Trump drops hodgepodge of tweetsPresident Trump took to Twitter Sunday to indicate he was monitoring Tropical Storm Harvey, but wedged between well wishes were off-topic missives.


Five climbers killed, one injured in Austrian mountain accident

Five climbers killed, one injured in Austrian mountain accidentFive climbers were killed and one seriously injured after a mountain accident on Sunday in the Austrian state of Salzburg, the Austrian Press Agency reported. The tragedy involved a group of climbers in the so-called Mannlkarscharte, a gap in the mountains southwest of Salzburg at about 3,000 meters (10,000 ft) above sea level. The accident was observed by another group of climbers.


Majority of people in France now dissatisfied with Macron: poll

Majority of people in France now dissatisfied with Macron: pollBy Sudip Kar-Gupta PARIS (Reuters) - Most French voters are now dissatisfied with Emmanuel Macron's performance, a poll showed on Sunday, a dramatic decline for a president who basked in a landslide election victory less than four months ago. The poll, conducted by Ifop for newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche (JDD), showed Macron's "dissatisfaction rating" rising to 57 percent, from 43 percent in July. French government spokesman Christophe Castaner said the ruling party was going through a tricky time, but added that displeasing some people was a price worth paying if the government wanted to push through reforms.


The Latest: Climbing accidents leave 8 dead in European alps

The Latest: Climbing accidents leave 8 dead in European alpsBERLIN (AP) — The Latest on climbing deaths and mountain rescues in Europe (all times local):