Gas blast in Zasyadko coal mine in Ukraine kills 33

#Ukraine #Zasyadko #Donetsk A suspected gas blast at the Zasyadko mine in a rebel-held region of eastern Ukraine has led to the death of 33 people with another 30 trapped in the mine as revealed by an official of the eels and reported in bbc.com dated 4 March 2015.
There were 230 people in the shaft when the accident happened and 157 of them had been brought out leaving 73 unaccounted for before reports of the deaths came out.
This mine is believed to be one of Ukraine's biggest coal producers.
At least 14 miners were also reported to have been injured in the worst mine disaster of Ukraine in nearly eight years ago when 101 were killed.
There are apprehensions that the rebels may not have the resources necessary to deal with disasters of this nature.
Donetsk had witnessed heavy fighting between the pro-Russian separatist rebels and government troops during the winter but as indicated by an official of the mine union to a Ukrainian TV channel, there had been no fighting in the area in recent days.
It may be noted that even while Ukraine's economy has significantly shrunk since the conflict began in April, many of the coal mines continue to operate in the conflict zone. Before the conflict began, accidents were common in the mines. Safety standards in the mines are poor.
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Iraqi forces retake Salahudin province from ISIS

#Salahudin #ISIS #Tikrit #Iraq #Humvee #Baghdad The ISIS had captured the Salahudin province on 11 June last year and Iraqi forces have now retaken it and driven out the militants as reported in zeenews.india.com dated 3 March 2015. The Iraqi troops and allied Sunni and Shia militias, with the necessary air support, has successfully freed the town of Himreen. The IS militants were forced to flee from the town after a heavy clash that killed at least three of them. Five security members were injured. As per reports, the troops were able to foil two suicide bomb attacks - one of these was a booby-trapped tanker truck and the other a Humvee vehicle.
The liberation of Himreen is seen as a major achievement after an offensive was launched from five directions – the objective was to recapture key cities and towns that had been seized by the IS in the Salahudin province.
It seems the troops, backed by armored vehicles and Iraqi aircraft, have surrounded the town of Dour, located nearly 25-Km south of Tikrit, and has been able to regain control of many villages north of Samarra, some 120-Km north of Baghdad.
The forces have to advance with due care because the IS militants have planted bombs on the roads and buildings. So far, explosion experts have successfully defused over 150 bombs and eight car bombs.

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LAPD officers kill a homeless man – police chief says the man tried to grab an officer’s gun

#homelessman #LAPDshooting #SkidRow #BodyCameras In yet another incident of police officers shooting a defenseless man in America, the LAPD is trying to justify its actions when three officers shot dead a homeless man known as Africa – this has been reported in bbc.com dated 2 March 2015.
The LAPD chief Charlie Beck has apparently presented evidence that, as per his claims, shows that the homeless man reached for the weapon of one of the officers before being shot dead. The police chief has also indicated that two of the officers were wearing body cameras. However. The relevant footage has not been made public. It will be produced as evidence during trials.
The incident took place in the Skid Row area of Los Angeles. As per the police chief Charlie Beck, the homeless man engaged the police officers in a "brutal, brutal fight". The Officers reportedly used a Tazer in trying to subdue him but it did not have the desired result. Hence, the shooting.
Skid Row is a place in Los Angeles where thousands of homeless people live on the streets and many of them, like Africa, suffer from a mental illness.
In this connection it may be noted that there have been many protests about police actions across the US in recent months which were sparked by several instances of police shooting black men after a confrontation.

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44-year-old IT worker of Michigan found mummified in her car – she had been dead for 5-years

The tragic story of Pia Farrenkopf, a 44-year-old IT worker of Michigan may have no parallel in history because she lay mummified and dead in the rear of her car for 5-years before her death came to light as reported in dailymail.co.uk dated 1 March 2015.
She had withdrawn $1,500 from her checking account in February 25, 2009 and since then she vanished. A family member tried to phone in 2012 and wanted to tell her that her mother had died, but did not get any response. She loved to stay alone and, hence, no one bothered about her absence.
Anyway, letters kept piling up in her mailbox in Pontiac, Michigan, where she lived and the mail was finally taken back to the Post Office as unclaimed.
She had taken mortgage and the payments towards that got deducted automatically from bank accounts where she had enough money – she worked in ALLTEL Information Services where she had once programmed banking software. However, once the balance in the bank fell to zero in 2013, the bank sent their man to her house and her death was discovered.
Her body was found in 2014 – it was slumped in the backseat of the Jeep Liberty that was parked in her garage. She was mummified. Investigators have not been able to establish the cause of her death.

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Iraq launches offensive against ISIS to recapture in Tikrit

#ISIS #Tikrit #Mosul #Iraq #HaideralAbadi #Baghdad Tikrit, the hometown of Saddam Hussein, lies 150-Km north of the capital Baghdad and had been seized by IS militants in June 2014. Iraq has now launched a military offensive against ISIS with the purpose of recapturing the city. This has been reported in bbc.com dated 2 March 2015.
As per reports, Iraqi forces were carrying out the attack backed by airstrikes from Iraqi fighter jets.
It seems Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi had met military leaders in Salahuddin province before start of the operation and had offered pardon to all Sunni tribal fighters who abandoned IS. He described it as a "last chance". In February itself he had indicated that Iraqi armed forces would be launching a major offensive "in a few months' time" to retake the city from IS militants.
Observers feel that retaking Tikrit would be a boost to government forces before they undertake the larger battle of retaking the city of Mosul, which is also controlled by IS. While attacks have been launched, there is no confirmation of the advances, if any, made by the forces.
Tikrit, the hometown of former President Saddam Hussein, was the second major gain for IS after they had captured the city of Mosul in June last year. Incidentally, Mosul was home to over a million people when it fell to IS.

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Prepare for war, Kim Jong-Un tells his Army as US and South Korea begin naval drill

#KimJongUn #militaryexercises #nuclearweapons Kim Jong-Un, the Supreme leader of North Korea, has asked his military to prepare for war against the United States. He made the comments against the backdrop of the start of joint military exercises between America and South Korea. The eight-week long operation is scheduled to begin from Monday as reported in dailymail.co.uk dated 28 February 2015.
He has expressed that he wants 'to tear to pieces the Stars and Stripes'. He has added that America does not have a 'monopoly' on nuclear weapons and that ‘the U.S. is seriously mistaken if it thinks its mainland is safe.' Kim hitting out at the US is probably the U.S. has moved a step closer to imposing fresh sanctions on North Korea's banks. Once that takes effect, it would block North Korea’s access to hard cash.
The joint US-South Korea exercise is codenamed Operation Foal Eagle and it would involve nearly 200,000 South Korean troops along with some 3,700 U.S. personnel and will be spread out over land, sea and air.
There are reports that North Korea has also recently stepped up its own ground, air and naval drills, as tensions continue to rise in the Korean peninsula.

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Things are still not hunky-dory in Ukraine despite ceasefire

#UkraineCeasefire #Russia #Gazprom #Donetsk #Luhansk Reports indicate that three Ukraine soldiers have been killed and seven others wounded in isolated pockets of violence in the east of the country in spite of a ceasefire with pro-Russian rebels being in place as per agreement arrived in Belarus a fortnight back. Russia has also threatened about cutting off gas supply. This has been reported in news.sky.com dated 27 February 2015.
Of course, both the sides namely the Ukrainian troops and the pro-Russian separatists were seen withdrawing heavy weapons from the front line. Heavy equipment like rocket launchers were removed from the rebel stronghold of Donetsk whilst Ukrainian forces withdrew several anti-tank guns from the front line near the town of Artemivsk.
The withdrawal process is being monitored by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and, in the opinion of its officials, Ukraine appears to be at the crossroad between war and peace.
It may be recalled that fighting began in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions in April, soon after Russia had annexed Crimea and, till now, it has claimed some 5,800 lives apart from forcing more than 1.2 million people to flee their homes.
Russia is employing arm twisting tactics over gas supply to Ukraine - Kiev has already made a £10m prepayment for gas this week. However, Russia's state-run supplier Gazprom has informed that it would only pay for another day at the current rate. If that actually happens, Ukraine could be cut off and would have to find an alternative.
Cutting off gas supply by Russia to Ukraine s not new – it has done that three times in the past decade. Nearly one third of the European Union's natural gas is sourced from Russia, and 15% of it flows through Ukraine.

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