Death toll in Guatemala kids’ shelter fire climbs to 39

GUATEMALA CITY, Guatemala -- The death toll in a horrific fire at a government-run shelter for Guatemalan teens has climbed to 39, officials said on Saturday.

Hundreds of protesters rallied outside the residence of President Jimmy Morales, alleging that government negligence at the overcrowded facility where staffers were accused of sexual and other abuse allowed the tragedy to happen.

Some of the protesters carried blue and white Guatemalan flags stained with red to symbolize blood and death.

Three more adolescent girls succumbed to their injuries while being treated in intensive care, according to hospital officials, who said 14 girls are still in their care, including eight in critical condition.

The girls perished in a blaze Wednesday at the co-ed Virgin of the Assumption Safe Home for children in San Jose Pinula, a village just east of the capital.

The fire broke out in the girls' living quarters of the walled facility, killing 19 immediately. The others died later from their burns.

All of the victims were girls aged between 14 and 17, officials said.

The blaze was believed to have been set by girls protesting dire conditions they were subjected to at the shelter, including sexual abuse and other mistreatment by staff.

source: interaksyon.com

Saudi under fire after hajj stampede kills more than 700

Mina, Saudi Arabia - Blame shifted towards Saudi authorities on Friday after a stampede at the hajj killed at least 717 people, in the worst tragedy to strike the annual Muslim pilgrimage in a quarter-century.

The disaster, which also left several hundred people injured, was the second deadly accident to hit worshippers this month, after a crane collapse in the holy city of Mecca killed more than 100.

At the scene, bodies lay in piles, surrounded by discarded personal belongings and flattened water bottles, while rescue workers laid corpses in long rows on stretchers, limbs protruding from beneath white sheets.

Dark-skinned and light-skinned, they died with arms draped around each other.

"There was no room to maneuver," said Aminu Abubakar, a Nigerian pilgrim who escaped the crush of bodies because he was at the head of the procession.

Fellow pilgrims told him of children dying despite parents' efforts to save them near the sprawling tent city where they stay.

"They threw them on rooftops, mostly tent-tops... Most of them couldn't make it."

The stampede broke out in Mina, about five kilometers (three miles) from Mecca, during the symbolic stoning of the devil ritual. The Saudi civil defense service said it was still counting the dead, who included pilgrims from different countries.

Iran said 131 of its nationals were among the victims, and accused regional rival Saudi Arabia of safety errors.

Islamabad said seven Pakistanis were killed.

Pilgrims at the scene blamed the Saudi authorities and said they were afraid to continue the hajj rituals.

But Abubakar, an AFP reporter based in Kano, Nigeria, said that on Friday morning crowd control had improved and the number of pilgrims was much less.

"Now it's more organized... There's more control from the entry points. We don't expect a repeat of what happened," he said while moving back to the stoning site on the second of three stoning days.

King Salman ordered "a revision" of hajj organization, the official Saudi Press Agency said, while Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayyef, who chairs the kingdom's hajj committee, started an inquiry.

Saudi Health Minister Khaled al-Falih blamed worshippers for the tragedy.

He told El-Ekhbariya television that if "the pilgrims had followed instructions, this type of accident could have been avoided".

The stampede began at around 9:00 am (0600 GMT) Thursday, shortly after the civil defense said on Twitter it was dealing with a "crowding" incident in Mina.

Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims had converged on Mina to throw pebbles at one of three walls representing Satan, for the last major ritual of the hajj, which officially ends on Saturday.

Thursday's tragedy occurred outside the five-storey Jamarat Bridge, which was erected in the last decade at a cost of more than $1 billion (893 million euros) and intended to improve safety.

Interior ministry spokesman General Mansur al-Turki said the stampede was caused when "a large number of pilgrims were in motion at the same time" at an intersection of two streets in Mina.

"The great heat and fatigue of the pilgrims contributed to the large number of victims," he said. Temperatures in Mina had reached 46 degrees Celsius (115 degrees Fahrenheit) on Thursday.

Witnesses, however, blamed the authorities. One outspoken critic of redevelopment at the holy sites said police were not properly trained and lacked the language skills for communicating with foreign pilgrims, who make up the majority of those on the hajj.

"They don't have a clue how to engage with these people," said Irfan al-Alawi, co-founder of the Mecca-based Islamic Heritage Research Foundation.

"There's no crowd control."

The disaster came as the world's 1.5 billion Muslims marked Eid al-Adha, the Feast of Sacrifice, the most important holiday on the Islamic calendar.

It was the second major accident this year for pilgrims, after a construction crane collapsed on September 11 at Mecca's Grand Mosque, Islam's holiest site, killing 109 people, including many foreigners.

source: interaksyon.com

Mecca crane collapse 'act of God': engineer

MECCA, Saudi Arabia - The collapse of a construction crane that killed 107 people at Mecca's Grand Mosque was "an act of God" and not due to a technical fault, an engineer for the developer said Saturday.

The massive red and white crane, which crashed into the court of the mosque during a rainstorm and high winds Friday, also injured around 200 people.

The engineer for Saudi Binladin Group, which is carrying out a massive expansion of the mosque, told AFP the crane, like many others on the project, had been there for three or four years without any problem.

"It was not a technical issue at all," said the engineer, who asked not to be identified.

"I can only say that what happened was beyond the power of humans. It was an act of God and, to my knowledge, there was no human fault in it at all."

Authorities are investigating the tragedy, which occurred as hundreds of thousands of Muslims from around the world were gathering for the annual hajj pilgrimage.

The engineer said the crane was the main one used on work to expand the tawaf, or circumambulation area around the Kaaba -- a massive cubed structure at the centre of the mosque that is a focal point of worship.

"It has been installed in a way so as not to affect the hundreds of thousands of worshippers in the area and in an extremely professional way," he said.

"This is the most difficult place to work in, due to the huge numbers of people in the area."

The crane's heavy hook, which is able to lift hundreds of tonnes, began swaying and moved the whole crane with it, toppling into the mosque, the engineer explained.

A witness said the accident occurred during winds which were so strong they shook his car and tossed billboards around.

The development project is expanding the area of the Grand Mosque by 400,000 square metres (4.3 million square feet), allowing it to accommodate up to 2.2 million people at once.

Saudi Binladin Group belongs to the family of the late al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

source: interaksyon.com

Malaysia Airlines to refund cancellations after MH17

KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysia Airlines said it would offer full refunds to customers who want to cancel their tickets in the wake of the MH17 disaster, just months after the carrier suffered another blow when flight MH370 disappeared.

Passengers can change or cancel their tickets without financial penalty until Thursday for travel throughout the rest of the year, the struggling national airline said.

"In light of the MH17 incident, Malaysia Airlines will be waiving any change fees for passengers who wish to make changes to their itinerary to any MH destinations," it said in a statement.

"Passengers who wish to postpone or cancel their travel plans can obtain a refund, including for non refundable tickets."

A spokeswoman Sunday confirmed Malaysia Airlines would refund cancelled tickets in full, with the costs borne by the carrier.

She said she could not reveal how many customers had already taken up the offer.

Flight MH17 from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur is believed to have been shot out of the sky by a surface-to-air missile, crashing in strife-torn eastern Ukraine Thursday with 298 people from a dozen countries on board.

The disaster came four months after the disappearance of Flight MH370, which lost contact with air controllers on March 8 while en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board.

The plane is believed to have mysteriously gone off course and crashed into the southern Indian Ocean, but an extensive search has so far found no sign of the wreckage.

Both planes were Boeing 777-200s.

Malaysia Airlines said in May that MH370's disappearance had a "dramatic impact" on its first-quarter results, with cancelled bookings helping push the company to a loss of 443 million ringgit ($140 million).

State fund Khazanah Nasional, which holds the airline's purse strings, said in June it would announce a plan to revive the carrier within six to 12 months.

Malaysia Airlines had already raked in losses amounting to $1.3 billion over the previous three years.

source: interaksyon.com

1 confirmed dead in Scotland chopper crash but toll likely to rise

GLASGOW -- One person has been killed in a helicopter crash at a crowded Glasgow pub, police said Saturday, with the death toll likely to rise.

Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond called it a "black day" for Scotland as he sent his condolences to the bereaved.

Police Scotland Chief Constable Stephen House said 32 people had been taken by ambulance to three Glasgow hospitals following the crash on Friday night.

"Sadly I can also confirm one fatality. We expect that number to increase over the coming hours," he told reporters.

Asked if there were people still alive trapped in The Clutha bar, where more than 100 people were watching a band play, House replied: "We can't say that definitively at this moment in time".

Scotland's police chief was speaking alongside Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond, outside the command center in Glasgow, which is coordinating the multi-agency emergency response.

"Our condolences go to those who will be bereaved; our solidarity with those who've been injured," Salmond said.

"All of us have seen over the last few hours the speed and the effectiveness of the mobilization of emergency services in dealing with this tragedy.

"We've also heard of the instinctive courage of ordinary Glaswegians going to assist their fellow citizens in extremity.

"This is a black day for Glasgow and for Scotland. But it's also St. Andrew's Day and it's a day we can take pride and courage in how we respond to adversity and tragedy.

"And that response, from our emergency services and from ordinary citizens, has been exemplary.

"It's a day we can take great pride on how we've responded to this extraordinary tragedy."

source: interaksyon.com

Putting grief in perspective

Even before it was made known that a toxic cocktail of heroin and alcohol contributed to Cory Monteith’s death, I already had a hunch that his story was bound to follow an all-too familiar teen idol template. I couldn’t help but think of Heath Ledger and, as a matter of reflex, Amy Winehouse. Both wrestled with public fame and personal demons, and both led lives that were also blighted and cut prematurely by substance abuse. Theirs are names I will forever associate with the clichéd phrase “gone too soon.”

While the Glee star had been candid about his lifelong addiction and stints at rehab, his clean-cut image suggested good health. His passing at 31 was still quite unexpected. As far as troubled young entertainers were concerned, I imagined rather morbidly that Amanda Bynes or Lindsay Lohan would’ve been the next to go.

Proportional coverage

At first I was puzzled by the mainstream media’s somewhat muted coverage of Monteith’s death. I found out by accident, after several mentions of his name on CNN’s tiny breaking news ticker led me to Google what was going on. A more substantial report came almost a day later.

Even then, there was no academic discussion of his impact on contemporary culture, unlike when Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston or Alexander McQueen died. I soon realized that the amount and quality of press a fallen celebrity receives is proportional to the amount and quality of work he or she has left behind.

Apart from making his imprint as Finn Hudson, the tall and awkward character that served as the heart and backbone of the Fox TV series, Monteith had not appeared in anything critics would deem artistic, serious or remotely edgy. Viewing his legacy through this prism makes the upcoming indie cop drama McCanick, his last feature film, extra eerie. He taps into his own history to play a drug addict on the run, ostensibly to prepare for his post-Glee career.



Communal expression

Online, however, it’s a different matter. Young fans, slowly facing up to irrecoverable loss, have been gathering in communal expression of grief. Among the tributes are works of art depicting the 31-year-old Canadian actor as an angel and messages stating how much certain Gleeks — as the show’s most ardent followers are known — have cried since confirming Monteith’s demise.

It sounds terribly cruel, but I winced at these tearful reminiscences. I may have even rolled my eyes. Clearly, I thought, these people have yet to gain perspective. If they think that an idol dying is already emotionally devastating, what more when a parent, beloved family member or close friend passes away?

‘The work of mourning’
I tried to figure out who had the upper hand in such a situation: teens unfamiliar with life-altering grief; or me,

a young adult who recently lost his mother. But as The Guardian’s Hadley Freeman observes, “For many teenagers the death of a celebrity is how they learn about mortality.”

Antonia Macaro and Julian Baggini, in a Financial Times article about the “proper” way to revisit emotional connections with a lost loved one, wrote that right and wrong do not apply to feelings of grief, but to acts of grieving. “There may be no right way to grieve, but surely a wrong way must be to try to conform to the pronouncements of experts or the expectations of others.”

It was a reminder for me not to judge others on how they contain or disperse their reactions to someone’s death, what Sigmund Freud called “the work of mourning.” That Cory Monteith died young is undeniably sad and tragic. Still, as a naturally stoic person, I preferred to save my tears.

source: philstar.com

Christmas provides Connecticut town a break from mourning

NEWTOWN, Connecticut - Christmas has helped the grieving Connecticut town of Newtown cope a little better with the shooting tragedy earlier this month, and allowed some people to finally smile.

Though more somber than a typical Christmas, the holiday has given Newtown a respite from the mourning. All the funerals for the victims have concluded.

"We're getting through this with our faith and our prayer. People are smiling a little more now," said John Barry, owner of an information technology staffing company. "The week was so horrible. Now it's time to celebrate Christmas."

This largely Christian town was shaken on the morning of December 14, when a 20-year-old gunman armed with a military-style assault rifle shot dead 20 children aged 6 and 7 and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School. It was the second deadliest school shooting in US history.

Little is known about the shooter, Adam Lanza, who also killed his mother before the rampage and later himself to create a death toll of 28 in a tragedy that has revitalized the debate over US gun control laws.

The sadness has moved some to act. Makeshift monuments to the dead have popped up all over town, funds have been raised, and many visitors have made a pilgrimage to Newtown, offering support.

Husband and wife Dan and Michelle McAloon of Newtown decided to go Christmas caroling this year for the first time, gathering other families and children to roam a neighborhood where the families of three victims live.

"We were just spreading some cheer, trying to make the situation a little better," Michelle McAloon said.

"They all smiled, and they all cried a little," she said of the victims' families.

"Everybody said we are doing it again next year," Dan McAloon said of the carolers. "It's going to become a tradition."

The McAloons and Barry were among those in an overflow crowd that attended Christmas Eve Mass on Monday night at Saint Rose of Lima Roman Catholic Church, which held its biggest service at the high school auditorium.

Nine families from the parish lost someone in the shooting, and at least four of those families came to the big Christmas Eve Mass, Monsignor Robert Weiss said.

"Everything is just a lot more somber. Some people are just going through the motions because it's Christmas. Others are trying to make it special," Weiss said after the service.

"There is reason to celebrate. Hopefully when people start to see their extended families, or people from outside of Newtown, or even go out of town, they will be able to. You can't get away from it in this town," he said.

Christmas Eve Mass featured a pageant that told the Christian story of Jesus' birth. One of the more poignant moments came when people applauded a group of two dozen little girls dressed as angels. They all knew shooting victim Olivia Engel, 6, was supposed to be among them.

"I highly recommend that before you rip open those gifts, say a prayer for those children," Weiss told parishioners. "Then give your own children a hug."

source: interaksyon.com

9/11: The Day that Changed the World

This September, GMA News TV commemorates the tragedy that shook the world 11 years ago, with the airing of BBC’s “9/11: The Day that Changed the World”.

“9/11: The Day that Changed the World” takes viewers back to the morning of September 11, 2001 when attacks on the United States killed nearly 3,000 people from over 70 countries. The world watched in terror as hijacked passenger planes crashed into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and an open field in Pennsylvania.

This documentary reveals the decisive moments of 9/11. Going behind the scenes, it shows how the events unfurled in the aircraft, the offices, the bunkers and the military headquarters as the US President, his advisers, security services and the military tried to piece together what was happening, who was attacking America and what was going to happen next.

With narration dubbed in Filipino, BBC’s “9/11: The Day that Changed the World” airs on September 9, Sunday, 10PM on GMA News TV Channel 11.

source: gmanetwork.com