Friday, October 31, 2014
Canadian returns stolen Pompeii relic after 50 years
A woman from Canada has handed back a piece of ruins from the ancient city of Pompeii more than 50 years after she first took it. The woman picked up a small decoration, which was part of a theatre entrance, during her honeymoon in Italy. She put it in her bag and took it back with her to Montreal. Pompeii is one of Italy's most visited sites. A sudden eruption of Mt Vesuvius in 79 AD buried and largely preserved the town under ash. The woman - who has not been named - kept it with her for half a century but clearly her actions nagged away at her. So this month she travelled back to Italy to hand back the fragment.
Captain Carmine Elefante, who runs the police's Cultural Heritage Protection Group in Naples, says that the woman - now in her 70s - was in tears when she gave it back.
see in: Pompei
INC News, 31/10/2014
Rolf Harris loses first conviction appeal bid
Rolf Harris has lost the first round of a legal challenge against his conviction for indecent assaults. The disgraced entertainer was jailed in July for nearly six years for 12 indecent assaults on four girls, including one aged just seven or eight. The Judicial Office confirmed a judge had refused his application for permission to appeal, lodged in August. But the 84-year-old can still renew the application before three judges at the Court of Appeal. The artist, TV presenter and musician was convicted at London's Southwark Crown Court in June.
see in : Rolf Harris
INC News, 31/10/2014
China corruption: Record cash find in official's home
Anti-corruption investigators in China have confirmed the reported seizure of the equivalent of $33m in cash at an official's home in May - the biggest such haul to date. More than 200m yuan (£20m) were found and four out of 16 counting machines broke whilst measuring the notes, a prosecutor said. Senior energy official Wei Pengyuan is under investigation for corruption.
President Xi Jinping has promised to tackle corruption in China. The massive haul, first reported in the Chinese press in May, was confirmed at a news conference by top anti-bribery prosecutor Xu Jinhui. Mr Wei, who is the deputy chief of the National Energy Administration's coal department, was put under investigation in May for allegedly accepting bribes following the discovery of the hidden cash. China has sentenced more than 13,000 officials found guilty of corruption and bribery in the first nine months of 2014 alone.
see in: China corruption
INC News, 31/10/2014
Warmest UK Halloween on record
This year's Halloween has been the warmest on record in the UK, BBC weather has said.A temperature of 23.6C (74.3F) was recorded in Gravesend, Kent and Kew Gardens, Greater London, surpassing the previous record of 20.0C. Other parts of the south of England and the north coasts of Wales and Norfolk also broke the 20C mark.The previous record was set in Dartford, Kent, in 1968 and matched in parts of Greater London in 1989.At 12:20 GMT, the Met Office tweeted: "Charlwood has beaten Filton, recording 22.5 °C. This makes it the warmest #Halloween on record!"
INC News, 31/10/2014
Public Transport Less Safe for Women in Moscow Than in New York
Russia's capital Moscow has ranked in ninth place on a list of the world's most dangerous transport systems for women — the only city in Europe to feature inside the top 10.
The survey, carried out by the Thomson Reuters Foundation in collaboration with online pollster YouGov, focused on 16 of the world's most populous capital cities as defined by the United Nations.
An exception was made for New York, which was included in place of Washington DC as the most populous city in the U.S., and was ranked the safest in the poll published Wednesday.
A minimum of 380 women and at least nine women's rights and gender experts were interviewed in each city for the survey, which ranked Moscow's transport system as the ninth-worst for women after the Thai capital of Bangkok.
Those polled were questioned on six topics, including traveling alone at night, risk of being verbally harassed by men, and risk of being groped or subjected to other forms of physical harassment. Respondents were left to decide what constituted "harassment" in their respective societies.
See in: Women in metro in Moscow
INC News, 31/10/2014
Solo rose per le donne iraniane
Nel corso delle ultime settimane, quattro donne sono state aggredite con l'acido a Isfahan, una città nel centro dell'Iran. Una, di cui si ignora ancora il nome, è morta a causa delle ferite riportate. Gli attacchi sono stati fatti da uomini in moto con il volto coperto. Un gruppo di artisti, per denunciare gli agguati, ha deciso di avvicinare le donne seguendo lo stesso metodo, ma con un'unica e grande eccezione: invece dell'acido donano delle rose
Burkina Faso, i militari: "Il governo è sciolto"
Il portavoce delle Forze Armate del Burkina Faso, lacerata da violenti scontri e dalla protesta contro il presidente, ha annunciato in diretta televisiva la presa di potere da parte dei militari: "Vista la situazione, e al fine di preparare il ritorno alla normalità entro dodici mesi il governo è sciolto, così come il Parlamento"
Parigi: fiamme alla "Casa della radio"
Le immagini dell'incendio scoppiato alla "Maison de la Radio", l'edificio che ospita le principali emittenti radiofoniche parigine. Il rogo si è sviluppato ai piani superiori del palazzo, che è stato subito evacuato. Non si registrano feriti
Aereo russo verso Londra, l'ultimatum dei caccia Raf: "Rispondete o vi abbattiamo"
La registrazione audio dell'ultimatum lanciato mercoledì pomeriggio via radio da due caccia della Raf, in volo dopo aver intercettato e affiancato un aereo cargo russo che aveva interrotto le comunicazioni con la torre di controllo e sembrava puntare sul centro di Londra. "Siamo incaricati dal Governo di Sua Maestà di avvertirvi: se non rispondete immediatamente agli ordini verrete abbattuti".
La tensione resta alta anche per i 26 aerei russi intercettati nei cieli Ue, anche se Mosca prende le distanze. "Non hanno oltrepassato alcun confine'', sottolinea la tv RussiaToday.
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