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☆ Bishop Is Stabbed During Live Streamed Service in Sydney
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-15 | by ( Claire Moses | More About Claire Moses | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A police operation was underway after 7:10 p.m. local time on Monday, the New South Wales Police Force said in a statement. The police said that “a number of people were stabbed,” but that none of them had suffered life-threatening injuries. The Australian news media reported that there were four victims, including a religious leader. Cries and screams can be heard from others in the church. “A large police response is underway, and the public is urged to avoid the area,” the police said.

Persons: Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel, “ Organizations: New South Wales Police Force, Good Shepherd, Bishop Locations: Sydney, Australia, Wakeley, “

The military said that only the booster was activated, not the engine that takes over after launch, and not the warhead, so the missile could not travel far and the warhead could not detonate. The missile test on Thursday was conducted aboard a frigate, the Niels Juel, in the port of Korsør, which sits beside the Great Belt. The Great Belt is the strait between Denmark’s two largest islands, Zealand and Funen, and is part of the main shipping route between the North Sea and the Baltic Sea. “From those I have spoken to in the Navy, they are taking it very calmly,” said Søren Nørby, an assistant professor at the Norwegian Defense Academy. If it goes off, there is about 52 kilograms of metal object flying and falling down.”

Persons: Flemming Lentfer, Niels Juel, ”, Søren Nørby Organizations: Navy, Norwegian Defense Academy, “ Locations: U.S, Yemen, Korsør, Zealand, Funen, Baltic

The scene is as spectacular as it is dangerous: flowing rivers of shimmering lava and a dramatic plume of toxic gas. That image has been the reality for much of the past four months in the Reykjanes Peninsula in southern Iceland, which the country’s tourism website has called a “geological wonder where lighthouses outnumber villages.”A series of volcano eruptions began in December after hundreds of earthquakes shook the peninsula, cracking open a fissure that sent lava spewing into a residential neighborhood for the first time in more than four decades. The volcanic system has erupted several more times since then.

Locations: Iceland

☆ The Dali was just starting a 27-day voyage.
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-26 | by ( Claire Moses | More About Claire Moses | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The Dali was less than 30 minutes into its planned 27-day journey when the ship ran into the Francis Scott Key Bridge on Tuesday. The Dali, which is nearly 1,000 feet long, left the Baltimore port around 1 a.m. Eastern on Tuesday. The ship had two pilots onboard, according to a statement by its owners, Grace Ocean Investment. Before heading off on its voyage, the Dali had returned to the United States from Panama on March 19, harboring in New York. The Dali sustained damage at the time, but no one was injured.

Persons: Dali, Francis Scott Key Organizations: Grace Ocean Investment, South, Hyundai Heavy Industries Locations: Sri Lanka, Baltimore, United States, Panama, New York, South Korea, Antwerp

☆ Many Schools in Southern California Will Remain Open Despite Floods
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-05 | by ( Claire Moses | More About Claire Moses | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Most school districts in Southern California, including Los Angeles Unified, the second-largest in the country, were planning to keep most classrooms open on Monday, officials said, even as the state battled heavy rain, flooding and mudslides. Many students depend on schools for basic nutrition, the Los Angeles superintendent, Alberto Carvalho, said at a news conference on Sunday, explaining why he had decided not to close most of the district. The impact of the wind and rain will also vary greatly by neighborhood, he said, meaning that many schools will not be as badly affected. On Monday morning, Los Angeles Unified said that winds were forecast to diminish in the morning, citing it as a reason to keep schools open. Los Angeles Unified has more than 400,000 students in more than 700 schools across the district.

Persons: Alberto Carvalho Organizations: Los Angeles Unified, Los, Vinedale College Preparatory Academy Locations: Southern California, Los Angeles, Sun Valley

☆ Arsonist Sentenced to Death for Killing 36 People in 2019 Kyoto Studio Fire
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-25 | by ( Claire Moses | More About Claire Moses | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A Japanese judge sentenced to death a man who killed 36 people in an arson attack at an anime studio in Kyoto in 2019, one of the country’s deadliest attacks in decades, after he was found guilty of murder on Thursday. Shinji Aoba, the defendant, was charged with murder in 2020, a year after setting fire to the studio of Kyoto Animation. Mr. Aoba had a history of mental illness. In July 2019, Mr. Aoba barged into the studio with gasoline, sprayed it with force and set it on fire with a gas lighter, the judge said Thursday, according to local reports. Mr. Aoba did so, the judge added, because of a grudge — he was convinced that the studio had stolen a novel from him.

Persons: Shinji Aoba, Aoba, Aoba barged Organizations: Kyoto Animation, Associated Press Locations: Kyoto

☆ An English Mystery: What Killed 7 Giant Tortoises Found in the Forest?
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-23 | by ( Claire Moses | More About Claire Moses | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

And they weren’t your usual victims. The police in Devon and Cornwall are investigating how seven giant tortoises ended up dead this month in Ashclyst Forest, northeast of Exeter, England. Two tortoises were found on Jan. 8, and five more on Jan. 12, the police said. The police have asked members of the public to come forward with information if they have it. It’s unclear who found the tortoises, but the police said “a member of the public” reported the dead animals.

Persons: “ Locations: England, Devon, Cornwall, Ashclyst Forest, Exeter

☆ Scottish Country Music Venue Ends Display of Confederate Flag
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-29 | by ( Claire Moses | More About Claire Moses | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

A country and western music venue in Scotland, nearly 4,000 miles and 150 years removed from the Civil War, voted this week to end its controversial display of the Confederate flag. Until recently, a night of live music at the Grand Ole Opry in Glasgow, a members’ club that holds public events, would end with what it described as a salute to the war’s dead and a ceremonial folding of the Confederate battle flag, which to many in the United States and abroad is a symbol of white supremacy. After years of rising tension, the club’s leadership announced last month that it would ban the flag’s display, a move that exploded into a rift among the organization’s 200 or so members, most of whom are white and Scottish. During an emergency meeting on Monday, they voted, narrowly and by secret ballot, to uphold the decision banning the flag, 50-48.

Organizations: Confederate, Grand Ole Opry Locations: Scotland, Glasgow, United States

☆ Eurostar to Suspend Amsterdam to London Service for 6 Months
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-27 | by ( Claire Moses | More About Claire Moses | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Direct train service from Amsterdam to London on the Eurostar, the sleek, fast train that connects Britain to northwestern Europe, will be suspended for six months next year, the train company said. The closing, which will begin in June, is a result of renovations at Amsterdam Centraal Station, from which the Eurostar to London departs. “It’s a shame,” she said, adding that the train company has worked to entice people to take trains instead of planes for short distances. A flight from Amsterdam to London takes less than an hour. The train trip from Amsterdam to London takes about four hours, with stops in Rotterdam, in the Netherlands, Brussels and Lille, France.

Persons: Carola Belderbos, Belderbos, “, ” Organizations: Eurostar, Dutch Locations: Amsterdam, London, Britain, Europe, Rotterdam, Netherlands, Brussels, Lille, France

☆ Long a Bastion of Liberalism, the Netherlands Takes a Sharp Right Turn
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-23 | by ( Claire Moses | More About Claire Moses | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The Netherlands, long regarded as one of Europe’s most socially liberal countries, woke up to a drastically changed political landscape on Thursday after a far-right party swept national elections in a result that has reverberated throughout Europe. Geert Wilders’ Party for Freedom, which advocates banning the Quran, closing Islamic schools and entirely halting the acceptance of asylum seekers, won 37 seats in the 150-seat House of Representatives, making it by far the biggest party, in a clear rebuke of the country’s political establishment. The results, tabulated overnight after Wednesday’s voting, give Mr. Wilders enough support to try to form a governing coalition. Centrist and center-right parties long wary of the firebrand have left the door ajar to a possible partnership, giving Mr. Wilders a chance to become the Netherlands’ first far-right prime minister. While people across the political spectrum expressed surprise at the election outcome, and the Dutch reputation of liberalism persists, experts say that Mr. Wilders succeeded by tapping into a discontent with government that dates back at least two decades.

Persons: Geert Wilders, Wilders Organizations: Party for Freedom Locations: Netherlands, Europe

☆ This Season, Holiday Movies Are Falling for Europe
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-22 | by ( Claire Moses | More About Claire Moses | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

And, according to an increasing number of holiday movies, it’s in Europe. In Notting Hill. A jolly good Christmas. A merry Scottish Christmas and even a merry Swissmas. Europe, with its cobblestoned streets (a nightmare in heels), old buildings (no central heating) and Christmas markets (those can be as good as they look onscreen), provides the perfect setting for a magical holiday adventure.

Persons: Noel, ”, Ali Liebert Organizations: Hallmark Locations: Europe, Rome, Vienna, Switzerland, Scotland, Notting Hill, Belgian, Heidelberg, France

☆ Far-Right Icon Predicted to Win Dutch Elections
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-22 | by ( Claire Moses | More About Claire Moses | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The Netherlands on Wednesday took a startling turn in national elections with the potential to ripple through Europe, as Dutch voters threw most support behind the party of a far-right icon with an incendiary reputation who had campaigned on an anti-immigrant platform. Geert Wilders, a political provocateur long known for his anti-Islam and anti-Europe stances, appeared poised to come out significantly ahead with the most parliamentary seats, according to some early results and exit polls, which were expected to be dependable, especially given the margin of victory they indicated. “The Dutch voter has spoken,” Mr. Wilders said in a speech on Wednesday night, declaring himself the winner. “The voter has said, ‘We are fed up.’” He added that he wanted to return “the Netherlands to the Dutch.”If the preliminary results hold up, the Netherlands will be at the threshold of uncertain new political terrain after 13 years of stewardship by Prime Minister Mark Rutte, a stalwart of Dutch politics and a dependable presence on the E.U.

Persons: Geert Wilders, Mr, Wilders, “, ‘, Mark Rutte Organizations: Wednesday Locations: Netherlands

☆ The Man Looking to Upend an Unpredictable Dutch Election
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-21 | by ( Claire Moses | More About Claire Moses | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Yet it is one that does not pit the elite against the common man in the way populist parties often do, political analysts said. The Dutch election is shaping up as one of the most significant and competitive in years. Mr. Rutte, who is serving as caretaker prime minister until a new government is formed, was considered a mainstay of Dutch politics. Mr. Rutte was also a strong voice for fiscal restraint inside the European Union, especially after the British exit, allowing the Netherlands to punch above its weight on E.U. Those are big political shoes to fill, and the race remains unpredictable, analysts said, with three or four parties closely jockeying near the top of polls in the homestretch.

Persons: Rutte, ” Organizations: European Union Locations: Groningen, Netherlands

☆ Shakira Reaches Deal in Spanish Tax Fraud Case
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-20 | by ( Claire Moses | More About Claire Moses | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The international pop star Shakira reached a deal with Spanish prosecutors to settle a multimillion-euro tax evasion case on Monday, just before the trial was set to begin in Barcelona. Prosecutors had accused Shakira of six counts of tax fraud, charging that she had failed to pay 14.5 million euros, about $15.8 million, in income taxes. reported that, under the deal, she would receive a three-year suspended sentence and a fine of €7 million. Shakira, whose full name is Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll, was accused of failing to pay income taxes to the Spanish government from 2012 to 2014. Shakira had repeatedly denied the accusations and said that she was not living in Spain during those years.

Persons: Shakira, Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll Organizations: Prosecutors, Associated Press Locations: Barcelona, Spain

☆ Iceland Is in a Holding Pattern as It Awaits a Volcanic Eruption
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-17 | by ( Claire Moses | More About Claire Moses | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A holding patternIf and when a volcanic eruption may happen is unclear and hard to predict. A nine-mile-long underground river of magma is moving under Grindavik, the evacuated town, and out to the ocean. This week, officials said that the intensity of the seismic activity had decreased a bit, but they have continued to warn of a possible eruption. As of Friday, the website of the Icelandic Met Office, the country’s weather service, continued to warn that there was a “significant likelihood of a volcanic eruption in the coming days,” as it has done for multiple days. Last Saturday, officials evacuated the more than 3,000 residents of Grindavik, a small fishing town about 30 miles south of Reykjavik.

Persons: ” Mr, Viglundsson, “ Organizations: Icelandic Met Office Locations: Grindavik, Reykjavik

☆ Gwyneth Paltrow’s Ski Trial Is Getting the Musical Treatment
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-15 | by ( Claire Moses | More About Claire Moses | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

It’s not your average Christmas love story. But here goes: “She’s the Goop-founding, door-sliding, Shakespeare-in-loving, consciously-uncoupling Hollywood superstar. In 2016, they went skiing.”That’s how the production company Awkward Productions is introducing its new musical “Gwyneth Goes Skiing,” about Gwyneth Paltrow’s trial over a skiing accident, set to run at the Pleasance Theater in London this December. Far from a classic West End musical, the show is a comedy featuring original songs by Leland, a singer songwriter who has worked with stars including Selena Gomez. Set in a small venue, the show will be 90 minutes.

Persons: It’s, He’s, Gwyneth, Gwyneth Paltrow’s, Leland, Selena Gomez Organizations: Hollywood Locations: Utah, London

☆ A Volcano May Erupt in Iceland. Here’s What to Know for Now.
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-14 | by ( Claire Moses | More About Claire Moses | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Iceland is bracing for a possible volcanic eruption. Since late October, tens of thousands of earthquakes have been reported in the Reykjanes Peninsula, in the southwestern part of the country. At one point there were as many as 1,400 in a single 24-hour period. On Tuesday, the Icelandic Met Office, the country’s weather service, warned that there was a “significant likelihood of a volcanic eruption in the coming days.”The increased seismic activity and the formation of a nine-mile underground river of magma have led the authorities in recent days to declare a state of emergency and to evacuate the small fishing town of Grindavik, where more than 3,000 people live.

Organizations: Icelandic Met Office Locations: Iceland, Grindavik

☆ A Grocery Chain Just Fired Its Self-Checkouts
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-10 | by ( Claire Moses | More About Claire Moses | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

You clicked the picture of a zucchini on the screen, but what you have in your basket is a cucumber. And buying something like alcohol or medicine still means you have to wait for a store worker to come over. No warm welcome from machines. “Delighting customers with our warm northern welcome is part of our DNA.”Can humans and machines peacefully coexist? But removing self-checkouts altogether, as Booths announced it will do, would be a “bad idea,” Ms. Abittan said.

Persons: that’s, “ There’s, ”, Sandra Abittan, “, Ms, Abittan Organizations: Tesco, Wal, Mart Locations: London, United States, Britain

☆ Lucky Find at Auction Identifies Man on Cover of ‘Led Zeppelin IV’
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-08 | by ( Claire Moses | More About Claire Moses | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

On Nov. 8, 1971, Led Zeppelin released its iconic fourth studio album, which was untitled but is widely known as “Led Zeppelin IV.” It features the band’s major hit “Stairway to Heaven,” and the wordless cover shows the image of a bearded, older man with a large bundle of sticks on his back against the backdrop of a decaying wall. Now, 52 years later to the day, a minor mystery about that cover has been solved. Sometimes thought to be a painting, the image, it turns out, was a Victorian-era photograph of a man who made thatched roofs for cottages in Wiltshire, a rural county in southwestern England. His name was Lot Long and he was 69 at the time, according to Brian Edwards, a researcher who found the photo. As he was looking through a Victorian photo album full of landscapes and houses, Mr. Edwards noticed a photo he had seemingly seen before.

Persons: Lot Long, Brian Edwards, Edwards Organizations: Zeppelin, University of the Locations: Victorian, Wiltshire, England

☆ After Two Years in Solitude, ‘Britain’s Loneliest Sheep’ Finds a Home
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-06 | by ( Claire Moses | More About Claire Moses | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Fiona, a now-famous and once-lonely British sheep, is at the center of a social media frenzy as well as a local dispute. Farmers rescued her on Saturday by hoisting her up a hill after she spent at least two years by herself at the bottom of a Scottish cliff, snacking on grass and hiding from the elements in a cave. Fiona — so named because a sheep named Shrek had been in a similar position in New Zealand almost 20 years ago — has been moved to Dalscone Farm in Dumfries, about 25 miles north of the border with England, where she is set to live out the rest of her days. While it’s not known how Fiona ended up at the bottom of a cliff, it is likely that she got separated from her mother before falling or wandering down the hill and ended up at the bottom without a path back up.

Persons: Fiona, Fiona —, —, it’s Organizations: Farmers Locations: Scottish, New Zealand, Dumfries, England

☆ ‘Utterly Devastated’: ‘Friends’ Cast Reacts to Matthew Perry’s Death
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-30 | by ( Claire Moses | More About Claire Moses | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Matthew Perry’s fellow “Friends” cast members expressed their grief and sadness about his death in a joint statement to People magazine on Monday. “We are all so utterly devastated by the loss of Matthew. We were more than just cast mates. We are a family,” Courteney Cox, Jennifer Aniston, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer said in the statement. “There is so much to say, but right now we’re going to take a moment to grieve and process this unfathomable loss.”“In time we will say more, as and when we are able,” the statement said.

Persons: Matthew Perry’s, ”, “, Matthew, ” Courteney Cox, Jennifer Aniston, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, David Schwimmer, Chandler Bing —

☆ Will Playing the Lottery in Southern California Turn You Into a Billionaire?
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-25 | by ( Claire Moses | More About Claire Moses | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

This month, a winning ticket was sold at Midway Market & Liquor in Frazier Park, Calif., a town about 70 miles north of Los Angeles. In July, a lucky player bought a ticket worth $1.08 billion at Las Palmitas Mini Market in downtown Los Angeles. In 2016, lucky buyers in Chino Hills, Calif., less than 40 miles from Los Angeles, split $1.6 billion with winners in Tennessee and Florida. Lottery officials have not announced who won the winning billion dollar tickets in July and October. The wins have led people in online forums like Reddit and Quora, or in their Google searches, to ask: Is Southern California lucky?

Persons: Edwin Castro, ”, James Abdey, “ Organizations: Midway, Liquor, Las, Lottery, London School of Economics, Political Locations: Frazier Park, Calif, Los Angeles, Chino Hills, Tennessee, Florida, Altadena, Southern California

The man who has long been linked to the 2005 disappearance of the American teenager Natalee Holloway described in court documents released on Wednesday how he had brutally attacked her on a beach in Aruba after she rejected his advances. It was the first time that details of Ms. Holloway’s disappearance have been made public, and it came after Joran van der Sloot, a 36-year-old Dutchman, agreed to provide “full, complete, accurate, and truthful information” about it in exchange for a 20-year sentence on extortion and wire fraud charges. As part of a plea agreement, Mr. van der Sloot pleaded guilty on Wednesday in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama in Birmingham to charges that he had tried to extort Ms. Holloway’s mother, prosecutors said. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison. In court, Judge Anna M. Manasco said that as part of the sentencing decision, Mr. van der Sloot had confessed to killing Ms. Holloway and disposing of her remains, The Associated Press reported.

Persons: Natalee Holloway, Joran van der, van der Sloot, Holloway’s, Anna M, Manasco, Holloway Organizations: Northern, Northern District of, Associated Press Locations: Aruba, Northern District, Northern District of Alabama, Birmingham

☆ In His Next Magic Show, Derren Brown Will Be Invisible
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-19 | by ( Claire Moses | More About Claire Moses | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

After decades of stage shows, TV specials and essentially reinventing mind control, Derren Brown is doing something new: He’s getting off the stage, and into the director’s chair. “Unbelievable,” directed by Brown and his longtime collaborators Andrew O’Connor and Andy Nyman, opens on Tuesday in London’s West End, and is a family-friendly magic show the likes of which its makers promise you’ve never seen. It’s also a new kind of Derren Brown show. Brown has long maintained that he is not a psychic, but that his mind tricks are a combination of magic, suggestion, psychology, misdirection and showmanship. This time, Brown said that creating a magic show using actors and musicians directed by him, O’Connor and Nyman “just felt like a really appealing idea.”

Persons: Derren Brown, ” Brown, ”, Brown, Andrew O’Connor, Andy Nyman, you’ve, It’s, O’Connor, Nyman “ Locations: London’s

☆ Singing Competition Again Comes Under Fire After Use of Blackface
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-13 | by ( Claire Moses | More About Claire Moses | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In response to that criticism, the show said the negative comments were surprising. This time around, “Your Face Sounds Familiar,” which is in its 19th season, has not yet publicly responded. The show’s Instagram account indicates that multiple contestants have dressed in blackface to perform as Black singers, including Snoop Dogg, Ray Charles, Bill Withers and Missy Elliott. She said the continued use of blackface on the show might be because the stigma surrounding it is smaller in Poland, which has a population that is overwhelmingly white, than it is in the United States. About 97 percent of Poland’s population identifies as ethnically Polish, according to Minority Rights Group International.

Persons: Snoop Dogg, Ray Charles, Bill Withers, Missy Elliott, Mia Moody, Ramirez, cornrows Organizations: Baylor University, Group International Locations: Texas, Poland, United States

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