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Hurricane Belle. Hurricane Belle was a strong tropical cyclone that caused moderate damage across the East Coast of the United States in August 1976. In late July, a tropical wave emerged off the west coast of Africa. Traversing the Atlantic Ocean for more than a week, the system eventually consolidated into a tropical depression near the Bahamas on August 6. Remaining nearly stationary for a day, the depression strengthened into a tropical storm on August 7 and a hurricane later that day as it acquired a northwest motion. Formation of an eye accompanied quick intensification and Belle reached its peak the following day with winds of 120 mph (195 km/h). The hurricane subsequently turned north and accelerated, skirting the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Early on August 10, Belle made landfall on Long Island, New York, as a minimal hurricane crossing Long Island Sound and hitting the central coast of Connecticut as strong tropical storm. Thereafter, Belle transitioned into an extratropical cyclone over New England before moving over Atlantic Canada. The system turned east while over the north Atlantic and ultimately dissipated on August 15 to the south of Iceland. Threatening much of the East Coast of the United States, hurricane warnings were issued from Georgia to Maine. An estimated 500,000 people evacuated coastal areas accordingly. Overall, impacts from Belle were less than expected and mainly attributed to flooding across New England. Hundreds of thousands of residents lost power due to high winds. A total of 12 people lost their lives, mostly incidents indirectly related to the hurricane, and damage reached an estimated $100 million. Portions of New Jersey, New York, and Vermont were later declared major disaster areas by then-President Gerald Ford. Some damage also took place in New Brunswick, Canada, from heavy rain. | 0neutral
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Bound for Glory (2005). Bound for Glory (2005) was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) promotion that took place on October 23, 2005 at the TNA Impact! Zone in Orlando, Florida. It was the first event under the Bound for Glory name and tenth event in the 2005 TNA PPV schedule. The show was promoted as TNA's premiere PPV event and their equivalent to the rival World Wrestling Entertainment's (WWE) WrestleMania. Ten professional wrestling matches and one pre-show match were featured on the card, three of which involved championships. The main event was for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, in which champion Jeff Jarrett fought the challenger Rhino with Tito Ortiz as Special Guest Referee. The match was originally Jarrett versus Kevin Nash with Ortiz as referee, however Nash was not cleared to wrestle due to a medical emergency. A Ten-Man Gauntlet match was held to determine Nash's replacement, which Rhino won. Rhino then went on to defeat Jarrett to win the NWA World Heavyweight Championship at the show. The TNA X Division Championship was defended in a Thirty-Minute Iron Man match by champion A.J. Styles against the challenger Christopher Daniels at the event. Styles defeated Daniels one fall to zero falls to retain the championship. Monster's Ball II was held at Bound for Glory, in which Rhino defeated Abyss, Jeff Hardy, and Sabu. The NWA World Tag Team Championship was successfully defended by America's Most Wanted (Chris Harris and James Storm) against The Naturals (Andy Douglas and Chase Stevens) at the show. Chris Sabin, Matt Bentley, and Petey Williams competed in a Three Way Ultimate X match to determine the number-one contender to the TNA X Division Championship also on the card. Williams won the encounter to earn a future title match. Bound for Glory is remembered for Nash being removed from the main event and for Rhino's impromptu championship victory. Rhino becoming champion was ranked by TNA as the 21st greatest moment in the company's history. The event was dedicated to Reggie Lisowski, who died the night prior. Bob Kapur of the professional wrestling section of the Canadian Online Explorer rated the show a 9 out of 10, higher than the 2006 edition. It also received a higher rating by the Canadian Online Explorer than WWE's WrestleMania 21 PPV event held on April 3, 2005, which had been given a 5 out of 10 by Dale Plummer and Nick Tylwalk. In October 2017, with the launch of the Global Wrestling Network, the event became available to stream on demand. | 0neutral
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"Brisbane Open House. Brisbane Open House is a Doors Open Days event held in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia that showcases many of the city's buildings to the public. Among the buildings included are historical landmarks, galleries, office buildings, museums, places of worship and bridges. Well known buildings not usually open to the public are open for free public tours. The annual event is usually held on the first weekend in October. The event is organised by the Queensland Government Architect, the Brisbane Development Association, and the National Trust of Queensland. Brisbane Open House is part of the ""Open House Worldwide"" annual cultural event." | 0neutral
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Nag Hammadi massacre. The Nag Hammadi massacre was a massacre of Coptic Christians carried out on the eve of 7 January 2010, in the Egyptian city of Nag Hammadi. The massacre occurred at the hands of Muslim gunmen in front of the Nag Hammadi cathedral, as Coptic Christians were leaving the church after celebrating the midnight Christmas mass. The massacre resulted in the murder of seven Copts and one Muslim bystander. Nine other Copts were confirmed to be wounded, and two Muslims were reportedly wounded in the attack. The Nag Hammadi massacre gained widespread international attention, and was condemned by Pope Benedict XVI, Lebanese MP Nadim Gemayel, Italian foreign minister Franco Frattini, and Canadian foreign minister Lawrence Cannon. The massacre was one of the most serious outbreaks of anti-Christian violence in Egypt, and the worst since the murder of 21 Coptic Christians in Kosheh in January 2000. | 2civil conflict
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Battle of Lyncestis. The Battle of Lyncestis/Lyncus took place in 423 BC between the allied forces of the Lyncestians and Illyrians against those of the Spartans and Macedonians. The battle was part of the wider Peloponnesian Wars. Before Athens suffered defeat at Delium in 424 BC, Sparta had sent an expedition under Brasidas to assist Perdiccas II of Macedonia and other opponents of Athens. At first Sparta avoided involvement in Macedon's war with Arrhabaeus, but in 423 BC they joined an expedition which ended with retreat by the Macedonians and a brilliantly contrived escape of the Spartans. After the initial joint Illyrian and Lyncestian attack was repulsed, they pursued the Macedonians and blocked Brasidas' route at a pass, forcing his army up the surrounding hill and into Macedonia. This brought to a head the quarrel between Brasidas and Perdiccas. | 1military conflict
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"Narva Offensive (July 1944). ""This is a sub-article to Battle of Narva (1944)."" The Narva Offensive was a campaign fought between the German army detachment ""Narwa"" and the Soviet Leningrad Front for the city of Narva in 24â30 July 1944. The Soviet breakthrough in Belorussia made the German Army Group North withdraw a large portion of their troops from Narva to the central part of the Eastern Front and to Finland. As there were no more sufficient forces for the defence of the former front line at Narva in July, the army group began preparations for the withdrawal of their forces to the Tannenberg defence line at the Sinimäed Hills 16 kilometres from Narva. While the command of the Soviet Leningrad Front was unaware of the preparations, they designed the Narva Offensive. Shock troops from the Finnish front were concentrated near Narva, giving the Leningrad Front a 4:1 superiority both in manpower and equipment. Before the German forces had implemented the plan, the Soviet 8th Army launched the offensive with an assault at Auvere Railway Station. The Waffen Grenadier Regiment der SS 45 ""Estland"" (1st Estonian) and the 44th Infantry Regiment (which consisted in personnel from East Prussia) repulsed the attack, inflicting heavy losses to the 8th Army. The 11th SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Division Nordland and 4th SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Brigade Nederland stationed in Ivangorod left their positions quietly on the night before 25 July. The evacuation was carried out according to Obergruppenführer Felix Steiner's plans until the 2nd Shock Army resumed the offensive in the morning of 25 July. Supported by 280,000 shells and grenades from 1,360 assault guns, the army crossed the river north of the town. The II.Battalion, Waffen Grenadier Regiment der SS 46 (2nd Estonian) and II.Battalion, Waffen-Grenadier Regiment der SS 47 (3rd Estonian) kept the 2nd Shock Army from capturing the highway behind the retreating ""Nordland"" and ""Nederland"" detachments. The defensive cost the loss of the SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Regiment 48 due to their tactical errors. The Soviet forces captured Narva on 26 July." | 1military conflict
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"Operation Marne Torch. Operation ""Marne Torch"" refers to two operations launched by Coalition forces in 2007 against al-Qaeda in Iraq in the Arab Jabour area of Babil province. This campaign is named after Operation Torch, the joint US/British invasion of French North Africa in 1942, presumably because of the two operations' similar thrust in to the enemies southern underbelly. The first operation, Marne Torch I began on 16 June 2007, when Multinational Division Central launched offensive operations against Sunni and Shi'ia extremists, as well as insurgents with Iranian influence in the city and surrounding regions of Arab Jabour in Babil province. The action was intended to clear terrorist sanctuaries southeast of Baghdad as well as reduce the flow of accelerants into that city by both combat and civil-military operations. 2000 coalition and 1000 Iraqi army soldiers disrupted insurgent operations by capturing, seizing, and clearing caches that support instability in the area. Marne Torch II was launched on 15 September 2007 in the Hawr Rajab area. Supported by a newly created Sons Of Iraq group from Arab Jabour, Coalition forces continued their push along the west bank of the Tigris river, killing or capturing 250 insurgents, destroying 12 boats being used by the insurgents to funnel weapons into Baghdad, and uncovering 40 weapons caches, often with tips from the Sons of Iraq." | 1military conflict
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Siege of Hull (1642). The Siege of Hull in 1642 was the first major action of the English Civil War. As Royalists and Parliamentarians prepared for war, Parliament had access to more military material, due to its possession of all major cities including the large arsenal in London. In Kingston upon Hull, where the majority of the inhabitants were Royalists, there was a large arsenal which had been established for the Second Bishops' War in 1638. To deny the Royalists access to this, in January 1642 Sir John Hotham was ordered by Parliament to seize Hull. This was carried out at once by his son John, who became the Military Governor of Hull. Charles I hoped that quick victories would negate Parliament's advantage in material, and as the armouries in London were beyond his reach he hoped to take the large arsenal at Hull to supplement the armouries he did have access to, such as those of the Derbyshire and Staffordshire trained bands. In April 1642 Hotham refused to admit Charles I to Hull. Later he promised his prisoner, Lord Digby, that he would surrender the city to the king, but when Charles appeared again, after travelling to Beverley (a walled medieval town some 8 â 10 miles away which was an armoury) to collect more soldiers, Hotham refused a second time and drove away the besiegers. Charles took great personal affront to these actions, and declared Hotham a traitor. The Royalists' unsuccessful siege of the city was a major step on the road to full-scale war which would start in earnest with the pitched battle of Edgehill on 23 October 1642. | 1military conflict
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"2008 Kazan gas explosion. The Kazan gas explosion occurred on January 9, 2008, destroying an entire corner of a three-story khrushchyovka-style apartment building on Malaya Pechyorskaya Street in the Aviastroitelny District of Kazan, Tatarstan, Russia. The explosion took place at 0:28 a.m. local time (UTC +3). The blast destroyed 12 apartments and killed ten residents, including one woman who died of blast-related trauma in a hospital after being rescued from the rubble. Additionally, two were non-fatally wounded. Rescue efforts were complicated by low temperatures of -30 °C, raising concerns that victims trapped in the destroyed building might freeze before being reached by rescuers. Three of the building residents, including one child, were not immediately accounted for. However, several body parts were found in the ruins, and subsequent DNA analyses determined that the young girl and her grandfather were both among those killed in the explosion. The girl's grandmother, also thought to have been in the apartment, is still counted missing. The exact cause of the blast has not been established. While a criminal investigation was initiated, city authorities suspect that the cause may have been improper use of gas appliances. The Kazan city government arranged for residents of the building destroyed in the blast to receive apartments in newly constructed buildings. On July 10, 2008, the first nine affected families received keys to new apartments in a building on Amirkhan Street. The residents received the apartments in exchange for their destroyed ones, an arrangement set up by the city-held ""OAO Residential Investment Company of the City of Kazan"" and supported by Kazan mayor Ilsur Metshin and the district administration. Families were also given the opportunity to pay for larger apartments at a discounted price per square meter." | 0neutral
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"Operation Python. Operation ""Python"", a follow-up to Operation ""Trident"", was the code name of a naval attack launched on West Pakistan's port city of Karachi by the Indian Navy during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971. After the first attack during Operation ""Trident"" on the Port of Karachi, Pakistan stepped up aerial surveillance of its coast as the presence of large Indian Navy ships gave the impression that another attack was being planned. Pakistani warships attempted to outsmart the Indian Navy by mingling with merchant shipping. To counter these moves, Operation ""Python"" was launched on the night of 8/9 December 1971. A strike group consisting of one missile boat and two frigates attacked the group of ships off the coast of Karachi. While India suffered no losses, Pakistani fleet tanker was damaged beyond repair, and the Kemari Oil Storage facility was lost. Two other foreign ships stationed in Karachi were also sunk during the attack." | 1military conflict
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Mahon Tribunal. The Tribunal of Inquiry Into Certain Planning Matters and Payments commonly known as the Mahon Tribunal after the name of its last chairman, was a public inquiry in Ireland established by Dáil Ãireann in 1997 to investigate allegations of corrupt payments to politicians regarding political decisions. It mostly investigated planning permissions and land rezoning issues in the 1990s in the Dublin County Council area. Judge Alan Mahon was the final chair of the tribunal and its other members were Judge Mary Faherty and Judge Gerald Keys. The original Chairman, who was the sole member until just before his retirement, was Judge Feargus Flood, giving rise to the original common name of the Flood Tribunal. Using investigations to collect evidence and public hearings with witnesses, it investigated allegations made in the media prior to its establishment and allegations subsequently made to the tribunal itself. The tribunal ran from November 1997 to March 2012 and was the longest running and most expensive public inquiry held in the Republic of Ireland, with costs forecast to reach between â¬250 million and â¬300 million. Public hearings concluded in September 2008, and following several delays due to legal challenges, the tribunal began preparing its final report. It published four interim reports, and the final report was published on 22 March 2012. On 2 April 2008, then-Taoiseach Bertie Ahern resigned due to continuing controversy over the payments. | 0neutral
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2000 Pro Bowl. The 2000 Pro Bowl was the NFL's all-star game for the 1999 season. The game was played on February 6, 2000 at Aloha Stadium in Honolulu, Hawaii Attendanceâ 50,112. The game was broadcast by ABC with a running time of three hours and sixteen minutes. The final score was NFC 51, AFC 31. The AFC coach was Tom Coughlin of Jacksonville. The NFC coach was Tony Dungy of Tampa Bay. Randy Moss of the Minnesota Vikings was the game's MVP with 9 catches for 212 yards and one touchdown. | 0neutral
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Operation Fustian. Operation Fustian was an airborne forces operation undertaken during the Allied invasion of Sicily in July 1943 in the Second World War. The operation was carried out by Brigadier Gerald Lathbury's 1st Parachute Brigade, part of the British 1st Airborne Division. Their objective was the Primosole Bridge across the Simeto River. The intention was for the brigade, with glider-borne forces in support, to land on both sides of the river. They would then capture the bridge and secure the surrounding area until relieved by the advance of British XIII Corps, which had landed on the south eastern coast three days previously. Because the bridge was the only crossing on the river and would give the British Eighth Army access to the Catania plain, its capture was expected to speed the advance and lead to the defeat of the Axis forces in Sicily. Many of the aircraft carrying the paratroopers from North Africa were shot down or were damaged and turned back by friendly fire and enemy action. Evasive action taken by the pilots scattered the brigade over a large area and only the equivalent of two companies of troops were landed in the correct locations. Despite this and the defence by German and Italian forces, the British paratroops captured the bridge, repulsed attacks and held out against increasing odds until nightfall. The relief force led by the 50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Division, under Major-General Sidney C. Kirkman, which was short of transport, were still away when they halted for the night. By this time, with casualties mounting and supplies running short, the parachute brigade commander, Gerald Lathbury, had relinquished control of the bridge to the Germans. The following day the British units joined forces and the 9th Battalion, Durham Light Infantry, with tank support, attempted to recapture the bridge. The bridge was not finally secured until three days after the start of the operation, when another battalion of the Durham Light Infantry, led by the paratroopers, established a bridgehead on the north bank of the river. The capture of Primosole Bridge did not lead to the expected rapid advance, as by this time the Germans had gathered their forces and established a defensive line. It was not until early the following month that the Eighth Army captured Catania. By this time the 1st Parachute Brigade had been withdrawn to Malta and took no further part in the conquest of Sicily. Lessons were learned from the operation and were put into practice in Allied airborne operations. | 1military conflict
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"Plitvice Lakes incident. The Plitvice Lakes incident ( or ""PlitviÄki krvavi Uskrs"", both translating as ""Plitvice Bloody Easter"") was an armed clash at the beginning of the Croatian War of Independence. It was fought between Croatian police and armed forces from the Croatian Serb-established SAO Krajina at the Plitvice Lakes in Croatia, on 31 March 1991. The fighting followed the SAO Krajina's takeover of the Plitvice Lakes National Park and resulted in Croatia recapturing the area. The clash resulted in one killed on each side and contributed to the worsening ethnic tensions. The fighting prompted the Presidency of Yugoslavia to order the Yugoslav People's Army (""Jugoslovenska Narodna Armija"" â JNA) to step in and create a buffer zone between the opposing forces. The JNA arrived at the scene the following day and presented Croatia with an ultimatum requesting the police to withdraw. Even though the special police units which captured the Plitvice Lakes area did pull out on 2 April, a newly established Croatian police station, staffed by 90 officers, remained in place. The police station was blockaded by the JNA three months later, and captured in late August 1991." | 1military conflict
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A Conspiracy of Hope. A Conspiracy of Hope was a short tour of six benefit concerts on behalf of Amnesty International that took place in the United States during June 1986. The purpose of the tour was not to raise funds but rather to increase awareness of human rights and of Amnesty's work on its 25th anniversary. The shows were headlined by U2, Sting and Bryan Adams and also featured Peter Gabriel, Lou Reed, Joan Baez, and The Neville Brothers. The last three shows featured a reunion of The Police. At a press conferences in each city, at related media events, and through their music at the concerts themselves, the artists engaged with the public on themes of human rights and human dignity. The six concerts were the first of what subsequently became known collectively as the Human Rights Concerts â a series of music events and tours staged by Amnesty International USA between 1986â1998. | 0neutral
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Operation Storm. Operation Storm (/ÐпеÑаÑиÑа ÐлÑÑа) was the last major battle of the Croatian War of Independence and a major factor in the outcome of the Bosnian War. It was a decisive victory for the Croatian Army (HV), which attacked across a front against the Republic of Serbian Krajina (RSK), and a strategic victory for the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (ARBiH). The HV was supported by the Croatian special police advancing from the Velebit Mountain, and the ARBiH located in the BihaÄ pocket, in the Army of the Republic of Serb Krajina's (ARSK) rear. The battle, launched to restore Croatian control of of territory, representing 18.4% of the territory it claimed, and Bosnian control of Western Bosnia, was the largest European land battle since the Second World War. Operation Storm commenced at dawn on 4 August 1995 and was declared complete on the evening of 7 August, despite significant mopping-up operations against pockets of resistance lasting until 14 August. Operation Storm was a strategic victory in the Bosnian War, effectively ending the siege of BihaÄ and placing the HV, Croatian Defence Council (HVO) and the ARBiH in a position to change the military balance of power in Bosnia and Herzegovina through the subsequent Operation Mistral 2. The operation built on HV and HVO advances made during Operation Summer '95, when strategic positions allowing the rapid capture of the RSK capital Knin were gained, and on the continued arming and training of the HV since the beginning of the Croatian War of Independence, when the RSK was created during the Serb Log revolution and Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) intervention. The operation itself followed an unsuccessful United Nations (UN) peacekeeping mission and diplomatic efforts to settle the conflict. The HV's and ARBiH's strategic success was a result of a series of improvements to the armies themselves, and crucial breakthroughs made in the ARSK positions that were subsequently exploited by the HV and the ARBiH. The attack was not immediately successful at all points, but seizing key positions led to the collapse of the ARSK command structure and overall defensive capability. The HV capture of Bosansko Grahovo just before Operation Storm, and the special police's advance to GraÄac, made it nearly impossible to defend Knin. In Lika, two guard brigades quickly cut the ARSK-held area (which lacked tactical depth and mobile reserve forces), isolating pockets of resistance, positioning a mobile force for a decisive northward thrust into the Karlovac Corps area of responsibility (AOR), and pushing ARSK towards Banovina. The defeat of the ARSK at Glina and Petrinja, after a tough defence, defeated the ARSK Banija Corps as well, as its reserve was pinned down by the ARBiH. The RSK relied on the Republika Srpska and Yugoslav militaries as its strategic reserve, but they did not intervene in the battle. The United States also played a role in the Operation, directing Croatia to a military consultancy firm, Military Professional Resources Incorporated (MPRI), that signed a Pentagon licensed contract to advise, train and provide intelligence to the Croatian army. The HV and the special police suffered 174â211 killed or missing, while the ARSK had 560 soldiers killed. Four UN peacekeepers were also killed. The HV captured 4,000 prisoners of war. The number of Serb civilian deaths is disputedâCroatia claims that 214 were killed, while Serbian sources cite 1,192 civilians killed or missing. During and after the offensive, 150,000â200,000 Serbsâor nearly the entire Serb population of the area formerly held by the ARSKâfled and a variety of crimes were committed against the remaining civilians there. The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) later tried three Croatian generals charged with war crimes and partaking in a joint criminal enterprise designed to force the Serb population out of Croatia, although all three were ultimately acquitted and the tribunal refuted charges of a criminal enterprise. The ICTY stated that Croatian Army and Special Police committed a large number of crimes against the Serb population after the artillery assault, but the state and military leadership is not responsible for their creation and organizing. Also, Croatia adopted discriminatory measures to prevent the return of Serbs. Human Rights Watch reported that the vast majority of the abuses during operation were committed by Croatian forces and that the abuses continued on a large scale for months afterward, which included executions of civilians and destruction of Serb property. In 2010, Serbia sued Croatia before the International Court of Justice (ICJ), claiming that the offensive constituted a genocide. In 2015, the court ruled that it was not genocidal, and it affirmed that the Serb population fled as a direct result of the offensive, although ruling that Croatia did not have the specific intent to displace the country's Serb minority, nor was it found that ethnic cleansing or civilian targeting took place. However, it was found that crimes against civilians had been committed by Croatian forces. , the Croatian judiciary has convicted 2,380 persons for various crimes committed during Operation Storm. | 1military conflict
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"Sinking of USS Housatonic. The Sinking of USS ""Housatonic"" on 17 February 1864 during the American Civil War was an important turning point in naval warfare. The Confederate States Navy submarine, made her first and only attack on a Union Navy warship when she staged a clandestine night attack on in Charleston harbor. ""H.L. Hunley"" approached just under the surface, avoiding detection until the last moments, then embedded and remotely detonated a spar torpedo that rapidly sank the sloop-of-war with the loss of five Union sailors. ""H.L. Hunley"" became renowned as the first submarine to successfully sink an enemy vessel in combat, and was the direct progenitor of what would eventually become international submarine warfare, although the victory was Pyrrhic and short-lived, since the submarine did not survive the attack and was lost with all eight Confederate crewmen." | 1military conflict
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"First inauguration of Barack Obama. The first inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States took place on Tuesday, January 20, 2009. The inauguration, which set a record attendance for any event held in Washington, D.C., marked the commencement of the first term of Barack Obama as President and Joe Biden as Vice President. Based on the combined attendance numbers, television viewership, and Internet traffic, it was among the most-observed events ever by the global audience. ""A New Birth of Freedom"", a phrase from the Gettysburg Address, served as the inaugural theme to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the birth year of Abraham Lincoln. In his speeches to the crowds, Obama referred to ideals expressed by Lincoln about renewal, continuity and national unity. Obama mentioned these ideals in his speech to stress the need for shared sacrifice and a new sense of responsibility to answer America's challenges at home and abroad. Obama and others paid homage to Lincoln in the form of tributes and references during several of the events, starting with a commemorative train tour from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Washington, D.C. on January 17, 2009. The inaugural events held in Washington from January 18 to 21, 2009, included concerts, a national day of community service on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the swearing-in ceremony, luncheon and parade, inaugural balls, and the interfaith inaugural prayer service. The presidential oath as administered by Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts to Obama during his swearing-in ceremony on January 20 strayed slightly from the oath of office prescribed in the United States Constitution, which led to its reâadministration the next day. In addition to a larger than usual celebrity attendance, the Presidential Inaugural Committee increased its outreach to ordinary citizens to encourage greater participation in inaugural events compared with participation in recent past inaugurations. For the first time, the committee opened the entire length of the National Mall as the public viewing area for the swearing-in ceremony, breaking with the tradition of past inaugurations. Selected American citizens participated in the train tour and other inaugural events, and a philanthropist organized a People's Inaugural Ball for disadvantaged people who otherwise would be unable to afford to attend the inaugural festivities. Among the celebrations for the inauguration, the committee hosted a first-ever Neighborhood Inaugural Ball with free or affordable tickets for ordinary citizens." | 0neutral
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60x60. 60x60 is a collection of 60 electroacoustic or acousmatic works from 60 different composers/artists, each work 60 seconds or less in duration. 60x60 project showcases sixty new works, each sixty seconds or less, by sixty composers in a continuous sixty-minute concert, for a one-hour cross-section of contemporary music. The 60x60 project was conceived and developed by the new music consortium, Vox Novus and its founder, Robert Voisey. 60x60 was designed to showcase the diversity of the contemporary music and has succeeded in presenting thousands of composers in hundreds of performances around the world since 2003. The 60x60 project puts out a call for submissions for recorded media 60 seconds or less in length (also known as signature works.) 60 one-minute works are selected from the submissions. The 60 works are then ordered to create a one-hour music mix. The 60x60 mix is then synchronized with an analog clock where the beginning of each new minute brings the beginning of a new musical work by a different artist. The 60x60 mix is then presented in several venues throughout the world. Later in the performance season, 60x60 collaborates with artists of different disciplines to create multimedia performances with dance, video, and/or fine arts. | 0neutral
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2012 Junior Club World Cup. The 2012 Junior Club World Cup was the 2nd Junior Club World Cup, an annual international ice hockey tournament. It took place between 18â26 August 2012 in Omsk, Russia. The 2012 edition of the tournament will be sanctioned by the IIHF. Omsk, the host of the 2011 Junior Club World Cup, was also host the 2012 edition. The tournament featured the Sudbury Wolves of the Ontario Hockey League among other participants. Originally the tournament was to be composed of 12 teams. Teams from Slovakia and Switzerland however eventually did not participate in the tournament. | 0neutral
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1993 Bombay bombings. The 1993 Bombay bombings were a series of 12 bomb explosions that took place in Mumbai, India, then known as Bombay, on 12 March 1993. The single-day attacks resulted in 257 fatalities and 713 injuries. The attacks were reported to be coordinated by Dawood Ibrahim, leader of the Mumbai-based international organized crime syndicate, D-Company. Ibrahim was believed to have ordered and helped organize the bombings through his subordinates Tiger Memon and Yakub Memon. The Supreme Court of India gave its judgement on 21 March 2013, after over 20 years of judicial proceedings, upholding the death sentence against suspected ringleader Yakub Memon while commuting the previous death sentences against 10 others to life in prison. However, two of the main suspects in the case, Ibrahim and Tiger Memon, have not yet been arrested or tried. After India's three-judge Supreme Court bench rejected his curative petition, saying the grounds raised by him do not fall within the principles laid down by the apex court in 2002, the Maharashtra state government executed Yakub Memon on 30 July 2015. | 2civil conflict
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2010 Pune bombing. The 2010 Pune bombing occurred on 13 February 2010 at approximately 19:15 IST when a bomb exploded at the German Bakery in the city of Pune, Maharashtra, India. The blast killed 17 people, and injured at least 60 more, including an Italian woman, two Sudanese students, and an Iranian student. The German Bakery is located near the Jewish Chabad House and the Osho International Meditation Resort in Koregaon Park, Pune. The ashram and the bakery are frequented by foreigners and the bakery, which is popular with tourists and locals alike, was busy at the time of the blast. Two little known groups, the Laskhar-e-Taiba Al Alami and the Mujahideen Islami Muslim Front, claimed they were behind the bomb attack. But, according to government agencies, the attack could have been part of a project by Lashkar-e-Taiba to use the Indian Mujahideen, called the Karachi project. David Coleman Headley, a Pakistani-American terror suspect, has been accused of involvement in the project. | 2civil conflict
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2015 FA Community Shield. The 2015 FA Community Shield (also known as The FA Community Shield supported by McDonald's for sponsorship reasons) was the 93rd FA Community Shield, an annual English football match played between the winners of the previous season's Premier League and FA Cup. The match was contested by Arsenal, the 2014â15 FA Cup winners, and Chelsea, champions of the 2014â15 Premier League. It was held at Wembley Stadium on 2 August 2015. Watched by a crowd of 85,437 and a television audience of over a million, Arsenal won the match 1â0. This was Arsenal's 21st Shield appearance and Chelsea's 11th. Petr Äech made his competitive debut for Arsenal against his former team, while captain Mikel Arteta and striker Olivier Giroud were named as substitutes. Gary Cahill was passed fit to start for Chelsea alongside captain John Terry, and Loïc Rémy started up-front as Diego Costa was absent. The only goal of the match came near the midway point of the first half; Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain collected a pass from Theo Walcott from the right and scored past Thibaut Courtois. Both managers did not shake hands after the game, which drew media attention. Arsenal's victory was their first against Chelsea in over three years and manager Arsène Wenger's first over José Mourinho in 14 attempts. | 0neutral
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Battle of Chaldiran. The Battle of Chaldiran (; ) took place on 23 August 1514 and ended with a decisive victory for the Ottoman Empire over the Safavid Empire. As a result, the Ottomans annexed Eastern Anatolia and northern Iraq from Safavid Iran. It marked the first Ottoman expansion into Eastern Anatolia (Western Armenia), and the halt of the Safavid expansion to the west. The Chaldiran battle was just the beginning of 41 years of destructive war, which only ended in 1555 with the Treaty of Amasya. Though Mesopotamia and Eastern Anatolia (Western Armenia) were eventually reconquered by the Safavids under the reign of Shah Abbas the Great (r. 1588â1629), they would be permanently lost to the Ottomans by the 1639 Treaty of Zuhab. At Chaldiran, the Ottomans had a larger, better equipped army numbering 60,000 to 100,000 as well as many heavy artillery pieces, while the Safavid army numbered some 40,000 to 80,000 and did not have artillery at its disposal. Ismail I, the leader of the Safavids, was wounded and almost captured during the battle. His wives were captured by the Ottoman leader Selim I, with at least one married off to one of Selim's statesmen. Ismail retired to his palace and withdrew from government administration after this defeat and never again participated in a military campaign. After their victory, Ottoman forces marched deeper into Persia, briefly occupying the Safavid capital, Tabriz, and thoroughly looting the Persian imperial treasury. The battle is one of major historical importance because it not only negated the idea that the Murshid of the Shia-Qizilbash was infallible, but also led Kurdish chiefs to assert their authority and switch their allegiance from the Safavids to the Ottomans. | 1military conflict
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"Air France Flight 117. Air France Flight 117 was a multi-leg international scheduled flight from Paris-Orly Airport via Lisbon, the Azores, Guadeloupe and Peru to Santiago, Chile, which crashed 22 June 1962. The Boeing 707â328 aircraft involved in the accident was just four months old. The flight was uneventful until approaching Pointe-à -Pitre. The airport is surrounded by mountains and requires a steep descent. The weather was poor â violent thunderstorm and low cloud ceiling. The VOR navigational beacon was out of service. The crew reported themselves over the non-directional beacon (NDB) at 5,000 feet (1,524 m) and turned east to begin the final approach. Due to incorrect automatic direction finder (ADF) readings caused by the thunderstorm, the plane strayed 15 km (9.3 mi) west from the procedural let-down track. The plane crashed in a forest on a hill called ""Dos D'Ane"" (""The Donkey's Back""), at about 1,400 feet (427 m) and exploded. There were no survivors. Among the dead was French Guianan politician and war hero Justin Catayée and poet and black-consciousness activist Paul Niger. The investigation could not determine the exact reason for the accident, but suspected the insufficient meteorological information given to the crew, failure of the ground equipment, and the atmospheric effects on the ADF indicator. After the crash Air France pilots criticized under-developed airports with facilities that were ill-equipped to handle jet aircraft, such as Guadeloupe's airport. This was the second accident in less than three weeks with an Air France Boeing 707 after the crash on 3 June 1962. Tex Johnston, Chief Test Pilot of Boeing Aircraft Co. wrote in his autobiography of events leading up to the crash. ""Air France flight crews were habitually late (for crew training by Boeing), and on occasion the airplane not serviced. ... After much extra, and in my mind, excessive flight training, the chief pilot failed to qualify."" He informed the Air France Chief Executive in writing ""I did not believe the captain capable of qualifying in the 707."" Later ""... an Air France instructor qualified the chief pilot. On his second trip as captain, he missed an inclement weather approach... and crashed into a mountain."" Some debris still remain at the site, where a memorial monument was placed in 2002 to mark the 40th anniversary of the crash. The road leading to the site is named Route du Boeing in memory of the crash. Air France currently uses this flight number on a ShanghaiâPudong to ParisâCharles de Gaulle flight using a Boeing 777." | 0neutral
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Battle of Sangju (1950). The Battle of Sangju () was an engagement between the United Nations and North Korean forces, occurring on July 20â31, 1950, in the village of Sangju in southern South Korea, early in the Korean War. It ended in a victory for the North Korean forces after they were able to push troops of the United States and South Korea out of the area. Republic of Korea Army (ROK) units had been unsuccessfully resisting advances by the North Korean Korean People's Army (KPA) in the region when they were reinforced by the United States Army's 25th Infantry Division, newly arrived in the country. In the subsequent fight, the 25th Infantry Division was able to inflict substantial casualties on the advancing KPA 15th Infantry Division but was not able to hold its positions. In 11 days of fighting, the UN forces performed poorly and were forced to withdraw from Yechon County, the city of Sangju, and the surrounding areas. The 24th Infantry Regiment of the 25th Division was ineffective in its first showing. The regiment, composed mostly of African-American troops, was criticized by the Army for being quick to panic and retreat. Some historians have described the Army's statements as biased, downplaying the regiment's successes and overstating its failures. | 1military conflict
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"Smilkovci lake killings. The Smilkovci Lake killings (, ""massacre at Smilkovci Lake"") took place on 12 April 2012. Five ethnic-Macedonian civilians were shot and killed at a man-made lake near the village of Smilkovci, outside the Macedonian capital Skopje. According to the Macedonian Ministry of Internal Affairs, the attack was carried out with the intent to ""incite fear and insecurity"" and the ministry called it a ""deliberate terrorist act aimed at destabilizing the country"". The Helsinki Committee for Human Rights criticized the ministry for prematurely judging the suspects guilty. On 30 June 2014, after an 18-month trial, Alil Demiri, Afrim Ismailoviq (also known as Afrim Ismaili), Agim Ismailoviq (also known as Agim Ismaili), Fejzi Aziri, Haki Aziri and Sami Luta were sentenced to life imprisonment. Demiri and Ismailoviq were tried ""in absentia"", since they were imprisoned in Kosovo for unlawful possession of weapons, and extradition procedures were underway. One defendant, Rami Sejdi, was released for lack of evidence. On 1 December 2017, Macedonia's Supreme Court ordered a retrial over the 5 murders. Judges found that key facts in the men's earlier trial had been ""wrongly and incompletely established"" and prosecution witnesses had offered contradictory testimony. The defense has long insisted that the men have been profiled and used as scapegoats." | 2civil conflict
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2000 FA Charity Shield. The 2000 FA Charity Shield (also known as The One 2 One FA Charity Shield for sponsorship reasons) was the 78th FA Charity Shield, an annual football match played between the winners of the previous season's Premier League and FA Cup competitions. The match was played between Manchester United, who won the 1999â2000 Premier League, and Chelsea, who won the 1999â2000 FA Cup, and resulted in a 2â0 Chelsea win. The goals were scored by Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Mario Melchiot. Roy Keane was sent off for a challenge on Gustavo Poyet and was the last person to be sent off at the old Wembley Stadium. Chelsea club record signing Hasselbaink was on the scoresheet on his Chelsea debut, scoring after a flick-on from Poyet which deflected in off Jaap Stam. Melchiot got the second in the 73rd minute, hitting a low, left-footed shot past Fabien Barthez. Also making their debuts for Chelsea were new signings Mario StaniÄ and Eiður Guðjohnsen. Goalkeeper Fabien Barthez was Manchester United's only debutant in the game. | 0neutral
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"Operation Wigwam. Operation Wigwam involved a single test of the Mark 90 Betty nuclear bomb. It was conducted between ""Operation Teapot"" and ""Project 56"" on May 14, 1955, about southwest of San Diego, California. 6,800 personnel aboard 30 ships were involved in ""Wigwam"". The purpose of ""Wigwam"" was to determine the vulnerability of submarines to deeply detonated nuclear weapons, and to evaluate the feasibility of using such weapons in a combat situation. The task force commander, Admiral John Sylvester, was embarked on the task force flagship . WIGWAM was the first atomic test in the deep ocean, and it remains the only test that has been conducted in water deeper than 1000 ft." | 2civil conflict
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"Loud Tour. The Loud Tour was the fourth overall and third world concert tour by Barbadian recording artist Rihanna. Performing in over twenty countries in the Americas and Europe, the tour was launched in support of Rihanna's fifth studio album ""Loud"" (2010). Critics acclaimed the show for its liveliness and higher caliber of quality when compared to Rihanna's previous tours. The Loud Tour was a large commercial success, experiencing demand for an extension of shows in the United Kingdom due to popularity. In London, Rihanna played a record breaking 10 dates at The O2 Arena. The tour ultimately grossed an estimated value of US$90 million from 98 reported shows and a total audience of 1,200,800. The Loud Tour became the seventh-highest-grossing tour of 2011." | 0neutral
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"2005 Bolivarian Games. The XV Bolivarian Games (Spanish: ""Juegos Bolivarianos"") were a multi-sport event held between 12â21 August 2005 in Armenia and Pereira, Colombia. Some events took place in Cartagena de Indias and in Bogotá. The Games were organized by the Bolivarian Sports Organization (ODEBO). The opening ceremony took place on August 12, 2005, at the Estadio Hernán RamÃrez Villegas in Pereira, Colombia. The Games were officially opened by Colombian president Ãlvaro Uribe. Torch lighter was former road racing cyclist Rubén DarÃo Gómez, gold medallist at the 1961 Bolivarian Games. The athlete's oath was sworn by weightlifter Ãscar Figueroa" | 0neutral
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Hurricane Paul (1982). Hurricane Paul was a particularly deadly and destructive Pacific hurricane which killed a total of 1,625 people and caused $520 million in damage. The sixteenth named storm and tenth hurricane of the 1982 Pacific hurricane season, Paul developed as a tropical depression just offshore Central America on September 18. The depression briefly moved inland two days later just before heading westward out to sea. The storm changed little in strength for several days until September 25, when it slowly intensified into a tropical storm. Two days later, Paul attained hurricane status, and further strengthened to Category 2 intensity after turning northward. The hurricane then accelerated toward the northeast, reaching peak winds of 110 mph (175 km/h). Paul made landfall over Baja California Sur on September 29, and subsequently moved ashore in Sinaloa the next day. Prior to making landfall near the El SalvadorâGuatemala border as a tropical depression, the precursor disturbance dropped heavy rainfall over the region, which later continued after landfall. Many rivers in the region burst their banks after five days of rainfall, causing severe flooding and multiple mudslides. Throughout Central America, at least 1,363 people were killed, with most of the fatalities occurring in El Salvador, although some occurred in Guatemala. Another 225 deaths were attributed to floods from the depression in southern Mexico. In addition, Paul was responsible for 24 fatalities and moderate damage in northwestern Mexico, where it made landfall at hurricane strength. | 0neutral
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"Russo-Georgian War. The Russo-Georgian War was a war between Georgia, Russia and the Russian-backed self-proclaimed republics of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. The war took place in August 2008 following a period of worsening relations between Russia and Georgia, both formerly constituent republics of the Soviet Union. The fighting took place in the strategically important Transcaucasia region. It was regarded as the first European war of the 21st century. The Republic of Georgia declared its independence in early 1991 as the Soviet Union began to fall apart. Amidst this backdrop, a war between Georgia and separatists left parts of the former South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast under the ""de facto"" control of Russian-backed but internationally unrecognised separatists. Following the war, a joint peacekeeping force of Georgian, Russian, and Ossetian troops was stationed in the territory. A similar stalemate developed in the region of Abkhazia, where Abkhaz separatists had waged war in 1992â1993. Following the election of Vladimir Putin in Russia in 2000 and a pro-Western change of power in Georgia in 2003, relations between Russia and Georgia began to deteriorate, reaching a full diplomatic crisis by April 2008. By 1 August 2008, South Ossetian separatists had begun shelling Georgian villages, with a sporadic response from Georgian peacekeepers in the area. Artillery attacks by pro-Russian separatists broke a 1992 ceasefire agreement. To put an end to these attacks and restore order, the Georgian Army was sent to the South Ossetian conflict zone on 7 August. Georgians took control of most of Tskhinvali, a separatist stronghold, in hours. Russian troops had illicitly crossed the Russo-Georgian state border and advanced into the South Ossetian conflict zone by 7 August before the Georgian military response. Russia accused Georgia of ""aggression against South Ossetia"", and launched a large-scale land, air and sea invasion of Georgia on 8 August with the pretext of ""peace enforcement"" operation. Russian and South Ossetian forces fought Georgian forces in and around South Ossetia for several days, until Georgian forces retreated. Russian and Abkhaz forces opened a second front by attacking the Kodori Gorge held by Georgia. Russian naval forces blockaded part of the Georgian coast. The Russian air force attacked targets beyond the conflict zone, in undisputed parts of Georgia. This was the first war in history in which cyber warfare coincided with military action. An information war was also waged during and after the conflict. Nicolas Sarkozy, the President of France, which had the presidency of the European Union, negotiated a ceasefire agreement on 12 August. Russian forces temporarily occupied the Georgian cities of Zugdidi, Senaki, Poti and Gori, holding on to these areas beyond the ceasefire. The South Ossetians destroyed most ethnic Georgian villages in South Ossetia and were responsible for an ethnic cleansing of Georgians. Russia recognised the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia from Georgia on 26 August and the Georgian government severed diplomatic relations with Russia. Russia mostly completed its withdrawal of troops from undisputed parts of Georgia on 8 October. Russian international relations were largely unharmed. The war displaced 192,000 people and while many returned to their homes after the war, 20,272 people, mostly ethnic Georgians, remained displaced as of 2014. Since the war, Russia has occupied Abkhazia and South Ossetia in violation of the ceasefire agreement of August 2008." | 1military conflict
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Effects of Hurricane Mitch in Honduras. The effects of Hurricane Mitch in Honduras included the worst flooding in Honduras in the 20th century. Hurricane Mitch, the strongest storm of the 1998 Atlantic hurricane season, formed on October 22, and after becoming a Category 5 hurricane, it weakened and struck Honduras on October 29. While near peak intensity, Mitch struck the offshore Guanaja island, where it nearly destroyed the mangrove forest. On the mainland, the hurricane dropped torrential rainfall, and many gauges were washed away in mountainous areas where unofficial rainfall totals were as high as 1900 mm (75 in). The highest official total was at Choluteca in southern Honduras, which was more than half of the annual precipitation average there. The rains caused widespread flooding and landslides, although impact from winds was not as severe. The President of Honduras estimated that Mitch set back 50 years of economic development. The storm wrecked about 35,000 houses and damaged another 50,000, leaving up to 1.5 million people homeless, or about 20% of the country's population. Mitch directly caused $2.005 billion in damage, with an additional $1.8 billion in indirect costs. Most of the damage was ruined crops, and cash crop exports were cut by 9.4% in 1999, largely due to the storm. Over 70% of the transportation infrastructure was damaged, mostly damaged highways and bridges. Widespread areas experienced power outages, and about 70% of the country lost water after the storm. In the capital, Tegucigalpa, a large landslide affected three neighborhoods and formed a temporary dam. Floods in the city damaged buildings that were over 350 years old. Throughout the country, there were at least 7,000 fatalities, some reported in each department. Following the storm, officials in Honduras requested international assistance, which totaled $2.8 billion over a several year period. Despite this, the gross domestic product began decreasing at the end of 1998, and contracted by 1.9% in 1999. Officials enacted a widespread curfew following the storm, and for 15 days temporarily restricted constitutional rights to maintain order. There were outbreaks in various diseases, and many residents faced food and water shortages. Due to the heavy damage, the name Mitch was retired from the Atlantic hurricane naming list. | 0neutral
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"Hard for the Money Tour. Hard for the Money was a 1983 tour of the United States and Canada by singer Donna Summer. The tour focused on her 1983 release, She Works Hard for the Money, and the Donna Summer album from 1982. Two songs were from her unreleased 1981 double album, I'm a Rainbow. The tour was released on home video with the title, 'A Hot Summer Night...with Donna.'. It was released by Pioneer Artists in late 1983. The 2nd leg set list was present on this release, but omitted the performance of ""No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)"". Musical Youth duet with Donna on ""Unconditional Love"", and Summer's daughter Mimi was featured on ""State of Independence""" | 0neutral
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"Oklahoma City bombing. The Oklahoma City bombing was a domestic terrorist truck bombing on the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States on April 19, 1995. Perpetrated by Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols, the bombing happened at 9:02 am and killed at least 168 people, injured more than 680 others, and destroyed one-third of the building. The blast destroyed or damaged 324 other buildings within a 16-block radius, shattered glass in 258 nearby buildings, and destroyed or burned 86 cars, causing an estimated $652 million worth of damage. Local, state, federal, and worldwide agencies engaged in extensive rescue efforts in the wake of the bombing, and substantial donations were received from across the country. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) activated 11 of its Urban Search and Rescue Task Forces, consisting of 665 rescue workers who assisted in rescue and recovery operations. Until the September 11, 2001 attacks, the Oklahoma City bombing was the deadliest terrorist attack in the history of the United States, and remains the deadliest incident of domestic terrorism in the country's history. Within 90 minutes of the explosion, McVeigh was stopped by Oklahoma Highway Patrolman Charlie Hanger for driving without a license plate and arrested for illegal weapons possession. Forensic evidence quickly linked McVeigh and Nichols to the attack; Nichols was arrested, and within days, both were charged. Michael and Lori Fortier were later identified as accomplices. McVeigh, a veteran of the Gulf War and a U.S. militia movement sympathizer, had detonated a Ryder rental truck full of explosives parked in front of the building. His co-conspirator, Nichols, had assisted with the bomb's preparation. Motivated by his dislike for the U.S. federal government and unhappy about its handling of the Ruby Ridge incident in 1992 and the Waco siege in 1993, McVeigh timed his attack to coincide with the second anniversary of the deadly fire that ended the siege at the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas. The official investigation, known as ""OKBOMB"", saw FBI agents conduct 28,000 interviews, amass 3.5 short tons (3,200 kg) of evidence, and collected nearly one billion pieces of information. The bombers were tried and convicted in 1997. McVeigh was executed by lethal injection on June 11, 2001 at the U.S. Federal Penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana, and Nichols was sentenced to life in prison in 2004. Michael and Lori Fortier testified against McVeigh and Nichols; Michael was sentenced to 12 years in prison for failing to warn the United States government, and Lori received immunity from prosecution in exchange for her testimony. As a result of the bombing, the U.S. Congress passed the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996, which tightened the standards for habeas corpus in the United States, as well as legislation designed to increase the protection around federal buildings to deter future terrorist attacks. On April 19, 2000, the Oklahoma City National Memorial was dedicated on the site of the Murrah Federal Building, commemorating the victims of the bombing. Remembrance services are held every year on April 19, at the time of the explosion." | 2civil conflict
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Ravinia Festival. The Ravinia Festival is the oldest outdoor music festival in the United States, with a series of outdoor concerts and performances held every summer from June to September. In Ravinia Park's first summer of 1905, it hosted the New York Philharmonic, and the prairie style Martin Theater dates from this time period. It has been the summer home of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) since 1936. Located in Highland Park, Illinois, the festival operates on the grounds of the 36 acre (150,000 m²) Ravinia Park, with a variety of outdoor and indoor performing arts facilities. The Ravinia neighborhood, once an incorporated village before annexation in 1899, is known as Ravinia, and retained its own post office until autumn 2010. The business district on Roger Williams Ave., within walking distance from the Ravinia Festival grounds, includes neighborhood service businesses and restaurants. Ravinia takes its name from the ravines found nearby along the shoreline of Lake Michigan. | 0neutral
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Bombardment of Alexandria. The Bombardment of Alexandria in Egypt by the British Mediterranean Fleet took place on 11â13 July 1882. Admiral Beauchamp Seymour was in command of a fleet of fifteen Royal Navy ironclad ships which had previously sailed to the harbor of Alexandria to support the khedive Tewfik Pasha amid Ahmed âUrabi's nationalist uprising against his administration and its close ties to British and French financiers. He was joined in the show of force by a French flotilla as well. The move provided some security to the khedive, who withdrew his court to the now-protected port, but strengthened âUrabi's nationalists within the army and throughout the remainder of Egypt. On 11 June, anti-Christian riots began in Alexandria. The city's European residents fled and the Egyptian âUrabist army began fortifying and arming the harbor. An ultimatum to cease this build-up being refused, the British fleet began a 10½-hour bombardment of the city without French assistance. Historians argue about whether Admiral Seymour exaggerated the threat from the Egyptian batteries at Alexandria in order to force the hand of a reluctant Gladstone administration. Once the British had attacked the city, they then proceeded to a full-scale invasion to restore the authority of the khedive. Egypt remained under British occupation until 1956. | 1military conflict
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"Crazy Nights World Tour. The Crazy Nights World Tour was a concert tour by American hard rock band Kiss. It began in Jackson, Mississippi, marking the second time that a major recording act had started a tour in that city (Maze being the first). The night before the Jackson show, bassist Gene Simmons played DJ on local rock-and-roll station Z106. White Lion opened during the early dates of the tour. It was the first time Kiss toured Japan since the Alive II Tour in 1978. The tour marked Eric Carr's first and only trip to Japan. Kiss also co-headlined the Monsters of Rock festival with Iron Maiden. The Canadian band Helix opened for them in Detroit, as Ted Nugent had played his annual ""New Year's Eve Whiplash Bash"", headlining at Cobo. The thrash metal group Anthrax opened for Kiss at the Thomas & Mack show in Las Vegas and at the Pacific Amphitheatre show in Costa Mesa. The show was notable in that it didn't feature much of the pyrotechnics or other stage effects the band is known for, the exception being Gene Simmons fire breathing." | 0neutral
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"Libyan Civil War (2014âpresent). The Second Libyan Civil War is an ongoing conflict among rival factions seeking control of the territory and oil of Libya. The conflict at the beginning was mostly between the House of Representatives (HoR) government that was controversially elected in 2014, also known as the ""Tobruk government""; and the rival General National Congress (GNC) government, also called the ""National Salvation Government"", based in the capital Tripoli, established after Operation Odyssey Dawn and the failed military coup. The HoR (also known as the Council of Deputies), in control of eastern and southern Libya, has the loyalty of the Libyan National Army of General Khalifa Haftar, and has been supported by airstrikes by Egypt and the UAE. The GNC, based in western Libya and backed by various different militias (mainly Libya Dawn in the west and Libya Shield in the east) with some support from Qatar, Sudan and Turkey, initially accepted the results of the 2014 election, but rejected them after the Supreme Constitutional Court nullified an amendment regarding the roadmap for Libya's transition and HoR elections. Due to controversy about constitutional amendments, the HoR refused to take office from GNC in Tripoli, which was controlled by powerful militias from the western coastal city of Misrata. Instead, the HoR established its parliament in Tobruk, which is controlled by General Haftar's forces. In December 2015, after long talks in Skhirat, the Libyan Political Agreement was signed. The LPA was the result of protracted negotiations between rival political camps based in Tripoli, Tobruk, and elsewhere which agreed to unite as the Government of National Accord. On 30 March 2016, Fayez Sarraj, the head of the GNA, arrived in Tripoli and began working from there despite opposition from GNC. Although the Government of National Accord is currently the only internationally-recognized government in the country, its authority is still not recognized by the HoR, as specific details acceptable to both sides have not yet been agreed upon, especially regarding the future of Haftar. In addition to those three factions, there are also smaller rival groups: the Islamist Shura Council of Benghazi Revolutionaries, led by Ansar al-Sharia, which has had the support of the GNC and was defeated in Benghazi in 2017; the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant's (ISIL's) Libyan provinces; the Shura Council of Mujahideen in Derna which expelled ISIL from Derna in July 2015 and was later itself defeated in Derna by the Tobruk government in 2018; as well as many militias and armed groups, whose allegiances often change. The GNA and the GNC launched a joint offensive to capture areas in and around Sirte from ISIL in May 2016. This offensive resulted in ISIL losing control of all significant territory it previously held in Libya. Forces loyal to Khalifa al-Ghawil attempted a coup d'état against Fayez al-Sarraj and the Presidential Council of the GNA later in 2016. Background of discontent with General National Congress. At the beginning of 2014, Libya was governed by the General National Congress (GNC), which won the popular vote in 2012 elections. The GNC was made of two major political groupings, the National Forces Alliance (NFC) and the Justice and Construction Party (JCP). The two major groups in parliament had failed to reach political compromises on the larger more important issues that the GNC faced. Division among these parties, the row over the political isolation law, and a continuous unstable security situation greatly impacted the GNC's ability to deliver real progress towards a new constitution for Libya which was a primary task for this body. The GNC also included members associated with conservative Islamist groups as well as revolutionary groups (thuwwar). Some members of the GNC had a conflict of interest due to associations with militias and were accused of channeling government funds towards some armed groups and allowing others to conduct assassinations and kidnappings. Parties holding majority of seats and some holding minority of seats began to use boycotts or threats of boycotts which increased division and suppressed relevant debates by removing them from the congressional agenda; voting to declare sharia law and establishing a special committee to ""review all existing laws to guarantee they comply with Islamic law""; imposing gender segregation and compulsory hijab at Libyan universities; and refusing to hold new elections when its electoral mandate expired in January 2014 until General Khalifa Haftar launched a large-scale military offensive against the Islamists in May 2014, code-named Operation Dignity (; 'Amaliyat al-Karamah)." | 1military conflict
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Ohio State Fair. The Ohio State Fair is one of the largest State Fairs in the United States. The event is held in Columbus, Ohio during late July through early August. As estimated in a 2011 economic impact study conducted by Saperstein & Associates; the State Fair contributes approximately 68.5 million dollars to the state's economy. In 2015, attendance was 982,305, the Fair's highest 12-day attendance on record. From the very first three-day Fair in 1850 in Cincinnati to the 12-day exposition of today (from 1981 to 2003, the Fair lasted 17 days), the Ohio State Fair has celebrated Ohio's products, its people, and their accomplishments. The Fair's vast programme offers concerts, sports competitions, exhibitions, a horse show, rides, and food stalls. The concert series lineup is usually announced in late February or early March. | 0neutral
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2005 ASEAN Para Games. The 2005 ASEAN Para Games, officially known as the 3rd ASEAN Para Games, was a Southeast Asian disabled multi-sport event held in Manila, Philippines from 14 to 20 December 2005, nine days after the 2005 Southeast Asian Games. This was the first time Philippines hosted the ASEAN Para Games. Philippines is the third country to host the ASEAN Para Games after Malaysia and Vietnam. Around 1000 athletes from 11 participating nations participated at the games which featured 394 events in 10 sports. The games was opened by Lito Atienza, the Mayor of Manila at the Rizal Memorial Stadium. The final medal tally was led by Thailand, followed by Vietnam and Malaysia with host Philippines in sixth place. Several Games and National records were broken during the games. The games were deemed generally successful, with the rising standards of disabled sports competition amongst the Southeast Asian nations. | 0neutral
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"Bash at the Beach. Bash at the Beach was a yearly professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Championship Wrestling (WCW). It was the company's PPV for the month of July, held from 1994 to 2000. The show centered on a beach theme, with the set around the entrance area for the wrestlers decorated with such things as surfboards and sand. The theme for the show seemed appropriate for an event scheduled during the hot summer month of July. The beach/""fun in the sun"" theme was also reflected in the places where WCW chose to hold the event; all of the shows emanated from cities in either Florida or California, two United States states renowned for their warm weather. It was WCW's response to WWF's SummerSlam. In 1992 and 1993, WCW held a beach-themed pay-per-view show known as Beach Blast, which was the forerunner to Bash at the Beach. The 1992 show was held in June, however, as the company elected instead to reserve July for its flagship summertime extravaganza, The Great American Bash. Along with Slamboree, Starrcade, SuperBrawl, The Great American Bash, and Halloween Havoc, Bash at the Beach was booked to be one of WCW's flagship events. Bash at the Beach marked three major turning points during Hulk Hogan's career. During 1994 Hogan made his in ring debut defeating Ric Flair. During the 1996 event, Hogan turned heel, as he was revealed to be the third member for the New World Order. The 2000 event was Hogan's final appearance for the company. To promote the 1995 event; Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, Ric Flair, Big Van Vader and Kevin Sullivan guest starred on season 6 episode 15 of ""Baywatch"", also titled ""Bash at the Beach"". WWE has owned the rights to Bash at the Beach since they purchased WCW in March 2001. In 2014, all Bash at the Beach pay-per-views were made available on the WWE Network." | 0neutral
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Los Alfaques disaster. The Los Alfaques disaster was a road accident and tanker explosion which occurred on 11 July 1978 in Alcanar, near Tarragona, in Spain. The tanker truck was loaded with 23 tons of highly flammable liquefied propylene. 217 people (including the driver) were killed and 200 more severely burned. Most of the victims were vacationers in the Los Alfaques seaside campsite. The campsite is located at km 159 on the N-340 national road, 2 km south of the town of Sant Carles de la RÃ pita. It has been renovated since and still exists today. | 0neutral
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Santiago de Compostela derailment. The Santiago de Compostela derailment occurred on 24 July 2013, when an Alvia high-speed train travelling from Madrid to Ferrol, in the north-west of Spain, derailed at high speed on a bend about outside of the railway station at Santiago de Compostela. Out of 222 people (218 passengers and 4 crew) on board, around 140 were injured and 79 died. The train's data recorder showed that it was travelling at about twice the posted speed limit of when it entered a bend in the rail. The crash was recorded on a track-side camera which shows all thirteen train cars derailing and four overturning. On 28 July 2013, the train's driver Francisco José Garzón Amo was charged with 79 counts of homicide by professional recklessness and an undetermined number of counts of causing injury by professional recklessness. The crash was Spain's worst rail accident in 40 years, since a crash near El Cuervo, Seville, in 1972. The Torre del Bierzo crash in 1944 remains the deadliest. | 0neutral
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"2013 Camp Ashraf massacre. The 2013 Camp Ashraf massacre (also referred to as the September 1 massacre) was a suspected terrorist attack on the Camp Ashraf refugee camp of the People's Mujahedin of Iran (PMOI/MEK), leaving 52 PMOI members dead and 7 missing. Iraqi security forces were believed to be responsible for the assault, with guidance and support from the Iranian regime. On 17 December 2013, ""Foreign Policy"" magazine revealed that ""U.S. intelligence officials believe that Iranian commandos took part"" in the attack ""and then spirited seven members of the group back to Iran."" Specifically, U.S. officials say that members of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps ""helped plan and direct the assault on the camp... Gunmen from two of Tehran's Iraqi-based proxies, Kata'ib Hezbollah and Asaib Ahl al-Haq, then carried out the actual attack."" Regarding Iraqi involvement, a U.S. official said, ""Iraqi soldiers didn't get in the way of what was happening at Ashraf, but they didn't do the shooting.""" | 2civil conflict
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"Chelford rail accident. The Chelford rail accident occurred on 22 December 1894 at Chelford railway station. The stationmaster was supervising shunting operations, during which a high-sided wagon was fly-shunted (i.e. run-off) into a siding in strong winds and rapidly fading light. As another six wagons were being run onto an adjoining road, the stationmaster saw the high-sided wagon being blown out of its siding by the wind to meet them. A collision occurred derailing the runaway in such a way that it fouled the main line just as the 16:15 Manchester to Crewe express approached, drawn by two locomotives, LNWR Waterloo Class 2-4-0 No 418 ""Zygia"" and Experiment Class No 518 ""Express"". The stationmaster ran towards them waving a red lamp but the drivers thought he was signalling to the shunters and did not slacken speed. ""Zygia"" derailed and fell on her side whilst her tender ran up the platform ramp. ""Express"" remained upright but the first carriage demolished the front of a signalbox. In all, 14 passengers were killed and 48 injured. The enquiry had little comment to make as this seemed to be a freak accident but advised that, in future, the brakes of all shunted wagons should be immediately pinned down. A contemporary photo supposedly shows the re-railed damaged locomotive ""Zygia"" shortly after the accident." | 0neutral
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Cyclone Gillian. Severe Tropical Cyclone Gillian was the second most powerful of the 2013â14 Australian region cyclone season and the strongest in the basin in four years. It developed on 8 March, 2014, in the Gulf of Carpentaria offshore northern Australia. It drifted southeastward, moving over northwestern Queensland on 10 March as a weak tropical cyclone, and subsequently turned to the southwest and later to the west. Unfavourable wind shear, land interaction, and dry air prevented much restrengthening, and for several days, Gillian was a weak tropical low. The storm moved northward and curved westward around the Top End of northwestern Australia, and subsequently moved across several islands in Indonesia, first Timor on 18 March. On 21 March, Gillian again became a tropical cyclone as it moved away from Indonesia. On the next day, it passed just southeast of Christmas Island as an intensifying storm, and subsequently Gillian underwent rapid deepening. On 23 March, the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) estimated peak 10-minute sustained winds of 220 km/h (140 mph). On the same day, the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) estimated peak 1-minute sustained winds of 260 km/h (160 mph), making it a Category 5 on the SaffirâSimpson hurricane wind scale. Increased wind shear caused the cyclone to rapidly weaken, and both BoM and JTWC discontinued advisories on Gillian on 26 March. The cyclone affected northern Australia with gusty winds and some rainfall, while on the Indonesian island of Java, it produced strong waves. While moving near Christmas Island, Gillian downed thousands of trees and damaged the roof of one of the oldest buildings on the island. Winds gusted to , making it the first cyclone to affect Christmas Island in six years. The storm also affected the search for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. | 0neutral
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"Free Money Day. Free Money Day is an annual, global event held since 2011 as a social experiment and to promote sharing and alternative economic ideas. The day is held annually on September 15, the anniversary of the Lehman Brothers' 2008 filing for bankruptcy. Participants offer their own money to passing strangers at public places, two coins or notes at a time. Recipients are asked to pass on one of the notes or coins to someone else. 68 events were held in 2011. On one past Free Money Day, according to the official website, 138 Free Money Day events were held in 24 countries. In 2012, it was planned to give $3,500 in cash to strangers globally. The money is given without obligation; it is hoped that the event and the transactions will stimulate conversations about the role of money in society, increase awareness about debt and make people think about their ""relationship with money"". People invented their own methods to give away money. Coffee shop and video rental owners did not charge people for their services and asked them to give the amount to a stranger. In one case a person left a £10 note on a toilet seat and tweeted that ""it would be the happiest bathroom visit someone will ever have"". The event is initiated/organized by the Post Growth Institute and the global coordinator is Donnie Maclurcan, a co-founder of the Post Growth Institute. In describing the motivation for the event, Maclurcan is quoted as saying ""We are looking to alternative economic futures where we don't need to keep growing economically ... One of Post Growth's missions is to promote a steady-state economy or one that remains at a stable size rather than growing more.""" | 0neutral
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Indonesia AirAsia Flight 8501. Indonesia AirAsia Flight 8501 was a scheduled international passenger flight operated by Indonesia AirAsia â an AirAsia Group affiliate â from Surabaya, Indonesia, to Singapore. On 28 December 2014, the Airbus A320 flying the route crashed into the Java Sea, killing all 162 people on board. After search operations ended in March 2015, only 106 bodies were recovered. In December 2015, the Indonesian National Transportation Safety Committee (KNKT or NTSC) released a report concluding that a non-critical malfunction in the rudder control system prompted the captain to perform a non-standard reset of the on-board flight control computers. Control of the aircraft was subsequently lost, resulting in a stall and uncontrolled descent into the sea. Miscommunication between the two pilots was cited as a contributing factor. | 0neutral
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Battle of Rügen (1565). The Battle of Rügen was a naval battle near the island of Rügen (in modern Germany), that took place on 21 May 1565 between an allied fleet of 6 Danish and 3 Lübeck ships, and a Swedish fleet of 48 ships with a total of 1,638 guns and 8,000 men under Klas Horn. The Swedish fleet was victorious, and 4 of the allied ships were burned, while the remaining 5 were captured. On 21 May, eight Danish ship were found north of Pomerania. They were there to prevent Swedish ships getting to or from Greifswald. Four of the ships fled into Greifswald to escape the Swedes but they chose to burn the other four ships to prevent them falling into enemy hands. Klas Horn planned to attack them inside the harbor, but after negotiations with the Duke of Pomerania, it was decided that the ships would be taken care of by the Duke on behalf of Sweden, pending a peace agreement, and their flags submitted to the Swedish admiral. | 1military conflict
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Adam Air Flight 574. Adam Air Flight 574 (KI574 or DHI574) was a scheduled domestic passenger flight operated by Adam Air between the Indonesian cities of Surabaya and Manado that crashed into the Makassar Strait near Polewali in Sulawesi on 1 January 2007. All 102 people on board died, making it the deadliest aviation accident involving a Boeing 737-400. A national investigation was launched into the disaster. The final report, released on 25 March 2008, concluded that the pilots lost control of the aircraft after they became preoccupied with troubleshooting the inertial navigation system and inadvertently disconnected the autopilot. It was the only fatal accident for Adam Air in the company's 5-year history. The crash is one of several transportation accidents, including the subsequent non-fatal crash of Flight 172, which have resulted in the United States downgrading its safety rating of Indonesian aviation, as well as subsequent and large-scale transportation safety reforms in Indonesia. All Indonesian airlines, at one time, had been banned from flying into the European Union several months after the crash. Adam Air was subsequently banned from flying by the Indonesian government a few years later, and declared bankruptcy. | 0neutral
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2015 Tanzania flood. The 2015 Tanzania flood occurred on 4 March 2015 in Shinyanga Region, Tanzania. The flood occurred during Tanzania's rainy season the, months of March, April, and May, during which rainfall ranges from about 150mm to 250 mm. Most people were unable to escape the floods. As a result, least 50 people were killed and another 82 were wounded in the flood. After an original tally of 38 casualties, more died receiving medical care in hospitals. The flood further affected some 3,500 people. Many houses were damaged due to hail and strong winds. This blocked roads and made rescue operations difficult. Farmland 1000 km away from the Dar es Salaam, the largest and most commercial city in Tanzania, was also affected, devastating the poor agriculturally-dependent people of the region. Crops such as maize and cotton and livestock were impacted by the flood. | 0neutral
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ChuâHan Contention. The ChuâHan Contention (206â202 BC) was an interregnum between the Qin dynasty and the Han dynasty in Chinese history. Following the collapse of the Qin dynasty in 206 BC, Xiang Yu split the former Qin Empire into the Eighteen Kingdoms. Two major contending powers emerged, Western Chu and Han, which engaged in a struggle for supremacy over China. Western Chu was led by Xiang Yu, while the Han leader was Liu Bang. Several minor kings also warred, but these were largely independent of the main conflict between Western Chu and Han. The war ended in 202 BC with total victory for Han, with Liu Bang soon proclaiming himself first emperor of the Han dynasty. | 1military conflict
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"Second Italo-Ethiopian War. The Second Italo-Ethiopian War, also referred to as the Second Italo-Abyssinian War, was a colonial war fought from 3 October 1935 until 19 February 1937, although Addis Ababa was captured on 5 May 1936. The war was fought between the armed forces of the Kingdom of Italy and those of the Ethiopian Empire (also known as Abyssinia). Ethiopia was defeated, annexed and subjected to military occupation. The Ethiopian Empire became a part of the Italian colony of Italian East Africa. Fighting continued until the Italian defeat in East Africa in 1941, during the East African Campaign of the Second World War. Italy and Ethiopia were members of the League of Nations yet the League was unable to control Italy or to protect Ethiopia when Italy violated Article X of the Covenant of the League of Nations. The Abyssinia Crisis of 1935 is often seen as a clear demonstration of the ineffectiveness of the League. The Italian victory coincided with the zenith of the popularity of dictator Benito Mussolini and the Fascist regime at home and abroad. Ethiopia was consolidated with Eritrea and Italian Somaliland into ""Africa Orientale Italiana"" (Italian East Africa)." | 1military conflict
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"NATO bombing of Yugoslavia. The NATO bombing of Yugoslavia was the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation's (NATO) military operation against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) during the Kosovo War. The air strikes lasted from March 24, 1999 to June 10, 1999. The official NATO operation code name was ""Operation Allied Force""; the United States called it ""Operation Noble Anvil"", while in Yugoslavia, the operation was incorrectly called ""Merciful Angel"" ( / ""Milosrdni anÄeo""), as a result of a misunderstanding or mistranslation. The bombings continued until an agreement was reached that led to the withdrawal of Yugoslav armed forces from Kosovo, and the establishment of United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), a UN peacekeeping mission in Kosovo. The bloodshed, ethnic cleansing of thousands of Albanians driving them into neighbouring countries, and the potential of it to destabilize the region provoked intervention by international organizations and agencies, such as the United Nations, NATO, and INGOs. NATO countries attempted to gain authorisation from the United Nations Security Council for military action, but were opposed by China and Russia that indicated they would veto such a proposal. NATO launched a campaign without UN authorisation, which it described as a humanitarian intervention. The FRY described the NATO campaign as an illegal war of aggression against a sovereign country that was in violation of international law because it did not have UN Security Council support. The bombing killed between 489 and 528 civilians, and destroyed bridges, industrial plants, public buildings, private businesses, as well as barracks and military installations. In the days after the Yugoslav army withdrew, over 164,000 Serbs and 24,000 Roma left Kosovo and many of the remaining non-Albanian civilians (as well as Albanians perceived as collaborators) were victims of abuse which included beatings, abductions and murders. After Kosovo and other Yugoslav Wars, Serbia became home to the highest number of refugees and IDPs (including Kosovo Serbs) in Europe. The NATO bombing marked the second major combat operation in its history, following the 1995 NATO bombing campaign in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It was the first time that NATO had used military force without the approval of the UN Security Council." | 1military conflict
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Operation Totalize. Operation Totalize (also spelled Operation Totalise in recent British sources) was an offensive launched by Allied troops in the First Canadian Army during the later stages of Operation Overlord, from 8 to 9 August 1944. The intention was to break through the German defences south of Caen on the eastern flank of the Allied positions in Normandy and exploit success by driving south, to capture the high ground north of the city of Falaise. The goal was to collapse the German front and cut off the retreat of German forces fighting the Allied armies further west. The battle is considered the inaugural operation of the First Canadian Army, which had been activated on 23 July. In the early hours of 8 August 1944, II Canadian Corps launched the attack using mechanized infantry. They broke through the German front lines and captured vital positions deep in the German defences. It was intended that two fresh armoured divisions would continue the attack but some hesitancy by these two comparatively inexperienced divisions and German armoured counter-attacks slowed the offensive. Having advanced , the Allies were halted north of Falaise and forced to prepare a fresh attack. | 1military conflict
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Hurricane Klaus (1984). Hurricane Klaus was a North Atlantic hurricane that hit the Leeward Islands from the west in November of the 1984 Atlantic hurricane season. Forming from a broad area of low pressure on November 5, Klaus maintained a northeast movement throughout much of its path. After making landfall on extreme eastern Puerto Rico, it passed to the north of the Leeward Islands, resulting in strong southwesterly winds and rough seas. Klaus attained hurricane status and reached peak winds of 90 mph (145 km/h) before becoming extratropical over cooler waters on November 13. The storm dropped heavy rainfall in Puerto Rico, causing minor flooding and light damage. Klaus caused heavy marine damage in the Leeward Islands, including wrecking at least three ships. The Virgin Islands experienced heavy damage as well. | 0neutral
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Nordic Game. Nordic Game is a video game conference held annually in Malmö, Sweden. The conference hosts lectures from the computer gaming industry and serves as a company-dating venue where developers and marketers meet. In 2013, 1,500 developers, businesspeople, and enthusiasts were expected to participate. The keynote speech that year was given by video game designer Tim Schafer. In 2016, the Japanese video game designer, screenwriter, director, and producer Hideo Kojima did a Q&A at the conference, that year the attendees were on its high, with over 2,500 people. The previous conference was held on 18â20 May 2016 in Malmö, Sweden. The Nordic Game Conference 2017 edition will be held 17â19 May 2017 also in Malmö, Sweden. | 0neutral
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Irish Civil War. The Irish Civil War (; 28 June 1922 â 24 May 1923) was a conflict that followed the Irish War of Independence and accompanied the establishment of the Irish Free State, an entity independent from the United Kingdom but within the British Empire. The civil war was waged between two opposing groups, the pro-treaty Provisional Government and the anti-treaty IRA, over the Anglo-Irish Treaty. The forces of the Provisional Government (which became the Free State in December 1922) supported the Treaty, while the Republican opposition saw it as a betrayal of the Irish Republic (which had been proclaimed during the Easter Rising). Many of those who fought on both sides in the conflict had been members of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) during the War of Independence. The Civil War was won by the Free State forces, who benefitted from substantial quantities of weapons provided by the British Government. The conflict may have claimed more lives than the War of Independence that preceded it, and left Irish society divided and embittered for generations. Today, two of the main political parties in the Republic of Ireland, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, are direct descendants of the opposing sides of the war. | 1military conflict
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"Operation Strike of the Sword. Operation ""Strike of the Sword or Operation ""Khanjar was a US-led offensive in Helmand province in southern Afghanistan. About 4,000 Marines from the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade as well as 650 Afghan troops were involved, supported by NATO planes. The operation began when units moved into the Helmand River valley in the early hours of July 2, 2009. This operation was the largest Marine offensive since the Battle of Fallujah in 2004. The operation was also the biggest offensive airlift by the Marines since the Vietnam War. The Marines pushed into primarily three significant towns along a 75-mile stretch of the Helmand River valley south of Lashkar Gah. At least two Marine infantry battalions and one Marine Light Armored Reconnaissance (LAR) battalion spearheaded the operation. In the north, 2nd Battalion, 8th Marines (2/8) pushed into Garmsir district. In central Helmand, 1st Battalion, 5th Marines (1/5) pushed into Nawa-I-Barakzayi to the south of Lashkar Gah, 2nd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion (2nd LAR) entered Khanashin in the Khan Neshin district." | 1military conflict
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"1971 Bangladesh genocide. The genocide in Bangladesh began on 26 March 1971 with the launch of Operation Searchlight, as West Pakistan began a military crackdown on the Eastern wing of the nation to suppress Bengali calls for self-determination rights. During the nine-month-long Bangladesh War for Liberation, members of the Pakistani military and supporting Islamist militias from Jamaat-e-Islami killed between 300,000 and 3,000,000 people and raped between 200,000 and 400,000 Bangladeshi women, according to Bangladeshi and Indian sources, in a systematic campaign of genocidal rape. In December 2011, a BBC News report cited unnamed ""independent researchers"" as claiming that between 300,000 and 500,000 people were killed. The actions against women were supported by Jamaat-e-Islami religious leaders, who declared that Bengali women were ""gonimoter maal"" (Bengali for ""public property""). As a result of the conflict, a further eight to ten million people, mostly Hindus, fled the country at the time to seek refuge in neighbouring India. It is estimated that up to 30 million civilians became internally displaced. During the war, there was also ethnic violence between Bengalis and Urdu-speaking Biharis. Biharis faced reprisals from Bengali mobs and militias and from 1,000 to 150,000 were killed. Other sources claim it was up to 500,000. There is an academic consensus that the events which took place during the Bangladesh Liberation War constituted a genocide, and warrant judicial accountability. However, some scholars deny it was a genocide." | 2civil conflict
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Joe Miller (Alaska politician). Joseph Wayne Miller (born May 10, 1967) is an American attorney and politician. Miller rose to national prominence as the Republican Party nominee and the Tea Party favorite in the 2010 U.S. Senate election in Alaska. He faced Democrat Scott McAdams and incumbent Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski who, after losing the primary to Miller, mounted a large and well-funded campaign as a write-in candidate in the general election and went on to win the Senate seat. Before running for the Senate, Miller worked as an attorney in private general practice, a local government attorney, and a U.S. magistrate judge assisting the Alaska federal district court with its caseload. A 1995 graduate of Yale Law School, he was a combat veteran of the 1991 Gulf War, and a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. He is originally from Kansas and the father of eight children; he and his wife and family moved to Alaska in the mid-1990s. Miller sought the Republican nomination to challenge incumbent Democratic Senator Mark Begich in 2014, but was defeated by Dan Sullivan in the Republican primary. Cean Stevens, the Libertarian party primary winner, stepped aside to allow Miller to receive the Libertarian nomination, so that Miller could run in the crowded 2016 Senate election. He placed second in the general election, receiving just under 30% of the vote. | 0neutral
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Sixth Siege of Gibraltar. The Sixth Siege of Gibraltar in 1411 was the only occasion on which control of Gibraltar was contested between two Islamic powers. After the failed Fifth Siege of Gibraltar in 1349â50, which ended with the death of King Alfonso XI of Castile from bubonic plague, the Kingdom of Castile was preoccupied with the Castilian Civil War and its aftermath. In 1369, Sultan Muhammed V of Granada took advantage of the Castilians' distractions and in the Siege of Algeciras (1369) he seized the city of Algeciras, on the west side of the Bay of Gibraltar, which Alfonso XI had captured in 1344. After razing it to the ground he made peace with Henry II, the winner of the civil war. The truce was renewed by Henry's successors John I and Henry III. At some point during the truces, control of Gibraltar was transferred from the Marinid dynasty of Morocco, which had held it since 1333, to the Granadans. It is not clear why this happened; it may have been as a condition of the Granadans assisting the Marinids against rebels in Morocco. In February 1407, the truce between the Christian and Islamic kingdoms collapsed during the reign of the infant John II as the result of a minor skirmish. A Castilian fleet put to sea and inflicted a major defeat on the Moors in the Strait of Gibraltar. The rulers of Granada and Morocco met at Gibraltar and agreed to sue for a fresh truce, but relations between the two Islamic states soon broke down amid disagreements between their rulers. The garrison of Gibraltar rebelled in 1410 against the Granadan ruler, Yusuf III, and declared allegiance to Abu Said Uthman III of Morocco. Abu Said Uthman III sent his brother, Abu Said, to take charge with an army numbering some 1,000 cavalry and 2,000 infantry. They occupied a number of castles in the area as well as the ports of Estepona and Marbella. A Granadan counter-offensive in 1411 drove Abu Said back to Gibraltar, where he took refuge. Yusuf III's son Ahmad laid siege to Gibraltar and defeated several Moroccan attempts to break out. Eventually a Granadan sympathiser in the garrison helped the besiegers to gain entrance. They stormed the Moorish Castle, forcing Abu Said to surrender, and restored Granadan control over Gibraltar. Back in Morocco, Abu Said Uthman III reacted by writing to Yusuf III to ask him to execute Abu Said for disloyalty. Instead, the Granadan sultan gave Abu Said an army and sent him back to Morocco to launch an ultimately unsuccessful rebellion against Abu Said Uthman III. | 1military conflict
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2001 Germany v England football match. On 1 September 2001 Germany met England during the qualifying stages of the 2002 World Cup, at the Olympiastadion in Munich. England won the game 5â1, abetted by a hat-trick from striker Michael Owen. The two teams had met most recently in 2000, in what was the final match at the old Wembley stadium. The match ended with a 1â0 victory for Germany, thanks to a goal from Dietmar Hamann. The last time that England had beaten Germany had been during the Euro 2000 competition in June 2000, with a 1â0 win at the Stade du Pays de Charleroi in Belgium. Alan Shearer had scored the winning goal in what was the twilight of his international career. With the exception of that match, England had not beaten Germany in competitive football since the 1966 FIFA World Cup Final. | 0neutral
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"Mount Carmel forest fire (2010). The Mount Carmel Forest Fire (Hebrew: ×ס×× ××ר×× ""Ason HaKarmel"", ""The Carmel Disaster"") was a deadly forest fire that started on Mount Carmel in northern Israel, just south of Haifa. The fire began at about 11:00 local time on 2 December 2010, and spread quickly, consuming much of the Mediterranean forest covering the region. The fire claimed 44 lives, making it the deadliest in Israeli history. The dead were mostly Israel Prison Service officer cadets, as well as three senior police officers, among them the chief of Haifa's police. More than 17,000 people were evacuated, including several villages in the vicinity of the fire, and there was considerable property and environmental damage. The fire appeared to be caused by human activity near the Druze town of Isfiya. On 6 December a 14-year-old resident of the town told police that he had inadvertently started the fire with a nargila coal. The teen's father argued that his son was witnessed in school at the time and could not have started the blaze. The fire was followed by a wave of arsons throughout Israel and the West Bank. These fires, which initially created confusion regarding the source of the Carmel blaze, were all extinguished within a few hours of being lit. The motivation for the attacks was not immediately clear. Israeli police have referred to some of these fires as arson. Government officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, called on other countries to help assist in firefighting efforts, and the Israel Defense Forces mobilized troops for the same purpose. The fire was defeated on 5 December after raging for four days." | 0neutral
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"Pasta de Conchos mine disaster. The Pasta de Conchos mine disaster occurred at approximately 2:30 a.m. CST on February 19, 2006, after a methane explosion within a coal mine near Nueva Rosita, San Juan de Sabinas municipality, in the Mexican state of Coahuila. The mines were run by Grupo México, the largest mining company in the country. It was estimated that 65 miners, who were working the 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. shift that morning, were trapped underground by the explosion. Only 2 of the 65 bodies have been recovered. There have been conflicting reports regarding the depth at which the miners were trapped. The National Mining and Metal Workers Union (SNTMMSRM) stated that the trapped miners were approximately below ground, via a mile-long horizontal shaft. Grupo México released a statement saying that the miners were about below ground when the explosion occurred. Guadalupe Rosales MartÃnez, the sister of a worker saved from the mine opening, told the ""Los Angeles Times"" that the workers had previously complained about a gas leak in the mine. Norma Vitela, the wife of a mine worker trapped inside the mine, told ""The Miami Herald"" that her husband complained about the same leak. By February 21, 2006 Grupo México search teams and relatives of the trapped miners were beginning to lose hope. Each miner was allotted an oxygen pack, but the pack only guaranteed the miners six hours of oxygen. The Governor of Coahuila, Humberto Moreira Valdés, told the Televisa television network that the mine's ventilation service, which uses fans to import oxygen and export dangerous gases, was still in operation. However, the February 21 edition of ""The Miami Herald"" remarked, ""Even so, they could not be certain the precious oxygen was arriving to where the miners were trapped."" It was reported that mine workers had gone on strike against Grupo México at least 14 times, ""not only for salary increases⦠but because of its constant refusal to review security and health measures."" Grupo México said that they, in conjunction with the mining union, signed a certificate on February 7, 2006 declaring the mine safe. On February 23, 2006 Grupo México advanced to a part of the mine shaft where they believed two of the 65 workers were trapped. However, they found nobody, leading them to believe the force of the explosion knocked them through the mine shaft deeper than they had anticipated. The next day, Grupo México advanced approximately halfway into the 1.75-mile long mine, where an additional twenty-four miners were expected to have been found. Again, nobody was found, and Grupo México hypothesized that either the miners were buried under debris or the miners were located in a deeper part of the mine. On the evening of February 24, Grupo México announced that search efforts were to be suspended for two or three days, due to the search teams advancing to a portion of the mine which leaked out high levels of natural gas. On the afternoon of February 25 the CEO of Grupo México confirmed during a press conference that ""there was no possibility of survival after the methane explosion"", based on a scientific report. The following day the Secretary of Labor, Francisco Javier Salazar Sáenz, and Governor Moreira announced the mine would be closed indefinitely once all the bodies were recovered. The ""Diario"" newspaper of Ciudad Juárez published a report from Mexican officials and the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration, stating that due to the high levels of gas in the mine, it would be very rare, if not impossible, to have any survivors from the rescue efforts. After the rescue of 33 trapped miners in October 2010 in Copiapó, Chile, bishop Raúl Vera demanded that the case be reopened. According to the IndustriALL Global Union, as of August 2016, ""Ten years after the mining homicide at Pasta de Conchos, Mexico, the government has still not conducted a thorough investigation into the real causes of the disaster, brought those responsible to justice, recovered the bodies or compensated the families of the victims.""" | 0neutral
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Hurricane Epsilon. Hurricane Epsilon was the final of fifteen hurricanes within the record-breaking 2005 Atlantic hurricane season. Originating from a cold front beneath an upper-level low, Epsilon formed on November 29 about 915 mi (1470 km) east of Bermuda. Initially, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) forecast the storm to transition into an extratropical cyclone within five days, due to conditions unfavorable for significant intensification. Epsilon continually defied forecasts, at first due to an unexpected loop to the southwest, and later due to retaining its strength despite cold waters and strong wind shear. On December 1, Epsilon began a northeast motion due to an approaching trough, and the next day it attained hurricane status. After turning to the east, it developed characteristics of an annular hurricane, meaning it had a circular eye, a ring of convection, and had few fluctuations in its intensity. On December 5 Epsilon attained peak winds of 85 mph (140 km/h), and the next day it turned to the south and southwest. Late on December 7, the winds dropped below hurricane status for the first time in five days, making Epsilon the longest-lasting December hurricane on record. Stronger wind shear caused rapid weakening, and the storm could no longer be classified as a tropical cyclone late on December 8. The next day the remnant circulation of Epsilon dissipated. | 0neutral
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"1945 Homestead hurricane. The 1945 Homestead hurricane was the most intense tropical cyclone to strike the U.S. state of Florida since 1935. The ninth tropical storm, third hurricane, and third major hurricane of the season, it developed east-northeast of the Leeward Islands on September 12. Moving briskly west-northwestward, the storm became a major hurricane on September 13. The system moved over the Turks and Caicos Islands the following day and then Andros on September 15. Later that day, the storm peaked as a Category 4 hurricane on the modern-day SaffirâSimpson hurricane wind scale with winds of 130 mph (215 km/h). Late on September 15, the hurricane made landfall on Key Largo and then in southern Miami-Dade County, and across Homestead, FL where much damage was done and winds were clocked at Homestead Army Air Corps Base at 145 mph. Thereafter, the hurricane began to weaken while moving across Florida, falling to Category 1 intensity only several hours after landfall late on September 15. Eventually, it curved north-northeastward and approached the east coast of Florida again. Late on September 16, the storm emerged into the Atlantic near St. Augustine and weakened to a tropical storm early on the following day. The cyclone made another landfall near the Georgia-South Carolina state line later on September 17. The system continued to weaken and transitioned into an extratropical cyclone near the border of North Carolina and Virginia early on September 18. The storm caused significant damage and 22 deaths in the Turks and Caicos Islands and the Bahamas. In Florida, the hardest hit area was Miami-Dade County. Most of the city of Homestead was destroyed, while at the Richmond Naval Air Station, a fire ignited during the storm burned down three hangars worth $3 million (1945 USD) each. Throughout the state, the strong winds destroyed 1,632 residences and damaged 5,372 homes others. Four people died, including the fire chief of the Richmond station. Homestead Army Air Corps Base, to the east of Homestead was completely destroyed. At the base, hurricane winds of ""up to 145 miles per hour tore through the Air Field's buildings. Enlisted housing facilities, the nurses' dormitory, and the Base Exchange were all destroyed. The roof was ripped from what would later become building 741, the ""Big Hangar"". The base laundry and fire station were both declared total losses. The few remaining aircraft were tossed about like leaves."" In the Carolinas, the storm produced heavy rainfall, causing flash flooding, particularly along the Cape Fear River in North Carolina. Overall, the hurricane resulted in 26 fatalities and about $60 million in damage." | 0neutral
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Hurricane GretaâOlivia. Hurricane GretaâOlivia was one of ten named Atlantic hurricanes to cross over Central America into the eastern Pacific while remaining a tropical cyclone. The seventh named storm of the 1978 Atlantic hurricane season, Greta formed from a tropical wave just northwest of Trinidad on September 13, and despite being in a climatologically unfavorable area, gradually intensified while moving west-northwestward. On September 16, it became a hurricane south of Jamaica. Two days later, the well-defined eye approached northeastern Honduras but veered to the northwest. After reaching peak winds of 130 mph (215 km/h) that day, Greta weakened while paralleling the northern Honduras coast just offshore. On September 19, it made landfall on Belize near Dangriga and quickly weakened into a tropical depression while crossing Guatemala and southeastern Mexico. After entering the eastern Pacific, the system re-intensified into a hurricane and was renamed Olivia, which weakened before dissipating over Chiapas on September 23. Taking a similar path to Hurricane Fifi four years prior, Greta threatened to reproduce the devastating effects of the catastrophic storm; however, damage and loss of life was significantly less than feared. In Honduras, about 1,200 homes were damaged, about half of which in towns along the coastline. The storm damaged about 75% of the houses on Roatán along the offshore Bay Islands, and there was one death in the country. In the Belize Barrier Reef, Greta downed trees and produced high waves, while on the mainland, there was minimal flooding despite a high storm surge. In Dangriga where it made landfall, the hurricane damaged or destroyed 125 houses and the primary hospital. In Belize City, a tornado flipped over a truck and damaged four houses. Damage in Belize was estimated at $25 million (1978 USD), and there were four deaths. | 0neutral
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Tropical Storm Helene (2000). Tropical Storm Helene was a long-lived tropical cyclone that oscillated for ten days between a tropical wave and a tropical storm. It was the twelfth tropical cyclone and eighth tropical storm of the 2000 Atlantic hurricane season, forming on September 15 east of the Windward Islands. After degenerating into a tropical wave, the system produced flooding and mudslides in Puerto Rico. It reformed into a tropical depression on September 19 south of Cuba, and crossed the western portion of the island the next day while on the verge of dissipation. However, it intensified into a tropical storm in the Gulf of Mexico, reaching its peak intensity while approaching the northern Gulf Coast. The storm rapidly weakened before moving ashore near Fort Walton Beach, Florida on September 22. It produced heavy rainfall along the Florida Panhandle that reached . The rains flooded hundreds of houses and caused the Sopchoppy River to reach a record crest. Gusty winds left about 5,000 people without power, though the rains alleviated drought conditions. In South Carolina, Helene spawned a tornado that killed one person and injured six others; heavy rainfall in the state also led to a death when a driver hydroplaned into a tree. The rainfall extended northeastward into Delaware. Overall damage in the United States was estimated at $16 million. Helene emerged from North Carolina as a tropical storm, and re-intensified to near-hurricane strength before being absorbed by a cold front on September 25. | 0neutral
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2006 IIHF World Championship Division I. The 2006 IIHF World Championship Division I was an international Ice hockey tournament run by the International Ice Hockey Federation. The tournament was contested from April 23 to April 30, 2009. Participants in this tournament were separated into two separate tournament groups. The Group A tournament was contested in Amiens, France. Group B's games were played in Tallinn, Estonia. Germany and Austria finished atop of Group A and Group B respectively, gaining promotion to the 2007 World Championship. While Israel finished last in Group A and Croatia last in Group B and were relegated to Division II for 2007. | 0neutral
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"Nintendo World Championships. The Nintendo World Championships (NWC) is a nationwide video game competition video game tournament series, organized by Nintendo of America. The first Nintendo World Championships was in 1990, touring 30 American cities. It was based on a custom game cartridge for the Nintendo Entertainment System, which would historically become one of the most rare and valuable NES cartridges. On June 15, 2015, the second Nintendo World Championships took place for its 25th anniversary as part of Nintendo's E3 2015 coverage. The third Nintendo World Championships was held on October 7, 2017. In 2014, Nintendo released ""NES Remix 2"", featuring the reminiscent ""Nintendo World Championships Remix"", which uses emulation and online leaderboards to incite informal public competitiveness." | 0neutral
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"Empezar desde Cero Tour 2008. The Empezar Desde Cero World Tour is the fourth concert tour of Mexican music group RBD. It kicked off on February 15, 2008 in Hidalgo, United States to support their November 2007 studio album, ""Empezar Desde Cero"" (2007). The group embarked on a 39 city tour that will take them through the USA, Mexico, Central America, South America,as well as Europe. RBD embarked on a five show tour throughout Slovenia, Romania and Serbia, selling out 3/5 with over 40,500 tickets and a gross of over 1.9 million. The Boxscore sales can be viewed on Billboard.com issue 25 October 2008. In this tour they also broke a record in Brazil's capital, BrasÃlia in April at the Esplanada dos Ministérios. This is a continuation of the group's Tour Celestial." | 0neutral
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"First day on the Somme. The first day on the Somme, 1 July 1916, was the beginning of the Battle of Albert the name given by the British to the first two weeks of the Battle of the Somme. Nine corps of the French Sixth Army and the British Fourth and Third armies, attacked the German 2nd Army (General Fritz von Below) from Foucaucourt south of the Somme northwards across the Ancre to Serre and at Gommecourt, beyond, in the Third Army area. The objective of the attack was to capture the German first and second positions from Serre south to the AlbertâBapaume road and the first position from the road south to Foucaucourt. The German defence south of the road mostly collapsed and the French had ""complete success"" on both banks of the Somme, as did the British from Maricourt on the army boundary, where XIII Corps took Montauban and reached all its objectives and XV Corps captured Mametz and isolated Fricourt. The III Corps attack on both sides of the AlbertâBapaume road was a disaster, making only a short advance south of La Boisselle, where the 34th Division suffered the most casualties of any Allied division on 1 July. Further north, the X Corps attack captured the Redoubt, failed opposite Thiepval and had a great but temporary success on the left flank, where the German front line was overrun by the 36th (Ulster) Division, which then captured and Stuff redoubts. German counter-attacks during the afternoon recaptured most of the lost ground north of the AlbertâBapaume road and more British attacks against Thiepval were costly failures. On the north bank of the Ancre, the attack of VIII Corps was a disaster, with large numbers of British troops being shot down in no man's land. The VII Corps diversion at Gommecourt was also costly, with only a partial and temporary advance south of the village. The German defeats from Foucaucourt to the AlbertâBapaume road, left the German defence on the south bank incapable of resisting another attack; a substantial German retreat began from the Flaucourt plateau to the west bank of the Somme close to Péronne; north of the Somme in the British area, Fricourt was abandoned overnight. Several truces were observed to recover wounded from no man's land on the British front, where the Fourth Army had suffered , whom had been killed. The French Sixth Army suffered and the German 2nd Army lost Orders were issued to the Anglo-French armies to continue the offensive on 2 July and a German counter-attack on the north bank of the Somme by the 12th Division, intended for the night of took until dawn on 2 July to begin and was destroyed. Since 1 July 1916, the cost of the battle and the ""meagre gains"" have been a source of grief and controversy in Britain; in German and French writing, the first day of the Battle of the Somme has been little more than a footnote to the mass losses of 1914â1915 and the Battle of Verdun." | 1military conflict
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"ByzantineâArab wars (780â1180). Between 780â1180, the Byzantine Empire and the Abbasid & Fatimid caliphates in the regions of Iraq, Palestine, Syria, Anatolia and Southern Italy fought a series of wars for supremacy in the Eastern Mediterranean. After a period of indecisive and slow border warfare, a string of almost unbroken Byzantine victories in the late 10th and early 11th centuries allowed three Byzantine Emperors, namely Nikephoros II Phokas, John I Tzimiskes and finally Basil II to recapture territory lost to the Muslim conquests in the 7th century ArabâByzantine wars under the failing Heraclian Dynasty. Consequently, large parts of Syria, excluding its capital city of Damascus, were taken by the Byzantines, even if only for a few years, with a new theme of Syria integrated into the expanding empire. In addition to the natural gains of land, and wealth and manpower received from these victories, the Byzantines also inflicted a psychological defeat on their opponents by recapturing territory deemed holy and important to Christendom, in particular the city of Antiochâallowing Byzantium to hold two of Christendoms' five most important Patriarchs, those making up the Pentarchy. Nonetheless, the Arabs remained a fierce opponent to the Byzantines and a temporary Fatimid recovery after ""c."" 970 had the potential to reverse many of the earlier victories. And while Byzantium took large parts of Palestine, Jerusalem was left untouched and the ideological victory from the campaign was not as great as it could have been had Byzantium recaptured this fourth Patriarchal seat of Christendom. Byzantine attempts to stem the slow but successful Arab conquest of Sicily ended in a dismal failure. Syria would cease to exist as a Byzantine province when the Turks took the city of Antioch in ""c"". 1084. The Crusaders took the city back for Christendom in 1097 but a Byzantine protectorate was established over the Crusader Kingdoms in Jerusalem and Antioch under Manuel I Komnenos. The death of Manuel Komnenos in 1180 terminated military campaigns far from Constantinople and after the Fourth Crusade both the Byzantines and the Arabs were engaged in other conflicts until they were conquered by the Ottoman Turks in the 15th and 16th centuries, respectively." | 1military conflict
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2004 Myanmar cyclone. The 2004 Myanmar cyclone was considered the worst to strike the country since 1968. The second tropical cyclone of the 2004 North Indian Ocean cyclone season, it formed as a depression on May 16 in the central Bay of Bengal. With low wind shear and a surge in the monsoon trough, the storm intensified while meandering over open waters. The storm eventually began a steady northeastward motion due to a ridge to the north over India. While approaching land, an eye developed in the center of the storm, indicative of a strong cyclone. On May 19, the cyclone made landfall along northwestern Myanmar near Sittwe, with maximum sustained winds estimated at 165 km/h (105 mph) by the India Meteorological Department. The storm rapidly weakened over land, although its remnants spread rainfall into northern Thailand and Yunnan province in China. Winds from the cyclone reached 157 km/h (98 mph) in Myanmar, occurring in conjunction with heavy rainfall and a high storm surge. Despite the storm's ferocity, the government did not report about the cyclone for ten days, as they usually under-report on landfalling storms. The cyclone caused heavy damage throughout Rakhine State, destroying or heavily damaging 4,035 homes and leaving 25,000 people homeless. There was widespread crop damage, resulting in food shortages, and damaged roads disrupted subsequent relief efforts. Damage in Myanmar totaled over K621 million kyat ($99.2 million USD), making it the worst storm in the country since 1968, and there were 236 deaths, with an unofficial death toll as high as 1,000. Although damage was heaviest in Myanmar, the cyclone's effects also spread into neighboring Bangladesh, where strong winds knocked over trees and capsized two ships. | 0neutral
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"Operation Brevity. Operation Brevity was a limited offensive conducted in mid-May 1941, during the Western Desert Campaign of the Second World War. Conceived by the commander-in-chief of the British Middle East Command, General Archibald Wavell, Brevity was intended to be a rapid blow against weak Axis front-line forces in the SollumâCapuzzoâBardia area of the border between Egypt and Libya. Although the operation got off to a promising start, throwing the Axis high command into confusion, most of its early gains were lost to local counter-attacks, and with German reinforcements being rushed to the front the operation was called off after one day. Egypt had been invaded by Libyan-based Italian forces in September 1940, but by February of the following year a British counter-offensive had advanced well into Libya, destroying the Italian Tenth Army in the process. British attention then shifted to Greece, which was under the threat of Axis invasion. While Allied divisions were being diverted from North Africa, the Italians reinforced their positions and were supported by the arrival of the German ""Afrika Korps"" under ""Generalleutnant"" Erwin Rommel. Rapidly taking the offensive against his distracted and over-stretched opponent, by April 1941 Rommel had driven the British and Commonwealth forces in Cyrenaica back across the Egyptian border. Although the battlefront now lay in the border area, the port city of Tobrukâ inside Libyaâhad resisted the Axis advance, and its substantial Australian and British garrison constituted a significant threat to Rommel's lengthy supply chain. He therefore committed his main strength to besieging the city, leaving the front line only thinly held. Wavell defined Operation Brevity's main objectives as the acquisition of territory from which to launch a further planned offensive toward Tobruk, and the depletion of German and Italian forces in the region. With limited battle-ready units to draw on in the wake of Rommel's recent successes, on 15 May Brigadier William Gott attacked in three columns with a mixed infantry and armoured force. The strategically important Halfaya Pass was taken against stiff Italian opposition, and deeper inside Libya Fort Capuzzo was captured, but German counter-attacks under Colonel Maximilian von Herff regained the fort during the afternoon causing heavy casualties amongst its defenders. Gottâconcerned that his forces were in danger of being caught by German armour in open groundâconducted a staged withdrawal to the Halfaya Pass on 16 May, and Brevity was closed down. The importance of the Halfaya Pass as a safe supply route was highlighted to Rommel, and 11 days later it was recaptured during Operation Skorpion, a German counter-attack." | 1military conflict
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Operation Nasr. Operation Nasr, fought in early January 1981, was a major battle of the IranâIraq War. It was the biggest tank battle of the IranâIraq War. Three Iranian armored regiments advanced towards Iraqi forces that had invaded Iranian territory between the cities of Ahvaz, Susangerd and Dezful. The Iraqi forces were alerted to this movement and feigned a withdrawal. The Iraqis formed three armored brigades into a three-sided box ambush. The Iranians blundered into the ambush and the two tank forces battled for four days in a sea of mud. The Iranians withdrew, leaving many destroyed and disabled tanks stuck in the mud, or, because of logistical misplanning, had run out of fuel and ammunition. The condition of the terrain prevented a clean break from the battle and did not allow the Iraqi forces to pursue what was left of the Iranians en force. | 1military conflict
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Hurricane Debbie (1961). Hurricane Debbie is the most powerful cyclone on record to strike Ireland in September, and possibly the only tropical cyclone on record to ever strike Britain and Ireland while still tropical. The fourth named storm of the 1961 Atlantic hurricane season, Debbie originated from a well-defined tropical disturbance that was first identified in late August over Central Africa. Tracking generally westward, the system moved off the coast of Senegal on September 5 into the Atlantic Ocean. By this time, it was estimated to have become a tropical storm, but forecasters did not issue advisories on the system until two days later. Late on September 6, Debbie passed through the southern Cape Verde Islands as a strong tropical storm or minimal hurricane, resulting in a plane crash that killed 60 people in the islands. Once clear of the islands, data on the storm became sparse, and the status of Debbie was uncertain over the following several days as it tracked west-northwestward and later northward. It was not until a commercial airliner intercepted the storm on September 10 that its location became certain. The following day, Debbie intensified and reached its peak intensity as a Category 3 hurricane on the SaffirâSimpson hurricane scale, with maximum winds of 120 mph (195 km/h). Maintaining its peak intensity for over a day, the hurricane gradually slowed its forward motion and weakened. By September 13, Debbie's motion became influenced by the Westerlies, causing the system to accelerate east-northeastward. The system passed over the western Azores as a minimal hurricane on September 15. At this point, there is uncertainty as to the structure of Debbie, whether it transitioned into an extratropical cyclone or maintained its identity as a tropical system. Regardless of which took place, the system deepened as it neared Ireland, skirting the coast of Western Ireland on September 16. Shortly thereafter, the system was confirmed to have become extratropical as it continued towards the northeast. The remnants of the storm later turned eastward, striking Norway and Russia, before dissipating on September 19. Striking Ireland as a powerful storm, Debbie brought record winds to much of the island, with a peak gust of measured just offshore. These winds caused widespread damage and disruption, downing tens of thousands of trees and power lines. Countless structures sustained varying degrees of damage, with many smaller buildings destroyed. Agriculture experienced extensive losses to barley, corn and wheat crops. Throughout Ireland, Debbie killed 18 people (12 in the Republic of Ireland and six in Northern Ireland). It caused US$40â50 million in damage in the Republic and at least £1.5 million (US$4 million) in Northern Ireland. The storm also battered parts of Great Britain with winds in excess of . | 0neutral
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"15 October 2011 global protests. The 15 October 2011 global protests were part of a series of protests inspired by the Arab Spring, the Icelandic protests, the Portuguese ""Geração à Rasca"", the Spanish ""Indignants"", the Greek protests, and the Occupy movement. The protests were launched under the slogan ""United for #GlobalChange"", to which the slogan ""United for Global Democracy"" was added by many people's assemblies. The protest was first called for by the Spanish ""Plataforma ¡Democracia Real YA!"" in May 2011 and endorsed by people's assemblies across the world. Reasons were varied but mainly targeted growing economic inequality, corporate influence over government and international institutions, and the lack of truly democratic institutions allowing direct public participation at all levels, local to global. Global demonstrations were held on 15 October in more than 950 cities in 82 countries. The date was chosen to coincide with the 5-month anniversary of the first protest in Spain. General assemblies, the social network n-1, mailing lists, Mumble voice chat, open pads such as Pirate Pad and Titan Pad, and Facebook were used to coordinate the events. Some protests were only a few hundred in number, whereas others numbered in the hundreds of thousands, with the largest in Madrid numbering half a million and the second largest city Barcelona with 400,000." | 2civil conflict
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Comair Flight 5191. Comair Flight 5191, marketed as Delta Connection Flight 5191, was a scheduled United States domestic passenger flight from Lexington, Kentucky, to Atlanta, Georgia, operated on behalf of Delta Connection by Comair. On the morning of August 27, 2006, at around 06:07 EDT, the Bombardier Canadair Regional Jet 100ER that was being used for the flight crashed while attempting to take off from Blue Grass Airport in Fayette County, Kentucky, west of the central business district of the City of Lexington. The aircraft was assigned the airport's runway 22 for the takeoff, but used runway 26 instead. Runway 26 was too short for a safe takeoff, causing the aircraft to overrun the end of the runway before it could become airborne. It crashed just past the end of the runway, killing all 47 passengers and two of the three crew. The flight's first officer was the sole survivor. Although not the pilot in command, according to the cockpit voice recorder transcript, the first officer James Polehinke (the only survivor of the crash) was the pilot flying at the time of the accident. In the National Transportation Safety Board report on the crash, investigators concluded that the likely cause of the crash was pilot error. | 0neutral
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SilkAir Flight 185. SilkAir Flight 185 was a scheduled SilkAir passenger flight operated by a Boeing 737-300 from Jakarta, Indonesia, to Singapore, that crashed into the Musi River near Palembang in southern Sumatra, on 19 December 1997, killing all 97 passengers and seven crew on board. The cause of the crash was independently investigated by two agencies in two countries: the United States National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and the Indonesian National Transportation Safety Committee (NTSC). The NTSB, which had jurisdiction based on Boeing's manufacture of the aircraft in the United States, investigated the crash under lead investigator Greg Feith. Its investigation concluded that the crash was the result of deliberate flight control inputs, most likely by the captain. The Indonesian NTSC, led by Engineering Professor Oetarjo Diran, was unable to determine a cause of the crash. Another potential factor that led to the crash of the 737 aircraft was the power control unit (PCU) that controlled the aircraft's rudder. The cause of some 737 crashes, such as USAir Flight 427, had been attributed to the 737's rudder issues. Although the NTSB and PCU manufacturer Parker Hannifin had already determined that the PCU was properly working, and thus not the cause of the crash, a private investigation into the crash for a civil lawsuit tried by jury in a state court in Los Angeles, which was not allowed to hear or consider the NTSB's and Parker Hannifin's conclusions, decided that the crash was caused by a defective servo valve inside the PCU, based on forensic findings from an electron microscope which determined that minute defects within the PCU had caused the rudder hard-over and a subsequent uncontrollable flight and crash. The manufacturer of the aircraft's rudder controls and the families later reached an out-of-court settlement. | 0neutral
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2012 India blackouts. Two severe power blackouts affected most of northern and eastern India on 30 and 31 July 2012. The 30 July 2012 blackout affected over 400 million people and was briefly the largest power outage in history by number of people affected, beating the January 2001 blackout in Northern India (230 million affected). The blackout on 31 July is the largest power outage in history. The outage affected more than 620 million people, about 9% of the world population, or half of India's population, spread across 22 states in Northern, Eastern, and Northeast India. An estimated 32 gigawatts of generating capacity was taken offline. Of the affected population, 320 million initially had power, while the rest lacked direct access. Electric service was restored in the affected locations between 31 July and 1 August 2012. | 0neutral
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"Gaspee Affair. The ""Gaspee"" Affair was a significant event in the lead-up to the American Revolution. HMS ""Gaspee"" was a British customs schooner that had been enforcing the Navigation Acts in and around Newport, Rhode Island in 1772. It ran aground in shallow water while chasing the packet ship ""Hannah"" on June 9 near Gaspee Point in Warwick, Rhode Island. A group of men led by Abraham Whipple and John Brown attacked, boarded, and torched the ship. The event increased hostilities between the American colonists and British officials, following the Boston Massacre in 1770. British officials in Rhode Island wanted to increase their control over tradeâlegitimate trade as well as smugglingâin order to increase their revenue from the small colony. But Rhode Islanders increasingly protested the Stamp Act, the Townshend Acts, and other British impositions that had clashed with the colony's history of rum manufacturing, maritime trade, and slave trading. This event and others in Narragansett Bay marked the first acts of violent uprising against the British crown's authority in America, preceding the Boston Tea Party by more than a year and moving the Thirteen Colonies as a whole toward the war for independence." | 1military conflict
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Hurricane Odile. Hurricane Odile is tied for the most intense landfalling tropical cyclone in the Baja California Peninsula during the satellite era. Sweeping across the peninsula in September 2014, Odile inflicted widespread damage, particularly in the state of Baja California Sur, in addition to causing lesser impacts on the Mexican mainland and Southwestern United States. The precursor to Odile developed into a tropical depression south of Mexico on September 10 and quickly reached tropical storm strength. After meandering for several days, Odile began to track northwestward, intensifying to hurricane status before rapidly reaching its Category 4 hurricane peak intensity on September 14. The cyclone slightly weakened before making landfall near Cabo San Lucas with winds of 125 mph (205 km/h). Odile gradually weakened as it tracked across the length of the Baja California Peninsula, briefly crossing into the Gulf of California before degenerating into a remnant system on September 17. These remnants tracked northeastward across the Southwestern United States before they were no longer identifiable on September 19. Initially, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) forecast that Odile would track westward and avoid land as it would curve out to sea. Accordingly, the local governments of southwestern Mexico initially posted minor weather alerts. Precautionary measures on the Baja California Peninsula began in earnest after Odile unexpectedly took a direct course towards the peninsula. Several municipalities declared a state of emergency, opening 164 shelters with a total capacity of 30,000 people. Due to the unanticipated threat of Odile, approximately 26,000 foreign tourists were stranded on the peninsula at the time of landfall. In Odile's developmental stage, its heavy rainfall and storm surge inflicted minor coastal damage across southwestern Mexico and three deaths in Oaxaca and Jalisco. The most significant storm impacts occurred on the Baja California Peninsula, where damages amounted to MXN$16.6 billion (US$1.25 billion). Power outages spurred by Odile's intense winds and rain cut electricity to 92% of the population of Baja California Sur. Severe flooding also occurred, causing rivers to swell and the mass evacuation of people out of hazardous low-lying areas. The remnants of Odile brought rains and unseasonably powerful thunderstorms to the southwestern United States. In total, Odile led to the deaths of 18 people throughout its nine-day existence. | 0neutral
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"Live Aid. Live Aid was a dual-venue benefit concert held on Saturday 13 July 1985, and an ongoing music-based fundraising initiative. The original event was organised by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise funds for relief of the ongoing Ethiopian famine. Billed as the ""global jukebox"", the event was held simultaneously at Wembley Stadium in London, England, United Kingdom (attended by 72,000 people) and John F. Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States (attended by about 100,000 people). On the same day, concerts inspired by the initiative happened in other countries, such as the Soviet Union, Canada, Japan, Yugoslavia, Austria, Australia and West Germany. It was one of the largest-scale satellite link-ups and television broadcasts of all time; an estimated audience of 1.9 billion, across 150 nations, watched the live broadcast, nearly 40% of the world population. The impact of Live Aid on famine relief has been debated for years. One aid relief worker stated that following the publicity generated by the concert, ""humanitarian concern is now at the centre of foreign policy"" for western governments. Geldof states, ""We took an issue that was nowhere on the political agenda and, through the ""lingua franca"" of the planet â which is not English but rock 'n' roll â we were able to address the intellectual absurdity and the moral repulsion of people dying of want in a world of surplus."" He adds, Live Aid ""created something permanent and self-sustaining"", but also asked why Africa is getting poorer. The organisers of Live Aid tried, without much success, to run aid efforts directly, channelling millions of pounds to NGOs in Ethiopia. Much of this, however, went to the Ethiopian government of Mengistu Haile Mariam â a regime the UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher wanted to ""destabilise"" â and was spent on guns." | 0neutral
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"Virginius Affair. The ""Virginius"" Affair was a diplomatic dispute that occurred from October 1873 to February 1875 between the United States, the United Kingdom, and Spain (then in control of Cuba), during the Ten Years' War. ""Virginius"" was a fast American ship hired by Cuban insurrectionists to land men and munitions in Cuba to attack the Spanish regime there. It was captured by the Spanish, who wanted to try the men onboard (many of whom were American and British citizens) as pirates and execute them. The Spanish executed 53 of the men but stopped when the British government demanded it. Throughout the ordeal there was loose talk that the U.S. might declare war on Spain. During the lengthy negotiations the Spanish government had undergone several changes in leadership. US consul Caleb Cushing ended the episode by negotiating $80,000 in reparations to be paid to the families of the Americans who were executed. British families were compensated by the Spanish government through negotiation prior to American compensation. The incident was remarkable for the use of international diplomacy for a peaceful settlement implemented by US Secretary of State Hamilton Fish, rather than opting for a costly war between the United States and Spain. The ""Virginius"" Affair started a resurgence in the US Navy following the American Civil War; its fleet had been heretofore inferior to the warships of Spain." | 0neutral
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"2007 Bihar flood. The 2007 Bihar flood, which started in August 2007, was described by the United Nations as the worst flood in the ""living memory"" of Bihar. It is believed to be the worst flood in Bihar in the last 30 years. By 3 August, the estimated death toll was 41 people, and 48 schoolgirls were marooned in a school in the Darbhanga district. By 8 August, the flooding had affected an estimated 10 million people in Bihar. Army helicopters delivered food packets to Bihar residents and 180 relief camps were established. By 10 August, aid workers in Bihar reported that there was a dramatic increase of people with diarrhoea and by 11 August, flood deaths were still occurring. Total deaths recorded in 2007 Bihar floods was 1,287, which was second highest death toll in state after 1,399 deaths in 1987 Bihar floods." | 0neutral
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"Sennacherib. Sennacherib was the king of Assyria from 705 BCE to 681 BCE. He is principally remembered for his military campaigns against Babylon and Judah, and for his building programs â most notably at the Assyrian capital of Nineveh. He was assassinated in obscure circumstances in 681 BCE, apparently by his eldest son (his designated successor, Esarhaddon, was the youngest). The primary preoccupation of his reign was the so-called ""Babylonian problem"", the refusal of the people of Babylonia to continue to accept Assyrian rule, culminating in his destruction of the city in 689 BCE. Further successful campaigns were carried out in the Levant, in the mountains east of Assyria, against the kingdoms of Urartu, Cilicia and the Neo-Hittites of Anatolia, and against the Arabs in the northern Arabian deserts. His campaigns in Syria are recorded in the Second Book of Kings in the Hebrew Bible. His death was welcomed in Babylon as divine punishment for the destruction of that city. He was also a notable builder: it was under him that Assyrian art reached its peak. His building projects included the beautification of Nineveh, a canal 50 km long to bring water to the city, and the ""Palace Without Rival"", which included what may have been the prototype of the legendary Hanging Gardens of Babylon, or even the actual Hanging Gardens." | 0neutral
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"2012 ICC World Twenty20. The 2012 ICC World Twenty20 was the fourth ICC World Twenty20 competition, an international Twenty20 cricket tournament that took place in Sri Lanka from 18 September to 7 October 2012 which was won by the West Indies. The schedule has been posted by International Cricket Council (ICC). This was the first World Twenty20 tournament held in an Asian country, the last three having been held in South Africa, England and the West Indies. Sri Lankan pacer Lasith Malinga had been chosen as the event ambassador of the tournament by ICC. The format had four groups of three teams in a preliminary round. Match fixtures were announced on 21 September 2011 by ICC. On the same date, the ICC also unveiled the logo of the tournament, named ""Modern Spin""." | 0neutral
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1966 Sarawak constitutional crisis. The 1966 Sarawak constitutional crisis took place in the state of Sarawak, Malaysia from 1965 to 1966. This crisis was started by a group of politicians who were dissatisfied towards Stephen Kalong Ningkan's leadership as chief minister. Ningkan was later removed from the chief minister post by the Governor of Sarawak in June 1966. However, Ningkan was reinstated by the High Court in early September 1966. He was ousted from the chief minister office for the final time at the end of September 1966 and was replaced by Tawi Sli as the new chief minister. It was widely believed that the ouster of Ningkan was a result of interference by the Malaysian federal government due to him being a strong advocate of greater state autonomy. | 2civil conflict
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Death of Kendrick Johnson. On January 11, 2013, the body of Kendrick Johnson (October 10, 1995 â January 10, 2013) was discovered inside a vertical rolled-up mat in the gymnasium of Lowndes High School in Valdosta, in the U.S. state of Georgia, where he was a student. A preliminary investigation and autopsy concluded that the death was accidental. Johnson's family had a private pathologist conduct a second autopsy which concluded that Johnson died from blunt force trauma. On October 31, 2013, the U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Georgia announced that his office would open a formal review into Johnson's death. On June 20, 2016, the US DOJ announced that it would not be filing any criminal charges related to Johnson's death. Kendrick Johnson's family filed a $100 million civil lawsuit against 38 individuals. The lawsuit alleged that Johnson's death was a murder and accused the respondents of a conspiracy to cover up the homicide. That lawsuit was subsequently withdrawn. A judge ordered the Johnsons and their attorney to pay more than $292,000 in legal fees to the defendants. The judge in that case accused the Johnsons and their attorney of fabricating evidence to support their claims. | 0neutral
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"Enlighten Canberra. ""Enlighten Canberra""' is an outdoor annual art and cultural festival held in Canberra, Australia featuring illuminating light installations and projections, performances from local and interstate musicians, dining and film events. The festival is an Australian Capital Territory (ACT) Government initiative held annually in early March, encouraging people to ""See Canberra in a whole new light."" The centrepiece of Enlighten Canberra is the illuminating of Canberra's cultural institutions after dark, including Old Parliament House, Parliament House and the National Gallery of Australia (since the 2011 event) as well as the National Portrait Gallery and Questacon (since the 2012 event). There is also live music, film screenings and after-hours tours. Since its inception, Enlighten has become increasingly popular, attracting 115,000 visitors in 2013 and 131,500 in 2014. Attendance rose again in 2015, to 287,874 visitors." | 0neutral
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Face to Face 1994. Beginning in 1994, Elton John toured extensively with Billy Joel on a series of Face to Face tours, making them the longest running and most successful concert tandem in pop music history. During these shows, the two have played their own songs, each other's songs and performed duets. They grossed over US $46 million in just 24 dates in their sold out 2003 tour. John and Joel resumed the Face to Face tour in March 2009 and it ended again, at least for the time being, in March 2010. Joel denied rumors in the trade press that he canceled a summer 2010 leg of the tour, claiming there were never any dates booked and that he intended to take the year off. Joel stated in 2012 that he would no longer tour with John because it restrains his setlists. The 1994 tour proved a major success playing to huge audiences in packed stadiums across the U.S. starting in East Coast America and ending in South East America. | 0neutral
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Japanese occupation of Nauru. The Japanese occupation of Nauru was the period of three years (26 August 1942 â 13 September 1945) during which Nauru, a Pacific island under Australian administration, was occupied by the Japanese military as part of its operations in the Pacific War during World War II. With the onset of the war, the islands that flanked Japan's South Seas possessions became of vital concern to Japanese Imperial General Headquarters, and in particular to the Imperial Navy, which was tasked with protecting Japan's outlying Pacific territories. The Japanese hoped to exploit the island's phosphate resources, and to build up their military defences in the area. They were unable to relaunch phosphate mining operations, but succeeded in transforming Nauru into a powerful stronghold, which United States forces chose to bypass during their reconquest of the Pacific. The most important infrastructure built by the Japanese was an airfield, which was the target of repeated Allied air strikes. The war deeply affected the local population. The Japanese enforced a harsh regime, particularly on Chinese labourers who they saw as being at the bottom of the racial hierarchy; forced labour and brutal treatment were commonplace. They decided to deport the majority of Nauru's indigenous population to the Truk islands, hundreds of miles away, where mortality was extremely high. Still overpopulated with troops and imported labourers, the island was subject to food shortages, which worsened as the Allies' island-hopping strategy left Nauru completely cut off. Although effectively neutralised by Allied air and sea control, the Japanese garrison did not surrender until eleven days after the official surrender of Japan. | 0neutral
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Rock 'n India. Rock 'n India was an annual music festival organised by event management company DNA Networks in conjunction with Nous Productions at the Palace Grounds in Bangalore. It was launched in 2008 as India's only music festival. Rock 'n India gave Indian bands the opportunity to play in front of large audiences alongside international artists. Throughout its existence, the festival featured iconic rock acts such as Megadeth, Machine Head, Iron Maiden, Biffy Clyro, and Metallica. The day-long festival featured in excess of 10 hours of live performances. In addition to a concert area, Rock 'n India included a carnival area with various stalls and activities, such as an extreme sports zone, a gaming zone, a food court, and interactive stalls. | 0neutral
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Cyclone Ulli. Cyclone Ulli (also named Cyclone Emil by the Norwegian Meteorological Institute) was an intense and deadly European windstorm. Forming on December 31, 2011 off the coast of New Jersey, Ulli began a rapid strengthening phase on January 2 as it sped across the Atlantic. In the late hours of January 1, Met Ãireann issued a national severe weather warning for Connacht and Ulster and forecasters predicting winds speeds up to 87 mph with heavy driving rain. On January 2, the Met Office issued an amber weather warning for most of Scotland for heavy snow and strong winds. Forecasters predicted wind speeds up to 80 mph, and heavy rain, leading to localized flooding. Temperatures were expected to plummet from a record high of recorded in southern England on New Year's Eve to . During the late hours of January 2, the European Storm Forecast Experiment (ESTOFEX) issued a Level Two warning for southeast England, the Netherlands, north Belgium, north Germany and Denmark. Ulli was the costliest disaster in January 2012 globally. The damage from the storm in Glasgow was also compared to a storm in 1968. Ulli was one of many storms to affect Europe during the winter of 2011-2012. The storm clustering began in late-November when Xaver and Yoda hit the United Kingdom and Norway. In early to mid-December, Friedhelm, Hergen and Joachim hit northern Europe. Another storm, Patrick hit Scandinavia on Christmas Day. Ulli was followed by Andrea which formed the next day and struck northern Europe on 5 January. | 0neutral
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First Peloponnesian War. The First Peloponnesian War (460â445 BC) was fought between Sparta as the leaders of the Peloponnesian League and Sparta's other allies, most notably Thebes, and the Delian League led by Athens with support from Argos. This war consisted of a series of conflicts and minor wars, such as the Second Sacred War. There were several causes for the war including the building of the Athenian long walls, Megara's defection and the envy and concern felt by Sparta at the growth of the Athenian Empire. The First Peloponnesian War began in 460 BC with the Battle of Oenoe, where Spartan forces were defeated by those of Athenian-Argive alliance. At first the Athenians had the better of the fighting, winning the naval engagements using their superior fleet. They also had the better of the fighting on land, until 457 BC when the Spartans and their allies defeated the Athenian army at Tanagra. The Athenians, however, counterattacked and scored a crushing victory over the Boeotians at the Battle of Oenophyta and followed this victory up by conquering all of Boeotia except for Thebes. Athens further consolidated their position by making Aegina a member of the Delian League and by ravaging the Peloponnese. The Athenians were defeated in 454 BC by the Persians in Egypt which caused them to enter into a five years' truce with Sparta. However, the war flared up again in 448 BC with the start of the Second Sacred War. In 446 BC, Boeotia revolted and defeated the Athenians at Coronea and regained their independence. The First Peloponnesian War ended in an arrangement between Sparta and Athens, which was ratified by the Thirty Years' Peace (winter of 446â445 BC). According to the provisions of this peace treaty, both sides maintained the main parts of their empires. Athens continued its domination of the sea while Sparta dominated the land. Megara returned to the Peloponnesian League and Aegina became a tribute-paying but autonomous member of the Delian League. The war between the two leagues restarted in 431 BC, leading to the Second Peloponnesian War. It ended with a conclusive Spartan victory, where, in 404 BC, Athens was occupied by Sparta. | 1military conflict
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2009 Lahore police academy attacks. At 07:31 on 30 March 2009, the Manawan Police Academy in Lahore, Pakistan, was attacked by an estimated 12 gunmen. The perpetrators were armed with automatic weapons and grenades or rockets and some were dressed as policemen. They took over the main building during a morning parade when 750 unarmed police recruits were present on the compound's parade ground. Police forces arrived 90 minutes later and were able to take back the building by 15:30. Five trainees, two instructors and a passer-by were killed. A suspect was captured alive in a field near the school. Three of the attackers blew themselves up to avoid arrest while three others were taken into custody as they tried to escape in police uniforms. The four were taken to undisclosed locations for interrogation by the security forces according to local media. | 2civil conflict
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