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Stolen passenger plane crashes

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An airline employee who stole an empty passenger plane from Seattle airport has crashed on a nearby island, BBC reports.

Authorities said the man had made “an unauthorised take-off” late on Friday local time, forcing Seattle-Tacoma International Airport to close.

Two F15 fighter jets pursued the plane, which crashed in Puget Sound. The man is not believed to have survived.

The local sheriff’s office said it was “not a terrorist incident”, adding that the man was local and aged 29.

Pierce County Sheriff Paul Pastor later told reporters it appeared to be “a joyride gone terribly wrong”, according to ABC7 News, adding “most terrorists don’t do loops over the water”.

Read Also: Swedish 17th century funeral regalia stolen

Ben Schaechter was on a plane which was apparently taxiing down the runway as the stolen plane took off.

“Okay this insane,” he tweeted. “A pilot on the plane in front of us just went rogue and took off on an empty plane bypassing orders from the tower. The tower ordered a full stop and they’re trying to communicate with that pilot. Whaaaaaat!”

The North American Aerospace Defense Command (Norad) issued a statement on Saturday morning saying that the two F15s were launched from Portland to intercept.

Norad said the F15s were “working to redirect the aircraft out over the Pacific Ocean when it crashed on the southern tip of Ketron island”, about 30 miles (48km) south of the airport.

“Norad fighters did not fire upon the aircraft,” it said.

Sheriff Pastor told KIRO7 news station in Seattle the man had most likely been killed in the crash.

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Musings From Abroad

US CDC issues second-highest Marburg travel advisory for Rwanda

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As a result of the Marburg disease epidemic in Rwanda, the United States government has announced that its agency will be issuing its second-highest level of travel advisory, advising citizens to avoid unnecessary travel. Rwanda is located in East Africa.

According to the US Department of Health and Human Services, the CDC will begin screening visitors who have visited Rwanda within the last 21 days before they enter the country.

The organisation advised travellers to Rwanda to take extra care when they visited the nation last week when it released its “level 2” travel advisory.

Since the first epidemic of the Ebola-like illness in Rwanda was discovered in late September, 46 cases and 12 fatalities have been documented. The death rate in Marburg might reach 88%.

Fruit bats carry the virus, which subsequently spreads to people who come into touch with the bodily fluids of infected people.

Rwanda has started to distribute vaccination doses against the virus, giving priority to those who are most at risk, healthcare staff who are most exposed, and those who have close contact with confirmed cases.

The first known outbreak of viral hemorrhagic fever in Rwanda was discovered in late September; to yet, 36 cases and 11 fatalities have been reported. The death rate in Marburg might reach 88%.

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Musings From Abroad

US ‘conflict minerals by disclosure rule’ has not lessened Congo bloodshed, monitor claims

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In a study released on Monday, a United States congressional watchdog stated that it had not discovered any proof that the conflict minerals disclosure rule implemented by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in 2012 had lessened bloodshed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

 

According to a U.S. Government Accountability Office study, armed factions are still engaged in conflict over control of gold mines located in the country’s east.

 

It said that the regulation, which mandates that certain businesses disclose how they utilise gold, tungsten, tantalum, and tin, has probably had little impact on the bordering nations.

 

 

“GAO found no empirical evidence that the rule has decreased the occurrence or level of violence in the eastern DRC, where many mines and armed groups are located,” the report said.

 

 

“GAO also found the rule was associated with a spread of violence, particularly around informal, small-scale gold mining sites,” it said, adding that gold is the most difficult to trace, and easiest to smuggle, of the four minerals covered by the rule.

 

The top producer of tantalum in the world is Congo; both the US and the EU view it as a vital material.

 

The report further stated that “the SEC disagreed with some of GAO’s findings and raised concerns about some of its methodology and analyses.” According to the GAO, some of its modifications had no appreciable impact on its conclusions.

 

 

“As the agency noted in comments shared with GAO, SEC staff has serious concerns about the report, including that it makes assertions and reaches conclusions that rest on several erroneous factual assumptions, draws causal inferences that are not supported by GAO’s statistical analyses, and deviates significantly from the GAO’s previously issued reports,” the SEC said.

 

 

“GAO had not shared its final report with the SEC until today, so staff is reviewing it to determine if and how GAO addressed the SEC’s concerns,” it added.

Last year, GAO said that some U.S. companies buying minerals from Congo and its neighbours were failing to meet disclosure requirements.

 

The UN Security Council was informed on September 30 by Bintou Keita, the head of the U.N. mission in Congo, that M23 rebels in the east are making $300,000 a month in a zone they have taken over for coltan mining.

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