New York City, New York
The United Nations has approved a resolution declaring Russia’s annexation of Crimea illegal. The General Assembly vote stood at 100 in favor, 11 opposed, and 58 abstaining. The resolution asks nations not to recognize any change in the status of Crimea and declares the referendum on the territory to have no validity.
Only the following nations voted “no” in addition to Russia: Armenia, Belarus, Bolivia, Cuba, North Korea, Nicaragua, Sudan, Syria, Venezuela and Zimbabwe. Samantha Power, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, succinctly stated the sentiments of many on the day of the vote: “We make very clear that borders are not mere suggestions.”
Paris, France
There is a Spider-Man after all, but he does not go by “Peter Parker.” Frenchman Alain Robert, a climber with already quite the reputation for scaling buildings, went to the Ariane Tower in Paris’ financial district to show off his skills, climbing approximately 500 feet in 45 minutes with no harness.
Shortly thereafter, the urban climber was arrested and eventually released without being charged. The 51-year-old has previously scaled the Eiffel Tower, the New York Times building, the Sydney Opera House, the Golden Gate Bridge, and the Willis Tower in Chicago, just to name a few.
Tokyo, Japan
Iwao Hakamada was released on March 27 after being imprisoned on death row for over fifty years. Hakamada, a former boxer, was jailed in his 30’s after being convicted of mass murder. He had been attempting to extinguish a fire in the house of one of his bosses when he discovered the bodies of his boss, the boss’s wife, and two children stabbed to death.
He was arrested in 1966 and by 2011, on his 75th birthday, he broke the Guinness world record for longest duration on death row. Much of the evidence against the accused was found to be discredited and many of those involved in the trial expressed their regret for not voicing their doubts about certain aspects of the case when it was first opened.
Brasilia, Brazil
A commercial aircraft was forced to make an emergency landing in Brazil without front landing gear. Avianca airlines landed at the airport in Brasilia, the fourth largest airport in the country, by means of a belly landing when the front landing gear failed to deploy due to a hydraulic error.
None of the 49 passengers and five crew were injured. The Fokker 100 jet is one of just over one hundred left in commercial service and has a history of problems in Brazil, possibly due to lack of proper maintenance. It was the largest model ever produced by the company before they went into bankruptcy, shutting down production in 1996.
Be First to Comment