BBC news dataset having data till Feb 2023. Crawl Feeds team used in-house tools to extract data from the BBC. This large dataset is ideal for NLP and machine learning.
Feb 2023
title, url, published_at, author, publisher, short_description, header_image, category, raw_description, description, uniq_id, scraped_at
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| title | url | published_at | author | publisher | short_description | header_image | category | raw_description | description | uniq_id | scraped_at | |
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| ExxonMobil fined by US for Ukraine sanctions violations | https://www.bbc.com/news/business-40673791 | 2017-07-20 | BBC News | The oil giant must pay $2m for engaging with Russia despite US sanctions on that country over Crimea. | https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/branded_news/D28E/production/_97020935_gettyimages-475619134.jpg | Business | <div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00"><b class="ssrcss-hmf8ql-BoldText e5tfeyi3">US authorities have fined Exxon Mobil $2m (£1.5m) for violating sanctions against Russia while Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was its chief executive.</b></p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">Exxon dealt with Igor Sechin, the president of Russian oil giant Rosneft, who was blacklisted, the US Treasury Department said.</p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">Exxon has challenged the finding, calling it "fundamentally unfair". </p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">The US imposed sanctions against Russia in March 2014 as Russia annexed Crimea and tension rose in Ukraine. </p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">In April 2014, the US added Mr Sechin to the list of people blocked under the rules.</p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00"><a class="ssrcss-k17ofw-InlineLink e1no5rhv0" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-18010123">Ukraine profile - Timeline</a></p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">Exxon signed eight legal documents with Mr Sechin in May 2014 and did not disclose the activities voluntarily, the Treasury Department said. It described it as an "egregious case". </p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">Exxon, citing administration statements, on Thursday said it believed the sanctions targeted Mr Sechin as an individual and not in his professional role at Rosneft. </p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">It said the Treasury Department had been reviewing the issue for several years.</p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">As head of Exxon, Mr Tillerson signed deals with Rosneft, leading Russia to award him the Order of Friendship in 2013. At Exxon, he spoke against sanctions.</p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">But Texas-based Exxon was forced to wind down drilling after sanctions were imposed.</p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">Mr Tillerson's ties to Russia prompted controversy when US President Donald Trump named him as his choice to lead the State Department. </p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">The US in April said it would not waive sanctions to allow Exxon to resume drilling in Russia.</p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">US sanctions exposed Exxon to up to $1bn in losses by the end of 2014, Exxon said.</p></div></div> | US authorities have fined Exxon Mobil $2m (£1.5m) for violating sanctions against Russia while Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was its chief executive.Exxon dealt with Igor Sechin, the president of Russian oil giant Rosneft, who was blacklisted, the US Treasury Department said.Exxon has challenged the finding, calling it "fundamentally unfair". The US imposed sanctions against Russia in March 2014 as Russia annexed Crimea and tension rose in Ukraine. In April 2014, the US added Mr Sechin to the list of people blocked under the rules.Ukraine profile - TimelineExxon signed eight legal documents with Mr Sechin in May 2014 and did not disclose the activities voluntarily, the Treasury Department said. It described it as an "egregious case". Exxon, citing administration statements, on Thursday said it believed the sanctions targeted Mr Sechin as an individual and not in his professional role at Rosneft. It said the Treasury Department had been reviewing the issue for several years.As head of Exxon, Mr Tillerson signed deals with Rosneft, leading Russia to award him the Order of Friendship in 2013. At Exxon, he spoke against sanctions.But Texas-based Exxon was forced to wind down drilling after sanctions were imposed.Mr Tillerson's ties to Russia prompted controversy when US President Donald Trump named him as his choice to lead the State Department. The US in April said it would not waive sanctions to allow Exxon to resume drilling in Russia.US sanctions exposed Exxon to up to $1bn in losses by the end of 2014, Exxon said. | cab55b95-19cd-598e-931e-b507000192db | 02/24/23 | ||
| Pussy Riot member on hunger strike moved to hospital | https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-22689940 | 2013-05-28 | BBC News | Maria Alyokhina, the jailed Pussy Riot member who went on hunger strike last week, is taken to hospital in her prison colony in the Urals town of Berezniki. | https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/branded_news/media/images/67750000/jpg/_67750000_67749999.jpg | Entertainment & Arts | <div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00"><b class="ssrcss-hmf8ql-BoldText e5tfeyi3">A member of the Russian punk band Pussy Riot who went on hunger strike in jail last week has been taken to hospital.</b></p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">Maria Alyokhina was moved to a hospital in her prison colony in the Urals town of Berezniki, the husband of one of her bandmates told the Associated Press.</p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">Alyokhina began her protest after being barred from attending a parole hearing.</p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">She and two other members of the Pussy Riot group were jailed after staging an anti-Vladimir Putin protest in a Moscow cathedral in February 2012.</p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">One, Yekaterina Samutsevich, had her sentence suspended on appeal last October. Another, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, was denied parole last month.</p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">In a letter published by her lawyers earlier this week, Alyokhina claimed prison officials were attempting to turn fellow inmates against her by holding a security crackdown in advance of the parole hearing.</p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">Alyokhina previously spent five months in solitary confinement after claiming that officials deliberately lodged her with hardened criminals and encouraged them to intimidate her.</p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">The Pussy Riot trio were jailed for two years last August after being convicted of a breach of public order motivated by religious hatred.</p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">The prosecution prompted worldwide condemnation, with Sir Paul McCartney among those calling for the band members to be freed.</p></div></div> | A member of the Russian punk band Pussy Riot who went on hunger strike in jail last week has been taken to hospital.Maria Alyokhina was moved to a hospital in her prison colony in the Urals town of Berezniki, the husband of one of her bandmates told the Associated Press.Alyokhina began her protest after being barred from attending a parole hearing.She and two other members of the Pussy Riot group were jailed after staging an anti-Vladimir Putin protest in a Moscow cathedral in February 2012.One, Yekaterina Samutsevich, had her sentence suspended on appeal last October. Another, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, was denied parole last month.In a letter published by her lawyers earlier this week, Alyokhina claimed prison officials were attempting to turn fellow inmates against her by holding a security crackdown in advance of the parole hearing.Alyokhina previously spent five months in solitary confinement after claiming that officials deliberately lodged her with hardened criminals and encouraged them to intimidate her.The Pussy Riot trio were jailed for two years last August after being convicted of a breach of public order motivated by religious hatred.The prosecution prompted worldwide condemnation, with Sir Paul McCartney among those calling for the band members to be freed. | b3d3101f-f85b-54e7-9a95-f8f5ec5bda87 | 02/24/23 | ||
| 'Seriously injured' takeaway attack victim sought | https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-hampshire-20780955 | 2012-12-19 | BBC News | A man who was assaulted, slammed into a window and thrown to the floor outside a Southampton takeaway shop is sought by police. | https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/branded_news/media/images/64849000/jpg/_64849829_64849827.jpg | Hampshire & Isle of Wight | <div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00"><b class="ssrcss-hmf8ql-BoldText e5tfeyi3">A man who was attacked, slammed into a shop window and thrown to the floor outside a takeaway restaurant is being sought by police.</b></p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">Southampton officers believe the man, thought to be in his 20s, was seriously injured in the assault in Bedford Place, which was caught on CCTV.</p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">It happened outside Caspian's takeaway at about 03:45 GMT on Sunday but he never reported it to police.</p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">Two men, aged 20 and 22, have been arrested on suspicion of assault.</p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">The 22-year-old was also arrested on suspicion of criminal damage and both have been released on bail.</p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">A second man was also assaulted outside the takeaway and suffered cuts, bruises and a dislocated shoulder.</p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">Police urged the other victim, or anyone who recognises him, to get in touch.</p></div></div> | A man who was attacked, slammed into a shop window and thrown to the floor outside a takeaway restaurant is being sought by police.Southampton officers believe the man, thought to be in his 20s, was seriously injured in the assault in Bedford Place, which was caught on CCTV.It happened outside Caspian's takeaway at about 03:45 GMT on Sunday but he never reported it to police.Two men, aged 20 and 22, have been arrested on suspicion of assault.The 22-year-old was also arrested on suspicion of criminal damage and both have been released on bail.A second man was also assaulted outside the takeaway and suffered cuts, bruises and a dislocated shoulder.Police urged the other victim, or anyone who recognises him, to get in touch. | 54a071b2-d8a9-58a7-8f01-22b98a0af2bf | 02/24/23 | ||
| Brough carer used 71-year-old as 'cashpoint' | https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-cumbria-48639886 | 2019-06-14 | BBC News | Laura Brunskill suggested the victim was a cannabis user when quizzed over financial irregularities. | https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/branded_news/11E7A/production/_107383337_brunskill.jpg | Cumbria | <div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00"><b class="ssrcss-hmf8ql-BoldText e5tfeyi3">A carer who stole thousands of pounds from the vulnerable pensioner she was employed to look after has been jailed. </b></p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">Laura Brunskill used the 71-year-old dementia sufferer as a "cashpoint", Carlisle Crown Court heard, taking a total of £3,440 from her account.</p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">The 23-year-old, of Lady Anne Drive, Brough, even suggested the victim had a cannabis habit when financial irregularities came to light.</p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">She later admitted four counts of theft, and was jailed for a year.</p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">The court was told concerns over irregularities in the "frugal and thrifty" woman's financial affairs led police to Brunskill.</p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">It emerged that the carer, who was later sacked, used the cash on luxuries including tickets for Peter Kay and Ed Sheeran concerts, and a Cape Verde holiday.</p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">Brunskill's lawyer, Brian Williams, said his client was remorseful for offences, committed between June and December 2017, and which were "completely and utterly baffling" and "out of character".</p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">Judge Andrew Jefferies QC said it was "remarkable breach of trust". </p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">He said: "Only immediate custody is appropriate in this case to punish you for what is a terribly mean offence."</p></div></div> | A carer who stole thousands of pounds from the vulnerable pensioner she was employed to look after has been jailed. Laura Brunskill used the 71-year-old dementia sufferer as a "cashpoint", Carlisle Crown Court heard, taking a total of £3,440 from her account.The 23-year-old, of Lady Anne Drive, Brough, even suggested the victim had a cannabis habit when financial irregularities came to light.She later admitted four counts of theft, and was jailed for a year.The court was told concerns over irregularities in the "frugal and thrifty" woman's financial affairs led police to Brunskill.It emerged that the carer, who was later sacked, used the cash on luxuries including tickets for Peter Kay and Ed Sheeran concerts, and a Cape Verde holiday.Brunskill's lawyer, Brian Williams, said his client was remorseful for offences, committed between June and December 2017, and which were "completely and utterly baffling" and "out of character".Judge Andrew Jefferies QC said it was "remarkable breach of trust". He said: "Only immediate custody is appropriate in this case to punish you for what is a terribly mean offence." | b09c82d3-7d4a-561e-9a19-5a2dd827e78e | 02/24/23 | ||
| World War Two: Pilot's daughter thanks man who found dog tag in Essex | https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-essex-53601954 | 2020-08-08 | By Charlie Jones | BBC News | The tag was found 40 years ago, but social media has now helped track down a late pilot's relative. | https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/branded_news/90D1/production/_113837073_0d9c3890-baf3-4681-978d-ae019db0c078.jpg | Essex | <div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00"><b class="ssrcss-hmf8ql-BoldText e5tfeyi3">The daughter of a US pilot whose World War Two dog tag was found at an airfield 40 years ago has thanked the man who discovered it.</b></p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">Mark Manning found Lt Col Eugene Timony's tag in Boxted, Essex in 1980.</p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">He posted about it on Facebook last month and a local history enthusiast tracked down the serviceman's daughter, Marissa Timony, in Texas.</p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">She said she was pleased people in the UK were interested in the wartime exploits of her late father.</p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">"Thank you for your support of keeping history alive," she wrote in an email to Mr Manning. </p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">Lt Col Timony, who was from Lakewood, Ohio, flew a P-47 aircraft, known as a Thunderbolt, and shot down two enemy planes while flying out of Boxted airfield, near Colchester. </p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">He survived the war, during which he flew in 76 missions, and went on to fight in Korea and Vietnam, before he died aged 69.</p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">Each serviceman was issued with two tags during the war. Mr Manning believes the tag may have been a duplicate held by the administration department on the airbase, which was built for the United States Air Force in 1943 and briefly used after the war by the RAF until it was closed in 1947.</p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">He said it felt like history had been brought to life by finding the pilot's daughter. </p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">"It's a very personal possession and totally unique. It has been really nice to learn more about him," he said.</p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">"These chaps were heroes, they are the great aerial warriors of the past and they deserve recognition."</p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">Mr Manning is hoping the tag can be displayed at Boxted Airfield Museum, which Ms Timony agreed would be a nice idea.</p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">He found several others dog tags at the same time, which he has kept in a box. </p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">He managed to reunite one of the other tags with its owner, Col Walker Mahurin, of the USAF, fifteen years ago.</p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">"I still have several others in the box and this has really encouraged me to have another look at them and work out who they belonged to," he said.</p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00"><i class="ssrcss-xbdn93-ItalicText e5tfeyi2">Find BBC News: East of England on </i><a class="ssrcss-k17ofw-InlineLink e1no5rhv0" href="https://www.facebook.com/bbcnewseast/">Facebook</a><i class="ssrcss-xbdn93-ItalicText e5tfeyi2">, </i><a class="ssrcss-k17ofw-InlineLink e1no5rhv0" href="https://www.instagram.com/bbceastofengland/">Instagram</a><i class="ssrcss-xbdn93-ItalicText e5tfeyi2"> and </i><a class="ssrcss-k17ofw-InlineLink e1no5rhv0" href="https://twitter.com/bbclookeast">Twitter</a><i class="ssrcss-xbdn93-ItalicText e5tfeyi2">. If you have a story suggestion email </i><a class="ssrcss-k17ofw-InlineLink e1no5rhv0" href="mailto:eastofenglandnews@bbc.co.uk">eastofenglandnews@bbc.co.uk</a></p></div></div> | The daughter of a US pilot whose World War Two dog tag was found at an airfield 40 years ago has thanked the man who discovered it.Mark Manning found Lt Col Eugene Timony's tag in Boxted, Essex in 1980.He posted about it on Facebook last month and a local history enthusiast tracked down the serviceman's daughter, Marissa Timony, in Texas.She said she was pleased people in the UK were interested in the wartime exploits of her late father."Thank you for your support of keeping history alive," she wrote in an email to Mr Manning. Lt Col Timony, who was from Lakewood, Ohio, flew a P-47 aircraft, known as a Thunderbolt, and shot down two enemy planes while flying out of Boxted airfield, near Colchester. He survived the war, during which he flew in 76 missions, and went on to fight in Korea and Vietnam, before he died aged 69.Each serviceman was issued with two tags during the war. Mr Manning believes the tag may have been a duplicate held by the administration department on the airbase, which was built for the United States Air Force in 1943 and briefly used after the war by the RAF until it was closed in 1947.He said it felt like history had been brought to life by finding the pilot's daughter. "It's a very personal possession and totally unique. It has been really nice to learn more about him," he said."These chaps were heroes, they are the great aerial warriors of the past and they deserve recognition."Mr Manning is hoping the tag can be displayed at Boxted Airfield Museum, which Ms Timony agreed would be a nice idea.He found several others dog tags at the same time, which he has kept in a box. He managed to reunite one of the other tags with its owner, Col Walker Mahurin, of the USAF, fifteen years ago."I still have several others in the box and this has really encouraged me to have another look at them and work out who they belonged to," he said.Find BBC News: East of England on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. If you have a story suggestion email eastofenglandnews@bbc.co.uk | 1112b19b-432e-5060-9ac7-9f8bee26f7aa | 02/24/23 | |
| Coronation Street to go live for 50th anniversary | https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-11164737 | 2010-09-02 | BBC News | Coronation Street is to broadcast a live episode as part of its 50th anniversary celebrations, soap bosses confirm. | https://static.files.bbci.co.uk/ws/simorgh-assets/public/news/images/metadata/poster-1024x576.png | Entertainment & Arts | <div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00"><b class="ssrcss-hmf8ql-BoldText e5tfeyi3">Coronation Street is to broadcast a live episode as part of its 50th anniversary celebrations, soap bosses have confirmed.</b></p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">The ITV1 series, which marks its half-century in December, will screen the special instalment later this year.</p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">A spokeswoman for the soap said: "Everyone is very excited, if not to say a little nervous."</p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">The soap previously screened a live episode for its 40th anniversary, which also featured the Prince of Wales.</p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">The spokesperson said they felt the live show was a fitting way to "celebrate such a prestigious anniversary."</p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">Producer Phil Collinson revealed earlier this year that key characters will be killed off in a tram crash which occurs in Weatherfield in December.</p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">It is not clear whether the disaster will occur during the live programme.</p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">Last month, a theatre show called Corrie! opened at The Lowry in Salford as part of the soap's 50th anniversary celebrations.</p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">In February, EastEnders also broadcast a live episode to mark its 25th anniversary.</p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">More than 16 million people tuned in to watch.</p></div></div> | Coronation Street is to broadcast a live episode as part of its 50th anniversary celebrations, soap bosses have confirmed.The ITV1 series, which marks its half-century in December, will screen the special instalment later this year.A spokeswoman for the soap said: "Everyone is very excited, if not to say a little nervous."The soap previously screened a live episode for its 40th anniversary, which also featured the Prince of Wales.The spokesperson said they felt the live show was a fitting way to "celebrate such a prestigious anniversary."Producer Phil Collinson revealed earlier this year that key characters will be killed off in a tram crash which occurs in Weatherfield in December.It is not clear whether the disaster will occur during the live programme.Last month, a theatre show called Corrie! opened at The Lowry in Salford as part of the soap's 50th anniversary celebrations.In February, EastEnders also broadcast a live episode to mark its 25th anniversary.More than 16 million people tuned in to watch. | 0fd79503-a889-55d8-a892-1ea04e1ccbb6 | 02/24/23 | ||
| Coronavirus: 'My three-week battle in three hospitals' | https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-52847838 | 2020-06-01 | By Will Leitch | BBC News | Jack McCullough self isolated for 10 days before he was admitted to hospital on Mother's Day. | https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/branded_news/FB77/production/_112557346_jackmccullough.jpg | Northern Ireland | <div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00"><b class="ssrcss-hmf8ql-BoldText e5tfeyi3">The clapping and whooping of three small boys surrounding their dad, who is in a wheelchair, has been viewed thousands of times on social media.</b></p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">Standing outside their home, they're supporting healthcare workers.</p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">Jack McCullough has reason to applaud with his sons.</p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">In the video he is wrapped up against the cold and looks weak. He's just spent three weeks in hospital recovering from Covid-19 in three different hospitals.</p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">It's taking much longer than he expected.</p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">Mr McCullough, from Dromore in County Down, works mostly at home in the IT industry.</p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">He's been posting his thanks to every medical team he knows took care of him in Craigavon, the Mater Hospital and the Nightingale Hospital at Belfast City .</p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">In another video, posted on the Southern Health Trust's facebook page, Jack recounted his experience from when he was admitted to hospital on Mother's Day.</p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">When I meet him, socially-distanced in his back garden almost six weeks later, he's still weak.</p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">"Even now I go for a short walk and I'm completely exhausted," he explained.</p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">"I did lose about two stone in hospital, unfortunately not as much off my stomach as I would have liked. </p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">"That was mostly muscle mass, so I need to start really trying to build all that up again." </p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">Mr McCullough started feeling ill in March and spent 10 days isolating in his home office, separate from his wife, mother-in-law, and three young sons. </p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">His condition worsened and when he had trouble breathing, was finally admitted to Craigavon hospital where the staff quickly moved him to ICU.</p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">"So I phoned my wife," he told me. </p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">"I said: 'I'm going to be unconscious in the morning. I'm being moved into ICU, put on a ventilator.'</p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">"And that was it. The next thing I knew that was just over two weeks later I woke up in the City Hospital in Belfast."</p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">It was after three weeks in hospital that he was finally discharged, although he remembers very little about it.</p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">Together in their garden, Mr McCullough and his wife Mary-Frances flick through the diary she kept during that time, noting all the developments, the letters she sent him, the setbacks and moments of hope.</p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">But when he got home at Easter, there was still the recovery.</p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">Doctors will tell you there is still a great deal to learn about Covid-19, not least the time it takes to recover from a bad case of it.</p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">Dr Michael McKenna, a GP in west Belfast, says a long recovery time is to be expected.</p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">"The normal phase for people with a viral illness who need ventilator support is two, three, possibly four days at tops," he says.</p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">"We're seeing these individuals needing 14, 15 up to 20 days on a ventilator and that itself is very incapacitating. </p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">"You become very quickly de-conditioned by your hospital stay and that takes an inordinate amount of time to recover from."</p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">In his garden, Jack McCullough told me how difficult the recovery was, even after he got home.</p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">"I had a bedroom downstairs," he said.</p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">"My mother was ill several years ago and I bought a second hand wheelchair just to help us get her around, so that was in the shed, so we got the wheelchair out. </p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">"Mary-Frances was wheeling me back and forth to the toilet, into the kitchen to get something to eat and it's only a few metres. It's not that far, but that's what we had to do."</p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">Dr McKenna said doctors cannot always tell who will recover the most quickly.</p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">"It's hard to know, because many of these people will previously be fit and well, so it's difficult to pick a group. It's likely that it is related to the impact that it has on your immune system."</p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">It is now summer time, but Jack McCullough admits he still is easily exhausted.</p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">He has been taking the time to try to process what happened to him, and how he learns from it.</p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">"At the time in ICU while I was unconscious, I have memories," he explained.</p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">"My memory was: 'I need to get home; I just need to get home.' </p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">"So being able to be home with my family and with my kids, even if we can't go out, even if I can't do the stuff that I would like to do, just being here, that is more precious than anything else, and I think that gives us a fresh perspective. </p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">"It certainly has given me that and our family that, a fresh perspective in, you know, what's really important in life."</p></div></div> | The clapping and whooping of three small boys surrounding their dad, who is in a wheelchair, has been viewed thousands of times on social media.Standing outside their home, they're supporting healthcare workers.Jack McCullough has reason to applaud with his sons.In the video he is wrapped up against the cold and looks weak. He's just spent three weeks in hospital recovering from Covid-19 in three different hospitals.It's taking much longer than he expected.Mr McCullough, from Dromore in County Down, works mostly at home in the IT industry.He's been posting his thanks to every medical team he knows took care of him in Craigavon, the Mater Hospital and the Nightingale Hospital at Belfast City .In another video, posted on the Southern Health Trust's facebook page, Jack recounted his experience from when he was admitted to hospital on Mother's Day.When I meet him, socially-distanced in his back garden almost six weeks later, he's still weak."Even now I go for a short walk and I'm completely exhausted," he explained."I did lose about two stone in hospital, unfortunately not as much off my stomach as I would have liked. "That was mostly muscle mass, so I need to start really trying to build all that up again." Mr McCullough started feeling ill in March and spent 10 days isolating in his home office, separate from his wife, mother-in-law, and three young sons. His condition worsened and when he had trouble breathing, was finally admitted to Craigavon hospital where the staff quickly moved him to ICU."So I phoned my wife," he told me. "I said: 'I'm going to be unconscious in the morning. I'm being moved into ICU, put on a ventilator.'"And that was it. The next thing I knew that was just over two weeks later I woke up in the City Hospital in Belfast."It was after three weeks in hospital that he was finally discharged, although he remembers very little about it.Together in their garden, Mr McCullough and his wife Mary-Frances flick through the diary she kept during that time, noting all the developments, the letters she sent him, the setbacks and moments of hope.But when he got home at Easter, there was still the recovery.Doctors will tell you there is still a great deal to learn about Covid-19, not least the time it takes to recover from a bad case of it.Dr Michael McKenna, a GP in west Belfast, says a long recovery time is to be expected."The normal phase for people with a viral illness who need ventilator support is two, three, possibly four days at tops," he says."We're seeing these individuals needing 14, 15 up to 20 days on a ventilator and that itself is very incapacitating. "You become very quickly de-conditioned by your hospital stay and that takes an inordinate amount of time to recover from."In his garden, Jack McCullough told me how difficult the recovery was, even after he got home."I had a bedroom downstairs," he said."My mother was ill several years ago and I bought a second hand wheelchair just to help us get her around, so that was in the shed, so we got the wheelchair out. "Mary-Frances was wheeling me back and forth to the toilet, into the kitchen to get something to eat and it's only a few metres. It's not that far, but that's what we had to do."Dr McKenna said doctors cannot always tell who will recover the most quickly."It's hard to know, because many of these people will previously be fit and well, so it's difficult to pick a group. It's likely that it is related to the impact that it has on your immune system."It is now summer time, but Jack McCullough admits he still is easily exhausted.He has been taking the time to try to process what happened to him, and how he learns from it."At the time in ICU while I was unconscious, I have memories," he explained."My memory was: 'I need to get home; I just need to get home.' "So being able to be home with my family and with my kids, even if we can't go out, even if I can't do the stuff that I would like to do, just being here, that is more precious than anything else, and I think that gives us a fresh perspective. "It certainly has given me that and our family that, a fresh perspective in, you know, what's really important in life." | 90bd0879-2e11-51a6-b6ae-ab52c6e0b14b | 02/24/23 | |
| Azerbaijan journalist Khadija Ismayilova jailed in Baku | https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-34116812 | 2015-09-01 | BBC News | Investigative reporter Khadija Ismayilova is sentenced to seven and a half years in jail by a court in Azerbaijan for embezzlement and tax evasion. | https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/branded_news/73B4/production/_85302692_khadija.jpg | Europe | <div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00"><b class="ssrcss-hmf8ql-BoldText e5tfeyi3">Leading Azerbaijan journalist Khadija Ismayilova has been sentenced to seven and a half years in jail for embezzlement and tax evasion.</b></p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">A renowned investigative reporter, she had focused on businesses and offshore bank accounts allegedly linked to the family of President Ilham Aliyev.</p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">Human rights organisations have complained that the trial was politically motivated.</p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">Two prominent activists were jailed last month on similar charges.</p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">Leyla Yunus and her husband Arif were given jail terms of eight and a half years and seven years, respectively. </p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00"><a class="ssrcss-k17ofw-InlineLink e1no5rhv0" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-34001405">Ismayilova: Giving Azerbaijan's government a headache</a></p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">The Azerbaijan government said at the time the couple's court process had been open and free and that judicial independence and the rule of law were "fully guaranteed".</p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">Responding to the latest verdict, Council of Europe Secretary General Thorbjorn Jagland linked the cases and spoke of a worrying trend against human rights activists and journalists. </p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">He said the developments had a "chilling effect on freedom of expression in the country".</p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">Human Rights Watch condemned the sentence as "outrageous".</p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">Amnesty International accused the government of stepping up "its brutal crackdown" on journalists, political and human rights activists - "indeed anyone who dares to publicly raise a critical voice".</p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">Although President Aliyev is accused of jailing opponents and clamping down on dissent, Azerbaijan has been openly courted by the West thanks to substantial gas reserves seen as a possible alternative to Russian supplies.</p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">Addressing the court on Monday, Ismayilova, 39, said it was not a coincidence that she had been charged with embezzlement and tax evasion as these were the crimes she had written and spoken about as a journalist.</p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">She was cleared of a separate charge of inciting a former colleague to suicide because, she said,<a class="ssrcss-k17ofw-InlineLink e1no5rhv0" href="http://www.azadliq.org/content/article/27218180.html"> she had refused to bow to government blackmail and had come out stronger</a>.</p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">Arrested in December last year, Ismayilova had become a recognised daily talk show presenter at Radio Azadliq, RFE/RL's Azeri service.</p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">In 2011, intimate pictures and a video emerged of her with her boyfriend which had been captured by a hidden camera. A letter with the pictures warned her to stop investigating alleged government corruption.</p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">Government officials and pro-government media outlets have accused her of being "pro-Armenian" or an "international agent".</p></div></div> | Leading Azerbaijan journalist Khadija Ismayilova has been sentenced to seven and a half years in jail for embezzlement and tax evasion.A renowned investigative reporter, she had focused on businesses and offshore bank accounts allegedly linked to the family of President Ilham Aliyev.Human rights organisations have complained that the trial was politically motivated.Two prominent activists were jailed last month on similar charges.Leyla Yunus and her husband Arif were given jail terms of eight and a half years and seven years, respectively. Ismayilova: Giving Azerbaijan's government a headacheThe Azerbaijan government said at the time the couple's court process had been open and free and that judicial independence and the rule of law were "fully guaranteed".Responding to the latest verdict, Council of Europe Secretary General Thorbjorn Jagland linked the cases and spoke of a worrying trend against human rights activists and journalists. He said the developments had a "chilling effect on freedom of expression in the country".Human Rights Watch condemned the sentence as "outrageous".Amnesty International accused the government of stepping up "its brutal crackdown" on journalists, political and human rights activists - "indeed anyone who dares to publicly raise a critical voice".Although President Aliyev is accused of jailing opponents and clamping down on dissent, Azerbaijan has been openly courted by the West thanks to substantial gas reserves seen as a possible alternative to Russian supplies.Addressing the court on Monday, Ismayilova, 39, said it was not a coincidence that she had been charged with embezzlement and tax evasion as these were the crimes she had written and spoken about as a journalist.She was cleared of a separate charge of inciting a former colleague to suicide because, she said, she had refused to bow to government blackmail and had come out stronger.Arrested in December last year, Ismayilova had become a recognised daily talk show presenter at Radio Azadliq, RFE/RL's Azeri service.In 2011, intimate pictures and a video emerged of her with her boyfriend which had been captured by a hidden camera. A letter with the pictures warned her to stop investigating alleged government corruption.Government officials and pro-government media outlets have accused her of being "pro-Armenian" or an "international agent". | c98d75f3-99de-5779-9c20-6c88c22eef72 | 02/24/23 | ||
| Bharti Singh: Indian comedian arrested after cannabis found in raid | https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-55027644 | 2020-11-21 | BBC News | Bharti Singh has been taken in for questioning after cannabis was found during a raid on her home. | https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/branded_news/147E3/production/_115593938_mediaitem115593934.jpg | India | <div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00"><b class="ssrcss-hmf8ql-BoldText e5tfeyi3">Indian comedian Bharti Singh has been arrested after cannabis was found during a raid on her home.</b></p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) said 86.5g (3oz) of the drug was found in the house she shares with husband, screenwriter Haarsh Limbachiyaa.</p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">The pair, who co-host the reality show India's Best Dancer, were taken in for questioning.</p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">The raid was part of an investigation into allegations of illegal drug use in the entertainment industry.</p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">The investigation emerged from a high-profile inquiry into the death of the actor Sushant Singh Rajput in June and has led to multiple raids on figures from the TV and film world. </p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">Rajput, 34, was found dead in his flat in Mumbai on 14 June. Police at the time said he had killed himself.</p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">"[Ms Singh] and her husband have been detained for questioning about possession of narcotics substances," Sameer Wankhede, one of the investigating officials, told the ANI news agency.</p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">The PTI news agency quoted an official stating that Ms Singh's name came up during an interview with a drug pusher. </p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">Upon leaving her home in Mumbai, Ms Singh told reporters: "They have called us for some questioning, that's all."</p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">Top Bollywood actors including Deepika Padukone, Rakulpreet Singh and Shraddha Kapoor have been questioned as part of the recent investigation. </p></div></div> | Indian comedian Bharti Singh has been arrested after cannabis was found during a raid on her home.The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) said 86.5g (3oz) of the drug was found in the house she shares with husband, screenwriter Haarsh Limbachiyaa.The pair, who co-host the reality show India's Best Dancer, were taken in for questioning.The raid was part of an investigation into allegations of illegal drug use in the entertainment industry.The investigation emerged from a high-profile inquiry into the death of the actor Sushant Singh Rajput in June and has led to multiple raids on figures from the TV and film world. Rajput, 34, was found dead in his flat in Mumbai on 14 June. Police at the time said he had killed himself."[Ms Singh] and her husband have been detained for questioning about possession of narcotics substances," Sameer Wankhede, one of the investigating officials, told the ANI news agency.The PTI news agency quoted an official stating that Ms Singh's name came up during an interview with a drug pusher. Upon leaving her home in Mumbai, Ms Singh told reporters: "They have called us for some questioning, that's all."Top Bollywood actors including Deepika Padukone, Rakulpreet Singh and Shraddha Kapoor have been questioned as part of the recent investigation. | 0f989524-21a2-5782-8b4f-4c0f6507df75 | 02/24/23 | ||
| Sepa spends nearly £800,000 on cyber attack response | https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-56612867 | 2021-04-02 | By Andrew Picken | BBC News | The environment watchdog had more than 4,000 of its digital files stolen and released on the internet by hackers. | https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/branded_news/12FB6/production/_99705777_15049520-3c66-4806-8606-b4b491c224cc.jpg | Scotland | <div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00"><b class="ssrcss-hmf8ql-BoldText e5tfeyi3">Scotland's environmental watchdog has spent nearly £800,000 on its response to a major cyber attack, new figures show. </b></p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) had <a class="ssrcss-k17ofw-InlineLink e1no5rhv0" href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-55443350">more than 4,000 of its digital files stolen by hackers</a> on Christmas Eve.</p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">The files were released on the internet when Sepa refused to pay a ransom.</p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">The public body has warned it could be next year before its systems have fully recovered from the attack. </p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">Figures released to BBC Scotland under freedom of information laws show a total of £790,000 has been spent on Sepa's response and recovery actions so far. </p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">This includes £458,000 on stabilising the watchdog's business IT platform.</p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">Sepa has restored the majority of its key services, such as flooding forecasting, but it is expected a full recovery from the attack will take up the remainder of 2021-22. </p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">Terry A'Hearn, Sepa's chief executive, said: "Whilst we initially lost access to our data and systems, what we didn't lose was the expertise of our 1,200 staff. </p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">"Since Christmas Eve, teams across the agency have been working flat-out to support our people, partners and customers and to restore our systems services as quickly as possible. </p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">"Our clear recovery strategy is gradually seeing systems being restored. By Easter, over 70% of staff will be back online and we're engaging data recovery specialists and are confident that we will recover the most important data."</p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">Sepa rejected a ransom demand for the attack, which was claimed by the international Conti ransomware group.</p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">Contracts, strategy documents and databases were among the 4,000 files released.</p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">The data has been put on the dark web - a part of the internet associated with criminality and only accessible through specialised software.</p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">Some of the information stolen was already publicly available but other files, including data about staff and suppliers, was not.</p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">Sepa told BBC Scotland a total of 54 people had been in touch to ask if their data was among the files stolen. This includes 27 current and former staff members. </p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">Police Scotland is investigating the crime and has previously indicated the likely involvement of international serious and organised crime.</p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">Det Insp Michael McCullagh said: "Police Scotland is continuing to work closely with Sepa to investigate and provide support in response to this incident.</p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">"The actions of the criminals behind this crime show a blatant disregard for public safety, evident in this sickening attack on an organisation like Sepa. This type of crime and its impacts can be significant.</p></div></div><div class="ssrcss-11r1m41-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0" data-component="text-block"><div class="ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1"><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">"I would urge caution in the viewing and downloading of any data published by cyber criminals. The likelihood of those files being infected and making you their next victim is high."</p></div></div> | Scotland's environmental watchdog has spent nearly £800,000 on its response to a major cyber attack, new figures show. The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) had more than 4,000 of its digital files stolen by hackers on Christmas Eve.The files were released on the internet when Sepa refused to pay a ransom.The public body has warned it could be next year before its systems have fully recovered from the attack. Figures released to BBC Scotland under freedom of information laws show a total of £790,000 has been spent on Sepa's response and recovery actions so far. This includes £458,000 on stabilising the watchdog's business IT platform.Sepa has restored the majority of its key services, such as flooding forecasting, but it is expected a full recovery from the attack will take up the remainder of 2021-22. Terry A'Hearn, Sepa's chief executive, said: "Whilst we initially lost access to our data and systems, what we didn't lose was the expertise of our 1,200 staff. "Since Christmas Eve, teams across the agency have been working flat-out to support our people, partners and customers and to restore our systems services as quickly as possible. "Our clear recovery strategy is gradually seeing systems being restored. By Easter, over 70% of staff will be back online and we're engaging data recovery specialists and are confident that we will recover the most important data."Sepa rejected a ransom demand for the attack, which was claimed by the international Conti ransomware group.Contracts, strategy documents and databases were among the 4,000 files released.The data has been put on the dark web - a part of the internet associated with criminality and only accessible through specialised software.Some of the information stolen was already publicly available but other files, including data about staff and suppliers, was not.Sepa told BBC Scotland a total of 54 people had been in touch to ask if their data was among the files stolen. This includes 27 current and former staff members. Police Scotland is investigating the crime and has previously indicated the likely involvement of international serious and organised crime.Det Insp Michael McCullagh said: "Police Scotland is continuing to work closely with Sepa to investigate and provide support in response to this incident."The actions of the criminals behind this crime show a blatant disregard for public safety, evident in this sickening attack on an organisation like Sepa. This type of crime and its impacts can be significant."I would urge caution in the viewing and downloading of any data published by cyber criminals. The likelihood of those files being infected and making you their next victim is high." | e6415aed-9d6d-59b1-8e87-8d47c659d51c | 02/24/23 |