All posts tagged: swept

‘All eyes on Rafah’: how AI-generated image swept across social media | Israel-Gaza war

‘All eyes on Rafah’: how AI-generated image swept across social media | Israel-Gaza war

Published by skeptic

An image depicting refugee tents spelling out the phrase “all eyes on Rafah” has become one of the most-shared pieces of content relating to the Israel-Gaza war, spreading rapidly on social media this week. The graphic, which was generated using artificial intelligence, had been shared on Instagram more than 45m times by Wednesday. The image and reactions to it have also gained traction outside Instagram. On TikTok, one creator’s video commenting on the image amassed 10m plays within 24 hours of being posted. After the image was shared on a pro-Palestinian account on X on Monday, the post gained 8m views and 188,000 retweets within days. With tens of millions of shares via Instagram stories in less than 48 hours, and subsequent shares on X, Facebook and TikTok, this AI-generated image of tents reading “All Eyes on Rafah” has now become the most viral AI-generated image I’ve ever seen. pic.twitter.com/La8mUNBlF7 — Shayan Sardarizadeh (@Shayan86) May 29, 2024 Although “all eyes on Rafah” has floated around as a pro-Palestinian slogan for months, the surge in posts …

Hazel Nairn: Remains found in search for woman swept into River Don in 2022 | UK News

Hazel Nairn: Remains found in search for woman swept into River Don in 2022 | UK News

Published by skeptic

Remains have been found in the search for a missing woman who was swept away in flooding a year and a half ago. Hazel Nairn, 71, was last seen in the water in the River Don, near Monymusk in Aberdeenshire, while out with her dog on 18 November 2022 during heavy rain. Police recovered the pet’s body near to the river a few days later. Following Ms Nairn’s disappearance, then first minister Nicola Sturgeon said her thoughts were with the pensioner’s family and friends. Follow Sky News on WhatsApp Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News Tap here In an update on Tuesday, Police Scotland said the remains of a woman had been recovered from the River Don near Kemnay at around 1.20pm. Formal identification is yet to take place, but Ms Nairn’s family have been informed. Read more from Sky News:John Swinney sworn in as Scotland’s first ministerBody of missing Scot found in Prague river after search A force spokesperson said: “The death …

Child dies after being swept away in floodwaters; storms move away from Texas

Child dies after being swept away in floodwaters; storms move away from Texas

Published by skeptic

HOUSTON — Storms in Texas brought additional rain Sunday to the already saturated Houston area where hundreds of people have been rescued from flooded homes and roads, while to the north in the Fort Worth area, a child died after being swept away when the car he was traveling in got stuck in floodwaters. Over the last week, areas near Lake Livingston, located northeast of Houston, have gotten upwards of 23 inches of rain, National Weather Service meteorologist Jimmy Fowler said Sunday afternoon. Meanwhile, he said, areas in northeastern Harris County, the nation’s third-largest county that includes Houston, had a range of 6 inches to almost 17 inches of rain in that same period. Scattered showers in the Houston area on Sunday brought light to moderate rainfall, he said. “With the rainfall that fell overnight plus this morning it just kind of prolonged the river flooding that we were experiencing,” Fowler said. He said the rain would taper off in the evening, with no heavy rain events expected in the next week or so. Child dies in floodwaters In Johnson …

The life and death of Rosa Reichel: the brilliant girl who was swept away | Flooding

The life and death of Rosa Reichel: the brilliant girl who was swept away | Flooding

Published by skeptic

It was not a river. It was scarcely a stream. The Ruisseau des Quartes, Marcourt, Belgium. An unlovely and unremarkable tributary of the Ourthe, itself a tributary of the mighty Meuse, which thunders from France through Belgium and the Netherlands and on to the chilly oblivion of the North Sea. It was barely 2 metres wide, boggy in places, just 5cm deep in others. The parents dropping off their children at the United World Colleges summer camp on 10 July 2021 hopped over it as they lugged bags to the dormitories. Fourteen-year-old Benjamin Van Bunderen Robberechts was nervous on the drive down. He would have to take a Covid test on arrival and he worried it would be positive. Belgium was beginning to relax restrictions and Benjamin was desperate to socialise with other teenagers. But the test was negative; soon, Benjamin was dropping off his things in his dorm and meeting his other campmates. And there was Rosa. Rosa Reichel was 15, from Denmark and Germany by way of New York, but her family lived in …

Storm Ingunn, one of Norway’s strongest in decades, swept up record winds

Storm Ingunn, one of Norway’s strongest in decades, swept up record winds

Published by skeptic

The latest in a string of storms impacting western and northern Europe this winter rapidly intensified into a bomb cyclone as it swarmed Norway this week, strengthening into one of the strongest storms to hit the country in 30 years. Storm Ingunn, named by the Norwegian Meteorological Institute, intensified by around 35 millibars over 24 hours as it passed the Faroe Islands, several hundred miles north of Scotland, while racing in the direction of Scandinavia. Already a strong storm before the process, it easily made bomb cyclone status, which requires about 24 millibars of intensification over the course of a day. “Ingunn is one of the strongest storms to hit Norway in 30 years,” wrote Copernicus EU, a wing of the E.U. Space Program, in its wake Thursday. Tens of thousands were left without power in Norway, according to local media. Train, air and road travel has also been disrupted across the region. The longest delays and most flight cancellations over recent days were in airports across Europe, including Oslo and Helsinki. The central pressure …

Bill O’Reilly’s own books swept up in book ban he supported

Bill O’Reilly’s own books swept up in book ban he supported

Published by skeptic

Former Fox News host Bill O’Reilly has found himself a living example of the “golden rule,” angered to learn that a select number of his book titles are being banned after staunchly supporting such treatment towards other author’s works. Having spoken in favor of Ron DeSantis’ book ban laws in Florida, O’Reilly is incensed now that the Florida Freedom to Read Project saw his name on a list of over 1,000 book titles that were to be temporarily removed from the Escambia County School District and made the fair call to treat him as he would have treated others.  In response to his books “Killing Jesus: A History” and “Killing Reagan: The Violent Assault That Changed a Presidency” being effectively banned, O’Reilly told Newsweek on Friday, “It’s absurd. Preposterous,” adding that he’ll “find out exactly who made the decisions” and blast them on his various outlets. “I’m going to ask them for a detailed explanation of why they did that,” he says. According to a spokesperson for the school district, O’Reilly’s books aren’t permanently banned but are under review “to ensure compliance.” That …

Three men who died when 4×4 swept away in Yorkshire river named by police | Yorkshire

Three men who died when 4×4 swept away in Yorkshire river named by police | Yorkshire

Published by skeptic

Three men who died when their 4×4 vehicle was swept away at a river crossing in Yorkshire have been named by police. Scott Thomas Daddy, 28, from Hull, Leslie Forbes, 70, from the East Yorkshire area, and Kenneth Patrick Hibbins, 59, known as Patrick, from York, were found dead inside the vehicle after it became submerged in the River Esk near Glaisdale shortly before midday on Thursday. Chris Ford, who lives nearby, told the PA news agency the men were part of an off-roading group when they attempted to cross a ford on Rake Lane. The river, swollen by heavy rain, swept them away and carried them about 400 yards downstream, he said, where he later found the car fully submerged in water. Police were at the scene on Friday where the 4×4 was removed by four other vehicles – including two tractors – using tethers. Daddy’s family said in a statement he had a “bright future” but was “taken suddenly doing something he enjoyed”. They described him as a “loving son, brother, uncle, and …

Three men who died after their 4×4 was ‘swept away’ by river are named | UK News

Three men who died after their 4×4 was ‘swept away’ by river are named | UK News

Published by skeptic

Three men who died after their 4×4 was “swept away” as it tried to cross a river have been named by police. Scott Thomas Daddy, from Hull; Leslie Forbes, from the East Yorkshire area; and Kenneth Patrick Hibbins, known as Patrick, from York, died on the North York Moors on Thursday. Tributes from their friends and family were shared by North Yorkshire Police in an update on Friday. Passionate Hull FC supporter Scott, 28, was “a loving son, brother, uncle and boyfriend”, the statement said. “He had a big future ahead of him. He will always be missed by his loving family.” Image: Leslie Forbes. Pic: North Yorkshire Police Image: Kenneth Patrick Hibbins, known as Patrick. Pic: North Yorkshire Police Leslie, 70, was “a loving husband, father and grandfather, who will be sadly missed by his family and friends”. Patrick, 59, “will be sadly missed by all his close friends and work colleagues”. This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly. Please refresh the page for the fullest version. You …

‘This will not be swept away’: the bamboo homes helping Pakistan’s post-flood rebuild | Environmental sustainability

Published by Sam

A year ago, Shani Dana’s mudbrick house was swept away in the worst floods on record to hit Pakistan. More than 1,700 people were killed and 900,000 homes damaged or destroyed. Sindh province, where Dana lives, was the worst affected. While waiting for government money to rebuild her home in Wasram village, in the Tando Allahyar district, word reached Dana that the Heritage Foundation of Pakistan (HFP), founded by a renowned architect, Yasmeen Lari, was building one-room homes in neighbouring Pono village. The buildings “looked like rounded chauhras [traditional huts], but were octagonal in shape and the walls were much sturdier,” says Dana. The foundation agreed to help Wasram rebuild and in March the HFP team joined villagers to construct 50 new homes. Prefabricated bamboo frames were built on metre-high raised platforms. Walls made of bamboo canes were fixed and plastered with mud mixed with rice husk and lime, and radial-style conical roofs were fitted. Four solar panels, six water handpumps and 25 toilets were also built. “This will not be swept away if the …

Nebraska firefighters rescue two men swept a mile into a sewer | Nebraska

Published by Sam

Firefighters rescued two men who fell into a manhole during heavy rain in downtown Omaha on Friday, including one who was washed about a mile (1.6km) through sewer pipes before getting trapped behind a metal grate. The men, who were workers for a private contractor, Ace Pipe Cleaning, were swept into a manhole near the Old Market just after 9am, the Omaha World-Herald quoted Lt Neal Bonacci of the Omaha police department as saying. One of the men, who was tethered to a safety system, was quickly pulled out. A large-scale rescue effort ensued for the other, who was apparently not tethered. He was found around 10.20am. The 41-year-old man had extricated himself from the water, but was found behind a metal grate covering a culvert. An Omaha fire department crew cut the grate to free him, Jason Bradley, the assistant fire chief, told the newspaper. He was taken to the Nebraska Medical Center. His name and condition were not immediately released. Rescuers thought his clothes could have caught on something in the pipes, Bradley …