Latest news with #Cribb
Yahoo
01-07-2025
- Yahoo
June 30, 2023: A day that will go down in history in Charlotte
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — The last day of June two years proved to be quite eventful in and around Charlotte. It was the weekend before Fourth of July, and people were preparing for holiday festivities. But that evening there was an awkward ending to a holiday tradition, the start of a months-long amusement park investigation and unusual livestock on the loose. The final day of the fiscal year went out with a bang. In one of the incidents, literally. Here's everything that went down: Deputies with the Iredell County Sheriff's Office were serving felony arrest warrants at a home east of Statesville. He was described as a violent habitual felon with an outstanding kidnapping charge out of Hickory. The sheriff's office says the deputies eventually found the suspect, Gregory Cribb, in the crawl space of the home on Bell Farm Road. Cribb allegedly pointed a semi-automatic rifle at the deputy, leading to the deputy shooting and killing Cribb, the sheriff's office explained. The weapon turned out to be an Airsoft rifle, which was apparently indistinguishable from an actual firearm. The Whitewater Center has been home to one of Charlotte largest July Fourth celebrations. There are two evenings of live music, trail races, numerous food vendors and fireworks – all with the outdoor center's unique backdrop. But with the event's popularity have come complaints from neighbors over noise and traffic; there are only two-lane roads until reaching Interstate 485 a mile and a half away. Initially, the permit to set off fireworks was pulled by Mecklenburg County, but only for the Fourth; they would still happen on July 3. Then later that night, the Whitewater Center announced that it wouldn't set them off on the Fourth either. The facility never gave an official explanation. Its Fourth of July celebration has continued since, still without fireworks. Outside of deer, there isn't much wildlife – or livestock — within the Charlotte city limits. Around 8 p.m. the night of June 30, Queen City News received a call that expanded on that notion. A man said that his Chinese water buffalo escaped from his east Charlotte home. In the days that followed, neighbors in the Ravenwood community observed – and documented– the 1,500-pound animals walking up and down the street. Some ended up at Albemarle Road Elementary School. The buffalo owner, George Joseph said they escaped through a fence. He was cited by police since the animals are prohibited within city limits. The buffalo were then euthanized. Just as Carowinds was entering its peak season, the amusement park had to shut down due to a major problem on its marquee ride. A week before, a park-goer observed a crack on the Fury 325 coaster. Their photo of the crack went viral late that night. In the week between, the ride still passed daily inspections executed by the park engineers. Fury has been recognized as North America's tallest, fastest and longest giga coaster. The support pillar was replaced in July with a new steel column, but another crack was found later that month. After a two more rounds of testing, Fury 325 reopened Aug. 10. An N.C. Department of Labor report released in March 2024, revealing the crack formed 'as the result of unidirectional bending fatigue.' Throughout and following the investigation, Fury continued to be named the Best Steel Coaster in the country. Based on what happened in the western part of the state that afternoon, we should've known some 'funny business' was in store. A private plane carrying comedian Gabriel Iglesias skidded off the runway at Western Carolina Regional Airport and ending up in a field. The 'Fluffy' comic was OK. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Express Tribune
12-06-2025
- Business
- Express Tribune
Pakistan secures $700m loan for Reko Diq project despite Indian opposition
Pakistan has already chalked out a $1.9 billion funding plan to execute the Reko Diq copper and gold mining project. Total project funding has been estimated at $4.297 billion. Photo: File Listen to article In a significant win for Pakistan, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the World Bank have approved a concessional loan of $700 million for the Reko Diq project, a major mining and resource development initiative. This approval, granted during a board meeting in Washington, is a significant diplomatic victory for Pakistan and a major setback for India, which had actively lobbied against the funding. As a result of this approval, the private sector is expected to invest $2.5 billion in the Reko Diq project, one of Pakistan's most important initiatives. Dr Tauqeer Hussain Shah, advisor to the prime minister, played a key role in this achievement. He spearheaded efforts at the World Bank, successfully lobbying for the loan. In April, the IFC had said that it will provide $300 million in debt financing for the Reko Diq copper-gold mining project. Also Read: IFC commits $300m loan to Reko Diq mining project Barrick Gold's copper and gold project intends to lock in upwards of $2 billion in financing from international lenders, with term sheets signed by early Q3, its project director for the mine told Reuters. The funding will support the development of the Reko Diq mine, one of the world's largest underdeveloped copper-gold deposits, which is hoped to generate $70 billion in free cash flow and $90 billion in operating cash flow. Barrick Gold and the federal and Balochistan governments own the project jointly. The financing for phase one of the project, which is expected to start production in 2028, is being discussed with multiple lenders. In an interview with Reuters at the Minerals Investment Forum 2025, Reko Diq's Project Director Tim Cribb said the mine was looking at $650 million from the IFC and International Development Association. Cribb added that the mine was also in talks with the US Export-Import Bank for $500 million-$1 billion in financing, as well as $500 million from development finance institutions, including the Asian Development Bank, Export Development Canada and Japan Bank for International Cooperation. "We expect to close the term sheet in either late Q2 or early Q3," said Cribb. He said railway financing talks were underway with the IFC and other lenders, with infrastructure costs estimated at $500-800 million, with roughly $350 million as the initial cost. A recent feasibility study has upgraded the project's scope, with phase one throughput increasing to 45m tonnes per annum from 40m, and phase two throughput rising to 90m tonnes per annum from 80m. The mine life has been revised from 42 years to 37 years due to the rising throughput, although the company believes unaccounted-for minerals could extend the life to 80 years. The cost of phase one has also been revised upwards to $5.6 billion from $4 billion. The World Bank plans to invest $2 billion annually in Pakistan's infrastructure over the next decade. This loan approval strengthens Pakistan's economic position and highlights its diplomatic efforts in securing vital investments for the nation's future. The backing of this large-scale project is particularly significant in light of regional geopolitical tensions, with India actively seeking to block the project's financing. With this decision, Pakistan has taken a crucial step forward in securing the success of the Reko Diq project, which is expected to play a pivotal role in the country's resource development sector.
NZ Herald
18-05-2025
- General
- NZ Herald
Whanganui River restoration project nears completion, more funding sought
More than 440,000 plants have been bedded out along the river, nearly 170km of fencing has been installed, 160ha has been treated for weeds and 512ha for pests. The project has employed 158 people throughout its duration - addressing DoC's jobs for nature goal in 2020 during Covid-19. Project manager Gordon Cribb said the project had been based around a relationship with the Whanganui River and guided by Tupua te Kawa - the value system that recognised the interdependence of the land and river. 'We've kept the project team small to efficiently bring together local suppliers and businesses with landowners to get the work done – 68 contractors and five nurseries have been connected to a wide range of landowners via 136 expressions of interest," Cribb said. Cribb, who has been involved with the project since 2022, said fencing stock out of wetlands and tributaries was a priority. 'It mitigates pollution by reducing the amount of sediment going into waterways, as well as supporting landowners to comply with the stock exclusion regulations,' he said. Many of the fenced areas have been planted with natives, with pest control in place to keep the survival rate high. 'The only way we're going to see an improvement in water quality, biodiversity and ecosystem health is through collective efforts across all landowner types. It's encouraging to see farmers, hapū, marae and community groups taking ownership of the restoration work.' With the funding set to be cut when the contract ends in September, Ngā Tāngata Tiaki is looking at other funding sources to continue the work. 'We are looking to gain other interested parties to move the project forward so it doesn't just stop,' Cribb said. 'It will be a shame for all this foundational work with contractors, landowners and our streamlined system to come to a halt because of funding.' The project has not reached its goal of planting 630,000 native plants but is on track to hit the 190km of fencing and pest control goal by September. Cribb said the experience had been a great opportunity to build relationships with landowners and contractors as well as create employment, which the project set out to do. 'The heart of the purpose is looking after Te Awa Tupua - it's given us the opportunity to be engaged with that,' he said. DoC senior biodiversity ranger Jane Taylor said the project had shown the power of true partnership. 'By working together with whānau, hapū, iwi and local communities, we're seeing real progress for the health and wellbeing of Te Awa Tupua,' Taylor said. 'These outcomes reflect what's possible when restoration is guided by the values of the river itself.'
Boston Globe
07-05-2025
- Boston Globe
Peter Lovesey, a master of British whodunits, dies at 88
Advertisement Bingo. He had his subject. Yet as his wife pointed out, 'The Go-as-You-Please Murders' didn't exactly captivate as a title. Then Mr. Lovesey recalled that the newspapers of the era called the races 'wobbles.' Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up 'There's your title,' she told him: ''Wobble to Death.'' The book, with its irresistible title, won the prize, and it was published to critical and popular acclaim in 1970. Lovesey would go on to write more than 40 mysteries, a quarter of them Victorian-era police procedurals. Over his half-century career, he won more mystery awards than there is space to list and proved to be a master practitioner of brainy whodunits in the classic English tradition, presiding over the genre's second golden age, along with peers like P.D. James and Ruth Rendell. Advertisement Mr. Lovesey died April 10 at his home in Shrewsbury, in western England. He was 88. His son, Phil, said the cause was pancreatic cancer. 'Wobble to Death' introduced the sharp and unflappable Sergeant Cribb and his stolid sidekick, Constable Thackeray. When the publisher handed Mr. Lovesey his winnings, he asked what the next book would be. Mr. Lovesey, stunned, hopped to it, and he was soon churning out one witty puzzler featuring Cribb and Thackeray every year. 'The Detective Wore Silk Drawers' (1971) involved bare-knuckle boxing, which was illegal in late-19th-century London. 'Abracadaver' (1972) was set in a music hall. In subsequent books, the pair investigated a series of bombings by Irish nationalists, a seaside murder, and another murder that began with a false confession. By 1975, the year 'A Case of Spirits,' Mr. Lovesey's sixth book, was published — it involved a séance and an art theft — he had quit his day job. When, in 1979, the books were adapted by British television as a series starring Alan Dobie as Sergeant Cribb, with many of the screenplays written by Mr. Lovesey and his wife, he decided he'd had enough. 'I was delighted by the casting of Alan Dobie as my detective, Sergeant Cribb, but in a strange way he inhabited the character so powerfully that when I came to think about further books all I could see was Alan's face,' he told an interviewer. 'I'd lost my original character somewhere in the process. Moreover, I used up my stock of settings to write the second series with Jax's help. The cupboard was bare.' Enter the hapless, hedonistic and amiable Prince Albert, the future King Edward VII and Mr. Lovesey's next hero. As depicted by Mr. Lovesey, he was an accidental amateur detective who blundered and blustered his way through three cases — and three popular books. Newgate Callendar, in his New York Times review of the first one, 'Bertie and the Tinman' (1988), which begins with the apparent suicide of Britain's most popular jockey, called it a 'delightful romp' with 'a strong dash of P.G. Wodehouse.' Advertisement A few years later, Mr. Lovesey turned to the present with 'The Last Detective' (1991), in which a short-tempered, overweight, and technology-averse superintendent named Peter Diamond investigates the murder of a former soap star in the city of Bath. There are historical touches — a side plot involves letters from Jane Austen — but mostly it's about Diamond's struggle with modernity, and his own brutish failings. 'I knew little about police procedure or forensic science,' Mr. Lovesey said last year. 'To hide my ignorance, I made Peter Diamond the last of a vanishing generation of Scotland Yard men who beat up suspects, disregarded the rules, and despised the men in white coats. He came to genteel Bath, created mayhem, and solved a difficult crime in his rough-and-ready way.' Twenty-one Peter Diamond mysteries followed, throughout which the irascible detective mellowed slightly while Mr. Lovesey entangled him in ever more inventive plots. The last, 'Against the Grain,' which involved a murder in a grain silo and Diamond's retirement, was published last year. Except for the grumpy part, Mr. Lovesey's son said, Superintendent Diamond was a stand-in for his creator, who was bitterly opposed to technology. Mr. Lovesey wrote in longhand for decades before briefly and reluctantly switching to an electric 'golf ball' Olivetti typewriter and then, finally, a word processor, which threw him entirely. During the pandemic, his son said, he mistakenly downloaded Zoom 25 times. Advertisement Peter Harmer Lovesey was born Sept. 10, 1936, in Whitton, Middlesex, now a suburb of London. He was one of three sons of Amy (Strank) Lovesey and Richard Lovesey, a bank clerk. Peter's life was upended in 1944, when his semidetached house was bombed by the Germans while he was at school. His younger brothers, who were at home, survived; all the members of the family who lived in the other half of the house were killed. For a time, the Loveseys were evacuated to a farm in southwest England. Peter graduated from the University of Reading in Essex, where he studied art, but switched to English after he met and fell in love with Jacqueline Lewis. They married in 1959. Mr. Lovesey did his national service with the Royal Air Force, which involved duties as, he said, 'a pilot officer who piloted nothing and a flying officer who didn't fly.' He then taught at various colleges and wrote his first book, 'The Kings of Distance' (1968), about five real-life distance runners. During the Cribb-to-Bertie period, Mr. Lovesey wrote a few contemporary novels, some under the pseudonym Peter Lear, including 'Goldengirl' (1977), about the exploitation of an Olympic track star, which was made into a 1979 film starring Susan Anton. 'The False Inspector Dew' (1982), set on the ocean liner Mauritania, imagines an alternate fate for Hawley Harvey Crippen, whose murder of his wife was a cause célèbre in 1910. 'On the Edge' (1989), written under his own name, was about two former members of the Women's Auxiliary Air Force during World War II who were aircraft 'plotters' — or air traffic controllers, crucial during the Battle of Britain — but were bored to tears once the war was over and hatched a plan to murder each other's repulsive husbands. Marilyn Stasio of the Times praised the book's 'joie de mort.' Advertisement In addition to his son, Mr. Lovesey is survived by his wife; a daughter, Kathy Hill; and five grandchildren. Mr. Lovesey was well known not just for his writing but for weaving excerpts from his fan mail into his speeches. He was particularly fond of this correspondence from a female reader: 'I have not written to thank you because I assumed you died many years ago,' she wrote. 'My husband says he thinks you may still be alive. We had quite an argument about it last night. I suppose it does not really matter, but we would be most grateful to have the question cleared up.' This article originally appeared in
New York Times
28-04-2025
- New York Times
Peter Lovesey, a Master of British Whodunits, Is Dead at 88
Peter Lovesey was working as a college lecturer in 1968 when he answered an ad in The Times of London offering a thousand pounds for the best crime novel written by a novice. The prize was more than his annual salary. He had already written a book about the history of distance runners, and his wife, Jacqueline, known as Jax, thought there might be something to mine there. Thus prodded, he remembered the peculiar and grueling Victorian contests known as 'go-as-you-please,' in which participants ran or walked around the same track, an eighth of a mile, for six days — those who finished would have clocked 600 miles — eating and catnapping when they could, and boosting their performance with stimulants like champagne, coca leaves and strychnine, a pick-me-up in small doses but, of course, a lethal poison in large quantities. Bingo. He had his subject. Yet as his wife pointed out, 'The Go-as-You-Please Murders' didn't exactly captivate as a title. Then Mr. Lovesey recalled that the newspapers of the era called the races 'wobbles.' 'There's your title,' she told him: ''Wobble to Death.'' The book, with its irresistible title, won the prize, and it was published to critical and popular acclaim in 1970. Mr. Lovesey would go on to write more than 40 mysteries, a quarter of them Victorian-era police procedurals. Over his half-century career, he won more mystery awards than there is space to list and proved to be a master practitioner of brainy whodunits in the classic English tradition, presiding over the genre's second golden age, along with peers like P.D. James and Ruth Rendell. Mr. Lovesey died on April 10 at his home in Shrewsbury, in western England. He was 88. His son, Phil, said the cause was pancreatic cancer. 'Wobble to Death' introduced the sharp and unflappable Sergeant Cribb and his stolid sidekick, Constable Thackeray. When the publisher handed Mr. Lovesey his winnings, he asked what the next book would be. Mr. Lovesey, stunned, hopped to it, and he was soon churning out one witty puzzler featuring Cribb and Thackeray every year. 'The Detective Wore Silk Drawers' (1971) involved bare-knuckle boxing, which was illegal in late-19th-century London. 'Abracadaver' (1972) was set in a music hall. In subsequent books, the pair investigated a series of bombings by Irish nationalists, a seaside murder and another murder that began with a false confession. By 1975, the year 'A Case of Spirits,' Mr. Lovesey's sixth book, was published — it involved a séance and an art theft — he had quit his day job. When, in 1979, the books were adapted by British television as a series starring Alan Dobie as Sergeant Cribb, with many of the screenplays written by Mr. Lovesey and his wife, he decided he'd had enough. 'I was delighted by the casting of Alan Dobie as my detective, Sergeant Cribb, but in a strange way he inhabited the character so powerfully that when I came to think about further books all I could see was Alan's face,' he told an interviewer. 'I'd lost my original character somewhere in the process. Moreover, I used up my stock of settings to write the second series with Jax's help. The cupboard was bare.' Enter the hapless, hedonistic and amiable Prince Albert, the future King Edward VII and Mr. Lovesey's next hero. As depicted by Mr. Lovesey, he was an accidental amateur detective who blundered and blustered his way through three cases — and three popular books. Newgate Callendar, in his New York Times review of the first one, 'Bertie and the Tinman' (1988), which begins with the apparent suicide of Britain's most popular jockey, called it a 'delightful romp' with 'a strong dash of P.G. Wodehouse.' A few years later, Mr. Lovesey turned to the present with 'The Last Detective' (1991), in which a short-tempered, overweight and technology-averse superintendent named Peter Diamond investigates the murder of a former soap star in the city of Bath. There are historical touches — a side plot involves letters from Jane Austen — but mostly it's about Diamond's struggle with modernity, and his own brutish failings. 'I knew little about police procedure or forensic science,' Mr. Lovesey said last year. 'To hide my ignorance, I made Peter Diamond the last of a vanishing generation of Scotland Yard men who beat up suspects, disregarded the rules and despised the men in white coats. He came to genteel Bath, created mayhem and solved a difficult crime in his rough-and-ready way.' Twenty-one Peter Diamond mysteries followed, throughout which the irascible detective mellowed slightly while Mr. Lovesey entangled him in ever more inventive plots. The last, 'Against the Grain,' which involved a murder in a grain silo and Diamond's retirement, was published last year. Except for the grumpy part, Mr. Lovesey's son said, Superintendent Diamond was a stand-in for his creator, who was bitterly opposed to technology. Mr. Lovesey wrote in longhand for decades before briefly and reluctantly switching to an electric 'golf ball' Olivetti typewriter and then, finally, a word processor, which threw him entirely. During the pandemic, his son said, he mistakenly downloaded Zoom 25 times. Peter Harmer Lovesey was born on Sept. 10, 1936, in Whitton, Middlesex, now a suburb of London. He was one of three sons of Amy (Strank) Lovesey and Richard Lovesey, a bank clerk. Peter's life was upended in 1944, when his semidetached house was bombed by the Germans while he was at school. His younger brothers, who were at home, survived; all the members of the family who lived in the other half of the house were killed. For a time, the Loveseys were evacuated to a farm in southwest England. Peter graduated from the University of Reading in Essex, where he studied art, but switched to English after he met and fell in love with Jacqueline Lewis. They married in 1959. Mr. Lovesey did his national service with the Royal Air Force, which involved duties as, he said, 'a pilot officer who piloted nothing and a flying officer who didn't fly.' He then taught at various colleges and wrote his first book, 'The Kings of Distance' (1968), about five real-life distance runners. During the Cribb-to-Bertie period, Mr. Lovesey wrote a few contemporary novels, some under the pseudonym Peter Lear, including 'Goldengirl' (1977), about the exploitation of an Olympic track star, which was made into a 1979 film starring Susan Anton. 'The False Inspector Dew' (1982), set on the ocean liner Mauritania, imagines an alternate fate for Hawley Harvey Crippen, whose murder of his wife was a cause célèbre in 1910. 'On the Edge' (1989), written under his own name, was about two former members of the Women's Auxiliary Air Force during World War II who were aircraft 'plotters' — or air traffic controllers, crucial during the Battle of Britain — but were bored to tears once the war was over and hatched a plan to murder each other's repulsive husbands. Marilyn Stasio of The Times praised the book's 'joie de mort.' In addition to his son, Mr. Lovesey is survived by his wife; a daughter, Kathy Hill; and five grandchildren. Mr. Lovesey was well known not just for his writing but for weaving excerpts from his fan mail into his speeches. He was particularly fond of this correspondence from a female reader: 'I have not written to thank you because I assumed you died many years ago,' she wrote. 'My husband says he thinks you may still be alive. We had quite an argument about it last night. I suppose it does not really matter, but we would be most grateful to have the question cleared up.'
