मंगलवार, 16 अप्रैल 2013

CNN Bostonians and others rush to support stranded visitors

Bostonians and others rush to support stranded visitors

hey're offering their spare rooms, their couches, their food, their cars -- even their own beds.

A huge wave of strangers is greeting the many visitors stranded by the Boston Marathon bombings with a massive outpouring of support.
"We figure this is the least we can do," said Heather Carey, who offered a couch at the home near Boston University she shares with roommates. "I saw a website with many others offering their spaces like we did. It is awesome to see so many people helping."
The twin blasts Monday that left three dead and more than 140 wounded also left countless people without shelter. Investigators turned the heart of Boston into a crime scene, evacuating several hotels. This left dozens of visitors, some of them international runners unfamiliar with the area, stranded.
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By Monday evening, pleas were posted on several websites.
"Me and my friends lost our phone after the explosion," a woman posted on Reddit. "We are visiting from Korea so our English be not very good. My friend is in the hospital now and they say we can not stay over night in hospital."
Another woman posted: "I have no where to go."
Quickly, the online cries for help were answered. Websites were flooded with Bostonians offering aid. Even though it was unclear how many people were helped, by early Tuesday morning a Facebook page set up for victims listed more than 100 people offering rooms and rides.
Sandeep Karnik pledged his one-bedroom condo near Fenway Park, saying someone could sleep in his bed.
"I can sleep on the couch," said Karnik, 37. "This is unfathomable, terrible. If there is somebody in need, I can take them in."
Karnik said he ran the marathon in 2009 for charity despite a knee injury and being slightly out of shape. He said he would have never finished the race without the support of strangers cheering him on and giving him water.
"It is my turn to give back," he said.
Steve Trotto offered two guest rooms in his home about 45 minutes away from downtown. He said he was proud of the response from people in the New England area.
And it's not only people in the area who were moved to action.
David Semick of Northern California was also offering support early Tuesday morning.
"Clearly I'm way out of the Boston area," Semick said. "But maybe there is a relative that lives over here that needs something. I am here to help. I am 3,000 miles away, and I was so touched by this. So many of us want to help anyway we can."

 

BBC

BBC
LONDON—The British Broadcasting Corp. appointed James Harding, the former editor of the Times of London newspaper, as director of news and current affairs, replacing Helen Boaden who stepped aside last year in the wake of a probe into the BBC's handling of a report on the late TV host Jimmy Savile.
Mr. Harding resigned from the Times in December, saying it was made clear to him that News Corp NWSA +0.56% ., the paper's parent company, wanted a new editor. News Corp. owns Dow Jones & Co., publisher of The Wall Street Journal.
Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
James Harding, former editor of the Times of London, seen here in the British capital on Jan. 17, 2012.

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New BBC Director-General Tony Hall, who took up his role April 2, said Mr. Harding's "very impressive track record as a journalist, editor and manager" will help give BBC News "a renewed sense of purpose as it moves away from what has been an undeniably difficult chapter."
"As an organization, the BBC will also benefit from his external perspective and experience which he will share as a member of the BBC's executive team," Mr. Hall said.
Mr. Harding, who was appointed editor of the Times in 2007 at the age of 38, said he was "honored" to join the broadcaster. The BBC newsroom, he said, "strives to be the best in the world, trusted for its accuracy, respected for its fairness and admired for the courage of its reporting."
Mr. Harding, who was also previously Washington bureau chief of the Financial Times, will start in his new role in August and will receive a total package of £340,000 ($520,000), according to the BBC. He couldn't immediately be reached for comment.
The BBC also said Ms. Boaden has taken up a role as director of BBC Radio.
She had to step aside for a period from November last year while an independent panel reviewed the BBC's management of the Savile affair. The probe centered on the BBC's spiking of an investigation by its Newsnight public-affairs program into allegations of child sexual abuse against the now-deceased Jimmy Savile. It concluded that the cancellation of the investigation was "seriously flawed" but not made "for any improper reason" or because of managerial pressure, clearing the BBC of allegations of a coverup,
Ms. Boaden returned to her job late last year and moved to radio in February. She wasn't immediately available for comment Tuesday.

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