property and assets before announcing

Bill and Melinda Gates agreed how to divide their property and assets before announcing their divorce on Monday, US media report.

The billionaire couple, who have been married for 27 years, reportedly signed a separation contract outlining how their estate would be split.

But they did not sign a pre-nuptial agreement before their wedding in 1994.

The couple run the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which has spent billions on charitable causes around the world.

They have pledged to continue to work together at the foundation once their divorce is finalised.

Gates divorce puts spotlight on their foundation
Bill and Melinda Gates: A life in pictures
The Bill Gates ‘microchip’ claim fact-checked
Solving Covid easy compared with climate - Gates
Bill Gates, 65, is the fourth wealthiest person in the world, according to Forbes, and is worth $124bn (£89bn).

He made his money through the firm he co-founded in the 1970s, Microsoft, which is the world's biggest software company.

The couple's estate is believed to include multi-million dollar properties in Washington, Florida and Wyoming. Their main residence is a lakeside mansion in Medina, Washington that is reported to be worth at least $127m.

'Irretrievably broken'
The couple filed for divorce at a court in Seattle on Monday, according to documents obtained by a number of US media outlets and published by the TMZ website.

"This marriage is irretrievably broken," the petition for divorce states. "We ask the court to dissolve our marriage."

It says the couple's property, business interests and assets should be divided "as set forth in our separation contract". That contract, however, has not been made public.The pair have three adult children and spousal support is not needed, the documents state.

They have each hired three lawyers to represent them. The lawyers for Melinda, 56, include Robert Cohen who has previously worked for clients such as Ivana Trump, Michael Bloomberg and Chris Rock.

Bill, meanwhile, has hired three lawyers based in Los Angeles.

The pair announced their divorce in joint statements posted on Twitter on Monday, saying "we no longer believe we can grow together as a couple".

"After a great deal of thought and a lot of work on our relationship, we have made the decision to end our marriage," they said.

How did they get together?
Melinda joined Microsoft as a product manager in 1987, and the two sat together at a business dinner that year in New York.

They began dating, but as Bill later told a Netflix documentary: "We cared a lot for each other and there were only two possibilities: either, we were going to break up or we were going to get married."

Melinda said she found Bill writing a list on a whiteboard with the "pros and the cons of getting married".

They were married in 1994 on the Hawaiian island of Lanai, reportedly hiring all the local helicopters to stop unwanted guests flying over.

Bill stepped down from Microsoft's board last year to focus on his philanthropic activities.

The couples who split in the pandemic
What is the Gates Foundation?
The couple established the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in 2000 in Seattle
The foundation focuses primarily on public health, education and climate change
Its grants included some $1.75bn to vaccine initiatives and research during the Covid-19 pandemic
In 2019, the foundation had net assets of more than $43bn
Bill and Melinda Gates pumped more than $36bn into the foundation between 1994 and 2018

Read More : Mexico City metro: Fears structural failure behind deadly crash

Mexican authorities have promised a full investigation into the collapse of a metro overpass in Mexico City, as questions mount over the line's safety.

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said "nothing would be hidden" while the mayor said an external company would be involved in the inquiry.

The elevated track on Line 12 plummeted onto a road killing at least 23 people.

Concerns over possible structural failures have been raised since the line was inaugurated, in 2012.

There have been concerns about design problems and construction standards, as well as allegations of corruption.

'We heard a loud thunder and everything fell apart'
At a news conference, President López Obrador said the investigation, to be carried out by federal and Mexico City prosecutors, should be done quickly. "We cannot get into speculation, much less blame the possible perpetrators without having proof," he said.

The line was built when Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard, a close ally of the president, was mayor of the capital. Speaking alongside the president, Mr Ebrard said it was a "very sad day for everyone" and that he was ready to co-operate with the authorities in the investigation.

Current Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum also said it was too soon to say who was responsible for what happened. Earlier, she said it appeared a girder had given way on the overpass. The line will remain closed while a structural survey is carried out.CCTV footage showed the overpass collapsing as a train was travelling over it, sending up clouds of debris and sparks. The crash happened near the Olivos station, in the south-east of the city, on Monday night.

Fernando Espino, secretary-general of the union representing metro workers, said the incident was related to a construction problem.

"This is a structural failure... We don't know if it's related to the material with which this [section] was built. We need to see what happened," he said, according to El Universal newspaper.

Elevated parts of the line, including the collapsed overpass, had to be closed for multiple repairs in 2014. Residents also reported cracks in the structure after an earthquake in 2017, and transport authorities made repairs following the reports.

In 2017, the then director of the city's metro, Jorge Gaviño, said the line "was born with endemic problems that would never be solved in its life" and that it would require "permanent" maintenance.On Tuesday, cranes were deployed to stabilise and remove the two train carriages that remained hanging from the structure.

"We never had much faith in this metro [line]," 62-year-old Maria Concepcion, who heard the collapse from her house, told Reuters news agency.

CCICSA, one of the firms involved in the construction of the line, said in a statement to Reuters it was "going to wait for the official expert opinion". French train maker Alstom said it was willing to "co-operate with and to aid authorities responsible for investigations in any way necessary".

At least 79 people were injured, including one person who had been pulled out alive from a car underneath the wreckage. The mayor said the dead included children, but she did not give details.
 Learning Theory : 

https://connect.informs.org/communities/community-home/digestviewer/viewthread?MessageKey=618773e4-a499-4df1-80cf-b2a577c4b35b&CommunityKey=c97ccff0-0331-43c8-bb70-dd552f6181d3&tab=digestviewer#bm618773e4-a499-4df1-80cf-b2a577c4b35b
https://connect.informs.org/communities/community-home/digestviewer/viewthread?MessageKey=903ac28a-ab0f-47c8-9828-a4be2984247f&CommunityKey=c97ccff0-0331-43c8-bb70-dd552f6181d3&tab=digestviewer#bm903ac28a-ab0f-47c8-9828-a4be2984247f
https://connect.informs.org/communities/community-home/digestviewer/viewthread?MessageKey=8258ebd1-768b-4b85-8dd0-661e947e5cc3&CommunityKey=c97ccff0-0331-43c8-bb70-dd552f6181d3&tab=digestviewer#bm8258ebd1-768b-4b85-8dd0-661e947e5cc3