Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Also try the 2008 World News Quiz of the year.
What would you tell your grandchildren about 2008 if they asked you about it in, let’s say, 20 years’ time? If the answer to a quiz question was 2008, what would the question be? The year that markets collapsed, or perhaps the year that Obama became US president? Or the year Heath Ledger died?
Let’s take a look at some of the important stories of 2008. Links to the original Wikinews articles are in all the titles.
Thursday, August 25, 2005
The 30A network has said that it wants to create a carnival atmosphere while protesting at the Forbes Global CEO conference. The protest, which starts on August 30, is expected to attract up to 2,000 protesters. Similar events in the past often had instances of violent confrontations between police and some of the activists. The 30A network is a loose affiliation of groups and individuals co-ordinating the protest.
30A spokesman Bruce Knobloch, of the International Socialist Organisation, made the call for a peaceful protest in a press release last week.
“We want a safe community action showing that people in Sydney oppose Howard¹s plan for a US-style wages system, the war in Iraq and his kow-towing to global corporate chiefs. We pose no threat to the Opera House or the millionaire delegates, or to other users of east Circular Quay,” Mr Knobloch said.
The conference will be held at the Sydney Opera House. The Forbes website says that at the event “senior figures from the world’s leading companies and institutions will discuss the best ways to nurture and capitalize on innovation and reveal the latest global trends.” It was recently announced that George Bush Sr will be attending the conference, along with former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani, Prime Minister John Howard, and former NSW Premier Bob Carr.
Mr Knobloch described the attendees as “a few hundred neo-conservative corporate chiefs”.
The protesters have been denied access to the Opera House forecourt for the duration of the conference. Mr Knobloch believes that this decision is unjustified. He also accused the police of deliberately creating the conditions for confrontation.
“The police seem intent on creating chaos and confrontation, which is the last thing we need. We’ve urged police to build a barrier in front of the Opera House proper and to allow us to use the public space in the forecourt. By pushing us out into the CBD the police are going to create problems for commuters and business owners,” he said.
30A protestors this week organised a media conference outside Surry Hills Police Station, requesting a meeting to negotiate an agreement. According to an article on Sydney Indymedia, police at the station were unable to discuss the issue, but told 30a representatives that they would be contacted to organise a meeting.
“Minimising the protesters right to peacefully rally dramatically increases police powers and strikes at the heart of protesters’ democratic right to peaceful assembly,” the article said.
ASIO has assessed the conference to be “medium risk”, and this has been used by the police and government to justify the increased security.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Massive blackouts occurred throughout the US state of Florida shortly after 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time (18:00 UTC) on Tuesday afternoon. Out of the 4.4 million customers served by Florida Power & Light, Co. (FPL), about 680,000 residents were affected, with an additional two million-plus customers affected in other parts of the state. It is estimated that as many as four million customers throughout Florida were affected, with many different power companies losing control of their specific grids.
Power outages were reported as far south as the Florida Keys, on the original FPL grid, and as far north as Orlando and Daytona Beach, nearly 300 miles (483 km) away on the Progress Energy grid. Most of Miami-Dade and parts of Broward and Palm Beach counties suffered the worst outages.
FPL President Armando Olivera said that a disconnect switch failed at 1:08 p.m. at the automated substation west of Miami, and a piece of equipment that controls voltage caught fire about the same time. Neither failure by itself would have caused a widespread outage. The event at the utility’s Flagami substation consequently led to the rolling blackouts.
Originally the first failure was thought to have occurred at the utility’s nuclear plant at Turkey Point. It is still unclear how failure at this site spread, but with power turning off at the main Turkey Point location, which serves all of south Florida, FPL’s grid shut down as well. It contributed to a domino effect which ended up sapping energy from bordering grids all over Florida.
Police reported several people were stuck in the elevators of high-rise buildings in downtown Miami and several hospitals were running on backup power, although no injuries or fatalities have been reported. The blackouts caused major traffic jams and a few accidents, but the original outage was contained shortly after it occurred. All customers affected had power restored to them by 6:30 p.m. (23:30 UTC).
Current Ideas On Disability Aids: The Development Associated With The Disability Aids Industry- Then How To Elude A Terrible Outcome
by
Burke Izzo
Disability aids regarding the aging adults are extremely common around the whole developed world and a lot of businesses are creating a variety of different kinds of healthcare solutions along the lines of reading products, assistive hearing devices, walking style accessories, wheel chair essential accessories, walker carry bags wheel chair basic safety straps, wheelchair work trays, seeing and hearing disabled alerting systems, rocker kitchen knives, your bed rope ladders, wheel chair transport straps, personal hygiene gadgets plus cooking area aids. All of these disability aids are manufactured in an effort to assist in the lifestyle of people in need, by means of advanced know-how. In addition there are more common products which can be bought in an impressive selection with most of the stores devoted to these products, whether or not they are on-line or perhaps the High Street.
Shower chairs, as an example, are very helpful for lots of people. Managing any ailment can mean a giant challenge in relation to taking a shower or simply a wash. When there is any disability difficulty attached, it may well end up being really dangerous to get in and out from the shower area. A shower chair provides safety and comfort along with taking a shower. All these disability aids were definitely designed with the intention to make it easy for laying back in addition to sitting when being beneath a warm shower, with out slipping on a soaked flooring. There are lots of shower area seats options to select from, based on the particular circumstances of each particular person. Many are much wider than normal, permitting anybody to slide across in order to get out of the warm shower.
Grab bars are particularly very helpful healthcare products and solutions and additionally they could be plastic-type material or alternatively stainless steel bars connected to the rock solid surface of a wall space. There\’re intended to provide you with help when ever standing or maybe sitting down. You\’ll want to deploy grab bars in all the places of the property where you can consider they\’re going to be useful. The key places where such disability aids must be range from the restroom, next to the shower and next to the bedside.
An economical alternative for those who are old should be to add night lighting in a number of sectors of the residence, like the kitchen space, living space and bathroom. This will help folks of any age to steer safely and securely during the night in your house. One other idea is to relocate the switch of the lamp fixture next to the bed furniture and even to add more specialized products so as to help turning the light off and on. Opt for fitting motion sensors all about your house. Assuming you have certain trouble with range of motion, bedpans can be handy disability aids. Numerous bedpans are supposed to decrease the embarrassing odors as well as to hold the skin from feaces and also urine.
The particular telecoms systems designed for hard of hearing have the ability for a very hard of hearing man or woman to interact by telephone from their property. Yow will discover a lot of disability aids for this specific purpose, a variety of them using voice-activated devices, Braille or possibly keying in gadgets. Just for this to perform the two people, the sender as well as the receiver, will need to have a particular wording phone which includes a small to medium sized key board. Of those with hearing difficulties will be able to commune using this systems a different option regular phone service. Pretty much all disability aids are built to make life easier for just anybody, for that reason pick that which is best for you or for the ones you love.
You can find more on Aids for Disability at our
Best Disability Aids
resources site or more great info at the
Disability Aids options
blog.
Article Source:
ArticleRich.com
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Relics dated back to the Qing Dynasty were found under civil servants’ quarters at the Rua de D. Belchior Caneiro adjacent to The Ruins of St. Paul in Macau by archaeological teams at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
Since St Paul’s College is believed to have been located under those quarters, the Macau government will demolish them in order to cope with the experts’ findings at the Ruins of St. Paul. The two blocks closer to the Ruins of St. Paul were demolished in March to make room for the archaeological project.
The relics included Chinese-styled porcelain tiles, eave tiles, potteries and iron artillery shells. Furthermore, a part of an ancient wall is found at a nearby construction site.
The walls are confirmed as parts of the Ruins of St. Paul as it does match the maps of it dated back to 1760, 1886, and 1912. By examining the walls, it is proved that the wall was constructed of at least five layers of stone, with layers of blue bricks on top of them, as well as rammed earth each measuring at least ten centimeters thick.
The remaining two buildings will be demolished next week for further investigation.
A compilation of brief news reports for Monday, July 9, 2007.
On July 9, 2007, Sony Computer Entertainment America announced the release of an 80GB hard drive version of its PlayStation 3 video game console, priced at US$599.
Sony also announced a price drop to US$499 for its current 60GB model. Jack Tretton, Sony Entertainment America chief executive, said, “Our initial expectation is that sales should double at a minimum.”
Sources
Nigerian gunmen have released three-year-old Margaret Hill, after holding her captive for four days. The toddler has since been reunited with her parents. She is reportedly in good health but covered with mosquito bites and also hungry, having not eaten recently.
The kidnappers had threatened to kill the toddler unless a ransom was paid or Mr. Hill came to take her place. The family claims no ransom was paid for her freedom. She was kidnapped from her car on July 5, on her way to school. Her driver was stabbed trying to protect Margaret.
Sources
Wednesday, August 16, 2017
James Alex Fields Jr. of Maumee, Ohio was arrested Saturday and charged with second-degree murder in the death of Heather Heyer of Charlottesville, Virginia when a car drove into a crowd of people counter-protesting a group of white supremacists who were in Charlottesville to protest the removal of the town statue of Confederate general Robert E. Lee. Fields, age 20, was denied bail on Monday morning. Three others were also arrested.
The “Unite the Right” rally began on Friday. It drew such groups as the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) and neo-Nazis and well-known “alt-right” personalities like David Duke and Richard Spencer. They shouted slogans such as “You will never replace us” and “Jews will never replace us” and waved Confederate flags. Counter-protesters including members of Black Lives Matter and antifa — a U.S. anti-fascist movement — gathered in the hundreds. The two sides clashed near Emancipation Park, where the statue stands. The demonstration devolved into physical fights, and Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe declared a state of emergency and called in the National Guard to remove the protesters.
By varying reports, after the alt-right protesters were removed from the park, a Dodge Challenger drove toward a group of counter-protesters near Fourth Street. In one version of the story, the Challenger drove directly into the crowd, killing Heyer, injuring at least nineteen, and throwing at least two people through the air. In another account, the Challenger hit a sedan from behind, which in turn hit a minivan, and it was these two vehicles that actually made contact with the counter-protesters. The incident is to be investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the United States attorney for the Western District of Virginia, and the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. Authorities have not yet disclosed whether Fields was driving.
| It was probably the scariest thing I’ve ever seen in my life […] it was pandemonium. The car hit reverse and sped and everybody who was up the street in my direction started running. | ||
Podcaster Robert Armengol, who was present, told the press, “It was probably the scariest thing I’ve ever seen in my life[…] After that it was pandemonium. The car hit reverse and sped and everybody who was up the street in my direction started running.”
On Monday morning, fields appeared in court via video from lockup, and Judge Robert Downer denied bail. He is charged with one count of second-degree murder, three of malicious wounding, and one of hit-and-run. The judge appointed a lawyer for Fields.
Fields lived in Kentucky with his mother until a few months ago, when he moved to Ohio for work. An uncle of Fields told the Washington Post a drunk driver killed Fields’s father before Fields was born, leaving him money in a trust until he turned eighteen. His high school history teacher Derek Weimer told the press that Fields had been a quiet, intelligent student. Fields tried to join the army but, according to Weimer, was rejected because of an antipsychotic medication prescription, though The Guardian noted military records suggesting Fields served for a few months in 2015. His Facebook page, which has since been deleted, once held Nazi imagery and a picture of Hitler. On the day of the rally, Fields was photographed protesting with the neo-Nazi group Vanguard America and holding their insignia.
Fields’ mother, Samantha Bloom, told various news media she had thought her son was at a general Donald Trump rally. She commented he “had an African American friend” and said she was surprised to hear that Fields was involved with white supremacism.
Other fatalities associated with the weekend’s unrest include Virginia State Police troopers Lieutenant H. Jay Cullen and Berke M.M. Bates, whose helicopter crashed while they were investigating the riots.
U.S. President Donald Trump commented, “We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides, on many sides,” saying that things like this have “been going on for a long long time” and called for “swift restoration of law and order.” He subsequently received criticism from members both major U.S. political parties for not calling out the white supremacists specifically. During his presidential campaign, David Duke associated with the KKK endorsed Donald Trump, which Trump did not reject.
Orrin Hatch of Utah, the longest-serving Republican in the Senate, was one of many from both political parties who criticized President Trump for not calling out the white supremacists specifically, saying via Twitter, “We should call evil by its name. My brother didn’t give his life fighting Hitler for Nazi ideas to go unchallenged here at home.” Similar sentiments were published by former presidential candidate Senator Marco Rubio and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. Several, including Senators Rubio, Cory Gardner, and Ted Cruz referred to the event as domestic terrorism.
| My brother didn’t give his life fighting Hitler for Nazi ideas to go unchallenged here at home. | ||
A proposal about a year and a half ago to remove the statue of Robert E. Lee sparked considerable controversy. Advocates of the statue portrayed it as history and opponents as a celebration of white supremacy. A few months ago, the Charlottesville City Council voted to remove and sell the statue, but a lawsuit was filed to prevent it. The statue remains in the park while these matters are resolved.
Robert E. Lee was a major figure in the American Civil War, in which eleven of the slaveholding southeastern states including Lee’s home state, Virginia, attempted to secede from the rest of the country in the culmination of the decades-long debate about slavery. Lee began his career as a United States military officer. He trained at the West Point Military Academy and served in the Mexican-American War before joining the Confederacy at the beginning of the U.S. Civil War in 1861. Officially, he was General of the Army of Northern Virginia.
After surrendering to Union General Ulysses S. Grant, Lee lived quietly as president of Washington College, now called Washington and Lee University. After his death, white Southerners wishing to romanticize the antebellum South and the “Lost Cause” of the Civil War adopted Lee as their hero.
Lee repeatedly and publicly opposed the construction of Confederate war memorials: “I think it wiser moreover not to keep open the sores of war, but to follow the examples of those nations who endeavoured to obliterate the marks of civil strife and to commit to oblivion the feelings it engendered.” Instead, he encouraged other Southerners to focus on the future. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, about 700 statues of Lee and other Confederate monuments stand in Southern towns and cities.
Diet with Gallstones – 10 Foods that Flush Gallstones
by
Joe Barton
A diet with gallstones is critical if you wish to flush gallstones. Unfortunately, most people listen to their doctors and simply remove their organ, the gallbladder. Even more unfortunately, doctors do not have the best interest of your health in mind when they recommend gallbladder surgery.
That is why thousands of sufferers are now asking natural health doctors for advice to flush gallstones. It is no surprise that these doctors are recommending flushing gallstones with your diet. Because cholesterol stones are caused by a poor diet, it only would make sense that you can pass these stones with your diet.In this article, you will learn 15 secret foods that can contribute to your new diet with gallstones.10 Foods that Flush GallstonesThere have been numerous research studies about the best diet for gallstones. They show that a high fiber and low fat diet is paramount. Here are 10 foods you should immediately add to your diet to begin your gallbladder, liver and colon flush. Studies show that flushing these organs is critical to passing your stones.1. Drinking water is important to any healthy diet. Water flushes your body and all your organs. You should drink at least 2 liters daily. 2. High fiber foods will advertise their fiber content. But make sure the grains you eat have a fiber content of at least 3 grams per serving. Check labels!3. Avoid enriched flour bread (white bread) and immediately switch to multi-grain or wheat. Check for the highest dietary fiber. Check labels!4. Eating a salad (spinach preferably) at every meal will be very beneficial. Spinach contains chlorophyll which you will see is very beneficial.5. Foods with high chlorophyll content are also helpful for flushing. Asparagus (steamed) is a great food and remedy.6. Switch all your oils to unsaturated fat oils (like olive oil, seed oils or flaxseed oil).7. A diet rich in calcium has been shown to be beneficial. You can supplement are consume fat free diary.8. People who are deficient in magnesium are also at a higher risk to develop stones. Supplement daily.9. Fruits are also high in fiber. You should eat apples, grapefruits, lemons and watermelons regularly. 10. Avoid high sugars which also will put you at high risk for developing stones. Eat greener apples to avoid higher sugar levels.What Else Can You Do?There are also lifestyle tips you can do and more food dieting tips. Most people (nearly 80%) can painlessly pass their gallstones if they are proactive about their health. Learn how your lifestyle and diet can contribute to the cure that works in 24 hours.Flush Gallstones
Guaranteed to Work in 24 Hours! This promise has allowed Joe Barton to help thousands of sufferers with his Flush Gallstones Report. A step by step, researched remedy is clicks away.
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Article Source:
Diet with Gallstones – 10 Foods that Flush Gallstones}
Tuesday, May 16, 2006
Michael Ryan, a messenger at the office of the prime minister, has been identified as the mole who leaked confidential papers to Telecom.
The leaked papers were detailing the plan for the government to unbundle the local loop. It was to be released on Thursday with the 2006 budget, but since Telecom, a publicly traded company, found out they decided to release it early.
Michael Ryan, May 2, was told to shred a document, but instead of doing that he took it and gave it to Telecom’s Group Financial Controller Peter Garty, a close friend. He gave it to Peter Garty because he thought he would find it interesting. Michael Ryan told Peter Garty to not make a copy of it. Peter Garty made a copy.
Telecom shares fell from $5.65 to $4.65 following the disclosure, wiping about $2 billion off the value of the company.
The States Service Commission has passed the case onto the police.
The mole has lost his job. His actions were described as “gross and disgraceful dishonesty” by Prime Minister Helen Clark.
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
Team Canada and Phoenix Coyotes hockey captain Shane Doan says he’ll quit his position after the Bloc Québécois political party raised some concern over an “ethnic remark” he made two years ago.
A motion demanding officials from Hockey Canada and Sport Canada to appear before a House of Commons Committee on Thursday, was supported by the Conservatives, the Liberals, the NDP, and the Bloc Québécois.
“Sports Canada has certain objectives, and that includes reflecting what they call the Canadian reality,” said Bloc Québécois leader Gilles Duceppe. “The government has just cut lots of money from community groups under the pretext that they didn’t share the government’s priorities. “Hockey Canada receives (public) money, right? We have a right to ask questions.”
The National Hockey League (NHL) defends his remark made in 2005 against French-Canadian Hockey referee Stephane Auger.
According to a statement by NHL Linesman Michel Cormier, the game was a December 15, 2005 game which had the Phoenix Coyotes vs. Montreal Canadiens, it had four French-Canadian referees. He recalls himself, after the second period, skating to the Coyotes bench.
“While skating alongside me while I was headed toward my room, that’s when [Doan] said the words, ‘Fucking Frenchman, did a good job,’ and he skated away,” said Cormier recalling the event. “We were side by side.”
Doan, who has “strong Christian values”, says he did, indeed, make a remark about the four referees but denies any bad language.
Doan, who agreed to a $22.75-million five year contract with the Coyotes, says he was trying to calm down goaltender Curtis Joseph, who was angered that the Montreal Canadiens did not get a penalty. Doan says his real comment was: “Four French referees in Montreal, Cuje, figure it out.”
In January 2006, he launched a $250,000 lawsuit against former Minister of Sport and Liberal MP Denis Coderre for “falsely” accusing him of making the remark. Coderre, last year, demanded Doan be asked to not join Team Canada in the 2006 Turin Olympics. On April 2, 2007, Coderre filed a defamation lawsuit against Doan seeking $45,000 in damages.
“I take huge pride in playing for my country, I take huge pride in representing everybody,” Doan said. “For them to question me, being the captain, is incredibly disappointing. For someone to…say that I’m a bad role model, I’d rather have you call me the worst hockey player in the world and I don’t deserve to be on the team, anything like that, but don’t question my character,” he said. “I don’t understand how someone can attack when I’ve been cleared by the NHL, I never said it, yet they can just throw it out in the House of Commons.”
Just today, Doan scored the game-winning goal in a 4-2 preliminary round victory over Norway at the Men’s World Hockey Championship in Moscow, Russia.