Friday, January 25, 2008

B2B Trade Area of Taipei Game Show, criticized by trade buyers last year, but accompanied with 2008 Taiwan Digital Content Forum, moved to the second floor at Taipei World Trade Center for world-wide participants with a better exchange atmosphere this year.

Not only local OBMs (Softstar Entertainment, Soft-World International Corp., International Games System Corp., …, etc.) but also companies from New Zealand, Canada, Japan, Hong Kong, and South Korea showcased different specialists with multiple styles. Especially on South Korea, participated members from G? Trade Show (Game Show & Trade, All-Round, aka Gstar) showcased gaming industry of South Korea and the G? upcoming at this November with brochures.

In the 2-days Digital Content Forum, world-class experts not only shared industry experiences, members from Taiwan Gaming Industry Association also discussed and forecasted marketing models for gaming industry. With participations from governmental, industrial, and academical executives world-wide, this forum helps them gained precious experiences of digital content industry from several countries.

According to the Taipei Computer Association, the show and forum organizer, the digital content industry in Taiwan was apparently grown up recent years as Minister of Economic Affairs of the Republic of China Steve Ruey-long Chen said at Opening Ceremony yesterday. Without R&Ds from cyber-gaming, and basic conceptions from policies and copyright issues, this (digital content) industry will be fallen down in Taiwan. If this industry wanted to be grown up in sustainability, gaming OBMs in Taiwan should independently produce different and unique games and change market style to market brands and games to the world.

Friday, April 25, 2008

At 15:35 UTC this afternoon (23:35 local time), the Chinese Long March 3C (CZ-3C) carrier rocket lifted off on its maiden flight, from launch pad 2 at the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre. It placed the Tianlian-1 satellite into a geosynchronous transfer orbit. Tianlian-1, also known as Tian Lian 1 and TL-1, a spacecraft tracking and data relay communications satellite, similar in function to the American Tracking and Data Relay Satellites (TDRS), will be used to track and communicate with manned Shenzhou spacecraft in low Earth orbit. It will be able to cover around half of the spacecraft’s trajectory, compared to the 12 percent which can be covered by China’s fleet of tracking ships and ground stations. The next Shenzhou mission, Shenzhou 7, is currently scheduled for launch in October. Tianlian-1 is based on the DFH-3 satellite bus.

This is the 19^th orbital launch of 2008, and the first this year to be conducted by the People’s Republic of China. It is currently believed that China intend to conduct one more launch before the end of April, however due to secrecy surrounding China’s space programme, it is difficult to be certain of this.

The Long March 3C is a new version of the Long March 3 rocket, which serves as an intermediate between the Long March 3A, and the Long March 3B. It is 55 metres tall, and can place a 3,700 kilogram payload into a geosynchronous transfer orbit.

Wednesday, August 11, 2021

The local government areas of Ballina Shire, Byron Shire, the City of Lismore, and Richmond Valley in New South Wales, Australia were placed under stay-at-home restrictions effective at 6PM local time on Sunday, with residents only allowed to leave their homes for essential reasons that include grocery and other essential shopping, medical appointments, vaccinations, and caring duties. The order is to remain effective until 12:01AM on August 17th.

This follows the announcement of a COVID-19 case in the region – a man who had travelled to the Byron Shire from Sydney, also under such restrictions. New South Wales chief health officer Kerry Chant said the man, currently under treatment at Lismore Base Hospital, was “infectious in the community for a while”, and had “symptoms for several days”.

Mayor of Byron Shire Michael Lyon told residents “if anyone is not feeling well please, please go and get tested”, stating while information about the COVID-19 case is emerging, “…people should be making sure they are checking in with QR codes whenever they go into a shop or business, wearing a face mask and social distancing.” New South Wales recorded 283 cases of the coronavirus on Monday.

Sunday, March 11, 2007

Sidney Crosby became the youngest player in NHL history to score 100 points in two consecutive seasons, and the Pittsburgh Penguins defeated the New York Rangers in front of 17,132 at Mellon Arena in Pittsburgh, Saturday. The Rangers did manage, however, to pick up a precious point, as they managed to send the game into overtime.

The only goal of the first period was scored by the Rangers’ Karel Rachunek, his 6th of the season at 19:14. The goal was assisted by Michael Nylander and Petr Prucha. Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist stopped all 7 shots faced in the first.

In the second period, Lundqvist continued where he had left off in the first, stopping another 7 shots, and blanking the Penguins for a second consecutive period. Just 1:11 into the period, Matt Cullen scored his 13th of the season to increase the Rangers’ lead to 2-0. Cullen’s goal was assisted by Jed Ortmeyer.

The third period over the past several games had been where the Penguins had amassed most of their offence. This game would prove no different, as rookie Evgeni Malkin scored a power play goal at 3:32, his team leading 31st of the season. Malkin was assisted by Ryan Whitney and Sergei Gonchar. Gonchar would pick up his second assist of the game less than 4:00 later, when on another Penguins power play, he and Malkin would set up Sidney Crosby for his record-setting goal to tie the game at 2-2. With the score locked up at the end of regulation, the game would go into overtime.

The Penguins, quite familiar with overtime, would end the game just 1:19 into overtime. With Sidney Crosby in the locker room due to an equipment problem, Colby Armstrong scored against Lundqvist to lift the Penguins to victory. It was not a total loss for the Rangers, however, as they managed to pick up a point in the contest. The Penguins don’t play again until Tuesday night, when the Buffalo Sabres travel to Mellon Arena. The Rangers return to the ice tomorrow at home against the Carolina Hurricanes.

Friday, December 23, 2011

Speaker of the U.S. House John Boehner announced yesterday that he would agree to a two-month extension of the payroll tax cut. In an effort to end the impasse between the House and Senate, Boehner told Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid that he would schedule a House vote on the Senate version of the bill that would extend the tax cut, which was due to expire at the end of the year.

Speaker Boehner announced the agreement in a brief statement: “Senator Reid and I have reached an agreement that will ensure taxes do not increase for working families on January 1”. Boehner informed other congressmen of the deal in a conference call yesterday evening.

The House may pass the bill via unanimous consent today, which would not require the presence of all members. Boehner and Reid also agreed to a bipartisan negotiation committee to sort out differences and extend the tax cut for an entire year, a goal recently sought by Republicans in the House.

The extension of the payroll tax cut, which would prevent approximately 160 million Americans from seeing a tax increase in 2012, had already been passed by the Senate last weekend. Earlier yesterday, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell joined several other Republican Senators in encouraging the House to pass the extension.

Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid said that once the House acts, he “will be happy to restart the negotiating process to forge a yearlong extension.” At a news conference, Speaker Boehner issued a statement: “We have fought the good fight. Why not do the right thing for the American people even though it’s not exactly what we want.” President Obama also responded to the development in a statement: “This is good news, just in time for the holidays. This is the right thing to do to strengthen our families, grow our economy, and create new jobs. This is real money that will make a real difference in people’s lives.”

The tax cut extension impasse began when the House effectively rejected the Senate-approved version of the bill on Tuesday after being faced with opposition from House Republicans, specifically those associated with the Tea Party movement, who advocated for spending cuts and the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline.

Monday, February 27, 2006

Buffalo, New York —Wikinews was the first to tell you that the Elmwood Village Hotel development in Buffalo, New York was to undergo “significant changes”.

The Elmwood Village Hotel is a proposed project that would be placed at Elmwood and Forest Aves. in Buffalo. In order for the development to take place, at least five buildings that house both businesses and residents, must be demolished.

To confirm and to get more information about the changes, Wikinews interviewed Eva Hassett, Vice President of Savarino Construction Services Corporation, the development company in charge of building the hotel.

Wikinews: The hotel proposal is being redesigned. Could you comment on that? What changes are being made? Are they significant?

Eva Hassett: The hotel has been resized as a 72-room, four story building. This is 10% smaller in number of rooms and a full story lower. We are also redesigning the facades in a way that will minimize the mass – more of a vertical feeling than horizontal. Different materials, windows, details. The smaller size of the hotel also makes the number of on-site parking spaces more appropriate and hopefully represents less of a challenge to an already difficult parking situation.

WN: Will you still be going before the city’s planning board as scheduled on February 28? Same for the Common Council?

Hassett: We will be on the Planning Board agenda this Tuesday morning but I do not expect that the Board will vote on the item that morning. I think we will be mainly explaining the new design and hearing input/questions.

WN: Will there be anymore public meetings?

Hassett: We would be happy to do one more big public meeting. We will be talking to Forever Elmwood about that on Monday (February 27, 2006). We would like to see if there is support for the new design and we also want to honor the public’s request for another meeting. I am hopeful that meeting can take place the week of March 6th.

WN: Is Savarino considering Mr. Rocco Termini’s design/proposal? If no, do you (Savarino) support/oppose?

Hassett: We are hopeful that we can build the hotel as redesigned. We think it would be a great addition to the Elmwood Ave. area, a good way for out-of-towners to see what Buffalo offers and a big help to the businesses there.

WN: Are you considering more time for the community to make a judgment?

Hassett: As I mentioned above, we expect to have one more meeting to get public reaction to the new design, and I think the Planning Board may want an additional meeting to make their determination. We do however, have constraints that will limit the amount of extra time. We still think it is a great project for the City and Elmwood; and we still want it to be something that the community wants as well.

So far, the City of Buffalo’s City Planning Board is still scheduled to meet at 8:00 a.m. (Eastern) on February 28, 2006 followed by the Common Council meeting at 2:00 p.m. on the same day.

Images of the design are not yet available. “We are working on the renderings this weekend, but I will likely have some early in the week,” stated Hassett.

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Hackers claiming to be associated with the internet activist group Anonymous have attacked the website belonging to the Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) and hacked into the Twitter account belonging to Shirley Phelps-Roper, the Church’s spokeswoman. The attacks are part of an operation dubbed ‘#OpWestBor’ on Twitter and is in response to the Church’s decision to picket funerals of victims of the December 14 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.

“Westboro will picket Sandy Hook Elementary School to sing praise to God for the glory of his work in executing his judgment,” said Phelps in a post to her Twitter account on Saturday.

On Sunday, in a video posted on YouTube, Anonymous announced their intentions saying, “From the time you have received this message, our attack protocol has past been executed and your downfall is underway. Do not attempt to delude yourselves into thinking you can escape our reach, for we are everywhere, and all-seeing, in the same sense as God. … We will render you obsolete. We will destroy you. We are coming.” The Church’s website has been unreachable for most of the day. At the time of this report, the website was unreachable. As a result of the breach, Anonymous claims to have gained access to and leaked alleged personal information such as names, home addresses and telephone numbers belonging to Church members.

Also as part of the operation, early yesterday morning, a member of Anonymous called ‘CosmoTheGod’ hacked the Twitter account belonging to Phelps, posting a ‘tweet’ saying, “This account is now being ran by @CosmoTheGod #UGNazi #oops.” As of this report, Anonymous still has control of it.

This isn’t the first time hackers took control of the Church’s website. In 2011 the Church blamed Anonymous for circulating a letter claiming an attack on the Church’s website was imminent and blamed them for taking down their website in an earlier attack, something the group denied. Shortly after the incident, user “th3j3st3r” on Twitter claimed responsibility for circulating the letter and the initial attack. When Phelps and one of the group’s members were interviewed on live television shortly thereafter, she denied hackers could break into their website or take it offline. However; during the interview, Anonymous hacked into the Church’s website, defaced it and took it offline.

“I was just going to say in the time that Shirley was blabbing her religious preachings I actually did some business and I think if you check downloads.westborobaptistchurch right now you’ll see a nice message from Anonymous”, said Anonymous nine minutes into the interview.

On December 14, a gunman identified as 20 year-old Adam Lanza killed his mother Nancy then went into Sandy Hook Elementary school carrying a Bushmaster AR-15 rifle and two other handguns, where he opened fire killing 26 people, 20 of them children between the ages of five and ten years old. Shortly after the incident, Lanza shot himself, committing suicide.

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

US$25 million of North Korean funds previously frozen in a Macau bank has been transferred to Pyongyang, the North Korean capital. The money was released late last week, and transferred from Macau to the Federal Reserve in New York City, and from there to a Russian bank and then into an account controlled by the North Korean government.

Pressure is mounting from the international community on the Pyongyang government to shut down its Yongbyong nuclear reactor. North Korea has been refusing to move forward due to the freezing of these funds in 2005.