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Monday, April 4, 2005

Frank Clair, the Canadian Football League (CFL) coach and architect of the powerhouse Ottawa Rough Riders of the 1960s and 70s died Sunday at the age of 87 in Sarasota, Florida, United States.

Nicknamed “The Professor” for his skills at recognising talent, teaching the game, and ability to get the most from players, Clair first came to Canada to coach the Toronto Argonauts in 1950 and ended his first CFL year with a Grey Cup championship; repeating with the Argos in 1952. He left the Argonauts following a salary dispute and ended up in Ottawa in 1956 where he took on the daunting task of reviving the Rough Riders team which were poorly run and disorganised. He led the team to an incredible 14 consecutive seasons of playoff appearances and three Grey Cups.

He retired from coaching following the 1969 Grey Cup to take over the general manager position. At that time, Clair led the CFL in seasons coached (19), regular-season victories (147), playoff seasons (17), consecutive playoff seasons (14), playoff victories (22), Grey Cup appearances (six) and Grey Cup victories (five). His winning ways continued as GM when Ottawa won the 1973 and 1976 Grey Cups. Nevertheless, he was let go in 1978 and Ottawa has not won a Grey Cup since.

According to the Ottawa Sun, former sports editor Jane O’Hara described Clair as a no-nonsense, to-the-point, type of gentleman who was short on smiles, but always seen coaching his team wearing a snap-brim fedora and standing poker-faced and erect on the sidelines.

He was inducted into the CFL Hall of Fame in 1981 as a builder and the Ottawa stadium (Frank Clair Stadium at Lansdowne Park) was renamed in his honour in 1993.

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Wikinews reporter Iain Macdonald has performed an interview with Dr Isabella Margara, a London-based member of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE). In the interview Margara sets out the communist response to current events in Greece as well as discussing the viability of a communist economy for the nation. She also hit back at Petros Tzomakas, a member of another Greek far-left party which criticised KKE in a previous interview.

The interview comes amid tensions in cash-strapped Greece, where the government is introducing controversial austerity measures to try to ease the nation’s debt-problem. An international rescue package has been prepared by European Union member states and the International Monetary Fund – should Greece require a bailout; protests have been held against government attempts to manage the economic situation.

Saturday, October 7, 2017

The Canadian federal government of Justin Trudeau yesterday responded to a group of lawsuits by agreeing to pay C$750 million to the survivors of the “Sixties Scoop” program, in which 20,000 First Nations children were removed from their parents’ households and placed with non-indigenous foster or adoptive parents. The plaintiffs claimed that this caused them mental and emotional problems, in addition to the loss of their ancestral culture. Carolyn Bennett, Canada’s Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister, announced the agreement.

“I have great hope that because we’ve reached this plateau, this will never, ever happen in Canada again,” Marcia Brown Martel, now Chief of the Beaverhouse First Nation, said of the decision. Martel was removed from her home as many as ten times before 1972. She and her sister were among the original plaintiffs. From the 1960s to 1980s, some of the children were sent out of the country to the United States, Europe or New Zealand. Some of the plaintiffs say they were abused by their foster families and others do not. A separate settlement has been offered to the 150,000 children who were instead sent to institutions, such as boarding schools.

“There is also no dispute about the fact that great harm was done,” wrote Ontario Supreme Court Justice Edward P. Belobaba in a preliminary decision in February. “The ‘scooped’ children lost contact with their families. They lost their aboriginal language, culture and identity. Neither the children nor their foster or adoptive parents were given information about the children’s aboriginal heritage or about the various educational and other benefits that they were entitled to receive. The removed children vanished ‘with scarcely a trace.’?” He did concede that the founders of the program meant well, but major sources agree it was subject to considerable culture clash, with social workers removing children from situations that were later found not to be abusive or neglectful.

According to a lawyer for some of the plaintiffs, Jeffrey Wilson, this is the first time anyone has argued that the loss of a cultural identity in a lawsuit in a Western country: “No First Nations case yet to this day has asked the question as to whether or not the loss of identity is an actionable wrong. Aboriginal title to property has been litigated, aboriginal title to identity has not,” he told the The Guardian.

The First Nations people make up approximately four percent of Canada’s population, at about 1.4 million people, and they suffer disproportionately from poverty, violence, addiction and crime.

Canada is not the only country where native children were taken away from their families. From 1910 to 1970, the Australian government collected Aboriginal children, who came to be called the Stolen Generations, and relocated them to schools and other institutions far from their communities. In 1978, the United States passed the Indian Child Welfare Act to curtail similar actions toward Native American children.

Manitoba was the first of Canada’s provinces to apologize for the scoop program, in 2015. The federal government has also announced plans to make a public apology.

Saturday, May 23, 2015

An earthquake hit close to the Solomon Islands, in the early hours of Thursday morning. It was about 184 kilometres from Lata and 487 kilometres from the capital Honiara. The US Geological Survey has stated that Tsunami warnings are yet to be released and that no major damage occurred.

The quake was 6.9 in magnitude and hit a depth of 19 kilometres. It was then followed by a smaller 4.9 magnitude aftershock.

The geographical position of the Solomon Islands places them in ‘the ring of fire’, an area of tectonic activity in the basin of the Pacific Ocean that is subject to frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.

“This is one of the most active seismic regions in the world — in the last three years we have had 30 plus earthquakes of over 6.0 magnitude,” Geoscience Australia Duty Seismologist Marco Maldoni told AFP.

Friday, September 8, 2006

The Taliban have claimed responsibility for the massive suicide bomb which killed 16 citizens, and two US soldiers near the Kabulian US Embassy. Master Sergeant Chris Miller commented, “A coalition convoy was the target of a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device this morning near the U.S. Embassy here.”

The convoy was comprised of three armored Humvees. Sixteen Afghans were wounded in the attack, and several were killed.

Gen. James Jones, NATO’s supreme allied commander, said on Thursday that the troops have encountered “more resistance than we originally thought.”

The fighting is extraordinarily intense. The intensity and ferocity of the fighting is far greater than in Iraq on a daily basis,” Brig. Ed Butler, the commander of British Forces in Afghanistan, told ITV news on Friday. He echoed Jones’ call for more troops.

In western Afghanistan, four Italian soldiers were wounded Friday in a roadside bomb blast while on patrol, the Italian Defense Ministry said.

The ministry said an improvised explosive device detonated around 9 a.m. near Farah while an Italian military vehicle was on patrol.

Wednesday, January 18, 2006

London, UK — The Vodafone GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) Mobile Data Network within the UK was off the air for several hours, but Vodafone staff were unable to supply any details as to how or why this had happened. The incident seems to have originated within Southern England, but spread “nationwide” within a short period.

Customers were therefore unable to access data services for a protracted period, including WAP browsing from mobile phones, email from personal devices like Blackberries and Windows Mobile Messengers, and full access over data cards from laptops.

Some criticism has been levelled at the company for failing to provide an easy source of information on the problem, with the only realistic option being to queue for a response from a call centre, as no information could be found on their public-facing website. This practice, whilst far from unique to Vodafone within the telecommunications industry, contrasts poorly with the common practice for most ISPs (Internet Service Providers), who conventionally provide a “system status” page on their website.

Friday, June 5, 2009

A bomb blast at a mosque in northwestern Pakistan is suspected to have killed at least forty people on Friday.

According to police reports, the explosion happened in a village located in the Upper Dir district of the North-West Frontier Province. The incident occurred while worshipers were offering the Friday prayers.

“Around 40 people are killed. We have no idea as yet how many have been wounded,” said Atif-ur-Rehman, a senior government administrator of Upper Dir.

The mosque was damaged heavily by the explosion, and many people have been trapped under debris.

“A large number of body parts are scattered in the mosque. We don’t know whether these are parts of the dead who have been identified or of others,” said Umer Rehman, one of the village’s residents, to the Reuters news agency.

This is the ninth bomb blast in Pakistan since the country’s armed forces started attacks against the [[|Pakistani Talian|Taliban]] in the nearby Swat valley from the past few months, in an attempt to force the fighters out of the area.

President Zardari and Prime Minister Gillani both condemned the attack. The London-based Muttahida Qaumi Movement chief, Altaf Hussain, has also condemned the blast.

Monday, September 24, 2007

73,000 United Auto Workers (UAW) union members launched a nationwide strike today against General Motors (GM), the largest auto manufacturer in the United States.

UAW President Ron Gettelfinger said GM would need to meet pay, health care, and job security issues. Gettelfinge said, “This is nothing we wanted…No one benefits in a strike. But there comes a point where someone can push you off a cliff. That’s what happened here.”

The strike was officially launched at 11 a.m. EDT (UTC-4) today.

Negotiations were reportedly going to occur again this afternoon, but there have been no reports of any negotiating going on from either side.

80 facilities in 30 different states closed today because of the strike.

CNN reports that GM facilities in Mexico and Canada may close soon, too.

The vice president of global vehicle forecasts for CSM Worldwide, Michael Robinet, said today that dealerships in the US likely won’t feel the effects of the strike for several weeks.

A statement from GM today said, “We are disappointed in the UAW’s decision to call a national strike. The bargaining involved complex, difficult issues that affect the job security of our U.S. work force, and the long-term viability of the company. We are fully committed to working with the UAW to develop solutions together to address the competitive challenges facing General Motors. We will continue focusing our efforts on reaching an agreement as soon as possible.”

If the strike continues, UAW strike funds will supply each striker with US$200 a month and medical coverage.