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Saturday, October 7, 2006

In the 2006 World Cup final, Fabien Barthez’s mistake allowed Materazzi to score a decisive goal.The bald keeper, who’ll be remembered for being top-head kissed at the start of each international match by teammate Laurent Blanc, was desperately hoping for revenge against Italy last September in the Stade de France but Grégory Coupet became the #1 rated French football goalkeeper therefore pushing Fabien in retirement announced officially yesterday.

Thursday, September 22, 2005

Traffic is bumper to bumper on Houston interstate highways as citizens try to evacuate ahead of Hurricane Rita. Houston Mayor Bill White urged citizens in low areas of the city to “begin making their evacuation plans” in preparation for what is currently the 3rd strongest hurricane to ever form in the Atlantic Ocean and the worst to enter the Gulf of Mexico.

Acting U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) director David Paulison was quoted saying “I strongly, strongly urge Gulf Coast residents to pay close attention to this storm. It’s already a Category 4, a huge storm, it’s in warm waters and there’s a potential for it to increase more,” at a briefing in Washington DC. The storm was upgraded to a category 5 hurricane on Thursday, the strongest category of storm. Recently, Rita has lost intensity since entering cooler waters and facing wind shear from an opposing weather front, and is now a Category 4 storm.

Houston, Texas lies 50 feet above sea-level on average, but the area is still prone to flooding as the region is very flat and supported by multiple bayous. In 2001, following Tropical Storm Allison, large areas of Houston remained flooded after receiving 10 inches (250 mm) of rain, causing over $US 5 billion in damage. Meteorologists fear that Rita could cause similar, if not worse damage.

Located 50 miles away from the inland city of Houston, and situated on the Gulf’s coastline, lies Galveston, Texas at a mere 8 feet above sea level. The island city, with a population of nearly 60,000, built a 10-mile-long, 17-foot-high solid granite barrier next to the sea as a defense against hurricanes.

The National Hurricane Center currently predicts a storm surge from Rita in the 15 to 20 feet range, along with strong battering waves. The city manager of Galveston, Steve LeBlanc said, “Galveston is going to suffer. And we are going to need to get it back in order as quickly as possible. I would say that we probably have 90 percent of our residents have left the island. It feels like a ghost town to me, and that’s a good thing.”

Rita is expected to slow down and linger after making landfall in the region. That could possibly mean even more damage from heavy rainfall accumulations. The governor of Louisiana, Kathleen Blanco, said the rain is a threat to New Orleans. Anywhere from 2 to 4 inches of rainfall are expected there, when earlier predictions estimated that 3 inches of rainfall would be enough to cause more flooding in the city.

Saturday, August 14, 2010

Former US Representative Dan Rostenkowski died of lung cancer Wednesday at his vacation home in Genoa City, Wisconsin. Rostenkowski, whose political career ended in the early 1990s after he was convicted on fraud charges, was 82.

Rostenkowski’s death was confirmed by his spokesperson, Jim Jaffe, who said that the former congressman had been receiving treatment for lung cancer for a while. Rostenkowski had previously been treated for prostate cancer in the 1990s.

Rostenkowski was born on January 2, 1928 in Chicago, Illinois. He was an athlete and declined an invitation to try out for the Philadelphia Athletics (now the Oakland Athletics) in order to pursue a career in politics. Rostenkowski attended St. John’s Northwestern Military Academy in Wisconsin, served with the US Army in Korea, and graduated from Loyola University in 1951.

Rostenkowski’s political career was supported by the Cook County political machine, and he became a member of the Illinois state legislature in 1952, one year after graduating from college. In 1958, when he was 30, Rostenkowski was elected to the US House of Representatives. In 1961, he began serving on the United States House Committee on Ways and Means, the chief committee of the House for writing taxes. From 1981–1994, he served as the committee’s chairman. Rostenkowski was involved in the creation of Medicare in 1966 and he helped make amendments to the Social Security system in 1983.

In 1992, a federal jury began an inquiry into the House post office, and Rostenkowski was accused of buying US$22,000 in stamps with government funds and then turning them into cash. The investigation, which lasted two years, led to Republican allegations of corruption within the Democratic party. In 1994, Rostenkowski was charged with 17 felony counts, including the use of federal money to purchase furniture, and obstruction of justice. In order to avoid a trial, Rostenkowski made a deal with prosecutors, pleading guilty to two counts of mail fraud in exchange for fifteen months in prison, two months in a halfway house, and a US$100,000 fine.

Rostenkowski, who was not reelected for a nineteenth term in Congress in 1994, continued to maintain his innocence, and was pardoned by US President Bill Clinton in 2000.

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Saturday, September 12, 2009

A World Health Organisation study published in The Lancet has revealed the main causes of death for people aged 10–24. It has described the majority of these deaths as preventable and suggested solutions to the problems.

97% of the 2.6 million fatalities annually occur in low- and middle-income countries. The age group comprises 1.8 billion people, 30% of the total population. 15% of female deaths were down to “maternal mortality” which included pregnancy complications, unsafe abortions, and mutilation of genitals. Road traffic accidents accounted for 10% of deaths.

6.3% of the deaths were suicides and 6% were down to violence. Tuberculosis and similar lung infections took 10% of the lives and HIV/AIDS killed 5.5%. Most of the deaths were in sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia. Africa and Southeast Asia were also the only places where male deaths were not above those of females, as much of the maternal mortality occurred there. The data came from 2004.

In developed countries, 32% of the deaths were down to road accidents. “There has long been an assumption that young people are healthy, fit and they don’t die,” explained the report’s lead author, Australian children’s health expert George Patton. He goes on to say “I’ve certainly heard politicians and policy-makers make statements of that kind… Some of these problems, related to emotion, are actually very prominent causes not only of death in adolescence, but health problems later in life.”

The study said safer speed limits, more use of helmets and seatbelts, and better enforcement of drunk driving law could greatly curb the road deaths. Maternal deaths and sexually transmitted disease rates could be cut by sexual education, safe abortion clinics, pregnancy support, HIV testing and treatment, and access to contraceptives.

Violence and suicide could be reduced by education in life skills and an improved role of parents, the study found. It also sought reduction of availability of poisons, firearms, and other dangerous items. In the case of suicide, the study said more work was needed to help young people recover from acts of violence, sexual assault, and child abuse in both the short and long term. Alcohol access reduction was also requested.

The study was conducted by University College London’s Russell Viner, World Health Organization’s Krishna Bose and George Patton of the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne, Australia.

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Wikinews interviewed author Nancy Many about her book My Billion Year Contract, and asked her about life working in the elite Scientology group known as the “Sea Org“. Many joined Scientology in the early 1970s, and after leaving in 1996 she later testified against the organization. Published in October, Many’s book has gone on to become one of the top selling new books on Scientology at Amazon.com.

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

Apple Inc. today has introduced the much-anticipated iPhone at the Macworld Conference in San Francisco.

The iPhone is claimed to be “a revolutionary mobile phone” as stated on the Apple website. The device appears to be running a mobile version of the Apple operating system Mac OSX. It is approximately the same size as a 5th generation iPod, it has a 3.5-inch LCD touchscreen display that is used to access all features of the phone including number dial, as well as making phone calls. The iPhone plays music, movies, displays pictures and is able to connect to a wireless network.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveiled the device by walking onto the stage and taking the iPhone out of his jeans pocket. During his 2 hour speech he stated that “Today Apple is going to reinvent the phone, We are going to make history today”.

Today Apple also released their Media Center device – Apple TV. It will directly compete with Microsoft’s Media Center operating system. Apple has taken a different approach to the media center market; rather than storing content (such as movies, music and photos) on the device, Apple TV connects to a computer (Mac and Windows) over a wirless network connection and plays all content stored on that computer. This makes it substantially easier for users to organize their media content.

Friday, May 4, 2007

Two people are dead after a plane crashed at a intersection in McAllen shortly after 7:00 p.m. local time (CDT) on May 2.

A man who video taped the scene stated on a TV interview, “The plane just missed my truck… total strangers just started jumping in to help the pilot… people were yelling ‘Bring a fire extinguisher’… It was amazing that the pilot still asked to save his girlfriend even though his own life was in danger.”

They succeeded in dragging the pilot, 35-year old Jose Francisco Vasquez, out of the burning wreckage; however, his girlfriend, 24 year Gina Asuara, was burned to death. Vasquez suffered 3rd degree burns to 90% of his body. He later died at the Brook Army Medical Center at around 7:30 a.m. (CDT) on May 3

Friends say Vasquez was an experienced pilot. He owned several planes and flew at least twice every week. He was in the Mexican Air Force during his earlier years and was on vacation at Houston, Texas.

Officials said the accident was likely due to a engine failure during take off. The plane crashed near a intersection on 10th St. and Dicker Road about 2 minutes away from the Dodge Arena. The road was closed due to investigations; however it was reopened on May 3 at 8:30 p.m. (CDT)

Saturday, August 7, 2010

The president of Pakistan, Asif Ali Zardari, was met with a 250-strong protest today, during his visit to Birmingham, England. The protest was held outside the International Convention Centre (ICC) venue in the British city, where the president addressed supporters of his Pakistan Peoples Party and leading figures of the Pakistani community. Al Jazeera reported that two shoes were thrown at Zardari as he delivered his address, by a man who reportedly managed to break through police barriers to make a personal protest against the President.

Pakistan is experiencing the worst flooding in eighty years and it has been reported that the floods have now hit 14 million people. The president has faced criticism for continuing his tour during the crisis and though the messages of the protesters were many and varied, shown by placards ranging from “Save Pakistan from American terror and Zardari” to “Stop killing innocent Christians, repeal blasphemy law 295 B and 295 A”, Al Jazeera’s Alan Fisher said “[the] one thing they all agree on is that he should not be here.”

Inside the ICC, speaking to a group of supporters, Mr Zardari said the trip had been crucial in raising more than £20 million in aid from Britain and France and for resolving the diplomatic rift between Pakistan and Britain, caused by British Prime Minister David Cameron’s comments about alleged Pakistani terror links. David Cameron said on July 28 that “we cannot tolerate in any sense the idea that this country is allowed to look both ways and…promote the export of terror”. The Pakistani President has said that his European tour is essential to mend the diplomatic rift these comments have caused.

The President’s son has also defended the tour, saying “He’s doing the best he can and what he thinks is best to help the people of Pakistan.” He added that “his personal presence in Pakistan would not be able to raise this much money.”

The Financial Times said the President “struggled at times to be heard above the chanting of hundreds of supporters.” The chanting from the protesters arrayed outside the ICC could also be heard from where the President gave his speech. Many were calling for the Prime Minister’s resignation.

According to the Associated Press of Pakistan the President’s trip has been kept as cheap as possible, with Mr Zardari staying in the “cheapest five-star hotel in Central London” while he met with Mr Cameron. But at today’s protest many held placards decrying the fact that while money was urgently needed in Pakistan the President was taking a tour that would cost the country. Two examples of such placards were: “Thousands dying president is holidaying” and “while Pakistan floods Zadradi enjoys”.

The demonstration was held in the shadow of the Hyatt Regency Hotel where Mr Zardari has been staying. It is one of the most expensive hotels in Birmingham but the raised bridge that links directly to the ICC does provide the best security for the President.

Mohammed Khalil, a local official from the Tehreek-e-Insaf party, told the AFP that “He should be there organising for his own people. Instead he’s here with so many people. The government is paying all the expense for that. That money should be spent on the people of Pakistan, not on himself.” However the President’s son said millions had been raised from Britain and France because of the tour, and that the President would return once worldwide attention had died down.

The protest itself carried on for many hours, from before 2:00 in the afternoon until 4:25, when it ended with a prayer ceremony. The protest reflected the prominence of the Islamic faith in Pakistani culture, with a tarpaulin stretched on the ground to allow for Muslim prayer. National feeling was strong, shown by the numerous Pakistani flags being flown, and the presence of the closing religious ceremony and Islamic prayer mirrors the close-knit relationship nationalist and religious feeling have in Pakistan.

Friday, January 4, 2013

The Pakistani schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai, who was shot by the Taliban for campaigning for education for girls, was discharged yesterday from the Queen Elizabeth hospital in Birmingham, England after success in the first stage of her medical treatment.

In October, Yousafzai was shot by Taliban forces on a school bus in Mingora, Swat District, Pakistan. She was given emergency treatment in Pakistan and then flown to Britain for treatment at a specialist unit which deals with injured soldiers.

Dave Rosser, University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust medical director, gave a statement about Yousafzai’s release from hospital: “Malala is a strong young woman and has worked hard with the people caring for her to make excellent progress in her recovery. Following discussions with Malala and her medical team, we decided that she would benefit from being at home with her parents and two brothers. She will return to the hospital as an outpatient and our therapies team will continue to work with her at home to supervise her onward care.”

She is due to return to hospital in a few weeks for cranial reconstructive surgery.

Saturday, December 13, 2008

Taiwan’s former President, Chen Shui-bian (???), has been conditionally released on bail, some ten hours after he was indicted for corruption. Speaking to media at the Taipei District Court, he said: “I want to thank my lawyers, members of the Democratic Progressive Party and my supporters who have given me huge encouragement. I am grateful to those who cared for, supported and looked after me so I could get through the hardest and loneliest 32 days of my life in prison.” He earns the historical distinction of being the first ex-president of the Republic of China to be indicted for criminal offenses and could suffer life imprisonment if convicted.

Along with 13 other family members and close associates, including his wheelchair-bound wife, son Chen Chih-Chung, and daughter-in-law Huang Jui-ching, Chen was indicted Friday on charges of embezzling government funds and laundering money or ill-gotten bribes. The panel of three judges ruled he should appear at future court hearings and must not leave the country nor change his address.

Prosecutor Lin Che-hui accused Chen of having “embezzled 104 million New Taiwan dollars ($3.12 million) from a special presidential fund, and received bribes of $11.73 million in connection with a government land procurement deal and a separate construction project; the damning piece of evidence was the presence of NT$740 million ($22.2 million) in cash stashed in a Taipei bank safety vault held by the Chens.” Yuanta Securities director Tu Li-ping said, “she hand delivered NT$200 million ($6 million) in cash to Wu at the presidential residence in 2006 on behalf of executives of an affiliated bank; the money was an incentive for Wu not to interfere with a merger the bank was pursuing.”

Chen insists on his innocence. Contradicting the 100-page indictment, he said that “the $21 million his wife wired to their son’s Swiss bank accounts came from leftover campaign donations. Taiwanese law permits such donations to be kept by political candidates.”

In 1975, Chen married Wu Shu-chen (???), the daughter of a physician. The couple has a daughter, Chen Hsing-yu (???), who is a dentist; and a son, Chen Chih-Chung (???), who, having received a law degree in Taiwan, studied at and graduated with a M.A. degree from the University of California in 2005.

In November 2006, Chen’s wife Wu Shu-chen and three other high ranking officials of the Presidential Office were indicted for corruption, charged with misappropriating NT$14.8 million (USD$450,000) of government funds using falsified documents. Due to the protection from the Constitution against prosecution of the sitting president, Chen could not be prosecuted until he left office, and he was not indicted, but was alleged to be an accomplice on his wife’s indictment.

Chen’s term as President of the Republic of China ended in May 2008. Immediately thereafter, prosecutors began investigating him regarding allegations that he misused his discretionary “state affairs fund”, as well as his connection to the first family’s money-laundering activities. He resigned from the Democratic Progressive Party on August 15, 2008, one day after admitting to falsifying past campaign expenses and wiring campaign contributions to overseas accounts.

In November 2008, Chen was escorted by a security staff, into the Taipei prosecutor’s office for questioning. After 6 hours, he left the Supreme Court prosecutor`s office in handcuffs, was arrested and detained. The charges each carry a minimum penalty of 5 years imprisonment. Following a 6 day hunger strike while in detention, Chen collapsed and was rushed to Taipei’s Far Eastern Memorial Hospital, where he was later transferred to Panchiao Hospital for force-feeding. Despite Chen’s lack of interest in appealing, his lawyer Cheng Wen-long completed a motion seeking his release from detention and filed a notice of appeal of the court’s decision, along with a petition for constitutional interpretation to restrain actions violative of the Constitution.

Prosecutor General, Chen Tsung-ming said that after Chen’s case had been removed to the Taipei Local Court, he would re-file a petition for Chen’s detention. Chen and the main opposition DPP have accused President Ma Ying-jeou‘s administration of “using the scandals to plan a political plot against the former leader.”

Meanwhile, The Straits Times reported that “prosecutors are to investigate former President of the Republic of China and Chairman of the Kuomintang from 1988 to 2000, Lee Teng-hui on suspicion of money laundering, based on allegations made by Chen during his own questioning recently that his predecessor transferred large funds abroad through dummy accounts.” Mr. Lee angrily denied the accusations concerning “a suspected transfer of 50 million Taiwan dollars (US$2.26 million) to Mr Lee from a local stock investor via overseas dummy accounts.” Charges also included transactions made at the end of Lee’s tenure and at the beginning of Chen’s term, including “one billion Taiwan dollars that had been wired to various countries including Singapore.”

The China Post calls for calm and urges fair trial for Chen. “All the people should wait patiently for the outcome of the trial … They shouldn’t do anything to influence the judges in any way, because the rule of law in Taiwan is at stake. We should show the world that Taiwan is a democracy where anybody who commits a crime, be he a man on the street or a former president, is duly punished.” it said.