Thursday, April 3, 2008
A reporter from Wikinews recently interviewed Jim Babka, chair of Libertarian organization Downsize DC. The organization claims to have arranged for 22,158 people to send a message regarding the “American Freedom Agenda Act” proposed by Ron Paul, in addition to supporting many other laws. The full text of the interview can be found below.
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Police reports say that a car bomb containing nearly 50kg of explosives, has detonated in the Pakistani city of Peshawar on Saturday, killing at least 11 people and injuring at least 30 others. The bomb exploded at a busy road in the Kashkal area. According to police, a school bus was passing at the time of the detonation which resulted in many of the deaths being children.
Around seventeen cars were damaged by the explosion, five of them catching fire.
“We received nine dead bodies. Two more people expired later. The condition of two people among the 31 injured is serious,” Doctor Hameed Afridi told the Agence France-Presse news agency from the main Peshawar hospital. According to a list of victims that was signed by Afridi, five men, four children aged eight to seventeen years old, and two women were among the casualties.
“We were sitting in our showroom when there was a huge blast,” said Mohammad Anis, the owner of a car showroom located near where the incident took place. “When I came out, I saw fire and smoke everywhere around me.”
No one or group has claimed responsibility for the blast.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Peruvian highway police said that two thousand tourists have been stranded near the ruins of the ancient Machu Picchu citadel, after torrential rains caused mudslides, blocking the train route that goes from the site to Cusco.
Soledad Caparo, a spokeswoman for Perurail commented that the train operator suspended service earlier today, and is trying to remove the mud that is blocking the rail.
The last leg of the trip from Machu Picchu to Cusco is only possible by rail; Peruvian Tourism Minister Martin Perez remarked that the government might try to evacuate those stranded via helicopter.
The Vilcanota and Rio Blanco rivers located nearby, meanwhile both have overflowed, flooding hundreds of hectares of corn crop and fifty homes, according to officials. The Cusco-Abancay highway was also blocked due to the overflowing Yanama, with vehicle traffic lining up, unable to get through. Two people were killed by the rains.
Monday, June 25, 2018
On Saturday, the plastic ban in the Indian state of Maharashtra came into force. In an attempt to minimise pollution, the state government has introduced a ban on single-use plastics.
The leader of the Yuya Sena political party, Aaditya Thackeray, said on Twitter, “The ban on single use disposable plastic cups, plastic bags, plastic straws, plastic plates and cutlery, styrofoam cutlery and non woven bags”. He added, “these are global issues now and we have taken a step to combat it”.
Plastic pollution has led to the choking of drains, marine pollution and a risk of animals consuming plastics. This year, India’s motto for World Environment Day — June 5 — was “Beat Plastic Pollution”. People violating the plastic ban are to face a fine of 5,000 Indian Rupees (INR) for the first offence. For the second offence, the fine is INR 10,000 and the third time offence is INR 25,000 and a three-month prison term. Deputy municipal commissioner Nidhi Choudhary said, “To weed out corruption, we plan to give inspectors payment gadgets for electronic receipts of the fines”.
The Maharashtra government has given a 90-day period for manufacturers to dispose of existing polyethylene terephthalate (PET/PETE) plastic spoons and plates, while shopkeepers and citizens in general have six months to dispose of plastics. However, the ban does not prohibit plastic usage for wrapping medicines or milk cartons thicker than 50 microns.
The state government had announced the decision for the plastic ban on March 23. According to NDTV’s report, Maharashtra is the eighteenth Indian state to enforce a state-wide plastic ban. Aaditya Thackeray also said, “I congratulate the citizens for making this into a movement, even before the ban was enforceable, giving up single use disposable plastic.”
| Wikinews Audio Briefs Credits |
|---|
| Produced By |
| Turtlestack |
| Recorded By |
| Turtlestack |
| Written By |
| Turtlestack |
| Listen To This Brief |
Problems? See our media guide. |
Monday, September 28, 2009
McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton won yesterday’s Formula One Grand Prix at the Marina Bay Street Circuit in Singapore.
Toyota driver Timo Glock took second place after starting seventh on the grid. Previous Singapore GP winner Fernando Alonso took the last spot on the podium for Renault, having started one place ahead of Glock.
Sebastian Vettel came in fourth for Red Bull after a drive-through penalty for speeding in the pit lane. His teammate Mark Webber, suffering from brake trouble, span off and retired on lap 45. Both Toro Rosso cars also retired due to mechanical problems.
Vettel was chased by both Brawns of Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello, the current leaders of this season. Hamilton’s teammate Heikki Kovalainen secured seventh place for McLaren. The top eight was closed by Robert Kubica of BMW Sauber.
Monday this week saw a conclusion of the “crashgate” scandal around Renault, as the World Motor Sport Council gave the team a two-year suspended ban. This was for a deliberate crash at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix. Former team boss Flavio Briatore was banned for life from any FIA-sanctioned event and was replaced by Bob Bell on this post and chief engineer Pat Symonds was banned for five years. The Renault team also lost two sponsors this week: ING Group and Mutua Madrileña.
Following the race Jenson Button still leads the Championship with 84 points. Button’s teammate Barrichello is 15 points behind, and Brawn are the leading team with 153 points. Vettel is 10 points behind Barrichello and is the only competitor from another team who has a mathematical chance to win the championship. Red Bull are 42.5 and other teams more than 90 points behind Brawn.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Local municipal and provincial volunteers in Manitoba, Canada are exhausted in their efforts to divert the rising waters of the Red River of the North.
It has been hard work with little sleep for the residents who live on the shores of the Red River to shore up their defences with sandbags, build dikes, clear frozen culverts and break ice jams
Volunteers to spell relief for local volunteers and food are desperately needed.
“It’s a week now we’ve been doing this … you’re talking four, five, six public works guys. In my one community we’ve got 25 volunteer firefighters and those guys have been going 24/7, so of course it’s wearing them down.” said Paul Guyader, Manitoba’s emergency measures coordinator.
“We’re dealing with one of the biggest floods the province has ever seen,” said Steve Strang, mayor of St. Clements, Manitoba “We’ve put out hundreds of thousands of bags already. The municipalities are working very well, we’re working with the provincial government, we’ve brought in every possible resource we could to address this issue. The volunteerism within the community has been phenomenal.”
The Portage Diversion has taken some spring waters from the Assiniboine River and diverted the flow to Lake Manitoba.
Roseau River Anishinabe First Nation has been totally evacuated, as well as many homes near the Canada – United States border.
The cold weather is freezing the ice jams into place. Guyader has had 2 Amphibex Excavators operating on the river breaking up ice.
The Red River is right now 16.7 feet (5 metres) above spring ice conditions. The Red River Floodway gates cannot be opened with the current ice jams.
“If we operate now, we can get ice jamming going into the floodway, jamming up against the St. Mary’s bridge, as such, the floodway capacity would be reduced and would cause higher water levels in the city of Winnipeg.” said Steve Topping, Manitoba Water Stewardship spokesman
The floodway was constructed in 1968 following the 1950 flood to divert the overflow spring flooding waters of the Red River. The floodway has been widened the since the 1997 “flood of the century” and the expansion is expected to be completed this spring. As well Manitoba built permanent dikes around communities within the flood plain since the last two major floods..
The Red River waters will crest between the beginning of April to mid April, at which time also the weather should be warming up. Communities are bracing for higher water levels, more ice jams as well as melting snow in the warmer spring temperatures.
Sunday, June 19, 2016
Microsoft announced on Thursday they are partnering with KIND Financial to help governments track the production and distribution of legal marijuana. Kind Financial, a California-based start-up company, began selling its Agrisoft Seed to Sale software three years ago. Microsoft is admitting Kind’s software on the Government portion of its Azure cloud service.
Although Kind Financial CEO David Dinenberg stressed to The Guardian they “absolutely do not touch the plant”, his company does business with growers and distributors of marijuana, as well as the governments that regulate it. State law in twenty-five US states — but not US federal law — has legalized marijuana, whether medicinally or for recreational use. Kimberly Nelson, Microsoft executive director of state and local government solutions, said they expect significant demand for technology to help states make sure cannabis distribution within their state is done according to their laws.
Kind also provides kiosks similar to automated tellers (ATMs) to facilitate marijuana transactions in dispensaries. The distribution of marijuana is often done only with cash or through machines like the ones Kind offers since many banks in the United States shy away from the marijuana industry entirely. Microsoft is not interacting with this part of Kind’s operations, however.
Microsoft and Kind will apply for contracts with state governments for their software. Currently, they have applied to Puerto Rico, a US territory, where medical marijuana has recently been made legal. BioTrackTHC, a company similar to Kind Financial, already has contracts with Washington, New Mexico, and Illinois.
Dinenberg said his company’s partnership with Microsoft is a major step in advancing the legitimacy of cannabis-related businesses.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
The mystery of the location of a viewpoint used by English painter John Constable has been solved, after nearly 200 years. The Stour Valley and Dedham Church was painted in Suffolk, England, between 1814 and 1815, but changes to the landscape meant that the spot he chose was not known, despite the best efforts of historians and art experts.
Now the puzzle has been answered. Martin Atkinson, who works for the National Trust as property manager for East Suffolk, used clues from the painting and looked at old maps to track down the viewpoint. Trees had grown, a hedgerow had been planted and boundaries had moved or disappeared, but Atkinson eventually worked out where Constable had stood. He said, “When I discovered that I had worked out the location where Constable painted this particular masterpiece, I couldn’t believe it. All the pieces of the jigsaw finally fitted together.”
Atkinson used an 1817 map of East Bergholt, where Constable grew up, as a reference point, but found that the view would have changed not long after the painting was completed. “The foreground didn’t fit at all, it was quite unusual as we know Constable painted it in the open air so he would have been standing in the scene. The hedgerow in his work no longer exists and there’s another hedgerow that runs across the scene today which wasn’t there. When you stand on the road on which he would have stood, and use the oak tree as a reference point, you see the same view. It’s great to see where an old master stood – and be inspired by the same view,” he said.
Suffolk, where Constable painted many of his finest paintings, is often called “Constable country”. Most, but not all, of the locations that Constable depicted are known. The picture is now housed in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts.
Wednesday, June 28, 2006
| Wikinews Australia has in-depth coverage of this issue: Australian industrial relations legislation, 2005 |
According to initial estimates by New South Wales police and unions, 30,000 people have rallied at Blacktown Showground in Western Sydney to protest the federal government’s Workchoices workplace reforms. Organisers had expected around 15,000 protesters to attend.
The rally at Blacktown is one of many to be held around Australia today as part of a “National Day of Action” to “protect worker’s rights at work” according to unions.
The Blacktown rally saw masses of truck drivers, construction workers, teachers and police officers carrying banners and flags signalling their discontent at the federal government’s reforms.
Many of the workers were joined by their families, chanting to the federal government “Your workplace changes have to go.”
Speaking to protesters in Western Sydney, John Robertson, secretary of Unions New South Wales said the federal government had stripped away 100 years of worker’s rights.”These laws are direct attacks on hard-working Australians who are trying to pay off a home, provide for their kids’ futures and have a bit of economic security,” Mr Robertson said.
“It’s in the suburbs and regional Australia that the impact of these laws will be felt – stripping away job security, penalty rates, time with family and wage rates.”
The NSW Premier’s department has encouraged state government employees to attend the rallies to show their anger at the workplace reforms. As such, schools are mainly providing supervision today so parents can attend rallies, with many teachers also in attendance.
Employees of Australia Post, a company wholly owned by the federal government, have been warned that unauthorised absences will result in disciplinary action being taken.
Speaking earlier today, Federal Workplace Relations Minister, Kevin Andrews said he expected most workers would not join the protests. “The reality is that most people are not going to do it because they know that we have delivered, as a government, a period of relative prosperity in Australia,” said Mr Andrews.
“Part of the way we have done that has been to have the courage to engage in the reforms so we can meet the challenges of the future.”