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Tuesday, November 10, 2009

China has loaned Ethiopia US$349 million worth of funds for the construction of the the country’s first modern expressway, making Ethiopia among the first beneficiaries of the recently implemented China-Africa development funding plan.

The road is to be close to 80 kilometres long, and will connect Nazaret (also called Adama), the country’s second-largest city, with the capital, Addis Ababa.

Funds from the Export-Import Bank of China are to be used to give the loans, according to the agreement. The deal was signed by Li Ruogu, the president of China’s Export-Import Bank, and Ahmed Shide, the Ethiopian state minister of finance and economic development.

According to the Ethiopian News Agency, the motorway is to be completed by 2014. The country has also agreed to other financial deals with China, mainly in the telecommunications and energy sectors.

Tuesday, February 6, 2007

San Jose, California –Cell phones, cigarette lighters and glowsticks are raised in tribute as Circle of Life begins playing. Soon cheers drown out the song as the multicoloured performers appear on stage. A somewhat unusual introduction; but this is no ordinary show, and these are no ordinary attendees. This is Further Confusion, the second largest furry convention in the world.

The volunteer organizers have something to cheer about, too; Furry fans have gathered from far and wide at the DoubleTree Hotel to indulge their love of anthropomorphics, and Further Confusion’s 9th year is its largest, with a paid attendance of 2061. Their gains mirror those of Midwest FurFest, a similar convention held in Schaumburg, Illinois which grew 35% last November.

Both events feature art shows and auctions, live puppetry performance, masquerades, variety shows, games and parades, as well as panels that range from science and technology to society, sex and spirituality. Filling out the schedule, the hotel walls are lined with announcements of public and private room parties for separate groups. At night, the disco floor fills with dancing cats, dogs, and dragons.

For some, dressing up plays a large part of the convention – almost 300 brought a full costume. There are few professional mascots here, though, and only one or two of the costumes would be recognized by even the most avid cartoon-watcher. Instead, each act is planned and performed by other attendees, wearing “fursuits” of their own design. Many play off the year’s secret-agent theme — “Fur Your Eyes Only”.

Other fans seem content to restrict themselves to small accessories — perhaps some combination of paws, ears, or tail. Each fur bears a 3″x2″ badge detailing their personal character, or “fursona“. Often these characters are better-known than the people who play them.

It may seem lighthearted, even frivolous, but these conventions are becoming big business. Furry fans spent over $180,000 for lodging during the five days (Jan 18-22) of Further Confusion, and another $50,000 at the art auction. Attendees also purchase all manner of merchandise from attending dealers and artists, from on-the-spot art commissions and comic books of all ratings to prints, sculptures, and plush toys – even their very own fluffy tail.

Of course, any business has risk, and conventions can drain wallets when the sums just don’t add up. The first furry con, ConFurence in Southern California, ran successfully for over a decade, but cost its new organizer an estimated $60,000 in its last four years due to falling attendance before folding in 2003.

Anthropomorphic Arts and Education board member Peter Torkelson says that won’t happen to Further Confusion. Indeed, the convention ran a healthy surplus of almost $30,000 on $125,000 revenue last year, allowing it to pay off the last of its old debts and save for the future. As Torkelson explains: “The idea is if for some reason, say an earthquake happens, and it cripples the revenue stream, the convention will be able to survive into the next year. It does help our staff to know that we have [a reserve].”

The reserve also gives AAE the financial flexibility to fund charities throughout the year, a big part of its 501(c)(3) mandate. Over the nine years of the convention, attendees have raised over $60,000 for a variety of animal sanctuaries, wildlife refuges, and the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.

Further Confusion’s hopes for the future are high. Chairwoman Laura Cherry noted that, unlike previous years, the board has “gone all out” for next year’s tenth anniversary, booking as many rooms as the hotel could offer. The host for 2009 has yet to be decided, but for many fans the question was not whether the current hotel will reach a limit, but when – and where – the convention will find a new home.

Sunday, May 7, 2006

Paris, France -Protesters marched denouncing the new copyright bill, known as DADVSI.Opponents to the bill contend that the broad civil and criminal penalties that it enacts in order to fight illegal online copying of copyrighted works will in fact have a chilling effect on a variety of unrelated developments, especially in free software. More than 160,000 people signed the anti-DADVSI petition from EUCD.info, a watchdog group fighting developments of the EU Copyright Directive.

The protest, uniting elected officials, representatives from computing and Internet organisations, political groups, and simple citizens, walked in a festive and peaceful atmosphere from the Place de la Bastille (site of the former royal prison) to the Ministry of Culture. It was organized by a variety of associations, including StopDRM,APRIL , the Odebi league, Audionautes, various free software and Linux user groups, and sponsored by the French Communist Party and its young adult affiliate organisation, the youngs of the French Socialist Party, the youngs of the centrist Union for French Democracy, the young Greens. All the sponsors of this march are listed here. Depending on estimates, between 300 and 800 people marched, a low number by French standards.

The DADVSI law, among other issues, enacts an extensive protection of copyrighted content online and a protection of digital rights management techniques, including civil and criminal penalties for help in circumventing them. Opponents contend that the bill, depending on how it is amended in the French Senate, could in effect criminalise the writing of players compatible with new online distribution formats for music, video or even text, and thus make such content unplayable on systems such as Linux, thereby generating a monopoly for established suppliers.

Supporters of the bill, such as cinema and recording industry groups, contend that strong measures are needed to thwart online copying, which, according to them, is responsible for important losses of sales and revenue. They deny the risks for free software and other freedoms, claiming that, despite vague provisions, the law will be enforced wisely by the judiciary. They claim that new online legal commercial downloading platforms will flourish when peer-to-peer copying has stopped.

The bill is due to be examined in the Senate this week. Then, under the fast track procedure requested by the government, it may be signed into law by president Jacques Chirac after a mixed commission merges the text from the Senate and the lower house of Parliament, the National Assembly. Opponents have already indicated they would mount a constitutional challenge before the Constitutional Council. The bill, when it was examined by the National Assembly, proved divisive; the ruling UMP party was split on the issue, some even sponsoring a “legal licence” which would enable French Internet users to copy copyrighted content legally, provided they would pay a flat fee which would be split between the rights holder.

Protesters, as well as deputies from all parties, contend that major lobbies influenced the bill’s passage. Some amendments were nicknamed Vivendi Universal, from the name of a major record company that allegedly suggested it. Protesters recalled that Minister of Culture Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres was convicted of money laundering in 2004.

A compilation of brief news reports for Tuesday, April 3, 2007.

On Monday, the United States said it sent an official inquiry to Iran via Swiss diplomats about a former FBI agent who went missing while in Iran on private business. He is believed to have gone missing several weeks ago on the island of Kish. The FBI say he has not worked for them in a decade nor is he a contractor for them. A US State Department spokesperson declined to give name, age or occupation of the missing man. The spokesperson also said that they have no indication that he is being held by any Iranian entity.

Sources

• Sue Pleming. “U.S. says former FBI agent missing in Iran” — Reuters, April 2, 2007
• Matthew Lee, AP. “Former FBI agent missing in Iran” — USA Today, April 2, 2007
• “Former FBI agent reported missing in Iran” — CNN, April 2, 2007

In early action, Asian and Oceanian markets rose while the markets pondered the impact of the United States-South Korea free trade agreement. In Japanese markets, Monday’s fears that the Institute for Supply Management‘s report would say manufacturing growth slowed more than forecast in March actually came true. However, “US markets turned out more stable than people feared yesterday and that prompted buying back of large-cap stocks,” said Yoshihisa Okamoto of Fuji Investment Management Co. in Tokyo.

Sources

• “Asian markets push ahead” — Reuters, April 2,2007
• Makiko Suzuki. “Japanese Stocks Advance; Matsushita, Mitsubishi UFJ Lead Gains” — Bloomberg L.P., April 3, 2007

Gary McKinnon of Britain lost his appeal challenging an extradition order to face charges in the United States that he hacked into military and NASA computers there. “We do not find any grounds of appeal against the decision,” said one of the judges, Lord Justice Maurice Kay.In what has been called the “biggest military hack of all time,” McKinnon allegedly used the code-name Solo as he hacked into 97 computers and caused $700,000 worth of damage according to US prosecutors. In 2006, he told The Guardian that he was searching for evidence the Americans might have about UFOs.

Related news

• “UK hacker faces extradition to US” — Wikinews, May 10, 2006

Sources

• “British hacker loses U.S. extradition appeal” — Reuters, April 3, 2007
• Mark Tran. “Briton loses extradition fight over US military hacking” — Guardian Unlimited, April 3, 2007

The US Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that carbon dioxide should be regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The majority opinion said that the EPA had offered “no reasoned explanation” for refusing to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from cars. Previously the EPA had argued that the 1970 Clean Air Act did not give it the powers to regulate green house gases because they were not deemed to be pollutants. Twelve states and several environmental groups jointly brought the case against the EPA, contending that it was failing in its legal duty to regulate environmental pollution by not regulating green house gas emissions.

Sources

• Robert Barnes and Juliet Eilperin. “Supreme Court: EPA Can Regulate Car Emissions” — Washington Post Online, April 2, 2007
• “US ‘must regulate car pollution’” — BBC News Online, April 2, 2007

Friday, April 25, 2008

In March, Wikinews held an exclusive interview with Max Riekse, one of the candidates for the Constitution Party nomination for the 2008 United States presidential election. With the Constitution Party’s national convention underway this weekend, we spoke with him one last time before he either becomes his party’s candidate or loses.

Riekse is a retired decorated Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Army who served in both the Vietnam War and the Iraq War. He is also a former public school teacher and Assistant Professor of Military Science at Western Michigan University. He has a B.A. in Political Science and International Relations from the University of South Florida as well as two M.A.s, one in Political Science and International Relations, the other in Education and History. Both are from Western Michigan University.

We asked him if he thinks he has a good shot at winning the Constitution Party nomination and ultimately the presidency. He replied, “I will know Saturday the 26th if I win the nomination of the Constitution Party. As to wining the general election, I’m very sure that I will do far better then we have done in the previous 20 years as a ‘third’ party. I’m not only more qualified to be commander in chief then either the Democrat or Republican, but will be far better for the country.”

When asked about America’s illegal immigration problem he replied, “I will send all 20 to 30 million home. End birth right babies; no social security for them, etc. They are here illegally; now what part of that does anyone not understand?”

Riekse is running for president because “the Republicans and Democrats would not be having candidates that would solve the problems we have in this country and I know that I could do a lot better with my 32 years of military experience and over 20 years in Education, both in the K-12 public school venue and teaching at the University level.”