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Monday, July 16, 2007

In two separate incidents, men posing as members of the New York Police Department (NYPD), have invaded homes in the New York City area. In both cases, they robbed the residents, but in the most recent, they sexually assaulted a woman.

On Saturday, July 14, at 1:09 a.m. EDT (UTC-4), four men knocked on the door of a Yonkers, New York, apartment. The 33-year-old male that lives there opened the door, as the men outside wore NYPD hats and t-shirts, and had badges hanging around their necks.

The men promptly ordered the male victim to the floor. “When this guy pushed me, he had a gun in my face,” the victim said. “I could see the other guy. He motioned to the others, come on, let’s go, let’s go.” The intruders shouted “Where are the drugs?” as they ransacked the apartment.

Two of the men entered the bedroom and sexually assaulted the 30-year-old female. The couple has a five-year-old child, who was sleeping in another bedroom. “The more I resisted, the more he began to hit me,” the woman said. She said she was sexually assaulted by two of the men while her boyfriend was bound and guarded.

Police said the men then left with a cell phone, a laptop computer, a diamond ring and a gold chain. Police do not believe that they were real officers. As of this afternoon, no arrests have been made.

On Thursday, July 5, shortly after six p.m. in the East New York neighborhood of Brooklyn five men knocked on the door claiming to be “the police.” When the victims opened the door, they pushed their way in demanding the family give them drugs and money.

When police responded to a call reporting a robbery, they found the family, husband, wife and their daughter, tied up. The man suffered a head injury when he was pistol-whipped. Police say the robbers got away with a camera, jewelry, and US$5,000 in currency.

Neighbors told NY1 that they were stunned. “Frightened. Make you think twice before you want to open the door, you know,” said one of the neighbors. “Now you be asking for all this ID and stuff and even still you’re going to wonder, are they for real? So it’s kind of scary.”

There is no word about whether the two cases are connected. Yonkers is on the border of New York City, but is outside the jurisdiction of the NYPD.

Saturday, April 28, 2012

Mount Stromlo, Canberra — Earlier today, Capital Punishment, the Canberra based 50km and 100km mountain bike race, was unofficially won by Shaun Lewis in the 100km distance in about four hours. Official results are set to be announced tomorrow at cyclenation.com.au because of a minor computer glitch. In a parallel youth competition run as part of the event, Zoe Cuthbert won the girls 10 and 11 year old three lap event.

Last year’s event was marred by rain, but this year the weather was ideal with no precipitation. First time on site, paramedics Theodora Magar and Chris Runcher reported no serious injuries, only a few minor cuts and bruises with the exception of one dislocated collar bone. They were backed up by other medical personnel located on the course. Events started at 7:00 a.m. at Sparrow Hill for the 100km race and and on through Canberra’s downtown where the 50km started before going to the Black Mountain Reserve and the National Arboretum and ending at Mount Stromlo.

Capital Punishment was part of a series of seven races organized by CycleNation which between 6,000 and 8,000 total riders participated in. There were a variety of cyclists of different skill levels including former Australian national team members, casual cyclists like Michael Courtney and Tracey Kloos alongside youth cyclists like Zoe Cuthbert. 40 year old Courtney traveled from Sydney to ride, finishing the 50km race in about 4 hours, 30 minutes but not setting a personal best. He enjoys riding in Canberra and finds the pain of going up the hills worth the ride down. Kloos also participated in the 50km race as a member of the 20 strong Newcastle women’s based club, Newy Cogheads’s Team Torque Talk. In her second time in the race, she did not set a personal best.

Of the youth event, Cuthbert’s father Paul said his first place finishing daughter regularly participated in mountain biking events, with the sport being her primary one though she does play netball casually. The eleven year old was celebrating her birthday on race day.

Organizer Theo Grobler said most cyclists would be done by 3:00 p.m. Canberra Time (5:00 UTC) and that some would need the eight hours to complete the 100km course.

Another 50km and 100km race, the Convict 100, will be held in Australia in the Sydney area next weekend on Saturday with a start time of 6:00 a.m. Sydney Time (20:00 UTC).

Sunday, April 12, 2015

Seattle Sounders FC 2 (S2) association football club have maintained a streak with their third home win at Starfire Stadium in Tukwila, Washington last night, this time against Portland Timbers 2 (T2).

T2 struck first when defender Harrison Delbridge headed the ball in from a free kick in the 30th minute. Seattle responded with Pablo Rossi converting a penalty kick in the 47th minute and Giuliano Frano tapping a lobbed pass into the net in the 88th minute. Final score, 2–1 Seattle.

In the 30th minute, T2 midfielder Blair Gavin placed the ball nicely for Delbridge who connected cleanly with the ball to head it past S2 goalkeeper Charlie Lyon. At half, the game still stood with Portland in the lead 1–0. In the first minutes of the second half, S2 Andy Craven was pulled down in the penalty box by T2 Andy Thoma. Rossi was able to convert the penalty with a strong strike to the top left corner. T2 keeper Jake Gleeson was unable to stop the shot. Frano’s goal came in the 88th minute as he was able to chip the ball into the net after nice build up play by the Sounders. The Timbers did look dangerous on corners having earned 8 to Seattle’s 3.

The Timbers suffered their first loss of their season while the Sounders experienced their first ever comeback victory. This was also the first match between the two Cascadia rivals. T2 now stand at 7 points with a record of 2–1–1. S2 and Arizona United SC are now the only Western Conference teams still undefeated. Portland next faces defending champions Sacramento Republic FC away on Saturday, April 18 while Seattle hits the road to battle Tulsa Roughnecks FC on Thursday, April 16.

Thursday, September 21, 2017

On Monday night, New Jersey, US-based toy retail giant Toys R Us filed for bankruptcy in the US as well as in Canada. The retailer filed it from Richmond, Virginia for Chapter 11 bankruptcy code in the US, and a judge allowed a loan of over US$2 billion.

According to the filing, the retail chain owns US$6.6 billion in assets, but has a debt of US$7.9 billion. They were under a roughly US$5 billion debt since the company underwent a three-way acquisition in 2005. Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, Bain Capital, and Vornado Realty Trust acquired Toys R Us for around US$7 to US$7.5 billion. After the US judge approved a loan, Toys R Us received about US$3 billion from the lenders to continue the business and survive a competitive market, and restructure their business model. E-commerce giant Amazon.com, Walmart and Target are some of the competitors for the conventional ‘brick and mortar’ toy shop, with lower priced-merchandise and fast, cheap delivery. In a conference call in June, CEO Dave Brandon said “very, very aggressive pricing online” was causing problems. He also said the company was experiencing “significant weakness in demand for their products globally”. Toys R Us are to clear a debt of US$400 million by May 2018.

Toys R Us said they would continue to operate for the holiday season. Bankruptcy lawyer Jeff Gleit said Toys R Us “need to do both a financial restructuring as well as an operational restructuring” and “needs to modernize with the times”. Last holiday season, Toys R Us made sales around US$4.5 billion. Overall, the company reported a US$29 million loss in 2016. CEO Brandon said, “Our objective is to work with our debt holders and other creditors to restructure the US$5 billion of long-term debt on our balance sheet, which will provide us with greater financial flexibility to invest in our business”.

Toys R Us employs more than 60 thousand people in 38 countries around the world in more than 1600 stores. The company’s stocks fell by six percent after filing for Chapter 11 protection. US bankruptcy code Chapter 11 allows the company to restructure under a plan approved by the court. The company would also be shielded from creditors’ claims during the process. For the stores located in Canada, Toys R Us filed bankruptcy in Ontario and are to undergo reorganisation. However, 259 stores located outside the US or Canada will not undergo reorganisation, the company said.

Over 300 US-based retailers have filed for bankruptcy this year, and hundreds of stores closed.

Wednesday, March 21, 2018

On Monday, the United States ride-sharing company Uber announced suspension of its experimental self-driving car program after one of the cars fatally struck a 49-year-old woman pedestrian in Tempe, Arizona on Sunday night.

The company characterized the suspension of the program — in the Phoenix area and also in Pittsburgh; San Francisco; and Toronto, Canada — as a standard response in the wake of the accident. Uber released a statement that “Our hearts go out to the victim’s family. We are fully cooperating with local authorities in their investigation of this incident.” According to a spokeswoman, the company is also conducting its own investigation. It was reportedly the first time someone died in an incident involving a self-driving car.

Elaine Herzberg was hit at about 10 pm local time (UTC -7) on Sunday when she walked into the street with her bicycle about 100 yards or less from a crosswalk. She died later in hospital. The Volvo car was operating autonomously. Sylvia Moir, chief of police in Tempe, told the San Francisco Chronicle that according to the human operator in the vehicle — Rafaela Vasquez, 44 — “it was like a flash”, there was no time to override the computer to take evasive action, the first indication was the sound of impact.

The police stated the car was three miles per hour (mph) over a speed limit of 35 mph. According to Moir, recordings from the car’s video cameras indicated it would have been “difficult to avoid this collision in any kind of mode”. Moir told the San Francisco Chronicle that while she “[wouldn’t] rule out the potential to file charges” against Vasquez, “preliminarily it appears that the Uber would likely not be at fault in this accident”.

Uber started its Arizona self-driving test program in February 2017, using vehicles that had been banned in California due to safety concerns. The next month one was involved in a collision while in self-driving mode after another car failed to yield the right of way; the Uber SUV rolled on its side.

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Sunday, October 7, 2007

There are two things one can expect on a trip to see Michael Musto at the offices of the Village Voice: a 20-minute round-trip wait for the elevator and rapid fire answers from one of the most recognizable gossip columnists in the United States. Musto, in addition to his appearances on Countdown with Keith Olbermann and the E! network, has been writing his column for the Voice since 1984. He has recently compiled the best of them in a book released this year titled, La Dolce Musto: Writings by the World’s Most Outrageous Columnist. He was Carrie Bradshaw, replete with a prodigious use of puns, before Sex in the City was a thought. His column is a romp through his life, spats and opinions on socio-political issues. As David Thigpen of the Chicago Tribune wrote, Musto is “a funny and caustic satirist who masquerades as a gossip and nightlife columnist.”

Musto, a Columbia University graduate, is a rarity in today’s celebrity world: he is accessible. He often corresponds with his readers and his public functions are a mix of parties, nightclubs, academic lectures, university panels and film premieres.

He is friendly and frank, and he welcomes people to join him in his world (“I just got a message that Michael Lucas died!” he says staring wide-eyed at his phone; the message turned out to be false). Wikinews reporter David Shankbone spoke with Musto about his life and his relationship to the world of celebrity journalism. And he did not hold back.