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Thursday, June 23, 2011

Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou survived a confidence vote by the Greek parliament late Tuesday night, thus allowing Papandreou to form a new cabinet constituted to address Greece’s severe financial debt crisis. The vote’s outcome is viewed as a measure of confidence in the government’s ability to resolve the problems of the deeply-indebted nation and implement the stringent austerity measures necessary for Greece to receive future bailout packages from the European Union (EU).

Papandreou managed to face down internal dissent within his own Panhellenic Socialist Movement over the extremely unpopular austerity measures (he has said the measures are an issue of “life or death”) and the final vote of 155 to 143, with two abstentions, matched Papandreou’s 155 seats. Meanwhile, Greeks were angrily demonstrating against the measures outside, throwing bottles at the parliament building as riot police stood by.

Following the confidence vote, Greece will be in a position to look for further financial aid from the EU to avoid defaulting on its enormous debt, but help from the EU is dependent on the real work that must be done first: the Greek parliament’s implementation of the hugely unpopular austerity measures.

Government spokesman Elias Mossialos said in an interview with Skai Television before the vote that Greece will be unable to pay wages and pensions after July 15 if the government does not secure the EU financing.

The vote came in the midst weeks of widespread anti-austerity protests and strikes in major cities throughout Greece, involving clashes between police and demonstrators angry with the proposed slew of layoffs in the public sector which are to accompany the Socialist cabinet’s program.

On Wednesday, Pimco, the biggest bond fund in the world, said it was unimpressed with Tuesday’s vote of confidence, saying it believes Greece and perhaps other European economies will ultimately default on their debts. Mohamed El-Erian, chief executive of Pimco, said, “Nothing has been done to enhance growth. No single (Greek) indicator has shown strength.”

“For the next three years, we’re going to see different economies work out different problems. For European economies, especially Greece, it would be through default,” said Mohamed El-Erian in a video conference.

The euro fell against the dollar on Wednesday as financial markets indicated that the eurozone debt crisis is far from over.

George Papandreou gave an emotional speech to parliament on Wednesday, saying “We have a unique opportunity (to change the country). If we falter, if we lose heart and squander it… history will judge us very harshly.”

Meanwhile, when the new austerity measures move to parliament for a vote, Greece’s major unions are planning to hold a 48-hour general strike.

Wednesday, October 4, 2006

The US Army Corps of Engineers decision to place restrictions on issuance of nationwide pollution permits has been upheld by a federal court. In National Association of Home Builders v. Army Corps of Engineers, the District Court for the District of Columbia found that the Corps of Engineers had not acted in an “arbitrary” or “capricious” manner in changing the terms and conditions for issuance of a national pollution permit, including reducing the size of area into which pollutants may be discharged from 10 acres to 1 acre, raising the threshold for requiring additional permits from 1 acre to 1/10 acre,

A nationwide permit allows an organization to engage in certain industrial activities on a national basis (such as mining and construction), reducing the amount of paperwork and filings needed for otherwise minor environmental impacts, as opposed to an ordinary permit for a specific location which will engage in activities which generate water pollution.

Due to concerns over the amount of discharge taking place in waterways, the Corps of Engineers began in the 1980s to reduce the authority granted by nationwide permits and to bar use of the permits in certain ecologically sensitive areas.

Some industry groups, including the plaintiff in the above case, The National Association of Home Builders, sued the Corps of Engineers in 2000 over the change in an attempt to block its implementation. Environmental groups, including the Sierra Club, were given permission to intervene in the case in support of the actions of the Corps.

Environmental groups were pleased with the decision, but are concerned over other actions of the Bush Administration, such as the attempts to weaken provisions of the 2002 Clean Water Act to allow additional dumping of construction and mining waste into waterways as fill material.

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

The Iranian police forces have faced criticism from Ayatollah Hashemi Shahrudi, the head of the judiciary who was appointed by Grand Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, for their re-invigorated campaign to do away with un-Islamic dress.

Ayatollah Shahroudi proclaimed, “Tough measures on social problems will backfire and have counter-productive effects.” Others have, of course, made it clear that un-Islamic dress can lead to moral corruption, engender innumerable vices, and hurt the Islamic character of the nation.

Some believe that no one had any issue with the creation of an Islamic atmosphere. The core of the matter revolves around the implementation of the Islamic dress code; additionally, heavy-handed measures should be shunned. For instance, Mehdi Ahmadi, information head of Tehran’s police, told Al Jazeera: “Some citizens may complain about the way the law is being enforced but they all agree with the plan itself.”

According to one student, “You simply can’t tell people what to wear. They don’t understand that use of force only brings hatred towards them, not love.” Nevertheless, Hojatoll-Islam Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi, Iran’s interior minister who is in charge of policing, prognosticated positive feedback from the populace when he said, “People are unhappy with the social and moral status of the society. They expect that the fight against social insecurity be properly implemented.” Thus, Hujjat al-Islam Pour-Mohammadi re-iterated the necessity of proper implementation and methodology towards the restoration of morality in the Islamic Republic. Islamic officials and religious people affirm that this is indispensable to promote righteousness, curb sin, and bring open sinners to justice.

Following the Islamic Revolution in 1979, hijab became mandatory in Iran for every woman including foreigners after over 98% of citizens voted for an Islamic government. Women may face caning up to 74 strokes for failing to observe hijab. In this recent crackdown, the authorities have arrested many citizens throughout the country. Not only have women been taken into custody for their hair being uncovered on their foreheads and tight clothes that show body shapes, For men they need to cover from knee to their waist as according to Sharia. Even a foreign journalist was detained because the photograph on her press card was indecent.

It has not been clear whence the directive for the re-newed clampdown emanated. Some have blamed Mahmoud Ahmadinejad while Gholam Hossein Elham, the government spokesman, stated to reporters, “The police work as agents of the judiciary to confront crimes. The government as an executive body does not interfere in the affairs of the judiciary.” The following pre-election speech seems to corroborate this latter statement:

Friday, September 3, 2010

On Wednesday, Microsoft announced that the next version of Windows Mobile OS series, Windows Phone 7, had been released to manufacturing after more than 6 months of its development. The announcement outlined some of the changes in this version, and was generally positive about the milestone.

The term “release to manufacturing”, also known as “going gold”, is a term used to indicate that the software has reached a point that it is ready to be provided to the customer. After the event, Windows Phone 7 code has been locked down. The work in progress is the testing of Windows Phone 7 on other hardware, software, and networks. The structure of the system itself is not expected to be changed any more before the final release. “We are ready,” Terry Myerson said.

“Today is the day that the Windows Phone team has been driving towards, and we’re very excited to say that we’ve reached the biggest milestone for our internal team – the release to manufacturing (RTM) of Windows Phone 7”, Terry Myerson announced in a post on the official Windows Phone Blog.

The internal testing of the system had been finished. It included usage of the operating system by the development team itself on regular basis, and millions of hours of automated tests daily, as Terry Myerson said: “We had nearly ten thousand devices running automated tests daily, over a half million hours of active self-hosting use, over three and a half million hours of stress test passes, and eight and a half million hours of fully automated test passes.”

The system is now named “Windows Phone” instead of “Windows Mobile”, with a redesigned user interface and a changed development environment, which is called “Windows Phone Developer Tools”. It features a combination of Silverlight, XNA technologies, and Visual Studio 2010 to make use of these possible in the applications developers create.

Microsoft did not confirm any planned commercial release date, calling October as an optimistic estimate.

Wednesday, May 10, 2006

According to the Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms Agency or ATF, at least 686 sticks of dynamite and at least 30 pounds of ammonium nitrate were stolen from Gold Mountain Mine Company in Big Bear City, California located in San Bernardino County. Fuel oil and mining equipment are also among the items stolen. When combined, the fuel oil and ammonium nitrate become combustible and authorities fear what could be done with the explosives.

“The obvious concern is someone stole it, and what are they going to do with it? This is a quantity of explosives that could do significant damage. We need to recover these items,” said John D’Angelo, spokesman for the ATF.

The thieves cut locks on the gate that leads to the facility and then cut the locks on a metal storage bin and stole its contents and everything inside the facility. The man responsible for mining operations in the area does so as a hobby. The robbery was reported on May 3.

“We urge anyone who has information about this theft to contact ATF and the San Bernardino Sheriff’s Department. Our job is to keep the public safe. We take the theft of explosives extremely seriously, and we will relentlessly follow up every lead until we solve the case,” said John A. Torres who is the special agent in charge of the ATF in Los Angeles.

Authorities have offered a $25,000 reward for information about the crime that leads to an arrest and conviction.

Monday, October 1, 2007

Brian Jackson is running for the Ontario Liberal Party in the Ontario provincial election, in the Oxford riding. Wikinews’ Nick Moreau interviewed him regarding his values, his experience, and his campaign.

Stay tuned for further interviews; every candidate from every party is eligible, and will be contacted. Expect interviews from Liberals, Progressive Conservatives, New Democratic Party members, Ontario Greens, as well as members from the Family Coalition, Freedom, Communist, Libertarian, and Confederation of Regions parties, as well as independents.

Saturday, April 12, 2008

According to reports, authorities in Belgium have seized documents, financial records and computer equipment from the local branch of the Church of Scientology (Church) and then sealed off the building.

The reports state that the Church in Belgium is being investigated for extortion and fraud for allegedly posting false job openings in newspapers and then attempting to get those who applied to join the Church. Several ex-members of the Church have also reportedly approached authorities with accusations of intimidation and extortion.

Police in Belgium have been investigating the Church for nearly ten years which resulted in the raid on Thursday.

In a statement to the press, the Church says that the police “violated their fundamental rights” as a religious organization and accused the police of “malicious justice operations.” The Church plans to contest any charges filed against it. They also state that the postings were requests for volunteers and not employees.

So far no arrests have been made, but some employees of the Church were detained and questioned by police.

The building remains closed as of publication.

Thursday, December 20, 2007

The man who died while riding the Expedition Everest roller coaster at Walt Disney World‘s Animal Kingdom indeed had prior medical conditions, Orlando, Florida officials say.

The Orange County medical examiner determined in a Tuesday autopsy that 44-year-old Navarre, Florida man Jeffery Reed had an existing heart condition.

The Walt Disney World website for the ride says:

Similar signs exist at the entrance to the ride.

The man was given CPR after being pulled off the ride unconscious, and was taken in an ambulance to Celebration Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Reed was believed to have been conscious at least 50 seconds before the ride ended, when a camera took a picture of him. Cameras are sometimes placed on roller coasters so that riders can buy a photo of themselves as they go down a hill.

Orlando Sentinel columnist Mike Thomas commented, that “when millions of people walk through your parks every year, it is a statistical certainty that some of them will die. When that happens on a ride, we often tell you about it under a banner headline. It becomes a worldwide story. But if you did the math, you would find that per capita no more people die in Disney than in any other large gathering place.”

There was no defibrillator available to Disney employees when the man collapsed, and paramedics took five minutes to arrive with such equipment. Disney has 500 defibrillators at its resort, however only two are at the Animal Kingdom park. Neither are stored at rides.

Disney has said it will order 200 more defibrillators, which for the most part will be placed at public restrooms, ensuring they are easily identifiable. Restrooms are also statistically one of the most likely places for seniors to die; these deaths are referred to by paramedics as a “commode code”.

Police originally identified the man as “Jeffery Reed”, where his name was actually “Jeffery Chalmers Reeb”; the name on police reports was correct, however.

Since 1989, 15 people have died while riding on rides at the park; many who have died on park rides have had prior aliments.

A four-year-old who died on the Body Wars ride in 1995 had a cardiac conduction defect, which is a congenital heart condition; the mother insisted the girl had no history of health problems, but relatives told officials that the girl was being treated at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston for undisclosed reasons.

Autopsy of a boy who died on Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster in 2006 found he too had a congenital heart problem. In 2006, a 49-year-old German tourist died in a hospital after she fell ill on the Mission: Space ride, from bleeding brain caused by high blood pressure, not provoked by the ride.