Monday, September 24, 2007

Marion Schaffer is running for the Green Party of Ontario in the Ontario provincial election, in the Oakville riding. Wikinews’ Nick Moreau interviewed her regarding her values, her experience, and her 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.

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Metronet, a company set up to manage the upgrade of three-quarters of London’s tube network, has gone into administration (which is similar to Chapter 11 in the United States) after having accrued debts of up to £2 billion, following the decision on Monday to limit the amount of extra funds that the company would receive from public funds.

A notice on the Metronet website announced that the Boards of both Metronet BCV (responsible for the upgrade of the Bakerloo, Central and Victoria lines) and Metronet SSL (responsible for upgrade of the ‘sub-surface’ lines) had asked the Mayor to seek the appointment of a PPP Administrator. The statement says that the decision follows a period of ‘financial uncertainty’, with the decision of the arbiter leaving Metronet “unable to carry out its contract”.

Metronet’s shareholders, the companies Atkins, Balfour Beatty, Bombardier, EDF Energy and Thames Water had blocked access to an extra funds, and each have a limited liability of £350 million, their original equity stake.

Transport for London have reassured the public that tube services will not be affected – Metronet is not responsible for day-to-day operation – but it is so far unclear what will happen to the upgrade contracts.

Thursday, May 5, 2011

Officials from France’s aviation accident investigation agency, the Bureau of Enquiry and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety (BEA), announced on Tuesday that they had recovered the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) of Air France Flight 447. It was located and brought to the surface by a Remora 6000 unmanned submarine, then taken aboard the Île de Sein, one of the vessels taking part in the recovery and salvage efforts.

This came two days after an announcement on Sunday that the crash-survivable memory unit of the flight data recorder (FDR) of the aircraft had been located and brought to the surface. The chassis of the FDR was located on April 27, with the memory unit missing. It was found a short distance from the chassis. It was also brought to the surface by the Remora 6000.

With the recovery of both recorders, which are reported to be “in good condition”, French officials hope to determine what caused the Airbus A330-200 to crash into the Atlantic Ocean on June 1, 2009, when it departed Rio de Janeiro’s Galeão International Airport before it was lost 600 miles (965 km) off the coast of Brazil en route to Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Airport with 228 passengers and crew on board.

The leading theory at the moment is that the crew received incorrect air speed readings from the aircraft’s pitot tubes, devices which measure how fast the aircraft is traveling. Experts say the tubes may have become iced over, causing the crash. The plane’s Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS) sent out 24 messages over a four-minute long period stating numerous problems and warnings, including incorrect air speed warnings occurring aboard the aircraft, just prior to it going down.

However, chief operating officer of the International Bureau of Aviation, Phil Seymour, speaking to CNN, believes the memory unit will not be of much use to investigators saying because of the depth it was located at, “If you were to throw a computer into the ocean, imagine how all the parts would eventually split and you have the corrosive effects of seawater and the depths involved.” Seymour believes the wreckage will help reveal what happened as more is recovered.

“It may be that the more wreckage they find will help them to piece it all together, which bit by bit could help them build a picture of what caused the plane to come down,” he added.

A BEA spokesperson had agreed with that possibility a few days earlier when speaking to the Associated Press about the recovery of the flight data recorder. “We can’t say in advance that we’re going to be able to read it until it’s been opened,” the spokesperson said. As

The wreckage of the Airbus A330-200, was found back on April 8 at a depth of 3,800 and 4,000 meters (2,070 to 2,190 fathoms or 12,467 feet and 13,123 feet), by a team from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, using a Remus robotic submarine and its side-scan sonar. After the wreckage was found, another Remus robot submarine with cameras was sent down to the site, where it filmed bodies in the wreckage. The location of the recorders were localized within 2 square miles (5 square kilometers) of the flight’s last position last year.

In March, a French judge placed the European aircraft maker Airbus and Air France under investigation for possible involuntary manslaughter charges in the 2009 crash. Both are paying the cost of the search which is estimated to be $12.7 million (nine million euro). The crash is the deadliest in Air France’s history.

Thursday, May 10, 2012

On Monday in Canberra, the Australian government released its annual budget, one that promises a A$1.5 billion surplus for the year, but little was said of the potential impact of the budget on Australian sport in an Olympic year when Australia is looking to earn the fewest medals since the 1996 Games in Atlanta. There were no apparent surprises for the sports sector in Australia in this budget. The budget, available online, claims A$380 million has been spent preparing for the 2012 Olympic Games.

According to Keith Lyons, the University of Canberra Director of the National Institute of Sport Studies, sport is an important part of Australian culture and the development of sport enjoys bipartisan support. The sport “budget supports infrastructure developments and reflects a renewal of Australian sport venues post Sydney [Olympics] 2000. The Active After School investment reflects a commitment to support participation and engagement in physical activity and sport.”

When Tony Naar of the Australian Paralympic Committee was asked about the impact of the budget on his organisation’s efforts, he said there was little to report as there were “very few previously unannounced initiatives… the overall level of program funding was in line with the final year of the current funding cycle”.

The budget promises to support cricket, specifically the 2015 Cricket World Cup, and soccer (football) with the 2015 Asian Cup by allocating funding for facility improvement. A$50 million will be spent on redeveloping the Sydney Cricket Ground, A$30 million on redeveloping the Adelaide Oval, and A$15 million on redeveloping the Bellerive Oval in Hobart. A partnership between the government, New South Wales Government and the Sydney Cricket and Sports Ground Trust will cover additional costs associated with the Sydney Cricket Ground with work completed by 2014. Local sporting infrastructure will be supported in the budget with A$30 million earmarked for this, A$10 million specifically to improve Melbourne’s Olympic Park Precinct, A$5 million to support football in western Sydney, and A$3 million for Football New South Wales to build a new headquarters.

The budget promises assistance to parents to defray the cost of their children’s extracurricular activities including sport as part of the SchoolKid Bonus, which will replace the Education Tax Refund. Support for school based youth sport with A$39.2 million allocated to Active After-School Communities, a program that reaches 190,000 children, which encourages them to participate in school sports. In an attempt to curb drowning deaths of young children, an initiative has been launched to improve water safety that will be run through early childhood centres. A$19.2 million was extended to the Australian Sport Commission to run its Active After-School Communities program in 2012/2013 with similar funding for 2013/2014. 2,000 schools and 1,300 after/out of school programs will benefit from the funding.

Community Street Soccer was allocated A$1.0 million for 2012/2013 and A$1.6 million for 2013/2014. Aimed at bringing the homeless and unemployed into the community through participation in soccer, Reclink Australia will be given the funding to implement the program.

A$4.8 million was allocated to the Clontarf Foundation in New South Wales to support local sport and utilised elsewhere encourage Indigenous girls to participate in sport in Western Australia, Northern Territory, Victoria and Queensland through the Sporting Chance Program.

Canberra’s Centenary celebrations are addressed in the Federal budget, with A$2.6 million allocated for 2011/2012, A$2.0 million allocated for 2012/2013 and A$1.0 million allocated for 2013/2014. Some money will go towards sport as a part of these celebrations.

The Federal government is investing in Glenorchy, Tasmania, budgeting A$8.7 million in the redevelopment of the King George V sports and community precinct, with the money given to the local government. Not all of the money is earmarked for sport, with some money paying for a dedicated office for the Migrant Resource Centre.

A$1,870,000 less was budgeted for the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority from what was actually spent in 2011/2012’s budget. The government expects A$5.8 million in savings in the next four years because of changes in athlete doping testing.

In the 2011/2012 budget year, A$2,729,510 was spent on Regional Australia, Local Government, Arts and Sport in special appropriations. The 2012/2013 budget earmarks A$1,117,783 for this category. All money in the category is allocated in line with the Local Government (Financial Assistance) Act 1995. In the Sport and Recreation Special Account out of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet appropriation budget, the cash flow and balance opened the budget year with A$920,000 and receipts totaled A$317,000.

In the Department of Regional Australia, Local Government, Arts and Sport appropriation budget, the Sport and Recreation Special Account had has an opening balance of A$949,000. Estimates for receipts for 2012/2013 are A$537,000, up from A$220,000 in actual receipts in 2011/2012’s budget. The Australian Sports Commission spent A$214,534,000 in 2011/2012 in their first budget category, and have a smaller budget of A$101,942,000 for 2012/2013 in the same category. In their budget second category, they spent A$54,159,000 in 2011/2012, with the 2012/2013 budget increasing the budget to A$166,201,000. For total appropriations, the first area decreased by a total of A$117,170,000 and the second area saw an increase in of A$114,353,000.

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

A Scottish woman who set out before Christmas to purchase a turkey finally made it home on Monday, after being cut off by snow for a month. Kay Ure left the Lighthouse Keeper’s cottage on Cape Wrath, at the very northwest tip of Great Britain, in December. She was heading to Inverness on a shopping trip.

However on her return journey heavy snow and ice prevented her husband, John, from travelling the last 11 miles to pick her up. She was forced to wait a month in a friend’s caravan, before the weather improved and the couple could finally be reunited.

They were separated not just for Christmas and New Year, but also for Mr Ure’s 58th birthday. With no fresh supplies, he was reduced to celebrating with a tin of baked beans. He also ran out of coal, and had to feed the couple’s six springer spaniels on emergency army rations.

“It’s the first time we’ve been separated”, said Mr Ure in December. “We’ve been snowed in here for three weeks before, so we are well used to it and it’s quite nice to get a bit of peace and quiet.”

[edit]

Thursday, March 31, 2016

Businessman Rocky De La Fuente took some time to speak with Wikinews about his campaign for the U.S. Democratic Party’s 2016 presidential nomination.

The 61-year-old De La Fuente resides in San Diego, California, grew up in Tijuana, and owns multiple businesses and properties throughout the world. Since getting his start in the automobile industry, De La Fuente has branched out into the banking and real estate markets. Despite not having held or sought political office previously, he has been involved in politics, serving as the first-ever Hispanic superdelegate to the 1992 Democratic National Convention.

De La Fuente entered the 2016 presidential race last October largely due to his dissatisfaction with Republican front-runner Donald Trump. He argues he is a more accomplished businessman than Trump, and attacks Trump as “a clown,” “a joke,” “dangerous,” and “in the same category as Hitler.” Nevertheless, De La Fuente’s business background begets comparisons with Trump. The Alaskan Midnight Sun blog described him as the Democrats’ “own Donald Trump.”

While receiving only minimal media coverage, he has campaigned actively, and according to the latest Federal Election Commission filing, loaned almost US$ 4 million of his own money to the campaign. He has qualified for 48 primary and caucus ballots, but has not yet obtained any delegates to the 2016 Democratic National Convention. Thus far, according to the count at The Green Papers, De La Fuente has received 35,406 votes, or 0.23% of the total votes cast. He leads among the many lesser-known candidates but trails both Senator Bernie Sanders who has received nearly 6.5 million votes and front-runner Hillary Clinton who has just shy of 9 million votes.

With Wikinews reporter William S. Saturn?, De La Fuente discusses his personal background, his positions on political issues, his current campaign for president, and his political future.

Thursday, November 13, 2008

On Monday, the Pakistan branch of the Taliban captured a supply convoy of thirteen trucks and two armored Humvees bound for NATO troops, without incurring a single fatality. They made off with millions of dollars worth of sophisticated military equipment, according to The Washington Post.

Approximately 60 masked militants belonging to Tehrik-i-Taliban blocked off part of a roadway in the Khyber Pass. The Taliban forces overran the Pakistani security forces, who were moving the shipment to an American military base, and briefly took the truck drivers prisoner. Although gunfire was exchanged, there were no casualties on either side. After releasing the drivers, the militants opened several captured cargo containers of wheat, distributing most of it to local residents.

The attack, which took place in the North-West Frontier Province, occurred several miles outside the border town of Jamrud. It was celebrated by the victorious fighters who photographed themselves with the captured equipment.

Pakistan’s federal government, which has recently stepped up efforts to contain the lawless tribal province, dispatched helicopters and 500 troops to try and track the hijacked convoy. One local child was killed, and four civilians wounded, by the gunships. The Taliban fighters were reported to have abandoned an American Jeep and one of the Humvees along the road, which were subsequently taken back into possession by Pakistani troops.

The Pakistani newspaper Dawn published a scathing editorial attacking the army’s incompetence and heavy-handed response to the embarrassing loss, referring to the attack as disturbing “both for its audacity and possible implications.”