Tuesday, May 17, 2016

A letter from more than 300 business leaders was published on Sunday in The Telegraph in support of the United Kingdom (UK) voting to leave the European Union (EU) in the EU referendum next month.

The signators, writing in a personal capacity, are connected with businesses of small to medium size. This is in contrast to multiple, high-profile, supporters of Britain Stronger in Europe, the official campaign to stay in Europe. This support has included financial donations from companies such as JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup. Those supporting a vote to leave the EU have previously claimed the campaign to remain is only supported by big business.

The Telegraph suggested the letter would be interpreted as a response to last week’s warnings from the International Monetary Fund and Bank of England that voting to leave the EU would have negative consequences for Britain’s economy. These institutions warned that the UK leaving the EU would increase uncertainty as new trade agreements were negotiated, and cause a fall in the value of the pound sterling. One of the signatories, Lord Farmer, has also stated the EU will still want to trade with the UK, and has “no reason to put up barriers.”

The letter’s publishing coincides with that of research from Vote Leave stating UK exports to the EU have performed worse over the last fifteen years than any other EU country. Vote Leave argue this shows “the ‘single market’ has failed British exporters”.

Saturday, July 2, 2005

Ujjal Dosanjh, Canada’s Minister of Health, has set out a plan to stop U.S. cities and states from purchasing drugs in bulk from Canadian suppliers. The plan is being criticized as potentially destroying a number of mail order and internet-based pharmacies operating in Canada that ship prescription drugs to the United States. It is said the result may simply cause orders to shift to suppliers in the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand, as well as possibly Mexico.

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Teräsbetoni means “steel-reinforced concrete”, and is also the name of a Finnish heavy metal band formed in 2002. Their music, which centres on an honourable warrior lifestyle or on metal itself, quickly became popular in 2003 on the Internet, resulting in a petition by fans being sent to several record labels demanding a recording deal. In late 2004 the band signed to Warner Music Finland, and the following year debut single Taivas lyö tulta rose to number one in the Finnish charts, and debut album Metallitotuus hit number two and went platinum, and has now sold about 47,000 copies.

The band, who sing exclusively in Finnish, have just released their third album, Myrskyntuoja. The lead single on this album is Missä miehet ratsastaa, which Teräsbetoni decided to enter in the Finnish selections for the 2008 edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, where it was selected to go on to the semi-final in Belgrade, Serbia as Finland’s representative this year. Although Finland has seen limited success in the contest, their only victory was with a comparable group. In 2006 hard rock band Lordi – whose monster costumes and pyrotechnic displays are famed – achieved a record 292 points in the final with Hard Rock Hallelujah.

Teräsbetoni’s frontman, vocalist and bass guitarist Jarkko Ahola’s fame extends beyond the band he heads. He also features in Finnish symphonic power metal cover supergroup Northern Kings, alongside Marco Hietala of Nightwish and Tarot, Tony Kakko of Sonata Arctica and Juha-Pekka Leppäluoto of Charon.

Wikinews was able to conduct an exclusive interview with Jarkko Ahola to discuss these various achievements. This interview is now published below for the first time.

Wednesday, February 6, 2008

An Indian guru who taught some of the 20th century’s most famous celebrities and created a multi-billion dollar spiritual empire has died. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, founder of the Transcendental Meditation movement, died at his home in the Netherlands. He is believed to have been 91 years old.

Known for his long white beard and tendency to giggle, he became a well-known counter-culture figure in the 1960’s. Members of the Beatles rock music band made repeated pilgrimages to the Himalayan foothills to study his meditation technique, known as TM.

Little is certain about the yogi’s early life in central India. His given name and birthday are disputed. It is known he studied physics at Allahabad University.

A professor of psychology at the school, Emmanuel Ghosh, says the guru’s academic training, combined with study under a Vedic swami, helped to make him accessible to those in the West seeking alternative answers to life’s questions during the socially tumultuous 1960’s.

“He had a rational approach,” said Ghosh. “He had a scientific background and he could tell the West that ‘You could test my theories through science.’ He was the first one who started this whole system of reducing stress by breath control, by meditation and you could measure it in objective terms.”

Maharishi also tutored other pop musicians, Hollywood actors and film directors. His TM movement attracted millions of followers worldwide who paid hundreds of dollars to receive a personal mantra to recite for 20 minutes, twice a day.

Professor Ghosh at Allahabad University says, despite his fame and success overseas, Maharishi was just one among many gurus in his native India.

“His influence in India has been negligible. Every guru is independent to propagate his own method of salvation or nirvana,” said Ghosh. “So he took off for a while [in India] as long as he was appreciated in the West.”

Perhaps his biggest legacy in India is the country’s largest chain of privately owned schools. Other institutes and universities based on his teachings also exist in the United States and Europe.

In later years, some of the guru’s projects and beliefs earned him ridicule, such as hoping to raise $10 trillion to achieve world peace and banish poverty and encouraging followers to learn what he called “yogic flying”. While many adherents praise Maharishi for propagating a scientifically verifiable ancient method to help them deal with the stress of modern life, some disenchanted followers considered TM a quasi-religious cult more interested in raising funds than spirits.

Saturday, January 10, 2009

A trio of Canadian trekkers said Friday they completed the fastest unaided on-foot trek using the traditional route from Hercules Inlet on the Ronne Ice Shelf to the South Pole in a record time of 33 days, 23 hours and 30 minutes. Ottawa ultra-runner Ray Zahab, age 39, adventure journalist and architect Kevin Vallely, age 44, of Lynn Valley, North Vancouver and North Pole expeditionist Richard Weber, age 49, said they completed the 700-mile (1,130-kilometer) journey, at 10,000 feet altitude, finally arriving early Wednesday morning.

They endured a white-out but survived on a 7,000-calorie-a-day diet of pemmican, Gatorade drink powder, outdated salami, deep-fried bacon, cheese and butter. “If you took a cloud, wrapped it around your head and then duct-taped it, that’s what a white-out is like,” Mr Zahab, explained. The trio also suffered altitude sickness, vertigo, massive, painful blisters, and temperatures as low as minus 40. Zahab had to pull 170-lb (77-kg) sleds of equipment, traveling on foot and on snowshoes while the other two men skied.

According to ExplorersWeb.com’s founder, Tom Sjogren, the trio erased the previous record of 39 days, 7 hours and 49 minutes, which was set by American Todd Carmichael, the first American to cross Antarctica to the South Pole alone, on foot and with no assistance. He arrived at The Pole on December 21, 2008. “They have definitely broken the record,” said Sjogren. Guinness World Records spokesman, Damian Field, in London, however, said that “Guinness monitors a category for fastest unsupported trek to the South Pole, but it has no record currently listed.”

Prior to Carmichael, the record was held by Briton Hannah McKeand. In the fastest journey to the South Pole (600 nautical mile journey), she completed solo and in just 39 days, 9 hours and 33 minutes. In March 2008 she attempted to reach the North Pole alone and unsupported but had to abandon the trip after falling through the ice and badly damaging her shoulder.

Ray Zahab is a Canadian ultramarathon runner, personal trainer, and motivational speaker. He lives in Chelsea, Quebec, and is famous for his 4,300-mile (6,920-kilometer) epic run across the Sahara Desert in 2007, which was the subject of a documentary narrated by actor Matt Damon‘s “Running the Sahara.” He heads Impossible2Possible, a nonprofit organization which advocates planet protection. “I started looking at impossible places on the planet in the past year, and I said Antarctica is one of those impossible places, and if we can create an expedition, perhaps we can inspire a bunch of young people to realize they can achieve,’ Zahab said.

Richard Weber, M.S.M. (born June 9, 1959 in Edmonton, Alberta) is a world-renowned Canadian Arctic and polar adventurer, from Alcove (near Wakefield). From 1978 to 2006, he participated in, lead and organized more than 45 Arctic expeditions. Richard is the only person to have completed six full North Pole expeditions. He has therefore trekked to the North Pole more than anyone in history.

The trio were waiting out a storm before boarding a flight to Chile for Ottawa. “I’m pretty tired, actually,” said Kevin Vallely, calling from Patriot Hills, Antarctica. During the saga, Vallely was solely burdened with carrying the high-tech gear in his sled consisting of video cameras, satellite phones, hand-held computers, different kinds of solar panels, batteries and wires chargers. “Had we not brought all that stuff we probably would have got it done faster because we wouldn’t have had to carry all that weight, but then it doesn’t matter as much,” he explained. Vallely said he also intends to produce a documentary of the expedition.

Friday, August 5, 2005

The airline British Airways have reported that they will start flying between Iceland and Gatwick airport, London. British Airways said they will provide the service five times a week; the first flight is scheduled March 26, 2006.

Until now, only two airlines have been flying between the UK and Iceland with passengers: Icelandair, the oldest and biggest airline in Iceland, and Iceland Express, a recent low-fare airline and the competition between them has been fierce.

Icelandair’s PR, Guðjón Arngrímsson, said that Icelandair welcomes the competition and believes Icelandair can compete with BA: “This market has been growing rapidly. Iceland has been well marketed in London and Britain as a whole so number of passenger has been rising fast. We’re always ready for more competition on every route between Iceland and other countries. We’re ready and willing to compete here as we are on other routes” Arngrímsson said.

Birgir Jónsson at Iceland Express agrees. “Iceland Express welcomes the competition without a doubt.” He then added, “The competition will benefit us all”.

British Airways have reported the tickets will cost about €291.

Friday, September 9, 2005

Italian-based Fiat Auto SPA and US-based Ford Motor Co. announced they signed an agreement to cooperate in designing two small car models. This came only seven months after General Motors severed their relationship with Fiat.

Both companies plan to work together on a new version of the popular Fiat Cinquecento and on a replacement for the Ford Ka, both to be based on the Fiat Panda platform.

The cooperation can help reduce the companies’ small car production costs and ease financial difficulties they are facing. Ford is struggling with high labor and health care costs, while Fiat suffers from its unprofitable Italian plants.

After the deal was announced, shares of Fiat rose $0.06 to $9.44, while Ford gained $0.06 to $9.95 on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).

Friday, April 9, 2010

British Airways (BA) and the Spanish airline Iberia have signed a merger deal, which will create one of the largest air carrier groups in the world.

The two announced the merger yesterday, and said that the deal, which has been expected for a long time, is to be implemented by the end of 2010. The move will make a group with a market value of US$8 billion. The deal has been negotiated since July 2008.

Under the plan, both companies keep their own brands and operations, but will be owned by International Airlines Group, a new holding company. It will be listed in London, but taxed in Spain.

The airlines believe the merger will save $530 million annually. In February, BA reported a loss of $102.4 million for the final three quarters of 2009, whilst Iberia posted an operating loss of $629 million.

Meanwhile, investors in BA will receive an IAG share for every BA share they own, and stockholders in Iberia 1.0205 shares for each share in the Spanish airline; thus, BA shareholders will take 55% of IAG.

“The merged company will provide customers with a larger combined network,” commented BA chief executive Willie Walsh. “It will also have greater potential for further growth by optimising the dual hubs of London and Madrid and providing continued investment in new products and services.”

Meanwhile, Iberia chief executive Antonio Vázquez remarked: “This is an important step in creating one of the world’s leading global airlines that will be better equipped to compete with other major airlines and participate in future industry consolidation.”

Independent aviation specialist James Halstead said he believed the merger was necessary for BA to remain competitive amongst other European air carriers. “BA’s unique position at Heathrow could help it survive for a short while, but in the long run it needs more than just Heathrow. The main point of the Iberia deal is to be able to cut costs and put the combined company in the position that Air France-KLM and Lufthansa are already in,” he said, quoted by The Independent.