Author: Admin

Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Pakistani officials placed the capital, Islamabad, on red alert after they received information of possible terrorist attacks on Pakistan Air Force headquarters. Action was taken quickly, with Air Force and Navy helicopters seen above Islamabad shortly after the officials were notified.

“Current information suggests that Al-Qaeda and affiliated organisations continue to plan terrorist attacks both in the region and beyond, and they may focus efforts to conduct attacks in the period between now and the end of August,” a United States State Department statement said.

Pakistani security forces and policemen are maintaining high surveillance in the area as search operations are conducted.

“This thick security blanket has been laid over the capital to head off any untoward incident,” Senior Superintendent of Police Operations, Dr Rizwan told GEO News.

The threat of an attack remains high and searches continue after a number of suspects were detained as a result of an operation in Margallah Hills. The area remains under surveillance, with all inns, hotels, guesthouses, restaurants, Afghan refugee settlements and slums subject to scrutiny.

Warning has been spread to the U.S., where Americans have been urged to take extra precautions overseas. The State Department identified subways and rail networks as potential danger areas, because of their history in previous terrorist attacks. This information accompanies the red alerts placed on Europe, South Asia, Africa and the Middle East earlier this year.

Sunday, October 7, 2007

Cecile Willert is running for the Green Party of Ontario in the Ontario provincial election, in the Ajax—Pickering 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.

A compilation of brief news reports for Sunday, June 15, 2008.

Morgan Tsvangirai has been arrested again according to his party, the Movement for Democratic Change.. The police detention of Tsvangirai and 11 co-workers occurred in Shurugwi, but all were released after three hours. In the past week, the MDC leader was arrested four times as Zimbabwe approaches the June 27 secondary elections to determine if he, or incumbent President Robert Mugabe will receive a clear majority of votes.

Sources

• David Watts. “Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe arrests MDC chiefs” — The Times, June 15, 2008
• Press Release: “President Tsvangirai released after a three-hour detention” — Movement for Democratic Change, June 14, 2008
• News 24. “Tsvangirai arrested again” — Reuters, June 14, 2008

Space Shuttle Discovery landed at 11:15 AM Saturday on Runway 15 at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The STS-124 mission successfully delivered parts for Kibo, an experimental module developed in Japan, to the International Space Station.

Sources

• Irene Klotz. “Space shuttle Discovery returns to Earth” — Reuters, June 14, 2008
• “U.S. space shuttle Discovery safely lands after 14-day space trip” — Xinhua, June 14, 2008
• Anna Heiney. “NASA landing blog” — NASA, June 14, 2008

R. Kelly, a popular American R&B musician has been found not guilty on all 14 charges involving a videotape of him having sex with a minor. Both Kelly and the girl who was alleged to be his partner both denied they were participants in the video recording. Had the Chicago-based trial jury convicted the singer, he could have faced a 15-year prison term.

Sources

• Associated Press. “R. Kelly acquitted of all child porn counts” — CNN, June 14, 2008
• “R Kelly not guilty of porn charges” — The Press Association, June 14, 2008
• David Streitfeld. “R. Kelly cleared of kid porn” — Toronto Star, June 14, 2008

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Over the weekend, Rowing Australia announced their 2012 national squad in the lead up to the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics in London. Australia has earned qualification for ten boats at the Games but have the opportunity to add three additional boats at the Final Olympic Qualification Regatta in Lucerne, Switzerland in late May.

One boat attempting to earn qualification at Lucerne is the women’s coxed-eight, who had a time at the Sydney Regatta of 2000m time of six minutes 10.03 seconds, about 96% as fast as the predicted time of the gold medal time at the 2012 Summer Olympics. Selection for a team is considered a major boon for women’s rowing as Australia had not been competing internationally in the event after a disappointing performance at the 2008 Games in Beijing, where Australia finished well out of medal range in last, and has yet to live down the “Lay Down Sally” situation at the 2004 Games. Ten rowers, Phoebe Stanley, Hannah Vermeersch, Alexandra Hagan, Sally Kehoe, Tess Gerrand, Renee Chatterton, Emma McCarthy, Sarah Cook, Amy Clay and Robyn Selby-Smith, were named with only eight spots available. The women’s coxed-eight team will spend the next three weeks training before cuts will be made for the Qualifiers.

The men’s lightweight double scull will be competing for Olympic qualification in Switzerland, with Tom Gibson of Tasmania and Rod Chisholm of New South Wales needing a top two finish to make the Games. Queensland Jared Bidwell in the men’s heavyweight single scull is the third boat trying to qualify for London at the Switzerland event, needing a top-three finish to qualify.

The men’s coxless pair boat also faces competition for which rowers will be going to the Games, with five rowers having been named to fill the two spots. These rowers include Brodie Buckland, James Marburg, Fergus Pragnell, Duncan Free and Tom Larkins. The 2008 Olympic pairs gold medalist Free’s selection comes after a ten-month period where he suffered a rib-cartilage injury and broken leg that resulted in missing selection in the four man scull event. Other rows competing for one of these two spots have impressive resumes: Buckland has previously represented the United States in rowing and Marburg won a silver medal in rowing at the 2008 Games.

Toby Lister, who qualified in the men’s coxed eight boat as the coxswain, is ready for the Games in more ways than one. He became the boat leader in 2008, following the retirement of Marty Rabjohns after the Olympics. He is renowned amongst other rowers for his willingness and ability to play mind games with competitors.

Last Thursday, the uniforms for Australia’s Olympic team were revealed, including the uniform for rowing. It has been custom designed by Adidas to mirror muscle movement.

A new director was named at the Australian Institute of Sport on Sunday. New director Matthew Favier, who comes from the United Kingdom, has the ability to determine funding for high performance sport, and is scene as a potential positive for rowing as he could increase funding to the sport because it provides multiple Olympic medal potential for one sport.

The national team will have a Sydney training camp from May 8 to 12, before departing for Switzerland on May 15th.

Wednesday, January 18, 2006

Ricardo Serran Lobo is a Brazilian blogger who writes about his famous neighbor, the politician Roberto Jefferson, head of the Brazilian Labor Party in the Brazilian Congress of Deputies. Jefferson has become a major figure in the ongoing Brazilian mensalão scandal revolving around corruption and bribery.

Vizinho do Jefferson [1] quickly became very popular among Brazilians, describing the routine of Jefferson, while providing information about politics and fresh news about the scandal. Lobo’s blog got third place in the Best Of Blogs contest run by Deutsche Welle International.

Lobo gets an intimate look at the center of Brazilian politics by living in Brasilia, near residences of parliamentarians (including Roberto Jefferson), public buildings and the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies. Or, as he says in his blog: “near the eye of the hurricane,” a reference to the recent political crisis.

At first, Lobo began describing the daily activities of his famous neighbor deputy Roberto Jefferson. As the crisis moved on, he began to describe the political events regarding it. His writings evolved to not only what is going on with Jefferson, but what is going on in Brazilian Congress, and has interviewed politicians, including Roberto Jefferson himself.

The blog tries to be informative, with a lot of humour (common with Brazilians), and some protests against the bad habits of Brazilian politics in general.

Jefferson’s neighbor, the blog, is an example of citizen journalism and it shows that ordinary people can compete with professional media.

Tuesday, February 6, 2007

Official pressure on the Hare Krishna community near Almaty in Kazakhstan is mounting, according to Norwegian religious rights organisation Forum 18. Following on from the demolition of homes at the end of last year three more home owners have been issued with demolition notices. If the owners fail to demolish their own houses the authorities have warned they will do so themselves and charge them for the cost.

Thirteen homes owned by members of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness were bulldozed last November, although other homes in the village owned by non-Hare Krishna residents were not touched. Gauhar Beyeseyeva of the Kazakh Foreign Ministry is quoted as saying (to the members of the Hare Krishna commune) “We were denied the OSCE chairmanship specifically because of you people.”

Amanbek Muhashov, the chair of the committee for religion under the justice ministry told the Kazakh daily Kazakhstanskaya Pravda that some of the group members acquired land for the settlements by giving misleading information and thus the property did not conform to local regulations. This is refuted by the members of the community.

The OSCE’s Advisory Council on Freedom of Religion or Belief examined the dispute in detail last year and concluded that “state sponsored action has been focused upon members of the Hare Krishna community in a manner that suggests they have been targeted on the basis of their religious affiliation,” and that “this raises serious issues regarding the enjoyment of the freedom of religion and belief.” The Advisory Council also stated its “willingness to meet with the Kazakh authorities in order to discuss the situation and to extend its good offices to assist in the resolution of that dispute”. The Kazakh authorities have thus far given no official answer to the Advisory Council’s 27 November 2006 offer.

A. Kravchenko, the head of the prosecutor-generals denied any “religious implications” in the legal proceedings.

On 29 January Viktor Golous, Chair of the Hare Krishna Community, was summoned to a court hearing to continue the case on the ownership of the commune’s farm. At the same time, demolition notices were served on three more Hare Krishna home owners, who were told that they must demolish their own homes within five days. According to Forum 18 no previous notices had been given to any of the three Hare Krishna targets in regards to any claims filed against them, court hearings or court rulings. Thus they were unable to file an appeal and defend their property.

Golous appeared in court on January 30th with request that that – due to the short notice given – the hearing should be adjourned at least until lawyers were able to appear. Judge Jurhan Zhailybayev accepted the application for an adjournment and told Golous that he could leave as notice of the new date of the hearing would be sent to him. However, after Golous left the court, Judge Zhailybayev ruled – with only one of the three defendants present – that the Hare Krishna-owned farm should, in fact, be confiscated.

Members of the ‘Sri Vrindavan Dharm’ community in Karasai district question who is benefiting from the confiscation of their property?

Rati Manjari of the Hare Krishnas told Forum 18 on January 20th that “by this new claim the authorities are preparing to cancel a 2005 Supreme Court decision that the Hare Krishna community are the bona fide purchaser and user of the land.” She suggested that the authorities plan – “after they win this case” – to appeal to the Supreme Court to annul the Hare Krishna community’s purchase and thus ownership of the land.

Sunday, May 9, 2021

Two students and a school employee have been injured following a shooting at Rigby Middle School in Idaho, United States, on Thursday, with a sixth grader in custody.

According to Jefferson County sheriff Steve Anderson, the sixth grader — who attends the middle school and lives in Idaho Falls — pulled out a handgun from her backpack, firing the gun both in and outside the school, with a teacher managing to disarm the student. Police were called to the school at about 9:15AM local time, and the suspect was taken in the custody of the local sheriff’s office.

The trauma medical director at Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center, Dr. Michael Lemon, has stated the three injured people had non-life threatening injuries to the extremities. The school employee has been treated and released from medical care. A warrant has been issued against an Idaho Falls residence in relation to the shooting.

School was cancelled in the district for Friday. The local school superintendent, Chad Martin, told “this is the worst nightmare a school district could ever face”, and “our hearts and our prayers go out to the victims and their families and all those involved”. A student at the school — 12-year-old Yandel Rodriguez — told the Associated Press “me and my classmate were just in class with our teacher — we were doing work — and then all of a sudden, here was a loud noise and then there were two more loud noises. Then there was screaming”.