Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Over 3000 protesters, dressed in black, marched the streets of Launceston, Australia on Saturday to show their opposition to the construction of a pulp mill by Gunns Limited. This follows the release of a survey, which showed that 40 percent of Tasmanians oppose the project.

The mill has previously been opposed by the Launceston Environment Centre [LEC] and the Tasmanian branch of the Australian Medical Association [AMA], due to concerns about negative environmental and social impacts of liquid waste and air pollution. The LEC claims that there will be eight deaths per year from increased air pollution, and the AMA has already expressed concerns about Launcestons’ current air quality,

“Launceston has one of the worst air qualities within Australia,” according to a written statement the AMA made in 2006. The statement also attacks the quality of modelling conducted by Gunns during the assessment of the mill. It says that PM2.5 scale particulates are “closely associated with the adverse health effects of particle air pollution”, but were not measured in the assessment process.

The pulp mill was green-lighted by environment minister Tony Burke in March, although no reassessments of air quality have been undertaken by Gunns. The company has stated that more work needs to be done to convince Tasmanians that air quality will not be reduced by the project.

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Both golf and rugby are set to return to the Olympic Games. The International Olympic Committee voted to include the sports at its executive board meeting in Berlin today. Rugby, specifically rugby union, and golf were selected over five other sports to be considered to participate in the Olympics. Squash, karate and roller sports tried to get onto the Olympic program as well as baseball and softball, which were voted out of the Olympic Games in 2005. The vote must still be ratified by the full IOC at it’s October meeting in Copenhagen.

Golf will return after a 112-year absence from the Games; the sport was last played at the 1900 and 1904 Games. Rugby union, in its full 15-a-side version, was included in four Olympic Games, with its last appearance being in 1924.

If the sports are included after the October meeting, rugby will return to the Olympics as rugby sevens, a version of rugby union with seven players per side and 7- or 10-minute halves instead of the standard 40-minute halves. Elite rugby director Rob Andrew said that “Rugby Union is played in more than 100 countries and has a superb opportunity to further develop and grow through its new partnership with the IOC.”

The format that has been proposed for golf is two 72-hole tournaments, one each for men and women, with 60 competitors each. The top 15 players in the world will qualify automatically and the major golf schedules will arrange around the Olympic Games.

Not all were happy with the proposed inclusions to the game. IOC President Jacques Rogge defended the decision, saying that “this is the young generation that will be at its peak in 2016. The same question was raised time and time again when tennis and ice-hockey were introduced. Ask [top tennis players] Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, ask the NHL players, ask the NBA basketball players. They all want to go to the games — they are absolutely not concerned about that.”

One of the sports that lost out was squash. Squash Federation President N Ramachandran commented on his disappointment that squash was not included in the games.

If the sports are included, they will first be conducted in the 2016 Games. Women’s boxing is now set to appear at the 2012 Games.

Monday, July 18, 2005

An 11-year-old girl faces serious assault charges in California after casting a stone at a group of boys who were throwing water balloons at her. In April, Maribel Cuevas was apprehended by Fresno, California police and spent five days in a detention center after throwing the object at the group of boys who bombarded her with water balloons as she walked down the sidewalk. A 9-year-old boy was hit with the stone, and suffered a wound to his head requiring medical assistance.

Since then, Cuevas has spent one month under house arrest pending court. Cuevas’ lawyer, Richard Beshwate, told the BBC that “They [Fresno police] are treating her like a violent parole offender. It’s not a felony, it’s an 11-year-old acting like an 11-year-old.”

Fresno Police Sergeant Anthony Martinez told reporters: “We responded. We determined a felony assault had taken place and the officers took the actions that were necessary.” Cuevas is due back in court next month on felony assault charges.

The girl was placed in juvenile hall during her five-day detention, with only one 30-minute visit from her parents. She was then placed under a 30 day house arrest and required to wear an electronic monitoring bracelet. The house arrest allowed the girl to attend school.

Maribel, who knows very little English, said that the boy initiated the conflict — the boy also admitted as much.

Saturday, April 16, 2011

One of Kentucky’s newest state lawmakers, who also serves as a high school teacher, sustained a critical head injury Tuesday morning while intervening to break up a fight between two students in the school’s cafeteria.

State Representative DeWayne Bunch (R), 49, was listed in “extremely critical” condition when he was taken to the Baptist Regional Medical Center in Corbin, Kentucky, immediately following the fight between two male teens.

Bunch was reported as being unconscious and bleeding from the ears when emergency responders arrived at Whitley County High School.

The fight, between a fifteen- and sixteen-year-old, was caught by a surveillance camera which showed Bunch being punched by the sixteen-year-old, according to the sheriff. It is not clear what started the fight, which took place in the school’s cafeteria during breakfast.

The teens have been charged with one count of first-degree assault and two counts of third-degree assault. They are both in custody at a juvenile detention center according to the sheriff.

Bunch was later transported to University of Kentucky Medical Center in Lexington, Kentucky. His family has requested no information be publicly released about his condition.

Thursday, August 10, 2006

Armoured columns of the Israeli Defense Forces are meeting resistance as they move deeper into Lebanon in an attempt to capture the Hezbollah stronghold of Khiam as 40,000 Israeli troops mass on the Lebanese border following an Israeli cabinet decision to widen the war. Israel took control of the strategic southern Lebanese hub of Marjayoun on Thursday as part of its northern push.

Israel ratcheted up its fight against Hezbollah, beginning operations aimed at the heart of Beirut, taking control of a largely Christian southern Lebanese town, named Marjeyoun. The Israeli military also dropped leaflets in Beirut, warning of expanded operations inside the capital and urging people in southern Shiite neighborhoods to evacuate. Those neighborhoods have been bastions of support for Hezbollah. “To the people who live in Hay El Soulom, Borj El Barajneh, Shiyah … For your safety,” one flier warned. “You must evacuate these areas immediately and evacuate any area from where Hezbollah and its members or their assistants are launching their terrorist operations. “Be aware!”

Other Israeli troops also advanced on the town of Khiam. Israeli jets also struck a lighthouse used as a cell phone communications tower in central Beirut. Witnesses said they saw a man being loaded into an ambulance at the scene. There was no immediate information on his condition. The area, located in an upscale neighborhood where slain former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri lived, is outside the Hezbollah-dominated southern suburbs that Israeli forces have targeted up to now.

Israeli troops had warned residents to remain in their homes as forces moved toward the nearby town of Blatt, Lebanese military intelligence and police said. The secured area overlooks the Litani River, where Hezbollah fighters have reportedly launched rockets into Israel, sources said.

On Wednesday, the Israeli government approved a plan to widen the war in Lebanon in an attempt to destroy Hezbollah installations and neutralize its ability to launch rockets. The cabinet has authorized the Israeli army to advance as far north as the Litani River, 30 kilometres (18 miles) north of the Lebanese-Israeli border. However, Israel says yesterday’s push is not part of that campaign.

“It’s a small operation that looks large from where we’re looking right now, but this is not opening up any new front,” IDF spokeswoman Miri Eisen said. “It’s taking care of one that has been consistently hitting Kiryat Shmona.”

Hezbollah officials reacted angrily to the Israeli cabinet’s decision. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah appeared on Al-Manar television, and threatened to make southern Lebanon “a graveyard” for the Israelis.

“I say to the Zionists, you could come anywhere, invade, land airborne forces, enter this village or that, but I repeat, all this will cost you a high price,” he said.

The Israeli army says 15 of its soldiers were killed in combat on Wednesday, and that 40 Hezbollah fighters died the same day. Hezbollah fired more than 100 rockets into Israel, while no casualties from the Israeli side were reported.

The IDF says it currerntly has approximately 10,000 troops on the ground in southern Lebanon, a number that will swell to 50,000 in coming days.

As the fighting continues, U.S. sources said they no longer expect that a joint U.S.-French UN draft resolution calling for a ceasefire in Lebanon would reach a Security Council vote by a hoped for Thursday deadline. Disagreement over whether the resolution should call for an immediate Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon is an obstacle.

The resolution was to be co-sponsored by the United States and France, but the two countries are now at odds over how to reword the proposal in light of Arab objections to the original draft. The French have accepted a Lebanese offer to send 15,000 troops into the south to monitor the ceasefire if Israel withdraws immediately, while the U.S. wants Israel to be able to remain in southern Lebanon for a few weeks until a new multi-national force arrives.

More than 1000 Lebanese, mostly civilians, have died in the month-long conflict according to Lebanon’s government. 100 Israelis, mostly soldiers, have also been killed.

Monday, June 14, 2021

Arthur Oliver Kostendt, a candidate running in the mayoral election of the US city of Cleveland, Ohio set to take place November 2, discussed his campaign and policies with Wikinews this spring.

According to Cleveland Scene, 29-year-old Kostendt is a member of the Cuyahoga County, Ohio Republican Party but has referred to his campaign as “casual”. According to his web site’s personal biography, he was a cadet for the Army Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC), scout platoon leader for the 2nd Squadron of the 107th Cavalry Regiment of the Ohio Army National Guard and logistics officer for the 1st Battalion of the 145th Armored Regiment. He served in Kuwait, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia and assisted coalition force detachments in Southeast Asia.

Kostendt is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame and summa cum laude graduate of Cleveland State University. He writes he uses an apostrophe to abbreviate his middle name as “Arthur O’Kostendt” instead of the customary period after the O to emphasise his Irish heritage.

A poll published May 5 by Baldwin Wallace University, which does not feature Mr Kostendt, has Dennis Kucinich and Basheer Jones leading in the mayoral race by 17.8 and 13.3 points, respectively, with a margin of error of up to five per cent either way. 48% of those surveyed were undecided. Incumbent mayor Frank G. Jackson, who won the 2017 Cleveland mayoral election with 59% of the vote, is eligible for a fifth term but announced on May 6 he would retire.