Tuesday, February 1, 2011

The president of Egypt has suffered a “devastating blow” after the country’s army announced they would not use force against their own people, who continue to protest against the government tonight. The news came hours after six journalists who reported on the protests were released from custody.

Hosni Mubarak yesterday announced a new cabinet, which does not include several figures who protesters largely do not approve of. Analysts have, however, suggested little had changed within the government; many positions, they say, are filled with military figures.

In a statement broadcast on state media in Egypt, the army said: “To the great people of Egypt, your armed forces, acknowledging the legitimate rights of the people … have not and will not use force against the Egyptian people.” A BBC correspondent in Cairo said the announcement meant it “now seems increasingly likely that the 30-year rule of Mr Mubarak is drawing to a close.”

“The presence of the army in the streets is for your sake and to ensure your safety and wellbeing. The armed forces will not resort to use of force against our great people,” the statement added. “Your armed forces, who are aware of the legitimacy of your demands and are keen to assume their responsibility in protecting the nation and the citizens, affirms that freedom of expression through peaceful means is guaranteed to everybody.”

Earlier today, six journalists from the independent news network Al-Jazeera were released from custody after being detained by police. The U.S. State Department criticized the arrests; equipment was reportedly confiscated from the journalists.

Egyptian officials yesterday ordered the satellite channel to stop broadcasting in the country. Al-Jazeera said they were “appalled” by the government’s decision to close its Egyptian offices, which they described as the “latest attack by the Egyptian regime to strike at its freedom to report independently on the unprecedented events in Egypt.”

In a statement, the news agency added: “Al-Jazeera sees this as an act designed to stifle and repress the freedom of reporting by the network and its journalists. In this time of deep turmoil and unrest in Egyptian society it is imperative that voices from all sides be heard; the closing of our bureau by the Egyptian government is aimed at censoring and silencing the voices of the Egyptian people.”

On Friday, Wikinews reported the government had shut off practically all Internet traffic both out of and into the nation, as well as disrupting cellphone usage. A spokesperson for the social networking website Facebook said “limiting Internet access for millions of people is a matter of concern for the global community.”

A reported 50,000 campaigners, who are demanding the long-time leader step down and complaining of poverty, corruption, and oppression, filled Tahrir Square in Cairo today, chanting “We will stay until the coward leaves.” It is thought 100 people have so far died in the demonstrations. Today there have been protests in Suez, Mansoura, Damanhour, and Alexandria.

Speaking to news media in the area, many protesters said the new cabinet did little to quell their anger. “We want a complete change of government, with a civilian authority,” one said. Another added: “This is not a new government. This is the same regime—this is the same bluff. [Mubarak] has been bluffing us for 30 years.”

In Tahrir Square today, protesters played music as strings of barbed wire and army tanks stood nearby. Demonstrators scaled light poles, hanging Egyptian flags and calling for an end to Mubarak’s rule. “One poster featured Mubarak’s face plastered with a Hitler mustache, a sign of the deep resentment toward the 82-year-old leader they blame for widespread poverty, inflation and official indifference and brutality during his 30 years in power,” one journalist in the square reported this evening.

Monday, August 5, 2019

Wikinews attended the Texas Haunters Convention on the last weekend of July — July 27–28 — in Mesquite, Texas. The event was held at the Mesquite Convention Center and spanned roughly 35,000 square feet of exhibit and classroom space. Halloween-themed, the event was focused on equipment, techniques, props and costumes used in haunted attractions and home haunts.

A children’s costume contest was held each day, with an array of characters and monsters featured.

An array of classes were on offer, one of which allowed attendees to make a faux shrunken head. In a separate class, instructors taught attendees how to build a ‘bubbler’ prop, as might be displayed in a spooky laboratory scene.

Other classes included:

• Stunts and Stilts
• Circular Haunting
• Foam Fright Guns
• Facade Planning and Building

YouTube personality Mr. CreepyPasta was on hand and did a reading of scary stories. Belly dancing troupe Tribal Evolution performed on Saturday and again that evening at the adults-only Costume Ball.

Local actor and producer Joshua Winch was on hand offering DVD’s of his films and promo photos and posters. Winch told Wikinews he began acting in theater 20 years ago and also worked on several film projects as a Production Assistant. Ultimately, he began producing film projects writers would present to him in 2004. Winch said he has produced a great deal of horror-comedy films, but grew tired of reading reviews that his films weren’t horror because they had comedic elements. He then approached a director and said, “I want you to make a pure horror movie.” The result was his recent film, Fall of Grace. Winch said the film has been screened at 14 film festivals and he was named Best Actor at one of those events.

More than 70 vendors were present at the event, coming from various parts of the U.S., including California and Florida. A mobile escape room was onsite and allowed playthroughs for VIP attendees.

Friday, September 8, 2006

From September 3 to 8, experts gathered at the 10th International Congress on Obesity in Sydney, Australia, to discuss what they call the worldwide “obesity epidemic”. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 1 billion people in the world today are overweight, and 300 million of those are obese. “Obesity and overweight pose a major risk for serious diet-related chronic diseases, including type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, hypertension and stroke, and certain forms of cancer“, a WHO fact sheet states. According to AP, experts at the conference “have warned that obesity is a bigger threat than AIDS or bird flu, and will easily overwhelm the world’s health care systems if urgent action is not taken”.

Of particular concern is the large number of overweight children. Dr. Stephan Rossner from Sweden’s Karolinska University Hospital, a leading obesity expert who was present at the conference, has warned that as a result of the increasing number of overweight children, “we will have, within a decade or two, a number of young people who are on kidney dialysis. There will not be organs for everybody”. UK-based International Obesity Task Force has said that junk food manufacturers target children, for example, through Internet advertising, chat rooms, text messages, and “advergames” on websites. Politicians are not doing enough to address the problem of obesity, including childhood obesity, the experts said.

According to Wikipedia, examples of junk food include, but are not limited to: hamburgers, pizza, candy, soda, and salty foods like potato chips and french fries. A well-known piece of junk food is the Big Mac. The US version of just one Big Mac burger contains 48% of calories from fat, 47% US Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) of fat, 52% RDA of saturated fat, 26% RDA of cholesterol, 42% RDA of sodium, and little nutritional value. It also has 18% of calories from protein. According to WHO, most people need only about 5% calories from protein. Staples such as rice, corn, baked potatoes, pinto beans, as well as fruits and vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini, oranges, and strawberries, provide more than this required amount of protein without the unhealthy amounts of fats or sodium, without cholesterol, and with plenty of fiber, vitamins, and minerals.

Both WHO and the American Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) define overweight in adults as a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 25 or above, and obese as a BMI of 30 or above. To combat overweight and obesity, WHO recommends that, among other things, people should be taking the following steps

• eating more fruit and vegetables, as well as nuts and whole grains;
• engaging in daily moderate physical activity for at least 30 minutes;
• cutting the amount of fatty, sugary foods in the diet;
• moving from saturated animal-based fats to unsaturated vegetable-oil based fats.

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Thursday, March 21, 2013

Anonymous people submitted a video depicting employees of Inghams Enterprises, an Australian poultry producer, to Animal Liberation. The video displays animal cruelty at an Inghams plant in Tahmoor, Macarthur Region, south-west of Sydney. The video was recorded without the employees’ knowledge over a two-week period in February. Animal Liberation maintains that the footage is legitimate.

Spokesperson for Animal Liberation Emma Hurst stated to Sydney Morning Herald, “You can see a total disrespect of these animals. There are scenes where they’ve put the music up very, very loud, the workers are screaming, jumping about, dancing, picking up the turkeys, dancing while holding onto the turkeys, throwing them onto the shackles, and just that whole mentality as though these animals don’t have feelings, that they’re objects.”

Using CCTV, over 140 hours were recorded, depicting 136 incidences of animal cruelty as well as aggravated animal cruelty, resulting in the animals’ death or severe conditions. Ms. Hurst said, “Hanging upside down, their legs are already brittle, and we’ve got footage as well where their legs have actually ripped off from their bodies … and the legs have been tossed around.”

Animal Liberation and the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) are again calling for the mandatory installation of CCTV cameras in all Australian abattoirs. RSPCA New South Wales chief inspector David O’Shannessy told the ABC that surveillance and inspections of abattoirs should be commonplace in Australia. “The CCTV would certainly send a strong signal to those people working with animals that their welfare is of the highest priority.”

Inghams CEO Kevin McBain released a statement saying that an investigation had been launched into the “intolerable incidents”. “We condemn the animal abuse we have seen in the footage and will — as a matter of urgency — work to review, retrain and reinforce our animal welfare standards throughout our organisation”

The New South Wales Police and the New South Wales Food Authority are continuing to investigate the video.

Friday, October 18, 2019

Early yesterday morning, United States Representative Elijah Cummings died while in hospice care. Cummings, the Democratic chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, was 68.

Elijah Eugene Cummings, first elected to Congress in 1996, was born in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1951. His parents, Robert Cummings Sr. and Ruth Elma Cummings, were sharecroppers. In grade school, Cummings expressed intent to become a lawyer. After receiving a bachelor’s degree in political science from Howard University, he attended law school at the University of Maryland. Cummings passed the state bar exam in 1976, and went on to start his own law practice.

In 1982 Cummings successfully ran to be a state delegate, joining the Maryland General Assembly in 1983. He remained there for fourteen years, eventually serving as the speaker pro tem of the chamber. Cummings was the first African American to hold that office.

When Representative Kweisi Mfume of Maryland’s seventh Congressional District announced his resignation in 1995, Cummings joined the race to replace him, winning the election. He went on to serve in the House of Representatives for twenty three years. He was among the Representatives who voted against the Iraq War in 2002, and in 2003 and 2004 served as the chair of the Congressional Black Caucus. He was also a member of the United States House Select Committee on Benghazi.

Following Democratic victories in the 2018 midterm elections, Cummings became the chair of the House Oversight and Reform Committee. In that role, Cummings oversaw the committee’s impeachment inquiry into President Trump, alongside the House Foreign Affairs and Intelligence committees.

The Baltimore Sun reported Cummings had been sick and was missing from Capitol Hill; his last roll call vote was on September 11. At 2:45 a.m. local time (0645 UTC), his office said, he died at Gilchrist Hospice Care. In a statement, Maya Rockeymoore Cummings, his wife and the current chairwoman of the Maryland Democratic Party, said Cummings “worked until his last breath”.

In response to Cummings’s death, Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, ordered the Capitol’s flags be lowered to half staff. Flags at the White House were reportedly similarly lowered.

Politicians from across the political spectrum publicly mourned Cummings’s death. Democrat Chuck Schumer, the Senate minority leader, told MSNBC Cummings “was a great man,” while Republican President Trump noted his “strength, passion and wisdom” on Twitter.

Representative Carolyn Maloney, the most senior Democrat on the Oversight and Reform Committee, has stepped into Cummings’s role as the committee’s acting chair. As of yesterday evening, the process to select the next permanent chair had not yet been announced, according to the Baltimore Sun.

Under Maryland state law, Republican Larry Hogan, the current governor, has until October 28 to release plans for a special election to fill Cummings’s congressional seat.

Thursday, October 18, 2007

It can be difficult to be John Reed.

Christopher Hitchens called him a “Bin Ladenist” and Cathy Young editorialized in The Boston Globe that he “blames the victims of terrorism” when he puts out a novel like Snowball’s Chance, a biting send-up of George Orwell‘s Animal Farm which he was inspired to write after the terrorist attacks on September 11. “The clear references to 9/11 in the apocalyptic ending can only bring Orwell’s name into disrepute in the U.S.,” wrote William Hamilton, the British literary executor of the Orwell estate. That process had already begun: it was revealed Orwell gave the British Foreign Office a list of people he suspected of being “crypto-Communists and fellow travelers,” labeling some of them as Jews and homosexuals. “I really wanted to explode that book,” Reed told The New York Times. “I wanted to completely undermine it.”

Is this man who wants to blow up the classic literary canon taught to children in schools a menace, or a messiah? David Shankbone went to interview him for Wikinews and found that, as often is the case, the answer lies somewhere in the middle.

Reed is electrified by the changes that surround him that channel through a lens of inspiration wrought by his children. “The kids have made me a better writer,” Reed said. In his new untitled work, which he calls a “new play by William Shakespeare,” he takes lines from The Bard‘s classics to form an original tragedy. He began it in 2003, but only with the birth of his children could he finish it. “I didn’t understand the characters who had children. I didn’t really understand them. And once I had had kids, I could approach them differently.”

Taking the old to make it new is a theme in his work and in his world view. Reed foresees new narrative forms being born, Biblical epics that will be played out across print and electronic mediums. He is pulled forward by revolutions of the past, a search for a spiritual sensibility, and a desire to locate himself in the process.

Below is David Shankbone’s conversation with novelist John Reed.