Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Today, the Constitutional Court of Thailand (Supreme Court) issued the sixth arrest warrant for Thailand’s deposed premier, Thaksin Shinawatra. Following on from a string of corruption charges, the latest centres on the country’s telecommunications industry. The former Prime Minister was removed by a bloodless military coup in September 2006 while at the United Nations in New York. Prior to the coup the country experienced widespread unrest, demonstrations, and allegations against Thaksin and his Thai Rak Thai party of corruption and vote buying.

The warrant is over Thaksin’s failure to appear in court on charges relating to conversion of concession payments in the country’s lucrative telecoms market to excise tax during 2003; a move that is estimated to have cost the country’s exchequer 40 billion baht (US$1.2 billion). The deposed PM remains in self-imposed exile in London, having been there since August. At that time he and his wife left Thailand whilst on bail related to the charges surrounding the Ratchadaphisek land purchase deal. The deal saw Thaksin’s wife, Khunying Potjaman purchase what is considered a prime piece of real estate for 772 million baht ($22.7 million) at auction; this price was described as a bargain. At this point the ex-PM has not been convicted on any of the charges, although his wife, Khunying, faces a jail sentence.

Next Tuesday, will see the trial over the Ratchadaphisek land case again come before the Supreme Court—this time with a verdict possibly to be read. This could be deferred due to the defendants’ absence, but a guilty verdict could see Thaksin facing jail time should he return to Thailand.

Last month, saw other warrants issued against Thaksin, in relation to the country’s numbers lottery. Malfeasance allegations led to charges over the sale of two and three digit numbers during the 2001-2006 period of his time in office as Prime Minister. The trial, currently suspended by the Criminal Division for Holders of Political Office, will resume and examine further evidence in December.

The ongoing controversy surrounding Thaksin has seen calls for his diplomatic passport to be revoked. The movement for the coveted red passport to be withdrawn started in mid-September with Thai air force chief, Chalit Phukpasuk, referencing the then-outstanding warrants and widespread lack of respect for the former PM stated, “he has now fallen from grace, he no longer deserves such an honour”. The general, who retired at the end of September, condemned Thaksin for failing to appear in court and defend himself. The newly appointed Foreign Minister and deputy PM has washed his hands of the diplomatic passport issue, preferring to pass this off as an issue for the Prime Minister himself. The military junta of Surayud Chulanont had revoked the passport, but this decision was revoked by the democratically elected Foreign Minister when civilian government was restored.

Adding to the public pressure on the former PM, Thailand’s armed forces’ supreme commander, Boonsrang Niempradit, called on the current Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat to ensure appropriate justice was meted out to Thaksin. Boonsrang asserted the prime minister must, “dispense justice to everyone, ensuring justice does not necessarily mean offering assistance. Sometimes, justice involves meting out punishment as well”. Current PM Somchai, brother-in-law of exiled Thaksin, has his own legal worries that could see him removed from office and parliament; charges against him centre round a share scandal. His holdings in a telecoms company which does business with the state are allegedly in contravention of several constitutional articles.

Monday, August 29, 2005

On July 18, 2005 CN Rail notified the CAW that they intend to cancel the CN-CAW previously Negotiated Health & Safety Plan. The CAW will be going to arbitration this fall to address the issue. The CAW has asked that employees notify their Health and Safety Rep about any safety concerns at the work place.

One terminal has lost 5-6 full-time positions. CN Rail used to have part-time positions filled as well, but at this time there are no part-time employees to cover work if a full-time employee is absent. Overtime is necessary to keep the trains running on time. Intermodal traffic goes up, but staff goes down. CN Rail expects the trains to go out on time, and in a safe condition, but staff is overworked, because there are not enough of them. In fact, one worker noticed that most of the rail cars that contained 40 foot overseas containers did not have their loading guides in place. Trains are not allowed to go out without these guides placed into the cars (the guides stop the loads from swaying from side to side in the cars), important for safety with double stacked containers, but it seems that in this case the lack of employees forced the train to leave without them.

Some recent derailments have come to the attention of the media and politicians.

On August 3rd 2005 there was a derailment in Wabamun Lake Alberta that spilled toxins into the lake. 2 days later there was a derailment in Cheakamus River near Squamish BC. Both derailments spilled hazardous materials into the water. Many are saying that CN took too long to notify people of the toxic spills.

The Conductor on each train carries with him the shipping manifest with him and has access to that information at all times. Almost any CN terminal that has a clerk working at it with access to the CN Intranet can get this information within minutes.

CTV news has said that this is the 5th derailment for CN this month.

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

The Council of the European Union voted yesterday to extend the term of copyright on sound recordings by twenty years, from 50 years to 70, preventing a number of early recordings of 1960s rock musicians including The Beatles from entering the public domain. The 1962 hit “Love Me Do” would have entered the public domain in 2012 if this legislation had not been introduced. EU member states have to enact the copyright extension within two years.

The news was welcomed by representatives of the recording industry and by some recording artists. Cliff Richard has campaigned for term extension. Mick Jagger from the Rolling Stones said the decision was “obviously advantageous” to performers, and Bjorn Ulvaeus from Abba welcomed the continued control over the group’s recordings: “Now I won’t have to see Abba being used in a TV commercial”. Geoff Taylor from the British Phonographic Industry said “[a]n exceptional period of British musical genius was about to lose its protection. As a matter of principle, it is right that our musicians should benefit from their creativity during their lifetimes, and that they should not be disadvantaged compared to musicians in other countries.”

Extension of the copyright term also has critics. Jim Killock, from the British digital rights advocacy group the Open Rights Group (ORG), said the move “puts money into the pockets of big labels” but will be “unlikely to benefit smaller artists and it will mean that a lot of sound recordings that are out of print will stay out of print”. Singer Sandie Shaw, of the Featured Artists’ Coalition, said the move would be “extremely good news for record companies and collection agencies, but bad news for artists” and would lead to artists having “20 more years in servitude to contracts that are no longer appropriate to a digital age”.

The extension to 70 years is less than that EU Commissioner Charlie McCreevy proposed in 2008. At that time, Wikinews interviewed Eddan Katz of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and Becky Hogge, then Executive Director of ORG, in Brussels. The two organisations were gathering like-minded groups to oppose harmonisation with the US’s 95-year term. Characterising the sought extension as “Cliff Richard’s pension”, Hogge asserted, “[w]hat you’ve got at the end of the day with copyright term extension is basically […] rent seeking by special interest groups lobbying governments to change the law in order that they may economically gain directly.”

Two reviews of intellectual property rights in Britain have concluded it would not be economically beneficial to extend copyright terms on sound recordings. The Gowers Review of Intellectual Property in 2006 concluded extension of the copyright term would “negatively impact upon consumers and industry”. The Hargreaves Review of Intellectual Property and Growth in 2011 concluded it would be “economically detrimental”. A study conducted by Bournemouth University’s Center for Intellectual Property Policy and Management concluded 72% of the economic benefits of the term extension would go to record labels, with 28% going to artists, only 4% of which are going to less successful artists.

Sunday, December 16, 2012

Former Zimbabwean professional footballer Adam Ndlovu has died in a car accident that also left his brother critically injured. Adam and his brother Peter, also a former professional footballer, were in the accident after failure of a tire on the BMW X5 Adam was reportedly driving. Reports also suggest an unidentified female passenger may have died in the accident.

George Bhebhe, a friend of Adam, spoke to The Zimbabwean about the circumstances of the accident. He said “Adam died early this morning when their vehicle veered off the road after a tyre burst and hit a tree 20 km from Victoria Falls. He died on arrival at hospital. Peter is in critical condition and he is at Victoria Falls hospital in Intensive Care Unit. But arrangements still being made to transfer from there to a hospital in Bulawayo or Harare”.

Both Adam and Peter played for the Zimbabwe national football team and Peter is their all time top goalscorer. During his career Peter played in the English Premier League and played for Coventry, Sheffield United, Birmingham, and Huddersfield. Sheffield United tweeted “Our thoughts are with former player Peter Ndlovu, who has been critically injured in a car accident in his native Zimbabwe. #sufc”

Adam formerly played for the Zimbabwean team Highlanders and at the time of his death coached Zimbabwe Premier League team Chicken Inn, based in Bulawayo.

Monday, June 26, 2006

A Francesco Totti penalty deep in added time put Italy through to the next round of the 2006 Fifa World Cup at the expense of Australia, Monday.

The Australian Socceroos had the ball more, but the more experienced Azzuri defenders created an impenetrable defence, limiting the number of Australian scoring opportunities. This was despite the Italian team shrinking to ten men after Marco Materazzi was shown a controversial straight red card in the 50th minute.

Australia looked to have gained an advantage when Marco Bresciano surged through the Italy defence and Materazzi slid in to trip him up. Though there was an Italy defender on Bresciano’s shoulder, Spanish referee Luis Medina Cantalejo deemed that the tackle was deliberately not aimed at the ball, and considered the foul worth more than a single yellow card. It would not be the only disputed decision in the match.

Both sides had a number of good opportunities to score, but the shots were generally too close to the box to beat the goalkeepers. The best save of the game was made by Mark Schwarzer from a Luca Toni effort 20 minutes into the game.

Guus Hiddink delayed making attacking substitutions against ten-men Italy likely because he expected the game to go to extra time, and so wished to keep a fitness advantage later on in the game. Hiddink’s only substitution, John Aloisi, came on at the 80th minute, while the Italian coach Marcello Lippi had made three, including the crucial one of Totti five minutes earlier.

In the attack Totti was a straight swap for Alessandro Del Piero, a fresh pair of legs which ensured Italy were a threat on the break right until the end of the regular period of play. It was a tactic that paid dividends in the end.

The second disputed referee decision was a penalty kick was awarded to Fabio Grosso three minutes into added time (and the last minute of game time). Grosso was running towards goal from out wide having avoided Marco Bresciano before being obstructed by Lucas Neill. The central defender had fallen to the ground early and Grosso, though not tripped, was impeded and dived straight over him. Medina awarded a penalty shot as this occurred within the penalty area.

Totti, dropped from the game in favour of Del Piero, grinned slightly as he placed the ball on the spot. The ball was struck close to the upper-right corner of Schwarzer’s box, the goalie could do nothing to stop the ball. It was the last kick of the game and the Italians celebrated.

The Budweiser Man of the Match was Gianluigi Buffon of Italy.

The prize was a quarter-final match against the lowest ranked FIFA team in their half of the knock-out tree, Ukraine.

Friday, January 12, 2007

The iPhone only made its appearance as a prototype and there have been controversies aroused.

The dispute has come up between the manufacturer of the iPhone (which was resented on Wednesday for the first time) – Apple Inc. – and a leader in network and communication systems, based in San Jose – Cisco. The company claims to possess the trademark for iPhone, and moreover, that it sells devices under the same brand through one of its divisions.

This became the reason for Cisco to file a lawsuit against Apple Inc. so that the latter would stop selling the device.

Cisco states that it has received the trademark in 2000, when the company overtook Infogear Technology Corp., which took place in 1996.

The Vice President and general counsel of the company, Mark Chandler, explained that there was no doubt about the excitement of the new device from Apple, but they should not use a trademark, which belongs to Cisco.

The iPhone developed by Cisco is a device which allows users to make phone calls over the voice over Internet protocol (VoIP).

Wednesday, March 12, 2014

A large fire has started at the Barangaroo construction site overlooking Sydney Harbour, New South Wales, Australia. The construction company said fire broke out at about 2:10pm local time (0310 UTC) and appeared to have been caused by a welding accident in the basement of a building.

All site workers were evacuated without injury, according to Fire and Rescue NSW Superintendent Ian Krimmer. Large clouds of smoke were continuing to pour out of the building, casting a thick pall of smoke over the city skyline. Some nearby buildings have also been evacuated, including the KPMG building and offices of the Macquarie Bank.

Firefighters reported concern about a tower crane overhanging the building basement site. There were fears that the crane could buckle due to the heat and collapse. Firefighters were working to keep the base of the crane cool, and the stability of the structure was being monitored with lasers.

The Western Distributor motorway was closed to traffic, and Sydney Harbour Bridge partly closed. There had been major disruptions in traffic and multiple roads in the Sydney CBD (Central Business District) were gridlocked. People catching buses were advised to expect long delays.

Friday, January 15, 2010

Haiti was hit by a heavy earthquake with a magnitude of 7.0 on Tuesday, killing an unknown number of people, and destroying up to ten percent of buildings in the capital, Port-au-Prince.

No official death toll has been released as of yet, although the United Nations says that up to fifty thousand people may potentially have been killed. An estimated 300,000 more were left without homes.

In a special photo report, Wikinews looks at the extensive damage caused by the disaster.

To find more information about a certain image or to enlarge it, click it. For an in-depth textual report on the same subject, please see Haiti relief efforts: in depth.

• A map indicating the strength of the earthquake, with redder areas being harder hit. The star indicates the epicentre.

• Another graphical representation of the earthquake’s epicentre. As can be seen, it is very close to the capital, which is home to over an estimated 2.5 million people.

• Downtown Port-au-Prince from a bird’s-eye perspective. Only a few buildings remain completely intact, most have been either damaged or completely leveled. Image: UNDP.

• Another aerial image of downtown. Rubble lines the city streets. Image: UNDP.

• Makeshift tents set up in a city square. Image: UNDP.

• A man exits a restaurant after looking for his belongings. Image: UNDP.

• The national palace, housing Haitian president Rene Preval, sustained serious damage. Both the president and his wife, however, survived the earthquake. Image: UNDP.

• Another shot of the presidential palace. Image: UNDP.

• Makeshift tents are set up at a soccer field, one of the few areas free from debris

• A poor neighbourhood in the capital. Again, most buildings have collapsed or sustained significant damage. Image: UNDP.

• The Hotel Montana, once five storeys tall, now lies in a collapsed heap in Port-au-Prince. Image: UNDP.

• Port-au-Prince harbour after the deadly earthquake. The port was too damaged to receive cargo from aid ships sent to the country.

• A shipping container floating in the waters near the seaport.

• More damage caused to the seaport

• Two US Coast Guard 270-foot cutters sit offshore of Haiti, ready to provide humanitarian aid to the earthquake-ravaged country. However, they had no place to dock since the port was inoperable

• An aerial view of the seaport. Note the cargo containers floating out at sea and lopsided cranes.

• The UN’s Haitian headquarters were heavily damaged by the earthquake; many UN officials are feared trapped under the rubble.

• View of the UN headquarters, from a different angle

• The US Coast Guard evacuating US personnel from Haiti by a Hercules C-130 airplane.

• Haitian civilians receiving assistance in a makeshift camp set up by the Brazilian Army in Port-au-Prince Image: Agencia Brasil.

• Brazilian soldiers in the camp giving medical aid to victims Image: Agencia Brasil.

• Another shot of the impromptu camp Image: Agencia Brasil.

• Brazilian Defense Minister Nelson Jobim and Commander of the Army Enzo Peri board a Brazilian Air Force plane headed to Haiti, to join relief efforts Image: Agencia Brasil.

• United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) peacekeepers trying to find survivors in the wreckage of a building Image: UNDP.

• MINUSTAH members loading an injured person aboard a lorry

• US Coast Guard delivering medical supplies by boat

• A US Coast Guard member giving a small child a bottle of water in Port-au-Prince

• US Army Lieutenant Colonel Hector Paz carrying an injured girl to receive medical treatment after being evacuated from Port-au-Prince

• A small boy receiving medical treatment by MINUSTAH members at their logistics base Image: UNDP.

• A body pulled out from the rubble of a school that collapsed after the earthquake Image: UNDP.

• Another body being pulled out of the school Image: UNDP.

• US president Barack Obama in the White House Situation Room, discussing response to the disaster