Friday, April 23, 2010

Minas, one of the largest states of Brazil, has stopped the sale of the Toyota Corolla over safety concerns.

The move was made after nine Corolla customers reported that their cars automatically accelerated. The state public prosecutor’s office said in an online statement on Tuesday that the problem is blamed on accelerator pedals sticking underneath floor mats. Local government said the issue was “putting in danger the lives of occupants”.

According to the prosecutor’s office, sales of Corollas may resume when Toyota alters the floormats in its current models. Toyota has recalled over eight million vehicles worldwide due to acceleration problems.

Friday, September 14, 2007

Semicon Taiwan goes to the final day on September 14, one of exhibitors Siemens AG imported containers named “exiderdome” to Taiwan and held an exhibition at A13 Parking Lot in Xinyi District, Taipei City for professionals from some industries such as automation, semiconductor, and electronics experiencing the advantages on automation solutions by Siemens.

For this special exhibition, Wikinews Reporter Brock interviewed Stephen Huang (International Account Manager of Automation and Drives Department, Siemens Limited) and Ken Cheng (Director of Automation and Drives Department, Siemens Limited) for information on this exhibition.

Saturday, May 20, 2006

Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro, sent as the post-time odds-on favorite in this year’s Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland, breaks down in the opening stretch of the race, shattering any chance of a Triple Crown winner this year. Bernardini, the 12-1 4th choice out of 9, ends up winning this year’s Preakness, stopping the clock at 1:54.65. Following up 5 1/4 lengths behind was Sweetnorthernsaint, sent to the post at 8-1, and Hemingway’s Key at 29-1, six lengths further back.

According to Dr. Larry Bramlage, the on-call veterinarian for the American Association of Equine Practitioners, Barbaro’s injury was “significant” and “would require major stabilizing surgery.” Barbaro’s injury effectively ended the horse’s racing career.

Bernardini, a colt by A.P. Indy out of Cara Rafaela, by Quiet American, was bred and is owned by the Darley Stable of Sheikh Mohammed, is trained by Tom Albertrani, and was ridden to victory by Javier Castellano. Today’s Preakness marks the first Preakness win for jockey Javier Castellano, who previously rode Ghostzapper to a win in the 2004 Breeders’ Cup Classic. The Preakness was only Bernardini’s 4th career start.

Bernardini paid $27.80 on a $2 win bet. The $2 Exacta of Bernardini and Sweetnorthernsaint (8-7) paid $171.60, the $1 Trifecta with Hemingway’s Key in third (8-7-3) paid $1,956.40, and the $1 Superfecta with 2nd-favorite Brother Derek (8-7-3-6) paid $11,151.20.

Friday, March 25, 2011

Two weeks after a disastrous earthquake and tsunami hit Japan, the situation at the severely damaged Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant has been described by the Prime Minister as “very grave and serious”. In a nationally televised report to the nation on Friday, Naoto Kan said the Japanese government was “not in a position where we can be optimistic.”

Radiation is reported to still be leaking from the plant, in Fukushima prefecture. “The source of the radiation seems to be the reactor core,” said Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency official Hidehiko Nishiyama, adding that radiation was “more likely” coming from the core than from the reactor’s spent fuel pool.

On Thursday three workers stepped into contaminated cooling water in the reactor’s turbine room while trying to replace cables at reactor No. 3, Nishiyama said. The water seeped into the the boots of two of the workers, touching their skin and causing lesions; the third worker’s clothing protected him from the water. The two workers with skin lesions were hospitalized for radiation exposure. The radiation level of the contaminated water measured 10,000 times the level of cooling water in an undamaged reactor.File:Fukushima I by Digital Globe 2.jpg

Work has been stopped on attempts to reattach a permanent power line to the cooling system in reactor No. 3, and the building has been evacuated. Nishiyama could give no predictions of when work would resume. The possibility that water is leaking from the core of reactor No. 3 increases the danger for workers who attempt to cool the crippled plant. The reactors must be cooled before more safety work can begin.

Japan had been using seawater for cooling since the disaster crippled the power plant’s cooling systems, but U.S. officials were concerned that saltwater could harm the equipment, causing it to seize up and corrode, thereby worsening the situation.

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Toyota has been accused by a U.S. House of Representatives committee with misleading the public and investigators over its recent recalls.

The accusations, in a statement from the House Energy and Commerce Committee, claim that Toyota both relied on a flawed study in its assessment of the issue of sticking accelerator pedals at the heart of the recalls, and then made misleading statements about its response. According to the authors of the letter, Henry Waxman and Bart Stupak, Toyota dismissed, rather than investigated, the idea that the cars’ computers were at fault. In a statement, James Lentz, the president of Toyota’s American division, claimed that hardware issues were to blame, and that dealers were repairing the faulty part. Toyota also released a study commissioned from the research firm Exponent that said electronic systems were not to blame.

According to the House committee, however, the study involved only six vehicles, none of which had problems with their electrical systems, and was insufficient to produce an accurate result. “Our preliminary assessment is that Toyota resisted the possibility that electronic defects could cause safety concerns, relied on a flawed engineering report and made misleading public statements concerning the adequacy of recent recalls to address the risk of sudden unintended acceleration.”

The company is under a criminal investigation, and has received two subpoenas for documents from two House committees relating to the recalls, although whether they are directly related to the letter is unclear. The documents are related to accelerator issues in several models, as well as brake problems with the Prius hybrid car, and were served earlier in in February by a federal grand jury and the Securities and Exchange Commission. Toyota has released upwards of 75,000 pages of documents under the requests.

In a separate, though related, development, it has emerged that Toyota last year negotiated a limited recall for two models, the Toyota Camry and Lexus ES, that were affected by the accelerator recalls, saving the company an estimated $100 million. A confidential internal presentation in July 2009 made the claim, and a month later, a Lexus ES, one of the models under the limited recall crashed in California, killing four people. The claims apparently referenced a September, 2007 recall of floor mats that could trap gas pedals, the same problem that triggered a full recall of numerous Toyota cars to fix the same problem. In the same presentation, the company claimed to have avoided recalls of another model related to rust, as well as delaying new federal safety regulations.

Monday, February 21, 2005

Avalanches following the worst snow in two decades have killed over 100 people south of Srinagar in Indian-administered Kashmir, with many more still missing and remote areas still isolated. Forty-five tourists have been rescued, and the death toll is expected to rise as rescuers–including a large number of Indian troops–deal with the 4.5 metres of snow that have fallen since last Friday.

The crisis has cut off electricity in Srinagar for three days and is not affecting the water supplies. There are queues for cooking gas, and helicopters have been bringing in additional supplies.

Sunday, October 30, 2005

Brazil —Former advisors to Brazilian Minister of Finance Antonio Palocci have claimed that three million US dollars from Cuba were used in the 2002 political campaign of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. The accusation was printed by the Brazilian magazine Veja in its issue circulating this week.

According to Veja, Rogério Buratti, Palocci’s secretary in the early 1990s during the period when Palocci was mayor, claims that Ralf Barquete (another advisor to Palocci) had asked him to find a way to bring money from Cuba.

Another source, economist Vladmir Poleto who had also worked for Palocci, claimed to have brought the three million from Brasília to Campinas by plane. He stated the money was hidden in whiskey boxes: Johnnie Walker Red Label and Black Label and Havana Club (a Cuban brand of rum). Barquete received the money at the Campinas airport Viracopos. Afterwards he claims the money was transferred by car to São Paulo and delivered to Workers’ Party treasurer Delubio Soares.

Workers’ Party President Ricardo Berzoini has responded saying that the accusation is false. And Lula’s aide Gilberto Carvalho has said the story is “absurd”.

According to the blog of Folha de S. Paulo reporter Josias de Souza, Palocci and Lula are worried about the interviews being aired on Brazilian television.

The president of the PPS, federal deputy Roberto Freire (Pernambucostate), has stated that his party will ask the Electoral Justice investigatory agency and the Public Ministry to begin a investigation into the charge. The parties PFL and PSDB are also considering demanding an investigation.

Thursday, March 13, 2008

Family First Senator Steve Fielding arrived at Parliament today, dressed as a beer bottle to raise awareness of a bill he intends to move in the Senate today. Senator Fielding will introduce a bill to establish a nationwide refund scheme for bottles and cans.

A similar scheme has operated in South Australia since 1977.

Family First wants a rebate of 10 cents per container, while the Australian Greens want 20 cents.

Speaking to reporters outside parliament dressed as a beer bottle, the Senator said the legislation would reduce litter by 25 per cent. “There’s a message in this bottle.”

“I am no longer trash, I’m cash.”

“We should get the litter off the streets and off the creeks and into recycling – that’s good for the environment and good for the community”

“It’s a win-win and I can’t understand why nationally we don’t have a scheme,” said Senator Fielding.

Senator Fielding said that recycling not only reduced litter, but also consumes less energy than making new containers from scratch. “Recycling a plastic bottle saves more than 80 per cent of the energy used to make a bottle from scratch and recycling aluminium cans uses just five per cent of the energy used making a can from scratch,” said the Senator.

Senator Bob Brown, leader of the Greens said while there were environmental benefits from recycling, it would also create thousands of new jobs.

“This is a very good way of recycling and reducing energy because a lot of energy goes into making cans and bottles,” Senator Brown told reporters.

“It will employ tens of thousands of people across Australia.”