Friday, February 5, 2010

Global stock markets fell steeply on Thursday on investor concerns about the growing sovereign debts of European Union member states Greece, Portugal, and Spain. A report of a rise in weekly jobless claims in the United States contributed to the market gloom. The MSCI World index fell the most in over nine months. Currency and commodities markets also posted major moves.

The euro fell more than one percent against the US dollar to an eight-month low; against the yen it fell 2.2%, approaching a one-year low. The price of crude oil fell 5% to US$73.14 per barrel and gold slid 4.4% to US$1,063 per ounce.

Greece’s Prime Minister, George Papandreou, announced an austerity program, but that is now threatened by plans by the largest trade union for a national strike. In 2009, Greece’s budget deficit was 12.7% of the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP). Papandreou’s plan called for that to drop to 3% by 2012.

Gary Jenkins of Evolution Securities told the Financial Times, “[t]he risk aversion trade is back on as the debt problems of Europe are for the first time bringing down global markets. Corporate earnings may come in strongly [in the US], but investors are more concerned about the possible default of a sovereign European nation.”

“This is a sovereign problem, and it’s hitting everything,” said Keith Springer of Capital Financial Advisory Services to Reuters. “If other European countries are having trouble like Greece, then it’s a big problem for banks, and the banks are the foundation for everything. European banks will be in trouble and that will carry over to all stocks.”

“The focus is shifting toward Spain and Portugal, where the deficit-reduction plans have been far less ambitious than Greece,” said Kornelius Purps of UniCredit Markets & Investment Banking to Bloomberg.

Concerns in Portugal centered on political tension surrounding a regional spending bill. In Spain, the source of worry was reportedly because the government backed down from promised pension reform.

European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet sought to ease investor fears, in part by noting that the deficit in the US is expected to hit 10% of GDP in 2010, compared with about 6% in the eurozone. He said that he was “confident” that Greece is moving in the right direction.

Trichet did admit that it is of “paramount importance” for Greece, Portugal and Spain to get their public finances under control.

Tuesday, June 27, 2006

Ikeda Kanako, a 21-year-old senior student of the Meiji Gakuin University and the first daughter of celebrity surgeon Yuko Ikeda, was kidnapped at about 1225 (UTC+9), June 26, 2006, in Shibuya, Tokyo.

A bullet was fired and one officer slightly cut when police stormed a Kawasaki apartment to rescue the girl.

Kanako was dressed in a white light half-sleeved cardigan, blue jeans with a bistre belt made of leather, a spring green camisole and carried a bag of Vuitton when she was abducted at a bus stop.

She was found unharmed 13 hours later by Japanese police at a condominium located in Nakahara-ku, Kawasaki, Kanagawa. The young woman’s make-up was not disordered; Kanako’s long brown fringe was not disheveled at all and she was wearing what she had been when she was kidnapped.

The kidnapping of Kanako was a big story in Japanese media in June, 2006. The story appeared in many newspapers as the front-page news on June 27, 2006.

Kanako and her kidnappers had been in touch with her mother using Kanako’s mobile phone. The effort to free her was helped greatly by a woman who witnessed the moment Kanako was taken; she wrote down the license plate of the van and other details.

Police traced mobile phone calls and were able to locate the van in Kawasaki where they detained two of the kidnappers as they went shopping.

One conspirator Li Yong, 29, from China, led the policemen to the apartment and tricked Kaneo Ito, 49, from Japan, to open the door. Ito managed to discharge one bullet before being restrained by an assistant police inspector, the first man in the room.

The other man involved in the kidnap of Kanako was Choi Gi Ho, 54, from South Korea. Kanato was freed unharmed.

The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department arrested three men on suspicion of conspiring to kidnap a woman and hold her to a reported 300 million yen ransom.

Monday, September 27, 2021

Since June 2019, the people of South Gippsland Shire, located at the southernmost tip of Australia, have been without a local council, after a state government inquiry found “high levels of tension” within the council. Administrators were appointed by the Victorian state government in July 2019, who have governed the shire since then. However, South Gippsland’s council is scheduled to be restored with an election to be held via post from October 5–22, 2021.

Wikinews interviewed one of the candidates standing in this election, David Liebelt, an independent candidate running in the Coastal-Promontory Ward. The Coastal-Promontory ward covers towns such as Venus Bay, Waratah Bay, Yanakie, Foster, Port Welshpool, and Toora, and elects three councillors to the South Gippsland Shire Council.

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

An act signed into law by Afghan President Hamid Karzai last month dramatically rolled back the rights of women in that country, according to human rights groups and a United Nations report on the bill by the United Nations Development Fund for Women.

The Afghan government has not provided a copy of the text of the Shia Family Law to the UN or to other outside groups requesting it, citing “technical problems”, however, the UN and opposition politicians say that the bill contains numerous provisions restricting the rights of women, such as giving their husbands priority in court; requiring the husband’s permission to leave the house, obtain education or employment, or to see a doctor; and reserving the custody of children to male relatives.

In its most controversial provision, though, the law’s Article 132 requires wives to submit to their husbands’ sexual demands, and says that a husband can expect sex with his wife once in every four days except in the event of illness. The United Nations argues that this is equivalent to spousal rape. Spousal rape is specifically prohibited in 45 countries worldwide and may be prosecutable by existing rape statutes in others.

The circumstances of the bill’s passage have raised questions as well, with Senator Humeira Namati saying that the bill was not read out or debated in the House of Elders, the Afghan National Assembly‘s upper house and Shinkai Zahine Karokhail of the House of the People stating the bill received only limited debate in the lower chamber. “They wanted to pass it almost like a secret negotiation,” Karokhail told the Guardian. “There were lots of things that we wanted to change, but they didn’t want to discuss it because Karzai wants to please the Shia before the election.” Namati calls the new law “worse than the Taliban”.

According to Karokhail and others, the law received Karzai’s support in order to boost his popularity among Afghanistan’s Shi’a population, which comprises an estimated ten per cent of the country, ahead of an upcoming election in August. A Monday ruling by the Afghan Supreme Court has allowed Karzai to remain in power in the interval between the expiration of his term on May 21 and the upcoming Afghan presidential election in August. It is unclear whether the law would apply only to Shi’a persons or to all Afghans.

Nonetheless some changes were made to the bill; the proposed minimum age of marriage for girls was raised to 16 from aged 9 and temporary marriage is not provided for. MP Shukria Barakzai says that “before this was passed family issues were decided by customary law” and that the new law, while not perfect, is an “improvement”. MP Ustad Mohammad Akbari defended the bill as well, saying it protects women’s rights: “Men are stronger and women are a little bit weaker; even in the west you do not see women working as firefighters.”

A spokesman for Mr. Karzai gave reporters no comment.

Sunday, February 4, 2018

Thursday morning, at Salvador Castro Middle School in the Westlake District, Los Angeles (L.A.), California, US, four students were injured when a gun went off in a girl’s backpack, according to police. L.A. police took a suspect into custody, a twelve-year-old female student, and recovered the gun at the scene.

The four injured students were transported to a local hospital. A fifteen-year-old boy suffered a gunshot wound to the head and was recovering according to a Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center spokesperson on Wednesday. A fifteen-year-old girl was shot in the wrist, and two other students were grazed. The girl and two other students were hospitalized for their injuries.

A 30-year-old staff member was also injured, but reports were unclear whether she was injured by gunfire.

Police officials charged the twelve-year-old girl with negligent discharge of a firearm and she was taken to a juvenile detention center. Police said they did not believe the shooting was intentional, but suspected the girl had the gun in her backpack and it fired off when the bag dropped on the ground.

The Westlake middle school is located near downtown L.A. and is located on the campus of Belmont High School and had an enrollment last year of 355 students.

Friday, October 21, 2005

British Columbia, Canada — The BC Teachers’ Federation (BCTF) and the government have both accepted mediator Vince Ready’s recommendations.

Premier Gordan Campbell announced in a news conference today that he will accept the plan unconditionally.

However, Jinny Sims (head of the BCTF) has said that she will only accept the proposal if the government provides firm class-size numbers and support for special-needs students.”We need for our students a guarantee in writing that this government will make changes to the School Act to put firm class-size numbers” Sims also said, “And in the School Act, they will address class composition. And that means support for special needs kids”.

Sims will recommend to her union to accept the proposal if these conditions are met.

Key points of the proposal to which both sides have agreed include:

• Government spends $40 million to “harmonize” teachers salaries across BC
• Another $20 million is spent on top of current funding to reduce class-size and help special-need students. This brings that funding up to $120 million.
• The government consults with the BCTF about how class-size reduction should take place.
• The government puts $40 million (one-time) into the unions long-term disability fund.
• The government raises pay for substitute teachers to $120 a day.

“I believe the recommendations provide a fair basis for resolution of the present dispute, especially in the context of the additional opportunities for the BCTF to address these and other issues in the next few months,” Ready’s report said.

If the union votes this weekend, classes could be in this Monday.

Justice Brenda Brown of the British Columbia Supreme Court made an order today that the BCTF must pay $500,000 for being in contempt of court. She noted that the fine would have been “significantly larger”, were it not for the fact that the two sides were working toward an agreement to quickly end the labour disruption. The amount was based on the union’s membership numbers and assets ($15 million).

Legal commentators noted that this is the largest penalty ever ordered by a Canadian court following a finding of contempt. A lawyer for the employer noted that he was satisfied with the size of the fine. Still, it’s not over yet. The court has the right to order further penalties if the union and its members continue their illegal job action. As well, an independent prosecutor appointed by the Attorney General’s office is reviewing the case to determine whether charges of criminal contempt are appropriate.