Friday, November 2, 2007

“Among men, La-La; among horses, Red Hare” (In Chinese: ?????????) was recently elected as the “Best Internet Cool Quote”.

Laa-Laa refers to the yellow character from the Teletubbies television series, and Red Hare refers to military general Lü Bu’s horse during China’s Three Kingdoms period.

The quote was given its title after a two-week voting period, that started on October 14 until PepsiCo Taiwan & Doritos announced “Top 10 Internet Cool Quote” on October 31. Voting was on the Doritos Coolpedia website, which started on September 28.

Voting attracted more than 10,000 Internet users from 64 countries participating and electing.

Coolpedia is a portal for teens and young adults to share and contribute their creations, and interact.

At the announcement event was the famous Taiwanese band “MACHI Brothers” (MACHI). Described by Pepsico as a symbol of younger people in the presence of the e-Century in Taiwan, MACHI serves as spokespeople for the website. Members of band dressed in different “Cool Quote T-Shirts” to symbolize the “unlimited creation” of Coolpedia.

On November 1, Coolpedia launched a website for a “Cool Video Award” contest, with the slogan “No pictures, no truth!”. PepsiCo Taiwan has suggested that the site will be a major Web 2.0 site.

Sunday, January 21, 2007

In the United Kingdom, an anti-pollution operation is under way after the stricken ship MSC Napoli started to leak dangerous heavy fuel oil.

The heavy fuel oil that is leaking from the beached Italian ship is extremely dangerous for the environment. Fear of pollution increased after the ship was further damaged during storms last Thursday. MSC Napoli was beached by Devon coastguards after it suffered heavy structual damage in the gale force storms of Thursday, 18 January 2007, that wreaked havoc across Northern Europe. The ship, which contains 160 containers of hazardous chemical substances, is listing at 35 degrees.

The entire 26-man crew was rescued by navy helicopters Thursday after severe gales. Cracks were found on both sides of the ship, but the current oil leak was not expected.

Around 2,400 containers were carried by the 62,000 tonne ship, some of which contain potentially dangerous hazardous chemicals.

The Coastguards have reported that up to 200 of the containers carrying materials such as perfume and battery acid are loose from the ship and they are looking for missing containers. South African stainless steel producer Columbus Stainless confirmed on Friday that there was at least 1,000 tonnes of nickel on board MSC Napoli.

A hole in the ship flooded the engine room and there’s now fears that the ship will break up. Saturday MSC Napoli was towed to Portland when a ”structural failure” forced the salvage team to beach it. As the storms have continued MSC Napoli has been further damaged.

The authorities have warned people about the pollution, which already has reached the beaches at Devon, but many want to see it on their own. Police have closed Branscombe Beach as more than 20 containers have broken up scattering their contents along the beach.

Sky News reported Sunday that the costs of the accident might be very high as thousands of pounds worth of BMW motorbikes, car parts, empty oak barrels and perfume might get lost in flooding containers.

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Natural Balance Pet Foods has recalled some of its wet and dry food for cats and dogs after several owners said that their pets were becoming sick. The company urges owners to stop feeding their pets the food immediately.

The brands recalled include Venison & Brown Rice Dry Dog Food and Venison & Green Pea Dry Cat Food.

Last month, Menu Foods recalled all of its 60 million products of dry and wet dog and cat food after pets began to fall ill and in some cases died of kidney failure.

“Natural Balance, Pacoima, CA, is issuing a voluntary nationwide recall for all of its Venison dog products and the dry Venison cat food only, regardless of date codes. The recalled products include Venison and Brown Rice canned and bagged dog foods, Venison and Brown Rice dog treats, and Venison and Green Pea dry cat food. Recent laboratory results show that the products contain melamine. We believe the source of the melamine is a rice protein concentrate. Natural Balance has confirmed this morning that some production batches of these products may contain melamine,” said a press released issued by Natural Balance.

The FDA states that the “investigation remains open and active, and the agency continues to follow leads to get closer to the root cause of the problem and to ensure that all contaminated product is removed from the market.”

“The source of the melamine appears to be a rice protein concentrate, which was recently added to the dry venison formulas. Natural Balance does not use wheat gluten, which was associated with the previous melamine contamination,” said the press release.

Bags, cans and zip lock bags of the food are expected to be the most affected.

“The products are packaged in bags, cans and zip lock treat bags and sold in pet specialty stores and PetCo nationally. No other Natural Balance products are involved in this voluntary recall as none of our other formulas include the rice protein concentrate,” added the press release.

The company states that the food, Venison & Brown Rice Dry Dog Food and Venison & Green Pea Dry Cat Food, are the only brands affected by the recall.

Saturday, April 17, 2010

Journalist, counselor, painter, and US 2012 Presidential candidate Joe Schriner of Cleveland, Ohio took some time to discuss his campaign with Wikinews in an interview.

Schriner previously ran for president in 2000, 2004, and 2008, but failed to gain much traction in the races. He announced his candidacy for the 2012 race immediately following the 2008 election. Schriner refers to himself as the “Average Joe” candidate, and advocates a pro-life and pro-environmentalist platform. He has been the subject of numerous newspaper articles, and has published public policy papers exploring solutions to American issues.

Wikinews reporter William Saturn? talks with Schriner and discusses his campaign.

Friday, February 3, 2017

Etienne Tshisekedi, leader of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)’s opposition Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDSP), has died, according to an announcement on Wednesday by the party. He was 84.

Tshisekedi was in Brussels, Belgium for medical treatment. He recently spent two years there for health issues, returning in July to DRC capital Kinshasa. He went back to Brussels last week.

Tshisekedi was due to oversee a power-sharing deal aimed at ending political stalemate with President Joseph Kabila. Kabila is due to stand down under the deal, brokered by the Catholic Church. Kabila’s most recent electoral victory is disputed, with international observers alleging election fraud and Tshisekedi supporters calling him the “elected president”.

A founding UDSP member, Tshisekedi helped found the party when elections scheduled in the 1980s failed to materialise. At that point the nation was ruled by Mobutu Sese Seko; Seko appointed Tshisekedi his Prime Minister four times but they quarrelled and Tshisekedi only managed to stay in the role for months at a time.

Since then, he led the opposition to Joseph Kabila’s father Laurent, who became President in 1997 after leading a rebellion. His son, President from 2001, was declared winner of the 2011 election with Tshisekedi declared runner-up. Tshisekedi was exiled to Kasai under Kabila sr. Locals nicknamed him the Sphinx of Limete, a reference to the longevity of the mythical sphinx and the Kinshasa district in which he made his home.

Albert Moleka, who was Tshisekei’s chief of staff for the 2011 presidential election, told Reuters “A baobab [tree] has fallen […] The baobab protects you from the rain and the sun […] people like that can’t be replaced.” UDSP said their leader was in Brussels for a checkup following his earlier treatment.

The government has promised a state funeral.

Thursday, March 2, 2006

Buffalo, New York —In an unanimous vote, the City of Buffalo‘s Planning Board voted to table the Elmwood Village hotel Proposal, postponing voting on legislation for up to 30 days.

The Board said its decision was due to the lack of public involvement, saying that there have not been enough meetings.

The Elmwood Village Hotel is a proposed project by Savarino Construction Services Corporation and was designed by Karl Frizlen of The Frizlen Group. The hotel would be placed on Elmwood and Forest Avenues in Buffalo, New York. In order for the hotel to be built, at least five buildings, that include both businesses and residents, must be demolished.

The Forever Elmwood Corp. is a Buffalo-based non-profit organization founded in 1994. Justin Azzarella, the Executive Director for the organization voiced support for the proposal, stating: “I am here today to lend Forever Elmwood’s support the hotel project. Particularly, Forever Elmwood is encouraged by the fact that this building follows the more stringent Elmwood Village Design Guidelines. We have been speaking with Savarino Construction, and they have promised us [Forever Elmwood] that they will engage the community further, including the surrounding Block Clubs and businesses. For that reason, while Forever Elmwood is in support of this project and the type of project that it is, we are asking also that the project be tabled so that the community can be further engaged. Specifically the surrounding Block clubs which include the Granger, Claremont, Asland and The Lincoln Parkway Block Clubs.”

“Because of the excellent work that Karl does and the game plan that they have, I think its an ideal use of this particular location. I think that this particular type of development needs to be encouraged and promoted as opposed to roadblocked,” said a man who owns five properties near the proposal site.

However, Evelyn Bencinich, a resident of Granger Place and whose house would be located directly behind the hotel said, “My property value will be depreciated or non-existent because no one is going to want to live behind a multi-story hotel. We are facing up to a year of noisy and dangerous demolition and construction. Children, pets and even drunk rebellers could wander on site and get hurt. Traffic tie-ups caused by large machinery and garbage bins is inevitable. Where will pedestrians walk? We could experience increased unsanitary flooding in our yards and basements due to the digging and cementing for the underground parking garage. Rats will be displaced into the immediate neighborhoods and be in great abundance. Once we get past the year of nightmare construction, what if you build it and they don’t come? We could ultimately have a seven million dollar rooming house on our corner.”

Patty Morris, co-owner of Don Apparel with Nancy Pollina at 1119 Elmwood also asked that the project be tabled saying, “this has only been public knowledge for less than two weeks and the public never saw the redesign. How can you vote on anything that no one has seen yet? The Board cut off Morris saying, “so specifically you don’t have any problem with it [the design] you just…” Morris then said, “Oh I am totally against this project, but thats besides the point isn’t it.”

The planning board is also concerned that the current design may still be too big.

At one point Board member Susan Curran Hoyt said, “we know you’ve cut down your number of rooms on this project, but we still see it doesn’t seem to fit the description of a ‘botique’ hotel,” and asked Eva Hassett, Vice President of Savarino Construction, “we wonder if you could reduce the rooms further.”

“One thing I didn’t talk about was the price levels of these rooms and that will be important to know. The room rate will be somewhere between US$120 and $160 a night, which is about the same price of the Hampton Inn down town and the smaller you make the hotel, the more expensive the rooms will get. We believe that we’ve made a good compromise in terms of the size of the hotel and perhaps botique means different things to different people,” said Hassett.

The board was also concerned that there is not enough parking asking, “are there alternative plans for valet parking off-site, in the event that you have a full hotel or a large event going on?”

“We are exploring several possibilities with respect to additional parking for valet and parking near-by,” replied Hassett. “We are also exploring the possibility of using the rear of 1105 Elmwood for additional parking, which would give us an additional ten or eleven spaces.”

The new design has a total of 55 parking spaces for 72 rooms, with 39 of them underground and the rest on ground level.

Hassett also said that a “parking study” will be done on the area.

Concerns that the second floor of the hotel will be too close to the property of 605 Forest were also brought up. The board asked how far the hotel would be from the property and Karl Frizlen replied saying it would “be approximately five feet from the property line,” but he also admitted that, “I do not know exactly how close the house next door” will be from the hotel, but did say “I think the house is about four or five feet away from the property line and we [the hotel] sit right on the property line.”

The board is concerned the setback from the property is not enough saying the space between the building and the hotel is “pretty narrow.”

The City’s Common Council also agreed to table the proposal also citing the need for more public engagement and the need for more organizations to respond including the Buffalo Preservation Board and the Office of Historic Preservation.

During that meeting, Hassett also said the proposal to try and get a variance to obtain the properties of 605 and 607 Forest were “now off the agenda.”

The Common Council is expected to meet and hold a public hearing about the project and the rezoning of the properties to be demolished (1119-1121 Elmwood) on Tuesday March 7, 2006 at 2:00 p.m. in Council Chambers at City Hall. At the moment the properties are not zoned for a hotel.

Saturday, June 30, 2007

On Saturday, the US military announced the arrests of two American soldiers alleged to have been involved in three separate premeditated murders of Iraqi civilians, and the planting of weapons around the crime scene to pretend the victims were insurgents.

The incidents occurred over the past two months in Iskandariyah, 50 kilometres south of Baghdad. The investigation began when fellow soldiers in the 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment reported the alleged events to their superiors.

Spc. Jorge G. Sandoval, 22, was arrested Tuesday while on a 2-week leave at his family’s home in Laredo, Texas and charged with one count of premeditated murder and one count of placing a weapon on the victim.

Staff Sgt. Michael A. Hensley, who comes from Candler, North Carolina, was arrested at a military base in Kuwait on Thursday and charged with three counts of premeditated murder, three counts of obstruction of justice and three counts of placing weapons around the victims.

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Police in La Grange, North Carolina have arrested two women after they received a tip that the Family Dollar store was being used as part of a marijuana ring. Pending an investigation, police shut the store down.

Belinda Pearson, 46, the store manager and her associate Melissa Collie, 40, were arrested when police found 23 pounds of the drug inside the store. Earlier in the week, police said the anonymous tipster stated that a delivery of two packages of the drug was made. After a week of investigating, police arrested both women on March 14 and charged them with drug trafficking. Both were freed after making bail and were scheduled to be in court on March 15.

“The marijuana has a street value of approximately US$35,000. It was about the only thing in the store you couldn’t buy for $1,” said Chris Hill, a major from the Lenoir County Sheriff. He said the whole operation lasted a week.

Owners of the store are said to be on the way to the location where they will take over the store’s management. Family Dollar is a United States chain that sells a variety of things from food items, clothes and housewares. Most items in the store cost less than $10.00. There are almost 6,600 stores across the U.S.