Archives December 2022

Friday, September 22, 2006

The upcoming 2006 Mississauga municipal election, to be held November 13, features an array of candidates looking to represent their wards in city council.

Wikinews contributor Nicholas Moreau has contacted as many candidates as possible, including Tony Ciufo, asking them to answer common questions sent in an email. There is no incumbent in the newly created ward; the sixteen resident competing for the position are Shah Rukh Alam, John Briers, Jamie Dookie, Dale D’Souza, Prag Euclid, Adnan Hashmi, Elias Hazineh, Jack Janiak, Fasal Javaid, Craig Lawrence, Sue M. McFadden, Patrick Mendes, Barbara Polis, Graziano Roti, Ali Tahmourpour, and Scott Wilson.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Two passenger trains collided in India early on Wednesday, killing at least 21 people and injuring more than twenty others, reports have said. The accident occurred at around 05.30 local time (00.00 UTC), when a passenger train collided with another train which was waiting at a red signal near the northern city of Agra.

Both the trains were in the final leg of their journey at the time of the collision. They were heading to the capital, New Delhi, which is about 200 kilometers north of the accident site.

Passengers said that they were sleeping when they felt a heavy jolt. One eyewitness told television crews that people on the upper berths of the train came tumbling down due to the impact: “We felt a massive jolt. People sleeping on upper berths fell to the floor.”

“There was a loud bang and we were suddenly thrown out of our seats. There was panic everywhere,” another passenger recounted.

A northern railway spokesman, R. D. Vajpayee, told the Voice of America news agency that the rear coach of the stationary train bore the brunt of the collision’s impact. “We had to rescue, take out the passengers which were trapped in the last coach. And, gas cutters were used, and we had called the army also. They had assisted us and, within a few hours, we had completed with rescue operations.”

An unnamed eyewitness told the CNN-IBN news agency that “there are many people who are injured and many people who are dead. A lot of people fell onto the tracks because of the impact of the collision.”

Railway officials said they are not certain what caused the accident, but one of the trains may have overlooked a signal to stop. An inquiry into the incident has been ordered.

Trains are the most popular mode of long-distance travel in India. India operates one of the most extensive and busiest rail networks in the world; 9,000 passenger trains run every day, carrying more than eighty million people daily across the country. There are about 300 rail accidents in the country every year, prompting calls for improving safety standards on the rail network. Earlier this month, one person was killed when a train derailed. In February, another train accident in eastern India claimed sixteen lives.

Friday, August 6, 2010

Since last reported, the flooding in Pakistan has spread and has now struck more than four million people. The UN reports it has left at least 1,600 people dead. The floods have been confirmed as the worst in eighty years.

Heavy monsoon rains led to the flooding of the huge Indus River, destroying homes in the north of the country and causing a large amount of damage in the north-west frontier province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Manuel Bessler of the United Nations said: “What we are facing now is a major catastrophe. We are afraid it will get worse.”

Army and government forces have rushed to evacuate hundreds of thousands of people from parts of the Punjab province of Pakistan, where the disaster spread to yesterday, and from Sindh province, where the flood is expected to reach by the weekend.

The flooding is now in its second week and the situation is unlikely to improve any time soon, especially since in many parts of the country there is still torrential rain, with more forecast. In other parts of Pakistan the water has receded, but this leaves a layer of mud and slime and this covers very large areas. For those affected by the floods, disease is the biggest problem now. The insanitary conditions have already caused diarrhoea and respiratory infections. Cholera and other water-borne diseases may appear if sanitary conditions for those displaced by the calamity are not established. Medical supplies are desperately needed for doctors to keep a pandemic or epidemic of a water-borne disease from infecting the victims of the flooding.

Relief has been hardest to provide in the north-west where many bridges and roads have been washed away. Whole towns have been cut off and this makes providing aid to those areas a very difficult task.

Air force pilots have been volunteering to fly aid missions to badly hit areas, transporting medical supplies, clean water and food to where it is needed. The transport planes carry enough foodstuffs to feed one hundred families for a month. Motivation for the missions among pilots is very high, as is the tension in the transport planes as they fly at 36,000 feet over the flood-hit country. Only from the air is the full extent of the damage visible. Pilots have been flying the maximum number of hours allowed and pushing the limits of their endurance to give the victims of the flood food, water and everything they need to survive.

Many foreign governments and aid agencies are contributing to the disaster relief effort. The U.S. Army has been flying relief missions, airlifting people from areas where they are stranded. The first mission involved four U.S. Chinook helicopters landing in the tourist town of Kalam in the Swat Valley, north-west Pakistan. The resort had been cut off for more than a week, according to a reporter there. The Chinooks flew hundreds of people to safer areas lower down. A U.S. Embassy spokesperson said that 800 people had been evacuated and relief goods had been distributed.

The U.S. government pledged 10 million dollars in assistance following the first reports of the disaster. Yesterday the country promised a further 25 million dollars in aid. A spokesperson from the Embassy said: “The U.S. is making a new contribution of 25 million dollars in assistance to flood-affected populations, bringing its total commitment to date to more than 35 million dollars.” The money will go to international aid organisations and established Pakistani aid groups to provide food, health care and shelter to people displaced by the floods.

Malaysia has also decided to contribute US$1 million for relief efforts in the form of humanitarian aid. The Foreign Ministry said the aid was a manifestation of the government and the people’s concern and sympathy. “The government of Malaysia hopes the contribution will help alleviate the suffering of flood victims in Pakistan.”

In Britain, the Disasters Emergency Committee, an umbrella organisation representing 13 of the leading UK humanitarian agencies, has been coordinating relief efforts and has launched an emergency appeal for public donations to help the victims of the crisis. Charities and aid agencies have been quick to respond to the disaster, sending aid and response teams to the worst hit areas. Food, water, shelter and medical supplies have been provided but much more is needed.

Patrick Fuller of the Red Cross (the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies), who has been based in the country for a few days, described the situation on the ground as “desperate” and said the worst hit areas are “totally dependent” on outside help. He said the Red Cross movement is working with local partners to get aid packages, containing cooking tools and shelter such as tents and blankets, to 35,000 families.

The Red Cross alone has distributed 10,000 food packs and 1000 tents across the affected areas so far. However, figures for the amount of aid distributed are constantly changing as this is an ongoing relief effort.

Fuller reported that in Nowshera, which is in the north-west of the country close to the Indus River, “80% of homes have been badly damaged or destroyed, all the mud-brick houses have been washed away.

“In the most remote areas – where roads are cut off – donkeys are making eight-hour hikes to reach people.

“We are trying to move people into temporary camps – giving them timber, roofing sheets and basic shelter – but there is the added complication that many are reluctant to leave whatever homes they have left.”This has also been a problem in the south of the country in Sindh province, where the flood is expected to reach by the weekend. Evacuations have been going on to move people out of the path of the flood but many will not join the mass exodus and have chosen to brave the waters.

“Many people rely on open wells, which have been contaminated, so access to clean water is a problem. We are worried about communicable diseases, like respiratory infections, skin diseases, diarrhoea,” Mr Fuller said.

The charity have been setting up mobile medical teams to better combat disease and infection.

Though the relief effort at the moment is focused on the survival of those hit by the catastrophe, on those who “had their lives swept away in seconds”, the relief effort is expected to last a full six months.

Those who will be most affected in the long term by this disaster will be the poorest. They will have had everything washed away from them so they will have to start from scratch. Sadly, for those living in the poorest areas in the north and centre of Pakistan, the fight for survival is only just beginning and though they may feel they are enduring much at the moment, getting their lives back together after the first stages of this calamity are over is going to be even harder.

The Disasters Emergency Committee has said it has managed to give aid to 300,000 people so far. Many UK charities have been distributing food and medicine, as well as water purification tablets, cooking tools, shelter and hygiene kits. They have been using rafts, boats and donkeys. Brendan Gormley, chief executive of the DEC, said: “These devastating floods have left millions fighting to survive with little food, clean water or shelter.”

The DEC has appealed for donations from the public of the UK to help the victims of this crisis. The appeal is to allow the charities to continue relief work in the worst hit areas of the country.

Following a television appeal by the DEC, £2.5 million was raised and this has enabled the 13 charities the committee represents to reach 300,000 people with emergency supplies.

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

The Iranian police forces have faced criticism from Ayatollah Hashemi Shahrudi, the head of the judiciary who was appointed by Grand Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, for their re-invigorated campaign to do away with un-Islamic dress.

Ayatollah Shahroudi proclaimed, “Tough measures on social problems will backfire and have counter-productive effects.” Others have, of course, made it clear that un-Islamic dress can lead to moral corruption, engender innumerable vices, and hurt the Islamic character of the nation.

Some believe that no one had any issue with the creation of an Islamic atmosphere. The core of the matter revolves around the implementation of the Islamic dress code; additionally, heavy-handed measures should be shunned. For instance, Mehdi Ahmadi, information head of Tehran’s police, told Al Jazeera: “Some citizens may complain about the way the law is being enforced but they all agree with the plan itself.”

According to one student, “You simply can’t tell people what to wear. They don’t understand that use of force only brings hatred towards them, not love.” Nevertheless, Hojatoll-Islam Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi, Iran’s interior minister who is in charge of policing, prognosticated positive feedback from the populace when he said, “People are unhappy with the social and moral status of the society. They expect that the fight against social insecurity be properly implemented.” Thus, Hujjat al-Islam Pour-Mohammadi re-iterated the necessity of proper implementation and methodology towards the restoration of morality in the Islamic Republic. Islamic officials and religious people affirm that this is indispensable to promote righteousness, curb sin, and bring open sinners to justice.

Following the Islamic Revolution in 1979, hijab became mandatory in Iran for every woman including foreigners after over 98% of citizens voted for an Islamic government. Women may face caning up to 74 strokes for failing to observe hijab. In this recent crackdown, the authorities have arrested many citizens throughout the country. Not only have women been taken into custody for their hair being uncovered on their foreheads and tight clothes that show body shapes, For men they need to cover from knee to their waist as according to Sharia. Even a foreign journalist was detained because the photograph on her press card was indecent.

It has not been clear whence the directive for the re-newed clampdown emanated. Some have blamed Mahmoud Ahmadinejad while Gholam Hossein Elham, the government spokesman, stated to reporters, “The police work as agents of the judiciary to confront crimes. The government as an executive body does not interfere in the affairs of the judiciary.” The following pre-election speech seems to corroborate this latter statement:

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

A thief in Bristol, United Kingdom, has been prosecuted due to incriminating evidence in the form of a tattoo on his neck with his name and date of birth that was captured by police CCTV, when he was in the process of stealing a Satellite navigation system in a car planted by police to find criminals.

Aarron Evans, the thief, today pleaded guilty to charges of theft at Bristol Magistrates’ Court. He is aged 21 and he is illiterate and has no fixed address.

The sentence was for seven months imprisonment.

Ian Wylie, who is police superintendent for the Bristol district commented on the incident. “Criminals won’t be tolerated in Bristol and we will keep catching them and bringing them before the courts,” he said. “We get such excellent images from these cameras that there is often, and never more so than in this case, no doubt who the criminal is and what they are doing. When faced with such evidence, there is no other way to go than ‘guilty’.”

“The photographs don’t just lead us to the person breaking into the car either. Further police work has also led us on many occasions to the handlers of the stolen property and people the car criminal is working with. We have also received information from members of the public through Crimestoppers where they have reported stolen property being sold on the streets, door-to-door or in local pubs,” Wylie continued. “The covert car has been a magnificent asset to the teams working to reduce car crime happening and those arresting car criminals. “

“We will continue to play our part but members of the public can still help us in reducing the opportunity for thieves; don’t leave valuables on display in your vehicle and, better still; take them out of the car completely.”

Monday, December 12, 2005

Cronulla Beach in Sydney, New South Wales was the scene of racist mob-violence yesterday. In what has been described as disgusting, un-Australian and shameful behaviour, participants in a 5000-strong mob assaulted people suspected of being of Lebanese origin. The angry, alcohol-fuelled crowd also turned on anyone who tried to help the victims, including police, security guards and ambulance officers.

Following an attack on two lifeguards earlier in the week, allegedly by men of Lebanese descent, a protest had been organised via text messages and a small number of usenet postings.

Sutherland Shire Mayor Kevin Schreiber says inflammatory text messages calling for revenge attacks fueled the violence. Mr Schreiber said the heavily-circulated messages ensured troublemakers went to the southern Sydney beach looking for a fight. Police had patrolled the area all weekend after text messages began circulating among the community calling for vigilante responses to unwelcome visitors on the beach.

“The sending out of that text message was foolish and irresponsible and ensured that people from all over Sydney came to Cronulla looking to cause trouble and this was further fueled by alcohol,” said Mr Schreiber.

Sydney’s popular talk-back radio station 2GB also promoted Sunday’s event. Breakfast announcer Alan Jones has been accused of “fanning the flames.” Callers who recommended vigilante action were not discouraged to take the law into their own hands. Mr Jones, notorious for inflammatory comments, repeated the text message for Cronulla residents to defend their territory several times.

As the crowd marched along the beach and foreshore area, waving Australian flags, the crowd chanted racist slogans, with many wearing clothes bearing racist sentiment.

Middle Eastern men were openly targeted and assaulted. A young Muslim woman wearing a veil was chased into a kiosk on Cronulla beach. Police tried to move her away from the chanting crowd but were unable to reach the security of the command post. While the woman and police officers hid in the kiosk, a crowd surrounded the kiosk and shouted “Kill the Lebs”, while others climbed on top of the kiosk.

As police horses and special operations officers formed a line and pushed the crowd away, they were bombarded with beer bottles. After half an hour, an ambulance arrived at the kiosk and people were loaded into it. The ambulance, transporting six injured youths, escorted by police and police horses, was also bombarded with beer bottles. One struck an ambulance officer on the head. His colleague suffered lacerations to the arm.

Sunday, July 8, 2007

In an ongoing labor dispute from May of this year in California, United States, Teamsters Local 952, which represents the Orange County Transportation Authority‘s 1,200 coach operators, went on strike at 12:35 a.m. (0035 hrs) PDT Saturday morning after a cooling-off period declared by State Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger expired.

Sanctioned picket lines have been formed outside Authority facilities in Garden Grove, Anaheim, and Santa Ana. About 200,000 regular passengers are affected.

Major sticking points in the negotiation appear to be related to cost-of-living increases and pension funding allocations. The strike was declared after the Authority’s bargaining agent said he lacked authority to approve a union counter proposal, which he said had to be taken before the OCTA’s board of directors, who will not be available to meet until Monday the 9th at the earliest.

Friday, July 15, 2011

On Tuesday, the Euro fell to a new record low in relation to the Swiss Franc, and to multi-month lows against the U.S. Dollar and Japanese yen; all considered by investors to be safe currencies during times of economic turmoil.

The Wall Street Journal reported earlier that recent comments from the newly installed head of the International Monetary Fund, France’s Christine Lagarde, resulted in a sell-off of the Euro. At a roundtable discussion in Washington, Lagarde noted that the IMF had not yet reached discussion of terms and conditions of a second Greek bailout plan. In fact, a representative from the IMF is currently meeting with Eurozone policymakers to draft such a new proposal. The yield differential between Italian bonds and German bonds has spread to more than 300 basis points, something not seen in over a decade and evidence of investors’ concern.

Adding to the Euro’s woes is the upcoming release of the bank stress tests on Friday. The European Bankers Association said that they expect the data release to shed new light on the Eurozone’s banking situation. Representatives of several of the Eurozone’s governments, including Germany, have requested that the association consider releasing fewer specific details for fear that investor panic will ensue. The inadequacy of the capitalization rates has been an issue with the European Central Bank, whose president recently called upon Eurozone banks to make every effort to put their balance sheets in order.

For the time being at least, an unsubstantiated rumor reported by the Wall Street Journal states that the Eurozone’s central banks’ purchase of periphery debt has helped to quell the downward momentum of the Euro.

Friday, June 1, 2018

In Toronto last weekend, North American anime and manga convention Anime North was held. Anime North sprawled across multiple venues, including the Toronto Congress Centre, as a fan-run celebration of Japanese pop culture. The event ran from May 25 to 27. Wikinews’s Nicholas Moreau was in attendance to photograph the event.

Montrealer “Aileen Cosplay” was wearing an outfit of Rapunzel from the Disney animated film Tangled, when Wikinews photographed her.

Wikinews talked with her after the event, learning that she was one of the “Estrada Sisters”, who have been dressing up as pop culture characters for roughly a decade. “Cosplay is something we do together as sisters, as well as with our close friends. It’s a hobby and passion that we all share and have fun with.”

The cosplayer explained that the activity “integrates a wide range of interests for us, from makeup, to sewing, to crafting and prop-making.”

“When deciding on cosplays,” she offers, “we consider how attracted we are to the character as they were written, as well as their aesthetic. We tend to stray towards Disney, as we all share a common passion for the magic that it brings to its audience, and we love having the opportunity to bring that magic to life every time we put on a costume.”

Binrand Cosplay tells Wikinews that for her, cosplay “is a huge creative outlet whether that’s sewing, crafting, armour building, styling wigs, new makeup challenges etc. I love that it gives me creative freedom and that the end result I can share with hundreds of people that have a love and passion for the same character or series that I am cosplaying from.” The icy effect on Shyvana from League of Legends gave her reason to work with Transpa Art, a product from a company called Worbla.

She noted that the activity also allows her to “meet new friends that are just excited about something” as she is.

She chooses characters she’s become attached to, as her outfit. “Often it’s a combination of similar personality as my own, a character that has gone through similar struggles as myself, I like the look, and that they just plain badass! I also like a challenge. Having been doing cosplay for as long as I have I like to switch things up and learn something new every year.”

• The Cybertronic Spree is a band that dresses like the Transformers.

• Two people as Kurisu from Stein’s Gate, including Justin Bailey Kigurumi

• Luxlocosplay as Lola Bunny

• Silent Snuggs Cosplay and Binrand

• Cici Winn and Neko Nico in kigurumi

• Stuffed toys of Totoro, a popular character.

• A booth promoting Youmacon in Detroit.

• Breathelifeindeeply as Weiss from RWBY.

• Ariel the Little Mermaid

• Transformers

• Celty Sturluson of Durarara!!

• Inspector Gadget

• Queen Amidala and a haidmaiden, Star Wars: The Phantom Menace.

• A cosplayer as Belle from Beauty and the Beast.

• Jack and Sally from The Nightmare Before Christmas by Reiyume Chibi Cosplay

• Tohru of Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid.

• Chibi Bara as Mercy and bobcat.in.a.box as Widowmaker

• “Life sized” model of Lapras, a Pokemon

• “Life sized” model of Rapidash, a Pokemon

• “Life sized” models of Rayquaza and Trapinch, Pokemon characters

• Model Show

• Model Show

Additional cosplay

Sunday, March 1, 2009

According to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), a record number of banks for a calendar month have failed in the United States in February. A total of 10 banks failed in February, more than any other month since October of 2000. A total of 16 banks have closed this year so far, with 24 closing in 2008. If the current trend continues, the total number of failed banks will more than double in March, as compared to the total number of failed banks in 2008.

The list grew after the FDIC took over the funds from the Security Savings Bank of Henderson, Nevada and the Heritage Community Bank in Glenwood, Illinois on February 27. The FDIC issued press releases for both institutions.

The four branches of the Heritage Community Bank reopened on February 28 “as branches of MB Financial Bank,” stated the FDIC. The bank’s assets were worth nearly US$233 million and had customer deposits worth nearly $220 million. MB is expected to purchase $230 million of the bank’s assets and the FDIC will “retain the remaining assets for later disposition.”

“The two Security Savings Bank branches will reopen on Monday (March 2) as branches of Bank of Nevada,” stated the FDIC. The bank held assets worth approximately $238.3 million with customer deposits of nearly $180 million. Bank of Nevada will purchase approximately $111 million of the bank’s assets while the FDIC will retain the remaining balance, also “for later disposition.”

“The FDIC insures deposits at the nation’s 8,305 banks and savings associations and it promotes the safety and soundness of these institutions by identifying, monitoring and addressing risks to which they are exposed,” added the FDIC.

Both banks, when reopened, will immediately become members of the FDIC.