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Thursday, September 21, 2006

On Monday four Canadian soldiers were killed in a suicide bomb attack. The soldiers were in Afghanistan since the end of July and in operations since the beginning of August. They are now returning home in Canada for a memorial service.

Pte. David Byers, 22, of Espanola, Ontario was identified after a suicide bomber attacked the soldiers in Kandahar. On Tuesday, the Department of National Defence said the attack also killed Cpl. Glen Arnold, based in CFB Petawawa, northwest of Ottawa; and Cpl. Shane Keating of Saskatoon and Cpl. Keith Morley, based at CFB Shilo in Manitoba were also killed.

“All three of these men were proud citizens and exceptional examples of the men and women who serve this country, both at home and abroad,” said Maj. Stephen Joudrey, acting commanding officer for 2PPCLI at CFB Shilo, on Tuesday.

The Prime Minister also made a statement saying: “I wish to send my heartfelt condolences to the loved ones of Corporal Glen Arnold, Corporal Shane Keating, Corporal Keith Morley, and Private David Byers, who were killed by a suicide bomber yesterday in the Panjwayi region of Afghanistan.”

Thirty six Canadian soldiers have died in Afghanistan since 2002.

Monday, February 27, 2006

Buffalo, New York —Wikinews was the first to tell you that the Elmwood Village Hotel development in Buffalo, New York was to undergo “significant changes”.

The Elmwood Village Hotel is a proposed project that would be placed at Elmwood and Forest Aves. in Buffalo. In order for the development to take place, at least five buildings that house both businesses and residents, must be demolished.

To confirm and to get more information about the changes, Wikinews interviewed Eva Hassett, Vice President of Savarino Construction Services Corporation, the development company in charge of building the hotel.

Wikinews: The hotel proposal is being redesigned. Could you comment on that? What changes are being made? Are they significant?

Eva Hassett: The hotel has been resized as a 72-room, four story building. This is 10% smaller in number of rooms and a full story lower. We are also redesigning the facades in a way that will minimize the mass – more of a vertical feeling than horizontal. Different materials, windows, details. The smaller size of the hotel also makes the number of on-site parking spaces more appropriate and hopefully represents less of a challenge to an already difficult parking situation.

WN: Will you still be going before the city’s planning board as scheduled on February 28? Same for the Common Council?

Hassett: We will be on the Planning Board agenda this Tuesday morning but I do not expect that the Board will vote on the item that morning. I think we will be mainly explaining the new design and hearing input/questions.

WN: Will there be anymore public meetings?

Hassett: We would be happy to do one more big public meeting. We will be talking to Forever Elmwood about that on Monday (February 27, 2006). We would like to see if there is support for the new design and we also want to honor the public’s request for another meeting. I am hopeful that meeting can take place the week of March 6th.

WN: Is Savarino considering Mr. Rocco Termini’s design/proposal? If no, do you (Savarino) support/oppose?

Hassett: We are hopeful that we can build the hotel as redesigned. We think it would be a great addition to the Elmwood Ave. area, a good way for out-of-towners to see what Buffalo offers and a big help to the businesses there.

WN: Are you considering more time for the community to make a judgment?

Hassett: As I mentioned above, we expect to have one more meeting to get public reaction to the new design, and I think the Planning Board may want an additional meeting to make their determination. We do however, have constraints that will limit the amount of extra time. We still think it is a great project for the City and Elmwood; and we still want it to be something that the community wants as well.

So far, the City of Buffalo’s City Planning Board is still scheduled to meet at 8:00 a.m. (Eastern) on February 28, 2006 followed by the Common Council meeting at 2:00 p.m. on the same day.

Images of the design are not yet available. “We are working on the renderings this weekend, but I will likely have some early in the week,” stated Hassett.

Friday, September 26, 2008

On October 14, 2008, Canadians will be heading to the polls for the federal election. Christian Heritage Party candidate John M. Wierenga is standing for election in the riding of Yellowhead. A journeyman welder with a company in Neerlandia, Alberta, John is an active member of the Neerlandia Canadian Reformed Church. Serving on his church council, he actively volunteers in the community, serving a partial term on the Pembina Pro-Life Board.

Wikinews contacted John, to talk about the issues facing Canadians, and what they and their party would do to address them. Wikinews is in the process of contacting every candidate, in every riding across the country, no matter their political stripe. All interviews are conducted over e-mail, and interviews are published unedited, allowing candidates to impart their full message to our readers, uninterrupted.

Since 2000, the riding has been represented by Conservative Rob Merrifield, originally a Canadian Alliance member. Besides Wierenga, other challengers for the riding include Melissa Brade (Canadian Action), Mohamed El-Rafih (Liberal), Ken Kuzminski (NDP), and Monika Schaefer (Green).

For more information, visit the campaign’s official website, listed below.

Monday, August 29, 2011

File:L-Omar al-Bashir-Alfashir.jpg

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir announced the release of all journalists detained in the country’s jails in an address to a gathering of journalists in the capital of Khartoum, on Saturday. “I declare amnesty for all the journalists detained by the security authorities and their release,” said Al-Bashir.

This came in the same month as the release of Abu Zar Al-Amin, deputy editor-in-chief of pro-opposition paper Ra’y Al-Sha’b. Al-Almin had served a prison term of nearly two years after he violating press restrictions and reporting on alleged co-operation between Sudan and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.

The release and amnesty follows a series of fresh violations of ‘press freedoms’, which resulted in the suspension of independent newspapers such as Al-Jaridah and Al-Ahdath on August 20 and 21. According to Mozdalifa Mohamed Osman, Al-Ahdath’s newsroom chief, the suspension caused financial losses of US$10,000.

No reasons were given for the suspension of the newspapers. However, the editor-in-chief of AlJaridah, Saad Al-Din Ibrahim revealed that his paper was suspended because it did not allow the security services to interfere in its editorial and recruitment policies; sources believe the Al-Ahdath suspension was due to the publication of information on a planned meeting between President Al-Bashir and the leader of armed opposition group Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (northern sector) Malik Aggar.

According to press-freedom watchdog the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), the Sudanese government aggressively attacks journalists through “contrived legal proceedings, politicized criminal charges, and confiscations”. Amnesty International believes Sudanese press freedom is “openly violated”.

Press freedoms may deteriorate with the National Congress Party contemplating further restrictions, including the possibility of pre-publication censorship.

Friday, February 17, 2006

MPs at the British Parliament have voted by large majority of 200 to bring in legislation banning smoking in all pubs, clubs and workplaces in a landmark free vote. The ban is expected to come into force from summer 2007.

The originally proposed fine of £200 was raised to £2500 for failing to stop people smoking in banned areas in the late stages of the parliamentary process. Other fines include a fixed penalty notice of £50 for lighting up in banned areas and spot fines of £200 for failing to display no smoking signs in banned areas.

Smoking may also be banned in “substantially enclosed” venues such as railway stations and football stadiums; this may also include cars carrying passengers but no decision has been taken on this as yet. Ministers will finalise precise regulations after a three month consultation.

The vote was politically fraught, as the Labour Party in government had proposed a ‘compromise’ bill, in line with their election manifesto, which would allow pubs not serving food to be exempt from the ban. With many Labour MPs threatening to rebel against this compromise however, in favour of a full ban, Labour granted its members a free vote. MPs then voted for the full ban by a margin of 453 votes to 125,­ a majority of 328.

MPs then debated a last-minute amendment to exempt private members clubs, which was also rejected, by 384 votes to 184,­ a majority of 200. The Prime Minister, Tony Blair, voted for a complete ban along with his health secretary, Patricia Hewitt.

The ban will bring England in line with Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales, which will all be introducing a full smoking ban for pubs and clubs. The bill also gives ministers powers to increase the age for purchasing cigarettes from 16 to 18 which ministers will begin the consultation process upon shortly.

Friday, April 13, 2007

After Green Party leader Elizabeth May announced her plans for running against Conservative MP Peter MacKay in his riding of Central Nova in the next federal election, the Liberal Party of Canada have decided to not have a candidate in the riding. In return, the Greens have agreed not run a candidate against Liberal leader Stéphane Dion in his riding of Saint-Laurent—Cartierville in Quebec.

Both Stéphane Dion and Elizabeth May held a joint news conference today in Central Nova to talk about their plans.

The riding has a long history of Conservative MPs which finds it a tough race to fight for May with the Liberals backing her.

The decision earned some criticism from NDP leader Jack Layton. “It’s incredible that this matter of such importance is being decided by two leaders in secret,” Layton told reporters. “That’s not what democracy is about. It is the citizens that ought to make choices about who is going to be representing them…”I’m surprised to see Ms. May support the member of Parliament [Stéphane Dion] who was at the Liberal cabinet table during the decade that greenhouse gases went up by more than 30 per cent.”

Stéphane Dion held the Minister of Environment portfolio under former Liberal Prime Minister Paul Martin. At the end of his Liberal leadership campaign he changed his campaign colour to green to represent his interest for environmental issues in Canada. May is an environmentalist and is largely noted as founder of the Sierra Club of Canada.

The Green Party of Canada has run a full slate of candidates in the last two elections, but has yet to win a seat in Parliament. If May wins the riding in the next federal election, she would be the first one ever.

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Dutch financial institution ING Group reported today in its quarterly results an impairment charge of €194 million euros (approximately US$285.6 million). However, as a result of selling an equity stake in rival ABN AMRO, the net profit of €2.48 billion, was 18% higher than last year.

The impairment charge is a result of risky investments, including RBMS (mortgage) investments backed by subprime loans and Alt-A loans, which are made to borrowers with a slightly better credit profile than those in the subprime category, as well as from collateral debt obligations (CDOs).

CEO Michel Tilmant said that “solid risk management” shields ING from the worst effects of the financial crisis. “ING’s exposure to the riskiest assets is limited, and the RMBS investments we selected have a high level of structural credit protection to absorb significant losses as the U.S. housing crisis deepens,” added Tilmant.

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

The European Commission has forced Apple Inc. to lower its prices for media in its United Kingdom iTunes store, Apple’s online media shop. The change in policy will occur within the next six months, Apple announced this morning.

Apple is the producer of the world’s most-sold MP3 Player, the iPod and launched the iTunes Music Store, a online music store, on April 28, 2003. The store was renamed to iTunes Store in 2006, as Apple began selling other media apart from music, such as feature-length movies. Since its launch the store has sold more than 3 billion songs. At the moment songs are sold for £0.79 per song and £7.99 per album which after the price cut will on average be reduced to £0.74 and £7.48 to match the EU prices of €0.99 and €9.99, according to Times Online.

The price decrease follows an investigation by the European Commission due to Apple charging customers in the UK up to 10% more than in other EU countries. According to The Register, Apple will be demanding that the record labels lower their prices in the UK in respect to this forced price cut.

The European Commission welcomed Apple’s announcement and in a reaction to the news European Commissioner for Competition Neelie Kroes said “the Commission is very much in favour of solutions which allow consumers to benefit from a truly Single Market for music downloads.”