Archives November 2021

Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Oldbury nuclear power station in South Gloucestershire, England caught fire today after overheating. No-one was injured in the blaze which is believed to have been an accident and was extuinguished within minutes by an automatic sprinkler system.

The fire took place on the non-nuclear side of the plant, in an electricity transformer, but prompted shutdown of the reactor for the foreseeable future in “accordance with standard procedure,” said Dan Gould, spokesman for the British Nuclear Group. He also stressed that there was no release of radiation. There were also reports of an explosion in the transformer.

The BBC reported that 12 fire trucks attended the scene of the fire, but ITV stated ten crews were involved and tvnz.co.uk quoted a spokesman for Avon Fire and Rescue as saying that ten trucks were sent.

Thursday, August 30, 2007

Roughly 160 Illegal immigrants were arrested when federal authorities raided a chicken plant in Fairfield, Ohio. US Immigration and Customs Enforcement confirms a Search warrant was conducted Tuesday, however, they made no arrests.

Koch poultry was also raided earlier in the day Tuesday when dozens of suspected illegal immigrants were arrested. According to federal officials, the poultry plant has a reputation of hiring undocumented workers.

According to Koch poultry officials, over 150 employees have had their employment terminated after finding that they had not entered the United States legally.

Federal officials state that meat processing plants are frequent targets for undocumented workers. They also state that officials are stepping up efforts to track down undocumented workers.

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Thousands of Romanian public sector workers gathered outside government headquarters in Bucharest on Wednesday to rally against the planned downsizing of the public sector. They protested planned pay cuts and growing job insecurity, as well as the so-called single wage bill, which will in effect freeze pay in the sector for an indefinite period.

Threatening further protests, union leaders called on voters to boycott the November 22nd presidential elections. The government, meanwhile, faces a no-confidence vote next week.

Bogdan Hossu, leader of Cartel Alfa Union, recalled that President Traian B?sescu had told reporters he would not seek a second term if the number of unemployed reaches one million people.

As many as 15,000 people from all over Romania joined Wednesday’s demonstration. It followed a one-day strike Monday, when up to 800,000 teachers, doctors, nurses, policemen, clerks and other public sector employees took to the streets in what has been described as Romania’s largest protest in the last 80 years.

The catalyst was adoption of reform measures aimed at cutting the swollen budget deficit and meeting commitments spelled out in an IMF-led financial rescue package worth nearly 20 billion euros.

“We need these measures to be taken now. If not, it could lead to a prolonged recession,” the AFP quoted Nicolae Chidesciuc, senior economist at ING Romania, as saying Wednesday.

But the government’s recent move to reform the public pay scale — ending intricate bonus programmes and effectively reducing the wages of most employees in the public sector — caused an uproar.

Chanting “thieves! thieves!”, the participants in Wednesday’s rally demanded that the government to resign. “You promised us, then you forgot us,” they shouted.

“The authorities forced us to the streets again; we did not want this to happen today, on the World Day for Decent Work, as we are now celebrating indecent work,” said Aurel Cornea, vice-president of the Teachers’ Union, one of the four trade unions that organised the rally.

The list of demands they submitted Wednesday called for the minimum wage to be increased from its current level of around 145 euros to 176 euros per month in 2010 and to 310 euros per month in 2014, and for an improvement of the salary scales under the unitary pay law for the public sector. They also urged authorities to scrap provisions introducing a mandatory unpaid leave of ten days a year.

According to Romanian media reports, the unions are also pressing the government to increase economic investment, support economic agencies, create jobs, protect workers and ensure decent pensions.

Romania has been hit badly by the global economic turmoil. According to IMF estimates for 2009, the country’s budget deficit is expected to top 7.3% of GDP and the economy will shrink by 8.5% this year.

Prime Minister Emil Boc, whose government faces a no-confidence vote in parliament on Tuesday, has urged the unionists to halt their protests until after next month’s presidential elections.

Thursday, January 31, 2013

A main belt asteroid, No. 274301, has been named after Wikipedia, a free encyclopedia. The information became available on the Minor Planet Center’s website yesterday.

The decision of the Committee for Small Body Nomenclature to assign the name “Wikipedia” to the asteroid was published in the Minor Planet Circular of January 27, published online yesterday, page 82403. Wikimedia Ukraine board member Andriy Makukha proposed the name. It was submitted to the Committee by the head of the Andrushivka Astronomical Observatory in Ukraine, Yuri Ivashchenko.

The official dedication of the name says:

The asteroid 274301 Wikipedia was discovered by the team of astronomers of Andrushivka Astronomical Observatory. At first it was observed by that team on August 25, 2008 at 22:47 (UTC). It was also observed on the next night and two weeks later on September 6. It received provisional designation 2008 QH₂₄. Accurate calculation of its orbit showed asteroid 2008 QH₂₄ is the same as 1997 RO₄ and 2007 FK₃₄. The asteroid had been previously spotted by observatories including Caussols-ODAS in France, and Mt. Lemmon Survey and Steward Observatory in Arizona, US.

On April 18, 2011 the minor planet received the number 274301.

Thursday, May 13, 2021

Wikinews extended invitations by e-mail in the first week of May to Philip Sturm, a candidate running in the mayoral election of the US city of Minneapolis, Minnesota set to take place November 2 alongside that for city council, two seats of the Board of Estimate and Taxation and nine seats of the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board. Sturm discussed information about his campaign and policies with Wikinews.

Sturm is a veteran who served from 1999 to 2003 in the US Marine Corps, stationed on Okinawa Island, Japan before performing operations in the US invasion of Afghanistan and 2003 invasion of Iraq. According to his web site, Sturm has a career in “manufacturing and operations”. According to his web site’s ‘civic vitae’ section, Sturm was co-chair for the DFL (Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party), District 62 in 2005 and a member of Veterans for Kerry.

He was a volunteer special deputy in Hennepin County, Minnesota, a member of the 9-1-1 emergency helpline workgroup for the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD), the 9/11 and GWOT (Global War on Terrorism) Remembrance Task Force with the Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs and the racial equity fund with H.B. Fuller.

According to Minneapolis’ official website Jacob Frey won the last election in 2017 receiving 44.69% of the vote in the final round of voting. KSTP-TV reported Frey announced his run for re-election January 21. Sturm registered his candidacy on March 22.

Friday, August 14, 2009

According to official records, Hong Kong’s economy has left a year-long recession, recording a growth of 3.3% in the second quarter ended in June. The figures, which were seasonally adjusted, were higher than forecast by economists.

As a result, the government has increased its growth predictions for 2009. Previous estimates suggested the economy would contract by 5.5% to 6.5%. Now, the contraction is only predicted to be between 3.5% and 4.5%.

“The GDP data was much better than we expected, partly because the exports were better and partly because of a pick-up in private consumption,” Bank of East Asia’s chief economist, Paul Tang, noted. “Private consumption is being driven up by stock market gains and by the property sector, which started doing well.”

However, government economist Helen Chan warned that “while we are seeing some light at the end of the tunnel, […] the outlook remain highly uncertain because the situations in the United States and Europe are still very weak.”

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

A British man, Ronald West, has been convicted of animal neglect after authorities received complaints about his five-year-old dog being severely overweight. Authorities discovered the case of neglect in December 2008 after a neighbor complained that West’s Border Collie Taz appeared to be too fat.

When authorities arrived at West’s residence, they found Taz’s feces scattered around the house and in every room. Authorities made several more visits to West’s home until March 2009, at which point they determined that there had been no improvements in living conditions, and so they seized the dog. Taz weighed 88lbs (40kg) when authorities seized him.

West had said that he had been ill with the flu and was unable to clean up after Taz or take him for walks. He admits that he and his friends overfed Taz which led to his obesity, but West says it was not intentional.

“I’ll put my hands up and say I’m guilty of [Taz] being overweight, but it wasn’t deliberate. You can be cruel with kindness,” said West in March, according to the police report.

West’s sentencing has been postponed because he failed to appear at today’s hearing. When sentenced, West could face a fine of up to £5,000 (US$7,581), six months in prison, and may be forbidden from owning any pets.