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Tuesday, August 28, 2007

A law was passed that will prevent clerical, technical and health care workers from striking when the University of Minnesota students return to classes on Tuesday, however, the new law makes no guarantee about workers striking on Wednesday.

According to Jan Johnson, with the Minnesota Bureau of Mediation Services, both sides do wish to avoid a strike if at all possible.

The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees have filed for a ten-day notice to strike, however, the ten-day notice to strike law requires that the tenth day of the cooling-off period fall on a day other than a Saturday, Sunday or a holiday, thus, Labor Day Monday is out of reason. A strike, therefore, would not be possible until at least Wednesday, the second day of classes.

Monday, March 20, 2006

Fears of contaminated bone and skin grafts are being felt by unsuspecting patients following the revelation that funeral homes may have been looting corpses.

Janet Evans of Marion Ohio was told by her surgeon, “The bone grafts you got might have been contaminated”. She reacted with shock, “I was flabbergasted because I didn’t even know what he was talking about. I didn’t know I got a bone graft until I got this call. I just thought they put in screws and rods.”

The body of Alistair Cooke, the former host of “Masterpiece Theatre,” was supposedly looted along with more than 1,000 others, according to two law enforcement officials close to the case. The tissue taken was typically skin, bone and tendon, which was then sold for use in procedures such as dental implants and hip replacements. According to authorities, millions of dollars were made by selling the body parts to companies for use in operations done at hospitals and clinics in the United States and Canada.

A New Jersey company, Biomedical Tissue Services, has reportedly been taking body parts from funeral homes across Brooklyn, New York. According to ABC News, they set up rooms like a “surgical suite.” After they took the bones, they replaced them with PVC pipe. This was purportedly done by stealth, without approval of the deceased person or the next of kin. 1,077 bodies were involved, say prosecuters.

Investagators say a former dentist, Michael Mastromarino, is behind the operation. Biomedical was considered one of the “hottest procurement companies in the country,” raking in close to $5 million. Eventually, people became worried: “Can the donors be trusted?” A tissue processing company called LifeCell answered no, and issued a recall on all their tissue.

Cooke’s daughter, Susan Cooke Kittredge, said, “To know his bones were sold was one thing, but to see him standing truncated before me is another entirely.” Now thousands of people around the country are receiving letters warning that they should be tested for infectious diseases like HIV or hepatitis. On February 23, the Brooklyn District Attorney indicted Mastromarino and three others. They are charged with 122 felony counts, including forgery and bodysnatching.

Friday, January 6, 2006

American comedian and Daily Show anchor Jon Stewart has been chosen to host the 78th Annual Academy Awards. This is not Stewart’s first time hosting an awards show as he hosted the Grammys in 2001 and 2002.

His choice by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences shows their continuing attempt to target a younger viewing audience. Last year’s host was Chris Rock, also a comedian who is popular with young adults, whose performance and jokes at the expense of celebrities irked some Academy members. The Academy has also been seeking an Oscar host with the appeal of popular hosts such as Billy Crystal, Johnny Carson, and Bob Hope.

The choice further demonstrates Stewart’s transformation from the host of a cult TV show into a mainstream performer. Stewart is host of The Daily Show, a satirical show aired on Comedy Central that parodies network and cable news shows. The show started in 1996, anchored by Stewart’s predecessor Craig Kilborn, who left in 1999 to host The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn. The Daily Show draws in about 1.4 million viewers nightly. While not a groundbreaking number, sixty-five percent of those viewers are in the 18 to 49 age group, which is the group most coveted by television advertisers.

The Daily Show has become influental in politics and pop culture. Stewart has interviewed many guests from both sides of the political spectrum, including 2004 presidential candidate John Kerry, Bill O’Reilly, Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter, and has asked for President George W. Bush to come on the show, going so far as publish an invitation in a full page newspaper ad during the 2004 Republican National Convention.

Stewart has interviewed celebrities like Bruce Willis, Ice Cube, The Rock, and recently interviewed the band The White Stripes who then did a live studio performance.

Although The Daily Show is steeped in satire, its emphasis on political coverage and current events has led to many of its younger viewers regard it as their daily news source, especially during the 2004 presidential election. Stewart was even considered as a possible replacement for Dan Rather on the CBS Evening News by CBS executive Leslie Moonves, which owned Comedy Central before splitting into two companies just a few days ago.

Although a comedian, Stewart can be serious at times. Notable was his appearance on the CNN show Crossfire in which he got into a debate with host Tucker Carlson over the state of television journalism. He accused Crossfire of polarizing politics and that it was hurting America, saying “It’s not so much that it’s bad, as it’s hurting America […] Stop, stop, stop, stop hurting America.” He referred to Carlson and co-host Paul Begala as “partisan hacks”, and said that Carlson was “as big a dick on [his] show as [he is] on any show”. Many believe this highly publicized criticizm led to the cancellation of Crossfire.

The Daily Show has won seven Emmys and a Peabody Award for their coverage of the 2000 presidential election.

The Academy Awards ceremony will be held on ABC this year on March 5th.

Thursday, March 15, 2007

The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) announced today that computer systems involved with the processing of tax returns for individuals are back online.

Tax processing had been halted on March 6, 2007, due to a computer glitch. The source of the problem had been traced back to software maintenance performed on March 4.

In an update on the CRA website, dated March 14, Michel Dorais, Commissioner of the Agency, stated that all of the databases had been restored and CRA employees are processing the backlog of returns and payments.

Tax processing for businesses had not been affected by the computer shutdown.

In his statement, Dorais thanked taxpayers “for their patience and understanding” during the service outage. He also stated that “the integrity and safety of personal data was never at risk”.

The CRA suggests that it would work quickly to process the resulting backlog of tax returns.

Monday, February 18, 2013

Venezuela’s government has opened a granite processing plant in the state of Bolívar, with the intention of providing about 25% of the granite required nationwide.

Ricardo Menéndez, vice president of the Productive Economic Area, said Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez has yearned for the creation of this project to empower Venezuelan construction. Granito Bolívar is reportedly the most modern Venezuelan granite plant, not consuming community water or electricity, and is also the largest, with a daily capacity to supply enough material for use in construction of about 820 houses.

Menéndez said, “These granite blocks are the natural resources of our country, are the wealth we have as a country and often [some] simply decided to remove this richness from our country and take them to other countries” ^{((es))Spanish language: ?Esos bloques de granito son la riquezas naturales de nuestro país, son las riquezas que tenemos como patria y que muchas veces sencillamente esas riquezas decidieron sacarlas de nuestro territorio nacional y llevarlas a otros países}.

According to Menéndez, with the help of a state plan, Venezuela intends to exploit its 40,000 million cubic meters or more of granite reserves, generating a set of factories. “[T]he central theme is that these plants, all these factories, are for the construction of socialism; that means using our potential, develop the value chain within the country and of course that yields benefits from the point of view of the production system’s organization…. [Granito] Bolívar is not only the vision that historically we had of exposing richness, but the industries, basic industries we have, that level of our workers in the basic industries and in addition the development of the potential we have in the state” ^{((es))Spanish language: ?el tema central es que estas plantas todas estas fábricas son para la construcción del socialismo, eso significa utilizar nuestras potencialidades, dessarrollar la cadena de valor dentro del país y por supuesto que eso genere beneficios desde el punto de vista de la organización del sistema productivo … Bolívar no solamente es la visión que históricamente se tuvo de exponer las riquezas, sino que son las empresas, las empresas básicas que tenemos, ese nivel de nuestros trabajadores de la empresas básicas y adicionalmente el desarrollo del potencial que tenemos en el estado}.

For the construction of the plant, supplied by 23 quarries, the government of Bolívar provided about 30 million bolívares (US$4.7 million) and the national government €2.3 million (US$3 million). Bolívar reportedly has reserves of about 40,000 million tons of red, black, pink and white granite, sufficient for domestic demand for 200 years.

Thursday, October 4, 2007

Rick Morelli is running for the NDP in the Ontario provincial election, in the Vaughan riding. Wikinews’ Nick Moreau interviewed him regarding his values, his experience, and his campaign.

Stay tuned for further interviews; every candidate from every party is eligible, and will be contacted. Expect interviews from Liberals, Progressive Conservatives, New Democratic Party members, Ontario Greens, as well as members from the Family Coalition, Freedom, Communist, Libertarian, and Confederation of Regions parties, as well as independents.

Sunday, May 31, 2009

A bomb on an Iranian domestic passenger aeroplane was successfully defused by authorities on Saturday, according to officials.

The bomb was found aboard a Kish Air flight departing from Ahvaz, bound for the Iranian capital of Tehran.

“15 minutes after the plane with 131 passengers took off, flight security guards found a handmade bomb placed in the lavatory. The plane landed immediately at Ahvaz airport and the bomb was defused,” said the Fars news agency.

The plane made an emergency landing at its departure airport at Ahvaz. After the bomb was defused, the flight took off again.

“The suspicious package and the details of the sabotage operation in the Tehran-Ahvaz Boeing is under investigation,” said the head of the Revolutionary Guards air security operation, to the Iranian IRNA news agency.

“I do not confirm a link between this and the Zahedan operation. But we believe our enemies want to create a threatening environment before the presidential election and exploit the open space in the country and spark despair among people,” he said.

These are the latest in a series of attacks coming ahead of next month’s presidential elections. The incident comes two days after a bomb attack on a mosque killed 25 people on Thursday. On Saturday three men were hanged for that attack, which officials blamed on al-Qaeda, the United States and Israel.

Thursday, February 14, 2008

The German noble family of Waldburg-Wolfegg has sold the manuscript known as the The Housebook to an unknown buyer. There is speculation in the German press that it was purchased by Baron August von Finck who currently resides in Switzerland, and that the price paid was €20 million.

It is unclear whether the purchase is in fact legally valid because the manuscript was sold without the permission of the government of Tübingen required by the law of fideikommiss dissolution (similar to the common law institution Fee tail). German law forbids the export of such a precious manuscript, which is registered in the list of national cultural property.

The Housebook of Wolfegg is an illustrated manuscript that was created after 1480 by an unidentified artist known as the “Master of the Housebook” (or Master of the Amsterdam Cabinet) and possibly other artists. It was exhibited at the National Gallery of Art in the United States in 1998.

Wednesday, March 7, 2007

A full crowd showed up at the Guiseppe Meazza in Italy today to watch AC Milan take on Scottish side Celtic. The first leg of the matches ended in a goalless draw, as both teams were spirited in defense. Kaka and Inzaghi played as frontmen for AC, while Vennegoor of Hesselink and Jiri Jarosik were the strike pair for Celtic.Milan had the first chance of the game early when Kaka found room and flashed a shot towards the bottom corner, but keeper Artur Boruc got down well to make the stop. Celtic then had a valid penalty claim after only 6 minutes when Jarosik’s volley looked to be blocked by the hand of Maldini, but referee Konrad Plautz waved away the appeals. Celtic’s defense continued to play well, and they limited Milan’s chances to long ranged shots. Lee Naylor then performed defensive heroics for Celtic as he took the ball away from the open Inzaghi, who was waiting to tap the ball in at the back post. Kaka had two more shots from range at the net, but neither were on target. Naylor again saved Celtic by clearing the ball off the line from a Kaka attempt.Over an hour had passed when Gord Strachan sent Thomas Graveson on for Celtic in place of Jarosik, and the Dane almost scored right away. He struck a fine shot at the net, but Massimo Oddo did well to block the attempt. Milan counter attacked quickly, and Kaka saw his attempt also blocked by a defender. McManus and Naylor were forced to clear headers off the line from Ambrosini and Inzaghi, both occurring after corners. Maldini then had a header at the Celtic net, but Boruc was again in the right place to make the stop. Celtic had another claim for a penalty when Nakamura was brought down in the area, but the Austrian referee again waved away all appeals. Boruc was again forced into action from a Seedorf free kick, which he was able to deflect out with a hand. Kaka then shot towards the goal, but the crossbar saved Celtic from going a goal down. As 90 minutes approached, Celtic had two well positioned free-kicks, but could take advantage of neither, and the game entered extra time.It took Milan little time to go ahead in the extra period, and the scorer would be no other than the Brazilian Kaka. The youthful striker put on a burst of speed to beat out the tired Celtic defenders and blasted the ball through Borucs legs to give the homeside the lead. The game continued however, as the Champions League works on full extra time, and Celtic still had 27 minutes to equalize. It was Milan who pushed however, and Andrea Pirlo twice forced Boruc to make saves. Then Kaka, in search of a brace, sent a volley over the net after being left alone during a corner kick. Gravesen’s long effort for Celtic was easy pickings for Dida, and Craig Beattie headed a good chance over the bar. Celtic vainly tried to tie the game, bringing on Kenny Miller, but AC finished the game comfortably, and advanced to the next round of the tournament.

Monday, May 14, 2007

MuchMusic announced the nominees for their MMVA People’s Choice awards today. In their 18th year, the MuchMusic Video Awards (MMVAs) have always had categories open to public voting. Simple Plan holds the record for number of People’s Choice wins, with four.

Viewers can watch all the videos on MuchAXS, muchmusic.com’s “viewer-controlled broadband community.” From there, viewers can either vote online at muchmusic.com, or text “MMVA” to 299299 to vote on their phone (Canada only).

Favourite Canadian Artist:

• Avril Lavigne / “Girlfriend”
• City and Colour / “Comin’ Home”
• George / “Talk To Me”
• k-os / “Sunday Morning”
• Nelly Furtado / “Say It Right”

Favourite International Artist:

• Akon / “Smack That”
• Fergie / “Fergalicious”
• Gwen Stefani / “The Sweet Escape”
• Hilary Duff / “With Love”
• Justin Timberlake / “SexyBack”

Favourite Canadian Group:

• Alexisonfire / “This Could Be Anywhere In The World”
• Billy Talent / “Devil In A Midnight Mass”
• Hedley / “Gunnin'”
• Nickelback / “Far Away”
• Three Days Grace / “Pain”

Favourite International Group:

• Evanescence / “Call Me When You’re Sober”
• The Killers / “When You Were Young”
• My Chemical Romance / “Welcome To The Black Parade”
• Pussycat Dolls / “Buttons”
• Red Hot Chili Peppers / “Dani California”