Sunday, August 13, 2006

The Australian federal government has announced that it will be introducing an electronic system for Medicare rebates within the next twelve months. Under the new system, patients will be able to receive their Medicare rebates electronically without having to visit a Medicare office.

During an interview in Sydney today, Prime Minister John Howard, along with his human services minister Joe Hockey and health minister Tony Abbott, announced that patients who pay for the services of a doctor using their credit cards will be able to receive their rebates electronically within 24 hours. Under the current system patients must visit a Medicare office to receive their rebates.

John Howard said the 80,000 people per day who queue at Medicare offices will no longer need to spend their lunch break in line at Medicare.

According to the government, doctors who bulk-bill their patients through Medicare will benefit through faster payments and reduced paperwork. “If it’s a bulk bill transaction; all they do is hand over their Medicare card,” said Mr Hockey.

“The Medicare card is swiped in the EFTPOS device, all is done.”

“Doctors will be rebated within 24 hours.”

“Currently doctors are rebated up to 14 days for bulk bill claims.”

The government claims that electronic rebates will be less expensive to process—costing only a few cents, compared to an estimated AUD $3.50 for an over-the-counter transaction. Despite this, patients who still wish to visit a Medicare office to receive their rebates will still be able to do so.

The minister for human services was quick to assure Australians that Medicare offices would remain open saying that over the past twelve months they have taken on an “expanded role” with the Family Assistance Office’s services being provided in Medicare offices.

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Wikinews interviews Lawrence Douglas, Professor of Law, Jurisprudence and Social Thought at Amherst College, on questions of the fairness and credibility of the Saddam Hussein trial, and the purpose, conduct and impact of courts trying international law crimes such as genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.

Prof. Douglas is the author of The Memory of Judgment: Making Law and History in the Trials of the Holocaust (Yale University Press, 2001), an acclaimed study of war crimes trials. His writing has appeared in venues including the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, and The New Yorker, and he is a frequent contributor to the Times Literary Supplement.

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.

Thursday, December 13, 2007

Victoria Wyndham was one of the most seasoned and accomplished actresses in daytime soap opera television. She played Rachel Cory, the maven of Another World‘s fictional town, Bay City, from 1972 to 1999 when the show went off the air. Wyndham talks about how she was seen as the anchor of a show, and the political infighting to keep it on the air as NBC wanted to wrest control of the long-running soap from Procter & Gamble. Wyndham fought to keep it on the air, but eventually succumbed to the inevitable. She discusses life on the soap opera, and the seven years she spent wandering “in the woods” of Los Angeles seeking direction, now divorced from a character who had come to define her professional career. Happy, healthy and with a family she is proud of, Wyndham has found life after the death of Another World in painting and animals. Below is David Shankbone’s interview with the soap diva.

Saturday, August 19, 2006

Ford has announced sweeping cuts of 21% (168,000 units) in its US and Canadian production, resulting in the partial closure of ten of its plants during the fourth quarter. The measure comes on top of existing turnaround plans announced in January, in which 25,000 to 30,000 positions should be cut and 14 plants closed by 2012.

Ford is the world’s third-largest automaker and the U.S.’s second-largest. However it has in recent years been struggling with poor profitability and shrinking market shares. In 2005 it lost $1.6 billion and recently the company reported a second quarter loss of $254 million and a 34% year-year decline in sales for the month of July.

George Pipas, director of sales analysis at Ford, points to rising gas prices having negative impact on the sale of the companies SUV lines as well as its sales leader, the F-series pickup truck as being the direct cause of the latest initiative.

So far the following plants are thought to be affected:

• St. Thomas Assembly of St. Thomas, Ontario, Canada
• Chicago, Illinois
• Wixom Assembly Plant of Wixom, Michigan, Michigan
• Louisville Assembly of Louisville, Kentucky
• Michigan Truck Plant of Wayne, Michigan
• St. Paul, Minnesota
• Kansas City Assembly of Kansas City, Missouri
• Norfolk Assembly of Norfolk, Virginia
• River Rouge Plant of Dearborn, Michigan

Ford’s stock fell 17 cents (2.1%) to $8 on the New York Stock Exchange.

Thursday, October 12, 2006

The Blunkett diaries, being serialised in the Guardian, claim that Gordon Brown opposed the war against Iraq. Only at the last minute did he give in, according to the diaries, when he realised that Blair would sack him otherwise.

Gordon Brown, interviewed by the Guardian, said he did not think Blunkett had ever said such a thing and that, if he was reported as having done so, he was being misquoted.

The diary entries are contemporary with the events and were recorded shortly after the Cabinet meeting on Iraq.