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.

Tuesday, April 25, 2006

The government of Peru declared a state of emergency in the vicinity of the Ubinas volcano on Saturday as it began to spew out ash and smoke over a 6km area, indicating a possible eruption in the near future. The civil defense institute has recommended the total evacuation of the 3,500 residents of the district of Ubinas.

The Peruvian military has been ordered to aid in the evacuation of civilians from the area. Aid shipments of tents, water and powdered milk are being sent to the affected area.

Those who decided to evacuate were brought to the town of Querapi by bus. Others who reside near the volcano chose to stay behind to protect their livestock and belongings.

No human deaths have been reported so far, but llamas and alpacas have died after eating grass contaminated by volcanic pollutants. People have reported eye and breathing problems following exposure to the acid-laden ash and smoke.

The 18700-ft. high Ubinas is Peru’s most active volcano, with 23 eruptions recorded since 1550. The current activity follows a 40-year dormant period. Scientists at the Institute of Geophysics have warned that a dome of incandescent lava appears to be building up in the volcanic crater.

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Both the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) parties have announce “freebies” as part of their election manifestos in the lead-up to the vote in the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Freebies have been a success from the 2006 Tamil Nadu elections when DMK lured voters by announcing free colour televisions to households. That triumph led the major opposition AIADMK to announce similar freebies in their manifesto published Thursday.

DMK has announced free laptops to college students, kitchen appliances and modern networks to rural regions. The AIADMK, publishing their manifesto later, expanded on each of the promises of the DMK, plus offering 4g gold mangalsutra for the poor, monetary help for rural households and fishermen, free rice, and more.

AIADMK manifesto addresses larger issues, such as taking on the near-monopoly of the cable industry television industry, starting new Power generation plants to address power shortages in recent years.