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Monday, October 29, 2012

The United States is preparing for the arrival of Hurricane Sandy. The hurricane, which is expected to hit late Sunday into Monday, could affect up to sixty million people. The Governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo, announced that all subway, bus and train services in New York City would be suspended from 19:00 EST on Sunday evening.

The hurricane has already caused damage and fatalities in several Caribbean countries this week. Meteorologists are concerned that it will turn into a “Frankenstorm” as it amalgamates with a winter storm in the run up to Halloween. It has now been downgraded to a post-tropical storm by the National Hurricane Center. It has sustained winds of 85 mph. Authorities warned that a full moon could trigger high tides with storm surges of up to 3 metres which would cause sea water to surge through Lower Manhattan.

It is also expected to cause serious flooding in several areas on the Mid-Atlantic coast, including Long Island Sound and New York Harbour.

New York mayor Michael Bloomberg urged people to take action now to keep themselves safe. “I don’t want anybody to go to bed tonight thinking that they can spend the day worrying about the night after,” Mr Bloomberg said. “If you don’t evacuate, you are not only endangering your life, you are also endangering the lives of the first responders who are going in to rescue you,” he said.

It is expected that the hurricane will affect flights. Air France announced that it will cancel all flights to New York and Washington today. British Airways has cancelled all flights to and from the east coast of the U.S. today.

The Governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo, has announced that several bridges are to close from 19:00 EDT — George Washington, Verrazano-Narrows, Throgs Neck, Whitestone, Henry Hudson, Cross Bay Veterans, and from 16:00 EDT the Tappan Zee. He also said the worst of the storm has not yet reached the city.

The New York Stock Exchange trading floor is closed today and is to remain closed tomorrow but electronic transactions are still able to take place. Spokesman Rich Adamonis told Reuters “We continue to monitor the situation and to communicate with government officials, regulators, and markets participants,”. The United Nations headquarters in New York have also been shut down. Several states have announced states of emergency- Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Washington DC and also a coastal county in North Carolina.

Public schools are to remain closed tomorrow in New York, Washington and Philadelphia. The Washington metro is also to be closed tomorrow because of the hurricane.

The state of Delaware has announced a mandatory evacuation order for 50,000 people from coastal areas and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie urged people not to take risks. “We have to be prepared for the worst here. I can be as cynical as any of you but when the storm comes, if it’s as bad as they’re predicting it will be, you’re gonna wish you weren’t as cynical as you might otherwise have been.” he said.

CNN have reported that about 1.5 million people are now being affected by power cuts.

The hurricane has also affected the election campaigning plans of the two main presidential candidates Mitt Romney and Barack Obama. Romney announced that he had cancelled a planned campaign rally yesterday evening in Virginia Beach and Vice-President Joe Biden cancelled a visit there on Saturday.

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Buffalo, New York — A woman in Buffalo, New York in the United States is in critical condition tonight at Sisters Of Charity Hospital after she accidentally set herself on fire.

The unnamed elderly woman was receiving oxygen for medical problems in her home and lit a cigarette, and the oxygen coming from her mask facilitated the ignition of her clothing, setting her on fire.

Despite her “severe” burns as described by firefighters on radio communications, she was still able to dial the emergency line in the U.S., 911.

In the U.S. only 4% of all residential fires were reportedly caused by smoking materials in 2002. These fires, however, were responsible for 19% of residential fire fatalities and 9% of injuries. The fatality rate due to smoking is nearly four times higher than the overall residential fire rate; injuries are more than twice as likely. Forty percent of all smoking fires start in the bedroom or living room/family room; in 35% of these fires, bedding or upholstered furniture are the items first ignited.

Sunday, June 5, 2016

On Friday, German football club Borussia Dortmund announced they are to sign Spanish defender Marc Bartra from FC Barcelona on a four-year deal. Dortmund has agreed to pay ?€8million for the centre-back.

Marc Bartra graduated from Barcelona’s La Masia youth academy and made his professional debut for the Catalonians in February 2010 against Atlético Madrid, under the management of Pep Guardiola when he was 19-years old.

Bartra has made over 100 appearances for the club and won five La Liga titles; two each of UEFA Champions League trophies, Copa del Rey, UEFA Super Cups, and Supercopa de España titles; and one FIFA Club World Cup.

Borussia Dortmund’s website reported some clarifications are still required before making the move.

Monday, December 24, 2012

Two cars have been involved in a road traffic accident in the Scottish Lothian and Borders region, causing three fatalities and sending three to hospital. The incident occurred on the A68 road approximately 1.5 miles south of the Midlothian village of Pathhead when a Škoda Octavia and a Nissan Note travelling in opposite directions collided at approximately 0730 UTC today.

The Nissan, which was carrying five occupants, overturned and came to rest on its roof. Three male Buddhist monks who sat in the back of the car died at the site of the crash. The female driver of the vehicle managed to get out of the vehicle herself but another male passenger in the front of the car had to be cut free by fire service members. The two front-seat passengers as well as the male driver of the Škoda were hospitalised at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, although none of their injuries are considered likely to be fatal.

“This is a tragic incident,” Inspector Simon Bradshaw of Lothian and Borders Police said, “and we are currently in the process of carrying out inquiries in order to establish the full circumstances of the collision.” The A68 road close to the location of the accident was temporarily closed to allow police to investigate the incident, with traffic redirected to the B6370 road via the town of Gorebridge. The road has since reopened.

Thursday, June 29, 2006

Google has today launched its foray into the world online payment processing with Google Checkout. This is considered by many to be a rival to the payment giant PayPal, owned by eBay. This service is currently only available to U.S. residents.

Google has created the service in a similar way to PayPal. There are two types of Google Checkout account, Buyer and Seller. Only a Seller account can receive payments through the service, a Buyer account can only make payments. This is tied in very closely with the Google Adwords service — adverts selling items can now display a small shopping cart icon — which indicates that the advertiser accepts Google Checkout as a method of payment.

The selling rate is also closely tied in with the Google AdWords service. Other online payment services generally charge a set percentage per transaction, whereas Google Checkout credits you with a certain amount of “free transactions” when you purchase Google AdWords (For every US $1 spent on AdWords, US $10 in sales can be processed at no charge) — or a rate of 2% plus US $0.20 if the Seller is not a Google Adwords subscriber. There are no charges associated with Buyer Accounts.

Currently, Google Checkout only accepts Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover Credit Cards for inclusion on a buyer’s or seller’s account. They also offer a special deal for users of a Citicard credit card — US $5 (or 1000 ThankYou^sm Points) for signing up. Google has announced its’ intentions to “to make the service available to merchants internationally” in the near future.

Friday, November 11, 2016

On Tuesday, Republican Donald Trump won the 2016 United States presidential election. Republicans also kept control of both houses of Congress. Trump is to take the presidential oath in January.

Trump won at least 290 electoral votes, while Clinton won 228, according to the AP (Associated Press) — 270 were required vote to win the election — though Clinton won more national popular votes, 47.7% compared to Trump’s 47.4%. Trump won the crucial electoral votes of Ohio, Florida, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina. The electors of Pennsylvania and Wisconsin had not supported a Republican presidential nominee for more than a quarter century, but in this election between them they provided Trump 30 electoral votes.

According to law, the citizens vote for an elector in the state who promises to vote for a particular candidate. In most states, the candidate who wins most votes in a state wins all electors of the state. Different states have varying numbers of electors, which depend on the state’s population. Since there are 538 electors in the US, one needs to win an absolute majority of the electors, that is, at least 270. Due to the electoral college, a candidate can win the presidential election even if he/she receives lesser national popular vote.

In her concession speech on Wednesday, Hillary Clinton said, “We owe him [Donald Trump] an open mind and a chance to lead.” Clinton also said, “We’ve spent a year and a half, bringing together millions of people from every corner of our country to say with one voice that We believe that the American Dream is big enough for everyone, for people of all races and religions, for men and women, for immigrants, for LGBT people, and people with disabilities; for everyone.”

President Barack Obama had called Trump “uniquely unqualified” during the election campaign, but, after the president-elect victory of Trump, Obama met him in the White House yesterday and said, “My number one priority in the coming two months is to try to facilitate a transition that ensures our president-elect is successful.” After the meeting, Trump tweeted, “A fantastic day in D.C. Met with President Obama for first time. Really good meeting, great chemistry. Melania liked Mrs. O [Michelle Obama] a lot!”

Following the unexpected result of the election, people protested in various US cities, often chanting “Not my president”. On Wednesday, more than 60 people were arrested in New York, and a crowd blocked the entrance of Chicago’s Trump Tower. Lily Morton, a 17-year-old student protester, said yesterday, “This generation deserves better than Donald Trump […] The queer people, colored people, women, girls, everyone that is going to be affected by this, we need to protest to help them. There is still love in this country.”

During the voting, huge traffic on the Canadian immigration website resulted in a site crash, officials said. Justin Trudeau tweeted, “I’ve just spoken with President-elect Trump – and we agreed to meet soon to keep building the Canada-US relationship.” ^{((fr)) French language: Je viens de parler au président élu Trump; nous avons convenu de nous rencontrer bientôt pour continuer à bâtir la relation Canada-É. U.}

Last year, after the Paris attack in November, Trump commented on Muslims saying, “Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and a complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what the hell is going on.” He also said, “our country can not be the victim of horrendous attacks by people that believe only in jihad.” But after winning the president-elect, the statement on Trump’s website was removed, and it redirected to the donation page.

Trump partisans defended Trump saying those proposed actions were to insure safety rather than targeting any religion. Though the statement disappeared from the web site, various defences of it are still there.

Mexican president Enrique Peña Nieto congratulated Donald Trump and tweeted, “I congratulate the US on its electoral process and reiterate to @realDonaldTrump [Donald Trump] our willingness to work together for our bilateral relationship.” ^{((es)) Spanish language: Felicito a EUA por su proceso electoral y le reitero a @realDonaldTrump [Donald Trump] la disposición de trabajar juntos en favor de la relación bilateral.} . Mexican currency, the peso, dropped 13% in value as Trump won. Trump had proposed to abandon the trilateral US–Mexico–Canada NAFTA agreement (North American Free Trade Agreement) and to build a wall at the US–Mexico border. Mexican Foreign Minister Claudia Ruiz Massieu said Mexico would not pay for this wall.

Previously in 2016, Mexico reinforced the peso three times by increasing its benchmark interest rate.

70-year-old Donald Trump will be the oldest US president to first enter the office. No woman has ever been the US president.

Monday, September 21, 2009

Dozens of students and teachers were stung by yellow jacket wasps Monday at a middle school in Cranston. The attack occurred around 10:45 a.m., according to Ray Votto, the chief operating officer for Cranston Public Schools.

It is suspected that during a routine fire drill, students exiting the building disturbed the wasps’ nest in a field behind the school. Votto said, “When kids exited towards the back of the school building near our portable classrooms, they walked into a field and may have disrupted a nest”.

The Cranston Fire Department and school nurses responded to the scene to provide medical assistance. A total of 25 students, one of whom was hospitalized, and four teachers were stung, some multiple times. All of the students and one teacher were sent home.

Monday, October 11, 2010

Wikinews interviewed author Amy Scobee about her book Scientology – Abuse at the Top, and asked her about her experiences working as an executive within the organization. Scobee joined the organization at age 14, and worked at Scientology’s international management headquarters for several years before leaving in 2005. She served as a Scientology executive in multiple high-ranking positions, working out of the international headquarters of Scientology known as “Gold Base”, located in Gilman Hot Springs near Hemet, California.