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Wednesday, March 31, 2010

The World Health Organization (WHO) is a program of the United Nations and a global authority on human health. In an interview with Wikinews, the WHO tells about the current H1N1 pandemic.

The organization’s 93rd update as of March 26, 2010 states 213 countries, territories, and other communities have laboratory-confirmed cases and there have been at least 16,931 confirmed deaths, including 4,653 deaths in Europe and 7,673 in the Americas.

Wikinews reporter Mike Morales talks with Karen Mah, a media relations representative for the WHO, and asks her several questions.

Saturday, May 23, 2015

An earthquake hit close to the Solomon Islands, in the early hours of Thursday morning. It was about 184 kilometres from Lata and 487 kilometres from the capital Honiara. The US Geological Survey has stated that Tsunami warnings are yet to be released and that no major damage occurred.

The quake was 6.9 in magnitude and hit a depth of 19 kilometres. It was then followed by a smaller 4.9 magnitude aftershock.

The geographical position of the Solomon Islands places them in ‘the ring of fire’, an area of tectonic activity in the basin of the Pacific Ocean that is subject to frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.

“This is one of the most active seismic regions in the world — in the last three years we have had 30 plus earthquakes of over 6.0 magnitude,” Geoscience Australia Duty Seismologist Marco Maldoni told AFP.

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Toyota has been accused by a U.S. House of Representatives committee with misleading the public and investigators over its recent recalls.

The accusations, in a statement from the House Energy and Commerce Committee, claim that Toyota both relied on a flawed study in its assessment of the issue of sticking accelerator pedals at the heart of the recalls, and then made misleading statements about its response. According to the authors of the letter, Henry Waxman and Bart Stupak, Toyota dismissed, rather than investigated, the idea that the cars’ computers were at fault. In a statement, James Lentz, the president of Toyota’s American division, claimed that hardware issues were to blame, and that dealers were repairing the faulty part. Toyota also released a study commissioned from the research firm Exponent that said electronic systems were not to blame.

According to the House committee, however, the study involved only six vehicles, none of which had problems with their electrical systems, and was insufficient to produce an accurate result. “Our preliminary assessment is that Toyota resisted the possibility that electronic defects could cause safety concerns, relied on a flawed engineering report and made misleading public statements concerning the adequacy of recent recalls to address the risk of sudden unintended acceleration.”

The company is under a criminal investigation, and has received two subpoenas for documents from two House committees relating to the recalls, although whether they are directly related to the letter is unclear. The documents are related to accelerator issues in several models, as well as brake problems with the Prius hybrid car, and were served earlier in in February by a federal grand jury and the Securities and Exchange Commission. Toyota has released upwards of 75,000 pages of documents under the requests.

In a separate, though related, development, it has emerged that Toyota last year negotiated a limited recall for two models, the Toyota Camry and Lexus ES, that were affected by the accelerator recalls, saving the company an estimated $100 million. A confidential internal presentation in July 2009 made the claim, and a month later, a Lexus ES, one of the models under the limited recall crashed in California, killing four people. The claims apparently referenced a September, 2007 recall of floor mats that could trap gas pedals, the same problem that triggered a full recall of numerous Toyota cars to fix the same problem. In the same presentation, the company claimed to have avoided recalls of another model related to rust, as well as delaying new federal safety regulations.

Friday, September 2, 2005

A man from North London is currently training for an attempt at flying a hang glider across the UK from land’s End to John O’Groats.

Shola Ogunlokun a 41 year old married father of 3 who had never flown a hangglider before taking up this challenge said yesterday “I aim to fulfill a dream offlying, use the challenge as an opportunity to meet the people of Britain andencourage people of similar ethnic backgrounds as me to pursue their dreams”.

Shola is on stage 2 of a 3 stage training programme, and has flown a glider offa 2000ft mountain on completion of stage 1 of his training. He is currentlylooking for sponsors and in talks with a TV production about making adocumentary of his attempt.

The flight attempt is currently planned for around Autumn next year, should takebetween 5-7 days, and Shola would like to spend the night of each flight at thehome of a local in the town he lands. If successful, Shola will be the firstperson to have flown a hang glider across the UK over this distance.

Shola has an online diary charting his progress at http://mbchallenge.blogspot.comFor further details, or to contact Shola, please visit his website:http://www.meet-britain.org.uk

Thursday, July 28, 2005

Yasin Hassan Omar, 24 — suspected of the attempted attack on Warren Street Tube Station — has been arrested by police in Birmingham in a raid yesterday.

After being informed by a member of the public, police — supported by an army bomb disposal team from the Royal Logistic Corps (RLC) — launched a dawn raid at 04:30 am BST on a ground floor flat in Heybarnes Road that Omar was apparently staying in alone. According to the British tabloid newspaper “The Daily Mirror”, Omar allegedly shouted at police to “Get back or I’ll take you with me”.

After a struggle ensued involving, it is believed, a rucksack that police feared was a bomb, Omar was shot in the bathroom by a 50,000-volt taser stun gun that temporarily disabled him. The rucksack was apparently thrown outside the window by police officers.

Around 100 homes were subsequently evacuated as a precautionary measure on the orders of the RLC bomb disposal team. The team then made a controlled explosion of the suspect package.

In a house in nearby Bankdale Road, three men, thought to be Somalis, were arrested and taken to a local police station.

Omar was later taken to Paddington Green, West London, the Metropolitan Police’s only high-security police station.

The flat in Birmingham remained guarded by police while forensic tests continued.

Elsewhere, three women were arrested in Blair House in Stockwell, London in connection with the investigations into the attempted attacks on 21 July.

Early this morning, nine people were arrested under the Terrorism Act 2000 in raids on two houses in Tooting, south London. None are believed to be the three remaining 21 July bombers at large.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

A suicide car bomb attack in northwestern Pakistan has killed at least 30 people, including some children.

Investigators say the bomb exploded Tuesday on a busy street near a market in the city of Charsadda, 40 kilometers north of Peshawar. The blast wounded dozens of people and destroyed several buildings.

“The death toll has gone up to 32 and more than 100 people have been wounded in this suicide attack,” said Bashir Bilour, the Senior Minister of North West Frontier Province.

Hazrat Ali, a shopkeeper, was a witness to the event. He recounted his experiences to the Agence France-Presse news agency. “I was buying something before closing my shop. A car was parked on the other side of the road and all of a sudden there was a huge blast. There was smoke and darkness everywhere. I passed out.” Ali sustained shrapnel injuries to his forehead and torso.

This was the third bombing in the area in three days. On Monday, a suicide bomber in a rickshaw blew himself up at a checkpoint in Peshawar, killing three people. A suicide bomber killed thirteen people in a crowded market outside the city on Sunday.

Tuesday, January 3, 2017

Yaakov Neeman, an Israeli politician who served as justice minister and finance minister under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, died in his Jerusalem home on Sunday. He was 77.

Born in 1939 in Tel Aviv, Neeman, alongside future President Chaim Herzog, founded law firm Herzog, Fox and Neeman in 1972. He was appointed finance minister in 1979, a position he held until 1981. He was later appointed justice minister by Netanyahu, based on his legal training and loyalty.

Unusually for a senior minister, he had never served in the Knesset. He held the job for two months before resigning; he was being investigated for perjury. Michael Ben-Yair, Attorney General of the day, launched the probe after Neeman testified at a bribery trial. Neeman was cleared.

Neeman regained the Justice Ministry post in 1997, resigning again the next year. He blamed insufficient support from Netanyahu and resumed law. In 2009 Netanyahu was reelected, again appointing Neeman minister of justice. In 2013 this role passed to the Hatnua party’s Tzipi Livni.

Neeman’s last resignation, in 2013, came as he was under investigation by the Israel Tax Authority for evading tax via his law company. The Tel Aviv Magistrates Court ultimately acquitted him.

Outside law and politics Neeman was also an industrialist. He worked with Israel Aircraft Industries, airline El Al, and the Israel Atomic Energy Commission. In 1986 he was credited as key to convincing business partner Herzog, who was then president, with pardoning members of the Israel Security Agency; after a bus was hijacked, security forces shot dead two Palestinians once the hijack had concluded.

Neeman specialised in tax law. A fluent English speaker, he had degrees from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and New York University. His wife and six children survive him.

Current President Reuven Rivlin spoke of a good lawyer and advisor whose wisdom he had sought as recently as last week. “The entire Justice Department bows his head”, said current Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked. Herzog’s son Isaac Herzog, leader of the opposition Zionist Union, spoke of “a tender-hearted, broad-minded and generous man” who “was a mentor and close friend for tens of years.”

Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein said Neeman was “a unique figure in our public life, blessed with talent and pleasantness, who believed in his heritage and his people with his entire body.” Netanyahu called Neeman “one of the senior jurists in the country, of a sharp mind and a warm Jewish heart.”