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Saturday, March 13, 2010

A Nigerian airplane crashed in the city of Port Harcourt yesterday, resulting in several minor injuries.

The plane was supposed to be taking part in a mock rescue exercise, and was carrying 30 members from the National Emergency Management Agency and other emergency workers, when it slid off the runway and into some bushes after landing at Port Harcourt International Airport.

The rescue workers on the ground, intended to participate in the emergency drill, instead had to deal with a real emergency; however, only a few people on board the aircraft sustained minor wounds.

A spokeswoman for the police, Rita Inoma-Abbey, commented today that “[n]o life was lost, but the aircraft was severely damaged.”

Monday, October 19, 2009

Pakistani officials say the military has launched its much anticipated ground offensive against the Taliban and al-Qaeda in the South Waziristan tribal region. Fierce fighting has broken out and dozens of casualties are reported on both sides.

This mountainous district forms part of the Afghan border, which United States officials call the most dangerous place in the world. It is considered to be a stronghold for the Taliban. An attack by US drones on this area killed the former Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud and it shelters the new leader Hakimullah Mehsud. It is also has training camps for suicide bombers. The US has put pressure on the Pakistani government to deal with militancy in the area.

30,000 troops which had been moved into the area over the past few months moved out of their bases in and around South Waziristan on Saturday, hours after top military and political leaders were briefed by army chief General Ashfaq Pervez Kayanimain in the capital, Islamabad. The troops advanced north towards the Mehsud stronghold of Makeen, west towards Kunigaram, Saam and Baddar, and east towards Kotkai, Spinkai Raghzai.

Pakistan has experienced a wave of terror attacks, including suicide blasts targeting international and security organizations, coordinated attacks around the country’s cultural center, Lahore, and an assault on the army’s headquarters near Islamabad. Some 175 people have died in the past two weeks. The government has blamed the Pakistani Taliban, which is based in South Waziristan, for the violence.

“The recent upsurge of terror incidents in the country were condemned and it was agreed that these elements pose a serious threat to the sovereignty and integrity of the state […] In the given circumstances, the national consensus is reaffirmed to establish and maintain the writ of the state to weed out these elements,” said Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani.

Hours ahead of Saturday’s offensive, Pakistani authorities imposed a curfew and turned off mobile phone service in parts of South Waziristan in the district of Wana, as well as in Shakai and Tiarza.

Despite the military’s superiority in numbers, former security chief of the tribal regions, Mahmood Shah, told the Voice of America (VOA) news agency it would not be an easy battle. “This 30,000 against 10,000 is a conventional battle,” he said. “The militants do not fight conventional battles.” He also said he expects the military will face an enemy deeply entrenched in the mountainous and remote region. He also cautions that militants will likely launch suicide attacks elsewhere.

Top army spokesman Major General Athar Abbas has stated that the offensive could last up to two months, but that because of impending climatic conditions they would try to complete the attack by snowfall. A formal announcement on the start of the operation is expected by Prime Minister Gilani.

Officials have said that four soldiers were wounded during clashes and that remote-controlled bomb attacks killed two soldiers in North Waziristan and one in South Waziristan. The three soldiers’ bodies have been taken to Ramzak. There are also unconfirmed reports of militant deaths.

A senior military official has said that initially the objective is to establish footholds, but that they would mobilise three divisions of the military, paramilitary and police, with the final total rising up to 60,000 troops. According to a senior government official in Pakistan’s semi-autonomous tribal belt, the objective is to remove all militants from the area. He also said that “[t]his has been in the works for a long time. It was only a question of timing and the timing was decided. Troops were in place and they moved in.”

This is not the first time the military has launched an offensive in the tribal region. But those previous operations were not successful, mainly because militants killed sympathetic tribal leaders and opposition political parties refused to offer their support.

Experts estimate the number of militants between 10,000 and 12,000 from the Tehreek-e-Taliban movement in South Waziristan and up to 25,000 across Pakistan’s semi-autonomous tribal belt, with up to 5,000 Uzbek fighters supporting the Taliban.

For the past several months since the anti-Taliban offensive in and around Swat Valley, the military has built up its forces around South Waziristan.

Manuel Bessler, head of the United Nations’s Office for Coordinating Humanitarian Affairs in Pakistan, told Voice of America that many civilians have fled the area. “We had IDPs, internally displaced people, since May about 77,000, up to 80,000,” he said. “Now with this more intense fighting and military operation inside [South] Waziristan, we have a daily outflow of 70 to 100 families from the area.” Official figures put at 90,000 the people displaced from South Waziristan since August.

Tuesday, September 26, 2017

On Sunday, US television station CBS aired “The Vulcan Hello”, the premiere episode of Star Trek: Discovery. The episode is slated to be the only one of the series broadcast on conventional television, with future installments exclusive to streaming platform CBS All Access. Discovery continues the long-running Star Trek franchise with the first series in the franchise to feature a black female lead.

The airing follows several months of development and delays, as the series was retooled by veteran television producers including Bryan Fuller and Akiva Goldsman. Initially announced in 2015 to celebrate Star Trek’s 50th anniversary the following year, the series has been plagued by setbacks, including departure of Bryan Fuller as showrunner in late 2016, collectively pushing its release date to move from January to September of this year.

Only Canadian station Space is to air the series on traditional television. In all other non-US countries, Netflix has the rights.

The series is the newest installment of the Star Trek media franchise. Discovery is a prequel program set before the 1960s original series, set to explore the relationship between the Earth-based Federation made up of several benign alien species who explore the universe to find new life, and the war-like Klingons who have been villains of the various films and television installments. Veteran US television actress Sonequa Martin-Green stars as Michael Burnham, first officer of starship USS Shenzou.

The series has earned praise and controversy for its decision to cast the lead as a black woman. Creators say this inclusivity is consistent with the franchise’s history, which has featured black male and white female leads. All casts have been multi-racial, starting with the original series, which included the black female character Uhura portrayed by Nichelle Nichols.

Discovery also marks a key part of CBS’s strategy for streaming its streaming video service All Access. Launched in 2014, the platform has a library of several thousand episodes from the network’s past programming as well as debuting two spin-off series: Big Brother: Over the Top, from the reality television franchise Big Brother, and the legal procedural The Good Fight, from The Good Wife. The CBS Corporation is using this drama as an incentive for signing up to their service, which competes with industry giants Amazon Prime, Netflix, and Hulu. Hulu is a joint venture including many of the broadcast networks in the United States but CBS only began sharing selected programming on this platform earlier this year. CBS claimed the debut resulted in their biggest surge in membership, without offering hard numbers.

Thursday, May 26, 2016

On Monday, German football club FC Bayern Munich completed the signing of Mats Hummels, who captained Bayern’s rivals Borussia Dortmund this past season. 27-year-old defender Hummels, who was an academy player at Bayern before moving to play for Borussia Dortmund, agreed to a five-year deal.

Hummels underwent medical tests on Monday before signing the contract. Bayern’s chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said “We’re delighted to welcome Mats back to FC Bayern, […] Not only are we strengthening our squad with a world-class centre-back, but also with a player who accepts responsibility and who is our own youth product. First of all we wish him a successful Euro 2016.”^{((de))German language: Wir freuen uns, Mats zurück beim FC Bayern begrüßen zu dürfen […] Mit ihm bereichern wir unsere Mannschaft nicht nur um einen Innenverteidiger von Weltklasse-Format, sondern auch um einen Spieler, der Verantwortung nicht scheut und noch dazu aus unserer Jugend stammt. Jetzt wünschen wir ihm erst einmal eine erfolgreiche Europameisterschaft.}

Hummels joined the Bavarians in 1995 when he was six years old. He played only one Bundesliga match for the Reds before he was loaned to Dortmund and later signed for them. He played his last game for Borussia Dortmund on Saturday in the DFB-Pokal Cup final, which Bayern won 4–3 on penalties.

After the signing was completed, he said “Saying goodbye to Dortmund was difficult for me of course. It was similar to 2008, when it was the other way around […] Now I’m looking forward to everything that awaits me at FC Bayern. I’m very excited.”^{((de))German language: Der Abschied aus Dortmund ist mir natürlich schwergefallen. 2008 ging es mir ähnlich, als ich den Weg in die andere Richtung gemacht habe […] jetzt freue ich mich einfach auf alles, was mich beim FC Bayern erwartet. Ich bin sehr gespannt.}

Monday, June 7, 2010

A suspect in a hit-and-run located in San Francisco, California, was arrested after hitting four cyclists and, two days later, lying to the police. Over the course of six minutes, the 39-year-old man hit four people with his car and then ran off when his car crashed into another vehicle and hit a pole. The investigators tracked down the man’s address with the evidence found in the car; however, as he had moved, they were unable to find him.

The suspect later told the police at Albany Police Station that his car was stolen, and after the police identified that as a lie, he was arrested. The police believes that the victims were deliberately targeted, although the motive remains a mystery. The suspect is currently in hospital for medical and psychological testing.

“I was only a block from my house and I saw something coming at me, from the corner of my eye. I managed to swing out of the way and avoid the full brunt of an impact,” said one of the victims, Rory Madden. “It doesn’t make any sense that anybody would do that, so whatever he has to say is not going to make sense.” The other three men were hospitalized, two in serious condition and one in fair condition.

The attack left bicycles crumpled and some cars damaged, one severely, according to San Francisco police spokeswoman, Lyn Tomkioka. “We’re just really glad that he’s been arrested,” she said. Mayor Gavin Newsom and the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition condemned the attack, stating that there are currently efforts to make San Francisco “one of the most bike-friendly cities in the country”.

Friday, November 25, 2011

U.S. Democratic Party presidential candidate Darcy Richardson of Florida took some time to answer a few questions from Wikinews reporter William S. Saturn.

Richardson, 55, is a political activist that helped form the New Democrats in 1989 and founded the progressive Battleground Blog earlier this year. He is also a political historian, and has authored six books covering third parties and presidential elections, including A Nation Divided: The 1968 Presidential Campaign (2002). His current work, The Spirit of ’76: Eugene McCarthy’s Struggle for Open Politics, chronicles the late Democratic Senator Eugene McCarthy’s 1976 presidential campaign for which he volunteered. Richardson admires McCarthy, and served as manager for his 1988 presidential run. Recently, Richardson advised Brian Moore’s Socialist Party USA presidential campaign in 2008.

In addition, Richardson himself has sought political office, albeit unsuccessfully. In 1980, he ran for Pennsylvania Auditor General, and in 1988, vied for one of Pennsylvania’s U.S. Senate seats as a member of the Consumer Party. Last year, he ran for Lieutenant Governor of Florida as the running mate of gubernatorial candidate Farid Khavari.

Richardson has criticized President Barack Obama’s policies for being too similar to those of former President George W. Bush. He hoped to convince several prominent progressives to challenge Obama in the Democratic primaries, but none were available to do so. Last month, Richardson decided to begin a campaign himself and announced through his Battleground Blog that he would challenge Obama in the Democratic Party primaries as a progressive candidate. So far, he has qualified for the New Hampshire primary in January and the Missouri primary in February. In an interview with the Independent Political Report, Richardson proclaimed his campaign slogan as “no fourth term for George W. Bush.”

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Chelsea, a football club based in London, United Kingdom, have confirmed that Joe Cole and {{w:|Michael Ballack}} will be leaving on free transfers during the summer transfer window.

Chelsea, the current Premier League champions, reportedly stated they did not wish to offer Cole, an English international currently with the country’s national team at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, another contract for next season. They declined to offer Germany captain 33-year-old Ballack a new deal; the player had been missing out on the World Cup with injury.

Cole has been at the club since joining from fellow London side West Ham United in 2003, while Ballack’s previous club was Bayern Munich of Germany, arriving under José Mourinho.

Ballack was claimed to be “extremely surprised” by the news, having been on holiday in Miami, United States at the time of being informed, according to agent Michael Becker. Ballack had previously rejected a reduced-wage, one-year contract, and was once the highest-earner at Chelsea, with a weekly wage of £121,000 (US$175,123).

Several sources believe that many top finishers in the Premier League, including runners-up Manchester United, are keen to speak to 28-year-old Cole, as he has been free to initiate negotiations since January. However, no deal has yet been confirmed to have started.