Correction — March 19, 2008 The next protest is scheduled for April 12, 2008. The article below states April 18 which is incorrect.
Saturday, March 15, 2008
The Internet group Anonymous today held further protests critical of the Church of Scientology.
The global protests started in Australia where several hundred protesters gathered at different locations for peaceful protests.
In a global speech, the Internet protest movement said Scientology “betrayed the trust of its members, [had] taken their money, their rights, and at times their very lives.” The protesters welcomed the public interest their protests have led to, and claimed they witnessed “an unprecedented flood of Scientologists [joining] us across the world to testify about these abuses.” The group said it would continue with monthly actions.
In a press statement from its European headquarters, Scientology accused the anonymous protesters of “hate speech and hate crimes”, alleging that security measures were necessary because of death threats and bomb threats. This also makes the Church want to “identify members” of the group it brands as “cyber-terrorists”.
Wikinews had correspondents in a number of protest locations to report on the events.
Anonymous states that the next protest is scheduled to take place on April 18, which happens to be the birthday of Suri, the daughter of Tom and Katie Cruise.
United States President George W. Bush delivered a speech Wednesday in which he urged the United States Congress to end a ban on oil exploration off of US shores. Currently there is both an executive order and a Congressional moratorium against such exploration.
President Bush said that “we should expand American oil production by increasing access to the Outer Continental Shelf, or OCS. Experts believe that the OCS could produce about 18 billion barrels of oil. That would be enough to match America’s current oil production for almost ten years.”
“I know the Democratic leaders have opposed some of these policies in the past,” President Bush said. “Now that their opposition has helped drive gas prices to record levels, I ask them to reconsider their positions. If Congressional leaders leave for the Fourth of July recess without taking action, they will need to explain why $4-a-gallon gasoline is not enough incentive for them to act.”
Senator Harry Reid, the Senate majority leader from the Democratic Party, said: “This week’s flip-flop on offshore oil drilling by President Bush and Senator John McCain is nothing more than a cynical campaign ploy that will do nothing to lower energy prices, and represents another big giveaway to oil companies already making billions in profits.”
“It’s cynical to say that we can drill our way out of this mess,” said Athan Manuel, of the environmental group Sierra Club. “The solution to $4 gas is not off our coast.”
A recent poll conducted by Reuters/Zogby showed that about 60% of Americans support more oil drilling and refinery construction, yet nearly the same percentage also say they are in favor of conservation.
“We will take pressure off gas prices over time by expanding the amount of American-made oil and gasoline. We will strengthen our national security by reducing our reliance on foreign oil. We will benefit American workers by keeping our nation competitive in the global economy — and by creating good jobs in construction, and engineering, and refining, maintenance, and many other areas,” said Bush in his speech.
British drivers have been urged not to panic buy fuel because of the 4-day walkout by delivery drivers working for companies delivering to Shell petrol stations. The 600 workers have walked out over pay disagreements, wanting an increase to their current pay of £36,500, however their union Unite turned down a last-minute offer of £41,500.
Hoyer UK, which employs tanker drivers for Shell, said, “We extended our offer to the very limits that our business could sustain.” However Unite said in a press release that, “this dispute could have been resolved if Shell had advanced a fraction of the billions of pounds in profit they make every month”, continuing to say, “one of the world’s richest companies is prepared to play Pontius Pilate and see the British public inconvenienced rather than settle this dispute for a sum smaller than the chairman’s pay increase last year”
Shell admitted that the walkout could leave some of its 1,000 forecourts without fuel, but the UK Petrol Industry Association, which represent oil refiners, said that forecourts would have around 4 days of supply, maintaining usual stocking levels. Shell also commented that the strike impact would be “significant”, as the company runs around 1 in 10 of all petrol stations in the UK.
Despite warnings, some filling stations found their supplies exhausted on Friday evening
British Business Secretary, John Hutton, said that “the strike, which will have a disproportionate effect on people in Britain, cannot be justified,” and urged both sides to resume negotiations in order to settle the dispute. “We have been working closely with industry to put in place detailed contingency plans to reduce as far as possible the disruption for the driving public,” he added. Unite’s press release also confirms that “provision has been made for fire, police and the emergency services.”
Tanker drivers on strike have set up picket lines at many of Shell’s UK refineries, including those in Stanlow, Avonmouth, Plymouth, Pembroke, Cardiff, Kingsbury, Basildon, Grangemouth, Aberdeen, Inverness, Jarrow and Luton Airport.
Almost 13,000 children in China have fallen sick in a wave of sickness caused by baby’s milk contaminated with melamine, a banned chemical which can cause kidney stones, irritation, and ulcers. Most of the sickened children are infants two years or younger, and four children have died from the chemical so far.
The Chinese Health Ministry has stated that most of the tainted milk was produced by Shijiazhuang Sanlu Group Co.’s infant milk powder and have pulled several dairy products off the shelves of Chinese stores. Sanlu, Mengniu and Yili were among the largest brands recalled, and have been attempting to repair their damaged public image. Yili announced that it would be reviewing its manufacturing process and making necessary safety changes. Yang Wenjun, president of Mengniu, apologized for the contamination and promised to make changes as well. Sanlu, meanwhile, has stopped production and is checking all products.
The Ministry is conducting an investigation into why the number of illnesses doubled Saturday. Ten percent of yogurt, milk and ice cream is also contaminated, however adults will not be affected if they drink less than two litres a day of the contaminated products.
Melamine is an industrial byproduct, infamous for poisoning thousands of pets in the United States in 2007. Investigators believe it was used by desperate dairy companies to disguise diluted milk in dairy products in order to pass quality tests and make higher profits.
A Scottish lawyer today denied reports that Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi had died, after it was reported on Sky News earlier today that “unidentified sources” had said that he was dead.
The reports came onto Sky News at around 16.00 BST today. The information could not be confirmed, and it was not immediately clear where Sky News had obtained their information. Megrahi is suffering from terminal prostate cancer. Scottish Cabinet Secretary for JusticeKenny MacAskillMSP decided on 20 August 2009 to grant Megrahi compassionate release from Greenock Prison in Glasgow, Scotland and to allow him to return to Libya, after medical advisers reported that he was likely to die in just three months.
On Wednesday, Megrahi’s lawyer, Tony Kelly, responded to the claims made, saying that “it’s absolutely untrue. He’s definitely not dead. I’m not saying anything about his health condition other than the fact he is alive and breathing.” He declined to release any information about Abdelbaset’s current health condition. Following these comments, Sky News removed the information from their website.
Mark Morin is running for the Family Coalition Party in the Ontario provincial election, in the Chatham—Kent—Essex riding. Wikinews’ Nick Moreau interviewed him regarding his values, his experience, and his campaign.
He did not reply to the questions “Which of your competitors do you expect to pose the biggest challenge to your candidacy? Why?” and “Of the decisions made by Ontario’s 38th Legislative Assembly, which was the most beneficial to your this electoral district? To the province as a whole? Which was least beneficial, or even harmful, to your this riding? To the province as a whole?” Some spelling corrections have been made.
Stay tuned for further interviews; every candidate from every party is eligible, and will be contacted. Expect interviews from Liberals, Progressive Conservatives, New Democratic Party members, Ontario Greens, as well as members from the Family Coalition, Freedom, Communist, Libertarian, and Confederation of Regions parties, as well as independents.
Early yesterday morning, United States Representative Elijah Cummings died while in hospice care. Cummings, the Democratic chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, was 68.
Cummings in 2012 Image: U.S. Congress.
Elijah Eugene Cummings, first elected to Congress in 1996, was born in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1951. His parents, Robert Cummings Sr. and Ruth Elma Cummings, were sharecroppers. In grade school, Cummings expressed intent to become a lawyer. After receiving a bachelor’s degree in political science from Howard University, he attended law school at the University of Maryland. Cummings passed the state bar exam in 1976, and went on to start his own law practice.
In 1982 Cummings successfully ran to be a state delegate, joining the Maryland General Assembly in 1983. He remained there for fourteen years, eventually serving as the speaker pro tem of the chamber. Cummings was the first African American to hold that office.
When Representative Kweisi Mfume of Maryland’s seventh Congressional District announced his resignation in 1995, Cummings joined the race to replace him, winning the election. He went on to serve in the House of Representatives for twenty three years. He was among the Representatives who voted against the Iraq War in 2002, and in 2003 and 2004 served as the chair of the Congressional Black Caucus. He was also a member of the United States House Select Committee on Benghazi.
Following Democratic victories in the 2018 midterm elections, Cummings became the chair of the House Oversight and Reform Committee. In that role, Cummings oversaw the committee’s impeachment inquiry into President Trump, alongside the House Foreign Affairs and Intelligence committees.
The Baltimore Sun reported Cummings had been sick and was missing from Capitol Hill; his last roll call vote was on September 11. At 2:45 a.m. local time (0645 UTC), his office said, he died at Gilchrist Hospice Care. In a statement, Maya Rockeymoore Cummings, his wife and the current chairwoman of the Maryland Democratic Party, said Cummings “worked until his last breath”.
In response to Cummings’s death, Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, ordered the Capitol’s flags be lowered to half staff. Flags at the White House were reportedly similarly lowered.
Politicians from across the political spectrum publicly mourned Cummings’s death. Democrat Chuck Schumer, the Senate minority leader, told MSNBC Cummings “was a great man,” while Republican President Trump noted his “strength, passion and wisdom” on Twitter.
Representative Carolyn Maloney, the most senior Democrat on the Oversight and Reform Committee, has stepped into Cummings’s role as the committee’s acting chair. As of yesterday evening, the process to select the next permanent chair had not yet been announced, according to the Baltimore Sun.
Under Maryland state law, Republican Larry Hogan, the current governor, has until October 28 to release plans for a special election to fill Cummings’s congressional seat.
Saturday, March 19, 2011Yesterday, Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the agency governing Internet addresses, approved the creation of an “adult entertainment” Internet address, .xxx, on the web, first proposed in 2003. ICANN is the manager of the Internet’s top-level domains, such .com, .org and .net.
“For the first time, there will be a clearly defined Web address for adult entertainment, out of the reach of minors and as free as possible from fraud or malicious computer viruses
ICANN’s decision means success for the Florida-based ICM Registry (ICM), the company that first applied for the .xxx domain in 2004. ICM will oversee the new domain and will sell the .xxx Web addresses. ICM hopes that the establishment of a .xxx domain will contribute a degree of predictability and security to the largely unrestrained world of Internet websites. Its chief executive, Stuart Lawley, said, “For the first time, there will be a clearly defined Web address for adult entertainment, out of the reach of minors and as free as possible from fraud or malicious computer viruses.”
The decision was criticized by some of the Internet pornography industry’s biggest players who fear they could be the target of arbitrary censorship by governments and boards regulating the .xxx domain.
Anti-pornography campaigners also criticized the move, saying it gives the sex industry legitimacy. But since the .xxx system and its vetting process is voluntary, popular pornographic sites are not likely to trade their .com domains for .xxx. Anti-porn critics say that users who think they are avoiding porn by filtering out .xxx domains will therefore be misled.
ICM’s Lawley saw only positive outcomes from the decision: “Everybody wins. The consumer of adult sites wins. The providers will benefit because more people will become paying customers. And those who don’t want to go there will win as well, because the sites will be easier to filter.”
Riyo, the new Miss Universe titleholder, is from Shizuoka, Japan. She had stayed in Canada to study ballet while in high-school.After Riyo returned to her country, she became to an instructor of a dance school.
Riyo Mori achieved the brilliant feat of winning this beauty contest as Japanese after 48 years’ absence.Incidentally, preceded runner-up is Kurara Chibana.